I've been doing research on robot vacuum and I think I've pretty much settled on Roborock as the brand to go with. I took the quiz on the website and it recommended the S8+, which seems pretty within my budget, but I was comparing models on the site and wondered if I should pay extra for more features. I have a few questions on what daily use looks like. If these are answered anywhere else, please feel free to point me in that direction!

1. Are you able to set the frequency of each function within the app? Like, could I set it to vacuum daily and mop every 2-3 days if needed?
   
2. What does daily/weekly maintenance look like? I know the S8 MaxV Ulta has "auto mop cleaning" and "Auto detergent dispensing" and "auto tank refilling". Is this something worth paying extra for, or is the manual aspect of it not too bad?
   
3. Relating to the above, are there any models with less features that are cheaper and still work well? I like the idea of automating dust emptying and things that make daily use less involved, but I'm worried I'm focusing on the "shiny new" stuff rather than what actually makes my life easier.
   
4. A review site I read said that yearly maintenance was expensive (replacing filters and the like). How does this compare to other models? It seems like most vacuums need filters replaced and such.
   

I'll stop there since those are my main questions. I appreciate any help!

Hi guys, I live in Nunavut and am super happy to hear about the iqaluit to nuuk flights. They are suprisingly affordable, meaning I wont feel terrible about swinging over for a short trip, which I aim to do next summer. Most resources online focus on bigger ideas and a whole "you came all the way out here so lets make it a grand adventure" kind of mentality, realistically I want to bring my camping stuff and spend like 4 days hiking/ camping without having to take another flight from Nuuk or needing a guide for more than just a boat dropoff/pickup. What are my options.

Hello folks.
I have finished a screenplay for a screenwriting college entrance exam (I am 37, mind you). The proposition is that it should be a 30-minute movie with a maximum of 35 pages.
My second draft was 46 pages but I started cutting it in different ways: dialogue, action, rephrasing, mixing two scenes into one, deleting some unimportant scenes, etc. After several days of surgical editing, I am at 36 pages and out of ideas for making it to 35. Everything seems important and has already been reduced to its limits.
Are there any industry tricks or praxis for dealing with this type of problem that I, an amateur, should know about?

Recently there have been a lot of posts downplaying humans in versus battles. Claiming silly things like humans would lose to Goku, or humans wouldn’t be able to kill the Hulk just by outsmarting him. I’ve made this post to try and set the record straight with a full powerscaling of the Humanverse.
Strength
How strong is a human? We know a few things about the Humanverse: An “ant” is described as a six-legged monster capable of lifting 50 times its own bodyweight. It’s also considered a fodder-tier enemy to humans and other creatures, to the extent that millions of ants can be killed at a time even by an unskilled human.
Humans have a power where whenever they lift something or perform any physical activity they get slightly stronger. This can happen even through casual activities outside of a dedicated training arc. To give an idea of how fast a human can power up, in the event known as “boxing” humans often fight for multiple rounds within the span of an hour. It's not uncommon for humans to perform differently in different rounds, indicating there must have been a rapid change in their power levels because we all know that the stronger character always wins the fight. Now you must remember that humans live over 80 years frequently, so (using a low estimate) if the human only lifts things once per day, and only gets 1% stronger each time, they would be 1.53E+126 times as strong after 80 years of training because of EXPONENTS. In reality, we should expect it to be higher since humans can train multiple times per day.
It is said that humans could destroy their planet by accident with their lifestyles. In particular, it was stated in-universe that too many human babies could destroy their own Earth. A human baby scales to planetary level, possibly scaling up to universe level and beyond as they grow older.
Durability
Humans are able to survive attacks from other humans, which implies a high level of durability in itself since humans are universe busters. Even a young human can survive attacks from a very old human.
We get excerpts that suggest that humans are only considered dead when their brain dies, which suggests that humans can regenerate from just a brain. Furthermore, even attacking a human brain doesn’t cause them to necessarily die. There are cases of humans surviving attacks that destroy large parts of their brain, so really it might be necessary to annihilate a human’s body entirely to kill them.
Even so, there are examples of humans being temporarily considered dead and remaining alive after, which suggests that humans have a degree of resistance to the concept of death itself. Humans given an amount of time to live, such as “1 month to live” frequently outlast that, suggesting that some segment of the human population can warp time to extend their lifespans. Even the planet-scale enemy known as “cancer” often fails to kill individual humans, and when it does it takes months or years to do so.
Speed
How fast is a human? Humans are frequently described as dodging sniper and artillery fire on the battlefield. Sniper fire is so fast that the bullet outruns the sound of the gun being fired, which makes them supersonic, which means that humans have supersonic reaction and dodging speeds. Artillery is basically a gun but even bigger, so if we scale up the speed it means that humans are actually hypersonic in reaction and dodging speeds.
But remember, we don’t know how fast sound travels in the Humanverse. It’s said that when a human does something, it’s possible for one on the other side of the planet to hear about it in moments via technology. This is a gazillion times faster than sound normally travels, which means humans are faster-than-faster-than-hypersonic which I don’t know what that is so I’m just gonna say fuck it and put light speed.
Even if we ignore the speed of sound scaling, humans also frequently dodge cameras which do operate at light speed. Now remember this is a base human without any powerups, so really we should expect a human after 20 years of training to be massively FTL.
Outerversal and Higher?
We haven’t even gotten to the juicy part yet. It turns out that human scientists discovered their universe is made of 11-dimensional objects, under a discovery they called “M-Theory”. What this implies is that humans are 11-dimensional entities. According to dimensional scaling, this means that any character with less than 11 dimensions may as well be a flat piece of paper to humans.
This may not make sense at first, since humans frequently claim to be 3 dimensional. However, clearly they’re just talking from their own perspective - and besides, downscaling doesn’t exist so we should take the higher number to be an immutable fact.
Individual humans are capable of creating fictional universes, giving them outerversal status at bare minimum. They are furthermore capable of creating characters that are themselves outerversal with the same creating power, yet are unable to affect humans in their world. Take the following scan:

And then Alice wrote a story about Bob writing a story about Charlie writing a story about Dennis writing a story.

Humans are able to outscale meta-narrative systems infinitely nested on themselves and can create characters of arbitrary power to interact with narratives on any level. There’s no doubt about it: All fictional universes exist within the Humanverse and are considered to be infinitely below even the weakest human. They meta-outscale even the strongest meta-universes to a meta-infinite degree according to my meta-matics. Something something patafictional transcendent cosmological blah blah blah I give up.
So in conclusion prime Mike Tyson solos your favorite verse.

As of tomorrow May 20, I will have been on OZ for one year. I’ve only lost 20lbs and need to lose about 80lbs more. I lost the 20 pretty much in the beginning and felt the things people talk about…more interested in healthier foods, done after a few bites, etc. It was amazing. I got sick a few times, very unpleasantly. So I took the moving up, I believe it’s called titration, up very slowly. Long story, just started at the highest dose of 2mg for about a month now. I logged on Lose it for about 200 days, gave up but now doing it again for 3 weeks or so, with no real success. I don’t feel that I’m feeling anything more from the higher dose except maybe some irritability. (I feel it and my husband mentions but maybe that’s just me too) So, thanks for reading this far..I’m sad, I knew not to expect miracles but it worked briefly and I read so many positive outcomes, now I feel like even more of a failure. I mean, not crying about it but I am pretty much the biggest person I know and my daughter is getting married in January and I still don’t have control. Was hoping someone might have ideas or suggestions, maybe I need to switch meds? My dad always said, you want to lose 10lbs of ugly fat, cut off your head! (It was meant to be a joke but…ha. ) Tia! Carol

