Gaia, god of Earth vs God Lord! Fight!
Gaia uses Earth Strike! 400 damage!
God Lord uses Multiverse Eye! Plus 80 defence for God Lord!
Gaia uses Four Leaf Clover! Critical Hit chance quintupled!
God Lord uses God Laser! 550 damage!
Gaia uses Titan Blast! CRITICAL HIT, 300 damage is now 900 damage!
God Lord is now TITAN LORD!
TITAN LORD uses Star Storm!
Gaia defends using Vine Grasp!
Gaia uses Poison Flower! 100 damage!
TITAN LORD is now ULTRA LORD!
ULTRA LORD uses Last Hope! 2500 damage!
Gaia is now SHINY GAIA!
SHINY GAIA uses Eradicate! 800 damage!
SHINY GAIA uses infinity! 999999999 damage!
SHINY GAIA WINS!

New pilot here!
My instructor taught me that packing the wing loosely is better than packing it tight/ compression. That totally makes sense to me. And I’ve read online people who say that a loose speed pack bag is the best for wings, assuming the rod layout makes this ok.
But my question is how much better is it? I’ve been using a supair “compression” concertina bag for my Niviuk wing. The bag doesn’t seem to compress it really that tight compared to backpacking gear, for example. But maybe that’s considered compressed for a glider? The compression zipper on the bag gets the wing down to about 3-4” depth vs maybe 6-8” that a ‘normal’ normal concertina fold would be.
Our site is hike-up only, and a wing tight against my back is a heck of a lot more comfortable to carry than a big poofy thing which pulls back against the shoulders more. And the half-hour hike is much longer than the 2 minute sled ride down. So I guess I’m looking for some perspectives about how bad a compression pack is for a wing, how much longer it might last if it was in a normal concertina? I mean I’m reading that wings last 5 years or so max, so what are we really talking about?
My wing has nitinol rods and concertina packed without bending the rods so I’m not worried about that, just the fabric I guess. Is packing the wing a bit tighter going to knock a season off the lifespan? Or is it going to cut the life in half or something? I see people making the hike with speed pack bags and I think they’re a bit nuts. Am I missing something? Anyone feel like they have a good handle on the cost/benefit when it comes to packing?

My guest room has been a doom room for several years at this point. It is an unholy mess and I have to tackle it. Every time I get it to some semblance of acceptable it just takes a few weeks (or days) to get it back to something apocalyptic. I have had organized closet/dressing areas before, so clearly the set up is not working for me. This whole house honestly is an ADHD nightmare but I can’t move so I need to figure out something I can live with.
Please read, critique, and share your favorite closet organizing method/item/trick/magic spell.
Here’s my plan so far:
1) I am going to order a garment rack from Amazon and hope that I can get it finished in 30 days and return it after or sell it on Craigslist. I’m going to first get everything I own off the floor and other surfaces. It has a rack below that I can store shoes as well
2) PURGE
3) PURGE MORE
4) Remove the existing guts of my closet. It is the most awkward space and the worst set up. I hate it.
5) Get temporary Amazon closet guts that can be easily rearranged. I found some tension rod ones that look really promising. I can play around with placement and configurations and see what works best for me. There are also shoe cabinets that can be used for shoes or as shelving. So as I figure out what I like folded vs hanged I can make space either way.
6) Once I accomplish a stretch of working organization, either live with the cheap stuff if it isn’t too much of an eyesore or look for a permanent approximation that is more durable/higher quality.
I think the biggest thing is that my underwear and pajamas are in a dresser and my clothes are in a closet that is awkwardly behind it. So I need to get those things in the closet so that I am forced to go into the closet every day. If I’m in there I will be more likely to use it rather than just the floordrobe. I think I will put heavy knits and other less often used stuff in the dresser. Obviously my work clothes and favorite lounge stuff should be the easiest to hang up and put away. I’m thinking leggings, underthings, and work out wear I can organize in hanging shoe cubbies. I’m thinking of pairing all my misc sleep tops and bottoms so the can be folded or rolled together. I want to avoid rummaging as much as possible.
Fin! That’s all I’ve got so far.

Hello, friends.
Today, we're going to receive quite a lot of exposition about the nature of Strictland through the eyes of Seonghwa. There's a lot to discuss, so let's jump right in.

01: What are your thoughts on the page?

