Complete series maybe nyt crossword

Finally resolved to stop after I realized how bad the anxiety was affecting me both physically and mentally. Like many people with this problem I was only really able to enjoy eating while using and found myself much more stressful in the early hours of the day for one reason or another (if there wasn't something immediately wrong, my brain would be sure to find a new thing to worry about). I convinced myself I wasn't that bad because I never smoked during working hours, but after two years of pretty much using cartridges right after work until late at night (by myself from 11 till 1 or 2 every night, doing nothing but watching youtube or playing simpler video games) the while-not-high time got all-time bad. I'd say I was using cartridges about 5 time a day on average, every day.
I'd noticed the weed was starting to have an adverse affect even after using, with panic attacks occasionally triggering within half an hour of smoking for the first time a day, but then a couple weeks back the stress got to the point where I was feeling lightheaded, bad stomach cramps, zero appetite and generally just afraid of anything and everything. I convinced myself something must be seriously wrong, went to a clinic and had a series of tests done (and still smoking every evening while waiting for the results to come back). Eventually they called me in to confirm they found nothing wrong and that the most likely problem is the out of control anxiety. So knowing how likely it is that the cartridges were playing at least a part, I made the decision to at least take a break. I'd say 8 or 9 days passed, with things getting a little better. More energy, eating more throughout the day (and actual solids, not just things like soup and small servings of grain) until I did that thing we all do and say "ok, so I just need to cut back".
So that night when I was the only one up I used a cartridge two more times and *immediately* regretted it. Anxiety spike the next day, queezy gaseous stomach, generally just feeling like crap. I realized then that this is it, it has to be the end.
As of now the app I downloaded that morning says I'm at 4 and a half days. Yesterday was good, felt calmer, snacked through the day, even made it to a family event sober where I felt like I could contribute to the conversation for hours. Only problem is, in my excitement to eat again I had waaaay too much, and the day after I'm paying the price for it. Bad gas pain that makes doing everything a chore. Still completed some errands and took a long walk but definitely lingering.
Part of why I'm writing this is actually to try to resolve the nervous feeling that at this point in recovery I should be completely recovered physically and should only really be worried about mental effects, before I convince myself, like I did before, that something else must be wrong and go through the whole process all over again. Has anyone else felt this sort of thing this long? If you've read this long I want to also just say thanks, I appreciate you hearing what I had to say.

So, out the gate, if you're the type that is constantly googling and looking up anything that you are unfamiliar with or rechecking things that you feel you know but want to make sure, you're probably A. CLEARLY pretty popular and just the life of parties and social events and B. Maybe just the kind of person I'm looking for.
If not, that's also okay, just know that I was one of those weird kids that grew up with hardly any other kids in the neighborhood and when I was little I often had my face buried in an encyclopedia set, so I sadly find that how much information I have in my head often seems to alienate people and I wish that wasn't so. I don't think of that as anything more than having good opportunities to be helpful to others.
(Short Bio for those that feel that kind of small talk is necessary before deep diving into conversations and getting to know people:
*6'2" Dad Bod, Bald with a usually short beard that's being grown out for the first time for funzies
*Small business owner that works nights. Jack of all trades that used to be a professional traveling performance artist and now is more of a homebody that makes and sells "Goofy" art.
*Studied psych and has plenty of experience in therapy myself and has years being people's unofficial therapist as a bartender, so I'm really solid if you have any kind of trauma that you want to get into. I've literally seen just about everything you can imagine.
*I'm also completely open with my own issues and trauma. I have depression, anxiety, some neurological issues, and I've been the victim of SA, so if we talk about anything, hopefully you don't mind when people try to relate, I just mainly like to let people know they're not alone and that I'm listening.
Hopefully that all works as "Short")
That being said. I'm lonely and looking to just find someone to focus on and be completely open with that can hopefully become a thing IRL. I want that person to be younger generally because I find I get along better with younger people generally, but I'm relatively open to just finding whatever works and makes sense.
I'm child-free and not particularly interested in changing that anytime soon if ever, and even still adopting makes a lot more sense to me than making a new one, but ideally I would just like to be greedy and have a partner to myself for at least a little bit if kids eventually had to be a part of the plan.
Beyond all of that, I don't know exactly what else to mention beyond just wanting to find someone that I can talk to and feel like there's someone out there to care about that hopefully feels the same.
I don't really have a set age I'm looking for beyond hopefully at the very least college age. I don't think much of age beyond it being something that most of the world seems to like to think means something more than just a respresentation of time out of the womb.
I think the reality seems to be that once people get out of school, a lot of people don't really mature or grow a whole lot as people, they mostly just change what they get immature about, stop evolving and get tired/set in their ways. I've just never felt that I've ever been satisfied with the notion that there isn't more to learn about the world.
That all being said, I don't want to waste anyone's time and I certainly hope I haven't wasted yours by having you read all of this. I'll just put forward that I'm not here to be gross, pervy, or sexualize anyone. I don't want to have a fling, a part time arrangement, and I'm single and not looking to cheat or really a lot of the stuff you come to expect on these kinds of dating subs, so hopefully we're on the same page.
If so, send me a message and to let me know that you actually are a person and not just someone trying to click someone to click a link, ask me to see some of the goofy art that I make. We can both wonder why people like them together as an ice breaker.

Why isn’t there a feature to have more than one load out for characters? Suppose I’ve got a solo build vs a group build with completely different gear and skills? Heck, maybe with different areas I’d enjoy a different set up.
Not only do I have to try to remember my optimization, but then I have to take 10 minutes making sure I’ve selected the correct gear and abilities.
If Blizzard is insistent upon players incurring a cost, then fine. Keep the cost the same and we pay every time we switch load outs.
Am I in the minority, or is this a reasonable request for us as gamers?

Will try to condense this as much as possible so bear with me.
Background Info: I'm 25, from USA. Played in high school, played a couple years in college (D2 / NAIA), and have played with a few semi pro teams (UPSL, USL2). Currently playing with two semi pro teams in two leagues. Have been to some professional combines. Been playing for about 12 years.
Positional Info: Left footed, I usually play on the left wing but dont have a preference of which side I play on. Very fast, very agile. Speed, acceleration, and change of direction is probably my best trait.
Goals: Obviously to play professional. Whether thats NISA, USL1, USL Championship, or MLS. I know im older and time is not on my side so I understand and not really interested in hearing about my chances of going pro. I understand the odds are greatly against me but im not concerned with that. I work for myself and dedicate all my time to this sport and ive accepted that my odds are slim. I'd be completely okay if I didnt make it, as long as I did everything in my power to try.
What Im Doing to Improve: Prior to training and playing with these two teams, I spent 5/6 days a week going to a group training program. Consists of usually 10-15 high level players, small sided fields (5v5, 6v6). The bulk of the training consists of lots of passing / dribbling / finishing sequences. Lots of movement, lots of 1 touch, 2 touch passing, moving into space, etc., all in all, very good training for improving a player TECHNICALLY. Its helped me significantly.
Where I Feel Myself Struggling: This will be the bulk of the post. In a perfect world, a player will train hard and consistently, whether individually or in a group as im doing, and that training will translate to on the pitch. Logically I feel that makes sense. Where I'm frustrated is I don't FEEL THAT TRAINING TRANSLATING TO THE FIELD. I dont understand why, and i dont know what im doing wrong, and wish I knew exactly why I feel my self struggling and what I need to do to fix it.
What I feel like the issue is, is that I haven't gotten the adequate amount of game experience. As mentioned, I only played a couple years of college ball, my seasons were nothing spectacular, and after college (2021), I hardly played in full 11v11 games. The conclusion ive come to is that no matter how much small field group training I do, no matter how much individual training I do, at the end of the day, 11v11 full field games is the real deal, and if im not consistently playing in environments like that, im going to hit a wall.
So I guess im frustrated in the sense of like, im doing all this training, working hard 5/6 days a week, performing very well in these sessions, touch is great, passing is great, confidence is good (could be better). But come game day, I feel as if im so out of touch with myself as a player that I forget the fundamentals and make such silly mistakes and dont play like the player I do in these small group training sessions.
Its like I do so well in these group training sessions, brimming with confidence, comfortable on the ball, and come game time, EVERYTHING feels so foreign and is the polar opposite of what I feel when im in these group training sessions.
Thats pretty much what has led me to the belief that I dont have enough full field 11v11 experience and that its just a confidence issue when Im finally doing the real thing. The old belief was that I just need to train more, I need to go to these group sessions more, absolutely put everything into these training sessions so that my 'work' will finally translate to the real thing.
So like I said, I dont think its an issue in terms of 'I need to train more', or that my skill level is low. I think Im just behind in terms of real game experience that when I actually do the real thing, its still feeling very foreign, and i dont have the usual confidence I do, which is resulting in mistakes, low confidence, etc.,
In Conclusion: Maybe I answered my own question, but would really appreciate some insight as to whether my belief is correct and I just need more real game experience, and if theres anything I can possibly be doing more or better.

