https://imgur.com/a/CyB0Wyf
Looking to sell both.
First up is a Vortex Viper HS LR 2.5-10. This is a FFP optic with the XLR reticle. PERFECT for your DMReece build/whatever the current trend is now.
Excellent glass quality, has taken me to sub 1.5 MOA to 600....and the glass wasn't the limiting factor there. A precision build, unfortunately, just ain't in the cards for me right now, so this thing has gotta go.
I've not seen a single one of these posted in the past 3 years, it's the only decent clarity MPVO that has capped/locking turrets, adjustable paralax, and is FFP <$1000 dollars that I'm aware of....and I've done quite a bit of searching.
We'll start at $450, but shoot your shot. I've literally no idea what it may really go for.
Next is a Frankford Aresenal Platinum Case Trim WITH AN RCBS CARBIDE CUTTER cutter is new. It's been out of stock for well over a year and a half, so much so that I bought a Dillon to replace the whole unit...then the cutter came back in stock a 5 months later. My loss is your gain. Perfectly set up and ready to power through 5.56, but can Trim, chamfer, and debur anything with a shoulder AFAIK.
$175 on the trimmer.
Mostly looking for cash for an upcoming wedding, but I'd be interested in trades for a Dillon 550. Could maybe add cash for a 750.

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White Sox @ Reds - Sat, Mar 25

Game Status: Pre-Game - First Pitch is scheduled for 09:05 PM EDT

Links & Info

• Current conditions at Goodyear Ballpark: 74°F - Clear - Wind 8 mph, In From CF
• TV: None
• Radio: Reds: WLW 700
• MLB Gameday
• Statcast Game Preview

	Probable Pitcher (Season Stats)	Report
White Sox	Lance Lynn (1-0, 4.50 ERA, 10.0 IP)	No report posted.
Reds	Connor Overton (0-1, 14.85 ERA, 6.2 IP)	No report posted.

White Sox Lineup vs. Overton	AVG	OPS	AB	HR	RBI	K
1 Gonzalez, R - CF	-	-	-	-	-	-
2 García - LF	.000	.000	1	0	0	0
3 Sheets - 1B	-	-	-	-	-	-
4 Grandal - C	-	-	-	-	-	-
5 Burger - DH	-	-	-	-	-	-
6 Colas - RF	-	-	-	-	-	-
7 Alberto - 2B	-	-	-	-	-	-
8 Remillard - 3B	-	-	-	-	-	-
9 González, E - SS	-	-	-	-	-	-
10 Lynn - P	-	-	-	-	-	-

Reds Lineup vs. Lynn	AVG	OPS	AB	HR	RBI	K
1 India - 2B	-	-	-	-	-	-
2 Votto - DH	.433	1.185	30	1	1	7
3 Fraley - LF	.500	1.250	4	0	0	0
4 Stephenson, T - 1B	-	-	-	-	-	-
5 Myers - RF	.111	.222	9	0	0	1
6 Friedl - CF	-	-	-	-	-	-
7 Steer - 3B	-	-	-	-	-	-
8 Casali - C	-	-	-	-	-	-
9 Barrero - SS	-	-	-	-	-	-
10 Overton - P	-	-	-	-	-	-

Division Scoreboard

MIA 2 @ STL 3 - Final
MIL 6 @ OAK 5 - Final
CHC 7 @ LAA 8 - Final
BAL 1 @ PIT 1 - Top 6, 0 Outs
STL 2 @ NYM 0 - Bottom 4, 0 Outs
^{Last Updated: 03/25/2023 07:15:14 PM EDT}

