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If mana was money, I’d feel an awful lot like Scrooge McDuck right about now. With Jackie off exterminating mice like it's going out of style, I find myself practically swimming in the stuff. I even grew in size! No longer just a green shard, I’ve matured into a small ovoid gemstone, like what you might find in somebody’s jewelry. I’m still the same green color as before, but now I’ve also got a streak of gold light bisecting me lengthwise. I look rather similar to a cat’s eye emerald now that I think about it, if said gemstone could glow from an internal light source that is.
Regardless, now that my life is out of immediate danger I've got to find something else to work on. Looking around my domain results in 3 different options to sink my mana into currently.
First off, my new scions. When I spend a smidge of mana focusing on Jackie, I'm given a more detailed pop-up than before that looks like this:
[Jackie: Lvl 3
Special abilities: None
Magic Affinities: Life, Wind
Titles: None]
Hmmm? Wait, lvl 3 already? What a busy bunny you are Jackie! Kinda excited about the mention of magic too, but we'll get to that later. More important, is the fact that under all that info I've also got the option to 'upgrade' her with the mana she's accumulated for me. Having stronger scions can really only lead to good things, so I happily oblige. Interestingly, even after upgrading her a few times, it doesn’t seem to affect her level at all. Instead, it's her base attributes that seem to have been raised, since she’s definitely moving faster and has a larger mp bar than before. I wonder if having an upgraded baseline like this will allow her to grow faster as she levels up. Well, only time and observation will tell on that front. Regardless it's clear to see that I’ll get a lot of value out of prioritizing my scions.
Speaking of priorities, I can’t help but feel a bit guilty as I turn my attention to my frog scion. Poor guy was spawned first but I haven’t even given him a name, so it’s high time I rectify that. Problem is, what to call him? He doesn’t have a clear role yet like Jackie either, which I’m certain now contributed greatly to why she took so much longer to spawn. Despite my negligence, I find him diligently commanding the other frogs and even some rabbits around like a seasoned professional. While I was busy fawning over Jackie, he’d completed my task of clearing the area of loose bugs and was now setting up patrols for my entire perimeter to sweep for other problems.
What a reliable guy! Someone this calm and capable definitely deserves an appropriately cool name. Unfortunately, as soon as I thought of capable frogs the only thing that would come to mind are the many depictions of frogs in tuxes. On top of that, picturing everyone in tuxes just made me think of the godfather movies, so now my brain is stuck on the idea of a frog mafia and it won’t let go.
“Eh, whatever. They say it's better not to overly agonize over names anyways, might as well go with my gut. From here on out Imma name you Giorno! I’ve no idea what future adventures will be in store for us, but I’ll be sure to count on you when they come, no matter how bizarre they may be.”
I give him the same number of upgrades as Jackie and then leave him to do his thing. Next stop, the spawners! Unlike when I upgrade my scions, these actually increase in lvl, presumably to spit out relatively stronger minions, eh-hem, I mean denizens. Interestingly, each level seems to swap between increasing the quality of the spawns, and increasing the quantity of them. I'll leave them both at lvl 4 for now, don't want swarms of critters with nowhere to go and nothing to do after all.
And now for the main event. The final option I found to upgrade was none other than yours truly. It's a very expensive option compared to upgrading my scions and their spawners, but it'll let me expand my borders quite a bit. If I'm a mana-making factory then the factory must grow I say! Now the only question is, which way to go? I've got the option to expand up, out, or down, and each one holds their unique pros and cons.
I'll go ahead and cross out down for now. Something tells me that I'll be sure to run into problems with enemies potentially digging around everywhere, and I'm in no mood to make my new Sanctum utterly useless. Going up would certainly be a promising option, especially since that gives the most space per mana spent, but I'd rather wait on getting into the tree's heights until I at least encompass its base I think.
So that just leaves me with outwards. Considering it looks like it'll take a couple expansions to get around the tree anyways, I think I'll focus instead on finding out what kinda body of water it is that I'm sitting on. The other benefit of expanding into the water first is that I don’t actually know what may come with the new territory, but by keeping any surprises limited to the water, I’ll remain safe and secure in my sanctum regardless. Pretty smart right?
With a fwhoosh my borders balloon outwards, and I now find myself the proud owner of some percentage of a lake. It’s unclear just how much I have since despite the size of my expansion I didn’t encounter any new shores, just more lake. The portion I have at least stretches on for more than a mile, and goes almost as deep with little sign of stopping. In fact, the only reason I can confidently call this a lake and not a sea is the lack of salt in the water.
What is in the water though, is fish, and lots of them. I was never one for fishing in my past life though, so I’ve got no idea of their species nor how to really define them besides green and scaly. My UI isn’t much help in identifying my new denizens either, as all it says of them is [Fish, lvl 1]. Well, I guess it doesn’t matter too much, it’s not like their species name would help me decide what to do with all of them anyway. It’s surprisingly peaceful in the lake, with no signs of predators or invaders anywhere. It’s enough to make me paranoid honestly, compared to the chaotic battle on land this lake is far too quiet.
I end up waiting for about an hour before finally letting myself relax in the calm atmosphere. I guess it’s safe for now at least, so might as well think about what I want to do about my new fish spawner. Ideally, I’d like to give each of my scions are more clearly defined role when they start out, so the question is what do I want from my little fishies? Ruminating on roles has me thinking back to my days spent enthusiastically on teambuilder style gacha games, much to my best friend Judithe’s chagrin. I would adamantly defend my spending by extolling the fun inherent to collecting new units, upgrading them into powerhouses, and designing a team that synergizes well with each other. Now that I think about it, my current circumstances aren’t all that dissimilar to those games. It seems like it could actually be a lot of fun, building my scions up into a powerful party ready to take on all challengers. And there is one thing in particular that every team needs to be able to thrive.
“No matter how strong a damage dealer, nor how durable the tank, they cannot carry a weak team by themselves. Only a powerful support is capable of turning a mediocre team into a competitive one.”
I chuckle to myself, imagining the look of exasperation Judithe would always have upon hearing me repeat that line with each new game. But they are words to live by, and I intend to stick by them still. With the very real possibility of magic here in my new world, I suspect all kinds of buffs, debuffs, and healing will be possible. So with that role in mind, I turn to the fish spawner and then decide to push the envelope even further.
From the testing I’ve done with the rabbit and frog spawners, it would seem that I can only ever have 1 scion per spawner, as I’ve been unable to designate any more since Jackie or Giorno. But that’s only tested for cases made after the original scion has been born. What would happen if I tried to influence the spawner with the mental image of the designated scion splitting and developing separately like twins in the womb? I’ve got plenty of mana saved up at this point, and with the coast all clear of danger, I decide that the only way to know is to find out.
[Designate Scion?]
I make a mental note that the UI has updated the prompt now that I’m aware of what the process entails and accept. Immediately I’m left reeling as first it takes the same amount of mana as Jackie had, then doubles it, and doubles it once more for good measure. The timer over the fish spawner now reads 4 hours, and I’m completely spent on mana reserves. Whether my plan worked or not, I think I can safely say that I won’t be doing that again; the mana consumption is just too great and too inefficient.
Naturally, it is at this moment that my presumptions of safety were laughingly disposed of. First, a handful, then a dozen, a now hundreds of forms flitted into my domain from beyond its borders. It was a large flock of herons, and each one bore the same title overhead, [Invader]. So much for the idea that expanding into the water would keep the potential enemies confined to it. Helplessly, I watched the horde settle in to begin the wholesale slaughter of their preferred prey, namely my poor fish and frogs.
Um, excuse me, police? I’d like to report a stalker named Murphy, and would very much like a restraining order, please. What’s with this absurd level of difficulty and atrocious timing?
Trying valiantly not to let panic set in, I get Jackie to rush over as fast as she can to protect Giorno from becoming dinner. Despite their size, herons should still have light and brittle bones due to being birds, so they won’t be in a rush to try and pick a fight with my most ferocious scion. Much to her frustration though, they don’t dare get in close enough range for her to pick a fight either, so Jackie is forced to stand helplessly and watch the massacre unfold.
I’ve got no mana, and no options left…No, I can’t think like that. There has to be a way out of this mess, some method or advantage to overturn the food chain. Looking at Giorno shaking with fury beside Jackie’s legs, it occurs to me that the answer is staring me in the face, but I’ll need mana to pull it off, and probably lots of it. Thankfully, standing at almost 4 feet tall these herons are sure to have plenty to offer, I just need 1 to pull off this desperate gambit, so it’s time to go all in. Since my frogs are getting eaten anyways, I get a handful of them to jump straight into the gullet of one of the herons, and then have them spread their limbs out and clog the blasted bird’s throat. It takes a few tries, but eventually, it collapses in a heap unable to breathe past my kamikaze amphibians.
The surge in mana lifts my spirits and I immediately dump it all into the frog spawner, searching for my salvation. After a few levels, I’m prompted to choose a specialization to permanently lock the spawner into, and with a shout of victory, I find just what I was hoping for. Poisonous frogs. The kind of brilliantly colored frog that spells doom for all that would wish to make it prey. I quickly queue up a line of them, and one by one they pop out into the fray, only to be immediately snatched up by an unsuspecting heron.
The cost of one frog, vs the giant quantity of mana I get from the resulting dead dodo-brain, is overwhelming in my favor, so the tides quickly turn in my favor. The unending aggression apparently inherent to all invaders actually works in my favor, since the birds cannot seem to help themselves from attacking my bright defenders, thus falling to the same trick time and time again. As the last birds fall and the waters grow still once again, the sun seemingly slips past the horizon and darkness falls, marking the end of my first, and very eventful, day in this new world.
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Previous Next>

(sorry if this is so long) I started a job at Whataburger about a week ago and i really hate it so far, i thought that working overnight would be doable and that there would be enough people staffed but i was wrong. i will say that i have major depression and anxiety, as well as beginning stages of an auto immune disease so i have chronic pain in my spine, neck, hips, and feet so its hard to manage long hours on my feet at a time, i’ve told this to my manager but she still puts me on for 8 hour shifts, 5 days a week and i don’t think i can handle it.
My first night there was an absolute nightmare, when i got there i was told that i should just shadow and that i was going to be training, and the first manager (we will call him viking.) was cool he was really laid back but there was only about 3 other workers and it was truck night where we have to put away boxes of food and stock that they bring. it was just me and viking and we were so low on food before truck came that we had to shut down the store. I had to help put all the heavy boxes away and even bruised my thighs because i was trying to use them to lift the heavier boxes and there is an older manager (will will call her Ellen.) who was working window and she was mean but it was due to stress, and i was already doing more than i should, i was doing the fry station all by myself managing fries, strips, fish, onion rings, and hash browns plus its awkward because the fry station faces the customers and they stare while i cook and sometimes try and pull me away to ask me when their food will be ready. Viking was the cook and he had someone helping on grill, there were so many orders that eventually i couldnt figure out which was next in line and so the orders started piling up and were taking forever to get out because there was so many customers and cooking the food takes a while. We had a lot of refunds because they had to wait like an hour before they got their food, and eventually i was so overwhelmed because viking was slamming his fists on the table and cussing about how the daytime manager (we will call her Alice.) had fucked him over and like idk i was shaking and trying not to cry, and i could hardly breathe bc of how anxious i was plus there was no break i went the entire shift without rest. i have to walk to and from work and by the time i got home my body was aching in pain and i was so mentally drained that i just wanted to sleep. For my second night i was too scared i started having an anxiety attack trying to amp myself up for the shift and called Ellen to let her know that i couldnt do it because of my anxiety.
After this night shift i talked to Alice and told her that i don’t think i can handle this type of work and she offered to train me on morning shift and i decided to take the offer to get training and see if i could make it work. When i came in for the morning shift (8:30am-5pm) it was an entirely different experience but i was told that it was only temporary and that i would be put back on night shift after a few days of morning to test the waters. i wasn’t overwhelmed as much because if was fully staffed (10-12 people) and i got to do bag and tag instead of fry station which was nice. it was kind of frustrating because i could tell that Alice was making sure her shifts that she was on schedule for were well staffed while night shift is left to fend for themselves and people are calling out left and right and i honestly don’t blame them. i was so close to quitting after the first night but i wanted to give it another try because she asked if i wanted to be put back on nights after 2 morning shifts.
if you want to know about my second nightmare nightshift i’ll make another post about it. thanks for listening, do you think i should quit?

Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most profitable entertainment franchises in the history of games. It came along as a return to form after what many fans would argue was a misstep with the more gritty and realistic GTA 4. Originally released back in 2013 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3—yes, it spans three console generations—developer Rockstar has supported the game's online mode with continual updates adding new content, new areas, and even all-new mechanics.
GTA V was such a runaway success—and GTA The Trilogy: Definitive Edition was such a dumpster fire—that Rockstar gave up working on a Red Dead Redemption 2 DLC, and has now reportedly abandoned plans to remaster more of its beloved older titles to instead focus on both further GTA Online content as well as the development of GTA 6.
gtaonline fukaru
Naturally, expectations for GTA 6 are incredibly high, and given the advanced age of GTA V, fans are chomping at the bit for any bit of news. That's why there's so much buzz around a report at Bloomberg that focuses on Rockstar's new corporate culture. Company co-founder Dan Houser left Rockstar in 2020, and ever since then the development house has been trying to reshape a corporate culture that the report refers to as being "like a frat house".
Given the nature and tone of the humor in the Grand Theft Auto series, it's really not surprising to hear that the atmosphere inside Rockstar was juvenile and chauvinistic. The report remarks that the workplace culture at Rockstar was "full of drinking, brawling, and excursions to strip clubs." That may sound like a good time to some, but it's admittedly not very professional.
gta1 katie Katie from the OG Grand Theft Auto (1997) on PC (left) and Game Boy Color (right).
As part of the report, author Jason Schreier casually reveals that GTA 6 will have at least two playable protagonists, and that one of them will be a Latina woman. This technically isn't the first playable woman nor even the first playable Hispanic woman in the GTA series; the very first GTA game featured a Latina named "Katie" as one of its eight playable characters.
Still, very few of the series' modern fans even remember the old DOS-based Grand Theft Auto, so we can forgive everyone for forgetting about poor Katie. Regardless, the new girl will apparently be part of a Bonnie-and-Clyde-like crime duo, calling to mind the partnership between Claude and Catalina in the beginning of Grand Theft Auto III. Hopefully the partnership between the new player characters in GTA 6 doesn't end the same way that one did.
Comments1Comments Support Independent Tech Journalism, Become A Patron! Tags: Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar Games, GTA V, GTA, gta 6 exp-player-logo
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KOwen 29 July, 2022
Release the PC version at the same time as the consoles please!
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Apparently they closed! We tried to go in to order a carry out and a Mexican place is setting up shop (hopefully they’re good!) Does anybody know when or why they shut down? They were the best Korean food in the area.

“A Rose by any Other Name” Part 4.5
(Part 1) (Previous Part) (Next Part)
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(First Chapter) / (Previous Chapter) / (Next Chapter)
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A Fanfic of u/SpacePaladin15’s work “The nature of Predators” Thank you for the story!
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Memory transcription subject: Elva, Emergency Responder
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Date [standardized human time]: August 21st, 2136
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NO. Stay calm Elva. You are just meeting your newest friend in person. This is easily going to be your favorite moment you tell your children about. How their aunty Trissa and I met today and started a lifelong friendship. Just remember what Papa would do. Take a long deep breath and breath slowly and state the facts, while remaining unbiased.
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“One. Humans detest the thought of eating a sapient creature.”
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Taking a long breath in.
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“Two. I have been talking to Trissa for weeks now, and not once has she been anything but kind and considerate.”
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Another breath and I could feel my pulse slow
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“Three. She is a medic just like me. Only instead of working on Xeno’s and others of her species she treats non-sapient animals to give them the best life possible, even feral ones that aren’t domesticated.”
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I didn’t need to take another steading breath. I felt almost giddy. The sound of something clicking down the hall rhythmically caught my attention. That had to be the boots Humans wear to protect their feet. That means… Trissa is here! I listened closely and it sounded as though one pair had just stopped at my door. Yet… no knock and it wasn’t opening...
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I stood up and walked to the door. Maybe she was nervous. They know how timid we are. I swiped my paw at the sensor and the door wooshed open as I exclaimed “Nice to meet you Trissa!”
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“AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!!!!”
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I jumped at the sudden scream coming from the large mammalian predator in front of me, but was astonished as she threw herself backwards from the door. Her eyes wide in fear. THWUMP! She landed on her tailbone, and just stared at me with a look of horror on her face.
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I stared back with almost an exact mirror. A scream from down the hall as other Venlil met their partners was distinctly higher pitched, so that must have been the Venlil partner screaming. I looked to Trissa and we both started to slowly realize that. I may very well have been the first Venlil ever to scare a human.
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Slowly a strange barking sound began to come from Trissa as her face bloomed red and her body started to bounce. It didn’t take me long to start laughing with her at the sheer hilarity of the situation we found ourselves in. Slowly the laughing grew and grew to the point we were both crying.
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I stumbled forward through the tears and laughter and held a paw out for Trissa, who happily accepted my help to stand up. We embraced each other in an attempt for both of us to remain standing and slowly the moment faded happily into memories. I noticed a venlil bolt from the room and run down a hallway, and tugged at Trissa to come in.
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“Let’s not stay out here. I don’t want this ruined by anything.” Trissa wiped some tears from her eyes and we walked into the room. “Is there anything you want to do before we have to go to the lab for tests?”
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Trissa looked to the floor and almost looked embarrassed but asked anyways “Can I uh… can I pet you?”
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My floppy ears tried to flick to attention but failed and flopped in my face, prompting a faint squee from Trissa, so I had to ask “What exactly does petting involve?” Trissa looked even more embarrassed as she responded “Well, It's a kind of way to affectionately touch someone. If I make you uncomfortable I’ll stop immediately!”
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I gave her a perplexed look “Why would wanting to touch affectionately be uncomfortable… OH RIGHT. Honestly I am feeling really comfortable right now so this might just be the best chance for you to do that!” I took a step towards her. “So how does this work?” Trissa took a step towards me “Well I am going to take my hand and gently place it on top of your head and gently message it.”
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And as she told me she followed her own instructions to the T! Just a moment later her hand was on my head and… OH BY THE STARS! That feels divine! Her fingers parted through the tan floof on my head and messaged my hide, her nails gently scratching in just the right place to make me involuntarily “mmmMMMUUUUEEEWWWWLLLlll!” as her hand found its way to right behind my ears. Slowly her hand dropped to the side of my face while her other found its way to my other side and she slowly kneaded my face like it was uncooked Strayu.
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I was visibly upset when my holopad’s timer went off letting me know this had to stop. I took stock of my situation and realized at some point I had laid on the bed as Trissa ran her hands through the fur on my belly, and only stopped when the alarm went off. Our eyes met for a moment and we both said no words yet promised to not mention what just happened in this room outside of it.
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I stopped them from strapping Trissa to a chair. I checked every part of it. Trissa started to look really nervous before one of the Venlil "Experts" spoke up "What? Are you doing?"
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I scoffed "I am making sure this isn't an electric chair." Trissa looked scared now, while the Doctor was visibly taken aback "W-wHaT kind of Doctor do you think I am?" I stood my ground and chided. "The same kind that shocks someone every day for years just because they are bit. I KNOW what kind of 'DOCTORS' your kind are. AND I am proud of my father who did his part to make sure bastards like you saw justice. I wouldn't be surprised if you were one of the monsters at THAT institution. SO I am making sure my friend is safe from YOU!"
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Trissa looked both touched and taken aback. The 'Doctor' just huffed and retreated away. Slowly I confirmed that they were just readings. Trissa sat down and I hooked her up. Before I left the lone Human scientist in the room walked over "I apologize but to make the others feel more safe I am going to put these straps on ok?" Trissa nodded her head. I walked over and put my paw on her shoulder and stayed at her side.
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Slowly the tests started. I had a feeling they were getting a baseline reading of her and then suddenly the images switched to a video. A few miscellaneous children of federation species were released from and metal cage. They didn't run until the barrel of a gun appeared in the frame and one of the children exploded in half and began to scream. I covered my mouth in shock. The other bolted out into the wild but were quickly caught by Arxur who sprinted into frame. I couldn't see anything but the video now. The screaming grew louder. One of the Arxur drugged the smallest child to the camera. They lifted the screaming and broken child up and.... and.... swallowed them alive.
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The screen was thankfully no longer visible as Trissa projectile vomited onto it and hid the rest of that horrid video. Trissa was heaving her breaths and barely holding herself together. I ripped the straps off and she pulled my in tightly. I could feel the fluids soak into my fur and I pulled her into the embrace with all the strength she had. I WAS GOING TO SEE THESE QUACKS ROT IN JAIL FOR THIS!
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After some time, we had both calmed down and distanced ourselves from what had happened. Trissa and I had cleaned up and retreated to our room. We both layed on the same bunk and just held each other. It was a sweet time and slowly we both recovered from the shock. I told Trissa of what happened to my mother. Trissa assured me, that no matter what happened. Humanity was never going to stop until monsters like that are gone forever.
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She told me something she shouldn't have. She taught me of the horrors of WW1, WW2, and even the Cold War and the Satellite wars. She taught me how the atrocities committed then stained the human mind, and set in laws to stop this from happening again. Humanity at one point could have easily become those abominations and that terrified her. "I am glad that the righteous prevailed in the end. I won't lie and say we were saints either. There is a lot wrong with our world as well and for some reason most people want to ignore it in favor of panicking over other threats. I am just glad that everything aligned for us to meet."
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The cafeteria in this station was hosting dozens of Earth dishes. I was confused at the sight of burning vegetables and fruits until I tried a glazed carrot and nearly fell to my knees in joy. I had only sampled a small portion of what was available as Trissa had gone into the kitchen to get some ingredients as she wanted to “make me her best friend sandwich” whatever that was.
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I sat down at a table and was about to take a bite out of a toe-mate-O when Trissa sat down with an assortment of jars, a loaf of weird looking Strayu, and assortment of fruits and a blunt knife obviously for cutting the foods she had, yet still spooked several nearby Venlil.
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“OK! I want you to try these separately before I put it together. The best friend sandwich had to be made by one person as the other guides them! First try this wheat bread!” She cut off a slice of the loaf and handed it to me. I took a bight and mushed it in my mouth, sadly the human Staryu had nothing on ours. It had a pleasant taste and texture though.
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“Not bad, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Strayu. I’ll need to get you some!” Trissa smiled and cut two more slices before giving me a dollop of ‘pea-nut butt-ur’. The taste was smooth and the nuts that were mixed throughout really complemented the creamy texture. “OOOO. I like that! It’s like a food form of an oxymoron!”
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Trissa gave me a giggle as she handed me a slice of banana and strawberry. I was surprised at how smoothly the banana mushed to my bite yet left a soft pleasant taste, and enjoyed the fruity crunch of the strawberry! “Oh those are both great!”
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Trissa had taken the peanut butter and spread it on one side of the bread kinda thickly before layering the sliced fruits on top of that. “Ok. This last one needs some explanation, but you do not have to try it if it bothers you ok?” She had my undivided attention.
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“This is Honey.” She held up a clear glass jar of a golden thick liquid. “It is made by an insect known as bees, who we get it from. NO BEES ARE HARMED TO MAKE THIS. In fact we keep bees safe by building them homes to live in!” oooo This is interesting! “The bees can leave at any point if they get unhappy and even know that we are going to come and take some of their excess honey, and I do mean excess. They make a LOT! So much that it would all go bad before they could eat it and the rotten honey could kill the hive!”
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Ok so humans protect the bees and the bees make honey as a kind of payment. “Honey is made out of flower nectar and uh… the bees um… the bee’s enzymes that they keep in their crop… They then put this honey into wax honeycombs for storage! It sounds gross but its very tasty!” She took a spoon and scooped some up and I cautiously tried it.
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IT WAS AMAZING. I didn’t even need to speak as Trissa took some honey and put it on the sandwich and cut it diagonally in half, a small drizzle of honey connected the two pieces as we both grabbed a half. “To new friendships!”
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We took a bite at the same time and the way all the parts collided together, and both remained distinct but melded together in perfect harmony sent chills up my spines. Each part was delicious on its own yet together they were more. I almost started to cry. This was going to be-
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The ship's siren began to go off. Emergency lights kicked on as the intercom called for all personnel to report to battle stations. “TRISSA! COME WITH ME! YOU ARE ABOUT TO GET A CRASH COURSE IN XENO FIRST AID!”
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I had straddled the burnt up human and was desperately slamming my weight down on his chest. I heard his ribs crack from the violence. Thirty-five times I slammed into him and finally the pulse stabilized, I hopped off and desperately began to coat his burns in fake skin so he didn’t die of a heatstroke before we could get him actual treatment. With him patched up and stabilized I cleaned up and walked over to Tissa.
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Her arms were in this pilot's chest. She pulled them out and held a large piece of scrap metal as I tucked my arms in and began to fill the collapsed lung with foam air to give it some structure and let the poor man breathe until he could get sent planetside for treatment. I left Trissa to close him up as I walked over to a new patient just brought in.
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I gently removed the helmet and set it on his chest. “Get him to the morgue.” I turned and left. His brains had filled his helmet. He was gone before he got here.
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Slowly we stitched humans back together, saving as many as possible. Slowly I released People to treat those with less serious injuries. Almost all of those cases were Venlil. Only two Venlil and one Human unaccounted for.
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We closed up the last human and got notice that they just recovered a Venlil that was adrift for the last hour. I cleaned up and had him brought to me. I didn’t bat an eye at the blue human. I shooed him out of my operating theater and took a look at the Venlil. “Minor CO2 build up. Minor radiation sickness from vacuum exposure.” I took an IV and started him on radiation treatment and gave him an O2 mask and sent him to wait with the least threatened.
​
I leaned my back against a wall and slowly slid down it. Trissa came over and did the same, she didn’t even look tired “I wish I had that stamina of yours.” She let out a light chuckle. “I wasn’t the one doing chest compressions for almost an hour!” We both shared a tired laugh.
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I hung up the call. I was not livid. I was not angry. I walked over to Trissa who scooped my into her arms and I just cried. No. I sobbed. From the way Rose sobbed into the phone from the one sided conversation I just had with my Dad I felt like my world was falling apart. “How? HOW?” I gripped Trissa even harder in the embrace. “He was a leader. He was the best Venlil! He was the bravest! He raised me when Momma was killed by the Arxur! He fought tooth and claw to try and make sure corruption and wrong doings were rooted out and exposed! He helped to bring those who would hurt instead of help to justice! I! I- i…” I just sobbed into Trissa’s embrace.
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This is part four point five to the “A Rose by Any Other Name” Arc! And happens to be the fifth point five chapter of “The Nature of Humanity! A multi arc story by me! Hopefully more in the style of NoP as a whole!
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I wasn’t originally going to do Elva’s viewpoint. I don’t want people to get attached to someone whose fate was already written and get hurt when time passes, but… things are different this time. Thank u/ImaginationSea3679! Now you guys get this viewpoint to really dig the knife of tragedy in! Don’t worry buddy. This is still a story about healing. Just have faith, I got ya!
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As with all of my fanfics this is considered creative commons by myself so feel free to grab anything from my stories to use in your own works! I would appreciate a shout out for this but that isn’t required.
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“The Nature of Humanity” (First Chapter) (Previous Chapter) (Next Chapter)
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“The First Human Extermination Officer” (Part 1)
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“A Rose by Any Other Name” (Part 1) (Previous Chapter) (Next Chapter)

