To succeed in the midwifery industry today, you must be adaptable and possess strong organizing and planning skills. Many people start a midwifery practice believing they will “open their doors” and begin making money right away, only to discover that it is considerably harder than they anticipated to locate clients, maintain overhead costs, and build a reputation in the community.
By taking your time and organizing all the required processes for success, you may prevent this in your midwifery practice. You can succeed in your endeavor by applying the following nine pieces of advice, regardless of the type of midwifery business you intend to launch.

9 Good tips For Growing a Midwifery Business

1. Set up a system

You must be organized if you want to succeed in business as a midwife. It will assist you in completing activities and maintaining an organized schedule. Making a to-do list every day is a fantastic organizational strategy. Check each thing off your list as you finish it. By doing this, you can be sure that you won’t forget anything and will finish all the activities required to secure the sustainability of your company.

1. Keep thorough records

Successful midwifery practice must maintain thorough records. You’ll be aware of the company’s financial situation and any prospective difficulties by doing this. Just being aware of this offers you the opportunity to develop plans to deal with those difficulties.

1. Examine Your Competitors

Positive competition produces the finest outcomes. You must not be scared to research and pick up tips from your rivals if you want to succeed. After all, they might already be taking steps that you could adopt in your midwifery practice, ones that place a different focus on quality and individualized care than the doctor’s office down the street.

1. Recognize the Benefits and Risks

Taking measured risks to advance your midwifery practice is the key to success. What’s the drawback? is an excellent question to ask. If you can respond to this query, you are aware of the worst-case situation. You’ll be able to take the kind of calculated risks that can result in enormous profits thanks to this understanding. It’s important to consider the benefits and hazards of starting your own midwifery practice.

1. Be Innovative

Always explore methods to enhance, broaden, and differentiate your midwifery services from those of the competition. Recognize your limitations and remain open to fresh perspectives and other methods of doing what you do. Start introducing some novel treatments for sexual health issues or menopausal hormone replacement that no one else in the region is providing.

1. Maintain Your Concentration

Rome wasn’t built in a day, as the proverb goes. You won’t necessarily start making money and have a full delivery list just because you start a midwifery business. Keep your attention on attaining your immediate objectives since it takes time for people to learn who you are.

1. Make Your Sacrifices in Advance

Every business requires a lot of labor and commitment before it can be operated. Similar to working for a hospital or another practice, it is a long-term commitment with no pay until two weeks after the door opens. I can assure you that even though you often have to put in more time initially than you would if you were working for someone else, your potential earnings will always be higher.

1. Deliver Excellent Service

Many prosperous midwifery businesses overlook how crucial offering top-notch customer service is. If you give your customers superior service, they’ll be more likely to return to you or recommend you to their friends and family.

1. Consistency is the Key!

Being consistent is essential for the success of your midwifery practice. You must consistently take the steps required to achieve success. Long-term profitable habits will be formed as a result, helping you earn money.
KEY LESSONS
Analytical thought, committed planning, and meticulous record-keeping is required when starting a midwifery business. Being aware of your rivals will help you either copy or improve on their winning strategies.
When starting your midwifery practice, you’ll probably certainly find that you work harder for yourself than you would for someone else, so be prepared to give up certain aspects of your personal life. Gaining your customers’ loyalty and keeping their business requires giving them excellent service.
You can start and grow your midwifery practice with the support of some excellent resources. The development and creation of the imaginative future you seek depend heavily on business advisors like me with Midwifery Business Consultation and Empowering Midwifery Education
Admin. (2022, January 17). Business tips for running a successful midwifery practice. MIDWIFERY BUSINESS CONSULTATION. Retrieved February 13, 2023, from
https://midwiferybusinessconsultation.com/business-tips-for-running-a-successful-midwifery-practice/
We have a course available in Running a Successful Midwifery Practice

All games will require payment to the Game Master at a rate of $25 USD per week per player via Paypal. Roll20 is not responsible for any payment transactions and cannot enforce any private arrangements.

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen and any other nonbinary members!

My name is Peyton and I am a full-time professional dungeon master. My focus is player-built worlds. This means session 0s are long sessions where a player can control the aspects of the world around their characters' origins. All way down to your families now - back up to the name, government, and style of the nation that they are from. It is a team collaboration from the ground up. For players joining in games that are already in progress, you will have the same options the original players did as long as you don't overwrite what has already been written into the canon. I currently DM 7 games with 24 players combined with some even opting to play in several games. We have a tight nit community of players, many of which date back years.

About My Games

Tuesday (Untitled Game) 8 PM EST 5 Player Slots Avalible This game is brand new. As a result we will go through a session zero where the players get heavy say over the setting of the game before we ever get into playing the game. The players can design as much as they want before I get started.

Contact Information

First, please note that direct message via reddit is the slowest form of contact for me. You can still do it if you like but it may result in over 24 hours before the response. Discord: pjm

Group Rules

1. Be kind to one another.
2. We will play as long as 75% or more of the group is present.
3. You don't play - you don't pay.
4. Respect each other's time - and don't be late.
5. Three strikes of any rules and you will be removed and blacklisted from all future games.

Services I Offer

1. I do this full time so I am always home to answer questions.
2. I will be in the Discord server starting 1 hour before the game start time.
3. I am a trained graphic design artist so I will be designing both world and battle maps - as well as letters, emblems, and other handouts custom for each game.
4. I will run optional 1-on-1 sessions leading into the campaign for a standard fee. These can also be done for everyone during time skips during the campaign.
5. Sessions will be 4-5 hours
6. 1-on-1 Sessions will be 2-3 hours (paid at $15 USD dollars a session.)
7. Server Boosted Discord Server for better audio/video quality.
8. Games are streamed and uploaded for future rewatching.

Character Creation Rules

1. No character can be more than 2 classes.
2. All rules may flex for the player's benefit. If you would like to bend or break a rule, please let me know.
3. Most games will start between levels one to three unless stated otherwise.
4. Stat generation will be one of several systems.
5. Extended Array - 20, 16, 13, 10, 8, 5
6. Roll for stats - 4d6 drop the lowest. (Lots of different tweaks to this system)
7. Standard Array - 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8
8. No custom subclasses.
9. No custom classes except the following.
10. Blood hunter by Matt Mercer
11. Gunslinger by Matt Mercer
12. Lingering Soul by Matt Mercer
13. Illrigger by MCDM
14. Pugilist by Benjamin Huffman
15. Spell Casting Modifiers can be changed to any stat. This includes core die for certain martial classes. (i.e. Monk can change the base dice off Wisdom)
16. Everyone gets a free level one feat.
17. Variant Human is banned.
18. Feats must be either 5e or ONED&D official.
19. The following list of feats have been banned.
20. Elven Accuracy
21. Gunner
22. Backgrounds can be anything and do not have to be logical for your backstory.
23. Everyone starts with 50 gold. No more. No less.
24. Starting Equipment. (No starting wealth)
25. We always roll for HP. The minimum roll is a 2, you will never get a 1.

How I Run the Game

• I tend to think very logically about everything.
• The difference between Perception and Investigation checks is the difference between how specific you are about looking for something. If you are looking for a person in a crowd for example - it's an investigation. If you are just looking for anything in the crowd - it's perception.
• I will use Insight checks to help your PC piece things together if needed.
• We use Discord for Voice (and video which is optional) while using roll20 for the game.
• By default, I don't track spell components unless they have gold value.
• By default, I don't track ammunition, food, or weight (within reason)
• I use Matt Mercer's resurrection rules.
• By default, I do not include homebrew rules other than what is listed above - but some games do have some.
• We are in the process of integrating and trying out the new ONED&D Rules

How Players Impact My Games.

Once a starting group is found we push forward into session 0. This is not your normal session 0. It will be the length of a normal game not just be about making characters. We will first state by asking questions about the settings so the players control the overall theme of the setting. Then we start looking at characters and after that, we talk about any rule changes we want to make for our game. The players also get to make choices about the area they come from so they are more intertwined and natural. Then I finish the setting based on this feedback.Below is a list of questions players should be prepared to answer for this session 0.
What time period are we playing in? What level of magic is available in the setting? What level of science is available in the setting? What is the economy like? What is the government like? Do the other planes exist? Many other questions will be asked that may only become relevant depending on what the answers before that are. This is what makes my games special and I hope you would consider joining us.

Application Response:

1. Name
2. Age
3. Timezone
4. Experience with D&D
5. Experience with Roll20
6. Favorite Food
7. Add me on discord: pjm

I've been having an issue with my s5 since the beginning of the year. The issue is that the outer walls are printing separated, which leads to weak, inaccurate, unsightly parts. I've tried talking it through with Ultimaker / FBRC8 support, and nothing we've come up with has helped after months of chasing the issue.
The problem started after I replaced all of the sliding blocks. One of the blocks had completely lost its grip on the print head axle, so it was due. At the same time, I thought it would be a good idea to clean my s5 thoroughly, as it was entering its fourth year of service.
Here is a list of things I've tried to get the printer to run correctly:

• 0. Deep cleaning the entire motion system before replacing the sliding blocks. This included disassembling the print head to clean its components, cleaning the axles and pulleys thoroughly, reassembling and oiling the motion system, all according to the directions in the knowledge base.
• 1. Realigning all axles, checking for axle play, tightening belts, grub screws, and motor mounts per the knowledge base.
• 2. Different filament and printing hotter. I have multiple known-good filaments that print just fine on my other Ultimaker 3 machines. Doesn't matter if it's PLA, ABS, or PETG. Same result.
• 3. Cleaning the filament feeders (Ultimaker Support suggested).
• 4. Cleaning the Print Core by hot pulling and then cold pulling until fully clean.
• 5. Swapping to a known-good Print Core from another Ultimaker.
• 6. Realigning all axles, checking for axle play, tightening belts, grub screws, and motor mounts per the knowledge base. Again.
• 7. Trimming the Bowden tubes shorter to eliminate filament play. This resulted in crisper prints, but the issue didn't go away.
• 8. Replacing the short belt loops (Ultimaker Support suggested).
• 9. Shimming the X-axis printhead bearing to eliminate play in the bearing (Ultimaker Support suggested).
• 10. Going through and carefully torqueing all of the printhead screws to the very light torques specified in the knowledgebase.
• 11. Disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling the printhead according to documentation provided by Ultimaker support.
• 12. Made sure that both motors are mounted perfectly level and not tilted (Ultimaker Support suggested).
• 13. Downgrading Cura to 4.13.1 to see if the Arachne Engine was glitching.
• 14. Slicing the test file in PrusaSlicer, then editing in the gcode header from Cura, and printing the resulting gcode.
• 15. Cleaning and inspecting the filament feeders for damage. Again (Ultimaker Support suggested).
• 16. Re-calibrating the XY Offset.
• 17. Disassembling the motion system. Realigning all axles, checking for axle play, tightening belts, grub screws, and motor mounts per the knowledge base. Once again.
• 18. Taking the bearings out of the printer frame, cleaning them thoroughly, and repacking them with grease. Two of them had debris that was making them crunch.
• 19. Disassembling and comparing the filament feeder to one that hadn't been disassembled. Turns out I reassembled the filament flow sensor wrong.
• 20. Installing a new X axis bearing into the printhead (Ultimaker Support suggested). Now the wall separation is very well-defined. (Teal test print)

At this point, if you told me that sacrificing a lamb under the blood moon would fix it, I would try it.
I'm running firmware version 7.1.3. I don't plan on upgrading any further, because:

• A. I can't downgrade later if I want to.
• B. The new features and bug fixes don't apply or matter to me since I don't use Digital Factory, have no addons, and don't have an s7.
• C. Local Management Console features were removed in 8.1.0 that I use regularly.

I'm at the stage where I'd be relieved to sell the s5 for parts if I could get most of my money back out of it.
Attached pictures:

• 1. Teal PETG test print from today, 06-05-23.
• 2. Candy Red PLA test print from 05-01-23.
• 3. White PETG test print from 04-13-23.
• 4. Orange ABS print fail from 04-13-23.
• 5 and 6. Examples of what a PETG print failure looks like when I grab the part and twist. It should be rock solid, instead, this happens...

The test print is the Micro All in One 3D Printer Test by Majda107. I used the bone-stock Ultimaker profiles for PLA/PETG/ABS as applicable. I changed two settings: 3 walls, with Z seam in the rear. No other changes. I've shared my project file with Ultimaker Support, and they either didn't print it, or it printed fine for them. I can provide the project file on request.
Any and all guidance is appreciated.
Matt

We were married at the time. Mil did not and does not live there. Long story short, i broke a door. A door frame to be exact. On accident.
It was the middle of winter. My dad came out to fix it. Basically building a new door frame and some trim. He also lowered the door itself by about an inch, nearly closing the gap that let in so much cold.
My dad used basic planks of wood. 2x4s? There was no painting, sanding, or staining involved. But its a door. It works.
The house is literally falling apart. The deck had 2 sets of stairs. One set a step literally crumbled with me on it. Cracking into pieces. While my dad was there he fixed another step that fell off. Yes. Fell off. Stair rails falling down. Over grown yard. The paint on the house is in bad shape. This door was just one problem.
So. Basically. Can my mil sue me because this 2x4 door frame ruins the look of the house. When i lived there and was married to one of the owners, who approved the repair. Thank you

[Vaer] Pre-Owned Review
Hi everyone recently I decided to purchase 3 watches for Vaer's preowned site. My experience was mixed and I thought I would share how things went. I just note that first watch I bought exclusively because it was out of stock on the main site. The other two I bought purely for the discount.

1. The first watch I purchased was a D5 Atlantic with a Khaki quick release strap for 450$ dollars with the retail being 599$. I got this one because the Atlantic model on their site was sold out, and I really wanted the Atlantic model. Anyways the condition was listed as good with minor surface wear. I should state Vaer rates their pre-owned watches on the following grade Excellent, Good, and fair. In the photos their looked to be a decent size scratch by the crown, but I didn't really care since I was getting a 150$ discount. Anyways the watch arrived and everything seemed good. Only thing was that the exhibition case wiggles a little bit. I don't know if this is normal as it's my first Vaer automatic, but it bothers me a little bit as my other watches with exhibition cases don't do this. Also the scratch that I saw in the photo turned out to be a piece of thread or something, so the watch was actually in really good condition. Overall the experience was an 8/10 because I don't know if the case back is supposed to wiggle a bit. Other autos I have don't do this including a DW automatic which was my first automatic (I know already, you don't have to tell me DW is bad, but my parents gave me the watch), so if DW can make a case back that doesn't wiggle I don't know why Vaer wouldn't be able to.
2. The Second watch I purchased was a Vaer S3 in Black. This costed me 99$, and the watch brand new retails for 159$. This watch arrived exactly as described, and was listed in Fair condition although it didn't have much wear. Only complaint is that something was wrong with the rubber strap it came with. The quick release was broken or something and I literally had to rip the strap from the lugs to replace it with a Nato strap. 9/10 experience
3. The final watch I purchased was a Vaer C5 field white for 179$. Contrary to the other two watches my experience with this one was very negative. The watch itself was listed in good condition however it was in far worse condition than the S3 which was listed as fair. This didn't really bother me though as it wasn't terrible, and I still got a solid discount. What did bother me though was the fact the movement stuttered. Between 9:00 and 3:00 the second hand would tick 3-5 very quickly while only moving the distance of 1 second. This didn't effect the time keeping, but I expected more from the "rigorous time and feature testing" that they claim to do. Anyways I emailed Vaer about this and attached a video where you can clearly see the second hand stuttering, but I never got a response. The packaging was also awful. It literally looked like the took the watch, wrapped it in some bubble wrap, and stuck it in a padded envelope (This was not the case with the other two watches) About 15 days later I sent an email, and still did not receive a reply. If anyone is curious of what the stuttering looks like I can send you a video. 4/10 experience. (Also the stuttering is not due to the battery if your wondering, I think its something wrong with the movement)

To conclude I would give the experience as a whole a 7/10. I expected more in terms of quality control, and their customer support is straight up bad. The D5 is great besides the exhibition case wiggling (which again I don't know if its normal or not). Looking back to the photos though its odd that they don't clean the watches before shipping them. In all the photos you can clearly see dust, and other small debris. For example for the photos of my D5 I thought there were scratches when they were actually just threads of some sort. Anyways if anyone could offer me their opinion about the case back I would appreciate it, but for now I would not recommend Vaer pre-owned. I think it is more worth it just to shell out the extra bit of money and buy from the main site. The only circumstance I would recommend buying from the pre-owned site is if they have a watch you want that is not in stock on the site.