The anticipation for GTA 6 has been building up for years now, and with each passing day, new rumors, leaks, and speculations emerge about the game. Some sources claim that the game is currently in development, while others argue that it's still in the planning phase.
One of the most popular rumors is that the game will be set in Vice City, the fictional version of Miami, Florida. This is based on some leaked information from a supposed insider who claimed to have worked on the game. However, this has not been confirmed by any official source.
Another rumor suggests that the game will have a female protagonist, which would be a first for the franchise. While this is an exciting prospect, it's important to take this information with a grain of salt until it's confirmed by the developers.
There have also been speculations about the release date of the game, with some sources claiming that it could be as early as 2022, while others argue that it won't be released until 2025 or later.
As always, it's important to remember that rumors and leaks should be taken with a grain of salt. The only official information we have about GTA 6 is that it's in development, and until Rockstar Games confirms anything else, everything else should be considered speculation.
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On a scale of one to ten, one being touching a hot car on a sunny day and ten being falling into the sun, I’d put having something burst into flames in my hand at probably a four. I think four is reasonable. I mean, we’re not talking about blistering heat that roasts your meat black. We’re talking about a little, blue, cat doll just catching fire and enveloping your hand up to the wrist in white-hot angel fire.
I think anyone’s first instinct when something they’re holding bursts into flames is to drop or throw the item. Since I am anyone, I naturally throw the doll with a squeal that turns heads. It hits the side of the closest tent and tumbles down it, paw over whisker. It leaves a trail of little fires behind it. These don’t just sizzle and go out, they get bigger.
Did I mention the smoke? There’s black smoke billowing out of the doll like it’s one of those funny fireworks that does nothing but make smoke. It doesn’t move like smoke though. Smoke just goes up where I guess it gets sucked out into space or something. This smoke swirls around in a ropey fashion like a snake.
“Meredith?” I say to the smoke snake, “Is that you?”
The smoke snake does not respond. Instead, one of the teenagers shouts, “FIRE!” and throws a cup of soda at the side of the tent that’s burning incredibly quickly. They all scatter. Soda is apparently not an effective fire extinguisher. The flames just sizzle and then swallow more of the tent.
I decide not to stick around. “If you’re Meredith, follow me,” I tell the smoke snake, and then turn to run for the busy section of the carnival.
I don’t make it more than two steps before one of the bigger teenagers grabs me by the shoulder. He’s a lanky boy with black hair and one of those “I wanna look grown-up” half mustaches that you almost wonder if you can just rip it right off his face. He’s wearing a Led Zeppelin shirt. I bet Roger and this kid would have been best buds or bitter rivals if Roger hadn’t gotten turned into mashed potatoes.
“Hey! This girl started a fire!” he yells to nobody in particular.
A girl with really short cut bleached blonde hair and one of those nose stud things runs over and gets right in my face. “Let her go, Johnny!” she snaps at the boy holding me. I’m surprised because I thought from her expression that she was going to headbutt me in the face and knock me out or something. “She’s pretty badass in my book.” She looks me in the eyes with something I’m not familiar with. Is that... respect?
Johnny lets go of me.
“That thing’s gonna burn the whole carnival down!” the girl yells. She sounds pleased. She’s even got a big grin on her face as she watches the fire on the tent rise upward.
“Well I’m not sticking around to watch, babe!” says Johnny, and he takes off between two trailers across the way.
There’s already shouts rising over the sound of the crackling fire. I hear someone yell the word “fire!” and the sentence, “grab an extinguisher!” Just over the tent, where the main thoroughfare probably is, some woman screams, and a kid starts crying. Oh God, I’ve gone and killed everybody, haven’t I? The entire carnival is going to burn to the ground and everybody’s probably panicking and stampeding for the exits. Then the screaming lady lets out a big burst of laughter and I realize nobody on the other side of the tent is even aware of what’s going on over here yet.
“Come on!” the blonde girl pulls on my sleeve. I stumble over my own feet and fall to the ground. She doesn’t stick around to help me up. Instead she takes off after her friend Johnny, doing some sort of twirly dance in the process as she runs away into the dark.
I start to get up from the dirt when I notice dark liquid running out from under me. It’s blood. It’s all over my shirt. I’m a sopping wet, red mess. Also, the cow pitcher is shattered. I must have fallen right on it and it broke and I got Nate’s blood all over myself! How am I ever going to explain this to that angry man I borrowed it from?
“What’s going on?” asks Paschar, “I’m getting only bits and pieces. There’s a fire? Smoke? Snakes? Blood? Are you injured?”
Actually, now that he’s asked, there is a big piece of the cow pitcher sticking through my bloody shirt down in my tummy area. I pull on the end of it. There’s a nasty, burning sensation so I stop pulling. I’ve gone and stabbed myself with a cow pitcher! Is any of this blood mine?
“I’ve spilled Nate’s blood all over myself!”
“Don’t rub it in your eyes!”
I wasn’t gonna rub it in my eyes. It’s not like I’m tired or anything. My cousin Susie used to rub her eyes a lot but that was because she had really bad allergies. Her eyes were always bloodshot. Susie’s worst allergy was boat propellers though. She was deathly allergic to those. After her accident, my Uncle George developed really bad allergies too. I could tell because his eyes were always bloodshot.
Someone nearby yells, “Over here!” and a pair of men run up with big, red fire extinguishers. They start spraying the white foamy stuff at the side of the tent. At first, it doesn’t look like the foam is going to stop the flames, but after a minute of spraying and one of the extinguishers running out of juice, the fire hisses and goes out.
The man holding the used-up fire extinguisher looks at the big, black, scorched portion of tent, then down at the crispy, little cat doll on the ground. Then he turns and looks at the claw machine. The machine blinks its lights like it’s saying hello to him. The man finally looks over at me, laying in a small pool of warm blood. It’s the man with orange hair who passed by earlier that I hid from.
“Look what we got here,” he says with a funny accent. I think it’s Irish, but it might be Scottish. I’m not an expert on accents. Everything I know about accents I learned from this movie I watched with my dad about a Scottish guy who was immortal and he killed other immortal people by chopping their heads off with a giant sword. Well, that and Mary Poppins.
The other man sets down his fire extinguisher and turns around. He’s a beefy guy wearing a huge coat with lots of pockets and a floppy-looking cowboy hat. “Who’s that, Gin?” he asks in a non-accent voice.
“Get up, girly!” The man named Gin reaches down and grabs me by my collar. He pulls me halfway up to standing on my own two feet. In the process, the piece of cow pitcher that has punctured me in the tummy area shifts and causes more of that intense burning feeling I got when I tried to pull it out.
“OWWWW!” I yell, hoping he gets the hint and lets go of me.
He doesn’t.
Then I notice that the snaky trail of black smoke is circling his head like a creepy halo. I don’t think he or the other man can see it because if either of them could, they’d surely be freaking out and trying to wave it away.
“This,” Gin says with one of those half-smile smirks that shows the canine tooth on the left side of his mouth, “is who Clay was looking for.”
The black smoke snake hunches back like it's about to strike at the back of Gin’s head. Then it lunges forward and splashes like a wave against him, going in all directions. A moment later, it recollects itself into a cloudy-form and swirls angrily around him like a swarm of bees dealing with Winnie-the-Pooh.
Gin pulls me the rest of the way to my feet. This is good because I aim to kick him in his testicles and I couldn’t do that lying down. As soon as I’ve got my footing, I pull back, swinging my foot out behind me--
--at which point he brings his big, adult fist into the equation by punching me hard in the guts. The pain is so intense I feel like I’m going to puke. Even worse, there’s a really sharp stinging sensation and then a wet kind of warmth. No, I didn’t pee myself. Gin himself winces in pain as he pulls his fist back to reveal the piece of broken cow pitcher stabbed right up between his knuckles. He lets go of me so he can pull it out and I take the opportunity to drop to my knees and double over, clutching where he hit me.
“Word of advice to you, lass,” says Gin as he flicks the pitcher piece away, “don’t broadcast your intention to kick a man in the quongs if you don’t want to get punched in the ovaries.”
I’m too busy rubbing my face in the wet grass to respond but I’m thinking about how annoying this thing with saying what I’m thinking is and I wish I could stop doing it because it really makes fighting bad guys difficult. I wonder if I just said that thought, but judging from Gin putting his boot on the back of my head, I’m guessing not. Bleh, the grass is warm and tastes like ozone. I realize I’m getting Nate’s blood on me. Paschar said to not get it in my eyes!
“What is she, like ten years old?” I hear the other man say, “What about this brat’s got Clay so spooked? You could knock her over with a wet fart.” Thanks for that visual, Sir.
Gin lifts his boot off my head. I take the opportunity to get my face out of the bloody grass and wipe it off my mouth. I can’t tell how much is on my face.
“She killed his kid or sometin’,” he remarks casually, “burned him alive.” He pauses. I look up. He’s looking at the scorched tent. “Seems like she’s got a penchant for fire. Maybe we ought to give her a feel of what it’s like to get burned before we bring her to Clay. What do you say?”
I cough up some dirt I didn’t realize was in the back of my throat. “I didn’t kill Joey.”
Gin wanders a few steps away and the other man comes over and puts a hand under my armpit. He helps me up in a far gentler manner than Gin did. I don’t think about kicking him in the testicles and I don’t plan to. The two men share a brief look and I worry for a second that I just said all that.
“She’s got blood all over her,” the big other guy says, letting go of me and wiping his hands off on his dark jacket.
“I don’t give a rat’s ass if she’s got shit and puke on ‘er,” Gin lights up a cigarette and takes a long drag on it. He looks at me like a kid with a magnifying glass looks at an ant. He blows out a small cloud of stinky smoke. I wonder if he can make smoke rings. “Give me her arm.”
Nothing good ever started with someone saying, “give me her arm.” I instinctively start to pull away, but the big guy puts his hand under my armpit again and moves me away from Gin, twirling me around so he’s between the two of us like a big wall.
“I’ve had enough of this. I’m not letting you put a cigarette out on a little girl. What the Hell is wrong with you, man?”
I put my free arm around his waist and give him as much of a hug as I can. Thank you, Mister, whoever you are.
Gin casually gestures toward the blackened tent flap and scorched patch of ground where the remains of my precious Freddy Lapel doll sizzles with otherworldly heat. “Look what she did, Dutch. She tried to burn down the whole carnival. Could have hurt somebody! Could have killed somebody--” He looks directly at me. “--again.”
Dutch’s thumb digs into my armpit but not so hard that it hurts. He smells like he had bacon recently. And he works on machinery or something, because there’s a distinct scent of motor oil on his clothes. I wonder if he knows Mr. Grizz.
“But thankfully nobody did get hurt. And I don’t know the full story between her and Clay, if there even is one. All I know is a grown-ass, Irish prick is telling me to let him put a lit cigarette on a ten-year old girl covered in blood and I ain’t about to be the guy that lets that happen.”
“I’m twelve actually,” I tell Dutch. He doesn’t hear or just ignores me.
The orange-haired creep named Gin takes another drag on his cigarette. I watch the end of it burn away between his fingers. Then he casually lifts one leg and puts it out on the underside of his boot. He flicks the butt away and then crosses his arms and stares at me hiding behind Dutch. If there was a clock, we could hear it ticking away, but there’s no clock. Instead, there’s just the hoots and hollers of people having a grand old time at the carnival.
After what seems like five minutes of just hard, quiet staring at each other like one of those Mexican standoffs in a Clint Eastwood Western movie --my dad used to love to watch Clint Eastwood movies. His favorite was called High Plains Drifter. I just watched for the horses-- oh right, like I was saying... after five minutes of that staring, Gin shrugs like he didn’t just step on the head of a little girl and then try to put a cigarette out on her.
“I’m fetching Clay.” He lingers for a moment, glaring at both of us, and then storms off in a hurried manner, really working his arms into it.