I pulled a mother cat and her kittens that were born in an open utility box and then moved by mom to the back of a car station under a stand for oil and antifreeze until two weeks ago when i was finally able to trap mom and pull kittens. Before that I had been going to feed the mama for about 2 months every night and i was able to get her to the point of eating out of a carrier and letting me touch her for a few seconds while eating, eating chicken from my hand, and licking soft food from my fingers. But she never really understood petting and would always jump back and look up at my hands like she didn’t understand why i was trying to touch her. She has a lot of approach anxiety but m came out to meet me in the parking lot for food every night. She was not getting nearly enough food with just once a day feedings though even with me feeding her until she was full, and looked so exhausted and very skinny. Now that she’s been inside she’s looking a whole lot better, as are her 4 kittens, that are four weeks old yesterday. I have one senior cat so I really can’t have her in the same area, but my car is always in the living room and on the porch and I can close doors in my apartment to keep them separate. so far my cat seems oblivious to her being there (she’s 17 and her senses aren’t what they used to be).
here’s my questions: - her babies are 340-360 grams each except for the smallest, the only girl (calico like mama) and she is 300 grams. According to charts that’s underweight but not terribly far off and considering mom has just been getting a good diet for two weeks i’m hoping they’ll be okay and catch up once they start eating solids. Does that sound okay or should i try to bottle feed all or the smallest one?

• Mom is still very scared. The setup is that she has a pretty big 8 by 10 closet completely for her with a crate with thick blanket and a towel i cover it with at night and pull back some during the day when i turn lights on and off. she hangs outside of the crate sometimes - a couple days she has been out more than in but mostly is in with them. when she comes out she walks really slow and cautiously- literally like in slow-mo to her food and litter. Not sure if it’s just when i’m there but she hisses and growls at me which she didn’t do outside and only started doing about 4 days after she’s been here. Now it’s a really regular thing that when i open the door to go in she hisses and when i approach the crate she growls. A couple times she even did the jump scare boss and that was after i had been reaching in the crate petting all the kittens which she seemed fine with until i accidentally petted her foot and after that she would growl any time my hand approached the crate.

When she growls out of the crate What I have been doing is showing her food and making her come to me to eat it and then petting her while she eats, which i started being able to do a lot of about four days ago. Two days ago for the first time she started responding to my petting her with pushing back and arching her back and bum. She displays body language that she likes it but then she’ll turn and look at me and growl. Sometimes she’ll growl just while i’m petting her and not looking at me but she’s arching her shoulders and rubbing against my hand like she likes it? I don’t want to ignore her growls and hisses or normalize it because she never did that before she was inside and it seems to be getting more, even while during her eating sessions she’s getting better in terms of petting. But then she goes back in her crate and will growl again. Yet I can also feed her in her crate by hand bits of chicken or have her lick churu off my finger which she does gently unless i make her raise her head to eat and then she hisses and growls and snaps… but if the food is low she is gentle. I’m not sure if i should just let her be except for when she’s eating and doing the petting sessions for now until her kittens start coming out of the crate (they’ve never left yet and i have blankets piled up outside so they could walk out without tumbling when they are ready).

• Some of her behavior could be because she’s protective of them but i don’t want her to get used to growling and hissing at people. Should I just back off from all the stuff that makes her do that and just work on the petting she’s responding positively to? What about her growling WHILE i’m petting her and she seems to like it? Last night she got so comfortable around me when i was petting her she walked right over and on my legs to check out a can of food and looked back like she surprised herself! that’s the first time she’s ever gotten that close. I feel like she’s on the borderline of being able to be adopted eventually but at the same time the antisocial behaviors are also increasing…
  
  • i had been reaching out to rescues about help placing these guys once they’re older and help with vetting and one lady offered to take them all now to foster and would handle all that. I was planning to foster myself because I have the relationship with the mama and don’t want to disrupt her right now as she’s still so new to being inside. At the same time i feel like the fact mom is kinda isolated in a closet with big adjoining bathroom could delay her social development. I can also let her come into my bedroom where i spend most of my home time and i’ve thought about getting the playpen setup to keep her and kittens in there instead so she can start to be around me more now that she’s hopefully a bit more used to being inside, without it being me going back to her space. Thoughts on that and thoughts on handing them over to someone else right now versus keeping them until kittens are older?

I just really want mom to have a chance to be indoors because she’s super young herself and don’t want to hurt her development in any way. But this lady works with a rescue and has experience so if it might be best i would consider it-i’ve spent a lot of time getting her to this point and want what’s best for her.
Thanks for any advice and thanks for all you do for the kitties if the world!

Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most profitable entertainment franchises in the history of games. It came along as a return to form after what many fans would argue was a misstep with the more gritty and realistic GTA 4. Originally released back in 2013 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3—yes, it spans three console generations—developer Rockstar has supported the game's online mode with continual updates adding new content, new areas, and even all-new mechanics.
GTA V was such a runaway success—and GTA The Trilogy: Definitive Edition was such a dumpster fire—that Rockstar gave up working on a Red Dead Redemption 2 DLC, and has now reportedly abandoned plans to remaster more of its beloved older titles to instead focus on both further GTA Online content as well as the development of GTA 6.
gtaonline fukaru
Naturally, expectations for GTA 6 are incredibly high, and given the advanced age of GTA V, fans are chomping at the bit for any bit of news. That's why there's so much buzz around a report at Bloomberg that focuses on Rockstar's new corporate culture. Company co-founder Dan Houser left Rockstar in 2020, and ever since then the development house has been trying to reshape a corporate culture that the report refers to as being "like a frat house".
Given the nature and tone of the humor in the Grand Theft Auto series, it's really not surprising to hear that the atmosphere inside Rockstar was juvenile and chauvinistic. The report remarks that the workplace culture at Rockstar was "full of drinking, brawling, and excursions to strip clubs." That may sound like a good time to some, but it's admittedly not very professional.
gta1 katie Katie from the OG Grand Theft Auto (1997) on PC (left) and Game Boy Color (right).
As part of the report, author Jason Schreier casually reveals that GTA 6 will have at least two playable protagonists, and that one of them will be a Latina woman. This technically isn't the first playable woman nor even the first playable Hispanic woman in the GTA series; the very first GTA game featured a Latina named "Katie" as one of its eight playable characters.
Still, very few of the series' modern fans even remember the old DOS-based Grand Theft Auto, so we can forgive everyone for forgetting about poor Katie. Regardless, the new girl will apparently be part of a Bonnie-and-Clyde-like crime duo, calling to mind the partnership between Claude and Catalina in the beginning of Grand Theft Auto III. Hopefully the partnership between the new player characters in GTA 6 doesn't end the same way that one did.
Comments1Comments Support Independent Tech Journalism, Become A Patron! Tags: Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar Games, GTA V, GTA, gta 6 exp-player-logo
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KOwen 29 July, 2022
Release the PC version at the same time as the consoles please!
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Because of its ignorance, my ill-commanding ego has paid no heed To the warner of grey hair and approaching old age

Al-Burda is a poem written about the Islamic Prophet Muhammad

Physicals

Description

• He is dazzling to the sight when seen close up
• He is described as full of beauty
• Even when alone, he appeared like he had an army

Durability

• Prayed for so long his feet began to swell

Mental Abilities

• Mountains of Gold were unable to tempt him
• His needs never led to sin, and the world couldn't tempt him
• No one is more true than him
• He was very knowledgeable and noble, the other prophets cannot compare
• His knowledge is a miracle, as he was illiterate and had little education

Miracles

• Blessed are those who kiss the ground who that hold's Muhammad's bones, perfume cannot compare to that ground
• On the day of his pure birth, the following happened
  • Persians realized that they were warned of coming misery
  • The throne room of Khusraw cracked, and Khusraw's people crumbled to never be restored
  • Sacred fire grieved and breathed it's last
  • The river Euphrates dried up
  • Lakes dried up
  • Jinn proclaimed that truth was coming
  • Soothsayers declared that the current religion wouldn't last
  • Statues of Idols fell
  • Devils fled from the path of revelation
• Even though his eyes slept, his heart didn't, and he received revelations in his dreams

Matter Manipulation

• Trees bowed to him when he asked
• He split the moon in two

Nature Control

• Clouds followed him, to protect him from heat
• Spiders spun its web to protect him
• His prayers ended a drought, bringing generous rain-clouds

Healing

• People were healed by the touch of his hand

Intercession

• When you seek refuge in him, you will find sanctuary
• Saints are victorious by him, and their foes are dealt mortal blows
• Even though the author sinned, his bind to the Prophet isn't broken
• Muhammad is the most committed to your salvation

The Journey

• One night, Muhammad ascended to heaven
• All prophets gave him precedence
• He traveled across the seven heavens
• He surpassed all other stations
• He received glory without rival

Other

• If it wasn't for him, God wouldn't have made the World
• Master of all people, both Arabs and Non-Arabs
• He was victorious over every terror and disaster
• He attained perfection, and God chose him to be His messenger
• His worth cannot be expressed by human language
• The verses of the Quran leave no doubt, no one has attacked them without failing, their eloquence refutes the claims of opponents
• If you recite verses of the Quran, they could quench the heat of a blazing fire
• He met his enemies on every battlefield until he won
• Even lions would hesitate to fight Muhammad

Finished an ~1800mi road trip from Boise to the bay area in California, then up the coast through northern California meandering over to Bend, OR, then back to Boise.
By the numbers: $32.56 spent on electricity (have a free pass for EA, so this helped) 7 - times charged on RAN charger (different location each time) 2.3 - times charged at Electrify America .4 - times charged at Chargepoint 2.03 mi/kWh average 2 - times tesla drivers got upset with me using 'their' destination charger at the hotel 6 - other Rivians seen in the wild (not near RAN chargers) 2 - Lucid Air seen Shitload - total elevation change
R1S crushed it as a road trip vehicle for sure. Started by driving down to Winnemucca and into Reno. Around Tahoe, stopped at first RAN experience in Truckee. Over Donner Pass while still snowing a ton, down into Sacramento for RAN #2. Continue on to bay area where I spent the next 4 days working.
Left to head north on Thursday, stopping at RAN in Ukiah and another town I forgot the name of. Overnight at a perfect little motel in Orick, adventure into Redwood NP, on to Crescent City, CA for food and another RAN stop. On to Grant's Pass, OR where we picked up snow again. Heading through Klamath Pass, heavy snow, night time setting in, made for some sketchy driving, but it was no issue for the Rivian. Made it to RAN at Crescent, OR, where despite being 25F and snowing, still achieved 215kW charge rates, and then made the final 40 minutes into Bend for the night.
Left Bend early Saturday morning. The drive through Eastern Oregon was all snow for the most part, with mountain passes being fairly bad. Made it to John Day for a quick range boost at an amuzing Chargepoint DCFC that was quite literally a single charger tapped directly off the adjacent power substation. On to Baker City where the snow finally subsided, and down I-84 back to Boise, stopping at the EA station in Huntington, OR for a last quick range boost.
Overall, R1S did great. Everything we threw at it, it just plowed forward unphased. Ti's was a trip of terrible conditions, very large elevation changes. Interstate and highway driving in all kinds of different environments. High deserts. Mountain passes. High density city. Rolling hills. Coastal highways. Didn't baby the speed either (weather permitting). Just put it on the road and stabbed it.

A food/hunger update is something I've heard about a lot, and honestly, it's pretty justified. The current system is almost entirely dominated by three foods: bread for the early game, and steak or golden carrots for the rest. Potatoes and golden apples are occasionally thrown into the mix, but overall? The bulk of Minecraft's menu is simply inferior to a select few items due to how saturation works. Before we get any new food items, I believe this should be fixed.
To do so, I propose that we rearrange all existing foods into three general groups: Leans, Greens, and Bakery. Depending on the group, properties of the food such as saturation, eating speed, and more will change. Of course, individual foods should also be different enough from each other that there is no clear "best," and outliers that don't ascribe to a specific group exist.

Leans

Leans are the heavy hitting foods. They provide a good bit of saturation, but are eaten rather slowly (i.e. at the current normal speed).
This group includes all meats: pork, beef, chicken, mutton, rabbit, fish, and all raw, cooked, and/or stewed variants. All leans now have a chance of giving hunger upon being eaten raw, though the chance varies from item to item (for example, raw chicken and pork are more dangerous than raw beef and fish). Furthermore, all cooked leans can now be stewed with greens. Stewed meats provide by far the most saturation of all foods, but of course cannot be stacked.

Greens

Greens are the lighter foods. They provide less saturation, but are all eaten twice as fast as leans.
This group includes most fruits and vegetables: apples, carrots, potatoes, beetroots, chorus fruit, dried kelp, sweet berries, glow berries, watermelon, mushrooms (which can now also be cooked), and all raw, cooked, and/or stewed variants. Carrots and potatoes now have stewed, more nutritious versions to keep consistent with mushrooms and beetroots. Stews/soups made only from greens provide less saturation than those made also with leans, but retain their high consumption speed.

Bakery

Baked foods are highly variable but time consuming to make. Depending on the ingredients, they may provide more or less saturation. Most foods in this group are placeable; those that aren't (i.e. cookies) are eaten quickly.
This group, of course, includes all baked things: cookies, bread, cake, and (pumpkin) pie. Breads and pies are now placeable like cakes.
All baked foods are made in the new "oven" station, which exclusively tends to bakery. All sorts of ingredients (eggs, milk, wheat/flour, cocoa beans, sugar, honey, raw leans/greens, etc.) can be combined in it, but no matter what you will always obtain one of the four possible categories I listed. If you get good at it, minimal potion effects can also be incorporated into what you bake.

Outliers

These are foods that don't really match with a specific group: enchanted/regular golden apples, golden carrots, honey, rotten flesh, spider eyes, and suspicious stew. Most of these will remain the same; rotten flesh, spider eyes, and a number of suspicious stews are primarily "junk foods." Honey, on the other hand, is simply an edible ingredient that doesn't fit any of the three groups.
All golden foods (those with supernatural nourishment), however, will now take roughly 25% longer to eat than they do now. This is because they are simply heavier than other foods, being made of gold and all.
Also, in lieu of bread and pie's changed functionality for baking, existing bread and pumpkin pie recipes will instead make wheat/pumpkin cakes. Both will retain their saturation levels and normal eating speed.
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I believe streamlining food groups like this will make interactions with the hunger system more personalized without necessarily putting one food over another. Each group has benefits and drawbacks: leans will keep you full the longest but are worse in a pinch than greens, and bakery, while very nourishing, can be hard to carry around.
With these changes, players can choose multiple favorite foods for their preferred play style, but are still able to survive off just one food if they want to. Whether or not you agree with this suggestion, I think this simplicity should remain the root of the hunger system if it is overhauled in any way down the line.

Hey travelers!
We’re going to Japan for 2 weeks in May and seeing if anyone with more experience could give us a quick itinerary check! Want to make sure I’m not over-filling or under-filling any days or trying anything impossible :)
This is a simplified version (our longer one has all of the transit details between places, opening hours, etc).
I’m a fashion and jazz person, boyfriend’s a history, beer and baseball person, but we’re both biiiiiig food people, so I would love any recommendations for restaurants along the way!
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Tuesday: Tokyo - Arrive

• Flight
• Dinner near hotel in Shinjuku

Wednesday: Tokyo - Harajuku & Shibuya

• Meiji Shrine & Yoyogi Park
• Explore Harajuku: Takeshita Street, Omotesando Street, various vintage clothing & knick-knack stores for my boyfriend to suffer through
• Travel to Shibuya: Shibuya Scramble, Center Gai, Tokyu Plaza, Shibuya 109, more shopping
• Dinner in Shibuya (Shinjuku Kappo Nakajima)
• Back to Shinjuku for Shinjuku Pit Inn, a jazz bar near our hotel

Thursday: Tokyo - Shinjuku

• Shinjuku Gyoen Garden
• Shinjuku Shopping (Isetan, Takashimaya, RAGTAG)
• Kabukicho Entertainment District
• Samurai Museum
• Food tour of Golden Gai (incl. dinner) for 3 hours

Friday: Hakone

• Travel to Hakone, drop luggage at hotel
• Lake Ashi, Hakone Shrine
• Pirate ship to Togendai Port
• Ropeway to Owakudani for lunch
• Ropeway to Sounzan, cablecar to Hakone Open Air Museum
• Hotel for dinner (included)
• Onsen tiiiiiiiime

Saturday: Kyoto - Philosopher’s Path, Pontocho, Gion

• Train from Hakone to Kyoto, drop bags at hotel, lunch
• Bus to Silver Pavilion
• Philosopher’s Walk: Honen-In, Otayo-jinja, Eikan-do, Nanzen-ji Temple
• If time: Kyoto Handicraft Center
• Food tour of Gion (incl. dinner) for 3 hours

