Is hailey upton leaving chicago pd
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2013.05.10 20:48 Dorkside Chicago P.D. - NBC TV Show
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2023.05.30 13:03 FelicitySmoak_ On This Day In Michael Jackson HIStory - May 30th
 | 1970 - "The Love You Save" by the Jackson 5 enters the Billboard US Hot 100 singles chart at #45. In late June, will peak at #1 & stay there for 2 weeks submitted by FelicitySmoak_ to MichaelJackson [link] [comments] 1971 - The Jackson 5 play at the Fairgrounds Arena (now Jim Norick Arena) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on their 2nd national tour 1977 - The Jacksons perform “Keep On Dancing” on Numéro Un Joe Dassin taped at the Buttes-Chaumont Studios in Paris, France while on their European tour. It would air on July 2nd https://preview.redd.it/l7qs60bu1t2b1.jpg?width=583&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6097f10de11c1eed4db5c31fd60ee1164723854d https://preview.redd.it/u8bs840v1t2b1.jpg?width=535&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9656ff295d3383c08dab4328533c5ddcc738131f 1979 - On their Destiny Tour, The Jacksons play the Jim Norick Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 1987 - The Los Angeles Times reports that Michael has submitted an official bid, for an undisclosed sum, for the remains of the late John Merrick, known as the Elephant Man, from the London Hospital Medical College which has kept them since Merrick’s death in 1890. Michael's manager, Frank DiLeo, commented “Jackson has no exploitative intentions whatsoever and cares about and is concerned with the Elephant Man as a dedicated and devoted collector of art and antiques" Also adding that Michael "has a high degree of respect for the memory of Merrick" 1992 - "In The Closet" peaked at #6 during it's 5th week on the Billboard chart. It would stay in the Top 40 for 11 weeks 1997 - HIStory tour rehearsals in Bremen, Germany 2000 - Dangerous (album) is certified 7X platinum by the RIAA. https://preview.redd.it/mux66z1m1t2b1.jpg?width=200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=534424417cb398602f1e05ad08738a2b71593424 https://preview.redd.it/d9mty4pm1t2b1.png?width=325&format=png&auto=webp&s=1e4d908b0017480477988d8cb306482571b7cf96 2000 - Michael announces that he has become a key partner & investor in HollywoodTicket.com, a promotional and marketing site that gives netizens the chance to win backstage passes to concerts & visits to film/tv show shoots. The amount he invested was not disclosed but it's understood to be in the millions 2003 - Michael attends a party at Robert Evan's house to celebrate Brett Ratner's Hillhaven Lodge: The Photo Book Pictures book launch. Brett Ratner is the director of Rush Hour. Later that same night, Michael shows up at a MTV Movie Awards post party at Ron Burkle's Beverly Hills Mansion where he meets Puff Daddy and Paris Hilton among others. https://preview.redd.it/dqatcf5r1t2b1.jpg?width=487&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=15562776b7bed38a21cb83b55196fc88f4763164 https://preview.redd.it/lcfs3asr1t2b1.jpg?width=1707&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d44d91cf64ea078ecfc0e8d91a591feb80c49f6 https://preview.redd.it/nnogz5ls1t2b1.jpg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=34428f4ce83bf04217c4d2b4b66e880d1ce86a1d 2005 - No court today due to the Memorial Day holiday 2006 - Michael Jackson takes his kids and his nanny Grace to Tokyo Disneyland. 2007 - A collection of almost 2000 Jackson family items dating from the mid-1960's to the early '90's goes to auction in the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas. These are items from a storage warehouse that Henry Vaccaro came in to possession of after a failed business venture ended up in bankruptcy court. Items include Michael's gold record for Thriller, handwritten "ABC" lyrics & a signed Victory tour program 2013 - Jackson v AEG Trial Day 20 Katherine and Rebbie Jackson are in court. The court also heard an update on efforts to get emails and any other records from a computer used by Michael's former manager, Frank Dileo. Apparently an LA attorney has a copy of Dileo's computer hard drive. Attorneys are working to get a copy of the HD to both sides. The copy was revealed during a deposition of Dileo's widow earlier this week in Pennsylvania, plaintiff's attorney Brian Panish said Paul Gongaware Testimony Jackson direct Gongaware said he met with his attorneys again yesterday to refresh his recollection Panish asked if AEG was concerned about Mr. Jackson's health. "When he was sick we obviously had a concern," Gongaware responded. Gongaware said he understood Michael was sick from reading the chain of emails shown yesterday. But Gongaware told the jury he didn't have any particular concern about Michael Jackson other than on June 19th, no one told Gongaware about being concerned with his health. Gongaware testified that he disagreed with Houghdahl's opinion, saying he had no "particular concern" about Jackson's health and ability to perform Talking about the email Hougdahl sent saying Michael was deteriorating quickly, Gongaware explained: "I didn't see it the way he saw." Hougdahl, in response to concerns expressed by Travis Payne about Jackson's weight Email 6/15/09 from Hougdahl to Gongaware : He needs some cheeseburgers with a bunch of Wisconsin cheesehead bowlers and a couple of brats and beers"Was he joking around about this situation?" Panish asked Gongaware, referring to Hougdahl. "I think he was," Gongaware replied. "Did you think that was funny?" Panish asked. "I did," Gongaware admitted Panish asked about indemnity in Gongaware's contract. The exec said indemnity means that someone else is taking on the responsibility. "I haven't read my contract in 12/13 years, I don't know what it says," Gongaware said. Gongaware said he does not know how many pages his employment agreement is. Panish asked if he AEG would cover for Gongaware should they be found guilty. Gongaware said it was his understanding that he wouldn't be personally responsible financially if the jury sided with Jackson family. Panish: "That means if you did something wrong..."Adding that depending upon the size of the judgment, AEG could go after him. Panish asked how much AEG would be able to afford, and Gongaware said he didn't know. Panish emphasized there are various ways for AEG to pay a judgment, and Gongaware mentioned they had some sort of cancellation insurance. Panish went back to discuss the email from Randy Phillips where he wrote 'Dr. Murray didn't need the gig and was unbiased and ethical' Panish: "Is Mr. Phillips unbiased and ethical, sir?"Panish asked if it was ethical for Phillips to represent to Ortega that the doctor is 'extremely successful' and 'we checked everyone out'. Gongaware responded that he didn't know what Phillips knew at the time. Panish: "Is number one priority 'the show must go on'?"Panish showed the email from John Branca, saying he had the right therapist for Michael and asked if substance abuse was involved. "This is referring to the meeting that was going to happen and I was waiting to see the results of it," Gongaware said. "I didn't believe there was a substance abuse issue," Gongaware testified. "In the entire time I was dealing with him in this tour, I saw it once when he came back from his doctor," Gongaware testified. Gongaware said that was the only time he saw Michael with slurred speech and under the influence of something. Gongaware said he didn't know what Dr. Klein was giving Michael Jackson. When Panish asked Gongaware if he checked Dr. Klein out, he replied: "No, he was Michael's doctor and it was none of my business." Gongaware said he once observed Michael looking "slow" and possibly intoxicated after a visit to his dermatologist but he didn't believe he had any "serious health problems" even after Jackson appeared weak and disoriented at a June 19 rehearsal. "My observation of Michael Jackson was that he was healthy," Gongaware said. "They had a meeting to discuss (the June 19 incident), and he took a couple days off and he came back strong" As to insurance issues, Gongaware said he was involved only peripherally. On June 25, Gongaware sent an email saying that if they didn't get sickness coverage in the insurance, they would be dropping the policy. Gongaware said he didn't know why he was pressing for sickness insurance on the day Michael died. Bob Taylor, the insurance broker, wrote back that it was always down to the medical issued from the word go. Regarding Randy Phillips asking for life insurance the day Michael died, Gongaware said he didn't pay much attention to insurance, didn't recall. The day Michael died, Gongaware said Phillips called him and told him to get over to the house right away, there seems to be a problem. Randy followed the ambulance to UCLA. "The second call was that he informed me that he had died," Gongaware remembered. On June 25, Gongaware said he went to the rehearsal at the Staples Center and talked to Kenny Ortega. Panish: "Were you sad Mr. Jackson died?""He was a business associate", Gongaware said about Michael. They did not didn't hang out as friends Panish asked about Phillips' email directing Gongaware to remove thin, skeletal footage of Michael in the red jacket from This Is It documentary. Gongaware testified that he remembered receiving the email. In his deposition played in court, Gongaware said he didn't recall the email. Panish: "Did you change your testimony?"AEG Live president and co-chief executive Randy Phillips wrote in Aug. 9 email: Make sure we take out the shots of Michael in that red leather jacket at the sound stage where the mini-movies were being filmed. He looks way too think (sic) and skeletalGongaware replied to Phillips, his boss: ok will have a look when it comes on screenGongaware said he didn't try to control any of the messages about Michael after his death to reflect he was fully engaged in rehearsals. Panish asked about an email from Gongaware okay'ing the band, singers and dancer to give interviews but asked them to keep it positive In another email July 9, 2009, email to music coordinator JoAnn Tominaga, Gongaware wrote: We are ok with the band, singers and dancers doing interviews now. The only thing we ask is that they keep it positive and stress that Michael was active, engaged and not the emaciated person some want to paint him as being.Answering questions from Jackson family attorney Brian Panish, Gongaware said he was not trying to control the film's message. Panish: "You're telling them what not to say, aren't you sir?"Gongaware's testimony again emphasized the contrast between the answers he gave during his deposition under oath in December 2012 and his responses in the courtroom. In testimony, he agreed that Phillips meant "thin" in his email, instead of the word he typed, 'think'. Asked during the deposition what Phillips meant, he replied, "I don't know what he meant" Gongaware said nothing was taken out of the documentary, which included rehearsals for the scheduled 50 concerts in London. Gongaware promised in a follow-up email to Phillips that he'd "have a look," but he testified that he never dumped any footage. "We didn't keep anything out based on what Randy wrote," Gogaware told jurors. Gongaware testified that he did not know why Phillips would ask that. Gongaware said there were 15,000 tickets per show, $1.5 million in tickets per show, $47 million for all 31 shows. Tickets were selling at lightening fast, Gongaware said. "As fast as the system can sell.". The tickets were sold in March, Gongaware said. It was held by the arena, AEG had control of the money. Gongaware said merchandising was another way of making money. The building, which is owned by AEG, would keep the revenue of beverage sold. Gongaware said the beverage money would offset the arena rent, which Michael would not have to pay. Gongaware: "His (MJ) potential was great"Before lunch, Panish asked Gongaware whether This Is It was intended to be a multi-city tour. Gongaware said no, it was just going to be the 50 shows at London's O2 arena. "The only thing we knew was 50 shows in London. Michael had not agreed to anything else," Gongaware explained Panish asked Gongaware by the time the show was sold out, how many people were in the queue to buy tickets. "250,000 people were still in the queue, which would be enough to sell another 50 shows," Gongaware answered. During Murray's trial, Gongaware testified that 250k people still wanted tickets. He told that jury This Is It would be a multi-city tour. Panish: "Did you tell the truth when you testified in this case, sir?"Panish then concluded his questioning of Gongaware. AEG cross AEG's attorney, Marvin Putnam, did the questioning of Gongaware on behalf of the defendants. Putnam: "Have you ever been sued personally for the wrongful death of anyone?"Putnam asked about Gongaware's memory and he said it's okay Putnam asked Gongaware about some of the emails shown to jurors yesterday. Putnam was trying to show that not all the contents of the emails had been shown to jury. Some email addresses had been redacted. Attorney Brian Panish objected to the redactions, and got testy with the judge. It prompted another lengthy sidebar. When attorneys returned from the judge's chambers, Putnam resumed questioning Gongaware about emails sent to his private account Putnam said Gongaware handed over more than 13,000 emails in discovery from the This Is It period Putnam inquired about Gongaware's Kazoodi personal email account. On 6/20/09, the chain of emails with "Trouble at the Front" was sent there. Gongaware said he didn't remember receiving this email. Gongaware said he had more than one "Kazoodi" email account. He said he was not using the account the email was sent to on 6/20. "The account was closed at the time." Putnam presented Gongaware a document that indicated the private email account had been closed at the time. Gongaware said he never denied it was sent. Gongaware claimed yesterday was the first time he saw this chain of emails. Putnam used the closed email account to try to show Gongaware's testimony was truthful Putnam: "Why could you not recall e-mails?"Some of the e-mails were new to him because he was so busy putting Jackson's tour together that he never read them, he said. Gongaware said he was receiving hundreds of email a day at the height of 2008/09 tour preparation. "Mostly, it was just a time factor if it was something that didn't have to do with me" Gongaware said he doesn't have an office at AEG, and that he works on his own projects. He has an office at his house. Gongaware is the Co-CEO of AEG Live Concerts West with John Meglen. He said he was the co-founder of the company. Phillips is AEG Live CEO Gongaware explained be has been testifying about what he could recall. If he didn't remember, he said he told the jury he couldn't recall. Gongaware testified he looked at the emails after his deposition because he wanted to put everything together and see the bigger picture. Putnam: "Did you try to give your best testimony?" Gongaware: "Yes, I did" Regarding the phone call between Gongaware and Dr. Murray where the doctor asked about $5 million, Gongaware said he remembers that call. The next call between the two, it was the $150,000 call, where Gongaware offered the doctor $150k. Gongaware said those were the only two calls he had with Dr. Murray Gongaware said the 1st time he met Dr. Murray was a meeting at Michael's Carolwood house. He said MJ, Kenny, Randy, Frank & Dr Murray were present. Gongaware recalled the other meeting with Dr. Murray was an encounter with him at The Forum. He remembers saying hello to him. Gongaware said he's sure he didn't meet with Dr. Murray other than on those two occasions Gongaware said he promoted couple of shows/dances in college. He graduated in '69 from Waynesboro College in Pennsylvania in Accounting. He worked for Arthur Andersen in NYC after college as auditor. He said one needed two years of experience in order to get CPA license.The company ended up shutting down after being involved in the Enron scandal, Gongaware explained. He said there's a continuing education requirement in order to maintain his CPA license, but he hasn't kept current. "I didn't like that work," Gongaware said about leaving the practice. "I wanted to do things and not just be an accountant." Gongaware said he ski bummed for a winter and would do bookkeeping to pay for his lodge. His first big show was in Colorado -- he got The Grateful Dead to perform at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colo. He said he didn't know the band or any of its managers, but asked them to come to Colorado. They did, and the show was a hit. "The concert was sold out", Gongaware said, and he became an independent promoter. Around 1975, he met Terry Bassett who worked at Concerts West and Gongaware went to work for them in their Seattle office. He worked for them for about 10 years. Gongaware said he went to work for the company because the money was steady. At Concerts West, Gongaware worked with Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, Beach Boys, Chicago, Eric Clapton, among others. This Concerts West is not the same; he is the currently the co-CEO. Gongaware left Seattle and came to LA to work at Concerts West. He then went to Warner Miller Films. The company did primarily ski movies. Jerry Weintraub was Elvis' promoter and Concerts West assigned him to work with Colonel Parker, Elvis' manager. Gongaware was in his 20s when he worked with Elvis. He said when they'd announce an Elvis concert, there would be lines at the box office for 4 days. Gongaware said Colonel would buy ads on every radio station and promote the show. When tickets went on sale, Gongaware was to report to Colonel every hour regarding the ticket sales. Elvis Presley's death became a controversy at this trial as the man (Gongaware) who promoted both artists' last tours testified. He testified yesterday that Presley died of a drug overdose, but when his own lawyer questioned him today he changed his testimony to say Elvis died of a heart ailment. Presley collapsed in the bathroom of his Memphis, Tennessee, mansion, Graceland, on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42. While his death was ruled the result of an irregular heartbeat, the autopsy report was sealed amid accusations that abuse of prescription drugs caused the problem.How Presley died is relevant because Jackson lawyers argue Gongaware's experience as Elvis's promoter should have made him more aware of drug abuse by artists, including Michael Jackson. Although he worked advance promotion on Elvis Presley's last tours -- under the direction of Presley manager Colonel Tom Parker -- Gongaware testified he never met Presley. Putnam:"Did you understand he had a problem with drugs?"Around 1992, Gongaware went to work on the Dangerous tour with Michael. This was his first time working with Michael Jackson. He worked with the Jacksons in 2000 but he remembered working on a tour with the Jacksons prior to 92 and said Michael was part of the group. "I was the tour manager, handled the logistics and travel for the B party," Gongaware said, adding he worked for Michael but not for A party.
Putnam: "Were there any doctors in that tour?"Gongaware said Dr. Forecast was Michael's personal doctor. He didn't think Dr. Forecast treated anyone else, so they had Dr. Finkelstein also. Dr. Finkelstein, a general practitioner, was in the B party. They went to places where they didn't know the quality of local healthcare. Gongaware explained Dr. Finkelstein treated B, C and D parties. Gongaware said he did not see any doctor treat Michael. Dr. Finkelstein told Gongaware he treated Michael twice. Dr. Forecast wasn't in Bangkok yet, so Dr. Finkelstein treated him when he needed. "The King of Thailand said Michael would have to do the second show because his friends were attending", Gongaware recalled.Gongaware said the King put armed guards outside their doors to make sure they didn't leave Putnam: "During the Dangerous tour, had you come to have an understating that Michael had a problem with drugs or painkillers?"Gongaware said. He learned it had to do with drug addiction because Michael announced it. Putnam played the audio with Michael's statement: "My friends and doctors advised me to seek professional guidance immediately in order to eliminate what has become an addition. It is time for me to acknowledge my need for treatment"On Jun 25, 2009 Gabriel Sutter (a tech guy) wrote Gongaware a condolences email. "It was such an incredible shock to go through that experience," Gongaware explained. Gongaware's response on July 5, 2009: I was working on the Elvis tour when he died so I kind of knew what to expect"You have all these people out of work," Gongaware explained. "With Elvis some were without jobs permanently." Under questioning from Putnam, Gongaware said he didn't mean that he expected Jackson to die like Elvis. He was referring to the trauma of people losing their jobs because a tour is canceled and the estate taking over the legacy, he said. Putnam: "When you wrote the email, did you expect Michael to die?"Here's what Gongaware had to say about the role of the estate after Elvis died (and what he expected after Jackson's death.): "Then the estate takes over, and everything's different. You have nothing to say about anything"When one of his friends asked about his plans after Michael's death, Gongaware replied he was "trying to recover our losses from the show" "Michael died of overdose of Propofol. He didn't die of being sick or malnutrition", Gongaware said. He said that he had no idea of what Propofol was. "I had no idea" Jackson was using propofol in the weeks before his death, Gongaware testified Gongaware said he worked on Michael's memorial service. He was in charge of the tickets and worked closely with the family. He said he didn't charge for his work. Putnam: "Why did you work at the memorial service?"Court Transcript 2017 - Michael Jackson: Searching For Neverland, starring Navi as Michael, premieres on the Lifetime channel in the US |
2023.05.30 12:54 Effective_Fan_8853 Is this the strangest first day ever?
Hi, I need some perspective on this situation. Thanks in advance!I started a new job literally yesterday and here's what's up so far- I accepted a remote job as a project manager after a very quick interview process (one week from call to offer and over Xmas week) interview process all over the phone. Post acceptance, the tell me they need me to start ASAP and push my start a week sooner than I offered (they pushed for even a week sooner but I was oot) so I've just started. In my preinterview on-boarding they tell me that they'd like me to come to the corporate headquarters outside of Chicago for a couple of days- all fine so far.I get this email from the admin assistant like 'you'll fly in take a bus from the airport and stay in our corporate apartment for your trip'- ok weird that they don't use a hotel and not keen on an hour bus ride but still not worried just yet. Next email from my new boss telling me what flight to book on their corporate website. We are going to be meeting at the airport and commuting together and also staying in this same corporate apartment together. No car. Same space (thank God we have our own rooms and bathrooms within the space). Ok- starting to get anxious.Im still just rolling with it on Sunday. I met her at her gate (for the first time I've ever seen her) at O'Hare and she's like 'we've got 15 mins to catch the bus are you ok with running?' We ran across O'Hare to catch this bus with minutes to spare. She talks to me nearly the whole bus ride -some pleasantries and some asking me about my previous role. We get off the bus catch an Uber to the shared apartment. It's late at this point- there's no food in this 'stocked apartment' besides beer and oatmeal. We order food (she paid). I ate and went to bed exhausted from the day and the non-stop talking. I went up to my room to go to sleep. Monday- Woke up and got ready. We left this apartment and got an Uber to Starbucks for breakfast. We went to the office where we had a small conference room where we spent nearly every minute of the day together- we even took bathroom breaks together (how fun!).We do a bit of onboarding and starting process review and she gets visibly annoyed when I ask questions about process flow (learning it's her way or no way) and she tells me it's not my job to worry about the controls that I've always worried about in my previous roles. They are doing their own waterfall/agile hybrid process I don't know anything more than the customer facing info on this product and she's really not inclined to expound- not your job- stay in your lane. I explain that it helps me understand what I'm doing if I understand the process and she shoots me down again. She said I need to take 'big steps back'. Whatever. I can be a talking head- dropped it..So she leaves for a bit to have a meeting with her boss and comes back and starts pinging and calling her pms (this starts at about 3 Central) that they need to report numbers before EOD for some budget report. They don't respond she starts calling people. I'm trying to read SharePoint stuff because effectively my training is now over and I'm just another person in the room. About 5pm she's still working and says she be working late. She was weird about giving me a key to get into the apartment. Then pinged some other out of town people who were in the office to have me go dine with them- I didn't ask for her to do this. After some talking my way out of their group I was able to leave and get an Uber to a different place where for the first time I was alone in 24 hours. She texted me while I was at the restaurant to check in... Literally left the office at 530 and this check in was at 7. I decided to leave the restaurant because apparently I'm being babysat and came back to the apartment around 8-830. She's on the phone with her boss like 'she finally came home'. She is sitting in our living room space (no TV's in any other space) working and is still literally calling people who will be my peers to send her data. I sit on the couch across from her and she said she got a 'weird vibe' from me and asked what was up.... (...l)She said she had concerns about me (in my life have never been an employee to have concerns about)- I explained that because of my experience my default is to monitor and control my teams work... AND this is DAY ONE. She's at this point still calling her employees, my peers to get them to send her different reports and such. She said to someone as I was in the room 'would you bet your job on that report' ? Tells me she is often on the phone with her boss at midnight and 2 am. I mentioned work life balance and said I I don't really sync or look at work after I'm done for they day and she responded with 'so after 6 I'll just have to call your personal cell, right?'She presssed on the vibe thing - I said I had concerns about calling employees (literally one was on her way ooo and she was asking her to stop her commute to get her information) and felt this situation was strange - and from my experience this seems to be a process issue- either her employees aren't reporting properly or the data collection is flawed and then stepped back and said it was my first day and I only have a very limited view or her budget crisis situation and went to bed.Would this all be not so bad if I wasn't trapped in a random apartment and had a hotel room where I could come and go as I wanted without feeling under a microscope? Is this just a really dumb situation? I reached out to my friends about it and one said I should be running away and the other said to collect my paycheck and do whatever they want. I will be leaving this office Wednesday and will be working remotely after... It's 5 am, I can't sleep because this awful situation and even worse this stupid uncomfortable bed. Really starting to feel like this is all by design and they are trying to break me.(would that even be a surprise anymore? Lol)Sorry for the length. Looking forward to your thoughts. Thank you again!
submitted by Effective_Fan_8853 to careerguidance [link] [comments]
Hi, I need some perspective on this situation. Thanks in advance!I started a new job literally yesterday and here's what's up so far- I accepted a remote job as a project manager after a very quick interview process (one week from call to offer and over Xmas week) interview process all over the phone. Post acceptance, the tell me they need me to start ASAP and push my start a week sooner than I offered (they pushed for even a week sooner but I was oot) so I've just started. In my preinterview on-boarding they tell me that they'd like me to come to the corporate headquarters outside of Chicago for a couple of days- all fine so far.I get this email from the admin assistant like 'you'll fly in take a bus from the airport and stay in our corporate apartment for your trip'- ok weird that they don't use a hotel and not keen on an hour bus ride but still not worried just yet. Next email from my new boss telling me what flight to book on their corporate website. We are going to be meeting at the airport and commuting together and also staying in this same corporate apartment together. No car. Same space (thank God we have our own rooms and bathrooms within the space). Ok- starting to get anxious.Im still just rolling with it on Sunday. I met her at her gate (for the first time I've ever seen her) at O'Hare and she's like 'we've got 15 mins to catch the bus are you ok with running?' We ran across O'Hare to catch this bus with minutes to spare. She talks to me nearly the whole bus ride -some pleasantries and some asking me about my previous role. We get off the bus catch an Uber to the shared apartment. It's late at this point- there's no food in this 'stocked apartment' besides beer and oatmeal. We order food (she paid). I ate and went to bed exhausted from the day and the non-stop talking. I went up to my room to go to sleep. Monday- Woke up and got ready. We left this apartment and got an Uber to Starbucks for breakfast. We went to the office where we had a small conference room where we spent nearly every minute of the day together- we even took bathroom breaks together (how fun!).We do a bit of onboarding and starting process review and she gets visibly annoyed when I ask questions about process flow (learning it's her way or no way) and she tells me it's not my job to worry about the controls that I've always worried about in my previous roles. They are doing their own waterfall/agile hybrid process I don't know anything more than the customer facing info on this product and she's really not inclined to expound- not your job- stay in your lane. I explain that it helps me understand what I'm doing if I understand the process and she shoots me down again. She said I need to take 'big steps back'. Whatever. I can be a talking head- dropped it..So she leaves for a bit to have a meeting with her boss and comes back and starts pinging and calling her pms (this starts at about 3 Central) that they need to report numbers before EOD for some budget report. They don't respond she starts calling people. I'm trying to read SharePoint stuff because effectively my training is now over and I'm just another person in the room. About 5pm she's still working and says she be working late. She was weird about giving me a key to get into the apartment. Then pinged some other out of town people who were in the office to have me go dine with them- I didn't ask for her to do this. After some talking my way out of their group I was able to leave and get an Uber to a different place where for the first time I was alone in 24 hours. She texted me while I was at the restaurant to check in... Literally left the office at 530 and this check in was at 7. I decided to leave the restaurant because apparently I'm being babysat and came back to the apartment around 8-830. She's on the phone with her boss like 'she finally came home'. She is sitting in our living room space (no TV's in any other space) working and is still literally calling people who will be my peers to send her data. I sit on the couch across from her and she said she got a 'weird vibe' from me and asked what was up.... (...l)She said she had concerns about me (in my life have never been an employee to have concerns about)- I explained that because of my experience my default is to monitor and control my teams work... AND this is DAY ONE. She's at this point still calling her employees, my peers to get them to send her different reports and such. She said to someone as I was in the room 'would you bet your job on that report' ? Tells me she is often on the phone with her boss at midnight and 2 am. I mentioned work life balance and said I I don't really sync or look at work after I'm done for they day and she responded with 'so after 6 I'll just have to call your personal cell, right?'She presssed on the vibe thing - I said I had concerns about calling employees (literally one was on her way ooo and she was asking her to stop her commute to get her information) and felt this situation was strange - and from my experience this seems to be a process issue- either her employees aren't reporting properly or the data collection is flawed and then stepped back and said it was my first day and I only have a very limited view or her budget crisis situation and went to bed.Would this all be not so bad if I wasn't trapped in a random apartment and had a hotel room where I could come and go as I wanted without feeling under a microscope? Is this just a really dumb situation? I reached out to my friends about it and one said I should be running away and the other said to collect my paycheck and do whatever they want. I will be leaving this office Wednesday and will be working remotely after... It's 5 am, I can't sleep because this awful situation and even worse this stupid uncomfortable bed. Really starting to feel like this is all by design and they are trying to break me.(would that even be a surprise anymore? Lol)Sorry for the length. Looking forward to your thoughts. Thank you again!