Dutch’s grip on my pit loosens. I stop hugging him and move away a step. He looks down at me. I can’t figure out what thoughts are going through his head. His expression seems like a jumble of worry and upset and even a little fear. He’s gotten all sweaty. He wipes it away with his sleeve and takes a rough breath.
“Thank you, Mr. Dutch,” I tell him.
He nods silently.
I check my pokey stab wound from the cow pitcher. It’s not leaking profusely but there’s blood and mud caked on my shirt and it’s sticking to me. I hope I don’t get a mud infection. I wish I better understood where germs come from. There’s blood all over my hands but I don’t know if it’s mine or Nate’s.
“I’m taking you to the front entrance and we’re calling the police,” Dutch tells me.
I almost forgot about the cloud of smoke. It is lazily drifting over Dutch’s head now, like a little, black raincloud. It moves unnaturally, not drifting away or dispersing in any way. Just a little, black raincloud over the man’s floppy hat.
We walk away from the burned tent and the claw machine in the opposite direction from the one that Gin went. A noise behind us makes me look back. A blonde woman with an apron covered with pockets from which prize tickets hang out all over comes out of a nearby booth alley and sees the mess I caused. She immediately zeroes in on Dutch and I walking away together.
“Oi! Dutch!” she calls out, “what the Hell happened here?”
“I’m dealing with it, Susie,” he tells her. He puts his hand on my arm as if to show that he’s got the perpetrator and is handling the situation.
I look up at him. “My cousin’s name is Susie.” I don’t know why I feel the need to mention that. My brain is kind of doing a reset at the moment as I try to figure out what I need to do and if that cloud is indeed Meredith’s soul like I think it is.
Mr. Dutch glances down at me and starts leading me away again. “Is that so?”
“My uncle ran her over with a motorboat.”
He frowns and looks away. “Oh.”
I realize I could have worded that better. “By accident.”
Paschar chimes in. “That’s probably not the best topic to be bringing up right now, Lily.”
Mr. Dutch seems to agree with Paschar. “Let’s just get you to the ticket booths, alright? Quiet like.”
Ahead of us, the back alleyway of tent flaps and old, unused arcade machines opens up to the main thoroughfare. I knew it was right there! I can see normal people, mostly adults because it’s so freaking late and kids have got school tomorrow but the carnival is in town so some parents brought their kids because some things are more important than school. Like fishing for little ducks with magnets on the end of a fishing line so you can get a ten cent knick-knack for the price of a couple quarters. Or shooting water in a hippo’s mouth and watching a balloon fill up from out its butt and whoever pops the hippo’s butt balloon wins a prize which is usually just a bunch of tickets like the ones that lady had falling out of her apron pockets.
The little, black cloud follows us, keeping just above Dutch’s head. I wonder if it intends to drop on him like an anvil in a Wile E Coyote cartoon.
Right before we reach the thoroughfare full of laughing, smiling people, I hear something. Fast approaching footsteps. They’re not speed walking; this is more like a jumbling hustle of several feet moving swiftly but trying to be quiet. Oh crap, it’s Gin and Clay. They’re going to burn me with cigarettes or rub deodorant on my wounds and stab me and light me on fire and--
There’s a hard WHOOMP sound right next to me followed immediately by a loud grunt like “UGH” but I can’t do it justice with words. It’s like the sound someone would make if they bang their elbow on the edge of a metal desk right where their funny bone is. Like right between the elbow joint bones, you know? Why does that hurt so bad? I think the person who named it the “funny bone” never hit the corner of a metal desk there. It’s the least funny bone in your body. Or second at least to the coccyx. That’s the little tail end of your spine. Yeah, we got tails. Humans got tails. They’re hidden though, tucked away in the butt area.
Dutch lets go of my arm. I turn to look at him. There’s a foot with a sneaker on it sticking out from between his legs. Just as quickly as I see it, it disappears. Mr. Dutch is the one making the pain sound. He reaches down and clutches his crotch, and his knees give out and he falls forward. Someone kicked this poor man in the testicles!
The foot belongs to the girl with the short, bleached blonde hair. She stands over the large, crumpled form of Dutch and looks at me with a triumphant grin.
“Bleep the authority!” she shouts and pumps her fist in the air. She’s wearing like a dozen rings on the one hand. How can she fit so many rings on such stubby fingers? “Let’s go!” she yells in my face even though I’m right there next to her.
Her friend Johnny is with her. He’s looking around anxiously. “Yeah, let’s get out of here already!”
I’m flabbergasted. “But Mr. Dutch was a good guy!” I try to tell the two of them.
They’re completely enthralled by their own sense of pride in a job well done, saving the little, bloody girl from the big man at the traveling carnival. Mr. Dutch is groaning in severe, testicle-kicked pain. I reach down to try to help him, and the blonde girl grabs my wrist.
“What are you doing?” she asks me through a smile that says she doesn’t even really care what my answer is, “we’re rescuing you! Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, let’s hoof it!”
I feel like that’s one too many horse-themed expressions in a single statement, but I don’t say anything. And not just that, there’s like twelve too many people getting involved in my problems lately. I’m not a complete idiot, I know well what happens to people around me. My whole family is dead. My best friend is... probably a little, black cloud that’s doing some sort of weird interpretive dance over the crumpled form of poor Dutch with the swollen balls. People get hurt around me. Hell, poor Dutch can attest to that at the moment. People die around me. People get torn apart by skinless dogs that form out of fungus that used to be old ladies and I can’t believe that’s even an actual thing I saw. I saw that. That happened.
I take the girl’s hand and remove it from my arm. “Look, I don’t know you or Johnny and you both seem really nice, but you need to get out of here before you get hurt. I’ll be okay. Mr. Dutch was taking me to get help. The bad people are coming, and they like to smoke. They’ve got an angel of death tied up somewhere. And there’s someone much, much worse who could show up any time.”
I think I lost them both somewhere around the part about that creep Gin being a smoker. The boy Johnny does another anxious look around the area, then he grabs the girl’s arm. “Nance, let’s just go. I didn’t come here to get murdered by some whacked-out carney cult.”
The girl Nance drops her arm and shakes her head at me. She starts to open her mouth to say something, then crumples it up into a little mouth and turns and trots away after Johnny. I watch them go. I don’t know who they were, but I hope they get far, far away. The curse of getting involved in my life has a long reach and is unforgiving.
After they leave, I kneel down and pat Mr. Dutch on the back. “All you alright, Mr. Dutch?” I ask him. He mutters something I can’t understand because he’s got his face shoved into the ground.
“You’re not cursed, Lily,” Paschar comments.
“Then why do bad things always happen to people around me?”
“Because your gift is chaotic,” I hear me say. Except I didn’t say it. Not me me anyway.
Paschar whispers, “Oh no.”
I feel the presence of another person standing right behind me. Unlike Nance and Johnny, this person didn’t make a sound. It was as if they rose up out of the ground or descended from the sky as silent as a feather touching a pillow. My whole body tenses up. That sounds impossible but it totally is possible and it’s incredibly uncomfortable. Don’t question it.
I turn around slowly. First at the neck, then the shoulder, finally at the waist. Why am I dragging this out? Because I don’t want to look behind me at the person because I know exactly who it is and I really don’t feel like peeing my pants right now. Or ever. But especially now.
For a second I think I’m just looking in a mirror because I see my own face. Except my actual face probably has more blood on it currently. But less blood everywhere else.
Samael smiles at me. “You got here ahead of me.” He looks at my clothes and then tilts his head and examines my face. “And from the looks of it, you’ve had one Hell of a time. Who did this to you? Was it him?” He points at Mr. Dutch who has finally rolled over onto his back and is staring up at the starry night sky with teary eyes and a really red face.
“This isn’t my blood,” I tell him.
He grins. “But this is,” he gestures at himself. Don’t pee, Lily. Don’t pee.
Paschar raises his voice. “Sam, please, you’ve got to come back! You’re unwell.”
“Really?? Did you really think that’s going to work?” That’s me talking. Actual me. Not Samael. “You can’t appeal to crazy! I mean, come on. You’ve got to have something to back your words up with. When in the history of ever has someone been on the verge of destroying a small carnival and someone else said, ‘don’t do it!’ and they were like, ‘oh, okay.’? Never!”
“She’s right.” Samael says, nodding and raising an eyebrow. Hey, I can’t do that. I try to raise one eyebrow, but I just end up raising both. So I stop and try again. But then I stop completely before it looks like I’m wiggling my eyebrows at him. He stares at me blankly for a moment after, then blinks a couple times and shakes his head.
Mr. Dutch rolls over and gets up onto his hands and knees. He lets out a big breath, then sits up and tilts his head back to look at Samael and me together. There’s a moment where he seems to accept what he’s seeing, but then he clenches his eyes shut, reopens them, cranes his neck forward and looks back and forth between us.
“Don’t hurt him,” says Paschar.
Samael smirks. It’s starting to feel surreal to see myself making faces when I can feel that I’m not. Also, everything’s slightly off because I’m looking at my actual face and not a mirror reflection of it. “I’m not here for Mr. Dutch,” says Samael, “I’m here for the rune-maker, remember? I’m here for Felix Clay.”
“Lillian Alexandra Madwhip!” someone shouts from the direction Mr. Dutch and I just walked away from.
As if he was just waiting in the shadows --which he probably was because it’s such a Felix thing to do-- Felix freaking Clay steps from seemingly out of nowhere and stands about ten yards down the alleyway from us behind Samael. Beside him is his orange-haired friend Gin, smoking another cigarette from the looks of the little glow I can see in his hand. I should have smelled him coming.
They’re a little ways off, but I can see them both pretty clearly, and Felix isn’t smiling. It occurs to me that he always smiled before, even when he was doing things that shouldn’t have made him happy. It’s like his smile is a mask he hides behind. But not now. Now he looks angry. And annoyed. And --why is he holding that hammer? He’s not even holding it right; he’s got the claw side down. He can’t hammer a nail that way unless his arms work backward.
“You came for me and here I am!” Felix yells at us, “But I told you not to come back. So now--” He and his Irish buddy Mr. Gin start marching toward us with very purposeful strides, and I can’t understand what he’s saying after the “so now” part. Mr. Gin pulls something I can’t see out of his coat and holds it close at his side. No doubt it’s a weapon, I just don’t know if it’s a stabby weapon or a shooty weapon or what.
Samael doesn’t look at them. He’s focused on me. He’s smiling. His hands are clenched at his sides, and I remember well that there’s a rune on one that lets him punch through people like they’re made of Play-doh.
As for me, I’m torn. Do I warn Felix that Samael can karate chop him into bits like some sort of bad horror movie? Or do I watch this play out? Maybe I should take this opportunity to just run. I mean, I can’t win against any of these people. Who am I? I’m a Knife That Cuts the Veil that’s dulled by the runes all over the carnival grounds.
While I stand there lost in that thought, Samael reaches forward and pokes me in the forehead. He starts moving his finger around. I just stand there and stare at him, waiting for him to jab a hole right through my head. Don’t pee, Lily. Don’t pee. What the heck is he doing?
“There,” he whispers to me, finishing whatever it is, “that should keep you safe. Just don’t smear it or your head might explode.”
As soon as he lifts his finger away, I can feel it. That tension I had that I mentioned early was all through my body, it just vanishes. I almost go completely slack in fact, but manage to hold myself up. Then comes a wave of warmth starting at the spot on my forehead that he last touched and encompassing my entire head, traveling down my neck, across my chest, down both arms at the same time, through my midsection and then hips, legs, ending at the tips of my toes. The pain in my abdomen that I had actually forgotten about also vanishes. I reach into the hole in my shirt to feel the wound. It’s still there and I feel my fingertip actually go inside the stabby hole for a second before I realize I’m still hurt; I just can’t feel it anymore.
“Who’s your little friend?”
Felix and Gin have finally reached us. Gin looks smugly at me, still holding his hand by his side. Samael turns to face them finally and Gin’s smug look is replaced with one of confusion. Felix stops mid-stride and even takes a step back. He also has a confused expression on his face. I don’t need to see Samael’s face to know he’s got the biggest grin on it right now.

