Intex pool pump not pulling water

I want to start this report by saying that I have taken mushrooms before and have had the most positive experiences filled with love, and understanding, and beauty. However every time I've taken mushrooms, something always tells me to respect them, and that with all good things have bad things also attached to them. Everything in the universe is about symmetry from my perspective.
Setting: My girlfriend and brother live with me in my home. My girlfriend had to take a work trip out of town and I figured that this would be a good time to have a psychedelic experience. She has never done them, and doesn't understand that your mind can sometimes be guided by the mushroom rather than your actual being. However she thinks its great that I take them from time to time. I started my day at about 2am, took my girlfriend tk the airport, came home and took a nap for a few hours then cleaned the house up. I waiting until about 5pm to take the mushrooms casually smoking marijuana throughout the day. Not getting super stoned, but stoned nine the less.
Taking the mushrooms: I consumed roughly 2 grams of what I think is penis envy. (thick lighter colored mushrooms, thicker stalks and wide caps) I had only slept a few hours the night before and had a 2 hour nap after taking my girlfriend to the airport. At about 7pm I could tell I was under the influence of the mushrooms but nothing was happening. Somethingin my head was telling me that the mushroom didnt want to work with me today and to just enjoy my evening. Me being a fallible human being took another gram of mushroom to see if I could kick things off. (Looking back on that period, I think I was already under the influence, but I wasn't getting the desired affect of looking inward and seeing all the love and beauty in my life) after consuming another gram of mushrooms I then popped 30 milligrams of marijuana edibles because I felt like the shrooms were not going to work, therefore I mine as well have a good time before going to sleep.
The trip: I began to feel disconnected from the things I was doing. I didn't want tonplay games, music was annoying me more than it was soothing me and I started to feel a general sense of distress. I was watching a video about the different levels of a psychedelic experience. Upon hearing the description of what dmt can do, I started to feel incredibly uneasy and looked away from my screen. I kept feeling like I couldn't see well. white flashes and tracers overpowered my vision and made me feel like I had to squint, as if the sun was to bright and I didn't have sunglasses, I felt the boundaries of reality startb to slip away, and the very fabric of time and space turned into this horror that I couldn't comprehend. It's like I understood what reality was, but I couldn't fathom how I'm still alive in it. I began to panic and thought of those kids who take like 15 grams of this stuff and end up in a hospital. My brother is home and I walk into his office where he is hanging out. I tell him what I'm experiencing. He has never taken shrooms before but does his best to provide me comfort and entertain my wild thoughts. He provided comfort and grounding and would periodically help me find my place again if I felt like I was slipping into madness. I had an experience while petting my dog. I am allergic to dogs and get all sneezy after a while. But I love my dogs and would gladly suffer a sneezing fit if it ment I get to see their happy faces every day. Anyway, I started thinking about all the mites that live on their bodies and my body. And how with every stroke of my hand on her fur was probably extracting these mites from their homes into a new world, from this world they would travel to my nose and do damage before being consumed by my body. (Damage being a sneezing fit) I experienced this from their perspective, I then began to think of what they would experience if they could know what I know. I then began to spiral into a deep sense of what I can only call ultimate knowledge. I felt like I was one of these mites, learning about how our sun was born, and the vastness of the universe, and size and scope of things. And how small it was as well, the space between atoms, seeing their electrons orbiting atoms, and the spaces in between, and the spaces in between gravity, and it all just kind of started to become to much knowledge. It was as if being enlightened began to take a toll, things were infinite and never ending, there were beautiful things but also unfathomable horror in which my mind had never comprehended before, even the beauty was horrifying as if I reached my capacity for it. I began to wonder if my mind was breaking, reality felt so distant. I felt like I was bobbing in the ocean trying to keep my head above water. Just trying to stay grounded. After spiraling and dwelling in hopelessness and despair for a while, I felt like the mushrooms started to kind of talk to me. They said that the vestibule in which I provided them (my body) was not prepared for them properly, my stomache was full of decaying flesh (I had chicken wings for diner with no fruit or veg) my mind was weak from such a severe lack of sleep, and my body was in distress from working throughout the day, smoking weed, and being in ketosis, (ketosis is a way you can make your body metabolism fuel differently). It told me that it tried to tell me to not take anymore and when I didn't listen to it, it got mad. Why would I invite what is normally a beautiful thing into my body when my body itself is not at its best? Anyway, to keep it short, the mushrooms told me to never force an experience again. If I take shrooms and nothing happens that I wanted to have happen, then let it be. The mushrooms don't want to play. Forcing it and making it happen when your not really feeling it is a great way to have a bad fucking time man.
I learned so much from this trip, I learned that things are just out of my control, I learned that my mind is not always the strongest, and I learned good and bad things come in waves, it gave me a huge appreciation for the reality we live in now, it gave me huge appreciation for my girlfriend and my brother. It helped me realize that also taking care of my body can also help the environment around me in ways I still.dont full understanding, but I know there is a connection.
Anyway, it was a bad trip but not as terrible as some others I've heard of. I did feel like my mind was going to break, and that my essence would be gone from this realm forever. I do believe if I was in a better state of mind and physically sound that I would of experi3nced ego death. However due to my lack of respect for the mushroom I was left to experience for hours all kinds of eldrich horrors and unfathomabley deep and scary realizations of our universe. Now that im sober I feel like it was a good bad trip. I learned something, I pulled information from this trip that can help me in my life. Also it gave me a greater respect for the mushroom and the secrets it holds.

(I don't know where else to post this too so l'm posting it here for now)
I met a beautiful woman, her hair was gold like the morning sun, her eyes as blue as the deep ocean, her voice was kind and warm, her skin was pale like snow, her smile was comforting, her husband was the complete opposite. When I accidently bumped into her in the grocery store I fell in love at first sight. When she asked me if I could grab something on a shelf that she was too short to reach, I agreed without hesitation. When I left the store, I saw her in the parking lot, struggling to carry the many bags of groceries to her small teal Morris Minor. I couldn’t bear to see her struggle so I approached her and offered her assistance. She accepted gratefully. “Thank you so much for your help! My name is Mary Carmine, by the way ” She said, her smile made my heart flutter and my stomach do backflips. “It’s my pleasure! My name is James Booker” I said while giving her a small bow. “It’s nice to have help like this while being pregnant…” She said, her smile a little less bright. I was shocked. Pregnant? But that would mean that she’s married… I felt my heart shatter but I didn’t let it show. After we said our goodbyes I went to my own car and drove off. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t get her out of my mind. I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking of her. I couldn’t get her off my mind so I decided to go for a walk. While on the walk, I passed a house where I heard a man yelling and a woman crying. Even though it wasn’t my business I was still curious and had nothing better to do, so I peeked through the curtains. What I saw made my blood boil. Mary was on the floor with her hands covering her face, blood running down her forehead and the man who I suspect was her husband, was standing over her with his fists clenched. I felt something inside me snap. I felt anger like I never felt before. I hid behind a bush when I heard him say he was going to the bar. Once I was sure he left I got up from my hiding spot and knocked on the door. She answered the door and was shocked to see me there. “W-What are you do-doing here…? H-How did yo-you find me…? Y-You really sh-shouldn’t be he-here!” She said in between sniffles. “I know we’ve just met, but I love you Mrs. Carmine! You deserve someone better than him! Someone who won’t hurt you!” I said, holding her hands close to my chest. “I-I shouldn’t…! I-I couldn’t possibly…!” She said, I could tell she felt the same way but she was scared. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. “If he w-were to find out then-” she said before I cut her off. “He doesn’t have to. Don’t be scared! I’ll make sure he doesn’t find out!” I said. She thought for a moment. “...Do you promise…?” she sniffled. “Yes!” I said, holding her hands tighter but not tight enough to hurt her. I made sure to never hurt her. She thought a bit more, I saw her beautiful, blue, doe eyes flick from my face to the picture of her and her husband hanging on the wall behind me, then back and forth between me and the picture before making her decision. She looked me in the eyes and nodded, I could tell she was fighting back more tears that were threatening to start falling. We sat on the couch for half an hour, talking about what lies to tell, and how we’d get away with it. When we heard his car pull up to the house she panicked but I reassured her everything would be fine. I left through the backdoor and went back home. We saw each other everyday without being caught. Her husband was big and bad but he wasn’t very bright. One night she requested to meet in the park after her husband passed out drunk. She was dressed in a lovely yellow dress but my attention was immediately drawn to her black eye. “James! I’m so sorry… My husband is starting to suspect something…! We can’t keep seeing each other!” She said she was crying. “Mary!! Your eye…! Did he…?” I said. My head began reeling when she nodded her head. I felt many emotions at once. Heartbreak, sadness, and anger. I wasn’t mad at her, no. I could never be mad at her. I was mad at the man keeping us apart. She was my love, my world, my life, she was my everything. I won’t let anyone take her from me. I knew what I had to do in order to keep us together. She was distraught, I assured her I’d make everything better. I told her to go home and go to sleep and everything would be okay in the morning. After we parted ways I went to a bar I knew her husband frequented. As expected, I saw him sitting at the bar alone, clearly drunk. I walked up to him and put on the friendliest smile I could muster up. I greeted him as though he was an old friend. We laughed and drank together, just being beside him made me sick. I loathed him. Before this, I had never touched a drop of alcohol before, vile stuff, but in the end it was all for her. When he got drunk enough, I promised to take him home. I put him into my car, drove him to a secluded spot in the forest near the park. I pulled him out of my car, he was passed out drunk, I laid him face down on the ground then I took the revolver I carried around for safety, out of my pocket and shot him in the back of his head. I was splattered in blood and brain matter but I didn’t care. I took the handkerchief out of my pocket and wiped the gun clean of any finger marks then tossed the gun into a nearby lake. I was planning on disposing of him for sometime now but now I had a reason. I searched him and found a pocket knife, one that army men carried around. I cut open his stomach and all his intestines, filled his stomach with rocks, then threw him and the knife into the water. I drove home in silence. When I got home I took a bath, then burned my clothes. The next day I went to see her. She invited me in and she cried to me that she was worried because her husband never returned home. “Y-You-” She stuttered. I had told her what I did. “Yes…” I said. I knew she didn’t want to believe it but she forced herself to. “Mary? Do you still love me?” I said. The way she looked at me when I told her what I had done made me keep my distance from her, I didn’t want to scare her anymore. “Yes! Of course I do…! I know that what you did was to keep me and my baby safe… Oh James, I’m so sorry you were dragged into this…!” She cried. “Don’t be sorry… Mary, listen to me very carefully. If the police ask you anything, don’t cover for me. Pretend you met me after your husband disappeared, Okay?” I said, wiping her tears. “Bu-But what i-if you beco-ome a suspect…?” She said between sniffles. “I won’t deny anything. I promise I’ll leave you enough money and support to raise your child, okay? I want you to be happy, even if it’s without me…” I said. “...Our child…” She said quietly. “Our-” I said before being interrupted by banging on the door. “Mary Carmine, you’re under arrest for suspicion of the murder of David Carmine” Mary let out a small scream but I shushed her. “Mary, I love you from here to eternity… Be safe my love” I said as I hugged her tight, making sure I didn’t squeeze against her stomach. “James-” She said before she cut herself off as I walked towards the door. She stood there, frozen with her mouth agape and tears streaming down her gorgeous face. I stepped out of the house and confessed everything I did. The officer cuffed me and put me in the back of the police car with neighbors and everyone watching. I noticed Mary in the crowd. Her teary face was easy to spot. I smiled at her and pointed to my cheeks, signaling her to keep smiling, and with that we started driving away. As we drove I saw fathers saying goodbye to their wives and children as they left for work, birds caring for their young, baby bottles drying on window sills, and children playing in their yards. I smiled at seeing all these happy families, hoping Mary and her unborn child could be able to live that way. Mary attended my court trial, I heard her gasp when I was sentenced to the death penalty. I just smiled at her. When the date for my execution came, I didn’t see her there. I don’t think they allowed her to watch. They put the noose around my neck and put the bag over my head. Suddenly, I felt the floor drop.

Blue Reflection Sun was released one month ago and after playing religiously every day (this includes waking up in the middle of the night to consume stamina, something I'll get to later on in my review), here are my thoughts. First of all, this review will not touch on the controversy regarding including the first male character in a series that features only female characters. Just let me say that after playing through the story to the latest chapter, many of the interactions/scenarios between the girls and the protagonist completely excludes the protagonist from being female. So that possibility is off the books for foreign releases or future patches. Now that that's over with, I will be reviewing the game as a standard gacha game developed and published by large companies (Koei Tecmo and DMM Games).
As a disclaimer, I have been playing gacha games for over 10 years but rarely have I played in any language other than Japanese. So while I am translating to English to the best of my ability, some terms may be wrong, though hopefully decipherable.
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Gacha
I'll start off with the crux of gacha games: the gacha. There are essentially 2 types of gacha: character and fragcard gacha. Character is self-explanatory, but fragcard is the `card` system found in some gacha - each includes a skill, which can be upgraded, and stats, which can be levelled. Characters range from 1-3 stars (can be limit broken to a maximum of 5) and fragcards which go from R→SR→UR. Each gacha can drop the other type except for at the highest rank. In other words, the character gacha can drop R and SR cards but not UR, while the fragcard gacha can drop 1-2 star characters but not 3 star.
The rates in order of ascending rarity is 77%→20%→3%. The tenth pull is 97%→3%, so in other words, at the tenth pull you are guaranteed 2★/SR or higher. There is a pity system for each gacha that does not carry over, besides the standard gacha. 200 pulls for 200 tickets will let you exchange for the featured item - this number cannot be reached without major saving or else spending money. Each event period gives you an estimated 50 pulls (this is a very rough estimate since it's still service start).
Regarding the limited gacha, So far, characters and cards have been truly limited, in that there is no plan to add them to the standard pool after the run, though the fine print states that there may be reruns (par for the course). This is great as it makes things black and white: you either pull if you want it or save if you're waiting for something else. No grey area where you want the item but you might as well wait since it will be added to the pool later.
You'll also receive a plethora of gacha tickets, but unfortunately, these can only be used one at a time (probably in order to bypass the ten pull system). Combined with the slow loading screens, using 30 or so tickets took me almost an hour...
Finally, even 1 star characters can be easily limit broken to 5 stars, which makes it so that there are no useless characters. Of course, a 3→5★ will be stronger than a 1→5★, though at the very least this means that you'll still have viable characters even if you get horrible pulls.
All this to say that, the rates don't feel unfair, and even when you pull a card instead of a character, Kishida's art is so pretty that it doesn't even feel all that bad. Also, just as there are no useless characters, all cards can be sufficiently powerful once limit broken and levelled up.
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Cash Shop
There is no cheap monthly pass unfortunately. Only a simple money to gem system. The most expensive item is 10,000 yen for 16,000 gems which equates to 53 pulls. This goes down to the cheapest item, 160 yen for 160 gems, which is about half a pull. One pull is 300 gems.
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Mechanics
Standard turn-based rpg with no time-delay system found in the original series. 4 elements with none of that dark/light crap (sorry, I'm just not a fan of elements that do increased damage to one another) and in rare cases, non-elemental. Each character has her own powerful skill and 2 other skills that can be equipped and switched via fragcards. This means that a character of one element can equip skills of a completely different element.
Elements do increased damage and receive less damage to/from the element that they are good against. So much so that a party strong against an element can take down enemies of twice the power rating (in my case, my party of 60,000 could take down enemies of 120,000).
Standard attacks charge SP, which is counted separately for each skill. So you can freely use each skill as soon as it is charged, without worrying about saving the SP for another skill. This is where the auto battle fails. Auto makes the characters randomly choose attack or a skill, without prioritizing fully charged skills. So that means your character may use a standard attack even when you don't need the SP. Management has said that they are planning to improve the auto system in the near future, so this may be subject to change. On the plus side, characters will focus fire enemies from right to left in auto.
Finally, characters can be `borrowed` from friends/strangers, which lets you use her skill once per battle at any time, without losing your turn. This will not activate during auto. All in all, this is to say that if there is a powerful enemy that you cannot defeat in Auto, often Manual will often enable you do so.
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Stamina
At player level 1, you start off with 51 stamina (if I remember correctly), which recovers at a rate of once every 3 minutes. Doing the math, you can see that initially 2.5 hours will give you a full charge; hardly enough to let you rest during work (let alone sleep). You'll receive a ton of stamina refill items, which is in your best to use as soon as possible to level up and increase your maximum stamina. After a month of playing, I am currently at 100 stamina - the highest leveled players I've seen are 10 levels higher, i.e. 110 stamina, which equates to 5.5 hours for a full charge - still hardly enough for a full night's sleep.
All this to say, for those of us that are very stoic about consuming stamina to never let it go full, the stamina system in this game is the most stressful I have ever experienced. It seems as if not much thought was given into either lowering the recovery rate (along with the cost of stages) or else increasing the maximum increased per level.
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PVP
There is a ranked battle system, but it's almost impossible to lose. Firstly, while the enemy team will attack randomly, your team will focus fire. Secondly, each enemy has a break meter, which when full will make them lose one turn (normal enemies also have this). This, combined with weaknesses can easily let you win fights with differences in power levels of 20,000 (or potentially higher, though I don't want to try my luck).
There is a maximum of 3 battle points, which are not refreshed daily as in most games, but gradually (1 every few hours, I haven't bothered to time how many hours). Basically you can fight much more than thrice a day. There is also a consecutive win bonus, which keeps increasing to the point that the consecutive bonus is higher than the standard win bonus. At high ranks and high consecutive wins, you will receive way more points than you need for the limited items in the battle shop.
One month in, and I along with most player I imagine, have never lost a match.
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Story and Characters
The story is not Shakespeare, nor is it Twilight. The voice acting is excellent as usual, and the story is interesting enough to keep you immersed. Each character has her own personality, motivations, and desires, which are much more rounded than the standard flat female characters born of a male mind found in most fiction. While most works feature simple anime tropes that perpetuate sexist stereotypes, the characters of brs have a certain nuanced depth, i.e. they exist as entities independent of male characters (and not as mere supports to a well-rounded male). All this to say, while there are some cringey moments, most of the characters have a certain human charm separate from a mere sexualization of the character.
The main character is also not annoyingly smart/strong or dumb/weak, i.e. he has the same attractive qualities that the girls have as well. There is a good balance in terms of character relations, though I wish they reversed the females-dependent-on-male trope more (they almost did in the beginning, but then it swung to the standard MAN DO EVERYTHING AND WOMAN LIKE STRONG MAN caveman mindset...).
In terms of character design, Kishida's design is top notch as always, showing that not only is he talented in bishoujo design, but even his bishounen are pretty as hell. Personally, I cringe at the hairstyles/fashion/makeup/design of most anime because you can tell these were men creating women, 10 years behind the current fashion. Kishida, however, I always imagine him spending hours every day on Instagram absorbing all the latest trends. His characters' hairstyles and fashion really show this and adds a certain believability (most other works of fiction make me groan "no woman would be caught dead in such a mismatched setup" etc.).
The 3D models are also very similar to the 2D art, so thankfully there is no huge gap between the concept design and implementation. Also, most of the limited gacha outfits are so pretty, it never feels bad to pull.
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User Interface
There are certain aspects of UI that show of outdated design or a lack of knowledge of gacha design. For example, you cannot see details of a character's skill in the Training menu (where all of your owned characters are listed). Instead, you have to go to Formation, change character, and then view from there - very unintuitive, not to mention unecessary. Another is that upcoming maintenances are not announced in-game in an in-your-face sort of way. You have to check the once-a-day announcement or else follow their Twitter closely. Very frustrating, which I'll go into more detail in the next section.
Besides a few grave errors, most of the UI design is non-problematic, and likely to improve as hinted in an upcoming update. Much of the UI design (along with the sound and music) from the main series is brought over to the gacha game as well, which fans will enjoy.
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Management/Operations
This is the most frustrating thing about this game. Luckily, if there is an English release, you might not have to deal with this if you end up with a better English team. To sum up why, basically the 運営 (I think this translates to management or operations in English) of KT/DMM does not feel like part of a company with decades of experience; they feel like a small indie developeself-publisher that has no experience handling sudden errors.
In the first week especially, there were lots of server crashes and emergency maintenances to fix a lot of the problems. Server crashes are unexpected, but I have never seen a company handle maintenances so poorly. Apart from the lack of in-game announcement interface mentioned in the previous section, there were times when the Twitter announcement was only a few minutes in advance. Completely unacceptable in Japanese society, especially so in customer-service relations. To add to this, stamina fills up fast, which only adds to the frustration. Such that you have to constantly log in because you're never sure when the next maintenance will come.
As a side note, post-mortem of the server crashes found that they were due to high access traffic "overseas." Obviously we all knew this meant China bots once again ruining a party that they weren't invited to. Perhaps future games would do well to always cordon off a China server for the safety of Japan, but that's another story for another day.
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Final Thoughts
I am a big fan of DMM/Exnoa published games; they often publish many obscure developers, most of which are terrible, but every once in a while, there is a hidden gem. So it pains me to be so critical of their handling of this game, because I know they can do better. On the other hand, Koei Tecmo did an alright job of bringing a console/PC game to mobile, and if they are as willing to improve based on feedback as promised, then there may yet be hope for this game.
Regardless, after one month, I am still highly enjoying this game. The sounds, visuals, gameplay loop just hit all the right places for me, so I am looking forward to future updates and improvements. Those that have more free time than me may find that there is not enough to do in-game, but for relatively busy adults, this may just be the game for you.
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P.S. Thank you for making it to the end of this long review. If you wish to comment, please refrain from bashing the game, developers, publishers, etc. for introducing a male character. You can gripe about that in a different thread, but this is not the place for that. Productive comments regarding gameplay or similar are welcome.

