FRIDAY

• First Friday, Downtown, Raleigh
• Durham Bulls vs. Jacksonville, DBAP, Durham
• UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH, Raleigh Country Club, Raleigh
• Smooth Nights, KBA, Cary
• BANDS, BITES, AND BOATS, Bond Park, Cary
• PLAYlist Concert Series: Raíces, Rutas, y Ritmos, Durham Central Park, Durham
• 1776, DPAC, Durham
• Leslie Jones: Live, Carolina Theatre, Durham
• DeRay Davis: Too Much?!, Raleigh Improv, Cary
• Pride Plaza Party, Exchange/Market Plazas, Raleigh
• Tacarra Williams, ROOM 861 AT GOODNIGHTS, Raleigh
• The Soccer Tournament, WakeMed Soccer Park, Raleigh
• Music in the Park Celebrates Pride, Healthy Food Hub, Morrisville
• BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (PG13), The Cary, Cary
• Spider-man Movie Premiere with Dell Technologies and Presidio, Cinemark Raleigh Grande, Raleigh
• Durham Pride Silent Disco, Hi-Wire, Durham
• Techstars Startup Weekend: Health & Wellness, Duke University, Durham
• Halocene, Motorco Music Hall, Durham
• Mamis & The Papis and Party Illegal Present: Moodboard, Rubies on Five Points, Durham
• An Evening with North Mississippi Allstars, Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh
• Apex Peakway 155, Wake County Speedway, Raleigh
• Freight Farms Pop Up Event, Nanue's Farm, Raleigh
• Hands on a Hardbody, Raleigh Little Theatre, Raleigh
• Jessica Kirson, Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh
• Oak City Gliders vs Reidsville Luckies, Optimist Park, Raleigh
• Our Prism, The Raleigh Night Market, Raleigh
• Pride First Friday: Sip + Shop, Curate Raleigh, Raleigh
• Urban Soil, The Pour House Music Hall & Record Shop, Raleigh
• BUTNER SUMMER FESTIVAL, Butner Gazebo Park, Butner

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SATURDAY

• Durham Bulls vs. Jacksonville, DBAP, Durham
• Family Fun Fest, North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh
• Raleigh's International Food Festival, City Plaza, Raleigh
• Bubbles & Brisket, Smoky Hollow, Raleigh
• Ever After: Fairytales, Food, and Flowers, Fred Fletcher Park, Raleigh
• UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH, Raleigh Country Club, Raleigh
• Summerfest: The Music of Whitney Houston, North Carolina Symphony, Cary
• Mid-Town Square Spring Festival 2023, Bond Brothers Beer Company, Cary
• NC Summertime Beer Fest, Clouds Brewing Taproom, Raleigh
• NCAA Division II Baseball Championship, USA Baseball National Training Complex, Cary
• North State Bank’s Summer Salute for Transitions LifeCare, North Ridge Country Club, Raleigh
• Run For Love 5k, Dorothea Dix Park, Raleigh
• Dermot Kennedy The Sonder Tour, Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh
• Hands on History: Butter-making, Natural Dyes, and Flower Pressing, Borden Building, Raleigh
• International Children’s Day, City of Raleigh Museum (COR Museum), Raleigh
• Jessica Kirson, Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh
• Jubilant! A Juneteenth Experience, CAM Raleigh, Raleigh
• Matt Maeson, The Ritz, Raleigh
• Tacarra Williams, ROOM 861 AT GOODNIGHTS, Raleigh
• DeRay Davis: Too Much?!, Raleigh Improv, Cary
• Summer Sol - Vinyasa Flow, Raleigh Municipal Rose Garden, Raleigh
• The Soccer Tournament, WakeMed Soccer Park, Raleigh
• UNC Children's For The Kids Concert Featuring: Cooper Alan, Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh
• Hands on a Hardbody, Raleigh Little Theatre, Raleigh
• MAKRS, Durham Central Park, Durham
• Gimme Gimme Disco, Motorco Music Hall, Durham
• Paradox: A 90s Rave Experience, The Fruit, Durham
• Cygnus X-2, The Pour House Music Hall & Record Shop, Raleigh
• Techstars Startup Weekend: Health & Wellness, Duke University, Durham
• Running of the Bulls 8K, Historic Durham Athletic Park, Durham
• Boxyard Turns 2 Celebration, Boxyard RTP, Durham
• Nasher Community Celebration, Nasher Museum of Art, Durham
• Record Show, Durty Bull, Durham
• Bimbé Celebration, Rock Quarry Park, Durham
• Beaver Queen Pageant — Once Upon a Wetland..., Duke Park, Durham
• Mother Tongues: Louise Toppin, soprano, with Stephen Jaffe & John O’Brien, pianists, Nelson Music Room, East Duke Building, Duke University, Durham
• Old North State Antique Gun & Military Show, North Carolina State Fairgrounds, Raleigh
• Propagation Workshop: Advanced Softwood Cuttings, JC Raulston Arboretum at North Carolina State University, Raleigh

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SUNDAY

• UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH, Raleigh Country Club, Raleigh
• Durham Bulls vs. Jacksonville, DBAP, Durham
• NCAA Division II Baseball Championship, USA Baseball National Training Complex, Cary
• Esther Povitsky, Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh
• Parlor Pride Party, Heights House Hotel, Raleigh
• Satisfaction, Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh
• DeRay Davis: Too Much?!, Raleigh Improv, Cary
• Bringing it Home: Chamber Music with the Durham Symphony and Friends, Hayti Heritage Center, Durham
• Al Strong Presents Jazz Brunch at Alley Twenty Six, Alley Twenty Six, Durham
• Mike’s Dead, Motorco Music Hall, Durham
• A Celebration of African American Art with Song, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh
• LGBTQ+ Pride Ride with the Historic Raleigh Trolley, Mordecai Historic Park, Raleigh
• Old North State Antique Gun & Military Show, North Carolina State Fairgrounds, Raleigh
• Techstars Startup Weekend: Health & Wellness, Duke University, Durham

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Join the Thingstodo919 email list here for a weekly events newsletter. Doing anything interesting this weekend? Let us know your plans in the comments!

Anyone annoyed with the parking attendant redirecting GA pass holders to the Expo Center parking?
The bellow is an email I sent to them, but haven't heard back yet.
Hello,
I encountered an issue with a parking attendant today. Despite following the instructions for General Admission, I was incorrectly redirected to the Expo Center by the attendant.
He claimed that internal parking was exclusive to Premium pass holders, a contradiction to the information provided on my pass.
Even when I presented a map illustrating the access rights of both General Admission and Premium pass holders to internal parking, he responded aggressively and insisted on his knowledge of the rules.
I'd appreciate any recommendations on how to navigate this situation.
Thank you

https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/opticmajor2023
Header Image ^[Imgur]
The next HCS Major kicks off on June 30th in Arlington Texas and it will be hosted by the 2022 World Champions - OpTic Gaming!
Join us live - secure your tickets today!
HCS Major Arlington - Hosted by OpTic Gaming (June 30th - July 2nd ^[Imgur]

Key Info

• Date: June 30 - July 2
• Venue: Esports Stadium Arlington
• Event Type: Global Open
• Broadcast: Twitch and YouTube
• Spectator Tickets: Available NOW
• Team Pass: Available Friday May 26 @ 10a PT / 1p ET
• 4v4 Prize Pool: $250,000

Venue, Tickets, and Team Passes

Venue: Esports Stadium Arlington
Address: 1200 Ballpark Way, Arlington, TX 76011
GENERAL ADMISSION 3-DAY TICKETS
Price: $50

• Entrance into event for the entirety of the tournament.
• Access to compete in the Free-For-All tournament at no extra charge.
• General Attendees will receive a Halo Waypoint token that unlocks all in-game items provided as Twitch Drops over the event weekend.

PARTNERED TEAM CODES
In order to provide extra value to fans and also allow fans to support their favorite teams directly, you can use any of the below codes at check out to receive a 10% discount on your tickets. When you save 10%, the Teams receive 10%.

• CLOUD9
• COMPLEXITY
• FAZE
• NAVI
• OPTIC
• SENTINELS
• SPACESTATION
• QUADRANT

Support your favorite team and get a discount on spectator tickets. If you use a team's code, be sure to share on Twitter and tag the teams so they know you've supported them!

• Military Discount: MILITARY for 10% off
• Senior Discount: SENIOR for 10% off
  TEAM PASS
  
• Price: $250
  
• Covers 4 Players + Coach
  
• 96 Total Team Passes Available
  

Head to hcs.ee.gg to purchase your HCS OpTic Major 2023 Team Pass!
OpTic Formal ^[Imgur]

Tournament Format

Open Bracket

As is customary, there will be an open bracket featured at the HCS OpTic Major. This will take place on Friday, May 30th and will start and end on the same day. The bracket will be filled by the first 96 teams to purchase a pass. The top 4 teams from the Open Bracket will move on to Pool Play. (2 from the Winner’s bracket, 2 from the Elimination Bracket)

Pool Play

Teams in all regions will qualify for Pool Play through HCS Points. Registration for Pool Play at the OpTic Major will go live after the HCS Dallas Global Invitational. (The Top 2 Teams from HCS Dallas will auto-qualify for Pool Play at the HCS OpTic Major!)

• North America: 8 Pool Play slots, 2 Open Bracket Travel Coverage slots
• Europe: 2 Pool Play slots, 2 Open Bracket Travel Coverage slots
• Mexico: 1 Pool Play slot, 1 Open Bracket Travel Coverage slot
• Australia and New Zealand: 1 Pool Play slot, 2 Open Bracket Travel Coverage slots
  IMPORTANT NOTE: All teams in Pool Play will receive travel stipends. Additionally, we’re providing regional travel support for the top Open teams for a chance to compete through the Open Bracket.
  

$5,000 FFA Tournament

The OpTic Major will also feature a $5,000 FFA tournament - open to all event attendees!
Pre-registration will be available at hcs.ee.gg at a later date!
Image ^[Imgur]

Where to Watch

Catch all the action live June 30 - July 2.

• *A Stream: * Twitch.tv/Halo ** - ** YouTube.com/Halo
• B Stream: ** Twitch.tv/HCS ** - YouTube/ HaloEsports HCS
• Co-Streamers: Halo Infinite Live Streams

Twitch Drops

Fans tuning into the HCS OpTic Major will also earn exclusive Drops.
Keep an eye on @HCS on Twitter to see Twitch Drop info when it is announced!

Travel

• Airports: Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW) Dallas Love Field (DAL)
• Ground Transportation : Uber Lyft
• Hotels: Click here for a list of nearby hotels.

Image ^[Imgur]

FAQ

When and Where will the HCS OpTic Major take place?	The OpTic Major will take place at Esports Stadium Arlington, 1200 Ballpark Way Suite T.9, 1200 Ballpark Way, Arlington, TX 76011 starting on June 30, ending on July 2.
Where can I purchase tickets?	Click here to purchase.
I can't attend the event, but want to watch online. Where can I tune in?	You can tune into these links to check out the action: Twitch A Stream - Twitch.tv/Halo B Stream - Twitch.tv/HCS C Stream - Twitch.tv/HCS_Red D Stream - Twitch.tv/HCS_Blue
Is there an age limit?	All 4v4 and FFA Players must be 13 years of age or older to compete at HCS Major OpTic. Players 13 years of age or older require a signed parental consent form if under the age of 18. Spectators 13 years of age or older require a signed parental consent form if under the age of 18. Spectators under 13 years of age will need to be accompanied by guardian. Children ages 3 and under will not require a ticket, but will require a completed parental consent form and be accompanied by a guardian at all times. Please bring the completed form to the event and have ready to hand in at the ticketing desk.
What if I am under the age limit at the time of qualification but meet the age requirements by the event date? Can I still participate?	Players will need to be of age by June 12 to compete.
When will Team Passes for the HCS Open Bracket go on sale?	Team passes for the HCS Open Bracket at the HCS OpTic Major will be on sale this Friday, May 26. Team passes can be purchased at https://hcs.ee.gg/.
Are there VIP Tickets available?	There are no VIP tickets for this event, but instead, OpTic Nation members will receive exclusive perks like early access to the event, access to the presale, a chance to claim limited edition lanyard (while supplies last), a unique event badge, and more benefits to be announced.
I'm an OpTic Nation Gold Member, what kind of benefits do I get at this event?	As an OpTic Nation Gold Member, you'll recieve 24 hour early access to tickets to the event via an online presale. If you're a member, you will recieve a code via email that you should use on TIXR. Other event benefits will be announced closer to the event days. OpTic Nation Gold members will also receive early access to the event, a chance to claim limited edition lanyard (while supplies last), a unique event badge, and more benefits to be announced. Not a gold member? You can sign up for OpTic Nation Gold here.
What is the venue bag policy?	All attendees will have to undergo a metal detector and bag check security screening. All bags and purses must be soft sided and not exceed 16” x 16” x 8”. Backpacks are prohibited, except for single-compartment drawstring bags that do not exceed the bag-size requirements of 16” x 16” x 8”. Exceptions are for those that are carried for medical reasons or manufactured diaper bags that accompany infants and young children. All bags are subject to search before entering the venue.
Can I bring in outside food or drink to the venue?	No outside food or drinks will be allowed in the stadium.
What is the Camera policy?	Cameras must be self-contained, may not draw on Esports Stadium Arlington power sources, and must be operated by a single individual without use of ancillary equipment, such as a tripod or external lights. Pedestrian traffic may not be blocked at any point.
What time do doors open?	Stay tuned for Event / Door times.
Where should I park and is parking free?	Paid parking is available at Esports Stadium Arlington.
Do you have appropriate seating and parking for individuals with medical conditions?	Yes, this event is ADA compliant.
Are pets allowed?	Only service animals are allowed at the event.
I am with the press and would like to cover the event. Who should I reach out to for information and Press Access?	Please fill out this form here and [email protected] will reach back out to you accepting or denying your inquiry.
Are there any prohibited items?	Halo Championship Series Prohibited Items ACCEPTABLE: - Cosplay and other costumes determined to be safe by security - Prop/Replica weapons as part of cosplay or other costumes (Must be submitted to security for review. Cannot contain a functioning bolt mechanism or fire a projectile of any kind. Any bow-type weapons must be unstrung or strung with a low-tensile thread. All prop arrows must have soft, non-metal, blunted tips made out of foam or cardboard only. Cannot be pointed at any individual in such a way to cause fear of harm or distress. Cosplay firearms must have brightly colored safety tips. Must be visibly tagged and visually identified as “safe” or “peace bonded”) - Cell Phones - Action cameras, such as GoPro’s - Prescription medication (you must have the prescription/label in your name with you) PROHIBITED ITEMS* (below list is a guide, not all inclusive): - Illegal or illicit substances, drugs, or drug paraphernalia - Weapons of any kind including, but not limited to, guns, ammo, pocket knives, sharp-edge blades, self-defense sprays, or any item deemed as unsafe by security staff. - Flammable items or liquids including aerosols and fireworks - Bags larger than 12″ x 12″ x 6″ max - Coolers, sleeping bags, tents, and chairs (An exception will be made for medically necessary items after thorough inspection) - Outside alcohol - Outside food and beverage Bicycles, skateboards, hover-boards, scooters, or personal motorized vehicles - Drones or unmanned aerial vehicles - Animals except for service animals assisting an individual with a disability (“Comfort,” “therapy” or “emotional support” animals do not meet the ADA definition of a service animal. Security may permit working dogs or other animals as required.) - Laser pens, laser pointers, or similar focused light devices - Noisemakers such as megaphones, air horns, sirens, whistles, or other devices which may interfere with others’ experience - Any item that is not lawfully permitted to be carried in the locality or City of Seattle - Additional items may be prohibited at the discretion of Microsoft staff or security *Note: Prohibited items and items determined to not be appropriate for entry into Halo Championship Series will be the responsibility of the attendee and cannot be accepted, stored, or checked by Microsoft or Convention Center.
Where can I find the Handbook & Code of Conduct?	You can find the HCS Handbook & Code of Conduct by clicking here.
Will there be a free-for-all (FFA) competition at this event?	Yes! The event will feature a free Halo Infinite FFA tournament, which will be open for up to 512 players and spectators. Best of luck to those competing for their shot at the largest portion of the $5,000 prize pool! The FFA check-in schedule will be published closer to the event. Check back here for updates. Must have a Spectator ticket to participate.
I don't live in the United States. Can I still compete in this tournament?	To check your specific country’s eligibility, please see the list of eligible countries as listed in the Handbook here.
When do rosters lock?	For Pool Play and Travel Coverage teams, rosters will lock at 5:00 PM ET on Sunday, June 11th. (If teams earned travel coverage, they must retain the same roster.)
What equipment should I bring if I'm competing	All players competing must bring: - Your preferred wired peripheral (Xbox wired Controller or Mouse and Keyboard) - USB cord required for your preffered peripheral - Headset with no power outlet and a 3.5 mm plug - Wired Earbuds (needed for Feature Station and Main Stage play) - If you plan on competing with Keyboard & Mouse, you must submit your model number for each device to [email protected] ahead of the event. Mixamps will be provided. Bringing backup equipment is recommended.
Which monitors will be used for the tournament?	All tournament and warmup monitors will be provided. Model will be updated here soon.
How do I earn travel coverage?	Lodging and travel coverage will be offered to 12 pool play teams (based on auto-qualification from HCS Dreamhack Dallas and HCS points) Additionally 2 NA teams, 2 EU teams, 2 ANZ teams & 1 MX Team will be granted travel coverage based on aggregate HCS points. NA Players may qualify through: Top 10 in HCS points after the HCS Dallas Global Invitational EU Players may qualify through: Top 4 in HCS points after the HCS Dallas Global Invitational MX Players may qualify through: Top 2 in HCS points after the HCS Dallas Global Invitational ANZ Players may qualify through: Top 3 in HCS points after the HCS Dallas Global Invitational Note: Teams who earn travel coverage for the HCS OpTic Major must compete with the same roster.
What is the Prizing Breakdown?	Prizing Breakdown - Arlington/OpTic 4v4 $250,000 1st: $100,000 2nd: $60,000 3rd: $30,000 4th: $17,500 5th/6th: $8,000 7th/8th: $5,000 9th-12th: $2,500 13th-16th: $1,625 Prizing Breakdown - Arlington/OpTic $5.000 1st: $2,000 2nd: $1,200 3rd: $800 4th: $425 5th: $200 6th: $150 7th: $125 8th: $100
What is the Pro Point Breakdown?	Pro Points Breakdown - Arlington/OpTic 4v4 1st - 25,000 2nd - 15,000 3rd - 11,000 4th - 9,000 5th/6th - 8,000 7th/8th - 7,000 9th-12th - 5,500 13th-14th - 4,500 15th-16th - 3,000 17th-20th - 2,750 21th-24th - 2,250 25th-32th - 1,800 33th-40th - 1,600 41th-56th - 1,400 57th-72th - 1,000 Pro Points Breakdown - Arlington/OpTic FFA 1st: 15,000 2nd: 13,500 3rd: 12,750 4th: 12,000 5th: 11,250 6th: 10,500 7th: 9,750 8th: 9,000 9th - 10th: 6,000 11th - 12th: 5,250 13th - 14th: 4,500 15th - 16th: 3,750 17th - 20th: 2,800 21st - 24th: 2,450 25th - 28th: 2,000 29th - 32nd: 1,650 33rd - 40th: 1,300 41st - 48th: 1,125 49th - 56th: 950 57th - 64th: 750 65th - 128th: 375
What types of payment do you accept? Online and onsite?	All major credit cards are accepted. Cash payments will not be accepted at the event.

