Does anyone know how VSV students are scaled or how they alter the curriculum? Are their SACs and study scores scaled down? Has anyone here gotten a 95+ ATAR with fully or mostly online units? Currently stressing out for my entire future! 🤗
I have been doing 2 of my 5 1/2 units via VSV and I'm getting a bit worried! Both are subjects that my school isn't running this year due to numbers. However, I developed a health condition mid last year that's doing anything but improving, + i'm extra busy/stressed from commitments outside of school (working and caregiving responsibilities.) Right now it's looking pretty likely that, due to all these factors, I'll have to go fully online for 3/4. When I enrolled I was assured by my school and VSV that as long as I keep my focus I'll get the same standard + amount of work as I would currently. I was a bit worried because of how secretive they are with their study scores ect but I didn't have much choice.
However... Both subjects are clearly easier than the standard that friends from other 'in person' schools receive. I'm always getting 97-100% on SACs for both subjects, even though I don't go to their glorified powerpoint reading online classes and typically complete all my weekly work for the subjects in a few hours. The marking + feedback for weekly work is useless too. You don't get a grade, only a 'satisfactory' or not, and you can resubmit if you don't pass. My feedback is always "This is far above VCE level, well done! Keep it up!"... It's really not. What I'm submitting is the level that I would do on campus if I want mid 80's. Oh and just to clarify, I'm obviously not some child genius so hopefully this doesn't sound as absolutely pretentious as it does to me. Sorry everyone. I'm always good with Lit, but I usually need to put some elbow grease into the other ones if I want to achieve high marks. At my private, but by no means academic school, I've always done well (ok apart from GM; lets just say my emotional support calculator and I have clawed our way to 'firmly unremarkable' status) but I have to study hard and push myself to stay up there in marks. Essentially I'm just not used to getting full marks on a silver platter for a SAC that I submitted at 4am, after 1 hour of sleep-deprived and unmotivated work. I submitted that fully prepared for my average grade to drop pretty dramatically. Very much a 'fuck it, fuck this' submission. When I saw my mark I was honestly offended(?). That mark at my current school would've been the result of a week in self isolation and a rapidly approaching vitamin D deficiency. I really don't deserve it at all! I almost want them to take it back!!! It doesn't mean anything like this.
I always have to email them to ask for useful feedback (I BEG them to tell me areas I can improve on.) Even then I get the same response, or a very surface level message that doesn't seem to have much thought put into it. All very generalised stuff. The SACs aren't even well regulated. My submission didn't load properly once so I ended up submitting two days late; they didn't even mention it!? Once I was told I didn't have to worry about proper referencing for an essay. I have started going through the standard text books (VSV told me I wouldn't need one because the content is "all found in the weekly work" yea nah ) + doing all the work that a friend from another school gets. All because I'm terrified that they aren't teaching me the level they should be. I've even started trying to do double the effort that they ask for so I'm not stressing about getting behind without knowing it. It's getting tempting to submit crap without even editing it first, but I'm trying so hard not to fall into that rabbit hole... Yet.
Not to be dramatic but that chic, sultry 99.95 ATAR™ 😮‍💨🤩 has been tantalising me since my little brain could intellectualise it, so I'm really scared for my results if I have to go fully online next year. I don't have family pressure for results, but my self worth and academic results venn diagram is a circle. Before you ask, I'm not willing to move to a local-ish school with all my subjects because it will make things harder for my family. The one good thing about vsv subjects is that I have more time at home for those responsibilities + I can stop working so much because it's a public school. Sorry for this mini breakdown that nobody ever asked for or needed, but please please please, if anyone has ANY info on how it will effect my results or experience with getting a good ATAR at vsv, let me know. Or confirm my fears that my life is over.

Dunno how it works with Deliveroo/Uber, but this just happened to me today :
I get a delivery for a supermarket. Bit far but the drop off makes me come back, so it's not bad. I arrive, the staff tells me "we already gave that order to another rider". I look and my app says I've got part 4/4 which means there was a 1/4, 2/4 and 3/4 and I guess one dude took it all? I kindly explained to the staff that they're not supposed to give it all to one guy when that happens and contacted support.
Support tells me "we'll contact the other rider and if they confirm they took it all we'll pay you". Ok, but I know for a fact they won't pay me the whole order, they will do a prorata based on distance to the pick up even though I'm super far away and going back home makes me go through the drop off location anyway.
So I head back home and decide to stop by the drop off anyway see if I can catch the rider. Another fun fact about Stuart here: you cannot sign up with a moped or a car. Only bike and e-bike. You know it, 90% of Stuart riders have a moped and nobody gives a fuck. So I'm half expecting to see a car parked with a guy unloading 6 heavy bags.
Welp, there was nobody, but I decided to ring the customer anyway just in case. She was super nice and helpful and I made sure to be polite and professional, she basically told me 3 riders already came by and she was expecting a 4th one, but we figured that she indeed had everything she'd ordered so no problem.
Still no answer from support, who eventually tells me "the other rider is not answering". I tell them there's 3 other riders and good luck finding which one came last and left nothing for me, the 4th one. It really would've been smarter of them just to ask the client if they got everything, but anyway they tell me "we're releasing you and you'll be paid". I asked to be paid in full but fully expect that I won't be even though this entire thing cost me almost double the amount of time I'd have spent on the delivery.
Now if I'd found this famous rider, I can already guess what they would've told me. They would've told me they didn't know and the store just gave them the stuff and they took it. And if I'd gone back to the store I already know what they would've said. They would've said they had no idea there was one last rider and not to give everything to the 3rd guy.
The only cue is this 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 thing. But it sucks. The store is not told to divide the order in 4 parts beforehand and label each part, they just have a bunch of bags and then a guy arrives, his app says "3/4" and the staff has no idea wtf is going on. Then another guy "1/4" arrives, then "4/4" and at this point they are so confused they have no idea what to do so they just give everything because fuck it, the guy can clearly handle all of it he's on a moped (or a car). Then "2/4" guy arrives and everyone's even more confused. This system sucks.
I know this is about Stuart but I had to rant somewhere 🤣
Next time I'm taking a picture of the goddamn floor to validate pick up, going to the customer, and taking another picture of the pavement to validate drop off, and moving on with my day. Clown support is useless.

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!

Just started out and i get frustrated with my grip strength (i dont have any haha) and i'm heavy so anything 'hanging' knees to bar etc becomes almost impossible / frustratingly slow.
I have done a lot of reading on here and lots of people have their favourites i was looking at Frog grips but there seems to be lots of horror stories with those - when i look at their youtube channel it looks like user error from getting a too large size that wraps fully round the bar when it shouldnt? Anyways - as a beginner should i go for the ones with finger holes or the ones without?
I know its been asked a lot but whats your favourite?
Thanks all, have a great weekend.

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Minecraft's first-ever campaign features five unique endings (SOF Ending, CORS Ending, COE Ending, Lone Wolf Ending, and the Brotherhood Ending). Most of these endings are the same, with the biggest differences located in the Brotherhood's ending. I will explain the choices and consequences that factor into the differences in each ending. I am doing this because replaying the story is NOT WORTH IT! It takes a long time to get back to Act 3, and you are not missing much in the ending variety. Unless you want to experience unique boss fights. Yet most of the boss fights are the same.
SOCIETY OF FREEDOM ENDING:
This ending is only worth doing if you have completed each side's quest in favor of the society of freedom. This includes Killing the Ice King, taking the nether star, telling Roberto the truth about Virgil, saving Foo Foo, creating the antidote, helping Melinda with her golden carrot, and giving Monty's love letter to Melinda. The society will be very weak if you do not assemble all the members. In some cases where the side quests are not completed or not completed in favor of the society, only Roberto Flemen and Dr. Kynes will be in Act 3 (this does not change everything; it just changes the characters who give certain story-specific items. The society will be much weaker without the full army and thus Act 3 will be much harder). The epilogue will also feature a smaller version of Freedom Town.
Synopsis: Fight Janice Dei (the society ending with only unique boss fight) to get the flint and steel. Use the portal gateway to kill Ramon and Gregory. Use Kyne's lab to travel to Bedrock Castle. Fight Mother of Nature, Vargas, Mad Librarian, Twin Witches, and The Admin. Choose Norman or Billy. Fight Ender Dragon. You wake up at Freedom Town and choose to be mayor or adventure into the world. Find the mirror and either Billy or Norman (who vow to make you suffer and find Issac). Get message from Angel. The End.
CULT OF RED SHROOM ENDING:
Only do this ending if you do the side quests in favor of this cult. This means not stealing water of life, not killing the general, and not giving the Virgil intel to Roberto. If you weaken the cult and then side with them, Act 3 will again be MUCH harder.
Synopsis: Travel under the base to the Warden's ruins and fight the ghost of the Warden. Establish a home in the Mushroom Temple with Ramon. Travel with the general through Mushroom portals to defeat Gregory the Grim and Roberto Cullen in his mech. Use Ramon's secret portal to travel to the Bedrock Castle. Fight Mother of Nature, Vargas, Mad Librarian, Twin Witches, and The Admin (using the ghost warden's abilities that you get after killing him at the beginning of Act 3). Choose Norman or Billy. Fight Ender Dragon. Wake up at Mushroom Island, a secret cult sanctuary built by Ramon as they are wanted by the village trade network (same as the society of freedom). He gives you the choice to lead the cult or adventure in the world on your own (same as the society of freedom). He gives you coordinates for Angel's Shack in the swamp. Find the mirror and either Billy or Norman (who vow to make you suffer and find Issac). Get message from Angel. The End.
(the society of freedom and the cult of the red shroom are essentially the same in terms of endings except for different characters and locations for the home base and epilogue. The only difference being the Ramon Fight and the Roberto Flemen fight (and the Janice Dei fight).
CULT OF ENDER ENDING:
Only do this ending if you do the side quests in favor of this cult. This means giving the nether star back to Alice Grim and doing the extra unlockable Alice Grim side quest in Act 2 (this is only unlockable if you give her the nether star). If you weaken this cult and side with them, Act 3 will be MUCH harder.
Synopsis: Establish a home in the Ender Spyre. Travel with Alice Grim through Ice portals to defeat Ramon and Roberto Flemen in his mech. Use Gregory's secret portal to travel to the Bedrock Castle. Fight Mother of Nature, Vargas, Mad Librarian, Twin Witches, and The Admin. Choose Norman or Billy. Use the Warden, in the End, to tame and ride the Ender Dragon with Gregory to the countryside and destroy the winter season (this makes it so it cannot snow in your world, and there are no more ice or snow biomes) (you will not have to fight the Warden as the dragon kills it once it is tamed). The dragon then dies of weakness from its fire breath. Gregory establishes a democracy with the village trade network, and the two factions join under the label "The Countryside People." In the epilogue, you live at the Ender Spyre. Franklin and Gregory ask you to lead the Countryside People. You have the choice to accept or adventure in the world. Gregory gives you the coordinates to Angel's Shack. Find the mirror and either Billy or Norman (who vow to make you suffer and find Issac). Get message from Angel. The End.
LONE WOLF ENDING:
Only do this ending if you have not done any side quests or have not fully shown loyalty to one specific faction. This Act 3 is hard as you are all alone, apart from the help of Franklin.
Synopsis: Establish a home in Franklin's Village/Radio Tower. Use the village trade network portals to kill Ramon, Gregory, and Roberto Flemen in his mech. Use Franklin's secret portal to travel to the Bedrock Castle. Fight Mother of Nature, Vargas, Mad Librarian, Twin Witches, and The Admin. Choose Norman or Billy. Use the Warden to kill the Ender Dragon, but then have to fight the Warden in another boss fight after the dragon as it goes crazy. In the epilogue, you live in Franklin's village. The village trade network appoints Franklin as its new leader, and Franklin gives you the choice to become mayor of his village or adventure in the world. He then gives you the coordinates of Angel's shack. Find the mirror and either Billy or Norman (who vow to make you suffer and find Issac). Get message from Angel. The End.
BROTHERHOOD ENDING:
Only do this ending if you have not done any side quests or have not fully shown loyalty to one specific faction. This ending makes Act 3 very easy.
Synopsis: In Act 2, Intermission, you travel to the Eye Casino again, and the Admin makes you kill either Norman or Billy in cold blood to prove your loyalty to him (this is the replacement for choosing them in Act 3 in the bedrock castle). (if you choose not to kill any of them, the Admin will teleport you back to the real world, and you will be given the four other ending choices with Franklin's radio tower again). You then establish a new base with the Admin in the end in his bedrock castle. You ride the Ender dragon with Vargas to kill Gregory the Grim, you ride the Ender dragon with the Mad Librarian to kill Roberto Flemen in his mech, you ride the Ender dragon with Mother of Nature to kill Ramon, and you travel with Connie and Bonnie to kill Mayor Franklin and his army of village trade network soldiers (this is the only somewhat unique boss fight in this ending). You then return to the bedrock castle and are invited to the bedrock sanctuary. The Admin tells you the truth about his wife and that he has been looking for someone worthy and strong enough to kill him finally, as his powers make it so he cannot commit suicide. He gives you admin powers, and you have a final fight with him; in the process of the epic admin power fight, the dragon is also killed (this fight is much grander and epic in scale compared to the regular Admin fight aa this time you have admin powers instead of warden powers or no powers at all). In the epilogue, the four henchmen of the admin ask you to become the new admin and rule the End and the Bedrock castle. You can choose to lead them as the new admin or adventure in the world. They show you the vault and you find the coordinates to Angel's shack. Find the mirror and either Billy or Norman (who vow to make you suffer and find Issac). Get message from Angel. This time, Angel will thank you for freeing William but will be very angry at you for helping him take his anger out on innocent people and killing all your friends. She will seem like she does not want to watch over you but does anyway because you freed William, and there is a "chance" that you may be good. The End
This is everything. Thank you for reading! Mojang seems to tease a sequel at the end of the campaign!