Hey guys, I've been a longtime lurker here and wanted to give back by sharing the things that does and does not work for me.
For context, I haven't identified the exact source of my bb, but I suspect it is postnasal drip, mucus, white tongue, maybe GERD, or a combination of all of the above, so if this is your cause, this may be helpful for you! I have tried all kinds of toothpaste and mouthwash including hydrogen peroxide and salt water gargles, saline nasal rinses, all sorts of brushing techniques, 3 different brands of dental probiotics, ACV shots, coconut oil pulling, low sugadairy diet, and even got my wisdom tooth pulled thinking that may be the cause. I have seen dentists and they don't believe my gums or teeth are the cause and neither do I.
When I had used Therabreath or hydrogen peroxide mouthwash, I felt that it was making my bb worse and that my white tongue was coming back faster. After exhausting all my options, I recently found out about the Therabreath toothpaste which was designed to be used together with the mouthwash so I decided to give it one last shot. And surprised to say, it has helped immensely! Yes my white tongue still comes back, but my mouth feels definitely feels fresher for longer, especially when taking xylitol mints throughout the day. Here is a list of my full routine with the things that have helped and stuck with me:

1. Floss. I used to use the plackers but dentists actually recommend using a traditional floss. Look up Youtube videos on how to properly floss and I find Oral B's Deep Clean floss keeps my mouth feeling fresher for longer.
2. Brush your teeth. I use 2 different kinds of toothpaste. One is the Therabreath toothpaste which I follow up with the Therabreath mouthwash (don't rinse the toothpaste out with water!!) I use Therabreath generally in the morning when I have to go out. At night when I won't be seeing anyone, I will use a fluoride-free Xylitol toothpaste (Epic Dental carries lots of amazing xylitol products) in hopes to promote healthy oral flora. At night, I will also pop a dental probiotic tablet. I have been using dental probiotics for a while and tbh, don't know if they work all that great for me personally. But I figured it's the only thing I have to support growth of good bacteria.
3. Tongue scraper after brushing my teeth. Orabrush is the only one I've ever used, but if you guys have found any other tongue scrapers that work better, please let me know!! Someone posted a study here recently that talked about using the "X method" of tongue scraping, and I feel that it helps get much more gunk off than previously. Basically, instead of scraping up and down your tongue, you also scraping diagonally in an "X" fashion.
4. Xylitol mints. I carry around a fanny pack with all sorts of things like toothbrush, gum, mouthwash, and Epic Dental xylitol mints. These have been a LIFE SAVER. I used to chew lots of gum, but I feel that mints somehow work better, possibly because they sit on your tongue(?), but they keep your breath really fresh, especially if you pop one after brushing your teeth.
5. I have a clogged nose whenever I wake up with lots of mucus, so if I have time, I will also hold a towerl over my head over a large bowl of boiled water with a drop of oregano oil for a few minutes. Cover your eyes with the towel to protect them. I will also gargle some of it at the end because why not, and oregano oil is supposed to have great anti-fungal activity. for gargling, you may need to make it more concentrated (1 drop in a large shotglass of water)

All in all, I think it's been my recent addition of Therabreath toothpaste + mouthwash combo and Xylitol mints have made my bb much more manageable and I've been feeling more and more confident to go hang out with friends again. I really hope this helps someone out there, and best of luck!!

Hi all,
I’ve finally decided to wade my way through clearing all the fault codes on my 330k km e46 touring.
One of the main issues is the non functioning a/c and rear defroster not working.
With the A/C, I’ve got two codes popping up. One saying the AUC heating has an error and the other saying that the Auxiliary Water pump is not working/ malfunctioning. Are any of these errors possibly the reason for a non engaging A/C compressor?
Second, the rear defroster doesn’t work. The fuse is good, and I hear a relay clicking on and off in the back when I press the button, but no dice on the demisting. Anyone had any experience with this?
Any help is appreciated.

I've been asked to try and replicate a 2 piece (front and back plate) 19th century French curaiss in hardened leather.
I really want to avoid doing this by manually detailing the curves and need to avoid using multiple pieces, and hardened leather (cuir bouilli) simply does not work well by those methods anyhow, there's really only a good 5-10 minute window to do any wet sculpting before it goes rock hard.
So I need to construct a form or the relative shape under the following conditions: - Strong enough to take a fair bit of pressure, the leather will be pulled down over it quite tightly to take the shape, it's quite stretchy in the first 3 minutes or so out of the water. - Reasonably heat resistant, cuir bouilli isn't actually "boiled" leather so to speak, but comes out pretty hot regardless. - Preferably something solid I can tack into to prevent too much loss in shape during retraction.
I've not tried cuir bouilli on something this large before, most the wetmolding for hardened leather I do is just pouches where I can use a 2 piece mold that clamps the excess leather over the form, or braces/greaves that I use an old, modified stair case bannister to achieve the curve on.
Shape reference: https://fws-files.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/website/auctions/items/full/3989835_2.jpg https://fws-files.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/website/auctions/items/large/3989835_1.jpg https://fws-files.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/website/auctions/items/full/3989835_3.jpg
Any suggestions from those that know more than me?

I was up off and on all night. Honestly jumping from dream to dream wasn't ideal. So much going on. I had dreams where I wandered a volcanic crater, dreams where I was in a battle, and dreams where there was naught but terror before me.
I wandered those dreams woke up and fell asleep, but what stuck in my head was this dream about being in a VR game.
There were a few games I could play, though they all stemmed from the same theme. The first game I dropped into, it was an apocalypse. People were fighting and dying, shooting eachother. The goal was to gather as much ammunition and hide away. I went through guns quickly, my shots getting better and better. Until I ran out of bullets then I had to use a dagger.
I was trying to find more bullets as I ran up to people and stabbed them. Night fell in game and I realized I stuck out like a sore thumb so I restarted the game. This time the character I chose wasn't a soldier but cat kin. I was a thief and my goal was to find clothes that would hide me. I couldn't control the transformations, but I did find a great gown along with gloves corset and a hat before I was caught.
Again, I had to restart. The game world I dropped into this time, was a world as a superstar singer. I had to defend myself against other figures. So me and my band mates carrying melee weapons raced through a deserted town until we came upon a familiar restaurant. We raced inside to see a man filming sexual paradise videos, even though the world was ragged and run through.
I kept in this game, I think because I had no choice. Me and my comrades left the restaurant and got split up looking for supplies.
I saw a video play of a woman accepting death. She just leaned back on a bench and died. It freaked me out and I questions why she died, like what happened. One of my band mates ran up to me then looking worse for wear. He had brusing on his face. I reached over and touched it and he screamed in pain. At this point night is falling so we race back go the restaurant. Some others decide they want to put up lights. I think it's a bad idea. As the rain starts to come down though we see a vehicle pull in and people coming out with flashlights. I tell my guys to hide and we exit the restaurant as these people with lights enter.
"Spread out and find them." We hear a voice say. I look over and see Dr types. People in labcoats carrying guns and flashlights. We duck and dodge their light beams as we attempt to run away. At one point, a light hits me and I panic and swing an arm and an army of mud people (courtesy of Left4dead2) rise up and race towards the scientists.
"Stop, we're trying to help you." A woman yells.
Like I would believe that, I think to myself and race as far away as I could.
I'm tracked many different places and get good looks at the scientists chasing me. I almost think it's comical who they are. An adult Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory, the female Doc Oct. The sisters from Johnny test, and a couple others I couldn't place.
The way I'm finally captured though. On an air carrier with no where to go. I decide to jump for it and as I'm plummeting towards the water, I'm caught up in the tentacles and safely set in the water. A woman strokes my face, not Doc Oct, and suddenly I'm gasping for air as I wake up wake up.

EDC Las Vegas 2023

Official EDC Las Vegas 2023 Trailers:

• There are none, yet
• Previous EDC Trailers playlist

Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway 7000 N Las Vegas Blvd Las Vegas, NV 89115
Dates & Times:
May 19, 20, 21, 2023

• Opening Ceremony 5:00pm–7:00pm, full grounds open 7:00pm–5:30am
• Parking lots open 2 hours prior to the opening ceremony or gate opening.

Box Office:
Expo at World Market Center 435 S Grand Central Pkwy Las Vegas, NV 89106
Box Office Hours:
Wednesday, May 17: 2PM – 12AM Thursday, May 18: 11AM – 12AM Friday, May 19: 11AM – 3AM Saturday, May 20: 2PM – 2AM Sunday, May 21: 2PM – 2AM
Camp EDC Hours
Thursday, May 18th, 9am – Monday, May 22nd, 5pm. All campers must be fully packed and vacating the campground by 5pm on Monday, May 22nd.
Camp EDC Check-In

• Thursday, May 18: 8am–2am
• Friday, May 19: 8am–2pm - please note festival traffic begins arriving at 2pm so wait times could be longer
• Saturday, May 20: 8am–2pm - please note festival traffic begins arriving at 2pm so wait times could be longer
• Sunday, May 21: 8am–2pm - please note festival traffic begins arriving at 2pm so wait times could be longer

Other informative other posts --

NO BUILD LEAKS!

electricdaisycarnival Discord chat

electricdaisycarnival 2023 Reddit meetup info -- (COMING SOON!)

Roommate Megathread

CampEDC/tent-mates Megathread

Rideshare Megathread

EDC Las Vegas 2022 Playlists by Stage Lineup -- (COMING SOON!)

Useful Quick Links:

Purchase festival passes -- LIMITED GA+ & VIP PASSES REMAINING (GA SOLD OUT)!

Purchase shuttle passes -- LIMITED STOPS REMAIN!

Purchase Moon Glow camping -- SOLD OUT!

Purchase Desert Rose camping -- SOLD OUT!

Purchase RV camping -- SOLD OUT!

Purchase Premier Parking -- SOLD OUT!

Hotel EDC

Purchase Locker Rental

Lineup Flyer (COMING SOON!)

Lineups by Stage (COMING SOON!)

Lineups by Art Car (COMING SOON!)

[CampEDC Activities Schedule](COMING SOON!)

CampEDC Party Schedule:

• CampEDC Pre-Party (COMING SOON!)
• CampEDC Pool Parties (COMING SOON!)
• CampEDC After Parties (COMING SOON!)

CampEDC Map (COMING SOON!)

CampEDC The Mesa Map (COMING SOON!)

Opening Ceremony Lineup (COMING SOON!)

Parking Map (COMING SOON!)

Festival Map (COMING SOON!)

Shuttle Map (COMING SOON!)

Shuttle Schedule --

• Departure Times: Shuttles will operate continuously from 7:00pm–11:30pm from all Standard Shuttle stops
• Return Times: Return shuttles will begin at 3:00am and conclude 60 minutes after the music ends at kineticFIELD PLEASE NOTE: Shuttles will not run between 11:30pm and 3:00am.

EDC Wedding Info

Table & Bottle Service info

Helicopter Booking

Lost & Found Information

Basic Festival & Ticketing information

When can I check in to the campgrounds?
Insomniac put together a handy entry guide for camping that is available here
What are the guidelines for camping? I have more questions related to camping!
Insomniac put together their camping guidelines and camping FAQ pages related to camping and they are very informative. I'm not going to re-type all this information here, so use the links provided.
My wristband/parking pass/shuttle pass hasn't come yet!
Be patient, they will be shipping out over 100k+ packages when they go out. You can also call Front Gate Tickets to see where your shipment is and/or set up will call pickup @ 888.512.7469. Also here's the Front Gate Tickets Support Site.
If you are coming from outside of the USA, you have no choice but to go to will call for your tickets. Please see the above event information for the box office location and hours.
I have tickets/shuttle passes/parking passes to sell!
Check out EDCTickets! Remember, even though our community is friendly, caring, and kind, there are ticket scammers out there that are willing to take advantage. Be vigilant, if something seems to good to be true, it probably is. Trust your instincts.
Where can I register my Wristband? Do I have to register my wristband?
You can register it here. The only way to recover your wristband if it is lost or stolen is to have it registered. Additionally, there is emergency contact information stored in your wristband as part of the registration process, if anything should happen to you. There is a $40 fee for a replacement wristband.
Well this is embarassing, I didn't listen to everyone and put my wristband on early/on the wrong hand, how can I get it off? I sold my wristband after I attended one of the nights, how can I get it off without damaging it?
Here's a short how-to video to remove the wristband without damaging anything. DON'T PUT YOUR WRISTBAND ON UNTIL FRIDAY BEFORE YOU LEAVE YOUR HOTEL! It goes on your right wrist, and should be able to fit a finger underneath for breathing room.
I'm going solo to the fest, how can I make friends, I need a place to stay, etc.
There are several ways of doing this. You can use the search function on the subreddit. There's also some Facebook groups dedicated to solo journeys to EDC. Once again, trust your instincts here and only stay with people that you can properly personally have vetted ahead of time.
Also, check the useful links above for ride shares, hotel shares, and tent shares!
Live sets just aren't doing it for me, I need a feel for what this place is like before I attend!
Check out Electric Daisy Carnival 2000, Under the Electric Sky, or The Electric Daisy Carnival Experience trailer from when the festival was still in L.A. If you can find The Electric Daisy Carnival Experience online for free somewhere or even for a couple bucks to stream it, I think it's a much better movie than the Under the Electric Sky movie.

FAQ

When do the set times drop? When does the app update? I can't find the app on the app store, what gives?!
Set times and app updates usually happen the week of the festival. The Insomniac app will update the week of the festival, so go ahead and install it now if you want to.
What about pool parties or other EDC Week events?
Official site here for a list of events and tickets. There's also going to be parties and pools at the campground.
What time should I leave the strip? How long does it take to get to/from to the speedway? What time should I leave the event to beat traffic?
EDC is not like a local DJ show and Las Vegas traffic SUCKS. Parking lots open at 2PM, so I would strive to leave the strip right around that time. Without traffic it will take you anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. The longer into the night you wait to leave the worse off traffic will be and the longer it will take to get to the show. I have heard nightmare scenarios of 2 or 3 hour shuttle rides, so don't let it happen to you!
Typically, you can leave before the sunrise sets or about halfway through it and not have too bad of a wait in traffic back to the strip in the morning! At the end of night 3, keep in mind normal people are also heading to work since it will technically be Monday morning. That's just going to add to the cluster fuck of traffic on I-15 and Las Vegas Blvd. Plan accordingly! If you are driving have a cooler in the trunk with water bottles!
Are we doing the Reddit meetup again this year?
We sure are. Check out the links up top regarding information on where and when we are meeting up. We are going to have two simultaneous meetups, one for campers and one for people on the Strip. All information is contained in the post linked at the very top!
What can I bring into the festival? What can't I bring into the festival? What are the searches like?
The searches could be TSA style, or you could barely get touched at all. It's pretty random. Consider stash boxers or compression underwear to get your favors inside or items that are disallowed like LED gloves, etc.
If you take your time to observe the security, you can usually get a feel of who is being a hard-ass for a dime raise for busting someone and who is just doing their job quickly and efficiently.
As for allowed and disallowed items, here's a link to those lists as well as totem guidelines.
Bring a gallon zip lock bag and put all of your belongings that you want to bring into the festival in it while you are waiting in line. All three days last year security complimented me on being organized and how easy I made their jobs because they could just scan the items in the bag, check my camelbak, give me the pat down and I was on my way.
Seriously, if you make security's lives easier in this way, they will not hassle you at all as long as you aren't trying to bring in stuff that isn't allowed. I didn't even get pat down on Night 2 because I was so up-front about all my belongings.
Any further questions, feel free to comment below, or visit the EDC Las Vegas Guide page!

Tips and Tricks!

