Overview

Hello folks. I am from the BTech 2020 batch and just recently completed my academics. I wanted to write an honest opinion thread (and a rant) from a student's perspective for my experiences at DA, which might help other folks in better navigating their college life. This is a thread where I would like to share my Academic Experiences.
Before proceeding, just wanted to give a background. We joined DA in November 2020 (late; since it was the Covid year) and had almost our first 4 semesters in online mode. Also, the administration did change the BTech curriculum a bit after our batch, mostly by rearranging the courses and removing a few. Overall those changes are great in my opinion.

Semester - 1

1. Basic Electronic Circuits: It's an extension to the Electronic circuits (AC/DC, transistors, etc.) which we studied in 12th. The course would be helpful in the future courses of EL in better understanding the circuits. But, apart from that, it would serve no use if you are going to pursue a software career.
   1. Professors: The professors (Srimanta Mandal and Anjan Ghosh) are boring, and whatever they teach you in class would completely help in acing the exam. You have to study by yourself and do some practice.
   2. Assignments: Straight from the textbooks which they recommend. You can easily find solutions on the internet.
   3. Grading: Gave decent grades.
2. Calculus: One of the first mathematics course. again an extension of the calculus you studied in 12th, so a bit easy to catch up and learn. The course provides a solid foundation in advance calculus problems and would become helpful in some courses of data science or machine learning.
   1. Professors: Nabin Sahu is a great professor. Has knowledge and solves doubts too. You should just remain a sincere student in class. If you all as a batch irritate him frequently, then mark my words, he would give you shit grades. That wasn't the case with us, but with the juniors batch. He gave decent grades. But Manoj Raut is a bad prof, doesn't know how to teach, would just say random shit in class which doesn't make sense to you. So stay away.
   2. Assignments: Same as BEC. straight from textbooks. find solutions on the internet.
   3. Grading: Good. Don't disturb Nabin Sahu much and he would give good grades. If you dare to disturb him in the class, be prepared for his wrath :)
3. Engineering Design Workshop: Honestly have zero idea why this course exists. They would teach you AutoCAD, some mechanical tools and concepts, and would give you a project at the end of the course. In offline, the project part is a bit interesting. But the rest of the course is just useless to say the least.
   1. Professor: Anil Roy a senior psycho professor takes the course. Beware of his Dissociative identity disorder (DID). On some days he would be chill and would crack jokes in the class. but when he gets triggered (and trust me it's quite hard to predict what triggers him) he will ensure that it's unbearable to attend the lecture.
   2. Assignments: He gives the same assignments every year. Probably ask your seniors for it.
   3. Grading: If you are girl student, he would treat you softly by default and you have a good chance to score better grades, just by buttering. I know this sounds very sexist, but the prof himself is a sexist person. For the guys, just be sincere if you want good grades. Otherwise he does a decent grading.
4. Language and Literature: I really enjoyed the course. It's the first humanities course you would study in the college. We had a very great prof, Shweta Garg, who made the course interesting to go through. You would have multiple different readings and class discussions. See humanities courses have polarizing opinions. Some like it, some don't. My advice: They help you improve your communication skills a lot (which is crucial for the outside/corporate world) and give you different perspectives to look at life. So I like them (most of).
   1. Professor: Shweta Garg is a nice professor to have discussions with in class. But sadly she left the institute a year back. But I have heard the new professor, Amishal Modi, is also very chill and teaches the course in an interesting manner.
   2. Assignments: These are something where you might have to give efforts as they are based sometimes on the readings and classroom discussions. The group project is also very interesting exercise.
   3. Grading: Good grading. Take care of your exams, and participate in classroom discussions. that would help.
5. Introduction to Programming (and its Lab): The course teaches C language starting from the basics. If you learnt it in your 10th/12th, it would give you an edge. But if not, the course teaches you from scratch. It is very helpful in building the foundation for learning programming. For the exams, slides are 60-70%. And you can read the Let Us C book for added knowledge.
   1. Professors: Manish Khare and Bakul Gohel would teach simultaneously. Both are good profs. Bakul sir has better knowledge imo, Manish sir would bore you out with his teaching. But you can navigate this course by yourself too without attending lectures, with the help of youtube, peers, TAs.
   2. Assignments: Good assignments. would recommend to do them yourself rather than copying. It would help you polish your skills.
   3. Grading: Good grading. You can score well with efforts in exam and assignments.

Semester - 2

1. Approaches to Indian Society: A humanities course. The lectures were boring for me. But the project was interesting. The readings which they provide are a great read.
   1. Professor: Bharani Kollipara is a very chill professor. In the final presentation too, he won't ask scathing questions, instead discuss different aspects of the group project.
   2. Assignments: Same what I told before. you might have to do them by yourself as they are reading based.
   3. Grading: Chill. Just ace your presentation and exam (exam is not fairly easy too).
2. Data Structures (and Lab): A very helpful course in building the foundations for programming. The profs are very strict. But I will suggest if you really put in your time in this course, it would definitely help you while preparing for your placements (as you would have understood the basics of DSA). Also in the Lab, they would teach you Object Oriented Programming, which would also be a solid foundation for your placement prep.
   1. Professor: V Sunitha is an extremely strict professor. She doesn't teach properly and the classes are quite boring. Instead you can learn through youtube. But the attendance part makes it necessary to attend the lectures.
   2. Assignments: I will suggest to do them yourselves. the lab work too.
   3. Grading: If you want good grades, just remain a sincere student in her class. If you as a batch create nuisance, she won't give good grades.
3. Discrete Mathematics: Mathematics course. It's also helpful in your future courses. I didn't focus on the course during my time. and later whenever the concepts from this came, I had to go and revise/refresh that topic. But you would have to do self study more, because the profs don't teach much in detail. Tutorials and exams are moderate, and for solving them, you need to study things apart from the classroom teachings.
   1. Professor: Rahul Muthu is a chill prof, but understanding what he teaches in the class is difficult. Not all can grasp what he is teaching. Manish Gupta also teaches in other section and it's easier to understand.
   2. Assignments: Can be solved with the help of internet. some of them are textbook problems only.
   3. Grading: depends on the prof's mood and the class. If your batch makes nuisance, they would be strict on the grading.
4. Digital Logic Design: It's all about gates and Logic design. Now the course is a bit tweaked and the syllabus is modified somewhat. The course is fairly easy to understand.
   1. Professor: Vinay Palaparthy can be considered one of the chillest profs in DA. Just attend the lectures and he would tell you 90% of the question paper :) If not, you can just attend the lectures before the exam too. He has good knowledge, but also knows that BTech guys here are less interested in EL courses. so he has a very chill vibe.
   2. Assignments: Quite easy to solve.
   3. Grading: Chill. Vinay sir means chill grading policy.
5. Introduction to Communication Systems: It was the first CT course for our batch. But, now according to the new curriculum this course is shifted to 4th sem. 50-60% of the curriculum is really interesting, but as soon as you hear the words Fourier Transformation (one of the most dreadful topics :) ) things start to go above your head. I am not saying impossible, but you might have to give some time digesting those concepts. Overall, it introduces some great topics, which are overall helpful in further CT courses.
   1. Professor: "No-nonsense person" - A perfect definition to suit professor Yash Vasavada. That guy has a ton of knowledge in very diverse domains. But, you know, sometimes people feel bored in his lectures because of his slow pace in teaching. I particularly liked the coursework, so remained engaged in the lectures.
   2. Assignments: One peculiar thing about Prof vasavada, is he would give assignments which require your effort. MATLAB is your companion here.
   3. Grading: If you give good presentation, your chances of getting better grades increases. The exams are somewhat moderate to tough.

Semester - 3

1. Design and Analysis of Algorithms: The other half to make your fundamentals of DSA strong. The course introduces you to the basics of algorithms. You will learn sorting, searching, tree/graph traversals, etc. Most of the times, the profs rush through the end topics which is a downside because the tree and graph traversals are quite important to learn for DSA, CP, placements, etc. So, once you get a good grip of the concepts, start solving "basic" questions on DSA platforms like Leetcode, Hackerrank, etc.
   1. Professor: The teaching profs of this course keep changing generally. We had Supantha Pandit who is a chill prof. But, the classes are boring to attend.
   2. Assignments: Again I would say, do them by yourself - don't copy. That would help for your own benefit.
   3. Grading - Depends on prof, but in general it's chill.
2. Electromagnetic Theory: An extension to the EMT which you studied in 12th. Don't know why this course exists and how it helps. It would be helpful for a very small set of students who want to pursue the electronics domain (maybe).
   1. Professor: We had Mukesh Tiwari and Arnab Ray. Both have an amazing set of knowledge in this domain. I was in Mukesh Tiwari's section. He teaches very well and it's easier to grasp the concepts compared to other courses' profs.
   2. Assignments: Since we were in the online mode, our tutorials were chill. Mostly textbook questions, which you can find solutions online.
   3. Grading: Decent.
3. Groups and Linear Algebra: The third mathematics course. I personally like algebra, and this was an extension of the 12th class algebra, so I really enjoyed the course. (Honestly, I didn't study at all for this course during the sem, and got to know about the course content only during exam time, so have a bit of regret). Again this course would be helpful indirectly in understanding some programming concepts (you can trust me on this).
   1. Professor: Aditya Tatu and Rahul Muthu were the profs. Aditya Tatu teaches well and we used to see his lecture's recording only for the exams. Rahul sir's lectures didn't make much sense for me personally.
   2. Assignments: Easy to moderate. Many of them textbook questions but some unique ones.
   3. Grading: Decent (but this opinion differs batch to batch). For exams, you would have to study the concepts in better detail (Gajendra Purohit's YT playlist is a gem for this).
4. Signals and Systems: A CT course. Comparatively an easy one I can say. As it is more logical and a bit less theoretical. Don't know where it helps apart from future CT courses.
   1. Professor: We had Rajib Lochan Das, but I don't think he is now in the institute.
   2. Assignments: mostly Textbook questions, some different.
   3. Grading: We had a decent grading. But greatly depends on the prof.
5. Computer Organization: I think in the recent curriculum this course is merged with that Digital Logic Design one. So only some portions of what we studied would come for you. It is a decent course. Gives an overview of the kernel and assembly language coding.
   1. Professor: We had prof Amit Bhatt, but he is currently not a part of the institute. He had good subject matter knowledge.
   2. Assignments: mostly easy ones.
   3. Grading: we had a chill one, but depends on who the prof is.
6. Science, Technology, and Society: The only HM course I hated. The curriculum wasn't interesting enough for me. I didn't even understood what the readings tried to convey, what the project meant and what the professor wanted as an outcome from the project, and many things.
   1. Professor: Shefali Jha was a bit boring (personal opinion, other people might differ). She is a feminist kinda person and favours girls a bit more. even talks more with them in class discussions.
   2. Grading: If you can impress the prof in presentation then you would get good grades. Also class interactions matter.

