~Ultimate Pokemon 151 (S/V 151) Pull Guide~
Introduction:
Trying to complete the Master Set? Need that dopamine rush? This guide breaks down all you need to know about the S/V 151 set, easily the hottest set in the S/V series.

~Terminology:~
HR- Hyper Rare
SIR- Special Illustration Rare
IR- Illustration Rare
UR- Ultra Rare
DR- Double Rare
RH- Reverse Holo
Booster Pack- a pack of S/V 151 cards. Contains 12 cards.
UPC- Ultra Premium Collection
ETB- Elite Trainer Box

~Rarity:~ (below are rates of pulling each rarity per booster pack)
HR- 1/51 chance. Gold border cards. Three gold stars at the bottom. These are technically the “rarest” cards in this set. There are three HRs: Mew, Switch and Psychic Energy. It’s a 1/154 chance to get a specific HR. Who cares? These cards are underwhelming.
SIR- 1/32 chance. These are the “money cards”. Two gold stars at the bottom. Have a glittery, textured border. These are why I pull this set as the “chase” card in this set, Charizard, is here. There are seven SIRs: Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Alakazam, Zapdos, Erika’s Invitation, Giovanni’s Charisma. It’s a 1/224 chance to get a specific SIR (meaning 1/224 or 0.45% to pull a SIR Charizard per booster pack).
IR- 1/12 chance. I sometimes call these Full Arts (FA). One gold star at the bottom. These cards look nice. Regular borders but the entire card is a full art. There are 16 IRs: Bulba, Ivy, Charmander, Charmeleon, Squirtle, Wartortle, Caterpie, Pika, Nido, Psyduck, Poliwhirl, Machoke, Tangela, Mime, Omanyte and Dragonair. It’s a 1/192 chance to pull a specific IR.
UR- 1/16 chance. I sometimes call these “Alt-Art” as well. Two silver stars at the bottom. Basically a close-up of the Pokemon with a single-colored background. TBH, I think these look kinda “meh” but the UR Charizard is worth some $$$. There are 16 URs: Venusaur, Zard, Blastoise, Arbok, Ninetales, Wigglytuff, Alakazam, Golem, Kanga, Jynx, Zapdos, Mew, Bill’s Transfer, Daisy’s Help, Erika’s Invitation. It’s a 1/256 chance to get a specific UR (getting a specific UR is mathematically the hardest thing to get in this set).
DR- 1/8 chance. I just called the “Regular EXs” or “EX”. Two black stars at the bottom. Don’t really care about these cards. The Mew EXs were worth like $10-15 early on cuz they saw some competitive use, but who cares now. There are DRs: Venu, Zard, Blastoise, Arbok (there’s a video of me ripping this card cuz I was so pissed), Ninetales, Wiggly, Alakazam, Golem, Kanga, Jynx, Zapdos, Mew. It’s a 1/96 chance to get a specific DR.
RH- you get two per booster pack. If you get lucky, one of those RHs can be replaced with a SIR. More of this later in “What to Expect…” section.

~What to Expect in a Booster Pack~
- 12 cards in total. Below is the order the cards appear if you don’t move them.
1) Code Card (for online TCG)
2) Common
3) Common
4) Common
5) Common
6) Common
7) Uncommon
8) Uncommon
9) Uncommon
10) RH (99.999%), IR Bulba/CharmandeSquirtle (>0.001%)**
11) RH (96.875%), SIR (3.125%), IR Ivy/Charmeleon/Wartortle (>0.001%)**
12) Rare (81.25%), DR (12.5%) UR (6.25%), SIR Venu/Zard/Blastoise (>0.001%)**
As you can see, only cards #10, 11, 12 matter with card #11 being the “money card”.
** This indicates the event of a “god pack” being pulled where cards #10, 11 and 12 get replaced with Bulba (IR), Ivy (IR) and Venu (SIR), the Charmander line or the Squirtle line. Extremely rare. In ~1000 packs pulled, my buddy and I have only gotten one god pack of a 151 Tin.

~S/V 151 Products~
This is one of the only sets where a Booster Box (36 booster packs in one box) is not available. Smart on them to make more $$$ but shucks for us. Below are the products you can buy for booster packs:
- UPC (aka Mew Box. Contains 16 booster packs and Mew, Mewtwo promos)
- ETB (aka Snorlax Box. Contains 9 booster packs and Snorlax promo)
- ETB Pokemon Center (Snorlax Box w/ Pkmn Center logo and 11 boosters)
- Booster Bundle (6 booster packs)
- Alakazam EX Collection (4 boosters + Alakazam line promos)
- Zapdos EX Collection (4 boosters + Zapdos, Electabuzz promos)
- Binder Collections (4 boosters + 151 Binder)
- Poster Collection (3 boosters + Bulba/ChaSquirt promos + poster)
- 151 Tins (Each tin contains 2 boosters + a coin some shit)
Basically, if you’re serious about opening packs, the promos don’t matter since you’ll have a boatload of that crap and you just care about the lowest $$ per booster pack. I would say $5 USD or lower per booster pack is a good deal; $6 USD is aight. Do the math yourself.
Be on the lookout for products on sale. Check your Facebook, join Discord channels and check flyers for stores like Target, Costco, Wal-Mart for deals.

~Completing your Master Collection~
What is a Master Collection? Basically you have all 153 RHs, 12 DRs, URs, IRs, SIRs, HRs and Energies. Start spending some $$$ and rip packs.
For those nerds out there, you can try completing what I call a Master Master Collection (Basically what I have, get on my level). You need all cards above + all promos. Here are the 21 promos I’ve seen so far:
1) Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle promo (from Poster Collection)
2) Abra, Kadabra, Alakazam promo (from Alakazam EX Collection)
3) Zapdos, Giant Zapdos, Electabuzz (from Zapdos EX Collection)
4) Mew, Metal Mew, Mewtwo (from UPC)
5) Snorlax (from ETB)
6) Pokemon Centre Snorlax (from Pokemon Center ETB)
7) S/V 151 Bulbasaur Promo (Stamped)
8) Gamestop Charmander
9) EB Games Charmander
10) Pokemon Centre Squirtle (RH)
11) Pokemon Centre Squirtle (non RH)
12) Pikachu (Pokemon Together)
13) Eevee (Pokemon Together)

~Batching~
What is batching? Basically, the cards get printed in “batches” and there’s the myth that certain batches contain more rare cards than others. There may be some truth to this but who knows. During the release of 151, I was maybe getting a hit ~40% of the time with SIRs galore and after a few months it really died down to about 25%. Currently Costco is selling Alazakam + Zapdos Bundles together and from what I’ve seen the hits are insane (back to ~40% with SIRs galore).

~Ultimate Pokemon 151 (S/V 151) Pull Guide~
Introduction:
Trying to complete the Master Set? Need that dopamine rush? This guide breaks down all you need to know about the S/V 151 set, easily the hottest set in the S/V series.

~Terminology:~
HR- Hyper Rare
SIR- Special Illustration Rare
IR- Illustration Rare
UR- Ultra Rare
DR- Double Rare
RH- Reverse Holo
Booster Pack- a pack of S/V 151 cards. Contains 12 cards.
UPC- Ultra Premium Collection
ETB- Elite Trainer Box

~Rarity:~ (below are rates of pulling each rarity per booster pack)
HR- 1/51 chance. Gold border cards. Three gold stars at the bottom. These are technically the “rarest” cards in this set. There are three HRs: Mew, Switch and Psychic Energy. It’s a 1/154 chance to get a specific HR. Who cares? These cards are underwhelming.
SIR- 1/32 chance. These are the “money cards”. Two gold stars at the bottom. Have a glittery, textured border. These are why I pull this set as the “chase” card in this set, Charizard, is here. There are seven SIRs: Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Alakazam, Zapdos, Erika’s Invitation, Giovanni’s Charisma. It’s a 1/224 chance to get a specific SIR (meaning 1/224 or 0.45% to pull a SIR Charizard per booster pack).
IR- 1/12 chance. I sometimes call these Full Arts (FA). One gold star at the bottom. These cards look nice. Regular borders but the entire card is a full art. There are 16 IRs: Bulba, Ivy, Charmander, Charmeleon, Squirtle, Wartortle, Caterpie, Pika, Nido, Psyduck, Poliwhirl, Machoke, Tangela, Mime, Omanyte and Dragonair. It’s a 1/192 chance to pull a specific IR.
UR- 1/16 chance. I sometimes call these “Alt-Art” as well. Two silver stars at the bottom. Basically a close-up of the Pokemon with a single-colored background. TBH, I think these look kinda “meh” but the UR Charizard is worth some $$$. There are 16 URs: Venusaur, Zard, Blastoise, Arbok, Ninetales, Wigglytuff, Alakazam, Golem, Kanga, Jynx, Zapdos, Mew, Bill’s Transfer, Daisy’s Help, Erika’s Invitation. It’s a 1/256 chance to get a specific UR (getting a specific UR is mathematically the hardest thing to get in this set).
DR- 1/8 chance. I just called the “Regular EXs” or “EX”. Two black stars at the bottom. Don’t really care about these cards. The Mew EXs were worth like $10-15 early on cuz they saw some competitive use, but who cares now. There are DRs: Venu, Zard, Blastoise, Arbok (there’s a video of me ripping this card cuz I was so pissed), Ninetales, Wiggly, Alakazam, Golem, Kanga, Jynx, Zapdos, Mew. It’s a 1/96 chance to get a specific DR.
RH- you get two per booster pack. If you get lucky, one of those RHs can be replaced with a SIR. More of this later in “What to Expect…” section.

~What to Expect in a Booster Pack~
- 12 cards in total. Below is the order the cards appear if you don’t move them.
1) Code Card (for online TCG)
2) Common
3) Common
4) Common
5) Common
6) Common
7) Uncommon
8) Uncommon
9) Uncommon
10) RH (99.999%), IR Bulba/CharmandeSquirtle (>0.001%)**
11) RH (96.875%), SIR (3.125%), IR Ivy/Charmeleon/Wartortle (>0.001%)**
12) Rare (81.25%), DR (12.5%) UR (6.25%), SIR Venu/Zard/Blastoise (>0.001%)**
As you can see, only cards #10, 11, 12 matter with card #11 being the “money card”.
** This indicates the event of a “god pack” being pulled where cards #10, 11 and 12 get replaced with Bulba (IR), Ivy (IR) and Venu (SIR), the Charmander line or the Squirtle line. Extremely rare. In ~1000 packs pulled, my buddy and I have only gotten one god pack of a 151 Tin.

~S/V 151 Products~
This is one of the only sets where a Booster Box (36 booster packs in one box) is not available. Smart on them to make more $$$ but shucks for us. Below are the products you can buy for booster packs:
- UPC (aka Mew Box. Contains 16 booster packs and Mew, Mewtwo promos)
- ETB (aka Snorlax Box. Contains 9 booster packs and Snorlax promo)
- ETB Pokemon Center (Snorlax Box w/ Pkmn Center logo and 11 boosters)
- Booster Bundle (6 booster packs)
- Alakazam EX Collection (4 boosters + Alakazam line promos)
- Zapdos EX Collection (4 boosters + Zapdos, Electabuzz promos)
- Binder Collections (4 boosters + 151 Binder)
- Poster Collection (3 boosters + Bulba/ChaSquirt promos + poster)
- 151 Tins (Each tin contains 2 boosters + a coin some shit)
Basically, if you’re serious about opening packs, the promos don’t matter since you’ll have a boatload of that crap and you just care about the lowest $$ per booster pack. I would say $5 USD or lower per booster pack is a good deal; $6 USD is aight. Do the math yourself.
Be on the lookout for products on sale. Check your Facebook, join Discord channels and check flyers for stores like Target, Costco, Wal-Mart for deals.