https://archive.is/1DQJp
From 9 a.m. Saturday, when families began making their way to the Second Congregational Church’s front lawn, to the unveiling of Greenfield’s 12th bee sculpture, “Fearless,” outside the Greenfield Fire Department’s new station on Main Street at 12:30 p.m., more than 1,000 people of all ages stopped by this year’s Bee Fest — the largest attendance the event has seen since its inception 14 years ago, according to its founder Sandy Thomas.
“It’s off the charts, we’ve never had this many people. We clicked in [counted] 500 just a few minutes ago, but its got to be more than that now,” Thomas said at 10:30 a.m. “These people came from Wrentham specifically for this because they’re new beekeepers, they heard about it and they just came. It’s wonderful, they keep coming and they want to learn about bees.”
The roughly three-hour festival honored the Rev. Lorenzo Langstroth, the sixth minister of Second Congregational Church who is known as the father of modern beekeeping. Langstroth patented the bee hives with movable frames in 1852, a design still commonly used by bee keepers today, according to Franklin County Beekeepers Association President Art Canterbury, who manned a bee education table with a live beehive demonstration at this year’s festival.
Canterbury engaged with curious festival-goers, educating them on bees and beekeeping, and answering questions ranging from best beekeeping practices, to general inquiries about the nature of bees and their colonies.
“My grandfather kept bees and I worked with him when I was a little kid. Now it’s just the easy attachment to go right back to and enjoy it and develop it,” Canterbury said. “This community loves the idea of bees in general and pollinators like to have that exposure and understanding of the bees [...] The colony of bees itself is a super organism. Everything that they do is for the colony. There’s not a bee in there that’s only doing something for itself.”
Children, many sporting elaborate bee costumes, marched through the farmer’s market for the Pollinators Parade and took turns swinging at a bee pinata. Families also centered around the beehive painting station, putting their unique marks on beehives that will be used at apiaries across Franklin County. Thomas said since bees are capable of sensing color and design, the practice of hive painting could make it easier for bees to find their hives.
The festival also featured a silent auction of bee-related products, bee-related games for children, a pollinator plant giveaway table and a 214th birthday cake for Langstroth. Katie Rozenas-Hanson and Rick LeBlanc of the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture Resources also operated an informational booth, where they distributed sunflower seeds and informed the public on best practices for planting pollinator plants at home. Rozenas-Hanson said she was pleased to see how effectively the festival engaged children.
“This event is so wonderful because it’s evolved from a festival that’s mainly for the general public, to being really kid-focused and having a bunch of free activities for kids to do to engage with bees, learn about beehives and best apiary practices — I just can’t think of a better event for them to go to,” Rozenas-Hanson said.

** Sculpture unveiling**

Bee Fest wrapped up with the unveiling of the city’s 12th bee sculpture “Fearless,” depicting a bee dressed in a firefighter’s uniform, in front of the new fire station on Main Street. Before the unveiling Fire Chief Robert Strahan announced that the department will begin moving into the station this week before a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 10.
Designer Rachael Katz, an artist and owner of The Greenfield Gallery, produced the original “Beatrice” bee sculpture prototype. Over the past three years, her first 11 bee sculptures have been installed along Main and Federal streets, at Court Square, and at the John W. Olver Transit Center. She said that while the other bee sculptures took identical forms with unique decorations, she and the sculpture’s painter Andrew Easton wanted to give the “fearless sculpture” a unique character and form.
“For most of the other bees, the form just served as a canvas, and the artists painted images upon it. And this one we really wanted to make a character in and of itself — it’s not decorated with pictures of fire engines, it’s an actual character [...] it’s our firefighters, they’re there for us. They’re heroes and they charge into danger and it just seemed right to honor them,” Katz said.
Easton, who said he spent roughly 160 hours painting the “fearless” sculpture, put significant work into not only painting the bee, but arranging various elements, such as the oxygen tank on its back and its “343” fire helmet, which he said was a tribute to the 343 New York firefighters who were killed during 9/11.
“This is a special honor for us. There is a personal story that goes along with this bee, and we are humbled to have it at our new headquarters,” Strahan said.
Mayor Virginia Desorgher, who joined Strahan and the artists as they removed the tarp from the Fearless sculpture, said she was pleased by how the annual festival has evolved and grown over the years.
“It gets better and better every year, there were more people from out of state this year than I’ve ever seen,” Desorgher said. “It’s very exciting.”

26f I’m struggling to lose weight after I randomly gained 30lbs in less than 2 weeks in March. My weight typically fluctuates 1-5lbs but after gaining the weight I’ve been staying at 160.00lbs. Never weighed this much before. I never even gained this much weight being pregnant.
Little back story- never had any health issues before this January my bp spiked to 190/135 so far none of my doctors and specialists are able to figure out the cause. Had to stop birth control and adderall and been getting weekly blood work and scans. During this my weight stayed the same up until March when I put on 10lbs within 5 days then another 20lbs the next 7 days. My eating habits never changed. After the first 5 days my doctor started running numerous amount of tests but no answers. One doctor said it must be from stopping adderall but I was off of it for almost 3 months at tht point and have been off of it for longer with no weight gain, she even switched my bp medicine just in case. I continued to gain weight for another week. Following week my doctor said it was safe to start taking bc and adderall in hopes that was it but it’s been a couple months now and I can’t seem to get my weight to budge. I’m active and watch what I eat. Looking for advice or ideas. Could something be blocking me from losing weight?

I am a 58-year-old male - culturally Greek, raised in Australia, migrated to the U.S. and have lived in NYC for over 20 years now. My parents raised my two older sisters – 9.5 years older with 3 children and 4 years older with two daughters, and myself, the only son and youngest of three, Down Under. I left my family in Australia upon moving to NYC in 2004 with my partner. It was tough leaving them behind because as dysfunctional as we were, we all loved each other.
Unfortunately, in the 8 year lead up to the pandemic – first, I lost my father to colon cancer; 2 years later my beautiful mother to vascular dementia; 2 years after that my 14 year marriage dissolved after my partner admitted he had been having an affair with a work colleague for several months; 1.5 years after that my middle sister and dear friend died from a brain aneurysm; followed by my eldest sister who died of lung cancer the following year.
I fell so ill from stress that I developed severe IBS and had to have emergency surgery. I thought I was going to die. If that wasn’t enough, I hadn’t even healed when I caught COVID; lost my job a few weeks later; and, then I managed to survived a home invasion during which I was assaulted and threatened with a knife but, somehow, I managed to get the two criminals out of my space in 7.5 minutes, without a single item stolen. I’ve been through a lot but I’ve always battled through.
My middle sister had two daughters, M1 aged 40, and M2 aged 38. Until my sister passed away in early 2018, I had a great relationship with M1. I was always there to support as she tended toward “unlucky in love” and was also diagnosed with lupus over a decade ago. Her mother and I were always solid support for her, and she would speak to me about any personal problem.
Her younger sister M2 is a very different character and was I was unable to build as strong a relationship – it was not purposeful nor deliberate. I made attempts and managed to get closer to her after she was married but she always tended to be more distant. As hard as I tried, M1 & I sensed that she somewhat resented my relationship with her older sister.
After my sister passed away suddenly aged only 56, we were all devastated. I flew in from NYC and was in Australia for 9 days for the funeral. I spent 7 of the 9 days with my brother-in-law (BIL) - a good man – and my two nieces M1 & M2. It was an emotionally draining stay, with a relentless stream of visitors to pay their respects.
I spent the other 2 days house-sitting for a dear friend which I gladly accepted to secure some peace and solitude. I slept at least 16-18 hours on each day. Upon returning to my BIL’s home for my final two days, M1 approached me and asked to speak to me outside in their back yard. She proceeded to tell me how very disappointed she was in me; that she felt I was an “absent mourner" and not supporting her in her grief in the way she expected; I was also not grieving "appropriately," and that her mother /my sister would be disappointed.
I had travelled 24 hours, in a blur, halfway across the globe to bury my sister and was now receiving bereavement advice from my niece. I told her to quit with the nonsense and that she should mourn her mother any way she likes, but she is not to tell me how I should conduct myself when I’m grieving.
Her voice quickly escalated, and she proceeded to then scream at the top of her voice about how disgusting I was that I wasn’t “there” to respect her mother; and be there for her. I reminded M1 that her mother, was also my sister and I knew her for a whole lot longer than she did. I also reminded her that staying for 7 of 9 days with her, does not constitute “being absent” in anybody’s language.
It was midnight, she continued to scream, yell, abuse me with neighbors being woken up on all sides. I stood up and decided to leave and not put up with her bullshit any longer. I walked inside and caught her sister, M2, ears to the door, listening to everything … and it made me realize they were bothin on this effort to publicly “dress me down”.
M2 proceeded to "stand with her sister" and yell at me, too. I was seriously flabbergasted by their accusations. My BIL certainly did not feel the same way and he told the girls to explain to him what their problem was!?! If there was a real problem – he should be the first to be complaining about me. Their anger and resentment was shocking, inexplicable and totally unfounded. I flew home to NYC two days later devastated not just at losing my beautiful sister - but at my nieces’ disgraceful performance.
In November 2020, I flew back to Australia to visit family for the holiday season as COVID enveloped the globe. I struggled to feel fully comfortable with my nieces, and one thing is for sure: they never apologized to me for their outburst at me less than two years prior. This time it was the festive season and I decided to stay some of the time at BIL's house. Upon arriving, I was shocked - the house was spotlessly clean, as my sister liked to keep it, and everything in the house was unchanged - everything was in the exact same spot, as the day my sister died. I was concerned, M1 was clearly struggling, not dealing with her mother’s death. Even her father, my BIL had started casually dating another woman, and I threw support behind him which he appreciated. M1, on the other hand, was vehemently against this, and refused to give her father’s new relationship her blessing.
Eventually, the inevitable happened – M1 starts to relay a story that I recognized as my own, and after a few erroneous details, I reminded her of the facts that she was actually deviating from. She literally exploded for not allowing her to relay my story… incorrectly.
Yet again, her screams and anger were so loud, that I actually saw neighbors peering over their fencing. She screamed at me to leave "her house" and that I was the devil. (I need to add here that both nieces became born again Evangelical Christians.) I reminded her that the house belonged to my sister & BIL, and she had no authority over whether I stay or not.
Her screams & verbal attack, (the second one now), was so loud, aggressive, and her enraged face so red, that she looked unhinged. I went to grab a mug to make a coffee and get as far away from her as I could. As my hand reached into the cupboard for a mug, she used the cupboard door to p.a. me I saw stars.I stared at her in shock and said: "You just p.a. your mother's brother," at which she just screamed even louder
My BIL arrived shortly after and I told him that I needed to leave. I gave him the facts and then told him: "She doesn't support your new relationship - not because its "too soon" - but because she's miserable and unhappy… and she begrudges anyone their happiness - it eats away at her." She screamed at him to throw me out until he yelled "Shut up!" at her. She then called us both devils and stormed into her room.
Now, a brief focus on M2. It was summer 2017, and M2 was due in November with her second child. Her husband is American and M2 moved here from Australia and were living in the Midwest. I attempted to build a closeness with her since she was living in the US. During a call to her in July 2017, she invited me for Thanksgiving that year to be with her family, as well as see her mothemy sister and BIL who were spending several weeks there to welcome their new grandchild.
I was so excited. I even told M2 that I would stay at a nearby hotel, so as not to burden them with a newborn at home. A few weeks prior to Thanksgiving, I called to confirm my dates, etc., and without missing a beat, she proceeds to tell me that it is now all too much for her and she retracted her invitation …I was dis-invited. I sat there in silence, in shock.
I had discretely asked my sister several weeks prior, whether she would consider visiting NYC with my BIL, even for a weekend, as they were going to be with M2 for over 6 weeks and were so close!
She said to me, "Do you think we haven't thought of that? We'd love to come to come to NYC and see you. But we'll never hear the end of it from ‘you-know-who’."
So, I spent Thanksgiving on my own, with no family in NYC, less than 1.5 hours flying time away from a warm, festive house that contained M2, her family, my BIL and my dear sister.
Less than 3 months later … my sister was dead. And I never got a chance to see her one last time.
That opportunity was taken from me without so much as an "I'm sorry that I did that to you." In fact, I never received an apology from either M1 nor M2 for all the things they did to me.
When I got back to NYC from the disastrous Aussie trip, M2 refused to communicate with me any further, so I knew M1 had been in her ear about our fallout and likely never even mentioned the p.a. I contacted her and mentioned that minimally, I expected her to at least hear me out.
Her response???
"In my experience, I would describe you the same way my sister would, so I tend to believe her, and my role now is to protect my family."
I replied, "What, so your family is in danger now? From me?!"
She curtly wrote: "I wish to focus on my family, my sister, and the Lord." ...or something to that effect.
I can genuinely, authentically state that I still have no idea why they turned so viciously nasty, so vindictive, and without sounding too dramatic – so evil towards me. I have my other nieces, family, friends to back me up wholeheartedly. It was ironic to me that the two evangelicals ended up being so mean-spirited, and emotionally abusive.
I knew I had to make a big decision, so I sought the counsel of some wonderful loved ones in my inner circle, and their guidance was unanimous: walk away from the toxicity. I knew I had no other choice. I have not spoken to my two nieces for four years now.
I posted this to see if others had similar experiences, and to gather feedback as to whether I *am* the a-hole for cutting my two nieces out of my life. AITA?

