Bob cuts with layers

Girlswithbobcuts

2023.04.05 05:57 ttaywgnik Girlswithbobcuts

A SFW media subreddit of women with Bob Cuts.
[link]

2011.05.03 21:19 FemaleHairAdvice

Welcome to femalehairadvice! We are a community focused on hair advice for women, non-binary, trans, and gender non-confirming individuals. We have a zero tolerance policy for hateful, negative content, and hair fetishism.
[link]

2024.05.19 21:45 ItzASecretBoi Attempting to remove VeinMiner, but I can't find it. [Help?]

Hey, if you've clicked on this post, your probably willing to help me out real quick, I'm working on a vanilla ++ modpack for a modded game with me and my buddies, but for some reason I have Vein Miner, which I personally would like to remove. Unfortunately for me I can't find it and I've scanned this pack like 5 times now, and I cannot for the life of me find the Vein Miner mod.
If anyone glances at this and just so happens to know the culprit, thanks!
submitted by ItzASecretBoi to feedthebeast [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 21:32 slucky_7 [SF] Flying rock

A loud blast in gulfs the small life less camp, a bigger explosion hits the barn and a huge rock hits it's roof. Rushing to the scene five fire fighters in one truck, as Soon as they arrive three start to grab the hose and the last two prepare the water by turning the small wheel to run the water.The last turn and the rushing water comes flying out pushing the men back, they lift the hose aiming for the barn.Three hours later the fire has rested, the barn covered in black ash lays lifelessly on the ground in the black charred dirt, the men sift looking for victims. An hour later they hit and find something massive at first one thought it was a burnt up ash of a cow, but then they found a massive rock! The fore men cautiously take a look to find it was still very hot and still smoldering in the ground. The men call the police and anyone who could help them identify this unearthly rock.The police arrive with a few towns people who were professors at the nearby college, looking and studying the rock one professor came to conclude that it wasn't a rock, but a huge meteorite that made its way from space to earth. As soon as the professor told the people they decided to remove it, two hours later a crane arrived to pick up this massive meteorite the tow truck backed up and the man hoped out wrapping the old rusted chains around it giving it a tug to check the chains, he gets in the truck and presses the accelerator gently. Not bearing the meteorite suddenly becomes engulfed in flames once more, the people who were standing there are now apart of the black silted dirt that surrounds the rock, two of the firemen call for backup and drives away giving it room.The meteorite then moves forward towards the small pool of water near the barn, touching the water the meteorite suddenly explodes killing the remaining people surrounding, the helplessly bodies charred and smoldering lay as if they were two the barn.The meteorite then shifts into the earth turning into a smaller lengthy slithering object. Twenty minutes have past and the backup arrives, the firemen hop out looking at a field covered in ash and the charred bodies of their friends, the fire truck still on fire burns away into the deep smoke filled darkness of the night. Holding a small memorial a couple days later the town mourns the loss of it's fellow friends and fire fighters and the sons of the men as they are carried in
there small wooden caskets with a red white and blue flag with fifty stars.The wife's of the men weeped until their eyes were dry. Lowering into the ground the caskets moved slowly into the layered brown dirt, the fire men speak to the town leaving peaceful words. The next day the firemen are called to a small brushfire near the towns edge were the cemetery and the church are located, speeding down the dirt road they arrive to find that the fire has not yet reach any structures, rushing out they grab shovels and pix axes to dig trenches around the main structures, on doing so the fire grows bigger each second.The wind picked up carrying the flames towards the helpless men and the church, the pine trees surrounding the church suddenly catch fire as if they were fuel, the men trapped run into the church hoping for a miracle. Praying and sitting the men wait, wait for their last breath into the fire. The church now on fire starts to collapse with giant beams falling into the middle, one of the men is struck and killed instantly as the other men watch, crying the other men are inflamed and burning with their suit melting. Running the men fall laying on the ground charred and killed. The town now mourns the loss of more men and the loss of their church, standing near the water on the other side of town they let the caskets peacefully float and flow down the river bobbing down and up traveling towards the wooden bridge.The community now devastated does whatever possible to prevent more fires. Couple quiet and peaceful months later the wells dry up, people now only now have one source of water and it's the old shallow river, the river used for transportation has never been consumed of by humans.The townspeople do not like to drink from the river because they have seen the animals that have done so and died because of the contaminated water.Taking the water the towns people boil and make sure the water is crystal clear, floating down the Rivera small boat arrives with a black small tank to store the water for the people. Only having enough to last them for a couple weeks. Two weeks later three people have died of dehydration and worse the river has dried up.The townspeople call for help but no one responds. Curious the sheriff leaves to go out to the other town, reaching the end of the town crossing into the other county the sheriff is suddenly stopped by a gunshot to his tires, rushing from behind a small tree and foliage three camouflaged soldiers in uniform yell and tell the sheriff to stop.The sheriff walking out of the vehicle tells the soldiers
not to shoot and that he is the sheriff, uncaringly the soldiers then shoot him in the knee making flesh and bone fly off and exposing the muscle and bone that is now destroyed by the bullet, crying and laying on the ground the sheriff crawls toward the soldier asking why he shot him, the soldier then answers with his gun firing once more in the sheriffs skull splitting it and exposing the oozing brains that soak into the dry ground. Worried the townspeople wait for the sheriff to return with more water, they wait for three hours before sending a search party with two people, two young men in their early twenties load up into the truck, the men grabbed two guns one .308 lever action rifle and the other a 16 gauge shotgun, following the tire tracks of the sheriffs vehicle they finally come across his vehicle. Getting out of the truck the two men cautiously step out and walk up inspecting the vehicle, stepping into the blood soaked ground the men find two bullet casings marked m.i. USA NATO .223, recognizing the case one man says that this is a military weapon that this case was fired from the other man in disbelief agrees and searches more for more clues. Looking at the car one man sees that one bullet pierced the tires, but looks for the location of were the other one has hit.The blood that they stepped in is now almost soaked into the ground.The men look once more and them crawls back into the truck driving forward toward the car. Inching closely to the vehicle a loud boom and a shriek of a bullet comes piercing through the window into the passengers jaw splitting and tearing the flesh from his mouth.The lower jaw is now gone, teeth now litter the floor and on the dashboard with flesh and blood covering the seat.The passenger shrieking in pain cant speak, he mumbles and makes noises that is unrecognizable, the driver panicking ducks and slams the gas crashing into the vehicle, flying through the windshield the driver slams into the back of the car breaking the glass perching his flesh on his face.The driver then crawls into the vehicle hoping not to get shot, soldiers rush to the truck to find a moaning guy who half of his jaw is gone, they forcefully yank him and throw him to the dirt covered ground, his clothes covered in dust he now knows he is not gonna live very long. The sun is now setting on the small town of the twenty three people that is left, clouds start to build up and it now begins to rain, people rushing out of there homes grab any kind of device to catch the rain in, thirty minutes pass and It is now dark and a light drizzle still falls.The parents of the two sons wait till its eight the expected arrival time of the men. Eight comes very slowly with the parents waiting eagerly to meet there children once more. Eight thirty passes and no
signs of any vehicle or their children come.The parents now worried begin to panic and and wait a little more.While waiting the parents fall into a deep sleep not waking until ten the next morning.The chickens pecking at the ground begin to die slowly due to starvation, the ants slowly eat and surround the dead chickens in swarms.The townspeople now all awake begin to make plans to search for all of the people that are missing, the mayor of the town decides split into four, three people stay in town and five groups of four are made each taking a side of the town. Slowly walking away you can hear the voices of the people calling out the names of the loss. Footsteps cover the ground following the tire tracks, each person inspecting every part of the surroundings as much as possible.Thirty minutes later they get a glimpse of a smoke cloud up ahead, smelling burning rubber the black thick smoke surrounds the group, covering up their noses and mouth they search both vehicles. One person yells out to the others that he found one man on the ground burnt to a crisp smoldering. Dragging the body the flesh melts into the persons hand burning and stinging his flesh, unable to drag the body anymore the group panics and runs toward the town, running through the thick dead grass and bushes a small beeping noise alerts the group, the leader suddenly is instantly vaporized into a cloud of flesh and blood, realizing that they have ran into a minefield.The people seeing the aftermath of the mines begin to freak out and spread. Returning to the small town the four groups meet back up to discuss what they have found.They begin to count to make sure all twenty three are there, but they see four are still gone, waiting they here yelling from afar. Hearing the yelling all of the groups run out too see what the noise is.A dust covered man runs out of the dead dry grass towards the group, once reaching the group the man falls to his knees and cries and mumbles. Curious of why he is crying the people start to question him. Two days later three more people have died of starvation, the town not knowing what to do decides to dig and find water.The mayor calls for a meeting at the center of the town, all of the townspeople gather and listen to the mayor.The mayor speaks about digging and where they should dig, after the long pointless speech the townspeople gather digging supplies such as shovels pix axes and more, traveling to the location the people begin to chomp away at the rock hard sandy dirt.
Five hours later a man in his early thirties hits a hard piece of metal of some sort, curious they begin to dig around it. Reaching one side they decide to leave it a dig around it, but one man curious still wants to dig it out. It was now dark and no water has been found, without the water no one will be able to work any longer, but one man still out working is still trying to dig up the huge metal round rock. Giving up he shoots his anger towards the rock hitting it as hard as he could with the pic axe, as soon as he hit it the third time the rock began to move, freaking out the man began to run but was struck by a piece of limestone going through his abdomen killing him.The rock is now gone a afar where no one will reach it again. The next morning the townspeople awoke to find the body of the man and also the weapon, the limestone was small and rectangular in shape. Inspecting the body one man believes it was one of the townspeople that killed him, another man also agrees and begins to investigate. Rushing towards a small house outside of town the two men slam open the door and barge in, the man laying in his bed is grabbed and beaten, the man questions the men, the men answer by telling him that he is a murderer, puzzled the man tells them that he is not, but sure they take him out to the center of the town. Coming out of their homes the townspeople are surprised and also believe that he is the murderer. Five men and one woman look for anything they can burn, finding sticks and logs they begin to stack them into a bed, the bed now made is the final resting place for the accused murderer. Walking towards the bed the murderer begins to cry and shout out, but no one cares, once laying on the bed the man is bound by his hands by a small rope. Struggling on the bed another man lights a torch and throws it under the bed, catching on fire the wood slowly burns, the man now covered in flames is heard from far away yelling and crying with screams of pain. Smoke covers the town and the smell of burning flesh smothers the noses of the people around.Two hours later the bed is now completely burned down, all that is left is a small pile of ash and a burnt bones of the man. Digging a hole the townspeople push the ash in and bury him to be lost forever. With now fourteen people left in the town the mayor gives up, he waits in his small dirty house alone for any hope.Two days past and no signs until one man is seen digging in the dried up river, the mayor catching a glimpse of him steps outside to get a better view, stepping out side the mayor stands watching from
afar.Twenty minutes pass and the man begins to yell, the mayor hearing and seeing him rushes towards him as fast as possible. Getting closer the mayor can see a small pool of water beneath the mans feet, in joy the mayor calls the townspeople telling them to dig again. Only three people show up by the river telling the mayor that the others are to tired and need water to work, grabbing the shovels the people begin to dig, the mayor runs to his house and grabs buckets to fill. One hour has past and the mayor now has five buckets of water, preparing the fire to boil the water a small woman stands waiting for the fire to spark off, the fire finally catches and is burning furiously, grabbing the water she begins to boil one bucket at a time. People now begin to show up waiting for there chance to finally taste some liquid.
submitted by slucky_7 to shortstories [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 21:00 breezedargon Extremely leggy rhody

Extremely leggy rhody
I just bought a house with a severely neglected yard. My current project is rejuvenating 3 rhododendrons. They have just finished blooming this year and only have two layers of leaves. I was reading that you shouldn't cut back more than 1/3rd of the leaves but I can't cut anything without cutting all the leaves from the branch. I've started cutting the truly dead branches from the bottom. Any advice on how to help these?
submitted by breezedargon to rhododendron [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 20:40 goh00sgo Hair Cut & Treatment Experience in Seoul

Hi! Here is my experience getting an hair cut in Seoul:
Price: I did a lot of research on hair salons in Seoul and decided on The Day's Hair in Hongdae after finding it on Creatrip. I booked a hair cut package(Cut+Wash+Styling) a month before arriving in Seoul. They had a special on Creatrip for this salon where you get a free hair treatment if you write a review after the cut. The hair treatment is generally prices at $30 so I thought it was a great deal. I paid a deposit of $3.76 through Creatrip and paid the rest, $20.89 at the salon.
Experience: I scheduled the cut the first day of my trip so booked the first appointment. They did a quick consultation with me to understand what kind of cut I wanted. The stylist was very communicative and suggested styles that would suit my face but was not too pushy with her recommendations. I decided on face framing bangs with long layers. However, I did kinda leave it to her on how she wants to do it cause she seemed to have a great vision on what would suit my face the best.
She first washed my hair, did the free hair treatment(put on the treatment and then put a steaming machine on my hair) and then got to cutting my hair. The ease and clarity she cut my hair with was super cool to watch. Then she asked how I wanted my hair styled and I really wanted the effortless waves like kpop idols so she started styling my hair with a curling iron after drying it. I curl my hair often but i've never been able to curl it like she did. It looked exactly like a kpop idol's hair.
She also did offer my iced tea/coffee while styling my hair which is very common in salons in korea.
After styling, I paid the rest of amount. I didn't get to write a review for them for the free hair treatment until weeks later but they didn't ask me while paying and were pretty chill about it.
Conclusion: This salon was pretty budget friendly but I think they did a really good job. Hair stylists in Korea, no matter where you go, are extremely skilled and my results were amazing and the service was great so would 100 percent recommend!
Side Note: Foreign friendly salons tend to be a bit overpriced, if you can speak a bit of korean or are ok with using papago I would recommend local salons. I messaged a few local korean salons through kakao talk for hair wash and styling for later in my trip and let them know I'm a foreigner and they were all okay with it. However, wash and styling is usually on a walk-in basis and when I visited a clinic they were too busy so wasn't able to get my hair styled but the price was under $10 in local salons.
submitted by goh00sgo to koreatravel [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 20:31 Marsguy1 How to build up this concrete step to make it a ramp?