2023.05.30 08:18 callthewinchesters No summer episodes.
 | Looks like we’ll have to wait until fall to find out a certain someone’s fate. submitted by callthewinchesters to ChicagoPD [link] [comments] |
2023.05.30 06:07 anon_stranger98 Betrayal in Old School RuneScape: A Tale of Stolen Dreams and Broken Trust
 | Hey fellow adventurers, submitted by anon_stranger98 to oldschoolrs [link] [comments] I'm sharing a heart-wrenching story today that took place within the captivating world of Old School RuneScape. Just a couple of months ago, I returned to this incredible game, with a bank value of around 600 million gp and the Tombs of Amascut (ToA) in full swing. During my journey, I had the privilege of crossing paths with some truly amazing gamers who graciously invited me to join their elite 410 invo raids, despite my noob status. Little did I know that this newfound camaraderie would take a devastating turn. One day, a generous gamer from this group offered to lend me their valuable gear while they were away. I was truly awestruck by their kind gesture, as it demonstrated the warmth and generosity(n't?) of this gaming community. After a couple of days, I returned the borrowed gear, grateful for the opportunity it had given me to grow and excel in the the raid. I poured my heart and soul into countless raids, pushing myself to the limit, and ultimately earning more valuable loot, including my Best-in-Slot (BIS) gear. Sadly, the gamer who had previously lent me their gear experienced a stroke of misfortune, losing everything due to high-risk activities. Remembering their past support in my times of need, I extended a helping hand without hesitation, just as they had done for me. On the first occasion, they repaid my trust by returning the borrowed items, further strengthening our bond. However, today's events took an unexpected and heart-wrenching turn. During a Discord call with this gamer, they approached me with a request to borrow my hard-earned gear, citing a need to make some quick ToA money. Fueled by the memories of their past kindness, I happily agreed, naively believing that our friendship would endure any challenge. Little did I know that this act of trust would be shattered so cruelly. As the hours went by, I attempted to reach out to them, convinced that a technical issue with Discord was causing the communication breakdown. It wasn't until later that I discovered the bitter truth: they had blocked not only me but also everyone on our Discord server before vanishing into thin air, taking my valuable items with them. When I desperately tried to confront them online, they simply logged out, leaving me feeling utterly betrayed. So, I address this message directly to you, Xemnax, the one who callously abused my trust. I implore you to do the right thing and return what rightfully belongs to me. The gear I entrusted to you represents countless hours of hard work and sacrifice. It is not yours to keep, and your actions have caused immeasurable pain and disappointment. I share my story not only to seek justice but also to bring awareness to the Old School RuneScape community. Let us stand united against such deceitful acts and ensure that no one else falls victim to this kind of betrayal. TL;DR: Xemnax, a person I considered a friend in the Old School RuneScape betrayed my trust by stealing the valuable gear I loaned them. These items hold significant in-game value to me, and I worked tirelessly to obtain them. I'm devastated by this betrayal and hope that by sharing my story, justice can be served and others can avoid similar experiences. PD. Both discord names belong to him @Xemnax @ChaoticOreo. My ingame name is: I Got Pet |
2023.05.30 05:53 NaimaChan Trip Report: Tokyo, Kawaguchiko, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Yokohama, Kamakura
Just got back from 10 days in Japan and wanted to type up a trip report to hopefully help others that are trying to plan a trip!
Our trip was 5/16 - 5/28 including travel days. This was my 2nd time in Japan (first time was study abroad for 5 weeks in May/June 2016), but it was my mom & sister's first time, so the goal was to include as many must-see activities as we possibly could in the short time we were there. Our days were packed to the brim however all 3 of us are fairly active and healthy so despite being absolutely exhausted by the end of each day, in retrospect we wouldn't have changed a thing in our itinerary.
That being said, our itinerary would be much too busy for the average person's first trip to Japan so keep that in mind if you use this information to plan your own trip. For example, we usually only had time to sit down and eat for one meal per day and had to eat on the go for the other meals in order to have enough time to go to all the places we wanted to go to. There was very little downtime in our trip.
Day 3: Imperial Palace/Ueno
Day 4: Shibuya/Akihabara
Day 5: Asakusa/Ginza/Omoide Yokocho
Day 6: Harajuku
Day 7: Kawaguchiko
Day 8: Kanazawa
Day 9: Kyoto Day 1
Day 10: Kyoto/Nara Day 2
Day 11: Tattoo
Day 12: Yokohama/Kamakura
Day 13: Travel
submitted by NaimaChan to JapanTravel [link] [comments]
Our trip was 5/16 - 5/28 including travel days. This was my 2nd time in Japan (first time was study abroad for 5 weeks in May/June 2016), but it was my mom & sister's first time, so the goal was to include as many must-see activities as we possibly could in the short time we were there. Our days were packed to the brim however all 3 of us are fairly active and healthy so despite being absolutely exhausted by the end of each day, in retrospect we wouldn't have changed a thing in our itinerary.
That being said, our itinerary would be much too busy for the average person's first trip to Japan so keep that in mind if you use this information to plan your own trip. For example, we usually only had time to sit down and eat for one meal per day and had to eat on the go for the other meals in order to have enough time to go to all the places we wanted to go to. There was very little downtime in our trip.
Tourist Tips
- Luggage
- We each traveled with 2 checked luggage since they were included in our flight. I had one full sized suitcase and one slightly smaller suitcase which both only had one side filled when I left the US. The plan was to fill the other half of the suitcases with souvenirs to bring home. Last time I went to Japan, it cost me ~$200 to ship two large boxes of souvenirs back home, so despite having to bring a lot of luggage this saved me a significant amount of money and I will be doing this for future trips as well.
- Within our luggage we also packed a duffel bag to hold all our purchases on heavy shopping days and a daily backpack to hold things like our trash bag, hand towel, hand sanitizewet wipes, body wipes, small purchases, etc. My carry-on was a 40L backpack that I took with us when we stayed overnight in Kyoto.
- Money
- I brought $400 cash to exchange at the airport. I had gotten a Charles Schwab debit card before leaving which has no foreign transaction/ATM fees so I planned to use my card for whatever purchases I could then use cash for everything else. I ended up withdrawing another ¥20000 which was just enough cash to last me the rest of our trip.
- Walking
- Last time I went to Japan I survived wearing flat gladiator sandals basically the whole trip, but this did NOT work this time around for whatever reason (I guess we walked a lot more this time?). BRING COMFORTABLE SHOES TO WALK IN. I ended up having to buy sneakers on day 2 because I stupidly didn't think I would need them. I was more concerned about looking cute for pictures (ha) but I quickly realized that all the girls in Japan wear sneakers with their cute skirts and dresses, so I blended right in. I would also recommend bringing a second pair of shoes with you each day (in your backpack) to swap into if the shoes you are wearing start giving you blisters.
- Masking
- We saw a lot of people not wearing masks, but the majority of people still wear masks. I would say the ratio of people wearing masks to not wearing masks was about 80:20.
- Trash
- As many have mentioned on this subreddit, due to the lack of public trash bins I would highly recommend bringing a reusable trash bag to store your trash while you're out and about until you can find a bin. We found these cool black fabric ones with a waterproof liner on the inside that you could rinse out when it got dirty and could clip to the outside of your backpack so it wasn’t with your other belongings.
- Restrooms
- Due to the lack of hand dryers/paper towels in bathrooms we also brought hand towels as recommended, but found ourselves just air drying our hands way more often than using the hand towels as it was often more cumbersome to remove our backpacks and fish out our hand towels to use.
Accommodations
- Sakura Hotel Jimbocho in Tokyo
- I stayed in this hostel when I studied abroad in college in 2016, so it holds a special place in my heart. You can get a single room here for cheap, and although the rooms are extremely small, I don’t travel to Japan to spend time in my hotel so when looking for accommodations price is my #1 factor, not comfort. Toilets and showers are shared in this hostel and the rooms are set up coming off of a square hallway with sinks/restroom facilities in the center. The facilities don’t appear to be very modern and pretty, but the water pressure of the showers is the BEST. They have other room types as well, like bunk-beds, double rooms, etc. They have a 24 hour cafe downstairs and breakfast is included in your stay. All their staff speak English & Japanese (and other languages as well). They host some cool events like language exchanges and walking/jogging groups if you are more of a social person. I really enjoy the location of this hostel. You are within walking distance from the Imperial Palace and it still feels like you are in the city without it being so loud and busy like if you were to stay in Shibuya, etc. They do have other locations if you’re looking for somewhere with more nightlife.
- The Millennials Hostel in Kyoto
- This is a really modern looking hostel in Kyoto, 2 streets over from Pontocho. The facilities are gorgeous and look brand new. They are set up similar to a capsule style hotel with a bunch of rooms coming off a hallway. Your bed takes up your entire space, and you have about 18 inches at the foot of your bed to stand. You pull an opaque privacy screen down to make your room private - there is no door. You can control your bed’s incline and lights through an iPhone in your room. There is storage space under your bed and on a shelf above your bed. Restrooms are shared but the showers are in one room and toilets in another. There are a lot of shared common spaces including a full stocked kitchen you can cook your meals in, but we literally only stayed here to sleep so we didn’t explore those spaces. I was worried about other guests being noisy but that wasn’t the case - everyone was super respectful. The price and location was great so I would definitely come back here.
Daily Itinerary
Day 1 & 2: Travel- We flew out of Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Our direct flight to Narita was around $1600 after taxes, fees, and flight insurance. I had one layover the last time I flew to Japan and in the future I will only be buying a direct flight as I found this to be way easier than having a layover.
- Once we arrived in Narita we turned on our e-sim. We chose Ubigi after reading many positive reviews on this subreddit and I highly recommend them. We had some issues getting iMessage to work despite following Ubigi's instructions to a T, so we ended up just using WhatsApp to message during the trip, however, iMessage did start working later on.
- We decided against picking up our JR passes & seat reservations at the airport because the line was long and we didn't need them for another 5 days.
- Going through customs/immigration and grabbing our luggage only took about 20-30 minutes. There were many staff to guide you and we found the whole process to be really smooth.
- We exchanged our currency and went downstairs to buy our tickets for Narita Express at a ticket vending machine. We got round trip tickets for ¥3460 (keep in mind that the return ticket needs to be used within 14 days). We had purchased our Suica before leaving and put them in our iPhone wallets and they came with a balance of ¥2000 so we didn't load money onto our cards until the following day.
- We took the Narita Express to Tokyo Station then took a cab to our hostel in Jimbocho. We each traveled with 2 checked luggage, so we found the short and inexpensive taxi ride to be a better option than lugging 6 giant suitcases on local trains to get to our hostel.
- We checked into our hostel. The total price per person for 11 nights was ¥49500 (about $380).
Day 3: Imperial Palace/Ueno
- We woke up and walked to the Imperial Palace/East Gardens. We got there right when they opened and spent about 90 minutes there. We walked back to Jimbocho to go to my favorite tempura place in Jimbocho. This place has gotten quite famous since I was last there in 2016. We were first in line at 10:45am and by the time they opened for lunch at 11:30, there was a line of 20+ people. Our lunch cost only ¥800.
- After lunch we took the train to Ueno and spent some time in the Tokyo National Museum and Ueno Park. We also visited Shinobazu No Ike Bentendo Temple which is a cool temple right inside Ueno Park. While at Ueno Station, we picked up our JR passes & seat reservation tickets and also put ¥5000 on our Suica. We really enjoyed the fact that you could charge your mobile suica at a convenience store using cash - we didn’t have to worry about finding the machines in train stations with the phone holders.
- After that we walked through Ameyoko and did some shopping - I bought a super cute used Coach purse for around $65. Ameyoko seemed to have a lot more products than when I was there in 2016… but I also had more money this time around so maybe I was just paying more attention!
- We took a train back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags and change. We took a train to Shinjuku to go to New York Grill for our dinner reservation. New York Grill is on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt hotel in Shinjuku and the views were incredible. We got the Spring Harvest 5-course dinner which included wagyu and it was easily the best beef I have ever eaten in my life - so juicy and buttery. The cost was ¥23100 per person (~$175).
- 25,138 steps on this day.
Day 4: Shibuya/Akihabara
- We woke up and took a train to Shibuya to see Hachiko, go to the Starbucks near Shibuya Crossing, and shop at Shibuya109 and Uniqlo. It was hard for me to find any clothing that would fit me at the stores in Shibuya109 (I am a US 8/10 which is basically considered plus size in Japan) however I was able to find a cute t-shirt at Punyu's in Shibuya109 and two dresses at Uniqlo. I also bought sneakers at the Skechers store.
- I also went to the Mega Don Quijote in Shibuya and spent about $102 on candy and snacks to bring home. Lots of fun KitKat flavors here but it was very crowded and hard to walk around with my extremely full baskets.
- We took a train back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags and had a quick lunch via conbini.
- We took a train to Akihabara and bought some souvenirs and gachapon, and walked all the way back to Ameyoko where I spent another $90 on candy and snacks to bring home.
- We took a train back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags and change. We took a train to Ginza to go to Tempura Kondo for dinner (a Michelin starred tempura restaurant). We got the Yomogi dinner which was ¥23100 per person (¥25410 after fees, ~$195). The staff were amazing - they noticed that my sister was left-handed and set up her plates/silverware as such which was really observant. We loved the dinner, however there was WAY too much food for us; the staff recognized we were starting to get full, and asked us if we would be able to eat the next course which was ten-don. I was really concerned about being disrespectful and wasting food, so I was really glad that they noticed and asked!
- 19,445 steps on this day.
Day 5: Asakusa/Ginza/Omoide Yokocho
- We woke up and took a train to Asakusa to see Sanja Matsuri. We shopped at the small souvenir shops on Nakamise-dori and had street food at the festival for lunch. I bought an awesome goshuincho here with a wooden cover and foxes on it.
- After being completely overstimulated, we took a train to Rikugi-en Garden to escape the crowds. This garden is a little off the beaten path, just outside the big city, but it is completely gorgeous and so worth the trip.
- After the garden, we took a train to Ginza to window shop and go to our reservation at Higashiya Ginza for wagashi & tea pairing. We had 5 wagashi paired with 5 teas that were amazing. It cost ¥4500 per person.
- After this, we walked to Mitsukoshi Ginza to explore the basement food floor and grab dinner. They start to discount the food as the stores near closing time, so going for a late dinner can save you a couple yen! After eating on their rooftop terrace which was beautiful, we walked to Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki Paris Marunouichi to grab dessert then headed back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags.
- After we ate, we took a train to Shinjuku to walk down Omoide Yokocho. We had a drink on the third floor of Bar Albatross - highly recommend! The alleyway is a lot shorter than I imagined, and very crowded as you would expect. I probably wouldn’t go back here in the future but I am glad we visited!
- 25,002 steps on this day.
Day 6: Harajuku
- We woke up and took a train to Harajuku to visit Meiji Shrine and got our first goshuin.
- After visiting the shrine, we walked back to Takeshita-dori to get lunch at Afuri Ramen. They’re known for their ramen with yuzu in their broth and this was one of our favorite meals during our trip. We got there about 20 minutes before they opened and were ~8th in line. By the time they opened, the line was stretching around the building!
- We walked down Takeshita-dori and shopped, then went to our reservation at Mipig Cafe (mini pig cafe). This place was so cute! You can make reservations for 30 minutes or 1 hour where you sit on the floor and miniature pigs will come and sit on your lap. You weren’t allowed to pick the pigs up and the staff were super kind and handled the pigs well. A 30 minute reservation was ¥1800 per person.
- After the pigs, we walked down Omotesando and took the train to Shinjuku to get dinner on the food floor at Isetan.
- After we ate on the rooftop terrace (beautiful once again), we headed back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags. We took the train to Shibuya to go to our reservation at Shibuya Sky. We got the package where you get an admission ticket including a 50 minute reservation for the sofa seats and a choice of a mini bottle of champagne or 2 beers per person, which cost ¥5900 per person. The views were unreal and I recommend reserving the sofa seats so you can get amazing pictures. This was a highlight of our trip.
- 21,719 steps on this day.
Day 7: Kawaguchiko
- This was our first travel day. We woke up early to take the highway bus from Busta Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko. The bus was ¥4400 per person. We were able to get some super clear pictures of Mt. Fuji while we were on the bus and right when we arrived at the station.
- We bought the daily unlimited bus pass for ¥1500 which ended up not being worth it for us because we spent so little time seeing things on the bus route. First, we went to the Panoramic Ropeway. We got there about 15 minutes before they opened and there was already a really long line. By this time, Mt. Fuji was already completely covered in clouds but the ropeway was really cool and we still got some awesome panoramic pictures. They have a shop at the top where you can get ice cream and sit on some swings and take pictures.
- After the ropeway we took the bus back to Kawaguchiko Station to get on the train to go to Chureito Pagoda. The gnats here were INSANE. We climbed up the ~400 or so steps to the top and got some cool pictures as well as our goshuin.
- We walked back to the station and took the train to Fuji-san Station and walked ~30 minutes to Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine. The wooded walk up to the shrine is absolutely gorgeous. We got goshuin here as well.
- After the shrine, we walked and took a train back to Kawaguchiko Station to eat a conbini dinner, do last minute shopping, and catch our bus back to Tokyo.
- 19,374 steps on this day.
Day 8: Kanazawa
- We woke up early to catch our 6:16am shinkansen to Kanazawa. Once we arrived, we bought the daily unlimited bus pass and took the bus to Omicho Market where we bought some souvenirs and food.
- We walked from Omicho Market to visit Ozaki Shrine and Oyama Shrine and got goshuin at both places. My sister realized she lost her wallet at this point, but a kind soul had turned it in to the staff at Ozaki Shrine!
- We took the bus from Oyama Shrine to Kenroku-en Garden, where we walked around, took lots of pictures, and sat down for lunch at a local restaurant.
- After lunch, we took the bus to the Higashi Chaya district where we shopped and took pictures.
- After that, we took the bus back to Kanazawa Station to catch our 5:57pm shinkansen back to Tokyo.
- 20,192 steps on this day.
Day 9: Kyoto Day 1
- We woke up early to pack our overnight bags and catch our 6:21am shinkansen to Kyoto, where we would be staying for one night. We decided to keep our reservation at our Tokyo hostel because 1) it was super cheap and 2) we would be able to leave all our suitcases and belongings in our rooms for when we returned to Tokyo.
- When we arrived in Kyoto, we headed straight to our hostel to have them hold our bags before we could check in later that day.
- After that, we took a local bus to the Arashiyama area. It was absolutely packed with school groups and tour buses. We walked up Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street to Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple where it was much quieter. We got goshuin and visited the small and private bamboo grove behind the temple. We walked back down Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street towards Togetsukyo Bridge where we stopped and sat down for lunch then continued shopping along the way. I got lots of uji-matcha here.
- We walked back to Arashiyama Station and took a train to Kiyomizu-dera where we got goshuin, then walked to a small rooftop bar overlooking the Hokan-ji temple and pagoda and got awesome pictures and had dinner.
- After eating, we walked back to our hostel and checked in, then slept for the night. Our 1 night stay cost ¥5000 per person.
- 21,545 steps on this day.
Day 10: Kyoto/Nara Day 2
- We woke up super early to check out of our hostel and head to Fushimi Inari. Our hostel held our bags while we went sightseeing for the day. We arrived around 6:45am which was so worth it - it wasn’t crowded at all and we got lots of pictures of the shrine and torii gates without any people in them. We walked for about 30 minutes up the mountain then headed back to Inari Station to head to Nara.
- Once we arrived in Nara, we spent some time with the deer then visited Todai-ji and got goshuin.
- After that, we took a train back to Fushimi Inari to visit the souvenir shops which had not opened yet when we had gotten there earlier that day. We shopped and got goshuin, then headed to Sannenzaka/Ninenzaka to shop. We visited Ryozen Kannon to get pictures (they had closed by the time we got there) and walked down Ishibei-koji Lane and Hanamikoji Street.
- After that, we walked back to our hostel to pick up our bags. We took a taxi to Kyoto Station to catch our 7:36pm shinkansen back to Tokyo.
- 27,861 steps on this day.
Day 11: Tattoo
- My mom and I went to a tattoo shop near Shibuya to get matching tattoos on our wrists, then my mom spent the rest of the day shopping in Shibuya with my sister while I got another large tattoo on my shoulder.
- After my tattoo was finished, we all met up in Ikebukuro to get gyudon for dinner.
- 9,879 steps on this day.
Day 12: Yokohama/Kamakura
- We woke up and took a train to Yokohama where we walked the Minato Mirai 21 area and shopped and had lunch at World Porters.
- After lunch, we took a train to Kamakura. First, we visited Hase-dera and got goshuin. I got lots of pictures of the hydrangeas even though they weren’t in full bloom yet.
- After that we walked up the road to Daibutsu and got goshuin. We walked back to Hase Station and took a train to Kamakura Station and walked the pedestrian pathway in the center of the road to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu. We got our goshuin and were able to observe a small part of a traditional Japanese wedding that was happening at the shrine, which was really cool.
- After that, we walked back to Kamakura Station and took a train back to Tokyo.
- We spent the night packing. I ended up completely filling my suitcases with my souvenirs and had to put even more in my carry-on bag.
- 21,131 steps on this day.
Day 13: Travel
- We woke up and headed back to Senso-ji to grab our goshuin, since it was too busy when Sanja Matsuri was happening the week before.
- We took a train back to our hostel and checked out around 11am, then made our way to Tokyo Station to take the Narita Express back to the airport.
- We arrived at the airport with plenty of time before our flight so we could get last-minute souvenirs. I found a couple flavors of KitKat and Hi-Chew here that I could not find in Donki/Ameyoko - but I could not find Beni-Imo KitKat which is the flavor that I was looking for! :(
- We flew back to O’Hare and drove home from there.
Trip Cost
- Total trip cost: ~$5462.73
- Total spent before I left Japan (flight, JR pass, highway bus ticket, tattoo deposit, pay-ahead reservations, suica, car rental): $2562.73
- Total I spent in Japan (souvenirs, snacks, accommodations, transportation, meals, activities/admission, reservations, tattoo): ~$2900
Cost Breakdown
Airfare- Total (USD): $1600
- Total: ¥54500
- ¥49500 (Tokyo hostel/11 nights) + ¥5000 (Kyoto hostel/1 night)
- Total: ~¥64470
- ¥33610 (JR pass) + ¥4400 (highway bus) + ¥3460 (N’EX) + ¥18000 (local trains/bus) + ¥5000 (taxis - approximate)
- Total: ~¥88510
- ¥40000 (breakfast/lunch/dinner) + ¥48510 (meal reservations)
- Total: ~¥150000
- Goshuin, charms, matcha powder, candy, jewelry, clothing, purses, shrine offerings, postcards, etc.
- Total: ~¥9800
- Pig Cafe, tea/wagashi tasting, shrines/temples, etc.
- Total (USD): $604.66
2023.05.30 05:39 OhiOstas Since the Bulls traded Jimmy Butler: Bulls has 1 playoff appearance… Jimmy Butler has 2 Finals appearances
Source
Dear Diary: Just another day to spread my hate for Jerry Reinsdorf, Gar Forman, and John Paxson. Bulls failed their rebuild, Bulls traded their young pieces to be competitive… just to squeak into their only playoff appearance and lose in 5, and Butler has been leaving his impact around the league. I’m not saying Bulls would be living in the finals with Butler, but they would be in a much better position compared to their dumpster fire rn.
Bulls fans like to say: “Media made the Bulls pick Rose or Butler”. Rose is a Chicago legend, but at that point it was always Butler. He was younger & better… Bulls fans would be upset, at first, but winning solves everything.
Bulls fans like to say: “Bulls tried to build around him & it didn’t work”. LOL you call Rondo & Wade a legit way to build around your star player? Wade was a shell of himself and came for the hometown paycheck. Rondo was a viable role player, but he shouldn’t be your 2nd/3rd best player. Jimmy’s only real chance at being competitive was with Rose’s old running mates + Pau, and they were damn competitive… a buzzer beater away from being 3-1 at one point against Cleveland LeBron.
Bulls fans like to say: “He would’ve left anyway.” Maybe he would’ve, maybe he wouldn’t… doesn’t mean you just give up on your star player because he might leave. You put your best foot forward, which the Bulls didn’t, and produce the best result you can get. If it sucks, oh well at least you tried. If it works, Jimmy would be happy with being competitive & be inclined to stay with a competitive team who drafted and did right by him.
Instead of all of that, Bulls gave up on Butler and traded him away for a good player with a shit plan. End of diary
submitted by OhiOstas to chicagobulls [link] [comments]
Dear Diary: Just another day to spread my hate for Jerry Reinsdorf, Gar Forman, and John Paxson. Bulls failed their rebuild, Bulls traded their young pieces to be competitive… just to squeak into their only playoff appearance and lose in 5, and Butler has been leaving his impact around the league. I’m not saying Bulls would be living in the finals with Butler, but they would be in a much better position compared to their dumpster fire rn.