Semester - 4

1. Probability, Statistics, Information Theory: The last mathematics course. It's an extension of the Probability and Statistics of 11-12th. The course is really good, and is helpful. From the perspective of placements too, the course is helpful, since many companies ask MCQs on these.
   1. Professor: We had the OG Gagan Garg. A chill and humorous prof. But now, he also has left the institute. Madhukant Sharma who teaches now, is a bit terrible prof. So take care of his grading policy.
   2. Assignments: Mostly textbook questions.
   3. Grading: Depends on prof. Madhukant has a stricter one. Exams were fairly straightforward for us, mostly similar to tutorial ques. But, you might have to confirm with the current batches.
2. Analog Communication and Transmission Line Theory: A CT course. Mostly theoretical. somewhat boring too.
   1. Professor: Deepak Ghodgaonkar teaches this. He would give you textbook snippet PDFs and just mug up those sections by heart, because he would just ask those same things as it is in the paper. Just pour out jo tumne ratta mara. :)
   2. Grading: Reiterating the above point. If you can mug up things, remember them precisely word to word, you can score in exams.
3. Analog Circuits: An EL course. Extension of the BEL course of 1st sem. Don't know where this course helps apart from EL electives. Learning electronic circuits was tough thing for me, so try to learn that out.
   1. Professor: Rutu Parekh is a chill and amazing person. If you are a gujju and can do great vaato, you have chances of getting good grades.
   2. Assignments: moderate.
   3. Grading: Exams would majorly determine your grades.
4. Systems Software: A course similar to Operating Systems but a more foundational one. You would learn Linux, Threading, etc. I really liked the course and found it helpful too later in different aspects.
   1. Professor: Amit Mankodi is an amazing prof with great knowledge and good teaching style. You just have to just catch his speed of teaching, as he covers a lot in each lecture. I would say, he is the most systematic prof, as he keeps the lectures, code files and many other things organized pretty well.
   2. Assignments: Quite intuitive and interesting to solve. Would suggest not to copy and do them yourselves.
   3. Grading: The exams are on the tougher side. And hence it is a bit difficult to get 9/10.
5. Environmental Studies: Another HM course but termed as an SC course. Prof Vasavada teaches a lot and provides excessive content against the lower number of credits the course has. A fairly easy course to go through. But have to mug up a lot of content for exams.
   1. Professor: Yash Vasavada is quite dedicated in teaching the course. But at some time, it becomes exhausting with the detailed content.
   2. Assignments: Not many. Majorly a group project.
   3. Grading: If you put up a great presentation, chances of receiving good grades are high.
6. Engineered Materials: I won't say anything about this course, since it has been removed now. Can write a complete thread ranting about Anil Roy, but don't want to waste my time. If at all this course comes up as an elective, my advice, don't take it. The course has nothing to offer, neither the prof.

Semester - 5

1. Digital Communications: Another CT course. It's not completely theoretical and somewhat interesting. Personally I found Digital part to be more easy to grasp than the Analog part. But still a lot of mugging up of theory and derivations of formulae.
   1. Professor: Deepak Ghodgaonkar and Abhishek Jindal. Deepak Ghodgaonkar literally just reads out paragraphs from the textbook snips and doesn't teach anything. Jindal sir does teach some concepts. He seems a chill prof, but is slightly cunning so beware in your interactions.
   2. Grading: As mentioned earlier, Deepak sir would make a purely theoretical paper, straight from the textbook snippets. On the other hand, Jindal sir would give more practical (solving problems) type questions. So be prepared to do a mix of both. They generally divide in either of these manner: Each prof makes paper of each insem or they both make 50-50 percent of the paper. The grading is based on exams mostly.
2. Principle of Economics: Really interesting course from the name. I also enjoyed it a fair part. It covers many fundamental topics and that was the best part. Finance folks would enjoy the curriculum.
   1. Professor: We had both new profs - Cyril Jos and Gaurav Kumar Singh. Gaurav sir was chill as hell in class, he would just go past his ppt and explain things (along with saying "Right" 100-200 times in a lecture :) ). Cyril sir just whiz past through his ppt and covers a ton of topics in every lecture and you can't grasp everything for sure. And it really becomes a pain in the ass when going through those 500-600 pages PPTs during insem prep.
   2. Grading: We had a really chill grading done. But further batches faced stricter policies, so ask your immediate seniors for better knowledge.
3. Database Management Systems: An important course as it covers SQL. PostgreSQL and PgAdmin would be your buddies. The course would cover for almost 60-70% placement prep for you, so would suggest to learn properly. The profs are mid. So you might have to learn some things yourselves too. Overall a very helpful course.
   1. Professor: (Different profs take the course from batch-to-batch) We had Minal Bhise and Rachit Chhaya. Minal Bhise is a typical old atrocious bitch professor. She doesn't know how to teach much. Rachit sir on the other hand is a chill prof and teaches well too.
   2. Assignment: I would suggest to do them yourselves, considering the importance of the course. Most of the lab work, they would ask you to complete in lab only.
   3. Grading: Shit grading policy. Minal Bhise, being the senior prof, dictated the grading policy and gave good grades to very few people.
4. Embedded Hardware Design: Ohh man. What should I say. Our batch had its worst nightmare in this course. Initial two months both the profs didn't teach much and most of the lectures got cancelled. And then the prof just had some mood swings at the end of the course and awarded shittiest grades we ever saw. The course project (programming elevator) was same for each group, yet he was disappointed from everyone.
   1. Professor: We had Biswajit Mishra and Vinay Palaparthy. Just stay away from Biswajit as far as you can. If someone can give competition to Anil Roy, it's Biswajit. Vinay sir was really chill and infact he did give some hints also about the question paper during lectures. But Biswajit decided on the grading part (again because he was a senior prof). BUT, if you have Tapas Kumar Maiti as prof, it would be somewhat chill course (Our juniors had him).
   2. Assignments: If you get that elevator project, do it somewhat properly, to save your grades.
   3. Grading: Biswajit dictated the grading and gave really bad grades. He even changed the policy in the middle of the semester.
5. Computer Networks: Somewhat important course as it covers a fundamental domain of Computer Science - Networks. I really enjoyed the lectures and the course in general. The prof was good, exams were also not that difficult and provided good set of knowledge. Some companies do ask CN in their tests/interviews, so this would become helpful for sure.
   1. Professor: PS Kalyan Sasidhar is a great prof. Has subject knowledge, knows hows to teach, and doesn't have any nakhre.
   2. Assignments: Easy ones. Would suggest doing them by yourselves, as there is a lab viva too.
   3. Grading: Chill policy. If you are above average, you would get >=8 for sure.
6. (ELECTIVE) Optimization: I took Opti, some people took other courses too. Won't say this is the best option or so, you can take a course as per your interest. But one important thing - Take optimization as elective only and only if Manish Kumar is the prof. If Manoj Raut is teaching, stay away. The course is very chill teaches 3 main important formulae/methods which are the only things you need to learn. The only skill which you require is good maths (Not advance, but good at subtraction, addition, multiplication, division) and patience.
   1. Professor: Manish Kumar teaches well. You can attend the lectures and would just have to revise the formulae before exams and you are all set. DONT GO IF THERE IS MANOJ RAUT teaching the course. If some other prof, then ask around, before taking.
   2. Assignments: Chill.
   3. Grading: Our seniors had chill grading. Our was moderate. But, you need to ensure that your calculations are precise and proper in exams, because those are very statistical and long calculations spanning 2-3 pages.

Semester - 6

1. Software Engineering: My first impressions were that most of the course content is not at all helpful. When you attend the lectures, you think, why am I studying this (though being an IT course). But later I realised the profs are bad at teaching. The concepts taught and asked in exams are in general helpful in real world (Class Diagrams, and all those diagrams, Agile, etc.) But, they don't even focus on such aspects. Believe it or not, the slides go beyond 800 when you read them for your exams, but doesn't have even 10% helpful information in there.
   1. Professor: Saurabh Tiwari and Manish Khare. Saurabh sir still teaches somewhat better but is very strict. He catches people who sneak out of the lectures in between (yes it's happened in our batch couple of times). Manish Khare doesn't know anything. Neither his slides nor he himself makes any sense in general.
   2. Project: I would suggest you to contribute in the group project of this course. They ask you to develop a full fledged software application in group. Pick a team (frontend/backend doesn't matter) and learn atleast one new language/technology. The project and your skill would be a great add to your resume.
   3. Grading: Moderate to decent.
2. (ELECTIVE) Econometric Data Analysis with R: A new course at our time so I took it. If you like Data Analysis, this is a good course. It would teach you great stuff. Gaurav Kumar Singh is a mid prof. You will understand a few things, but would have to learn other concepts by yourself. Many good concepts of Probability and Statistics are covered in this.
   1. Professor: Gaurav Kumar Singh has a background of Economics and Data Analysis so he has good knowledge. But his teaching is just decent not good. But a really nice and chill prof.
   2. Assignments: Easy to moderate. If you are interested in Data Analysis field, would suggest to do them yourselves.
   3. Grading: Moderate. He did somewhat stricter grading. But that was also because less people attending his lectures and he didn't like that.
3. (ELECTIVE) Human Computer Interaction: I really don't know how the Deans and other senior members approved this to be a full fledged course. The course content is so minimal, and chill, every year, the seats fill up and the registrations of this course exceed the limit. I am not demeaning the domain, but I think there are more things which could fit in. If you like designing or want to go in UI/UX, this course would help. Anyways, it's a win-win situation for you, if you get this elective. It's very chill and you literally have a lot of high chance of scoring a 10 pointer very easily.
   1. Professor: P S Kalyan Sasidhar, as mentioned earlier, is a chill no-nonsense prof. He passionately teaches the course.
   2. Assignments: Actually the assignments are really interesting as it requires you to think in a different approach. The prof has designed them really well.
   3. Grading: Chill. You can easily get good grades >=8.
4. (ELECTIVE) Operating Systems: Another important course from placements perspective. Also a very foundational course for Computer Science in general. I really enjoyed this one too as the prof (also read below more about the prof) as good knowledge of subject matter and taught really well. You can attend all the lectures and 70-80% prep for your exams are done. Threads, Locks, Semaphores, Memory management etc are the concepts you would learn.
   1. Professor: Take the course if Prof Anish Mathuria is taking (even sem). Don't take it, if Sanjay Srivastava is taking (odd sem). Sanjay sir does very strict grading.
   2. Assignments: Easy to Moderate.
   3. Grading: Moderate. You can score good grades. If you don't attend the lectures, then also the slides and practice questions of Anish sir would help you out.
5. (ELECTIVE) Indian Cinema: This was being offered for the first time and I took the course. One of my best decisions. If you like films, want to learn about the history of Bollywood, and some concepts about art in films, take this course. The prof arranges weekly streaming of films where we see a new film from different genres, different decades, different languages (Indian still). Don't expect to see mainstream Bollywood. But, if you are film connoisseur, you would enjoy the course. Engage in class discussions too.
   1. Professor: Jenson Joseph is a really nice prof. He has subject domain knowledge and teaches well too. Discussions with him are also interesting in lectures.
   2. Assignments: Very few.
   3. Grading: We had a very chill grading. Take care of your presentation, make a good one, put in efforts. And if you attended the lectures, your exams would also go well. If he remembers your name/face (in a good manner, good student) you would get good grades.
6. (ELECTIVE) Cloud Computing: Would introduce you to the cloud and its subdomains. The prof would teach you about Azure and other concepts. Some placement companies do have Cloud Computing knowledge as requirements, so this might help. Not a deal breaker course, but a chill one.
   1. Professor: Lavneet Singh is a chill prof, has subject domain knowledge and teaches well.
   2. Assignments: Moderate. Some are tough too.
   3. Grading: Decent. You can easily get >=7.
7. (ELECTIVE) Exploratory Data Analysis: Ideally, this is an introductory course for the MSc DS students. But is open for BTech folks too. Gopinath Panda is a very chill prof and the course also is like a breeze of air (very chill). If you like Data Analysis, take this.
   1. Professor: Gopinath Panda is a chill prof. I don't know if he has a background in this domain, but teaches decently.
   2. Grading: Very Chill. Just do your project well and submit lab assignments timely. All set.

