there are stores like proper cloth but they produce and ship from vietnam while they claim they are a US based company...
are there any custom stores that have merino wool clothing who produce in a 1st world country like USA/Canada or Europe?
shirts and pants.

There are very few things I remember from my childhood, but earlier last year I began a therapy program and began to attempt to discover what truama had caused me to begin to block out so many years of my childhood. My Therapist says it could be caused by a single truamatic event or in some cases an overall truamatic living situation. I am still not quite sure which category I fit into, or where I fit into all of this at all for that matter.
I was not a special child, I did not come from a good home. Growing up it was just myself, My mother, and two of my sisters, the only one relevant to this story being named Meg.
Two weeks before Halloween, my mom took us all to the near by K-mart to pick out one cool thing for Halloween as well as our outfits. I picked out some knight outfit because at the time I was obsessed with Final Fantasy Tactics. My sister, Meg, picked out one of those weird Voice Changers, like the ones they used in the Scream Movies, you know? My mom just gave her one rule, she wasn't allowed to use it to scare me or annoy people.
About four days later, some bizarre things started. I began to hear her out in the hallway using the voice changer from her room. The almost growling low pitched voice setting was quite haunting. She was only really saying one thing though...her own name. This went on for two nights before she started sleeping in my older sisters room instead of her own, sharing a bed with each other.
Around this time is when she began to use the stupid voice changer to keep me awake. She would stand outside my bedroom door, in random hours of the night, and just say my name. "Zachary....Zachary..." Over and Over. In that eerie painful voice. It kept me awake for hours, and whenever I did sleep I would have nightmares. Nightmares that gave shape to the voice. Always a lonely looking creature, with skin that looked charred with white eyes that dripped back into it's sockets like runny eggs, always keeping it's head down low as if to hide itself from embarrasment or guilt like a child would.
This went on for days... then the tapping would begin. First on my door, then somehow on my window. This simple tapping turned into hard scratching at the door which at first I would assume was our cat or dog. Every few nights the the being within my dream would be see more detail added to the body. First a thin layer of what seemed like fur, then eventually clothes, a visably moldy jean jacket and and on it's head a thin layer frayed hair. On it's feet it wore no shoes and but wore ripped tattered shorts. It had a small mouth, very child like and immature facial features. It always seemed so helpless and lonely.
I stopped talking out of this overbearing sense of guilt I felt the more the dreams continued. I kept hearing the voice every where I went. At school, to the store with my mom, at home, in the bathroom...sometimes I would even hear movement where the voice was coming from...While taking a bath one night, I heard the bathroom door open, next came very soft steps...almost soft enough to be our dogs...
"Zachary...are you in here?" I'd never been so horrified in my life before then. The door closed behind it. I sat in the bathtub for about an hour listening to it scurry around. Eventually my mom came in and asked for me...she hadn't remembered that I was still in there.... I'm convinced to this day it was hiding just outside of the shower curtain that provided me privacy during these bathtime hours.
A few days pass, still hearing it calling my name at night, still tapping, still scratching...Halloween comes. I put on my costume, my sister put on hers, everyone was getting ready to go out for the night. A friend of mine was coming with us and I naively figured I'd be protected in my knight outfit. It was still around midday as Mom prepared our Trick-or-treat bags so I went outside by myself to on the side of our lawn that faced the huge abandoned vineyard. Every parent in our neighborhood always used to stress about how we were never allowed in Vineyard. Eventually it all entirely blocked off by the township and is currently said to be filled with various homeless camps despite friends of mine in the town saying they only ever find the bodies of the homeless and never actual evidence of camps.
I was swinging my plastic sword, fighting imaginary bad guys when I heard that there was someone moving in the bushes. I could hear it vividly, It wasn't normal like a cat or dog or even a person. It was precisely weighed footsteps inched apart bit by bit. I moved a bit closer to my house and farther back from the thick bushes. If my mom knew I was on that side of the house, she would have killed me.
Then it all happened so quickly The voice began calling my name from the bushes. It was only saying my name. It wasn't telling me to come over or anything, it was simply saying my name and moving back and forth. I could see the outline of it's clothes...a jean jacket, some shorts, and it was wearing boots. It was wearing a mask however, one of those old 90s alien mask like you'd see in the Halloween store, the flat plastic kinds with the small eye holes and horizontal mouth slit. It moved down on all fours and began walking closer to the ledge. And that's when I noticed it's legs and hands...they were absolutely burnt, charred to an almost unrecognizable crisp like exaggerated burnt bacon. I could tell it was looking right into my stupid eight year old eyes. It whimpered and seemed to press it's belly to the ground before speaking in a voice that instantly put me over with fear. "Zachary...I will...You...Come..." My eyes grew twice their size and I ran inside, dropping my sword and shield in the grass.
My mom got furious. Shes stomped around before calling my sister into the room. Upon being asked about the voice changer and teasing me for weeks...my sister told us that it broke, that it had stopped working one night after she dropped it in the driveway. She even showed my mom...it was smashed. My mom just looked out the window into the Vineyard. My sister looked over at me. We weren't allowed to go out that night. My mom made up some story about Halloween being cancelled because another kid in the town had gotten hurt like a few years before, something I still don't really remember.
That night my Sister and I just sat in our living room. We didn't really speak. We didn't pay attention to whatever Disney Channel Halloween movie was playing. We both knew the other had something to say but couldn't open our mouths.
After what felt like hours of silence she moved closer to me and spoke -
"It tried to take you too, didn't it?"
I nodded.

About 3 months ago, my former roommate and his girlfriend decided they were going to move in together. On the surface I couldn’t have been happier for the two of them, though I’ll admit I felt a pang of jealousy deep down because I was nowhere near doing that with a partner. Especially since I didn’t even have a partner.
After the hangover from the goodbye party had been tamed, I decided to do some budgeting. I calculated that I didn’t really need a roommate, but I knew I wouldn’t be happy living alone, and thought it could be fun to meet some new people.
I don’t remember how many dud interviews I went through. They all felt like the human equivalents of the colour beige; boring, and dull beyond belief. It had to have been dozens because it was the 15th of the month by the time I met Jack, and we got on like a house on fire.
As he was touring the apartment, he saw some posters I had in my room of bands that I like, he said he also loved their music, and named a few deep cuts from the bands that I absolutely gushed over, he also saw a collection of Star Wars merch I had and showed me pictures of some of his own that he had set up in his current place. All of his merch was still in its original packaging and I praised his restraint because I always had to open and pose all my figures as soon as I got home.
This prompted me to ask why he was leaving his current place.
“The landlord is selling the place. ‘Hot market’ or whatever. Only gave me a month’s notice, can you believe that?”
“Fuckin’ landlords.” I said in affirmation.
He then mentioned he liked watching stand-up comedy which was yet another interest we shared. He said he likes to watch it before bed because it helps with his mood when he wakes up in the morning. In hindsight this probably should’ve raised some red flags for me, but I was so caught up in the elation of finding what felt like a kindred spirit that I didn’t think much of it.
I didn’t want to seem too eager so I said that I’d message him tomorrow, to let him know what I decided either way.
“See ya tomorrow.” He said with a wink as he left.
After he left I took a look at the “roommate resume” I asked him to put together, just a list of previous addresses with contact info for the landlords, and a credit report. Jack had lived in 3 different apartments in as many years, and had a perfect credit rating, with the only recurring charges being his cell phone, and the rent for a storage unit across town. Always paid in full, and on time.
I had already made my mind up at this point, but in the spirit of doing my due diligence I called Jack’s most recent landlord.
“Hi, Sandy? My name’s Mason, I’m calling in reference to your current tenant Jack Kerninski.”
I wasn’t really finished my sentence but for some reason I paused.
“Is this the police?” She said to fill the void.
“What? Uh, no. I’m just calling to ask about what sort of tenant Jack is, or if you have any insights into him as a person that I should know about before making him my roommate.”
“Oh! Okay, sure!” She perked up and almost sounded giddy.
“Jack’s great! Very friendly and pleasant. Quiet as a mouse except for when he would get into his shows, but a quick text or knock and he’d quiet right down. And he’s a great cook! Such amazing smells coming from his suite. He’d often even share with me, as he frequently bought large cuts of meat and couldn’t eat it all himself. Exotic stuff, too. Pork, lamb, even sometimes the organs! Things like liver that before him I’d always gagged at the thought of! I had started to feel like I was living at a five-star hotel! He’s such a gourmand, you’re lucky.”
There was something in the back of my head that said it seemed like she was trying too hard to sell Jack to me, but because him and I got on so well, and because I was a crap cook, I ignored that thought.
“He’s also quite the ladies man! Revolving door of women, I don’t think I ever saw the same girl twice!”
“Thanks for all the info, Sandy. This has been very helpful.”
“No, thank you!” She said, and I almost ended the call when I remembered what she said at the start of the call.
“Uh, one more thing, before I let you go. Why’d you think I was the police?”
“Oh…” she paused for an awkwardly long moment “…you sounded so official when you introduced yourself! Jack doesn’t have any family here, so I’m his emergency contact. I was worried he might have been robbed or something!”
“I didn’t realize I came off that way over the phone!” I said, but it felt like I didn’t believe either her words or mine.
“Thanks, Sandy. Have a good night.” I said and hung up without listening to her farewell. My mind was preoccupied with questions I was doing my best to ignore, and replace with my daydreams of having a new best friend that would cook elegant meals for us as we listened to our favourite bands and talked about what the lyrics in the songs meant to us.
I decided I’d message Jack in the morning with the good news. My still booze binge recovering thirty-year-old body and brain needed more sleep.
The next morning I sent Jack the confirmation text.
“Jack! It’s Mason. If you haven’t found any other place yet, I’d love for you to move in here!”
“Awesome! Super happy to hear that! Thanks!”
“When are you available for the move in? I could help you move out of your old place.”
“Moving van’s already packed. I could be at your place later today! Say around noon?”
“Sounds good. See you then.”
Jack arrived precisely at Noon. The second the clock shifted from 11:59am to 12:00pm I heard the honk from the moving van, and I got up to greet him outside.
“Told you I’d see you today!” Jack said as he walked to the rear of the van to open it and reveal his belongings.
Moving his stuff only took about an hour. He only had a bed and about 8 boxes of belongings consisting of clothes, books, collectibles, and CD’s, but we still acted like it was a great physical effort and that we needed pizza and beers afterwards.
The rest of that day was normal. Jack spent it unpacking, and I spent it writing, the anxiety of looming deadlines hanging over my head.
Around the time I usually ate dinner, Jack popped his head out of his room.
“Hey, you hungry?” He asked
I paused to think and as if in reply, my stomach grumbled.
“Starved. I didn’t realize what time it was.”
“Great! I’ll be back in a bit, gotta go get some ingredients.”
Jack returned about an hour later with a plethora of fresh herbs, vegetables, and meat wrapped in brown deli paper that I didn’t recognize when he unwrapped it.
“It’s fois gras. Fattened duck liver.” He said as if reading my mind.
“It’s incredibly hard to find,” he continued as he prepared the ingredients “a lot of places consider the process animal cruelty because the ducks are force-fed until their livers become diseased and swell up to ten times their normal size. But I know a guy.” He looked up from what he was doing and winked at me with a smirk, without even stopping his swift knife work. With the way Jack glided around the kitchen, you could’ve told me I was watching a Michelin Star chef at work and I would’ve believed you.
As he cooked he uncorked a bottle of vintage red wine, poured a small amount into a glass for a smell and taste test, then poured two glasses.
“A perfect pairing, don’t you think?” He asked as he watched me take a sip.
“It’s…superb, but I gotta say, Jack, I think this might be a little…rich, for my blood. A fancy bottle of wine for me is the $50 bottles that I grab when they go on sale at the local liquor store. I don’t know if I can really appreciate this fully.”
“Nonsense!” Jack exclaimed as he turned back to the sizzling pans.
“You know enough to appreciate it, just not enough to identify every aspect and enjoy its deeper layers. You’ll get there.”
I was completely enamoured by this man. His every movement in the kitchen was measured, and as silky smooth as the surface of a still lake. He spoke with a reassuring tone that could melt all your fears and worries away, as he bathed you in affirmation and encouragement. He was charisma personified.
That is what made what happened later that night all the more strange.
“Alright man, I’m exhausted.” He said as he finished cleaning the dishes from dinner (I said I would but he insisted that he do it).
I looked at the clock and noticed it was past midnight by then.
“Oh shit it’s late. Yeah, time for bed!”
“Goodnight, Mason.” He said, patting my shoulder once.
“G‘Night, Jack.”
About half an hour later, I heard a laugh coming from Jack’s room.
“Heh heh hehehehehe.”
I tried to ignore it, but it got louder.
“Heh heh…HA HA HA HA HA HA HA”
If I didn’t know it was Jack in there, I would’ve thought that Mark Hamill had come over to record some audio as Joker in my apartment, Jack’s laugh sounded identical. It was uncanny. Every “ha” was pronounced but also sounded like it was all the same word, with a slight wheeze between each. I wouldn’t be able to sleep with it though so I got up to go knock on Jack’s door.
“Come in.” Jack said after a short pause.
I opened the door to see Jack sat on his bed, on top of the covers. I hadn’t actually seen his room until this moment. It looked somehow both lived-in and sterile. The collectibles on his shelves were arranged spaced exactly the same distance apart, lined up perfectly with each other, the wires of his electronic devices were neatly tucked away, and everything was arranged in perfect right angles. Jack was sitting perpendicular on his bed, facing his tv across the room. The screen was paused on a frame of Kevin Hart, on top of which the title “stand-up compilation #21” hung.
“Hey man, you mind keeping it down a little?”
“Sorry, was I being loud? No problem, Mason, I’ll keep it down. Sleep well.”
“Thanks Jack. ‘Night.”
After I had gone back to bed I heard him leave. Clearly making every effort to be quiet.
This pattern went on for 2 months.
Because of the massive amount of benefits there were to having Jack around, I didn’t really mind having to ask him to quiet down every night. It seemed superfluous. Every night he would cook these decadent five-star meals, exotic meats always paired with bottles of wine, champagne, or scotch that couldn’t have cost less than $500. He didn’t even flinch one night when I had a few friends over, and insisted that he cook for all 5 of us, he was almost excited by it, and the idea that I was going to order us pizza was simply unfathomable to him. He even talked and joked around with my friends, and whenever he’d laugh it was the same Joker-like laugh I heard every night. On hearing his laugh one of my friends shot me a look and I shrugged in reply, they raised an eyebrow at me then went back to the conversation.
Eventually the laughing just became white noise to me. I had purchased noise-cancelling headphones but didn’t even take them out of the packaging because by the time they arrived, I could fall asleep to;
“Heh heh hehehe HA HA HA HA HA HAHAHAHA AHA AHA AHA AHAHAHAHAHA”
I stopped thinking much of it. “It’s just how he laughs” I told myself.
Two weeks after Jack moved in, I started to feel like I was always being watched. Even when I was alone, when Jack had gone to work for the day. I couldn’t really explain why, or come up with any ideas how. My apartment window overlooked a park, with no other residential windows in line-of-sight of my window. I didn’t have interior security cameras, and Jack hadn’t set any up that I could see.
The feeling was much more intense when Jack was around, and I still couldn’t figure out why. Sure, his gaze was intense, but he was sort of an intense person. In a fit of paranoia one night, when Jack was in his room, door closed, I wrote on a mini white board “I know you’re watching me, I found the cameras” held it up and faced my bedroom door. I waited two minutes for some kind of response before moving to the living room still holding the sign to my chest. Still nothing.
“Heh heh hehehe HA HA HA HA HA HAHAHAHA AHA AHA AHA AHAHAHAHAHA”
I pushed the feeling to the back of my mind. Surely, if I was being surveilled, the move with the sign would have brought my spy out, I thought.
“Or maybe they just called your bluff” a voice in the back of my mind said. Another thought I pushed away.
“Heh heh hehehe HA HA HA HA HA HAHAHAHA AHA AHA AHA AHAHAHAHAHA”

