Kick plate car test near me

I realize Unagis already don't get a lot of love on here, but I wanted to add a perspective I haven't seen (and really wish I'd known before buying one). I've read all the usual complaints (too expensive, short range, no suspension), but at the $580 price the last few months, if you really prioritize hill climbing and light weight, the two-motor one is a pretty good option. In hindsight I would've spent more for something with good shocks, but after a few months I was happy with it for a first scooter.
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But Unagi's brakes have several problems: 1. the regen-only brakes don't have much stopping power (the fender backup isn't useful -- you can't switch your foot position to use it in an emergency) 2. the regen-only brakes take a moment to kick in and ramp up and 3. the left-paddle-brake right-paddle-gas design is crazy -- we've all grown up with bikes, our instinct is to squeeze and grab the bars in an emergency, whereas the paddles require almost letting go of one to use your thumb. And it's way too easy to mix up gas and brake -- it sounds dumb, but if you have one, I'm willing to bet that every once in a while you momentarily push the wrong paddle, but switch to the correct one before really noticing.
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If you have one, go out and test an emergency stop in a parking lot -- it will probably be kind of terrifying, especially if you compare to a bicycle. The Unagi doesn't even brake at all for a solid fraction of a second, and even when on full the brakes have very little power. All of these problems together mean that the Unagi is fine for, I don't know, riding around a warehouse or something. But riding in traffic where you might need to brake to avoid cars it is incredibly dangerous.

So, I graduated a college with a finance degree last year and I'm getting my master's degree in business this May 2023. I have been searching high and low for employment opportunities since January, but I have yet to get one interview. I applied to maybe 6 different places, tailored my resume and cover letter for each one, made sure I met the qualifications but nope. Nothing. It's infuriating.
The one place I did manage to get a short phone call with rejected me a week later because I applied too late, two places said "no" in automated emails within 48 hours, one said "no" 2 months after I applied, and 3 others have yet to get back to me that I applied to back in January. It is near impossible to follow up because there is no contact information listed.
I feel like a deer constantly staring into the headlights of an incoming car at this point. I feel like I am failing. I have above a 3.8 GPA for both my undergrad and graduate degree. I have 3 years of hospitality/customer service experience as well as 2 internships with a tax and insurance company. I am not sure what the problem is.
I hear companies are laying off workers left and right, so maybe a recession is coming soon. Is it worth it to apply for jobs now - or should I hold off and wait for this tsunami to pass? I plan on going back to waiting tables at a local hotel near my house this summer, which will guarantee me income. Only time will tell how long I can stay in this field.
I welcome any advice or opinions about this, I know this is a rant, but I am tired of getting nowhere.

Hey all. 5/13 tester. Recently took my first FL through Blueprint which resulted in a 508 (127/126/128/127). This is up from my BP diagnostic of 504 (123/127/125/129). I'm trying to get around a 520 if I can. Until now, I have not studied for CARS or P/S AT ALL because I didn't have time; C/P and B/B content review was taking up all of it.
At this point in my study plan I was going to dial in 50 UWorld and 2 daily UW CARS passages for the next ~20 days and then switch fully over to AAMC materials. I've done 350 UWorld questions so far, averaging 71% correct.
However, I'm thinking that I need to find a way to zero in on P/S if I want a shot at my goal score. The problem is coming up with a way to balance that plus continuing to improve on my other sections.
What's the best way forward? I would really love to get through the Pankow deck, but it's got 2200 cards which seems too much. I'm also thinking I'll need to watch at least some of the KA videos, and I have no clue how long that'll take. Reading the 300pg doc isn't a good option for me, as I'm a slow, deliberate reader. Other options are MileDown anki (1500 cards, less comprehensive) or JackSparrow Anki (1700 cards, more comprehensive). Another idea is to skip all premade decks and instead just do UWorld Behavioral and study/make my own Anki cards for concepts that I miss.
I also have to think about how to space it out: Should I go all-in on PS over 1-2 weeks, or do a little bit over the next ~30 days? I also work about 20 hours a week and am taking Biochem. However, my class effectively ends 4/15 and I can cut down at work to about 10 hweek in the last 2-3 weeks before my test.
So, what would your advice be here? How quickly can I get through the KA videos, and how quickly can I get through a MileDown/JackSparrow/Pankow deck? What is realistic here and what is the best path forward?
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tldr: ~50 days out from the test, how can I best study for P/S while continuing to improve on other sections, while working 20-25 hours a week?

So, I graduated a college with a finance degree last year and I'm getting my master's degree in business this May 2023. I have been searching high and low for employment opportunities since January, but I have yet to get one interview. I applied to maybe 6 different places, tailored my resume and cover letter for each one, made sure I met the qualifications but nope. Nothing. It's infuriating.
The one place I did manage to get a short phone call with rejected me a week later because I applied too late, two places said "no" in automated emails within 48 hours, one said "no" 2 months after I applied, and 3 others have yet to get back to me that I applied to back in January. It is near impossible to follow up because there is no contact information listed.
I feel like a deer constantly staring into the headlights of an incoming car at this point. I feel like I am failing. I have above a 3.8 GPA for both my undergrad and graduate degree. I have 3 years of hospitality/customer service experience as well as 2 internships with a tax and insurance company. I am not sure what the problem is.
I hear companies are laying off workers left and right, so maybe a recession is coming soon. Is it worth it to apply for jobs now - or should I hold off and wait for this tsunami to pass? I plan on going back to waiting tables at a local hotel near my house this summer, which will guarantee me income. Only time will tell how long I can stay in this field.
I welcome any advice or opinions about this, I know this is a rant, but I am tired of getting nowhere.

My OCD Experince
Here is some background. When I was a child this started out on a minor scale. My earliest memory of OCD was walking out of my room if I thought about my least favorite baseball player Chase Utley, and walking back into my room while thinking of my favorite one instead, David Wright. If I tried to ignore this urge I would get extremely antsy and have to give in. However this eventually went away through me telling myself “This is all in your head”. Years passed and I was fine until December 2021. Late December the ocd became religious, despite me not necessarily being a ‘word for word by the bible Christian’. I began feeling as if I was not worthy of my current life and its perks, along with the people who love me due to past things I had did. In January of 2022 I confessed to my parents of what I did (I would rather not mention it as it is strictly a family matter) and was forgiven by them. However my OCD did not go away, making me realize the mental hardship I was going through was not just guilt, but OCD, Anxiety, and depression ( which was professionally diagnosed.) I have tried therapy twice, once before medication, which did not work, and another time after in September of 2022 which did not work. Anyway, as time progressed from January, I tried therapy, which made things worse in my opinion. I then became hospitalized in February, as my building OCD urges took over my life to the point I was afraid to move from my bed. I could not do anything for myself, and could not stop crying out of fear that I was disrespecting God and the Christian faith, as well as fearing death and going to hell rather than Heaven as a result. They could not do much for me, providing me with pills that made me tired and that’s it. I eventually received a psychiatrist in late February or March (I do not remember when as my brain has blocked out much of early 2022) I was prescribed clonazepam 1mg, fluoxetine, and aripiprazole, later switching to just the ladder two when I changed physiatrist for insurance reasons. I was perfectly back to normal staring from late March-April all the way to August when it returned again. I have gained so much weight from a combination of medications and not wanting to workout due to medications making me gain weight/making me tired. I used to be 5’8 and 175-80ish pounds of nearly pure muscle, and am now well over 230 and have no motivation to do anything about it. Since august I have tried numerous medications to no avail, which leads me to today, and with each passing day, it feels slightly worse and worse and I fear I’m reaching a breaking point again.
My OCD occurs through nearly everything, but mostly when doing things I do a lot. Such as walking in and out of rooms or cars, flipping light switches, putting on or taking off articles of clothing, using the restroom, opening and closing things, picking things up and putting them down, typing, washing my hands, touching/hugging/kissing people I care about, and sometimes even putting things in my mouth when I eat or drink.
Here is an example of the average OCD I encounter:
*walks into room* *must thing of Jesus, if I do not, or worse, think of the ‘other guy’, I will die and go to hell instead of Heaven* *if I feel the presence of my middle finger, genital region, or behind during this thought process, I must start over while feeling a neutral part of my body such as a pointer finger* *After this (usually takes numerous attempts) Must think of neutral name or person so I do not insult Jesus in case I feel the presence of my middle finger, genital region, or behind afterwards. Examples of neutral names would be that of baseball players such as Shohei Ohtani, celebrities, etc.* *If successful, proceed with day, if not, start over again from the top*
This is just an example, it can occur when thinking/seeing/hearing/touching of any religious words, objects, or things, and can occur doing any of the things I listed in the paragraph above the example. I NEED to respect all Christian things or terrible things will happen to me and my loved ones. And if I see or think of the opposite of Christian things, I need to see Christian version to correct and cleanse myself otherwise I will essentially be worshiping the opposite religion (Despite knowing this is not true and you cannot ‘accidentally’ worship something else, my brain acts as if that is true). This is my though process and I hate it. This also goes for death, as if I see/think of/hear the word death or anything related, I would prefer to see/think of/hear Life, as my brain makes me think that if I do not see it, I will die soon or someone close to me will. I count nearly everything I do, and if I attempt to do something and it lands on a number I deem bad, I have to start over. Sometimes these ritualistic things take dozens of attempts before I feel comfortable and it makes me so frustrated, sad, and scared. Sometimes I cry or punch myself in the head trying to fix things.
In my brain there are three categories, Good, bad, and neutral. All words, things, thoughts, and images fall into these categories. If I see/heafeel/think a ‘bad’ thing, I must correct it by seeing/hearing/feeling/thinking of a ‘good’ thing. Then in order to not disrespect the ‘good’ thing accidentally as I go on with my day, I must see/heafeel/think a neutral thing, as I do not care what occurs to the neutral thing, if that makes any sense.
Examples of words and things I want to or don’t want to see/think/hear
Negative: Devil, Satan, Lucifer, Pentagram, Satanist, Satanism, Allah, death, dying, color red (sometimes), hell, fire, 666, Koran/Quaran
Neutral: Shohei, Water, Mets, 000
Positive: Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, Christian, Christianity, Cross, Life, 555, Bible
I want to get back to a point where I can see negative or positive things and move on with my day without stopping to denounce/correct or worship said things. I do not want to be hyper aware of every body part I feel on myself. I do not want to count my every step and everything I do. I want to stop crying and hitting myself in the head out of frustration and hatred of my brain. I want to be comfortable in my own skin, and for my head to stop hurting from stress that my own stupid brain causes me all the time.