Been working in IT for the past 15 years. I’m at 146K a year with bonuses and other compensation, as a Cloud Infrastructure Engineer.
I’m…bored. Honestly maybe I’m having a midlife crisis, but I’m so tired of staring at a screen, in a chair, at a desk.
I wanna work with my hands and I wanna be outside sometimes.
But like, I feel trapped, it’s either work in this field orrrr be poor?
Anyone else ever switch careers to something completely different? If so, how did you handle it financially?

I have a low, little bit pulsating hum in my left ear. It reminds me of a low humming ventilation or machinery around 100 Hz. It occurs especially when I go to bed but it comes and goes during the day also. If I move my head it might stop but crawls back in after a while. I think I've had this for a couple of years but I haven't paid much attention to it because it goes away completely for a long time and occurs every now and then. Now it has got so persistent that I can't ignore it.
Could it be stress related or due to tightness in the head and neck area? Like high-stress period at work plus long hours at the computer?
Last winter I noticed my hearing got a little blocked in the same ear after being outside in a windy day and I recall the ear aching from the wind gusts. My ear has had the tendency to get blocked after a flu so I thought maybe this time it will go away on its own. Now the blockage hasn't gone away for months and I'm currently using nasal spray after seeing a doctor to open up possible blockages in the auditory tube.
My left ear crackles more than the right one every time I swallow and the feeling in the ear is like having something extra that doesn't belong in there. Last couple of days I've had the sensation of movement or maybe dripping a little bit in the ear but nothing has actually come out. Almost everything indicates to me it is a typical blockage but since it hasn't gone away for months plus the low hum in the ear is starting to get me worried.

I've had this washing machine for about 4 years. All has been great until recently where I start the washer, throws out water, then nothing after that. After unplugging it for 10 minutes or so, 60% of the time it will work and complete the whole wash cycle. Sometimes, it'll go half way and just stop. Sometimes, after the initial rinse and nothing happens, I'll press the pause button and then resume it and it'll work.
90% of the time after pressing start and the initial rinse begins, it'll just stop. Anyone had this issue before? Could it be maybe the drain pump? I read on YouTube from a comment, that would be an issue. Some say, it's the loose latch but it came loose and many say it's supposed to be like that.
The nearest washing machine repair place is about an hour or so away.
Any tips on the issue?

Ex and I have been together for 6 month in a long distance relationship (6 hours from each other away). Relationship felt good, we never had any fights or big discussions. I am a fearful avoidant, so I am not overly needy and do need my alone time, which was no problem for my ex, because he valued the same.He is an workaholic with 2 jobs and works up to 12 hours a day, which was no problem for me at all, because I am also busy with my career and I value my time alone.
Here comes the downfall: we are both from Europe and 1,5 month before the break up, he told me via text that his boss would like him to work in America next year for up to one year. This has been always his dream career. So he told me quickly that either he would stay in the relationship or move to America for one year (California, time difference 9 hours) and break up with me, because he will not do a long distance relationship with this big time difference (I can understand his point, he said he will be afraid that we maybe will live us apart). At first, I was crying so bad at my apartment, because it felt like everything I wanted to do with him was not not possible anymore. We had talked about going on vacation and concerts and now he told me that he thought about breaking up so he could chase his career. I felt like he was ready to throw me away. 2 weeks later he visited me and he already became really distant. I told him we could work this out as a team but he still insited to go black or white, either the relationship or his dream career. I noticed that he was not communicative and did not want to talk about the issue. Lots of stone walling and he also did not want any intimacy. I tried to give him lots of space to think about it because I knew I would hate it if someone would force a decision from me - so my logical conclusion was to give him space. He left after few days and I noticed that I was getting more and more anxious and even a bit avoidant, because I thought I will not run after him just because I give him space to think about it. The least thing I would to is chasing him and begging to stay with me. After 3 weeks I visited him, this was also the last time we saw eachother. I stayed for 1 week and he was like the complete opposite of the person I once met before. Extremly distant, literaly running away from me and he would never initiate to talk about it. He always said that he does not know what he wants. So I became even more anxious and pointed out his behaviour of being distant. He tried to calm me down and said that he is just trying to find an answer what he wants and he needs a lot of time to be with his thoughts. You have to imagine, me traveling 6 hours to meet him and he is emotional distant for the whole week. I asked 2 times to get intimate with him and he denied it both times, because he would feel like he would just use me, I respected his decision and did not initiate any form of intimacy again, but I felt unloved at this point. So 2 days before me traveling home, I snapped, and told him that I have to set my boundaries. I booked a new ticket for the next day (one day earlier) and we had a 1 hour talk about the whole situation. I said that I would never want him to not chase his career and I will support him, but I need him to give me the same support that he wants to do this together. He was just listening most of the time, it was mostly me talking and trying to fix this mess. At the next day, few hours before I traveled back home, he became super clingy and even initiated sex, which shocked me a bit because he felt suddenly so close and he kinda seemed very sad and had teary eyes. This was the last time a saw him. I arrived at my hometown and he had to travel for 2 weeks to America, to see where he will be working and meeting his new colleagues. I texted him that I wish him a great time and I would appreciate it if he would send me pictures. I never got any pictures from him. We texted rarly because of the time difference and he never told me what he was doing the whole time, I never got any information what his new job would be like. I asked him 4 times to phone with me, but he always claimed that we cannot do this because of the time difference, even tho I told him I would stay up late or get up early just so we could phone. He did not want it. During those 2 weeks I became so extremly anxious, I have never ever experienced something like this before, it felt like I had a whole heart attack for 2 weeks straight. One time he did not response me for about 10 hourse or so and I texted him I would appreciate if he could give me some information about the stuff he was doing, but he got extremly defensive and told me I have too many expectations and he needs time to walk at the beach to think about everything. We argued for 3 days (stupid, none of us tried to stop it) and he always told me that he needs time to think about everything. So after day 4 I stepped back and changed the topic and suddenly he became nice and we started to text as usual and it felt good again. This went on for 4 days and he flew back home to Europe. When he was home he completely changed again, was more open to text and not so distant anymore and this behaviour f me up the most. So 3 days later, I wrote him an text that I think he needs time to go out and find his purpose in life. And when he comes back, eitehr I will be there or not. He texted back that he feels the same and he hopes I will be there when he comes back. Stupid me had a panic attack at this point and I my only thought was: is he really accepting this nasty break up text? So I tried to set a phone call with him but he always said he can not talk right know because he does not know what to say and he needs to sort his feelings. At the end, we phoned 4 days later and I tried to explain the whole situation and what happened. We talked 2 hours and he was silent most of the time. He said he understands why I became so anxious and that I handled it much more calmer than other people would have handled it. He told me he never wanted to break up in the first place but I made the desicion for both of us now. He told me he felt free after he read my text and now he can focus on his career in America. That was the shot right through my heart. So I became the dumper in this whole mess and he will be the dumpee which could not decide what he wanted. I feel so extremly guilty now and I cry most of the days, because I have never ever regretted a decision so bad in my life. I even apologized and told him that I have never ever done somthing this bad and I take the blame for it. But I never got an apology back for his behaviour, because at the end it takes two people for a relationship and the only part I f up was my part of the relationship. Me being naive, I thought I could fix this shit and we texted furthermore 2 weeks. So one day I asked why are we still texting and he said that he does like to text with me and values me as a person, but I already made my decision for him with my break up text. So I was like, I thought we are still together at this point hahahah. The next day I told him that I think it is not a good idea to text anymore because I want to start where we broke off. He told me that he wants to stay in contact but if I do not want it then he will respect it. So we are in no contact for 1 week now.I have never experienced something like that before. I try to go no contact for one month and then I will decide if I will contact him. We talked about attachment styles and he knows he is avoidant, which makes it even more worse.

