Edit: nvm. I couldnt find answers on google, but looking through the subreddit i dis find my answer. Guess google really is going to shit.
Currently own a phone and a surface pro 8, but i am not enjoying the keyblard/tablet feel, and think i would prefer to have a tablet for taking notes, and a laptop for coding/writing papers.
Have been looking around, and since i bought my surface, i always fancied e ink tablets. Since i recently started a job that puts me out of student poverty, i have been looking around and found supernote. From the reviews it seems like the supernote a5x2 is what i would like to get, once it is out.
Now to my question, i really enjoy using anki to handle my flashcards, but cpuldnt find any info on wether there is a fairly simple way, to get anki on a supernote device.
Would love some answers

Writer's Block? More Like Writer's Bleh. Here's Your Antidote:

Feeling the creative void stare back? Don't fret, fellow procrastinator extraordinaire! Let's bypass the usual suspects and unleash your inner wordsmith with these ninja-level techniques:
Environment Hacks:

• Shower Epiphany: Brainstorm in the steamy embrace of your shower. Waterproof notepad optional (but hilarious if discovered).
• Nature Nap: Lie under a tree and pretend you're absorbing inspiration through photosynthesis. Bonus points for snoring dramatically.
• People Watching Pro: Turn cafes into character zoos. Invent elaborate backstories for strangers, then write about their secret lives. (Disclaimer: Don't get arrested for stalking).

Creative Catalysts:

• Tarot Terror: Shuffle a deck of cards and interpret their cryptic messages as plot points. Bonus points for dramatic pronouncements like, "The Ace of Spades reveals a shocking betrayal!" (Even if it's just your laundry machine eating a sock).
• Automatic Scribble: Set a timer and write whatever gibberish pops into your head. You'll be surprised what buried gems emerge from the word vomit.
• Daydream Delusion: Close your eyes and imagine your wildest story unfolding. Then, channel your inner Cheech and Chong and narrate it out loud. Record it for maximum absurdity (and potential blackmail material).

Perspective Poisons:

• Character Interview: Imagine your protagonist on a talk show. Grill them with uncomfortable questions and force them to reveal their deepest secrets. (Bonus points for celebrity voices and dramatic music).
• Future Flash: Fast-forward to the end of your story. Write a scene from that point, then work backward to connect the dots. Who knew time travel could be so productive?
• Alternate Ending: Write the worst possible ending imaginable. Then, rewrite it to be even worse. Now, write the actual ending, which will feel like a masterpiece in comparison. (Warning: May cause existential dread).

Bonus Tip: Reward yourself with ridiculous treats for even the smallest writing victories. Think chocolate fountains, wearing your pajamas all day, or interpretive dance breaks. Who says procrastination can't be productive?
Remember, writer's block is just a fancy term for creative constipation. With these unconventional tactics and a healthy dose of humor, you'll be churning out masterpieces faster than a squirrel on caffeine. Now get writing, you magnificent procrastinating wordsmith!

It’s been 8 weeks since I was left by him for the 2nd time. Blindsided, totally out of the blue both times. No arguments, no struggles in the relationship, no signs. Nothing- as far as I was aware we were completely and blissfully in love and happy together.
He left me with the same bullshit surface level excuses as he did the first time. We have been together for years.
“I need to be alone” “You deserve better” “I can’t give you what you deserve” “I need to heal”
Blablablablabla, the list goes on. The first time he came back (a year and a week later) once I had started to move on - he promised he was ready, he was choosing me, choosing us, every day. He contacted each of my family members to apologise for his actions, to apologise for the pain he caused me and all of us. That he would communicate with me.
Though this 2nd break up isn’t as hard as the first in some ways. As the first time I lost my home (because we lived together), I lost my car (because going to live alone I couldn’t keep a big fancy car) I still feel a whole massive fucking amount of pain. Unfortunately, we had to have a termination of a pregnancy at the start of the year, due to some medication that he is currently taking that causes birth defects and we chose not to take that risk on the baby or on me. He left only a few weeks after I had stopped bleeding. Baring in mind, the whole time I was going through this and obviously was emotional he was telling me that WE will have our chance again, WE now know WE work, it will be in OUR future just this wasn’t the time for US.
Looking back, he was clearly triggered, it scared him. He ran. The fear of growing up, having a little life to look after.
I am 30 next month. This is far from what I would expect my life to be like. I have a good job, a beautiful home, a car, the full works- but this second break up with someone I love completely with every part of myself and the termination has completely knocked the wind out of me this year.
When we got back together, it was incredible. We were better versions of us, which shocked me because we were amazing the first time. It was wonderful. He was (and despite this) still is an amazing man. He unfortunately suffers from childhood trauma like myself- but when he gets triggered he runs, legs it, drops me and literally detaches himself from me to prevent him from looking inside and seeing what the root cause is. I know exactly what it is, he has told me numerous times that it scares the shit out of him how much I know him and sometimes I know him better than himself.
The whole year (and a week) we were split up the first time I had this deep deep knowing he was coming back. And he did, despite everyone around me basically calling me mad because I was so sure of it. This time, I feel exactly the same. I know he is coming back. When, I don’t know. But he will.
Whether or not you believe in attachment theory or not, I know he is an avoidant. DA to be exact. I won’t go in to every single thing to why and his actions, but he is. I am in therapy, and I spoke to my therapist about it (she also specialises in attachment issues) and she had told me I hit the nail on the head with what I think. I refuse to bash him or any one who has this attachment style - but I just wish he could see why he does the things he does, why he gets triggered, look inside himself and the answers are there.
This has been long, I could keep going but I will stop. To be fair I don’t even know why I’m writing this. I suppose for some release. To tell some strangers on the internet what I’ve been going through. It’s shit. I hate it. I’m just in a whole lot of pain, and I’m terrified of the time that is being lost between us. That my body is ticking. And so on.
If you managed to get this far, thanks for listening to me yap and getting some of it out.

Hi I just came across a novel, chosen by the moon novel by izabella W. Its on pay by chapter websites, I've opened and read a few chapters but I can't seem to find any free version or chapter version anywhere. Please help. If anyone has read it I'm willing to take spoilers. Here's the advert I found below of it on Facebook.
Lycanthrope species is a disgusting race. And I, Delan Riley, am nothing more than a human scum in their eyes never expected those species would turn my world upside down. Since when the lycans managed to penetrate our town, like in the early 1900's we have a hierarchy, upper class = the lycans, middle class = mated humans, and lower class = the normal humans, who were basically considered scum. I endured their torment day after day, vowing to run away from them one day, until that day came and everything changed.
Dylan POV "Humans," I scowled at the principal's words from tannoy. "The Alpha twins will be celebrating their birthday tomorrow, as such, festivities are in order." Oh great, the Alphas twin children. Adrian and Arya are the worst lycans alive. I swear just because they are the alphas kids they literally get away with everything. If their birthday is tomorrow, then the wolves are going to be worse than ever. "All students will be present to greet them, two lines will be made, with humans on the left and the lycanthrope on the right. Any mated human will be at the front of the line for their year, you will all also be in order of your school year. That is all." Chat broke out the minute the tannoy was finished. "We haven't had a school gathering since the alpha king visited three years ago, before his sons coronation." Nick was right, the last time we all gathered like that was for the king and queens visit, when he decided to let the world know that he was to renounce his title to his only child, son Josh. "That sick bestard, he wants to make sure everyone is there so those idiot twins can find their mates." Yes I was mad, my fists connected with the table in front of me once more as I thought about how disgusting the situation was. You see the twins will be turning 17, so it's very possible someone in our school could be their mate, finding a mate is sacred to a wolf, the minute they say that one word your fate is sealed. They will turn your mind, morph you into being a lover of their kind, and then you'll give in.

That won't happen to me, I'm growing old to see the world as it once was, and I'm going to choose who I'll be with. No one will take that dream away from me.

Once dinner was finished, I just wanted to sleep. I'd had a very long tiring day, I quickly sat down on a small stool my mother kept in the storage closet and removed my shirt while my brother Freddy sat at the table to do his simple homework. It wasn't long before my mother came in with a large bowl of warm salt water and some cotton, this was going to sting I just knew it. She was here to help me with the wounds caused by wolves yesterday. She slowly began to unwrap the bandage from around my torso and slowed down drastically when it came to the final layer, I felt it peel off every wound and my fists clenched in pain. "Jesus!" I heard my mom exclaim once the dressing was completely removed. The air on my back was nice though and I sighed as my arm covered my once again exposed brests. "This is more than 15!" I began to hear sniffles coming from her and sighed turning round to look at her face, only to notice tears streaming down it. "Mom I'm fine, it's alright." She shook her head. "It's not alright, I'm your mother I shouldn't let these things happen. I'm so sorry. Your father would have..." here she goes again. Every single time something happened she'd always bring up dad, it really annoyed me because no matter how much we all wish he was here, he just isn't. My father was kiled by THEIR kind, almost 5 years ago when they actually managed to take over. When the lycans managed to penetrate our town my father rose up with some people from the neighborhood, to defend our livelihood, it was futile to say the least. We lost many people and I watched as my dad was ripped apart by two fully shifted wolves, I ended up shoting him to stop his suffering before they dragged me to the courtyard, i was the person to receive the first lashing of the town when I was 12! The wolves have been pretty strict with me since that day. "Stop being stvpid!" Was I harsh? Definitely! Did she need to hear it again, absolutely. "Dad is dead, we don't know what he'd do because he never knew this life. He never knew this world." I know what he'd have done, most likely attacked the guy who held the whip and got himself kiled in the process. "The best thing you can do for me, is stop crying and help me, next time don't insist on helping if you can't handle it." She began to wash my open wounds with the warm salt water causing loud winces to leave me, I knew it was necessary to prevent infection, but my god it hurt like a betch. "Some of these are really deep Dylan!" She sniffed again and my eyes rolled in my head. "I told you, I'm fine, just wrap me back up so I can get to bed." My mom was obviously more impacted by my injuries than I was, I suppose that always the case though. When it's happening to you, you've just got to get through it but when it's happening to someone you love, you just want to take their pain away. She quickly placed a fresh bandage around my waist and chest and wrapped it tightly for compression. The bowl of water that was used was now red in color, I guess from the blood my back was dripping with. "Can you keep your head down please? At least just this week. You can't take any more lashings." I simply nodded before standing up away from the stool, I walked over to Freddie and ruffled his hair in affection. "Good night squirt." He giggled and fixed his hair slightly. "Night Dilly." I smiled walking upstairs to my little bedroom, as soon as I was inside i shut the door and flopped down on to my bed on my stomach and I took a minute to cry to myself at the pain in my back, what my mom did was important but it hurt, not that I'd ever tell her. My hand covered my mouth quickly to muffle any noise I might be making. I couldn't tell anyone, I had to be strong because more and more people were crumpling these days, and my mom would break if she knew how much I was suffering. Sleep followed me shortly after, she was right though about me needing to keep my head down for the time being, I could not take another lashing! After a long night and an even longer morning, we were all finally stood in the hallway at school waiting for the twins to arrive. "Mine!" Everyone that was stood in the hallway tensed up, as we were seniors, me and Nick were stood towards the very back of the human line. All the mated people were situated directly opposite their wolf mates in their years. We stayed silent and still as Arya walked down the hall and stopped directly in front of Nick. His eyes widened in fear, unsure of wether to look up or keep his head lowered. "Look me in the eye, mate." He glanced at me slightly as if asking what he should do. "I said, look me in the eye." He slowly moved his eye line up to look at her face. I took a glance myself to see her eyes pitch black with lust. "I... can't... I mean... erm." Before he was able to mutter anything else, two wolves from opposite, grabbed him out of the line and dragged him behind Arya. "Hey!" My head shot up before I could stop myself. My mouth also forgot its place as I jumped out of line. Everyone's head shot to me as my eyes widened in realization at what I'd done. Adrian, the other twin, walked up to me before punching me right in the stomach, I doubled over instantly. Feeling the sting in my slightly healed back. "I know you... You were publicly flogged only two days ago." God I hate this guy. "I also have it on good authority, that you openly spoke out against our rules and regulations in yesterday's class." My head shot down the line slightly to see Erin, looking a little frightened, her mate, the beta to be was looking at her, nodding his head in reassurance. "You traitor, you grassed on your own kind?" I yelled at her before feeling a fist connect with my cheek. My head whipped to the side from the force, while my class members gasped. I'm so done with this treatment, right then, I wasn't in charge of my actions. My fists curled up and my stance became a lot more defensive. My head snapped up to the alpha to be, and I looked him in the eye. "You don't know the meaning of the word disrespect." I suddenly hurled my fist towards his head, which he easily dodged, but my foot came up and kicked him instead. He stumbled backwards from the force with wide eyes. "You... you Actually hit me!" He didn't even sound annoyed, more shocked. Everyone in the hallway was watching, waiting for the alpha to do something but instead he simply stood up straight, regaining his composure. "I think everyone should get back to class." He began to walk away, following his sister when I called him back. "What about Nick?!" "Simple, He's my sisters mate. He now belongs to her." Argh, he's not an object. "He's not her property." A chuckle left his mouth, before turning his back to me again. "All humans are property." A short while later everyone made it to science class, our teacher Mrs Mathews is mated to the lycans pack doctor, she also now has a four and two year old with him. She was one of the first humans to be cohered into a false relationship. "What were you thinking young lady?" I rolled my head at her before looking at the empty seat next to mine. Nick was with that stvpid wolf girl right now. Being changed, I'm so angry it's ridiculous. "I was thinking, this guy is being a prick. Did you hear him? 'All humans are property.' It's bull shet." I looked up and the whole class looked at me like I had three heads. Talking shet about wolves is one thing, but talking about an alpha is punishable by death, attacking an alpha is an even worse offense. There was then a knock at the door and in walked Erin and her band of mated bestards. "Sorry we're late Mrs." "Erin, how are things between you and bata Monroe?" She blushed, the traitor actually blushed at the mention of his name. "He spoke to me last night about trying for a baby. We need a good strong boy to take over as beta." I scoffed looking at her as she took her seat. "You guys are actually pathetic, why can't it be a girl? Those mutts are basically Neanderthals" I voiced my opinion and saw all the shocked faces around me. Calling the lycans mutts, is the same as them calling us scum. After lesson had ended the entire school was called into the hall for assembly. This is where any human who has been found to have broken the rules were punished, usually 10 lashings were goven out or something similar. "Welcome to the school assembly, congratulations to the alpha twins for finding both your mates. Now on to the business at hand, as the 5 year anniversary of the new world is coming up, we have been informed that the alpha king will be visiting our district next week, this is very exciting news. We want you all to look your absolute best, she wolves and mated females will wear exemplary dresses made by seamstress. Male wolves and mated men will wear tailored suits. Anyone who doesn't comply will be reprimanded." The Alpha King?! No one has met him yet, he took over the throne three years ago when he turned 18. He really didn't make any appearances though, great, this month is going to be a nightmare. "As for the humans, you will be given a new uniform to wear for the visit, these are to be neatly ironed and worn to the highest standard. As for the following humans, based on your attitude this past week, you will be coming to the front and facing punishment. Tony summerset?!" Tony's head shot up as he looked around, he was in the year below but he shared my views when it came to the lycans. He slowly walked up to the front of assembly, almost instantly his top was t0rn in two and he received 10 lashings. A girl named Kara was next and she too received 10 lashings. A few more people went up slowly accepting their fate then suddenly my name was called. "Dylan Riley." Inside I was terrified but I simply shrugged my shoulders, I guess I did kind of expect this. Although I'm not sure if my back can take any more damage. "You attacked an alpha, correct!" His eyes bored into mine as I bowed my head submitting to his authority. "Technically, no." Everyone in the school gym looked on in fear, as my head moved to the front row of the wolf side. Adrian sat, with a werewolf girl in the year below, her name was Jana, I guess he found his mate. Nick and Arya were no where to be seen though. Adrian gave me a shrug as if to say he didn't tell, before smirking at my comment. "He hasn't officially taken the alpha title yet, so he's just..." i looked at the principle and noticed his eyes black and his claws out, he was in what lycans call a half shift, triggered when the subject has become angered. He turned to two security wolves and gave them a nod, Almost immediately i was forced onto my knees, my arm was slammed on a table and held in place by one wolf, while my body was held in place by the other. "Ok, I don't think this is needed, I have alpha blood, a stvpid human girl can't hurt me." My head snapped to Adrian who had stood up in front of the school to stop what was happening. "Nevertheless, humans need to know their place." With that the pressure on my arm increased as our principals hand pulled my sleeve up before a long claw punctured my skin. The searing pain shoting from the fresh wound had my eyes scrunched and my fist clenched, I bit the inside of my cheek hard instantly tasting blood, however no sound left my mouth. He continued to write, using my skin as a canvas and his claws as a marker, it went on forever, my vision blurred slightly at one point as I turned my head away. After minutes of torture, he was done and the pressure on my arm eased, instantly I snatched my arm away, hissing through my teeth at the pain. I was about to scurry off stage, when I was roughly grabbed yet again, my arm being held in the air by the principal while my feet were inches off the floor, blood dripped from the wound and the pattern he had made was on show for everyone to see. Loads of people gasped, even the wolves looked slightly horrified at what had happened. "This is what happens when a human decides to speak out. I can promise, anyone who so much as says one word about our way of life, will have the same punishment." My arm was starting to seriously ache from being held in the air for so long, and the lack of blood flow to my suspended arm was causing me pins and needles, still I refused to make a sound. I held the tears back and I bit my cheek harder causing more blood to fill my mouth. "That's enough Bradley!" Adrian growled, he was still stood up and looking at the scene in front of him. His eyes hard as he stared at the principal a low warning growl erupted from his chest which had the head teacher gulping, he quickly let go of my arm causing me to crash to the floor. A small cry left my mouth as I hit the hard floor. Immediately I scrambled away, my foot just missed the high step leading to the stage and I fell, waiting for the impact of the ground, but it never came. Two strong arms wrapped around me catching my weak body causing me to look up, my eyes widened as I noticed Adrian had caught my falling form. "This isn't part of the human punishment program!" Adrian growled causing me to tense in his grip, I pushed him away from me before fixing my uniform top. The room was deadly silent, taking in the scene in front of them, while I stole a glance at my forearm. Carved into my skin by his devastating claws were two words, words that would most definitely scar my body for life. 'Human scum' "Lessons must be learned, she received lashing merely two days ago, and clearly it had no effect on her." Another growl left Adrian's chest as he stepped on to the stage, I wasn't bothered though, you would think I'd be ashamed but I simply smiled slightly. I fixed my sleeve a little so it wouldn't rub on the fresh wound before speaking. "It doesn't matter," the whole room looked at me shocked by my attitude. "I would rather be labeled human scum, than have any resemblance to your kind. I'm proud of what I am, how many of you can say that?" After my amazing little speech, I walked right down the middle between the humans and lycans and out the door. No more compliance, I'm going to get away with as much as I can without getting into too much bother. There will come a day when the lycans power will fizzle out. When it does I'll be ready, I'll be waiting for the day we take our world back. As for the best part about my plan...