TW talk abt body image and ed thoughts/feelings. Please don't read if youre struggling.
A little bit if background info: I decided i wanted to try recovery in august so i started eating more (i had the idea that gaining weight would give me better body image and i had no fucking idea how hard recovery would actually be) so I gained some weight and "recovery" only lasted a few months because I put a cap on how much weight I would allow myself to gain. As soon as i reached that cap i started restricting again but have some how continued to gain weight through that restriction. Now I've been fully weight restored for a little over a month and I'm really struggling with my body image. I have days of course where I don't fully hate my body, but it never lasts. I hate that I'm not underweight anymore and I miss my sick body so fucking much (I know I'm still sick just not physically dying anymore). This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do and I've done a lot of hard things. I don't know how I'm supposed to continue to feed myself while I watch my body change. I dont want to eat anymore. The only reason that i havent completely given into my ed is because I'm starting college in January and I don't want to disappoint my therapist because she's all I have rn. I don't know how to detach my physical appearance, rather how thin I am, to my self worth. I don't know how to accept that my body might never look the way it did before. I fucking hate this so much and I don't understand why recovery is worth it. All I want to do is go back. All I want to do is lose all of the weight again. Almost every time I look in the mirror I start crying because I feel disgusting. I hate my current body. I don't feel valid and I don't feel sick enough. I didnt get an ed therapist until after weight restoring because I kept trying to convince myself that I could get better alone and then I realized I was wrong. Not getting an ed therapist until weight restoring also meant not getting a diagnosis until weight restoring so I got diagnosed with OSFED as supposed to anorexia which only makes my ed angrier and amplifies the notion that im not sick enough because throughout the 4 years of my ed I have identified with anorexia. The only criteria i dont meet is the weight. I don't know how to stop caring about the labels. I hate myself so much and I feel so undeserving of recovery. I feel so alone. My ed is an amazing manipulator and I can't outsmart it. I don't know how to fight this. I don't feel like I'm getting better but I can't tell my therapist (virtual) because I'm terrified of her dropping me. I love her and she's good at what she does but I need more help. She told my dad that I need more than once a week but it's not affordable rn and we're in the process of trying to get a single case exception from insurance. I know i need accountability in terms of ed behaviors and actually eating enough because my ed feeds off of the fact that there is no one to keep me accountable besides my therapist and myself because my parents do not gaf. The restriction and behaviors have not stopped but i dont really have any other options rn. I just want to not hate myself and my body for once. I want to feel loved and cared for and my ed gives me a false sense of that. I know the false sense of love and care that my ed provides me with isn't real hence me describing it as false but it's the most accessible and most comfortable. I feel so guilty even saying all of this but if anyone takes the time to read this and respond, thank you from the bottom of my heart. If anyone has any advice, words of encouragement/support, I would truly and deeply appreciate it.

TW talk abt body image and ed thoughts/feelings. Please don't read if youre struggling.
A little bit if background info: I decided i wanted to try recovery in august so i started eating more (i had the idea that gaining weight would give me better body image and i had no fucking idea how hard recovery would actually be) so I gained some weight and "recovery" only lasted a few months because I put a cap on how much weight I would allow myself to gain. As soon as i reached that cap i started restricting again but have some how continued to gain weight through that restriction. Now I've been fully weight restored for a little over a month and I'm really struggling with my body image. I have days of course where I don't fully hate my body, but it never lasts. I hate that I'm not underweight anymore and I miss my sick body so fucking much (I know I'm still sick just not physically dying anymore). This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do and I've done a lot of hard things. I don't know how I'm supposed to continue to feed myself while I watch my body change. I dont want to eat anymore. The only reason that i havent completely given into my ed is because I'm starting college in January and I don't want to disappoint my therapist because she's all I have rn. I don't know how to detach my physical appearance, rather how thin I am, to my self worth. I don't know how to accept that my body might never look the way it did before. I fucking hate this so much and I don't understand why recovery is worth it. All I want to do is go back. All I want to do is lose all of the weight again. Almost every time I look in the mirror I start crying because I feel disgusting. I hate my current body. I don't feel valid and I don't feel sick enough. I didnt get an ed therapist until after weight restoring because I kept trying to convince myself that I could get better alone and then I realized I was wrong. Not getting an ed therapist until weight restoring also meant not getting a diagnosis until weight restoring so I got diagnosed with OSFED as supposed to anorexia which only makes my ed angrier and amplifies the notion that im not sick enough because throughout the 4 years of my ed I have identified with anorexia. The only criteria i dont meet is the weight. I don't know how to stop caring about the labels. I hate myself so much and I feel so undeserving of recovery. I feel so alone. My ed is an amazing manipulator and I can't outsmart it. I don't know how to fight this. I don't feel like I'm getting better but I can't tell my therapist (virtual) because I'm terrified of her dropping me. I love her and she's good at what she does but I need more help. She told my dad that I need more than once a week but it's not affordable rn and we're in the process of trying to get a single case exception from insurance. I know i need accountability in terms of ed behaviors and actually eating enough because my ed feeds off of the fact that there is no one to keep me accountable besides my therapist and myself because my parents do not gaf. The restriction and behaviors have not stopped but i dont really have any other options rn. I just want to not hate myself and my body for once. I want to feel loved and cared for and my ed gives me a false sense of that. I know the false sense of love and care that my ed provides me with isn't real hence me describing it as false but it's the most accessible and most comfortable. I feel so guilty even saying all of this but if anyone takes the time to read this and respond, thank you from the bottom of my heart. If anyone has any advice, words of encouragement/support, I would truly and deeply appreciate it.

I just had the following question on a quiz.
“The bony projection that separates one socket from another is called the”
A) [eliminated prima facie]
B) Interalveolar septum
C) Interdental septum
D) [eliminated prima facie]
Note: I don’t remember options A and D verbatim, but they were obviously wrong so it doesn't matter anyway.
Which is the correct answer? I'm pretty sure in this regard they are synonymous. During the lecture, I remember my teacher saying both were valid names for this structure, she did say there was any distinction between them. If option E) was "both B and C" that's a valid question. Or if the question was "[description]" is called the a) Interalveolar septum b) interdental septum c) both a and b d) [4th option]. That's also a valid question. Especially considering the pertinent learning outcome for that chapter was "Describe, locate and identify supporting structures in the oral cavity". Both option accurate identify the given description. Now if there was another learning out come that was something like "know the common names of things" I would say fair enough, both options are correct but one is more common (interdental). But that wasn't a learning outcome and the question didn't specify "most commonly known as". Is this question valid? Should I dispute the valid of the question to my teacher?
If I am right and they are synonymous, I still expect that they wont adjust the question because I'm realizing now that they err on the side of taking verbatim passages out of the textbook without thinking critically if the question is assessing comprehension of general principles and not rote memorization. Look back at my textbook, I know the "correct" answer is going to be be Interdental septum because that's the only term written in our textbook. But in person during lecture and the labelled diagram on her presentation, she said said interalveolar septum is a synonym for it.

