Play it again sports fayetteville nc

Wilmington, NC

2009.09.04 18:38 emaleerose Wilmington, NC

A subreddit dedicated to Wilmington, North Carolina and the surrounding area, including New Hanover, Pender, and Brunswick Counties.
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2010.11.16 20:18 infinity777 Triangle Starcraft Fans!

Connecting Starcraft fans in the greater Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill areas with weekly barcraft events, coaching, tournaments, and general discussion.
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2019.10.22 07:36 jostler57 Pokemon GO Battle League

Pokemon GO Battle League
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2023.04.02 11:26 serbann1 Mental strength and live poker

Hello everyone,
I thought about creating this post because I’ve been looking at most of shared graphs here and for a newbie it might create some fake high expectations. Most graphs here are in general posted for brags, when players are usually in the midst of an upswing or just a normal smooth sailing period (yes, these unicorns are what we all dream of).
A few words about myself - 32 y/o, I’ve been playing poker since I was 16 y/o (seriously since I was 19, constantly studying and beating online mid-stakes for over 1 MIL hands - no graph available since over the past 2-3 years I’ve only been playing when I needed additional income and usually without a HUD or any tracking tool, considered them not necessary because I would play 70-80K hands of NL100&200, over 1-2 months, withdraw and then leave poker on snooze until I would need it again for vacations or random consumerism reasons).
So now - fast forward to beginning of February this year: I managed to relocate to another country through my job, and of course the poker itch is always on your mind once you’ve been through hours and hours of studying, so I decided to visit the local casino to see what the poker scene looks like. What I saw here made me start to rethink poker as a constant source of income, 5-6 tables of uncapped 2/5 NL, pretty juicy games in general due to the location being touristy and lots of recs coming to gamble.
I never really played live poker seriously, with the grinder mentality, putting lots of hours in - I think overall I’ve played probably max. 50 hrs of live cash over the past 7-8 years (definitely way easier live, and I’m not saying this being smug, it’s just the way things are, low stakes live poker will almost never compare to even 5NL online).
Because I’m new to the city and I also have some free time, I’ve done some research in terms of hourly rates, and what actual grinding means in terms of live poker, and decided that I will give it a shot, see how it works. The plan was the following: at least 15 hours per week, preferably 3 five hours sessions, starting bankroll 2.5K EUR (I know it is way too small of a bankroll for 2/5 uncapped but keep in mind that I usually buy in for 100 bbs since this is the average buy in for most of the field, there are lots of short stakers and it was also more of a test, to see how it works. Aaaand after 2 months now I can honestly say that however more profitable live has the potential to be, the downswings also has a much bigger impact due to the long hours it takes to put up some real volume. So people should be aware of that fact also, because being card dead in a live game feels much more frustrating, long stretches of a 5-6K hands downswing or breakeven periods feels way different than having that stretch in just 2-3 days of online grinding. That’s my two cents on variance in live poker, the potential of higher stress it can have on you is something that you should brace for and look to be prepared for it.
I’ll leave below my stats since I started, I know I played longer than proposed but that’s only due to some additional free time I’ve had - the initial 15 hrs/week remains in place. I know it is a shitty frequency of variance, I’ve been through these before, I know the signs (I also won’t share badbeat stories or tell you how my AK never wins the flip or how I have periods of 4-5 hours of being utterly card dead). I also did some adjustments to playing live that I noticed can be profitable (limping, overcalling in decent spots and etc.), and I think I’m pretty comfortable at the table. However, I have to recognise that stretches like these in live kinda took me a bit by surprise, I don’t consider myself to be spewey or to allow tilt to have an impact game, I just stick with standard ABC plays but internally it is more frustrating and annoying.
https://imgur.com/a/DxMOT3u
*in another note: I’m mentally fine, those years of online bad stretches have prepped me quite ok to handle them, reviewed lots of hands and some spots were really close but I still think longterm are +EV. Looking forward to having some rungood ✌️
tldr: long time online player trying our live grinding finds the mental impact of it way more powerful than what online requires from you.
edit: format.
submitted by serbann1 to poker [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:25 pab_1989 United Rugby

I saw an article recently on a Rugby League website saying that it's almost inevitable that Union and League will come back together at some point. They argued that in England, League and Union together would make the game a truly national sport as the hotbeds of League are areas with little interest in union and vice versa.