No one can stop me.

"Ouch, not so hard." I seethed as the school nurse cleaned my new wound with antiseptic. "If you had of just kept your mouth shut, this wouldn't have happened." I turned to my right looking out the window at the few clouds that were floating in the blue sky. "Like I said, I'm proud to be human, and now everyone knows what I am." I clenched my fist together as the nurse began wrapping a bandage around my forearm. It had been a good few hours since the incident in the hall, and I had been forced to come to the nurces office after I had tried to clean my wound by splashing it with water from the tap, it also refused to stop bleeding. "You are impossible. Can you please just try and stay out of trouble? For one day, that's all I ask." Our school nurse is a wolf, she's one of them. However she hates the way they treat us mere humans, she thinks we should all just live in peace with equal rights. Like that would ever happen. "All I've done is stay out of trouble, but you are just going to humiliate me anyway, so what's the actual point?" "The pack were discussing a public execution, Dylan. You need to walk on egg shells from now on, not just for you but for your family as well." No ones been publicly executed in over 4 months, I'm flattered they're considering it. They only execute people who they believe are the biggest problems to society. "Well then... I'm flattered." I chuckled, before looking at the patch job. 'Huh, not too shabby.' I quickly stood up from the human nursing station and pulled the sleeve of my shirt down covering the evidence of ever being hurt. "This is serious!" I just gave her a blank look before leaving the room. On the way out I heard her call back to me. "Please just think about it." I gave a clipped nod as I walked away wondering how I'm going to tell my mom about this. Later in the evening... "Dilly why you say that?" Freddie looked up at me with a mouth full of bread. "Don't speak with your mouthful!" My mom scolded him as a bashful blush made its way to his cheeks. "Sowwy mommy." His reply was muffled as he swallowed the last chunk of food. "I said it Freddie, because it's the truth. The wolf race are a pathetic excuse for..." my mom cut me off with an extremely stern look. "Dylan! They have ears everywhere, one more word out of you and it's your room." I scowled, my hatred for the Lycan kind growing stronger as each day passes. "What more can they do to me, lash me? Beat me? Brand me? They've ran out of options." I stated slamming my hands down, then severely regretting it as sharp pain shot though my wound. "What was that?" My head shot to regard my mothers worried expression. Her eyebrows were raised and her eyes were dull and judging as she looked at me. "Nothing, it was nothing." I quickly took my plate in my hand and began to walk to the kitchen. "I'm not really hungry, and I have homework to do!" My mom caught hold of my forearm causing me to drop my plate suddenly, I watched it slowly fall before shattering on the floor. I retracted my arm quickly and turned to Freddie. "Stay there and don't move until it's cleaned up ok sport?" He just nodded with wide eyes, I turned back to my mom and noticed her curious stare on my arm. Her grip shifted to the other side as she turned it around before pulling my sleeve up. The bandage was showing and a bit of blood was seeping though after the wound had been disturbed. "What the hel happened?" My moms eyes widened as she began to fumble with the bandage. Before she could unravel any of it I snatched my arm away. "I had an accident at school. No big." I began to gather the large pieces of the broken plate up ready to put them in the bin. "What did you do Dylan?" She looked at me with pure worry and only then did I realize what the wound must look like to someone who didn't know. "For gods sake! I didn't do it to myself! I got publicly punished at the assembly alright? It's no big deal." Her face dropped instantly and she stepped towards me, causing me to step backwards. "Mom, I'm ok. So back off will you." "What did you do? I've never known them to cut someone's arm as a punishment." Her shock and accusation was evident in her voice and I sighed heavily. "I spoke against the alphas son." I may have hit him too, but I wasn't going to divulge that part to her. "It's not one big cut, mom, it's a brand, 'human scum' carved onto my arm." "They've branded you now too?!" My eyes rolled at her hurt tone as I went to get the dustpan and brush. "You're so much like your father." A sigh left her mouth as she spoke, running a hand through her hair, while I quickly swept up the little pieces of the broken plate. "You've had a new uniform delivered. It's laid out on your bed. Dylan, Please just try and stay respectful in the future, I don't want my daughter to be completely mutilated. Although you're not far off." "Gee, Thanks." I then walked over to my little brother Freddy before blowing a kiss into his neck and hearing him giggle. "So sport, how's school going?" "It's ok." He shrugged before going back to coloring a dinosaur picture in. "Well that's good, stay out of trouble, ok little man?" Heading upstairs and into my room, my thoughts wandered to the permanent graffiti scar very slowly healing on my arm. Disgusting beasts. Think they own the world because they're faster, stronger and can shift. Pah. If you ask me they are not all that.

The second I walked into my room my mouth dropped open. On my bed was some grey pants laid out neatly, which wasn't the surprising part, no, what shocked me was the grey high neck no sleeved button down shirt, every single set of uniform had sleeves except this one. They've done this on purpose those, mutts. They want the world to see my arm and know what a disgusting creature I am. They want the world to know that I, Dylan Riley, am nothing more than 'human scum'.

During the last week, I've been horrible, in class I've been loud in voicing my views, I've insulted at least everyone to some degree, I didn't care about the consequences, and I certainly didn't think about them. I haven't seen Nick at all since he was claimed, and to make matters worse today was the royal visit. Oh yes, werewolves and mated humans alike were spending every waking minute preparing themselves to meet his royal majesty, king of the wolves. Unclaimed Humans however would rather stick pins in their eyes. "Dylan, get down now... you're going to be late." She was right, I was dawdling this morning, I really couldn't be bothered today, I gave myself one last look in the small mirror and sighed when my eyes met my newly uncovered brand. It had bad bruising around the letters, and was still extremely tender to touch, it was definitely healing now though. I made my way down the stairs and came face to face with my mother who was seeing to Freddie, she was helping my brother get his coat on when she turned to me. "You ready sport?" Freddie nodded his little head at me and smiled while I quickly slid my shoes on. "Just Remember, the alpha is bad enough, Dylan, please, please don't do anything to anger the king." My mother stopped us from walking out the door to tell me something she had been telling me continuously for the last couple of days, it was almost as if the entire human population of our district was expecting me to do something stvpid. "Try and have a good day." I rolled my eyes but nodded, even I know not to push the king, he could kil me in the hallway like it was nothing. In fact I plan on staying out of his way for the entirety of the day. "We will see you tonight mom." I stated before me and my brother began our walk to school, his little hand clutched my own tightly as we went. Usually Nick would be with us, as he lives next door, well he used to, now he's residing in the main pack house. I quickly dropped Freddie off at his school and watched him get the wolfsbane neutralizer before walking into him building giving me a small wave before he went in. With my new scar on complete show, and my figure being complimented by the skin tight shirt I was wearing, I sauntered down the street to school, I gave my name and year in and took the wolf's bane neutralizer injection with no problems at all. It was finally getting into school that the problem occurred. Walking through the halls I was met by many looks, some of pity some of disgust. You see every single non mated human in the school was wearing a long sleeved version of the uniform I was given. All the Wolves and mated couples were scattered around in fancy floor length dresses or tailored suits. As I turned the corner I noticed a couple, now this couple happened to catch my eye the most out of all of them because it consisted of Arya and Nick, eating each other's faces off. "What the hel!" Nicks head shot to me as his eyes widened. He too was dressed in a tailored suit, a navy blue tie hung on his neck to match Aryas dress. Why was this happening all the time? It's always my friends that get completely brain washed. I shook my head in disbelief before turning my back on him. I heard his fast footsteps behind me as I rounded the corner. "Dylan?!" He ran right in front of me, stopping me in my tracks, making me drop my bag off my shoulder and almost causing me to bump into him. "Let me just explain..." "Has she marked you?" I mean you could almost see it in his eyes, she had marked him, and knowing the way life goes he's probably even mated with her. "Actually... Don't even answer that." I aggressively picked my bag up off of the floor and stormed off down the hall. "Dylan, just listen to me, Erin was right, it's so hard to resist your soulmate, and Arya is actually ok once you get to know her." I just kept walking, he caught up to me walking beside me but it didn't matter, I completely ignored everything and everyone. 'I'm so not in the mood today' getting into class was good though, I said hello to Mr Foley and took my usual seat. Nick sighed then took his bag off ready to sit next to me, but I snapped before he had the chance. "Traitors and mated idiots sit on that side of the room." I didn't look him in the eye as I pointed to a seat right at the front of the classroom on the opposite side. His eyes widened as he turned his attention back to me. "You can't be serious Dylan." I gave him a blank look before grabbing my book out of my backpack, I placed it on the desk then began to write the date on the top line. "I've sat in this seat for as long as I can remember." I ignored him, his voice sounded sad and shocked. "Dylan? Wait! What is that?!" Before I could react Nick had grabbed hold of my branded arm and turned it to see the letters. "Oh my God! What happened?" I snatched my arm away from him and shrugged as I continued to write in my book before grabbing my water bottle out of my bag. "The principal happened, it was my punishment for speaking out against Adrian and Arya. I wear it with pride." He just held a complete look of disbelief. "You spoke out against them?" I shrugged, what did he think I'd do. "It's no secret that I despise this stvpid new world and the mutts that control it. You were my friend, I wasn't going to let them just take you without saying something, although that is exactly what you seem to have done. Enjoy the view from your new seat!" "Don't be like that, Dylan, I'm your best friend, I'm sorry about your arm, but..." my eyes rolled inside my head at my friends words. "Anything with the word 'but' in, isn't an apology, it's a rationalization." I took a drink of water from my bottle and kept my eyes facing forward, ignoring his every attempt to try and talk to me. "Dylan?.. Dylan?... Do you know what? Erin is right, if you push us all away you won't have any friends left." He huffed before walking over to the empty seat and sitting down, I could feel him glancing up at me every now and again but I didn't respond. "Good morning class, please settle down." He looked at me then at Nick and frowned, we've never sat apart, we were friends before the new world even began. I just shook my head telling him to forget it. "So... as you know the king will be arriving in a short while, but until then lessons will go on as normal." Its funny seeing teachers in the same uniform your wearing, mr Foley and his wife are the coolest. Human teachers and doctors only have slightly more respect than we do. Because of Mr Foley's status him and his wife have better access to food and drink, Mrs Foley is cool, sometimes she even makes sure mr Foley brings some in for me. Ya know, coz I'm their favorite student. It's not in a weird way, it's just they were friends of the family before the new wold took effect. Mr Foley and my dad were buddies from high school, so it goes without sayin really. "All the mated humans will be at the front of each years line again, after that you will all be placed in status, Nick, as your mated to Alpha Arya, you'll be at the front of your line. Dylan as you have been branded..." his voice trailed off as he looked at me. "Yeah yeah, I'll be at the back of the line behind everyone. I get it." I huffed, moving my sight towards the window once more. "I am sorry." I turned to face Mr Foley again, he looked genuinely upset and that look of pity wasn't something I wanted to see. I gave him a clipped nod then turned away again. "Anyway, on to the subject matter, 'Of Mice and Men, page 64, Nick why don't you start us off with the reading."

"Of course sir." Nick began reading the book but I switched off, today is going to be a long day. After almost an hour and a half of reading comprehension, the bell chimed signaling lunch. I shot up and out of the classroom before anyone could say anything. Today, I was avoiding drama like the plague.

I wandered the corridors straight to the lunch hall. All the people I would normally hang out with we're all mated so I grabbed my lunch quickly, and sat down at the end of the human table. Let me lay the lunch hall out for you. On one side of the room you have two long rows of tables, with simple benches that make it look like prison, on the other side of the room you have multiple round tables with fancy chairs. Yup you get it. The humans sit at the prison tables and the wolves and traitors sit on the fancy tables, they get fancy food, fancy drink and most importantly they get pudding. what I would give to have some pudding. "Dylan can we just talk?" Nick quickly took the spot next to me as he set his lunch tray down. I looked at his food which had been placed on a ceramic, circular white plate. God that looked good. I sighed knowing he was going to talk anyway. "Fine, you have two minutes." I used my fork to take a bit of pasta off his plate and shoved it into my mouth. God that was good. "After I left school, I was taken to the pack house with Arya, and I really got to know her. It took a few days for me to finally accept being with her, but ever since life has been ok, and the sax... well that's a whole other story." Eww, I didn't need that mental image in my head. "I'm glad your happy." I stated before deciding I had no appetite. His face held shock before he sighed in relief. "That means a lot Dylan, I mean you know that your opinion matters to me." I cut him off before he could say anything else. "I said I was glad your happy. I didn't say I approved of what you've done. You've basically turned into one of THEM, I can't ever forgive you for that." He looked hurt, but I couldn't care less about his feelings. He placed his hand gently on my arm and went to open his mouth when a growl sounded out. All heads whipped to where it came from, Arya was stood holding a glass of soda and a plate, she was looking right at me and Nick and I would totally be dead if looks could kil. Nick quickly retracted his hand, his whole face fell and you could see sorrow flood his irises. "You sit with me now, get away from that, that... scum!" Wow, Nick was such a lucky guy. NOT. "You heard her. Get away from me, go sit with your new friends. I'm happy for you, and I understand where your coming from, but don't come up to me again and pretend you didn't betray your own kind. Don't pretend you didn't betray me." I shoved a little bit of food into my mouth before standing up and walking out of the cafeteria, leaving my tray on the table. I was walking through the hallway to the classroom, you see I decided to spend lunch with Mr Foley in his room, when I happened to hear voices in the corridor. "Is it wise for her to actually be present when the king arrives? Surely she could be placed in the dungeons, it might actually teach her some respect?" My principal was speaking to the alpha of our district, huh, if I stayed and listened do you think they'd notice, maybe they could smell me?! "Everyone is to be present, if the Riley girl does one thing out of line she will be dealt with severely, child or not. That girl has been a blight to the district since day one, she's dangerous, if she puts one hair out of place I will personally break her into submission." Oh shet, they were talking about me specifically, and they mentioned the dungeon, that's not been used in months. Normally I would have listened in more but something about the entire situation didn't sit right with me, all of a sudden, I was on edge, and simply wasn't interested in the slightest in hearing how my misery was to be enhanced. I backed up slightly before turning around and bumping head first into one of the hottest man I had ever seen. I lost my balance immediately and fell straight on to the floor letting out a small grumble in the process. His eyebrows knitted together quickly and his breath hitched in his throat as he looked upon my fallen state and gasped. "Mate!" He whispered, his eyes fixated on mine. Now, I had seen and heard that many times to know what that means, I gasped before taking a step back. 'No, no, no, no, no. This can not be happening.' He growled slightly before stepping towards me. Oh Shet!