BobbyJ: I have a note on my page that says the Strictland government and economy are further explained in Pt. 3 Intro
GD: Okay. This is a big page
BobbyJ: It's interesting that emotions aren't fully abolished. They're just severely dulled. Which obviously reminds me of The Giver. And that only art has been abolished specifically.
GD: Yes, I think that's right. I feel like we should go paragraph by paragraph with this one because there is a lot
BobbyJ: From the top then?
Once again, it feels that we're left to infer what has happened in the meantime
GD: Yes, the first line makes it feel we're getting the Halateez story from the Grimes’ perspective, but then we get a lot of world building details to help us understand it. Are we to assume that the Grimes siblings think these boys look like Halateez? Or do they not know? Because Halateez wore masks?
BobbyJ: No, I think Ateez probably were like "What's the deal with this place?" And the Grimes Boy has been filling them in on the story. The entry starts at the end of the story and then fills us in
GD: A note: "the entire human race"
We've talked before about whether there is a world outside of strictland. And you know, I still don't know? Maybe that's a future goal? Or Z is in charge of the entire human race, which feels... big
BobbyJ: Yeah--it feels more like the simulation says "the entire human race would benefit from this thing" and Z just applies that structure to his world he somehow is in control of. And by his world, I mean more the country/area he's in charge of
GD: I'm in this second paragraph here, and I guess I'm just thinking that Z isn't wrong. Human emotions do cause crime and terrorism. But it reminds me of the gun debate we're currently having in our country? And all of the politicians who want to blame it on mental health? which is part of the problem, but it isn't the whole problem
BobbyJ: I disagree. It's true that we can't control our feelings. But our feelings do not dictate what we do or how we act. It's the will to do something wrong for the sake of selfishness or greed--which I don't classify as emotions
GD: I guess I'm saying that I think human emotions are a cause, but not the cause
BobbyJ: Mental health is also a factor, I think
GD: I think I am more sympathetic to Z and the simulation. I do think human emotions can lead to crime and terrorism, but they can just as easily lead to beauty and joy. So if you get rid of human emotions, you probably will stop some crime, but you will also stop other things.
BobbyJ: I am not sympathetic to Z because I don't feel this is as benevolent as it might appear. It feels very sinister to me. "This is all for you" is bullshit
GD: I can see Z as the hero of his own story--a Thanos type character--but we don't really know enough about him at this point.
BobbyJ: This is full speculation, but do we think Z also agreed to have his emotions limited and memories removed?
GD: Almost surely not. Those rules don't apply to people who can be trusted, I assume
BobbyJ: "Central government.” Implies, like, the existence of branches, no? Which makes me think the world is bigger than it feels
GD: Does the Korean government currently have branches? I know they have a president, but I guess I don't know much else about how power in the government works there. Like I don't know if they have legislative bodies, how powerful the judicial branch is, etc
BobbyJ: It appears it is similar to the U.S. After reading for two minutes
GD: Helpful context though
BobbyJ: Their president can only serve one five-year term. Means nothing but is interesting. Kinda wish we had that same policy these days
GD: For sure
I want to talk about art. Art with a capital A. Art=emotion
BobbyJ: Yes. The entire process of creating and engaging with art is based on emotions
GD: Sort of no matter how the individual members of Ateez feel about their lore, I have always felt that they embody that philosophy. Just this idea that Art is Important?
I talked about this the other day, but I was very impressed with KQ hiring a local artist for the billboard promotion during anchor. I thought it was very thematic, and also that it sort of embodied a lot of the ideas that they do put out in their diaries. Because as you mentioned earlier, art is the only thing that's banned
BobbyJ: I'm thinking about this idea of songs that give me negative feelings vs. songs that give me no feelings at all. I don't know exactly what I am thinking. But it reminds me of a chat I had with a fellow yearbook advisor years ago
He said that when his staff is trying to decide on their artistic direction for that year's volume, they'd go through a bunch of magazines and everyone would pick out spreads they really like. They'd pin them all to a bulletin board. Then each staffer would get two colors of push pins. They'd all use one color for spreads they like and one for spreads they hate. He said that after the exercise, they'd remove all the spreads that received none or few pins while those that had a lot of either love or hate pins they'd keep.
And I thought it was interesting that the hated spreads were kept. And his reasoning was that those spreads made the staffers feel something. It wasn't a good something, but it was something
GD: That is interesting
BobbyJ: And when I apply this idea to music or movies or tv or art--the things I actively dislike do stick with me while the things I just nothing fade away
GD: It reminds me of book clubs in a way? Like, in my book club, we have a great book club discussion when everyone loves or hates the book. If people are like, yeah, it's fine, the conversation is so.... nothing.
BobbyJ: Is it. . . harder to talk about things that we love actually?
I can't help but notice that whenever there's a heartfelt appreciation post, it gets very little traction and engagement. But if someone does an "unpopular opinion" or "things you hate about the group you love" post, suddenly everyone has something to share. Perhaps we've talked about this before. Justifying why you dislike something is easier than justifying why you love something?
GD: So I sometimes wonder if, when it comes to music, the problem is one of vocabulary more so than a lack of desire? Like, most people have taken a basic literature class, so when we love a book, we can all universally talk about things like plot, structure, characters--we have some sort of shared understanding of the parts of a story and can discuss and identify the things that we like
It's different for music. I do not know how to identify the parts of a song or the instruments or just the music things that are happening. Music knowledge and vocabulary is so much more niche, so I do think that makes it harder to discuss and pinpoint music that we really love--because we're experiencing it fully emotionally, the context and words all removed. So I do think with music especially, it is easier to talk about the things that we dislike.
BobbyJ: But shouldn't your dislike also require vocabulary? I remember when I was trying to rant about O.O I didn't have any of the words so I had to resort to metaphor
GD: I think it's possibly easier to come up with metaphors for things we dislike than things we love. I can only describe listening to Jongho as like looking into the face of god so many times before I start to sound like I'm slightly insane.
But you know, people don't have the right words to describe why they dislike something all the time--and they just go forward with the wrong words. How many times have you seen someone say "Ateez's music is too noisy for me" when Ateez has possibly two songs in their discography that could be labeled noise music? "I don't like the autotune" when there's barely any autotune
BobbyJ: People do seem to have Feelings about Ateez music. Which I would argue supports the idea that Ateez are making Art
I do wonder exactly what Z classifies as art
GD: I for sure agree with you. It's like that conversation about what a cover should be from the other day: you can like or dislike what Ateez does when covering another group's song, but they will be changing it to achieve their own artistic expression. They will not make you a copy. They will make new art.
We know paintings. Music seems implied.
BobbyJ: Fashion probably? Which makes me think it's interesting that Left Eye specifically is a former designer. But it wasn't the art ban that made him give up designing
Actually, reading ahead. I'm not sure fashion was banned after all? It's hard to tell
GD: I guess it's interesting to me because anything can be art. A house, a car, furniture? Given the right person making those things, they can be art just as easily as they might not be art.
So I do wonder if Z is defining Art more broadly... like, art is not this thing, but art is anything that incites an undue amount of emotion
BobbyJ: Right--I was just thinking, is all music art? And I would argue no if the person writing a song is not doing it for the sake of expression but for the sake of making money. But if that song evokes emotion in someone else, I'd say yes, it is art.
GD: We do have those prohibited signs from Rhythm Ta, which calls out "art, music, dance"? Am I remembering that correctly? Or is it "art, music, emotion"?
What does it mean for something to be defined as art is really a question courts have struggled with for many, many, many years. So it's possible that even in Z's world, what is art is a question that is constantly influx and being redefined
[BobbyJ provides screenshot of Rhythm Ta stage]
Okay, so art, dance, and music are Art specifically.
"Art" lower case art, I'm assuming is paintings, drawings, sculptures. The physical arts.
BobbyJ: Right. Literature and fashion aren't mentioned. Or acting. But maybe they fall under the general Art umbrella. Keeping it vague gives Z more control
GD: Do you know the supreme court case where the supreme court tries to define art?
I feel like I should look it up to get that quote. Hold on--I need to check something
[GD checks something]
So in Tutton v. Viti, the supreme court implied that it is up to the creators to define whether the thing they created is art. The case was about sculpture, and whether these sculptors who were copying sculptures were engaged in the act of creating art
BobbyJ: Just straight up copying?
GD: And basically, they said the sculptors were artists due to their skill despite the lack of creative merit. They weren't trying to like, sell them. It was creating replica sculptures in art class. Which would violate copyright (if they were selling them)
BobbyJ: So, like, if I do a cover of a BTS song and I sound identical to BTS, I'm still an artist . Hypothetically
GD: If you perform it with good enough skill, according to the US Supreme Court, it seems so
BobbyJ: Wait--they weren't selling them? Then what was the problem? How did it end up in the Supreme Court?
GD: I have not read the full case and it is extremely old, so hard to parse, but it seems the original sculptor did not want them making replicas in their art class and argued they were not allowed to do it because it wasn't real art
BobbyJ: Artists do studies all the time where they basically copy other artists' work in order to learn techniques
GD: And the supreme court said, no, they can do that. Which, exactly. This is a precedent that holds. If you do art and sell it, I can't copy it and also sell it. I can however copy it and use it for my own personal use (legally--that doesn't mean it's ethical, but legally)
BobbyJ: Well, it's the same idea as me copying a designer dress and making it myself and for myself because I don't want to spend $800 on a dress
GD: Like if someone made something on etsy that I wanted, and I didn't want to pay for it, I can legally copy it for myself. Right, the supreme court would define both of those things as artistic endeavors
BobbyJ: Huh. I mean--I don't disagree. I'm also not certain it needs to be termed as "art"
GD: Terming it "art" is how they protect it because art is a protected right under the constitution
BobbyJ: Wait--if art is also a protected right in the South Korean constitution, then that would imply that Z was able to change the constitution. Which is wild. How long did this process take?
(Also, assuming that Strictland was originally more like South Korea)
GD: We'd have to review the South Korean constitution. I don't know for sure that it is a right because I know nothing about their legal system. But because art is protected under our constitution, I have always defined art fairly broadly. So considering art being banned, is putting me in a different head space
BobbyJ: Article 22: All citizens shall enjoy freedom of learning and the arts.
GD: I'm now looking up how to make constitutional amendments in Korea
BobbyJ: I mean if they also had a National Assembly, he got the bill passed there
GD: It makes me think I've gone pretty far afield here
BobbyJ: If we're thinking about it, I guarantee the Intern also thought about it
GD: I would like to note that "people enjoyed material affluence"
BobbyJ: Yes, I have a sticky note about that
GD: And I am thinking of Maslow's hierarchy? Which I know is something we've also discussed a lot. But I am wondering, how many citizens weren't having their basic needs met when they agreed to give up art?
BobbyJ: Right. Is art part of our Maslow?
A lot probably. There had to have been problems in order for people to accept Z's proposal
GD: It's certainly easier to give up art if you're not currently able to eat
BobbyJ: Mingi comes to mind. Which I think is when we were discussing Maslow
GD: I have argued, and I will still argue it, that art should be part of human's basic needs. Like, it can make the rest of it all seem less grim for some people. But yeah, if you don't have a place to live, don't have any food, are struggling to just survive, giving up art for the promise of having your basic needs meet will be very appealing to many people
BobbyJ: I think I would argue that art belongs on the "love and belonging" tier which is about friends, family and connection. Art helps us connect with ourselves and others and the world around us. Like, you read a poem that perfectly describes how you feel. Or Ateez releases Turbulence and you swear they pulled the lyrics straight out of your soul
GD: Mmmmmm. . . and love and belonging aren't actually that low on the pyramid. High I mean. They're not that high--they're in the middle
BobbyJ: But you can't really fully reap the benefits of that tier if you are starving to death. And self-actualization is pretty meaningless if you aren't connected to other people in some way
GD: I spend a lot of time thinking about self-actualization which I forgot was even on this pyramid. I'm looking at the pyramid now, obviously
Yes. Art is love and belonging. I've decided you're right. So they've traded in love and belonging for the two things below it
In the next paragraph, they say that the songs had "the power to attract people" which I think is interesting
BobbyJ: The "various fields" is interesting to me. I think of people in different lines of work. Like scientists, teachers, lawyers, etc. But I'm not sure that's what it means
GD: I had long ago been confused about who the black pirates were and how they related to halaateez, but this line makes it pretty clear that halateez sort of inspired other people to get out of Z's control, and then those other people formed the black pirates
BobbyJ: Right. Halateez are "men wearing black fedora.” The Black Pirates is the name of the resistance
GD: Halateez "stimulated" them. Which, with what we know from Halazia, makes sense that the resistance seems to venerate them? Because they weren't necessarily a part of, and well known, to the resistance. They were merely the inspirational rallying cry. Does that make sense?
BobbyJ: Like Katniss. Not everyone knew her but they knew OF her
GD: Yes, and I'm interpreting Halazia as showing us what Strictland thought of halateez, not that halateez appear in the MV because I do not think they do.
Back to your point, what do you think people from various fields means if not different positions?
BobbyJ: I wondered if it meant more physical location. Although, if you have people with different skills and specialties, it would explain how the resistance is able to start fighting back
GD: Do you think it could mean something similar to stations too? Like, young, old, rich, poor, etc
BobbyJ: Could be.
GD: Skipping to the last line, we have Hwa sort of repeating a line similar to Hongjoong's in the first entry? What's important is getting back home. And they can't do that now
BobbyJ: Right. They haven't grasped their place in this story yet
GD: I read ahead because I couldn't stop myself and the jump is fascinating "we have to get back home" to "I won't come back home"
BobbyJ: I have also read ahead but a lot further
GD: Sounds right lol
BobbyJ: Because I became very curious about a different switch--how do they go from we need to get home to let's save this country
And I think I have an idea
GD: That is also the switch I was looking for
BobbyJ: This is way ahead, but after the Receiving of the Suits, in the very next chapter, San discovers the lost memories and feels "a surge of anger.” After that, Yeosang gets caught and all the drama happens with the museum and Yunho's brother. But I think that's the switch. I think it triggers San's empathy. And he spreads the agenda to the others
GD: I am very interested in what's happening with Yunho, but I suppose I need to save my interest for like 6 weeks. I do think we will need to cut this bible study in half
BobbyJ: Expected
GD: Well, this was a big page. It had a lot. We read some constitutions even
BobbyJ: Much was learned
GD: Do we have any more thoughts on the page? Or should we pick a patron saint to hold us to next week?
BobbyJ: I'm sure there's lots more to say. I just don't know what any of those things are.
GD: Perhaps we will have more thoughts on the page next week even. A double round of thoughts on the page
BobbyJ: Might even need a part 3
GD: I've been using an extra ES album to pin the postcard for my patron saint on my bulletin board, and I have appreciated it deeply. Hongjoong has been up for two weeks now
BobbyJ: I feel like the patron saints actually work. Except I didn't have one this past week and that probably explains a lot
GD: I kept Hongjoong, but I do think it would've been wise to have a refresher
BobbyJ: Let's just make sure we do it every Sunday, Bible study or not
GD: Right, even if we cancel bible study, a new, Very Important thing
So, this week, I need to finish the line edit of this book. Which means I need to focus and stay motivated. I think the boy I want to guide me through it is Jongho. I need his professionalism in the face of challenges and his commitment to doing the things that he doesn't like as much because he knows that it is part of his job.
Also, it's hard to think about anything other than his Immortal Songs stage, so I may as well lean in
BobbyJ: Let it be your battle cry
So. This is the last full week of classes. Which means a lot of work to finish off the semester. But, the list is so much shorter than it used to be. So that's something to be happy about.
But also, based on his condition today, I suspect that this might be the week I have to let go of Oliver. [Editor’s note: It was.]
And I think I need San. His ability to embody whatever moment he's in on stage. I don't fully understand how it translates, but I feel it's true
GD: Hmmm yes I think I understand, though I don't have the words either.
There's something about present-ness and humanity in there. I have always thought that San had a real ability to see the human-ness in others and to communicate the human-ness in himself. Which probably only makes sense to me.
BobbyJ: No, I think you're right. There's something extremely real about him
GD: I hope he helps guide you through what has the potential to be a very hard week
BobbyJ: Whatever happens, we keep moving forward. Which also feels very San.
-----
Thank you for joining us today. We'll be back next week with our Seonghwa Sacred Writing Practice. Have an excellent week, and may your personal patron saint guide you well.