I started a new job this year, its the best job I've ever had and I'm very excited with this opportunity. I'm so excited that several days a week I come home from work and share with my partner how awesome the projects are etc. However, the work pace is really high and the workload is a lot. I medicate so I can tolerate the long working days and have quality focus. I feel I function well despite my adhd, they praise my work. I guess I spend most days in hyper focus, because during lunchtime I experience very little motivation to socialise with my team. Because all my focus is needed for work, I have a harder time masking in the team. I force myself to chitchat at the coffee machine, but I feel only weird stuff comes out of my mouth. Despite, I feel comfortable with my team and whenever we can we even have dinner or drinks together that are not related to our work. I also developed good relationships with my seniors and boss.
The other day we had a team bonding day guided by a coach. We were all sharing our experiences and point of improvements for management, and this time I was sharing too. I felt relaxed and secure. However, afterwards various colleagues, seniors and even boss approached me and shared that they're pleasantly surprised with hearing more of my ideas and that they consider me very mysterious and my boss even went as far as saying I'm an enigma. One senior said that they felt insecure whether I was happy with my work and they were afraid I was going to quit. I've confirmed with them that I am actually really excited with the job, position, team and projects and that I couldn't be more happy.
But now I'm stressing a bit and (over?) thinking it all. One of my colleagues has autism (not disclosed with management, they definitely don't know) and has heard their current contract is not going to be extended because of personal mismatch with the firm. I'm anxious that's my destiny because as romantic as an 'enigma' sounds I'm sure it's off putting in the long term. I've already started expressing my emotions more like sharing my positive opinion about the meetings we have and mentioning how excited I am about the subjects we handle. I also wonder whether this is what people mean with medication flattening your personality. I just can't imagine surviving a typical workday without medication.
I'm wondering if anyone has found hacks for this situation!
Ps. Work doesn't know my diagnosis and I have no plan to share either. I've heard rumours one of the seniors has autism, which was a relief to find out there is actually space for ND people like me here.

IATA ???? Claire and I have been best friends for almost 7 years. we met in college while both being premed. I was able to get into medical school on my first try while she tried over 3 times without success and works in insurance now. She got engaged to her boyfriend as she was trying to apply to medical school for a 4th time. By then I was ending my second year of medical school and about to start my third year of medical school. Unfortunately, also during this time my then serious live in boyfriend(who was also a medical student) of 2 years died unexpectedly in an accident. I was devastated.
Claire was very supportive at first, but very quickly started to pull away from me and only wanted to talk to me about her wedding. She was always busy when I tried to make plans and was away during my Birthday, and even told me she could not be around me while I was grieving because she needed to keep her life going and plan a wedding and I was making her too sad. She spent this entire year preparing her wedding, I was one of the bridesmaids, and she multiple times showed concern that I was not as involved in the wedding preparations or responding to emails as quickly as she would have liked. One time while drunk during her bachelorette she called me a bitch for not responding to emails quickly, later denying she had any recollection of calling me that. I didn’t mean to not respond quickly It was a combinations of multiple things. Her sister was made of honor and I had a pretty busy 80 hrs per week schedule and could not answer 20 emails per week about approving the menu for the bachelorette dinner or if I preferred shorts versus pants Pijamas, or to choose what colors I wanted to wear. Looking back at it now it would have taken only a few seconds to respond but at the time I was so overwhelmed with school, studying for boards and my own personal grieving that responding to an email about choosing between lilac and violet for the bridesmaids dresses felt like a huge task. I made this clear to her and told her look I can’t be as involved in the planning but I would be happy to go along with anything you want or your sister chooses. Despite all of this I helped her picked her dress and went to multiple appointments with her and also Attended and paid my way to Her bachelorette. Even though I was a broke medical student. All the bridesmaids had a plus one for the wedding. I was planning on bringing my sister but she had a last minute work commitment she couldn’t get out off. Claire told me she preferred if I didn’t bring anyone she knew but didn’t invite to her wedding, but I explained to her that I was actually scared of going to her wedding alone, and at this point we had a lot of mutual friends so my options were limited. And she mostly invited other couples so most of our single friends/acquaintances were off limits. I was still grieving and I was afraid I would burst into tears. I made it clear that I was happy for her wedding but it was also very triggering since we both had started dating our respective partners at the same time and moved in together at the same etc, and while she was getting engaged I had to grieve the death of mine. She accused me of being jealous of her. I tried to explain to her it wasn’t jealousy but grief because attending a wedding was very triggering for me. She gave me the option of not attending her wedding if it was that hard. I told her that I felt I could attend if I could bring a plus one for support. Since she did not want me to bring someone she knew but didn’t invited to the wedding, I brought a very old childhood friend of mine that I had become closer with during the last year. He had reached out when he heard the news of my boyfriend passing away and for the last year had been checking on me regularly. We had always been good friends and he had gotten divorce during the same time so we started to talk often and support each other. He offered to fly in and be my plus one if I didn’t have anyone to come with (he lived across the country at that time) Claire made it clear that she was also not not happy with me having a plus one that she didn’t know and told me that I could bring him as long as I should be aware that I could not cater to my date since I had bridesmaid responsibilities that day. I assure her it would not be a problem.
I missed the rehearsal dinner the prior night because I had a medical school test that afternoon and then had to drive 5 hours to the wedding site I told her about this in advance. Didn’t make it until midnight. I woke up bright and early and went to the bridal suite. Had breakfast and hung out with the other bridesmaids for a bit. I then went back to my room to get ready and shower and this took maybe a couple of hours. When I arrive to the bridal suite she was getting her make up done and was clearly upset, she spent the entire rest of the evening upset and giving me the cold shoulder. I thought it was just nerves. The wedding ended and I headed back home and I texted her to thank her for everything etc. And also to apologize for not being as involved with the planning as I would have liked. She responded by accusing me of being jealous of her for getting married and purposely trying to sabotage her wedding. She accused me of making up a fake medical school exam and arriving to her wedding early but refusing to attend the rehearsal dinner, she also accused me of taking too long to get ready purposefully to avoid her and hanging out with my date way too much instead of the bridal party. She then Told me I used her wedding as an excuse to have a fling instead of focusing on her. And she then told me I had a lot of personal work to do and I have fucked up priorities in life.I tried to explain to her than none of those things happened and I have no idea where is getting all those conclusions , to no avail. She is no longer talking to me and blocked me from all social media. Worth to notice I have tried to reach out and nothing. And I heard from a mutual friend she did not get into medical school again and her now husband prohibit her from trying a fifth time since it was a huge financial strain and he wants to focus on having a family. AITA for not being a more involved bridesmaid and bringing a plus one or is she being unreasonable? I had never had this happened before with a friend. One of my other really close medical school friends is getting married next month and I am also a bridesmaid and I have had none of these issues with her.