Semester - 7

1. (ELECTIVE) Information Retrieval: This elective requires higher CGPA to take, because it is actually intended for MTech ML Students, but is opened for BTech. This was a gem of course as it challenged me and I felt rewarded going through each assignment/project/exam as I learned something new. This course lies in the domain of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and towards the end, you also get an overview of how LLM works. There is a bit of steep learning curve, but attending the lectures would help. We had a very nice professor taking the course, and he explained things very well. If you prior knowledge of Machine Learning (Neural Networks) it helps in the later part of the course.
   1. Professor: Sandip Modha is a really great prof. He has a good knowledge in the subject domain and is passionate in teaching. But he was a visiting faculty, and generally Prof Prasenjit Majumder takes the course. But you can have him as well too, as he is also a good prof.
   2. Assignments: Moderate to Difficult. Google Colab would be your buddy. If you really want to learn, do the assignment by yourselves. Or if you are using chatGPT, know what the code does.
   3. Grading: Put efforts in the group project. The presentation would help you get good grades, if your project is good. Remain around or above average in exams for >=9, otherwise expect around 8 grade.
2. (ELECTIVE) Big Data Processing: This course introduces you to NoSQL databases. Overall it's really helpful because in modern software applications, NoSQL databases are present. You need to put efforts in learning the concepts as the Prof doesn't teach that well. I really liked the course along with the project as it was really interesting to learn and easy to understand. The course is very logical and intuitive to understand. But, The latter part of the course becomes more theoretical where DynamoDB comes up, so you would have to mug those up for exams.
   1. Professor: P M Jat is a nice chill prof. He teaches decently, but puts attendance policy, so you have to attend the lectures. He would randomly pin point people in class and ask questions from previous lectures. But doesn't have much nakhre.
   2. Assignments: Easy to Moderate.
   3. Grading: Put efforts in the project, if you ace that, then chances of good grades are high. The exams are mostly objective and some subjective.
3. (ELECTIVE) Introduction to Modern Algebra: Funny story: Out of more than 100 students registered for this course, only 5 people attended the lectures. Reason being, its content is very similar to the Groups and Linear Algebra course, so it was quite easy to go through this course. The prof might change the curriculum a bit in future. But until then, take this course up, it would be easy to go through.
   1. Professor: Sudip Bera is a new prof. He initially provided lecture notes as well as typed latex notes. But when students didn't attend his lectures (obviously because he was providing such neat and tidy notes) he stopped giving those. Still a chill prof.
   2. Grading: It was very dicey to score in exams, as they were the only grading component. He gave 25 mark question paper, with just 5 questions, each 5 marks. If you get something wrong in one question, no partial marks awarded. So you either get 5 or 0 for a question. But, if you have prepared decently, you can get a 7/8 (and that's only what normal students aim in 7th sem).
4. (ELECTIVE) Human Behaviour Management: Another weird HM course. Although it was quite chill to pass through, I personally didn't like the prof. Nandini Banerjee is a strange feminist prof who would just victim card females (out of no context). The course didn't require much effort as such. Attend lectures, interact with the prof, put your logical opinions, and put some efforts in project.
   1. Professor: Nandini Banerjee is a counsellor on campus, but I would refrain someone to go to her for any kind of counselling (trust me have heard many other people's accounts too and all of them have bad experiences). She has very less subject knowledge, discusses random topics in the classroom, and would give a mix of slides assembled from various sources. Don't worry hearing all this, you can still take the course, if you don't want much load in your 7th sem. It's not that bad too.
   2. Assignments: Some book readings and other group activities.
   3. Grading: Put in efforts in your presentation. Do a skit in it. Just impress the prof, so you atleast get a 7. Then perform good in exams and make it 8/9.
5. (ELECTIVE) Detection and Estimation Theory: Just don't take this course. Srimanta Mandal is the prof and doesn't teach quite well, makes the course boring. If I have to summarize in one line, "He teaches plain rice in lectures, and asks Hyderabadi Biryani with Curd Raita in exams". Staying away from this course would be in the best of your interest.

(Flaired as OC and Fan Made cuz idk if there's one for writings)
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So, we all can agree the Zeb Wells run sucks, that doesn't need to be said, but an idea I had is, what if after all of this, it's Peter's breaking point? The superhero community doesn't exactly like him, MJ and his friends treat him like trash, and he feels alone, abandoned, and during a swing, he finally comes to the conclusion that he needs to hang up the suit for good, but he can't just quit or retire, knowing that people would hate him even more, so he comes to the conclusion that his only option is:
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to fake his death.
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(The Megamind influence will be very obvious, just to say in advance)
PREMISE:
My idea is to do what Megamind did for Metro-Man, and have Peter post-Wells questions if he wants to continue being a superhero, and so, during a battle with a villain, Peter tears off pieces of the suit, some of his hair, and since he'd probably be bleeding, having him leave some blood behind, swinging away unnoticed as the villaincaused an explosion, leaving the torn pieces of the suit to be found by other heroes.
The world mourns Spider-Man, and we get a timeskip to 6 months after his "death".
Miles and his family are on vacation, and Miles sees there's an exhibition being held by up-and-coming scientist "Paxton Palmer", who, after Miles stalks him for a bit as Spider-Man, finds out that Paxton is Peter, and asks him "Why?"
Peter would explain that after everything that happened recently, during a swing through the city, he began to think, ever since he became Spider-Man, what he wanted had to be put on the backburner so he could be a superhero, but, nobody said the superhero thing had to last his whole life, and so, after doing what I wrote about above, Peter Parker and Spider-Man faked his own death, and after growing a beard and dyeing his hair, "Paxton Palmer" was born
Miles was about to berate Peter for his choice, but began to see Peter's point of view, and leaves him alone, addressing him as Paxton Palmer.
​
MILES AND PETER’S INTERACTION AFTER MILES FINDS OUT PETER IS ALIVE:
​
Miles is pissed, these past 6 months, he thought his mentor, his friend, had died, and yet here he was standing, alive and well, he wanted answers.
“Why Pete, why? You made all of us think you were dead! And for what? So you could abandon your duty? What happened to with great power comes- “
Peter cuts miles off by slamming his fist on his desk.
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence…ok…?”
Miles saw the look on Peter’s face, it wasn’t one of anger, it was one of sadness, of pain, a look he hadn’t seen on Peter in a long time.
“Pete, at least tell me what’s going on….”
Peter sighs, he knew this day would come eventually.
“Alright, you of all people deserve to know why….”
We then see a flashback of the events of the Zeb Wells run, and we then see Peter as Spider-Man stopping a villain, and we hear Peter give his reasons.
“I was fighting some criminals, some villains, a gang, but….my head wasn’t in the game at all, I was really just going through the motions…. afterwards, I went for a swing to clear my head”
We then see Peter swinging through New York City, thinking, then stopping on the Empire State Building.
“While I was swinging, I stopped on top of the Empire State Building, and that’s when I realized, I’ve been doing this song and dance since I was 15 years old, and I’m pushing 30 at this point”
Next, Peter is out-of-costume, walking through Central Park
“And, despite everything, the powers, the costumes, normal civilians have what I, as well as many other superheroes don’t have: a choice”
Peter is now in his apartment, looking at old pictures of Harry, Flash, Gwen, Aunt May, MJ and Uncle Ben, as well as pictures of fellow superheroes
“Everything I wanted to do in life had to be put aside because of Spider-Man, I always had to be what other heroes or the city needed me to be, and that had a knock-on effect for Peter Parker. And that is when it hit me!”
Peter is standing on a building, overlooking New York City
“I do have a choice! I can do what I want to do in life, and nobody said I had to be a superhero my whole life, but you can’t just retire or quit being one…especially when other heroes pretty much hate you.....which is how I got the idea to fake my death”
We then see the fight with the villain (Let’s use Doc Ock), but this time, from Peter’s POV
“When Doc Ock fired that death-ray, I felt truly alive for the first time in years, and after tearing off some bloodied pieces of my suit and mask, I swung away unnoticed as the explosion went off, and with that, Spider-Man was finally dead!”
Cut back to present day Peter, or as he’s now known, Paxton Palmer
“And Paxton Palmer was born! Changed my appearance, got a new job, and here I am now, finally living the life that I Always wanted, I have what being Spider-Man denied me for so long…happiness and stability, so Miles, please….don’t tell anyone I’m alive…”
Miles gets even angrier, and punches Peter
“Pete, what the hell?!?! You expect me to keep this all a secret?! People need Spider-Man, so put your own wants aside for once and…..oh…”
Miles realizes that he just proved Peter’s point, as Peter stands up from the punch
“Look, Miles, I’m sorry, but I’m done, my time is over as Spider-Man, and besides, why would the world need me, when it has you?”
Peter hands Miles a briefcase, and nods
“Take it, it’s all up to you now…”
Miles opens the case, and sees a version of his suit, but in the color scheme of Peter’s suit, his eyes widening, he knows what this means, looking at Peter and nods
“Thanks, I’ll see you around…Paxton…”
Peter Smiles, chuckling
“Give ‘em hell, Spider-Man…”
Miles puts on the new suit and swings away as Peter watches him, proud
​
Now, I wrote two possible ending ideas for this, and I would like y'all's opinion on what ending is better.
​
POSSIBLE ENDING #1: Spidey Returns….One More Time….
During a big battle, a bunch of heroes (including Jackpot) are getting their shit kicked in by an army of villains led by [INSERT BIG NAME VILLAIN HERE], who has decided he’s going to conquer Earth. Peter sees this on the news and realizes that the world may need Spider-Man, the original, one more time.
Just as a villain (let’s go with Bullseye) is about to kill Miles and MJ, who arrives, swinging in and kicking Bullseye in the head? It’s Spider-Man! Heroes and villains alike are in shock, and MJ asks: -
“Didn’t you die? We all saw it”
To which Peter replies: -
“I did, but I got over it, can’t stay long thought”
And so, Peter and the other heroes defeat the army, and, using some reverse-engineered portal tech he developed, Peter creates a portal to the “afterlife”, bidding everyone farewell, keeping up the illusion that Spider-Man was temporarily revived to help the heroes.
Even though Miles knows the truth, he keeps it to himself, knowing that without Spider-Man to get in his way, Peter can finally be the man he wants to be, not what others want him to be.
​
POSSIBLE ENDING #2: Peter learns to live as a civilian
After faking his own death, Peter decides it’s time for a change, and so, hides out in his apartment, not answering the door, any calls, nothing, he grows out a bear and his hair, and one night, he packs up the bare minimum and leaves NYC on a ferry to parts unknown.
After arriving in another state, Peter rents a hotel room, however, since the world believes he’s dead since the world found out he’s Spider-Man “posthumously”, he adopts a pseudonym, “Paxton Palmer”, and soon, he gets a job at a lab, a new place, and eventually, a new life entirely.
Even though Peter has a new life, traces of his old one try to bleed through, whenever crimes are being committed, whether on the news or if he witnesses them, Peter wants to go help, but has to tell himself “That’s not who I am anymore”.
Even then, he keeps hearing Uncle Ben’s voice in the back of his mind, telling him that Spider-Man is who the world needs Peter to be, Peter just tells that voice “Well, the world thinks Spider-Man and Peter Parker are dead, and I’m going to keep it that way”.
Eventually, we get the interaction with Miles that I wrote about in the premise and the dialogue,
Miles, who was on vacation with his family finds out, after seeing an exhibition hosted by “Paxton Palmer”, Miles thinks he looks familiar, and finds out he’s Peter, and after an exchange where Peter tells Miles he just didn't want to do it anymore, and that nobody said being a superhero had to be a lifetime gig, Miles understands Peter’s pain, leaving him to his new life, and calling Peter by his new name, Paxton, after Peter gave him a new suit.
After this, Peter (as Paxton) would continue to live life as a civilian, the world not knowing Spider-Man is still alive, living a new life, a Spider-Man free life.
​
If anyone has any ideas, please do let me know, as this is something that has bounced around my mind for a while now.
​