Just a disclaimer, I am a 15 year old female with dark hair and bright eyes which is what most people would consider "The Supermodel Look". I am also quote tall (over 5'8 I'm just not sure lol). Now before I begin this story, I just want to say that I believe that kindness takes you far and I don't like being rude at all, I would never fight a girl over a guy. Even if I'm in a bad mood I always try to be nice and seem like an approachable person even when it may be tough to do so. I just try to be a nice person and I think everyone should aswell. Anyways there are a few stories in this so buckle up.
Yesterday, I was out shopping with my Father like a FatheDaughter day out. I decided to wear shorts and a white tank top as we are currently at the time of this story in June. Now, the shorts I was wearing were not short. Quite strange to hear from a girl my age as some of us could go out shopping in a tiny bikini and say its suitable lol. But they really weren't, they were about 2 inches above my knee and the tank top went all the way down to the waistband of the shorts. If you have an image in your head you would understand its not in anyway sexually revealing, plus I'm 15 and I can't really show off my body, and I don't want to. So, we were walking through the mall and a man and his wife were walking by, (I know it was his wife because they were holding hands and they both had rings on) and we were walking towards eachother for a good 8 seconds and the whole time the man was just staring at me. I of course stared back because this has happened over 7000 times in the past so now I feel like doing it back. We held eye contact for a bit before he got embarrassed and looked ahead and so did I. But then I looked back at him and there he was staring at my chest whilst his wife was there. I scoffed loudly while looking him up and down making sure he heard and saw me. He quickly looked ahead. This infuriated me as my heart went out to his wife. I know if I had a husband and he was not only looking at other girls chest, but a minors chest?? I would be absolutely furious with him. Absolutely disgusting. I kept walking alongside my father and I just shook my head. He asked me what was wrong and I didn't even want to begin because I was so used to it by then.
Story 2.
So about a week prior to the previous story a friend and I were walking outside beside a big road. We were both wearing denim shorts and jackets. I was wearing a crop top but she was wearing a T-Shirt. Suddenly a car comes speeding up the road. It just so happened to be clear with nobody else out walking and not too many cars on the road. Again, it was a man in the car by himself. He quickly comes to a halt and stops his car on the curb. He does a full 90 degree turn and just stares at us while checking us out. The man was over the age of 45 and I genuinely felt sick to my stomach. I gave him the middle finger and he sped away. Me and my friend were laughing about it awkwardly but I think we both knew how uncomfortable we were. Again, Absolutely disgusting.
Story 3.
The same friend and I were in the city center just walking around, shopping etc. We were stopped at a crosswalk waiting for the signal to turn green. Infront of us were two rough looking men. And when I say that, they were dirty, missing teeth, dirty finger nails, but they were wearing 'designer' so I think you know what I'm trying to say and it's not 'homeless'. One of them turns around of just starts staring at us. Particularly my friend. He nudged the other guy and he begins staring at me. Not even trying to hide it, just straight up, full body turned staring at us and they were both doing a nasty looking smile at us while staring at everything but our faces. They both look at eachother and both nod in approval. These men were like mid 30s atleast. Once again, DISGUSTING.
Story 4.
This time I was walking past a bar with my mom. This was only about 3 weeks ago and it was pretty hot so there were tables and chairs outside for people to sit on. So, as I was walking past there were a group of men, mid 40s. They were all talking until my mother and I walked past. One of the men completely stops talking to watch us walk past which obviously instigated the other men to turn around. Just. Staring. The. Whole. Time. D.I.S.G.U.S.T.I.N.G. Oh and yes they were staring at my butt the whole time.
Story 5.
I was in the airport with my parents as we were going to visit family on the other side of the US. I live in California and they live in Florida. So we were sitting down waiting to board the plane. There was a man. Probably late 30s with his family. He had 3 young children with him. One in a stroller and the two were probably 7 or 8 sitting next to us. I wasn't using my phone, I was just sitting there because I didn't want to use the battery on my phone or any other device so I was just glancing around. So the Father had the phone very close to his face. And sort of aimed towards me because he clearly didn't want his wife or kids to see what he was looking at. He was on Instagram, and you know when you go to search something on Instagram a bunch of pics come up beneath it that are based from your search. Well yeah, there were a bunch of girls in bikinis. They definitely weren't minors thank god but it was a bunch of Instagram models filled with filters and surgeries. I wanted to take the phone and throw it across the airport. This man is sitting beside his wife and family of young children and is sitting there, staring at these unrealistic images of half naked women. Please control yourself. It made me sick.
I could go on for hours, days, weeks and even years with stories of men being absolute perverts or just being so careless of their families because they want to look at half naked women online but I don't wanna waste anyone's time.
Now, i just want to say I'm not one of those girls who take part in the 'kill all men' horse crap and im certainly not a girl who hates men for no reason. I am friends with some boys who are genuine sweethearts and I hold out for them to go far in life and have loving families etc. But the way men act nowadays has a huge influence on young boys to act just as perverted and creepy as they are and it will create a chain of absolute pedophiles throughout the coming decades. It has to stop. Some parents have to be aware of how their children speak about others, particularly women because if you've ever heard how they speak about their wives or girlfriends you will genuinely never want to go near a man again.
And another thing, if some men want to know why some women have such high standards its because they have went through the creepiness and perverted behavior by men they don't even know as a young girl so many times, they naturally think all men are like that. So maybe if certain boys and men change how they speak, act and present themselves the standards will lower. But until that changes, more and more women and girls will continue to rise their standards.
Now, I will not sit behind a screen and absolutely slander men because its not all men and don't even lie, we both know its not all men. But it is enough men for women and girls to be afraid of going near them. And from my point of view, my friends are constantly chasing boys and not to sound like a pick me, but I don't. I genuinely don't bother chasing boys because most of them act the same. The way they speak about girls etc. I personally have high standards because of what kind of behaviour I've seen from so many men at a young age.
I think it's important to spread awareness about this. And please nobody say 'it's just what men do'. No. I firmly refuse to believe its just what they do and if there were a set of words to describe what they do they would be "Utterly Desperate". If you feel the need to stare at other girls while you have a girlfriend?? Its ungrateful and desperate. Ungrateful because you don't realise what you have, and forgive me for saying this, but some boys have a set standard for what they look for in girls during their teenage years and they usually are skinny, 4'11, size D chest, no waist, no belly fat, no stretch marks and a huge butt so 9 times out of 10 that's what their girlfriend will be. So yeah, they don't appreciate their girlfriend enough and it's desperate because what makes you feel like staring at other girls?? To see if she's pretty? Most likely. Are you that desperate to see other pretty girls. It also works the same if he looks at girls on Instagram etc. If he's looking at these unrealistic Instagram models, it's desperate.
I also don't understand how some girls let their boyfriends watch porn. It really dosent compute in my head. It's not realistic. It litterally sets unrealistic standards for how you should look, act etc during the devils tango. I hope one day people realise how bad it is for you. Realise that's not what the female body looks like, nothing in it is realistic, and the actors are so dramatic. Some of them are litterally screaming?. Once again not realistic. Society needs to change how they view women. Its disgusting.
Also for the boys reading this, feel free to comment about your experiences with strange women in public. I think people forget this happens to boys too.
I ask you to not attack me. I just want people to listen to me and become aware of these situations. Stay safe out there and have a lovely day.

Over the past month or so, I've encountered several small but frequent issues with Spotify through Sonos. This is primarily but not exclusively when I use the Spotify app (I dislike the Sonos app).
Includes things like:
-When I start to play a podcast, it automatically jumps to another, completely unrelated podcast (not even the next one in a queue, or anything as sort-of logical as that). This will happen repeatedly. Eventually I can usually brute force it into playing the one I want but I can't identify the fix.
-An album (not on shuffle) will simply stop playing at the end of, say, the third song. Or fifth. Or whatever. The completion bar remains near the end of the song and when I hit play, it will replay the song that just finished rather than move to the next.
-No sound. A song or album will show as playing through the correct speakers in both Spotify and the Sonos app. Except it's not actually playing (maybe on some secret frequency the dog can hear- I'll ask her).
-Sudden shift between speakers. What was playing in one room will suddenly move to another room.
I'm going to contact support but as these all happen randomly and with varying degrees of frequency, just curious if anyone has experienced the same or similar and has a trick that I can attempt before doing so.
Apps are all updated, I've restarted WiFi, etc.
TIA!

Maybe that title is a bit too cheesy, but I really do like exploring the night sky. Helps especially since my hometown was a great place to do so. That all aside, hello! I am Pydras, fat cat collector, lessor avatar of chaos, and most boring of all, corporate accountant. I am to find people to potentially connect with and see what develops. Whether that leads to friendship or something more will remain to be seen, but life is short so have to get out there and try!
A little more about me! As stated earlier, I am a corporate accountant in BC, currently saving up to purchase a place so I can stop renting. I am quite fond of cooking, and decent enough at it as well! I would say at least 67% of it would be tolerable to most people. Since my job is basically just sitting around all day, I try and workout at least three or four times a week to stay active and in shape. That being said I do have a sweet tooth that I am quite good at managing, except for my weakness of homemade baked goods. Art wise, I really have no skills in most of those areas except for writing (use to do some RP back in the day). Well, I do make quite the horrible MS Paint masterpiece if the inspiration hits, so that might count. Politically I am quite on the left side, and religion wise I tend to fall more into agnosticism and atheism.
For subject interests, my top three would probably have to be history, geography, and geology. One of my favourite things to do when bored is open Google maps and go to a random area and see what I can learn of those three for it. However, my absolute biggest interest and the one I hold closest to me is music. While I can't really play an instrument (have been trying to relearn piano), I usually have some sort of playlist on if I am not too busy or in a loud environment. I can literally go into paragraphs upon paragraphs about some of my favourite songs. Just about what I like about them, how they make me feel, etc. I am always up for sharing or creating playlists with someone, I truly feel like music is one of the better ways to get to know someone. My usual genres end up to alternative, indie, and math rock, but I will really just listen to anything that I like the sound of.
Hobby wise, it sort of depends on what time of the year it is. If the weather is nice in the spring or summer, I love to go for long walks and hiking. Just being out in nature beings a sense of relaxation and peace you can't get anywhere else. Plus, the views, just all the amazing views and secrets you can come upon. When the weather is not as pleasant or it is winter (so quite a few months here), I am usually found being a homebody. Probably no surprise, but gaming is a major filler of my time when I have nothing else to do. My main game right now is FFXIV, realized today that I have been playing it for over half a decade at this point, how time flies. I do enjoy the Paradox Interactive games as well, especially with all the amazing mods some of them have. Like music, I could spend hours talking about some of my favourite games. Would also love more people to play with, generally not picky about what, as long as you don't mind me potentially sucking. Gaming with people is always such a joy and fun time. I can be quite the reader if a particular book or series catches my attention. Once burned through a trilogy in a week since it captivated me so much. One of the dangers I found with me reading is I'll always go for one more chapter, then suddenly it is 3 am. Don't really have any specific genres in particular, though I am quite the sucker for some good worldbuilding.
I could probably keep rambling about myself, but why take away all the fun? As said before, I am looking for someone to see what kind of connection we can build. Location wise, for something more than friendship, you would likely have to be in Canada or have plans to move here. While I do enjoy all my friends in the US, I have no desire to move there unfortunately. Either way, if I intrigued your interests feel free to send me a DM and we can connect from there!