I wasn't going to do a trip write up at all, but I'm planning a return trip in the Fall and I realized some of the things I learned on my first trip might be useful for other people, so here we go! I don't often see post write ups from people who are specifically into rhythm games/ arcades/ anime stuff
 
Dates: March 8 - 24, 2023 Background: Planned this trip mostly for myself but one of my friends decided to tag along fairly last minute. I had planned to spend the whole trip in Tokyo but the one thing she wanted to do was Kyoto, so we added a side trip + a very pleasant day at a Ryokan. I used Wanderlog to plan (HIGHLY recommend, this site is amazing), and my basic daily itinerary was morning shrine > pick an area to explore and have 1-2 major things per day. The person I was travelling with ended up taking a long ass time to get ready each day, so most of my morning stuff got cut or rearranged. Costs: I will fully admit I did not budget for food/ shopping, 100% vibes. I simply do not acknowledge what I spent

• Flight: $1,500 (Delta from MSP > SEA > Haneda. Direct from MSP had not resumed yet)
• Hotels: ¥314,000 (Roughly $2,300 USD for all 3 hotels total) [¥205,000 (Tokyu Stay Tsukiji, 15 nights) + ¥30,000 (Tokyu Stay Kyoto, 2 nights) + ¥79,000 (Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone Kyoto, 1 night)]
• Shinkansen: ¥42,000 for 2 round trip tickets from Tokyo/Kyoto and back. Roughly $300 USD, machine did not take foreign CC only cash

Highlights

• The Kingdom Hearts concert, I maxed out my luck on this trip and we were able to see this on it's last night in Tokyo. Absolutely incredible!!
• Sushi Yuu, Roppongi (omakase sushi for about ¥20,000 per person, we paid more with drinks)
• ShibuyaSky, the open air viewing makes the experience so much better, plus there's a bunch of different spots to hang out up on the observation deck
• Fushimi Inari, the whole shrine blew me out of the water, absolutely must experience in person
• TeamLabs Planets, so few things live up to the hype and this is one of them
• Golden Gai, the bars were so much fun, got the full experience of a salaryman pissing on the side of the konbini

Lowlights

• Caffeine- if you are addicted to non carbonated caffeine like I am be prepared to be disappointed. The monsters are only 40mg compared to America's 150mg+. I'm glad I brought caffeine pills
• Tsukiji market is really not worth going out of your way for, it's nice if you're near it but it's really just a fish market + insane lines for most of the food
• I'm still mad about how bad the food was at the Square Enix cafe is, at least we got coasters + placemats out of the deal. This was genuinely my only bad experience in Japan
• Everything on this subreddit told me that people in Tokyo don't really care about tattoos, however they do really seem to care about colored hair. I have very long, bright ombre hair and I was a bit of a sideshow attraction, including people taking photos of me in public multiple times. Probably the most frustrating part of the trip was being stared at constantly
• Japanese thrift stores love old American clothes, I was definitely let down by the majority of these

Goals:

• Buy anime stuff
• Play rhythm games
• Go thrift shopping
• See cherry blossoms
• Collect shrine stamps (goshuin)

Advice:

• TAX FREE SHOPPING: This has to be first because no one mentions it?? There are 2 types of tax free, discount and rebate. Everywhere has a minimum for tax free. Don Quijote you have to go to the separate tax free counter, and they will seal the bags shut. You're not supposed to use the tax free items in the country - I didn't know this and did it anyways? There seems to be no repercussions unless they open your bag and count every individual KitKat. I had to open the bags to repack everything anyways. The places that do rebates are generally malls, you bring your receipt + passport and they'll give you the 10% back in cash (minus a fee). When you get to the airport, you scan your passport after you drop your luggage, indicating you made tax free purchases. You do not need to keep your receipts anymore
• Don Quijote does sell luggage but Ginza Karen is cheaper
• Besides the standard things that every single trip report has (get a suica, you'll walk a lot, etc etc), the biggest thing I learned is not to go to an area without at least 1-2 specific goals in mind. For example, I had given us like a half day to go around Shibuya/ Harajuku, but because we didn't look into what malls or stores we might like to go to, we ended up wandering pretty aimlessly and not really enjoying the area. This happened a few different areas we went to, so I decided that in the future I would pin some stores on Google Maps and try to make it to those specific stores
• Install LINE and set up an account. It's crazy how much connects to LINE. For me the biggest thing was 1) making Sushiro reservations and not having to sit in the store for an hour plus waiting for our table and 2) being able to grab a chargeSPOT to charge my phone. I brought a battery pack but at this point it must be like a decade old, it took the entire night to recharge and died on me during the day a few times. I have a Pixel 6 Pro and was literally constantly charging my phone
• If you're coming from the Americas, don't try to do something on your first night. Get your Konbini dinner and go the fuck to sleep
• Getting from place to place can take longer than expected, you'll have to navigate the stations, find the entrances (sometimes hidden in malls) and exits (sometimes closed), don't make plans too tight together
• Navigating Kyoto was so much more confusing. At first our Suica cards didn't work because we apparently didn't tap out at a station in Tokyo, so we were buying day passes and paying in cash on the bus. Some of the buses have 0 English and 100% Kanji (navigation difficulty: extreme). Suica cards DO work in Kyoto so if you're having issues go to a gate with an attendant and they can help
• It can be weirdly hard to find bathrooms, most konbini have them but you're supposed to ask the cashier if you can use them. I speak very basic Japanese but hammed up the gaijin card here and would just ask to use the toilet in English, no one ever told me no Weeb specific advice:
• If you want to do pop ups (like the Jujutusu Kaisen Animation exhibit), a Japanese e-sim will be a lifesaver. You need a Japanese phone number to do SO much, they really make it extremely frustrating to make reservations without it. I did manage to make reservations for the Square Enix cafe though, the write-up is on my profile. (Was it worth it? Absolutely not, worst food all trip, -3/10)
• Prices are all over the place for figures, especially prize figures. There's a solid chance you might buy something and see it cheaper at the next shop, however going back/forth between shops in Akihabara can be a huge pain in the ass. I'd recommend 1) making a list of things you want the most and 2) setting a per item budget and a total budget. A lot of the anime stuff was cheaper in Kyoto as well
• You can find a ton of gachapon stuff at Surugaya, so you can just buy what you want and don't have to gamble. Surugaya bins are organized by series
• Use collabo-cafe.com to find cafes and pop up events you might be interested. Plan ahead because reservations can be hard to come by

 
Now on to the super detailed trip report! Here's the big album if you don't want to look through photos separated by day. Warning for flashing video
 
Day 1 (travel)

• Landed in Haneda around 3pm. Immigration + customs took about an hour (we did the visit Japan web ahead of time and had both QR codes ready). There was virtually no lines anywhere
• It took about an hour to navigate to the hotel. I chose to stay at the Tokyu Stay Tsukiji because 1) it was really cheap, 2) it was close to the Ginza line, and 3) it had a washer in the room. Although the location was slightly inconvenient for late nights, I'd say it was totally worth it for the ability to grab food in Tsukiji market, and the room was pretty large compared to some other areas of Tokyo. In fact, the room was so cheap that when we went to Kyoto, we opted to not check out of the Tsukiji room and just leave the majority of our possessions there. This didn't cause any issues and made travelling on the Shinkansen way easier
• I thought we were built different and could do some stuff this evening. We ended up walking to the Donki and being assaulted by sound in every direction. 7/10 didn't discover the 2nd floor until days later. At this point exhaustion kicked in and we got a Lawsons dinner and crashed

Day 2 (Akihabara, photos)

• Going to Akihabara on our first day in Japan sure was a choice. Thankfully neither of us suffered jetlag on the way in. Checked out like 10 different game centers and a ton of anime shops. Managed to find the only Monster Rehab of the whole trip here
• Konbini lunch + strong zero! That flavor was terrible :')
• Dinner at the Monster Hunter cafe (no reservations required). Expectations were low but my travel partner is a huge MH fan. The food wasn't bad but the drinks were awful. The ambiance is nice and there were definitely some regulars there playing MH on the consoles they had set up
• The new Namco game center had like 12 brand new Taiko cabs and all of them had phone mounts so you could film yourself playing! I was really intimidated by everyone there being extremely good so we didn't play any games here

Day 3 (Shibuya & Harajuku, photos)

• Breakfast at Tsukiji outer market since we were already there
• Went to Shibuya Loft for the Bravely Default pop up shop
• Checked out Tower Records
• Ate lunch at Japanese McDonalds
• Went to Takeshita Street. TBH this felt like in-person AliExpress, I'm sure the charm of the early 2000s is long gone
• Visited Hachiko
• Shibuya Sky Observatory

Day 4 (Asakusa, photos)

• Started at Kaminarimon Gate & went down Nakamise shopping street. It was very crowded on a Sunday but I enjoyed it immensely, you just need some patience to get where you want to go. I liked trying all the food, most of the food stalls here were cash only
• Senso-ji temple, bought Goshuincho to collect stamps
• Ate lunch and dinner in the area, there's a ton of food options
• We ended going all the way over to Yoyogi park as well but nothing was in bloom. Because it was overcast the park looked really sad

Day 5 (Shinjuku & Kabukicho, photos)

• Now is the time to come clean, I'm a huge Yakuza/ RGG fan. In the morning I had my Majima birthday cake delivered by PRIROLL. I pre-ordered it and chose the delivery day where we didn't have morning plans. It comes frozen and needs to defrost in the fridge. While we left Majima to chill, we made the pilgrimage to Kabukicho to see the iconic gate. It was raining in the morning so we hit up some arcades then went shopping
• There's a really cool mall that seems anime-centric (I believe it's called Shinjuku Marui Anex). It had a Godzilla store, Cinnamoroll Cafe, a JJK pop up, and best of all... A Surugaya. These stores have bins where everything is ¥100-300 and we ended up buying way too much in every one we came across
• Went back to Kabukicho and explored a bit, went to Golden Gai and drank at a handful of bars. Almost missed the last train because I drunkenly insisted on a final game of MaiMai. 10/10 staying in Kabukicho next time

Day 6 (Ikebukero & Rippongi, photos)

• The plan today was to check out Ikebukero and Roppongi, but we ended up spending so much time at the first mall that we didn't really do anything in Roppongi besides get dinner. Went to the Pokemon Mega Center and the cafe. The main cafe was closed so it was just take out, all the food was really cute but the waffles were kind of terrible
• Gashapon no Depato Ikebukuro was super overwhelming. A lot of the smaller gashapon stores are somewhat organized by what is in the machines, this one just felt chaotic, and it went on forever
• Sushi Yuu was incredible, I didn't take photos of every single course but I was so full that couldn't finish my dessert at the very end. The owner speaks some English and I made our reservations by messaging him on Facebook

Day 7 (Yokohama, photos)

• We didn't get to Yokohama as early as I would have liked - I took us out way into the suburbs to try to find this Yakuza plushie from the claw machines. I looked up the locations on the Sega website, unfortunately this machine was extra rigged and I couldn't win it >:[ On the bright side all the rhythm games had no one else playing them
• Took the cable car over and went to the Cup Noodle museum. Unfortunately we didn't have a reservation so we had to come back later. Found some cafes in the area and had a late breakfast
• The museum was really small, the main draw is making your own Cup Noodles. Entrance costs 500 yen and this is an additional 500. We had some trouble navigating this part because no one spoke any English
• Had dinner at a pie restaurant that was 10/10
• Explored a bit of Yamashita park (Yakuza 7, anyone?) I was kind of disappointed I wasn't able to see this during the day
• Walked around Yokohama Chinatown & visited the local Round 1 ;)

Day 8 (Kyoto, photos)

• I bought the Shinkansen tickets to Kyoto the evening before, so we weren't able to get great seats. The machines are also a huge pain in the ass and don't take American CCs, so plan ahead here
• It took us longer than expected to figure out how to use the tickets and read the signage, so we weren't able to get food before and I had to have one of the train bentos. I knew it was going to suck and it was worse than expected :(
• You can bring a full sized suitcase and just put it in front of you, seeing other people do this was unexpected
• My travel partner was destroyed at this point so she rested in the room. I went to the National Garden and Imperial Palace alone. The sakura were just starting to bloom and the weather was great, loved it. The National Garden is SO huge that I only ended up walking up the west side before I tapped out
• Checked out Heian-jingu shrine + the giant torii, I went to another smaller shrine with a great view but I can't remember the name
• We did photoshoots at ESPERANTO Kyoto. There's basically no reviews from foreigners about this place but it was fantastic!! Their online booking form didn't work for me, so I emailed asking for a reservation. I emailed in Japanese and English and they replied in English. They gave me time options and I replied with what package and room each of us wanted (the website says they require a deposit but they told me they didn't need one). When we got there they did our hair and makeup, and then you pick your kimonos out. The photographer spoke pretty decent English and we didn't have trouble communicating with anyone else here. They had our photos edited and printed about 30 minutes after we picked which ones we wanted. The whole thing took about 3 hours (it was longer because we used the same set room). I don't want to include my photos but I did add a video of my hairstyle because she knocked it out of the park
• Ended the day with okonomiyaki, one of my favorite Japanese foods

Day 9 (Kyoto, photos)

• Fushimi Inari day! I ended up walking this alone, I did not realize how long it was going to take or the fact it was actually like 10,000 stairs. My knees were very upset on the way down
• It was not as busy as expected, I went at roughly noon on a Friday. Most people tap out before the actual mountain climb
• The Goshuin at Fushimi Inari are on paper, you can paste them into your books later. Even if you don't have a Goshuincho I'd recommend buying them because they are very cute!
• Shrine cats!!!! You can buy photos of them to help pay for their food
• After Fushimi Inari I somehow managed to walk to Tofukuji Temple (I did the garden but not the bridge) and Daigo-ji Gojunoto pagoda and garden. I wanted to cut my legs off after today

Day 10 (Kyoto, photos)

• I started my day at the Kyoto Round 1, I had visited it on day 8 as well. This one is ace because it was literally always empty 10/10
• Decided to explore Gion a bit, ended up at the Machiya Starbucks and had the best thing I ate all trip (a custard dorayaka, I regret not going back for another)
• Ended up at Kiyomizu-dera Temple totally on accident. It wasn't super impressive in early spring but the view was still fantastic
• Ended the day at the Ryokan (Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone). Ended up picking one without an onsen because we are both covered in tattoos, and I didn't want to deal with finding a private one. The cypress tub was a great trade off, and the food was incredible

Day 11 (Tokyo - Concert, photos)

• Today we travelled back to Tokyo and went to the Kingdom Hearts concert. I ended up trying for the lottery for tickets back in like December 2022. Winners were announced the first weekend in January and you only had a few days to buy tickets. I have a friend of a friend living in Japan who did me the biggest solid ever and bought our tickets. I met up with her during the trip for the hand off. The seats are randomly assigned and we had AMAZING seats near the front. This was also the performance Nomura was at!
• We weren't supposed to take photos during the performance so I just have some before. Also, I made Organization XIII beads that attach onto my dress with magnets and I am very proud of it, so please excuse the bathroom selfie :D
• The concert was about 3 hours long and after all the travelling we were beat. We ate dinner, played our nightly games of Ongeki, and passed out
• Bonus video of the music box that plays Dearly Beloved

Day 12 (Ginza & Sumida, photos)

• We were really starting to tucker out at this point. We managed to drag ourselves to the Ginza art Aquarium in the AM and the Tokyo SkyTree in the afternoon. Today was the Equinox so everything was crazy busy, the line to buy tickets for the SkyTree was literally like 2 ish hours long so we bought them online and went shopping in the mall
• The Art Aquarium was really cool, but a lot of the fish were in really small tanks. I didn't include photos of those :(
• The SkyTree just let people up as fast as they could so it was extremely crowded at the top, and not super enjoyable imo
• I spent the evening at the arcades in Akihabara :D