There are couple of tools that I have used, tested and I'm actuallly using right now for Reddit organic marketing. More specifically - Reddit keyword/ post notifications. The list goes from the worst to the best value. (Not paid, not affiliated etc.). Just giving the best value I can to my fellow marketers. :)
KWatch (Free and Paid) : https://kwatch.io/
I'd say one of the most frustrating tools. They do have free version but for freelancers or companies who wish to engage on Reddit with various keywords- this doesn't cut it. The pricing is very steep for the features that other tools offer. In their defense, UI/ UX (whatever) is better than other tools and if you just need to monitor only 2 keywords (brand and 1 non-brand)- sure, it will do the job. You get notifcations straigh to your inbox. As for integrations with slack (my favorite integration in the whole world) - for that baby you'd need to start paying 79$ a month. To me the pricing doesn't make any sense especially when we continue going down the list but I might be too stupid.
Props for the dev (u/arthurdelerue25) cause he literally posted "how to make Reddit kw monitor tool". :D
Notikey (Free and Paid) https://www.notikey.com/ (Testing)
This is where we get somewhere GOOD for marketer. It has free version but paid is CHEAP and great! As in 1.99$ cheap for a single monitor. In short, monitor is group of a single or up to 15 keywords and you can monitor up to 10 subreddits in that single monitor (I'd suggest having 2 monitors- 1 for brand and non-brand kw). Where it gets even better - you can have email notifications or webhook - it can connect to your slack (it is in Beta and I recently connected both.. so I'll see how that goes).. but wait, that is not all! I have asked for multiple Reddit SaaS to make keyword graph and this one offers just that (great for brand kw). I love it, I recently found it out, I'm still testing it and hopefully this will help with measuring my organic Reddit marketing KPI.
Potentially this would be my go-to tool for smaller clients.
Reddit Comber (Free and Paid through Patreon) https://redditcomber.com/
UI is simple, it isn't fancy but does it's job. This one probably takes the cake for the simplicy and it offers 5 keyword for free. If you need more then check their patreon for bigger package. Price is affordable and even free version is better than most offer for 40 or even 80$. Best part for me - ability to get notifications to the Reddit account rather than email or slack. There are benefits of having this feature but i'd proably have some hybrid between notikey webhook and account notification (e.g. client checks account, starts opening messages and you just didn't see those notifications). Again, this is an awesome tool with great options! Props to dev ()
F5Bot: Free: https://f5bot.com/ (Using right now)
In short - better version of KWatch. Probably the most simple and best tool to use. This is actually one of the tools that I have used for the longest. The only problems (for me) are that from time to time you'd need to disable subreddit targeting or change your keywords. When you fix it - it works smoothly. This one sends notifications straight to your inbox so if you do have multiple client you'd get lost in the amount of emails. But hey, F5bot is free and you can have up to 200 keywords.. how can this guy afford to do that? So while this one bring couple of issues for me, it does it's job perfectly.
Note that this is the only free tool which includes multiple platforms at free tier.
Advite (Paid; 14day trial): https://advite.ai/ (Using right now)
For those who are in Reddit marketing for more than a year, remember tool called "Surfkey" (AI tool which, to my knowledge died). This one is VERY similar. While I'm still skeptical about "AI this and AI that", I was very suprised. Advite is NEW and right now they only offer only post monitoring they are working on comment monitoring. What i enjoyed the most - connection with slack (if you have multiple companies- create their own channel and you get all the notifications). According to them you'd need to react to their notifications for AI to learn if the post that they gave you was good or not. Other tools rely on keyword mentions, this goes a step further and reads context which is a big plus. This one does cost 30CAD
There have been couple of other Reddit keyword monitoring tools that I have used, they are either dead, too expensive or not even noteworthy to waste time mentioning.
If you have your own tool, let us know in the comment section cause I'm eager to test more tools int he future. ;)
P.S. I'm writing this post and probably all of these creators going to get notifications. :D :D

There are couple of tools that I have used, tested and I'm actuallly using right now for Reddit organic marketing. More specifically - Reddit keyword/ post notifications. The list goes from the worst to the best value.
KWatch (Free and Paid) : https://kwatch.io/
I'd say one of the most frustrating tools. They do have free version but for freelancers or companies who wish to engage on Reddit with various keywords- this doesn't cut it. The pricing is very steep for the features that other tools offer. In their defense, UI/ UX (whatever) is better than other tools and if you just need to monitor only 2 keywords (brand and 1 non-brand)- sure, it will do the job. You get notifcations straigh to your inbox. As for integrations with slack (my favorite integration in the whole world) - for that baby you'd need to start paying 79$ a month. To me the pricing doesn't make any sense especially when we continue going down the list but I might be too stupid.
Props for the dev (u/arthurdelerue25) cause he literally posted "how to make Reddit kw monitor tool". :D
Notikey (Free and Paid) https://www.notikey.com/ (Testing)
This is where we get somewhere GOOD for marketer. It has free version but paid is CHEAP and great! As in 1.99$ cheap for a single monitor. In short, monitor is group of a single or up to 15 keywords and you can monitor up to 10 subreddits in that single monitor (I'd suggest having 2 monitors- 1 for brand and non-brand kw). Where it gets even better - you can have email notifications or webhook - it can connect to your slack (it is in Beta and I recently connected both.. so I'll see how that goes).. but wait, that is not all! I have asked for multiple Reddit SaaS to make keyword graph and this one offers just that (great for brand kw). I love it, I recently found it out, I'm still testing it and hopefully this will help with measuring my organic Reddit marketing KPI.
Potentially this would be my go-to tool for smaller clients.
Reddit Comber (Free and Paid through Patreon) https://redditcomber.com/
UI is simple, it isn't fancy but does it's job. This one probably takes the cake for the simplicy and it offers 5 keyword for free. If you need more then check their patreon for bigger package. Price is affordable and even free version is better than most offer for 40 or even 80$. Best part for me - ability to get notifications to the Reddit account rather than email or slack. There are benefits of having this feature but i'd proably have some hybrid between notikey webhook and account notification (e.g. client checks account, starts opening messages and you just didn't see those notifications). Again, this is an awesome tool with great options! Props to dev ()
F5Bot: Free: https://f5bot.com/ (Using right now)
In short - better version of KWatch. Probably the most simple and best tool to use. This is actually one of the tools that I have used for the longest. The only problems (for me) are that from time to time you'd need to disable subreddit targeting or change your keywords. When you fix it - it works smoothly. This one sends notifications straight to your inbox so if you do have multiple client you'd get lost in the amount of emails. But hey, F5bot is free and you can have up to 200 keywords.. how can this guy afford to do that? So while this one bring couple of issues for me, it does it's job perfectly.
Note that this is the only free tool which includes multiple platforms at free tier.
Advite (Paid; 14day trial): https://advite.ai/ (Using right now)
For those who are in Reddit marketing for more than a year, remember tool called "Surfkey" (AI tool which, to my knowledge died). This one is VERY similar. While I'm still skeptical about "AI this and AI that", I was very suprised. Advite is NEW and right now they only offer only post monitoring they are working on comment monitoring. What i enjoyed the most - connection with slack (if you have multiple companies- create their own channel and you get all the notifications). According to them you'd need to react to their notifications for AI to learn if the post that they gave you was good or not. Other tools rely on keyword mentions, this goes a step further and reads context which is a big plus. This one does cost 30CAD
There have been couple of other Reddit keyword monitoring tools that I have used, they are either dead, too expensive or not even noteworthy to waste time mentioning.
If you have your own tool, let us know in the comment section cause I'm eager to test more tools int he future. ;)
P.S. I'm writing this post and probably all of these creators going to get notifications. :D :D

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Peace be to you all.

Introduction:

In this post, I will be answering and refuting the individual who keeps writing posts about me and comments every second he gets trying to "refute" me and "expose" me. I am only doing this because some brothers and sisters have allowed themselves to be fooled by this dude.
I won't resort to personal attacks and baseless claims (much like he does), and I will jump straight ahead to answering his objections.

Response to the introduction:

He begins by discussing my translation of the word "ישוחח," which I interpret as "argue" or "put forth."
Firstly, in Biblical Hebrew, verb forms such as Qal and Piel (often referred to as Polel in some grammatical traditions) are distinguished by their specific diacritic markings (i.e., vowel points and consonantal diacritics). Since I believe that the Masoretes distorted the Old Testament by adding these diacritics to reach a deviant interpretation, I do not consider them at all. I read the Old Testament without any diacritics. This is something he has yet to understand, perhaps because he believes that the Old Testament was revealed with diacritic markings—I don't know.
He later argues that the ancient Christian manuscripts (such as the Codex Sinaiticus, Septuagint, etc.) must agree with my claims and not with the Masoretic renderings of the Hebrew text, a conclusion he bases on thin air. I ask: Why is that so? Can you give us one good reason for this conclusion? You can't! He says this only because he considers these Christian manuscripts as divinely revealed criteria and translations. In contrast, I (and many others) see them as ancient interpretations of the original Hebrew text, which are very erroneous. This is especially true considering that rabbis themselves claim these scholars and translators failed to understand every Hebrew idiom in the book. They took everything literally and thus deviated from the intended meaning throughout their translations. These are the translations he claims must agree with my understanding.
The Masoretes could even have been influenced by Christians and their manuscripts, leading them to render some verses erroneously, whether knowingly or unknowingly—we can't be certain. However, I believe it wasn't unknowingly, and I have very good reasons for holding this opinion.
His arguments in his objections are all flawed and fallacious.

The Original sin being denied in the OT:

Now, the word he is fixated on is "ישוחח." As he mentioned, I used a classical Hebrew dictionary to translate the word. I don't remember the exact dictionary I used, but here is a random one I will use today:

Root: שִׂיחַ (v)
1 - to put forth, mediate, muse, commune, speak, complain, ponder, sing
1 -(Qal)
1 - to complain
2 - to muse, meditate upon, study, ponder
3 - to talk, sing, speak
2 - (Polel) to meditate, consider, put forth thoughts

Source: מקור: Open Scriptures on GitHub, Creator: יוצר: Based on the work of Larry Pierce at the Online Bible
In other words, both Qal and Polel essentially mean the same thing.
This following excerpt is from my original post about this, the post he is "refuting":
Excerpt from the post in question:
_______________________
Isaiah 53:8, traditional translation:
"From imprisonment and from judgment he is taken, and his generation who shall tell? For he was cut off from the land of the living; because of the transgression of my people, a plague befell them."
The original verse (without diacritics):
מעצר וממשפט לקח ואת־דורו מי ישוחח כי נגזר מארץ חיים מפשע עמי נגע למו:
My translation:
"He was taken from arrest and trial, and as for his generation, who will argue that he was cut off from the land of the living [i.e. killed] for the sin of my people, a plague befell them."
_______________________
In this verse, God is explicitly denying the doctrine of the Original Sin, stating that those who argue, speak, put forth, or ponder that Jesus was killed for the sins of His (God's) people are cursed (or afflicted by a plague).
It is crystal clear! He is just in denial because it contradicts his Pauline doctrine. Thus, he has fixated on this specific word, insisting it is (without a shadow of a doubt) in the Polel form (because his Pauline forefathers said so), and claims that Exion has made a grave error. Incredible, indeed. What a rebuttal!
Let's see if the Polel form does anything to save him:
1. Meditate:

"He was taken from arrest and trial, and as for his generation, who will meditate that he was cut off from the land of the living [i.e. killed] for the sin of my people, a plague befell them."

The definition of "Meditate" is:

1. To plan mentally; consider,
   
2. To focus one's mind for a period of time, in silence or with the aid of chanting, for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation.
   

I know it isn't the latter, because that is just ludicrous and silly. But guess what? They even tried to claim it is the latter, which is beyond amusing to me and any other sane person reading this.
2. Consider:

"He was taken from arrest and trial, and as for his generation, who will consider that he was cut off from the land of the living [i.e. killed] for the sin of my people, a plague befell them."

It still obliterates the doctrine of the Original sin completely.
3. Put forth thoughts:

"He was taken from arrest and trial, and as for his generation, who will put forth thoughts that he was cut off from the land of the living [i.e. killed] for the sin of my people, a plague befell them."

It still obliterates the doctrine of the Original sin completely.
This is what I have to deal with. He is correcting my interpretation by yet again confirming it and he doesn't even realize it. He refuses to accept that the Old Testament completely refutes this absurd Pauline doctrine that God sent His "son" to the earth to kill him and forgive mankind. He can't understand that the Old Testament aligns with the Quran, calling them cursed. I have explained this to him several times, but to no avail. According to him, the early Christians "meditated" about Jesus' "abode." He raises the same objection in every comment he makes on every future post I do, as if I haven't just refuted him using the Bible, dictionaries, and other sources. In one ear and out the other. The only reason I'm even writing this response is to make you guys realize how unknowledgeable this man really is about the Bible and the Hebrew language. But he is good at making it look like he knows a thing or two by using fancy words and elaborations that make no sense at all.
I believe (if I remember correctly) that he translates it as:

"By oppressive judgment he was taken away, Who could describe his abode?..."

This unusual rendering is achieved by mistranslating a word, done specifically to alter the actual meaning. Some Jewish translators render it the same way, but they at least have the decency to add a footnote saying:

"\Who could describe his abode?* Meaning of Heb. uncertain." (source: Sefaria.org)

As they usually do when they mistranslate stuff.
Who would describe Jesus abode? What?! With all due respect, but that makes no sense at all! It makes no sense contextually nor logically.
This is how another Jewish translation has it:

"From imprisonment and from judgment he is taken, and his generation who shall tell? For he was cut off from the land of the living; because of the transgression of my people, a plague befell them."

Does this look like a coherent sentence to you? Jesus is taken from imprisonment and judgement, and his generation who shall tell? Tell what? This is an incomplete sentence - just to change the actual intended message.
The original phrase is: "ואת־דורו מי ישוחח"
Let me break it down for you:

Word: ואת = "And his"
Word: ־דורו = "Generation"
Word: מי = "Who will"
Word: ישוחח = "Argue/Put forth/Talk/consideetc"

Crystal clear phrase. Even Google translates it accurately (which is very rare by the way):

"And his generation who will talk"

Take a look at some of the English translations of his Christian forefathers:
New Living Translation Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants...
New International Version By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested?...
King James Bible He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation?...
Some others got the first part accurate but still misinterpreted the last part of the verse, as it claims that they are cursed. God forbid, they are the ones who are cursed, for they consider Jesus to be the cursed one:
English Standard Version By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
They applied the "curse/plague" to Jesus (which they translate as "stricken," even though Biblically it is generally understood to be a plague/curse) instead of applying it to those "who considered" (i.e., the Pauline Christians). The Hebrew verse uses a plural word, indicating that it was intended for those people who would put forth this claim. They all refuse to accept the fact that God is explicitly and literally stating that they are affected by a plague for their erroneous claim about Jesus.
Let's quickly refute them too:

• The word for "plague" is "נגע" (nega).
• The word for "to them" is "למו" (lamo).

"Plague" (נגע):

Hebrew classical dictionary:

Heb: נֶגַע (n-m)
1 - stroke, plague, disease, mark, plague spot
stroke, wound
stroke (metaphorical of disease)
mark (of leprosy)

Source: מקור: Open Scriptures on GitHub, Creator: יוצר: Based on the work of Larry Pierce at the Online Bible

"To them" (לָֽמוֹ):

Hebrew classical dictionary:

1 - inflected pers. pron. meaning ‘to them’ (poetically).
2 - [Formed from לְ◌ with ◌מוֹ, a suff. used only in poetry.]

