Delta boeing 767-400 seat map

By Rail to Canada, no Passport Needed
The clock showed 9:30 PM, Central Standard Time, September 15, 1958. Soo Line Train 9/13 was 21 minutes behind schedule as it cruised along in the fall Minnesota night, heading into the shallow bend towards the town of Hamel. There was no need to slow down from 58 MPH (93 kph) as the approaching station was not a stop for the train on its way to Portal, North Dakota and Winnipeg, Manitoba. From Minneapolis to Glenwood, Minnesota the two trains, also known as the “Dominion” and the “Winnipeger”, ran together before being split for their final destinations. The Dominion would be picked up by the Canadian Pacific for connection to Vancouver, British Columbia the next day.
GP9 diesel-electric locomotive No. 557 lead the train with the engineer and fireman aboard, followed by cabless power unit 503B. Behind them came six baggage cars, five sleepers, three coaches, and a lounge car, not in that order. Aboard the cars were 75 passengers, about five Pullman Company sleeping car porters, three dining service employees, three mail clerks, two baggagemen, the conductor (H.M. Ratje), and two brakemen.
Bright headlights shown ahead in the dark. The firemen, seated on the lefthand side of the cab, was observing a road crossing ahead of them. The engineer, Herman J. Steinke, was keeping an eye out on the tracks ahead. One detail was missed by both men, however. A green light supposed to mark the switch for the siding that served local businesses in Hamel was dark. In fact, although they never could have seen it, the lock had been bashed off and the switch thrown so it pointed into the siding. The lamp extinguished. At full speed, Train 9/13 rocked hard and as it hit the siding curve 120 feet later, jackknifed across the tracks at 9:35 pm.
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The Accident
Miraculously, no one was killed as the first eight cars and both locomotives derailed spectacularly. Sixteen people were hospitalized for their injuries among the dozens treated at the scene. Witnesses in Hamel reported the crash impact felt like an earthquake, calling in to the Hennepin County Sheriff to notify them of the disaster. The Sheriff’s emergency calls were answered by Civil Defense rescue teams and six fire departments within thirty minutes to begin the process of extracting those unable to escape the cars. Uninjured patrons were bussed back to Minneapolis by the Soo Line for the night, to figure out ways of getting them on to their destinations.
It was during the rescue efforts that a Hamel Fire Department firefighter noticed the damage to the switch lock that prevented tampering. While it was locked to point into the switch rather than the main line, he noticed that the shackle of the lock had clearly been battered open before being re-closed. Investigation by police and ICC officials also disclosed that someone had tried to batter the lamp’s connecting bolt so it could be rotated to give a false ‘clear’ indication. When that had failed, someone had apparently settled for extinguishing it. Five hours before Train 9/13 came through Hamel, about 4:30 PM, the local track maintenance foreman had inspected the line. He reported the switch had been set correctly at the time but could not remember if the lamp was lit yet. It was fueled twice a week, having been topped off three days before.
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The Suspect, the official Verdict, and the Aftermath.
By the first of October railroad police were seeking a man known to peddle sewing needles door-to-door in the Hamel area. He was in his fifties, stoop-shouldered, an ‘eccentric dresser’ who wore a flap-eared cap. Local residents had noticed the man in the area of the siding earlier in the evening but thought nothing of it at the time. Police apparently failed to locate him, or cleared him of wrongdoing, as no further remarks on this suspect appear in the newspapers.
On December 17, 1958 the Interstate Commerce Commission officially rendered its report on the incident. After examining the crew, witnesses on the ground, passengers, and the incident scene itself, they concluded the crew was not at fault for the accident. The ICC official accident cause was listed as malicious tampering, by person or persons unknown, who had deliberately forced open the switch, changed its direction, and extinguished the indicating lamp. From the transportation safety end of things, it was case closed.
Engine 557 and 503B were returned to service, as did the injured employees. Rail traffic was disrupted for several weeks until the line could be fixed. Today, perhaps the last survivor is Engine 557, still operating in Hanska, Minnesota as Farmers Co-Op of Hanska No. 124.
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Conclusion and Questions
In 2023 it seems highly unlikely that the September 15, 1958 derailment will ever be solved. No one died, and the newspaper headlines of the day were occupied with the tragic Newark Bay bridge accident on the Central Railroad of New Jersey that killed 48, so it quietly slipped from memory. However, that does leave us with some room to speculate on the cause.

1. The ICC Got It Wrong: There was no deliberate sabotage. Railroad locks take a beating even without deliberate tampering and investigators followed a path that would absolve the company and its employees of fault for incorrectly positioning the switch. The investigation makes no remark on when the switch had last been legitimately used before the accident.
2. The Peddler: A convenient target. Marginalized and possibly without a home, as he is also described as ‘dirty-faced’, it would be convenient to latch onto a sighting of him near the switch as an explanation. We’re given little motivation to why he might have tampered with the switch. However, after examining several cases like this, there often doesn’t seem to be much motivation amongst those apprehended. Children playing around, wanting to see the train wreck, without any more information its hard to say much more.
3. Someone Else: Local children, teens, another resident. Someone wanted to see the train crash. Notably someone had to wield a heavy tool against the switch lock and lamp bolts, no Lockpicking Lawyer here, which would seem to point towards an adult.

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Sources
The Interstate Commerce Commission Report of the Accident Investigation occurring on the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad at Hamel, MN: https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/45711
The Soo Line Public Timetable in effect at the time of the accident: http://wx4.org/to/foam/maps/2-Perry/015/d/1958-09-07SOO_systemPTT-Perry.pdf
News Articles and Photos (As a warning, this does include images of a non-fatal railroad crash and injured persons being transported): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1d1ZFYlPVNnZZxI6nf0jITZTLFb2xiSHv?usp=sharing

I recently bought tickets for a concert at the TD garden and bought tickets for section 315 in the 8th row. The seats I got from Ticket Master said that they are 16-19 but from what little I was able to find, it looks like those seats are behind a guard rail.
I wanted to know if anyone has had experiences in similar seats with these rails and if they are a major obstruction or not? Trying to eyeball it on the virtual map is difficult unfortunately. Any feedback is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Graduated from a three-year advanced programming diploma. Programming was all I ever wanted to do since I was eight years old. I think the quality of work reflects my passion.
Right out of school, got a sweet job at Google Maps. But it wasn't good for me mentally. Every Friday when I got off work, I'd take the bus with the worst schedule down to Finch Station in Toronto, down to Dundas, wait in the Greyhound for up to two hours, and take the bus for another two hours back to London just to be with my girlfriend and tight group of friends. So I was quickly looking for work in London. Applied to a job at a local ISP (yes that one), packed up all my things, moved back to London.
First day of work they hand me my contract and it's for $10k less then we had agreed. I said, "Didn't we agree on ...?" "Oh, well we'll reevaluate after three months." I was pissed. Livid. I had moved my entire life back to London on a salary that wasn't commensurate with my work. But, I actually did cut my teeth on that job. Sitting in that chair 8 hours a day brought me up to speed really quickly.
I even asked them, "Why did you hire me?" "You did the best on the programming test." ... k, so you hired me with what you thought was little experience so you could pay me less even though I do a better job. Okay.
I was the lead programmer for their best client's site. I can't tell you what site, but the work I did was impeccable, and I'm sure it's made him heaps of money over the years.
Welp. Three months came and I started looking for a new job. I applied to a random post looking for a programmer who had experience with nmap. Interviewed three times for that position. I was the one they wanted. I even made this config editor for IP tables rules that you could drag and drop the lines in different orders. They loved it. They called me and asked me if I could meet with their CEO at a cafe downtown less than a five minute walk from my work just before the end of the work day. I typed up my resignation letter that night, signed, sealed, burning a hole in my backpack. Took my last break the next day, walked down to the coffee shop, the CEO handed me an offer letter for $10k more than I was asking. Went back upstairs, went into my bag, walked into the CEO's office, plopped down the envelope and said, "This is my two-week notice."
Stunned. Stunned. It was so delicious to see that look on his face and I'll never forget it. It took him a good ten seconds to get the gears in his head turning again. He was so pissed he said, "Can you just leave today?"
I needed the money, but he didn't know that. I said to him: My project is almost done. Let's get on my project and finish it before I leave. He told me to go back to my seat, visibly upset. Calls me into his office right at the end of the day. "Here's what we're going to do: will finish up what he's doing over the next two days and join you and finish up.
That new job, I was there for three days when my boss comes over to me, says, "Come with me." Takes me into this ultra-secure room, and one of my co-workers had just hacked into a business and was playing around as Domain Admin. I'm like ... "WE'RE HACKERS?" lol. I had no idea. Spent seven years programming exploits and doing pen tests. Three years in I went to my boss and said, "I'd like to go back to school and get my degree." "Good. We'll put you on part time. You can work whenever you want. We'll change you to hourly at the same rate. Submit time sheets." Such a great place to work. I'll never forget it.
So I'm doing my new job for like 6 months when I get a message from my buddy from college: "Guess where I am." "Where?" Sends me a picture of my old chair at that work.
"Omg. Seriously? I quit there because they didn't pay me enough in a nefarious way."
Four months after that he sends me another message: Just quit. Pays too little.
Sometimes I lie in bed at night with a smug look on my face just imagining the steam coming from the CEO's ears when my buddy dropped that news.
I now make 4 times as much as I did with that ISP.