Day 13 (Tokyo - JJK Exhibit, photos - flashing video warning)

• Today I went off in the am to see if I could buy a ticket to the Jujutsu Kaisen animation exhibit in person. The online site wouldn't let me buy a ticket because I didn't have a Japanese phone number. UNFORTUNATELY you couldn't buy tickets in person. I got super lucky again and 2 foreign exchange students from Europe were trying to do the same thing, however they did have a Japanese phone number and the site allowed you to get 3 tickets at a time. They were able to grab them for all 3 of us for that evening
• Putzed off to Hie Shrine, anyone that tells you it's a mini Fushimi Inari is lying
• Went back to Akihabara, found a Miku racing pop up!
• Went back to... Ginza? for the JJK animation exhibit, it took about an hour to go through. I included a ton of photos so just skip today if you're not interested in that show

Day 14 (Tokyo - TeamLabs Planets & SquareEnix Cafe, photos)

• TeamLabs was so cool! I didn't include many photos since it's 95% selfies. Make sure you explore a bit as the string light room had a couple of different areas that are easy to miss, and it's possible to accidentally skip the hanging garden, which was beautiful! TeamLabs took us about 2.5 hours but we were 100% those bitches taking forever to get a million photos
• Since we were staying in Tsukiji we ended up just slowly walking back to the room for a much needed nap
• Back to Akihabara yet again! More rhythm games, some awful food at SE

Day 15 (Shinjuku, photos)

• This was our last full day in Japan, we honestly didn't want to do anything but we managed to drag our asses to Shinjuku National Garden for the cherry blossoms. Unfortunately it was sprinkling a bit, at least it kept the crowds away
• Managed to check out Meiji Jingu, but at this point my travel partner was sick of walking and tapped out
• I went back to Kabukicho, walked around a bit and ended up back at an arcade (bless Ongeki for having stools)

Final thoughts (Misc, photos)

• We were literally so annihilated by the trip that we took a taxi to the airport, it was about ¥8,000 from Tsukiji ($60 USD ish)
• I ended up buying a 24" suitcase from Ginza Karen for ¥6,000. It was 100% full of stuff I purchased. We also used one or those giant ¥500 bags from Donki as a carry on
• My Goshuincho was my favorite souvenir, I'm so proud of all the stamps I collected (I did get doubles at some shrines). I plan to bring this back late 2023 to try to finish it
• I have the old school GoogleFi plan and don't have to do anything extra to have international data. Lots of places & stations have free WiFi but you'll need to put your email in
• I don't really sleep that much and my schedule in the US is already busted, but it took me about 2 full weeks to get back on normal human hours. I'm tired again just writing this up and looking through all my photos
• My main regret is not trying more food, we ended up waiting until we were dying of starvation and ate at the konbini a lot (typical)

 
Edits for formatting

Everything in my inventory is up for trade. The most valuable items are listed here, the rest you can find in My Inventory

Feel free to Add Me or even better send a Trade Offer. Open for any suggestions: upgrades, downgrades / knives, gloves, skins / stickers, patterns, floats.

All Buyouts are listed in cash value.

KNIVES

★ Butterfly Knife Freehand FN #1, B/O: $2500

★ Butterfly Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $822

★ Butterfly Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $616

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★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW #1, B/O: $1300

★ Bayonet Autotronic FN, B/O: $1050

★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW, B/O: $629

★ Bayonet Bright Water FT, B/O: $326

★ Bayonet Safari Mesh BS, B/O: $233

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★ Karambit Lore FT, B/O: $1110

★ Karambit Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $840

★ Karambit Freehand MW, B/O: $784

★ Karambit Bright Water MW, B/O: $759

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★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1801

★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1801

★ M9 Bayonet Damascus Steel FN, B/O: $751

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★ Nomad Knife Fade FN, B/O: $1156

★ Nomad Knife Slaughter MW, B/O: $544

★ Nomad Knife Blue Steel WW, B/O: $318

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★ Flip Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $646

★ Flip Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $574

★ Flip Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) MW, B/O: $552

★ Flip Knife Case Hardened FT, B/O: $257

★ Flip Knife Freehand FT, B/O: $255

★ StatTrak™ Flip Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $287

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★ Huntsman Knife Lore FN, B/O: $461

★ Huntsman Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $436

★ Huntsman Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $353

★ Huntsman Knife Autotronic FT, B/O: $212

★ Huntsman Knife Bright Water FT, B/O: $129

★ Huntsman Knife Forest DDPAT MW, B/O: $129

★ Huntsman Knife Forest DDPAT BS, B/O: $123

★ StatTrak™ Huntsman Knife Rust Coat BS, B/O: $127

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★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $375

★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $363

★ Bowie Knife Tiger Tooth FN, B/O: $269

★ Bowie Knife Crimson Web WW, B/O: $192

★ Bowie Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $159

★ Bowie Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $126

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★ Stiletto Knife Slaughter FN, B/O: $616

★ Stiletto Knife Crimson Web FT, B/O: $412

★ StatTrak™ Stiletto Knife Night Stripe FT, B/O: $227

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★ Falchion Knife Lore FT, B/O: $214

★ Falchion Knife Autotronic FT, B/O: $192

★ Falchion Knife Scorched WW, B/O: $105

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★ Survival Knife Crimson Web BS, B/O: $216

★ Survival Knife Case Hardened FT, B/O: $198

★ Survival Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $111

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★ Shadow Daggers Fade FN, B/O: $368

★ Shadow Daggers Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $228

★ Shadow Daggers, B/O: $201

★ Shadow Daggers Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $108

★ Shadow Daggers Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $105

★ Shadow Daggers Black Laminate FT, B/O: $99

★ Shadow Daggers Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $85

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★ Gut Knife Doppler (Sapphire) MW #1, B/O: $1700

★ Gut Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $223

★ Gut Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $203

★ Gut Knife Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $191

★ Gut Knife Case Hardened BS, B/O: $127

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★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $199

★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $199

★ Navaja Knife, B/O: $138

★ Navaja Knife Damascus Steel FN, B/O: $111

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★ Classic Knife Urban Masked FT, B/O: $146

★ StatTrak™ Classic Knife Stained BS, B/O: $168

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★ Ursus Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $476

★ Ursus Knife, B/O: $375

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★ Skeleton Knife, B/O: $1137

★ Talon Knife, B/O: $608

★ Paracord Knife, B/O: $305

★ Survival Knife Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $97

GLOVES

★ Moto Gloves Transport MW, B/O: $204

★ Moto Gloves Polygon BS, B/O: $142

★ Moto Gloves Blood Pressure BS, B/O: $84

★ Moto Gloves Blood Pressure BS, B/O: $84

★ Moto Gloves 3rd Commando Company BS, B/O: $63

★ Moto Gloves 3rd Commando Company BS, B/O: $63

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★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Kimono WW, B/O: $1215

★ Specialist Gloves Tiger Strike FT, B/O: $672

★ Specialist Gloves Lt. Commander FT, B/O: $305

★ Specialist Gloves Lt. Commander BS, B/O: $140

★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Web BS, B/O: $137

★ Specialist Gloves Buckshot FT, B/O: $75

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★ Driver Gloves Crimson Weave FT, B/O: $359

★ Driver Gloves Imperial Plaid BS, B/O: $229

★ Driver Gloves Overtake BS, B/O: $77

★ Driver Gloves Racing Green FT, B/O: $48

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★ Sport Gloves Omega FT, B/O: $739

★ Sport Gloves Amphibious BS #2, B/O: $733

★ Sport Gloves Arid BS, B/O: $292

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★ Hand Wraps Giraffe MW, B/O: $212

★ Hand Wraps Leather FT, B/O: $160

★ Hand Wraps Desert Shamagh MW, B/O: $101

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★ Broken Fang Gloves Yellow-banded MW, B/O: $185

★ Broken Fang Gloves Needle Point FT, B/O: $67

★ Broken Fang Gloves Needle Point WW, B/O: $59

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★ Hydra Gloves Case Hardened BS, B/O: $65

★ Hydra Gloves Emerald FT, B/O: $65

★ Hydra Gloves Emerald BS, B/O: $62

WEAPONS

AK-47 Case Hardened BS, B/O: $130

AK-47 Bloodsport MW, B/O: $79

AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76

AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76

AK-47 Bloodsport FT, B/O: $70

AK-47 Neon Rider MW, B/O: $60

StatTrak™ AK-47 Aquamarine Revenge FT, B/O: $72

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AWP Fade FN, B/O: $1039

AWP Asiimov FT, B/O: $139

AWP Asiimov FT, B/O: $139

AWP Wildfire MW, B/O: $95

AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $93

AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $93

AWP Duality FN, B/O: $81

AWP Asiimov BS, B/O: $79

AWP Asiimov BS, B/O: $79

AWP Chromatic Aberration FN, B/O: $60

StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $68

StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $68

StatTrak™ AWP Electric Hive FT, B/O: $55

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Desert Eagle Blaze FN, B/O: $623

Desert Eagle Emerald Jörmungandr FN, B/O: $241

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Printstream FT, B/O: $54

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M4A1-S Blue Phosphor FN, B/O: $434

StatTrak™ M4A1-S Bright Water MW, B/O: $55

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M4A4 Poseidon FN, B/O: $1465

M4A4 Asiimov BS, B/O: $55

M4A4 Hellfire MW, B/O: $50

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USP-S Kill Confirmed MW, B/O: $72

USP-S Printstream FT, B/O: $69

StatTrak™ USP-S Kill Confirmed FT, B/O: $139

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AUG Flame Jörmungandr FN, B/O: $234