Hello there. I am a 20 years old guy from Romania, Europe. Lately I felt lonely and I decided to try my shot here trying to find someone truly special to share my days with. Currently I am working a full time job and I live alone in my own appartment. I am looking for someone to starts things slowly, not rushing it. I would like to talk about our daily routine, work/school, share our days about what happened or how we feel or any random topic we have in our mind. I am open to a long distance relationship. I enjoy videocalls and voicecalls aswell.
Some infos about my personality:
I am an introverted, shy and emotional. As a person I am caring, loving and protective and I give all my attention to the loved ones to make sure they feel good.
My appearance is the next:
Slim body type, 190 cm tall (6'2), 80 kg (176 lbs), blondish hair and blue eyes. I am open to exchange pictures too.
My hobbies and interests include the followings:
- Learning about new cultures and languages. Currently I speak two languages on native level which include Hungarian and Romanian and I would like to learn about other languages and cultures.
- History. My favorite topic of history would be the middle age (Eastern European) and the two World Wars.
- Geography. All the mountains, seas, rivers, lakes which are surrounding us are so beautiful. Since I live in a mountain city I used to hike too on smaller mountains.
- Sports. Mostly I enjoy playing and watching football which I used to practice too before, but now only as a hobby. Other sports which I like are handball and waterpolo.
- Music. I like to listen mostly to everything related to rock music and rap music. But I am open to other music genres too and I would like to hear about your music taste too.
- Gaming. In my free time when I am off from work I play games on my PC on Steam. Maybe we could play some games too together if you are up for it.
- Movies and series. I don't watch them that much, but if it's a good movie or serie I would not turn it down.
- Youtube. I like to watch travelling videos mostly. I like travel videos because one day I would like to travel too around the World if I have the opportunity.
If you are considering to send me a DM, make a small introduction. Mostly I use Discord to chat, if you are ok we can move there, but Reddit chat is fine too.

As the title says, obvious spoilers for the boss fights AS WELL AS the Depths.
I am absolutely in love with the temple boss fights in TotK. I was initially worried that they would be more similar to the Blights in BotW: challenging and interesting but repetitive in terms of design. Suffice it to say that my expectations were blown out of the water. I'm going to explain what I love about each boss.
Colgera - Wind Temple
Colgera was my first major boss of the game and he blew me away, no pun intended. This boi is absolutely massive and his soundtrack is one of the best in the game, bar none. His design is hard to pin down in terms of inspiration but the insect/sea-creature sort of vibe is unmistakable. Having a major boss fight take place entirely in the air was a great idea and really makes use of the skydive mechanic (even though I used arrows). This guy is very easy to cheese but I thought everything about the fight and his design was gorgeous. As a side note, stumbling upon him in the Depths was horrifying at first due to his sheer size. I definitely recommend fighting him in near-darkness as it really ups the intensity.
Marbled Gohma - Fire Temple
Monsieur Gohma was such a dynamic surprise after the maze that is the Fire Temple. His design is fantastic and I appreciate how it harkens back to some older LoZ enemies (this is probably true for more of the bosses than just him, but I'm not very well-versed). His voice is UNREAL. There's so much character in his voice and his attack sounds that you forget that he's basically a big rock covered in Ganon-goo. I love how smug he sounds after launching his rocks at you and I appreciated that the "intended" mechanics in his fight force you to be a bit creative with Recall/Ascend/WHY'D YOU DO IT. His arena and the second stage of his fight were fantastic and I only wish that his Depths versions were able to go upside-down; it makes them quite a bit easier to fight when their arena is as tiny as it is down there.
Mucktorock - Water Temple
I could write an essay on this funny guy. I've seen a lot of derision toward him, which is fair, as he is quite annoying to fight. But I am obsessed with his soundtrack (especially how whimsical it gets when he runs away from you in the first phase) and the general atmosphere of his fight. Fighting him after Gohma and Colgera and realizing that he is just a little dude riding a shark added so much... unpredictability? to his fight. The increase in speed and intensity throughout the battle, especially as you start to get bogged down in sludge, was a welcome surprise. I think Mucktorock is hugely underrated as a boss, which makes sense after how simple the Water Temple was.
Queen Gibdo - Lightning Temple
So, so cool. "Queen" is right. I love everything about her design and arena, down to the funny little tip-toe sidestep she does and the horrifying charges she attempts. She has it all, truly. I appreciate that this fight forces you to prioritize: tackle the hives and get shredded by the occasional tornado, or get chased Looney-Tunes style around the arena while focusing on the boss. This one was definitely the most difficult of the 4 "main" temple bosses in my eyes, which was a fitting end to the temple that I had the most trouble with. I included her (as well as Colgera) in my Monster Gallery and it definitely helps spruce Tarrey Town up a bit.
Seized Construct - Spirit Temple
The word of the day is Hype. I completed the Spirit Temple before activating the Fifth Sage quest, so everything involved here was an incredible surprise to me. Equally surprising was how much trouble I had with the boss. Their size and intelligence (e.g. knowing to block) made this fight more than a little intimidating. No less intimidating was the fact that they pummeled me far more than I was able to pummel them, though I blame Mineru's Construct for that. The entire design of the boss and the arena -- the boxing motif was SUCH a good idea, even if it was later co-opted by Kohga -- made this boss infinitely worth the slog of reaching it. A very, very worthy penultimate boss fight for those that completed the main story "in order".
I hope other players agree that the bosses in TotK were some of the best in the series and far more creative than those in BotW. I'm not even going to get into Ganondorf as he deserves his own post; the temple bosses in and of themselves were far and away some of the peak moments I had playing this game and I'm glad that Nintendo gave us the opportunity to face them again in the Depths. I'm interested in input on how everybody enjoyed the bosses.

Hi guys, I'm a 19 year old dude from the Netherlands currently enrolled in a Finance bachelors. Really wanting to work in trading in the future, so I'm planning to get my masters in Quantitative Finance and Financial Econometrics in the next few years. My 'goal' is to work at Optiver (or Flow, IMC, etc.) some day, although I understand that this might be way too ambitious as I'm not an extreme genius. But hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I have been looking at part-time roles at these companies, like Middle Office Assistant (to get my foot in the door) or Trading Intern for next summer.
Please review my resume for these type of functions and be brutally honest about my chances in trading. Any career advice or whatever will also be appreciated.
Have a nice day/evening all, thanks in advance for any comments!