~Completing your Master Collection~
What is a Master Collection? Basically you have all 153 RHs, 12 DRs, URs, IRs, SIRs, HRs and Energies. Start spending some $$$ and rip packs.
For those nerds out there, you can try completing what I call a Master Master Collection (Basically what I have, get on my level). You need all cards above + all promos. Here are the 21 promos I’ve seen so far:
1) Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle promo (from Poster Collection)
2) Abra, Kadabra, Alakazam promo (from Alakazam EX Collection)
3) Zapdos, Giant Zapdos, Electabuzz (from Zapdos EX Collection)
4) Mew, Metal Mew, Mewtwo (from UPC)
5) Snorlax (from ETB)
6) Pokemon Centre Snorlax (from Pokemon Center ETB)
7) S/V 151 Bulbasaur Promo (Stamped)
8) Gamestop Charmander
9) EB Games Charmander
10) Pokemon Centre Squirtle (RH)
11) Pokemon Centre Squirtle (non RH)
12) Pikachu (Pokemon Together)
13) Eevee (Pokemon Together)

~Batching~
What is batching? Basically, the cards get printed in “batches” and there’s the myth that certain batches contain more rare cards than others. There may be some truth to this but who knows. During the release of 151, I was maybe getting a hit ~40% of the time with SIRs galore and after a few months it really died down to about 25%. Currently Costco is selling Alazakam + Zapdos Bundles together and from what I’ve seen the hits are insane (back to ~40% with SIRs galore).

Hardcover book about insects. The color pallete of the inside was white, bright lime green, and bright pink. I believe it had an illustration of a fly on the cover. The book was more or less a foot in length and had anatomical graphs of insects in black in white, usually illustrations. The tone of the book wasn't particularly targeted towards children and I remember it using technical language. I remember a couple of graphs about experiments on insects (the book is not 101 simple experiments with insects) and one had something to do with placing an insect in a tub of water but I could be misremembering.
Edit: the book was primarily graphs with explanations. Not a novel with occasional pictures.

""The Hub Sphere floated around me, islands drifting lazily through the semi-empty expanse. I sat cross-legged on one of these islands, levitating just above its surface, with my giant paintbrush propped against my shoulder. The sky above was a surreal kaleidoscope of colors, shifting in ways that defied logic and expectation.
My sketchbook lay open in my lap, and I doodled absentmindedly with a pen, lines and shapes coming together in random, intricate patterns. The hum of my own tune kept me company, a soft, unenthusiastic melody echoing through the silence. reflecting my current state of boredom.
I sighed, the sound barely louder than a whisper. "So, here we are," I muttered, almost to myself, almost to the universe. "The Hub Sphere. A place where doors lead to an infinite number of alternate universes." My voice was flat, unenthusiastic, my mind more focused on the doodles I was creating than the words I was saying.
I paused, staring at the page. A squiggle became a tree, the tree sprouted branches that morphed into abstract shapes. "This place," I continued, "it's... different. You wouldn't believe the scale unless you saw it yourself. Mathematically Incalculable universes, both imaginable and unimaginable, logical and illogical, possible and impossible. Each one branching into more, each with its own alternate timelines."
I glanced up, gesturing lazily with my pen at the nearest door on a floating island. "Every door you see here? It leads to another universe. Some are simple, some are... well, not." I chuckled without humor. "Some universes are multiverses themselves. Like, you've got string theory universes somewhere there, Then there’s the brane multiverse, where our universe is just a membrane floating in higher-dimensional space, brushing up against other membranes, creating big bangs wherever they collide."
My pen drew a rough outline of another door. "Then there's the many-worlds interpretation. Every possible decision creates a new universe, splitting off into countless others. Nested universes, where each one contains an infinite number of smaller ones, like a Russian doll. Extended modal realism, where every logically possible world exists as real as this one."
I found myself sketching a swirling vortex, representing the mathematical universe hypothesis. "According to this theory, the universe is not just described by math; it is math. Everything around us is a mathematical structure."
I flipped the page, starting a new sketch. "Set theory universes, subatomic universes... and then there are concepts that go beyond. Hierarchies of hierarchies. Each dimension hold all concepts and is infinitely higher than the lower dimensions, inaccessible to anything beneath, like how a 3D person perceives a 2D world. But paradoxically, these dimensions aren't bound by dimensionality at all. They're outside all concepts, all mathematics. Even the idea of mathematics."
My sketch now showed an intricate web, each line branching into more lines, a visual metaphor for the incomprehensible structure of the multiverse. "Every layer within these hierarchies is a narrative to the higher layer, a story within a story, infinitely layered. And the Hub Sphere? It's beyond all that. Outside and beyond the very idea of concepts, infinitely. It's almost inaccessible, so far beyond even the concept of 'absolute infinity' that it's just... here."
I sighed again, tapping my pen against the sketchbook. "Even the sun here doesn't make sense. It's afternoon, but there's no real time here. Just a suggestion of it." ""