Sunday: Kyoto - Arashiyama & Golden Pavilion

• Train to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
• Walk to Tenryu-ji Temple
• Walk to Iwatayama Monkey Park
• Taxi to Golden Pavilion
• Afternoon tea ceremony - 90 mins
• Dinner near hotel (Kobe Beef Steak Mouriya Gion)

Monday: Kyoto - Higashiyama

• Early train to Fushimi Inari
• We’re going to be here during the Aoi Matsuri historical parade! Starts at Imperial Palace
• Train to Nishiki Market after
• Looking for dinner or a cooking class for this night

Tuesday: Nara

• Train to Nara
• Kofuku-ji Temple, Isuien Garden, Todai-ji Temple
• Nara Deer Park, Kasuga-Taisha, Higashimuki Shopping Street and Mochiidone Shopping Arcade
• Lunch
• Train back to Kyoto for dinner (still exploring options)
• Hello Dolly jazz bar

Wednesday: Osaka

• Train from Kyoto to Osaka
• Osaka Castle
• Train to Shinsekai for lunch
• Tenshiba, Tennoji Park, Keitakuen Garden
• Train to Minami/Dotonbori Areas
• Explore area: Ebisubashi-suhi, Shinsaibashi-suji, America Mura, Hozen-ji Temple
• Train to Minami/Dotonbori
• Dinner in Dotonbori Area (Zauo Fishing Restaurant seems cheesy but fun)
• Return to Kyoto

Thursday: Koyasan

• Train, subway, cable car, etc to Koyasan Temple (approx 3-4 hrs)
• Day is set by the temple, thank goodness: meditation class, dinner, cemetery tour, ryokans

Friday: Kanazawa

• Rituals and religious services at temple in morning
• Cable car, subway, train and a lot more to Kanazawa (approx 2-3 hrs)
• Arrive in Kanazawa by afternoon
• Explore Higashi Chaya and Kazuemachi districts
• Dinner near hotel

Saturday: Kanazawa

• Watch boyfriend lose his mind over Nagamachi Samurai District, Nomura-ke Samurai Residence, Myoryuji Temple
• Walk/cab to Omicho Market for lunch
• Kenroku-en Garden, Kanazawa Castle, Castle Park
• If time, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
• Dinner (still looking for options)
• Oriental Brewing Higashiyama Brew Pub

Sunday: Tokyo - Ueno Park, Asakusa

• Train to Tokyo (2-3 hrs) then hotel in Asakusa
• Lunch near hotel
• Train to Tokyo Dome
• 2 PM Tokyo Giants Baseball Game (tickets purchased!)
• Ueno Gardens, Toshogu Shrine
• Back to hotel, find dinner nearby
• Asahi Brewery

Monday: Tokyo - Tsukiji, Akihabara, Ginza

• Early morning tour of Tsukiji Fish Market
• Train to Imperial Palace East Gardens, Edo Castle Ruins, Taira no Masakado’s grave
• Train to Akihabara, explore Electric Avenue, get lunch
• Dinner near Asakusa (Asakusa Imahan)

Tuesday: Travel

• Sleep for 2 weeks

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Thank you!!

Race Information

• Name: Essex Steam Train Half Marathon
• Date: March 25, 2023
• Distance: 13.1 miles
• Location: Essex, CT
• Time: 2:07:55

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Beat the train	Yes
B	Sub 2:16 (New PR)	Yes
C	Sub 2:10	Yes

Splits

Mile	Time
1	9:21
2	9:21
3	9:10
4	9:21
5	9:23
6	8:58
7	9:14
8	9:28
9	9:57
10	9:41
11	11:35
12	9:24
13	10:41
14	2:23

Training

First, a little background on the race itself. In Essex, CT, there is a steam train that runs as a local tourist attraction. In the warm months, you can buy tickets to ride on it for a nice scenic dinner and in the winter, they turn it into the Polar Express. Leading up to when they open for the summer, they host a race with a simple premise: Can you outrun the train? The train runs from the station, reaches a turnaround point (where, if you are doing the relay, you get dropped off) and heads back. Spectators can buy tickets to board the train and have a nice relaxing ride while the runners attempt to finish before the train returns. The whole trip is set to run for approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes.
When I first heard about the race, I had completed my 2nd or 3rd half marathon. At that time, my best was still around a 2:40; much too slow to be able to race the train. Fast forward a couple years though and I've finished my 6th half marathon (all on the same course) and my PR is down to a 2:16. In theory, I could now beat the train.
Originally, I wasn't planning on running this race. The Wednesday before the race, they had packet pickup at the running store which hosts the running club I run with every week. After my weekly run, I got curious and started talking to them about the run. I had never decided to run a half marathon on such a short notice before. After way too much back and forth in my head over doing it or not, I registered 11 hours before the race was scheduled to start. What ultimately convinced me is that I had done a 10.5 normal training run 3 weeks prior and in the previous 2 weekends I had run 4 5Ks, each one faster than the previous one setting a new PR. Essentially, I had done a normal long run and then taper. I was confident that my normal weekly mileage (~25-30 mpw) was in a good point to jump in to this.

Pre-race

I woke up at 5 AM and dressed in layers and packed up my Camelbak. It was expected to be around freezing with a chance of snow and/or freezing rain and I knew that if I was still out running when that started that I would need to be dressed for it. Normally, I only bring my Camelbak for training runs but this half marathon is a lot smaller than the one I normally run. I'm used to half marathons with thousands of runners whereas this one would have, at most, 200. I was assuming course support would be similarly smaller. I ate my banana and bagel with peanut butter and then drove to the course.
I got there and had plenty of time to spare after picking up my packet and I'm glad I did. I arrived just in time to see the steam train pull up and take its place at the starting line, which felt very dramatic in my mental image of "Runner vs Train". I got some nice pictures of it and then spent a decent amount of time warming up in the heated train station bathroom.

Race

The race started with a roar of the train whistle, which gave a good shot of adrenaline to start off with. I had heard from some friends from my running club that this course is rolling hills. Starting off though, I felt great. I knew that I had a good chance of beating the train but I kept my pace up to see if I could set a new PR, too.
The first few miles were quite easy. We ran through the streets of a nice, quaint town. So far none of the hills were bad and I was keeping a good, consistent pace going. The miles were just flying by. Normally when I do races, I don't like to listen to anything on my headphones and instead listen to the crowd support but after 5 miles, there were few people out spectating and most of the pack was starting to thin out as people locked in their paces. I decided to turn on my headphones and listen to some Amon Amarth to keep me in the zone. I'm sure this contributed to mile 6 being my fastest mile.
Leading up to mile 8, the hills were starting to get to me. I was still keeping a decent pace but I could tell my legs were getting tired. For those doing the relay, mile 8 was the handoff point. The cheers from those attending the checkpoint gave a good boost, which I appreciated. I needed it, too, because at mile 10 it felt like those rolling hills turned into "uphill only until the finish line". It was also around mile 10 that I became aware of how much I need to replace my shoes. It was around mile 11 when the hail started. At that point I was glad I dressed in layers. I had a lot going against me but there was only a few miles left so I knew I could still finish strong.
Leading in to the final mile, I was looking at my watch and doing some mental math. At that point, I knew that for me to not set a PR, I would have to run a 20 minute mile. I also knew that sub 2:10 was a possibility and was determined to reach it. All the race volunteers and many of the other runners cheered me on as I crossed the finish line; a great way to end the race!

Post-race

As soon as I crossed the finish line, I was handed a water, my medal, and my train whistle which is only awarded to those who beat the train. I grabbed my free post-race food and talked with some friends before going over to take victory selfies as the train returned to the station. In that moment I had a lot to be proud of. I had beaten the train, which was a goal I had in the back of my mind ever since I heard about this race. I had set a half marathon PR on a much hillier course than I'm used to. Lastly, I found out that my general fitness is good enough to just jump into a half marathon on short notice. Overall, I had a great time!
Today, I did a recovery run on my usual trail which was supposed to be ~3 miles but I ended up extending it to 7. I still desperately need to replace my shoes (going to the running store to do that tomorrow) but my legs felt a lot stronger than I'm used to after running a half. I'm so happy with how far I've come since I first started running years ago.
Made with a new race report generator created by herumph.

My boyfriend is currently in San Francisco and will pass also NYC to get back home (Germany/Italy). What would you bring back? I love spice seasonings, spicy food etc.
Edit: Guys! Stuff you can actually transport. Mexican food and Burgers would be amazing, but you can‘t bring that on a 12h journey with the airplane

General Info

General info and training sections (minus weather details) was written before the race. The rest was written after.
Average weekly mileage (11 weeks – not counting race week): 63 km Peak week (week 9 of plan): 76.5 km
Goal: Sub-1.40. Preferably a PR (ahead of time giving that 20-30% chance of success, otherwise expecting a glorious crash and burn – stay tuned). Old PR is 1.39:39 from October 2022.
Weather: Turned out to be borderline optimal: 5-ish C, low wind, overcast. Please and thank you. Yes. Get it, Britain.
Blog post version with photos: Wordpress

Training

I’ve been working through a long term hamstring injury that seems to be unwilling to completely go away. It gets better, it flares up, it gets getter, then it flares up again. But overall it seems to maybe be going in the right direction so eh. I’m diligently going to the gym to do the exercises my PT gave me so I’m stubbornly staying optimistic.
Sometime around November or early December I sat down and starting plotting out a training plan based on the Word of Pfitz (aka Uncle Pete aka Pete Pfitzinger’s book Faster Road Racing aka The Gospel). I had managed a half marathon PR (first time since 2018) at San Sebastián Half in October, and for that I had peaked at 67 km/week. That was lower than previous cycles due to the aforementioned injury but keep your aerobic base in your thoughts and prayers, folks, because that thing rules.
I read the stars and learned that my 12-week training plan had to start on the 12th of December. Fantastic. Who among us with a fussy stomach doesn’t want to start doing long runs and intervals during Christmas?
Anyway, I decided that since I was semi-/pseudo-injured I’d go easy on myself and just swap out intervals for whatever if it started stressing me out to attempt to navigate social obligations, work obligations, and an over-excited training plan.
During the first weeks I gave it a few shots with strides. I used to enjoy them, but they’re wildly triggering for my hamstrings, and this was clearly still the case, so after several attempts I simply cut them out of this cycle.
Goal number 1: Do. Not. Get. (more). Injured.
Got acceptable work and CityStrides done during December, and rolled into the new year with a hint of optimism. Strides simply isn’t what’s going to make or break the training at my level. There are some upsides to being a midpacker.
January started okay. For a few days. Almost a week.
Then I went down with some kind of respiratory illness. It was stupid. I hated everything about it. I wasn’t crazy sick, but felt fatigued and had violent coughing fits, mostly when I attempted exercise. This pissed me off to a higher than normal degree because it had only been a few months since I had my last respiratory-related illness. Great. 1½ weeks of my training gone and also a red mark in my calendar to note the half year where I’ve spent the most time sick in ages. Unfortunately, my anger didn’t seem to magically cure me, so I impatiently waited it out and by the middle of January was running a mileage closer to my plan again.
I adjusted the training plan down to accommodate this glorious hiccup (remember the aforementioned goal #1?) and got on with it.
Unfortunately, this week winter remembered it was its time to shine, so in the middle of the week King Frost blessed us with some seriously icy roads. I adjusted my workout to some hill stuff on the least slippery patch of road I could find, and told my hamstring to shut up. It was unimpressed.
January 25th brought the first attempt at a legit workout in what felt like far too long, and subsequently had to deal with a body that was like “what?!”, a slightly cranky hamstring/glute, and a brain that felt on the edge of mutiny. It was windy, my pacing was off, and there were random swampy patches underfoot, but in the end I got some tempo-ish stuff done and gave it an “eh good enough” in the score book.
Easy week with four weeks to go was delightful from a workout point of view, and the next week my workout was, once again, disrupted by ice. Given how mild January and February were here, it felt suspicious, borderline personal to have this high a percentage of my workouts cancelled due to ice.
By the middle of February, it was time to focus on faster intervals. To my joy I found that I could hit my VO2max pace fairly well. To my disappointment, each interval made my hamstring announce its displeasure a little more firmly. Threw in the towel after a few rounds. Enough for a bit of confidence. Also enough for me to be annoyed with my body. Just a bit. I went to Parkrun that Saturday and kinda-tempo’d it in revenge.
All of this led me, somehow, to the start of the taper. I did a small LT workout, wisely choosing to run the paces that currently seemed to please more body more (read: anger it less). I accidentally added an overly hilly run (stupid group run), and a delightfully short “long” run.
As always race week was bonkers. I kinda felt fine, but everything was also peppered with phantom twinges and creative pains. Seriously, the taper crazies need to stop.
Tuesday, I did my borderline ritualistic jog with 3k at goal pace (didn’t do the 4 x 100 m strides this time to please the gods, and also my legs). Most of the week I looked up entirely too many random things related to the race, overate, fretted about overeating, fretted about flying RyanAir, fretted about all of the moving parts that really, please, would need to work out and come together. Please.