--- Table of Contents ---
Winter 4986, 22 Aoimoth
She had a name! And she was going to dinner with Shon and others from the fortress. And she had a name! Lily practically skipped as she followed Shon down the spiral stairs, then through the halls, then down more flights of stairs. She didn’t care that she might end up too lost to get back to the infirmary on her own; she was having dinner with others! And she had a name!
As they walked, Lily watched Shon in glances, not wanting to stare. He'd let her hold his hand for practically forever. Longer than anyone she'd known, though that was admittedly a small sample. Lily brushed the back of Shon’s hand with hers. He flinched the first time, and she felt a little guilty, but touching his skin was like touching ice that didn’t melt. When she did it a second time, he looked at her, and she grinned guiltily. She would have apologized, but the next moment they entered a vast room, and she was struck dumb by the size of it.
It was at least twice as large as the infirmary, which was as big as her treasures' rooms -previously the largest she'd ever remembered seeing. In the middle was a long table full of boys and young men with room to spare. Positioned around it were smaller, round tables where adult Paladins sat with steaming bowls of stew. The smell of venison and root vegetables permeated the room, and she took a deep breath to try and take it all in.
Shon walked past her and had to turn back to get her attention, Ryuuko swaying with the motion on his shoulder. Silently he nodded towards another long table against the wall with a few bowls and a massive pot of -presumably- stew. Lily sprinted to catch up with him as Shon picked up a bowl. Scraping the bottom of the nearly empty pot, he found enough chunks to fill it before handing it to her and grabbing another.
Lily cradled the steaming bowl and surveyed the room again. She'd never seen so many people... She wanted to meet all of them. Tell them her name. She had a name!
Shon started towards the long table, and Lily ran past him towards the middle and largest grouping of Squires. A boy only a year or so older than she and Shon waved at her, indicating the bench in front of him, though it was full of boys already. “Scoot over guys, we have a guest!” he told the Squires, who turned to face her, and as one dropped their spoons into their bowls.
“Hi! My name’s Lily.” she didn’t bother to suppress her grin, bouncing on the balls of her feet. The boys quickly made room, and Shon passed behind her as she set her bowl down. But with her hands free, Lily reached out and pulled him closer. He stumbled, but only a little, and she smiled down at the boys again, “Could you scoot a little bit more? For Shon?”
The boy to her right looked dumbfounded while the boy to her left looked at Shon as if he'd grown a second head. Lily continued to smile, and Ryuuko whistled on Shon's shoulder. The boys exchanged looks but made room, so she sat and patted the bench until Shon set his bowl down and joined her.
with a wide smile, the boy who'd waved her over commented, “Wow, strange to see you in the middle, Shon…” Shon just shrugged, and Ryuuko chittered. Holding his elbows close to his sides, Shon picked up his spoon and, scooping up some meat, held it up for the little dragon.
The Squire next to the talkative one shook his head and spoke to Lily, "Excuse us miss, my name’s Baradin, this is Zihler, Rehlein…" he listed off each of the other twelve squires, pointing as he went and ending with, "and you already know Shon... apparently…" he looked at Shon questioningly, like he was waiting for something.
Shon lifted his head to look at Baradin but said nothing. Lily was only paying half attention to them, instead whispering the other boys' names under her breath, determined to remember as many as possible. "My name is Lily." she declared again, beaming at the boys around the table. She was so happy to finally be able to give someone her name that it didn’t matter that some of them wouldn’t meet her eyes. Beneath the table, she moved her leg to touch Shon's beside her. He dropped his spoon.
Baradin looked away from Shon again, focusing on her, "It's nice to meet you, Lily," the boys around him each greeted her in one way or another, some with a "Hi" and smile, others with just a wave, and still others mumbling something before focusing on their food intensely.
"Soooooo," Zihler let the word draw out for a long time. He glanced at Shon then finally asked, "How did you meet Shon? He isn't usually the type to make conversation."
Beside her, Shon sighed, and Lily tilted her head just a little at the reaction. Zihler didn't sound like he was making fun of her new friend. Maybe he was just trying to find a way to start a conversation… "He saved me." She answered, "That's why I'm here." Shon looked at her in shock, and she smiled at him, "We were just talking before dinner, and he invited me to come have some."
The boys were staring at them openly now. Apparently, they hadn't been told about the tower incident. She wondered if she'd said too much and decided to take a bite of the stew while she thought. It was rich and delicious. She took her time to chew it slowly, barely resisting a moan.
"So, he's almost like a knight in shining armor." said the other boy next to Baradin -Rehlein- his voice definitely teasing as he grinned at Shon.
"Except he's a Squire that can’t wear armor." said another boy, whose name she couldn't remember. The boys around the table laughed, Ryuuko twittered, until…
"Damn it, Shon!" Baradin slammed his hands down on the table. He had tried to take a bite only to find his spoon frozen in a block of ice that had once been a steaming bowl of venison stew.
“Squire! Pushups.” an adult at the largest of the round tables shouted over them, and Baradin stood immediately, stepping over his bench and starting pushups.
Lily leaned over the table to tilt her head at him as Zihler laughed, until he noticed his own food just as solid, "Oh come on!" all down the table, boys were checking their bowls and groaning.
Shon sat glaring into his frozen bowl, his pale cheeks turning pink. A boy further down the table -Thom- leaned forward, calling, “It’s alright, Shon…” but Shon just hunched his shoulders, the pseudodragon crawling down his arm to tap its foreclaw on the ice.
Lily tilted her head at him, then at her bowl. Picking up her spoon, she held the bowl upside down and giggled. "That's so neat!" she said, flicking the ice in her bowl, "Did you do it? I thought you said you weren't a Mage?" Was he a Sorcerer? Was that why she liked touching him so much? She'd never met another Sorcerer before...
Baradin stood, his face red from his punishment, and glared at Shon, "It's not 'neat.' There isn't enough for everyone to get new bowls, Shon."
Shon muttered a soft "Sorry…" and another boy, seated across from Thom -Rerves? Leaned forward to shout,
“Lay off. It’s not like he does it on purpose.”
Shon growled so quietly Lily was sure she would be the only one to hear. He reached up and ran his hand through his hair, obviously distressed. Ryuuko whistled sadly.
Lily reached under the table to place a hand on his knee. Shon met her eyes. His were like the clear sky on the coldest of winter days, but now they were also upset and embarrassed. Lily felt an ache in her chest she'd only really felt when one of her treasures had been in discomfort.
She smiled at him, trying to make it a reassuring look before she turned to Baradin. "It's okay. We can just warm these back up." She stood, leaned over the table, and dipped her index finger into the middle of his frozen stew. Soon it was steaming again, and she moved on to Zihler.
It took a moment for the Squires to realize what she was doing. She had to lean WAY over the table to reach the bowls, and they seemed more interested in her than in their dinner. When she moved on and they did notice, they stared at the stew, picking up their spoons to let the steaming liquid pour back into the bowl. Stepping over the bench, Lily worked her way around the table, squeezing between the Squires on her side to reach over to those on the other.
As she was finishing up, Zihler looked at Shon, saying, "Now THAT is a useful ability." Shon ignored him, watching Lily as she came back to her seat beside him.
"It does come in handy." she sat down and took a moment to examine her broth-covered finger before sticking it in her mouth and sucking the juice off. The boys shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Maybe she'd made it too hot...
***
After freezing everyone’s dinner, Shon was even less interested in socializing than usual. Though once Lily countered his slip-up, no one wanted to talk to him anyway. She was infinitely more interesting, and why wouldn't she be? Even without the fascinating stripes and metallic hair, she was the only girl any of the boys had seen in nearly a year. And that was only IF the villagers who came for only one night on Winter Solstice counted.
Lily, for her part, seemed to honestly enjoy the conversation, becoming fast friends with anyone and everyone who spoke with her. She answered all the Squires’ questions honestly and followed up with just as many of her own, if not more. She was a true social butterfly, smiling at everyone and listening intently when they spoke, giving each her undivided attention.
She didn’t pull Shon into talking as she'd pulled him into sitting next to her. Part of him was grateful, but another part, a small quiet part, felt that this was the beginning of the end. But the end of what? He'd known her for an hour at most. Why should it bother him that she smiled at the other Squires? They'd always been more sociable than he was, and it never bothered him before.
But now he just wanted them all to slink off into the shadows so he could talk to Lily by himself again. Ask her his questions and direct the conversation with some semblance of structure that wasn’t possible with fifteen teenagers all trying to talk to her at once.
Showing restraint beyond their years, the Squires tried to keep the subjects of their questions safe, but even the most polite sometimes led to worrisome answers. Lily apparently had no idea how old she was, though she assumed she couldn’t be that much older than the youngest of them, guessing she was around the same age as Shon. She also didn’t know where she came from, only that it was in the woods. Her crimson stripes were, in fact, scales. And yes, they were real and grew naturally from her body. And no, she wasn’t going to give the Squires any -though they hadn’t requested- because it hurt to pull them out and it required pliers. Shon’s head swam with a thousand -less polite- follow-up questions, but kept his mouth shut except to eat his food.
As he was feeding the last of his dinner to Ryuuko, Lily explained that she'd been raised by Mages, but didn’t know magic herself. Except for fire. She was a fire Sorcerer, though she had no clearance and no papers.
"So that's how you did it!" Kefir exclaimed.
"What kind of a familiar do you have?" Baradin asked.
"I bet it's something beautiful and exotic, like a fairy dragon," Zihler mused, leaning on his hands and staring at Lily.
Lily tilted her head to one side, and when they didn't elaborate, she shifted it to the other, finally, she said, "Isn't that a Mage spell?"
"All Sorcerers have familiars," Rehlien looked very confused, "Like Shon's pseudodragon."
"Very few have something like a pseudodragon..." Rerves tried to clarify, "It's usually just a regular animal, though bonding with a Sorcerer makes it special. They're smarter, and you can see through their eyes and..." he trailed off, finally catching the look on Lily's face. Her shoulders had slumped, and it looked like she might never smile again. Her eyes had glazed over, and Shon could make out a slight tremble in her lip.
"I... My treasures..."
Shon felt an ache deep in his chest at the pain evident in her voice. The Squires all exchanged worried looks, stuttering to find something to change the subject without seeming too obvious about it. Shon clenched his hands into fists, then steeled himself and reached under the table to touch her knee as she'd done to him. Her head shot up, and Shon nearly jumped from his seat when he felt her grab his hand and squeeze it tight. "Maybe yours just hasn't come yet," he whispered, and though he knew the others were obviously trying to avoid talking about her captivity, he continued, thinking it couldn't possibly be worse than the pain she was showing now, "You were locked in that tower, maybe your familiar just couldn't reach you."
"I had animals though, my treasures..." Lily started, still not letting go of his fingers. She talked in plurals, but as far as Shon knew, a Sorcerer could only have one familiar.
"Did you ever see through their eyes? Feel their emotions?" Shon asked. Lily shook her head and opened her mouth, but Shon interrupted, "then none of them were probably familiars. I'm sorry, Lily, I can tell you really loved them."
Lily nodded, and a single silent tear slipped down her cheek, making the scales sparkle where it touched. Shon wanted to wipe it away, but Ryuuko beat him to it, snaking its head forward and licking the tear from her face. Lily actually managed a giggle, kissing the little dragon on its scaled head. "Thank you, little one..." she took a deep breath and plastered a smile back on. Turning back to the other Squires, she asked, "So are any more of you Sorcerers?"
Zihler smiled broadly, and Shon found himself grateful for the boy's social flare for the first time since they'd met. Zihler picked up the conversation, shifting it seamlessly back to happier things, "Nope, just Shon, but all of us will have divine magic soon enough! And as Paladins, we'll get something even better than a familiar. Warhorses! You can come watch us ride at the end of the month if you want."
Lily clapped her hands in excitement at the idea, apparently, she'd never seen horses before. But the move meant she let go of his hand again. Shon pulled his freed limb back quickly, staring into his nearly empty bowl and feeling guilty. Had he taken advantage of her distress just to touch her again? She didn't seem to mind his cold, but she was also very polite. She probably just didn't want to make him feel awkward...
No one left the table, even after they finished their food. Usually the Squires would each filter out as they finished, getting a head start on their study time, tonight they sat in front of empty bowls, the quiet Squires listening like Shon while the more talkative ones told stories and continued their questions, many of them repeats, as if they couldn’t believe her answers. Lily answered them all again anyway, grinning all the while.
Shon stood when Ryuuko finished the last of his food, and Lily reached out, resting a hand on his arm. She tilted her head at him, and Zihler asked, “Where you goin’, Shon?” Shon arched an incredulous eyebrow at the older Squire. Zihler should know exactly where Shon was going. The hour bell rang, signaling his answer for him and the other Squires quickly scurried over benches, whispering tame curses so the adults couldn’t hear.
“Where are you going?” Lily repeated Zihler’s question to the room at large, then focused on Shon for the answer.
Picking up her empty bowl and stacking it with his, Shon explained, “We have an hour of mandated study time before we get free time again. Some go to the chapel, others to the library,”
Lily had wrinkled her nose at the mention of the chapel, but her eyes went wide again at the end, and she scrambled to her feet, “You have a library? What are you studying? Can I study with you?”