• Put an Emergency Contact Information (ICE) on your phone's lock screen. Android or Apple. This serves as two things.. One, if you lose your phone, someone can try to get it back to you. TWO, if you get hurt or fall out, the medics on site can get in contact with someone you know.
• Call your bank/credit card companies and let them know you will be traveling to Vegas to avoid holds on your account.
• Be vigilant on the Strip. Everyone is trying to hustle. Street performers will expect tips if you take pictures!
• Hit up a Vegas buffet at least one day.
• Stretch beforehand in your hotel room. Your muscles will thank you in the morning!
• Wear comfy shoes and/or get insoles to replace the "stock" insoles that come with your shoes. Also, consider moleskin if your feet are prone to blistering from rubbing against your socks. Your feet will thank you!
• Get to the festival early. Stop by the merchandise tent first thing. Items sell out fast. Consider a mobile charging locker to store your merchandise in! Additionally, if you bring all of your sealed items in on the first day (wipes, chapstick, cigarettes, gum, tampons, etc), you can keep them all in your locker overnight and not have to worry about getting 3 of each sealed item to bring in every single day. REMEMBER! Hide your lock combo from people that may peer over your shoulder or look at your combination wristband and try to get into your locker. Remain vigilant inside the festival!
• After you get your merch and put it in your locker, you next stop should be one of the free water stands to fill up your hydration pack or water bottle. It's very important to remain hydrated, especially while the sun is still out and bearing down on you! If you tip some of the vendors, they will give you ice if the warm water turns you off.
• If you need to eat something, consider the food trucks instead of the concession stand food. The food trucks have their company name out there and on the line when compared to the generic concession stand stuff, the quality of the food is unparalleled. Don't make the same mistake as I did a few years ago and get a raw onion sandwich masked as a "cheese steak".
• Bring earplugs! Tinnitus sucks!
• Wear sunscreen! Remember, if you are staying all night the sun is up at like 5AM and starts beaming down on you almost immediately.
• If you want to ride the rides, get there early or risk missing sets while standing in line! Some rides you will be waiting for an hour or more at peak times.
• Time-stamp your texts! There will be cell service congestion. Stamping your texts will help your friends know whenever you truly sent a message!
• Bring an external battery pack in with you to charge your phone if you are someone who likes to take a lot of photo and video!
• Bring cash. Credit and debit cards could possibly be hit or miss if the speedway's internet network would happen to shit the bed! Don't be stuck without a way to pay for something you need!
• Remember to take it easy night 1! EDC is a marathon not a sprint!
• Emergen-C packets are a lifesaver. Take one before the festival every night in order to help you recover from the night before and prepare for the festival ahead!
• Take some time to look up and enjoy the fireworks!
• Don't forget about the EDC parade down Rainbow Road every night! You should at least try to check it out one time out of the three nights you are there! Check the app for times, but it should be around midnight every night!
• Follow your favorite artists' social media so that you know if they may show up unannounced, or if they are doing any surprise sets on one of the art cars, etc.
• Send a post card to back home at the EDC Town Post Office. Mine took until October in 2017 to land, but it was a nice surprise when it finally did! Check out EDC Town in general. It's pretty sweet.
• If you are feeling at all dehydrated or anything else medical related, visit one of the medical tents. Staff is super friendly and you WILL NOT get in trouble for seeking medical treatment, no matter your condition. If you can't make it to the medical tent, look for a Ground Control staff member to assist you or any of your friends! Look out for your fellow ravers. If you see something, say something! This will keep everyone safe and having a good time.
• If you are going to do drugs, and especially MDMA, I suggest only doing it 1 out of the 3 nights and finding something else for the other two days. Just to let you know as an example of responsible use, in 2017 we did edibles and shatter the first night, rolled night 2, and just chilled with some shatter night 3. Everyone is different, but be safe, and TEST YOUR SHIT. Do not buy drugs at the festival. Not only do you risk getting bunk shit, but undercover cops are everywhere!
• If you are going to drink alcohol, do so in moderation and stay hydrated! For every alcoholic drink you have, you should drink 8-16oz of water!
• If you are a lady, bring wipes! Usually the porta-potties run out of toilet paper. It's just a fact of the festival and usually they don't get resupplied until the following day. You will thank me if you get caught in this situation.
• Bring a hand fan for the water lines! They can get pretty hot and people will love you!
• Try to catch at least one sunrise set one of the nights. I recommend night 2, since everyone and their mothers will be staying on night 3. Plus, Monday morning rush hour traffic on night 3 is no bueno.
• If you have a large crew and need to split up to see different sets, plan a meeting spot! Try to pick something that is stationary, like the locker area, the cooling area, one of the buildings in EDC Town, etc.
• Buy a smoothie or a lemonade. They are a nice change of pace from warm hydrant water.
• Get a bandana and tie it around your neck for each night you are out there. Put it over your mouth and nose when the dust gets to be too much. Your lungs will thank you, plus you get to look like a bandit. Win/win.
• Trains of people going in and out of the crowd are going to happen, so use them to your advantage. Become the caboose to go into or out of the crowds and use your manners! Excuse me, thank you, etc go a long way when navigating the crowd!
• Bring good vibes, leave the judgement at the gates, and most of all, enjoy yourself and smile! EDC is a glorious wonderland of fun. Extrude the vibes you wish to receive back to you and you will have a great time, I promise!

If you have other tips, tricks or questions, comment your thoughts below!

Alligators in the Pond By Mateo Montero de Madrid In honor of the SCAllion and Lifeguards everywhere.
Once upon a time there was pond at Pennsic war So populous and fine a place there never was before Frolic dance and lounge they did as in the days of yore And because we’re all for safety they put lifeguards on the shore
Then one summer Pennsic day a duke came out to swim Slung across his delts a sack of gators close as kin He dumped them in the water near some children and their mom And when the lifeguard saw't she blew her whistle hard and long
Are ye daft, milord the Duke you can’t have lizards in the pond Especially those gators with their teeth and tail so long So take your scaly bastards and shove them back in your sack Be gone the writhing lot of you and never again come back
Well, the Duke he stomped his booted feet and gnashed his pearly whites He shouted out his status as a duke and highborn knight The lifeguard stood their ground and showed the duke the posted law Ye cannot have yer gators on the site or in the pond.
But technically he said, complaining to his friend Who headed up the lifeguard guild and lived just ‘round the bend Technically, sweet technically that’s never been the rule. So can’t you make it legal for my pets to use the pool?
"Yeah sure, bro."
The duke returned triumphant with his gators to the pond. The lifeguard saw him coming, blew her whistle hard and long She told him not to dare to dump his gators, what the heck?! But the lifeguard guild commander yanked the whistle off her neck.
The gators ate the children, the gators ate the mom. The duke and guard commander marched the lifeguard cross the lawn. The people watched in outrage as they locked her up in jail. But there was nothing they could do about the gators, teeth to tail.
The populace appealed their case up to the B O D These gators are against the rules we looked it up you see. The BoD met with the lifeguard chief for at least an hour or two, And then came to the populace to tell them what they’d do.
Gators in the pond, they said, are wholesome as can be. The duke had done not one thing wrong, per the B O D And if some children and their mom wound up as gator bait Well, the lot of them signed a waiver when they paid their fee at gate.
The lifeguard on the other hand, that villain, oh that scamp How dare they tell a duke to take his gators back to camp? Discourteous and brazen was the lifeguard in their view. They gave a lengthy sentence; made apology to the duke
The moral of this story, if one can be unearthed Justice in the SCA seems based on royal worth. And if that truth offends you, if you think that’s just not right, Then I charge you take up pen, not sword, And prove that right makes might.
Sometimes all there is to do is make up funny prose To remind the ones in power they do not want to make us foes The bards and clever wordsmiths, artists, writers and the press We will absolutely rake them o’er the coals to seek redress
With love for what we know is right I charge you take up pen and write.

November 15th, 2020; reddit. 

Only one thing was ever found after Lucy went missing.She had disappeared the day she went on a hike in white lake forest. I remember that day so clearly, and yet no matter how many times I reread this journal I can’t figure out what happened to her. The state has stopped looking for her and left the case without an answer, just another unanswered missing person’s case I guess, but maybe you guys can figure it out. “Morning mom! I cant wait til I get on the paths. Its supposed to be a really nice day out too! You sure you dont want to come with me?” Lucy texted early in the morning on June 20, 2017. “I am sure I dont want to come with you. Unfortunately Im still sick. Make sure to take pictures for me tho! Anyways Im sure you need to get ready, so I wont keep you. Enjoy your hike today tho, we both know you need this break!” I responded shortly after as I was just waking up. “Awe, still? Hopefully you get better soon! Your immune system has been getting weaker, you should really go to the hospital to get it checked out! I’ll make sure to send plenty of photos thouh, I promise!” Lucy replied as I got up to go to the bathroom. She had sent me ten photos from 10:30am to 1pm. The first one was of a fox peering out of a hole underneath a dead tree, the second one helped the rescue team identify the trail she had taken, the fifth was one of her with a doe and its fawn in the background. The photo of her had her wearing a cyan tee-shirt with a black backpack on her back and her brown hair up in a ponytail as her green eyes reflected the forest. Those photos were the only ones that were found useful in finding her. It was a year later that the police had given me the journal after recording everything written in it. She started writing in it the night before she went on that hike. Her first entry was titled June 19, 2017; I can’t wait! After weeks on end of working every day of the week I finally was able to catch a break, so I have made plans to drive out to white lake forest and go for a hike. I’ll be stoping by panera for breakfast on my way. I just have to remember to pack a lunch, some snacks, water, a portable charger, a pen, and this jornal. I have checked the weather and it’s looking like it will be a perfect day for a hike. Hopefully my mom has gotten better so that way she can join me! Honestly after everything with my ex I could really use a day to relax and just enjoy myself. She had recently broken up with her abusive (ex) boyfriend, and he hadn’t stopped bothering her until she got a restraining order. That had been just a few days before she went on that hike. After all that overworking herself as well as the stress of dealing with an abusive ex who wouldn’t leave her alone she really needed a day to relax. If only she had returned home that day. I really miss my baby girl. The next entry in her journal is labled June 21, 2017; Something is wrong. I should have been home by now, but I think I took a wrong turn at some point. I just began to get this feeling of being watched, so I stopped taking pictures and started looking around a lot more without really paying attention to my surroundings. As the sun set over the horizon I was out of food and my water was almost out. Once the sun was down and it grew dark I pulled out my phone for the flashlight. I ended up having to call it a night when my phone died. I slept at the base of a tree last night and when I woke up I drank the last of my water. It tasted a bit funny though, but that might just be me. Anyways I better start moving before I spend the whole day here. I think I see an area I recognize, so that will be the direction I head. It’s the old cabin that is overrun by foliage with a caved in roof. The next page is the last entry, and it is the most worrying one. June 21, 2017; I needhelp if only my phone weren’t dead. I didn’t realize the portable charger was dead. If I hadI would have charged it the night before I’m getting dizzy, so Ihad to stop and take a break.Im currently siting on the porch on theold cabin. I think I hear some The entry cuts off there. The jornal had apparently been found in an overgrown bush in front of an old cabin, though none of her other belongings were ever found. I still wonder what ever happened to her that day, and hope that maybe she is doing well today. I am not sure if you came to this hoping to read a story with a happy ending, but unfortunately this isn’t a fantasy and in real life not all stories have a true ending.
December 20, 2020; reddit
Edit: Wow, I didn’t realize this post would blow up this much. Anyways, many of you have asked some questions regarding more information on the case. To start with, “Who all knew where she was going to be that day?” Well, to my knowledge she only told me, her siblings, and her close friends because she was inviting us to go with her, though I couldn’t tell you if anyone else knew because I’m not sure if anyone else was told by her siblings or friends. Another question that was asked often was “Does any of her friends or family have a close connection to her ex-boyfriend?” While I wouldn’t call this a close connection I do know one of her friends has a brother who is dating the ex-boyfriend’s brother. I have met his family and they are all good people especially his parents, so not only am I not sure where he got the way he treats his partners but I am sure his family wouldn’t let him do anything to Lucy. The last question I will answer is “Is there any way someone could have drugged the water she had left in the water bottle?” I wouldn’t think so due to her being a light sleeper, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible for someone to have drugged her water. Thinking about it though if that were the case then they would have been close enough to her to take her then, so the fact that they didn’t does strike me as odd. Thank you all for your kindness by the way, I really appreciate it.

Hey everyone! I 've done a lot of research on what smartwatch/ smart band to buy these last few days, and I imagine that like many of you, it's left me overwhelmed and whatchless, so I thought I'd just ask people who already have purchased of the options I've considered. I think the GTR 3 Pro is the most suitable option, but I may be wrong.
I am looking for a model mainly to track my workouts (cardio, strength training, swimming), nothing too thorough, but reliable enough. I'd like it to be "aesthetic" enough not have to take it off at work. Problem is, I'm not sure if the options I've been considering would handle salt water well. I am in the pool/ocean fairly often and maybe it would get damaged. Also - I work out alone and being a girl my other main concern is being able to call someone trough the watch or make an SOS call. Maybe the GPS function would cover that, but I'm not sure it sends your location to your phone or if it registers on the watch only. I don't care much about other tools like Alexa, but they seem to blow the price through the roof.
I've looked at many models- Garmin, Fitbit, you name it. It seems the GTR 3 Pro would be a good option. Seems some of you have your fair share of experience with these devices, and being my first smartwatch I don't want to make a mistake. What do you all think? Thank you!

Hello everyone!
So. I recently upgraded my phone, and have been jealous of my partner's Apple Watch. I'm not an apple guy, however. On a whim, I bought a refurbished Galaxy Watch (Model SM-R800). I'm going to return it. While I like the rotating bezel, UI, understated look, and screen clarity, it simply doesn't do what I want it to reliably. The Alti-Barometer straight up doesn't work. Integration with Strava hasn't worked correctly, since I think I'm accidentally pausing my ride by tapping the buttons with my hand/wrist while using bike handlebars.
My buddy is willing to sell me his old Garmin Fenix 5X Sapphire for $175. I've been using it for a few days. While it is clearly more accurate and super rugged, and the battery life is awesome, I really dislike the UI and feel like the screen resolution/display quality are pretty poor for a product as nice as this. I was interested in it because of integration with the Trailforks app, but the integration isn't as smooth as I'd like. I do have access to a ~35% discount on all Garmin and Sunnto products. However, even with that discount, they are quite pricey pieces and I don't think I really need the quality of a Fenix 6 or 7, or an Epix. The Forerunner seems nice, but I'm not a fan of the plastic construction.
So, I've narrowed it down to a few options, and I'd love to get some input from folks here who have tried out some of these models.
Use Case:

• Everyday use. Basic metrics like steps, HR, etc. Ability to control Spotify. Ability to see basic notifications like text messages and my Google Calendar, etc. Ideally it also has a nice looking display with good clarity and brightness. Ideally a nice, subtle form factor and not too ostentatious.
• Sport Use: I'm a pretty active and avid outdoors-person. My primary sports are cycling (both mountain and road), and watersports (whitewater rafting, SUP, swimming, fly fishing), and backcountry skiing. I also hunt. This means that having good GPS tracking is needed. Ideally, I would be able to have a downloaded topo map with trails on the watch, or be able to import KML or GPX files. I plan routes using a variety of software. For MTB rides in new trail systems, I'd still use my phone for larger scale navigation, but it would be nice to be able to quickly glance at my watch to determine which way I'd prefer to go at a junction, or tell friends which way would be best without pulling my phone out of a pack.
• Must be rugged. I'm hard on things, and weather it's swimming laps at the pool or hitting rocks underwater while swimming in a river, grabbing a fish, dinging it on hard surfaces, the watch needs to be able to survive.

So, my thoughts are:

1. Amazfit T-Rex. Seems like a great value that would do everything I need. I've read some reviews of this and the Falcon, and it seems like the biometric data isn't perfect, but I'm not super concerned about my HR being perfectly accurate. The rest of the features seem to tic the boxes. I'm skeptical about the UI and app availability. Really wonder if there would be a decent offline map app that would suit my needs. Also wonder about the ergonomics for cycling.
2. Keep my buddy's Fenix 5X Sapphire. It tics all the spec boxes, but the display just looks pretty mediocre and I feel like I'd end up having buyers remorse.
3. Amazfit Falcon. Same as the T-Rex, but with more subtle branding and aesthetic. Unfortunately it's also around the same price as what I can get a Garmin Fenix 6 for.
4. Garmin Fenix 6. I know it will be solid for the sport use, but I worry that the UI and screen resolution/display quality will be less crisp than I'd prefer.
5. Samsung Watch 5 Pro. I'd likely need to add a rugged case, but I know the screen/UI/app store are all solid. I just wonder about the GPS/AltimeteBarometer reliablity, considering my current, older Samsung totally fails in that regard.

Very open to suggestions if there's something I missed. Thank you for your time!

Bangkok- coming from small cityCanada it was a little hectic at first but I enjoyed the markets, went to floating market but not the instagram one it was more inner city and you get off boat to the markets. Khao San road one night. went early and it was good then watched it turn into zoo which was interesting and annoying at the same time Last day mostly stayed at our hotel Amara Bangkok as we had a beautiful rooftop pool and bar so we had to enjoy
Phuket: almost equally as hectic as Bangkok. I stayed in patong area but away from the noise, the main drag was fun at night, as I loved the live music, it was so good I questioned if it was even live. The taxi situation is exactly what everyone says it is, expensive and bolt drivers likely will decline for you. Went to the big Buddha and kata beach one day, the beach is way more packed than Patong and not worth the taxii price.The Russian complaining on this sub is over done, though there is a plenty there rudeness is over exaggerated. I liked Phuket to an extent it was more just a meh better than home place
Koh Phi Phi: beautiful place, good day tours, and the night life was good for those who are into that but kind of a sesspool. I did the maya/ monkey island / bamboo island tour one day and it was great, second day hung around the island and the amount of people, entrapped to tight road paths, the heat, and sewer smells just made me feel sick, and to boot that was the night I got food poisoning.
Railay beach: wanted off koh phi phi after half a day of shitting my guts out, came here and it was such more relaxing, though the entire time I had stomach issues, I didn’t do much except last day tried rock climbing for the first time ever and whoa that was crazy, I hate heights and can’t believe I did that., also watched muay Thai fight, and kayaked. Overall I loved the beach it was my type of place, chill, some night life and good activities
Krabi town: was debating going to the town, koh lanta or Khao sok , but I still wasn’t feeling the best and needed a break from the beaches so decided to go into the bush a little. The town isn’t the greatest, very spread out, went to emerald pool and hot springs which is meh but the elephants were just as lovely as I’d want but overall, tame couple days
Ao Nang: went on hong island tour which was great, hung out a pool, the beach is kinda meh and the water is mucky from all the tailboats but the town is great, lots of decent restaurants, good night life, and less hectic than Phuket, ended up closing our trip here cause it seemed like too much to go somewhere else and come back to fly back to Bangkok. If I didn’t get sick I probably would have went to koh lanta instead of Krabi town and then spend less days in ao Nang but, I had a great relaxing but still active last week so there’s no real regrets.
Takeaways - look both ways crossing the street, twice - Go straight for antibiotics instead of immodium cause your guts arent gonna like you trying to keep that poison in - Don’t be shy to wave down your waite waitress because service is comically abysmal compared to what I’m used too - Helllllooooo maaaaassage - As relaxing as last week was I wish I did one more stop, I would have loved khao sok, or even chiang Mai as I originally planned but was thrown off my air quality -not as cheap as I’ve been told for the past 15 years - how the fuck did the ocean islands/rocks form millions of year ago - Thai people are incredibly nice, and jokesters. I felt very welcomed