I just got diagnosed with POTS by a cardiologist last week and he suggested that I get compression stockings that go all the way up to my waist. I’ve never really worn leggings as I am sort of but not quite plus sized (generally a women’s XL for tops and bottoms and around an 18-20 at stores like American Eagle, Old Navy and Target) and have just never found leggings that don’t slide down or fold over when i bend down. I also know that medical grade compression tights/leggings are crazy expensive so if there is something more accessible and affordable that would be great. I also don’t have super severe POTS, I’ve never passed out or anything like that but I can’t go up one flight of stairs without getting light headed and feeling the lactic acid build up in my legs. I also have a lot of sensory issues regarding clothing, mostly in terms of materials and random seams that are more for aesthetics than actual structure. But yeah if anyone has any recommendations or even just advice on dealing with POTS since I was diagnosed so recently, I would so greatly appreciate it!

Hi, I am wondering what do people do when they don’t have a linen closet in their home? Right now we have a linen closet outside our bathroom. It currently holds towels, wash cloths, board games, extra toiletries that do not fit under the bathroom sink, burp rags, pillow cases, sheets, and some baby blankets. Our baby bath also hangs on the inside of the door. We are going to be moving soon, and I just found out that there will no longer be a linen closet as the unit we are transferring to has 2 bathrooms. All the houses are the same size, so two bathrooms means that got rid of the closet to make an extra bathroom and also decreased the size of the bedroom closet. We will still have a closet in the living room, but I currently use that to store our vacuum, carpet cleaner, wet/dry vacuum, mop, extra big blankets, and hang jackets in. I am not sure where we are going to store our belongings that are normally in the linen closet now. Can anyone give me some suggestions?

So I’ve been at my store for a year now. In the last year I have had to deal with three possible stalking situations. I get stared at all day long, asked out and hit on several times a day. Many customers are regulars and specifically want to say hi to me when they come in. Many are older men. I’ve been used to this all of my life. I don’t mind when people call me pretty or ask me out and don’t ask again after I say no, I can’t help it, I’ve tried doing no makeup, baggy clothes, it’s just me and I’ve accepted it. Sometimes there’s men that stare at me nonstop, I don’t mean they glance over a few times, I mean stare like I’m an alien being. I’ve learned to ignore it pretty well.
The first situation that scared me was during my first few months, another employee was an older man and he would watch me nonstop, no matter where I was upfront. I would turn around and he would be staring at the back of my head, when he would get put on register where I was I would see him in the corner of eye never breaking contact from my face. I finally got creeped out so bad I told management and they moved him to the furthest possible place from me until he eventually quit and that problem solved itself.
The second time was an obviously mentally unwell middle aged man who said I was the prettiest woman he’s ever seen. He asked me if I would go out with him and I said I had a boyfriend. He then proceeded to ask me in every different scenario possible if I would go out with him. If my boyfriend died, if we broke up, if he moved away would I go out with him. He wouldn’t let me walk away and would step closer every time I moved. He told me in great detail what a kind and sensitive man he was and that he just needed a chance if I didn’t have a boyfriend. I eventually nodded my head enough and he left and I haven’t seen him again.
This most recent time is an older man that comes in very very often multiple times a day sometimes. He always always chooses my register no matter how long the line when he always only has one or two items. He turns his back to me and waits facing away from me until it’s his turn and then he speaks very low and asks me how I’m doing. He has the serial killer stare and freaks me the fuck out so bad. He doesn’t say much but that’s never a good sign. He would always act extremely nervous and like he was too scared to talk to me.
Two days ago he came to my line buying a graduation card, and got $20 cash back to put inside the card. He’s never said much to me so I was shocked when he started telling me it was a gift. Obviously, so I just nodded my head and said “oh that’s nice of you”. Then he says “it’s for my friends daughter, she just graduated and I really really like her so I want to show her that”. I was literally shocked to hear this creepy confession so I just smiled and nodded. At this point he was all checked out and ready to go so he starts to walk away and then suddenly turns around and walks back closer to me nearly behind me and asks “does that make me a creepy old man?”. I just laugh and say no because I’m extremely uncomfortable. He proceeds to ask me three more times if I think he’s creepy. At this point I’m literally shaking and feel like I’m in a horror movie. I just keep saying no and he walks away after asking me a few times. This left me feeling so sick and scared so I told my boss they might need to change positions for me so this doesn’t keep happening so we looked at open positions and said we would bring it up to everyone else.
The next morning about an hour into my shift I’m at self checkout and I see him walking very fast towards the registers until he sees me and turns and walks straight at me, I quickly turned around and told the TL I was going to the bathroom because the guy coming right at me scares me. I quickly got out of there and crossed his path as I was going, he was looking right at me but I wouldn’t make eye contact and just kept going. I called the front end coach from the bathroom shaking so bad and told her all about him and what he said to me so she went to AP and had them go through the footage to see what he looked like. After i walked away he went to customer service which was right behind me and said something and walked straight out of the store.
About 45 minutes to an hour later i was very on edge and standing directly against the wall at self checkout so i could see both entrances, he came in the door and headed straight for me again and i turned and walked quickly to the back room nearby. i called the front end coach and they tried finding him but as soon as i walked away he turned around and left again. I was so freaked out that I didn’t even pay attention to the fact that he was holding a big gift bag every time he came in. We think he was trying to give me a gift. The rest of the day I could barely function and was so paranoid. I was escorted everywhere and to my car at the end of the day. Right now is my two days off and they’re going to watch for him and the plan is to tell him he can’t be helped by me anymore and if he argues then he gets banned. Everyone at work is very supportive and wants to do everything possible to protect me but he seriously is terrifying and looks like he wants to skin me alive.
I love my job and my coworkers but I’ve been so terrified of men the past week because of their behavior and staring. I don’t know how much I can handle before I break down. I’m thinking accepting the TL position they’ve been offering me the past couple months will keep me from working directly with customers and probably help most of the creepy behavior I experience. It’s bad timing and they just filled it but are still trying to find me something. Any advice or similar experiences will help me.

I've posted before about the groups of teens that frequent the store where I work. They are the most unbelievable little shits I've ever seen, almost like something out of TV and movies.
Usually, if you ignore them, they steal and leave, but there's one kid who leads the rest and likes to engage with us regardless of our reaction. They seem comfortable doing whatever they want now.
Yesterday, I was at the checkouts when the leader approached and said, "Aight mate." He got inches from my face, backed off, and asked what I was looking at. Then he headed to the till, shouting "You can't stop me, dickhead," while laughing. He reached over the counter, grabbed all the e-cigarettes, and walked towards the exit, asking what I was going to do about it. I just watched him, and he kept lunging at me, motioning like he was gonna throw a punch. He left, but his friend kept telling him to leave the e-cigs. Eventually, he came back, threw the e-cigs on the counter, complained there was no vape juice, and then stole 20 or so packets of cigarette papers before finally leaving.
Today, he came in again, actively trying to provoke me, acting like he was going to hit me. I continued working, but he kept making threats and calling me names. I asked my coworker several times to ring for management, but she didn't hear me. He stole more cigarette papers and walked out, mumbling more threats.
This kid has insane eyes like a psychopath. Knowing they steal box cutters, I try not to engage, but I have two anxiety disorders. My body shakes despite trying to stay composed. I eventually went to call management myself, but dialed the wrong number out of stress. A supervisor showed up as they were leaving, but I was told to stay on the tills.
Later, while I was off the shop floor, I saw them again, maybe 6 or 7, dumping whole boxes of sweets and chocolate into their bags. I told the assistant manager, who just said he didn't care about theft. I clarified that it was about the intimidation and harassment of the sole checkout worker, but he dismissed it again. The coworker on the till rang the bell and confirmed they were being harassed, but the manager still didn't care.
We've had around 7 or 8 coworkers quit over being assaulted by these kids. They even threw eggs at the clothing manager earlier this week. Recently, another group of teens slapped the store manager. The police were called, but they didn't press charges, opting to have the kids apologize instead. The teens were back the next day.

