Hgtv dream home 2022 winner dies
I feel helpless with the way my parents are acting
2023.06.04 22:53 smorecake I feel helpless with the way my parents are acting
I am feeling desperate, and I have no idea what to do now. Ever since I made the decision of moving out and moving to a new city, it has been hell in my house.
I grew up in a Latino Evangelical household with parents from Mexico. Both my parents grew up Catholic with parents who eventually converted to Evangelism. Because they were devout Catholics, by nature they would be devout in their new faith. I grew up with the idea that premarital sex is bad. That drinking alcohol is wrong. Praying before every meal. We went to church every Sunday for years. I’m now 24, about to turn 25, and moved back home after college. I felt like moving home after college was the right thing to do, but now I question it, despite saving a lot of money. In Mexico and latin america, it is common to live at home till you get married.
I would rarely go out on weekends, spending most of my time with my parents. I would occasionally go visit my friends from college but they all live out of town, since I have no friends that live in my hometown, or no one that I am close enough to. It was harder to because they were all in committed relationships, and were far enough to only see once a month.
5 months ago, I started dating my current boyfriend, who lives an hour away from me. I began seeing him every week, some weekends I would go visit him, while some he would come visit me. He has been very supportive and there for me despite the fact that I have strict parents. Shortly after I started dating him, I decided look for a new job because I was having major issues at the job I was at. I applied to a couple of places around the area, but the place that called me back happened to be near where he lives. I took the job because it would pay me better and I had more opportunities to collaborate with my colleagues, plus it is in a city, where I am living in a small town where dreams come to die.
As soon as I told my parents, they were not very happy with the idea. They said that all the women in their family never were desperate enough to move out or to have a boyfriend. That I was going down the same path as my friends and that they wanted me to have fun in my 20s (yet they give me curfews). That I was going to ruin my life by moving to a new city just for a guy. That I’m turning away from God more each day. Since I started seeing my boyfriend, I told them I was visiting a friend each time I was going to spend the night at his place for the same reason (strict parents create sneaky children) but they recently found out that I was spending the night with him. Because my mom is super religious, she said that I was disrespecting her and our household by having premarital sex. She also hates that we sometimes get drinks when we go on dates and that she was afraid I would become like my uncles who are alcoholics. That this guy was using me and that if he had good intentions, he would’ve met them a long time ago and would visit me every single time instead of driving to him (again, I visit him more because there are more things to do where he lives and he does visit me, we just don’t hang out at my house.)
The only reason I hadn’t introduced them has been because my boyfriend has had previous bad experiences and because I didn’t feel comfortable bringing someone home until our relationship got more serious. Now that we are heading that way, I am open about it but I rather him feel more comfortable than anything. While at his house one night, my dad called me asking me to come and to put him on the phone to ask what his intentions with me are was and that he wanted to speak to him directly. I cried because I felt so much pressure and while that happened, my boyfriend comforted me and held me while I cried. He said he wasn’t worried about it because they had never met them but his intentions were to make me happy and that my parents behavior wasn’t going to change my opinion of me.
Every day has become hell living with them. I care so much what they think of me but it is becoming harder to want to be around them. I spend more time in my room and say I’m depressed. I’m depressed and anxious because of them. Mom says she is sad with the decisions I have made and it is breaking her heart. Part of me doesn’t want to spend the night at my boyfriends anymore while I’m still living at home, but that’s giving in to my parents. She tracks my location on Find My Friends and track almost all of my moves. The only people that support my move are my boyfriend and my two best friends. I am choosing myself and all of a sudden, my parents believe I am going to ruin my life over a boy. While their intentions are valid, it’s how they are handling that makes me sad.
I’m over it and feel sick to my stomach. I am considering going through therapy once I move out after all of these events.
tl;dr My parents don’t like that I am moving out and think I am going to make a bad decision by doing so
submitted by smorecake to offmychest [link] [comments]
I grew up in a Latino Evangelical household with parents from Mexico. Both my parents grew up Catholic with parents who eventually converted to Evangelism. Because they were devout Catholics, by nature they would be devout in their new faith. I grew up with the idea that premarital sex is bad. That drinking alcohol is wrong. Praying before every meal. We went to church every Sunday for years. I’m now 24, about to turn 25, and moved back home after college. I felt like moving home after college was the right thing to do, but now I question it, despite saving a lot of money. In Mexico and latin america, it is common to live at home till you get married.
I would rarely go out on weekends, spending most of my time with my parents. I would occasionally go visit my friends from college but they all live out of town, since I have no friends that live in my hometown, or no one that I am close enough to. It was harder to because they were all in committed relationships, and were far enough to only see once a month.
5 months ago, I started dating my current boyfriend, who lives an hour away from me. I began seeing him every week, some weekends I would go visit him, while some he would come visit me. He has been very supportive and there for me despite the fact that I have strict parents. Shortly after I started dating him, I decided look for a new job because I was having major issues at the job I was at. I applied to a couple of places around the area, but the place that called me back happened to be near where he lives. I took the job because it would pay me better and I had more opportunities to collaborate with my colleagues, plus it is in a city, where I am living in a small town where dreams come to die.
As soon as I told my parents, they were not very happy with the idea. They said that all the women in their family never were desperate enough to move out or to have a boyfriend. That I was going down the same path as my friends and that they wanted me to have fun in my 20s (yet they give me curfews). That I was going to ruin my life by moving to a new city just for a guy. That I’m turning away from God more each day. Since I started seeing my boyfriend, I told them I was visiting a friend each time I was going to spend the night at his place for the same reason (strict parents create sneaky children) but they recently found out that I was spending the night with him. Because my mom is super religious, she said that I was disrespecting her and our household by having premarital sex. She also hates that we sometimes get drinks when we go on dates and that she was afraid I would become like my uncles who are alcoholics. That this guy was using me and that if he had good intentions, he would’ve met them a long time ago and would visit me every single time instead of driving to him (again, I visit him more because there are more things to do where he lives and he does visit me, we just don’t hang out at my house.)
The only reason I hadn’t introduced them has been because my boyfriend has had previous bad experiences and because I didn’t feel comfortable bringing someone home until our relationship got more serious. Now that we are heading that way, I am open about it but I rather him feel more comfortable than anything. While at his house one night, my dad called me asking me to come and to put him on the phone to ask what his intentions with me are was and that he wanted to speak to him directly. I cried because I felt so much pressure and while that happened, my boyfriend comforted me and held me while I cried. He said he wasn’t worried about it because they had never met them but his intentions were to make me happy and that my parents behavior wasn’t going to change my opinion of me.
Every day has become hell living with them. I care so much what they think of me but it is becoming harder to want to be around them. I spend more time in my room and say I’m depressed. I’m depressed and anxious because of them. Mom says she is sad with the decisions I have made and it is breaking her heart. Part of me doesn’t want to spend the night at my boyfriends anymore while I’m still living at home, but that’s giving in to my parents. She tracks my location on Find My Friends and track almost all of my moves. The only people that support my move are my boyfriend and my two best friends. I am choosing myself and all of a sudden, my parents believe I am going to ruin my life over a boy. While their intentions are valid, it’s how they are handling that makes me sad.
I’m over it and feel sick to my stomach. I am considering going through therapy once I move out after all of these events.
tl;dr My parents don’t like that I am moving out and think I am going to make a bad decision by doing so
2023.06.04 22:41 J-Bradley1 "Rube Tube" – Entertainment Weekly's review of 'THE TRUMAN SHOW'
https://picfiles.alphacoders.com/139/139714.jpg
Jim Carrey lives for TV in the dazzling fantasy 'THE TRUMAN SHOW'
(By Owen Gilberman)
Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) the hero of Peter Weir's beautifully sinister and transfixing entertainment-age daydream 'THE TRUMAN SHOW' (Paramount), lives in a storybook island community called Seahaven's that's as sunny and immaculate as a tropical postcard. Each morning, he says goodbye to his perky, beaming wife (Laura Linney) and leaves his gilded suburban home, which looks like one of those New Age gingerbread office buildings that began to go up about a decade ago. Arriving downtown, where he works as an insurance salesman, Truman swirls through lanes of traffic nearly surreal in their civility, whisks past perfectly stacked rows of interchangeable magazines, and makes small talk with the locals, who are as chipper as the droids in a candy-bar commercial.
Have we entered some creepy parallel universe? Or is Seahaven, with it's programmed-cherry settings and programmed cherry people, its meticulous, Magritte-goes-to-the-mall look of the '90s melting into the '50s and back again, the place America is fast becoming?
Actually, Seahaven is a fake – not a town at all but a gigantic domed television studio, where Truman has spent his entire 30 years as the unknowing star of an intricately rigged TV series, a voyeuristic epic beamed 24 hours a day into homes all over the world. The events of Truman's life are overseen by Christof (Ed Harris), the show's ominous creator-visionary, who sits up in his booth like a network Big Brother, molding everything before him. The streets and buildings of Seahaven are sets (the sun and moon are electronically operated light shows), and the citizens are round-the-clock actors, each equipped with a tiny camera. Even Truman's family and friends aren't what they seem. His buddy (Noah Emmerich), who regularly arrives to share a six-pack, uses macho-guy bonding to create an ersatz intimacy.
His wife is a '90s Donna Reed (Linney's overly synthetic character is actually the film's one flaw), and his memory of losing his father in a drowning accident is like a "haunting" TV-movie tragedy. Everywhere Truman looks, he's being filmed, observed, scrutinized; the whole world is watching him. Only he doesn't know it. The reason the show is a hit is that although everything surrounding Truman is an illusion, his reactions are innocently and utterly real.
The paranoid ingeniousness of 'THE TRUMAN SHOW' brings to mind David Lynch directing a smiley-faced '1984' – that or 'INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS' updated to the era of Jerry Springer and 'THE REAL WORLD'. The film takes off from a culture–ours– that erases privacy by turning reality into television and television into reality. That said, if 'THE TRUMAN SHOW' were just a 'TWILIGHT ZONE' satire of life, transporting experience in the way that Weir, working from Andrew Nicol's nimbly fanciful screenplay, allows us direct access to the eerie virtual reality of Truman's world, which is portrayed as a hyper-clear dream of our own homogenized, theme-parked lives, with everything from catchphrases to love dictated by the prerogatives of corporate central.
Jim Carrey has always been naturally stylized, a man gleefully unleashing his id and watching it bounce around the room. Here, he hasn't let go of that stylization, exactly. He's sculpted it down, reducing himself to slightly gawky mannerisms of a doofus everyman domesticated beyond his powers, literally raised to be a character on a TV show. As it dawns on Truman that there are vast forces mucking with his life, Carrey's happy smirk turns into a snarl of rage, and he inspires dynamic feels of audience revolt. What Truman is discovering and fighting, the surreal sense that everything in the world revolves around -him-, is really the core aesthetic of TV commercials ("This Bud's for you!"), now turned into a madhouse threat. A consumer-age Walter Mitty, he longs to escape, to go to Fiji and reunite with the bewitching coed (Natascha McElhone) he once, for a moment, loved.
https://lecran.club/sites/default/files/pqa9bjislrrbra0golgcieyz3y9.jpg
Unbeknownst to him, she was an actress on 'THE TRUMAN SHOW' who tried to shake free of her role (and was hauled off by network fascists). Carrey uses his timing and his ironic sincerity to fuse us to Truman's desperation, turning him into a postmodern Capra hero. We're dying for Truman to break through Seahaven's fourth wall – to become, for the first time, himself.
Weir gently tweaks the viewers who gather at a bar, or over pizza, to tune into Truman's latest exploits. Those viewers, of course, are us. Watching the movie, we're inside 'THE TRUMAN SHOW' and outside it at the same time. We feel the tug of its drama as surely as anyone on screen, yet we're never allowed to forget that for Truman, romance, friendship, even his own memories are a prefab series of events– a behavior-modifacation experiment drawn from the situational language of television. It may well have taken a clown genius like Jim Carrey to play someone who wakes up to the notion that his whole life has been a ghostly pantomime.
In its own ominously witty way, 'THE TRUMAN SHOW' is really asking, What happens to our experience when all we want to -be- is what we see? That may be the first essential question of the 21st century.
https://img2.film7.hu/original/he9ef4H9RZmxB8pdUXIX9ib8aRh.jpg
FROM: 'ENTERTAINMENT MAGAZINE' – Issue #435 (June 5, 1998)
submitted by J-Bradley1 to movies [link] [comments]
(By Owen Gilberman)
Have we entered some creepy parallel universe? Or is Seahaven, with it's programmed-cherry settings and programmed cherry people, its meticulous, Magritte-goes-to-the-mall look of the '90s melting into the '50s and back again, the place America is fast becoming?
Actually, Seahaven is a fake – not a town at all but a gigantic domed television studio, where Truman has spent his entire 30 years as the unknowing star of an intricately rigged TV series, a voyeuristic epic beamed 24 hours a day into homes all over the world. The events of Truman's life are overseen by Christof (Ed Harris), the show's ominous creator-visionary, who sits up in his booth like a network Big Brother, molding everything before him. The streets and buildings of Seahaven are sets (the sun and moon are electronically operated light shows), and the citizens are round-the-clock actors, each equipped with a tiny camera. Even Truman's family and friends aren't what they seem. His buddy (Noah Emmerich), who regularly arrives to share a six-pack, uses macho-guy bonding to create an ersatz intimacy.
The paranoid ingeniousness of 'THE TRUMAN SHOW' brings to mind David Lynch directing a smiley-faced '1984' – that or 'INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS' updated to the era of Jerry Springer and 'THE REAL WORLD'. The film takes off from a culture–ours– that erases privacy by turning reality into television and television into reality. That said, if 'THE TRUMAN SHOW' were just a 'TWILIGHT ZONE' satire of life, transporting experience in the way that Weir, working from Andrew Nicol's nimbly fanciful screenplay, allows us direct access to the eerie virtual reality of Truman's world, which is portrayed as a hyper-clear dream of our own homogenized, theme-parked lives, with everything from catchphrases to love dictated by the prerogatives of corporate central.
Jim Carrey has always been naturally stylized, a man gleefully unleashing his id and watching it bounce around the room. Here, he hasn't let go of that stylization, exactly. He's sculpted it down, reducing himself to slightly gawky mannerisms of a doofus everyman domesticated beyond his powers, literally raised to be a character on a TV show. As it dawns on Truman that there are vast forces mucking with his life, Carrey's happy smirk turns into a snarl of rage, and he inspires dynamic feels of audience revolt. What Truman is discovering and fighting, the surreal sense that everything in the world revolves around -him-, is really the core aesthetic of TV commercials ("This Bud's for you!"), now turned into a madhouse threat. A consumer-age Walter Mitty, he longs to escape, to go to Fiji and reunite with the bewitching coed (Natascha McElhone) he once, for a moment, loved.
Weir gently tweaks the viewers who gather at a bar, or over pizza, to tune into Truman's latest exploits. Those viewers, of course, are us. Watching the movie, we're inside 'THE TRUMAN SHOW' and outside it at the same time. We feel the tug of its drama as surely as anyone on screen, yet we're never allowed to forget that for Truman, romance, friendship, even his own memories are a prefab series of events– a behavior-modifacation experiment drawn from the situational language of television. It may well have taken a clown genius like Jim Carrey to play someone who wakes up to the notion that his whole life has been a ghostly pantomime.
In its own ominously witty way, 'THE TRUMAN SHOW' is really asking, What happens to our experience when all we want to -be- is what we see? That may be the first essential question of the 21st century.
2023.06.04 22:41 tacosarelove Selling my off grid property
Hi, I used to come here a lot to talk about off grid things but in December 2022, I was diagnosed with cancer again. This time, a rare blood cancer that kills my red blood cells. Without weekly blood transfusions, I will die, so I'm trying to recover some of the costs of cancer treatment by selling my land and my cabin-style shed. My boyfriend lost his job last week too, so I'm trying to sell this property off pretty fast and I'm willing to negotiate on price, but it must be cash only. Each link has different pictures. Please no mean comments. I'm already in a very bad state of mind and the smallest thing will likely send me over the edge. I don't want to sell my dream property and I don't want to have cancer but here I am.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/6911521685530591
https://lexington.craigslist.org/reo/d/irvine-50k-off-grid-cabin-irvine-ky/7628713075.html
submitted by tacosarelove to OffGrid [link] [comments]
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/6911521685530591
https://lexington.craigslist.org/reo/d/irvine-50k-off-grid-cabin-irvine-ky/7628713075.html
2023.06.04 22:39 Zlpv7672 Danganronpa: Despair Disaster Ep 4- Part 3
< Ep 4- Part 2
Based on the fourth round of the elimination contest and the results
Spoiler tag only for basic character spoilers.
[Cut to the stage with Chris and Chef sitting at a judges table]
Chris: Alright first up is the Narwhals with Ella, Dakota, and Staci.
Tsumugi: And assistance from Beth!
Chris: Yeah, yeah whatever. Begin ladies.
Sayaka: [to herself] Here goes nothing. Please don't let me die of embarrassment.
[Sayaka begins to sing one of most popular songs]
Makoto: Oh, I love this one.
Kaede: Makoto, focus on the piano keys please. We're still not ready yet.
[Sayaka starts to dance around the stage]
Chris: Yes, pretty good, though I have no idea what those words mean.
Chef: Seems to be a one woman show so far.
Miu: Don't you worry because this shows about to heat up thanks to me! [she aims her invention]
Chris: Dakota...what exactly is that going to do?
Miu: Don't blink! [She fires at Sayaka as her body erupts into light and smoke. She can still be heard singing. Her old clothes are blown away against the backdrop]
Chris: Flashy and impressive.
Chef: Um please tell me that isn't the girl's clothes over there.
Miu: Wait for it…
[The smoke clears. Sayaka can still be heard singing]
Himiko: Behold, the Ultimate Magician is here now!
Chef: Okay then where is the- Gaagh!
[Sayaka suddenly appears over Chef's shoulder singing to to both of them in a completely different outfit]
Miu: Yeah, sing it girl! [Miu aims again and fires]
Chris: Agh! Dakota, not in my eyes please! Ugh, Chef, give me something to clear my eyes.
Himiko: Here you go. [She's now in Sayaka's place next to them holding a handkerchief]
Chef: Are these the girl's other clothes now?! [Referring to the clothes blown into his face]
Miu: Look, I can't control where they go to alright. Just enjoy the show you two!
[Another burst of smoke and Sayaka's back on stage. This process repeats a few more times with Sayaka disappearing and reappearing all over the stage every time in a new outfit and Himiko in her place until Sayaka finally finishes her song]
Sayaka: *pant* *pant* So what did you think?
Miu: Yeah, pretty impressive right?
Chris: Well, while I couldn't understand any of the words being sung, I will say I did appreciate the theatrics of it all.
Chef: Though, I could've done without all the girl's clothes strewn everywhere.
Chris: We give it a 4 each so an 8/10 for the Narwhals. Not a bad start. Rhinos are up next with Sugar, Katie, and Geoff.
Gundham: Are you sure you can handle knives?
Peko: Of course, like he said they're just tiny swords right…
Hiyoko: You just better not hit me! *Deep breath* Let's do this.
[The music begins and Hiyoko begins dancing her traditional Japanese dance]
Chris: Again with the Japanese songs. You don't see us going around playing songs that scream we're Canadian.
Hiyoko: Just shut up and pay attention!
Chef: I'm a little curious what the hamster boy is doing over there.
Kazuichi: Okay Peko, you're up. Just aim for the spots Mukuro already hit in the backdrop.
Peko: Very well. [She throws the first knife. It flies past Hiyoko but not without her having to dodge a bit]
Hiyoko: I said watch it, you klutz!
Peko: I got this, okay…[throws three more all just barely hitting their mark and missing Hiyoko]
Chris: Okay extreme traditional dancing huh? Not bad…
Gundham: Go now my Dark Devas! [Maga-Z and San-D make it onto two of the knives and start posing. Cham-P slumps onto the lower knife as Jum-P springs off of him onto the higher one.]
Chef: Interesting use of the little rodents.
Kazuichi: Okay Peko, bring it home with a few more.
Peko: Wait, where do I throw them?
Kazuichi: Um…I don't know Mukuro was just going to throw them to give more platforms for Gundham's hamsters to dance around on but we didn't get that far in practice. Just anywhere I guess.
Peko: Alright….[to herself] just don't hit Hiyoko or the hamsters. Hgghh!! [She throws the next knife and it flies to much to the right, slicing the sleeve of Hiyoko's kimono]
Hiyoko: Ahh! My sleeve! [The knife sails passed and straight towards Cham-P. He tries to jump out of the way and ends up falling off the knife and sending it clattering to the ground. This sends the rest of the Devas in a panic as they leap off the backdrop and onto Hiyoko] AGGHHH! No, get off me you filthy rats!
Sonia: Hiyoko, be careful don't hurt them!
Hiyoko: No stop! Get out of there!!! [She tries to keep dancing but is convulsing around, continuing until the music finally stops] *pant* *pant* [Her kimono tattered and loose from flailing so much, the Devas climb their way out and run back to Gundham]
Gundham: Be still my Devas, everything is alright now.
Hiyoko: Uggghhhh!!! Your stupid hamsters ruined my performance!!
Chris: *ahem* Well it definitely wasn't good. What do you think, Chef?
Chef: I liked the part with the knife throwing around the little brat. But other than that it's a two for me.
Chris: A two for me as well. So that leaves the Rhinos with a final score of 4/10. Octopi you're up next.
Peko: I'm sorry, I guess I'm not the best at knife throwing.
Aoi: Don't worry, Peko, we don't blame you. When we lose we know exactly who to blame.
Byakuya: I wonder who you could be referring to.
Hiyoko: Can I vote Gundham's stupid hamsters off the island instead!?
Gundham: Over my mortal body.
[Cut to the Octopi backstage still trying to work out their instruments]
Chris: [off camera] Come on, Octopi. Hurry up, we don't have all day.
Kaede: No, we can't do this, they're not ready.
Akane: Look on the bright side we probably can't fail worse than the Rhinos.
Kaede: I know but it's still going to be pretty embarrassing. Byakuya's right it's impossible to expect anyone to match our talent this quickly.
Taka: Wait, Kaede, that's it. We just need to reverse that thinking. Instead of them matching you two, how about you two match them?
Ibuki: Um, Izzy's a little confused at what you mean about that, Topher.
Taka: Listen up you two [whispers to Kaede and Ibuki]
Kaede: Huh, oh…oh my that might actually work.
Ibuki: Absolutely, we can make this rock hard!
Makoto: Wait, you didn't tell us what you're even doing.
Taka: There's no need. You two just go up on stage and play like you normally do.
Nagito: So poorly?
Taka: The girls will handle the rest and let your luck carry us to victory. Now go, Chris is waiting!
[Cut back to Chris and Chef at the judge table]
Chris: Finally, it seems like the Octopi are ready. Looks like we have a musical performance by Sky, Cody, Harold, and Izzy. Should be interesting at least.
[Stage opens with Makoto on the piano and Nagito on the bass guitar. Both begin playing simple melodies still rather amateurly]
Chef: This is the best they can come up with when it comes to talent?
Chris: I know, I feel like I'm back at my middle school talent show.
[Suddenly Ibuki bursts onto the stage shredding her guitar to Nagito's melody but in a way where it blends in with hers.]
Chef: Huh, that doesn't sound half bad. Could do without the piano though.
[Then Kaede slides in next to Makoto and does a musical scale matching the simple keys Makoto's playing]
Chris: Woah, what the?
[The stage immediately erupts into a complete harmony of guitar and piano. It turns into a rock ballad as Ibuki's guitar takes center stage only giving a moment to breathe as Nagito plays his simple melody as a solo and Ibuki takes back over]
Akane: This is actually working!
[Next Kaede takes center stage as her fingers dance gracefully over the keys purposely missing the notes that Makoto's melody is satisfying and taking the moment final moments to play one of her favorite classical pieces]
Chef: *sniff* It's beautiful.
[The grand finale has Ibuki and Kaede do a musical showdown, each playfully hitting back at each other with their own song. At one point stopping their playing to let Nagito and Makoto play their tunes against each other before finally jumping back in and finishing the set off with a big loud cacophony of noise. Ending on a complete silence after Kaede does one final slam on the keys and Ibuki one final power chord.]
Ibuki: Oh yeah, how was that for you!
[Octopi burst into applause and cheers. The four performers take a bow.]
Chris: I've got to admit that was mighty impressive. To not only blend guitar and piano but also those two's terrible playing is, dare I say it, extremely talented. It's a five for me.
Chef: *sniff* Huh, what?! Oh yeah a five from me as well. Man, that piano song reminded me of my childhood with Mama. What was that again…Debut…no Daberry?
Kaede: That was Debussy. It's one of my favorites.
Chef: Yeah, that was it! Man, that brings back memories.
Chris: Well I have to say it looks like we have a clear winner with a perfect 10/10 the Octopi win this competition. Of course we still have the Lions left. While I doubt they can match that we'll see if they at least don't come in dead last. It can't be any worse than the Rhinos, am I right?
[Cut to Lions backstage]
Mahiru: Well, Chihiro, are you able to fix it?
Chihiro: Sorry, film cameras aren't really my specialty. I'm going to need more time and maybe some help from Miu.
Kaito: Great, then who's going to perform with Angie and Nekomaru now?
Mondo: We still have Kirumi, right? She said she’d be of assistance.
Angie: Never fear Tyler and Brick. For Atua has answered my calls for help and has determined that Mike shall be our new performer, Nyahahahah!
Hajime: What, me?!
Angie: But of course, Atua senses great power inside you, and so you'll be perfect. Plus you must have great trust in Atua. More So than Tyler.
Hajime: But I…what am I supposed to do?
Mondo: Don't look at me man, Angie's in charge here.
Angie: Just follow my lead and let the beauty of making art and Atua guide you.
Nekomaru: Also make sure to catch everything I throw at you.
Angie: Let's begin. Places everyone!
[Cut back to Chris]
Chris: Alright, last up we have the Lions with Angie, Lightning and Courtney.
Celeste: Actually a change in plans Chris, as Mike will be taking Courtney's spot.
Chef: Mike? Does that guy even have a talent?
Chris: Well, we'll see. It's showtime!
[The stage opens and Angie and Hajime are in front of a pile of mud. Hajime's staring awkwardly at the audience]
Chiaki: Go, Hajime.
[He waves at Chiaki, but is immediately cut off by Nekomaru jumping on stage]
Nekomaru: All right team, ready and….. create! [He immediately starts throwing artists' tools at the pair in a rhythm. Hajime attempts to catch each one and passes it to Angie who is busy forming the mud.]
Angie: Hi, hi, hi, keep it up Mike and Lightning. This mud dries quickly!
Hajime: Agh, I'm going as fast as I can! Woah, there.
Nekomaru: Time to speed things up then. OVERDRIVE!!!
Hajime: [to himself] Dear Atua, please no.
[The strange dance continues of tools being thrown and just as quickly discarded, as Angie works faster building up her mud creation until finally it looked to be completed]
Chris: Hold on a sec…….
Angie: Aaaaannnnd…Wah Lah! How do you like it, Chris? [Angie turns to reveal a life size sculpture of Chris smiling down at his human counterpart]
Chris: It's beautiful! That's an immediate five from me! This is going to make a fabulous camp centerpiece.
Hajime: *pant* *pant* Are-are we done?
Kaito: I think we actually won this.
Kokichi: Of course, haven't you seen any underdog story? You always come from behind and claim victory.
Angie: Hmmm….ah not quite yet. Atua has shown me one more improvement. Lightning, I need a pretty rock over there by the seashore. Hurry, before the sculpture hardens.
Nekomaru: You got it!!!
Hajime: *pant* W-wait, Angie. I think we've done enough, we really shouldn't push it.
Angie: Nonsense Mike, Atua has spoken that this masterpiece will not be complete without it.
Hajime: B-but-
Nekomaru: I GOT IT! HAJIME, HEADS UP!!! [He launches the rock straight at the stage]
Hajime: Oh no-HGGGHHH!! [He catches in straight in his gut]
Mondo: Wow, he actually caught it. Pretty good for a-
Mahiru: Hajime, look out behind you!
[Hajime stumbles backwards from the impact and bumps into the sculpture, ultimately knocking it over and smashing on the ground]
Kokichi: Ooooh, that's not how those stories go. Maybe they really are fictional lies.
Kaito: Go Kirumi. [He pushes her on stage as she calmly walks over and begins cleaning up the rumble]
Hajime: Ugghhh. I've *cough* got it.
Angie: Oh my! On second thought it probably wouldn't have helped anyway. Chris seems different now.
Chris:................
Kaito: So uh Chef. You heard Chris. He already gave us a five so how about you?
Chef: Well it is impressive but ultimately you didn't have coordination to work as a team but I'd still give a three. Mostly for the maid girl's diligence.
Mondo: So, that still gives us an eight tied with the Narwhals then?
Chris: Nope! Uh uh, I retract my rating! For building up my hopes and dreams, and firmly crushing it. You get a Zero! Lions I'll be seeing you at the campfire ceremony immediately! Actually…let me mourn my losses first.
Angie: Well, this is not how Atua saw this going at all, but a very impressive display, Mike.
Hajime: Uh, yeah sure.
[Cut to the campfire ceremony]
Chris: Lions, you know why you're here. So let's just get this over with! In fact you probably already know who the bottom three are so in order is Cameron, Tyler, Brick, Blaineley and Courtney. You're all safe. [The donuts are chucked at them]
Mondo: Woah, watch the hair, man!
Chris: Celeste, Max, and Trent are also safe with one vote each.
Ryoma: Wait, someone actually voted for me? [He looks over at Celeste]
Celeste: What? I told you I would. No need to stare at me like that.
Chris: And looky here, surprise surprise it's the final three dream smashing performing losers. The first one safe is…….Mike.
Hajime: Well, that's a relief.
Chris: And the last one to receive a jelly donut is…………..
………….. Lightning.
Nekomaru: Thank you, I promise not to let you down again, team!
Angie: Oh my…what is this?
Chris: This is you not getting a donut, Angie, which means you're out of the competition. Serves you right for getting my hopes up!
Angie: Atua definitely did not see this coming-woah!
Chef: Yeah, yeah, blame whatever God you want girly. Time to go.
Angie: Bye-yonara my friends. I hope we stay in touch. Visit my island someday!
[Confessional]
Mahiru: Look it wasn't because of Angie's reliance on Atua that we voted her off…..okay maybe it was. I mean seriously we could've won if her God didn't demand that final addition. Maybe it was for the best.
[End]
[Confessional]
Kaito: Finally! That's one incompetent leader off our team. Maybe these guys will start relying on others for a change. Like me!
[End]
Chris: Quite the shake up as we lose our first team leader. Will the Lions be able to work as a team without her. I mean who else are they going to listen to....Tyler?
Kaito: Hey, I heard that!
Chris: Find out next time on Total Drama Triple D of Danganronpa Despair Disaster.
submitted by Zlpv7672 to danganronpa [link] [comments]
Based on the fourth round of the elimination contest and the results
Spoiler tag only for basic character spoilers.
[Cut to the stage with Chris and Chef sitting at a judges table]
Chris: Alright first up is the Narwhals with Ella, Dakota, and Staci.
Tsumugi: And assistance from Beth!
Chris: Yeah, yeah whatever. Begin ladies.
Sayaka: [to herself] Here goes nothing. Please don't let me die of embarrassment.
[Sayaka begins to sing one of most popular songs]
Makoto: Oh, I love this one.
Kaede: Makoto, focus on the piano keys please. We're still not ready yet.
[Sayaka starts to dance around the stage]
Chris: Yes, pretty good, though I have no idea what those words mean.
Chef: Seems to be a one woman show so far.
Miu: Don't you worry because this shows about to heat up thanks to me! [she aims her invention]
Chris: Dakota...what exactly is that going to do?
Miu: Don't blink! [She fires at Sayaka as her body erupts into light and smoke. She can still be heard singing. Her old clothes are blown away against the backdrop]
Chris: Flashy and impressive.
Chef: Um please tell me that isn't the girl's clothes over there.
Miu: Wait for it…
[The smoke clears. Sayaka can still be heard singing]
Himiko: Behold, the Ultimate Magician is here now!
Chef: Okay then where is the- Gaagh!
[Sayaka suddenly appears over Chef's shoulder singing to to both of them in a completely different outfit]
Miu: Yeah, sing it girl! [Miu aims again and fires]
Chris: Agh! Dakota, not in my eyes please! Ugh, Chef, give me something to clear my eyes.
Himiko: Here you go. [She's now in Sayaka's place next to them holding a handkerchief]
Chef: Are these the girl's other clothes now?! [Referring to the clothes blown into his face]
Miu: Look, I can't control where they go to alright. Just enjoy the show you two!
[Another burst of smoke and Sayaka's back on stage. This process repeats a few more times with Sayaka disappearing and reappearing all over the stage every time in a new outfit and Himiko in her place until Sayaka finally finishes her song]
Sayaka: *pant* *pant* So what did you think?
Miu: Yeah, pretty impressive right?
Chris: Well, while I couldn't understand any of the words being sung, I will say I did appreciate the theatrics of it all.
Chef: Though, I could've done without all the girl's clothes strewn everywhere.
Chris: We give it a 4 each so an 8/10 for the Narwhals. Not a bad start. Rhinos are up next with Sugar, Katie, and Geoff.
Gundham: Are you sure you can handle knives?
Peko: Of course, like he said they're just tiny swords right…
Hiyoko: You just better not hit me! *Deep breath* Let's do this.
[The music begins and Hiyoko begins dancing her traditional Japanese dance]
Chris: Again with the Japanese songs. You don't see us going around playing songs that scream we're Canadian.
Hiyoko: Just shut up and pay attention!
Chef: I'm a little curious what the hamster boy is doing over there.
Kazuichi: Okay Peko, you're up. Just aim for the spots Mukuro already hit in the backdrop.
Peko: Very well. [She throws the first knife. It flies past Hiyoko but not without her having to dodge a bit]
Hiyoko: I said watch it, you klutz!
Peko: I got this, okay…[throws three more all just barely hitting their mark and missing Hiyoko]
Chris: Okay extreme traditional dancing huh? Not bad…
Gundham: Go now my Dark Devas! [Maga-Z and San-D make it onto two of the knives and start posing. Cham-P slumps onto the lower knife as Jum-P springs off of him onto the higher one.]
Chef: Interesting use of the little rodents.
Kazuichi: Okay Peko, bring it home with a few more.
Peko: Wait, where do I throw them?
Kazuichi: Um…I don't know Mukuro was just going to throw them to give more platforms for Gundham's hamsters to dance around on but we didn't get that far in practice. Just anywhere I guess.
Peko: Alright….[to herself] just don't hit Hiyoko or the hamsters. Hgghh!! [She throws the next knife and it flies to much to the right, slicing the sleeve of Hiyoko's kimono]
Hiyoko: Ahh! My sleeve! [The knife sails passed and straight towards Cham-P. He tries to jump out of the way and ends up falling off the knife and sending it clattering to the ground. This sends the rest of the Devas in a panic as they leap off the backdrop and onto Hiyoko] AGGHHH! No, get off me you filthy rats!
Sonia: Hiyoko, be careful don't hurt them!
Hiyoko: No stop! Get out of there!!! [She tries to keep dancing but is convulsing around, continuing until the music finally stops] *pant* *pant* [Her kimono tattered and loose from flailing so much, the Devas climb their way out and run back to Gundham]
Gundham: Be still my Devas, everything is alright now.
Hiyoko: Uggghhhh!!! Your stupid hamsters ruined my performance!!
Chris: *ahem* Well it definitely wasn't good. What do you think, Chef?
Chef: I liked the part with the knife throwing around the little brat. But other than that it's a two for me.
Chris: A two for me as well. So that leaves the Rhinos with a final score of 4/10. Octopi you're up next.
Peko: I'm sorry, I guess I'm not the best at knife throwing.
Aoi: Don't worry, Peko, we don't blame you. When we lose we know exactly who to blame.
Byakuya: I wonder who you could be referring to.
Hiyoko: Can I vote Gundham's stupid hamsters off the island instead!?
Gundham: Over my mortal body.
[Cut to the Octopi backstage still trying to work out their instruments]
Chris: [off camera] Come on, Octopi. Hurry up, we don't have all day.
Kaede: No, we can't do this, they're not ready.
Akane: Look on the bright side we probably can't fail worse than the Rhinos.
Kaede: I know but it's still going to be pretty embarrassing. Byakuya's right it's impossible to expect anyone to match our talent this quickly.
Taka: Wait, Kaede, that's it. We just need to reverse that thinking. Instead of them matching you two, how about you two match them?
Ibuki: Um, Izzy's a little confused at what you mean about that, Topher.
Taka: Listen up you two [whispers to Kaede and Ibuki]
Kaede: Huh, oh…oh my that might actually work.
Ibuki: Absolutely, we can make this rock hard!
Makoto: Wait, you didn't tell us what you're even doing.
Taka: There's no need. You two just go up on stage and play like you normally do.
Nagito: So poorly?
Taka: The girls will handle the rest and let your luck carry us to victory. Now go, Chris is waiting!
[Cut back to Chris and Chef at the judge table]
Chris: Finally, it seems like the Octopi are ready. Looks like we have a musical performance by Sky, Cody, Harold, and Izzy. Should be interesting at least.
[Stage opens with Makoto on the piano and Nagito on the bass guitar. Both begin playing simple melodies still rather amateurly]
Chef: This is the best they can come up with when it comes to talent?
Chris: I know, I feel like I'm back at my middle school talent show.
[Suddenly Ibuki bursts onto the stage shredding her guitar to Nagito's melody but in a way where it blends in with hers.]
Chef: Huh, that doesn't sound half bad. Could do without the piano though.
[Then Kaede slides in next to Makoto and does a musical scale matching the simple keys Makoto's playing]
Chris: Woah, what the?
[The stage immediately erupts into a complete harmony of guitar and piano. It turns into a rock ballad as Ibuki's guitar takes center stage only giving a moment to breathe as Nagito plays his simple melody as a solo and Ibuki takes back over]
Akane: This is actually working!
[Next Kaede takes center stage as her fingers dance gracefully over the keys purposely missing the notes that Makoto's melody is satisfying and taking the moment final moments to play one of her favorite classical pieces]
Chef: *sniff* It's beautiful.
[The grand finale has Ibuki and Kaede do a musical showdown, each playfully hitting back at each other with their own song. At one point stopping their playing to let Nagito and Makoto play their tunes against each other before finally jumping back in and finishing the set off with a big loud cacophony of noise. Ending on a complete silence after Kaede does one final slam on the keys and Ibuki one final power chord.]
Ibuki: Oh yeah, how was that for you!
[Octopi burst into applause and cheers. The four performers take a bow.]
Chris: I've got to admit that was mighty impressive. To not only blend guitar and piano but also those two's terrible playing is, dare I say it, extremely talented. It's a five for me.
Chef: *sniff* Huh, what?! Oh yeah a five from me as well. Man, that piano song reminded me of my childhood with Mama. What was that again…Debut…no Daberry?
Kaede: That was Debussy. It's one of my favorites.
Chef: Yeah, that was it! Man, that brings back memories.
Chris: Well I have to say it looks like we have a clear winner with a perfect 10/10 the Octopi win this competition. Of course we still have the Lions left. While I doubt they can match that we'll see if they at least don't come in dead last. It can't be any worse than the Rhinos, am I right?
[Cut to Lions backstage]
Mahiru: Well, Chihiro, are you able to fix it?
Chihiro: Sorry, film cameras aren't really my specialty. I'm going to need more time and maybe some help from Miu.
Kaito: Great, then who's going to perform with Angie and Nekomaru now?
Mondo: We still have Kirumi, right? She said she’d be of assistance.
Angie: Never fear Tyler and Brick. For Atua has answered my calls for help and has determined that Mike shall be our new performer, Nyahahahah!
Hajime: What, me?!
Angie: But of course, Atua senses great power inside you, and so you'll be perfect. Plus you must have great trust in Atua. More So than Tyler.
Hajime: But I…what am I supposed to do?
Mondo: Don't look at me man, Angie's in charge here.
Angie: Just follow my lead and let the beauty of making art and Atua guide you.
Nekomaru: Also make sure to catch everything I throw at you.
Angie: Let's begin. Places everyone!
[Cut back to Chris]
Chris: Alright, last up we have the Lions with Angie, Lightning and Courtney.
Celeste: Actually a change in plans Chris, as Mike will be taking Courtney's spot.
Chef: Mike? Does that guy even have a talent?
Chris: Well, we'll see. It's showtime!
[The stage opens and Angie and Hajime are in front of a pile of mud. Hajime's staring awkwardly at the audience]
Chiaki: Go, Hajime.
[He waves at Chiaki, but is immediately cut off by Nekomaru jumping on stage]
Nekomaru: All right team, ready and….. create! [He immediately starts throwing artists' tools at the pair in a rhythm. Hajime attempts to catch each one and passes it to Angie who is busy forming the mud.]
Angie: Hi, hi, hi, keep it up Mike and Lightning. This mud dries quickly!
Hajime: Agh, I'm going as fast as I can! Woah, there.
Nekomaru: Time to speed things up then. OVERDRIVE!!!
Hajime: [to himself] Dear Atua, please no.
[The strange dance continues of tools being thrown and just as quickly discarded, as Angie works faster building up her mud creation until finally it looked to be completed]
Chris: Hold on a sec…….
Angie: Aaaaannnnd…Wah Lah! How do you like it, Chris? [Angie turns to reveal a life size sculpture of Chris smiling down at his human counterpart]
Chris: It's beautiful! That's an immediate five from me! This is going to make a fabulous camp centerpiece.
Hajime: *pant* *pant* Are-are we done?
Kaito: I think we actually won this.
Kokichi: Of course, haven't you seen any underdog story? You always come from behind and claim victory.
Angie: Hmmm….ah not quite yet. Atua has shown me one more improvement. Lightning, I need a pretty rock over there by the seashore. Hurry, before the sculpture hardens.
Nekomaru: You got it!!!
Hajime: *pant* W-wait, Angie. I think we've done enough, we really shouldn't push it.
Angie: Nonsense Mike, Atua has spoken that this masterpiece will not be complete without it.
Hajime: B-but-
Nekomaru: I GOT IT! HAJIME, HEADS UP!!! [He launches the rock straight at the stage]
Hajime: Oh no-HGGGHHH!! [He catches in straight in his gut]
Mondo: Wow, he actually caught it. Pretty good for a-
Mahiru: Hajime, look out behind you!
[Hajime stumbles backwards from the impact and bumps into the sculpture, ultimately knocking it over and smashing on the ground]
Kokichi: Ooooh, that's not how those stories go. Maybe they really are fictional lies.
Kaito: Go Kirumi. [He pushes her on stage as she calmly walks over and begins cleaning up the rumble]
Hajime: Ugghhh. I've *cough* got it.
Angie: Oh my! On second thought it probably wouldn't have helped anyway. Chris seems different now.
Chris:................
Kaito: So uh Chef. You heard Chris. He already gave us a five so how about you?
Chef: Well it is impressive but ultimately you didn't have coordination to work as a team but I'd still give a three. Mostly for the maid girl's diligence.
Mondo: So, that still gives us an eight tied with the Narwhals then?
Chris: Nope! Uh uh, I retract my rating! For building up my hopes and dreams, and firmly crushing it. You get a Zero! Lions I'll be seeing you at the campfire ceremony immediately! Actually…let me mourn my losses first.
Angie: Well, this is not how Atua saw this going at all, but a very impressive display, Mike.
Hajime: Uh, yeah sure.
[Cut to the campfire ceremony]
Chris: Lions, you know why you're here. So let's just get this over with! In fact you probably already know who the bottom three are so in order is Cameron, Tyler, Brick, Blaineley and Courtney. You're all safe. [The donuts are chucked at them]
Mondo: Woah, watch the hair, man!
Chris: Celeste, Max, and Trent are also safe with one vote each.
Ryoma: Wait, someone actually voted for me? [He looks over at Celeste]
Celeste: What? I told you I would. No need to stare at me like that.
Chris: And looky here, surprise surprise it's the final three dream smashing performing losers. The first one safe is…….Mike.
Hajime: Well, that's a relief.
Chris: And the last one to receive a jelly donut is…………..
………….. Lightning.
Nekomaru: Thank you, I promise not to let you down again, team!
Angie: Oh my…what is this?
Chris: This is you not getting a donut, Angie, which means you're out of the competition. Serves you right for getting my hopes up!
Angie: Atua definitely did not see this coming-woah!
Chef: Yeah, yeah, blame whatever God you want girly. Time to go.
Angie: Bye-yonara my friends. I hope we stay in touch. Visit my island someday!
[Confessional]
Mahiru: Look it wasn't because of Angie's reliance on Atua that we voted her off…..okay maybe it was. I mean seriously we could've won if her God didn't demand that final addition. Maybe it was for the best.
[End]
[Confessional]
Kaito: Finally! That's one incompetent leader off our team. Maybe these guys will start relying on others for a change. Like me!
[End]
Chris: Quite the shake up as we lose our first team leader. Will the Lions be able to work as a team without her. I mean who else are they going to listen to....Tyler?
Kaito: Hey, I heard that!
Chris: Find out next time on Total Drama Triple D of Danganronpa Despair Disaster.
End of Episode
2023.06.04 22:13 sorry_thankyou_sorry Neighbor couple is harassing me, I keep only responding legally and peacefully, and it is making them even worse.
Hey reddit, let me start out with an apology for any errors I make, I'm dyslexic, this is my first time posting here, and I'm still really anxious and upset about everything going on, in particular as I have diagnosed PTSD and G.A.D. It also is probably appropriate to give a trigger warning for just about anything one could be sensitive too, from assault, to cancer, to death, because my life has had it all lately.... This is the very long winded story of how my neighbor couple, who are a toxic combination of entitled and addicted to some kind of uppers, are trying to make my life a living hell, and, how I am not retaliating and it's somehow making them even more hateful...
Relevant backstory about me/my home situation- I (36F) bought my house all by myself (yah!) in 2016 before everything got super expensive. I am a career musician, but because what I make performing in an indie band and in royalties varies WILDLY from year to year, I also am proud to be the primary child care provider for my niece, and three other long time family friend's children who are now between the ages of 5 and 7 but have come to my home for daycare and even over nights and weekends sometimes since they were infants we're all like a little extended family. I live alone other than my little pets and the children who are often here.
In June 2022 I was misdiagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer (most deadly kind of breast cancer) and spent 6 weeks helping my parents and the kids and my friends get ready to help me... then lose me basically, before it was determined it was NOT inflammatory breast cancer (yah!) I just had Regular old precancerous tissue being made to look even worse than it was because the tissue had also developed an antibodic-resistant infection allll over the tissue under my breast. Ultimately good news except the very next day one of the moms in our little childcare group died instead. Like some kind of nasty joke God was making that wasn't funny and I'm still not over. Then, my insurance company decided to fight me over surgery to have the tissue and infection removed while cycling me through endless rounds of antibiotics and more invasive (but cheaper for my insurance) treatments. I did the best I could to keep up with my home and life and still help with the kids but I was *really really* sick until February of this year (2023) when I finally got my surgery, and I'm still really struggling with the lose of my friend both for myself and her son. I also have no money or savings or anything of a safety net left anymore. I had to access it all while I was sick and paying for my surgery/medical care (so you now know I'm American I suppose).
Now, onto the neighbors...
In August 2022, this couple moved in nextdoor and have been single handedly changing the block vibe from "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood where a few of the parents smoke weed here and there" to "Nightmare on Elm Street featuring Crack" and I am not sure that I have ever seen so up close and personal the inner workings of.... sociopaths? Or whatever the correct name for people who are habitual lairs and take pleasure in causing harm to others (and maybe each other?). They are heavy drinkers, heavy cannabis users (no shade, I got my med card before surgery and with edibles I didn't even need other prescription pain meds!! but anything can be a problem for some people), and most unfortunately they do some kind of pills or something that make them very "up". While the wife is typically too "out of it" to maintain work, the husband works from home as some type of an accountant and seems to keep it together, and make just enough money, to maintain their "lifestyle" which basically means they do a lot of drugs and super weird addict things, but with an aura of entitlement. It's a toxic combination.
The couple, who I will call Sackie (44F) and Jam(41M), originally presented themselves as an older couple with Sackie in particular having many health issues.... and I will admit I first mistook her for being older and originally assumed her manner of speaking (a bit low, mumbled and slurred, without a good awareness to social cues or appropriateness, like trying to talk to me about how her brother molested her but her mom payed off the law to make it go away or how later she started a business with said mom, but her mom started having an affair with Jam's boss and that's how they met... in front of the children and/or in maybe my second conversation with her) for some kind of stroke. It was only after many awkward rambling conversations with Sackie that I realized they were actually not much older at all, and her many health issues (more on this later) were fictional or simply from withdrawals/drug use. I did learn, however, that Jam and Sackie have a long, sorted, unpleasant history, with just about everyone they'd ever met... and somehow, it was always they who were the victims.
Now, I try very hard not to victim blame and I know from personal experience that sometimes good people have strings of unfortunate events in their lives-- but Sackie's recounts of events were often hard to understand, or contradictory to previous stories she had told, sometimes even within the same conversation. So I knew almost right away she wasn't a reliable narrator, but, with our houses being located about 12 feet apart, my original misinterpretation of them as an older couple, and with Sackie intentionally lying about some things to get my sympathy.... I had no idea how bad they both really were or what I was in for...
I first spoke with Sackie more than just saying hi in passing sometime around Thanksgiving (American Thanksgiving) when she knocked on my door to ask if she and Jam could give me an extra out door Christmas ornamental they had. I thought they were just being Christmasy and kind. I didn't have the kids at my house that week and Sackie smelled the cannabis I had been enjoying on my couch (a rarity honestly) and said, "oh is that what I think it is?" Paranoid that she was offended I blurted out, "oh yes I have a cannabis prescription, this is probably TMI but if you notice me home and slagging a lot it is because I am waiting for breast surgery."
Sackie's face lite up, "Thats not TMI, I'm waiting for breast surgery too! I had uterine cancer and now I'm waiting for a double mastectomy. And don't worry I'm a medical user too" Now, I have since learned this to be a lie, but at the time it definitely made me feel sorry for her and I was just relieved I hadn't been "caught" by a neighbor who was offended by cannabis.
However, once Sackie learned I had weed.... well, she wanted to be my best friend. In fact, she almost invented a fantasy friendship with me. Asking for my number in case they needed someone to look in on their pets during the holidays to quickly turned to her calling and texting pages and pages of messages-- about how Jam abused her, and was cheating on her, how she had nobody and was so scared approaching her (fake) upcoming double mastectomy, how he'd made sure her name wasn't on the house when they bought it and he'd locked her out of all their money... and could she please have some weed because she was so sick? Oh she had a seizure because she was so sick could she please have some weed?? It went on and on, always about wanting weed, rides places, confusing pages of texts about how she was watching "dead to me" and how it was so unfair she didn't have a friend like those characters?? Could I be that friend??