"So, you're telling me we found another sapient omnivore species?"
The commander grunted, ripping his boot from a watery patch of mud and nearly crashing into the swampy water between two twisted tree roots.
Sunny reached out with one of her four armored arms and caught him by the back of his pack, pulling him upright.
He nodded a thanks to her and adjusted his gear.
Behind her Ramirez ducked under a low hanging branch, slogging through a pool of knee-high water, adjusting the containment pod, holding Krill more comfortably over both shoulders.
Krill, comfortable and warm inside his containment pod, watched the marines, scientists, and a linguist struggle through the mud under a covering of impossibly tall, twisted trees, their canopy blocking out all light that might have dared cut downwards towards the watery floor below.
"Not entirely sapient, I suppose."
Krill answered,
"Unfortunately the way in which they communicate is going to drastically reduce their ability to create complex structures and perform mathematical equations."
Together they maneuvered themselves over a root, which at some point in the distant past, had decided to grow upwards instead of down. At about four feet high, it had changed its mind and arched back down into the water. Perhaps it had been smaller then, but at four feet wide, the root was an absolute monstrosity now.
The trees themselves were massive, challenging, and sometimes outgrowing the legendary redwood forests of the western Americas, but unlike the redwoods, these trees didn't stand tall and proud. Instead, they chose a twisted path much like the branching veins which made up a human vascular system. They twisted and undulated, interlocking past each other with branches that were well over two feet wide in many cases, and stretching to over four feet wide in others.
No one direction was good enough, and the trees twisted, ducked swirled and reached, grasping for any sort of light to be found.
On top of the darkness cast by the trees and the soggy nature of the forest floor, it was also horribly hot and humid, giving the impression of a microwaved wet blanket thrown over the world. Where heat from the upper canopy met the cooler air of deep forest pools, it created a perpetually thick mist which writhed and undulated through the trees, leaving only the shadowy impressions of twisted trunks and clawing branches past distances greater than 50 feet (15m).
"They communicate primarily through pheromones and heat modulation. From what I understand, the language in itself isn't precise, and really only works in generalities and feelings than it does in absolutes."
Commander Vir kicked a rotting log out of the way, ducking as a massive green bug buzzed over his head and into the fog.
Turns out the hotter and more humid a planet gets, the bigger the bugs get,
"But we were still able to communicate with them?”
Krill nodded from inside his case,
"Yes, generally speaking. For a species that cannot communicate in absolutes, I hear they are quite reasonable. They seem willing to accept our friendship, and have..... invited, I guess, us to participate in some sort of primitive ritual."
Vir perked up, flashing a bright smile.
“Reasonable? Peaceful? Rituals? And definitely CANNOT communicate in ABSOLUTES!? Am I the only one who thinks that sounds familiar?”
Sunny sighed,
“No Adam I am reasonably sure that they are not Jedis…”
“C’mon, that would be so cool! Like lightsabers, the force and stuff… maybe they look like tiny Yodas? I mean it fits, with the swamp, the speech impairment and all…”
He nearly fell over another root.
“Adam, focus. We have a mission here.”
The commander nodded, scrambling over another tree branch,
"Alright, so... where are these things anyway? How do they look?"
His boots hit solid ground, covered in some sort of wet spongy fungus and he glanced down at his GPS.
“Considering they talk by smell, my bet is on Elephants with giant human noses. What do you think Mav?”
Ramirez turned around to look at Maverick, who had stopped walking.
“…”
“Mav?”
“Giant… fucking spiders…”
“…”
Commander Vir was still looking at his GPS and no one else answered, so without looking up he broke the silence and said:
“Wow you are always so negative; it better not be, I want my space Yodas…”
“…”
“…”
More silence.
This time it was broken by Ramirez.
“Giant fucking spiders… with… Wolfheads!?”
The commander was still diddling around with the GPS in his hands.
“Oh not you too Ramirez, also that’s oddly specific, you always had a pretty cruel imagination. Ah there we go I think it’s that way.”
He said, looking up from his GPS to keep moving.
“…”
“…”
After some steps he realized no one was following him, so he stopped and turned around.
Behind him the other marines were dead silent, heads lifted towards the sky in shock.
"FUCK ME."
One of the marines whispered, scrambling back behind a tree root.
Commander Vir turned and nearly fell into the water again, eyes locked onto the creatures descending from high above.
They were huge, about the size of large horses, and horrifically spider like in their construction, or perhaps an ant. They had large-scale abdomens connected to a thinner thorax. All together they had ten appendages, three pairs of spider-like legs on the abdomen which, instead of ending in a pod or foot, ended in a sharp pointed spike. On the abdomen, they had two arm-like appendages, with too many joints and strange wavy tentacles instead of fingers.
The head was just as disconcerting.
It seemed too large for the body, grossly out of proportion and strangely out of place, like some cosmic sentience had used a random animal generator to assign parts to its body.
The head was wolflike, if you were to strip the skin and fur away, leaving only the muscle underneath. You could see the line of teeth running up either side of the muzzle, while the large red-pink ears rotated continuously.
Commander Vir had backed himself into the bowl of a tree eyes wide. Sunny slogged herself up from the water, placing herself between the strange spidery creatures and the human.
They didn't descend like a spider might, on threads of silk, but they used their back six feet, and the spikes on the end to dig into the bark of the trees with a disconcerting thud thud thud thud.
Finally the largest of the creatures reached the ground, surprisingly silent for its massive bulk.
Glancing around Sunnys tensed body, he noticed something he hadn't before, and that was a strange small mass gripping onto the spidery creature's underbelly. Upon closer inspection he counted ten legs and a surprisingly spidery head buried against its underside... a completely separate creature holding on to its companion.
Behind the largest creature, he noted ANOTHER type of creature. It boasted the same sort of structure as the large creature, but its abdomen was devoid of scales, and covered in strange black bulbs suctioned onto its body by way of a strange, sticky black-green webbing. Its head was also constructed differently more like a lizard than a wolf, with large bulbous eyes that could rotate behind its own head to look in all directions.
Commander Vir fiddled nervously with the advanced translation headset he wore, strapped to his helmet, supposedly it was supposed to be able to understand what these things were saying.
"Sky... friends."
The translation was somewhat garbled, but he understood it was the large wolf-head who spoke.
He walked forward, pushing Sunny gently to the side despite her clear reluctance,
"Yes, we are friends, and we are here to offer peace to you, and the assistance of the Galactic Assembly."
He wasn't entirely sure how that was going to translate over in smell, but the creature seemed happy lifting its head and gnashing its large canine teeth.
"Agreement... for a favor."
Commander Vir grew unsure then, letting off a reluctant,
"What favor?”
The spidery shape moved closer sniffing at him with its large wolffish nose. Sunny stiffened at his side, and he put a hand on her arm to calm her.
"Ritual... you watch and help."
"None of us will get hurt... will we?"
The creature stopped and pondered the question for a long moment,
"No danger... live... healthy... happy."
Commander Vir nodded slowly,
"Alright, what do we have to do?"
The creature hefted its large bulk, and turned in the opposite direction,
"Follow."
It commanded, scuttling off into the trees.
[…]
"This is very interesting."
Krill was saying to one of the accompanying scientists, who nodded vigorously in agreement.
"What's so interesting?”
Commander Vir whispered, from where he stood at the edge of yet another, but larger fungus covered clearing, watching as the creatures scuttled back and forth.
The scientist learned in in excitement,
"It seems that these creatures have a ternary gender system."
Before the commander could ask, the scientist continued,
"For ease of speech, the large ones are the females, and those things on their bellies are probably the males. The medium ones are the third gender, the 'they' if you will. It looks like the male impregnates the female who then attaches the eggs to the third party. Dr. Krill tells me that the third party have a very high heat signature, probably to incubate the young. Those attachments probably provide nutrients into the egg and may even transfer DNA over as well."
"Wow... freaky."
The commander muttered in fascination.
"Kind of gross if you ask me."
Sunny muttered.
"I'm with her. Its kinky, but too kinky for me…"
Ramirez muttered, receiving a few nods from the other marines.
"Oh please."
Krill whispered,
"I know what human reproduction is like, and it's arguable way worse."
The scientist waved them all off,
"The big one there, the one that's been talking to us. I think she's the queen, and judging from those egg sacks, this is probably mating season, if they have one."
"Creepy, but cool, I guess."
The captain muttered. They watched for a little longer as the queen scuttled around the clearing and then returned to look at them, lowering her meaty wolffish head to the commander's eye level.
"Ritual... find... eggkeeper."
She scuttled away.
"Oh... this is some sort of… Mating ritual maybe? To choose that third party you were talking about?”
"This isn't exactly the kind of "Mating ritual" I wanted to see."
Ramirez muttered. The other marines turned to look at him with raised eyebrows. Sunny stuck her tongue out in disgust.
Off in the clearing, some of the smaller females had moved themselves onto the high branches scuttling through the trees to examine the "they" who waited patiently. It appeared that side was very important in the ritual, as they all fought for the largest counterpart. Once found, the wolffish head would lower, and open up to reveal a tube under the tongue. From there she would... disgorge the egg onto the abdomen of the 'they' and the mucus would solidify to hold them on.
"It has to do with size."
Krill hissed,
"But it seems that it has more to do with heat. The big ones only get chosen more because they also happen to be warmer than the smaller ones. I'd say they incubate at an average of 90 degrees Fahrenheit, so 32 degrees Celsius."
They watched this for a while, the scientists taking notes and the marines making inappropriate jokes.
Eventually most of the creatures had finished, leaving only the queen left over.
Everything went still when she began to move, and she scuttled around the clearing, looking over all the available 'theys' she could find, but she just didn't seem satisfied.
Commander Vir tugged at the collar of his jacket, a line of sweat dripping down his face.
She continued her circuit once and then twice; at some point she turned her head, large eyes locking on the humans.
She sniffed at them.
The human laughter died as she advanced.
"What is she doing?"
The commander muttered under his breath.
The scientist that stood next to him, hidden partially behind Sunny, answered
"I... I'm not sure."
She scuttled even closer, and the humans backed away.
"Hey doc... didn't you say something about... them being attracted to heat? And like the “they’s” being around 90 F/32 Celsius?”
Ramirez wondered, hiding himself behind a root.
"Yeah... I did, why?”
"Not to freak anyone out or anything but... isn't average human heat about 98.6 Fahrenheit… so 37 degrees Celsius?"
”FUCK!”
”OH NONONONONO!”
”HIIIIDE!”
”RUUUN!”
What followed was a rather violent game of nose goes, but instead of involving touching one’s nose to see who was the last person standing, it involved a mad rush to reduce body heat.
The smartest marines took the initiative and dove into the water beside the clearing, completely submerging themselves under the surface.
Others chose to cover whatever exposed skin they might have had in mud, as if to mask the heat.
Still others chose to cut and run.
Unfortunately, with his position at the head of the group, commander Vir wasn't fast enough.
She came at him in a scuttling rush, and in a frantic leap to get away, his boot caught on a root and he hit the ground hard.
Sunny tried to leap in front of him, but was bowled over by the mad rushing form.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!"
Commander Vir repeated, scuttling backwards across the ground, as the large spidery shape loomed over him.
He stopped dead in his tracks, backed against a tree root.
She leaned closer.
He raised his hands above his head blocking his face,
"Please don't lay your eggs in me. Please don't lay your eggs in me."
She reached out one of her forward hands, surprisingly delicate, as she cut through the first layers of his jacket, and shirt.
They fell away in slices revealing the pale human skin underneath red and sticky with the tropical heat.
His chest and abdomen heaved with his breath as he tried to scramble away, but she caught him with the prong of one of her back legs pinning him in place.
"Fuck... Help... HELP."
Sunny wasn't fast enough, having been tipped head over heels into the water, with the rest of the marines in similar positions, Krill contained inside his tube unable to help but also unable to look away.
She lowered her head, and the man screamed. It was cold, gelatinous and slimy at first, but even as it touched open air, he could feel it fusing against his skin solidifying. He thrashed and wriggled, but she was far too strong holding him in place.
Finally though, she backed away, leaving him panting on the ground shaking and trembling leg throbbing where he had been pinned.
She leaned her head down to examine him,
"Warm."
They locked eyes,
"Friends... now... Keep them... warm."
She retreated, and he struggled to his knees, turning to look down at his body which was now partially obscured by a sticky pod of six black eggs, pulled tight against his skin. His hands were shaking, as he reached down to touch them, cold and smooth.
He tried tugging on one, but nearly fainted at the pain it caused against his skin.
The creatures were withdrawing back into the trees, leaving him kneeling on the fungus, hands trembling as looked downwards.
Sunny was the first to recover, scrambling out of the water and over to him, placing a hand on his back as she examined the strange eggs attached to his skin,
"Mother of-"
The marines cut her off as they came wriggling from the trees,
"Commander, commander are you ok..."
One of the marines cut around front, frozen in his tracks, eyes wide once he saw,
"WHAT THE HELL!"
Sunny reached out as if to tug on one of them,
"NO!"
He snapped, jerking away from her.
The others gathered around to look with exclamations of shock and disgust.
The commander looked up at Sunny pleadingly.
She decided to take charge, helping him to his feet and then pulling him into her arms,
"We have to get him back to the ship, let's move, NOW!"
"What do you think, Dr."
Dr. Katie examined the scan with a frown,
"It's very, very strange, that's for sure."
Commander Vir lifted his head to look down at them,
"Well what the HELL does that mean?”
Krill shoved his head back onto the table,
"Stay still."
Dr. Katie hummed softly as she continued to examine the scans,
"It looks like these little filaments have breached the skin ... and.... well at least one of them has made it to your liver, this one here has made it to your lungs."
"What about white blood count?"
Krill wondered,
"The body must have noticed something by now?"
Dr Katie shook her head,
"Nothing, the body seems to have accepted it. I took some samples and... well I think I might know why."
She rolled herself to the side in her chair and over to one of the adjoining computers,
"See this, this is HIS DNA ...and this is the DNA of the strands."
Krill pearled over her shoulder,
"What the... they look almost identical."
"Yes... I don't think the body knows anything is wrong."
She turned her chair back around to look at the commander,
"Congratulations commander, you are perhaps, in the weirdest way possible, the only man in the history of existence who might just experience the miracle of life. You are going to be a dad!"
The look on his face made it clear he wasn't interested in being congratulated,
"What the actual fuck does that mean?"
He snapped, Dr. Katie rolled closer,
"Well, to explain in terms you may understand. You are doing more than keeping them warm. Those filaments that you saw are acting like umbilical cords. The one at your liver is using it as a filter, and to take in nutrients as it seems to have branching filaments to the stomach and intestines. The one going to your lungs is taking in carbon... not sure what that's going to do to your breathing if anything. But at this point I don't think that even Dr. Krill, as good as he is, can remove them. We would have to remove too much of your internal structure to it to be viable, plus they don't seem to be hurting you."
"Not hurting me! NOT HURTING ME! You said it yourself they are SUCKING OUT MY VITAL JUICES."
Dr. Katie shrugged,
"Welcome to pregnancy... sort of.”**
”Look we will monitor you, make sure they aren't sucking away to many nutrients. Look on the bright side, you can probably eat more, and judging from an analysis of the egg sacks, the average gestational period is only around two months."
"TWO MONTHS!?"
Sunny, who had been standing next to the man at the head of the exam table, couldn't suppress a short chirp of laughter.
He glowered at her,
"What's so funny!?"
She chirped again placing a hand on his arm,
"You're gonna be a mom."
If looks could kill, shed be reduced to a singularity,
"Get your hand off me or ill break it in half!"
She continued chirping but removed her hand just in case.
This was going to be a very awkward call to the UNSC and the GA.
For that matter, it was going to be a very awkward call home.
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Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author

Lately my daughter loves going swimming at an indoor pool. I want to do this for her, because I think it’s a good thing we can do together AND I’m excited she is over her fear of water and learning to swim. However!
The locker room and the whole process is very challenging for me, sensory-wise and socially. I was wondering if anyone has tips for making the experience more comfortable and smoother? I’ll explain the parts I struggle with.
Wet towels! We are supposed to shower before going into the pool. But then we use our towels, and they get wet. So when we get out of the pool later, we have wet towels. Should I bring four towels? What if we need to shower after? Six towels?? Related: do we HAVE to shower before? Or is that one of those “rules” not everyone follows?
Dealing with the crowded locker room. The pool we go to offers one-hour sessions, so everyone ends up in the locker room at once and it is pretty overwhelming. Last time I essentially went mute to avoid having a meltdown and I feel bad about that. My only idea so far is leaving the pool 5-10 minutes before end of session, so we are more likely to get a private-ish spot. However my 6-year-old is INTENT on staying in the pool until they blow the whistle.
Any thoughts or advice appreciated! Thanks friends!
PS I may cross-post this later to get input from the larger subs as well, just a note.

Okay it's 1:46am Wednesday the 22nd here and I (22M) have been awake since 12pm Sunday for what I think makes almost 62 hours. I want to list a few observations
For context this obviously wasn't the desired outcome. I’m an Architecture student in Australia and have an assignment due Thursday night and I had barely started. I’ve been fueling this exercise in what now feels like self torture with, and do your best not to judge me:
-Food. Sort of. On Sunday I ate approx 300 kcal of leftover pasta. Monday was a big one. Unfortunately I did forget to eat all day so it was a single godly meal centering on the divine Large Zinger Box. This was paired with 3 wicked wings, a maxi popcorn chicken, a supercharged slider, and a pepper mayo slider. No idea the calories but well and truly a “feel like absolute shit” quantity. Tuesday I had 2 baos, a far cry from the prior binge but havent had any desire to eat
-A steady supply of (prescribed) ritalin, starting with 40mg at the beginning of a dedicated study session and an additional 20mg every 3 hours to account for the half-life.
I estimate I’ve munched down on about 300ish mg so far :(
-Caffeine. Far too many monster mango locos, monster zero ultras, and cans of red bull. A simply exquisite ritalin pairing that I could not recommend more, provided you want a couple of your primary senses, and what feels like new ones all together, to gain the ability to scream at you with each rapidly quickening heartbeat.
-Pure delusion and stupidity with a helping hand from the sunk cost fallacy
Now The Issues!!
-okay the biggest thing is paranoia. At almost all times I can see movement just in the corner of my peripheral vision. Any small noises become an immediate spike of dread. I'm sitting in my uni commons room completely alone and don’t really feel safe (i know i am)(probably). I fear they notice me seeing them and hide really quickly. Will need to investigate further.
-Lack of ability to think/plan. I just spent a good 3 minutes trying to plan how I would walk out of this building. None of the routes made more sense than another and I couldn't mentally envision myself moving at all so they seemed equally good and worth re-pondering to get to the bottom of this dire conundrum. I should also add that I had no intention of standing, let alone going anywhere, it was just to see if I could, then I got lost in it until I realised I'd been staring at the wall for far too long. I'm also realising I can't conjure any mental images up either. Really cool for the drawing part of this assignment where I can't think of what I'm going to draw.
-I just zone out mid-thought and forget what I was thinking about. To be fair I'm like that normally with ADHD too, but I feel like my head’s a colander and my, obviously revolutionary, thoughts are that sweet sweet starchy pasta water flooding out.
-Big jitters, earthquakes in the palms of my hands. Surgery patients fear me and Jazz pianists want to be me. (currently listening to Ryo Fukui’s - scenery, incredible jazz album)
-Not a single thought of value
-Positives however… not looking nearly as dishevelled as I should be. Don't get me wrong, my body's a mess. I’m pissing constantly. Each one a new hue between a radiant yellow and a tasteful sage green, every muscle and joint aching… you just read it you know it’s not good, BUT,, Hair’s sitting kinda nice, eye bags are hardly there, skins not looking too bad. Overall I'd say a visual improvement.
In conclusion, I spent an hour writing this because I couldn't slam two brain cells together to save my degree. I fear if i wrote “to save my life” some subconscious force would keep them apart just to end this. I might even support the cause at this point. My now 63 consecutive wakefull hours have gleaned me an abundance of sweet fuck all. I truly believe the pitiful collection of sub-par work I slapped together could have been done in a day or so of being rested. And NOT ONCE did that fucker in the corner of my eye offer to help. I will be surprised if it's finished in time. I’m expecting the worst :)
TL;DR
I’ve been awake for over 60 hours to work on a uni assignment. Have done less than I would have had I not. My once throbbing juicy brain is a mere paste pooling at the base of my skull. I fear failure is unavoidable and the consequences of my hubris lasting.