ttttttimestamp / CONUS shipping only
Whatddup internet friends, here's what I got for y'all today:
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• Black Tofu DZ60RGB (hotswap w/ arrow keys) w/ lubed JWICK Yellows $220 shipped
  • Switches lubed with Krytox 205g0
  • Durock stabs, band-aid & holee modded, also lubed with Krytox 205g0
  • Stupidfish foam and polycarbonate plate currently inside already
  • Extra brass plate and case and coil
    • the brass plate has some scratches from switch removal but not visible under board, check timestamp
  • Used for 2-3 years or so? but still in great condition

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• BM43A 40% w/ Box Cream Switches $55 shipped
  • Purchased off another redditor on a whim, but 40% just ain't for me. Used for maybe like 5 days total.
  • Comments from the previous owner:
    • "I built it without stabs just to test it, but I discovered that 40% is not for me."
    • "It's fully functional and the RGB works"
    • "There is a chip on the back but aside from that, it's clean and undamaged." (included image in timestamp)
    • "Box Cream Switches are lubed with Krytox 205 G0"

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• GMK Rainy Day Clones w/ Hangul Sublegends $30 shipped
  • Purchased off of Aliexpress
  • Mounted once & used for 5 minutes to test, have been sitting in box ever since

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Please comment before PM. Thanks for lookin!

From a salary sacrifice scheme, I could get either the following cars at the same cost:

• Volvo C60 AWD Plus
• Tesla Model Y RWD

Now I know the Model Y RWD comes with a smaller battery, isn't as fast, but its efficiency vs the Volvo's poor inefficiency means at motorway speeds, both are estimated to have similar ranges. However that's based on what I can find for a Model Y RWD vs results for the pre-update C60 (new one now have better motors that's meant to be more efficient with more of a RWD bias, slightly bigger battery, some drag improvements, higher charging speed, but as of yet have not found any tests based on the upgraded model yet).
Reasons for Model Y: Massive cargo space, it's around double that of the C60. Camp mode (I would actually make use of it - drive to the Dales night before, sleep overnight, and in morning go for a run up the hills and return home afterwards). The cargo storage would also give me a lot of flexibility. It is more efficient and with high price of electricity, cheaper to run.
Reasons for C60 AWD: It's fast. While it's not as efficient at motorway speeds, I can imagine the battery would give longer range for back road driving where speeds are lower - ie in the Dales, the Lakes or in Wales etc although I don't imagine the Model Y would be a problem range-wise either? I don't think it have anything like a Camp Mode or a way to keep heating on overnight should I want to camp. It's better looking than the Model Y too. Interior probably is better quality (having said that, I also like the minimalist approach of Model Y). Cargo space isn't as big as the MY, but it's not that tiny so still quite useful.
In either cases, they will get used for the occasional road trips couple of times a year - ie distances of 250+ miles and potentially once or twice or even 3 to Europe (easily over 1500 miles) in the 4 years I'll have the car for.
I wonder if anyone have their views or pointers that I might have not thought of. I'm interested to hear what other's experience are etc. I have no doubts that either are excellent cars in their own way. For what it's worth I am based in the UK so charging infrastructure probably means the Tesla have a advantage with the supercharger network, but how much of one?

Timestamps and images:
https://imgur.com/OiNeHPK
https://imgur.com/kkEEIRu
https://imgur.com/rXR2OrR
https://imgur.com/huyycx1
https://imgur.com/Q6jmIOy
https://imgur.com/9dDAhMk
https://imgur.com/FuVTMUt
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Offering up some of my collection that I will not be using. I'm new to listing on mechmarket but have 20+ years of experience selling used items on other well-known markets. Please see my post/comment history for evidence of my interest and engagement in the hobby.
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Item	Condition	Price
GMMK PRO	Assembled. Lightly used. Black. Keycaps/switches NOT included. Some very minor scratches from a switch puller on the inside of the case, which are nearly entirely invisible when standard-sized cherry switches + keycaps are installed. Significantly modded to my preferred acoustics/performance: Stock stabs were replaced with lubed Owllabs stabs (Krytox GPL 205G0 & Krytox XHT-BDZ). Tape mod on the back of PCB (low adhesive masking tape). PCB modded w/ EVA .5mm foam switchpads. Poron foam on screw holes (force-break mod). Updated Poron gaskets. Silver and Black knobs included. Polycarbonate and aluminum plates are included. (Assembled with aluminum plate.)	$185 OBO
LiNK65	Assembled. Like New. Green w/ golden weight. . Hotswap PCB. Keycaps/switches NOT included. Meletrix stabs are included and were installed with Krytox GPL 205G0 & Krytox XHT-BDZ. (Meletrix stabs are the white & black stabs included with R2 Zoom65). FR4 and aluminum plates included (assembled with FR4 plate). Additional white poron plate foam and case foam are included (assembled with black poron foam). Most original packaging, and all spare parts are included.	Link65 $465 OBO
KBD67 Lite R4	Assembled. Like New. Keycaps/switches NOT included. Bonnie Cream OR Rosy Brown OR Transparent case (please let me know which case you would like included. The Transparent case has been modified with heavy white molding clay in the bottom for sound dampening and extra weight. The other two cases are unmodified). KBD67 MarK II RBG V3 Hot-swap PCB. Stabs installed with Krytox GPL 205G0 & Krytox XHT-BDZ. Bottom Foam included (Wired ANSI version). KBD67 Switch Pad (ANSI) included. KBD67 Lite R4 plate Mute Silicone included. KBD67 Lite polycarbonate plate.	$100 OBO
GMK Redacted Keycaps	Like New.	$125 OBO
GMK Godspeed Keycaps	Very Lightly Used. Armstrong Base Kit. (Note, the GMMK Pro is pictured with GMK WoB alphas which are not for sale in this listing. The GMK Godspeed alphas are an off-white color.)	$125 OBO
GMK Godspeed Novelties Kit	Like New.	$50 OBO

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Will take Paypal or Venmo. Local Cash accepted w/ $10 off a purchase.