Serious question. Not rhetorical. Eli5 practical steps.
It seems "the good old days" of having a beautiful, "perfect" script where each line of action and dialog is a mini-master stroke of a work of art that is 100-something pages oozing pure artistic voice, (such as "Ferris Buhler's Day Off" or "Fargo" or "Royal Tenenbaums" or "Back to the Future" or "Heathers") is long gone.
Just black text on white paper.
Just a stack of paper resting in the palm of your hand. That's it.
No 50-page Silicon Valley-style colorful pitch deck/powerpoint that goes with it.
No mood board.
No big song and dance pitch where you need to "explain" the logline and "explain" the script.
Just the script. It speaks for itself. That is the purpose of a script.
Say, for a second, that you had that now.
A "perfect" script. And nothing else. Let's just assume it's a classic, beautiful, perfect script. What can you do with it?
First of all, no one read scripts.
There are too many scripts out there (both from wannabe screenwriters as well as pros).
People are literally running in the opposite direction from the title wave.
And if you are a nobody, forget it. Unsolicited submission policies block your script.
Secondly, would anyone RECOGNIZE a perfect script these days?
There is a huge focus on politics (race, gender, etc.) both in terms of behind the scenes as well as within the story itself. This is illustrated in the new Academy official rules.
Additionally, there is a heavy focus on package, ("the who") (attached talent, attached producers, social media subscribers, etc.)
What can you do with a "perfect script"?
A perfect script used to be the holy grail of, at least, a calling card for a writer.
A perfect script will no longer be read and if it is read, it won't be recognized for what it is.
The 80's and 90's are over. Lol. Literally, what do you do with a script?

Sharpie doesn't come off in the wash, not even with hot water. Maybe it's just me and my washer? I don't know, but I just color my stripes on my belt now.
Reason being they used to be electrical tape and yeah they came off in the wash, I don't give a fuck I think this belt system is stupid so I don't bother putting them back on.
But oooh no suddenly this is a big deal to my coach and I'm sandbagging cause obviously a 1 stripe blue belt is waaay better than a no stripe right? I've personally never seen a white belt tap a black belt, nuh uh no sir.
So since the belts and even stripes are perfect indicators of skill/maturity and should be worn correctly at all times, I offer this advice. White sharpie, color em on, be done with it.
That is until your coach suddenly has something to say about the tradition of electrical tape and then this solution becomes sacrilege... Man I'd be such a good grappler if I focused on actually training instead of this shit...

As a man turning 40 I feel that I can offer some advice to younger men in their 20s and 30s that might feel lost or abandoned by society. I didn’t begin to really put my life together until I was about 25…
I’ll tell you a bit of background so you can see if this relates to you and then give you a 5 year life changing plan that I wish a mentor could have given me. (I have nothing to sell you). I’m sharing this because I see young men struggling and society and the government don’t care…
The following is not to brag but to give you some hope and show you what is possible.
In a community college dropout, lived in small military towns. Have ADHD. Child of divorce and the oldest for 4 kids, grew up in a single parent home and before that my parents would fight and argue a lot (it was pretty bad). I had severe depression (you know what that means). When I left the workforce I was making about $35K 12 years ago in NC. Rent for a 3 bedroom house back then was $960 a month for context.
I’ve now been a business owner for over 10 years, I earn over $150K after taxes and business expenses (I live frugally and put a lot away for retirement when I can, and paying off debt and mortgage early) I have been a homeowner for 3 years now with a 5 bedroom home in Georgia (US).
I won’t tell you my net worth but I’m not a millionaire but I will be when I pay off my house in 5 years just based on home equity and property values in my area.
Buying my house and doing renovations dropped my credit score to 720 but at peak I did figure out getting to an 800+ when I bought my home.
Here are the areas every young man needs to work on and I will give you the 5 year outline for this.
The sooner you start the better this works.

• Physical Fitness and Health
• Personal Finance and Financial Literacy
• Dress, Grooming and Etiquette
• Being Well Read, and an Articulate Speaker
• Social Savvy, Networking and Persuasion
• Skilled Labor and Specialization
• Well Traveled with Stories to Tell
• Social Proof and Accomplishments
• Income Generating and Earning Potential

Let’s start with where you want to be in 5 years and set some milestones and goals for you:

• Read 50 Books in 5 Years
• Travel to 5 Interesting Places (adventures)
• Be Under 12-14% Body Fat
• Be able to pass Military PT for age
• $5000+ in Emergency Savings
• Good Credit of 680-720
• Get a Passport and Global Entry
• Build a Capsule Wardrobe
• Gain a High Income Skill Set
• Have $500-$1000 a month side hustle

These 10 self improvement goals are more or less completely in your control if you are able bodied.
You will also need to eliminate vices and distractions which will be the hard thing.
It was hard for me too so don’t feel discouraged, just keep at it:
Eliminate

• Drinking, Smoking, Weed
• Pron, and Instagram Models, OF, etc
• No staying up late (7 hours of sleep)
• Subscriptions
• Fast Food, Door Dash Uber Eats
• Video Games until you’re in shape and spent the money on your passport and global entry and at least one international trip

These things take up too much time, energy and money that hurt your self improvement and development
START WITH IMPROVING YOUR APPEANCE
The most important and immediate thing you can work on is your appearance.
Find a celebrity or high achiever with your height and complexion , if you’re not severely overweight, try to match body type or weight if possible.
Start capturing images of how they dress. Pay attention to colors that would go with your skin tones and the fit for your height and weight.
Look at jackets, hats and pants as well as sneakers and accessories, until you can afford a nice watch just get an affordable fitness tracker and layer an Oura ring.
If you’re a Christian just wear a simple cross under your shirt, nothing fancy.
Your goal is to build a capsule wardrobe that makes it easy to dress to impress.
Don’t worry about name brand, just try to get the look on a budget.
Simpler advice is to get some plain black and white shirts both short and long sleeve, crew neck, v neck and turtlenecks, and then get them fitted to your body measurements.
Get non colors of black, white and grey.
Get dark blue and black jeans, khaki slacks.
White sneakers, black Chelsea cut boots, tan or wheat timberland boots, and a pair of brown loafers.
Also get a black leather jacket and a brown leather jacket.
With this simple wardrobe if you can’t figure out dressing, no man can go wrong as long as he’s in decent shape. Keep it simple.
For grooming and hair care, if you’re black and want to grow your hair get cornrows and keep your beard trimmed don’t bother with growing it too long. If you want to appear younger stay clean shaven. This also is the easiest choice.
Any man look good with a military haircut so for most of you get one of these.
Most important, never dye your hair an unnatural color and avoid dying all together as the chemicals damage your hair and lead to balding later and can also affect testosterone levels.
If you wear glasses don’t be insecure about them, just dress well and have good posture and a good haircut.
If where glasses try to look professional and serious but also smile and try to be charming and use few words, but speak with confidence and don’t be afraid to lean in more when you talk to people.
If you have teeth issues you actually don’t need health insurance, get private dental insurance on a $25/month plan with United or Delta Dental, you don’t need health insurance or an employer to get dental.
To help with additional out of pocket cost get Care Credit.
Get a checkup and cleaning twice a year.
By focusing on working out and health and nutrition and using the military standard to train yourself you can avoid a lot of health problems.
Work your way to doing 50-100 pushups a day. It doesn’t have to be in one session but that should be the goal one day. Get a $30 pull up bar from Amazon and a $15 ab ball.
Every morning do 50 flutter kicks , 50 leg lifts and 50 crunches and 50 bicycle kicks.
So this again in the late afternoon.
You also want to start lifting weights, focus on chest press, leg press, bench press, arm raises and arm curls.
5 miles on a treadmill every other day with the goal of getting from a 12 minute pace to a 6-7 minute pace within 1-2 years.
This will give you tremendous stamina and endurance.
The goal here is lean muscle.
For diets and nutrition, everyone is different but pritoize protein and caloric deficit and maintenance.
Carnivore and Keto are extremes, most people do best with something moderate.
Learning to cook will save you money and make you more attractive.
It also is a good stress relief activity and can be fun.
IMPOVE INTELLIGENCE AND ARTICULATION
There are some key areas of focus here:

• use books and podcast to become more well rounded
• gain an intellectual hobby
• learn to speak well and clearly
• become an active listener
• learn to write to communicate well
• potentially learn another language