I'm sorry but this is by far my least favourite episode. The story seemed too focused on just throwing random spooky stuff at the reader. First of all I have no idea what the main character is like physically or personality wise. He arrives at the house..... what does the house look like? Is it big? Is it small?. He goes into the house with no receptionist and reads a note....okay? Isn't he weirded out? Doesn't he question his surroundings?. What does the first room actually look like? Yes Halloween decorations but that's just as vague as saying "house" for the exterior. He isn't scared the first 2 rooms but immediately is like "this is the scariest thing I've ever done" trying to open the 3rd door???!!

Hi all
My son (nearly 5w) has begun getting grumpy in the evenings - we’re on day 3 starting at around 7-8 PM. We do burp him and he farts…quite a bit, is this likely to be colic related?
We’ve started going on drives to soothe him in the evening and sometimes a bath can help. Anything else? I just want my calm happy baby back and hope this won’t be for good :(
Any ideas on why he could be crying and fussy? We make sure he’s fed/changed/comfort him

It is evident we are in a bit of a dry season awaiting any sort of news/announcements from Ye. I figured we need something for the goons to look forward to discussing each day in the challenging times of this rollout. This led me to the idea of GAS as a community creating the best album we can that is applicable to a cohesive and distinct story of Ye’s career, while being limited to only one song per album.
While being limited to only one song per album doesn’t seem ideal, it makes it more challenging and fun in my opinion having to debate and decide between one song to represent its respective album. It is also key to remember that the chosen songs aren’t necessarily supposed to be the best from it’s respective album, but the song from that album that best represents a certain key point in Kanye’s story.
The story that the album will follow should be a 13 part narrative, each part representing one song, that conveys the development, challenges, heights, lows, and changes Kanye has experienced through his career. I have an idea of what the key parts of the story will be and even had half of it written before it was unfortunately deleted, so we will need to discuss and come to a consensus on what these story points will be in the comments.
Once we have a proper story outline for the album, I will make a new post everyday for each key point of the story, in which we will discuss and decide in the comments which song will represent that key point of the story. Once that song is chosen, the album and the rest of its songs will be ruled out and disregarded in the discussion for the rest of the story points.
We will also only be able to choose songs from Ye’s released discography, as many great unreleased gems he has I would like to keep the formation of the album consistent by only allowing released songs to be chosen. While it is likely to happen, we are not required to follow any specific order for the songs chosen, so the album doesn’t have to go in order from College Dropout-LR-Grad and so on.
In the end we should have a 13 track album that encapsulates the story of Kanye and his career with one song being chosen from each of his albums. Please feel free to give me any recommendations for the direction the story should follow, and any other modifications and ideas for this concept in general.