Bulls fans like to say: “Media made the Bulls pick Rose or Butler”. Rose is a Chicago legend, but at that point it was always Butler. He was younger & better… Bulls fans would be upset, at first, but winning solves everything.
Bulls fans like to say: “Bulls tried to build around him & it didn’t work”. LOL you call Rondo & Wade a legit way to build around your star player? Wade was a shell of himself and came for the hometown paycheck. Rondo was a viable role player, but he shouldn’t be your 2nd/3rd best player. Jimmy’s only real chance at being competitive was with Rose’s old running mates + Pau, and they were damn competitive… a buzzer beater away from being 3-1 at one point against Cleveland LeBron.
Bulls fans like to say: “He would’ve left anyway.” Maybe he would’ve, maybe he wouldn’t… doesn’t mean you just give up on your star player because he might leave. You put your best foot forward, which the Bulls didn’t, and produce the best result you can get. If it sucks, oh well at least you tried. If it works, Jimmy would be happy with being competitive & be inclined to stay with a competitive team who drafted and did right by him.
Instead of all of that, Bulls gave up on Butler and traded him away for a good player with a shit plan. End of diary
2023.05.30 04:44 Itsgurtskyy Syndicate RP
๑▬▬▬▬๑ SYNDICATE RP ๑▬▬▬▬๑
➥ Hello there! We would love to extend an invitation to you to come and be a part of our wonderful community at Syndicate RP a Fivem Roleplay Server. We believe that you could play a significant role in our server, and we would be honored to have you join us. Our team at SRP is dedicated to delivering realistic roleplays to our community, and we hope to provide you with an unforgettable experience. Yes we are still building our numbers aren't great but we will get there one day at a time, so if you decide to join please don't leave immediately at least fly in and check it out!!
There are a few things that we are looking for as we get stuff up and running:*
--Cookouts --Camping --Bowling --Fishing ** **--Hunting --Mining --Drugs: lsd, dabs, coke, heroin, weed, crack and many more! --Active staff team! --Custom PD cars and uniforms --Custom EMS vehicles ** --LB Phones** --BCS_Housing able to furnish your home they way you want it!! --Realistic RP --Realistic Economy --Server is up 24/7
There's so much to offer, come check us out https://discord.gg/dDhfQtewsM
submitted by Itsgurtskyy to FiveMServers [link] [comments]
➥ Hello there! We would love to extend an invitation to you to come and be a part of our wonderful community at Syndicate RP a Fivem Roleplay Server. We believe that you could play a significant role in our server, and we would be honored to have you join us. Our team at SRP is dedicated to delivering realistic roleplays to our community, and we hope to provide you with an unforgettable experience. Yes we are still building our numbers aren't great but we will get there one day at a time, so if you decide to join please don't leave immediately at least fly in and check it out!!
There are a few things that we are looking for as we get stuff up and running:*
- YOU – PD except Chief –** EMS except Chief ** – Business Owners/Employees – Mechanics ** – **Lawyers
- Judges
- Active Gangs/MC
--Cookouts --Camping --Bowling --Fishing ** **--Hunting --Mining --Drugs: lsd, dabs, coke, heroin, weed, crack and many more! --Active staff team! --Custom PD cars and uniforms --Custom EMS vehicles ** --LB Phones** --BCS_Housing able to furnish your home they way you want it!! --Realistic RP --Realistic Economy --Server is up 24/7
There's so much to offer, come check us out https://discord.gg/dDhfQtewsM
2023.05.30 03:29 Miracle394 AITA for getting angry over my cousin still not giving me the kpop album she promised she would give me
I have a feeling I might be the AH here, but I would like to talk about it. I (19F) got a message from my cousin (23F) on April 24th that she ordered all 3 of the seventeen FML albums, one for each of us. I was excited for this, of course, and waited patently, got a message on May 5 that it was delayed but a few days later and it came and she said we would open them when she said because she still didn't decide which she didn't at the time. We were ready to open it one day, but my sister at the time decided she didn't want to go that day (she's autistic and has a routine in which we go to their house every day). This is where bad luck started as both my cousins work, and every time after that, when I came, they were at work. After a week of this, my other cousin, her sister, got a fml album as a gift from her friend, so she got to open one. However, when I asked my cousin about this, she said she forgot which one she wanted, and I have to wait to open it still. This made me upset but I held my tongue but my body language showed I was upset and I waited for another week, then they were going to Chicago for a wedding so I asked if they could open it before they left but no she said I have to wait 3 days because she was busy with packing which I understood but it still pissed me off. Now she finally returned and took forever I the shower that I couldn't open it again because it was time for us to leave. My mom said tomorrow but I'm having a get-together with my friends because it's one of my friend's birthday. And then she said she's busy on Wednesday. At that point, I slammed the door shut and left the house because I was pissed as I felt all the joy of opening the album gone. I went on a rant with my mom about it, mumbling to myself about it as I can't talk to anyone else about it and my mom told me to shut the fuck up because I'm making a big deal out of nothing. I feel like she's right, but as I'm writing this, my blood is boiling still because in my mind I am picturing the package, that is still on the floor by the door unopened for more than a month. AITA?
submitted by Miracle394 to AmItheAsshole [link] [comments]
2023.05.30 02:38 Dry_Negotiation_mist Healthy breakup, but having trouble deciding to keep in touch
 | My boyfriend and I have been dating for 3 years, and we broke up for almost a week now. A healthy thing we did when we argued or talked about something important was to write everything down to make sure the perspective was clear, and it’s kind of like a note taker to decide/ reiterate the terms and conditions of how we will move forward from the circumstance/situation (this are the messages above). We’ve dated throughout college, and I love him and I KNOW he loves me. His eyes light up when he sees me, and he is a whole different person when we’re around each other. He makes me so happy. I don’t ONLY love him, but I am IN love with him (which makes this situation much more difficult.) there’s no one I rather be with and spend my days with. But - there was this situation.. that always left me in shambles… every winter break (you know, when college kiddos can go home for the holidays and everyone leaves campus) he would go ghost. Well, okay not exactly, but I’d probably seriously hear from him 3 times a week. And it wasn’t like “oh my gosh babe I’m sry I’ve been caught up doing something” it was just “hey” “wyd” “ok” “goodnight”. I talked to him about it and he expressed to me that he just doesn’t value digital communication in a relationship , because as a child he was only able to digitally stay connected to his parents (they were abroad till he was 14) and was raised by maids that were more of a family to him. So, he told me that he’s just more of an “in- person person”. I totally got that, because I had a similar upbringing. and i knew how hard it was feeling so disconnected while still trying your hardest to find a connection by calling everyday. So I, shrugged it off. Anyways, winter break was 3 weeks long, so as soon as I knew it, I’d be back in his arms. BUT, he graduated this year.. and i can’t look forward to that anymore. So I asked him again, if we want to stay strong we have to meet each others needs. Are you willing to talk to me more over the phone if we’re apart that long? (I could barely survive winter break..) he said yes I want to stay with you, I’ll work on it. Then he went off to Cali as I went to Chicago, and guess what? It was winter break all over again. Probably, worse. He was incredibly disconnected, not even a “hey” once a week. And I thought, this summer is what it is going to be like for a year as he did his masters. And i just knew that this is what he was like when he wasn’t in person, and there was distance between us. So, i broke up with him, because i didn’t want to resent him for not meeting my needs, and just knew that I would keep feeling this way, because he thought digitally communication is a “task.” ultimately I felt the need to break up because he is pursuing his masters degree and I am traveling and doing research and he doesn’t like communicating digitally/virtually. And, this is the only medium that can help us sustain our relationship during this hectic chapter of our lives. Now, I don’t know what to do, because it is a healthy breakup and I still love him. But I don’t know if I should reach out like I was? Like a friend? Since that’s what he was treating me as? Or just go silent? I have tried to be silent post break up but he broke the ice. And I don’t know if I should entertain it or not. Advice? PLEASE LET ME KNOW submitted by Dry_Negotiation_mist to LongDistance [link] [comments] |
2023.05.30 02:34 jkgiles80 The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows
‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’ Easter Sunday, on a sunny afternoon, 10 minutes from my home; I was drugged, raped, sodomized, robbed & left for dead like a piece of trash. Law enforcement then found me, in another county, 50 minutes from my home, heading in the opposite direction, unable to tell them where I lived, unable to answer or follow simple commands, telling them over & over again that I could not see, all while holding my hands over my ears…a 55-year-old woman, with no criminal background, in a ditch on a sunny Easter Sunday. Was I then taken to the ER? Did I then receive immediate medical attention & doctors discovered that I had been drugged & raped? No, I was handcuffed, arrested & thrown in jail. Fourteen hours later I came to in a cell, not knowing where I was, why I was there, raped, sodomized, actively bleeding, I couldn’t see clearly & had no peripheral vision. I was told I was being charged with OUI & refusal of test, Failure to Stop & Failure to Sign the Summons documents for those first two charges. OUI & refusal of test? I was clearly drugged; I have watched the dash cam. Failure to stop? I was driving 30 miles an hour in a ditch!?! Failure to Sign a Summons? I did not even know my own address & I could not see. To add to this, as I sat in that jail cell drugged & bleeding, my bank account was systematically being emptied.
I have been through rape exams, sobbing breakdowns, interviews, medications, sobbing breakdowns, blood tests, sobbing breakdowns, urine tests, sobbing breakdowns, vaginal exams, more interviews & more sobbing breakdowns. I have obtained legal counsel, a trauma therapist, have reported this to local police, the sheriff’s department, the district attorney’s office; I have supplied easily over 200 pieces of documentation, evidence, bank statements, lab results, affidavits, photos, names of other women that have been drugged, raped & left in the same ‘Rape Basement’ as me. To date I still have not heard from the sheriff’s department or the DA’s office; it has now been 48 days since this happened to me.
Additionally, I requested to speak with the chief of Waterville PD & was denied, I asked to speak to the head of Waterville Detectives & was denied, I asked for them to give my statement & evidence to the head of detectives & that was also declined. I asked if they had a specialized Sexual Assault Detective & was told only cases of child rape go to that individual. I asked why my case had not been assigned to a detective & they told me it had been assigned to a patrol officer & a detective could help out if needed. I then attempted to report this crime to the County Sheriff's Department & the Maine State Police & they told me that they could not take my statement due to not having jurisdiction over it & sent me back to Waterville PD.
The fiscal out of pocket cost for me to date is $12,738.64 & that amount is still rising. I am burning through my EBT time, I am struggling to work, leave my home & my vehicle is undrivable. This also does not include the ongoing cost of trauma therapy & the cost of the added bonus of now having an incurable STD that for the rest of my life I will need to take medication for. To which I might add; I had to share my sexual activity with law enforcement; which it has been 10 years since I was sexually active (not that if I was sexually active it should matter).
The last time I have actually heard from law enforcement that was conducting this investigation was 13 days ago when an officer called to ask me if “I drank daily, If I drank to the point of black out & how often did I drink?” To which I supplied each & every date in the past year that I have had a beer along with each receipt & picture of me during that time having the beer. I do not have a history of alcohol addiction, I do not have a history of drug addiction, I have never received any alcohol nor drug rehabilitation services (not that if I had, that should make this rape somehow different).
I also must point out that officer asked me these questions AFTER speaking to the staff at the ‘Rape Basement’ that I believe drugged me. Staffs response was that “I walked in drugged & I went down into ‘Rape Basement’ on my own & that they ‘found’ me there & asked me to leave”. That would mean that I went to a 2pm show at the Waterville Opera House, walked out of that theater production & then decided to become a totally different person. That I then drugged myself, raped myself, sodomized myself, gave myself a genital-to-genital STD & then found my own way into the ‘Rape Basement’ that I had no prior knowledge of!?! This same ‘Rape Basement’ establishment also stated to police that they did not serve me any drink or food; yet I have supplied law enforcement with the charge on my credit card that supports the opposite. A portion of the $12,738.64 price of my ‘Drugged, Raped, Sodomized, Robbed & Arrested’ experience was the $9.06 that I paid the ‘Rape Basement’ establishment for my drugged beer.
To date this crime has cost me my sanity, my safety, my peace, my joy, my kindness, countless hours of sleep, isolating myself in my home with a loaded gun by my side, my trust & faith in the world, basically my life as I have known it.
I recently went very public with this experience; I have since also reached out to the media. As I shared this story, numerous others came forward with similar experiences. Posts of this were being deleted as fast as victims responded to them. We are now speaking to each other & have created open posts on our own facebook pages. We learned that this is apparently ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• When I learnt that one woman had been drugged & had called for help from the very same basement as me; I became physically ill. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• Another women shared that when she was 23, she was drugged & lost 14 hours of her life & woke up at an entirely different location. She reported it to the local police & was told it was going to be investigated; she is still waiting to hear back from them…she is now 28 years old. She also shared that she has a high school reunion coming up, yet she is fearful to go because it is being held in Waterville. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• Another woman feared reporting to the police that she had been drugged because she was on an organ donor list & feared that she would be denied a lifesaving operation if she disclosed the experience. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• Men have come forward that they too have been drugged & assaulted & have woken up at completely different locations from where they began. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• One woman started at a restaurant & then came to drugged, robbed, wearing completely different clothing, in an abandoned building. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• Tragically yet another woman shared that her young brother was found dead in these same horror show ‘Rape Basements’ that other victims speak of; these ‘Rape Basements’ that I too was in. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• Others have shared that (for a price) you can have a woman drugged & then have unfettered access to her & then they will ‘let her go’ when you are done. When I have shared this information; I have heard from numerous individuals that casually state, “Yes that has been going on for years”. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• One Maine Liquor Enforcement Officer states that they tried to shed light on this years ago, yet the drugging & raping of women is bad business for a college town; then this person stated they do not wish to be named due to fear of repercussion. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
So yesterday we (the victims of this) all made some noise, we all started to shine a light on it…& overnight the responses came. Public posts have been deleted or turned off; 2am phone calls from the owners of these ‘Rape Basement’ establishments were made threatening victims to take posts down, to stop speaking. Many victims that were raising their voices yesterday are now silent today. I have also learned that I am not the only victim scared & carrying a firearm. It has also come to my knowledge today that two of these owners of these establishments were convicted of human trafficking taking place within these ‘Rape Basements’ & sent to prison. They are now out & back in business from the same exact ‘Rape Basements’ we the victims are being found in!?! ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
I do not know what else to do, I do not know where else to go, I do not know what else to say! I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared…I am! I am afraid to leave my home, I am afraid to speak out, I am afraid to demand justice…yet most of all; I am terrified of being silent.
https://www.facebook.com/pamela.boivin.7/posts/pfbid02YSkQ1vVX1ghBY9XmBoGC7n345fhUaChCwRfAX38y3hE248xKnvteuficnsyJcx1Ml
submitted by jkgiles80 to u/jkgiles80 [link] [comments]
I’m going to paste below a post written by a dear friend of mine about an experience she recently had in Waterville. She is looking for more victims and has already been contacted by many. 🔗 to the original FB post at the bottom. We would appreciate anyone who is able to share the original post or help otherwise shed light on this growing problem.
TRIGGER WARNING: S.A.
----
‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’ Easter Sunday, on a sunny afternoon, 10 minutes from my home; I was drugged, raped, sodomized, robbed & left for dead like a piece of trash. Law enforcement then found me, in another county, 50 minutes from my home, heading in the opposite direction, unable to tell them where I lived, unable to answer or follow simple commands, telling them over & over again that I could not see, all while holding my hands over my ears…a 55-year-old woman, with no criminal background, in a ditch on a sunny Easter Sunday. Was I then taken to the ER? Did I then receive immediate medical attention & doctors discovered that I had been drugged & raped? No, I was handcuffed, arrested & thrown in jail. Fourteen hours later I came to in a cell, not knowing where I was, why I was there, raped, sodomized, actively bleeding, I couldn’t see clearly & had no peripheral vision. I was told I was being charged with OUI & refusal of test, Failure to Stop & Failure to Sign the Summons documents for those first two charges. OUI & refusal of test? I was clearly drugged; I have watched the dash cam. Failure to stop? I was driving 30 miles an hour in a ditch!?! Failure to Sign a Summons? I did not even know my own address & I could not see. To add to this, as I sat in that jail cell drugged & bleeding, my bank account was systematically being emptied.
I have been through rape exams, sobbing breakdowns, interviews, medications, sobbing breakdowns, blood tests, sobbing breakdowns, urine tests, sobbing breakdowns, vaginal exams, more interviews & more sobbing breakdowns. I have obtained legal counsel, a trauma therapist, have reported this to local police, the sheriff’s department, the district attorney’s office; I have supplied easily over 200 pieces of documentation, evidence, bank statements, lab results, affidavits, photos, names of other women that have been drugged, raped & left in the same ‘Rape Basement’ as me. To date I still have not heard from the sheriff’s department or the DA’s office; it has now been 48 days since this happened to me.
Additionally, I requested to speak with the chief of Waterville PD & was denied, I asked to speak to the head of Waterville Detectives & was denied, I asked for them to give my statement & evidence to the head of detectives & that was also declined. I asked if they had a specialized Sexual Assault Detective & was told only cases of child rape go to that individual. I asked why my case had not been assigned to a detective & they told me it had been assigned to a patrol officer & a detective could help out if needed. I then attempted to report this crime to the County Sheriff's Department & the Maine State Police & they told me that they could not take my statement due to not having jurisdiction over it & sent me back to Waterville PD.
The fiscal out of pocket cost for me to date is $12,738.64 & that amount is still rising. I am burning through my EBT time, I am struggling to work, leave my home & my vehicle is undrivable. This also does not include the ongoing cost of trauma therapy & the cost of the added bonus of now having an incurable STD that for the rest of my life I will need to take medication for. To which I might add; I had to share my sexual activity with law enforcement; which it has been 10 years since I was sexually active (not that if I was sexually active it should matter).
The last time I have actually heard from law enforcement that was conducting this investigation was 13 days ago when an officer called to ask me if “I drank daily, If I drank to the point of black out & how often did I drink?” To which I supplied each & every date in the past year that I have had a beer along with each receipt & picture of me during that time having the beer. I do not have a history of alcohol addiction, I do not have a history of drug addiction, I have never received any alcohol nor drug rehabilitation services (not that if I had, that should make this rape somehow different).
I also must point out that officer asked me these questions AFTER speaking to the staff at the ‘Rape Basement’ that I believe drugged me. Staffs response was that “I walked in drugged & I went down into ‘Rape Basement’ on my own & that they ‘found’ me there & asked me to leave”. That would mean that I went to a 2pm show at the Waterville Opera House, walked out of that theater production & then decided to become a totally different person. That I then drugged myself, raped myself, sodomized myself, gave myself a genital-to-genital STD & then found my own way into the ‘Rape Basement’ that I had no prior knowledge of!?! This same ‘Rape Basement’ establishment also stated to police that they did not serve me any drink or food; yet I have supplied law enforcement with the charge on my credit card that supports the opposite. A portion of the $12,738.64 price of my ‘Drugged, Raped, Sodomized, Robbed & Arrested’ experience was the $9.06 that I paid the ‘Rape Basement’ establishment for my drugged beer.
To date this crime has cost me my sanity, my safety, my peace, my joy, my kindness, countless hours of sleep, isolating myself in my home with a loaded gun by my side, my trust & faith in the world, basically my life as I have known it.
I recently went very public with this experience; I have since also reached out to the media. As I shared this story, numerous others came forward with similar experiences. Posts of this were being deleted as fast as victims responded to them. We are now speaking to each other & have created open posts on our own facebook pages. We learned that this is apparently ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• When I learnt that one woman had been drugged & had called for help from the very same basement as me; I became physically ill. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• Another women shared that when she was 23, she was drugged & lost 14 hours of her life & woke up at an entirely different location. She reported it to the local police & was told it was going to be investigated; she is still waiting to hear back from them…she is now 28 years old. She also shared that she has a high school reunion coming up, yet she is fearful to go because it is being held in Waterville. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• Another woman feared reporting to the police that she had been drugged because she was on an organ donor list & feared that she would be denied a lifesaving operation if she disclosed the experience. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• Men have come forward that they too have been drugged & assaulted & have woken up at completely different locations from where they began. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• One woman started at a restaurant & then came to drugged, robbed, wearing completely different clothing, in an abandoned building. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• Tragically yet another woman shared that her young brother was found dead in these same horror show ‘Rape Basements’ that other victims speak of; these ‘Rape Basements’ that I too was in. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• Others have shared that (for a price) you can have a woman drugged & then have unfettered access to her & then they will ‘let her go’ when you are done. When I have shared this information; I have heard from numerous individuals that casually state, “Yes that has been going on for years”. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
• One Maine Liquor Enforcement Officer states that they tried to shed light on this years ago, yet the drugging & raping of women is bad business for a college town; then this person stated they do not wish to be named due to fear of repercussion. ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
So yesterday we (the victims of this) all made some noise, we all started to shine a light on it…& overnight the responses came. Public posts have been deleted or turned off; 2am phone calls from the owners of these ‘Rape Basement’ establishments were made threatening victims to take posts down, to stop speaking. Many victims that were raising their voices yesterday are now silent today. I have also learned that I am not the only victim scared & carrying a firearm. It has also come to my knowledge today that two of these owners of these establishments were convicted of human trafficking taking place within these ‘Rape Basements’ & sent to prison. They are now out & back in business from the same exact ‘Rape Basements’ we the victims are being found in!?! ‘The Waterville Secret that Everyone Knows’.
I do not know what else to do, I do not know where else to go, I do not know what else to say! I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared…I am! I am afraid to leave my home, I am afraid to speak out, I am afraid to demand justice…yet most of all; I am terrified of being silent.
https://www.facebook.com/pamela.boivin.7/posts/pfbid02YSkQ1vVX1ghBY9XmBoGC7n345fhUaChCwRfAX38y3hE248xKnvteuficnsyJcx1Ml
2023.05.30 01:37 Drogenwurm ..... Hmkay.
 | submitted by Drogenwurm to drugscirclejerk [link] [comments] |
2023.05.30 00:30 stevetheclimber OPENING the /r/Mindcrack Time Capsule of 2022!
Hello everyone, and welcome to the annual peak back into the past!
It's been another year since the 2022 capsule was posted, and for the 9th time we'll be unpacking all sorts of info that was stored away in this annual tradition. Not only is this a great way to look back on what all changed over the last year, but the time capsule also serves as the most complete recap for the current state of Mindcrack and is the best way to see the entire group's recent overall activity with info not found anywhere else.
We'll be opening the ninth edition of the mindcrack time capsule from 2022. You can also find these frozen moments in time for every year going back to 2014 here: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021. Now that all that's out of the way, let's officially open the 2022 time capsule!
And there we have it, another look back into the past is complete as we take a moment to reflect on how we got here amongst the never ending flow of time. Even in just one year there's been countless changes throughout the many people in Mindcrack, both good and bad, and it's easy to lose track of just how much happens with so many different people each living their own lives. Who knows what kinds of changes we'll see as another year passes and we open the 10th time capsule in 12 months.
The 2023 time capsule will be coming soon, there's a lot of info to collect so I'll be asking for help in the Discord, and anyone in the community will be welcome to add their own messages and info in the capsule. For the time being though let's focus on this capsule and all the changes that took place in the last year, and feel free to discuss any of them that stood out to you!
submitted by stevetheclimber to mindcrack [link] [comments]
It's been another year since the 2022 capsule was posted, and for the 9th time we'll be unpacking all sorts of info that was stored away in this annual tradition. Not only is this a great way to look back on what all changed over the last year, but the time capsule also serves as the most complete recap for the current state of Mindcrack and is the best way to see the entire group's recent overall activity with info not found anywhere else.
We'll be opening the ninth edition of the mindcrack time capsule from 2022. You can also find these frozen moments in time for every year going back to 2014 here: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021. Now that all that's out of the way, let's officially open the 2022 time capsule!
Today is the 29th of May, 2022.
General Information
A current concise definition of Mindcrack is "A group of friends and content creators founded in 2010 who come together for gaming content and regular charity events primarily based on Twitch."
Mindcrack currently has 24 official members and around 18 VIPs/Friends active in the group, though there is no official list on who all is a Friend and the linked image is probably missing at least Darkosto and Sapphyrei. Mindcrackers and Friends essentially differ only in name.
The latest member to join officially was OMGChad on the 31st of October, 2014. The latest member to leave was BTC (BlameTheController) on the 12th of November, 2015. The latest Friend to join is difficult to determine, as most Friends have gradually become involved in the group over multiple years.
Charity
There have been nine full Mindcrack Marathons to date and a multitude of other charity efforts, both from individuals and the full group. In total Mindcrack has raised an incredible $1,950,563.23 for others through their group fundraising streams since 2013, of which $1,817,090.78 has been for the charity Extra Life (totals missing $0-5K). The latest full marathon was on November 8-14 and ran for 117 hours across a full week for the first time, raising a record $348,565.69 for Extra Life plus Twitch and merch revenue.
A complete list of all totals raised during Mindcrack group fundraising streams can be found here, the source message is pinned in the Mindcrack Discord and regularly updated.
The most recent fundraising event was held less than a month ago for Arbor Day and was Mindcrack's first time supporting Gone West, the UHC raised £6,161 for the company, helping plant over 1,125 trees for the planet. It's been mentioned that Gone West will return in future fundraising events. Mindcrack also raised $15,651.94 for Extra Life last month during the first spring marathon since 2019 which ran for 12 hours. It was followed up by Extra life United's return to Florida just over a month ago, Mindcrack had multiple attendees who also spent several days at Disney together where some of them unfortunately got COVID-19. ELU 2022 featured the return of the Minecraft Building Competition, and Pakratt led team Mindcrack to a 1st place finish against 6 other teams which included Aureylian.
The Mindcrack Patreon has now been supporting Mindcrack's charity efforts for over 2 years, allowing the marathon to grow in size and production quality. A new $10 tier was added in fall which gives monthly behind the scenes updates on charity events. Currently the Patreon has 413 Patrons pledging $3,626 per month, with 88 Patrons on the $25 tier, 1 on the $500 tier, and the rest split between $5 and $10.
Kurt's Far Lands or Bust journey has continued on as always, having just started Season 10 with Season 9 ending a couple months ago after close to a million blocks traveled in a year. He is currently at 5,765,878 blocks traveled towards the Far Lands as of March 28th, 2022, sitting at 45.9% of the way there. The latest episode was #829 on May 28th, 2022. The series has raised $472,939.92 for 7 different charities since 2011, with $4,470.00 raised during Season 9 for Rise Above The Disorder, and $4,600.00 raised for Equality Texas Foundation during the recent FLoB-a-Thon.