The bright yellow terror

‘’Every now and then I would stare at the murky brown water below and see several small glimpses of bright yellow popping up from and then retreating down below the surface in rhythmic fashion. Like a dance routine. Bright deadly yellow. The rotting sweet stench of death still lodged in my nostrils.’’
I had happened upon these diary pages by mistake when I was digging through old boxes in my basement. My wife had insisted, finally, that I sort out and get rid of everything I didn’t need. Now here I was, confronted with a part of my past I had tried to suppress unsuccessfully for so many years. 24 years to be exact. 24 odd years of trying to understand what exactly happened in those days when I was trapped on a rooftop in Phuket during a deadly and disastrous natural catastrophe.
24 odd years of having to dodge around questions of my abject and unwavering fear of the ocean. Well, in truth, I guess being caught in a large tsunami and witnessing immense destructive forces of nature coming directly from the great wide ocean would be a fair excuse, but it was only half the truth. It wasn’t just the waves themselves that had terrified me.
Until now, I thought the water damaged remains of the diary I kept back then was lost. I even hoped it was. I never shared this story with anyone. Partly because the horror was too fresh in my memory back then and I wanted to focus on moving on with my life and by the time I felt my mind was stabilized I had no real interest in returning to that dark part of my past. Partly because the right words always escaped me.
Mostly because I was afraid people would think I was insane. I can no longer contain this, however. I need an outlet. I spend years running from it. But I guess I can’t lie to myself anymore. Someone once told me that writing can be therapeutic. Simply putting your thoughts down on paper, or in our times, more likely in word document, can help you compartmentalize trauma. So, I’m giving it a try. I can’t pretend the events of those days in Phuket didn’t cast a shadow over everything in my life that came after.
I often think of the beach days I missed with my son when he was a boy. Days where I should’ve done dad stuff. Thrown him into the ocean. Watched him laugh his little face of as he braved the waves. Helped him build sandcastles. Gone exploring along the sandy shores in search of beached treasure in the form little rocks and the odd piece of amber. I just couldn’t. Initially I had objected to the idea of him going at all. Naturally, my wife would hear none of that and I realized reluctantly, that my fear and trauma should not rule my son’s life. Instead, my wife would go, and I would always stay home. She understood, to some degree, what I had gone through and where my fear came from.
Only to some degree. My son did not, and I fear he resented my absence on those perfect sunny days, despite my efforts to make up for it with other activities. Both he and my wife certainly noticed how closed off I was about certain parts of my past. Secrets untold, especially those who are grounded in trauma, almost inevitably turns to toxic in our systems. I’m finally ready. I just hope it isn’t too late.
I won’t lie. I’ve always had a vivid imagination although I have never had trouble distinguishing between what is real and what is not. At least until my sense of reality was forever challenged. I know these things happened to me. I know what I saw and what I experienced was real. I just don’t have a truly rational explanation for it. Yet, I swear, there was something in the water that came with that tsunami. Something deeply, deeply unnatural. Something brightly and oddly yellow. I had no other word for it than the bright yellow terror.
I had travelled to Thailand, more precisely Bangkok late December 2000. 19 years old about to turn 20. I was on one of those infamous and increasingly popular self-discovery trips. I had caught the fever. Like so many other young hopeful adventurers at the time I had seen The Beach. I had read into the wild by Jon Krakauer.
I watched Dicaprio walk the sandy shores of paradise and read on in excitement and awe as Christopher McCandles set out to become one with nature and discover himself. Kill the false being within and all that. In simple terms, I thought I’d try and find my own slice of heaven on earth. Expand my horizon. Get to know some new people. Learn something about myself in the process perhaps. I wasn’t exactly fleeing from anything, that wasn’t it. I had a loving although cuddling and overprotective family. Especially my mom would worry about me constantly (and still does).
Yes, I admit it. My parents had paved the way for me at almost every step. Made sure I got into the right schools. Made sure I never needed for money. I guess I got tired of feeling dependent on them. I stopped taking their money and saved up for the trip myself. It was time I stepped up. It was time I threw myself into the world to see what would happen. Hell of a time and place I picked for that.
The following story is based on the surviving pages of the diary I kept during the time and my own memory.
Bangkok 23rd December 2000. 4 days before the tsunami.
‘’My first day in Bangkok. Quite overwhelming but in a nice way. No one here to save me. No one here to tell me what to do. Thailand is hot and humid and there’s something in the air. I think it’s adventure. I think it’s limitless opportunity. I met a monkey in a diaper and got thoroughly beaten and lost 100 bath in a game of connect four by some 10-year-old kid. Got scammed as well though, I will have to wise up and learn the ropes. Avoid the yellow taxis. Go for the Tuk Tuks. Well, lesson learned. I met a guy who told me all kinds of terrifying things about Australia. Robert. I’m meeting him in Phuket a couple of days from now.’’
You could probably imagine the excitement bubbling within me. For the first time on my own. 19 years old. Prime of my life. In a strangely new and exotic city. Possibilities seemed endless. I still remember vividly driving off with the wind in my hair in a tuk-tuk as Bangkok unfolded before me with all its oriental mysticism and surrounding cityscapes. To be fair, I had never even seen an honest to god palm tree before as they simply couldn’t grow in the northern climate I was from.
I got myself stationed in a decent guesthouse around Khaosan Road. Everywhere I looked it seems others had gotten the same idea as me. Backpackers littered the streets and in a strange way, I felt at home amidst this quiet chaos, amidst the crowds of hopefully likeminded explorers, far, far away from home. The humidity was hitting me though, it was something I would have to get used to. It felt like a wet hot invisible blanket. Khaosan Road was perfect for me. A meeting place for young backpackers, with tons of opportunities to plan further travels. I did after all, not plan on staying in Bangkok for too long. It was just a stepping point to other adventures.
It was still early, and the humidity was clammy as hell. I was in the mood to socialize and with no real plans I simply ventured out into the streets of Bangkok, circling around the area where my guesthouse was located. It wasn’t long before the first opportunity presented itself in the form of a taxi driver calling me over. He offered to take me on a tour of the city. Foolish and naïve as I was, I indulged him. I remember how the cab driver lit up a doobie, joint, spliff, devil’s lettuce whatever you want to call it.
You know it as soon as you breathe in the air. Don’t get me wrong, I smoked myself, but letting a clearly high person drive me around the busy Bangkok traffic did not seem like a good idea. I should probably have asked to be let out that very moment, but as the kind of timid, shy type of person I was plus the desire to just go along with whatever happened come what may made me stay. Unsurprisingly I was eventually led to a store, fitted for a suit a didn’t want, and then subsequently charged an obscene amount for the cab ride. I didn’t have the courage to refuse his unreasonable demand. Noteworthy mention. That same night I heard from a fellow traveler that just recently someone had been stabbed in an argument with a cab driver. I didn’t let it get me down or drive me off course, because as you’ve probably gathered by now, I didn’t have a course.
As day turned to night and when the sun’s rays slowly disappeared behind the rooftops of Bangkok, the city itself began to transform. As if a part of it which had laid dormant, hidden away from the light, started to emerge.
Neon lights advertising different bars, people making all kinds of promises of untold pleasures and sensations. Tourists ready to party. All now filled the streets. Some seemed all too aware of what they were looking for, others simply drifted around aimlessly, in search of something unknown, something to spice up their existence. I found a small seemingly cool place called The Hangover. I swear to god, I wish to this day I hadn’t. Maybe then I wouldn’t have set my course for Phuket. In any case, I went in and pushed myself through the crowds of rowdy and loud tourists and up the bar where I ordered a Pina Colada. Please don’t judge me. I just really like coconuts and the song is pretty good as well. Standing at the crowded bar and looking around, hoping something interesting would catch my eye. But most of all, I was hoping someone would just take the first step and come talk to me.
Someone did. His name was Robert, and he was from Australia. A tall skinny and no-nonsense older guy who seemed quite experienced with all things Thailand. He eventually invited me down to his group of friends at the far back end of the bar. Robert spared no time telling me about himself. He had worked all kinds of jobs, in all kinds of places. Most recently he had worked as a guide in Phuket. Among other things he had arranged rock climbing expeditions. I probably forgot to mention, I was big into rock climbing and generally all kinds of outdoor activities back then.
I already had quite the climbing experience despite my young age. As Robert talked about all the places he’d been, he made me feel like the novice I was. That was never his intention though, as I quickly learned. He wasn’t a bragger. He just knew what he was talking about and when he laughed, he did it with his entire face and in a way that made you laugh with him and feel comfortable.
Eventually the conversation naturally gravitated towards Australia. A place I had always wanted to visit. He looked at me for a second, as if to contemplate something. Then told me to watch out for locals trying to play pranks on me. I was naturally interested in hearing more and that’s when he told me about drop bears. Supposedly drop bears are carnivorous versions of Koalas residing in trees to then drop down on unsuspecting victims and viciously attack them. We laughed quite a lot, and I admitted I would probably have believed the stories as I was a fairly naive person and the idea of hostile subspecies of koalas didn’t seem that farfetched to me. It would be typical of past me to get punked around like that. Our conversation then shifted towards Australian wildlife and fauna and the horrors residing within its diverse and complicated eco system. He told me about a plant not uncommonly referred to as the suicide plant. Dendrocnide moroides or more commonly known as stinging tree, stinging bush or gympie gympie apparently has such a nasty and painful sting it made a man commit suicide simply to escape the pain. Another dangerous inhabitant was the box jellyfish he explained.
Their sting was about as deadly as it gets. A single sting to a human will cause necrosis of the skin, excruciating pain and, if the dose of venom is large enough, cardiac arrest and death within minutes. I have always found jellyfish equal parts fascinating and equal parts frightening. Beautiful but deadly creatures. In fact, the ocean, in all its grand wide-reaching glory had always horrified me to some extent. So much unexplored space. Who truly knows what could be lurking down there? Robert quickly assured me, that as long as you take your precaution the likelihood of getting stung by a box jellyfish was rather small. They had signs up warning people against them. Generally, do not ignore these signs. They are there for a good reason.
It was getting late and before we said our goodbyes Robert suggested I meet him in Phuket, more precisely in the Khao Lak area on the 28^th as that was the first day he would be able to. I thought why not? He seemed genuinely nice and knowledgeable. Just good company all around and he promised to show me the greatest climbing spots a bit away from the crowded tours. It was a start.
I would never meet Robert again. I don’t know what happened to him. Thinking back on those days leading up to the point the waves came crashing down always gives me an uneasy, sad, and melancholic feeling. The people I met in Bangkok talking about going south. Those I met in Phuket before it happened. I have no idea if they ended up as corpses floating through the murky brown waters or god forbid, victims of that unholy terror from the deep. I hope Robert wasn’t among those unfortunate souls who died or went… ‘’Missing’’. Although if I must pick one or the other. I would hope he died quickly.
Bangkok 24^th of December 2000. 3 days before the tsunami.
I woke up with a slight hangover. Christmas is commonly celebrated on this date in my country, so I was expecting some calls to go through on my brick sized Nokia at some point once all the good folks back home woke up. They were about 5 hours behind me and at 9 AM Bangkok time they would still be sleeping. I used the time to do some shopping before my trip to Phuket. I got plenty of rope, a couple of snap hooks and a harness. I knew they’d have all of this on the guided tours, but I liked to find my own spots to climb, and I had good sense and knowledge enough to not attempt anything too daring. By the way. For those uninitiated, snap hooks are used to make a quick, reversible connection on a system of ropes, or to connect a rope or cord to another component, like a lanyard medallion or barrier post. Essential if you want to go climbing. If you’ve ever gone ziplining it’s the thing that connects you safely to the zipline and lets you slight across.
After having done my shopping, I bought a bus ticket to Phuket intending on leaving that same night and went back to my hotel room. As exciting as Bangkok was, I felt it was more for people intend on partying and in all honesty, a bit too crowded for me. I was excited to move on and I could always come back if I wanted to. On my way into the reception area, I was stopped by a young hip looking dude looking for a cigarette. Now I don’t necessarily consider myself a perfect judge of character, but he had an easy-going way about him that immediately drew me in. Sometimes, you can just tell.
He had sort of a rugged look about him. Dirty blond half-long hair. His face I would best describe as boyish but something in his eyes betrayed him and revealed his age to be older than you would assume. His style was… Boheme I guess I would describe it as. Like something taken out of the 70s LA scene. I’m not a smoker. Never was. So, I couldn’t help him on that front. It didn’t matter he would find someone else he said. For a while we just casually talked. Apparently, he had come to Bangkok just a few days prior and seemed about as lost and without direction as I had been before deciding on taking my chances in Phuket. Alex was his name, and he would later save my life and help me understand what it means to forge a quick and unbreakable connection through shared trauma, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
He asked me if I wanted to go somewhere and get a beer. I thought why not? He was about my age and on his own as well. I told him I had to go make some calls and I’d be out in about an hour. Back the hotel room I quickly gathered all my stuff and packed it up, so it was ready to go. My climbing gear took up the most space. I figured if things went well with Alex, I might be able to persuade him in joining me at some point in Phuket. Even though I had set out for this trip to be about discovering myself and being on my own, I longed for some kind of company. Don’t we all? I called my parents up and we wished each other a happy Christmas. It was odd to think they were somewhere nearly half-way across the world celebrating Christmas while snow draped the landscapes there. Here I was, In hot and humid paradise. No, I did not miss the cold or the snow, but I did miss not being there to celebrate the holidays with my family. But it had been my choice to go during the holiday season and I did not regret it. I had saved up enough money and there was no point in waiting anymore. There would be many other holidays to celebrate in the future.
My 5-year-old nephew somehow got a hold of the phone. Not quite the conversationalist yet, it still felt good to hear his voice. Hearing his excitement over the prospect of celebrating Christmas brought me back to my own childhood. Decorating the Christmas tree, watching holiday cartoons and of course, opening presents. I finished my calls and went out to see if Alex was ready. He was already waiting for me and had apparently managed to score some cigarettes in the meantime. He had changed his outfit as well. Now wearing a faded black doors t-shirt. We talked a bit about Jim Morrison and the doors as we headed off down streets. We passed a myriad of small stands selling everything from electronics to colorful t-shirts and small bracelets with campy misspelled English catchphrases. We dodged the many intrusive offers and eventually found a small comfy looking bar with seats outside shaded by palm trees. We ordered a couple of beers and the conversation started flowing along quite nicely. Alex was 25 and from London It turned out. We also had a common interest in music. For a while he had busked as a street musician while working odd jobs here and there and had eventually decided to travel the world.
His first stop had been India where for a while he had lived on the rooftop of some abandoned building while attempting to learn the art of playing the sitar. I thought about that for a second. Living it rough on some rooftop in India. I don’t know why that idea intrigued me so much. Seemed like freedom to me, I guess. Sleeping under the wide-open skies. Looking down on the streets and watching people go about their lives. I guess I just liked the idea of doing something that seemed different from what I had ever done before. Living on a rooftop, if even just for a while, was definitely not something I had done before. There was the view as well, Alex reminded me. And it was free of course. We drifted off into long conversations about music I won’t bore you too much with, only to let you know we shared a passion for old school music like the doors and Jimi Hendrix as well as 90s shoegaze music like My Bloody Valentine, Ride and Slowdive. I had Slowdive’s Shine playing in my mind that day. All felt so dreamy at the time.
I eventually told Alex of my plans to go to Phuket and he was onboard almost immediately. I loved how easy it was here on the road. There was no ‘’well maybe’’, or ‘’let’s think about it.’’ In fact, Alex had been to Phuket before and knew of a place we could stay for free. Another rooftop of course, but he had already sold me on the idea. From there, we could plan our next step he said. ‘’our next step’’ I don’t remember vibing with someone that quickly before or since, but then I guess making friends is always easier when you’re young and easy going. I always seemed to attract good company without much effort back then. I chalk it down to my friendly and slightly shy demeanor. Seems it only becomes harder to make friends as the years pass though. At least for me it did.
We got a bus ticket for Alex and shopped a bit more. I got some first aid supplies. Bandages, plasters, that kind of stuff. Rock climbing is safe, mind you, but you can end up scraping yourself and I felt in general, being prepared for whatever might be a good idea if I was to live it rough on some rooftop. The bus-ride to Phuket took about 12 hours give or take. By going at night, we could sleep most of the way and be in Phuket early morning on the 25^th. The trip down was uneventful. We would take turns listening to music on Alex’s Walkman or talk about things we saw along the way. Like roadside bars and restaurants who were little more than a tin roof covering a few plastic chairs and brightly colored menu cards. Everything seemed simpler here, in the best ways possible.
No big flash, no fanfares or luxury. Nothing pretentious. Just a calm, laid back atmosphere and friendly smiles from the locals as we passed by. Alex told me he wanted to start a band blending elements of Shoegaze with classic rock and insisted I learn to play the drums as he had tried but found no luck. String instruments were more him he told me. I told him jokingly if he could come up with a good name, I might be down. He just nodded and looked out the window and started talking about how beef was a rare and more expensive ingredient in Thai cuisine, and I wondered about the sudden random change of subject. Although we had talked a lot during the short time we had known each other, Alex was still a mystery to me in many ways. Judging from all the things he told me he seemed like a person who dreamed big, but never really followed through
An unfinished education. Scribbles on pieces of paper that ended up gathering dust in his drawer instead of turning into a book. A band that never really took off because he lost interest or didn’t deem that it was good enough to get successful. He talked at length about leaving a legacy. It seemed to be something that concerned him. I guess he wanted to put his mark on the world. To be remembered. To live on in some small way. I had never really thought about it myself although I did have a fascination with historical people and the lives they lived. In fact, when I do read I mostly read biographies. I just never had any ambition like that myself. I don’t need the world to know my name, or sing my praises, or remember me. Good friends, family and a sense of freedom and adventure was enough. I had tried to ask Alex about his family and friends back home, but he seemed avoidant and always found a way to change the subject without really providing any meaningful information. At certain points, I sensed a carefully hidden sadness behind his otherwise optimistically youthful and bright blue gaze.
Phuket 25^th of December 2000. 2 days before the tsunami.
Alex woke me up. It was 9 AM and we had arrived at the Phuket bus terminal 1 near Phang Nga Road. We were here. Alex explained to me that the there were several derelict and abandoned buildings perfect for establishing a free of charge rooftop domicile in an area not too far from the resorts of Khao Lak. Phuket back then wasn’t exactly the overcrowded tourist spot it is today, but it was well on the way. I understood why. The scenery was beautiful. Long sandy beaches with small island dots in the horizon, begging to be explored. Giant limestone cliffs covered in green shrubs. It did seem like paradise to me, without being too far away from civilization. I guess despite my adventurous nature, I wasn’t quite ready at that point, to walk into the wild, which is why Khao Lak seemed perfect as a start for me.
We found the area Alex had talked about. Several derelict buildings were concentrated in a small area divided by a main street that if followed long enough, led to an area with shops and places to dine. We set our eyes on what looked like an abandoned apartment complex. It was derelict, rugged looking and it seemed clear at first that no one lived there. Its ghostly façade begged us inside to explore and we accepted the invitation. As we made our way in, through a busted window in the back, we quickly became aware that the place might not be as abandoned as we had initially thought. Several signs of squatters such as cooking utensils and sleeping mats lay scattered here and there. Alex quickly rationalized that it could just be other backpackers, or it could be the people had moved on. I shrugged and we decided to make our way to the roof. We made our way to the top floor and accessed a broken-down door that led directly out onto the roof. I must admit, besides excitement, I was somewhat hesitant. Any doubt I had disappeared when we first stepped onto the rooftop terrace. It was perfect. It seemed it had functioned as a balcony or space of sorts the inhabitants could make use of for gatherings.
The entire space was surrounded by a fence. Several palm trees shaded the northwest corner which was perfect for when things got too hot. In the middle a small shed or janitorial sort of building stood. We found some cleaning materials, brooms, some parasols in there as well as an old rusty grill. The view was great. We could see the large beachfront in the far distance surrounded by limestones. After inspecting the area and finding it to our liking we sat down, and Alex broke out a bottle of whiskey. Unaware of the horror that would later unfold here, we celebrated in the shade of the palm trees. We had found our place for a while. Our place.
After a while we decided to put some money in the local economy and shop for supplies.
Essentials: Water. Cigarettes. Booze. The devil’s lettuce. Cooking utensils. Although none of us was admittedly any much of a cook. But what the hell. Can’t be seen dining out every night when we were trying to live off the fat of the land so to speak. I know, ridiculous. We were squatters. Nothing more. But heck, we would move on if we became a problem for any one here. We weren’t trying to be a bother.
Optional but greatly wanted: A blow-up animal mascot. Maybe a dolphin if possible. Some new music for Alex’s walk-man. A guitar. Decorating artifacts of any kind to make our domicile more personal.
We more or less got everything we needed and started setting up base. Getting our hands on something funny to smoke proved the biggest challenge but Alex finally succeeded at a beachfront bar. Some friendly Norwegian dude who had connections apparently. He warned us against being too open about doing drugs, even if was ‘’just’’ marijuana. Thailand had a strict approach to drugs. We thanked him and he told us to just come back here at the bar if we needed more, he was usually around.
Afternoon was rolling around and there we were. Sitting atop Phuket. On our very own rooftop presidential suite. We decorated the place with a few things we found. Among them ‘’Arthur’’ our blow-up shark (they had no dolphins). Alex had come up with the name, I asked him why ‘’Arthur’’ but in what I had quickly come to know as typical Alex fashion he just shrugged it off. We just smoked a bit and drank some booze as the evening progressed and I told Alex about Robert and Australia and all the nasty things that could kill you there. I’m not sure why, but it had made an impression on me. Insects, rare poisonous creatures, stuff like that was nightmare fuel for me. Don’t even get me started on spiders. Alex was a bit more laid back on that front. He seemed most amused and interested in the suicide plant and wondered if some poor soul had ever mistakenly used it as toilet paper and we had a good hard chuckle over that idea. Poor soul indeed.
As night rolled on stars started popping up on a clear night the sky and I learned that Alex had a fascination with the universe. Particularly the idea of multiverses and infinite universes. What if somewhere out there we were looking back at ourselves. Slightly different but still us. Sometimes it seemed to me he longed to be anywhere else but where he was. Maybe trapped in the past he was so reluctant to share with me. Then we started talking about time. I don’t exactly remember why. I think he brought it up.
Anyway, Alex had a lot to say about time. Like how he believed our perception of time is tied to our experiences. For example, someone who spends their life not stepping up, not really taking risks or chances, just following along the stream, just following the routine, in essence, just killing time, might experience time as having moved fast when they look back, because there are simply less variety, less volume, less memories to look back on. We don’t remember routines, we remember breaking them, we remember doing new things, meeting new people, being in new places. It creates the illusion that gives time volume, that makes it seem fuller, longer. I liked that idea a lot. It made sense to me. Make sure you live life to the fullest and waste as little time as possible.
I told him about my 10^th grade math teacher and how he said something about time I will never forget. Our perception of time can be measured mathematically. For example, to a 4-year-old turning 5 the transition of a year will seem much longer than it will to a 24-year-old turning 25. Because 1 in 5 is a larger fraction than 1 in 25. It blew my mind. The longer you live, the faster time seem to pass. But I agreed with him, maybe the quality and variety of the life you live and the memories you make has an affect too. Alex made a ‘’boom’’ motion with his hands around his head and laughed. We were quite stoned at that point and well, some of you might know how being stoned sometimes throws you into these philosophical conversations. It was nice. I enjoyed the ease with which I could talk to Alex about all kinds of things.
At one point I asked him a hypothetical. If he could go back in time and change just one thing, what would he do. He fell silent. I once again sensed the sadness creeping behind his eyes. It was if he was about to answer, like he was sizing me up but then shot the idea down. Time travel is impossible, so why bother was his only response and I accepted that whatever troubled him in the past, was not for me to know even if my interest only grew stronger and stronger.
I told him about my family. My overprotective mother. My father and his desperate attempts to get me interested in cars. About my older sister and my nephew. Alex nodded and asked the usual polite questions. When the subject came to my little brother his interest seemed to spark significantly. How old was he? Was I good older brother? Did I look out for him? I didn’t think much about it at the time other than finding it curious how interested he seemed to be. When we finally settled in the for night, under the starry sky, I slipped into a nightmare. It was the same I had had years earlier when I was 16. Back then I was having a hard time adjusting to the new school I had started at and maybe because of that stress I was having nightmares coupled with sleep paralysis.
I would lie in my bed, paralyzed. On my side, facing the door to my room. I often had the light on outside of the room and it would shine in through the open door. This one time , I saw dark figure approaching. Optimistically I assumed it was my mom, coming to wake me up. Although as the dark figure approached, I quickly realized this wasn’t so. No words were uttered. The eerie figure just slowly came closer, until it was right by my bed side. It sat down and I realized it was an old woman or man. It was hard to tell, because its face was literally just a mish mash of wrinkled flesh. No eyes and no mouth either. But it mumbled through its mouthless face. Speaking in tongues.
I spent some considerable time afterwards wondering what it could have been trying to communicate to me. I know of course, this was all just my mind playing tricks on me. Yet, that experience was, I suppose, my first nudge towards believing there’s more between heaven and earth than we might know. It seemed aggressive in any case. My insides were screaming as I desperately tried to wiggle myself awake as I had sometimes successfully done during paralysis. I eventually woke up. Drenched in sweat. Back then though, I had actually been in my room, and in the dream the room had stood clearly for me as it actually looked in reality which only made it seem more real. This time, I woke up next to Alex, still drenched in sweat. Alex had woken up. I had screamed in my sleep apparently. He comforted me in an almost brotherly show of affection. It took me by surprise a bit. I appreciated it, though it only made me wonder about him even more. I would have to solve the mystery behind Alex I decided. I would have to truly gain his trust. Figure him out. And I did.
Phuket 26^th of December 2000. 1 day before the tsunami.
‘’Alex played the guitar a bit and I drummed up some beats. It needed some work, but not half bad. We came up with a name for our band to be as well. Subway sleepers. Based on Alex’s time sleeping in the subway of London. It was another hot perfect day on the rooftop. We talked about going climbing the next day and I can’t wait to show Alex the joys of rock climbing. Everything is peaceful here. No stress. Just living life. Smoking it up. Meeting new people. We talked some more with that Norwegian weed dude and invited him and a couple of his friends up to ‘’our’’ place for a party. Another near perfect day.’’
Looking at these diary scribbles is making me feel it all over again. The serenity of those calm worriless summer days (well it was winter back home but it felt like summer here. Strange that) leading up to disaster. Always calmest before the storm they say. This was our last day before everything changed. Before I got a lesson in humanity. In stress under crisis. Before everything I thought I knew changed forever in the meeting with something that surely shouldn’t exist in this world.