I was driving this moring, when my Citroen C4 Grand Pcicasso ()2016, 16 plate) starting blaring with warnings, saying BATTERY CHARGE FAULT, STOP DRIVING or words to that effect. Upon pulling over and looking under the bonnet, i found the remnants of a belt and what I thought was another belt having been dislodged from the pulleys on the drivers side of the engine bay.
After getting the car over to a local mechanic, he's said that the fan belt/auxiliary belt has gone and will also need two new tensioners fitted, but has not been able to price the job yet - can anyone give me an ideaof how much this repair is likely to cost?

So, I bought a new car, insured it, then a few months later changed to a private reg but didn't bother telling the insurer as it was expiring and I was switching to a new insurer anyways.
I got a letter from the MID saying my car wasn't insured, which of course it was, but I guess this was due to the private plate. Anyway, I ignored it as I was switching insurance provider.
But a few weeks later I got a 'failure to insure' letter, so I insured the car the next day, I hadn't insured it for 10 days because I was shopping around for a better deal, and figured since I wasn't using the car (I was using another car which was insured) that it would be fine, as I've done this with my motorbike before and typically I'd received several SORN it letters of course which I'd then decide whether I am SORN the vehicle or not.
So I get the 'failure to insure' letter, I insure the car the following day, then a month later I get another one saying final notice. I ignore this as the car is now insured...
Then whilst I am away, I get another letter from the magistrate court this time saying plea guilty or not guilty e.t.c. well my 21 days to reply expired a week ago, so I missed that deadline.
Just wondering, what now?
To be honest, reading over the 'failure to insure' and 'final notice' letters I read them as you must: pay a fine or insure the vehicle or sorn it... lol, probably because I was giving it very little attention but I am pretty sure I can't insure the vehicle and SORN it so having a bullet point list made it sound like 3 options, I wonder if the court will agree with me ^^
Any idea what sort of penalty I am facing for this stupid situation?

Ok, so let me give my situation:
I met this girl a last week on a Thur, and it went really well. We got along great and made out nice. She gave me her allowance requirement and I didn't debate it. We agreed we would start Sunday. She even offered to be one of my "employees"
And, this is where it gets curious:
Over the weekend she continued to send me a stream of texts telling me she wanted to make sure we were clear on money, because she really needs it. I mean, dozens of texts. Several long
She told me about her previous arrangement that:

1. Paid an allowance (same we agreed, except this time, it was NET what we agreed)
2. Paid for her health insurance
3. Paid for her apartment
4. Paid for her grooming
5. Gave her a CC and clothing allowance
6. Paid for misc. travel.

All-in-all, doubling the original offer she made to me. This is what her previous arrangement, allegedly, gave her. We agreed on slightly more than the original, but nowhere near her number
She also asked me for money to get a manicure and wax for a dinner event we have on Thur. I violated my own rule and gave her the money. The "manicure" was just a powder dip with no color or anything. Very vanilla, if she got them done at all.
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As for the waxing, that story is developing, but I think she's lying about that too. When I asked her where is was at, she couldn't remember, vague about location ("Oh, you know, they're all very generic sounding"). I offered to take her straight there, but she sweetly declined because I "had already done so much". I looked up the name of the place she gave me, and the general location she gave: There aren't any salons near there at all, period. Are there are none in the entire Seattle area with the name she gave. I texted her asking if she had left yet. No reply. I told her if she brought a receipt, I'd pay for it (even though I already gave her money). I am betting she "forgets" to get one.
Then, there are the last minute surprises:

1. Date night Sunday: Literally, she sits down in my car and tells me "My period just started". She had also told me she's on an IUD and has been for years. Now, while it's not a FACT, every woman I have known to get an IUD has their period totally cease. So now, sex is off the table for days. How coincidental, now that's she's getting paid
2. Turns out, she has a car, but it doesn't run. Oops, thought I told you that
3. Turns out, she also has dogs at her house - Oops, thought I told you that
4. She doesn't have a bank account, but really needs to get one. Venmo only

Now, here are the plot twists:

1. As part of becoming a W2 employee, she has to give me proof she can work. And, she does: She gives me her passport and allows me to photocopy it!
2. Her passport has an entirely different name that what she gave me. The first name difference was that she assumed her sisters name until she could trust me (uh-huh). The last name I have yet to get an explanation for
3. She knows I want a submissive, and she has been taking copious notes and waiting on me hand-and-foot (even washing my dishes and cleaning my kitchen, thought I didn't ask).
4. She's always eager to meet me.
5. She's spent the night at my house 2x. And although there was no sex, there was a brief blowjob.

There have been lots of tears along the way about her financial hardships, etc. That she's living on canned food (but, in a pretty decent apartment). She's basically unemployed, as far as I can tell.
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Right now, I have already violated 2 of my rules and I suspect she's still chatting with dudes, but she otherwise seems sincere. I mean, what con artist would give me her passport?

I got to drive the car for one damn day. I don't have enough money for this and I have no idea what to do. I'm not covered by insurance as my parents have not yet renewed our AAA. I have $130 in the bank and don't get my next check for another three days--more time than they'll let me leave my car on campus. I don't have nearly enough to get a new exhaust system., and neither does my mother who has already helped me out so much. Oh, my $700 laptop won't turn on and now I have to take hers to use at school. Do I try an at-home fix? Lift up the car and pin up the pipe with some cables? I don't care about driving it illegally I can't deal with this right now and have already had three breakdowns today