How to build up this concrete step to make it a ramp?
Concrete folks! This pathway connects my side yard to the sloped driveway which makes it a pain every week to take the trash out. I'd like to build a ramp to avoid this issue, and I've only done concrete work once before (putting a post in the ground). A lot of tutorials I've seen online reference pouring a new slab, but in this case I want to know *the right thing* to do when pouring on top of a 25+ year old slab with (so far) no cracking. See second photo for dimensions.
https://preview.redd.it/c6xypjknac1d1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2c5e7328fb139dd18b782069c1f4b0df808faf8b
My plan is to do it in two parts: 1) Build up a "platform" directly in front of the step to the driveway. 2) Build a ramp down the side (upper left of second photo), not quite ADA spec but probably 60-72 inches to make it an easier hill to climb, make it so I can push grandmother's wheelchair to the backyard. (I will not be driving on this obviously, but might move heavy equipment on it.)
https://preview.redd.it/ywz55r5bbc1d1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0b0f856a072aca95653418f948656fae67859627
Here's what I've come up with so far based on what I could find online:
  1. (Somehow??) Drill two 3/8" holes into the rise of the existing step about 12" deep, halfway up (so, ~2.75") and stick a 3' piece of #3 rebar into each hole. At 3' it'll be about 6" from the edge. Get some rebar chairs to hold it up at the end. Find some kind of adhesive so the rebar will be secured inside the holes. Position the Homex expansion joint against the existing step, on top of the rebar (Homex is only 3-1/2", so I guess the bottom 2" of concrete will be touching the existing concrete?)
  2. Clean, powerwash the existing concrete surface and layer on some concrete primer using a roller brush.
  3. Build a form for the 30" by 36" section using 2 x 8 (I also have a bunch of 1" x 10" plywood - is that strong enough to hold the concrete in place?. Use other rebar to hold corners of the form in place. (Concerned about it leaking out the sides / down the end.
  4. Get a remesh wire mesh and cut it down so there's a 2 inch gap from the edges, so ~26" by ~32". Place it onto the two pieces of rebar + tie it into place.
  5. Mix a small amount of concrete to create a slurry over the existing slab. Let it cure for a few hours, Then mix ~450 lb of concrete (I have a 45 gallon tub) and pour into the form. Use an edger around the edges and broom sweep the top. Give it about 24 hours before removing the form. (I have a bunch of pea gravel, can I mix that in to the bottom to take up space?
  6. Wait about 3 days for the concrete to cure. Basically repeat the process for the ramp: drill holes into the fresh slab for more rebar, clean and prime existing surface, cut wood along a diagonal to make a sloped form, cut out a wire mesh, add homex against the edge of the fresh slab only, mix and pour in a single shot, use an edger, and try to line up the cross "lines" in the slab with the existing "lines" in the old slab. (Is there a step I can do earlier to simplify the subsequent "ramp" pour?)
Is there something I'm missing here? Is there any way I can simplify the work? Is there a step I'm doing wrong? If I just buy crack-resistant concrete can I skip the rebar and wire mesh? Is this too complicated as a DIY if I haven't done slab work previously? My nightmare is concrete leaking out of the form and seeping onto mine or the neighbors' yard.
Thank you so much for your help!
submitted by Marsguy1 to DIY [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 19:58 RBlond Layers - not sitting right. Is it fixable?

Layers - not sitting right. Is it fixable?
Hi all,
I have recently had my hair done. I have to go back next week to get a section fixed color wise but I've also realised my layers are just not working with each other.
When my hair settles the top layer is giving me a mushroom head as it curls under and doesn't blend into the rest of my hair.
I'm used to doing a bouncy blow dry style of look but it just isn't working.
Is this fixable without having lots of my overall length cut off? I just don't know what the best option is other than to grow them out and was hoping there's a way I could ask for them to to make them look better.
submitted by RBlond to Hair [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 19:55 Peemlock Text to Openpose and Weird RNN bugs

I want to create AI that generate openpose from textual description for example if input "a man running" output would be like the image I provided Is there any model architecture recommend for me?
my data condition is
expected output
I trying to train RNN for this task and I use sentence transformer for embedding text and then pass to RNN and the loss is look like image below
from sentence_transformers import SentenceTransformer sentence_model = SentenceTransformer("all-MiniLM-L6-v2") text = "a man running" text_input = torch.tensor(sentence_model.encode(text), dtype=torch.float)
loss image with num_layers=3
My RNN setting
embedding_dim = 384 hidden_dim = 512 num_layers = 3 output_dim = 180 num_epochs = 100 learning_rate = 0.001 rnn_model = RNN(embedding_dim, hidden_dim, num_layers, output_dim)
but the problem is whatever I input the output is the same everytime! but when I try changing num_layers to 1 and keep other setting the same like this
embedding_dim = 384 hidden_dim = 512 num_layers = 1 output_dim = 180 num_epochs = 100 learning_rate = 0.001 rnn_model = RNN(embedding_dim, hidden_dim, num_layers, output_dim)
the loss now look like this loss image with num_layers=1 and now the problem is gone !!
Also I try to check the cause of the "output is the same everytime" problem I check dataloader and other code but no problem was found only num_layers=3 that cause the problem num_layers=1 fixed it
This is my training loop
criterion = nn.MSELoss() optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(rnn_model.parameters(), lr=learning_rate) trainingEpoch_loss = [] validationEpoch_loss = [] for epoch in range(num_epochs): step_loss = [] rnn_model.train() for idx, train_inputs in enumerate(train_dataloader): optimizer.zero_grad() outputs = rnn_model(torch.unsqueeze(train_inputs['text'], dim=0)) training_loss = criterion(outputs, train_inputs['poses']) training_loss.backward() optimizer.step() step_loss.append(training_loss.item()) if (idx+1) % 1 == 0: print (f'Epoch [{epoch+1}/{num_epochs}], Step [{idx+1}/{len(train_dataloader)}], Loss: {training_loss.item():.4f}') trainingEpoch_loss.append(np.array(step_loss).mean()) rnn_model.eval() for idx, val_inputs in enumerate(val_dataloader): validationStep_loss = [] outputs = rnn_model(torch.unsqueeze(val_inputs['text'], dim=0)) val_loss = criterion(outputs, val_inputs['poses']) validationStep_loss.append(val_loss.item()) validationEpoch_loss.append(np.array(validationStep_loss).mean())
This is my Inference
text = "a man running" processed_text = torch.tensor(sentence_model.encode(text), dtype=torch.float) output_poses = rnn_model(processed_text.unsqueeze(0)) print(output_poses.shape) #shape=(1, 180) 1 person is 36 (original data for 1 person is 54 but I change to 36 because I want only x and y and not z so cut out the z axis) and there's 5 person so 5*36 = 180
My question is
  1. Is there any model architecture recommend for this task other than RNN?
  2. Why whatever I input the output is the same everytime when num_layers=3 I'm very confused because the loss wouldn't go down if the model was giving the same output right? that's mean it give the same output in the Inference phase
Expected Answer
  1. Model architecture that suit best for my task any papers or github repo related given would be appreciated
  2. Answer why whatever I input the output is the same everytime when num_layers=3
submitted by Peemlock to learnmachinelearning [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 19:30 thesilverpoets96 Song of the Week: We’ll Go Too

https://youtu.be/kKTWybNRR3Y?si=nmPCk4Ex5xKKbsdq
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/tragicallyhip/wellgotoo.html
Hello everyone, I hope all is well. Today we are going to be looking at the song “We’ll Go Too” which is the seventh song from the band’s third studio album Fully Completely.
This is a song where on first listen you might not think it’s as catchy or as important as other songs on this near perfect album. But the more you listen to it, the more it starts to gel with ya. It begins with this bright chugging guitar riff that is simple but drenched in reverb, with a tone that reminds me of the 80’s. It’s followed quickly by a fast strum of a distorted guitar, Sinclair’s bass and Johnny’s hi hat. Afterwards, that distorted guitar comes down and plays some nice arpeggios to give the song dynamics. It’s a huge sounding intro and it transitions nicely into the verses. I especially love the rhythm of this song. I believe it’s in a 4/4 time signature but it definitely has a swing to the drums which gives it a march type feel to fit with the song’s title.
Lyrically, this song appears to have different themes that we’ll break down, one by one. First, Gord sings “to boldly clap, in a room full of nothing.” It’s a funny thing to imagine but I see it as someone wanting to stand out in a crowd. Which in a sense is what most performers try to do. The second part of the verse is “museum's locked and it's long since past closing” which of course reminds me of the line from “Wheat Kings” where Gord sings “ it’s a museum and we're all locked up in it after dark.”
But the following lyric in this song, “you cannot know, you cannot not know, what you're knowing” is also worth noting. Again, it’s a comical line that contradicts itself, but I read it as someone who’s maybe unsure about something because they are unsure about themselves. This whole first verse could be through the perspective of someone who’s afraid of looking like idiot for wanting to stray from a social norm and of being afraid of not knowing the way to do it.
Now when the band launch into the chorus, this is the part that took a bit to grow on me. The music during the chorus is great and I have no issues with it. It’s more the way that Gord sings the chorus that threw me for a loop. It’s the note and more specially the way that Gord sings the word “what.” To my ears at first, the note just seemed a little wrong or a little off. It almost sticks out like a sore thumb. I’m not sure if that’s just a “me” thing or if that’s what Gord intention was. But now I have no issues with it and in fact I think the melody is extremely catchy now.
And lyrically, I think this chorus is from a similar perspective. Gord sings “what can we do? They’ve all gone and we’ll go too.” This sounds like someone, or a group of people, realizing that they can’t do anything to make themselves stand out so they’ll just follow everyone else. So if the crowd goes, then they will too. And it’s possible that this chorus is sung from the same person in the verse. Maybe this is them realizing they just have to follow the norm. And speaking of following things, I absolutely love the little guitar riff that follows the chorus. It’s fun, playful and really fits the vibe of the song. It starts off with some slower picking before doing some nice hammering ons to make it more bouncy.
In the second verse, Gord starts off by painting a picture of opening the curtains everyday as if he’s stuck in a routine. The real telling line to me is “I don’t know why, I’m so immunized against reforming.” It’s like this person is not sure why they are against the idea of making a change. It seems like they don’t want to follow the herd but can’t help themselves. The lyric “to coldly slap at a face full of nothing” is a nice counter balance to the very first line in the song. And the lyric “You never know, it could've been one of those looks of longing” is maybe the idea that this person is looking for the look on someone else’s face that tells them that they aren’t alone in feeling this way.
After another chorus we get this extremely tasty solo from Rob. It’s not overly long or self indulgent, but it has the perfect amount of delay to sound huge and still fit the song. Coming out of the solo we get one final chorus and one final guitar riff to end the song.
This song may be one that a lot of people skipped over on the first listen to this album. I know I was one of those people. But over the years it’s actually become one of my favorites. I feel like this song has a different sound than a lot of other Hip songs. The pocket that Sinclair and Johnny play in is extremely tight, the various licks that Rob and Paul play throughout the song really work well within in the groove, the production is perfect like the rest of the album and the lyrics feel relatable once you peel back their layers.
But what do you think of this song? Would you considered this song a deep cut? What do you think the song is about? Favorite lyrical or musical moments? And have you seen this song live?
submitted by thesilverpoets96 to TragicallyHip [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 19:18 Lextej Tracing multiple images with different pass counts

In LightBurn, I'm trying to assign different pass counts per layer, so in layer 1 I get a nice clean and thin engrave (with only 2 pass counts), and layer 2 for cutting the outline with 6 pass counts.
But I'm not finding how to do this.
Not sure if LightBurn just cant do this. In this case, what other software could?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
submitted by Lextej to lasercutting [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 19:00 ratcatcherriley2 Need advice on curbing my weed addiction

hello all, as the title suggests, i an looking for some advice on helping cut back on my weed consumption, as it’s gotten to the point where I am starting to get concerned.
For context, i’ve been smoking infrequently since i was about 14,then once i turned 16 i started smoking more regularly. Before I turned 16 my mom was heavily against me smoking weed but was also an avid smoker herself, leading to me sneaking some of her weed out or buying weed with the money she gave me for food. this was only on days where I knew i wouldn’t have to interact with her, because I knew she would be mad if she found out. Once I turned 16 however, my mom completely flipped a switch and went from forbidding me from smoking to straight up supplying it to me, giving me 7 grams a week. This constant stream of weed combined with no one telling me to stop anymore led to me smoking multiple times a day. I know that the issue also isn’t going to resolve itself, as i’ve noticed that I’ve been going through the normal amount of weed i smoke faster and faster, and it takes multiple bowls to get the same effect. I smoke right when i wake up to right before I go to bed, as I literally cannot sleep without it. I understand that this is an addiction, and i also understand how weed is kind of a silly addiction to have (yes i have seen the bob saget skit, “you ever such dick for weed?”)
i am starting to see how this addiction is effecting almost every spect of my life. no matter how much sleep i get , im always tired. the same hobbies that used to excite me now leave me bored, and my sexual libido is almost none existent. I also fear this his having an effect on my girlfriend, as she lives with me and went from not smoking at all to smoking multiple times a day like me . my biggest fear is knowing that i’m actively helping her form the addiction that has me in such a chokehold.
I guess what I’m asking for is someone who has been in my situation and understands how it feels that was able to conquer their addiction to give me some advice on how to conquer mine.
submitted by ratcatcherriley2 to Advice [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 18:51 Maleficent_Bag_1062 My best friend wears a face mask