It was intense. And I didn't handle it well. I did my best to just respond to her slower and slower apart and just be nice but short and say no that I didn't have or couldn't do XYZ for her.
Her begging and neediness intensified rapidly, sometimes she would come to my door and knock and ask for weed and I would feel obligated to give it to her just to get her away. She was always on something a lot more intense than weed when she'd knock. It was scary and sometimes the kids were here. She started texting me asking if I had "anything stronger" than weed and when I was understandablely like "no I don't do those things" she sent me about four pages about how she just meant "xanxa" because she used to have a standing prescription for xanxa and it helped her so much but she had "quit all her medicine except good ol weed and seeing a chiropractor" and was doing oh so much better now but just needed some but it was okay because she found another friend to give it to her.
This was the first time I expressly told her no and not to ask me about that type of thing and where she started to turn her fantasy friendship into me into a fantasy feud.
Shortly after she sent me another page long text saying, "not to be a bitch but I'm done with our one sided friendship." I responded that I understood, at this point it was Dec 22nd (2022) and I was just trying to spend time with my family. I said something like, "I understand, I have some health problems that make it hard for me to make new friends or even keep up with my current friends, but I will see you around as a neighbor." And hoped to never hear from her again.
Oh, how short that hope was. Several days later I started getting pages of frantic apologies, but also trying to make me feel guilty, and more frantic apologies, and letting me know that Jam is not cheating on her and evil and leaving her with nothing, and they're both such great people and always here if I need anything!!!
It's honestly hard to explain how unstable even her "nice" texts would sound and I'm not sure if we can post screen shots in this sub, but trust me, this woman and her husband are just constant, intense, invasive drama. While she and Jam both made me uncomfortable, almost like watching for when I would first let my dogs out in the morning or when a friend left my house and texting me about it... waiting on their front porch chain smoking for me to come outside then rushing over to talk-block me into conversations about other neighbors they hated, Jam's bosses affair with Sackie's mom, to tell me how sick they were, about how Sackie had to quit multiple jobs because her bosses would always sexually harass her... And stupid me would just try to kinda smile and nod and get out of the conversation.
I was so uncomfortable and somewhat scared of them because of the way they would talk about other people and each other and... its hard to describe but if anyone has even been close with someone using something like meth, you know how crazy their behaviors can be, even if they are being "nice." But until April 2023, they were just a bother, not a danger.
April was when Sackie's fantasy friendship with me turned into a full blown fantasy feud...
In early April, I was supposed to be recovered enough from surgery that I could work again so I to started to watch the children every week again, and apply for music gigs again... but unfortunately got a staph infection in my left breasts wound. I ended up being in a lot of pain and back on antibiotics and pretty out of it on my couch for a few days, though I managed not to be hospitalized again (yah!).
During the few days I was pretty much out of it during the infection, Jam and Sackie decided it would be a good time to get really "uppered" to rip up all the ornamental ivy in our shares breezeway (fine) but also OFF THE SIDE OF MY HOUSE AND OUT AROUND MY FRONT PORCH. They pulled down wires on the side of my house and did this during rainy season meaning they exposed my homes foundation to massive amounts of water no longer protected by plants and top soil.
I was in total shock. They hadn't asked permission, or even mentioned disliking the ivy, and they were clearly on something and STILL trying to rip up things around my front porch.
My kind, 70 year old father was over on April 14th, to help me do some weatheseason appropriate yard work I was struggling to do one my own because of the staph infection and we decided we had to try to say something to them about it, because at this point they were out front talking about what they were going to do AROUND MY FRONT PORCH. But again, wanting to keep peace my dad and I went outside and my dad just politely asked Sackie about what they were doing and, said something along the lines of, "well okay, just please don't do anything else on our side because we are going to take care of that ourselves..." and before he could even finish Sackie suddenly, in her slurred speech, yells "Do you think I'm fucking Stupid??" at my dad.
Now, at this point I can't take it anymore. My father thought he was going to have to change my diapers while I DIED this year. He does not deserve to be yelled at by some methed out neighbor. So I said, "Sackie, don't speak to my father that way, he is just looking out for me."
At which point Sackie LOSES IT and starts hollering to Jam and possibly just herself about how my dad and I are "so rude and trashy" and how they can do whatever they want because, they want things to look nice, etc etc, at which point I was just like, "come one dad let's go inside."
My dad and I worked on some chores in the back yard, then he was like, "I know we didn't do anything wrong, but let's go apologize because you don't want to have neighbor issues."
However, when we went back out front Sackie was literally pacing back and forward in the breezeway ranting to herself about how she had every right to do whatever she wanted with what I can only describe as a look of pure and total unhinged insanity. You know how when actors play their first role on screen after doing stage acting for years and so their movements come across as completely over the top? That's a lot how Sackie looked that day stalking up and down alley talking to herself, like a director had just told her, "act really nuts!" Except Sackie wasn't acting. My dad said, "okay, well, we tried, some people just want to be upset," to me, and we went back to working on my house.
Keep in mind, I was still on heavy duty antiboditics and fighting a staph infection at this time, and was trying to get the house in shape for my kiddo who's mom had passed away to be able to sleep over at my house that night to give his dad a little break. I figured Sackie would bitch about me to Jam and whoever else she could get to listen (like how she would speak about others to me) but eventually get over it and go back to trying to have her fantasy friendship with me, because after all, she was able to nag me into giving her free weed occasionally, and all my dad and I had done was ask her not to do anything else on my property, right? How mad could she be?)
Well, apparently, something I have now learned, is when someone addicted to uppers decides you are their fixation, they are as addicted to causing you hell.
The following day Sackie (and Sam according to her texts) sent me pages and pages of texts, again I'm not sure on the character limits or screen shot policy here, but basically she sent me about 10 text pages about how my dad and I were so rude and disgusting and she and Jam had the right to do anything they wanted as the breezeway is "their's " (again, that is their property on that side but only up until a foot and half or so away from my house, and definitely not around my front porch) and how she and Jam have always been so nice to me and I'm just such a terrible person, and "YOU'RE WELCOME " for how that side of my house will look?
She used a lot more curse words and details than that, many of which were not even truthful and were hard to understand, and kept bringing up a Tupperware container and a cloth canvas bag that she had left some kind of soup she made for my friend (my friend who Sackie also made extremely uncomfortable but would try to be polite to her when she was outside smoking) when my friend had to stay with me for a few weeks after she had to get a hysterectomy and needed help recovering, and saying "and just throw out that Tupperware I gave you, you have no idea the kind of niceness I've constantly given to you!" (remember friends, even this major pushover knows-- kindness done with the expectation of something in return is just manipulation) Like, somehow this unwanted soup she'd left my friend when she was recovering here in March 2023, made it okay for her to do whatever she wanted on my property?
This also feels like an appropriate time to add that it was when my friend was recovering at my house that I learned the extent of Sackie's lies about her health. Remember how I said she'd gained my sympathy by pretending she had breast cancer and was waiting on a double mastectomy? Her story was that she had found out she had uterine cancer after a miscarriage and she'd had to have a full hysterectomy and the cancer had spread and so she needed a double mastectomy now but she was having trouble with her insurance and her husband, that is why she wanted to mold me into her "Dead to Me" friend, right?
Nope. Apparently not. As, she told my friend that, "she knew exactly what she was going through because she had just terrible, terrible, periods and has endometriosis too, just like my friend, but she hasn't been able to get the hysterectomy she needed yet because she didn't have a doctor because she didn't do Western Medicine anymore, all she needed was a chiropractor and weed... oh and the hysterectomy for her terrible endometriosis just like my friend." She also said something that implied her husband was getting her a boob job, for cosmetic reasons, and there had never been cancer at all. I have no idea if the miscarriage was a lie too or not, and it isn't really relevant other than to stress, that Sackie and her husband really have a hard time with the truth.
Anyway, after her round of nasty texts after the ivy incident, I sent her back an extremely polite and short text, saying I was sorry she felt so offended by my dad and I asking her not to do anything else on my property, and I was very happy to respect their wishes for us not to communicate and I wished them well.
The next two weeks or so, until April 29th 2023, Sackie and Jam made me uncomfortable but were manageable. They did things like intentionally stacking hay against my fence, talking loudly to each other about how "trashy" I was, and at one point in time even pretending to do yard work but actually just smashing the side of my house with shovels! They even had someone else over at some point they were intentionally loud explaining too about how disgusting the ivy was and what a favor they were doing "cleaning it up".... but honestly I didn't even really care.
My paralegal friend recommended I start documenting things though, because she said some of the worst people she's seen in court are functional, entitled, drug addicts and I should not assume they would return to reason, and that it would be a good idea if I let the Neighborhood Stabilization Officer know what was going on, start documentation, and draft up a cease and desist to send if they did anything else and man, she was right, so right in fact, we didn't even have time to send the cease and desist.
On April 24th, out of nowhere, she sent me another several pages of unhinged texts, once again talking about how I should thank her for ripping up my ivy, throw away her Tupperware, how I was a terrible person and she and her husband and everyone think I'm on the Spectrum (hey man, autism is highly under diagnosed in women and that isn't the insult they think it is, but I could tell she thought she was calling me the R word), and just nasty absurd abusive things.
I sent her a text simply saying "Do not communicate with me or anyone at my house or threaten me or my pets again."
I found that dumb Tupperware and canvas bag she kept bringing up like it was gold, and put them on a porch along with another letter saying the same as in my text.
Jam responded this time, by smashing the Tupperware and leaving it back on my porch....
Now on April 29th, while I was hosting a sleep over for 3 of the children, and, as bad as this couple had been, I honestly believed they weren't bad enough to cause me trouble when the children were here with me. Looking back, I can't tell you why I gave them that kind of credit. Sackie self published a childrens book in her early 30's, and spoke of volunteering at children's libraries, at least according to her, and I suppose I thought that meant she'd have a respect for kids even if they did not have respect for me.... once again, I was wrong.
Around 5 or 6pm, the kids and I went out onto my front porch to bring our pizza inside at the same time as Sackie was getting out of getting out of her drug dealers car with him, she began screaming profanities at me, saying I was disgusting, threatening the pets, and other things I couldn't really understand fully due to her slurred speech once again but verbally assaulting me but this time, in front of the children was the last straw I had.
I quickly got the kids inside, away from her, and served them the pizza. I told them not to worry about the neighbor, that she was a kind of sick that made people yell when they shouldn't sometimes and they should just ignore her. I made sure they were content talking amongst themselves and eating pizza and strawberries- and went to call the police and finally told them about all the ongoing harassment, threats, begging, drug use, and now screaming and profanities in front of the children and asked for help.
Then I got ahold of one of the other moms who came and picked up all three of the kids, and we just pretended that we decided it was a better idea for them have a sleep over at her friend's house than mine. The kids were fine, but as soon as they left I lost it. Just big gut crying. The months of being nagged for weed, rides, and favors, getting passive aggressive texts about not being Sackie's new insta best friend, feeling like I was being watched constantly, worrying about Sackie saying inappropriate things in front of the children, dealing with Jam's creepy stares and used car sales man persona, the past weeks of their new upper fueled obsession with my property line and being the new fixation of their abuse, trying to be kind to them even as I struggled with my breast disease and Sackie trying to me as an emotional punching bag and free weed. I was finally crying so so so hard, my neighbors on my other side (a lovely couple my age) heard and rushed out and had me come wait inside and were so so so nice to me while I looked insane (did I forget to mention I'd let the kids 'do' my make up, meaning they'd painted my whole face with eye shadow including giving me a sparkly beard?) until the police arrived.
Now I live in a really nice neighborhood, but I am in one of the highest crime cities in America and our politicians and police staff are internationally questioned, so I was actually really impressed that the police came, cared, and, that somehow in my state, I *still* apparently looked less insane than Sackie and Jam.
They responded fairly quickly, and patiently looked over the wild texts from Jackie, my accounts of her and Jam passively terrorizing me, and checked out the side of my yard which they had originally ripped up the ivy and started this whole insane fantasy fight with me over.
They very much believed me and said I should have called them sooner, which surprised me. Sackie refused to come out and speak with the police but Jam came out to speak to the police via using his back door so Sackie could keep hiding.
The police came back and let me know that if Jam was the lesser of my two issues that I needed to becareful because they couldn't do anything on "hear say" but that Sackie had refused to speak with them and Jam reeked of alcohol. They said they told them to leave me alone, and that I had already agreed to do the same, and to just leave me alone, but that if they did anything I needed to call them because of how bad Jam, the lesser of the two, looked.
They left, I thanked them and my kind neighbors and felt like, it must be over right? Because if you do things like send pages of rambling violent, threatening texts, destroy property, and take so many drugs that your speech is slurred 24/7, and the cops come and tell you stop bothering your neighbor, you'd be scared right?
Again, I was mistaken to assume that Sackie and Jam's line of thinking would be at all on the side of logic, even in terms of simple self preservation. As soon as the cops left, Sackie and Jam came into my front yard and began to loudly talk about how disgusting I was to each other again. At this point I have both of their numbers blocked on my phone, but Sackie must has used one of those apps that allows you to text people who have blocked you and messaged me... "Have a great weekend"
So I go ahead and call the police who again, I am both pleased, and surprised, and a little scared by how quickly they return because my city is very high crime and for them to pay any attention to my calls means they must have clocked the neighbors as actual threat.
Sackie and Jam did go inside before the police came back though, and this time they both simply refused to open the door to the police. I imagine they had done many more drugs at this point.
The police said that they couldn't do anything since technically nothing had a record yet, but suggested that I file for a restraining order and provided all of the information I needed to do so. I was still sort of wishy washy about having a legal issue with my neighbors, but after talking it over with a few close girlfriends, one of them messaged me passionately outside of our little group chat about how much this couple, Sackie in particular, was behaving like a lot like her mother, a meth addict with a sense of entitlement who made her neighbors and everyone around hers life hell, obsessing over property lines and turned down begging, until eventually went to prison for 13 years for stabbing my friends dad. He lived thankfully.
But she was right, and my earlier mentioned paralegal friend helped me put together my paper work and evidence for a restraining order which we filed that Monday (April 30th).
They were served their papers on May 4th and thankfully, that *did* scare them into leaving me alone. Jam and Sackie would still intentionally talk badly about me to each other outside when they knew I could hear, and I imagine Sackie was trying to tell anyone who would listen what a bitch I was, but as long as myself and the children were unbothered I felt fine.
The court date came and I made the mistake again of assuming court mediation would be enough. Sackie showed up using a cain and pretending to be feeble, sickly and older, like she had done to me when we first met. Jam still looked creepy but wore a suit. My lawyer, who is also my middle school boyfriends father as an aside, was pretty confident I could get a full restraining if we went to court, but they agreed to restraining order terms as long as it stayed off their record for the purposes of background checks.
The way this works in my city is if they violate the terms it then automatically becomes a full order of protection-- but if they don't it gives them a chance to keep their records clean. It also would save me some money, because even though my lawyer was handling things at friend prices he couldn't do it for free. So I agreed to that. They were to stay away from me, my guests, not contact me on any platform, not harm me or my pets, it all seemed pretty fair and reasonable to me.
But alas, Sackie and Jam are not reasonable people. Literally the moment they got home from court Jam began working on some kind of project in his back yard, cursing about me to himself and clearly back on some kind of upper, he assembled and drilled this... strange tarp thing to my fence ???? Yes, my fence, and yes, this is illegal but I didn't have any luck getting the police to come out this time.
It has continued on this way. Them trying to do everything they can to harass me as much as possible without technically violating the order.
They're still trying to make my life hell, and, I am pretty sure my only option is to wait for them to physically harm me, on camera, for anything to happen.
So yes. That is how I kept trying to give my neighbors the benefit of the doubt, and in exchange, they're making my life hell. As I type this now Jam is out in the front yard, hovering on our property line, watering the grass, breathing heavy, grunting, and giving my ring camera dirty looks.
I don't have a good way to wrap this up, but, it felt good writing it all out to share anonymously. Thankyou reddit.
neighborsfromhell
submitted by sorry_thankyou_sorry to neighborsfromhell [link] [comments]
Relevant backstory about me/my home situation- I (36F) bought my house all by myself (yah!) in 2016 before everything got super expensive. I am a career musician, but because what I make performing in an indie band and in royalties varies WILDLY from year to year, I also am proud to be the primary child care provider for my niece, and three other long time family friend's children who are now between the ages of 5 and 7 but have come to my home for daycare and even over nights and weekends sometimes since they were infants we're all like a little extended family. I live alone other than my little pets and the children who are often here.
In June 2022 I was misdiagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer (most deadly kind of breast cancer) and spent 6 weeks helping my parents and the kids and my friends get ready to help me... then lose me basically, before it was determined it was NOT inflammatory breast cancer (yah!) I just had Regular old precancerous tissue being made to look even worse than it was because the tissue had also developed an antibodic-resistant infection allll over the tissue under my breast. Ultimately good news except the very next day one of the moms in our little childcare group died instead. Like some kind of nasty joke God was making that wasn't funny and I'm still not over. Then, my insurance company decided to fight me over surgery to have the tissue and infection removed while cycling me through endless rounds of antibiotics and more invasive (but cheaper for my insurance) treatments. I did the best I could to keep up with my home and life and still help with the kids but I was *really really* sick until February of this year (2023) when I finally got my surgery, and I'm still really struggling with the lose of my friend both for myself and her son. I also have no money or savings or anything of a safety net left anymore. I had to access it all while I was sick and paying for my surgery/medical care (so you now know I'm American I suppose).
Now, onto the neighbors...
In August 2022, this couple moved in nextdoor and have been single handedly changing the block vibe from "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood where a few of the parents smoke weed here and there" to "Nightmare on Elm Street featuring Crack" and I am not sure that I have ever seen so up close and personal the inner workings of.... sociopaths? Or whatever the correct name for people who are habitual lairs and take pleasure in causing harm to others (and maybe each other?). They are heavy drinkers, heavy cannabis users (no shade, I got my med card before surgery and with edibles I didn't even need other prescription pain meds!! but anything can be a problem for some people), and most unfortunately they do some kind of pills or something that make them very "up". While the wife is typically too "out of it" to maintain work, the husband works from home as some type of an accountant and seems to keep it together, and make just enough money, to maintain their "lifestyle" which basically means they do a lot of drugs and super weird addict things, but with an aura of entitlement. It's a toxic combination.
The couple, who I will call Sackie (44F) and Jam(41M), originally presented themselves as an older couple with Sackie in particular having many health issues.... and I will admit I first mistook her for being older and originally assumed her manner of speaking (a bit low, mumbled and slurred, without a good awareness to social cues or appropriateness, like trying to talk to me about how her brother molested her but her mom payed off the law to make it go away or how later she started a business with said mom, but her mom started having an affair with Jam's boss and that's how they met... in front of the children and/or in maybe my second conversation with her) for some kind of stroke. It was only after many awkward rambling conversations with Sackie that I realized they were actually not much older at all, and her many health issues (more on this later) were fictional or simply from withdrawals/drug use. I did learn, however, that Jam and Sackie have a long, sorted, unpleasant history, with just about everyone they'd ever met... and somehow, it was always they who were the victims.
Now, I try very hard not to victim blame and I know from personal experience that sometimes good people have strings of unfortunate events in their lives-- but Sackie's recounts of events were often hard to understand, or contradictory to previous stories she had told, sometimes even within the same conversation. So I knew almost right away she wasn't a reliable narrator, but, with our houses being located about 12 feet apart, my original misinterpretation of them as an older couple, and with Sackie intentionally lying about some things to get my sympathy.... I had no idea how bad they both really were or what I was in for...
I first spoke with Sackie more than just saying hi in passing sometime around Thanksgiving (American Thanksgiving) when she knocked on my door to ask if she and Jam could give me an extra out door Christmas ornamental they had. I thought they were just being Christmasy and kind. I didn't have the kids at my house that week and Sackie smelled the cannabis I had been enjoying on my couch (a rarity honestly) and said, "oh is that what I think it is?" Paranoid that she was offended I blurted out, "oh yes I have a cannabis prescription, this is probably TMI but if you notice me home and slagging a lot it is because I am waiting for breast surgery."
Sackie's face lite up, "Thats not TMI, I'm waiting for breast surgery too! I had uterine cancer and now I'm waiting for a double mastectomy. And don't worry I'm a medical user too" Now, I have since learned this to be a lie, but at the time it definitely made me feel sorry for her and I was just relieved I hadn't been "caught" by a neighbor who was offended by cannabis.
However, once Sackie learned I had weed.... well, she wanted to be my best friend. In fact, she almost invented a fantasy friendship with me. Asking for my number in case they needed someone to look in on their pets during the holidays to quickly turned to her calling and texting pages and pages of messages-- about how Jam abused her, and was cheating on her, how she had nobody and was so scared approaching her (fake) upcoming double mastectomy, how he'd made sure her name wasn't on the house when they bought it and he'd locked her out of all their money... and could she please have some weed because she was so sick? Oh she had a seizure because she was so sick could she please have some weed?? It went on and on, always about wanting weed, rides places, confusing pages of texts about how she was watching "dead to me" and how it was so unfair she didn't have a friend like those characters?? Could I be that friend??
It was intense. And I didn't handle it well. I did my best to just respond to her slower and slower apart and just be nice but short and say no that I didn't have or couldn't do XYZ for her.
Her begging and neediness intensified rapidly, sometimes she would come to my door and knock and ask for weed and I would feel obligated to give it to her just to get her away. She was always on something a lot more intense than weed when she'd knock. It was scary and sometimes the kids were here. She started texting me asking if I had "anything stronger" than weed and when I was understandablely like "no I don't do those things" she sent me about four pages about how she just meant "xanxa" because she used to have a standing prescription for xanxa and it helped her so much but she had "quit all her medicine except good ol weed and seeing a chiropractor" and was doing oh so much better now but just needed some but it was okay because she found another friend to give it to her.
This was the first time I expressly told her no and not to ask me about that type of thing and where she started to turn her fantasy friendship into me into a fantasy feud.
Shortly after she sent me another page long text saying, "not to be a bitch but I'm done with our one sided friendship." I responded that I understood, at this point it was Dec 22nd (2022) and I was just trying to spend time with my family. I said something like, "I understand, I have some health problems that make it hard for me to make new friends or even keep up with my current friends, but I will see you around as a neighbor." And hoped to never hear from her again.
Oh, how short that hope was. Several days later I started getting pages of frantic apologies, but also trying to make me feel guilty, and more frantic apologies, and letting me know that Jam is not cheating on her and evil and leaving her with nothing, and they're both such great people and always here if I need anything!!!
It's honestly hard to explain how unstable even her "nice" texts would sound and I'm not sure if we can post screen shots in this sub, but trust me, this woman and her husband are just constant, intense, invasive drama. While she and Jam both made me uncomfortable, almost like watching for when I would first let my dogs out in the morning or when a friend left my house and texting me about it... waiting on their front porch chain smoking for me to come outside then rushing over to talk-block me into conversations about other neighbors they hated, Jam's bosses affair with Sackie's mom, to tell me how sick they were, about how Sackie had to quit multiple jobs because her bosses would always sexually harass her... And stupid me would just try to kinda smile and nod and get out of the conversation.
I was so uncomfortable and somewhat scared of them because of the way they would talk about other people and each other and... its hard to describe but if anyone has even been close with someone using something like meth, you know how crazy their behaviors can be, even if they are being "nice." But until April 2023, they were just a bother, not a danger.
April was when Sackie's fantasy friendship with me turned into a full blown fantasy feud...
In early April, I was supposed to be recovered enough from surgery that I could work again so I to started to watch the children every week again, and apply for music gigs again... but unfortunately got a staph infection in my left breasts wound. I ended up being in a lot of pain and back on antibiotics and pretty out of it on my couch for a few days, though I managed not to be hospitalized again (yah!).
During the few days I was pretty much out of it during the infection, Jam and Sackie decided it would be a good time to get really "uppered" to rip up all the ornamental ivy in our shares breezeway (fine) but also OFF THE SIDE OF MY HOUSE AND OUT AROUND MY FRONT PORCH. They pulled down wires on the side of my house and did this during rainy season meaning they exposed my homes foundation to massive amounts of water no longer protected by plants and top soil.
I was in total shock. They hadn't asked permission, or even mentioned disliking the ivy, and they were clearly on something and STILL trying to rip up things around my front porch.
My kind, 70 year old father was over on April 14th, to help me do some weatheseason appropriate yard work I was struggling to do one my own because of the staph infection and we decided we had to try to say something to them about it, because at this point they were out front talking about what they were going to do AROUND MY FRONT PORCH. But again, wanting to keep peace my dad and I went outside and my dad just politely asked Sackie about what they were doing and, said something along the lines of, "well okay, just please don't do anything else on our side because we are going to take care of that ourselves..." and before he could even finish Sackie suddenly, in her slurred speech, yells "Do you think I'm fucking Stupid??" at my dad.
Now, at this point I can't take it anymore. My father thought he was going to have to change my diapers while I DIED this year. He does not deserve to be yelled at by some methed out neighbor. So I said, "Sackie, don't speak to my father that way, he is just looking out for me."
At which point Sackie LOSES IT and starts hollering to Jam and possibly just herself about how my dad and I are "so rude and trashy" and how they can do whatever they want because, they want things to look nice, etc etc, at which point I was just like, "come one dad let's go inside."
My dad and I worked on some chores in the back yard, then he was like, "I know we didn't do anything wrong, but let's go apologize because you don't want to have neighbor issues."
However, when we went back out front Sackie was literally pacing back and forward in the breezeway ranting to herself about how she had every right to do whatever she wanted with what I can only describe as a look of pure and total unhinged insanity. You know how when actors play their first role on screen after doing stage acting for years and so their movements come across as completely over the top? That's a lot how Sackie looked that day stalking up and down alley talking to herself, like a director had just told her, "act really nuts!" Except Sackie wasn't acting. My dad said, "okay, well, we tried, some people just want to be upset," to me, and we went back to working on my house.
Keep in mind, I was still on heavy duty antiboditics and fighting a staph infection at this time, and was trying to get the house in shape for my kiddo who's mom had passed away to be able to sleep over at my house that night to give his dad a little break. I figured Sackie would bitch about me to Jam and whoever else she could get to listen (like how she would speak about others to me) but eventually get over it and go back to trying to have her fantasy friendship with me, because after all, she was able to nag me into giving her free weed occasionally, and all my dad and I had done was ask her not to do anything else on my property, right? How mad could she be?)
Well, apparently, something I have now learned, is when someone addicted to uppers decides you are their fixation, they are as addicted to causing you hell.
The following day Sackie (and Sam according to her texts) sent me pages and pages of texts, again I'm not sure on the character limits or screen shot policy here, but basically she sent me about 10 text pages about how my dad and I were so rude and disgusting and she and Jam had the right to do anything they wanted as the breezeway is "their's " (again, that is their property on that side but only up until a foot and half or so away from my house, and definitely not around my front porch) and how she and Jam have always been so nice to me and I'm just such a terrible person, and "YOU'RE WELCOME " for how that side of my house will look?
She used a lot more curse words and details than that, many of which were not even truthful and were hard to understand, and kept bringing up a Tupperware container and a cloth canvas bag that she had left some kind of soup she made for my friend (my friend who Sackie also made extremely uncomfortable but would try to be polite to her when she was outside smoking) when my friend had to stay with me for a few weeks after she had to get a hysterectomy and needed help recovering, and saying "and just throw out that Tupperware I gave you, you have no idea the kind of niceness I've constantly given to you!" (remember friends, even this major pushover knows-- kindness done with the expectation of something in return is just manipulation) Like, somehow this unwanted soup she'd left my friend when she was recovering here in March 2023, made it okay for her to do whatever she wanted on my property?
This also feels like an appropriate time to add that it was when my friend was recovering at my house that I learned the extent of Sackie's lies about her health. Remember how I said she'd gained my sympathy by pretending she had breast cancer and was waiting on a double mastectomy? Her story was that she had found out she had uterine cancer after a miscarriage and she'd had to have a full hysterectomy and the cancer had spread and so she needed a double mastectomy now but she was having trouble with her insurance and her husband, that is why she wanted to mold me into her "Dead to Me" friend, right?
Nope. Apparently not. As, she told my friend that, "she knew exactly what she was going through because she had just terrible, terrible, periods and has endometriosis too, just like my friend, but she hasn't been able to get the hysterectomy she needed yet because she didn't have a doctor because she didn't do Western Medicine anymore, all she needed was a chiropractor and weed... oh and the hysterectomy for her terrible endometriosis just like my friend." She also said something that implied her husband was getting her a boob job, for cosmetic reasons, and there had never been cancer at all. I have no idea if the miscarriage was a lie too or not, and it isn't really relevant other than to stress, that Sackie and her husband really have a hard time with the truth.
Anyway, after her round of nasty texts after the ivy incident, I sent her back an extremely polite and short text, saying I was sorry she felt so offended by my dad and I asking her not to do anything else on my property, and I was very happy to respect their wishes for us not to communicate and I wished them well.
The next two weeks or so, until April 29th 2023, Sackie and Jam made me uncomfortable but were manageable. They did things like intentionally stacking hay against my fence, talking loudly to each other about how "trashy" I was, and at one point in time even pretending to do yard work but actually just smashing the side of my house with shovels! They even had someone else over at some point they were intentionally loud explaining too about how disgusting the ivy was and what a favor they were doing "cleaning it up".... but honestly I didn't even really care.
My paralegal friend recommended I start documenting things though, because she said some of the worst people she's seen in court are functional, entitled, drug addicts and I should not assume they would return to reason, and that it would be a good idea if I let the Neighborhood Stabilization Officer know what was going on, start documentation, and draft up a cease and desist to send if they did anything else and man, she was right, so right in fact, we didn't even have time to send the cease and desist.
On April 24th, out of nowhere, she sent me another several pages of unhinged texts, once again talking about how I should thank her for ripping up my ivy, throw away her Tupperware, how I was a terrible person and she and her husband and everyone think I'm on the Spectrum (hey man, autism is highly under diagnosed in women and that isn't the insult they think it is, but I could tell she thought she was calling me the R word), and just nasty absurd abusive things.
I sent her a text simply saying "Do not communicate with me or anyone at my house or threaten me or my pets again."
I found that dumb Tupperware and canvas bag she kept bringing up like it was gold, and put them on a porch along with another letter saying the same as in my text.
Jam responded this time, by smashing the Tupperware and leaving it back on my porch....
Now on April 29th, while I was hosting a sleep over for 3 of the children, and, as bad as this couple had been, I honestly believed they weren't bad enough to cause me trouble when the children were here with me. Looking back, I can't tell you why I gave them that kind of credit. Sackie self published a childrens book in her early 30's, and spoke of volunteering at children's libraries, at least according to her, and I suppose I thought that meant she'd have a respect for kids even if they did not have respect for me.... once again, I was wrong.
Around 5 or 6pm, the kids and I went out onto my front porch to bring our pizza inside at the same time as Sackie was getting out of getting out of her drug dealers car with him, she began screaming profanities at me, saying I was disgusting, threatening the pets, and other things I couldn't really understand fully due to her slurred speech once again but verbally assaulting me but this time, in front of the children was the last straw I had.
I quickly got the kids inside, away from her, and served them the pizza. I told them not to worry about the neighbor, that she was a kind of sick that made people yell when they shouldn't sometimes and they should just ignore her. I made sure they were content talking amongst themselves and eating pizza and strawberries- and went to call the police and finally told them about all the ongoing harassment, threats, begging, drug use, and now screaming and profanities in front of the children and asked for help.
Then I got ahold of one of the other moms who came and picked up all three of the kids, and we just pretended that we decided it was a better idea for them have a sleep over at her friend's house than mine. The kids were fine, but as soon as they left I lost it. Just big gut crying. The months of being nagged for weed, rides, and favors, getting passive aggressive texts about not being Sackie's new insta best friend, feeling like I was being watched constantly, worrying about Sackie saying inappropriate things in front of the children, dealing with Jam's creepy stares and used car sales man persona, the past weeks of their new upper fueled obsession with my property line and being the new fixation of their abuse, trying to be kind to them even as I struggled with my breast disease and Sackie trying to me as an emotional punching bag and free weed. I was finally crying so so so hard, my neighbors on my other side (a lovely couple my age) heard and rushed out and had me come wait inside and were so so so nice to me while I looked insane (did I forget to mention I'd let the kids 'do' my make up, meaning they'd painted my whole face with eye shadow including giving me a sparkly beard?) until the police arrived.
Now I live in a really nice neighborhood, but I am in one of the highest crime cities in America and our politicians and police staff are internationally questioned, so I was actually really impressed that the police came, cared, and, that somehow in my state, I *still* apparently looked less insane than Sackie and Jam.
They responded fairly quickly, and patiently looked over the wild texts from Jackie, my accounts of her and Jam passively terrorizing me, and checked out the side of my yard which they had originally ripped up the ivy and started this whole insane fantasy fight with me over.
They very much believed me and said I should have called them sooner, which surprised me. Sackie refused to come out and speak with the police but Jam came out to speak to the police via using his back door so Sackie could keep hiding.
The police came back and let me know that if Jam was the lesser of my two issues that I needed to becareful because they couldn't do anything on "hear say" but that Sackie had refused to speak with them and Jam reeked of alcohol. They said they told them to leave me alone, and that I had already agreed to do the same, and to just leave me alone, but that if they did anything I needed to call them because of how bad Jam, the lesser of the two, looked.
They left, I thanked them and my kind neighbors and felt like, it must be over right? Because if you do things like send pages of rambling violent, threatening texts, destroy property, and take so many drugs that your speech is slurred 24/7, and the cops come and tell you stop bothering your neighbor, you'd be scared right?
Again, I was mistaken to assume that Sackie and Jam's line of thinking would be at all on the side of logic, even in terms of simple self preservation. As soon as the cops left, Sackie and Jam came into my front yard and began to loudly talk about how disgusting I was to each other again. At this point I have both of their numbers blocked on my phone, but Sackie must has used one of those apps that allows you to text people who have blocked you and messaged me... "Have a great weekend"
So I go ahead and call the police who again, I am both pleased, and surprised, and a little scared by how quickly they return because my city is very high crime and for them to pay any attention to my calls means they must have clocked the neighbors as actual threat.
Sackie and Jam did go inside before the police came back though, and this time they both simply refused to open the door to the police. I imagine they had done many more drugs at this point.
The police said that they couldn't do anything since technically nothing had a record yet, but suggested that I file for a restraining order and provided all of the information I needed to do so. I was still sort of wishy washy about having a legal issue with my neighbors, but after talking it over with a few close girlfriends, one of them messaged me passionately outside of our little group chat about how much this couple, Sackie in particular, was behaving like a lot like her mother, a meth addict with a sense of entitlement who made her neighbors and everyone around hers life hell, obsessing over property lines and turned down begging, until eventually went to prison for 13 years for stabbing my friends dad. He lived thankfully.
But she was right, and my earlier mentioned paralegal friend helped me put together my paper work and evidence for a restraining order which we filed that Monday (April 30th).
They were served their papers on May 4th and thankfully, that *did* scare them into leaving me alone. Jam and Sackie would still intentionally talk badly about me to each other outside when they knew I could hear, and I imagine Sackie was trying to tell anyone who would listen what a bitch I was, but as long as myself and the children were unbothered I felt fine.
The court date came and I made the mistake again of assuming court mediation would be enough. Sackie showed up using a cain and pretending to be feeble, sickly and older, like she had done to me when we first met. Jam still looked creepy but wore a suit. My lawyer, who is also my middle school boyfriends father as an aside, was pretty confident I could get a full restraining if we went to court, but they agreed to restraining order terms as long as it stayed off their record for the purposes of background checks.
The way this works in my city is if they violate the terms it then automatically becomes a full order of protection-- but if they don't it gives them a chance to keep their records clean. It also would save me some money, because even though my lawyer was handling things at friend prices he couldn't do it for free. So I agreed to that. They were to stay away from me, my guests, not contact me on any platform, not harm me or my pets, it all seemed pretty fair and reasonable to me.
But alas, Sackie and Jam are not reasonable people. Literally the moment they got home from court Jam began working on some kind of project in his back yard, cursing about me to himself and clearly back on some kind of upper, he assembled and drilled this... strange tarp thing to my fence ???? Yes, my fence, and yes, this is illegal but I didn't have any luck getting the police to come out this time.
It has continued on this way. Them trying to do everything they can to harass me as much as possible without technically violating the order.
They're still trying to make my life hell, and, I am pretty sure my only option is to wait for them to physically harm me, on camera, for anything to happen.
So yes. That is how I kept trying to give my neighbors the benefit of the doubt, and in exchange, they're making my life hell. As I type this now Jam is out in the front yard, hovering on our property line, watering the grass, breathing heavy, grunting, and giving my ring camera dirty looks.
I don't have a good way to wrap this up, but, it felt good writing it all out to share anonymously. Thankyou reddit.
neighborsfromhell
2023.06.04 22:11 chug-a-lug-donna grammy test
Hello, and welcome to Music’s Biggest Night!
That’s right, it’s the GRAMMYs. The year is 1994 and our category is Best Alternative Music Album. We’ll be rating each of the five nominees on Indieheads, but before we get to the nominees, a quick word about rates.
Hey, quick question, what are rates?
Obviously, if you're familiar with the process, skip this. But if you're new, I'll explain so this doesn't seem like a wild block of text!
Rates are a subreddit game in which a user scores a group of songs on a scale from 1-10, with each individual also given a single 11 and a single 0 to be used exactly once per rate. They will then message their ballot to the rate host, who will tally up all the points and then reveal the final results over a weekend, eliminating songs one by one until the last track remaining wins the rate and bragging rights forever. While there's just a bit more to know, I feel this is the basics of what you'll need to understand what's going on. I do recommend this video made by our popheads brethren to get a fuller picture; while some of the info applies specifically to the way popheads do their rates, the overall format is similar.
And now, let’s meet our nominees!
Belly co-produced most of their 1993 debut Star with Tracy Chisholm. Gil Norton, who’d previously produced Throwing Muses’ self-titled debut, produced four tracks, including singles "Gepetto," "Slow Dog," and "Feed the Tree." "Feed the Tree," one of the album’s highlights, would be the band’s highest charting hit, reaching 95th on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Modern Rock Chart. Star is an effective fusion of alternative rock with jangle pop, dream pop, "haunting" folk, and even some light country influences. At the 1994 GRAMMYs, Belly were also up for Best New Artist with Blind Melon, Digable Planets, and SWV, ultimately losing to R&B singer Toni Braxton. Belly released a sophomore album King in 1995 and Donelly released several solo albums before reuniting with the King lineup to release a third album in 2018. While Star may not have achieved the canonical stature of some of 1994’s other nominees, it is nevertheless a very enjoyable release from a strong songwriter who’d finally gotten the chance to make an album-length statement of her own.
Are Indieheads gonna feed the tree? Will this be an album to die for?
Tracklist:
Kurt Cobain (vocals and guitar) and Krist Novoselic (bass) met while attending Aberdeen High School in the late 1980s. They shuffled through various names, ultimately deciding on Nirvana because Cobain wanted a name that sounded beautiful and nice instead of mean and raunchy. In their early years, they worked with several different drummers, recording 1989’s Sub Pop debut Bleach with Chad Channing on drums. Channing left the band as they worked on their follow-up to Bleach. Kurt and Krist met drummer Dave Grohl days after he’d moved to Seattle following the break up of his Washington DC band Scream. The addition of Dave solidified Nirvana’s classic lineup. The trio began seeking a major label to buy them out of their Sub Pop contract as they were dissatisfied with the label’s lack of promotion and distribution of their debut. They eventually signed with DGC Records per the recommendation of Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon. Upon signing, they began work on their major label debut, Nevermind, with producer Butch Vig. 1991’s Nevermind was an unexpected success, bringing grunge and alternative rock to the mainstream and even surpassing Michael Jackson on the Billboard albums chart.
In the aftermath of Nevermind’s success, Cobain felt he needed to reclaim his punk ethic. Wanting to depart from Butch Vig’s slick production on Nevermind (don’t worry, we’ll still be hearing from Vig a little later), he sought to work with Steve Albini. Albini was pretty famous in the underground for his work as frontman for Big Black and various production work, including PJ Harvey’s Dry, which he sent a copy of to give Cobain an idea of the acoustics in his studio. Albini dismissed Nirvana as "R.E.M. with a fuzzbox" (more on R.E.M. soon!) but decided to work with them because he felt bad for them, recognizing them as "the same sort of people as all the small-fry bands I deal with." The band pushed for minimal label oversight and recorded In Utero fairly quickly, wrapping recording sessions in as little as 13 days. The album was noisier and more abrasive than Nevermind, resulting in much dispute between the band, Albini, and the label. Cobain sought to make the kind of record he’d enjoy owning as a fan and began having second thoughts about the sound when listening to it at home. The press picked up on conflict about the album’s sound. The band denied this and even DGC president David Geffen called Newsweek to explain they would release whatever Nirvana recorded. Behind the scenes, the band tried to fix the album’s sound in the mastering process, which Albini was strongly against, though he’d later supply an alternate mix for the album’s 20th anniversary re-release. R.E.M producer Scott Litt was brought on to remix “Heart Shaped Box” and “All Apologies” which were intended to be the album’s singles.
In Utero was released in September of 1993 following a low-key release strategy which released “Heart Shaped Box” as a promo-only single to various rock station formats but not Top 40. Walmart and K-Mart initially refused to stock the album due to its back cover and the title of the song “Rape Me.” (A content note on that song, while it is interpreted as commentary on the invasive music press, it was intended to be a lyrically literal anti-rape song from the perspective of a victim. As this is a rate, you can score this song however you see fit, but I hope it goes without saying that everyone should please be respectful of this subject matter in their comments.) Despite In Utero’s abrasive sound and reduced mainstream promotion, the album still debuted at number one on the Billboard album charts and was well-received by critics. The music often hits harder and faster than Nevermind, containing more of the “punk” feel that Cobain was aiming for compared to the grunge of Nevermind and the band’s Seattle contemporaries. Check out this MTV clip if you’d like to see how college students in 1993 received this one. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiwhwy7S4qA) The band toured America shortly after In Utero came out and embarked on a European tour that was cut short as Cobain suffered from a drug overdose. A couple weeks later, Cobain died by suicide. As with the subject matter of “Rape Me,” I want to request that everyone is respectful of this in their comments, I will ask for edits (or omit comments myself) if they are inappropriate. Despite the tragic ending, Nirvana is still seen as one of American and alternative rock’s most important bands and In Utero remains highly regarded to this day.
Will our comments be all apologies? Are the results of this rate gonna be, uhhh, dumb?
Tracklist Serve the Servants Scentless Apprentice Heart-Shaped Box Rape Me Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle Dumb Very Ape Milk It Pennyroyal Tea Radio Friendly Unit Shifter Tourette’s All Apologies
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People If there’s a band who can rival Nirvana’s stature in the American rock canon, it’s gotta be R.E.M. They are often cited as one of the first “alternative” rock bands and were important for the college radio format. Formed in Athens, Georgia in 1980, Michael Stipe (vocals), Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass), and Bill Berry (drums) released 5 albums with independent label I.R.S. Records, evolving from a jangle rock sound on their early albums to a louder, more anthemic sound on their final record for the label, Document. After “The One I Love” became their first mainstream hit, the band signed to Warner Brothers, kicking off a second act that resulted in yet another 5 album run of great music.
At the start of the 90s, R.E.M. opted out of touring and became a studio band. The band recorded demos for the songs “Drive,” “Try Not to Breathe,” and “Nightswimming” at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios while mixing their 1991 album, Out of Time. Out of Time was a huge success, arriving as alternative rock was becoming mainstream. It spawned the massive single “Losing My Religion” and even ended up winning the GRAMMY award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1992. After concluding some promotional duties in early 1991, the band returned to the studio to continue work on what would eventually become Automatic for the People. This would be the fourth of six records the band would produce with Litt. The band traded off instruments in the studio, with Buck playing the mandolin famously featured on “Losing My Religion,” Mills playing piano or organ, and Berry playing bass. Their initial attempts to make a harder rocking follow-up did not pan out, as the band found they were writing better without drums. The material began to take on a more melancholic tone. The lush orchestration of Out of Time is rendered in a somber greyscale, with arrangements contributed by Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones. Lyrically, the album muses on loss and mourning, prompting rumors that recently balding Michael Stipe was dying of cancer or AIDs. Luckily, he was not but that is the lens through which some critics and listeners received this work. The album also finds room for political commentary, most noticeably in “Ignoreland” which pushes against Republican politics of the time, but also in opener “Drive” which calls back to the group’s work with the Rock to Vote movement, for which they added a petition on the longbox packaging of Out of Time.
Automatic for the People released on October 5, 1992 (gotta love the GRAMMYs odd eligibility window) debuting at number 2 on the Billboard 200. Unlike its predecessor, it never quite reached the top spot, thanks to Garth Brooks. Six of the album’s 12 tracks were released as singles including “Drive,” “Everybody Hurts” which has unfortunately been watered down through years of ironic use in comedies, the cryptic, Andy Kaufman referencing “Man on the Moon,” and “Nightswimming,” an emotional piano ballad that has become a fan favorite. The album was critically acclaimed upon release and, while perhaps not as fun as something like Murmur, this nocturnal bummer is regarded by many as one of the band’s masterpieces.
Will everybody hurt? Are R.E.M. going to get a raw deal?
Tracklist: Drive Try Not to Breathe The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite Everybody Hurts New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 Sweetness Follows Monty Got a Raw Deal Ignoreland Star Me Kitten Man on the Moon Nightswimming Find the River
The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream The Smashing Pumpkins formed in 1988 when Billy Corgan (vocals and guitar, he prefers William Patrick Corgan now though) met James Iha (guitar) while working at a record store in Chicago, Illinois. They performed as a duo with a drum machine, eventually adding bassist D’arcy Wretzky after meeting her at a show by the Dan Reed Network. Jazz drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was recommended by a friend of Corgan’s after the trio were booked to perform at Cabaret Metro under the condition that they’d play with a live drummer instead of their drum machine. With Chamberlain on board, the band’s classic lineup had been formed and their sound began to shift in a harder rock direction.
Siamese Dream, the group’s 1993 sophomore album, expands on their 1991 debut Gish in every possible way. The band switched from Virgin subsidiary Caroline Records to Virgin itself. Butch Vig, who produced Nirvana’s massive Nevermind right after finishing work on Gish, returned to produce the follow-up. Where Gish’s $20,000 budget and month of recording time was “unprecedented” for Vig, Corgan and Vig spent four months on Siamese Dream and went $250,000 over budget. This is what happens when you let Billy overdub everyone else’s guitar and bass parts (something the rest of the band wasn’t particularly happy about) to get as many as 100 guitar parts compressed into one song.
The meticulous studio process paid off, as Siamese Dream was a bigger hit than Gish (peaking at 10 on the Billboard 200.) The band’s influences from metal, dreampop, and shoegaze give the album a layered and unique sound compared to the grungier alternative music of the time. Singles “Cherub Rock” and “Today” have been featured in the Guitar Hero and Rock Band videogame series. While never released as a single, “Mayonaise” has become a fan favorite and won a Rolling Stone poll for best Pumpkins song, beating out singles from Siamese Dream and the band’s follow-up double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Judging from some early discussion since this rate was announced, some of you seem pretty excited to rate “Mayonnaise.” While Mellon Collie took the band to the height of their popularity, Siamese Dream is often regarded as their masterpiece and one of the best rock albums of the 90s.
Will we be sweet sweet to the Pumpkins? The rater in me is the rater in you, I’ll send this ballot over to you
Tracklist: Cherub Rock Quiet Today Hummer Rocket Disarm Soma Geek U.S.A. Mayonaise Spaceboy Silverfuck Sweet Sweet Luna
U2 - Zooropa Formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1976, U2 (Bono on vocals, The Edge on guitar, Adam Clayton on bass, and Larry Mullen Jr. on drums) have become the top-selling Irish musical act of all-time, with an estimated 170+ million records sold. Across the 80s, U2 evolved their early post-punk sound to the anthemic rock of The Joshua Tree. While touring America for that album, the band recorded Rattle and Hum, a hybrid live/studio record (and accompanying concert film) which documented the tour and the group’s fascination with American roots music. Despite the album’s commercial success, most consider it a misguided failure. Even Bono admitted at their final show for the album’s Lovetown Tour that “we have to go away and dream it all up again.”
1993’s Zooropa catches U2 at their most adventurous. 1991’s Acthung Baby and its subsequent Zoo TV tour rebranded the band for the new decade. While they continued working with Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, they updated their sound with influences from electronic, dance, and industrial music. On stage, they dabbled in irony to counter the sincerity of their 80s output with Bono playing characters such as The Fly and Macphisto. Emboldened by the critical and commercial success of this album and tour, they began working on a promotional EP during a break between Zoo TV tour legs. Despite working quickly in the studio, this EP expanded into a full-length album, requiring the band to travel between concerts and the studio in Dublin to finish working on the album during the first month of the “Zooropa” leg.
Zooropa finally arrived in July of 1993 and it shows the band doubling down on their early 90s ideas. The sound of the album, built from loops of soundcheck jamming and leftover sketches from Achtung Baby, ventures even further from traditional rock instrumentation and songwriting, bolstered by production from Brian Eno, Flood (moving from an engineering to production role), and The Edge, credited as a producer for his first time. The fragmented nature of the album’s production is reflected in the eclectic tracklist which bounces between the multi-movement art-rock of the title track, dancefloor fillers like “Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car,” and ballads like “For the First Time” and “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)” Unique vocal choices like The Edge’s spoken-word rapping on lead-single “Numb,” Bono’s falsetto on “Lemon,” and a Johnny Cash feature on closer “The Wanderer” help the album feel more varied than U2’s previous material. The album’s lyrics often examine Zoo TV’s concepts of “sensory overload” and technology more explicitly than Achtung Baby.
While U2 are reluctant to acknowledge Zooropa now (likely influenced by the failure of 1997’s Pop, a rushed, mixed bag of an album that stretched audience’s tolerance for 90s U2’s tendency toward electronic music and irony to a Rattle and Hum-like breaking point) the album was successful when it came out. Zooropa debuted at number one in several countries and finished ninth on 1993’s Pazz and Jop poll. It would also go on to win this GRAMMY award for Best Alternative Music album, with Bono shrugging on stage, shouting out Smashing Pumpkins, and promising to “the young people of America” that they will “continue to abuse our position and fuck up the mainstream” in his acceptance speech. (https://youtu.be/-DNXfFy8Ido?t=69)
Will U2 stay the champions in our rate or will they be faraway so close to the top?