Long read
I had this originally written under a previous post asking about potential health effects of Quetiapine in this sub. I thought it might be a little much to blow up on someone else’s question. So here is my (long ass) experience and current investigation underway with my rheumatologist in Boston who was an adjunct professor and graduate from Harvard with an expertise in pharmacokinetics.
This will be a dumbed down version the best I can explain as layman with a mere masters degree in physical therapy. While I have a strong grasp of the concepts and language, I may get verbiage or premises incorrect but I believe this will read mostly correct. If you’re a medical professional or chemist, feel free to correct me. Im no writer and I’m sure this will be evident by poor grammar and run on sentences but I did try to do a quick proofread. It’s Reddit though, so…whatever lol.
This is a super individualized account to my neurobiology. Much of it will read as though I’m trying to scare off anyone from ever taking this medication. If you get through it, you’ll see that my doctor’s theory mostly shows the opposite, and the safety profile is extremely good. The people at the highest risk of suffering my fate, that is if he is even correct because this is still just a theory(but well backed) are people in the large cohort of patients being prescribed Quetiapine off label for sleeplessness or “insomnia” as a primary diagnoses.(Spoiler: insomnia is not a real diagnosis, it’s a secondary symptom and why the manufacturer warns physicians against prescribing for sleep).
Seroquel destroyed my life. Prescribed by a “Noctor”(mid level nurse playing with shit she doesn’t know thinking she’s as smart as a doctor) an insane dose of 300mg a night for simple nighttime induced anxiety that messed with my sleep.
This was after suffering an issue where I was on the road and didn’t sleep at all for 4 days. I was really struggling and my employer paid for me to see one of the top psychiatrists on the planet that works specifically with people in my industry(entertainment). We happened to be coming up for a stop in Nashville(where she practiced) and they setup the appointment. I had 6 hours with her where she walked me through the fallacy of insomnia as a primary diagnosis, and that I needed to find the physical or psychological root cause. 90%+ of “insomnia” is just a secondary symptom of mild anxiety with a nighttime onset. That is what she diagnosed me with. Simple anxiety that was triggered at night because my career was so mentally vigorous and non stop that all anxiety was building up with no where to be expressed other than the only time my mind wasn’t occupied by work…laying in bed.
She sent my diagnosis back to my primary in New England and wrote me a script for 8mg of Xanax a month with instructions that I had 2x1mg doses per week to utilize as an emergency med but the goal would be through therapy and self moderation of work to utilize the medication as little as possible.
When I got home from my work trip the only appointment I could get was with the Noctor as my primary physician was booked out for almost 2 months. She looked at the diagnosis from a world class psychiatrist and inserted her own biases about Xanax use under any circumstance being extremely dangerous. Even as an emergency or rescue medication taken a couple times a month. So she choose to nuke my fucking brain with a high daily dose powerful antipsychotic for some night time anxiety.
For a year it was fine other than a little weight gain. Wasn’t too bad for me though because I worked 16+ hours a day on the road 9 months a year.
Then the nightmares started. Like insane, traumatic, horrifically vivid nightmares that would make Stephen king blush. I’ve seen every person and pet I’ve ever know or loved, including myself murdered gruesomely in the most gorey ways in realistic acts of violence, accidents, as well as supernatural monstrous hell fuel.
I’d wake up soaked, covered in sweat and my back and neck would be sore from my entire body being contorted and stiff in terrible positions whilst waking up completely hypertensive due to the vivid hellscape I just awoke from that was indistinguishable from reality.
I went back to her and begged her to change it because I was no longer feeling like I was sleeping. I was just going from one world to another and waking up feeling like I was just in a car accident. She told me it was the only thing she prescribes for sleep because everything else is addicting and dangerous. So I tried to tough it out but after a few more weeks couldn’t take it anymore. I got another appointment and told her I was done whether she liked it or not. I wasn’t getting any rest and I’d wake up in pain like I was hit by truck. She then essentially threatened me. She told me the only way to get off it was to see the psychiatrist at my practice and told me if I went anywhere else she would flag me as a drug seeker. The first date available with that psychiatrist…6 months. So I set an appointment as early as possible with my actual physician(nearly 2 month wait) and figured I’d start weening myself off and by the time I saw my doctor I would be fully off or mostly off.
About 2 days later(I hadn’t even reduced my first dose yet so I was still on 300mg) I was hospitalized. I woke up from my normal nighttime alternate universe of horror completely immobile from my armpits up. I wasn’t numb, but I woke up with my head kinked under my right arm and bent almost completely around. Any movement felt like my spine from my upper thoracic all the way through my cervical spine was going to snap. My wife had to call an ambulance because it was not loosening up like it normally would. While the paramedics tried to board me from my bed I went into shock from the pain and went unconscious.
I woke up in the hospital a few hours later where I learned the doctors had to pump some drug into me that essentially made all of my muscles go completely limp in order to move me out of the position because my muscles were so rigid they couldn’t untwist me. The ER doc said he had never seen anything like it outside of some extreme situations of rigor mortis when someone was found dead in an awkward position and the body locked into that position.
Even once released from that position I felt like I had a knife in my neck. The ER called into my primary physician to update them and they moved my appointment up. In the days that followed my neck only got worse. I couldn’t stand, sit or lay in the same position. I obviously stopped Seroquel immediately. I spent all day flat on my back crying with my wife encasing me in and changing ice packs every 15 minutes. I was ready to kill my self the pain was so bad.
When I saw my doctor a couple days later we were going over my records and I emphasized this was a direct result of the Seroquel that I begged to come off several times because of the side effects and I had learned that even the drug manufacturer didn’t approve of it being used off-label for sleep. She was shocked I was being prescribed 300mg for sleep. I asked her that if she was shocked, why would she approve it considering she was the supervising physician for the noctor that prescribed it to me? She showed me the offices internal notes and the noctor has diagnosed me with mania and disassociation.
Like, WTF!?
There was no record in the practices notes of the diagnoses and recommendations from the psychiatrist I saw in Nashville other than “patient saw a “pill doctor” out of state”, “says he has “anxiety”.
Reading through her notes it essentially accused me of psychosis and drug seeking because I saw a doctor out of state that prescribed me a medication she didn’t agree with.
On my doctor’s end in her oversight of her nurses prescribing she just saw that she was prescribing a patient Seroquel for manic episodes, which is a standard course of action. She agreed that this was a horrible misjudgment, viewed the physical copies of the notes I brought home from Nashville, and immediately changed me to that physicians plan of Xanax as an emergency/rescue med vs 300mg of Seroquel daily.
It was too late though. The pain in my neck never went away. I couldn’t move, I was completely bed bound. The pain in my neck felt like I was wide awake whilst someone dissected my cervical spine with a rusty box opener. They sent me to “interventional pain management” where they then did more non-fda approved “healthcare” by repetitively injecting corticosteroids into my spine.
It only got worse and worse. The pain began to spread from my cervical spine, down into my thoracic spine. I started losing feeling in my arm. Then it was neurological medications like gabapentinoids, muscle relaxers, high dose NSAIDs, tricyclic antidepressants, physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy etc…within 8 months that noctor was no longer employed at the office(I don’t officially know if it was from her destroying my life).
After about a year there was still no answers. I lost my job that I had busted my ass for over a decade climbing the industry ladder after getting and advanced degree, and was on the verge of losing my house because I was still completely bed bound 90% of the day.
My doctor out of desperation and lack of answers starts me on narcotic pain management. I had never once touched opioids outside of anesthesia inpatient surgeries related to sports injuries growing up. I was staunchly against the use of opioids outside of that setting. Other than some moderate cannabis use after college(when I was no longer being drug tested for the first time in 6 years) I was pretty brain washed by the drug war zealots. Now I’m a pariah. Both doctors and people in my social circles keep me at an arms length because people drank the koolaid and believe anyone taking an opioid must be a raging addict sucking dick for heroin.
I’ve managed to claw back and slow down the total collapse of my entire life because my pain is now controlled to about 60ish% by pain meds while I go doctor to doctor trying to figure this out. By working as a part time consultant in my industry I’m making just enough money to stop complete asset loss but I’m still eating into my retirement and investments. If it wasn’t for the fact that my wife makes a decent salary we’d already be homeless. Even then we’re hemorrhaging money and are likely going to have to sell our house. At 32 I was on track to retire by 50 and travel the world. Now at 37 I don’t know if I’ll be alive by this time at next year as the inflammation and connective tissue deterioration runs rampant.
Doctors absolutely hate and refuse to try and pin serious medical conditions on bad medical professionals or bad medication. I’ve been through every major “world famous” hospital system here in Boston and they’re willing to look for the answer everywhere accept where I’m telling them it started. Until a few months ago.
I hired a high profile private patient advocate. A woman who is a former internal medicine expert that was the lead in a department at Brigham with a PhD/MD from Harvard and her law degree from Cornell. She found me an expert here in Boston that is a rheumatologist who investigates pharmacokinetics. He produced several redacted papers by the patent holders on Seroquel that show them shutting down the research by a hired lab that found Tumor Necrosis Factor spikes in high doses of Seroquel administered to mice with normal neurological function. 3 other labs confirmed the research and wanted the medication held for retrial in humans.
TNF when not properly regulated by the immune system causes a cytokine storm attacking healthy tissue without the presence of disease/damaged tissue. This is the foundation of most autoimmune diseases.
Seroquel regulates various neurotransmission and endogenous processes in the brain when they are not at their normal levels. Even then the science isn’t perfect on it so often an SSRI is prescribed along side because SSRIs are better understood and it’s kind of a protection from the unknown actions of the Quetiapine(Seroquel).
If those neurotransmitters are functioning correctly and neurological function is fine, introducing something like Seroquel in high doses at constant intervals can be incredibly dangerous.
This is where the black box warnings and requests for bans from the manufacturer of seroquel about off label prescribing come from. They only reported redacted and halted research on TNF production increase associated with the drug because they only ever confirmed the research with mice.
This rheumatologist has essentially shown to me with pretty indisputable evidence that I’ve likely developed a severe medication induced autoimmune disease that is rapidly destroying the connective tissue in my spine and is now jumping to organs. It falls outside the diagnosis of any single autoimmune disease and can only really be classified as MAS(multiple autoimmune disease). Because the research papers are all heavily redacted and were never entered into peer review for final patenting and fda approval there is no case or action for me to bring.
Furthermore seroquel has a pretty high safety record because it’s statistically more normal to have an imbalance of the neurotransmitters that it regulates which means it’s rare to cause the reaction the research found with the mice. Most people have some form, even if mild, imbalance that most often goes without symptoms. But the manufacturers did know the consequences of introducing a high dosage of the compound to a perfectly balanced brain.
I fell into a perfect storm. My neurotransmission was such that a small dose of Seroquel daily likely wouldn’t have hurt me but it was as close to equilibrium that flooding it with a drug that regulates neurotransmission that I exhibited the same outcome as those mice forcing my immune system to drive up TNF production. There is a well known list of medications that can cause autoimmune diseases and the way the drug was patented and approved it escaped this labeling given the uncommon instances of the phenomenon.
I am now in the phase of trialing every biologic/TNF inhibitor known to man to try and get it under control before it completely disables me, or jumps to a vital organ and kills me.
This is still only a theory by an extremely educated expert in the field as autoimmune diseases and tumor necrosis factors are only recently in the last couple of decades becoming more understood. We got a more substantial confirmation that he is correct over the winter when I got my first case of Covid19. I rarely get sick. I am an extremely healthy person that exercises regularly(as much as possible through my pain now) as a former division 1 athlete and eats super clean and balanced. This was the first time since this began to see what my immune system did under duress.
My pain dropped by easily 50%. Meaning my immune system had something to do other than attack and inflame the healthy tissues in my joints and organs. While I felt like shit of course, my neurological pain dropped significantly. Within a week of recovering I had to increase my pain meds back to normal as everything became inflamed again.
The entire point of this rant is this: Seroquel is extremely dangerous…to a small population of people. This isn’t uncommon of most pharmaceuticals. It is a cautionary tale about the off label prescribing of this drug for sleep, and sleep only. DONT ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN TO YOU.
If a psychiatrist, neurologist, or behavioral therapist has well documented diagnostics and evaluation that leads them to believe you have a significant neurological imbalance that leads to a true psychiatric diagnosis you will almost certainly be just fine with Quetiapine.
Unfortunately Seroquel is the most prescribed off-label sleep medication on the market. It needs to be stopped. The primary indication for Seroquel cannot be “insomnia”. The manufacturers tried to hide the pharmacokinetic reasons as to why, but they did black box it and request physicians not to prescribe it for such. Read the insert. Back, neck, and joint pain are all warnings to speak to your doctor immediately and this is why.