P90 Run and Hide FT, B/O: $147

Five-SeveN Candy Apple FN, B/O: $61

Trade Offer Link - Steam Profile Link - My Inventory

Knives - Bowie Knife, Butterfly Knife, Falchion Knife, Flip Knife, Gut Knife, Huntsman Knife, M9 Bayonet, Bayonet, Karambit, Shadow Daggers, Stiletto Knife, Ursus Knife, Navaja Knife, Talon Knife, Classic Knife, Paracord Knife, Survival Knife, Nomad Knife, Skeleton Knife, Patterns - Gamma Doppler, Doppler (Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, Phase 4, Black Pearl, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald), Crimson Web, Lore, Fade, Ultraviolet, Night, Marble Fade (Fire & Ice, Fake FI), Case Hardened (Blue Gem), Autotronic, Slaughter, Black Laminate, Tiger Tooth, Boreal Forest, Scorched, Blue Steel, Vanilla, Damascus Steel, Forest DDPAT, Urban Masked, Freehand, Stained, Bright Water, Safari Mesh, Rust Coat, Gloves - Bloodhound Gloves (Charred, Snakebite, Guerrilla, Bronzed), Driver Gloves (Snow Leopard, King Snake, Crimson Weave, Imperial Plaid, Black Tie, Lunar Weave, Diamondback, Rezan the Red, Overtake, Queen Jaguar, Convoy, Racing Green), Hand Wraps (Cobalt Skulls, CAUTION!, Overprint, Slaughter, Leather, Giraffe, Badlands, Spruce DDPAT, Arboreal, Constrictor, Desert Shamagh, Duct Tape), Moto Gloves (Spearmint, POW!, Cool Mint, Smoke Out, Finish Line, Polygon, Blood Pressure, Turtle, Boom!, Eclipse, 3rd Commando Company, Transport), Specialist Gloves (Crimson Kimono, Tiger Strike, Emerald Web, Field Agent, Marble Fade, Fade, Foundation, Lt. Commander, Crimson Web, Mogul, Forest DDPAT, Buckshot), Sport Gloves (Pandora's Box, Superconductor, Hedge Maze, Vice, Amphibious, Slingshot, Omega, Arid, Big Game, Nocts, Scarlet Shamagh, Bronze Morph), Hydra Gloves (Case Hardened, Emerald, Rattler, Mangrove), Broken Fang Gloves (Jade, Yellow-banded, Unhinged, Needle Point), Pistols - P2000 (Wicked Sick, Ocean Foam, Fire Element, Amber Fade, Corticera, Chainmail, Imperial Dragon, Obsidian, Scorpion, Handgun, Acid Etched), USP-S (Printstream, Kill Confirmed, Whiteout, Road Rash, Owergrowth, The Traitor, Neo-Noir, Dark Water, Orion, Blueprint, Stainless, Caiman, Serum, Monster Mashup, Royal Blue, Ancient Visions, Cortex, Orange Anolis, Ticket To Hell, Black Lotus, Cyrex, Check Engine, Guardian, Purple DDPAT, Torque, Blood Tiger, Flashback, Business Class, Pathfinder, Para Green), Lead Conduit, Glock-18 (Umbral Rabbit, Fade, Candy Apple, Bullet Queen, Synth Leaf, Neo-Noir, Nuclear Garden, Dragon Tatto, Reactor, Pink DDPAT, Twilight Galaxy, Sand Dune, Groundwater, Blue Fissure, Snack Attack, Water Elemental, Brass, Wasteland Rebel, Vogue, Franklin, Royal Legion, Gamma Doppler, Weasel, Steel Disruption, Ironwork, Grinder, High Beam, Moonrise, Oxide Blaze, Bunsen Burner, Clear Polymer, Bunsen Burner, Night), P250 (Re.built, Nuclear Threat, Modern Hunter, Splash, Whiteout, Vino Primo, Mehndi, Asiimov, Visions, Undertow, Cartel, See Ya Later, Gunsmoke, Splash, Digital Architect, Muertos, Red Rock, Bengal Tiger, Crimson Kimono, Wingshot, Metallic DDPAT, Hive, Dark Filigree, Mint Kimono), Five-Seven (Neon Kimono, Berries And Cherries, Fall Hazard, Crimson Blossom, Hyper Beast, Nitro, Fairy Tale, Case Hardened, Copper Galaxy, Angry Mob, Monkey Business, Fowl Play, Anodized Gunmetal, Hot Shot, Retrobution, Boost Protocol), CZ75-Auto (Chalice, Crimson Web, Emerald Quartz, The Fuschia is Now, Nitro, Xiangliu, Yellow Jacket, Victoria, Poison Dart, Syndicate, Eco, Hexane, Pole, Tigris), Tec-9 (Rebel, Terrace, Nuclear Threat, Hades, Rust Leaf, Decimator, Blast From, Orange Murano, Toxic, Fuel Injector, Remote Control, Bamboo Forest, Isaac, Avalanche, Brother, Re-Entry, Blue Titanium, Bamboozle), R8 Revolver (Banana Cannon, Fade, Blaze, Crimson Web, Liama Cannon, Crazy 8, Reboot, Canal Spray, Night, Amber Fade), Desert Eagle (Blaze, Hand Cannon, Fennec Fox, Sunset Storm, Emerald Jörmungandr, Pilot, Hypnotic, Golden Koi, Printstream, Cobalt Disruption, Code Red, Ocean Drive, Midnight Storm, Kumicho Dragon, Crimson Web, Heirloom, Night Heist, Mecha Industries, Night, Conspiracy, Trigger Discipline, Naga, Directive, Light Rail), Dual Berettas (Flora Carnivora, Duelist, Cobra Strike, Black Limba, Emerald, Hemoglobin, Twin Turbo, Marina, Melondrama, Pyre, Retribution, Briar, Dezastre, Royal Consorts, Urban Shock, Dualing Dragons, Panther, Balance), Rifles - Galil (Aqua Terrace, Winter Forest, Chatterbox, Sugar Rush, Pheonix Blacklight, CAUTION!, Orange DDPAT, Cerberus, Dusk Ruins, Eco, Chromatic Aberration, Stone Cold, Tuxedo, Sandstorm, Shattered, Urban Rubble, Rocket Pop, Kami, Crimson Tsunami, Connexion), SCAR-20 (Fragments, Brass, Cyrex, Palm, Splash Jam, Cardiac, Emerald, Crimson Web, Magna Carta, Stone Mosaico, Bloodsport, Enforcer), AWP (Duality, Gungnir, Dragon Lore, Prince, Medusa, Desert Hydra, Fade, Lightning Strike, Oni Taiji, Silk Tiger, Graphite, Chromatic Aberration, Asiimov, Snake Camo, Boom, Containment Breach, Wildfire, Redline, Electric Hive, Hyper Beast, Neo-Noir, Man-o'-war, Pink DDPAT, Corticera, Sun in Leo, Elite Build, Fever Dream, Atheris, Mortis, PAW, Exoskeleton, Worm God, POP AWP, Phobos, Acheron, Pit Viper, Capillary, Safari Mesh), AK-47 (Head Shot, Wild Lotus, Gold Arabesque, X-Ray, Fire Serpent, Hydroponic, Panthera Onca, Case Hardened, Vulcan, Jet Set, Fuel Injector, Bloodsport, Nightwish, First Class, Neon Rider, Asiimov, Red Laminate, Aquamarine Revenge, The Empress, Wasteland Rebel, Jaguar, Black Laminate, Leet Museo, Neon Revolution, Redline, Frontside Misty, Predator, Legion of Anubis, Point Disarray, Orbit Mk01, Blue Laminate, Green Laminate, Emerald Pinstripe, Cartel, Phantom Disruptor, Jungle Spray, Safety Net, Rat Rod, Baroque Purple, Slate, Elite Build, Uncharted, Safari Mesh), FAMAS (Sundown, Prime Conspiracy, Afterimage, Commemoration, Dark Water, Spitfire, Pulse, Eye of Athena, Meltdown, Rapid Eye Move, Roll Cage, Styx, Mecha Industrie, Djinn, ZX Spectron, Valence, Neural Net, Night Borre, Hexne), M4A4 (Temukau, Howl, Poseidon, Asiimov, Daybreak, Hellfire, Zirka, Red DDPAT, Radiation Hazard, Modern Hunter, The Emperor, The Coalition, Bullet Rain, Cyber Security, X-Ray, Dark Blossom, Buzz Kill, In Living Color, Neo-Noir, Desolate Space, 龍王 (Dragon King), Royal Paladin, The Battlestar, Global Offensive, Tooth Fairy, Desert-Strike, Griffin, Evil Daimyo, Spider Lily, Converter), M4A1-S (Emphorosaur-S, Welcome to the Jungle, Imminent Danger, Knight, Hot Rod, Icarus Fell, Blue Phosphor, Printstream, Master Piece, Dark Water, Golden Coil, Bright Water, Player Two, Atomic Alloy, Guardian, Chantico's Fire, Hyper Beast, Mecha Industries, Cyrex, Control Panel, Moss Quartz, Nightmare, Decimator, Leaded Glass, Basilisk, Blood Tiger, Briefing, Night Terror, Nitro, VariCamo, Flashback), SG 553 (Cyberforce, Hazard Pay, Bulldozer, Integrale, Dragon Tech, Ultraviolet, Colony IV, Hypnotic, Cyrex, Candy Apple, Barricade, Pulse), SSG 08 (Death Strike, Sea Calico, Blood in the Water, Orange Filigree, Dragonfire, Big Iron, Bloodshot, Detour, Turbo Peek, Red Stone), AUG (Akihabara Accept, Flame Jörmungandr, Hot Rod, Midnight Lily, Sand Storm, Carved Jade, Wings, Anodized Navy, Death by Puppy, Torque, Bengal Tiger, Chameleon, Fleet Flock, Random Access, Momentum, Syd Mead, Stymphalian, Arctic Wolf, Aristocrat, Navy Murano), G3SG1 (Chronos, Violet Murano, Flux, Demeter, Orange Kimono, The Executioner, Green Apple, Arctic Polar Camo, Contractor), SMGs - P90 (Neoqueen, Astral Jörmungandr, Run and Hide, Emerald Dragon, Cold Blooded, Death by Kitty, Baroque Red, Vent Rush, Blind Spot, Asiimov, Trigon, Sunset Lily, Death Grip, Leather, Nostalgia, Fallout Warning, Tiger Pit, Schermatic, Virus, Shapewood, Glacier Mesh, Shallow Grave, Chopper, Desert Warfare), MAC-10 (Sakkaku, Hot Snakes, Copper Borre, Red Filigree, Gold Brick, Graven, Case Hardened, Stalker, Amber Fade, Neon Rider, Tatter, Curse, Propaganda, Nuclear Garden, Disco Tech, Toybox, Heat, Indigo), UMP-45 (Wild Child, Fade, Blaze, Day Lily, Minotaur's Labyrinth, Crime Scene, Caramel, Bone Pile, Momentum, Primal Saber), MP7 (Teal Blossom, Fade, Nemesis, Whiteout, Asterion, Bloosport, Abyssal Apparition, Full Stop, Special Delivery, Neon Ply, Asterion, Ocean Foam, Powercore, Scorched, Impire), PP-Bizon (Modern Hunter, Rust Coat, Forest Leaves, Antique, High Roller, Blue Streak, Seabird, Judgement of Anubis, Bamboo Print, Embargo, Chemical Green, Coblat Halftone, Fuel Rod, Photic Zone, Irradiated Alert, Carbon Fiber), MP9 (Featherweight, Wild Lily, Pandora's Box, Stained Glass, Bulldozer, Dark Age, Hot Rod, Hypnotic, Hydra, Rose Iron, Music Box, Setting Sun, Food Chain, Airlock, Mount Fuji, Starlight Protector, Ruby Poison Dart, Deadly Poison), MP5-SD (Liquidation, Oxide Oasis, Phosphor, Nitro, Agent, Autumn Twilly), Shotguns, Machineguns - Sawed-Off (Kiss♥Love, First Class, Orange DDPAT, Rust Coat, The Kraken, Devourer, Mosaico, Wasteland Princess, Bamboo Shadow, Copper, Serenity, Limelight, Apocalypto), XM1014 (Frost Borre, Ancient Lore, Red Leather, Elegant Vines, Banana Leaf, Jungle, Urban Perforated, Grassland, Blaze Orange, Heaven Guard, VariCamo Blue, Entombed, XOXO, Seasons, Tranquility, Bone Machine, Incinegator, Teclu Burner, Black Tie, Zombie Offensive, Watchdog), Nova (Baroque Orange, Hyper Beast, Green Apple, Antique, Modern Hunter, Walnut, Forest Leaves, Graphite, Blaze Orange, Rising Skull, Tempest, Bloomstick, Interlock, Quick Sand, Moon in Libra, Clean Polymer, Red Quartz, Toy Soldier), MAG-7 (Insomnia, Cinqueda, Counter Terrace, Prism Terrace, Memento, Chainmail, Hazard, Justice, Bulldozer, Silver, Core Breach, Firestarter, Praetorian, Heat, Hard Water, Monster Call, BI83 Spectrum, SWAG-7), M249 (Humidor, Shipping Forecast, Blizzard Marbleized, Downtown, Jungle DDPAT, Nebula Crusader, Impact Drill, Emerald Poison Dart), Negev (Mjölnir, Anodized Navy, Palm, Power Loader, Bratatat, CaliCamo, Phoenix Stencil, Infrastructure, Boroque Sand), Wear - Factory New (FN), Minimal Wear (MW), Field-Tested (FT), Well-Worn (WW), Battle-Scarred (BS), Stickers Holo/Foil/Gold - Katowice 2014, Krakow 2017, Howling Dawn, Katowice 2015, Crown, London 2018, Cologne 2014, Boston 2018, Atlanta 2017, Cluj-Napoca 2015, DreamHack 2014, King on the Field, Harp of War, Winged Difuser, Cologne 2016, Cologne 2015, MLG Columbus 2016, Katowice 2019, Berlin 2019, RMR 2020, Stockholm 2021, Antwerp 2022, Swag Foil, Flammable foil, Others - Souvenirs, Agents, Pins, Passes, Gifts, Music Kits, Cases, Keys, Capsules, Packages, Patches

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Earlier today I posted the results of my final GMAT, a 760 (Q49 V46) and the top comment asked about my journey, and you gotta give the people what they want!
Background: Solid math background through finance UG and perhaps a slightly more intuitive understanding of verbal. I’ve generally been smart but not good at standardized tests, a big mental block when I started.
My GMAT journey began in November of 2021 with the Princeton Review 700+ course. I got a 620 on their diagnostic test. TBH I didn’t take full advantage of the course so I can’t say much about it, i had the mentality that doing the required coursework would be sufficient to earn the score I wanted. That, for me, was not the case at all. I did minimal practice and did it on tight time crunches, my mock scores fluctuated between 580 and 720 because I simply lacked the knowledge, i was luck dependent.
Following completion of the course I did have a solid idea of how the test works and those little things saved some foundational work later. I also felt like i understood what topics i was below target on so i reviewed the books for those sections and took my first official GMAT in December of 2022. 680 (42Q 44V). I had mixed reactions to this score, at first some defeat, but that was quickly followed by motivation.
On the train home I purchased a 6 month pass to TTP, at the beginning, despite my newfound motivation I repeated some previous mistakes, I didn’t put in the time, I would study between 30 minutes to an hour each week night for about 3 months and realized I had hardly made a dent. It took a kick in the ass from my amazing girlfriend to get me back on track. I ground it out hard for the next 3 months, going to bed sometimes around 2am. My verbal was good so i focused on quant as you need a high score to stay competitive. After those 3 months I felt truly confident for the first time, took 3 mocks around my target of 740+ and signed up for a real exam where I scored 760 (Q49 V46 IR7). Here are my takeaways.
You will get nowhere without motivation, visualize your goals and be ready to sacrifice and work hard to achieve them, it’s possible.
Write everything down, mental processes are great IRL but in the test you need to be certain of your answer, writing it down helps keep your focus and you can easily track backwards to find mistakes if you’re not reaching a listed answer choice.
There is A LOT of material to get through, make sure you give yourself a few months at least a couple hours per day and 3 on saturday and sunday to grind it out. This isn’t high school, you don’t NEED to take the gmat now, you can do it in 6 months, a year, etc. You get one shot at an MBA and this is a huge piece, make it count.
Do lots of practice, the only way to beat this test is to learn it and drill it rigorously. I probably did about 3000 practice questions before I took my final test.
Start off doing practice questions untimed to make sure you understand the topic being tested, so much of the test, quant even moreso, gives very little time per question even before you factor in reading some of the longer word problems. The most critical skill you can have is being able to identify the topic being tested at a glance and immediately jumping into the solution. That skill comes with practice. Introduce time when you feel confident you can tackle any question in the chapter.
Don’t stress if it takes more than two minutes to answer a hard question, you don’t need to be hitting every question under 2 mins, you need to hit 31 questions in 62 mins, some questions are insanely easy when you have a strong foundation and can take as little as 15 seconds, some are really f-ing long and cerebral, they might take up to 4 minutes.
ERROR LOG, keep one. Don’t just limit it to the questions you got wrong, add it to your error log if you are taking significantly longer than average to answer the question, you’re likely missing a faster methodology.
If you’re using TTP, use the calendar study plan, it’s a massive help in visualizing the amount of info you need to complete.
Get easy questions right 99% of the time. Take missing one of these personally; in aiming for an elite score you can’t risk the ding of missing an easy question. Try to get these in a minute or less by the end of your training.
Aim for 80-90% on medium questions, missing a few isn’t that bad, but you should aim for as close to 100% as possible on problem sets.
Try for 70% correct on hard questions, you generally don’t get hurt much by missing one but you get a lot of credit for getting one right, pushing that metric is crucial for an elite score, high rates on easy/medium only gets you in the door.
If you get stuck working through a question, don’t be afraid to try plugging in answers, it can take longer but it may mean the difference between missing and beating a question, you can make up the time elsewhere.
Some verbal specific help: You don’t need to find the right answer you just need to find why the other 4 are wrong, learn your rules and get good at pointing out when one is broken, if POE leads you to two strong answers or no answers, redo it with more scrutiny. For CR questions get in the habit of doing what I call the CPA (accounting joke lol) method: conclusion, premise, assumption. The conclusion is the argument of the passage, the premise is the evidence it’s based on and the assumption is the often unspoken bridge that links those two together, most CR questions involve the assumption, so practice understanding it quickly. A little pre-thinking is ok, but don’t get married to the idea, some questions will have answers that line up with your line of thought, some won’t, do the same POE process regardless, if your pre-thought answer works, great, if not, be ready to ditch it. Learn to ditch answers that are out of scope, this is maybe one of the easiest ways to knock options off the board.
TTP Tests: Do every single easy and medium test, they introduce you to pretty much every conceivable type of question that can be asked. Easy and medium questions often have the most procedural answers so having a base of recognizing and actioning the question asked is super helpful. For hard tests, as long as you are in the target accuracy and faster than average, you can feel safe doing only 2 or 3. These questions often require deeper thought on a concept to answer and may require some out of the box thinking so there’s a point of diminishing returns on practicing hard questions. Hard tests are soul draining and painful, don’t stretch yourself out over these. The only exception imo is the properties of numbers chapter, these skills are foundational and lots of practice on hard questions will pay dividends in other areas of the test.
Practice in little ways in real life, calculate the tip at a restaurant manually, read your morning news with the goal of quickly understanding the point the article is making. Do flash cards on the way to work, keep your mind on GMAT.
This is non-exhaustive, I’m happy to answer questions in the comments if you want more insight into anything here or a topic i haven’t touched, I may have thoughts.

In just under two weeks, ARMYs will descend upon Singapore to see SUGA! Help an ARMY out and let them know about safety, how to get around, where to eat, tourist attractions, BTS-related things to do, or anything else that you think someone should know when they visit! (Special thanks to the mods for your input and feedback for this guide!)

BTS' Past Visits

Red Bullet Tour (2014 BTS Live Trilogy Episode II) at the The Star Performing Arts Centre (13 Dec 2014)

• Fancam
• Official photos by Hallyu Singapore
• Official photos of Hi-Five session by Hallyu Singapore. Session was for all Cat 1 VVIP ticket holders ($268), who got a Hi-Five Pass and Concert Poster. The first 100 VVIP ticket holders also got to go up on stage to get a "Dark & Wild" album autographed by BTS.

Music Bank performance (4 Aug 2017) at the Suntec Convention Centre

• Fancam
• Quiz game video
• Outing at the Merlion statue and Singapore flyer: Photos Set 1 Photos Set 2.

Love Yourself World Tour (19 Jan 2019) at the National Stadium
This made history as the first time a K-pop group held a concert at the venue (largest concert venue in the country) and tickets sold out in about 3.5 hours! (45,000 audience)

• Concert review
• Witty notice from the Singapore Police Force abt avoiding ticket scams (it uses the BTS song titles!)
• Bonus: Jimin picked Marina Bay Sands as his special spot in the BTS x Street Galleries collaboration with Google revealed on ARMY Day (July 9) 2022

Concert Venue

Do note that it’s currently the June school holidays too (26 May-26 Jun), so the Sports Hub and surrounding areas may be crowded with many other visitors besides the concert-goers. Please be mindful!

• Singapore Indoor Stadium, right next to the National Stadium (both are part of the Singapore Sports Hub) where BTS performed at their last concert here in 2019. In fact, the Indoor Stadium was then used as the waiting zone for the standing zone ticket-holders.
• Concert guidelines been posted yet (will update here when they are), but here are the general guidelines for events there (links opens a pdf)
• The nearest MRT station is the Stadium station, on the Circle line - here is a train map (with Stadium MRT circled out in light purple). You’ll know when you’ve arrived as the station design is quite unique! Go up the elevator and follow the signage - the path is sheltered.
• You can find Kallang Wave Mall right next to the venue, for a spot of shopping and dining before the concert (opening hrs:10am-10pm daily). There is another smaller mall Leisure Park Kallang located next to the carpark, which houses an ice skating rink, bowling alley and cinema alongside more food options. The open space in front of the MRT station and the two malls is where ARMYs are likely to gather to exchange fan support and stuff
• The nearest hawker centre (i.e the affordable street food) is Old Airport Road Food Centre, one of the oldest and largest hawker centres in the country. It is about 20 mins walk away from the stadium, or you can simply alight at the Mountbatten/Dakota MRT stations (one or two stops away from Stadium MRT station respectively); both are about a 5 mins’ walk away from the food centre. Here is a list of recommendations (unfortunately, not a lot of Halal food stalls here. Let me know if you need those).
• There is also a McDonalds’ & KFC near Mountbatten MRT if you want something more familiar, or potentially try whatever new promo is currently going on at these places.

