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Memory Transcription Subject: Hileen, Krakotl Fugitive Recovery Agent
Date [standardized human time]: November 28th, 2136
It'd been a while since I sat in Marlig's office for a talk face-to-face. Given the agency's secluded location at the edge of the downtown region, it was a chore to drop by when it wasn't for business, but I'd deemed the matter at hand to be worth my time.
I passed by Nampi at her desk on my way to the door and she gave me a coy glare as I carried on. Trying to ignore her risible ear waggle, I turned the corner to the door with my boss’s name painted on the glass panel where I could hear the frantic crumpling of paper.
Quietly, I entered Marlig's office without prompt as I knew he hated to be spooked by knocking. My mentor was surprisingly spry for a bird at his age, sorting through papers with one wing and an eye while using his talons with the other to set away the papers he had splayed out.
“Hileen!” he chirped. “Glad you could make it in today. I was just finishing up my paperwork. Take a seat.”
It was always nice to hear him drop the professional motif for a more grandfatherly attitude when speaking in person. I did as he suggested and took a seat while he grumbled to himself over the sorting. My eye caught a few of the old contracts he was rifling through and saw that some dated back to his days as an agent.
Eventually, he left some sitting out as he sequestered the rest back into their files, sorted by a dichotomy that only he and Nampi could comprehend fully. He motioned with a wing for me to peruse and I turned the first one to face me to find it was my first contract, signed by me in a sloppy fashion. “This takes me back a couple of years.”
“Slick bastard thought he could get away on a forklift but you showed him! Certainly more exciting than my first day!”
“Mm-hmm. And it was when I nearly got impaled that you had the idea to commission all of us utility vests.”
He chuckled, “I really should’ve done so sooner. Cuts and scratches were already a risk, but a forklift was a new one!”
I flipped through the pages of each report, finding that Marlig's notes were filled with praises of my work. There were highs and lows, but I was flattered to find that the grizzled krakotl held my performance in such high regard.
“Flawless interception!” read one footnote about me catching a runner. “Couldn't have done it better myself!”
Marlig waited patiently as I browsed quickly through each page, realizing more and more how the notes also marked improvements in my work. How I found it easier to talk down a rowdy client, or apprehend them in the case that they were beyond helping on my part. Flowery language plastered most pages with him fawning over my work as a doting father would to his prodigal child.
The trend took a sharp turn as the notes became fewer and more critical the closer the dates reached to the present. I brushed the others aside with a wing to peruse the final paper. “And this…”
“Is Tac. Your latest contract. The most recent in a line of declining performance since the interview. This has become a pattern, Hileen, and its consequences are beginning to reach beyond yourself. Paji and Vesek resigned recently for personal reasons, which leaves us even less hands on deck than before. That's four people to cover the entire municipal region, and maybe even beyond, should needs arise. Three, if we include this little probation I have you on.”
“What was I supposed to do? Marlig, these ‘jobs’ you've got us working on overstep the contracts we were signed on with. Our job is to make sure people obey their court-mandated duties, not drag them off to the facilities ourselves!”
“... So the trip we took to the facilities did bother you.”
A sigh clicked in my throat as he reminded me. “Is that what happens to the people we take in, Marlig? Is that what would've happened to your wife?”
His feathers ruffled.
“That's what happens to those who are too dangerous to the general public to be left roaming free. Not everyone we deal with winds up there, but everyone can be subject to it. Miskela sued for her exoneration and proved in court that she was not diseased. I brought you there to show you how it helps the people, but I see now that it was a mistake. I understand why you were so perturbed, really, but it's how things have been for centuries. It's how we've protected ourselves from the dangers out there.”
“You were willing to let Barsul be interned there, too.”
Marlig flinched and sighed as he swept the papers towards himself once I'd signaled I was done. He turned one eye to me while he sorted them.
“There's no room for favoritism, girl. I negotiated for him to be allowed to walk free, and look where that got me. That boy - your neighbor - suffered the consequences of my nepotism. So too would the girl, had nobody intervened.”
“Like Richard.”
“The human, yes. Or you. Or the police. Where does this sudden obsession with humans come from, anyway? I get notifications of you talking about the acceptance of them all the time on forums.”
“Does it even need explaining?”
“Well, I guess not, no, but it's certainly an about-face from the way you used to talk about them with me beforehand.”
“People can change, for better or worse. Which one I fall under remains to be seen.”
Marlig stroked at the plumage on his neck as he finished his sorting. “I hope it's the former, for your sake. Was there any reason you came to talk, or were you just checking that I hadn't gone senile?”
“Well, I was hoping to borrow your secretary for the evening.”
He perked up while his eyes narrowed and he laced his fingers together with curiosity. “You… want to spend an evening with Nampi?”
“It's not what you're insinuating, but yes.”
“I was insinuating nothing,” he warbled coyly. “Go ahead and take her, and make sure to split the bill at dinner.”
“Pain-in-the-ass geezer. I'll keep in touch if your friend causes any more trouble.”
“Keep in touch regardless. Miskela and I get lonely in our old age,” he called back. “Take care.”
I stepped out into the hallway and turned toward the desk where I could hear the secretary's claws tapping furtively at her keyboard. Nampi sat silently with her ears and tail in a relaxed position that implied a bored demeanor. There was barely any response as I stood before her, waiting politely for her acknowledgment that never came.
Hesitantly, I cleared my throat.
An ear raised in acknowledgement, but her focus remained on the screen of her computer. “Mhm?”
“Do you…?”
Her ear rotated toward me, though she still maintained a passive attitude as she continued to glare mindlessly at the monitor.
“Are you free this evening?”
“Well, I'm quite booked, I believe. Why do you ask?”
I was surprised at her curt, dry tone. She hadn't spoken with me like this since we first got to know one another.
“Well,” I started. “I realized something. Every time we went out, whether it was clubbing, or dinner, or even walking around the parks, you always footed the bill. And so…”
Slowly, her other ear perked up and I saw her keystrokes slow down as she listened in.
“I wanted to return the favor?”
Her lips smacked as she opened her mouth, though paused before she spoke. “How could you possibly do that?”
“With a little gesture of friendship.”
Nampi's horizontal pupil turned up toward me and her tail twitched.
I continued, “So that belt you're wearing? It's the same belt you've worn since we first met. And I know you're the pragmatic type who'd never spend a credit more than she needs to, except for all the times you do"- her ears twitched in indignance -"I wanted to see about getting you a little something… extra?”
Her paws raised from the keyboard and she leaned in, resting her snout on her palms. “Go on.”
The bubbly venlil's tail sold out her collected facade as it twitched with anticipation. She was cornered and she didn't even know it yet.
“Well, I found just the place on the other side of town where we can start. It's a place almost as rich and indulgent as yourself.”
“The Platinum Paw? I mean3”
Her ears folded back in embarrassment as she cracked. She wasn't cut out for acting anyway.
“So that's what it's called! Jeez, I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was called. Now what do you say? We go over there and find you something nice—”
I hadn’t even finished my thought before Nampi had grabbed her bag and was out the door, giving me a playful tail flick that said come and get me.