with summer around the corner, i went to the thrift store to look for shorts. this was a new store in my neighborhood, with a surprisingly big selection. as a precaution, i usually check the clothes i want to try on to make sure they are in decent condition. again, usually. i had a few pairs of shorts i was debating on. i had checked a few of them and was satisfied with the sizes etc. today my worst nightmare came true. as i tried on a pair of mom shorts, i first noticed a wad of tissues in the pocket, which didnt concern me at first as that seems common for old ladies to keep a wad of tissues on them. the shorts fit great and i was absolutely stoked until i felt something on the inside of the shorts, sticking to my inner thigh. i roll up the hem assuming i was just going to find a hidden tag, but out falls a little brown crumb. im frozen for a second, trying to rationalize how maybe it was just a piece of mud that had been stuck to my shoes. i take the shorts off and look down and - you guessed it - they had a lovely smear of poop right across the inner backside. of all the items i had checked, the one pair i didnt of course were the ones with SHIT INSIDE. and they very nearly also had my vomit inside too. it took everything in my power to try and remain cool as i returned them to the fitting room attendant and told them "hi, someone shit in these shorts." god, they probably thought it was me. when the cashier rang me through and asked if i would qualify for any of their discounts, i said "uh, poop discount?" they ended up giving me 20% off 🙏 i took the hottest shower i could the second i got home and scrubbed my ass raw.
TL;DR: i tried on shorts that had shit inside them. dont be like me. check clothes before you try them on.

https://imgur.com/a/jrawKeE
I prefer a bundle. Bundle price is at bottom. Individual prices below, but please, I prefer someone looking to get into 4x5 who will buy the full set as a discount price compared to second hand market like ebay.
I have a great/excellent used Intrepid 4x5, 4th generation. Used but lightly- only ever shot 4x5 like twice a year. Added their fresnel glass to it so it's easier to see. Going on ebay for $400-$600. I am looking for the low end, $400.
Fujinon SW125mm F/8 in great/excellent used condition. Used just as much as the 4x5 and bought in near mint condition. Going on ebay for for $250-$500 dollar. I am looking for $300.
4 4x5 film holders I bought refurbished from cat labs. $100
Dark cloth. Got it from a nice company but I'll go $20.
Wandrd Camera Cube bag. Used to store all this equipment so in near mint condition because hardly used in the field. $60.
Bundle price: $800
Something like this on ebay would most likely be $1000+
Please msg here and PM.

Warning: I will not message you first. If you were messaged by someone claiming to be me you are in the process of being scammed.

You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.
Desktop Users: Comment on this post and Click here to start a trade App Users, please include the following in your PM (Remember to comment on this post as well):

• Type of card(s) and amount of each.
• What payment method you accept.
• How you acquired the GC and why you're getting rid of it.

Crypto^4, Paypal^1, Apple Pay, Chime, Cashapp, Varo, Venmo, and Western Union
I only have Steam as a substitute for cash payments in gift card trades.

Want ↓	Cash or a Gift Card ↓	Crypto4 ↓
Apple	60%3	NA
Amazon.ca	50%	50%
Amazon.co.uk	50%	50%
Amazon.com	70%	55%
Amazon.de	50%	50%
Amazon.es	50%	50%
Amazon.fr	50%	50%
Amazon.it	50%	50%
Amazon.jp	30%	30%
Arrow Films	65%	60%
Barnes & Noble	50%	50%
Baskin Robbins	60%	60%
Best Buy	25%	25%
BJ's (not BJ's restaurant)3	60%	NA
Bloomingdales	50%	50%
Burger King4	60%	NA
Clothing Shops (Small Boutique)	contact me	contact me
Dell3	60%	NA
Delta gift cards3	65%	NA
Delta Sky Miles3	PM me	NA
Delta Vouchers3	65%	NA
Dicks Sporting Goods 3	PM me	NA
Disney Plus	PM me	PM me
Dunkin Donuts3	60%	NA
eBay	70%	70%
Fandango3	10%	NA
Five Guys3	60%	NA
Gamestop	60%	60%
Gas Station Cards3	PM me	NA
Gyft	70%	70%
Half Price Books	50%	50%
iTunes3	60%	NA
J crew	40%	40%
JCPenney	25%	25%
Jersey Mike Subs3	60%	NA
KFC3	60%	NA
Khols	30%	30%
Macys	35%	35%
Magazines.com	40%	40%
McDonald's 3	60%	NA
Microsoft3	60%	NA
Moe’s Southwestern Grill3	60%	NA
Nintendo Eshop3	70%	NA
Nordstrom	50%	50%
Panera bread3	60%	NA
PSN3	60	NA
PSN Plus 12 month3	NA	NA
Saks Fifth Avenue	50%	50%
Sears	50%	50%
Sephora	50%	50%
Speedway (must be able to use on fuel)3	80%	NA
Staples	50%	50%
Starbucks US only	55%	55%
Steam3	60%	NA
Subway 3	PM me	NA
Taco Bell	60%	NA
Target	50%	50%
Urban Outfitters	50%	50%
Vudu3	50%	NA
Walmart	60%	60%
Wendys3	60%	NA
Xbox (gift cards)3	60%	NA
Other Clothing Stores, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Restaurant, & Fast Food gift cards	PM me

¹ When paying via PayPal, I can only send payments via Goods and Services, thus you will be charged a fee. If you'd rather not face this fee there are plenty of alternatives. ² Larger denominated gift cards preferred. ³ PayPal is the only payment option. ⁴ All crypto payments come from Coinbase. Any fees associated with it are built into the price.

What I don’t buy:

• Amazon.au
• Bass Pro Shop
• buffalo wild wing
• California Pizza Kitchen
• Canadian tire
• Cold Stone
• Dairy Queen
• Fanatics
• Giant Foods
• Google Play
• Grub Hub
• Gymshark
• Hilton Honors
• Hot Topic
• Krispy Kreme
• old navy/gap/banana republic
• Patxi's pizza
• PSN Canada or UK
• publix
• Raceway
• Scheels
• Shell Gas Stations
• Spotify
• Starbucks Canada
• Tractor supply
• Xbox Canada or UK
• Xbox live gold

Any fees are built into the price.

Selling

I have:
Up to $1000 in Amazon.com (can be broken up into smaller denominations) and am selling at

• 85%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)
• 90%: LTC

Up to $500 in eBay (can be broken up into smaller denominations) and am selling at

• 90%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)

Up to $500 in Apple.com ($15 and $50 denomination) and am selling at

• 90%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)

Important: before you send your codes please make sure your account is secure (if your password is not uniqe it's best to assume your account has already been compromised. Scams where compromised accounts are used to leverage reputation to scam an unsuspecting user, used to steal codes during the middle of the trade, and steal unused gift cards the victim was saving for later are increasingly commonplace. If you have any concerns as to your account's security, please reset your password now and force logout of all sessions. Thanks

Warning: I will not message you first. If you were messaged by someone claiming to be me you are in the process of being scammed.

You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.
Desktop Users: Comment on this post and Click here to start a trade App Users, please include the following in your PM (Remember to comment on this post as well):

• Type of card(s) and amount of each.
• What payment method you accept.
• How you acquired the GC and why you're getting rid of it.

Crypto^4, Paypal^1, Apple Pay, Chime, Cashapp, Varo, Venmo, and Western Union
I only have Steam as a substitute for cash payments in gift card trades.

Want ↓	Cash or a Gift Card ↓	Crypto4 ↓
Apple	60%3	NA
Amazon.ca	50%	50%
Amazon.co.uk	50%	50%
Amazon.com	70%	55%
Amazon.de	50%	50%
Amazon.es	50%	50%
Amazon.fr	50%	50%
Amazon.it	50%	50%
Amazon.jp	30%	30%
Arrow Films	65%	60%
Barnes & Noble	50%	50%
Baskin Robbins	60%	60%
Best Buy	25%	25%
BJ's (not BJ's restaurant)3	60%	NA
Bloomingdales	50%	50%
Burger King4	60%	NA
Clothing Shops (Small Boutique)	contact me	contact me
Dell3	60%	NA
Delta gift cards3	65%	NA
Delta Sky Miles3	PM me	NA
Delta Vouchers3	65%	NA
Dicks Sporting Goods 3	PM me	NA
Disney Plus	PM me	PM me
Dunkin Donuts3	60%	NA
eBay	70%	70%
Fandango3	10%	NA
Five Guys3	60%	NA
Gamestop	60%	60%
Gas Station Cards3	PM me	NA
Gyft	70%	70%
Half Price Books	50%	50%
iTunes3	60%	NA
J crew	40%	40%
JCPenney	25%	25%
Jersey Mike Subs3	60%	NA
KFC3	60%	NA
Khols	30%	30%
Macys	35%	35%
Magazines.com	40%	40%
McDonald's 3	60%	NA
Microsoft3	60%	NA
Moe’s Southwestern Grill3	60%	NA
Nintendo Eshop3	70%	NA
Nordstrom	50%	50%
Panera bread3	60%	NA
PSN3	60	NA
PSN Plus 12 month3	NA	NA
Saks Fifth Avenue	50%	50%
Sears	50%	50%
Sephora	50%	50%
Speedway (must be able to use on fuel)3	80%	NA
Staples	50%	50%
Starbucks US only	55%	55%
Steam3	60%	NA
Subway 3	PM me	NA
Taco Bell	60%	NA
Target	50%	50%
Urban Outfitters	50%	50%
Vudu3	50%	NA
Walmart	60%	60%
Wendys3	60%	NA
Xbox (gift cards)3	60%	NA
Other Clothing Stores, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Restaurant, & Fast Food gift cards	PM me

¹ When paying via PayPal, I can only send payments via Goods and Services, thus you will be charged a fee. If you'd rather not face this fee there are plenty of alternatives. ² Larger denominated gift cards preferred. ³ PayPal is the only payment option. ⁴ All crypto payments come from Coinbase. Any fees associated with it are built into the price.

What I don’t buy:

• Amazon.au
• Bass Pro Shop
• buffalo wild wing
• California Pizza Kitchen
• Canadian tire
• Cold Stone
• Dairy Queen
• Fanatics
• Giant Foods
• Google Play
• Grub Hub
• Gymshark
• Hilton Honors
• Hot Topic
• Krispy Kreme
• old navy/gap/banana republic
• Patxi's pizza
• PSN Canada or UK
• publix
• Raceway
• Scheels
• Shell Gas Stations
• Spotify
• Starbucks Canada
• Tractor supply
• Xbox Canada or UK
• Xbox live gold

Any fees are built into the price.

Selling

I have:
Up to $1000 in Amazon.com (can be broken up into smaller denominations) and am selling at

• 85%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)
• 90%: LTC

Up to $500 in eBay (can be broken up into smaller denominations) and am selling at

• 90%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)

Up to $500 in Apple.com ($15 and $50 denomination) and am selling at

• 90%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)

Important: before you send your codes please make sure your account is secure (if your password is not uniqe it's best to assume your account has already been compromised. Scams where compromised accounts are used to leverage reputation to scam an unsuspecting user, used to steal codes during the middle of the trade, and steal unused gift cards the victim was saving for later are increasingly commonplace. If you have any concerns as to your account's security, please reset your password now and force logout of all sessions. Thanks

I have extra cloths that I am interested in getting ride of. My preference is if they pay cash but I am okay if they offer store credit.