Asking for a friend He’s really interested in getting a boat. Hesrented one twice a year the last couple years. So he knows they will like boating . They have 2 young kids and 2 dogs. definitely want a cuddi. They have family and friends we would like to have out sometimes too. So hes thinking a 30’r?
We have a budget of like 25k. Is that a good budget? Is there certain makes or models to consider? Any thing I should keep an eye out for? I have read through some posts and comments and gathered there is no crystal balls on the mechanical condition and expect to do work regardless eventually. I’m going to ask for a test drive.
Is there anything else you can think off. Any cutoff year it was made that’s too old? Lol idk I’m sure I sound green. We just don’t want to get a lemon . Is there an ideal middle class budget for a hood used boat? Maybe 25k is too little or to much?
Thank you very much

Being told to deal with the Sorcerers now by the shadowy cabal of Asgorath-worshiping monks, I proceeded to do just that.
Well, more specifically, I looked for wherever the hell they holed themselves up in.
The faithful of Bahamut shot me frosty glares as I walked around the city unimpeded, though I did very pointedly give them a very strongly worded letter about spying on me and ambushing me, and that if Nakk wasn't going to tolerate their shit, he wasn't going to tolerate mine.
Hopefully, that bought me some breathing room.
Now, the Sorcerers hadn't fucked off elsewhere, or I would have gotten a lot of questions as to where they went. They still operated in the town, still used their magic appropriately, so it wasn't like they were being assholes about it.
But, considering I was being warned about them specifically, shit was about to go down.
Now, I didn't go alone. Not specifically. I had my Warlocks move about, searching for any clues as to the whereabouts of the Sorcerers.
Naturally, they were extremely dodgy about where they were going.
But, the more we looked, the more we found clues, the more we got closer until we realized they were gathering under the Council Chamber.
So there they were, all nine of them, not counting the however many probably awoke due to my machinations. Nine Sorcerers, Nine Warlocks, and me.
They were gathered around some sort of sacrificial altar that was stained with blood, on which they were very pointedly bleeding on.
"You know-" I said, startling them and causing them to look at me. "-If you'd just been respectful to my Master, you might have gotten more than you could have ever dreamed of."
"Ruuk, what are you doing here!?" Goss hissed.
"Looking for you before you get yourselves killed." I said. "I've been warned twice that you were getting into some shit, and here I find you bleeding all over an altar that isn't even configured right, you fucking idiots."
They shared looks, first shocked, then angry. They started yelling, my Warlocks screamed into their heads to shut up, which caused them all to rub their heads.
"Which one of you has the highest Level?" I asked. "Goss? Taklak? Kashak?"
"I am a solid Level 4!" Molo bragged.
"That's it?" I asked. "Fuck's sake, I'm Level 6. I've been out there busting my fucking ass. We got invaded while you were playing fucking secret society! People died!"
"We wouldn't have lost anyone, if Kurtulmak gave us power!" Hagnar snapped.
"No, we would have lost more." I said. "If you actually cared about the Warren, you would have been out there, leading rather than plotting."
"Says the man who's clearly getting boosted by Kurtulmak!"
I strode toward them, my patience wearing thin. "I want to make something very clear now." I said. "You've wasted more time trying to get stronger than it took me. You think hard work hardly works? Hit me." I removed my armor. "I'm wide open."
They didn't do anything, they just stared at me with wide eyes. "Oh, this? This isn't armor." I said. "It's a sign of my fealty to my Master. Now, Hit me."
The spells were flung at me, and most of them did hurt. "Nine of you." I said, grinning. "And you couldn't even hit me properly. Kneel."
They began backing away.
"I said kneel!" I roared.
They all fell over themselves as they tried to kneel. They all looked terrified.
"I am going to give you exactly one chance to make up for your foolish behavior." I said. "I will call you out one by one, you will approach, you will kiss my hand, and you will swear your undying loyalty to me, your Imperator, and the Empire that our Master will raise. If you refuse, I will end your pathetic excuse for a life right then and there. And if even one of you attacks me, my Warlocks will make that scream in your mind feel like a gentle tickle."
I held my hand out. "Goss." He scrambled over to me and knelt. He took my hand and kissed it. "I swear my loyalty to you, my Imperator, and the Empire our Master will raise." He said.
"Good. Stand among my Warlocks. Arix."
One by one I called their names, and they came. They spoke their vows, all nine of them.
I put my armor back on and said, "Excellent. From this moment on, every hour, one of you will go to my Tower, you will pledge your fealty to our Master, and you will allow him to mark you such that you can never disobey him again." I looked at them. "And if even one of you tries to escape, I will track you down as easily as I have now. You are marked, each and every one of you. I will make your deaths as slow and miserable as I see fit. My Empire has no room for traitors."
"Yes, Imperator!" They said.
"Dismissed."
They all left, clearly trying not to piss themselves or run. I felt a wonderfully powerful sense of pleasure and smiled. "Warlocks." I said. "Continue about your day."
I cleaned up the mess the Sorcerers had made left the Councilor Chamber. I ran into Tallyn on the way out.
"Brother." He said.
"Sibling." I replied.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"The Sorcerers were trying to summon a Demon for power." I said. "Considering they tried to petition my Master for power as well- he denied them, rightly noticing they did not care how they got power- I threatened to kill them if they kept trying, ordered them to submit to my Master, whereupon they will be marked such that they will no longer be a threat to the Warren."
He stared at me in utter shock. "Did you-? Do you hear yourself?" He asked in a horrified whisper.
"Brother." I said. "This is an outright Demon we're talking about. We're lucky they're fucking idiots and didn't make their altar correctly, so they were just bleeding on a fucking slab of rock with pentagrams and shit on it. They attacked me. That on top of your fellow Paladins ambushing me and accusing me of conspiracy-" I gave him a pointed look, "-my capacity of mercy is very low at the moment."
"Ruuk... What happened to you?" He asked.
"You and your Temple tried to kill me." I replied. "For the sins of compassion and mercy." I shrugged. "I've tried meeting you and yours half way, I sought atonement out of guilt, to rectify what I had done. I've tried to walk the path of good, and the cold, simply truth is, you and your order have not given me much incentive to continue to walk that path."
He was silent.
"Tallyn." I said, taking hold of his hands. "I miss the days when you were the good brother." I was able to see the exact moment when his heart ripped right in half. I walked right past him. I was tired of his shit, and at that moment, I wasn't going to play his or his Temple's game anymore.
I took a deep breath to try and center myself, as I started heading back for my Tower.
"Has it become your mission in life to leap merrily from the slippery slope?" A familiar voice asked me. I turned around, coming face to face with a gray-scaled Kobold, behind him were seven others with ruddy yellow scales.
"You've certainly changed since I last saw you." Bahamut stated. "A turn for the worse, it would seem."
I gave him a reverential bow. "I take it the Fizban persona wouldn't work now." I remarked.
"No, it wouldn't." He said. "All your doing, it would seem."
"Indeed. My doing." I couldn't help but smile.
"And with such pride as well. Walk with me, and understand I speak with you only because what I have to say is important."
I nodded and walked beside him, his seven companions following as inconspicuously as a septet of yellow Kobolds could- which I had to admit was surprisingly good.
"I am not happy." He stated.
"I sincerely doubt you would." I replied.
"With you, I expected it." He remarked dryly. "My followers have been playing fast and loose with their morals, day by day, their actions speak louder than their affirmations of faith, and what they say is, 'We are only concerned with our own power'. Does that amuse you?"
"No." I replied. "In fact, it pisses me off."
"The gradual corruption of a sect of holy warriors disgusts you?" He asked, his tone carrying a hint of surprise. "For all your posturing about, you still manage to get things done, even if they're via less morally sound standpoints."
"Is there a purpose to this beyond chatting?" I asked.
"Yes." He said. "One way or another, this Warren will become a theocratic nation, your faith spreads like wildfire, while the faith of my followers tapers off. You've manipulated events such that you are winning, and my followers have nobody to blame but themselves."
We stopped in front of the Temples, he looked at them. "Kurtulmak is relapsing." He said. "And you are walking a narrow rope between good and evil. Between judicious rule and tyranny." He looked at me. "And unfortunately, in spite of my best efforts, it is becoming harder and harder to maintain contact with this world."
He paused, then added, "I will, of course, be supporting my faithful, trying to keep them on the correct path, but in the event they utterly fail, and the only option left is you, I would rather the lesser evil of you win than the greater evil that is my sister. This is not tolerance, this is ensuring that no matter what, the forces of good can always pick up the pieces."
"I understand." I said. "And Bahamut... I am sorry things turned out this way."
"Your apology is sincere." He remarked, surprised. "I am sorry for the way I treated you in Darastrixthurhi, I chose the wrong course of action."
"You don't deal in words, but actions." I said. "Therefore your apology is sincere."
"Within the mines, there is a yet-untouched vein of platinum in your Warren's mine, enough to supply enough holy symbols for my Clerics, and to forge one sword, fifth level down, three lefts, and at the far end. I leave it up to you how you will handle that information. And Ruuk, remember the entire point of you remaining down there was because you believed Kurtulmak could be redeemed. Do not forget that can apply to you as well."
He walked away, followed by his cadre of Kobolds.
'I sure as hell don't like his followers...' I thought as I headed for the mines. 'But I definitely respect him a lot more.'
My gear compelled me to do good, and right now, I was in a better mood. I gathered a few miners and told them to follow me. They did so hesitantly, but dug where I indicated. I watched as they dug maybe a half-mile before they yapped.
"There's ore here!"
"I know." I said. "Mine out the entire vein and take it to the Artificers. It's platinum, they're going to need it soon."
I left them to their work and headed for the Artificers. Once there, I had them gather around.
"You will be receiving a shipment of Platinum, once it comes in, you are to create enough Holy Symbols of Bahamut to equip each Cleric, as well as one sword. Once they have finished, you will deliver them immediately to my Tower. Do not tell anyone what they are. Understood?"
"Sure, but why?"
"Simple." I said. "I need them to get the fuck off my case and start realizing they're only hurting the Warren. Their God saw fit to speak with me, so it's in my hands whether or not they continue to measure out rope to hang themselves with."