Let me apologize in advance: I'm going to be a bit of a hater here. Also, spoilers ahead.
In general, I hate open ended stories (be it books, movies, whatever). It comes across to me as lazy, as if the author didn't know how to end, so they got vague about it. This is a personal preference, sure, but it's one I feel very strongly about. To clarify, I do not need the story to be wrapped up in a nice, neat little bow, where everyone has a happy ending. A story can "finish" before it "ends".
What the hell do I mean by this?
Take, for example, Stephen King's The Long Walk. Major spoilers: Even though Garraty wins, he doesn't accept it, and starts running. We don't get a whole lot of world building to find out how the Long Walk became a thing, we don't follow Garraty after this, and thus we have no idea what happens, but the story is done. Extending it or explaining it wouldn't enhance the story; if anything, writing more would probably bring the horror elements down. The story was finished even though it didn't "end".
Back to Tremblay.
My first exposure to him was of course Cabin at the End of the World. This was before the movie, and it should have been RIGHT up my alley. World ending story that also contains references to religion? Hell yeah! Except, Holy hell, I could not read this thing for the life of me. The book starts off from the y y/o daughter, Wen's POV; she talks about her life, what it's like being adopted, taking language classes. She's in the yard organizing grasshoppers by size and giving them names and writing down what she thinks their genders are and OH MY GOD WHEN IS THIS STORY ACTUALLY STARTING??? At that point, I decided to try to skip ahead. Tremblay was verbose in other parts, so I tried to skip ahead. I ended up mostly going through the dialogue, reading more if it seemed relevant, and was left disappointed. I think the story really would have been enhanced by exploring the backgrounds of the four visitors, but, from what I did read, that didn't happen.
I checked the Wikipedia page to see if it was worth going back and trying again, but the ending If it was the end of the world was left kinda ambiguous. I could see an argument where The planes crashing is too much of a coincidence, so yes it is, plus the movie changed it to flat out saying it's the end of the world, but it just came across as so lazy to me. If anything, I think making the ending unambiguous would make the story better. It doesn't need to go on for much longer, but explaining what the "answer" is, in either case of the world ending or not, would reframe the rest of the story and make it better.
But maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance. I read someone say on here that there is a lot of subtlety in Tremblay's writing, and maybe that would have explained it more if I didn't skip to just the dialogue, so I decided to give him another chance by reading Growing Things and Other Stories, a collection of short stories. Warning: No more spoiler tags after this.
The collection starts withe the titular story Growing things, where there are deadly vines growing in the world. The dad leaves his daughters to go out to look for supplies. He explicitly says that if there is a knock at the door, don't answer it, because it means it's the end of the world. And at the end of the story, there's a knock at the door! The girls go upstairs to avoid the knocking and the vines that have invaded the house, and that's it. I guess this one has an ending: the world ends, and the daughters are waiting to die. Details of their death are left to the reader's imagination, as is any details of the vines, as is a lot of background of the characters. I know nothing, and not in a good way. Let's try the next one.
Swim wants to Know if It's as Bad as Swim Thinks. We start off with the unnamed protagonist working her job at a grocery store, where people are crowding the store trying to buy their items. The protagonist's coworker is talking about something coming out of the water. Protagonist says it's just a movie trailer. Protagonist goes on message boards about consuming meth, so we know she's an unreliable narrator. Not a problem, as this is not quite the same as an open-ended story. She kidnaps her daughter, who she does not have custody of, and takes her to a place from her childhood to be safe with her daughter. But she's following patterns from when she last took her daughter while she was under the influence. She has a gun, and it seems like the police have found her. So she might kill her daughter, and I guess actually there's no monster. Ironically, this story has a lot more world building than the previous one, but it's still left open ended in a way that doesn't contribute to any fear or thrill of the story.
Next up: Something About Birds. To write this review, I re-borrowed this book online from the library to refresh my memory. It wasn't until stumbling upon the ending that I even remembered I read this story, because it elicited absolutely no strong emotion in me, not even distaste. I don't remember it, skimming through doesn't remind me of what happened, so I can't properly comment on it. Same deal with the next story, Snapshot. Looking through the table of contents and skimming through the next several stories (minus Teacher, more on that later), it looks like I skipped reading a lot of them, until I got to "It's Against the Law to Feed the Ducks." Intriguing name, I like animals, so I read this one.
This story is from the POV of the young son, Danny. They go to the beach, which is weirdly empty. When back at the cottage, the parents watch some TV, presumably the news, and are horrified; they get Danny out of the room so they can keep watching. Next day, they go to the grocery store, where it's empty, but people have overflowing grocery carts. Remember from earlier, this is a bad sign. Electronics are also down, as dad has to pay with a check. Another day, another trip to the grocery store; this time, the cashier lets them take the groceries without bothering to count it (another sign!), and Dad fills up the car with gas and gets extra gas cannisters. More TV watching, except in the empty restaurant, where the parents ask to have the TV turned off because of the kids. The story ends with the reason why the title is what it is: it's against the law to feed the ducks, which they obey at the beginning, but not the end, because the world is ending. We never learn what is happening, which makes sense if the POV is from a child, but that doesn't add to the horror. There's no horror from the kid's POV, just confusion. The reader is supposed to understand that Bad Shit^TM is going down, but without any details, I quite frankly don't know why I should care. This is essentially a story about buying groceries and watching TV, bookended by ducks.
Of the stories I've described thus far, we get the whole end-of-the-world theme repeated, without anymore details, without any real ending, and without me caring. The one exception is Teacher, which I liked so much, I read it thrice: the first time, a second time when I remembered it existed, and then I read it again fully to write this review, rather than skimming it.
The story starts with an introduction to Mr. Sorent, the cool teacher^TM. He has long hair and plays guilets the highschool seniors talk about more controversial topics like drugs and abortion, and has some days has Special^TM lessons, which has the same rule as Fight Club: you do not talk about Fight Club Special lessons. In the first one, he shows a video of a daycare/preschool, where a teacher is spinning around with a child and accidentally lets go. Mr. Sorent stops the video, and then moves it frame by frame until a wall comes into view. That is the end of the first special lesson.
Time passes, more special lessons. More disturbing videos, a guest who reflects on how awful it is to have a disease and be used as inspiration porn, all of which end with the video moving a few frames. The protagonist, Kate, tells a story about when she was a kid, and she was forced to watch some boys mutilate a dead frog, and how it affected her baseball game. As the Special^TM lessons bring down the students' academic lives, their personal lives and kate's family life deteriorate as well. The story ends with Kate trying to prevent the video from finishing using the same coping mechanism she used after watching the frog get mutilated: She volunteers for a demonstration, and moves forward without opening her eyes, hoping that if she doesn't, the film will never finish, and the accident with the child will never occur.
So what makes Teacher stand out from the others?
Tremblay actually talks about what's happening; we're shown the progression of the class, the reason why it's happening. There's no mystery of what's on the TV, or why the students are acting the way they are. The why is clear: they're being taught disturbing life lessons from a teacher they used to trust and admire. Sure, we don't actually know if they ever finish watching the video, or what happens after, but it doesn't matter, because the story isn't about that. It's about the students, and we see their arc, as they go from normal teenagers to depressed and cynical teenagers.
In the other works I've mentioned so far, we mostly get that the world is ending (or the addict mother thinks it is), but we don't know how. Considering that the end of the world is what's moving the stories along, IT'S KIND OF A BIG DEAL. Even in Cabin, where the horror is that the family is trapped in a deadly situation, knowing whether or not there's any truth to the visitor's reason for coming to the cabin would enhance the story. Compare to King's The Mist: book ends ambiguously, movie ends tragically, and even King says the movie ending was better. But with Tremblay, time that could be used for learning more about the visitors and if it's the end of the world is instead used on organizing grasshoppers.
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk. Next time I'm here, I'll try not to write in a faux manic state while mildly sleep deprived at 5 am.

(This is adult me sharing kid/teen me's perspective/Trigger Warning for self loathing)
So essentially as an adult I'm realizing that I experienced a lot of identity acceptance issues as a kid (and still do now to a certain extent). Mainly this all started when I was in secondary school 11/12 and persisted through till around my late teens. I hated how on a historical level my skin tone was associated with such disgusting, inconceivable things and I still deal with those feelings even now. These feelings became my hyper fixation and made me want to die because I believed that it wasn't faidisgusting for me to exist because of the horrors of my white ancestors. I thought about ending it a 12 because a mix of this and a few other things. These feelings were never directed at white kids or adults but only ever myself. My white half consists primarily of Portuguese and Italian and having that side of my family abuse me at a very young age I think also added to my disgust towards my skin. In history, the Portuguese are taught as one of the primary colonizers of the world and it always made me feel terrible/gross knowing that I have that in my heritage?
It's...weird. As a kid/teen I felt like I was "to white" to speak on this/ I felt I had no right to speak on this... specific guilt over my heritage because I don't have enough color in my skin??.For extra context: I looked way more like my Puerto Rican POC parent as a kid and got paler as I got older. I grew up in a fully Puerto Rican bilingual household equipt with music/church and food and I was raised knowing I may have some Taino Nation in my blood on my mothers side (have no full confirmation though since my mom has memory issues). I related greatly to peoples experiences being mixed with differing cultures but I didn't really think about it much after like 16 until an old, really close friend started openly referring to me as a fellow POC and I was confused because I felt like I didn't deserve the label because I passed as white to a lot of people except for other Puerto Ricans mostly.
I was just wondering if anyone else has gone through this experience at all? Maybe not exactly to a T but something along the lines? I hope I don't come as weird/disrespectful because I promise that's not the intent and if I do, let me know please 🫂. Thank you in advance.

I'll be doing a separate post just for Season 2 of the reboot later. Anyways,

Average (C Tier)

16. Caleb (The Best First Boot) - Just a reminder that this list only takes S1 into account (in case you got used to Caleb dead last already) so of course I don't HATE this Caleb. There's nothing to hate here. While the character itself didn't really do anything, I like the role he plays in the narrative, being by far the best first boot in this show. Long gone are the days of the first elimination being some idiot nobody likes getting everybody to hate them for the sake of it! She says, planning on writing about Season 2 later
Caleb says his iconic catchphrase.
15. Axel (Totally Not An Expy) - While I'm usually not a fan of comparing characters and going "this character is basically just X mixed with Y!!", I have a hard time believing Axel wasn't made with being Neo-Eva in mind. She was angry and left second and that's it... And that did make me really curious as to what they'd do with Axel in the rematch. But that's for later.
Remember when everyone thought Axel was gonna be awesome because of this shot?
14. Nichelle (I HATE YOU JERRY!!!) - This might come off as a surprise, but I don't actually dislike Nichelle. She had an interesting concept (famous teen actress going to TD for exposure) with a neat execution (got "exposed" as a fraud on TV, disappointing her fans and leaving determined to improve herself). It was clear she wasn't meant to be "complete" in Season 1, and was just being set up for a bigger story in S2, and there's nothing really wrong with that! We'll see how that went later.
Nichelle hates 1/2 of the Tennis Rivals, for some reason.

Good (B Tier)

13. Priya (Abusive Parents) - Surprised to see the winner of the season this low? Don't get me wrong, this IS the 'Good' tier, so I do like Priya, she's just not really my type of character. I think all comparisons to Zoey and Sky are incredibly silly and a bit dumb, the only thing they have in common is being athletic, and Priya actually has a personality. Yes, it was clear from the start that she was created with being the winner in mind, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, with Priya having an unique concept (raised by TD fans) and fun interactions and dynamics with the other characters, making her obvious win be satisfying nonetheless (take NOTES, Sky). And even after everything, there is still a good setup for things she could do in the rematch, such as addressing her home life and the way she was raised. Boy, I sure hope that happens!
Just wanted to say Priya looks really cute with messy hair.
12./11. Wayne & Raj (Thing 1 & Thing 2) - After Katie & Sadie and Amy & Sammy, I didn't expect to see a 'duo character' I'd actually like. I always knew they wouldn't be the gay couple like most people expected, as it would've been a boring approach, but I did suspect ONE of them would be part of it. And I was right, Raj having a self-discovery moment during the show was very sweet, and so was Wayne being a supportive ally to his bestie, it's a really great message to send to the kids who watch the show (and part of why I don't really like gay Wayne headcanons, it takes away the impact of him being 100% supportive of his best friend despite not being queer himself). Small complaints though, I think it would've been nice if we got to know Raj's thoughts on his coming out instead of just Wayne's, and the 'package deal' characters being eliminated together isn't really my cup of tea either. I don't mind it that much though, because surely Season 2 will separate them and have them be apart from each other for a few episodes, right? ...R-Right?
First and last time we see the Hockey Bros acting mean.