Race day

Having repeatedly warned my friend well in advance that I would be a fully crazed harridan the 24 hours leading up to the race seemed to take some of the edge off. I was nowhere near as insane as I had feared. Yay me.
Joyfully, the tiny time difference worked in my favor, and I magically awoke three minutes before my 6:30 alarm. I got up and got the pre-race ritual going: 2k jog to check in with mind and body, coffee, and breakfast (that I had prepped and brought with me from home. Not a control freak).
We were out the door a smidge later than my anxiety liked, but the functional part of my brain knew we were fine, so I didn’t freak out.
Going to the race area and seeing the crowds appear was as magical as always, and I was super hype to get to experience it with my friend for the first time. I love the way the excitement builds as you walk along, and the roads start filling with other happy runners. It’s one of my favorite things, and it was so fun to share it with my friend.
By some kind of lucky coincidence, we had the same bag drop tent, so after a bit of wandering about (cause it was cold, so we were keeping our jackets on for a little longer), I changed into my Saucony Speed 2s, dropped my sweatpants and jacket in my bag and handed it over to a young lad.
We then spent a while partaking in one of the two premier national hobbies of Britain: queuing.
A portapotty visit later all was well, but the timing was off. We debated getting back in line for another visit but the national hobby had attracted more queue’ers and the line was definitely too long for me to pee again and get to the line for my start 15-ish minutes later. Damn it. It’s just nervous bladder, it’s just nervous bladder. Say it with me, folks.

The race

In the pen. Km 0.

Ditched my new second hand sweatshirt on a rail as the last ten seconds were counted down. Bought it in a thrift shop Friday, and now it was going to another one. I was mildly amused by that.
Anyway.
I had placed myself near the end of the wave as I had signed up for a 1.35-1.40 wave, and figured most people would be faster. Because, of course, I was the only one who could have had a sub-par training cycle, and everyone else would be well below 1.40. Right? Right??… It’s a good sign when your reasoning is horrendous even before you start moving.

Km 0-2.5: Roundabouts of congestion

The race started, and it was the beautiful chaos that it always is.
I spent the first 10-15 minutes of the race in a giant pack of people moving slower than 1.40 pace and mostly getting stuck due to lack of space. Didn’t cost me a lot, but given normal “start of race”-excitement and my goal, my conservative estimate is a handful of seconds for each km. Also, apparently there was a slight downhill on the second km, which I didn’t get to run fast “down”. Sad.
Km splits, 1-3: 4:46, 4:45, 4:42.

Km 2.5-10: Leapfrogging, strictly(-ish) keeping pace

The first half is usually the fun part, right? Glide along, don’t get too excited, enjoy the vibes, wooo.
After the third km we had run more roundabouts than kilometers which, frankly, felt like a very British experience. A poor volunteer bellowed at me and a few others for going the wrong way around a few cones (briefly dodging the throng of slow moving folks for a bit), which had me acting like a skittish deer. I swear trying to run fast activates some primal survival instincts. In all fairness, his job was not great. The man was trying to keep runners and (slow moving) traffic separate, but the congestion was wild. In my defense there were several meters between the cones and the traffic snailing along, so it didn’t feel like I was being wild and hazardous.
At km 3.5 there was a sharp U-turn, and to my surprise I don’t hate it as much as I had expected. It was probably due to the fact that we were early in the race. They’re still absolutely awful and pretty annoying, but at least on fresh legs it’s a minor detail. The U-turn featured happier volunteers. My legs were also happy, and my pace was much improved thanks to the crowds thinning enough that it was now easier to move forwards.
Up until km 10 I happily ran along, keeping a light eye on my pace, grabbing a Hi5 gel and a bit of water at each of the aid stations. I laughed internally at the steep bridge, which had people visibly, and what felt like dramatically, slowing. I was quite happy with my attempts to seek out hills in my normal training: it felt like I crossed the city bridges easier than most of my new friends.
Part of the course here went through some narrow streets with pretty old buildings on each side. When I say narrow, I mean “I don’t think this was constructed with automobile traffic in mind”. As cool as it was seeing those, it was not great for the pace. I decided to be chill about it, because
a) Freaking out would only make me run less well. Literally nothing to gain
b) Who the hell knew what kind of shape I was in? Why get hysterical about a few seconds here, if I was going to crash and burn from km 15, and hemorrhage time anyway
For once I actually remember at least one of the sites. King’s College was low-key impressive. Shout out to the architects behind that. Even if they died a few hundred years ago.
I had a bunch of km in here where I peeked at my watch and thought I was “bang on the money” with my pace. Then wondered why the hell I kept using that term.
Km splits 4-10: 4:42, 4:44, 4:46, 4:47, 4:38, 4:37, 4:43

Km 10-14: Getting to the scary part (I’m not afraid, not afraid)

For this part we visited the countryside for a bit. It felt like a whole load of transportation, but at least I wasn’t dying, so I’ll take it. I was too anxious about beginning to lose steam, which I usually start doing sometime around here, to properly enjoy it.
I remember a very nice 1%-ish hill that revived my legs. I think my strict diet of “never completely flat” means that my body gets confused by the pancake vibes we came from, and that a brief, slight incline helped my rhythm.
This part also featured one of my two favorite musical acts: some guy who played the guitar with a backing track, who sang like we had been magically transported to the land of the delta blues. I would love to hang out at some bar or café where he was performing.
I remember being amused and a little fearful, that this far it had felt like we had run far more downhills than uphills. Clearly something evil must be gathering on the horizon. Just from a logical standpoint, a race that starts and ends in the same spot will have the same amount of incline and decline. As much as I enjoyed the little 1% hill, I didn’t want anything steeper.
Adding to the sus doom feeling was my ham(s) that let me know they hadn’t forgotten. Like some annoying plot device they decided to haunt me with a feeling that I have come to strongly dislike. Mainly because it makes it harder to run fast, but also because I really don’t want another handful of months of being out with an injury.
This part also featured at least one roundabout (yes, I’m cheating and looking at at least one map) and a visit to the village of Grantchester. I know very little of Grantchester, but the locals seemed to find it significant that we went there, so it gets an honorable mention.
Km splits 11-14: 4:47, 4:44, 4:40, 4:38

Km 15: THE BIG HILL (also this is where I usually start dying)

Like any good semi-neurotic, borderline ambitious person I had poured over all the readily available route information several times before the race.
The good organizers had been kind enough to supply us with an elevation profile, and the most noticeable hill came at km 15. What kind of sicko places the hill at km 15? I was assured by my friend that “it’s Cambridge” so “it’s not really that much of a hill”. But I could see it clearly on the elevation profile! And it was km 15, so it was clearly not to be trusted.
I realize I’m coming off as quite suspicious here, but the back half of half marathons pretty much always do me dirty. I’ve been burned too many times.
So. Anyway.
This led to a few ironic km of me going “was that the hill?” and then “maybe that was the hill?” until I hit km 16 or 17 and concluded that it was probably in there somewhere, and that more half marathons should have those kinds of hills.
Km 15: 4:52 (I slowed down out of respect and fear)

Km 16-18: Surprisingly good, saw an enormous Rolls Royce

Pretty much every half marathon I’ve run has been a struggle bus from km 15 to the finish line. Even though I didn’t feel like I was dying, some part of my brain decided that I shouldn’t push too hard because… I don’t know. I had made the “omg only like 5k left!!”-mistake before, so better stay on the safe side? Honestly, what even is race logic.
The ham(s – I can’t remember if it was one or both) were still hot/cold and bothered, but they didn’t seem to be getting clearly worse, so… one km at a time. No slowing down or quitting until forced to do so.
This part featured a long-ish part on a road with cars on the other side of the it, where I had 4 observations:

1. England seems to be behind on the fossil fueled cars to electric cars ratio. Not great for breathing.
2. Holy shit, that’s a big Rolls Royce. Interesting color choice. I wonder who owns it. Ok, remember the plate, it’s a vanity plate, you can remember it. Remember the plate! (Spoiler alert: I can not remember the plate)
3. Wow, this is a nice, long down hill (looking at my splits, that must have been km 17)
4. Huh, I don’t feel like a day-old corpse raked over a smoldering fire.

At some point around 16-17 I attempted to do run math (lol), and figured out that I was well on time for sub-100. Exciting news. Just hold on. Keep doing like 4:42-4:44-ish km and you’ll get a time in the faster end of your expected interval!
Km splits 16-18: 4:49, 4:41, 4:47

Km 18-21.1: Finish!