Sightseeing/Activities

Non-exhaustive list (all prices are in SGD)

• National Gallery Singapore. There is a special Namjooning Tour as part of the Gallery Wellness Festival. Slots are fully booked for the guided tours on 25 & 30 June. You could try the self-guided tours instead, which start on 17 July. Gallery passes for general admission to the permanent galleries (needed to access the tour) cost $20 for non-Singaporeans aged 13-59. Closes early (by 3pm) on some weekends in June and July (see dates on website).
• National Museum Singapore. Has very interactive and engaging exhibits. Highly recommended (I used to be a volunteer docent there for abt a year). Tickets cost from $15 (for access to permanent galleries only)
• Singapore Zoo & adjacent parks (Bird Park, River Wonders, Night Safari). We have one of the best zoos in the world! Single park tickets cost $50. Multi-park options also available. .
• Gardens by the Bay. Pretty gardens with outdoor sections and 2 indoor air-conditioned conservatories - you may have heard of the supertrees that have been featured in the movie "Crazy Rich Asians" and K-drama "Little Women". Provides a welcome respite from the heat. It’s free to visit the outdoor areas, but it’s really worth it to pay for entry to the conservatories. There are various pricing packages, so best to check out the website yourself.
• Singapore Botanical Gardens is our first UNESCO World Heritage site, the first and only tropical botanic garden on the list. Admission is free.
• The Merlion and the Marina Bay area. I personally recommend going at night to see the famed cityscape of Singapore all lit up (the temperature’s cooler too!). Marina Bay Sands Mall has a light and water show every night. There is also the iLight Festival going on now until 25 June with artistic light installations (mix of free and paid attractions). Bonus: Yoongi wore a Merlion Singapore t-shirt in a travel-themed Lotte Xylitol ad!
• You can also ride the Singapore Flyer for an aerial view of our city like the boys did! Admission costs $40.
• Visit our ethnic enclaves, Chinatown, Little India, Kampung Glam and Geylang Serai to see old shophouses, shop for souvenirs and try ethnic food
• One of the fanbases here, BangtanSG, has teased an ARMY event from 11-13 June. Will update when more details are released.
• Sentosa & Universal Studios Singapore theme park - you can access the island via various modes of transport with varying admission fees. Transport within the island is free.
• If you don’t want to think too hard, the best airport in the world for 12 years running is also an attraction in itself! See its dedicated section below for more information.
• Singapore is also located in the centre of Southeast Asia - if you’ve never been in this oft-forgotten region of the world, take the chance to check out our neighbouring countries as well! Malaysia can easily be reached via bus, and Indonesia via ferry.

(Note: You may want to check out Klook for discount tickets/passes)

Dining

Singapore is a food paradise with various cuisines from the local ethnic groups, as well as international ones. For Muslims, there are a lot of Muslim-owned or Halal-certified options around (look for this certificate, or the label “Muslim-owned”), including most of the fast food chains like McDonald’s/KFC/Burger King/Subway.
Carrying some cash with you (~$10 per pax) is a good idea, especially if you’re venturing out to hawker centres; while many places now have an electronic payment system in place, cash is still king in terms of versatility, and anecdotally most stores prefer cash or will charge a credit-card payment surcharge.

Where to eat?

• Most of the malls have a good selection of dining options, ranging from the (relatively affordable) multi-stall foodcourts to fast-food restaurants, cafes, and more upmarket restaurants.
  • It can get crowded during lunchtime (12-2pm) as office workers come out for their break, so try to avoid those hours if possible, or make advance reservations.
  • If you are staying/shopping in Orchard Road, Far East Plaza (level 4 & 5) and Lucky Plaza (multiple levels) have relatively more affordable food options for the area..
  • There’s a myriad of other malls in the suburban areas outside of Orchard to be explored.
• Hawker centres: A “hawker” in Singapore refers to a street food vendor, and in Singapore they’ve been centralised into food centres to create an iconic Singapore dining institution. These places are generally not air-conditioned, but they are the most affordable dining option. If you see an item on a table even if it’s something innocuous like a tissue paper packet or name-card, it means the seat's been reserved (“chop-ed” in the local slang) by people who are off queuing for their food.
  • Look for stalls with the longest lines (the most popular stalls will have long queues all day long), but most stalls should have decent food.
  • Newton Hawker Centre (near Newton MRT station) and Lau Pa Sat (near Telok AyeDowntown/Raffles Place Stations) are probably the most well-known to tourists, but beware of touts and over-charging, especially at Newton.
  • Taking the MRT out to slightly less central areas like Ang Mo Kio, Toa Payoh, Kallang, etc. should bring you to other hawker centres that cater to locals.
• Order in: GrabFood and Foodpanda are the two most popular food delivery apps with extensive coverage all around Singapore. Deliveroo is also available. Just be prepared to pay upwards of $5 delivery fee during peak periods, and the listed online prices are usually higher than in-store. The apps also have pick-up available if you’d simply like to order in advance.
• The ethnic enclaves like Kampung Glam (Malay/Muslim), Chinatown and Little India have a higher concentration of the respective ethnic cuisines, but most places in Singapore have a good mix of different local and international cuisines

What to eat?

Breakfast (These are generally very affordable options that should cost you below $10 per person, particularly if you go to food courts/hawker centres)

• Tea/coffee with kaya toast and half-boiled eggs. Available at most hawker centres (usually at the drink stalls), and chains like Ya Kun Kaya Toast and Killiney Kopitiam in malls. Order tea/coffee like a local by referring to this guide.
• Among the fast-food chains, KFC offers the more local option of chicken porridge (congee)
• Roti prata, a south-Indian flatbread (also known as paratha in India, or roti canai in Malaysia), available at most hawker centres and Indian coffee-shops
• Nasi lemak, coconut milk-flavoured rice with a variety of side dishes (usual ones: omelette, fried chicken wing/fried fish, fried anchovies).
• Beehoon, rice vermicelli with a range of toppings like fish cake, luncheon meat (spam), chicken wings, veggies etc.
• Chai Tow Kway (“carrot cake” - it’s actually radish cake), Tau Huey (soya bean curd pudding) + Youtiao (chinese fried dough)
• Mee Rebus, a Malay noodle dish with thick & spicy potato-based gravy topped with hard-boiled egg, bean sprouts, fried shallots, tau kwa (fried beancurd) and spring onions

Lunch & dinner

• Chilli crab: I don’t have any personal recommendations, and it could be costly because the crabs are usually charged by weight, which may vary daily. The link gives a run-down of some popular places
• Hainanese chicken rice: Again, no personal recommendations, but you can find this in most foodcourts and hawker centres. You should be able to find one of these for $5 or less.
• Murtabak/Briyani: My favourite is ZamZam Restaurant (est, 1908) at North Bridge Road in the Muslim enclave of Kampung Glam, but there is a whole row of Singapore-Indian restaurants serving a similar menu there
• Everything under the sun :) Google maps & data coverage generally works well in most parts of Singapore, so search & explore! Some sites you can start at include Chope & Burpple.

Snacks

• A must try, it’s sold by any ice cream man you see roaming around with a popup like this
• We have a ton of bubble tea (boba) stores if you’re craving it, you’d probably find a bubble tea store or two within 20mins of walking anywhere. Koi/Gongcha/LiHo are quite standard options, and then there’s others like Playmade/Chichasansen with their own unique points. Here’s a list with 61 of them...
• There’re plenty of 7-11s and convenience stores around, as well as “mama shops” around public residential housing.

Getting Around

Singapore has a great public transport system. It’s really easy & cheap to get around on the MRT (mass rapid transit trains) and buses. Use Google Maps or the City Mapper app to navigate yourself and get route recommendations (the latter also has transport arrival timings and fare estimates. It also works in many cities globally, so is very useful for tourists). Various transport passes are available for tourists, but you can also use your contactless credit cards (Visa and Mastercard) to pay for the fares (no registration required).
In general, using the Circle Line (yellow) or Downtown Line (blue) should get you to most tourist attractions. Orchard Road (main shopping belt) can be accessed via the North South Line (red), between Orchard and Somerset MRT stations. Map for reference, with links to versions in Chinese/Malay/Tamil available for download.
Taxis and ride-hailing cars: We have Grab and Gojek in place of Uber.

• The largest local taxi fleet - the blue Comfort Cabs - also have their own ride-hailing app to compete, although they can also operate via the traditional meter & can be booked via phone call/flagged down as usual. Fares can be paid via cash post-ride or credit card for all these private car options.
• Ride-hailing tends to be very expensive. At peak periods, ride-hailing services could be even more expensive than taxis, but at least you know the price beforehand. All malls have a taxi stand where you can stand in queue and hop on the next available cab. Queues can be long at morning and evening peak periods, so avoid taking cabs then if you can.

General navigation
All signs are in English, and the locals - esp the younger generation - are able to speak English fluently. If you’re really lost, feel free to approach others to ask for help! People are generally friendly and helpful despite initial appearances :)
As a side note: in general, if Google Maps is asking you to circle around a building to get somewhere - don’t. You can cut through most places on the ground floor quite easily, even the residential buildings (unless they’re private properties like condominiums/landed housing). MRT stations are connected to a good number of places via sheltered corridors if they’re nearby enough. Enjoy the aircon & shade instead of walking outside in the heat if you can.

Shopping

• Orchard Road is our main shopping belt, running from Orchard to Somerset MRT stations. You can find many shopping malls there, with collections ranging from upmarket to fast fashion. Check out Design Orchard, a retail space for fashion and lifestyle items by Singapore designers.
• For an old-style emporium experience drop by Mustafa Centre. It used to be open 24 hours but this was disrupted by COVID19 and now it is only open until 2am (best place for late night shopping!). It's not a glitzy mall, but has crowded aisles chock full of all manners of things, including snacks and souvenirs (avoid going on Sundays when it gets super crowded with migrant workers on their day off).
• Already mentioned above are the ethnic enclaves Chinatown, Little India, Kampung Glam and Geylang Serai with smaller standalone shops. Special mention for Haji Lane in the Kampung Glam area, a small street with cute boutiques.
• The many, many other malls scattered across the country - a brief list. For example, Paya Lebar alone (just another station up from Dakota!) is connected to several malls like Paya Lebar Quarter (PLQ), PLQ 2, PL Square, Singpost centre, and a couple more within a 5-mins’ walk (Tanjong Katong Complex, City Plaza, KINEX etc.).

Weathewhat to wear

The weather is especially hot these days (max temp of up to 35 degrees celsius, or 95 Fahrenheit), with possible spurts of heavy rain at certain times of day, so dress light and carry an umbrella (most places do have sheltered walkways between buildings and bus-stops/MRT stations though, so don’t worry too much about getting around in the rain). Mall air-conditioning can be cold, so hv another layer (e.g. cardigan/wrap/scarf) on hand. Remember to hydrate frequently & avoid staying outdoors for too long!

Airport

• Singapore Changi Airport is often voted by travellers as the best airport in the world, with lots of shopping, dining and leisure options in the various terminals. BTS (except Jin who took a different flight) stopped over at Changi Airport on the way to New Zealand for Bon Voyage 4 (airport lounge scenes shown in Episode 1)! While you may not have access to the business class lounge like them, there are various other options to rest and hangout, like the many gardens (some even accessible from the public areas) and even a free 24h cinema (Terminal 3 transit area).
• Jewel Changi Airport which is attached to Terminal 1 is an attraction in itself. It's worth arriving 2-3 hours earlier than your flight check-in time to grab a meal and have a look around Jewel. A particular highlight is to take the skytrain between Terminals 2 and 3, cutting across the centre of Jewel, to get a spectacular view of the indoor waterfall. There is also shopping aplenty (Tip: NTUC Fairprice supermarket in Jewel has a nice selection of food and non-food souvenirs which are pretty affordable).
• There are various transport options for getting to the city from the airport. Public transport like MRT is convenient if you are travelling light, else there is a shuttle service to selected downtown hotels. Taxis and ride-hire cars can be expensive, especially with the airport surcharge.
• Sort of related, Yoongi gave a shout out to our national airlines (Singapore Airlines) for its great seat and amenities in business class in BV4! (He said: let's always fly Singapore Airlines in the future!). The airlines must have taken notice, because they recently announced that they would be adding BTS content like songs, MVs, LY New York concert, and Break The Silence docu in their in-flight entertainment system to commemorate BTS' 10th anniversary. An ARMY also spotted a write-up abt BTS in their in-flight magazine.

We’ve tried to achieve a balance between being succinct and informative, but certainly the above info is not exhaustive. So do feel free to ask in the comments below if the info you need is not here! Fellow SG ARMY, or those familiar with Singapore, feel free to chime in!

TLDR; My wife hated golf and swore to never touch it. She randomly wanted to hit a few while at the course with me the other day. She piped a few shots and caught the golf bug.
My fellow golf addicts. I am here to report that what I previously thought as impossible has indeed happened.
Like many of you, my wife supports my golf addiction within reason. I can go to the range 3 times a week and full rounds every other weekend with some 9 holes thrown in here and there. I've tried for at least a year and a half to get my wife to give golf a try, to which shes always vehemently said no. She would occasionally come ride 9 holes with me and bring our toddler because he likes to be outside, but not often.
I always thought to myself that if I were to ever get her to get just one solid hit, finally she would understand. I just figured it would take too many hits to get there and she'd get frustrated before she felt what a flushed shot was like.
Well Sunday it happened in the most glorious fashion. Went to play a quick Sunday afternoon 9 holes before family dinner. On hole 7 she wants to hit a putt so I let her of course. Hole 8 she tries to play a few but doesn't get too into it. Hole 9 tee box, swings a driver for the first time ever. First hit slightly off the heel but goes about 75yds. Second swing however was a center face laser down the center fairway with 110 carry and 140 total. Absolutely piped.
She proceeds to follow that up with two consecutive 3 woods for 100yds+ each (off a tee from fairway but shes never swung a club so off the deck is unfair).
She is now hooked and wanting to golf. Major win for the program here and wanted you all to know that miracles can happen and this beautiful game can crack even the hardest of hearts.