They also said League would benefit from Union's stronger international game and wider global appeal. They argued that the only ones who would lose out would be the NRL due to the control they have and the money involved in Aussie RL.
Whether any of this is true, I thought the idea of a United Rugby was fascinating and I wondered what that game would like like. Which aspects of each game would make the final cut? Would it be a 13 or 15 man game? Would we have contested scrums and rucks? Would we have line outs and mauls? 6 tackle limit? How would the points work?
I've heard many none-rugby fans say that they prefer Rugby League as it has simpler rules and is less technical, making it easier to follow for a layman. I happen to like both, but am probably in the minority of people who appreciate Union forward play (as a former forward in both codes).
If Rugby did unite, what do you think the game should look like?
submitted by pab_1989 to rugbyunion [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:24 NewlySailedWaters 29 [M4F] UNO Challenge!

Calling all board game, card game enthusiasts!! I'm once again looking for someone new to play a special version of UNO. It's UNO, but with extra spicy rules that I'm sure you'll love.
This special version hasn't been played since before the pandemic, but I think it's finally time to bring it back for a whole new audience of challengers! Be warned though, all who have challenged me to this version of UNO couldn't beat me. Do you think you have what it takes to beat my winning streak? (For those wondering, my winning streak is currently 3)
About the game: Fundamentally, it's still UNO. All of the rules and cards which you're familiar with are still present. But the penalties you serve to your opponent are not simply limited to getting them to draw extra cards. This could be as wholesome as giving your opponent a hug or kiss, to as spicy as heavy petting. Please don't ask me for specifics or the exact rules, as these will be explained fully right before we start playing.
About me: I love board games, card games, and even video games. I enjoy thinking of novel, fun house rules to games which can deliver a refreshing twist, with UNO being the prime example. I'm an open minded, non-judgmental, respectful, and understanding person who is always up for making new friends.
Stats: Single ~ Caucasian ~ Slim/average build ~ 190cm tall ~ Dark brown hair ~ Green eyes ~ Non-smoker ~ DDF ~ Clean/Hygienic ~ Vaccinated (Flu/COVID)
What I'm offering: A cheeky game of UNO ~ A relaxed time with chill company ~ Drinks and snacks ~ Can host/travel
Who I'm looking for: Women of any skill level in games are welcome. The most important thing is to be open-minded and willing to give new experiences a go. But if you're quite competitive, or experienced in board/card games then bring it on! I love a challenge. Please also be DDF/non-smoker, vaccinated against flu/COVID, able to travel or host, and willing to provide a photo before meeting
Thanks for reading! I look forward to your challenge.
submitted by NewlySailedWaters to r4rSydney [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:22 GyroMachinist Soliciting Advertisements in Shout, Say, Yell, etc.

Let me prefix this conversation by saying I have no issue with anyone roleplaying, being a DJ on Twitch, promoting their venues through the Party Finder, etc. In fact, I'm a roleplayer myself and have visited a few venues myself. There are great venues who don't rely on these practices. As long there's a method to filter the results out, I have zero issues with any of these promotions and I encourage the promotion to stay there.
Unfortunately, there has been many individuals whom went out of their way to start promoting through the say, shout, and yell chat. It's not just one message of their venue, but multiple throughout the day. Unfortunately, due to the subreddit's rules, I'm unable to link censored chat logs, but I'm certain you've seen the spam yourself in Limsa, Gridania, Ul'dah, and elsewhere. Sometimes, it's just a single message. Sometimes, you'll see a wave of three or four people advertising different venues at the same time. I've even seen these venues advertised at Hunt Trains of all places.
Now, I could blacklist these individuals and move on.
Yet, it doesn't address the underlying problem. I've seen some go to further lengths by advertising on obvious alternative characters, so they can avoid being blacklisted on their main character(s). They'll toss these characters after a few days or so, make a new character, and continue the advertising cycle again. In fact, as I'm writing this paragraph, I came across an advertisement with a character whose lodestone was deleted recently. I wouldn't put it out of reason these characters could also be piloted by bots for their nuisance spam.