I think its common knowledge in these circles that the first draft of TPM from 1994 (originally called The Beginning) is much better. Still very flawed, but a good baseline for a better movie.
For some reason, Lucas added many things in the final draft that made the movie a lot worse. It's fascinated me for a while now about how things could have been if the original script was built upon.
I have been watching videos summing up the original draft for a while now and I discovered something. Apparently Lucas gave his final TPM draft to Lawrence Kasdan a week before shooting started and asked for him to take a look at it. However, Kasdan refused because he though he wouldn't have enough time to make revisions.
I want to imagine how TPM would look if Kasdan or some other hypothetical collaborator got to see the first draft in 1994 and fixed it up. This isn't my preferred PT rewrite. This is just what I would have done if Lucas had dropped his first draft in my lap and told me to revise it.
Here are the videos I got the information from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPHUWM3QNk0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqsD8s2W9Ho
The movie starts with an opening crawl talking about how it is a time of weakness in the Republic. The Outer Rim controlled by megacorporation's has seceded backed by droid armies. War has not broken out yet, but the galaxy is on the brink. They are now blockading the peaceful planet of Utapau to gain its rich plasma mines as well as its newly discovered Cloning formula. The Supreme Chancellor Valorum has dispatched two Jedi to investigate and/or negotiate if they can.
We then cut to a republic starship coming to land just like in the finished film. Only the Jedi are wearing samurai esqe uniforms (like the concept art), one black and one white. The black uniformed Jedi is Obi Wan Kenobi who is about 30, trained by Yoda and is already a full Jedi Knight. Very strict and by the book. The white uniformed Jedi is his brother Ben Kenobi who just became a full jedi. This is Ben's first mission without his master Oui Gon.
Ben Kenobi is very reckless and wonders why the Republic doesn't just declare war on the Confederacy already. Obi Wan argues with him while they wait in the conference room. Meanwhile Nute Gunray and the rest of the Nemoidians look more like how they do in early concept art. Much less humanoid and they speak in an alien language with subtitles.
They call Palpatine on the hologram and he is enraged that they let the Jedi land. He chokes Nute Gunray through the hologram, cowing him. They agree to kill the Jedi and things go similarly as in the finished movie. The ship is blown up, and poison gas is pumped into the conference room. Ben and Obi Wan cut their way through the battle droids and get to the hanger. They decide to stow away on the landing craft.
On the surface of Utapau they run into Jar Jar. In this version though, Jar Jar while emotional and still comic relief speaks in a normal voice and is a bit more mature. He's more of the everyman character. Ben persuades Jar Jar to take them to the Gungan city with a mind trick, this is something Obi Wan disapproves of. Ben is more unorthodox.
They get there and are captured just like the real film. The only difference is that all the Gungans have regular voices. They are taken to Governor Nass and we learn that Jar Jar was banished because he was a trouble maker who argued for more cooperation between the Gungans and Humans. As he rants, fish continuously fall through the bubble and a young gungan gathers them up and puts them outside again.
The two Jedi still convince him to call the humans and the whole bubble is engulfed in static. It is clear that communications have been cut off. The two Jedi are then given a submarine and told to try to navigate the planet core. Nobody has been able to do it in generations and it is clear Nass thinks its a suicide mission, a convenient way to get rid of three nuisances. They then travel through the planet core being attacked by various creatures while Jar Jar is kept calm through mind tricks.
We then cut to the city of Oxon (what later became Theed) where Queen Amidala who is 40 and her daughter Princess Padme around 14 are being briefed by captain Panaka and Sio Bibble. The Queen is complacent while Padme thinks they should take the fight to the Confederacy. Suddenly the droid army attacks the city and we see building being blown up and city guards killed.
The Queen, Padme, Panaka and all the other dignitaries are captured. Nute and the rest of the Nemodians show up as well to gloat like in the final movie and give some more exposition about how they want Utapaus cloning formula. We then see the Gungan submarine surfacing and the Jedi and Jar Jar sneak into the city.
They find the prisoners being walked down an alley and save them like in the real movie. Ben uses some flashy moves to finish the droids off and is almost killed by another droid while his back is turned. Obi Wan cuts the droid down and admonishes Ben for his recklessness. The Queen and co are pleased to see two Jedi knights but they are very hostile towards Jar Jar. Which the Jedi are displeased over.
They run to the hanger like the finished film and free the Pilots, however a stray blaster shot kills the Queen with Padme screaming in horror as they board the ship. The humans also try to prevent Jar Jar getting on board but the two Jedi insist upon it.
The ship gets attacked by the blockade and Naboo guards man gun positions while astromech droids finish the repair. After they get into hyperspace there is only one droid left. R2D2 who is thanked by a still in grieving Padme. She goes off down into the droid bay to be alone and runs into Jar Jar who consoles her. This starts Padmes turn towards liking the Gungans instead of being bigoted towards them.
Meanwhile Ben and Obi Wan look through the planets accessible through their damaged hyperdrive and only find one inhabited world. Tatooine, which most of the royal guards/pilots are horrified about. Still they have no choice so they land. Padme goes with the Jedi despite protests. She wants to see another planet and get some fresh air after what just happened. Panaka lets her go reluctantly because she has two Jedi to guard her. Jar Jar also goes with them because the Utapau humans say he's "stinking the ship up".
We then cut to Utapau again where Nute Gunray and the Nemoidians are talking to captured scientists about their cloning program. They look at something in a cloning tank and look impressed. Then a hologram droid walks in projecting Darth Sidious. He castigates them for their failure in letting the princess get away and they grovel before him again. Darth Sidious says its no matter, as he will send his apprentice, Darth Maul. The Sith warrior himself looks even scarier than in the film we got with him looking like the concept art, he also has blood red robes.
We cut to a balcony on Coruscant where master and apprentice talk. Maul speaks more than in TPM and says how eager he is to get revenge on the jedi, they are no match for me yada yada.
Back on Tatooine in Mos Espa we see our heroes trying to get the part they need. It is a rowdy place and a leering slimy alien (Sebulba but we don't know that yet) tries to touch Padme arm but she elbows him and after that the crowd gives them a wide berth. Obi Wan and Ben sense something, an overpowering aura of the force. They follow it and find themselves in front of Wattos junk shop.
They meet Anakin who is 14 the same age as Padme. He is mature for his age and has a bit of a chip on his shoulder from being a slave. We also meet Watto but he resists the mind tricks because of his strong will, not because of his species. Things go similarly, though the dialogue would be much better, no "are you an angel" in this version. Jar Jar still clumsily breaks a few things but it is more toned down. Watto also hits Anakin and tells him to get back to work. Ben grabs Wattos arms as he is about to hit him again while Obi Wan helps him to his feet.
The heroes get nowhere with Watto especially after stopping Wattos abuse and a sandstorm starts to blow in so Anakin offers to take them to his place. We meet Anakin's adopted mother Shmi Lars and her son Owen Lars who is older (19) and very protective of his little brother. At the dinner scene we learn about Anakin's Podracing (how he's nicknamed Skywalker) and how many people gamble on it for huge sums of money. Ben gets an Idea while we also see just how rare Jedi actually are in most of the galaxy with Owen calling them wizards.
We then see Anakin working on his Pod while talking to Padme. They both share their own struggle going up. Padme says she's never met anyone like Anakin while Anakin says he's never met anyone like her either. He then kisses her on the cheek while Jar Jar (who was watching out of boredom) jumps in surprise. Meanwhile we see the Jedi helping Shmi and Owen with the dishes.
The topic of Anakin's father comes up. We learn that Shmi's sister left Tatooine when she was young in search of adventure. Years later she came back and gave Shmi baby Anakin begging her to take care of him before leaving. She had a lightsaber on her belt same as the two Jedi now. She also tell them how Anakin is special and can see things before they happen, just like her sister.
Ben says Anakin needs to be trained as a Jedi while Obi Wan resists the idea saying he's too old. He's all about giving the family their freedom but not taking along Anakin. Owen is Obi Wans side, saying Anakin's head is already off in the clouds as it is. Being a Jedi won't help him, he needs to be grounded and down to earth. His idealism is going to get him killed. Shmi isn't sure which side to take in the argument and defers judgement until after Anakin hopefully wins the podrace tomorrow.
Ben goes out and talks to Anakin and tells him about the Jedi and the Sith. We get a whole spiel about how strong Anakin is and how he would be a great asset to the order. Meanwhile, Darth Mauls ship lands on Tatooine at dusk and he sets out different probes to find the Jedi and the Princess. He smiles evilly to himself, showing rotting teeth.
The pod racing stuff is basically the same, only Padme is outraged when Sebulba threatens Anakin and Ben/Obi Wan manage to get the freedom of Owen and Shmi as well by trickery (not sure how). There is no two headed announcer and no Jabba cameo either. At the end, in desperation, Anakin uses his force powers to crash Sebulbas pod killing him. Nobody notices that Anakin used the force except the two jedi who look on in concern
While everyone else gathers around Anakin's pod to celebrate Ben and Obi Wan have a heated argument in the shadows of the bleachers. Obi Wan takes this as a reason why Anakin shouldn't be trained while Ben thinks that it would be better to teach Anakin before he falls down the path of evil. Eventually they agree to let Anakin decide, Obi Wan saying he'll probably want to stay with his family.
However Anakin decides to go. His mother respects his decision and is proud of him while Owen is furious, but accepts the decision as well but telling Anakin that one day he'll regret his choice and when he does he's always welcome to come live with them again. The family hugs while everyone else just kind stands around.
They walk back through the desert when they encounter a probe droid. Obi Wan slashes it with his lightsaber and tells everyone to run. Everyone runs inside while Maul approaches in his speeder bike. The fight goes differently as it is a two one one fight. They all exhibit powers never seen in the original trilogy like levitating objects swirling around them, going super fact, and slow motion. Basically a Matrix fight with lightsabers before they both jump onto the ship.
The scenes as they travel to Coruscant are similar. Anakin and Padme miss their parents etc. They then arrive at Coruscant and it is basically like the finished movie in design. They land and meet Chancellor Valorem, Senator Palpatine, and Qui Gon Jinn. Qui Gon hugs Ben like a son while Palpatine talks to Padme. Padme then talks to Jar Jar about how she doesn't understand the rift between the Gungans and the Humans. We then learn that the Gungans have a large army. Padme has an idea and decides to go back to Utapau.
The senate scenes are cut down dramatically. Its more of a montage showing Padme's increasing frustration before she finally calls for a vote of no confidence while Palpatine smiles sinisterly. The Jedi Council meanwhile consists of three members. Qui Gon who is a very unorthodox Jedi mindful of the living force (wanting the jedi to go and help the common people more), Mace Windu a bastion of militaristic conservatism (wanting the Jedi to take their rightful place as generals/leaders, and Yoda who wants to stay the course on isolationism and study of the force.
We don't see the Jedi trials, Anakin just talks about them to Ben, Obi Wan and Qui Gon. He says he didn't understand them, and Qui Gon who has taken a liking to this upstart kid says he wasn't supposed to. They are all called in and Mace says Anakin shall not be trained. He is too old and there is much anger in him. Anakin is heartbroken while Obi Wan nods grimly in acceptance. Ben Kenobi however is not having it. He says he shall train Anakin with or without the councils permission. Mace denounces this as Heresy while Qui Gon smiles. Yoda sighs and says the matter will be decided after this current crisis has ended.
Ben, Obi Wan, and Qui Gon all decide to go with Padme, but Anakin is told to stay behind. There is also the discussion about how Anakin is dangerous which Anakin overhears. Being told by Ben and Qui Gon that he's not a problem and how he will be a Jedi. Anakin gets an idea and sneaks aboard the ship with the help of R2. He is quickly discovered to Obi Wans rage and Bens laughter.
They get back to Utapau and have to go through the blockade. Anakin is able to hyperspace jump between the ships and the planet with motivation from Ben. Our heroes then try to find the Gungans at their city but it has been completely blown up. We actually see this though, as well as Jar Jars sorrow before he remembers the Gungans sacred place.
They go there and like the movie Padme makes a big speech about overcoming difference, with Jar Jar intelligently backing her up. We then get ready for the battle. Anakin tinkers with a disabled battle droid and finds out there is a second droid control hidden somewhere in the palace. So the plan is set. The Gungans will distract the droids, while the humans will infiltrate the palace, one team disabling the backup control systems and the others capturing Nute or stealing starfighters that will be used to take out the droid control ship.
The plan goes into action and things are kind of similar to the finished film, though Jar Jar shows intentional heroism instead of the goofy antics in TPM. When the starfighters are launched though, Padme goes into the fighter with Anakin. Him being the pilot and Padme being the gunner. The rest of the human teams make short work of the battle droids. However when they reach Nute a surprise is awaiting them, clones.
These clones look kind of like Dark Troopers and a Super Battle droid had a kid. They decimate the Utapau soldiers while Nute flees. Meanwhile with the Jedis they disable the secondary control system but are then met with Darth Maul. It is a brutal and awe inspiring fight. 3v1 and yet Maul still comes out on top. He knocks out Qui Gon who falls of the bridge (the duel setting is the same) while taunting the other two. "This is the end of the jedi" you get the drill.
The remaining soldiers manage to kill the clones but there are not enough left to fend of the droids. They are captured same as the Gungans. Ben gets riled up, makes a mistake and is killed. Obi Wan screams and charges getting knocked into the pit, hanging on by a thread. Meanwhile Anakin and Padme manage to destroy the flagship at the same time that Obi Wan takes Ben's lightsaber and cuts Maul in half. He then says "learn not live not as my master says" and then rushes to Bens side.
Ben begs him to train Anakin and he agrees. Meanwhile the humans and Gungans are celebrating. We cut to Qui Gon and Queen Amidala's funeral. Qui Gon throws away his lightsaber and walks off. He is done with the jedi after the death of what was effectively his son. Palpatine looks at him go intrigued. Meanwhile Yoda and Obi Wan argue over Anakin's training. Obi Wan says he will train him even without the will of the council like Ben said. Yoda gives in but warns Obi Wan of his arrogance.
We then get the celebration the end.