At this point we were back in the city. The route doubles back on itself here, and I couldn’t help thinking “holy shit, these people are only at like 8k, and still headed out. I am so happy I’m not them”.
I realize that I, once again, employed false logic. At 8k everything is dandy and exciting, and the adventure is still ahead. I was probably just about ready to be done.
Shortly after that point I saw a guy dressed as a disco ball, and while give him enormous kudos for that, I am also extremely happy to not be the person making my way through 21.1 km with a giant sphere around my torso.
The ham(s) were still on about their business, but we were so close to the finish line now that it was time for them to sit down, shut up, and ignite the rocket fuel.
The field was a lot thinner now. There were people to pick off, but not so many people that passing was impossible. Lots of cheers here, as we ran through what my mind thought might be a shopping district with plenty of happy people. I do love how Brits actually shout your name to cheer you on. It’s nice.
We passed some tennis courts. “Oh. Tennis courts,” I thought. My mind was not doing its finest work at this point.
We ran past Jesus Green which has a stupid street with stupid speed bumps. I guess the organizers know how well coordinated runners tend to be, because there were a dramatic number of giant warning signs about said speed bumps. They had another word for it, but words will not help you at km 20 at a half marathon. Death rattling might.
Here my mind alternated between “is this really necessary?” aimed at the signs, and “is this really necessary”/”why the fuck are there stupid bumps in the road!?” aimed at the ground.
I never have claimed, and never will claim, to be any kind of easy-going and tolerant this close to the end of a race. For clarity’s sake let me just say: the road was fine. There was no issue. It was merely the fact that I was at the stage where I would like the ground to be perfectly flat and even and very, very close to the finish line. And it wasn’t. It wasn’t flat and even, and it was only kinda close to the finish line.
The finishing sprint was excellent. Far enough that you see the big portal, and run on vibes and will and get to enjoy it, not so far that you run out of gas and into regrets.
I had had my eye on another woman for a good while, and thought she was too far ahead for me to catch, but either she slowed down quite a bit or I speed up a lot, because I managed to pass her before the line. What a thrill.
Km splits 19-21: 4:46, 4:35, 4:38.
Last at 4:04/km pace

Post-race thoughts

I looked down at my watch after passing the finish line and felt a lot of feelings.
My watch said 1.39:43. My PR was 1.39:39. But at that race my watch had said a slightly higher number. And here I knew that I had somehow missed a few second due to failing to properly hit the start button in the cold chaos of the start, but I also didn’t stop it until I had passed the very last timing mat. And my watch said 21.16 km, which was likely just down to GPS inaccuracies and/or weaving. But it was one more uncertainty.
For all I knew the time would be somewhere between 1.39:35 and 1.39:47. Which meant I wouldn’t know if this was a PR or not until I had the official chip time.
Suddenly “I will be so happy to run sub-100” felt oddly hollow. Who the fuck cares about sub-100 if you can get a PR?!
I slow-walked with hundreds of other tired folks through the gated off area where I picked up my goodie bag and a cup of water and trudged on to the bag drop area. Man, shorts and a base layer shirt can get cold quickly. And why is it so far to the furthest end of the bag tent?
Luckily, there was no line so I zombie walked up to a teenager who got me my bag. Give jacket and sweatpants, please. I was smart enough to take off my shirt and use it to wipe away most of the moisture from my upper body before putting on a dry shirt and my jacket. I didn’t care to fully flash the good folks of Midsummer Green with my nipples or nether regions, so the sweaty shorts and sports bra stayed on. It was fine.
My buddy wasn’t likely to reach the finish line within the next thirty minutes, so I sat in no-brain mode on the grass with my phone and tried to convince myself that I wasn’t cold, and tried to coax some results out of the internet. Unfortunately, thousands of other people did some variation of the same thing, so a chip time was nowhere to be found at that moment.
A while later I found my buddy, and was overjoyed to hear he had a really good experience. We trundled home and spent a good while lying on the couch staring at the ceiling/a phone/into a book before celebrating in a more regular manner.

Post-er race thoughts (evaluation)

A good while later I got through to the official results.
1.39:43.
Four. Seconds.
Four seconds slower than my October PR.
A bittersweet result. Despite how much I questioned my current fitness going in, I feel convinced that I could have found a handful of seconds out there. I know it’s always like that. You can always do better. At least it feels that way after the fact. But damn. Four seconds.
I did a lot of things right and got a lot out of this race, so I’m not wallowing in self-pity. I’m not (very) upset. I just have this little devil voice inside my head going “you were so close… you can do better…”
So… any suggestions of well-organized, flat half marathons in Europe in October-ish?

A few final points and ruminations

Praise the flat
This might be the easiest half marathon course I’ve raced. Close in competition is Oxford and San Sebastián. I guess Copenhagen is also flat and fast, but I had a terrible experience there (I don’t blame Sparta. I do blame one of their staff a little bit though. He was a giant asshole with no sense of reading the room, but that neither here nor there. Also the only shit volunteer I’ve ever met, and I guess that has to happen one time. On the other hand he might have been paid staff in which case I can go back to praising all volunteers forever and always).
Praise the dope af music
The musical level out there was way above average. Special shout out to the blues master, and the man playing Well Dressed Man while I was running by.
Yes gels
Giant shout out to the Hi5 gels at every aid station. That was great.
It kinda threw me to not have the horrid lack of carbs/energy/whatever in the back half, and should have turned up the effort earlier. Note for next time.
Yes photos
Can’t say that I love jumping through hoops to get my photos (even when free) and to avoid posting them to Facebook. However, I am super happy to have so many photos from the race. I’d much rather have a quality photo than a medal to remember the race by.
Big shout out to the photographers who spent hours on course and took high quality photos of everyone. Thank you!
Please, dear race organizers, don’t make road narrowings in the first 5k
Anti-praise stupid congestion and narrowing of the course, esp. during the first half.
Yes, I will probably forever (at least until my next half marathon PR, that is) wonder if I’d have gotten a PR here without the congestion.
Thoughts on Brexit
What the hell is cheese and onion chips? Why must British food be an abomination before god?? New conspiracy theory: The UK was actually thrown out of the EU on basis of their food choices.

Numbers

1.39:43 (4:43 min/km)
First 10.5 km in 49:31-ish.
Last 10.5 km in 49:16-ish.
2412/11382 OA (21.2%)
356/4698 F (7.6%)
58/633 F30-34 (9.2%)

Hey Gooners, about to bring my gf to her 1st midweek Arsenal game!
Depending on which station we go to / meet at, open to any recommendations for good healthy-ish food (any cuisine) that doesn’t take forever & isn’t too busy a couple hours before the game. Please lmk!

For those that don’t know Rosca de Reyes is a Mexican tradition were a bread is baked and they put little plastic babies in there. If you get a baby you gotta make/buy food for everyone. It’s a common tradition around the Christmas time. I heard my mom and dad talking about it, and I remembered about the kinder eggs. Is there a exception for the Rosca, or is it in a different category than the chocolates?
I forgot to mention that this is in the US

Planning a backcountry trip for end of August and looking for thoughts. Trip is for two people, with lots of tripping experience.
day 1- Early start at Achray and go to Greenleaf lake through the carcajou lakes
day 2- Greenleaf to Northbranch lake
day 3- Northbranch to Mallic lake through White Partridge Creek
day 4- (rest day) Mallic to Lake Lavielle
day 5- Lavielle to Francis Lake on the Petawawa River
day 6- Francis lake to Eustache lake
day 7- Eustache to takeout at Travers
We have a few larger days but with an early start we believe they're doable. We plan to bring fishing equipment and take a bit of time around the crow river but otherwise we can move pretty quickly. I don't think we will be packing lightly as we will add extra weight with fishing gear, camera equipment, and good food.
Think this is biting off more than we can chew? Anyone have experience with White Partridge creek in late August? or getting through the carcajou lakes?
Thoughts are appreciated (Also fishing info if you want share)