So, there's zero point in blacklisting these individuals. If some are relying on alternative characters and even automation to promote their venues and streams, then all I'm doing is wasting space on my blacklist. They're just going to keep coming back after a certain period of time. As of right now, there's no TPP that censors venues and stream advertisements in the chatbox. (There is for Party Finder, but we're not discussing that.) Yet, there are individuals who are uncomfortable with using TPP or doesn't have access to these tools and we shouldn't alienate these individuals too.
Why is this a problem?
If you're a long-time player, you could compare these messages to the old-fashion RMT spam from years ago that littered these cities. The same advertisement spam that people bitched and complained about for months and years about to Square Enix. The same RMT advertisement that forced Square Enix's hand to adding a "Report RMT" feature into the game. This "Report RMT" feature that eventually chat-restricts individuals after a certain amount of reports and forces a manual review on your account. (How do I know this? Mass reported by a botter and their friends.)
Now, let's review the Prohibited Guidances for 'Spamming' / 'Obstruction of Play':
The key point to consider is whether or not the behavior is obstructing another person's gameplay. While the intention may have not been to cause an obstruction, if the situation interferes with the communication of other players then it can be determined as a prohibited activity.
This key point point heavily relies on the communication of other players. If people are having a conversation in shout chat and suddenly bombarded with several ads from venues, then it's going to cause a disruption in their chatting experience. It might cause an argument to get out of control, a lively conversation to fall apart, etc. If they're spamming a macro or the same chat line over and over, then the Game Master can easily retrieve this and determine this specific infraction.
In the main Terms of Service, let's review this point about Botting:
2.1 Cheating and Botting. You may not create or use any unauthorized cheats, bots, automation software, hacks, mods or any other unauthorized software or hardware designed to modify the Game and gameplay. In addition, you may not take advantage of game system bugs and exploits during gameplay.
Again, I bring this rule up, because there are some alternative characters that aren't leveled and spamming the same message again. No adventure plate and if you look up their lodestone, they're level 2 or 3. These 'players' are constantly advertising these venues and DJs on every world on every data center on NA. (I've seen a few do it on a hourly basis as I've been writing this post up.) Could these be human players? Possibly, but given there's multiboxing Bard performance bots and gathering bots in this game... anything is damn possible.
Also, let's review this rule about Modifications:
2.7 Modifying or Creating Derivative Software. You may not modify or cause to be modified any files that are a part of the Game or Service in any way not expressly authorized by Square Enix, and may not make any derivative works of the Game.
Now, I could be making a nothingburger out of this, but this rule draws concern over venues, streamers, and DJs, because Square Enix may not want individuals advertising their game in a certain manner. In certain DJ live streams, I've seen modded characters in adult-themed outfits that obviously don't belong in the game. In certain venues, especially the 18+ venues, they'll advertise adult-themed services and some would go further by including Lalafells into the mix. If you open some caards in the advertisements, you may notice modified characters, textures, outfits, etc. All of this is asking for attention from Square Enix and their Game Masters.
If you don't believe me, I can list some examples when SE responded to problems after enough attention:
Now, other sections of the Prohibited Guidelines and Terms of Service can be bundled into this mess, but I'm going to stick strictly to these three. I don't want to feedback loop and rather keep it straightforward with this post, because they're the strongest three points.
Solution / Conclusion
Obviously, the problem needs to be addressed with an all-around answer from Square Enix. A solution with a TPP will only provide relief to some individuals and not to all. Silencing 'shout chat' isn't also a viable option, because that deletes a source of communication for some who relies on it for hunts.
As mentioned a few weeks ago in the Korean Q&A, Yoshi P did say they're working on an overhaul of the friend's list system. Yet, we don't know the details of this overhaul and what it ensues. Let's say if it did give us additional slots to our blacklist and automatically removed deleted characters, it would only be a band-aid to a temporary problem. The solicitors can simply make another character, spam to their heart's content, and delete it a few days later. Sure, this can help mitigate the problem, but it's only a band-aid to the overall issue that will fester overtime.
A short-term solution, SE could implement an advertisement or roleplay chat that's like shout chat, but solely for venues, roleplaying, etc. This can stop shout chat solicitations, give SE a chance to enforce policies, allow non-roleplayers to mute the chat, and give roleplayers what they want. Longer-term solution would be fixing the Fellowships and making it more accessible and presentable.
submitted by GyroMachinist to ffxivdiscussion [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:21 OhGodItsChris5 who needs consoles am i right?