Evening arrived sooner than expected, and Gensokyo began to settle down for the day along with the sun. Not everyone though, as Hakurei Shrine still had some company who came over for a small banquet. Not a big feast like many times before; rather a small get together consisting of a handful of people.
Drinks were poured from bottles dark and light, filling up cups that soon filled the mouths with sweet bitter flavor of alcohol. Reimu hosted the event as usual, with Marisa being there as always, and Rin playing a nice song to fill the air. Among other guests included Yukari who sat idly with her cup, Remilia who once again brought a wine with a foreign name, Alice who felt like coming to check on the fixed doll, Youmu who came by her lonesome, and Suika having recovered after a long day’s rest now drinking sake while dressed in some of Reimu’s clothing as her usual outfit was torn last night.
“So, get this.” Suika placed her cup down for a moment, “This one time, Minako and I were moving through the woods, trying to find a red stag beetle after eyeing one the day before. We checked the same area we found it previously, searching the trees, and beneath boulders. And then we spotted something red in the distance and thought it was our little insect fellow. But it turned out to be a snake, a red snake, with yellow stripes. Next thing we knew it jumped at us and bit Minako on the arm!” She grabbed her own arm to visualize a snake biting.
“EEK!” Youmu jumped from hearing Suika’s story and clung onto Alice. “Youmu! You’re making me spill my drink!” Alice expressed her distress trying to pry the swordswoman off her, using her dolls to assist her.
“Despite being bitten by a venomous snake, Minako grabbed the fiend by its neck, threw it over the trees, and proceeded to suck the venom out of her system using her mouth before we continued along finding that bug. I tell you, she makes some of the oni I’ve known look average in resilience compared to her. Hahaha~”
The story was indeed impressive, everyone around got to hear more about the previous shrine maiden, especially Reimu. The only other form of information she was ever able to acquire about her late mother was through the Gensokyo Chronicles, a collection of historical records kept by the Heida Clan in the village, even then it barely told much of her late mother; describing her as a ‘ruthless woman who gets the job done, known to perform youkai exterminations with only her fists and sheer intimidation, having fallen after saving the human village from beasts of hellflame.’
“Huh, even I never knew that about her. Reminds me of Reimu whenever she tries to persuade visitors out of extra donations.” Marisa said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Reimu turned to look at Marisa with a small glare.
“I-I’m just saying the stubborn will to survive runs in the family.” Marisa stuttered a little, hoping not to anger Reimu. Reimu glared for a second longer before giving her friend a smirk.
“I’m just messing with you.” She said. She turned back and noticed Remilia now sitting next to her with a bottle of wine in her hands.
“Reimu, have you ever tried this kind of merlot wine? It’s supposed to not be as bitter as other wines I’ve brought before while still retaining that richness in flavor.” Remilia offered in her usual charismatic tone.
“Eh? More wine? I don’t know, I think it’s best for me to cut back after having drunk so much from previous events.” Reimu said, though Remilia wasn’t deterred.
“Nonsense! I’ve seen you guzzle down barrels worth before, a glass or two will be mere drops in a lake! It’ll only be a little bit.” Remilia offered again, to which Reimu became a bit more compelled, staring at the liquid’s color nestled in the bottle. Marisa got worried again knowing Remilia’s intent and considered interfering when Suika came over and placed a hand on the vampire’s shoulder.
“Hey now. If you’re going to offer someone a drink, you yourself should be willing to drink also.” Suika said.
“Eh?” Remilia wasn’t expecting to hear that, and her composure dropped a bit.
“I’ve heard a lot about you. You seem like someone who can handle their alcohol like no other. How about you and I have a drinking competition?”
“A competition? I think I’ll have to-”
“Oh yeah, great idea Remilia.” Marisa spoke up with an encouraging tone. “I mean, a noble lady like you wouldn’t lose in a battle of endurance. Not unless you’re giving up, which if I recall correctly, is something people where you’re from are known for.”
Remilia felt the jab coming at her sense of pride, and refused to allow the magician to be right. She took Suika’s proposition and right away the two were sitting by the table in the shrine with cups in their hands and bottles ready to be poured by Youmu and Rin respectively. As soon as Yukari gave the signal to start the two servers poured the first of soon-to-be many glasses of booze. Remilia and Suika drank them like they were nothing, and then the refills came. One after the other the two chugged down the drinks, however Remilia slowly grew behind, finding it hard to continue drinking as the alcohol began to affect her mind and her stomach. She glanced at Suika and saw how she was still drinking like it was nothing, and she refused to fall behind even more so she amped herself up to drink even more.
Five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen. By now two dozen bottles were emptied, and Suika, though much more drunk, was still drinking her worth just fine. Remilia however was wasted. Her face was redder than a ripe tomato, her speech nothing but garbled sounds. Still she tried to force another cup down her gullet, but when the cup reached her lips, she dropped it and her head collapsed on the table.
“And she’s down. We have a winner.” Marisa announced. Suika finished her last cup and patted her stomach with satisfaction. Everyone around gathered to congratulate her, including Reimu, leaving no one to pity the poor vampire rendered useless from intoxication.
“Sa…Sakuya.” Remilia spoke in a shaky voice.
“Yes milady?” Sakuya appeared from nowhere right by her mistress’ side.
“Take me home.”
After Remilia was taken home, the party eventually died down. People started to leave one by one, while those who live in the shrine called it a night. Reimu, who had a bit much to drink earlier, needed to be taken to bed by Rin who helped the shrine maiden to her room. The only other people who were still up for the night were Yukari and Suika, gazing up at the stars above while catching up with one another after so long.
“So, how’s your shikigami been?” Suika asked Yukari.
“You mean Ran? She’s been well. She’s a lot stronger and more organized than when she was younger, though she still disobeys my commands and takes matters into her own hands often.” Yukari sighed at the end.
“Heh, guess some things about those you know never change…except for us.” Suika said. Yukari got curious about the last part. “What do you mean?”
“Well it’s funny to think sometimes. We lived for so long, met so many people, experienced so many things, and yet we’re still able to act like tomorrow will be different from today. Who we were a hundred years ago is much different compared to who we are today.”
“Hm…I wouldn’t say you’re wrong, but can’t say you’re right either.” Yukari said. “I don’t think I’ve changed much over the past century.”
“I guess not, you’re still the same person I’ve met so long ago.” Suika took a small sip of her gourd, then looked down at the Mimi doll in her hand. “I wonder what kind of person Minako became? Did she still have that sense of vigor I’ve known her for?”
“Not quite.” Yukari said. “After inheriting the position of the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, she became a lot more composed and elegant. And after having Reimu, she settled down much more. Sure, she retained much of her strength and constitution when it came to her duties, but at home, she was a loving mother first and foremost.”
Suika smiled hearing that, but it was also a sad smile. “I still wish I could see her. If only I didn’t wait too long.”
“I’m sure she would’ve liked to see you too.” Yukari said. “If she was here right now, she would probably question why you’re wearing her daughter’s clothes.”
Suika looked at what she was wearing, “Oh right. Well, maybe I’ll tell her I’m interested in being a shrine maiden. Hand me a gohei, an orb, and call me Miko Miko Suika and I’m set to beat up youkai and gather donations.”
Her words made both her and Yukari laugh, long and hard. They both calmed down after ten seconds of laughing.
“Ah...Y’know, Minako’s not the only person I had hoped to see here.” Suika said.
“Really? Who else did you want to see?” Yukari asked.
“Just an old friend. I haven’t seen her since she took up a life of hermitude and moved to youkai mountain. Wonder if she’s still there?”
“Oh.” Yukari quickly put together the puzzle. “Well, I’m sorry to say but you probably won’t be seeing her for a while.”
“Huh? Why’s that?” Suika looked at Yukari with visible confusion. “Did something happen to her?”
“Well nothing too bad. Let’s just say she’s on a long vacation.”
—
The streets of Paris were bright. The eiffel tower stood mighty as people from all around walked in light summer clothing, simple yet extravagant. Stores selling perfume and fragrances casted mixtures of scents that brought wonder to the noses of people who walked past. Cafes and bakeries executed a similar feat, but the difference was they sold delicious bread and sweets that prompted people close by to come in for a bite.
Sitting by a patio table of one such place, a woman with pink hair wearing a white blouse and green skirt, wearing a big summer hat to help block out the sun, was enjoying some nice macarons. Each bite was filled with a sweet crisp flavor, filling her mouth with a sensation she could never get tired of. Mid-way through her plate however, some thoughts came to her mind.
She thought of Gensokyo for a moment. It has been a few years already since she last left home and everything behind. She would be lying if she said she didn’t miss being back there and all its inhabitants. Thoughts of the various people she got to know over the years ascended up to the surface of her mind. There were the sages, primarily Yukari and Genjii, she wonders how they’re both doing. There were her pets, she hopes they’re doing well but also knows they can live independently. There was Marisa, she believes she’s well and continues to live a well-earned life. There were friends from before, when she used to live deep below the ground, and how long since then. Then there was Reimu, she thinks about her almost everyday, she hopes she’s alright, she hopes she’s doing great, she hopes she could at the very least remember her and all the times they spent together, though she also knows it’s unlikely she remembers.
“Excuse me manquer.” A voice caught Kasen off-guard for a moment, she looked up and saw a server looking at her with slight concern. “Is everything alright? You seem disturbed about something.”
“Oh, it’s nothing.” Kasen said, speaking in their language. “I was thinking of home, that’s all.”
“Ah, I see. You’re from Japan, correct?”
“Uh, that’s right.”
“Oh wow, that’s pretty far from here. I have never been to Japan before, but I hope someday I will. Are you perhaps thinking of returning home soon?”
Kasen paused for a second, looking away slightly before turning back with an assured smile. “No, I don’t have any reason to yet.”
“Ah, I see. Well, would you like anything else before I go?” The server asked.
Kasen thought for a moment, looking down at her empty plate of macarons. She had been eating them the whole time she was thinking of home.
“I think I’ll take some more macarons…Oh, and throw in some cookies too.” Kasen decided.
The server then left, leaving Kasen to wait. While she did she looked back on the street, resting her chin on her hand with a smile.

Hi everyone,
Here's the summary for Day 6 of Safe House. This one was also short enough to fit the whole day into one post. Hope you enjoy!
Video 1 Link: https://www.youtube.com/live/Bj2-lxkbG1U?feature=shared

• Luke is exercising while everyone else is sleeping. At around 9:00, PD starts giving wake-up calls with chicken noises.
• 20:00 Product plug for the Dyson hair dryers
• 26:30 PD calls everyone down for the King of the Day competition
  • 30:00 Phuwin reads the directions. Each person must fold a paper plane. Simultaneously, they will all stand behind the line and throw their planes. The person whose plane lands farthest from the centre of the target is eliminated; this continues until there's one winner.
  • 53:15 King of the Day photo op
• 53:45 Everyone prepares breakfast in the kitchen using some leftovers from yesterday's dinner. Tay makes more lemon tea with honey.

Video 2 Link: https://www.youtube.com/live/L8FBOxlJoQA?feature=shared

• They're eating breakfast. Earth has some minor swallowing/chocking issues at around 10:00, but it's nothing too serious.
• 20:45 Neo wants to play a recreational game. One at a time, each person, blindfolded, must use the spatula and attempt to lift one scoop of money from the large tray into the small tray.
  • 32:00 Everyone silently agrees to prank Neo

Video 3 Link: https://www.youtube.com/live/3wNDiAP2Zbg?feature=shared

• They're relaxing when we join them. They're analysing previous games of Werewolf they played.
• 13:00 PD calls everyone to assemble for the next medal competition. King of the Day divides everyone into two teams: blue and yellow.
  • 17:10 Tay reads the directions. [the directions are very short because they contain a term that's just two words in Thai, but (as far as I know) doesn't really have an English translation. Luke doesn't understand, so they spend some time explaining and demonstrating the concept to him. It's basically when two people start at opposite sides of a playing field and run in one direction with one person trying to catch the other] In relay format, the teams will send one person at a time to jump with the medicine balls around the track, one lap per team member, until one team is able bump their medicine ball into their opponent's medicine ball. Winning team gets one medal each
  • 25:20 There's a minor collision, but everyone is fine. They can't determine who won that round, so they'll start again.
  • 29:00 Mix tries to not let the game end because of a technicality (he thinks that if he guards his medicine ball with his leg and the opponent's ball touches his leg, it doesn't count). PD says that it's not valid and that Mix actually lost.
• 31:00 PD announces a second game. Tay reads the directions. Staying in the same teams as before, and still in relay format, one person at a time from each team must shake all the ping pong balls out of the box that's strapped to their waist before relaying to the next person. Winning team gets one medal each.
• 40:00 They clean up the ping pong balls and Tay does a product plug for the black inhalers.
  • 44:30 Some of the guys have an impromptu modelling battle with the inhalers.
• 51:30 Lunch. Menu includes pad gaprao pork with dry chilis, and noodles with pork and fried egg
  • 1:01:00 They start another pun/wordplay session based around the word "bear" ("mi" in Thai, because it sounds similar to the type of noodle they're eating).
    • Highlights: 1:02:30 Mix asks, "What type of bear misses you?" Answer: Koala (because if you call it in Thai, it sounds similar to, "I've been waiting," which Mix turns into, "I've been waiting for you.")
    • 1:03:40: Neo uses the word "bear" in Thai as a pun with lyrics to a song
    • 1:05:00 Earth asks, "Which bear is famous for fashion?" Answer: Milan ("mi"-lan)
    • 1:05:50 Pond asks, "What kind of car has love?" Answer: Taxi (if you say, "taxi meter" in English, it sounds like, "The taxi has you (as a term of endearment)" in Thai)
  • 1:08:30 product plug for imported Muskat grapes. When they start eating, they start another wordplay session around the theme of fruits.
    • 1:12:30 Khaotung asks, "What kind of fruit eats a lot?" Answer: Apples ("apple" said in Thai sounds similar to "sneakily eats additional portions"). They explain a new vocab word to Luke while everyone moves outside to the pool area to continue eating the grapes.
• 1:19:00 Relaxing by the pool. They have a jam session and improvise some songs. Some of the songs are about random topics (like trying to promote Thailand to foreign tourists), and some of the songs are like rhyming games/challenges.
  • 1:41:45 Luke improvises a song in English
  • 1:49:00 They go to the living room and some continue to play music