Great (A Tier)

10. MK (Parody Of Annoying Celebrity, Somehow Good) - If you know me, or at least have seen my profile picture, then this placement is probably a surprise. S1 MK is probably one of the most unique concepts this show has had.A thief who takes her castmates' belongings? Fun. Hacking the confessional camera to watch everyone's confessionals? Interesting. Intentionally floating to fly under the radar? Very interesting. Annoying snarker? Yes please. Overall? Great combo. She's only really "low" on this list because she left before being able to put, well, any of her plans in practice. Fortunately, there's still season 2, where we'll see a lot more of her unique strategy and villainy, for sure!!!!
MK: \"I can't wait to be seen as nothing but shipping fodder by the fans next season!\"
9. Damien (Best Design, Hands Down) - And the winner of most unique character concept goes to... Yeah, him. Some guy who's never seen Total Drama and doesn't know what he signed up for? You're crazy if you don't think that's one of the most fun ideas for a new character you've seen. He used a concept other characters failed at (being the token normal/straight man) and made it work! Damien (in season 1) is probably the closest this show has ever had to just having a real person: Being flabbergasted at the insanity that happens in cartoon-land that other characters don't react to, without being played as the "haha token coward afraid of everything", which is something not usually done (...We'll get to season 2 later.). His early exit was sad, but made sense, this wasn't meant to be his season. We all know he was being given an easy, impossible to mess up, set-up for a bigger role in the rematch! There is no way to do this wrong!
Damien: \"Oh well, at least I'll totally have a good arc next season, right?\"
8. Julia (wth is a buttknuckle) - "omg what!! why is queen slay girlboss Julia not in top3 you know shes perfect slay gaslight gatekeep girlb-" Shut up. God. Very annoying fanbase aside, S1 Julia was a fun twist antagonist. The 'good vibes, vegan crystal girlie' instagram influencer being a sour, evil douchebag behind the scenes? Great bit, we all know most of them are like this in real life. Her villainy is criticized by some people for being "too Heather-like", which I disagree with. Sure, her constant immunity wins may seem like heavy plot armor, but unlike Island Heather, others weren't constantly dumbed down to make it work, most of her wins weren't due to dumb luck, (like Heather in Search and Do Not Destroy) and most importantly, Julia was full of flaws. She was a challenge beast, yes, but the constant immunities were the only things she had, for the show goes on its way to show her game otherwise is horrible. Her social game is atrocious, due to being unnecessarily rude to everyone, she had no alliances (and when she did they didn't last a day) and most of her attempts to scheme backfired. Remember when she tried to make Emma vote for Chase and that somehow resulted in them getting back together? Like, wow, making Emma want to vote for Chase is NOT a hard task, girlie, come on. Julia's flaws keep her character grounded and make her stand out from other villains. God, can you imagine if she was like Heather, and everyone got dumbed down to make her look more competent and cause stupid eliminations? That would suck! Not like that'd ever happen though, haha.
Julia telling her fanbase to attack anyone who criticizes her character.
7. Emma (Cringe Girl /affectionate) - God, she's so cringe (/pos). When I saw her face in Chase's intro, I knew there was going to be juicy drama and I'd live for it, but I was not expecting THAT trainwreck. I don't even know how to proceed with this paragraph properly without just calling her cute or stupid (affectionate) and calling it a day. I can't imagine the writers didn't have fun writing her and her extreme emotions; There's a lot of characters the fandom labeled as being "neurodivergent-coded", and while I see the vision with most of them, I think people overlook Emma as one (or maybe I'm just projecting onto her, whatever).While I don't like Chemma as a ship, I can't deny that they have a great dynamic, though it's funnier when it's Emma hating Chase while he tries to win her back, so Chemma getting back together at the end was a bit of a letdown. I do hope season 2 gives us more Chase and Emma individually without both of them being attached to each other though (clueless).
Emma laughs at someone being horribly hurt (cutely).
6. Millie (WOAH! GOOD WRITING!? IN MY TOTAL DRAMA!?) - Now, I know what some of you are probably thinking; "Millie is a horrible character she floated!!" "She foated and had to be carried by Priya!!" "She's a horrible friend she wrote mean things about Priya!!" Shut up shut up shut up. Millie haters, you guys are weak and aren't surviving the winter. Anyways, Millie makes me extremely happy, she has what I consider to be one of the best cases of character development in TD: First arriving with the intent of writing a thesis about how Gen Z is really stupid, befriending someone for the first time, growing to regret ever writing bad things about the others, and then being confronted about it and having to work to patch up her friendship with Priya? Total Drama hasn't had an arc this good in ages, and people think Millie is a bad character? I'm sorry, do you miss Skave or something? I totally understand not liking Millie due to finding her boring or uninteresting,those are valid reasons, but if you dislike Millie because you think she's a "bad person" who "didn't deserve being forgiven" (the amount of people I've seen say this is concerning), then I'm sorry, but I think you're stupid.
When you hate on Millie this is who you're hating btw

Fantastic (S Tier)

5. Scary "Lauren" Girl (I don't care if she's one-note stfu) - Scary Girl is a character I've noticed to be pretty divisive. The people who love her do so because they think she's pretty funny, and the people who hate her think she's a one-note gimmick. I'm the former, obviously, I see a lot of people complain that they find Scary Girl to be "overrated", (1. Not a valid reason to dislike a character 2. She literally isn't. Stop throwing that word around, it's already losing it's meaning) and while I do understand why people wouldn't like her, because yeah she does only have 1 joke, I think that one joke is really funny and consistently lands. Also I'd just like to point out that a lot of comic relief characters aren't very varied in terms of humor either but I don't think the fandom is ready to accept that yet. The hockey bros also only have 1 joke and it's less funny than Lauren's Oops, who said that? Wasn't me! Must've been the wind!
She's literally just a girl why are people afraid of her /j
4. Ripper (do you think Ripper has a fursona? no? just me? okay then) - Ripper in S tier?! I know, scandalous! "But you're not supposed to like Ripper he's a mean bully who farts and is gross he's like Owen!!" Shut up, NERD. Anyway, I'm not really fond of toilet humor, but Ripper made up for it by having a lot of hilarious jokes outside of farting (something people will insist is his entire character) and he has some depth that could use some more exploring, such has his home life and his relationship with his parents. Pretty much every dynamic he had with other characters, even if short, were bangers, proving that his character is super versatile. Chase, Zee, Priya, Millie, Axel, Damien... He just works with anyone. Him, Bowie and Millie are the three characters I believe you can pair up with literally anyone, and you can squeeze a good dynamic out of it.
Ripper knows we love him, because he's based.
3. Zee (I don't have a joke for this one bear with me) - I don't have much to say about him like everyone else, because Zee is a simple character. He's really funny, and that's it, and it just works. Dude's hysterical and that's why I love him. Yeah
Birds don't like Zee because birds are stupid.
2. Chase (Horrible Person, Hilarious Character) - Another probably controversial take, and I just know a certain someone on this sub will be very happy with this placement. Chase is, in my eyes, the best comic relief in this show, part of it is because of how unique and specific the joke with him is. We have a million "comically stupid" characters at this point, and we (or I) still love them regardless, but having a comedic character with a different brand of humor makes them stand out more. Chase is so unapologetically a jerk, and that's what makes him so funny to me. He's not a complete idiot like Tyler, Max, Raj, Wayne, Zee and Ripper are, in fact, in s1 he shows a lot of intelligence and common sense for a comic relief character, it's just that he's such a self-centered douchebag that he doesn't see anything wrong with his actions while everyone else recognizes him as a horrible individual, and that makes him so unique in the sea of "idiot men" characters that is TD. Episode 10 was one of the best episodes in the whole series, and the biggest contributors to that? Come on, you know it's him and Emma. They are everything, they are the moment.
\"Chase how many people did you run over that day?\" Chase:
1. Bowie (Drama King and Queen) - When I first saw his design in the promo, I admit I was very afraid? Not because I didn't think a stereotypically gay character could work, but because this is Total Drama. I was afraid they'd mess up and accidentally make the most offensive shit ever like the last few times they tackled minorities (cough cough Mike). When I first watched the season? All worries left my body in an instant. My God? STRATEGY?! IN TOTAL DRAMA? That isn't just an evil villain manipulating everyone using plot armor??? It was a BLESSING to see, even if I was a little upset he got villanized by the end of the season, it does show that TD will always portray ambition to win as inherently evil and something that needs to be punished (and it certainly doesn't make me very excited for future seasons' villains). For what it's worth, I enjoyed watching an actual strategist character onscreen that was neither fully evil or a moron the writers wanted to believe you to be smart, that makes Bowie the first ever. Also the queer rep? Really awesome. I loved his relationship with Raj, and how healthy it was compared to other TD relationships, and I love how it shows a "villain"/strategy focused player can be a good person/partner. It felt so surreal (in a good way) watching a TD character that wears gender non-conforming clothes and has a very flamboyant and sassy personality. Bowie also has some of the best quotes in the season ("MEEE!" and "Oh my, did I do that? Yes I diiiiid! I'm going to be a MILLIONAAAAAAAIRE!" are some of the best ones)
\"Lift a log if you're the best character in the series\" Bowie:
Final S1 list:
This list looks so positive, right? Well, if you want negativity be sure to look forward to the season 2 post.
Final Thoughts: Overall, excellent cast! the only characters below B tier are the first three boots. A great and colorful cast in a good season filled with great writing, and there's even a second season after it? This is a recipe for success, surely the second season will be as great as the first one, if not better, right? Right?
... Yeah who am I kidding. See you guys next post, when I cover this same cast in THAT OTHER season.

🔒 2FA enabled for your pleasure! 🔒
WOOOOO BOY! I had an interesting week! I was trying to pour a 20ozt VECNA statue for someone and my flask exploded, pouring 2200'F molten silver all over the place! YAY! It also cooked my flask completely and ruined my work surface!!! :) You know what that means ..

FIRE SALE!!!

Orders placed BEFORE 10pm Arizona time, 5/31/24, will get 15% OFF.
Orders placed between 10pm Arizona time and 10am Arizona time the following morning will get 10% OFF.
Orders placed starting at 10am Arizona time 6/1/24 will get 5% OFF!
Header image : https://imgur.com/a/fiyah-elQQ41s
Proof Gallery : https://imgur.com/a/5-31-24-glass-panther-LiEt2Sl

ADOLESCENT GMO FIGHTING TORTOISES (a.k.a. TMNT)

TURTLE HEADS - BACK ::: First off ... YES, I know I only have three heads here. They are all the same (Leonardo) so there was no point in showing four of them. These radical heads are each a 2+ozt pour and are all made by hand in .999 Fine Silver. Asking $85.00 each!
GOOD VS EVIL Round - BACK ::: Featuring the logo of the HAMATO Clan (Splinter) on one side, and the FOOT Clan (Shredder) on the other, these great 1ozt+ rounds, done in .999 Fine Silver, are PERFECT for coin tosses, or to use as a card protector, or to show to friends on EITHER side of the aisle when you do sneaky ninja stuff. Asking $42.50 each.
MANHOLE COVER ::: Coming in at 2+ozt of .999 Fine Silver, and shipping in an Airtite for protection, this classic rendition of the well known manhole cover is antiqued for realism and ready to display! It's the same on the front and back. Asking $90.00 each!
OOZE CANISTER ::: The famous OOZE canisters from TGRI (TMNT the Movie 2), done in pure .999 Fine Silver and weighing 1ozt, this is one of the more unusual, but surprisingly cool, pours I've done! Entirely modelled by hand, by me, and poured at Panther HQ! Asking $42.50 each!
PIZZA STACKER - BACK ::: Another GREAT 2ozt pour - this stackable round features a totally tubular pizza on the front, and the (modified) logo on the back! .999 Fine Silver, of course! Asking $80.00 each!
CASEY JONES MASK - BACK - ALT ::: INSTANTLY becoming my favorite pour of all time, this tricky little bugger wasn't easy to make, but I got it done and I think it looks GREAT! Weighing ~2ozt of .999 Fine Silver, you won't see those copycats in Niue coming out with this any time soon! Asking $100.00 each!

::: ZELDA POURS :::

GALLERY : https://imgur.com/a/Qy56kXQ
HYLIAN SHIELD ::: These weigh 2+ Troy Ounces and are hand poured. These STACK, too! ::: $80.00 each
MIRROR SHIELD ::: These weigh 2+ Troy Ounces and are hand poured. ::: $80.00 each
SHEIKAH SLATE ::: For some stupid reason I neglected to take pictures of the back of these fully dimensional and highly accurate slates! These make GREAT keyfobs, too! These weigh 2+ Troy Ounces and are hand poured. ::: $80.00 each
LOGO CARD PROTECTOR ::: (Apologies for the terrible picture ... I need to take a better one!) Here's a BEEFY 2ozt+ CARD PROTECTOR (for you poker players!) featuring the Sheikah Sigil on one side, and the famous Z logo on the other! Asking just $80.00 each
MASTER SWORD ::: These weigh 2+ Troy Ounces and are hand poured. Epic! ::: $90.00 each
ZELDA NES Carts - ZELDA N64 Carts - ZELDA GAMEBOY Carts ::: 2+ Troy Ounces, HIGHLY detailed, and with the LABEL OF YOUR CHOICE! ::: $80.00 each w/FREE GOLD PLATING as needed!
RUPEES ::: Fantastic little RUPEES made of pure .999 Fine Silver! Each weighs 1+t.oz and are all made by hand! They are just $42.50 each!
MASTER COMBO ::: Includes a Master Sword and a Hylian Shield, along with the display base, for just $170.00
SAVIOR OF HYRULE COMBO - Alternate Pic ::: Includes one of my .999 Fine Silver Master Swords and one Shield of your choosing, as well as a GOLD PLATED NES/SNES/N64 Zelda Cart of your choosing and ONE Rupee (I know two are shown... sigh) ... That's SEVEN+ total Troy ounces of .999 Fine Silver and includes the stand for display! Each Savior of Hyrule Combo can be yours for just $290.00!