It was several hours before the crates came in. I wordlessly picked them up and carried them to the Temple.
The Paladins were, of course, pissed when they saw me approaching. "Stop right there!" They snapped. "By the High Priest's orders, you are not allowed in here!"
"Your weapons and your faith isn't enough to stop me." I said. "Fucking try me."
I walked straight up to them, and my attempt at intimidation worked, as they backed away while I walked in.
Galax immediately noticed my entry, as did every Cleric and Paladin in the room.
"Who let you in!?" Galax roared. "I have expressly forbidden you from entry!"
"I let myself in." I said. I walked toward him, glanced around, and sighed. "Do you guys just not believe in tables, or is the whole ascetic aesthetic really this fucking sparse?"
"I am warning you, Stingtail, if you do not leave this Holy Temple, I will have no choice but to kill you."
I wreched the top off the crate I brought in, he glanced at them, then his eyes widened in complete shock. "What..? Those are..."
"Holy symbols to Bahamut, made from the vein of platinum I directed the workers to." I said. He stared at me, clearly incapable of comprehending what I'd done.
"Why..?" He asked.
"Because you've been playing fast and loose with your morals." I said, paraphrasing what Bahamut stated. "Even though you preach Bahamut's words, you've forgotten that actions are how you pray. You've become so enamored with bringing about the perfect theocratic kingdom of Bahamut, that you don't even realize you're telling the people you're only concerned with power."
I handed him the sword crate, which he opened.
"I want you to understand, Galax." I said. "Bahamut came to me and told me where the platinum was. I could have kept it secret, or I could have used it for literally anything else. Because as much as Bahamut was disappointed in you, he wasn't giving up on you. And as much as he's rooting for you, he understands if you fall, it's either the lesser evil in me, or the greater evil in Tiamat. And honestly? I'll gladly leap headlong into Hell if it means keeping this Warren safe. This is your last chance from Bahamut, and your last warning from me. Understood?"
"I understand." He said soberly. He approached me and hugged me. "Ruuk, oh Ruuk... I thought we had lost you."
"You did." I said. "And I'm not coming back into your fold." He let go of me. "I don't know what the fuck you need a platinum sword for, but whatever it is, if it's aimed anywhere near me, I'm exploding people's heads."
I turned around and left the Temple.
Returning to my Tower, I felt the anger I'd been holding in just melt away. I went upstairs and smiled when I was my Emperor was finishing up another armor set.
"That makes seven." He said. "Still far too little, but it's more than we had before."
"Tireless and industrious." I remarked as I approached him. I knelt. "I have news, some you likely won't like."
"Tell me this bad news first." He said.
"Bahamut decided to speak with me." I said. He tensed, his eyes widened as he looked at me. "Thus far, he's not particularly pleased with my... progress, but he's at least indicated he'd rather us winning over Tiamat." I paused. "He also told me of the location of some platinum. I deigned to give his worshipers holy symbols and a sword, as he had directed. As nice as it would be to have them fall under their own stupidity, we still need them."
My Emperor nodded. "There was no correct way." He said. "Keeping Bahamut less inclined to try and smite us is better than his Temple getting holy symbols. Was there anything else?"
"Yeah. I told them what he told me, he wasn't pleased with what they were doing, that they were acting like they only care about power, and that Bahamut came to me rather than them."
"I see." He said. "That devious old bastard."
"What is it, my Emperor?" I asked.
"It's unimportant." He said. "Was there anything else?"
I told him about the ambush, the Shadowscale Clan, and the Sorcerers- he indicated that a few had shown up and pledged their fealty to him, and that due to their transgressions, he ensured they would never disobey him.
"I made them some collars." He said, smirking. "Any time they go against my will, or they try something that will harm the Warren, it chokes them long enough to make them stop." He leered at me and added, "I should have done the same to yours. I'd never have it choke you, but the knowledge alone would have excited you, yes?"
"Not really, my Emperor." I admitted. "I'm terrified of choking."
"Is that so? All the better that I didn't, then." He looked thoughtful. "Tell me, was there any particular logic to your choice of giving Bahamut's Clerics holy symbols and a sword?"
I shrugged. "I don't like his followers." I said. "I told you what I said to Tallyn, I'm sick and tired of them being paranoid about me. Like, yeah, I admit that they have every right to be at this point, but when it was just you and me, they didn't even really give me a chance. It just felt like them going mask off and showing themselves to be no different than any other religion I've had the unfortunate experience to try."
"Yet you respect their God." He mused.
"Yeah." I said. "I do. Everything I've done out of spite was because of those hypocrites, every good word I've spoken to them was a challenge for them to get their shit together. I've never once done anything to spite Bahamut himself- though whether that was simple pragmatism on my part, or some latent desire to serve the first God to accept my challenge to prove they exist... I don't know. All I know is that I don't regret choosing you."
"As should be." He remarked. "These Monks, these followers of Asgorath, have you any thoughts on them?"
"As long as they are true to their word, I could see them having a place in our Empire." I said. "Having a group that's willing to deal with you if you go off the deep end and start oppressing the very people you started out wanting to protect is useful. At the very least, I'll potentially have a warning."
"And do you think Bahamut's Temple has a place in our Empire?" He asked.
"Maybe if they got their shit together." I replied. I looked at him. "My Emperor, was there ever a point you honestly considered compromise?"
"Yes, in honor of a fool who would choose to consign his life to a God he barely knew, simply out of compassion. I am ruthless, yes, I may be a liar when it is convenient for me, and I most assuredly will twist such compromise such that the letter, but not the spirit, is carried out. But when I make a solemn vow, I hold true to it. If you cannot keep a promise, nobody will believe you again."
"And nudging me toward evil?" I asked.
"You took the first step." He said. "Some actions transcend morality. Kindness to one's family, it is not merely good. It is an act that ensures survival, an act that builds trust. There is always room for kindness when it is deserved."
I nodded. "My Emperor... Do you see a place for Bahamut's Temple in our Empire?" I asked.
"Anything can have its place." He replied. "The only grudge I have held for him is that he- self-proclaimed Justicemaker- did nothing simply because our people were born of Chromatic Dragons. Perhaps in those days, we were born into evil, perhaps in those days, we were enemies... Yet they raged, knowing what Garl did was wrong... heinous even. It was targeted retaliation for something his children did first, for the natural result of- I believe the term is 'fucking around and finding out'."
"Good old FAFO." I remarked.
I heard the door open, followed by Molo meekly coming up the stairs. When he saw me, he looked terrified. He approached my Emperor and pledged himself, was collared, and sent on his way.
"Seven out of nine so far." My Emperor mused.
"Good, it means most of them got the memo." I replied. I heard the door open, then shut, followed by footsteps approaching us.
It was the Rogue from earlier. He knelt and said, "Master, Imperator, I am here to report that we have successfully managed to leave beyond the wall and enter our enemies' base of operations. We have managed to do this without being spotted. Our Leader is waiting for you."
I nodded. "By your leave, my Emperor." I said.
My Emperor nodded and I followed the Rogue down a street I've been on countless times, one that was open and public. I recognized the house I was led to as Nakk's, the rogue knocked, and the door opened.
"Councilor Ruuk, thank you for coming. I'm sorry to divert you just to fix some of my stuff." Nakk said amiably, gesturing for me to enter.
I simply nodded and went inside. The moment the door shut, he dropped the amiable demeanor and said, "Thank you for coming, Imperator. This way."
He led me into his house, then into a closet. I didn't expect the floor to move underneath us, but it led us down into a large room.
"You have a basement." I observed.
"This is my base of operations." He said. "This was where our sewer system used to be, cleaning it out was a headache and a half, but since we moved onto more sustainable means of addressing waste- Merti's idea to use it as fertilizer and the Artificers' Guild designing a means of filtering and cleansing urine being particularly inspired- we decided to make use of the existing architecture to ensure our stealthy movement through the town."
"That explains why nobody's really wised up to how you've been spying on everyone." I remarked. "What were your plans, before I found our Emperor?"
"Keep everything stable." He replied. I noticed there were a few Kobold Monks present among the dozens of Rogues. "Rogue, Monk, we're all Shadowscale." He said. "That being said, our Monks are strictly neutral, they made it clear they won't align themselves to a singular ideal, their only interest is ensuring the Warren does not devolve into infighting."
"As I've already seen." I remarked.
"They're happy with how you handled the Temple, though they can't fathom how you found the platinum."
"Bahamut visited me." I said. "I honestly thought he was being obvious."
"That would explain it." I didn't notice the Monk walking on my other side, but it sure as hell startled me. "You are here regarding the recent mission's success, we ensured nobody was detected."
"Our Monks do not identify themselves." Nakk spoke. "I don't understand it, but it's what they agreed was the right course of action, so we just go along with it."
"For the sake of convenience, you may call me Fox." The Monk spoke. "And before you ask, we have all elected to live apart from the Warren. We may walk the streets, but until things have achieved equilibrium, we will continue to observe from the shadows."
I nodded.
We came over to an area where a handful of Rogues were sat. They stood up as soon as they noticed us, and began casting spells to show the interior of our enemy's base of operations. It felt like a punch to the gut, seeing not only electricity clearly being supplied to them, but also having established sinks and refrigerators.
They glut themselves on what we struggled to provide for ourselves, things that needed miracles just to sustain us. Through tears of hatred, I spat out my incantation.
​
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I have super hooded eyes. They droop at the end. Every time i do eyes liner thete is a gap when i close my eyes or look down. Its a huge problem since im tall and when i look down people point it out .

Feels like the dumbest question ever, but I can’t imagine a better sub to ask than one familiar to such unique fabrics:
I’ve only just begun collecting nice clothing for the first time in my life after losing everything during the pandemic and subsequently focusing on my health/physique(-60lbs woot woot).
I now have a mountain of clothes and no idea what’s ok to hang vs fold. I’d specifically like to avoid damaging the shoulders from hanging (especially with the heavy bamboo soronas) but would prefer to hang what I can.