ARMOR: ASS/AP/SENT LEATHER CP/
ASS/AP/CAV LEATHER RL/
ASS/AP/CAV T60 RA/
ASS/EXP/CAV RAIDER PA RL/
BOL/7LED/CAV RAIDER PA RL/
BOL/LED/SENT METAL LA/
BOL/AP/WWR T60 SET/
BOL/7LED/WWR EXC LL/
BOL/7LED/WWR RAIDER RL/
BOL/AP/SENT USA LL/TORSO
BOL/7LED/SENT USA LA/
BOL/25RSENT T-45 LA/
CHAM/AP/SENT LEATHER LA/
CHAM/AP/CAV RAIDER PA LA/
ESA/PSA ULT PA SET/
OE/RSENT T-45 RA/
UNY/AP/SENT RAIDER(Light) CP/
UNY/AP/SENT RAIDER (Light) LA/
UNY/25PSENT ROBOT(Sturdy) LL/
UNY/AP/HTD WOOD SET/
UNY/AP/SENT ROBOT(Light) RL/
UNY/AP/SENT FSA SET
Van/exp/sent t-45 RA/
VAN/AP/CAV MARINE LL/
VAN/AP/CAV FSA CP/
VAN/AP/SENT MARINE CP/
VAN/AP/SENT USA LA/
VAN/AP/CAV T-45 RA/
VAN/AP/WWR HVY LEATHER RA/
VAN/7LED/WWR T-45 LA/
VAN/AP/WWR EXC TORSO/
VAN/AP/WWR ULT PA SET/
VAN/7LED/SENT RAIDER PA RA/
VAN/1S/WWR X-01 TORSO/
WEAPON:
AAe25 assault rifle/
AA/40ss/1s Buzz Blade/
AA/40/1S drill/
AA2515fr lmg/
Ass/E/90 mini/
AAe25 10mm pistol/
AA50c25 radium/
AA40ss1s drill/
Aae15fr mini/
Aa2515c railway/
B2590 lmg/
B2525 Tesla rifle/
B25ffr90 gat plas/
Be15c Fixe
Be25 lever action
B25ffr15c Fixe
B2515 Tommy gun/
Bss+1s mm gauntlet/
B40pa1s lead pipe/
B50cghost fixe
Bss1s boxing glove/
Be15c assault rifle/
B50c15 radium/
B25ffr15fr nu gat lase
B40pa1s switchblade/
Exe50c15fr hm/
Exe25ffr15fr mini/
Exec50c15fr r
Exec2525 cryo/
Exec/E/25 Fixe
Exec/40pa/40 buzz blade/
Fe15 mini/
F25ffr90 .50/
F25ffr90 cryolato
F2525 enc/w aligned flamereflex sight/stab stock
F/40SS/1S Buzz Blade
Gilded .44 pistol/
2xInst/E/25 hm/
J25ffr90 mini/
J50c25 hm/
J25ffr90 ULT gat lase
Mut/e/25 10mm pistol/
Mu/E/15fr 10mm pistol
Med2525 fixe
Med50c25 fixe
Noc/50c/25 bow/
Noc/25/15 lmg/
Noc2590 gat lase
Q2525 combat shotgun/
Qe15fr DB shotgun/
Q2525 lvl 30 railway/
Q25ffr90 .50 cal/
2x Q2515fr .50 cal/
Q50c15fr fixe
Qe15c fixe
Q2515 lmg/
Q50vhc25 enclave w/ reflex and aligned auto/
Qe25 lever action/
Q50c25 10mm pistol/
Q2525 gamma gun/
Q2515fr radium/
Q2515c radium/
Q50vhc25 combat shotgun/
Q50c25 nu lase
Stalk50c25 fixe
Stalk50c25 crossbow/
Tse25 10mm sub/
Tse15fr fixe
Ts50L90rw broadside
Ts2515 napalme
Ts50vhc90 fatman/
Ts2515c railway/
Ts2515c hm/
Tse90 gat gun/
Tse25 combat shotgun/
Ts50c90rw peppershake
Tse15fr mini/
Ve25 tommy gun/
V25ffr90 lmg/
V25ffr15fr .50 cal/
V50c15fr fixe
V50c25 fixe
V25ffr15fr nu gat laser
Ve15fr mini/
V2515fr .50 cal/
APPAREL: USA mask/ Radicals face mask/ Winterman mask/ Crazy guy mask/ WP Jumpsuit Demon mask
CONSUMABLES: Sugar bombs(rads) 200+
Canned Coffee: 755
Berry mentats: 704
Overdrive: 2k
Leader bobbles:
Small guns: 447
Exp bobble: 581
G&B 9: 1400
Mire map 2: 1988
Cranbog map 3: 666
Ash heap map 2: 462
Sav div map 3: 529
Forest Map 1: 546

Mathcord and UniteAPI Meta Report

    Welcome back to the Mathcord and UniteAPI Meta Report! SteveMyCat and the Contributors of Mathcord at Unite-DB have teamed up with the creators of Unite API to compile and analyze the data of the weekly meta report. This report includes data of each of the top 9999 Master ranked players' non-bot, non-duplicate ranked matches, and includes win rates and pick rates for all Pokémon, as well as that same data for all movesets chosen at least 1% of the time.
    Life has happened for the writers of this report, so it was put on a hiatus for a bit. A lot has changed since the last report so buckle up and let’s get started.
Previous Meta Report
 
(There are 2 win rates we will be discussing and marking throughout. The first is the Non Mirror Win Rate (NMWR). The NMWR is when one team has said Pokemon, but not the other. The second is Overall Win Rate (OVW), which is just Total Wins / (Total Wins + Total Losses))

Meta

Data from : 2023-05-28 16:05 ➤ 2023-06-04 16:06

Total Games
174,830

Master Rank Breakdown

Rank 1	Rank 5000	Rank 9999
3437	1816	1733

Top 10 Pokémon

 
The Win Rates On The Table Are The NMWR

Pokémon	WR Current	WR Previous	Pick % Current	Pick % Previous	Total Picks	Skill 1/ Skill 2	Skill WR	Skill Pick
Zacian	56.24%	56.4%	16.7%	18.3%	58390	Sacred Sword/ Agility	58.99%	74.9%
Umbreon	54.34%	53.6%	33.05%	20.13%	115546	Foul Play/ Snarl	59.01%	57.35%
Glaceon	54.16%	53.72%	45.78%	45.86%	160087	Icicle Spea Ice Shard	54.55%	96.78%
Lapras	53.03%	53.29%	26.1%	26.81%	91277	Water Pulse/ Bubble Beam	53.66%	82.98%
Eldegoss	52.36%	51.74%	12.65%	12.12%	44218	Pollen Puff/ Cotton Spore	52.86%	46.72%
Dodrio	52.02%	50.98%	8.93%	9.33%	31214	Tri Attack/ Agility	53.08%	32.5%
Chandelure	51.52%	51.83%	10.86%	10.79%	37979	Overheat/ Imprison	52.62%	70.68%
Duraludon	50.83%	51.97%	2.24%	2.12%	7825	Dragon Pulse/ Dragon Tail	53.02%	42.35%
Clefable	50.79%	50.93%	9.19%	9.21%	32130	Moonlight/ Gravity	50.94%	77.7%
Cramorant	50.76%	50.81%	4.69%	4.7%	16416	Dive/ Air Slash	52.05%	71.5%

See all the leaderboard and stats here
 

Weekly API report

A lot has changed since the last writeup (linked above), some for the better, and others debatable. The most notable changes are covered just below with the top 5 pick and win rates, and further with the 2 new Pokemon that have been released!
 

The Top 5 Pick Rates

There are 5 Pokemon who are head and shoulders above the rest in pick rate, while also all sitting in the top 12 in win rate, and all above 50%.

• Glaceon 45.78%
• Umbreon 33.05%
• Lapras 26.1%
• Ninetales 18.53%
• Zoroark 18.21%

 

Glaceon

shk shk shk shk shk shk shk shk shk shk
Glaceon received buffs to Icicle Spear and Ice Shard when it was actually in a relatively healthy spot. The damage buffs were on the smaller side, but still noticeable. The larger buffs are to the cooldown of Icicle Spear and Duration of Ice Shard. Spear had a small window of downtime that gave counterplay, however that is all but gone. Shard now lasts 20% longer and has a much higher attack speed increase on the normal and plus versions. Glaceons rotations have very little downtime between and the previous build path choices for attack speed to be able to stack 8 crystals earlier vs gearing for late game with sp attack have lost all nuance. Glaceon no longer needs attack speed items, meaning that the damage increase from the patch is larger than anticipated. This, plus the addition of spoon has made Glaceon much stronger than the patch notes were able to demonstrate.
There is still a bug causing Glaceon to deal additional damage to wilds, which further exacerbates this issue
 

Umbreon

Your Shields Are Mine
An interesting release. Part of the pick rate can be attributed to the hype surrounding it. Another part is that it has a strong early-mid game that pivots well into the late game. Foul Play / Snarl has seen the highest pick rate and win rate, beating out all other sets by a significant margin. With a 55.51% win rate, the next highest is 49.84%, Foul Play / Snarl has had a strong early showing in the top 10,000. Mean look has solid utility and can be amazing if your team capitalizes on it, however it requires more coordination than you will find in a non-5s game of Unite. Wish holds lower win rates with each combination of the first move than snarl, which can mean it needs more playtime, testing, or an adjustment. Only time will tell. Players will get more comfortable playing with and against Umbreon and these numbers may shift because of it.  

Lapras

Splish Splash Your Team Is In The Trash
A strong showing of a defender at release, Lapras boasts solid damage mitigation, sustain, mobility, consistent damage, and crowd control. This combination is hard to beat for most characters, especially the ones in the current metagame. Lapras’ glaring weakness is consistent, lower ticks of damage, namely from characters like Cinderace/Greninja/Dragapult. These characters have largely been pushed out of relevance by the current hot picks, giving Lapras a lot of breathing room. Lapras also possesses the tools to take these characters out in the form of its Unite. Imagine the impact of Blastoise Unite except you can cover half the map, with a lower cooldown. It does have some drawbacks, but this is an amazing gap closing tool that boasts high damage and crowd control that can single handedly make a squishy set of Pokemon irrelevant.
 

Alolan Ninetales

Ice Ice Baby
A return of an old favorite! Ninetales received much needed buffs, namely Blizzard’s cooldown being lowered to match Avalanche, and the Unite charge being reduced. Ninetales rotations are smoother, and it is able to more consistently do what it is intended to do. The early pressure it is able to exert at level 3 is quite strong, filling the gap the Espeon nerfs created. This is earlier than most mages can reliably pressure the lane and gives Ninetales a nice niche to fill over the others.
 

Zoroark

Zip Dash Zip Dash Dash Zip Slash
Zoroark received buffs recently that have propelled it into being a relevant speedster next to Dodrio. Most of these were cooldown buffs which allowed more uptime on the moves giving Zoroark smaller windows of vulnerability between sets.
 

The Top 5 Win Rates

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

• Zacian 56.24%
• Umbreon 54.34%
• Glaceon 54.16%
• Lapras 53.03%
• Eldegoss 53.03%

Pokemon that appear here and in the Top 5 Pick Rates were discussed in full above
 

Zacian

Neat
 

Eldegoss

Get Puffed Nerd
A real gem of the format. Eldegoss was overshadowed by other supporters for a while, but it has a very solid kit and has been slowly seeing more play as people realize that it has the tools to deal with the current meta. An early game menace with slows on auto attacks, it becomes a solid healer that gains damage mitigation for the team with pollen puff+. Pollen Puff is the preferred move, and can be used in combo with Cotton Spore or Cotton Guard depending on the enemy team comp and your preferred playstyle.
 

New Release!

Umbreon

Discussed above
 

Chandelure

This Thing Is LIT
Another new release, Chandelure has been a solid addition to the roster that has good tools to keep itself alive and help the team. Overheat / Imprison has been the highest performing moveset, and for good reason. Overheat has solid AOE damage, is flexible with the cast time, and most importantly can be used while moving. Imprison is the first true silence effect brought into the game, and this is very powerful when every Pokemon is reliant on move rotations. Silence prevent a Pokemon from using any moves, similar to how dashes cannot be used inside of Clefable’s Gravity. Imprison also roots the first Pokemon hit, which can create breathing room for Chandelure and its team. The Unite also reduces vision of nearby enemy Pokemon, similar to Greninjas Smoke Screen, and gives Chandelure access to a channeled death beam that does considerable damage.

Standing over the corpse of a recently dispatched privateer, she scanned her eyes over the battle unfolding in front of her. Despite the gloom, She could clearly make out that her men were outnumbered and unprepared for a straight fight. They had been planning to attack long after the sun had set, using their rowboats to sneak aboard the enemy ship and slit their throats while they slept. But they had been spotted and, understanding that capitulation was not an option, were now forced to fight for their lives.
Another man came at her, clumsily swinging a long curved blade in a brutal, if unskilled, downward strike. At the last second she sidestepped the blow and responded with an attack of her own, the man tried to pull his sword up to parry, but was too late as the ornate sabre opened a deep crimson line across his forearm. Bellowing a stream of curses, he attacked again with an enraged vigor. But his wound compounded by his lack of finesse meant that his strike again failed to land, and his attempts to continue the assault were thwarted by a savage thrust from his opponent. As she sank her sabre hilt-deep in his chest, determined to watch as the arrogance, as well as life, left his eyes, she found her eyes wandering. A flicker of something behind a pair of dueling seamen had distracted her, it had been a tiny movement that would have been imperceptible to most people over the frantic battling, but to her it gleamed like a dagger's point. She was trying to work out what it was when she was forcibly snapped out of her concentration by another adversary approaching her. She swiftly wrenched her sword out the man's chest and set about dealing with the newcomer. Despite the heavily armed pirate trying to kill her, she still couldn't focus on the fight. She kept seeing glimpses of something in the distance, some movements weaving in and out of the melee, mirroring the fighting sailors, or just swaying by the sides of the ship. They looked barely real, nearly invisible in the low light and their outline was impossible to discern. A powerful slash that bit deep into her reinforced overcoat reminded her that she had more pressing matters to attend to. She moved backwards with a series of frantic parrys until she had enough breathing room to release an attack herself. She aimed a thrust at her assailant's thigh, determined to stagger him before finishing him off. But this man was more experienced than the last by far and he easily battered the strike away, regardless it had drawn his attention for long enough for her to draw one of her pistols and shoot him in the chest. She quickly checked around her to make sure that there was no immediate threat before looking back at the rest of the fight and quickly becoming enthralled by the spectres again. They looked more real now, as if empowered by the bloodshed around them and she could somewhat make out their shape. They were faint around the edges, and looked almost human, yet their movements seemed anything but. They deftly slid through the carnage, avoiding blades with comical ease. No strikes even came close to hitting them. And bullets always seemed to have been fired away from them. Some of them carried weapons of their own, swinging them in wide arcs that seemed aimed at the fighters around them but somehow managed to cut only empty air. Despite this no one took any notice of them and kept fighting as hard as they had been before, in fact, as she looked closer at the combatants, they appeared to be fighting even harder than before, the several minutes of nonstop fighting having no effect on their stamina.
She watched as one of her men was cut down in front of her, his shirt in tatters and his stomach a mess of gore, yet still he fought on, dragging himself towards his enemy with an animalistic gleam in his eye before a heavy blade swung down and decapitated him. She stepped forwards to take his place but was immediately forced on the retreat by the person who killed him. It was a mountain of a man, with teeth filed down to points and with limbs slightly too long for his body. His upper arm had a huge chunk taken out of it by his previous assailant, and a hole had been blown through his leg by a pistol shot. Yet despite wounds that should fell any man, he pressed on, fighting with unrelenting savagery. She drew her dagger, and even though she had twice as many good arms as him, she could barely keep up with his attacks. He seemed inhumanly strong and she could tell that her odds of survival were low. A powerful blow knocked her backwards causing her foot to skid on some accumulated gore and sending her toppling backwards onto the deck. A desperate parry prevented her immediate demise but left her chest wide open to attack, and with not enough strength left to defend herself she realised her fate. The man towered over her seemingly even taller than he had once been, and raised his blade for the coup de grace. As she stared up at her soon-to-be killer, she could swear that she could hear something, music like, a slow melody, barely audible above the clanging metal and black powder discharges. But it was irrelevant, she was about to die and there was no point in thinking about music that may or may not exist.
Suddenly a taloned hand burst from the man's chest tearing upwards until his entire torso was rent in two. The man fell forwards, dead long before he hit the deck beside her. She pushed her body upwards, trying to see who had killed the man. But as soon as her eyes lay upon the creature in front of her, she immediately regretted it. It was tall, inhumanly so, with long sinuous limbs and a mouth full of fangs, its skin was pale and riddled with open and barely closed wounds. But more disturbing still were its clothes. While the thing wore little more than ragged, bloodsoaked cloth, she could still make out the regalia signifying that it was a member of her crew, and she recognised the battered cutlass it held in its oversized claws. The music was much louder now, and impossible to ignore, the off-kilter jig was pounding in her head and still getting louder and faster, beating rhythmically in time with the movements of the whirling spectres. They were even more real now, shining against the dark backdrop of the night sky. She finally could see them for what they were.
Men, women, soldiers and outlaws, people of all creeds and classes were moving on the deck, united by blank stares from unmoving eyes. They were starting to attract the attention of the other creatures now, and were forced to duck and weave ever faster through the onslaught. A woman ran past her, nimbly avoiding the huge sweeping claws that were trying desperately to rip her apart, the woman was in terrible shape, wracked with injuries with huge pieces torn from her arms and torso, and one leg ending halfway up in a ragged stump. Despite this, she was moving with inhuman grace, almost appearing to be playing with the creature. Upon a closer look, all the spectres seemed in similar condition, with grievous wounds that were all but ignored by the wearer. Their movements as well were synchronised, pulsing and spinning to the beat of the ever quickening music, as if the battle was some elaborate dance. A stark contrast to the animalistic savagery of the things chasing them. One of said things caught sight of her and charged on all fours, knocking other creatures aside in the desperation of an easy kill. It howled as it ran, the sound was abhorrent, and pierced through the music reverberating inside her head causing her vision to blur. As the creature approached her, the howling grew louder, even as it closed its mouth, she couldn't rid herself of the noise. It was all she could think about. She didn't see the thing reach her, her vision darkening and conscious fading long before it had a chance kill her.
She was on a boat, and she was alone, that much she could tell. She looked around, the boat seemed to stretch infinitely away from her in all but one direction. She looked back off the side, staring into the inky black sea, it was much darker than usual, and as she looked closer, she realised that there was no water at all, just an empty void. She felt a presence behind her and turned back to the endless decking and masts. They were changed now, twisted and gnarled, with broken planks jutting out like teeth, no, they were teeth. Huge contorting mouths and ravenous maws were opening up along the decking towards her, carried by an soothing melody. She was almost caught as she sat there, enthralled by the music as ropes and tendrils of splintered wood snaked their way towards her. A sudden pain in her leg as a tendril latched on snapped her out of her trance. Frantically, she drew a pistol and fired it into the wood, breaking its assault for long enough for her to throw herself off the side of the ship, and into the abyss.
"Come on you dogs, form a proper firing line!" she shouted as she opened the creature's throat
"Or do I have to show you the meaning of discipline!" A spray of arterial gore from the thing's neck soaked her sleeve as she punched it in the skull with her sabres hilt.
"Watch where you're brandishing that goblet! , I know you lack restraint when it comes to drinking but if you could at least try to get some in your mouth instead of throwing it over the guests it would be much appreciated"
She drew a third pistol and put a shot between an approaching ghouls eyes.
"Fifty lashes to any man who steps out of line!"
A wild sweep from her sabre disembowelled the creature.
"Twenty five percent? Don't waste my time with ludicrous offers like that, I'll take no less than forty"
Another pistol shot put the thing down permanently.
"First rank forward, fire, kneel, reload! Second rank forward, fire, kneel, reload! How many times do I have to go through this?"
She stabbed her dagger into a third ghouls bestial eye. They were surrounding her now, her sudden burst of stamina was starting to wear off and fatigue was beginning to set in. As she brought her sword up for another strike, she caught a glimpse of its hand, and the ornate ring upon it.
"Thief! Thief! He stole my wedding ring! Guards, arrest him!"
She plunged her dagger into the creature's chest down to the hilt, several times over, once she was sure it was dead, she looked lovingly at the identical ring upon her own finger.
"I could have been a baker, with hands like these"
A claw dug into her shoulder, and she spun to face her attacker.
"Oh you certainly are funny sir!" she choked in between bursts of hysterical laughter.
"If only all the Lords at this place had as quick a wit as you!" She kept laughing even as her sabre was battered aside, as the talons sank into her chest, as she was torn in half by the beast before her, and as the last light left her eyes.
The tavern was full to bursting with rowdy drunkards and revelry, he made his way to his usual seat, moving quickly to avoid the patrons and piles of vomit, but as he sat down and prepared to drown his sorrows, he noticed someone in front of him. She was a woman, with long straggly hair, matted with blood, she wore a ragged, bloodstained overcoat, with each tear revealing a horrific mass of wounds. She had the remains of a brace of pistols draped across her chest, a single solitary flintlock was tied there, more for the principle of it than for any practical purpose, as the barrel was dented and the mechanism almost completely broken off. One of her arms looked ruined, with many cuts down to the bone, but still somehow clutching the remains of a sabre hilt. Her other arm was outstretched towards him, palm upwards. None of her injuries were bleeding, and all appeared to be covered by some barely visible membrane, even the torn patches of her clothes seemed fixed with a thin glassy material, that despite its nature held no reflections. Even more horrific was her face though, not the wounds, although they were impressive, but her cold dead eyes that stared blankly over his shoulder. As he looked, he noticed what was left of her lips start to move. She spoke uncharacteristically for a walking corpse, her speech was even more unsettling than her appearance.
"Excuse me," she said in a voice more smooth and intoxicating than any liquor money could buy.
"Would you care for a dance?"