First / Previous / Next
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March 21, 2019
After having a talk with Sergeant Lyria Delara returned to her quarters where her pod mates were already gossiping about what had happened in the pool, though she didn’t even know how they could had find out as none of them were even near the pool at any moment.
So do you have anything to share with us said Xav’nia their pod leader.
“How did y’all even find out?” Delara responded while looking for her clothes to change in.
“Fur ball over here likes to be nosy.” Xav’nia said pointing at Rukna the Rakiri of the pod.
“I have a great nose for drama.” Rukna said while eating a human food called Jerk or something like that but Delara was sure that was the right word as she was pretty sure it was an insult for humans but she didn’t care enough to look it up.
“So?” Xav’nia pushed the subject.
“Can I at least get a shower first the chlorine from the pool makes my skin itch.”
“Alright go ahead but we want details when you come back.”
After a warm shower Delara got dressed, brushed her teeth, and exited the restroom where all her pod mates were staring at her, expectantly waiting for her story.
“Alright, alright, by the goddess, no one can do anything without y’all having to know.” Delara said, a little irritated by her pod’s insistence.
“So I saw the guy from the other day, and-“
“The one you told us about the other day?” Rukna interrupted.
“Yes fur ball there aren’t many other guys in this hotel.” Delara responded with a sigh at the lack of use of context clues the Rakiri used.
“So as I was saying he was by the pool reading a book and…”
“And what?” Asked Pravna
“He was…”
“Spit it out!” Said Xav’nia, sipping her water
“He was shirtless.”
Pffffff Xav’nia spat her water all over Rukna.
“Agh great now I’ll smell like wet dog”
"He was what?"
After what felt like an eternity of Delara trying to convince her pod mates that what she was saying actually happened and she wasn't just daydreaming in some kind of young adult fantasy.
"So then after the Sergeant left with Margna he invited me to sit next to him."
"I am going to keep calling ts on this." once more insisted Xav'nia as she turned and turned off her light.
"Look if your head is denser than a neutron star you can ask him tomorrow morning during breakfast, now would you let me finish?" Delara exclaimed already too tired and wanting to sleep, the day night cycle here threw her way off, as days were physically shorter but as they were told the day night cycle changed as the year progressed.
"Then he put on a shirt as I assume he learned that is not normal for us to see males shirtless, which seems to be something normal here." Delara said looking at the three of them to see if someone wanted to say anything before continuing "So, we talked about the book he was reading which he told me the name but I didn't quite understood, and then we went for a swim, in which he got really scared because he was surprised on how fast we could swim, and then after a while the Sarge came for me and we said our goodbyes."
"Hey maybe you'll leave this rock a married woman." said Pravna as she laid down to sleep.
"Yeah... That's what I'm not so sure about, the Sarge said she would talk to him and his mother about his relocation, and after a couple more weeks we ourselves are out to move also." said Delara laying on her side while under the covers."
"Then you better get him fast." said Pravna as she turned her light off leaving Delara with the only light on.
"Well I'll think about all of this tomorrow, I am too tired as of now, see ya in the morning." Delara said as she turned her light off.
*sniff \*
*sniff\*
"You smell like wet dog fur ball." Delara said as she passed out on her sleep.
"Well you have someone to thank for that." Rukna said as she lifted her head to face Xav'nia.
"You know what? you'll also have it." she said as she got up and jumped over to Xav'nia's bed in order to rub her fur on her so now she would smell like wet dog also.
"Uuuugh, get off!" exclaimed Xav'nia as she pushed Rukna off of her.
"Goddess dammit Rukna, now I smell like wet dog."
"Well now you wont get me wet again." said Rukna as she went back to bed.
"Go to sleep we have patrol tomorrow."
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March 22, 2019
Beep beep beep
Beep beep beep
Beep beep beep
"Ugh" I groaned as he unsuccessfully tried to turn the alarm off several times, until I lifted his head from the pillow and looked at the alarm clock.
'8 AM, it sure feels like it's earlier' Jeriel thought as he sat at the edge of the bed, he needed to give his body time to properly wake up.
'Eyesight?'
'Focusing but otherwise systems are online and at regular capacity'
\Check**
'Muscles?'
'Systems coming on sir'
'Take us to the bathroom, and begin our day'
'Aye sir'
After a not so cold, not so warm shower, brushing his teeth, and combing his hair Jeriel took a look at the clock.
'8:30 AM, good enough'
Stepping out of the room and arriving at the dining hall that was relatively empty compared to the other days for it being eight thirty, what it was not of my liking was the fact that today was a really grey day, you felt as it was actually way earlier with how dark the sky was, but here I was on the line for my food, so after picking my breakfast for today which was to no one's surprise eggs but this time sunny side up, bacon, sausages, waffles which I've always thought as the superior option over pancakes and that is a hill that I'm willing to die on, hash browns, and cranberry juice, it was all good don't get me wrong but eating the same thing for breakfast for a week straight wasn't the most pleasant thing the biggest difference there would be was when they had tortillas instead of waffles and pancakes, I also wondered how was it going to be until the hotel ran out of food, and that got me thinking on how the world would change with out new overlords, or- overladies.
That thought got interrupted by Delara sitting across from me, "Hello Jeryl." At least she was trying unlike some of my teachers over the years or the people working at the DMV, "Good morning to you." I said as I sipped from my juice, to then feel someone sitting next to me, I knew it was not a human for how furry it felt, looking to my side I saw one of them Rakiri I had seen before.
"Hey there." said the werewolf like being, although they look more like felines, lions if you ask me, but what do I know I'm not a Xenobiologist, that must be a profession right? anyways, as I mentioned before this Rakiri for some reason seemed to have a kind of Russian accent which always threw me off, but I've never known why.
"Uhm hey." I answered as I looked at Delara who didn't look worried but more annoyed than anything, "Are you Delara's friend?" I asked her prepared to move if I had to.
"Oh yeah, this is Rukna, she's in my group." Delarad told me as she once again grabbed the mapple syrup to complete her breakfast for then other two marines seat next to Delara and the opposite side of the table by moving an unused chair, "Oh and this are Xav'nia and Pravna, Xav'nia is my group leader." Delara said as she ate a piece of waffle and sausage with the thich substance dripping down.
"So we need to know if what Delara told us las night was true, did you two swim at the pool together?" asked Xav'nia who seemed like she was her squad leader, but why was it so unbelievable that she and I had a swim together? Thinking about it, yeah it wasn't the most believable thing in the galaxy.
"Uhm yeah we swam together for a while." I said as I saw all three of them stare at Delara with open wide eyes.
"And Uh- were you without shirt?" asked Pravna who was the shortest one there but still had like a feet on me.
"Uh... Yes?" I answered as I saw Pravna choke on her food, at the news of me corroborating Delara's story.
'Is being shirtless that weird?' I thought but then I remembered how foreigners acted when they visited a beach in Europe and saw topless women, so I guessed I was the European in this case.
We chatted for a bit until Xav'nia told the rest that they had to go, "Uh- It was nice meeting y'all." I told them as they all stood up, "Oh uh... Sammme." answered the Rakiri, and saying bye to Delara with a hand wave she got out of view.
I sat back thinking on the fact that this were in fact actual aliens, extraterrestrial beings, people from beyond the stars if you will, and we just had a relatively normal conversation, then I felt someone sitting next to me which made me jump, after turning to see who it was I saw that it was Miranda, and I saw mom also getting her food, "So what did they want?" Miranda asked in a not so friendly tone, "They just wanted to chat." I answered as I once again sipped my cranberry juice.
"I don't like them." Miranda said as she sipped from her orange juice.
"And I don't like you, but that doesn't stop me from having to care for you." I said as mom sat in front of us.
"Good morning son"
"Good morning ma, bendición,"
"God bless you, how did you sleep?" mom said as she ate her French toast
"Well, or at least alright, I was thinking about what we were gonna do today."
"Wait what's today?" jumped Miranda.
"Sergeant Lyria wanted to speak to mom and I." I said.
"And why did no one told me?" Miranda exclaimed.
"It was classified information and I outrank you by three years." I said, "And she said that she wanted to speak to mom and I, so there was no point in telling you."
"MOM?" Miranda borderline screamed making everyone else in the dining hall turn to look at your table.
"Can you I don't know not scream? It's too damn early in the morning for these voice volumes."
"Ugh"
"I agree with your brother, I didn't see any point in telling you, so can we eat and have a regular conversation?" mom said as she also started eating.
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"It's 9:55, shouldn't we go now to not be late? we don't even know where her office is." I said as I stood up to put my plate and glass away.
"Yeah I think that's a good idea, I don't want to be late for this."
After asking one of the marines we arrived at the Sergeant's improvised office, which was actually one of the hotel manager's office
All three of us were let it and were instructed to take our seats by Sergeant Lyria
“Well good morning, how are y’all doing today?” She asked while looking something up in her tablet.
“We are doing well all things considered.” said mom while glancing at us.
“Good, good, so.” the sergeant said as she put her tablet down and looked at us, “I suppose your son told you why we are here today right?”
“Y- yes, something about relocation?” mom said while giving me unsure glances.
“Yes, relocation, considering your situation including the destruction of your home and as I understand the passing of your husband, my condolences, I want to ask if you have a place with friends or family that you would want to move to and maybe stay with them, and from there I will see what I can do.” she said as she stared at my mom who was just staring back, who then stared at me giving me the well known gesture of translate for me because I didn’t understand a damn thing she said.
After translating and becoming the middle man I said “Well we have some friends in Austin.”
She then turned her tablet to me and asked if I could point that in a map, which I did, and after a little while of her checking something, she talked to us about how this were going to be.
"Okay so you all are going to be transferred in two weeks, so I would suggest that if you are able to you contact the people who you wish to stay with, but if that is not possible a shelter is going to be set up until we can find a permanent home for you and your children, as you are now a widow the Imperium offers help for single income families and single parents, but you would have to talk to a social worker that you would be able to talk to once you get there, but from what I know benefits include but are not limited to, housing, food, educational programs outside of school and some other things that I don't remember at the moment, but I will try to get someone in contact with you with all the information before you have to depart."
"But as of now we are going to start handing out IDs in about a week, so on that date you are going to head here because with you not having a permanent residence the process is a little bit different than standard, but you and your two children would get Imperial IDs."
"Is there any questions that I can answer at the moment?"
"No, I don't have any questions." mom said to me for me to say to the Sergeant, I looked at Miranda who also said she didn't had any.
"No they don't." I said.
"Well then you are dismissed." the Sergeant said, but I stayed behind to talk to her in private after Miranda and mom left after telling them that I would catch up with them later.
"Uhm Sergeant?" I asked getting her attention back from her tablet.
"Oh you are still here, anything I can help with?"
"What happened to the woman from yesterday?" I said while trying to find a place where to look.
"Oh Private Margna? you don't have to worry about her she was arrested for sexual harassment with your testimony and camera footage, as well as Private Delara's testimony, my guess she would be in jail for a while and if not she would have latrine duty for the rest of her days in the military."
"But if you need any kind of treatment, maybe talk to a psychiatrist just tell me alright?" She said with her again motherly tone, different from when she was talking with mom, then she sounded more like an old friend, trying to help mom.
"Uh yeah, I will let you know." I said as I stood up and exited the office.
'Austin huh?'
'Who would have thought'
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This is it for today everyone, tune in next time to find out how will Jeriel and his family adapt to the changes in their life.
Thanks for the support and as always if you notice anything out of place or any error I made just let me know in the comments so I can fix it.