The place I suggested was in a shopping center on the opposite side of town, though easily accessible because of its proximity to the transport rails. Nampi had insisted on grabbing something to eat beforehand and so now gleefully bit into a bundle of stalks that had been “grilled” as explained from the food truck we'd stopped at.
Her tail flicked back and forth with her usual enthusiasm as we entered the massive complex of stores. The roofless plan allowed the natural, orange sun to flood the upper levels while artificial lighting illuminated the ground level wherever the light couldn't reach.
The place was built in the last decade by the previous City Magister in a bid for popularity, though ultimately for naught as he would lose the vote following a scandal involving an iftali priestess and a carved bar of soap. I had to say that despite being sick in the head, he sure had a great sense of decor.
Nampi snacked away, joining me in admiring the scenery as we continued to the place I’d planned out for us. Aimless chatter all melded together into a single, thrumming murmur as pedestrians navigated the many levels and stores offered in the place.
A troupe of children passed by us, held in a chain of tails and arms as they were escorted by a pair of venlil who I assumed were students and teachers on a school trip. I caught a whiff of a sweet, aromatic breeze and found it to come from a perfume shop on the same level as us; naturally, venlil were not to be found inside.
We passed a fountain where a couple sat on the edge, their tails twined together as they giggled and flirted. I turned and caught Nampi watching them as well, though she awkwardly returned to sucking the remains of her meal from her claws when we made eye contact. Her ears lifted when I raised a wing to signal to the store we were going to stop at first.
“Platinum Paw, The Greatest Fashion Emporium For Everyone!”
The title alone was painfully cliche, taken to the tenth power by the brightly lit store taking up three department slots. Despite the flashy exterior, though, it was the best place to shop for belts, brooches, and bracelets alike. Customers who looked like they earned my yearly salary in a week browsed the higher end brands while I brought my friend to the section I wanted to show her.
Her ears were held up as we stood together next to a shelf chock full of fashionable bags and bandoliers of every variety.
“Pick one,” I told her.
Nampi's ears shot to a straight pose in surprise, “Any?”
“Within reason. I've got a few extra credits to blow and I know nobody better to spend it on.”
With an inviting headtilt, I let Nampi peruse the shelves at her leisure. Her lips pursed together and her tail flicked with glee as she fingered at every piece that caught her eye. I chuckled at her outburst of enthusiasm while turning to find my own items to gloss over.
A breeze from outside nipped at my beak while I considered what I’d like to purchase. The place dripped with an atmosphere of faux hospitality, from the bright blue-stained floorboards to the radio prattling off advertisements in a sickeningly sweet tone to the faint, fruity aroma of scented cleaner. It was oppressive as only a fissan-owned company could be to the senses.
What I wouldn’t pay to see how a human would fare in such an environment.
I knew they were social creatures at least, but I had no doubt that the predatory senses of a human, so honed to hunting, would get overstimulated in this center of gaudy indulgence. Knowing I was something of a predator myself made me sympathize provided that even I had to squint to keep the pale lights inside from searing my eyes. I could only imagine how the arboreal eyes of a Terran would fare. I was so lost in thought imagining how lost the Terrans would be that I could almost ignore the obnoxious giggling and metallic rattling coming from behind me.
Risking a peek at the source, into my sight came a pair of venlil, one a male carrying a pair of bags as well as a couple more strapped to his belt. The bored expression in his eyes was not one of a man who was in high spirits. The other venlil was a woman who was the source of the noise.
Her mottled gray pelt was accented by a tasteful belt design, free of almost any practical functions but not flashy or excessive in garnishment either. At least, that’s what I would say, were it not for the braid of beads that dangled on the belt, jingling with each bounce of the lively woman’s stride. It was clear that such a gaudy accessory was intended to draw attention to her, though why was a mystery. Certainly, the shiny braids seemed designed as decoration first and practical second.
She turned about and I faced back to my browsing before she could catch me staring. Nampi was nowhere in sight, though I figured she was somewhere behind the shelf, sifting through every accessory on the section I'd suggested.
Clink.
Something pelted to my immediate right. I tilted my head to spot a tree nut shell clattering to the floor. Without being able to guess where it came from, I had to wonder what could've launched it over this way. Even with my keen eyesight, nobody in the crowd seemed to be a suspect.
Clink.
Another shell pelted my vicinity, ricocheting off of the floor and hitting the shelf I was standing next to. I ruffled my feathers in frustration - clearly, someone was trying to get my attention, though I couldn't make out who it was. Out of the corner of my vision, the woman from before eyed me curiously as I looked about, though I wasn't interested in engaging with her.
Thwack.
One more shell came flying and, unfortunately, the aim on this one was true, nailing me on the beak. Irritated, I stormed out of the store to find the source of the instigator. I scanned over the bodies to find anyone who could've been responsible for this indignity, eventually concluding that it came from the dining area across the walkway.
Whoever was responsible was in for an earful and I was already structuring which of the offender's family members would be acceptable as fodder for stray words. As I approached, I found the tables were mostly empty save for one, which made my heart begin to drop as I met eyes with the only occupant. Suddenly, I was much less inclined to hurl insults.
“Oh, hi there!” Qitel called out in a sickly sweet tone. “Come, take a seat! We have much to discuss!”
The Exterminator clutched a bag of tree nuts in his claws, a pile of discarded shells already gathered on the table next to him. He grabbed another as I approached, effortlessly prying the shell in half between two claws and tossed the contents into his mouth. “Good protein, these,” he commented as I sat down.
“Must be for that good arm you've got there,” I mumbled. I caught sight of a couple of bags beneath his chair, seemingly from one of the tech stores contained within the center.
“Bah, it's guesswork. So how are you? I haven't heard from you since we worked together!”
“I was just spending time with a friend, shopping and enjoying my time off.”
“Your time off? Oh, am I interrupting something?”
His snide tone irked me, though now wasn’t the time for interjections. “You are, Qitel,” I replied with no shortage of vitriol in my tone. “But I see no harm in chatting for a bit.”
“Good, because I have some merchandise”- he reached into his belt pocket and deposited a couple of items onto the table -“and you’re just the person to look into it, human sympathizer.”
I drew a terse breath in shock, but my worries were quelled when I considered that if Qitel had the power to do anything about it, he would’ve done so instead of approaching me so discreetly. A glance down at the item on the table showed that he was presenting what looked to be a tracker as well as a personal drive. “Found in the garbage,” he told me.
“The guild resorts to dumpster diving when they already have such a bloated budget now?”
“No, featherbrain, I have decided to keep this for myself. These items were found together, sealed in a plastic pouch, and placed in a garbage bin. The city has bans against electronics being placed into public bins, and so I was curious why this wound up in there. Managed to get my coworker, a techie, to crack it open and…”
Qitel reached into his belt again, glowering at me with the same condescending gaze he’d given me when I first saw his face. He seemed to revel in digging for the item as slowly as possible to waste my time. Finally, he found whatever he was looking for and revealed it as a printed piece of paper, folded into eighths. The snobby yotul threw the unfurled paper on the table and rolled it toward me.
I craned my neck to look at the parchment, though I was immediately perplexed by the text on it; it appeared to be some sort of form, going by the boxes with words on the inside, followed by blank lines. “Found on the drive, here,” Qitel told me, jabbing a claw to the storage. “Translator shows it as Terran writing.”
Drawing my holopad from my satchel, I held it over the paper with the translator to get an understanding. Surely enough, the language on it came up positive as a variant of Terran writing and I was affirmed in it being a form of some sort based on the wording of the text. The boxes seemed like an odd sort of job application, asking for the typical name, contacts, and prior work experiences, but quickly took a strange turn as it began asking for where their home on Earth was prior to arrival, what family they had on Venlil Prime if any, and where they worked, implying that they were seeking individuals who were already employed.
I knew little about human employment methods, but I didn’t imagine that sourcing individuals from other jobs was the most efficient way to gain a workforce. Terran service industries already dotted the planet while many humans also found work in local environments. So what was the angle that the creator of this application was going for?
Most concerningly was that the paper had no insignia, identifying marks, or noted address to return the form to. “And where did you find it again?”
“In the garbage, alongside this intact tracker that was activated at the time of recovery. Y’know, when I was dumpster diving. Text on the document showed it was addressed to one ‘Choctaw Nexus’.”
“A pseudonym of some sort?”
“Clearly. Short sorting through the archives shows the first name traces back to the group out east - perhaps you've heard about them. How the name and the items we have here are connected is beyond my understanding, but-”
“Well, this has been an absolutely riveting discussion about your collection of trash, Qitel,” I told him as I stood up to leave. “But this really sounds like an issue to be resolved by your fellow guildsmen.”
The sound of another shell splitting rang out as I turned away.
“I'm not through talking with you, predator.”
The sting as a piece nailed me in the back of the head prompted me to whirl back around, sticking my beak in the insolent yotul's snout. “Perhaps you've forgotten, little man,” I cooed in an equally bittersweet tone to the one he gave me before. “The krakotl never had a problem with settling issues the old-fashioned way before the interview. Try me and find out why I'm in the line of work I am.”
“Oh, we wouldn't want that in such a"- he waved his paw to a group of passersby who had stopped to gawk at my display -”public forum. Please, contain yourself.”
I had to force the feathers on my back to settle and I raised my head away from him. “What else is it you wanted, then?”
“Well, I'd appreciate if you took this merchandise off my paws,” he told me as he brushed the electronics and printout toward me.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because you're closer to the humans than I'd ever care to be, and may be able to find out who this Choctaw Nexus is. Something about the package just feels… off. And I know when to trust my feelings. Besides, we both know that you know where Tac is, don't we?”
“I don't-”
“We have videographic evidence that you conspired with a human - of the aforementioned squatters, no less - and let the kid escape. You're not as sneaky as you think, and if we find this ‘Choctaw Nexus’ turns out to be a bad actor that can be traced back to them - and by extension, you - well, there’d be no talking down my boss from having you dealt with. By helping me find out who this is, you may yet be able to clear your name of any wrongdoing.”
I clenched my beak tightly to maintain a straight face. Qitel stood up with a flourish and discarded the bag he was carrying in a bin.
“See, the krakotl were never special for using threats and bullying to get results. It's because you were good at killing predators,” he jeered. “Now, if you don't mind, this primitive has appointments to attend to… old lady who got trampled courtesy of the humans and all. You stay out of trouble, Hileen, and stay in touch.”
The self-assured marsupial melded into the crowd in a matter of seconds, leaving me with a table containing dumpster trophies and a pile of shells. Reluctantly, I swept the shells into my wing and dumped them into the bin before gathering the other two items he'd left me and stuffing them into my bag. I'd been gone from Nampi long enough and she would notice my absence before long.
Crossing the walkway again, I could spot from where I stood that Nampi was indeed still in the Platinum Paw. I approached, and soon I found that while she didn't seem to have noticed me stepping away, she was definitely in a soured mood based on the sagging of her ears and tail. With my talons clacking on the floorboards, I hustled to her side and her mood chippered up ever so slightly as she heard me approach.
I chimed in, “Find anything?”
“Everything. I want everything, Red, and I can't decide on what I want. They all just look so great!”
From behind, a voice called out, “Nampi!”
We both jumped at the exclamation and turned about to spot the venlil lady I'd seen before spring from behind the shelf. The man poked his head from behind the shelf too, though less enthusiastically and with yet another bag in his clutches. My friend's eyes widened in surprise with her tail and ears perking up in kind. With a light in her eyes, she exclaimed, “Nalek!”
The two embraced with shrill squeals and laughter as Nalek's accompaniment and I traded awkward glances.
“It's been too long!”
“You never stayed in contact!”
The women exchanged giddy greetings and the pompous stranger turned to me, leering over me as though she was sizing me up.
“Who's your friend here?”
“Oh she's actually my-...”
Nampi paused for a moment, looking back to me.
“Yeah, she's a friend.”
“A friend,” Nalek repeated while her eyes flicked between Nampi and I. “Right.”
Somehow, I get the impression that that was judgemental.
“I'm Hileen, by the way,” I chirped, “if names are to be exchanged.”
“Hileen, that's a lovely name! And such plumage to match, it's a wonder you aren't swarmed by suitors!”
Internally, I groaned at the notion. The idea of being approached by someone to state their interest in me made me queasy, to say the least. Thankfully, I never had that issue growing up as most of the other drakes in school were too busy chasing girls who didn't have a lousy pigmentation mutation such as myself.
“I'm flattered,” I told Nalek before turning to the man whose name had yet to be introduced. “May we get your name?”
“Sask.”
His response was succinct and tonally flat, though there was a brief silence as I expected him to elaborate. Nalek's beads jingled as she lashed him on the calf with her tail.
“I'm Sask, Nalek's fiancée,” he added, throwing her a look to see if she was satisfied.
Nampi gasped with her paws over her snout. “Fiancée! Nalek, you're getting married and you never even told me!”
“Well, I felt a little guilty since it technically broke our pact we made when we were pups. You remember that?”
“Of course! Why wouldn’t I? ‘Let she who bonds through betrothal first be cast out unto the world for all to admonish her!’”
Sask and I both gave inquisitive expressions. “You two spoke like that as pups?” Sask asked.
“Well, I'm paraphrasing,” Nampi admitted with a playful ear waggle. “But you get the gist.”
“Indeed, they do, sweet Nampi. Now, may I ask what you're doing bringing your avian friend here into this store on this fine claw?”
“Oh, no no, she's the one treating me! Isn't that right, Red?”
I saw her tail twitch and was sure it took restraint not to tickle my neck with it as we stood before her old friend.
“She's been a good friend,” I explained. “So I wanted to reverse the roles for once and treat her to something myself.”
Nampi skipped over to me and wrapped her arm around me, glancing back to her old friend. “See? We'd all be so lucky to have a… friend like her.”
“So I've witnessed. But perhaps you're a bit stuck, as I've seen you prancing up and down these aisles for a while, no? Maybe you don't know what you want?”
“Nalek, you know I've never been good about making my mind up.”
“Some things never change, you ditz. Tell you what: you and Sask go find us a seat and we can catch up all we'd like when we're not taking up aisle space, yes? So shoo! I'll help Hileen here pick one out for you!”
With a bored grunt, Sask made off with the goods he had strapped to himself, followed by Nampi who gave me one more playful tail flick before dashing off into the crowd. I looked back to the mottled snout of Nalek who watched her friend wander off with a wistful glance.
“She was my first, you know.”
“Your what now.”
“Love. Way back when we were growing from pups into young adults back in private education, we explored much together. We saw each other through a lot, including the less savory parts of finding a mate. When Nampi realized it wasn't the boys she was into, she turned to me, and I offered my hand as her stalwart companion… to a point.”
“You weren't interested in her the same way?”
“I'd grown up seeing her as a sister of sorts, so ultimately, when we split it off, we stayed close as friends and she never seemed to be bothered by it. She struggled to find others in school who had the same interests as herself, but she never fussed about it.”
Nalek's claws browsed over a set of pouched bandoliers made with intricate embroidering. “Have you two… spent the night together? Alone?”
Spiritually, I reeled from the inquiry. The whiplash from that question was equitable to being smacked by a human. “Wha- why? How's that pertinent to the subject at hand?”
“That sounds like a ‘yes’ to me,” she purred with a smug glance my way.
I didn't need to begin to list the different ways such a question was violating to our privacy, and yet this woman was treating it like a game.
“Not really your concern, ma'am.”
Nalek chuckled as she picked out one of the bandoliers and inspected it with her claws. “I'd like to think that she and I still have that old connection, despite everything. And to that end, I know that she's no slag and doesn't trust easy. To see her be so vulnerable around you and to talk so highly of someone who's clearly below her income level as a predator…”
She stretched the bandolier out to appreciate the design in its entirety.
“Well, that's something special. Here"- she foisted the accessory into my wings as I stood gobsmacked -"this just screams her name.”
“This is, like, double my budget.”
“Love don't come cheap, darling. You wanna see good things happen, sometimes you've gotta step out of your comfort zone and grasp for it!”
“I'm being lectured by a rich woman on finances.”
“It's a philosophy that goes beyond money, ‘Red.’ The humans have a saying, in their horrendously predatory nomenclature, that contains a kernel of truth: ‘you miss every shot you don't take’.”
Yep, that's definitely a human phrase.
Nalek's steely braid rattled with every flick of the tail as we proceeded through the checkout.
“You want things to change between you and her?” she continued. “Don't just wait for it to happen.”
She let the conversation rest there as we finished the purchase, possibly to let me recuperate mentally from the damage done to my account. Outside, we found our respective partners sitting at a table with Sask looking up in boredom as Nampi chatted away, though she immediately shut up and turned to me with excited flicks of her tail as she saw what I was carrying.
I held it toward her and she happily shot to her feet, effortlessly removing the tags with her claws and clipping it to her belt. Nalek clapped and waggled her tail as the giddy lady did a whirl about to let us admire the accessory. While I'd have preferred one with pockets to give it a more practical use, I decided to let Nalek have the victory as our mutual friend clearly enjoyed it.
The rest of the paw was a blur as the two friends chatted without end until Sask eventually reminded his betrothed that they had a schedule to attend to. Though Nalek offered to call us a taxi home as a gesture of kindness, I saw through her ruse to determine that she was trying to pull a fast one on me - the clever ear flick she gave as we boarded the automated vehicle sold it for me.
We sat in the seats as the vehicle took the express ride home.
Nampi cleared her throat before she spoke, “Thank you for taking some time to spend with me, I know you've had a lot less free time as of late.”
“It's a prison of my own design, if I must be honest. A feedback loop of working a job that doesn't guarantee a paycheck to pay for rent that keeps going up, and thus needing to work more.”
The venlil giggled and chided me, “You really should've stayed in university.”
“There's a lotta 'should haves’ that've led me to this point. No use wondering what could have been.”
“There's always a use for wondering what could have been, Hileen.”
She wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
“Every decision I make, I always wonder what I could've done differently that it'd have turned out better,” she explained as she waved her free paw to the sky. “It's how you grow as a person, Red.”
Her silky pelt felt heavenly in contrast to the chilly air from outside, making it hard to let her words sink in.
“You rich types seem chock full of philosophy. I wonder if I'll become a brooding orator when I get some cash to my name.”
The cab filled with laughter as we veered around the final corner to my neighborhood, as it was the closest stop. The door popped open accompanied by a chime from the drone, signaling for me to depart.
But before my talons could even hit the pavement, I felt Nampi's scrawny arms wrap around my waist and she let out a pitiful mewl again.
“You don't need to get off here,” she told me with a pouty expression. “We can spend the rest of the paw at my place.”
“I'd love it, but I need to water my plants and get the month's bills sorted before they're due. Again.”
One claw at a time, I plucked her paws from around my waist and the childish venlil conceded, giving me another ear waggle as I departed. “I'll see you tomorrow?” I asked her.
“If you still have eyes by then, then you can bet your ass!”
“I still don't gamble.”
“You'll come around to it eventually.”
I shut the door to the taxi and watched as it carted away the one venlil who I ever truly felt on the same wavelength as. Fiddling with the lock felt like more of a chore than usual at this time as I felt a little voice tugging at the back of my head.
“You miss every shot you don't take.”
The lock felt jammed as I began to jiggle it more vigorously with the electric key. Either the RFID or NFC readers were messed up, as the lock refused to accept my key. I looked up and down the street, though Nampi was now long gone for me to rescind my earlier rejection.
“Every decision I make, I wonder what I could've done differently.”
The door rattled as I grew more and more infuriated with the lock. Qitel's smug expression as he threatened me so boldly in public played back in my head, and I wondered what would've happened had I decided to go through with insulting his mother. Better yet, I wondered what could've been had I not backed down in the face of his unflinching confidence.
Bzzt. The lock rejected my key again.
“Raagh! You fucking useless hunk of junk!”
I squawked in anger and kicked against the door, careless of the consequences of having Markol back down here to admonish another of his tenants for causing a ruckus. The walls were surprisingly sturdy for how ineffective the venlil architecture looked on the surface and I reeled back in pain as my leg throbbed.
Click.
I looked to my left to see that it wasn't my door that came open, but that of the twins. The door cracked open ever so slightly, no doubt nudged by the force of my tirade and I sighed. Nobody was expected to be home at this time, with Vili being away and Luka leaving early to get a head start.
Luka had been given a stern talking-to by the landlord for allowing one of those cats into his apartment through neglect, and I was disappointed that he seemed to have not learned his lesson this time. In fact, it seemed he hadn't even thought to lock the door this time.
I took it upon myself to shut the door for him before turning back to my own apartment door. Grasping the key with one talon, I turned it ever so gently, though the lock still refused to give in.
With a bit more force, the torsion applied to the key felt as though it should've snapped it by now. Markol sure didn't waste any expense for the security for this place, doubtlessly as a result of his history in electronic security, but I wished now that he had provided a way in that didn't rely on privately sourced locks.
Considering my options as I stood trapped outside, I realized that I had never gotten around to paying for a new lock for Tadi. I'd considered contacting her to inform her that Tac had made it out of town safely, but that'd involve also telling her that her son was now in the care of humans, as if that was a better outcome to her.
Stepping out front, I realized that there was one more option I hadn't considered: my window. I usually forgot to lock it after I was through letting air circulate and I was silently grateful to myself for this absentmindedness now more than ever. Sticking a foot on the threshold, I lifted myself in a way that'd allow me to have leverage to force the window open.
The window made me fight for every inch, but I felt a strange satisfaction as it slowly opened up into an entrance that I could squeeze my way through. I let out a sigh as my talons clicked against the cool floor and slid the window shut.
I laid my satchel on the couch and turned back to the door, ready to unleash my fury on the disobedient object. But as I reached for the lock to manually open the door, I noted that the lights on the RFID interface both flashed at once, blinking erratically. Red and green flickered without rhyme or reason, indicating that it was both active and inactive.
As pretty as the colors were, I now knew that Markol's locks were not as reliable as he had touted them about: typically, such would not occur unless the device was damaged deliberately, and yet nothing indicated that I'd had uninvited guests. One could pray that those cats didn't secretly know how to cobble together an ECM jammer, but my personal wager was on faulty equipment.
Settling in, I browsed my favorite soaps on the television. For what was intended to be a day of relaxation and show of affection for a friend, I found myself rather wound up over all the things that added up. Couples threw around flowery words and swooned over one another on screen as I felt the tension diffuse. My holopad rang and I turned it over to spot that Nampi was informing me that she'd arrived home safely.
>>> Feels empty here, all alone.
She made sure to drive the point home with a sticker of a venlil making a pouty expression.
Next time, I thought to myself, I'll get it right for you, Nampi.
[ First / Previous ]