MCGamer and the Zeldathon Team have raised $3,064,623 for 11 different charities during their 32 charity events. The latest Zeldathon was Zeldathon Ascent which raised $176,843.00 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital from December 26th to January 1st, and they just finished the smaller event Piece of Heart raising $20,120 for St. Jude at MomoCon from May 26th-28th. The next Zeldathon will be Zeldathon Daybreak, scheduled to start on August 2nd raising money for Direct Relief.
There's also a multitude of individual charity efforts in Mindcrack; several people in the group hold streams supporting their individual Extra Life campaigns, and there's frequently one-off streams for various charities, such as a few days ago where Justin, McLaffyTaffy, and MyLawyerFriend were in a D&D stream supporting St. Jude. A complete list wouldn't be feasible to collect, but their efforts are appreciated. In total everyone in the group have raised over $5.5 million for charity over the years.
Regular Series
The Mindcrack Podcast is hosted by Sevadus, Guude, and recently Soccer releasing two episodes every week, consisting of a public episode every Monday and a Patron-exclusive episode every Thursday. Additionally, Patrons at the $25 tier can watch the recordings live and discuss in the live chat. The latest public episode was S2E99 which released on May 23rd, 2022, and the latest premium episode was episode 99 released on May 26th, 2022. The 10 year anniversary of the podcast is just a few weeks away.
Cone, Kurt, and Zeekay host the podcast Ran When Parked which releases new episodes every other week, the latest episode was episode 78.
As of tonight Coestar's StreamADay is sitting at Day 3,099, and Phedran's daily streaming streak is on Day 1,702. Coe still holds the second longest daily streaming streak on Twitch.
There have been over 500 collabs within Mindcrack in the last year, but with Mhykol's Discord bot not posting VODs it's hard to track them and get specific numbers. In the last year Monday Group Games, Space Cops, and the Dads have gone on indefinite hiatus, so there's currently fewer weekly series than normal.
The following is a list of the more stable weekly collab series within Mindcrack currently:
- Armo, Breon, Coestar, and Kingster play PUBG for Sunday Gunday every week, and PUBG also makes frequent appearances throughout the week with other squad combinations.
- Pakratt's Vintage Story Tuesday with Honney and DireDwarf recently ended after 38 weeks, it's likely TFC Tuesdays in MC 1.18 will replace it in the near future.
- Coestar and Guude's Two Bananas for Sale continues strong, playing games together or with Patrons every Friday night. Their most recent games include We Were Here Forever, UHC, Traitors in Salem, and Codenames. Their joint Patreon currently raises $625 per month thanks to 36 Patrons.
- Arkas, Guude, Nebris, and Pakratt have recently returned after a long hiatus to play Divine Journey 2 every other Saturday and just passed their 7-year anniversary playing together.
- Arkas and Cone just wrapped up another season of Cities Skylines, this one being a challenge to build the best city in 36 hours.
Servers
Season 9 of the Minecraft vanilla server is currently ongoing; Amethyst, Guude, his daughter Apple, Honney, Mookake, Pakratt, Phedran, and a multitude of $25 tier Patrons have been on in the last month. The current season started on December 11th, 2021, and the server is running on 1.18.2 with some extra plug-ins. For the first time the majority of Mindcrack is using shaders on the server in a client modpack with other QoL mods. This season has had approximately 765 hours streamed by Mindcrack so far. The most recent event on the server was the Spring Festival held on May 1st and 7th; Amethyst, Guude, his daughter Apple, Honney, Pakratt, and about 15 Patrons attended one of the two.
Mhykol hosts a server map at https://mindcrackmap.com, the map uses BlueMap which was used as a secondary map on the previous season.
The most recent full modded server was Crackpack Season 4, Mindcrack's 7th modded season which was active from November 2019 until January 2020. A more restricted Crackpack 3 server was active for 3 hours every week from May to October last year as part of Monday Group Games.
The Dadcraft Minecraft server reset at the start of December for 1.18, Arkas and Jaaski joined Chiblee, Coestar, Justin, and Pause with others and the server was active for about a month.
Adlington, Arkas, Cone, Dire, Doc, Kurt, Phedran, and VintageBeef all have fan servers for Twitch subs and/or Patrons.
Ultra Hardcore (UHC)
There have been 33+28 (Twenty-seven donation UHCs and S4b) seasons of Mindcrack UHC. There were 8 Mindcrack UHCs in 2021, the most since 2012 with 9 UHCs.
Breon, Coestar, ConeDodger, and Kingster are the winners of the latest UHC season, Season 33, which was streamed on the 26th of February, 2022.
Mookake and SethBling are the winners of the latest donation UHC, the 27th of its kind, which was streamed on the 30th of April, 2022 for Gone West.
PauseUnpause is the most deadly player in regular UHCs with 36 kills, and Coestar is the most deadly player in donation UHCs with 38 kills, having recently taken the lead from Arkas. Nebris and VintageBeef are tied for the most wins in regular UHCs with 9, and Guude and Kurt are tied for the most wins in charity UHCs with 7. (Latest UHC Stats by Guardax)
Seasons can be categorized as follows: 21 teams of four, 15 teams of two, 13 teams of three, 8 free-for-all, 2 PvE, 1 teams of five, 1 teams of ten.
UHCs have been becoming more frequent recently with renewed interest from the group and there's plans for even more in the future, starting with the first ever collaboration between VintageCraft and Mindcrack Patrons with a UHC next month on June 11th.
Individual Members
The table below contains current subscription, follower, and member data for the Mindcrackers' various social media accounts. Each number is hyperlinked to include an image of that member's account as it appears on this day for easy comparison of account contents, videos, and Discord channels:
* indicates accounts that haven't been used in the last year ** Discord messages are all messages sent in default channels since server creation.
Mindcracker Twitch YouTube Patreon Discord Size Discord Messages** Adlingtont 2,889 35,200 6,405 9 ($71) 44 29,700 AnderZEL 286,781 532,000* 72,995 Twitch sub to join 4,160 Arkas 39,358 86,300*/383 25,712 447 51,640 Aureylian 148,698 267,000* 164,528 AvidyaZen 21,652 274* 353 78(new) 9,090 Coestar 62,880 110,000* 30,709 29 ($79) 1,554 1,943,640 Docm77 128,355 982,000 225,648 124 ($952) Patron only ? Guude 45,651 366,000 95,260 Twitch sub only 875,670 JSano19 5,103 48,800 14,035 1 ($5) Patron only ? Kurt 53,293 412,000 57,844 199 Patron or Twitch sub only 180,680 MCGamer 87,722 HIDDEN 36,934 Mhykol 15,793 53,000 25,336 154 17,280 Millbee 55,977 114,000 45,799 545 754,160 Nebris 20,809 134,000* OMGchad 53,832 119,000*/1,390,000 32,816 2,047 34,920 Pakratt 102,661 50,200 20,929 562 351,980 PauseUnpause 151,562 HIDDEN 947 134,680 Pyropuncher 29,807 HIDDEN 48,857 SethBling 246,113 2,020,000 380,303 330 37,240 Sevadus 412,912 45,600* 57,420 1,875 45,810 Vechs 9,692 171,000 50,404 114 1,061 154,270 VintageBeef 28,405* 1,570,000/13,800/19,800* 197,020 251 Patron only ? W92Baj 9,548 113,000 43,394 7 Patron only ? Zisteau 55,408 340,000/981(new) 72,216 91 1,240 400,910 Mindcrack Network 70,390 153,000 50,044 413($3,626) 2,711 262,240
The following table is the same info for Friends that are content creators, though this isn't an official list so it may have extras and not be complete:
There are currently about 28 people part of Mindcrack that stream on Twitch regularly, and about 10 that upload to YouTube regularly.
Friend Twitch YouTube Patreon Discord size Discord messages** Amethyst 552 852 Breon 2,605 291 1,705 167 49,230 Chiblee 24,332 4,330(new)/1,540(new) 31,923 2,338 473,600 ConeDodger 5,598 9,340 1,423 160 Patron or Twitch sub to join/use 1,006,770 Dahl 458 21,400/25(new) 837 0 Patron to join 51,560 Darkosto 76,839 3,560 6,049 7,947 439,360 DireDwarf 18,335 4,730 3,104 5($56) 372 190,740 Drooo 346 11 446 54 21,150 HCJustin 66,741 13,500 19,144 29($178) Twitch sub to join 1,184,780 HonneyPlay 11,607 3,100 1,259 11 562(shared w/ Pak) 351,980 Jaaski 10,850 458* 2,694 606 220,530 Kingster 390 2(new) 20 Mookake 690 2,360* 244 Phedran 9,470 8,870* 4,900 52($388) 372 89,430 Ryuski 1,383 181 436 75 26,541 Sapphyrei(formerly OnlyBentley) 17,636 58(new)/129,000(old) 12,243 3($19) Soccer 505 137* 251 Twitch sub to join 440
In the last year there were approximately 30,813 hours streamed on Twitch by about 41 Members and Friends, with 2,483 combined hours streamed during last month. During that year there were 792 unique categories streamed, 4,294,294 total views, and 3,863,022 hours watched on Twitch which is equal to 441 years.
The most streamed games in order were Minecraft, PUBG, Escape from Tarkov, RimWorld, and Elden Ring. Minecraft had the most streamers with 37, most hours streamed with 6,278, and most hours watched with 713,580; the category Just Chatting was also among the most streamed and had the most views with 718,610.
Here's a chart showing monthly hours streamed by Mindcrack members from August 2015 to April 2022; here's a similar chart with Friends added from May 2020 to April 2022.
According to the Mindcrack website, the total YouTube subscribers across all official Mindcrackers is 9,042,471(+24,900 in the last year), the total number of videos is 71,787(+1,586), and the total views is 2,418,417,594(+36,497,698). The website hasn't been updated in years so the accuracy of those numbers isn't guaranteed.
The total member count across public Discord servers in Mindcrack is 25,526 which includes significant overlap(13,595 for just Mindcrack Members). In total there's been approximately 9,394,181 messages sent across all 33 servers including from bots, but I don't currently have Doc's or Beef's numbers which would push that number well over 10 million. Coe's server remains heavily active and is poised to be the first to reach 2 million messages in about 4 months.
SethBling is the most subscribed on YouTube with 2.02 million subscribers as well as the most followed on Twitter with 380k followers. Sevadus has the most Twitch followers with 412k followers. Darkosto has the largest Discord server with 7,947 members, and among the Mindcrack Members OMGchad has the largest with 2,047 members.
Subreddit
mindcrack has approximately 45,100 subscribers. Discord servers and Twitch chats are the primary places the active Mindcrack community's interactions are based, so the subreddit sees minimal activity.
The Moderator Team of mindcrack consists of 10 humans and 2 robots: GuudeBoulderfist, pakratt0013, stinusmeret, Zisteau, pajam, Lost-Chord, Compieuter, ArmoAram, stevetheclimber, emilythecool, MindcrackTwitchBot, and CrackBot / AutoModerator.
This is the subreddit today using old Reddit (Picture Version), and this is the same page using the redesign (Picture Version).
Here's the current flair selection, and here are the subreddit's traffic stats which are normally only viewable by mods.
Miscellaneous
Docm77 and VintageBeef are both also members of HermitCraft, and Arkas, Chiblee, Coestar, Jaaski, Justin, and Pause are all members of Dadcraft.
SethBling currently holds 2nd place for the Super Mario World 0 Exit speedrun with a time of 41.350 seconds. He also holds records for several speedrun categories he created, including SMAS+SMW All Five Games with ACE which he'll be running in this year's SGDQ in July, he currently holds a record of exactly 9 minutes for it.
On the IRL side of things several people in Mindcrack have gone through changes in life; in the last year, Guude and Jess got engaged, Cone and Paint also got engaged and announced they have a baby coming, and DireDwarf got married. There's also been multiple kittens and other pets, at least half a dozen job changes, and several moves, including Soccer living with Guude until earlier this month.
There have been no updates in the last year on Mindcrack's progress towards becoming a non-profit that's publicly been in the works for years.
Community Contributions
u/Omegatron9 has kept his spreadsheet and graphs on YouTube subscribers up to date.
The events of Mindcrack's first 10 years are covered in my History of Mindcrack written in 2020.
Some spreadsheets I have with stats:
Thanks to Guardax, Pellervo_page, and Ageofdune for providing Discord numbers.
- Mindcrack monthly hours streamed - August 2015 to April 2022 copy
- Mindcrack Stream stats - May 29, 2021 to May 28, 2022, has extensive numbers for every category streamed by everyone in Mindcrack in the last year
- Quarterly content produced by Mindcrack Members, 2010 Q4 to 2020 Q2, useful for seeing Twitch overtake YT for Mindcrack content
The 2023 time capsule will be coming soon, there's a lot of info to collect so I'll be asking for help in the Discord, and anyone in the community will be welcome to add their own messages and info in the capsule. For the time being though let's focus on this capsule and all the changes that took place in the last year, and feel free to discuss any of them that stood out to you!
2023.05.29 22:46 jbeggs06 P.U.R.E. - Booking the revival of Pete Dunne
Smackdown (02/06/23):
"BROGUE KICK! Into the cover... and it's all over! Sheamus is qualified for Money in the Bank!"
After a hard-fought victory over Karrion Kross, Sheamus claws out the win. After the match, Ridge Holland and Butch come down to the ring and it looks like they're going down to the ring to celebrate with the Celtic Warrior. Ridge enters the ring and starts to celebrate but at ringside, Butch looks on at the two men in the ring who don't even acknowledge the fact he's there. Butch looks at them, looks at his Brawling Brutes shirt, and walks to the back.
Smackdown (09/06/23):
We cut to a shot backstage of a bloodied and battered Ridge Holland. He's unconscious, down on the concrete floor. Sheamus is calling for paramedic's, meanwhile there's no sign of Butch anywhere.
Money in the Bank (01/07/23):
Sheamus is at the top of the ladder, nearing closer and closer to the briefcase. HE'S GOT A HAND ON THE BRIEFCASE! WAIT! A hooded figure pulls him off the ladder. Sheamus grabs the man and pulls him in for a headlock, he takes off the hood... IT'S BUTCH! Sheamus asks why Butch would do this, but Butch grabs Sheamus, EX-PLEX ON THE LADDER! Butch leaves the ring and goes up the ramp and he hears chants of "Brusierweight! Bruiserweight!" from the London crowd. He looks into the crowd, smiles, and leaves.
Build-up to Summerslam:
On the first Smackdown after MITB, Sheamus demands that Butch comes out and explains himself. But he doesn't get Butch, he gets the Bruiserweight, PETE DUNNE! He marches down to the ring and without saying a word, Dunne lays Sheamus out with a Bitter End, grabs his arm and stamps on it, and he damn near breaks it!
A week after, Dunne enters a 4 way match to crown a new number 1 contender for Austin Theory's US title. Dunne wins the match, pinning Santos Escobar. After the match however, Sheamus comes down and kick's Pete Dunne's head off and demands that he enters the match.
The week after, Sheamus goes against Theory and if he wins, he enters the match in Detroit. Despite Dunne interfering, Sheamus wins the match and makes it a triple threat.
Summerslam (05/08/23):
Pete Dunne vs Sheamus vs Austin Theory (c) - United States Championship
Theory basically gets banished to the side for this one as Sheamus and Dunne knock ten layers of shit out of each other, with Theory playing the cunning heel trying to pick up the pieces. In the end, Sheamus takes out Theory with a High Cross through the announce table, he slides back into the ring and Dunne STAMPS ON HIS INJURED ARM! He lands a Bitter End before locking Sheamus in a crossface, targeting that injured arm. Sheamus taps and Dunne wins the US title! After the match, Dunne clocks Sheamus with the title to make sure he's out of the picture.
Over the next few weeks on Smackdown, Dunne holds the 'Bruiserweight Invitational' where he invites people to step up and take him on for the US title, here's how his matches go over the next few weeks:
Smackdown (11/08/23):
Pete Dunne (c) def. Austin Theory
Smackdown (18/08/23):
Pete Dunne (c) def. Montez Ford
Smackdown (25/08/23):
Pete Dunne (c) def. AJ Styles
Dunne holds his title aloft and he celebrates after a big win over AJ Styles, but then... OUT COMES TYLER BATE! Bate walks out and he comes down to the ring to stand face to face with his former BSS tag partner.
Smackdown (01/09/23):
Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne stand face to face and Bate tells Dunne that he's proud that he's back to being that sick bastard he used to be, because it'll be even sweeter when he gets his revenge from Takeover: Chicago and he ends his comeback. The two men get into a brawl which ends with Bate landing a Tyler Driver '97 through the announce table.
Clash at the Castle 2 (16/09/23):
Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne (c) - United States Championship
Two UK boys fighting over the US title, and what a match it is. An utter 5-star classic in Cardiff with both men putting on an unreal matchup but in the end, Dunne nails Bate with an avalanche Bitter End for the win. After the match, Dunne goes to injure Bate, but then... SHEAMUS RETURNS! Sheamus runs down to the ring and goes for Dunne. Dunne tries to leave, BUT RIDGE HOLLAND IS BACK TOO! Sheamus and Ridge beat down Dunne before Ridge pounces Pete into a Brogue Kick.
Build-up to Survivor Series:
Smackdown (22/09/23):
BANGER....
Smackdown (29/09/23):
AFTER BANGER...
Smackdown (06/09/23):
AFTER BANGER...
(Dunne def. Ridge in a very hard-hitting match)
Smackdown (13/09/23):
AFTER BANGER...
Survivor Series (14/09/23):
Sheamus vs Pete Dunne (c) - United States Championship
AFTER BANGER! Both men put on a BANGER (okay I'll stop now) with the crowd cheering and cringing in pain after every single powerful shot. In the end, Sheamus goes for the Brogue Kick, but Dunne ducks and lands one of his own! He nails the Ex-Plex for the 3 count and he retains. After the match, Dunne sits in the corner and looks on as Ridge Holland helps Sheamus to his feet. All 3 men look at each other and nod, before Ridge and Sheamus walk to the back as Dunne celebrates.
Epilogue:
Dunne holds the title onward, defeating LA Knight at Royal Rumble and Rey Mysterio at Elimination Chamber before finally losing the title to Santos Escobar in a multi-man ladder match in Philly. After this, I'd build up Dunne in high-profile feud against the likes of Lashley and even Lesnar before having win the 2025 men's rumble match before having him challenge Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship at 'Mania 41 in a rematch from Takeover: New York. Would he beat Gunther? I'll leave that up to you.
submitted by jbeggs06 to FantasyBookingElite [link] [comments]
"BROGUE KICK! Into the cover... and it's all over! Sheamus is qualified for Money in the Bank!"
After a hard-fought victory over Karrion Kross, Sheamus claws out the win. After the match, Ridge Holland and Butch come down to the ring and it looks like they're going down to the ring to celebrate with the Celtic Warrior. Ridge enters the ring and starts to celebrate but at ringside, Butch looks on at the two men in the ring who don't even acknowledge the fact he's there. Butch looks at them, looks at his Brawling Brutes shirt, and walks to the back.
Smackdown (09/06/23):
We cut to a shot backstage of a bloodied and battered Ridge Holland. He's unconscious, down on the concrete floor. Sheamus is calling for paramedic's, meanwhile there's no sign of Butch anywhere.
Money in the Bank (01/07/23):
Sheamus is at the top of the ladder, nearing closer and closer to the briefcase. HE'S GOT A HAND ON THE BRIEFCASE! WAIT! A hooded figure pulls him off the ladder. Sheamus grabs the man and pulls him in for a headlock, he takes off the hood... IT'S BUTCH! Sheamus asks why Butch would do this, but Butch grabs Sheamus, EX-PLEX ON THE LADDER! Butch leaves the ring and goes up the ramp and he hears chants of "Brusierweight! Bruiserweight!" from the London crowd. He looks into the crowd, smiles, and leaves.
Build-up to Summerslam:
On the first Smackdown after MITB, Sheamus demands that Butch comes out and explains himself. But he doesn't get Butch, he gets the Bruiserweight, PETE DUNNE! He marches down to the ring and without saying a word, Dunne lays Sheamus out with a Bitter End, grabs his arm and stamps on it, and he damn near breaks it!
A week after, Dunne enters a 4 way match to crown a new number 1 contender for Austin Theory's US title. Dunne wins the match, pinning Santos Escobar. After the match however, Sheamus comes down and kick's Pete Dunne's head off and demands that he enters the match.
The week after, Sheamus goes against Theory and if he wins, he enters the match in Detroit. Despite Dunne interfering, Sheamus wins the match and makes it a triple threat.
Summerslam (05/08/23):
Pete Dunne vs Sheamus vs Austin Theory (c) - United States Championship
Theory basically gets banished to the side for this one as Sheamus and Dunne knock ten layers of shit out of each other, with Theory playing the cunning heel trying to pick up the pieces. In the end, Sheamus takes out Theory with a High Cross through the announce table, he slides back into the ring and Dunne STAMPS ON HIS INJURED ARM! He lands a Bitter End before locking Sheamus in a crossface, targeting that injured arm. Sheamus taps and Dunne wins the US title! After the match, Dunne clocks Sheamus with the title to make sure he's out of the picture.
Over the next few weeks on Smackdown, Dunne holds the 'Bruiserweight Invitational' where he invites people to step up and take him on for the US title, here's how his matches go over the next few weeks:
Smackdown (11/08/23):
Pete Dunne (c) def. Austin Theory
Smackdown (18/08/23):
Pete Dunne (c) def. Montez Ford
Smackdown (25/08/23):
Pete Dunne (c) def. AJ Styles
Dunne holds his title aloft and he celebrates after a big win over AJ Styles, but then... OUT COMES TYLER BATE! Bate walks out and he comes down to the ring to stand face to face with his former BSS tag partner.
Smackdown (01/09/23):
Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne stand face to face and Bate tells Dunne that he's proud that he's back to being that sick bastard he used to be, because it'll be even sweeter when he gets his revenge from Takeover: Chicago and he ends his comeback. The two men get into a brawl which ends with Bate landing a Tyler Driver '97 through the announce table.
Clash at the Castle 2 (16/09/23):
Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne (c) - United States Championship
Two UK boys fighting over the US title, and what a match it is. An utter 5-star classic in Cardiff with both men putting on an unreal matchup but in the end, Dunne nails Bate with an avalanche Bitter End for the win. After the match, Dunne goes to injure Bate, but then... SHEAMUS RETURNS! Sheamus runs down to the ring and goes for Dunne. Dunne tries to leave, BUT RIDGE HOLLAND IS BACK TOO! Sheamus and Ridge beat down Dunne before Ridge pounces Pete into a Brogue Kick.
Build-up to Survivor Series:
Smackdown (22/09/23):
BANGER....
Smackdown (29/09/23):
AFTER BANGER...
Smackdown (06/09/23):
AFTER BANGER...
(Dunne def. Ridge in a very hard-hitting match)
Smackdown (13/09/23):
AFTER BANGER...
Survivor Series (14/09/23):
Sheamus vs Pete Dunne (c) - United States Championship
AFTER BANGER! Both men put on a BANGER (okay I'll stop now) with the crowd cheering and cringing in pain after every single powerful shot. In the end, Sheamus goes for the Brogue Kick, but Dunne ducks and lands one of his own! He nails the Ex-Plex for the 3 count and he retains. After the match, Dunne sits in the corner and looks on as Ridge Holland helps Sheamus to his feet. All 3 men look at each other and nod, before Ridge and Sheamus walk to the back as Dunne celebrates.
Epilogue:
Dunne holds the title onward, defeating LA Knight at Royal Rumble and Rey Mysterio at Elimination Chamber before finally losing the title to Santos Escobar in a multi-man ladder match in Philly. After this, I'd build up Dunne in high-profile feud against the likes of Lashley and even Lesnar before having win the 2025 men's rumble match before having him challenge Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship at 'Mania 41 in a rematch from Takeover: New York. Would he beat Gunther? I'll leave that up to you.
2023.05.29 22:26 jd55513 What do you hope to see in Fallout 5 or a future spinoff?
While it's painfully obvious that Fallout 76 will be the bridge to a future spinoff or eventually Fallout 5. It's good to see that support for the game shouldn't waiver for the next 5 years or so.
We seem to be getting another Expedition and another big story expansion (probably enclave) later in the future.
The next fallout game is probably atleast 10 years away(assuming we get a New Vegas 2 or future Fallout spinoff now that Microsoft makes the decisions)
If not....then probably 15 years or so away for Fallout 5(since it would come out using a new engine that will take a few years to get ready. (Creation Engine 3?) and release on the next generation of consoles.
So with all that said, here is what I'm hoping to see in the next game:
--A multi layered, evolved branching storyline with multiple faction endings that have host of different consequences for uniques, companions and post world endgame. (Fallout 4 failed at that imo)
--Evolution of the weapons crafting mechanic in Fallout 4. Specifically I want more unique weapons and I want them to feel "unique" Fallout 3 and New Vegas had more weight and aesthetic to the genre of weapons you could expect in such a game. For example, where is the Displacer glove? More unique melee weapons, power fist specials, more sniper types, more unique energy weapons etc.
-- With the technology of Creation Engine 2. It seems vehicles and ships will be possible in a large Bethesda worldspace. I expect the idea of the Vertibird transport mechanic in Fallout 76 to be a main gameplay feature for the next Fallout. Imagine New York is actually the next setting. But near the middle of the game, we move to a completely different map. Like Chicago, Miami or even the west coast.
-- Pipboy 4000 or a really cool upgrade, Fallout 4 introduced the Pipboy 3000 mark IV, which mainly featured the ability to play Holotape games. Whatever the next iteration is, it also needs to feature a sensible upgrade that is based on the needs of the region. Most of the mechanics have been Vault door opening, radio, communications, radiation tracking, signal tracking, the social stats, biological telemetry etc.
What should be the next iteration?
-- new unique factions
--Vault tech space station. So since the grand purpose of the vaults was to build and test the necessary technology needed for survival of Humans and Space exploration. I would love to see the elite of the elite cozied up in a secret supervault(space station) that maybe requires something as crazy as the Institute teleporter. This is where a unique Pipboy 4000 or special version maybe need for the quest or access.
--Expand from the settlement building of Fallout 4, 76, and Starfield.
