Free crochet pattern tea cup

Comedy Cellar is a great date spot.
Just avoid sitting in the front row if you don’t want to be the target of jokes.
Row boats, roller skating, cooking class, pottery class, painting class, mani/pedis, art gallery, concert, volunteer somewhere.
Board game cafes! You could start with The Uncommons.
Look up drink and draw (on Wednesdays) in Williamsburg. Easy enough to get to, and then you can go to Barcade right afterwards.
New York City has inspired some of the most famous romantic comedies of all time, from When Harry Met Sally to Serendipity. So why is it that all too often, we fall back on the less-than-novel dinner and drinks date? Sure, we New Yorkers have some of the best culinary experiences at our fingertips, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't shake up our date-night plans every now and then. There are plenty of unique date ideas in New York City that are totally romantic and won't cost half your rent. In addition to being easy on the wallet, they just might make you fall in love with the city all over again, too.
From comedy shows and karaoke to scenic strolls and gallery hopping, these are the best date ideas in New York City.
44 Great Date Ideas to Keep Your Marriage Fresh
01
Get Reacquainted With Central Park
More than 8.6 million people live in New York City, but it doesn't feel that way at this four-season and free-to-enter oasis in the middle of Manhattan. Measuring in at 840 acres, there's plenty of room to go around here, whether your idea of the perfect date is a picnic lunch on the Great Lawn, a paddle across Central Park Lake in a rowboat, or a visit to the Central Park Zoo.
02
Explore the Met or MoMA
For residents of New York state, admission at The Met is pay-as-you-wish, so you and your date can browse the storied museum's 5,000 years' worth of artwork and still have some cash left over to grab a quick bite at one of the museum's on-site eateries. MoMA, on the other hand, waives entry fees between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on the first Friday of every month, so plan your outing accordingly.
03
Take a Sunset Stroll Across the Brooklyn Bridge
Whether you start at the Brooklyn or Manhattan side of the stone-and-steel bridge, you'll encounter an intoxicating panorama that really outdoes itself come nightfall. Plan a stroll around sunset to watch as the skyline is enveloped in golds and ambers before transforming into a glittering display of lights as the sun slips behind Manhattan.
Brooklyn Bridge Park hosts a weekly movie series during the summer to cap off your bridge-crossing with a free flick.
04
Explore the Hudson by Kayak
With a mission of "promoting public access to the water for all," Downtown Boathouse offers free kayaking between the months of May and October. Push off from the organization's locations on Pier 26 or Governor's Island for a 20-minute paddle through NYC waterways.
05
Lace Up Your Roller Skates
Relive a childhood pastime with a visit to Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 2 Roller Rink. In the shadows of the Brooklyn Bridge, the outdoor facility hosts regular public skate sessions that are either free or under $10, plus the cost of skate rentals. (Aim to show up on a Friday evening for DJ-led sessions.)
06
Hit the Ice
When temperatures drop, swap your wheels for a blade and hit the ice-skating rink at Central Park, The Rink at Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park, or, for a date experience that's quintessentially NYC, Rockefeller Center. You can glide under the festive canopy of twinkling city lights while holding hands to keep warm for a romantic night to remember. Finish the evening by snuggling up with a cozy cup of hot cocoa.
07
Book a Private Karaoke Room
Most New Yorkers love to karaoke, but when was the last time you actually went? Book a room at Sing Sing Karaoke in the East Village and let loose with your partner.
08
Browse the Stalls at a Food Market, Festival, or Flea Market
If you're not opposed to a daytime date, meet your S.O. at the Brooklyn Flea, Grand Bazaar NYC, or Chelsea Flea Market. Not only are these spots open year-round, but their pay-as-you-go pay structure also allows you to spend as much (or as little) as you want. Similarly, food halls and markets (think Smorgasbord or Essex Market) and city-sponsored festivals follow a no-purchase-necessary format. Bookmark the NYC Parks events calendar to stay informed about upcoming low-cost and free events.
09
Beat Each Other's High Scores at an Arcade
Give your date a glimpse of your competitive side by challenging him or her to a round of Skee-Ball, ping pong, pool, pinball, or an old-school video game. Spots like Full Circle Bar and Cellar Dog promise all of the above, plus brewskies and mixed drinks for the 21-and-up set.
10
Take a Spin on a Carousel
Channel your inner child with a ride on one of NYC's famous carousels, like the Central Park Carousel ($3.25/ride), The Battery's SeaGlass Carousel ($6/ride), or Hudson River Park’s Pier 62 Carousel ($3.50/ride). But if you have to choose just one, go with Jane's Carousel ($2/ride). Dating back to 1922, this historic, 48-horse carousel merges nostalgia with stunning views of the Manhattan skyline and the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges.
11
Travel Back in Time at The Cloisters
Live out your romantic medieval fantasies with a trip through The Met Cloisters. Inspired by European churches, castles, and monasteries, these lush gardens and majestic architecture are home to The Met's extensive medieval art exhibits.
12
Catch a Budget Flick
New York has several independent movie theaters to choose from. Try catching a flick at Syndicated. This Brooklyn venue offers food, drinks, and movies—all under one roof. Grab a seat in the cozy theater-meets-restaurant to watch a second-run flick for just $9, then order from a menu of drinks and handheld eats to enjoy while you watch.
Syndicated also has a bar area that screens two movies via a duo of projectors, allowing you to match your movie-watching to the duration of your drink.
13
Ride the Staten Island Ferry
Who says the Staten Island Ferry is just for tourists and school field trips? Add it to your date-night itinerary and take advantage of a free (and dare we say romantic) cruise between Whitehall in lower Manhattan and St. George on Staten Island (or vice versa). Spend the 25-minute ride marveling at the city skyline and snapping selfies with the Statue of Liberty in the distance.
14
Skydive Indoors
Enjoy the thrill of skydiving without the weather restrictions or, let's be honest, sheer terror of jumping out of a moving aircraft. Located in Westchester, iFly is worth the short trek to experience the sensation of flying in the safe and controlled environment of state-of-the-art wind tunnels.
15
Stroll Across the High Line
A stunning example of adaptive reuse, this defunct elevated rail line-turned-linear greenway hosts manicured gardens, soothing water features, scenic overlooks, and conversation-starting art installations along its 1.45-mile stretch—and it's free for all to enjoy. We recommend popping by Chelsea Market first for a grab-and-go bite to enjoy on the High Line's many benches and seating areas.
16
Take a Walk in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
A fantastic (and quiet) alternative to the classic weeknight drink, a walk through the Brooklyn Botanical Garden will give you a chance to chat with your date—without having to compete with the noise of a bar. Admission is reasonably priced at $18, but you can score free entry if you show up before noon on an in-season Friday (or any weekday during the winter).
17
Try a Cocktail-Making Class at Liquor Lab
If you need some liquid courage to help you soldier through those awkward gaps in the conversation, take a cocktail-making class at Liquor Lab, which leads imbibing students in the creation of craft cocktails, from margaritas to iconic NYC drinks.
18
Spin Vinyl at Tokyo Record Bar
Grab a drink and a bite to eat at Tokyo Record Bar, an izakaya and vinyl bar where you help make the playlist for the night—so you'll get to know (read: judge) your date's musical taste.
19
See a Concert at Carnegie Hall
Dinner and drinks are nice when you're on your second or third date, but a concert at Carnegie Hall is unexpected and something you frankly probably never do as a New Yorker. It's a surefire way to impress your date.
20
Explore a New Neighborhood
Trying something new is one of the best ways to form a deeper connection with someone, so pick a neighborhood you've never been to, and go for an adventure. May we suggest Red Hook?
21
Try Your Hand at Axe Throwing
Need to let off some steam and plan a memorable date night? Axe throwing is probably an experience neither of you has had a good go at. LiveAxe and Kick Axe Brooklyn both offer indoor throwing possibilities that you won't forget. Who knows? You might even find your calling.
22
Get Your Game on at Royal Palms
Skip the local sports bar's pool table and try playing shuffleboard instead. Royal Palms in Brooklyn is a guaranteed good time—and it's way more fun than the bowling alleys at Chelsea Piers.
23
Strike Out at the Brooklyn Bowl
If some old-school bowling is your thing, we get it. There's nothing quite as satisfying as the sound of pins falling down and the sweet taste of victory that goes with it. Get in the competitive spirit and take your date to Brooklyn Bowl for some live tunes, local brews, and delectable eats.
24
See a Comedy Show
Sure, comedy shows are a bit of an NYC cliché, but they're also really fun. And while it can be awkward on a first date to get grilled by the comedian on stage at the Comedy Cellar, your visit is sure to be a memory in the making.
25
Try a New Fitness Class
A date can be a great excuse to experiment with a new and novel exercise. Try Flatiron's Brrrn, where 50-minute fitness classes are held within a studio that's been chilled to a cool 50°F. You can even try the infrared sauna together afterward. Take advantage of first-time student discounts to save some money.
26
Take a Cooking Class at Eataly
Cooking together is a great way to deepen a connection with someone new, but in tiny NYC apartments, it can be quite challenging. Why not take a cooking class instead? Eataly offers a great selection, from pasta-making to pizza workshops.
27
Go Glamping on Governors Island
Collective Retreats has established itself in NYC with escapism experiences that make you feel like you're anywhere else. Take a ferry to Governors Island, and spend an evening glamping under the stars overlooking the Manhattan skyline for the dreamiest of date nights.
28
Take a Pottery Class in Brooklyn
If you've fallen into a routine of going to the same restaurants or watching the same TV series each Monday night, switch it up with a pottery-making class at Choplet in Brooklyn. You'll channel your inner Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze.
29
Sculpt Blindfolded
Or, up the ante on that Ghost-style date night by amplifying the sensory experience. Unarthodox's Sculpture Without Sight offers a unique art experience that reconnects you with your senses—specifically touch—by closing your eyes. The blindfold frees you from the visual plane and allows your hands to do all the talking.
30
Tour the Galleries in Chelsea
Chelsea is filled with incredible art galleries, but be honest: When was the last time you actually visited them? Walk around the various gallery spaces with your S.O. and pick imaginary art for your future home together.
31
Treat Yourselves at Ancient Aire Baths
If you're feeling a little exhausted from a long day at work or have young children at home, treat yourselves to a day at Ancient Aires Baths, where you get to just relax in a romantic candlelit environment.
32
Walk Through Halls of Gems
Want to commemorate finding your very own diamond in the rough? The Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals at the American Museum of Natural History boasts over 5,000 sparkly specimens for quite the magical moment. (We're talking a legendary 563-carat sapphire, folks!)
33
See a Burlesque Show
Give the Broadway shows a rest for a far more provocative production. Whether it's dinner theater at Duane Park or the transportive atmosphere of Nurse Bettie, this date-night activity is sure to set the mood.
34
Visit the Museum of Sex
Speaking of setting the mood, an educational tour of the Museum of Sex should do it for the sapiosexuals among us. From a historic catalog of visual erotica to more hands-on exhibits, this museum admission ($36) will certainly give you the most bang for your buck.
35
Gaze at the Stars at Hayden Planetarium
Whether your love was forged in the stars or the two of you are die-hard cosmo-junkies, a space date is difficult to pass up. The American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium offers a riveting tour of the final frontier.
36
Scale a Building
When you live in a city that boasts some of the highest buildings in the world, what else is there to do but scale them? City Climb offers an exhilarating bird's-eye-view over 1,200 feet above the ground from the Edge's apex.
37
Enjoy a Scenic Cruise
Or, take in the sights without the heart-pumping adrenaline rush by hosting your date night on the water. Reserve a table aboard one of the city's many floating restaurants for a skyline view that's hard to top.
38
Peruse the Books at The Morgan Library & Museum
From ultra-rare first editions to manuscripts, drawings, and sheet music from some of history's most famous and talented artists, The Morgan Library & Museum has it all. Once the personal collection of J. Pierpont Morgan, the dramatic edifice houses plenty of architectural and literary delights to get lost in.
39
Start a Book Club for Two
If all those books whet your literary appetite, why not start your very own book club for just the two of you? Make a day out of visiting some of the city's most charming book stores to stock up on future reads. Some of our favorites include The Strand Bookstore in the East Village and Sisters Uptown Bookstore in Harlem.
40
Channel Your Inner Spy
If you spent your formative years living a double life as an imaginary spy, boy do we have a date night for you. SPYSCAPE may be a high-tech counterintelligence museum, but it also serves as a training (play)ground to really put those carefully cultivated skills to the test. We're talking laser beam hallways and lie detector tests aplenty!

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I'd like to share a recipe I've come up with for baked tofu. Easily customizable, and ingredients/measurements listed are relative. I think it's hard to mess it up. I do a lot of my shopping at Trader Joe's, so a lot of the ingredients come from there.
You will need: -1/2 block of Trader Joe's extra-firm tofu, cut into cubes first and then pressed to remove moisture with a dry paper towel ~3-4 times. Repeat if necessary until cubes are, at most, just a lil' damp.
Egg batter:
-2 eggs
-Splash of sesame oil
-Splash of soy sauce
Whip with a fork until combined.
Dry batter: - Approx. 1.5 cups brown rice flour (any flour will probably do)
-5 to 6 shakes of garlic powder
-3 shakes of bread crumbs
-3 shakes of nutritional yeast (Trader Joe's)
-3 shakes powdered sugar (very important)
-Dash of Pink Himalayan salt
-Dash of white pepper (or Trader Joe's rainbow pepper, as it includes white pepper and it's all I had)
-5 shakes of McCormick's roasted garlic & herb seasoning
Mix dry batter thoroughly.
Dunk each tofu cube into the egg batter, coat w/ dry batter, then repeat once or twice, whichever you prefer. Bake on 400 for 25 mins.
Professionals and/or the wise: please feel free to revise or submit any suggestions. I made half the batch with powdered sugar and half without. The powdered sugar half was by far superior.

During the forecast period from 2024 to 2030, the global thin wall packaging market is projected to witness substantial growth, with a notable Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) surpassing 4.5%. This growth trajectory is attributed to several key factors, including the rising consumer preference for packaged food and beverages driven by evolving lifestyles, as well as the heightened demand for lightweight packaging solutions. Additionally, the inherent properties of thin wall packaging, such as cost-effectiveness, enhanced aesthetics, lightweight construction, and user-friendly design, are anticipated to further propel market expansion throughout the forecast period.
To know more about this study, request a free sample report @ https://www.researchcorridor.com/request-sample/?id=145939
Market Trends:
Sustainable Packaging Solutions: With increasing environmental concerns, there is a growing demand for sustainable packaging options. Thin wall packaging, being lightweight and often made from recyclable materials, is gaining traction as a more eco-friendly alternative to traditional packaging materials.
Innovations in Material Science: Advancements in material science are enabling the development of new types of thin wall packaging with improved properties such as enhanced durability, barrier protection, and heat resistance. These innovations are expanding the application areas of thin wall packaging across various industries.
Customization and Personalization: Consumer preferences are becoming more diverse, leading to a demand for customized and personalized packaging solutions. Thin wall packaging allows for flexibility in design and branding, enabling companies to create unique packaging experiences tailored to their target audience.
Convenience Features: Thin wall packaging is increasingly incorporating convenience features such as resealable closures, easy-open tabs, and microwave-safe designs. These features cater to the modern consumer's on-the-go lifestyle, enhancing convenience and usability.
E-commerce Packaging Solutions: The rise of e-commerce has led to a surge in demand for packaging solutions that can withstand the rigors of shipping and handling. Thin wall packaging, with its lightweight yet sturdy construction, is well-suited for e-commerce applications, driving its adoption in this sector.
Market Opportunities:
The thin wall packaging market presents abundant opportunities for growth and innovation across various sectors. With the increasing emphasis on sustainability, there is a rising demand for eco-friendly packaging solutions, creating opportunities for manufacturers to develop and supply thin wall packaging made from recyclable materials. Moreover, the rapid expansion of the e-commerce industry is fueling the need for robust and lightweight packaging options that can withstand the rigors of shipping while minimizing environmental impact. Innovations in material science and manufacturing technologies offer opportunities to enhance the performance and efficiency of thin wall packaging, catering to evolving consumer preferences for convenience and product freshness. Additionally, globalization and market expansion initiatives enable companies to tap into new geographic regions and emerging markets, further driving growth in the thin wall packaging sector.
According to the recent report published by RC Market Analytics, the Global Thin Wall Packaging Market is expected to provide sustainable growth opportunities during the forecast period from 2024 to 2030. This latest industry research study analyzes the thin wall packaging market by various product segments, applications, regions and countries while assessing regional performances of numerous leading market participants. The report offers a holistic view of the thin wall packaging industry encompassing numerous stakeholders including raw material suppliers, providers, distributors, consumers and government agencies, among others. Furthermore, the report includes detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of the global market considering market history, product development, regional dynamics, competitive landscape, and key success factors (KSFs) in the industry.
Browse the Full Report Discretion @ https://www.researchcorridor.com/thin-wall-packaging-market/
Geographically, the thin wall packaging market report comprises dedicated sections centering on the regional market revenue and trends. The thin wall packaging market has been segmented on the basis of geographic regions into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Thin wall packaging market estimates have also been provided for the historical years 2020 to 2023 along with forecast for the period from 2024 - 2030.The report includes a deep-dive analysis of key countries including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, China, Japan, India, Australia, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa, among others. Thereby, the report identifies unique growth opportunities across the world based on trends occurring in various developed and developing economies.
The Thin Wall Packaging Market Segmentation:
By Product Type:

• Tubs
• Cups
• Jars
• Trays
• Pots
• Clamshells
• Lids

By Production Process:

• Injection Molding
• Thermoforming

By Material:

• Polypropylene (PP)
• Polyethylene (PE)
• Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)
• Polystyrene (PS)
• Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

By Application:

• Food
• Beverages
• Others (Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics & Personal Care, and Industrial)

By Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East & Africa

In the expansive landscape of the global thin wall packaging market, prominent players such as Amcor, Berry Global, Silgan Holdings, PACCOR, and RPC Group stand out. These companies are actively navigating market dynamics through a variety of strategic approaches, including expansion, fresh investments, the introduction of novel services, and collaborative ventures. By prioritizing strategies such as expansion and acquisition, these players are strategically broadening their geographic reach, thereby fostering joint synergies and gaining a competitive edge in the market.
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Key Questions Answered by Thin Wall Packaging Market Report:

• Product popularity and adoption based on various country-level dynamics
• Regional presence and product development for leading market participants
• Market forecasts and trend analysis based on ongoing investments and economic growth in key countries
• Competitive landscape based on revenue, product offerings, years of presence, number of employees and market concentration, among others
• Various industry models such as SWOT analysis, Pestle Analysis, Porter’s Five Force model, Value Chain Analysis pertaining to Thin Wall Packaging market
• Analysis of the key factors driving and restraining the growth of the global, regional and country-level markets from 2020-2030

About Us:RC Market Analytics is a global market research firm. Our insightful analysis is focused on developed and emerging markets. We identify trends and forecast markets with a view to aid businesses identify market opportunities to optimize strategies. Our expert’s team of analysts’ provides enterprises with strategic insights. RC Market Analytics works to help enterprises grow through strategic insights and actionable solutions. Feel free to contact us for any report customization at sales@researchcorridor.com.
Media Contact:
Company Name: RC Market Analytics Pvt. Ltd. Contact Person: Vijendra Singh Email: sales@researchcorridor.com Visit us: https://www.researchcorridor.com/

Hi Guys, I've been a regular here for 7 months now trying to sort out my gastritis. Some of the posts here have MASSIVELY helped me get out of some dark places so i thought I'd make one myself. Here's my story so far:
September 2023: I was smoking, living off 3 strong black coffees 1st thing in the morning, eating tonnes of greasy rich food, and due to stress from an ill relative i was finishing off a bottle of wine plus beers every night. One day, my stomach had enough and i experienced bloating, a fizzy feeling in my stomach and the worst heartburn I've ever had. I was diagnosed with alchoholic gastritis, given Lanzoprezole and told not to drink.
October: Having had 3 weeks of PPIs i stopped them after finding the anxiety side effects too much to handle. As soon as i stopped them i realised my stomach was ok. (Or so i thought) For about 2 - 3 weeks i got away with going back to my usual lifestyle, still drinking but only occasionally, before it all came to a head and the symptoms were so much worse. All of the above, this time with dizzyness, chest pains, heart palpitations and a horrible sense of doom and nasty nausea.
November - Feburary 2024: I spent most of this time taking various ppis for a short time, with famotidine on and off hoping for the same thing to happen again. It did not. Everytime i came off the meds i was met with the same symptoms until i managed to go about a month without drinking (at this point i'd cut back to very occasional drinking) and staying on famotidine. I knew this wasn't going to get any better until i changed my lifestyle habbits, but was trying to have my cake and eat it buy just 'cutting down'.
March 2024: After a weekend away and heavy drinking, my gastritis was the worst it's ever been. Off medication i felt absolutely horrendous, bedridden, severely depressed and decided i had to sort this out once and for all. I knew deep down all along that lifestyle changes had to be made but was probably in denial up until this point, not knowing how bad it could get.
April: No more booze, not even a one off pint. I quit coffee cold turkey. I cut out all irritatants, milk, cheese, all herbs and spices, fatty, acidic, spicy, rich, junk foods... all out the window. Most meals consist of veg soup, ham, plain poached or scrambled eggs, homade bread, lean meats with roasted veg, bananas, nuts and bland crackers to snack on. I only drink water or chamomile tea. I did not smoke, i switched to vaping and cut my nicotine down to the lowest possible dose that caused the least issues. I do PPIs and stick to this diet for most of April and start to feel a lot better.
May: At the start of May my endoscopy refferal came in and i was told to stop the PPIs before hand, having had enough of the side effects i stopped them anyway and stayed on the diet with gaviscon to deal with symptoms. I also took something called Silicol Gel to coat my stomach after a freind recommended it. I noticed i was able to manage ok like this. I had a few hiccups (a pizza, some occasional junk food) but didn't take more than a day or two to feel ok again and even then i just felt a bit 'off'. Halfway through May i added probiotics to the mix. This is when i noticed feeling A LOT better and was able to eat somewhat normally without reacting badly (I'm wondering if my gut bacteria was out of whack from months of PPIs too?!)
Now: Had my endoscopy today and explained everything to my gastro. After having the camera down there, he found everything absolutely normal. No inflammation, no damage and no need for biopsys. I was told to stick to the diet a little longer and there was no need to go back on medication! I AM THRILLED. I've just eaten a creamy garlic pasta and had a cup of fully caffeined tea to treat myself and FEEL ABSOLUTELY FINE 😭
All upper gi symptoms have now gone. No more chest pain, dizzyness, bloating, dry mouth, heart palpitations, gagging sensation, abdominal pain all GONE.
Am i 100% healed? Not quite. There's still an occasional fizzy feeling lower down (my gastro isn't concerned after looking in my upper GI tract) and heartburn after too much bread/cheese. This is also getting better each day and it's absolutely nothing compared to the hell of two months ago and i feel 90% there. I able to eat normally, bread, cheese, tomatoes, fried foods, caffine without any issues and no medication needed other than the occasional gaviscon. My plan is another month (maybe two) of clean diet, no booze or caffine, probiotics, quit nicotine all together and regular daily excercise. I'm pretty hopeful ill be out of the woods at this rate. I have no plans to go back to drinking as it's probably responsible for all this. I also feel much more energetic without caffine!
What helped me -Cutting out the problem habbits, booze, junk food, caffine, fizzy drinks, smoking etc. I know how hard it is to accept and to carry out, but it's worth it. -NOT constantly googling my symptoms and convincing myself that I'm seriously ill. -Probiotics, specifically Aflrorex (this was the biggest turning point imo, for mental and physical symptoms) -Silicogel when coming off PPIs definitely helped sooth my stomach. -For any nicotine addicts, vaping causes me a lot less problems than smoking did. When I went from 20mg salt to 6mg freebase nicotine it causes next to no symptoms. If you can't bring yourself to quit right now (like me) at least try to cut down and it will help you recover.
TLDR: I'm an idiot and thought i could just take meds to make this better. But put the work in AND IT DOES GET BETTER 😎😎😎

I love mystery boxes but also etsy/online shopping in general. I was wondering if anyone would like to talk about their experiences with etsy shops that cater to us. I'd really love to hear about yours, since I'm always looking for new places to try.
I'll start with my experiences!
shopping with EllesLilBoxes has overall been a great experience for me!
number of purchases: 3 things ordered at once
purchases: non-little gift box, agere box, adopted plushie (if I listed everything I got I'd be here for days! but she gives a lot of options to choose from and gives a good idea of what you'll get in your order.)
positives: they were in constant contact with me, making sure they understand what I wanted and fulfilled beyond my wildest dreams. they follow details on requests closely. the quality on the stuff sent was very high. they had a lot of obstacles shipping to the US but never gave up. honestly my best shop experience to date. their tiktok is great with tons of order packing videos.
negatives: international shipping prices. not their fault though! IMO totally worth it.
shopping with LightysSFWregression has overall been a great experience for me!
number of purchases: 3
purchases: bedtime agere box (size large; got a night light as requested, as well as a shark tumbler, a taggie, a pacifier, a coin purse, a notebook, a coloring pad and pencils, a plushie, socks, a tangle, a face mask, a teether and candy), unthemed agere box (size medium; I had asked about a certain themed cup, which I got, and had asked if I needed to order a goth box to get it, since that's what it had shipped with for someone else, was told no, but got some goth items anyway, not sure if they were confused or just figured I'd be into it since I asked! got the cup I mentioned, a plushie, a baby-sized blanket, a pen, stickers, post-its, a Kuromi night light, candy and the same teether pencils and activity pad as last time), petre box (size medium, got gloves, a collar choker, ears, multiple chew toys and a mini blanket like i asked for! also got a coloring book and pencils which aren't on-theme but i still like them, and a mini plush that looks exactly like my own cat! they also remembered my favorite patterns and colors from past orders which is nuts.)
positives: they remember what I like from order to order, which is crazy! Most of the stuff they pick out is stuff I would buy for myself. They can find something for most themes or interests no matter how random. They're great at finding items for middles, not just toddlebaby littles. They cater to requests very well. They're very helpful and responsive. Shipping is usually fast and has never been late for me. They offer caregiver and petre boxes as well as many agere themes.
negatives: failed to notice one of my allergens in a product they sent. i did have one item arrive broken. have gotten some duplicate items. things don't always fit the specific theme of the box. the caregiver box is mainly things for cgs to give to their littles, which i find a little disappointing; having a cg box is a good idea though. they won't make pride/pronoun pins for mspec lesbians/gay men, as those are deemed "problematic" identities, which might be a bummer for people who identify as such. (though obviously their shop their rules!)
shopping with angelicangelgifts has overall been a great experience for me!
number of purchases: 2
purchases: littlespace mystery boxes (received plushies, crafts, Sanrio and other Japanese items, Care Bears, Blue's Clues, coloring supplies, vintage items)
positives: unique, interesting stuff. friendly and accommodating seller. excellent value for the money.
negatives: I think personalization options are limited to what she has on hand and as of this writing she only has one box left available in her store, to my knowledge with no plans to add more.
shopping with btsbaddy has overall been a great experience for me!
purchases: 2 (1 in transit)
purchased items: small Bluey agere box (received paint with water book, water bottle, croc charm, stickers, ear hair clips, snacks, a paci and clip that were thematically relevant to Bluey episodes but not actually Bluey themed), petre box (don't have it yet)
positives: I asked if I could substitute a certain teether I liked in a different themed box. They had none left. They went to two different stores trying to find me one! Even though they couldn't find it at the time I was blown away by that level of dedication. the box was a decent value for the money and they took my favorite characters into account, and my faves are pretty obscure/random (Indy, Winton, Buddy, Jack, PomPom).
negatives: some things in the box seemed random/off theme, smaller boxes use toddler pacifiers instead of adult, which may negatively affect some people's opinions. i've seen reviews state things could be more personalized, i didn't have an issue with that but then i chose a specific themed box to begin with. i just ordered a more open-ended one so we'll see what I get. the value isn't a huge deal for the money but I think it's fine and the customer service is worth paying for IMO.
shopping with littlespaceworld has overall been a great experience for me!
number of purchases: 1
item purchased: littlespace mystery box, on sale (size little; received a puzzle, a mini plush, a tiny sand pail with bubbles in it, a ring toss water toy, a rattle, a teether, play-doh, air dry clay, fidgets, a handmade paci clip, chewelry, snacks, pins, a cup and a spill-proof snack container)
positives: attention to detail is amazing! package definitely made me feel like a kid again! the hand-crocheted clip is gorgeous. the employees are absolutely wonderful and so kind. really got a lot more than i anticipated.
negatives: a lot of dollar store stuff, which I realize is to be expected. their stuff definitely skews towards baby/toddler regressors, so if you like "older" stuff make sure to mention it! (I didn't but that was my fault, and I can use most of the stuff anyway!)
shopping with anxiouskittencrafts has overall been a great experience for me!
number of purchases: 1 but talking to them about a second
items purchased: rainbow/pride agere mystery box (received a BEAUTIFUL deco pacifier, a handmade clip, a Mermicorno figure, stickers, tattoos, a sippy cup and a hair bow), currently talking about a paci clip
positives: I think they might be a mind reader??? I'm not usually into deco pacifiers but this one was perfect for me specifically with its theming (more specific than just "rainbow!"), and so beautiful! The clip goes with it perfectly and is adorable and high quality, with silicone beads. Everything is well made and high quality. You get a listing of what you get in each box with purchase.
negatives: not customizable (at least not yet); if they offer customizable options I may go broke shopping here
shopping with thefluffycornerstore has been a great experience for me!
number of purchases: 1
purchases: adopted plushie! (a little shark)
positives: they added some extra stuffing where he'd sprung a leak and sent him with stickers and the cutest note! Lovely seller.
negatives: presently no longer selling littlespace boxes, which is disappointing because theirs looked really good. individual items however remain for sale.
shopping with pastelwitchbaby has been a great experience for me!
number of purchases: 1
purchases: overstock mystery box (received plushie, coloring book, plain pink pacifier, pink dino bottle, fidget tube, pop-it keychain)
positives: got what was advertised (aside from a bottle instead of a cup, but that's fine! I don't usually use those but it never hurts to have one!), good value for the money
negatives: mystery boxes are no longer available presently, however their crafts are really nice!
shopping with littlespacemb has been a great experience for me!
number of purchases: 1
purchases: paci clip and pouch
positives: terrific quality, adorable prints, the clip uses snaps instead of a string which I really like
negatives: none that I've experienced
shopping with LittlingNickNacks has been overall been a very good experience for me!
number of purchases: 3 (1 currently in transit)
purchases: littlespace lottery spins at 5 and 3 dollar levels (won sticker pacifiers, pacifier clips, stickers, a pin, two sippy cups, socks, a keychain and a bunch of resin planars for decorating)
positives: I like the sticker pacis as an option between plain and deco. They're great about listening to what you like and don't like and will substitute items within reason if there's something you can't use. I've done two of their lottos and haven't gotten anything I didn't like. The mystery/lottos are really varied with tons of choices, the starter packs of various sizes come with all the basics and more, and you can also just buy the items you want outright. So whatever you want, they have you covered. Their TikTok is frequently updated with a lot of fun posts.
negatives: stuff takes a while to ship and is usually later than expected. They do also sell adult themed boxes on their page, which isn't a negative for me personally but is for some. they're currently having a lot of problems with their distributor but hopefully will have things back on track soon. communication has not been great lately but that will hopefully improve once the current issues are under control.
shopping with kittyscutecollection has overall been a pretty good experience for me
number of purchases: 4
purchased items: two custom pacifiers (broke one and got an identical replacement), agere mystery box (dino theme; got a teether, socks, a lot of cute crafts, a ring toss "video game" toy, a toddler puzzle and a wind up train set), Bluey mystery box (items you get are now listed in the shop and are not random)
positives: incredibly accommodating! you get a lot of items for the money. the made to order pacifiers are really good quality. if i didn't have to pay international shipping on top of them, i'd probably think the prices are really good.
negatives: contents of the Bluey box aren't great quality (and not everything is licensed, which was disappointing; that box now advertises what you get). wish you had more theme options beyond dinosaur and unicorn, but they will include items that aren't strictly on-theme. not tremendously personal boxes but they do make an effort to include things you like!
shopping with pinkscriptscribbles has overall been a pretty good experience for me.
number of purchases: 3
purchases made: comfort character custom care package, regular comfort character letters with small packages
positives: my partner loved her letters from SVU characters (I didn't read them as it seemed too personal somehow, but I got her them as a gift), I got one from Bluey and it was pretty good! I haven't bought one of their littlespace comfort character items but I imagine they're similar.
negatives: the packages are pretty impersonal even when you customize them. i realize it's hard to customize for characters you don't know well, but making the effort would be nice.
comfortfandom unfortunately seems to have vanished, they've had a hold on new orders for over six months now; however should they return i cannot recommend them enough, their comfort character letter was perfection, and the package was great too.
revenantrose is a great seller, unfortunately no longer selling littlespace items but great customer service anyway.
littlesplace and thetinypumpkinpatch both ghosted without sending items; I think etsy has since removed both shops.
currently waiting on my first package from dreamypacis.
on my list to try in the future are little4bigs, lizzieslittlemarket, bunwantsaplushie, littlebearboxes, pinkcowpaci, flowersforfaye, lilluvables, angeldreamzshop, foxwoodscoven (if prices decrease again, i'm sympathetic to their need for increased prices to fund a move and recognize that you also need to pay for the vendor's time and effort, but they're simply more money than I can afford to pay at 70 dollars for an extra-small box that contains maybe 15 dollars in contents), smolskyco, madebyannaboutique, yokaiyard96, lilsecretz, and mistyangelco and luciferlupine if they return to etsy.
i probably won't try these shops, as they don't seem like what I'm personally looking for, but I'm adding the names of the other shops I've browsed because you might enjoy looking at them!
shysweeties (price is too steep for me for what you get, but customers seem pleased) littlespacestations (full deco pacis aren't my thing and I'm not a bath person, however their stuff looks like great value and quality) littlebluespace (no shipping to the US but would try them otherwise) chellysboxes (waiting for them to get more reviews with photos but I'd like to give them a chance if I like what I see) cozyfrappie (they only offer a starter pack for littles, which is just stuff I personally don't need, looks good though) sparkledogstudios (the littlespace box contents just aren't things I need personally, shop has good reviews) chiekosboutique (zero reviews so far, waiting to see, shipping price also looks pretty steep unless the small boxes are bigger than i'm picturing) babygirlscornertime (the stuff is SO SO nice and cute, just out of my price range! the prices are fair it's just too much for me) littlespacecornerart (deco pacis only, very cute), littlekittenprints (great print-out littlespace content, not what I need but it looks good, stuff is marked ddlg but it's all sfw) squishyfrogshop (the byo pacifier thing is a great idea and their stuff looks really nice) subbymousecrafts (stuff sounds potentially interesting, waiting on some reviews) teddybearsafeplace (prices are too steep for me but might be in your price range, thrifted mystery box is a cool idea) stardustpacis (no reviews yet) scarlettlittles (deco pacis only) kindyclub (downloadables and comfort character letters) pasiveaggressivepacis (custom deco pacis) clumsylullaby (adopt a stuffie program, v cute) pjkittybootique (themes for the little packages don't appeal to me but they look decent) taurusariespacis (custom pacis) littlemenagerieco (deco pacis, if they ever start doing custom animal crossing ones i'll be there in a second.) pacisandstuffshoppe (deco pacis) littlesugarplushshop (deco pacis) angelsprettypacis (deco pacis) thesirenshoppe (deco pacis) juniorswonderland (mystery box only, no reviews yet)