Staring down at her earnest face Shon opened his mouth to answer when Rehlien spoke over him, “It’s really boring. You can come if you want, though. We have other books.”
Ryuuko hopped from Shon's shoulder to Lily's, leaving its human to trail behind the throng of Squires, first crowding around the food table to drop off their bowls, then moving towards the door and the library. Ahead of him, Lily stood in the thick of it, petting Ryuuko with one hand and looking like a kid in a sweets shop.
By the time Shon reached the library, some of the boys had broken off into their usual groups. But a lot more had stayed with Lily, who was staring open-mouthed at the shelves of books. Ryuuko flew from her shoulder, circling Shon once before taking its place on the bookshelf nearest the door and curling into a ball, its wings draped over the sides as it snoozed.
Shon made for the table by the window, but today, Lily plopped down across from him with a sigh, “I’ve never seen so many books… what’re you studying?”
“History of Gasha,” Shon answered, then, looking down at the pile of books before him, slid one in her direction, “The others like to talk while they read if you want to join them…” he muttered, opening his own text.
Lily just shook her head, “I think I’ve talked more today than I’ve ever talked in the rest of my life combined.” She shifted in her seat, resting her back on the wall instead of the chair back, bringing one leg up to prop the book on her bent knee. She read quietly.
“Hey Lily,” Zihler whispered, pulling up a chair at the closest large table. Shon sighed, looking up from his book and losing his spot. To his surprise, however, Lily didn’t look up. “Lily?” Zihler called a little louder, and Lily held up a single finger, still not looking up from her book. Zihler glanced at Shon, who shrugged.
Slowly Lily lowered her finger, holding it against her spot on the page before finally looking up and tilting her head at Zihler. Zihler blushed, “We uh… We’re going to play some cards, after, if you want…” Lily looked back down at her book, “Um…”
“After,” Lily said shortly, then, glancing up with just her eyes, said, “I thought this was study time?” it came across as more of a reprimand than a question and Shon quickly hid his smile in his book.
“Yeah… sorry... after…” Zihler turned away, and silence returned for the most part, broken only by the occasional whisper that didn’t involve Shon.
After a few more minutes, Lily mumbled to herself, “This says the same things as all my other history books…” Shon glanced up as she shifted in her seat again and continued reading.
He went back to his book but only for a moment before looking up again, “We have other books…” he whispered.
“I want to study with you guys,” Lily scanned the shelves then looked at Shon, “History can’t help but be boring sometimes.” she managed a grin, “Sorry, I won’t interrupt you.”
He tried to go back to his book, but, for some reason, found himself far more distracted without the chatter than he would be with it. Finally, he stood, leaving his book open, and moved towards a practically unused set of shelves. Lily watched him from their table but didn’t say anything and didn’t follow. He scanned the books, knowing the series he wanted but not seeing it where he thought it should be.
Ryuuko slipped from its shelf, fluttering onto his shoulder, and looked over the tomes with him. Shon didn't think the pseudodragon could read and continued looking for the book he wanted in silence. He could picture it clearly; it should be around... Ryuuko's scorpion-like tail stretched out and tapped a thin green spine one shelf down from where Shon was looking. He blinked at it, then at the little dragon, who purred, then reached for the book he'd been searching for. Shon hesitated, then tried to send the pseudodragon a silent 'thank you,' hoping their link went both ways. Ryuuko chirped and rubbed its cheek against his before taking off and resuming its spot on the shelf, circling three times before laying down with a contented huff Shon could feel in his chest.
He returned to the table, holding the book out to Lily. She took it and thumbed through the pages. “This is a story…” she looked back at him, her expression accusatory.
“A historian wrote it, they like to write historical events from the perspectives of someone who may have lived them.” he returned to his own book, but continued, “They're historically accurate so I read them as a supplement to the assigned texts.”
“Thank you,” she mouthed in her quietest whisper yet, and Shon couldn't help but smile. History didn't have to be boring all the time.
They spent the entire hour in companionable silence. Together, and yet alone in their own tasks. When the bell rang, signaling the beginning of their last bit of free time, Shon was actually disappointed.
“Hey, Lily; Shon! Cards?” Rerves held a deck in the air, waving them towards the largest table where the usual boys began to gather for the game.
Shon stood, looking towards the door, but Lily grabbed his arm, pulling in close to whisper in his ear, “I’ve never played cards before, is it hard?” her breath was hot on his cheek, and he fumbled for an answer.
“Come on, Shon, you can’t really practice right now anyway…” Rerves called, grinning at him as if his logic could actually trap Shon into a game he didn’t want to play. But Lily was still hanging onto his arm, and all his planned excuses melted away. Despite her exposure to his cold, she seemed to touch him whenever possible. The last thing Shon wanted to do was pull away now. What if she stopped and became like everyone else? Why did that possibility bother him this much?
Her hands were hot even through his sleeve, and she trailed them down his arm to grab his hand with both of hers, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” she whispered in his ear again.
“What’s the game?” Shon called to Rerves, and Lily beamed with the light of the sun.
Rerves passed his deck to Zihler, who shuffled it together with his own, “With this many people? Rummy.” Shon nodded, at least it wasn’t poker.
“Rummy? How do you play? I’ve never played cards before.” Lily called to the others, stepping away from Shon and towards the table but pulling his hand as she went. Shon stumbled after her and found himself disappointed again when she let go to pull out two chairs for them.
“It’s really easy. You just have to try and get three of a kind or in a row. You draw from either the discard pile or the stock pile and...” Zihler rambled on about the rules in the most confusing way Shon could imagine as he shuffled and dealt the cards to the seven boys plus Lily.
Lily smiled at Zihler but leaned in close to Shon, resting her hand on his knee, “Can you show me?” she asked.
Shon nodded, then interrupted Zihler with, “We’ll play the first round together,” sliding his hand of cards back to Zihler.
Zihler fumbled with the deck, dropping two cards face up before scooping them up and shoving them somewhere in the middle, “If… if you want. Though Shon’s not very good at it.”
“Shon’s not very good at anything that doesn’t involve swinging a weapon at someone,” Thom poked Zihler in the shoulder, “and yet he can still beat you at rummy.”
“Only once.” Zihler countered with a huff but then smiled again right away. It was a friendly sort of teasing, and Shon looked at Lily, wondering what she would think only to find her smiling broadly at all of them.
She laughed, “You guys poke fun at each other like Brom and Ran…” she trailed off, her face falling, the smile gone in a flash. Something in the statement, probably a memory, had hurt her.
Shon picked up her cards, fanning them out and holding them in front of Lily, “With this many people, we each get six cards. The hand is bigger with fewer people.” Lily focused on the cards, and a hint of a grin returned as she took them from him, holding them as he'd done.
She leaned over and whispered loud enough for the entire table to hear, “What’s a hand?” she really didn’t know anything about playing cards.
“A 'hand' is the cards you hold. This is your hand. It’s going to start with Thom on Zihler’s left because Zihler is the dealer. Thom is either going to draw from the discard pile, which are the face-up cards,” Shon pointed as Zihler turned one card face up, “or from the stock,” he pointed at the rest of the deck that now lay face down beside the face-up card, “Watch.”
They watched together as Thom took his turn, pulling a card from the stock then laying one down, face-up, on the discard pile. “Now Rerves can either take the face-up card or one of the stock cards,” Shon explained. Rerves took a new card then discarded one of his own and the turn moved to Rehlien.
As the game moved towards Lily, she reached out to take a card, but Shon stopped her with a shake of his head, “The goal is to get either three of a kind, three cards of the same number, or a three-card straight, three numbers in succession, like three, four, five. Look at your hand and see if you have anything close to that.” she had two threes, and Baradin had discarded another just before her.
Lily squinted at her hand, then gasped and snatched up the three from the discard pile, holding it up as though she'd just snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. The sight made Shon smile, “Now lay down the set you have, and it’s Zihler's turn. Your goal is to get rid of all your cards before anyone else.”
“You can also play off of others' sets,” Zihler added, though he didn’t do so himself, instead reaching for a new card and discarding one of his own.
Lily looked at Shon and tilted her head to the side. Shon explained, “We'll deal with that when it comes up. For now, focus on the cards you have and what everyone else is laying down.”
Lily giggled, “You’re good at this,” and poked him on the nose. Shon’s eyes crossed to try and see her finger before she returned it to her cards.
“Uh… Lily?” Thom started nervously, and she looked up at him, “Shon doesn’t… he doesn't really like being touched,” Thom blushed and looked at his hand with such intensity one would think the cards were about to catch fire. Or freeze to his fingers. His breath showed with his next words, “I just thought you should know…” he mumbled.
Shon couldn't remember ever wanting to punch someone before now.
“What?” Lily asked, “But why?” she turned to Shon, her eyes full of concern.
Running his fingers through his hair, Shon leaned back in his chair. He hadn't realized how close he'd been to her, leaning forward so they could both study her hand. He was surprised she wasn’t shivering. “People don’t like touching me…” he muttered as a half-hearted explanation. How could he explain that people had been pulling away from him his whole life, inquiring about his health and comfort after feeling how cold he was? And now... now was so much worse. Even Lily had asked if it hurt after holding his hand on the bell tower.
“But that’s not the same thing at all!” Lily shouted, and everyone, even the other groups, turned to look at her. “Why would anyone not like touching you? It’s refreshing, like holding a rock that's been in the shade all day. And you don’t hurt people like I do.” She spoke with a passion that surprised everyone, not least of which Shon, and she wasn’t done, “You let me hold your hand longer than anyone else and even said it didn’t hurt. I like touching you. Should I stop?”
The boys around the table looked from Lily to Shon and back again, dumbfounded. Shon just stared at Lily, who stared back with worried, desperate eyes. She hadn’t been talking about his cold on the bell tower… She'd been talking about her heat.
“How can it hurt to touch someone?” Zihler asked on Lily’s other side, "I mean, Shon's cold is uncomfortable, like trying to hold onto ice with bare hands, but it doesn't hurt. Well, maybe if you hold on too long, it might eventually, but I figured you'd just go numb first-" he rambled.
Lily interrupted and answered his question in one move when she turned and cupped his cheek. It was an uncomfortably intimate gesture and Zihler blushed pink immediately, then jerked away, rubbing his red cheek and sweating.
“I’m a fire Sorcerer,” Lily explained with a sigh. She'd told them at dinner, but apparently, none of them really understood what that meant, “My body is hotter than normal, and even when I have my power under control, I can burn people if they touch me for too long. Especially if I'm distracted,” her shoulders slumped, and she looked down at the table with a sigh, “I’m sorry, I probably should've just said that instead of burning your cheek..." she took a deep breath and continued, "But I wasn't paying attention and was able to hold Shon’s hand forever, and he didn't pull away...” she ran her fingertips over the cards, now lying face down on the table, and addressed Shon directly, “I took advantage of your kindness, I’m sorry.” She met Shon’s eyes, and whatever words he might have said caught in his throat.
“Shon’s an ice Sorcerer…” Thom said, pulling everyone’s attention back to him and shrinking back from it. He hated being the center of attention, but swallowed and continued anyway, “Maybe your powers cancel each other out?”
“Yeah, that explains it,” Rerves said, then managed a smile, “Mystery solved, now let’s get back to the game.” the boys all laughed at Rerves' blatant redirection, and the game resumed without further talk of Shon or Lily’s strange skin. Though many of them failed miserably at sneaking glances at the two of them.
Lily picked up her cards and shifted closer to the table in silence. Shon’s nose tingled where she'd touched it, and the phantom memories of her hands on other parts of him, his knee, arm, and hand, started tingling again. Shon moved in closer, staring at Lily’s cards, but whispered, “I don’t mind, Lily. It doesn't hurt.”
Lily looked around the table, the boys were busy admiring the straight of the same suit Kefir had just laid down. She leaned in close, her shoulder brushing his, whispering, “Really? I’ve never met anyone I didn’t have to be careful with before…”
Shon confirmed with a nod, and Lily’s resulting smile warmed him at his very core. Refreshing… she'd said his skin was refreshing…
The game continued, Thom won, and they started a second. Halfway through the match, the hour bell rang, and a voice shouted over it from the doorway, making Ryuuko jump awake and chitter angrily, “There you are!” The fortress Cleric grinned as he walked towards the table, but Lily stiffened as if he were brandishing a knife at them. “Master Daunas said you had dinner with the boys and had followed them off to their study hour.” he addressed the Squires who were handing their cards over to Rerves to split back into two decks, “I hope you all were polite to our guest.”
“Yes, sir.” The table full of Squires answered in unison, and Lily relaxed, though she looked baffled for some reason.
The kindly Cleric chuckled at them and addressed Lily, “If you're feeling better, then perhaps we can move you to a proper guest room tomorrow. Until then, it’s lights out, boys.”
“Yes, sir,” they spoke in unison again, standing and making for the door. Ryuuko flew down to Shon's shoulder, and Lily reached out to grab his hand, as if testing his assurance. He turned to her without flinching, eyebrow arched.
“Can I see you again tomorrow?” she asked, her slitted eyes searching his face. Shon looked from the Cleric, who nodded, then back to Lily with a small smile and nod of his own. Lily beamed.
--- Table of Contents ---
Thanks for making it this far, you are the real MVP