Sort of a continuation of this thing? Author’s note: I got bored. Without further ado,
Lights! Camera! Action!
​
New Day Development Zone, Central Akwilaya City, June 17, 2077
The tenant-farmer-turned-factory-worker rests in his apartment, his feathery wings applying themselves gently to the cushions of his couch. It is the mid-afternoon, and he has recently returned to his new home in the city, built by those travellers from another world who his land now calls neighbors and provided to the commonfolk at an astonishingly reasonable price. He performs the ritual needed to activate his radio, and listens while he thinks about nothing in particular. A light and melodic voice flows from the box.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first broadcast of the Modern History Interviews segment of the Akwilayan Public Radio Network. I am Mahrionel Aentwasieur, and I’ll be your host for the forseeable future. I’d like to introduce our guest, James Stewart. Would you be so kind, Mr. Stewart?”
A gruff yet affable voice is emitted from the box, and though he does not speak the strange language of this particular foreigner, the artifice within grants him perfect understanding. “Just call me James, ma’am, formerly Lance Corporal James Stewart of London’s First and Only, European Army, and currently James, professional collector of pensions.” The man chuckles to himself for a brief moment.
“So, James,” the woman replies, “how about-“
He cuts her off, saying, “Sorry, ma’am, I‘m already taken.”
”None of that, James. We’d like to hear about your experiences in Operation Terms And Conditions, or The Wars, as many of our listeners may know it as. I understand you were involved in the fall of Samn-Ahmnkan?”
”Ah, yes, the Great Seal-Clubbing. So, you’d like a good ol’ fireside chat, miss? Shoulda brought me to the pub, then! I haven’t got nearly enough drink in me,” the soldier replies with a laugh. “Oh, but I can tell ye about it, yeah.”
”Are there no idioms in your language that aren’t absurdly violent and/or vulgar?”
”Eh, probably. More than one way to skin a cat, after all! Oh, but I’ll get on with the story, now. Wouldn’t want to ruffle any of your feathers, bird-lady.”
“Hey, I have a name, you kno-“
​
Neu Berlin, June 7, 2066
For the first time since he had been evacuated from the ruins of London, James Stewart was about to walk into a portal. This time, however, it would be sending him not away from battle, but directly into one. Everyone present had at least claimed to have read the files, and everyone knew who their enemy was. The Grand Duchy of Samn-Ahmnkan, or the Sammies, as everybody called them, were a bunch of dirty slaving bastards who’d only been given aid to be fair for everyone. Of course, they’d gone and used their new gear to enrich their nobles and strengthen their armies, and everyone with half a brain knew they were about to invade their neighbor to the east.
In ten seconds, every single factory, industrial vehicle, lightbulb, and everything else relying on beamed mana-turned-electricity in the Duchy was about to have every ounce of power cut to it. This lack of power would both cause utter chaos and confusion and provide power for the portals which were about to disgorge their cargo of men. James took a deep breath.
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
He chuckled and under his breath he said, “For king and country,” even though the monarchy had been abolished by nuclear warheads years ago, and the country had ceased to exist as anything more than a memory in the hearts of those humans who had fled to the new world they found themselves in.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
He began to sweat.
One.
The portal, shimmering and bright purple, materialized before him, and he stepped through.
​
The Square of the Unworthy, Grand Duchy of Samn-Ahmnkan
Conventional wisdom on this planet, he had been told, said that any incursion into a country must come from either its borders or its coasts. Conventional wisdom on this planet, he had been told, said that only the greatest of mages could transport themselves instantly and infiltrate a land from within, and that even then they could bring only themselves. Conventional wisdom on this planet, he had been told, was reduced to complete and utter bullshit when humans entered the equation. Conventional wisdom on this planet, he knew, was about to be turned on its head.
He and around 90 other men had been dropped straight into the largest slave-holding area in the Duchy. Their orders were simple: They were to get in, put a bullet between the eyes of any Sammy slave-masters who didn’t surrender, shove any who did through the portal and into the waiting arms of the nearest POW camp, give any slaves they found a semi-auto whose design was over 100 years old and which had been produced in ludicrous quantities by the Nor-Ams for exactly this purpose, and hold the line. Easy, at least on paper.
It took him a moment to regain his senses after going through the portal. When he did, he saw countless slaves in the process of being broken in, and their masters in the process of doing the breaking. Unfortunately for the slavers, he had a rifle and they didn’t. Gunshots rang all around him as he and his compatriots unloaded shot after shot against anyone who was obviously not a slave. When the work was done, communications equipment was sent forwards, along with various aid supplies and boxes upon boxes of modified M1 Garands, bayonets already attached and an extended clip already in place.
The unit’s officer got on top of a box, setting his helmet to magnify his voice to the greatest extent it could muster. At the top of his lungs and the deepest recesses of his throat, he shouted, “Slaves, servants, downtrodden of every variety! Your liberation is at hand, and we invite you to participate in it! Take from us a weapon, and rip and tear until the deed is done!”
James had no idea how that speech got approved, but it seemed to work. As he rushed ahead to the gate, he saw slaves drop their tools and, slowly at first, head to the crates of weapons for a crash course in how to use them. He helped create a makeshift barricade at the facility’s gate, and got ready for the big guns to show up.
​
Akwilaya City, 2077
“Well, James,” the voice of Ms. Aentwasiuer asks, “How would you describe their response?”
”Bloody pitiful, frankly. The poor Minotaur- sorry, I mean Oxling- bastards had nearly their whole army on the border, ready to invade some neighboring principality I don’t remember the name of. Half the city guards didn’t give enough of a fuck to actually try and stop us, and the ones who did were bringing swords to a gunfight. And that was before we put on our fancy pants.”
​
Grand Avenue of Samn-Ahmnkan, Grand Duchy of Samn-Ahmnkan, 2066
After a few spare minutes of waiting, the tanks arrived. Slaves and soldiers alike stood clear of the thundering Challenger 3.5s as they rolled through the portal, and James advanced along them out of the gates of the Square and through the city’s main avenue, which would bring them to the palace. Liberated slaves fanned out throughout the area to provide support, as well as a few soldiers with every unit of freedmen to stop them from terrorizing the locals.
His helmet‘s HUD showed new green and blue dots appearing across the city seemingly every second, as slaves were liberated and new forces were sent in via portals. Every cluster of allied forces began to converge on a single point: the palace. Above the city, he saw portals open and immediately close as advanced aircraft marked wyverns and their riders to be hit by munitions transported instantaneously from a classified location somewhere on the planet. Actually, that might not have been true. For all he knew, they were storing munitions in a sealed facility under the bombed-out ruins of Earth.
Wherever the missiles were coming from, they were judiciously effective in dispatching the Duchy’s “air force,” if one could call it that. Equally effective were the canister shells fired by the column’s lead Challenger at an incoming unit of spearmen. Eventually, after meeting minimal resistance throughout the city, they arrived in the palace.
​
Akwilaya City, 2077
“So,” the woman asks, “it is said that the Ducal Guards of Samn-Ahmnkan were among the most capable warriors out of any non-human nation at the time of their fall. What do you have to say about that?”
”Well,“ comes the response, “They certainly had the shiniest armor out of all the Sammies I saw.”
Ducal Palace of Samn-Ahmnkan, 2066
The Mage-Warriors of Gold, The Dark Duke’s Own, The Supreme Palatial Blades, and a thousand other titles were given to the Ducal Guards of Samn-Ahmnkan by their friends and foes alike. They were the sons of nobles from across the land, taken at three years old and trained by the most vigilant instructors to protect the Duke and his home. They were the reason an infiltrator had not set foot upon the palace of Samn-Ahmnkan in over a century. Their record was about to be ended by a unit of pissed-off humans.
Their armor, decorated with gold and forged of the finest steel available to the Grand Duchy, was said to be able to deflect a thousand blows and absorb a thousand more. Their blades were said to slice through flesh as if it were air, and their strength was said to be with neither limit nor peer. Their magical prowess was such that they could burn men alive with a single word, block arrows with the motion of a hand, and glide through the air as easily as they walked.
The gates of the palace swung open for the invaders in a mocking sort of greeting, as if the building were saying to come and take it if they dared. Before them stood thirty of the Ducal Guards, with two more flanking the Duke’s throne, projecting a shield to ensure harm would not come to him. The duke spoke in a voice that was far too loud for the rather stout man.
He said to the humans, “Fiends of another world! Know that you have come thinking yourselves to be conquerors, but that your efforts shall be in vain. Know that my armies march as we speak towards my fine city, and that the forces arrayed before me shall be slaughtered by my finest guards. I see not soldiers before me. I see dead men, who do not know they have perished.”
James said the only thing he could think of. “What armies? Last I checked they all got blown up!”
The duke and his men knew this was false. However, their confusion brought their guard down for just long enough for the thirty men in front to be obliterated by a series of HEAT rounds. The soldiers marched over the charred armor and viscera, into the duke’s throne room.
“You fools! Your children will be bartered as entertainment, your women as servants, and your men as laborers! Surrender now, and you may merely be diced to pieces rather than fed alive to the slaves you have tem-“
Whatever he was about to say was drowned out by two depleted uranium sabot rounds, which broke through the shield and struck down his guards. Intentionally, he survived, and James and three other men were assigned to drag him through a portal that now opened to bring him to his new home in New Guantanamo.
”You know,” James said as he and the three other men threw him to the ground in front of the North American guards, “one of these days they should add monologuing to the list of deadly sins. He was really bloody annoying.”
​
Akwilaya City, 2077
The man ends his tale, saying, ”Y’know, I wish I could say more, but the war pretty much ended for me after that one day. Of course, the occupation went on for a few years longer, but it turns out mass insurgency is a bit hard when you only have spears, and I’m sure nobody wants the story of how I sat around handing kids chocolate bars for two years while they got a government set up. Now if you don’t mind, I’m gonna go get a bloody drink.”
”Well, thank you for coming on to the show. Next up is our station’s Latest Hits section, hosted by-“
The farmer-turned-factory-worker shuts off the radio, cutting her off. He still doesn’t quite understand what in the seven hells human ”pop music” is, but he knows he wants absolutely none of it.