Learning another language gives you more options in life but also just makes you more interesting and attractive to people.
There are also no downsides to being a better communicator overall. Take up Toastmasters locally to become a better speaker and develop confidence as a public speaker.
Your intelligence is not static and can be improved upon.
To the best of your ability improve your reading comprehension, start with reading at least 12 of the literary classics in 1 year so that you have more in common with higher status individuals.
Do this in year one.
If you prefer listen to them as audio books as most are free with an audible membership, and most might also be free on YouTube and Spotify .
Also read 6–12 books a year around things like money and finance (I will teach you to be rich, millionaire next door, your money or your life, rich b*tch)
Listen to podcast when you work out, but not entertainment , comedy or anything like that, but things that will make you smarter. There is time for entertainment when you feel more comfortable with your lifestyle.
I’m not saying no entertainment ever but I would prefer you indulge in it with friends as a social activity, that way it’s more meaningful and a better use of time.
Fun with friends, productive on your own.
Also making reading and working out and your hobby your fun is ideal.
For intellectual hobbies, taking up an instrument or up close magic, or art is ideal and it is impressive and attractive. It’s a hobby that also can help you gain some social status. Chess is also a good one.
MONEY AND CAREER
I avoided student loans, I’m not going tell you college is scam (it probably is or most men) but predatory student loans are 100% a scam and usury.
Go to college if you can avoid debt with scholarships and grants. Major in something with a guaranteed good outcome that solid carries social proof like computer science, medicine, or law.
If you want to study what interest you go to community college or do school part time and work and pay it out of pocket and with Pell grants.
The most important thing is to gain a valuable skill set and you don’t need college for that.
Examples are 3D Modeling, Graphic Design, Email Marketing, Ad Management, Copywriting and Video Production and Editing.
These skills will still matter even with AI and will continue to pay well.
In the meantime ask the parents of friends about their work and career and who the highest paid person they know without a degree is and what they do for a living , if possible get an intro to them.
Meanwhile gain employment with full time hours. I don’t recommend retail or food services no matter what anyone says.
As a man get a labor job like Amazon or UPs for 2-3 years. A labor job will help with fitness and you might get to listen to books and podcasts while you work.
It will also put you around other men majority of the time , and you might be able to find like minded men who want to improve and get out.
You might even find older men who you can learn from the mistakes of.
Spend your free time developing a side hustle and use this to help build your energy fund or house fund faster.
A house fund is $25,000 not 20% down. Trust me on putting just 5% down and controlling your cost. I got into my house for $16,000 and it’s gone up $120,000 in 3 years.
You will want to live frugal which is why you eliminating a lot of things outside of self improvement.
Learn financial literacy and about building credit or repairing it on your own. I had as low as a 550 at one point in life and currently have a 700+ and used to have an 800+ when I bought my home. (My parent didn’t help me with any of this)
Key areas are credit, savings, budgeting, investing, taxes and retirement.
If you go into a corporate career (I went into advertising and marketing) find a mentor and set yourself in the promotion track and do everything to build industry social proof and accomplishments.
Go to networking events in your industry and I recommend the book Conference Crushing by Tyler Wagner.
TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE
This is the real reason you will want to ditch your vices since it will let you afford travel and adventure.
Plan a yearly trip and save $500-$1000 if you travel with friends a lot this becomes better and more affordable.
If you have to stick to the U.S. then travel to destinations like PEURTO RICO, Alaska, Las Vegas, New York, and Los Angeles.
Places that allow you to take great pictures and have interesting stories.
If you can save up $300 for your passport then get that and travel to Mexico, Laos, Greece, Iceland and Japan.
These have options where a week will cost you less than $1500. With friends you can do more for less.
I also recommend trying to learn another language or at least a few of the words for the languages of the places you travel.
Get Global Entry, Clear and PreCheck, this will cost you around $600 but is better than a game console.
SOCIAL PROOF AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Status does matter in a human society and you need to gain some.
In the path that I have laid out that would translate to being a higher earner and having an interesting lifestyle as well as a few hobbies or talents that would be appealing.
I don’t think you have to go out of your at to impress people don’t buy fancy cars or watches or name brands unless you want to for yourself.
However pursue awards and achievements that are hard to come by and hard to not acknowledge.
You may have noticed an absence of daring or relationship advice here. If you do these things you probably won’t need it as you will be able to attract enough options.
But for the sake of comprehensiveness have friends and family who have your best interest at heart look for someone for you /:’ make sure they know your taste and red flags and the things you want long term.
MENTAL HEALTH
Taking action in your own life is the best thing for your mental health of you would not benefit from talk therapy as men tend to need to SEE change and transformation into with life to be mentally health…rather than feel heard and validated.
Vent to other men you trust and who have similar and shared struggles and background to you.
I also personally recommend turning to faith and embracing stoicism and also many of the tenants of bushido.

A lot of people have been asking about the We Were Told... podcasts to watch in video format for the past few months. I've compiled a complete list on the wiki podcast page here:
https://www.reddit.com/VivaLaDirtLeague/about/wiki/podcast/
The wiki also has a complete list of podcast sites for all VLDL podcasts including We Were Told, Extremely Casual Gamers' Podcast with Ellie, Chris, and Guy, and the upcoming ADHD+Me Behind the Scenes Companion Podcast (Which will be added when they drop as well).
I've also listed all of the video episodes here as well:
What even is happiness? - E1
Down goes the gaming industry - E2
To kid or not to kid? - Podcast E3
Did you know Rowan was in Avatar? - E4
Shower thoughts - Podcast E5
The journey that was Buffed Up Nerds - E6
The Viva La Dirt League Story - Part 1 - E7
The Viva La Dirt League Story - Part 2 - E8
The Viva La Dirt League Story - Part 3 - E9
Our personal journeys with Mental Health - E10
Life as an adult - E11
Burnout is a real thing - E12
Are cellphones ruining us? - E13
How LOTR inspired VLDL - E14
Things that irk us - E15
Social media might be ruining us - E16
Introvert or Extrovert? - E17
A deep dive into the evolution of Bored - E18
Behind the scenes of Epic NPC Man - E19
Is VLDL worried about AI? - E20
All WWT future video episodes will be posted for free on their Patreon page here:
https://www.patreon.com/vldl
I will also try to link them on the wiki as well.

I (36, f) live in a small town in Canada, a place were human trafficking rates are high. I never considered myself to be a part of the statistics because my story is not like the warning signs we are taught to look out for.
Some context, I was raised in a single parent household, we relied on welfare. There was a huge generational gap between my mother and I. She was raised on a farm, the children did their chores and listened or else.... that's how I was expected to be. Sit and be quiet. I was the complete opposite of that and this created many problems within the household.
After finally turning my mother's last hair grey, she sent me to live with friends of the family. My "foster father" had an eye for young misunderstood women and decided to take advantage of it. I was thirteen when he asked me how I felt about the fact that I turned him on, and by asking me, he made me feel in control.
My "foster mother" finally found out about the affair after she snooped and found love letters from him to me. Promises that once I was of age we'd run away. She chose to turn a blind eye in order to continue getting money for me, but made sure I knew damn well he was HERS. As it should've been.
I finally told a school counselor about the affair. Police were called. I went M.I.A. Ran away. I was caught and shipped off to a group home, a place for "troubled teens" for a week until living arrangements could be figured out. My mother took me back. I assume paperwork had to be done, I'm unsure of the legalities.
One week into being home, I'm up sitting up one night watching late night shows, when I hear noises at the window. This is a second story window so I investigated, it was him throwing pebbles at my window. I ignored him, told my mother, but ultimately ran away again the next day.
I'm not sure how long I lasted being on the run that time, but once I got caught it earned me a few months in some group homes. One honorable mention, thank you Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children for completely messing me up. You can Google the home, it's famous around these parts.
I don't want to get into the deep, dark, nitty gritty of the court events of my "foster father". At this point I'm a complete delinquent teen. You just can't put a messed up small town kid in a home full of city kids who have already acquired the necessary street smarts to survive.... I threw my case. I was beat down emotionally and very mentally unwell. I let a monster walk. I sat in the court room and just continuously said "I don't remember" until I was allowed to leave. I wasn't strong enough nor did I have the appropriate supports.
Skipping ahead to my return home, because group home life is another story for another time. I appeared to be doing better, I even had myself fooled. My mother allows, now fourteen year old me, to attend a party with my cousin. I get completely inebriated but have a wonderful time, my cousin calls us a taxi to go home... and the second I stepped into that taxi, my whole life changed.
It didn't happen right that night, but the coming days, that taxi driver would see me around town and strike friendly conversations. We got pretty acquainted and I felt like a total bad ass with my new friend. He knew were to get me booze, until that started coming with an extra price tag. "You like sex right? Why not use it to get what you want?"
I didn't at first. In fact, my mom brought me to the police station and I wrote a statement. But nothing was ever pursued. So I continued hanging out with my new friend. He continued getting me alcohol and drugs. I never told him about the statement because in our world that was a big no-no.
I started dating a much older man, who encouraged my behavior. He was actually friends with Taxi drivers son. I did eventually admit to the statement to my boyfriend at the time, he handed me over to the taxi drivers son, where I was drove out to the middle of nowhere with the impression I'd be left to die. "Don't you ever talk to the cops again or you won't have a ride home next time". I was made to have sex with taxi drivers son, then brought back home. All was forgiven.
Taxi driver then stepped up his game and told me "well you clearly like sex, you should just get paid for it". So that's what I did. I lost so much of myself, he fed me hard drugs and I fed him a profit. Under the guise of the taxi he was running I was transported to different houses, and hotels. He had only a waiting and gas" fee, he vehemently denied pimp status.
My youth was stolen from dirty old men, that I still have to face to date. I'm to scared to come forward because of the traumatic experiences I had and death threats. I've been "passed around" (abused and SA'd) since thirteen. The justice system failed me to much for me to trust them. But lately, very recently, I've been wanting revenge, I don't know where I'll start, but I know I don't want anyone involved to pay for their involvement, I guess starting here is my first major step...
The taxi business is the most corrupt business I've ever seen. I'm willing to bet no matter the location or country, there's a taxi company involved in human and drug trafficking. I am a first hand witness of what happens. Sometimes, I'd be sold right out the back seat of these taxis. My children are never ever allowed to be alone in taxis. I refuse to take them. Always be vigilant of your surroundings and always protect your children. You can never be too careful.