--Do something with water next time! (Lol it's a crime that they cut the underwater vault and overseer squid thing)
What are your thoughts? Leave your comments down below, thanks for reading!
submitted by jd55513 to Fallout [link] [comments]
We seem to be getting another Expedition and another big story expansion (probably enclave) later in the future.
The next fallout game is probably atleast 10 years away(assuming we get a New Vegas 2 or future Fallout spinoff now that Microsoft makes the decisions)
If not....then probably 15 years or so away for Fallout 5(since it would come out using a new engine that will take a few years to get ready. (Creation Engine 3?) and release on the next generation of consoles.
So with all that said, here is what I'm hoping to see in the next game:
--A multi layered, evolved branching storyline with multiple faction endings that have host of different consequences for uniques, companions and post world endgame. (Fallout 4 failed at that imo)
--Evolution of the weapons crafting mechanic in Fallout 4. Specifically I want more unique weapons and I want them to feel "unique" Fallout 3 and New Vegas had more weight and aesthetic to the genre of weapons you could expect in such a game. For example, where is the Displacer glove? More unique melee weapons, power fist specials, more sniper types, more unique energy weapons etc.
-- With the technology of Creation Engine 2. It seems vehicles and ships will be possible in a large Bethesda worldspace. I expect the idea of the Vertibird transport mechanic in Fallout 76 to be a main gameplay feature for the next Fallout. Imagine New York is actually the next setting. But near the middle of the game, we move to a completely different map. Like Chicago, Miami or even the west coast.
-- Pipboy 4000 or a really cool upgrade, Fallout 4 introduced the Pipboy 3000 mark IV, which mainly featured the ability to play Holotape games. Whatever the next iteration is, it also needs to feature a sensible upgrade that is based on the needs of the region. Most of the mechanics have been Vault door opening, radio, communications, radiation tracking, signal tracking, the social stats, biological telemetry etc.
What should be the next iteration?
-- new unique factions
--Vault tech space station. So since the grand purpose of the vaults was to build and test the necessary technology needed for survival of Humans and Space exploration. I would love to see the elite of the elite cozied up in a secret supervault(space station) that maybe requires something as crazy as the Institute teleporter. This is where a unique Pipboy 4000 or special version maybe need for the quest or access.
--Expand from the settlement building of Fallout 4, 76, and Starfield.
--Do something with water next time! (Lol it's a crime that they cut the underwater vault and overseer squid thing)
What are your thoughts? Leave your comments down below, thanks for reading!
2023.05.29 22:08 OldBayJ [OT] Micro Monday: Summer Vacation!
Welcome to Micro Monday
Hello writers and welcome to Micro Monday! It’s time to sharpen those micro-fic skills. What is micro-fic, you ask? Micro-fiction is generally defined as a complete story (hook, plot, conflict, and some type of resolution) written in 300 words or less. For this exercise, it needs to be at least 100 words (no poetry).However, less words doesn’t mean less of a story. The key to micro-fic is to make careful word and phrase choices so that you can paint a vivid picture for your reader. Less words means each word does more!
Each week, I provide a simple constraint or jumping-off point to get your minds working. This rotates between simple prompts, sentences, images, songs, and themes. You’re free to interpret the weekly constraints how you like as long as you follow the post and subreddit rules. Please read the entire post before submitting.
This week’s challenge:
- Theme: Summer Vacation
- Bonus Constraint: Story is written in 3rd person, limited POV.
Note: Don’t forget to vote for your favorites next Monday! (The form usually opens at about 11:30am EST Monday.) You get points just for voting.
You can check out previous Micro Mondays here.
How To Participate
- Submit a story between 100-300 words in the comments below. You have until Sunday at 11:59pm EST. (No poetry.)
- Use wordcounter.net to check your word count. The title is not counted in your final word count. Stories under 100 words or over 300 will be disqualified from campfire readings and rankings.
- No pre-written content allowed. Submitted stories should be written for this post, exclusively. Micro serials are acceptable, but please keep in mind that each installment should be able to stand on its own and be understood without leaning on previous installments.
- Come back throughout the week, read the other stories, and leave them some feedback on the thread. You have until 2pm EST Monday to get your feedback in. Only actionable feedback will be awarded points. See the ranking scale below for a breakdown on points.
- Please follow all subreddit rules and be respectful and civil in all feedback and discussion. We welcome writers of all skill levels and experience here; we’re all here to improve and sharpen our skills. You can find a list of all sub rules here.
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2023.05.29 22:06 sinfolmatt ADC alt for trust main? Also dealing with fed Rammus?
I have 2 questions.
1) I have been doing great with Trist ADC bot lane. I refuse to leave the character selection if Tristana is banned or chosen by someone else. Do people recommend specific characters as alts? Currently I go to MF because I know her well enough and a few well positioned ults can make up for it not being my main, it overall she feels like when her ult is down she is just an auto attack bot. So curious if others recommend something else.
2) last night I encountered a fed Rammus. I literally damaged myself more than him when attacking him. I had stormrazor, IE, PD, LDR, berserkers greaves and a vampiric scepter by the end and still was just dying attacking him.
submitted by sinfolmatt to TristanaMains [link] [comments]
1) I have been doing great with Trist ADC bot lane. I refuse to leave the character selection if Tristana is banned or chosen by someone else. Do people recommend specific characters as alts? Currently I go to MF because I know her well enough and a few well positioned ults can make up for it not being my main, it overall she feels like when her ult is down she is just an auto attack bot. So curious if others recommend something else.
2) last night I encountered a fed Rammus. I literally damaged myself more than him when attacking him. I had stormrazor, IE, PD, LDR, berserkers greaves and a vampiric scepter by the end and still was just dying attacking him.
2023.05.29 21:35 JudgementallyTempora Shiplist: "Cruiser Mafia" Edition
(I'll be borrowing Grievous69's certified Starsector Ship Rating System™. The first score is for a flagship and the second is for an AI ship)
Frigates
NOTE: In general destroyers become almost completely useless by the endgame. While (good) frigates justify their existence by being able to cap objectives, kill stragglers and generally be a distraction that in most cases is almost impossible for the enemy to kill, destroyers lack the speed to do any of this while at the same time lacking range, damage and tank to duke it out with cruisers and capitals.
NOTE2: Carriers(of all sizes) become progressively less useful as fleets get bigger because there's just so much ordnance flying around that fighters evaporate quickly even without any dedicated PD. And bombers don't change targets mid-flight which often leads to them charging right into enemy lines trying to fire on ships that have already retreated.
Valkyrie/Phantom/Colossus Mk.III: not much to say, Phantom is best. Although it should be pointed out that for getting undercover agents out of Pirate/Pather space stations all you need is Valkyrie and 100 Marines, anything above that does nothing.
Nebula/Starliner: you will literally only use these for creating colonies. Why am I writing this. Nebulas are rather common as wrecks during exploration so you can save yourself some money just by keeping any you find for later. Wow.
WayfareGemini/Mule/Tarsus: the "combat freighters", well except for Tarsus but I didn't have anywhere else to put it. Needless to say you should never bring a freighter into combat so only two ships here stand out. The first is Wayfarer which somehow packs 150 cargo space into a frigate hull with no civilian sensor profile penalty and which has OP to spare for Insulated Engine Assembly making it an early game smuggler's best friend. The other is Gemini which is wise enough to stay the hell away from combat, as a freighter should.
Dram/Phaeton/Revenant/Prometheus: unless you really really need sensor profile below 30 without S-modding then Phaeton completely obsoletes the Dram. Revenant exists as a more fancy Phaeton which also doubles as a cargo ship and makes it easier to keep your fleet's sensor profile low which means you can bring larger ships on your smuggling trips. Prometheus is completely pointless, you will never need this much fuel.
Buffalo/Colossus/Atlas: which ship to use will vary depending on your skills(Bulk Transport), desired base Burn, desired sensor profile and how much SP are you willing to spend. From endgame perspective Atlas is a clear winner, being most efficient by just about every metric. With S-modded Insulated Engine Assembly you can get its sensor profile down to that of a frigate(!), hovewer it will have base Burn of 8 - either with Bulk Transport or Augmented Drive Field - which is usually not enough for early game or exploration. Colossus gets to Burn 9, Buffalo gets Militarized Subsystems instead to lower its sensor profile without S-modding, etc.
Salvage Rig: put three of these in your fleet and stop whining about supplies/fuel.
Ox: with the massive bonuses logistics hullmods got when S-modded in this patch there is even less reasons to not use the Ox. Or two.
submitted by JudgementallyTempora to starsector [link] [comments]
Frigates
- Cerberus/Gremlin/Hermes/Hound/Kite/Mercury/MudskippeMudskipper Mk.II/Vanguard: garbage that only exists so you have easy enemies to blow up.
- BrawleCenturion/LasheMercury/Vigilance/Wolf: random crap you put in your fleet because it's common, cheap and you're apparently too lazy to look for actually good ships. You'll likely get rid of them faster than it would take me to review them all.
- Shepherd: your all-in-one exploration ship that you can bring into combat in a pinch.
- Brawler LP(A/A): everyone's favourite Support Doctrine spam ship. All but requires fighter(interceptor) support to work properly. Can serve you well into the endgame - you just need to keep getting more of them and start investing into S-mods - but eventually you'll have to start accepting some losses against large fleets or stations.
- Monitor(S/A): dumb ship for cheesing the AI with so you can pretend you're good at the game. Works best as "flagship", AI will need more Monitors for equal results. In its actual intended role of stopping missiles and fighters it's D/D and completely outclassed by the Omen.
- Omen(A/A): great ship in a role that doesn't actually exist - if you have problems with fighters or missiles put some PD on the ships you already have(or get some Wasps) instead of bringing another ship and hoping it will be in the right place at the right time. Surprisingly capable in real combat - the EMP Emitter is almost a free Pulse Laser damage-wise - to the point you can consider Support Doctrine spam, although it kills very slowly.
- Scarab(A/A): fantastic in early/mid-game, in late-game it will run into serious PPT issues because it's kind of like a phase ship without the massive PPT boost from Phase Coil Tuning skill.
- Tempest(A/A): fastest non-SO frigate around, unfortunately you'll want to SO it anyways because its base flux stats absolutely cannot support two medium energy weapons. At which point it's basically like Scarab, good only as long as you can end the fight before you run out of CR.
- Shade(A/B): like a worse Afflictor. AI has trouble understanding that EMP Emitter and phase cloak are mutually exclusive.
- Afflictor(S/S): hands down the best frigate in the game, at least as long as you take the Phase Coil Tuning skill. Even in AI hands it outperforms everything else thanks to its inhuman reflexes(ever dodged a Tachyon Lance shot? AI can) and always trying to get behind enemy ships.
- Hyperion: Take Scarab/Tempest then double their power but also their PPT issues. Two pump chump with a huge dick.
NOTE: In general destroyers become almost completely useless by the endgame. While (good) frigates justify their existence by being able to cap objectives, kill stragglers and generally be a distraction that in most cases is almost impossible for the enemy to kill, destroyers lack the speed to do any of this while at the same time lacking range, damage and tank to duke it out with cruisers and capitals.
NOTE2: Carriers(of all sizes) become progressively less useful as fleets get bigger because there's just so much ordnance flying around that fighters evaporate quickly even without any dedicated PD. And bombers don't change targets mid-flight which often leads to them charging right into enemy lines trying to fire on ships that have already retreated.
- Buffalo Mk.II: truly one of the ships of all time.
- Condor(B/B): best carrier deck/DP ratio in the game but you get what you pay for. It barely even has enough OP to fit bombers much less everything else. It's also extremely slow which can be an issue if you actually want them to contest air(?)space at the start, since chances are good the Condor won't arrive until the battle is already well underway.
- Drover(A/A): like Condor but good.
- Enforcer(A/A): five medium slots but you'll only have flux to fire three of them. Combined with four small missile slots that's usually enough hovewer. An SO version is probably close to S tbh.
- Hammerhead(B/C): here's a ship which runs into an unusual problem: it doesn't have enough mounts. If you put kinetics in both, you do nothing to armor. If you put explosives in both, you do nothing to shields. If you split, you have firepower of a frigate with none of the advantages of one. If you try to solve the problem with missiles, you better have EMR and Missile Spec. Overrated.
- Hammerhead LG(A/B): this might be the only case where an LG ship is better than the base variant. With Pulse Lasers or Ion Pulsers you don't have to worry about damage types and you still get a damage boost shipsystem.
- Harbinger(A/C): extreme one trick pony: use shipsystem, unload, slither away and wait for shipsystem to be available again. AI is kind of bad at it. You're both better off with an Afflictor.
- Manticore(A/A): the large mount seems great but flux limitations mean that in practice you're looking at the Hellbore and something to break shields, i.e. a Railgun. Still, it's a combo that works well and you still have two medium missiles. Also works as a more generalist alternative to the Sunder for exploration.
- Manticore LP(S/A): imagine a Brawler LP with a Hammer Barrage/Cyclone Reaper Launcher. Less PPT issues but more ammo issues.
- Medusa(S/B): the first in line of high tech ships that work extremely well in player hands but are extremely disappointing in AI hands. Unlike other destroyers Medusa has the speed to remain useful even in late game, but only if you're the one piloting it.
- Shrike(A/B): baby Medusa. Less everything but more common and cheaper.
- Sunder(S/S): arguably the only destroyer which can remain useful in late game in AI hands. Large energy mount and extra 200 range with Advanced Optics means it can keep itself out of trouble while still packing a punch. It's also the best destroyer for exploration as it basically hard-counters the entire Derelict line with a High Intensity Laser. In player hands you can do silly things like put SO on it and then just Autopulse your problems away.
- Apogee(A/A): technically an exploration ship, you will never use it for the role because you will see only two in the entire campaign. Large missile mount for 20 DP is nothing to sneeze at, sadly it has very little to follow up on it. The OP is tight. No, not the good kind of tight.
- Aurora(S/B): the final in line of high tech ships that only work as long as you're the one piloting them, Aurora is a strong contender for the best flagship in the game as it is basically a prefect ship for the hit-and-run playstyle the player excels at.
- Champion(A/A): essentially a fixed Apogee: two ballistic mounts for extra HVD oomph, 25 more OP and a ship system that actually does something. 25 DP though.
- Colossus Mk.II: "Who appointed me? Ludd did. Who appointed you?"
- Dominator(A/C): one of the best examples of how AI cannot handle ships with hardpoints because it changes targets so often it ends up not firing at anything half the time. Shame too, as Dominator has a lot of potential - two large ballistic mounts is solid on its own and you also get two mediums and a generous compliment of missiles.
- Doom(A/C): another one trick pony, you will spend most of the time just spamming the shipsystem key. Sadly, this actually works. Note that while Systems Expertise obviously helps a lot with mine spam, you can theoretically fly the Doom without any combat skills whatseover and still meaningfully contribute - a rarity among flagships. You don't need the Phase Coil Tuning for it either.
- Falcon/Eagle(B/C): I am lumping them together because they have exactly same issue as the Hammerhead: not enough mounts. Eagle was recently buffed but it didn't get any more mounts so the changes were irrelevant. Player can fall back on SO nonsense, the AI cannot.
- Falcon P(A/C): the Aurora-before-Aurora, zoom in, delete something with torpedoes then zoom out. Obviously AI can't hope to replicate this.
- Eradicator(A/A): now here's a good lad, a bit on the glass cannon side but the best defense is a good offense as they say. For a flagship you should also strongly consider Eradicator P.
- Fury(A/B): baby Aurora. Less everything but more common and cheaper.
- Gryphon(A/A): strong but strictly a support ship as it lacks speed or tank to serve on the front line. Please note that linking Squalls with Harpoons/Breachers is banned by the Geneva Convention. Whatever that is.
- Heron(A/A): a quintessential carrier, it carries things, it's fast and it has a ship system that makes the things it carries better.
- Mora(B/B): remember that one time when your carrier ended up on the frontline and you had it tank? Me neither.
- Venture(B/B): a dedicated exploration ship hugely let down by the civilian-grade hull which gives it a sensor profile larger than a capital and which means none of the combat ship only skills apply to it. And if you militarize it, you're stuck with the awkward(for exploration) base Burn of 8.
- Astral(C/C): in most cases you're better off with two Herons(or even Moras) simply to have two sets of fighters which can be in two different places - assuming you need that many fighters in the first place. Like Doom, Astral can work well as a flagship even without any combat skills - not that there are any carrier combat skills anyways - you just shoot things with Squalls then send Daggers at them.
- Atlas Mk.II(B/C): proof that sometimes offense is not in fact the best defense. Forget glass cannon, this thing is a wet toilet paper roll howitzer. The player can keep it safe behind the front line and not fire the main guns most of the time because AI ships will keep getting in the way.
- Conquest(A/S): the best capital in AI hands - no hardpoints, maximum range, mobile in every direcion, omnishield, decent PD all around. On top of that it features a staggering array of weapons for only 40 DP. The shield efficiency is terrible but that is partially compensated for by its monstrous base flux stats. I am actually giving it lower flagship score because almost everyone uses turn-to-cursor which doesn't work with broadside ships.
- Executor(B/B): a great ship let down by its abysmal flux dissipation which forces you to put some of the lowest flux/second weapons in every mount. Which is a shame because other than that it has a good mix of missiles and large energy mounts, it's the fastest battleship by a quite large margin, has strong shields and a useful ship system.
- Invictus(B/C): the flying brick meme ship, Invictus basically has the same problem as the Paragon in that its extreme range doesn't mesh with its extreme tank at all. The fact that you will have to vent after every LIDAR use also drastically decreases its effective DPS. At least unlike the Paragon it gets ballistics and large missiles. The logistics footprint of it is hilarious.
- Legion(A/A): Onslaught's other half, it performs worse as a flagship because Sarissas/Xyphos necessitate getting closer to enemies to blow them up. On the other hand AI does better with it because it's all turreted(I assume you will do a long range/regular fighter build for the AI) I won't make distinction between regular and XIV, the latter is slightly better but they both work in their own ways.
- Odyssey(A/A): your second best pick after Conquest for AI use, largely because it costs 5 DP more but it's hard to justify why. Plasma Cannons cut the range and AI does weird things with Plasma Burn sometimes. Also, since all Odysseys are inherently left-sided, this will cause all of them to drift towards right side of the map as the battle goes on. Score deduction for broadside still applies.
- Onslaught(S/B): everyone's favourite battleship modeled after the hairline of a certain famous Twitch streamer. Extremely effective in player hands, the AI as usual has problems focusing on a single thing to shoot. Although in case of the Onslaught it's less of a problem because the downtime at least lets the ammo in TPCs regenerate. XIV is a straight upgrade.
- Paragon(B/C): possibly the most overrated ship in the game, Paragon brings measly four large energy mounts for a whooping 60 DP while its flux can barely support four Tachyon Lances. It also brings Fortress Shield which it will never use because it outranges everything in the first place. And if caught - which usually only happens to enemy Paragons - the AI is bad with Fortress Shield, often interrupting its own guns.
- Pegasus(S/B): two Squalls and two Hurricanes, as well as a generous array of medium ballistic mounts make Pegasus a "gentleman's choice" compared to the caveman Onslaught. I wouldn't call it better though, especially at 50 DP. Funnily enough AI is about as bad with Pegasus as it is with the Onslaught as it will gleefully waste all of the Hurricane shots with Fast Missile Racks long before Squalls run out, leaving you with a ship that can't finish anything off.
- Prometheus Mk.II(C/C): while Atlas MK.II sucks in a radical way, Prometheus Mk.II sucks in a boring way. It actually has some tank, and more sensible weapon layout, and even some fighter bays, all in a crappy civilian package with not enough flux.
- Retribution(B/D): and to think that for 5 DP less you could have an Aurora. Retribution is a battlecruiser cosplaying as a cruiser, which takes all the battle out of it. Damn that was good. Basically what I'm saying is that it has weaknesses of both and strengths of neither.
- Ziggurat(B/D): the mosquito broccoli is simply not worth 75 DP, not even when used by the player. Maybe give it one rank up if you fit it with omega weapons or something.
- DefendePicket/Sentry/Warden/Bastillon/Berserker: trash.
- Rampart(B): green brick with a lot of gun for 15 DP.
- Guardian: overpowered with a lot of cheats built-in, you can't get them.
- Fulgent/Scintilla/Apex/Brilliant/Nova/Radiant: whether or not these ships are good is irrelevant as they're all let down by Reckless core AI limitations...
- Lumen(B): ...unless you fit a ship with all 1000 range beams and slap Advanced Optics on top of that which all but negates said AI limitations. Lumens are cheap and flimsy but fast and slippery. You can bring more of them into the fight than Glimmers but they're still less effective per DP.
- Glimmer(A): speaking of, here's arguably the second best AI frigate in the game after Afflictor. And yes, I am talking about Graviton Beam/2-4 Tactical Laser Glimmer, not the SO version. While they're usually not the first to reach the third objective they can reliably push enemy ships off of it and then hold it until it's capped. They do not count towards your officer limit, do not require Phase Coil Tuning to work, provide decent amount of ECM from elite Gunnery Implants and unlike most other premium frigates have amazing PPT. Sure, one or two may blow up occassionally(especially against Persean League and their Hydras) but they're machines, not people, so who really cares?
Valkyrie/Phantom/Colossus Mk.III: not much to say, Phantom is best. Although it should be pointed out that for getting undercover agents out of Pirate/Pather space stations all you need is Valkyrie and 100 Marines, anything above that does nothing.
Nebula/Starliner: you will literally only use these for creating colonies. Why am I writing this. Nebulas are rather common as wrecks during exploration so you can save yourself some money just by keeping any you find for later. Wow.
WayfareGemini/Mule/Tarsus: the "combat freighters", well except for Tarsus but I didn't have anywhere else to put it. Needless to say you should never bring a freighter into combat so only two ships here stand out. The first is Wayfarer which somehow packs 150 cargo space into a frigate hull with no civilian sensor profile penalty and which has OP to spare for Insulated Engine Assembly making it an early game smuggler's best friend. The other is Gemini which is wise enough to stay the hell away from combat, as a freighter should.
Dram/Phaeton/Revenant/Prometheus: unless you really really need sensor profile below 30 without S-modding then Phaeton completely obsoletes the Dram. Revenant exists as a more fancy Phaeton which also doubles as a cargo ship and makes it easier to keep your fleet's sensor profile low which means you can bring larger ships on your smuggling trips. Prometheus is completely pointless, you will never need this much fuel.
Buffalo/Colossus/Atlas: which ship to use will vary depending on your skills(Bulk Transport), desired base Burn, desired sensor profile and how much SP are you willing to spend. From endgame perspective Atlas is a clear winner, being most efficient by just about every metric. With S-modded Insulated Engine Assembly you can get its sensor profile down to that of a frigate(!), hovewer it will have base Burn of 8 - either with Bulk Transport or Augmented Drive Field - which is usually not enough for early game or exploration. Colossus gets to Burn 9, Buffalo gets Militarized Subsystems instead to lower its sensor profile without S-modding, etc.
Salvage Rig: put three of these in your fleet and stop whining about supplies/fuel.
Ox: with the massive bonuses logistics hullmods got when S-modded in this patch there is even less reasons to not use the Ox. Or two.
2023.05.29 21:28 RFC2001 Rebooking Every WWE PPV from WrestleMania 1 - WrestleMania 40 - Part 41 (Long)
New Year’s Revolution 2006 (Raw)
Date: 8/1/06
Location: Pepsi Arena, Albany, New York
Intercontinental Championship:
Shelton Benjamin (c) vs William Regal
Women’s Championship:
Trish Stratus (c) vs Mickie James
(Mickie James begins stalking Trish Stratus, being heavily obsessed and in love with her. Trish wants a match to snap it out of her friend which Mickie accepts. Trish retains clean with a Chick Kick and both women hug after the match.)
Jerry Lawler vs Edge w/Lita
(Jerry Lawler comments on Edge changing Lita for the worst on commentary. Edge hears about this, takes offense to it and beats the hell out of The King. As a result, Lawler wants revenge so he challenges The Rated R Superstar to a match at New Year’s Revolution and he accepts. Jerry puts up a bit of a fight but Edge wins clean in the end after hitting him with a Spear.)
Viscera vs Snitsky
Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Championship:
John Cena (c) vs Kane vs Big Show vs Kurt Angle vs Triple H vs Shawn Michaels
(John Cena retains in a bloody encounter. After the match, Vince McMahon comes out to the stage and announces the night isn’t finished. Someone is cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase… Edge!)
WWE Championship - Money in the Bank Cash In:
John Cena (c) vs Edge w/Lita
(Edge wins the WWE Championship against a bloody and battered John Cena. New Year’s Revolution draws to a close with Edge and Lita celebrating.)
Elimination Chamber Notes:
Kane enters third and is eliminated first by Shawn Michaels
The Big Show enters sixth and is eliminated second by Triple H and Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels enters second and is eliminated third by Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle enters fifth and is eliminated fourth by John Cena
Triple H enters fourth and is eliminated fifth by John Cena
John Cena enters first and wins
Royal Rumble 2006
Date: 29/1/06
Location: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
Cruiserweight Championship:
Chavo Guerrero (c) vs Gregory Helms
Women’s Championship:
Trish Stratus (c) w/Mickie James vs Ashley
(After the match, Mickie James turns on Trish and beats the hell out of her.)
World Heavyweight Championship:
Randy Orton (c) vs Chris Benoit
(After winning the World Heavyweight Championship, Randy Orton says this proves once and for all that he’s the man on SmackDown! Orton also says that not only is he a champion that Eddie Guerrero would be proud of but he’ll help the company move on from him with all due respect. Chris Benoit takes offense to this, says Orton is nothing but a chicken sh*t and wants the chance to win the World Heavyweight Championship again which Theodore Long grants him an opportunity to do so at the Royal Rumble. Benoit promises that Orton’s reign will be short lived meanwhile The Legend Killer vows to beat Chris Benoit again just like he did to win his first World Heavyweight Championship. During the match, Benoit’s emotions result in him trying too hard. This plays into Orton’s hands as he gains the upper hand, hits him with an RKO and pins him to retain the World Heavyweight Championship!)