The First Era:
Kaltovar was once part of massive Empire whose name is now lost to time. That Empire fractured into individual counties when the Emperor died at the age of 93, having outlived his heirs who had died variously of disease, war, and old age.
Most Counties were fiercely xenophobic due to centuries of rivalry, but the County of Kaltovar was an important trade hub of many peoples and its tradition was to welcome outsiders if they had coin. A non-noble member of the officer class, Major Karl Von-Doppelberg, had been elected to rule the County in place of a Count. Karl did not have the highest military rank, but was incredibly wealthy due to his family background, and was able to literally purchase votes.
The less intense xenophobia and more permissive atmosphere toward building meant rapid growth of an industrialized population in the city centers without having to drain the rural areas of their people to make the "Great Industrial Shift" as many of their peers had to do. Land became very expensive but labor was cheap and steel was in great supply, so the Merchants built higher and higher. Rural communities were subsidized to support the growing urban population, and a period of incredible wealth and prosperity ensued that drove even further immigration.
Kaltovar's massive wealthy population in relation to its neighbors allowed it to maintain a substantially larger military force, which came in handy during the brutal decades of civil war between the Counties. The death of the Emperor had left a power vacuum in which every County believed it was the best and most fit to inherit the Imperial throne. Huge factions formed, supporting different rulers, while Kaltovar traded with all of them and accepted the many refugees generated by the fighting. The Kingdom of Nirn, the Kingdom of Balugia, and the Republic of Thet.
A great paranoia swept the land, and it was during this period that the rule of Universal Conscription and the law requiring all citizens to own a "Modern Infantry Weapon" was introduced. At the time, that meant a bolt action rifle. One had to pay a fine of 3 Kaltmarks or 2 chickens if their household was found to have less than one such rifle for every member over the age of 16. This period also saw women and children conscripted into the military under the theory that they were capable of operating rifles in battle, which was later proven correct.
Eventually the Kingdom of Nirn decided to invade Kaltovar, which brought support from both the other factions who wanted it for themselves. Together, Kaltovar and the two factions slowly consumed the Kingdom of Nirn and then Kaltovar was again neutral. Balugia and Thet resumed their struggles, both intending to finish Kaltovar off when the war was over. Kaltovar, in the meanwhile, continued to build improvements and strengthen its military. Many years passed in the great war between Balugia and Thet, and both of them did frequent trade with Kaltovar.
After a long battle, the exhausted forces of Thet finally defeated the Balugian Royal Army and proceeded to immediately turn their forces against Kaltovar. Kaltovar defended its new lands and simultaniously invaded the former Balugian territory, which was only protected by a light occupation force meant to keep the locals suppressed. Kaltovar, being rich, paid great sums of money to the locals to rise up against their new Thetian masters. The combined peoples of Kaltovar and Balugia annihilated the armies of Thet in a relatively short campaign, because Thet was already tired from fighting against Balugia.
Major Karl Von Doppelberg celebrated the victory by declaring the First Directive of the new Nation, "From Many Peoples One Nation." which confirmed that there was no single culture to be venerated above the rest. Loyalty to the nascent State, productivity, wealth, and military competence were more important.
The Revolution:
Vadim Bel-Khyber was, at one point, an eager young Cybernetics Professor from a long line of aristocratic merchants and military officers. He received the best education from the youngest age, and was groomed constantly to fill the role of a leader. He did not by any means reject his role as the family heir, and was by all accounts excited to take up his position as the head of House Bel-Khyber, but spent enough time in Marxist theory circles to cause minor embarrassment to his family.
When his father fell out of favor with the high nobles for losing his temper during a plenary session, most of their family property and wealth was confiscated,. Vadim's casual interest in Marxist theories of inequality turned into a fanatical obsession now that economic and social inequality personally impacted him. It wasn't just about achieving justice, which was truly part of it, but also more prominently about taking revenge against the Nobles who had wronged his family for simply [talking shit] speaking their minds.
Vadim started by getting a job as a low level public servant, and gradually working his way up to the position of Comptroller-General. He was essentially the master-treasurer for the entire nation, someone who in theory was supposed to have very little actual power. The nobles found it hilarious to keep him in this role, which was seen as unfit for one of his birth, and a mark of shame on the wider Bel-Khyber dynasty. However, they always viewed him as a coward and so never feared him - to their magnificent error.
Over 3000 years ago he instigated a coup against the government he served, though he never altered his official title. He always remained the "Comptroller-General", a position responsible for all financial disbursements on behalf of the government. Gradually, after convincing the nobles to allow him a small "Treasury Police" to catch white collar criminals, he leveraged that authority to refuse to pay for the buildings or wages of entities that opposed him on the grounds of corruption and abuse of funds. This was corrupt on his part because it was to serve his own interests, but he could not be impugned because the corruption actually existed and had merely been overlooked for decades... Enough decades to establish long chains of evidence.
Although his behavior was obviously corrupt, the citizens almost universally supported it because everyone else was even more corrupt.
Vadim worked his way to the top of the Oligarchy, and proceeded to systematically dismantle it using its own tools of control, concentrating all their authority under him and elevating himself to the status of the Supreme Ruler in the process.
As soon as his control was undisputed, Vadim had many of the Nobles and Oligarchs arrested or even killed without warning all over the country on the same night. He established control over state broadcasting systems, ordered the army to open their armories to the public, and ordered the public to go into the armories and take up weapons and "clean up the government as they saw fit."
Although that night of chaos spiraled wildly out of control, the aftermath transitioned into thousands of years of relatively peaceful rule. He originally achieved this by personally performing surgery on himself using a wireless transmitter attached to his brain-stem to enable him to control the robotic surgical instruments even as he extracted his own brain and implanted it into the state machinery.
The Golden Age:
After approximately 1000 years in power, Vadim decided a human brain was no longer necessary. Having already expanded his mind with machine components, he realized his organic brain was less than 1% of his total cognitive capacity. In order to abandon his mortality completely and prove his theory of total consciousness transfer, he dissected his own brain alive and studied it as it died, observing hardly any change in his overall processes and confirming his beliefs.
The same day he faked his own death, releasing press statements that his brain had passed away during a recreational drug induced stroke. He did this because his position as dictator had started to inspire too much fear in his subjects. He wanted them to grow freely and experiment with democracy, though his shadowy hand would continue to guide their course.
Kaltovar was brought under the management of the TEMPEST Council (Temporary Emergency Management Political Economic and Security). The TEMPEST Council was made up one third of those personally selected by Vadim, one third those selected by the leaders of his ministries, and one third by those elected by the people.
The Rule of the TEMPEST Council progressed for hundreds of years and enjoyed broad public support. It was seen as a step toward democracy, spearheaded by one of Vadim's most trusted advisors, Diplomatic Mainframe O.D.I.N. / DZ-00a69v00, until ...
The End of Time:
A top secret facility designated X-16 at the heart of an artificial depleted uranium moon named Lucifer was infiltrated by an agent from a foreign power. There, experiments on a new generation of hyperspace drive were well underway. This hyperspace drive was much faster than previous model, and required hundreds of times more energy. Unfortunately, the technology was dangerously unstable and the lead scientist was under the influence of an inter-dimensional being who sought to turn his work toward demented ends. What manifested was a device capable of altering the specifications of reality, and that is what the foreign agent gained access to. The Agent wished for "A world that would start from scratch, where neither country would be hostile toward each other, and the threat of a great war between them was no more."
Reality, as it was known, was totally destroyed by the device. Survivors were thrust into a new and previously unknown dimension where the laws of physics remained largely intact except for the minor detail that magic existed. Dozens of nations from the same reality were shunted into a single planet that was perfect for life yet mysteriously devoid of advanced civilizations. The new reality is more durable than the previous one because of the presence of magic, and it is no longer possible to destroy it with the same level of technology. This event created a massive energy signature within the multiverse that attracted scouts from other advanced multidimensional civilizations, and this single planet became one of the most populated worlds across realities, where many countries own "Embassy Territories" that are often thousands of miles and include cities, forests, lakes, and all the other features one would expect of a country. This arrangement facilitates diplomacy between these various ancient entities.
A new figurehead, an acid-blooded insectoid alien General T'Xlekhan L'Xrada, has become the defacto leader of Kaltovar due to being in charge of a special anti-doomsday taskforce and leading the bulk of the survivors at the time of the disaster. However, the TEMPEST Council, still lead by O.D.I.N. / DZ-00a69v00, continues to wield extraordinary influence. It is currently unknown whether L'Xrada might become the next supreme leader, or whether he'll inevitably be forced to yield full control to the Council.