Hi! I’m booked on CDG-ATL Air France flight (via Delta:), sitting in Premium Economy. Anyone know if row 12 (A,B) have any restrictions on the recline due to them being the last seats in premium economy?

CHAPTER ONE
I saw a light in the sky and he came down from it
That was a courtesy
What was ?
The light
What do you mean ? Who are you ?
Look I hate to be rude but we kinda need you, are you in ?
Are you God ?
If I say yes would you be more or less likely to help me ?
I don’t know.
Then, yes, I’m God, and I need your help
If you’re God, why do you need my help ?
I’m not God, I just said that to get you to help me. I’m sorry but I’m in a rush, are you in or are you out ?
I don’t even know what you’re asking
I’ll tell you on the way
We were in a big house. There was one of those double stairs that led up to one landing, then split again and met at the next landing. They went on and on, I couldn’t see where they ended.
You do not wanna know where that stairway goes
Where does it go ?
He gave me a look that made me feel stupid.
Every landing seemed to go on forever, just rows of heavy wooden doors as far as the eye could see. I turned 90 degrees and felt a bit funny, but couldn’t quite place why. Just rows of doors forever, same as before. I turned again. Now I was facing the opposite way to when I came in. There was what looked like a front door, twice my height, with a gold doorknob on it. But above that door I could still the landings. And the doors. They still went on forever. I turned again, expecting to see it but still unable to comprehend it when I actually saw it. The doors, going on forever. Again.
Oh yeah, I forget sometimes that you people are three dimensional, I swear it makes sense when I look at it. Come on, we don’t have much time.
We turned, and where I was sure there was a blank wall was now a golden arch. There was some fog coming through it, and lights flashing red and blue in an otherwise darkened room.
It’s a rave from your world, frozen in time. It’s along the shortest path to where we’re going.
We walked through the rave. I was trying to nudge past people. He floated up and delicately walked across their heads.
Spend some time here and you’ll figure out how to do this, the rules don’t apply here like they do in your world.
I believed him.
I looked around. The very silent disco went on forever in every direction.
When we reached the back, there was another golden arch. This one led to a room with a counter in the middle of the floor. There were pens on the counter, and pieces of paper, and a large sheet of glass. There was a woman on one side of the counter, and two men on the other. They were wearing masks. One of them had a gun drawn. There was a bullet between the end of the gun and the woman’s head
Uh oh, I wonder how she’ll get out of this one
She gets out of this ?
I mean, I can’t see what happens beyond the moment we're in any more than you can, but I highly doubt it. Come on we’re not there yet.
Somehow, the counter stretched on forever
The final room certainly did not stretch on forever. It was barely two metres in any direction. There was a table and a chair, the only problem was the table went from one wall to the other, and I would have to gracelessly clamber across the table in order to sit in the chair. But then I was in the chair. Another guy walked in.
Apologies for the suspense, do you have any questions ?
I don’t know
Nothing ? Not even a why am I here ? Not even a why me ?
Why am I here ? Why me ?
You were right, they really do ask the worst questions. Glad you asked ! First things first, do you know what a universe is ?
Everything ?
That’ll do, but what if I told you that there were even more everythings ? And they were everywhere, all at once ?
I don’t follow.
Imagine you decided not to come with us today, your life would have taken a different turn, you wouldn’t be sitting at that table right now. Following so far ?
Sure
Great ! So you making a different choice results in something being different, something is a part of everything, so everything is different. Your choices change everything, which is real neato, as the kids are saying. So let’s say there was a way to explore all these different possibilities, let’s say you could look at what you life would be like if you had made those different choices, all those everythings would be different, and you would have a different…?
Universe ?
That’s right ! You are very clever ! So if we have multiple universes, we can map out what we call a -
Multiverse ?
How did you know ? Wow I actually was impressed that time
I saw 2 movies that mentioned it in 2 weeks.
Ha-ha, maybe this version of you did. Anyway, I'm having too much fun, imagine you said “I am going to interact with every multiversal version of me except the one that smells like fish all the time”, and somehow, against all the odds, you succeeded. That'd be cool, wouldn't it ?
Ok
But, you may be thinking to yourself, what about the timeline where you say to yourself “I am going to visit every version of myself except the one where I have a big forehead ? Or have acne ? Or live in a pineapple under the sea ? Or any other number of things ? Assuming you could succeed at any of these things, it’d be impossible to succeed at all of them. That's where we get the omniverse from. Think of it as being above the multiverses. And it lets us keep track of all of them simultaneously
Is there more ?
More ?
More layers ? Are there infinite omniverses and infinite somethings above them ?
Would you be capable of caring about it if I told you there were ?
I don’t know
Basically what we want is a bit of a laundry list done. Its gonna look like random jobs, just checking up on people from time to time. But it is integral to the structure of the omniverse itself that you do this. The reasons why are beyond your comprehension.
Am I going to get to go home ?
Eventually, maybe
CHAPTER TWO
Do you have a name
Yeah
Cool
Yeah
I'm going to show you your chores now
Ok
He concentrated for a few moments. He raised his hand and made a motion like he was typing on a keyboard. The floor fell away, revealing an infinite void, like space, all around us. There was a commotion behind me, and I turned tot see a corridor being made. The sounds of commotion were still somehow coming from behind me, so I turned again to see the same corridor, this time it stretched even further into the distance
Sorry this will take a while, were constructing it one dimension at a time, just about to start adding the sixth. Give it a second and well have it finished.
We were still floating, but now the corridor was all around us. The sound of commotion was all around now, it sounded like lots of materials being smashed together; stones, metal, wood, clay, water, flesh.
And done
We drooped to the floor. This part of the corridor looked like an ancient Roman street, complete with a market, although there were no people to man them.
Like I said, this is just the shortest distance between the points we need.
Ok
We’ll get going and I’ll explain everything on the way. He handed me what looked like a small stone, but it lit up and created a screen, it looked remarkably like a tablet computer when it was turned on. A lot of things I didn’t understand or frankly care about lit up. I looked away and it powered down.
That will help you keep track of everything
I figured.
This is our first subject. Her name is Maria
Can she see us ?
No. she's just sitting here playing with her fruit.
She's not moving
She's frozen in time until you start
Will she be able to see us then
Yes. She's going to be doing something with her fruit. Recently she had a wedding for her oranges.
Ha-ha
Yeah. When the time comes, you just write it down on you tablet, can you do that ?
I opened the tablet. It anticipated what I was thinking and made the correct page for me.
Great. Moving on.
We closed the door, leaving Maria for now. We continued down the street. Quite suddenly, although not immediately, it became the interior of what looked like a space ship.
This is a universe where the entire...left side of the universe declared war on the right side. I really don’t want to get into it, all you need to know is the teams are the Yingits and the Yangits. You have no idea how much it pains me to say, but earth actually is the centre of the universe here, so earth’s politics are, needless to say, divided. The pilot of this ship was born coincidentally on the same day as the version of you from this universe, but he fell into a cryogenic chamber for almost a thousand years, got out, began what would have been one of the greatest empires the world had ever known, had he not fallen into another cryogenic chamber for another thousand years. When he got out, the war had started, and none cared enough to follow him anymore. His names Fornot, you just need to find out what side he’s fighting on.
This is weird
Yeah.
We closed the door and went on. The spaceship corridor gave way to some cold, stone steps. There was water dripping from the walls, and mould growing, the whole place stank and it was far too cramped. There was a rough wooden door with an ornate golden handle. He opened it. Three people were inside the cave, with about 500 people crowded around the entrance, trying to get a glance in.
This guy here, his name is Su-lan. He comes from an island off the coast of...it’s a different planet you wouldn't know it anyway. Member of the La tribe, cool guys and gals. Ah I may as well say it, this is a universe where humans have attempted to colonise every planet they’ve come to, and they’ve had a 100% success rate. Believe it or not, we are currently in the orbit of a gas giant called...you wouldn't remember, call it 2piter.
Ok
So Su-lan’s wife, do you see her there ? Her name is Su-fo, she took part of his name when she married, according to a custom that goes back 420 years
Ok
So they painted all these symbols along the walls and on the floor and they drew that big circle, not easy to do when you've got arthritis like they do, let me tell you. Anyway, you may be wondering how humanity has been able to conquer every known planet in the universe, it was quite easy you see. Firstly, they changed the definition of planet to “that which can be conquered by humanity” and the second was that in the 20th century, they discovered a ritual which, when performed on the right people, would grant them godlike powers. After that it was actually quite easy. One in every roughly million people gains powers this way, and if they do, they become custodians of a planet or two, or even a whole solar system ! Isn't that neat ? Anyway, the girl in the middle, her name is Su-ner, and she’ll be doing the ritual today to see if she can get these powers. You see how she takes the first part of her father's name ? Well when she gets married
I get it
They said you were smart. You're just confirming whether or not she gets these powers, sound easy enough for you ?
Yes
Then lets keep going.
He overturned a stone, revealing a portal on the underside. The portal kind of dripped off the bottom of the stone until it landed on the wall opposite us. We walked through. Now we were in what looked to be the foyer of a hotel.
This is your parents’ house in the universe where they never had you.
What ? They got rich without me ?
'fraid so. They bought a really lucky lottery ticket.
Oh
then they used to money to buy a few sweatshops in China.
Oh.
anyway, we are looking for the game room, it’s...this way I think.
He led me down a series of corridors, containing great works of art, statues, suits of armour, I thought I saw Eric Clapton by a swimming pool. We found the game room. It was bigger than my house. It had arcade machines, a screen bigger than any cinema I’d ever been in, there were people in uniforms milling around, a huge crowd in the centre of the floor, a room of computers and people with headsets, it looked like mission control at NASA. At the centre of it all was a guy who looked a lot like me, he had a trolley in front of him with a row of suits. They looked like those green suits that covered people from head to toe, except they were black. He had a furrowed brow, he was deciding something. The suits had little white balls on them.
Remember when I said your parents didn’t have you ? Well this is the kid they had instead. Thanks to the money, he’s hosting and competing in the world video game championships. These are his haptic suits, they do motion capture and let him interact with the game world and give him feedback and stuff, kind of like a controller that you wear
Ok.
Tell us which one he picks.
There was another door on the far side of the room. We went through it. It opened onto a waterfall. He grabbed me and we stepped off together. The waterfall was frozen in time. We rotated 90 degrees, and gravity moved with us, so we ended up just walking down it a little bit. There was a metal hatch at the bottom. He opened it up and let me inside. Gravity shifted again, so we were not standing on the roof, staring down at a lab. There were two scientists inside, one a rotund man with a bushy beard, the other thin and small, with an equally thin and small moustache. There was a birdcage in the middle, and a bird was suspended in the air within the cage. There were what looked like two circular windows in the end of the room. Or at least, a different version of me would have thought they were windows. Having seen what I had seen, I knew they were portals of some kind. One opened to a golden meadow, accentuated by the setting sun. The other was a nigh time setting of a colourful forest, with glow in the dark foliage accentuating the fruits and flowers which were present. They looked equally inviting.