My spa and pool share the same plumbing and the spa flows into the pool when it reaches the level of the waterfall.
Both the pool and spa have jets and drains and I have valves to control the ratio that all of them are used.
I am considering draining water only from the pool and returning it mostly to the spa and partially to the pool. This would bypass the main drain on the spa completely.
Some of the benefits I think are: 1) I never have to worry about pulling water out of the spa faster than I'm putting it in 2) I don't have a check valve and I imagine that shutting the drain on the spa completely would prevent the water from back flowing into the pool when the filter is off
Is this an acceptable configuration?

Hey, first post here but second post ever on this website. My partner and I are experiencing what I think is potentially a toxic situation and potentially a dangerous one physically as well. About a year ago my partner and I, who were dating long distance decided to make the jump and move in with each other. My partners former lease was up in September of the year we moved in together and I moved in May from the United States to Canada to live with him. This was such a big move for me and for him but we also had a mutual friend (since we all game together and this is how we met) who was in need of a change and we all decided to go in on a place together. Big crazy plan but my partner and this roommate have also been friends since they were eight. Our hope was that after spending two years together gaming and talking everyday that we knew enough about each other and we’re close enough friends to make it work. On September 1 of 2022 my partner, his child hood best friend and myself moved into this apartment together and at first the red flags weren’t really red flags with this guy. He seemed a little absent minded and would do things like leave the oven on or the balcony door open (we’re on the fifth floor and have two cats) as well as leave a mess after making food, not cleaning up his dishes after eating, always ordering out, never remembering to pay anyone for something they purchased(We often have one person pay for dinner and everyone e-transfers that person) this guy never sends the money. None of these things plus more to come seemed like anything to worry about because this guy drove a crossed Canada from London, Ontario to Victoria, British Columbia. He also had his parents going through a divorce at the time of his move, which was a big reason he decided to come here. I wrote off all of these behaviours as someone just being overwhelmed from moving a big distance and having such a life altering experience. A little bit more background on this guy is that he does have some mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and ADHD. I have my own mess of Bipolar II etc and my partner has his own anxiety and depress he struggles with. We’re very aware of how much your mental health can affect your day and actions and I think pretty empathetic towards someone having a bad or off day.
With all of those red flags being ignored were now into March and nothing has changed. In fact gotten worse given his constant resistance to being asked to clean up after himself. I understand there is a level of discomfort there when someone asks you to clean up after yourself and this dude gives such bad energy and so many awful vibes and becomes unpleasant, quiet and moody shifting the entire energy of the apartment. After being up all night and eating/making food it will be everywhere. If he makes ramen his package is in one counter, the powder and sauce another (left with sauce and powder everywhere), his dish he used sometimes has the utensil with it but sometimes the bowl is in one area and the utensil another. If he orders out his dinner / containers will be left all over the couch/living room area along with any clothes he discarded. Mostly socks, tuks and jackets. I will voluntarily move these things and place them in front of his door on on his computer chair or in a space near his things so that I can finish cleaning. I don't roughly throw them or treat his things poorly I just place them somewhere new.
The cleaning is a huge thing for me personally. I enjoy things to be much more tidy than usual and I’m aware and willing to put in the extra effort. I can’t keep up with this guy. I’ll spend hours cleaning surfaces, dusting, reorganizing, floors, garbage, recycle, dishes… you get the point. If I’m done cleaning at 3PM and I go do something’s and homie is left with the apartment to himself by the time morning comes it will look like I did nothing. Food stains some how I kid you not, everywhere. Crumbs, dirty dishes, half empty Gatorade bottles strewn wherever, alcoholic beverages thrown wherever, food containers thrown wherever. I also wrote it off because I do like things to always be tidy and thought I was being a bit OCD about the whole thing and I understand that not everyone is like that. I've been keeping this in mind lately and giving them a chance to come back to their mess and clean it up, but it will sit there for days. Literal days. It’s so disheartening to spend hours on our apartment and have this guy just tornado through with zero intention of ever doing a chore.
He has never swept or mopped or vacuumed. Never dusted or done the dishes. If he takes out the garbage he never replaces the bag and the few times he’s attempted the dishes he opens the dishwasher and then sits on the couch to watch TV and puts aWay maybe four dishes. I’ll walk by a few times over the next few hours and he just sits there staring at the Tv or texting on his phone and he seems catatonic while doing this. He will also do these things while operating the stove and oven. I only bring this up because he will be completely zoned into his phone for an hour while boiling water he wants for mac and cheese. He'll be standing next to the stove with the steam going crazy and it will be at least 10 minutes before he'll move to do anything even after my partner and I say something to him. And it's so hard to say something because you're watching a literal human stand next to a stove with water boiling and steam going(We have sensitive fire alarms that he has set off multiple times from heating pizza in the oven without a tray and having toppings and cheese drip to cause smoke.) It's crazy to me that after the first time the fire alarm was set off like this he did not think to clean the oven before doing it the next time. He is the only one in the apartment who uses the oven really since a lot of the food my partner and I cook can be done on the stove-top. So when we ask who left the oven on (we know it's him) but he will flat out deny ever having used the oven or say he did shut it off. He also seems angry that we keep reminding him that the stove or oven is on. I guess I can see that it can be annoying or you could feel like a child but.... hello?
This morning my partner and I got up with the oven still being on and plates all over the couch from roommate reheating some pizza. We literally ask him and have conversations about turning the oven off everytime it gets left on. It's probably a conversation that we have once or twice a week. This is a huge trigger because we are in the mindset of saving as much as we can because we want a house together and we split all the bills three ways. It's really unfair that our electricity bill in an apartment reaches over $300 for a month because we live with someone who does not shut off the TV. Does not shut off his Computer. Leaves the oven on all night multiple nights. He even turns our heating unit on to 80+ and will leave it on all night long. My boyfriend and I go to bed at 9PM ish and I won't even realize the heat is on until probably 11 or 12 the next day on my lunch break. I put something in his room once while I was cleaning and happened to glance at his floor heater thermostat which was turned all the way up and probably has been since winter here in Victoria has started. My partner will tell me how much the electricity bill is every month and it blows my mind. FOR REAL. LIKE HOW
We are all gamers and Dragon flight just released a bit ago. This was a huge turning point for me. I had just started a new job as well and did not have as much time to clean things or to lay the new expansion. I would say we’re decent gamers in that content gets released and we’ll clear heroic plus do high keys in M+ but we also enjoy other games. My partner is an elevator mechanic and works long days too so the two of us just could not dedicate as much time to gaming as our roommate could. This lead to him and my partners identical twin brother being relentlessly mean and toxic over the two of us making mistakes during content. Making mistakes in this context being missing a mechanic that caused our death in a fight during raid and M+. What I mean by being relentlessly mean is that when a death occurs you hear only the sound of screams. Someone saying "Come on guys what the fuck. WHAT THE FUCk. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU. WERE TRYING TO CLEAR CONTENT YOU CAN'T JUST MAKE A MISTAKE." I'm really not kidding here. As well as being spoken down to and so much of it was passive aggressive. Just also insinuating that my partner and I are complete retards (excuse my use of this word but really that's how they were framing it) because we can't play for that long and while we did watch videos on the fights both for dungeons and raid it's different when you're playing. Especially for me since I heal. It's one thing to know the mechanics and another to figure out where best to use things. THis requires pulls and pulls and errors and corrections. I've been a raider for awhile and progression is sort of the point. You review the fight you do a few pulls you figure out the error you fix that another one comes up and you're on repeat. These two made it such an unenjoyable experience! The worst part is we could understand why they were frustrated. They had more time to play and pugged the raid a few times before we ever did it together as a group. I guess they expected the same of my partner and I, but the reason we had not done content together is well.. we had to work and when we aren't working we're cleaning and World of Warcraft is a huge time commitment. We just did not have the same amount of time but for whatever reason we're being held to the same standards.
My partner and I basically stopped playing with the two of them. I would make myself completely busy inside the apartment on our roommates day off or I would play another game entirely until my partner got home and then we we do some content together but it only lasted maybe an hour before things just go bad for no reason. This was one day we were doing a +19 CoS, arguably one of the easier dungeons to time on high keys but it was my first 19 and my partners first 19. Like his first ever because he only got into doing keys because of me. It's a form of content I really enjoy especially as a healer. We're doing this +19 CoS and for the sixth time our room mate who plays the tank DH, says, I have this silence for the group of imps that all spam cast fireball and will kill you if not interrupted, and he did not have silence therefore I died and so did one of our guildies. This is not putting anything on a guildmate but we released and are running back and I had gone the wrong way and the guildie was just following me. Our roommate lost it on me. Asking me what was wrong with me and how could I do that during a 19 and I mean really screaming at me. I just stopped and said "Why are you speaking to me like that?" and he screams "BECAUSE IT'S A 19" to which my reply was, so? To be fair he did come up to me a few minutes after the dungeon and said sorry for being an asshole, but really he was like that anytime anything went wrong in a raid or dungeon from the release of the expansion. It wasn't only him either it was my partners identical twin brother as well. Just being toxic is the only word I have to explain it.
EDIT: My phone would not let me type out everything I needed to say without getting really bogged down so I'm doing that from my PC now. More information to come. I didn't realize I could just save as a draft.
I saw a lot of red flags other than him just being very unpleasant towards us in the apartment after a key or raid did not go his way. He works three days a week every other day. So for example his schedule will be Monday, Wednesday, Friday leaving him four days for whatever he wants. This time was spent doing absolutely nothing but playing World of Warcraft for 16 hours a day. I joke you not. I wake up at 5AM with my partner to get ready for the work day and our room mate would wake up an hour or two later, get on his pc, and stay there for the rest of the day. He would do this and neglect everything else including school work (I found out he dropped out because he could not keep up with working and going to school, I mostly think he stopped because all he did was play wow.) He would come home from his 8 hour shift, walk into his bedroom, change, sit on his PC and not move until the following early morning. This happened every day including days off for the next few months.
We have made quite a few friends playing games online and not being absolutely terrible at them. A friend of ours that we met two years ago who lives in Arizona just had a really bad break up and wanted to come to Victoria to get away and just have a good time. He was with us for 5 or 6 days and it was a really awesome experience. It made me realize a lot of things about this room mate though. I will admit in my mind I don't really consider him to be my friend anymore after the way he's spoken to me over a video game(I'm not being sensitive here I would describe his level of toxicity to be on par with those that play league of legends or people who just don't leave the basement) and how he leaves spaces once he is done with them. He is also incredibly condescending and always has something negative to say about whatever is going on in his the conversation. For example my partner downloaded a constellation ap on his phone since we're on the fifth floor and we've been watching the stars move around since early winter. Our roommate feels the need to aggressively state that constellations are just made up. It's okay to feel that way but to have that weird level of anger about it and to make anyone who looks at the stars or who recognizes a constellation as an idiot is really off putting. It also had nothing to do really with our interest in watching them move around. It was more of a navigation tool and the lore was interesting to us because every constellation is basically a dude or girl who had it so rough that becoming a constellation was the only resolution.
This friend came from Arizona to visit us during a very tense time in the apartment because my partner and I had just about had enough of the way we were being treated and spoken to over a video game/any disagreement within our topics of conversation.Our friend from Arizona cooked us dinner, cleaned up his mess when he was done, ran the dishwasher and put the dishes away the following morning. He also kept the place where he slept pretty organized and tidy. This friend also has ADHD and is suffering from depression due to things that were going on his life / this huge break up but was pleasant to speak to even if there was a difference of opinion. I don't think I've been around a lot of people who have ADHD and I realize that mental health presents differently in everyone. What I could tell was that this friend would get distracted easily and would have to keep reminding himself what he doing. It seemed almost like a ritual sometimes when he would go in a circle or loop of behaviors. He would go back or start at a certain point and almost re follow his train of thought which was interesting to watch. I'm sorry I'm trying to recount this experience and not be rude in anyway. It's really easy to see how our roommate could struggle with what he struggles with but ... we also see zero effort on his part to get better about those things. I brought up a lot of what goes on around the apartment to the friend who came to visit and expressed that this roommate does also have ADHD where in this person said okay that's valid but you have to put in the work. We then had a conversation about what he struggles with and how he combats it. Which I loved because it gave me so much insight into our roommate.
I'm getting pretty nervous and scared about living with this third person because I don't want to wake up to the apartment having been set on fire by his absent mindedness. I don't want to find out that I'm now very sick because he sucks at cleaning up after himself and I don't eat but the two of them do. I'm scared my partner is going to say something to him about his bathroom and our roommates emotional dysregulation is going to turn a simple request to keep his space clean into something more. I'm scared that we won't be able to have the nice things that we want to have because we pay for everything for this person. I know I stated above and earlier that he only works three days a week but I did not mention that his mom supplements his income by sending him $2,300 a month. $1,000 for rent and $1,300 for fun on top of the job he already works. He talks about how he has so much in savings right now and I think about how my partner has been covering his phone/internet/grocery/and weed bills since September and is running out of savings. I know this is his fault but it 's uncomfortable to ask someone for money multiple times. How many times is he supposed to ask for rent before it gets sent?
Everyone in the apartment smokes weed and of course we will smoke together thus making us smoke a bit more. The way we handle that is just splitting on ounces of weed after we go to the weed store. This guy never sends his half for the weed and smokes a huge portion of it. While playing World of Warcraft for his entire day he would hit the bong after every dungeon and dude was doing 100s of dungeons. He never once paid for an ounce of weed in that time or really since he's been here in September. This was because it's hard to ask him to send money for it over and over. Especially given that we have to speak to him almost daily about cleaning up after himself. THe last time my partner went to buy weed he asked if our roommate could be the one to pay for it. He seemed really offended and said he paid for half of the previous ounce and that they should just buy their own ounces from now one, but did not hesitate to smoke the ounce that my boyfriend had bought in the meantime and did not send/offer to send any money. This happens with things like dinner and grocery as well. He does not go to the store by himself to grab anything he could need he just eats food that my partner and I put into the house. We don't buy anything for him specifically we just buy food we like to eat and offer him some under the condition that he pays for food if he's eating it. He will send 1/3rd sometimes but wind up eating the majority of the food eaten. Given my partner is at work all day and only really snacks and eats a lot on the weekends. I don't eat meat and don't share a lot of similar foods with him so I eat my own things. When we do go to the grocery store together the only thing he grabs are snacks and when we get the total and split the cost three ways (me paying more than I have to since I don't like the snacks they get and really only get a few things- sorry I'm pretty mad about this point) he doesn't even send the money I found out. The last two/three times we went with a $300 grocery bill he has not contributed anything.
I don't really know what to do or what to say so I'm putting it out here on reddit. Please feel free to ask any other questions and I'll do my best to answer them because we need a resolution to this. The apartment doesn't feel like a positive and safe place anymore. It's just filled with frustration and confusion and those things cumulate and anyone would have a hard time functioning in this environment. My mental health needs this to improve because I can't waste my time cleaning and looking for a peaceful place only to have it taken from me not even 6 hours later. Thanks in advance and sorry if things are all over the place. I'm nervous about the post and feel like there is a lot of information and situations that lead us to where we are right now.