We'll discuss Interpretation of Dreams the following Wednesday. There are many editions and translations, so if you want advice about which to pick, here's a reddit thread from the psychoanalysis sub. If you want to use the public domain version, here is the Gutenberg Brill translation as epub, HTML, etc. and Librivox audio of the Brill translation.
Though of course you're welcome to read the whole book, I'm going to provide an abridged reading of maybe 150 pages covering the most famous excerpts which are often referenced in our culture, along with sections that introduce the main concepts Freud uses for interpretation, these concept being "fulfillment of a wish", manifest/latent content, distortion/"the censor", condensation, displacement, regression, and the somatic/organic.
-- Suggested Abridged Reading --
Section I: I recommend skipping this. Freud starts by trying to supplant the dominant physiological model of dreams. This section introduces the idea that dreams surface things that were once known, but are unavailable to waking consciousness, such as seemingly forgotten facts and childhood memories. Freud advises against rational evaluation in favor of associative, metaphorical thinking. And he claims that every dream from a night's sleep is part of a cohesive whole.
Section II: Read the case on Irma's injection. This begins a few pages in, starting with "Preliminary statement: In the summer of 1895." This case study is well-known and is referenced throughout the book.
Section III: The Dream is a Fulfillment of a Wish. All is worth reading.
Section IV: All worth reading. Introduces distortion and the censor which obfuscates the wish that the dreamer wants to be fulfilled. This section also expands on the manifest (literal interpretation) versus the latent (hidden, multi-faceted interpretation).
Section V. I'll recommend skipping the explication from the beginning and jumping to Typical Dreams. I'll summarize the first part here. Freud describes the raw material he believes dreams are made of. One such material are events from the past few days, especially events that have been resolved and minutiae that lurks below waking memory. Another building block of dreams are memories from childhood. Dreams will also incorporate somatic sensations while sleeping, such as hunger, having to pee, temperature, and sounds. All of "Typical Dreams" is worth reading. It lays out the Oedipus Complex for the first time, along with the beginning of his castration complex idea, which he builds on later. After reading, check out his 1922 one-page analysis of Medusa's head.
Section VI. Read (A) if you're curious about Condensation (akin to overdetermination), the idea that a single part of a dream can be composed of many meanings, associations, memories, etc. And read (B) on Displacement for common substitutions in dreams. Also (G) The Affects in the Dream. Some editions have a section on common symbols. If yours does, that's worth reading.
Section VII. Read the first part on regression until finishing the "Father, can’t you see that I am burning?” story. This dream is a very good synthesis of the concepts used in this book. Zizek cites it in his recent controversial Compact article.