These are the instructions for a wedding I am invited to, but not participating in. I read this as "black suit with a different color tie." I do not own a black suit, I own a nice dark gray suit. I briefly went suit shopping and don't really wanna spend $400 on something I will wear once over the next 4 years or so.
For context, I am military and am typically wearing a uniform to formal events. In every other situation, my dark grey suit is appropriate. But they specified the color black. The groom is a close friend (also military) and certainly doesn't care. I don't want to throw off whatever color coordination pictures the bride is hoping to take though.
Option 1: Bite the bullet don't be a cheap skate and buy a black suit.
Option 2: Wear black pants and a black button shirt (lower than semi-formal, but I imagine every single guest will not be in a suit).
Option 3: Wear the dark gray suit
Option 4: Buy an Amazon black suit that certainly won't fit very well, but who cares because the jacket will come off after the formal part of the wedding for dancing and I likely won't be in any official pictures. Return Amazon suit to it's chinese seller after the wedding.

Apologies if the title is vague but this game has been haunting me for years and I haven't had luck finding this.
As for the game, it was a multi-faction strategy game where the goal was basically to survive or destroy an enemy base/faction that was based on different eras or something of the like. I can't recall too much about the gameplay, but I remember the factions or teams were heavily color coordinated, Cyan and Pink were what I remember most being chosen for team colors. In terms of factions, there was a generic military faction, ninja-esque faction and some kind of mecha inspired factions along with a few others.
The main thing that I can recall however is that anytime the game was booted up then it had an animated fight scene to show off the factions. The setting was a dark forest and some sort of helicopter or mech units are patrolling before they're ambushed by ninjas. Fighting happens and then the last of the ambushed group, or a 3rd party, is attacked and they use a beam sword to fight deflect the incoming shuriken while their shadow is placed against the moon.

Low buy in live, 20m levels.
1st hand blinds 50/100 25k eff stack 3rd to act, AA - utg raise to 1200, and I reraise to 2600, 2 callers. very coordinated board (78t ds) and sb lead bets 5 k, utg flats, and I shove, 2 calls
hands sb 2 pair, utg low end oesd math: 2 pair 50%, aa 19% oesd 28% takeaway - live low stakes tourney? bet half my stack for hu, shove all flops? rebuy
Now that im watching more than playing, there is an older bearded fellow who plays literally every hand, and he is fairly predictable. I can only sit and watch for a long time, but then i get aa utg and i limp. As I hoped, he raised me, and I shoved, and he called k9s. he had an oesd by the turn, but my hand held up. he apologized for winning the hand because he misread the board.
I am moved tables and miraculously so is he. Some time later I isolate oop with aq suited and flop is qqx. action: check ch check ch all-in call and trips are fine ofc
then i am moved again to a tougher table. My worst play was failing to 3 bet or at least call in sb to a late raise with a small pair.
After many mindless all-in pres I lose open pushing qti from button @10bb and bb finds jj. shrug. 20m isnt much live.

I teach high school math and I tend to be pretty picky about my materials, to the point where I like to make my own. But I absolutely hate using most word processors, even with plug-ins, for writing out equations, tables, or graphs (if you even have the option). So I end up making and copying some hand-written notes and materials because I can make them exactly the way I want without spending as much time.
I would like to make some things that are a bit more polished though and don't look so homemade. I have seen what other teachers have created, so I know there must be a way.
Teachers who make great worksheets or notes, how do you do it? Are there software packages or sites you find both efficient to use and look nice? Copying and pasting a graph from Desmos looks very sad, for example. I'm teaching up to Calculus, so I need something that handles all of the math symbols.

Title - I'm in my final year of university doing a maths degree. I'm at a very prestigious university, think like top in the world, and I'm feeling so discouraged.
I love maths - hell, I had to, to survive 3 years here - the level of work is unbelievable. And I worked hard throughout the entire time here, my tutors and supervisors and the like have always said nice things about how hard I work. I can't say I haven't tried.
But now my exams are in two weeks, and I've been trying the past papers, and, I just. Can't. Do any of them. I'm able to half-do questions in certain topics I find "nice", for some things, like galois theory, I have no idea how to even begin on most of the questions. I don't know what went wrong, everything seemed ok until now with my worksheets and the like.
It's really getting me down because I'm worried I'll fail, or if I pass, I'll get a third. A 2.2 seems only possible by some combination of the examiners being generous, and a miracle. I'm really worried that I'll have ended up wasting my time here - all I did was study, I didn't do much fun stuff at uni or networking either, I'm a very socially awkward person, so I don't know what to do. I thought everything was going okay as I had a 2.1 in first year and a 2.2 just below a 2.1 in second year, and thought that with enough work I could get things up again this year (only the final year counts here)
All I want to do with my life is just learn more and more maths, maybe even contribute to it one day by working on researching something, but it just seems like I'm so doomed, and idk what to do. Does anyone have any advice?

Color, all-in-one that doesn't glitch/suspend after not being used.