This post was made by a script written and maintained by the Halo mod team to automatically post blogs from Halo Waypoint. If you notice any issues with the text output or think this was posted by mistake, please message the mods.

Preamble:

We are a family of three. I previously lived in Japan for about 10 years. My wife is Japanese from the Kansai region, and we have a 6 year old son born and raised abroad, but who speaks/reads/writes Japanese at a native or near-native level for his age. My wife and son traveled back to Osaka several times during Covid, but I did not join them due to the additional logistics requirements at the time, and the sense that it would not be particularly enjoyable. Prior to covid we would typically spend about 4-5 weeks a year in Japan, but this was our first long day-in-the-life trip together in the past four years.
It was a phenomenal trip, and I wanted share what we did. Our trip is probably a little bit unconventional compared to most of the reports here as we all speak Japanese and are very familiar with Japan having lived there for quite some time in the past. Our main goals for our trip were to provide our son with immersion opportunities, to meet family, and to visit with old friends. We lived for many years in both Osaka and Tokyo and I have relatives in Shizuoka. We also love craft beer, games, and quirky museums; I think our trip itinerary reflects all of this.

General Pre-trip Preparation:

Our son is a second-year kindergartener in Zurich, Switzerland, but he also speaks Japanese and attends a Japanese school part time. He's very outgoing and enjoys new adventures (probably because we have been dragging him around to San Diego or Osaka almost every year for most of his life). This year we thought it would be interesting if he could experience a real Japanese elementary school during our stay. To this end about 2 months before we left, my wife contacted the local elementary school near her parents house in Osaka and inquired about the possibility of doing a short 'study abroad' (体験留学) at some point during our stay. To our surprise she received a prompt reply from the school principal, who was very enthusiastic about the prospect, and happy to arrange all the details upon our arrival. Apparently he had previously worked at an international school and had a very positive outlook on this sort of interaction. Final details were to be determined on site in a short family interview in order to get a sense of our son's Japanese ability and disposition.
We typically spend our long-term stays with our relatives but this time we decided to break our trip up into several stages: Osaka at Home, Osaka at Large, Return to Tokyo, Shizuoka, Osaka at home. The remainder of the report is broken up accordingly.

Part 1: Osaka-at-Home I.

The first week we flew in to Osaka KIX from Zurich via Seoul, and took the Hello Kitty Express :-) directly into Umeda where we met up with family and went straight to a Yakiniku experience at Yakiniku Toraji on the B2 floor of the Lucua building at Umeda. At first we planned to make the journey home to drop off our luggage but after we realized that the airport express now drops you off at essentially the Lucua B1, we decided to just head straight to dinner. Needless to say, it was epic. We grabbed some bread and pastries for the following morning and headed home with mom and dad.
GENERAL ANECDOTES:
Masks; Even on first arrival it was clear that we made the right decision to come after the covid restrictions finally lifted. Everything was open, and people were out. Roughly 90+% of people were still wearing masks everywhere, but this percentage steadily declined over the duration of our stay to, I would say, 65%-70% by the time we left on May 20th. We chose not to wear them, and my MIL/FIL were also not wearing them. At no point during the trip did I feel there was any concern about this in either direction. Anyone traveling in the near future should feel completely free to go whichever way you prefer.
During the first week we sorted out our jet lag, and spent a lot of time roaming around conbinis and the supermarkets remembering all the little delicious nothings that Japan has to offer. We stayed with mom and dad in Ebie, Fukushima, right on Yodogawa. This is about 5 min bike ride from Nodahanshin station, and 10-15min ride to Fukushima station or Umeda. We made all these rides many times during our stay! We made some mellow probing adventures:
Prepaid SIMs. I still have to answer emails and typically work on-and-off during these trips. One of the reasons we are able to do it is because I work in IT. This means it's always important to get a good prepaid SIM. On my last visit, four years ago I was able to find a great deal on a prepaid SIM at Yodobashi in Umeda, so one of my first orders of business was to repeat that experience this time. However after discussing with the sales and purchasing a SIM with 50GB for 1mo @ Y8000, I found out that it did not permit tethering. This was stated as a 'possibility' in the fine print and when I asked at purchase time the sales person said they couldn't guarantee it but thought it should work. I gambled and lost. This was quite annoying given the main purpose of purchasing a high volume prepaid SIM was for tethering to my laptop. Anyway as a result I discovered the eSIM tech which was also supported by my iPhone 14. I ended up buying another eSIM plan using Ubigi and this worked great and supported tethering without issue throughout my trip. It also worked great for our short return stop in South Korea. I'll never go back to prepaid physical SIMs and I still cannot believe that Docomo is still blocking tethering in 2023. Completely ridiculous.
Exercise: I am an avid swimmer and cyclist. Since we typically stay for around 1 month I like to be able to continue my swim workouts while we are in Japan. Cycling isn't a problem since we end up biking and walking all over the country anyway. I always join the Konami Sports Club network for 1 month as a regular member the first day we arrive. They provide a bunch of different plans and most of the Type III and Type IV gyms in the network have a 25SCM lap pool. If you join the network you can use any of facilities anywhere in the country, which is great if you spend time in more than one city. The Type III and Type IV facilities all have really great bath house areas as well, with multiple sento-style baths and usually a big sauna. You need to make sure that you join and quit on the same day (or at least in the same week) so that your membership will be properly cancelled at the end of the first billing cycle. This might be tough if you don't speak Japanese well, but if you do the staff is super accommodating and will definitely help you make it happen. In addition to the exercise, one thing I really like about doing this is that it gives me another day-in-the-life experience; it's like living there again; doing things that locals do. The Kitahama facility in Osaka is particularly nice; It's a new one and it's my favorite.
Internet Cafes: I worked on and off during the trip and usually do work days at local internet cafes. The three I liked best during this trip were:

• Brooklyn Coffee Namba : Big spacious area with lots of sockets and reasonably fast free wifi if you don't have a SIM (or don't have one that supports tethering...). It's really dedicated to remote work so there is zero pressure to leave. You can spend the whole day working there with a couple cups of coffee and no one will bug you. The only downside is that it is a bit of trek from Namba station.
• Brooklyn Coffee Kitahama : Same chain as above. This one is smaller, but has a similar vibe. It's right on the river which makes for a cool view. It's closer to the station but I definitely prefer the Namba shop.
• Starbucks Umeda MeRise : This is a pretty sweet Starbucks that is much more 'devoted' to remote work than most. They have a 'startup' area on the second floor, loads of seats, loads of plugs and a solid wifi connection. It's a hop skip and a jump from Umeda which also makes it convenient. Starbucks Japan still offers the one-more-coffee receipts which is a great bonus here. You can get a second cup of cold brew or hot coffee for about Y180 in the same size as the first one you purchase.

Cycling: We keep a couple of momma-charis at my in-laws place, including one with a kid-seat on the back. We did plenty of riding and my son loves the unique-to-him experience of riding on the back of the bike. We considered getting him his own bike this year, but eventually decided against it due to the complex traffic. Osaka is pretty easy to get around in by bicycle in terms of terrain - there are very few hills in the city proper, however the traffic is a little bit gnarly. Midosuji street is a great example of this. It runs in a mostly straight line from Umeda/Osaka station, across Oebashi and Yodobashi past Osaka city hall, and down through Dotonbori to Namba. It's a cool little ride if you have the time and inclination and it is mostly flat. It runs only in one direction for most of this length however many Japanese cyclists seem to not be aware of this fact. I was surprised/amazed/terrified by how many people I encountered riding against the flow of traffic on this quite busy street. Plenty of mama-charis with kids on back as well. It's pretty chaotic and not for the faint of heart! That said I enjoy the rides and the people watching and the adventure that a little chaos can provide as long as you keep your eyes open.
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LOCATIONS, FOOD AND ADVENTURES

• Osaka Kids Plaza : We made a solid day of visiting Osaka Kids Plaza. This place is great if you have 3-8 year olds and want to find something to do with them, especially on a rainy day. In past years we have also visited KidoKido Bornelund in Grand Front Umeda, but at 6 our son seemed to have outgrown it this time around. Osaka Kids Plaza was still plenty of fun.
• Yakitori Masaya: We looove all Japanese food and Yakitori is no exception. We usually visit the local Torikizoku but it was their day off so we tried this new place in Fukushima. It didn't disappoint.
• Honmachi Seimenjo Ten: I love cold bukkake udon and sanuki udon. This place in Lucua is pretty passable, easy access and great value for money. It's definitely not as good as Tokyo Mentsudan in Shinjuku, Tokyo - which is absolutely banging - but it was a good first taste.
• Round 1 Stadium Sennichimae : My son has started to enjoy gaming and I wanted to explore this with him so we dedicated our first father-son adventure day of the trip to a large game center - the likes of which simply do not exist in either Switzerland or the US. Needless to say it was a massive hit. They have plenty of Mario Kart, Densha de Go, and Taiko no Tatsujin (our favorites) as well as bowling, pool, gokarts and more. Of course there are also oodles of crane games to waste your money on as well. After the game center we walked for Ramen near Namba:
• Namba Ramen Ichiza this place is pretty much brand new from the look of it. It has a slew of different ramen shops and all they all looked delicious. We visited twice after the first success. There are many tourist oriented ramen shops in the shotengai in dontonburi and sennichimae, but IMO this was a much better experience. We found it because my son wasn't into the crowded dark vibe in the shops below. This place was well-lit and spacious, and the shops readily provided kid utensils and smaller tori-zara so that I could scoop more reasonable portions for him. It's also right next to Namba station.
• Edion Namba Kids Park : the Edion building with the Ramen Park on the 9F also has a huge toys, models, and kids park on 7F. We visited this before heading home. They have a big games section, a Bandai section, a very large Plarail and Tomika section, and a great Lego section. Super fun to browse; plenty of open stuff for the kids to play with too.
• Osaka Castle park: We roamed the park a bit then had lunch at the little Ramen park in the Castle Terrace area adjacent to Osakajokoen. The weather was nice and the back area of the ramen park has a great view of Osaka castle. After that we took the tourist road train that runs around the park and road it up to the last stop right in front of Osaka castle. There is always a lot of commentary about walking in this sub; if you don't want to walk all the way through the park for whatever reason, the little road train is a great option. You still have to climb maybe 4 floors worth of steps to get to the castle entrance, but the train gets you pretty close. In the end we decided not to go into the castle since the line was looking pretty long and we've been multiple times before. We ate some jihanki ice cream in the main plaza under the castle. After that we hiked back down to exit via the Otemon gate and made a quick stop at my wife's alma mater Osaka Otemae High School before hopping a bus headed towards Kitahama and eventually back home.

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BEER
As I mentioned, we love craft beer, and we particularly love Hazy IPAs in all their various forms. We made it a point in this trip to explore this aspect of Japan as it seems to have really exploded in popularity since our last visit. We followed (hazy_mmy)[https://www.instagram.com/hazy_mmy/?hl=en] for some great ideas outside the brewpubs.

• Lucua Craft Beer Market: This place has been around for several years, and is still going pretty strong. It features a lot of interesting IPAs, Stouts, Sours, and standard Pilsners and Pale Ales. They usually have a Hazy or two on tap as well. There is an unrelated beer and wine shop on the same floor that has a great selection of IPA and Hazy IPA cans as well.
• Ape Brewing: One of our first craft beer explorations of the trip was Ape Brewing. These guys just got started and we got to meet their brew master and taste some awesome brews. Food is great and the ambiance was great too; there's bar seating and nice views of those shiny vats if you're into that sort of thing. They were also very child friendly (as were I think all the spots we hit this time) and had plenty of soda and juice and non-alcoholic drinks.
• Yellow Ape Craft : Ape Brewing is an offshoot of the Yellow Ape Craft brew pub which we had visited on previous trips. It's also located in Kitahama, nearer to the station, and has a more general, different array of craft beers as well as a different menu. We ended up turning our Kitahama visit into a mini pub crawl and stopped off at this spot on the way home as well. It didn't disappoint.

We wrapped up this mini pub crawl with a walk through the Kitahama/Yodoyabashi area in the evening. This is more of business district but it actually has some interesting novel historical sites. There are a number of cool Meiji Era buildings with large explanatory placards. These are predominantly in Japanese and maybe a bit obscure, and you also won't be able to enter most of them, but if you are into this sort of thing it's can be a fun bonus. I'm guessing google translate in photo mode can get you most of the way through the placards:

• https://osaka-club.or.jp/ (a business social club / salon)
• Ikoma Building
• Former Konishi Family Residence (I believe you can actually enter this one)
• Douza no ato this is an even older one dates to the Edo period. It was initially seat of the local copper trade, then converted to an elite Kindergarten - the first in Osaka - in 1880. It still operates as a kindergarten.

there are a bunch more, these just happen to be the ones that caught our eye as we passed by on our mini pub crawl.

Part 2. Osaka-at-Large

We spent roughly our first two weeks in Osaka, but in order to get a change of pace and give our family a break, we opted to spend the second week in an apartment-hotel near Umeda. This was a great decision and a lot of fun. We were able to host friends, had even better access to Umeda and could relax and enjoy the city from a fresh angle.
We spent 7 nights in the rooftop luxury suite at Minn Kita Umeda and it was epic. My wife booked this about 6 months in advance and it was worth every last yen. The room was spacious and quiet with two large comfy beds. The bathroom included a deep Japanese style bath. There is a large rooftop deck with a jacuzzi overlooking Lucua/Umeda/Osaka station. This view at night was phenomenal. At present there is also a ton of highrise construction going on behind Grand Front which my son got a kick out of (and me too). The apartment has a large kitchen and living room space as well, and we used it to host some visits from friends.
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LOCATIONS, FOOD AND ADVENTURES
I ended up working most of this week so we only managed one major adventure.