Context: You never thought you’d get so entangled with the popular kid, but after your last meeting they seem to be hanging out with you more and more. Until one day, they ask you out on a date?!
Words: 1262
Monetization: It’s perfectly ok to monetize and record any of my scripts, you can change pronouns and stuff around too! Just please remember to credit me! However, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PAYWALL MY SCRIPTS!
Notes: Beginner script!
A/N: I wasn’t planning on making a sequel to this lil script, but the lovely u/mab1981 (youtube.com/@relaxwithmab) was kind enough to commission me for a part 2! No pressure on any of the lovely VAs who filled the previous script to fill this one, though!
<< Previous
[My Script Hub] [Nyan’s Sound Effects Drive]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[trees rustle in the wind]
[soft humming]
“Hm?”
“Oh! Hey, you’re here!”
[they rush over to you]
“You didn’t run into any trouble on the way here, right? I was a little worried that the directions I gave you weren’t specific enough…”
[pause]
“Ah, thank goodness.”
“So! What do you think of this place? It’s nice, isn’t it?”
“The ducks swimming around on the lake, wind rustling through the trees, leaves crunching underfoot…”
“The picture perfect location for a date, eh?”
[pause]
“Hehe, no need to look so embarrassed. We’ve known each other for a month now, yeah? So there’s no need to shy away from me.”
[pause]
“You think it’s pretty here?”
“Haha, I’m glad you like it!”
[pause]
“Why did I want to take you here?”
“Hehe! I usually pass by this park on my way to school. I’ve always wanted to take a walk around here, but I never really had anyone to go with. I would usually just go to the mall or the movies with my friends.”
“Well… mostly ex-friends now.”
“But now, I have you! And you’re way funner to talk to than any of them!”
[pause]
“Hey, I keep telling ya, you don’t need to say sorry for something someone else did! And especially not if you’re the victim. I ended my friendship with those people of my own volition.”
“If anything, it’s my fault for not noticing what they’ve been doing behind my back.”
[footsteps as the two of you begin to walk]
(Gently) “I’m really glad you told me in the end.”
[pause]
“You thought I wouldn’t believe you?”
“Do I really give off that kind of impression…?”
[pause]
“... You thought I wouldn’t because I didn’t know you as well as I knew my… ‘fan club’?”
[they laugh]
“Well, in the end, I guess I didn’t know my fan club well at all. I mean… I didn’t even see them as fans.”
(A bit dejected) “... I saw them all as friends.”
[pause]
“Ah, it’s alright.”
“I don’t want people like that around me. People who put on a smiley face around the one they like but are cruel to everyone else? Those are the worst kinds of people.”
“Heck, you didn’t even do anything to them! Why would they choose to bully someone as awesome as you?”
“You having the courage to tell me about what happened meant that I got to cut them out of my life.”
[pause]
“Oh, yeah. Sure I still see them around school but they know that I want nothing to do with them any more.”
“It’s enough to keep most of them from approaching me again.”
[pause]
“Hey, what’s with that look on your face?”
[pause]
“... You’re scared that they’ll blame you for me cutting them off?”
“Why would they do that? It was their decision to bully you.”
“I didn’t even tell them that you were the one who tipped me off!”
[pause]
“... Oh…”
“Yeah… you’re right. If they were capable of doing that, then who knows what else they might do if they were scorned…”
“Well… if it ever comes down to it… you can count on me to take your side and protect you, alright?”
[pause]
“Of course I can protect you! If you ever need to, you can hide behind me and I’ll keep you safe! Just trust me!”
[pause]
“... Your laugh is really cute, you know.”
[pause]
“It is! I always feel my heart flutter whenever you laugh. It’s such a nice sound to hear, especially from someone as shy as you.”
“You don’t laugh very often, so it always makes me happy when I make you laugh.”
“It lets me know that you enjoy having me around.”
[pause]
“Hahaha! No need to cover your face around me, I know you’re smiling!”
[pause]
“But you are! I can hear it in your voice!”
“C’mon, let me see your smile, please?”
[pause]
“There we go. See? It feels great to smile, right?”
[pause]
“Well… I hope I can always make you smile.”
“I never want to see you act like you did when we first met again. Scared… hiding behind your book, always looking around like you’re waiting to be attacked by your bullies.”
“... I want to see you smile just like this, every day.”
[pause]
“Hehe, is my flirting working? You’re looking away from me again.”
[pause]
“Well I certainly hope I made your heart flutter!”
(Teasing) “We are on a date, after all~”
[pause]
“Of course I have to say it out loud! I’ll say it as many times as possible until you stop questioning whether or not this is happening.”
“The best way to remember something is to say it a bunch, right? In that case, I have to say it a bunch of times so that you believe me.”
[pause]
“Hey, I asked you on a date because I want to date you. I want to date you because I think you’re an awesome person who I’ve fallen head over heels for. There’s not a shred of dishonesty in me!”
[pause]
“Like I keep saying… you really are awesome. And I’ll keep telling you how great you are until you believe me!”
[pause]
“What do I like about you?”
“Oh, lots of things! I could go on and on about all the things I like about you. Buuuut, if you want a start…”
[pause]
“Like I said, I love your smile. It lights up your face and makes your eyes shine.”
“I love how passionate you are about what you love. It took a while for you to start talking to me about what you like, but once you started, you were so enthusiastic that I couldn’t help but enjoy hearing you talk about it.”
“You’re really observant, too! You noticed my bandaged hand as soon as we met up last week, and you always seem to notice when I’m feeling a little down, or even if I’m trying to hide a gift from you!”
[pause]
(Teasing) “Hey, I said I could go on! Do you want me to keep going? Should I tell you how much I love the way the sunlight shines on you?”
[pause]
“Ahahaha! Okay, okay! You think it’s cheesy, but it’s true as can be in my eyes!”
(softly, more serious tone) “So, have I convinced you? Do you believe me now, when I say that I really, really like you?”
[pause, wind rustles through the trees]
“Hey, you don’t have to give me your answer right now.”
“If you want to be friends for a while longer first, that’s fine. If you reject me outright… well, I’ll be sad, but I’ll respect your decision.”
“Whatever you think about me… I hope you know that I really, truly…”
[pause]
(A little flustered) “Hmm, maybe ‘love’ is too strong a word to use right now.”
[pause]
“Hahaha! You’re getting all flustered?”
[rustling]
“If it makes you feel better… I’m pretty flustered too. I mean, I was about to make a declaration of love when you probably weren’t ready yet!”
“So… let’s finish our date first, yeah? There’s an ice cream truck that usually parks nearby at around this time, and the nice lady who runs it sells the best popsicles!”
[pause]
“Sounds good to me!”
“Oh, but um… can I ask one thing from you?”
[pause]
(A little embarrassed) “Well… if you’re okay with it, I want to hold hands with you.”
[pause]
[you take their hand]
“Ah… your hand is so warm.”
“It’s a really nice feeling.”
[pause]
“Well… whether you decide to date me or not, I hope you remember that I’m always on your side.”
[pause]
“... Yeah. It makes me so, so happy that I met you.”
“Alright, come on! We don’t want to miss the ice cream truck!”
[running footsteps through leaves]
[fade out laughter]
~END~
Thanks for reading!

She breathed a tame and mellow air, Ensconced within her garden nook. In folds of jade she had the look Of ancient wealth; and, young and fair,
Her emerald eyes and earthen hair. Her fragrant brown-and-ochre flesh Suspired, as redolent as fresh And furrowed loam. Her silent stare,
As silent as surf-beaten rocks, Held fast as in her hands she held Her lovely well-bred face; and svelte Was she beneath her dangling locks.
She sighed— so tame and mellow here, Ensconced within her garden nook. She held a little purple book: And on the page, one fallen tear.
​
(inspired by an illustration from Oscar Wilde's "House of Pomegranates")
​
Feedback:
https://www.reddit.com/OCPoetry/comments/1403r7w/who_do_i_exist_fojmx6lx5/?context=3
https://www.reddit.com/OCPoetry/comments/13bb3h5/message\_to\_god/jmx7bil/?context=3

I have always felt the kids all had alternative parents. I knew they had an older person in their life who guided them in a way and gave them some perspective that wasn’t Ghallager living.
Carl - Luther: this one was the most obvious. Luther shaped Carl into a man the way Frank never did. He showed him discipline and that being a badass can be applied for good.
Lip - Youens: also pretty obvious. Youens was a worse alcoholic than Frank but he actually guided Lip directly with his education and opportunities but also indirectly by being an example lip could see with his own eyes of what he will be if he doesn’t stop drinking (unlike frank who lip never saw his fall from grace)
Fiona - Margo: Margo showed Fiona that there is a way out of the hood and that if she truly has entrepreneurial spirit she can be successful. Fiona had to work to get an audience and when she showed her strength by not selling for cheap, Margo respected her and pushed her in a right direction
Liam - LavaV: lavar and V were the only adult cultural connections to Liam. Through them he found an escape from the crackers
Debbie - Sandy and Ian - Ned:
This is where it gets weird because there was sexual activity that makes the dynamic less paternal but still these two adults gave the kids they were banging insite into a life they can live that’s not the south side. Idk these might be a stretch but lmk what you think