CHICAGO, IL, March 07, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire – Epazz Inc. (OTC: EPAZ), a mission-critical provider of drone technology, blockchain mobile apps and cloud-based business software solutions, has announced today it has received the official utility patent on its AI predictive Drone Smart Charging Pad.
Our Smart Charging Pad is a major game changer. Many of our competitors are pricing their charging pads for drones weighing less than 55 pounds at $4,000 to $15,000 per unit. Our Smart Charging Pad — which can be used to charge our ZenaDrone 1000, weighing over 250 pounds — will be priced at less than $15,000. ZenaDrone 1000 is a serious aircraft created for use by the military as well as in the oil and gas and agriculture industries. We designed it to be a workhorse and to push the limits of future technology available today. Our affordable technology has allowed us to gain market interest quickly.
Now, we will be able to seek international patents using established U.S. patent treaties. We will focus registering patents in Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Brazil.
In addition to a series of design patents and utility patents that we have filed, we will be filing many more patents as our technology continues to break new limits and challenge the growing drone industry. We believe we have entered the market at the right time.
Government regulators are creating a streamlined process to register the drones and certify drone operations.
The ZenaDrone Smart Charging Pad allows ZenaDrone 1000 to land on the charger for automatic charging. This allows the drone to be used in remote areas and operate autonomously. The Smart Charging Pad has built-in computer vision to understand the environment around it and select the best option for receiving energy. It also has options for solar panels or wind power. The self-charging feature is critical for a drone to be fully autonomous.
ZenaDrone 1000 is being marketed to governments as well as oil and gas and agricultural companies, which have fewer power grids. The fact that the charging pad uses solar panels or wind power to recharge will allow governments and companies to use ZenaDrone 1000 in remote areas. This recharging capability opens opportunities for managing power lines and wildfires and even performing search and rescue. The patent covers Epazz’s unique method to recharge the drone and its precise landing ability. The patent will be officially issued on March 7, 2023. Then we will file for international patent protection.
This is the second patent that has been issued to Epazz for ZenaDrone technology. The company has filed two other patents that are under review.
CEO Shaun Passley, Ph.D., said, “Our portfolio of drone patents will gain the interest of larger parties. Our new patent is a major asset which may be added to our financials.”
ZenaDrone Inc. is a provider of multifunctional unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with machine-learning systems, multispectral sensors and AI technology. ZenaDrone uses the data captured by its cameras to create a 3D interactive environment.
ZenaDrone 1000 has garnered positive reviews in several industries, especially agricultural, oil and gas, wildfire and civil engineering. This year, ZenaDrone aims to enhance the AI capabilities of ZenaDrone 1000 to include autonomous navigation of unmapped terrains, deep learning algorithms for various actions and dual-use features to accommodate commercial and military drone utilization.
The ZenaDrone team will use predictive AI analytics — or predictive modeling — a type of analysis that employs methods and resources for creating predictive models and making forecasts of future outcomes based on acquired data. Techniques used in predictive analytics include machine learning algorithms, sophisticated mathematics, statistical modeling, descriptive analytics and data mining. Predictive analytics refers to a method rather than a specific technology.
Epazz Holdings will prioritize developing ZenaDrone 1000 by upgrading its AI technology to boost its global reach across industries.
About ZenaDrone Inc. (https://www.zenadrone.com/)
ZenaDrone Inc. is dedicated to improving intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle technology that incorporates machine learning software and AI. It was created to revolutionize the hemp farming sector and later evolved into an intelligent multifunctional industrial surveillance, inspection and monitoring solution.
About Epazz Inc. (https://www.epazz.com/)
Epazz Inc. is a leading cloud-based software company that specializes in providing customized cloud applications to the corporate world, higher-education institutions and the public sector. Epazz BoxesOSTM v3.0 is a complete web-based software package for small to midsize businesses, Fortune 500 enterprises, government agencies and higher education institutions. BoxesOSTM provides many of the web-based applications organizations would otherwise need to purchase separately. Epazz’s other products are DeskFlexTM (room-scheduling software) and ProvitracTM (an applicant-tracking system).
SAFE HARBOR
This is the Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements contained in this press release are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking statements such as “may,” “expect, “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate, “believe” and “continue” (or the negatives thereof) or similar terminology. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results or those implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Epazz Inc. assumes no obligation and has no intention of updating these forward-looking statements, and it has no obligation to update or correct information prepared by third parties that are not paid for by Epazz Inc. Investors are encouraged to review Epazz Inc.’s public filings on SEC.gov and otcmarkets.com, including its unaudited and audited financial statements and its OTC markets filings, which contain general business information about the company’s operations, results of operations and risks associated with the company and its operations.