Video 4 Link: https://www.youtube.com/live/W909YEhhqUc?feature=shared

• They're relaxing when we join them.
  • 6:00 At the dining table, Tay, Earth, Phuwin, Mix, and Khaotung discuss the plots of Western fairy/folk tales such as Cinderella and Pinocchio. They talk about the original/traditional versions vs. the Disney versions.
  • 10:00 Pond, Neo, and Luke are having a small jam session in the play zone
• 15:30 PD asks everyone to meet at the pool for the next medal competition, sponsored by Lactasoy. They'll stay in the same teams from this morning. Tay reads the directions (he first starts reading the cards out of order, so when he realises, he starts over with the correct card). One team at a time, one person must stand on the shaking platform holding a tray. The other three team members will take turns diving into the pool to retrieve boxes of Lactasoy and bring them back to the tray to construct a pile/tower. Only one person can be in the water at any time. This continues for 2 minutes, at which point the current height of the tower will be recorded. The team whose tower is higher at the 2-minute mark wins one medal each.
  • 21:00 They try out the shaking platform. King of the Day says that he wants the opposing team to go first. Some people aren't in swimming clothes yet, so they run and change while the rest wait and play with the shaking platform. They start the game around 26:00.
  • 33:15 PD announces that they'll repeat the same stacking game again but without the diving component, and they will award additional medals. One person will hold the tray on the shaking platform while the other 3 members stack as tall of a tower as they can within 1 minute. Winning team will win one medal each.
  • 41:00 PD says they can play in the pool a little while longer, but they can go shower and come down for dinner whenever they're ready. They decide to play a game where two people will join hands and act as a barrier in the centre of the pool, and everyone else has to star on one side of the pool and try to pass the barrier and touch the opposite side of the pool
  • 52:00 They play a wrestling game where they have to pair up and one person has to sit on the other's shoulders to wrestle as one team.
• 57:00 They shower and change for dinner.
• 1:36:30 Dinner. Menu includes rice vermicelli with curry (khanom jeen namya) and crab, rice with seafood and egg, soft Thai omelette with cheese, and dessert is bua loy (glutinous rice flour mixed with (usually) something like taro or squash, then formed into a ball and boiled, then served in coconut milk)
  • 1:39:00 Since it's their last night in the house, they say that they want the "quieter" people to be the main jokers/entertainers this evening. Pond says that he's been doing "homework" by looking for jokes on YouTube. Everyone donates their cucumbers to Neo again.
  • 1:43:00 They talk a bit about ketogenic diets because one of Tay's recent colleagues was doing it.
  • 1:46:30 They recap and explain some of the earlier jokes to Luke
  • 1:48:00 Mix asks everyone which dish they would choose if they were only allowed to eat one dish for the rest of their lives.
    • Pond: Fried fish with fish sauce because he likes it a lot
    • Phuwin: Fried rice because it's relatively balanced and there are many variations
    • Luke: Mix's salad because he loves it and it's balanced
    • Tay: Stir fried mixed vegetables with fried chicken
    • Neo: (they first tease him about his love for cucumbers for a bit)
  • 1:53:45 Mix asks what each person would want to eat as their last meal.
    • Tay says that he would want to eat something like crispy pork belly or grilled chicken, but charred because he usually avoids eating overly charred foods out of fear of carcinogens. Pond enthusiastically agrees and says he's the same.
    • 1:54:20 Neo makes another wordplay joke. He says, "But cancer isn't really that scary, you know. It's just cancer." Tay gives the correct response ("Because at least they don't shoot, right?") and then everyone else understands. [basically, the Thai word for "cancer" is pronounced like "maleng" in colloquial Thai. If you separate the syllables, it means "to aim," as in aiming a gun. So just aiming a weapon at someone isn't scary because they're not shooting it]. They then explain the joke to Luke. [in case you're wondering why Luke says the English word "insect" here, it's because he tried to guess the meaning of the joke, but he was incorrect because the closest word he knew was a completely different word (pronounced more like "malaeng")]
  • 1:57:00 Khaotung makes some imitation crab for Mix because he didn't want to eat the rice/carbs from dinner, so he wanted Mix to have enough to eat. He had disappeared from the table earlier, but no one knew what he was doing until now.
  • 1:59:15 Back at the table, they're explaining more wordplay jokes to Luke. Sometimes they struggle to explain them. Luke says that he likes learning the new words, and he gets double laughter because he laughs once when everyone else laughs, and then he laughs a second time after they explain and he understands the jokes. [the theme for this round of jokes is vegetables (phak). They're rattling off the jokes in relatively quick succession, and some of them are silly/cheesy, so the guys say that the bad ones are not worth explaining to Luke. I'll translate one example of a "good" joke and one example of a "cheesy" joke that they told here]
    • 2:04:45 Pond asks, "Which vegetable has good manners?" (the answer is "Chinese broccoli" because the Thai name is pronounced like "khana," which sounds like you're saying, "Yes, aunt," in a polite/respectful way if you separate the syllables)
    • 2:05:25 Neo asks, "Which vegetable hurts the most?" [the answer directly translates to, "Shall we take turns slapping?" but the guys deem this joke as cheesy/not that funny because Neo did wordplay on the word "phak" and turned it into " phad kan" (meaning "to take turns")]
    • 2:07:00 Luke says he's struggling a lot with these vegetable jokes because there are a lot of vegetables in Thailand he either doesn't know at all because they don't have them in the US, or he doesn't know the Thai name (or both).
    • 2:08:15 They switch joke categories to the brand/product sponsors of the show.
  • 2:18:00 They eat dessert and continue explaining new vocab words to Luke. They then teach him the song they've been singing all week when they're having the random dancing breaks during their games. There are some disagreements about the small details of the instrumentals. They tease Phuwin for knowing it worse than they expected and say it's probably because he went to international school.
  • 2:25:00 Earth retells his childhood story about how he used to secretly break a few dirty dishes in the forest area behind his house each when he was too lazy to wash the dishes.
  • 2:28:30 Neo and Mix try to act out an old comedy skit. Mix is a doctor and Neo is a blind patient getting his vision checked.
• 2:42:00 Relaxing time. They sit in the living room and turn on the TV and completely coincidentally find the show with the exact sketch that Neo and Mix were just acting out earlier, so they play it for Luke to see.
• 2:49:00 PD calls everyone to the play zone for the next medal game. PD explains the rules: King of the Day divides everyone into two groups. One group at a time, each person will choose one of the toy cars with sharp objects attached to the bodies and an inflated balloon attached to the back. The cars will drive randomly around the enclosed area, with the guys gradually decreasing the size of the area as time goes on. Out of each group of 4, the first person whose balloon pops loses one medal, and the last remaining balloon gets one medal. The two group winners will then compete for one more medal.
  • 2:51:00 Luke chooses Mix, Pond, and Neo for his team because he hopes Neo will win and get two medals
  • 2:57:40 PD asks the two remaining competitors to pick up their cars to make the driving area even smaller. He then asks them both to change balloons because they wonder why Pond's balloon has been touched several times but hasn't popped.
  • 3:02:00 Khaotung's balloon pops by itself as they're releasing their cars, so PD calls for a restart.
  • 3:04:20 Phuwin's balloon pops by itself as the cars are driving, but PD says that it still counts.
• 3:12:30 Relaxing Time. PD tells Mix that they're allowed to gamble/challenge each other for medals, if they want. They agree that no one should challenge Khaotung because if Khaotung wins, then no one else has a chance of winning the show tomorrow. Neo is interested in challenging one of the people with 8 medals. Pond accepts the challenge. They decide to play the pointing game they played on Day 4 (Day 4, part 2/2 from my previous posts). The winner out of 3 games will win two medals from the other.
  • 3:20:00 Luke is disappointed and despondent for the loser. PD asks Luke if he has anything to say, and he says that he doesn't.
• 3:22:00 Relaxing time
  • 3:25:00 Luke and Phuwin are bitter at PD about making the rule about losing medals in the car game.
  • 3:29:00 They're hanging out in the large bedroom, and Luke is using Earth's push-up equipment. For entertainment purposes, Neo wants to gamble more medals. He suggests a push-up competition with Luke, and Luke declines. Neo suggests Pond again.
    • 3:32:00 The conversation/negotiation continues until Tay pulls Neo away (saying, "No more. You're not in a good state right now. Let's go calm down over here."). Phuwin asks Luke to take off his shirt to show Neo how ridiculous his challenge was. Luke says that Neo's probably seen him shirtless enough already this week. Neo retorts with, "If I hadn't committed to doing this show, I'd be a runway model in the US right now."
• 3:33:30 They want PD to help them play a game of Werewolf so all 8 of them can participate in the game. PD asks for a moment to find someone who will serve as the narrator for them. PD returns at 3:35:30 to say that they're going to use that one specific camera for the game, so everyone needs to position themselves so that this camera can see them clearly.
  • 3:38:30 Game begins. Werewolves=Mix/Earth, Seer=Tay, Bodyguard=Neo, Hunter=Khaotung. Before the first round begins, they go around asking each other what they each are. Luke tries to make a Thai-style wordplay joke, and it doesn't really work (which is why everyone is confused after he speaks), but everyone finally understands what he was trying to do and applaud him for the effort.
    • First round: They realise that there's an issue because there's no easy way for PD to reveal to the Seer whether or not the other players are werewolves. They first propose that the seer just becomes a normal villager, but then PD realises that they can pan the camera left for "yes" and right for "no." Luke dies. They vote to kill Earth.
    • 3:55:30 Second round: Pond dies. They vote to kill Mix. Common people win.
  • 4:02:00 Second game. Werewolves=Earth/Phuwin, Seer=Tay, Bodyguard=Neo, Hunter=Khaotung
    • First round: Tay dies. They vote to kill Pond.
    • 4:11:00 Second round: No one dies (Neo saved Luke). They vote to kill Khaotung. Khaotung chooses to kill Phuwin with him.
    • 4:19:30 Third round: No one dies (Neo saved himself). They vote to kill Mix.
    • 4:23:45 Fourth round: No one dies (Neo saves himself). They vote to kill Earth.
• 4:28:00 They head back downstairs to have something to eat.
  • 4:32:00 Phuwin is making Thai-style carbonara. Tay asks him whether he tends to cook more Thai food or more Western food at home. Phuwin replies that his family tend to make mostly Thai food.
• 5:01:20 Fan Talk
  • Group 1: They're all a bit sad that this is their last night in the house together. They think they'll be lonely when they go home. They praise Khaotung because he's been consistently good at the medal games all week, and they think he'll be the ultimate winner. They all agree that it's been such a fun experience and they would be happy to come back again if they have the opportunity. Luke says that he's a bit frustrated because he lost a medal. They recap the King of the Day competition and say that Luke is the only person who's won twice so far. Luke hopes to win again tomorrow. Luke is disappointed that Neo lost two medals; he's not necessarily surprised by the result because Pond was one of the best at that game anyway, but Luke is surprised that Neo was bold enough to gamble two medals. They all agree that Neo has brought a lot of good and positive energy (and a very fast wit) to the house and to the show, so they're glad that they have him. They recap the medicine ball and the ping pong ball games. They praise Earth for his ingenuity in the ping pong ball game with the push-up position. Earth asks them which game they each liked best from today. Mix says that he doesn't usually like competitive games, but he liked the medicine ball game. Luke and Khaotung liked the Lactasoy tray game.
    • 5:10:25 Fan Comments: Fans complimented Khaotung. A lot of fans also asked for a Season 2; the guys joke that they're about to start a Season 2 immediately after finishing this season. Fans also comment positively about Neo's ability to pull out everyone else's energy and humour.
  • 5:19:50 Group 2: Everyone is also sad that their week together is ending. They expect that they'll all feel lonely when they get home. The other three say that they'll miss Phuwin cooking for them. Neo and Tay joke that they haven't been successful with medals. They all wish they could do this again, and they all compliment Neo for being the "head of content" in the house. Tay is especially disappointed because he wishes he could have had the full week with everyone. Pond says it was nice to get closer with Tay over these past few days; they've discovered that they have a lot in common, especially when it comes to their tastes in food. They recap Neo's challenge to Pond for the two medals. They also say that Luke was thoughtful for trying to help the lower rankers to get more medals, and it's a shame that Neo gained four medals but lost two today. Neo and Pond play another mini game on the sofa.
    • 5:29:00 Fan Comments: People are cheering for and supporting them for the last day. Phuwin and Tay read some English comments. They ask whether Tay has updated Gun on the status of their points/ranking. They are happy to see how the relationships have developed over the week, and they're waiting to see what's in store for the final day.
• 5:36:15 They start heading up to the large bedroom to hang out and watch a film, and they consider sleeping in the same room. They start doing some MBTI assessments, then they start talking about what animals they each look like. They think Neo looks like a mouse, Luke looks like a bear, Mix looks like a cat, Earth looks like a kind werewolf (because he's been a werewolf pretty much every time they've played the game), Phuwin looks like a beagle, Pond also looks like a (kind) dog.