We had been checking weather reports tirelessly for two weeks, until we finally found our spot. The following week should be nothing but sun and smooth winds, so we tentatively decided that to be our slot. Our small crew consisted of me and my friends Josie and Frank. Josie’s dad owned the boat (and he still needed to sign off on our plan), so we had to reserve it ahead of time, and make sure that we got it back in pristine condition, on the dot, and preferably with a nice coating of wax or whatever they use to make boats shine like candied apples.
Monday arrived and the weather was still solid, and Josie’s dad had reluctantly signed off on our plan, so we decided not to wait any longer and take it out the next day. The idea was to have a two day mini-cruise; just us hanging out on the boat and maybe docking it for the night at a nearby town. Although Josie’s dad was a hardass, he had taught her how to drive and maintain the boat since she was a kid, so really, the worst thing that could happen is that we wouldn’t have enough snacks.
Me and Frank met at the parking lot, and saw Josie standing on the boat at the end of the dock. Her dad was with her, lecturing her about some winch or other, Josie rolling her eyes next to him, barely maintaining her attention.
“He really can’t leave her alone even for a couple days, can he?” Frank asked, keeping his voice low as we stepped on the long dock.
“Josie or the boat?”
Frank chuckled, then quickly returned his resting poker face as we reached the boat, Josie’s dad turning around as he heard the planks creaking under our feet.
Before he could say anything, Josie ran up from behind him and said “Hi boys! You brought the food and snacks and the five gallons of vodka, I assume?”
“Aye aye, Captain!” we replied in unison. It was Josie’s dad’s turn to roll his eyes.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it,” he said to Josie, starting to walk down the small ramp down to the dock. “And remember, two days, no more. I expect you to bring her back in one piece.”
“Sure thing, dad!” That was Josie’s way of saying yes, yes, yes, I get it already.
Josie’s dad gave us a stern look followed by a slight nod as he walked past us. He never really liked me or Frankie, a bunch of hooligans, as he’d once called us when we were kids. For the record, me and Frankie didn’t like the guy either, so at least the feeling was mutual.
After her dad was out of earshot, Josie yelled “Are you ready kids?!” putting on her damndest pirate voice.
“Aye Aye Cap-TAIN!” we screamed and sprinted up the ramp and into the boat.
After an exchange of hugs we unloaded our groceries into the mini-fridge below deck, then met up with Josie, who was already sitting inside the helm. “Ready to leave, crew?” she asked. “Let’s rock this boat,” Frank replied. The amount of bad jokes this early in the morning was surely a great indication for what the rest of the day held.
It wasn’t long until the shore behind us was gone, the tranquil open sea spreading out in all directions. Josie seemed to know where we were going, but at that point I could no longer discern what direction we had even come from.
Me and Frank sunbathed and joked around on the deck until Josie emerged from her cocoon-like cockpit. “Sorry to interrupt your hi-LARIOUS hijinks, but I’d propose we have some lunch soon.”
Like destiny, the word lunch produced a unified grumble from both me and Frank’s stomachs - the universal horn of yes please, food please, now please.
“We can stay here for a while, then we could start heading towards the town,” Josie said.
Feeling bad that she was doing all the heavy lifting, I asked her “You need any help? It’s your boat, and us your honored guests, so don’t be afraid to command us, cap’n!”
“Please,” Josie replied, “when I get a chance to drive this boat, I take it. Dad’s been hogging it like crazy all summer. Besides, it’s not like you guys even know what half of the things on this boat are called, let alone what they’re used for.”
“Well, that’s the driver’s seat,” Frank said, pointing at the helm.
“That’s called a helm, my dear. Frank - you just earned yourself the honorary job of heating up our lunch.”
“This ain’t no Ford Prius, I see,” he replied as he got up and started to take lazy strides towards below deck.
“Toyota,” I said.
“What?”
“Prius is Toyota. Not Ford. Come one, let’s go make lunch for the captain.” I got up to follow Frank, nodding approvingly to Josie.
We had cheap microwave meals for lunch, seeing as the boat didn’t have a stovetop or an oven. For some reason - maybe it was the soothing sounds of the ocean lazily slapping the boat, or the warm afternoon sun - the food defied its low expectations and tasted great.
Afterwards we had a little siesta where I almost fell asleep until Josie said “Shall I take course towards the town, then?”
Through a straw hat laid across his face, Frank mumbled “Aye aye.”
“You sure you don’t need any help?” I asked Josie one again, but she was already jumping into the helm, excited to get back at it. “You guys just take a chill, I’ll get us where we need to.”
As the motor’s soothing hum returned, I got myself a bag of chips and sat on the deck, watching the horizon. Frank still had the hat on his face, which either meant that he didn’t want to be bothered, or that he’d fallen asleep. Either way, I was happy to just sit under the sun as the boat slowly rolled towards our destination, cutting a line into the flaccid water behind us.
“Shit, Shit SHIT!” Josie screamed. I must’ve fallen asleep, and as I got up the half eaten bag of chips crushed under my foot.
“What, Josie? What’s wrong?”
“What’s going on?” Frank parroted as he stood up, the hat falling beside him.
“There’s a fucking storm coming,” Josie said as she frantically pressed buttons, her eyes darting across the dashboard of the helm.
I turned around and looked at the horizon. Dread filled me as I saw an infinitely wide wall of dark clouds spread across the sky, making contact with the water in a misty gray curtain. I noticed that the ocean was no longer level, for it was rippled with small waves that thumped the sides of the boat in eager anticipation.
“I thought it was supposed to be nothing but clear skies,” Frank said. He’d walked beside me, taking in the horror beyond the horizon.
“Ex-fucking-actly, Sherlock. It came out of fucking nowhere,” Josie snapped, holding the wheel tightly in her right hand as she fiddled something with her left.
“Okay, Josie, I know this might sound stupid, but bear with. Why are we going towards the storm?” I asked, trying to not seem disingenuous as I turned around to face her.
She gave a sigh, stopping what she was doing and looked me in the eyes. “That’s where the town is. It’s the closest place to dock right now, and the storm’s moving faster than any I’ve ever seen. If we go back it’ll catch up to us and we’re fucked. If we go through it, we’ll spend the least amount of time inside it, giving us at least a chance.”
“A chance at what?” Frankie asked.
“A chance at getting out of here.”
“Any port in a storm, I guess,” I said, trying to lighten the mood, to which Frank gave me a concerned look.
The air had turned cool, so I went and changed to warmer clothing, Frank doing the same. Coming back up to the deck, I saw that the storm had moved closer. A lot closer. Josie instructed us to put on life jackets and to stay below deck, not to come out unless she asked us to. We put on the puffy orange jackets and promptly hunkered down below deck. The increasing waves were already rocking the boat uneasily.
“Are we gonna die?” Frank asked, his voice whimpering as he looked up at me from the opposite bench.
Although the question had already burrowed itself into my mind as well, I replied “No, NO, man, we’re not gonna die. Like Josie said, it’s just a quick ride through and then we’re back on dry land,” hoping that my words held even a sliver of truth.
In a matter of minutes, the sky turned dark and the boat started jumping on waves, like a rollercoaster rapidly going up and down and up and down. The rain tore into the boat like a machine gun as thunder sounded from across the way, lightning flashing the sky white erratically. Frank’s lunch quickly escaped his stomach, coming out in an arc of brownish green vomit that splattered across my legs and the floor. I was too scared to care, and he was too frightened to apologize.
The storm kept getting worse, the waves becoming larger as evidenced by the deeper dives and longer ascensions. Water was constantly slamming the deck, some of it trickling down to our feet. Through the two small windows the cabin had, it was near impossible to know whether we were on top of the water or under it, or which way was up or down. Although the storm was loud, I could still hear Josie cursing and screaming as she battled the waves and tried to keep us afloat, which was the only indication that she hadn’t been swallowed into the depths below. Frank was sweating bullets, his face a pale white. I wasn’t doing much better either, the words it’s gonna be ok it’s gonna be ok repeating in my mind.
Slowly the storm started to ease up, the waves thinning out and the rain becoming only a slight patter. Neither Frank or me said anything, though, not wanting to jinx it before we were safely back on land. Soon, the boat’s rocking lessened severely, and I could see sunshine coming through the windows.
“Hey guys, you okay? You can come up now,” Josie yelled, her inflection hesitant but calm.
Frankie apologized for the vomit as we got up and made our way up the steps. Josie was standing at the front of the deck, tumbling through her soaking wet hair with her fingers.
“Ho-lee shit, did we just survive the fucking apocalypse?” Frank asked rhetorically, his eyes darting between me and Josie.
“Josie! You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, yeah… I’m fine,” she replied, waving her hand like nothing abnormal had happened at all.
I walked up next to her and said “We got through it, didn’t we? Now just let’s get ourselves back on land, eh?”
“Yeah, well, that’s the problem.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, look,” she said, holding her hand out at the pale horizon, like she was presenting it on an invisible platter. “Where’s the town?”
“What do you mean where’s the town? We got through the storm, so shouldn’t we be able to get through to it now?”
“That’s the thing. It should be right in front of us.”
“Where’s the storm?” Frankie yelled from the back of the boat.
“What do you mean ‘where’s the storm?’ We just went through it” Josie yelled in annoyance, still peering at the horizon.
“For fuck’s sake, come here,” Frank replied.
Josie looked at me and rolled her eyes, then started walking towards Frank as she gave a long sigh. I followed tepidly behind her.
As we reached the back of the boat, I realized what Frank had meant. There was no storm, nor clouds, or even residual waves. “What the fuck,” I exclaimed under my breath, right as Josie started sprinting around the boat, looking in all directions, her head swiveling in frantic motions, her hair throwing beads of water around like a dog drying up after a swim. A minute later she joined us, panting, and said “It’s all just water. There’s nothing on any side. We’re in the middle of the fucking ocean, the storm’s gone, there’s nothing.”
“Shit, shit, shit…” Frank muttered as he started to tap his foot on the deck, holding himself in a tight hug as he shivered in his wet clothes.
I turned to Josie. “Well we shouldn’t be far off from something, right? It’s still day, and even with the storm we couldn’t have gone too far.”
I could see that Josie was tired. She looked like she had aged about ten years in the last twenty minutes. “Okay, okay, you’re right. Let me just check some things and figure out where to go.”
Josie left for the helm, leaving me and Frank to stare in silent horror at the lazy, blue ocean that seemed to stretch infinitely in all directions.
After a long minute Josie called to us “Guys… you better come check this out.”
She was staring intensely at the dashboard of the helm as we arrived.
“Okay, so good and bad news. Which first?”
“Good, please.” Frank replied, recovered from the worst of the shivers.
“Okay, so the good news is, uhh,” she began, still fiddling with controls as if to double check her suspicions “the boat seems to be in running condition. There’s no damage to anything that would prevent us from going forward.”
“So what’s the problem then?” I asked.
“Check your phones.”
“What?” me and Frank said in unison.
“Check if you have a signal, internet, anything.”
“Shit,” Frank said. “Yeah, mine too,” I replied as I looked at my phone and saw that there was absolutely no signal or internet.