Tracklist: Zooropa Babyface Numb Lemon Stay (Faraway, So Close!) Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car Some Days Are Better Than Others The First Time Dirty Day The Wanderer
Bonus Rate Since this rate is 5 albums instead of the usual 4, a bonus rate has been omitted.
submitted by chug-a-lug-donna to u/chug-a-lug-donna [link] [comments]
That’s right, it’s the GRAMMYs. The year is 1994 and our category is Best Alternative Music Album. We’ll be rating each of the five nominees on Indieheads, but before we get to the nominees, a quick word about rates.
Obviously, if you're familiar with the process, skip this. But if you're new, I'll explain so this doesn't seem like a wild block of text!
Rates are a subreddit game in which a user scores a group of songs on a scale from 1-10, with each individual also given a single 11 and a single 0 to be used exactly once per rate. They will then message their ballot to the rate host, who will tally up all the points and then reveal the final results over a weekend, eliminating songs one by one until the last track remaining wins the rate and bragging rights forever. While there's just a bit more to know, I feel this is the basics of what you'll need to understand what's going on. I do recommend this video made by our popheads brethren to get a fuller picture; while some of the info applies specifically to the way popheads do their rates, the overall format is similar.
Introduction
The GRAMMYs are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in the music industry. The name derives from the trophy, which is shaped like an old-fashioned gramophone. The awards celebrate a variety of categories, but we’re going to be looking at Best Alternative Music Album or, as it was called at the time, Best Alternative Music Performance. The question of what “alternative” really means can be debated forever, but the original intent of this award was to celebrate non-mainstream rock albums which were heavily played on college radio. The category first appeared in 1991, so in 1994 the award is still pretty new.And now, let’s meet our nominees!
Belly - Star
Belly are the act here that seem discussed least frequently on Indieheads, so I’m excited to see what everyone thinks of them. By the time of starting Belly, Tanya Donelly (lead vocals and rhythm guitar) had already been in two other classic indie rock bands. She was a co-founder of Throwing Muses with her step-sister Kristin Hersch, contributing vocals and guitar for the band’s first decade, though she’d only get a handful of songs per album. Donelly would later start The Breeders with Pixies bassist and vocalist Kim Deal. The Breeders’ debut, Pod, featured Deal as the primary songwriter because existing record contracts prohibited the two from sharing primary writing credits. While they originally intended to alternate albums, Tanya had begun to form Belly by the time it was her turn to do a Breeders album. She recruited Fred Abong (bass) and brothers Tom (guitar) and Chris (drums) Gorman as they’d all known each other while going to high school in Rhode Island.Belly co-produced most of their 1993 debut Star with Tracy Chisholm. Gil Norton, who’d previously produced Throwing Muses’ self-titled debut, produced four tracks, including singles "Gepetto," "Slow Dog," and "Feed the Tree." "Feed the Tree," one of the album’s highlights, would be the band’s highest charting hit, reaching 95th on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Modern Rock Chart. Star is an effective fusion of alternative rock with jangle pop, dream pop, "haunting" folk, and even some light country influences. At the 1994 GRAMMYs, Belly were also up for Best New Artist with Blind Melon, Digable Planets, and SWV, ultimately losing to R&B singer Toni Braxton. Belly released a sophomore album King in 1995 and Donelly released several solo albums before reuniting with the King lineup to release a third album in 2018. While Star may not have achieved the canonical stature of some of 1994’s other nominees, it is nevertheless a very enjoyable release from a strong songwriter who’d finally gotten the chance to make an album-length statement of her own.
Are Indieheads gonna feed the tree? Will this be an album to die for?
Tracklist:
- Someone to Die For
- Angel
- Dusted
- Every Word
- Gepetto
- Witch
- Slow Dog
- Low Red Moon
- Feed The Tree
- Full Moon, Empty Heart
- White Belly
- Untogether
- Star
- Sad Dress
- Stay
Kurt Cobain (vocals and guitar) and Krist Novoselic (bass) met while attending Aberdeen High School in the late 1980s. They shuffled through various names, ultimately deciding on Nirvana because Cobain wanted a name that sounded beautiful and nice instead of mean and raunchy. In their early years, they worked with several different drummers, recording 1989’s Sub Pop debut Bleach with Chad Channing on drums. Channing left the band as they worked on their follow-up to Bleach. Kurt and Krist met drummer Dave Grohl days after he’d moved to Seattle following the break up of his Washington DC band Scream. The addition of Dave solidified Nirvana’s classic lineup. The trio began seeking a major label to buy them out of their Sub Pop contract as they were dissatisfied with the label’s lack of promotion and distribution of their debut. They eventually signed with DGC Records per the recommendation of Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon. Upon signing, they began work on their major label debut, Nevermind, with producer Butch Vig. 1991’s Nevermind was an unexpected success, bringing grunge and alternative rock to the mainstream and even surpassing Michael Jackson on the Billboard albums chart.
In the aftermath of Nevermind’s success, Cobain felt he needed to reclaim his punk ethic. Wanting to depart from Butch Vig’s slick production on Nevermind (don’t worry, we’ll still be hearing from Vig a little later), he sought to work with Steve Albini. Albini was pretty famous in the underground for his work as frontman for Big Black and various production work, including PJ Harvey’s Dry, which he sent a copy of to give Cobain an idea of the acoustics in his studio. Albini dismissed Nirvana as "R.E.M. with a fuzzbox" (more on R.E.M. soon!) but decided to work with them because he felt bad for them, recognizing them as "the same sort of people as all the small-fry bands I deal with." The band pushed for minimal label oversight and recorded In Utero fairly quickly, wrapping recording sessions in as little as 13 days. The album was noisier and more abrasive than Nevermind, resulting in much dispute between the band, Albini, and the label. Cobain sought to make the kind of record he’d enjoy owning as a fan and began having second thoughts about the sound when listening to it at home. The press picked up on conflict about the album’s sound. The band denied this and even DGC president David Geffen called Newsweek to explain they would release whatever Nirvana recorded. Behind the scenes, the band tried to fix the album’s sound in the mastering process, which Albini was strongly against, though he’d later supply an alternate mix for the album’s 20th anniversary re-release. R.E.M producer Scott Litt was brought on to remix “Heart Shaped Box” and “All Apologies” which were intended to be the album’s singles.
In Utero was released in September of 1993 following a low-key release strategy which released “Heart Shaped Box” as a promo-only single to various rock station formats but not Top 40. Walmart and K-Mart initially refused to stock the album due to its back cover and the title of the song “Rape Me.” (A content note on that song, while it is interpreted as commentary on the invasive music press, it was intended to be a lyrically literal anti-rape song from the perspective of a victim. As this is a rate, you can score this song however you see fit, but I hope it goes without saying that everyone should please be respectful of this subject matter in their comments.) Despite In Utero’s abrasive sound and reduced mainstream promotion, the album still debuted at number one on the Billboard album charts and was well-received by critics. The music often hits harder and faster than Nevermind, containing more of the “punk” feel that Cobain was aiming for compared to the grunge of Nevermind and the band’s Seattle contemporaries. Check out this MTV clip if you’d like to see how college students in 1993 received this one. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiwhwy7S4qA) The band toured America shortly after In Utero came out and embarked on a European tour that was cut short as Cobain suffered from a drug overdose. A couple weeks later, Cobain died by suicide. As with the subject matter of “Rape Me,” I want to request that everyone is respectful of this in their comments, I will ask for edits (or omit comments myself) if they are inappropriate. Despite the tragic ending, Nirvana is still seen as one of American and alternative rock’s most important bands and In Utero remains highly regarded to this day.
Will our comments be all apologies? Are the results of this rate gonna be, uhhh, dumb?
Tracklist Serve the Servants Scentless Apprentice Heart-Shaped Box Rape Me Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle Dumb Very Ape Milk It Pennyroyal Tea Radio Friendly Unit Shifter Tourette’s All Apologies
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People If there’s a band who can rival Nirvana’s stature in the American rock canon, it’s gotta be R.E.M. They are often cited as one of the first “alternative” rock bands and were important for the college radio format. Formed in Athens, Georgia in 1980, Michael Stipe (vocals), Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass), and Bill Berry (drums) released 5 albums with independent label I.R.S. Records, evolving from a jangle rock sound on their early albums to a louder, more anthemic sound on their final record for the label, Document. After “The One I Love” became their first mainstream hit, the band signed to Warner Brothers, kicking off a second act that resulted in yet another 5 album run of great music.
At the start of the 90s, R.E.M. opted out of touring and became a studio band. The band recorded demos for the songs “Drive,” “Try Not to Breathe,” and “Nightswimming” at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios while mixing their 1991 album, Out of Time. Out of Time was a huge success, arriving as alternative rock was becoming mainstream. It spawned the massive single “Losing My Religion” and even ended up winning the GRAMMY award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1992. After concluding some promotional duties in early 1991, the band returned to the studio to continue work on what would eventually become Automatic for the People. This would be the fourth of six records the band would produce with Litt. The band traded off instruments in the studio, with Buck playing the mandolin famously featured on “Losing My Religion,” Mills playing piano or organ, and Berry playing bass. Their initial attempts to make a harder rocking follow-up did not pan out, as the band found they were writing better without drums. The material began to take on a more melancholic tone. The lush orchestration of Out of Time is rendered in a somber greyscale, with arrangements contributed by Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones. Lyrically, the album muses on loss and mourning, prompting rumors that recently balding Michael Stipe was dying of cancer or AIDs. Luckily, he was not but that is the lens through which some critics and listeners received this work. The album also finds room for political commentary, most noticeably in “Ignoreland” which pushes against Republican politics of the time, but also in opener “Drive” which calls back to the group’s work with the Rock to Vote movement, for which they added a petition on the longbox packaging of Out of Time.
Automatic for the People released on October 5, 1992 (gotta love the GRAMMYs odd eligibility window) debuting at number 2 on the Billboard 200. Unlike its predecessor, it never quite reached the top spot, thanks to Garth Brooks. Six of the album’s 12 tracks were released as singles including “Drive,” “Everybody Hurts” which has unfortunately been watered down through years of ironic use in comedies, the cryptic, Andy Kaufman referencing “Man on the Moon,” and “Nightswimming,” an emotional piano ballad that has become a fan favorite. The album was critically acclaimed upon release and, while perhaps not as fun as something like Murmur, this nocturnal bummer is regarded by many as one of the band’s masterpieces.
Will everybody hurt? Are R.E.M. going to get a raw deal?
Tracklist: Drive Try Not to Breathe The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite Everybody Hurts New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 Sweetness Follows Monty Got a Raw Deal Ignoreland Star Me Kitten Man on the Moon Nightswimming Find the River
The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream The Smashing Pumpkins formed in 1988 when Billy Corgan (vocals and guitar, he prefers William Patrick Corgan now though) met James Iha (guitar) while working at a record store in Chicago, Illinois. They performed as a duo with a drum machine, eventually adding bassist D’arcy Wretzky after meeting her at a show by the Dan Reed Network. Jazz drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was recommended by a friend of Corgan’s after the trio were booked to perform at Cabaret Metro under the condition that they’d play with a live drummer instead of their drum machine. With Chamberlain on board, the band’s classic lineup had been formed and their sound began to shift in a harder rock direction.
Siamese Dream, the group’s 1993 sophomore album, expands on their 1991 debut Gish in every possible way. The band switched from Virgin subsidiary Caroline Records to Virgin itself. Butch Vig, who produced Nirvana’s massive Nevermind right after finishing work on Gish, returned to produce the follow-up. Where Gish’s $20,000 budget and month of recording time was “unprecedented” for Vig, Corgan and Vig spent four months on Siamese Dream and went $250,000 over budget. This is what happens when you let Billy overdub everyone else’s guitar and bass parts (something the rest of the band wasn’t particularly happy about) to get as many as 100 guitar parts compressed into one song.
The meticulous studio process paid off, as Siamese Dream was a bigger hit than Gish (peaking at 10 on the Billboard 200.) The band’s influences from metal, dreampop, and shoegaze give the album a layered and unique sound compared to the grungier alternative music of the time. Singles “Cherub Rock” and “Today” have been featured in the Guitar Hero and Rock Band videogame series. While never released as a single, “Mayonaise” has become a fan favorite and won a Rolling Stone poll for best Pumpkins song, beating out singles from Siamese Dream and the band’s follow-up double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Judging from some early discussion since this rate was announced, some of you seem pretty excited to rate “Mayonnaise.” While Mellon Collie took the band to the height of their popularity, Siamese Dream is often regarded as their masterpiece and one of the best rock albums of the 90s.
Will we be sweet sweet to the Pumpkins? The rater in me is the rater in you, I’ll send this ballot over to you
Tracklist: Cherub Rock Quiet Today Hummer Rocket Disarm Soma Geek U.S.A. Mayonaise Spaceboy Silverfuck Sweet Sweet Luna
U2 - Zooropa Formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1976, U2 (Bono on vocals, The Edge on guitar, Adam Clayton on bass, and Larry Mullen Jr. on drums) have become the top-selling Irish musical act of all-time, with an estimated 170+ million records sold. Across the 80s, U2 evolved their early post-punk sound to the anthemic rock of The Joshua Tree. While touring America for that album, the band recorded Rattle and Hum, a hybrid live/studio record (and accompanying concert film) which documented the tour and the group’s fascination with American roots music. Despite the album’s commercial success, most consider it a misguided failure. Even Bono admitted at their final show for the album’s Lovetown Tour that “we have to go away and dream it all up again.”
1993’s Zooropa catches U2 at their most adventurous. 1991’s Acthung Baby and its subsequent Zoo TV tour rebranded the band for the new decade. While they continued working with Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, they updated their sound with influences from electronic, dance, and industrial music. On stage, they dabbled in irony to counter the sincerity of their 80s output with Bono playing characters such as The Fly and Macphisto. Emboldened by the critical and commercial success of this album and tour, they began working on a promotional EP during a break between Zoo TV tour legs. Despite working quickly in the studio, this EP expanded into a full-length album, requiring the band to travel between concerts and the studio in Dublin to finish working on the album during the first month of the “Zooropa” leg.
Zooropa finally arrived in July of 1993 and it shows the band doubling down on their early 90s ideas. The sound of the album, built from loops of soundcheck jamming and leftover sketches from Achtung Baby, ventures even further from traditional rock instrumentation and songwriting, bolstered by production from Brian Eno, Flood (moving from an engineering to production role), and The Edge, credited as a producer for his first time. The fragmented nature of the album’s production is reflected in the eclectic tracklist which bounces between the multi-movement art-rock of the title track, dancefloor fillers like “Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car,” and ballads like “For the First Time” and “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)” Unique vocal choices like The Edge’s spoken-word rapping on lead-single “Numb,” Bono’s falsetto on “Lemon,” and a Johnny Cash feature on closer “The Wanderer” help the album feel more varied than U2’s previous material. The album’s lyrics often examine Zoo TV’s concepts of “sensory overload” and technology more explicitly than Achtung Baby.
While U2 are reluctant to acknowledge Zooropa now (likely influenced by the failure of 1997’s Pop, a rushed, mixed bag of an album that stretched audience’s tolerance for 90s U2’s tendency toward electronic music and irony to a Rattle and Hum-like breaking point) the album was successful when it came out. Zooropa debuted at number one in several countries and finished ninth on 1993’s Pazz and Jop poll. It would also go on to win this GRAMMY award for Best Alternative Music album, with Bono shrugging on stage, shouting out Smashing Pumpkins, and promising to “the young people of America” that they will “continue to abuse our position and fuck up the mainstream” in his acceptance speech. (https://youtu.be/-DNXfFy8Ido?t=69)
Will U2 stay the champions in our rate or will they be faraway so close to the top?
Tracklist: Zooropa Babyface Numb Lemon Stay (Faraway, So Close!) Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car Some Days Are Better Than Others The First Time Dirty Day The Wanderer
Bonus Rate Since this rate is 5 albums instead of the usual 4, a bonus rate has been omitted.
2023.06.04 22:03 throwaway62957216 I regret staying local for college
I (22M) regret staying local for college so much. So many factors came into play regarding my choice to stay and they made sense at the time but I wish I could go back and force myself to try out college far away first. I don’t feel like transferring is an option now but I’m so miserable. I only have 1 year left but every day I wake up and wish I was somewhere else.
Here’s my timeline
Fall 2019: start community college Fall 2021: apply for transfer Spring 2022: take a semester off bc I finished my units Fall 2022: attend a UC briefly, have to drop out because of reasons I will list below Spring 2023: continue education at local state school in order to still graduate on time
Reasons I left the UC: •my financial aid was stripped last minute, leaving me with a ridiculous amount of loans I’d have to take •I was unsure in my major (film), and I didn’t want to take more loans to figure that out •my dad was being forced to sell the house due to external circumstances, and if I came back I’d be able to help him keep it (without this house I’d be homeless) •felt I may have better opportunities at the state school instead of the UC
Fast forward to now, I just finished my first semester at the local state school under what I feel is a better major (Creative Media), but I feel so empty. I’m taking units at an accelerated rate to graduate on time but it doesn’t feel worth it. Everyday I’m either at school or doing nothing. I commute from home because money is tight but I’d rather go into debt than live here any longer. Which is weird because I have a perfect home life. I can do whatever I want whenever I want, i buy my own groceries and have my own freedoms, but I still crave a change.
I want to be an actor but I can’t find any auditions or classes near me that I haven’t already taken. I know I fucked up bad staying here and it feels like I’m just letting my life slip away. I’m almost 23 and stuck here until I turn 24 and whenever I remember that it makes me wanna die.
I know “the grass is always greener”, but I genuinely feel like I’d be so much happier living away from home. Because even if it was worse at least I’d be experiencing something new. Every time I drive around this town it feels like I’ve done everything here.
I’ve talked to a therapist about this but I don’t feel like much progress has been made. Mainly I’ll just forget I feel this way for a few weeks and then I’ll remember and get depressed again.
I am such an outgoing person so being locked in house with no reason to leave drains me so bad. I need to get out of here no matter what it takes, but I don’t want to drop out of college either. I don’t know what I can do.
I know I’m just a guy who tried desperately to cling onto the past, but it feels so unfair that I have to pay for it with 2 years of my life. I’ve felt this way since January, which is past when applications are due so if I wanted to transfer I’d have to apply in the fall and then wait until next fall, which by that point I’ll already be graduated from the state school.
TLDR: chose to go to school far away, but when I left my family had to sell our house so I came back to help and go to college locally. House got kept but now I’m miserable living in it and feel like I may have been better off letting them sell it and not coming back.
submitted by throwaway62957216 to offmychest [link] [comments]
Here’s my timeline
Fall 2019: start community college Fall 2021: apply for transfer Spring 2022: take a semester off bc I finished my units Fall 2022: attend a UC briefly, have to drop out because of reasons I will list below Spring 2023: continue education at local state school in order to still graduate on time
Reasons I left the UC: •my financial aid was stripped last minute, leaving me with a ridiculous amount of loans I’d have to take •I was unsure in my major (film), and I didn’t want to take more loans to figure that out •my dad was being forced to sell the house due to external circumstances, and if I came back I’d be able to help him keep it (without this house I’d be homeless) •felt I may have better opportunities at the state school instead of the UC
Fast forward to now, I just finished my first semester at the local state school under what I feel is a better major (Creative Media), but I feel so empty. I’m taking units at an accelerated rate to graduate on time but it doesn’t feel worth it. Everyday I’m either at school or doing nothing. I commute from home because money is tight but I’d rather go into debt than live here any longer. Which is weird because I have a perfect home life. I can do whatever I want whenever I want, i buy my own groceries and have my own freedoms, but I still crave a change.
I want to be an actor but I can’t find any auditions or classes near me that I haven’t already taken. I know I fucked up bad staying here and it feels like I’m just letting my life slip away. I’m almost 23 and stuck here until I turn 24 and whenever I remember that it makes me wanna die.
I know “the grass is always greener”, but I genuinely feel like I’d be so much happier living away from home. Because even if it was worse at least I’d be experiencing something new. Every time I drive around this town it feels like I’ve done everything here.
I’ve talked to a therapist about this but I don’t feel like much progress has been made. Mainly I’ll just forget I feel this way for a few weeks and then I’ll remember and get depressed again.
I am such an outgoing person so being locked in house with no reason to leave drains me so bad. I need to get out of here no matter what it takes, but I don’t want to drop out of college either. I don’t know what I can do.
I know I’m just a guy who tried desperately to cling onto the past, but it feels so unfair that I have to pay for it with 2 years of my life. I’ve felt this way since January, which is past when applications are due so if I wanted to transfer I’d have to apply in the fall and then wait until next fall, which by that point I’ll already be graduated from the state school.
TLDR: chose to go to school far away, but when I left my family had to sell our house so I came back to help and go to college locally. House got kept but now I’m miserable living in it and feel like I may have been better off letting them sell it and not coming back.
2023.06.04 21:58 Schlachterhund Climate activism of the elect
[This is a translated excerpt from Clemens Traub’s “Future for Fridays?”. It’s a reflection about his time as an activist in “Fridays for Future” – the German branch of “School Strike for Climate”. The specific problems of western environmentalism adressed therein is germane to the issue of dysfunctional leftism often discussed on stupidpol and as far as I can tell nothing of this unique to Germany. The book is from 2020 and by now the movement “Fridays for Future” basically defunct. Meanwhile, the preferred tactic of current activists is it to glue themselves on main roads during rush hour. This protest method obviously affects working class people most, who usually have to physically show up at work (and often have to use cars to do so), and is less disruptive for the WFH email caste. The result of this is, surprisingly, a staggering 80+% disapproval rating for the climate organization “Last Generation” which is doing this.]
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I know the typical milieu of most “Fridays for Future” protesters well. In a way, it's my own and that of my current circle of friends: metropolitan, left-liberal, hip. A space for the daughters of doctors to meet the sons of lawyers. Gin tasting and discussions about plastic-free shopping and zero waste are equally high on the agenda. Veganism is as much part of the unspoken code of being trendy as frequenting second-hand shops. And the organic grocery store around the corner naturally enhances the location of your own home.
The offspring of the professional class keep to themselves. Does the climate movement represent a cross-section of society? Not even close! Fridays for Future is the rebellion of the privileged, and the movement offers them the perfect opportunity to flaunt their own cosmopolitan lifestyle and talent.
Many of my climate-concerned friends are questioning whether the social background of the demonstrators matters at all. Isn't that absolutely unimportant? The main thing, they are convinced, is that the earth is saved. It doesn't matter by whom. The population has been silent for long enough, and now it is finally time to stand up.
I admit that the consistency of this chain of thought was extremely appealing to me and that using social origin as an argument against a group is of course nonsensical. The outlined combative spirit also enthralled me at first. At the beginning of my participation in "Fridays for Future", saving the world was the only thing that counted for me. It didn’t matter who stood by my side. And it still wouldn’t matter for me today.
But what matters to me is the behavior and reasoning of the people protesting with me. And here the circle closes, because the social background reveals more about the movement than the demonstrators would like to admit.
In fact, I take the view that the exclusive social background of the young protesters is the actual birth defect of "Fridays for Future". But because the movement was far too homogeneous, far too elitist and correspondingly far too aloof right from the start, its members remained oblivious to it. Ultimately, only those who are doing well in material terms have the time and leisure to consider climate protection as the most important and also the only political issue of our time and to subordinate everything else to it.
Located in its ivory tower, the movement doesn't even notice that its criticism is leveled at the lifestyle of many economically disadvantaged people, who for financial reasons do not always have a choice. They are denounced as climate sinners because they don't shop in health food stores but at discounters. It never occurs to the demonstrators that there are people whose worries about ever-increasing electricity bills and rental charges make a discussion about forgoing air travel irrelevant from the outset.
And how could they? In their sheltered world, all of that is very far away. But that is exactly what makes the movement a risk, because it jeopardizes the already fragile cohesion of our society. For a large part of the population, however, other, more pressing everyday concerns prevail. For those who are afraid of being affected by job cuts in view of the announcements by the industry, the slashing and burning of tropical rain forest is currently of secondary importance.
Likewise, the extinction of exotic animal species is very far away for someone who worries every day about their tenuous retirement arrangements. That doesn't mean that everyday worries should completely obscure the problems of climate change, but it does explain why climate change is not the first priority for people with existential concerns.
It also explains why measures to save the climate must take economic concerns into account. And it explains why more and more people are wondering whether protesters will finally also take to the streets to deal with their everyday distress: lack affordable housing, declining pensions... plenty of issues exist.
The entire political discourse, both between the parties and outside of parliament, on the street, completely ignores the reality of life for many people in Germany! And I can well imagine that that's not a good feeling for many. The public discussions, which are often far removed from everyday life, exclude less privileged people. The result: we are all sitting on a social powder keg.
I don't originally hail from this metropolitan milieu, but grew up in a region that is often dismissed as "rural backwater". Publications such as "Landlust" and "Landleben" [trendy magazines promoting life in the country side] fulfill the longing of city dwellers for pure nature, but this dream only seems to apply to those people who consciously decide to have a weekend house in the forest. However, anyone who grew up in a rural environment will hardly benefit from this.
My parents live in the Palatinate. I grew up there too. My heart clings to the region, it is scenically beautiful with rows of wine-growing villages. But for an urbanite in pursuit of self-actualization it has to be the worst nightmare. In case your are unfamiliar with Palatinate’s culture: Schlachtfest instead of whiskey tasting. Very few apartments are actually furnished in this “country style” featured in the magazines. My home village isn’t shooting location for documentaries about gentrification. Maybe a camera team will get lost in one of our many hamlets at a Saumagen-centered village festival. But that would be pretty rare.
Drowsy villages provide the perfect backdrop while growing up. An ideal, idyllic world. But the older I got, the more I was drawn to the big city. I longed for a place that was more vibrant than the Palatinate and which could offer me more adventures and opportunities on the way to adulthood. Precisely this big, wide world I longed for. And I today I indeed enjoy its advantages. Whenever I drive home today, I have a feeling that two worlds that don't really have much to do with each other are colliding.
Shortly after attending my first Fridays for Future rallies, I paid another visit to my old homeland – these are becoming less and less frequent. When I enthusiastically told my acquaintances there about my experiences at the recent "Fridays for Future" demonstrations, I quickly realized how little they were interested. Out of pure friendship and politeness, they listened to me with half an ear.
I was quite surprised by that. What was the most hotly debated topic of recent weeks in my university town was met with absolute indifference among my old school friends here. They were more interested in the last day of the Bundesliga match or their last Tinder date than in the great climate revolution.
To be honest, I was initially disappointed and then increasingly angry at this lack of interest. While we young people in the big cities are trying to save our planet, the people in my home village are letting us down, I thought. Don't they understand that they too only have one planet at their disposal, just like us from "Fridays for Future"? Luckily, out of politeness, I kept those thoughts to myself.
In the days that followed, I started hearing disparaging comments about Fridays for Future with increasing frequency. In the eyes of my old friends, the movement was an "eco-sect", the self-promotion of big-city, left-wing weirdos. Someone called Greta Thunberg a "deranged menace". In addition to insults, they appeared to become increasingly bothered by the patronizing demeanor of many Fridays for Future protesters, who seem to perceive ICE-car drivers and meat eaters as second-class citizens.
The more often this happened, the deeper the wedge was driven between my current city life and my origins in my home village in the Palatinate. Between my old and my new world. For the first time in my life, I was just happy when I was able to drive back to the big city: finally the ideal world again, even if it was on the verge of collapse.
Ever since that visit, I've been quite hypersensitive whenever my enthusiasm for "Fridays for Future" wasn't shared 100 percent. In my eyes, there were simply only climate heroes on the one hand and climate sinners on the other. The absolute good or absolute bad – and nothing in between! It was only later that I realized how much I was already influenced by the “Fridays for Future” movement.
At first I could only offer my my old acquaintances reproaches. I accused them of being apolitical and uninformed about the world anyway. A mechanism of exclusion that is very common in "Fridays for Future", as I later realized. After all, at university I even mocked my old acquaintances as provincials, something I had always hated myself when my new metropolitan friends teased me about it.
But it was so much easier to just dismiss them as uninformed "provincials" than to argue with them and take them seriously. I didn't ask why my friends from my old home country saw "Fridays for Future" as arrogant or aloof, I didn't care at the time. Possible self-doubts could not arise in the first place.
I didn't anticipate, that this would actually fiercely play up in me over the coming weeks! I thought more and more about the experiences in my home country. It just wouldn't let me go. Where does the rejection of “Fridays for Future” come from, I asked myself. Where does the indifference in the face of urgent global climate problems come from? How could it be that my friends didn't see those and that they didn't comprehend the seriousness of the situation? I looked for answers but couldn't find any.
For several weeks, every Friday, there was no longer any plastic dishware in the university cafeteria. This gesture, following the "Fridays for Future" demonstrations, was intended to set an example for environmental protection. What should have caused storms of enthusiasm in theory, however, meant a very special kind of chaos in practice: balancing a piece of raspberry cake on your bare hand without a plate is more difficult than it might sound. Once the first piece of cake hit the floor, a discussion about the plastic boycott quickly broke out in the canteen.
It immediately turned out that the cashiers could only laugh at what they considered to be an idiotic ban on plastic. Their statements shocked many of my fellow students, who are big "FfF" fans. Instead of relaxed humorous small talk, my fellow students reacted with deadly seriousness. In the heat of the moment, the cashiers were even treated with extremely condescending insults. I will never forget how my fellow students lost all human decency that day in the supposed fight for climate protection. For the first time I noticed how fanatical and arrogant many of my "FfF" acquaintances had long since become.
After that event, something actually changed in me. But I didn't want to admit it to myself at first. But the more often I demonstrated at "Fridays for Future", the more alien the movement became to me. Today I know: It took an event like the one in the university canteen or a stay in my old home country to open my eyes and to realize how important sincerely attempting to understand other realms of experience before applying crude labels to people. Due to its exclusionary megalomania, “Fridays for Future” is incapable of this realization. But only a person who approaches other people, takes them seriously and wants to understand their everyday lives will be listened to. Only those people can actually affect something. They might even, in the best case scenario, save our planet!
While "Fridays for Future" was unable to make inroads my home village’s community, the media was showed more interest. Interviews with activists became more and more frequent on television. The talk shows couldn't get enough of them. "Markus Lanz", "Anne Will" or "Hart aber Fair": All of them had at least one "FfF" activist to visit. The more I saw them there, the more their arrogant demeanor bothered me. I suddenly switched off people who I still saw as inspiring personalities a few months ago. They kept raising their index fingers admonishingly. Looking down from the ivory tower at anyone who disagreed.
Finger wagging was slowly but surely becoming the hallmark of the movement. Their image of the enemy was crystal clear. Their worldview is dangerously one-dimensional. My big city friends suddenly fought everyone they saw as being complicit in the misery of the world: the meat eaters, the plastic bag carriers, the ICE-car drivers, the short-haul fliers, the long-haul fliers, the cruise tourists, the farmers, and of course the evil SUV owners. But honestly, don't we all belong to one of these groups from time to time?
Once they suddenly started cursing anyone who accidentally commits a tiny climate sin, even if it's just incorrect sorting of trash, I felt like they were in the ultimate battle against the rest of humanity. Elitist hubris everywhere I looked. In their moral arrogance they were (and still are) completely unaware of how many "normal" people they alienated by doing so. My assessment that "Fridays for Future" is primarily a movement of socially privileged young people has now been backed up by corresponding figures. The Berlin “Institute for Protest and Movement Research” got to the bottom of the social composition of the climate movement. On March 15, 2019, it surveyed “Fridays for Future” protesters at rallies in Berlin and Bremen. The study was financed by the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen-affiliated "Heinrich Böll Foundation".
The study’s results were illuminating: More than 90 percent of those surveyed stated that they had at least completed their Abitur (or advanced technical college entrance qualification) or were currently striving to do so. An overwhelming majority of 90 percent! Not even 1 percent of the demonstrators attended secondary schools [which prepare pupils for non-academic vocational training]. Almost two-thirds of the students considered themselves to be in the upper-middle class. Even before that, I had no doubt that "Fridays for Future" is a movement of the affluent. But what I read in this study surpassed my estimated. "Fridays for Future" does not in any way represent a cross-section of society, as has often been claimed.
I was surprised how little the sobering result of the study was then discussed. Society had to be informed about the privileged background and the resulting aloofness of the young protesters. Doesn't this change the entire perspective on the defining social debate of the last few months?
The figureheads of the movement in particular all come from the “most bourgeois” background. For example, we have Luisa Neubauer, the best-known German "Fridays for Future" activist. She grew up in the relatively expensive Elbe suburb of Iserbrook in Hamburg. Everyone in Hamburg knows: Not exactly a residential area that is known for its social housing. She did her Abitur in Hamburg-Blankenese. It is Hamburg's villa district par excellence. Sightseeing buses now offer tours through the district to present the magnificent villas to curious tourists. She is a scholarship holder of the party-affiliated foundation Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and is also a member of the party. So nothing stands in the way of a career in politics, she says so herself. "I don't want to rule out a career in politics," she told Zeit Campus, for example. [Neubauer is, in fact, a scion of the oligarchical Reemtsma clan; so is her cousin, another figurehead of the movement]
It’s less a rebellion from below and more a case of perfect self-marketing. But now cracks do appear in this underdog stage production. Today Luisa Neubauer can only be reached via her management. Demonstrators as pop stars! And of course you can't just talk to them on the street when you're demonstrating together. At least not with “Fridays for Future”. Please, what a naive notion! Although there are also critics of the excessive portrayal of people within the "Fridays for Future" movement, there is no real change in sight.
In the meantime, the climate movement has become one thing in particular: a career springboard for ambitious young elites. "Fridays for Future" is the perfect stage to make a name for yourself. Many of the educated offspring of academics are of course aware of this. The more media attention, the more attractive it is to be in the front row. Supposedly idealistic activism can now be marketed very well.
But not only the figureheads like Luisa Neubauer want to get some of the public spotlight. More and more "Neubauer disciples" are trying their luck in the "Fridays for Future" profiling machine. There we have, to name just a few examples, Linus Steinmetz, Carla Reemtsma or Sebastian Grieme.
Getting an appearance on a talk show or at least being able to read your name in the newspaper - all of this can become an opportunity of a lifetime. Being in the front row not only feels incredibly good, it is also a kind of free ticket for later professional life. And as if that wasn't enough: A flood of new Instagram followers is of course also a fantastic side effect. With this in mind: full speed ahead!
Who could object? Everyone is looking for recognition. Doesn't everyone want to take advantage of the opportunities in their life? And finally, every society needs ambitious young people who will later enrich politics, business and culture.
At best, people who want to be the center of attention also bear responsibility for themselves and others. So far no problem, you might think at first.
But how will many people with limited financial resources feel when those rebels who constantly lash out at the lifestyles of others take advantage of it for themselves? While many citizens have to accept new climate costs in their everyday lives, they also experience how Luisa Neubauer is offered a position on the supervisory board at Siemens. In view of this, the suspicion of many people that climate activists are making careers at the expense of other citizens is all too understandable.
I have other concerns as well. In our time, the frustration with the elites is growing. The "enraged citizen phenomenon" has become one of the most discussed topics of this decade. Intellectuals around the world are concerned about the cause of this worrying development. Our society is currently experiencing a "rift" between two major population groups. In an anthology they edited, the political and social scientists Wolfgang Merkel, Ruud Koopmans and Michael Zürn differentiate between “cosmopolitans” and “communitarians”.
There are those who benefit from the future and are therefore relaxed about it. Above all, they see opportunities in it and view the globalization of our world with optimism. This group is referred to as cosmopolitans. But many people are also afraid of change. They believe that the future will not hold anything good and, potentially, only the ever-possible economic decline. Given the "opening" of the world, communitarians see the dangers in particular. They often have the feeling that they are not really noticed by society's elite.
The well-known distinction between “anywheres” and “somewheres” by the British journalist and author David Goodhart supports this finding. Goodhart distinguishes "anywheres" who are educated, wealthy and will feel at home in their circles around the world, and "somewheres". They belong to completely different social milieus and are relegated to a specific place where they work, live, have their friends and struggle to assert their status.
Most "Fridays for Future" activists know: the future belongs to them. Many have the classic biography of a cosmopolitan. Because of their social background, they were born with everything they needed to benefit from our system. Everything is just right: the appearance, the social environment and of course the education.
Although they face the end of the world as a constant threat, their future does not scare them. Why? The doors are wide open for them. They master the complicated rules of our individualized knowledge society very well. You will do your internship in Brussels and not in Bottrop. Better the EU Commission than retail, a sector without future anyway. And also: cultivate connections! Your English vocabulary is usually larger than German. Perfectly prepared for the future, come what may - because they are the elite of tomorrow. The dangerous thing about it: most of the demonstrators are not even aware of this.
The well-trained "Fridays for Future" activists prefer to see themselves as misunderstood outsiders in society. Being an outsider is what makes rebellion sexy. At the same time I say to myself: What must a socially disadvantaged person think when suddenly wealthy cosmopolitans like to play the role of the outsider! And they don't just like it the role. No, they are really putting effort into staging it.
The classic distribution of roles between "perpetrator" and "victim" in the social context is thus turned upside down in a negligent manner: no longer the single mother and multi-jobber is seen as a victim of the existing social conditions, but the climate-conscious scholarship holder who has to experience how the consumption of affordable meat endangers our environment.
But that's not all: instead of listening to the concerns of hard-working people, they blame them for their environmentally unfriendly diesel car, which they need for their daily commute to work.
Instead of considering questions of justice with "Fridays for Future", the movement reduced itself from the start to questions of lifestyle. In my circle of friends, too, the extinction of species is simply cooler than poverty in old age and the issue of gender is hipper than low basic pension.
Above all, the privileged know the social code of the new “morally good” life. The new green-bourgeois bearing regulates the friend-foe scheme of the climate debate. A mechanism of exclusion that often pushes fellow citizens who are already worse off even further aside. A good person has long been only someone who can show an ecologically sound certificate of good conduct. The existential feeling of many that they just have to somehow make ends meet does not exist in the living environment of the (upper) bourgeois offspring. In the climate debate of the last few months, worlds have collided that couldn't be more different. Worlds that are moving further and further apart.
----------------------------------
[The author doesn’t mention it, but the social milieu that makes up the bulk of the climate movement is also very fond of importing Anglo-inspired race discourse. Towards the end of its decline, they were increasingly caught in purity spirals. For example: should white musicians with dreadlocks be allowed to play during happenings?
The study from “Institute for Protest and Movement Research” also examined ethnicity of the protesters: they are predominantly of ethnic German stock, much more so than the average German citizen. Who could have known?]
submitted by Schlachterhund to stupidpol [link] [comments]
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I know the typical milieu of most “Fridays for Future” protesters well. In a way, it's my own and that of my current circle of friends: metropolitan, left-liberal, hip. A space for the daughters of doctors to meet the sons of lawyers. Gin tasting and discussions about plastic-free shopping and zero waste are equally high on the agenda. Veganism is as much part of the unspoken code of being trendy as frequenting second-hand shops. And the organic grocery store around the corner naturally enhances the location of your own home.
The offspring of the professional class keep to themselves. Does the climate movement represent a cross-section of society? Not even close! Fridays for Future is the rebellion of the privileged, and the movement offers them the perfect opportunity to flaunt their own cosmopolitan lifestyle and talent.
Many of my climate-concerned friends are questioning whether the social background of the demonstrators matters at all. Isn't that absolutely unimportant? The main thing, they are convinced, is that the earth is saved. It doesn't matter by whom. The population has been silent for long enough, and now it is finally time to stand up.
I admit that the consistency of this chain of thought was extremely appealing to me and that using social origin as an argument against a group is of course nonsensical. The outlined combative spirit also enthralled me at first. At the beginning of my participation in "Fridays for Future", saving the world was the only thing that counted for me. It didn’t matter who stood by my side. And it still wouldn’t matter for me today.
But what matters to me is the behavior and reasoning of the people protesting with me. And here the circle closes, because the social background reveals more about the movement than the demonstrators would like to admit.
In fact, I take the view that the exclusive social background of the young protesters is the actual birth defect of "Fridays for Future". But because the movement was far too homogeneous, far too elitist and correspondingly far too aloof right from the start, its members remained oblivious to it. Ultimately, only those who are doing well in material terms have the time and leisure to consider climate protection as the most important and also the only political issue of our time and to subordinate everything else to it.
Located in its ivory tower, the movement doesn't even notice that its criticism is leveled at the lifestyle of many economically disadvantaged people, who for financial reasons do not always have a choice. They are denounced as climate sinners because they don't shop in health food stores but at discounters. It never occurs to the demonstrators that there are people whose worries about ever-increasing electricity bills and rental charges make a discussion about forgoing air travel irrelevant from the outset.
And how could they? In their sheltered world, all of that is very far away. But that is exactly what makes the movement a risk, because it jeopardizes the already fragile cohesion of our society. For a large part of the population, however, other, more pressing everyday concerns prevail. For those who are afraid of being affected by job cuts in view of the announcements by the industry, the slashing and burning of tropical rain forest is currently of secondary importance.
Likewise, the extinction of exotic animal species is very far away for someone who worries every day about their tenuous retirement arrangements. That doesn't mean that everyday worries should completely obscure the problems of climate change, but it does explain why climate change is not the first priority for people with existential concerns.
It also explains why measures to save the climate must take economic concerns into account. And it explains why more and more people are wondering whether protesters will finally also take to the streets to deal with their everyday distress: lack affordable housing, declining pensions... plenty of issues exist.
The entire political discourse, both between the parties and outside of parliament, on the street, completely ignores the reality of life for many people in Germany! And I can well imagine that that's not a good feeling for many. The public discussions, which are often far removed from everyday life, exclude less privileged people. The result: we are all sitting on a social powder keg.
I don't originally hail from this metropolitan milieu, but grew up in a region that is often dismissed as "rural backwater". Publications such as "Landlust" and "Landleben" [trendy magazines promoting life in the country side] fulfill the longing of city dwellers for pure nature, but this dream only seems to apply to those people who consciously decide to have a weekend house in the forest. However, anyone who grew up in a rural environment will hardly benefit from this.
My parents live in the Palatinate. I grew up there too. My heart clings to the region, it is scenically beautiful with rows of wine-growing villages. But for an urbanite in pursuit of self-actualization it has to be the worst nightmare. In case your are unfamiliar with Palatinate’s culture: Schlachtfest instead of whiskey tasting. Very few apartments are actually furnished in this “country style” featured in the magazines. My home village isn’t shooting location for documentaries about gentrification. Maybe a camera team will get lost in one of our many hamlets at a Saumagen-centered village festival. But that would be pretty rare.
Drowsy villages provide the perfect backdrop while growing up. An ideal, idyllic world. But the older I got, the more I was drawn to the big city. I longed for a place that was more vibrant than the Palatinate and which could offer me more adventures and opportunities on the way to adulthood. Precisely this big, wide world I longed for. And I today I indeed enjoy its advantages. Whenever I drive home today, I have a feeling that two worlds that don't really have much to do with each other are colliding.
Shortly after attending my first Fridays for Future rallies, I paid another visit to my old homeland – these are becoming less and less frequent. When I enthusiastically told my acquaintances there about my experiences at the recent "Fridays for Future" demonstrations, I quickly realized how little they were interested. Out of pure friendship and politeness, they listened to me with half an ear.
I was quite surprised by that. What was the most hotly debated topic of recent weeks in my university town was met with absolute indifference among my old school friends here. They were more interested in the last day of the Bundesliga match or their last Tinder date than in the great climate revolution.
To be honest, I was initially disappointed and then increasingly angry at this lack of interest. While we young people in the big cities are trying to save our planet, the people in my home village are letting us down, I thought. Don't they understand that they too only have one planet at their disposal, just like us from "Fridays for Future"? Luckily, out of politeness, I kept those thoughts to myself.
In the days that followed, I started hearing disparaging comments about Fridays for Future with increasing frequency. In the eyes of my old friends, the movement was an "eco-sect", the self-promotion of big-city, left-wing weirdos. Someone called Greta Thunberg a "deranged menace". In addition to insults, they appeared to become increasingly bothered by the patronizing demeanor of many Fridays for Future protesters, who seem to perceive ICE-car drivers and meat eaters as second-class citizens.
The more often this happened, the deeper the wedge was driven between my current city life and my origins in my home village in the Palatinate. Between my old and my new world. For the first time in my life, I was just happy when I was able to drive back to the big city: finally the ideal world again, even if it was on the verge of collapse.
Ever since that visit, I've been quite hypersensitive whenever my enthusiasm for "Fridays for Future" wasn't shared 100 percent. In my eyes, there were simply only climate heroes on the one hand and climate sinners on the other. The absolute good or absolute bad – and nothing in between! It was only later that I realized how much I was already influenced by the “Fridays for Future” movement.
At first I could only offer my my old acquaintances reproaches. I accused them of being apolitical and uninformed about the world anyway. A mechanism of exclusion that is very common in "Fridays for Future", as I later realized. After all, at university I even mocked my old acquaintances as provincials, something I had always hated myself when my new metropolitan friends teased me about it.
But it was so much easier to just dismiss them as uninformed "provincials" than to argue with them and take them seriously. I didn't ask why my friends from my old home country saw "Fridays for Future" as arrogant or aloof, I didn't care at the time. Possible self-doubts could not arise in the first place.
I didn't anticipate, that this would actually fiercely play up in me over the coming weeks! I thought more and more about the experiences in my home country. It just wouldn't let me go. Where does the rejection of “Fridays for Future” come from, I asked myself. Where does the indifference in the face of urgent global climate problems come from? How could it be that my friends didn't see those and that they didn't comprehend the seriousness of the situation? I looked for answers but couldn't find any.
For several weeks, every Friday, there was no longer any plastic dishware in the university cafeteria. This gesture, following the "Fridays for Future" demonstrations, was intended to set an example for environmental protection. What should have caused storms of enthusiasm in theory, however, meant a very special kind of chaos in practice: balancing a piece of raspberry cake on your bare hand without a plate is more difficult than it might sound. Once the first piece of cake hit the floor, a discussion about the plastic boycott quickly broke out in the canteen.
It immediately turned out that the cashiers could only laugh at what they considered to be an idiotic ban on plastic. Their statements shocked many of my fellow students, who are big "FfF" fans. Instead of relaxed humorous small talk, my fellow students reacted with deadly seriousness. In the heat of the moment, the cashiers were even treated with extremely condescending insults. I will never forget how my fellow students lost all human decency that day in the supposed fight for climate protection. For the first time I noticed how fanatical and arrogant many of my "FfF" acquaintances had long since become.
After that event, something actually changed in me. But I didn't want to admit it to myself at first. But the more often I demonstrated at "Fridays for Future", the more alien the movement became to me. Today I know: It took an event like the one in the university canteen or a stay in my old home country to open my eyes and to realize how important sincerely attempting to understand other realms of experience before applying crude labels to people. Due to its exclusionary megalomania, “Fridays for Future” is incapable of this realization. But only a person who approaches other people, takes them seriously and wants to understand their everyday lives will be listened to. Only those people can actually affect something. They might even, in the best case scenario, save our planet!
While "Fridays for Future" was unable to make inroads my home village’s community, the media was showed more interest. Interviews with activists became more and more frequent on television. The talk shows couldn't get enough of them. "Markus Lanz", "Anne Will" or "Hart aber Fair": All of them had at least one "FfF" activist to visit. The more I saw them there, the more their arrogant demeanor bothered me. I suddenly switched off people who I still saw as inspiring personalities a few months ago. They kept raising their index fingers admonishingly. Looking down from the ivory tower at anyone who disagreed.
Finger wagging was slowly but surely becoming the hallmark of the movement. Their image of the enemy was crystal clear. Their worldview is dangerously one-dimensional. My big city friends suddenly fought everyone they saw as being complicit in the misery of the world: the meat eaters, the plastic bag carriers, the ICE-car drivers, the short-haul fliers, the long-haul fliers, the cruise tourists, the farmers, and of course the evil SUV owners. But honestly, don't we all belong to one of these groups from time to time?
Once they suddenly started cursing anyone who accidentally commits a tiny climate sin, even if it's just incorrect sorting of trash, I felt like they were in the ultimate battle against the rest of humanity. Elitist hubris everywhere I looked. In their moral arrogance they were (and still are) completely unaware of how many "normal" people they alienated by doing so. My assessment that "Fridays for Future" is primarily a movement of socially privileged young people has now been backed up by corresponding figures. The Berlin “Institute for Protest and Movement Research” got to the bottom of the social composition of the climate movement. On March 15, 2019, it surveyed “Fridays for Future” protesters at rallies in Berlin and Bremen. The study was financed by the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen-affiliated "Heinrich Böll Foundation".
The study’s results were illuminating: More than 90 percent of those surveyed stated that they had at least completed their Abitur (or advanced technical college entrance qualification) or were currently striving to do so. An overwhelming majority of 90 percent! Not even 1 percent of the demonstrators attended secondary schools [which prepare pupils for non-academic vocational training]. Almost two-thirds of the students considered themselves to be in the upper-middle class. Even before that, I had no doubt that "Fridays for Future" is a movement of the affluent. But what I read in this study surpassed my estimated. "Fridays for Future" does not in any way represent a cross-section of society, as has often been claimed.
I was surprised how little the sobering result of the study was then discussed. Society had to be informed about the privileged background and the resulting aloofness of the young protesters. Doesn't this change the entire perspective on the defining social debate of the last few months?
The figureheads of the movement in particular all come from the “most bourgeois” background. For example, we have Luisa Neubauer, the best-known German "Fridays for Future" activist. She grew up in the relatively expensive Elbe suburb of Iserbrook in Hamburg. Everyone in Hamburg knows: Not exactly a residential area that is known for its social housing. She did her Abitur in Hamburg-Blankenese. It is Hamburg's villa district par excellence. Sightseeing buses now offer tours through the district to present the magnificent villas to curious tourists. She is a scholarship holder of the party-affiliated foundation Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and is also a member of the party. So nothing stands in the way of a career in politics, she says so herself. "I don't want to rule out a career in politics," she told Zeit Campus, for example. [Neubauer is, in fact, a scion of the oligarchical Reemtsma clan; so is her cousin, another figurehead of the movement]
It’s less a rebellion from below and more a case of perfect self-marketing. But now cracks do appear in this underdog stage production. Today Luisa Neubauer can only be reached via her management. Demonstrators as pop stars! And of course you can't just talk to them on the street when you're demonstrating together. At least not with “Fridays for Future”. Please, what a naive notion! Although there are also critics of the excessive portrayal of people within the "Fridays for Future" movement, there is no real change in sight.