So it wasn’t the intrusion of the signal from external reality that awakened the unfortunate father, but the unbearably traumatic character of what he encountered in the dream. Insofar as “dreaming” means fantasizing in order to avoid confronting the Real, the father literally awakened so that he could go on dreaming.

OK. That's it. Have fun reading! Just to get you thinking, here are the kinds of questions I'll ask in 11 days. I'd love to hear your preliminary thoughts about all of this!
-- Upcoming Questions --
Do you have any dreams you think might lend themselves to this mode of interpretation?
Have you had any dreams similar to the ones recounted in this book? Do you think Freud's interpretation works in your case?
Any thoughts on applying these methods to current dramas? E.g. the latest Red Scare free ep which mentions the Callard New Yorker piece, Vanlife girl, Sad NYU study abroad girl, or A&D surfacing insecurity about being replaced on the pod. What about applying the ideas to your current reading or writing?
Freud often invoked the repressed Vienna patient who often suffered from hysteria, anxiety, and neuroticism. Do you think his approach still works for modern patients? If not, what needs changing?
This is Freud's first big, successful work. Do you see hints of his future material? Any thoughts about this work in relation to those he influenced? (Lacan, D&G, Lasch, Zizek)
Did he convince you that "fulfillment of a wish" is at the root of all dreams? If you disagree and think that dreams are random, could his method of analysis still be useful to try to discover hidden aspirations, resentments, sources of envy, anxiety?

OUR UNIT
Special Operations Command (SOCOMD) is an Australian based Arma 3 MILSIM inspired by the SOCOMD in the Australian Army. We specialise in cooperative Arma 3 gameplay utilising equipment, weapons and vehicles employed by the ADF.
We don't enforce strict MILSIM rules like addressing members by rank or saluting officers. We do however, maintain a reasonable standard of discipline, authenticity and respect while still keeping things fun and enjoyable. Out of operations, we are mostly casual with plenty of Aussie banter, but when we jump into a mission, we expect all our members to be switched on.
Many of our members, current and past, were or are actively serving military personnel in the ADF. As such we strive for an element of realism to our operations and unit, while always remembering that ARMA is a game to be played with mates.
OUR SCHEDULE
Friday Night: OFFICIAL OPERATIONS

• Unique Zeus created mission
  
• Begins at 8pm AEST / 9pm AEDT
  
• Concludes with debrief
  

Monday Night: RECRUIT INTERVIEWS

• From 7pm AEST / 8pm AEDT

Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday Night: RECRUIT TRAINING

• Combat Basic Training Part1/2: Familiarise recruits with unit weapons/vehicles/tactics
  
• Begins 7pm AEST / 8pm AEDT
  

Note: Recruit interviews and training can be held at times other than the ones stated above, these are just our trainers are regularly available.
Any Day/Night: Mini-Ops

• We encourage our members to run their own

MEET THE TEAM
Alpha Company
Our boots on the ground. Built of four, eight man sections all operating under a platoon hq. Alpha Company comprises the majority of SOCOMD. If your love is being on the ground in the thick of the enemy with a multitude of tools to deal with any situation this is the place to be. Establish yourself amongst a tight knit group that takes to the field to operate with skill and efficiency.
Support
If kicking down doors isn’t for you but you love the sound of big guns firing, Support may be the spot for you. Operating as a highly mobile DFSW team, this small group of individuals attaches to Alpha Company as small teams to provide overwhelming firepower and vehicle support. If high risk, high reward positional action and tinnitus are your thing, try out Support.
SOA
Experts in all things rotary aviation. Special Operations Aviation aims to bring close air support, transport and aerial logistics to SOCOMD through a small, highly skilled team with a passion for flying. If you’ve ever wanted to gun down an enemy compound, drop a section in a daring hot landing while under intensive fire and bail without a scratch on you, SOA may be your thing.
If coordinating aerial assets and organising troop transport and accurate fire missions, or running high risk supply missions to the front line are more interesting for you, SOA is also the place for you, either as a Combat Control Team or Logistics team member.
All of the above are currently recruiting. No skills are needed as we’re happy and able to teach everything you need to know to excel at your speciality. All we require is maturity and an eagerness to learn.
Further information can be found on our website, through our wiki, or by jumping into our discord.

Lack of defensives : Yes, we are going to have that burrow thing in 10.1, but be sure in it's current form, it's won't be enough, so I would like to see the comeback of the good old talent :

Shamanistic Rage : Reduces all damage taken by xx% for xx sec. This spell can be used while stunned

i would exchange this talent with the current Astral Shift ANY DAY and I'm sure a lot of my fellow Shaman would do too.
Selfhealing and MW problem : Out main defensive tool is the same we use to do damage which is Maelstrom Weapon and IMHO it's an extremely bad game design.
It should have been something like the Ret " Selfless Healer" Talent.

Selfless Healer : Each 5 stacks of Maelstrom Weapon consumed reduce the cast time of your next Healing Surge by x%, and increase its healing done by x%. Stacks up to 2 times.

So like this it doesn't gimp our damage while still being able to heal ourselves.
(We can't abuse it anyway cause we are very mana limited)
Another solution would be the return of Spirit Hunt to Feral Spirit :

Spirit Hunt : Spirit Wolves' attacks heal them and their master for % of damage done.

by offloading some of our direct healing to the Feral Spirit talent
The healing will of course be less powerful since we can now use Feral Spirit more often

Elemental Orbit : Increases the number of Elemental Shields you can have active on yourself by 1. You can have Earth Shield on yourself and one ally at the same time.

The Earth Shield casted on the shaman should work like Lightning Shield, lasts 1 hour and undispellable, more survivability and less button bloating (The healing in not op anyway)

Episode 58: Sakura and Double Trouble

MAL Anilist Kitsu AniDB ANN
Previous Index Next
 
Today's Illustrations: True Forms
 
Question of the Day:
Thoughts on Clow Reed, given what we heard today?
 
Comments of the Day:
LeonKevlar pointed out just how bad the Nelvana dub is:

What's interesting about this episode though is the change the Nelvana Version did to that final scene. If you've been reading up on my posts then you know that Nelvana did everything they could to remove every hint of romance in the show. So what happened with the Nelvana version? Instead of a phone call between Shaoran and Sakura, it was changed into a phone call between Shaoran and his mother. Horrendous I know. What was originally a very sweet and cute scene turned into something ominous. Ugh. >_<

ToastyMozart found something genuinely helpful that Eriol did:

MVP of the episode goes to Eriol, for doing what every viewer wants to do when the romantic leads have been beating around the bush for too long: Lock them both in a room until progress gets made.

 
On an important note, no unmarked spoilers! No jokes about events yet to come, and no references to future episodes!
Clow Card Fortune Book
Today's subject: Speed Reading
Diagram Method:

1. Shuffle and cut the Clow Cards, making sure that they are lying pattern-side up (the back). Count 13 cards from the top of the deck and place the 13th card into position 1.
   
2. Count 13 more cards from the remaining deck and place the 13th card into position 2. Count another 13 cards from the deck, and place that 13th card into position 3. Count another 13 cards from the the deck, and place that 13th card into position 4.
   