I've been looking at different Brother and Epson Ecotank models.
Priorities:

• color
• scanning
• "just works" -- solid firmware/drivers/software that doesn't glitch
• under $350
• works well with a variety of devices
• decent sized paper tray
• intermittent printing frequency

Minimum Requirements:

• Budget: under $350
• Country: US
• Color
• Laser or ink printer: Either
• New or used: New, 'certified' refurbished, open box, etc but not straight up used.
• Multi-function: scanning, printing
• Duplex Printing: nice to have but not the top priority
• Home or business: home with a little bit of business
• Printing content: mostly black and white text, kids activities, kids worksheets, forms, occasional photos
• Printing frequency: every week or two
• Pages per minute: not picky
• Page size: 8.5x11 (letter)
• Device printing from: iOS, Mac, Windows, would be nice if Apple's printing worked.
• Connection type: Wifi

Any other details:

Current printer has lived decades but is slow, bad quality and now glitches after periods of inactivity and I'm tired of having to walk across the house to restart it before I can print anything. I see a fair amount of reviews of different brands with the same problem. The printer will live on the other end of the house from where we usually hang out so I want to minimize extra trips back and forth. First I was sold on a Brother but then rtings convinced me to go for an Epson Ecotank.

https://imgur.com/a/IYUDKi1
Hey, trying to create this sort of pattern in a 3D software using code, but as my math skills are lacking and cant really find any examples, I am reaching out.
Looks like a spiral but in a 2D plane, where the loops go over each other, hope this makes sense. Thank you.

Title - I'm in my final year of university doing a maths degree. I'm at a very prestigious university, think like top in the world, and I'm feeling so discouraged.
I love maths - hell, I had to, to survive 3 years here - the level of work is unbelievable. And I worked hard throughout the entire time here, my tutors and supervisors and the like have always said nice things about how hard I work. I can't say I haven't tried.
But now my exams are in two weeks, and I've been trying the past papers, and, I just. Can't. Do any of them. I'm able to half-do questions in certain topics I find "nice", for some things, like galois theory, I have no idea how to even begin on most of the questions. I don't know what went wrong, everything seemed ok until now with my worksheets and the like.
It's really getting me down because I'm worried I'll fail, or if I pass, I'll get a third. A 2.2 seems only possible by some combination of the examiners being generous, and a miracle. I'm really worried that I'll have ended up wasting my time here - all I did was study, I didn't do much fun stuff at uni or networking either, I'm a very socially awkward person, so I don't know what to do. I thought everything was going okay as I had a 2.1 in first year and a 2.2 just below a 2.1 in second year, and thought that with enough work I could get things up again this year (only the final year counts here)
All I want to do with my life is just learn more and more maths, maybe even contribute to it one day by working on researching something, but it just seems like I'm so doomed, and idk what to do. Does anyone have any advice?

Title - I'm in my final year of university doing a maths degree. I'm at a very prestigious university, think like top in the world, and I'm feeling so discouraged.
I love maths - hell, I had to, to survive 3 years here - the level of work is unbelievable. And I worked hard throughout the entire time here, my tutors and supervisors and the like have always said nice things about how hard I work. I can't say I haven't tried.
But now my exams are in two weeks, and I've been trying the past papers, and, I just. Can't. Do any of them. I'm able to half-do questions in certain topics I find "nice", for some things, like galois theory, I have no idea how to even begin on most of the questions. I don't know what went wrong, everything seemed ok until now with my worksheets and the like.
It's really getting me down because I'm worried I'll fail, or if I pass, I'll get a third. A 2.2 seems only possible by some combination of the examiners being generous, and a miracle. I'm really worried that I'll have ended up wasting my time here - all I did was study, I didn't do much fun stuff at uni or networking either, I'm a very socially awkward person, so I don't know what to do. I thought everything was going okay as I had a 2.1 in first year and a 2.2 just below a 2.1 in second year, and thought that with enough work I could get things up again this year (only the final year counts here)
All I want to do with my life is just learn more and more maths, maybe even contribute to it one day by working on researching something, but it just seems like I'm so doomed, and idk what to do. Does anyone have any advice?

Android point & click puzzle game I played perhaps in 2021. An artist has vanished, but something is off with the paintings in her gallery. I go into each one trying to bring her back to life or find her. Or I may have been returning missing colors to the world, but the mother was sick/stuck, regardless. I may have been doing nonogram-style puzzles between scenes as well.
There was a math puzzle in which I was in a rain (or rainbow?) factory in the clouds, trying to calculate how to get all of the colors to go in the right machines. There was a room in a high rise where I had to click to a screen with a window-washer's hoist and fix the electrical component. The art style really varied per screen. I recall solving a huge variety of puzzles across a variety of scenes, many which were paintings or artwork related; a quiet French café, for example. I think the first puzzle screen was a back porch with a tabby cat sleeping in the sun. In one puzzle, I was making soup or something with the correct combination of vegetables in a kitchen. I also recall sweet cartoon ghosts in a graveyard being delivered something from a cave or swamp.
Sorry for vague memories; I only remember certain playscreens.

As the title says I've been getting unsolicited advice, comments, and tips from folks who don't even have cats.

• TLDR; folks keep telling me how low maintenance cats are and I'm doing "too much". Any advice on telling them to back off or a better way to make them understand? Kindly if possible.

A little history; I've had my cat (4yF) for about 1.5yrs and she's indoor only in my apartment. She is microchipped, wears a color with my info and a small tag that says microchipped and indoor cat (one on each side). I don't let her go outside. I plan to get a cat buggy but that's well in the future. She eats mainly wet food bc we're trying to lose a little weight (15lbs right now), and I have her on a feeding schedule.
Now I've had to do some traveling this past two weeks and my sister and I have been coordinating to make sure one of us is always with the cat and she gets her food, playtime, and pets. Family and friends asked my why can't you stay longer? Why do you have to go home to your cat? I explained the above to them. In return, I get the below advice/tips/comments:
• "Just put out a bunch of dry food. I know someone that does that and they travel a lot. Their cat is fine."
• "She never goes outside? She's in a cage. You need to let her go outside."
• "That's a fat cat."
• "Cats are low maintenance. You're doing too much."
• "She can be alone for some time. She'll be fine."
• "Dogs are way harder to manage. I can get going home to a dog, but a cat? It can't be that much."
• "You're spoiling her. She can be alone."
• "I never got a sitter for my cat when I left her alone for a week."
Do y'all get these types of comments/advice? How do you respond and discourage folks from giving them unprovoked? I'd love to hear any stories or comments or advice y'all have gotten from folks, too. Thanks!

Demographics

• Gender: Male
• Race/Ethnicity: Indian
• Residence: Massachusetts
• Income Bracket: Upper Middle Class
• Type of School: Mediocre Public school
• Hooks: Immigrant but US Citizen
• Intended Majors & Minors: Applied Math, AI, Entrepreneurship, Engineering & Computer Science

Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 4.0/4.6
• Rank (or percentile): 8/300
• Classes: 12 APs, 3 Dual-Enrolments
• Senior Year Course Load: 3 APs (Computer Science, Chemistry, Psychology) 3 Dual-Enrolments (MIT OCW Linear Algebra, MIT OCW Multivariable Calc, English), Teacher Assistant for Calculus and Teacher Assistant for AP Physics C

Standardized Testing

• SAT: 1570 (770RW, 800M)
• AP Exams: Calculus AB (5), Physics 1 (5), Statistics (5), World History (5), Physics C: Mechanics (5), Calculus BC (5), AP CSP (4), US History (4), Lang (3)
• AMC 12: 136.5 (Top 200)

Awards/Honors

• Coca-Cola Scholar (150 Selected from 100K+)
• Harvard Guest Speaker on AI & ChatGPT in Education (6K+ Listeners). The Harvard Gazette wrote an article on me.
• MIT Hackathon 3rd place winner 2x (AI Recipe Generator & AI Therapist)
• Presented at International Education & Social Justice Conference (Peer-reviewed) at University of Hawaii
• MIT LLCipher Summer Program (3% Acceptance Rate). Invited back as Guest Speaker the following year.
• Wrote Boston Globe Article on AI & ChatGPT in Education
• AMC 12 Distinction (2x) and AIME Qual (2x)
• President's Volunteer Service Gold Award
• AP Scholar with Distinction & AP Scholar with Honor
• Multiple other Math Competition, Model UN, and Marching Band Awards

Extracurriculars/Activities

• MIT Lincoln Laboratory Summer Intern: Advanced Research in AI & Networking (1% Acceptance Rate). Internship primarily for Grad and Undergrad students. Received a return offer for summer before college.
• Writer: 110+ articles on Medium with 200K+ reads. Published by the Boston Globe and other publications.
• Antarctic Research: Climate Research and Data Analysis at UW-Madison.
• MA State House Internship: Worked for State Rep. Wrote a policy brief on AI. Promoted to Campaign Manager in 2024.
• Math Team Coach & Captain: Coach students and top scorer. 4x Regional Champions (First time in history). 2x AIME qual and 2x AMC Distinction (AMC Score: 136.5).
• Students of Color Affinity Group President: Mentor students and lead professional development workshops; presented at International Education & Social Justice Conference at University of Hawaii.
• AP Physics C & Calculus Teacher Assistant: Help teach 70+ seniors at my school (ran out of classes hence TA lol).
• Model UN President: Perfect record and multiple awards at regional conferences.
• Karate Black Belt: 10+ years and help teach classes.
• Marching Band: 2nd in USBands Nationals (3x).
• Coding Instructor: Taught kids how to code in Python and JavaScript.
• Sales Head & Data Analyst at National STEM Honor Society: Promoted STEM education to underrepresented populations.
• JV Tennis: Doubles Player

Letters of Recommendation

• AP Calculus Teacher
• Math Department Head and Physics TeacheMath Team Coach
• MIT Lincoln Lab Research Mentor (MIT Alum)
• Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Director of my school (Harvard Alum)
• Massachusetts State Representative

Essay Summaries

• Common App: During the pandemic, I found personal growth and a deeper understanding of myself and society through writing, which led me to explore artificial intelligence and its applications, culminating in an internship at MIT and advocacy work, and inspiring my entrepreneurial ambitions.
• Community Disruption: When the pandemic disrupted my activities, I leveraged online platforms to continue learning and leading, discovering new interests in AI and entrepreneurship, and demonstrating resilience by revitalizing my school’s clubs and engaging in new ventures, setting the stage for my future in innovation.
• Additional Information: Links to various articles and videos, and other activities and awards.
• Supplementals: Some were very reflective about my identity, activities, and goals in life. Others were light-hearted and quirky. They were very personalized to the school and emphasized how I fit in, what I would bring to the school, and how I would use the school as a catalyst for my entrepreneurial ventures.
• Additional Uploads: Uploaded my Resume, portfolio of Articles, and a summary of my Research at MIT Lincoln Lab.

Interviews

• Harvard (REA): Great Conversation and said Harvard would have to fight MIT for me. 9/10
• MIT: My Interviewer was very disinterested and didn't care. It was 15 minutes and he said if I don't get in then who would. 6/10
• Princeton: It was a great conversation and said he would fight for me. 8/10
• Yale: It was also a good conversation and she said she would fight for me. 8/10
• UPenn M&T: Guy kept asking technical questions and I was lost. But in the end, he said I did good and he would fight for me, even though interviews don’t matter too much. 7/10
• Dartmouth: Lady was super impressed and said if I don’t get in then she is quitting doing interviews for Dartmouth. 9/10

College Results
Accepted

• WPI (with Max Scholarship, Half off)
• UW-Madison
• Northeastern (with Max Scholarship, Half off)
• Georgia Tech for CS (Early Action)
• Cornell (Meinig Family Cornell National Scholar)
• Dartmouth
• Duke
• UPenn (Waitlisted M&T)
• Harvard (Waitlisted → Accepted)
• Princeton (Committed)

Waitlisted

• UMich (Early Action)
• Vanderbilt

Rejected

• USC (lol)
• Yale
• Stanford
• MIT (This one hurt)

Reflections:
I'm super grateful and happy with my decisions. I have committed to Princeton, and it definitely is the best fit for me. College results this year were very random, but I couldn’t be more thankful to get into the #1 undergraduate university. I was worried that since most of my application was MIT-related (Research, classes, Letters of Rec, Awards, Activities), other universities would think I was going there and reject me. College results were super random and stressful, but it worked out better than I could have ever imagined. It's funny how I got waitlisted and rejected from all my target schools (Vandy, UMich, USC) but then got into most of my reach schools.
Advice for Future Applicants:
Be authentic. There is no formula that gets you in. Sure, you have to do a couple of things like getting good grades and SAT scores and having some unique activities and awards, but especially for Top 10 schools, you just have to be unique and authentic. I didn't have any connections or background (like private school and college counselor) that provided me with opportunities. I was literally the first kid ever from my school to get into Princeton. I was authentic and hardworking, did stuff I enjoyed, and one thing led to another. I also spent a lot of time on essays and my application. 50% of the work is actually doing stuff, and the other 50% is showcasing it in your college application. Also, have balance in life. I had a lot of fun in high school and enjoyed the stuff I did. Live life with no regrets. Feel free to DM me.