In the meantime, the climate movement has become one thing in particular: a career springboard for ambitious young elites. "Fridays for Future" is the perfect stage to make a name for yourself. Many of the educated offspring of academics are of course aware of this. The more media attention, the more attractive it is to be in the front row. Supposedly idealistic activism can now be marketed very well.
But not only the figureheads like Luisa Neubauer want to get some of the public spotlight. More and more "Neubauer disciples" are trying their luck in the "Fridays for Future" profiling machine. There we have, to name just a few examples, Linus Steinmetz, Carla Reemtsma or Sebastian Grieme.
Getting an appearance on a talk show or at least being able to read your name in the newspaper - all of this can become an opportunity of a lifetime. Being in the front row not only feels incredibly good, it is also a kind of free ticket for later professional life. And as if that wasn't enough: A flood of new Instagram followers is of course also a fantastic side effect. With this in mind: full speed ahead!
Who could object? Everyone is looking for recognition. Doesn't everyone want to take advantage of the opportunities in their life? And finally, every society needs ambitious young people who will later enrich politics, business and culture.
At best, people who want to be the center of attention also bear responsibility for themselves and others. So far no problem, you might think at first.
But how will many people with limited financial resources feel when those rebels who constantly lash out at the lifestyles of others take advantage of it for themselves? While many citizens have to accept new climate costs in their everyday lives, they also experience how Luisa Neubauer is offered a position on the supervisory board at Siemens. In view of this, the suspicion of many people that climate activists are making careers at the expense of other citizens is all too understandable.
I have other concerns as well. In our time, the frustration with the elites is growing. The "enraged citizen phenomenon" has become one of the most discussed topics of this decade. Intellectuals around the world are concerned about the cause of this worrying development. Our society is currently experiencing a "rift" between two major population groups. In an anthology they edited, the political and social scientists Wolfgang Merkel, Ruud Koopmans and Michael Zürn differentiate between “cosmopolitans” and “communitarians”.
There are those who benefit from the future and are therefore relaxed about it. Above all, they see opportunities in it and view the globalization of our world with optimism. This group is referred to as cosmopolitans. But many people are also afraid of change. They believe that the future will not hold anything good and, potentially, only the ever-possible economic decline. Given the "opening" of the world, communitarians see the dangers in particular. They often have the feeling that they are not really noticed by society's elite.
The well-known distinction between “anywheres” and “somewheres” by the British journalist and author David Goodhart supports this finding. Goodhart distinguishes "anywheres" who are educated, wealthy and will feel at home in their circles around the world, and "somewheres". They belong to completely different social milieus and are relegated to a specific place where they work, live, have their friends and struggle to assert their status.
Most "Fridays for Future" activists know: the future belongs to them. Many have the classic biography of a cosmopolitan. Because of their social background, they were born with everything they needed to benefit from our system. Everything is just right: the appearance, the social environment and of course the education.
Although they face the end of the world as a constant threat, their future does not scare them. Why? The doors are wide open for them. They master the complicated rules of our individualized knowledge society very well. You will do your internship in Brussels and not in Bottrop. Better the EU Commission than retail, a sector without future anyway. And also: cultivate connections! Your English vocabulary is usually larger than German. Perfectly prepared for the future, come what may - because they are the elite of tomorrow. The dangerous thing about it: most of the demonstrators are not even aware of this.
The well-trained "Fridays for Future" activists prefer to see themselves as misunderstood outsiders in society. Being an outsider is what makes rebellion sexy. At the same time I say to myself: What must a socially disadvantaged person think when suddenly wealthy cosmopolitans like to play the role of the outsider! And they don't just like it the role. No, they are really putting effort into staging it.
The classic distribution of roles between "perpetrator" and "victim" in the social context is thus turned upside down in a negligent manner: no longer the single mother and multi-jobber is seen as a victim of the existing social conditions, but the climate-conscious scholarship holder who has to experience how the consumption of affordable meat endangers our environment.
But that's not all: instead of listening to the concerns of hard-working people, they blame them for their environmentally unfriendly diesel car, which they need for their daily commute to work.
Instead of considering questions of justice with "Fridays for Future", the movement reduced itself from the start to questions of lifestyle. In my circle of friends, too, the extinction of species is simply cooler than poverty in old age and the issue of gender is hipper than low basic pension.
Above all, the privileged know the social code of the new “morally good” life. The new green-bourgeois bearing regulates the friend-foe scheme of the climate debate. A mechanism of exclusion that often pushes fellow citizens who are already worse off even further aside. A good person has long been only someone who can show an ecologically sound certificate of good conduct. The existential feeling of many that they just have to somehow make ends meet does not exist in the living environment of the (upper) bourgeois offspring. In the climate debate of the last few months, worlds have collided that couldn't be more different. Worlds that are moving further and further apart.
----------------------------------
[The author doesn’t mention it, but the social milieu that makes up the bulk of the climate movement is also very fond of importing Anglo-inspired race discourse. Towards the end of its decline, they were increasingly caught in purity spirals. For example: should white musicians with dreadlocks be allowed to play during happenings?
The study from “Institute for Protest and Movement Research” also examined ethnicity of the protesters: they are predominantly of ethnic German stock, much more so than the average German citizen. Who could have known?]
2023.06.04 21:26 SockPrize9696 Crazy high dose trip i had (cough and cold hbt 2 boxes)
All of this happened in like, Late december 2022.
So, for starters the first time i ever did any sorta substance was in my junior year, nd it was only weed, like the weird resin goop. I had never tried any sorta drugstore type thing before what im ab to explain.
So theres this brand of cough medicine, its got a white and purple box, and it just says "cough and cold" on the front in bigass letters. Each box has two plates which hold 8 red tablets. a friend and i went through a test run, we both took 8 tablets and only felt sorta fuzzy and heavy, but other than that nothing. Later on we upped the dosage to 12 tablets, then 14, then just takin a whole box each.
After a few weekends of doin this stuff, one time i decide im gonna try takin 2 boxes myself. Swallowing those pills is the worst part of it honestly. Anyway as the night is starting and i had just takin the tablets, i decide to get into a bottle of grapfruit soju. I had heard that getting drunk while on these things is dangerous, but i dont get friggin hammered off of one soju, so im chillin.
Anyways im laying down while my friend is on the computer, and the trip starts. I put my headphones on that cancel outside noise cuz my friend kept listening to kid cudi (no hate to kid cudi its just that one pokerface song makes my skin crawl) and this shit starts hitting. Hitting crazy like the bed im layin on is a rollercoaster and i can feel my body getting stretched out, whihc is normally what happens in that sortof environment
Anyways, it gets to a point where its really intense, and i sortof forget to breathe, but i dont feel the need to inhale or exhale. It was really weird, and i dont know if i feinted or some shit, but i end up in what felt like a really really really vivid dream, but it only *felt* that way. My eyes were open while this was goin on.
This part is what i wanted to write about, and why i wanna know if anyone else saw anything like this. I found myself viewing some random ass abstract shape, that had a transparent side where there was a bunch of flashing imagry and colors. A lot of it was incomprehensible, but some of it was images of humans and i remembered a park i went to in my childhood.
Anyways, i find myself able to move the giant shape, like i was piloting it. I wasnt moving it in a way i could understand though, not anymore. It was like walking, but right now i dont understand how it worked. The shape was in a large space, no visible barriers or anything like that, and there were some other shapes around the local area. Apparently there were coorelated with my close friends, none of them were coorisponding to my family though.
Im pretty sure there was some disembodied choir of voices or some shit telling me to follow them, so i did, and i end up moving past the weird catalyst shape thing into another place. It was like a different plane of existence, i can remember what it looked like but i dont understand any of it at all. I remember spending a lot of time just moving around and interacting with things, none of it was human. Like, if you look around outside, thats the world, and none of the world was to be seen where i was at. Any feeling of gravity or like, my body's inertia when i moved was completely out the window and i wish i could understand it.
So, after some time there, the disembodied voice whatevers tell me that theyre talking to me from the "6th plane of existence" and then im currently on the third. The previous one is like this 'waiting room' where your soul goes after you fucking die, and in that abstract shape is every possibility your mind could have wanted to experience before you move on. And the first plane/level whatever is our world. I dont know what to call the voice things because there were so many i couldnt count, but they all beamed their words into my brain to speak to me.
So, i know i ended up going through the next layers or whatever, but i dont remember the 4th and 5th to any capacity. Not at all, i dont know why i cant remember but i jus dont.
When i reach them, the mfs on the 6th plane/level/layer they tell me a lotta shit. They say some stuff ab how they latched onto me because they wanted to experience the plane that i was on, as our ways of existence are completely different. They tell me some personal stuff that i feel like will encur some sorta karmatic wrath if i mention it so imma keep it to myself.
These incomprehensible figures look like swirling paths of light, similar to what light looks like when it gets sucked into a black hole. We talk a lot, and at the end they say that theyre gonna send me back down to my plane of existence to continue living the rest of my life. I remember aksing them something along the lines of "well since my layer sucks why shouldnt i kill myself", and they told me that every layer or level is at a base level, the same. Everything has a life to live, no matter what sort of existance that may be. If one of them offed themselves, that would be the exact same as someone on the first layer offing themselves. Which by the way, would loop them around to the first layer anyway because thats how they say it goes.
Anyways after all that shit it all slows down and i fade back into the room, i hadnt moved from the bed but my friend isnt on the comuter anymore. I dont remember what time it was but considering my active hours it was probably in the 2am range.
the noise of the thingies voices were still bouncing around my head, so i got up and wrote down a buncha shit they were saying on MSpaint on the computer. I didnt have the finger dexterity to type so i just wrote it out with a mouse. it looks like shit.
I ended up going and laying back down on the bed and falling asleep, and waking up the next day(technically just later since it was past midnight) and my life went on.
Has anybody else out there seen or experienced the same shit i did? i heard about the weird dmt robot elves and shared hallucinations so i wanted to see if this was exclusive or if there really is some wackass 6th plane dwellers hanging out somewhere.
submitted by SockPrize9696 to DXMGroup [link] [comments]
So, for starters the first time i ever did any sorta substance was in my junior year, nd it was only weed, like the weird resin goop. I had never tried any sorta drugstore type thing before what im ab to explain.
So theres this brand of cough medicine, its got a white and purple box, and it just says "cough and cold" on the front in bigass letters. Each box has two plates which hold 8 red tablets. a friend and i went through a test run, we both took 8 tablets and only felt sorta fuzzy and heavy, but other than that nothing. Later on we upped the dosage to 12 tablets, then 14, then just takin a whole box each.
After a few weekends of doin this stuff, one time i decide im gonna try takin 2 boxes myself. Swallowing those pills is the worst part of it honestly. Anyway as the night is starting and i had just takin the tablets, i decide to get into a bottle of grapfruit soju. I had heard that getting drunk while on these things is dangerous, but i dont get friggin hammered off of one soju, so im chillin.
Anyways im laying down while my friend is on the computer, and the trip starts. I put my headphones on that cancel outside noise cuz my friend kept listening to kid cudi (no hate to kid cudi its just that one pokerface song makes my skin crawl) and this shit starts hitting. Hitting crazy like the bed im layin on is a rollercoaster and i can feel my body getting stretched out, whihc is normally what happens in that sortof environment
Anyways, it gets to a point where its really intense, and i sortof forget to breathe, but i dont feel the need to inhale or exhale. It was really weird, and i dont know if i feinted or some shit, but i end up in what felt like a really really really vivid dream, but it only *felt* that way. My eyes were open while this was goin on.
This part is what i wanted to write about, and why i wanna know if anyone else saw anything like this. I found myself viewing some random ass abstract shape, that had a transparent side where there was a bunch of flashing imagry and colors. A lot of it was incomprehensible, but some of it was images of humans and i remembered a park i went to in my childhood.
Anyways, i find myself able to move the giant shape, like i was piloting it. I wasnt moving it in a way i could understand though, not anymore. It was like walking, but right now i dont understand how it worked. The shape was in a large space, no visible barriers or anything like that, and there were some other shapes around the local area. Apparently there were coorelated with my close friends, none of them were coorisponding to my family though.
Im pretty sure there was some disembodied choir of voices or some shit telling me to follow them, so i did, and i end up moving past the weird catalyst shape thing into another place. It was like a different plane of existence, i can remember what it looked like but i dont understand any of it at all. I remember spending a lot of time just moving around and interacting with things, none of it was human. Like, if you look around outside, thats the world, and none of the world was to be seen where i was at. Any feeling of gravity or like, my body's inertia when i moved was completely out the window and i wish i could understand it.
So, after some time there, the disembodied voice whatevers tell me that theyre talking to me from the "6th plane of existence" and then im currently on the third. The previous one is like this 'waiting room' where your soul goes after you fucking die, and in that abstract shape is every possibility your mind could have wanted to experience before you move on. And the first plane/level whatever is our world. I dont know what to call the voice things because there were so many i couldnt count, but they all beamed their words into my brain to speak to me.
So, i know i ended up going through the next layers or whatever, but i dont remember the 4th and 5th to any capacity. Not at all, i dont know why i cant remember but i jus dont.
When i reach them, the mfs on the 6th plane/level/layer they tell me a lotta shit. They say some stuff ab how they latched onto me because they wanted to experience the plane that i was on, as our ways of existence are completely different. They tell me some personal stuff that i feel like will encur some sorta karmatic wrath if i mention it so imma keep it to myself.
These incomprehensible figures look like swirling paths of light, similar to what light looks like when it gets sucked into a black hole. We talk a lot, and at the end they say that theyre gonna send me back down to my plane of existence to continue living the rest of my life. I remember aksing them something along the lines of "well since my layer sucks why shouldnt i kill myself", and they told me that every layer or level is at a base level, the same. Everything has a life to live, no matter what sort of existance that may be. If one of them offed themselves, that would be the exact same as someone on the first layer offing themselves. Which by the way, would loop them around to the first layer anyway because thats how they say it goes.
Anyways after all that shit it all slows down and i fade back into the room, i hadnt moved from the bed but my friend isnt on the comuter anymore. I dont remember what time it was but considering my active hours it was probably in the 2am range.
the noise of the thingies voices were still bouncing around my head, so i got up and wrote down a buncha shit they were saying on MSpaint on the computer. I didnt have the finger dexterity to type so i just wrote it out with a mouse. it looks like shit.
I ended up going and laying back down on the bed and falling asleep, and waking up the next day(technically just later since it was past midnight) and my life went on.
Has anybody else out there seen or experienced the same shit i did? i heard about the weird dmt robot elves and shared hallucinations so i wanted to see if this was exclusive or if there really is some wackass 6th plane dwellers hanging out somewhere.
2023.06.04 21:21 KiKiKittyNinja Office Politics with a Kevin: Part 1
Greetings fellow beard scientists!
It's, uh… It's been a hot minute since I last posted a story here. Like, nearly a year. I've been trying to write up a story of some bronies that got banned from a comic store I used to volunteer at as well as some of the stories of my childhood of being raised by a legbeard, but… 2022 was not a kind year. In fact, if you like, starting with my next part, I can go into what happened to me last year since it does weirdly tie into how I was forced to work with the specimen of this series. After all, what is life if not a strange series of domino effects leading to greater outcomes that no one would have ever expected? My tale may be tragic, but Kevin's is tooth-grindingly dripping with schadenfreude.
So, let's fucking go!
Story 1: A Proto-Kevin Story 1, ironically, will not feature Kevin. Instead, it features a Proto-Kevin I will call Devin. I though of calling him Kemo, like Kevin Demo, but I was scared that ReddX would pronounce it like Chemo and though interacting with Devin sometimes felt as excruciating as slow dripping poisons directly into your veins– at least chemotherapy serves a purpose. Devin would prove to be a disaster of a person to such a caliber no one could predict, and has caused issues that I am still fixing nearly 3 months later.
Back in mid-January, I was working hard to train some of my coworkers to know how to do my job. At this point in time, I was the only buyer in my company and I had been since October. Even before my senior buyer moved onto greener pastures, I had been the one largely in charge of placing orders, chasing down items, and doing expedites, and anytime I had been out for more than 2 days the whole office would creep to a stop with people freaking out as to what to do without me. Now, I know that sounds like not-so-humble bragging, but when the top of the food chain comes halfway across the country to thank you personally for handling an issue with a military project that could have gone really badly had we not saved a paper trail showing that we were not to blame for the 4 month delay of a project that could have cost us a quarter million, you start to realize what sort of pressure you've willingly put yourself into. As such, I was making a step-by-step slideshow on how to place orders or customer supply orders since I was about to go out of town the following week to go on a week-long trip with my family. It was as I was explaining how to submit info into Purchase Advisor that the production manager, let's call her Fae, walks into my cubicle with a troubled expression.
"Hey Kitty. Do you have a moment?"
"Yeah. Just working on the slides like you asked. What's up?"
"Well…" Fae pursed her lips for a moment, looking a little frustrated, before finding her words. "You know how we've been looking for a new buyer ever since Sergeant left?"
"Yeah. I know you've had a lot of people coming in…"
"Well, the good news is that we found someone." I must have made a face, because Fae reluctantly followed up with, "Well, Caligula hired this new guy. I actually never got to meet him."
Ah, and there was the rub. Caligula is our location manager. Caligula had already been a little bit of a narcissist, but without Sergeant to openly defy him he had straight up gone into a power trip where he felt like he had to prove what a capable leader he was! Hell, on the day of the company Christmas Cookie exchange/ ugly sweater party, he made a female employee cry and then proceeded to passive-aggressively shame her in front of the whole team via a "mandatory group meeting" with a 30 minute speech that could be summarized into the phrase, "If you hate working here so much, then leave!" Three employees quit within 2 weeks of this incident. Stupid prizes, I suppose.
The reason for my concern had to do with the fact that Caligula was clearly trying to take some short-cuts in solving the issue of putting a 29 year old woman with a year of experience and a crumbling personal life in charge of keeping an entire company's finances. This shortcut included putting Fae in charge as a supervisor to my department, that way I was answering to someone, but that just meant yet another thing on Fae's plate. To top it off, he was going behind our backs when finding a new employee just as Fae and I were getting on the same page and learning to truly communicate, which showed he wasn't interested in knowing what purchasing needed since clearly Caligula, King of Cables, knew what was best.
I sighed a little, but gave Fae a small smile, "Well, hey! Maybe this is a good thing! I mean, it would have been nice if he asked for our input, but what can you do? Did he say anything about our new buyer?"
"All I really know is that he was a buyer for for about 15 years as a freelancer of sorts. And Devin is supposed to start the Monday after you come back from your vacation." She then gave a little bit of a playful smirk before saying, "Are you sure you need to go for a whole week?"
I gave a small snort before rolling my eyes and turning back towards my computer. "After all the bullshit this divorce has put me through, I need to get the hell out of town for a week. Besides, I don't think even Walt Disney himself could keep my mom from dragging me down to Florida at this point. I've just about finished this slide on how to use the Suggestion List to place your orders while I'm gone. I'll start the slide on how to manually input POs, and if I have time I'll also make one for Customer Supply parts. If I hear anything about that list you gave me, I'll let you know."
"Thanks, Kitty! Keep me posted." With that, Fae walked off, and the rest of the week proceeded more or less as usual.
Fast forward two weeks. I walked into the office, expecting to meet my new colleague. I was told he'd be in the cubicle next to mine, but it was distinctively empty. Weird, but whatever. It wasn't my place to worry about if someone was on time or not, so I shrugged it off and proceeded to mind my own business. Some odd twenty-something minutes later, the doorbell rang. I went to the door, and there stood who I would soon learn was Devin.
Devin was a scraggly and worn down individual. I'll short cut my description of him by saying this– you know how in Japanese dramas you tend to have that one office worker character who looks like he's working on a combined total of 5 hours of sleep this week and is only being kept alive via canned coffees and 3 packs of cigarettes a day, all while looking longingly to the stairs that lead to the roof? So picture this poor, barely kempt, husk of a man whose dreams died long before the blade of his razor blade dulled too much to tackle the whisper of whiskers on his upper lip, and put him into khakis and a sloppy dress shirt. He stood a little hunched over, almost like he was uncertain if he was in the right place. He gave a wry and nervous little smile before speaking up.
"Uh… I'm looking for… Ah, they're a manager? I think their name starts with an A?"
I felt my face scrunch up as I thought this over. Now, even if I am using altered names to protect the bearded, the innocent, and my job, we don't have any managers whose name starts with an A. Fae's real name could sound like it starts with an A if you missed the first letter, but I proceeded to press.
"Did you happen to speak to someone before you came over?"
"Yeah."
"Do you happen to know if it was a man or a woman you spoke to?"
He gave the human equivalent to the dial-up tone, and I smiled politely to him.
"Tell you what, why don't you come in, and I'll see if I can find either Fae or Caligu–"
"That's them!"
"Uh, Fae?"
"Maybe her, but Caligraphy hired me." I blinked for a moment. Caligula's irl name might be slightly unconventional spelled, but it's phonetic enough not to mess it up. This guy completely whiffed our boss's name. Still, he was new, and I suck at remembering names, so who am I to judge?
I returned the polite smile to my face. "Ah. So you're the new purchasing team member? Nice to meet you! I'm Kitty. Fae said you'd be next to me, so I'll show you to your cubicle so you can settle in, and then I'll go find her."
He did not return the greeting, nor did he give me his name.
I showed him to his desk before I scurried off, and I let Fae know that our newest team member was here. You'd think she'd be thrilled, but she furrowed her brow before checking her watch. "He only just came in? He said he'd be here at 7:30, and it's past 8:20." She stood from her desk in the warehouse and asked that I join her and the new guy in the meeting room so that we could all be introduced properly.
The first meeting itself was pretty uneventful. Besides Devin reiterating what we already knew--15 years of purchasing experience, his last job being with Major Airline Company, and being hire by Caligula– I also got his name about halfway through the meeting (his name was asked at the beginning, and it took Fae asking him at 3 separate points to, ya know, answer that basic question), learned he was married with a kid, that his wife had threatened to divorce him if they continued to both work at Major Airline Company, that Devin has a hard time separating from work and personal life, and how he's thankful to be back to working in an office. He asked about my commute time, and when I relayed that I have to drive 40 minutes just to get to the office, Devin scoffed and said, "I would never work that far off again. I'm so glad I work just 5 minutes down the road!"
Now, this got a look from Fae and I. The obvious is because this dude was nearly an hour late to work on his first day, despite being 5 minutes down the road. The other reason was because Fae knew this was a bit of a sore spot for me. I had been only 15 minutes away, but with me being mid-divorce and paying off some hefty medical bills… Well, there was a reason I was now stuck with an hour+ commute back and forth 5 days a week. This new dude obviously didn't know that though, and I winced up a smile to politely say, "Oh! That's pretty lucky for you. Hopefully I'll be in the same boat soon."
The rest of the meeting went uneventful, and as we all left the room, Fae did pull Devin aside to chide him for being so late before asking him to follow me to my desk to learn how we do things in our company as well as some of my tips and tricks to get our system to work since Devin had never worked with our OS before.
This pseudo training ended up being a different kind of uneventful. You see, Devin had brought a notepad and pen to learn how the system worked…. Both went completely unused. I'd check in with him to ask if he had any notes or questions and he just replied with, "No. This seems pretty basic," and, "This seems easy enough." Alrighty. I'll admit my job usually isn't too complicated, but he was definitely far more interested in babbling on about his life to the point he'd interrupt me in order to talk about his family. He reiterated that he and his wife had worked at Major Airline Company together for several years and how she threatened to divorce him if he didn't quit his job and seek employment elsewhere. He spoke a lot about his son while revealing nothing about his kid outside of general good feelings towards his child. I heard a lot about his life story, and he never once asked me any questions. Not about life. Not about work. He just wanted to talk about himself endlessly while saying nothing at all.
By the end of the day, Fae asked what I thought about Devin.
"He's friendly…. He likes to socialize."
"Did the training go well?"
"Um… hard to tell. He didn't take any notes or really ask any work related questions. After a while, I just ended up doing my usual work while he chatted in the background. He said he understood what was going on, but when I asked if he wanted to try any of the things I was showing him he said nah, I'm good and kept chatting."
Fae pressed her lips in concern and took note.
For the next few weeks, Devin would show up whenever he could. You might think I mean that in the sense that things would come up and he'd call out. No no. He'd roll into the office at whatever time he felt like. He was confirmed for a 7:30 start time, but there were many mornings I'd get to the office long before him and he'd have some half-assed excuse for being late. At one point, Caligula did a company meeting praising Devin, despite Devin having done literally nothing. In fact, as I was looking over some of our recent orders, I was noting a pattern. Any order placed with Devin were unconfirmed, prices were all over the place, he was sending requests to the wrong vendors (think ordering fans from a place that specializes in wires despite our suggestion list listing someone else).
Eventually, corporate decided to bring Devin into headquarters for a week's worth of training since they realized he was causing a lot of issues. Two days after coming back from his corporate training, he tried having me order a military-grade item for a government contract off of Amazon saying, "This part isn't available anywhere else, and Kitty is the only one with the authority to buy off of Amazon in the office!" He had been given the task of buying this 1 item and spent 4 hours trying to find this part. As he whined to Fae about the impossibility of finding this part, I managed to find, purchase, and confirm shipping from the vendor we had in the vendor's list. The look on Fae's face was almost on par with Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star.
Two days later, Fae pulled me into the meeting room to inform me that Devin was no longer a part of the team. This man, who had been brought in to be the head of my department, lasted 2 and a half weeks. In that time, he attempted to do some work… but mostly he just caused more issues than he solved. I was still cleaning up his mistakes 3 months after his departure. Fae also took this time to let me know that she was pushing for me to become the head of my department. I'd be lying if I didn't say this had me super excited. After nearly 4 months of managing the purchasing department alone, it'd be amazing to be paid a living wage that could turn my life around. Plus, I like validation. I'm not ashamed to admit sometimes a little "Good job kiddo!" is all it takes to string me along on whatever bullshit I've been dragged into. I beamed for the entire rest of the day, excited for the possibilities that lay ahead of me…
And that is when Kevin entered the arena with a company-wide email declaring that corporate decided he was "now in charge of handling purchasing."
Welp, I'll leave it there for now. I have a few other stories I want to write up, but I promise to get in some Office Kevin stories as soon as possible. I've only been dealing with him since February, but dear God the amount of insanity I've had to deal with has been wild. I also apologize if this lost steam towards the end. Current Kevin has been a drain on my mental energy, so it has taken me a lot longer than I'm proud to admit to get even this much out. In the meantime, be good to each other.
Remember that you are loved, and you deserve to be loved.
submitted by KiKiKittyNinja to ReddXReads [link] [comments]
It's, uh… It's been a hot minute since I last posted a story here. Like, nearly a year. I've been trying to write up a story of some bronies that got banned from a comic store I used to volunteer at as well as some of the stories of my childhood of being raised by a legbeard, but… 2022 was not a kind year. In fact, if you like, starting with my next part, I can go into what happened to me last year since it does weirdly tie into how I was forced to work with the specimen of this series. After all, what is life if not a strange series of domino effects leading to greater outcomes that no one would have ever expected? My tale may be tragic, but Kevin's is tooth-grindingly dripping with schadenfreude.
So, let's fucking go!
Story 1: A Proto-Kevin Story 1, ironically, will not feature Kevin. Instead, it features a Proto-Kevin I will call Devin. I though of calling him Kemo, like Kevin Demo, but I was scared that ReddX would pronounce it like Chemo and though interacting with Devin sometimes felt as excruciating as slow dripping poisons directly into your veins– at least chemotherapy serves a purpose. Devin would prove to be a disaster of a person to such a caliber no one could predict, and has caused issues that I am still fixing nearly 3 months later.
Back in mid-January, I was working hard to train some of my coworkers to know how to do my job. At this point in time, I was the only buyer in my company and I had been since October. Even before my senior buyer moved onto greener pastures, I had been the one largely in charge of placing orders, chasing down items, and doing expedites, and anytime I had been out for more than 2 days the whole office would creep to a stop with people freaking out as to what to do without me. Now, I know that sounds like not-so-humble bragging, but when the top of the food chain comes halfway across the country to thank you personally for handling an issue with a military project that could have gone really badly had we not saved a paper trail showing that we were not to blame for the 4 month delay of a project that could have cost us a quarter million, you start to realize what sort of pressure you've willingly put yourself into. As such, I was making a step-by-step slideshow on how to place orders or customer supply orders since I was about to go out of town the following week to go on a week-long trip with my family. It was as I was explaining how to submit info into Purchase Advisor that the production manager, let's call her Fae, walks into my cubicle with a troubled expression.
"Hey Kitty. Do you have a moment?"
"Yeah. Just working on the slides like you asked. What's up?"
"Well…" Fae pursed her lips for a moment, looking a little frustrated, before finding her words. "You know how we've been looking for a new buyer ever since Sergeant left?"
"Yeah. I know you've had a lot of people coming in…"
"Well, the good news is that we found someone." I must have made a face, because Fae reluctantly followed up with, "Well, Caligula hired this new guy. I actually never got to meet him."
Ah, and there was the rub. Caligula is our location manager. Caligula had already been a little bit of a narcissist, but without Sergeant to openly defy him he had straight up gone into a power trip where he felt like he had to prove what a capable leader he was! Hell, on the day of the company Christmas Cookie exchange/ ugly sweater party, he made a female employee cry and then proceeded to passive-aggressively shame her in front of the whole team via a "mandatory group meeting" with a 30 minute speech that could be summarized into the phrase, "If you hate working here so much, then leave!" Three employees quit within 2 weeks of this incident. Stupid prizes, I suppose.
The reason for my concern had to do with the fact that Caligula was clearly trying to take some short-cuts in solving the issue of putting a 29 year old woman with a year of experience and a crumbling personal life in charge of keeping an entire company's finances. This shortcut included putting Fae in charge as a supervisor to my department, that way I was answering to someone, but that just meant yet another thing on Fae's plate. To top it off, he was going behind our backs when finding a new employee just as Fae and I were getting on the same page and learning to truly communicate, which showed he wasn't interested in knowing what purchasing needed since clearly Caligula, King of Cables, knew what was best.
I sighed a little, but gave Fae a small smile, "Well, hey! Maybe this is a good thing! I mean, it would have been nice if he asked for our input, but what can you do? Did he say anything about our new buyer?"
"All I really know is that he was a buyer for
I gave a small snort before rolling my eyes and turning back towards my computer. "After all the bullshit this divorce has put me through, I need to get the hell out of town for a week. Besides, I don't think even Walt Disney himself could keep my mom from dragging me down to Florida at this point. I've just about finished this slide on how to use the Suggestion List to place your orders while I'm gone. I'll start the slide on how to manually input POs, and if I have time I'll also make one for Customer Supply parts. If I hear anything about that list you gave me, I'll let you know."
"Thanks, Kitty! Keep me posted." With that, Fae walked off, and the rest of the week proceeded more or less as usual.
Fast forward two weeks. I walked into the office, expecting to meet my new colleague. I was told he'd be in the cubicle next to mine, but it was distinctively empty. Weird, but whatever. It wasn't my place to worry about if someone was on time or not, so I shrugged it off and proceeded to mind my own business. Some odd twenty-something minutes later, the doorbell rang. I went to the door, and there stood who I would soon learn was Devin.
Devin was a scraggly and worn down individual. I'll short cut my description of him by saying this– you know how in Japanese dramas you tend to have that one office worker character who looks like he's working on a combined total of 5 hours of sleep this week and is only being kept alive via canned coffees and 3 packs of cigarettes a day, all while looking longingly to the stairs that lead to the roof? So picture this poor, barely kempt, husk of a man whose dreams died long before the blade of his razor blade dulled too much to tackle the whisper of whiskers on his upper lip, and put him into khakis and a sloppy dress shirt. He stood a little hunched over, almost like he was uncertain if he was in the right place. He gave a wry and nervous little smile before speaking up.
"Uh… I'm looking for… Ah, they're a manager? I think their name starts with an A?"
I felt my face scrunch up as I thought this over. Now, even if I am using altered names to protect the bearded, the innocent, and my job, we don't have any managers whose name starts with an A. Fae's real name could sound like it starts with an A if you missed the first letter, but I proceeded to press.
"Did you happen to speak to someone before you came over?"
"Yeah."
"Do you happen to know if it was a man or a woman you spoke to?"
He gave the human equivalent to the dial-up tone, and I smiled politely to him.
"Tell you what, why don't you come in, and I'll see if I can find either Fae or Caligu–"
"That's them!"
"Uh, Fae?"
"Maybe her, but Caligraphy hired me." I blinked for a moment. Caligula's irl name might be slightly unconventional spelled, but it's phonetic enough not to mess it up. This guy completely whiffed our boss's name. Still, he was new, and I suck at remembering names, so who am I to judge?
I returned the polite smile to my face. "Ah. So you're the new purchasing team member? Nice to meet you! I'm Kitty. Fae said you'd be next to me, so I'll show you to your cubicle so you can settle in, and then I'll go find her."
He did not return the greeting, nor did he give me his name.
I showed him to his desk before I scurried off, and I let Fae know that our newest team member was here. You'd think she'd be thrilled, but she furrowed her brow before checking her watch. "He only just came in? He said he'd be here at 7:30, and it's past 8:20." She stood from her desk in the warehouse and asked that I join her and the new guy in the meeting room so that we could all be introduced properly.
The first meeting itself was pretty uneventful. Besides Devin reiterating what we already knew--15 years of purchasing experience, his last job being with Major Airline Company, and being hire by Caligula– I also got his name about halfway through the meeting (his name was asked at the beginning, and it took Fae asking him at 3 separate points to, ya know, answer that basic question), learned he was married with a kid, that his wife had threatened to divorce him if they continued to both work at Major Airline Company, that Devin has a hard time separating from work and personal life, and how he's thankful to be back to working in an office. He asked about my commute time, and when I relayed that I have to drive 40 minutes just to get to the office, Devin scoffed and said, "I would never work that far off again. I'm so glad I work just 5 minutes down the road!"
Now, this got a look from Fae and I. The obvious is because this dude was nearly an hour late to work on his first day, despite being 5 minutes down the road. The other reason was because Fae knew this was a bit of a sore spot for me. I had been only 15 minutes away, but with me being mid-divorce and paying off some hefty medical bills… Well, there was a reason I was now stuck with an hour+ commute back and forth 5 days a week. This new dude obviously didn't know that though, and I winced up a smile to politely say, "Oh! That's pretty lucky for you. Hopefully I'll be in the same boat soon."
The rest of the meeting went uneventful, and as we all left the room, Fae did pull Devin aside to chide him for being so late before asking him to follow me to my desk to learn how we do things in our company as well as some of my tips and tricks to get our system to work since Devin had never worked with our OS before.
This pseudo training ended up being a different kind of uneventful. You see, Devin had brought a notepad and pen to learn how the system worked…. Both went completely unused. I'd check in with him to ask if he had any notes or questions and he just replied with, "No. This seems pretty basic," and, "This seems easy enough." Alrighty. I'll admit my job usually isn't too complicated, but he was definitely far more interested in babbling on about his life to the point he'd interrupt me in order to talk about his family. He reiterated that he and his wife had worked at Major Airline Company together for several years and how she threatened to divorce him if he didn't quit his job and seek employment elsewhere. He spoke a lot about his son while revealing nothing about his kid outside of general good feelings towards his child. I heard a lot about his life story, and he never once asked me any questions. Not about life. Not about work. He just wanted to talk about himself endlessly while saying nothing at all.
By the end of the day, Fae asked what I thought about Devin.
"He's friendly…. He likes to socialize."
"Did the training go well?"
"Um… hard to tell. He didn't take any notes or really ask any work related questions. After a while, I just ended up doing my usual work while he chatted in the background. He said he understood what was going on, but when I asked if he wanted to try any of the things I was showing him he said nah, I'm good and kept chatting."
Fae pressed her lips in concern and took note.
For the next few weeks, Devin would show up whenever he could. You might think I mean that in the sense that things would come up and he'd call out. No no. He'd roll into the office at whatever time he felt like. He was confirmed for a 7:30 start time, but there were many mornings I'd get to the office long before him and he'd have some half-assed excuse for being late. At one point, Caligula did a company meeting praising Devin, despite Devin having done literally nothing. In fact, as I was looking over some of our recent orders, I was noting a pattern. Any order placed with Devin were unconfirmed, prices were all over the place, he was sending requests to the wrong vendors (think ordering fans from a place that specializes in wires despite our suggestion list listing someone else).
Eventually, corporate decided to bring Devin into headquarters for a week's worth of training since they realized he was causing a lot of issues. Two days after coming back from his corporate training, he tried having me order a military-grade item for a government contract off of Amazon saying, "This part isn't available anywhere else, and Kitty is the only one with the authority to buy off of Amazon in the office!" He had been given the task of buying this 1 item and spent 4 hours trying to find this part. As he whined to Fae about the impossibility of finding this part, I managed to find, purchase, and confirm shipping from the vendor we had in the vendor's list. The look on Fae's face was almost on par with Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star.
Two days later, Fae pulled me into the meeting room to inform me that Devin was no longer a part of the team. This man, who had been brought in to be the head of my department, lasted 2 and a half weeks. In that time, he attempted to do some work… but mostly he just caused more issues than he solved. I was still cleaning up his mistakes 3 months after his departure. Fae also took this time to let me know that she was pushing for me to become the head of my department. I'd be lying if I didn't say this had me super excited. After nearly 4 months of managing the purchasing department alone, it'd be amazing to be paid a living wage that could turn my life around. Plus, I like validation. I'm not ashamed to admit sometimes a little "Good job kiddo!" is all it takes to string me along on whatever bullshit I've been dragged into. I beamed for the entire rest of the day, excited for the possibilities that lay ahead of me…
And that is when Kevin entered the arena with a company-wide email declaring that corporate decided he was "now in charge of handling purchasing."
Welp, I'll leave it there for now. I have a few other stories I want to write up, but I promise to get in some Office Kevin stories as soon as possible. I've only been dealing with him since February, but dear God the amount of insanity I've had to deal with has been wild. I also apologize if this lost steam towards the end. Current Kevin has been a drain on my mental energy, so it has taken me a lot longer than I'm proud to admit to get even this much out. In the meantime, be good to each other.
Remember that you are loved, and you deserve to be loved.
2023.06.04 21:20 TheGooseGirl Anybody else hear that old SGI canard about how those who leave the cult "will come crawling back, begging for forgiveness"?
Here is a reference:
Edit: It might mean "the difficulty of maintaining faith (in the time period following the Buddha's extinction)".
And REMEMBER:
And:
THIS is why SGI members always recruit downward, never upward. They seek out people doing worse than themselves; that's the only kind of person they can ever hope to impress.
As if HE'd know the reality of the lives of people he's never even MET! Such arrogance!
Then Dick-Eata Scamse goes on for several paragraphs victim-blaming the disabled for everything he makes up that they supposedly did to DESERVE those disabilities. THAT's always a good look 🙄
Ikeda also prescribes monstrous punishment for those who refuse to be ruled by him and bullies others using their familial tragedies against them:
And if some delusional nobody many centuries ago wrote some delusional nonsense, that means REALITY has to conform to those ravings! BTW, Shakyamuni never declared that everyone who didn't agree with him must be "punished" - that came from the unknown writers of the Mahayana, Shakyamuni's CRITICS and DETRACTORS who fancied themselves qualified to rewrite the scriptures to be the way THEY wanted them to be - and then attribute them to Shakyamuni because they knew no one would listen to their crazy asses!
And hoping for critics to be punished - that's not a group you'd ever want to see in political power, is it?
Continuing with the Ikedascreed from before that bit ↑:
How many of YOU ever saw anyone who'd left the SGI "come crawling back, begging for forgiveness"? I never saw a single one, though I was assured they existed - somewhere...
submitted by TheGooseGirl to sgiwhistleblowers [link] [comments]
...You are the SGI. If you are not happy with SGI, you must work harder to make it better. Leaving the SGI is the same as trying to escape your karma, which can’t be done. The people who quit are deluded traitors. Those who betray the SGI are betraying Nichiren. They will experience retribution. Those who leave come crawling back to SGI begging for forgiveness.... SourceHere are some early sources - from none other than Icky Duh himself!
During the last war when the government and the military persecuted Mr. Makiguchi and Mr. Toda, it is said that most of the three thousand members at that time gave up the faith. This brings home to us the truth of Shikyonanji mentioned by Nichiren Daishonin.I don't know what "shikyonanji" means. Anyone?
Edit: It might mean "the difficulty of maintaining faith (in the time period following the Buddha's extinction)".
These persons are now in the depths of poverty, and living in misery. Many of them have come to ask me to forgive them and permit them to have the Gohonzon once more. In 1950 and 1951, when Sansho and Shima beset upon [sic] Mr. Toda, many members doubted the Gohonzon and abandoned the Sokagakkai. Most of them have come to ask pardon and to be allowed to join the Society [Sokagakkai] again.Really? Why are such examples never named? Ikeda is constantly alluding to anonymous examples who either do what he wishes people would do or who illustrate what he wishes was happening in reality.
Later, our Society encountered many trials in the form of abuse and libel in the Japanese presses and magazines and every stormy situation saw some persons quit the Society. They, however, are now asking for the Gohonzon and affiliation with the Sokagakkai again, attracted by the present influential position and splendid unity of the Society. When Miss Kashiwabara, Mr. Harashima and Mr. Kodaira failed in the Upper House election a few years ago, many left the Sokagakkai, saying, "Why this outcome, if we have the great Gohonzon?" A few years later they came to ask for readmission to the Society when they saw that the three leaders⏤Mr. Harashima and MIss Kashiwabara⏤gained the largest number of votes, and mr. Kodaira also received a fairly good ballot.Welp, I've been out over 15 years and I'm doing far better than I was as an SGI membeleader - and I'm doing better than anyone I knew in SGI (except for that one couple who got rich through entrepreneurship, built their dream home in Leucadia, CA, and a year later, the husband was dead of cancer), even those who'd practiced far longer than me. Even the Japanese ex-pat war bride "pioneers"!
The human mind is really unreliable. It is difficult indeed to keep faith in the Gohonzon in difficult situations. Those who have never lost the faith in the Gohonzon in spite of slander and abuse from their neighbors have without fail become quite happy, all of them receiving great divine favor.
Those who went astray have invited complete failure. They are beset by difficulties. Indeed, after ten or fifteen years there arises a surprising difference between piety and impiety. - Ikeda, ""Shikyonanji" speech, November 7, 1960, from Lectures on Buddhism Vol. I, The Seikyo Press, Tokyo, 1962, pp. 216-217.
If you desert the Gohonzon, you cannot find the way to happiness. I cannot repeat this too many times. I have seen members forsake the Gohonzon, then return to It [sic] three, seven, ten or fifteen years later. They never fail to apologize for their former behavior and begin again to pray to the Gohonzon. I told you this, hoping that you will not repeat their folly. - Ikeda, "Organization of Sokagakkai" speech, November 11, 1960, from Lectures on Buddhism Vol. I, The Seikyo Press, Tokyo, 1962, p. 232.More of the Ikeda cult fear training.
I wish you to be assiduous in practicing Shakubuku with the firm belief that even those who abuse at first will soon come to you again saying, "Please permit me to believe in the Gohonzon." - Ikeda, "Right or Wrong of Honzon" speech, December 6, 1960, from Lectures on Buddhism Vol. I, The Seikyo Press, Tokyo, 1962, p. 278.Hm. As if they need anyone's "permission" 🤨
And REMEMBER:
If someone criticizes our Society, he is committing one of the five deadly crimes. If he severely slanders True Buddhism, he cannot receive the divine benefits of the Gohonzon, but will live in great agony of punishment. This is the most dreadful thing one can imagine in life. - Ikeda, "Ha-Wagoso⏤Criticism of the Sokagakkai" speech, June 28, 1960, from Lectures on Buddhism Vol. I, The Seikyo Press, Tokyo, 1962, p. 118.Fear training
And:
There is another question as to why we should have faith in the Gohonzon. If we are well-off, healthy and have no troubles there may be no necessity to believe in the Gohonzon.Works for me!
THIS is why SGI members always recruit downward, never upward. They seek out people doing worse than themselves; that's the only kind of person they can ever hope to impress.
Such so-called health or happiness, however, will not necessarily continue forever. We cannot foretell the future. In this respect, we feel the necessity of religion. There is no one in the world without trouble or worry. Some people pretend not to suffer, but inwardly they all suffer much more bitterly than we.Ikeda, fancying himself everyone's "omniscient narrator" 🙄
As if HE'd know the reality of the lives of people he's never even MET! Such arrogance!
In the Kampatsu-bon, the 28th Chapter of the Hokekyo [Lotus Sutra], there are explanations about the cause of misery and misfortune in life. It reads, for example, "Those who have fallen to the ground should rise up again from the very same ground." It means that those who slander the Gohonzon must suffer indefinitely and that there is therefore no other way to efface their sins and to attain Buddhahood than to praise and worship the Dai-Gohonzon.Et tu, Ické?
A person who slanders the Gohonzon purposely or inadvertently will surely bring retribution upon himself. We suffer miserable lives because we spoke ill of the Gohonzon in the past. However hard one may strive and study, whatever honor one may have, he cannot solve his problems unless he is acquainted with the law of causality throughout the three existences of past, present and future.Nope - people in society are doing just fine without the Ikeda cult addiction.
Then Dick-Eata Scamse goes on for several paragraphs victim-blaming the disabled for everything he makes up that they supposedly did to DESERVE those disabilities. THAT's always a good look 🙄
Ikeda also prescribes monstrous punishment for those who refuse to be ruled by him and bullies others using their familial tragedies against them:
If someone should slander us, followers of the true faith, he is certain to receive dreadful retribution. He will never be able to live in peace if he insists on persecuting us. This is stated positively in the sutras of Sakyamuni [sic] and the Gosho of Nichiren Daishonin, and there are many actual proofs for it.That's nice, isn't it? The veiled threat: "WE will make sure they can never live in peace" 🤭
And if some delusional nobody many centuries ago wrote some delusional nonsense, that means REALITY has to conform to those ravings! BTW, Shakyamuni never declared that everyone who didn't agree with him must be "punished" - that came from the unknown writers of the Mahayana, Shakyamuni's CRITICS and DETRACTORS who fancied themselves qualified to rewrite the scriptures to be the way THEY wanted them to be - and then attribute them to Shakyamuni because they knew no one would listen to their crazy asses!
In more recent times, the officials who persecuted the presidents Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Josei Toda met similar fates in retribution for their evil deeds. One went insane, one had his head crushed by a street-car (showing the actual proof of the Buddha's word, "The slanderer will have his head broken into seven"), and another's child drowned in a river. These are actual proof of the punishment of those who slander the Gohonzon. Let's practice Shakubuku bravely with firm knowledge that those who defame us, believers of the Gohonzon, will be punished according to their deeds. - Ikeda, "Slanderers Will Incur Punishment" speech, May 26, 1960, from Lectures on Buddhism Vol. I, The Seikyo Press, Tokyo, 1962, pp. 42-43.Oh, that's nice, isn't it? Why don't Ikeda's direct disciples explain to us WHY Ikeda's favorite son died young (only age 29) from a perforated ulcer, which even in the year he died (1984) was rarely, if ever, fatal? Explain to us Ikeda's strokes! The Japanese describe having a stroke as "having one's head broken into 7 pieces", you know, and Icky's supposedly had TWO. WHY hasn't Ikeda made any public appearance where he spoke or delivered any kind of address on video or been interviewed by a newscaster since May, 2010, if something TERRIBLE isn't wrong that will shake EVERYBODY's faith if they were to SEE it with their own eyes?? We all KNOW what a spotlight hog Ikeda is - it's all he's ever lived for. He's chased the spotlight relentlessly his entire life; there's NO WAY he'd ever give that up unless he were FORCED to. Why does the Soka Gakkai keep Ikeda out of public view while still promoting him as everyone's "mentor" if there isn't something seriously wrong??
And hoping for critics to be punished - that's not a group you'd ever want to see in political power, is it?
'The final fate of all traitors is a degrading story of suffering and ignominy,' said President Makiguchi with keen perception. What he says is absolutely true, as you have seen with your own eyes. President Toda also declared: 'To betray the Soka Gakkai is to betray the Daishonin. You’ll know what I mean, when you see the retribution they incur at the end of their lives.' - Daisaku Ikeda
😱Continuing with the Ikedascreed from before that bit ↑:
In order to live a happy life, solving these problems, surmounting all hardships and changing our destinies, we must worship the Dai-Gohozon [sic] with ardent faith. It is not for the sake of others, Nichiren Shoshu, or the Shiki Chapter, that we worship the Gohonzon. It is because we know that we cannot be happy unless we worship the Gohonzon. - Ikeda, "The Sin of Slandering the Gohonzon" speech, June 24, 1960, from Lectures on Buddhism Vol. I, The Seikyo Press, Tokyo, 1962, pp. 107-110.SURE ya can! TRY IT ONCE!!
How many of YOU ever saw anyone who'd left the SGI "come crawling back, begging for forgiveness"? I never saw a single one, though I was assured they existed - somewhere...