I (36, f) live in a small town in Canada, a place were human trafficking rates are high. I never considered myself to be a part of the statistics because my story is not like the warning signs we are taught to look out for.
Some context, I was raised in a single parent household, we relied on welfare. There was a huge generational gap between my mother and I. She was raised on a farm, the children did their chores and listened or else.... that's how I was expected to be. Sit and be quiet. I was the complete opposite of that and this created many problems within the household.
After finally turning my mother's last hair grey, she sent me to live with friends of the family. My "foster father" had an eye for young misunderstood women and decided to take advantage of it. I was thirteen when he asked me how I felt about the fact that I turned him on, and by asking me, he made me feel in control.
My "foster mother" finally found out about the affair after she snooped and found love letters from him to me. Promises that once I was of age we'd run away. She chose to turn a blind eye in order to continue getting money for me, but made sure I knew damn well he was HERS. As it should've been.
I finally told a school counselor about the affair. Police were called. I went M.I.A. Ran away. I was caught and shipped off to a group home, a place for "troubled teens" for a week until living arrangements could be figured out. My mother took me back. I assume paperwork had to be done, I'm unsure of the legalities.
One week into being home, I'm up sitting up one night watching late night shows, when I hear noises at the window. This is a second story window so I investigated, it was him throwing pebbles at my window. I ignored him, told my mother, but ultimately ran away again the next day.
I'm not sure how long I lasted being on the run that time, but once I got caught it earned me a few months in some group homes. One honorable mention, thank you Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children for completely messing me up. You can Google the home, it's famous around these parts.
I don't want to get into the deep, dark, nitty gritty of the court events of my "foster father". At this point I'm a complete delinquent teen. You just can't put a messed up small town kid in a home full of city kids who have already acquired the necessary street smarts to survive.... I threw my case. I was beat down emotionally and very mentally unwell. I let a monster walk. I sat in the court room and just continuously said "I don't remember" until I was allowed to leave. I wasn't strong enough nor did I have the appropriate supports.
Skipping ahead to my return home, because group home life is another story for another time. I appeared to be doing better, I even had myself fooled. My mother allows, now fourteen year old me, to attend a party with my cousin. I get completely inebriated but have a wonderful time, my cousin calls us a taxi to go home... and the second I stepped into that taxi, my whole life changed.
It didn't happen right that night, but the coming days, that taxi driver would see me around town and strike friendly conversations. We got pretty acquainted and I felt like a total bad ass with my new friend. He knew were to get me booze, until that started coming with an extra price tag. "You like sex right? Why not use it to get what you want?"
I didn't at first. In fact, my mom brought me to the police station and I wrote a statement. But nothing was ever pursued. So I continued hanging out with my new friend. He continued getting me alcohol and drugs. I never told him about the statement because in our world that was a big no-no.
I started dating a much older man, who encouraged my behavior. He was actually friends with Taxi drivers son. I did eventually admit to the statement to my boyfriend at the time, he handed me over to the taxi drivers son, where I was drove out to the middle of nowhere with the impression I'd be left to die. "Don't you ever talk to the cops again or you won't have a ride home next time". I was made to have sex with taxi drivers son, then brought back home. All was forgiven.
Taxi driver then stepped up his game and told me "well you clearly like sex, you should just get paid for it". So that's what I did. I lost so much of myself, he fed me hard drugs and I fed him a profit. Under the guise of the taxi he was running I was transported to different houses, and hotels. He had only a waiting and gas" fee, he vehemently denied pimp status.
My youth was stolen from dirty old men, that I still have to face to date. I'm to scared to come forward because of the traumatic experiences I had and death threats. I've been "passed around" (abused and SA'd) since thirteen. The justice system failed me to much for me to trust them. But lately, very recently, I've been wanting revenge, I don't know where I'll start, but I know I don't want anyone involved to pay for their involvement, I guess starting here is my first major step...
The taxi business is the most corrupt business I've ever seen. I'm willing to bet no matter the location or country, there's a taxi company involved in human and drug trafficking. I am a first hand witness of what happens. Sometimes, I'd be sold right out the back seat of these taxis. My children are never ever allowed to be alone in taxis. I refuse to take them. Always be vigilant of your surroundings and always protect your children. You can never be too careful.

Kindle fire HD 10 (11th gen): unable to rotate kindle books to landscape. Dropdown menu auto-rotate is activated. The Font option does NOT allow me to choose Landscape vs portrait.
Kindle Scribe: able to rotate kindle books to landscape. The Font option allows me to choose Landscape vs Portrait. All good, except it's eInk.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra: when tablet is in landscape mode (auto rotate on), it shows a small portrait window which occupies only a small portion of the screen, and withIN that small portrait window, it shows the book in landscape with 2 pages, so it's only using a fraction of the screen size. The Font option does NOT allow me to choose Landscape vs portrait.
My goal is to read color kindle books to my kids with a large screen in landscape mode.
Does anyone know how to force/maximize the screen real-estate on an android tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Untra) in landscape mode to show 2 pages of a colored book?
Does anyone know how to rotate on a Kindle fire HD 10 into landscape mode?

https://imgur.com/a/gc3Z1ia
Downsizing majorly because I just don't need these collecting dust. There is very small wear and tear on most series but please request photos of what you're interested in to make sure you are comfortable with the quality. Please note: Blue Lock's price is low compared to the rest and extra negotiable because about half of them are warped and the bottoms of some pages on 2 of the volumes got bent around. I also lowered A Man and His Cat's price since my last post because I noticed some decent warping on all volumes that I didn't see before. PRICES ARE NEGOTIABLE (they're a little all over the place cause I'm just roughly guessing a per volume price)!! Shipping varies per series.
Eden's Zero 1-16: $100 Shipping Included
Blue Lock 1-8: $40 Shipping Included
Cat Gamer 1-2: $12 + Shipping
Assassination Classroom 1-7: $45 Shipping Included
Don't Toy With Me Miss Nagatoro 1-11: $75 Shipping Included
A Man & His Cat 1-9: $54 Shipping Included
Aho-Girl 1-2: $12 + Shipping
The Way of the Househusband 6-7: $12 + Shipping
Drugstore In Another World 1-3: $20 + Shipping
Fire Force 1-7: $35 + Shipping
If the RPG World had Social Media 1-2: $12 + Shipping
Dr. Stone 1-6: $32 + Shipping
I Cannot Reach You 2,4,5: $20 + Shipping
Seven Deadly Sins 1-6: $35 + Shipping
Demon Slayer 1-4: $24 + Shipping
Kemeno Jihen 1-9: $65 Shipping Included
All the single volumes that are on the middle shelf are just $5 each plus shipping to get rid of them.

Tyler
It was a somewhat odd feeling, being outnumbered. Outnumbered significantly too. It made him appreciate how women sometimes felt back on Earth in male dominated spaces. Thankfully he was getting proper respect from everyone present at this particular staff meeting. Extra important because he was the man in charge.
Still, it was kinda... weird. Not having a single man in his command team that is. His deputy as the aerospace group commander was a woman, and she was one of his squadron commanders, all of his squadron commanders in point of fact were women. His senior maintainers, one from the Apuk side and one from the Undaunted side, were both women of long experience. His senior enlisted flight crew member was a woman. Hell. His damn aircraft was a woman now!
Maybe that had already been true in a sense, considering the tendency of many human cultures to refer to things like aircraft and ships by female pronouns, but now his aircraft could walk around, drink beer and ask one of his wives to go clothes shopping with her.
That was also an interesting situation that still needed to play out.
He considers the visage of one Marian ‘GLAMOUR’ Le Fae, who lived up to her call sign unironically these days. It had been a sarcastic joke back on Earth, but a little axiom in Marian's diet had left the tomboy Marine staggeringly beautiful and charming. No makeup needed or desired. Her rich amber hair was long and wavy, and it was always perfect when she took her flight helmet off... and yet, Tyler had a hard time appreciating her looks because when he looked at each other he saw straight through the bravado and swagger to a woman who was... very, very confused by her current situation.
Not about being a fighter pilot, but about suddenly being a mother, or something... to a grown young woman. Who was also Tyler's starfighter.
He jots some notes down on his tablet, considering that sort of thing sounded like a solid premise for a galactic soap opera if everyone involved wasn't generally a mature adult and a professional, then clears his throat to call the meeting to order after taking a quick head count mentally.
"Alright ladies, let's get started."
The room quiets instantly... only to have the silence broken by the doors sliding open to reveal an Apuk woman in a black flight suit. Black hair, purple eyes, and actually an Undaunted naval officer despite her more 'imperial' taste in flight suit colors.
Commander Sha'Ress could convincingly play a sibling to Princess Aquilar, though the facial structure and their skin tones couldn't have been more different. She was the skipper of the Kandahar Valley, the Tear's primary heavy lift transport, and the commander of the 1st Orbital Assault Squadron (1st ORASLTRON).
Squadron in the naval sense that is, which is why it was rather odd to have her turn up to a meeting for the aerospace group.
"Commander, this is an unexpected surprise."
Sha'Ress chuckles and grabs a chair.
"Well we're sort of related to the CAG so I figured I should be here. I was just finishing my staff meeting for the squadron."
"Well far be it from me to turn someone away if they're willing to subject themselves to more meetings. I guess we'll start with you then. Any news to share with us? Kandahar Valley in okay shape?"
Sha'Ress nods. "The squadron’s craft are all up and ready for action. Kandahar Valley took a few hits in the landing, Old One Eye took minor damage during the initial skirmish. Also her passengers did NOT enjoy that experience even with the inertial dampeners. Apparently Cora really threw that tub around and had the grunts a bit nervous."
"Well we shouldn't need to do things that way again with any luck. The Admiral didn't like the plan as is, but he didn't want to take Cora out of her chair to play pirate with an assault about to happen."
"I know sir, just stating for the record. I'm sure the admiral's heard it from Colonel Bridger too. My other reason for coming to the meeting is I want to change some of our landing coordination with the rest of the CAG. We did alright this time around, and the Valkyries and eventually the Shieldmaidens provided excellent CAS and kept the skies clear for us, but I think we can do a lot better. I think if we upgrade the sensors on the leading landing ships, and place ANGLICO controllers, not just in forward contingents like JSOC, but on our ships in the CIC (Combat Information Center) with those powerful sensors, we can be making more precise strikes, more often. Throw in a group controller as part of the landing signals team to essentially act as a local AWACS officer and I think we'd be in business. Kandahar Valley can accommodate that set up without issue. Old One Eye would be a bit harder to retrofit, but it should be possible."
Tyler drums his fingers on the table for a second. That did sound fairly easy to execute... and fairly easy modifications for the mechanics to make. Most ships were modular, so adding components generally wasn't much of an issue mechanically. Tying in the software was more difficult, but that could be smoothed over by buying Babydoll and her hackers pizza a couple days in a row.
"...Unless anyone has any objections I'm going to cut orders to execute on that. I'm sure Admiral Bridger will approve it... but he'll also probably want a quantum entangled transmitter so he can get the local AWACS and ANGLICO data piped directly to that super computer of his in the War Room."
"Already in the budget, boss!" Sha'Ress calls, clearly pleased she'd successfully made her case.
"Okay, next order of business then." Tyler turns to Masha. "Any issues with the Valkyries I need to hear about Gaucha?"
"None that I can think of. Aircraft 104 had its paint scratched by ground fire, but the problem was dealt with before anything actually bad could happen. Rocket got another two stars on her ace pin, so Tex will be throwing the ACE a cookout while we're in orbit to celebrate. Beef and pork ribs all around, and he's working on something for vegetarians too."
That got a light smattering of applause from around the table. Most of the CAG were omnivores and carnivores, and Tex's cooking was out of this or any other world.
Masha grins, tipping her hat back a bit. "Varya'Nelkn, 'Gyaru', and Narsa'Lorish, 'Lucky' both scored double aces as well, suffice to say we're pretty pleased with the girls. Lots of kills to go around though. There were a lot of those damn stealth fighters they tried to ambush Rowdy and her girls and boys with."
Colleen 'Rowdy' Rowly chuckles and shifts her own Stetson around, the golden cavalry sabers shining in the light. "Thanks for the assist there again, we had it, but it was a lot damn easier with fighter cover. Those little fuckers had... not optical camouflage per se, but something of a chameleon module? Made them damn hard to pick up on visual sensors without using things like thermals. Our turret gunners got really annoyed before we figured out we could link other sensor systems into the targeting sensors for the guns with a little hot wiring. Never thought we'd really need thermals but here we are. I'm making that particular modification permanent and mandatory across the squadron. I'd suggest if your fighters or ships don't have thermals that can tie into your targeting computers, you make those modifications yourselves."
Tyler nods and dutifully takes some notes, including setting reminders to forward a report on his Apuk fliers to their parent military. He suspected Rocket, Lucky and Gyaru would be getting some Apuk decorations to go with the chest candy the Undaunted had been giving them. He turns now to Marian.
"Glamour, anything to share with the class?"
Marian shakes her head, letting her glorious mane of red shimmer. Honestly, for as aggressive as the woman was, all she needed was a set of horns and a tail and you'd think she was a particularly slender Apuk.
"Not much boss man, I think the Shieldmaidens did damn fine for our combat debut as a squadron, I've got a couple ace pins to hand out, another star for me, and we even got a chance to rotate in and help the ground pounders after we confirmed we had orbital supremacy. Nice little full spectrum test for my girls and one boy. A few deficiencies in communication, flying, and so on, but all minor and I'm letting my flight leads handle them. They shouldn't need to cross my desk officially."
"Alright Glamour, whatever you feel like you need to do, but don't be afraid of doing paperwork, it's not the career killer it was back home. We can track things like grown people while still treating our pilots like grown people."
Tyler goes around the table, talking with the maintenance team, chief ordnance tech, everything was coming back green, which pleased him greatly. He had a well drilled team and everyone was taking care of everything properly. So properly he didn't have time to get to a second cup of coffee before the meeting adjourns and he steps out into the hallway to find Avia waiting for him.
"Hey Tyler. Err. Sir."
He can't help but chuckle. "I think we're a bit more relaxed than that... in the squadron's spaces anyway, Mako. What's up? Something come up in your daily and turnaround?"
Avia shakes her head. "Nope, Angel asked me to get you for lunch."
Before Tyler can respond, Marian steps out in his wake. "Oh! Hey Avia!"
"Marian!"
Tyler suppresses a frown as Avia stiffens up and the two women exchange stilted pleasantries... that was odd. He'd thought Avia and Marian had been getting along. Not quite family yet, but friendly enough to each other, and working on growing their relationship. They had a pleasant brief exchange in the dogfight the other day. So what was this distance on the ground?
Avia suddenly turns on a heel and mechanically starts to walk away.
"Uhm. Anyway, gotta go! Come on sir, we don't want to make Angel wait!"
A quick glance at Marian grants Tyler a glimpse of a sad expression on the woman's face. Something had happened there clearly, and as he follows in Avia's wake, he determines that, not as Avia and Marian's boss, but as Avia's friend, he's going to need to see about doing something about it.
First Last