Just another fun little story idea I had. I am still working on Humans are the violent ones but I like to bounce around and experiment with ideas to see what I really like. I also suck at writing more casual stories, as they give me severe writer's block as I try to map out how to make a scene feel genuine in my head, but I promise I'll update that soon. If you like this story and want to see more, then like and comment. I'll gladly continue this series as well.
Start of Personal Log
Humans don't like being told what to do. They don't like being commanded, put in their place, or snubbed. It was an inexorable, inalienable trait of humans, at least any noteable humans, to go against any authority that they believed was against their interests.
Humanity would not fit amongst the stars. Few ever did. It was a trait of most successful species to be willful, ambitious, and to desire more. But once they reached the stars the new (and simultaneously very old) pecking order either quashed any spirit such species had or simply eradicated them. Countless tomb worlds and diaspora served as painful reminders of what became of the nails that chose to stick out. The hammer of order would always strike. There could be no compromise, the very soul of the authority that held the Jurisdiction together relied on a show of unmatched power, or at least the illusion of item.
In reality, the Jurisdiction was an old, fat, and lazy beast. It filled its belly on the corpses of empires far and wide, and sated its bloodlust on the shattered dreams of hopeful cubs. It had every right to, for none could challenge it: there were no new frontiers to explore, nor were there any other enemies to conquer. The Milky Way, as humans had so strangely dubbed our cradle galaxy, as well as Andromeda, had long since been warred over and settled for millennia before humanity had arrived, bright-eyed and with familiar yet otherwise foolish dreams of cooperation and prosperity. The Jurisdiction did not cooperate, nor did it ensure prosperity. Oh, it claimed it did, but in reality it simply took. The rest was just the peace that came with not being the direct target of the biggest fish in the pond. The humans didn't like that, but they had no choice.
Slavery was a common tribute. The Jurisdiction had no use for other resources: it simply took. No, it wanted those who could facilitate that unequal exchange, those raised in a world where the only morality was the one set by your lord. The Jurisdiction was held together by expectations, obligations, and dury more than any kind of shared dream, so when you were ordered to take you did so without question. Humanity was new: they had no niche or value that set them apart, but they had a penchant for killing and taking, so the Jurisdiction gave them a taste of how the galaxy worked. They killed and they took. The humans didn't like that, but what choice did they have?
Humans were strange. They learned, but not in the way most species learned. Most species learned to adapt in a passive way, to adhere to the world around them. They flowed like water, moving past and around obstacles and confirming to the boxes they were assigned too. Humans didn't confirm, nor did they adapt: they made their circumstances fit their desires. They would not move around obstacles, but rather smash through them, and they refused to stay in one box for too long. The Jurisdiction merely saw them as a particularly loud nuisance, but those who faced their wrath knew better.
It is said that when a beast seeks to make an example, it shall humble its rival by killing it's cubs. Children were one of those universal constants that brought entire communities together: the Sok’klar saw their hatchlings as gifts, shaped by the fruitful currents of the universe in perfect harmony. The Yarrack saw each and every newborn whelp as an uncut gemstone, ready to be shaped into something magical. Humanity oftentimes referred to their offspring as angels, or spirits of unbridled good sent by the gods themselves. Children were seen by most of the galaxy as gifts.
The Jurisdiction saw them as a lever to inflict suffering. It had become quite effective at enacting psychological punishments on those that stood up and spoke out. You dare to disobey? You believe you can speak out? Your gifts shall be taken from you, and you shall be without joy.
Humans didn't like this, but the Jurisdiction would have their pound of flesh, and humankind would kneel. And they did. But humans were patient creatures: most species who retained that trait of willful spit also lacked patience.
I had long since become desensitized to the Jurisdiction’s actions: it was simply how the universe worked now, as if it were a constant akin to gravity. Cruelty was the unspoken rule of this seemingly unending age, where our lives never appeared to move forward or backwards, only lay dormant. The Jurisdiction had been the unyielding authority that ruled the galaxy for thousands of years, venerable yet feared all the same.
And for the longest time I was just another cog in its wheel. My name is Kalnuracht Sedjuur-Noumar VII, and was the scion of the noble house Sedjuur-Noumar. I was born into what most would describe as veiled apathy, living a life that could be attributed to the privileged class of feared scribes that enacted the will of those above. I was an administrator and nothing more. And now I am doomed to be far less than that in the eyes of my former constituents within the endless administration. I am the only scion, as is tradition, and without an heir I am the last of my house, our name to be scrubbed from the records, worthless, meaningless, and forgotten.
I am merely Kalnuracht, nothing else and nothing more. I have seen from their eyes, the eyes of the downtrodden, and it makes my crimes of association with the Jurisdiction feel all the more damning on my worthless soul. I am worthless to the world, and this is my story.
End Personal Log #1
Start of Neural Lace Narrative Log #1
They came from the black like carrion birds in the night, encircling our convoy as if it were a dying animal ready to be picked clean without remorse. There was no warning, no list of demands sent out as civilized peoples did, nor was there either any requirement for unconditional surrender nor chance to parlay, as was done so under letter of marque: this was an unmistakable call for violence and nothing else. They sought to reduce us to slag and scavenge the rest.
So, as one would expect, the entire bridge of the ship was nearing a panicked state. This was not the actions of those practicing civility, but rather the common behaviors of despoiling barbarians, the kind that tore their way through the dark reaches of the galaxy as if they owned it.
“Wayfinder, what do your probes see?” Shouted the ship’s sovereign. He was an older Kar’Rowmach, an amphibious cephalopod species with a venerable history within the Jurisdiction going back thousands of years. Normally one such as him would be above me if it weren't for the fact that I was under the authority of the Jurisdiction’s seal of office. He didn't like me very much, but most of his kind shared the same sentiment.
“All dark, honorable Sovereign: the sensor arrays are wailing but the feedback we're reviewing is beyond incomprehensible,” the wayfinder replied with a certain restrained temper in his voice. The Sok'klar wayfinder swayed gently, his tentacled limbs grasping different metallo-liquid braille output arrays, the liquid gallium flexing and reshaping unnaturally to allow him to to take in multiple different sources of sensory output at once, with the primary navigation computer plugged into the cybernetics surrounding his opaque, gelatinous head and plugging directly into his tube-shaped brain.
The Sovereign cursed in Loskat and pointed to his bridge crew while I simply sat in the back, near the Sovereign’s symbolic throne. “Prepare countermeasures and spool up the warp drive, we cannot allow the amanuensis to be taken! He carries sensitive information that only he can translate and transcribe!”
As the bridge crew nodded and began fiddling with their own systems, I preened my feathered hide anxiously. I wasn't a fighter: us nobles of the cloth were the educated minority above all else, not those who waged war or partook in hard labor. Special cybernetics in my brain allowed me to translate triple-encoded messages that usually took a ducal signet codekey or above to parse, but even without that I was a skilled mathematician and logician. I had terabytes worth of knowledge stored within the hardware installed in my head, all well protected of course, but if I were to die it would still be a waste. I could only imagine the damage any malcontenders could do with it if they were able to get their filthy hands on me.
Suddenly, the ship rocked, and the gallium overhead display began to form crescendos like I'd never seen before. “Sovereign, decks A-3 through C-12 are venting atmosphere and our coolant systems have been obliterated,” the Wayfinder spoke in an almost serene voice, as if he was completely unconcerned by current events. I knew they were simply incapable of tonal displays, but it was unnerving nonetheless. “Once we jump, we will not be able to risk another until the vacuum of the void can reduce temperatures to acceptable levels within the plasma capacitors.”
“Damn them,” the armored nautiloid hissed, his barbed feelers coiling in frustration, “May the currents take them. What are our options? what can we see? This fleet cannot fall to the void today, not with such vital cargo.” My hackles rose lightly at the Kar’Rowmach referred to me as some object rather than an esteemed amanuensis of the Jurisdiction, but I bit my forked tongue. Now was not the time to squabble with the sovereign over who was what and what titles I deserved, not while he was so desperately attempting to keep what semblance of order within his fleet that he had left.
I could not blame the crew for being panicked either: wars were practically mythologized now, having been long since rendered obsolete with the rise of the Jurisdiction, and that felt like an eternity ago. Now, either being levied into or joining a ducal naval force was simply another career, more akin to serving as an officer of the law rather than a fully fledged soldier. Minimal training was required, most of it being the technicals of one's duty rather than any kind of combat conditioning, so expecting a fleet to actually be prepared for a combat scenario in a universe where peace was the norm was laughable.
“We are practically blind, Sovereign,” stated the Sok'klar Wayfinder, “our probes are offline, and shipboard graviton displacement sensory arrays have been rendered unreliable at best.”
“What about the particle emission array? Has there been a spike in radioactivity where we were hit?”
The Wayfinder seemed to think for a second, his gelatinous form flexing and morphing a bit before answering. “Affirmative, a jump from negligible to forty billion becquerels along decks A through E-5 on our starboard side.”
“Torpedoes…” the Sovereign hissed, stroking his barbed feelers, “Human Torpedoes. Only those primitives would rely on crude nuclear warheads.” He then turned to his militant leaders on the ship. “Noddos, Rel’ads: organize your phalanxes and prepare to repel boarders. We are bound to be assailed by those rancorous primates, and I want their skulls piled at my feet if they dare set foot on our ship.”
“Your wish is our command, Sovereign,” the two militant commanders spoke as one. Noddos, a large bipedal with multiple sets of curved spines running down his back, a pair of graceful horns sprouting from his head, and multiple rows of sharp teeth in his snout, bowed first, followed by Rel’ads, a marsupial with long saberteeth and thick fur. They both must have been fierce warriors in their own right to each lead a phalanx. They wore thick, semi-powered armor and held dueling polearms alongside their usual plasma casters, and seemed completely unfazed by the situation we were in. As they stomped out of the brightly lit bridge, I let out a quiet squawk of discontentment. “Sovereign, why haven't we jumped again? We are wasting precious time.”
“I am working on it, you spineless beaurocrat!” He warbled back, his feelers tensing in anger, “besides, it's not as if you're the one who will be spilling blood today, amanuensis, so flatten your wretched beak or I shall weld it shut with a plasma torch.
I was about to reply with something indignant, but the ship rocked again, this time causing the lights to flicker and the air to become… thick. The skin under my feathers began to blister, and I became lightheaded and confused. “Seal the damnable vents, initiate radiation scrubbers, and activate secondary life support!” Shouted the Sovereign, “Their nuclear weapons are rendering the ship inhospitable!”
I coughed up magenta blood accidentally, and I could feel more seeping from under my eyes. Some of the crew was in a similar position, but others were more resistant to radiation than I. The Sok'klar seemed completely at ease as he ran his tentacles across his morphic braille arrays before calmly announcing the ship’s status. “I've regained some control over our probes: ten, twelve, and seventeen are active and fully functional, the rest are either still malfunctioning or permanently inoperable. A rapid rise in localized radiation is also interfering with the detection of graviton displacement; we can't sense photon redirection, thus readings will remain inconclusive.
“Wayfinder, damn you, get me some kind of out here! We're easy prey until we can respond in kind!”
“Negative, something has gone awry with our processing hub, I am attempting to troubleshoot-”
And with that, the Wayfinder’s bulbous head exploded in a cascade of opaque lavender blood, covering the front half of the deck crew like a morbid art piece. Some of the crew screamed and shouted in terror before removing their cranial adaptors and choosing to interact with their displays manually. Others died just as quickly, unable to unplug in time as their brain stems fried or their blood boiled. It was a horrible way to go, having your insides neutralized by your own cybernetics, so I was glad I wasn't connected to the system.
“Cybernetic warfare! All systems are to be considered compromised, switch to manual settings or you'll be killed!”
The lights in the bridge flickered again, and the displays went haywire. The bridge crew, which obviously weren't acquainted with working without being hard-linked into the mainframe, moved at a much slower pace.
“Launch missile pods A through F and set to self-target after five hundred kilometers, then rely on their ballistic coordinates to begin firing broadsides! If we can't see the humans due to their meddling, we'll just have to feel them.” Shouted the Sovereign, “and got me a detailed report on the ship’s diagnostics readings. I need to know if this flagship is still capable of escaping or if we'll have to scuttle it and retreat on another.”
“Acknowledged, Sovereign, launching now,” affirmed another deck officer as he swiped across his own gallium output array. I could hear the dull thunk, thunk, thunk of missiles pushing out of their pods before racing off to their intended targets, then the mechanical whirring as the pods rotated to be reloaded by slaves in the lower decks. I was regaining my bearings as the many horrible sensations of being overwhelmed by radiation poisoning were beginning to subside, but I still felt as if I had been microwaved. The air was stale, the crew was horribly sick as well, and even the sovereign himself seemed to be on his last leg. I was beginning to believe that I might die here.
“Sovereign, a message from the lower decks,” shouted a communications officer, his chitin scraping against itself as he turned quickly, “they're requesting reinforcements, something about being overrun.”
“Impossible,” the Sovereign hissed out in a vain attempt to exude confidence, “We must outnumber the humans, they always go for bigger targets out of arrogance.”
“I've received reports that it's not just humans: the primates seem to make up only a third or so of the assailing force, along with some Phaeldaer and Vrex.”
The commander slammed his clawed hands down on his own output array in a fit of rage, obviously overwhelmed by the circumstances, “Then this wasn't just a typical assault, but something more sinister!” The nautiloid warbled, blood seeping from his shell as the full effects of the radiation took hold, “Get Rel’ads on the line, have him divert all spare lances to the lower decks or else we'll lose the only offensive capabilities we can use.”
“Rel'ads has gone dark, Sovereign, his vitals are critical.”
“Then either get me Rel'ads tail-leader or get me Noddos!” He screamed in rage, “don't give me this nonsense! If we don't pick it up we're all going to die, is that what you want?”
“No, Sovereign, I'm simply overwhelmed-”
“We're all overwhelmed! By the tides, I'm dying of radiation poisoning you nincompoop! Get me something I can work with!”
The officer didn't even acknowledge the Sovereign after that, simply turning back to his display. Eventually, the Sovereign was able to get Noddos on the line.
“Sovereign, two thirds of my phalanxes have been decimated by combat with the primitives and the radiation, the rest are in shambles. We must retreat and fortify elsewhere!”
“Then the ship is compromised! Rel'ads is unresponsive and the lower decks are swarming with intruders. We must evacuate the amanuensis to another ship.”
Just as the Sovereign spoke, I heard several gentle thumps rattle against the bridge’s door, and it made me uneasy. Some of the bridge crew seemed to feel the same, as they looked incredibly nervous and some even drew their sidearms. Just as the sovereign turned to give further orders, the door blew inward with a deafening explosion, followed by shouting and gunfire. Several of the bridge officers were dispatched quickly, brain matter and blood splattering against the delicate electronics. Others were shot in the legs, the torso, or in any other exotic yet non-vital body parts. The humans poured in, brandishing primitive ballistic firearms and jury-rigged energy weapons while wearing scavenged, legion-grade powered armor.
The Sovereign was the next to go, but he wasn't afforded an honorable death. He was shot along the arm with a particularly potent plasma caster, burning off his clawed hand and cauterizing the wound, the acrid smell of roasting chitin filling the already hot and cramped bridge. He fell back against his output array, the gallium reaching new highs and lows as more diagnostics and casualty reports were delivered, and he clutched his stump angrily. “I'll burn every last one of you in the foundries! I'll tie you to stakes, cover you in wax and set you alight! Your screams will be broadcasted all over the galaxy!”
One human warrior stomped up and slammed the butt of his rifle into the sovereign’s face, shattering his facial plates and causing blue blood to splatter across his section of the bridge. “Shut the fuck up, you mutant lobster,” the human said before dragging him by both antennae towards the center of the bridge and receiving a stained breeching axe from one of his comrades. “Emmanuel, start recording. We need proof.”
The other human nodded and pressed a button on his armor before lifting up his gun again. The rest of the humans fanned out, holding everyone else at gunpoint. I tried to get up and sneak out, but a human grabbed me by my neck and nearly wrung it out as he forced me to my knees and pointed a sidearm to my skull. “Get down, you piece of shit, before I blow your brains out too.”
“Damnable primate,” I hissed, but he bashed me in my skull with the base of his sidearm’s grip and sent me sprawling, making my already pounding headache worse. Another human shouted at him in a language I didn't recognize, but he sounded furious. The first brought me back up to my knees again, and I complies with a hiss and a groan, blood still leaking from my eyes and mouth and my world was spinning.
The Sovereign struggled, but he was weak from the radiation poisoning and he couldn't exactly resist on account of his lost arm. The human with the breaching ax kicked the Sovereign down and forced him to kneel before lifting up the breeching ax and splitting his chitinous head down the middle with one powerful swing, sending more blood and brains across the floor. “Execution confirmed, take his antennae just in case and we've got ourselves a bounty. Now all we need is that ugly cat’s teeth and the fat hedgehog-thing’s grimy spines and we'll be in business. Although, they do have skulls… we might as well just take their heads.”
The real horror of the situation dawned on me at that moment: they were going to kill us all, or maybe worse. They mentioned a bounty for the commanders, and multiple of the higher ranking ship officers were already dead, their brains splattered against the walls or their bodies torn apart by gunfire. I wasn't dead yet, but that didn't mean much since I wasn't an immediate threat.
“Alright, round them up and bring all the grunts to the hanger bay, then kill the rest,” the leader of the humans said in such a lackadaisical manner that his complete disregard for life almost made me sick… almost. I had seen worse from the Jurisdiction before, but usually that was from me delivering some kind of ordered judgment on a world that had sinned against order. I might have simply been the messenger, but I had seen many of the outcomes. “And make sure to collect whatever proof of bounties you can, we'll need to deliver them to the office to get cashed out. Don't let this be a repeat of last time where Juarez fucking forgot to take a few heads and it ended up cutting our profits in half, the fucking retard.”
Some of the humans chuckled at that as they dragged more of the senior officers away, out of the room and into the hall,where I heard gunshots. The rest of the bridge crew froze in place, different fear instincts kicking in. The remaining Sok'klar corralled together into what seemed to be a singular, semi-congealed mass as if to try and trick the humans into believing that they were much bigger and much more threatening than they actually were. The one Thei’chi on the bridge, an ensign who had clearly thought this would be a simple mission, bore her curved fangs at the humans and growled as they approached, her hackles completely vertical and her eyes dilated. They quickly muzzled and bound her before beating her over the head with a gun stock, sending her sprawling onto the ground. Many others simply cooperated, eyes wide and yet simultaneously empty, as if they couldn't quite process that the ship had been taken and the commanding officers were being executed as the rest were escorted to the hangar.
“Get the damn messenger down to the hanger as well, we need whatever data's in his ugly lizard head, then we can decide on what to do with him.”
I spat at him in spite, as if to try and seem brave, but it was clearly an empty gesture. “You won't get anything, primate! You couldn't possibly crack the encryption!”
The human holding me seemed to wind up for another swing, but the commanding officer simply held up his hand to stop my tormentor before strolling over to me. He knelt down and removed his helmet, revealing a beige-colored face covered in scars, wiry black hair cut down to the scalp, and multiple tattoos. “You're really fucking mouthy for a hostage,” he said before punching me across my beak faster than I could register. I heard a sharp crack as his fist connected, and my head spun again as the metallic taste of blood pooled into my mouth. “I'd advise you to shut up, but I'm sure you won't listen: you aristocratic types are so full of yourselves. Maybe I should have you flogged in the public square until your vocal chords give out once we rip those cybernetics from your head, huh? How's that sound?”
“It won't matter… it won't change anything… the Jurisdiction will hunt you down.”
“Maybe, but I doubt it will happen for some time: they really suck at doing anything that requires effort, even when they're mad enough. They just keep sending their rabid lapdogs to try and smoke us out, and they always end up full of holes,” the human officer said with a smirk, his yellowish-white teeth and green eyes sending shivers down my spine as he drew his knife. “They're just horrible at their job, you know? You've all gotten so lazy and incompetent after being able to just take what you want without resistance, and now that you've met people who are angry and crazy enough to fight back you act as if we're committing some grave injustice,” he placed the knife against my throat, the flat just underneath my now bent beak, “No, we just took a few pages out of your book, ‘cept we've got standards. No kids, for one…” he seemed to look off into the distance as his sneer deepened, “but it's more than that, we don't attack the defenseless in general and we still win against you all in fair fights.”
I went to say something else snarky, but he quickly grabbed my thin tongue with his fingers and yanked it out, blood from my mouth pulling to the floor as he held the blade of his knife against it. “No no, none of that. Say one more thing and I'll cut that rancid little tongue of yours out of your mouth and feed it to you,” he hissed at me, pressing the blade down just hard enough to draw blood. “Do you know what it's like to see a planet turn into a tomb?" he asked me, gritting his teeth, “Do you know what it's like to see everything you've ever known crumble to ash and glass, all the life and the green stripped away leaving nothing but bones? I do. I've seen it happen to countless worlds, and my grandfather always told me stories of how you bastards did it to Earth. He still prays in its direction five times a day, to Mecca, but he knows the Kaaba is gone now, or maybe it's still there, buried in the bones of those who sought refuge there.”
I didn't care for the human’s nonsensical beliefs, but I did care to correct him. “I've seen it before, and I'll see it again. And so will you, it's inevitable. The Jurisdiction will always have its judgment fulfilled, there is no alternative.”
“One day, I hope we can rectify that,” he said, then he sheathed his knife and slammed my head against the metal floor with enough force to nearly knock me out. As I lost consciousness, I could hear him speak. “Take him to the Chop Doc, and make sure the cybernetics don't get damaged: they're supposedly more valuable than any bounty on this ship.”
Warning: Severe radiation poisoning detected. Flush system immediately.
Warning: Neural Lace removal detected, chance of neurological damage high. Proceeded with caution.