2023.06.04 21:13 AlexRD19 NLMB Fallen Members Part 6/The War With PocketTown
 | 2019 was a hard year for NLMB, losing members back to back to different opps and starting a new bloody war with DeathRow was not easy for NLMB. In 2020 the war will slow down due to a lot of factors. Most members who put in work in the war will get locked up and NLMB will focus on other opps just like DeathRow, we will come back in the summer of 2022 to that beef. submitted by AlexRD19 to Chiraqhits [link] [comments] Willie "Ghost 🕊️" Coker08/31/2019I didn't had space to include Ghost in the last part so i decided to do it here, it's not that important to the NLMB/DeathRow beef so it's ok if i include it at the beginning. Ghost also known as Rat was a respected OG from GME, i am not sure if he was the target or not but DeathRow and Lakeside dissed him a lot, Fa Fa Fa said they killed Ghost and ever since then GME didn't do anything for him, ignore the video from the store, that's not Ghost, it's a mistake by the one who made the post, the one who died in the store was an innocent as far as i know and this happen after Ghost died. Ghost died in the same month as Willie, DeathRow was sliding a lot in 2019. Ghost was outside with multiple people in his own hood when shots rang out from an unknown direction, he was shot multiple times in the chest and he died at the hospital. "Ghost got hit up" 0:58 Michael "Aero 🕊️" Portis01/05/2020One of the reasons i believed Savo 🕊️ was killed by kings was Aero death, months after Savo died, Aero was sliding with FatLord 🔒 on some kings, which made sense at least during that time, Savo died in a hood cool with the kings, Aero is sliding on the kings, it was making sense into my head that Aero died trying to get revenge for Savo + that's what i was told, again i was wrong. As i said in my previous post, Savo was killed by NLMB, Aero was just a hothead who was sliding on his opps, nothing weird. Aero was on the frontline and did a lot of dirt for DeathRow, he earned the nickname "23" for a reason, in my previous post i put a screenshot with Fa Fa Fa straight up saying Aero killed G Dottie 🕊️. I know a lot of people believed Aero killed an innocent, but people told me that Garcia 🕊️ was a known king, why would Aero and FatLord slide on some innocents and specifically target them? Aero and FatLord were driving a turquoise SUV when they made a U-turn at the end of the street and parked in the block close to a king hood, both got out of the SUV with armed 9-mm handguns and approached Garcia and his neighbor as they were outside talking, they opened fire hitting the neighbor in the arm and hitting Garcia multiple times, Garcia returned fire with his own weapon striking Aero multiple times who died at the scene, FatLord was also shot multiple times, FatLord left Aero there and went to a hospital with the SUV in the same clothes that CPD saw on the footage. Garcia was pronounced dead at the hospital, police recovered 19 9-mm shell casings and 10 .40-caliber shell casings from the crime scene. This is a very controversial situation because at first, people said after FatLord recovered from his wounds, he told the police what happen and also snitched on BD 🕊️ but now they saying free him, they saying that someone else ratted and not him, but according to this article, CPD is using FatLord as a source, FatLord was the one who allegedly was the driver on the Willie hit, FatLord is still locked up so who knows. The scanner also confirms that they was sliding on some kings because they was having problems lately, it could be possible that some kings gave the location of Savo to NLMB, Savo was killed right at his home so NLMB probably got the drop from someone. NLMB and ABK will diss Aero hard because he killed G Dottie, someone also recorded Aero on the ground, which was heavily mocked by his opps. "Lil Aero a dumbass got hit on a hit" 0:23 Tristan "Tedo G 🕊️" Rogers04/05/2020NLMB first loss in 2020 but not because of gun violence, Tedo was from the MuskegonBoyz clique, he was killed by a car in DucciWay 🔱 hood, there is not a lot to say about him, he was a respected OG who was either related to Kobe 🕊️ or close to him. Shianne "Anna 🕊️" Reynolds04/19/2020Anna was a very loved member from MTG 079 now more known as BiyoBlock, she was Biyo 🕊️ sister, at first people believed that she was not gangbanging but that's false, there is a lot of captions with her saying she was using guns to slide, i don't think she was active when she died in that life and she probably was not the target either. However, she probably was active in the past and as we all know, the past is catching up to you, her vigil was also shot, allegedly by NLMB again. What i know is this, allegedly NLMB saw some MTG 079 members in traffic in SirconnCity 🔱 hood, they sped up behind them and shot the whole car, Anna was just unlucky since she was in the car with them, she was hit in the head and CPD pronounced her dead at the scene. This was one of the first getback NLMB got for Capo, but it will not stop here, NLMB will get more getback for Capo months later. 2020 was a hard year for MTG 079, they lost 4 members, Anna 🕊️, Pook 🕊️ who was not killed by any opps, LB 🕊️ an original who was also close to Biyo, LB was killed in DrillCity 📶🔱🅱️ hood, last one is Jeezy Snow 🕊️, we will get later to him. Anthony "C-Note 🕊️" Smith04/27/2020C-Note was an OG from NLMB, to be more specific he was from the MuskegonBoyz clique, from what i know he passed away from natural causes, nothing to do with gun violence. He was born in 1985 so he was old compared to a lot of main members from MuskegonBoyz clique like G Farro for example, you could say he was from that White Folks generation. Junius "BoBo 🕊️" Thurston05/07/2020BoBo was a very loved member from ABK, he was one of the main faces from there. BoBo was also a rapper, one of his best songs Pigs Hot where you can see a lot of ABK members including Yogi 🕊️, BoBo was close to NLMB as well, he did a song with Juvie and before his death you could see him around G Herbo. BlackMobb was having a field day when BoBo was killed, even though BoBo left that life behind while starting a truck company, it's not like your opps will forgive you or forget that you did dirt in the streets or hurt their people, that shit is stucked until you die, even if you are 30, 40, as long as you put yourself in danger(go back to the city) you can get killed anywhere. BoBo exit his car and went to a gas station in a relatively safe area far away from any hood, a black Audi pull up and a rear passenger open fire, he ran north from the station but then a gunman got out of the car and chased after him, firing more shots. BoBo collapsed and the gunman caught up to him standing over him and fired more shots, BoBo was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said he was shot multiple times. BlackMobb were not the only ones having a field day with his death, PocketTown also dissed him: "BoBo got his ass smoked, 20 bullets took his soul" 2:45 It is sad because BlackMobb and ABK were like this, but friends are turning to enemies and both sides lost main members in this war. Lee "KTS Rio 🕊️" Cameron07/12/2020If you follow the drill scene, then you know who was KTS Rio, one of the main faces from PocketTown and Lil Los 🔒 little brother, he was a huge loss for PocketTown, after his death a lot of stuff went down. Rio was driving a vehicle with two other teenagers near a gas station in KakiWorld 🔱🅱️⭐️✊🏿 hood when a silver SUV pulled up and someone inside started shooting, Rio was shot multiple times and he was pronounced dead at the hospital. The 14-year-old boy was shot in the back and a 17-year-old boy was hit in the right arm, both were taken to the hospital in good condition. After his death PocketTown goes by "RioGang" in his honour, Rio was also one of their main rappers, one of his most known song is NLMBK, Faro dissed him in a song after he died: "Rio got hit and they left his ass twitching" 0:38 "Rio got hit, y'all ain't get your getback" 1:05 A lot of people are saying NLMB killed KTS Rio but if you watch Freeband BoBo 🕊️ video that CH88 made, it is very clear that NLMB didn't do anything to Rio, because the war started when Lil Greg 🕊️ was killed, that's also what BoBo said. The beef was not serious until Lil Greg died, BoBo also said the whole war started because of a bitch, Lil Greg wanted to call his guys to kill BoBo because of a girl. Feel free to watch the video, it's explaining a lot of stuff. Remember there is a difference between "twitter beef" like disses and blood beef, KTS Dre did dirt on NLMB but he did that for Lakeside while PocketTown was his second hood(he started to claim PocketTown after KTS Von died), so Lil Greg was the first guy to die in that beef, we will get later to him. Now honestly it is not known who killed KTS Rio, but one of the most plausible theory is that SirconnCity killed him, months after KTS Rio died, PocketTown lost KDawg 🕊️, another top member while sliding on SirconnCity hood, his article doesn't mention anything about sliding but both sides said that. "We doing hits without hoodies and masks, Rio got hit, he got stretched like an elastic" 1:08 "KDawg got hit on a hit, he dead" 0:24 They are main opps but since PocketTown top members were sliding, i think that means something, especially after Rio died. This won't stop at KTS Rio, this year would be the most hardest year for PocketTown, they will lose 6 members in one year and they was all top members, but not all of them were killed by opps. Big Glizzy/Lil James 🕊️ (June 07 2020), killed at a party in Robbins, a suburb of Chicago. KTS Rio 🕊️ (July 12 2020), KDawg 🕊️ (September 27 2020), Nuke 30 🕊️ (November 25 2020), killed OT, LA Glizzy/Lil Ant 🕊️ (January 12 2021), killed OT, Killa Spook 🕊️ (March 26 2021), we will get later to Killa Spook. "They lost 6 niggas in one year, tryna make the rest of them disappear" 1:53 Antoine "BT 🕊️" Rose08/22/2020BT was a very loved member from NLMM and 358Gang, he claimed both sets, he was also close to NLMB, one of the reasons he died. Even though NLMB and 358Gang are opps, as i said in my previous parts, NLMM was always a set focusing on money, they was never known to slide like that, so that's probably why he was close to NLMB and cool with NLMB opps, 358Gang. BT also appeared on the Maurice show. I think everyone knows that Fa Fa Fa straight up said they killed BT, so why they killed him? Well even though BT was not involved in their beef, it doesn't matter, he was close to NLMB and 358Gang killed Mook 🕊️ in 2019, so DeathRow got their getback for him. I don't think BT was the specific target because the shooting occured in TheBush 👑🦁 territory, which are opps to DeathRow. BT was shot in the head and in the abdomen, CPD pronounced him dead at the scene, a 32 year old man was also shot in the abdomen and in the leg, he was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Sean "Cello Da Shoota 🕊️" Wilson09/07/2020There was a lot of back and forth between NoGood and NLMB, mainly because NLMB killed Montae 🕊️ and it was forever stuck there, even though NoGood and NLMB are old opps, that beef was really inactive compared to Lakeside for example, but this all changed when Montae was killed, Montae was very loved by NoGood and like Jeff Fort said "there is not going to be any killing without killing" Cello was not really a main face from NLMB, he was from the NoLimit clique but his original hood was JBG 🔱 also known as MoneGang. Cello was driving with someone else in the car in NoGood ⭐️✊🏿 hood, Jay Savage and Deonte 🔒 fired shots and the person in the backseat fired back, hitting one of them in the forearm, Cello was hit in the neck and died at the hospital, the other person was listed in good condition after being shot in his thigh, he has a license to carry his gun. Jay Savage and Deonte were both charged with his murder, both were from NoGood and close to Montae. Deshawn "Jeezy Snow 🕊️" Fletcher10/15/2020Jeezy was in ABK 4️⃣🍸⭐️✊🏿🔱 hood driving his car when Mally 🔒 opened fire from the sunroof of a silver Chrysler 300, he was shot multiple times in the head, neck and upper torso, he died at the hospital two days later. There is a lot of contradiction of the car used in the murder, what we know for sure is that Mally shot from the sunroof. Mally also searched the murder on google to see if Jeezy died. This was a a crazy hit for many reasons, one of them is that Lil Wet was driving the car, Lil Wet did this two months after he beat his quadruple murder case, the case is complicated but to this day Mally is still locked up for it. The full foia if you want to read more, from what i know the case is very strong against Mally but let's be real, Lil Wet beat a quadruple murder, everything is possible in Chicago, so i won't be surprised if he is beating it. Lil Wet also hinted in his song "Nun Stop" about the hit, the music video was deleted or made private, but the audio version is still up. "Gotta ride for my gang, Steph got the wheel, Lil Mally might come out the roof " 0:44 Jeezy was actually very close to DoggPound 🅱️, you can see him around them in old videos and i think he was related to some members from there too, i am not sure if he was claiming DoggPound at one point but members from there still say rip to him, again it doesn't mean every DoggPound member was close to him. It is a complicated situation but this was another getback NLMB got for Capo, a top member from MTG 079 and very loved. Gregory "Lil Greg 🕊️" Jackson III01/28/2021The death that started all and guess what caused this? Well if you didn't guess it, it was a bitch, Lil Greg 🕊️ got into his feelings because BoBo 🕊️ was messing with a girl that he liked so when Lil Greg saw him, he tried to get the green light from other members to come and kill him right there, allegedly NLMB told him BoBo is not an opp and that he is staying out of the way, Lil Greg tried to call other members but it was too late. PocketTown members got the drop from BoBo and went to kill Lil Greg who was in a barbershop far away from EastSide, Lil Don 🔒 walked up to him and shot Lil Greg in the face inside the barbershop, he was pronounced dead shortly after at the hospital, CK was actually charged because they found him in the same car that was used in the murder, he stayed solid and beat the case, CK was the one driving. Lil Greg was a very loved member from NLMB and a main face from there, he was from the MuskegonBoyz clique but very close to G Herbo and even celebrities like 21 Savage paid respects to him, he was respected because he was a trapper making money from drugs to raise his kids, his death hurt a lot of people and you could say that his death made "DrenchGang" more famous because the getback was huge in terms of impact on the media, i am of course speaking about KTS Dre, his death was international news because of the way he died + Killa Spook, we will get later to them. "Me and Gregg was sharin' clothes, but we weren't really bros" 0:18 "Lil Greg died, that started some shit, but how many checked after broski got hit?" 0:36 he is also upping 4 fingers, which is probably a reference to Killa Spook, KTS Dre, BoBo and probably Lil Don from PaxTown. Moowop 🔒 also confirmed 3 opps died for Lil Greg, again most likely a reference to Killa Spook, KTS Dre and BoBo. Lil Don was also shot multiple times but he survived NLMB was hurt but the opps were dissing Lil Greg hard, especially Lil Don: Lil Don called Lil Greg biggest score of 2021 This started a new bloody war in the EastSide which caused a lot of damage, members getting locked up, members getting killed, members getting shot and so on, PocketTown was also unlucky to get hit with a "RICO" and most of their top members got locked up, there is barely any main faces out there besides Denny G and Lil Ant, they also have internal beef now. The indictment also mentions they found the gun which was used in Lil Greg murder, the whole situation was fucked up for PocketTown, they lost like 10 members to this indictment + Lil Don got locked up + internal beef, the whole hood was hit hard by this indictment and a lot of "snitching" rumours are in the air. The members who got locked up are Lil Rah 🔒, EJ(he was released), Rello 🔒, Dreski 🔒 MT Larry🔒 who actually shot back when Spook died, Corey Got Clout 🔒, PacMigo 🔒, Dwight 🔒 and DreadHead Larry 🔒 Dante "Killa Spook 🕊️" Thomas03/26/2021Killa Spook was like a leader in PocketTown, he had a lot of respect and his name says it all "Killa Spook" it's not a name you earn for doing nothing, he was a known killer who did a lot for PocketTown, him and KTS Von 🕊️ went to slide on Lamron in the past, he was very active, him and Denny G were sliding on SirconnCity as well. Spook 🕊️ was partying with a lot of members inside StainCity🔱⭐️✊🏿 hood, it was a party for their fallen member KDawg 🕊️ who was killed sliding on SirconnCity in 2020, two shooters(this might be PocketTown shooting back but i personally think those are the offenders), NLMB and GME got the drop from a bitch and shot the whole party up, Killa Spook was shot by a stray bullet through a window, he was pronounced dead at the scene, Lord was shot in the head and he was taken to the hospital in critical condition, Denny G was taken to the hospital in critical condition and he recovered after some time, other members got shot as well but it was nothing serious like the ones i mentioned above. Right after the party got shot up, PocketTown went to slide on NLMB and hit someone in the leg, there are a lot of things that points NLMB for doing this hit but it is confirmed that GME was also involved, Lil B from GME was arrested by CPD with the car used in the murder, he was released because CPD didn't had proof that he did the murder. There are many names around Spook death, Faro, Lil Ro, Twino 🕊️, EMoe from GME, 7Moe 🕊️ from GME, it is not known exactly who killed Spook but it is hard to tell, what should be confirmed for sure is that it was a NLMB/GME hit, even CPD and FBI believes that. In case you guys don't know, FBI was trying to build a RICO but their main suspect Max 🕊️ was killed, so i think the case is really not that strong anymore. I do think FBI is monitoring what is going on between NLMB and PocketTown now. PocketTown was hurt to the core by his death, NLMB and GME were dissing like crazy and celebrating Lil Greg a lot, it's a lot of disses that i am sure most of you saw, if you want way more details, watch CH88 video. Londre "KTS Dre 🕊️" Sylvester07/10/2021Dre was getting out of prison after his fiancee paid his $5,000 bond on Friday, for some reason Dre decided to leave only on Saturday, what Dre didn't knew is that his decision will cost him his life and potentially the life of two other innocent females. Dre was shot around 64 times by multiple shooters from two different vehicles far away from EastSide in every side of his body, a 60 year old female was shot in the knee and a 35 year old female suffered a graze to her mouth while walking by, both were taken to the hospital in good condition. Dre was DOA and his death will have a huge impact in the streets, after his death the president of America, Joe Biden, was forced to do a meeting to slow the violence in Chicago, this was because his death had an immense impact in the international news because of the way that he died. I would leave in the comments a list of some the countries news speaking about KTS Dre, because it would take too much space in the post. Dre was an upcoming rapper in the drill scene, his most famous song being a feature with Rio called "NLMBK Pt. 2" but in the drill scene he mostly became known for punching Kyro, one of the many reasons Kyro diss him a lot. Dre was very active in the streets before his death, he did a lot of dirt and a lot of his opps wanted him gone. Dre was also suspected by CPD for killing Magic 🕊️ in 2019. He was originally from LakeSide but he started to claim PocketTown after the death of his brother in 2015, he is what people believe Von was, don't get me wrong, Von was active in the streets but Dre was something else. I heard many names around Dre death, Faro, the DrenchGang Twins, Moowop, Kyro, Lil Hot, honestly i am not sure who killed Dre but NLMB and even PocketTown/LakeSide made it known who did it on social media. Faro being pretty clear that this was a getback for Lil Greg. Losing so many people in such a short time affected PocketTown in many ways, a lot of them decided to step down because when shit gets real, you need to think about your life too, most of them have families, it might be a coward way but can you blame them? 10 members locked up for indictment, 9 top members killed between 2020-2022, Denny G was almost killed, Meechie was almost killed, Lil Don got locked up, Lil Art barely survived after being shot 20 times, Lord was left in critical condition, this is the worst period for PocketTown and Lil Don also confirmed that his people are scared and he only got four guys who are willing to slide. Sadly the ones who will suffer the most is the family, his mom was devastated that she can't even give him a proper funeral because of the way that he died. Christopher "Gucci 🕊️" Daniels08/05/2021Gucci was near the sidewalk in GhettoWorld 4️⃣🍸 hood when a vehicle passed by and someone fired shots at him, he was shot in the chest and he was pronounced dead at the hospital. This is one month after Dre was killed, Gucci was a member from the MuskegonBoyz clique, i didn't saw PocketTown or LakeSide celebrating anything, in fact they still say "getback got no date" for Spook and Dre, it might be other opps that NLMB have, remember NLMB beefs with 30+ sets, it could also be personal beef, mistaken identity and so on. Felder "Stro Dolla 🕊️" Tatum Jr.08/15/2021Stro Dolla was with a group of people inside GottiWorld 🔱 hood when someone opened fire and hit him in the chest, he was pronounced dead at the hospital, a 34 year old woman was also shot in the leg, she was taken to the hospital in good condition. Again i don't think he was the target but who knows, i didn't saw any opps celebrating, Stro Dolla was claiming NLMM but he was close to NLMB.He was also close to BT 🕊️ who was killed in 2020 by DeathRow, he was also a rapper, most likely Stro Dolla was just at the wrong time, wrong place, to my knowledge GottiWorld and NLMM or NLMB don't have beef. GottiWorld are actually opps to PocketTown. |
2023.06.04 21:07 mthw704 (SELLING) BIG LIST OF 4K/HD/SD CODES. Great selection at with fair prices. Huge $2 list. Over 4,000 transactions.
The Big List
Disney codes are split & do not include the GP portion, but the DMI points are included.
All Sony titles include points as long as the title is eligible. Please only redeem the portion of a code you are paying for. Prices are firm for now.
I accept Cashapp, Venmo, Zelle, Fb pay & PayPal F&F. Comment & pm if interested. Thanks!
🦝
Mortal Kombat [2021] (MA)
Sonic The Hedgehog (Vudu or iTunes)
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Ant Man & The Wasp (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Beauty & The Beast [1991] (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Captain America: Civil War (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (iTunes/ports)
Guardians Of The Galaxy (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Hell Or High Water (Vudu)
Scream [2022] (iTunes)
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (iTunes)
Spiral: From The Book Of Saw (Vudu or iTunes)
Sting, The [1973] (iTunes/ports)
Terminator: Dark Fate (Vudu)
Toy Story (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Dentist 1 & 2, The (Vudu)
Jerry & Marge Go Large (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Rescuers: Down Under, The (MA + 150 points)
🦝
Alien: Resurrection (MA, iTunes or Google Play/ports)
Company Of Heroes [2013] (MA)
Ever After: A Cinderella Story [1998] (MA)
Jungle Book, The [1967] (MA + 150 points)
Legion Of Super-Heroes (MA)
Lilo & Stitch (MA + 150 points)
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has A Glitch (MA + 150 points)
Lion King 1 & ½, The (MA + 150 points)
Men [A24] (Vudu or Google Play)
Minions + Minions: The Rise Of Gru double feature (MA)
Nightmare Before Christmas, The (MA + 150 points)
Step Brothers [Theatrical & Unrated] (MA)
Transporter, The [2002] (MA or Google Play/ports)
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Apollo 13 (iTunes/ports)
Avengers: Age Of Ultron (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Big Hero 6 (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Birth Of A Nation, The (iTunes/ports)
Captain Marvel (MA + 200 points)
Coco (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Doctor Strange (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Everest [2015] (iTunes/ports)
Frozen II (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Hocus Pocus (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Moana (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Rambo: First Blood (iTunes)
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (iTunes)
Transformers: The Last Knight (Vudu)
World's End, The (iTunes/ports)
Zootopia (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
🦝
About Last Night [2014] (MA + Sony points)
American Assassin (Vudu)
American Underdog (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Batman & Superman: Battle Of The Super Sons (MA)
Black Widow [2021] (MA + 150 points)
Book Of Life, The [2014] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (MA + 150 points)
Dolittle [2020] (MA)
Encanto (MA + 150 points)
Eternals [2021] (MA + 150 points)
Goosebumps 2 [2018] (MA + Sony points)
How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (MA)
Joe [2014] (Vudu)
Jungle Book, The [1967] (MA only/no points)
Kill The Messenger (iTunes/ports)
Les Misérables [1998] (MA)
Lightyear [2022] (MA + 150 points)
Lilo & Stitch (Google Play/ports)
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has A (Google Play/ports) or both for $5
London Has Fallen (iTunes/ports)
Minions: The Rise Of Gru (MA)
Monster Calls, A [2017] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Moonlight [A24] (Vudu)
Northman, The [2022] (MA)
Onward [2020] (MA + 150 points)
Peter Pan [1953] (MA + 150 points)
Phantom Thread (MA)
Place Beyond The Pines, The (iTunes/ports)
Rescuers, The (Google Play/ports)
Rescuers: Down Under, The (Google Play/ports)
Shang Chi & The Legend Of The Ten Rings (MA + 150 points)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (MA + Sony points)
Super Buddies [2013] (MA + 100 points)
This Is The End (MA + Sony points)
Thor: Love & Thunder (MA + 150 points)
Top Gun (Vudu)
Triple 9 (iTunes/ports)
🦝
All codes are $2. Prices are firm for now. Please only redeem the you are paying for. Any Disney codes are split. MA/iTunes Disney will include points but not the GP redeem. All Sony titles include points as long as the title is eligible. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I accept Cashapp, Venmo, Zelle, Fb pay or PayPal F&F. Comment & pm if interested. Thanks for checking out my list.
🦝
About Time [2013] (MA)
Action Point (iTunes 4K)
Adventures Of Tintin, The (Vudu or iTunes)
Age Of Adaline, The (Vudu, iTunes or Google Play)
Alien Covenant (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA/GP)
All Eyez On Me (iTunes)
Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Road Chip (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Amazing Spider-Man, The (MA)
Amazing Spider-Man 2, The (MA + Sony points)
American Girl: McKenna Shoots For The Stars (MA or iTunes/ports)
American Reunion [Unrated] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (Vudu or iTunes)
Annihilation [2018] (Vudu)
Ant Man (Google Play/ports)
Arrival [2016] (Vudu)
Assassin's Creed (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Bad Boys For Life (MA + Sony points)
Bad Grandpa (iTunes)
Bad Moms (iTunes/ports)
Batman, The [2022] (MA)
Battleship [2012] (iTunes/ports 4K)
Beauty & The Beast [2017] (MA + 150 points/iTunes option is expired)
Big Wedding, The (iTunes)
Black Panther (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA + 150 points)
Black Widow [2021] (Google Play/ports)
Book Club (Vudu)
Boss Baby, The (MA)
Brian Banks (MA)
Bridge Of Spies (Google Play/ports)
Cabin In The Woods, The (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Case For Christ, The (iTunes/ports)
Contraband (iTunes/ports)
Daddy's Home (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Dallas Buyers Club (iTunes/ports)
Darkest Hour [2017] (MA)
Deepwater Horizon (iTunes 4K)
Despicable Me [2010] (MA)
Despicable Me 2 (iTunes/ports 4K)
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (MA or iTunes/ports)
Divergent (iTunes 4K)
Divergent Series: Insurgent (iTunes 4K)
Django Unchained (Vudu)
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (Google Play/ports)
Dog's Purpose, A (MA or iTunes/ports)
Dragonheart: Battle For The Heartfire (MA or iTunes/ports)
Duff, The (iTunes)
Dying Of The Light (Vudu)
Edward Scissorhands (MA)
Emoji Movie, The (MA + Sony points)
Ender's Game (iTunes 4K or Google Play HD)
Epic [2013] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Eternals [2021] (Google Play/ports) PENDING
Ex Machina (Vudu)
Expendables 3, The (Vudu 4K)
Fast & Furious 6, The [Extended] (iTunes/ports 4K)
Fault In Our Stars, The (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Fifty Shades Darker [Unrated] (iTunes/ports 4K)
Fifty Shades Of Grey [Unrated] (iTunes/ports 4K)
Finding Dory (iTunes/ports 4K or HD + 150 points)
Flight [2012] (Vudu or iTunes)
Free Guy (Google Play/ports)
Frozen (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA + 150 points)
Gemini Man (iTunes 4K or Vudu HD)
Ghostbusters [2016] [Theatrical & Extended] (MA + Sony points)
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Girl On The Train, The [2016] (iTunes/ports 4K)
God's Not Dead 2 (iTunes/ports)
Gods Of Egypt (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Good Day To Die Hard, A [Extended] (MA or Google Play/ports)
Grace Unplugged (Vudu)
Greatest Showman, The (MA)
Grey, The [2012] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Hacksaw Ridge (Vudu or Google Play)
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters [Unrated] (Vudu or iTunes)
Hateful Eight, The (Vudu or Google Play)
Haunting In Connecticut 2: The Ghosts Of Georgia, The (Vudu)
Heat, The [2013] (MA)
Heaven Is For Real (MA + Sony points)
Hell Or High Water (Vudu or Google Play)
Hercules [2014] (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Hidden Figures (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Hitman's Bodyguard, The (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Holiday Inn [1942] (MA)
Home [2015] (MA)
Home Alone (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA/GP)
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (MA, iTunes or Google Play/ports)
How To Train Your Dragon 2 (MA)
Hugo (iTunes)
Hunger Games, The (iTunes 4K)
Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The (iTunes 4K or Google Play HD)
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part, The (iTunes 4K)
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, The (iTunes 4K)
Huntsman: Winter's War, The [Extended] (iTunes/ports 4K)
I Can Only Imagine (Vudu, iTunes or Google Play)
Independence Day: Resurgence (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA/GP)
Instant Family (iTunes 4K)
Interstellar (Vudu or Google Play)
It's A Wonderful Life [1947] (Vudu)
Jackass 3 [Theatrical] (Vudu or iTunes)
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (Vudu)
Jarhead 2: Field Of Fire [Unrated] (MA)
Jason Bourne (iTunes/ports 4K)
Jaws (MA)
Jessabelle (Vudu)
John Wick (iTunes 4K or Vudu/GP HD)
John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (iTunes 4K)
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (MA + Sony points)
Jungle Cruise (MA + 150 points)
Jurassic Park [1993] (iTunes/ports 4K)
Jurassic Park III [2001] (MA)
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (MA)
Kick-Ass 2 (MA or iTunes/ports)
Killer Elite (iTunes/ports)
Kung Fu Panda 3 (MA)
Last Stand, The [2013] (Vudu, iTunes or Google Play)
Last Witch Hunter, The (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Lee Daniels' The Butler (Vudu)
Legend Of Hercules, The (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Life Of Pi (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA/GP)
Little Mermaid, The (Google Play/ports)
Logan (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Lone Survivor (iTunes/ports 4K)
Longest Ride, The (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Lorax, The [2012] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Love & Mercy [2015] (Vudu)
Luca (Google Play/ports)
Lucy (iTunes/ports 4K)
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (MA)
Maggie (Vudu)
Maleficent (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA + 150 points)
Marvel's The Avengers [2012] (Google Play/ports)
Mechanic: Resurrection (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Mindgamers (MA)
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (iTunes 4K)
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (iTunes 4K)
Monuments Men, The (MA + Sony points)
Mr. Peabody & Sherman (MA)
Mud (Vudu)
Mummy, The [2017] (iTunes/ports)
Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Noah [2014] (Vudu or iTunes)
Non-Stop [2014] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Now You See Me 2 (iTunes 4K)
Nut Job 2 : Nutty By Nature, The (iTunes/ports)
Other Woman, The [2014] (MA, iTunes or Google Play/ports)
Overlord [2019] (Vudu)
Oz The Great & Powerful (MA + 100 points)
Pain & Gain (Vudu)
Paper Towns (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Paranormal Activity [Theatrical] (Vudu or iTunes)
Paranormal Activity 2 [Unrated Director's Cut] (iTunes)
Paranormal Activity 3 [Extended] (iTunes)
Paul [2011] [Unrated] (iTunes/ports)
Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters (MA or Google Play/ports)
Peter Pan [1953] (Google Play/ports)
Pet Sematary [2019] (Vudu)
Pirate Fairy, The (Google Play/ports
Pitch Perfect (iTunes/ports 4K)
Pitch Perfect 2 (iTunes/ports 4K)
Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 3 (Google Play/ports)
Planes [2013] (MA + 150 points)
Possession, The [2012] (iTunes)
Prometheus (MA)
Purge: Anarchy, The (iTunes/ports 4K)
Purge: Election Year, The (iTunes/ports 4K)
Quiet Place, A [2018] (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Riddick [2013] [Unrated] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Ride Along (MA or iTunes/ports)
Ride Along 2 (iTunes/ports)
Rise Of The Guardians [2011] (MA)
Russell Madness (MA or Google Play/ports)
Safe [2012] (Vudu or Google Play)
Safe House [2012] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Saving Mr. Banks (Google Play/ports)
Secret Life Of Pets, The (iTunes/ports 4K)
Selma (Vudu or iTunes)
Shang Chi & The Legend Of The Ten Rings (Google Play/ports)
Sicario (Vudu 4K, iTunes 4K or Google Play HD)
Silver Linings Playbook (Vudu or Google Play)
Sing [2016] (iTunes/ports 4K)
Sinister (iTunes)
Smurfs 2, The [2013] (MA)
Snatched [2017] (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Snow White & The Huntsman [Extended] (iTunes/ports 4K)
Solo: A Star Wars Story (Google Play/ports)
Space Between Us, The (MA or iTunes/ports)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (MA + Sony points)
Star Trek [2009] (iTunes 4K)
Star Trek Beyond (iTunes 4K)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA + 150 points)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Ted [Unrated] (MA)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Terminator: Genisys (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
This Is 40 [Theatrical] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Thor: Love & Thunder (Google Play/ports)
Thor: Ragnarok (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA + 150 points)
Toy Story 4 (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA + 150 points)
Trolls (MA)
True Blood: Season 4 (iTunes)
True Grit [2010] (Vudu)
Turbo [2013] (MA)
Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions Of A Marriage Counselor (Google Play)
Valerian & The City Of A Thousand Planets (Vudu)
Venom (MA + Sony points)
Walk Among The Tombstones, A (iTunes/ports)
War For The Planet Of The Apes (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA/GP)
Warm Bodies (iTunes 4K or GP HD)
War Room [2015] (MA + Sony points)
When The Game Stands Tall (MA + Sony points)
Why Him? (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Wild Card (Vudu or Google Play)
Wolf Of Wall Street, The (Vudu)
Woman In Black, The [2012] (MA)
Woman In Gold (Vudu)
Wonder [2017] (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
XXX: Return Of Xander Cage (iTunes 4K)
Zootopia (MA + 150 points/no iTunes option)
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Descendants, The (iTunes/ports)
Inside Llewyn Davis (MA)
Juno (iTunes/ports)
Marley & Me (iTunes/ports)
Mr. Popper's Penguins (iTunes/ports)
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (iTunes/ports)
Rocker, The [2008] (iTunes/ports)
This Means War (iTunes/ports)
Tree Of Life, The (iTunes/ports)
We Bought A Zoo (iTunes/ports)
What Happens In Vegas [Extended] (iTunes/ports)
🦝
$1 Codes
Alex Cross (Vudu)
Avengers: Age Of Ultron (Google Play/ports)
Avengers: Endgame (Google Play/ports)
Avengers: Infinity War (Google Play/ports)
Beauty & The Beast [2017] (Google Play/ports)
Big Hero 6 (Google Play/ports)
Black Panther (MA without points or Google Play/ports)
Bourne Ultimatum, The (MA)
Captain America: Winter Soldier (Google Play/ports)
Captain Marvel (Google Play/ports)
Choice, The [2016] (iTunes)
Deadpool (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA/GP)
Divergent (Vudu)
Divergent Series: Insurgent, The (Vudu or Google Play)
Doctor Strange (Google Play/ports)
Ender's Game (Vudu)
Escape Plan (Vudu)
Expendables 2, The (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Expendables 3, The [Theatrical] (iTunes 4K)
Expendables 3, The [Unrated] (Vudu, iTunes or Google Play)
Fast & Furious 6 [Extended] (MA)
Fast Five [Extended] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Fate Of The Furious, The [8] [Theatrical] (HD MA)
Fifty Shades Darker [Unrated] (MA)
Finding Dory (Google Play/ports)
Furious 7 [Extended] (MA)
Girl On The Train, The (MA) PENDING
Girls Trip (MA or iTunes/ports)
Hillsong: Let Hope Rise (MA or iTunes/ports)
Hocus Pocus (Google Play/ports)
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, The (Vudu)
I Feel Pretty (iTunes)
Inside Out (Google Play/ports)
Iron Man 3 (MA only/no points or Google Play/ports)
John Wick 3 (Google Play)
Jungle Cruise [2021] (Google Play/ports)
Jurassic Park [1993] (MA)
Jurassic World (MA)
Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (Vudu)
Kidnap [2017] (iTunes/ports)
Lightyear [2022] (Google Play/ports)
Lion King, The [2019] (Google Play/ports)
Logan Lucky (MA)
Lone Survivor (MA)
Maleficent (Google Play/ports)
Mission Impossible: Fallout (Vudu)
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Vudu)
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (Vudu)
Moana (Google Play/ports)
Norm Of The North (Vudu)
Now You See Me (Vudu or iTunes)
Oz: The Great & Powerful (Google Play/ports)
Pitch Perfect 2 (MA)
Planes (Google Play/ports)
Purge, The [2013] (MA)
Purge: Election Year, The (MA)
Red 2 (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Google Play/ports)
Secret Life Of Pets, The (MA)
Star Trek Beyond (Vudu)
Star Trek: Into Darkness (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Ted [Theatrical] (iTunes/ports)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2014] (Vudu)
Thor: Ragnarok (Google Play/ports)
Transformers: Age Of Extinction (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (Vudu)
Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection (Vudu)
Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions Of A Marriage Counselor (Vudu)
Unbroken [2014] (MA)
World War Z (Vudu)
XXX: Return Of Xander Cage (Vudu)
Zootopia (Google Play/ports)
🦝
Amazing Spider-Man, The (MA)
Annie [2014] (MA + Sony points)
Call Me By Your Name [2017] (MA + Sony points)
Captain Phillips (MA + Sony points)
Despicable Me (iTunes/ports)
Devil Inside, The [2012] (Vudu)
Elysium (MA + Sony points)
Equalizer, The (MA + Sony points)
Family Guy: Blue Harvest (iTunes)
Family Guy: It's A Trap! (iTunes)
Fury [2014] (MA + Sony points)
Glee: The Concert (iTunes/ports)
Haunting In Connecticut, The (iTunes)
Heaven Is For Real (MA + Sony points)
Hobo With A Shotgun (iTunes)
Hope Springs [2012] (MA)
Hours [2013] (Vudu)
Hugo (Vudu)
Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (iTunes/ports)
Immortals [2011] (iTunes)
Internship, The [2013] (iTunes/ports)
Judy Moody & The Not Bummer Summer (iTunes)
Jumanji: The Next Level (MA + Sony points)
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (MA + Sony points)
Life As We Know It (iTunes)
Mama Mia! The Movie (iTunes/ports)
Monuments Men, The (MA + Sony points)
Morbius (MA + Sony points) PENDING
Mortal Instruments : City Of Bones, The (MA + Sony points)
One For The Money (iTunes)
Ong Bak 3 (iTunes)
Peter Rabbit (MA)
Rio (iTunes/ports)
Robin Hood [2010] [Unrated] (iTunes/ports)
Safe Haven (iTunes)
Star, The [2017] (MA + Sony points)
This Is The End (MA + Sony points)
Total Recall [2012] (MA + Sony points)
X-Men: First Class (iTunes/ports)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (iTunes/ports)
🦝
Cabin In The Woods, The (iTunes SD only)
Expendables 2, The (Vudu SD only or iTunes SD only)
Frozen (Google Play/ports HD)
Hunger Games, The (Vudu SD or iTunes SD)
Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The (Vudu HD)
Jurassic Park [1993] (iTunes/ports SD)
Perks Of Being A Wallflower, The (iTunes SD only)
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (iTunes/ports SD)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Google Play/ports HD)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Google Play/ports HD)
Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection (iTunes HD only)
What To Expect When You're Expecting (iTunes SD only)
submitted by mthw704 to DigitalCodeSELL [link] [comments]
Disney codes are split & do not include the GP portion, but the DMI points are included.
All Sony titles include points as long as the title is eligible. Please only redeem the portion of a code you are paying for. Prices are firm for now.
I accept Cashapp, Venmo, Zelle, Fb pay & PayPal F&F. Comment & pm if interested. Thanks!
🦝
MISC
Bram Stoker's Dracula + Mary Shelly's Frankenstein double feature HD $6 (MA)🦝
$5 4K UHD
House With A Clock In It's Walls, The (MA)Mortal Kombat [2021] (MA)
Sonic The Hedgehog (Vudu or iTunes)
🦝
$4 4K UHD
Allied [2016] (Vudu)Ant Man & The Wasp (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Beauty & The Beast [1991] (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Captain America: Civil War (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (iTunes/ports)
Guardians Of The Galaxy (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Hell Or High Water (Vudu)
Scream [2022] (iTunes)
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (iTunes)
Spiral: From The Book Of Saw (Vudu or iTunes)
Sting, The [1973] (iTunes/ports)
Terminator: Dark Fate (Vudu)
Toy Story (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
🦝
$5 HDDentist 1 & 2, The (Vudu)
Jerry & Marge Go Large (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Rescuers: Down Under, The (MA + 150 points)
🦝
$4 HD
Alien3 [Theatrical] (MA, iTunes or Google Play/ports)Alien: Resurrection (MA, iTunes or Google Play/ports)
Company Of Heroes [2013] (MA)
Ever After: A Cinderella Story [1998] (MA)
Jungle Book, The [1967] (MA + 150 points)
Legion Of Super-Heroes (MA)
Lilo & Stitch (MA + 150 points)
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has A Glitch (MA + 150 points)
Lion King 1 & ½, The (MA + 150 points)
Men [A24] (Vudu or Google Play)
Minions + Minions: The Rise Of Gru double feature (MA)
Nightmare Before Christmas, The (MA + 150 points)
Step Brothers [Theatrical & Unrated] (MA)
Transporter, The [2002] (MA or Google Play/ports)
🦝
$3️⃣ Movies
#$3 4K UHDApollo 13 (iTunes/ports)
Avengers: Age Of Ultron (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Big Hero 6 (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Birth Of A Nation, The (iTunes/ports)
Captain Marvel (MA + 200 points)
Coco (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Doctor Strange (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Everest [2015] (iTunes/ports)
Frozen II (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Hocus Pocus (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Moana (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Rambo: First Blood (iTunes)
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (iTunes)
Transformers: The Last Knight (Vudu)
World's End, The (iTunes/ports)
Zootopia (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
🦝
$3 HD
101 Dalmatians [1961] (MA + 150 points)About Last Night [2014] (MA + Sony points)
American Assassin (Vudu)
American Underdog (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Batman & Superman: Battle Of The Super Sons (MA)
Black Widow [2021] (MA + 150 points)
Book Of Life, The [2014] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (MA + 150 points)
Dolittle [2020] (MA)
Encanto (MA + 150 points)
Eternals [2021] (MA + 150 points)
Goosebumps 2 [2018] (MA + Sony points)
How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (MA)
Joe [2014] (Vudu)
Jungle Book, The [1967] (MA only/no points)
Kill The Messenger (iTunes/ports)
Les Misérables [1998] (MA)
Lightyear [2022] (MA + 150 points)
Lilo & Stitch (Google Play/ports)
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has A (Google Play/ports) or both for $5
London Has Fallen (iTunes/ports)
Minions: The Rise Of Gru (MA)
Monster Calls, A [2017] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Moonlight [A24] (Vudu)
Northman, The [2022] (MA)
Onward [2020] (MA + 150 points)
Peter Pan [1953] (MA + 150 points)
Phantom Thread (MA)
Place Beyond The Pines, The (iTunes/ports)
Rescuers, The (Google Play/ports)
Rescuers: Down Under, The (Google Play/ports)
Shang Chi & The Legend Of The Ten Rings (MA + 150 points)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (MA + Sony points)
Super Buddies [2013] (MA + 100 points)
This Is The End (MA + Sony points)
Thor: Love & Thunder (MA + 150 points)
Top Gun (Vudu)
Triple 9 (iTunes/ports)
🦝
All codes are $2. Prices are firm for now. Please only redeem the you are paying for. Any Disney codes are split. MA/iTunes Disney will include points but not the GP redeem. All Sony titles include points as long as the title is eligible. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I accept Cashapp, Venmo, Zelle, Fb pay or PayPal F&F. Comment & pm if interested. Thanks for checking out my list.
🦝
💲2️⃣ HDX
2 Guns (MA or iTunes/ports)About Time [2013] (MA)
Action Point (iTunes 4K)
Adventures Of Tintin, The (Vudu or iTunes)
Age Of Adaline, The (Vudu, iTunes or Google Play)
Alien Covenant (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA/GP)
All Eyez On Me (iTunes)
Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Road Chip (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Amazing Spider-Man, The (MA)
Amazing Spider-Man 2, The (MA + Sony points)
American Girl: McKenna Shoots For The Stars (MA or iTunes/ports)
American Reunion [Unrated] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (Vudu or iTunes)
Annihilation [2018] (Vudu)
Ant Man (Google Play/ports)
Arrival [2016] (Vudu)
Assassin's Creed (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Bad Boys For Life (MA + Sony points)
Bad Grandpa (iTunes)
Bad Moms (iTunes/ports)
Batman, The [2022] (MA)
Battleship [2012] (iTunes/ports 4K)
Beauty & The Beast [2017] (MA + 150 points/iTunes option is expired)
Big Wedding, The (iTunes)
Black Panther (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA + 150 points)
Black Widow [2021] (Google Play/ports)
Book Club (Vudu)
Boss Baby, The (MA)
Brian Banks (MA)
Bridge Of Spies (Google Play/ports)
Cabin In The Woods, The (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Case For Christ, The (iTunes/ports)
Contraband (iTunes/ports)
Daddy's Home (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Dallas Buyers Club (iTunes/ports)
Darkest Hour [2017] (MA)
Deepwater Horizon (iTunes 4K)
Despicable Me [2010] (MA)
Despicable Me 2 (iTunes/ports 4K)
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (MA or iTunes/ports)
Divergent (iTunes 4K)
Divergent Series: Insurgent (iTunes 4K)
Django Unchained (Vudu)
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (Google Play/ports)
Dog's Purpose, A (MA or iTunes/ports)
Dragonheart: Battle For The Heartfire (MA or iTunes/ports)
Duff, The (iTunes)
Dying Of The Light (Vudu)
Edward Scissorhands (MA)
Emoji Movie, The (MA + Sony points)
Ender's Game (iTunes 4K or Google Play HD)
Epic [2013] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Eternals [2021] (Google Play/ports) PENDING
Ex Machina (Vudu)
Expendables 3, The (Vudu 4K)
Fast & Furious 6, The [Extended] (iTunes/ports 4K)
Fault In Our Stars, The (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Fifty Shades Darker [Unrated] (iTunes/ports 4K)
Fifty Shades Of Grey [Unrated] (iTunes/ports 4K)
Finding Dory (iTunes/ports 4K or HD + 150 points)
Flight [2012] (Vudu or iTunes)
Free Guy (Google Play/ports)
Frozen (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA + 150 points)
Gemini Man (iTunes 4K or Vudu HD)
Ghostbusters [2016] [Theatrical & Extended] (MA + Sony points)
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Girl On The Train, The [2016] (iTunes/ports 4K)
God's Not Dead 2 (iTunes/ports)
Gods Of Egypt (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Good Day To Die Hard, A [Extended] (MA or Google Play/ports)
Grace Unplugged (Vudu)
Greatest Showman, The (MA)
Grey, The [2012] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Hacksaw Ridge (Vudu or Google Play)
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters [Unrated] (Vudu or iTunes)
Hateful Eight, The (Vudu or Google Play)
Haunting In Connecticut 2: The Ghosts Of Georgia, The (Vudu)
Heat, The [2013] (MA)
Heaven Is For Real (MA + Sony points)
Hell Or High Water (Vudu or Google Play)
Hercules [2014] (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Hidden Figures (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Hitman's Bodyguard, The (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Holiday Inn [1942] (MA)
Home [2015] (MA)
Home Alone (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA/GP)
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (MA, iTunes or Google Play/ports)
How To Train Your Dragon 2 (MA)
Hugo (iTunes)
Hunger Games, The (iTunes 4K)
Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The (iTunes 4K or Google Play HD)
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part, The (iTunes 4K)
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, The (iTunes 4K)
Huntsman: Winter's War, The [Extended] (iTunes/ports 4K)
I Can Only Imagine (Vudu, iTunes or Google Play)
Independence Day: Resurgence (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA/GP)
Instant Family (iTunes 4K)
Interstellar (Vudu or Google Play)
It's A Wonderful Life [1947] (Vudu)
Jackass 3 [Theatrical] (Vudu or iTunes)
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (Vudu)
Jarhead 2: Field Of Fire [Unrated] (MA)
Jason Bourne (iTunes/ports 4K)
Jaws (MA)
Jessabelle (Vudu)
John Wick (iTunes 4K or Vudu/GP HD)
John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (iTunes 4K)
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (MA + Sony points)
Jungle Cruise (MA + 150 points)
Jurassic Park [1993] (iTunes/ports 4K)
Jurassic Park III [2001] (MA)
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (MA)
Kick-Ass 2 (MA or iTunes/ports)
Killer Elite (iTunes/ports)
Kung Fu Panda 3 (MA)
Last Stand, The [2013] (Vudu, iTunes or Google Play)
Last Witch Hunter, The (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Lee Daniels' The Butler (Vudu)
Legend Of Hercules, The (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Life Of Pi (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA/GP)
Little Mermaid, The (Google Play/ports)
Logan (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Lone Survivor (iTunes/ports 4K)
Longest Ride, The (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Lorax, The [2012] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Love & Mercy [2015] (Vudu)
Luca (Google Play/ports)
Lucy (iTunes/ports 4K)
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (MA)
Maggie (Vudu)
Maleficent (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA + 150 points)
Marvel's The Avengers [2012] (Google Play/ports)
Mechanic: Resurrection (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Mindgamers (MA)
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (iTunes 4K)
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (iTunes 4K)
Monuments Men, The (MA + Sony points)
Mr. Peabody & Sherman (MA)
Mud (Vudu)
Mummy, The [2017] (iTunes/ports)
Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Noah [2014] (Vudu or iTunes)
Non-Stop [2014] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Now You See Me 2 (iTunes 4K)
Nut Job 2 : Nutty By Nature, The (iTunes/ports)
Other Woman, The [2014] (MA, iTunes or Google Play/ports)
Overlord [2019] (Vudu)
Oz The Great & Powerful (MA + 100 points)
Pain & Gain (Vudu)
Paper Towns (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Paranormal Activity [Theatrical] (Vudu or iTunes)
Paranormal Activity 2 [Unrated Director's Cut] (iTunes)
Paranormal Activity 3 [Extended] (iTunes)
Paul [2011] [Unrated] (iTunes/ports)
Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters (MA or Google Play/ports)
Peter Pan [1953] (Google Play/ports)
Pet Sematary [2019] (Vudu)
Pirate Fairy, The (Google Play/ports
Pitch Perfect (iTunes/ports 4K)
Pitch Perfect 2 (iTunes/ports 4K)
Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 3 (Google Play/ports)
Planes [2013] (MA + 150 points)
Possession, The [2012] (iTunes)
Prometheus (MA)
Purge: Anarchy, The (iTunes/ports 4K)
Purge: Election Year, The (iTunes/ports 4K)
Quiet Place, A [2018] (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Riddick [2013] [Unrated] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Ride Along (MA or iTunes/ports)
Ride Along 2 (iTunes/ports)
Rise Of The Guardians [2011] (MA)
Russell Madness (MA or Google Play/ports)
Safe [2012] (Vudu or Google Play)
Safe House [2012] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Saving Mr. Banks (Google Play/ports)
Secret Life Of Pets, The (iTunes/ports 4K)
Selma (Vudu or iTunes)
Shang Chi & The Legend Of The Ten Rings (Google Play/ports)
Sicario (Vudu 4K, iTunes 4K or Google Play HD)
Silver Linings Playbook (Vudu or Google Play)
Sing [2016] (iTunes/ports 4K)
Sinister (iTunes)
Smurfs 2, The [2013] (MA)
Snatched [2017] (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Snow White & The Huntsman [Extended] (iTunes/ports 4K)
Solo: A Star Wars Story (Google Play/ports)
Space Between Us, The (MA or iTunes/ports)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (MA + Sony points)
Star Trek [2009] (iTunes 4K)
Star Trek Beyond (iTunes 4K)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA + 150 points)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (iTunes/ports + 150 points)
Ted [Unrated] (MA)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Terminator: Genisys (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
This Is 40 [Theatrical] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Thor: Love & Thunder (Google Play/ports)
Thor: Ragnarok (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA + 150 points)
Toy Story 4 (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA + 150 points)
Trolls (MA)
True Blood: Season 4 (iTunes)
True Grit [2010] (Vudu)
Turbo [2013] (MA)
Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions Of A Marriage Counselor (Google Play)
Valerian & The City Of A Thousand Planets (Vudu)
Venom (MA + Sony points)
Walk Among The Tombstones, A (iTunes/ports)
War For The Planet Of The Apes (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA/GP)
Warm Bodies (iTunes 4K or GP HD)
War Room [2015] (MA + Sony points)
When The Game Stands Tall (MA + Sony points)
Why Him? (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA)
Wild Card (Vudu or Google Play)
Wolf Of Wall Street, The (Vudu)
Woman In Black, The [2012] (MA)
Woman In Gold (Vudu)
Wonder [2017] (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
XXX: Return Of Xander Cage (iTunes 4K)
Zootopia (MA + 150 points/no iTunes option)
🦝
💲2️⃣ SD
All About Steve (iTunes/ports)Descendants, The (iTunes/ports)
Inside Llewyn Davis (MA)
Juno (iTunes/ports)
Marley & Me (iTunes/ports)
Mr. Popper's Penguins (iTunes/ports)
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (iTunes/ports)
Rocker, The [2008] (iTunes/ports)
This Means War (iTunes/ports)
Tree Of Life, The (iTunes/ports)
We Bought A Zoo (iTunes/ports)
What Happens In Vegas [Extended] (iTunes/ports)
🦝
$1 Codes
💲1️⃣ HD
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi (Vudu)Alex Cross (Vudu)
Avengers: Age Of Ultron (Google Play/ports)
Avengers: Endgame (Google Play/ports)
Avengers: Infinity War (Google Play/ports)
Beauty & The Beast [2017] (Google Play/ports)
Big Hero 6 (Google Play/ports)
Black Panther (MA without points or Google Play/ports)
Bourne Ultimatum, The (MA)
Captain America: Winter Soldier (Google Play/ports)
Captain Marvel (Google Play/ports)
Choice, The [2016] (iTunes)
Deadpool (iTunes/ports 4K or HD MA/GP)
Divergent (Vudu)
Divergent Series: Insurgent, The (Vudu or Google Play)
Doctor Strange (Google Play/ports)
Ender's Game (Vudu)
Escape Plan (Vudu)
Expendables 2, The (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Expendables 3, The [Theatrical] (iTunes 4K)
Expendables 3, The [Unrated] (Vudu, iTunes or Google Play)
Fast & Furious 6 [Extended] (MA)
Fast Five [Extended] (MA or iTunes/ports)
Fate Of The Furious, The [8] [Theatrical] (HD MA)
Fifty Shades Darker [Unrated] (MA)
Finding Dory (Google Play/ports)
Furious 7 [Extended] (MA)
Girl On The Train, The (MA) PENDING
Girls Trip (MA or iTunes/ports)
Hillsong: Let Hope Rise (MA or iTunes/ports)
Hocus Pocus (Google Play/ports)
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, The (Vudu)
I Feel Pretty (iTunes)
Inside Out (Google Play/ports)
Iron Man 3 (MA only/no points or Google Play/ports)
John Wick 3 (Google Play)
Jungle Cruise [2021] (Google Play/ports)
Jurassic Park [1993] (MA)
Jurassic World (MA)
Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (Vudu)
Kidnap [2017] (iTunes/ports)
Lightyear [2022] (Google Play/ports)
Lion King, The [2019] (Google Play/ports)
Logan Lucky (MA)
Lone Survivor (MA)
Maleficent (Google Play/ports)
Mission Impossible: Fallout (Vudu)
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Vudu)
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (Vudu)
Moana (Google Play/ports)
Norm Of The North (Vudu)
Now You See Me (Vudu or iTunes)
Oz: The Great & Powerful (Google Play/ports)
Pitch Perfect 2 (MA)
Planes (Google Play/ports)
Purge, The [2013] (MA)
Purge: Election Year, The (MA)
Red 2 (Vudu/GP HD or iTunes 4K)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Google Play/ports)
Secret Life Of Pets, The (MA)
Star Trek Beyond (Vudu)
Star Trek: Into Darkness (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Ted [Theatrical] (iTunes/ports)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2014] (Vudu)
Thor: Ragnarok (Google Play/ports)
Transformers: Age Of Extinction (Vudu HD or iTunes 4K)
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (Vudu)
Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection (Vudu)
Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions Of A Marriage Counselor (Vudu)
Unbroken [2014] (MA)
World War Z (Vudu)
XXX: Return Of Xander Cage (Vudu)
Zootopia (Google Play/ports)
🦝
💲1️⃣ SD
Act Of Valor (iTunes)Amazing Spider-Man, The (MA)
Annie [2014] (MA + Sony points)
Call Me By Your Name [2017] (MA + Sony points)
Captain Phillips (MA + Sony points)
Despicable Me (iTunes/ports)
Devil Inside, The [2012] (Vudu)
Elysium (MA + Sony points)
Equalizer, The (MA + Sony points)
Family Guy: Blue Harvest (iTunes)
Family Guy: It's A Trap! (iTunes)
Fury [2014] (MA + Sony points)
Glee: The Concert (iTunes/ports)
Haunting In Connecticut, The (iTunes)
Heaven Is For Real (MA + Sony points)
Hobo With A Shotgun (iTunes)
Hope Springs [2012] (MA)
Hours [2013] (Vudu)
Hugo (Vudu)
Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (iTunes/ports)
Immortals [2011] (iTunes)
Internship, The [2013] (iTunes/ports)
Judy Moody & The Not Bummer Summer (iTunes)
Jumanji: The Next Level (MA + Sony points)
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (MA + Sony points)
Life As We Know It (iTunes)
Mama Mia! The Movie (iTunes/ports)
Monuments Men, The (MA + Sony points)
Morbius (MA + Sony points) PENDING
Mortal Instruments : City Of Bones, The (MA + Sony points)
One For The Money (iTunes)
Ong Bak 3 (iTunes)
Peter Rabbit (MA)
Rio (iTunes/ports)
Robin Hood [2010] [Unrated] (iTunes/ports)
Safe Haven (iTunes)
Star, The [2017] (MA + Sony points)
This Is The End (MA + Sony points)
Total Recall [2012] (MA + Sony points)
X-Men: First Class (iTunes/ports)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (iTunes/ports)
🦝
Super Cheap SD & HD Codes
All movies are 3 for $1 each/must spend at least $1 totalCabin In The Woods, The (iTunes SD only)
Expendables 2, The (Vudu SD only or iTunes SD only)
Frozen (Google Play/ports HD)
Hunger Games, The (Vudu SD or iTunes SD)
Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The (Vudu HD)
Jurassic Park [1993] (iTunes/ports SD)
Perks Of Being A Wallflower, The (iTunes SD only)
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (iTunes/ports SD)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Google Play/ports HD)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Google Play/ports HD)
Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection (iTunes HD only)
What To Expect When You're Expecting (iTunes SD only)
2023.06.04 21:01 couplehunt14 (Selling) 4k, HD and SD US Codes
Selling digital codes. All codes redeemable through Movies Anywhere unless stated otherwise. iTune,Vudu and Google Play doesn't give the format listed. Paypal preferred. I can also do Cash App and Venmo.