who needs consoles am i right? submitted by OhGodItsChris5 to pcmasterrace [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:21 Sweet-tooth01 Hi I have an issue with Ntr Cfw

So I wanted to use Ntr cfw to stream on snickerstream but I've had an onslaught of issues. I've followed guides to help and used the newest versions of ntr cwf and the recommended Luma. At first it worked for a bit. I put on project Mirai dx and it worked until I played a song then it would disconnect. Did the nfc patch to play alpha saphire a bit but it disconnect again.
Now ntr cfw crashes my 3ds whenever I try to run ntr cfw and I'm at my limit. Do I just delete it and reinstall. If so how do I remove it properly. Is there any other way to fix this I've looked everywhere for answers but I'm not getting any threads that match my description.
Thank you in advance for the help.
submitted by Sweet-tooth01 to 3dshomebrew [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:20 Erwinblackthorn Alchemy vs Postmodernism: Primordial Emotions and Hermes

Why hello there, dear writer!
I've been working on a large mythological study in order to teach others how to understand mythology in a fast and easy way and couldn't help but notice all of the aspects in it that always seem to relate back to writing.
Mythology is a symbolic way of explaining what IS in the world, the objective qualities that we can then decipher into more fluid terms once we understand the symbolism of both who these mythological figures are and what they did. In my post about serials, I wrapped it up with a mirroring of how a serial writer would copy and live in the same way Bellerophon lived through his hero's journey, which resulted in him falling off a flying horse and landing on a bunch of prickly bushes, eyes first. None of us should expect this story to mean we, as serial writers, will literally fall off a flying horse in the near future, although that might happen to some with how genetic manipulation technology is going. No, it's more about how this symbolizes an eventual fall from grace once we try to enter areas where we don't belong, like when a human tried to enter Olympus.
But this isn't just about serial writing. This is going to be about being a writer in general and how the entire process happens, but explained in a pre-modernist context of what IS, rather than the deconstructive postmodernist context of what is NOT. I believe this will benefit anyone who sees it because understanding how being a writer works will also help a reader and vice versa. The relationship between reader and writer is what we call a dichotomy, a contrast between two things that are opposites. The reader reads the work after buying it and the writer wrote the work before selling it.
Some people might say "well I gave it away for free" or "I smuggled it in my ass without paying" but my point remains the same.
A reader needs a writer and a writer needs a reader. Even if the writer’s only reader is the writer themselves, they still have a reader to read the writing that they wrote. By the way, this post has been rated R for retardedly using so many words with the r sound. And speaking of retardation, I would like to go over a bit into how both of these sides handle things poorly in the postmodernist era, all so that we can understand the common result that we always come across in the current year.
Meet Wanda.
Wanda is a writer. But not just any writer. She’s a postmodernist. She’s so postmodernist that she misses her period whenever someone calls her one, because she gets that darn furious. How are you feeling there Wanda?
“Terrible…”
Why’s that?
“I can’t stop thinking about global warming, I hate the idea of private property, and people aren’t reacting well to the realistic figure of April O’Neil from the Seth Rogan TMNT movie.”
You mean the one that turned her from a beautiful red head into a burnt Mr. Krabs?
“That’s the one! And it’s such a shame because she represents all of the people that Hollywood doesn’t want to represent, and so they are ignored by media, as they’ve always been.”
Hollywood ignores feminist reporters? But I’ve seen so many Japanese videos where there’s a crowd watching them do their thing. Very intently, I might add.
“Not about that! I’m talking about black women, fat women, 12 year old women, women who don’t look feminine. And April is not the only one. There are all sorts of underrepresented types of people out there that never get their voices heard.”
So let me get this straight, Wanda the writer. You demand the representation of people in the media you watch so that a voice can be heard, but it doesn’t matter what they say as long as they are heard or as long as they are sort of there on the screen. Is this right?
“Not at all. I want these people, these poor defenseless minority people, to be represented in media and have their voices heard, even if what they have to say is not important.”
That’s pretty much what I said, but you know what? You’re the female writer here, so you must know what you’re doing. Now that you mention it, what are you doing to play your part in this whole goal of yours? Any minorities in your stories?
“Well… no. But I am writing about a white woman struggling against the patriarchy in the 1700s. I just hope nobody minds me using current year vernacular because you know how silly people sounded back then.”
Dead ass GOAT cheese, big chungus.