SUBSCRIBE to Dr. Anand Bhardwaj https://www.youtube.com/@DrAnandBhardwajVastuConsultant Vastu Shastra, ये काम रात को ज़रूर करें, हर रात को बढ़ाएं ऊर्जा-Positive Energy, रातों का वास्तु, डरें नहीं, बनायें पॉजिटिव, Feeling drained at night? Nighttime is supposed to be for rest and rejuvenation, but how to get rid of bad energy at night and increase energy at night? Many cultures have practices to improve nighttime experiences. Vastu, an ancient Indian system for creating harmony with surroundings, offers Vastu tips for night. Here's a look at how Vastu at night can help. At night, how to check negative energy at night? Some believe negative energy disrupts sleep. While there's no scientific proof to see bad energies, Vastu for sound sleep suggests arrangements that promote tranquility. Vastu for master bedroom focuses on furniture placement and clutter control to enhance sleep quality. Likewise, Vastu for children prioritizes a calming environment for your little ones. But Vastu isn't everything. How to get energy at night? A good night's sleep is key, but sometimes you need a pre-sleep boost. Consider precautions at night like avoiding caffeine and electronics before bed. Must do at night include relaxing activities like reading or taking a warm bath. So, how to increase energy at night and create a positive nighttime environment? Combine good sleep habits with practices that suit you, whether it's Vastu tips for night energy or a simple cup of calming chamomile tea. Remember, the best thing to do at night is what helps you feel most rested and recharged. Understanding how to check negative energy at night was vital. The elders taught how to check negative energy at night, emphasizing its importance. Knowing how to trace bad energy was also crucial. How to trace bad energy was a skill everyone sought to master. To see bad energies, they learned, was significant. How to see bad energies became part of their nightly routine. Vastu tips for night guided them, ensuring they followed the right path. Vastu tips for night were shared in every household. How to get energy at night intertwined with what one must do at night. People followed rituals, knowing what one must do at night was important. Precautions at night were essential for safety. Precautions at night were discussed in every home. Vastu for sound sleep was necessary. Vastu for sound sleep ensured restful nights. Vastu for master bedroom brought harmony. Vastu for master bedroom was carefully implemented. Vastu for children was just as important. Vastu for children ensured their safety and growth. Things not to do at night were equally important. Things not to do at night were strictly followed to avoid disturbances. Vastu tips for night energy helped maintain balance. Vastu tips for night energy were shared widely. How to get rid of bad energy at night remained a frequent concern. People sought the best thing to do at night, as the best thing to do at night varied for each family. How to increase energy at night was a topic of discussion, and Vastu at night included practices that helped. Checking negative energy at night was challenging. Knowing how to check negative energy at night was necessary. Tracing bad energy was part of their practice. How to trace bad energy required patience. Seeing bad energies involved sensitivity. How to see bad energies was a learned skill. Vastu tips for night guided their actions. Vastu tips for night were integral to their routines. Getting energy at night was crucial. How to get energy at night was discussed frequently. What one must do at night included specific actions, forming part of their nightly routine.

Hello all, hope you're well!
My ficnapping assignment this time around was u/United_Patriots Nature of Orion. I loved reading their story in preparation for this and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do next. I'd definitely recommend giving it a read if you haven't already. Also be sure to check out their ficnap for Exchange Program Shenanigans.
I hope people enjoy the ficnap I've written even if the tones a fair bit different than the main story. And if anyone's interested please check out the ficnap u/sirgeneralcliche wrote for Terran Zoology, it was a lot of fun.
Now without further ado, let's get into the ficnapping.
Memory transcription subject: Glim, Venlil Guild Exterminator
Date [standardised human time]: September 25th, 2136
Closing the door to my quarters as quietly as Venlily possible I gingerly tiptoed down the hall, hoping that the softness of my paw pads would help mute my otherwise clawed feet until I was safely out of earshot of the still slumbering human I’d left behind.
My time spent mingling with the trio of Marcel, Tyler, and Alice had been… interesting. The consideration they’d shown for both my physical and mental wellbeing after I blew up at them shortly after our introduction, coupled with their continued attempts to include me in the group dynamic since then, had shown me that they weren’t the bloodthirsty unrestrained monsters I’d first believed them to be.
Despite that, I remained sceptical of their true nature and was convinced that somewhere within them there lay predatory inclinations, patiently lying in wait for the most opportune moment to reveal themselves.
Sure they may act all fluffy and cheery, their gangly bodies barely built for anything other than the startling projectile accuracy they’d displayed in our game of bowling, but even a Dossur could be spurred to fury regardless of its diminutive size and lack of natural weapons.
Speaking of Dossur, my most recent idea to uncover the truth of human nature had stemmed from overhearing a conversation a few paws ago between a Dossur and their human exchange partner. They’d been discussing jobs, starship maintenance or something similar, and it had stuck with me. Not the ships part, Stars no. Rather, I’d started to become curious regarding what jobs humans actually did.
The three I knew by name were all soldiers and the guy I’d overheard must’ve been an engineer of some description. Jobs like that made sense, predators of course needed warriors to fight and engineers to keep their equipment running, but it begged the question of what other professions humans deemed necessary in a predator based society.
This was why I was sneaking out on Marcel well before he was likely to wake up. I was sure that if I asked him he’d be happy to tell me all I wanted to hear, but there were no assurances that he wouldn’t hide the more predatory aspects of his people's culture.
No, in order to fully reveal the truth, I would have to catch humans unawares and hope that they let something slip they weren’t supposed to when questioned.
[Advancing transcript by 15 minutes. Resuming playback…]
It hadn’t taken me long to find just what I was looking for, a lone human male with no one else in sight; a perfect start to my mission. Sat at an outside table of one of the many cafes running along the station's concourse they lazily sipped from a steaming mug while occasionally glancing around, probably waiting for their exchange partner to show up. The expectation of an arrival meant I had little time to put my plan into action. If I was going to make a move then I’d have to make it now.
Cautiously so as not to attract their attention, I casually slid into their blindspot before drawing steadily closer. Only a couple tails away and they still hadn’t noticed me. I was in the perfect position but I gave it a moment so that they could put down their drink. It’d be one thing to give them a fright, another thing entirely for them to burn themselves because I’d made them drop their cup.
Tarva and Kam have already screwed with my life enough. Don’t want to give them more of an excuse to brahk it up further.
The moment their cup clinked against the saucer I took the initiative, “Excuse me human.”
As I’d anticipated they jumped in their seat, a grunt of surprise escaping them as they wheeled around to look at me with a mixture of frustration and alarm, “Aah! W-what the- Where did you come from!?”
Good, they’re off balance. Time to press my advantage and uncover their secrets.
I forced an apologetic tone into my voice and drooped my ears a little to better sell it, a necessary deception to further drop the humans guard. Humans clearly had a soft spot for our appearance so, as much as it stabbed at my dignity, I could stomach acting cutesy long enough to do what needed to be done.
“Oh I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to talk if you were free?”
My apology succeeded in settling the humans frustration, the creased frown around their eyes giving way to a more placid expression. Again they glanced away in the same direction they’d been looking previously, likely checking to see if their partner was close by, before opening their mouth to reply. A pang of concern shot through me, worried that they might reject my request in favour of keeping to the solitude that all predators enjoyed.
Unwilling to let this chance slip through my claws I pushed on, not giving them a chance to speak, “You see, I’ve been really curious about human jobs. Would you be willing to tell me what you do for work?”
His jaw remained open but it lolled without purpose, his train of thought completely derailed as confusion swept over him. Surprisingly however his composure returned with alarming swiftness, all uncertainty being blown away as a beaming smile overtook his face.
A reaction I hadn’t anticipated.
That can’t be good.
Quick as a flash a hand shot out to my shoulder, hurriedly guiding me to the seat next to them with a fervour that left me instinctively aware that I’d stepped right into the Voidpin burrow.
“This is great! Vola asked me about my job too when we met but uh… she wasn’t too interested. But that’s fine, not everyone would be after all. That said, I hope you’re different, because personally I think my job’s pretty cool! Oh, I’m Jaque by the way. Pleasure to meet you!”
Thoroughly disarmed and unsure of how best to respond in the face of this overwhelming bubbly font of excitement, I could only reply with a brief introduction of my own, “Um, Glim… hi.”
Jaque leaned closer with an eager grin, “Glim, I’ll remember that! Ok then Glim, my job is pretty simple but I think it’s really interesting. You ready? I’m a pension administrator.”
My tail fell still.
…Ohhhhh speh.
[Advancing transcript by 20 minutes. Resuming playback…]
How long has he been talking? Has it been a claw? No that’s too short, it feels more like three claws at least.
Stars… how can someone be so enthusiastic about pensions!?
“You know one of the things most people don’t understand about pensions is that it’s not a savings account like a bank, but rather it’s an investment portfolio that can grow or fall depending on how the stocks perform. I can’t tell you the number of times a client complained because their policy had less money in it than they’d put in. I sympathise of course, it absolutely sucks when that happens, but that’s just how they work at the end of the day.”
I could feel my eyelids begin to close as Jaque continued to drone on and on and on, pulled further and further downwards by unseen lead weights that my tired brain was begging me to relent to.
It was truly astonishing that he hadn’t picked up on the fact that he was boring me into a coma. Was he simply so enthralled by his absurd passion that he hadn’t noticed my wilting posture? Maybe he was yet to develop an understanding of Venlil body language. Either way the outcome was the same, an unending stream of mind melting gibberish about personal finance that offered no ford with which to cross it.
Stars… someone, anyone, make him shut up!
“Hey Jaque sorry I’m late. Who’s this?”
Salvation!
The heavens had heard my desperate plea and delivered unto me another poor soul who could distract the ever chattering administrator!
A portly salt-and-pepper shaded Venlil greeted Jaque as they approached, sidling up to him with a happy flick of the ear while looking at me in idle curiosity, “Gone and got yourself another exchange partner just because I’m running behind a little?”
Their whistling chortle was joined by the humans' deeper grunting chuckle, “Not at all Vola, how could I ever replace you? This is Glim and he was curious about what I do for work. We’ve been having a pleasant conversation about it while I waited.”
Conversation? Conversation!?
You did nothing but talk and talk and talk while my brain liquified you damn brahkass!
Before I could pull myself back together well enough to say as much, Vola spoke up, tugging at her partner's sleeve with a claw, “Glad to hear but we’ll have to get going if we’re going to make it to the cinema in time.”
“And who’s fault is that?” Jaque stood from his chair with another teasing laugh before turning to me one last time, “It was nice meeting you Glim. Hopefully we can continue our chat another day.”
Still in a mild daze from the barrage of tedium Jaque had hammered me with, I could only muster enough energy to sway an ear in brief farewell as the duo walked away, leaving me alone in the blessed embrace of silence.
Ahhh, bliss. I’ll never take the quiet for granted again.
After taking the time to properly collect myself, along with grabbing and downing the nearest caffeine laden drink I could find to re-energise my weary frame, I set off in search of another human.
This attempt may have ended in failure but I wasn’t going to be thrown off course by a single bump in the road. I would uncover the darker side of human society and I would not be deterred!
[Advancing transcript by 40 minutes. Resuming playback…]
“And these pictures show my collection of rare coins from the Qing Dynasty of China. These ones were minted in the early years of the dynasty, which spanned the years of 1644 to 1912. The current year on our calendar is 2136 if you didn’t already know, making these coins pretty old indeed!”
I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care.
[Advancing transcript by 25 minutes. Resuming playback…]
“Now the name Ladybug is actually slang and not their actual name at all. They’re actually called Lady Beetles, and that’s just one of several interesting facts about these crazy critters.”
This is psychological warfare, it has to be. There’s no way this is real. There’s no way they’d be so boring!
[Advancing transcript by 55 minutes. Resuming playback…]
I thought I’d had one this time. Really I did! I switched tactics and asked the next human about their hobbies and they immediately answered that they enjoyed lockpicking in their free time.
Finally, this was it! My moment of vindication. A window into an ultimately deviant mind that validated what I already knew had to be true. But, just like in the previous attempts, it all fell apart like a sandcastle washed away by the waves of the encroaching mercilessly indifferent tide.
“Yeah so it’s actually a huge hobbyist thing, especially with people like me who love puzzles! Because that’s what a lock is if you think about it, a 3D puzzle with a specific way to open it that you need to figure out. Some designs are straightforward, a single bolt that just needs turned 90 degrees and boom it’s open. But others are incredibly convoluted combinations of multitudes of different mechanisms that all need to work in tandem to finally unlock and reveal what’s behind it.”
I slumped in my seat as the human continued talking, her relentless enthusiasm blinding her to my sullen demeanour. While I wouldn’t go as far as to lump her hobby in with the rest of the positively monotonous professions of the humans I’d already talked to, it still didn’t change the fact that this was not what I was wanting to hear.
Am I- am I just wasting my time with this? I’ve not confronted a lot of them yet, but every human I’ve talked to has shared everything on their mind without a second thought. There’s no way they could’ve rehearsed all of this so cleanly!
Or have I just been so Star’s damned unlucky that I’ve happened to cross paths with the most boring people Earth had to offer?
Ugh… maybe I should’ve just asked Marcel to start with. He’d probably at least have something interesting to share. Maybe Tyler too? Ha, he definitely would have let something slip.
…
OH FOR BRAHKS SAKE!!! I should’ve just talked to Tyler!
I leapt from my seat, startling the human across from me as I did so. With a hasty half-assed wave goodbye I powered off back to the living quarters. It didn’t take me long to reach, the renewed fire in my chest propelling me onwards until I was outside Tylers door, breath heaving in my lungs and heart pounding against my ribs. I managed to restrain myself from barging through immediately, knocking instead despite my impatience.
Thankfully it didn’t take long for the large blond haired human to answer, his expression changing from curious to confused as he noticed me, “Glim? Hey, what’s up?”
“Do you hunt? Tell me how if you do”, I half asked and demanded.
Tyler looked me up and down for a second before fully opening the door and inviting me in with a wave of his hand as he walked back into his quarters, “Uh… ok, sure thing. Well I don’t go hunting but I do enjoy fishing. Would you be interested in that?”
YES! At last I’m going to hear the truth of their nature!
I flicked an ear back in confirmation and settled onto a nearby seat with satisfaction, “Yes thanks. Fishing would be perfect.”
[Advancing transcript by 10 minutes. Resuming playback…]
“So basically all lines have different tensile strengths which makes them more or less suitable to catch different fish. This plays in with all the other equipment as well. The rod, hook, reel, all of it. Knowing what you want to catch will give you a baseline for what equipment you want to use and with that you can do all the necessary prep work. Hold on, I think I've actually got some magazines still downloaded on my pad from when I left home. They go into much deeper detail than I do. They’re a pretty fun read.”
BRAHK!!!