Source: מקור: Klein Dictionary, Creator: יוצר: Ezra Klein
A plague to whom? TO THEM! To the people who put forth this Pauline doctrine, the ones who argued, said, or considered this absurdity. Absolutely not to the one they believed to be cut off for the sin of God's people, namely Jesus, God's prophet, Messiah, His Word, and a spirit from Him.
But this is not surprising to anyone; it is expected, because their savior Paul also considered the blessed Messiah Jesus to be a curse:

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'" (Galatians 3:13)

It bothers them that God Himself is confirming that they are the cursed ones, and He does it in the book they believe in. I am the one who exposed it, and all praise is due to God alone. It bothers this guy who is "eXpOsInG" me, and I won't mention his name because that is most likely what he wants.
He goes on to say that I quoted from a fictitious source, which is not true at all. I simply didn’t bother looking through my entire library to find a quote I mistakenly mis-referenced, mainly because the quote turned out to be quite irrelevant, and I don’t waste my time like that. Much of what he initiated his "rebuttal" with is equally misunderstood by him, and I have responded to each and every objection in my older posts (in the comment sections where he was "eXpOsInG" me). I picked the first thing and refuted it here for you just to show how ignorant he really is and how he is either living a lie or lying to others.
So, I will not bother to refute every single point of the old stuff that I’ve already conclusively answered. It's a waste of time. Let’s move on to his objections to my latest posts, because that is what this is all about in reality.

My answers to his objections to my latest posts:

Regarding the stone God mentions that was to be placed in the Temple of God, he says that it is saying

"Stone to a stone," or "upon a stone"

My answer:
"Stone to a stone" is not a Hebrew idiom, and neither is the word "upon" there in Hebrew. He doesn't know Hebrew, had he known Hebrew, he would never have "eXpOsEd" this because it just went to show that he doesn't know the language at all.
The Hebrew word "שום" (shum) in this context is derived from the root ש-ו-ם, which means "to place" or "to put." It appears here as an infinitive construct, which is often used to convey the act of doing something, similar to the English "-ing" form. In this sentence, "שום" is functioning as a gerund, which is a verbal noun. It translates to "placing" or "putting" in English. Therefore, "שום־אבן" means "placing a stone" or "putting a stone."
As for the next word, i.e. "stone" (אבן), in Hebrew, nouns have gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural). "אבן" is a feminine singular noun. When used in the phrase "שום־אבן" (placing a stone), "אבן" functions as the direct object of the action described by the infinitive construct "שום" (placing).
The next word is אל: This is taken as a preposition according to them, and it generally means "to" or "toward," and never "upon." It is used to indicate direction or movement towards something. While the following word is, again, a stone "אבן."
So if we're going with their interpretation, while being literal, as we should because it is not an idiom, it accurately translates to:
"Before placing a stone to a stone" or "before placing stone to stone"
Which makes very little sense, if any. Why wouldn't God say "Before placing stone upon stone" or "Stones upon stones" or "before placing a stone upon a stone"? Why did He use a singular word for "stone"? Because it is speaking about a one stone, the stone that God placed in Zion:

"So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic." (Isaiah 28:16)

I have proven in countless posts that Zion is the ancient name for Mecca. Just look up Psalm 84, and you will see how it mentions doing the pilgrimage in Zion and also mentions "Bacca," another name for Mecca. I have proven how Harran is located in Mecca and that the oak of Bacca is located there as well, and we know according to Psalm 84 that Zion is located where Bacca is located. With this in mind, it’s easy to see what has been done to cover up this prophecy. They have misinterpreted the word "El" as "Upon" instead of "God." The definition of that word is not "Upon"; it means "To/toward" or "God."
Classical Hebrew dictionary:

Heb: אֵל (n-m)
god, god-like one, mighty one
mighty men, men of rank, mighty heroes
angels
god, false god, (demons, imaginations)
God, the one true God, Jehovah
mighty things in nature
strength, power

Source: מקור: Open Scriptures on GitHub, creator: יוצר: Based on the work of Larry Pierce at the Online Bible
And:

Heb: אֶל (prep.)
denoting motion toward or to, or direction toward, and meaning ‘to, unto, toward, into, at, by’.
[Shortened from אֱלֵי (which is preserved in poetry). cp. עֲלֵי, poetical form of עַל (= on), and עֲדֵי, poetical form of עַד (= as far as, until). Related to Arab. ’ilā (= to, toward, up to).]

Source: מקור: Klein Dictionary, Creator: יוצר: Ezra Klein
Let's see if any of these help him:

Before placing a stone to a stone?
Before placing a stone towards a stone?
Before placing a stone into a stone?
Before placing a stone unto a stone? (archaic term for "to")
Before placing a stone at a stone?
Before placing a stone by a stone?

Does any of this make any sense to you? I believe it certainly does not. Yet they have all chosen to ignore these valid definitions and instead opt for a definition that isn't there, namely: "a stone UPON a stone," just to claim that God was idiomatically saying "Before you build the temple." The temple was already built, as I will prove later below.
To get a more coherent translation, one that makes sense both contextually and linguistically, we need to consider "El" as "God":

ועתה - "And now"
שימו־נא - "consider, please"
לבבכם - "your heart"
מן־היום - "from this day"
הזה - "this"
ומעלה - "and onward"
מטרם - "before"
שום־אבן - "placing a stone"
אל־אבן - "God's stone/stone of God"
בהיכל - "in the Temple"
יהוה - "of YHWH" (YHWH)

Here, "אל־אבן" would translate to "God's stone" or "stone of God." Thus, the phrase "מטרם שום־אבן אל־אבן בהיכל יהוה" would be understood as "before placing a stone as God's stone in the temple of YHWH" or "before placing a stone, God's stone, in the temple of YHWH"
He is just in denial here as well. It is quite obvious that God is talking about placing a stone in the Temple of God, not about placing a stone towards a stone (whatever that means). Biblically, it is known that Jacob placed a stone in the House of God in Harran, which I have also proven to be located in the vicinity of Mecca, using 1st-century CE atlases by giants in geography such as Pomponius Mela, Pliny, and others.
He writes:

"More importantly, Exion ignored that “stone” in the Hebrew occurs twice. If we take אל to be God and take it as the construct state (the ‘s) then it would be “before setting stone’s God’s stone”. That doesn’t make sense hence why Exion dropped the first occurrence of אֶ֛בֶן in their translation."

Or you could simply not take "El" as a construct state. In Hebrew, a noun followed by another noun can indicate possession without needing a construct state (i.e. the equivalent of adding 's in English). This is often called "smikhut" or construct form, but it is not always necessary to explicitly form it.
In the phrase "שום־אבן אל־אבן" (placing a stone as God's stone), the context and the nouns' arrangement provide the possessive meaning without requiring additional grammatical changes. "אל־אבן" can be understood as "God's stone" even though it is not in the formal construct state. This is something he doesn't know because, well, who knows why. I have my speculations, but I will refrain from personal attacks.
He says:

"It makes perfect sense with the rest of the verse “in the temple of Yahweh.” It’s talking about before the building of the temple which involved setting stone upon stone."

Oh really? Is that why the 3rd verse literally talks about the Temple that already was in existence but was viewed as nothing in their eyes (i.e. insignificant):

"Who among you is left, who saw this house in its former glory? And as you see it now, is it not as nothing in your eyes?" (Haggai 2:3)

Explicitly contradicting your claim that it doesn't exist, but you didn't know that because you have probably never even read the entirety of the chapter to begin with. The Temple was already there. A stone was to be placed in it, God's stone, the black stone of the House of God, and not that it was to be built or built anew. This is why I even wrote the article, because the temple of God was already in existence. How you could have missed this, if you've read the chapter in it entirety, is very baffling to me.
This is why Jacob, upon waking from his prophetic dream, never built the House of God. (Yes, Jacob was a prophet, but Christian scholars throughout history didn't recognize this and thought he was merely a patriarch.) Instead, he only placed a stone as its cornerstone and named it "The House of God":

16. When Jacob woke up, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was unaware of it.” 17. And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven!” 18. Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it."

Going back to Haggai 2, the 6th verse states:

"כי כה אמר יהוה צבאות עוד אחת מעט היא ואני מרעיש את־השמים ואת־הארץ ואת־הים ואת־החרבה:"

Which literally translates to:

"For thus says the Lord of Hosts: Once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land."

Which they have erroneously translated as:

"For so said the Lord of Hosts: [There will rise] another one, and I will shake up the heaven and the earth and the sea and the dry land [for] a little while." (source)

Lying and adding words to the Word of God to make it look like another House would be raised.
7th verse states:
Haggai 2:7

"והרעשתי את־כל־הגוים ובאו חמדת כל־הגוים ומלאתי את־הבית הזה כבוד אמר יהוה צבאות:"

Transliteration:

"Ve-hir'ashti et kol ha-goyim u-va'u chemdat kol ha-goyim u-milati et ha-bayit ha-zeh kavod amar Adonai Tzva'ot."

Not only does it confirm that the House is already in existence, but it mentioned our prophet Ahmad coming to it by using the cognate of his name, "Chemdat," which they erroneously have translated as:

"and the treasures of all the nations will be brought to this Temple."

The preposition "the" is not there before "Chemdat," while it is before "Goyim" (heathens), which makes sense because "Chemdat of all the heathens (will come)" and doesn't translate to "The treasure of all the heathens (will come)," as they have it.
Let me break it down for you:

והרעשתִי (ve-hir'ashti) - "and I will shake"
את (et) - [direct object marker, not translated]
כל (kol) - "all"
הגוים (ha-goyim) - "the heathens"
ובאו (u-va'u) - "and they will come"
חמדת (Chemdat) - "Chemdat" (proper noun)
כל (kol) - "of all"
הגוים (ha-goyim) - "the heathens"
ומלאתי (u-milati) - "and I will fill"
את (et) - [direct object marker, not translated]
הבית (ha-bayit) - "the house"
הזה (ha-zeh) - "this"
כבוד (kavod) - "glory"
אמר (amar) - "says"
יהוה (Adonai) - "Lord"
צבאות (Tzva'ot) - "of Hosts"

Result:

"And I will shake all the heathens, and they will come, Chemdat of all the heathens, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of Hosts."

Explanation:

They have translated it as "the treasures of..." while the phrase "Chemdat" lacks a "The" (Ha), so it would more accurately be rendered as:

"And they will come, treasure of all the heathens, and..."

A very awkward sentence grammatically. And the dictionaries do not define חמדת (Chemdat) as "Treasure," but rather as "Desire" or "Precious." But translating this phrase in this way (if we consider it to mean "desire" or "precious"), we would make the verse even more awkward:

"And they will come, desire of all the heathens" or "And they will come, precious of all the heathens."

Because it is a singular phrase, and not plural, and as I mentioned earlier, lacks a definite preposition.
But if we consider "Chemdat" as a cognate of "Ahmad," as a proper noun referring to Ahmad the prophet (the only heathen prophet known today), it suddenly becomes a very coherent verse that makes much sense. The heathens will be shaken, and they will come. Then, He specifies by saying: Chemdat of all the heathens, and continues with the rest of the verse.
The phrase "הגוים" (ha-goyim) translates as "the heathens," which supports the interpretation that "Chemdat" is a proper noun referring to a significant heathen person anticipated to come. God is going to shake all the heathens, and they will come. Then He specifies who would come: "Chemdat of all the heathens (will come)." He then says He will fill this house, which they saw as nothing, with glory. The house already exists; Chemdat of all nations was just about to come, and God would fill this house with glory again. And, of course, the stone Jacob laid in Genesis 28—the same stone that Jesus referred to in Matthew 21:

1. Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes?'

43. Therefore, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit."

The Kingdom of God was intended to be taken away from the Christians and given to a people who would produce its fruits, and this is what happened when Islam came.
Going back to Haggai 2, the 18th verse also confirms that the Temple already was there:

"Consider, please, your heart from this day and onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the temple of the Lord was founded, consider your heart."

Just because God considers the two Houses (the current one they saw as insignificant and the later one) as "different" does not mean that it does not already exist physically but will be a different House.
Nevertheless, he is right about one thing regarding this chapter: it does not mention the new moon to new moon and the end of the Sabbath—that was in Isaiah 66. My mistake. But the prophecy is still valid. The new moon to new moon would come, and yes, the second phrase can be interpreted as an end (if we interpret "Shabbat" as "End"), but it is Biblically and generally interpreted as "Sabbath." A literal translation of the phrase in the 23rd verse would be:

שבת (shabbat) - "Sabbath"
בשבתו (be-shabbato) - "His Sabbath"
יבוא (yavo) - "it will come"

Let's agree that it means what the traditional translations say it means, and I don't mean hypothetically, but let's actually agree on that. However, the prophecy about the new moons (Ramadan) is still there and valid because God has not canceled the Sabbath in the Quran; it is still ongoing:
The Quran states in 2:40-42:

Verse 40: "O Children of Israel, remember My favor which I have bestowed upon you and fulfill My covenant [upon you] that I will fulfill your covenant [from Me], and fear Me."
Verse 41: "And believe in what I have sent down confirming that which is [already] with you, and be not the first to disbelieve in it. And do not exchange My signs/verses for a small price, and fear Me."
Verse 42: "And do not mix the truth with falsehood or conceal the truth while you know [it]."

The new moon to a new moon is combined with the Sabbath to Sabbath. This is a fulfilled prophecy!
I don't see easter, halloween or Christmas being mentioned here. It's Ramadan and the Sabbath, the two Covenants God has given to his worshipers, the Covenant of the Children of Israel and the Covenant of Peace, unlike the Pauline Christians who literally took all of their holidays from pagan idolaters, which I won't go into because it's not very relevant to our discussion anyways.
This marks the end of my rebuttal to his "part 1."
Thank you for reading,
/Your bro Exion.

Situation
You have a folder full of HTML (or config, or whatever) files that are all fairly similar, but also kind of not, because:

• They should be a lot more similar, but many different people have been editing them one at a time without coordinating between each other (or themselves),

and

• They really should be maintained as a template in some kind of actual templating language, and the implementation of whatever they're for should probably be something else entirely, but most of the people who edit these files are not programmers and the learning curve would be more trouble than it's worth.

You can see there are a lot of things that could be tidied up and made perfectly identical across all the files, but you can't be arsed to do it the "right way", and you don't fancy playing regular expression golf (trying to make sure you hit just the things you intend in mass search/replaces), and you really can't be arsed to remember how to do multi-line regexps.
Solution
Write a script that automatically splits a tmux session into however many panes you need, then launches a vim session in each one, one per file. Then all you have to do is turn on synchronize-panes, and away you go!
Here is the most minimal version of this I could come up with. A much nicer version follows, but this is more useful as a building block, because maybe you want to use it for similar-but-not-identical inappropriate purposes:

#!/bin/bash # usage: #  file1 file2 ... # or #  *.html # if you run into "no space for new pane", increase -y tmux new-session -d -s editors -y 80 # cycle through filenames given on command line for filename in "$@"; do tmux split-window -v -l 5 -t editors:0.0 tmux send-keys -t editors "vim '$filename'" Enter done # close the "origin pane" (which still has just a shell) tmux send-keys -t editors:0.0 "exit" Enter # attach to the terminal you ran this script from tmux attach -t editors # After tmux attaches, you'll probably want to do: # - Ctrl+B, E to resize the panes # - Ctrl+B, :, set synchronize-panes # To exit, just issue ":q" to all vims, then Ctrl+D to exit the shells. 