Section One: Assets and Debt
Retirement Balance: $5,173.90 in a 401k and $45 in a Roth IRA. The 401k balance represents 9 months of contributions. I opened the IRA in high school and haven't contributed anything since.
Equity if you're a homeowner: N/A
Savings account balance: $5,012 in HYSA and $4,860 in savings account. $1,520 in vacation savings, and $230 in moving sinking fund.
Checking account balance: $5,600 in main checking account.
Credit card debt: I pay my cards off in full twice a month when I get paid. I use a Chase Sapphire Preferred for the majority of my expenses but keep my wifi recurring bill on my oldest card.
Student loan debt: $26,000 for a degree in the field I currently work in. I went to a very expensive private school that was mostly covered by scholarship and financial aid. Additionally, my parents took out a $25,000 loan to help pay for my degree. I have BEGGED my parents to let me pay them back for some of these loans (since they are private and my federal loans are on pause) but its extremely important to them that they helped contribute to my education.
I track my expenses on Mint.
Section Two: Income Progression: (buckle up its a long one)
2016: paid canvasser in high school on political campaigns. $15 an hour but hours/campaigns were inconsistent.
2017-2018: barista (15 hrs a week @ $15 an hour+tips)+ work study job ($15 an hour)
That summer did an internship program that paid for housing+provided a stipend ($800 a month).
2018-2019: Interned at a non-profit ($15 an hour) part-time. Worked as a resident advisor and got a food stipend in addition to free housing. That summer I worked the front desk at a gym on the weekends ($15 an hour), worked a research job on campus that covered my housing (20 hrs a week), and interned 24 hours a week ($15 an hour).
2019-2020 Worked at the gym, worked for the school as an RA, and then interned in the Spring as well.($15 an hour)
2020: Working 30 hours a week at my internship while going to school virtually full-time.
2021: In March I am extremely burnt out and am scared I won’t be able to get my shit together and graduate. Quit my job and got a short-term nannying gig to cover rent+expenses($20 an hour). Got a full-time job offer for an entry-level consulting role in May. Was offered $56,000 and got a small raise to $60,000.
2022: Really hate my job. Start casually applying and got a job offer at my current org. Was offered $85,000 but with an end-of-year COLA was $92,000 by EOY 2022.
2023: Got a promotion and a senior title. I’m now making $103,000 a year.
Main Job Monthly Take Home: $5558
Side Gig Monthly Take Home: $depends
I started babysitting in college and would babysit 2-4 times a month. In March it’ll be $300 which I’m putting towards my vacation fund.
Section Three: Expenses
Monthly
Rent: $1,110 for 1 bedroom in a 2-bedroom apartment utilities included.
Renters insurance: $15 a month
Wifi: $33 for my portion
Retirement contribution: $130 taken from my paycheck (company matches this)
Savings contribution: $540 or 10% of my take-home pay
Therapy copay- $80 a month
Health Insurance: Covered 100% by work
Apple storage: $3
Groceries ~ Roughly $300 but I love to host so sometimes more
Donations (please specify if monthly or annual):
$25 monthly reoccurring to color of change
$30 monthly reoccurring to DC abortion fund
~$20-30 a month in cash for when people on the street ask for money.
Annual expenses
One Medical: $199
Annual Capital bike share membership: $95
Credit Card: $95 (really worth it)
Paid hobbies: I’m an endurance athlete but have already purchased expensive gear. I use my company’s quarterly $250 wellness stipend to cover race fees+ and any one-off purchases. I use my office gym+public recreation centers.
Day 1 Tuesday:
5:30 am: I wake up but decide its too cold to go outside and that morning workout will happen tonight.
7:00 am: Finally get up and reheat homemade refried beans for breakfast (savory breakfast ftw) and read. I fall asleep for 30 minutes (I call these morning naps) and barely have enough time to shower before therapy. I have a $20 copay. (Included in monthly expenses)
10:00 am: walk to the office. I settle into work with all the free beverages.
1:00 pm: I put together a desk salad from stuff I brought from home and eat while watching a webinar.
5:30 pm: I walk to cvs on my way home and buy dishwasher pods. (**$10 for my half)**I get two since they are buy one get one. I realize in the CVS that I forgot to bring a hair tie but I don’t want to buy a new pack just for one. I text my friend who lives nearby and go to her apartment.
6:30 pm: I visit for a while and then walk over to the pool. There is no entrance fee since it’s a public facility.
7:45 pm: I’m out and showered and realize if I hustle I can make it for at least half of weekly trivia. I call an Uber. ($11). At trivia I just get a club soda even though I really want a sandwich and fries. ($5 for soda water+tip). We win! I forgo the free celebratory shot bc school night+empty/exercised stomach.
9:00 pm: My friend drives me home and we catch up in the alley behind my apartment. My roommate offers some soup that he made but its not enough and I end up eating more refried beans.
10:00 pm: I read 3 pages of a book before falling asleep with my kindle in my hand.
​
Day 2 Wednesday
5:45 am: Wake up, brush teeth, choke down some apple sauce and I’m out the door for a workout. I come back home to shower, change, and bike to meet 2 friends for coffee/breakfast near my office.
8:00 am: By far the best part of living in a city is having friends in close proximity. I get a bagel sandwich and a black coffee ($11.84). I come into work and book some misc. work travel. I have a bit of a crisis that I don’t have any practical luggage for work travel. I look at Kate Spade, Everlane, Dagne Dover, Lululemon for weekender bags. I have pretty impulsive spending tendencies but am on a big anti-lifestyle creep campaign right now.
1:00 pm: Office has pizza in recognition of March Madness. I get a slice to supplement the salad I brought from home. The pizza isn’t great which I make a big mental note for next time.
3:00 pm: I hit the wall and all I want to do is browse!!!
5:30 pm: I take the train to meet my friend for dinner close to her office. I have to reload my transit card. ($20). We get burgers and then she drives me home. ($15)
1:00 am: I can’t fall asleep which is pretty rare for me.
($46.84)
Day 3 Thursday
7:00 am: I sleep in and make breakfast at home. I’m stressed about work deliverables so I quickly take a shower and bike to work. At my desk by 8 AM.
1:00 pm: It's a really nice day out so I bring the salad I brought from home to the public park near my office and eat there. I bring my laptop in case something comes up but take a half hour after eating to read on my kindle. I finish my book and am tempted to buy the next in the series, but instead, I’ll just wait for my turn through the public library.
5:00 pm: I would love to work a bit longer but have hit a wall and am useless. I go downstairs and do a 30-minute ride on the office gym peloton and then do a pretty basic core routine. Despite exercising a lot, I’m pretty weak and lack a ton of core strength so these cross-training sessions are important. I used to do a lot of studio fitness but found the energy to not be my vibe and many instructors to be rude and dismissive.
6:00 pm: As I’m heading out, I run into a friend who is also leaving his office. I haven’t seen him in a while and it's a great surprise! He lives close to my neighborhood so we walk together.
6:30 pm: I shower because I’m meeting some friends at a drag show tonight. I’m exhausted and want to skip. I make some eggs and then go take a nap.
9:00 pm: I take the bus over to the bar and meet my friends. There aren’t a ton of women there but it’s a nice vibe. My friend buys me a drink since he knows how hard it was for me to commit to late-night plans, and also has a ton of singles so we can tip the queens. I run into a woman whom I’ve seen before, and she asks if we want to get coffee. I get the impression that she wants to be friends (lesbian problems!!!).
11:00 pm: I mooch on my friend's uber and walk home. I text my friend's boyfriend to split the Uber but he said don’t worry about it.
Day 4 Friday
8:00 am: I sleep in after a later night. I take a shower and get ready for work. I wear the wrong jacket and am freezing. I enter the office and raid the shared fridge for yogurt and fruit.
1:00 pm: I’m only working a half day today because of some comp time I need to use up from last week. Normally I wouldn’t go into the office on a Friday but they are doing construction outside of my apartment and I know I would focus better outside of my home. The return to the office is completely voluntary and I prefer going in to working from home. At the same time, I would be pissed if my employer mandated office days.
2:00 pm: I get lunch at Chipotle ($14.03) before my waxing appointment. I get my eyebrows done next door. ($23 with a $10 tip). It's raining so I take the bus home.
3:30 I get a text from a family canceling a babysitting job for tonight. I'm really bummed but send some feelers out to try to get together with people. I'm thankful I don't depend on babysitting money anymore.
5:00 pm: I walk to a brewery nearby to meet some friends. I get two 5 oz beers and some appetizers for the table to split. My friend brings their mom which is fun. ($37.62). On my way out I got proper dinner to go ($22.07)
Day 5 Saturday
7:30 am: I have some friends running a race so I get up and meet my friends at a designated spot. We have speakers and cheer for everyone for several hours. I buy Starbucks egg bites and a coffee for me and a sandwich and coffee for a friend. I have to refill my app. ($25).
11:30 am: After the race, we meet up with everyone and go grab lunch. Someone else pays for the uber, and my friend's mom generously picks up the tab for lunch.
4:00 pm: I walk home with a friend but we stop at a grocery store so I can buy Rice Krispies, food coloring, and marshmallows for a treat I’m bringing to a party later tonight. ($13.36)
5:00 pm: I make the rice crispy treats as well as a bright green margarita for an st Patricks day party. I lie down for a few hours before the party.
8:00 pm: I take the bus over to my friend's house. I realize I didn’t eat a real dinner but convinced a few people to go in on a pizza. Another friend goes and picks it up. ($6 for my portion). I end up staying longer than planned and take an uber home. ($14.20)
Day 6 Sunday
9:30 am: A little hungover. I make breakfast and coffee but go back to bed.
2:00 pm: I finally decide it's time to be a real person. I get up and take the train uptown to the public pool.
4:00 pm: I swim for an hour and then head out. On my way to the train station, I get a tea ($4.26) which is objectively overpriced and ridiculous but hot herbal tea on a cold Sunday just hits.
5:00 There is some maintenance on the train and I have to wait for a shuttle or bus back to my place. I’m going out of town early this week and decide I’m not meal-prepping or cooking just for one day. There is a chipotle near the train station. As I’m walking over, I stopped by a woman asking for change. I have no cash but offer to buy her dinner. She gets a large sandwich combo ($23.11). She says that she is $20 short of a hotel room and asks if I can get money out of an ATM for her. I go to CVS where I also buy her shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and deodorant. ($19.11) My card isn’t working with the ATM. I try to see if I can add my debit card to my apple wallet so I can get cash back from CVS for buying gum ($1.97) but it doesn’t work. I end up getting a $50 visa gift card. ($56.95 with activation fee). She is upset I wasn’t able to give her cash and yells at me. I hand over the stuff but just feel weird about the situation and our interaction.
6:00 pm: I ended up missing the bus and have to go a bit further than intended. I still haven’t grabbed dinner yet (rip my chipotle plans) and grab a salad from a generic fast-casual place. ($13.51)
8:00 pm: When my roommate comes home I debrief on the situation at the train station but tell him I bought a woman dinner- not that I also spent $70 at CVS. He said that he and several friends have seen that woman before and that she has the story for everyone. I hope my $50 helps her nonetheless.
10:00 pm: I download a new book from the library and fall asleep.
Day 7 Monday
5:30 am: I get up, pack my stuff for the whole day, and go and work out. I bike to the pool and get ready for work there.
8:00 am: I’m OOO for the rest of the week and am under a big crunch to get everything done. I get to work early and settle in with provided breakfast.
12:30 pm: I was in back-to-back meetings this morning but need to run an errand across town. Normally I would bike but I uber so I can work from the backseat. ($12.38) I pick up birthday cupcakes for a friend (someone else paid for them) and then hail an uber back to the office. ($8.94). On my way in I Sweetgreen but am able to expense because of a particular meeting I was in.
6:00 pm: My friend and I take the train uptown for a friend's birthday party. I get one beer ($11.54 with tip) but the rest of the food and drink were covered by my friend's parents.
10:00 pm: My friends and I take the train back and I grab a bike to make it the rest of the way.
Weekly total: $383.69
Reflections:
This felt like a very typical week of spending for me. I try to follow the 50/30/20 rule, but proportional to my income my rent is pretty low- so I don’t mind spending money especially to be social and in the company with others. It may not feel like it from this library, but the (ongoing) pandemic was (and is) disruptive to my life/routines and I have had a really hard time getting out of the house for a while. I’m glad that is no longer the case.
A few months ago I think this spending would have come as a shock but I downloaded MINT at the beginning of the year and am now way more on top of my spending. Lifestyle creep is so real, and I feel it. So I’m doing as much as possible to live a full and well-balanced life within my means.
I constantly am confronted with things I want to buy but the more I learn about values based spending (Her First 100k on Instagram) I realize that these items won't get me closer to the things that make me happy. To me those are my hobbies, traveling, and spending time with friends. My mom has never bought a name-brand thing full-price in her life, and I know that I've been influenced by others to love and want name-brand things. I'm proud anytime I resist the impulse to get something, especially if it is an item that many other people have.
Edit to add:
I know my salary is ridiculous — especially for the field and my age. Tbh, I was just lucky I found an org with a great culture+benefits+work life balance. I definitely operate from a scarcity mindset around money. There were many times in college when I had less than $20 to my name. It feels good to not be there anymore.

Hi all. I looked around a few times to see what kind of advice I could get for the moon event as someone with I guess mid tier gear at this point (two legendary and an epic gear) and wanted to throw out here what worked for me in case someone finds themselves in the same boat for the next time it comes around.
I have the double earnings for life perk. No other paid options
I did not use gems for double/5x because I am trying to save all gems for boxes until I get the ultimates I want
At first I tried leveling just lettuce. Since that's usually the way to go I figured if I had patience it would take a while but then be worth it. (For those unfamiliar, for regular play and other events it's usually best to focus on maxing the first station and then move to the next and keep maxing them one by one in order)
It was not worth it lol. If you want to try this route be aware that for 900-100 you'll be in the late K / early L price range.
I got lettuce to 700 before I decided a better tack would be leveling the top row. I had gotten at least x25 before opening the related station and did not go past red peppers until they were maxed.
So.. lettuce to 600 or 700 (however long it takes to get the x25 on coconut)
Then coconut until carrots are x25
Then carrots until red peppers are x25
Now red peppers get up to 600 and by then lettuce has the x50 option so swing back to that until 800.
Then coconut will have the x50 option so 800 it. Then carrots. Then red peppers.
By then lettuce will have the x100 option. You can now max it. Then coconut will have the x100. Max it. Then carrots. And so on.
Alternately you can just go to 950 and then get the next one to 900 and then go back to max the previous one at your convenience. I started doing this at red peppers. The point is to have an immediately better crop as soon as you unlock it so as long as you have x100 unlocked you're good to go. Open and get it to at least 900 immediately. Usually the x100 opens up when you're at around 930-950 for the station you're working on.
This worked for me even with not having much time to babysit the game Friday/Saturday. I finished today (Sunday) with about 12h to spare. I hope this helps someone else for the next event.
For clarity my stats are:

• 367% profit
  
• 115% instant food
  
• 10% perfect good
  
• Workers walk 280% faster
  
• Food made 500% faster (useless for this event)
  

My vault is lv 1 everything except investor gems at 25% chance.
And of course make sure you utilize inviting chefs and making your focus dish whatever gets you the most money.
Good luck!