While she’s working on her thang, let’s meet another person who’s part of this relationship between writer and reader. Meet Ren. Ren is a reader. Not just a reader, but one who we could say is “clinically addicted to stories”. He reads books, online serials, watches booktubers to learn about more books, reads comic books, and manga.
“I even learned Japanese so I can read them before they get translated.”
Wow, now that’s dedication. This guy must really love media.
“More like I don’t have much to do while in college classes.”
Aren’t you supposed to learn things in college so you can use your degree for later?
“My degree is to be used?”
Anywho, I have a writer that I want you to meet. Her name is Wanda and does she have a story for you!
“Excellent. You know I love stories.”
I know, if pages didn’t give papercuts, you’d fuck a hole through the book. Been there, done that, don’t recommend it. So, Wanda’s story is something you will love. I assume you will because she sounded very sure about her main focus. She said that her book was about a woman dealing with something called the “patriarchy”. Now sure what that is, but I think it has to do with Patreon and arcs, so maybe it’s a serial that people support with donations.
“Doesn’t really interest me.”
Really? But… but there’s a woman in it and she’s… you know. Fighting the something or other.
“I mean, that’s fine. I have nothing against having a female protagonist, there’s plenty of those on Netflix, but I don’t know what the story is.”
Do you have to? I mean, does a story REALLY need to go somewhere for you to read it?
“No, it doesn’t need something to happen, but I… I don’t know. It’s like I need to at least know the setting to see if I like it.”
Is there a setting you DON’T like?
“Not really, I like any setting. But… look. You’re making this more difficult than it has to be. I just want to know what the plot is. Is that so hard to ask?”
But why do you need to know the plot if the story doesn’t need to go anywhere? In fact, Wanda said that you should be happy it has representation in the first place. That should be enough right there. Don’t you care about the voices of the minorities?
“I DO! You bet your sweet ass I do! I love minority voices. The kind that comes out of their mouth with those words and the sounds are heard from the vibrations in the air. I love all of that!”
Ok, calm down, it was just a-
“I’m not racist! You’re the racist for even asking such a thing!”
I didn’t mention race but let’s get off this to-
“You’re a fucking Nazi. I can’t believe you’d even think of asking something like that.”
Like grandfather like grandson, but I’m trying to get you to read the story that Wanda wrote and-
“No, you already had your chance. I’m done with this. You’re canceled! I’m going to make sure everyone I know on social media tries to deplatform you and make you homeless for good!”
That went well. But as you can see, there’s not much getting through to the postmodernist reader as long as they feel like they were offended and there’s not much coming out of the postmodernist writer other than virtue signaling for representation. If the postmodernist writer was correct, then people would be globally reacting positively to specifically representation and nothing else, but we’re not. If the postmodernist reader was correct, we would be enjoying pretty much everything that comes out and being fine with everything, but we’re not.
In fact, the globally acclaimed stories that have sold beautifully are all stories that do nothing of the sort. Remember, Harry Potter is considered the most evil thing by the woke postmodernist reader and writer, yet Harry Potter has sold half a billion copies and under half of that has been sold in English speaking countries. That means Harry Potter, a story that’s being called the worst thing ever by the woke postmodernist, is actually one of the best things ever across nearly every culture. People like it so much that they have decided to play a game that is merely based on the world, instead of trying to virtue signal along with the woke postmodernists who beg everyone to follow their narrative. Perhaps the reason why their narrative is failing is because they don’t know how to write properly.
But what exactly is the right way to write? How do we get the global connection that some writers know how to do but others don’t? The answer has been right in front of our faces this whole time and for about 2,000 years. You know where I’m going with this: it’s alchemy. The answer is found in alchemy, even if the people who do it don’t know that it’s in alchemy. However, no matter what, the postmodernist writer has to reject alchemy entirely because every single principle under alchemy is deemed as either offensive or false by the postmodernist.
Don’t believe me? Let’s check them out:
  1. The all is mind; the universe is mental.
The postmodernist is forced to be materialist until they are told a gender exists, and that’s when they bend the rules a bit to say that gender is a mental thing, BUT mental is part of the brain, which is material. If they didn’t do this, they wouldn’t be able to defend anything hedonistic in their desires.
  1. As above, so below.
The postmodernist is not allowed to believe this because they call this a “false dichotomy”.