I have been blessed to live in an area with very good thrift store options. 2/3rds of my wardrobe comes from these stores (I find the brands I like in mint condition).
I met someone who is working several jobs to be able to pay rent and eat. We were sharing coffee and when she complained that she couldn’t afford clothes/decorations I told her she should look at the thrift stores I go to.
She gave me the most disgusted look. “You shop at Goodwill??”. She looked as if she felt above me.
The irony is that I can absolutely afford to buy new clothes and have money to spare but I refuse to (prefer to put that money in my baby’s college fund).
Has anyone encountered this attitude as well? What’s so wrong with thrift stores?

I live in SW ON, and while my city has multiple thrift stores, I think I can make it.
We have 2 small business clothing stores, 1 is geared to children, the other is toward adult women & only sells name brands and the like. They typically have clothing, accessories, & footwear.
We have 3 big stores, & 4 smaller thrift stores, 1 home building store (think couches, appliances, doors, tools & hardware, windows, kitchen and bathroom cabinets & plumbing) and 1 pawn shop.
I pretty much just want to have a little bit of everything (excluding the plumbing & windows, and “pawning” of items) But if I’m interested, I’d buy it.
I would realistically like to have clothing, accessories, footwear, toys/games, home decor, Knick knacks, small appliances, small furniture, electronics, books & media, collectibles and vintage items, seasonal items, arts and crafts, pet supplies..
I just have so many ideas and I wish you could all see inside my head lol. Problem is, I do not have financial stability right now, am unemployed, and filed bankruptcy once already.
I just want to know realistically, do I have a shot at making it?
Do you think I’m just going to set myself up to fail?
Will anyone take a chance on me kind of thing..

I’ve always hated people. Not really people, but having to interact with them. You could call me anti-social, but honestly, it just bothers me how fake people are. Friends, family, relationships. People change at the drop of a dime, or maybe it's just them randomly deciding to show their true colors, either way, people will always find a way to tear you down and make you feel less than nothing. I guess getting stabbed in the back enough times made me want to keep to myself, unfortunately, in this society, it's hard to avoid people. You have to go to the grocery store, you have to speak to cashiers at the gas station, and unfortunately, you have to have a fucking job…
Every aspect of life demands you interact with someone, and I fucking hate it. That's why when COVID hit, and the country got locked down, it didn't bother me one bit. Not only did I not have to go to work, but the government paid me triple what I made, and sure, even though paying millions of people for years on end for no reason caused this ridiculous inflation we're experiencing now, at least I didn't have to interact with anyone, and even though astronomically more people died because of the lockdowns than died of covid due to it causing depression and desperation leading to suicide along other health conditions that couldn't be treated, I still consider it a plus. My only problem was figuring out what to do with my extra time.
At first, it was amazing. The first week I started and finished 3 shows on HULU I had been wanting to watch, but one thing about the lockdown that hit me hard was I couldn't even go joyride in my Mustang. I guess the cop saw me past too many times in one day and pulled me over. He said if I wasn't out to get essentials, I had to go home or Id be arrested which made no fucking sense. Eventually, I got tired of just watching TV and not being able to go out and enjoy the world. I'd never really been into video games, I mean, I had an X box but mainly to play a Friday the 13th game as I was a Jason Voorhese fanatic along with any other content that would be described as especially heinous, but I figure I might as well put the x box to use since I had so much time to kill. Upon searching through the games, I found the one that would give me everything the government took away.
If you're not familiar with GTA5, it's an open-world game where you basically do whatever you want. You design a character and can choose to do different types of missions to make money, or just drive around and interact with the world. The best part for me was it had a Mustang exactly like mine. I made my character look as much like me as I could, did some missions, made some money, and bought my car. I played the actual game for a while but I quickly found myself more fixated on the mechanics of the world. The people walking and driving around saying outrageous things.
I am by no means a computer or programming specialist which is why I guess it amazed me so much. How did it run how it did? I passed the time simply walking behind people, seeing where they went, driving behind cars, to see if they had a destination. I was amazed to see how these people interacted with each other. A pedestrian, crossing the road and getting hit by a car. An ambulance shows up and revives the person. A gang member shooting a gun causes motorists to drive erratically crashing into multiple other cars and causing mayhem. I concluded the game is probably a grid, like a railroad track these people were programmed to walk or drive on, but when forced to deviate from their programmed route was where it got really interesting, for example, one time a plane crashed causing multiple people to run frantically, and I chose one to follow. They ran and ran and decided to get off the road and head up a mountain. They topped the peak and proceeded to fall down the other side, repeating this over multiple ranges until I got tired of following. I've seen them decide to jump in the ocean and swim toward the horizon, and even randomly jump off a bridge. I understand how they can be programmed to follow a predetermined route, and even deviate to another route while staying on the grid, but some of them do things that kind of make me think they can make choices.
At the end of the day, I’m sure it's just my ignorance of programs and computer shit, but I did find it very entertaining to see what these people did. Eventually, I created my own games within the game, mainly a slasher game where I put on a mask and stalked people from the shadows. I’d wait until it was night, and I would carry a machete like Jason, and just follow people until I felt it was their time to die, and I would kill them. I’d walk through trees and backyards finding somone sitting on their porch or standing in their driveway smoking a cigarette, and I would sneak up and kill them. Sometimes I would just watch from the shadows. I wouldn't even be holding my controller, I'd just sit and watch the world exist because I wasn't allowed to watch my own… Or could I?
I loved walking around the areas that were just trees or hills, away from the city where the animals are, so I decided to go experience my own world again, against the wishes of the government. It’s not like anyone would see me at night, especially if I just walked around wooded areas. For some reason, I can't tell you why, but I wanted it to be as much like the fake world I had been living in as possible, so I even ordered a mask like the one I had been wearing. I put on clothes similar to my character and walked out my back door and into the woods behind my house. The cool breeze was refreshing and the sky was so clear the moon lit up the forest. I had no clue how deep it was but I knew it was deep enough to not worry about cops seeing me and forcing me to return to my prison. For hours I just walked around, admiring nature, all the while wearing a mask and gripping a machete. All of a sudden, through the trees I saw an illuminated floating window. It was too dark to see the house until I got to the wood line. I wondered what the people inside were doing. What they might be up to. I fought with myself in my head about going and finding out inevitably choosing to have a peek. What's the worst that could happen? There were no trespassing signs and the way the law works is you have to be told not to be there by the police before you can get in trouble. The thought of this person having a gun crossed my mind but not before my legs had started walking across the yard. At that point it was already too late, not to mention, I didn't really care. I wanted to see what they were up to.
Only one window was lit up and it was the perfect height for me to peek through. I crouched below it and slowly rose to look inside. It was absent of blinds but it had curtains that were slightly pulled apart, a kitchen window. A woman was doing dishes as her kids were sitting at the table finishing dinner. I wasn't sure if her husband was home, or if she even had one, but I was satisfied with what I saw and decided not to find out. My heart was still racing As I walked back through the woods. This was exhilarating, but as the adrenaline started to wear off, I started to realize I didn't know my way back. I wasn't worried. I happened to have the Google Earth app and knew it would help me find my way home but when I lifted my mask to look at my phone, I realized 2 things. 1, these woods were pretty big, but not that big. Maybe a square mile surrounded 15 houses along its border. 2, it was only 10 o'clock. I obviously didn't have to go to work the next day, so why not check out another house before I call it a night?
As I made my way to the east side of the woods I started to question if what I was doing was wrong. Sure, I could lose the machete, but in my defense, originally I just planned on walking around the woods. I couldn't kill someone. Not in REAL life. But what's the difference between this and simply looking out your window at your neighbor's house or staring at a jogger a little longer than normal? I was just getting a closer look. I decided to lose the machete in case I was seen and continued through the woods until I saw light dancing through the trees. The smoke smell in the air told me it was a fire up ahead and when I approached the woodline I could see a shadow moving back and forth. I crouched down low and parted the bushes to see a barrel with a blazing fire, and a man carrying a cage. I couldn't see what was inside but once I heard the meows I had an idea. He opened the cage pulled out a small cat, maybe a kitten, placed it in a burlap sack, and tossed it in the barrel. The meows turned to screams and it was so loud I had to cover my ears. I quickly turned and darted back into the woods.
I felt horrible, but what was I going to do? The cat was already in the fire so there was no saving it. The screams echoed through the woods for maybe 20 seconds, and then it was quiet. I had heard that sound before thinking it was just some cats fighting or something. How could someone be so fucked up? I mean, I know I can't say much, I’m watching people from the woods with a mask on, but I’m not burning cats alive. I couldn't get home fast enough. I crawled into bed and forced myself asleep so I didn't have to think about what I had just seen and thank God I didn't have any nightmares about it. The next day, I woke up instantly thinking about it but the shock of it had kinda worn off. I felt a little numb trying to understand how evil like that could exist, but I carried on with my day eventually forgetting about it altogether.
When the sun started to go down, I reentered the woods, this time with a route planned out. I’d check out 3 houses a night, all on different sides of the wooded patch in case I were seen I would be out of the general area, and also to learn my way around the woods so I didn't have to rely on Google to tell me where I was at. The first house was dark and the absence of cars in the drive led me to believe no one was home or maybe it was unoccupied. I didn’t approach the second house due to a man working in his garage. The car he was working on was nice and had him so preoccupied he didn't even notice me watching from the open door. I lingered for a bit and then headed off to my final house before calling it a night. I could hear the whipping sound before getting close to the house. My jaw dropped inside my mask when I looked through the window and saw where it was coming from. A man in a wheelchair, and an older woman wearing a face of pure anger, gripping the belt. He sat in his chair emotionless as the woman repeatedly hit him with the belt. He didn't even try to fight back, and honestly, I don’t even think he knew what was going on. The lifeless look on his face told me he was an empty vessel, a health condition the woman resented for whatever reason. I wanted nothing more than to bust in and stop her, but was it my place?
I wanted to take my mind off of what I was seeing, and the image of the woman and her kids came into my mind. I wondered what they were doing… Maybe something normal that would make ME feel normal again. I made my way to the yellow house hoping the wholesome view of a loving family would prevent any nightmares the scene would cause, but when I got close I could hear the yelling. She did have a husband, and they were arguing. Looking through the window, I could see her crying in the kitchen, the man towering over her with fury in his voice. The kids weren't there but it was 11 pm so I assumed they were asleep, unable to hear the anger filling the house. I didn't like how he talked to her, but again, what could I do?
For weeks, I watched the evil that dwelled in the houses surrounding the woods, walking through the dark trees with negative sounds echoing through my head. Images of people, hurting each other, or themselves. 15 houses, very few pleasant to watch, or anything that could be considered normal. Every Monday, a sound echoed through the forest. I felt it starting to change me, drive me crazy but at the same time, cause me to feel numb. So much pain in such a small area, the craziness inside every box with a door. How much more was in the rest of the world?! What even was normal? I made a decision. Sticky notes.
“Hurting yourself isn’t the answer”
“How would you like to be in a wheelchair?”
“You'll burn next if you don’t stop.”
Messages no one would report because they’d have to explain. I approached the yellow house to leave my last note. “Treat her better”, that’s all it said. Maybe it would be enough. Maybe if these people knew someone was watching they would change their ways. His car door would be the best place for this one. As I stuck it on the handle, I could hear the yelling. He was always yelling, and drunk. It was worse than usual because I could hear things being thrown and slammed. I peeked through the usual window just as he flipped the kitchen table and backed her against the wall. He raised his hand, bringing it down across her face. She hit the floor as he stood over her. He took another swig from his bottle before striking her again. Between every angry sentence, he would hit her. He was going to kill her!
Before I could even think I had kicked in the door. Before he could even turn, I had picked up a chair and swung it at his head. He hit the ground and the woman started to scream even louder. I looked down to see the blood pouring from his head. I dropped the chair and ran back into the woods, her screams fading the further I got.
I got home, hid the mask, and bit my nails to the nubs waiting for whatever evidence I left behind to lead the cops to me. Any trails I made over my weeks of walking through the woods, like breadcrumbs for the police, but they never came.
The next day, every news channel played the same story. "Man killed by a masked vigilante." The woman had told the story, exactly how it happened. How he was beating her mercilessly. How she feared for her life, and how a masked person had come in to save it. I wasn’t proud of what I had done. I had taken a man's life. What if he was only going to hit her one last time and be done? Did this man really deserve to die? It wasn’t my intention, and no amount of Reddit or social media posts praising the vigilante made me feel better about what I had done.
The truth is, I'm not a vigilante. I’m not Superman and I'm definitely not God, so who am I to change what I feel needs to be changed? To redirect a timeline that would otherwise never exist. If there is a God, who am I to change what he himself doesn’t deem worthy to alter? So from now on, I just watch… Or not... One thing’s for sure, the longer I do this, the easier it is to not look away.
SHORT FILM at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKzkNB9Df_Y