When I was in junior high a transfer student arrived in the middle of the semester; a kid that was different from everyone else. Right away he had caught my eye, in fact he caught everyone's attention because he had a very unique disability; he couldn’t speak. I guess you could say he was deaf, though it was clear to me after getting to know him that he could in fact hear; every word spoken to him was understood with simple nods or gestures; facial expressions contorting into understood language; so I guess he was mute; yeah, that would describe him best. He was an oddity to most but to me he was a unicorn, something that sparkled in our dim monotonous lives and it wasn’t until he revealed who he was did I become terrified of him and his shine.
I was in 7th grade maneuvering my way through the jungle of middle school, avoiding trouble and premature violence. I was an undersized boy for my age, no more than 5ft tall; puberty had yet to visit me leaving me left out of the herd; the other students or the ‘sheep’ as I called them that infested my school. They were all the same, kids that were driven by hormones constantly talking about boys or girls, their deep voices riding on the coattails of the wind that breezed in and out of our hallways. I was a mere shadow, always walking a few paces behind the others not wanting to be seen or acknowledged; I saw what others that looked like me went through, they were tortured and abused for simply existing.
Once Bryce Ellis and his friends stuck Timmy Easton’s face in the shitter for over 10 flushes, I was in a stall over, hiding and waiting for the torment to be over. I slithered my feet up on to the stall caressing them to my chest as I sat in a fetal position horrified of how one human could treat another. Eventually the bullies had gotten bored, their short attention span driven minds directed them to another endeavor leaving Timmy to fester in his tears and possible filth.
He sobbed for minutes that felt like hours as I remained silent in the stall over, I placed my hand cautiously on the barrier wall trying to absorb a bit of his pain, my heart ached for him in that moment and I wanted to lend him a compassionate hand if only I had the courage to do so. So yeah, I did my best to stay hidden, unseen to all the dwellers that mindlessly walked in and out of our school on a daily basis, the boys that believed themselves to be men or the girls that pontificated to anyone that listened. I was lost into an enteral sea of vindictive young adults that searched for any reason to lash out at anyone that stood in their way.
So when ‘Tape boy’ — as they would eventually call him — came to my little middle school that stood still in the secluded hills of our small town I was enthralled almost immediately with his existence. He was introduced to my home room class, I sat in the back burying my head into my arms, occasionally lifting my head to listen on the days lecture. My day dreams entertaining me as the clock slowly ticked away at our lives and it wasn’t until my teacher promptly stopped talking did it trigger a primal emotion in me to sit up and pay attention. I postured myself up straight, pausing the internal movie that played in my mind to see what the interruption was about.
There he was, a new boy that no one had ever seen before, by middle school everyone knew each other; we had went to the same elementary school, the same holiday events and grocery stores. So getting a new student was like getting a new flavor at Baskin Robbins; a mystery taste simmering on the tip of your tongue as you digested every drop, his presence was intriguing. He wasn’t small like me, I would say average height for a 12 year old; about 5'4, slender body with unkempt dark black hair. He looked timid, his head tilted towards the ground not wanting to accidentally lock eyes with any of us as the teacher introduced him, my mind wandering with such intrigue because to all of our astonishment he was wearing a surgical face mask — mind you this was in the 90’s; eons before the Covid pandemic breached the windows of our thoughts.
Right away I could hear the murmurs, the questions erupting throughout the classroom as everyone pondered of why this boy sheltered his face. I stared on for what must of been minutes as the shy boy kept his gaze down, I could see him slightly squeezing the arm straps to his backpack nervously the longer he stood there on full display for all.
I had my fill and I relaxed my postured sinking back into my chair directing my stare out the window but then Billy Sherman asked the question we all had on our minds,
“Uhm, why is he wearing that mask?”.
Our teacher explained to us that it was because of some weaken immune system, something about how his ticker didn’t click like the rest of ours, she then also told us about him being mute. This drew my eyes right back to him, I think it did for all of us and for a moment the quiet kid raised his head and locked eyes with me. His dark black eyes glistened with despair, the deep purple bags that sagged under his eyes were more indicative of someone that hadn’t slept in days. I felt something for him in that moment, our third eye conversing in some cosmic dialogue and as quickly as he rose his head did it drop once again towards the ground. I could still hear all the the other kids snickering, questioning and some even giggling; it made me sick, if I was a braver boy I would of stood on top of my desk and verbally lashed out to all the sheep, instead I rose my hand asking something Mrs. Willis never said, what was the timid boys name?
“Oh I’m sorry, how rude of me, this is Gabriel”.
She sat Gabriel upfront next to her desk, wanting him close in case he needed to write or sign something to her and just like that everyone went back to their simple lives; including myself.
The next few weeks I saw little of Gabriel other than the back of his head during class, once the bell rang everyone that my eyes glimpsed at for the day disappeared or just maybe it was me who dissolved into the ambience of our school. Either way I saw little of the boy who wore a mask, the one that sheltered his true identity and my curiosity with the new flavor of the week gradually faded into the abyss of non-existence; well, that was until the day I saw the mask slip.
It was end of the day, I spent most of the time turning corners anytime Bryce Ellis approached; evading the wrath of him and his band of merry men who were the pinnacle of human torture; finding any opportunity to demean those who crossed their path. I remember leaving Chemistry class, my mind all to occupied with leaving the hell hole of every kids dread and that’s when I saw Gabriel walking down the hall towards the cafeteria; his head still tilted down; his gaze tracking every step he took; face mask still tightly fitted around his face.
This time I saw someone was following him, it was Tom Ingram one of Bryce’s guys, a kid that tried to be the “alpha male” of the group numerous times, doing his best to dethrone the reign of Bryce. He was a big boy for his age, probably about 5'9 and easily weighed 200 pounds, he was a wild card alright; he got caught pouring sugar down Mr. Whitakers old Pontiac gas tank for giving him a poor grade. So when I saw him berating poor Gabriel; taunting him as grotesque laughter followed every insult, I felt like I had to do something and my consistent stealth veneer of camouflage morphed into into a full on sprint towards the two. I saw Tom was closing in on him, other kids looking on with bewilderment on their faces — not knowing if they should laugh out of fear or grimace from disgust. For the first time in a long while did a burning sensation of courage ignite in my soul, I was tired of seeing monsters preying on the sheep and I was going to stop it somehow.
Finally Gabriel had stopped walking and stood still, his head hanging even lower than before, the strands of his long hair covered the remainder of his face. Tom began slapping the top side of the poor kids head, yelling out obscenities, angered that he didn’t stop sooner. I was close, I was gonna stop this since all anyone else could do is cower in fear while looking on and then it happened causing me to stop dead in my tracks, my eyes widening with befuddlement. Tom had torn away the mask from Gabriel's face, awes with groans came from everyone then silence blanketed the entire school and for those few seconds our existence had been swallowed up by the earth itself.
“What the hell” Tom yelped out breaking the still but heavy disquietude.
I wanted to say something, but no words could be manifested only gurgles as I choked on my own disbelief. The timid boy under the mask of intrigue had a strip of black duct tape covering his mouth, it stretching from the side of his face to the other almost resembling what would be some hideous smile. The timid boy then collapsed his hands over his face as faint muffles of sobbing protruded from him, he ran into the nearest restroom only for Tom to pursue. Finally my thoughts had been gathered while my body came back to life, I brushed off the bizarre occurrence of that grizzly smile and I reminded myself of what was about to happen. Tom was going to punish Gabriel for simply existing as he and his gang have been doing for years and like some old factory machine the cogs of my body set into motion as I ran towards the restroom.
Before I could open the door the most horrid scream exploded outwards into the hallway, the sound sending a cold shiver down my spine and Tom came running out of the restroom gripping at his face crying. He was hysterical running and bumping into the walls until finally crumbling onto the floor only to continue sobbing. My mind was clouded with a whirl wind of confusion, I no longer knew what to do, I mean I was going to run in there and stop the assault but now the assaulter was on the floor destroyed. Then Gabriel calmly came out of the restroom, his mask firmly back on and he turned to look at me, his dark eyes burning an image of anguish into my mind. I asked if he was okay of course he said nothing though, he didn’t need to I could just sense his response and it was one of gratitude. I almost could see him smiling at me from underneath the mask and I reminded myself of what was under it; that abysmal duct tape that looked like a sinister grin.
From that day on most of the kids were afraid of Gabriel, I could see the look of terror in their eyes anytime he passed by them even though his headed was still shifted downwards but that’s the day whenever someone mentioned him they referred to him as “Tape boy”. I had heard through the whispers of our school that Tom had suffered some mental breakdown, that the doctors couldn’t find anything psychically wrong with him, it was as if his mind had shattered. He remained in some mental hospital, memories of him gradually fading and the sheep went on with living their mundane lives. Bryce even slowed his bullying, I think he knew that their were now more eyes watching everyone after the altercation and he didn’t want to get caught in some bad situation, though I could see he was itching to get at Gabriel. I went back to being a shadow, avoiding all the others still not too confident that the days of torture were over.
Even though Gabriel was regarded as some magical or perhaps malevolent being by most; not sure which one; he still appeared to be sad; lonely, his head always dragging with despondency. I made an effort in getting to know him, I wasn’t afraid like the rest of them something about the day we locked eyes gave me the resolve to understand he wouldn’t hurt me. I approached him during lunch break, he was outside sitting underneath a tree, the shade showering him a gloom of haze. I think I surprised him or maybe it was just my stealth nature but I saw him jump when I sat next to him. I began talking about the origins of Darth Vader, of how he was originally a hero using his force power for good only to eventually turn to the dark side.
Gabriel just looked at me confounded of why I was even talking to him, his stare looking on with indifference. I told him that he was like a super hero, doing whatever he did to Tom was just like a super power, that I was thankful. His gazed then returned back to the floor almost out of shame, I guess whatever he did that day he didn’t see it as something special, or something to praise. I then told him that I still envied his ability to defend himself, that having such an ability was better than winning the school lottery — which was a week supply of free cafeteria food. I kept blabbering on for the remainder of the break while he still postured his stare towards the floor until the bell had finally rung. Before getting up I told him that if I could have a super power mine would be invisibility that’s when he turned to me pulling out a small spiral from his back pack writing something down, he then showed me.
“Why?” it read.
I told him that I didn’t like being seen, that if I could I would melt away into the noise, then life would be better he just stared at me with what I could assume was disbelief. He didn’t write anything back, he just remain seated while I stood to my feet. I asked if he was coming back to class but he ignored me and just stared out into space presumably lost in his own thoughts.
For the next several months I would catch Gabriel in the hallways, talk to him about the latest edition of whatever comic I was reading, Superman being my favorite and I would go on and on about how his true super power wasn’t strength but hope. I think he became more comfortable with me, pulling out his spiral notebook to write down his thoughts; his questions and answers — a new gateway of communication had formed between us. Most times I could tell what he was going to write by looking at his eyes, those dark haunting eyes, he was a mysterious book slowly being revealed to me and I was completely beguiled by his friendship. Bryce and his little posse slowly went back to bullying the sheep, though they kept their distance from Gabriel and me.
I guess I had a new protector one that wouldn’t be crossed and something about that protection left me feeling proud. I knew in my heart that the timid kid that now went by “Tape boy” wouldn’t hurt a fly that maybe the day of Tom going crazy was all by chance, perhaps his rage snapped his mind. I tried asking him about that day numerous times but he never explained what happened he would redirect the conversation back to super hero’s. I would walk home with him on certain days, well, more like he would walk me home I never got to see where he lived, he was too reserved to give up that kind of information but the days we would walk together was always fun. I finally felt like I belonged, the longing emotion of needing acceptance was found by his friendship.
One day when I was walking home by myself I decided to stop in at the gas station to pick up a drink and scour the latest edition of comic books in the small rack of magazines. Before entering the store I could hear arguing voices engaging in combative dialogue and it became vividly clear that it was more of a yelling match than conversation. It was coming from the side of the building, most times I would just ignore it but one of the voices sounded all too familiar and I crept slowly to the edge of the building poking my head out to get a glimpse of the disturbance. It was Bryce, his back was up against the wall while someone who I presumed was his father berated him with such a vicious snarl on his face. The angry man kept slapping Bryce across the face anytime he tried to say something and soon tears began drizzling off the face of the mighty bully only for the man to laugh.