Just started playing the other day, and Shift+Right click doesn't so anything on the ingredient pouch. Playing with friends who don't have this issue, and Shift+Right click as a whole seems to work fine for other interactions. Any ideas?

Author's Note: Welp, I'm back. I'm going to be doing these super-short stories from now on instead of the multi-paged short stories that took several days to write. I tend to lose motivation in writing when I have long, drawn out stories. I just want to write these stories about my characters and focus on their character beats and emotions, rather than one long drawn out plot. I do intend on making an overarcing plot with these stories, but told over many, smaller instances.
This story introduces a new character that will not be recieving a character concept page. The reason why is because I simply am not interested in making game concepts and I'm not interested in Overwatch (The Game) anymore. I just want to focus on the stories of my characters.
Harvey King, the handsome, smooth-talking, knuckle-bruiser of Overwatch, now reduced to another ruffian locked behind steel bars. The once highly-esteemed son of New York Cities biggest tech conglomerate entrepenuer, Leonhard King, now another criminal locked away for life for the high crime of terrorism. Not only that, but he was thrown under the bus, used as a scapegoat to get pressure off of King Enterprises, the company that dad always loved more than his own son. His own son, dammit!
"I'm tellin you Harv," Sean muttered on from the top bunk. "you've gotta cool off or you'll get yourself killed!"
"Shut up!" Kingbursted out at his insolent cell mate. The New Worker was a fairly handsome man with a sharp jawline and beautiful nose, but his charcoal black hair had become ragged due to a profound lack of hair gel in prison. Harvey was looking into a glass shiv that he had stolen from the one-eyed punk down the isle, desperately trying to get the angle just right so that he could see his reflection in it. He ran is his fingers down his jaw line, feeling the creases and folds that had been left by Winston's Tesla Cannon. His perfect face, the face who's nose had never once been broken in all of Harvey's days of brawling, was now left with an electrical scar that he would have to live with for the foreseeable future, at least until he can break out of this hole and get it fixed with a healthy dosage of surgury. "That damn monkey, he ruined my face!" He turned to Sean. "Look at this, he ruined my face!"
"Yeah, I've been looking at it for the past month or so." Sean snickered.
"You realize I already have a life sentence?" King snarled, his tone had grew contempted.
"Yeah, so? Most people here d-"
"'That means it won't matter if I use your teeth for golf balls!"
"Oh please kid, you ain't the first young punk to threaten me li-"
"I'll be the first one to go through with it," King yelled at Sean. grabbing him by the collar and dragging him down from the top bunk. "If you don't shut your fu-"
"Shut up in there!" A guard banged his baton against the bars, interrupting King. "And get your hands off your cellmate!"
"Sorry officer," King put on a happy, personable tone of voice for the gaurd. He obediently dropped Sean. "Won't happen again, I promise."
"Yeah, yeah." The guard walked off, uninterested in King's crocodile smile.
The moment the guard turned his back, King's face switched like a lightbulb, going from bright and charismatic to dark and irritated in a mere moment. He turned back to his stupid cellmate and lashed out at him, grabbing his collar and pulling him in close. "I think we need to come to an understanding, you and I," Harvey spoke menacingly. "Look pal, I've already had to put up with a lotta bull lately. I do not need a dishevelled, ugly piece of crap, such as you, giving me more bull. So if you continue to irritate me, I'm gonna make you choke on your teeth. You get me?"
Sean, at a lost for words, simply nodded out of fear. Sean was ugly and dishevelled, Harvey was truthful when he said that, but he was also much smaller than Harvey and wouldn't be able to defend himself.
"Good." Harvey gave Sean a toothy grin. Even in the dimly lit, murkey prison cell, Harvey's teeth still glistened. He dropped Sean, who immediately crawled back onto the top bunk, hugging the wall this time as to avoid being pulled down again, and sat down on his cold, hard matress. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to think of how to get out of this situation. Only he couldn't think of an escape plan, he had too much on his mind. He was trying to make sense of everything that's happened, the mistakes he made that lead to this point. He had everyone at Overwatch wrapped around his fingers like marionettes, his facade was perfectly crafted. He couldn't help but reminisce about when he first started, the conversation he had with his father to get the whole thing set up, the developing of squeaky-clean persona that would be irresistable to Winston and Sojourn, the persona that landed him a spot on Overwatch's small roster of agents and made everyone fall in love with him. Well, not literally fall in love with him, but he was a natural smooth talker and very easy to like upon first meeting.
He remembered the conversation with his father that got him introduced to the likes of Winston in the first place, the conversation between his father and the leaders of Overwatch. King Enterprises had promised to provide Overwatch with funding, but only so Harvey could get a chance within their ranks. Leonhard King, father of Harvey King, was the CEO of King Enterprises. The old man was an idealist, and so was his only son. They wanted to leave a good impact on the world, with King Enterprises having been nicknamed "The Company of the People"; at least, that's what the public saw. No, the real Leonhard King was a tyranical capitalist who valued money over human rights, a greedy old man who was born into a mafia family, but being the the second-born meant he never got a chance to take over the family when his father died. Instead, it was his elder brother, Everett King II, named after his and Leonhard's father, who got to take over the family. Unsatisfied with being second fiddle, Leonhard left the family completely to become an entrepanuer, and now, 50 years later, he was on top of New York's social hierarchy with the biggest tech conglomerate in New England. King Enterprises was built into many facets of life in America, they built all sorts of cars, home appliances, home security systems, but that's only what the media saw.
Of course, Leonhard never shook off his knack for crime. He was a King, and criminality flowed through the King Bloodline; taking money out of decent folks pockets was in their blood. The horrible truth of the matter was that King Enterprises, "The Company of the People", got into all sorts of shady business, such as illegally shipping arms overseas, racketeering, maintaining ties in the black market, and lobbying shady politicians. On top of that, King Enterprises was a major player in the Military Industrial Complex, producing all sorts of weapons for the government, and shipping all the surplus over seas to other countries; a good chunk of all equipment used by the U.S. military was manufactored by King Enterprises. And it is because of this influence on the Military Industrial Complex that Leonhard King also provides funding to terrorist organizations such as Talon, organizations who are keen on creating conflict and pushing the world to the edge of war. Corporate corruption ran through every level of King Enterprises, and everyone outside of the corporation was none the wiser.
It was yard time, and King was hanging out alone. He hadn't made any attempts to socialize with any of the other ruffians the populate the prison, for he isn't planning on staying very long, but he did intend on working out as much as he could while he was there. A long time ago, when King was a kid hanging out in the slums of New York, he had a buddy called Twig. He was called Twig because he was very skinny, but mostly because King wasn't a very imaginitive nicknamer. He got sent to prison at the age of 16 for accidentally killing a guy while trying to jack his car, and came out a few years later completely jacked. King ended up shooting and killing him a while after he got outta prison, mostly because Twig blamed King for getting locked up and wanted revenge, but King still remembered in high regards.
King was readying himself for the bench press, stretching and giving himself a mental preptalk, thinking along the lines of "just cuz you're in prison doesn't mean ain't King no more," and the like. While he was getting ready, a loud, gruff voice cut off his train of thought. "Hey, punk!" King swung his head around to see who was yelling at him, and beheld a man who was around his same height, but very, very prison-jacked. Not as prison-jacked as Twig was, but still very prison-jacked. "Your daddy wanted to give you a message." This man didn't seem particularly friendly.
"My daddy?" King was not happy about this. A message from his father? Really? That old bastard wanted nothing to do with his son, and if he wanted to send him a message, he could visit him on every other thursday! "The hell's the meaning of this?"
"He said you couldn't be naming any name, kid. Said you'd understand." The big man pulled out a shiv, swinging his arm forward while rushing at King.
"The hell!?" King exclaimed, caught off guard by the sudden attack. He managed to catch the man's wrist, stopping the shiv from plunging right into his guts. He had to act quickly, he wouldn't be able to hold this man's arm for very long before he got overpowered, so he had to resort to some dirty tactics. Spitting in the man's eyes then kicking him in the shin did the trick, causing the jacked man to faulter and drop his shiv. Harvey had been in many a street fight during his life, and with the shiv out of the equation he would be also to out-box this man. King was an experienced brawler, he learned how to tussle on the streets of New York City, and was once mentored by a prize-fighter how to box. If not for his father's interference, King would've spent his entire life living in slums, hanging around his Uncle's turf, instead of in the King's Estate with his father.
With his attacker instinctually wiping spit out from his eyes, King had the perfect opportunity to land his signature KO'ing right hook right into the man's dome. King wasn't the biggest, most intimidating fella on the block, but he knew how to throw a punch with a surprising amount of power. King threw several more punches, beating the man senseless with merciless intensity, just to let off some steam that he's been holding in since his incarceration. He would've beaten that man to death if he hadn't been hit in the shoulder by a gaurd's heavy baton from behind. King fell down and got tackled by a gaurd, ending the fight.
Thursday rolled around, and it was the other thursday. King, of course, didn't have any visitors, but he did have a phone call. King impatiently tapped on the tabletop, eagerly waiting for someone to pick up the phone. A wide, sparkling smile stretched across his face as the wheezy voice of an elderly smoker come out the phone. "Who is this?" The voice calmly asked.
"Hey, Uncle."