[Speaker 1]
How does it feel when you said om? The rajas just disappears. Believe me.
This om is such a beautiful sound. There is no place left for tamas. Rajas just disappears and you are in a beautiful state.
You are in no hurry. Nothing is going away. It is a beautiful tranquil state.
And it is this tranquil state which is sattva guna. A question is often asked as to why the Hindus have so many devatas. So, I need to be all wild up here.
Things won't function otherwise. Okay, so in jyotish, let's have a small recap on the jyotish. Why do we have 12 signs or do we have 13 signs?
Some people are recommending it. Yeah. The 12 full moons that occur in a year.
There are 12 full moons. Sometimes there are 13 full moons. No.
Okay. But generally there are 12 full moons. Correct.
Generally there are 12 full moons. That is why it is the full moon to full moon. The time period is roughly 29 point odd days.
That has been rounded off to 30 days. Right? How much is the time between one full moon to another full moon?
29.5. Right. 29.5 days is rounded off to 30 days. So, what are we talking about?
We are talking about days, about time. We are not talking about space. We are talking about time.
So, the time taken for the sun to move in those 30 days or 30 solar days is supposed to be one Rashi. And that has been equated to space. What is the average motion of the sun?
1 degree per day. Average motion. So, how do you equate the time to space?
You take 30 days multiplied by 1 degree per day. That is how you have 30 degrees for one sign. So, what is our original starting point?
It is time. So, time has been converted into space. Am I being understood?
Time, that is Kala, is converted to space. Now, we have a total circle of 360 degrees. It is simple mathematics.
And we have one sign or what we call one Rashi, one weight. And the word Rashi means one weight, one measure. Rashi is a measure, a weight.
We have that weight of 30 degrees. And we arrived at 30 degrees by 30 days motion of the sun. So, 360 divided by 30 gave us 12 Rashi, 12 measures.
12 steps. If one step is 30 degrees, you know, one step is 30 degrees, the sun can take 12 steps. The sun takes 12 steps to go around.
12 Rashi. Rashi is a measure. Rashi is not a sign.
The word sign means symbol. Rashi is not sign. Rashi is measure.
I can clarify that first concept now. The zodiac signs is translated as Rashi. It is wrong.
Rashi is a measure. So, I thought this small recap in Jyotish would be good because I want to be very clear with you about our basics before we proceed further. Now, that we have 12 Rashi, the question was we needed variables to define life.
Life has to be defined because it is life that is important. We are studying life. We are not studying some stars in the sky.
We are not studying those planets in the sky. We are studying life on earth. Jyotish is a study of life on earth.
It is not a study of the stars in the sky. Astrology is astro, is astral, the stars. Logy is the logic for that.
That is not what we are doing. We are studying Jyotisha, Jyoti, the light of God. And that light of God is there in the hearts of every human being.
It is there in the heart of every animal. It is there in the tree of every living creature. That light of God is in a stone.
We are looking for that light. We are not looking at the stars. That is not Jyotish.
It is a very fundamental difference. Where are we looking? We are using that information to help us.
But that information is not the objective. The objective is the life here on earth. In this planet.
In this life which is full of darkness. We are looking for that spark of light. That is Jyotisha.
The translation of Jyotisha as Vedic and Astrology is totally and completely wrong. Firstly, it is not Vedic. It is a Vedanga.
Secondly, it is not Astrology. Astrology is a part of it. But it is not Astrology in all.
You see my point? This hand is a part of Sanjay. You can say this hand is Sanjay.
But this hand alone cannot define Sanjay. So we were waiting for Sarvani to come and light the lamp. She has come.
One western, you will be surprised. There is one person in the west who did it. Who made a very serious attempt.
He called it the light of life. One person did it. And I admire him for that.
He tried. It is a light. Without that light, there is no Jyotish.
This is crucial for us. So he translated it as the light of life. The life on this planet.
So his translation was very good. It consists of three parts. One is Ganita.
One is Hora Shastra. And one is Samhita. If we say Vedic Astrology, we are kicking Samhita out.
Ganita is having no place at all. I mean it is only Ganita, some little parts of Ganita. Some portion of Hora Shastra.
Not even the full portion of Hora Shastra. Am I clear on what I am saying? Vedic Astrology is only Ganita and some Hora Shastra.
Samhita is totally kicked out. Because when we say Pallipatana or the falling of a lizard. What planet is that?
Is there any planet involved? One, you are walking. You saw a cat pass.
Some planet ran away, no? One cat passed in this direction. What was the time?
What was the color of the cat? What was this? What was that?
Which direction he ran? How big he was? All those things are important.
That whole science, we are throwing away. It is wrong. We are limiting our study.
You see my point? Vastu Shastra, we have thrown it away. Jyotisha includes Vastu Shastra.
Jyotisha includes Sakuna Shastra. Jyotisha includes Ved Mantra. Jyotisha includes Shiva Gyan.
You cannot just pick up Shiva and throw him away and say I am a Jyotisha. You cannot do that. You have to try to understand Shiva.
So you see, Jyotisha is a very huge ocean. We are throwing it away because we don't want to work hard. We have become lazy.
By nature, that is the nature of man. And more it will increase as time passes, as the human life becomes smaller and smaller and smaller. We will have to throw away more and more, more and more.
Why? Because we think that this one lifetime will go away and I will not learn. We think that this one lifetime is all that we live.
Beyond this we will not live anymore. That this knowledge will be destroyed when we die. Knowledge is not destroyed when you die.
Knowledge is retained in the Atma. Atma retains knowledge in the form of Dharma. When that knowledge is retained in the Atma, how can it be destroyed?
Remember, there is a beautiful saying my Gurudev used to say. Everything in this world can be taken away from you. You will lose everything that you have.
One day or the other, everything, a shirt, brother, father, mother, sister, everything will go away. Only one thing will stay with you. The knowledge that you have.
Even after you die, nobody can take that, nobody can steal that, nobody can deprive you of that. It is the only thing that will stay with you. And when you know that that is the only thing that will stay with you, why are you foolishly running after other things?
Why are you not pursuing your mind on this knowledge? It is a very beautiful thing. When you think about it, it is a very beautiful thing.
That it is this Vidya, this knowledge and all that will be retained by us. So, we must work hard to increase the knowledge content within our Atma. To remove that ignorance, the covering of ignorance, those layers of dirt.
It is like a murti, you know, the Atma is like a murti, full of dirt on top. Clean it. Please give up.
Subhad jantam jagannathayate namah. Om. So, we will continue with this for some more time.
Till the others come, I will give them another 10 minutes, till I start my Jyotish. Recap on Jyotish is what we are having. I will just remind you again.
So, we are now clear about the 12 signs. Life. When I see a human being, or I see an animal, or I see a tree, how do I define the object?
What are the things that I need to define the object? Forget those grahas. They don't matter.
If we need them, we will take them. Firstly, there is a physical body that has to be divided. Then the first thing, a form.
Everything that is materially created must have a form. And that form comes because of prithvitatva. It is prithvitatva, or the solid element, that defines the form.
Right? The second is that which causes sustenance. What sustains?
It is that which carries the food. The carrier of food or the sustainer is in a form which is fluid. Because he is changing, yet he has to communicate with the solid.
And that is the liquid. That is the jada tattva. Right?
So, first there is a solid. And this solid defines the form. This form has to be replenished.
Like you know your hair is falling. Your hair grows. You cut your hair.
Again it grows. How come the hair is growing? Somebody is giving him food to grow.
The food that is coming for the hair to grow is jada tattva. It is coming from jada tattva. The giver of food is jada tattva.
It is the sustainer. Then comes that which has to cleanse. When you cut your hair, you throw it away, right?
Something has to cleanse it. Something has to remove the dirty one, the old one, the dead one. All the time.
So, constantly there is creation. Constantly there is sustenance. And constantly there is destruction.
Within your body, cells are being created, cells are being sustained, cells are being destroyed. Constantly this process is going on. The destruction or the dissolution is taking place because of vayu tattva.
Okay? So, we have three tattvas. The prithvi tattva, the jala tattva and the vayu tattva which are creating or defining the form, sustaining the form and destroying the form.
Am I right? Then, there must be one which is the result of sustenance. The purpose of sustenance.
Why are you sustaining something? For what reason he is there? He has to do some karma.
He has to do some action. Even the sea, when you stand next to a sea, you will see the sea is coming in, going out, coming in, going out. Have you seen that?
How the sea dances on the shore? The waves are coming in and the waves are going out as if the sea is doing a mantra. Constantly the samudra is doing a mantra.
You see my point? So, the purpose, the action, something is animating it. Even a sea which is dead is getting animated.
That animation or the movement comes from energy and that is agni tattva. Okay? So, we have four tattvas and there must be one that coordinates all the effort, keeps them all together, ensures that there is perfect friendship and harmony between them, there is great love between all of them, that they work together for a common purpose of existence so that the life continues.
He ensures that life continues. Something is keeping all of them together. Some kind of a magnetic force you may call it, which is binding them, some kind of a glue.
That is akash tattva. What was that? Could somebody take a look at what's happening?
Sounds like a smoke alarm, doesn't it?
[Speaker 2]
So, that is akash tattva.
[Speaker 1]
So, we have five tattvas that we need. The five primary tattvas will define the entire life. The living object is defined by the five tattvas.
A dead object is also like the sea. I was just now talking about the sea and the animation of the sea. Even that is also defined by five tattvas.
Right? After that, what is the next thing? We have the entire creation that runs on the basis of light.
The whole game is like a movie, you know. What is movie all about? It's light.
Different colors of light, different play of light, different images. All images are nothing but light. Pure light, the reflected light and darkness.
Darkness is also part of light. If there is no shadow, you will not appreciate the light. It is all a game.
It's a beautiful drama. This drama is being played by four factors. The sun and the moon and the lunar nodes, Rahu and Ketu.
Because the entire light on earth comes from the sun. In the night, we have light from the moon. And then there are the stages which we call stages without light and stages of intense light.
Which we call the Rahu and the Ketu. So these define Jyotish. The pancha tattva, the luminaries and the givers of light.
For the pancha tattva, we need five grahas only. We don't need more than that. Because there are five variables.
You can use any other variable. If you think there is a better variable than the grahas, you can use that. The five grahas starting from Mercury to Saturn in that order of the five closest to the sun are the ones that we need.
We don't need more than that. So that is our definition of Jyotish. The nava grahas consisting of the pancha tattva, the tattva grahas, there are five tattva grahas and the sun, moon, Rahu, Ketu.
So there are two groups. One group is the pancha tattva grahas and one is sun, moon, Rahu, Ketu.
[Speaker 2]
Can you repeat that order starting from Mercury?
[Speaker 1]
Prithvi tattva, Jala tattva, Prithvi tattva, Mercury. It is very important to understand this. Prithvi tattva, Mercury, the solid form.
Then Jala tattva, Venus, Shukra, then Vayu tattva, Saturn, then Agni tattva, Mars, and then Akash, the one who is making this whole world run around and forcing them to stay together and work together. The definition of God. God is good.
Otherwise he is not God. Right? So that is Jupiter.
The pancha tattva. And after these pancha tattvas, we have the sun, the moon, and Rahu and Ketu. So two groups.
Clear? This is our definition of Jupiter. So now after, since you are all here, as I told you I will make the announcement again.
Sarbani will need more time to complete her part of the paper. And so she will be taking the paper tomorrow after Swi's paper. So you will get a treat as she is handling Diksha initiations which is a tough job.
Very tough job. And Diksha is tough, alright. But seeing Diksha through Jyotish is even more tough.
What is Diksha, types of Diksha, lot of stuff she will be doing. Today I will be troubling you throughout the day. By the time I should be done, your brain should be completely fried.
So, I will be starting today with Graha Devata.