I didn’t know why the older man was treating Bryce the way he was, information cut out of my understanding, for all I know it could of been because of something the bully did at school. I found it to be poetic justice that the boy that caused so much heart ache suffered the same amount only at home. It felt like a cliche, the angry kid was angry because of the angry father; a cruel loop of never ending proportions. Eventually the man or father walked away getting back into his car leaving the bully to brush away the tears from his face. I cautiously retreated my head away deciding to ditch the store completely when that same broken voice only minutes ago shouted out to me with a hefty dominance.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Bryce howled out.
I didn’t bother turning around, I just ran home, dodging into alley ways trying my best to not been seen. It didn’t appear as if he was following, but seeing him in such a vulnerable state was bemusing. We were a small town how could I not know who the man was, we all knew each other since we were small and then it hit me; Bryce’s dad had left when he was little. This man must of been his step dad or perhaps mom’s boyfriend, it didn’t matter I was going to mind my own business, I was going to slither back into the shadows; but my attempts would only fall on defeated shoulders.
I didn’t want to tell anyone of what I saw, I hoped that keeping my mouth shut would of been enough for the bully to leave me be. Unfortunately there is no reasoning when it comes to human beings, we base our actions on emotions, our anger and Bryce confronted me the next morning in front of Gabriel.
“Hey fairy, did you enjoy the show?” the angry kid spouted out at me.
I tried explaining to him that I wasn’t trying to intrude, that the arguing concerned me, that I didn’t like seeing him being mistreated and then he punched me right in the gut. I fell to the floor gripping at my stomach, the pain slicing through every fiber of my body. I tried catching my breath but inhaling was too painful and I sheltered my face expecting another punch but the bully walked off leaving me to sweat. Gabriel kneel down to me taking out his spiral notebook writing the obvious question, I gestured to him to give me a moment and I honestly felt like crying. I had spent years doing my best to blend into the background, the invisibility power I was so desperate to have amongst the sheep was now gone; I was on Bryce’s radar.
For the remainder of the school year I tried avoiding the bullies, the monsters that preyed on the sheep but their leader would actively search for me, he was no longer intimidated by Gabriel; his once menacing allure had dwindled and now we both were sitting ducks. Luckily there was only a few weeks left until summer break and I only had hoped that the time off would be enough for the monster of monsters to cool off.
Entering summer was a relief much needed for my sanity, I took a few thrashings but it was over, me and Gabriel had big plans on spending time together. He wasn’t an out door kind of kid, he usually would just come over my place and we would read my comic books. He quickly grew enchanted with the idea of super hero's, their powers restoring balance to the nature of our world. I enjoyed every minute of it, my parents on the other hand looked less jovial to our friendship, they didn’t like the mask; it worried them. They thought that whatever illness he had could be passed on to me, but they didn’t do anything to stop us from seeing each other, they only silently protested.
So after awhile we decided to meet somewhere outdoors, away from my parents judgmental stares, there was a creek close to my house, the trees giving us enough shade to stay cool on those long summer days. The small stream that flowed through the trenches of the creek enriched our view as we would find the perfect rock to perch on while reading our comics. We didn’t see much of any of the other classmates that summer, the sheep kept their distance or maybe it was just us, but the days seem to pass quickly and before we knew it summer was coming to an end. I couldn’t remember how many volumes we must of read but Gabriel was now a fan of almost every super hero. He tend to raise out his arms while walking, mimicking the premise of flying like Superman; his ponderous eyes cutting through the brush as we escaped our secluded summer spot.
It was on the final day of our summer break did I pressure the shy timid boy to explain to me what had happen that day, the day Tom lost his marbles, I needed to know. Gabriel as always tried redirecting the conversation, holding up a comic of Batman, pointing at some dialogue. I got upset, I raised my voice telling him that if we were friends then he should tell me, that there wasn’t secrets between us. His heavy eyes collapsing to the ground, shifting his posture on the rock that we both sat on.
“Look, I just need to know, you’re my best friend” I told him with genuine longing.
The school year was about to start up again and I could already envision a future of slithering through the hallways how I have always done, but with Gabriel maybe that could change. I needed to know and I was done guessing, fantasizing that he was some super hero or at least my hero; my protector. I stood up off the rock walking over to the stream, the sound of water colliding unto the small stones that infested the trench triggered something awful in my gut. I took a deep breath and made my final stand with my best friend.
“If you don’t want to tell me then I’m going home, see ya” I said with impatience dripping off of my words.
Gabriel ignored my warning and continued pointing at the comic book, that’s when I noticed what he was pointing at, it wasn’t dialogue it was one of Batman's villains — he was pointing at Clayface. This made me stop, my minding halting after speeding at 100 miles per hour; it crashing my thoughts.
“Yeah, what about Clayface?” I curiously asked with a withered and tired voice.
That’s when his pointer finger was no longer on the page but rather it was pointed towards his mouth; the mouth that was hidden behind his mask. He could see my face drop with sadness, whatever disfigurement he had underneath that horrid black duct tape must of been something like the villain from the comic and my heart broke for him. Gabriel’s eyes gleaming with absolute sorrow, the boy that only wanted to be left alone, the person all the others feared just wanted solitude and here I was badgering him to no end about something so insignificant. We stared at each other for several seconds, our eyes meeting in some altered state and I reached my hand up to his face tenderly taking off his mask. There it was, the black duct tape that resembled a grin, a nightmarish one that could only been seen in some horror movie. I then placed my fingers on the edge of the tape, my cold grip causing him to shiver and I slowly began to remove it.
“What the hell are you fairy’s doing?” a voice called out from the brush, one that sank my heart into my stomach.
I turned trying to locate the voice and sure enough there he was, the bully that had tortured so many for so many years — it was Bryce. His body slowly revealing itself from the brush like some despicable ooze frothing from the depths of hell. Though, something about him was different, his cold stare no longer fictitious but more intimidating and as his body fully emerged did I see the blood trickling down his soaked stain shirt. He was covered in the crimson fluid, there was even some on his cheeks almost as he had some open wound and smeared the remnants of it on his face. The devilish grin that bestowed his bruised and beaten face quickly led me to a conclusion; one that I wish I didn’t conclude. A purplish black infested the out layer of his left eye, it practically closed shut and his nose had been bent to a unsightly angle. I started to whimper as my lips trembled from fright because this Bryce was not the same one that had given us wedgies or swirlies this one was a true monster, a beast that devoured souls. His gaze was enough to display a vacancy of any humanity and my eyes crawled down his arm into his hand to see the black pistol that he firmly gripped.
“Uh, Bryce what happened? Are you okay?” I groaned out while sniffling.
He didn’t answer, he just kept grinning at me, the ghastly smile that stretched ear from ear plagued my vision and I knew that he had done it, that he had hurt someone badly. I was terrified and in the moment I had completely forgotten about Gabriel, my tunnel vision only focused on that firearm.
“Where the hell did the other one go?” the monster asked, I turned and realized Gabriel in fact had run away leaving me behind.
I wanted to run, I wanted to flee while screaming but horror kept me in place and I felt like some dear trapped in headlights contemplating my entire life in mere seconds.
“Everyone always messes with me!” Bryce yelled out with such ferociousness.
There was no talking my way out of this one, no pleading, I knew in that moment he was going to kill me; his rage over flowing to the point of lunacy. He quickly pounced dropping me to the floor, screaming with madness and he repeatedly hit me over the head with the but of the gun causing me to see stars. His words became incoherent sounding like muffled tones that slushed it’s way into my hearing, I shook my head trying to collect myself, just maybe I could figure a way out of this but as soon as my vision corrected itself Bryce would strike me another time causing it to blur once again. I fell into a darkness, my world collapsing into an eternal void of loneliness as my body began to float effortlessly but as soon as I thought this was my final moments flashes of Gabriel flooded into my mind awakening me out of whatever slumber I found myself in. That’s when I realized Bryce was no longer hitting me, instead he was talking to someone and as I grabbed at my head trying to steady my balance I saw it was Gabriel standing still head as always tilted downwards.
Bryce confronted him pointing his 9mm directly at his head yelling, screaming at the top of his lungs but my best friend remained unmoved, just quiet and then he slowly removed his mask. This caused Bryce to pause, his tone weaken and I think for the first time he digested if he should proceed doing what he was doing.
“What are you doing freak?” the bully yelped out.
Gabriel remained quiet, eyes still directed towards the floor, his breathing escalating; I could see his chest pump more vigorously with each passing second. With the mask off me and Bryce could see the bewildering black duct tape strapped to his face, Gabriel’s face began to tremble violently as if he was trying to yell through the bondage. He then finally began to peel of the thick layer of black duct tape and it came off with a wicked screech as I could see my friends eyes squint with pain.
Bryce was no longer pointing the gun at Gabriel, no longer was he even saying a word his arm lowered to his side and both him and I stared on with amazement. What was under the tape was layers of skin, twisting and binding to each other like some thriving organism living it’s own life on Gabriel's face. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t say anything I was in shock and my head still throb from pain. Then Gabriel's mouth — if you want to call it that — began to stretch open, he tilted his head backwards while the mountain of dead flesh started to drip down his face allowing some endless void to open up inside of him. I could hear the cracking of bones breaking, his jaw shifting to accommodate the massive hole that was now his mouth and then horrid dwindling fingers began to protrude from the darkness.
My mouth gaped open with trepidation and if I had the ability to adjust my head I would think Bryce had the same facial expression. Then a grotesque head forced it’s way out of my friends mouth revealing a face that could only exist in the realms of the dead, this new creature having two large almond shape eyes; eyes that looked very similar to the ones that were attached to my friend. This ‘thing’ then stared at Bryce, that’s all it did, no words were spoken no violence was created it just stared at him and soon the bully grasped at his face and began to yell. He ran frantically in different directions, his gun firing out into the tree line, I jumped for cover; falling to the floor sheltering my head with my arms. Bryce’s terrified screams caused my stomach to turn and soon those dire cries stopped along with the gunshots.
I must of stayed on the floor for what felt like hours, too scared to rise to my feet and through my peripheral did I see the sun begin to set plunging the small creak into darkness. I eventually mustered up enough courage to get up and I looked around, Bryce was mere feet away from me, he lay still on the floor blood spewing out of his head; it appeared as if had shot himself. I walked over to his body befuddled of what to do I then remembered Gabriel, I turned to look for him but he was gone it was only me and Bryce's dead corpse. I ran home telling my parents about everything, of the encounter I experienced, at first it seemed as if they didn’t believe me but they still phoned for the police.
I led them to the creek to the bullies dead body, I initially thought perhaps they would blame me, connect me to his death but the police believed me; well the believed me about Bryce but not about Gabriel. They told me that Bryce had killed his step father, apparently they had gotten into some altercation and afterwards he went into his mothers bedroom and shot her to death. They told me that the once bully was a disturbed individual, suffering abuse for many years; that I was lucky to escape from his wrath. I told them that they needed to find my friend I wanted to know if he was okay, but all the officers could do was pat my back with sympathy trying to relax me.
It has almost been 30 years since the event, I still have nightmares of what had happened, I see the dead stare Bryce had while pointing his pistol at me, I see him repeatedly hitting me over the head again and again. Though, what still haunts me more is Gabriel's mouth contorting into that horrid shape revealing the creature that lived inside of him. He was never found, I’m pretty sure he moved on to another city, another place where bullies like Bryce tormented their schools and I could only imagine Gabriel was there to balance the wrongs of the world. I am scared of my best friend, but I know at the same time he is my protector; my super hero, he is out there doing good, I can feel it and I hope he can sense my love for him. Maybe we will never meet again, perhaps it’s not written in the stars for us to reunite but one thing is for sure, I get comic books mailed to me randomly every month; most are of Superman and I know exactly who they are from.
submitted by Maleficent_Bag_1062 to nosleep [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 18:50 amphetaminesfailure Came Home Friday To See What Nobody Wants To In Their Front Lawn