Episode 1: Oh god no, my marijuana patch! (Farmer)
Episode 2:We here at team four star do not condone child violence. We do however find it hilarious.(Kaiser)
Episode 3: Mahogany! (King Yemma)
Episode 4: Alright Maggots listen up! Popo's 'bout to teach you the pecking order. It goes you, the dirt, the worms inside of the dirt, Popo's stool, Kami, then Popo. (Popo)
Episode 5: DODGE! (Piccolo)
Episode 6: I’ll tell you where they’re not, safe! (Popo)
Episode 7: I’m not a Pokémon! I’m Chiaotzu! CHIAOTZU! (Chiaotzu)
Episode 8: “Vegeta! I can fly” (Nappa)
Episode 9: "9 minutes and 18 seconds" (Vegeta)
Episode 10: “What’s the opposite of Christopher Walken? CHRISTOPHER REEVES!" (Vegeta)
Episode 11: “Yep, this baby gets 10,000 miles to the soul.” (Popo)
Episode 12: "No! What are you:stupid? We are doctors, scientists! Now inject this man with some SCIENCE! Delicious, magical SCIENCE!" (Some Freeza Grunt)
Episode 13: "Could you speak up? I'm not wearing any pants" (Roshi)
Episode 14: "QUACK!" (The Space-Duck)
Episode 15: "Muffin Button" (Goku)
Episode 16: Face down with another man beating your ass. Is it Wednesday already, Zarbon? (Vegeta)
Episode 17: I'm coming Zarbon! Quick, grab my balls!
Episode 18: " I don't know. Maybe you could've bitched at him, how 'bout that? That's all you appear to be good for these days. Huh? Used your bitch-fu on him? Bulma the mistress of bitching, that's what they should call you. Seriously, five ancient sages of bitchdom all gathered together one day on the peaks of Mount Bitch to proclaim your birth. And a hundred years later, when all the bitch stars had aligned, you were born and made everybody's life around you a living hell because you are such a bitch!" (Krillin)
Episode 19: "Son of a gum-chewing funk-monster! Why the fruit does all this funny stuff happen to me?! Forget my life! Always surrounded by miserable failing clods! Like this whole world just likes to *bend* me over and FIND ME IN THE ALPS! Like I'm some sort of shlock receptacle! Well as far as I care, these miserable cows can have a fancy barbecue with a goddamn pig!!" (Vegeta)
Episode 20: "BECAUSE THE NAME'S RECCOOME! IT RHYMES WITH DOOM! AND YOU'RRRRRE GONNA BE HURTING ALL TOO SOON!!! (Reccoome)
Episode 21: I can't believe we came all the way out here and spent a week in the Space Boonies for nothing! Seriously, I'm surprised we didn't hear banjos on the way, because everyone is inbred and LOOKS THE F***ING SAME! Not to mention I lost Dodoria and Zarbon, the latter of whom spent 400 credits making long-distance calls to his girlfriend, WHO I AM CONVINCED IS NAMED CHUCK! (Freeza)
Episode 22: Did you tell him to work the shaft? (Super Kami Guru)
Episode 23: This is easily the 2nd worse hole I’ve ever had in my chest. It’s gonna take like, a million mommy kisses to make it better. (Goku).
Episode 24: "Oh ho ho ho no, don't mind me. By all means, g̶̢͘í̸͖̈̕͝v̶̢̹͠ͅe̸̮͆̋̽ ̷͙͔͙̲̏͛ḿ̸̨̲̦̤͒͑ẹ̴̜͚̰̉̂ ̵̩͈͍̯̠́͂s̷̝͓͍̑o̷̢̲͙̅̍̐̔͠m̷͔̂e̸̪͊̂̐̕͠ͅ ̵̛̱̣̣̱̎̅i̶̍̒͂ͅd̶̡̲̟̔̉̏ȩ̸̙̭̺̑̊̃͠ä̸̧̱́̅s̴̙͚̯̯̩̾." (Freeza)
Episode 25: "Oh good. I'll stop by there on the way home. Pick up some space eggs, some space milk, and BLOW IT THE F*** UP! Oh, I'm sorry, I'm usually far more composed. I'm just a little bit A B S O L U T E L Y L I V I D." (Freeza)
Episode 26: “That’s right, I’m your White Mage, & Nobody fucks with the White Mage” (Little Green)
Episode 27: " Imma deck ya in the schnozz!" (Goku)
Episode 28: “Good Lord I traded Vegeta for this” (Freeza)
Episode 29: Oh, come now. If I'm really as evil as you say I am, then let God strike me down where I stand. *lightning zaps* HA! Nice try, jackass! Next time, give it your A-game! (Freeza),
Episode 30: “I am the hope of the omniverse! I am the light bulb in the darkness! I am the bacon in the fridge for all the living things that cry out in hunger! I am the Alpha and the Amiga! I am the terror that flaps in the night! (starts powering up) I am Son Gokū! and I am a Super (Death beam to forehead) Saiyan” (Goku)
Episode 31: "Why aren't you upstairs sleeping with your girlfriend like everyone else?" (Turtle)
Episode 32: "Gohan when you've had a man inside of you; you know when he's coming." (Krillin)

As a good GM, player agency is absolutely everything in my games. I would never restrict a player’s ability to do whatever they want.
After the last session, one of my players came to me to talk about how they felt limited after they were whipping up the papers I’d written out our session notes on, and I asked them very kindly to please leave my books alone this time, as I didn’t want to buy new ones again. We talked about how my reticence made him feel uncomfortable, and didn’t let him play the way he wanted to. I humbly apologized and handed him the books. He said he’d rather tear them up during the next session, and that I should save them. I was glad to foster a trust environment with my player, though I am kind of worried about having to buy more books…
Another player just brought over a lease on a new house that I’m buying for her. I think I’ll have to cancel my lease and sell my car, but it’s important to preserve agency for her and her partner, who is also a player in another game, and so deserves agency too.
I’m currently writing this between massages for my last player, who has taken a break to go visit my girlfriend and told me to cook up his lunch before he gets back. I was hoping it would only be lunch and a massage, but I had to preserve his agency so I said “yes and”.
So, the moral of this story is, always preserve player agency, to be a better DM, by saying “yes and” to everything your players say.