This lab has been experimenting with multiversal travel, we love to see it. See that clipboard ? They've taken the same bird from hundreds of different universes and are setting it free in the lab and seeing which of the two portals it goes through. Their theory currently is; same bird, same portal. I rememberer when we were at that stage, fun times. You just need to tell us which portal this bird flies through. see that fat guy ? He once won a hot dog eating contest by lining them up and having his friend push them into his mouth while he swallowed with his mouth open on the other end of the table. The friend was the small guy, who got a splinter from the table and had to be rushed to the emergency department and spent 20 hours on a trolley and by the time he got seen to he had taken the splinter out himself but he got charged for the time on the trolley and now he’s here to pay off the medical bill.
Ok
Let's keep going.
He opened another hatch in the roof and stepped through. It opened not to the waterfall, but to a city. It was grey and the buildings were big.
Ok this is about two years after you went away
I'm not going home, am I ?
Not with that attitude. It doesn’t matter where we are...humans have colonised a planet that is more or less identical to earth and are making the exact same mistakes all over again. We are in New York 2, although I would prefer if you called it 2 York.
Ok
There's a guy called Killer Lenny. We need you to tail him for the next few months and find out what job he gets.
Months ?
It’ll fly, well make sure your needs are met during that time.
Ok.
One final thing.
He opened a manhole cover, and jumped in. I didn’t hear him hit the bottom, but I jumped in too. I landed on...the street I had just jumped off.
Different universe, same setup, multiverse fun ! There are some gangs, the Rabble, the Rapple, the Raggle, the Rattle, the Raddle, the Raxxle, the Razzle, the Rassle, and the Raffle. They all wear different colours and I think they carry weapons corresponding to the gang they're in. They've been having problems for the last few years and its all coming to a head tonight and we need you to tell us who comes out on top. I’d say take a secure position and wait it out, we’re not expecting it to take any more than about an hour once it starts.
Ok. when do I start ?
Well take some time and you can start more or less immediately. We need to do some stuff back at base but that wont take long.
CHAPTER 2.5
OK step on through. The fact that I wont be with you means the shortest path between these places might be different to the ones we took originally, just check your device regularly and you should be fine. Any questions ?
Yeah, why am I doing this ?
It's recently been discovered that there is an omniverse where you do this, you report certain things to us, and then totally unrelated circumstances in a trillion years means we gain a bonus of sorts. Consider yourself the litmus test
Oh
Oh and we’re giving you like a billion dollars or something
Cool
Ok let's go
He pushed me through the portal. It closed behind me. I was on the street in Rome.
CHAPTER 3
I walked around a bit before I went to her. This had been my first chance to get any my bearings since this whole thing started. I noticed a bird in the air. It wasn't moving. I realised I would need to open the door to Maria's house before time would start in this universe again. I grew bored, and opened the door. Maria was sitting on the floor, on her own.
Hello
Hi
Are you alright ? I was sent to check up on you.
I'm fine, thank you.
What are you doing ?
I am playing with my fruit. I like to play with my fruit. My legs don’t work good so I can’t go outside with my friends. Well. I wouldn't be able to go out with my friends if I had any. My mother gives me fruit to play with and when I finish playing with it I eat it.
Oh. That's nice. What are you doing now ?
Last week my oranges got married. They love eachother very much.
That's nice. Where are they now ?
They are over here, well some of them are. I ate some and I fed a few more to the pigs, but I have some apples and a pear and some grapes now. They are making music together.
Music ?
Yes ! Their names are Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, and then we have another Do, I think she is the mother of all the others.
Very nice, what else do they do ?
They can do all sorts of things !
She showed me to a lute that was hanging on the wall. She played an open string on it.
See, if we call that note Do, then the one here
she played it at the second fret
would be called Re.
Lovely
And something I learned recently, if you push the note up one more, you can change its name ! So I can turn Re into Ri !
Amazing. Can you turn Fa into Fi and La into Li ?
Yep !
She showed me what they sounded like.
You can also push notes down to turn and that changes their name too, so Re becomes Ra, and Mi becomes Ma, and So becomes Sa, and Ti becomes Ta. I think some of my fruits want to change their names, I think Ti definitely would prefer to be Ta, and I think Re would love to become Ri.
I bet they would, what are you going to do now ?
I think I will eat them !
She spent a few minutes looking for her fathers knife, but when she couldn’t find it, she went out to the shed and got out a saw. As she took it to he apple, the scene stopped. I knew it was time to go.
I recorded it all and went on my way. Kids sure are stupid, I said to myself.
There were a few people on the street now. They were clearly minding their own business, but time had stopped again so I couldn’t have spoken to them if I had wanted to. Beyond the market, I could see the stones giving way to the steel beams and electrical cables of the spaceship. I continued my journey.
The spaceship was as cold as it had been, although this time there was at least the whirring of the engines to provide some life. There were flashing buttons on the wall, and a magnificent vista of the earth. Actually, it probably wasn't the earth. The earth only has one moon.
I knocked on the door
Woah
I fell backwards. The inertia had caught me off guard.
What are you doing here ?
What are you doing here ?
I'm fighting these dirty Yangit scum, why, what side are you on ?
I was already gone
The beams and cables gave way to the cave where the ritual was taking place. Su-ner was exactly as I had left her, as were Su-lan and Su-fo. The whole ceremony consisted of Su-ner drinking a purple liquid from an ornate jug, then lying down in the firepit in the centre of the room. She seemed to be asleep. Su-fo lit a fire in the pit, and Su-ner didn’t move. From my vantage point at the back of the cave, I knew noone could see me, I doubted it would end well if they did. After a few minutes, Su-lan started convulsing on the floor, after another few minutes, Su-fo followed suit. I assumed they had inhaled too much smoke; they were between the firepit and the cave mouth. When they had stopped moving, noone dared breath. Noone looked at them, they were so fixated on Su-ner, who still hadn't moved. Some of them started clutching beads, closing their eyes, and offering prayers. It was obvious that Su-ner's parents were dead, the ritual had clearly gone disastrously wrong.
Until.
There was a creaking sound, like large amounts of earth and clay moving. The symbols on the wall started glowing, and somehow detached themselves from the wall, floating through the air and settling on Su-ner. A hole opened in the roof. Su-ner's eyes opened, they now glowed purple. She floated out of the hole. She touched parents’ hands, they awoke, and they climbed to their feet without a hint of their arthritis. Now the crowd was silent again. Su-ner said
I must fulfil my duty
And flew away. There was the sound of thunder crashing and trees falling and mountains colliding and winds howling and volcanoes erupting and rivers flowing, all for the greater good of humanity. The crowd erupted into cheers, the scene stopped. I overturned the stone and let the portal drip onto the wall.
I was back in my “parents” house. I got lost, it took me a while to get back to to where I had been before, there was some activity, the staff were friendly and pointed me in the right direction. It turned out to be Eric Clapton at the pool, he was humming his worst song, Wonderful Tonight, to himself.
I found my...brother in the game room, exactly where I had left him. He was still deciding what to wear. All the hap suits looked exactly the same to me so I dot k ow why he was taking such a long time figuring it out. I looked up at the screen and couldn’t believe my eyes. The world video game championship was a 1v1 in Fortnite. The UI and characters looked a bit different, but only marginally compared to that of my own universe. The game was even called Fortnite, except it was written in comic sans. He looked at me, gave me an up and down glance, there was a flicker of confusion on his face, then went back to picking his suit. He picked the 5th one in the lineup. I recorded it and left.
The two scientists were idiots. They tried like 100 times and every bird flew into the portal on the left. What kind of bird would ever fly into the night sky ?
Killer Lenny was a homeless bum. He walked up and down the same street every day, begging for change, not getting any, then going back to sleep on his little corner. I kept tabs on him, somehow never getting hungry, tired, or overly bored, for about 6 months. I never saw any reason to talk to him, nor did I have any interest in getting close enough to smell him. I suppose in a way I was the same as him, just walking up and down the street with no idea why, and no idea what I would do next. I got accosted a few times, but this universe seemed to have my back, it always sent a kind stranger or some blue lights to my aid, and I never got rained on in the time I was there. One day, Killer took a different path, he walked way out of town. He walked onto the bridge, edged over to the edge of the bridge. His toes were dangling off the edge. He heard a scream. There was a girl in the lake below. She was drowning. He sighed, took himself down from the edge, and took off running down to her. I didn’t bother following him, I watched him go out of view, I watched him come back into view, I watched him rush into the water and pull the girl out. I watched a man come racing down to the bank of the lake in a Bentley. He was wearing an exquisite suit. He exchanged words with Killer, they shook hands, and he drove off. Killer never said a word about it, he never looked back, he just walked back to his corner and resumed business as usual. Another 6 months after this, the Bentley drove up to him, the rich man got out, shook hands with Killer again, and they exchanged words. Killer pointed towards me, and the rich man beckoned me over. I walked over.
Boys, I've got a job for both of you. Killer here says you’ve been his constant companion, always by his side for the last year, and he told me about you and him having certain...abilities that I would find very useful. Now as I've said to Killer here, I am the CEO of the Deep Atlantic Research group, we've been drilling for oil and minerals for the last few years and we've run into some problems. Apparently, millions of years ago, alien spacecrafts landed in the ocean. They are hundreds of kilometres across, they are covering up some of the most valuable mineral deposits in he history of the world. Only problem in, we lack the technology to move them, we lack the technology to operate them, and we lack the technology to get into them. You probably understand already, but the real treasure is the alien tech we found along the way, the oil and gold and silicone and platinum and palladium are just the cherries on the cake. Now, we have taken a very strange request from Mr. Lenny on board, and we have built a big boat with a big diving board, which he says he can use to breach the hull of the alien ships at the bottom of the ocean. Would you like to become agents of our company ? We can assure you the salaries are...agreeable, and the benefits are even better.
I looked at Killer. He looked at me. He spoke first
We’ll take it
Time stopped. I didn’t know what his job title was. The door of the car opened all on its own. I stepped out. I was back on the same corner, but this time I knew there would be gang warfare instead of a sad homeless man. What would happen to him now ? Will he still get his job, now that I had disappeared ? would time ever unfreeze without me there ? I will admit, I was worried for him. The spell that had kept me content and only half-human was already beginning to wear off.
There was a loud scream. About 1000 men, all wearing their gang’s colours and brandishing their gang’s weapons, charged at eachother. Grenades were thrown, guns were fired, spears were used to impale, swords were slashed, shivs were shanked, rockets were launched, farts were smelled, portals to hell were opened, men died, were reanimated, then were killed again. It was over in about 45 seconds. One group, wearing nothing but green speedos, ran into the night, the only group to not have lost a single member. They were singing a song by the highly underrated Creedence Clearwater Revival. I had no idea who they were, and they were moving faster than I could follow. I had an idea. I climbed down from my hidey hole. I checked the name tags of the fallen members of the other gangs. The guys in red leather trench coats were the Rassle, the guys in surgical scrubs were the Rabble, the guys who wore a pirate hat on top of their cowboy hats were the Razzle, the guys who were tattooed head to toe with Spongebob were the Raxxle, the guys who had fluffy coats like sheep were the Raddle, guys who had cybernetic implants were the Rapple, and the guys who carried small pieces of brightly coloured paper were the Raffle. I figured out who the winners were, then I activated my tablet to bring me home.
CHAPTER 4
I found myself back in the room with seat and the table. The two guys were staring down at me
You've probably figured it out at this stage, haven't you ?
I nodded
We tried to keep it kinda cryptic for you for a while, but a smart guy like you ? There was no way you weren't gonna figure it out for yourself. Some of those references were just a bit on the nose, we know that. After 5000 words you kinda stop caring as much, may as well get it over with.
I handed over the tablet.
The guys took turns reading the sequence of events as I had written them
Saw Ri. Fornot’s a Yingit. Las cheer. Hap E. Bird; day. DAR. Raggle