I was coming home on Friday afternoon, and noticed all down the side of my street were parking cones with "No Parking" signs taped on them and dates for next week. My heart sank right away. I knew what it probably meant.
Sure enough, after pulling into my driveway I walked to my front lawn. Spray painted lines and arrows all over my grass. Same with my neighbors.
Utility work.
Just two fucking years ago I got my front lawn torn up when the gas company replaced all our lines.
Now the city is replacing all out water lines apparently.
I JUST cut my grass on Thursday and thought to myself how good the front was looking this year.
Look, I get this is a first world rant.....I probably should be grateful the city has finally decided to replace our lead water pipes.....but fuck me.
The gas company did their work back in the spring two years ago.
Then without asking, they hired a landscaping company to "fix" everyone's lawn.
The area the gas company dug up was filled back in by them, but they just threw everything they dug out back in, so I had multiple layers of soil mixed together.
Then the landscaping company they hired came by, threw down maybe a quarter inch of the cheapest unscreened topsoil they could buy full or rocks and wood chips, and tossed down a handful of cheap grass seed in fucking June.
So obviously what I ended up with was nothing but crabgrass and weeds until the end of August when I finally had to tear out those areas, dig out and dispose of their shitty topsoil, and get some good quality screened loam to the match the rest of my top soil.
Granted I reseed every late summeearly fall to begin with, but I had to specifically baby those areas.
And now I'm doing it all again apparently.
Maybe I'm being a whiny bitch, I know work like this needs to be done by utility companies, but I JUST spent the past two seasons fixing my front yard.....
submitted by amphetaminesfailure to lawncare [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 18:46 Peemlock [P] Text to Openpose and Weird RNN bugs