iTunes, Google Play or Vudu Movies
After Yang (Vudu, Google Play) SOLD
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (iTunes, Vudu) $2
Bad Grandpa (Itunes, VUDU) $2
Bumblebee (Itunes, VUDU) $2
Cabin in the Woods (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Call Jane (Vudu, iTunes) SOLD
Chuck Season 5 (WB) $4
The Commuter (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Daddy’s Home 2 (Vudu, iTunes) $2
Deepwater Horizon (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Divergent (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Divergent Series: Insurgent (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Django Unchained (VUDU) $2
Dredd (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Everything Everything All at Once (Vudu) SOLD
Ex Machina (VUDU) $2
Gambler (iTunes, Vudu) $2
Hacksaw Ridge (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Hands of Stone (Vudu) SOLD
Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters (New Unrated Cut) (Itunes, VUDU) $2
Hateful Eight (VUDU, Google Play) $2
Hostiles (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Hunger Games (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Hunger Games Catching Fire (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 1 (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 2 (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Imitation Game (Vudu) $2
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (iTune, Vudu) $2
John Wick (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
John Wick 1 and 2 (Vudu) $3
John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabellum (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
La La Land (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Lords of Salem (Vudu) $2
Mad Men The Final Season Part 1 (Vudu) $4
Mandela (Vudu) $2
No Escape (Vudu) $2
Now You See Me (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Paranormal Activity 3 (iTunes, Vudu) $2
A Quiet Place (VUDU, iTunes) $2
Rambo: Last Blood (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Rogue (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Silver Linings Playbook (VUDU, Google Play) $2
Sinister (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Southpaw (Vudu) $2
Star Trek Beyond (Itunes, VUDU) $2
Star Trek Into the Darkness (Itunes, VUDU) $2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (VUDU, iTunes) $2
Top Gun Maverick (iTune, Vudu) $3
Transformers: Age of Extinction (itunes, Vudu) $2
Transformers: The Last Knight (iTunes, Vudu) $2
Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Walking Dead The Complete Fourth Season (VUDU) $3
Walking Dead the Complete Fifth Season (Vudu) $5
The Wolf of Wall Street (Vudu, iTunes) $2
Wonder (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
World War Z (iTunes Vudu) $2
Standard Definition:
Bad Boys for Life (2020) SD $2
Call Me By Your Name (2017) SD $2
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) SD $2
The Night Before (2015) SD $2
Superfly (2018) SD $2
HD
Alita Battle Angel (2019) HD $3
Almost Christmas (2016) HD $3
Amazing Spider Man (2012) HD $3
American Reunion (2012) HD $4
Back to the Future Trilogy: Back to the Future (1985) HD Back to the Future 2 (1989) HD Back to the Future 3 (1990) HD $8
Bad Boys (1995) HD $3
Bad Boys for Life (2020) HD $3
Bad Boys 2 (2003) HD $3
Bad Moms (2016) HD $4
Batman (2022) HD $4
Batman: the Long Halloween Deluxe Edition (2022) HD $5
Best Man Holiday (2013) HD $3
Black Adam (2022) HD $5
Blockers (2018) HD $3
Bourne Legacy (2012) HD $4
Casper (1995) HD $3
Colombiana Unrated (2011) HD $3
Curse of Chucky Unrated (2013) HD $3
Darkest Hour (2017) HD $3
Despicable Me (2010) HD $4
Despicable Me 2 (2013) HD $4
Despicable Me 3 (2017) HD $4
Die Hard (1988) HD $3
Dolittle (2020) HD $4
Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022) HD $4
8 Mile (2002) HD $4
Fast & Furious 9-Movie Collection: Fast and the Furious (2001) HD 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) HD Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift (2006) HD Fast & Furious (2009) HD Fast Five Extended Cut (2011) HD Fast & Furious 6 Extended Cut (2013) HD Furious 7 Extended Edition (2015) HD Fate of the Furious (2017) HD Fate of the Furious Extended Director’s Cut (2017) HD F9: The Fast Saga (2021) HD F9: The Director’s Cut (2021) HD $20
Fast & Furious 6 Extended Edition (2013) HD $4
Fate of the Furious (2017) HD $3
Fifty Shades Freed (2018) HD $4
Fifty Shades of Grey Unrated (2015) HD $4
F9 The Fast Saga and F9 Directors Cut (2021) HD $4
Free Guy (2021) HD $4
Furious 7 Extended Edition (2015) HD $4
The Girl on the Train (2016) HD $4
Greatest Showman (2017) HD $3
Gunman (2015) HD $3
Harry and the Hendersons (1987) HD $3
Hobbs and Shaw (2019) HD $3
Hop (2011) HD $4
How to Train your Dragon: 3-Movie Collection HD [Includes: How to Train Your Dragon, How to Train Your Dragon 2, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World] $9
Insidious: The Last Key (2018) HD $4
Isle of Dogs (2018) HD $3
Jason Bourne (2016) HD $4
Jordan Peele 3 Movie Collection: [Includes: Nope, Us, Get Out] HD $10.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle HD Jumanji: Next Level HD $7
Jurassic Park (1993) HD $3
Jurassic World (2015) HD $3
Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom (2018) HD $3
Jurassic World: Ultimate Collection Jurassic Park (1993) HD Lost World Jurassic Park (1997) HD Jurassic Park 3 (2001) HD Jurassic World (2015) HD Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) HD Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) HD Jurassic World: Dominion Extended Cut (2022) HD $15
Kick-Ass 2 (2013) HD $3
Les Miserables $4
Lone Survivor (2013) HD $4
Love Simon (2018) HD $3
Lucy (2014) HD $3
Madagascar 3 Europe’s Most Wanted (2012) HD $3
Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) HD $3
Megan Leavey (2017) HD $3
Minions (2015) HD $3
Mummy (1999) HD $3
1917 (2019) HD $3
Nobody (2021) HD $4
Non Stop (2014) HD $3
Nope (2022) HD $4
The Nut Job (2014) HD $3
Oblivion (2013) HD $3
Peter Rabbit (2018) HD $4
Pitch Perfect (2012) HD $3
Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) HD $3
Pitch Perfect 3 (2017) HD $3
Predator (2018) HD $3
The Purge (2013) HD $3
Ride Along (2014) HD $4
Secret Life of Pets (2016) HD $3
Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019) HD $3
The Shape of Water (2017) HD $4
Sing (2016) HD $4
Snow White and the Huntsman Extended Edition (2012) HD$4
Sound of Music (1965) HD $3
Spider-Man No Way Home (2021) HD $4
Spotlight (2015) HD $3
Star (2017) HD $3
Straight Outta Compton (2015) HD $4
Ted: Unrated (2012) HD $3
This is 40 (2012) HD $4
Ticket to Paradise (2022) HD $4
Trolls World Tour (2020) HD $3
Truth or Dare: Unrated (2018) HD SOLD
2Guns (2013) HD $3
Unbroken (2014) HD $3
Vivo (2021) HD $4
Warcraft (2016) HD$4
West Side Story (2021) HD$4
Widows (2018) HD $3
Woman King (2022) HD $4
Zombieland (2009) HD $3
Zombieland Double Tap (2019) HD SOLD
4k Movies
Batman (2022) 4K $5
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) 4K $5
Elvis (2022) 4K SOLD
Home Alone (1990) 4k $5
Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom (2018) 4k $5
Mortal Engines (2018) 4k $5
Secret Life of Pets (2016) 4K $5
West Side Story (2021) 4k $6
submitted by couplehunt14 to DigitalCodeSELL [link] [comments]
iTunes, Google Play or Vudu Movies
After Yang (Vudu, Google Play) SOLD
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (iTunes, Vudu) $2
Bad Grandpa (Itunes, VUDU) $2
Bumblebee (Itunes, VUDU) $2
Cabin in the Woods (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Call Jane (Vudu, iTunes) SOLD
Chuck Season 5 (WB) $4
The Commuter (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Daddy’s Home 2 (Vudu, iTunes) $2
Deepwater Horizon (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Divergent (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Divergent Series: Insurgent (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Django Unchained (VUDU) $2
Dredd (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Everything Everything All at Once (Vudu) SOLD
Ex Machina (VUDU) $2
Gambler (iTunes, Vudu) $2
Hacksaw Ridge (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Hands of Stone (Vudu) SOLD
Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters (New Unrated Cut) (Itunes, VUDU) $2
Hateful Eight (VUDU, Google Play) $2
Hostiles (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Hunger Games (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Hunger Games Catching Fire (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 1 (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 2 (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Imitation Game (Vudu) $2
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (iTune, Vudu) $2
John Wick (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
John Wick 1 and 2 (Vudu) $3
John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabellum (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
La La Land (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Lords of Salem (Vudu) $2
Mad Men The Final Season Part 1 (Vudu) $4
Mandela (Vudu) $2
No Escape (Vudu) $2
Now You See Me (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Paranormal Activity 3 (iTunes, Vudu) $2
A Quiet Place (VUDU, iTunes) $2
Rambo: Last Blood (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Rogue (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Silver Linings Playbook (VUDU, Google Play) $2
Sinister (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Southpaw (Vudu) $2
Star Trek Beyond (Itunes, VUDU) $2
Star Trek Into the Darkness (Itunes, VUDU) $2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (VUDU, iTunes) $2
Top Gun Maverick (iTune, Vudu) $3
Transformers: Age of Extinction (itunes, Vudu) $2
Transformers: The Last Knight (iTunes, Vudu) $2
Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
Walking Dead The Complete Fourth Season (VUDU) $3
Walking Dead the Complete Fifth Season (Vudu) $5
The Wolf of Wall Street (Vudu, iTunes) $2
Wonder (VUDU, Google Play, Itunes) $2
World War Z (iTunes Vudu) $2
Standard Definition:
Bad Boys for Life (2020) SD $2
Call Me By Your Name (2017) SD $2
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) SD $2
The Night Before (2015) SD $2
Superfly (2018) SD $2
HD
Alita Battle Angel (2019) HD $3
Almost Christmas (2016) HD $3
Amazing Spider Man (2012) HD $3
American Reunion (2012) HD $4
Back to the Future Trilogy: Back to the Future (1985) HD Back to the Future 2 (1989) HD Back to the Future 3 (1990) HD $8
Bad Boys (1995) HD $3
Bad Boys for Life (2020) HD $3
Bad Boys 2 (2003) HD $3
Bad Moms (2016) HD $4
Batman (2022) HD $4
Batman: the Long Halloween Deluxe Edition (2022) HD $5
Best Man Holiday (2013) HD $3
Black Adam (2022) HD $5
Blockers (2018) HD $3
Bourne Legacy (2012) HD $4
Casper (1995) HD $3
Colombiana Unrated (2011) HD $3
Curse of Chucky Unrated (2013) HD $3
Darkest Hour (2017) HD $3
Despicable Me (2010) HD $4
Despicable Me 2 (2013) HD $4
Despicable Me 3 (2017) HD $4
Die Hard (1988) HD $3
Dolittle (2020) HD $4
Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022) HD $4
8 Mile (2002) HD $4
Fast & Furious 9-Movie Collection: Fast and the Furious (2001) HD 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) HD Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift (2006) HD Fast & Furious (2009) HD Fast Five Extended Cut (2011) HD Fast & Furious 6 Extended Cut (2013) HD Furious 7 Extended Edition (2015) HD Fate of the Furious (2017) HD Fate of the Furious Extended Director’s Cut (2017) HD F9: The Fast Saga (2021) HD F9: The Director’s Cut (2021) HD $20
Fast & Furious 6 Extended Edition (2013) HD $4
Fate of the Furious (2017) HD $3
Fifty Shades Freed (2018) HD $4
Fifty Shades of Grey Unrated (2015) HD $4
F9 The Fast Saga and F9 Directors Cut (2021) HD $4
Free Guy (2021) HD $4
Furious 7 Extended Edition (2015) HD $4
The Girl on the Train (2016) HD $4
Greatest Showman (2017) HD $3
Gunman (2015) HD $3
Harry and the Hendersons (1987) HD $3
Hobbs and Shaw (2019) HD $3
Hop (2011) HD $4
How to Train your Dragon: 3-Movie Collection HD [Includes: How to Train Your Dragon, How to Train Your Dragon 2, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World] $9
Insidious: The Last Key (2018) HD $4
Isle of Dogs (2018) HD $3
Jason Bourne (2016) HD $4
Jordan Peele 3 Movie Collection: [Includes: Nope, Us, Get Out] HD $10.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle HD Jumanji: Next Level HD $7
Jurassic Park (1993) HD $3
Jurassic World (2015) HD $3
Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom (2018) HD $3
Jurassic World: Ultimate Collection Jurassic Park (1993) HD Lost World Jurassic Park (1997) HD Jurassic Park 3 (2001) HD Jurassic World (2015) HD Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) HD Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) HD Jurassic World: Dominion Extended Cut (2022) HD $15
Kick-Ass 2 (2013) HD $3
Les Miserables $4
Lone Survivor (2013) HD $4
Love Simon (2018) HD $3
Lucy (2014) HD $3
Madagascar 3 Europe’s Most Wanted (2012) HD $3
Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) HD $3
Megan Leavey (2017) HD $3
Minions (2015) HD $3
Mummy (1999) HD $3
1917 (2019) HD $3
Nobody (2021) HD $4
Non Stop (2014) HD $3
Nope (2022) HD $4
The Nut Job (2014) HD $3
Oblivion (2013) HD $3
Peter Rabbit (2018) HD $4
Pitch Perfect (2012) HD $3
Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) HD $3
Pitch Perfect 3 (2017) HD $3
Predator (2018) HD $3
The Purge (2013) HD $3
Ride Along (2014) HD $4
Secret Life of Pets (2016) HD $3
Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019) HD $3
The Shape of Water (2017) HD $4
Sing (2016) HD $4
Snow White and the Huntsman Extended Edition (2012) HD$4
Sound of Music (1965) HD $3
Spider-Man No Way Home (2021) HD $4
Spotlight (2015) HD $3
Star (2017) HD $3
Straight Outta Compton (2015) HD $4
Ted: Unrated (2012) HD $3
This is 40 (2012) HD $4
Ticket to Paradise (2022) HD $4
Trolls World Tour (2020) HD $3
Truth or Dare: Unrated (2018) HD SOLD
2Guns (2013) HD $3
Unbroken (2014) HD $3
Vivo (2021) HD $4
Warcraft (2016) HD$4
West Side Story (2021) HD$4
Widows (2018) HD $3
Woman King (2022) HD $4
Zombieland (2009) HD $3
Zombieland Double Tap (2019) HD SOLD
4k Movies
Batman (2022) 4K $5
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) 4K $5
Elvis (2022) 4K SOLD
Home Alone (1990) 4k $5
Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom (2018) 4k $5
Mortal Engines (2018) 4k $5
Secret Life of Pets (2016) 4K $5
West Side Story (2021) 4k $6
2023.06.04 21:00 yolorehab Weekend Recap - Week ended June 2 - valuation and prediction update
 | Market-moving NewsInflation and the Fed: Inflation still too high but June pause likely.• Most of the Fed speakers this week hinted a pause in June and possibly resume hike in July. Fed officials are observing an increased willingness among businesses to raise prices, which will continue until demand declines. • Wage and salary growth as well as PCE growth are declining very slowly which warrant additional hikes. • Jobs market is still very resilient with more jobs added and less jobs eliminated; however, unemployment rate picked up in May and hourly earnings growth as well as work hours came in lower than expected. These mixed data gave the Fed a good reason to pause in June and further assess the data. • On the other hand, most EU members as well as Eurozone as a whole reported better (lower) than expected inflation numbers. As EU started the QT process, the disinflation trend should continue. https://preview.redd.it/3mgoteita04b1.png?width=936&format=png&auto=webp&s=9d0f57bcefe30f2d5b9447ac547106c96f98e84d Summary from previous weeks https://preview.redd.it/7zakjt1ua04b1.png?width=936&format=png&auto=webp&s=3e183b59fe4d2d29afd6e13c3f0d9be41f37a6b4 US and global economy: Manufacturing is dying but service is still strong; the bottom might be near as China is about to turn on the money printer. • Regional Fed surveys continue to paint a gloomy picture of the manufacturing side of the US economy while PMIs confirms the contracting trend with business condition new orders and shipment dipped further in May. However, things are brighter on the service side which supported the U.S. Economic Surprise Index to its highest level since January 2022. • Consumer confidence declined in May, primarily due to a less upbeat assessment of current employment conditions. Personal savings rate decreased in April for the first time since September 2022. Delinquency rates for credit card borrowers are approaching 2008 levels. • Housing market indicators have shown mixed results, with the FHFA House Price Index and Case-Shiller 20-City Composite reporting modest increases, while real estate investor home purchases saw a significant decline. • Rent growth has stalled in the US, with a minimal increase in May compared to pre-pandemic levels. • But the darkest hour is always before dawn. Rumor has it the Chinese PMI and real estate data were so bad; another round of government support is probably on the way. On the news, material and industrial sectors posted their best day of the year last Friday. Summary of manufacturing data https://preview.redd.it/5etkrgt4a04b1.png?width=936&format=png&auto=webp&s=489d9628ccbed300860326a9d62defad73c2ebaf Other economic data https://preview.redd.it/7tbif9o6a04b1.png?width=936&format=png&auto=webp&s=41b2b3530df45261f1d0034ae83c1bb88710755a US business and markets: Stock momentum strong but TGA funding activity might impact liquidity. • Recent market rally was supported by the biggest fund inflow last month since 2021. Investors encouraged by the resilience of the US economy, the jobs market, disinflation (even though slowly), and the successfully resolved debt ceiling drama, are pushing the market to a new high this year. • However, the rally was solely driven by EPS multiple expansion whereas the analysts’ EPS FY forecast has not changed much since the beginning of the year. • Market sentiment even though improved from last week is still bearish which might further support this rally. • The resolution of the debt ceiling issue brings temporary relief and stability to the financial markets. However, the focus now shifts to the TGA and how it will be funded, which may have implications for liquidity and potentially impact the stock market. https://preview.redd.it/5n0kn888a04b1.png?width=936&format=png&auto=webp&s=75324033e3a47cb201bef9c8aa7fa0847616fe87 https://preview.redd.it/jdgpg5mba04b1.png?width=977&format=png&auto=webp&s=ad81a2877ae24af84ac3f27126489e34629596bc Stock valuation and predictionsValuationAnalysts’ estimations: 2023 Full Year EPS: $222 (up from $221 last week) NTM EPS: $230 (unchanged from last week) 2024 Full Year EPS: $247 (up from $246 last week) Current forward PE: 18.6 (up from 18.3 last week), higher than 5-year average of 18.5 and higher than 10-year average of 17.3. https://preview.redd.it/ict5rcsda04b1.png?width=468&format=png&auto=webp&s=8d6b1fa61b1a99527ee9e604f351241c610e041e Headwinds and Tailwinds based on this week’s data (updated) https://preview.redd.it/qhlf6xqfa04b1.png?width=936&format=png&auto=webp&s=9780dade8f9658f997fac5e62da85b7867c2b7e0 My year-end prediction (not changed): My base case (shown in green) has not changed from last week. Assume SP500 earnings of $247 for 2024, with inflation stabilizing under 4% and continuing to decline by the year end. My year-end SP500 target is between 3920 to 4410 based on 16-18X forward PE ratio. Light blue box is where we are today. If we use 10-yr average forward PE ratio (17.3X), 3980 is a more appropriate level. https://preview.redd.it/xzeihp3ja04b1.png?width=936&format=png&auto=webp&s=c96ae948c5a211272f62aaebdcb4374efc0f8ba4 If the current "Goldilocks" situation persists, characterized by a resilient economy and consumers, along with inflation reaching 3%-4% by year-end, small- and mid-cap stocks, particularly those in the Small Growth style, could present an interesting investment opportunity. These stocks are currently trading at attractive valuations and tend to perform well in a slow expansion environment with low interest rates. https://preview.redd.it/msmrpu0ka04b1.png?width=468&format=png&auto=webp&s=07be1942938368c92260742c9e28e62c6078c858 https://preview.redd.it/hkgsdchka04b1.png?width=468&format=png&auto=webp&s=b24ad438dbba9834c8ebcc982aeb2cfb5ef0246d I sold most of my position on Friday but probably will get them back on Monday. We are at a very over bought territory so I am not comfortable holding through the weekend. Still holding some KRE, CVNA, CCL and IWM calls. Bullish on small growth stocks: MNDY, CFLT, DDOG, ZS, BILL Long term bullish on bonds: TLT |
2023.06.04 20:32 Yharl_Ballin I don’t know if I can break these walls down.
Some backstory on myself: I am a trauma survivor x2. Won’t go into detail unless asked as the stories are lengthy and somewhat gruesome. I came close to dying at 4yo and then again at 5yo. I was abused physically and verbally by my parents. I have PTSD, MDD, GAD, and some other kind of mental illness(es) that are undiagnosed. I’m 27yo (M), I have no friends anymore as they all either got married or moved away. I have no one to talk to and I feel like no one cares to listen when I do find someone I trust enough to open up to or it just pushes them away. I work and go home and the cycle repeats itself. I’ve lost interest in things that I once loved to do. I’ve been in bed throughout the weekends.
I just feel trapped, I’ve been stuck for quite a while now. I didn’t know what I wanted to do after high school and spent 3 1/2 years at home just existing. It got to the point where I felt like I needed a huge change in my life or else I was not gonna make it to the next morning. I did go back to school in 2017 and for a time it felt like things were going in the right direction. I got a job in medical and although I left for a brief period of time from being overwhelmed with the Pandemic then I returned early 2022.
I’ve seen some therapists that weren’t much help and doctors alike. I was on Sertraline for a year when I was 18 and then stopped because I felt better…I wasn’t better. Been on a roller coaster of thoughts and emotions since then until recently 4 months ago I felt I should get back on medication and have been back on it again. It helps with the anxiety and OCD and depression somewhat but I had to get the dosage raised because the depression was overpowering me.
I’ve always felt like I was a lost cause. I had one therapist give up on me and 2 doctors gave up on me, one of which was recent within the past couple weeks so I’ve been down about that especially because I really trusted this one enough to where I felt open and comfortable enough to start talking to them but it didn’t happen unfortunately.
I’ve been lonely for quite some time. My last relationship was 5 years ago come this November. I have a seriously hard time trusting people as people throughout my life have shown me that no one can be trusted. I’ve wanted someone to prove to me for the longest time I was worth fighting for. I want someone to not give up on me in my tough moments because they truly care and I’ve not found that. I do want what anyone else wants, to be cared for and loved and to be able to reciprocate back to them. I know that I have to be happy with myself first before looking for anyone else but the problem is not that I’m not happy with myself, sure I can be alone as I have been for years at a time but after a while being by yourself really affects you mentally. The lack of human interaction, the lack of empathy, the lack of affection, the lack of understanding and forming meaningful relationships really takes a huge toll on the mind and all I have been feeling lately is emptiness, a void that can not be filled.
Lately my emotions have been tuned way down and it really takes something stimulating for me to feel anything positive. It could be a side effect from the medication or could be a disorder I’m unaware of. I feel like I’m just falling endlessly into the dark abyss and I don’t know where or when the bottom is.
For the first time ever 4 months ago I sank so low I lost the last bit of hope I had which prompted me to get on medication again. I feel like there is nothing left for me here and feel like I’m finished. I don’t know what the next step is or what it looks like.
I’ve been recently thinking maybe I should go back to school again and further my degree but idk if I have it in me to do it again or if it will even change anything as part of me feels like I would just be doing it to fill my time to get my mind focused on something else as a distraction, idk.
Thoughts/Feedback?
submitted by Yharl_Ballin to depression [link] [comments]
I just feel trapped, I’ve been stuck for quite a while now. I didn’t know what I wanted to do after high school and spent 3 1/2 years at home just existing. It got to the point where I felt like I needed a huge change in my life or else I was not gonna make it to the next morning. I did go back to school in 2017 and for a time it felt like things were going in the right direction. I got a job in medical and although I left for a brief period of time from being overwhelmed with the Pandemic then I returned early 2022.
I’ve seen some therapists that weren’t much help and doctors alike. I was on Sertraline for a year when I was 18 and then stopped because I felt better…I wasn’t better. Been on a roller coaster of thoughts and emotions since then until recently 4 months ago I felt I should get back on medication and have been back on it again. It helps with the anxiety and OCD and depression somewhat but I had to get the dosage raised because the depression was overpowering me.
I’ve always felt like I was a lost cause. I had one therapist give up on me and 2 doctors gave up on me, one of which was recent within the past couple weeks so I’ve been down about that especially because I really trusted this one enough to where I felt open and comfortable enough to start talking to them but it didn’t happen unfortunately.
I’ve been lonely for quite some time. My last relationship was 5 years ago come this November. I have a seriously hard time trusting people as people throughout my life have shown me that no one can be trusted. I’ve wanted someone to prove to me for the longest time I was worth fighting for. I want someone to not give up on me in my tough moments because they truly care and I’ve not found that. I do want what anyone else wants, to be cared for and loved and to be able to reciprocate back to them. I know that I have to be happy with myself first before looking for anyone else but the problem is not that I’m not happy with myself, sure I can be alone as I have been for years at a time but after a while being by yourself really affects you mentally. The lack of human interaction, the lack of empathy, the lack of affection, the lack of understanding and forming meaningful relationships really takes a huge toll on the mind and all I have been feeling lately is emptiness, a void that can not be filled.
Lately my emotions have been tuned way down and it really takes something stimulating for me to feel anything positive. It could be a side effect from the medication or could be a disorder I’m unaware of. I feel like I’m just falling endlessly into the dark abyss and I don’t know where or when the bottom is.
For the first time ever 4 months ago I sank so low I lost the last bit of hope I had which prompted me to get on medication again. I feel like there is nothing left for me here and feel like I’m finished. I don’t know what the next step is or what it looks like.
I’ve been recently thinking maybe I should go back to school again and further my degree but idk if I have it in me to do it again or if it will even change anything as part of me feels like I would just be doing it to fill my time to get my mind focused on something else as a distraction, idk.
Thoughts/Feedback?
2023.06.04 20:25 Spiritual-Tea-7798 **TL;DR;** : Me [31 F] with my BF [27 M/F] 5 years, I think my bf has trust issues and I also he is keeping me a screech, like I get being a private person but I something is a bit off here or is it me??
In 2014, we met in a different city while attending the same week-long conference. After the conference ended, he asked for my number and I gave it to him, but we didn't stay in touch. Two years later, I moved to his university and we reconnected, although I had lost or deleted his number. However, he was about to move to another country for research purposes in a few weeks. Despite this, we stayed in touch on the phone, maintaining a platonic and friendly relationship. Later that year, I also moved to the same country for research purposes.
A year later, we started dating in the new country. Before we began dating, we would talk on the phone, have work lunches together, and sometimes he would stay over at my place without any sexual activities or attempts to kiss. At that time, I didn't have a boyfriend, but I was talking to other people on dating apps because I was single. We never discussed our relationship status, so I couldn't assume where things were going between us. We remained in the talking stage for more than six months, during which I heard rumors that he was seeing someone (XY), but he never opened up about having or not having a girlfriend. Since we never talked about relationships, I didn't feel it was my place to ask.
About a month into our relationship, my boyfriend found text messages from a guy (AA). These messages were a bit flirty, we once met for lunch before I started dating my bf and I knew AA liked me but I had just started satin my bf and I wasn't sure were we were going. I also felt it was too early in our relationship to be checking each other's phones, as I consider that behavior to be invasive and inappropriate. This upset him greatly, and he asked me to choose between him and AA. I honestly told him that when we started dating, I had been single for some time and was talking to other people. Since our relationship wasn't clearly defined from the beginning, I couldn't put my life on hold for something I wasn't sure about. Additionally, considering the rumors about him dating XY, I was confused about the whole situation. He never indicated whether he was talking to other people or not, only saying that he never dated XY. I decided to let it go.
Two months later, he accused me of having relations with my ex from sixth grade, whom I dated when we were very young and nothing sexual ever happened between us. I wondered how he even knew about my childhood boyfriends. It turns out that I made the mistake of being open about my past at the beginning of our relationship, sharing childhood stories, traumas, and mentioning names along the way. I did this because I wanted him to understand why I went through depression, why I still go for therapy, and why I sometimes experience anxieties. Unfortunately, this openness led him to accuse me of still being "in touch" with my sixth-grade ex. I don't even think that guy considers me his ex because we were so young.
My boyfriend's behavior made me suspect that he was doing something behind my back, which might explain why he was snooping around. In response, I went through his phone and found chats between him and another girl, whom colleagues had mentioned before that he was dating. When I asked him about it, he claimed that they were just colleagues. The chats didn't suggest that they were dating or anything. I left it at that but mentioned the rumor I had heard. During the COVID lockdown (he was away while I was in our home country), he once told me he had a dream that I was cheating on him. I felt frustrated and angry that I had to convince him that I wasn't cheating. It didn't end there. My boyfriend also took my Facebook password and found chats between me and AA (remember him?). However, these chats were about me asking AA for information on how to get my medical records from a local hospital, as my insurance had been waiting for months. Both my boyfriend and I were expats and unfamiliar with the local laws, so I knew AA could provide some guidance. But my boyfriend seemed to be snooping on my chats every day because he accused me of cheating on the same day I contacted AA. He got even angrier when I deleted the chats, accusing me of hiding evidence. Once again, he crossed boundaries. When I asked him why he wanted access to my Facebook, he claimed that I must be hiding something because of my questions. To prove that I wasn't doing anything wrong, I even deleted WhatsApp for a month. Is this normal??
Between 2018 and 2022, we would spend around five to six months away from our home country, returning for about 1.5 months during holidays. Since we're from different provinces, we would travel to our respective home provinces during those holiday periods, including New Year's. Throughout our five-year relationship, he has never posted anything about me on social media, not even a finger, not even on my birthday. The only people I have met who know him are our colleagues in the research lab where we both work. Whenever I call him and he is at his brother's house, he goes outside or to the balcony to answer the phone, even if it's late at night. It's strange because we would be having a telephone conversation at 10 PM, and he would be outside. I don't know if I'm being paranoid or if he's intentionally keeping me a secret. I've considered the possibility that I haven't met any of his friends because we were always in-between countries, but even when we're in our home country, he doesn't mention inviting me to do things with his friends. His life outside our relationship remains a mystery to me. Am I being paranoid to have these thoughts? Should I ask him about it, and if so, how can I approach the topic without sounding desperate?
There's also something I don't know how to bring up. In 2018, when we had just started dating, he received a call while we were at my place. Judging by his facial expression, he seemed unhappy and went outside to answer the phone. When he came back, his eyes were red, and he told me he needed time to think, so he went back to his place. I could smell whiskey on his breath. He later explained that his sister had called him because his ex-girlfriend went to his family's house claiming to be pregnant with his child. He told me the last time he had seen her was the previous year when they randomly bumped into each other on the street. He assured me that the baby was not his, and I remained silent. However, when I checked his phone after he left, I saw that he had made calls to, guess who?? XY!! It didn't sit right with me that he would confide in someone he wasn't dating about something like this. Nonetheless, he never mentioned the baby scandal again, and I still don't know what happened or how his family handled the situation.
I'm unsure if it's even worth asking about what ultimately happened with the person who accused him of fathering her child. Do I bring this up? At this point am so confused by so many things!!
submitted by Spiritual-Tea-7798 to relationship_advice [link] [comments]
A year later, we started dating in the new country. Before we began dating, we would talk on the phone, have work lunches together, and sometimes he would stay over at my place without any sexual activities or attempts to kiss. At that time, I didn't have a boyfriend, but I was talking to other people on dating apps because I was single. We never discussed our relationship status, so I couldn't assume where things were going between us. We remained in the talking stage for more than six months, during which I heard rumors that he was seeing someone (XY), but he never opened up about having or not having a girlfriend. Since we never talked about relationships, I didn't feel it was my place to ask.
About a month into our relationship, my boyfriend found text messages from a guy (AA). These messages were a bit flirty, we once met for lunch before I started dating my bf and I knew AA liked me but I had just started satin my bf and I wasn't sure were we were going. I also felt it was too early in our relationship to be checking each other's phones, as I consider that behavior to be invasive and inappropriate. This upset him greatly, and he asked me to choose between him and AA. I honestly told him that when we started dating, I had been single for some time and was talking to other people. Since our relationship wasn't clearly defined from the beginning, I couldn't put my life on hold for something I wasn't sure about. Additionally, considering the rumors about him dating XY, I was confused about the whole situation. He never indicated whether he was talking to other people or not, only saying that he never dated XY. I decided to let it go.
Two months later, he accused me of having relations with my ex from sixth grade, whom I dated when we were very young and nothing sexual ever happened between us. I wondered how he even knew about my childhood boyfriends. It turns out that I made the mistake of being open about my past at the beginning of our relationship, sharing childhood stories, traumas, and mentioning names along the way. I did this because I wanted him to understand why I went through depression, why I still go for therapy, and why I sometimes experience anxieties. Unfortunately, this openness led him to accuse me of still being "in touch" with my sixth-grade ex. I don't even think that guy considers me his ex because we were so young.
My boyfriend's behavior made me suspect that he was doing something behind my back, which might explain why he was snooping around. In response, I went through his phone and found chats between him and another girl, whom colleagues had mentioned before that he was dating. When I asked him about it, he claimed that they were just colleagues. The chats didn't suggest that they were dating or anything. I left it at that but mentioned the rumor I had heard. During the COVID lockdown (he was away while I was in our home country), he once told me he had a dream that I was cheating on him. I felt frustrated and angry that I had to convince him that I wasn't cheating. It didn't end there. My boyfriend also took my Facebook password and found chats between me and AA (remember him?). However, these chats were about me asking AA for information on how to get my medical records from a local hospital, as my insurance had been waiting for months. Both my boyfriend and I were expats and unfamiliar with the local laws, so I knew AA could provide some guidance. But my boyfriend seemed to be snooping on my chats every day because he accused me of cheating on the same day I contacted AA. He got even angrier when I deleted the chats, accusing me of hiding evidence. Once again, he crossed boundaries. When I asked him why he wanted access to my Facebook, he claimed that I must be hiding something because of my questions. To prove that I wasn't doing anything wrong, I even deleted WhatsApp for a month. Is this normal??
Between 2018 and 2022, we would spend around five to six months away from our home country, returning for about 1.5 months during holidays. Since we're from different provinces, we would travel to our respective home provinces during those holiday periods, including New Year's. Throughout our five-year relationship, he has never posted anything about me on social media, not even a finger, not even on my birthday. The only people I have met who know him are our colleagues in the research lab where we both work. Whenever I call him and he is at his brother's house, he goes outside or to the balcony to answer the phone, even if it's late at night. It's strange because we would be having a telephone conversation at 10 PM, and he would be outside. I don't know if I'm being paranoid or if he's intentionally keeping me a secret. I've considered the possibility that I haven't met any of his friends because we were always in-between countries, but even when we're in our home country, he doesn't mention inviting me to do things with his friends. His life outside our relationship remains a mystery to me. Am I being paranoid to have these thoughts? Should I ask him about it, and if so, how can I approach the topic without sounding desperate?
There's also something I don't know how to bring up. In 2018, when we had just started dating, he received a call while we were at my place. Judging by his facial expression, he seemed unhappy and went outside to answer the phone. When he came back, his eyes were red, and he told me he needed time to think, so he went back to his place. I could smell whiskey on his breath. He later explained that his sister had called him because his ex-girlfriend went to his family's house claiming to be pregnant with his child. He told me the last time he had seen her was the previous year when they randomly bumped into each other on the street. He assured me that the baby was not his, and I remained silent. However, when I checked his phone after he left, I saw that he had made calls to, guess who?? XY!! It didn't sit right with me that he would confide in someone he wasn't dating about something like this. Nonetheless, he never mentioned the baby scandal again, and I still don't know what happened or how his family handled the situation.
I'm unsure if it's even worth asking about what ultimately happened with the person who accused him of fathering her child. Do I bring this up? At this point am so confused by so many things!!
2023.06.04 20:21 lady-of-hell Midnight Train: Origins [Part 1] - Runaway
(Please check the pinned comment for additional info, thanks!)
Humans were never at the top of the foodchain. There were things that hid in the dark and preyed on our false confidence. Predators that rarely let their victims live to tell the tale, because their strength lay in their unknowable nature. Pride, the first sin, would always be men's downfall. Our carelessness would ensure that these predators shall never run out of prey.
Almost fourty years ago, I fell victim to one of their kind. I am one of the few who made it out, and lived to tell my story.
But let me start this in the only apropriete way.
My name is Billie, and I was a passenger of the Midnight Train.
In the early eighties, on a cool day in April, I stood at the train station at midnight, a heavy backpack on my shoulders and the earphones of my walkman blasting Metallica at high volume. I was the only person at the station, which wasn't surprising, considering that it was late at night on a weekday. For a second, I stood still in front of the open door and looked at the golden interior. I had made it. Nobody could stop me now.
With a smile on my lips, I stepped over the threshold.
It was a relief to hear the doors close behind me immediately. I wasn't sure where this train was going, but my main priority was to get away from my hometown. As soon as I reached the next big city, I could get on a train towards me real destination.
The train I had boarded was beautiful though. Bathed in golden light, almost painfully bright against the black night outside, was luxurious furniture made of polished wood and gilded metal. A bordeaux red carpet covered the floor and it looked barely used, as if this train was still brand new. This was far from what I had imagined from a random train in the middle of the night.
I took my earphones off and slowly walked down the corridor in an attempt to find a seat for myself. The train was driving already and was rapidly accelerating, so much that the outside was a blur. Good, I thought, because that would get me to the next city quicker.
"Excuse me, Ma'am?"
I flinched and spun around, only to see a man in an old-fashioned uniform, with a face that was so terribly unremarkable it was impossible to describe. He smiled politely, or at least I thought he did because my brain refused to recognize any of his facial features. "Welcome aboard the Midnight Train, Ma'am", he greeted me. "Please, allow me to lead you to your compartment."
"Uhm... yeah, sure", I agreed, more confused than anything. Compartment? Sure, this place was obviously fancy, but this seemed like overkill. I'd only stay here for an hour or so, only until we reached the next bigger train station. I'd be fine with sitting on the floor, honestly.
Still, I followed the Conductor to a compartment, thanked him for leading me here and eventually sat down on the bed and breathed a sigh of relief when he disappeared without asking for my ticket. Maybe he pitied me. Did I look like a runaway? Well, of course I did, what else would a seventeen year old girl with a huge backpack do at a train station at night. I smiled tiredly. The Conductor seemed like a nice person.
I sat the backpack down, put my earphones back on and lay down on the bed. Soon I would be in a train to California and I'd never have to see my parents again.
The problem was, this train didn't stop. Hours later, when I replayed the album in my walkman for the third time, we hadn't reached a single station and the outside was ist an indistinguishable blur. The darkness was slowly getting brighter, the watch on my wrist told me that daybreak wasn't far away, and the train didn't seem to slow down any time soon.
Maybe that was when I realized something was wrong.
I jumped from the bed and grabbed my backpack again. This probably meant nothing, I thought, all I had to do was ask the friendly Conductor and that would clear everything up.
With shaking hands, I opened the compartment door and stepped outside. The Conductor was nowhere to be seen, so I just picked a direction and wandered off. This wagon solely consisted of compartments and I walked past them without paying much attention, when suddenly a bloodcurling scream made me jump.
I screamed and took a step back, while the screeching from behind one of the compartment doors continued. Two children's voices screamed bloody murder behind the door with the number eighteen as I stood with my back agaist the wall, breathing heavily and eyeing said door in horror. "What the hell?", I whispered to myself. "What the actual fucking hell?"
Shaking my head, I hurried quickly past the door, towards the next wagon. This was something I wouldn't mess with. Whatever was happening in there, I'd just inform the Conductor and he would take care of this. It sounded like someone was getting murdered in there, and I wasn't going to put myself in harms way.
Even more unsettled, I entered the next wagon and found myself in a more populated area. Just as luxurious as the rest of the train, but the mood was more casual. Several seats were placed like the would be in a normal train, a few vending machines were placed on the wall, and people were sitting around. What was weird though, was that all these people seemed to keep distance between each other. Although there should have been chatter, the wagon was weirdly quiet.
I took a few tentative steps into the wagon, but nobody paid any attention to me. My eyes wandered over the passengers I walked past. A woman with blonde curly hair was quietly crying; there were bloody bandages wrapped around her lower arm. A man with a long beard was coughing pathetically, the dark beard was covered in grey dust for some reason. A black haired, obviously pregnant woman was reading a children's book to herself.
I stood in the middle of the wagon, looking at the strange passengers and wondering what was going on here when my eyes fell on a man. There was absolutely nothing remarkable about him and that was the thing that stood out to be, between all these weird people. He was bald, wore a fancy suit and simply sat next to a window, looking down at some paper in his hands. For a moment, I stared at him like an idiot.
The silence was broken when the people suddenly started to move. I looked around in confusion as they walked past me, some rather unsteady on their feet. What was going on?
The bald man was the last to stand up, our eyes met and he raised an eyebrow curiously. He walked straight towards me, his briefcase in one hand, the paper in the other.
"Hey!" A hand touched my shoulder.
I spun around and found myself face to face with a young man with dark blonde hair. "What the fuck?!", I snapped at him. "You scared the shit out of me!"
"Really? I'm the one who scares you? In this place?" He chuckled. "You're new, aren't you?"
"Uhm... yeah, I guess? Arrived a few hours ago."
He nodded. "Okay, thought so. Come on, we have to go, I'll explain everything when we're safe." With that, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me along, back out of the wagon.
"Safe from what? Who the hell are you? What's going on?"
"Just give me a minute, will you?", he replied harshly. We passed compartment eighteen again and once more I heard the children scream behind closed doors, but the man paid no attention to that. We hurried down the hall, past my own compartment, and at the very end of the wagon, we entered the last compartment, where he threw the door shut behind us.
I did not get the chance to say anything before I was tackled to the ground by something large and black.
I screamed and tried to free myself from the heavy thing that held my body down. All I saw was pitch black and there was something wet against my face. The man yelled something and then the black thing was yanked off of me and I gasped for air, trying desperately to comprehend what had just happened.
When I sat up again, I saw what had attacked me. A giant black dog, a very fluffy one in fact, stood next to the man, looking up at him with tired eyes while he was scolding it. Okay then. Nothing bad, just a cute dog.
The man turned to me. "Sorry, she tends to get a bit... excited", he said with an apologetic smile.
"Yeah, I noticed." I got back up and crossed my arms in front of my chest. "So... why am I here?"
"First things first, yeah? I'm Derek and this cutie next to me is Kira."
"I'm Billie. Now get to the point!"
He nodded. "Short version, this train is fucked and you need to know some things or you'll be dead by tomorrow."
I felt my stomach drop. For a moment there was absolute silence and my mind was racing until I realized what was going on. "That's not funny!", I hissed. "Honestly, pull your stupid jokes on someone else. I'm gonna go to my compartment now and wait until we reach the next stop, where I will get off this train. Okay?" I turned around and went to open the door when he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back.
"Fuck, don't go out there now! Just sit down and listen, okay? I'm not joking", he said urgently.
"You're annoying, you know that?" Still, I sat down on the bed and Kira wandered over to me immediately and rested her head in my lap. At least I got to pet a cute dog, I thought as I brushed over her dark fur.
Derek sat down next to me. "Okay... this will sound completely unbelievable, but please keep in mind that this train hasn't stopped in several hours and you agree that this is weird, right?"
I shrugged, but nodded. It was weird, he had a point there.
"Listen, the Midnight Train... it's cursed or something. There are inhuman things here and you have to be careful around them because they will kill you if you do something wrong. You have to follow certain rules to survive here."
Another moment of silence, then I shook my head. "Still not funny, asshole."
"Oh for fuck's sake..." He stood up, walked over to his cabinet and took something out. It took a second for me to understand what the black thing he showed me was. A dead raven. "A child whose mouth is sewn shut gave me this thing yesterday. This isn't a prank, Billie, I'm serious. This place is fucked."
I looked at the dead bird in his hands. He did have a point, nobody would go that far for a prank. Well, and all the people had started to leave that wagon at the same time, which was also very weird. The screaming kids in compartment eighteen, the fact that I couldn't for the life of me recall the Conductor's face, and that the train hadn't stopped once in the past seven hours...