I’ve always hated people. Not really people, but having to interact with them. You could call me anti-social, but honestly, it just bothers me how fake people are. Friends, family, relationships. People change at the drop of a dime, or maybe it's just them randomly deciding to show their true colors, either way, people will always find a way to tear you down and make you feel less than nothing. I guess getting stabbed in the back enough times made me want to keep to myself, unfortunately, in this society, it's hard to avoid people. You have to go to the grocery store, you have to speak to cashiers at the gas station, and unfortunately, you have to have a fucking job…
Every aspect of life demands you interact with someone, and I fucking hate it. That's why when COVID hit, and the country got locked down, it didn't bother me one bit. Not only did I not have to go to work, but the government paid me triple what I made, and sure, even though paying millions of people for years on end for no reason caused this ridiculous inflation we're experiencing now, at least I didn't have to interact with anyone, and even though astronomically more people died because of the lockdowns than died of covid due to it causing depression and desperation leading to suicide along other health conditions that couldn't be treated, I still consider it a plus. My only problem was figuring out what to do with my extra time.
At first, it was amazing. The first week I started and finished 3 shows on HULU I had been wanting to watch, but one thing about the lockdown that hit me hard was I couldn't even go joyride in my Mustang. I guess the cop saw me past too many times in one day and pulled me over. He said if I wasn't out to get essentials, I had to go home or Id be arrested which made no fucking sense. Eventually, I got tired of just watching TV and not being able to go out and enjoy the world. I'd never really been into video games, I mean, I had an X box but mainly to play a Friday the 13th game as I was a Jason Voorhese fanatic along with any other content that would be described as especially heinous, but I figure I might as well put the x box to use since I had so much time to kill. Upon searching through the games, I found the one that would give me everything the government took away.
If you're not familiar with GTA5, it's an open-world game where you basically do whatever you want. You design a character and can choose to do different types of missions to make money, or just drive around and interact with the world. The best part for me was it had a Mustang exactly like mine. I made my character look as much like me as I could, did some missions, made some money, and bought my car. I played the actual game for a while but I quickly found myself more fixated on the mechanics of the world. The people walking and driving around saying outrageous things.
I am by no means a computer or programming specialist which is why I guess it amazed me so much. How did it run how it did? I passed the time simply walking behind people, seeing where they went, driving behind cars, to see if they had a destination. I was amazed to see how these people interacted with each other. A pedestrian, crossing the road and getting hit by a car. An ambulance shows up and revives the person. A gang member shooting a gun causes motorists to drive erratically crashing into multiple other cars and causing mayhem. I concluded the game is probably a grid, like a railroad track these people were programmed to walk or drive on, but when forced to deviate from their programmed route was where it got really interesting, for example, one time a plane crashed causing multiple people to run frantically, and I chose one to follow. They ran and ran and decided to get off the road and head up a mountain. They topped the peak and proceeded to fall down the other side, repeating this over multiple ranges until I got tired of following. I've seen them decide to jump in the ocean and swim toward the horizon, and even randomly jump off a bridge. I understand how they can be programmed to follow a predetermined route, and even deviate to another route while staying on the grid, but some of them do things that kind of make me think they can make choices.
At the end of the day, I’m sure it's just my ignorance of programs and computer shit, but I did find it very entertaining to see what these people did. Eventually, I created my own games within the game, mainly a slasher game where I put on a mask and stalked people from the shadows. I’d wait until it was night, and I would carry a machete like Jason, and just follow people until I felt it was their time to die, and I would kill them. I’d walk through trees and backyards finding somone sitting on their porch or standing in their driveway smoking a cigarette, and I would sneak up and kill them. Sometimes I would just watch from the shadows. I wouldn't even be holding my controller, I'd just sit and watch the world exist because I wasn't allowed to watch my own… Or could I?
I loved walking around the areas that were just trees or hills, away from the city where the animals are, so I decided to go experience my own world again, against the wishes of the government. It’s not like anyone would see me at night, especially if I just walked around wooded areas. For some reason, I can't tell you why, but I wanted it to be as much like the fake world I had been living in as possible, so I even ordered a mask like the one I had been wearing. I put on clothes similar to my character and walked out my back door and into the woods behind my house. The cool breeze was refreshing and the sky was so clear the moon lit up the forest. I had no clue how deep it was but I knew it was deep enough to not worry about cops seeing me and forcing me to return to my prison. For hours I just walked around, admiring nature, all the while wearing a mask and gripping a machete. All of a sudden, through the trees I saw an illuminated floating window. It was too dark to see the house until I got to the wood line. I wondered what the people inside were doing. What they might be up to. I fought with myself in my head about going and finding out inevitably choosing to have a peek. What's the worst that could happen? There were no trespassing signs and the way the law works is you have to be told not to be there by the police before you can get in trouble. The thought of this person having a gun crossed my mind but not before my legs had started walking across the yard. At that point it was already too late, not to mention, I didn't really care. I wanted to see what they were up to.
Only one window was lit up and it was the perfect height for me to peek through. I crouched below it and slowly rose to look inside. It was absent of blinds but it had curtains that were slightly pulled apart, a kitchen window. A woman was doing dishes as her kids were sitting at the table finishing dinner. I wasn't sure if her husband was home, or if she even had one, but I was satisfied with what I saw and decided not to find out. My heart was still racing As I walked back through the woods. This was exhilarating, but as the adrenaline started to wear off, I started to realize I didn't know my way back. I wasn't worried. I happened to have the Google Earth app and knew it would help me find my way home but when I lifted my mask to look at my phone, I realized 2 things. 1, these woods were pretty big, but not that big. Maybe a square mile surrounded 15 houses along its border. 2, it was only 10 o'clock. I obviously didn't have to go to work the next day, so why not check out another house before I call it a night?
As I made my way to the east side of the woods I started to question if what I was doing was wrong. Sure, I could lose the machete, but in my defense, originally I just planned on walking around the woods. I couldn't kill someone. Not in REAL life. But what's the difference between this and simply looking out your window at your neighbor's house or staring at a jogger a little longer than normal? I was just getting a closer look. I decided to lose the machete in case I was seen and continued through the woods until I saw light dancing through the trees. The smoke smell in the air told me it was a fire up ahead and when I approached the woodline I could see a shadow moving back and forth. I crouched down low and parted the bushes to see a barrel with a blazing fire, and a man carrying a cage. I couldn't see what was inside but once I heard the meows I had an idea. He opened the cage pulled out a small cat, maybe a kitten, placed it in a burlap sack, and tossed it in the barrel. The meows turned to screams and it was so loud I had to cover my ears. I quickly turned and darted back into the woods.
I felt horrible, but what was I going to do? The cat was already in the fire so there was no saving it. The screams echoed through the woods for maybe 20 seconds, and then it was quiet. I had heard that sound before thinking it was just some cats fighting or something. How could someone be so fucked up? I mean, I know I can't say much, I’m watching people from the woods with a mask on, but I’m not burning cats alive. I couldn't get home fast enough. I crawled into bed and forced myself asleep so I didn't have to think about what I had just seen and thank God I didn't have any nightmares about it. The next day, I woke up instantly thinking about it but the shock of it had kinda worn off. I felt a little numb trying to understand how evil like that could exist, but I carried on with my day eventually forgetting about it altogether.
When the sun started to go down, I reentered the woods, this time with a route planned out. I’d check out 3 houses a night, all on different sides of the wooded patch in case I were seen I would be out of the general area, and also to learn my way around the woods so I didn't have to rely on Google to tell me where I was at. The first house was dark and the absence of cars in the drive led me to believe no one was home or maybe it was unoccupied. I didn’t approach the second house due to a man working in his garage. The car he was working on was nice and had him so preoccupied he didn't even notice me watching from the open door. I lingered for a bit and then headed off to my final house before calling it a night. I could hear the whipping sound before getting close to the house. My jaw dropped inside my mask when I looked through the window and saw where it was coming from. A man in a wheelchair, and an older woman wearing a face of pure anger, gripping the belt. He sat in his chair emotionless as the woman repeatedly hit him with the belt. He didn't even try to fight back, and honestly, I don’t even think he knew what was going on. The lifeless look on his face told me he was an empty vessel, a health condition the woman resented for whatever reason. I wanted nothing more than to bust in and stop her, but was it my place?
I wanted to take my mind off of what I was seeing, and the image of the woman and her kids came into my mind. I wondered what they were doing… Maybe something normal that would make ME feel normal again. I made my way to the yellow house hoping the wholesome view of a loving family would prevent any nightmares the scene would cause, but when I got close I could hear the yelling. She did have a husband, and they were arguing. Looking through the window, I could see her crying in the kitchen, the man towering over her with fury in his voice. The kids weren't there but it was 11 pm so I assumed they were asleep, unable to hear the anger filling the house. I didn't like how he talked to her, but again, what could I do?
For weeks, I watched the evil that dwelled in the houses surrounding the woods, walking through the dark trees with negative sounds echoing through my head. Images of people, hurting each other, or themselves. 15 houses, very few pleasant to watch, or anything that could be considered normal. Every Monday, a sound echoed through the forest. I felt it starting to change me, drive me crazy but at the same time, cause me to feel numb. So much pain in such a small area, the craziness inside every box with a door. How much more was in the rest of the world?! What even was normal? I made a decision. Sticky notes.
“Hurting yourself isn’t the answer”
“How would you like to be in a wheelchair?”
“You'll burn next if you don’t stop.”
Messages no one would report because they’d have to explain. I approached the yellow house to leave my last note. “Treat her better”, that’s all it said. Maybe it would be enough. Maybe if these people knew someone was watching they would change their ways. His car door would be the best place for this one. As I stuck it on the handle, I could hear the yelling. He was always yelling, and drunk. It was worse than usual because I could hear things being thrown and slammed. I peeked through the usual window just as he flipped the kitchen table and backed her against the wall. He raised his hand, bringing it down across her face. She hit the floor as he stood over her. He took another swig from his bottle before striking her again. Between every angry sentence, he would hit her. He was going to kill her!
Before I could even think I had kicked in the door. Before he could even turn, I had picked up a chair and swung it at his head. He hit the ground and the woman started to scream even louder. I looked down to see the blood pouring from his head. I dropped the chair and ran back into the woods, her screams fading the further I got.
I got home, hid the mask, and bit my nails to the nubs waiting for whatever evidence I left behind to lead the cops to me. Any trails I made over my weeks of walking through the woods, like breadcrumbs for the police, but they never came.
The next day, every news channel played the same story. "Man killed by a masked vigilante." The woman had told the story, exactly how it happened. How he was beating her mercilessly. How she feared for her life, and how a masked person had come in to save it. I wasn’t proud of what I had done. I had taken a man's life. What if he was only going to hit her one last time and be done? Did this man really deserve to die? It wasn’t my intention, and no amount of Reddit or social media posts praising the vigilante made me feel better about what I had done.
The truth is, I'm not a vigilante. I’m not Superman and I'm definitely not God, so who am I to change what I feel needs to be changed? To redirect a timeline that would otherwise never exist. If there is a God, who am I to change what he himself doesn’t deem worthy to alter? So from now on, I just watch… Or not... One thing’s for sure, the longer I do this, the easier it is to not look away.
SHORT FILM at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKzkNB9Df_Y