• SpaWorld Osaka: Onsen from around the world. This was probably the one experience I would categorize as a strong do-not-recommend. My son and I were looking for another adventure day target and settled on an onsen adventure. I've been to Oedo Onsen Monogatari a couple of times and there is also a new one in Osaka city: Solaniwa Onsen but for some reason we picked Spa World. It is located about 5min walk from Dobutsuen-Mae station. This area is basically skid row; my wife and MIL warned me, but I didn't really believe them since I've never seen any truly 'run down' area of Japan. This area was hilariously decrepit and I got a lot of I-told-you-so's after we got back. Spa World itself is somewhat OK. The facility is pretty clean and the baths are relatively well kept. However the water-park area on the top floor was honestly pretty gross. We floated around the lazy river quite a few times; but it was more like a gross, overly warm moat. There was a kiddy slide area but it was not particularly great and had a bunch of really hard surfaces in the play areas that were not kind. There were a couple of pretty cool looking tandem water slides but they had a scale and a weight-differential requirement of 'no more than 20kg'. Unfortunately for us I'm 6'3", 92kg and my son is a gangly 6 year old weighing in at 21kg. They took one look at us and didn't even bother with the scale. The kicker here however was the bathroom. Right before we left to go down to the sento area, I used the mens room and it was absolutely filthy. The mens urinals had a high wooden shelf which is probably not visible to 95% of Japanese visitors but as I mentioned, I'm pretty tall. I could see this thing and it was not only absolutely filthy but crawling with little black bugs. I just about retched and headed out immediately afterwards. The Spas of the World on the floor below was in much better shape. It was clean and good fun; we visited Greece and Spain and Italy :-) and finally headed home. My son had a great time and I would have classified it as 'OK' if not for the bathroom experience which was just unbelievable. In retrospect I honestly should have reported it. As it stands I'd give it a hard NOT recommended; Oedo Onsen or Solaniwa should be much better bets.
• Hep5 Ferris Wheel: We've ridden this a few times in the day but never before at night. It was pretty cool and gives you a nice long view of the city from all angles. The contrast between the Osaka city night and Zurich is pretty extreme! My only minor complaint was that they had some kind of Care Bear theme going on an there was a large temporary Care Bear decal on the side of the car which obstructed part of the view.
• Shuns Kushiage, Kushikatsu: We also love kushiage/kshikatsu and we ate a ton on this trip. One of our favorite haunts is Shuns on 10F Lucua.
• Curry House CoCo Ichibanya: I also love Japanese style curry and CoCo Ichibanya. This is standard chain that can be found throughout Japan. They serve a bunch of Japanese style curry rice and you can customize them with things like tonkatsu, hirekatsu, sausage, cheese, etc. You can also customize the spice level and it goes up to seriously spicy which is sometimes tough to find in Japan!
• Pause Coffee: This little hole in the wall coffee shop is located just next to the Minn apartment hotel we were staying at. It was always packed with locals and made great coffee and great sweets.
• Craft Burger Co. : Solid burgers and some good craft beers on tap. They also had sliders that were perfectly sized for a 6 year old. We visited the Dojima shop. This wasn't the best burger we had, but it was definitely tasty and worth a visit if you like burgers and are in the area.
• Saien Yakiniku : This is a little hole in the wall yakiniku place that we've been visiting for over 20 years. It's good and we always visit at least once, but the biggest reason for this that we know the owner and it's a family tradition dating back to my wife's childhood. Their 'aji kurabe' (taste comparison plate) is pretty good though and comes with a selection of beef from every major region of Japan.

BEER

• Yellow Ape Craft: TheBottleShop & Kitchen: This was the final installation in the Yellow Ape franchise, also located in the Kitahama area. This one was really cool in that they have a self-serve tap setup using IC cards. The staff hands you an IC card when they seat you, and you can order food as normal. But the taps are all installed in a public facing wall on the opposite end of the pub and you pour your own beer by inserting your IC card into the reader above the tap. It then records your pour by the ml and charges you sort of like a gas station. I'd never seen this before and visited it with a friend, and later again with the family. It was pretty fun. They also have a few games and a rubiks cube if you're into that. They also have plenty of bottles for takeaway and had 3-4 Hazy IPAs on tap when we visited.
• Drunk Bears Osaka: This place has deep dish pizza and we were hoping it could compare with DevilCraft. The pizza was OK but the beer lineup ended up being pretty subpar.

Part 3. Return to Tokyo

For our third week we returned to Tokyo to visit old haunts and old friends, and take in the even bigger city. We headed up early on the Nozomi shinkansen after checking out of the Minn. We bought bento in Shin Osaka station and our son picked out a shinkansen shaped Ekiben box to bring back for school lunches.
We previously lived for about 7 years in Jiyugaoka, and planned to spend time there meeting friends, but we decided to stay in an area we were less familiar with in order to get a fresh perspective on the city. We spent 6 nights at the Blossom Hotel Hibiya which is about 5 min walk from Shimbashi station. It's a highrise with the hotel on the top. We had a room facing Tokyo Tower with a great view. The rooms themselves were clean and comfy with the external wall composed of a single huge bay window. The city scape was amazing night and day.
I ended up having to put out fires at work again during this week even though I had tried to take it off, and this put a little bit of a damper on some exploration plans, but we still managed to see all our friends and make a go of the time. Also since we already spent almost 10 years in Tokyo altogether, we didn't feel nearly as pressured to check out multiple tourist sites and focused on eating, drinking, and meeting with friends.
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LOCATIONS, FOOD AND ADVENTURES

• Poop Museum Tokyo: This place was absolutely bonkers. My wife found it randomly and jokingly suggested that we should check it out. We wandered around Odaiba and visited. There was a huge line. My wife opted to go shopping but my son and I decided we couldn't pass up this opportunity. It was bizarre, hilarious and entertaining and well worth the entry fee. The highlights including a fuzzy mechatronic Poop-animal petting zoo, an Unko speech recognition game where screaming 'unko' (poo) resulted in a poo tower visualization with size corresponding to the volume of your scream - this was then aligned with a landmark of corresponding size for reference, e.g., the Eiffel Tower. There were also various games and photo ops with cute poo and you receive a poo on a stick as a souvenir. Just a bizarre unique experience.
• Tokyo Tower: We climbed Tokyo tower with friends on a beautiful starry night. It was great. I had hoped to climb the stairs but we were too late. There was a special lighting arrangement related to Golden Week which we managed to catch. The view is great but the tower is now almost entirely surrounded by gigantic Mori office skyscrapers that are as tall or taller than the lower viewing platform!
• Tokyo Sky Tree: We also climbed the Sky Tree on another day. This was fun too. It's way higher, but it's almost so high that the features of the city are a bit obscured. I'm glad we did it and checked it off, but I kind of preferred Tokyo Tower in the end.
• GiGO Akihabara 1: With my son newly addicted to Game Centers, we couldn't pass up a chance to visit Akihabara :-)! We made a trip to the GiGO centers. This was a lot of fun. There are five installations, but we focused on 1 and 3. One was definitely the best. We found our favorite games: Mario Kart and Taikou Tatsujin, and also found a top floor packed with 80s and 90s hits, many with co-op options. We spent a few hours here trying as much as we could. Taikou Tatsujin was particularly fun as there were a couple of absolute masters just ripping apart the drums, yet still kind enough to take a break after 10min or so and let us get in a round of easy-level Tonari no Totoro. One thing I noticed was that there were a lot of tourists that seemed to want to try some of the games but had a lot of difficulty with the Japanese only interfaces and writing.
• Jiyuugaoka: As I mentioned, we lived in Jiyuugaoka for about 7 years so we made sure to return and spend a day wandering around and wallowing in nostalgia. I don't have anything in particular to say about it; it's just a nice area to wander and hang out. Plenty of good food and shopping, more relaxed than many areas of Tokyo.
• Akamon): I had planned to go back and visit my old lab here, but unfortunately time did not permit. The Todai Hongo campus is definitely worth a visit though. There are some good eats and it's an easy walk through the campus to Ueno.
• Karaoke-kan: We made one karaoke stop for old time's sake. This particular place in shimbashi is not notable; just part of a chain, but I think Japanese style karaoke is worth trying once, especially if you are only familiar with the western approach.
• Shu Shimbashi: We had a nice group dinner at Shu in Shimbashi. Pretty standard izakaya style fare but reasonably priced and tasty enough.
• Henry's Burger Jiyuugaoka: Great burgers and a nice rooftop area for eating. It's a 5 min walk from Jiyuugaoka station. It also has some nice craft beer that you can add to a set menu.
• Nantahama Jiyuugaoka: This is an amazing little Okinawa style izakaya that has been run by the same family in the same spot for the last 50 years. When we lived here we visited it regularly. Food and ambience is great and the family that runs it is very friendly.
• Mujaki Ramen Jiyuugaoka: Amazing ramen. Amazing.
• Clann Irish Pub Jiyuugaoka: Great little Irish pub with a friendly owner. My wife and met her 17 years ago so we always make sure to stop by for a pint of Guinness and a chat with the regulars.
• Boulangerie Asanoya Jiyuugaoka: Great bread and pastries.
• Devilcraft Tokyo - Jiyuugaoka: Epic deep dish pizza and solid selection of craft beer on tap. There are other locations in Kanda, Hamamatsuchou, and Gotanda.
• Sushi Gyoshin: Great kaiten sushi restaurant in Jiyuugaoka just a few steps from the station. This was another of our longterm haunts and we were happy to see that it hasn't changed. Our son ordered his first sushi by himself and we enjoyed another great meal.
• Quan an Tam: Great little Vietnamese place in Jiyuugaoka.
• Katoriya Jiyuugaoka: Great Yakitori place.

BEER
Tokyo is overflowing with great craft beer these days!

• ibrew Shimbashi: This little chain was great. The first one we visited was the Shimbashi installation. This is located in the Shimbashi Ekimae Building-1, just adjacent to Shimbashi station. The building screams Showa inside and out and the beer pub is just a little hole in the wall. They were just wrapping up an all-Hazy-IPA campaign and had a slew of great stuff on tap. The food was also great, and they had a decent non-alcoholic selection as well.
• Isekadoya Shimbashi: This craft beer bar is located inside Shimbashi station, just outside the wicket gates. It has a more modern vibe but plenty of good food and brew. The kushiyaki lineup was great.
• ibrew Akihabara: ibrew has another installation in Akihabara and we had a dinner here as well. They had great food and a different lineup of brews on tap. One thing to watch out for was that they only accepted cash, and the nearest ATM is about 5 min walk back towards the station. Fun spot with friendly staff.
• Antenna America Tokyo: We stopped by this place for lunch on the way to Shizuoka. Nice selection of cans, and a few good ones on tap. It's an open space, and they have a free-to-lay Fussball table which my son and I played a few games on.

Part 4. Shizuoka

After our stay in Tokyo we started making our way back to Osaka for the last segment of our trip. On the way stopped off in Mishima for one night to visit my relatives. Here we stayed at the Toyoko-Inn Fujisan Mishima-eki. This is a no frills spot but it had nice clean, quiet rooms and a surprisingly good breakfast buffet. We wandered around Mishima in the afternoon then had a big Yakiniku family dinner with my relatives at Anrakutei Yakiniku. I tried Horumon for the first time and actually enjoyed it!
The next day we headed to Mochimune for one of our long planned trip highlights:

• The Villa Barrel and Lounge. This place was flat out amazing. It's a brewery/hotel run by West Coast Brewing. We stayed one night in the Nelson & Mosaic loft room. This place was so much fun. The restaurant has some great food. We shared several flights of tasty brews including a bunch of tasty Hazy IPAs and the rooms were equipped with a personalized keg with 10L of beer to 'drink at your leisure'. They recommend bringing a growler to take the leftovers with you, and unfortunately they don't sell them onsite. The reservation also included free entrace for the whole family to the adjacent onsen, which was also fantastic and offered some nice views of Mt. Fuji.

It rained heavily in the evening and all through the night, but this made for a fun trip to the nearby 7-Eleven, and a good excuse to just hang out and tap the keg while watching Doraemon reruns on the big screen TV in the room. In the morning the weather had cleared up so we took a long walk on the beach which is just a few minutes from the hotel. The walk from the hotel back to Mochimune station is also quite nice if the weather permits. Truly amazing experience. Also requires booking several months in advance.
OUT OF CHARACTERS - SEE COMMENT FOR FINAL TRIP SEGMENT

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The attorneys at The Angell Law Firm, LLC have represented personal injury victims in Georgia for years. We are a highly experienced Atlanta personal injury attorneys firm. We know that seeking compensation from a corporation or individual who has harmed you can be complicated after an accident, but you don't have to do it alone. Let one of our personal injury attorneys in Atlanta help you. If you injured in an accident and looking for a personal injury attorney in Atlanta, Georgia area? Call our Atlanta personal injury lawyer today to solve all your injury and accident lawyer matters. We are available 24/7 to assist you. When you choose us at The Angell Law Firm, LLC Injury and Accident Attorneys, you get a team of professional injury attorneys who are dedicated to helping you obtain compensation for your medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Call us now to get a free consultation.
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Atlanta Car Accident Lawyer

Anyone involved in a car accident is likely to have questions afterward. Do I need an Atlanta car accident lawyer? Am I entitled to seek compensation? How do I file a claim with my insurance against the other driver?
Here at The Angell Law Firm in Atlanta, GA, we understand how serious car wrecks are. With years of experience under our belts, we are ready and willing to assist you in this time of need.
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We Can Help Atlanta Car Accident Victims

According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, about one-third of all car accidents result in some kind of injury. No matter the circumstances of your car accident, we are ready to assist in whatever way possible.
If you or a loved one is injured in a car crash due to someone else’s negligence, we can help protect your rights and seek compensation.

What is a Negligence Lawsuit Case?

A negligence lawsuit allows the plaintiff to recover damages intended to compensate for physical, emotional, and financial injuries. In this case, it’s a car accident caused by another person’s negligence. To bring a successful negligence lawsuit, the plaintiff’s attorney must be able to prove that the defendant:

• Owed a duty to the plaintiff.
• Breached the duty owed and resulted in a car accident
• Engaged in behavior that was a cause of the plaintiff’s injuries in a crash

A Motorist’s Duty to Other Drivers

Every driver on the road in Atlanta owes a duty to others to act reasonably behind the wheel to prevent accidents. A person driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs or sending or reading text messages has breached this universal duty. If that person causes an accident, they could be held liable for the injuries they caused.
It’s important to note that proving these elements of a car accident claim can be challenging. For this reason, it is in your best interest to hire an Atlanta car accident lawyer.
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Types of Car Accident Cases We Handle

The term “car accident” can be somewhat misleading. It is a catchall phrase that often refers to multiple types of motor vehicle accidents. Our experienced team in Atlanta takes on cases involving:

• Car crashes: These are the most common, but that doesn’t make them any easier to handle when you’re the one involved. They often result in injuries, property damage, and emotional trauma.
• Motorcycle wrecks: Unfortunately, motorcyclists often take the brunt of the injuries in a wreck regardless of the responsible party. A motorcycle is much smaller than a car and provides a lot less defense.
• Wrongful death: Occasionally, car accidents will result in fatalities. In these cases, loved ones and family members typically have the legal right to file a wrongful death suit.
• Defective products: Sometimes, the responsible party isn’t another driver in a car accident. Manufacturers may be unaware of a product’s defect or, worse, refuse to acknowledge it. When the same product has injured you and others, we can help you file a mass tort against the manufacturer.
• Truck wrecks: Depending on the circumstances, the company employing the driver may also be at fault for the accident.

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What Are Common Atlanta Car Accident Injuries?

Depending on the situation, car wrecks can cause a wide range of injuries. One issue many injured parties face is how long it takes to recognize the injuries. While some injuries are immediately noticeable, others take longer to show up.
Some common car accident injuries include:

• Back pain
• Head injury
• Whiplash or neck injury
• Damage to the internal organs
• Broken bones
• Emotional distress or PTSD

Any or all of these injuries can significantly affect your life and livelihood. The majority of car crash injuries require a recovery period, either at home or in the hospital. During this time, it is often impossible to continue working and earning your income as normal.
That’s where we come in. Whether it’s working with your insurance to pay for medical bills, outpatient therapy, or lost wages, The Angell Law Firm is on your side.