Important limitation: The above can only do a single session at a time, because the session name ("editors") is fixed. Interesting things happen if you try to run another copy simultaneously.
The full version is a bit long to put inline like this, so here it is gzipped and base64'd:

H4sIAAAAAAACA61W227cNhB9tr5iIjvdXWRlb1r4xUaApk6KFg16dVsDSWBQErViTJEySXktf33P UFK8XhtIH5IXYzO3M2fODLX/7ChX5igXvk4SL71X1lwa0chXB/PmKsimpaykLFBouttLWapg3eXF xcUiURW9f0/P2JwebEem9PHjKYVammRPFrWltBJKy5KCpcJJESRpW1xRqRxV1tEYm8L7VgV6mVQq SYbA17ntAsdp0ZmiJhFhTBFsYERcy0uqUMSfpGNomrROmVBR+iE89x9MCpTf3xuHv7/IPrfClVTD dTt2+HsOwLUwawAWPZD4JXUohHLkgzAlR4K9Upn1fTDRWXD6xQ9Leq3Di5f0iv6RLqhCaPKtVsE/ 7fgtHH+yTt1ZE77gegzXc2Z0F+9Z54NtPkOijIwlIwfqWwfWxjzgyvmwC/kvdgt2vdaSZr4H4c4a dSezVhjpZzRXpsU41lZ69hRaU7SQCGRNIRc7+f5gr08dJFTZohtiEMFkdFq4GEzz0LcDpaVC06IH 2mgwXZNLt3hiJiyTJYXOGZSlR0CXUXsU885OrmdLemuCdMsB1JvD3Yy/R2Kiz73URu+zCDq3jsmC dssk2ScoH2og1xmCbJABLPtWFDLK2chNbCBdQqcB6dyae2ukYc16aoTpQF2fRCnDO5vkzIvmHy1T dksH88DEF1b7BWX99FsrdLtIEq7K4md/IIpCP6XSJnv7EULXDpJlSbGCoQ0Mwjc8QA/aYo83VmEN xA0beVGF5iGFSfrJ3rB5nCPbQGB2Q9kNZZqO+TrsgD5ZHa64+ri2N6oBLl6ZkaNQKx8hHzFTU25p yuxK9v6JhJRyjtnB1OYsHQaWlBbxmEmh7biZKZZoDRbiDGi+qRUQ+KDQbC089OgDd19LrRfJFwtz J5Sy4qaK+8Q6iGmiTplBn8y9lrKl1eF3p9ON0rII2cAeZW+fyL2gbwD9K/8Dvli/iLdA3YkQVTc3 NoAFp4qge6iuABDh+gVzxxrxFtoBB/fHgyNk/EkZtAk9YdM5i5PXnXKSCl6QfDglCx4B//bjAfHb e1lSvBwD21PGM2gdlUcxZbZloI+3GYmF9nYIY90shxHmshB8jFWYDbDwo4ziEqaHH2QstZdbNf9/ wdjJdUyGVosrMOY3KhQx6+C008r1dL2yLTPzmq0fWrKAS0DHq9WKcEgMv4esW/5PbN3oun0APU+I xd/YG4kjEigqNT6cDzHhGEo+xSKm20JYT2KMabN3W6ZPD01vtkxXD01/b5n0Q9OfX1/EPPUQBDaX nyRsNTavUQYPY7y8wgwnxBdOtYEqZ5sB3hj0eNc4Iwv6ZLo9OPr8JDYC74jEgHHU45EcbzF8Ssm5 ZHlI//726/mPP19MmjtBrix627LE67cWfNzAe2FNpbFhPJLPiUrMTFUKj4twcjxEKBxCj5fUljEX N9U6m4scSDbWzFjf/I3hwnCsN7XFo5zHa2qr8YMHXyAjyHi0a9nEZOPztBEmfjqVTCBkERXDW86S s2YJDm6HOPRagFFURJyLQLRsDhPX8Ccarvwul/8B9fqaXzUKAAA= 

(To decode, run the following in a terminal, copy/paste, then press Enter, Ctrl+D:

base64 -d gunzip > tmux_multi_edit.sh # might as well check it as well: echo "ac5518e97721fe8486cae6a11ef651273aa526cc96b9a495a7fc3e0dcab7aed9 tmux_multi_edit.sh" sha256sum -c 

Then verify that the result contains only standard ASCII characters, read it, and understand what every line does before you chmod +x it, because we don't blindly run things from the Internet - especially things I post the same day I wrote them...)

They called it the 'Awakening.' The sky had opened up into a kaleidoscope of colors, and the world swarmed with a threatening buzz that no one could quite comphrehend. Things seemed normal, for a few months, before.. well, before everything else happened. Monsters came out of nowhere, twisted beings that seemed to come straight from our ideas of fairytales and literature, each one just strong enough to cause chaos in the oncoming surge. Some were felled by normal weapons- but most weren't. The more mystical amongst humanity stood the highest chances of survival, those who held those old spiritual laws sacred.. most of everyone else didn't.
It's been over twenty years since then. Seran has never really remembered the years before the Awakening- he was only in the single digits then, and the best memories from then were fuzzy. What he did remember were those chaotic early years- losing his house, his family, and wandering the wilds alone. Hopping from group to group, learning dozens of skills, and bartering for needed resources with whatever goods he'd managed to scrounge up from the untamed wilds that remained chaotic and wholly unnatural. He taught himself to become a doctor of sorts, using both the new and old forms of medicine to treat wounds and foster life.. despite everything.
It was these skills that ended up making him into what he is now. He'd come across a.. well, he didn't know what to call her except for a hound. She was wounded and in dire need of care, and against his better judgement, he had fuzzy memories of the past that suggested he aid her. So he did so- despite the fact she was a monster. He had bound her broken leg in a crude cast and helped her limp into an empty cave, risking life and limb to hunt for her, to feed her, and to dress her wounds. He'd earned plenty of wounds on his own in doing so, but in the end, she was healthy.. and to his utter surprise, a voice echoed in his head.
"A debt is owed," was all she said, before nuzzling against him. She was the first hound to come under his care- and, as he found out, more would follow the strange morsel with knowledge beyond their capabilities. He went from a traveling doctor to a commander of beasts, a true master of a pack.. and, when springtime came around, he learned quickly that apparently a human served very well as a mate to several she-hounds at a time; for they had no males of their own. And, well.. humans also turned out to be excellent breeders, too.
(Good morning, evening, or afternoon! This is a bit of a tall order, I know, but I was wondering if there's any folks who've liked the idea of a pack- specifically, a pack of hounds, and their human companion. The idea of playing a character who's shared or competed over by beasts is a very niche one, I know, but I've had it for a long while and would like to see if there's any who share such sentiments!
For this roleplay, I was thinking initially of a post-apocalyptic setting similar in vibes to Fallout or most zombie settings, where what we consider nowadays as modern luxury is but a thing of the past. Sure, settlements have arisen, with fancy things like power generators, cars, water purifiers- but they are rare, stick out like a sore thumb, and rarely understand how to survive without their amenities. In this setting, Seran's one of many who roam the wilds instead, though he has rather.. unique companions.
As for myself.. I tend to write a fairly detailed bout of two to four paragraphs each response, all depending on current mood or partner's efforts! I've a particular enjoyment of plotting things out and going through discussions as well as worldbuilding, so enthusiasts of both are welcome! My preferred platform is Discord, but Reddit and Telegram are both open as well! I'll be sure to try and respond to any queries of interest, no matter how late they're put out! ⁾

Man...my grandparents died in 2020. My grandmother was literally my favorite person ever and she had vascular dementia. So she forgot me, along wit everyone else.
At my baby shower they asked her who I was and she said I was her baby, whose having a baby. Literally my favorite person in my whole life. She was an artist, and an english major. She formed pretty much all of my early life. I loved her so much. I'm still so fucked up missing her.
Anyway, she made a painting that I covet. I didn't know i should have asked, I didn't know my grandparents were worth millions, I didn't know her will was so undetailed ...I didn't know I needed to make my wants noted.
Her painting that I want is still sitting in her house, that her daughter is living in, who i also love. This aunt has been at, at times, a very close friend to me. But shes denying me having the painting. I feel my grandmother would want me to have it. She made me a gourd, (she did win awards for it, it's beautiful), burned in the same design as the painting, my aunt tells me i should be happy to have that...and it makes me so angry.. She knew i wanted the original and I'm so mad my grandma didn't write it to me....my aunt is so entitled she feels she should live in the house, while not including the house in the total inheritance because it's "community property". It is bs, 100%. Shes living there for free and denying that I should have had it because she's her daughter. Who also gave her grief at every point she could, her whole life.
I'm just so sad. Theres so many more pieces that are made from my grandmother, she was an amazing artist. But they are keeping all of them. And it makes me so sad because I KNOW my grandmother would want them spread out between us. I shouldn't have to use my fancy camera to make prints. Theres enough of them that we all should get one.

Apologies for the absolutely insane number of words, got carried away trying to compensate for being slower than usual with my recap.
The cold open for the finale has a nice little parallel to the cold open in S1E2, which similarly has Deborah walk in to Marty who’s in a somewhat compromising position with his trainer to deliver good news, although in this case her news is something they both celebrate, rather than a win she uses to gloat over Marty
Even though she’s in a much less combative place with Marty, Deborah still isn’t willing to admit that she came over to tell him the news in person and insists that she’s only there to return the key, showing the limited extent to which she is willing to open up even to people she’s known for a long time.
Deborah and Marty doing the tango together to basically celebrate the news is quite cute and a fun way to kick off the episode
I do think it’s kind of sweet that Kathy is quite looking forward to Deborah’s visit, and J Smith Cameron plays up Kathy’s somewhat childlike excitement at this during the opening of the phone call
Nice to see Deborah making an effort to follow up after inviting Kathy for Christmas, committing to a sister’s weekend is a not insignificant step although it also becomes clear that she’s not 100% committed to it. Waiting for Kathy to call and then tell her there’s a change in plans instead of just straight up telling her isn’t a particularly nice thing to do
Deborah has a weird look on her face when Kathy brings up her parents at the mausoleum, which I initially thought was because she didn’t really like to reflect on the past, although on a rewatch it becomes clear it’s because she knows the truth about the mausoleum.
“She’s pivoting into being an adult” Found the way Kayla phrased this part of the child star to adult actor experience to be very funny. I guess the Bella Donaldson character is supposed to be a reference to people like Zendaya, Zac Efron and Selena Gomez (Cannes Best Actress winner!!???), Disney child stars who are trying to shed their past image and be taken as serious adult actors to varying degrees of success. Also the bit about getting awards buzz for an Aronofsky movie feels a bit like what happened/ was projected to happen with Sadie Sink and The Whale
Deborah watching her old Late Night tape and Ava seeing her do that is a nice callback to and reversal of S1E3, where it was Ava watching Deborah’s tape and discovering more about her past
I love Hannah Einbinder’s simple but sincere delivery of “I knew you would” as Ava, and the way Jean Smart lets just the tiniest smile play across Deborah’s lips in response to Ava’s belief in her
Ava being able to only write stuff for Deborah’s Late Night show and not any actual material of her own shows that even though it’s been a year plus since the S2 Finale she still has the same issue of Deborah being “the one with all the stories. What do I even have to say?”
Ava’s voice going up endearingly high when she says “This is gonna be amazing” is very cute, what a touching and lovely scene between Deborah and Ava showing the respect and admiration they have for each other. I’m sure that will continue for the rest of the finale!
How does a safe in the floor of the pool even work lol
Very fun comedy freaking out by Mark Indelicato as Damien, him becoming hysterical at the thought of becoming the new Marcus is hugely entertaining.
According to Hannah Einbinder and Jean Smart on Variety’s Award Circuit podcast, thy did shoot a scene for this episode where Marcus does tell Deborah that he’s leaving but it was cut from the episode. Honestly not sure what role Marcus will play next season and curious to see what the writers will do since it seems he’s going on a very different plotline than the rest of the show. If this was another show I’d say he’s being written out but from interviews and other behind the scenes material the cast and showrunners are fairly tight knit, so I’d imagine they’ll find a way which makes sense for Marcus to continue being around
Between this guest appearance as Bella Donaldson and the release of Lisa Frankenstein and Abigail, Kathryn Newton is quietly having a pretty cool 2024. She absolutely nails the passive-aggressive “nice” girl type that she’s asked to play here. Also the Zack and Cody mention is kind of neat since Newton starred along with Cole Sprouse in Lisa Frankenstein earlier this year, while the goat demon movie mentioned might possibly be a nod to Newton’s affinity for the horro horror adjacent genre?
Quite like this Jimmy/Kayla B plot, allows Meg Stalter to show a different/more emotional side to Kayla who’s usually just the very fun comedic relief. Her smiling nicely and trying to politely ward off Bella’s passive-aggressive “niceness” is such a deeply human character beat.
Deborah Margesson doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as Deborah Vance, so I guess that’s why she didn’t go back to her maiden name after the divorce.
Deborah moving her parent’s remains to Vegas and not telling Kathy for twenty plus years is absolutely deranged behaviour. “It was a corner plot” and “I used my art shipper!” are ridiculously bad responses to the situation, this being the last straw for Kathy is very understandable. Although in Deborah’s defence I guess the fact that she was willing to accompany Kathy to the mausoleum for what she knows to be a completely empty gesture is her deranged way of showing care for her sister and not wanting to hurt her feelings.
Also in hindsight Deborah lying to/not telling Kathy about their parents to avoid hurting her feelings and any conflict is good foreshadowing since that pretty much turns out to be what she does regarding Ava and the head writer job
Deborah’s look of absolute disdain/confusion after hearing the “going to the hardware store for milk” line is gold from Jean Smart
I think Kathy’s reaction to Deborah here and deciding that she’s had enough of her BS and not wanting to put herself through even more hurt in attempting to maintain a relationship is completely reasonable, really liked J Smith Cameron’s work here, as well as Jean Smart playing Deborah’s silent acceptance of this relationship blowing up yet again
Deborah standing alone in the mausoleum is a great shot
Kathy’s reaction to Deborah’s BS here serves as a great contrast to how Ava deals with Deborah’s BS later on in the episode, it truly takes someone special/equally deranged to want to continue being with Deborah despite all her flaws and the hurt she causes to those around her. To use some internet parlance, Kathy is unwilling to put up with Deborah’s freak, while Ava ends up being more than willing to match Deborah’s
Lewis Benton/ fake John Oliver’s line to Ava about her being the hardest-working person in the office is a nice reminder of how working with Deborah has changed Ava for the better in some ways by giving her a stronger work ethic
“Maybe our paths will cross again” Just speculating here, and maybe this would be too inside baseball of a storyline for a show that initially at least was about two people on the “outside” of the entertainment industry, but might there be a future storyline of Deborah competing against fake John Oliver for an Emmy? A recent Emmy rule change starting from the Emmys earlier this year means that Oliver no longer competes with the more traditional Late Night shows like Colbert, Kimmel, Meyers, The Daily Show etc prior to that this had been the case for the past ten or so years
Kayla being the funny one growing up as a defense mechanism against bullies like Bella is such a great character detail on the part of the writers, makes so much sense and explains so much about Kayla’s outlook and attitude
This conflict is so great because both Jimmy and Kayla do have a point. Obviously Jimmy standing up for Kayla who’s being bullied is a good thing for him to do as a friend, but Kayla’s also not wrong in feeling that Jimmy is kind of ignoring her work and being a bit patronising. Really liked how Meg Stalter plays Kayla’s hurt feelings in this scene, it’s a well-executed emotional beat for a generally comedic character. And this continues the throughline about whether Jimmy has what it takes/enough stones and guts to be in the business which was also seen in the back part of S2
Quite liked the scene between Deborah and Biff Cliff (what a name!), a pretty sobering reminder of the obstacles faced by women in entertainment and just how precarious making it in the business actually is, makes complete sense that it would spook Deborah to do what she does later on
I thought the Jimmy Page dating a 14 year old story was meant to be a jab and Jerry Seinfeld and his 17 year old girlfriend, but googled and found out that that was a true story too
I feel like the bit Ava has as a writer taking new headshots and the different treatment they receive compared to actors must be drawn from the real-life experiences of the writers/showrunners, it’s such a specific joke. That said I think if you asked a layperson to tell who’s a writer and who’s an actor from this Deadline photoshoot I think they’d be hard pressed to tell the difference (very complimentary).
Ava sharing her excitement over her “dream job” as head writer for Deborah with a random make-up artist is very endearing, and just makes what happens later on even more crushing
Deborah going to the exec meeting and slowly realising just how much is being invested in her is a great bit of reaction acting from Jean Smart, and further helps reinforce the pressure she’s under and explains her choices
Quite liked the scene of Deborah telling Ava that the network doesn’t want her as head writer, on first watch it seems like Deborah is just worried about how to break the bad news to Ava and let her down easy, but on rewatch it feels so obvious that Deborah is just lying through her teeth to Ava and struggling with it big time.
Jimmy’s “proposal” to Kayla on the plane is such a great comedic setpiece/skewing of the rom-con trope, everything from the overly-excited passenger who completely misreads the situation to Jimmy kneeling because the flight attendant says there’s no standing in the aisle is just perfect.
It’s also just a really good way to cap off the season long plot involving Jimmy and Kayla, we’ve seen throughout the season that they make a very good thing and that Kayla’s kind of a genius at this in her own unique way, very satisfying to see Jimmy finally recognise this and promote her. Jimmy and Kayla’s mentomentee relationship serves as a healthy contrast to Deborah and Ava,with Jimmy as a mentor who recognises the mentee’s contributions and is willing to make compromises (see his acceptance of Kayla’s three funny videos a day)
Jimmy’s voice going up absurdly high when he says “Leave us alone!!!” and “What is your deal” is fantastic comedic work from co-showrunner Paul W Downs, he’ll get Writing and Series Emmy nominations this year, but he should really be getting one for Supporting Actor too.
I guess if you want to nitpick you could say Ava running into Winnie is a very convenient thing to move the plot along, but I choose to look at is as a reminder that Ava has moved on up in the world since the end of S2 and is now at a place where she can get takeout from fancy places where a high-level network head might also dine
Ava’s look of betrayal and anger after realising that Deborah lied to her is great work from Hannah Einbinder
Deborah is reading a Churchill biography when Ava storms in
My god, Ava confronting Deborah is just a perfect perfect scene, the writing is so sharp and Jean Smart is fantastic at playing Deborah going into ice/hardened mode when being confronted, but what a tremendous performance by Hannah Einbinder. She just captures the mixture of betrayal, hurt and anger that Ava feels so naturally and powerfully
There’s so many callbacks and references to previous Deborah/Ava confrontations and scenes from across the show. Ava accusing Deborah of just doing the same thing is from their very first meeting S1E1 where she calls her a hack as well as from their argument in S1E10 when she calls her the same thing. The line about being “a shark or whatever” comes from S2E5 which is what Deborah’s retired comedian friend Susan describes her as, with Deborah later then telling Ava that “You’ve got to be a shark” at the end of S2E8. And Deborah’s advice to Ava to be ambitious and saying that she feels lonely when opening a champagne bottle comes from S3E5 (take that people who said the woods episode was pointless filler).
“You can be the woman behind the man behind the woman” What an unappealing job description, and also a sign of how far Ava has comes since the S2 finale when she was unwilling to take the credit for writing Deborah’s special. Now her time away from Deborah has allowed Ava the space to truly value herself, her achievements and be justifiably proud of them (she stresses her job at On The Contrary to Deborah back in S3E1 and stresses her co-producer role when in bed with Christina Hendricks in S3E6), and she’s no longer willing to accept this demotion and wants credit for her work.
“You’re already making decisions out of fear and you’ll keep doing it” A really cutting observation from Ava which completely nails what Deborah is doing, much like how she immediately clocks in S2E8 that Deborah is pushing her away because she’s afraid.
“It has to work. I’ve lost way too much for it not too” Deborah’s sentiment applies equally to Ava as it does to herself, and helps explain just why Ava would go to the the extremes she does later on
As much as the dialogue in the scene is great, this Deborah and Ava argument also hits hard because of the silent moments in between. The wordless ten seconds or so which rests entirely on Ava after Deborah says that she’s willing to lose her is just tremendous stuff from Hannah Einbinder, all the hurt plays across her face and Einbinder is simply terrific in making the audience feel the deep hurt and sense of betrayal of that moment
Ava saying that Deborah will die alone is something that Deborah has thought about before, saying back in S1E9 in her interview with a journalist that she accepts the truth that people leave the world completely alone and refuses to pretend otherwise
One Last Time - Deb’s Final Stand Up is the track which plays as the big Deborah/Ava argument scene closes out according to Shazam, with the track (that played in the S1 Finale) taking on a whole new meaning in this context. The soundtrack isn’t a big selling point of the show unlike something like say Succession, but the themes by Carlos Rafael Rivera are simple but always effective
Jimmy taking a selfie in his new office is quite cute, and him saying that he didn’t do it alone and comforting Ava at the end of this scene is a much needed nice beat after the intensity of the previous scene
“shows that already exist with one tiny tweak, or huge global hits” Honestly a pretty depressing but frankly accurate read of the current media/television landscape
Jimmy saying that he knows Ava will do the right thing brings to mind these Deborah lines to Ava from the previous episode “It’s so easy for you to say what’s right or wrong. It’s never that simple. One day you’ll understand that” Ava’s move of blackmailing to get Deborah to do right by her certainly falls into the “never that simple” category
Curious about the politics/legal behind the scenes stuff that needed to be cleared to have Deborah be the host of a CBS late night show in the world of Hacks, while Hacks the actual show is under Warner Bros. Discovery which does not own hacks. I guess in this universe Deborah gets the Late Late Show timeslot instead of Taylor Tomlinson with After Midnight
Deborah’s left Vegas but the vanity plate for her car will continue to follow her and be updated
Deborah excitedly taking a photo of her Host parking spot is very cute, but the beat immediately after when we see a hint of her being sad and uneasy/regretful is also great, she’s achieved her dream but at great personal cost, and has no one to share the photo and moment with
It’s been a central thesis of the show that Deborah and Ava are ultimately more alike than different despite their different ages, backgrounds etc. Even in S1E2 the antiques dealer says that Deborah and Ava are “the same” and are “both psychotic b*tches”, and in episode after episode we see just how alike they are. For example in S2E2 after Deborah finds out about the email she says that Ava is just like her, being equally cruel and selfish. Ava blackmailing her abusive boss so that she can continue to work with her is just a completely insane thing to do, and also very much something Deborah would do herself to help her career, as we saw back in S1E5 when Deborah blackmailed Marty to secure her dates at the Palmetto
This move also shows just how much Ava has learnt from Deborah and how much the student has learnt from the master. Ava takes Deborah’s advice from S2E8 to be a shark, and her advice from S3E5 to “concentrate on what’s best for you”. It’s also ends up becoming a twisted version of Ava saying that she won’t leave Deborah in that same episode too, with Ava resorting to blackmail to stay with Deborah. And Ava finally does what she said back in S2E8, which is that “I get to decide what’s best for me”. I love love love the layers to this show!
I love love love the cocky and slightly confident/smirking Ava that we get a brief glimpse of from this scene, coupled with the power suit she’s rocking it makes for such a satisfying moment as she gets one up over Deborah after being on the back foot previously
We’ve seen a different and more vulnerable side of Deborah this season in S3E5 and S3E7, and seen her be like a fangirl in S3E4, but this scene and her stepping up to Ava and slightly seething as she says “You wouldn’t” is a nice reminder that she can be absolutely terrifying when she wants to be
That tiny tiny little gulp that Hannah Einbinder does when/just after Ava says “I would” is so so good, Ava’s standing up to Deborah but Deborah is still one very scary person. Also really love her cocking her head to one side as she says “Wouldn’t you?”
This has already been pointed out on Twitter, but Deborah and Ava sitting apart in the writer’s room at the end is kind of like the pepper shakers which Deborah rearranged to be apart in S3E1. Also a nice contrast to S3E8 when they were sitting apart as Ava was reporting the journalist’s article to Deborah, even despite them sitting separately they were still very close emotionally, but now the physical distance between them is reflective of the division between them as friends/colleagues
Spoilers for Succession S2E10: This Hacks finale is very reminiscent of the Succession S2 Final This Is Not For Tears. In both episodes the older mentor who’s been trying to teach their protege/successor to be harder and tougher ends up being too good at their job and get betrayed by their mentee in a stunning rug pull moment, even though for much of the season it seems the mentee is perfectly content working undefor their mentor. It’s a plot twist that’s both completely shocking in the moment yet makes so much sense when looking back on the season and the series as a whole. And of course the finale ends on a shot of the older mentor as they take in what their mentee has done, with a mixture of anger but also just the slightest hint of pride and begrudging admiration
This final twist in the finale of Ava blackmailing Deborah is so so good and satisfying, does what great season finales do which is deliver a “twist” that feels like a gut punch initially but has actually been building over the season, and sets up a really juicy scenario/ status quo for next season
Ava blackmailing her way to head writer on Deborah’s show is such a juicy scenario to leave things for Season 4, Ava has never had power over Deborah like she does now and I’m personally very much looking forward to how that changes their dynamic next season
My only concern is that I do hope the Vegas aspect and the characters from that part of the Hacks universe don’t get left behind with the focus shifting to running a Late Night show. If there is something to ding this season of the show it’s that there’s not enough Kiki, I’m not smart enough to figure out how a Vegas casino dealer will be able to regularly show up in LA but I selfishly want the writers to figure that out because Poppy Liu is just too fun as Kiki to leave out. Also kind of curious as to how they’ll keep Marcus around since he’s now leaving Deborah’s QVC empire.
Overall a really really great season finale and a very strong season as a whole, easily the best Comedy of the year and one of the best shows of the year. Really rooting for the show to win big prizes at the Emmys later this year against the Bear although that will be tough, pulling hard for Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder to win and for the show to at least win Writing if it can’t win for Comedy Series. Also would be very happy if Meg Stalter and Paul W Downs got their first-time noms this year, they were both great this season