Going on a 10 hour flight. It looked good to me but on SeatGuru it seems to be mixed.
I do not care about having a window or no space to store stuff under the seat. Just looking strictly for comfort since I cannot afford premium economy. The only concern I would have is smelling the shit from the bathroom.
I'm currently in an isle row on 29. Not sure if I should switch to 26A or not.

Like many of you, I am positively obsessed with this game. I think it has built upon Breath of the Wild's foundation in nearly every meaningful way. To say I am satisfied with this game is an understatement. It is probably in the running for my favorite game of all time.
That said -- it's not perfect. And one of the features that I was hoping to get some sort of alteration was teleportation.
In the last game, I was disappointed that you could teleport out of any place, at any given time. Now, don't get me wrong. I think it's absolutely necessary to have it, and it streamlines the game, and makes it more accessible. However, I found that for me, personally, it took away a lot of the stakes and tension in combat, or allowed me to skip around the map without having to delve into into its many nooks and crannies, which is one of the core parts of the experience.
​
So, this is my proposal of a self-imposed rule to any of you who feel the same way:
You can only teleport when standing on teleportation markers i.e. shrines, towers, and special locations with the blue glowing ring in the floor.
​
This has been how I've played the game nearly from the get-go, and let me tell you, it has been extremely rewarding. It has forced me to confront or avoid combat encounters, and overcome great physical obstacles. I build a lot more Zonai structures, and it has led to some incredible, edge-of-your-seat journeys (especially between sky islands). It has also really allowed me to get lost in the world, all while still being able to jump around Hyrule. Just not as fast, and not as frequently.
Let me know if this interests you, or what you think!

Hey everyone! I’m a dependent, my dad works with AA but they don’t travel to where I’m going so I’m doing Delta standby (I think I’m a D2R but I’m not sure what that means). This is the first time I’ll be flying standby with another airline other than AA. I was wondering how the check in process works, do you receive your seat once you’re at the gate or before going through tsa? It is also a 15 hours flight so does anyone know if I might be able to pay or get a seat upgrade (my dad says I’m down as economy and it didn’t give him any other option).

Booked family of four from Hanoi to Atlanta via Delta, paying more for supposed better customer service if something bad goes down. Confirmed seats together with Korean Air directly in advance. Korean Air changes aircraft, putting me on my own, minor child 1 on other side of plane on his own a few rows back, and SO and minor child 2 together at back of plane.
Call Delta. They can't do anything other than move us all in vicinity of each other with me and minor 1 in middle seats. Hell no. They say, call Korean Air.
Call Korean Air. They say this is a Delta problem, call them. And that otherwise just try to work it out at check in.
No one comments on the elephant in the room. How does your software move a minor child out far off on his own for a long ass flight. Ugghh.

Hey guys! This room is very small and has a very large window that is off center. I want to built some sort of built in window seat/day bed that includes as storage and a desk if possible. I’m going to build a day bed that extends into a full mattress. Ideally, i’m going to put drawers under the bench too if my carpentry skills allow it. Anyway, the bench itself will be 76x28. The window is 62.5x52 and about 27-28 inches off the ground. The left wall is 16 inches and right wall is 34.75 inches. I’m including a photo off the window wall, a map of the room, and inspo pictures for what i’m kinda going for. Any advice about cabinets vs shelves, layout, etc. would be greatly appreciated. I’m into the scandinavian/japandi/modern esthetic and I really want to prioritize function over everything else. Thanks!

The game truly starts at R-01. Its when you unlock the actual mechanics. First you spawn in a section to test out the free blade mode cuts and experience freedom. It did exist in the prologue too but you were pressured by boris plus the bridges and stairs wouldnt collapse. It was just cars and trees mostly.
Then they throw in 3 guys to get you started with the new blade mode mechanic and perfect parry oppertunities. Alright I guess. But look! The very next encounter is already now different! This time they are encouraging stealth to show you how it can insta kill an enemy. Great. But now it seems like either the game puts you in battles or puts you in stealth situation. Its like there almost isnt a choice. Well fuck you, the next encounter proves that wrong. If you go with the stealth encounter, you learn how to use the newly discussed AR mode and prioritizing who to kill first! But if you go hack n slash, you learn how to fight bigger hordes of enemies with rocket launchers. The civillian will die but oh well.
The next encounter. Well now it must get repetetive, right? Like, we already had 4 or 5 new things in a row. Its not like they can just pull a ne-
GEKKO INTRODUCTION! The iconic enemies from the previous MGS games are now here too and they have a unique moveset, moves that when parried cause QTEs and grabs that really pay off when escaping.
Well now we had fighting gekkos but can you stealth them? Well the next encounter answers that. If you go for stealth, you can use the rocket launchers to distract enemies. Not hit them as that causes them to see you but make them look away to see what happened, and in the meantime you can go on the gekkos without them seeing you! Yet another nice stealth mechanic introduced in the game. Alternatively if you go for the hack n slash variant, this is where most people might actually start dying a couple of times. The combination of gekkos and RPG enemies is keeping you on the egde of the seat. You have barely time to stand around.
Alright. But now we discovered it all. Not like the stage is gonna get any bette-
FUCKING BOSS FIGHT! You get to fight blade wolf and this is where most people find out that they should play the VR mission tutorial about parrying that they skipped in the beginning (unless theyre chads who dont skip tutorials). In the meantime while youre fighting him, you can already hear his lore in the lyrics. just something to appreaciate.
Alright well they cant put too many bosses in a stage. They need to spread them across, right? I´d agree with that for now. But that doesnt stop the game for introducing yet ANOTHER new enemy type! Enemies with shields! I dont think they need an explanation but the game keeps expanding and expanding. Remember that "too many bosses" statement from earlier? Well fuck you, I was lying. Heres a fucking helicopter called hammerhead and a cool QTE to start off the battle first. This encourages you to use the sub weapons. If you havent used them before, you probably will now.
Alright that was quite the start. Im sure from here the stage goes downhil-
NEW FUCKING ENEMIES! We now get to play with sliders. Flying enemies that well, uh. They fly. But thats not all, for those who love stealth: You get another chance at stealth in this section too and possibly save a civillian. Alternatively just go for hack n slash. Damn that was alot now, wasnt it? Lets see what happens afterwards. So theres this gate and you get 2 choices! Either grab a left hand or just use blade mode. These do affect the enemies. Grabbing the hands for the key does cause the enemies to be less aware of you. But who cares about that? We care about the enemies and im sure theyre just avera-
NEW FUCKING ENEMIES AGAIN! These new enemies will actually parry you back and are quite though. While fighting you can use the enviroment (if you used blade mode to cut the gate) and make the support beams fall, causing the other enemies to fall down too.
This text is honestly getting too long. Lets just make the rest short. You get to stealth or hack n slash again. If you go back, you can even fight 2 helicopters this time. Afterwards NEW ENEMY INTRODUCTION! The dward gekkos grab you and drain your cum fuel cells. The whole factory section is epic for stealthers and annoying for hack n slashers. Camera guns and lasers everywhere. But its a good lesson. That you shouldnt be careless. After the factory section, the third and final boss fight. Epic.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Summary: I think R-01 is such a good map because fun fact: Originally it was metal gear solid: Rising. A game made by kojimas team but not directly kojima. It had alot of ideas and a different story line. But it was a mess so they got platinum games for help and platinumgames now had re-envisioned the game. But what do you get when you have 2 full dev teams and each team has different ideas? You get a shit ton of ideas. And I think thats what made R-01 so epic. At the start, they could introduce new shit after new shit without reusing battles. In later stages you will notice that often times, encounters are similiar to each other. But obviously the start can do whatever they want and its not repetetive yet.