“Yeah, I don’t have a signal either - just had to check. And it doesn’t stop there,” Josie said, “compasses, readings, all of that - it’s shot. I can’t navigate us anywhere, and I have no idea where we are.”
Frank started to freak out and walked towards the front of the boat, his wet shoes squishing as he stomped angrily. “Fuck, fuck, FUCK. What the fuck do we do?”
“Well, as I said, we can still move. The only question is where. I have a faint idea of where the sun was when we first headed out, and I suggest we try to mimic its movement back to the dock,” Josie said to me while keeping her eye on Frank.
Frank was now squatting on the deck, his hands gripping his neck as he stared down at his feet.
“That sounds smart. Then if we see the storm again, we can recalibrate. We should probably be hitting land at some point, right?” I said to Josie.
“That’s my logic, at least.”
“You with us Frank?” I asked, turning to him.
“Yeah, yeah. I guess that sounds smart,” he replied in a solemn voice under his breath.
“Need any help?” I asked Josie.
“Take care of Frank,” she said quietly. “The best thing we can do is stay calm.”
Josie revved up the engine and turned the boat around carefully as she mapped out our approximate direction, and then we left towards a horizon that was no different from the others, guided only by the sun’s approximate movements.
As Josie manned the wheel, me and Frank cleaned up below deck and dried our clothes. As we were finishing up, he said he’d stay below deck, as he needed some time to think.
Looking at the sun, the day was slowly turning to evening. It was summer, so we still had daylight for a few more hours. I went up to Josie to see how she was doing.
“Frank’s below. Said he needed some time to think. I don’t blame him - this is indeed a bit fucked up, isn’t it?”
“Logically, we should hit land at some point,” she replied, her eyes fixed on the horizon, her presence distant.
“How are you doing, Josie? You just pulled us through hell. I know you don’t need help with the boat, but I’m just saying -- I’m here if you wanna talk.”
Josie sighed and turned to me. “Thanks. I think right now what I need is to get us safely back home. Once we’re back you can buy me a beer and then we can talk.”
I nodded, and then turned my head to look at the horizon. Noticing something in the distance, I said “Josie, uhh, what’s that?”
She turned her head back to survey the ocean.
In the distance there were small, dark peaks rising from the ocean, like the tips of underwater mountains rising above the water. They’d appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
“I -- I don’t know. But I think we’re gonna see soon enough.”
I stayed with Josie as we approached the peaks. As we got closer, it was obvious that there was no land between them. Instead, they shot up from the water in thick spirals that tapered off the higher they reached. As we got closer we could finally realize their true size. Although some were smaller than others, most were the equivalent of tall office buildings, some reaching even higher. They spiraled and twisted in the air, arcing like blades of grass in the wind, and it seemed like they could fall down at any moment, but they did not move or shake in the slightest. There must have been twenty or so, and they all looked similar despite their differences in size; dark, mostly smooth yet also scratched, like charred meat on a grill.
“You have any idea what these are? They look like… trees or something, except they don’t have leaves or branches,” I said to Josie.
“Never seen anything like it. Must be some rock formations or something. Maybe there’s an underwater volcano that bursted lava out and it solidified -- I really don’t know. But those should only happen deeper in the ocean, far away from land.”
I heard Frank coming up the stairs. He looked better than he had before, his step lighter. Although I’d been afraid he’d been brooding, I guess having some time to think really did help.
As he saw the spiraling towers, his face turned into a twisted and confused half-frown as he said “What the fuck are those?”
“We don’t know,” I replied, “but it’s the only thing we’ve seen so far.”
Soon the closest spiral towered just a mere two hundred yards away, its wide shade casting upon the boat. From a distance it had been hard to decipher the dark structures, but upon closer inspection, it was clear that their anatomy was… abnormal. Stretches of surface material were mostly smooth, but all of the spirals seemed to have slight craters that were formed above the rest of the exterior. It looked like they had been bombarded by meteors of differing sizes, although even if this had been the case, how had they not been immediately broken, I do not know. They were beyond any logic I could muster.
“So, anyone know what we’re looking at?” Josie askied, surprising both me and Frank - she was usually the one to know things, us just tagging along for the ride.
“No clue, captain,” replied Frank as he stared upwards in dismay at the towering spiral.
“Still no,” I said.
Suddenly the boat’s end shot up, followed by the front, ascending us a good ten yards in mere seconds. Frank and I were knocked down on the deck, but Josie managed to hold onto the walls surrounding the helm. The boat kept rocking as waves hit us from behind. I slowly stood up with my knees bent for support, and went to help out Frank who was still laying on the deck, his eyes wide in panic.
Once I’d gotten Frank up, Josie had already managed to make her way to the back of the boat. We held onto the railings along the boat’s edge and walked as fast as we could through the oceanic turbulence to catch up with her. Once I saw what had produced those waves, I wanted to get back to land more than I ever had before.
In the distance tens more of the spirals had emerged from the ocean, some even larger than the ones we’d seen. They dripped with water, and some were covered in green algae. Somehow they’d been quiet, merely disturbing the water as they’d shot up.
“We need to move! One of those things could shoot up under the boat and sink the whole fucking thing!” Josie screamed, running back inside the helm as the waves slowly calmed down and became smaller. I leaned on the railing to see if there was something underneath us - not that there was much I could do, even if I saw a gigantic spiral shooting up from the depths.
The water beneath the surface was unmoving, holding an abyssal darkness. It seemed as if the light penetrated less than it had before, and what was deep below was nothing but pitch black shadowlands.
Just as I was about to disembark and head towards Josie, something moved in the water. I craned my neck farther over the railing to get a better look. It looked like two large masses were separating from each other, unearthing a ravine.
Josie had gotten the boat moving, and we were starting to turn towards an opening between two of the spirals. As the boat circled, I got a better view of what lay below. The ravine widened, and inside it I could see a dark, whitish yellow mass peeking through. As Josie cranked us up to speed the yellow mass had opened up into a large, oval shape that seemed to span across the ocean floor. Its center held a deep, dark circle that sucked in light as if it were a black hole, twisting all things inside of it.
Then it closed up again. I sighed in relief, hoping that no more spirals would emerge.
Suddenly it opened up again in a furious motion, wider than before, into a perfect circle. Then it hit me - it was an eye, larger than anything I could think of. Although we were moving at full speed, it was so gargantuan that we weren’t making any headway.
It had blinked.
“Josie? Frank?” I screamed as I turned around and saw Frank on the opposite railing looking down at the water, witnessing the same thing I was seeing.
Frank turned to me, his face a washed white, and his mouth slightly agape. “They’re tentacles. They’re fucking tentacles, look!” he pointed at one of the bigger spirals. “They have fucking suction cups and all! Shit, SHIT!”
As if on cue, the tentacles started to return to the water, splashing as they did so, producing strong currents in the water. The boat was immediately caught up in the chaos, going up and around huge waves and being dragged by the water’s shifting volume. Frank sprang below deck, and I followed him. From the small round windows I could see one of the gargantuan tentacles dropping back into the water, the boat just barely missing its tip and almost sunk by the shifting ocean.
Josie ran inside with us and exclaimed “The storm is back! It’s fucking back! I can’t maneuver the boat worth shit!”
As she closed the door behind her, we were flung to the side, my ribs hitting one of the cabinets, producing a painful crack. I could hear the rain start to scratch at the boat, and soon we were engulfed in darkness, the rain gunning down on us through the waves. The boat rocked and swayed worse than it had before, and at some points I was sure we’d gone under, buried into the deep sea, never to see the sun again. We held on to whatever we could as water trickled through the sealed door and started pooling up on the floor.
Slowly, but steadily, the storm started to pass, the boat regaining its level status along the water. The darkness outside faded into a dark red. Once it was possible to stand with relative ease, we emerged from the cabin and walked up to the deck.
“Everyone okay?” Josie asked.
“I think I’m gonna --,” Frank replied, and promptly ran to grab the edge of the railing and vomited yellow bile into the water, his stomach empty of food from before.
“My ribs got a beating, but I don’t think anything’s broken, “ I said. “What about you?”
“I’m fine. Just some bruises. Look,” Josie said, walking to the other side of the boat.
On the horizon, we saw the evening sun illuminating a crimson glow behind a small town some 500 yards away.
“Frank?” Josie called out.
“Yeah?” he replied through thick phlegm that sounded like it was stuck to his throat and running down his nostrils.
“We made it.”
We docked at the unfamiliar town and found a small hotel - probably the only one there - just a quick walking distance away. Once we got our phones dried off, Josie’s seemed to be the only one that still worked. As she looked up our location she nearly dropped the phone on the ground.
“I -- I don’t know how, but we’re quite far from home,” she said, her voice produced in quick breaths.
“How far?” Frank asked.
“Some 480 miles away.”
We checked and double checked her phone, but she was right: somehow we’d ended up nearly 500 miles down the coast into a small fishing town.
We were so tired that we decided to get some sleep before giving the bad news to Josie’s dad. The next morning Josie called him up and explained the situation, giving him the simple version: a storm had hit us, and after we got out we’d arrived here. I could hear the screams he gave her through the phone - apparently he was sure we’d driven the boat all the way to this ghost town in the middle of nowhere and docked it here, just to spite him. Josie didn’t respond to him much, only apologizing and telling him to come pick us up.
A day later he arrived, furious with us - and especially Josie. Once we showed him the boat I thought he was going to burst into a thousand tiny pieces, for I’d never seen a man so angry before. Although I think he overreacted, it was true that the boat was in shambles. There was water damage throughout the interiors, most of the equipment was shot, and large scratches were present along the exterior’s white paint.
Josie begged him not to drive the boat back home, but he insisted, not hearing a word her daughter was saying. We drove his car and arrived home that night.
As promised, me and Josie went out for a beer a few weeks later after her dad had settled down enough to let her out of the house. We went through the events of the trip in great detail, confirming to each other that it really did happen - although we disagreed on one thing.
Josie still thought that the spirals were just magma turned rock, and the whole thing was just extremely bad luck. According to her, we got held up by a superstorm or hurricane that moved our boat on top of an active underwater volcano, and then got hit by that same storm later as it moved across the ocean at miraculous speeds. Her theory was that the storm moved us along with it, making it possible to traverse such tremendous lengths with ease.
But Josie didn’t see what had been underneath us. Her theory was that the ‘eye’ I saw was simply lava cooling down as it emerged from the ocean bed. But she hadn’t seen it blink.
Frank of course seen it as well, but I haven’t heard from him much after the incident. According to his mom, he’s been cooped up in his room, drawing yellow circles on black pages. He’d told her that he needed some time to think.