Wrongful Death

In Georgia, if an automobile accident results in a fatality, the deceased’s spouse has the first claim. If there is no spouse, then the deceased’s children are eligible to file the lawsuit. From there, it goes to the victim’s parents, siblings, nieces or nephews, grandparents, and other descendants.
There are multiple types of damages that you can sue for with wrongful death. These include compensation for:

• Loss of comfort, companionship, and relationship
• Loss of consortium of the victim (for spouses only)
• Loss of household services
• Loss of financial support

The money involved depends significantly on the situation and is meant to pay for funerary or burial expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. There must be significant proof that the responsible party caused both the death and was responsible for preventing it.
Sifting through endless paperwork and complicated statutes while you’re grieving is just another burden to bear. To navigate these complex legalities, we can help you seek compensation for your loved one’s death.
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One word – AMAZING!!!! I’m happy that I trusted the reviews on this firm and decided to select them to represent me in a car accident. It was my first time being injured, getting into an accident, even having to go to the ER, and the Angell Law Firm was empathetic to that and made sure I was informed throughout the entire process. Breanna was my case manager, always available when I needed to reach her, called me for updates – seriously just went above and beyond! And they awarded me more than I would’ve ever imagined possible. – Vanessa V

Where Do Car Accidents Occur in Atlanta?

As you might expect in a city of nearly 500,000 people, motor vehicle accidents are not uncommon. Although the city of Atlanta has taken many steps in recent years to make driving and walking safer, a combination of reckless behaviors and more people have made the roads dangerous.
While Atlanta has more than its fair share of car wrecks, some places are known to be more dangerous than others.
The Federal Highway Administration found that one-fifth of all fatal car accidents happen at an intersection, and two out of every five non-fatal accidents happen at intersections.
The intersections in Atlanta statistically proven to be the most dangerous are:

• East Park Pl and Stone Mountain Hwy
• Covington Hwy and Lithonia Rd
• North Hairston Rd and Memorial Dr
• Covington Hwy and Panola Rd
• Peachtree Industrial Blvd and Jimmy Carter Blvd
• Peachtree Rd and Collier Rd
• Earnest Barrett Pkwy and Cobb Place Blvd
• Marietta Rd and Bolton Rd
• West Paces Ferry Rd and Habersham Rd
• Peachtree Rd and 14th St
• Peachtree Rd and Piedmont Rd
• Delmoor Ct and Delmar Ave
• Briarcliff Rd and North Druid Hills Rd
• State Bridge Rd and Medlock Bridge Rd
• Chattahoochee Rd and Howell Mill Rd

Of course, it’s not always possible to avoid significant intersections or highways. If you need to drive through them, be extra cautious and on the lookout for reckless driving.

Atlanta Accident Statistics

In 2018, Atlanta saw a drop in the number of collisions compared to the years before, but there were still nearly 50,000 reported to the county. In fact, despite the lockdown in 2020 for the majority of the year, Atlanta PD still recorded over 20,000 automobile accidents.
According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, in 2019, 1,507 people died on roads. Of those fatalities, 60% of them weren’t wearing seat belts. Additionally, only 16% were pedestrians, suggesting that most people killed were passengers and drivers in motor vehicles.
Three-quarters of car crash fatalities were found to be caused by unsafe driving. That includes:

• Distracted driving, including sleepy driving
• Texting or calling while driving
• Drunk driving: 29% of all crashes in 2019 were the result of driving while intoxicated
• Speeding: 30% of all crashes in 2019 were the result of speeding

Who Is to Blame After a Car Accident?
Legally, the blame for a car accident is assigned to someone known as the responsible party. The responsible party is the person or people who inadvertently caused the accident to happen. As the name implies, a car accident is technically an accident, and no one intended it.
Reckless behavior is known to lead to car crashes, so even if it was an accident, the responsible party still bears the blame. In Georgia, drivers legally have a responsibility to be cautious on the roads and avoid other vehicles.
The responsible party isn’t necessarily one person. Multiple people may be at fault for the accident. Sometimes, no one is at fault. Other times, the vehicle’s manufacturer is the responsible party.
In some cases, your negligence may be partly responsible for the accident. Even in those situations, you might still be eligible to seek compensation. Georgia law specifies modified comparative negligence in car accidents. If you are less than 50% responsible, you are still eligible to seek compensation.

Mass Tort Cases

If you and others are involved in motor vehicle accidents resulting from a product malfunctioning, you may all be entitled to compensation from the manufacturer for negligence.
Mass torts or class action cases are against the manufacturer under the assumption that the manufacturer had a responsibility to ensure the safety of their products before releasing them on the market.
Different types of product defects could cause injuries which include:

• Warning or marketing defect: The manufacturer should have marketed the product with a specific warning about potential hazards involving the product or how it could be used
• Manufacturing defect: As the name implies, the product is safe, but something went wrong during production to make it dangerous, even when used correctly and as intended
• Design defect: The rarest type and sometimes lumped in with marketing defect, design defects imply that while the product’s concept was safe, the blueprints of the product contained issues that made the product dangerous even when made correctly and used as intended

These cases can be complex and often involve a variety of plaintiffs against a single defendant with massive amounts of resources. That’s why it’s vital to hire an attorney with plenty of experience handling large class-action suits like The Angell Law Firm.

Do You Need a Car Accident Lawyer in Atlanta?

As is the case throughout the United States, you are not legally required to hire an attorney. You have the right and freedom to defend yourself in court and when filing claims. However, the benefits of legal counsel cannot be overstated, especially in a car accident case.
In the aftermath of a car crash, you deal with physical and emotional injuries. With an experienced Atlanta car accident lawyer on your side, you can focus on recovering while we focus on your claim. A lawyer provides invaluable experience with the legal processes, paperwork, and guidance along the way.
When you work with us, you’ll have help:

• Gathering evidence to support your claim, including eyewitness accounts, traffic camera footage, photos of the crash site, and police reports
• Finding all responsible parties, which could include other drivers, car manufacturers, property owners, or insurance companies, and providing evidence to prove negligence
• Communicating with insurance companies on your behalf
• Filing the correct paperwork by each given deadline

We have decades of experience with car accident cases and don’t charge any fees unless you win your case.

Get Evidence, Strengthen Your Claim

You can not recover compensation for your car accident injuries unless you have evidence that proves liability for the other party. You will also need to provide the insurance companies involved in the claim with evidence that clearly shows the extent of your injuries and the damages you have suffered due to these injuries.

At the Scene of the Car Accident

There is a variety of types of evidence you should collect following a car accident. This includes photographs of the vehicles involved and the surrounding scene. You should also obtain a copy of the official police report. On top of that, ask witnesses for their contact information before leaving the scene. Take photographs of any visible injuries you may have suffered in the crash.

After the Accident

After the car accident, be sure to hold onto any evidence you have acquired. This includes copies of any vehicle damage repair receipts, medical bills, doctor’s notes about your injuries, medical exam results, and lab results. The more evidence you have supporting your claim, the better. The more evidence, the more likely you will receive full and fair compensation.

Pursuing Compensation After a Car Accident in Atlanta

We take on the heavy lifting of filing a lawsuit against the responsible party in your car accident. Successful cases are when the responsible party compensates you for your losses.
Depending on the situation, these losses can range from lost wages to medical bills to property damage. Those are known as economic damages because they can be labeled and calculated to a precise number.
Another type of loss you can receive compensation for is known as non-economic damages. This might include emotional distress, disfigurement, or wrongful death cases. As the name implies, non-economic damages can’t be calculated or easily given a price.
Whatever you’re going through, The Angell Law Firm is here to aid you. We make visits to your home or your hospital room, depending on where you feel the most comfortable. Your comfort and recovery are our first priorities throughout the entirety of your case.

Call Today for a Free Case Evaluation

If you have been injured in a car crash, call The Angell Law Firm at (404) 924-7950 for a free case evaluation with an Atlanta car accident lawyer. Our office is standing by 24/7 to help you seek compensation and protect your rights after a vehicle accident.
Name of Law Firm: The Angell Law Firm LLC Injury and Accident Attorneys
Address: 3391 Peachtree Rd NE UNIT 110, Atlanta, GA 30326, USA
Phone: 404-390-2264
Phone: (770) 217-4954
Website URL: https://georgiainjurylawyer.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/atlantalawyers/

Please, feel free to add any events below! Check out the Visitor's Guide for more things to do around town!
Looking to meet up with people? Check out Meetup St. Louis.
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Be sure to continue scrolling past the Weekly Events for Trivia Nights, Live Music, Sporting Events, Local Comedy, and more!
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• Bellefontaine in Bloom
  • Spring 2023
  • Join others for a brisk spring walk through Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum! In the months of March, April, and May, Bellefontaine offers a two-hour walking tour of the cemetery and arboretum. This 2-hour walk will be led by one of their Master Guides who will convey highlights of the cemetery grounds, horticulture, and a variety of intriguing figures who call Bellefontaine their last address. Particular attention will be paid to the Horticulture side of the cemetery while in different levels of bloom during these spring tours.
• Cherokee Caravan
  • May 29, 2023
  • The merchants of Historic Cherokee Antique Row invite you, your friends, and family to our annual Memorial Day, Cherokee Caravan. Come out and explore charming tree lined Cherokee Street, between Jefferson and Lemp. Everyone will enjoy the eclectic atmosphere while shopping for unique treasures you won’t find anywhere else and save your appetite for the enticing delicacies provided by local vendors. This free family friendly event is among St. Louis’ finest traditions. Spend your Memorial Day in this extraordinarily organic neighborhood.
• Chess at the Brewery
  • Every Wednesday
  • Local meetup group of chess players that meet at breweries on Wednesday nights. They rotate locations each week.
  • See their Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/chessatthebrewery/) for the location this week.
• Chihuly in the Missouri Botanical Garden
  • Running until October 15, 2023
  • The work of world-renowned artist Dale Chihuly is coming to the Missouri Botanical Garden in a stunning exhibition uniting art and nature. With thousands of pieces of blown glass forms in 20 dramatic installations throughout the Garden’s grounds, Chihuly in the Garden 2023 presents these artworks on a grand scale
• Family Night with Fredbird
  • Wednesdays
  • Join others at Cardinals Nation Restaurant & Bar for Family Night with Fredbird on select Wednesday evenings this off-season! Bring your family down for games, prizes, and meet Fredbird from 6:30-7:30pm.
• Ferguson Farmers’ Market
  • Every Saturday
  • Enjoy live music and special events in a festive family atmosphere, and discover a wide variety of edible delights, including homemade jelly, farm fresh eggs, honey, spices, and meats. You’ll also find an ever-changing array of gift and specialty vendors, selling everything from cut flowers and bedding plants to hand-painted artwork and small-batch soaps.
  • If it’s homemade, handmade or fresh and tasty, you can buy it at the Ferguson Farmers’ Market.
• Howlin' Friday with Jeremy Taylor at the National Blues Museum
  • May 26, 2023
  • Howlin’ Friday with Jeremy Taylor: A Tribute to Ray Charles will take place at the National Blues Museum on May 26.
• Karaoke Wednesdays at HandleBar
  • Every Wednesday
  • Browse the catalog and find your favorite songs to sing! Songbookslive.com/stlredcarpet
• Karaoke Wednesdays at Mack's Bar & Grill
  • Every Wednesday
• Landmarks Downtown Walking Tours
  • Every Saturday
  • Landmarks Downtown St. Louis Walking Tours: History, Culture, Architecture, and Exercise: What could be better on a Saturday morning?
• Memorial Day Observance at Soliders Memorial
  • May 29, 2023
  • In 1979, the names of 214 St. Louisans who lost their lives in Vietnam were engraved in the Court of Honor at Soldiers Memorial. Since then, an additional 254 St. Louisans who made the supreme sacrifice in that war have been identified. Join others for the historic rededication of the Vietnam memorial with the addition of these 254 heroes.
• Open Mic Night at Schlafly Bottleworks (Maplewood)
  • Every Wednesday
  • Join others every Wednesday evening and showcase your talents with our Open Mic Night! Open sign up begins at 6:30PM with music starting at 7:00PM. They welcome original material, covers and spoken word! Grab a beer, then play and listen every Wednesday! There are no cover charges and no drink minimums to attend.
• Pointfest
  • May 27, 2023
  • This year’s lineup includes Incubus, Coheed and Cambria, The Pretty Reckless, Bad Omens, Badflower, Greek Fire, White Reaper, Band-maid, Tigerclub and more. Get your tickets today!
• Soccer Pre-Match Street Party at Schlafly Tap Room
  • May 27, 2023
  • Join others before every City SC home match for a Street Party with the St. Louligans Soccer Supporters Group. They will block off the street next to the Tap Room (now known as Louligan Street) so fans can enjoy good beer, great food, music and fun before they march over to the stadium together.
• Soulard Farmer's Market
  • Wednesdays - Saturdays
  • Soulard Farmers Market is located at 730 Carroll Street in St. Louis, Missouri, a half mile north of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. The market is open Wednesday through Saturday, year round. They feature locally grown and shipped in goods, including: produce, meats, cheeses, spices, gourmet kettle corn, flowers, baked goods, and general merchandise. There are also several different eateries that have many food options, which allows customers the convenience to grab a quick bite to eat and a drink while shopping.
• Sunrise Yoga at Kiener Plaza
  • Every Tuesday
  • Awaken your body and bask in the morning sunlight! This gentle yoga practice is designed to energize and align your body and mind through movement and breath. Bring your own mat/towel and water bottle.
• St. Louis African Arts Festival
  • May 27 - 29, 2023
  • In its 32nd year, the festival will be held at the World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park from May 27 to 29. The multi-day event draws locals and visitors together to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures of African and African American people. Attendees can enjoy the African marketplace with arts and crafts, clothing and jewelry alongside cultural demonstrations, traditional foods and African films.
• St. Louis County Greek Festival
  • May 26 - 29, 2023
  • For the first time since the pandemic, the St. Louis County Greek Festival is back in-person with live music, traditional folk dancing, church tours, a vendor market and delicious, authentic Greek cuisine at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church located at 1755 Des Peres Road in Town & Country.
• Thursday Nights at the Museum
  • Every Thursday
  • Kick off your weekend at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park! Each Thursday Night at the Museum will be the most fun, engaging, uplifting, thought-provoking, perspective-shaping night of your week. And there are drinks.
  • Join others starting at 5:30pm for happy hour and pop-up activities, such as brief tours, games, and performances. The main stage comes to life at 6:30pm, light appetizers and drinks are available for purchase until 7:00pm, and the Museum’s exhibits are open until 8:00pm for you to explore!
• Tower Grove Farmer's Market
  • Every Tuesday & Saturday
  • Join others every Saturday of the 2023 Tower Grove Farmers Market Season. They'll have over 100 vendors with local produce, meat, flowers, eggs, honey, prepared foods, art, jewelry, live music, and so much more.
• Twilight Thursdays Concert Series
  • Every Thursday in the month of May
  • May ushers in another fantastic season of Twilight Thursdays at the Missouri History Museum! This popular, free outdoor concert series takes place on the North Lawn and brings a lineup of spectacular shows from local musicians and bands. Grab your blankets and lawn chairs, pack your picnic basket, and listen to music under a beautiful Forest Park sunset. Some of the area’s best food trucks will also be on hand each week.
• Webster University Film Series
  • Running until May 28
  • The Webster University Film Series, St. Louis' cinematic alternative since 1979, is a nationally known and recognized year-round film exhibition program. The Midwest's premiere hosting venue for American and foreign features, documentaries, classic and experimental cinema, and national and international artists presenting their work, the Series represents a genuine cinematic alternative in the St. Louis community.

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Sporting Events This Week	Attractions Around the Area	Comedy This Week
St. Louis Cardinals schedule	Anheuser-Busch Brewery	Funny Bone Comedy Club
St. Louis Blues schedule	City Museum	Helium Comedy Club
St. Louis City SC schedule	Gateway Arch	The Improv Shop
St. Louis Battlehawks schedule	Missouri History Museum
St. Louis Billikens schedule	National Blues Museum
Gateway Grizzlies schedule	St. Louis Aquarium
Gateway Motorsports Park	St. Louis Art Museum
St. Louis Ambush schedule	St. Louis Science Center
	St. Louis Zoo

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Trivia Nights
Location	Date/Time	More Information
Anheuser-Busch Biergarten	Tuesdays 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
Bar K	Tuesdays at 7:00 pm
City Foundry	Thursdays 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Joey B's on the Hill	Mondays 8:30 pm - 10:30 pm	Trivia Details
Nick's Pub	Mondays
Felix's Pizza Pub	Tuesdays at 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
Schlafly Brewpubs (Any Location)	Tuesdays 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Trivia Details
Rockwell Beer Co	Tuesdays	Trivia Details (Reservations required)
The Mack	Tuesdays at 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
The Pat Connolly Tavern	Wednesdays at 7:00 pm
The Post	Wednesdays 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm	Trivia Details
Pieces Board Game Bar & Cafe	Wednesdays	Trivia Details
HandleBar	Thursdays at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Trivia Details
Steve's Hot Dogs	Tuesdays 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Trivia Details

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Live Music This Week
Music Venues	Live Music Around Town
Blueberry Hill Duck Room	1860 Saloon
Chesterfield Amphitheater	BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups
Delmar Hall	Broadway Oyster Bar
Enterprise Center	City Foundry
The Fabulous Fox Theatre	Gallery Pub
The Factory	Game 6 Honky Tonk
Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre	Gaslight Lounge
Off Broadway	The Heavy Anchor
Old Rock House	Jazz St. Louis
The Pageant	Joe's Cafe
Red Flag	The Lot on the Landing
The Sheldon	McGurk's
St. Louis Music Park	SoFar St. Louis Secret performances around town
St. Louis Symphony Concert Calendar	Venice Cafe
Stifel Theatre	Yaquis on Cherokee

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Recurring Outdoor Activities
Big Muddy Adventures – STL Riverfront Adventure	Big Muddy Adventures was established in 2002. They are the first professional outfitteguiding company providing access to the wild wonders of the Middle Mississippi and Lower Missouri Rivers.
Gateway Arch Events	There are a variety of things to do along the Mississippi River.
Hidden Valley Ski Resort	Ziplining, scenic chairlift rides, and hiking trails opened during the summer. Skiing, snowboarding during the winter.