Bet record: 17-31, Staked: 53.75u, Profit/Loss: +4.96u, ROI: 9.24%, Parlay Suggestions: 21-6
If you’re not bothered about my ramblings on last week’s opinions, scroll down for UFC San Antonio Breakdowns
(For context, my UFC 286 Preview for that event can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/MMAbetting/comments/11qh6nn/ufc_286_betting_preview_ufc_las_vegas_review/)
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UFC 286
Bets: 4-3, +5.74u, Parlay Suggestions: 3-1
✅ 3u Gunnar Nelson & Marvin Vettori both to Win (-115)
✅ 2u Jack Shore & Impa Kasangany to Win (-180)
✅ 1u Jack Shore to Win in Round 2 or 3 (+241)
❌ 1.5u Omar Morales to Win (-110)
✅ 1u Leon Edwards to Win (+250)
❌ 1u Juliana Miller & Omran Chaaban to Win (-125)
❌ 0.25u Marvin Vettori, Gunnar Nelson, Jack Shore & Juliana Miller all to Win (+205)
As I said in my initial comments about UFC 286, I think it really under delivered from a fan perspective because of the lack of high level UK prospects. Without a Molly McCann, Darren Till, Paddy Pimblett or a Tom Aspinall, the fans just weren’t as excited or vocal throughout the card.
With that said, I’m always having fun if I’m making money! This was my third winning event in a row, a streak of over 10u profit in March. It was obviously a card of strong favourites but I’m mostly happy with the spots I chose to pull the trigger on. The Nelson/Vettori parlay was nice as both men delivered exactly what I expected them to, and Jack Shore also came through to cash a bigger priced prop bet. It’s really satisfying when your reads on fights turn out to be spot on, and your bets cash with relative ease as a result. Here's some live thoughts on the card + my breakdowns:
- So proud of Leon Edwards man, that was one hell of a performance. The way he levelled up that takedown defence and made his shots count in the clinch. It was one of those complicated fights to score in that he was moving backwards and fighting defensively for the most part, but he certainly landed more shots and had the better moments. Really happy to have gotten 2/1 and 3/1 (boosted) on the dog there.
- Jesus Christ Rafael Fiziev is quick. The combinations he was throwing in the first minute of round three were some of the most terrifying spurts of offence I’ve seen in some time. And then just a minute or so later Justin Gaethje starts winging massive uppercuts and cannot miss with them. That was such a good fight, real back and forth stuff. I feel like Gaethje was lowkey a really good underdog spot all week but it’s hard to give those opinions credence sometimes when the masses are all hyping up Fiziev. At least I identified Fiziev was not a good bet.
- Massive shoutout to Gunnar Nelson for performing exactly like a -400 should, as I expected him to! He got in, landed a takedown, and found the sub soon after. I still wish he would have done that against Takashi Sato, bur he rounded out the parlay with Vettori and made it a winning night for me! Along with Hadley, he was the best parlay option on the card (as I suggested).
- Casey O’Neill didn’t shoot for a takedown. Not the fight anyone was expecting. It’s disappointing when that happens but there’s not really a whole lot you can do. Jennifer Maia is a really underrated striker so god knows why Casey chose that path. When you consider the way Jake Hadley approached his fight and compare it with O’Neill…that’s the difference between good fight IQ and bad. I actually said in my analysis “I trust O’Neill’s dedication to her gameplan here” which is hilarious. Don’t think I can be blamed for not seeing it coming though haha.
- All week I was a little bit confused by all the love for Roman Dolidze, as I got on Marvin Vettori pretty early and didn’t really see a whole lot of reasoning that I understood. To be perfectly honest, Dolidze had more success than I expected him to, and any fighter other than Vettori would probably have wilted and got stopped. With that said, that’s exactly why I bet Marvin, so I don’t necessarily think it was a bad read at all. A solid parlay leg.
- Jack Shore vs Makwan Amirkhani played out exactly as I expected it to. Amirkhani’s a good grappler, so I wasn’t surprised nor worried when he clearly won round 1. In fact, I was more confident in winning my bets as soon as the horn sounded, and it showed. I don’t really understand how a professional fighter can have such a glaring cardio issue and not address it or adjust his style. I hope they keep Makwan around, those Round 2/3 props will always be good. Happy to finally win one of those bigger priced prop bets. I’ve historically been pretty good with props but somehow been on a dry patch since I started posting here.
- Chris Duncan v Morales was a frustrating one. Morales will look back on that one and be pissed off at himself, because he should absolutely be winning that. Chris Duncan really isn’t very good and I am already looking forward to fading him in the future. Hope they try and build him up because there’ll be a good fade waiting to happen. Annoying fight to lose but fair play to Duncan for identifying the path to victory. Glad I went with a smaller stake for a volatile fight.
- A shame what happened to Dusko Todorovic. Christian Leroy Duncan is a really exciting striker so I was looking forward to seeing more of him, but you never want to see that happen. I hope we don’t have to wait until the next England card for C L Duncan’s next fight, but I also hope they give him a bit of a lay-up for to allow for a proper “debut”.
- Nicely done from Jake Hadley, making use of his striking advantage and not getting sucked into a grappling affair. Always annoys me when someone has a distinct advantage but doesn’t use it because it’s not their plan A. He was the best parlay piece of the card. Good for Hadley and I’m excited to see what else he has to offer. Wish I’d gone with him instead of backing Juliana Miller.
- I was keeping half an eye on Herbert/Klein and Wood/Carolina whilst at work. Doesn’t look like I missed a whole lot and haven't bothered to rewatch.
- Juliana Miller with an awful performance. Veronica Macedo looked much improved but it didn’t take a whole lot to defeat an opponent with no plan B. I didn’t anticipate Macedo being the stronger fighter of the two, which changed a whole lot. Poor decision from me to back an inexperienced fighter at -400 like that. Grim. Inexperience really showed.
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UFC San Antonio
I'm really excited for the main event of this one, very glad they put this fight together. Unfortunately the headliner is a massive cut above the rest of the card in terms of popularity and calibre, but we’ve had worse cards this year, I don’t mind it. Usually I’d rejoice over the fact we aren’t in the Apex…but we are in Texas, where judging has been historically AWFUL. There isn’t a whole lot we can really do with that information though, except consider how much of a fighter’s win probability is based around them finding a finish. Fighters who are likely to win without the judges getting involved will be the less volatile spots this week.
From a betting perspective, it’s a very weak card. The bookies have done a really good job of pricing the punters out of any value, as my conclusions to most fights see me lining it pretty close to the books, where there ends up being no real numerical edge on either side! Nonetheless, I’ve broken down most of the bouts on the card below:
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Cory Sandhagen v Marlon Vera
Marlon Vera has always been one of my favourite fighters. Backing him to win inside the distance when he was a prelim fighter was a spot I always looked out for back in the day, so it’s great to see him climb so high in the rankings. I always support and ride with the fighters that make me money over the years, and Vera has been one of the best of them.
Unfortunately, Vera’s always relied on his power and finishing ability to really carry him through fights, as there are a lot of instances where he’s down on the overall scorecards, before finding a finish. His wins over Dominic Cruz and Frankie Edgar are the two best examples recently, but his issue of being a slow starter also made this applicable in wins over Davey Grant, Nohelin Hernandez and Guido Cannetti. Also similarly, he was being thoroughly outboxed by Rob Font in their main event encounter last year, but the Ecuadorian was stealing rounds with knockdowns in a very similar way.
Considering I expect this fight against Cory Sandhagen to be a closely contested one, Vera’s inability to win minutes and start strong could end up becoming a problem here. The pivotal question in this fight is whether or not Vera can hurt or finish Sandhagen, as I certainly lean towards favouring Cory if this fight goes the distance and Vera hasn’t scored multiple knockdowns.
Vera is one of the most dangerous guys P4P on the roster, with KO and Submission potential across all five rounds – but Sandhagen has been pretty damn durable in his MMA career. Aljamain Sterling was the only man of 19 able to finish Cory, and it came in under 90 seconds. Sandhagen’s performance there was such a disappointment that I’m convinced there was something else going on that hindered him that night. Petr Yan also dropped Sandhagen with a spinning back fist combo, but that seemed very much like Cory getting caught unaware – and he looked like he recover instantly.
Given the calibre that Sandhagen has fought against in the last four years – I think we have to give him the benefit of the doubt in assuming he can stay safe here. If that is the case I expect him to win rounds with superior output and a faster pace – especially considering he’s got a high likelihood of being one round up after five minutes.
I’m not super confident in that take though as it’s hardly on the level of Garbrandt vs Jones or something! So it’s a fight I’m definitely lining as quite close. Sandhagen deserves to be deemed the favourite for the above reasons, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if Vera’s dangerousness was enough to tip the balance in his favour, or if he was able to win a round by just point striking anyway.
I saw a stat this week that said there have been 10 rounds in 2023 where a knockdown is landed but the round still ended and was scored. Of those scorecards, the fighter landing the knockdown won 8 of 10 times. Whilst it’s highly implied that a knockdown means you’re more likely to win the round based off how the following minutes take place, that does still imply the judges are leaning towards awarding damage over minute winning (I personally hate the way MMA judging has gone these days but it is what it is). Just something to consider when you think about Chito’s path to victory.
At the end of the day, it’s an intriguing fight, and not one I think anyone should be rushing to the betting window for due to the small margins in the various skill discrepancies.
How I line this fight: Cory Sandhagen -150 (60%), Marlon Vera +150 (40%)
Bet or Pass: Pass
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Holly Holm v Yana Santos
Holly Holm is one of those fighters who makes your memory play tricks on you. I instinctively feel like I have a good read on her style and overall calibre, but then when I watch tape she’s always a much more underwhelming version of that fighter I have in my head. She just doesn’t really put her stamp on rounds – spending too much time in the clinch and does not have high enough volume. 3.24 significant strikes landed per 15 minutes is a shockingly low number, especially considering it’s Women’s MMA and Holm has a lot of in cage time. To make matters worse, Holm averages 0.72 takedowns per 15 minutes and is now 41 years old.
Whilst there’s a lot of data to crunch on Holm, there’s actually a surprisingly smaller sample size on Yana Santos. Considering Kunitskaya (previous surname) has been a known name in Women’s MMA for some time, it’s pretty crazy to think she only has 7 UFC appearances to her name – most of which are against a lesser calibre than Holly Holm. She’s also coming off a two year lay-off having had a child with Thiago Santos, which adds further uncertainty to an already tepid read.
As I’m sure you may have noticed by now, this breakdown is much more stat-based than I typically offer (though Women’s MMA is a lot more accessible for stats), because I honestly cannot bring myself to re-watch Holly Holm’s career and I’m instead relying on what the numbers are telling me. Perhaps that’s a bit lazy, but this is the 8th week of UFC cards in a row and I am feeling very burnt out! I just don’t think either woman has a particularly commanding style, and there’s a hell of a lot of intangibles floating around this fight (old age, post-child birth, lay-offs, levels of competition, Texas judging etc), so it’s a very easy pass.
How I line this fight: I won’t line a fight I haven’t taped, but I do not recommend Holm at this price.
Bet or Pass: Pass
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Nate Landwehr v Austin Lingo
It’s a shame Alex Caceres had to pull out of the originally scheduled bout against Nate Landwehr, but good to see they managed to find Austin Lingo a fight so soon after the Ricardo Ramos one fell through a couple of weeks ago (still annoyed I didn’t get to cash some easy money there). From a fan perspective, this bout is probably the most entertaining of the three available!
Both dudes are hardnosed strikers that like to fight gritty and wear out their opponents. Neither are particularly gifted from a technique perspective, but you’d be hard pressed to find fighters that can out work these two. Pitting them against one another is going to lead to an exhausting fight.
Landwehr is the much more experienced of the two and has clearly had more career success implementing the brawling style, but I think this is just one of those matchups that’s going to be fought quite closely, given how it should play out. Landwehr relies on sheer busyness and drowning his opponents to win rounds but, if he can’t necessarily do that to Lingo, do you really have a whole lot of confidence that he’s going to be the clear round winner? The guy gets hit by 5.56 significant strikes per minute. Considering we are in Texas and there is added volatility to the judging, any fighter that can land 5.56 S.Strikes is live to win a round or two!
Landwehr’s key to winning this fight is going to be in his wrestling, as that’s where he will clearly assert himself. But can he even get it there though? Lingo’s debut performance against Youseff Zalal was a big red flag in terms of his takedown defence, but he looks to have improved it in his following two bouts. However, those came against a lower level of competition so could well be flattering Lingo’s overall ability. His takedown defence stats are quite skewed, and he’s coming off an 18 month layoff which muddies the water even more.
I think the edge in experience and overall competence at the hard-nosed styles means that Landwehr deserves to be favoured here, but I think the pricetag is a bit ridiculous. He should get the win, but I would be very surprised if he does it with the dominance of a -275. The lay off for Lingo means that he can have anywhere from a very low floor to a reasonably high ceiling. Both men are durable and will have moments in this fight, so this is one of the fights where I’m expecting some wild shit from Texas judges. If you’re convinced about betting Landwehr at -300 here, you’re crazy. Lingo the value side, but mostly based off intangibles and hypotheticals, which doesn’t fill me with enough confidence to pull the trigger.
How I line this fight: Nate Landwehr -200 (67%), Austin Lingo +200 (34%)
Bet or Pass: Pass
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Andrea Lee v Maycee Barber
This one should be pretty fun! It’s speed and agility vs power and force.
Andrea Lee is a complicated fighter to get a full read on, as her performances have really varied throughout her career. She’s well rounded enough to outstrike most equally levelled opponents on the feet, and her grappling isn’t too bad either. Takedown defence needs a bit of work though.
The biggest issue with Lee is those back-to-back losses to Lauren Murphy and Roxanne Modafferi. It’s just inexcusable to lose both of those of those fights when you’re the calibre that Andrea Lee is. I know you can argue she got robbed against Murphy (it’s probably the key example of Texas judging being so bad), but she let the fight become quite close. And yes, Barber lost to Modafferi, but that was all determined by an injury and anyone who tells you otherwise is a hater or hasn’t watched it.
I’ve always thought Barber was overrated in terms of skills, but her physicality and strength are a bit of a gamechanger in the Women’s divisions. She’s well-rounded, but statistically has lesser output than Andrea Lee…which is always concerning. I expect this one to be quite competitive, where Andrea Lee could easily stay safe on the outside and jab her way to a win, as long as she gets on her bike and utilises good footwork. Maycee will plod forward and look to land the power shot, but that’s not a particularly high percentage outcome to rely on in Women’s MMA. If she can get her hands on her and utilise the clinch, I think it’s all one way traffic from there though. Maycee is reliable to do that, at least.
I can understand Barber being the favourite based off the finishing upside, imposing striking with good metrics and ability to land takedowns…but I’m just still not wholly convinced by her ability as a mixed martial artist outside of the way she implements brute force. It might be enough here, but I just don’t like her at this short of a price. Lee has a clear path to victory that, whilst I’m not convinced she can execute it, should be taken seriously.
How I line this fight: Andrea Lee +163 (38%), Maycee Barber -163 (62%)
Bet or Pass: Pass
​
Alex Perez v Manel Kape
It’s just impossible to know what we’re getting from Alex Perez at this stage, isn’t it? I like Manel Kape and rate him relatively highly, but I have always maintained that Perez on his best day could well be a champion at Flyweight. I bet him in most of his fights in the buildup to the title bout against Figgy – and I bet him there as well. Unfortunately Figgy was still in his explosive prime so it didn’t work out, but I expected Perez to become somewhat of a title eliminator gatekeeper from then on. Since that loss two and a half years ago his career has taken a peculiar turn – eight fight cancellations and a 91 second loss to Alexandre Pantoja.
There are just so many question marks surrounding Alex Perez at the moment, and that makes it impossible to know what to expect in this fight. If he was at his best, I’d consider him a slight favourite here, but who knows. Kape’s weakness is clearly defensive wrestling, and he can sometimes be low volume enough on the feet that he makes fights closer than they need to be. Perez has a good enough style to make that work and win here…providing we get him at his best.
I didn’t dive into much tape for this one as I knew I wasn’t going to bet it at all. If you think Kape beats Perez based off the footage available then you’re getting a decent price!
How I line this fight: Didn’t tape, won’t line it.
Bet or Pass: Pass
​
Chidi Njokuani v Albert Duraev
It’s crazy how much Albert Duraev’s stock has fallen, all in one loss to Joaquin Buckley. Before that bout he looked sensational on the Contender Series, and followed it up with a dominant win over Roman Kopylov as a -450 favourite. He absolutely does his best work in the grappling and showed that he doesn’t have much of a plan B if he can’t land takedowns or settle his opponent on their back. I’m also not too convinced by his cardio, and any opponent that will make him work hard to secure top position can weaponise his questionable endurance in the later rounds.
Buckley’s such a physical and stocky guy though, I think he’s naturally going to be a tough opponent to take down when you’ve got a bit more of a wirey frame like Duraev does. Chidi Njokuani isn’t so muscular and stocky, so I think it’s fair to assume that Duraev’s going to be more of a threat with the takedowns than he was against Buckley.
The problem is, Chidi showed some really impressive get ups after the initial takedown and doesn’t usually settle on the bottom whilst he’s fresh. Dusko Todorovic isn’t the best grappler in the world by any stretch, but Chidi was doing all the right things to prevent hit back from lying flat on the mat, and if he has similar success against Duraev he’s cruising.
The finish to the Robocop fight was a bit of a concern, but that fight heated up to a ridiculously fast pace in round 1 that I think Chidi cardio dumped, got rocked, and kind of quit on the bottom against Rodrigues. The same could happen again, but it would rely on Duraev pushing the pace aggressively with his striking, which isn’t something he often does.
Overall, I think Njokuani definitely deserves to be a favourite here as he is much more dangerous on the feet and has shown us already that he can successfully answer the questions that Duraev will ask. The Russian also does not have much of a plan B and doesn’t always do a whole lot with his top control except set up submissions. Considering Njokuani is a BJJ Black Belt, and the judges probably won’t appreciate those kind of optics from Duraev, I’m not massively convinced by his chances here.
I’m interested to see what kind of price they’re giving for Njokuani ITD in this fight, as I’m quite convinced by his finishing ability since he moved up to Middleweight, and Duraev is very hittable if he gets stuck on the feet. If I can get + money on it I think I’d have a small wager.
How I line this fight: Chidi Njokuani -175 (64%), Albert Duraev +175 (36%)
Bet or Pass: 1.5u Chidi Njokuani & CJ Vergara Both to Win (+122)
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Steven Peterson v Lucas Alexander
I complain pretty much every week about the UFC’s current fighter calibre having massively declined recently, and nothing proves my point like Steven Peterson finally becoming a betting favourite for the first time in 8 UFC bouts. The guy has been the perfect litmus test to determine whether any fighter is UFC level, and those he has beaten were notoriously bad at the time and didn’t last long at the top level (Chase Hooper excluded because he had some “name value”).
He’s got some similarities to Austin Lingo in that he is some generic white guy with bad tattoos, that doesn’t have any real skill but is gritty and dedicated to the fight. If you can’t put him away, you’re going to have keep your shit together or he might surprise you by sheer output and ruggedness. No fighter that is credited mostly for their ability to take a punch and walk forward deserves to be a -175 favourite, but they also don’t always deserve to be massive underdogs either (see breakdown of Landwehr vs Lingo). The thing that baffles me the most though is that Peterson isn’t much of a finisher (6 of his last 7 went the distance), meaning the books are putting a fair bit of stock into his ability to win a decision.
So…Lucas Alexander. His UFC debut was a quick loss via RNC, but it came off a slip from a kick and the rest was kind of a formality at that point once Brito got the back as a result. Personally I don’t really put much/any stock into that loss as I don’t think it showed us anything about him apart from his defensive grappling isn’t elite? Ask yourself this…if this was Lucas Alexander’s UFC debut, would the line still be the same? It depends on what the regional tape looks like, but I’m quite sure it wouldn’t!
Therefore, we have to go back to the regional scene to actually get a glimpse of Alexander…and there is a lot more to be intrigued by than you might think. He’s a better technical striker than Peterson! He’s got great fluidity and movement, throws a varied arsenal of kicks and combos (lots of leg kicks, which will halt that forward pressure), and switches stances quite often. I’m not too sure how he’ll deal with being crowded by Peterson and his intense style, but I fully expect him to get the better of the majority of the striking exchanges whilst they’re at distance.
To win this fight cleanly, the grappling is the answer for Peterson…but Alexander’s defensive wrestling and get ups aren’t bad at all from what I’ve seen! I’ve seen evidence of him using the cage to get back to his feet and reversing position in the clinch, as well as maintaining position in top control. Apparently he’s a black belt as well, but I try not to immediately assume that makes you a good grappler (he does have 3 submission losses tbf). I did see a few submission attempts and successful reversals from bottom against Jeremias Fernandez, and was impressed with how he handled being on the bottom. The two regional scene submission losses both came in 2018, and honestly he looks like he’s improved his wrestling/grappling a lot since then so I’m not massively concerned by them.
Peterson has averaged just 1.61 TDs landed per 15 minutes, which isn’t a massively high number and doesn’t really fill you with a whole lot of confidence that he’s going to stick to a grappling based gameplan in this fight, especially when we know how much he enjoys brawling. If he does come with that kind of gameplan then I guess I expect him to be favoured (still hard to say how good/bad Alexander’s grappling is), but if he opts to strike I think he’s at a disadvantage.
For me, this fight is clearly a pick’em, or at least leans slightly towards Peterson as the favourite. I do expect Alexander to perform better than his +150 price tag suggests, as I think he’s got the potential to keep out of danger with the grappling and actually outscore Peterson on the feet. This fight probably goes the distance and, given the hesitance I have about Texas judges, I’d much rather be on the + money side there as well. Alexander is still being regarded as a “UFC debut” fighter in my eyes so I won’t be staking much here…but if you’re betting Peterson at -180 I think you’re crazy.
How I line this fight: Steven Peterson -120 (54%), Lucas Alexander +120 (46%)
Bet or Pass: 1u Lucas Alexander to Win (+150 or better…waiting to see if the juice continues)
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Trevin Giles v Preston Parsons
Preston Parsons looked really good in his win over Evan Elder last year, with the latter going on to impress everyone with his latest performance against Nazim Sadykhov a few weeks ago. Parsons has a really suffocating wrestling/grappling style, forcing his opponents to work and threatening with a variety of submissions. He can be a little “submission over position” but he’s got an arsenal of really good sweeps from bottom. His striking also looked decent in the loss to Daniel Rodriguez, throwing shots at angles and landing pretty cleanly on D-Rod a few times.
He faces Trevin Giles, who has had a pretty eventful UFC career so far. Giles suffered back to back R3 losses to Zak Cummings and Gerald Meerschaert in fights he was clearly winning, where lapses in concentration saw him snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. He then went on to be the benefactor of one of the worst decisions in MMA history when he beat James Krause by decision. Giles hasn’t really gone on to do a whole lot in his UFC career since, but a well-aged win over Roman Dolidze stands out as the highlight.
Giles has decent striking himself, but he is such a low volume fighter that I think he’s going to struggle to win rounds against Preston ‘Pressure’ Parsons if he doesn’t do damage. The younger fighter will be happy to push the pace in this one, varying up his striking with a few takedown entries and just overwhelming Giles, who likes to fight patiently and methodically on the feet. Giles looks clean when he’s involved in a staring match on the feet, but when the tempo turns up and things get a bit wild he kind of loses all composure and technique (see losses to Morales and Du Plessis recently). Giles is also a decent enough grappler, but he’s prone to reversals on the mat (which Parsons will definitely try to execute), and can accept bottom position if his initial guard sub or two get shut down.
I’m struggling to really see why this one is being lined as a pick’em here, as Giles doesn’t hold a whole lot of advantages that I think he’ll be able to implement. He’s clearly a good striker, but the low volume should prevent him from really being able to show that off properly, and he won’t be the fighter looking to put his stamp on rounds when he’s fighting at a tempo way higher than he wants. He’s more experienced, but we’ve also seen lots of examples of poor fight IQ consistently creeping into Giles’ game and he hasn’t addressed the flaws of his style.
I’d line Parsons as a small to moderate favourite in this fight, and I’ll be betting him for a couple of units as a result.
How I line this fight: Trevin Giles +150 (40%), Preston Parsons -150 (60%)
Bet or Pass: 3u Preston Parsons to Win (+100)
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CJ Vergara v Daniel Da Silva
To me, this seems like one of those fights where the UFC are acknowledging Vergara has paid his dues, and are giving him a bit of a softball as a result.
No one really knew what to make of Vergara when he got to the UFC – a KO win on the Contender Series in 41 seconds is usually a red flag more than anything! They lined him up with Ode Osbourne for his debut, where he was a +170 underdog. He put a really impressive display in that fight, with many thinking he actually won against a guy that is quite well respected at Flyweight.
Next, he was a +270 underdog to Kleydson Rodrigues, who was making his debut as a highly, highly touted prospect. Everyone and their mothers was on Rodrigues in that fight, yet Vergara fought a really smart and dedicated gameplan and won a close split decision. I had a big bet on Kleydson in his fight a few weeks ago, and rewatching the Vergara fight had me respecting him all over again. Given what we saw Kleydson do to Shannon Ross (not that the latter is a world beater) did nothing but improve Vergara’s stock.
Then, for his third UFC bout, he gets Tatsuro Taira! Probably one of the top 5 hottest unranked prospects in the sport right now. That was the first time we saw Vergara actually look like the +220 underdog that the books had him as, but given the hype around Taira that’s actually a respectable number to be graded at! There really isn’t a long list of fighters who are willing to fight Taira at the moment, so the matchmakers have probably scheduled this fight as a thank you for Vergara being a company man.
They’ve given him Daniel da Silva (Lacerda) as a reward. DdS is a pretty wild fighter, with 15 bouts all ending inside the distance (and none even reaching round 3). That kind of kill-or-be-killed style is certainly fun to watch, but it doesn’t really work out as well as you’d think when you hit the big shows. Don’t get me wrong, he looks pretty decent in round 1, but Vergara is a durable guy that has shown good IQ in the cage so far. He should find a way to stay safe in that opening round, probably by landing a takedown and coasting in top control like Jeff Molina did (also, shoutout Jeff Molina for handling the social media chaos with grace last week!), or by pushing that ferocious striking pace and keeping da Silva on the backfoot.
Even so, da Silva is a liability to himself in Round 1 as well, as we saw in losses to Francisco Figueiredo and Victor Altamirano. Getting kneebar’d by Figgy’s subpar brother is a pretty bad look, and he had absolutely no answer for Altamirano’s ground striking as soon as he was on his back. His commitment to the guard sub is insane, and it’s probably going to be responsible for yet another loss here against Vergara.
I think we’re getting a decent price on Vergara here. The blueprint has been written on Da Silva and, whilst Vergara will have to be careful for the opening few minutes, I think CJ’s got him covered here. I jumped in on the -275 as a parlay piece, as I think there’s an argument Vergara should probably be a bigger favourite here?
Also, as a side note from watching Molina vs Da Silva – Damn James Krause was a good coach. What a waste!
How I line this fight: CJ Vergara -300 (75%), Daniel Da Silva +300 (25%)
Bet or Pass: 1.5u CJ Vergara & Chidi Njokuani Both to Win (+122)
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Vinicius Salvador v Victor Altamirano
I loved Vinicius Salvador’s DWCS performance against Shannon Ross and I’m really excited to see him make his debut, but I’m not massively sure about how good he is as an overall fighter. His style instantly makes him a fan favourite, but using nothing but head movement to defend, and having that cocky style that throws ridiculous highlight reel kicks isn’t really a positive trait when you’re looking to put your hard earned money on a fighter. It looks cool and can sometimes impress the judges…but it’s a risky game and can easily see you getting caught clean or making mistakes. There’s a reason Michel Pereira doesn’t fight like a lunatic anymore.
Salvador hits hard and absolutely has knockout power, having finished 13 of his 14 wins by KO (the other was a submission). He’s also lost inside the distance in three of his 4 losses, and Shannon Ross did have him hurt for a second or two in the DWCS fight. He’s a chaotic fighter, and I’m really annoyed we got robbed of the chance to see him fight Daniel Da Silva a few months ago. It would have been fireworks.
This might sound stupid as a genuine piece of logic and reasoning, but I have always fully believed the notion that Mexican fighters have the best chins and next level toughness. It’s kind of a dumb narrative for me to hang my hat on, but I am always hesitant to side with a knockout-based fighter if it’s a Mexican opponent they’re trying to put to sleep. We saw Altamirano eat a few clean and heavy shots from Daniel Da Silva in his last bout, which makes me think I might have to side with my illogical narrative once again.
With that said, I still think Salvador deserves to be favoured by a small margin here. Victor Altamirano just isn’t very good. His win over DdS was kind of a high variance random knee, and he was clearly losing that fight up to that point. He was competitive in the win against Carlos Hernandez, but I feel like that fight didn’t do much to show off the skills of either guy and it really solidified that they are equally matched as entry level UFC fighters. It was like an intense sparring session, where neither guy had any real sting on their shots and only looked to point score, with a bit of cage pushing thrown in for good measure.
The power discrepancy between Altamirano and Salvador is too big to ignore here. Salvador is going to come out hot and look to take Victor’s head off, and I just don’t think Altamirano is going to be able to earn back the respect of Salvador here. The striking should be one-way traffic whilst they’re fresh, simply because Salvador’s going be doing damage with almost every shot that he lands. As the fight wears on though, I expect Altamirano have a lot more success in the later minutes, as he settles into the fight and has grown confident he can withstand the power (as well as some of the sting coming off Salvador’s shots).
Altamirano doesn’t look like wrestling/grappling is his preferred skillset, but I think he would do well to lean on it a bit here. I haven’t been able to really find any tape on Salvador’s defensive wrestling/grappling, but I have to assume that a fighter with as little technical discipline as him is probably not the greatest grappler in the world.
I see Vinicius Salvador as something similar to the Brazilian equivalent of Trevor Peak. It's easy to get ahead of yourself and try to fade a guy with brute force and no technique, but it’s important to realise that the judges don’t score technique and as long as Salvador is landing something, he’ll earning favour with the judges and threatening to score a finish too.
I don’t think Altamirano is the guy to capitalise on those defensive lapses of Salvador, so I think the Brazilian is the rightful favourite. However, there’s not enough value on the line to justify a bet here, and Salvador could easily be the maker of his own downfall with his reckless style, and that’s not the kind of guy I like to back.
Very excited to see this one play out. I will probably throw Salvador into a couple of my untracked degenerate parlays, but officially it’s a no-bet for me.
How I line this fight: Vinicius Salvador -120 (54%), Victor Altamirano +120 (46%)
Bet or Pass: Pass
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Tamires Vidal v Hailey Cowan
The UFC are being very generous to Hailey Cowan, aren’t they!? After trying and failing to set her up with one of the worst fighters on the roster, Ailin Perez, they’re trying again to offer her a bit of a soft entry into the UFC.
The problem is that Cowan is just simply not very good, so I think she’s going to struggle against anyone that’s borderline UFC calibre. Tamires Vidal sits on the fringe, and she seems to be the much more dangerous of the two and actually has some process to her striking, so I think Cowan deserves to be the underdog once again.
The betting line here has been on a real journey already. Books opened Cowan as a +200 underdog, and it looks to have been jumped on by some opportunistic value bettors – and rightly so! I just hope the steam has come in because they think the line was wide, not because they have any real faith in Cowan!
I’m intrigued to see how far the overcorrection goes, as this one really should land around a pick’em. The books won’t mind tipping the balance towards Cowan if it means they’ve got equal money on each side, as this isn’t going to be a high stakes fight so they’ll prioritise keeping the book green.
I have to remind myself of the calibre I’m dealing with here though…both women are low level and high variance is at play! If all the money on Cowan continues to come and Vidal’s price gets bigger, then a true value bettor should pounce on any decent size + money…but you really do have to accept that you’re getting into bed with variance here.
How I line this fight: Tamires Vidal -110 (52%), Hailey Cowan +110 (48%)
Bet or Pass: Pass
​
Bets (Placed bets in bold, others are pending as line may improve)
3u Preston Parsons to Win (+100)
1.5u CJ Vergara & Chidi Njokuani Both to Win (+122)
0.25u Njokuani, Parsons & Vergara All to Win (+330)
1u Lucas Alexander to Win (+150 or better)
Parlay Do’s: Njokuani, Parsons, Vergara
Parlay Don’ts: Sandhagen, Holm, Landwehr, Barber, Peterson, Cowan
​
UFC 287 (Breakdown next week but don’t expect line to hold)
2u Michael Chiesa to Win (-150)
Best of luck with your bets!