1. "I messed up a jump skydiving. I was able to correct the situation and pull the pilot chute for my canopy, but I was very, very close to having my reserve go off. The reserves are generally reliable, but it’s still nothing I want to test. Landed fine and then got a very stern talking-to for pulling so low."
2. "Just google 'Levey PCH,' then ask away…I’ll be very surprised if anyone can beat what happened to me. THANK WHOEVEWHATEVER you believe in for Apple, Scorpion, UCLA, and the LA County Fire Department and Sheriff's Department."
3. "Minutes before it happened, I was under the Cypress structure that collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in California (which was a magnitude 6.9). I was traveling north underneath the double-layered structure and felt creepy and claustrophobic on the brightest day. I raced to get out, as I always did, because I hated being under it. After getting out, I felt like my tire had gone flat and started to weave around in my lane, then I noticed that everyone else was losing control and hitting their brakes too. That was the earthquake. I didn't find out until later about the collapse, and felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I'd never felt so close to death before."
4. "I was rappelling off the top of the tallest building in Bangkok (200 meters, or 656 feet) as a promotional stunt. I was supposed to rappel down to the 10th floor, land on a small balcony, and then traverse over to another building. The wind shear off the building was enough to blow me 20–30 feet away from the side of the building. Picture a spider hanging by a thread in the wind. As I got close to the 10th floor, I noticed that my rope had been cut and no longer reached the balcony, let alone the ground. The rope was about 10 feet short of the landing. So, still blowing away from the side of the building, off and on I waited until I was just above the balcony and dropped the last several feet onto the deck. Super pissed but alive."
5. "Going to school in San Francisco, I got off the bus to get cigarettes and a soda at a liquor store. I stopped at the trash can on the way out to open my cigarettes and soda and walked half a block up the street when a crane fell off the roof right where I'd been standing 30 seconds before. The crane operator was killed, and half a minute earlier, I would have been as well."
6. "Although being an ironworker comes with its fair share of risk, as long as you don’t become too incompetent, things can be safe. But that is easier said than done, seeing as the days are long and the work is physically draining. One day, I was about 60 feet in the air rigging a beam to be lowered to the ground. I signaled the crane operator to 'cable up' (lift the beam), but the beam wasn’t budging. I decided to look down the beam to see what was wrong...BANG! Before I knew it, the beam broke free and came up at my face with about 2,000 pounds of force. It knocked off my hard hat and hit every edge of my safety glasses, missing the side of my face by a quarter inch. I thought I had died, it was so sudden. I should never have put myself in what we call 'the line of fire.' I’ll never forget how close my kids were to losing their father that day because I let my judgment slip. Still gives me goosebumps talking about it."
7. "I got hit by a car and walked away with no injuries. The Sunday before final exams during my last semester of college, I went to the library at 6 a.m. to study. At 2 p.m., I needed a break and started walking back to my car. At an intersection, I stopped, made eye contact with the driver of a car at a stop sign, and started walking across the street on a crosswalk. The next thing I knew, I was up on the windshield of a Jeep Grand Cherokee. He hit the brakes, and I rolled off the hood of his car and landed on my feet. I was so freaked out that I told the guy I was fine and left. Later that afternoon, I went to the hospital to get checked out and had no injuries. The doctor told me to buy a lottery ticket on my way home because I was so lucky."
8. "While I was doing the dishes, my hip bumped the dial on my stove, turning it to ignite, but I didn't notice, so the stove was leaking gas all night. In the morning, I could tell something smelled off, but I have a hard time smelling things, so I just figured it was some old cauliflower rice I had thrown out the night before. To deal with the smell, I lit not one, but two candles, one of which was right next to the stove. Later, after coming back from running errands, as soon as I opened the door, I felt instantly violently ill, like a migraine and the flu all at once. Probably 20 minutes later, I finally saw the knob on the stove and realized what was happening."
9. "One time, I was watching TV in my lounge room and I was sitting on the floor eating. We have a really big TV and we had an earthquake, but I thought it was a train passing by. It wasn't. I ran out of the room as everything started to wobble, and the TV nearly fell on top of me."
10. "I went to summer camp when I was 15, and for our last weekend activity, they took us to Martha’s Vineyard and rented us bikes. Now, I loved riding bikes in the park as a kid but had never ridden in the street. But since 'you never forget how to ride a bike,' I figured I could do it. I headed out and tried to go up a street that was very steep. I started to lose control of the bike, and I fell into the street in between a truck that was hauling a trailer (I fell in front of the trailer). I saw this huge wheel coming at me, and my leg was stuck from the fall. I screamed as hard as I could and hoped it wouldn’t kill me (others told me they heard it a few streets away). The driver luckily heard it and slammed on the brakes; I was scuffed up but otherwise fine. You can indeed forget how to ride a bike."
11. "I got hit by a train. I was living and working at a college that has train tracks running through it and only a stop sign before you cross them at the vehicle intersection. You had to cross the tracks to leave campus. I was headed to the gym in July, and the windows were rolled up and the AC and radio were blasting. I’d crossed that crossing a thousand times, so I stopped a bit, passed the stop sign, and looked right, but the train was coming from the left. Its horn blew, but I panicked when I heard it, so I hit the accelerator but braked immediately. I was already on the tracks. It only hit my front end and dragged me about 200 feet down the tracks. I only had a broken rib, three cracked ribs, and a pretty gnarly cut on my finger. The people at the next crossing probably thought they saw someone die."
12. "My last day of driver’s education class, we were just about back to school. We were all feeling pretty good because we’d passed our tests that day. I was in the rear driver’s seat and had a classmate driving, one next to me, and a teacher in the passenger seat. We went through a green light at LITERALLY the last intersection before school when a car blew through the red light going 55 mph and slammed into us on my side, just a few inches back from where I was sitting. It spun our car into the intersection and kept going! We were all concussed and had to be taken to the hospital, but that was it. When we went to retrieve my bags from the trunk of the wreckage at the salvage yard, the shop owner admitted he hadn’t answered my ringing phone because he didn't think we had survived, and didn’t want to break the news to everyone calling me. Two inches between me and being crushed alive. In driver’s ed!"
13. "I was walking to class one day, and the shortest route went under a viaduct. It had been snowing and melting on and off for the past few days. The viaduct is about 100 feet high, and just as I was about to walk from under it and onto the pavement, a 6-foot icicle fell those 100 feet and smashed into the ground in front of me. Suffice to say, I took that as a sign not to go to my lecture and turned back home!"
14. "I was asleep in the passenger seat of a car on a highway when we flipped going about 80 mph. We rolled a few times and landed in a ditch. Airbags did not go off, and I shattered the passenger-side window with my skull. I literally walked away from it and didn't go to an ER until a few hours later. I literally had a concussion and one teeny bruise on my right arm, but nothing else. The nurses told me that if I had been awake for the accident, my neck would have snapped and I'd have died immediately. Whenever I tell people, they're always stunned — imagine my reaction waking up to a missing side window and a crushed car and being fully functional! I feel lucky every day that I was asleep and still have my life."
15. "There was one time my sister and I were driving down a long road with a huge cemetery. I thought it would be funny to hold my breath because people say if you don’t, the spirits of dead people will haunt you or something. When I held my breath, my sister slowed down to torture me. I was a little annoyed, but at the stop sign at the intersection, this car going really fast didn’t even bother to slow down. They even swerved into our lane, so my sister had to barely dodge. I swear, though, if my sister hadn't slowed down to torture me, we would have been in a bad wreck. Now I’m not annoyed that she did that, I’m lucky."
16. "This isn't dramatic, but it's continued to impact my life on a daily basis. When I was 11, I was playing baseball with the rest of my gym class. We took a time-out to argue about who was batting next, and I stood behind home plate, staring into left field. Play resumed, and no one told me to move. The strongest guy in the class laid down a single...and hit me in his backswing...with the baseball bat...in the middle of my forehead. I suffered skull fractures and a brain bleed. To this day, I have anxiety driven by the traumatic brain injury. The neurologist said that the fact that he hit the ball saved my life. Had he swung and missed, I would have died."
17. "I was in college and I had just finished my last class of the day. It was a short walk to my car that consisted of crossing a pedestrian crosswalk on the street separating the school from parking. On each side of the crosswalk were speed bumps so cars were forced to slow down. At this time of day, a good number of students were getting out of class, and a large herd of us started crossing the street at the crosswalk. There must have been 30 of us. I was stupidly looking down at my phone and was walking rather slowly. I didn’t realize that I was lagging behind. Everyone else was on the other side and I was still in the middle of the street. At the same moment, I noticed a freaking DUMP TRUCK whizzing by in front of me. It was probably 1–2 feet in front of me. Either he didn’t see me still crossing or he didn’t care. After I got to my car, all I could do was sit there in silence for a while and contemplate what could have just happened. Even as I write this, I shudder."
18. "This is definitely not the craziest cheating-death story, but it was definitely scary. I was at a waterpark with my family, and I don’t do well with heat and stairs — something about the combination makes me faint. We went on a waterslide that uses tubes, and it was a long trek up. I apparently was so sick from heat exhaustion, I passed out as I was next in line and hit my head on the tube. If it weren’t for the tube, they aren't sure I’d be alive right now."
19. "It was during Christmastime, and my mom, my little brother, and I all wanted to go look at Christmas lights near the middle school. There was a hill and then a lane where you would wait for the light to turn green and then you had to turn left. Well, the main light had turned red, so it was our turn to go, and thank god my mom checked before going, because if she hadn’t checked, a truck would have hit us, going like 60 mph, straight through the side of our car where my little brother was sitting."
20. "I was 4 or 5, and we were living in Estes Park, Colorado. At that time, I was challenging myself to go closer and closer to a river they have there. I was caught by the current and would’ve run into several rocks and a waterwheel if it weren’t for my cousin, who reached down, grabbed my arm, and saved me."
21. "I survived hitting an elk in the Canadian Rockies and going down a mountain 15 times end over end, stopping 20 feet short of a whitewater river. I gave myself first aid. Doctors said I would never walk normally again and I'd have brain damage. I sent one of them a picture of me with three gold medals around my neck."
22. "In the fall of '15, I was riding my motorcycle to work on a foggy morning. A truck with an enclosed trailer ran a stop sign in front of me while I was driving on a 55 mph road. I was unable to stop, ran into the trailer, and was pinned underneath the trailer, being crushed to death. A farmer was on his dirt bike behind the truck going to meet another farmer for coffee who lived on the corner of the intersection. Once he realized I was pinned, he ran to get his friend and his friend's skid-steer loader. They then used the skid loader to lift the trailer off of me and began CPR. Luckily, right as they started, a sheriff's deputy arrived on scene and took over. I owe my life to those two farmers. If they hadn't acted, I would have died underneath the trailer, as there would have been no way for first responders to lift it off of me (it had thousands of pounds of equipment in it) in time."
23. "I've always been handy with tools and taught myself how to do things; I've been changing flat tires for anyone who'll let me. However, one day when I was about 18 years old, my buddy came over to chill, and he had his dad's brand-new Tacoma. So we chilled for a couple of hours, and when it was time for him to leave, we noticed that his front tire was flat, so naturally, I volunteered to change it (no prior experience with independent suspensions). I placed the jack on the frame and started to go at it — lifted the car enough to take the flat out. But when the fully inflated wheel was fitted, it didn't have clearance. My first thought was to get a second jack. Half my body was underneath the car, putting the jack in, when I heard a creek, and the next thing I knew, the car slipped. The car ended up with the front end touching the ground, and I got a big scrape mark on my shoulder. To this day, I don't know how or why I did not die under that Tacoma."
24. "I lived alone with my dog. There was a hole in my gas heater, so it was leaking carbon monoxide, but of course I didn't know that at the time. My dog woke me up one morning, barking and whining, and I thought she had to go out to potty. When I sat up in bed, I got so dizzy and thought I would throw up. I ended up passing out twice, once hitting my head on the bathroom cabinet, very close to my temple, and once hitting my chin on the toilet seat. I called my boss — the only phone number I remembered at the time. (This was before cellphones.) She called 911 and they came to get me. They figured out I had carbon monoxide poisoning, and I was in the ER for eight hours that day. The doctor told that when blood gases are at a certain amount, the victim goes into a coma, without fail. Mine were more than double whatever that number was. He said no matter how much my dog was barking, I should not have woken up."
25. Finally, "I was at the beach with several of my friends, my sister, and my mom. Mom was sitting on the beach watching us. We were around 11–14, I believe, but no younger than 9. Kind of out of nowhere, we started getting sucked under the water in a rip current. I was being sucked under the pier and slammed my face into the barnacles. We were screaming for help, but at first, no one came. As I was being dragged under the water and coming up screaming for help, I could see people just staring and could hear my friends also screaming for help. Finally, people started jumping into the water to save us, including my mom. She jumped in and instantly got sucked into the current but managed to grab one of my friends. She used her body to shield him from the razor-sharp barnacles."