So, after playing Pathologic (I'm sure a lot of people started there) and watching Codex Entry's videos which draw parallels between various absurdist writers and the plot of the game, I wanted to give writing in that style a crack. I'm not a scholar or anything, this kind of marks the first step down the rabbit hole from my perspective. Still, it would be interesting to get thoughts from people who've consumed more of that kind of work than I have (primarily to help guide further exploration of the ideas).
A man sits on top of a hill overlooking a large city from its outskirts. There is a single tree to shade him, and he sits beside a cooler filled with alcoholic drinks. Suddenly, another man approaches with his seat…
Jeremy: Fredrick.
Fredrick: Jeremy.
The guest sets himself up on the other side of the cooler before taking his seat.
Jeremy: How is she?
Fredrick: Passed. She had her time for fighting and now, is her time for resting.
Jeremy: And how are you?
Fredrick: I’m still numb to it.
Jeremy: Indifference is an ugly concept. Do well to defeat whatever shred of it exists within you.
Fredrick: Indifference?
Jeremy: A less romantic term, but yes. Indifference.
Fredrick: There’s nothing romantic about losing your wife to begin with… Lets not do this.
Jeremy: My point is that you’re doing nothing, but we’ll all be gone soon enough. Go on then, change the topic.
The two men sit in silence for some minutes
Fredrick: So what would you have me do then?
Jeremy: What sort of question is that?
Fredrick: It is easy for you to sit on your chair, to drink your beer-
Jeremy: Would you like one?
Fredrick: No, I don’t drink.
Jeremy: Not like you used to anyway.
Fredrick: It is easy for you to sit on your chair, to drink your beer-
Jeremy: Would you like one?
Fredrick Please stop interupting me, especially to ask the same question again.
Jeremy: You don’t get it yet, but I’m asking a different question every time.
Fredrick: Sure… To drink your beer, and to criticise me of inaction, but what could I do? I’m no doctor, and even further from a miracle worker.
Jeremy: But you are you.
Fredrick: Of course I am me.
Jeremy: Are you?
Fredrick: Of course I am me.
Jeremy: Well if you’re so sure…
Fredrick: Who else could I be?
Jeremy: Decide for yourself. My attention is taken up by this beer I sip with so much ‘ease’.
Jeremy laughs, Fredrick rolls his eyes.
Jeremy: Alright alright, I’m not exactly being straight with you.
Fredrick: When have you ever?
Jeremy: If you didn’t enjoy our conversations you wouldn’t have decided to meet me here.
Fredrick: No one else enjoys your conversation; if I wasn’t hear you’d drive yourself mad.
Jeremy: No, I’d simply talk with the tree.
Fredrick: I fail to see how you talking with trees goes against you being mad, but I digress. What is your point here?
Jeremy: Your wife just passed.
Fredrick: I’m aware.
Jeremy: And yet you won’t drink with me.
Fredrick: I’m aware.
Jeremy: I think that’s silly.
Fredrick: What does my wife dying have to do with abstinence-
Jeremy: Cowardice.
Fredrick: Cowardice?
Jeremy: A less romantic term, but yes, cowardice.
Fredrick: What so you think I’m afraid of a can of beer?
Jeremy: Are you?
Fredrick: I am not.
Jeremy: Then what is it you’re afraid of?
Fredrick: You’re the one acusing me of cowardice, you substantiate it.
Jeremy: Hmmm…
The two men sit in silence for some minutes
Jeremy: You’re afraid of the end.
Fredrick: It’s natural to fear death.
Jeremy: Interesting how you conflate the two.
Fredrick: What else could ‘the end’ refer to? The end of this chat?
Jeremy: The end of this chat spells doom for us both chum, but I didn’t mean anything so specific.
Fredrick: So, I’m afraid of ‘endings’?
Jeremy: It’s easy for the cynical to believe that their lives are a cycle of mysery. But there is no cycle. What begins, ends. Even if something else were to begin, what came before has already ended. Cylicality is a comforting illusion.
Fredrick: Hardly seems that way when the cycle is of pain.
Jeremy: But isn’t pain a comfort? Is it not better to expect pain and receive it than to expect nothing at all?
Fredrick: The cynical would expect nothing.
Jeremy: This is a failure of your understanding of both the cyclical and the cynical.
The two men sit in silence for some minutes. In the distance, sirens can be heard.
Fredrick: Our time is running out.
Jeremy: What makes you think it hasn’t already?
Fredrick: We’re both still alive aren’t we?
Jeremy: Ahh I see.
Fredrick: What?
Jeremy: I see trees of green, red roses too~
Jeremy giggles to himself, Fredrick scoffs.
Fredrick: How can you be so unserious at a time like this?
Jeremy: I’m treating the current situation with the exact appropriate amount of seriousness, no more no less.
Fredrick: So I’m too serious?
Jeremy: Friend, I have never had the words to describe you better than the two you used to just describe yourself.
Fredrick: From my perspective you’re not serious enough, and those are the only words I need to describe you.
Jeremy: Well met. Fancy a-
Fredrick: I swear to GOD Jeremy.
Fredrick is death staring Jeremy, anger clearly visible on his face. Jeremy is taken aback. He sips on his can, before setting it down.
Jeremy: You can’t live like this mate.
Fredrick: We’re not gonna be living at all soon.
Jeremy: Fine, you can’t die like this either.
Fredrick: Like what? What is it you’re trying to tell me?
Jeremy: Look buddy, you’ve been so tightly wound for as long as I’ve known you. You live like everything is sheep in your cattle, and you’re the farmer trying to keep it all together.
Fredrick: Everyone’s left me. Family is all gone, friends are off dying somewhere, and the only solace I had left just passed. If I am the farmer, I’ve already failed.
Jeremy: But that’s what I’m saying.
Fredrick: What?
Jeremy: Have a drink with me.
Fredrick: I already TOLD you, I DO. NOT. DRINK.
Jeremy: According to who?
Fredrick: According to who? According to me. I am the only authority on my life.
Jeremy: Authority… Authority… How curious of you to simulaneously believe that while also claiming you’ve failed.
Fredrick: The key is that I failed, me, the farmer, the one in control. I failed in my task, and am wholely responsible for that.
Jeremy: What a silly thing to say outloud.
Fredrick: Silly?
Jeremy: Yes.
Fredrick: It’s silly for me to take responsibility for myrself?
Jeremy: You don’t understand responsibility. Not here, not about this.
Fredrick: I just took care of my dying wife, tell me, what do I not understand about responsibility.
Jeremy breaks into laughter again. Fredrick furrows his brows with impatience.
Jeremy: See, this is exactly what I mean. You say responsibility as if we’re talking about the same thing, but you couldn’t be any more wrong.
Fredrick: Then tell me, where is the source of my error.
Jeremy: Have a drink with me.
Fredrick: Should I start keeping tally of all the times you’ve asked me if I want a drink?
Jeremy: That sounds like a pretty good idea to me.
Fredrick scoffs again.
Jeremy: So I take it as a no?
Fredrick: No.
Jeremy: So a yes?
Fredrick grows more frustrated
Fredrick: No, I meant, yes
Jeremy: So… a yes?
Fredrick stands up aggressively and slowly walks away, looking exasperated.
Jeremy: No it is…
Fredrick returns to his seat and sits down like he was forced to.
Jeremy: Christ man… You said you’re the one in control but are you?
Fredrick: Who else would be in control of my life? Who else would be the driver in the seat of my car? Who else would be the pilot of my plane?
Jeremy: The herder of your sheep?
Fredrick: Precisely.
Jeremy: Who ever you choose.
Fredrick: Choose?
Jeremy: Does that answer really confuse you?
Fredrick: Obviously. It’s my life, how could I choose who runs it?
Jeremy: In saying that, are you not choosing to run it yourself?
Fredrick: No, my life was a responsibility thrust onto me from the moment I was born. Same with all of us. Whether we eat, sleep, fuck, it’s all up to us.
Jeremy: Strange… for one who has such conviction of their answers, you don’t behave like someone who makes all their choices themselves.
Fredrick: Use an example.
Jeremy: You believe that you’re ‘choosing’ to not drink with me, but this is a role you are playing. An ordinary person may decide to play whatever role they shall, and yet here you are, refusing to abandon a character who exists to suffer.
Fredrick: This is who I am. Any changes to this idea of ‘me’ are made by me, for me, and are only edits to ‘me’. I remain myself, regardless of how I change.
Jeremy: I know you believe that. I know in your heart of hearts you believe that to be true, but you’re mistaken my friend. What is ‘you’ is inelastic.
Fredrick: So people can’t change?
Jeremy: People cannot change and remain the same. This is oxymoronic.
Fredrick: What?
Jeremy: Come on, this is simple to validate; is a application the same software after each update?
Fredrick: Are you asking if photoshop 1.0 and photoshop 2.0 are the same?
Jeremy: Precisely.
Fredrick: 1.0 lacked some of the features of 2.0. It would be a rejection of reality to claim otherwise, but, you call it photoshop regardless of the update. No matter how you change it, it is still photoshop. No matter how I change myself, I am still Fredrick.
Jeremy scoffs.
Jeremy: You may share a name with your previous versions, but you are hardly the Fredrick I shared room and board with during our studies. No, it would be more accurate to call you Faraday, or Finnegan.
Fredrick: I fail to grasp where your oposition is.
Jeremy: Of course you do. You see your character as a painting without completion; a masterpiece with no end. You are doomed to keep painting until you can no longer hold a brush, never satisfied, never finished, yet so certain that victory is within your grasp. The carrot will remain dangling ever out of your reach if you maintain this perspective.
Fredrick: Oh please, do enlighten me on how I may remedy this issue.
Jeremy: Put down the brush and throw the entire bucket of paint on the canvas. Or maybe, use a roller instead of a brush. Or maybe, paint in reverse, tracing backwards from the finished product until you arrive at the start.
Fredrick: I think we’re getting a bit lost in metaphor.
Jeremy: Stop playing by the rules of the tormentus carrot. Chase after an apple instead. Or maybe, decide you’ll only chase the carrot between the hours of 3:46pm and 11:12am, and when you’re not chasing a carrot you are practising your juggling skills.
Fredrick places his palm on his forehead
Fredrick: I grow tired of this fable.
Jeremy: Fredrick grows tired of this fable, and yet you choose to remain here.
Fredrick: I AM Fredrick.
Jeremy: You are you. The skin you wear normally is that of Fredrick’s.
Fredrick: I didn’t realise I flayed myself before I came here.
Jeremy: You didn’t flay yourself. But your wife’s passing is a crack in the shell. Your armour is collapsing. The suit of iron that was your philosophy has failed to protect you when it mattered most, and it is exposing the truth.
Fredrick: And what truth is that?
Jeremy: That you want to have a drink with me.
Fredrick: Jeremy, please, I do not want that. I haven’t wanted that in over 20 years, I’ve abandoned that part of my life.
Jeremy: Don’t talk like that, they might get confused and think that you were an alcoholic.
Fredrick: They?
Jeremy: Don’t worry about that.
Fredrick shakes his head and takes a deep sigh.
Fredrick: I didn’t stop drinking because of alcoholism, I stopped drinking because she wanted me to.
Jeremy: And now she’s gone.
Fredrick: So I should descecrate her grave by drinking myself into a stupor the moment she isn’t around to chastise me for it?
Jeremy: She’s gone mate.
Fredrick: You didn’t answer my question.
Jeremy: She doesn’t care. She can’t. She’s beyond that capacity, or better yet, she’s detached herself from petty ideals such as abstinence.
Fredrick furrows his brow and points a finger at Jeremy
Fredrick: Careful.
Jeremy smiles in response
Jeremy: There we go…
Fredrick: So that’s all this is? You’re just trying to get a rise out me?
Jeremy: I respect you more than that. Please, understand that this comes from a place of concern for you.
Fredrick: A concerned friend wouldn’t disrespect my dead wife to my face.
Jeremy: Then that friend isn’t concerned enough for you.
Fredrick slams his fist onto the cooler
Fredrick: You were always so good at this. Using whatever backwards logic you want to justify your refusal to hold back for anyone’s sake. You are a twat, and always have been.
Jeremy: True that.
Fredrick grits his teeth and his fist clenches harder. Jeremy sips from his drink. Another siren is heard in the distance, Fredrick lifts his fist from the cooler and crosses his arms.
Jeremy: Why maintain the principle?
Fredrick: What?
Jeremy: That’s what it is right, a principle? The absistence I mean.
Fredrick: She would want me to.
Jeremy: Hmmm…. Does this tree want me not to cut it?
Fredrick: Of course it does! What kind of question is that, it’s a living organism and by cutting it down, you end its life.
Jeremy: But does it WANT to live. That is the key here.
Fredrick: All living beings exist to continue living, it is a basic physiological drive. They fail when they die.
Jeremy: Yet here you are, still breathing, recounting to me the story of a man who has ‘failed’.
Fredrick: My failure in life is separate from my failure to continue living.
Jeremy looks at his Fredrick with an ernest look in his eyes.
Jeremy: Is it?
Fredrick: You just said so yourself.
Jeremy: I guess I did… and in doing so, mislead you as to what I meant when I said living.
Fredrick: Go on.
Jeremy: To be alive and to live are different things. Countless times I have walked the streets of this concrete jungle, passing by animated corpse after animated corpse. They were already dead, and had no idea of it. The body had yet to catch up to the spirit.
Fredrick: What does this have to do with the tree?
Jeremy: Sure, the tree is alive. It’s cells perform metabolic functions. But can something like a tree truly live?
Fredrick: What is your answer?
Jeremy: Truth be told, I don’t know. Maybe the tree knows ultimate contentendess, never wanting for anything more than sunlight, water and nutrients. Perhaps every day the tree curses its existence, wishing to know more than this hill and the view of the city, wishing to contribute to this very conversation and yet lacking the means to.
A small gust of wind blows through the tree, rustling the leaves. Jeremy looks up to the branches before continuing.
Jeremy: Or maybe it curses me for not being able to interpret the rustling of its leaves.
Fredrick: If that were the case, apologese are in order.
Jeremy: I’m not one to apologise for ineptitude.
Fredrick: You’re barely one to apologise for anything.
Jeremy chuckles.
Jeremy: Touche.
Fredrick: So what of my wife?
Jeremy: She is the tree. Maybe as a corpse, she knows a higher and truer peace than any of us that are alive can. Maybe she calls to you from beyond.
Fredrick: I’m not a very spiritual person, and you know that.
Jeremy: All the more why it is shocking to me that you’re continuing not to drink.
Fredrick: What?
Jeremy: What ties you to her still?
Fredrick: I made her that promise while she was alive and I intend to keep it.
Jeremy: For whom?
Fredrick: For myself.
Jeremy: Oh?
Fredrick: I stick to my promises. It’s not about whether or not they know if I’ve broken it or not, it’s about the principles I choose to hold onto.
Jeremy shakes his head
Fredrick: What?
Jeremy: Choose… you choose to hold onto this principle…
Fredrick: Most would consider that honourable.
Jeremy: Most are idiots.
Jeremy laughs to himself, Fredrick shrugs his shoulders.
Jeremy: You’re holding onto a blade, sharpened on both sides, afraid to let go because to drop from this blade would mean to end that which you are.
Fredrick: Again, I’m not afraid of the can. I don’t think I would suddenly die-
Jeremy starts laughing again
Fredrick: What? What is it this time?
Jeremy: We just went over this old boy, to live and to be alive are different.
Fredrick groans
Fredrick: I don’t think that having one drink would suddenly destroy my entire persona.
Jeremy: Which is at odds with how unwilling you are to have this drink with me.
Fredrick: What would be the point?
Jeremy: That is, and always shall be, the real question.
Fredrick: So what is the point of me breaking my abstinence?
Jeremy: Your wife just died, and we’re going to be joining her soon enough. I deflect your question back towards you; what is the point of you maintaining your abstitence?
Fredrick: Because of a promise, that I am choosing to stick to. It was important to her.
Jeremy: My god mate, your logic is FUELED by convenience!
Fredrick looks taken aback
Fredrick: Convenience?
Jeremy: A less roman-
Fredrick: Less romantic than what?!
Jeremy: Less romantic than filling your head with silly ideas about ‘conviction’ and ‘honour’ and ‘principle’. Where has any of that gotten you?
Fredrick: It got me far enough to have a successful career and a wife who loved me.
Jeremy: And now both those things are gone! Yet you, ever vigilant want to idealistically hold onto them, despite knowing that they are gone yourself.
Fredrick grows more and more angry. Another siren is heard in the distance
Fredrick: How is any of this idealistic!?
Jeremy: How can you simultaneously believe that and yet hold on regardless?
Fredrick: I’ll tell you how you self-righteous prick! Because nothing needs to be perfect! People will die, decisions beyond me will have earth shattering consequences for my life and my ability to live it, and yet I – YES ME – choose to hold onto my principles!
Jeremy: She’s dead Fredrick.
Fredrick: I KNOW THAT! I KNOW IT BETTER THAN YOU!
Jeremy: Then have a drink with me.
Fredrick jumps out of his chair, throwing it out of the way. He is furious.
Fredrick: DO YOU WANT ME TO HIT YOU?! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?!
Jeremy jumps out his chair, throwing it out of the way. He is calm.
Jeremy: All I want, is to have a drink with my friend for the final time.
Fredrick is breathing with intensity. His entire body is tense. He looks into Jeremy’s eyes, tears welling in his own.
Jeremy: Indifference is an ugly concept.
Fredrick: What?
Jeremy: And yet here you are, finally allowing yourself to touch beauty.
Fredrick: What are you saying!? What are you trying to tell me!?
Jeremy reaches down into the cooler, and opens another can, and holds it out to his friend, saying nothing. Fredrick slaps it out of his hand. Jeremy reaches down again, opening another can, holding it forward. Again, he says nothing. Fredrick growls as he slaps it out of his hand again, this time harder. Jeremy sighs, reaching down into the cooler and repeating himself once more. Fredrick shakes with anger, before screaming. Tears flow down his cheeks as he turns away and covers his face with his hands. Jeremy stands there, silent.
Fredrick: I didn’t want her to die. I didn’t want everything to come crashing down around me, and I don’t want to drink with you!
Jeremy continues to stand there silent. Fredrick turns back around after wiping his eyes, before scoffing again.
Fredrick: Why are you doing this?!
Jeremy: You’re in pain mate.
Fredrick: And what, you want me to drown it in alcohol?!
Jeremy: I’ve been consistent this entire time; I just want you to have a drink with me.
Fredrick takes a deep breath in.
Fredrick: WHAT IS A DRINK SUPPOSED TO DO FOR ME?!
Jeremy: You need to get there yourself, otherwise there would be no point. You need to stop chasing the carrot, stop painting the masterpiece, stop grasping the blade.
Fredrick is about to respond when he stops himself. Suddenly, he hears his wife’s final words to him. “Live on, without me.” His hands fall to his side.
Fredrick: She’s gone…
Jeremy: I know.
Fredrick: It’s all gone…
Jeremy: I know.
Fredrick: All that I’ve built… is gone…
Jeremy: I know.
Fredrick: It hurts… It hurts so much… But it was my everything. How can you ask me to let go of it?
Jeremy: You can let go. You’re the single authority on your life, right?
Fredrick: But it was my everything… Who will I be if I let go of it all?
Jeremy: That is up for you to decide. As it always has been.
Fredrick closes his eyes for a moment, before he approaches Jeremy.
Fredrick: What could I want for…
Jeremy: That is up for you to decide. As it always has been.
Fredrick: And if I can’t?
Jeremy: Then you’re no more alive than this tree.
Fredrick: Then… I’m no more alive… than my wife…
Jeremy smiles softly.
Jeremy: Would you like a drink?
Fredrick: And if I say no?
Jeremy: Then now I will accept that it is YOU who is telling me no.
Fredrick mulls it over for a second, before gently taking the drink from his friend.
Jeremy: Cheers.
Fredrick: Cheers.
The two men cheers their drinks, before they both take a hearty swig.
Fredrick: Ugh… I should’ve said no.
Jeremy breaks out into laughter, before the two men reset their seats and take them. They continue to drink in silence for some minutes. A siren is heard in the distance.
Jeremy: Life has been beautiful hasn’t it?
Fredrick: It was work, and play.
Jeremy: It was full and well spent.
Fredrick: It was… a life.
Jeremy: Believe it or not, I have my regrets too.
Fredrick: So all that talk about not holding on?
Jeremy: My only regret is that I clasped that which brought me anguish. I guess in the end, it’s impossible to hold onto nothing.
Fredrick: But you knew that all along didn’t you?
Jeremy: Of course!
Fredrick: So what do you hold onto?
Jeremy sips his drink, a sly smile crossing his face.
Jeremy: Whatever I choose to.
Jeremy breaks out into a laughing fit. Fredrick smiles, building to a chuckle, before he eventually joined in with Jeremy. The two men laughed, before breaking out into a fit of tears and wails. In the city, a flash of bright light appears out of nowhere nearly blinding them, before erupting into a powerful blast that nearly deafened them. Not able to hear one another, they both mutter at the same time.
Fredrick: It’s over…
Jeremy: It’s begun…
As the eruption grew and grew, devastating the city beneath them, the shockwave travelled and carried an incinerating heat. The two men were caught in it, dying immediately. Jeremy lived laughing, and Fredrick lived crying. Jeremy died laughing and Fredrick died crying.
-Fin-