Background

My last of four contests in a 6 week span. This was also the first drug tested qualification for the world championships in the US. I want to support this type of competition, which is why I signed up months ago when it came up. Funnily enough, I was technically a heavyweight for this as that's what the 231lbs weight class is called in this federation.

Training

Training for this was basically just depending on carryover from the previous training. I did very little in the two week intermission because I was mentally and physically exhausted. I literally did arm-over-arm training once and that was because I joined my wife when she was training it. I did do some deadlifts, 505lbs for 3 reps, and that was the heaviest weight I touched. I tried stones once, but I had issues with tacky and grip, causing me to just give up. At this point, I was just surviving until the contest.

Contest

There were about 50 people signed up although a few didn't show up. Either way, there were a decent amount of people, especially in the super heavyweight class. There were only 4 of us in "heavyweight" (I still can't get used to calling 231s heavyweights, so I'm just going to stick with using the numbers). I did look up two of them on Instagram, and I knew they were going to be quite strong. A 198lb competitor moved up to 231s and someone dropped out, so we did not have a net loss in my weight class. It was a one day contest (that ended up being super long), and it basically rained off and on all day.
Max Log Clean and Press
This was a last-man standing style event with no limits on how many jumps you could take. There were two more events like this during the day, which is why the contest took so long. The mats were a fairly wet and slippery initially, so I took some really early jumps. Plus, I used those as warm-ups. I started push pressing to make sure I didn't zero. However, because there were so many people taking the weights and because the rain stopped, the mats started drying off fairly quickly, which meant I could split jerk again. I ended up at 250lbs, tried 270lbs but didn't get it. Just a bit too heavy, and I didn't want to push it to risk anything. Three of us ended up tying at 250 because one competitor skipped 270 and barely missed 290. The competitor who ended up winning was not affected by this mistake in this event.
Sandbag, Keg, Sled Medley
This was a unique event. First, carry and load a 200lb sandbag onto a sled, run back, and arm-over-arm pull the sled about 10 feet. Then, carry and load a 250lb keg onto the sled, run back, and arm-over-arm pull the sled about 15 or 20 feet. Finally, carry and load a 300lb sandbag onto the sled, run back, and arm-over-arm pull the sled the rest of the way, about 15 or 20 more feet (I don't remember the distances perfectly honestly). During warm-ups and testing for this, I realized that it would be very useful to take a few seconds and make sure the sandbag and keg are situated well to load the last sandbag on the front easily. The first sandbag was fairly easy, the keg wasn't too bad (I didn't carry it high to save my legs), but the second sled-pull was starting to get fairly heavy. The last sandbag wasn't terrible, but it definitely was heavy enough to slow me down and tire me out. It was also heavy enough to really make the sled difficult. Because of the log ties, I was going in the first heat, so I had to give it all I had to get a few pulls in. I think I pulled it like 5 or 6 feet. However, it was enough to win because no one else was even able to load the third sandbag. It was very fortunate for all of us that it was still not raining for this event.
Max Deadlift
Same thing as log, it was a last man standing and you can take as many jumps as you want. I did a little bit of warm-ups, but as soon as the event started, it started raining pretty decently. I wanted to stay dry as my main priority, so I stayed out of the way until around 430lbs as my first official lift. Then, with the 20kg jumps, I did 474lbs, 518lbs, and I finished at 562lbs. This was good enough for third out of four. Second place did 606lbs, and first got 650lbs. Some really good deadlifters here, and this was a competition PR for me and my second heaviest deadlift ever. I was pretty happy, especially in the rain and because it was on an incline facing down, making the deadlift harder for everyone.
Max Distance Yoke
This even is fairly simple. Ninety seconds, 635lbs, 50 foot each way, and carry the yoke as far as you can. Again, because I was going in the first heat, I could not pace myself. Again, the rain was coming down but slowed down a little at least for us 231s. I finished 200 feet right around 60 seconds, took a breath, and carried the yoke for another 50 feet. I didn't have much time left, so I went as far as I could. However, my legs were essentially jelly. I finished at 261 ft, but first place got 277 ft in the second heat. Finishing second here all but guaranteed my second place overall.
Max Atlas Stone
At this point, it was after 4pm, and we were just starting last event. I barely have trained stones the past year, so I had no expectations besides not zeroing. Luckily, the rain stopped, the mats dried out, and the stones were nice and dry under a tent all day. It was fairly cool, so I decided to use my grade 2 tacky from Cerberus, which was a good idea. One competitor decided to call it a day (he was in last and his family was exhausted). I knew the two remaining ones were better than me at stones, so I wanted to just get some good lifts in for myself. Once we got to 300lbs, it felt way better than I expected. I was excited to try 330lbs, but I barely missed the load over the bar. A bit of a technique issue, unsurprisingly, but the strength was there. I was about to try once more, but I only had 10 seconds. I finished third there (i.e., last of remaining people), and the other two tied at 360lbs, barely missing 400lbs each.

Overall

I finished in second place. First place was just much stronger overall, and he definitely deserved the win. Nothing to do my end except get stronger. It was a super long day (I was at the competition area for 12 hours), the weather was difficult to deal with, and it was a heavy show with three maxes. I had fun, and I hope they keep holding these types of events.

What's Next

It's finally time for an off-season. I'm going to take about the next 6 months and work on (in order of priority) on my log, deadlift, and stones. Those are really my biggest weaknesses, so I'm finally ready to get stronger and better instead of just maintaining between contests. Plus, I think I'll write-up some lessons learned for competing so much in a short amount of time.

Rod of Restoration
While holding this rod you gain a +1 bonus to spell attack rolls and to the saving throw DCs of your spells.
This rod has 5 charges and regains 1d4+1 each day at dawn.
As an action you may expend 1 charge to regain a 1st level spell slot or cast Lesser Restoration.
As an action you may expend 2 charges to regain a 2nd level spell slot.
You may expend all remaining charges to cast Greater Restoration. When you do roll a d20, on a result of 1 the rod crumbles to dust and is destroyed.
Notes:
So it would be simple to have Greater Restoration cost more charges but I'm worried my players will sit on it and "save it for when they really need it." This way they can actually use the thing and then hang onto the last charge in case they want to risk it.
Mostly this is supposed to act as a buffer so the players can feel ok using low level utility spells without worrying about long resting after they do anything. They can use & replenish low level slots while saving higher slots for intensive combat. Also now I have the buffer to use creatures that can petrify with worrying about insta killing someone's character.