[P] Text to Openpose and Weird RNN bugs
I want to create AI that generate openpose from textual description for example if input "a man running" output would be like the image I provided Is there any model architecture recommend for me?
my data condition is
  • canvas_width: 900px
  • canvas_height: 300px
  • frames: 5 (5 person)
expected output
I trying to train RNN for this task and I use sentence transformer for embedding text and then pass to RNN and the loss is look like image below
from sentence_transformers import SentenceTransformer sentence_model = SentenceTransformer("all-MiniLM-L6-v2") text = "a man running" text_input = torch.tensor(sentence_model.encode(text), dtype=torch.float)
loss image with num_layers=3
My RNN setting
embedding_dim = 384 hidden_dim = 512 num_layers = 3 output_dim = 180 num_epochs = 100 learning_rate = 0.001 rnn_model = RNN(embedding_dim, hidden_dim, num_layers, output_dim)
but the problem is whatever I input the output is the same everytime! but when I try changing num_layers to 1 and keep other setting the same like this
embedding_dim = 384 hidden_dim = 512 num_layers = 1 output_dim = 180 num_epochs = 100 learning_rate = 0.001 rnn_model = RNN(embedding_dim, hidden_dim, num_layers, output_dim)
the loss now look like this loss image with num_layers=1 and now the problem is gone !!
Also I try to check the cause of the "output is the same everytime" problem I check dataloader and other code but no problem was found only num_layers=3 that cause the problem num_layers=1 fixed it
This is my training loop
criterion = nn.MSELoss() optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(rnn_model.parameters(), lr=learning_rate) trainingEpoch_loss = [] validationEpoch_loss = [] for epoch in range(num_epochs): step_loss = [] rnn_model.train() for idx, train_inputs in enumerate(train_dataloader): optimizer.zero_grad() outputs = rnn_model(torch.unsqueeze(train_inputs['text'], dim=0)) training_loss = criterion(outputs, train_inputs['poses']) training_loss.backward() optimizer.step() step_loss.append(training_loss.item()) if (idx+1) % 1 == 0: print (f'Epoch [{epoch+1}/{num_epochs}], Step [{idx+1}/{len(train_dataloader)}], Loss: {training_loss.item():.4f}') trainingEpoch_loss.append(np.array(step_loss).mean()) rnn_model.eval() for idx, val_inputs in enumerate(val_dataloader): validationStep_loss = [] outputs = rnn_model(torch.unsqueeze(val_inputs['text'], dim=0)) val_loss = criterion(outputs, val_inputs['poses']) validationStep_loss.append(val_loss.item()) validationEpoch_loss.append(np.array(validationStep_loss).mean())
This is my Inference
text = "a man running" processed_text = torch.tensor(sentence_model.encode(text), dtype=torch.float) output_poses = rnn_model(processed_text.unsqueeze(0)) print(output_poses.shape) #shape=(1, 180) 1 person is 36 (original data for 1 person is 54 but I change to 36 because I want only x and y and not z so cut out the z axis) and there's 5 person so 5*36 = 180
My question is
  1. Is there any model architecture recommend for this task other than RNN?
  2. Why whatever I input the output is the same everytime when num_layers=3 I'm very confused because the loss wouldn't go down if the model was giving the same output right? that's mean it give the same output in the Inference phase
Expected Answer
  1. Model architecture that suit best for my task any papers or github repo related given would be appreciated
  2. Answer why whatever I input the output is the same everytime when num_layers=3
submitted by Peemlock to MachineLearning [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 18:31 InBabylonTheyWept Human Secrets: Part 4

“Ready?” Ersatz asked. It was a politeness on his part. The timing window was very, very narrow, and he wasn’t going to wait for my permission to launch.
“To travel untethered across the dark depths of space?” I asked back.
“Don’t be a baby,” he said. And then he reached out and grabbed my arm.
I learned at the planning meeting how human teleportation works. There are, apparently, layers to the universe. Tiers ‘like a wedding cake.’ Momentum and position are carried between layers. Everything else, not so much.
In the layer I was at before, there was a spin station, with a floor to keep me in place. In the layer we moved to, there was nothing. Just endless eons of empty, starlit sky. No ship, no air, and no floor to press against.
It was like being cast out of a sling. The circular trajectory became straight. In theory, I knew that I was traveling at an incredible rate of speed. In practice, there was nothing I could judge my distance from, save the humans gathered around me.
“What if we miss?” I asked. I knew the answer, but I hoped, vainly, that they’d say something comforting.
Then we’ll die, came Pride’s response, twisted by the hiss of transistors. But at least the view will be beautiful.
We did not die.
One moment, we were sitting in the frozen void. Order gave the countdown - five, to zero - then Pride activated the crash pad and we jaunted back into the layer we started at.
A serene backdrop of stars was replaced with the roar of wind and a hall that stretched for what felt like miles. We must have cleared the entire length in seconds.
The sound was all I could experience at first, wrapped up in the crash pad as I was. Dull thuds against the pad indicated collisions. The roar of wind eventually muffled, giving way to new clues about the environment. Tinny music whistled from nearby speakers. Quiet groans could be heard, both inside and outside the pad. Pride’s voice was the first clear sound I heard, inside the cocoon of foam.
“Good God Viv, do you sharpen your elbows with a whetstone? How can anyone be so damn pointy?”
“Practice,” she said. Light trickled in as something cut the foam open. I turned towards it, expecting to see someone with a knife. Instead, I got a faceful of plastic as Order coughed the last of the bits of gnawed cushion up. He’d resorted to gnawing his way through almost immediately. I almost wondered if he started before we even jaunted.
He pushed himself through the gap first. He’d made the exit, so it was his right to leave before anyone else. I was nearest, so I followed behind. The halls of the spin station should have prepared me more for the realm of the burger clown, but I still found myself flabbergasted by how humans choose to decorate things.
Murals lined the full length of the halls, only slightly vandalized by the trail of destruction we left from our decel. There was a story to them, but only just. Scenes of a burglar and a purple oozing mutant, charmingly sharing burgers and fries, were interspersed with scenes of intense violence. There, a chicken-woman was eating nuggets. Just ahead, a man with white skin and red lips was taking a crown off a severed head. One wall showed a child eating fries covered in ketchup. Directly across from it, the Pale Man bit a severed finger, micking the child’s glee. The burglar dominated the dozen yards of wall beyond nightmare, having merry adventures stealing, eating, and redistributing burgers. It ended abruptly as the Pale Man returned, wearing his stolen crown, and sentenced him to ‘death by lingchi.’
The remaining set of halls were very graphic images of the burglar being forced through a fry-cutter.
I turned around, mostly to see the story of the murals continue. I’d forgotten about the moaning outside the crash foam.
Scattered across the hall in piles of broken and shattered bone lay dull imitations of the Pale Man. His acolytes and priests. Bone white skin, blood red lips, and hatred were the only traits they shared. One crawled towards me, legs trailing uselessly behind it, lips opening and closing wordlessly. I’d probably have stared in horror until it actually got up to me, except that Order finally seemed to have regained his bearings.
I didn’t see him until he was already past me, flying through the air with all the grace of a bird of a prey. Humans had shorter arms than my people, but their legs were powerful. The arc of his fall ended with both feet slamming into the back of the crawler’s neck. Bone snapped and the horror finally, blessedly, went still.
Order looked at me, eyes blazing, and said aloud what the thing had been wording.
“I’m lovin’ it.”
I think I forgot to breathe until Ersatz and Pride both managed to squeeze their way out of the foam. Viv breached a new way through, courtesy of her pointy elbows, and together, we traveled into the unspeakable hell of the burger clown’s ship.
First/ Previous / Next
submitted by InBabylonTheyWept to HFY [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 18:22 cryptohub2024 How to Turn $1 into $100 This Week: Top 3 Altcoins to Buy Now

How to Turn $1 into $100 This Week: Top 3 Altcoins to Buy Now
https://preview.redd.it/72551ueioe1d1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=132212df566295d3b2c56855c6295bcfbf9a80d9
The cryptocurrency market is booming this week, and three notable altcoins are well-positioned to generate significant profits. Astute investors are keeping an eye on Toncoin (TON), Blur (BLUR), and Pepe (PEPE), as they are all likely to see large rises. These altcoins have the potential to increase a single dollar into $100 in a matter of days. Explore our most recent analysis to learn how investing a tiny amount of money in these currencies could result in large returns this week.
Invest Smart: Why Toncoin, Blur, and Pepe are Your Best Bets This Week
Looking to turn a small investment into a big return? This week, three altcoins are catching the eyes of savvy investors with their unique strengths and impressive growth potential. Toncoin (TON) boasts advanced Layer-1 scalability, low fees, fast transactions, and a large user base, making it a technological powerhouse. Blur (BLUR) is revolutionizing the NFT space with its real-time data, portfolio management, and multi-marketplace comparisons, securing a strong market position. Meanwhile, Pepe (PEPE) has surged 516% this year, emerging as a leading meme coin with significant market influence. Discover why these altcoins are poised for explosive gains and could turn your $1 into $100 this week. Dive into our analysis and get ready to invest smart.
Attention, investors! This week, the spotlight is on three altcoins—Toncoin (TON), Blur (BLUR), and Pepe (PEPE)—poised to make waves in the crypto market. With the potential to turn a mere $1 investment into a hefty $100 profit, these coins are capturing the imagination of traders worldwide. Boasting strategic market positioning and the ability to capitalize on market movements, Toncoin, Blur, and Pepe offer an enticing opportunity for those looking to maximize their returns in record time. Don't miss out on your chance to unlock unprecedented profit potential—dive into these altcoins today and ride the wave to financial success.
In the dynamic world of cryptocurrency, three altcoins stand tall, poised to redefine the landscape and reward savvy investors handsomely. Let's dive into what makes Toncoin (TON), Blur (BLUR), and Pepe (PEPE) the must-watch names of the moment.
  1. Toncoin (TON): Developed by Telegram, Toncoin is not just another blockchain—it's a game-changer. Boasting advanced layer-1 technology, Toncoin sets itself apart with its unmatched scalability and user-friendly interface. Priced at $6.50, with a market cap soaring to $22.52 billion, TON's impressive rise of 234% over the past year speaks volumes about its potential. Despite minor fluctuations, Toncoin's recent upward momentum signals a golden opportunity for investors eyeing substantial gains this week.
  2. Blur (BLUR): Blur isn't just a token—it's a gateway to the future of NFTs. As the native governance token of the Blur NFT marketplace, BLUR is rewriting the rules with its cutting-edge features. From real-time price feeds to seamless portfolio management, Blur offers a streamlined NFT experience like no other. With a current price of $0.376 and a market cap of $607 million, BLUR's recent 3% surge is just the beginning of what promises to be an exhilarating journey for investors seeking innovation and profitability.
  3. Pepe (PEPE): Prepare to be impressed by Pepe, the Ethereum-based sensation taking the crypto world by storm. With a staggering market cap of $4.17 billion, PEPE has firmly established itself as the leading meme coin, boasting a remarkable 516% surge in the past year alone. Trading at $0.0000099211, Pepe's recent 17% spike underscores its unwavering momentum in the market. As the altcoin season heats up, PEPE's bullish breakout is a beacon of hope for investors looking to ride the wave of success.
Conclusion: Toncoin, Blur, and Pepe aren't just altcoins—they're powerhouses of potential. With their stellar performance and promising outlook, these coins are primed to deliver significant returns in the days to come. Whether you're a seasoned trader or a newcomer to the crypto scene, now is the time to pay attention and seize the opportunities presented by these titans of the industry.
Also Read.....
<<Harnessing the Power of OYO Token’s Reflection: A Dual Victory for Matic Coin Enthusiasts and OYO Token Investors
<<List of the top 10 cryptocurrencies in 2024.
<<Cryptocurrency Forecast: Is OYO Token Your Ticket to Wealth by 2025?

Cryptocurrency #PEPE #Blur #Toncoin #Altcoin #Bullrun #Cryptonews #Defi #Blockchain

submitted by cryptohub2024 to u/cryptohub2024 [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 17:55 Olivesplace pasty

pasty submitted by Olivesplace to Olivesplace [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 17:10 RossGellerOnBreaks [WTS][EU] BV, D1OR, R1CK, Y0hj1, LEM41RE, Ha1der, M1Y4KE, etc