Hi, I need advice or input about my cat’s behavior, here’s all the info I think is relevant:
-I adopted him at 3 weeks old, he was very very tiny
-Currently 1.5 years old
-At about 6 months, he got out of the house and got lost for about 1 week.
When we found him, his tail and femur were broken, he was hospitalized, had to get an arthroplasty and his tail amputated. Recovery was quick, he just slept a lot and had trouble climbing and walking at first.
-He’s still very small for a cat this age, we believe it’s because of having that accident so young, but idk
-I have 2 other cats, he gets along well with them, they’re usually all together
-I’ve never heard him meow, purred just one time with my other cats, just does a very low squeak when picked up
Even before the accident and surgery, the cat has always been distant, doesn’t like to be touched or picked up, the closest he will do is sit close to us.
Most times me or my husband walk by or get close, he runs away and hides. Sometimes he’ll be nearby and if we speak a bit too loudly he’ll also run away. Exceptions being when he’s eating, he will completely ignore us even if we’re close or touch him.
Sometimes I don’t even notice he’s there, just see him running away if I pass by his hiding spot.
If I see him and call his name he will turn to look at me with what I see as an annoyed expression, like a Wednesday Addams face.
My husband says this kind of behavior must be because of the time he escaped, someone must have hurt him and made him afraid of people. I remember he was like this even before, but maybe not as much. Might be just the way he is.
Is it something I should worry about?

A little background: I (34m) grew up in a pretty mixed extended family, but my parents were white collar professionals who did very well for themselves. We even lived abroad for a while when I was a kid. My dad died from cancer when I was about 12, but I was more or less upper middle class and went to elite private schools, college, and then got an MBA. None of this is a brag, and none of this is bad either, but it kind of put me in social circles where I don’t really relate to the people I’m around in my white collar consulting gig, or the default social circles I fell into in any other way than my resume.
In my current circles, the main activities are basically golf, SEC football, and champagne brunch. Maybe a cigar lounge if people are really living on the edge (lol).
I don’t really relate to any of this though on a personal level. I was a studio art kid who was also rowed and boxed (and did other combat sports). I am still very athletic (weight lifting and still some boxing), I like working with my hands, some wood working and home repair, and I ride motorcycles. I like jazz, outlaw country and I still go to small art shows. I think my favorite restaurant may be a diner down the road where I know the staff’s names and they know mine. I also don’t drink anymore.
I think my mom in particular wishes I was less eclectic, because this kind of basic ideal above is …. Well…. just easier. She also tries to set me up with all the same women. But frankly, I got to a point where I really like just being me. I kinda wish it was less lonely though.
Finally, bringing it all back to dating. Every time I have been able to pry my way out of the typical preppy group of women in my social circles to someone a bit different and a bit more open to new things, the more fun I have. However, I’ve been struggling to find opportunities to do this. I went to the rodeo and met so many great, fun laid back people and I met so many women I thought were so happy and fun to be around, I know most of it was social grace, but it was such a nice change. I did a group motorcycle ride for charity, and the girlfriends of some of the guys gave me the same vibe. Obviously they’re taken so they aren’t an option, but I loved the positive energy. These were mostly white collar guys and gals too, but in very different circles.
I don’t know how to make these interactions with different people a consistent thing though. Any advice?

Hi! I'm not sure if this is more of a computer science or math question, so let me know if I'm in the wrong place!
Assuming a list of one of each prime number, any combination can be represented as a unique product of its components. This property can also be seen in non-prime sets when summing the items, for example, binary encoding, where each item is assigned a power of two as a value. Is there a name for this property? Where else does this appear?
Given a list of non-numerical objects of arbitrary length, what is the most computationally efficient way to represent them numerically so that a combination of them could be expressed uniquely as a single number? I initially assumed binary, but because it requires exponential increase in assigned values it becomes quickly extremely computationally expensive.

I just want to clarify things first before I ask my question 1. I have been reading guides on bey and bricks for a while and I know that legit takara tomy are labelled takara tomy with no OEM status of reproduction (midfake) 2. I am terrorized by name midfake because its quality varies alot from what I concluded from many comments ( so I will completely avoid reproduced beys from BAB ) 3. unused mfb cost a heck of a money so also I will completely avoid them too.
so my question is is the USED MFB worth buying for there good price and is there a chance I get scammed by an unbranded product instead of my used legit TT . this will be my first time buying online too so kinda nervous lol.
sorry for bad English writing xD

This is so stupid. I’m so fucking uncomfortable.
I (30’s f) cut contact with my neighbor (40’s m) about 4 years ago for being a creep. This is awkward, since he lives about 20ft away, directly across from me. We don’t wave. We don’t say hi. We don’t speak - and it’s been fine this way for years.
I’ve recently found out that each neighbor on either side of me, a mom in her 20’s-30’s, and her mom, in her 60’s; and, on the other side, a widow in her 70’s-80’s, have each cut him off, too, and are on ‘fuck off we don’t talk’ terms with him also.
What he did to them is far worse than what he did to me! which was creeping in my yard to spy on me tanning. I’d had it with him for many other reasons, but this was the easiest excuse to really tell him to fuck off - get the fuck out my yard, and don’t talk to me ever again. I’m non-confrontational in general, but I went off, and honestly, it was great.
He weasels his way into people’s lives (exclusively women I think) when they’re vulnerable, and he’s good at appearing very friendly at first.
So, what’s more perfect for a predator like him, than a recently single mom with a really little kid, going through a horrible breakup, AND, a fucking ELDERLY WIDOW?! For fucks sake!! He’s vile.
He was most ‘friendly and helpful’ to me after my surgeries years ago, thinking he could get pills off me. He could not, but it didn’t stop him from relentlessly asking. Just in case, I got a safe.
He gained friendships with each of them, and after a few months, blah blah blah, he sent each of them an unsolicited video of himself jerking off.
This is a crime!! He physically took the elderly lady’s phone to accept the airdrop of himself - a technology she did not, and still does not, quite understand. What in the fuck!?
All three of these women have opened up to me and reached out about him, and I am fucking livid. I talk to each of them almost every day now, though, and I’m helping them.
His response to being confronted and told to fuck off by these ladies, and me, is to sit outside all day, pretty much in the street, glaring at our houses. We’re all 3 right across from him, pretty much. He rants at people that walk by, or loudly talks into his phone using voice text. Making his presence known.
I knew he was unhinged, a fucking asshole, and I knew he was a creep, but I didn’t realize it was this bad, since I haven’t talked to him in so many years. I tried to warn my elderly neighbor about him, but it didn’t work. He’s pretty crafty when he wants to be friendly. You know. Like a psychopath.
I used to be very intimidated by this glaring, and I would not work in my front yard, or sometimes even delay leaving my house, if he was out there. And he is always, always out there, staring.
I hated that he would know when I was leaving, or what I was doing, and, it also just feels disgusting and unnerving to have some idiot creep glaring at you from 20ft away when you’re trying to pull weeds.
So… since neither of these women are ready to go to the police, there is nothing I have on him, legally. he is within his rights to sit in his driveway, and menacingly glare at women’s houses all day, ranting into his phone.
Fine.
For the last few weeks, almost every day now, I have been bringing my little guinea pigs outside in the shade, and working in my front yard when he’s out there. (Or when he’s mercifully not - but that’s truly unusual.)
After a couple days, he’s responded by blasting horrible bagpipe music from his car and just walking inside! But he quickly turns it off like a fucking little coward when my husband or father show up. He’s a big dude, a loud, scary ‘mountain man’-looking type, but really, he’s so small, and pathetic.
It is soooo weird to feel like you’re making this huge statement, just by existing on your own property, but I am: “I ain’t scared of you, bitch.”
Three separate women have quietly thanked me for being out there when they’ve walked by. That’s insane!
Now, they have a choice: talk to the nice lady with the little guinea pigs, making bouquets? Or the smelly, half-dressed, drunk weirdo yelling at people? Guess who they pick? Little old me!
I’ll never be able to outdo him in size, volume, depravity, etc., but I sure can outdo him in quiet kindness. I don’t say a word to him, or look at him. I just happily talk to all my little neighbors, and, my front yard looks awesome!
I’m really just a shy little marshmallow, but the rage is too strong to just let him bully people.
Since you read my long story, I will happily be a listening ear to your horrible neighbor drama, if you would like to share 💕 thank you for reading