Are there any studies anywhere that show the occurrence rate of bulbar in people age 26/mid twenties? Speech therapy for me hasn’t been going too well and my neurologist said she wants to see me again.
I can’t really pronounce the letter k or g. They just keep coming out as sort of breathy if that makes sense. Like my tongue isn’t connecting to the top to make those noises but is just going halfway up instead, hence causing the breathy airy sounds instead.
It also doesn’t help that liquids seem to only go down the left side of my throat. I’ll drink a cold glass of water or a hot cup of tea and only feel it going down the left side. My neck and under my chin have been twitching daily for the past few months too along with my right arm which has developed a tremor when i hold anything with it compared to my left. (also when i flex my arms with the same amount of strength, the bicep on my right arm takes forever to “form” when the left arm is instant.)
Any input would be appreciated, thanks.

It felt frustrating in Chongqing. I was rather stuck in Hechuan. I got accustomed to lajiao (spice) there. I was a Midwesterner at the age of 22. I was raised in Illinois. I became a manic—a Ferris wheel on fire—I was hiding under a bed in a hotel. Bold like napalm. Sometimes I can never stop. Even when I was 18 in a ward arguing with staff. Always want to fight things. That’s why I refused the meds and went on a plane from America to China. I was going to be an English teacher. And like a light switch, the change and SSRIs turned me into a mess. It would be my first time experiencing psychosis. My biggest issue. I never imagined I would be stuck illegally in a country suffering a psychotic episode in my early twenties.
Transplanted as pollen. I was left with a backpack and a cellphone. With a downloaded app called WeChat. I had arrogantly quit a university job in a fit. Spent the past months full of energy and not sleeping and neglecting myself, including not eating, to work on a novel. Not considering myself normally religious, I had obsessed over occult ideas during that time. Spending nights reading Aleister Crowley—haven taken a rusty pocket knife to carve a pentagram on my chest for spiritual protection.
I did not have funds to fly home. My visa was connected to my previous job, which meant I had now made it void. I was an illegal resident now in China.
I used a nifty app called WeChat as a messaging app, it allows users to find people near them that are also looking for others. It was like a virtual pond. All kinds of people, including sex workers trying to make things happen.
It could with luck be used to find people looking for people in terms of other kinds of work. It was helpful on many occasions for finding gigs working at English training schools and also finding work as a private tutor for people.
WeChat also works as a digital wallet.
Mania makes me irritable. Enough to tell a boss to fuck off. Thoughts ricochet within me. Bumper cars collide.
Being stuck and angry sucks. I scrolled and scrolled on a Huawei phone.
Absolutely pissed off at this world.
Pissed at the times police wanted to take me away for being a mess.
Sometimes women get pissed. Scrolling through their phones. Angry at their cheating husbands. It really is not that hard to have flair—be a damn white oddity. Like moths to a porchlight. Particles of sand through hands. This is when I first started the habit of it…
I rather go by a rather empty name of Taishen… with further explanation needed but now is not convenient. But I assure it is interesting enough and has some importance.
Habits are various in nature in how they attach to and eat at marrow—like atom bombs flashing as rays evaporating DNA—sets in a way less than human as putting myself in the cage of bad things taken up—my time as a former heroin addict is left as stretch marks on me in various ways. The same goes for the first time I found myself making arrangements with middle aged married women while desperation of waves whiplashed me like sandpaper hands coming at me to leave me in a tiring state of abrasion.
I had spent a night snuck away into a hotel. Found someone on a business trip. Instead of registering I waited to sneak along into the hotel elevator amongst a group of others attending the hotel, as I had no card. I headed to a designated room number. Originally I was sitting in a park. Playing on WeChat and found someone in their mid-thirties. Pictures were exchanged and I said no. She brought up paying for the hotel if I arrived. I agreed and went along.
When I met I washed up after her and we used our phones to awkwardly translate what we would do.
Room service knocked. I found myself hidden under a bed as I was not registered to be there.
It seems unusual that it was around this time I had started working on a story of my life as a heroin addict when I got caught up in my worse manic episode ever experienced during my age of 22. Finished half that story before never going back to it after my manic episode had ended. Now I am here writing about it and wondering if the same can happen again in the process of this work.
It feels extremely cliché I would write a novel about struggles with heroin addiction. It has been done many times. It’s just lame of me.
I feel like my thoughts are bit off. I left the hotel the next morning with the little money I did have on a debit card. Turns out the woman was from Taiyuan. It is a city in the northern part of China in the province of Shanxi—coal country with the worst air pollution in China. She has a colleague in Taiyuan that takes courses at an English training center. I was able to contact this place in the morning via a shared contact on WeChat given to me by the stranger I met that night.
Before I knew it I was sending my information and documents in my backpack at an internet café in a fax—with the intent that the woman agreed to share my information to the training center as she shared my contact to its hiring manager. It would land me a job that day that would help me out of my situation. Things turned not quite out as I expected though. I was shifted like a ball to somebody else to contact for a training center geared to teaching children.
I took what I had and ran off to a train station after taking the public transit. Unfortunately I was shit for money and could not afford a high speed rail pass. The slow train would take thirty-two hours to get to my destination. I would have taken a room with a bed but all I could afford was a hard seat for the travel.
Things were getting better for me in the circumstance considering I had found someone willing to take me for work despite my visa situation.
The thirty-two hour train ride was horrendous in some ways, but mostly I was in excitement despite the circumstances. I’m always giddy when disappointed. I moved up and down the aisle of the train. I could not speak mandarin, but it did not stop me from trying to interact with everyone. I talked many ears off during the train ride. I went up and down the aisle trying to interact as a moth to porchlights—I could not stop even if I had wanted to. I found great enjoyment the times I did get to sit across a table from somebody my age heading to Taiyuan from Chongqing. They were a university student returning to their hometown. Another passenger who sat beside me was an elderly man with hard boiled eggs, he was eating one after another one. I highly enjoyed each and every conversation that I had. It was like my head was a lightbulb wanting June bugs to bang against it with the intensity of Roman candles shot at my mouth of nicotine tinged teeth.
“If you find someone in Shanxi it is practice to pay the family money before you can get married. You would also have to already own a home and a car,” told my new friend across in their seat from me—a university passenger friend named David.
“Not necessarily what I was looking for. When is the next stop for snacks?” When the train stops I am able to get out and to have a walk onto the platform to buy various goods from the vendors to take back with me to eat along the ride to Taiyuan.
I had all my important documents tucked in my bag. This included my health clearance and obviously I made no mention of my mental health diagnosis or history to the doctor who had to evaluate me. My diploma and TEFL certificate were tucked away securely. A TEFL is a certificate that stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language, it qualifies me to teach English as a second language abroad—it had only took a few months of taking a course online that I had paid for to obtain.
It is easy to be happy when you can trick yourself as your own con artist. Mania can make you deceive yourself. One can be doused in napalm and still not fully recognize what is actually going on. Same goes the flicking of psychosis. Even when I have nothing I find myself in my radiating irritation the most qualified of things—the velocity of my rhythm sets me out of an orbit.
The pressure cooker keeps me moving like a propeller at times. I finally arrived at Taiyuan. I arrived at the station to be greeted by Ryan my manager and his assistant Jennifer. We had our hello and introduction and they helped me get to a taxi that would bring me to my new apartment. I finally had a residence again. Apparently they were desperate for a teacher. The last teacher was from New Mexico and apparently they pulled a midnight run—that is when a teacher in the middle of the night disappears onto a plane back home without any notification of it.
The apartment was okay. On the fourth floor with no elevator, so it was a bit of a climb up a dark stairwell not lit correctly.
My job was a training center that had a location near Yingze Park in the center of the city. I was to be paid in cash via envelopes. I would assist in teaching kindergarten all the way up to high school aged students there in private lessons paid by their parents. I would also be assigned by my company to various primary schools in the city. I would take public buses to various schools paid by the company I worked for to give English lessons as I bounced around to various classrooms and schools in the city. Often I would receive a phone call to avoid going to work that day if my boss got inside input that officials would be doing raids to check foreigners’ visas that day.
A taxi ride would always be a thrill. Caused me nerves at first, but I came to love the flying in dangerous ways along a busy road. I remember a driver beeping their horn away as they drove onto the sidewalk to pass people. They treated the pedestrians as if they were in the wrong. I came flying in front of a primary school at its front gates. I was going to start teaching a first grade classroom and a kindergarten classroom. The way schools are set up is with a wall around the entirety of the exterior of the school. There is a gate at the front where one or two security will be waiting to let people in and out of the complex of the school.
I walked in front of the gate to greet the security. It was my first time with an assignment at this school. The guard said they had never seen me before and wouldn’t let me in. Not a big nuisance while I called my boss who then called the school to sort out the situation.
I miss the classroom so much. I ended up teaching in China for five years at various training schools. After returning to Illinois, I still taught as a primary school teacher in a public school.
I often feel extremely ugly from inside to my outside, but something is attractive there. This does not come just in terms of flirting and relationships—mania makes me a genuine lightbulb that flickers in a way that encourages the insects to me—everyone looks like a June bug—this is what I have come to understand about life. But that ugly does kind of stay like rot in a cavity that leaves a bad taste in the mouth that smells foul—hoping nobody catches the smell near me—it must tie into my struggles with bulimia over the years.
The same goes for my years as a teacher—in relation to the whole lightbulb phenomenon—I’m positive it is tied to mania and hypomania. The younger students always were fixated on the information I was teaching to them. I kept over the years methods taught to me and self-taught that I found extremely effective with younger students when it comes to teaching.
Everything was physical in learning in terms of intensity and ambition. When teaching my first grade classroom I would create flashcards for the vocab we would work on and implement in creating new sentences with. We would chant these words together in a way that made me a clown while teaching. Students would yell out the word that I presented with intense enthusiasm. As I walked by students it was expected that while they yelled out the word they would also physically hit the card. Later I would also work on physical gestures and acting out of vocab words and they would follow the actions and phrases with me.
I would often eventually turn the class into two teams. When students got an answer right I would behave comically and full of energy—I would give them a high five and pretend they were so strong with it that it hurt my hand in the process with much exaggeration—the students always seemed to never get tired of this act.
One game I would play involved drawing two stick figures with happy faces on them. Each figure would represent one of the teams for the classroom. I would draw a hungry alligator under the figures. Their faces would also be comical in appearance and full of exaggerations. Each figure had a parachute placed over them and four strings attached. During the game the students would race to say the word correctly represented on the flashcard or the correct word for the gesture I was making. The team that was not the slowest would lose a string on the parachute. If a team lost all four strings they would fall to the alligator who would eat them. The students found it hilarious with my actions involved in it. I would also draw tears and a person praying to represent anticipation and worry of falling down each time they lost a string.
I had a tooth game too. I would draw too large faces for each team. The team that could answer the flashcards and gestures the quickest would have a tooth drawn in their mouth. The team with the most teeth would win and it would look rather funny as the mouth grew and grew with an abnormal and extreme amount of teeth.
I often did other physical and interactive games like having students run to the word I showed a card to or gestured—each word would be attached to a point in the classroom on a wall.
I know it sounds grandiose, but the parents always seemed to think I was great at my job.