[prev]
I do not recall ever seeing Saevel so stunned, let alone speechless before, then again a lot has happened since we met so maybe I really can’t remember. Or it’s never happened. Whatever the case we just stood there in silence, though he was more focused on the pair of rings I held than me. He just stared at them, as though his mind couldn’t really process what was happening.
Finally though, he came to life, his gaze snapping up to mine and his mouth working, yet no words spilled forth. I guess his brain wasn’t fully functional at the moment, but it was working well enough to give an answer, though not verbally. Instead he reached out and took the rings, looking them over carefully before he slipped one onto his finger and the other onto mine.
I felt my heart leap into my throat, a warm and fuzzy feeling settling over my mind and shoulders, even my gut got all twisted up but in a good way. With nary a word said between us we embraced, holding onto each other as tightly as we could manage. Sure it got us some weird looks but we didn’t notice them, too enamored by the other to give a damn.
Eventually however we did have to pull apart, and like giddy teenagers we strode hand in hand from the apparent barracks and head for the palace in a daze. I’m sure we made for quite the spectacle, or at least I did. The great queen had returned and without warning, people were clearly shocked by this and scrambling to organize a welcome home party or something, at least that’s what my subconscious assumed. Of course maybe the vast majority knew what my return heralded, an end to their suffering, to the suffering of the world and that one last battle was soon to be waged. A battle to change the course of history.
Entering the palace resulted in more of the same as it turned out, more stares, more surprised gasps of excitement or shock. I even saw Ospher sipping at some tea as we passed a room and when he saw me he spat it out in shock. That earned a little chuckle from me, as we continued on to our room. Or at least, I think that is where we’re headed, I don’t actually know where we’re going, just that we are.
I heard Ospher call out to me, but in my blissful daze I barely heard his voice, let alone felt a desire to talk at this particular point in time. I was far more interested in other things than talking at this moment. Luckily for the two of us, he was waylaid by a gaggle of nobles from various holdings that’d sought refuge here so Saevel and I were free to slip away.
When we entered our room, how we’d got there I wasn’t entirely aware of, things progressed accordingly. Needless to say, we did not exit till well into the evening.
– – – – – –
Ospher looked up from his work when I finally made my presence known once more. He looked a little annoyed by not having a chance to talk earlier but from my slightly disheveled appearance and the dopey smile on Saevel’s face as he entered the room after me, his own annoyance softened, replaced with a quiet understanding.
“Glad to have you back, your majesty. I hope your excursion bore fruit?” He said, leaning back on the sofa he occupied.
“It did, and I am glad to be home at long last.” I responded, settling myself gingerly upon a chair. “I have returned with supplies that should be of considerable use in the days to come, including the tool which I set out for in the first place.”
“I heard about the supplies, strange tools and medicines it appears, but they seem genuine enough that we'll put them to use when the battles are over.” Ospher stated, glancing away for a moment, then locking eyes with me. “Now, I believe you have a grand tale to regale us with, shall I call for dinner?”
I grinned, nodding as I shifted and got my thoughts in order. A few hours and one meal later, both Ospher and Saevel looked almost disbelieving, but knowing me my tale was no exaggeration or falsehood. Still they looked at me with some disbelief, before Ospher spoke up.
“I must say, you have a strange ability to inspire people, even when all you’re doing is taking a nap. That an entire religion would sprout up around you is utterly insane, but I’ve seen weirder and it's not like some here don’t whisper prayers and offer worship to you in private either.” He said, running his fingers through thinning hair. “I’m just wondering how you didn’t die during that thousand or so year nap of yours.”
I could only shrug.
“I would think perhaps it had something to do with the thing that grew around me, perhaps it kept me alive for some as yet unknown purpose. Either way, I’m glad I didn’t die though who knows maybe I did, several times, I just never noticed.” I mused, shaking my head and leaning back. It was a mystery for another day.
“Tell me, my friend. How have things been here in my absence?”
“Oh well, just peachy honestly. You were only gone about a week or so according to our reckoning. Not much has changed since you left, though we have shored up the defenses and began calling for volunteers to fill out our ranks. We’ve been building up a stockpile of weapons as well, while the mages have been hard at work coming up with new and exciting ways to deal death from really far away.” He spoke with a sort of authoritative perkiness in his voice, having switched from casual tones to professional in an instant.
“That is good to hear. Come the morrow, I’ll need to speak with any miners that aren’t too terribly busy, and the mages. I want to discuss some ideas I had while I was away, and as it turns out, all four of us will need to discuss the plan, changes are in order.”
Ospher and Saevel shared a glance, then nodded. It would seem they were in agreement, which was good. Better to be in agreement than not right? Then again, it wouldn’t do for them to just blindly agree to whatever ideas I happen to pull out of my giant spidery ass. But I knew they weren’t like that, they would listen and muse, then offer their own suggestions, as it should be.
“Now, I think we could both use a good long nap, tomorrow is when the work begins for real.” I slowly stand, Saevel rising and stretching, weariness coloring his expression at the mention of a nap. “It is good to see you again, Ospher.” Ospher looks up, pulled from his thoughts and offers me a soft, tired smile.
“And you kid, sleep well.”
With that, Saevel and I retire to our room, though this time there is only slumber to be found behind those doors.
– – – – – –
The fell beings who suffered an ever present hunger shifted uncomfortably, a sense that something had changed for the worst filling their minds. A shift in the winds of fate, a fate where they emerged victorious and their hunger sated had become something rotten on their tongues. A new power was present, not a being or an intelligence, but an intrinsic part of realty. They could not understand it, could not discern the source of this malefic energy, all they really knew was that it spurred to life yet another unknown emotion.
Fear.
– – – – – –
I stood in the war room, a map of the known world laid out on the table before me. I was alone, Saevel had gone in search of Cameron and the other leaders, there was much to be discussed after all, and little time left to formulate a plan before the enemy was at our gates again. I was supremely confident in the men and women that were stationed at the main gates, the one that led out into the overworld that is. And should the enemy breach that gate then I was certain they would not be able to push into the city at all, for the full might of Nor’Darahl would come crashing down on any interloper should they attempt such a thing.
A knock came from the door and I lifted my gaze from the map.
“Enter.”
The door opened and in filed those who would be leading the battle to come. Cameron was the first to enter, followed by a dark elf who I had not had the pleasure of meeting just yet, then the queen of the arachne and members of her court. Werewolves, vampires and warriors of the prison fortresses came on their heels, followed by members of my own military leadership. All in all the room quickly filled up and I witnessed more than a few jostling for space. Saevel entered last and closed the door behind, somehow managing to slip past everyone to stand beside me.
“I thank you all for coming. As you all know, it is my intention to lead a single and decisive attack upon the Dominion that will cripple them and see their foul gods cast down. However, the plan has need of an alteration in order for it to succeed.” I began, my arms held wide in welcome before I rested a hand upon the map before me. “Thanks to new information I obtained during my absence, the target of our attack will not be the capital of the Dominion, but the former Imperial capital in whose lands Nor’Darahl once resided.”
This brought many a murmur to life, as the gathered leadership talked quietly amongst themselves. It was the dark elf that spoke up first.
“If I may, why attack there when the Dominion’s capital is the far more logical target?” The man asked, a stern looking fellow with more than a few scars on his face.
“It’s simple, my plan is entirely dependent on the location I am in after the attack. For I plan to utilize a power that will ensure none of this comes to pass in the first place. However to accurately use this power, I need to be where it started in the first place which just so happens to be the Imperial capital itself. I can’t exactly just walk in and not fight my way through, I need to ensure the capital itself is secure so I can use this power.”
The man nodded, my answer seemingly enough for him.
“Plus, the enemy won’t expect us to attack a place that is by all accounts, further away from their leadership. It doesn’t make sense, and that is why we should be able to take the city with relative ease. And if another of my ideas is doable, then the enemy will be taken fully by surprise.”
“And this idea of yours is?” The arachne queen asked, the others all looking at me curiously.
“We’re going to pull an Atlantis.” I replied, which earned me confused looks from everyone save Cameron.
“How is sinking Nor’Darahl going to help?” He asked, while a grin grew on my lips.
“Oh not that Atlantis. Have you, perchance, ever watched Stargate?” I asked, and realization blossomed on his face, a giddy sort of grin tugging at his lips.
“Oh they aren’t going to know what hit them.” He murmured, rubbing his hands together with glee.
I explained my idea to the others, and the longer I spoke the more they began to realize just how batshit crazy it all was. But as it turned out, in this day and age, crazy was something they could all get behind.
[prev]