And it's all thanks to my due diligence, my breathing, and a bloody thirsty need for a stranger's eye ball! Let's call it (yea, I said IT!) One Eyed Willie! Ahem, pls don't quote me on this.. Deny deny deny! But seriously.. listen.. 👂 Gunning for THAT Left Eye!
I got myself in a helluva lotta trouble with this creepy, I did! Still, I shall fight! Fight fight fight to the fucking DEATH!! 🤺 ⚔️ Fancy a friendly go in the hay? Hey! Am walkin' here!
I'm also so sick of emails. Reading them.. writing them and sending them.. Sick of being tagged in them.. don't fucking @ me fer nothing! I get the notifications on my cell... ooooh, hate it! Not when I'm away from my desk! Gasp, not on MY weekend! 😱 Shivers.. me Timbers.. pls. don't. Teams, too!
Am wearing me jailbird sleeping pants! You know .. the once gathered at the ankle. Thyer my fav! I have them in pink as well. 🥰 If you Google jailbird pants, you'll get the gist.. lol. 💋
I don't ave much to say tonight, so I shall leave you all with this cryptic note... The one who is the fattest shall breath the last. Annnd w that, I shall take my leave.. (aka, my lil smokey-smoke nighty night cap)
Are we smoking bud? Ugh, don't ask me how or why I started. And so late in life! I hate, ohhhh, hated the smell of it growing up, wouldn't touch it! Now there are dispensaries on damn near every block in the neighborhood! Found myself gravitating towards the one round the corner. I started w something super cheap, $20 bucks like. Alien life sherbert-something.. Now I'm all about London Pound Cake.. Sheesh, this stuff helps me sleep like a rock. Like a fucking baby! I haven't slept this well in over ... 20... years

I don't know why every resource I've found on this so far seems to be missing parts of the process, but if you're stuck on the Intermediate Contest (Premier Contest in pal version)
Here is a brief rundown of the process of the full process for unlocking the 'Elite Contest'.

1. Complete (1st place) all the themes in the Intermediate(Premier)* Contest [There's no indicator to track this, write down what you've done
2. You'll become notified that you'll need to provide outfits for 3 soap opera actors
3. Make an outfit for each actor, they show up as a 'walk-ins', (the fancy cutscene that shows someone enter the shop) not a standard customer!, and only one will show up per in-game day.**
4. At least one day later, you'll be notified of a special event for the Intermediate/Premier contest.
5. Enter contest fall the next time it's open, and compete in this final event. Winning, will trigger a shop event the next day that unlocks the elite contest.

Extra notes:
*You do not need to fill out all the stars to advance to the next contest, all filling out the stars does is allow you earn 'cash' from repeating the contest (this 'cash' can not be used for stocking your store, that would mess up the game's economy)
**If you turn away/disappoint one of the soap opera actors, they will appear as a standard customer (no walk-in scene) on a following day, write down their name if you forget.
*** sometimes you have to wait an extra in-game day or two for events/ characters to trigger, as far as I can tell none of this is locked behind the 'full moon' gauge thing
This is all from the pal version of the game, but I believe the gameplay is the same.
If I got something wrong or missed something, please let me know!
I was stuck on this for an embarrassing amount of time, and just want all the details in one place.
The best resource I found for understanding this was This post But it as still missing some details.

I’m getting a surgery in a month or two that is going to make me bed ridden for a bit, and was thinking about getting into fountain pens. Heard that the lamy safari is good, but would love to hear other recommendations. Also, how is the waterman allure, it’s in a local staples that I visit.
I write and use my right hand for most things, and understandably my right hand is more coordinated than the left. I was thinking that I could teach myself how to write with a fountain pen/ calligraphy with my left to help with the coordination. Also I think it would be cool to have one hand for normal writing and one for fancy writing lol. Obviously this would harder, but would I smudge all of my writing and would there be any other obstacles I should be aware of?