WWE Championship:
Edge (c) w/Lita vs Triple H vs John Cena
(After New Year's Revolution, Edge gloats that he’s the man! He’s interrupted by Triple H who tells him that he’s nothing but a paper champion who took the coward's way to win the title at New Year’s Revolution and says that he’s only keeping that title warm for him. John Cena says not only is he invoking his rematch clause but he’s going to make Edge suffer. Vince McMahon announces that both men will get a shot at Edge for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble PPV. During the match, Triple H hits John Cena with a Pedigree and looks set to win until… Ric Flair appears and smashes The Game over the head with a steel chair. Because of this, Edge capitalises after Lita helps him up, he crawls over and pins Triple H to retain the WWE Championship!)
Royal Rumble Match:
Rey Mysterio (#2) wins by last eliminating JBL (#30)
Royal Rumble Notes:
The final four are Rey Mysterio, JBL, The Undertaker & Kurt Angle
Shawn Michaels isn’t eliminated by Shane McMahon. Instead, he’s eliminated by Kurt Angle after Vince McMahon distracts him.
The Undertaker eliminates Kurt Angle. This pisses Angle off to the point he comes back into the ring and eliminates The Undertaker. This results in both men brawling through the arena.
Rob Van Dam returns in this match
No Way Out 2006 (SmackDown)
Date: 19/2/06
Location: 1st Mariner Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
WWE Tag Team Championship:
MNM (c) w/Melina vs Paul London & Brian Kendrick
Cruiserweight Championship:
Gregory Helms (c) vs Chavo Guerrero
United States Championship:
Booker T (c) w/Sharmell vs Matt Hardy
Singles Match with Rey Mysterio’s WrestleMania title shot on the line:
Rey Mysterio vs JBL
(After the Royal Rumble, Rey Mysterio says his Royal Rumble win was dedicated to Eddie Guerrero and he’ll have one more dedication to his late friend and that’s by winning the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania! JBL interrupts and tells Rey that his win at the Royal Rumble was a fluke and it should really be him in the main event of WrestleMania. JBL challenges Rey to put his title shot on the line but Rey doesn’t want to do it. JBL however goads Rey into it by calling a coward and slapping him. Rey says if beating JBL is going to prove his win at the Rumble wasn’t a fluke then fine, he’ll do it. Rey Mysterio wins and keeps his dream alive.)
World Heavyweight Championship:
Randy Orton (c) vs The Undertaker
(After the Royal Rumble, Randy Orton celebrates his victory over Chris Benoit and says that he’s going to WrestleMania as the World Heavyweight Champion! He tells the WWE universe that he’s going to forever edge his name in history when he walks in and out of WrestleMania with the World Heavyweight Championship. Orton continues to run his mouth until a familiar sound goes off… GONG! The Undertaker appears, Chokeslams his bitter rival and signals that he wants the World Heavyweight Championship. The Legend Killer demands that The Undertaker be suspended since he could’ve injured him as well as prevented him from competing at WrestleMania. Teddy Long instead tells Orton that not only will The Undertaker not be suspended but he’ll be defending his World Heavyweight Championship against The Deadman at No Way Out! Orton is furious and says this shouldn’t be happening since he was done with Taker after Armageddon, claims WrestleMania deserves the future of the company going into the event as champion and fears that might not happen if The Undertaker injures him. Orton tries to get out of the match by pulling all sorts of tactics that don’t work. During the match, Orton accidentally dropkicks the referee. The Undertaker then Chokeslams the champion and gets ready to hit him with a Tombstone Piledriver to finish this off until Kurt Angle appears from the crowd and delivers an Angle Slam to The Phenom! Angle then puts Orton on top of The Undertaker and with the referee regaining consciousness, he makes the count. 1,2..3. Randy Orton retains the World Heavyweight Championship and realises that he’s going to WrestleMania! No Way Out draws to a close with a cocky and arrogant Orton celebrating a huge win.)
Hall of Fame class of 2006:
Bret Hart, Eddie Guerrero, “Mean” Gene Okerlund, Sensational Sherri, Tony Atlas, The Blackjacks, and Verne Gagne
WrestleMania 22
Date: 2/4/06
Location: Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Illinois
United States Championship:
Booker T (c) w/Sharmell vs Chris Benoit vs JBL
(Chris Benoit wins the championship after forcing Booker T to submit to The Crossface.)
WWE World Tag Team Championship:
Kane & Big Show (c) vs Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch
Money in the Bank Ladder Match:
Matt Hardy vs Bobby Lashley vs Mark Henry vs Finlay vs Rob Van Dam vs Carlito vs Chris Masters vs Shelton Benjamin
Last Man Standing Match:
Ric Flair vs Triple H
(The battle between two former best friends and all time greats happens at The Grandest Stage of Them All. Ric Flair says that Triple H turning on him and taking pride as if he ended his career is what drove him to come back and cost Triple H what matters most to him, the WWE Championship. Flair says The Game has always wanted to be Ric Flair and for as great as he is which he’s known for 4 years how great he is, he’ll never be The Nature Boy! Ric Flair challenges Triple H to a match at WrestleMania 22 and The Game accepts. Triple H says while the old man’s career was dying, he revived him by creating Evolution, kept Ric Flair relevant when he no longer was and saw him as a father figure until Ric started becoming a thorn on his side, a distraction he realised he had to bury. Triple H says Flair is a clear symbol of the past who’s hanging on for dear life, living in a fantasy land and he promises to destroy him once and for all. Triple H asks to up the stakes and make it a Last Man Standing match which Flair accepts. Triple H vows to leave Flair in a bloody mess, put him down for good and leave WrestleMania victorious. Flair says he may bleed but he’s bled enough to the point Triple H will have to beat the holy hell out of him to keep him down. In a bloody and brutal affair, Triple H finishes the match off by smashing a bloody Flair over the head with his sledgehammer to win the match. After the match, Triple H looks down at a battered Ric Flair but actually nods in appreciation to his former mentor. The Game hints at a face turn 👀.)
Women’s Championship:
Trish Stratus (c) vs Mickie James
(After months of being stalked with a lot of creepy vibes as well as being attacked numerous times, Trish Stratus has had enough and wants to face Mickie James at WrestleMania. Same story, same build and same match. Mickie James wins the Women’s Championship clean to end Trish’s long reign.)
Hardcore Match:
Shawn Michaels & Mick Foley vs Vince & Shane McMahon
(After months of being told that he screwed Bret Hart who’s entering the Hall of Fame the night before this event, being told he’s not the same man and being cost title matches, opportunities and the Royal Rumble, Shawn Michaels snaps and kicks Vince McMahon in the face the night after the Royal Rumble. Vince retaliates the week after when Shane McMahon returns and The McMahons beat the holy hell out of HBK with The Spirit Squads' assistance. Vince & Shane promise to make HBK's life a living hell until he admits that he really screwed Bret Hart in Montreal! Shawn pretends he’s going to admit it but then goes through how much it was truly Vince McMahon who screwed Bret, Vince orchestrated the plan and Vince is responsible for the most controversial moment in WWE history! Michaels says he’s got a partner who knows this and wants to help him beat the hell out of Vince & Shane at WrestleMania. Vince laughs thinking no one has the guts to team with Shawn. Shawn brings out… Mick Foley! Foley says that everything Shawn Michaels is saying about the Montreal Screwjob is true, he was there that night in Montreal and he no showed the next night because Vince behaved like a coward. Foley says that for years he’s wanted to beat the hell out of Vince whether it be for that night in Montreal, how he’s treated Linda, the talents on the roster and how he treated him when he was the Commissioner of the company 5 years ago. Vince is furious and tells Foley there will be hell to pay for him too for even daring to align with Michaels and says the match will be a Hardcore match at WrestleMania! In a chaotic and bloody encounter that has interference from The Spirit Squad, Michaels and Foley win after Michaels delivers an elbow drop to Vince McMahon through a table while he has a trash can over his head.)
The Undertaker vs Kurt Angle
(After No Way Out, Kurt Angle explains on Raw that he cost The Undertaker the World Heavyweight Championship for two reasons. The Deadman cost him the main event of WrestleMania by eliminating him in the Royal Rumble. The other reason? He saw it as an opportunity to get another opportunity, a chance to end the streak at WrestleMania! Angle says right now he’s the best damn wrestler on the planet, he’s a wrestling machine and that freaking streak is his to break, it’s true, it’s damn true! The Undertaker responds and accepts Angle’s challenge and tells him that at WrestleMania, he’ll dig a grave for him like he has others, his day of reckoning will come and he’ll not live to regret his actions at No Way Out. Angle says he isn’t intimidated by empty threats and promises to snap Taker’s ankle as well as his streak. This is essentially their 30 minute classic they had at No Way Out in real life but with The Undertaker coming out on top after delivering two Tombstone Piledriver’s to Kurt Angle in order to go 14-0 at WrestleMania!)
World Heavyweight Championship:
Randy Orton (c) vs Rey Mysterio
(After his win over The Undertaker at No Way Out, Randy Orton is happy and smiling. He insists that The Legend Killer is rightfully entering WrestleMania as the World Heavyweight Champion no matter how hard Teddy Long tried to ensure he didn’t. Orton then promises that he’ll crush Rey Mysterio like a bug at WrestleMania and end his fairytale dream while Eddie will actually be looking down smiling at the sight of it no matter what narrative Mysterio is painting. Rey interrupts and says Orton is a coward and nothing but a disgrace to legends like Eddie Guerrero. Rey insists dreams do come true at events like WrestleMania and promises to win the World Heavyweight Championship in dedication to his friend Eddie Guerrero, who’ll be inducted into the 2006 Hall of Fame. During the match, Orton attempts to cheat but Rey counters, hits him with the 619 and instead of delivering a West Coast Pop, Rey hits a Frog Splash and pins Randy Orton to win the World Heavyweight Championship! Michael Cole shouts “MYSTERIO WINS THE TITLE!” Rey celebrates on the ramp with Chavo Guerrero and Eddie’s wife Vickie, fully dedicating his win to the late, great legend that is Latino Heat.)
WWE Championship:
Edge (c) w/Lita vs John Cena
(John Cena wins a Fatal 4 Way Match against Kane, Big Show and Shawn Michaels to earn this match against Edge at WrestleMania. Cena promises to regain the title Edge stole from him at New Year’s Revolution and leave WrestleMania for the second year in a row as the WWE Champion. Edge says there’s no way in hell is Cena going to take his moment from him and tells him he isn’t some sort of transitional paper champion the way people think. Edge vows to show everyone who’s ever doubted him that he deserves to be at the top of the mountain and promises to leave Chicago as the WWE Champion. In a very competitive main event where the crowd is booing the hell out of John Cena, Cena is smashed over the head with brass knuckles by Lita when the referee doesn’t see. Edge then Spears Cena and pins him to surprisingly retain the WWE Championship! After the match, a pissed off Cena attacks Edge, hits him with an FU through the announce table and then delivers an FU to Lita in the middle of the ring as WrestleMania 22 draws to a close.)
Notes:
(It’s announced that ECW will be returning and will now be a brand in the WWE starting in June!)
(Edge attacks Mick Foley on behalf of Vince McMahon and leaves him swimming in a pile of his own blood. This writes the Hardcore Legend off TV.)
(Randy Orton is suspended for 30 days after violating the wellness policy.)
Backlash 2006 (Raw)
Date: 30/4/06
Location: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky
Intercontinental Championship:
Shelton Benjamin (c) vs Rob Van Dam
(After WrestleMania, Shelton Benjamin turns heel and attacks Rob Van Dam for costing him his moment at WrestleMania in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Desperate for revenge, Van Dam challenges Benjamin to put his championship on the line against him at Backlash and the champion accepts. Benjamin cheats to retain by putting his feet on the ropes during a roll up.)
Eugene vs Umaga w/Armando Estrada
(Umaga debuts on Raw the night after WrestleMania 22. He wins here in a 3 minute squash match to showcase his dominance.)
WWE World Tag Team Championship:
Kane & Big Show (c) vs Carlito & Chris Masters
(Carlito and Chris Masters form an alliance and target the World Tag Team Championship. During the match, Big Show turns heel and Chokeslam’s Kane which allows Carlito & Chris Masters to win the titles.)
Shawn Michaels vs Shane McMahon w/Vince McMahon
(After WrestleMania, a pissed off Vince McMahon says that the McMahons aren’t done with making The Showstopper's life a living hell. Vince announces that at Backlash, Shawn will be facing his son Shane in a match to teach him a lesson! During the match when the referee is knocked out, The Spirit Squad interferes and they attack Shawn Michaels which delights Vince McMahon. After they do so, Triple H comes down to the ring. McMahon is happy to see The Game as he’s been trying to recruit him for weeks to end Shawn Michaels' career and asks him to smash Shawn over the face with his sledgehammer. Triple H goes to hit Shawn but instead… hits Vince McMahon! Triple H then beats the hell out of The Spirit Squad with his Sledgehammer. Shane McMahon then attacks The Game from behind but of course Triple H is helped by Shawn Michaels. Triple H hits Shane over the face with the sledgehammer, he walks into Sweet Chin Music, the ref regains consciousness and makes the cover for Shawn Michaels to win this match. After the match, Shawn Michaels and Triple H stare each other down and… do the DX high five! DX is back!)
Women’s Championship:
Mickie James (c) vs Trish Stratus (Double Count-Out)
(This match ends in a double count-out after Trish legitimately dislocates her shoulder. Mickie James attacks her still and leaves Backlash on top.)
WWE Championship:
Edge (c) w/Lita vs John Cena
(After WrestleMania, Edge gloats about beating John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania. He claims that he’s just further solidified legendary status on his name, proved he deserves to be on top of the mountain and proved after questions were asked after New Year’s Revolution that he’s better than John Cena! Cena interrupts and says while Edge is still the WWE Champion, he’s still also a complete jackass who needed help to retain his title, claiming it’s Lita who well and truly wears the pants in the relationship. Edge takes offense to this and claims Cena is just coming up with excuses to deflect losing to him. Cena goads Edge into facing him at Backlash in a rematch by making comments about Lita having more balls than Edge. During the match, Edge attempts to cheat until… Mick Foley’s music hits! Foley comes down and puts Mr Socko on Lita who’s trying to help Edge cowardly win again like she did at WrestleMania. This distraction though is enough for Edge to turn around in an FU from Cena. John Cena then pins Edge to win the WWE Championship! Backlash draws to a close with Cena celebrating after winning his second WWE Championship.)
And that's part 41! I hope you guys enjoyed it and loved my swerve with Edge leaving WrestleMania with his championship. I'll be back very soon for my next part where we'll see ECW reborn, an iconic Money in the Bank cash-in, and a far better SummerSlam 2006. Stay safe and stay tuned!
submitted by RFC2001 to fantasybooking [link] [comments]
Date: 8/1/06
Location: Pepsi Arena, Albany, New York
Intercontinental Championship:
Shelton Benjamin (c) vs William Regal
Women’s Championship:
Trish Stratus (c) vs Mickie James
(Mickie James begins stalking Trish Stratus, being heavily obsessed and in love with her. Trish wants a match to snap it out of her friend which Mickie accepts. Trish retains clean with a Chick Kick and both women hug after the match.)
Jerry Lawler vs Edge w/Lita
(Jerry Lawler comments on Edge changing Lita for the worst on commentary. Edge hears about this, takes offense to it and beats the hell out of The King. As a result, Lawler wants revenge so he challenges The Rated R Superstar to a match at New Year’s Revolution and he accepts. Jerry puts up a bit of a fight but Edge wins clean in the end after hitting him with a Spear.)
Viscera vs Snitsky
Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Championship:
John Cena (c) vs Kane vs Big Show vs Kurt Angle vs Triple H vs Shawn Michaels
(John Cena retains in a bloody encounter. After the match, Vince McMahon comes out to the stage and announces the night isn’t finished. Someone is cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase… Edge!)
WWE Championship - Money in the Bank Cash In:
John Cena (c) vs Edge w/Lita
(Edge wins the WWE Championship against a bloody and battered John Cena. New Year’s Revolution draws to a close with Edge and Lita celebrating.)
Elimination Chamber Notes:
Kane enters third and is eliminated first by Shawn Michaels
The Big Show enters sixth and is eliminated second by Triple H and Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels enters second and is eliminated third by Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle enters fifth and is eliminated fourth by John Cena
Triple H enters fourth and is eliminated fifth by John Cena
John Cena enters first and wins
Date: 29/1/06
Location: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
Cruiserweight Championship:
Chavo Guerrero (c) vs Gregory Helms
Women’s Championship:
Trish Stratus (c) w/Mickie James vs Ashley
(After the match, Mickie James turns on Trish and beats the hell out of her.)
World Heavyweight Championship:
Randy Orton (c) vs Chris Benoit
(After winning the World Heavyweight Championship, Randy Orton says this proves once and for all that he’s the man on SmackDown! Orton also says that not only is he a champion that Eddie Guerrero would be proud of but he’ll help the company move on from him with all due respect. Chris Benoit takes offense to this, says Orton is nothing but a chicken sh*t and wants the chance to win the World Heavyweight Championship again which Theodore Long grants him an opportunity to do so at the Royal Rumble. Benoit promises that Orton’s reign will be short lived meanwhile The Legend Killer vows to beat Chris Benoit again just like he did to win his first World Heavyweight Championship. During the match, Benoit’s emotions result in him trying too hard. This plays into Orton’s hands as he gains the upper hand, hits him with an RKO and pins him to retain the World Heavyweight Championship!)
WWE Championship:
Edge (c) w/Lita vs Triple H vs John Cena
(After New Year's Revolution, Edge gloats that he’s the man! He’s interrupted by Triple H who tells him that he’s nothing but a paper champion who took the coward's way to win the title at New Year’s Revolution and says that he’s only keeping that title warm for him. John Cena says not only is he invoking his rematch clause but he’s going to make Edge suffer. Vince McMahon announces that both men will get a shot at Edge for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble PPV. During the match, Triple H hits John Cena with a Pedigree and looks set to win until… Ric Flair appears and smashes The Game over the head with a steel chair. Because of this, Edge capitalises after Lita helps him up, he crawls over and pins Triple H to retain the WWE Championship!)
Royal Rumble Match:
Rey Mysterio (#2) wins by last eliminating JBL (#30)
Royal Rumble Notes:
The final four are Rey Mysterio, JBL, The Undertaker & Kurt Angle
Shawn Michaels isn’t eliminated by Shane McMahon. Instead, he’s eliminated by Kurt Angle after Vince McMahon distracts him.
The Undertaker eliminates Kurt Angle. This pisses Angle off to the point he comes back into the ring and eliminates The Undertaker. This results in both men brawling through the arena.
Rob Van Dam returns in this match
Date: 19/2/06
Location: 1st Mariner Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
WWE Tag Team Championship:
MNM (c) w/Melina vs Paul London & Brian Kendrick
Cruiserweight Championship:
Gregory Helms (c) vs Chavo Guerrero
United States Championship:
Booker T (c) w/Sharmell vs Matt Hardy
Singles Match with Rey Mysterio’s WrestleMania title shot on the line:
Rey Mysterio vs JBL
(After the Royal Rumble, Rey Mysterio says his Royal Rumble win was dedicated to Eddie Guerrero and he’ll have one more dedication to his late friend and that’s by winning the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania! JBL interrupts and tells Rey that his win at the Royal Rumble was a fluke and it should really be him in the main event of WrestleMania. JBL challenges Rey to put his title shot on the line but Rey doesn’t want to do it. JBL however goads Rey into it by calling a coward and slapping him. Rey says if beating JBL is going to prove his win at the Rumble wasn’t a fluke then fine, he’ll do it. Rey Mysterio wins and keeps his dream alive.)
World Heavyweight Championship:
Randy Orton (c) vs The Undertaker
(After the Royal Rumble, Randy Orton celebrates his victory over Chris Benoit and says that he’s going to WrestleMania as the World Heavyweight Champion! He tells the WWE universe that he’s going to forever edge his name in history when he walks in and out of WrestleMania with the World Heavyweight Championship. Orton continues to run his mouth until a familiar sound goes off… GONG! The Undertaker appears, Chokeslams his bitter rival and signals that he wants the World Heavyweight Championship. The Legend Killer demands that The Undertaker be suspended since he could’ve injured him as well as prevented him from competing at WrestleMania. Teddy Long instead tells Orton that not only will The Undertaker not be suspended but he’ll be defending his World Heavyweight Championship against The Deadman at No Way Out! Orton is furious and says this shouldn’t be happening since he was done with Taker after Armageddon, claims WrestleMania deserves the future of the company going into the event as champion and fears that might not happen if The Undertaker injures him. Orton tries to get out of the match by pulling all sorts of tactics that don’t work. During the match, Orton accidentally dropkicks the referee. The Undertaker then Chokeslams the champion and gets ready to hit him with a Tombstone Piledriver to finish this off until Kurt Angle appears from the crowd and delivers an Angle Slam to The Phenom! Angle then puts Orton on top of The Undertaker and with the referee regaining consciousness, he makes the count. 1,2..3. Randy Orton retains the World Heavyweight Championship and realises that he’s going to WrestleMania! No Way Out draws to a close with a cocky and arrogant Orton celebrating a huge win.)
Bret Hart, Eddie Guerrero, “Mean” Gene Okerlund, Sensational Sherri, Tony Atlas, The Blackjacks, and Verne Gagne
Date: 2/4/06
Location: Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Illinois
United States Championship:
Booker T (c) w/Sharmell vs Chris Benoit vs JBL
(Chris Benoit wins the championship after forcing Booker T to submit to The Crossface.)
WWE World Tag Team Championship:
Kane & Big Show (c) vs Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch
Money in the Bank Ladder Match:
Matt Hardy vs Bobby Lashley vs Mark Henry vs Finlay vs Rob Van Dam vs Carlito vs Chris Masters vs Shelton Benjamin
Last Man Standing Match:
Ric Flair vs Triple H
(The battle between two former best friends and all time greats happens at The Grandest Stage of Them All. Ric Flair says that Triple H turning on him and taking pride as if he ended his career is what drove him to come back and cost Triple H what matters most to him, the WWE Championship. Flair says The Game has always wanted to be Ric Flair and for as great as he is which he’s known for 4 years how great he is, he’ll never be The Nature Boy! Ric Flair challenges Triple H to a match at WrestleMania 22 and The Game accepts. Triple H says while the old man’s career was dying, he revived him by creating Evolution, kept Ric Flair relevant when he no longer was and saw him as a father figure until Ric started becoming a thorn on his side, a distraction he realised he had to bury. Triple H says Flair is a clear symbol of the past who’s hanging on for dear life, living in a fantasy land and he promises to destroy him once and for all. Triple H asks to up the stakes and make it a Last Man Standing match which Flair accepts. Triple H vows to leave Flair in a bloody mess, put him down for good and leave WrestleMania victorious. Flair says he may bleed but he’s bled enough to the point Triple H will have to beat the holy hell out of him to keep him down. In a bloody and brutal affair, Triple H finishes the match off by smashing a bloody Flair over the head with his sledgehammer to win the match. After the match, Triple H looks down at a battered Ric Flair but actually nods in appreciation to his former mentor. The Game hints at a face turn 👀.)
Women’s Championship:
Trish Stratus (c) vs Mickie James
(After months of being stalked with a lot of creepy vibes as well as being attacked numerous times, Trish Stratus has had enough and wants to face Mickie James at WrestleMania. Same story, same build and same match. Mickie James wins the Women’s Championship clean to end Trish’s long reign.)
Hardcore Match:
Shawn Michaels & Mick Foley vs Vince & Shane McMahon
(After months of being told that he screwed Bret Hart who’s entering the Hall of Fame the night before this event, being told he’s not the same man and being cost title matches, opportunities and the Royal Rumble, Shawn Michaels snaps and kicks Vince McMahon in the face the night after the Royal Rumble. Vince retaliates the week after when Shane McMahon returns and The McMahons beat the holy hell out of HBK with The Spirit Squads' assistance. Vince & Shane promise to make HBK's life a living hell until he admits that he really screwed Bret Hart in Montreal! Shawn pretends he’s going to admit it but then goes through how much it was truly Vince McMahon who screwed Bret, Vince orchestrated the plan and Vince is responsible for the most controversial moment in WWE history! Michaels says he’s got a partner who knows this and wants to help him beat the hell out of Vince & Shane at WrestleMania. Vince laughs thinking no one has the guts to team with Shawn. Shawn brings out… Mick Foley! Foley says that everything Shawn Michaels is saying about the Montreal Screwjob is true, he was there that night in Montreal and he no showed the next night because Vince behaved like a coward. Foley says that for years he’s wanted to beat the hell out of Vince whether it be for that night in Montreal, how he’s treated Linda, the talents on the roster and how he treated him when he was the Commissioner of the company 5 years ago. Vince is furious and tells Foley there will be hell to pay for him too for even daring to align with Michaels and says the match will be a Hardcore match at WrestleMania! In a chaotic and bloody encounter that has interference from The Spirit Squad, Michaels and Foley win after Michaels delivers an elbow drop to Vince McMahon through a table while he has a trash can over his head.)
The Undertaker vs Kurt Angle
(After No Way Out, Kurt Angle explains on Raw that he cost The Undertaker the World Heavyweight Championship for two reasons. The Deadman cost him the main event of WrestleMania by eliminating him in the Royal Rumble. The other reason? He saw it as an opportunity to get another opportunity, a chance to end the streak at WrestleMania! Angle says right now he’s the best damn wrestler on the planet, he’s a wrestling machine and that freaking streak is his to break, it’s true, it’s damn true! The Undertaker responds and accepts Angle’s challenge and tells him that at WrestleMania, he’ll dig a grave for him like he has others, his day of reckoning will come and he’ll not live to regret his actions at No Way Out. Angle says he isn’t intimidated by empty threats and promises to snap Taker’s ankle as well as his streak. This is essentially their 30 minute classic they had at No Way Out in real life but with The Undertaker coming out on top after delivering two Tombstone Piledriver’s to Kurt Angle in order to go 14-0 at WrestleMania!)
World Heavyweight Championship:
Randy Orton (c) vs Rey Mysterio
(After his win over The Undertaker at No Way Out, Randy Orton is happy and smiling. He insists that The Legend Killer is rightfully entering WrestleMania as the World Heavyweight Champion no matter how hard Teddy Long tried to ensure he didn’t. Orton then promises that he’ll crush Rey Mysterio like a bug at WrestleMania and end his fairytale dream while Eddie will actually be looking down smiling at the sight of it no matter what narrative Mysterio is painting. Rey interrupts and says Orton is a coward and nothing but a disgrace to legends like Eddie Guerrero. Rey insists dreams do come true at events like WrestleMania and promises to win the World Heavyweight Championship in dedication to his friend Eddie Guerrero, who’ll be inducted into the 2006 Hall of Fame. During the match, Orton attempts to cheat but Rey counters, hits him with the 619 and instead of delivering a West Coast Pop, Rey hits a Frog Splash and pins Randy Orton to win the World Heavyweight Championship! Michael Cole shouts “MYSTERIO WINS THE TITLE!” Rey celebrates on the ramp with Chavo Guerrero and Eddie’s wife Vickie, fully dedicating his win to the late, great legend that is Latino Heat.)