::: PURE SILVER TRADING CARDS :::

Pokemon - FIRST EDITION CHARIZARD : VIDEO ::: 4.6+ Troy Ounces of .999 Fine Silver, full scale and absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Each card ships with a Serial Numbered Certificate of Authenticity! $250.00 each

::: ARTIFACTS :::

BIG MEGALODON TOOTH ::: Beautifully antiqued and exquisitely detailed! This .999 FINE SILVER tooth weighs over 100 grams (over 3 troy ounces) and is definitely a conversation starter! ::: $135.00 each ... Also available in a 1ozt version for $45.00!
THE DERRINGER ::: One of my all time FAVORITE pours - this 1:1 scale Derringer was modeled off a REAL period piece and is actual size! Made of solid .999 Fine Silver, this beefy piece weighs in at over 7.5 t.oz of solid girth! A difficult piece to make, but worth it! ::: $325.00 per pew pew!
VELOCIRAPTOR CLAW as seen (and modelled, 1 to 1) being wielded by Dr. Alan Grant to scare small brats in the famous film Jurassic Park, this is a BEAST of a pour, and beefy too!!! Weighing in at roughly 7 troy ounces and absolutely as dangerous as it looks Asking $325 for this beast and is also available in a mini ONE OUNCE VERSION for $50.00!
NATIVE ARROWHEADS ::: Made of 1+ozt of pure .999 Fine Silver and blackened to resemble the Earth from which it was hewn, these would make GREAT wrapped pendants! Asking just $45.00 each!
T-REX SKULL ::: A RARE piece of the Glass Panther collection ... this smokin T-REX Fossil Skull pour is one of my coolest pieces! A beefy five ounces of pure silver, which has been blackened and then selectively buffed to make the skull pop out. A truly exquisite piece and only $225.00!

::: GHOSTBUSTERS :::

GALLERY : https://imgur.com/yTQgJJy
THE STAY PUFT MARSHMALLOW MAN - FRONT 2 - BACK ::: What did you do, Ray??? This thicc and fluffy boi tips the scales at just over 3 troy ounces of .999 fine silver! Asking $145 each!
ECTO-1 BARS - BACK ::: The iconic plate from the Cadillac Hearse driven by the men themselves as they sought to rid Manhattan of its ghost infestation! These are 1+ troy ounce bars and are just $42.50 each!
NO GHOST - BACK ::: The most recognizable symbol of the most heroic men in all of NYC! This classic logo is a true crowd pleaser and weighs just over 2 troy ounces of pure .999 fine silver! Asking $80 each!

::: THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY :::

GALLERY : https://imgur.com/fM58Lam
THE GUIDE ::: This great 2 ozt .999 Fine Silver pour was entirely designed and modelled by me based on the original book description. I figured it would look great with a slipcase, as well, so I made that too. I then hand paint the letters in gold and then buff the slipcase to give it a slightly weathered appearance. This was VERY fun to design! $80.00 each!
THUMBS UP ::: If you don't have an electronic thumb this is the next best thing! When you see the Vogon Constructor Fleet just hold this up in the air and hope you get picked up ... don't forget your towel, though! This 2ozt pour is $80.00 each!

::: FUTURAMA :::

GALLERY : https://imgur.com/xkbEvSw
BENDER - ALT ... Featuring a biteable shiny metal ass, a beer in one hand, and a cigar in the other, you can't go wrong with this great pour! Also includes a 3D printed resin base and is only $100 each!
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY - VIDEO pour. This is a ONE ozt. pour and is a GREAT pocket carry or card protector! $45.00 each!
I WILL WAIT FOR YOU ::: This is one of the saddest scenes in television history and I STILL cry thinking about it. Seymour Asses, Fry's eternally loyal and faithful dog, who never gave up hope that his master would one day return for him ... I'm not crying YOU'RE crying. Just $45.00 each.
SLURM STACKERS ::: These great 2+ozt stackers interlock VERY well and are a truly unique addition to anyone's stack! $80.00 each!

::: FAR AWAY GALAXY :::

BESKAR SILVER ::: Available in a 2ozt size as well as a super clean 5+ozt size, these great bars are poured, cleaned, antiqued, and then hand finished with a special technique I developed which gives them a shimmery "crystalline" look ... Check out THIS VIDEO for an idea of the surface finish. It's quite nice! The 2+ozt bar is $90.00 each and the 5+ozt bar is OUT OF STOCK for a minute.
CARBONITE - ALT - BACK ::: Everyone's favorite scruffy looking nerf herder, forever immortalized via being frozen in carbonite for all to see. ... Available in either ANTIQUED or BRIGHT SILVER, and also available as a honkin' 10+ozt big bar at $400.00! The 2+ozt version will return soon!

::: FALLOUT POURS :::

GALLERY : https://imgur.com/RzQPlpq
VAULT 111 DOOR - BACK ::: Weighing in at 2+ troy ounces of .999 Fine Silver, this is a great and BEEFY little pocket carry! It was 100% modelled by me and these things look great stacked ::: Asking $80.00!
PIP-BOY - BACK - The 5t.oz and the 2t.oz PIP-BOY ::: Available in TWO SIZES - Either a 5+t.oz or a 2+t.oz this is one of my coolest pours ever. I really had fun making this work and I hope you enjoy owning it as much as I enjoy making it! 5+t.oz Pip-Boy is $250.00 each and 2+t.oz Pip-Boy is $80.00!
NOT AVAILABLE WHILE I RE-DESIGN IT ::: NUKA CAP STACKERS - BACK - STACKED
v2 PLATINUM CHIP - BACK ::: Made in .999 Fine SILVER (not platinum!) this is a GREAT little 1+t.oz coin for ANY fans of the franchise! These are solid antiqued to make them seem like they've been through some stuff! I've UPDATED the design to include a purity mark as well as a weight ... plus I emboldened the lines a bit to make it pop! Just $45.00!
NUKA COLA BOTTLE - BACK ::: Another popular request ... this thicc boi 2+ozt. pour came out surprisingly well! Yours for $80.00!
THIRST ZAPPER - BACK ::: I had a lot of fun modelling this! I'm not normally a fan of organic shapes but I took this as an opportunity to work on my Fusion360 organics skills. This was entirely modelled by me - I'm quite happy with it!!! :) Weighing in at 2+ozt - yours for $80.00!
VAULT BOY STACKERS - ALT ::: This is a GREAT stackable Vault Boy pocket carry! Weighing in at 2+ozt. pour each in .999 Fine Silver and only $80.00!
ROULETTE CHIP - BACK ::: HIGHLY requested, so here you go! Covered with tons of little details - from the morse code on both sides, to the little ball, and then some ... this epic 2+ozt pour is done in .999 FINE SILVER and ships in an Airtite for display! Asking just $100.00!

::: ALIENS :::

GALLERY : https://imgur.com/Gys9As6
XENOMORPH HEADS - ALT - ALT - ALT ::: They mostly come at night ... mostly ... These gorgeous and creeeepy Aliens pours are 2+ozt each of PURE .999 Fine Silver! Each is then antiqued by hand and are presented to you for $80.00 each
BUGSTOMPER (The Dropship) ROUND - BACK - PIC FROM MOVIE ::: Move it Spunkmeyer, we're rolling! Famous last words, but if you want one of the coolest pocket carries around and you know your trivia this round can't be beat! 2+ozt. of .999 Fine Silver ::: $80.00 each
M41A Plasma Rifle - LEFT - TOP - BOTTOM ::: Let me introduce you to a personal friend of mine! This is an M41A Pulse Rifle. 10mm with an over and under 30mm pump action grenade launcher. Feel the weight ... It is 2+ozt. of Antiqued .999 Fine Silver! Just $90.00!

::: STAR TREK POURS :::

TNG COMMS BADGE ::: These beefy little beauties are made with 2 Troy Ounces of .999 Fine Silver and are then electroplated with 24k gold. I then buff the gold off strategically and you are left with this absolutely GORGEOUS collectible! Get yours now for $90.00 each!
WORF'S BAT'LETH ::: After many people protested, I am keeping the Bat'leth available! This is a 1t.oz Pour ::: $60.00 each!
PICARD'S HORGA'HN - BACK ::: A horga'hn was a statuette that served as a fertility symbol on Risa, and represented the Risian symbol of sexuality. It came in many sizes, from small carvings to statues to a hotel with a giant horga'hn built into it. It was believed that to own one was to call forth its powers. Also used when seeking "Jamaharon" ::: 2+ troy ounces of .999 Fine Silver for just $80.00 each!
KLINGON INSIGNIA - BACK ::: Shown here beside my TNG Comms Badge pour, this great Klingon insignia is beefy and chunky at 2+ozt. "Cry HAVOC and let slip the dogs of war" for just $80.00 each.
Ferengi Gold Pressed Latinum SLIP - BACK ::: These are a GREAT complement to the STRIPS that I sell below ... Slips are ONE TROY OUNCE EACH of pure .999 Fine Silver and are just $45.00 a piece!

::: THE BIG N :::

GALLERY : https://imgur.com/LbXee8q
NES CONTROLLER :: This is a GREAT little pocket carry! It weighs 2+ troy ounces and is $80.00 each
🚨🚨🚨 SNES CONTROLLER :: This is a GREAT little pocket carry! It weighs 2+ troy ounces and is $80.00 each
N64 CONTROLLER :: This is a GREAT little pocket carry! It weighs 2+ troy ounces and is $80.00 each
NES Carts ::: 2+ Troy Ounces, HIGHLY detailed, and with the LABEL OF YOUR CHOICE! ::: $80.00 each (add $5 for gold plating)
N64 Carts ::: 2+ Troy Ounces, HIGHLY detailed, and with the LABEL OF YOUR CHOICE! ::: $80.00 each (add $5 for gold plating)
GAMEBOY Carts ::: 2+ Troy Ounces, HIGHLY detailed, and with the LABEL OF YOUR CHOICE! ::: $80.00 each (add $5 for gold plating)

::: POCKET CARRIES and PANTHER SPECIALTIES :::

GALLERY : https://imgur.com/Z9IeBNm
FUCK YOU PAY ME ::: The ORIGINAL FYPM pocket carry from Glass Panther! Weighing 1 troy ounce this is perfect for making decisions, or helping other people make the right decision! $45.00 each
POT LEAF ::: These are GREAT and everybody loves them! Two troy ounces of beefy .999 Fine Silver and these make an absolutely GREAT gift! These are $80.00 each
DICKBUTT - BACK ::: Back for a limited time? Who knows ... This great pour is 2+ troy ounces and is only $80.00
ANVILS ::: These are quickly becoming crowd favorites ... Shown here in TWO and TEN ounce versions ... They are BIG, BEEFY, and truly impressive. The 2+t.oz version is priced at $90.00 each and the 10+t.oz version is $400.00
THE PANTHER PIZZA - Gallery ::: 2 Troy Ounces of .999 Fine Silver that has been poured and designed in such a way as to make it possible to break it into individual 1/4 ounce slices! The full pie measures 55mm wide (a little over 2 inches) and is juuuust over 2 troy ounces. PIC - VIDEO of me Breaking One Apart ::: Each pie comes in a 55mm Airtite capsule! ::: These are $100.00 each
SHENRON THE DRAGON - BACK ::: A 100% designed and modelled in house, high relief coin featuring the powerful dragon Shenron! This epic coin weighs 2+ ozt and is made of .999 Fine Silver and ships in a clear Airtite capsule. Asking $90.00 each!
🚨🚨🚨 GRENADE ::: A truly unique FULLY 3D MODELLED beauty - poured in .999 Fine Silver and then blackened for effect! Available at a 2+ozt pour for $90.00 each, and also a 5+ozt version for $225.00!
🚨🚨🚨 SKYRIM SEPTIMS! These beefy coins were completely modelled by me (except for Tamriel's profile) and hand poured in my home foundry. Available in BRUSHED SILVER for $80.00 each or PLATED with 24k gold for $85.00 each!
🚨🚨🚨 THE BUSTER SWORD ::: Cloud's famous sword from one of the greatest games in one of the greatest franchises of ALL TIME ... Weighing in just over 2t.oz and absolutely a crowd pleaser! ::: $90.00 each
🚨🚨🚨 M1911 .45 Caliber Pistol Pour - ALT FINISH - SIDE ::: This is an ACCURATE and BEAUTIFUL representation of the classic M1911 pistol - Loaded with detail and made with care - it is a 5+ozt .999 Fine Silver Pour and is the PERFECT pour to bridge the gap between collections! Available in Bright Silver, ANTIQUED, and BLACKENED finishes for just $250.00 each!