The word vulnerable means so many things to me. That word is like the coal to form the generator that makes the guiding energy for the ethics I follow in my life—I hold very strongly to these values that have developed on how to live—I can express it more later but I greatly attach a kind of Christian value system to it, which makes sense considering I was raised in a Lutheran household and always went to church, Sunday school, and went to my courses and went through my confirmation—everyone is a bit of a mop—some pick up clean water and others dirty or a mix of it—waiting to find the people to drain them voluntarily or involuntarily. I was born vulnerable. I walk pigeon-toed and grew up tripping on my feet—I speak with a soft feminine voice. Bipolar disorder makes somebody vulnerable. There was much vulnerability in being eighteen and hospitalized involuntarily for my first manic episode—tied to a stretcher. I have almost a sense of us vs them—the vulnerable and those that harm the vulnerable—take advantage of the vulnerable—I feel this is a very much Christian in the idea of the unfortunate are more holy than the rest of the bunch—children are like that in terms of being born into a cruel existence—a cruel existence I felt at times in my life and so many do—making sure harm does not come to those in need gives the light of purpose to go bright inside like a Christmas tree in my brain—this light of happiness and warmth. I never expected I would fall in love for teaching due to the antidepressant effect provided. It would become my career for a decade. Some grow up wanting to be a teacher, I became one by accident, desperation, and being saved.
Sometimes I inflate on self-hate like a helium balloon that needs to be tied to a wrist. The vulnerability equation is imprinted on my brain.
In my early teens I started struggling with bulimia and image. I remember when my mother caught me in the act. I was not offered help but criticized. I was called a girl for my problems and threatened to be taken somewhere to be fixed of my confusion. I don’t identify as transgender. I identify as a man that struggles with bulimia and happens to have feminine qualities.
I attribute it to circumstances that happened to me—a justification for the pain at times—an attack on aspects of bisexuality.
After a long day of work I did what my young self often did. I went clubbing with friends. I feel like even if I hide aspects of myself such as being bisexual, people can spot it regardless. I’m extremely secretive about it and not comfortable displaying that vulnerable aspect of myself.
My friend from England went with me. He was about six years my senior. Big guy. Tall. The clubs name was Maoye.
I always enjoyed the free drinks available to foreigners—it was done to attract Chinese clients, as the idea was foreigners being there would attract people.
Amongst the hot and sweltering crowd a man grabbed ahold of me. I felt stuck. I was taken off guard. Pushed and cornered. While on me I managed to push him off. But it all serves as a reminder of the vulnerability of my life.
A nail was placed into my hand—a constant burn and reminder of that vulnerability.
Part 2
From self-hate I can also be so grandiose. I am like a Christmas tree that is lit up. Sparklers so pretty that you cannot let go of them, even if it burns your fingertips and hurts.
From heroin to sex, you can smother the pain. You drain the ocean to fill a void in these times. It ties to mania as well. That restlessness and irritability is extinguished by the paradox of throwing kerosene to everything burning. I’m so grandiose to hide my insecurities, I mistake my misfortune as a mark of something ugly virtuous—the neon of vulnerability pulsating like a star within me. Swelling on a pain.
Bad habits. I want you to judge me and tell me what’s wrong with me. Give me a verdict.
Stress a trigger for mania, and I was stressed from the incident I had experienced at the club. I bloated like a tick to distract from locusts of thoughts that could not shut up with their commotion.
I had been sleeping around more than before. My brain was Christmas tree lights. I accelerated on a generator—I made a mixed episode worse.
Tease a disaster when you are heightened like a blimp. Full of hydrogen. Hoping to burn up ad rain down like napalm.
When the pretty candles on the Christmas tree are left untouched—not looked at like a kettle on burner that has been forgotten—the dry neglected tree will into a house fire.
I’ve had four attempts in my life so far.
When I attempt I don’t cry for help. I feel too vulnerable. I’m afraid.
Hate police and wards.
Downing pills.
My past failed attempts made me aware of everything done wrong before. The sleeping pills alone might not do what I was looking for at that time. I bought an electrical cable. This way if it failed I would still be unconscious and choked out by the cord—fail safe plan to end my life.
The words coming out of my mouth slowed down. I started getting second thoughts. Stuck my face towards the toilet bowl while on my knees. Sticking my fingers down my throat. Leaving blood vessels bursting in my eyes.
Went stumbling outside and waved a taxi down and asked to be taken to the local hospital.
Never expected finding myself checked into a psych ward in a foreign country.
Nietzsche has a quote in reference to chaos in life and how it is needed to create a star—this reference holds so much value to me. Sometimes stars hit together just right to create fate out of the worst of things. The ward lead me to meet the woman made of paper. She would one day become my wife. I would have two daughters with her. Forge together as soldiers to face the obstacles in life. Someone who would save my life during a future attempt when I was found unconscious from an overdose. The smartest and toughest woman I have ever known. Someone to build trenches with.
I liked it when she stuck that needle in me for an IV. It must correlate to being a heroin addict. The pushing of something in my vein correlates to happiness and purity.
The woman made out of paper was my nurse in the ward I was stuck in. What attracted her to the mess that is me I will never understand fully.
The woman made out of paper is named Lilu. She was one year older than me and one of my nurses at that ward in Taiyuan. She was from Zhengzhou—a city in the province of Henan that is based in the center of China. I am sure as the reader it would be nice to know why I call her the woman made of paper.
She struggled with her own demons. She also deserves much praise for her resilience and brains. When she was born she was raised by a family that adopted her and often neglected and abused her growing up. Her biological family is distant from her, even though she has an identical twin—they felt too poor to take care of her and made the choice that they needed to be less of one child as she also has an older sister—her twin got to stay with that family but she was given up and adopted. I am sure this must bother her even if she never will talk about it to anyone in her life—as she is one to refuse ever discussing emotions and feelings, as this is not her personality type—she is very much a fighter. I think most would struggle with wondering why they were the one let go of—it also must hurt her knowing that the family would have a son and keep him.
Despite all these circumstances, she graduated top of her class of four thousand students—Chinese high schools can be quite large serving a large region—they often serve as boarding schools. She was a smart and hardworking student. Circumstances never made her stop trying to be the best and moving forward and she never made excuses for herself. In university she also did well and got accepted at the most studious and hard to obtain nursing position at the number one hospital in Shanxi.
I have already ranted and gone on about my affection and feelings tied to heroin. Drinking of entire oceans to fill voids.
Paper is a void. It asks for calligraphy to be written on it to make braille. This way when fingers run over skin, it tells worth—the reason for troubles—it forms connection through those words of declaration—the whining for why things are the way they are—the filling of a void like a heroin addict needing a cure—two papers come together to write upon one another—as a paper I am her typo—I stand as a falling mess with nerves like tripwire, I keep failing and losing my composer, while she stands stronger as a declaration that has been written on—when I was chased I listened to her and joined as one. I wish and intend to always serve the woman made out of paper who has saved my life and has always been there for me, being so strong despite circumstances—amongst the wind of turmoil in life I follow along her path.
It was love at first sight for her but not for me. I had no interest in dating her at the time. I worked across the street of that hospital in an office building for a training center as a part time job. I would teach adults English who paid for private lessons near to Yingze park in the center of Taiyuan. She signed up for classes for me to teach her and brought me food on almost every other day that she had prepared. Eventually we found ourselves coupled fully.
In a pit. I get to burn as paper amongst another’s paper. Eternally. With a life that will keep reoccurring.
Part 3 Liu
A woman like Chang’e lived on a moon. Far away.
You can refer to me as Liu.
At the age of 19 I was diagnosed with a severe nerve pain condition. It is called trigeminal neuralgia but you can call it TN for ease.
I was frustrated. I had completed a degree in international finances from Chongqing University of Business and Technology. The boom of the economy was not the same. There was an urge to “lay flat”—to not try as a form of opposition to everything going on in a waning economy in China.
All are elephants chained for an audience. People love to peek and stare as though they are glass doors without hinges—to be made feel useless.
I developed TN at the age of 19, and was now 22. It came as an arrow, and quite literally to the face. It’s a rare nerve pain disorder often considered one of the most painful conditions known.
The illness involves intense nerve pain throughout the left side of my face. It felt like someone was trying to pull all of the teeth on the left side of my face without anesthesia. The pain can leave me falling to the floor unable to speak or move while screaming profanities while choked by pain. A feeling of a knife to my face over and over again. It leaves me in absolute shock. Like Roman candles to the face. An absolute hindrance. The anticipation of not knowing when it will happen again is a nightmare at times.
The disease is often called the suicide disease, apparently up to 26% try to take their lives. In a state of panic during one of the nerve attacks I began swallowing any pill near to me. I went to the hospital to have my stomach pumped when I was found comatose by my mother.
I want to be Chang’e and on the moon and away from a world I have had enough of.
Gossip spread around the workplace that I attempted suicide over an affair with a married man. There was too much guilt to return to the workplace. COVID did have an impact to the economy. I still remember my hometown having dirt and trees piled onto the exits and entrances to the city keep people in their places.
The work I did find felt beneath me. China has what is called the great firewall that keeps something in and out of the country’s networks. A VPN was necessary to access American TikTok as it was used as opposed to the Chinese version.
Feels humiliating the nature of the outcome for me—I gave up in many ways like so many Chinese youth. For work I would go to a local office building. Amongst a long hall would be a room for live stream performers. I would entertain with watchers while trying to obtain virtual gifts for actual money. I despised it—sometimes the conversation could be funny or interesting but it felt hollow.
I would paint flowers on my face and wear hanfu clothing while doing ASMR.
I had a mind of sparklers burning until it burnt and stung like wax—like I had the option to stop and cry and those tears stuck as wax and burnt or I soldiered on and grew accustomed to the pain. I was an elephant chained. The audience watched and interacted with me on the live. I was a chained elephant when it was found out about my previous attempt and when the rumors spread.
Too many thorns in life. Nails hitting at the wrong points like an equation for something terrible to eventually happen.
My favorite dish was Henan noodles. I often cooked it with my mom. It provides great memories of childhood. I hadn’t talked to my mother as much as before. She moved to a job in Taiyuan.
Sometimes I would go up to visit her. But it was harder as she worked more and more hours. Sometimes voids build even when going through extreme nerve pain. And with trigeminal neuralgia, the pain was so intense that I would freeze and scream in pain. It cannot always be hid. It made me an elephant tethered.
Life can be like a pressure like no other. Too much stress. Makes one feel irritable with a mouth like a sprinkler of napalm when someone is too close. Life feels like a lit fire cracker held—in the end it would tear my hand up. Things kept building while the other side of my face began to hurt too recently. This was rare and not so common. My eyesight was becoming blurry too and it seemed I might have multiple sclerosis as the pain was on both side, it was not common for my age, and the blurry eyesight. An appointment was scheduled and I felt terrified to know what was going on and wondered if it was best to not even know my health.
I walked out of the studio and had a cigarette. My boss came out and joined to talk. He was concerned about view count and wanted me to do things to increase it that made me feel uncomfortable. He made a few comments I found incentive.
The boss sure liked to criticize and apply pressure. He was not impressed with my work and thought I could do something different. In China an application is used called WeChat. This application has many uses. People can display and share moments like a Facebook wall, message each other, send money, video chat, and even has a feature to find people near to you who are also looking for people near to them. I was to attract people onto dates. The idea was they would be lured in and the men would go to a set destination to a planned tea house that served snacks. When the men arrived (they had no knowledge of the setup) the bill would be at an absurd rate and if the men refused to pay larger men would use their size to force them to pay up.
I was not sure at the time yet if I wanted the job. Being worried about ethics and safety. It was something I would have to think about.
My medical expenses were growing and I knew the nerve disease could be expensive to treat with surgery. All I had was thoughts while looking at the moon.
Part 4 Taishen
My former roommate in the ward I shared a room with had paranoid schizophrenia. I was stuck in the same place due to mania, and just had gotten my diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
I was so pissed being stuck there and felt I had no business being there. I found my diagnosis to be an insult to me. I was only 18 at the time—taken in on a stretcher. Made me feel very vulnerable and irritated.
My roommate was having delusions related to Christianity and could not stop waking me up in the middle of the night to ask and talk about Jesus. Left me beyond frustrated.
He was drifting from his wife and would go on and on about intending to leave her. Felt he was spied and plotted against by her. So we were both frustrated with being there.
The toilets were special. They would flush what needed to be flushed but not certain things like pills—it helped to keep people from hiding they were not taking their medications.
He had tried to flush his wedding ring down the toilet but he did not realized it didn’t flush. I went to use the restroom later and saw the ring. I told him. He took it out. He found it to be a sign form God that he is to stay with his wife, and there was immense happiness in his eyes.