Hi all, without giving too many details I may have a potential job offer coming in Stanton TN. As I ponder if this move is a good fit, I have specific lifestyle and other questions besides "where do I move". I know I am just a stranger to you all, but I hope that my info and background I'm sharing may be helpful as you all judge my questions.
Here's some background that I feel is relevant prior to my questions: I am a 17 year resident of Atlanta GA right now, I've lived downtown 16/17 years. I'm very used to having a busy social life with plentiful restaurants, 20 minute access to an international airport, some of the country's best doctors (sadly have health issues - autoimmune disease related), and I'm a die hard sports fan so constantly going to NFL, CFB, MLB, and MLS games. Concerts are a big hobby as well. I also am in a corporate position where I only have to go into the office 2 days per week with a 10 min commute if traffic is green.
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1. How bad is commuting in Memphis? Moving to Stanton is a no go, and I would have to do office hours 5 days a week there. I've been told much of management is looking at Lakeland area and towns around there to live. I've researched these and I think they're too small town for me. I grew up in Cleveland TN and *hated* it, I did not fit in there at all and struggled badly as a kid, I do not believe I would fit in anywhere similar. That said, I think I would have to live within the loop to be happy, but I also am not a fan of commuting. How bad is a reverse commute? Atlanta is awful no matter where you live and the reverse commute doesn't work well, curious if Memphis is similar.
2. What is the dating scene like? I'm at a point right now where I need to be intentional and not waste time if I want to date & have a family, which is further complicated by a potential move. In Atlanta it's either the "good ol' boy" church crowd (I should note that I'm religious, but many Christians say I am too liberal and don't want anything to do with me) that is demeaning to women and they're terrified of the city, or it's a lot of aspiring "musicians", entrepreneurs etc and I don't really fit in with them either. I'm also worried if I'm not having luck here in Atlanta, that Memphis and the surrounding areas will be even more dismal.
3. Following that point, is it reasonably easy to get a new group of friends and have a good social life there being a transplant? I know some cities are very "cliquey" if you didn't grow up there.
4. Is healthcare within the city comparable with other major cities?
5. Crime. I don't really know where to start here. I've read the stats, I've researched neighborhoods, I've looked at crime maps, I've searched the Memphis sub on crime posts, I don't know what else to do outside of that. It seems that the crime per all of the crime stats I've looked at is much higher in Memphis, but people's actual experiences are as good as anywhere else. I do want to leave Atlanta whether it's to Memphis or elsewhere due to the crime we currently experience. I'm sick of the gun violence, the robberies, neighbors being murdered in carjackings, the break ins, and random attacks that happen in parking lots, stores, really anywhere here. Based on the stats I'm looking at I'm leaning toward if I don't feel safe any longer in Atlanta, I may not in Memphis either, but I also know these things can be misleading (I spend alot of time in STL where you'd think the sky is falling per the news, but it's way safer than here).

Does anyone have input here? I understand if not, it's a tough subject and very subjective.Overall I'm leaning toward this may not be the best fit, but it's a 50% raise and I'd be a total idiot not to take it. I'm getting extremely heavy pressure from family as well to take the job. Very open to hearing everyone's thoughts and feedback here, positive/negative or otherwise. If you read all of this thank you very much for taking the time to do this!

Hi all, without giving too many details I may have a potential job offer coming in Stanton TN. I have read the Moving to Memphis post and tons of posts about crime, but as I ponder if this move is a good fit, I have specific lifestyle and other questions besides "where do I move". I know I am just a stranger to you all, but I hope that my info and background I'm sharing may be helpful as you all judge my questions.
Here's some background that I feel is relevant prior to my questions: I am a 17 year resident of Atlanta GA right now, I've lived downtown 16/17 years. I'm very used to having a busy social life with plentiful restaurants, 20 minute access to an international airport, some of the country's best doctors (sadly have health issues - autoimmune disease related), and I'm a die hard sports fan so constantly going to NFL, CFB, MLB, and MLS games. Concerts are a big hobby as well. I also am in a corporate position where I only have to go into the office 2 days per week with a 10 min commute if traffic is green.
​

1. How bad is commuting in Memphis? Moving to Stanton is a no go, and I would have to do office hours 5 days a week there. I've been told much of management is looking at Lakeland area and towns around there to live. I've researched these and I think they're too small town for me. I grew up in Cleveland TN and *hated* it, I did not fit in there at all and struggled badly as a kid, I do not believe I would fit in anywhere similar. That said, I think I would have to live within the loop to be happy, but I also am not a fan of commuting. How bad is a reverse commute? Atlanta is awful no matter where you live and the reverse commute doesn't work well, curious if Memphis is similar.
2. What is the dating scene like? I'm at a point right now where I need to be intentional and not waste time if I want to date & have a family, which is further complicated by a potential move. In Atlanta it's either the "good ol' boy" church crowd that is demeaning to women and they're terrified of the city, or it's a lot of aspiring "musicians", entrepreneurs etc and I don't really fit in with them either.
3. Following that point, is it reasonably easy to get a new group of friends and have a good social life there being a transplant? I know some cities are very "cliquey" if you didn't grow up there.
4. Is healthcare within the city comparable with other major cities?
5. Crime. I don't really know where to start here. I've read the stats, I've researched neighborhoods, I've looked at crime maps, I've searched this sub, I don't know what else to do outside of that. It seems that the crime per all of the crime stats I've looked at is much higher in Memphis, but people's actual experiences are as good as anywhere else. I do want to leave Atlanta whether it's to Memphis or elsewhere due to the crime we currently experience. I'm sick of the gun violence, the robberies, neighbors being murdered in carjackings, the break ins, and random attacks that happen in parking lots, stores, really anywhere here. Based on the stats I'm looking at I'm leaning toward if I don't feel safe any longer in Atlanta, I may not in Memphis either, but I also know these things can be misleading (I spend alot of time in STL where you'd think the sky is falling per the news, but it's way safer than here).

​
Does anyone have input here? I understand if not, it's a tough subject and very subjective.Overall I'm leaning toward this may not be the best fit, but it's a 50% raise and I'd be a total idiot not to take it. Very open to hearing everyone's thoughts and feedback here, positive/negative or otherwise. If you read all of this thank you very much for taking the time to do this!

Matchup: Dallas Jackals (1-11, 11pts, 5th in West) vs Rugby ATL (5-5-1, 27pts, 4th in East)
Venue: Silverbacks Park, Atlanta, GA Weather: 68 F, 20 C, Overcast
Broadcast: Fox Sports 1, The Rugby Network (International Only)
Kickoff: 12pm ET, 9am PT

Dallas	Number	Atlanta
Liam Murray	1	Alex Maughan
Dewald Kotze	2	Sidney Tobias
Juan Pablo Zeiss	3	John-Roy Jenkinson
Sam Golla	4	Justin Basson
Lucas Bur	5	Johan Momsen
Jerónimo Gómez Vara (c)	6	Vili Helu
Conrado Roura	7	Matt Heaton (c)
Adriaan Booysen	8	Ross Deacon
Pedro Imhoff	9	Niall Saunders
Martín Elías	10	Kurt Coleman
Marcos Moroni	11	Jack Shaw
JP Aguirre	12	Seth Purdey
Tomás Malanos	13	Will Leonard
Campbell Johnstone	14	Te Rangatira Waitokia
Nazareno Valentini	15	Rewita Biddle
Reserves		Reserves
Nicolás Revol	16	Isaac Bales
Connor Robinson	17	Lincoln Si’i
Kyle Steeves	18	Will Burke
Carson Shoemaker	19	Nahuel Milán
Cameron Nelson	20	Daemon Torres
Danny Christensen	21	Ryan Rees
Jason Tidwell	22	Martini Talapusi
Lui Sitama	23	Austin White

Referee: Chris Assmus (Canada)
Assistants: Cisco Lopez (USA) & Dave Edwards (USA)
TMO: Greg Gilliam (USA)

Sunny was mad.
Sunny was also worried, but that was mostly overshadowed by just how pissed she was.
Adam was being an idiot, the biggest idiot, the king of the idiots. If he kept this up any longer, he was going to upgrade himself to the god of all idiots, and it seemed like it was up to her to get something done.
Adam was in a bad state.
He could be fine, she thought, if he was given the time he needed to rest and recuperate. He was exhausted, and short twenty-minute naps were going to do nothing to help that exhaustion. She knew enough from Krill to know that the human body required sleep to recover from injuries, and the Steel Eye armor had practically destroyed his body. There was muscle strain, extreme inflammation, the overdose, internal damage, nerve damage, stress fractures etc. etc, and despite all that he was still answering the call of the UNSC.
The stress of his job, and his inability to say no to other people and their needs was going to kill him. He felt obligated, by his job to make sure that everything went well, he assumed because of who he was that he was in charge of protecting earth, even the entire universe if he had to.
He was taking on weight that he was not obligated to take on.
Even the UNSC was well aware of how sick he was, and despite taking his help, they seemed concerned about him, and she had no doubt they would be ok if he decided to take time off to recover. There were other men and women in the universe who would be willing to take on the weight he was trying to bare.
Yet he wouldn't listen to her.
He wouldn’t listen to anyone from the brass or the ship, even Krill couldn’t do anything to stop him.
Sitting on his chair in the UNSC command room, fighting back sleep, and no ability to walk, he was running himself into the ground.
She needed to find someone who could rein him in.
But who?
Which person could finally get Adam to stop?
…
And then she thought she had just the idea.
She left him, though she didn't want to and made a quick call, before walking into the room and quietly whispering to some of the Admirals standing off to one side of the room during break.
"I will not be accepting a no, but I thought you should be aware."
They looked at her and nodded,
"We can take it from here."
"Thank you. I hope you understand that this isn't a reflection on him."
"The reflection on him has to do with the fact that he refuses to leave... Do what you have to."
She nodded turning and walking over to where Adam was sitting, slumped in his chair half asleep pale as a ghost. He had insisted the IV be removed so he wouldn't be so distracted.
She had argued, he had been stubborn.
She walked over, putting her arms around him and hauling him to his feet. His head lifted in exhaustion, bright green eyes glazed over with exhaustion,
"Sunny?"
"Just relax. We are going to go get you some sun during the break."
He was too tired to be skeptical, and just walked with her.
She could feel his feet dragging, and occasionally his legs would give out under him, but she wrapped one arm around his waist and the other arm around his chest to hold him upright until they finally made it outside to the front of the building. In comparison to the inside, where the lights were dark and the mood was darker, the day was bright and warm. The sky overhead was blue and the ground before them was lush and green. Overhead the sun was warm and bright.
An automated lawn mower was roaring in the distance, filling the air with the sound of freshly cut grass.
It made Sunnys mouth water.
She let Adam sink onto the curb, his head in his hands and lifted her head looking this way and that, for signs of life, for the people she was expecting.
She heard them before she saw them, the screeching of rubber on pavement, a sound that wasn't exactly common in a world where everything could hover.
Sunny turned her head and watched as the ancient, four door pickup roared around the corner and skidded through the parking lot.
Sunny could feel the aggression spilling off the thing in waves, and when it gunned towards her, she almost worried that she was destined to be roadkill.
However, the tires came to a screeching stop just before them.
Adam lifted his exhausted head and blinked, eyes focusing blearily on the front of the car, and as soon as he did, his eyes widened.
”No…”
Sunny peered through the front windshield, where a small, blond- hair woman in a red flannel was hunched behind the steering wheel, eyes narrowed, face contorted into a predatory snarl that made Sunny think twice about having made that call.
In the seat just next to her, a greying human male was white knuckling the crash handles.
A door was thrown open and then slammed shut.
"Mom!?"
Martha Vir stormed around the front of the ancient truck, whose engine popped and rattled as it cooled down.
The look of anger fled from her face at one moment, to one of concern as she knelt on the curb looking over her son with piercing blue eyes wild with concern. Mr. Vir wobbled stiffly from the cab of the truck, forced to pry his hand from the crash handle.
"Mom... what are you doing here?"
Adam said in confusion, as she tiled his head this way and that, pressing her hand against his forehead, grabbing his hand to examine the inflamed wounds still evident from the Steel Eye implantation.
It was clear by her expression that she knew exactly what had caused those scars.
"What-did-they-do!? They made you wear the suit again! I swear to the lord above I am going to kill every last-"
"Mom!"
His voice was weak,
"No one made me put it back on... I... asked them to."
She stared at him in confusion,
"What?"
"I had no other choice."
His voice quivered a little, though he tried to choke it down. Clear evidence that humans were more likely to drop their guard in front of a caregiver, no matter how long past.
She rested her hand on his cheek,
"But why... Adam..."
"It's what I had to do. And if I need to do it again I always will."
"At least you didn’t take any of these nasty drugs this time..."
All was silent for a moment, and he lowered his head.
The stormy expression on her face grew thunderous.
"I'm sorry... I couldn't... Take the pain."
Sunny was surprised to see she didn't even look mad. Instead, she hugged him, holding him to her chest, his head resting on her shoulder for a long moment. Jim came to sit next to them one hand resting on his son's back.
"It's alright, we're here to take you home."
He lifted his head,
"Home? No! I can't… I have..."
"I don't care what you have. You aren't in any kind of shape to be doing any kind of work."
"But mom the Burg could attack earth at any-"
"I don't care if the Burg is attacking, I don't care who is coming. I don't care if it's the rapture, and Jesus is descending from the sky on a chariot of fire, you are coming home."
"But-"
"Adam you are not the only thing standing between earth and eminent destruction, now argue with me again... I dare you."
Her eyes narrowed and she looked Adam deep in his one remaining eye.
Sunny had never experienced such intense eye contact in all her life.
And she thought her own mother had had a mean glare…
As soon as Adam made eye contact with his mother, it was over, Sunny saw the fight drain out of him and he simply nodded his head.
He glanced over at Sunny,
"You called them didn't you?”
Sunny lifted her head,
"I did."
"Why?"
"Because you won't listen to me, but I knew who you would listen to."
His father leaned down, and with one strong calloused hand, he helped Adam to his feet,
"Come on Kid, let's get you home before your mother levels the whole UNSC headquarters…"
He chuckled,
"Thought she was going to drive the truck through the front door."
Adam snorted, too tired and weak to actually laugh.
His legs gave out before he made it to the car. His parents caught him, doing their best to hold him up.
Sunny intervened, lifting him easily off the ground and into the back of the truck, she then followed after, allowing him to rest his head on her leg as he lay across the back seat.
Jim and Martha got back into the truck, Martha grudgingly allowing her husband to drive.
After a moment she reached a hand back holding a water bottle out to Adam.
"Drink, this better be done by the time we get home."
"But-"
"Drink your water!"
He shut up, finishing the water in a few minutes. It wasn't a second later that the water bottle clattered to the floor, and Adam was out. Sunny sat in somewhat awkward silence as they drove down the highway.
Jim glanced at her in the rear-view mirror,
”You alright, Sunny?”
"Yes, sir.”
"Enough leg room?"
"Yes sir, just fine, sir."
"My name is Jim, Kid, you can use it."
“Er, of course, Jim."
After another few minutes of awkward silence, Martha turned around in her seat to look at Sunny,
"What happened?"
Sunny wasn't entirely sure what she was and was not allowed to tell them, but she didn't want to find out what would happen if she didn't tell them the whole truth,
"The Burg declared war on the GA, and then proceeded to attack the Gromm homeworld for the warp codes. That would give them access to the rest of the GA. They landed on the planet and were dug in inside an energy field with a plan to attack and charge our line within a day. Adam and his advisors determined the best course of action would be to attack them first and detonate their ship's engine. Adam made a call... I had no idea what he was doing. Both Krill and I tried to stop him when we figured it out, but he made it clear that he would find someone else if we didn't do it. He... he wasn't doing so well, but he began the battle without any drugs.. Halfway through.. Well, he just couldn't handle it. He took them, and we finished, but he overdosed. Krill saved his life, but he just hasn't slowed down since. I can't get him to, no one can... So that's when I called you."
She stared up at Martha, worried that she would be blamed for not stopping Adam.
It seemed as if it might tilt in that direction, but Jim piped up,
"Thank you for taking care of him, Sunny. Adam... He's always been stubborn. A weird mix of stubborn and not being able to say no. Well that and his excessive need to control everything…"
They turned off the highway and cut through the suburbs, finally pulling up to the familiar house under the unassuming blue sky.
Sunny stepped out pulling Adam with her, who only partially woke up.
She carried him to the door and into the house, following Martha back to a guest bedroom, where she set his hat on the nightstand, and woke him up long enough to get him to kick off his shoes and pull off his uniform jacket.
Then and only then was he finally allowed to lay down.
Sunny wasn't sure if he was even awake for the following few minutes where, like a mother bird, the human proceeded to construct a nest out of pillows and other soft things. He had a pillow under his head, and a pillow under his legs, and if that wasn't enough, he was then surrounded on all sides by pillows. That done, she took a moment to check the wounds left by the Steel Eye armor, cleaning a few of them up and bandaging over with clean gauze. She lay a hand on his forehead checking for fever, and by extension, and infection.
He shifted in his sleep.
She then went hunting through a closet, which was hoarding at least two dozen more blankets.
She left the window open, allowing the warm sunlight and cool air to breeze into the room, covering his legs with the blanket, but leaving his arms and chest exposed to the warm sunlight.
Finally done, she then ushered Sunny out of the room, leaving the door cracked slightly, where it could be seen from down the hall in the kitchen. Sunny stood awkwardly in the living room for a time, her back facing the window where sunlight was beaming through onto the floor. Dust moats churned and rolled in the sunlight.
Martha sat at the table, while Jim stepped outside to get some work done.
Sunny shuffled her feet awkwardly before.
"Thank you for... Coming so quickly."
Martha looked up at her, her bright blue human eyes cutting and cold.
"I would do anything for my kids."
Sunny shifted her feet and looked down quietly. She spoke before even realizing what she was saying,
"I wish my mother had been more like you."
There was silence.
Martha worked her jaw for a second before curiosity got the better of her,
"Are... Drev mothers not protective of their children?"
Sunny shook her head,
"No... not at all... They are actually very protective and caring… Just not... Mine."
"Oh... I'm sorry... What... Happened?"
Sunny looked away and shrugged,
"Oh I was a disgrace. A crippled abomination that should have been tossed into the fire at birth."
Martha stared at her,
"Don't you think that's a bit exaggerated."
Sunny turned to look at her,
"No... That's what happens if you are born crippled. You are tossed into the fire…”
Martha stared at her mouth open,
"They what!?... But how... Why... why would anyone do anything like that... And you… You look fine!”
Sunny turned to look out the window,
"My mother was a great general. She won land in all directions of the compass, but after my brother, she was never able to produce another “proper” child... It is very important in Drev culture to be able to produce kits..."
She turned to look at Martha,
"Drev mothers give birth near the mouths of volcanos, and if the kit doesn't hold up to standard, they are thrown into the fire for their spirits to be recycled. I was supposed to have an older sister, but she was too deformed, and my mother left her to die on the volcano… As for me… My mother was... Unable to get rid of me... I am very small. I think she hated me because I was a symbol of her weakness, and she just couldn't handle that."
Martha had gone very quiet staring on at Sunny in surprise and... a hint of something else in her bright blue eyes.
"I tried for her to be the best warrior I could. But in truth, I am not talented in battle. When the Drev war came, I thought I could win her love through valor, though I should have known better by then…"
She looked at Martha feeling a horrible clenching feeling rising up in her chest and stomach,
"What I did to Adam.... It isn't excused by any means, but at least now you know why I did what I did.”
She looked down at her hands,
"But instead of winning my mother's love, she blamed me for my father's death."
"Your father... Died during the war?"
"Yes, he was killed by a Steel-Eye soldier during the last push…”
She raised a hand,
"Don't worry, my father died an honorable death in battle... I was happy for him. Once again my mother went against our customs, blamed me for everything and then turned her sights on revenge on the humans."
Sunny sighed, taking a seat at the table resting her hands together atop the polished surface, clasped lightly together.
As she sat, a sudden touch of warmth on her hand made her look up.
Martha Vir had a hand over hers and was looking at her with an expression Sunny had not seen on the human's face before.
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright."
"No, it's not. No one deserves to be treated like that."
Sunny chirped halfheartedly,
"It's past me now.”
She glanced towards the door,
"Besides, I have people who care about me now, and they make it pretty clear that I am worth far more than what my mother said."
”…”
There was another silence.
The distant sound of laughter reached them from outside,
"I am sorry, for the way I treated you. I shouldn't have done that…"
Sunny chirped again,
"I hurt your son, you would have to be crazy to trust me, or even like me all that much."
"Still, I should have been willing to trust his judgement... He's my youngest, and sometimes I forget he's his own man. Every time I picture him, he's still eight years old."
"Are you sure he isn't?"
The two of them laughed.
The door creaked open just then, and Jim stepped into the house, a handful of dandelions in one hand.
He seemed surprised to find the two of them laughing with each other, but just as pleased.
"What did I miss?”
Martha gave Sunny a warm smile,
"Nothing important. What do you have there?"
"Well, I was just getting rid of these from the lawn, and I was going to throw them away, but…”
He glanced at Sunny sheepishly,
"I thought I heard Adam mention that you liked eating them, so... I brought them inside instead. Forgive me for overstepping or mishearing."
Sunny perked up a bit at the sight of the little yellow weed.
"You heard him right."
Jim looked relieved, handing Sunny the flowers and coming down to sit at the table.
Sunny munched on the flower rather happily.
"Please eat them all. I definitely toootally hate those little yellow bastards. So, if you want more I can get them for you."
He winked towards Martha, who in turn looked over at Sunny,
"Adam ever taught you how to play cards?"
Sunny shook her head,
"I've seen him play, but we usually do other things."
"Might as well do something while we pass the time."
Jim reached out to open a drawer, revealing a few decks of cards.
"Prism, turn on the sports channel."
A blue light flashed around the upper edge of the ceiling, and a projection bloomed to life at the center of the room.
Martha began manipulating the cards between her hands, adding a pleasant shuffling sound to the air.
Sunny growled at the screen.
"What, you don't like the Strikers?"
"No, their coach is a D-bag and Marcos can't throw to save his life."
Jim laughed,
"Finally someone who gets it. Only Jeremy was ever into football, but they're his favorite team."
"Schmuck."
"That's what I said!”
Sunny chirped happily, and Jim laughed.
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Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
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Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author