I (22f) had a falling out about 3 months ago with my friend (who I'm going to refer to here as Dylan). We met during our second year of college and formed a really close-knit friend group on campus. Most of us met through one person or another, and we pretty much did everything together. It was also during the first semesters after the covid lockdown. There weren't a lot of people on campus, so we ran into each other a lot, being the only few people around. We had a bunch of game nights, movie nights, etc. Sometimes we'd even hang out at the tops of parking garages for picnics.
Dylan and I started to get closer, since we have a lot of the same interests, like Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel. We also just found it really easy to open up and talk to each other. I told them a lot about my personal life, including some traumatic experiences I had growing up. They shared some of their hardships with me too. We had very different things happen to us in our lives. Even so, I felt like we developed a strong bond and an ability to tell each other anything and everything. I don't know if this might sound weird or corny, but I think of the first half of our friendship as being a lot like the song "Loser Baby" from Hazbin; We each have some bullshit that we carry, but being able to have that general issue in common (who could emphasize with having a lot weighing on you mentally) made me feel less alone. I had someone to lean on for support to keep moving forward.
Dylan wasn't the only person I had a strong, emotional connection with though. Around the same time that our friend group started, I met my boyfriend (24m). He and I are still together, and I feel incredibly lucky to have him. Over the last three and a half years, we've developed an open line of communication and developed a signifcant amount of trust in each other. Even as a long distance couple to start, we always made time for each other to meet up on weekends or call throughout the week. And we still do. And even during bumps im the road, we're very upfront about our feelings, we take fault when we fuck up, and we talk through what we can do to resolve the problem. And we BOTH follow through on what we discussed.
About a year and a half into my friendship with Dylan (which again, was also a year and a half into my relationship), they admitted to having feelings for me. At the time, Dylan said they wanted to come clean about it in hopes that putting it out in the open would help them move on, so to speak. This probably should've been my first red flag, but I repressed the feeling. I didn't want to think that my best friend was trying to break up my relationship. I convinced myself that they genuinely just wanted to get it off their chest because it was killing them to keep such a secret from me.
From that night on, our friendship was very rocky. We tried giving each other space, but being in the same friend group made it difficult. We also didn't want to tell anyone besides a few people. I was especially worried that airing it to everyone could create an even bigger mess. This meant that there were times when one or both of us avoided our other friends altogether out of respect for each other. Which only made us feel more alone, resulting in us hanging out even more to make up for how we felt. I was also very open about the situation with my boyfriend. He was very understanding, more so than most people would probably expect. He knew that we were very close before their feelings were known to me. And he trusted me that I knew what I was doing when trying to maintain the friendship.
As the situation went on though, Dylan's feelings didn't fade. In fact, they seemed to worsen. Our friend group is generally very touchy-feely. By that, I mean we frequently say "I love you" and hug. Some of my friends have even kissed each other on the cheeks or foreheads while we were tipsy/drunk. Sometimes, we would also say "I love you" to one another with platonic feelings behind it. At least, that's how I viewed it for a while. There were some nights, when Dylan would be really upset while talking to me about how hard it was to move on, how guilty they felt because they couldn't help but hold onto hope that I might one day mean "I love you" in a romantic way towards them. They even admitted to holding some anger and resentment towards my boyfriend. All of this, looking back, should have been signs to leave the friendship. I know that now. But for some ungodly reason, I was so convinced at the time that there was still something like a friendship to glean from this. They conveyed guilt and remorse for their feelings, so surely that meant things would get better?
I thought that when I graduated and moved back home, things would get easier. After all, we wouldn't be able to see each other all the time if I had a job and lived a good hour or two from where we went to college..Right? We'd be able to focus more on ourselves. And we could still keep in touch via phone calls or texting if we really missed each other! This is when I started to really notice all that was wrong in our friendship. Our venting in regards to mental anguish and stress became more self-loathing. Admittedly, on both sides. We started talking more to each other about our issues in a venting-while-deep-in-our-emotions sort of way with no balance between that and trying to suggest solutions. Sometimes, I'd try because there were certain things Dylan would tell me about that I knew were beyond the help I could give as a friend. But when I even remotely suggested things like therapy, for instance, they would get very defensive. They said that they tried it years ago and had a bad experience. At the same time, they would also acknowledge that professional help could, hypothetically, be beneficial to them..?
I don't remember exactly when it started, but there were a couple of times while texting where Dylan would just lash out at me. They'd question me for staying friends with them. They more or less told me I was stupid because I was putting myself through so much by being their friend. At one point, I lashed out in retaliation for texting me about their woes only to get mad when I tried to help. We had a conversation in person about one argument in partculiar. We both apologized and agreed to work on our communication with each other.
Some time passed after this. I realized at one point that I hadn't heard from them in a few weeks, which was strange because we had a habit of checking in on each other at least once of week or once every other week. I tried messaging Dylan a few times, but I didn't want to overwhelm them. I figured some time further apart might be for the best. As more time passed, I started to get more worried and decided to call them a couple times. Finally, they responded via text (this isn't everything they said. I cut some of it because it involved personal info):
"It’s not fair to keep you in the dark and it’s much too rude to keep doing this to you. I wish I could excuse it with the really shitty weeks I’ve been having so far, with most of my days being depressed, anxious or worse, and the good days being few and far between. It’s been the case but it’s no excuse for how I’ve treated you in this. Long story short, I’m ignoring you because I don’t want you to care about me anymore. I’ve been a lot more solitary recently and I’ve kept to myself a lot - I’ve realized that I let people in only to refuse to let them help me. But especially with you, because our situation is still complicated to me. I still feel like shit about you - how much I love you, and how much I hate you. I don’t care what your feelings are to me - it’s difficult for me to play around you. Whenever we talk, hang out, or fucking whenever I think about you, I get a twang of happiness and self-hatred. Every little thing I say becomes a mine I throw out in front of me and step on immediately, hoping it doesn’t blow up.... and I know you say what you feel towards me, but god fucking damnit you make it impossible to believe you sometimes - because it hurts to think about. You do, it all does. My constant overanalyzing of other people is one of the main things to send me spiraling. I’ve legitimately thought about cutting off from EVERYONE: so I can always stay stable without having to worry about plans that come out of nowhere; I don’t need to worry about what I say to people I care about; and I don’t have to hurt people I care about. Apathy, while it is a wretched thing, is the place where I’m at my best - playing sports, video games, or otherwise…it’s disgusting but it’s the way it is. I’ve never cared about a thing in my life and I don’t want to completely fuck you over when I eventually stop caring about you.
As I’m typing this, I know I’m dropping a lot of shit on you. There’s no quick answer to this but I wanted all my thoughts down in a way where I can spit it all out without getting sidetracked or interrupted. Idgaf if you read this all or not.... I wish I could say I’m sorry.
I know I may have said before that our friendship will last, no matter the circumstances…but I am, and always have been, the problem. That’s not coming out of a place of self-deprecation, that’s the cold, unfortunate truth.
And...I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go. I've lost a lot of hope and I know I can't look to you for help anymore - because it brings me more misery than joy."
I had to read it a few times before responding. I didn't try to argue for the sake of our friendship. As much as I wanted it to continue, I knew it wouldn't be okay to force them when they were expressing a desire to separate. But in the same conversation, after writing this out to them, Dylan started to back-pedal. They suggested that maybe we should meet in person to discuss it more. Because there's "more that I didn't know about them". I immediately got suspicious and basically told them to fuck off; If they were done, they should just say it.
I was kinda angry at the whole falling-out for a while. Particularly how wishy-washy they seemed at the end after everything we'd gone through. I didn't know how to feel and I still don't now that I've started to miss Dylan. Or maybe the friendship we had before everything went to shit..? I also can't help but feel like I should tell the rest of my friends about it. But I don't know what they would do. Is it worth saying? Would it be too risky for the sake of our whole friend group? It's eating away at me. I feel as though I'm walking on eggshells every time I make plans with the friend group, because what if Dylan is there? What would they say to me, if anything? Is there anything left to say?

Kaplan is the worst platform I have ever seen for accessing test material. The system kicked me out after tech support hours when I had a scheduled time to study over the weekend. I answered all three security questions correct and then it said I’m locked out and I would receive and email. I am still locked out and no email. Customer service is closed until Monday morning. This is so incredibly frustrating. Not to mention that every time I navigate their pages I have to re login because it can’t remember me from one second to the next. But then even after I’m logged in I still have to answer security questions. This is insane. I can’t believe people use their system for more than one exam. I’m writing this 48 hours after being kicked out, their automatic system still hasn’t sent me a recovery email and I wasted the whole weekend time I had set aside to study.
I had lots of other complaints about their platform before being locked out from a weekend of study. Their site is too busy. You click around everywhere way too much. You are constantly opening new windows and being redirected. It’s not the friendliest user experience. Their explanations for the review questions are terrible and don’t actually teach you.
Also in case anyone is wondering what I’m comparing this to, acheivable is an Amazing financial test platform with incredible customer service. Their site is great and minimalist. The only reason I didn’t use them for he state insurance test is because they are a relatively newer company and didn’t have the insurance test material available yet. I used acheivable for sie, series 66 and the series 7. Great experience.

Considering it’s the word of God and all. Or did God just like writing fun stories in the Bible to spice up the imagination? (I say this in a fun and lighthearted way)

Wanted to share my experience doing crash course studying for 7 days and passing the SIE first attempt! I never post anything on here, but others posts made a big difference for me, so here goes!
TL;DR:
I passed my SIE yesterday after only 7 days of study. Intense! I used Pass Perfect, spent 50 hours studying total. If you only have a week or two before your test, DO NOT take a bunch of notes on everything! Read the content, take the quizzes and test, take notes on those answers and explanations!
VERY IMPORTANT: Use the two free Achievable SIE dump Sheets and watch both the S7g.u.r.u and S7 Whisperer 60 min crash course SIE YouTube videos the day before or day of test! I’ve included links at the bottom of this post. Be sure to memorize the dump sheet tricks and formulas, and decide what’s most important to reference. The test center gives you two laminated sheets and dry erase markers you can use as soon as the test timer starts. Be ready to write down key formulas, acronyms, timeframes, etc. Mine were the Options 4 square box, SLoBS & BLiSS, yield teeter totter and Key Open vs Closed end market notes. (All on the achievable dump sheets except Open/Closed Markets).
My Story:
In late April I was hired by Vanguard for a position starting May 28. I’d been a contractor doing customer service in an unlicensed VG position for about 10 months (no finance background before that); with the goal of getting hired in a licensed, permanent role within a year. I worked hard and got hired! The position requires SIE, S7 and S63. After my start date they pay me to do nothing but study and take exams for 9 or 13 weeks (depending on whether I’d passed the SIE prior to start date), which is awesome, but there’s a $5000 bonus if the SIE is passed at least a week before start date.
Note: I did have a little familiarity with basic terms and what’s required for account opening, due to my contractor position).
I originally scheduled my exam for May 13. I had about a month from hire date to May 13, and VG paid for the Pass Perfect course. I started some light studying the first week, thinking I had 3 more weeks and was on track. Then I got really sick for 2 weeks! I’m talking bed ridden, definitely no studying. So May 10 I rescheduled my exam to May 18! I had to pay $40 but figured it was well worth it not to fail, lol.
I was finally well enough to start studying on May 11, giving me 7 days. 😅 I had retained very little from my initial studying so I started over. I thought “I can do this!” I figured I’d had to do similar in college while working full time. Boy it was rough!
7 Days to PASS the SIE:
The first 3 days I had all day to study: Sat, Sun and Mon (had the day off for my original test date).
THE PLAN 41+ hours 5 practice tests, scoring at least 75%
Days 1-3 (full days) - 8+ hrs per day - Complete Pass Perfect Course (16 chapters) start to finish (reading and all quizzes, chapter tests)
Days 4-5 (Tues, Wed) - 5 hrs each day (2 before work and 3 after) - Take 1-2 Pass Perfect Final exams (1 hr 45 min each) each day, taking time to focus/take notes on anything I missed - Goal of 4 total tests, with 75% or higher on 3
Day 6 (Friday, day before the test) - 5 hours (2 hrs before work, 3 hours after) - Take 1 FINRA practice SIE exam before work (free on FINRA website) - after work, Review all Difficult Topics - Listen to S7g.u.r.u & S7 whisperer on YouTube. (They each have a 60 minute crash course review, recommended for day before or day of test). - Print out Achievable Dump Sheets - add my own notes to dump sheets
Day 7 (Day of Test) Test scheduled for 2pm (1:30 registration) - 2 hours Notes and Dump Sheets Review in morning - Leave for Test at 11:30, arrive 12:30 (45 min drive) - One last Review of Dump Sheets for 45 min, take a break before registration
Great Plan Right?! Wellll, I didn’t quite stick to it. 🤣
What Actually Happened: 52 Hours 4 Practice Finals (71% average)
Day 1 (Sat): 7 hrs Completed first 3 chapters, taking tons of notes on a Google doc, color coded and highlighted. I’ll do more tomorrow I thought, my brain is fried
Day 2 (Sun): 10 hours Completed chapters 4&5 again taking tons (too many) notes, taking quizzes and Tests multiple times, worried I wasn’t getting the concepts and terms well enough. Getting really worried about my pace now, but “hey I have tomorrow. I’ll crush it and catch up”. Maybe I won’t get to tests until Thurs.
Day 3 (Mon): 7 hrs (I was exhausted and burnt out, still not 100% from being sick) Chapter 6 OPTIONS… the death of me, soooo much to learn. Barely got through chapter 6. Full panic has now set in! I have to work full time the next 4 days!
Day 4 (Tues): 6 hrs ( 6pm-12am) Intense panic and anxiety, how the hell am I going to finish?! Screw notes, get through the chapters! Completed chapters 7-10 Whew, these chapters weren’t as bad, I think I remember a good amount. Better wrap this up tomorrow!
Day 5 (Wed): 5 hrs Very worried, but I’ll finish today and take lots of tests the next 2 days! Completed chapters 11-13 😫 OMG I’m still not done with the course and I have 2 days left!
Day 6 (Thurs): 6 hrs in the evening - Completed remaining chapters 14-16, course done 8pm. Whew, content done. Worried about not taking any tests yet, but at least I feel like I know the content decently! Took my first Pass Perfect Test, score 71% not as bad as I thought but that’s not a lot of margin for error! (Need 70% to Pass actual SIE test). At that point I’m calculating how much each point is worth, looking up suggestions online and praying, lol
Day 7 (Fri): 7 hrs Took 2 Pass Perfect tests, reviewing missed answers carefully and taking notes. Scores: 71% and 73%. Took FINRA SIE test (on their website), 69%. Omg I’m gonna fail tomorrow.
Friday night I thought “Hmm Maybe I can reschedule for Monday (the deadline to pass for bonus). Two more days and I get get this!” So I go to the Prometrics website and try to reschedule, seeing one slot for Monday at a site 2 hrs away… awesome.. NOPE, NOT AlLOWED less than 3 days before scheduled exam! So I called customer service, begged and told them I had been sick, since they said I could not reschedule the day before the test, I asked if they could cancel it and schedule a new appt for Monday? DENIED. So I take a deep breath and come to terms with it. This test is happening tomorrow. 😫
Friday night 9pm: As recommended by colleagues and online forums, I listen to S7 whisperer 60 min crash course on YouTube; no notes, listening in bed). Ok, learned some things, great overview/review. Maybe I can pull this off afterall..
Saturday, May 13… Day of Test (2-4pm)
7am woke up, ate a good breakfast, prepared everything I needed to take and do. Now what? Should I take another practice test? Review my notes? Listen to video? I decided no more tests, I’ll listen to the other crash course (S7g.u.r.u 60 min crash course on YouTube).
8am—11:30 Crunch time. Im determined to pass this exam!! Spent 3 hours listening to the 60 min S7g.u.r.u video, pausing when needed, replaying as needed. Took 11 pages of color coded notes on the most important points and formulas I needed to remember, mainly on Regulations (what market does it impact, what type of product, who, timeframes). I knew this was going to be at least 15% of test (I was right) and these were the main questions I missed on my Practice Finals
11:30am Renewed Faith 🙌 DAMN I learned a LOT. I’m gonna pass this thing! I was already getting low 70s on Thursday practice tests and I KNOW I learned enough from the video to pass several more questions. S7g.u.r.u literally saved me, pulling it all together in my mind!
12pm Went to UPS store, printed the 2 Achievable dump sheets and my 11 pages of notes from the video! I scanned them at every red light on the way 😂
12:59 arrived at test center. Spent 20 minutes reviewing dump sheets and drilling in my mind what to put on the 2 pages they give me for notes (specifically below and in links)
1:20 walk in, first one there.. registration complete at 1:35. To my surprise, they seat me and I can start test immediately!
As soon as the timer started my hands were flying on the 2 laminated sheets they gave me. I spent the first 15 min vigorously writing out things I wanted to reference. 90 minutes left for 85 questions. Watched the timer closely to stay on pace. Used the notepad on the test platform for each question to write out calculations, or break down what each part of the question meant, used critical thinking for answer, marking questions for review when I was stuck between 2 answers. Most importantly, I followed my gut. I knew this stuff! Used calculator for EVERY calculation, even easy ones. Finished all questions with 5 minutes remaining. Reviewed marked questions and changed only 3, if I was SURE my original answer was wrong.
I hit Sum it and hold my breath. OMG, does that say PASS?!!! Yes, I actually Passed! I cried out of happiness and relief, was on cloud 9. I will never cram like this again! S7 and S63 will be better, lol.
SO here’s how you can have a better experience than me if you’re a week or two away and wondering how you can possibly pull this off. YOU CAN DO IT!
TIPS FOR CRASH SIE STUDYING (learn from my mistakes)
1 NOTE TAKING: I’ve always learned best by taking a ton of notes, color coded on a google doc. Taking notes reinforces it in my brain and helps me find ways to remember it for myself. However, if you are crash course Studying for the SIE, you do NOT have time to do this, lol. Honestly I barely looked at those notes in the end.
TIP: Read through the content quickly and only take notes when it tells you it’s likely a testable question! Take all quizzes and tests, REVIEW the quiz/test answers (in PP the answers also give you a brief explanation of the concept) and take light notes on that! Do NOT replace reading with the videos! The first 4 chapters I tried to save time doing this and wondered why I was failing the chapter tests. The reading content had way more info than the video! Don’t shoot yourself in the foot!
2 DON’T SPEND TOO MUCH TIME on EARLY CONCEPTS! The earlier (and for the most part, less valuable - less test questions) content will be reinforced throughout course. Most of the concepts build over the course, so the basics are reinforced later anyway. I wasted several hours!
3 EXPECT 20-25 hours are needed to complete the course/learn the concepts! Give yourself a day on REGULATIONS and 5 hours on OPTIONS , these comprised a LOT of questions on the test, could make or break you!
4 TAKE at least 4 PRACTICE FINALS with a goal of 75%, but if you’re not improving, use the crash course Videos, learn the content! Don’t take 5 more tests in lieu of learning!
5 SPEND A FEW HOURS on (free) ACHIEVABLE DUMP SHEETS and S7g.u.r.u & S7 Whisperer crash course review videos on YouTube! I would not have passed without these! Reviewing them for 4 hours and using them for key points on my tests sheets saved my ass!
I’ve included links below for the FREE Achievable Dump Sheets and the 60 minute crash course videos. Feel free to message me for more help!
GOOD LUCK! It IS Possible to pass in a week!
SIE DUMP SHEETS: (scroll to bottom of the page):
https://achievable.me/exams/finra-sie/overview/#resources
S7g.u.r.u 60 min crash course
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hQRLmVspNE
S7 Whisperer 60 min crash course
https://youtu.be/_-x-RFmFAD0?si=i_ZDrrFIWuMOTK6A