Hey
Hope you guys can help me understand this feeling because google is just making me spiral and anxious. It maybe a long post so please hear me out.
A month ago I started my root canal treatment. My first appointment, the dentist drilled the tooth and inserted a temporary filling. My face was swollen for about a week after it. I had to travel in the mean time. I wasn’t in pain for the duration of my trip, just some discomfort from the area of the procedure. I came back home around two weeks ago. Went back to the dentist to complete the treatment. He inserted the permanent filling exactly a week ago. He then prescribed an antibiotic and ibuprofen and told me to come back after 5 days.The first few days it was a bit painful to bite down but it kept getting better by the day. But there’s this feeling of something heavy around the area of the procedure. I don’t know how to explain it. But it also got better by the day.
Went back to the dentist, explained the feeling to him and he just brushed me off and telling me its fine. But I don’t know why its just not sitting well with me.
Until recently I started feeling this tingling sensation around my ear and jaw. Its not painful whatsoever its just uncomfortable. And biting down on the tooth is not painful at all just a very slight pinch.
Was wondering is it something serious? The tooth that got the treatment is on the upper left side, the one before my wisdom tooth.

Ok, well, I'm not sure if I'm "scared" of non-existence, but when I was first introduced to this idea - believe it or not when I was around 6 I think, when I believe I asked my parents what happened when you died and my Dad, being an agnostic, said that it's unknown and some people think nothing happens and you just stop existing - I was either terrified or just depressed. I remember sinking into a funk for a while and my mom comforting me by saying I didn't need to worry about it because it wasn't going to happen for "a very long time" lol.
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I eventually put it out of my head because it had been so depressing to think about, but when I got a little older I somehow got the idea that maybe we could "genetically engineer" ourselves out of mortality. Understand that this was back in the early 80s, so I'm guessing I got this stuff by reading about science and/or some science fiction. I eventually became obsessed with this idea that I think I got from the *new* Twilite Zone series from the 80s/90s where some advanced version of our race who has mastered genetics and time travel starts going back in time and taking people at their moment of death, replacing them with an exact duplicate/clone (who is dead), and then bringing them back to the future where they are revived and given immortality. So this became my way of dealing with the feadepression of the invitability of death and my belief that nothing happens after it. I was able to just say, well, hopefully something like that will happen. Eventually I realized that's probably a long-shot, but even so, even though it would be sad to never experience things again, at least I wouldn't know the difference, so why fixate on it while I was, at this point, still alive?
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After getting info this non-duality stuff, it sounds like the consensus is that we don't really "exist" in the sense of the person who we are/were (relatively speaking) after we die - that we never were that person to begin with, but we certainly aren't after we die, when our memories and personalities, and such vanish with the brain.
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I've wondered why then it is that many people who have previously been scared or anxious about dying seem to say that once they had an awakening they no longer feared death. Is it just that you realize that you aren't "person" in the way you used to take yourself to be and so you realize that death isn't really going to change much in terms of your overall understanding of your "self"?

Books that are not highly recognised but good
1)The Accidental Champion- CivCEO series (this is a happy (fun read)series, don't expect dark tragedies)
2)Reality Benders Series 3)Disgardium Series 4)A Snake's Life Series 5) The Alchemis series-Vasily Mahanenko (you can try his other books, sometimes I got so frustrated with a few lead characters I dropped other books in way of the shaman, but picked up again to complete them so, you might end up having a love-hate relationship reading Way of the Shaman during the middle books of the series)
6)Underworld series - Apollos Thorne
7) Systems of Apocalypse - Macronomicon
8) The Dungeon Slayer series - Konrad Ryan
9) Perimeter Defence series (heavy on sci-fi space opera type same author of Reality Benders, this author is good can try his other series too.)
10) Underdog series- Alexey Osadchuk
11) Condition Evolution series- Kevin Sinclair (man this is a good one, fast , to the point, no nonsense expositions or fillers or word paddings...so obviously short ones)
12) Transformation Series- Valery Starsky ( not sure what happened to the series, no books since 2020)
13) New Era Online Series- Shemer Kuznits
14) The Idle System series - Pegaz (don't take it seriously, it's fast, and grows OP, starting parts of first book with explanation of system logic might confuse you... I got confused early maybe it's just me, but after a while it won't block the story progression)
15) World of the Changed Series
16) The Eternal Journey Series- C.J Carella
17) The Path of Ascension by C Mantis
18) System Universe by SunriseCV
I am gonna stop here... If you need any specific questions on a book in this series ask me. I don't wanna spoil much, but I will give you a gist, so you know if it's for you or not.
I do have a long list of webnovels and books from Royalroad... But that's for another day... I will say try "Legendary Mechanic" webnovel.. don't get bogged down with stereotypical or woke reviews of it.. it has a good story and it's entertaining...
Rant warning: :p read beyond this with your own discretion
Honestly these days, many woke reviews kill series... You can't expect everyone to strictly abide by a political view or always walk on eggshells to smooth everyone's ego... It will make us lose more than what we supposedly "gain" I don't wanna get into politics of things that tend to ruin a lot of good people's image online... Like we all know, it's easy to throw mud, but hard to remove the stain... Even when you don't deserve it, it stays with you.

Hello! Starlight Dreamers on Goblin are looking for more members for our Minimum iLvl, No Echo raid static for the Coils of Bahamut raid series. We have a lot of people new to higher end content, and want to go through Coils to experience the story, as well as to simply have the achievement of doing so.
Our raid progression starts Sunday, June 11. Our window to raid is between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm Mountain Daylight Time (GMT - 6:00), though a more precise raid time will be figured out once we have a complete group.
If you're interested, message me on reddit or at SpaceBunny#1730 on Discord.

Just found my PS2 after several years of searching and IT STILL WORKS, this 23 year old console STILL WORKS. When I turned on the ps2 and heard the startup sound I was crying with tears of joy. It even still had the MEMORY CARD attached to it. I already have some games to play on it and have more games in mind. The PS2 is so convenient because not only I can play PS2 games but I can play PS1 games too and I can play albums that I have and watch movies in case my internet goes down. I’m done with these new gen consoles charging $70 for every game I want until they put a deal on all those games. No DLCs or any micro transactions, just simple plug and play to a console that already has a lot of complete games to offer. I’ll still be playing on my Xbox Series X but only for Xbox 360 and OG Xbox Games of course.