My ex and I broke up 24 days ago, we said we'd do no contact for at least month, but she texted me 4 days after the breakup to get her stuff back. I argued that it's not the time and I didn't want to bring it to her because I'm still hurt and the past couple of days were hard.
But I ended up deciding to give her her stuff back because I didn't want her to be cold without her only coat.
I drove back with tears and it was hard, but she called me a day later and we started chatting, and it became daily, we chatted like we used to, for 9 days we had a good time as friends, and I still missed her, but I loved her personality and thought I was doing the right thing for not trying to get her back romantically.
10 days ago, which is 9 days after we started talking again, she called me at midnight and said that she wants to talk for a bit before sleep, and that we haven't talked the whole day when she told me the previous day to contact her (she initiated calls in the 9 days), I was with a friend playing a video game and told her I can't talk right now, I can talk 30 minutes later, or I can get a few minutes, she wanted 10 minutes, and I told her I'd call her back 5 minutes later.
I called her 2 minutes later, and she was surprised that it faster, and I told her that I have 5 minutes, she got upset and wanted 15 minutes, and I told her that I can't leave my friend hanging as it was a last game before sleep, and she took offense and told me that she hates to be a last priority, and I got upset and didn't want to feel bad, so instead of the healthy approach of making the right choice and staying to calm her down, and spend the time with her, I told her she's not a last priority and hung up.
I texted her at 3 am that I hope she sleeps well with a smiley, and felt really guilty for leaving her like that.
she didn't respond the next day, and I thought she's mad at me, and the whole week I felt bad and didn't feel like doing anything really, and a few more days gone past and nothing, I texted her at Thursday, 5 days after I left her like that, and I asked to talk in VC (voice channel in discord), and she said no, and that I hurt her. I apologized and wanted to talk about it, but she declined, and I got upset and told her that that's it, I'm done, and I blocked her on every platform except Whatapp, I then unblocked her as it was only for unfriending purposes, but I still wanted to contact her and be able to talk things through.
I texted her late at night, 2:30 am, and told her that I'm really sorry for how I treated her, and I wanted us to go through it and work things better, she still didn't want to talk.
I then started thinking deeply on what must have gone wrong, and I turned to friends that have a good relationships and asked for advice, I told them about the full uncensored version of my story, I spoke to one friend the entire night and he stayed with me until almost morning, because I couldn't sleep, eat, drink or take a shower.
I really went and told them how I fucked up everything, which is true, I ignored her feelings a lot of the times, thought that these things pass, and sometimes I left her feeling bad before bad, because I didn't bring myself to comfort her at these times.
Although I really loved her, I really hurt her too, and I even told her in the last month that I'm starting to lose something from the relationship, which after self digging into my life, was not because of her, because she was the only light in my life.
I self reflected and really started looking at past arguments, at past disagreements and past behaviour, and I realized that the things I were afraid of, and the things I claim to not want, I actually did want, so very much.
Like spending 3 days together on the weekends instead of 2, like cuddling to sleep, like going on more dates, like treating her like a queen and supporting her no matter what.
I behaved childish and like I wasn't in a relationship, I didn't think for the both of us, I was defensive easily and instead of thinking of what I'm saying and how I'm affecting her, I didn't stop to think of her.
I was so hung on bad opinions from friends that didn't like that relationship, on my mother that thought it was causing me harm, I loved her and didn't want to leave her, I couldn't, the only way it happened was because we both brought it up.
I told her how I feel and about my self reflection, and told her that I see things more clearly and I want her back and that I promise to be better, and I really did mean that, I wanted to do all the things I haven't done, like celebrating milestones, like celebrating her birthday properly like I never did, like taking her out to her favorite places a lot more often and giving her more than she expects of me.
I asked her if we could talk on the phone, and she said agreed, so we spoke at Sunday, and we talked for about 2 hours and 15 minutes, and we joked and had a bit of a catch up and also talked about what happened, and I told her how sorry I was, how I am really changing and really there to listen and to be more in the relationship instead of myself, and that I wanted to fix the things I haven't done.
She told me it was too late, and that if only I'd come to that conclusion sooner, things would have worked out differently. She told me that I've gotten too many chances, and I hurt her too much, to a point where it's unfixable.
after we hung up the call, I ordered her flowers and some chocolate, flowers that I should've brought her many times and I didn't.
It arrived after 2 hours, and she called and told me that they are pretty and she thanked me for them, I told her that I'm happy she's happy, and that I'm glad I did something right.
She send me a picture of them after the call, and I told her "Pretty flowers to a pretty Lady".
The next day, I wanted to ask her out for a fun day, like going bowling or to play pool or an outside activity, and I called her and we spoke about it and she declined, we spoke for about an hour~, after she said she didn't think it was a good idea we talked about lighter things, and had a fun conversation like we used to do. I still tried to win her back and told her how sorry I was, how I am making a change and want her back, and if she'd only give me a chance.
That same day I decided to drive to her, since I haven't seen her at all since we broke up on the phone, and I arrived to her house with a song I have written about our situation, about how sorry I was and how I mean well and only want a chance to show her that she can trust me and we can be together.
I knocked on the door, said hi, that I have written her a song and want to sing it to her. I'm a musician by the way.
I asked if she would let me in, and she said yes, and so I sang it to her and she was a little embarrassed, but I've had confidence in my singing and guitar playing, and the song isn't half bad either, so I felt good about doing that.
She kept the lyrics and we talked about the situation and about other things as well, like her life and pet and hobbies and new friends and new things in her life.
I tried to get to her heart and tell her that I really am sorry, and I knew that I did change and was willing to be there for her and I wanted personally to do the things we didn't do, not only for her, but also for myself.
She said that she is not interested in getting back to where we were, and that she doesn't trust me, and that what I would say and act like.
I tried to say that I really did mean well and I don't want to hurt her, I am committed and I want this relationship the be a long term one, where we will be happy and not in the same situation at all. I told her how I miss her and how I really want to be there for her in the good and the bad.
I asked her if she wants to go out to eat something, and she said it's not a good idea, and that she has plans with friends and she needs to leave soon. I asked her if she wants me to drive her and she said that it's okay and she'd walk. Then I got ready to leave, it was after like 1.5 hours in her house btw, and we went to the living room, where we spoke for like 20 minutes or so and random things, music and stuff.
After the 20 minutes she told me she's late and if I'm still willing to drive her, I said of course and I drove her to her friend's house.
We spoke while driving there, it was a 1-2 minute drive, and when she got out of the car I told her that I'll be happy if we'd talk later, and she told me goodnight, and so I told her goodnight back.
I was ready to head home, but I wanted to do one more gesture, for the sake of me not doing enough in the relationship itself, and so I went to a close store and bought her her favorite strawberry gummies, her favorite flavored Pringles, favorite snack and a Plushy I saw and thought she'd like.
It all took me like 15 minutes, and I went back to my car and wanted to put it on her door's handle and drive back home, and when I got out of the parking lot and ready to head to the road, I saw her to my left looking at me, and so I backed up and parked, and we started talking for like 15 minutes, maybe more.
I asked her if she came here to buy something, and she said no, that she saw my car from a far and came to check if it's me. She told me that she came late and there was no more things to do there so she came back home.
After a few minutes of chatting, me standing with my back to my car and she standing facing me, I told her that I might as well give her what I planned to on her door's handle, and she didn't want to accept it at first, she said she didn't want to mislead me and me spending money on her, and I told her I want this, and asked her to accept it for me.
She saw that there were her favorite strawberry gummies in there, along with other stuff, and I was glad it made her happy.
At that moment a car behind her reversed really fast in her direction, and she got startled and I reacted quickly by pulling her towards me and holding her away from the car, a mindless driver almost hit her, but she was fine.
I asked to drive her home, I joked about the streets being dangerous, although it was really close to her home, and she declined and I said alright.
We said our goodbyes and hugged a meaningful hug, and she told me thank you and waved, and I smiled back.
I drove back home and she called me as I parked my car at my home, she thanked me and ate the Pringles I gave her, and we spoke for an hour about random things, I was happy to hear her voice and appreciated her honestly about the things we talked about.
Afterwards she told me she has to go back to study, and I told her that we can talk afterwards and she said okay, and we hung the call after an hour.
I went back inside my house feeling better, and after 2 hours, where I got that she didn't call me back, at the usual hour she used to talk to me before sleep, I wrote her goodnight and she replied with goodnight.
I ate a bit more, finally, and I went to sleep early than usual, and at morning I wrote her good morning and wished her well on her day. That's today by the way.
She didn't reply, and 7 hours later I asked her if she's here, and she replied and we talked, I asked her if she wants to study coding together because I wanted to freshen up on it, and I knew she was on the same page, but she said that it's a bad idea, and I told her again that I miss here and that I did change for the better. But she said it's too late and it's a bad idea, I asked her if she locked herself out, she said yes, and after talking for a few more minutes she said she thinking it's better if we don't talk, and I said okay and that I'll respect it.
Since then we haven't spoken, and I'm trying to divert my mind, but everything reminds me of her strongly as it did the last week and a half, I cry everywhere, outside, my room, my bathroom, the kitchen, everywhere.
We spent most of our time together in my room, and it's getting sad whenever I glance at my bed.
I've been really depressed the last couple of days, I ate once a day maybe 100 calories, because I forced myself to, and drank 200ml of water per 2 days. I also didn't shower the past 4 days, and only did shower and shave an hour before driving to her place.
I feel like we were a perfect match, and I didn't realize it until she was gone, we connected in ways I never connected with anyone before, and it took me a long time to find her.
I miss her so much, and it pains me to move on, I really don't want to give up on her, and I've stayed with this thought through out the entire time we were split up, I love her as the person she is, true and honest love. I'm broken.
And just to add up, there's more to the story in terms of past, we broke up 3 times in our 7 months relationship, the last few months were hard, I was dealing with myself and thought she is to blame, and I didn't initiate and led almost nothing in the relationship, I hurt her a lot, and sometimes didn't realize the severity of it.
I love her so much and want her back, I know I can fix it and I know that we fit so perfectly, but she doesn't trust me to it.
I really was the bad person, it's so sad to me that now that I really do know better, I have already lost her completely.