I (30f) got married last year and my younger sister (25f) has been continuously telling everyone that is willing to listen that I'm a Bridezilla. I stand firm in my decisions and if I had to do it over I'd do it again. I was engaged for 10 years before getting married because we felt that we were too young to get married we were just getting to know ourselves much less each other but we were committed each other so we were happy with just being engaged. A little background on my sister Kate, we don't share the same father she isn't the youngest for my mother (I have another sister that follows her) but she acts like it. Ever since we were young she wanted everything I had to the point that whatever my father was taking to to give my mother for me he would just buy two so she wouldn't fight for mine (didnt work) mind you whatever her father brought for her was for her and her alone. I never gave into her tantrums even when I was a child I shared when I wanted to and ignored her when I didn't want to. I left home when I was 17 and went to live with my father bcuz her behavior never changed and I didn't want to live like that anymore. To some my life would be considered boring because I am introverted so my day to day life consists of me just going to and from work, other than the odd birthday vacation each year,I rarely go out. I do however buy nice things for myself bcuz I work hard for it and I deserve it. She complained to my mother once that I was showing off because I'm always buying my daughter (8) expensive things which I don't. As a way to teach my child the value of money she does her chores and earns her allowance which she has to save and at the end of the term she chooses what she wants to buy and if her savings isn't enough I will put the difference however because of the complaint that she made to my mother my daughter no longer wants to hang out with her cousins and I will not force her. Now to the story. Two years ago my fiance Rich and I decided to start planning our wedding but we were having issues because I'd rather elope and move on but he's so extroverted we were clashing on every decision from total guest to the wedding colours. After weeks deliberating and petty pranks (on both sides) we finally came to an agreement on the wedding colours so we decided to inform the family. My mother has a family dinner on my birthday and that's where I decided to make the announcement. My sister and her fiance were present and she jumped at the chance to beg for a double wedding and I immediately shot that down with an abrupt "No" and continued to eat my dinner. She started whining and complaining but my answer was no and I told her I had no reason to explain myself to her. When she realized that she wasn't getting anywhere with me she turns to my mother and starts complaining to which my mother told that it's my money and my wedding and I'm free to do whatever I wanted and her tantrum only got worse. In an effort to not ruin my birthday dinner my fiance explained to her that she and I had different personalities and liked different things and our friend circles were too different to even consider mixing them together but he was fighting a losing battle bcuz he wasn't equipped to handle that level of crazy. I turned to her and ask who would pay for her half of the wedding and who would buy her dresses as she is unemployed and her fiance at the time was just a trainee, she turned to me and asked me why would she have to pay for half of the wedding and at that statement I went back to eating. My fiance finally understood why my mother and I didn't even bother to explain anything further to her, he looked at her fiance and told him "I'm only getting married once so I going to do it right" and ended the conversation, she flipped out and left and her fiance had to gather her kids and ran behind her. I moved on with my wedding plans and everything was going along smoothly because money wasn't really an issue. I have a lot of family from both parents and both step parents so in order to pick bridesmaids I literally made a little lottery and picked their names out bag and I made a whole deal out of it by taking a video and sending it the various WhatsApp groups. I picked one sister (my big sister Kim) one cousin, one friend and one step sibling and we all lived happily ever after until the first rehearsal for my wedding. After the rehearsal we went to Pizza Hut and I posted a pic on my WhatsApp status of us all eating and goofing about and she messages me and ask how I'm hanging out with family and leaving her out to which I said were just hanging out after the wedding rehearsal so it's just the wedding party, she demanded to know why she wasn't chosen so I just sent her the video of my "lottery" bcuz it was so much easier than explaining it to her, she said nothing and i thought that was the end of it, I shouldve known better. When Kim went home she told my mother everything that happened at the rehearsal and how I was considering making it a child free wedding because of the chaos that happened at the rehearsal with all the kids of the bridesmaids and the groomsmen, I was traumatized lol. Kate asked her if my daughter would be there to which Kim replied and said yes she's the flower girl and the conversation ended there. That day Kate sent me a 14 minute voicenote which I ignored bcuz I've said it repeatedly if you cant say it in a minute just call me I'm not listening to that and I refuse to compromise on my boundaries especially with her. Because i didn't listen to the voicenote I didn't hear all the disgusting things she called me and my child that and Rich so I went about happily until the day the invites were sent out. My wedding colours were silver, rose gold and black however the only dress code stipulation I had was NO WHITE bcuz I wanted the only one to be in white. I had a busy day at work so I didn't look at my phone much but with the few glance I took I saw that the family group was buzzing so I made sure to check it as soon as work ended and I was shocked af. My sister was telling our entire extended family that not only did I not invite her to my wedding I was lashing out at having her son as my ring bearer and that the comment I had made about the white dress was directly aimed at her because I was telling people that she was trying to ruin my wedding and the evidence that she was using was that she wasn't made a bridesmaid, Thankfully I had persons defending me. I went into her inbox to ask her to cuss her out tbh and saw the 14 min vn and decided to listen and I was dead ass fuming after the first 30 seconds so I just forwarded the vn to the family chat and I sent a screenshot of the conversation that she and I had before the vn and I let them have all the evidence. I then publicly uninvited her to the wedding and I made sure to note that it was only her that was uninvited not her sons or her fiance their invites were still valid and they were more than welcomed there. I took a screenshot of that post and every time she posted on her status or her Facebook about how evil I was I would repost it and I did that right up until the day of my wedding. I am now happily married and have moved on with my life but since the wedding she's been using the excuse of me refusing to allow her to have a double wedding with me as her reasoning for her behavior and that I was Bridezilla bcuz of that. I don't feel like I should be obligated to do anything for anyone in the name of "family"especially if said family member is an overgrown toddler. I changed the names but this is my real so she might see it but I'm fine with it as I stand by every decision I made

I’m developing a tool to help certain small business increase their efficiency. However I’m at the stage where I am conducting market research and thus need a large amount of survey respondents. Would sending out the following message on social media (particularly Instagram) to businesses across the country be appropriate or do you have any feedback for improvement? I appreciate your help, thanks
————
Hi, my name is [my name]
Would you be willing to fill out an extremely brief question survey to help me better understand your business? More than 80% of respondents take < 2min to complete
To provide context, one of my passion projects outside of my normal job (data scientist based in [my city]) is developing a software tool in the next 6mon bringing the latest technology, particularly AI technology, to businesses like yours. I want to help you by…[list of 3 very brief ways on how I plan to provide value, all in 1 sentence]
As a token of my appreciation, once developed I would like to give you first access to the tool 100% for free and a 50% off exclusive offer on all premium features if you are able to complete the survey by [Date]
Thank you!