FYI, this is a story COLLECTION. Lots of standalones technically. So, you can basically start to read at any chapter, no pre-read of the other chapters needed technically (other than maybe getting better descriptions of characters than: Adam Vir=human, Krill=antlike alien, Sunny=tall alien, Conn=telepathic alien). The numbers are (mostly) only for organization of posts and continuity.
OC Written by Charlie Stastarrfallknightrise,
Typed up and then posted here by me.
Proofreading and language check for some chapters by u/Finbar9800
Future Lore and fact check done by me.
God, I love the two so much…
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Sunny was mad.
Sunny was also worried, but that was mostly overshadowed by just how pissed she was.
Adam was being an idiot, the biggest idiot, the king of the idiots. If he kept this up any longer, he was going to upgrade himself to the god of all idiots, and it seemed like it was up to her to get something done.
Adam was in a bad state.
He could be fine, she thought, if he was given the time he needed to rest and recuperate. He was exhausted, and short twenty-minute naps were going to do nothing to help that exhaustion. She knew enough from Krill to know that the human body required sleep to recover from injuries, and the Steel Eye armor had practically destroyed his body. There was muscle strain, extreme inflammation, the overdose, internal damage, nerve damage, stress fractures etc. etc, and despite all that he was still answering the call of the UNSC.
The stress of his job, and his inability to say no to other people and their needs was going to kill him. He felt obligated, by his job to make sure that everything went well, he assumed because of who he was that he was in charge of protecting earth, even the entire universe if he had to.
He was taking on weight that he was not obligated to take on.
Even the UNSC was well aware of how sick he was, and despite taking his help, they seemed concerned about him, and she had no doubt they would be ok if he decided to take time off to recover. There were other men and women in the universe who would be willing to take on the weight he was trying to bare.
Yet he wouldn't listen to her.
He wouldn’t listen to anyone from the brass or the ship, even Krill couldn’t do anything to stop him.
Sitting on his chair in the UNSC command room, fighting back sleep, and no ability to walk, he was running himself into the ground.
She needed to find someone who could rein him in.
But who?
Which person could finally get Adam to stop?
…
And then she thought she had just the idea.
She left him, though she didn't want to and made a quick call, before walking into the room and quietly whispering to some of the Admirals standing off to one side of the room during break.
"I will not be accepting a no, but I thought you should be aware."
They looked at her and nodded,
"We can take it from here."
"Thank you. I hope you understand that this isn't a reflection on him."
"The reflection on him has to do with the fact that he refuses to leave... Do what you have to."
She nodded turning and walking over to where Adam was sitting, slumped in his chair half asleep pale as a ghost. He had insisted the IV be removed so he wouldn't be so distracted.
She had argued, he had been stubborn.
She walked over, putting her arms around him and hauling him to his feet. His head lifted in exhaustion, bright green eyes glazed over with exhaustion,
"Sunny?"
"Just relax. We are going to go get you some sun during the break."
He was too tired to be skeptical, and just walked with her.
She could feel his feet dragging, and occasionally his legs would give out under him, but she wrapped one arm around his waist and the other arm around his chest to hold him upright until they finally made it outside to the front of the building. In comparison to the inside, where the lights were dark and the mood was darker, the day was bright and warm. The sky overhead was blue and the ground before them was lush and green. Overhead the sun was warm and bright.
An automated lawn mower was roaring in the distance, filling the air with the smell of freshly cut grass.
It made Sunnys mouth water.
She let Adam sink onto the curb, his head in his hands and lifted her head looking this way and that, for signs of life, for the people she was expecting.
She heard them before she saw them, the screeching of rubber on pavement, a sound that wasn't exactly common in a world where everything could hover.
Sunny turned her head and watched as the ancient, four door pickup roared around the corner and skidded through the parking lot.
Sunny could feel the aggression spilling off the thing in waves, and when it gunned towards her, she almost worried that she was destined to be roadkill.
However, the tires came to a screeching stop just before them.
Adam lifted his exhausted head and blinked, eyes focusing blearily on the front of the car, and as soon as he did, his eyes widened.
”No…”
Sunny peered through the front windshield, where a small, blond- hair woman in a red flannel was hunched behind the steering wheel, eyes narrowed, face contorted into a predatory snarl that made Sunny think twice about having made that call.
In the seat just next to her, a greying human male was white knuckling the crash handles.
A door was thrown open and then slammed shut.
"Mom!?"
Martha Vir stormed around the front of the ancient truck, whose engine popped and rattled as it cooled down.
The look of anger fled from her face at one moment, to one of concern as she knelt on the curb looking over her son with piercing blue eyes wild with concern. Mr. Vir wobbled stiffly from the cab of the truck, forced to pry his hand from the crash handle.
"Mom... what are you doing here?"
Adam said in confusion, as she tiled his head this way and that, pressing her hand against his forehead, grabbing his hand to examine the inflamed wounds still evident from the Steel Eye implantation.
It was clear by her expression that she knew exactly what had caused those scars.
"What-did-they-do!? They made you wear the suit again! I swear to the lord above I am going to kill every last-"
"Mom!"
His voice was weak,
"No one made me put it back on... I... asked them to."
She stared at him in confusion,
"What?"
"I had no other choice."
His voice quivered a little, though he tried to choke it down. Clear evidence that humans were more likely to drop their guard in front of a caregiver, no matter how long past.
She rested her hand on his cheek,
"But why... Adam..."
"It's what I had to do. And if I need to do it again I always will."
"At least you didn’t take any of these nasty drugs this time..."
All was silent for a moment, and he lowered his head.
The stormy expression on her face grew thunderous.
"I'm sorry... I couldn't... Take the pain."
Sunny was surprised to see she didn't even look mad. Instead, she hugged him, holding him to her chest, his head resting on her shoulder for a long moment. Jim came to sit next to them one hand resting on his son's back.
"It's alright, we're here to take you home."
He lifted his head,
"Home? No! I can't… I have..."
"I don't care what you have. You aren't in any kind of shape to be doing any kind of work."
"But mom the Burg could attack earth at any-"
"I don't care if the Burg is attacking, I don't care who is coming. I don't care if it's the rapture, and Jesus is descending from the sky on a chariot of fire, you are coming home."
"But-"
"Adam you are not the only thing standing between earth and eminent destruction, now argue with me again... I dare you."
Her eyes narrowed and she looked Adam deep in his one remaining eye.
Sunny had never experienced such intense eye contact in all her life.
And she thought her own mother had had a mean glare…
As soon as Adam made eye contact with his mother, it was over, Sunny saw the fight drain out of him and he simply nodded his head.
He glanced over at Sunny,
"You called them didn't you?”
Sunny lifted her head,
"I did."
"Why?"
"Because you won't listen to me, but I knew who you would listen to."
His father leaned down, and with one strong calloused hand, he helped Adam to his feet,
"Come on Kid, let's get you home before your mother levels the whole UNSC headquarters…"
He chuckled,
"Thought she was going to drive the truck through the front door."
Adam snorted, too tired and weak to actually laugh.
His legs gave out before he made it to the car. His parents caught him, doing their best to hold him up.
Sunny intervened, lifting him easily off the ground and into the back of the truck, she then followed after, allowing him to rest his head on her leg as he lay across the back seat.
Jim and Martha got back into the truck, Martha grudgingly allowing her husband to drive.
After a moment she reached a hand back holding a water bottle out to Adam.
"Drink, this better be done by the time we get home."
"But-"
"Drink your water!"
He shut up, finishing the water in a few minutes. It wasn't a second later that the water bottle clattered to the floor, and Adam was out. Sunny sat in somewhat awkward silence as they drove down the highway.
Jim glanced at her in the rear-view mirror,
”You alright, Sunny?”
"Yes, sir.”
"Enough leg room?"
"Yes sir, just fine, sir."
"My name is Jim, Kid, you can use it."
“Er, of course, Jim."
After another few minutes of awkward silence, Martha turned around in her seat to look at Sunny,
"What happened?"
Sunny wasn't entirely sure what she was and was not allowed to tell them, but she didn't want to find out what would happen if she didn't tell them the whole truth,
"The Burg declared war on the GA, and then proceeded to attack the Gromm homeworld for the warp codes. That would give them access to the rest of the GA. They landed on the planet and were dug in inside an energy field with a plan to attack and charge our line within a day. Adam and his advisors determined the best course of action would be to attack them first and detonate their ship's engine. Adam made a call... I had no idea what he was doing. Both Krill and I tried to stop him when we figured it out, but he made it clear that he would find someone else if we didn't do it. He... he wasn't doing so well, but he began the battle without any drugs.. Halfway through.. Well, he just couldn't handle it. He took them, and we finished, but he overdosed. Krill saved his life, but he just hasn't slowed down since. I can't get him to, no one can... So that's when I called you."
She stared up at Martha, worried that she would be blamed for not stopping Adam.
It seemed as if it might tilt in that direction, but Jim piped up,
"Thank you for taking care of him, Sunny. Adam... He's always been stubborn. A weird mix of stubborn and not being able to say no. Well that and his excessive need to control everything…"
They turned off the highway and cut through the suburbs, finally pulling up to the familiar house under the unassuming blue sky.
Sunny stepped out pulling Adam with her, who only partially woke up.
She carried him to the door and into the house, following Martha back to a guest bedroom, where she set his hat on the nightstand, and woke him up long enough to get him to kick off his shoes and pull off his uniform jacket.
Then and only then was he finally allowed to lay down.
Sunny wasn't sure if he was even awake for the following few minutes where, like a mother bird, the human proceeded to construct a nest out of pillows and other soft things. He had a pillow under his head, and a pillow under his legs, and if that wasn't enough, he was then surrounded on all sides by pillows. That done, she took a moment to check the wounds left by the Steel Eye armor, cleaning a few of them up and bandaging over with clean gauze. She lay a hand on his forehead checking for fever, and by extension, and infection.
He shifted in his sleep.
She then went hunting through a closet, which was hoarding at least two dozen more blankets.
She left the window open, allowing the warm sunlight and cool air to breeze into the room, covering his legs with the blanket, but leaving his arms and chest exposed to the warm sunlight.
Finally done, she then ushered Sunny out of the room, leaving the door cracked slightly, where it could be seen from down the hall in the kitchen. Sunny stood awkwardly in the living room for a time, her back facing the window where sunlight was beaming through onto the floor. Dust moats churned and rolled in the sunlight.
Martha sat at the table, while Jim stepped outside to get some work done.
Sunny shuffled her feet awkwardly before.
"Thank you for... Coming so quickly."
Martha looked up at her, her bright blue human eyes cutting and cold.
"I would do anything for my kids."
Sunny shifted her feet and looked down quietly. She spoke before even realizing what she was saying,
"I wish my mother had been more like you."
There was silence.
Martha worked her jaw for a second before curiosity got the better of her,
"Are... Drev mothers not protective of their children?"
Sunny shook her head,
"No... not at all... They are actually very protective and caring… Just not... Mine."
"Oh... I'm sorry... What... Happened?"
Sunny looked away and shrugged,
"Oh I was a disgrace. A crippled abomination that should have been tossed into the fire at birth."
Martha stared at her,
"Don't you think that's a bit exaggerated."
Sunny turned to look at her,
"No... That's what happens if you are born crippled. You are tossed into the fire…”
Martha stared at her mouth open,
"They what!?... But how... Why... why would anyone do anything like that... And you… You look fine!”
Sunny turned to look out the window,
"My mother was a great general. She won land in all directions of the compass, but after my brother, she was never able to produce another “proper” child... It is very important in Drev culture to be able to produce kits..."
She turned to look at Martha,
"Drev mothers give birth near the mouths of volcanos, and if the kit doesn't hold up to standard, they are thrown into the fire for their spirits to be recycled. I was supposed to have an older sister, but she was too deformed, and my mother left her to die on the volcano… As for me… My mother was... Unable to get rid of me... I am very small. I think she hated me because I was a symbol of her weakness, and she just couldn't handle that."
Martha had gone very quiet staring on at Sunny in surprise and... a hint of something else in her bright blue eyes.
"I tried for her to be the best warrior I could. But in truth, I am not talented in battle. When the Drev war came, I thought I could win her love through valor, though I should have known better by then…"
She looked at Martha feeling a horrible clenching feeling rising up in her chest and stomach,
"What I did to Adam.... It isn't excused by any means, but at least now you know why I did what I did.”
She looked down at her hands,
"But instead of winning my mother's love, she blamed me for my father's death."
"Your father... Died during the war?"
"Yes, he was killed by a Steel-Eye soldier during the last push…”
She raised a hand,
"Don't worry, my father died an honorable death in battle... I was happy for him. Once again my mother went against our customs, blamed me for everything and then turned her sights on revenge on the humans."
Sunny sighed, taking a seat at the table resting her hands together atop the polished surface, clasped lightly together.
As she sat, a sudden touch of warmth on her hand made her look up.
Martha Vir had a hand over hers and was looking at her with an expression Sunny had not seen on the human's face before.
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright."
"No, it's not. No one deserves to be treated like that."
Sunny chirped halfheartedly,
"It's past me now.”
She glanced towards the door,
"Besides, I have people who care about me now, and they make it pretty clear that I am worth far more than what my mother said."
”…”
There was another silence.
The distant sound of laughter reached them from outside,
"I am sorry, for the way I treated you. I shouldn't have done that…"
Sunny chirped again,
"I hurt your son, you would have to be crazy to trust me, or even like me all that much."
"Still, I should have been willing to trust his judgement... He's my youngest, and sometimes I forget he's his own man. Every time I picture him, he's still eight years old."
"Are you sure he isn't?"
The two of them laughed.
The door creaked open just then, and Jim stepped into the house, a handful of dandelions in one hand.
He seemed surprised to find the two of them laughing with each other, but just as pleased.
"What did I miss?”
Martha gave Sunny a warm smile,
"Nothing important. What do you have there?"
"Well, I was just getting rid of these from the lawn, and I was going to throw them away, but…”
He glanced at Sunny sheepishly,
"I thought I heard Adam mention that you liked eating them, so... I brought them inside instead. Forgive me for overstepping or mishearing."
Sunny perked up a bit at the sight of the little yellow weed.
"You heard him right."
Jim looked relieved, handing Sunny the flowers and coming down to sit at the table.
Sunny munched on the flower rather happily.
"Please eat them all. I definitely toootally hate those little yellow bastards. So, if you want more I can get them for you."
He winked towards Martha, who in turn looked over at Sunny,
"Adam ever taught you how to play cards?"
Sunny shook her head,
"I've seen him play, but we usually do other things."
"Might as well do something while we pass the time."
Jim reached out to open a drawer, revealing a few decks of cards.
"Prism, turn on the sports channel."
A blue light flashed around the upper edge of the ceiling, and a projection bloomed to life at the center of the room.
Martha began manipulating the cards between her hands, adding a pleasant shuffling sound to the air.
Sunny growled at the screen.
"What, you don't like the Strikers?"
"No, their coach is a D-bag and Marcos can't throw to save his life."
Jim laughed,
"Finally someone who gets it. Only Jeremy was ever into football, but they're his favorite team."
"Schmuck."
"That's what I said!”
Sunny chirped happily, and Jim laughed.
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Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author
Thanks for reading! As you saw in the title, this is a cross posted story written by starrfallknightrise and I'll just upload some of it here for you guys, if you are interested and want to read ahead, the original story-collection can be found on tumblr or wattpad to read for free. (link above this text under "OC:..." ) It is the Empyrean Iris story collection by starfallknightrise. Also, if you want to know more about the story collection i made an intro post about it, so feel free to check that out to see what other great characters to look forward to! (Link also above this text). I have no affiliations to the author; just thought I’d share some of the great stories you might enjoy a lot!
Obviously, I have Charlie’s permission to post this and for the people already knowing the stories, or starting to read them: If you follow the link and check out the story you will see some differences. I made some small (non-artistic) changes, mainly correcting writing mistakes, pronoun correction and some small additional info here and there of things which were not thought of/forgotten or even were added/changed in later stories (like the “USS->UNSC” prefix of Stabby, Chalar=/->Sunny etc). As well as some "biggemajor" changes in descriptions and info’s for the same stringency/continuity reason. That can be explained by the story collection being, well a story collection at the start with many standalone-stories just starring the same people, but later on it gets more to a stringent storyline with backstories and throwbacks. (For example Adam Vir has some HEAVY scars over his body, following his bones, which were not really talked about up till half the collection, where it says it covers his whole body and you find out via backflash that he had them the whole time and how he got them, they just weren't mentioned before. However, I would think a doctor would at least see these scars before that, especially since he gets analyzed, treated and goes shirtless/in T-shirts in some stories). So TLDR: Writing and some descriptions are slightly changed, with full OK from the author, since he himself did not bother to correct these things before.