Jason is the single most mishandled character in entire franchise and his death was the culmination of half a decade of Rick trying desperately to stick to what works instead of expanding his world.
Let me explain.
Coming off The Last Olympian into The Lost Hero, you're primed to think the guy we've spent the last five books in the head of has somehow gone missing. You open to page one and your very first thought is, "Jason? Who in the gods' names is Jason?"
It's a universal experience in this fandom and it's the final seal on Jason's fate. You only get one chance to make a first impression and Rick became very aware very quickly that Jason's could not have been worse. The fans don't like Percy, they don't adore Percy, they're here FOR Percy and everything else is secondary. At least, if you believe the loudest contingent (more on Percy's warping of the narrative post-PJaTO coming later). Rick enticed people into purchasing TLH by promising more Percy, and not delivering on that came at the cost of the reader's relationship with Jason.
You spend the entire book with a kid who has no idea who he is, wondering the guy you're here for is actually going to be mentioned. This frustrates me immensely, because the bleeding could have been staunched here. If Rick had just made the Camp Jupiter twist happen around the same time the reader was understanding that a Roman counterpart to Camp Half-Blood existed, the entire latter half of the book could have been spent characterizing Jason.
But no. Instead you can see as the series goes on that Rick is actually becoming more and more worried about parallels between Jason and Percy. But instead of leaning into them to make Camp Jupiter cool, he takes and takes and takes and takes from what little Jason was given in order to break him down to build everyone else up.
Percy has a named weapon, so Jason's has to explode in his debut book. Percy's the hero of the Greeks, so the Romans have to turn on Jason. Percy's in a committed relationship, so no girl before Piper has ever gotten so much as a second look from Jason. Percy's the most powerful demigod, so Jason isn't allowed to rival him. These changes don't make the reader go, "Wow, these guys may seem a lot alike on the surface but they're so divergent!" it makes them go, "Man, Percy is so much better and more interesting than Jason!"
And once he's dug Jason's grave, he just goes deeper and deeper in the weirdest attempts to win Jason some love from the fandom instead of crafting a character and letting the love find him. Jason is the one there when Nico is forced out of the closet. Jason is revealed to need glasses the literal chapter before he gets them. Jason and Percy get a moment or two of being bros. And most egregiously of all, Rick abandons any pretense of caring about Camp Jupiter and just has Jason fellate Camp Half-Blood.
Jason spends TWELVE YEARS at Camp Jupiter but somehow has less of a connection to it than the place Percy spent four summers at? Could you imagine Percy coming back to Camp Half-Blood after becoming an adored praetor of Camp Jupiter, and telling the people he's fought and bled and cried beside for a total of 9 months of his life that he doesn't really belong with them? No? Well now you see why Jason doing it is worse than nonsensical.
Jason felt like a prince-in-waiting at Camp Jupiter, which parallels all the pressure Percy felt as the Big 3 Child of the Prophecy, and both have a lost list of camper friends. Why are only Percy's relationships at camp meaningful while Jason, the guy who spent over a decade fighting for and leading them, is instantly seen as a traitor the second he's standing next to someone who attacked the camp? You would never accept Malcolm braining Percy with a brick and Grover having to drag him to safety, and it makes exactly as little sense when it's Jason and a legionnaire he's definitely trained with for years?
We're told of Jason's greatest feats but he isn't written with that history in mind. Jason feels so rudderless and never fully gets his memory back because Rick did not care to fill in all the blanks, and he became especially disinclined to do so once all the hate for Jason was in. We get all this buildup in Heroes of Olympus that Jason's gonna be Pontifex Maximus and make shrines to all the gods on Capitoline Hill, and where do we find him in that travesty of a novel, The Tyrant's Tomb?
A million miles away from camp in a random boarding school. Yet another facet that fails the Percy test, because Rick doesn't even try to give a sensical justification for why Jason though the best way to deliver on his Camp Jupiter ambitions was to leave Camp Jupiter. He only needed Jason as a stepping stool for everyone else's stories, and as a result where he was at and what he was doing are totally inconsequential.
I reject that. I think it's a disservice to the world he's building to accept that anything about Jason Grace's character makes a lick of sense. As far I'm concerned, he did not die in that 3/10 book.

Howdy l've been role-playing and writing in general for at least a decade. I am a Male who can play male and female characters. I have original ideas all over and a lot of Fandoms I'm in, which I'Il include below. I'm looking for OCXOC. Every character must be 18+ I have plenty of original characters and ideas along with fandom plots.
For original ideas, i like horror and apocalypse with action and depending romance. I do have a variety. I really like monsters and creepy things from the horror genre like vampires and Tentacles, and l even have my own idea set up in modern times dealing with vampires and hunters and all of that i also enjoy eldritch type horror. I also like old-school slasher films and space sci-fi horror similar to the Alien Franchise. Now on fandoms! To get some other things down, l only play OC. The anime fandoms i like are Jojo's, Chainsaw Man, Naruto, JJK, Soul Eater, and more. I'm well versed in the Jojo's, Naruto, and JJK, and soul eater fandoms, though it's been a while since ï've stopped keeping up with soul eater. Other fandoms im in include Call of Duty, Marvel, and DC.
I tend to use character sheets to describe my character. These are very thorough and usually consist of names, backgrounds, and personalities, along with an in-depth look on appearance. More so on appearances, I don't usually use picture references, but I will if you would like me to. The types of characters I write are the lone wolf type that has some sad past, which leads them to potentially go off the rails and gain a villain arc.
I like all types of tropes, especially enemies to lovers or rivalry. I also really enjoy opposites attracted as a whole from either opposite personality or something else they would be opposites in. Enemies to lovers takes my heart, though. I love seeing the characters go past theurge to ultimately hate each other and/or go past their usual way of disliking the others' lineage or upcoming I also love good written trauma moments. Like character death's, moments of pain and strife only to see the characters to deal and either be consumed or overcome them. I tend to either come up with original ideas for these scenes or use anime scenes as inspiration with narrative tweaks.
REQUIREMENT
I think my two biggest requirements are creativity and good pacing. Like any story, I feel these two things are very necessary to make a good story. Now, by Creativity, I don't mean you need to bring absolute craziness into the story, but abilities, character etc need to have some good genuine thought put into them. Along with that comes good pacing, which means I don't personally care about response length, and mine will vary from scene to scene accordingly.
I'm pretty much done if you have any questions. I'm here, and I'd love to hear back from you in chat the password is your favorite color. Supply it in chat only.

I pre ordered the new Kobo Libra Colour and I admit that the main reason was the Kaleido display. I have a glorious twelve years old Kobo Touch and a Kindle Paperwhite 11th but I really wanted to embrace the colour solution. It arrived fast after the first shipments and I setup immediately to test both colour and be capabilities. From the very first moment, I realized what I was exchanging for colors: brightness and sharpness.
On the Libra Colour, everything appears darker and the Kaleido layer obfuscates the text. On the colour side, I was really excited to see color on eink but reading experience doesn't gain too much with colors because of the dimmered images.
The Paperwhite at the end outstands the Libra also in performances: it happens to me that the Kobo software is slow on swapping page and I had to delete and reload a book because the Kobo continued to reboot on that book opening.
In the end, I was really excited about the novelty but for a bw reader, I think, you are loosing too much to get such a little feature (I repeat, for who reads primarily bw).
I do not cover the handwriting features because I was not interested in those. I can only say that maybe is not the cheaper solution for a Eink + pen

Bands where the lead singer fronts 2 or more different bands.
The Story So Far - No Pressure
Heart Attack Man - Normy
Valencia - Promise of Redemption - The Future Perfect
Early November - I Can Make A Mess
Movielife - I Am The Avalance
Underoath - The Almost
Knuckle Puck/Real Friends - Weigh the Anchor
Rufio - Scott Sellers
Less than Jake - Rehasher
The Wonder Years - Aaron West
Taking Back Sunday - Straylight Run - Color Fred
Something Corporate - Jacks Mannequin
I know there's a bunch more. Let's hear em!

I (F34) have been married to my husband (M32) for just over 1 year. I love this man so much - he has consistently taken time to communicate and check in, he is fun and allows me to be my weird self, he encourages my passions, and he was someone I could see a future with. And that future looked really warm and comforting and secure.
The thing that has built is our very different lifestyles. I have a standard 9-5 desk job and he doesn't work. They are financially secure and are, essentially, in early retirement. For finances we agreed that I would cover the mortgage (I own the home, purchased before we started dating) and they would cover utilities and food. The home chores are mostly taken care of by him with the understanding that I would only be able to tackle chores when I'm off work in the evenings and on weekends.
All this has slowly started shifting over the past year (ish). Chores are built up and he complains that I don't do them (I do, just not immediately if it's in he middle of the day). We have to share an office and they spend most of their days at their computer playing games or painting warhammer minis. They also get overwhelmed and stressed quite easily and I've had to spend countless hours supporting them after being "too social".
I'm starting to get resentful and petty and I'm not sure what to do about it.
I have to get up early for work (team is in a different time zone). That means a 6am alarm. They are angry that I wake them up early and it interrupts their sleep.
I have a lot of meetings throughout the day and also really prefer working in quiet. I have a sign up on our door to help indicate what type of environment I need and also got noise cancelling headphones. More often than not, the sign is ignored and they start screaming at their computer or walking through the background of my video call. They've also taken to just standing close to me and staring until I take off my headphones and pay attention to them.
One of my big decompressing hobbies lately has been reading. It does require my sole focus, but that's why I love it. I like that I don't worry about work or life outside of the pages of this new story. But they can't seem to leave me alone for more than a few minutes. As soon as I'm off work they poke me to "pay attention to them." A lot of times they don't even want to *talk* they just don't want me to pay attention to something other than them.
I have a stressful job, but it's also a desk job. I'm not a robot that's 100% on all the time. Sometimes my screen will have a social chat up or I'll check my personal email or I just need a meme break because I'm a human on the internet that likes memes. I think they see this and don't really respect my job. They've never had a desk job so this type of work is hard for them to understand. They also haven't really held down *any* job long term so even the concept of your schedule including "shit you don't want to do but you have to do because it's something essential for making money" just doesn't really compute for them. I'm interrupted so much at work it's baffling.
They've been going through a hard time lately and all of these things, plus a bunch of smaller moments, have built up to a point where I'm struggling to empathize with them. I'm really struggling to support them without snapping or pushing them away. They spent the entire day yesterday crying and being upset because they scheduled too many warhammer games and got overwhelmed from being too social.
Sometimes I feel like I'm living with a 13 year old child.
They go to therapy weekly, I go to therapy biweekly, and we've tried couples' therapy. We've also had talks about everything ad nauseum. Nothing that I've said here is a surprise to them. I'm just unsure of where to go from here.
Has anyone else worked through anything similar? I'm trying to have discussions with my husband but I feel like I'm losing the motivation and desire to even try. It feels like the same arguments over and over again. And if it's not the same arguments then the resolution is for *me* to adjust my behavior to accommodate them instead of us both working to support each other.