I have this recurring nightmare. I attend this school where odd things happen. In this school, there are people I’ve never met before. Classes I’ve never taken.
Every time I have this dream, I enter a classroom that is listed on my class schedule, and the teacher yells at me for not showing up for weeks or even months. The teacher embarrasses me in front of the class and makes me do work that I didn’t even study for.
I guess it’s not the SCARIEST thing someone can dream about, but being forced to do a mountain of missed classwork is horrible. It also feels embarrassing being humiliated in front of this made-up class. It always feels too real.
I also get variations of this nightmare. Sometimes I dream that I’m running through the halls of the school trying to find where a class is. Then, by the time I find the classroom with the right room number, it’s too late, class is over. Detention.
I’ve had these types of dreams so many times that it feels like I’m enrolled in a completely different school in my mind when I’m asleep. I even have a mental image of what the school looks like from the outside after all those times I’ve been in recess or in the parking lot in other dreams.
Sometimes it’s a class with a teacher from an earlier dream, other times it’s completely different.
I figured these dreams were based on past experiences from elementary, middle, and high school that manifest themselves into vivid simulations from the back of my mind. But then three days ago I found out that it was a lot more than that.
My friend Santiago and I ride motorcycles together when the weather is nice. For weeks we were planning on going to this huge motorcycle meetup together. Before the meetup started, we wanted to rendezvous at his house and then ride our motorcycles to the spot together.
I rode my motorcycle from my house to his using my GPS. I’ve never been to his house before. He lived about thirty-five minutes away from me in a town I’ve passed by but never visited. As soon as I got to his house, Santiago was already turning on his motorcycle in front of his garage.
“Hey man, how’ve you been?” I spoke.
“Good, and you?” he replied.
“Great. I love this weather. You ready to go?”
“Hold on, let me put my dogs inside”.
Once we were all set to go, Santiago rode his motorcycle in front of me as I followed. He knew his way around to get us out of the neighborhood and back on the main road.
Now here’s where things get weird. Between the cluster of suburban neighborhood houses there was a long building that broke the pattern. I saw it in the distance as Santiago and I rode closer. The building was sitting on a hill and just looked unnatural in its place.
As we got past each stop sign and rode closer, the building strangely kept looking more and more familiar. I kept my bike going at a decent speed of 20 miles per hour. I intended to look at this building closely and drove slowly
Then, Santiago and I passed by the front of the building. I constantly turned my head to look at it, then to the road so I didn’t fall or crash. But once we were right in front of it, I just stared. I realized it when I saw the main doors.
It was... just like in my dreams. A long one-story building sitting on top of a grassy green hill. The same distinct main entrance doors. A red and yellow playground on the side of the building. A medium sized parking lot.
There was something so liminal about this building. Almost like those liminal spaces pictures that you see everywhere online. The building did not look real, but it was there right in front of me.
Once I turned my head back to the road, we reached the next stop sign and I nearly bumped tires with Santiago’s bike. Then, eventually, Santiago and I got farther, and farther away.
The rest of the day went well. We went to the meetup, saw a bunch of cool motorcycles, ate at a restaurant in the area, then parted ways and headed home. I had almost forgotten about the building until I rode home on my motorcycle and had time to think about it.
I thought, “What was that place? A school? Why did it look almost the exact same as that school that I see in my dreams? Have I been there before? No, that can’t be. I’ve never visited such a specific neighborhood before. There’s no way I’ve seen this building in my life. It’s just not possible for this dream school to be real.
Last night, I dreamed of the school again. It started off with me looking at the time. It was noon and I was just arriving to school. I was walking towards the entrance in a hurry. I entered the building, and the students were walking in the halls as usual.
I checked my schedule to see where I had to go next. In the list of unintelligible writing, I somehow deduced that I had to go to pottery class. I walked in an aimless direction until I reached a small classroom.
An old man with white hair and glasses looked at me angrily as I took my seat. I always hated old grumpy teachers. This guy was no different
“WHERE have YOU been. What, you don’t think this class is IMPORTANT? You haven’t even started on the first project and we’re already on PROJECT FOUR.”
As always, I just sit there, confused and ashamed. The entire class giggling or shaking their heads in disappointment. The teacher gave me the angriest face as his right hand shook while holding a small pot. Right before the dream ended, I saw the pot leave his hand and soar in my direction.
I woke up not knowing if I was still dreaming or not. Dazed, I had to remind myself that it was only a dream. That dream was extremely vivid. Moreso than the others because the school felt all too real. It was like I was there. The similarities between the dream school and the real building I saw were uncanny. Something made me want to investigate it further.
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I had Google Maps pulled up on my phone. I was looking at Santiago’s address while lying in bed. I knew the building should be around his house, maybe about five or six blocks away. Since the meetup spot was more east, I tapped and dragged the map to the right slowly.
It took only seconds until I found the long building. In this top-down view, I saw how it broke the pattern from the rest of the houses. I tapped it to see if I could get more info on it. Strangely, Google Maps did not have this building listed as anything. It just showed the address as if it were another house.
Then I went into street view mode to get a look at it from street level. “Oh god...” I thought to myself. It looked the exact same as the school I visited in my dreams. This can’t be a coincidence. I must see it for myself.
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UPDATE
It’s been a week and one day since I passed the building on my bike. It was Monday now. Curiosity got the better of me as I was interested in seeing the interior of the building.
The morning was breezy and chilly with cloudy skies. I couldn’t believe what I was doing. I was driving in my car to a school I saw in my dreams. It didn’t take too long to arrive since there was less traffic in the morning. It was almost 8 AM when I arrived at the parking lot of the school and there were a couple of other cars parked there. “Last time it was empty. There should be people inside” I thought.
At first, my plan was that I wasn’t going to enter. I was just going to look through the windows on the doors. Just to see what the inside looked like. This place seemed like a school for small children that I had no business entering.
I walked to the entrance with the glass doors. Honestly, I felt like a creep, but I really wanted to look inside, while hoping there wasn’t a cop around being suspicious of me.
I put my forehead on the glass of the door, with my hands covering the sides of my face to see better. As soon as I got close enough to the glass, I saw nothing but heard everything. With my eyes, I saw an empty hall. With my ears, I heard hundreds of voices.
“Wait... where are these noises coming from?” I thought as I kept looking around. These sounds were so audible that it sounded like people were on the other side of the door. Yet, I didn’t see anyone. Just a long hallway with the lights off. There were doors on the sides. All closed. There was even debris on the floor. The place looked ruined and abandoned. Yet, the sound of walking, shuffling, talking, and shouting were still audible.
It was all so spooky. I felt like my mind was playing tricks on me. Something inside me begged me to open the doors and walk around. Was that the right thing to do? This was all unnerving and mysterious and I felt like I had to go inside. At least to just walk a couple of feet.
Again, I looked around behind me to see if anyone was looking. While my head was turned toward the outside, I slowly opened the doors and entered when there was enough space to get in. As soon as I was in, I turned my head forward again and I did not expect to see what was in front of me.
Like magic, the once empty hall was now sprawling with people. Hundreds of them appeared seemingly out of thin air. The lights were on, the floor was clean, and people were going in and out of classrooms. I couldn’t tell what age they were. They all looked somewhere between middle and high school.
“What the fuck. Where am I?” I whispered. I looked down at my hands to make sure this wasn’t one of those dreams. I opened and closed my fists. I pinched myself and it hurt. Sure enough, it was real life.
I stood in that same spot for about a minute just watching everyone walk. When that minute was up, I realized there were less and less people out in the hallway. I saw the last few hurrying to where they needed to be as the last classroom door closed.
In just a few moments, I was alone in the hallway with the buzz of the fluorescent lights. The walls were half white at the bottom, and half red at the top. It looked so liminal like the hallways in my dreams. This wasn’t a dream, though.
I began walking down the hall. I passed by classrooms that had small square windows on the doors that I couldn’t see through.
It was almost silent now with no noise besides my footsteps. I checked my phone for the time. It was 8:15AM. I noticed I didn’t have signal at all. “What? ...why don’t I have service?” I thought to myself.
Once I got to the end of the hallway, I saw that it split into two other hallways. I looked deep into each hallway and they both looked the same. Not knowing where to go I thought, “Okay. That’s enough. Time to leave.”