Link to article

Honestly? I have no idea how to start this one. In fact, I don't even know if I should post this, period. My parents brought me my phone a couple hours ago, and scrolling through YouTube and Reddit doesn't do much to take my mind off of things. I might as well write my heart out, right? Maybe somebody out there can find my story helpful, insightful, thoughtful... I dunno. Anyways, I might as well get writing before another couple officers walk in, looking for some details that they missed the last time I told them about what happened on June 3rd.
This part isn't exactly central to the story per se, but I'd like to just honor my buds, say what I thought about them before I forget. These guys, to me, were like a second family. The type of guys you'd call to help get rid off a body, the type of guys who would follow you anywhere. I've known them since I transferred in 4th grade. Only pair of dudes that would give me the time of day in the entire school, Andy and Gabriel. Andy was a sort of short and skinny guy, but he'd talk so much you'd swear he was six inches taller than he was. He'd always go on like he was God's greatest gift on Earth, especially when it came to sports. He'd yell Kobe and miss a rebound, or tell us to call him Messi and miss every goal. Your typical jokester. We didn't start off as friends either. It was around the fourth time
in the Office for fighting that I got wise, looked over at him, glanced at his bruised eye, then felt my own jaw. "Hey, we good? I got my licks-" I paused to scratch my cheek for effect- "and you definitely got yours..." Andy just looked me up and down once, checked himself, grinned like a Hyena and that was that. I met Gabriel through Andy. He was the only one of us you could call a popular kid. He's good at Baseball, really friggin' athletic, tall, built like a milk truck, and kind. Super kind. Like you could just ask him for a french fry, or a slice of bacon off his burger or something and he'd just do it. Didn't expect anything back. Didn't say anything. He'd glance up and just give you whatever you needed, no BS. We were walking back to Gabe's house after a party at a Junior's house, some slacker that wears a bunch of fake bling to school and takes "bathroom breaks" to vape in the stall. Some dude destined to be handing you a Big Mac in a couple years, you know? Not exactly the shining example of morality, not that I would know. Anyways, I really only showed up to shoot the shit with my buds and for some "apple juice" in those plastic red cups. I was going to bounce when I figured out this dude who was hosting the party, Mr. "I'm too cool for school", didn't have anything that could get me plastered. As it turns out, Gabriel wasn't feeling the party either, and Andy was "having no luck with the ladies", (Giggity,) so we all decided to nab a couple of waters and cookies for the road and stepped out into a warm summer evening. (Seriously, Andy gives me pedo vibes sometimes)
It wasn't exactly dark when we left the house. It was that perfect time of night where there was red, orange and purple reflecting off of the clouds in the sky. I snapped a photo 'cause I'm that kinda guy, and we started walking. This neighborhood was one of those aging 60's neighborhoods with all of the one story buildings, rusty chain-link fences, crack houses, senior citizens, that sort of stuff. Perfectly square blocks and blocks of houses with the peeling paint, broken sidewalks, barking dogs, you get the picture. If you were to think of the neighborhood from the top down, it would be like a big square with about three streets of depth inwards, with a big forest in the middle. Inconveniently, the party was in the western corner, while Gabe's house was down a slope, on the exact opposite side, the east side of the neighborhood. Basically a big pain in the posterior. Now just to be clear, we couldn't call Gabriel's mom for a pickup because of the nature of the party, and we weren't really feeling like taking the shortcut path through the woods at night, so we took the long way around. about a quarter of the way down, like 10-15 minutes into the walk, the lights lining the street flicked on. Now, that didn't bother us too much, because Gabe's casa was su casa, or whatever. In short, we had spent a lot of time walking around here before. Anyways, when the lights turned on they sort of dazzled my eyes, and a whole thing happened with me and the sidewalk called tripping. I went down and cut up my hands real nice and both of the guys turned around to help me up. It took them a second to spot me, because the lights lining the street were spaced in such a way that they would have a sort of staggered area of effect when they turned on. I had happened to trip right in one of the dark spots, so like I said, it took them a second to get me off of the ground. I got up, and did that thing you do when your hands hurt after a fall and you smack them together and rub them against your pants.
"You good?" asked Andy.
"Yeah yeah, I'm fine," I said, still slapping my thighs.
I looked up and saw somebody standing underneath the closest streetlamp. They were positioned in such a way that they faced the road from the lip of the sidewalk they stood on, with their head cocked slightly way from us and down, like they were staring intently at a bug or something in the road.
they guys must have seen me gazing off into the distance and they turned around to stare with me. the figure was around 20 feet away, right underneath the halo of light that the streetlamp made. they were wearing an old ice cream coat and uniform, like something out of the 60's. The folded cap on their head at a jaunty angle, a shock of slicked back golden hair just underneath it.
"Whaaaaat theeeee fuuuuuuck..?" I whisper to no one in particular.
When did he get there?
We had started walking towards the man, transfixed, and stopped just outside of the light's reach. He looked gaunt, sickly, almost. His mouth was pulled into a thin customer service sort of smile. the uniform he wore was a bit dirty, with a twig or two hanging from his pants like he had been running through the forest or something. that something on the ground seemed to be pretty interesting to him, so we all turned to try to sot what was capturing his attention. Looking back, I should have known right there. Have you ever seen someone doing or wearing or saying something that had compelled you to stare at them? Like a junkie downtown or some dude wearing a sign saying the end is nigh? And do you remember how you tried not to stare but kept that person in your peripheral vision, because they were interesting or suspicious or whatever? That's exactly what this guy was doing. He was looking at us. We never even noticed. Anyways, we hadn't seen anything on the ground so we looked back at this dude. BOOM! Instant time-out. Somewhere in that quick glance when we weren't paying attention, his head snaps up and locks us with this piercing stare. Now my heart's going a mile a minute. Fight or flight's kicked in and I tense up. my hands come up and I'm making fists. Meanwhile, the rational, thinking part of me is analyzing this guy. He hasn't broken that unnerving, artificial customer service smile. in fact, it looks almost wider, almost hungry. that's not the worst part. there's blood on his left thigh, black now after so much time. His eyes. I'm going to remember those eyes 'till the day I die. Even at night, his pupils were a darker black than anything in the world had any right to be. All consuming, omnipotent, soul-seeing eyes. The killing intent radiating from this thing was overpowering. Time-in.
"Jesus Christ!" Gabe barks.
It's the first time I've heard him swear. Andy's transfixed.
"What's the game plan?" I say, surprising myself with the icy calm in my own voice.
Andy's practically talking to himself. "I-I think we should-" he swallows audibly- "go around?"
The light creates an invisible barrier between us and the man-thing. we shuffle along the edges of each streetlight's effect. The neighborhood goes silent, save for a slight breeze along my back. every time i glance towards the ground to make sure I stay out of the light, he seems to get closer. of course he doesn't in actuality, because every time I look up in fear, he's still standing there, right there on the curb. We finally make it around that first light and turn around to face the second one. He's right there. Right on the border. that invisible line that separated the living from the dead.
Andy falls backwards. His arm falls into the light and instantly it's upon him. it's nails have turned into long, wicked claws. They rip into his upper arm and shoulder. It managed to nick his artery before we pull him out of the light. Andy is screaming bloody murder and I take off my shirt and tie it around the worst around the worst of his wounds. An uncaring, cold part of me surveys the damage and notes that Andy is unlikely to live more than an hour without emergency care. I hate that part of me. I hate how in that time of crisis, I could come to terms with one of my best friends dying to a freak on the street. Did it even matter? those years of friendship, now that I look back? That's one of the reasons I'm writing this story I guess. This story is me caring, right? The fact that I'm writing this shows I care, right? Anyways, in that instant I know we're screwed. there's no way we can get Andy back to Gabriel's house in time if we have to deal with this thing. The Ice-Cream Man surveyed his work as Gabe tried calling his mom for the fourth time. Andy had stopped screaming and passed out. I ended up holding his hand, staring up at this monster. It seemed to enjoy hurting us, enjoy it's handiwork. I grimaced and turned to Gabriel.
"Time to go, dude." Gabe looked up at me, still holding his buzzing cellphone to his ear. there was desperation and shock in his eyes, and I guess it was the same for me too. "We've got to go."
I made it clear this wasn't a conversation to be having.
It's sort of an open secret that I'm the thug of the school. At least, that's what everyone else thinks. It's not like I'll try to rob you or anything, but everyone knows that time I bent a kid's knee backwards. I didn't get into major trouble because of it, due to the fact there was a recording showing three guys ganging up on me, hurting me. I didn't have to make that kid a cripple, but I did. I got beaten for a year and a half, by those same three guys, and it all came out at once. I wanted to hurt him, and I did. but when you do that to someone, no matter how justified, people treat you different. especially when they're the same people who watched me get punched, and kicked, and hit, and put down. In a heartbeat, I was an untouchable. No more social life. No girlfriend, or anything like that. So, my only friends on this earth were Andy and Gabe. Blah blah blah, I'm sure you don't care about the sob story screw-up called my life. Anyways, the important part is that Gabe knew my business voice when I spoke.
"Okay, here's the idea." I glanced over to Mr. Freak. "We're going to take the forest path. It doesn't have any lights, so we'll be fine. if we move fast on the downhills, we can make it to your Mom's house and go to the hospital before..." I spared a glance to looked at Andy's face. he looked like he was sleeping. I felt around for his pulse.
He was still alive, thank God.
Gabe looked like he wanted to say something, and I knew exactly what he wanted to say. We were going to cross that bridge when we came to it.
We had, like I said, been around the block before. we made it to the trailhead, with that thing following us all of the way. jumping from streetlight to streetlight. The streetlight that would normally light the signpost and path into the forest was out, and it had been for years. That wasn't the issue. The issue was that the exit, the exit that was a short jog away from Gabe's house, had been replaced just last summer. we both knew that it was very likely that someone wouldn't make it. Gabe hoisted Andy into a fireman's carry, and we started our descent down the hill in silence. I made a sparing glance backwards, and there the Ice-Cream Man stood waiting.
It was hard keeping track of which trail we were on and where to turn in the pitch dark. It was around 10:00 now, and Andy seemed to get worse as time went on. We almost got lost a couple times, and we had to double back every now and again too. Gabriel and I said nothing as we went downhill. We said nothing when we saw the trail outlet at the bottom of the hill. We said nothing when the Ice-Cream Man appeared right underneath the lamppost. The sign read; "Rubicon Valley River Loop: 1.1 mi". We came right up to that invisible border again.
"I'll go first."
"Will you? We both know-"
"Shut the hell up and listen to me."
Gabriel. He was good at Baseball, really friggin' athletic, tall, built like a milk truck, and kind. Super kind. Like you could just ask him for a french fry, or a slice of bacon off his burger or something and he'd just do it. Even if there was a deadly monster chasing you, with his Mom's house just a short jog away. Even if you were willing to fight it instead, even if it didn't make sense for him to stay behind. Even if he knew you wouldn't want to keep living without him and Andy. Didn't expect anything back. Didn't say anything. Even though I'm writing this story just 6 hours later, I can't remember for the life of me how I got across that halo of light without him right behind me. Gabe's Mom flew down the porch when I rounded the corner of the cul-de-sac. I bet she was wondering why we were home so late, why Gabriel wasn't with us, why I was staying clear of the streetlights.
I remember her asking me where her niño was.
When I woke up in the hospital, the police asked me where the wolves attacked us. I didn't correct them. What was the point? I assume they knew what was actually out there. After all, wolves bite and tear. It was just a line for the news stations. Turns out I was raked across the back by a wolf too. The doctors told me I was very lucky. They said if Gabe's Mom was a second slower getting us to the ER, I would have ended up like Andy. I feel cold. I haven't been crying. Do I even care? I feel like I'm a horrible person. I hope that I'm allowed to go to their funerals, pay my respects. My Dad has a Machete hidden under the bed. That Ice-Cream Man better be counting every second he has left, because I'm going to do more than bend his knee backwards next June 3rd.