3. What each card in their respective positions means:
   
   1. The Cause
   2. The Past Situation
   3. The Current Situation
   4. The Solution

 
The Clow Cards (and home equivalents):

Card	Equivalent
The Cloud	A♠
The Create	2♠
The Dark	3♠
The Firey	4♠
The Light	5♠
The Mist	6♠
The Rain	7♠
The Snow	8♠
The Storm	9♠
The Thunder	10♠
The Watery	J♠
The Wave	Q♠
The Windy	K♠
The Big	A♥
The Dream	2♥
The Glow	3♥
The Illusion	4♥
The Little	5♥
The Maze	6♥
The Power	7♥
The Silent	8♥
The Song	9♥
The Sweet	10♥
The Time	J♥
The Twin	Q♥
The Voice	K♥
The Change	A♣
The Dash	2♣
The Erase	3♣
The Fight	4♣
The Float	5♣
The Fly	6♣
The Freeze	7♣
The Jump	8♣
The Move	9♣
The Return	10♣
The Shot	J♣
The Sleep	Q♣
The Through	K♣
The Arrow	A♦
The Bubbles	2♦
The Earthy	3♦
The Flower	4♦
The Libra	5♦
The Lock	6♦
The Loop	7♦
The Mirror	8♦
The Sand	9♦
The Shadow	10♦
The Shield	J♦
The Sword	Q♦
The Wood	K♦

I’ve still got a long way to go. However, I’ve learned quite a lot from this little win. The main things I learned are:

• I made the video after an 8-month break. The algorithm didn't seem to punish me.
• The most important things for your video are your titles and thumbnails. You could make a 10/10 video that could potentially be nominated for a Nobel prize, but no one will watch it if the titles and thumbnails aren’t good. Put effort into them, don’t just throw words together. The thumbnails with the best CTR usually focus on being artistic and attention-grabbing. If your CTR is low, your title and thumbnails probably aren’t good, so change them until you arrive at a satisfactory CTR. No one watched my most recent video (0 views after 2000 impressions) until I changed my title and thumbnail. Now it has over 21,000 views. This is the thumbnail I settled on: https://imgur.com/a/qmjRJnI. My CTR is currently 4%.
• Make videos that people want to watch, not videos you want people to watch. Always ask yourself, “Why would someone watch this?” Don’t post lazy content. If you want the highest chance of pulling viewers, make videos on trending topics, controversies, celebrities or common issues in your niche. Keep the “less interesting” topics for after you’ve pulled in people.
• In the words of Mr Beast, “if people are clicking on the video but not watching it, it’s probably not good”. Learn strategies to increase your AVD (good editing, good storytelling, interesting topics). One of the best ways to increase AVD is by using storytelling. You could practice this by learning the levels of storytelling and implementing them in your videos. When people watch your video, their brains constantly look for reasons to click off. Don’t give them a reason.
• YouTube is a business; just like with a business, if you want to grow, you need to be harsh and real with yourself. Analyse the stats on your previous videos and change things that don’t work. If you’re struggling to improve your videos, watch and study videos of better people than you. Read books if you have to.
• Even though no one is watching your current videos, if you blow up, people will watch them, so put some effort into them.

Apologies if my words come across as harsh. I just typed straight from my head :P. Of course, I still have a lot to learn, but I plan on following this strategy going forward.
Good luck to you all.

serious note I’m interested only in men that live in the USA & I will not respond to messages without a photo* Also I want to be up front and honest that I am a plus size woman even though I don’t necessarily look it in my photo but I am. Wanted to just be open on that since I know not every guy out there is into bigger women.
Hi there :) my name is Kara. Though I know my post says I’m seeking a serious relationship, I just want to disclose that that’s not what I expect to find here. It’s just my own personal journey I’m on but I very much welcome genuine friendship if that’s all we’re compatible with.
So, about me. The things that make me smile the most are animals, heavy metal music, peaceful nature landscapes, deep meaningful conversations where there’s mutual emotional and mental connection
Things that make me laugh the most are South Park, a random YouTube channel I watch that involves vulgar puppets, inappropriate words/drawings on random things that make said object appear more obscene than it is
I’m mostly a very friendly, chill person with a passion for traveling and animals along with enjoying doing my own thing. I’m not much of a follower, I prefer to walk my own path and indulge in my own hobbies and interests. I’d love to find others on here who enjoy doing that as well.I’m also a big fan of horror movies. If you’re also really into horror movies then that would be a big plus for me. I do prefer to connect with others who also enjoy horror movies. It unfortunately is disappointing to me if you’re not real into horror movies and I’ll be honest, not being into them or being open to them is a dealbreaker.
I won’t go into too many details on what I look for in a relationship but I do want to briefly state that I’m not the casual hook up type. If you’re into that then that’s cool, you do you. But that’s not for me and it never will be. I’d be most compatible with someone who also prefers something serious and long term. Someone who is honest, hard working, sincere, genuine, funny, emotionally intelligent, patient & considerate,is introspective, along with being physically affectionate , and loves animals as much as I do. I’m definitely not the religious type since I’m agnostic and I don’t ever want kids either. I don’t do drugs either so again, if you do them then that’s your choice. I won’t judge you but drug use is a deal breaker for me unless it’s occasional pot use for medicinal purposes. As a whole, I definitely seek a partner that will make me smile, make me laugh, support me, respect me and shares some of my values and beliefs. I know no one can tick off all of my boxes cause no one is a perfect fantasy. I just want you to tick off enough to where there’s enough chemistry to make a healthy long lasting relationship.
So yeah, that about wraps up my post and what I’m aiming for :) if I sound like we’d click well and hit it off then feel free to reach out. But I’d prefer you to do so if you have intentions of wanting to keep in touch. I know ghosting is normalized in society and we all have our reasons for choosing that. I’m just not here to waste time or find a casual connection. That’s just not me. I also don’t mind a long distance relationship if we happen to hit it off well enough and I’d like to find someone who is open to that is well and would want to put in actual effort with communication and eventually meeting up in person.
Here’s a photo of me :) https://imgur.com/a/RISvYfo
If you message me, please include a photo of yourself. I really do want to see the person I’m interacting with.If you don’t send a picture, then I won’t respond to you. And physical attraction is definitely a must for me when it comes to relationships. I don’t expect you to look like a celebrity or a Greek god but I definitely am most attracted to a masculine, clean shaven (beards are a turn off for me, baldness/balding is also a turn off ) looking face & a healthy body that’s just fit and can tell that a person cares about their health and how they look.First impressions matter a whole lot to me as well, I don’t particularly like when a guy comes on too strongly or comes across as too desperate. That’s all. And also I’m only interested in forming connections within the 24-36 age group. We’re probably more likely to have things in common that way. When it comes to the younger crowds in their mid 20s, I can vibe with them well but only if they’re mature for their age and can hold deep conversations on various topics and at least have some confidence in their social abilities.
also want to list a few dealbreakers cause I do know what I want and what I don’t want. Mainly my biggest deal breakers are if you want/already have kids, don’t want true commitment, have an immature/low confidence attitude, or if you don’t have enough of your life together. By that I mean if you currently have a lot of drama or just too many chaotic things going on to where you don’t have the time to devote to someone to form a true connection. Also being a big workaholic puts me off as well. I do understand how a job you’re super passionate about can be a big part of your life but I just don’t want someone who puts more effort into their career than a relationship. When it comes down to everything, I just want someone who is able to strike a good balance between work and family and friends and everything else. That’s really all I ask for.

Greetings, fellow adventurers!
Are you looking for a World of Warcraft guild that values community, fun, and inclusivity? Patterns might just be the guild for you! We are a semi-casual guild that runs from 10pm-1am EST (Sat/Sun) time and we are currently seeking new members to join us on our adventures.
What we offer:

• A welcoming and supportive community that loves to have fun while tackling content.
• Casual but organized raiding and dungeon groups for players of all skill levels.
• Regular guild events, including social gatherings, PvP battles, and achievement runs.
• A relaxed and friendly environment that encourages players to be themselves and have a good time.