Hi hi,
I am selling some reps I bought over the years. Most of the them are bought because I was experimenting with my style and worn once or twice.
\* \[Rick Bolan Banana Pants (Beige) from holyshit\](https://imgur.com/a/fjuVIgi) (s) -> €30 + shipping
\* \[Gallery Dept Chrome White leather-patch pants(missing buttons) from crushy87\](https://imgur.com/a/KAxnXML) (29) -> €20 + shipping
\* \[Chrome Black leather-patch pants(missing one button) from crushy87\](https://imgur.com/a/bgEK44Y) (s) -> €20 + shipping
\* \[Helmut GTR Holster Pants from deeds\](https://imgur.com/a/KCmsGoe) (s) -> €30 + shipping
\* \[Yohji Hakama Pants from only for 2\](https://imgur.com/a/Fo60K98) (2) -> €30 + shipping
\* \[Lemaire Dry Silk Pants(Brown) from turn\](https://imgur.com/a/wZX1Ovn) (44) -> €40 + shipping
\* \[Rick Mud-dyed Air-cut Zip Pants from deeds (length adjusted to be pair with high-top boots)\](https://imgur.com/a/pbIG6vx) (S) -> €20 + shipping
\* \[Issey Miyake Reversible Crumbled Vest from crushy87\](https://imgur.com/a/3yrKNLY) (S) -> €30 + shipping
\* \[Raf Tactic Shirt from Soul Embrace\](https://imgur.com/a/IKQO3UR) (S) -> €20 + shipping
\* \[Lemaire Dry Silk Pants(Black) from turn\](https://imgur.com/a/0knMEdd) (44) -> €40 + shipping
\* \[Junya Watanabe Belt from crushy87\](https://imgur.com/a/C2B2dpE) (S) -> €30 + shipping
\* \[Marni Pants from turn\](https://imgur.com/a/okmkqdr) (44) -> €45 + shipping
\* \[Sulvam Double Layer Pants from turn\](https://imgur.com/a/Xc5eiOY) (S) -> €45 + shipping
\* \[CDG Hakama pants from Crushy87\](https://imgur.com/a/PFECS8w) (S) -> €25 + shipping
\* \[N. Hollywood pants from Crushy87\](https://imgur.com/a/0BPqxOW) (S) -> €40 + shipping
\* \[CCP Blazer from Crushy87\](https://imgur.com/a/xzO8xHe) (46) -> €45 + shipping
\* \[Dior Navigate Boots 07 from Jiaofu\](https://imgur.com/a/5xrHBLQ) first batch and vibramed(Size40) -> €120 + shipping
\* \[Dior Bondage Boots 08 from Jiaofu\](https://imgur.com/a/FFW3j93) first batch and vibramed (Size40) -> €120 + shipping
\* \[BV jacket from turn\](https://imgur.com/a/OC46lmj) (xs/42) -> €150 + shipping
\* \[BV Baige Wool jacket from turn\](https://imgur.com/a/ma2BRKE) (xs/40) -> €100 + shipping
\* \[Haider Blazer from turn\](https://imgur.com/a/kKrm6WW) (xxs) -> €50 + shipping
\* \[Dior x Soryama Jacket from Musashi\](https://imgur.com/a/DTgL5N9) (M) -> €120 + shipping
Items sold:
\* \[Rick Mud-dyed Zip Pants from deeds\](https://imgur.com/a/IShdKyb) (S) -> €50 + shipping [SOLD]
\* \[Kiko Stripe Side-Zip Pants from Echoes\](https://imgur.com/a/wFKKszq) (S) -> €40 + shipping [SOLD]
\* \[Helmut painter jeans from deeds (length adjusted)\](https://imgur.com/a/JZ8pRP5) (S) -> €20 + shipping [SOLD]
\* \[Y/Project Shorts from Holyshit (cut short from full length pants)\](https://imgur.com/a/O3Eow2h) (S) -> €15 + shipping [SOLD]
\* \[Prada Impossible Love Shirt from crushy87\](https://imgur.com/a/B11EvEl) (S) -> €55 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[CDG Croc Effect White Belt from crushy87\](https://imgur.com/a/dzpANr5) (OS) -> €15 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[Y/Project Cowboy Jeans from Holyshit\](https://imgur.com/a/Z2sOhO6) (S) -> €35 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[Destoryed Balenciaga sweat pants from Congcong\](https://imgur.com/a/O9TzGji) (S) -> €25 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[Haider Full Silk Shirt\](https://imgur.com/a/fDRecOB) (s) -> €25 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[ERD Long Sleeves from Congcong\](https://imgur.com/a/QKNXfda) (S) -> €30 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[Vetements Zip Jacket from Congcong\](https://imgur.com/a/8xkIOSQ) (S) -> €30 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[Celine Jeans from Deeds\](https://imgur.com/a/3C81ZLX) (S) -> €45 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[Yohji Mr Butterfly blazer from sososorry\](https://imgur.com/a/B4lxNKS) (xs) -> €35 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[Yohji Black Crow Coat from sososorry\](https://imgur.com/a/oxty0x0) (s) -> €60 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[Guidi PL1V from Earthquake (Original GUIDI leather)\](https://imgur.com/a/rWPj60d) (41) -> €150 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[Margiela Sweater from turn\](https://imgur.com/a/eeOH21Y) (s) -> €30 + shipping\[SOLD\]
\* \[Margiela Nylon Jacket from turn\](https://imgur.com/a/8bybldS) (xs) -> €50 + shipping\[SOLD\]
\* \[Kiko work jacket from worthless\](https://imgur.com/a/lGyxeAg) (s) -> €35 + shipping\[SOLD\]
\* \[Laser Derby from Marxism (lost original laces)\](https://imgur.com/a/1YaDrZB) (41) -> €50 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[CCP tornadoes from SeeByPaulin (dyed black)\](https://imgur.com/a/e9xEcpn) (41) -> €50 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[CPFM from Deeds\](https://imgur.com/a/CYFfROT) (s) -> €35 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[Margiela chelsea tabi\](https://imgur.com/a/JJbAbXi) vibramed (size 42) -> €50 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[Kiko Blazer from Bager\](https://imgur.com/a/iveSjUk) (42) -> €35 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[Kiko KK pants from Bager\](https://imgur.com/a/KPSKFfD) (lost tag and size 44) -> €35 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[Lemaire white pants from Tsunami\](https://imgur.com/a/LNZe6jQ) (S) -> €25 + shipping \[SOLD\]
\* \[Soloist wool hat from sososorry\](https://imgur.com/a/CkyI1MY) (m) -> €8 + shipping \[SOLD\]
Shipping to US/Canada available but it is gonna be bit costly. I will mark the parcel as gifts/low-valued items so you won’t be taxed.
All transactions are paypal invoice only. Thanks.
submitted by RossGellerOnBreaks to QualityRepsBST [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 17:01 tge94 Printing Error: Print cut and shifted at specific layer

Printing Error: Print cut and shifted at specific layer
Hello,
I'm currently printing some additions to a wooden marble track with wood-infused PLA and with the last 2 models the following problem occurred: The model looks like it has been cut and shifted a little bit (see pictures).The cube that was printed as a whole is stable, but there is a cut right above where the holes for the inner tunnels end. For the first element I tried to use bridge settings (Cura) to improve those areas, but since the print obviously didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, I deactivated the bridge settings again for the second element. The problem still occurred. The slicer does not show any unusual behaviour at those layers. Does anybody have an explanation to what might have happened and an idea how to fix this?
Thanks in advance!
Printer: FLSUN QQS ProFilament: Wood PLA (210°C printing temp., 70°C bed temp) Slicer: Cura 5.4.0 Complete Cube printed with enabled bridge settings Second (failed) print printed without special settings No support in all cases Infill: 45 + % because I need the weight
previous succsessfull prints
element 1 (printed completely)
element 2 (print aborted)
element 2 (print aborted)
Cura preview element 1
Cura preview element 2
submitted by tge94 to 3Dprinting [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 16:51 Obvious_Ad4159 Twice Awoken (Pilot chapter)

It has been 20 years since the first calamity struck Earth. A massive wave of solar radiation from a nearby star known as Prometheus 673B showered our solar system in 2025. Electronics have been rendered useless for months, giving humanity the glimpse of what life was like long before. But that was merely temporary. The true effect of the solar flare came in the form of an illness, that afflicted roughly 10% of the current population. Unlike anything we've ever seen, the illness did not kill, rather enhanced the afflicted. For the first time in human history, the term Esper was used seriously. Dubbed the Awoken, those afflicted with illness that stemmed from the solar flare of Prometheus, gained the ability to manifest their own thoughts into reality, with varying degrees of success. At first, nations and laws, society as whole, was not prepared to deal with these new humans and their abilities. Crime ran rampant for a while.
Five years after the incident, the world banded together in a unified front, known as the AMA, The Awoken Management Agency, a world wide agency tasked with handling and controlling the Awoken, allowing humanity to once more function as a whole. Satellites have been sent out as far Earth's gaze into space could reach, to watch our for any other potential cosmic events that may occur, like the one that happened with Prometheus back in '25.
Now, 20 years since the first incident, the satellites have picked up another major cosmic event on the horizon, this time coming from the Aquila constellation. Is humanity ready to withstand whatever cosmos has prepared for it?
[]
"Kenji. Wake up! You'll be later for your lectures, again."
The young man groaned, slowly turning to his side in bed, looking at his mother that stood at the doorway. "I'm up, I'm up."
Yawning and stretching, he sat up in bed, running his fingers through his hair, before turning to check the small clock on his nightstand.
"Wha? Late? Mom, it's only 8. Lectures don't start until 10." He sighed.
"Oh well. No need to cut it short, right? Plus, I've made breakfast." His mother replied and went back downstairs.
[]
AMA Information Database:
Kenji Aoto. Age: 21 Category: Type 1 Awoken Ability: Embodiment. The unique ability of Kenji Aoto, unlike other Awoken of the same type, allows him to alter his own body based on how he feels. Most Type 1s change their environment around them, rather than themselves. Type 1s are classified as such for having abilities that considered non dangerous to the general non awoken population.
[]
"We've got a lot of promising talent this year huh?" Nathaniel said to his daughter, as the two looked down at the auditorium full of students. The dean of the university was preparing his usual welcoming speech, as the assistants tried to quiet down the murmurs of the students.
"Yeah, we sure do." Clara smiled, not taking her eyes off the scene. "Quite a good number of Awoken too."
"Anyone interesting in particular?" Nathaniel asked.
"No, not really. They all have the standard abilities you would expect out of a type 1. Same level of control to boot." She responded.
"Well, I look forward to being their professor." Her father smiled, inhaling deeply. "The smell of youthful energy, so amazing. I can still remember your first day as a freshman."
Clara blushed a bit, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow. "Shouldn't you be down there giving your speech, Dr. Offset?"
Nathaniel rubbed the back of his neck with a slightly embarrasses laugh to boot. "Oh don't call me that. Ahem, yeah. I'll be going now. See you later for lunch?"
"Of course dad." Clara smiled, giving her father a little wave as he left the teacher conference room.
[]
AMA Information database:
Clara Harris. Age: 32 Category: Non-Awoken (regular human) The lead ambassador for Awoken rights and unification in the AMA. Daughter of the lead researcher in Awoken development and the head teacher of the Awoken department in Nagoya University, Japan, Nathaniel Harris.
Nathaniel Harris. Age: 55 Category: Type 2 Awoken Ability: Offset. Acquired during the first Prometheus flare, the ability of Dr. Offset (he thought the name was cool when he was in his 20s), allows him to offset numerical values. Though touching an object is not required to use the ability on it, the potency of the ability greatly improved when he has direct contact with it. This also extends to, in theory, numerical values pertaining to objects and their position in space, relative to Nathaniel. Meaning he can move objects or parts of them relative to where he's standing, by changing their coordinates, however there were no recorded instances of him doing so. Examples include: Increasing or reducing the temperature of a beverage by direct contact. Increasing or decreasing friction on a surface of an object temporarily by touching it.
In his youth, Nathaniel attempted to become a sort of hero, once his powers kicked in, but due to the very low potency of his abilities, he never really managed to make the cut as one, despite being a type 2. Type 2s are classified as such due to having abilities that could be considered dangerous, powerful or harmful for the general non awoken population.
[]
Location: Russia, Siberia. Time: 22:37 Facility: Maximum security prison for Awoken criminals in Russia, cell block 5.
Theodore laid in his bunk, staring at the ceiling. Each of his breaths released a soft cloud of vapor, that commonly occurs when someone is in a cold environment. In his case, the vapor was a byproduct of his ability, rather than the cold cell we was in. A thug with a love for violence, turned bank robber when his abilities fully developed, Theodore terrorized Russia and the neighboring countries. It wasn't until the AMA was finally assembled and operational, that he was arrested and sentenced to multiple life sentences in this highest security prison that Russia had at a time.
Even after being sent behind bars, he kept up his antics, becoming a nightmare for the guards and inmates alike. No man that was placed in a cell with him would last more than a few days before demanding transfer. Some even lost their lives to the former thugs whims, before their transfer requests could be approved. Hence Theodore has been placed in solitary, a cell designed with all the tech necessary to nullify his ability. There he spent the last 10 years of his life.
Despite being a type 1, an awoken with abilities that were not classified as dangerous to the general population, Theodore managed to use them to their fullest extent. His blessing of temperature manipulation, was a curse to everyone around him.
He looked outside, at the night sky, through his small cell window. Apparently, there was a big stellar event, similar to the one 20 years ago, that gave him the powers he now has. He heard guards and other inmates talk about it, how AMA is now prepared for such an event.
Theodore closed his eyes, imagining what this aurora would look like. The memory of that night, when Prometheus 673B's flare struck earth still fresh in his mind like it was yesterday. The otherworldly mixture of reds and yellows and greens. Like a primordial fire that was lit across the night sky.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps outside his cell snapped him out of his memory.
"Huh?" He adjusted in bed, to see who was outside his cell.
A man, in a white cloak with golden details, stood outside his cell. Theodore was confused. The man was not one of the guards, he was bare footed and did not wear any uniform. And no way he was one of the other inmates, no one had the capabilities to leave their cells without being let out.
"Hey, who the hell are you? How did you get here? The guards letting us out or something?" The criminal walked over to his cell door. The bars were made of material that could withstand sudden changes in temperature without bending or breaking, preventing him from getting out.
The man said nothing, he didn't even turn towards the convict, he merely stood there, hood covering his as he looked up at the night sky through the decorative windows on the buildings roof.
"Hey asshat! I asked you a question. How the fuck did you get out of your cell? C'mon man, don't be a dick, let me out too." Theodore grabbed the bars and rattled them.
The cloaked man finally turned towards him. The convict was stunned, only for a second. The man has a beard and long hair, both as white as his cloak. But his eyes, they were as blue as the midday sky. He could have sworn energy seemed to pour out of them. Before he could say another word, the figure before him extended his hand at him, and with a snap of his fingers, a bold of lightning struck Theodore square in the chest. The convict was send flying, back hitting the wall opposite the cell doors.
[]
Location: Brazil, San Paolo. Time: 16:37 Facility: Remodeled Taubaté Prison, cell block 3.
Vitor sat on the bench press, just finishing a set, looking over the prison yard. Even behind bars, his connections did not dwindle. A former petty drug dealer, Vitor Alves quickly rose to power and influence once his powers awoke. He employed other Awoken with criminal tendencies as his own personal task force to drive all other competition into the ground. Once he held the entirety of San Paolo's drug empire in his hand, he set his sights farther. We wanted the entire city for himself, believing that no one could challenge his claim to that right.
With the help of the AMA, the Brazilian government swiftly put his plan to rest, and Vitor behind bars. The fight between the Awoken under Alves and the AMA/Brazilian forces was indeed a bloody one and resulted in a good number of civilian casualties. The drug lord was sent to Taubate, where he would spend the rest of his life. The prison was remodeled, per AMA standards, to be fully equipped and capable of holding Awoken criminals.
Despite having powers of temperature manipulation, capable of increasing temperature to lethal amounts, Vitor did not believe that to be his strongest ability. Money, influence, connections, those were real power, what truly carried him to the top of the criminal world.
Even now, as he sat on the bench press, doing a few reps before looking over the yard, Vitor was not powerless in the outside world. He waited on his informant, his connection to the outside, to appear so he could delegate orders to what was left of his followers and empire on the outside.
He wasn't sure if it was something he ate, or the heat from the pounding sun. Maybe it was even that sky flare that he heard AMA guards mention. Something indeed felt off, his vision seemed a bit blurry. As if the entire prison courtyard was moving slowly right before him. But the informant should be there soon, so Vitor decided not to go back to his cell just yet.
The other inmates, guards, even the basketball that the inmates played hoops with, suddenly slowed down to a halt. Through the statue like crowd, a single figure moved over to Vitor. His feet were bare, his body and face hidden behind a hooded cloak. The drug lord could only see his white beard and his eyes, as they seemed to be glowing a faint blue glow. Before he even got a chance to speak, the man extended his hand towards him and with a smirk, snapped his fingers, sending a bolt of lightning straight into the mans body, causing Vitor to fly several feet and collapse on the ground.
[]
"Ugh... What the fuck man?" Theodore cursed, as he regained his consciousness. Slowly, he got up to his knees, his head pounding like he was struck by a hammer. The cell felt colder than before. Looking around, he saw the entire cell frozen, every surface covered by a thick layer of ice. Bed, toilet, the cell doors, frozen solid. And the ice shifted. With every movement of his hands, the ice followed.
"Could it be?" The inmate whispered, focusing his mind, channeling his ability. Ice began to form in the palm of his hand, morphing freely. With a single wave of his hand, the frozen bed shattered into bits and pieces. Theodore inhaled, getting up to his feet, head still in pain. But the realization was crystal clear. He could now freeze things without having to touch them, manipulate what he froze, as well create ice out by freezing the water in the air. With a grin plastered across his face, Theodore thanked the mysterious man, of who there was not a single trace left, and decided that he's busting himself out of prison.
[]
"WARNING! WARNING! WARNING. PRISON BREAKS DETECTED ACROSS MULTIPLE AMA FACILITIES!" Blared the system on screen at the Awoken Management Agency in Nagoya. Other HQs across the globe received the same warning.
"What the hell is going on?" Clara said, running into the monitoring hall.
"I don't know. Prison breaks, across multiple locations world wide." Kaito replied, his eyes not leaving the monitors as he fired up the surveillance drones on the impacted locations.
"The main facilities that were absolutely totaled are Siberia and San Paolo." He continued.
"Think it could be?" Clara asked.
"Not possible. The protection against solar flares was at full power. Not a single particle should have hit the ground. I mean, we didn't lose any tech, unlike last time." Kaito shot her question down, pulling up the drone feed of the two prisons.
Taubate was in flames. The entire facility seemed to be entirely engulfed in a raging fire. The Russian counterpart held no better either. The entire prison was torn apart by massive glacier like formations, that seemed to jut out of the ground.
Clara, Kaito and other technicians presents stared, slackjawed, at the live drone feed. Something like that was not possible, no Awoken held that level of power. Not even if multiple Awoken united, could they produce that level of destruction across such a large area.
"Wait wait! What's that? Zoom in on one of the glaciers!" One of the technicians said, pointing at the big monitors.
Kaito's fingers flew across the keyboard, as the drone moved closer and the video on screen zoomed to its maximum. On one of the glacier formations, sat a man, clearly an inmate based on the jumpsuit he was wearing.
"Running identification." Chimed the computer.
"Inmate 4012: Theodore Ivarovski. Age: 36. Category: Type 1 Awoken. Ability: Low drop. His ability allows him to significantly drop the temperature of anything he touches, almost instantly."
"He's a type 1. No way in hell that he could pull of something like this." Clara said, eyes glued to the screed. "He must have re-awoken, there is no other explanation."
"Clara, in the last 20 years since the Prometheus, there was never a single instance of that happening. Some Awoken do push their abilities past the initial capabilities, but that's usually the end of it. It's a conspiracy theory." Kaito mumbled.
"Then how do you explain THAT?" She said, pointing at a massive piece of ice that was quickly forming above Ivarovski, before being sent flying towards the drone and cutting off the live feed.
[]
(Howdy y'all. This is a bit different from my usual write style, with a more manga like story/narration instead of the standard story/novel format I do. I hope you like it, I came up with it months ago, but due to time constrains with work I haven't gotten around to writing it. Based on how it's received, I may continue this along side Sand & Steel. You can read S&S on here:
Royal Road
Wattpad
Scribble Hub
Hope y'all have a nice day.
-M.W.A.)
submitted by Obvious_Ad4159 to HFY [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 15:50 svetark Transcript of Lecture on Devata. SJC conference 2006, Sanjay ji