There was this recent thread that was widely lampooned, and I do believe it was written very abrasively while making unfair, childish, and offensive generalizations of large swaths of America. As a multi-generation American, I could easily make ignorant and offensive generalizations of Europe.
That said, the central argument about abortion access being a dealbreaker for schools and jobs in red states is a completely valid one. To quote a comment in that thread: "someone said you can just cross state lines if you wanted to get an abortion — lmfao that is so not true, the states are MASSIVE and crossing state lines for healthcare can have SERIOUS impact to your ability to receive care." Birth control isn't completely foolproof, and some Republicans are trying to restrict that as well. Some Republican states are also trying to punish women who go out of state to receive an abortion (similar logic as the Fugitive Slave Act before the Civil War).
Personally, I chose Johnson over Fuqua precisely because I did not want to live in North Carolina, where the abortion laws are extremely regressive. Pre-Roe, I was eying Miami as a post-MBA destination due to having personal ties there. And I have completely ruled out Florida now. Abortion is going to be a catalyst for serious brain drain, with many women leaving red states in favor of blue ones. Yes, the red/blue split is mainly rural vs urban, with cities still being liberal even in red states. But it doesn't matter a ton if your city is liberal if your far-right state government imposes its extreme anti-abortion policies onto you.
And it's not just me. The overwhelming majority of Americans support Roe V. Wade & abortion rights. Pro-lifers are only a small slice of the electorate, a far-right minority who has imposed their will onto America. And among women at large, wanting to ban abortions is extremely unpopular.

Their scorn turns to frigid fear: two black ravens did appear, cane became a mighty spear, from his hood a lone eye peers.

Hello, I have finally gotten 32 colors submitted by people, myself included :)
Thanks to all those that have submitted a color:
1nsan1ty-1n-Pr0gr3ss, Asleep_Pen_2800. Awsome_N3rd, bargainbinelbow, CandySunset27, CatsAreYe, Christmas_Missionary, ClockButTakeOutTheL, colby6666, coldroom234, DBL_NDRSCR, Desperate_Advice_652, gabrielminoru, IIDSIIScorpion, Jacker1706, KingAdamXVII, lazygenius999, Loser872, MZ_swaggo, Moostcho, NotASixStarWaifu, OveroraptorBoi, Overused_Toothbrush, RaniTheUnique, Shite_Eating_Squirel, simplysimplec, Slalop, sovLegend, TheGodOfOnions, TreeFromBfb, violet-quartz, and Win090949
You can view the colors here
These are the colors:
User submitted:

1. Clickbait Green - #10e310 (u/ClockButTakeOutTheL)
   
2. Razzmatazz - #ea1962 (u/sovLegend)
   
3. Light Blue - #17aeea (u/TheGodOfOnions)
   
4. Little Girl Pink - #f8b9d4 (u/NotASixStarWaifu)
   
5. Black Forest - #004e1a (u/DBL_NDRSCR)
   
6. Tint of Love - #fe0576 (u/RaniTheUnique)
   
7. Eye Burn - #5600ff (u/IIDSIIScorpion)
   
8. Estrogen Pink - #f5a9b8 (u/MZ_swaggo)
   
9. Dark Cyan - #008b8b (u/Jacker1706)
   
10. Macaroni and Cheese - #f0ba26 (u/OveroraptorBoi)
    
11. Not Violet - #3060c4 (u/CatsAreYe)
    
12. Light Cyan - #a7eaec (u/Desperate_Advice_652)
    
13. Missionary Green - #2eb046 (u/Christmas_Missionary)
    
14. Night Sky - #070b36 (u/colby6666)
    
15. Schmeagol, the Unworthy - #72ded5 (u/Overused_Toothbrush)
    
16. Aquaneon - #00ffbb (u/Asleep_Pen_2800)
    
17. Brown Smoke - #ccb0b5 (u/Moostcho)
    
18. Offputting Brown - #493a18 (u/lazygenius999)
    
19. Peachpuff - #ffdab9 (u/coldroom234)
    
20. Otherworld Wine - #4b3657 (u/violet-quartz)
    
21. Jimothy, his Orangeness - #dd571c (u/Shite_Eating_Squirel)
    
22. The Seventeenth - #0a3a4a (u/bargainbinelbow)
    
23. Night Fire - #ec4410 (u/KingAdamXVII)
    
24. Sunshine Orange - #f48037 (u/Slalop)
    
25. Essence of Awesomeness - #4976bf (u/Awsome_N3rd)
    
26. Haha Funny - #b00b69 (u/Loser872)
    
27. Toothpaste - #07faf2 (u/TreeFromBfb)
    
28. Blorb - #8672ef (u/gabrielminoru)
    
29. Bright Aquamarine - #0be9b6 (u/CandySunset27)
    
30. Phrenophobia - #05204a (u/1nsan1ty-1n-Pr0gr3ss)
    
31. Platinum - #e5e4e2 (u/simplysimplec)
    
32. Komorebi Green - #30893b (u/Win090949)
    

Colors added by me:

1. Mardi Gras - #880085
   
2. Pineapple - #e6ae25
   
3. Carmine - #960018
   
4. Volt - #ceff00
   
5. Coffee - #6f4e37
   
6. Stop Red - #cf142b
   
7. Safety Yellow - #eed202
   
8. Clover - #3ea055
   
9. Absolute Zero - #0048ba
   
10. Buff - #daa06d
    
11. Fossil - #cac2b7
    
12. Imperial Purple - #66023c
    
13. Watermelon - #fc6c85
    
14. Atomic Tangerine - #ff9966
    
15. Carrot - #ed9121
    
16. Aureolin - #fdee00
    
17. Radioactive Green - #2cfa1f
    
18. French Violet - #8806e
    
19. Caramel - #85461e
    
20. Razzle Dazzle Rose - #ff33cc
    
21. Laser Lemon - #ffff66
    
22. Pistachio - #93c572
    
23. Zaffre - #0014a8
    
24. Pearl - #eae0c8
    
25. Titanium - #878681
    
26. Dark Chocolate - #490206
    
27. Sponge - #fdfe03
    
28. Skobeloff - #007474
    
29. Onyx - #353839
    
30. Vodka - #bfc0ee
    
31. Robin Egg Blue - #00cccc
    
32. Shampoo - #ffcff1
    

I haven’t completely figured out the tournament arrangements, but I do have a few things figured out
Round 1 Matches will all be a user’s color vs a color I added, meaning Round 2 and beyond will consist of either 2 colors added by me, 1 color added by me and 1 user submitted, or 2 user submitted (I personally find the last of those 3 to be the most interesting)
Whenever a users color is competing, I’ll ping them in the comments (if you really REALLY don’t wanna be pinged for whatever reason just let me know and I won’t ping you)
I’m also changing where the colors can be viewed. RIP comment colors, I’ll now include the colors in the posts, and in addition I’ll include a “progress bar” of sorts of the color that have made it through
There’s a few more things in relation to the winners but I’ll address that in my next post
^{one last small thing: I realize now that “Google Boysenberry” was never meant to be added due to having an invalid hex code submitted by the user, but I accidentally included it in visualizations. Sorry u/Less-icream-4504}