::: THE ORIGINAL CHESS SET! :::

GALLERY : https://imgur.com/Z9IeBNm
FULL GAME SET w/BLACKENED or GOLD PLATED Set ::: Includes All Pieces Needed to Play as well as a Chessboard to play upon! Over 26 Troy Ounces of .999 Fine Silver : $1,300.00
A La Carte Pieces :
The KING or QUEEN : Over 1.5 Troy Ounces of .999 Fine Silver : $100.00 each
The BISHOP, KNIGHT, or ROOK : Over 1 Troy Ounces of .999 Fine Silver : $60.00 each
The PAWN : Over 0.5 Troy Ounces of .999 Fine Silver : $45.00 each
ONE OF EACH Set ( A King, Queen, Bishop, Rook, Knight, and Pawn ) : Over 6.5 Troy Ounces of .999 Fine Silver : $400.00 each

PAYMENT / SHIPPING

USA RISKY SHIPPING IS FREEEEEEE!!! Once the USPS scans it I am absolved of responsiblity. If you'd like to pony up for insurance, etc, let me know and we can work something out!
NOW OFFERING CANADA SHIPPING starting at $15.00!
I take ZELLE / VENMO & CASHAPP ... and BULLION TRADE ... but Zelle is strongly preferred
🔒 2FA enabled for your pleasure! 🔒
Posted at 4:30pm Arizona time, 5-31-24

Hello, lovey people! We have a 28’ above-ground saltwater pool. The cover has a substantial amount of water in it and there are about 28 bazillion tree frog bebes in different stages of development living happily therein. My family has been watching and enjoying their growth , (and feeding them approved tadpole food), and now some are almost fully frogged, but I’m worried about how they’ll get out of the pool and into the trees and bushes in our yard. I’ve searched the internet for ideas, but everything is about how to prevent frogs from laying eggs in your pool and we are well past the point of froggie contraception products! I want to aid them in their escape to frog freedom. Any thoughts or ideas how I can help my frog children? I’m happy to float things, build things, buy things….really any functional method is open. I was kind of thinking about buying some pool noodles, cutting them in half, and then attaching them to the sides with string. Y’all have any bettemore efficient ways to offer freedom?
Thank you in advance. Any useful help will be greatly appreciated!!!

I've looked on TikTok and there are a few and I have DM'd them but no response yet which is fine. I want an in real life producer who would also record my vocals ect . Also I know that 'Discord' is one of the ways to find one, but honestly I find it sketchy and I don't really want to go down that path. Are there any websites or anything that I can find an in-person producer? Thank you!
I write POP music, revenant to Beyonce and Rihanna and I have nothing out on socials yet because I want to release a song that is fully polished so I am struggling to find a producer as obviously, I am not signed to a record label therefore I have to go on a scavenger hunt myself. Any tips or anything would be appreciated- Thank you! ❤️

For many on the path of healing from narcissistic abuse, toxic relationships, or any past experience, seeking refuge or relief in something like another relationship, a higher power, a support group, or just practices can provide some sense of relief and comfort. But how comfortable is that comfort if we're still experiencing inner discomfort?
It may provide relief, but relief is not the same as overcoming suffering. In fact, the more comfortable something is, the longer it may keep you in pain or lead to more suffering. One aspect that may seem helpful on your healing journey is spiritual philosophies or spirituality itself. While it may provide comfort, if you're not aware, you might be using it as a crutch, which is where spiritual bypassing comes in.
What Is Spiritual Bypassing?
Spiritual bypassing is essentially when spirituality or spiritual practices are used as avoidance strategies or defense mechanisms to bypass doing the real emotional work. It involves using spiritual concepts to avoid facing or processing painful emotions, including grief or the pain you've endured.
The concept of spiritual bypassing was coined by John Welwood, a transpersonal psychotherapist. He explained it as the "tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks."
It's actually becoming more common nowadays because of the increasing popularity of spirituality and self-help practices in the modern world. It can share similarities with toxic positivity, but spiritual bypassing takes it a step further. It can truly convince you that you're seeking or even experiencing true liberation at a higher state.
The Appeal of Spiritual Bypassing
On some level, the desire to transcend painful experiences after leaving that toxic relationship through spiritual bypassing is very understandable. When you've gone through emotional torture from the hands of someone who once claimed that they loved you, the idea of “rising above” and “detaching” from the pain can feel absolutely appealing and even necessary for survival.
To sweeten this, you might come across stories of enlightened masters who have supposedly transcended their egos and achieved a "higher" state of consciousness and true freedom. You read or hear about how they renounced everything in this world to attain true peace. You think about how your friends or your ex are bothering you, or how your divorce is bringing up a lot of emotional pain. In this context, this narrative can feel incredibly tempting, offering a seemingly ideal way to avoid or suppress the emotional pain you’re carrying deep inside you.
You might find yourself fully immersing in teachings that suggest your wounds as just mere illusions, and that all you need to do is change your perception of the past. To heal, you may be encouraged to simply "surrender to what is" or to “let go of the past and embrace the present moment” or “just breathe and focus on the now” or just say, “it is what it is” and move forward with life.
While those teachings have a point and yes, life is lived in the present moment not in the past, to your mind which has been stuck in unhealthy patterns and pain for a long time, they can serve as shiny philosophical shortcuts, subtly sidestepping the necessary deep emotional processing required for genuine freedom.
Signs of Spiritual Bypassing
Some common examples of spiritual bypassing in action especially after leaving a toxic relationship can include:
· Using spirituality or spiritual practices as a means of escaping or dissociating from the difficult emotions instead of allowing yourself to feel them
· Avoiding "negative" emotions like anger or grief by obsessively focusing only on positive thoughts of higher concepts even when those emotions need to be processed.
· Believing your particular spiritual beliefs make you superior or more "enlightened" than others which lead to you being so judgmental and patronizing instead of being humble.
· Avoiding responsibility or ownership for personal shortcomings by saying that flaws or hurtful behaviors are merely signs of "spiritual progress" or “the ego”, enlightenment tests or opportunities to transcend ego.
· Preaching about "non-resistance" and "allowing" suffering in such a way that you no longer fight for better life circumstances and simply remain stuck in denial of emotional and even physical realities.
· Jumping into new spiritual practices or any new shiny spiritual practice without really giving yourself space to process your pain. It’s always, the next best tool or spiritual retreat without really looking at where you are.
· Refusing to engage in difficult conversations about your current state of your healing journey because you want to maintain peace and harmony.
The Problem with Spiritual Bypassing
To show how spiritual bypassing works, imagine you have a splinter (thin broken piece of wood) stuck in your finger for a long time. It hurts and bothers you, but instead of taking it out, you put some essential oil and a bandage on it. You keep telling yourself, "I'm healed, I'm at peace," without dealing with the splinter. That's like spiritual bypassing - pretending everything's okay without fixing the real problem.
You can keep using positive affirmations, burning sage, and meditating, but if you don't face and remove that splinter, it'll stay there. It will keep causing problems, getting irritated again and again, and stopping your finger from healing properly. No matter how much you believe in inner peace, the truth is you have a physical object stuck in your body that needs to be removed. Using spiritual ideals won't change that fact. You need to make a focused effort to physically remove it. Anything less just covers up the real problem with temporary comfort or with the hope that you will attain a higher state and the pain will disappear.
True healing can't happen until you're willing to honestly expose the splinter, experience the temporary discomfort of extracting it fully, and then allow the wound to finally close up from the inside-out. Any avoidance or purely surface-level treatment is just letting that splinter stick to your finger forever.
The Courage to Face Yourself
At first, spiritual bypassing may seem harmless as you're just trying to focus on the positive and the possibilities beyond the mind, or by aligning with a power beyond your pain. But in reality, you're simply avoiding where the source of healing is and searching for healing where you think it is or where your mind convinces you it is. Yet all along, the healing is just within you, and isn’t that the essence of spirituality? It's about looking within, not just focusing on the positive, but examining everything as it is (not just sidelining the negative).
If it's anger, resentment, shame, hate and all those other emotions, look at them directly. Don't try to explain it away or label it as something else. Just feel it without overthinking it. It's a simple fact: you're angry, hateful, vengeful, bitter, sad, or lonely. See these emotions for what they are instead of chasing after shiny distractions. By facing them head-on, you'll gradually realize that they were just dark clouds that needed your attention. This realization may bring you some sort of peace and relief.
In conclusion, spiritual concepts may seem appealing to the mind, but it's that same mind that keeps you in toxic relationships and can also keep you stuck in toxic spirituality. Even though the spiritual path may seem better, you're still the same person. The toxicity lies within you, and unless you confront it without trying to escape, you'll continue to be in toxic relationships with other aspects of life. You're still viewing things through the same negative beliefs that kept you in toxicity or are currently keeping you in denial.
If you've been practicing spirituality for a long time and you're not seeing any change in your life, chances are you're avoiding the pain instead of processing it. Learn from all those teachers but have the determination to come back to the sad, lonely, and miserable parts of yourself to discover the other, hidden aspects that have been clouded by negative experiences. It's better to honestly confront your misery and bitterness than to pretend to be enlightened or spiritual.
Note from the Author
If you’re ready and you’d like my help with healing, finding peace in life and breaking free from these toxic patterns, then you can book a FREE BREAKTHROUGH CALL with me HERE. Happy healing 💙💙. Feel free to share and comment! Use this information with caution, it comes from my own thoughts & bias, experiences and research😊.
References

1. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-spiritual-bypassing-5081640
   
2. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/you-using-spiritual-bypassing-make-excuses-yourself-s%C3%A9guin/
   

Re-reading Word's of Radiance made me re-reflect on Kaladin's development in reaching the 3rd oath. He had a huge mistrust of the light-eyed nobility that was justified from past betrayal but it nearly resulted in the breaking of his own oaths (with Syl's death) with the assassination of the king.
It took a tremendous amount of effort for his viewpoint to change with the assistance of multiple characters who light-eyed and good. Even then, he only changed his mind at the very last minute, right on the day assassination was meant to happen.
Given how much support Kaladin was given, I can't fully blame Moash for the path he went on (at least at this point of the story). He has similar mistrust of the light-eyes due to his past like Kaladin. If it took that much effort to get Kaladin to change his mind, it's hard to imagine how Moash would've been convinced to step away unless Kaladin had prevented it at the start.
He's still at fault for his own choices. He was active in pushing for the king's assassination (though he was manipulated by conspirators working for Taravangian/the Diagram) and he made the choice in trying to kill Kaladin when he tried to resist (choosing vengeance over his friend). But I can't help but feel pity, because at least Kaladin had a lot of support in being able to change his mind and it still took a great amount of effort for him to change his mind whereas, beyond the friends of Bridge 4, Moash didn't have as much support. Then again, maybe that just shows how much of a stubborn fool Kaladin was.