I have a dataframe, with 5 different symbols inside of it, the symbols represent different stocks. I'm trying to create a graphs for all of them, to compare them however it only creates one graph for only one of the symbols and not 5 different ones.
here is my code

# Convert 'Date' column to datetime format JPMDF['date'] = pd.to_datetime(JPMDF['date']) # Iterate over unique symbols in the DataFrame for symbol in JPMDF['symbol'].unique(): # Filter the DataFrame for the current symbol JPMDF_s= JPMDF[JPMDF['symbol'] == symbol] #plotting fig, ax1= plt.subplots(figsize=(15, 5)) #Plotting the 'adj_close' price in green ax1.plot(JPMDF_s['date'], JPMDF_s['adj_close'], color='green', alpha=0.5, label= "Close Price") ax1.set_ylabel('Close Price', color='green') ax1.set_xlabel('Date',color='blue') #Plotting our second value volume in yellow with a lower alpha ax2= ax1.twinx() ax2.plot(JPMDF_s['date'], JPMDF_s['volume'], color='yellow', alpha=0.5, label='Volume') ax2.set_ylabel('Volume', color='yellow') #Adding interest rate to the graph ax3= ax1.twinx() ax3.plot(JPMDF_s['date'], interest['interest'], color='red', alpha=0.5, label='Interest') ax3.set_ylabel('Interest', color='red') ax3.spines['right'].set_position(('outward',60)) ax1.grid(True) ax1.set_xlim(JPMDF_s['date'].min(), JPMDF_s['date'].max()) locator_month = MonthLocator() locator_day = DayLocator() formatter = DateFormatter('%m-%d-%Y') ax1.xaxis.set_major_locator(locator_month) ax1.xaxis.set_minor_locator(locator_day) ax1.xaxis.set_major_formatter(formatter) plt.title(f'{symbol} Price') plt.show() 

I'm getting paranoid abt HL maths, I've never gotten grinds and just used youtube vids bc my teacher is shocking, and consistent 45%-50%ish. I was thinking of dropping this year and my teacher told me no, so I didn't do any study in the mocks and got 37%, P1 42% and P2 34%(No choice and never covered stats or probability). Maths is going to be my 7th subject, so I'm wondering with the boost willI I defo pass? I'm always able to attempt everything.
All I want is 30%. 40% would be great but otherwise it'll take too much away from my subjects. I have a good grasp on algebra, trig, differentiation, complex nos, coordinate geometry, induction, probability and stats(never did prob and stats for mocks). Will i be ok or should i drop on the day???