I did a 180 degree turn to go back the way I came. I didn’t even take a third step when I heard a door open intensely and a harsh voice say “oh THERE he is. OUT in the HALLS and not in CLASS. HEY. YOUNG MAN. You better get in this classroom RIGHT NOW.”
I was startled by that voice. It broke the silence so abruptly that I jumped. It was a fat old lady with a wrinkled and scrunched face. She had curly gray hair and glasses.
I just stared at her for a moment. Then I tried to speak, “... I- I'm sorry, I’m uh... not-”
“YOU HAVEN’T SHOWED UP TO A SINGLE CLASS. Do you have ANY idea how much TROUBLE YOU’RE IN?” she boomed.
I sounded like a mouse compared to her. “L-look I... I think you uh... got the wrong per-”
“GET IN HERE.” she grew angrier. “GET IN THIS CLASSROOM RIGHT NOW.”
I stopped my little muttering and began to walk backwards. The lady then vigorously swung open the classroom door so hard it hit the wall as she speed-walked in my direction with such an aggravated look on her face.
Now, I’m not short, but I’m also not tall. I’m 5’8”. But compared to this lady, she made me look like a third grader. She was gigantic. Probably more than 7 feet tall.
I didn’t know what she was going to do. I walked backwards first and then tried turning around. Before I could make a complete turn, I felt a strong grip on my wrist and my motion stopped completely. I looked down at my wrist and saw a fat hand around it. I struggled hard to break free from the grasp, but I was swiftly pulled in the old lady’s direction.
No matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t break away. The old lady was dragging me toward the classroom.
“WHAT... THE HELL. HEY. ERGHHH LET GO OF ME!” I yelled.
“YOU DAMN TROUBLESOME KID. GO TO YOUR SEAT!” She pulled me up into the air, suspended by my shirt, and threw me into the classroom.
I hit the floor with a hard thud. My elbow and knees took the most impact as I was slow to get up. Pain hit my legs hard as I got back on my two feet and heard the door shut firmly.
The old lady that just got done manhandling me took a heavy sigh and said, “OKAY. Now we have a full class. That makes Miss Howler happy.” She took a seat at the big desk in the front. After sitting down, she looked over at me with an angry and confused expression.
“Why are you still standing there? Get to YOUR SEAT.”
I was frozen but my eyes darted around the room. I looked at the students. The class was indeed full. I looked at their faces and they were all grinning and looking straight.
My observation of the class was interrupted by the loud slam of Miss Howler’s fat fist on her desk.
“I SAID GO TO YOUR SEAT. RIGHT NOW!!!” she yelled.
I didn’t know what to do. Should I make a run for it? Or should I just sit like the teacher said and just get it over with? I didn’t want to risk being thrown again so I went to the back of the classroom where I saw an empty seat. I sat down and still couldn’t believe what was going on. This felt like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.
I looked around me. Everyone was still looking straight forward. Miss Howler was sitting at her desk again sorting some papers.
“How did I get myself into this mess? And how long will this all take?” I thought. Then, Miss Howler got up from her desk and walked over to the first student sitting in the front row. From where I was, I could see she was passing a packet of papers to each student.
“OKAY. Take one and pass it backwards, please. What you will all receive momentarily is our next assignment. Read through it carefully” she said.
The student sitting in front of me passed a packet over his shoulder for me to grab.
“Surely, I won’t be needing this” I thought while placing it on my desk. I read the words at the top.
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 101 – ASSIGNMENT 8
The title was the only thing I understood. The rest of the page was just a bunch of science jargon. The questions were all based on equations with more letters than numbers.
“Like always, have this completed by the end of the week. Late work WILL NOT give you full credit... OHHH... SPEAKING of LATE WORK” Howler turned around and grabbed something beneath her desk. When she turned back around, she looked at me over the top of her glasses.
“YOU. Young man. Come here. Now.” Howler pointed at me and wriggled her finger, motioning for me to come up to the front of the class.
Nervously, I got up and walked past the many students that were still smiling and looking forward. I don’t think I ever saw them blink. When I got to Howler’s desk, she had a neat stack of papers probably about a foot high.
“Take your work and SIT down,” said Howler while glaring at me. Before anything else I grabbed the packet on the top of the stack. I looked at the top, ORGANIC CHEMISTRY LESSONS 1-127. I quickly turned around and walked back towards my seat before Howler slammed her fist again.
“WHERE ARE YOU GOING?”
I turned around slowly and nervously. “Wh- what?”
“WHY DID YOU ONLY TAKE THE ONE? YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?!?
“Umm... no. Look, I’m not supposed to be here” I said. “How DARE YOU. COME TAKE THE REST OF YOUR WORK,” she yelled. “I... okay,” I said as I walked back. I didn’t know that the whole stack was for me. As I reached for the stack, my vision went all white.
KABWOOSH
In an instant, white papers flew everywhere around me like a hurricane. Howler had bashed the stack with the back of her fat hand so hard that none of them were on the desk anymore. As the last page hit the floor she said, “You have SOME NERVE trying to joke around with ME. YOU’VE GOT SOME NERVE. Now PICK IT UP”.
I thought, “there’s no way I’m going to pick all of this up. This is ridiculous. I must leave. I can make a run for it from here”.
Before picking up a single page, I rushed to the door, pulled on the knob violently and turned it both ways. Sadly, it wouldn’t give. It was locked from the inside. Once I realized this, I felt something towering over me from behind. A shadow loomed over the door.
“Where do you think YOU’RE GOING? I cannot BELIEVE THIS. IN ALL MY YEARS YOU ARE THE WORST”.
I was still facing the door. Disappointed that I couldn’t leave. Suddenly, my neck tightened, and I felt like I was choking. I was pulled backwards. My shirt's collar fell tight as I realized I was being pulled by the back of my collar.
Then I was airborne and fell onto the bed of papers on the floor.
“I SAID PICK THEM UP. I WON’T ASK YOU AGAIN. DO IT NOW!!!!!!” Howler was the angriest she’d ever been so far.
I had no other choice but to pick them up and put them back in a stack. As I was placing them in a pile, I saw bright red dot appear on the white of a page. “Blood?” I thought. Then a few seconds later another drop. I placed my hand on my cheek, and it stung. My fingers were red from touching it. When Howler bashed the paper stack, I must have gotten a paper cut.
Once I was done stacking, I lifted it up and went to my seat. Then Howler began teaching. I can’t remember a single word she said while teaching. It was all chemistry, and I didn’t know a thing about it. All I knew was that I had to get out of there. I needed a reason.
But then she said, “Alright. Any questions?”
I shot my hand up before any of the five other students could. As soon as I did, Howler looked at me and said, “Yes, YOU.”
“Uh... may I use the bathroo-”
“NO. PAY ATTENTION.”
“Please. I just need some paper for this cut on my face.”
She glared at me so hard. I was starting to regret even asking. It felt like I made a huge mistake for even raising my hand at all.
To my surprise she said, “FINE. But don’t think for a SECOND that I’m just going to let you WALK OUT OF HERE by yourself. I’m NOT stupid.”
She looked at the student right in front of her. “James. Please escort your fellow student to the restroom.”
I immediately got up and walked towards the front. James stood up and turned to me. He had short blond hair, green eyes, and was still smiling even when looking at me. “Yes ma’am.” He said in a proud voice. James walked in front of me.
Before we got to the door, I froze as we heard, “LISTEN. You BETTER be back here in TWO MINUTES. BOTH OF YOU. DO NOT waste my time. GO.”
With that, James turned the doorknob. Surprisingly, it opened. How did it open so easily for him?
James and I exited the classroom. Just being out of it felt like freedom. My cut was still dripping blood. I then spoke, “Hey James. What is this place? What’s going on?”
“This is our school. Where have you been this whole time?” He replied. He would not stop smiling.
“What do you mean?” I said, “I’ve never been inside this school before.”
He said, “Yes you have.”
When we got to the bathroom, I quickly got some paper towels and placed them on my cheek. James then said, “Okay. Let’s go back now” as he turned around and headed for the door.
My stomach ached at the thought of going back into that classroom. I was already through with being there. “Hey James, you go on ahead I’ll be in the classroom soon,” I said while opening a stall door.
James stopped before opening the door. “I don’t think we should keep Miss Howler waiting any longer,”
I entered the stall and said, “I really, really, have to use the toilet pretty badly. It’s going to take a while. Please, go ahead and return. I’ll take the blame, James”. With that, I closed the stall door and locked it.
I waited for a response. There was no sound coming from the outside of the stall. James had gone quiet. I was looking down in the opening of the stall under the door. These two neat shoes appeared. I was starting to get creeped out. “Umm... James?” I spoke.
Then, suddenly, blond hair was appearing under the stall door slowly. The neat shoes were still there and hadn’t moved. I kept my eyes on the blond hair as it moved down ever so slightly. I saw a forehead, then eyebrows, then green eyes.
“What the fuck...” I whispered.
It was James’ head. It was upside down. His head kept lowering slowly as his nose was now visible. Then his mouth was coming into full view. He was grinning cheek to cheek like always. I was about to scream my lungs out.
Then he said, “It’s time to go back”.
I will end it here for now. There’s so much more to this occurrence than I can write in one post. I will continue in the next one.