Nuxia is a problematic character, she can feel extremely unfair to fight and is overall a good duellist, but her 4vs4 abilities are some of the worse in the game. She is also a very unique character, she has barely been touched by Ubisoft since her release, and also has a truely one of a kind mechanic in her traps. As such, a rework of Nuxia is a tall order, it must manage to buff her in 4s without making her broken in duels and while keeping the character unique. Here is how I propose we go about it.

~I-Nuxia’s damage~
If there is one thing that is said to be strong about Nuxia it’s her damage, she can absolutely delete someone if she gets an opening. As such, before we buff her in other ways, we must adress her damage. Her dps is high because of two things : her base damage, and her two damage feats.
Regarding her base damage it’s actually not that high, her lights deal 9-12 damage and her heavies 24-30. This is on par with a lot of assassins, with Orochi being 10-13 on his lights and 22-32 on his heavies. Berserker is also 9-12 on his lights and 24-32 on his heavies. Her damage overall is a bit lower but more consistent, with less of a gap based on the direction of her heavies and their place in the chain.
Her damage is boosted by her two feats, Deadly Duet gives her a passive 20% damage increase when close to a lone ennemy, and Slip Through gives her a 30% damage boost to her next attack after a dodge. Are those feat too strong ? Not really in my opinion, Deadly Duet isn’t active a lot of the time in 4s as people tend to stick together, and Slip Through boost one attack with no garantee of landing it while being a tier 3. They are a lot of stronger feats, and I think they play into her unique identiy, you should be rewarded for roaming the battlefield and hunting lone targets.
As such I don’t think a damage nerf is needed even with those buffs, but if something had to be nerf I would nerf the base damage instead of the feat. Nuxia is a better duellist than teamfighter, as such I doubt such buffs would risk making her broken in dominion, only in duels where the feats are a non issue. This way she gets to keep her unique feats, while reigning in her damage if it proves to be too high after those buffs (even though as of now it is not above the average of assassins).

~II-« Quality of life » buffs~
Those are a few things that don’t make a huge impact but would still help her. First I would give her something similar to Shinobi and Shugoki’s run, if she is meant to be a roamer she needs to be able to move across the map fast. I would make it not as good as Shinobi’s so he keeps his own identity, but better than Shugoki. In addition, I would give her hyperarmor on Mirror Raid, her unique parry counter. The move itself deals 15 damage, but is made useless in teamfights due to interrupts, it would give her a bit more anti gank viability. Finally traps should beat any attack thrown in their direction, including non crushing counter lights and light parry attempts, so that ennemies don’t randomly beat traps by messing up parry timings, while still giving them the ability to counter the trap on a good read by lighting Nuxia in another direction.



~III-Opener~
This might be a controversial take but as of right now Nuxia lacks a reliable opener. Most people will tell you her trap mix up is, and it is an opener, just not a reliable one. The idea is to heavy, so that your opponent as to decide if you are going to either let it fly, trap, hard feint to gb, or just feint. However, this opener heavily favors the opponent. For once it is extremely slow, and a lot of the time your opponent while just do their opener at the same time or even slightly after you and you will just eat it. For example wether or not you are feinting or trap your heavy, a forward dodge bash will beat you, or even a simple light. It also is not stamina efficient, costing 22 to 24 stam based on if you trap or hardfeint. There is a reason why characters with bash openers rarely open by feinting heavies in the air.
Even in a best case scenario where you don’t get interrupted, the defender is still massively favored, and that’s because the defenders options beats several of Nuxia’s own. For example :
-Dodging and dodge attacking beat both traping and letting the heavy fly, with empty dodges beating hard feints and dodge attack beating feint to gb. This is the biggest culprit, by alternating between empty and dodge attack the defender can beat ¾ of Nuxia’s options reliably.
-Lighting in any direction (except the heavy direction if your hero has crushing counter lights) beats the trap, feint to gb, and for most player hard feinting if they can’t react to the light in time to parry it. They can block it but they are then back to neutral.
-Parrying beats the heavy, and has a chance to beat the trap if the defender messes up his parry timing, it’s also neutral to hard feinting to nothing. So even if the defender doesn’t dodge, he still has a lot of options, making so banking on him dodging or dodge attacking as Nuxia isn’t a reliable option either.
Compare this to your regular bash opener and it’s simply a two options mind game of predicting if you your opponent thinks you are going to empty dodge or dodge bash and you will see that Nuxia’s opener is fairly unnremarkable. Put it this way, imagine two sets of two duelling bots. One duo is Nuxia vs another hero, the other is JJ vs another hero. The Nuxia bot is programmed to open by selecting randomly an option from her heavy opener, while the JJ bot does the same thing with his forward dodge bash opener mix up. Their opposing bot randomly picks an answer to counter it, mathematically Nuxia’s opponent will win the trade more often than her, while JJ and is opponent would be fairly even.
So should we just give Nuxia a bash opener ? No, one of the goal of this rework proposal is to keep her uniqueness. So here is my proposal, in addition to her trap make her able to soft feint an opener heavy into a weaker, undodgeable light which always come from the same side as the heavy. My reasoning is simple, this change makes her opponer closer to a bash opponer as it reduces the imbalance between the defender and attacker, dodging and dodge attacking doesn’t beat 3/4 or Nuxia’s options anymore. The defender can still dodge and dodge attack if he makes a correct read, but Nuxia has a reliable way to beat both. As such the opponent must now make a real decision if dodging is the right answer, and if not actually has to interract with the trap mix up. The soft feint light would both deal less damage and be 600ms lights (like Zhanhu unblockable lights), the damage nerf is to make them less oppressive, and being slower they allow the opponent an easier light parry on a correct read since they also always come from the same direction as the heavy.
In conclusion, the oppenents options would now be :
-Dodge and dodge attack still beats trap and heavy, with them additionnaly beating hard feint heavy and feint to gb respectively, but they can be punished by the soft feint light if they abuse it
-Light interrupt a trap by lighting on a different side
-Parrying either the heavy or the feinted light (which again is slower and always come from the same side as the heavy).

~IV-Recovery cancels, or why Nuxia should have an all guard~

If you look at the top heroes in 4s, most of them have access to some form of recovery cancel, typically dodge recovery cancels. Those are extremely powerful tools, especially in teamfights. During ganks it makes babysitting harder since the baby sitter as to interrupt you during your attack, instead of during your recoveries. And during brawls they allow you to quickly switch target and reposition. This is one of Nuxia’s biggest weaknesses in 4s. She is a sitting duck in ganks, unable to get any damage in before getting revenge and even when she does get it there is nothing stopping the ennemy to wail on you while you are trying to attack their teammate. But giving her dodge recovery cancel is just making more like other heroes, and we don’t want that. That’s where my idea of an all guard comes in.
Let’s describe what it would look like first. It would be more similar to Musha’s guard, she cannot hold it and has to go into it at the right timing. Additionnaly, hers would be weaker than Musha’s to not make him redundant. She wouldn’t be able to access while in hitstun, only after a block and to cancel the recovery of her attacks except her traps. If the ennemy hits her all guard she has three options, she can do a weaker version of mirror raid, doing less damage while still having hyperarmor, she can do a weaker hyperarmored zone or she can immediatly follow up with a non garanteed heavy or zone to go back into her trap mix up. In addition just like Musha she can go back into her all guard after blocking with it, and she is ofc gb vulnerable on the same timing. Notice that all of her options are weaker version of Mushas, she gets a weaker garanteed damage and a weaker zoning tool (though unlike Musha’s this one is not garanteed and can be blocked or parried, finally she can use it to go back into her bread and butter mix up.
This solution has several benefits. It solves her lack of recovery cancels without giving her dodge recovery cancels, it makes her a bit stronger in teamfights by being able to defend herself better when ganked with the block recovery cancel and allows her to get some damage in by punishing people just wailing on her when she is in revenge. At the same time it’s still a weak all guard, the only garanteed damage she would get out of it would be around 10, as her only other offensive options out of it is her trap mix up with both the heavy and zone, which the opponent can beats on a proper read. It also fits her lorewise, she doesn’t have a shield so having her hold an all guard wouldn’t make sense, but hookswords are meant to trap the opponents weapon. Currently they do when she is on the offense with her traps, but they should also be able to do it while she is on the defensive.
This concludes my proposed Nuxia rework, let me know what you think.

Hello! So for the past few years, I have been having trouble with my flying. The tilt that flying is supposed to happen won't work. So when I use flying, my character will stay straight when it's supposed to move my character forward. I was wondering if anyone had any idea how to fix this glitch!