I’ve always hated people. Not really people, but having to interact with them. You could call me anti-social, but honestly, it just bothers me how fake people are. Friends, family, relationships. People change at the drop of a dime, or maybe it's just them randomly deciding to show their true colors, either way, people will always find a way to tear you down and make you feel less than nothing. I guess getting stabbed in the back enough times made me want to keep to myself, unfortunately, in this society, it's hard to avoid people. You have to go to the grocery store, you have to speak to cashiers at the gas station, and unfortunately, you have to have a fucking job…
Every aspect of life demands you interact with someone, and I fucking hate it. That's why when COVID hit, and the country got locked down, it didn't bother me one bit. Not only did I not have to go to work, but the government paid me triple what I made, and sure, even though paying millions of people for years on end for no reason caused this ridiculous inflation we're experiencing now, at least I didn't have to interact with anyone, and even though astronomically more people died because of the lockdowns than died of covid due to it causing depression and desperation leading to suicide along other health conditions that couldn't be treated, I still consider it a plus. My only problem was figuring out what to do with my extra time.
At first, it was amazing. The first week I started and finished 3 shows on HULU I had been wanting to watch, but one thing about the lockdown that hit me hard was I couldn't even go joyride in my Mustang. I guess the cop saw me past too many times in one day and pulled me over. He said if I wasn't out to get essentials, I had to go home or Id be arrested which made no fucking sense. Eventually, I got tired of just watching TV and not being able to go out and enjoy the world. I'd never really been into video games, I mean, I had an X box but mainly to play a Friday the 13th game as I was a Jason Voorhese fanatic along with any other content that would be described as especially heinous, but I figure I might as well put the x box to use since I had so much time to kill. Upon searching through the games, I found the one that would give me everything the government took away.
If you're not familiar with GTA5, it's an open-world game where you basically do whatever you want. You design a character and can choose to do different types of missions to make money, or just drive around and interact with the world. The best part for me was it had a Mustang exactly like mine. I made my character look as much like me as I could, did some missions, made some money, and bought my car. I played the actual game for a while but I quickly found myself more fixated on the mechanics of the world. The people walking and driving around saying outrageous things.
I am by no means a computer or programming specialist which is why I guess it amazed me so much. How did it run how it did? I passed the time simply walking behind people, seeing where they went, driving behind cars, to see if they had a destination. I was amazed to see how these people interacted with each other. A pedestrian, crossing the road and getting hit by a car. An ambulance shows up and revives the person. A gang member shooting a gun causes motorists to drive erratically crashing into multiple other cars and causing mayhem. I concluded the game is probably a grid, like a railroad track these people were programmed to walk or drive on, but when forced to deviate from their programmed route was where it got really interesting, for example, one time a plane crashed causing multiple people to run frantically, and I chose one to follow. They ran and ran and decided to get off the road and head up a mountain. They topped the peak and proceeded to fall down the other side, repeating this over multiple ranges until I got tired of following. I've seen them decide to jump in the ocean and swim toward the horizon, and even randomly jump off a bridge. I understand how they can be programmed to follow a predetermined route, and even deviate to another route while staying on the grid, but some of them do things that kind of make me think they can make choices.
At the end of the day, I’m sure it's just my ignorance of programs and computer shit, but I did find it very entertaining to see what these people did. Eventually, I created my own games within the game, mainly a slasher game where I put on a mask and stalked people from the shadows. I’d wait until it was night, and I would carry a machete like Jason, and just follow people until I felt it was their time to die, and I would kill them. I’d walk through trees and backyards finding somone sitting on their porch or standing in their driveway smoking a cigarette, and I would sneak up and kill them. Sometimes I would just watch from the shadows. I wouldn't even be holding my controller, I'd just sit and watch the world exist because I wasn't allowed to watch my own… Or could I?
I loved walking around the areas that were just trees or hills, away from the city where the animals are, so I decided to go experience my own world again, against the wishes of the government. It’s not like anyone would see me at night, especially if I just walked around wooded areas. For some reason, I can't tell you why, but I wanted it to be as much like the fake world I had been living in as possible, so I even ordered a mask like the one I had been wearing. I put on clothes similar to my character and walked out my back door and into the woods behind my house. The cool breeze was refreshing and the sky was so clear the moon lit up the forest. I had no clue how deep it was but I knew it was deep enough to not worry about cops seeing me and forcing me to return to my prison. For hours I just walked around, admiring nature, all the while wearing a mask and gripping a machete. All of a sudden, through the trees I saw an illuminated floating window. It was too dark to see the house until I got to the wood line. I wondered what the people inside were doing. What they might be up to. I fought with myself in my head about going and finding out inevitably choosing to have a peek. What's the worst that could happen? There were no trespassing signs and the way the law works is you have to be told not to be there by the police before you can get in trouble. The thought of this person having a gun crossed my mind but not before my legs had started walking across the yard. At that point it was already too late, not to mention, I didn't really care. I wanted to see what they were up to.
Only one window was lit up and it was the perfect height for me to peek through. I crouched below it and slowly rose to look inside. It was absent of blinds but it had curtains that were slightly pulled apart, a kitchen window. A woman was doing dishes as her kids were sitting at the table finishing dinner. I wasn't sure if her husband was home, or if she even had one, but I was satisfied with what I saw and decided not to find out. My heart was still racing As I walked back through the woods. This was exhilarating, but as the adrenaline started to wear off, I started to realize I didn't know my way back. I wasn't worried. I happened to have the Google Earth app and knew it would help me find my way home but when I lifted my mask to look at my phone, I realized 2 things. 1, these woods were pretty big, but not that big. Maybe a square mile surrounded 15 houses along its border. 2, it was only 10 o'clock. I obviously didn't have to go to work the next day, so why not check out another house before I call it a night?
As I made my way to the east side of the woods I started to question if what I was doing was wrong. Sure, I could lose the machete, but in my defense, originally I just planned on walking around the woods. I couldn't kill someone. Not in REAL life. But what's the difference between this and simply looking out your window at your neighbor's house or staring at a jogger a little longer than normal? I was just getting a closer look. I decided to lose the machete in case I was seen and continued through the woods until I saw light dancing through the trees. The smoke smell in the air told me it was a fire up ahead and when I approached the woodline I could see a shadow moving back and forth. I crouched down low and parted the bushes to see a barrel with a blazing fire, and a man carrying a cage. I couldn't see what was inside but once I heard the meows I had an idea. He opened the cage pulled out a small cat, maybe a kitten, placed it in a burlap sack, and tossed it in the barrel. The meows turned to screams and it was so loud I had to cover my ears. I quickly turned and darted back into the woods.
I felt horrible, but what was I going to do? The cat was already in the fire so there was no saving it. The screams echoed through the woods for maybe 20 seconds, and then it was quiet. I had heard that sound before thinking it was just some cats fighting or something. How could someone be so fucked up? I mean, I know I can't say much, I’m watching people from the woods with a mask on, but I’m not burning cats alive. I couldn't get home fast enough. I crawled into bed and forced myself asleep so I didn't have to think about what I had just seen and thank God I didn't have any nightmares about it. The next day, I woke up instantly thinking about it but the shock of it had kinda worn off. I felt a little numb trying to understand how evil like that could exist, but I carried on with my day eventually forgetting about it altogether.
When the sun started to go down, I reentered the woods, this time with a route planned out. I’d check out 3 houses a night, all on different sides of the wooded patch in case I were seen I would be out of the general area, and also to learn my way around the woods so I didn't have to rely on Google to tell me where I was at. The first house was dark and the absence of cars in the drive led me to believe no one was home or maybe it was unoccupied. I didn’t approach the second house due to a man working in his garage. The car he was working on was nice and had him so preoccupied he didn't even notice me watching from the open door. I lingered for a bit and then headed off to my final house before calling it a night. I could hear the whipping sound before getting close to the house. My jaw dropped inside my mask when I looked through the window and saw where it was coming from. A man in a wheelchair, and an older woman wearing a face of pure anger, gripping the belt. He sat in his chair emotionless as the woman repeatedly hit him with the belt. He didn't even try to fight back, and honestly, I don’t even think he knew what was going on. The lifeless look on his face told me he was an empty vessel, a health condition the woman resented for whatever reason. I wanted nothing more than to bust in and stop her, but was it my place?
I wanted to take my mind off of what I was seeing, and the image of the woman and her kids came into my mind. I wondered what they were doing… Maybe something normal that would make ME feel normal again. I made my way to the yellow house hoping the wholesome view of a loving family would prevent any nightmares the scene would cause, but when I got close I could hear the yelling. She did have a husband, and they were arguing. Looking through the window, I could see her crying in the kitchen, the man towering over her with fury in his voice. The kids weren't there but it was 11 pm so I assumed they were asleep, unable to hear the anger filling the house. I didn't like how he talked to her, but again, what could I do?
For weeks, I watched the evil that dwelled in the houses surrounding the woods, walking through the dark trees with negative sounds echoing through my head. Images of people, hurting each other, or themselves. 15 houses, very few pleasant to watch, or anything that could be considered normal. Every Monday, a sound echoed through the forest. I felt it starting to change me, drive me crazy but at the same time, cause me to feel numb. So much pain in such a small area, the craziness inside every box with a door. How much more was in the rest of the world?! What even was normal? I made a decision. Sticky notes.
“Hurting yourself isn’t the answer”
“How would you like to be in a wheelchair?”
“You'll burn next if you don’t stop.”
Messages no one would report because they’d have to explain. I approached the yellow house to leave my last note. “Treat her better”, that’s all it said. Maybe it would be enough. Maybe if these people knew someone was watching they would change their ways. His car door would be the best place for this one. As I stuck it on the handle, I could hear the yelling. He was always yelling, and drunk. It was worse than usual because I could hear things being thrown and slammed. I peeked through the usual window just as he flipped the kitchen table and backed her against the wall. He raised his hand, bringing it down across her face. She hit the floor as he stood over her. He took another swig from his bottle before striking her again. Between every angry sentence, he would hit her. He was going to kill her!
Before I could even think I had kicked in the door. Before he could even turn, I had picked up a chair and swung it at his head. He hit the ground and the woman started to scream even louder. I looked down to see the blood pouring from his head. I dropped the chair and ran back into the woods, her screams fading the further I got.
I got home, hid the mask, and bit my nails to the nubs waiting for whatever evidence I left behind to lead the cops to me. Any trails I made over my weeks of walking through the woods, like breadcrumbs for the police, but they never came.
The next day, every news channel played the same story. "Man killed by a masked vigilante." The woman had told the story, exactly how it happened. How he was beating her mercilessly. How she feared for her life, and how a masked person had come in to save it. I wasn’t proud of what I had done. I had taken a man's life. What if he was only going to hit her one last time and be done? Did this man really deserve to die? It wasn’t my intention, and no amount of Reddit or social media posts praising the vigilante made me feel better about what I had done.
The truth is, I'm not a vigilante. I’m not Superman and I'm definitely not God, so who am I to change what I feel needs to be changed? To redirect a timeline that would otherwise never exist. If there is a God, who am I to change what he himself doesn’t deem worthy to alter? So from now on, I just watch… Or not... One thing’s for sure, the longer I do this, the easier it is to not look away.
SHORT FILM at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKzkNB9Df_Y