Long time Coachella goer, today I went to Just Like Heaven for the first time and wanted to share some thoughts.
— Just like Coachella, this was a very well organized festival. They’re really got it down to a formula. Easy parking, no tech issues, all sets stayed to the schedule (even when Fever Ray had 7 minutes to set up since Azealia Banks was 30 minutes late!)
— Grass festivals are soooo much better than parking lot festivals. Never going to a parking lot festival again.
— The VIP offerings seemed pretty useless in general. The new GA+ didn’t even have a viewing area for the main stage, just the second stage (weird). The Clubhouse was so far from both stages that it was too inconvenient to want to visit. However, it’s a bummer that GV has decided bathroom upgrades are a VIP perk, since the port a potties were ROUGH
— I never appreciated the videography at Coachella until today… the camerawork at JLH was total amateur hour. Felt like an intern was directing the shots / screens. Regularly, the cameras would be pointing at the wrong person (they clearly didn’t know which of the singers was Fever Ray), someone’s foot, the ground, a close up of the drum set shaking… it was awful. All we could think of was that the main GV videographers take a long vacation after Coachella/Stagecoach and they had to hire a random vendor that went wrong. The main stage screens had constant filters over the videos that made it super hard to see what was going on (maybe this was intentional to hide that all our fav bands got older 😂).
— At $215, the value of this fest just wasn’t there for us. The sets were good, but adding up how much it would have cost to see the bands we saw individually, it would barely get to $150. Probably would not go again unless the ticket prices drop.

Hello everyone,
I put up a list of fraud consultancies and their contact information. This list consists of 129 consultancies applying multiple applications or scamming applicants by getting their money. If you are a genuine applicant and did not get an H1B visa this year, please don't be hard on yourself. Understand you have little change because of these consultants and applicants. I have already reported these consultants in two ways:

1. Reporting via Tip Form: https://www.uscis.gov/report-fraud/uscis-tip-form
2. Email directly: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

USCIS will take action if many of us start to report these consultancies.
If you find any consultancies that are not on the list, please add them in the comments section and I will report them as well.
I am not saying all consultancies are bad, but there is a considerable amount of them doing fraudulent activities.
Please do the needful and take action from your side to control your own destiny.
Fraud Consultancy name:
HEPTE Overseas
Pinnacle Soft Solutions
IMINDs
ALAMEDA Tech Solutions
Logging-In.com INC
INTUITES
Start Work Force
Loopbell
Abroad Learning
IBLE Soft
Indus Group Inc
3kliks IT
Stratitude
GIG Softlabs
Meta Picks LLC
Digix Form Inc
IKCON Technologies
O2 Technologies
JPC Tech
Nityoinfotech
Cloudnik
Snowstack
Tech Global
OpulentSoft Potla
Tech Solutions
Hyderabad Potla Group of Companies
Vastek, Inc - San Diego, CA
Intellectt Inc, Woodbridge, NJ
Ctekk Solutions
Profile DM Inc
Slesha IT
VAK IT Systems Inc
EA Team Inc
Pilvi Systems
Friendly Consultants
Nerdpine
Onpassive
Vyts Inc
Red Leaf ITS
Kloud LLC
Talent Hire Consulting Delaware
Datasync Inc - Sterling Virginia
Datalogics - Sterling Virginia
Datamids - Sterling Virginia
Exalync Inc - Tampa Florida
Saxon Global - Irving, Texas
SIBI Talent - Murphy, Texas
Emonics - New Jersey
SOL IT Systems - Charlotte, NC
FLUX Tek Solutions - Houston, Texas
Baanyan Software Services, Inc - Edison, NJ
Instant Serve LLC - Wayne, PA
Amiga Informatics Inc - Hickville, NY
Quantum World Technologies Inc - Thousand Oaks, CA
Cloud Resources LLC - Irving, TX
Sumas Corporation - Painsboro, NJ
Cygnus Professionals Inc - Somerset, NJ
Cloud Revolute Inc - Farmers branch, TX
Digi Cloud - Farmers branch, TX
Scottline Inc - Farmers branch, TX
Skillmaze Inc - Farmers branch, TX
Infylogy - Texas
Bridgetown Consulting Group - Piscataway, NJ
Exa Data Solutions, Inc - NJ
Texasoft IT Solutions Inc
Tetragen LLC
Snow Relic LIC
Combino IT
Bharathvio Technologies
Charter Global
Symplore
Echo IT Solutions
Career Soft Solutions
STOICS IT LLC
Agile Squad Inc
Hire IT People, Inc
Softstandard Solutions
Software Concepts LLC
Deemsys
Webait Solutions LLC
Enherite IT
Bluestone IT Solutions
Softnice Inc
ITEN Consulting
Vortalsoft
Indotronix International Corporation IIC
Revature
Epitomsoft LLC, Cedar Park, TX
Sark Technology Solutions
VycerTech LLC
GS Soft Inc
Nityosoft Inc
Core ITS LLC
TechSuffice LLC
Forge Technologies Inc
Codex Software Solutions inc
metro Care
Tachyon Solutions
Micro Fuse Solutions Inc
ACLAT
Hanuhigh technologies Inc
Ackerman Technologies LLC, California
Maritz Consulting Group Inc, Minnesota
Ameritech Global Inc, Illinois
IQIT Solutions Inc
Executive Software Guild Inc
Adroitco -Frisco, TX
SkillTune Technologies Inc
Source Mantra Inc, NJ
A1 Resourcing Inc - Arlington, TX
Red Hibbert Group, LLC
Cuboid LLC
Cyber Wave LLC
Makcats, Inc - Grand Rapids, MI
Golok Global - Gainesville, Florida
Safe Code Group LLC
Relis LLC, Virginia
Centillion Inforech LLC
IT Giants LLC
Mindzcape Solutions - Texas
Subashini Software Solutions Inc - Troy, MI
Cleversmiths Inc - Farmers branch, TX
Micronetbd Inc
KR IT Solutions LLC - Cumming, GA
Harvest Software Solutions LLC - Jacksonville, FL
Cognitive Technology Solutions Inc - Wilmington DE
Ancile Inc - Leander TX
Veridic Solutions LLC

May 15-18 in ten locations.
In five-team brackets, the first three games are #4 vs. #5, #2 vs. #3, and #1 vs. #4/#5 winner. In four-team brackets, the first two games are #2 vs. #3, and #1 vs. #4.
Bellevue Bracket Don Roddy Field, Bellevue, Neb.
Tournament Central

Seed	Team	ISR
1	Bellevue (Neb.)*	26
2	Doane (Neb.)	9
3	Oklahoma City	52
4	Grand View (Iowa)	33

Mean ISR: 30
Fayette Bracket Estes Baseball Field, Fayette, Mo.
Tournament Central

Seed	Team	ISR
1	Southeastern (Fla.)	3
2	Kansas Wesleyan	20
3	Central Methodist (Mo.)*	42
4	Madonna (Mich.)	46
5	St. Francis (Ill.)	105

Mean ISR: 27.75 (In five-team brackets, the lower of the #4 and #5 teams is excluded)
Hattiesburg Bracket Milton Wheeler Field, Hattiesburg, Miss.
​

Seed	Team	ISR
1	William Carey (Miss.)*	11
2	Texas Wesleyan	37
3	Ave Maria (Fla.)	41
4	Union (Ky.)	62
5	Houston-Victoria (Texas)	87

Mean ISR: 37.75
Kingsport Bracket Hunter Wright Stadium, Kingsport, Tenn.
Tournament Central

Seed	Team	ISR
1	Webber International (Fla.)	23
2	Missouri Baptist	21
3	Bryan (Tenn.)	44
4	Indiana Wesleyan	48

Mean ISR: 34
Lawrenceville Bracket Grizzly Baseball Complex, Lawrenceville, GA
Tournament Central

Seed	Team	ISR
1	Georgia Gwinnett*	7
2	Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)	35
3	Concordia (Neb.)	18
4	Midway (Ky.)	96
5	Saint Xavier (Ill.)	86

Mean ISR: 36.5
Lewiston Bracket Harris Field, Lewiston, Idaho
Tournament Central

Seed	Team	ISR
1	Hope International (Calif.)	2
2	Science & Arts (Okla.)	40
3	Concordia-Ann Arbor (Mich.)	43
4	Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)*	5

Mean ISR: 22.5
Santa Barbara Bracket Russell Carr Field, Santa Barbara, CA
Tournament Central

Seed	Team	ISR
1	Westmont (Calif.)*	1
2	Benedictine-Mesa (Ariz.)	8
3	Vanguard (Calif.)	10
4	British Columbia	4
5	Antelope Valley (Calif.)	24

Mean ISR: 5.75
Shreveport Bracket Pilot Field, Shreveport, La.
​

Seed	Team	ISR
1	LSU Shreveport (La.)*	12
2	McPherson (Kan.)	29
3	Morningside (Iowa)	15
4	MidAmerica Nazerene (Kan.)	70
5	Dillard (La.)	164

Mean ISR: 31.5
Upland Bracket Winterholter Field, Upland, Ind.
Tournament Central

Seed	Team	ISR
1	Tennessee Wesleyan	13
2	Taylor (Ind.)*	29
3	Cumberland (Tenn.)	30
4	Point Park (Pa.)	65
5	Fisher (Mass.)	149

Mean ISR: 34.25
Williamsburg Bracket Doyle Buhl Stadium, Williamsburg, Ky.
Tournament Central

Seed	Team	ISR
1	Cumberlands (Ky.)*	17
2	Mobile (Ala.)	25
3	Columbia (Mo.)	57
4	Reinhardt (Ga.)	36

Mean ISR: 33.75
* Host team

In one week, fans from all over the country/world will be in Oakland to see SUGA! Help an ARMY out and let them know about safety, how to get around, where to eat, tourist attractions, BTS related things to do, places that BTS has visited in Oakland, or anything else that you think someone should know when they visit!
Concert capacity of Oakland Arena is about 19,200! Multiply that by the two days we’ll have Yoongi in the Bay and that’s 38,400 potential attendees! So let's get those thousands of recommendations from all of you!
Are you ARMY visiting Oakland/The Bay and have questions about the city? Ask in the comments below!
I'm volunteering to compile this post based on the hard work/example of u/whyohwhy115’s previous city advice threads and suggestions I've already received from other ARMY (Particularly Adriana, Aku, @ARMYNomad, UnaArmyBarista, Priscilla, u/Bear4years, u/mycatisadesigner) and the mods. Super special credit and thank you to u/GoldenCoast7 whose words and hard work are the basis of this guide! Alright y’all let's create our own bangtan guide to Oakland!