  1. Nothing rests, everything moves, everything vibrates.
I actually haven’t seen a postmodernist respond to this one, but I’m sure they’ll have some excuse or outlier of something that doesn’t vibrate. Or they will just deny science all together because everything is subjective to them.
  1. Everything is dual, everything has its pairs of opposites, like and unlike are the same, opposites are identical in nature but different in degree.
I actually did speak to a postmodernist who denied this. They wanted proof of such a thing being true instead of being the one who finds proof of it being wrong. Remember, in their mind, the burden of proof is always on the one that’s established and never on the one who’s trying to reject the norm.
  1. Everything flows, out and in.
  2. Every cause has its effect.
  3. Gender is in everything, everything has its masculine and feminine.
That last one is enough to get you canceled. The gender deconstructionist, aka non-binary advocate, will tell everyone that there are things like pansexual, potsexual, skilletsexual, woksexual. Everything and the kitchen sinksexual. They threaten to take their own lives if we don’t believe this. Alchemy, by simply existing, is the most offensive thing to these people. Alchemy, by simply being understood, is the most useful tool in creating a globally functional story.
Fancy that.
But how exactly does alchemy cause a story to be good? And not just good, but enjoyed by someone from one culture to another?
To understand it, we’re going to explain what writing even is.
Writing, in its most simplest form of process, is the act of taking an idea from an imaginary source, in the mind, and turning it into a thought. This thought is then turned into a coherent string of words in our head, which is then written down to be recorded in some form. Paper, computer, stone, the flesh of a corpse, whatever you want to use. It’s about symbolic ideas being transmogrified into words that are then to be read by someone else.
How does reading work?
Well, we take the writing process and do it backwards. The written text is read by the reader, which gives them a conscious thought, which is turned into an idea, and it comes back to them for emotional reactions. These emotional reactions range in intensity and in type: happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, and surprise. These basic emotions are tied into our interest, which should be the first thing a writer studies in order to sell to people. One of the biggest questions for media is “what exactly are people interested in?”
The simple answer is: whatever causes a strong reaction from one of those basic emotions.
On social media, the most widely shared topics are ones that bring happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, or surprise; with no real mixture of them. And not just that, but as close to that single reaction as possible. We don’t watch cat videos because we are afraid of cats, we watch them because we find happiness in their cuteness, which is a result of the protective caregiving reaction found in feminine emotions that was brought to us thanks to evolution, because without it we would ignore our babies and throw them into the prickly bushes when they’re annoying.
The reader emotionally reacting is what causes retention rates. We are unable to care about what was written if we don’t feel anything about the story. So what does mythology have to do with these emotions? A lot, actually. You see, Greek mythology had a lot of gods in its pantheon and some of the most primordial of gods were ones of emotion.
Before the Olympians and even before the titans, there were two primordial gods that had to give birth to pretty much everything: Nyx and Erebus. Nyx was the goddess of night and Erebus was the god of darkness. Darkness is meant to be a symbol of “impurity” or something like “the lack of enlightenment”. When we talk about darkness, we talk about something that is of the black part of Yin Yang, the Yin part. It is the chaos that combats against the order. Night is about the same, but for the entire world, because nighttime is that part of our lives when all the predators come out and try to eat us. However, night is also when we can view the stars and darkness is the area where we can focus better on the light.
From night and darkness were born several gods: Euphrosyne(happiness), Styx(hatred), Hybris(wantonness), Eleos(compassion), Nemesis(envy/revenge), Eris(discord), Epiphron(prudence), Eros(love), Oizys(misery), and Philotes(friendship).
These are all emotion based things. These are emotions that are so universal that they didn’t even need people to exist. These are the emotions that cause humans to exist instead of the other way around. The only emotions that aren’t part of that list directly are Corus(disgust), who is the son of Hybris; and fear, who was birthed by Ares(war) and Aphrodite(lust).
To the Greeks, disgust and fear were something that resulted from wantonness, which means to be reckless and out of control. I say this because exploitation and horror films that are meant to poke at our fears and disgust us are always designed to make us react by having us go out of control. We hoot and holler, then we usually laugh or just lose our lunch. But everything else is pretty much self explanatory.
Why are revenge stories so common? Nemesis.
Why are romance stories so common? Eros.
Why are stories about friendship so common? Philotes.