I've tried selling this thing for weeks now on Facebook Marketplace, eventually at just 1 cent because I just genuinely want it out of my hair. And I cannot find any takers. I want someone to just take it instead of throwing it out because honestly, I'm deeply nervous about what would happen if I did. But if this advertisement proves to be just as fruitless, I will do it despite my nervousness because my mind just can't take this anymore otherwise I'm afraid I'm going to have a psychological break with reality and need to be sedated.
I grew up originally in Northern California near Mt. Shasta, and four years ago I moved to the Big Island of Hawaii after I got a new job working for the university located in Hilo as an adjunct. The search for a place to rent where I could garden in the backyard took a while, but the wait was worth it. Gardening is like comfort food for my soul, and always has been ever since I was a little girl. My mom brought me up doing it, and I took to it immediately when I was just 3 or 4 she always liked to remind me.
I suppose the reason I wanted to leave California was the fact that she wasn't there anymore, that the last piece or vestige of my family was gone and I was all that was left of the life we used to have out there. I remember the day everything was packed up for the movers and ready to go, I walked outside to wait for a friend to pick me up to take me to the airport. As I sat there on my porch, I saw an elderly man walking in front of my front yard. It was an old friend of my mom's from the neighborhood. He had been very kind to me at her funeral as he had just lost his wife himself. We both waved at each other and I got up to chat with him one last time.
As it turned out, he was there to give me a going away present. It was a batch of strange seeds in a small sack. Some were colored burgundy, others indigo, and still others ivory with fascinating patterns on them. In total, there were 19 by my count. He said that before his wife passed away, she had originally intended to give them to my mom. Apparently, during one of their hiking trips around the mountain, the two of them kept stopping to see if someone was following them. Every time they would, some tree would rustle or a bush would make a quick, sharp noise indicating some sort of disturbance. Towards the end of their hike, they stopped one final time only for them to turn around and notice that someone had left this dingy little sack of seeds on a rotted out tree stump they had just passed. In other words, there was no question at that point that they had been followed.
For what reason? He couldn't say, though obviously the implication was that whoever it was wanted them to have these seeds. His wife died soon after that, before she could pass them along to my mother. He said he was hesitant to part with them after she died, but felt extremely guilty having waited too long to give them to my mom. Now that I was heading to Hawaii, he thought he ought to just give them to me instead of continuing to keep them. Other than that, he told me to be very careful with them, to specifically pour them out into the ground from the sack instead of touching them myself. And I wondered why. Like it's such an oddly specific thing to bring up about them.
Regardless.
I took them gratefully and thanked him for the gift and said that my mother would have loved them. Now, I'm not so sure she would have.
It was only a week or so after I had finally unpacked everything in my new place that I decided to garden again. And the first thing I planted, of course, were the seeds once meant for my mom. In memory of her. It was only one I put in the ground because honestly I wasn’t exactly sure how big this thing was going to grow to be. I wasn’t even sure what exactly this thing was even going to grow to be either. Turns out, it’s a vegetable… of some kind. I think. It’s almost like a yam? Like with the same texture and everything but with bright orange skin… and fur in strange places? Also, another thing, it’s like a yam but at the time of writing this it has most definitely grown beyond the size of a typical yam. Basically it’ll increase in size every week or so by a half a foot by my measure. Also, every time it grows by that much, another bulbous root pops out and burrows itself beneath.
And oh yeah there are little blue flowers (or what I guess you could call flowers) growing out of little nooks and crannies and just random spots all over. I’m not sure what to say. I have yet to identify it. If one of you reading this can, then good for you, would you like to take it off my hands in that case? Please? Okay well, I guess I better finally explain why I want this damn thing out of here. I’ve already ostracized myself at work trying to get people to take it, as well as trying to explain what makes me hate the thing, so what harm will come from making a bunch of internet strangers think I’m creepy or crazy?
The black and white of it is that every time this thing grows a half a foot, every time another root plants itself in the ground, every time another one of those little blue flower buds appears on it, something changes. About the world we live in. About our history. About how we live day to day. And no one seems to notice any of the changes except for me. Today in fact, I almost got into a fatal car crash after I woke up and took note of a new flower bud growing on the side of it facing my house. If you put a Bible in front of me and made me swear to God that I was going to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth I would swear on that, my life, and my late mother’s grave that I grew up knowing that Americans in all 50 states drive on the left side of the road.
I know you’re probably laughing at me. Because that’s what the person I almost ran into did when I told them. They wanted to know if I was British or something, and I said no I was born and raised in Northern California all my life. The closest I’ve ever even been to a foreign country is San Diego. But when I pulled over after that scare and looked it up on my phone, there it was. Americans drive on the right side of the road and pretty much always have. It’s just so… jarring. I have vivid memories of me death gripping the wheel to my mom’s Wrangler for the first time in my life, with her in the passenger seat teaching me the rules of the road for the first time. And I remember very clearly her telling me that no matter where I go in the United States or Canada, if I ever did that is, I would be on the left side of the road the entire time.
And I remember everyone else driving on the left side too. I remember them doing it yesterday. And now, everyone’s acting like it’s actually been this other way the entire time and that I’m somehow just noticing it. But I’m not “just noticing” it. It changed without warning me, to my abject frustration. This is what my life has been like since I planted it. I remember when it first sprouted. When I first started noticing the changes. The very first one I encountered were the changes made to the American flag. Again, swearing to God, on my own life, and on my late mother’s grave, I can attest that the American flag has always had 13, red and white, diagonal stripes. Not horizontal. Diagonal.
Again, I remember vividly sitting Indian style around our 1st grade teacher as she taught us some of the most basic history of the Revolutionary War. Particularly when it came to the Betsy Ross story. I remember being told that, when Betsy Ross first showed George Washington her initial design for the flag that it did indeed have horizontal stripes just like the one I suppose all of you are familiar with. But at the last second, he had her change them to be diagonal because he wanted to convey that the United States did not intend to be an empire in which some states would be perceived to be dominating the others by being “on top”. Making the stripes diagonal, to him, avoided this undesired symbolism.
I remember it all so clearly, even the little kitschy cartoon drawings in our school books of him with Betsy Ross as she showed him the final design. I remember reading about it in middle and high school. Hell, I even remember writing a 13 page essay for US History I in college that dealt with the subject. The paper of course, along with any historical record or proof of this detailed memory (digital or otherwise), is nowhere I can find it. It’s as if God or something turned the whole world into one big Wikipedia article and began editing reality at random with no one reverting the changes.
If you don’t think I’m crazy yet, then maybe I’m just not trying hard enough. When I noticed the plant had grown its eighth root, I learned for the first time in my life that Richard Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal and not for having been outed as having had a nearly decade long affair with both Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy at the same time as I thought I had been taught. I hadn’t even heard the term Watergate before that. In fact, I learned at the same exact time that apparently for decades since, the affix -gate had been attached to various other scandals and controversies as though it were a naming convention. Until that eighth root planted itself firmly in the ground, I had never once seen or heard of something like that before.
The day I noticed the very first flower to bloom on it, was the same day I found out there’s this little place near Long Island and New Jersey you may have heard of called New York City. You see, to me, that place has always been (and always will be in my mind as I cling onto what I know to be the truth) New Ithaca. Frank Sinatra’s famous song that is played every year on New Year’s Eve, has always been about the great city of New Ithaca, the Big Apple. The changes are just so weird and particular too. The whole general history of that city and state has remains the same though (at least to me), being that it was founded by the Dutch but was taken by the British and renamed before becoming a part of the United States. Only, instead the place was previously named New North Brabant whereas I suppose you have always known that New York used to be New Amsterdam.
There’s even a song about that bit of trivia, I learned. Catchy, and also cringe inducing for someone like me going through what I’m going through.
Actually the overwhelming bulk of changes have had to do with place names. Again growing up, I had it beaten into my brain that in 1492 Columbus sailed the Pacific blue. You heard that right. The vast puddle you probably call the Atlantic Ocean has always been the Pacific to me. And vice versa. Nebraska was a name I had not ever heard of before I measured another half foot in that damn thing’s already enormous length. To me that place was called the State of Fillmore. If before I measured it to be at 3 feet, you had asked me to point out Paris on a map, I would have stared at you blankly until I realized you probably meant to say Degaulleville which was built just northeast of the ruins of the ill-fated City of Lights after it was used as a testing ground for Germany’s most devastating weapon of WWII - the nuclear bomb.
Apparently in this new world the plant has created for me, it is our country that has the dubious honor of being the first military in the world to use nuclear weapons in an actual war.
And the list of changes I have just goes on and on like that. I’m not going to waste time spelling them all out for you. I’m sure that should be enough for you to at least hear me out or dismiss me as having had a break with reality. All I want now is this thing in my backyard, and these seeds to boot, out of here. Like I said in the beginning, I’d throw it away, but now that I suspect there’s some sort of link between it and all these changes being made, I worry what it could do to me if I yanked it out of the ground and chucked it into a dumpster. Degaulleville, Fillmore, etc. were erased by this thing. I could be too, if I made it mad enough.
There’s another part of me, a selfish part, that hopes if someone else takes it they can be the ones to have all these changes happen to instead. They can be the ones to watch desperately as what you once knew to be true, to be there, to be real, is all ground up and thrown away like it was nothing to bend your reality and leave you as the only one aware of it. I want that to happen to someone else instead of me. I want to be the one who’s oblivious to the changes made in the fabric and window dressings of reality. I want to be the one who reads the complaints and desperate cries of someone like me, and calls them crazy. I want want want that.
There’s another, tinier part of me, that naively hopes once I can leave this thing with someone else, it will change reality again but this time for the better. For the better, for me. Maybe once it starts affecting someone else adversely, it can change reality one more time to make my mom come back. To come back in a way that would make me forget she was ever gone. And then maybe I can go home, go back to the life I was used to living. But I know at the same time, there’s absolutely no reason it would do something nice like that for me.
Hell, if anything, it could decide to make things in reality, history, etc. worse for everyone including me. Like let me think… Okay for example, remember back in 1999 when everyone was afraid of the Y2K bug, but then it turned out to not be such a catastrophic ordeal as people were predicting? That damn plant could change things to make it so that Y2K’s catastrophic potential was fulfilled. Or wait, here’s a more recent example - remember like three or so years ago when there was that weird disease in China all the schools and governments got freaked out about for two weeks, warning about having to do lockdowns and stuff like that only for the Chinese government to successfully contain it before it could leave its shores?
I’d imagine the plant could change that history as well. And it’s not like I want any of that to happen, it’s just that I have little to no control over whether or not it will. And I just want to be free from being the only one to know it’s all happening. To notice it everyday. To have your heart and brain scratched at and tortured by it when you do.
So please, someone, anyone out there who can and is willing to take this thing off my hands knowing full well what it is - just DM me. I’ll give it to you at no charge or expense to you. I’ll even dig it out of the ground and drive to where you are (if you’re on the island that is) so you don’t have to get up and go anywhere. If you’re located somewhere else I’ll happily volunteer to pay all the associated shipping costs at my own expense as well in order to get it to you.
You’ll be my knight in shining armor if you do.
UPDATE: I am no longer in need of anyone to take this thing and these seeds off my hands. Thank you to the person that DMed me after I posted this. I got your email confirming that it safely arrived at your address as well. Also, glad to hear it’s grown another root. By glad, I mean that I am glad to know that it has grown yet again but this time I haven’t noticed anything changing. You have no idea what you’ve done to help salvage my sanity. Bless you.