FYI, this is a story COLLECTION. Lots of standalones technically. So, you can basically start to read at any chapter, no pre-read of the other chapters needed technically (other than maybe getting better descriptions of characters than: Adam Vir=human, Krill=antlike alien, Sunny=tall alien, Conn=telepathic alien). The numbers are (mostly) only for organization of posts and continuity.
OC Written by Charlie Stastarrfallknightrise,
Typed up and then posted here by me.
Proofreading and language check for some chapters by u/Finbar9800
Future Lore and fact check done by me.
Another new alien race! WOOOOO
Also to all arachnophobes: I am sorry…I guess just imagine eight legged dogs the size of horses if that helps…
Previous First [Next](link)
"So, you're telling me we found another sapient omnivore species?"
The commander grunted, ripping his boot from a watery patch of mud and nearly crashing into the swampy water between two twisted tree roots.
Sunny reached out with one of her four armored arms and caught him by the back of his pack, pulling him upright.
He nodded a thanks to her and adjusted his gear.
Behind her Ramirez ducked under a low hanging branch, slogging through a pool of knee-high water, adjusting the containment pod, holding Krill more comfortably over both shoulders.
Krill, comfortable and warm inside his containment pod, watched the marines, scientists, and a linguist struggle through the mud under a covering of impossibly tall, twisted trees, their canopy blocking out all light that might have dared cut downwards towards the watery floor below.
"Not entirely sapient, I suppose."
Krill answered,
"Unfortunately the way in which they communicate is going to drastically reduce their ability to create complex structures and perform mathematical equations."
Together they maneuvered themselves over a root, which at some point in the distant past, had decided to grow upwards instead of down. At about four feet high, it had changed its mind and arched back down into the water. Perhaps it had been smaller then, but at four feet wide, the root was an absolute monstrosity now.
The trees themselves were massive, challenging, and sometimes outgrowing the legendary redwood forests of the western Americas, but unlike the redwoods, these trees didn't stand tall and proud. Instead, they chose a twisted path much like the branching veins which made up a human vascular system. They twisted and undulated, interlocking past each other with branches that were well over two feet wide in many cases, and stretching to over four feet wide in others.
No one direction was good enough, and the trees twisted, ducked swirled and reached, grasping for any sort of light to be found.
On top of the darkness cast by the trees and the soggy nature of the forest floor, it was also horribly hot and humid, giving the impression of a microwaved wet blanket thrown over the world. Where heat from the upper canopy met the cooler air of deep forest pools, it created a perpetually thick mist which writhed and undulated through the trees, leaving only the shadowy impressions of twisted trunks and clawing branches past distances greater than 50 feet (15m).
"They communicate primarily through pheromones and heat modulation. From what I understand, the language in itself isn't precise, and really only works in generalities and feelings than it does in absolutes."
Commander Vir kicked a rotting log out of the way, ducking as a massive green bug buzzed over his head and into the fog.
Turns out the hotter and more humid a planet gets, the bigger the bugs get,
"But we were still able to communicate with them?”
Krill nodded from inside his case,
"Yes, generally speaking. For a species that cannot communicate in absolutes, I hear they are quite reasonable. They seem willing to accept our friendship, and have..... invited, I guess, us to participate in some sort of primitive ritual."
Vir perked up, flashing a bright smile.
“Reasonable? Peaceful? Rituals? And definitely CANNOT communicate in ABSOLUTES!? Am I the only one who thinks that sounds familiar?”
Sunny sighed,
“No Adam I am reasonably sure that they are not Jedis…”
“C’mon, that would be so cool! Like lightsabers, the force and stuff… maybe they look like tiny Yodas? I mean it fits, with the swamp, the speech impairment and all…”
He nearly fell over another root.
“Adam, focus. We have a mission here.”
The commander nodded, scrambling over another tree branch,
"Alright, so... where are these things anyway? How do they look?"
His boots hit solid ground, covered in some sort of wet spongy fungus and he glanced down at his GPS.
“Considering they talk by smell, my bet is on Elephants with giant human noses. What do you think Mav?”
Ramirez turned around to look at Maverick, who had stopped walking.
“…”
“Mav?”
“Giant… fucking spiders…”
“…”
Commander Vir was still looking at his GPS and no one else answered, so without looking up he broke the silence and said:
“Wow you are always so negative; it better not be, I want my space Yodas…”
“…”
“…”
More silence.
This time it was broken by Ramirez.
“Giant fucking spiders… with… Wolfheads!?”
The commander was still diddling around with the GPS in his hands.
“Oh not you too Ramirez, also that’s oddly specific, you always had a pretty cruel imagination. Ah there we go I think it’s that way.”
He said, looking up from his GPS to keep moving.
“…”
“…”
After some steps he realized no one was following him, so he stopped and turned around.
Behind him the other marines were dead silent, heads lifted towards the sky in shock.
"FUCK ME."
One of the marines whispered, scrambling back behind a tree root.
Commander Vir turned and nearly fell into the water again, eyes locked onto the creatures descending from high above.
They were huge, about the size of large horses, and horrifically spider like in their construction, or perhaps an ant. They had large-scale abdomens connected to a thinner thorax. All together they had ten appendages, three pairs of spider-like legs on the abdomen which, instead of ending in a pod or foot, ended in a sharp pointed spike. On the abdomen, they had two arm-like appendages, with too many joints and strange wavy tentacles instead of fingers.
The head was just as disconcerting.
It seemed too large for the body, grossly out of proportion and strangely out of place, like some cosmic sentience had used a random animal generator to assign parts to its body.
The head was wolflike, if you were to strip the skin and fur away, leaving only the muscle underneath. You could see the line of teeth running up either side of the muzzle, while the large red-pink ears rotated continuously.
Commander Vir had backed himself into the bowl of a tree eyes wide. Sunny slogged herself up from the water, placing herself between the strange spidery creatures and the human.
They didn't descend like a spider might, on threads of silk, but they used their back six feet, and the spikes on the end to dig into the bark of the trees with a disconcerting thud thud thud thud.
Finally the largest of the creatures reached the ground, surprisingly silent for its massive bulk.
Glancing around Sunnys tensed body, he noticed something he hadn't before, and that was a strange small mass gripping onto the spidery creature's underbelly. Upon closer inspection he counted ten legs and a surprisingly spidery head buried against its underside... a completely separate creature holding on to its companion.
Behind the largest creature, he noted ANOTHER type of creature. It boasted the same sort of structure as the large creature, but its abdomen was devoid of scales, and covered in strange black bulbs suctioned onto its body by way of a strange, sticky black-green webbing. Its head was also constructed differently more like a lizard than a wolf, with large bulbous eyes that could rotate behind its own head to look in all directions.
Commander Vir fiddled nervously with the advanced translation headset he wore, strapped to his helmet, supposedly it was supposed to be able to understand what these things were saying.
"Sky... friends."
The translation was somewhat garbled, but he understood it was the large wolf-head who spoke.
He walked forward, pushing Sunny gently to the side despite her clear reluctance,
"Yes, we are friends, and we are here to offer peace to you, and the assistance of the Galactic Assembly."
He wasn't entirely sure how that was going to translate over in smell, but the creature seemed happy lifting its head and gnashing its large canine teeth.
"Agreement... for a favor."
Commander Vir grew unsure then, letting off a reluctant,
"What favor?”
The spidery shape moved closer sniffing at him with its large wolffish nose. Sunny stiffened at his side, and he put a hand on her arm to calm her.
"Ritual... you watch and help."
"None of us will get hurt... will we?"
The creature stopped and pondered the question for a long moment,
"No danger... live... healthy... happy."
Commander Vir nodded slowly,
"Alright, what do we have to do?"
The creature hefted its large bulk, and turned in the opposite direction,
"Follow."
It commanded, scuttling off into the trees.
[…]
"This is very interesting."
Krill was saying to one of the accompanying scientists, who nodded vigorously in agreement.
"What's so interesting?”
Commander Vir whispered, from where he stood at the edge of yet another, but larger fungus covered clearing, watching as the creatures scuttled back and forth.
The scientist learned in in excitement,
"It seems that these creatures have a ternary gender system."
Before the commander could ask, the scientist continued,
"For ease of speech, the large ones are the females, and those things on their bellies are probably the males. The medium ones are the third gender, the 'they' if you will. It looks like the male impregnates the female who then attaches the eggs to the third party. Dr. Krill tells me that the third party have a very high heat signature, probably to incubate the young. Those attachments probably provide nutrients into the egg and may even transfer DNA over as well."
"Wow... freaky."
The commander muttered in fascination.
"Kind of gross if you ask me."
Sunny muttered.
"I'm with her. Its kinky, but too kinky for me…"
Ramirez muttered, receiving a few nods from the other marines.
"Oh please."
Krill whispered,
"I know what human reproduction is like, and it's arguable way worse."
The scientist waved them all off,
"The big one there, the one that's been talking to us. I think she's the queen, and judging from those egg sacks, this is probably mating season, if they have one."
"Creepy, but cool, I guess."
The captain muttered. They watched for a little longer as the queen scuttled around the clearing and then returned to look at them, lowering her meaty wolffish head to the commander's eye level.
"Ritual... find... eggkeeper."
She scuttled away.
"Oh... this is some sort of… Mating ritual maybe? To choose that third party you were talking about?”
"This isn't exactly the kind of "Mating ritual" I wanted to see."
Ramirez muttered. The other marines turned to look at him with raised eyebrows. Sunny stuck her tongue out in disgust.
Off in the clearing, some of the smaller females had moved themselves onto the high branches scuttling through the trees to examine the "they" who waited patiently. It appeared that side was very important in the ritual, as they all fought for the largest counterpart. Once found, the wolffish head would lower, and open up to reveal a tube under the tongue. From there she would... disgorge the egg onto the abdomen of the 'they' and the mucus would solidify to hold them on.
"It has to do with size."
Krill hissed,
"But it seems that it has more to do with heat. The big ones only get chosen more because they also happen to be warmer than the smaller ones. I'd say they incubate at an average of 90 degrees Fahrenheit, so 32 degrees Celsius."
They watched this for a while, the scientists taking notes and the marines making inappropriate jokes.
Eventually most of the creatures had finished, leaving only the queen left over.
Everything went still when she began to move, and she scuttled around the clearing, looking over all the available 'theys' she could find, but she just didn't seem satisfied.
Commander Vir tugged at the collar of his jacket, a line of sweat dripping down his face.
She continued her circuit once and then twice; at some point she turned her head, large eyes locking on the humans.
She sniffed at them.
The human laughter died as she advanced.
"What is she doing?"
The commander muttered under his breath.
The scientist that stood next to him, hidden partially behind Sunny, answered
"I... I'm not sure."
She scuttled even closer, and the humans backed away.
"Hey doc... didn't you say something about... them being attracted to heat? And like the “they’s” being around 90 F/32 Celsius?”
Ramirez wondered, hiding himself behind a root.
"Yeah... I did, why?”
"Not to freak anyone out or anything but... isn't average human heat about 98.6 Fahrenheit… so 37 degrees Celsius?"
”FUCK!”
”OH NONONONONO!”
”HIIIIDE!”
”RUUUN!”
What followed was a rather violent game of nose goes, but instead of involving touching one’s nose to see who was the last person standing, it involved a mad rush to reduce body heat.
The smartest marines took the initiative and dove into the water beside the clearing, completely submerging themselves under the surface.
Others chose to cover whatever exposed skin they might have had in mud, as if to mask the heat.
Still others chose to cut and run.
Unfortunately, with his position at the head of the group, commander Vir wasn't fast enough.
She came at him in a scuttling rush, and in a frantic leap to get away, his boot caught on a root and he hit the ground hard.
Sunny tried to leap in front of him, but was bowled over by the mad rushing form.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!"
Commander Vir repeated, scuttling backwards across the ground, as the large spidery shape loomed over him.
He stopped dead in his tracks, backed against a tree root.
She leaned closer.
He raised his hands above his head blocking his face,
"Please don't lay your eggs in me. Please don't lay your eggs in me."
She reached out one of her forward hands, surprisingly delicate, as she cut through the first layers of his jacket, and shirt.
They fell away in slices revealing the pale human skin underneath red and sticky with the tropical heat.
His chest and abdomen heaved with his breath as he tried to scramble away, but she caught him with the prong of one of her back legs pinning him in place.
"Fuck... Help... HELP."
Sunny wasn't fast enough, having been tipped head over heels into the water, with the rest of the marines in similar positions, Krill contained inside his tube unable to help but also unable to look away.
She lowered her head, and the man screamed. It was cold, gelatinous and slimy at first, but even as it touched open air, he could feel it fusing against his skin solidifying. He thrashed and wriggled, but she was far too strong holding him in place.
Finally though, she backed away, leaving him panting on the ground shaking and trembling leg throbbing where he had been pinned.
She leaned her head down to examine him,
"Warm."
They locked eyes,
"Friends... now... Keep them... warm."
She retreated, and he struggled to his knees, turning to look down at his body which was now partially obscured by a sticky pod of six black eggs, pulled tight against his skin. His hands were shaking, as he reached down to touch them, cold and smooth.
He tried tugging on one, but nearly fainted at the pain it caused against his skin.
The creatures were withdrawing back into the trees, leaving him kneeling on the fungus, hands trembling as looked downwards.
Sunny was the first to recover, scrambling out of the water and over to him, placing a hand on his back as she examined the strange eggs attached to his skin,
"Mother of-"
The marines cut her off as they came wriggling from the trees,
"Commander, commander are you ok..."
One of the marines cut around front, frozen in his tracks, eyes wide once he saw,
"WHAT THE HELL!"
Sunny reached out as if to tug on one of them,
"NO!"
He snapped, jerking away from her.
The others gathered around to look with exclamations of shock and disgust.
The commander looked up at Sunny pleadingly.
She decided to take charge, helping him to his feet and then pulling him into her arms,
"We have to get him back to the ship, let's move, NOW!"
"What do you think, Dr."
Dr. Katie examined the scan with a frown,
"It's very, very strange, that's for sure."
Commander Vir lifted his head to look down at them,
"Well what the HELL does that mean?”
Krill shoved his head back onto the table,
"Stay still."
Dr. Katie hummed softly as she continued to examine the scans,
"It looks like these little filaments have breached the skin ... and.... well at least one of them has made it to your liver, this one here has made it to your lungs."
"What about white blood count?"
Krill wondered,
"The body must have noticed something by now?"
Dr Katie shook her head,
"Nothing, the body seems to have accepted it. I took some samples and... well I think I might know why."
She rolled herself to the side in her chair and over to one of the adjoining computers,
"See this, this is HIS DNA ...and this is the DNA of the strands."
Krill pearled over her shoulder,
"What the... they look almost identical."
"Yes... I don't think the body knows anything is wrong."
She turned her chair back around to look at the commander,
"Congratulations commander, you are perhaps, in the weirdest way possible, the only man in the history of existence who might just experience the miracle of life. You are going to be a dad!"
The look on his face made it clear he wasn't interested in being congratulated,
"What the actual fuck does that mean?"
He snapped, Dr. Katie rolled closer,
"Well, to explain in terms you may understand. You are doing more than keeping them warm. Those filaments that you saw are acting like umbilical cords. The one at your liver is using it as a filter, and to take in nutrients as it seems to have branching filaments to the stomach and intestines. The one going to your lungs is taking in carbon... not sure what that's going to do to your breathing if anything. But at this point I don't think that even Dr. Krill, as good as he is, can remove them. We would have to remove too much of your internal structure to it to be viable, plus they don't seem to be hurting you."
"Not hurting me! NOT HURTING ME! You said it yourself they are SUCKING OUT MY VITAL JUICES."
Dr. Katie shrugged,
"Welcome to pregnancy... sort of.”**
”Look we will monitor you, make sure they aren't sucking away to many nutrients. Look on the bright side, you can probably eat more, and judging from an analysis of the egg sacks, the average gestational period is only around two months."
"TWO MONTHS!?"
Sunny, who had been standing next to the man at the head of the exam table, couldn't suppress a short chirp of laughter.
He glowered at her,
"What's so funny!?"
She chirped again placing a hand on his arm,
"You're gonna be a mom."
If looks could kill, shed be reduced to a singularity,
"Get your hand off me or ill break it in half!"
She continued chirping but removed her hand just in case.
This was going to be a very awkward call to the UNSC and the GA.
For that matter, it was going to be a very awkward call home.
Previous First [Next](link)
Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author
Thanks for reading! As you saw in the title, this is a cross posted story written by starrfallknightrise and I'll just upload some of it here for you guys, if you are interested and want to read ahead, the original story-collection can be found on tumblr or wattpad to read for free. (link above this text under "OC:..." ) It is the Empyrean Iris story collection by starfallknightrise. Also, if you want to know more about the story collection i made an intro post about it, so feel free to check that out to see what other great characters to look forward to! (Link also above this text). I have no affiliations to the author; just thought I’d share some of the great stories you might enjoy a lot!
Obviously, I have Charlie’s permission to post this and for the people already knowing the stories, or starting to read them: If you follow the link and check out the story you will see some differences. I made some small (non-artistic) changes, mainly correcting writing mistakes, pronoun correction and some small additional info here and there of things which were not thought of/forgotten or even were added/changed in later stories (like the “USS->UNSC” prefix of Stabby, Chalar=/->Sunny etc). As well as some "biggemajor" changes in descriptions and info’s for the same stringency/continuity reason. That can be explained by the story collection being, well a story collection at the start with many standalone-stories just starring the same people, but later on it gets more to a stringent storyline with backstories and throwbacks. (For example Adam Vir has some HEAVY scars over his body, following his bones, which were not really talked about up till half the collection, where it says it covers his whole body and you find out via backflash that he had them the whole time and how he got them, they just weren't mentioned before. However, I would think a doctor would at least see these scars before that, especially since he gets analyzed, treated and goes shirtless/in T-shirts in some stories). So TLDR: Writing and some descriptions are slightly changed, with full OK from the author, since he himself did not bother to correct these things before.