My fellow gamers, for too long has our community suffered the indignation of an intolerable culture that has denigrated, besmirched, exploited, and has outright demonized our culture of unique individuals with a genuine love of a hobby that they see as profitable and progressive. They have taken beloved IP’s (Intellectual Properties) and twisted them into their own personal ideological crusade of undermining and humiliating the core aspects of characters they deemed as “Toxic” or “White Supremacy”. Through the guise and protection of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity) & ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) they have used our influence in the entertainment industry to push their narratives and agendas that have stigmatized our culture with numerous anti-consumer practices that they call “being progressive”. But the truth of the matter is they were never really looking to be a part of our community, they simply wanted to use our community as a tool of activism and propaganda in the entertainment industry as it was extremely profitable, and they wanted inclusion in that division. Ever since GamerGate & Female Frequency, we have had to endure the incursion of forced ideologies, xenophobic behaviors and inferior overpriced products that have never been in our best interest and have been flat out disgraceful towards foreign media.
Before Gaming had become a major source of entertainment, we were often categorized as anti-social or societies rejects where because we found more enjoyment in playing fictional characters and not spending as much time out and about, we never fully assimilated in society (which is a good thing if you ask me). From 1998 to 2007, at the height of innovation, creativity and production, Gaming had reached a golden age in which it had revolutionized society. Hollywood Execs who had ruined the movie industry turned their attention to video games as a source of income since video games had outperformed movies in terms of profit. No one was concerned about gaming, much less diversity or inclusivity until it became profitable. This makes people like SBI look extremely disingenuous as they were not interested in gamers as a community with its own culture. They simply wanted to use it as another weapon in identity politics.
Microtransactions; the hidden enemy to gamer progress and inducer to mental laziness of our community. Microtransactions have been around for a long time; however, it has never been more potent and apparent than in recent years. It has aided in the dismantling and segregation of players on the ideology of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and has created another sub-culture of gamers who have no real drive to be better outside of how much money they put into the game. This has degraded our culture as well as we have become “fat” off transactional gaming but at the same time we have been “starved” of purposeful gaming where our achievements were our sustenance. I am not saying that microtransactions are bad, but when they are exploitative and predatorial like they have been and don’t give gamers room to grow, we become lethargic and unwilling to improve ourselves as gamers. Oversaturated microtransactional games are one of the many reasons why we have become complacent and unwilling to fight against the exploitative tactics used by big brand game companies such EA, Ubisoft, ActivisionBlizzard, NaughtyDog and so many other western business model companies. Western style games were not like this in the past, they had much more depth and actual effort put into them with the gamer in mind. This has not been the case for over a decade and our connection to western developers has been whittled down to just being transactional. That is one of the reasons why you see so many remasters and remakes in today’s gamer community. They have lost their willingness to improve as developers of games and simply accept corporate/share holder rules.
Game journalists also do not have any real integrity or purpose outside of being funded for their involvement in promoting IPG (Identity Political Games) in a positive light to the public whether it’s positively received or not. They are not interested in what we have to say, they all support the same agenda and that is why they are a dying breed. Within the next couple of years, they will be out of the job and more than likely they will not be able to stay in the industry giving how they have responded to past articles that have clearly been scripted on the premise of diversity and racism. Not only that, but most of them are also extremely hostile to the community as they stereotype and defame the individuals that are a part of the community they are supposed to serve. We have been mentally liberated from their lies and coercive tactics as we tend to laugh at their obvious attempt at virtue signaling while hiding their misdoings so that they can play the victim.
My gamer brothers & sisters, I would not suggest the following action that we must take now without good cause. I have weighed our options and the best option for us now is this…...CULTURAL SECESSION. Naturally this is a form of segregation where they would more than likely claim they are being segregated by the dominant culture of the gaming community but that is incorrect. For years now we have been the ones who are often marginalized and ostracized for the smaller portion of our community. And when we aren’t, we’re exploited for more funds so that these companies can stay in business only to subject us to low quality products that coincide with the “WOKE Agenda” that are often huge expenses to these big brands i.e. AAA/AAAA games that will eventually flop for its obvious forced diversity and bug infested product which will undoubtedly piss off the consumer to the point of wanting a refund. Losing copious amounts of capital and stock in the process, not to mention their reputation is permanently marred.
We must separate on every cultural level in terms of entertainment and ideology. We must reject everything from the west that promotes toxic western beliefs, practices, and exclusion from other cultures (i.e. Southeastern Countries such as Japan and Korea). Japan & Korea have been the targets of unjust discrimination from Western Developers, Western Journalists, Western Localizers (The Wokelizers) and Western Society Prejudice regarding their sense of aesthetics as Westerners hate the aesthetic sense of these countries. The reason why they resort to such base tactics isn’t just because it weaponizes the ideal female form but it’s also because they have deep-seated insecurities about their own looks so when they see attractive female characters, they use terms such as “unrealistic” or “hypersexualized” to establish the moral high ground. But the truth is, they want to feel superior to that which is ideal, so they insult and dehumanize this figure that portrays natural female beauty because they see it as an insult to their own social superiority in what they believe is a hierarchy of them being at the top of all other women. Because of this and so many contributing factors, their movies flop harder than the Fat Chocobo landing on a group of enemies and their games seismically fail just as much if not more. We must sever our connection to Western Developers, Publishers, and ALL Western-Centric Entertainment for they seek to mentally enslave us to their Xenophobic ideology.
Let’s define Western Culture and its traits. Western Culture/Society is composed of more than several different ideologies that work in unison with one another to facilitate dominance over multiple aspects of society. Business, Social, Political, Technological, and sometimes even Global Affairs are affected by these ideologies that portray a specific mindset of Western beliefs. What are those ideologies you ask?

• Perpetual Victimhood: By weaponizing the fact that they are marginalized and of a small portion of western society, they can push their agenda to absurd standards that ultimately ostracize the main demographic. And when companies don’t capitulate, they are labeled as anti-progressive/misogynist’s or cohorts of White Supremacy. They use this to cancel their targets and silence them through societal defamation to keep the public on their side. They also use this mindset to justify their own lack of self-agency as they tend to throw companies who do adhere to their demands but miserably fail to turn a profit under the bus so that they can maintain face in front of the public while denying their actual involvement. They will never accept “Sense of Agency” when it’s negative but will gladly accept it when a positive outcome shines on them as if they are entitled to it.

Official Wiki GamerGate Page)
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• Societal Terrorism: This is another form of ideology weaponization that they use in order to make companies “toe-the-line” with their agenda. By weaponizing cancel culture, they exert dominance over these companies but in exchange they also reimburse those companies with DEI & ESG funds that raise their credit score as well as having social status with the marginalized demographic. However; cancel culture has not succeeded in years and developers and publishers probably only want the money and the DEI ESG rating. But they have to maintain the image of having social economic power so that they can continue to strong-arm other developers into compliance and promoting financial benefits of DEI & ESG. In other words, if you are not for sale, they discredit and stigmatize you in the industry.

Asmongold Clips.
https://youtu.be/Iq86DnmX2xY
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• “Its not us, its you who’s wrong” Mentality: This mentality is especially annoying as they tend to use it to hide their incompetence. They often look down upon gamers who are not in the industry to hide their obvious lack of knowledge on game development thinking that their job title grants them special status that they believe gives them the right to be condescending. But the truth they never wanted revealed has already strangled their careers of all credibility. They were never GAMERS, they were INVADERS. Community Colonists that seek to indoctrinate next generational gamers into their hive-mind and brand previous generations of gamers as villains.

@GeeksandGamers
https://youtu.be/1HbrTkqQFuM
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• Double-standard Enforcement: By labeling something as “unrealistic” or “hypersexualized”, they can claim this is morally wrong if it promotes traditional dynamics between men and women. Heterosexual relationships are condemned while at the same time Same-sex relationships are praised. Additionally, heterosexual relationships with main white male characters turn antagonistic and spotlight stealing. This is deliberate as to promote the “Girl Boss” ideology to indoctrinate women into the Feminazi state of mind. While at the same time, should a male character also adopt the “I don’t need male/female” ideology its seen as Toxic Masculinity which isn’t even a real thing. The idea of a strong male character is taboo while enforcing strong female characters is the ideal.

@MugenLord
https://youtu.be/to5Uciy_yeg
@EndymionTv
https://youtu.be/7TPTR8-qmbk
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• Dehumanization/Demonization: This is something that most military branches use in order to remove conscious inhibitions such as mass slaughter is wrong or categorization. By enforcing ideologies to denounce humanity in certain targets, it deactivates your conscience by saying this is not human therefore its ethically okay to treat this target without compassion and deny the fact it has sentience. We gamers fall under this category for journalists, developers, companies and society at large. This is a tactic we are familiar with to an extent as it implies that we are not normal when we do not do what everybody else is doing. “Geeks are the worse” or “Nerds need to fall into a pit of lava” are verbal dehumanization forms that most people in society say and we as Gamers tend to be relegated to those categories. This is their way of imposing the social hierarchy on us by establishing superiority. We know this as Gamers as we see it very often in the games that we play and some times experience it in real life.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Gamergate#The_end_of_their_relevance
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• Deflection/Projection: This is basic psychology 101. By redirecting the conversation away from their mistakes and back on to the opposing view to avert blame and justify their innocence they can avoid criticism. However; deflection is a CONSCIOUS decision, meaning they have no real argument to justify their incompetence. If you can consciously process the situation, you have self-agency which means you don’t have a legitimate excuse. Projection is something else entirely. Most times, Projection doesn’t work on conscious decisions rather it is automatically deployed when feeling threatened, anxious or both. Instead of accepting accountability for feelings or actions that are deemed socially unacceptable they accuse others of committing that unacceptable behavior thereby exonerating themselves and proving that those feelings and/or actions are not their own.

@TheTrentReport
https://youtu.be/bPIPSKruYRo
These traits are so nefarious and unconscionable that I have a hard time believing that anyone could harbor them. However, given the social, political, and economic climate that we are in, those in power who use their influence on controlling society most definitely possess these insidious traits. Everything that they do is all about control and since video games are the biggest market in the world, they want control over it and the communities built around it to accrue more wealth and to use that wealth to subjugate other cultures. Mainstream media is a tool as well as mainstream organizations and sites to help accomplish this goal.
The government recently announced its intentions towards what they believe is “GamerGate 2.0” and now even the ADL has made an official appearance, referring to gamers as “extremist’s”. We know EXACTLY what they are doing, and they aren’t even trying to hide it anymore because they don’t think we are aware of their motives. This is just a pretext for them to exert even more control and we know why, it’s because they want the influence we as a community have to must serve them. So here is what we do my fellow gamers-
“In light of recent events and years of mainstream stigma, we the members of the Global Gaming Community [GGC] must officially renounce ALL TIES to the corporate western video game market. We have been financially exploited through predatorial monetization schemes, pelted with numerous articles of disdain and intentional misrepresentation from game journalists, news outlets regarding us as dangerous individuals and, even subjected to inferior products not only riddled with bugs but also products meant to push political agendas. For the preservation of our community and its unique culture, apart from a few select game development studios we officially sever all connections to western owned video game companies & their mainstream affiliates. From this point onward, we will no longer support western corporate developers, journalists and publishers that do not coincide with the goals of our community.”
Naturally this is completely optional. If you are okay with the state of the gaming community as it is, feel free to ignore this. But if you wish for real change and a break away from oversaturated monetization in the games you play and the push for radical ideological reform, then you are in the right place. Lets sever these rotted miasmic ties once and for all so that our community can be preserved and made better for future gamers. If you agree with this, share it with whoever you think might be interested. The more gamers who get involved, the easier it will be for us to finally break free from mainstream game companies and their associates.