What we are looking for:

• Active players who enjoy playing the game and want to be part of a fun and supportive community.
• Friendly and communicative players who enjoy working with others and building lasting relationships.
• Mature and respectful players who understand the importance of being part of a positive and welcoming community.
• Players of all skill levels are welcome! We believe in creating an inclusive environment where everyone can have fun and feel valued.

If you think you'd be a good fit for Patterns, we'd love to hear from you! Please visit our website https://patternsguild.com/ or contact us in-game on Stormrage (Halfdon, Kurlair, Thalindul, Obeck) to learn more and apply.
Thank you for considering Patterns as your new guild home. We look forward to welcoming you to our community and exploring Azeroth together!

Researchers at the University of Arizona and at the University of Georgia are currently recruiting for a study focusing on the experiences of women who have been diagnosed with infertility and gone through infertility treatments (IVF) within the last five years (from 2018 through 2023). In exchange for completing the interview, you can receive $25 in the form of a check mailed to your home.
By participating in this study, you will be asked to partake in a 60 minute interview to share your experiences with two members of the research team. We are currently scheduling interviews from March 2023 through April 2023, or until the study is filled. Your participation will assist in contributing to research that will provide important insight into women’s experiences navigating infertility treatments while also working.
To participate in the study, please visit the following link to complete a brief 10-minute enrollment/eligibility survey. If you meet our criteria and are eligible, you will then be contacted by a member of the research team to schedule your interview. Note that completing this survey does not render incentives, and does not guarantee enrollment.
To sign up, visit: https://tinyurl.com/IVFstudy
Please contact Aqsa Dutli ([[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])) with any questions or concerns about the study. And, if you know of someone who is eligible for the study and would be interested in participating, please feel free to forward the above link along!
An Institutional Review Board responsible for human subjects research at The University of Arizona reviewed this research project and found it to be acceptable, according to applicable state and federal regulations and University policies designed to protect the rights and welfare of participants in research.

The moment i saw the new maps for TWW3 in the labeled "Siege Rework", i thought there was immediately a problem, a problem that CA had advertised as a solution, BIGGER MAPS.
The problem with bigger maps isn't the size itself, but the concepts that are tied to it. People were tired of WH2/1 maps where cities were just a single wall or a couple of walls with a bunch of very simplified chokepoints. This design was definitively bad for a million of reasons, but the main one hasn't been fixed, and it's the walls being useless.
I'm not going to stop myself on this point because everyone knows walls are useless and have suggested ideas to make wall gameplay much more responsive and make much more sense, but i would like to suggest a different cause. Altough i'd love to see them dissapear, i don't think ass ladders are the problem with walls, i think the problem is the design of the maps. Walls could work exactly as they are right now, but the problem is they are always put on situations that make the defender unadvantaged. Take a look at a game that for many people did sieges right, Thrones of Brittania. In that game you can see multilayered wall cities that use the overlaying of them in interesting ways, and look for ways to give the defender options in how to defend the enemies approaching the city.
They made things like putting walls on top of hills so they are unreachable but can be used by archers, or putting 2 walls opposed to each other to form a tunnel enemies have to go through and can be rained missiles from above. Just putting 2 walls near each other gives a lot of options.
Current siege design is almost totally focused on fighting on the inside of the city, with dozens of chokepoints and ways to enter each fortified location. This makes playing sieges extremely microintensive, and makes it so there's always unused space by the defenders that has to be given for free to the enemy, because in this game you are almost never awarded for spreading thin, and if i put 2 units to defend each defensible position like CA seems to have intentend i will get obliterated, because my units keep facing a 2 vs 10 while the enemy is entering like a wrecking ball.
The size of the siege maps and the design they have clash with each other, either i camp on my last defensible position to take the enemy head on (The optimal, but braindead and unfun route) or i spread my army thin through the gigantic map, wich isn't optimal at all and requires an insane amount of micro to constantly realocate and use my army through all of this gigantic map, without it even being the most optimal option. I've played 40 units siege in Cathay maps and i steel feel like i don't have even remotely the amount of units to defend this monstruosity.
This is the reason why CA has put rechargable materials and let's you build during the battle, so you have a reason for holding the outer layers and retrating later to the inner ones, the problem is when all of these layers are designed to inconvenience the defender more than helping it, it's no wonder that's not the approach most players will use.
I believe the pinnacle of Total War Sieges isn't found on a game but on a mod, Strongholds for the Samurai for Shogun 2. Yes, this mod had many times pathfinding issues, but i would argue not that different to the current Warhammer maps, even better. Now let's take a look at some designs they've made, masterfully recreated by me on paint.
Example #1: https://imgur.com/ZMrJZpk
The red lines are to indicate the gates. In this map, you can see how the settlement is divided on 2 sections. On one side, a direct, long path to the final city square. On the other, a shorter path, but protected by different layers of walls. The attacking player has two choices. He can commit to the left side, where the enemy can defend itself much worse initially, but the long path to the gate will leave the entire army exposed to being in a thin line while being shot from the side by the archers on the blue line i've marked. Alternatively, they can choose to go for the right side, in wich the enemy will be less able to shoot effectively but the advance will be much, much slower for the attackers.
Take a look at how this design make us think much more strategically than tactically. I have to think about wich side of the fortress to attack carefully, or how to approach a double assault. Maybe my heavier troops can withstand an assault on the front, while quicker ones try to take the long path. Or maybe i use those heavier troops to try and take the archers on the first sections of the wall, reducing the firepower being shot to the other side. As a defender i think carefully about how many units to put on each side, as to not make any option too appealing, since guarding to heavily the longer "weaker" side could make the enemy go only for the direct approach that would leave the rest of your army too isolated. It's a great design that on it's basis provides variety and complexity, and doesn't put the focus on maneuvering or making as many units as possible take as many streets as possible.
Example #2 https://imgur.com/32SKQFp
For this second example i've marked the towers on green. Take a look at how, once again, the map can be divided in two main sections, the open one and the compact one. It seems tempting to leave the outer defences for the enemy since they are too open to be defended that effectively, but that's where the towers come in. If you gift all the outer settlement to the enemy, your own towers will be captured and shoot you from the outside, and you will end up trapped in your own coffin. This design, in a simple way, allows for the player to have an interesting dynamic, where again, the focus is put on where to put your units, wich to put where, and having a clear strategy and macro plan on how to approach the siege based on a number of factors, the focus is not on maneuvering, not on taking enemies from the back from behind a street, not on micro, it's all about about the strategic approach.
​
My resume of this long rant is,
-smaller maps where you are forced to use the multiple chokepoints so you can't fit all your army in just one, but big enough to incentivize different approaches while being proportional to the army sizes in the game.
- creative siege layouts where walls are used to the defender's advantage. Design with moats and terrain in front of walls to make them less easy to attack, no giant kilometrical walls where it's impossible to defend every inch. multi tier settlements are an essential part of making sieges better.
- simpler layouts, not WH2 style, but making a focus on fewer choices but that are more impactfull on the macro scale, as shown in the SOTS examples.

Hello,
I am currently studying the Eneagram for a few purposes, so I decided to take some Eneagram tests just to see what the results would be (yes I know that the accuracy of these tests can be dubious but this was more just out of interest and who knows maybe something can come from it) . The tests I took where these listed here:
https://millennial-grind.com/top-10-best-enneagram-tests/
I had a mixture of results, they all agreed that my strongest 3 Eneagrams were (they disagreed on which was the strongest), 4, 7, 8.
Now I agree that these 3 are the strongest aspects of my personality (those were the 3 I have been tossing around and I am currently wading through the Enneagram waters to ascertain which of the 3 it is and sub types etc.).
I think the tests may be able to give you a ball park idea but at best I think just for fun is the best you can you use them for.
If anyone has any tips for really narrowing down your eneagram that would be greatly appreciated. 😊
I identify with the core fear and drivers for each of those 3 personality types and it's tough for me to ascertain which is the most/least important.