Why do I love to hate the villain? Styx.
These primordial gods are meant to be domains of these emotions, the sources of the emotions. So trying to get this emotion from a story as a reader is like visiting one of these domains, knocking on the door, and getting a big whiff of whatever’s going on there. Then our mind comes back to the brain and tells our chemical responders to respond in whatever way that causes the chemical reactions as a result of an emotion. The same happens when we are trying to write it, only we feel the emotion before we write it down.
When we watch a soap opera and get tied into the sad story and are crying our eyes out, we are sitting right there in the domain of Oizys, ready to feel anything else that’s similar. Oh look, all of these gods are siblings, meaning they are similar. What are the odds!
It’s almost as if pre-modernism had the answers out in the open for 2,000 years and postmodernists still deny it ever happened.
Ok, so emotions are important, sure. Even a postmodernist can accept that, even if they don’t accept the source of these emotions.
“Hey, I reject that!”
Oh look, it’s our good friend Ren the reader. But this is a different Ren, who is Renardo, but goes by Ren. What are you rejecting, Ren the Reader… the second?
“I reject the idea that we can feel anything at all in how the author intended. Author’s intent means nothing to the reader, and it’s all about reader’s interpretation. Death of the author is alive and well, and we prove it every day when we don’t understand what the author intended. And I’ll have you know, if the author says anything racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic in how I interpret something they say, then that means death TO the author for intending those interpretations!”
Whoa, reel back that weiner, Ren. Are you saying that an author has no idea what they’re talking about when they write something and only the reader’s interpretation matters at the end of the day? And you can blame the author for your interpretation?
“Not at all! I’m saying that whatever the author says is secondary to whatever the reader was thinking when it comes to the enjoyment of the reader. And when I interpret something, it’s their fault for making me interpret it that way.”
That’s basically what I just said but I think you’re onto something. In fact, you just accidentally agreed with ancient civilizations on what we call a messenger god.
“You called it a god instead of a godx?! Really? Are you that insensitive that you won’t include nonbinary godx?”
Yes, I am, but you’re forgetting that with gendered grammar, the masculine form is always used when a group of different genders-
“No, that’s not an excuse! How dare you use the patriarchy as a means of oppressing non-binary and indigenous third genders like the one from Thailand.”
As someone who’s actually been to Thailand and seen my fair share of ping pong shows, that third gender is there to remove rights, not to increase-
“I’m not listening to your facts for a single second more. Don’t you know that facts are racist? The internet will hear about your fact usage. You shall rue the day you ever tried to pull that fast one on me, sweaty!”
Talk about shooting the messenger. And speaking of, that’s what I wanted to talk about before Renaldo did… whatever he did.
Pretty much every mythology has a messenger god of a sort, including monotheistic religions. In Greek mythology, the god Hermes is the messenger of the gods and has several interesting origins, both within the mythology and from the conception of his mythology. It is highly likely that Hermes came from the Babylonian Isimund, who was a two faced messenger and advisor for the god Enki, with Enki being the god of water, magic, and creation. The reason those things combine is because the fertility of a woman and the fertilizer of a man are both water and cause creation of life. He was also the god of knowledge, which relates to how our water "humor" of phlegm is connected to our mouth and our brain.
You're probably thinking "what does this have to do with writing?"
Well, hold on for a bit, I'm getting to it.
Hermes was the messenger god for the Greeks but he was also the god of travel related things like speed and roads, cunning, wit, thieves, and he was also a psycopomp. And no, that doesn't mean he was a murderous cheerleader. A psychopomp is a soul guide, like Charon who leads a soul across the river of Styx or the crow who guides a soul to the spirit realm. But Hermes doesn't wait for you to die, he's the dude who takes ideas from the spirit world and puts them into your head.
Hermes was called mercury in Roman mythology and mercury is also the classic metal that represents the mind. Mercury is a liquid metal, making like a transformation and abstract symbol, which the mind is meant to be. So if you want to understand the mind better, you should study how Hermes works. Another key factor is a little belief system that we call hermeticism.
Remember the 7 principles of alchemy from the beginning? Those were the 7 principles of hermeticism, which is a word that's practically interchangeable with alchemy. It is idealist, it is dualist, and it is reflective. It is just how our minds come up with stories to put into the hands of readers for the readers to imagine our idea, only storytelling is a fraction of the concept.