Absolutely loving it. I'm around 15 hours in I think? and I've been having a blast. The quests are so fun to do and encourage immersing yourself with the exploration, the atmosphere is engaging and the writing is fun. I love just exploring and stumbling upon a random quest and then completely getting sidetracked from what I was originally doing. Each location feels cool and interesting with useful loot to find and the progression feels satisfying. The enviorments and atmosphere of this game is so good, very few games have immersed me like this despite this being a very old game. There is some jank here and there, and I'm playing vanilla with no mods on the latest Steam version but that's to come with age, the combat despite being old and stiff is surprisingly fun because its so different (I'm the guy who liked the gunplay in the original deus ex) and the VAT system is so fun to use. Not sprinting is a bit annoying at times but the atmosphere is so good that it just gives you more reason to take it in. There's so much more I could say but bottom line is; game good.
Now, as an outsider I didn't really know where to start from coming into the series but I ended up starting from Fallout 3 because the first two games didn't really fancy me and 3 was the first 3D game in the series and I feel like I made the right choice. But, I get the impression not many people really like this game, like for example; I went on YouTube to just watch videos on the game because brain rot and I saw many videos of people basically implying that the game sucks, new vegas so much better, all that stuff. There was even one video calling the game "Garbage" which kind of confused me because I didn't really read any reviews or anything before jumping into the game and I ended up loving it so I assumed the "GOTY" title was for a reason and people shared the same sentiment but I guess not? Am I just easily pleased lol.
Either way, I'm going to be finishing this game this weekend hopefully because no school yay and I'm excited see how it ends and what more is there to find in the wasteland :)))

Can someone with Fancy Idiot access please tell me what the answers for the first four questions are please? I hear it every morning but am never able to write it down.

So, I've been trying to find some less talked-about fantasy books, hoping to find something a bit different. I don't remember how The Paper Magician ended up on my TBR, but I though the premice sounded pretty neat. Paper magic? Sign me up! And since it was ostencibly a bit of a romance book (a subgenre I haven't read much of) I gave it a go.
Unfortunatly the word that best describes my feeling for the book is simply dissapointment.
The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg is set in London in the early twentieth century. Our protagonist, a 20-ish year old woman named Ceony, has just graduated magic school "at the top of her class". Despite the graduates usually getting to choose what material to bond (more on the magic in a bit), Ceony is assigned to studie paper magic against her own wishes. She is sent to the enigmatic Magician Emery Thane, who, in spite of Ceony's reluctance, teaches her the spellcraft of folding.

The Good

Okey so I did enjoy a few things about this book. The biggest one is the idea of the magic. It is basically an elemental-type system, though the elements are not some kind of natural buildingblocks but human-made materials like paper, rubber and glass. (Also metal for some reason which seems strange since it's definally naturally occuring.) I think the concept of paper-based magic is really cool. Different folds and cuts and so on having different magical effects is a grat concept for a har magic system. Additionally, I think the atmosphere in some of the earlier chapters was pretty neat. Unfortunatly a good concept and a few nice descriptions do not in themselves a good book make.

The Plot

The plot of this book is ... dumb. Ceony's tutor, Emery Thane, is mixed up in the hunt for some criminal magicians, one of which suddenly attacks his home. The evil magician is a so-called Excisionists – people using flesh-based magic – and the ex-wife of thane, who steals Thane's heart, leading Ceony to chace after her. Ceony is somehow (this is all still very unclear to me, but more on that later) trapped inside Thane's heart, forcing her to go through a multitued of visions of Thane's subconsious. The whole thing feels like a really ham-fisted attempt at exposition, poorly masqueraded as a story. Each chamber of Thanes heart is a different aspect of his subconsions; his regret, his hope, and so on. But non of it really really matters as its simlpy there to drag out the encounter between Ceony and the Excisioner, while dropping random tidbits about both Ceony's and Thane's past to the reader. The whole thing is basically 130 pages of pointless bloat in a 214 page book.

The Writing

So, the prose is fine. Or more accuretly, they would be fine, if the author wasn't constantly trying so hart to be fancy with it. Most senteces do their job just fine, but every other paragraph there will be a really weird simile or metaphor that just doesn't make sence or is so convoluted that you're pulled right out of the scene. I was constantly aware that I was reading words that someone had sat down and thought about. It rarely felt natural. To give an example: "Ceony felt her own heart drip cold drops into her stomach, making her nauseated." Like, what does that even mean?
There is also a lot of cleche writing. When the evil magician attacks it happens right in the middle of someone speaking, with a sudden, loud explosion. And there are long exposiotion dumps through lazy dialogue that feels out of character. There is pretty much no character development, and everyone feels very one-dimensional. Thre is the young, inexperienced, awkward protagonist. The kind of silly, kind of mysterous mentor character. The strict teacher. The super mega evil villain who only wants death and destruction for the sake of it.
One thing that has like zero real relevance, but that a just found strange is how the sound of the heart was written. Like, a heart definitely as a du-dum, du-dum, kind of rhythm, right? But it the book it's written as "PUM-Pom-poom". Just really weird.

The Romance

Despite having the aestethics and feel of a romance book, there is very little of it. As you can probably guess from just the few things I have described, Ceony falls for Thane. Thing is, Thane spends more than half of the book on the floor dying while Ceony runs around inside his heart. There is about zero actuall set-up of or development of their relationship. On top of that, Thane is like at least ten years older than Ceony, so you're not even rooting for then to get togeather.

The Magic

The magic was, despite the grat premise, really disappointing to me. By the description you would expect a hard magic system with well defined rules and parametres for how different folds and cuts can interact and affect eachother. I think it could have been really cool to see such a system explored. Instead the magic seems to be a pretty much anything-goes-situation. Nothing is really explained, and the materials used for the magic don't seem to play too much of a role in what the magic can do. I also found it very strange that Excision-magic is considered "dark arts". Like I get that blood and flesh as a magic source could be used for bad things, but I also feel like could also revolutionise medicine. This also plays into the villain beeing cartoonishly evil for evils sake. Just makes the story way less interesting.
All in all this book was a pretty big disappointment. So far my foray into lesser-known fantasy has not been grat – also having read Gogmagog reasently, which was similarly unimpressive (though definitely better).
What are your thoughts on this book if you have read it?

Your critique submission should be a top-level comment in the thread and should include:
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Played X4 for about 40 hours recently. Absolutely love the concept. As someone else said, it's essentially a logistics game wrapped in 3D SciFi universe. The idea that you can buy and automate everything, that the entire world is fully simulated in terms of materials and fabrication, is amazing.
I'm not big into fancy graphics so the ship view graphics are just fine for me. I don't mind the terrible lag when on foot in a station. The map view is ok.
But I cannot get over the UI. Apart from the fact that it scales to a large resolution, it's almost at text editor level - I feel like I might as well be writing basic scripting instructions in a massive text file. They didn't even bother with eg basic icons for the different goods. But the worst is that the menu hierarchy in no way reflects what is most frequently used, and seems to have little logical explanation.
As I slowly started approaching building a little fleet (automated mining and trading, some “protection” for my own mission-running ship) and space station, I realised much of this game (for me at least) would be played on the map and in the menus. Which conceptually I'm happy with. But that menu UI is just a killer. Pity, because otherwise I could see myself sinking a few hundred hours into this (after 40 hours I feel like I’ve just scratched the surface of game mechanics and lore!)
Hence I'm wondering for X4-like games that prioritise UI over 3D graphics, perhaps going all the way to 2D only or even essentially map view only.

Hello fellow enthusiasts of the great detective,
I find myself captivated by the cases of Sherlock Holmes that were merely hinted at by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. These brief mentions have left me yearning for more, and I am on a mission to discover if there are any adaptations or pastiches in any form of media—be it books, video games, radio recordings or transcriptions, films, or any other medium—that delve into these lesser-known adventures.
Should you know of any such works, whether they are widely available online, purchasable, or even rare finds (for which I would appreciate a link), please do share. I am eager to immerse myself in these narratives and explore the depths of Holmes’s undocumented exploits.
Your knowledge and assistance would be greatly valued!
Here’s a list of some of the cases that piqued my interest:
I have been beaten four times – three times by men and once by a woman (FIVE)
“And the catalepsy!” … “It is a very easy complaint to imitate. I have done it myself.” (RESI)
Since I ran down that coiner by the zinc and copper filings in the seam of his cuff... (SHOS)
... a slipshod elderly woman (STUD)
One morning a young girl called, fashionably dressed ... (STUD)
...letters... from a fishmonger... (NOBL)
...letters...a tide-waiter… (NOBL)
There is Arthur H. Staunton, the rising young forger... (MISS)
…the Abbey School in which the Duke of Greyminster was so deeply involved (BLAN)
… facts as to the death of old Mrs Harold, who left you (Count Sylvius) the Blymer estate… (MAZA)
Hopkins has called me in seven times, and on each occasion his summons has been entirely justified... [GOLD, BLAC and MISS are three], the other four are narrated anywhere? (ABBE)
...the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have vengeance upon me... (TWIS)
I believe that my late husband, Mortimer Maberly, was one of your early clients (3GAB)
…Inspector MacDonald… Twice already had Holmes helped him… (VALL)
Some (?) of my most interesting cases have come to me this way through Mycroft. (GREE)
... in the St. Pancras case, you may remember that a cap was found beside the dead policeman... [“Is this your case? No, my friend, Merivale of the Yard, asked me to look into the case”(consultation)] (SHOS)
... a gray-headed, seedy visitor, looking like a Jew pedlar... (STUD)
...the most repellent man of my acquaintance is a philanthropist... (SIGN)
…The (first) affair of the second stain… (YELL)
...Holmes refused a knighthood for services which may, someday, be described. (3GAB)
I was once able to do him a professional service… His name is Sir James Saunders (BLAN)
… cases … through… old fellow students. The third of these was that of The Musgrave Ritual (MUSG)
…the robbery in the train de-luxe to the Riviera on February 13, 1892. (maza)
when the stand fell at doncaster (sixn)
When Mrs. Turner (not Hudson!) has brought in the tray… (SCAN)
Wainwright (Thomas Griffiths Wainwright, died 1852, was a real-life criminal) was no mean artist (ILLU)
…the compete life history of Miss Minnie Warrender (MAZA)
The detection of types is one of the most elementary branches of knowledge to the special expert in crime, though I confess that once when I was very young I confused the Leeds Mercury with the Western Morning News. (HOUN)
Vipers in the Good Old Index (SUSS)
the case to Monsieur Dubugue of the Paris police (NAVA)
Fritz von Waldbaum, the well-known specialist of Dantzig (NAVA)
A Commission from the Sultan of Turkey political consequences neglect (BLAN)
Old Baron Dowson hanged - what the law had gained the stage had lost' (MAZA)
Mrs ETHEREGE whose husband you found so easy (IDEN)
Lord Backwater and st simon (The Noble Bachelor and Silver Blaze)
Mrs Fa(r)rintosh and the Opal Tiara (SPEC)
Count von und zu Grafenstein saved from murder, by the Nihilist Klopman (LAST)
If this paper remains blue, all is well. If it turns red, it means a man’s life (NAVA)
...the most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little children... (WINN)
Colonel Dorking and Violet Miles, after Miss Miles refused to pay (CHAS)
“There was the case of Von Bischoff at Frankfort last year. He would certainly have been hung had this test been in existence. Then there was Mason of Bradford, and the notorious Muller, and Lefevre of Montpellier, and Samson of New Orleans. I could name a score of cases in which it would have been decisive.” STUD
“Then, of course, this blood belongs to a second individual—presumably the murderer, if murder has been committed. It reminds me of the circumstances attendant on the death of Van Jansen, in Utrecht, in the year ‘34. Do you remember the case, Gregson?” STUD
“My practice has extended recently to the Continent,” said Holmes, after a while, filling up his old brier-root pipe. “I was consulted last week by François Le Villard, who, as you probably know, has come rather to the front lately in the French detective service. He has all the Celtic power of quick intuition, but he is deficient in the wide range of exact knowledge which is essential to the higher developments of his art. The case was concerned with a will, and possessed some features of interest. I was able to refer him to two parallel cases, the one at Riga in 1857, and the other at St. Louis in 1871, which have suggested to him the true solution. Here is the letter which I had this morning acknowledging my assistance.” He tossed over, as he spoke, a crumpled sheet of foreign notepaper. I glanced my eyes down it, catching a profusion of notes of admiration, with stray “magnifiques,” “coup-de-maîtres,” and “tours-de-force,” all testifying to the ardent admiration of the Frenchman. SIGN
“Yes, the ally!” repeated Holmes, pensively. “There are features of interest about this ally. He lifts the case from the regions of the commonplace. I fancy that this ally breaks fresh ground in the annals of crime in this country,—though parallel cases suggest themselves from India, and, if my memory serves me, from Senegambia.” SIGN
STUD The Case of the Grey-Headed, Seedy Visitor, Looking Like a Jew Pedlar
STUD The Case of the Old White-Haired Gentleman
STUD The Case of the Railway Porter in his Velveteen Uniform
STUD The Case of the Slip-Shod Elderly Woman
VALL The Two Successful Cases of Alec McDonald
VEIL The Abbas Parva Tragedy
3GAB The Killing of Young Perkins
DYIN The Murder of Victor Savage
EMPT The Death of Mrs. Stewart of Lauder
MAZA The Death of Old Mrs Harold
MAZA The Forged Cheque on the Credit Lyonnais
Additionally, I'm keen to delve into stories that explore the lesser-seen sides and personal dimensions of the characters in Holmes's world, such as:

• The daily life of Watson and Mary: Intimate and everyday moments of their married life.
  
• Watson on his own: Adventures where Watson finds himself acting independently of Holmes.
  
• First encounters: Stories that describe the initial interactions between characters like Lestrade, Stamford and Sherlock, or Stamford and Watson.
  
• Sherlock alone: Tales that illustrate Holmes's life before Baker Street, during his youth, or after Watson's marriage.
  
• Watson in Afghanistan: Episodes that recount Watson's experiences during the war in Afghanistan.
  
• Holmes's associates: Stories involving secondary characters such as Mrs. Hudson or other collaborators.
  
• BSI and other meetings: Narratives detailing the early days of the Baker Street Irregulars and other significant encounters.
  
• The demise of both Holmes and Watson: Works that ponder the end of their storied careers.
  
• Moriarty before Holmes: Insights into the criminal mastermind's activities prior to his infamous rivalry with Holmes.
  

In general, I welcome any well-crafted work that remains true to the characters (not OOC or anything similar) and reveals a hidden facet of their lives, as long as it is referenced in some way within the canonical tales. The more these stories enrich the lore with authenticity and depth, the more I will cherish them. :)
EDIT: while I thank everyone who spent their time with this, I feel compelled to specify that I DO KNOW THE SH PASTICHES World and I don't want you to waste your time writing about cases like the Rat of Sumatra or others: focus only on the ones I mentioned here, which are the ones I couldn't find anywhere, or on other stories that tell hidden tales as I said in the last paragraph Thank you all anyway :) Also, don't forget that you can suggest movies or stg similar too✌🏻

This is a hard post to write, but I thought putting my thoughts on paper (so to speak) and sharing might help remove some of the weight from my shoulders.
I’m 48 years old. I have a wife and two kids - a 15-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter. I’m also a recovering alcoholic. I’ve been sober for close to six years now.
The problem is I feel like I wasted all of my 20s and 30s being a degenerate alcoholic and now, even though I’m sober, my family is paying the price. When I was active, drinking was my obsession. I put alcohol before everybody and everything. I neglected my wife & kids, but I also neglected my career. I managed to remain employed all those years I was drinking, but I had no drive or ambition. I did just enough to not get fired so I’d have money to drink. I was making very little money in my chosen profession (journalism) but I didn’t care.
Fast forward to today. Since I quit drinking, I’ve changed careers and I am making a lot more money than I ever have before. But …. I had so much debt and damage to repair from my drinking days, I am still today only able to afford a very small, cramped house. We live in filth. Everyone’s on top of each other all the time. My son’s bedroom is the size of a shoe box.
Meanwhile, most of my friends are miles ahead of me in terms of career and money and lifestyle because none of them drank away their 20s and 30s. They worked hard from the get go, right after college, and today some (not quite all) of them live in massive houses, have summer homes, go on exotic vacations, drive fancy cars, and (appear at least) to have great lives. Their wives and kids want for nothing.
I, on the other hand, have none of those things and can barely keep a roof over our heads. My kids see all the things their friends have and wonder why they can’t live like that too. And the reason is because I am a fucking failure. I wasted my life drinking and now my wife and kids are paying for it. I hate myself and am seriously contemplating suicide. They deserve so much better than me as a father and husband and they deserve better lives. It’s all my fault they are living like this and I don’t know if I can live with that. The pain I feel is immense and I don’t see anyway to get out of this situation. Other than blowing my brains out.
Thanks for reading.