Proof of me with some of the stuff. It's far too big to get it all in one picture:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/1mH8TmA8soPhtdE67
After 30 years of obsession and nearly 20 years of passionately collecting, I'm planning on parting with my Texas Chainsaw Massacre collection. If you’re interested in my backstory, scroll to the bottom and I’ll tell you all about it.
I don't know if this is the largest of its kind, but I know I've put an absurd amount of effort, time and money into building this collection. Everything has always been kept in a smoke free, climate controlled space, with minimal exposure to small dogs.
There are over 400 individual items, ranging from action figures, masks and posters, to comics, apparel and various pieces of media. I have several rare/vintage items, including an original 1974 Bryanston one sheet signed by 6 cast members, a rebuilt replica Poulan 245A (don’t try to tell me it was a 306A…you can literally tell the difference between the two saws and see that he uses the 245A in the film), also signed by 6 cast members, a signed original Bryanston Press Book and lobby cards, as well as a life-size Leatherface with his right ear flap signed by Gunner Hansen (the original Leatherface), and much, much more!
I'm no photographer, but I think I've taken decent pictures of everything. I have listed Google Photos links where the items can be seen, each separated by category. I’ll be adding comments to each photo with a description or link to a site where the item can be seen in detail.
PHOTOS
Figures and Toys
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZjGSr1T5NBGJ9Nzy8
Comics, Books and Magazines
https://photos.app.goo.gl/dFJ7doojqAT29FVw7
Posters and Wall Art
https://photos.app.goo.gl/zTyqPkqWWWuN9tAy7
Media (Blu-rays, DVDs, LaseVideodiscs, VHS, CDs and Vinyl Records)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JZSqT2dLZqcTGByr8
Masks, Costumes and Accessories
https://photos.app.goo.gl/egfSCwmjWZjCA6Yv9
Apparel, Accessories and Keychains
https://photos.app.goo.gl/mPhbM2ki3xpvAJRNA
Rarities
https://photos.app.goo.gl/YxsXoEwY1GEgE27V6
Everything Else
https://photos.app.goo.gl/w1DXgG2NwWF2M32s6
Authenticity of Signatures with Photos
https://photos.app.goo.gl/G62MkG5jrpV6P3Kz9
All Items in One Folder
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3BVb52mnbxNKvHA2A
BACK STORY
In the 80’s and 90’s, you’d see scary movie VHS box covers when you snuck off to the horror section in Blockbuster. They were terrifying, and it was made even worse by the general “taboo” of horror movies. You’d go to school and whisper things among your friends, “Pssst…have you heard of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre? It really happened!” You’d act tough talking about these things with pals, but deep inside, they scared the **** out of you!
When I was 10 years-old in 1992, my family took a vacation to visit extended family in Florida. We stayed with my grandmother, who at the time, was a sweet 4’9” British lady of advanced years (she passed in 2014). In her living room, she had a bureau/chest of drawers that I snooped around in when no one was around. In the second drawer from the top, resting on the pile of junk inside, was a VHS copy of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I took it and hid it away in my suitcase.
Fast forward a couple months, we’re home from vacation, and I had been waiting for the next time my parents would leave me home alone so I could pop the movie into the VCR. One night, they did. That night, I watched it. This was a really bad idea…
I grew up in Tennessee. It’s a GORGEOUS state, with lots of forested areas. I happened to live in a field on 13 acres, surrounded by the woods, without a neighbor in sight. So from the minute the movie was over, until sometime in my early teens, I was convinced that Leatherface would come bursting through the trees and into the house to kill me.
Even though I grew out of it and though it was silly, it didn’t stop my subconscious from developing near-nightly nightmares of that XL chainsaw-wielding maniac.
In the early 2000’s, I wandered into a comic shop. There, behind the counter, without a box, was an 18” Leatherface. The 2003 remake was new and it sparked an interest in me. When I saw this figure, I knew I had to get it. I did. That’s where it started. It took a few years to realize this was a coping mechanism for the trauma the movie (and me) inflicted upon my childhood.
From there, the collecting became more intense. I went to horror conventions around the country (Dallas, Indianapolis, Nashville, etc), having new items signed by the remaining cast members. I haven’t stopped or slowed down since. I literally always have items on pre-order.
That’s it. That’s my story.
Thanks!
ChainsawMassacreGuy

Instructors and students of Krav Maga always like to talk about situational awareness, and everyone is nodding along with each other as if they are experts in the subject. And then you will see most of them check their phone while walking from the gym to their car as the sun sets outside.
Here are 10 small changes you can make to improve your awareness of your surroundings, and therefore to make yourself less of a soft target.

1. Don't text or use your cellphone when going from your car to a building (or vice versa). Wait until you are safely in your vehicle (doors locked) or safely inside the building before texting or making a phone call. This allows you to pay attention to your surroundings and observe suspicious people. It puts you in a better position to fight back should you get attacked.
2. If you have to make a phonecall or text in a public place position yourself with back against a solid object such as a wall. This prevents surprise attacks from behind and it allows you to keep an eye on anyone approaching from the front. I think about this one every time I see a "someone was pushed onto the subway tracks in NYC story.
3. When approaching your car take notice of the cars around you. Is there anyone sitting in a car next to yours that seems suspicious or makes you feel uncomfortable? Go back into the store, work, school, etc. until they leave or notify the proper people of the suspicious person.
   1. As an addition to this, especially for women, keep looking for ways to get a glance at who/what is behind you when walking through a store, such as every time you walk from one aisle to the next in Walmart. When I was living and training in Oklahoma City (lots of turnpikes and interstates to get someone out of the city fast) I got to see several rolls of camera footage of groups stalking a single woman through a store and parking lot. It's unnerving at best to watch how they work together.
4. If you have young children, when entering (or exiting the vehicle) they should enter (or exit) on the same side as you. This helps to lessen the odds of someone in the next vehicle grabbing your child while you are on the other side of the vehicle putting your other child in their seat.
5. If you park in your driveway, don’t program the built in homelink garage door opener or leave a garage door opener in your vehicle. To gain access to your home all someone would have to do is break into the vehicle press the homelink (or garage door remote) button and they now have entry to your house. A simple device to solve the problem is using a keyfob style garage door opener. It attaches to your keyring and goes wherever you go.
6. When driving home you should take notice of the cacars behind you as you pull into your neighborhood. Has a car been following you for a while? Has this car been taking the same turns as you? If so drive past your home. Do not pull in. Pull into your driveway/garage only after you have determined it’s safe.
7. Don’t volunteer information. In our trusting society we are quick to answer questions and in many cases volunteer additional information. Example – 2 strangers walking dogs meet.. they engage in conversation that usually starts about each other’s dog.. then it goes to their children, ages, where they go to school, what their spouse does for a living,etc,etc,etc.. You get the idea. In less than 5 minutes you can build a profile on someone and have a good idea on their daily/weekly schedules. This also applies to OTHER people’s information. Don’t volunteer THEIR information to someone. You don’t own it. It’s not yours to give away freely. Profiling can usually be done through associates of the intended target.
8. Back in when parking. Makes for easier and faster get away. Sometimes a couple of seconds can make a difference.
9. Make note of exits when in a public place such as a restaurant, theater, etc. Sometimes the time involved searching for a way out is the difference between escaping unharmed or not. Obviously the door you came in is an exit.. as well as the back of the restaurant, theater, ,etc (there’s usually a backdoor in any business) and now it’s just a matter of noticing the other exits. And in the event of blocked exits,etc… you make your own – break out a window,etc.
10. The most important tip – make changes in your daily habits NOW. Implement the tips above into your day to day routine.

Don't let yourself be so hyper vigilant (and scared of every shadow including your own) that you are a miserable and paranoid person. Every now and then you might notice someone in a restaurant (for example) with nervous eyes analyzing every detail in the room. Don't be that person. Walk in, scan, and have a good time.