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

2024.05.19 15:48 lightingnations I found my girlfriend’s secret Google account and it feels like our entire relationship was built on a lie

I met Luna on a train two years ago. I’d just escaped from a toxic relationship, so romance was the last thing on my mind, but then she sat across from me in the carriage and asked about the book I was reading. She had a copy in her bag and wanted to know if it was any good.
I'd never felt such an instant, effortless connection with anybody before. I took a chance and asked her to dinner, and by the time the waiters cleared away our desserts, I already felt comfortable being vulnerable around her. So we went on a second date. And a third. And next thing I knew, we were planning our second anniversary.
In all that time she never gave off any 'creeper' vibes. Until a few months ago, when I stayed the night over at her place...
She'd gotten up early to use the bathroom. I grabbed her laptop off the side desk so I could catch up on some work e-mails, and the incognito tab was just sitting there. My first thought was: either she's having an affair or she's got a secret fetish.
What I found instead was a Google account with a photo album called ‘Michael’s EX’. In it, there were 427 photos of my former girlfriend turned psycho stalker, Sadie. This included shots of ‘Sadie the stalker’ with her family, screenshots of her passport—the works. On Facebook, Sadie's latest post said Moving to the Philippines, and since then she’d become a social media church mouse, so how did Luna keep her under surveillance? And how did you even get PERSONAL ID from a person halfway across the globe?
Down the hall, I heard the bathroom door swing open. Quickly I closed the laptop and pretended to be asleep until Luna planted a kiss on my lips. “Wakey wakey Bugs.”
I faked a stretch. “Morning Lola."
(At school, the other kids christened me ‘Bugs’ because of my cartoonishly large front teeth; I called Luna ‘Lola’ because of her blonde bangs and heart-shaped face.)
“How about we grab a fry for breakfast?” Her smile didn’t seem genuine, more like she was wearing a mask.
“Crap. I forgot I’m doing overtime today, I’ve gotta get to work.” With that, I shot out of there faster than a bullet train to Tokyo.
Because I didn’t wanna believe the worst about someone I cared so deeply about, I didn’t contact the police (not that anybody could’ve guessed what Luna was up to) and made excuses whenever she asked to meet, delaying the decision whether to end our relationship.
At night, I couldn’t sleep. Every time a hedge rustled outside, I’d run to the window and pull back the curtain only to discover a black cat skulking around the garden. I put this down to my previous relationship leaving me with a mountain of unresolved PTSD.
Sadie the stalker also seemed normal until we moved in together. After that she started picking fights if she caught me talking to another woman, even just distant relatives or childhood friends. The screaming matches went from weekly to nightly, only ever ending when I conceded to her every wish and gave her full access to my phone and social media accounts. I literally needed to grab my clothes into a bag and run away one night, and then I started hearing noises outside my new apartment. And although I never found any evidence, I was pretty sure she’d broken in at one point because the books on my side table were suddenly out of order one day. What hurt the most was Luna knew all this and still acted the way she did.
Right as I reached my lowest point, my close friend Gertrude called and said, “The universe is telling me you could use a sympathetic ear.”
I told her the universe didn’t know the half of it.
I’d met Gertrude—aka my surrogate mother—on a flight to London. Passing over Wales the aircraft hit heavy turbulence, and the grey-haired hippie in the seat next to mine squeezed my hand so tight that my fingers turned blue. After we levelled off, she apologized and said, “So what’s calling you to London?”
“A job.”
A few glasses of wine from the service trolley later, she blurted out, “You know your aura is strikingly similar to my husbands.”
“Uhh, thanks. Where is he now?”
“Oh, he burned to death in a house fire.”
Gertrude’s eyes started welling up. To take her mind off the subject, I said, “I lied earlier. I’m going to London because I fell in love with a Londoner.” I pulled up pictures of Sadie (back in her pre-stalker days) on my phone. “We met in Italy. She looked flustered trying to read a map book so I offered to help. Next thing I knew, we were planning a trip to this place called Orvieto.”
“Michael, I need to know how this story ends. Gimme your number.”
Since then, we’d met two or three times a year.
I laid the whole mess out over pizza. It was the first time since finding the Google account I didn’t feel hidden eyes crawling all over me.
Just as I wrapped up the story, over in the corner booth, a family burst into a chorus of happy birthday. A waiter appeared carrying a chocolate cake, capped by a giant candle that looked more like a flare. Gertrude tensed up.
“So what do you think about all this?” I asked.
She looked back at me and said, “It’s possible your reaction has been a touch on the dramatic side.”
“DRAMATIC??”
“Well consider things from Luna’s point of view. Your last relationship lasted for, what, three years? Maybe she felt threatened.”
“I don’t believe this.” I grabbed a cigarette from my pocket, but Gertrude snatched it away.
“You know how I feel about you poisoning your lungs, Michael.”
“Don’t you start. I got enough of that crap from Luna.”
Gertrude always encouraged me to work through my romantic problems. Ultimately, I decided her love of fairytale romances clouded her judgement and ghosted Luna instead. But I couldn’t escape her shadow. She always felt close. In fact, it got so bad that at a friend’s costume party several weeks later, my eyes kept compulsively scanning the crowd as if she was there in disguise, ready to pounce.
I stood off to the corner until, over the sea of heads, I spotted a beautiful stranger dressed as Jarlath the Goblin King. I took a shot of liquid courage and made a B-line towards her.
Halfway across the crowded room, beer splashed across the front of my Ziggy Stardust outfit.
“I am so sorry,” a female pirate said, patting me dry.
“Don’t worry about it.” Every time I tried circling her, she moved to cut me off.
“I am such a klutz. Why don’t you come into the kitchen so I can clean up this mess?”
I put my hands on her shoulders and steered her out of the way. “It’s fine. Trust me.”
Approaching Jarlath from behind, heart slamming against my chest, I said, “Well this is awkward. One of us is gonna have to change.”
Jennie had bright blue eyes and dimples impossible to miss. Ten minutes into our debate about David Bowie’s greatest album, I said, “You know Absolute Bowie are playing the Half Moon next week. I could take you?”
“Sorry. I’m going with my boyfriend,” she said with a sympathetic smile. From beside the buffet table, the pirate stared daggers in our direction.
“No worries,” I replied, despite the fact I was brimming with jealousy.
The next day, as I jogged off my hangover, a brown-haired lady cut across my path and we both went spinning to the ground.
“Flip, sorry.” I rushed to pull her up by the hands. “I’m like a bloody zombie lately.”
She did a doubletake. “Ziggy, right?”
There was no mistaking those eyes. “Jarlath?”
“Well, Jarlath or Jennie. Eithers fine.”
“Right. Well, sorry again. Enjoy Absolute Bowie.”
Before I could jog away, she said, “Hey, so that guy I was seeing? Turns out he’s a total prick.”
Jennie and I went for coffee. Coffee morphed into drinks. Drinks morphed into a steamy make-out session on my sofa.
But as she covered my neck in soft kisses, my stomach turned. It felt like cheating. So, I put the brakes on things and said, “I can’t do this. I’m really sorry. You’re amazing, but I just got out of a serious relationship…and…it’s just…”
“Hey, don’t worry about it.”
We agreed we’d let our connection blossom in its own time.
Jennie had a playful mystique to her. Within a handful of dates, we’d developed inside jokes and could tell what the other was thinking. But Luna’s imprint was hard to shake, to the extent I almost mixed up the two ladies’ names multiple times.
To detox, I suggested Jennie and I spend a romantic weekend in the Lake District, because after two days of hiking and kayaking my ex would no doubt be a spec in the rearview mirror.
Hours before we set off, however, Luna’s mom called. She wanted to meet and wouldn’t accept any excuses.
“Look, it’s obvious why I’m here,” she said, sitting across from me in Starbucks. “Ever since you and Luna broke up, she’s been acting…different.”
“Different? Different how?”
“I call but she hardly answers. I go over to her place but she’s never there. Now she’s telling me she needs to find herself. Says she’s moving to Australia.”
Her fingers tightened around her cup. “I need to know what happened between you two. And I don’t care if that paints anybody in a bad light. I’m just worried about my daughter is all.”
I told her about the Google account.
“Did you confront her about it?”
“Hell no. I ghosted that crazy bitc—” I cleared my throat. “I mean, I just…stopped seeing her.”
She started crying so loudly customers at nearby tables paused their conversations. I touched her forearm, promised I’d call if I remembered anything else, then set off for my romantic weekend.
But while Jennie and I enjoyed all that fresh air and pub food, a thought nagged at me. Luna adored London, so why move to Australia? It seemed so out of character. Back at our rented cottage, I was so fixated on the thought I needed a smoke, badly.
“What the hell is that?” Jennie demanded, as she stepped onto the front deck.
I glanced at my hands. “Uhh, a cigarette.”
“Michael! Don’t be sarcastic. You know how I feel about those things.”
“…Do I?”
“Uhh, well it’s the same as anybody else. Quit poisoning your lungs and put that thing out.”
“Alright alright, geeze. Sorry Luna.”
“That’s okay.”
A knot formed in my stomach as she went back inside. I’d called Jennie Luna by mistake. And she hadn’t noticed. In fact, her reaction to me smoking was identical to Luna’s—even the snappy way she said the ‘poison your lungs’ line.
I followed Jennie into the lounge, where she’d curled up on an armchair with a Colleen Hoover novel. She was hiding something. What else did she know about Luna? Maybe I could trick her into revealing some details…
From behind, I started massaging her shoulders. “Sorry for being rude before. I know what you said came from a place of love.”
“That’s okay.”
I waited until her eyes drooped shut, then said, “It really is perfect here, huh? Maybe we should stay forever.”
“Wouldn’t that be amazing?”
Her little groans of pleasure, the rhythm of her breathing, it all felt so familiar. I waited until the tension in her neck dissolved, then I pushed my lips against her ear and whispered, “So how about we take this into the bedroom…Lola.”
“Hmm. Sure thing Bugs.”
My hands froze. Jennie jumped up. “Uhh, that felt so good, why’d you stop?”
“What did you just say?”
“What did you just say?”
“I called you Lola,” I replied, my arms frozen in midair. “And you called me bugs.”
“Like the cartoon, right? I thought it’d be a cute nickname. Anyway, I’m tuckered out.” She forced a yawn. “Why don’t we get some sleep?”
As her hand laced with mine, an image of me waking up drugged and gagged and tied to the bedposts flashed before my eyes.
I said, “Sure. I just…need to use the bathroom first.”
The second the door shut behind me, I flew out of the house, climbed in my car, and sped away.
Within seconds my phone started blowing up with calls, followed by texts. Where are you going? Is everything okay?
No, I wanted to reply. I’m onto your sick little game. Whatever it is, I’m onto it.
Luna stalked my stalker, now Jennie somehow knew Luna and I’s nicknames. How? Did all women take turns drawing straws and whoever picked the short one needed to become my girlfriend?
I couldn’t go home. For all I knew, my exes would’ve been there burning effigies of me. I needed a safe place. Somewhere I could lie low until I got all this straightened out.
“Of course you can stay,” Gertrude said over the phone. “I’m out with some friends, but I’ll meet you later. If you hop the side gate there’s a spare key under the kissing gnomes out back.”
Gertrude lived in a detached house in Wembley. It took a bit of foraging to find the gnomes hidden beneath the weeds in the brown, patchy garden.
I needed to shoulder the door open. Inside, a mountain of letters and flyers had piled up on the welcome mat.
Down the hall, a huge archway connected the landing with a lounge, where a bar sat against the far wall, surrounded by upholstered sofas, a low table, and tie dye sheets strung over the filthy carpet. Everything had a real elegant vibe, despite the musty air.
I’d drained two glasses of whiskey before Gertrude arrived.
“Looks like you’ve had a rough evening.”
I said we could talk in the morning.
“Not a chance. You can’t take negative energy to bed. Come on, confession is good for the soul.”
She sat on the sofa and patted the empty seat next to her. So, with a weary sigh, I shared a tale of deranged exes.
“Crazy,” she said.
“I sure can pick ‘em, huh?”
“No, I mean you’re crazy.”
“What?”
“Think about it. What’s more likely: that your ex’s are secretly in collusion, or you’re being paranoid? Look how bloodshot your eyes are. When’s the last time you got a good night’s rest?”
She made a great point; teenagers on the street occasionally shouted ‘Bugs’ or ‘Thumper’ at me. Jennie might’ve come up with the nickname herself. I pinched the bridge of my nose, groaning.
“Look, sleep here tonight. Tomorrow we’ll brainstorm ways you can make it up to Jennie.”
I fumbled through my pockets for a cigarette.
“Really?” Gertrude said. “If you insist on poisoning your lungs, can you at least do it away from my home?”
“Well if I can’t smoke, I’m gonna need a refill.” I shook my empty glass.
On my way toward the bar, a wave of wooziness hit me. My first instinct was to blame it on the alcohol, but there was something else.
It was her reaction to the cigarette. My finger ran through the thick layer of dust along the bar’s countertop. Why was it like the place had been abandoned? Why did Gertrude always pressure me to stay with my psycho girlfriends? And how come she always reached out, as if on cue, whenever my relationships hit problems? It couldn’t be coincidence…
I poured two glasses of whiskey and carried them to the sofa. “So, you’re really against the whole smoking thing, huh?”
“Of course. It’s a filthy habit.”
“Yeah. Plus, there was that mess with your husband. House fire, right?”
“I’d rather not discuss it.”
“Sure, sure.” I ignited the lighter with a roll across my trouser leg.
Gertrude grabbed a cushion and hugged it. “What are you doing?”
“Alright, cut the crap. What the hell’s going on? Have you been sending your friends to date me?”
“What are you talking about?”
I wrestled the cushion from her and held the lighter beneath it. “I want an explanation right now or I’m torching this place.”
This was an empty threat. I wasn’t some pyromaniac—I just wanted answers. Inch by inch, I raised the flame. “Last chance. Why are the women in my life acting weird?”
Gertrude grabbed for the lighter. As I swatted her wrists away, we both got scorched, and for a moment her skin went wild with spasms, a sensation I can only compare to reaching inside a bucket of wet, writhing maggots. My gaze whipped between her face and her hands, which vibrated like plucked guitar strings.
Before I could scream, she yanked me up, clamped a cold, wrinkled palm across my mouth, and forced me against the wall. I thrashed around, unable to move. For a lady old enough to collect a pension, she was crazy strong.
She waited until I ran out of breath, then said, “Michael, please. I’m not going to hurt you. Open your heart and listen.”
What else could I do?
“You were right before. I have been keeping a secret from you. The truth is, I’ve been in love with you since we met. I’d never flown before. And you were so so sweet. You started talking about this other woman, but I knew our energies were perfect for each other. And it’s like I always say, love makes us do crazy things. You can’t begrudge me that can you?”
She looked as if she expected me to respond, so I shook my head.
“But I think we’ve reached a point where our connection is so deep we can be completely transparent with one another.” She took a slow, steady breath. “Michael, all your ex’s, Luna, Sadie, Jennie. They’ve all been…well, me.”
I stared at her, confused.
She sighed. “It’ll be easier if I just show you.”
Out of nowhere her hand wriggled again, then her face tightened, as though the skin was being stretched over the bone. Wrinkles smoothed out and colour bled into her grey hair, turning it brown, and within seconds I found myself face-to-face with Jennie. Even her vintage clothes morphed into a green blouse and white slacks.
“See?” she said in Jennie’s voice, her now blue eyes locked on mine.
I screamed into the soft flesh of her palm.
“Sssh, it’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you. Watch.”
Her entire body jerked and twitched, the muscles spasming as she shifted from Jennie to Luna. “See? Think of these as costumes”—from Luna to Sadie—"the important thing is what’s underneath. And you’ve fallen in love with what’s underneath three times. Now I’m going to let go, but I need you to promise you won’t overreact. Understand?”
On the verge of a panic attack, I nodded furiously.
The second she pulled away I made a break for the exit. The thing posing as Sadie grabbed me and hurled me backwards against the wall.
Like a disappointed teacher, she put her hands on her hips. “I’ve been so patient with you, Michael. So very, very patient.”
She blocked off any hope of escape. I sidestepped around the outer edge of the room, towards the bar.
“All those years moulding you. Trying to grow you into the man I know you can be. I really thought we had it this time. For the record, I wanted to do this the easy way. But drastic times...”
I was so scared I slammed right into the cabinet and yelped. Glass bottles chattered together, and then something wet ran down the back of my shirt. It was whiskey, leaking from the overturned bottle onto the carpeted floor.
Speaking more to herself now, Gertrude said, “I’ll just have to keep you here until you love me as much as I love you. Of course, that means posing as you so nobody gets suspicious, but that’s no trouble. I’ll tell your dad you’re moving to Italy. You always loved Italy.”
Pose as me? She'd been killing my ex's and taking their place, I was just the latest in a long line. She’d keep me as a personal sugar baby if I didn’t escape, but how? She was impossibly strong, and the only thing that seemed to scare her was…
Snatching the bottle, I doused the remaining whiskey all over the carpet and furniture. As I flicked the lighter open, Sadie’s hands shot up.
“Bugs…darling…what are you doing?”
I took three slow, steady breaths. “Breaking up with you, you crazy bitch.”
I tossed the lighter forward. Within seconds flames sprung up all around us, spreading as far as the sofa. Sadie’s shoe caught fire, and as she stamped around, unintentionally fanning the blaze, her body writhed again, starting with the ankles. Fat boils climbed up every inch of exposed skin, milky white and with the consistency of frog spawn, like she’d had a killer allergic reaction to poison ivy.
She dropped to her knees, wailing like a wounded animal. This was my chance.
I made a break for the exit, giving the creature as wide a berth as possible. But as I got one foot planted in the hall something clamped tight around my ankles. My chin hit the floor, then I started sliding backwards.
I twisted onto my back. Where Sadie’s left arm should’ve been, a tentacle-like appendage stretched across the length of the room, a distance of over twenty feet. It reeled me toward her like a fish on a line. Whatever that thing was no longer looked human. It melted like an ice statue, with no bones or connective tissue inside, its lips nose and mouth becoming hideously elongated before dripping off in huge globs like melted candlewax. A fire alarm started wailing as the tentacle dragged me through the flames, scorching my arms and legs.
The loose mass of skin reached out and encased me like a mother bird sheltering its eggs.
“WHY WON’T YOU LOVE ME?” all my ex’s voices screamed at once. Whichever direction I looked, silhouettes of faces rose and fell, as if trying to burst through. Parts of them dripped inside my mouth, disgustingly warm with a bitter taste worse than Vaseline.
I put everything into clawing my way out if there. What was left of the beast had the consistency of wet clay and came apart just as easily. I tore away chunks until there was a hole large enough to squeeze through. Then, I crawled along surrounded by black smoke.
At the far side of the room I risked a glance back and saw a bumpy, uneven hand reaching out of a puddle of ooze. Soon I was crawling over the bristly welcome mat, then fumbling for the door. All I remember after that are paramedics wrestling me into an ambulance…
A specialist officer came to see me at the hospital the next morning. They’d been unable to contact the homeowner, Gertrude Huyton, and through his line of questioning I could tell they hadn’t found her ‘remains’ inside the charred house. Like the wicked witch of the West, my stalker had melted. I told the officer she said I could stay the night, and that I probably started the fire by dropping a cigarette.
“In that case, we’ll keep trying to reach her.” He walked to the curtain surronding my bed and paused. “Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, her cat is missing.”
“Her...cat?”
“Yeah. The little black one. One of the firemen pulled it out of the wreckage. The poor thing had burns over its legs but it ran off before anybody could take it to the vet.”
I swallowed a gulp and thanked him for telling me.
And now I’m still sitting here listening while nurses rush back and forth, terrified any one of them might be Gertrude…
submitted by lightingnations to nosleep [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 15:46 DevelopmentHoliday5 SWEET CHILI CRISPY TOFU NOODLE BOWL 🥢​​​​​

SWEET CHILI CRISPY TOFU NOODLE BOWL 🥢​​​​​​​​ You’ll sure to love this flavorful bowl plus it’s ready in less than 30 minutes. 😋​​​​​​​​ Sweet Chili Crispy Tofu Noodle Bowls 🥢• 14 oz extra firm tofu​​​​​​​​ • 1 C snow peas, halved​​​​​​​​ • 2 carrots, sliced or ribboned with peeler​​​​​​​​ • 1 C purple cabbage, chopped​​​​​​​​ • 1 bunch lacinto kale, chopped and drizzled with 1 tsp EVOO + 1 lemon, juiced​​​​​​​​ • 2 mangoes, cubed​​​​​​​​ • 1 English cucumber, sliced​​​​​​​​ • 14 oz shirataki angel hair noodles (these are 0 carb 0 calorie noodles made from the konjac plant and have a very similar texture to rice noodles, making them great in asian dishes! Alternatively, you can substitute for rice noodles)​​​​​​​​ Sweet & Spicy Chili Sauce​​​​​​​​ 🌶• 2 TBSP sweet chili sauce​​​​​​​​ , 3 TBSP chili garlic sauce (sambal oelek), 1 TBSP tamari or soy sauce, 1 TBSP rice vinegar​​​​​​​​ Slice tofu lengthwise into 3 slabs. wrap in a towel and place on counter. Top with a large cutting board as well as something heavy like a cast iron skillet. Press for 10-15 minutes to remove excess liquid. Slice tofu into cubes.Heat 1 tsp EVOO in a large cast iron skillet over medium low heat. Add tofu in a single layer and cook for 5-6 minutes - DO NOT FLIP UNTIL THEY WIGGLE freely and are nice and golden. If they’re sticking to the skillet, they’re not ready. Flip and repeat on second side.Meanwhile, steam snow peas and carrots until al dente, boil noodles for 5 minutes, and massage kale until tender.Prepare sauce by mixing all ingredients together. Adjust for desired sweetness/spiciness. Pour sauce over crispy tofu and toss to coat. Arrange all ingredients in bowls and top with crispy tofu and extra sauce! Garnish with cilantro if desired.#healthyfood #healthyfoodshare #healthyfood #healthyveganfood #us#healthyfoodrecipes #vegan #veganfood #healthyfoodlover #foodrecipes #healthyfoodblog #healthyfoodblogger #healthyfoodchoice#foodie #healthy #food #fitness #instagood
submitted by DevelopmentHoliday5 to healthyfoodgroup [link] [comments]

http://activeproperty.pl/