This was bad.
"Let's say I believe all of this...", I said slowly. "How can we get off this train?"
He put the dead animal away again. "Depends... you've got a ticket?"
"Nope. Left in a bit of a hurry. I just hoped nobody would check." I shrugged.
"Fuck!", he cursed. Defeated, he dropped down on the bed again. "That means we're both stuck, girlie. No leaving without a ticket."
My blood ran cold. "You can't be serious."
"I wish I was joking. If you don't have a ticket, you don't get to leave."
I buried my face in my hands, mumbling no over and over again. This couldn't be real. I couldn't be stuck in a cursed train for the rest of my life. I was only seventeen. All I had wanted was to get away from my parents and now... no, there had to be a way out. All I had to do was survive until I found it. I could do that. I would survive and get out of here.
"Hey, are you alright?", Derek asked, sounding slightly worried. Kira made a small noise.
"Yes." I took a deep breath, wiped any tears from my eyes and looked straight at him. "Okay, tell me the rules. What are we hiding from right now?"
"The Fog. Every day at seven a.m. you have to be in your compartment for half an hour because the entire train fills with cold white fog. I saw a corpse once, of a person who didn't hide away... that shit's not harmless. Tears you apart from the inside." He shivered. "The guy was empty, Billie. I swear to god, all that was left of him was skin and bones."
Okay. Okay. That sounded absolutely horrifying, but easy enough to avoid. "Okay. Be in your compartment at seven. Got it. What else?"
He raised an eyebrow. "You're awfully calm."
I was actually freaking out, but running up and down like a headless chicken wouldn't get me anywhere. The most important thing right now was information, and I'd take everything he had to offer in this regard. "I'll cry later. Go on, what else is running around here? Who gave you the bird?"
"I call him the Distributor. Creepy kid with pitch black eyes and a mouth that's sewn shut. That little fucker is just weird. He walkes up to you, hands you some shit and runs off again. Not dangerous, as far as I can tell."
"And what's the dead raven all about?"
"No idea." He shrugged.
Well, that was moderately concerning, but alright. Better than the murder fog. "Okay. The screaming kids?"
"Compartment eighteen. Completely off limits. Just don't open the door and you're fine."
He went on to tell me that the Conductor was a neutral presence in the train, neither friend nor enemy of the passengers. The food sources were either the vending machines or the dining wagon, though the latter was apparently a bit problematic. He didn't know all the details about this, only that people tended to flee when their waiter had no face and that he had once seen a man cut his palm open when a white-haired woman had brought him a plate.
"Sounds like something I want to stay away from", I commented.
"Sure, the vending machines are safer, but trust me, you can only live off chips and candy for so long."
"Are you challenging me?" I grinned. "I'll see how long I can last. By the way, I'm hungry."
He shook his head. "You're really calm", he stated and he was right. I was calm. Right now, this sounded bad, but managable. I would be able to stick to a few rules. I would survive. I would find a way out of this mess.
On the bright side, I was as far away from my parents as humanly possible.
"We can't leave yet", he continued. "Five more minutes before the Fog's gone." He pointed at the door and I saw hints of white fog creep inside the compartment.
"Okay. I'll just cuddle with your dog." With that, I got off the bed and lay down on the floor. Kira seemed happy, because she cuddled against me immediately. That dog was almost as big as I was, with an unreasonable amout of fur. I loved her already.
When the Fog was gone, we decided to head out and get some food from the vending machines. Derek was nice enough, I thought. I was glad he had approached me, not only because he had saved my life and given me neccessary information, but also because it figured it was good to have a friend in here. Two idiots without a ticket and a dog, trying to find their way out. That was the stuff they made movies about.
Derek told me how he had stumbled into the train after finding his girlfriend with another man. He had simply taken Kira and ran off, entering the Midnight Train on accident, just like I had. I didn't tell him my reason to be here though. Like I said, I could use a friend in here and I didn't want to scare him off. He didn't need to know anyways.
"What do you want?" I turned my head to look at Derek, who only shrugged. As I looked back at the vending machine display, I blinked in confusion. The food, which had been brand new a minute ago, was now greyish and covered in dust. "What the...?", I started and turned to Derek again, who had gone pale like a ghost. Kira was growling lowly.
Everything in the wagon was turning grey. The light dimmed, a thick layer of dust covered the floor and furniture, the air was so dry it scratched my throat. "Shit", Derek whispered. "The Cinder Queen. Listen, do not run! Her minions are predators, you don't want to set off their hunting instinct."
"The fuck is going on??"
He didn't answer, just reached out and grabbed my wrist in a bruising grip. His eyes were focused on the other side of the wagon and I followed his look. What was approaching was the most beautiful and horrific thing I had ever seen.
The Cinder Queen was breathtaking. A tall woman with long black hair and ashen skin. Her dress was fitting for a queen, wide and flowing and detailed with intricate patterns, all grey in grey. She was thin, all skin and bones, sunken eyes and hollow cheeks, and she moved with the grace of a cat as she walked down the hall.
And behind her followed a crowd of monsters of ash and soot. Grey, hulking bodies that only vaguely resembled a human, walking on all fours while almost staying upright due to their grotesquely long arms. They had no eyes in their misshapen heads, only a wide mouth that almost reached around the skull, baring long, thin teeth and a snake-like tongue.
The world around us was silent as the Cinder Queen and her followers approached; all I could hear was my heartbeat echoing in my ears. I didn't dare to move an inch. She came closer and for a moment I dared to hope she would walk right past us, but of course the entity didn't have mercy. She stopped in front of us and now that I saw her up close, I realized that what I had thought to be sunken eyes were actually hollow voids.
Her hand reached out and long, boney fingers touched my face. From this proximity I could trace the cobweb of cracks in her dry skin. She opened her mouth and a thin, split tongue slithered out and flickered over my face. I shivered, frozen in place from fear. This was it, I thought. I was going to die.
And then she smiled and let go off me, only to turn her attention to Derek. I didn't relax in the slightest as I had to watch her grab his face like she had done to me before. Again, her lips twisted into a cruel smile and with that she grabbed him tighter and pressed her lips against his.
I bit down on my lip to keep myself from making a noise.
It was only a moment before she let go off him, turned away and continued to walk down the hallway, her ashen monsters always right behind her.
As she left the wagon, I got to watch the ashes fade away and the world regain its colour. My heart was racing, I could hear the blood rushing in my ears, but there was no time for me calm down. Derek had let go off my wrist and had fallen to his knees, coughing violently.
"Hey! Hey, are you okay? What did that bitch do?", I asked urgently.
He looked up to me, a pained smile on his face. "Nothing fatal. I'm okay, don't worry." His voice was hoarse.
"Are you sure?" I was not convinced at all, mostly because he looked pale as a ghost and had started to cough again.
"Yup." He got back up and brushed some dust off his clothes. "Come on, you were hungry, weren't you?"
"Are you going to explain what just happened?"
"Back in the compartment, okay?"
So we purchased some food at the nearby vending machines and walked back to the compartment. The way wasn't interrupted by anything, thankfully. We passed the pregnant woman again and I thought how terrible it must be for her to be stuck in place like this with an unborn child, and we walked past the bald man too, who held some chocolate in his hand. He looked up for just a moment, his bright blue eyes focused on my coughing companion, before he turned his attention back to the chocolate bar.
Back in the compartment, we were instantly tackled by Kira, who was overjoyed to have us back. After a very enthusiastic greeting, the giant dog settled on the floor at our feet, though her big brown eyes rested on her owner the entire time. Derek and I sat on the bed again, our food between us, but I was the only one that was eating.
"The Cinder Queen...", he began to explain. "She's the one thing the rules won't save you from. Nobody really knows how to counter her, she just shows up sometimes and turns the world around her into this dusty mess." He shrugged. "She unpredictable. Just stay still and wait... and maybe pray a bit."
"I'm not religious."
He chuckled. "Now would be a good time to reconsider."
Derek continued to cough and I asked him several more times wether he was sure he was alright, but he promised me that it was nothing and eventually I let it go. I ended up going back to my compartment after a while, because after all that had happened I wanted to rest for a bit. Earphones back on, I laid on my admittedly very comfortable bed and stared at the ceiling, contemplating the events of the day.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. Although I had stayed calm when talking to my new friend, I was absolutely terrified to be in a place like this. A place that, by all accounts, should not even exist. I had lived my entire life not believing in the paranormal, only to end up in a place filled with inhuman creatures that would kill me as soon as I made a single mistake. And worst of all, with one of them it was entirely up to chance wether or not I would survive an encounter. A terrifying prospect.
I fell asleep eventually and was plagued with nightmares of ash and soot. In my dreams I hurried through monochrome corridors, the Cinder Queen's ashen monsters at my heels, and when I woke up my heart was racing and I was drenched in sweat.
"Still better than home", I muttered bitterly to myself as I changed my clothes. The cabinet was filled with clothes in my size, which was weird, but far from the weirdest thing in this place. They were a bit to girly for my taste, but they would suffice. I chose something that didn't look completely atrocious and made my way back to Derek's compartment a few doors down.
My fears from yesterday were confirmed when I walked through the door.
Derek was lying on his bad and for a moment I thought he was dead. His skin was ashen, his mouth stained with dust, his breath shallow and interrupted with coughs. Kira sat on the floor next to her owner and whined.
"For fuck's sake", I cursed. "I thought you were okay?"
"Billie! Oh thank god you're here." He sounded weak, as if speaking demanded all his strength. "Listen, there's another... entity I haven't mentioned. The Blind Beggar Woman. She... she can help me. Just make sure..." He coughed. "Make sure to ask for her price first. She makes deals, she can... save me."
"Okay. Okay, Blind Beggar Lady. Got it." I nodded quickly. "Where is she?"
"She'll be there if you look for her. She always is. Please, Billie, please hurry."
"I'll be right back!", I promised, turned around and hurried out of the compartment.
I ran down the hall, not entirely sure what I was looking for. All I knew was that I had to find that entity quickly, because my friend had looked like he was about to drop dead at any given moment. Interally I cursed the man for lying to me, for claiming he was fine when the exact opposite was the case. Now it was my job to save his life and under normal circumstances that would be okay, but now that I had to deal with one of the train's entities, I wasn't so sure.
I left the wagon with the compartments behind and entered one of the common ones, only to find the person I was looking for sitting right in front of me. A woman in her thirties maybe, with dark skin and long dark hair, sitting cross-legged on the floor with a small bowl in front of her. Her eyes were completely white and she wore wrinkled, ill-fitted clothes.
"Hi", I greeted her, my voice shaking more than I had expected. "I want to make a deal."
"Yes, I am aware", she replied calmly. "Why don't you sit down and we discuss this?"
I decided to humour her and knelt down on the floor, so that we were at eye-level now. The Blind Beggar Woman looked so nice and painfully human that I had a hard time believing I was dealing with an inhuman thing. I wanted to trust her and it was a conscious effort to keep my guard up. "A friend of mine is dying. He says you can save him."
"He is right, I am able to save him, as long as you are willing to pay the price, Sybille."
So this lady just knew my name. That was certainly among the more freaky things that had happened up until this point. "Billie", I corrected automatically. "Why am I supposed to pay? It's his life you're saving."
"You came to me. This deal is between you and I, so you will pay the price", she explained. "Are you interested?"
I didn't like this in the slightest. "Tell me the price!"
She closed her blind eyes and smiled. "Your friend is on the verge of death, Billie. What you're asking from me is no small favour. Are you willing to give up one of your arms for his life?"
"What?" My blood ran cold. "You want one of my limbs?"
"This is the price."
Confused, I looked down at my hands. An arm. An entire fucking arm. I was supposed to become an amputee for a man I'd only known for a day. My only friend in this cursed place. A stranger.
It was probably a small price to pay for a life.
"So?", the Beggar Woman asked. "Will you pay?"
There was a lump in my throat. I took a shaking breath and swallowed hard, unable to speak at first. "I can't", I finally admitted. "I'm sorry."
"I'm not the person you should be apologizing to." The Blind Woman stood up. "If you hurry, you might get the chance to say goodbye to him."
"Already? Fuck!" Now I, too, jumped to my feet and without a goodbye to her, I ran back to the compartment. I had no idea how to explain this to Derek, but maybe I wouldn't even have to.
The way back was short, but I was out of breath when I arrived. I threw the door open and stopped at the treshold, frozen in place.
He looked like he was suffering a seizure. His body was convulsing, he screamed in pain as his skin turned grey, his form was changing and growing in the strangest proportions. Kira was barking in distress. Derek's arms were growing, his skull deforming. He looked at me and choked out my name in between agonized screams and then his eyes disappeared. It was the most horrible thing I had ever seen.
Before I knew what was happening, an ash monster lay where Derek had been just a minute ago and the creature moved, clumsily but fast. It staggered around the room, bumped into the walls, hissing and baring his teeth, and I couldn't do anything but watch as it stumbled around in its confused state before turning towards me and running. I threw myself to the side, out of the way, and the creature ran straight past me, out of the door. It ran into the wall before hurrying down the hallway, out of sight.
I collapsed to the floor, trying to calm down my racing heart.
Kira walked over to me and put her head into my lap. To hear her whine was heartbreaking, but I couldn't do anything but pet her. "I'm so sorry, baby. I couldn't save him", I told the dog. "Don't worry, you just stay with me, okay? I won't leave you. You and I, we're gonna make it out of here. That stupid Cinder Queen won't get us."
Kira just looked up at me with her big eyes.
We stayed like this for quite a while. Derek, or rather the thing that had once been Derek, didn't return and I took the time to mourn his loss. Eventually though, I knew that waiting wouldn't do any good. I wanted to get out and I had to work for it. Derek was gone and since I didn't think I could do this alone, I needed a new friend.
And so I wandered into a common wagon hours later, Kira walking next to me. And there he was again, sitting next to a window and studying some piece of paper he held in his hands. My newly acquired dog in tow, I simply walked up to him and smiled. "Hi", I greeted the bald man with the bright blue eyes. "So, are you human?"
This is where I end this for now. The next part will be about new friends and deadly nightmares. But until then, don't lay your life into the hands of a stranger.
They might not value it quite enough.
- To Be Continued -
submitted by lady-of-hell to LadyOfHellWrites [link] [comments]
Humans were never at the top of the foodchain. There were things that hid in the dark and preyed on our false confidence. Predators that rarely let their victims live to tell the tale, because their strength lay in their unknowable nature. Pride, the first sin, would always be men's downfall. Our carelessness would ensure that these predators shall never run out of prey.
Almost fourty years ago, I fell victim to one of their kind. I am one of the few who made it out, and lived to tell my story.
But let me start this in the only apropriete way.
My name is Billie, and I was a passenger of the Midnight Train.
In the early eighties, on a cool day in April, I stood at the train station at midnight, a heavy backpack on my shoulders and the earphones of my walkman blasting Metallica at high volume. I was the only person at the station, which wasn't surprising, considering that it was late at night on a weekday. For a second, I stood still in front of the open door and looked at the golden interior. I had made it. Nobody could stop me now.
With a smile on my lips, I stepped over the threshold.
It was a relief to hear the doors close behind me immediately. I wasn't sure where this train was going, but my main priority was to get away from my hometown. As soon as I reached the next big city, I could get on a train towards me real destination.
The train I had boarded was beautiful though. Bathed in golden light, almost painfully bright against the black night outside, was luxurious furniture made of polished wood and gilded metal. A bordeaux red carpet covered the floor and it looked barely used, as if this train was still brand new. This was far from what I had imagined from a random train in the middle of the night.
I took my earphones off and slowly walked down the corridor in an attempt to find a seat for myself. The train was driving already and was rapidly accelerating, so much that the outside was a blur. Good, I thought, because that would get me to the next city quicker.
"Excuse me, Ma'am?"
I flinched and spun around, only to see a man in an old-fashioned uniform, with a face that was so terribly unremarkable it was impossible to describe. He smiled politely, or at least I thought he did because my brain refused to recognize any of his facial features. "Welcome aboard the Midnight Train, Ma'am", he greeted me. "Please, allow me to lead you to your compartment."
"Uhm... yeah, sure", I agreed, more confused than anything. Compartment? Sure, this place was obviously fancy, but this seemed like overkill. I'd only stay here for an hour or so, only until we reached the next bigger train station. I'd be fine with sitting on the floor, honestly.
Still, I followed the Conductor to a compartment, thanked him for leading me here and eventually sat down on the bed and breathed a sigh of relief when he disappeared without asking for my ticket. Maybe he pitied me. Did I look like a runaway? Well, of course I did, what else would a seventeen year old girl with a huge backpack do at a train station at night. I smiled tiredly. The Conductor seemed like a nice person.
I sat the backpack down, put my earphones back on and lay down on the bed. Soon I would be in a train to California and I'd never have to see my parents again.
The problem was, this train didn't stop. Hours later, when I replayed the album in my walkman for the third time, we hadn't reached a single station and the outside was ist an indistinguishable blur. The darkness was slowly getting brighter, the watch on my wrist told me that daybreak wasn't far away, and the train didn't seem to slow down any time soon.
Maybe that was when I realized something was wrong.
I jumped from the bed and grabbed my backpack again. This probably meant nothing, I thought, all I had to do was ask the friendly Conductor and that would clear everything up.
With shaking hands, I opened the compartment door and stepped outside. The Conductor was nowhere to be seen, so I just picked a direction and wandered off. This wagon solely consisted of compartments and I walked past them without paying much attention, when suddenly a bloodcurling scream made me jump.
I screamed and took a step back, while the screeching from behind one of the compartment doors continued. Two children's voices screamed bloody murder behind the door with the number eighteen as I stood with my back agaist the wall, breathing heavily and eyeing said door in horror. "What the hell?", I whispered to myself. "What the actual fucking hell?"
Shaking my head, I hurried quickly past the door, towards the next wagon. This was something I wouldn't mess with. Whatever was happening in there, I'd just inform the Conductor and he would take care of this. It sounded like someone was getting murdered in there, and I wasn't going to put myself in harms way.
Even more unsettled, I entered the next wagon and found myself in a more populated area. Just as luxurious as the rest of the train, but the mood was more casual. Several seats were placed like the would be in a normal train, a few vending machines were placed on the wall, and people were sitting around. What was weird though, was that all these people seemed to keep distance between each other. Although there should have been chatter, the wagon was weirdly quiet.
I took a few tentative steps into the wagon, but nobody paid any attention to me. My eyes wandered over the passengers I walked past. A woman with blonde curly hair was quietly crying; there were bloody bandages wrapped around her lower arm. A man with a long beard was coughing pathetically, the dark beard was covered in grey dust for some reason. A black haired, obviously pregnant woman was reading a children's book to herself.
I stood in the middle of the wagon, looking at the strange passengers and wondering what was going on here when my eyes fell on a man. There was absolutely nothing remarkable about him and that was the thing that stood out to be, between all these weird people. He was bald, wore a fancy suit and simply sat next to a window, looking down at some paper in his hands. For a moment, I stared at him like an idiot.
The silence was broken when the people suddenly started to move. I looked around in confusion as they walked past me, some rather unsteady on their feet. What was going on?
The bald man was the last to stand up, our eyes met and he raised an eyebrow curiously. He walked straight towards me, his briefcase in one hand, the paper in the other.
"Hey!" A hand touched my shoulder.
I spun around and found myself face to face with a young man with dark blonde hair. "What the fuck?!", I snapped at him. "You scared the shit out of me!"
"Really? I'm the one who scares you? In this place?" He chuckled. "You're new, aren't you?"
"Uhm... yeah, I guess? Arrived a few hours ago."
He nodded. "Okay, thought so. Come on, we have to go, I'll explain everything when we're safe." With that, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me along, back out of the wagon.
"Safe from what? Who the hell are you? What's going on?"
"Just give me a minute, will you?", he replied harshly. We passed compartment eighteen again and once more I heard the children scream behind closed doors, but the man paid no attention to that. We hurried down the hall, past my own compartment, and at the very end of the wagon, we entered the last compartment, where he threw the door shut behind us.
I did not get the chance to say anything before I was tackled to the ground by something large and black.
I screamed and tried to free myself from the heavy thing that held my body down. All I saw was pitch black and there was something wet against my face. The man yelled something and then the black thing was yanked off of me and I gasped for air, trying desperately to comprehend what had just happened.
When I sat up again, I saw what had attacked me. A giant black dog, a very fluffy one in fact, stood next to the man, looking up at him with tired eyes while he was scolding it. Okay then. Nothing bad, just a cute dog.
The man turned to me. "Sorry, she tends to get a bit... excited", he said with an apologetic smile.
"Yeah, I noticed." I got back up and crossed my arms in front of my chest. "So... why am I here?"
"First things first, yeah? I'm Derek and this cutie next to me is Kira."
"I'm Billie. Now get to the point!"
He nodded. "Short version, this train is fucked and you need to know some things or you'll be dead by tomorrow."
I felt my stomach drop. For a moment there was absolute silence and my mind was racing until I realized what was going on. "That's not funny!", I hissed. "Honestly, pull your stupid jokes on someone else. I'm gonna go to my compartment now and wait until we reach the next stop, where I will get off this train. Okay?" I turned around and went to open the door when he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back.
"Fuck, don't go out there now! Just sit down and listen, okay? I'm not joking", he said urgently.
"You're annoying, you know that?" Still, I sat down on the bed and Kira wandered over to me immediately and rested her head in my lap. At least I got to pet a cute dog, I thought as I brushed over her dark fur.
Derek sat down next to me. "Okay... this will sound completely unbelievable, but please keep in mind that this train hasn't stopped in several hours and you agree that this is weird, right?"
I shrugged, but nodded. It was weird, he had a point there.
"Listen, the Midnight Train... it's cursed or something. There are inhuman things here and you have to be careful around them because they will kill you if you do something wrong. You have to follow certain rules to survive here."
Another moment of silence, then I shook my head. "Still not funny, asshole."
"Oh for fuck's sake..." He stood up, walked over to his cabinet and took something out. It took a second for me to understand what the black thing he showed me was. A dead raven. "A child whose mouth is sewn shut gave me this thing yesterday. This isn't a prank, Billie, I'm serious. This place is fucked."
I looked at the dead bird in his hands. He did have a point, nobody would go that far for a prank. Well, and all the people had started to leave that wagon at the same time, which was also very weird. The screaming kids in compartment eighteen, the fact that I couldn't for the life of me recall the Conductor's face, and that the train hadn't stopped once in the past seven hours...
This was bad.
"Let's say I believe all of this...", I said slowly. "How can we get off this train?"
He put the dead animal away again. "Depends... you've got a ticket?"
"Nope. Left in a bit of a hurry. I just hoped nobody would check." I shrugged.
"Fuck!", he cursed. Defeated, he dropped down on the bed again. "That means we're both stuck, girlie. No leaving without a ticket."
My blood ran cold. "You can't be serious."
"I wish I was joking. If you don't have a ticket, you don't get to leave."
I buried my face in my hands, mumbling no over and over again. This couldn't be real. I couldn't be stuck in a cursed train for the rest of my life. I was only seventeen. All I had wanted was to get away from my parents and now... no, there had to be a way out. All I had to do was survive until I found it. I could do that. I would survive and get out of here.
"Hey, are you alright?", Derek asked, sounding slightly worried. Kira made a small noise.
"Yes." I took a deep breath, wiped any tears from my eyes and looked straight at him. "Okay, tell me the rules. What are we hiding from right now?"
"The Fog. Every day at seven a.m. you have to be in your compartment for half an hour because the entire train fills with cold white fog. I saw a corpse once, of a person who didn't hide away... that shit's not harmless. Tears you apart from the inside." He shivered. "The guy was empty, Billie. I swear to god, all that was left of him was skin and bones."
Okay. Okay. That sounded absolutely horrifying, but easy enough to avoid. "Okay. Be in your compartment at seven. Got it. What else?"
He raised an eyebrow. "You're awfully calm."
I was actually freaking out, but running up and down like a headless chicken wouldn't get me anywhere. The most important thing right now was information, and I'd take everything he had to offer in this regard. "I'll cry later. Go on, what else is running around here? Who gave you the bird?"
"I call him the Distributor. Creepy kid with pitch black eyes and a mouth that's sewn shut. That little fucker is just weird. He walkes up to you, hands you some shit and runs off again. Not dangerous, as far as I can tell."
"And what's the dead raven all about?"
"No idea." He shrugged.
Well, that was moderately concerning, but alright. Better than the murder fog. "Okay. The screaming kids?"
"Compartment eighteen. Completely off limits. Just don't open the door and you're fine."
He went on to tell me that the Conductor was a neutral presence in the train, neither friend nor enemy of the passengers. The food sources were either the vending machines or the dining wagon, though the latter was apparently a bit problematic. He didn't know all the details about this, only that people tended to flee when their waiter had no face and that he had once seen a man cut his palm open when a white-haired woman had brought him a plate.
"Sounds like something I want to stay away from", I commented.
"Sure, the vending machines are safer, but trust me, you can only live off chips and candy for so long."
"Are you challenging me?" I grinned. "I'll see how long I can last. By the way, I'm hungry."
He shook his head. "You're really calm", he stated and he was right. I was calm. Right now, this sounded bad, but managable. I would be able to stick to a few rules. I would survive. I would find a way out of this mess.
On the bright side, I was as far away from my parents as humanly possible.
"We can't leave yet", he continued. "Five more minutes before the Fog's gone." He pointed at the door and I saw hints of white fog creep inside the compartment.
"Okay. I'll just cuddle with your dog." With that, I got off the bed and lay down on the floor. Kira seemed happy, because she cuddled against me immediately. That dog was almost as big as I was, with an unreasonable amout of fur. I loved her already.
When the Fog was gone, we decided to head out and get some food from the vending machines. Derek was nice enough, I thought. I was glad he had approached me, not only because he had saved my life and given me neccessary information, but also because it figured it was good to have a friend in here. Two idiots without a ticket and a dog, trying to find their way out. That was the stuff they made movies about.
Derek told me how he had stumbled into the train after finding his girlfriend with another man. He had simply taken Kira and ran off, entering the Midnight Train on accident, just like I had. I didn't tell him my reason to be here though. Like I said, I could use a friend in here and I didn't want to scare him off. He didn't need to know anyways.
"What do you want?" I turned my head to look at Derek, who only shrugged. As I looked back at the vending machine display, I blinked in confusion. The food, which had been brand new a minute ago, was now greyish and covered in dust. "What the...?", I started and turned to Derek again, who had gone pale like a ghost. Kira was growling lowly.
Everything in the wagon was turning grey. The light dimmed, a thick layer of dust covered the floor and furniture, the air was so dry it scratched my throat. "Shit", Derek whispered. "The Cinder Queen. Listen, do not run! Her minions are predators, you don't want to set off their hunting instinct."
"The fuck is going on??"
He didn't answer, just reached out and grabbed my wrist in a bruising grip. His eyes were focused on the other side of the wagon and I followed his look. What was approaching was the most beautiful and horrific thing I had ever seen.
The Cinder Queen was breathtaking. A tall woman with long black hair and ashen skin. Her dress was fitting for a queen, wide and flowing and detailed with intricate patterns, all grey in grey. She was thin, all skin and bones, sunken eyes and hollow cheeks, and she moved with the grace of a cat as she walked down the hall.
And behind her followed a crowd of monsters of ash and soot. Grey, hulking bodies that only vaguely resembled a human, walking on all fours while almost staying upright due to their grotesquely long arms. They had no eyes in their misshapen heads, only a wide mouth that almost reached around the skull, baring long, thin teeth and a snake-like tongue.
The world around us was silent as the Cinder Queen and her followers approached; all I could hear was my heartbeat echoing in my ears. I didn't dare to move an inch. She came closer and for a moment I dared to hope she would walk right past us, but of course the entity didn't have mercy. She stopped in front of us and now that I saw her up close, I realized that what I had thought to be sunken eyes were actually hollow voids.
Her hand reached out and long, boney fingers touched my face. From this proximity I could trace the cobweb of cracks in her dry skin. She opened her mouth and a thin, split tongue slithered out and flickered over my face. I shivered, frozen in place from fear. This was it, I thought. I was going to die.
And then she smiled and let go off me, only to turn her attention to Derek. I didn't relax in the slightest as I had to watch her grab his face like she had done to me before. Again, her lips twisted into a cruel smile and with that she grabbed him tighter and pressed her lips against his.
I bit down on my lip to keep myself from making a noise.
It was only a moment before she let go off him, turned away and continued to walk down the hallway, her ashen monsters always right behind her.
As she left the wagon, I got to watch the ashes fade away and the world regain its colour. My heart was racing, I could hear the blood rushing in my ears, but there was no time for me calm down. Derek had let go off my wrist and had fallen to his knees, coughing violently.
"Hey! Hey, are you okay? What did that bitch do?", I asked urgently.
He looked up to me, a pained smile on his face. "Nothing fatal. I'm okay, don't worry." His voice was hoarse.
"Are you sure?" I was not convinced at all, mostly because he looked pale as a ghost and had started to cough again.
"Yup." He got back up and brushed some dust off his clothes. "Come on, you were hungry, weren't you?"
"Are you going to explain what just happened?"
"Back in the compartment, okay?"
So we purchased some food at the nearby vending machines and walked back to the compartment. The way wasn't interrupted by anything, thankfully. We passed the pregnant woman again and I thought how terrible it must be for her to be stuck in place like this with an unborn child, and we walked past the bald man too, who held some chocolate in his hand. He looked up for just a moment, his bright blue eyes focused on my coughing companion, before he turned his attention back to the chocolate bar.
Back in the compartment, we were instantly tackled by Kira, who was overjoyed to have us back. After a very enthusiastic greeting, the giant dog settled on the floor at our feet, though her big brown eyes rested on her owner the entire time. Derek and I sat on the bed again, our food between us, but I was the only one that was eating.
"The Cinder Queen...", he began to explain. "She's the one thing the rules won't save you from. Nobody really knows how to counter her, she just shows up sometimes and turns the world around her into this dusty mess." He shrugged. "She unpredictable. Just stay still and wait... and maybe pray a bit."
"I'm not religious."
He chuckled. "Now would be a good time to reconsider."
Derek continued to cough and I asked him several more times wether he was sure he was alright, but he promised me that it was nothing and eventually I let it go. I ended up going back to my compartment after a while, because after all that had happened I wanted to rest for a bit. Earphones back on, I laid on my admittedly very comfortable bed and stared at the ceiling, contemplating the events of the day.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. Although I had stayed calm when talking to my new friend, I was absolutely terrified to be in a place like this. A place that, by all accounts, should not even exist. I had lived my entire life not believing in the paranormal, only to end up in a place filled with inhuman creatures that would kill me as soon as I made a single mistake. And worst of all, with one of them it was entirely up to chance wether or not I would survive an encounter. A terrifying prospect.
I fell asleep eventually and was plagued with nightmares of ash and soot. In my dreams I hurried through monochrome corridors, the Cinder Queen's ashen monsters at my heels, and when I woke up my heart was racing and I was drenched in sweat.
"Still better than home", I muttered bitterly to myself as I changed my clothes. The cabinet was filled with clothes in my size, which was weird, but far from the weirdest thing in this place. They were a bit to girly for my taste, but they would suffice. I chose something that didn't look completely atrocious and made my way back to Derek's compartment a few doors down.
My fears from yesterday were confirmed when I walked through the door.
Derek was lying on his bad and for a moment I thought he was dead. His skin was ashen, his mouth stained with dust, his breath shallow and interrupted with coughs. Kira sat on the floor next to her owner and whined.
"For fuck's sake", I cursed. "I thought you were okay?"
"Billie! Oh thank god you're here." He sounded weak, as if speaking demanded all his strength. "Listen, there's another... entity I haven't mentioned. The Blind Beggar Woman. She... she can help me. Just make sure..." He coughed. "Make sure to ask for her price first. She makes deals, she can... save me."
"Okay. Okay, Blind Beggar Lady. Got it." I nodded quickly. "Where is she?"
"She'll be there if you look for her. She always is. Please, Billie, please hurry."
"I'll be right back!", I promised, turned around and hurried out of the compartment.
I ran down the hall, not entirely sure what I was looking for. All I knew was that I had to find that entity quickly, because my friend had looked like he was about to drop dead at any given moment. Interally I cursed the man for lying to me, for claiming he was fine when the exact opposite was the case. Now it was my job to save his life and under normal circumstances that would be okay, but now that I had to deal with one of the train's entities, I wasn't so sure.
I left the wagon with the compartments behind and entered one of the common ones, only to find the person I was looking for sitting right in front of me. A woman in her thirties maybe, with dark skin and long dark hair, sitting cross-legged on the floor with a small bowl in front of her. Her eyes were completely white and she wore wrinkled, ill-fitted clothes.
"Hi", I greeted her, my voice shaking more than I had expected. "I want to make a deal."
"Yes, I am aware", she replied calmly. "Why don't you sit down and we discuss this?"
I decided to humour her and knelt down on the floor, so that we were at eye-level now. The Blind Beggar Woman looked so nice and painfully human that I had a hard time believing I was dealing with an inhuman thing. I wanted to trust her and it was a conscious effort to keep my guard up. "A friend of mine is dying. He says you can save him."
"He is right, I am able to save him, as long as you are willing to pay the price, Sybille."
So this lady just knew my name. That was certainly among the more freaky things that had happened up until this point. "Billie", I corrected automatically. "Why am I supposed to pay? It's his life you're saving."
"You came to me. This deal is between you and I, so you will pay the price", she explained. "Are you interested?"
I didn't like this in the slightest. "Tell me the price!"
She closed her blind eyes and smiled. "Your friend is on the verge of death, Billie. What you're asking from me is no small favour. Are you willing to give up one of your arms for his life?"
"What?" My blood ran cold. "You want one of my limbs?"
"This is the price."
Confused, I looked down at my hands. An arm. An entire fucking arm. I was supposed to become an amputee for a man I'd only known for a day. My only friend in this cursed place. A stranger.
It was probably a small price to pay for a life.
"So?", the Beggar Woman asked. "Will you pay?"
There was a lump in my throat. I took a shaking breath and swallowed hard, unable to speak at first. "I can't", I finally admitted. "I'm sorry."
"I'm not the person you should be apologizing to." The Blind Woman stood up. "If you hurry, you might get the chance to say goodbye to him."
"Already? Fuck!" Now I, too, jumped to my feet and without a goodbye to her, I ran back to the compartment. I had no idea how to explain this to Derek, but maybe I wouldn't even have to.
The way back was short, but I was out of breath when I arrived. I threw the door open and stopped at the treshold, frozen in place.
He looked like he was suffering a seizure. His body was convulsing, he screamed in pain as his skin turned grey, his form was changing and growing in the strangest proportions. Kira was barking in distress. Derek's arms were growing, his skull deforming. He looked at me and choked out my name in between agonized screams and then his eyes disappeared. It was the most horrible thing I had ever seen.
Before I knew what was happening, an ash monster lay where Derek had been just a minute ago and the creature moved, clumsily but fast. It staggered around the room, bumped into the walls, hissing and baring his teeth, and I couldn't do anything but watch as it stumbled around in its confused state before turning towards me and running. I threw myself to the side, out of the way, and the creature ran straight past me, out of the door. It ran into the wall before hurrying down the hallway, out of sight.
I collapsed to the floor, trying to calm down my racing heart.
Kira walked over to me and put her head into my lap. To hear her whine was heartbreaking, but I couldn't do anything but pet her. "I'm so sorry, baby. I couldn't save him", I told the dog. "Don't worry, you just stay with me, okay? I won't leave you. You and I, we're gonna make it out of here. That stupid Cinder Queen won't get us."
Kira just looked up at me with her big eyes.
We stayed like this for quite a while. Derek, or rather the thing that had once been Derek, didn't return and I took the time to mourn his loss. Eventually though, I knew that waiting wouldn't do any good. I wanted to get out and I had to work for it. Derek was gone and since I didn't think I could do this alone, I needed a new friend.
And so I wandered into a common wagon hours later, Kira walking next to me. And there he was again, sitting next to a window and studying some piece of paper he held in his hands. My newly acquired dog in tow, I simply walked up to him and smiled. "Hi", I greeted the bald man with the bright blue eyes. "So, are you human?"
This is where I end this for now. The next part will be about new friends and deadly nightmares. But until then, don't lay your life into the hands of a stranger.
They might not value it quite enough.
- To Be Continued -
2023.06.04 20:01 45ujt445y515 What should i do what would you do
I'm (25f) sick of dealing with my family and juggling with problems and pleasing everyone My parents want to help my sister (29f) who betrayed us, but by doing that they screw me and my chance to have a house to live in and a brighter future perhaps, she left in the midst of a pandemic to another country with a boyfriend who has been dating and breaking up constantly throughout her college years, she left my parents, my disabled 16-year-old brother totally dependent on my mom, my husband, and I on our own to survive when she was the only one left with a job and she left us because of her desire to have a family with her ex who cheated on each other, she humiliated me in the bank in front of everyone who was there, while we did a procedure that suited us all so we wouldn't be homeless even though there was no food, we asked for a loan to be able to pay the rent of the house and not be On the streets with a child who has to sleep with a machine that helps him breathe, my sister took off and left me in charge of the debt that I still owe to the bank in the name of both of us but since she was not in the country, They charge me and insult me and she made a new life, luckily my husband managed to get a job a couple months later when the gov let people open again, and he had to go from one city to another 5hrs from home and he visits me when he can and so do I, we made sacrifices cause we needed to survive, but hes now the one that pays everyone's expenses out of love cause we are pretty close he decided so and It is not fair for him to support my family, that is the children's job, I mean, my sister and I, I am still finishing my studies and work half time, I only have one year of internship left to graduate and work and support my family, my husband does want me to finish my studies, hes scared that if something happens to him how would i be left behind defenseless and its always been my dream to graduate and break the cycle of my family, my sister does have a university degree my parents paid some and with scholarships too, from the country we came from (we live in another country, not the one where I spent my childhood) since shes the older i couldnt go to university when i was younger, she did not want to validate her degree when she arrived here to get better opportunities (we have dual born citizenship in both countries, the one where we live now and where she went to and where we spend our childhood) and only went with boyfriends and traveling with them and got jobs as a cook half time istead of engineers jobs cause she is.
Everyone contributed at home before we lost our jobs due to the pandemic and we still haven't been able to recover, my husband was upset by my sister's betrayal (me too) and for being ungrateful because it was with our money that we paid for her plane tickets and we took care of her expenses for months without asking for anything in return and with the promise that we would help my mother and brother when they get here and have a bright life, when my parents and brother arrived instead of being of help she gave the debt to my parents and they are so stupid that they accepted pay it for her, shes done many things shes so problematic when shes home we fight so often when shes gone we barely fight maybe months without fights, i cant list all shes done it would be too long (this is already long), my husband is upset and does not want to see her nor in paintings, she is prohibited from coming back or he wont pay rent as long as shes there.
Guess who got cheated on and lost her job in the country that she returned to and now she asks her parents for help? Exactly my sister, she wants to go back and live where she once abandoned us and I don't contribute money and she wants to make use of it now that she needs it. She first told my mom she would only stay a week shes going to another closeby country to work (already unacceptable) guess who told my mom today that the friend who was waiting for her in that country bailed now she cant go and will stay in this house, sHe wants to go back and start over because she has no one where she left (obviously because she abandoned her only family) and my parents even though my husband supports us even though he shouldn't he doesn't want my sister back so much that he once told me that if she came back she would stop paying the rent and he's right, you can't argue with him, but my parents would rather risk living on the street than let my sister learn life lessons, and with that they screw me because I too would be homeless and I need to graduate I only have the internship left that I start in september and I started to learn how to put oashes to support us when i dont go to uni or study, when I have free time to be able to earn some money and help pay for my university and expenses but I will not be able to graduate and finally have a better job and live with my husband calmly and have my family, I would have to leave my family and I love them so much I have no other and they are really good but they cannot leave my sister be and they tell me that if it were me they would do the same for me but they do not see that they are fucking his other daughter directly and his handicapped son for helping another daughter, they can't support themselves, they don't have nearly enough income, not even to support for one person, 4 is already a joke, which would be counting my sister, we have lived on charity, they cant keep up with this fantasy and Besides, I have resentment and anger I don't want to live those times again I don't want to see my sister's face shes been always a problematic person in my life and out of love and family unity i tried to work our relationship and forgive and move on but im too tired go keep on this fight and for what?, my heart hurts but I am in a very important moment in my life I have eaten shit since I was a child I have lived in poverty ive been mistreated repeatedly I want to be able to have a good life even if it is for just a moment before I die.
I dont know what I want to do, just let it all burn let my parents tell my husband, ill play dumb like i didnt know and dont get involved let em tell him their great idea to let my sister back in cause shes in need knowing my husband (also i dont want her back) dont wanna take her in for all shes done or help my parents built a case and see how he reacts and see if he doesnt kick us or them out and deal with my marriage, cause I cant just please everyone nor myself i lose no matter what, it truly makes me feel like a villain and breaks my heart at the same time What should i do, im also tempted to just write to my sister asking her to desist of coming here shes just bringing trouble my whole mood is ruined
submitted by 45ujt445y515 to Advice [link] [comments]
Everyone contributed at home before we lost our jobs due to the pandemic and we still haven't been able to recover, my husband was upset by my sister's betrayal (me too) and for being ungrateful because it was with our money that we paid for her plane tickets and we took care of her expenses for months without asking for anything in return and with the promise that we would help my mother and brother when they get here and have a bright life, when my parents and brother arrived instead of being of help she gave the debt to my parents and they are so stupid that they accepted pay it for her, shes done many things shes so problematic when shes home we fight so often when shes gone we barely fight maybe months without fights, i cant list all shes done it would be too long (this is already long), my husband is upset and does not want to see her nor in paintings, she is prohibited from coming back or he wont pay rent as long as shes there.
Guess who got cheated on and lost her job in the country that she returned to and now she asks her parents for help? Exactly my sister, she wants to go back and live where she once abandoned us and I don't contribute money and she wants to make use of it now that she needs it. She first told my mom she would only stay a week shes going to another closeby country to work (already unacceptable) guess who told my mom today that the friend who was waiting for her in that country bailed now she cant go and will stay in this house, sHe wants to go back and start over because she has no one where she left (obviously because she abandoned her only family) and my parents even though my husband supports us even though he shouldn't he doesn't want my sister back so much that he once told me that if she came back she would stop paying the rent and he's right, you can't argue with him, but my parents would rather risk living on the street than let my sister learn life lessons, and with that they screw me because I too would be homeless and I need to graduate I only have the internship left that I start in september and I started to learn how to put oashes to support us when i dont go to uni or study, when I have free time to be able to earn some money and help pay for my university and expenses but I will not be able to graduate and finally have a better job and live with my husband calmly and have my family, I would have to leave my family and I love them so much I have no other and they are really good but they cannot leave my sister be and they tell me that if it were me they would do the same for me but they do not see that they are fucking his other daughter directly and his handicapped son for helping another daughter, they can't support themselves, they don't have nearly enough income, not even to support for one person, 4 is already a joke, which would be counting my sister, we have lived on charity, they cant keep up with this fantasy and Besides, I have resentment and anger I don't want to live those times again I don't want to see my sister's face shes been always a problematic person in my life and out of love and family unity i tried to work our relationship and forgive and move on but im too tired go keep on this fight and for what?, my heart hurts but I am in a very important moment in my life I have eaten shit since I was a child I have lived in poverty ive been mistreated repeatedly I want to be able to have a good life even if it is for just a moment before I die.
I dont know what I want to do, just let it all burn let my parents tell my husband, ill play dumb like i didnt know and dont get involved let em tell him their great idea to let my sister back in cause shes in need knowing my husband (also i dont want her back) dont wanna take her in for all shes done or help my parents built a case and see how he reacts and see if he doesnt kick us or them out and deal with my marriage, cause I cant just please everyone nor myself i lose no matter what, it truly makes me feel like a villain and breaks my heart at the same time What should i do, im also tempted to just write to my sister asking her to desist of coming here shes just bringing trouble my whole mood is ruined
2023.06.04 19:58 Shocketheth [Gintama 2023 Rewatch - Discussion] - Week 22 (Episodes 147-150) Rewatch Rewatch
Welcome to twenty-second weekly discussion of Gintama 2023 Rewatch
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________<--- Embassy of previous discussion Index Embassy of next discussion -
Info - MAL Anilist Kitsu AniDB ANN
Legal streaming - Crunchyroll Amazon
OP6 - Anata Magic performed by Monobright
ED12 - Kagayaita performed by Shigi
Shinyaku Benizakura-hen - Bokutachi no Kisetsu performed by DOES Bakuchi Dancer performed by DOES
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SUMMARY OF WEEK 21:
CHARACTER POPULARITY| PLACE | CHARACTER | VOTES TOTAL |
|---|---|---|
| FIRST | Gintoki | 107 |
| SECOND | Kagura | 105 |
| THIRD | Katsura | 60 |
| FOURTH | Okita | 50 |
| FIFTH | Hijikata | 41 |
| SIXTH | Shinpachi | 40 |
| SEVENTH | Otae | 39 |
| EIGHTH | Madao | 27 |
| NINTH | Kondo | 21 |
| TENTH | Kyubei | 16 |
| ELEVENTH | Sacchan | 16 |
| TWELFTH | Elizabeth | 11 |
| THIRTEENTH | Yamazaki | 10 |
| FOURTEENTH | Jackie Chan | 9 |
| FIFTEENTH | Tama | 8 |
| SIXTEENTH | Zenzo | 7 |
| SEVENTEETH | Matsudaira | 6 |
| EIGHTEENTH | Umibozu | 6 |
| NINETEENTH | Sakamoto | 6 |
| TWENTY | Tsukuyo | 5 |
- Shinpachi managed to climb from 7th place to 6th place, leaving Otae behind.
- And what about 20th place? The girl you instantly liked made her entrance and managed to secure for herself 20th place, leaving Sadaharu to fell of the poll.
- Characters which didn’t made it to poll like Kamui, Hosen, Seita and Hinowa managed to secure for themselves 2 votes each.
EPISODE OF WEEK (POLL RESULTS)
| WEEK 1 | Episode 8 |
|---|---|
| WEEK 2 | Episode 13 |
| WEEK 3 | Episode 23 |
| WEEK 4 | Episode 25 |
| WEEK 5 | Episode 35 |
| WEEK 6 | Episode 42 |
| WEEK 7 | Episode 50 |
| WEEK 8 | Episode 61 |
| WEEK 9 | Episode 65 |
| WEEK 10 | Episode 72 |
| WEEK 11 | Episode 79 |
| WEEK 12 | Episode 87 |
| WEEK 13 | Episode 89 and 95 (TIED RESULT) |
| WEEK 14 | Episode 99 |
| WEEK 15 | Episode 103 and 108 (TIED RESULT) |
| WEEK 16 | Episode 110 |
| WEEK 17 | Episode 119 |
| WEEK 18 | Episode 124 |
| WEEK 19 | Episode 127 |
| WEEK 20 | Episode 138 |
| WEEK 21 | Episode 142 |
WEEK 1-7 - Episode 50
WEEK 8-14 - Episode 79,87 (Tied results)
\_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________)
BEST COMMENT OF WEEK 21:
This one was a hard to choose. All of you were great with your comments about Yoshiwara in Flames and reading your comments was a pure joy to me. So this time there won’t be just one victor. Nor three or four victors.
NO!
There will be two victors.
First victor is u/TakenRedditName. I liked his analysis which was a good read.
The main message of the arc, being able to stand noble and tall is pure Gintama. Hinowa and Tsukuyo being able to stand tall is what inspires the rest of Yoshiwara. The element also of the shining sun of tomorrow will always come is also one that is true to Gintama and Gintoki as a character. The family aspect is also good. Like how Gintoki points it out, Seita and Hinowa are family despite having no blood connection nor having spent much time together in contrast to Kamui’s lack of love to his own blood family. Hinowa and Seita are just really sweet, I really like this little moment. Seeing Seita carry Hinowa.Also liked some facts he pointed out:
It is funny in retrospect how this lines up with Kagura’s chunni backstory for her Monkey Hunter character back in that unassuming episode. Like her manly game avatar, when her back is against the wall. Kagura’s dark second personality comes out and she becomes a hard-nosed berserker and her mortal enemy is her older brother.And most importantly this is another reason he won the comment of the week:
Originally, I was going to write how Hozen’s before-death moment doesn’t quite land despite liking when it happened with Ito, but watching and thinking about it, I’ve come to appreciate it. Now, the flashback is just him abusing a little girl who only shows and wished him kindness, but his talk with Kamui, I think presents something interesting. Hozen is much more morally black than Ito so going a similar route of final moment turnaround isn’t going to work, but Hozen is more like looking back at where he ended up. The thing about being unable to show love, always chasing yet never being able to embrace what he is after since he only knows violence, I think it speaks true to the Yato experience. Hozen has the element of building a big twisted form of a house, a paradise to call his home though one built with force and tyranny which is sorta tied to Umibozu, Kagura and Kamui. Umibozu wanted to have a home and family, but didn’t know how and ended up keeping his distance. Kagura wants to find a place away from the violent nature of the Yato while Kamui has abandoned it all for the sole purpose of living on the violent battlefield.Now I mentioned that the comment of the week has another victor. And it’s u/KendotsX for pointing an interesting piece about Abuto which slipped past me when I was rewatching Yoshiwara in Flames.
He's far from the limelight of this arc, he's strong and experienced, but not the fearsome King of the Yato. He's brutal, but not the blood thirsty young-un coming here to mess with Hosen. And while he's hot, he's not topping Tsukuyo. Basically Abuto rides in the backseat, but he's the best person you could have in your backseat.And as a prize for both of you, I prepared a special room for you. So enjoy yourself to your fullest, you have 72 hours to spend together there. Have fun!
First off, Abuto is voiced by Houchu Ootsuka, his voice is like a melody that makes my head orgasm.
But really it's the performance, the way Abuto carries himself, the laid back, but responsible attitude always looking to clean up after others, the informal and snarky mannerism of speech, but careful wording.
Even his attitude towards his race is a paradox, he wants his race to embrace its bloodthirsty nature, while keeping as many alive as is possible. He's got so much bullshit, he doesn't get to call Kagura out.
Although his joke about the "outdated" nature sets him perfectly between Kamui, who's full on following the Yato blood, and Kagura who's going against it.
Abuto's main role in the arc is obviously fighting Kagura, bringing out the beast in her, and then becoming her punching bag. The fight itself is great, but realistically any strong enough Yato could've been her foe, so what does Abuto bring to the table? He's standing in the middle. Not just between Kagura and her brother, but even between Kagura and and her "dark side", giving her useful insight from his position. Even when she beats the shit out of him, he never goes all bloodthirsty, instead he sees it as a good thing for the Yato that's worth keeping alive, therefore sticking to his ideals. Basically he's a lot closer to Kagura's ideal than she is.