I got a $600 ticket yesterday for having no insurance, even though I had auto payment enabled and had been actively paying for insurance. Later came to know that the autoplan company I used for getting insurance had started insuring my old vehicle that I scrapped in 2020 instead of current one.
Here’s the chronological order of what happened:

1. Scrapped old vehicle in 2020 and kept the plates.
2. Bought new car in 2020, new plates, from the dealership that the same Autoplan company owned. They insured my new car.
3. 2022 November, this time instead of my current car, Autoplan renewed the insurance for my old plates. Thus leaving my current vehicle uninsured. So I was paying insurance for my old plates for the last 4 months.

I know I should’ve paid attention to the vehicle plate number, make/model on the insurance paper they gave me and shouldn’t have had blind trust in the Autoplan company.
What steps can I take now? How can I make them take the responsibility for this as well. They don’t want to have anything to do with the ticket.

I recently got married and still have California plates while my husband has orders here in Virginia. My tags are up next month and I was just going to have my Mom send then to me but I need to get my car smogged. How do I go about this? I literally have no idea how to handle this, I would prefer to keep my Cali plates. Any advice is appreciated.

I remained the RA of my dorm for the rest of my undergrad career. Then, after I graduated, there were some problems lining up a job. Apparently Stewart Newman's father was a biochemist, and little Stewart was destined to fend off extradimensional invaders (and yes, I know there is one reader who is now furiously typing up a letter explaining that the Chchshiuuni are NOT from another dimension, but I've read the Wikipedia article three times and I don't understand the distinction. You're reading my memoir, not my scientific explanation of extranormal invaders). His father, biochemist Victor Newman, was killed when the laboratory he worked at was hit by a meteorite. According to the investigative report the meteorite passed through 6 cylinders of various compressed gasses, ricocheted off a 7th, broke through a water line, shattered 9 containers of various other chemicals, then cracked the isolation unit on some kind of algae they were breeding for research on biofuels. This happened at 4:41 AM. Apparently this created something of a perfect storm as the chemicals reacted with the water and a very specific molecule produced by the algae acted as a catalyst which worked together to form pentanitroethyltoluenic acid, which is, according to the laws of chemistry, a chemical which desperately does not want to exist. For those not versed in chemistry, this stuff makes TNT look like HBO. That was supposed to say "H2O" but the I actually like it better this way. Anyway, the molecule was being synthesized in the laboratory for over four hours, until Victor arrived at a little before 9:00. His foot crossed the threshold and the laboratory detonated.
Prior to this event the company that ran the lab had just spent a bundle on a new security system with off site recording. This was the only evidence that could be used to put together the events, as according to the official report it "was as if God pressed the delete key".
So now that that story is floating around on Google there weren't a lot of labs that wanted to hire me. So I said fuck it. My ride is being paid for, let's go for a master's degree. Not like I had anything better to do. So I stayed in my dorm, working on my masters, and continued to be the RA.
A lot of the other RAs had horror stories about their dorms. About the nightmares they put up with. For me, for the most part, it was a breeze. If you want to become an RA and have an easy time with it, I have a few simple steps to insure you have it good.
Step 1: inherit the position from someone who's widely respected (thank you Helga)
Step 2: that person who is highly respected should make it known that you're carrying on their torch. (Thank you Helga)
Step 3: have really great women in your dorm. (Thank you Mr Pols)
Step 4: do your very best to fill the size 19 clogs that have been left for you to fill (wait, are clogs German? Oh who cares, I just said the Chchshiuuni were from another dimension)
That's not to say it was easy. I just didn't get the horror stories that others got. I never had to deal with Shane the Showerless or the Roach Incident. What I did have, however, were a lot of young women to look out for. And a lot of young women who came to me with their problems.
By the 2nd week I'd learned everyone's names, knew their majors, had a general idea about their schedules, home lives, and study habits. I knew who was a hard worker, who could keep a secret, who could hotwire a car, who could safely and reliably distill liquor and extract THC (It was me for those last 2 things. Hooray for biochemistry!) Not that I admit to having done any of those things, at least until the statute of limitations has passed. I also knew who needed help in their classes, who was too naive to go to a party alone, and who I could send them with to be sure they had a good time and made it home safe and sound.
In my third week as RA I called Helga because I missed her (I LOVE YOU HELGA) and we talked for like four hours and I gave her the rundown on everyone there and my assessments of such. Helga is many things, but a braggart is not one of them. It came as a surprise when Helga gloated for a full ten minutes about how she was right in her assessment of me. And yes, I guess it was pretty clever of me to "throw together five Amy's and a Rachel for frat party safety patrol." Rachel and Amy 3 were eye candy to serve as a diversion, Amy 2 and Amy 5 were recon to search for overly intoxicated girls, and Amy 1 and Amy 4 could either extract said girls like a SEAL team or steal booze like a… uh… SEAL team, as the situation dictated. By the end of the year they all had radios they used to stay in communication. I don't know where they got them, but they said they didn't buy them and were really evasive when asked about their origins.
Having taken over for Helga, I also grew something of a reputation. I kept her open door policy, any time, any problem, come talk to Shannon. You didn't need to be in my dorm. You didn't even need to be a woman. Hell, you didn't even need to be a student at our school. If you had a problem, I was available.
No one has problems at 2:00 on a sleepy afternoon when you've got a lot of energy and not enough to do. So this policy did make things a fair bit harder for me. Don't get me wrong, I've never regretted my policy, but problems did happen at almost comically inconvenient times.
For example, when I was having a really, really bad period and throwing up every six seconds, Amy (which Amy? I'll never tell. Just kidding, it was Amy 4) came to me because she'd just found out her childhood dog had died. What did I do? Chug half a bottle of pepto and force down half a pint of butter pecan while I comforted her. I kept it down, too, until she was back in her room asleep. Butter pecan is not nearly as good coming back up.
Another time, little innocent Hannah got invited to a party the day of her last midterm, and really wanted to go. I had 4 mid terms left, and AMY team 6 was out or commission studying along with all my other go tos. So I went with her.
I don't think I'll ever forget that night. Hannah, sweet little innocent Hannah. Gorgeous, doe eyed Hannah. Naive, sheltered, quiet Hannah. Hannah is stunningly beautiful, and anyone who has met Hannah will know she has a very sharp wit and a way with words if you can get her to talk at all. What I didn't know is that she had a tongue sharp enough to kill a man at five paces. Hannah got rip roaring drunk (she did five shots in the 30 seconds it took me to pee) and then proceeded to massacre the entire fraternity.
Gary Fogelbaum was a senior, and a total dude bro. He was alright in a crisis and I do appreciate what he did when Pepper broke her leg, but at this point his respect for women left a bit to be desired. He could talk shit with the best of them, and he could take it better than he could dish it out. Five words. Five fucking words, and she left Gary Fogelbaum crying. He earned it. To be clear, she hadn't met Gary before. He sauntered up to her and hit on her, right in front of me. After her second no, he grabbed her hand and put it on his stomach and said "how can you say no to those abs."
Before I could knock his teeth out, Hannah, kind, caring, compassionate, saintly, Hannah disemboweled him. Right there in front of everybody. "Abs won't make daddy proud."
After that it was like something out of a Tarantino movie as I tried to steer her towards the door. Guys got in her way to try to avenge Gary and were verbally slaughtered without mercy. Heads were rolling, viscera was flying, blood was gushing. Nearly to the front door, someone grabbed her wrist.
Hannah spun with a gaze that could vaporize lead and her eyes landed on a short, skinny guy with glasses, who said "you almost forgot your purse" before handing it to her. She snatched her purse, shoved him against a wall and kissed him so hard I think his soul briefly left his body. And then we left. He's engaged to Hannah now, and I've got to say I'm a little jealous.