I'm playing as fanatic spiritualist cybernetics that want to assimilate the galaxy. I'm doing it friendly-like for now, inviting them to come over to my house for a cup of tea and mandatory module installation.
I have several Migration Treaties with my friendly neighbors.
I have made sure my planets have sufficient Housing and at least positive Amenities.
How do I maximize Immigration Pull so that as many pops as possible choose to move to my planets?
Is there anything else I should be looking at?
thanks!

It felt frustrating in Chongqing. I was rather stuck in Hechuan. I got accustomed to lajiao (spice) there. I was a Midwesterner at the age of 22. I was raised in Illinois. I became a manic—a Ferris wheel on fire—I was hiding under a bed in a hotel. Bold like napalm. Sometimes I can never stop. Even when I was 18 in a ward arguing with staff. Always want to fight things. That’s why I refused the meds and went on a plane from America to China. I was going to be an English teacher. And like a light switch, the change and SSRIs turned me into a mess. It would be my first time experiencing psychosis. My biggest issue. I never imagined I would be stuck illegally in a country suffering a psychotic episode in my early twenties.
Transplanted as pollen. I was left with a backpack and a cellphone. With a downloaded app called WeChat. I had arrogantly quit a university job in a fit. Spent the past months full of energy and not sleeping and neglecting myself, including not eating, to work on a novel. Not considering myself normally religious, I had obsessed over occult ideas during that time. Spending nights reading Aleister Crowley—haven taken a rusty pocket knife to carve a pentagram on my chest for spiritual protection.
I did not have funds to fly home. My visa was connected to my previous job, which meant I had now made it void. I was an illegal resident now in China.
I used a nifty app called WeChat as a messaging app, it allows users to find people near them that are also looking for others. It was like a virtual pond. All kinds of people, including sex workers trying to make things happen.
It could with luck be used to find people looking for people in terms of other kinds of work. It was helpful on many occasions for finding gigs working at English training schools and also finding work as a private tutor for people.
WeChat also works as a digital wallet.
Mania makes me irritable. Enough to tell a boss to fuck off. Thoughts ricochet within me. Bumper cars collide.
Being stuck and angry sucks. I scrolled and scrolled on a Huawei phone.
Absolutely pissed off at this world.
Pissed at the times police wanted to take me away for being a mess.
Sometimes women get pissed. Scrolling through their phones. Angry at their cheating husbands. It really is not that hard to have flair—be a damn white oddity. Like moths to a porchlight. Particles of sand through hands. This is when I first started the habit of it…
I rather go by a rather empty name of Taishen… with further explanation needed but now is not convenient. But I assure it is interesting enough and has some importance.
Habits are various in nature in how they attach to and eat at marrow—like atom bombs flashing as rays evaporating DNA—sets in a way less than human as putting myself in the cage of bad things taken up—my time as a former heroin addict is left as stretch marks on me in various ways. The same goes for the first time I found myself making arrangements with middle aged married women while desperation of waves whiplashed me like sandpaper hands coming at me to leave me in a tiring state of abrasion.
I had spent a night snuck away into a hotel. Found someone on a business trip. Instead of registering I waited to sneak along into the hotel elevator amongst a group of others attending the hotel, as I had no card. I headed to a designated room number. Originally I was sitting in a park. Playing on WeChat and found someone in their mid-thirties. Pictures were exchanged and I said no. She brought up paying for the hotel if I arrived. I agreed and went along.
When I met I washed up after her and we used our phones to awkwardly translate what we would do.
Room service knocked. I found myself hidden under a bed as I was not registered to be there.
It seems unusual that it was around this time I had started working on a story of my life as a heroin addict when I got caught up in my worse manic episode ever experienced during my age of 22. Finished half that story before never going back to it after my manic episode had ended. Now I am here writing about it and wondering if the same can happen again in the process of this work.
It feels extremely cliché I would write a novel about struggles with heroin addiction. It has been done many times. It’s just lame of me.
I feel like my thoughts are bit off. I left the hotel the next morning with the little money I did have on a debit card. Turns out the woman was from Taiyuan. It is a city in the northern part of China in the province of Shanxi—coal country with the worst air pollution in China. She has a colleague in Taiyuan that takes courses at an English training center. I was able to contact this place in the morning via a shared contact on WeChat given to me by the stranger I met that night.
Before I knew it I was sending my information and documents in my backpack at an internet café in a fax—with the intent that the woman agreed to share my information to the training center as she shared my contact to its hiring manager. It would land me a job that day that would help me out of my situation. Things turned not quite out as I expected though. I was shifted like a ball to somebody else to contact for a training center geared to teaching children.
I took what I had and ran off to a train station after taking the public transit. Unfortunately I was shit for money and could not afford a high speed rail pass. The slow train would take thirty-two hours to get to my destination. I would have taken a room with a bed but all I could afford was a hard seat for the travel.
Things were getting better for me in the circumstance considering I had found someone willing to take me for work despite my visa situation.
The thirty-two hour train ride was horrendous in some ways, but mostly I was in excitement despite the circumstances. I’m always giddy when disappointed. I moved up and down the aisle of the train. I could not speak mandarin, but it did not stop me from trying to interact with everyone. I talked many ears off during the train ride. I went up and down the aisle trying to interact as a moth to porchlights—I could not stop even if I had wanted to. I found great enjoyment the times I did get to sit across a table from somebody my age heading to Taiyuan from Chongqing. They were a university student returning to their hometown. Another passenger who sat beside me was an elderly man with hard boiled eggs, he was eating one after another one. I highly enjoyed each and every conversation that I had. It was like my head was a lightbulb wanting June bugs to bang against it with the intensity of Roman candles shot at my mouth of nicotine tinged teeth.
“If you find someone in Shanxi it is practice to pay the family money before you can get married. You would also have to already own a home and a car,” told my new friend across in their seat from me—a university passenger friend named David.
“Not necessarily what I was looking for. When is the next stop for snacks?” When the train stops I am able to get out and to have a walk onto the platform to buy various goods from the vendors to take back with me to eat along the ride to Taiyuan.
I had all my important documents tucked in my bag. This included my health clearance and obviously I made no mention of my mental health diagnosis or history to the doctor who had to evaluate me. My diploma and TEFL certificate were tucked away securely. A TEFL is a certificate that stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language, it qualifies me to teach English as a second language abroad—it had only took a few months of taking a course online that I had paid for to obtain.
It is easy to be happy when you can trick yourself as your own con artist. Mania can make you deceive yourself. One can be doused in napalm and still not fully recognize what is actually going on. Same goes the flicking of psychosis. Even when I have nothing I find myself in my radiating irritation the most qualified of things—the velocity of my rhythm sets me out of an orbit.
The pressure cooker keeps me moving like a propeller at times. I finally arrived at Taiyuan. I arrived at the station to be greeted by Ryan my manager and his assistant Jennifer. We had our hello and introduction and they helped me get to a taxi that would bring me to my new apartment. I finally had a residence again. Apparently they were desperate for a teacher. The last teacher was from New Mexico and apparently they pulled a midnight run—that is when a teacher in the middle of the night disappears onto a plane back home without any notification of it.
The apartment was okay. On the fourth floor with no elevator, so it was a bit of a climb up a dark stairwell not lit correctly.
My job was a training center that had a location near Yingze Park in the center of the city. I was to be paid in cash via envelopes. I would assist in teaching kindergarten all the way up to high school aged students there in private lessons paid by their parents. I would also be assigned by my company to various primary schools in the city. I would take public buses to various schools paid by the company I worked for to give English lessons as I bounced around to various classrooms and schools in the city. Often I would receive a phone call to avoid going to work that day if my boss got inside input that officials would be doing raids to check foreigners’ visas that day.
A taxi ride would always be a thrill. Caused me nerves at first, but I came to love the flying in dangerous ways along a busy road. I remember a driver beeping their horn away as they drove onto the sidewalk to pass people. They treated the pedestrians as if they were in the wrong. I came flying in front of a primary school at its front gates. I was going to start teaching a first grade classroom and a kindergarten classroom. The way schools are set up is with a wall around the entirety of the exterior of the school. There is a gate at the front where one or two security will be waiting to let people in and out of the complex of the school.
I walked in front of the gate to greet the security. It was my first time with an assignment at this school. The guard said they had never seen me before and wouldn’t let me in. Not a big nuisance while I called my boss who then called the school to sort out the situation.
I miss the classroom so much. I ended up teaching in China for five years at various training schools. After returning to Illinois, I still taught as a primary school teacher in a public school.
I often feel extremely ugly from inside to my outside, but something is attractive there. This does not come just in terms of flirting and relationships—mania makes me a genuine lightbulb that flickers in a way that encourages the insects to me—everyone looks like a June bug—this is what I have come to understand about life. But that ugly does kind of stay like rot in a cavity that leaves a bad taste in the mouth that smells foul—hoping nobody catches the smell near me—it must tie into my struggles with bulimia over the years.
The same goes for my years as a teacher—in relation to the whole lightbulb phenomenon—I’m positive it is tied to mania and hypomania. The younger students always were fixated on the information I was teaching to them. I kept over the years methods taught to me and self-taught that I found extremely effective with younger students when it comes to teaching.
Everything was physical in learning in terms of intensity and ambition. When teaching my first grade classroom I would create flashcards for the vocab we would work on and implement in creating new sentences with. We would chant these words together in a way that made me a clown while teaching. Students would yell out the word that I presented with intense enthusiasm. As I walked by students it was expected that while they yelled out the word they would also physically hit the card. Later I would also work on physical gestures and acting out of vocab words and they would follow the actions and phrases with me.
I would often eventually turn the class into two teams. When students got an answer right I would behave comically and full of energy—I would give them a high five and pretend they were so strong with it that it hurt my hand in the process with much exaggeration—the students always seemed to never get tired of this act.
One game I would play involved drawing two stick figures with happy faces on them. Each figure would represent one of the teams for the classroom. I would draw a hungry alligator under the figures. Their faces would also be comical in appearance and full of exaggerations. Each figure had a parachute placed over them and four strings attached. During the game the students would race to say the word correctly represented on the flashcard or the correct word for the gesture I was making. The team that was not the slowest would lose a string on the parachute. If a team lost all four strings they would fall to the alligator who would eat them. The students found it hilarious with my actions involved in it. I would also draw tears and a person praying to represent anticipation and worry of falling down each time they lost a string.
I had a tooth game too. I would draw too large faces for each team. The team that could answer the flashcards and gestures the quickest would have a tooth drawn in their mouth. The team with the most teeth would win and it would look rather funny as the mouth grew and grew with an abnormal and extreme amount of teeth.
I often did other physical and interactive games like having students run to the word I showed a card to or gestured—each word would be attached to a point in the classroom on a wall.
I know it sounds grandiose, but the parents always seemed to think I was great at my job.
The word vulnerable means so many things to me. That word is like the coal to form the generator that makes the guiding energy for the ethics I follow in my life—I hold very strongly to these values that have developed on how to live—I can express it more later but I greatly attach a kind of Christian value system to it, which makes sense considering I was raised in a Lutheran household and always went to church, Sunday school, and went to my courses and went through my confirmation—everyone is a bit of a mop—some pick up clean water and others dirty or a mix of it—waiting to find the people to drain them voluntarily or involuntarily. I was born vulnerable. I walk pigeon-toed and grew up tripping on my feet—I speak with a soft feminine voice. Bipolar disorder makes somebody vulnerable. There was much vulnerability in being eighteen and hospitalized involuntarily for my first manic episode—tied to a stretcher. I have almost a sense of us vs them—the vulnerable and those that harm the vulnerable—take advantage of the vulnerable—I feel this is a very much Christian in the idea of the unfortunate are more holy than the rest of the bunch—children are like that in terms of being born into a cruel existence—a cruel existence I felt at times in my life and so many do—making sure harm does not come to those in need gives the light of purpose to go bright inside like a Christmas tree in my brain—this light of happiness and warmth. I never expected I would fall in love for teaching due to the antidepressant effect provided. It would become my career for a decade. Some grow up wanting to be a teacher, I became one by accident, desperation, and being saved.
Sometimes I inflate on self-hate like a helium balloon that needs to be tied to a wrist. The vulnerability equation is imprinted on my brain.
In my early teens I started struggling with bulimia and image. I remember when my mother caught me in the act. I was not offered help but criticized. I was called a girl for my problems and threatened to be taken somewhere to be fixed of my confusion. I don’t identify as transgender. I identify as a man that struggles with bulimia and happens to have feminine qualities.
I attribute it to circumstances that happened to me—a justification for the pain at times—an attack on aspects of bisexuality.
After a long day of work I did what my young self often did. I went clubbing with friends. I feel like even if I hide aspects of myself such as being bisexual, people can spot it regardless. I’m extremely secretive about it and not comfortable displaying that vulnerable aspect of myself.
My friend from England went with me. He was about six years my senior. Big guy. Tall. The clubs name was Maoye.
I always enjoyed the free drinks available to foreigners—it was done to attract Chinese clients, as the idea was foreigners being there would attract people.
Amongst the hot and sweltering crowd a man grabbed ahold of me. I felt stuck. I was taken off guard. Pushed and cornered. While on me I managed to push him off. But it all serves as a reminder of the vulnerability of my life.
A nail was placed into my hand—a constant burn and reminder of that vulnerability.
Part 2
From self-hate I can also be so grandiose. I am like a Christmas tree that is lit up. Sparklers so pretty that you cannot let go of them, even if it burns your fingertips and hurts.
From heroin to sex, you can smother the pain. You drain the ocean to fill a void in these times. It ties to mania as well. That restlessness and irritability is extinguished by the paradox of throwing kerosene to everything burning. I’m so grandiose to hide my insecurities, I mistake my misfortune as a mark of something ugly virtuous—the neon of vulnerability pulsating like a star within me. Swelling on a pain.
Bad habits. I want you to judge me and tell me what’s wrong with me. Give me a verdict.
Stress a trigger for mania, and I was stressed from the incident I had experienced at the club. I bloated like a tick to distract from locusts of thoughts that could not shut up with their commotion.
I had been sleeping around more than before. My brain was Christmas tree lights. I accelerated on a generator—I made a mixed episode worse.
Tease a disaster when you are heightened like a blimp. Full of hydrogen. Hoping to burn up ad rain down like napalm.
When the pretty candles on the Christmas tree are left untouched—not looked at like a kettle on burner that has been forgotten—the dry neglected tree will into a house fire.
I’ve had four attempts in my life so far.
When I attempt I don’t cry for help. I feel too vulnerable. I’m afraid.
Hate police and wards.
Downing pills.
My past failed attempts made me aware of everything done wrong before. The sleeping pills alone might not do what I was looking for at that time. I bought an electrical cable. This way if it failed I would still be unconscious and choked out by the cord—fail safe plan to end my life.
The words coming out of my mouth slowed down. I started getting second thoughts. Stuck my face towards the toilet bowl while on my knees. Sticking my fingers down my throat. Leaving blood vessels bursting in my eyes.
Went stumbling outside and waved a taxi down and asked to be taken to the local hospital.
Never expected finding myself checked into a psych ward in a foreign country.
Nietzsche has a quote in reference to chaos in life and how it is needed to create a star—this reference holds so much value to me. Sometimes stars hit together just right to create fate out of the worst of things. The ward lead me to meet the woman made of paper. She would one day become my wife. I would have two daughters with her. Forge together as soldiers to face the obstacles in life. Someone who would save my life during a future attempt when I was found unconscious from an overdose. The smartest and toughest woman I have ever known. Someone to build trenches with.
I liked it when she stuck that needle in me for an IV. It must correlate to being a heroin addict. The pushing of something in my vein correlates to happiness and purity.
The woman made out of paper was my nurse in the ward I was stuck in. What attracted her to the mess that is me I will never understand fully.
The woman made out of paper is named Lilu. She was one year older than me and one of my nurses at that ward in Taiyuan. She was from Zhengzhou—a city in the province of Henan that is based in the center of China. I am sure as the reader it would be nice to know why I call her the woman made of paper.
She struggled with her own demons. She also deserves much praise for her resilience and brains. When she was born she was raised by a family that adopted her and often neglected and abused her growing up. Her biological family is distant from her, even though she has an identical twin—they felt too poor to take care of her and made the choice that they needed to be less of one child as she also has an older sister—her twin got to stay with that family but she was given up and adopted. I am sure this must bother her even if she never will talk about it to anyone in her life—as she is one to refuse ever discussing emotions and feelings, as this is not her personality type—she is very much a fighter. I think most would struggle with wondering why they were the one let go of—it also must hurt her knowing that the family would have a son and keep him.
Despite all these circumstances, she graduated top of her class of four thousand students—Chinese high schools can be quite large serving a large region—they often serve as boarding schools. She was a smart and hardworking student. Circumstances never made her stop trying to be the best and moving forward and she never made excuses for herself. In university she also did well and got accepted at the most studious and hard to obtain nursing position at the number one hospital in Shanxi.
I have already ranted and gone on about my affection and feelings tied to heroin. Drinking of entire oceans to fill voids.
Paper is a void. It asks for calligraphy to be written on it to make braille. This way when fingers run over skin, it tells worth—the reason for troubles—it forms connection through those words of declaration—the whining for why things are the way they are—the filling of a void like a heroin addict needing a cure—two papers come together to write upon one another—as a paper I am her typo—I stand as a falling mess with nerves like tripwire, I keep failing and losing my composer, while she stands stronger as a declaration that has been written on—when I was chased I listened to her and joined as one. I wish and intend to always serve the woman made out of paper who has saved my life and has always been there for me, being so strong despite circumstances—amongst the wind of turmoil in life I follow along her path.
It was love at first sight for her but not for me. I had no interest in dating her at the time. I worked across the street of that hospital in an office building for a training center as a part time job. I would teach adults English who paid for private lessons near to Yingze park in the center of Taiyuan. She signed up for classes for me to teach her and brought me food on almost every other day that she had prepared. Eventually we found ourselves coupled fully.
In a pit. I get to burn as paper amongst another’s paper. Eternally. With a life that will keep reoccurring.
Part 3 Liu
A woman like Chang’e lived on a moon. Far away.
You can refer to me as Liu.
At the age of 19 I was diagnosed with a severe nerve pain condition. It is called trigeminal neuralgia but you can call it TN for ease.
I was frustrated. I had completed a degree in international finances from Chongqing University of Business and Technology. The boom of the economy was not the same. There was an urge to “lay flat”—to not try as a form of opposition to everything going on in a waning economy in China.
All are elephants chained for an audience. People love to peek and stare as though they are glass doors without hinges—to be made feel useless.
I developed TN at the age of 19, and was now 22. It came as an arrow, and quite literally to the face. It’s a rare nerve pain disorder often considered one of the most painful conditions known.
The illness involves intense nerve pain throughout the left side of my face. It felt like someone was trying to pull all of the teeth on the left side of my face without anesthesia. The pain can leave me falling to the floor unable to speak or move while screaming profanities while choked by pain. A feeling of a knife to my face over and over again. It leaves me in absolute shock. Like Roman candles to the face. An absolute hindrance. The anticipation of not knowing when it will happen again is a nightmare at times.
The disease is often called the suicide disease, apparently up to 26% try to take their lives. In a state of panic during one of the nerve attacks I began swallowing any pill near to me. I went to the hospital to have my stomach pumped when I was found comatose by my mother.
I want to be Chang’e and on the moon and away from a world I have had enough of.
Gossip spread around the workplace that I attempted suicide over an affair with a married man. There was too much guilt to return to the workplace. COVID did have an impact to the economy. I still remember my hometown having dirt and trees piled onto the exits and entrances to the city keep people in their places.
The work I did find felt beneath me. China has what is called the great firewall that keeps something in and out of the country’s networks. A VPN was necessary to access American TikTok as it was used as opposed to the Chinese version.
Feels humiliating the nature of the outcome for me—I gave up in many ways like so many Chinese youth. For work I would go to a local office building. Amongst a long hall would be a room for live stream performers. I would entertain with watchers while trying to obtain virtual gifts for actual money. I despised it—sometimes the conversation could be funny or interesting but it felt hollow.
I would paint flowers on my face and wear hanfu clothing while doing ASMR.
I had a mind of sparklers burning until it burnt and stung like wax—like I had the option to stop and cry and those tears stuck as wax and burnt or I soldiered on and grew accustomed to the pain. I was an elephant chained. The audience watched and interacted with me on the live. I was a chained elephant when it was found out about my previous attempt and when the rumors spread.
Too many thorns in life. Nails hitting at the wrong points like an equation for something terrible to eventually happen.
My favorite dish was Henan noodles. I often cooked it with my mom. It provides great memories of childhood. I hadn’t talked to my mother as much as before. She moved to a job in Taiyuan.
Sometimes I would go up to visit her. But it was harder as she worked more and more hours. Sometimes voids build even when going through extreme nerve pain. And with trigeminal neuralgia, the pain was so intense that I would freeze and scream in pain. It cannot always be hid. It made me an elephant tethered.
Life can be like a pressure like no other. Too much stress. Makes one feel irritable with a mouth like a sprinkler of napalm when someone is too close. Life feels like a lit fire cracker held—in the end it would tear my hand up. Things kept building while the other side of my face began to hurt too recently. This was rare and not so common. My eyesight was becoming blurry too and it seemed I might have multiple sclerosis as the pain was on both side, it was not common for my age, and the blurry eyesight. An appointment was scheduled and I felt terrified to know what was going on and wondered if it was best to not even know my health.
I walked out of the studio and had a cigarette. My boss came out and joined to talk. He was concerned about view count and wanted me to do things to increase it that made me feel uncomfortable. He made a few comments I found incentive.
The boss sure liked to criticize and apply pressure. He was not impressed with my work and thought I could do something different. In China an application is used called WeChat. This application has many uses. People can display and share moments like a Facebook wall, message each other, send money, video chat, and even has a feature to find people near to you who are also looking for people near to them. I was to attract people onto dates. The idea was they would be lured in and the men would go to a set destination to a planned tea house that served snacks. When the men arrived (they had no knowledge of the setup) the bill would be at an absurd rate and if the men refused to pay larger men would use their size to force them to pay up.
I was not sure at the time yet if I wanted the job. Being worried about ethics and safety. It was something I would have to think about.
My medical expenses were growing and I knew the nerve disease could be expensive to treat with surgery. All I had was thoughts while looking at the moon.
Part 4 Taishen
My former roommate in the ward I shared a room with had paranoid schizophrenia. I was stuck in the same place due to mania, and just had gotten my diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
I was so pissed being stuck there and felt I had no business being there. I found my diagnosis to be an insult to me. I was only 18 at the time—taken in on a stretcher. Made me feel very vulnerable and irritated.
My roommate was having delusions related to Christianity and could not stop waking me up in the middle of the night to ask and talk about Jesus. Left me beyond frustrated.
He was drifting from his wife and would go on and on about intending to leave her. Felt he was spied and plotted against by her. So we were both frustrated with being there.
The toilets were special. They would flush what needed to be flushed but not certain things like pills—it helped to keep people from hiding they were not taking their medications.
He had tried to flush his wedding ring down the toilet but he did not realized it didn’t flush. I went to use the restroom later and saw the ring. I told him. He took it out. He found it to be a sign form God that he is to stay with his wife, and there was immense happiness in his eyes.