WWE Championship:
Edge (c) w/Lita vs John Cena
(John Cena wins a Fatal 4 Way Match against Kane, Big Show and Shawn Michaels to earn this match against Edge at WrestleMania. Cena promises to regain the title Edge stole from him at New Year’s Revolution and leave WrestleMania for the second year in a row as the WWE Champion. Edge says there’s no way in hell is Cena going to take his moment from him and tells him he isn’t some sort of transitional paper champion the way people think. Edge vows to show everyone who’s ever doubted him that he deserves to be at the top of the mountain and promises to leave Chicago as the WWE Champion. In a very competitive main event where the crowd is booing the hell out of John Cena, Cena is smashed over the head with brass knuckles by Lita when the referee doesn’t see. Edge then Spears Cena and pins him to surprisingly retain the WWE Championship! After the match, a pissed off Cena attacks Edge, hits him with an FU through the announce table and then delivers an FU to Lita in the middle of the ring as WrestleMania 22 draws to a close.)
Notes:
(It’s announced that ECW will be returning and will now be a brand in the WWE starting in June!)
(Edge attacks Mick Foley on behalf of Vince McMahon and leaves him swimming in a pile of his own blood. This writes the Hardcore Legend off TV.)
(Randy Orton is suspended for 30 days after violating the wellness policy.)
Date: 30/4/06
Location: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky
Intercontinental Championship:
Shelton Benjamin (c) vs Rob Van Dam
(After WrestleMania, Shelton Benjamin turns heel and attacks Rob Van Dam for costing him his moment at WrestleMania in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Desperate for revenge, Van Dam challenges Benjamin to put his championship on the line against him at Backlash and the champion accepts. Benjamin cheats to retain by putting his feet on the ropes during a roll up.)
Eugene vs Umaga w/Armando Estrada
(Umaga debuts on Raw the night after WrestleMania 22. He wins here in a 3 minute squash match to showcase his dominance.)
WWE World Tag Team Championship:
Kane & Big Show (c) vs Carlito & Chris Masters
(Carlito and Chris Masters form an alliance and target the World Tag Team Championship. During the match, Big Show turns heel and Chokeslam’s Kane which allows Carlito & Chris Masters to win the titles.)
Shawn Michaels vs Shane McMahon w/Vince McMahon
(After WrestleMania, a pissed off Vince McMahon says that the McMahons aren’t done with making The Showstopper's life a living hell. Vince announces that at Backlash, Shawn will be facing his son Shane in a match to teach him a lesson! During the match when the referee is knocked out, The Spirit Squad interferes and they attack Shawn Michaels which delights Vince McMahon. After they do so, Triple H comes down to the ring. McMahon is happy to see The Game as he’s been trying to recruit him for weeks to end Shawn Michaels' career and asks him to smash Shawn over the face with his sledgehammer. Triple H goes to hit Shawn but instead… hits Vince McMahon! Triple H then beats the hell out of The Spirit Squad with his Sledgehammer. Shane McMahon then attacks The Game from behind but of course Triple H is helped by Shawn Michaels. Triple H hits Shane over the face with the sledgehammer, he walks into Sweet Chin Music, the ref regains consciousness and makes the cover for Shawn Michaels to win this match. After the match, Shawn Michaels and Triple H stare each other down and… do the DX high five! DX is back!)
Women’s Championship:
Mickie James (c) vs Trish Stratus (Double Count-Out)
(This match ends in a double count-out after Trish legitimately dislocates her shoulder. Mickie James attacks her still and leaves Backlash on top.)
WWE Championship:
Edge (c) w/Lita vs John Cena
(After WrestleMania, Edge gloats about beating John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania. He claims that he’s just further solidified legendary status on his name, proved he deserves to be on top of the mountain and proved after questions were asked after New Year’s Revolution that he’s better than John Cena! Cena interrupts and says while Edge is still the WWE Champion, he’s still also a complete jackass who needed help to retain his title, claiming it’s Lita who well and truly wears the pants in the relationship. Edge takes offense to this and claims Cena is just coming up with excuses to deflect losing to him. Cena goads Edge into facing him at Backlash in a rematch by making comments about Lita having more balls than Edge. During the match, Edge attempts to cheat until… Mick Foley’s music hits! Foley comes down and puts Mr Socko on Lita who’s trying to help Edge cowardly win again like she did at WrestleMania. This distraction though is enough for Edge to turn around in an FU from Cena. John Cena then pins Edge to win the WWE Championship! Backlash draws to a close with Cena celebrating after winning his second WWE Championship.)
2023.05.29 19:41 tulpacat1 To Kill a Predator, Chapter 20
Hi everyone.
To Kill a Predator is a work of fan fiction set in the Nature of Predators universe originally created by SpacePaladin15 whose Patreon you should subscribe to.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Depiction does not equal endorsement.
Hope you enjoy it!
[First] [Previous]
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Memory transcription subject: Martin Russo, Human Refugee
Date [standardized human time]: November 30th, 2136
Three of us are riding in the back of the truck with the bound and gagged bird. We’re all ignoring him. The other two are inside. I’ve put my mask on just to avoid getting grit and dust in my eyes, mouth, and nose.
“So I know why the predator and the uplift are stuck back here, but why’d Slavik exile you?”
Hanya looks at me before scoffing. “Predator Disease, remember? Or maybe she doesn’t want my quills to scuff the upholstery.”
I sigh. “Jesus Christ I am so sick of Predator Disease. From the sound of it, you’ve got something like PTSD, you’re not a freaking serial killer!”
“Part of that didn’t translate.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s an acronym for stress as a result of trauma: literally ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’, finding yourself unable to let go of the traumatic event and thus being stressed out.”
“Oh, we’ve got something like that!” Mosun chimes in cheerfully. “We call it Recurrent Hysterical Exhaustion, and it happens sometimes to people who’ve been in accidents or returned from wars.”
I nod. “Actual mental health, huh. God, I hope with the Yotul aligning with humanity instead of the Federation you can recover your culture from them…”
Hanya scoffs again. “What, and get their trains back?”
Mosun looks surly. “Why is it that you people always think our culture is nothing but trains? They were a great way to transport things over long distances, but it’s not like we worship the damn things. There’s a lot more to our species than our technology!”
I try to interject, cutting off the incoming argument with a more positive question for him. “So what’s something about your culture that you’d like to restore?”
He responds immediately, ears perking up with excitement. “Combat Dancing!”
I lean forward. “What’s that?”
“You know that kick you were so impressed with? Well it’s part of a system that some Yotul learn to fight without weapons.”
I give an ‘oh’ of understanding. “You guys have martial arts!”
“Oh, that’s a good name too! Dancing is a sort of art, after all. And… Well, we did. We used to have entire schools dedicated to learning the Dances. But it turns out knowing anything about Combat Dances is ‘Predator Disease’, so they burnt all the schools down and threw the teachers and students in their facilities. My mom used to be a teacher, and managed to lie to their assessors… She taught me as much as she could. In secret.”
Hanya snarls. “Well, on that count the Federation was right! Fighting shouldn’t be a dance, or an art! It’s a dirty, horrible last resort!”
“Combat Dancing isn’t just about fighting! It’s about self-control, and being smart and effective! Its most important lessons are about when and how not to fight!”
I helpfully add “It’s also a good form of exercise. I was taught some of the basics of boxing at the shelter, but I haven’t been able to get a setup at home since I started living with the Venlil. I sort of miss the full-body workout.”
Mosun responds, tilting his head curiously. “’Boxing’? The translator picks that up as ‘a punching contest’, but a lot of Combat Dancing involves using your legs and tail too. Do you humans only use your paws?”
“No, boxing is just one martial art out of… well I’m not sure how many. Dozens and dozens at least. Boxing in particular focuses on using our hands. It’s also practiced as a competitive sport.”
Hanya gets a bit agitated, leaning forward. “A sport?! Absurd! You beat each other up for fun and call it a dance, or an artform! It’s savage!”
Mosun looks at the protesting Gojid shrewdly. “Your people probably had something like it too, before the Kolshians got their slimy tentacles on you. Those claws of yours are no joke. Without learning how to fight properly you could get someone seriously hurt with them.”
At this, she gets less irate. Instead she glances down at her own rather long claws thoughtfully. “So your ‘combat dancing’ would be about… not using claws?”
The Yotul moves closer to her. She doesn’t move away. But I suppose he’s just an ‘uplift’, not a predator like me. Mosun’s the first non-human I’ve been able to hang out with without first having to take days to acclimatize them to my presence. “It’s about knowing what your body is capable of, and training until you’re doing the right thing even under stress. You flew space ships, right? If you panic the results can be catastrophic. I bet you were taught safety protocols over and over. They were drilled into you until they were an automatic reflex, right?”
Hanya sighs sort of wistfully. “Yeah. In pilot school they’d bang the walls or play loud sounds while shouting questions, so we’d be able to respond correctly even under stress. A few times they’d even wake us up at night by screaming scenarios at us, and have us take repeat lessons if we didn’t immediately answer with the right procedures.”
Mosun is animated, moving his paws around as he talks. He’s in debate mode. Since he’s prey, Hanya doesn’t flinch back. “Right, so it’s the same thing here… You learn how to respond to different circumstances, so you don’t lash out and cause more harm than necessary. But at the same time if it does become necessary… you learn exactly how to do what you gotta. Figuring out how to best use your claws for self-defense isn’t something you want to start doing when a hungry Arxur is rounding the corner, any more than you wanna start figuring out how the fire suppression system works while your ship’s burning! See, you view the vessel as a complete system, and train yourself in its use… so that you can operate it safely in everyday situations, avoid dangerous situations if you can, and guide it through them in one piece if you can’t!”
She looks down at her claws for a while with a blank expression. The claws on her other paw tap the truck’s flatbed bottom thoughtfully. “…Could you teach me some of it?”
---
Memory transcription subject: Jarkim, Krakotl Civilian
Date [standardized human time]: November 30th, 2136
Slavik spoke up after a while of silent driving. “So the people we’re up against are all Exterminators, right?”
“Yeah.”
She flicked her ear in irritation. “Fucking government bastards.”
I tossed my head back a bit to show disagreement. “They’re not with the government; they believe it’s been subverted by the humans.”
“They’ve only got their weapons and training because of the government. They broke into a home in the middle of town and kidnapped and assaulted Venlil with impunity because they’ve had government backing all this time, and nobody’s allowed to question the pricks when they’re in uniform. These ‘Liberators’ are only still operating at all because it’s too embarrassing for the government to admit they’ve lost control of the Exterminators.”
I sighed. “Fair enough…”
With an air of satisfied finality Slavik said “So, fucking government bastards.”
I signaled appeasement with a wing. “Alright, alright. They’re fucking government bastards, happy?”
Slavik huffed with annoyance. “Tell me about them.”
“As people, you mean?”
Slavik flicked an ear in the affirmative. “Good to know going in.”
“Mm. Well… Karta and Luarik were my friends back on Nishtal. Karta’s always been confident, outgoing, and brash. Luarik’s been his shadow for as long as I’ve known them. If anyone’s going to listen to reason to get Luarik back, it’ll be Karta.”
After a moment of thought, I added “Honestly they may be dating, but if they are they’ve been keeping it quiet.”
“Alright, what about the rest?”
“Never worked with Serni or Vira. Vira worked… uh, administration and statistics, I think. Serni’s been doing education, going around in schools to explain to students what Exterminators do, and a lot of seminars teaching new parents what signs to look out for in their children.”
“The kinda asshole who recruits everyone to help keep an eye out for outcasts.”
I couldn’t disagree, so I just continued. “Vilrak’s been bouncing between desk duty and the front line for cycles. He’d get rough with some PD occasionally and they’d put him behind a desk for a couple of paws to cool off.”
Slavik tightened their grip on the steering, their jaw tightening. But they remained silent.
“Ilnek’s always been a model Exterminator. Always made her quotas, worked well with everyone. She did a lot of the disposal jobs at the office, like running the bone-crusher and driving loads to the ash dumps.”
Slavik grumbled quietly before finding something to latch onto and complain about. “What quotas?”
“There’s a set number of people in a population that’ll have Predator Disease, and the guild’s figured about how many an office can be expected to find each cycle based on, uhh, stuff like population density, species diversity, if you’re diverting too far from the One in Thirty ratio, local political affiliations… that kinda thing.”
“And if you’re short…”
“It generally means the budget goes toward re-training rather than better chairs or fruit baskets. Sort of a gentle incentive to keep your ears up when you’re out and about.”
Slavik’s voice was filled with disgust, and I shrank a bit in my seat from the unspoken implication in their simple response of “Uh-huh”.
Of course they were pissed. Slavik ended up in one of the cages after a coworker of theirs reported them for not filling out their sex on employment forms. And for a lack of interest in partners. A disinterest in the basic biological urges of companionship and procreation was a sign of PD, as was an inability or unwillingness to fit into your species’ standard sex distribution. If Slavik was a Krakotl it wouldn’t have been a problem, but mammals are less fluid about sex.
It wasn’t politically advantageous to make a big deal of Slavik’s case, at the time they were arrested. So I helped smooth it out.
One of the good things I’ve done, but it was just to keep the office’s paws clean. Because the media caused a gale wind about it when it turned out a couple of the Predator Disease cases over in Dawn Creek had been in that damn facility for the same reasons, I put in some words with the assessor to get Slavik out and keep them out of the records before anyone could start making noise about it here too.
There’s no way they would’ve been dragged in so aggressively to begin with if it weren’t for someone needing to polish their numbers.
“…Anyway. Last’s Renak. For my money it’s even odds whether he or Karta is the leader. Almost as many burns on wild preds as the rest of the office put together. He understands their minds, can track them better than anyone else. He can tell if there’s a nest nearby by how one behaves when it’s cornered. He can even hear if there are mature ones around a young by burning it slow and listening for how it screams.”
Slavik looked sick and pale. “…Protector… I know they’re predators, but… Why don’t you kill them before you burn them, at least?”
I knew the answer, of course. “Because… Because standard doctrine holds that they don’t feel pain or have souls the same way other animals do, so it doesn’t matter.”
Slavik gave a scoff. “After Celany’s interview, do you seriously believe that?”
“I used to.” I paused, and then told the truth instead. “No. I didn’t. I just ignored it. There were a lot of things I had to just ignore to do my job, a lot I had to be complicit in.”
---
Memory transcription subject: Vansi, Venlil Civilian
Date [standardized human time]: November 30th, 2136
It was scary to be moved suddenly, of course, but my son knew best.
He had his friends take Thiva to safety here, and was working on helping cure her sickness.
The screams were the worst part. She was restrained in one of the bedrooms, he had explained, because in her diseased state she might hurt herself or try to escape. My Renak’s a dutiful and attentive son and brother, and he made sure to stay with her and keep her fed.
Next to me was one of his friends, Ilnek. A cute girl with her short Exterminator-cut fur a lovely cloud-white color. She was flicking her tail idly while fiddling with some electronics.
“So… What is going to happen next?”
“Next, miss Vansi, we’re going to drive the humans out of Greenmeadow entirely. Without a civilian presence to safeguard, their military will have to either relocate or give up the pretense entirely. Either way suits our purpose just fine.”
She was polite, sweet, and dedicated. And such a lovely color. I wondered if my son had considered a possible relationship? They must’ve had a lot in common, and I’d love to have some grandchildren before I was too old to appreciate them. I decided to try and play matchmaker, and wagged my tail gently. “What do you think of Renak?”
She didn’t look up from her work. “Your son’s a genius. He understands the evil we’re fighting, you know. Really understands it. That’s why he’s taken his sister here. She’s a test case for our plan.”
“I… don’t understand?” I asked politely, tilting my head.
“He figures, with the human going after Thiva again after you drove it out of your home… they’re probably mated.”
A sense of deep revulsion filled me, and I recoiled with horror. “N-No! Oh Protector, No!”
Her voice was grim. “Oh, yes. It’s quite common… Plenty of humans out there apparently like to play with their food. Those are the ones we’re going after first, and the easiest way is to use their victims as bait.”
“…Bait?”
“It’s something we learned. The way we figure it the humans didn’t fake the empathy tests. Even the non-sapient predators… they either feel something like empathy, or they have a sunk cost to continue their species. If you catch some offspring, or a mate, you can dangle it by a leg… and lay in wait. The predator comes for its own, and then you can burn both at once.”
Now she looked up, smugly. “Of course, in the humans’ case the bait are gonna be their Venlil girlfriends and boyfriends, so we’ll be more… judicious. But after that, the humans will think twice before they try to mate with their pets. Then we move on to the humans who pretend to be friends with the Venlil. They’ll turn away from forming relationships with us at all and start making all-human packs separate from the Venlil… and that’s when we hit them all at once, like with the ‘shelter’.”
The idea of Thiva being used to bait the human was… “But… how do you make sure that the Venlil you’re using for bait don’t get hurt?”
“Miss Vansi, when someone is already in a predator’s clutches… collateral damage is a given. Most people who survive direct predator attacks would end up with the predator’s taint anyway.” She paused while finishing the last detonator. “…But I’m sure Renak has a plan to keep his sister safe, don’t worry. Alright, I’m going to get something to eat.”
As she walked out of the room, I was left to sit with the feeling of uncertainty and fear. Hearing the faint echoes of Thiva’s screams from the room up above, I wondered if perhaps Renak could be mistaken?
No, that’s simply not possible. I just don’t see it yet, I need him to explain it to me. He’s smarter than I am.
If I couldn’t see the plan, if I didn’t have the stomach for the cost, I simply had to trust in my son’s strength of will and vision.
I closed my eyes and listened for the next scream. She was saying the human’s name, calling out for it. Not her brother or her loving mother, but a filthy predator.
I imagined the sounds as akin to bleeding a festering wound. A deep, cleansing pain as you force out the insidious poison coursing through the veins. Burning out the infection and leaving room for renewal.
I prayed for her, fervently. I begged passionately to the Protector for power and wisdom for Renak and his cause, and for the downfall of the humans and the erasure of the taint they’ve left on the world.
Most of all I prayed my daughter could still be saved, and for the strength it would take if it turns out she could not.
--
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submitted by tulpacat1 to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]
To Kill a Predator is a work of fan fiction set in the Nature of Predators universe originally created by SpacePaladin15 whose Patreon you should subscribe to.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Depiction does not equal endorsement.
Hope you enjoy it!
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---
Memory transcription subject: Martin Russo, Human Refugee
Date [standardized human time]: November 30th, 2136
Three of us are riding in the back of the truck with the bound and gagged bird. We’re all ignoring him. The other two are inside. I’ve put my mask on just to avoid getting grit and dust in my eyes, mouth, and nose.
“So I know why the predator and the uplift are stuck back here, but why’d Slavik exile you?”
Hanya looks at me before scoffing. “Predator Disease, remember? Or maybe she doesn’t want my quills to scuff the upholstery.”
I sigh. “Jesus Christ I am so sick of Predator Disease. From the sound of it, you’ve got something like PTSD, you’re not a freaking serial killer!”
“Part of that didn’t translate.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s an acronym for stress as a result of trauma: literally ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’, finding yourself unable to let go of the traumatic event and thus being stressed out.”
“Oh, we’ve got something like that!” Mosun chimes in cheerfully. “We call it Recurrent Hysterical Exhaustion, and it happens sometimes to people who’ve been in accidents or returned from wars.”
I nod. “Actual mental health, huh. God, I hope with the Yotul aligning with humanity instead of the Federation you can recover your culture from them…”
Hanya scoffs again. “What, and get their trains back?”
Mosun looks surly. “Why is it that you people always think our culture is nothing but trains? They were a great way to transport things over long distances, but it’s not like we worship the damn things. There’s a lot more to our species than our technology!”
I try to interject, cutting off the incoming argument with a more positive question for him. “So what’s something about your culture that you’d like to restore?”
He responds immediately, ears perking up with excitement. “Combat Dancing!”
I lean forward. “What’s that?”
“You know that kick you were so impressed with? Well it’s part of a system that some Yotul learn to fight without weapons.”
I give an ‘oh’ of understanding. “You guys have martial arts!”
“Oh, that’s a good name too! Dancing is a sort of art, after all. And… Well, we did. We used to have entire schools dedicated to learning the Dances. But it turns out knowing anything about Combat Dances is ‘Predator Disease’, so they burnt all the schools down and threw the teachers and students in their facilities. My mom used to be a teacher, and managed to lie to their assessors… She taught me as much as she could. In secret.”
Hanya snarls. “Well, on that count the Federation was right! Fighting shouldn’t be a dance, or an art! It’s a dirty, horrible last resort!”
“Combat Dancing isn’t just about fighting! It’s about self-control, and being smart and effective! Its most important lessons are about when and how not to fight!”
I helpfully add “It’s also a good form of exercise. I was taught some of the basics of boxing at the shelter, but I haven’t been able to get a setup at home since I started living with the Venlil. I sort of miss the full-body workout.”
Mosun responds, tilting his head curiously. “’Boxing’? The translator picks that up as ‘a punching contest’, but a lot of Combat Dancing involves using your legs and tail too. Do you humans only use your paws?”
“No, boxing is just one martial art out of… well I’m not sure how many. Dozens and dozens at least. Boxing in particular focuses on using our hands. It’s also practiced as a competitive sport.”
Hanya gets a bit agitated, leaning forward. “A sport?! Absurd! You beat each other up for fun and call it a dance, or an artform! It’s savage!”
Mosun looks at the protesting Gojid shrewdly. “Your people probably had something like it too, before the Kolshians got their slimy tentacles on you. Those claws of yours are no joke. Without learning how to fight properly you could get someone seriously hurt with them.”
At this, she gets less irate. Instead she glances down at her own rather long claws thoughtfully. “So your ‘combat dancing’ would be about… not using claws?”
The Yotul moves closer to her. She doesn’t move away. But I suppose he’s just an ‘uplift’, not a predator like me. Mosun’s the first non-human I’ve been able to hang out with without first having to take days to acclimatize them to my presence. “It’s about knowing what your body is capable of, and training until you’re doing the right thing even under stress. You flew space ships, right? If you panic the results can be catastrophic. I bet you were taught safety protocols over and over. They were drilled into you until they were an automatic reflex, right?”
Hanya sighs sort of wistfully. “Yeah. In pilot school they’d bang the walls or play loud sounds while shouting questions, so we’d be able to respond correctly even under stress. A few times they’d even wake us up at night by screaming scenarios at us, and have us take repeat lessons if we didn’t immediately answer with the right procedures.”
Mosun is animated, moving his paws around as he talks. He’s in debate mode. Since he’s prey, Hanya doesn’t flinch back. “Right, so it’s the same thing here… You learn how to respond to different circumstances, so you don’t lash out and cause more harm than necessary. But at the same time if it does become necessary… you learn exactly how to do what you gotta. Figuring out how to best use your claws for self-defense isn’t something you want to start doing when a hungry Arxur is rounding the corner, any more than you wanna start figuring out how the fire suppression system works while your ship’s burning! See, you view the vessel as a complete system, and train yourself in its use… so that you can operate it safely in everyday situations, avoid dangerous situations if you can, and guide it through them in one piece if you can’t!”
She looks down at her claws for a while with a blank expression. The claws on her other paw tap the truck’s flatbed bottom thoughtfully. “…Could you teach me some of it?”
---
Memory transcription subject: Jarkim, Krakotl Civilian
Date [standardized human time]: November 30th, 2136
Slavik spoke up after a while of silent driving. “So the people we’re up against are all Exterminators, right?”
“Yeah.”
She flicked her ear in irritation. “Fucking government bastards.”
I tossed my head back a bit to show disagreement. “They’re not with the government; they believe it’s been subverted by the humans.”
“They’ve only got their weapons and training because of the government. They broke into a home in the middle of town and kidnapped and assaulted Venlil with impunity because they’ve had government backing all this time, and nobody’s allowed to question the pricks when they’re in uniform. These ‘Liberators’ are only still operating at all because it’s too embarrassing for the government to admit they’ve lost control of the Exterminators.”
I sighed. “Fair enough…”
With an air of satisfied finality Slavik said “So, fucking government bastards.”
I signaled appeasement with a wing. “Alright, alright. They’re fucking government bastards, happy?”
Slavik huffed with annoyance. “Tell me about them.”
“As people, you mean?”
Slavik flicked an ear in the affirmative. “Good to know going in.”
“Mm. Well… Karta and Luarik were my friends back on Nishtal. Karta’s always been confident, outgoing, and brash. Luarik’s been his shadow for as long as I’ve known them. If anyone’s going to listen to reason to get Luarik back, it’ll be Karta.”
After a moment of thought, I added “Honestly they may be dating, but if they are they’ve been keeping it quiet.”
“Alright, what about the rest?”
“Never worked with Serni or Vira. Vira worked… uh, administration and statistics, I think. Serni’s been doing education, going around in schools to explain to students what Exterminators do, and a lot of seminars teaching new parents what signs to look out for in their children.”
“The kinda asshole who recruits everyone to help keep an eye out for outcasts.”
I couldn’t disagree, so I just continued. “Vilrak’s been bouncing between desk duty and the front line for cycles. He’d get rough with some PD occasionally and they’d put him behind a desk for a couple of paws to cool off.”
Slavik tightened their grip on the steering, their jaw tightening. But they remained silent.
“Ilnek’s always been a model Exterminator. Always made her quotas, worked well with everyone. She did a lot of the disposal jobs at the office, like running the bone-crusher and driving loads to the ash dumps.”
Slavik grumbled quietly before finding something to latch onto and complain about. “What quotas?”
“There’s a set number of people in a population that’ll have Predator Disease, and the guild’s figured about how many an office can be expected to find each cycle based on, uhh, stuff like population density, species diversity, if you’re diverting too far from the One in Thirty ratio, local political affiliations… that kinda thing.”
“And if you’re short…”
“It generally means the budget goes toward re-training rather than better chairs or fruit baskets. Sort of a gentle incentive to keep your ears up when you’re out and about.”