Amid a galaxy of brutal chaos there are stories to be told, tales of valor and justice, of fear and despair. But amid these stories are the guttering flames of adventures untold, the potential for a universe of entertainment and savage joyous fun. The Oblivion Cycle embodies just this kind of crafted chaos, creating the potential for creative exploits and raucous tales. If you are new to the TOC setting feel free to join the community at TheOblivionCycle to check out some of the background lore or to discuss themes with other readers. I thank you all for your support and continued willingness to read, as always, Please Enjoy!
+ Next Part +
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A dark planet turned slowly in the void bathed in the light of an old yellow star far past its prime. The planet was old, unlike the countless beings that scurried across its blasted surface. From the vantage point of space far above, the gigantic craters that covered its surface were painfully apparent. Some terrible bombardment had nearly torn the planet in two sometime in its ancient history.
These were the thoughts foremost on the mind of the vast entity that observed the world from the depths of a large misshapen ship of truly gargantuan proportions. The ship orbited the planet far enough away to be unseen, a truly difficult task due to its almost moon-like size.
Deep in the ship’s core, a consciousness woke fully. This being had slumbered for millennia as they waited for the ship’s more automated systems to bring them to something interesting. As they awoke this entity checked the ships logs, two thousand years of reports were absorbed and compiled in mere millincrements such was the being’s incredible processing power.
They stretched mentally, running their consciousness throughout every lesser ten of the ship's millions of greater tens of circuits and wires. It had been centuries since they had last woken for more than a few increments, it was a good feeling.
The ship’s computer communicated with them. “Master Neel, It is good to have you with us.” the computer said nonverbally. The communication happening instead as a base impression across his many connections to the system all at once.
Neel observed the planet remotely using some of the vast worldship's many external sensors. After a few moments of observation Neel inquired the computer. “Have we traveled to this planet before?”
The computer replied quickly “I do not believe so, it bears passing resemblance to a planet we visited in the far past. But it can't be the same planet.” the computer concluded.
Neel frowned and then decided to exit his stasis chamber. The heavily shielded inner sanctum of the ship was a mess of electrical conduits and databanks that held his vast intellect when the ship was underway. Using faster than light means of propulsion could damage many of the curiosities in his vast collection and so for many tens of millions of greater increments he had traveled the cosmos slower than the speed of light.
While slow it was a deliberate action to protect him from the watchful eyes of the obliterators. The destroyers commonly kept watch over the cosmos and were known to eliminate those they could not contain or control. Neel had no wish to be destroyed and so took their time getting around for the sake of stealth. Even the destroyers would be unlikely to detect a single ship not breaking the natural laws in a vast and ever expanding universe.
Disengaging their mental locks, Neel disconnected from the artificial sanctuary and into their physical vessel. Their vessel was an artificial body of sorts, fashioned in a form that Neel found pleasing.
Their vessel was very tall with six manipulating tentacle-like metal arms and a multitude of pointed insect-like legs. Their face was a mess of tubes and wires with no discernible features other than the five bright green glowing eyes that stared out at the world around them intensely.
Neel’s consciousness settled down into the large body like it was a comfortable bed, an electronic sigh passing through them as they disconnected from the ship.
Neel started their vessel’s internal vacuum generators. Devices of their own design that drew electrical power directly from the quantum fluctuations of the universe. Quite a simple thing really, they must seem remarkable to those not nearly as versed as them in the nature of the universe. But Neel was well versed indeed, they knew the purpose of it all, and the dark knowledge often made them wish they had never discovered it.
Turning their attention back to their muted surroundings Neel activated the bridge’s lights with a thought. The ship was a part of them, though simultaneously separate. Together they made a complete entity, though Neel admitted that it was sometimes less distracting to be on their own instead of bonded to the Preserver. That was the name he had chosen for his worldship upon its completion. He had no memories of the event, or of how it had been built. Neither did the Preserver, instead Neel’s earliest coherent memory was that of light. Blinding light.
A star exploding and the ship jumping into emergency compression drive to escape the blast. They had arrived many light years away damaged and broken from the violent energies that had lashed the ship. But they had survived.
Neel scuttled across the deck and to one of the automated steering consoles. They double checked the ship’s course for accuracy and were satisfied to see no inherent issues.
Next they walked though the ship for a time to get to the records hall. They could have zipped there almost instantly with a thought, but they had always enjoyed the action of taking their time. They had a nearly infinite amount of it after all.
The Preserver chimed at them as they walked. “If you are going to the records hall to check the data I can give you access here and save you the trouble Master Neel.” The disembodied voice said in a modulated tone and frequency.
Neel waved a series of arms towards one of the many wall mounted sensors that the ship used to see and replied “Why? What would be the purpose of walking if not to enjoy the walk. I know you could have forwarded the data to me directly on the bridge, but there is a simplistic pleasure to taking one’s time. How many times have I told you that old friend.”
The ship was silent for a few increments as Neel scuttled down dimly lit metal passageways and through dusty hatches. They shook their head in a strange yet familiar motion as they took in the state of the ship. It was dirty, grimy almost.
Neel paused by a strange bundle of filaments and tested them with a single flexible manipulator digit. Plucking them curiously Neel found they seemed to be organic. In fact as they touched them they noticed a small and curious creature skuttle out of the dark in the direction of the disturbance. Delighted at this new and fascinating discovery they coaxed the small creature out into the light.
They observed it closely, zooming in on its features while scanning it in multiple electromagnetic spectrums. Neel found that the creature seemed to fluoresce in the ultraviolet spectrum, its small body covered in swirling organic patterns. It must be able to see into the ultraviolet spectrum Neel mused, otherwise what possible purpose could such patterning serve?
Reaching into a recess in their body they produced a specimen stasis capsule. Carefully scooping up the creature, they activated the micro stasis field generator and the small curiosity seemed to freeze in place. Replacing the container they then turned and continued along the corridor making a mental note to return and analyze the filaments more closely at a future time.
It took a little longer than Neel remembered to reach the great library, which made sense as the Preserver was constantly in flux. They entered the room and slowed to a halt. It always hit them when they entered into the massive space for the first time after a lengthy hibernation. The room was lit with bright yellowish lights high in the cavernous ceiling. The walls were covered in shelves and databanks, not a single square length was bare of some form of data storage medium.
Neel walked in amongst the towering shelves and ran their fingers along the uncountable thousands of books, manuscripts, scrolls and data crystals stored within small stasis cabinets. Hidden inside this sanctum was Neel’s life’s work, the compiled data of tens of thousands of worlds, millions of species and a billion years of searching the universe for something more.
Sometimes when the ship was traveling the void between stars Neel would come and spend years here, just absorbing the ancient knowledge. But today they were looking for something specific. Moving along to one of the many wall mounted dataports, they inserted a spike like digit from the end of a flexible tendril. The full enormity of the vast library exploded into their conscious mind, only their prodigious intelligence keeping them from being overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of data.
Searching for a while they found the folder they were looking for and accessed its location. Neel was in luck, it was remote accessible meaning they wouldn't have to traverse kilometers of this labyrinth to find the data. While that was usually an enjoyable experience, Neel found that their curiosity was overwhelming their patience.
The data filled their mind and Neel saw a planet spinning tranquilly in their mind's eye. The planet that bore a striking similarity to the one they now orbited, in fact, comparing the star logs and accounting for drift, the constellations were the same too. That proved it, they were in fact in the orbit of Ixninth, the evolutionary homeworld of the peaceful humbub.
Neel cocked their head, that was odd. The last time they had been in contact with the humbub their planet was nearing a full scale type one civilization. Full planetary control was theirs and they had taken the first tentative steps out into their solar system with a few far flung colonies and outposts in the orbit of the outer planets.
Now there was nothing, no evidence of the star realm they had once ruled. Something must have happened while Neel had been traveling through the cosmos. Something no doubt related to the strange crater-like formations on the planet’s surface.
Neel scanned the other planets in the system and found that most bore evidence of similar impacts, a few of the smaller moons seemed to have been obliterated entirely. Just the drifting charred remains in orbit of their scarred planets.
They addressed the computer once more verbally. “Preserver, we have indeed visited this system before. It is the humbub’s home system.”
The ship spoke through their implant, the disembodied voice cool and calm while it discussed topics of annihilation. “It would seem some sort of natural cataclysm must have befallen them then. There is evidence of incredible kinetic bombardment. Perhaps a rogue black hole disrupted the outer debris fields?’ the computer speculated blandly.
Neel looked back to the images of the systems battered planets. “I believe something terrible has happened here, are you sure there is no evidence of foul play? No signs of void conflict?”
They began to walk out of the library and towards the main atrium. The Preserver asked “Are you telling me to scan for debris or asking if I had already done so?”
Neel paused and apologised “Yes, I am sorry old friend. You have of course anticipated my question and scanned the area for wreckage. I can postulate based on your silence that you did not find any evidence to support the claim?”
Neel started walking again as the ship confirmed their observation. “I will of course continue to scan the area in case of potential hostile threats, but I do not expect to find anything of note. It looks like the act of a hostile universe, not the acts of barbaric lifeforms.”
Neel nodded again, this time entirely for their own benefit. That is about what they had been expecting anyways, if the growing theory in their mind was correct then they would likely find no evidence of foul play at all. At least, not in the conventional sense.
Perking up a little their green eyes shone bright as a new idea struck them. “Preserver, scan the main planet. Look for any signs of technology or ruins of technology. I will get to the bottom of this situation one way or another.”
The computer replied “Already started when it became clear to me you were set on this investigative action. I can report with ninety five percent certainty that there are no technological ruins on the planet. There is a large and well preserved ruin in the upper hemisphere. Would you like a scope on it?”
Neel waved at the air and replied “Yes, yes of course. Let me see what you have found.”
In their mind they saw the feed from one of the massive ship’s many outward facing telescopes. On the current one they saw it swivel towards the planet. Enhancing the image it zoomed in until Neel could almost count each blade of grass on the ground. In front of their very eyes was a large collection of half buried structures. While they did not look technological in origin, any clue to a history undiscovered was a good clue.
“Good work my friend, I will have to make sure we pull a flyby on a blue hypergiant giant so you can recharge your entanglement drives. You earned it.” They spoke to the Preserver in fondness.
The ship answered in a much more subdued manner “That would be appreciated Neel. My compression generators have been a bit chilly of late. I assume you will want to venture to the surface personally? May I suggest an assortment of weapons?”
Neel waved a hand as they entered the vast and colorful main atrium. It was only a few kilometers from the bridge, but it was a sight well worth the walk. That coupled with the fact that it connected directly to the small hangar bay where the many parasite ships were stored.
Neel walked across the room to the hangar and entered one of the small single occupant shuttles. The Preserver spoke once more in their mind. “If you are intent on going down to the surface would you at least let me launch an orbital observation platform to assist you?”
Neel paused at the controls and then said “Yes, might as well. You never know what’s going to happen in the future, that's what makes living in the present so exciting.”
***********
Jrax woke with a satisfied stretch, today was the day. He had been busy excavating the ruins of the forbidden zone in secret for almost a full year now. Only Zieve knew he was here, and the young man was unlikely to turn him in as he was just as interested in the mysteries of the ancients as he was.
Jrax stood to his feet and twisted at the waist in a futile attempt to crack his lower back. Unsuccessful he looked around, he couldn't see Zieve anywhere, usually the young man was out here before he had even had a chance for his morning zalv. The comforting warmth of a fresh cup of the dark orange liquid was a better wake up than anything else he had yet to discover. He had shown the benefits of drinking fresh zalv to a few of his colleges but it had yet to fully take off. Something about the dried and powdered fruit gave him a zest for life and alertness that was addictive in its effectiveness, and a little addictive in general.
But that was not the important reason he was here. He put a small pot of the mixture on the boil as he pulled his notebook out of his waist pouch. The small leather bound manuscript contained everything he knew of the ancients and their strange ways of life.
According to the few tablets and inscriptions he had so far recovered, the ancients lived in the void and traveled this strange realm of nonexistence in vast ships of solid metal. Why they would have needed to be made of metal made no sense to him. Surely wood would have been much lighter and cheaper? Maybe it was a style thing, from what he could gather the ancients made almost everything out of metal. Such was their vast power and wealth they were able to extract metal from the void itself.
This had always sat ill with him, everyone knew of the void, the space outside of reality. But surely they couldn't do such things as the void was empty, wasn't it? Perhaps the great teachings warning of the demons that lurked in the void were false after all. It was said that the void used to be full of life, an infinite world to build upon. One day the demons had come from beyond the realms of the humbub and devoured all that existed without till at last they rained fire and death upon Ixninth. The celestial realms of the humbub had been reduced to ashes and the survivors fled their metal cities in terror as they were consumed by the angry earth.
He shook his head. The mythos of their people was a fractured thing, handed down largely through word of mouth by millennia of terrified priests who had no real understanding of what they should be so afraid of.
He knew, it had been a hard truth to swallow but in his studies of the forbidden ruins he had made discoveries. Discoveries like the identity of their ancient destroyers.
They were not demons at all, they just looked like them, their bodies twisted and monstrous, their hunger for destruction nearly insatiable. They killed for fun and destroyed the remains, the fact that they hadn't killed all of the ancients was a miracle likely attributed to the paranoia of certain individuals. Places like these ruins had been ancient refuges to them, structures buried far into the guts of the mother earth called bunkers. An affront on nature, but necessary for the survival of their race.
It had taken thousands of years from what he had been able to gather before the planet was once more survivable on the surface. They left their ancient bunkers and found that all that once had been was no more. They had begun again.
Jrax was happy to be alive, especially knowing some of the struggle that his ancestors must have gone through just to survive. He put thoughts of such things out of mind and busied himself combing his fur. It wouldn't do to get mangey knots from a lack of self attention, he was a respectable scholar afterall.
His snout crinkled in a small snarl as he thought of Primo Haxix, the premiere leader of the Church of Brox in his home city of Broxix. The man was a devout follower of Brox’s teachings, and his most severe hurtle to spreading the truth of things. The closeminded man refused to see reason.
Done with his morning grooming he pulled on his open fronted work shirt, the rough fabric a little itchy against his fur but necessary to protect him from biting insects and the sun. It was hot near the ruins, the lack of vegetation one of the reasons the Primo called the land cursed. From what he had found it was no more cursed than any other piece of land, it had something to do with things called water concentrators he had discovered. He didn't understand the concept fully, but it seemed that the area was perpetually dry like the Neeix Desert to the south. A strange concept but it certainly explained why nothing would grow there.
Putting on his sandals and grabbing his excavation kit he slung the bag over his shoulder and started out of camp. He dodged around and through a thick copse of trees, his camp hidden from view in order to protect it from fanatics and the church’s spies. The area around the ruins was constantly under surveillance, he had been spotted a few times and chased but luckily his identity had never been uncovered.
He checked that the coast was clear and then made a quick transition to the bushes a few dozen feet away. Sighing as he didnt hear the telltale sounds of pursuit he continued on. The pack was heavy but he was undeterred.
Normally traveling alone into the wilderness would be tantamount to suicide, the many ferocious predators of their homeworld converging on a lone individual, but he was unafraid. The ruins protected him, some sort of aura seemed to surround the area that deterred the predators from approaching. He had read of it on the inscriptions, it was called a protection grid in the ancient texts that adorned the walls of the ruin, but he had yet to truly parse what it meant.
Whatever it was he was grateful for it as it allowed him to work in peace without constantly having to watch his back against attack from the abominations the demons had left behind.
He walked along the narrow and hidden path he had forged through the dense undergrowth towards the ruins. He shook his furred head, Zeive was probably already there. The young man was always excited to help him make some new discovery or ancient find. Yes, there was nothing to worry about.
Almost as soon as he told himself that he had nothing to worry about he tripped and landed hard on the soft sandy soil. Crawling to his feet he heard the unmistakable sounds of clanking armour plates and was soon surrounded by church soldiers. Resplendent in their brown leather greatcoats and shining steel breastplates.
“Oh..” Was all he said, a plethora of steel spear points at his throat.
Another sound met his ears and he looked behind him. From the path he watched a magnificently maned man stroll towards him, crimson cloak over his brushed leather overcoat covered in fine gold buckles. It was Primo Haxix, his biggest detractor and the most powerful person in all of Broxix.
Primo Haxix strode to him and laughed, a thoroughly nasty sound, devoid of mirth or joy. “Wow, I knew it had to have been an ignorant son of a demon to have crossed into the forbidden zone. But you? You have got to be the dumbest intellectual I have ever met. Clap him in irons, bring him to the fortress of Brox.” The ostentatious humbub then strode away regally as if they cared no more for his welfare, and they likely didn't. Jrax heard the unmistakable sound of a frourn drawn carriage, likely to carry the Primo’s lazy ass back to the capital.
One of the soldiers produced a set of iron clamps which they applied to his wrists, the metal pinching his arm hair painfully and he chirped in discomfort.
“Follow me or I will make you follow.” The man said gruffly.
Jrax did as he was told. No reason to get a beating on top of his arrest.
The soldiers led him through the brush and out to the main roadway. The road was simple hard packed earth, but it served its purpose. Leading right to the edge of the forbidden zone.
He snorted as they led him back along the road towards Broxix. It was a large city, almost fifty thousand inhabitants lived and died within an afternoon’s hike of the ruins and yet they knew nothing of their own history. The Church taught that the demons had destroyed their ancestors and all they had built before Brox took them into the belly of Ixninth for their protection. But that wasn't entirely true. It wasn't the whole truth in any event, and in Jrax’s opinion that was tantamount to lying.
They marched for an hour before the leader of the troop called a halt near a small roadside inn that catered to pilgrims. He looked at Jrax and said gruffly “We are stooping for refreshment, would you like some water?”
Jrax nodded suspiciously and the man gestured to a few of the others to go into the building.
Jrax watched as the trio of so-called holy soldiers kicked the door open and rushed in, swords drawn. Screaming and the sound of crashing furniture could be heard and Jrax chirped angrily but was kept from remarking by a threatening glare from the troop leader.
After a few more minutes of this the sounds ceased and the three soldiers exited carrying food and wine as well as a small bladder of water.
The wine and dried meat morsels were shared about as the troop leader approached with the water and stopped. Staring at Jrax, the man proceeded to unstop the bladder and pour its contents into the dirt as his feet.
When the skin had been completely emptied the troop leader laughed curly and gestured at the small mud puddle. There you go blasphemer, drink up.
A chorus of nasty chuckles sounded from all about as Jrax just stood his ground.
The leader stopped laughing, his face turning from savage mirth to rage as he drew his sword and pointed it at Jrax’s throat.
“I said drink! Do it now or so help me Brox I’ll…” the large armoured man started to say but Jrax cut him off smugly.
“Or you will what? You can’t kill me or you would have already. No, Primo Haxix wants my punishment to be public.” Jrax spat. “He wouldn't let a little pissant like you take his triumph away from him, so no. I will not drink, nor will I eat unless it is something tasty and nutritious. I would rather starve than allow such ignorant fools to debase me.” he said with a smug chortle.
The now enraged troop leader drew his sword in a threatening manner and Jrax felt his knees shake slightly in fear. But he stood tall and firm, not allowing his terror to show on his face. He would show these zealous assholes what it meant to truly serve a higher purpose, even if it meant he would die anyways.
The leader lowered his weapon and sneered. “Let's see how smug you are when we take you to the chamber of repentance. We will see who gets the last laugh.” the man said angrily. “Okay, form up and move out you lazy sons of snurlg. We need to reach the Fortress of Broxix by mid afternoon.”
Jrax was shoved by one of the soldiers behind him who growled “Get moving scum.”
He shook his head sadly, the road was long and the sun was high. But he would walk with shoulders straight and head held high, for he knew his cause was just.
​
End of Part 1
==End of Transmission==