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Section One: Assets and Debt
Net worth: $212,723.31

• 401k in Fidelity $91,668.31
• Roth IRA - $29,993 in Betterment
• Equity if you're a homeowner: nope
• Savings account balance: $78,159
  • $14,178 in Betterment
  • $4000 in Ally
  • Investment
    • $59,981 in Schwab
• HSA Balance: $10,603
  • (my company switched HSA and I didn't realize I needed to liqudate my investment for them to roll over my HSA to the 2nd one. Yes I realize I need to consolidate it)
  • HSA 1: 1982 - 5,969 invested
  • HSA 2: 1812 - 840 invested
• Checking account balance: $2300
• Credit card debt: None as I pay my card off in full every month
• Student loan debt: None, my parents had paid for my college education

Section Two: Income
Income Progression:

• 2017 47k - Associate Customer Support
  • This was my first job at a B2B startup and I didn't negotiate my offer.
  • This was a small team of 2 where most of my work was on Zendesk answering customer emails and chats. Throughout this job I learned the basics of HTML as that's how our customers utilized our platform and needed to know it to help troubleshoot for them. Our company's new hire onboarding has them test out the platform like a client that was led by my team. I also worked on updating or writing any product support documentation.
• 2019 60k - Customer Support
  • I was promoted to a more senior title since my manager joined a different team and I lead this team. I was originally offered 55k but negotiated to 60k
  • Same day to day tasks as before, however, I now also work on pulling metrics and presenting different data points to the great team/ company. Also learned how to RCAs in this position. Since the technical account manager team falls within the umbrella of the greater team I was in, they also went through a support onboard process to learn how to use our platform faster and can act as a backup if one of the support members are out.
• 2019 $79k ( 72,000 base + 10% bonus) - Associate Technical Account Manager
  • I was supposed to be promoted early 2019, but had to train both my manager's replacement and mine before I could transition into this role. I tried to negotiate for a higher salary as well but was told this was the highest they could do. At this point I knew I was being underpaid but wanted to get my foot in the door for this type of role before I transitioned out of this company.
  • Learn more customer facing skills, such as the customer onboarding process, use case scoping, building out the customer use case, how to run python scripts, SQL, project management skills and help test and new features that the company was releasing. I also ended up leading the new hire onboarding process and built into a learning management system. I could have been more technical if I wanted, others on my team knew how to write python or javascripts scripts, however, I enjoyed the more customer-facing aspects of my job and knew being more technical wasn't the path I wanted to go down.
• Mid 2021 $115k + stock that's worth ~$67,000 over 4 year vesting period - Technical Account Manager
  • I was offered $110k and ~$53,000 worth of stock but negotiated it up higher.
  • My day to day involves a lot of internal meetings where the account team goes over all the moving parts my accounts go through. Escalate any issues that my customer escalates to me, work on pushing through feature requests, and do ticket reviews to go over status updates and have them raise issues that are urgent to them. Occasionally I will run SQL queries to pull reports that have already been created for my accounts or write new ones if needed.
• Mid 2022 $120k + ($12,500 stock refresh that'd take 4 years to vest) - Technical Account Manager COL adjustment
• Q3 2023 $132k + ($12,500 stock refresh that'd take 4 years to vest) - While I am promoted my salary increase haven't taken affect yet

Main Job Monthly Take Home:

• $4,933 Net pay
  • Stipends: Gym $55 and Phone $50
  • 401k contribution - 2,200
  • Health Insurance - Total $350
  • Dental - $1
  • HSA -$242
  • Medical - $89
  • Vision - $18.16
  • Employee stock purchase program - $500

Side Gig Monthly Take Home - $200-500 a month depending on how much I teach as a fitness instructor
Any Other Monthly Income Here - None
Section Three: Expenses

• Rent - $1500 for the master bedroom in a 3B2B
• Retirement contribution - $300 a month to my Roth IRA
• Savings contribution - Whatever is left over at the end of the month a
• Donations - I volunteer on Crisis text line.
• PG&E - $40 - $75 depending on how often we use the heater. Post 3 way split.
• Wifi/Cable/Landline - $19 post 3 way split
• Cellphone - $65
• Monthly Subscriptions: 441.7
  • Spotify $7 (trade for my friend’s Netflix).
  • iCloud storage - $2.99
  • Hulu$0 - Would be $12.99 but covered by Amex
  • Patreon Subscription $1
  • Barkbox $26.72
  • Manypets $69.99
  • $245 for 4 sessions of a semi private pole class
  • Class pass: $89
• Yearly Subscription -
  • $550 Chase Sapphire Reserve Card
  • $695 Amex Plantium

Pre-trip Expense

• Airbnb Cost: 224.66
• Airfare: Would have been 941.75 for direct flights but I used 62,783 points to covered it
• Shuttle Service for the entire Trip - $196
• Grocery Delivery through airbnb host - $40.71
  • This consisted of a bunch of breakfast food, snacks, 3 handle of alc, beer and selzter
• Private Chef service and grocery - $17
• Nails: $50
• 2 Dress: $150
• Temporary tattoo for the bach $54

Trip
Day 1:

• Woke up bright and early, and luckily my friends and bf of friends who are also going on this trip are watching my dogs for me while I'm on this trip. Uber to my friend's place to drop the dog off. $12
• Uber to the airport with my friend. Grabbed a knocked off Egg Mcmuffin and Ice tea before boarding the flight. $21.61
• Arriving at Cancun airport, we had to hunt down our other friends that arrived earlier before making the trek down to Tulum.
• Dropped our luggage at our airbnb and headed right out for dinner as it's now 7pm and we're all starving. Release our shuttle driver as today we reserved him on an hourly rate and starting tomorrow we have him booked for 16 hours a day. Had the most amazing garlic shrimp at El Camello Jr $24.2. The crew considered going to another bar but decided to head back to the airbnb via taxi $4, chill by the pool and drink the alc we had ordered through our Airbnb host. $28.2

Day 2:

• Woke up bright and early not by choice, but because there's no blackout curtain in my room. Got ready and headed out to our first Day Club of the trip - Taboo! We got 2 nicely shaded daybeds and ordered a bunch of food to split, including seafood pasta, hummus platters and risotto and had too many carajillo $278.63. I also got some body paints for me and the bride for $10. $288.63
• Headed back to the Airbnb in the afternoon to relax for a little bit and shower before heading out to a cute rooftop japanese dinner - Kokoro. I got an omakase set there. $94.48
• Afterwards we headed back out to the beach strip for Disco Night at Gitano. $20 for cover and bought the bride some drinks for $51. Later we found a Bachelor trip group to hang with and had free drinks for the night. Sometime after 1am we found our Shuttle Driver and made our way home.

Day3:

• Definitely got a hangover, but I woke up at 8am to let our chefs in as we had reserved a private chef to make us brunch (pre-paid) before heading out to cenotes Dos Ojos. I was too hungover and couldn't make it out so I mainly chilled by the pool.
• The rest of the group got some acai bowls and smoothies at Matcha Mama for lunch and were kind enough to bring back an acai bowl for me. $12.63
• Backup and rallied for dinner at Rosa Negra. It's always a vibe there but the tip is to do a late dinner as you can sparklers almost every half an hour and they'd invite people to dance on the tabletop after you're done eating. Had the most amazing seafood pasta there (haha yes I'm noticing I have a pattern of only ordering seafood here) and nursed my sprite. $70.71
• Around 10pm I'm calling my limit, half of the girls headed back to the airbnb while the other half go bar hopping some more with the Bride

Day4:

• We decided today was a treat yo self day and wanted to spend the whole day at Casa Malca, so headed out around 10am so that we could spend the entire day lounging by the beach. A portion of the fee we pay for our day pass goes towards food and drinks. Got some ceviche, poke and shrimp tacos to share and of course ordered more carajillo. Spent the entire day swimming in the ocean, reading and checking out their pool. $172
• Headed back to the airbnb around 6pm for a quick change before going to Hartwood for our last dinner of the trip! We did family style and ordered wayyy too much food. $105.01

Day 5:

• Woke up finish packing, headed to burrito amore for a quick lunch of shrimp burrito and matcha $18 before our 2 hour drive back to to cancun airport tipped $1000 peso from me for dealing with our shenanigans ($55 - the girls all tipped separately). From there we chilled in the lounge for a bit, before picking up a salad for the plane ride. Once we landed, I got a ride with my friend and her fiance and was able to see my fluffy pup again as my roommates were nice enough to pick up the pup for me.Total: 944.27

Final thoughts:
As the planner of this trip, prior to booking anything I had sent out a survey asking people how much they were willing to spend on the airbnb per night, for the entire trip and what they were willing to cover for the bride. We went with the common denominator and covered all drinks for the bride. I also itemized everything people ordered, so this way it'd be more fair for those that were trying to stick to a certain budget. I would say this is on par with how much I typically spend on trips. I don't typically track how much I'm spending on trips but am aware of if what I'm spending on a meal is on par with what I'm comfortable with.
*I went on the trip a while ago and keep forgetting to write it so this may feel like a more detailed summary than a real travel diary.

Hi everyone! I think I might be experiencing Limerence. I feel overwhelmed and unsure how to handle this situation since it’s about a friend of mine. Any support or advice would be appreciated.
I’ll try to summarize my situation the best that I can. After I had an extremely difficult loss in my family, I completely closed off. I decided to join some support groups online in the hopes of getting myself out of my comfort zone. I joined this beautiful online community and made some great friends. The group creator specifically I had a quick connection with due to both of us being neurodivergent, queer, and having a lot in common. I felt immediately drawn to her, I couldn’t explain it. As our friendship grew so did my romantic feelings. I felt scared that my romantic feelings were because I was grieving. I tried to push them away. They wouldn’t leave, and that made me realize that they were legitimate.
I was starting to pick up on some signs that my feelings could potentially be returned a few months into the friendship, but there was a part of me that was also scared to believe it. As time has gone on our relationship has ebbed and flowed. The friendship is still there, but I’ve come to realize that both her and I have a lot of issues with disorganized attachment. The deeper my romantic feelings have gotten, the more afraid I’ve become of rejection, of losing her, but also of truly opening my heart. It’s gotten to the point where sometimes this relationship becomes painful for me.
I see her trying to make connections with me. I know she cares about me and would support me if I ever needed someone. Yet there are times where she becomes so consumed by her insecurities and her fears of being loved that it makes me feel rejected, even after she’s done things to show me she cares for me. My mind can twist almost anything into a negative tbh. After seeing a pattern between our interactions and poetry that she writes about having romantic feelings for someone who looks like me, sounds like me, and topics being written about things we’ve recently discussed, I think that we might actually both be each other’s LO.
There are days where it’s difficult for me to focus on anything else but this relationship. I can get consumed with my daydreams about her. I can also become consumed with my relationship anxiety, and my desire to control the outcome of this relationship because I’m afraid of getting hurt. It’s like there’s moments where I truly do want to let her go so I can be free of the pain, and moments where I don’t because I want to have hope. I’m confused how to navigate this. It’s hard to feel the intensity of the anxiety and the ways this relationship triggers my attachment trauma. I started therapy in March and I’m trying to work on this. I just recently started coming to the realization that this might be Limerence. I’m looking for information to try to understand how I can make this easier for me to navigate, especially with this being a person who is my friend. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!

Dearest gentle player,
It is with much delight that this Game Master welcomes you into the dazzling and glamourous ton of the Adamant Empire.
In this world of socialities, schemers and sycophants, you will be assuming the role of debutantes, bright and accomplished Gems, who are either just now being introduced to society or who are returning to it after being away for a very long time, with the intent of securing respectable matches for themselves.
Armed only with your wits, wiles and charms, you must charm suitors and navigate the rigid society of the Empire while avoiding scandal and ruin. Gods forbid you end up being dragged through the mud in the mysterious Lady Quartz's society papers!
What will you strive for, gentle player? Will you search for that perfect one, throwing caution to the wind in the pursuit of true love? Will you prove to be the most sparkling of Gems, earning yourself the favour of her Grace, the Queen Consort Ciyradyl, and the title of the Diamond of the season? Will you aim to rise as high through the ranks as possible? After all, why be content with being a Mrs. when you can be a Duchess? Or will you strive to forge a different path for yourself, forsaking what your family and society has set out for you? Something in between?
Whatever your goal is, be weary, dear player. For in this world, secrets are a dangerous currency and scandals can destroy entire families. Be an example of fine society or embrace infamy, tis your choice. Just know that the ton is always watching, judging in hushed whispers and giggles.
So, follow my lead and dance through candlelit ballrooms as we create together a tale of thrilling character drama, love, passion, ambition and bitter rivalries, all that which makes a heart flutter with enthusiasm and dread.
And if our darling debutantes unwittingly end up entwined in a conflict much grander than they could have ever anticipated? Well... is it truly a D&D game without some heightened stakes?
Campaign Pitch
Thank you for reading through my ramblings. I will be running a bit of a niche idea for a campaign. Those who have seen the Netflix Series Bridgerton or have consumed any media inspired/related to Jane Austen probably have a fairly good idea of the kind of story I am going for.
Essentially, this game will focus a lot more on your characters, their goals, desires and tribulations while they wade through the social season. There will be a main plotline as well as many other storylines linked to NPCs and factions that the players might interact with if they so wish, but ultimately I enjoy focusing on what my players find most enjoyable.
This will be a very roleplay heavy game. Combat will occur on occassion. This is D&D still after all so I am essentially contractually obligated to allow you to bonk at least a few times, but combat will only happen when the story demands it-and the story likely won't demand it that often. I suppose you can theoretically go out to the wilderness and do a dungeon crawl and I will play along with it, but if that is what you are seeking out of your D&D experience, this is sadly not the game for you.
Besides from roleplay, there might be some degree of urban exploration within the city of the Summit, the capital of the Empire and the setting of our campaign. There will potentially be some opportunities for sleuthing too if that is an avenue the players decide to explore more.
Instead, most of the game will be focused on exploring the lives of your characters and for those around them as well as that of your larger society. You can expect a lot of talking to each other and to NPCs so I encourage you to get deep into your character's mindset, to flesh them out as a person and to allow yourself to get vulnerable while playing them. Those are the moments my current table thrives on. We have quite literally cried as result of scenes. So never hesitate to speak up, try something new out and go deep into your character's soul.
As for me, I will strive to create an immersive, breathing world. I want my NPCs to feel like real people and for you to bond with them as such. I want your environment to react to and remember your actions, what makes you who you are. For this purpose, I will work with each of the players to intergrate their characters into the Adamant Empire and to best accomodate what you want to do in and out of character.
Speaking of the world, during character creation, we will work together to create the province you are from as well as your family and their place within society (status, any connections to guilds they might have, etc). So, you will be actively involved in creating at least a few small parts of it.
Once I have gathered up all players and received their backstories, there will be a two weeks gap between that and starting the game so I can get some more GM prep done with all the factors in mind. I want to try and begin either at the end of this month or at the start of the next one, but I won't push on this too hard.
Once we have started, I want to settle on a consistent schedule so schedule compatibility and consistence is quite important for me. I do not have a specific end date in mind for this game. I believe campaigns should last as long as it takes for them to have a satisfying conclusion. That being said, my games tend to be on the longer end so keep that in mind too.
If any of that sounds like your cup of tea, feel free to fill in the form down below! Hopefully we will get to create a great story together.
Lore
There is some lore within the Adamant Empire and the continent it is a part of, Kosmos, but nothing of massive importance that you would need to know right out of the bat. It has its own history and pantheon of Gods, etc, but honestly I am more than happy to work with the players to adjust the existent lore or to add entirely new one. Never hesitate to reach out to me.
The basics of the world are these though:
The Adamant Empire is thousands of years old. It is fairly similiar to the irl British Empire in many ways. It is extremely powerful and influential and it has supposedly independent colonies that in essence function as puppet goverments all over the continent. Few can match them in power.
That was until a hundred years ago.
King Edmund Diamant was determined to conquer one of the last remaining nations that could potentially rival the Adamant Empire, the elven isles of Yara Ambar. He miscalculated gravely, however, and that led to the Empire's first true loss. Taking advantage of the distraction, multiple colonies revolted and enough banded together to form the City States of Andora. With the assistance of their infernal supporters, the revolutionaries have gained some level of independence and are now almost certainly plotting to claim more and more of the Empire's lands for themselves.
The Empire's legions, coffers and reputation took a significant blow and they were forced to sign a treaty with the elven royalty.
Prince Orion was betrothed and later wed to an elven noble woman. This was a significant event because for centuries now, since the reign of Cedric the Conqueror, it had been strictly forbidden for non-humans to be part of the Adamantian nobility. The Oldblood families, the most ancient of bloodlines within the Empire, protested against the decision, but there was little to be done.
King Orion and his consort Queen Ciyradyl have reigned together for 70 years now. During their rule, peace and prosperity has largely been maintained and the people are content. More and more non-human families have also made their into the ton, a most scandalous occurence at first, but one that the ton has grown to accept with time, albeit some races more than others.
Alas, it is uncertain how long peace will last still. With the 99 year old King growing ill in body and mind, his wife and children have primarily taken over his duties. The City States of Andora stand proud to this day, a mark of shame upon the pride of any true Adamantian. Much conversation remains over what is to be done with them. Simultanously, there are many other forces who would benefit to see the Empire crumble on its knees.
Life in the Adamant Empire is about to change. Whether that change shall be for better or worse and what role you might play in it is yet to be revealed.
There is yet another element that needs to be discussed when it comes to the lore and that is the Gems/Steels separattion.
In essence, I and my players wished to replicate the sort of narratives one might encounter in the books of Jane Austen, where for example the Bennet family must marry all their daughters or they will end up with no inheritance (gasp!), but we still wished to be able to have PCs be male or to explore queer romances and narratives.
So, we settled on the following idea:
There is a secondary label by which individuals are put into one category or the other. People either bear the Mark of the Gem or the Mark of the Steel. This system of social distinction in essence replaces the era accurate existence of sexism.
Gems and Steels can be male or female, it does not matter. Similarly, Gems and Steels can be in relationships with men or women, that also does not matter. Creating offspring is still important within society, but magic can also accomplish that so gender or sexuality is not a factor.
What matters is that Gems are not allowed to inherit property and titles and are very limited in the careers that it is appropiate for them to have. They are expected to spend their time at home, tending to the needs of the household and the family. Steels have none of these restrictions.
Your characters are all Gems, meaning they need to marry -and marry well- in order to secure the best possible future for themselves.
Idea might be slightly altered in the future, but the skeleton of it should remain the same more or less.
As you might have figured out from this, while we will be trying to keep the spirit of the era and many of its customs, we won't be going for 100% historical accuracy (if you did not figure that out from the fact that magic exists). So, if that is what you are looking for, sorry but this table probably won't perfectly match your taste.
Table Rules
Given that we will be very focused on roleplay, character creation will have some according adjustments. you can find those down here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a7JdKnUQEfsoEOufrb8hACKmDBzIGaKEzXGKtT1sD7o/edit?usp=sharing
If you require some guidance in creating the narrative elements of your character, you can use this doc as a well as a sort of guideline:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qAudZPqYzCS9lDZGp7E6ZtWQExmCvP3DQnUqFZ9u3Ww/edit?usp=sharing
Some more rulings to keep in mind:

• Social PvP is allowed, but combat must be discussed by the players and the GM beforehand.
• For inspiration, you can have up to 3 at a time.
• Drinking potions is a bonus action :)

And we might come up with more as we play.
Plot Hook
The Player Characters all have town lodgings in the same neighbourhood, Fairbrooke Square. Thus, they might know each other to some degree or they might not. That is up to the players.
Regardless, as you were all neighbours growing up, you would have grown up alongsides the at the time Viscountess Kristina Royce (Steel). The specific relationship and dynamics that you had with Kristina can be fleshed out later between you and I, but everyone knew her in some shape, way or form.
Ten years ago, Kristina's parents died, making her Countess of Stirling and shortly after she left to roam the sea as Royces tend to do. Whether you maintained contact with her afterwards is once again your decision to make.
Kristina has now returned to the Summit, shortly after breaking off her betrothal to Emil Pleasant (Gem), son of the Baron of Fairbrooke Square and another one of your neighbours. You can also decide what kind of dynamic you have with him too.
While your whole street is whispering about the impending social season and the latest hot gossip, you (the PCs) each receive an invitation to dinner from Kethryllia Royce, Doawger Countess of Stirling, grandmother of Kristina and former handmaiden to the Queen.
It is uncertain yet what she wishes to discuss with you about, but that private dinner will be the inciting incident of our game.
Player Requirements
If all this sounds good to you, then now it is time to see if you would be a good match for the table! The ideal player for us would match the criteria down down below.

• Is 18+.
• Has a decent internet connection.
• Has a laptop cause you need that for Foundry.
• Has a mic and camera and is comfortable with having the camera open for sessions (yes, this is obligatory. I understand why some might not like it, but I find roleplay flows much more smoothly when you can see the other's face so this is must. Sorry.)
• Is available every Sunday from 4 to 9 BST.
• Is LGBTQ+ friendly as I am not going to allow any kind of hate at my table.
• Loves roleplaying.

As you might have noticed, level of experience is not a concern here. Newbies and experienced players are welcome alike!
Player Application
If you match all the criteria above, wonderful! i can't wait to hear from you. Go ahead and fill the application in. It is a bit long, but I hope it will be as fun for you to fill in as it was for me to make.
I already have three amazing players and I am looking for two more to fill out the party. The form should remain open for around a week so take your time.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXCoA6pUYSWk2WzsNq0Vb1N7xj3BSB8C3DEPVOmYfPAJ3KJg/viewform?usp=sf_link
Afterword
If you have read through all my ramblings, thank you very much! Remember to include the word "bonbon" in there so that I know you did.
This is a rather new experience for me if I am sincere. I have been GMing for a few years now, but this will be a very different sort of game to what I usually run and I am also rather new to Foundry too.
I cannot promise it will be a perfect experience, but I can promise that I will always strive to make it an enjoyable one. I am always open to critique and willing to adjust things for the entertainment and safety of the group.
I have bored you enough I would say. Farewell for now, gentle player. Let us not keep the ton waiting.

Dearest gentle player,
It is with much delight that this Game Master welcomes you into the dazzling and glamourous ton of the Adamant Empire.
In this world of socialities, schemers and sycophants, you will be assuming the role of debutantes, bright and accomplished Gems, who are either just now being introduced to society or who are returning to it after being away for a very long time, with the intent of securing respectable matches for themselves.
Armed only with your wits, wiles and charms, you must charm suitors and navigate the rigid society of the Empire while avoiding scandal and ruin. Gods forbid you end up being dragged through the mud in the mysterious Lady Quartz's society papers!
What will you strive for, gentle player? Will you search for that perfect one, throwing caution to the wind in the pursuit of true love? Will you prove to be the most sparkling of Gems, earning yourself the favour of her Grace, the Queen Consort Ciyradyl, and the title of the Diamond of the season? Will you aim to rise as high through the ranks as possible? After all, why be content with being a Mrs. when you can be a Duchess? Or will you strive to forge a different path for yourself, forsaking what your family and society has set out for you? Something in between?
Whatever your goal is, be weary, dear player. For in this world, secrets are a dangerous currency and scandals can destroy entire families. Be an example of fine society or embrace infamy, tis your choice. Just know that the ton is always watching, judging in hushed whispers and giggles.
So, follow my lead and dance through candlelit ballrooms as we create together a tale of thrilling character drama, love, passion, ambition and bitter rivalries, all that which makes a heart flutter with enthusiasm and dread.
And if our darling debutantes unwittingly end up entwined in a conflict much grander than they could have ever anticipated? Well... is it truly a D&D game without some heightened stakes?
Campaign Pitch
Thank you for reading through my ramblings. I will be running a bit of a niche idea for a campaign. Those who have seen the Netflix Series Bridgerton or have consumed any media inspired/related to Jane Austen probably have a fairly good idea of the kind of story I am going for.
Essentially, this game will focus a lot more on your characters, their goals, desires and tribulations while they wade through the social season. There will be a main plotline as well as many other storylines linked to NPCs and factions that the players might interact with if they so wish, but ultimately I enjoy focusing on what my players find most enjoyable.
This will be a very roleplay heavy game. Combat will occur on occassion. This is D&D still after all so I am essentially contractually obligated to allow you to bonk at least a few times, but combat will only happen when the story demands it-and the story likely won't demand it that often. I suppose you can theoretically go out to the wilderness and do a dungeon crawl and I will play along with it, but if that is what you are seeking out of your D&D experience, this is sadly not the game for you.
Besides from roleplay, there might be some degree of urban exploration within the city of the Summit, the capital of the Empire and the setting of our campaign. There will potentially be some opportunities for sleuthing too if that is an avenue the players decide to explore more.
Instead, most of the game will be focused on exploring the lives of your characters and for those around them as well as that of your larger society. You can expect a lot of talking to each other and to NPCs so I encourage you to get deep into your character's mindset, to flesh them out as a person and to allow yourself to get vulnerable while playing them. Those are the moments my current table thrives on. We have quite literally cried as result of scenes. So never hesitate to speak up, try something new out and go deep into your character's soul.
As for me, I will strive to create an immersive, breathing world. I want my NPCs to feel like real people and for you to bond with them as such. I want your environment to react to and remember your actions, what makes you who you are. For this purpose, I will work with each of the players to intergrate their characters into the Adamant Empire and to best accomodate what you want to do in and out of character.
Speaking of the world, during character creation, we will work together to create the province you are from as well as your family and their place within society (status, any connections to guilds they might have, etc). So, you will be actively involved in creating at least a few small parts of it.
Once I have gathered up all players and received their backstories, there will be a two weeks gap between that and starting the game so I can get some more GM prep done with all the factors in mind. I want to try and begin either at the end of this month or at the start of the next one, but I won't push on this too hard.
Once we have started, I want to settle on a consistent schedule so schedule compatibility and consistence is quite important for me. I do not have a specific end date in mind for this game. I believe campaigns should last as long as it takes for them to have a satisfying conclusion. That being said, my games tend to be on the longer end so keep that in mind too.
If any of that sounds like your cup of tea, feel free to fill in the form down below! Hopefully we will get to create a great story together.
Lore
There is some lore within the Adamant Empire and the continent it is a part of, Kosmos, but nothing of massive importance that you would need to know right out of the bat. It has its own history and pantheon of Gods, etc, but honestly I am more than happy to work with the players to adjust the existent lore or to add entirely new one. Never hesitate to reach out to me.
The basics of the world are these though:
The Adamant Empire is thousands of years old. It is fairly similiar to the irl British Empire in many ways. It is extremely powerful and influential and it has supposedly independent colonies that in essence function as puppet goverments all over the continent. Few can match them in power.
That was until a hundred years ago.
King Edmund Diamant was determined to conquer one of the last remaining nations that could potentially rival the Adamant Empire, the elven isles of Yara Ambar. He miscalculated gravely, however, and that led to the Empire's first true loss. Taking advantage of the distraction, multiple colonies revolted and enough banded together to form the City States of Andora. With the assistance of their infernal supporters, the revolutionaries have gained some level of independence and are now almost certainly plotting to claim more and more of the Empire's lands for themselves.
The Empire's legions, coffers and reputation took a significant blow and they were forced to sign a treaty with the elven royalty.
Prince Orion was betrothed and later wed to an elven noble woman. This was a significant event because for centuries now, since the reign of Cedric the Conqueror, it had been strictly forbidden for non-humans to be part of the Adamantian nobility. The Oldblood families, the most ancient of bloodlines within the Empire, protested against the decision, but there was little to be done.
King Orion and his consort Queen Ciyradyl have reigned together for 70 years now. During their rule, peace and prosperity has largely been maintained and the people are content. More and more non-human families have also made their into the ton, a most scandalous occurence at first, but one that the ton has grown to accept with time, albeit some races more than others.
Alas, it is uncertain how long peace will last still. With the 99 year old King growing ill in body and mind, his wife and children have primarily taken over his duties. The City States of Andora stand proud to this day, a mark of shame upon the pride of any true Adamantian. Much conversation remains over what is to be done with them. Simultanously, there are many other forces who would benefit to see the Empire crumble on its knees.
Life in the Adamant Empire is about to change. Whether that change shall be for better or worse and what role you might play in it is yet to be revealed.
There is yet another element that needs to be discussed when it comes to the lore and that is the Gems/Steels separattion.
In essence, I and my players wished to replicate the sort of narratives one might encounter in the books of Jane Austen, where for example the Bennet family must marry all their daughters or they will end up with no inheritance (gasp!), but we still wished to be able to have PCs be male or to explore queer romances and narratives.
So, we settled on the following idea:
There is a secondary label by which individuals are put into one category or the other. People either bear the Mark of the Gem or the Mark of the Steel. This system of social distinction in essence replaces the era accurate existence of sexism.
Gems and Steels can be male or female, it does not matter. Similarly, Gems and Steels can be in relationships with men or women, that also does not matter. Creating offspring is still important within society, but magic can also accomplish that so gender or sexuality is not a factor.
What matters is that Gems are not allowed to inherit property and titles and are very limited in the careers that it is appropiate for them to have. They are expected to spend their time at home, tending to the needs of the household and the family. Steels have none of these restrictions.
Your characters are all Gems, meaning they need to marry -and marry well- in order to secure the best possible future for themselves.
Idea might be slightly altered in the future, but the skeleton of it should remain the same more or less.
As you might have figured out from this, while we will be trying to keep the spirit of the era and many of its customs, we won't be going for 100% historical accuracy (if you did not figure that out from the fact that magic exists). So, if that is what you are looking for, sorry but this table probably won't perfectly match your taste.
Table Rules
Given that we will be very focused on roleplay, character creation will have some according adjustments. you can find those down here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a7JdKnUQEfsoEOufrb8hACKmDBzIGaKEzXGKtT1sD7o/edit?usp=sharing
If you require some guidance in creating the narrative elements of your character, you can use this doc as a well as a sort of guideline:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qAudZPqYzCS9lDZGp7E6ZtWQExmCvP3DQnUqFZ9u3Ww/edit?usp=sharing
Some more rulings to keep in mind:

• Social PvP is allowed, but combat must be discussed by the players and the GM beforehand.
• For inspiration, you can have up to 3 at a time.
• Drinking potions is a bonus action :)

And we might come up with more as we play.
Plot Hook
The Player Characters all have town lodgings in the same neighbourhood, Fairbrooke Square. Thus, they might know each other to some degree or they might not. That is up to the players.
Regardless, as you were all neighbours growing up, you would have grown up alongsides the at the time Viscountess Kristina Royce (Steel). The specific relationship and dynamics that you had with Kristina can be fleshed out later between you and I, but everyone knew her in some shape, way or form.
Ten years ago, Kristina's parents died, making her Countess of Stirling and shortly after she left to roam the sea as Royces tend to do. Whether you maintained contact with her afterwards is once again your decision to make.
Kristina has now returned to the Summit, shortly after breaking off her betrothal to Emil Pleasant (Gem), son of the Baron of Fairbrooke Square and another one of your neighbours. You can also decide what kind of dynamic you have with him too.
While your whole street is whispering about the impending social season and the latest hot gossip, you (the PCs) each receive an invitation to dinner from Kethryllia Royce, Doawger Countess of Stirling, grandmother of Kristina and former handmaiden to the Queen.
It is uncertain yet what she wishes to discuss with you about, but that private dinner will be the inciting incident of our game.
Player Requirements
If all this sounds good to you, then now it is time to see if you would be a good match for the table! The ideal player for us would match the criteria down down below.

• Is 18+.
• Has a decent internet connection.
• Has a laptop cause you need that for Foundry.
• Has a mic and camera and is comfortable with having the camera open for sessions (yes, this is obligatory. I understand why some might not like it, but I find roleplay flows much more smoothly when you can see the other's face so this is must. Sorry.)
• Is available every Sunday from 4 to 9 BST.
• Is LGBTQ+ friendly as I am not going to allow any kind of hate at my table.
• Loves roleplaying.

As you might have noticed, level of experience is not a concern here. Newbies and experienced players are welcome alike!
Player Application
If you match all the criteria above, wonderful! i can't wait to hear from you. Go ahead and fill the application in. It is a bit long, but I hope it will be as fun for you to fill in as it was for me to make.
I already have three amazing players and I am looking for two more to fill out the party. The form should remain open for around a week so take your time.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXCoA6pUYSWk2WzsNq0Vb1N7xj3BSB8C3DEPVOmYfPAJ3KJg/viewform?usp=sf_link
Afterword
If you have read through all my ramblings, thank you very much! Remember to include the word "bonbon" in there so that I know you did.
This is a rather new experience for me if I am sincere. I have been GMing for a few years now, but this will be a very different sort of game to what I usually run and I am also rather new to Foundry too.
I cannot promise it will be a perfect experience, but I can promise that I will always strive to make it an enjoyable one. I am always open to critique and willing to adjust things for the entertainment and safety of the group.
I have bored you enough I would say. Farewell for now, gentle player. Let us not keep the ton waiting.

Can someone give me some examples of some meals/snacks they eat? I’ve got the portions down but anything with slightly too much sugar makes my blood levels spike and then I feel terrible(sweating, flushed, etc. made the mistake of having a cup of sweet tea and almost blacked out lol). I am always on the go for breakfast and lunch time with a lot of afternoons in the car. I am also allergic to dairy so trying to stay away from dairy. I am almost 3 weeks in and trying to learn.