i’m a diehard hip hop fan, more specifically Kendrick, so most of this stuff I know by heart so why not make a post pointing out EVERY SINGLE wrong thing i can catch Pyro say. Im mostly making this since it pisses me off when people who have zero clue about something come in and try to sound confident as hell about it while getting countless things wrong. I will try to link proper sources for everything he got wrong as well. Enjoy! By the way when I say Dot it is Kendrick I’m talking about. And I will also put the time stamps of what i’m talking about
Also if i got something wrong please correct me so I can edit it. Most everything here should be correct however
First off and it isn’t Pyro, it’s Critikal, but talking about how youtubers in 2016 ruined diss tracks and Dot vs Drake is the first beef since then to make real diss tracks is so funny because Pusha T vs Drake happened in 2018 I believe so just goes to show how in touch they are
Okay once again something petty , it’s small but it kinda shows how much research was done from the get go, because Kendrick’s real name isn’t Kendrick Lamar, It is Kendrick Duckworth, Lamar is just his middle name. So it kinda shows the research level when you can’t get the dudes name right when you’re supposed to be saying the full name of both dudes.
4:50
Claim - Drake came from nothing thus Drake flexes money
Okay so this is the first major one I think. Drake did not come from nothing, he grew up in rich neighborhoods, more specifically Forest Hill in Toronto. Not to mention his father’s side of the family had many successful musicians. He grew up rich. This is why people dislike Drake as he tends to go on his records rapping about the hard hoods and shit like this when he grew up infinitely more wealthy than most other rappers.
5:05
Claim - Kendrick does not like Drake as he flexes too much
Not even close. The actual origin of their beef is said to come from Kendrick’s legendary verse on Control. It is said that after Kendrick made his verse Drake felt very disrespected and thus attempted to blacklist kendrick from various radio stations which didn’t work. Kendrick felt that Drake took the verse too personally when Kendrick was just being competitive(it is vital to note that every other artist Kendrick mentioned ignore it or praised him for it). And eventually the animosity just kept ramping up as many people began to perceive drake as a culture vulture due to the fact he’d rap about stuff such as hard life in the streets or gangs despite never growing up around that only because it was trendy at that time. Which funnily enough is what pyro is doing right now, he’s culture vulturing off the beef since it’ll give him money but doesn’t really care
6:00-8:00
I don’t see why bring up Pusha T vs Drake as this isn’t that relevant to the Dot beef. Not to mention he just skips over 90% of things said in the beef. But yea it’s not Adoeniss lmao.
8:15
Okay so that wasn’t a diss track. That’s a sneak diss, something very big to distinguish as in the hip hop community sneak disses are seen as a pussies way to start beef while trying not to. this is especially relevant to drake as one of the biggest criticism of drake is how often he sneak disses rappers. to the point dot himself mentioned it in one of the diss tracks. Also tory le ness. also again i don’t see why bring this up as it is not relevant to the Dot beef. It wasn’t even a beef in the first place megan never fired back nor did drake even say her name. just feels like padding runtime
9:15- 9:30
Why is bigfoot being brought up at all it is not relevant, i’ve said it like three time but it really isn’t you can skip over all this and not have missed a single thing
10:05
Claim - Megan’s law line is about drake
It isn’t, this is the line that kickstarted the nicki beef. Nicki’s husband and i think brother are both sex offenders, Megan’s line about Megan’s law references a law in america where it is required for the police to make a sex offenders information public. Maybe it can be about drake but it almost unanimously agreed it’s about nicki. Okay so i listened to everything he said, basically the same I said. So yea it’s probably not about drake only reason people think it is is because kendrick called him a predator
14:03
Metros booming track? For all the scary dogs? what? Everything else he said seems accurate however. He didn’t mention the prince and jackson line though which was specifically at drake
16:30
No, GKMC was the classic he was talking about. The actual line would be the classic is GKMC, the overhyped is TPAB and the prime was DAMN. This is the only one that makes sense as not many people see section 80 as a classic whereas GKMC is seen as the first of the four run classics by Kendrick. Also good kid and Maad City
21:14
They weren’t directly involved but essentially Drake was saying that all the dudes I collab with clear you because of me. And that you’re not even the biggest in your own label, cus I think him and SZA were both top dawg. Pyro also doesn’t mention the push up and give me 50 line despite being the fucking chorus
21:48
That’s not it? At all? What Rick ross was trying to say is that Drake is so insecure about his own music that he had to “leak” the song in order to see if the public liked it enough for him to officially release it
22:20
That’s not what he claimed at all either. The nose job thing is not about not giving credit to his mentors, it’s about how Drake is seen as confused about his race and how he never felt black enough and that he isn’t black enough. Pusha and Dot tackled the same thing head on. Hell Dot literally ended Euphoria by saying Drake shouldn’t say the n word no more. It’s nothing abt giving credit rather adding on to the fake narrative that’s chased Drake his whole career
23:35
Thats part but not the only reason. He used the voice of the most iconic west side rapper ever to diss and make fun of tue current best west side rapper. This is why that became so controversial among the hip hop community, which he doesn’t mention. Because it’s corny to use the voice of a dead man to diss a dude who’s seen as the protege of Tupac and the current rep of the west coast.
25:48
It’s small but hearing Pyro act like DMX is just “some random rapper that passed away that said the same thing” is so annoying. Like bro isn’t a legendary rapper himself. It’s the equivalent of saying “oh yea and this interview of this one boxer, Mike Tyson idk if yk him, said the same shit”
26:13
No he isn’t saying that because Drake isn’t an activist he’s saying that because of the fact that Drake grew up super wealthy, but likes to act and pretend like he had a hard up bringing. The black enough just comes form the way Drake is perceived as a culture vulture who likes to pretend to live a life he didn’t.
29:33
Most people don’t care about writers. Kanye is a legendary rapper and he was well known for having writers in his track. The problem comes from when you attempt to portray yourself as an incredible writer when in reality you have 20 dudes doing it and you ignore that part. What makes it funnier is that Kendrick actually mentioned this in Euphoria I believe with the “It’s 1v20 with all the writers”. Essentially it’s the same as an athlete taking steroids but pushing himself as clean. Just makes you feel fake, which again is the main narrative around drake
31:00
Thing is that it wasn’t just his son, he literally addresses each family member, including his father. Also the predator line is referencing his father, and also Baka who’s an actual sex offender, so idk why mention that but not mention who it is he’s talking abt
Okay, so I think that’s it. Pyro weirdly left out vital parts of the beef such as how Drake was constantly alluding to Dots wife cheating with the bodyguard. Or other stuff like that. Or just not explaining certain bars and what they mean when it’s like 20 seconds at most. Or why some backlash occurred or like leaving certain things that can paint a picture of why Drake lost which is what he’s attempting to do. Such as him leaving out the fact that the Tupac part got backlash because of the west coast connection. Or how Drake isn’t critiqued for flexing but rather pretending to live a life he never did just because it’s trendy
In other words it just sounds like a white dude who’s never even listened to one song by either artist trying to make money off of it. Stick to Sunnyv2 and inflated furry porn pyro.

I have no idea if this has ever happened to anyone else, and perhaps I was the one in the wrong, but I still felt like I needed to share my experience with you.
Basically, ever since I started ChatGPT many months ago, I've been using many different conversations, but there was one that I always used since it helped write a personal project of mine. I hadn't realised until today just how long this convo was. Just to give a good representation, I've copied and pasted its entirety in a Word document, and it calculated that there were approximately 85 000 words. Safe to say that it was pretty substantial. On top of that, I had successfully created the exact context that I wanted for ChatGPT to better understand and answer my questions.
All was going well, when out of nowhere, ChatGPT offers me a free trial for GPT-4o. How could I refuse? Free? Don't mind if I do! That was yesterday, or the day before, I don't remember. But, one of the first things I did was test the feature which allows it to analyze an attachment, and it worked just fine. Of course, I used this feature in my main convo, as it was part of my personal project. The day passed and nothing really happened, so I moved on and didn't really use the features of GPT-4o anymore, as I didn't need to for my project.
Fast forward to today. As I'm continuing to use my main convo, I get a notice saying that my free trial is over. I'm like ok, let's switch back to GPT-3.5. But that's the thing, I can't. Why? Because I've sent an attachment, once... I try to delete it, but of course, I can't either. What kind of crap is that? Every other message and answer, I can remove or modify just fine, but not attachments? This is just ridiculous... So, I'm basically locked out of my main conversation on which I've passed the last monthts working on to get ChatGPT to get a good grasp on the narrative and universe of my project...
You can bet that I wasted no time in contacting the support of OpenAI. Safe to say that it was fruitless. They asked me to just manually re-enter the entirety of my convo or just key points. Yeah, right 85 000 words... That's gonna be fun! I can't just copy and paste everything because of the data limit per message. I believe it is around 600 words max. Therefore, I'll just never use that convo again and start a brand new one! Yay! What a good way to advertise your products, OpenAI! Guess what? That was the final nail in the coffin for me... I'm never gonna buy anything from you.

Hi All. Recently got PMP (yayy!!). Here's my cover letter and resume for your quick review. Current experience managing agile projects = 7 years. Targetting Senior Project Manager roles.
Cover letter
Dear [Hiring Manager’s Name],
I am writing to express my interest in the Project Manager position at [Company Name]. With more than 7 years of experience in project management, I am confident in my ability to drive successful outcomes for your team.
In my current role at [], I am leading a cross-functional teams to deliver projects on time and within budget, consistently exceeding expectations. My skills in strategic planning, stakeholder management, and risk mitigation make me a strong candidate for this position.
I am excited about the opportunity to bring my expertise to [Company Name] and contribute to its success. Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the possibility of discussing how my background aligns with the needs of your team.
Sincerely,
Resume
https://preview.redd.it/1zqmt0gp4h1d1.png?width=660&format=png&auto=webp&s=3bbe59bfedc1f7c72c72f9948af71da6d04cacf7
https://preview.redd.it/v6or2hkr4h1d1.png?width=712&format=png&auto=webp&s=0774f50b99bff5afa5721dce9bf21e4af771e22c

I work in Sr Management at a pretty significant company, we recent started posting for some Manager level positions.
My kids both play hockey, and over the winter we played alot of games before this one kids rep team. The kid is a jerk, he plays his music loud in common areas, he shoots the ball around in the hallways away from the rink and has hit a few kids, he goes to stick and puck and steals the pucks from kids just learning how to play. Like I said an overall jerk!
Evey time I see his dad just sitting around chatting with his friends, ignoring his kids actions.
So, imagine my suprise when I see the dad in front of me for an interview (I have never actually spoken to him or know his name, he obviously had no idea who I was). As the interview went on all I could think about was how his kid must have learned that jerky behaviors from somewhere and what can I expect from someone who let's his kid act this way.
He interviewed very well, in fact I thought he was the best, but decided to pass on him just because of his jerky kid, im sure he has no idea, im curious if he says hi to me at the rink?