My 10mo Boston Terrier has been with me for 3 weeks now. He’s very sweet and has made a lot of progress adjusting to his new home but can still be a little shy at times. We enrolled in beginner obedience classes a couple of weeks ago (he was previously being trained for show, so I thought it would be a great experience for him) and I quickly learned that he’s not very food motivated and it makes training difficult. Either that or adolescence is in full swing.
Anyways… back to the real issue. The breeder mentioned he was good in the car until he was 6mo when he got carsick on a 40 min drive. I thought “okay, no big deal, we can work on that!” but I had no idea he was actually terrified of the car? Once we get within 8-10ft of a car he immediately puts the brakes on. At first he was taking treats near the car but stopped and now he won’t even eat those specific treats in my apartment. Switched the treats, same deal. He’s only 13lb so I can pick him up and put him in the car and he will sit good in his booster seat with a harness seatbelt attachment. He’s a little shaky at first but once we start driving he will stop and just sits up with squinty eyes the whole time. We can go for 10-15 min drives to my parents house to play with their dogs and to obedience class without any signs of carsickness. I drive very carefully and talk calmly to him the whole time but I don’t offer treats as he won’t take them 99% of the time (I’m also worried that it would exacerbate the carsickness). Am I doing more damage by picking him up and putting him in the car before making him approach the car on his own first? How do I work on this if he’s not interested in treats (even high value ones)? Is he afraid of the car because he associated it with being carsick?
I’m a little heartbroken as I LOVE traveling with my dog and want him to experience things outside of the 5-10 mile radius of where we live :(

Throwaway.
So, context: my wife and I have been together since we were 14 and 15. It has been a long journey since we were those young kids. I have always been the more immature, easygoing, and dare I say frivolous of the two of us. We lived together for most of college, and 7 years after we graduated before we got married in 2019.
This entire time, she has been a saver. Relentless. Doesn't spend gift cards unless she has to. And guess what? We had an incredible wedding, amazing honeymoon, and we built a 5-bedroom home shortly after we got married. We bought a brand-new car with cash last year. While we both contribute to the family expenses, she makes more money than me (6 figures vs. my 5), and made the majority of the contributions to these large purchases.
That being said, I am the one that spends money on entertainment. I have multiple hobbies like guitar and video games that I choose to spend money on. She doesn't have any hobbies; no makeup, no clothes or shoes, she doesn't go out with girlfriends, she doesn't go to the movies, etc. We will buy the occasional board game, which is an investment with good replayability. But, overall, I am often looking to spend money on myself.
Here's the problem: we don't have a budget. We haven't created a joint bank account for reasons that aren't really relevant here, but we've always considered our individual bank accounts a collective pool that we pull from when needed. I have proposed creating some sort of budget in the past, but it has been shot down. If I recall correctly (we haven't had this discussion in a while), her logic is we shouldn't put any sort of cap on our individual discretionary spending and should instead talk about those big purchases in the interest of transparency.
This comes to a head every few years because, frankly, it feels like she is holding my portion of the funds hostage. This sounds a bit like exaggeration as I type it out, but, ok bear with me:
I recently received my annual bonus. Due to the crap economy this past year, it only worked out to be $1,000 before withholding, which is roughly 1 week of my pay. I see this as next to nothing; I could throw that money away and we wouldn't even notice. I make enough that I can lose 1 week of pay without batting an eye (not that I want to, of course). We aren't living paycheck-to-paycheck, we are able to pay our bills and buy groceries and dog food and gas, we have enough for a rainy day or an emergency, etc. I said I wanted to buy a new guitar for $1200. Like I said, this would make nearly 0 impact on our finances. I'll make nearly twice that money on my next paycheck, this amount is - and I realize this isn't a healthy way of thinking of it, but whatever - nothing to me. But she shot it down.
She was nice about it, but she thinks that's a lot of money to just throw away on what she thinks - correctly - is a toy; I don't make any money playing guitar. And this is how the conversation usually goes. I make a proposal and she's the gatekeeper. This is frustrating for both of us, but 1) she never asks me for permission to spend money because she *only spends money on necessities*, and 2) I would always say yes because I'm roughly aware of our financial situation and that we are able to pay our bills and everything I've already mentioned. I don't care how she spends money because I trust her.
I just can't help but feel so much anger for not being trusted enough to spend money on whatever I want *within reason*. I am frustrated that I don't have the discretion to spend my hard-earned money the way I want to. I am annoyed because her logic is sound: if we hadn't saved as much as we have over the years, we wouldn't have the nice things we have now. If we don't rein in spending a little, the various small - and not-so-small - purchases will add up. How do you convince someone with that mindset that dropping $1k+ on a toy is worth it?
We are very happy together, and have been for literally half our lives. I don't want to have this fight again, but every time something like this happens, I can't help but feel trapped and not trusted. What can I do?

Guys, please don’t bash me. I am aware of how important condoms are. However, I was too drunk and I never even thought that a gogo bar girl might not use a condom. I honestly thought that she had put it on me when she was giving me the handjob because thats what gogo girls do. I was in very little to no senses. And wasn’t even able to feel much as I was almost half asleep.
Anyway, she climbed on top of me and after a few jumps,I felt a sudden pain. Turns out that my dick was bleeding. I immediately stopped. When i kicked her away, I saw that there was blood and no condom!!! Please tell me if there is anything that I can do. I will never get intoxicated again but i am shot scared.
I don’t remember the exact name of the gogo but it was near spankys in bAngkok’s nana plaza(not rainbow or random). Are girls in gogo bars regularly tested?