I love Tsukuyo, she's a good kid, a really good kid, and overall a better character, but in this arc, Abuto stands as my favourite! If this guy was in One Piece, he'd be the only one giving Zoro a challenge for best right hand man.
| WINNERS OF BEST COMMENTS | WEEK | PRIZE |
|---|---|---|
| u/sisoko2(2x) u/KendotsX u/TakenRedditName | 1-4 | NEO ARMSTRONG CYCLE JET ARMSTRONG CANNON |
| u/sisoko2 | 5 | CURRY FROM CURRY NINJA |
| u/Shimmering-Sky | 6 | NAPO |
| u/KendotsX | 7 | MOM’S COOKING |
| u/Shocketheth | 8 | CAKE |
| u/sisoko2 | 9 | MATSUTAKE SOUP |
| u/Vatrix-32 | 10 | FREE SEAT |
| Everyone | 11 | GROUP HUG |
| u/Mecanno-man | 12 | ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE |
| u/KendotsX | 13 | GOLDEN BAKA-OJI |
| u/Stargate18A | 14 | A romance story written by me. (Not finished yet) |
| u/KendotsX | 15 | TWERKING SESSION |
| u/homewardbound100 | 16 | FINEST SUSHI |
| u/sisoko2 | 17 | FILTHY TOKEN |
| u/TakenRedditName | 18 | LOVE LETTER |
| u/Vatrix-32 | 19 | BANANA |
| u/SpiceGirlsBlankIt | 20 | YOSHIWARA’S FINEST SAKE |
| u/TakenRedditName and u/KendotsX | 21 | ROOM FOR THOSE TWO |
QUESTIONS FOR YOU - WEEK 21:
- What’s your opinion about Housen being redeemed in the end?
Everyone of you immediately liked her.
- Tsukuyo made her debut. How you liked her character so far? What’s your predictions about her? Also what do you think about her?
You quite liked him and you have a great expectations about his character in future.
- Also Kagura’s elder brother, Kamui, made his debut. Your thoughts about him and your predictions about him?
The most you liked about him is his voice, and u/KendotsX made interesting analysis about him (I referred that in Best comment of the week section)
- Abuto. What do you think of him?
You were terrified, blursed, amazed, scared, sad, you found it raw and you found it to be quite good scene.
- The tastiest one. Kagura snapping. Your thoughts?
AND I LOVED TO READ EVERY COMMENT OF YOURS REACTING ABOUT IT.
You liked it by showing that Gintoki isn’t almighty in his verse and sometimes you need others help to win.
- Are you satisfied how Housen was defeated? I mean having Housen defeated not by Gintoki, but by sunlight.
Not a strong answers to this question.
- Also in the end, Yoshiwara has opened. Your predictions how opening of Yoshiwara will impact Kabukicho?
Some of you found harder to write your comment about it, and some of you found easier to write your comment about it, as whole single arc is easier to write about than several mini-arcs mixed with comedy episodes.
- Btw. we had whole batch dedicated to single arc for first time. Was it a different experience for you than having mixed batches, or no?
Also u/KendotsX died twice as he was writing his comment. But he has spare lives so it’s okay.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
WEEK 22:
| Episode/arc covered | Lesson(s) in manga |
|---|---|
| 147 | 229 |
| 148 - Shinsengumi Death Game Arc | 233, 234 (2/3) |
| 149 - Shinsengumi Death Game Arc | Rest of 234, 235 |
| 150 | Anime Original |
| Shinyaku Benizakura-hen movie | 89-97 |
Character popularity - VOTE HERE
Best episode of weeks 15-21 - VOTE HERE
EPISODES GOING TO BE COVERED IN WEEK 23 - 151-156
QUESTIONS FOR YOU:
EPISODES 147-150:
- Jigzaw told Hijikata that he saw Shinsengumi on television and we also saw Shinsengumi on television. So which one of you is Jigzaw?
- Did you expect the twist at the end of episode 149?
- Which of the fake ending of Gintama in episode 150 you liked the most?
- For First Timers How would you imagine Gintama actually ending?
- Did you liked more the anime version of Benizakura or the Remaster movie of Benizakura arc?
- What’s your opinion on alternative umbrella scene between Otae and Gintoki?
- What about the cameos of Kamui, Kyubei and Shinsengumi?
- There was extended scene of Bansai negotiating with Harusame Space Pirates. Did it improve your issues with Bansai appearing only in the end of the Benizakura?
- The extended final fight scene. Did you like it?
- Also a new song by DOES dropped. Bakuchi Dancer. Did you like the song?
- Not a question tbh. Just fill any additional things you want to address with discussing this movie.
I will add them after watching episodes 151-156. STAY TUNED!
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Regarding spoilers:
Rewatchers please dont talk without using spoiler tags [Spoilers] like this about events which still didn't happen in anime, don't name characters that weren't introduced yet, don't post pictures of characters yet to be introduced and try to refrain from using arcs and episodes names yet to be introduced.
DON'T EVEN TRY TO BE VAGUE THINKING YOU ARE SO CLEVER AND NO ONE WILL CONNECT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER LIKE SAYING IT WOULD BE SHAME IF YOUR LOCAL POST OFFICE SENT YOU A BOMBASTIC LIST. JUST. USE. SPOILERS TAGS. LIKE THIS [Spoilers] https://i.imgur.com/nojEEcg.png
There will be first watchers discussing it together with us and I believe nobody here wants them to be spoiled.
If you want to talk about something you noticed on your rewatch, which is hinting about future events hid it properly underneath the spoilers like the fact [Spoilers] that the information hidden in this spoiler is totally pointless.
Guidance in case of spoiling someone - Here
2023.06.04 19:53 Saint-Andros A Lesson in Scionics Sound the Drums Chapter 9
First Previous Next
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Big thanks to u/Killsode-slugcat and u/cliche_-_bartender for helping me with proofreading and editing.
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SUBJECT-DESIGNATION: Admiral Marcus Miller
LOCATION: Earthen Orbit, Atlantic Citadel
DATE: EARTH-TIME [Wednesday, August 23, 2186]
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I stood above Earth, gazing down upon her bright blue brilliance from the comfort of my personal quarters.
It was odd to think that just five hundred years ago, humanity had been scared of the darkness that lingered at the forest’s edge. I couldn’t imagine that those born during that time could have ever imagined the heights which we would rise to. My only hope was that our vast distance from the ground of primitivity wouldn’t lead to a devastating fall.
Already it felt like a lifetime ago that my crew and I had braved our own dark forest—the endless expanse of space beyond our system’s heliopause. Now we knew of the devils that rested at the edge of those shadows. The fires of Sol and the shield of our Oort cloud were all that now stood between us and them. At least in the process of our journey, we had met another group of weary travelers. We now knew that we were not alone.
The reaction to our discovery of the Khimrox—or perhaps their discovery of us—had actually gone over quite well with the global population, though some fringe groups chose to remain skeptical for reasons I couldn’t fathom.
Following the acceptance of the Khimroxian people as refugees, I was rather quickly promoted to the position of admiral. Despite it being an honorary title for the time-being, it was one that I wore with pride. Besides, considering how things were currently going among the leadership of the UEN, it was my guess that we would soon need all of the fleet commanders we could get.
Being separated from my crew though, it was certainly an ordeal. For over a year, we had trained and prepared for our journey aboard the Challenger, all the while forming a strong bond—the bond of a crew. It was them who had kept my mind from plunging into the hopeless darkness that threatened to envelop my mind back aboard the ruined wreck of our exploratory vessel.
Liz and Garth had been reassigned to finally fulfill their true calling as biologists. Together, they dove head-first into in-depth studies of Khimroxian anatomy and physiology. Sid had opted to assist in the deconstruction of the Ignis, allowing its analysis by a team of scientists that included Lee. As far as I was aware, they had so far produced staggeringly impressive results in regards to potential military applications. Jake was probably the wisest among us, choosing to enter an early retirement, which I quite honestly considered the smartest move. Each member of the Challenger had essentially become an influential celebrity overnight. If any of us chose to, we wouldn’t need to work another day in our lives.
Nia had taken an extended leave of absence following our return and chose to take up temporary residence within the Khimrox colony. Darius was perhaps the only one that had stuck with me. Due to my request, he was to be the chief navigational officer of a brand new fleet that had been promised to me—an experimental UEN fleet by the name of Vengeant Dawn.
Though word hadn’t yet officially been released, some part of me could sense the storm approaching on the horizon. War was coming. The only questions that remained were when and how it would be waged, one of which we were currently working to answer.
Some remained skeptical, but me, I had been waiting since the day I first heard of that wretched name, the one which hid behind a thin and lustrous coat. They would pay in blood for what they had done to our Khimroxian friends and to all of the scion species that they considered beneath them.
Speaking of those pricks… I turned from the window to look back at the objects of interest.
We had already begun to install improvements and replacements for our own technology from what we had researched so far. The holo-table of my room was one such improvement.
Atop it, hovered three ire-inspiring figures—the bastards of the Orion Arm.
One was what looked to be a molluscoid. Twelve long and winding tentacles stretched from its body. The creature’s skin could possess a wide variety of colors, but this one took on a dark shade of blue. Atop its head—or back, I still wasn’t entirely sure—was a large circular shell that spiraled backwards. The shell itself was fairly reminiscent of an ammonite, with the notable exception of its golden sheen. A green pair of eyes with slitted black pupils could be found at either side of its face. At the end of each of its limbs were a strange bunch of contraptions that were barely recognizable as the manipulators they were. To support its spineless body—and perhaps its brazen cowardice—was an exoskeleton which covered the length of its tentacles, allowing it to rise to an ironically respectable height. The Dodektopi.
The second was a shape that made no sense according to what little we apparently knew regarding the formation of life. The figure of flames was somewhat humanoid in shape, but distinct enough to separate it from ourselves. A frenzy of dancing plasma licked across the surface of its shape, occasionally whipping out from its body in flares of solar activity. Centered within the fiery specter’s face was an unfamiliar symbol forged out of a sleek black metal that did not burn with the being’s body. Its hands and feet that connected the body were made of similar steel and seemed to hold the shape together with the help of the head. The Novari.
Last but most certainly not least was a chillingly familiar shape. It was an ancient and terrible legend made manifest. The draconic figure before me bore ebony-black scales. A wicked pair of gold curling horns rose from the tyrant’s skull, covered in rings of that black metal that wrapped around them. Cryptic runes—whose mere existence denoted their ancient nature—were etched into the bone of these very same horns. Surrounding its head were countless quills that reached back behind the skull. From its oddly placed back pair of shoulders sprouted leathery wings that curled around the body, nearly encircling it in a hug. A long tail whose spiked end was covered in yet more of those sleek black rings fell behind them. The creature wore nothing more than a red ornamented kilt, bearing the same symbols as those etched upon its body across the sashes which held it in place. Its imposing physique was proudly put on display and an amber pair of greedy eyes rested behind its black maw of terrible teeth.
At the second and frontward pair of stubby shoulders, a shimmering pair of auric arms, engraved with yet more of those runes. I could have recognized their design anywhere. They bore an uncanny similarity with those utilized by our Khimrox friends. The three primary differences between those of them and those that belong to our friends were the sheer quality of the design, the notable exception of their shimmering sheen and their lethal talons that had been sharpened to a shining point. The Aeryvyn.
The terrible triumvirate mocked me with their mere presence, but I couldn’t tear them away from my sight. It’s fortunate that something else did it for me.
A ping that rained from the speakers in my ceiling heralded the incoming message. “All UEN personnel with alpha clearance please report to the briefing room.” Two more times, the soft and purposefully inoffensive voice repeated itself.
With a sigh, I shut off the display and marched to don the new garb that matched my position. When my door slid open, I saw several others stride through the long hall of yet more doors that matched my own.
The familiar scent of ozone had been a relief following the unnaturally clean air of the Ignis. That ship was no longer the home of the Khimroxian refugees, so I had little care for its continued existence. By now, it was a skeleton of alien alloys.
Our straight, gray walls and steel-vented floors were showered in warm light. Compared to the Ignis where the too-white surface where wall and floor blended together, the scenic viewing ports and recognizable craftsmanship felt like the warm embrace of a long-lost friend.
Speaking of friends, I wonder if I’ll see Saffan. Weeks had passed now since I last saw the captain-ambassador. His new position ensured this was so.
A stream of gray-coated senior staff flowed through the doors to the briefing room. At the entrance, a full complement of soldiers outfitted with Styx suits stood guard. That generation of armor would soon be outdated in comparison to the schematics I had seen prepared.
My heart warmed involuntarily as I entered the room. Saffan’s bright eyes of perpetual wideness stared back at me. I shouldered my way through the convening crowds of admirals. Each spoke with a weight of self-importance that I couldn’t have cared less for.
When I finally reached him he called my name. “Marcus!” The captain extended a hand. Wait, what? I wasn’t sure whether to be more confused by his use of the gesture or his new set of arms. They were admittedly simple compared to the prior pair and they were coated with a blue shine that matched his eyes. The digits no longer took the shape of those reptilian claws, instead forming an approximation of human fingers.
The hands locked perfectly with my own. “Saffan, good to see you again. How are things going?”
“Wonderfully. Though I must say, you humans seem to have more countries than you know what to do with.” Saffan folded his arms. “I’ve visited thirteen nations already and I still have over a hundred that have sent me visitation invitations.”
A scoff escaped my throat. “Yeah, that’s us for you. Needlessly overcomplicated.”
I took a step forward and placed a hand on a brilliant blue arm. “And these! When did you get these?” Saffan practically beamed at my inquiry.
“Elizabeth and Garth actually helped design them! They’re exceptionally lightweight compared to my last pair and they can fold to not hinder flight.” As he said this, the two artificial limbs pressed up against his body as he fully folded his wings in a similar manner. With both arms and wings folded, he would have looked like a great horned owl if not for the obvious discrepancies of his size, his horned head and the swirling patterns that covered his wings.
“That’s enough about me though, how have you been? What have you been up to?”
“Ah, not much,” I said, rubbing the back of my head. “Paid the family a visit a week back for the first time since the Challenger. For the most part though, I've been training on the battle sims these last few weeks. If I’m to be an admiral, may as well try to play the part.” Saffan slowly nodded. I got the feeling that he too sensed the approaching storm.
“This family of yours, I’d love to meet them some time.”
“Oh, I’m sure they’d love to meet you I…”
“Attention!” The stern sound cut me off. The rippling chorus of speech died down almost immediately as the call demanded our undivided focus. I could’ve recognized that voice anywhere.
“Thank you for joining me, my friends.”
“You’re a smart bunch of people, so I’m sure you’ve gotten the sense for what’s been going on by now.” Redd took a deep sigh and looked around the room at the entirety of the UEN navy’s command structure.
“Ever since the Khimroxians arrived, we’ve been faced with a choice—a choice that must not be taken lightly.” The captain turned our way and gave Saffan a nod.
“When the brave souls aboard the Ignis saved the crew of the Challenger, they showed the true character of their people. They were faced with hard decisions—for our people and theirs—but they chose to push forward and in so doing, saved not only the lives of those aboard the Challenger, but all of Earth from falling subject to their lords. After due deliberation with the council-members of the United Earthen Nations, we have decided to follow in the footsteps of our friends and take such a risk.”
“As of right now, we are at war with the Alliance of the Aurum Arm.” The room fell into deafening silence.
“Each member-state of the UEN will alert their people in due time, but for the moment, not a single word heard within this meeting must be uttered outside of this room.”
Admiral Sturm, the very man who had been my commander not all that long ago, spoke up. “With all due respect, Director, we don’t have the means to wage such a conflict.”
“That's why we’ll create the means. For once, I’m glad to say something good came out of the Kuiper War.” This derived a few nervous laughs from the audience. “With the production facilities appropriated from the (x corporation), and with a few adjustments, we have the potential to create the most powerful fleet of human-made ships to ever enter space.”
“Unfortunately however, we do not have the means to reproduce the white hole drives utilized by the Aurum vessels, or even the dark matter used to stabilize the damned things.”
“Saffan, this is where you and your people will come in. If we are to stand a chance of waging war on such a scale, we will need intelligence and lots of it.”
“As difficult as it may be, we need information; without it, we’re dead in the vacuum of space. We will need volunteers to go behind enemy lines and retrieve plans, schematics, layouts, anything that we can get a hold of that may provide us an advantage both strategically and technologically. Would your people be willing to go to such lengths?”
All eyes in the room turned to the ambassador-captain. “I—I don’t know. I will consult with them, but do I have your permission to speak freely about what you have told me?”
The aging man rubbed his orange-brown beard. “Yes. Yes that would probably be for the best wouldn’t it. Very well, just do your best not to allow it to reach other ears.”
“Yes sir.”
“As for the rest of you, allow me to detail the plan we have so far.”
“Though most of the security council members are not tacticians, they have agreed to the plan that I and a few of my most trusted consultants have prepared. Right now, the nearest sector with a habitable planet is known as Mortamis. This was the last jump point for the Ignis before it intercepted our distress signal. The tentative plan is to begin our expansion across their territory with the capture of this world to act as the staging grounds of our forces. However, until we receive more information regarding the exact layout of their defenses, we cannot commit to such an invasion.”
“From there, we will split up the UEN fleets into separate groups across the Orion arm and take out these tyrants by bleeding them of their most precious resource. Scions. Every world we take is an addition to our numbers, our production capacity, and our ability to fight.”
“Our end-goal is to capture the planet-capital of the alliance, Petris, and demand liberation of all species under control of the Aurum Alliance.“
“We do have a few major concerns however. According to the information provided to us by the Khimrox, a majority of Aurum vessels contain some form of scionic crew complement. Under no circumstances unless express consent is given by the command admiral of the fleet are we to attack a vessel with the intent of destroying it. We must first weaken and disable the ship’s defensive systems before boarding and liberating the captives.”
“I know that this flies in the face of all conventional battle tactics, but this is no conventional enemy that we’re fighting here. If we do not adapt, we will fail and all of humanity will be forced into scionship.”
“Keep in mind, this is a very brief version of our prepared plan. Each and every aspect of it is subject to change. We will discuss this in further detail later, but for now, that is all. Any further questions?” Once again, silence. “Very well then. This council session is now adjourned.”
Other than the shuffling of feet exiting, all was silent. We had known it was coming, but to hear it confirmed…
“Marcus.” The director approached, placing a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Go ahead and join Ambassador Aeax, why don’t you? Might help some of those Khimrox to see a human face that they’re familiar with.”
With a snappy salute, I responded with, “Yes sir.” His words were certainly a surprise, but a chance to join the Khimrox that had saved us was not one I would pass up easily. He may as well have just given me a week of leave considering the excitement that bubbled up within me.
Together, I and Saffan made our way to a nearby shuttle bay headed directly to the Khimroxian colony. Surprisingly, I hadn’t yet paid a visit to the settlement placed within the province of Hunan, but I had seen some images on several media platforms.
The trip was a quick one. Our transport plunged into the atmosphere, kicking up flames all around the outside of the cabin. Soon enough though, the flames of our descent died out and were replaced by the darkness of night.
Even with the slight turbulence, Saffan seemed deep in thought as his eyes stared at nothing in particular.
“Hey, you good?”
That seemed to snap him out of it. “Wha—oh yes, sorry.” A look of focus still remained on his face. For a moment, he continued in his silence before posing a question. “What if my people decide not to volunteer? This entire plan could fall through in an instant.”
“You don’t give your people enough credit, my feathered friend.” Saffan gave me a narrow-eyed look before letting out a cluck of a chuckle. “Redd was right in what he said. I’m sure your people will make the best choice for all of us.”
“For both our sakes, I can only hope that you’re right.”
Our Harpy gently sailed over mountains and treetops, slowly sinking to a stop within a secluded area of trees that were foreign to me.
Only I and Saffan left from the Harpy’s bay and stepped off onto the tarmac. Behind us, the cargo-door closed with a hiss. As we stepped out from underneath our cover, light droplets of water pattered against my skin.
Seconds later, the Harpy’s thrusters kicked in and the ship took flight. The heavy hum and glow of burning hydrogen accompanied the bird as it flew away. In mere moments, it was gone, though the distant boom of it breaking the sound barrier was audible enough.
Looking around, I saw a few of my fellow men and women unloading supplies from a parked Harpy onto a militarily designed transport truck. Dimly lit orange lamps shone down and around us, illuminating nearby hangar bays with their closed doors and rounded ceilings of corrugated metal.
“Let’s get going. I’m sure you don’t want to stay in the rain long.” The rain was enough to notice, but it wasn’t unpleasant. I gave a brief nod and we set off on the nearby road.
Though clouds of rain covered us, the light of the moon joined us as we walked to the village. The setup looked pretty standard from what I knew of modular UEN architecture. It was clear however that great care had been put into its construction. The rain kept most of the residents indoors for the time being, but through the windows of nearby buildings, I saw the illuminated interiors of cozy hostels where families and friends gathered together.
We passed another Khimrox while wading through the rain—one who held its head and horns high, walking with a cheery gait despite the gloomy weather. Compared to the stale and oppressive atmosphere aboard the Ignis, the settlement brimmed with life, even amidst the darkness of both night and storms.
Saffan led me forward to a quaint home with a metal awning that covered the railed porch. We walked up the steps and Saffan rapped on the door with his cobalt colored knuckles.
I hoped for Nia’s sake that her time away from the military had treated her well. Lord knows she deserved some respite. The door opened and Nia's face peeked out to greet us. “Saffan! Marcus! What are you two doing here?”
Saffan answered as I silently sat by. “Oh we were just passing through. Thought it might be a good idea to stop and pay you a visit.”
“Well don’t make yourself strangers. Come on in!” Saffan sat behind as I walked forward and gave his whole body a shake. Droplets flew from his body and slid off his slick feathers.
The home was a simple one, consisting of a main living room joined together with a kitchen. In the back of the home was a short hall leading to a middle door that stood between a pair of two others. In the living room, perched Tokieran, the same physician who had plunged into my mind to extract our language.
Immediately, he rose from where he rested and turned to face Saffan, “Captain!”
“Can’t be a captain without a ship, Toki.” The former captain waved away the words with a hand. “Saffan will do.”
“Oh. Uh, well, it's good to see you again, Saffan.”
“Likewise my friend. I’m certain you haven’t seen much of me considering your position during our time on the Ignis. It’s a shame we didn’t brush wings more often. You seem like a fine fellow.”
As the two avians got to talking, Nia gave me a light punch on the shoulder. “So, how’ve things been going for you admiral?” It was at this moment that I realized I was still in full military dress. Rather sheepishly, I pulled the hat from my head.
“Fine.” I muttered “You?”
A smile met her face. “Best I’ve felt since I enlisted.” She gave a look towards the two conversing Khimroxians. “It's still hard to believe any of this is real sometimes, ya know?”
I nodded. “Yeah. The Challenger, the Ignis, all of it. Feels like a dream now.”
Nia’s eyes stayed upon the owl-folk. “One of those dreams you don’t really want to wake up from.”
I gave a grunt of agreement. “I only wish all of the Khimroxians could share it with us.” This turned her towards me. Her smile curved down somewhat and she gave a slight nod.
What the hell. She’s going to learn it soon enough anyways. Rubbing the rim of my hat, I spoke softly. “Maybe soon, that will be possible.”
“What?”
“The council’s declared war.”
Her eyes snapped to mine, the smile fully gone. The room fell silent. I hadn’t hoped the others would hear me, but those Khimrox had an impeccable sense of hearing. I shouldn’t have expected any less from them.
All eyes turned to me. “The Aurum Alliance is a threat to humanity, the Khimrox, and all of the other scions that we haven’t even met yet. I think we both know this was inevitable”
“No, I get it, it's just… Wow.” The woman ran a hand through her black, tied-back hair as she heaved a sigh.
This facade dropped almost immediately and Nia’s mouth turned into a wonderfully devilish grin. After a few light chuckles, she said, “Better late than never I suppose. Those spineless sons-of-alien-bitches’ll never know what hit ‘em!”
The expressions on the faces of both Saffan and Tokieran showed no less resolve. Even the formerly jumpy physician proudly displayed a newfound sense of will. “The triumvirate operates under the expectation that we won’t fight back,” said Toki. “They see us as little more than animals and It's time we took full advantage of that fact.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” remarked Saffan.
If these willing warriors were in any way representative of the entire Human-Khimroxian collective, the battle against these golden tyrants would be over before we knew it.
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submitted by Saint-Andros to HFY [link] [comments]
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Big thanks to u/Killsode-slugcat and u/cliche_-_bartender for helping me with proofreading and editing.
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SUBJECT-DESIGNATION: Admiral Marcus Miller
LOCATION: Earthen Orbit, Atlantic Citadel
DATE: EARTH-TIME [Wednesday, August 23, 2186]
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I stood above Earth, gazing down upon her bright blue brilliance from the comfort of my personal quarters.
It was odd to think that just five hundred years ago, humanity had been scared of the darkness that lingered at the forest’s edge. I couldn’t imagine that those born during that time could have ever imagined the heights which we would rise to. My only hope was that our vast distance from the ground of primitivity wouldn’t lead to a devastating fall.
Already it felt like a lifetime ago that my crew and I had braved our own dark forest—the endless expanse of space beyond our system’s heliopause. Now we knew of the devils that rested at the edge of those shadows. The fires of Sol and the shield of our Oort cloud were all that now stood between us and them. At least in the process of our journey, we had met another group of weary travelers. We now knew that we were not alone.
The reaction to our discovery of the Khimrox—or perhaps their discovery of us—had actually gone over quite well with the global population, though some fringe groups chose to remain skeptical for reasons I couldn’t fathom.
Following the acceptance of the Khimroxian people as refugees, I was rather quickly promoted to the position of admiral. Despite it being an honorary title for the time-being, it was one that I wore with pride. Besides, considering how things were currently going among the leadership of the UEN, it was my guess that we would soon need all of the fleet commanders we could get.
Being separated from my crew though, it was certainly an ordeal. For over a year, we had trained and prepared for our journey aboard the Challenger, all the while forming a strong bond—the bond of a crew. It was them who had kept my mind from plunging into the hopeless darkness that threatened to envelop my mind back aboard the ruined wreck of our exploratory vessel.
Liz and Garth had been reassigned to finally fulfill their true calling as biologists. Together, they dove head-first into in-depth studies of Khimroxian anatomy and physiology. Sid had opted to assist in the deconstruction of the Ignis, allowing its analysis by a team of scientists that included Lee. As far as I was aware, they had so far produced staggeringly impressive results in regards to potential military applications. Jake was probably the wisest among us, choosing to enter an early retirement, which I quite honestly considered the smartest move. Each member of the Challenger had essentially become an influential celebrity overnight. If any of us chose to, we wouldn’t need to work another day in our lives.
Nia had taken an extended leave of absence following our return and chose to take up temporary residence within the Khimrox colony. Darius was perhaps the only one that had stuck with me. Due to my request, he was to be the chief navigational officer of a brand new fleet that had been promised to me—an experimental UEN fleet by the name of Vengeant Dawn.
Though word hadn’t yet officially been released, some part of me could sense the storm approaching on the horizon. War was coming. The only questions that remained were when and how it would be waged, one of which we were currently working to answer.
Some remained skeptical, but me, I had been waiting since the day I first heard of that wretched name, the one which hid behind a thin and lustrous coat. They would pay in blood for what they had done to our Khimroxian friends and to all of the scion species that they considered beneath them.
Speaking of those pricks… I turned from the window to look back at the objects of interest.
We had already begun to install improvements and replacements for our own technology from what we had researched so far. The holo-table of my room was one such improvement.
Atop it, hovered three ire-inspiring figures—the bastards of the Orion Arm.
One was what looked to be a molluscoid. Twelve long and winding tentacles stretched from its body. The creature’s skin could possess a wide variety of colors, but this one took on a dark shade of blue. Atop its head—or back, I still wasn’t entirely sure—was a large circular shell that spiraled backwards. The shell itself was fairly reminiscent of an ammonite, with the notable exception of its golden sheen. A green pair of eyes with slitted black pupils could be found at either side of its face. At the end of each of its limbs were a strange bunch of contraptions that were barely recognizable as the manipulators they were. To support its spineless body—and perhaps its brazen cowardice—was an exoskeleton which covered the length of its tentacles, allowing it to rise to an ironically respectable height. The Dodektopi.
The second was a shape that made no sense according to what little we apparently knew regarding the formation of life. The figure of flames was somewhat humanoid in shape, but distinct enough to separate it from ourselves. A frenzy of dancing plasma licked across the surface of its shape, occasionally whipping out from its body in flares of solar activity. Centered within the fiery specter’s face was an unfamiliar symbol forged out of a sleek black metal that did not burn with the being’s body. Its hands and feet that connected the body were made of similar steel and seemed to hold the shape together with the help of the head. The Novari.
Last but most certainly not least was a chillingly familiar shape. It was an ancient and terrible legend made manifest. The draconic figure before me bore ebony-black scales. A wicked pair of gold curling horns rose from the tyrant’s skull, covered in rings of that black metal that wrapped around them. Cryptic runes—whose mere existence denoted their ancient nature—were etched into the bone of these very same horns. Surrounding its head were countless quills that reached back behind the skull. From its oddly placed back pair of shoulders sprouted leathery wings that curled around the body, nearly encircling it in a hug. A long tail whose spiked end was covered in yet more of those sleek black rings fell behind them. The creature wore nothing more than a red ornamented kilt, bearing the same symbols as those etched upon its body across the sashes which held it in place. Its imposing physique was proudly put on display and an amber pair of greedy eyes rested behind its black maw of terrible teeth.
At the second and frontward pair of stubby shoulders, a shimmering pair of auric arms, engraved with yet more of those runes. I could have recognized their design anywhere. They bore an uncanny similarity with those utilized by our Khimrox friends. The three primary differences between those of them and those that belong to our friends were the sheer quality of the design, the notable exception of their shimmering sheen and their lethal talons that had been sharpened to a shining point. The Aeryvyn.
The terrible triumvirate mocked me with their mere presence, but I couldn’t tear them away from my sight. It’s fortunate that something else did it for me.
A ping that rained from the speakers in my ceiling heralded the incoming message. “All UEN personnel with alpha clearance please report to the briefing room.” Two more times, the soft and purposefully inoffensive voice repeated itself.
With a sigh, I shut off the display and marched to don the new garb that matched my position. When my door slid open, I saw several others stride through the long hall of yet more doors that matched my own.
The familiar scent of ozone had been a relief following the unnaturally clean air of the Ignis. That ship was no longer the home of the Khimroxian refugees, so I had little care for its continued existence. By now, it was a skeleton of alien alloys.
Our straight, gray walls and steel-vented floors were showered in warm light. Compared to the Ignis where the too-white surface where wall and floor blended together, the scenic viewing ports and recognizable craftsmanship felt like the warm embrace of a long-lost friend.
Speaking of friends, I wonder if I’ll see Saffan. Weeks had passed now since I last saw the captain-ambassador. His new position ensured this was so.
A stream of gray-coated senior staff flowed through the doors to the briefing room. At the entrance, a full complement of soldiers outfitted with Styx suits stood guard. That generation of armor would soon be outdated in comparison to the schematics I had seen prepared.
My heart warmed involuntarily as I entered the room. Saffan’s bright eyes of perpetual wideness stared back at me. I shouldered my way through the convening crowds of admirals. Each spoke with a weight of self-importance that I couldn’t have cared less for.
When I finally reached him he called my name. “Marcus!” The captain extended a hand. Wait, what? I wasn’t sure whether to be more confused by his use of the gesture or his new set of arms. They were admittedly simple compared to the prior pair and they were coated with a blue shine that matched his eyes. The digits no longer took the shape of those reptilian claws, instead forming an approximation of human fingers.
The hands locked perfectly with my own. “Saffan, good to see you again. How are things going?”
“Wonderfully. Though I must say, you humans seem to have more countries than you know what to do with.” Saffan folded his arms. “I’ve visited thirteen nations already and I still have over a hundred that have sent me visitation invitations.”
A scoff escaped my throat. “Yeah, that’s us for you. Needlessly overcomplicated.”
I took a step forward and placed a hand on a brilliant blue arm. “And these! When did you get these?” Saffan practically beamed at my inquiry.
“Elizabeth and Garth actually helped design them! They’re exceptionally lightweight compared to my last pair and they can fold to not hinder flight.” As he said this, the two artificial limbs pressed up against his body as he fully folded his wings in a similar manner. With both arms and wings folded, he would have looked like a great horned owl if not for the obvious discrepancies of his size, his horned head and the swirling patterns that covered his wings.
“That’s enough about me though, how have you been? What have you been up to?”
“Ah, not much,” I said, rubbing the back of my head. “Paid the family a visit a week back for the first time since the Challenger. For the most part though, I've been training on the battle sims these last few weeks. If I’m to be an admiral, may as well try to play the part.” Saffan slowly nodded. I got the feeling that he too sensed the approaching storm.
“This family of yours, I’d love to meet them some time.”
“Oh, I’m sure they’d love to meet you I…”
“Attention!” The stern sound cut me off. The rippling chorus of speech died down almost immediately as the call demanded our undivided focus. I could’ve recognized that voice anywhere.
“Thank you for joining me, my friends.”
“You’re a smart bunch of people, so I’m sure you’ve gotten the sense for what’s been going on by now.” Redd took a deep sigh and looked around the room at the entirety of the UEN navy’s command structure.
“Ever since the Khimroxians arrived, we’ve been faced with a choice—a choice that must not be taken lightly.” The captain turned our way and gave Saffan a nod.
“When the brave souls aboard the Ignis saved the crew of the Challenger, they showed the true character of their people. They were faced with hard decisions—for our people and theirs—but they chose to push forward and in so doing, saved not only the lives of those aboard the Challenger, but all of Earth from falling subject to their lords. After due deliberation with the council-members of the United Earthen Nations, we have decided to follow in the footsteps of our friends and take such a risk.”
“As of right now, we are at war with the Alliance of the Aurum Arm.” The room fell into deafening silence.
“Each member-state of the UEN will alert their people in due time, but for the moment, not a single word heard within this meeting must be uttered outside of this room.”
Admiral Sturm, the very man who had been my commander not all that long ago, spoke up. “With all due respect, Director, we don’t have the means to wage such a conflict.”
“That's why we’ll create the means. For once, I’m glad to say something good came out of the Kuiper War.” This derived a few nervous laughs from the audience. “With the production facilities appropriated from the (x corporation), and with a few adjustments, we have the potential to create the most powerful fleet of human-made ships to ever enter space.”
“Unfortunately however, we do not have the means to reproduce the white hole drives utilized by the Aurum vessels, or even the dark matter used to stabilize the damned things.”
“Saffan, this is where you and your people will come in. If we are to stand a chance of waging war on such a scale, we will need intelligence and lots of it.”
“As difficult as it may be, we need information; without it, we’re dead in the vacuum of space. We will need volunteers to go behind enemy lines and retrieve plans, schematics, layouts, anything that we can get a hold of that may provide us an advantage both strategically and technologically. Would your people be willing to go to such lengths?”
All eyes in the room turned to the ambassador-captain. “I—I don’t know. I will consult with them, but do I have your permission to speak freely about what you have told me?”
The aging man rubbed his orange-brown beard. “Yes. Yes that would probably be for the best wouldn’t it. Very well, just do your best not to allow it to reach other ears.”
“Yes sir.”
“As for the rest of you, allow me to detail the plan we have so far.”
“Though most of the security council members are not tacticians, they have agreed to the plan that I and a few of my most trusted consultants have prepared. Right now, the nearest sector with a habitable planet is known as Mortamis. This was the last jump point for the Ignis before it intercepted our distress signal. The tentative plan is to begin our expansion across their territory with the capture of this world to act as the staging grounds of our forces. However, until we receive more information regarding the exact layout of their defenses, we cannot commit to such an invasion.”
“From there, we will split up the UEN fleets into separate groups across the Orion arm and take out these tyrants by bleeding them of their most precious resource. Scions. Every world we take is an addition to our numbers, our production capacity, and our ability to fight.”
“Our end-goal is to capture the planet-capital of the alliance, Petris, and demand liberation of all species under control of the Aurum Alliance.“
“We do have a few major concerns however. According to the information provided to us by the Khimrox, a majority of Aurum vessels contain some form of scionic crew complement. Under no circumstances unless express consent is given by the command admiral of the fleet are we to attack a vessel with the intent of destroying it. We must first weaken and disable the ship’s defensive systems before boarding and liberating the captives.”
“I know that this flies in the face of all conventional battle tactics, but this is no conventional enemy that we’re fighting here. If we do not adapt, we will fail and all of humanity will be forced into scionship.”
“Keep in mind, this is a very brief version of our prepared plan. Each and every aspect of it is subject to change. We will discuss this in further detail later, but for now, that is all. Any further questions?” Once again, silence. “Very well then. This council session is now adjourned.”
Other than the shuffling of feet exiting, all was silent. We had known it was coming, but to hear it confirmed…
“Marcus.” The director approached, placing a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Go ahead and join Ambassador Aeax, why don’t you? Might help some of those Khimrox to see a human face that they’re familiar with.”
With a snappy salute, I responded with, “Yes sir.” His words were certainly a surprise, but a chance to join the Khimrox that had saved us was not one I would pass up easily. He may as well have just given me a week of leave considering the excitement that bubbled up within me.
Together, I and Saffan made our way to a nearby shuttle bay headed directly to the Khimroxian colony. Surprisingly, I hadn’t yet paid a visit to the settlement placed within the province of Hunan, but I had seen some images on several media platforms.
The trip was a quick one. Our transport plunged into the atmosphere, kicking up flames all around the outside of the cabin. Soon enough though, the flames of our descent died out and were replaced by the darkness of night.
Even with the slight turbulence, Saffan seemed deep in thought as his eyes stared at nothing in particular.
“Hey, you good?”
That seemed to snap him out of it. “Wha—oh yes, sorry.” A look of focus still remained on his face. For a moment, he continued in his silence before posing a question. “What if my people decide not to volunteer? This entire plan could fall through in an instant.”
“You don’t give your people enough credit, my feathered friend.” Saffan gave me a narrow-eyed look before letting out a cluck of a chuckle. “Redd was right in what he said. I’m sure your people will make the best choice for all of us.”
“For both our sakes, I can only hope that you’re right.”
Our Harpy gently sailed over mountains and treetops, slowly sinking to a stop within a secluded area of trees that were foreign to me.
Only I and Saffan left from the Harpy’s bay and stepped off onto the tarmac. Behind us, the cargo-door closed with a hiss. As we stepped out from underneath our cover, light droplets of water pattered against my skin.
Seconds later, the Harpy’s thrusters kicked in and the ship took flight. The heavy hum and glow of burning hydrogen accompanied the bird as it flew away. In mere moments, it was gone, though the distant boom of it breaking the sound barrier was audible enough.
Looking around, I saw a few of my fellow men and women unloading supplies from a parked Harpy onto a militarily designed transport truck. Dimly lit orange lamps shone down and around us, illuminating nearby hangar bays with their closed doors and rounded ceilings of corrugated metal.
“Let’s get going. I’m sure you don’t want to stay in the rain long.” The rain was enough to notice, but it wasn’t unpleasant. I gave a brief nod and we set off on the nearby road.
Though clouds of rain covered us, the light of the moon joined us as we walked to the village. The setup looked pretty standard from what I knew of modular UEN architecture. It was clear however that great care had been put into its construction. The rain kept most of the residents indoors for the time being, but through the windows of nearby buildings, I saw the illuminated interiors of cozy hostels where families and friends gathered together.
We passed another Khimrox while wading through the rain—one who held its head and horns high, walking with a cheery gait despite the gloomy weather. Compared to the stale and oppressive atmosphere aboard the Ignis, the settlement brimmed with life, even amidst the darkness of both night and storms.
Saffan led me forward to a quaint home with a metal awning that covered the railed porch. We walked up the steps and Saffan rapped on the door with his cobalt colored knuckles.
I hoped for Nia’s sake that her time away from the military had treated her well. Lord knows she deserved some respite. The door opened and Nia's face peeked out to greet us. “Saffan! Marcus! What are you two doing here?”
Saffan answered as I silently sat by. “Oh we were just passing through. Thought it might be a good idea to stop and pay you a visit.”
“Well don’t make yourself strangers. Come on in!” Saffan sat behind as I walked forward and gave his whole body a shake. Droplets flew from his body and slid off his slick feathers.
The home was a simple one, consisting of a main living room joined together with a kitchen. In the back of the home was a short hall leading to a middle door that stood between a pair of two others. In the living room, perched Tokieran, the same physician who had plunged into my mind to extract our language.
Immediately, he rose from where he rested and turned to face Saffan, “Captain!”
“Can’t be a captain without a ship, Toki.” The former captain waved away the words with a hand. “Saffan will do.”
“Oh. Uh, well, it's good to see you again, Saffan.”
“Likewise my friend. I’m certain you haven’t seen much of me considering your position during our time on the Ignis. It’s a shame we didn’t brush wings more often. You seem like a fine fellow.”
As the two avians got to talking, Nia gave me a light punch on the shoulder. “So, how’ve things been going for you admiral?” It was at this moment that I realized I was still in full military dress. Rather sheepishly, I pulled the hat from my head.
“Fine.” I muttered “You?”
A smile met her face. “Best I’ve felt since I enlisted.” She gave a look towards the two conversing Khimroxians. “It's still hard to believe any of this is real sometimes, ya know?”
I nodded. “Yeah. The Challenger, the Ignis, all of it. Feels like a dream now.”
Nia’s eyes stayed upon the owl-folk. “One of those dreams you don’t really want to wake up from.”
I gave a grunt of agreement. “I only wish all of the Khimroxians could share it with us.” This turned her towards me. Her smile curved down somewhat and she gave a slight nod.
What the hell. She’s going to learn it soon enough anyways. Rubbing the rim of my hat, I spoke softly. “Maybe soon, that will be possible.”
“What?”
“The council’s declared war.”
Her eyes snapped to mine, the smile fully gone. The room fell silent. I hadn’t hoped the others would hear me, but those Khimrox had an impeccable sense of hearing. I shouldn’t have expected any less from them.
All eyes turned to me. “The Aurum Alliance is a threat to humanity, the Khimrox, and all of the other scions that we haven’t even met yet. I think we both know this was inevitable”
“No, I get it, it's just… Wow.” The woman ran a hand through her black, tied-back hair as she heaved a sigh.
This facade dropped almost immediately and Nia’s mouth turned into a wonderfully devilish grin. After a few light chuckles, she said, “Better late than never I suppose. Those spineless sons-of-alien-bitches’ll never know what hit ‘em!”
The expressions on the faces of both Saffan and Tokieran showed no less resolve. Even the formerly jumpy physician proudly displayed a newfound sense of will. “The triumvirate operates under the expectation that we won’t fight back,” said Toki. “They see us as little more than animals and It's time we took full advantage of that fact.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” remarked Saffan.
If these willing warriors were in any way representative of the entire Human-Khimroxian collective, the battle against these golden tyrants would be over before we knew it.
---
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2023.06.04 19:53 45ujt445y515 Sick n tired and broken hearted
I'm (25f) sick of dealing with my family and juggling with problems and pleasing everyone My parents want to help my sister (29f) who betrayed us, but by doing that they screw me and my chance to have a house to live in and a brighter future perhaps, she left in the midst of a pandemic to another country with a boyfriend who has been dating and breaking up constantly throughout her college years, she left my parents, my disabled 16-year-old brother totally dependent on my mom, my husband, and I on our own to survive when she was the only one left with a job and she left us because of her desire to have a family with her ex who cheated on each other, she humiliated me in the bank in front of everyone who was there, while we did a procedure that suited us all so we wouldn't be homeless even though there was no food, we asked for a loan to be able to pay the rent of the house and not be On the streets with a child who has to sleep with a machine that helps him breathe, my sister took off and left me in charge of the debt that I still owe to the bank in the name of both of us but since she was not in the country, They charge me and insult me and she made a new life, luckily my husband managed to get a job a couple months later when the gov let people open again, and he had to go from one city to another 5hrs from home and he visits me when he can and so do I, we made sacrifices cause we needed to survive, but hes now the one that pays everyone's expenses out of love cause we are pretty close he decided so and It is not fair for him to support my family, that is the children's job, I mean, my sister and I, I am still finishing my studies and work half time, I only have one year of internship left to graduate and work and support my family, my husband does want me to finish my studies, hes scared that if something happens to him how would i be left behind defenseless and its always been my dream to graduate and break the cycle of my family, my sister does have a university degree my parents paid some and with scholarships too, from the country we came from (we live in another country, not the one where I spent my childhood) since shes the older i couldnt go to university when i was younger, she did not want to validate her degree when she arrived here to get better opportunities (we have dual born citizenship in both countries, the one where we live now and where she went to and where we spend our childhood) and only went with boyfriends and traveling with them and got jobs as a cook half time istead of engineers jobs cause she is.
Everyone contributed at home before we lost our jobs due to the pandemic and we still haven't been able to recover, my husband was upset by my sister's betrayal (me too) and for being ungrateful because it was with our money that we paid for her plane tickets and we took care of her expenses for months without asking for anything in return and with the promise that we would help my mother and brother when they get here and have a bright life, when my parents and brother arrived instead of being of help she gave the debt to my parents and they are so stupid that they accepted pay it for her, shes done many things shes so problematic when shes home we fight so often when shes gone we barely fight maybe months without fights, i cant list all shes done it would be too long (this is already long), my husband is upset and does not want to see her nor in paintings, she is prohibited from coming back or he wont pay rent as long as shes there.
Guess who got cheated on and lost her job in the country that she returned to and now she asks her parents for help? Exactly my sister, she wants to go back and live where she once abandoned us and I don't contribute money and she wants to make use of it now that she needs it. She first told my mom she would only stay a week shes going to another closeby country to work (already unacceptable) guess who told my mom today that the friend who was waiting for her in that country bailed now she cant go and will stay in this house, sHe wants to go back and start over because she has no one where she left (obviously because she abandoned her only family) and my parents even though my husband supports us even though he shouldn't he doesn't want my sister back so much that he once told me that if she came back she would stop paying the rent and he's right, you can't argue with him, but my parents would rather risk living on the street than let my sister learn life lessons, and with that they screw me because I too would be homeless and I need to graduate I only have the internship left that I start in september and I started to learn how to put oashes to support us when i dont go to uni or study, when I have free time to be able to earn some money and help pay for my university and expenses but I will not be able to graduate and finally have a better job and live with my husband calmly and have my family, I would have to leave my family and I love them so much I have no other and they are really good but they cannot leave my sister be and they tell me that if it were me they would do the same for me but they do not see that they are fucking his other daughter directly and his handicapped son for helping another daughter, they can't support themselves, they don't have nearly enough income, not even to support for one person, 4 is already a joke, which would be counting my sister, we have lived on charity, they cant keep up with this fantasy and Besides, I have resentment and anger I don't want to live those times again I don't want to see my sister's face shes been always a problematic person in my life and out of love and family unity i tried to work our relationship and forgive and move on but im too tired go keep on this fight and for what?, my heart hurts but I am in a very important moment in my life I have eaten shit since I was a child I have lived in poverty ive been mistreated repeatedly I want to be able to have a good life even if it is for just a moment before I die.
I dont know what I want to do, just let it all burn let my parents tell my husband, ill play dumb like i didnt know and dont get involved let em tell him their great idea to let my sister back in cause shes in need knowing my husband (also i dont want her back) dont wanna take her in for all shes done or help my parents built a case and see how he reacts and see if he doesnt kick us or them out and deal with my marriage, cause I cant just please everyone nor myself i lose no matter what, it truly makes me feel like a villain and breaks my heart at the same time
submitted by 45ujt445y515 to Rants [link] [comments]
Everyone contributed at home before we lost our jobs due to the pandemic and we still haven't been able to recover, my husband was upset by my sister's betrayal (me too) and for being ungrateful because it was with our money that we paid for her plane tickets and we took care of her expenses for months without asking for anything in return and with the promise that we would help my mother and brother when they get here and have a bright life, when my parents and brother arrived instead of being of help she gave the debt to my parents and they are so stupid that they accepted pay it for her, shes done many things shes so problematic when shes home we fight so often when shes gone we barely fight maybe months without fights, i cant list all shes done it would be too long (this is already long), my husband is upset and does not want to see her nor in paintings, she is prohibited from coming back or he wont pay rent as long as shes there.
Guess who got cheated on and lost her job in the country that she returned to and now she asks her parents for help? Exactly my sister, she wants to go back and live where she once abandoned us and I don't contribute money and she wants to make use of it now that she needs it. She first told my mom she would only stay a week shes going to another closeby country to work (already unacceptable) guess who told my mom today that the friend who was waiting for her in that country bailed now she cant go and will stay in this house, sHe wants to go back and start over because she has no one where she left (obviously because she abandoned her only family) and my parents even though my husband supports us even though he shouldn't he doesn't want my sister back so much that he once told me that if she came back she would stop paying the rent and he's right, you can't argue with him, but my parents would rather risk living on the street than let my sister learn life lessons, and with that they screw me because I too would be homeless and I need to graduate I only have the internship left that I start in september and I started to learn how to put oashes to support us when i dont go to uni or study, when I have free time to be able to earn some money and help pay for my university and expenses but I will not be able to graduate and finally have a better job and live with my husband calmly and have my family, I would have to leave my family and I love them so much I have no other and they are really good but they cannot leave my sister be and they tell me that if it were me they would do the same for me but they do not see that they are fucking his other daughter directly and his handicapped son for helping another daughter, they can't support themselves, they don't have nearly enough income, not even to support for one person, 4 is already a joke, which would be counting my sister, we have lived on charity, they cant keep up with this fantasy and Besides, I have resentment and anger I don't want to live those times again I don't want to see my sister's face shes been always a problematic person in my life and out of love and family unity i tried to work our relationship and forgive and move on but im too tired go keep on this fight and for what?, my heart hurts but I am in a very important moment in my life I have eaten shit since I was a child I have lived in poverty ive been mistreated repeatedly I want to be able to have a good life even if it is for just a moment before I die.
I dont know what I want to do, just let it all burn let my parents tell my husband, ill play dumb like i didnt know and dont get involved let em tell him their great idea to let my sister back in cause shes in need knowing my husband (also i dont want her back) dont wanna take her in for all shes done or help my parents built a case and see how he reacts and see if he doesnt kick us or them out and deal with my marriage, cause I cant just please everyone nor myself i lose no matter what, it truly makes me feel like a villain and breaks my heart at the same time