Slavik’s voice was filled with disgust, and I shrank a bit in my seat from the unspoken implication in their simple response of “Uh-huh”.
Of course they were pissed. Slavik ended up in one of the cages after a coworker of theirs reported them for not filling out their sex on employment forms. And for a lack of interest in partners. A disinterest in the basic biological urges of companionship and procreation was a sign of PD, as was an inability or unwillingness to fit into your species’ standard sex distribution. If Slavik was a Krakotl it wouldn’t have been a problem, but mammals are less fluid about sex.
It wasn’t politically advantageous to make a big deal of Slavik’s case, at the time they were arrested. So I helped smooth it out.
One of the good things I’ve done, but it was just to keep the office’s paws clean. Because the media caused a gale wind about it when it turned out a couple of the Predator Disease cases over in Dawn Creek had been in that damn facility for the same reasons, I put in some words with the assessor to get Slavik out and keep them out of the records before anyone could start making noise about it here too.
There’s no way they would’ve been dragged in so aggressively to begin with if it weren’t for someone needing to polish their numbers.
“…Anyway. Last’s Renak. For my money it’s even odds whether he or Karta is the leader. Almost as many burns on wild preds as the rest of the office put together. He understands their minds, can track them better than anyone else. He can tell if there’s a nest nearby by how one behaves when it’s cornered. He can even hear if there are mature ones around a young by burning it slow and listening for how it screams.”
Slavik looked sick and pale. “…Protector… I know they’re predators, but… Why don’t you kill them before you burn them, at least?”
I knew the answer, of course. “Because… Because standard doctrine holds that they don’t feel pain or have souls the same way other animals do, so it doesn’t matter.”
Slavik gave a scoff. “After Celany’s interview, do you seriously believe that?”
“I used to.” I paused, and then told the truth instead. “No. I didn’t. I just ignored it. There were a lot of things I had to just ignore to do my job, a lot I had to be complicit in.”
---
Memory transcription subject: Vansi, Venlil Civilian
Date [standardized human time]: November 30th, 2136
It was scary to be moved suddenly, of course, but my son knew best.
He had his friends take Thiva to safety here, and was working on helping cure her sickness.
The screams were the worst part. She was restrained in one of the bedrooms, he had explained, because in her diseased state she might hurt herself or try to escape. My Renak’s a dutiful and attentive son and brother, and he made sure to stay with her and keep her fed.
Next to me was one of his friends, Ilnek. A cute girl with her short Exterminator-cut fur a lovely cloud-white color. She was flicking her tail idly while fiddling with some electronics.
“So… What is going to happen next?”
“Next, miss Vansi, we’re going to drive the humans out of Greenmeadow entirely. Without a civilian presence to safeguard, their military will have to either relocate or give up the pretense entirely. Either way suits our purpose just fine.”
She was polite, sweet, and dedicated. And such a lovely color. I wondered if my son had considered a possible relationship? They must’ve had a lot in common, and I’d love to have some grandchildren before I was too old to appreciate them. I decided to try and play matchmaker, and wagged my tail gently. “What do you think of Renak?”
She didn’t look up from her work. “Your son’s a genius. He understands the evil we’re fighting, you know. Really understands it. That’s why he’s taken his sister here. She’s a test case for our plan.”
“I… don’t understand?” I asked politely, tilting my head.
“He figures, with the human going after Thiva again after you drove it out of your home… they’re probably mated.”
A sense of deep revulsion filled me, and I recoiled with horror. “N-No! Oh Protector, No!”
Her voice was grim. “Oh, yes. It’s quite common… Plenty of humans out there apparently like to play with their food. Those are the ones we’re going after first, and the easiest way is to use their victims as bait.”
“…Bait?”
“It’s something we learned. The way we figure it the humans didn’t fake the empathy tests. Even the non-sapient predators… they either feel something like empathy, or they have a sunk cost to continue their species. If you catch some offspring, or a mate, you can dangle it by a leg… and lay in wait. The predator comes for its own, and then you can burn both at once.”
Now she looked up, smugly. “Of course, in the humans’ case the bait are gonna be their Venlil girlfriends and boyfriends, so we’ll be more… judicious. But after that, the humans will think twice before they try to mate with their pets. Then we move on to the humans who pretend to be friends with the Venlil. They’ll turn away from forming relationships with us at all and start making all-human packs separate from the Venlil… and that’s when we hit them all at once, like with the ‘shelter’.”
The idea of Thiva being used to bait the human was… “But… how do you make sure that the Venlil you’re using for bait don’t get hurt?”
“Miss Vansi, when someone is already in a predator’s clutches… collateral damage is a given. Most people who survive direct predator attacks would end up with the predator’s taint anyway.” She paused while finishing the last detonator. “…But I’m sure Renak has a plan to keep his sister safe, don’t worry. Alright, I’m going to get something to eat.”
As she walked out of the room, I was left to sit with the feeling of uncertainty and fear. Hearing the faint echoes of Thiva’s screams from the room up above, I wondered if perhaps Renak could be mistaken?
No, that’s simply not possible. I just don’t see it yet, I need him to explain it to me. He’s smarter than I am.
If I couldn’t see the plan, if I didn’t have the stomach for the cost, I simply had to trust in my son’s strength of will and vision.
I closed my eyes and listened for the next scream. She was saying the human’s name, calling out for it. Not her brother or her loving mother, but a filthy predator.
I imagined the sounds as akin to bleeding a festering wound. A deep, cleansing pain as you force out the insidious poison coursing through the veins. Burning out the infection and leaving room for renewal.
I prayed for her, fervently. I begged passionately to the Protector for power and wisdom for Renak and his cause, and for the downfall of the humans and the erasure of the taint they’ve left on the world.
Most of all I prayed my daughter could still be saved, and for the strength it would take if it turns out she could not.
--
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2023.05.29 19:07 JoshAsdvgi Burial traditions
 | submitted by JoshAsdvgi to Native_Stories [link] [comments] Burial traditions “the bones of our ancestors were thrown away and we could never find them to return them to the ground” By Eric Hemenway, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Burial traditions vary from tribe to tribe, but one constant remains among them: caretaking of the dead is something all tribes consider sacred. “Brother, they did not allow our dead to rest. They dug up their graves, and the bones of our ancestors were thrown away and we could never find them to return them to the ground.” Odawa War Chief Blackbird, 1813 The War of 1812 was devastating to warriors and civilians of countless tribal villages alike, and in many cases, traditional burial practices were not honored. During a council with the British and their allied Indian warriors along the Grand River near Niagara in 1813, Odawa war chief Blackbird gave a vivid speech detailing how American soldiers were desecrating the burials of tribal people: “Those behind us came up and did mischief. Brother, last year at Chicago and St. Joseph’s the Big Knives destroyed all our corn. This was fair, but, brother, they did not allow our dead to rest. They dug up their graves, and the bones of our ancestors were thrown away and we could never find them to return them to the ground. “Brother, I have listened with a good deal of attention to the wish of our father. If the Big Knives, after they kill people of our color, leave them without hacking them to pieces, we will follow their example. They have themselves to blame. The way they treat our killed, and the remains of those that are in their graves in the west, makes our people mad when they meet the Big Knives. Whenever they get any of our people into their hands they cut them like meat into small pieces. We thought white people were Christians. They ought to show us a better example. We do not disturb their dead. What I say is known to all the people present. I do not tell a lie. Brother, it is the Indian custom when engaged to be very angry, but when we take prisoners to treat them kindly.” Blackbird’s words are a direct glimpse into the problems indigenous people were facing to protect their dead and their traditions. Warriors of native nations would not go back and dig up the graves of dead enemies; such actions were forbidden. Highly disrespectful actions against killed warriors spurred action. The dead could not defend themselves; it was the responsibility of the living to do so. The indigenous people of the United States would fight for nearly two more centuries to have their dead honored. In 1990, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was passed. This federal law enables tribes and lineal descendants to reclaim ancestral remains from museums and federal agencies in the United States. To this very day, tribes are working to return their sacred dead back to the earth. Painting by William Dashwood showing Mackinac Island, a prominent Odawa burial site |
2023.05.29 18:55 bhargavikashyap Traveling with my dog to India from US for short term
Hello hello! Seeking advice and experience from folks who’ve traveled to India with their dog(s) for short term. I’ll be traveling from Chicago to New Delhi and back in October. I will likely be staying over a month and unfortunately leaving him behind is not an a option. I’m considering either Turkish airline or Lufthansa. Has anyone traveled with them, what has been your experience? How stringent are they with weight/carrier limits?
I’ve looked through the documentation and requirements at both the port of entry and have that covered. My worry is about the actual travel. My dog is about 19 lbs and I’m hoping to take him in-cabin. I’m not comfortable with him in cargo for such a long journey. His weight is only 1 lb over the limit of both the airlines, with his carrier it goes over by 4 lbs. I have used the large Sherpa Carrier for domestic travel and he has done well in those flights. The dimensions of the carrier more closely match with Lufthansa with only a small difference in height. The carrier that I have is flexible and can bend - so I am hoping that won’t be a concern.
Appreciate any advice/feedback! Thank you!
submitted by bhargavikashyap to Flights [link] [comments]
I’ve looked through the documentation and requirements at both the port of entry and have that covered. My worry is about the actual travel. My dog is about 19 lbs and I’m hoping to take him in-cabin. I’m not comfortable with him in cargo for such a long journey. His weight is only 1 lb over the limit of both the airlines, with his carrier it goes over by 4 lbs. I have used the large Sherpa Carrier for domestic travel and he has done well in those flights. The dimensions of the carrier more closely match with Lufthansa with only a small difference in height. The carrier that I have is flexible and can bend - so I am hoping that won’t be a concern.
Appreciate any advice/feedback! Thank you!
2023.05.29 18:32 arbitragedude My divorce and life after divorce success story – A male’s perspective
I am happy to take questions. Here is my divorce tale and advice to my younger self.
TLDR :
• Know that life after divorce will be much much better if you let it be. I wish someone would have told me this.
• First few years are very very tough. Find your support, seek positive help! Avoid negative help (substance abuse), negative people (could be your friends or family).
• Forgive yourself, your ex and move on. Take more losses than you need to just so you can move on. That’s what I did. Give the other person more property and more money, just for your peace of mind. Don’t lose yourself. Money can be made. Time will heal you. You are not losing anything if you have yourself.
• Time heals all the wounds. This is what I experienced. 1-year max to get over it, I think for me. And 5-years to the start of a completely different life. In 10 years, you will see your previous life like someone else’s. My father told me after rebuilding my life is that he had never seen anything like this. You have rebuilt your life twice from rock bottom. It’s impressive.
• And finally, divorce is an opportunity to be the person you always wanted to be.
I want to tell you my divorce story, in case it helps any males. I got divorced circa 2008-2009. It was a very tough time to get divorced because I came from a conservative family and the real world was also crashing due to the financial crisis at the time. My ex and I began dating when we were 19. It was a college love story. We got married very young around 23 years of age. We got divorced at 26. We were together for seven years. We owned a property together. We had a dog. I was blindsided and devastated by divorce. I felt depressed, sad and suicidal at the onset of the divorce. The latter is why I am sharing this story.
I really didn’t know how to be single as I had never been. Marriage/wedding felt scary for me personally to be honest because I can already see that I was still a kid and was struggling with what I wanted to be in life. My wife and I talked to each other like high schoolers. We were doing well but I started to really focus on my career and chasing money as I grew up poor. I think my wife was unhappy because of it. But I really think now that people should not get married in their 20s.
1-year before divorce: I think this was perhaps the most painful part of the divorce. My Ex agreed to buy a house with me. And one-month later after the house purchase (circa 2007), she was telling me that maybe we should get divorced. Everyone was buying houses on leverage around this time. It was a thing to do… This was basically a purgatory year for me and I would say the toughest year of my life. We were struggling to connect. I was busy with my job and increasingly becoming wary about my marriage. Six months after the house purchase my wife asked for a divorce. I tried to convince her to think it through and made many Hail Mary attempts to win her back. She was talking to her friends the whole time about it. She didn’t agree. Sometimes I wonder if she was cheating on me. I am not an insecure type and I didn’t really care to know if that was going on. I knew divorces were expensive and I didn’t want to spend money on lawyers. So, I told her I want her happiness. And if she wants a divorce, I will sign the papers right away. Our divorce papers cost $300 to fill out and we went to court ourselves to get it done. We didn’t have much money so there was not much to split. We owned a house, which was basically 40% underwater due to the financial crisis. I gave her whatever money I had in my account and she walked away from the house with the dog. I grew up poor but never had negative equity/debt in life. But now I was saddled with very high debt in mortgage, a house which had lost 50% of its value, divorced and no savings in my account. Effectively I had a large paper loss from divorce and so the divorce was very expensive when accounted for that. I wasn’t sure if my job will continue as I could be laid off anytime due to the financial crisis. On top of that my conservative parents made me feel very guilty for being divorced at such a young age and embarrassing our family. How I felt during this stage? I felt angry, betrayed, depressed (suicidal at one point) and just embarrassed. I felt so numb walking around everywhere. I had an anxiety attack. I felt chest pains at times. I cried a lot. This was the lowest point in my life up until then. When I went out with friends, I felt lost like I was missing something and I kept thinking about the life I had.
1-year after divorce: processing the divorce: Because I grew up in a conservative family and I had never been single in my life, divorce was extremely hard on me. It is during this time that my sister took me under. My sister told me to leave the house and move in with her young family. I left the house (still paid the mortgage) but moved into her small apartment with her family. Here is the advice part from my divorce. Find any support that you can to help you get through the 1st year after divorce. Seek positive help! I still felt like a zombie every day for a year. I made some desperate attempts to get my ex-wife back. She didn’t care. It hurt and it hurt a lot. I didn’t know how to be single. I thought about my past life every single moment and every single day. I felt extremely depressed and sad. In my friends and family circle, every single male that I knew that had gotten divorced was a complete loser. They couldn’t get their life back together. One of them became bankrupt and went crazy. I had not known any successful divorce stories. I spoke with an online therapist/coach in 2009 to help me get through divorce. I told them what had happened and how I felt. On top of that I told them this view that every single divorced male that I know is a complete loser and I am scared that I am going to be that person. This coach/therapist managed to break my thinking with one snippy rhetorical question. She said: Why don’t you change that and become a successful divorcee? I never had a moment like this in my life where one question changed my entire thinking. I thanked her and immediately started reprocessing my thoughts. What if divorce doesn’t have to be this loser thing all my life. What if it’s the start of a new awesome life? This was the turning point in me processing my grief and divorce. At this point, I changed from a teenage attitude 27-year-old man to a real man. I started thinking about what I wanted in my life and started being open to learning/experiencing new things. I started reading cheesy self-help books such as Success principles by Jack canfield. Cheesy self-help books are very useful when you are going through a low in life, particularly if you don’t have a good role model or success stories that you know of personally. This particular book – I can't remember what it said – but it really opened my mind to try new things and imagine a new life for yourself.
2nd year after divorce: I began being interested. Into the 2nd year of divorce, I had made up my mind that I was not going to be a loser divorce story. I am going to make everyone wish they were divorced because it turned out so good for me. I started working hard at my job. And I started being more ballsy. I asked out a coworker at work. She promptly rejected me. And I was so happy. Not because I was rejected but because I knew I had gotten over my ex. Next day at work, I was smiling and very happy and this coworker must have thought I was a weirdo. It didn’t matter and I knew I was on some next level stuff that I had never known before. I started reading more and going out more. I worked in Chicago. I started hanging out with coworkers and my college friends going to bars, meeting new people. I tried new things: new workout routines, learning to play guitar, and reading many books. Attempted a start-up. Dated many women. Just experienced many new things. In this stage of my post-divorce life: I really learned that life and your reactions to life are what you make it. You can be happy if you let yourself be happy.
3-5 years after divorce: At this point after divorce, I really didn’t think about my ex at all. She would still call me at times while being drunk. I felt sorry for her. I advised her to start dating new people and get her life together. The lesson here for me is that do not turn to substance abuse during divorce. I didn’t, I had done that in college and I never wanted to go back to that sort of a low. And also, it would cement me in a male loser divorcee path, which I abhorred. Experience the pain and let it pass through. You will be stronger for it. During this 3–5-year post divorce period, I continued to date. I learned new things like card counting/blackjack. I was on the recreational minigolf team and recreational basketball team. I was happy but I started noticing that I was becoming sad at times for not being in a relationship or being with somebody. Some of my best friends were now either married for the first time or were in a serious relationship. I have been to a few friends’ weddings now. It felt weird to me that I was single now while my friends are married. It was the reverse before. My dating and short relationships were starting to make me insecure. I started to wonder if maybe there is something wrong with me and that women don’t like me because I had been divorced. The initial high of post-divorce life had gone and now I was faced with the reality of being single. I still felt happy because I had a job and I was enjoying life. I felt that I hadn’t become a loser.
5-years after divorce: I met my future wife. I continue to meet people through various online dating sites. Here is when I met my future wife. When I met her immediately there was a connection. She was very different from my ex. She wanted to build her life on her own. She was working and going to school at night to better herself. We started dating exclusively and went through a girlfriend/boyfriend phase. And two years later, I proposed to her. And she said yes and we got married. 10-years later, we are happily married. My prior after divorce was that I would become a loser after divorce. I didn’t imagine the life I have now.
I think my advice for people going through divorce and my younger self is this…
• Know that life after divorce will be much much better if you let it be. I wish someone would have told me this.
• Find your support, seek help! Avoid negative help (substance abuse), negative people (could be your friends or family).
• Forgive your ex and move on. Take more losses than you need to just so you can move on. That’s what I did. Give the other person more property and more money, just for your peace of mind. Don’t lose yourself. Money can be made. Time will heal you. You are not losing anything if you have yourself.
• Time heals all the wounds. This is what I experienced. 1-year max to get over it, I think. And 5-years to the start of a completely different life. In 10 years, you will see your previous life like someone else’s. My father told me after rebuilding my life is that he had never seen anything like this. You have rebuilt your life twice from rock bottom. It’s impressive.
• And finally, divorce is an opportunity to be the person you always wanted to be.
submitted by arbitragedude to Divorce [link] [comments]
TLDR :
• Know that life after divorce will be much much better if you let it be. I wish someone would have told me this.
• First few years are very very tough. Find your support, seek positive help! Avoid negative help (substance abuse), negative people (could be your friends or family).
• Forgive yourself, your ex and move on. Take more losses than you need to just so you can move on. That’s what I did. Give the other person more property and more money, just for your peace of mind. Don’t lose yourself. Money can be made. Time will heal you. You are not losing anything if you have yourself.
• Time heals all the wounds. This is what I experienced. 1-year max to get over it, I think for me. And 5-years to the start of a completely different life. In 10 years, you will see your previous life like someone else’s. My father told me after rebuilding my life is that he had never seen anything like this. You have rebuilt your life twice from rock bottom. It’s impressive.
• And finally, divorce is an opportunity to be the person you always wanted to be.
I want to tell you my divorce story, in case it helps any males. I got divorced circa 2008-2009. It was a very tough time to get divorced because I came from a conservative family and the real world was also crashing due to the financial crisis at the time. My ex and I began dating when we were 19. It was a college love story. We got married very young around 23 years of age. We got divorced at 26. We were together for seven years. We owned a property together. We had a dog. I was blindsided and devastated by divorce. I felt depressed, sad and suicidal at the onset of the divorce. The latter is why I am sharing this story.
I really didn’t know how to be single as I had never been. Marriage/wedding felt scary for me personally to be honest because I can already see that I was still a kid and was struggling with what I wanted to be in life. My wife and I talked to each other like high schoolers. We were doing well but I started to really focus on my career and chasing money as I grew up poor. I think my wife was unhappy because of it. But I really think now that people should not get married in their 20s.
1-year before divorce: I think this was perhaps the most painful part of the divorce. My Ex agreed to buy a house with me. And one-month later after the house purchase (circa 2007), she was telling me that maybe we should get divorced. Everyone was buying houses on leverage around this time. It was a thing to do… This was basically a purgatory year for me and I would say the toughest year of my life. We were struggling to connect. I was busy with my job and increasingly becoming wary about my marriage. Six months after the house purchase my wife asked for a divorce. I tried to convince her to think it through and made many Hail Mary attempts to win her back. She was talking to her friends the whole time about it. She didn’t agree. Sometimes I wonder if she was cheating on me. I am not an insecure type and I didn’t really care to know if that was going on. I knew divorces were expensive and I didn’t want to spend money on lawyers. So, I told her I want her happiness. And if she wants a divorce, I will sign the papers right away. Our divorce papers cost $300 to fill out and we went to court ourselves to get it done. We didn’t have much money so there was not much to split. We owned a house, which was basically 40% underwater due to the financial crisis. I gave her whatever money I had in my account and she walked away from the house with the dog. I grew up poor but never had negative equity/debt in life. But now I was saddled with very high debt in mortgage, a house which had lost 50% of its value, divorced and no savings in my account. Effectively I had a large paper loss from divorce and so the divorce was very expensive when accounted for that. I wasn’t sure if my job will continue as I could be laid off anytime due to the financial crisis. On top of that my conservative parents made me feel very guilty for being divorced at such a young age and embarrassing our family. How I felt during this stage? I felt angry, betrayed, depressed (suicidal at one point) and just embarrassed. I felt so numb walking around everywhere. I had an anxiety attack. I felt chest pains at times. I cried a lot. This was the lowest point in my life up until then. When I went out with friends, I felt lost like I was missing something and I kept thinking about the life I had.
1-year after divorce: processing the divorce: Because I grew up in a conservative family and I had never been single in my life, divorce was extremely hard on me. It is during this time that my sister took me under. My sister told me to leave the house and move in with her young family. I left the house (still paid the mortgage) but moved into her small apartment with her family. Here is the advice part from my divorce. Find any support that you can to help you get through the 1st year after divorce. Seek positive help! I still felt like a zombie every day for a year. I made some desperate attempts to get my ex-wife back. She didn’t care. It hurt and it hurt a lot. I didn’t know how to be single. I thought about my past life every single moment and every single day. I felt extremely depressed and sad. In my friends and family circle, every single male that I knew that had gotten divorced was a complete loser. They couldn’t get their life back together. One of them became bankrupt and went crazy. I had not known any successful divorce stories. I spoke with an online therapist/coach in 2009 to help me get through divorce. I told them what had happened and how I felt. On top of that I told them this view that every single divorced male that I know is a complete loser and I am scared that I am going to be that person. This coach/therapist managed to break my thinking with one snippy rhetorical question. She said: Why don’t you change that and become a successful divorcee? I never had a moment like this in my life where one question changed my entire thinking. I thanked her and immediately started reprocessing my thoughts. What if divorce doesn’t have to be this loser thing all my life. What if it’s the start of a new awesome life? This was the turning point in me processing my grief and divorce. At this point, I changed from a teenage attitude 27-year-old man to a real man. I started thinking about what I wanted in my life and started being open to learning/experiencing new things. I started reading cheesy self-help books such as Success principles by Jack canfield. Cheesy self-help books are very useful when you are going through a low in life, particularly if you don’t have a good role model or success stories that you know of personally. This particular book – I can't remember what it said – but it really opened my mind to try new things and imagine a new life for yourself.
2nd year after divorce: I began being interested. Into the 2nd year of divorce, I had made up my mind that I was not going to be a loser divorce story. I am going to make everyone wish they were divorced because it turned out so good for me. I started working hard at my job. And I started being more ballsy. I asked out a coworker at work. She promptly rejected me. And I was so happy. Not because I was rejected but because I knew I had gotten over my ex. Next day at work, I was smiling and very happy and this coworker must have thought I was a weirdo. It didn’t matter and I knew I was on some next level stuff that I had never known before. I started reading more and going out more. I worked in Chicago. I started hanging out with coworkers and my college friends going to bars, meeting new people. I tried new things: new workout routines, learning to play guitar, and reading many books. Attempted a start-up. Dated many women. Just experienced many new things. In this stage of my post-divorce life: I really learned that life and your reactions to life are what you make it. You can be happy if you let yourself be happy.
3-5 years after divorce: At this point after divorce, I really didn’t think about my ex at all. She would still call me at times while being drunk. I felt sorry for her. I advised her to start dating new people and get her life together. The lesson here for me is that do not turn to substance abuse during divorce. I didn’t, I had done that in college and I never wanted to go back to that sort of a low. And also, it would cement me in a male loser divorcee path, which I abhorred. Experience the pain and let it pass through. You will be stronger for it. During this 3–5-year post divorce period, I continued to date. I learned new things like card counting/blackjack. I was on the recreational minigolf team and recreational basketball team. I was happy but I started noticing that I was becoming sad at times for not being in a relationship or being with somebody. Some of my best friends were now either married for the first time or were in a serious relationship. I have been to a few friends’ weddings now. It felt weird to me that I was single now while my friends are married. It was the reverse before. My dating and short relationships were starting to make me insecure. I started to wonder if maybe there is something wrong with me and that women don’t like me because I had been divorced. The initial high of post-divorce life had gone and now I was faced with the reality of being single. I still felt happy because I had a job and I was enjoying life. I felt that I hadn’t become a loser.
5-years after divorce: I met my future wife. I continue to meet people through various online dating sites. Here is when I met my future wife. When I met her immediately there was a connection. She was very different from my ex. She wanted to build her life on her own. She was working and going to school at night to better herself. We started dating exclusively and went through a girlfriend/boyfriend phase. And two years later, I proposed to her. And she said yes and we got married. 10-years later, we are happily married. My prior after divorce was that I would become a loser after divorce. I didn’t imagine the life I have now.
I think my advice for people going through divorce and my younger self is this…
• Know that life after divorce will be much much better if you let it be. I wish someone would have told me this.
• Find your support, seek help! Avoid negative help (substance abuse), negative people (could be your friends or family).
• Forgive your ex and move on. Take more losses than you need to just so you can move on. That’s what I did. Give the other person more property and more money, just for your peace of mind. Don’t lose yourself. Money can be made. Time will heal you. You are not losing anything if you have yourself.
• Time heals all the wounds. This is what I experienced. 1-year max to get over it, I think. And 5-years to the start of a completely different life. In 10 years, you will see your previous life like someone else’s. My father told me after rebuilding my life is that he had never seen anything like this. You have rebuilt your life twice from rock bottom. It’s impressive.
• And finally, divorce is an opportunity to be the person you always wanted to be.