Welcome notice from Oakland ARMY!

“We love the Bay Area because of its amazing weather and nature, rich culture, and endless things to do/see/make/eat. What we call Oakland, Berkeley, and the East Bay is the unceded territory of the Lisjan Ohlone people. Oakland is directly east of the San Francisco Bay, nestled between the port and the hills. It's historically home to many immigrants and diasporas, particularly Black, Latinx, and Asian diasporas. These days it's a laid-back counterpart to San Francisco, with a distinct culture built around community, creativity, and activism. Oakland's cultural impact includes some of the country's first labor uprisings, the Black Panther Party, a thriving food scene, and of course, Bay Area hip hop. This is a place that celebrates outsiders, free thinkers, and liberation seekers, so it is PERFECT that Yoongi's U.S. tour ends in the East Bay.
Oakland is fun and beautiful, but like any major city, you also have to be safe, plan ahead, and know what you're getting into. We hope the advice and recommendations here help you make the most of your trip.”

Places BTS Has Visited, Food They’ve Eaten

• Alcatraz Island - SUGA
  
• Golden Gate Bridge (South End) - OT7
  

Concert Venues

• Oakland Arena - Love Yourself Tour 2018
  
• Sydney Goldstein Theater - Highlights Tour 2015
  

Concert Related Events

Note: I'm not affiliated with any of the following events. Please reach out to event organizers if you have questions.
Cupsleeve Events
A cupsleeve event is a themed event at a cafe or similar location, often at boba tea places. You can usually buy themed goodies and get a free cupsleeve with a drink purchase. Some also feature other vendors selling art, baked goods, etc. These events can be popular, so it's recommended to reserve a free or paid tier before the event.

Cupsleeve Events

• “Day 2 Pre-Concert Meetup at Korner Kitchen” (Oakland/Fruitvale) May 17, 2:30-5:30 PM HellaBTSxARMY
  
• “Agust D Cupsleeve” (Oakland) May 18, 12 - 4pm BTS Tarot Project x Bangtan Social Club
  
• "SUGA in the Bay Cupsleeve/Banner Event" (Albany and San Jose) May 13-18 BayAreaBTSxARMY
  
• “SUGALAND (Suga in Oakland) Cupsleeve Event” (Alameda) May 17th 12-4pm ThePurpleCourt
  
• “Agust D Meets SUGA” Cupsleeve event May (SF) May 14th 1-7pm Ohmyjin_events
  

Other Events/Parties

• Join the SO FAR AWAY fan project for the May 17 concert! - Ongoing until the concert #SoFarAwayProject
  
• Billboard projects from BTSXSFBA and BABA that will be on loop during the concert days to welcome Yoongi and Army!
  

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS & SHOWS - MUST SEE/DO IN OAKLAND/The Bay Area

Oakland

• Oakland Coliseum - The Oakland A’s will be playing home games 5/11-5/17, the coliseum is right next to Oakland Arena!
  
• Oakland Museum of California - Just off Lake Merritt BART. Spans a range of science, history, and art for all ages. Highly recommend the current exhibition on Angela Davis (you can see her speak and even touch some of her papers!) Hang out in the beautiful garden!
  
• Chabot Space and Science Center
  
• Lake Merritt - The place to walk, or just spread out a blanket and people-watch.
  
• Also features a botanical garden and bonsai garden! There are bikeshare stations nearby if you want to do some serious Namjooning.
  
• Children's Fairyland, if you're traveling with kids, is one of the places that inspired Walt Disney to create Disneyland.
  
• Hike one of our many trails with a beautiful view! There's a wide variety, and you may catch the end of this spring's superbloom. Redwood Regional Park and Joaquin Miller are very accessible. AllTrails is the app/website for trail maps.
  
• The Port Bar - Sunday Drag Brunch and Wednesday drag events!
  

SF And Other Neighboring Cities

• California Academy of Science - Indoor rainforest, living roof, natural history museum and planetarium!
  
• Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
  
• Asian Art Museum (SF) - From ancient to contemporary, a huge range of Asian art. This is a place to find out about both established and lesser-known artists, and they do a great job of covering the full Asian diaspora
  
• SFMOMA - The permanent collection is full of modern pieces and abstract paintings. The special exhibitions often spotlight a single artist/craftsperson, or gather local artists around a theme. There are a couple cafes and a public library branch inside.
  
• Museum of the African Diaspora (SF) - Small, easy to cover in 1 hour, but packs a big punch with rotating exhibitions spotlighting Black history, art, and culture
  
• Contemporary Jewish Museum (SF) - Art and history, local and global.
  
• Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (SF) - Free! Focused on art, activism, and social justice.
  
• GLBT Historical Society Museum - “The first full-scale, stand-alone museum of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender history and culture in the United States, and only the second in the world”
  
• SF Japantown - Explore one of the three remaining Japantown’s in the country and all it has to offer! Food! Shops! Culture! A favorite of many locals.
  
• Books Kinokuniya
  
• Exploratorium - Hands on science museum, fun for all ages!
  
• Catch a Drag Show at Oasis SF! (one of many wonderful gay bars in the area!)
  
• Fisherman’s Wharf/Pier 39
  
• Golden Gate Park
  
  • SF Botanical Garden
  • de Young Museum
• Presidio
  
  • Walt Disney Family Museum
  • Presidio Tunnel Tops
• Beaches
  
  • Ocean Beach
  • Baker Beach
  • Crissy Field East Beach
• Pixar (Emeryville) - Not open to visitors but fun to drive past!
  
• Tilden Regional Park (Berkeley) - Lovely trails, a petting zoo, a botanical garden and a charming natural history museum! Great place for picnics!
  

RESTAURANTS - WHERE TO EAT

Korean BBQ/Restaurants

• Gangnam Jajang
  
• Moo Bong Ri
  
• Ohgane (AYCE KBBQ)
  
• Jong Ga House (AYCE KBBQ)
  
• Gogi Time (AYCE KBBQ)
  
• Pyeong Chang Tofu House
  
• Dan Sung Sa
  
• Don Blanc
  
• Hancook
  
• Azit
  
• Tin & Pig
  
• Hanshin Pocha
  

Asian/Asian-American

• Marufuku Ramen (Locations in SF Japantown considered best ramen in the Bay (recommended) and Oakland)
  
• Taste of Thai Kitchen - Thai
  
• Charm Thai Bistro - Thai
  
• Farmhouse Thai - Thai
  
• Pla Daek Thai - Thai (Esan)
  
• Jo's Modern Thai - Thai
  
• Champa Garden - Lao, Thai
  
• Shan Dong - Chinese noodles
  
• Burma Superstar - Burmese
  
• Malaya Tea Room - Malaysian
  
• Sushi House - Japanese
  
• Tane Vegan Izakaya - Japanese (Vegan)
  
• Soba Ichi - Japanese
  
• Kirala Sushi - Japanese
  
• Itani Ramen - Japanese
  
• Ebiko Sushi - Japanese
  
• Ok's Deli - Asian-American
  
• Senor Sisig (& Senor Sisig Vegan) - Filipino-American
  
• FOB Kitchen - Filipino
  
• Korner Kitchen & Bar - Food Hall
  
• Good to Eat - Taiwanese
  
• Anapurna - Nepalese
  
• Lion Dance Cafe - Singaporean - Vegan
  
• Tay Ho - Vietnamese
  
• Blind Tiger - Asian Fusion
  
• Golden Lotus - Asian Fusion - Vegan
  
• Bake Sum - Bakery
  

Boba/Dessert

• YiFang
  
• Boba Guys
  
• Happy Lemon
  
• Uji Time (Taiyaki)
  
• TiBear
  
• Asha Tea House
  
• Curbside Creamery (Vegan options)
  
• Fenton’s Creamery (Iconic Bay Area ice cream parlor)
  
• Mr. Dewie’s Cashew Creamery (Vegan)
  
• Belly Good Cafe and Crepes (Japantown, SF) cute character crepes!
  

Everything Else!

• Cheeseboard Pizza - Pizza, Vegetarian
  
• Dimond Slice Pizza - Pizza , Vegetarian
  
• Square Pie Guys - Pizza (Better than Prince St in NYC!)
  
• Arizmendi - Bakery, Pizza
  
• Tacos El Ultimo Baile - Mexican
  
• Bombera - Mexican-Californian
  
• Comal - Mexican
  
• Sister - Pizza, California, Cafe
  
• Sunday Bakeshop - Bakery
  
• Molcajete Cocina Mexicana - Mexican
  
• Guadalajara Restaurant and Taco Truck
  
• Asmara - Eritrean/Ethiopian (Vegan/Vegetarian friendly)
  
• Barcote - Ethiopian
  
• Tacos Oscar - Mexican
  
• World Famous Hotboys Chicken - Hot chicken
  
• Drake's Dealership - American, beers
  
• The Phat Lady - American, brunch
  
• Sobre Mesa - Afro-Latino
  
• Cholita Linda - Mexican
  
• Rico Rico Tacos (and Rico Rico Vegano) - Mexican
  
• Enssaro - Ethiopian
  
• Sequoia Diner - American
  
• Brenda’s - Southern Cajun/Creole, Brunch
  
• Beauty's Bagels - Breakfast
  
• Pomella - Israeli/Mediterranean
  

TRANSPORTATION

Getting to Oakland Arena

• Taking BART: GREEN or ORANGE LINE to BERRYESSA or BLUE LINE to DUBLIN/PLEASANTON
  
• Get off at OAKLAND COLISEUM
  
• Walk out of the station and cross the walkway towards the Coliseum/Arena."
  
• Taking the AC Transit bus:
  
• Find a route to the Coliseum BART station and use the walkway to the Coliseum/Arena.
  
• Taking Lyft/Uber:
  
• Getting dropped off/picked up at Coliseum or Fruitvale BART may be easier than going to the arena.
  
• Driving:
  
• Try to carpool, and plan on delays getting into/out of the Arena parking lots. If parking is sold out, Fruitvale BART is one stop away and has a large garage.
  

Parking

• Oakland Arena Parking info
  
• Purchase a parking pass for the concert on Ticketmaster
  
• General Parking info
  
  • Pay attention to street signs, parking can be a little tricky with certain neighborhoods only allowing parking at certain times
  • Download apps like ParkMobile and SpotHero for help!

Getting Elsewhere Around the Bay

Local tip! “C.R.E.A.M.” - Clipper Rules Everything Around Me! Clipper is the transit pass for the whole Bay Area. Buy it at BART stations, at Walgreens, or get the app.

• BART (subway): Clipper or paper ticket. Goes to SFO and Oakland Airports, through downtown SF, Oakland, and Berkeley, and out to the suburbs. Generally safe. Stay alert, especially late at night.
  
• AC TRANSIT (bus): Clipper or cash (exact change). Goes throughout the East Bay. Some Transbay Bus routes run from the Salesforce Transit Center in SF to various locations in Oakland/Berkeley.
  
• Safe but not always on time. Not all bus stops have benches/shelters.
  
• Google Maps, Transit, and AC Transit app have arrival times and route planners.
  
• FERRY: Clipper or paper ticket. A pretty (and slower) way to travel between SF, Oakland, and Alameda.
  
• BIKE SHARE: Through the Lyft app. Use Google Maps to map out a good bike route first.
  
• SCOOTERS: Through Lime, Link, or Veo.
  

Accessibility

• Wheelchair access/elevators on BART can be hit or miss depending on the station, so pay attention to the updates on working elevators system-wide.
  
• BART can be LOUD (over 90 decibels) for those with hearing sensitivity.
  
• Sidewalks and street corners are usually in good condition, but can flood after heavy rain.
  
• Lyft and Uber may be the most consistent, accessible transit if you're not able to stand and wait for long periods.
  
• Oakland Arena accessibility guide: https://www.theoaklandarena.com/accessibility
  

Airports

Oakland International Airport (OAK)
San Francisco International Airport (SFO)

MISC

WeatheWhat to Wear

• Mid May should have mild weather, with daytime temps around 55-70 F
  
• Oakland and Berkeley have cold mornings and evenings (down to 45 F), and San Francisco has extremes: cold and windy, or hot and sunny, depending on the neighborhood.
  
• Weather apps are your friend! WeatherUnderground has specific neighborhood weather for SF.
  
• Pack light layers that you can carry with you and take on/off as needed. Meaning: short-sleeved shirt, long-sleeved shirt or sweater, lightweight vest or jacket, beanie or scarf if you get cold easily. You'll probably use all of them at different times of day.
  
• RAIN IS POSSIBLE (and currently expected on concert days!!) so an umbrella or rain jacket would be a good idea!!
  
• We wear practical shoes here (and lots of Docs ;) )! Sneakers, boots, etc. will get you far.
  

Safety Tips

Non-emergency police number: (510) 777-3333
Report a crime online: https://www.oaklandca.gov/services/report-a-crime-online
It is unfortunately a common occurrence in Oakland to call 911 and for the line to be busy/to get no response. With this in mind, please be extra vigilant about your own safety and look out for your fellow ARMYs as well. If you see another ARMY who looks scared or lost, reach out! It can make a world of difference.
While we are proud to call Oakland our home, the reality of being in any major city but especially Oakland is that crime (especially property crime) is a problem. We recommend basic urban safety including:

• Travel in groups at night or in neighborhoods you don't know.
  
• Don't leave anything (even a jacket) visible in a parked car. Break-ins are rampant, even if you are in the car or nearby.
  
• Avoid leaving anything of value in the trunk (electronics, luggage) -- they will also get bipped!
  
• Stay in busier areas, and be aware of your surroundings.
  
• Plan your transportation strategy ahead of time, including a backup plan so you don't end up lost or stranded.
  
• Go through trusted rideshare services like Uber and Lyft; don't accept solicitation for a taxi or ride.
  
• Try not to carry much cash; you probably won't need it anyway.
  
• Act confident -- and don't be afraid to get loud or attract attention to yourself if needed.
  

Homelessness is a major concern right now. It might be surprising, depending on where you're from. Remember:

• Unhoused people and encampments are not all dangerous. But, you have no way to know who is there and what the exact situation is.
  
• When you walk through an encampment or past tents, you're walking through someone's home.
  
• When possible, steer clear of tents, especially larger encampments under freeways.
  
• If you don't understand what someone is saying to you or you can't help them, give a firm "No," shake your head, and walk away. Don't feel bad about it!
  
• If you encounter something that makes you unsure, cross the street or head back to a more populated area.
  
• If you stumble across a situation in progress, don't engage -- remember, you don't know what is going on with other people.
  

Oakland Arena & Oakland Airport Area Specific Safety Tips

• We HIGHLY recommend that you DO NOT CAMP: The area around the venue is extremely dangerous and secluded.
  
• The area around Oakland Arena is unsafe (away from the rest of the city, many encampments) we also recommend arriving for merch during daylight hours (no earlier than 6am)
  
• If you must camp, go with a group and make a safety plan that includes a meet-up location if something happens.
  
• There aren't businesses close to the arena so make sure you have everything you need for the night including food, batteries/chargers, flashlights, etc.
  
• Flying into Oakland Airport? Don't park at the nearby restaurants (Starbucks on 98th, In-n-Out)...they are notorious for car break ins.
  
• BART is a safe and easy option for getting to/from the airport.
  
• If you still don't have a place to stay, look for rooms near Uptown Oakland, Downtown Oakland/Chinatown, or a BART station rather than the arena.
  

SHOPPING

• SF Japantown
  
• Bay Street Emeryville
  
• SarangHello SF - “The Bay Area’s Original K-Pop Shop!”
  
• Local neighborhoods like: Grand Lake, Lakeshore, Adams Point, Temescal (Telegraph Ave.), Rockridge (College Ave) and Piedmont Ave. have lots of great local boutiques and shops! Fun to explore!
  

For more in depth information on everything above please check out this wonderful guide to Oakland made with love by u/GoldenCoast7 and the other local ARMYs listed above! Includes more in depth info on prices of restaurants listed, great spots for drinks and coffee, and important info about Oakland/Bay Area culture that makes this place so special!
I will be adding recommendations from you all!