This advance review of Nightborn: Coldfire Rising has just been posted on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist:
When C. S. Friedman got in touch with me to see if I'd like an early read of the forthcoming Coldfire prequel Nightborn: Coldire Rising, needless to say I was extremely excited. Not only would we get the story of the founding of Erna, but the book would also include a revised edition of the novella Dominion, which I read and reviewed back in 2012. It's been a while, that's for sure. Crown of Shadows, final installment in the original series, was published in 1995. Since then, the Coldfire trilogy has remained in print and very few SFF works can boast of such longevity unless they're quite good.
Friedman has always been adamant that there would never be a sequel to the Coldfire series. And nearly three decades down the line, it doesn't look like she will change her mind. However, the market for shorter works, especially novellas, has been expanding in recent years. So much so that she realized that the time could be ripe to explore ideas and concepts that, while they lacked enough material to warrant a novel-length project, could be turned into books that couldn't have been published just a few years back. Dominion was the first such project and it turned out to be a wonderful read.
Nightborn: Coldire Rising focuses on the Founding of Erna and what led to the First Sacrifice. Fans might recall that it's a tale hinted at in the prologue of When True Night Falls. Dominion recounts the story of how Gerald Tarrant mastered the Forest and became the Hunter. This novella takes place 613 years following the settlement of the colony on Erna and about six centuries prior to the events of the Coldfire trilogy. Friedman realized that Erna has a rich history that is hinted at in the series and that there was a wealth of material for potential prequels. Mapping out such story arcs, the author envisioned a set of novellas that would also explore the Age of the False Messiahs, the Neo-Gothic Revival and its Unification Wars, the great Rakhene Genocide, the transformation of the Forbidden Forest into Tarrant’s private hunting ground, and the Church’s doomed war against him and his minions. All of which has this Coldfire fan pretty excited!
Some readers unfamiliar with the original trilogy will wonder if Nightborn: Coldire Rising makes a good starting point for newbies. Yes, it is a prequel and efforts were made by the author to make this book a somewhat stand-alone work that can be read and understood without having read the Coldfire trilogy. And yet, why would you want to do that? The Coldfire series is a seminal work of dark fantasy that has withstood the test of time, so why would you want to pick up this one before reading the original material? Though Nightborn: Coldire Rising can be read on its own, without the context provided by the original trilogy you'd be missing out on lots of things and not just a few nuances. You might enjoy Dominion without having prior knowledge of Gerald Tarrant, but if you actually know the story of this fascinating badass character you'll be ecstatic. This new one is slated to be released in July, so there is ample time for you to find out for yourself just how brillant the Coldfire trilogy truly is by starting with Black Sun Rising. Follow this Amazon Associate link to learn more about this title and its sequels. Believe you me: You'll love them! And you'll be up-to-date when this prequel hits the shelves this summer.
Here's the blurb:
A prequel to the lauded Coldfire trilogy, Friedman's latest novel mixes the best of dark fantasy and chilling sci-fi.
A ship full of colonists arrive on a seemingly hospitable planet, only to discover that it harbors a terrifying secret. Soon the settlers find themselves caught up in a desperate battle for survival against the fae, a natural force with the power to prey upon the human mind itself, bringing a person’s greatest fears and darkest nightmares to life.
As Colony Commander Leon Case and Chief Medic Lise Perez struggle to find a way to control the fae before more people die, other settlers have ideas of their own…and they may prove more of a threat to colony than the fae itself.
Nightborn: Coldfire Rising is a tale that blends sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, suspenseful and emotionally intense, as a handful of humans struggle to survive on an alien world that seems determined to kill them. In the end they will have to draw upon both scientific knowledge and mystical traditions to save themselves.
Whether you're just discovering the Coldfire universe through this prequel or returning to it as a classic favorite, Nightborn: Coldfire Rising is the perfect entry point to this unique, genre-blending space fantasy epic.
As mentioned, Nightborn: Coldire Rising is the story of the Founding of Erna. It focuses on the horrors that the colonists had to face when they first encountered the mysterious and all-encompassing force they'll come to know as the fae. Coming out of cryogenic sleep after decades spent searching for an habitable planet, the leading faction of the settlers discover that their ship has been observing Erna for ninety years before waking them up. There are obviously some anomalies that prevented the ship from approving the planet as an acceptable settlement for their colony, but they can't find anything concrete as to why the process took this long. In an essay she wrote for her Patreon, Friedman says that one of the most interesting facets of the Coldfire Trilogy is its science fiction background. The people who landed on Erna were rational, scientifically minded people, from a culture not unlike our own. Yet a thousand years later they would have lost all their technology, mastered the fae (as much as anyone could), and adopted terminology and trappings from mysticism and sorcery. How did they get from point A to point B, changing not only their technology but the very tenor of their society? This is the question that she tried to answer with this newest work. How did the colonists figure out what the fae was in the first place? Fans of the trilogy will know that there were no adepts when the colonists landed on Erna. Hence, nobody could see it without Working their sight, but human beings hadn’t learned to Work yet. According to Friedman, this was the biggest challenge to address. If the colonists couldn’t see the fae, didn’t even know it was there to begin with, and had never encountered anything like it to make them suspect it even existed, how did they figure out how to See it, much less control it? That ended up being the main theme of Nightborn: Coldire Rising: a group of colonists trapped on a planet where a seemingly supernatural force was manifesting their darkest instincts and wildest nightmares, who were struggling to figure out what the hell it was and how to gain a measure of control over it before it killed them all.
And time is running out. When I started reading the book, I believed that the tale would cover the span of several months. Imagine my surprise when I realized that Nightborn: Coldire Rising only covers a period of about twenty days. Less than three weeks, that's how long it took for everything to go down the crapper. This lends a tense and suspenseful atmosphere to the story and forces characters to make questionable decisions as their lives and their chances of survival continue to unravel with each passing day. Though I would have liked for the story to cover a bit more ground and give us more than a glimpse of the colonists' early days on Erna, there's no denying that it is self-contained and ends with the aftermath of the First Sacrifice. You reach the ending wanting more, but this new Coldfire tale does what it set out to do. Understandably, it's more scifi than fantasy, and might feel a little discordant with the original material, at least stylistically. Yet a settlement story couldn't be anything else, and I'm sure that fans will enjoy discovering how it all began.
As for Dominion, well it was a doozy! Even though I read the original version a decade ago, like all Coldfire fans I relished the opportunity to revisit one of my favorite SFF characters of all time: Gerald Tarrant. And even though this one occurs more than six centuries into the pass, Friedman recaptured the feel of the Coldfire books. This makes this one impossible to put down and you'll likely finish it in a single sitting. As I mentioned in my first review, Friedman sets the mood perfectly. The narrative grabs hold of you and won't let go. The prose is evocative and the Forest almost becomes a character in its own right. Sure, some will say that hardcore fans are already won over. But it's no secret that the author knows how to draw readers into her tales and Dominion is no different.
The novella features the POVs of two protagonists. The first is that of Gerald Tarrant, first Neocount of Merentha. Although the thirty pages or so don't provide enough of an opportunity to fully appreciate this chance to see Tarrant in action and witness events unfold through his eyes, I loved every single moment of it. Hot damn, I want more! The second perspective is that of Faith, last survivor of a band of knights of the Church hunting faeborn creatures in the Forest. She possesses a special gift known as the Earth's blessing; the fae does not respond to her. Both characters find themselves in the heart of the Forest; one trying to escape, while the other means to best it. I think Friedman created a good balance between the two POV sections throughout the novella. I also enjoyed how the author introduced Amoril and how he became part of Tarrant's entourage.You reach the end too quickly for my taste, but again this tale is as long as it needs to be.
If all goes according to plan, Friedman says that the next novella will be a tale from the Neo-Gothic era, when a young idealist named Gerald Tarrant brings faith to his world, even as darkness begins to take root within his own soul. The author believes that fans of Gerald Tarrant will love to watch that corruption unfold, as well as seeing parts of his personal history that he hinted at in the original trilogy. So Coldfire fans unite! Unless Nightborn: Coldire Rising is a success, we might never get to read that new story. And I for one cannot countenance such a thing! I also want to read every other planned Coldfire novella, so we need to make it happen!
Original link: https://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2023/03/nightborn-coldfire-rising.html
I'm so excited to read this one!:)

The alarm in my condo is connected to everyone's and there is no ability to silence it or turn it off once it starts. I'm on the 8th floor. If someone starts a fire on the 20th floor on the other side of the building mine will still ring.
Not only this but it's equipped with a white strobe light that starts blaring along with the alarm.
I'm not looking for a lecture on fire safety, I understand the importance but I couldn't bare how often this alarm was going off especially in the middle of the night and how invasive it was so I removed it myself.
I'm happy to have a fire alarm with batteries or one that is going to let me silence it as need be. How can condos in downtown Toronto charge nearly 3 grand a month and have this nuisance of a problem?
For context I lived in nyc for 10 years and parts of Europe for 4 years where they never once checked it. They were standard battery alarms too.
Why does Ontario/ Canada feel the need for central alarms out of the tenants controls? And why do they need to test that system once a month?
My question is when will they notice I removed mine? And how much trouble will I be in? And what can I do to negotiate with them having my own fire alarm?
I have to be up at 4:30 for work some week days and if an alarm is blaring for 45 minutes at 1am - how can I justify living here and paying exorbitant rent ?