Thot, the Egyptian messenger god, was directly considered the god of magic, judgment of the dead, and writing. That last part is important because he is depicted as a partner of Ma'at as they stand above Ra's solar barque, which is a personal Egyptian boat that is meant to represent the sun. Ra is the god of order, sunlight, kings, and the sky(aka the sky father). Ma'at is the goddess of truth, order, balance, justice, law, and morality.
Back to Greek mythology, we have Hermes who was born from Zeus and Mara. Zeus is the god of gods, while Mara was one of the pleiades. The Pleiades were seven sister nymphs that eventually were turned into stars, and nymphs are meant to be personifications of nature. This means Hermes was born from nature and the ruler of gods.
This means that the ruler, the writer, is accompanied by truth and magic, with both obeying the world and from the world. These are required in order to make a story in the first place, because the story is a world that you’re designing. The writer is the one casting light onto specific events and using specific words to give the reader a specific idea of what’s going on. And not just a specific idea, but a specific argument to declare as true. The postmodernist writer is unable to do this because they don’t believe in the truth, and the postmodernist reader isn’t able to accept it because the truth is offensive to them.
“Hey, that’s not true!”
Oh look, Wendy the writer is back. Tell us Wendy, what did I say that’s not true?
“What you said is a mischaracterization of postmodernism! It’s not that we don’t believe in the truth, it’s that we hold personal truth because there is no objective truth.”
Right, I forgot. It’s true as long as you sexually identify as true. And the audience will see something true as long as they think it’s true. So whenever a postmodernist reader reads something a postmodernist writer wrote, they are treated with an incredibly small chance of gaining any truth from it, and any truth gained from it is actually from what the reader already believed. In fact, the postmodernist writer must make sure that truth is rejected to keep it subjective and open for interpretation.
This is how a postmodernist writer is able to avoid responsibility for any themes found, but at the same time, the self-inflicted wound of what we call “sensitivity reading” intends on having a select few determine what everyone will see as offensive. But, all the while, the reader is making up everything that is offending them when they are intending on being offended by anything, with offense being a psudo-currency unit that is based on how hard a person wants to look like a victim and in what department. This allows a sensitivity reader to make up the darndest things, like claiming orcs are black people or goblins are jews, or something is "gay coded". All the while the author rarely or never intends on any of these things because they aren't trying to write for that specific reader through the whacky lens that reader is using to turn any work into their own personal advocacy. In the most ironic way, sensitivity readers are the ones who utilize stereotypes as a weapon against anything they want to deem as evil, which has been called nonsensical for the longest time until now.
“How dare you insult my precious sensitivity readers! They work to the bone, day and night, telling me about everything I wrote that would look unappealing to minorities. Paying them more than I made in my sales was the best decision I ever made.”
I’m so happy that you’re happy, but don’t you think making a profit is a better alternative to… whatever the hell you did?
“Profit?! As in capitalism? Are you mad?”
Now that you mention it, I did eat a tuna sandwich and that relates to mercury because-
“Now you’re talking about eating animals, which is murder. I wouldn’t be caught dead talking to the likes of you, murderer!”
It’s not murderer until you get caught.
I’ll let her get back to her writing since she seems a bit mentally… preoccupied. What I was trying to say is that this mediary, this psychopomp, is our greatest guide in our writing by allowing us to connect with the truth, which comes from the sky father. This truth is what allows us to create an argument, and this argument is what our story is meant to revolve around. Whenever people talk about a theme, they are talking about an argument being made, and it makes sense to be made.
This argument is the heart of the story, with smaller arguments being made up and down the story in order to make it more valid. Events give examples, characters take sides in the argument to present positions, and the plot strings it all together in order for the reader to see how it works. The author doesn’t hold the truth themselves and neither does the reader. This is why the author's intent and reader’s interpretation is a false dichotomy. The truth is the one that truly matters, which is found within the text as the argument to be had.
A true argument is a valid argument and it is unquestionable other than to the people who reject reality. A postmodernist doesn’t demand truth, because they don’t believe in it. This is why postmodernists now demand change to the world, for the world to mold towards the individual's demands, as if the individual is Enki himself. We are not the gods of mythology, even if we act like one symbolically with writing. We may be rulers of the fictional world that we’re working on and have written, but we are most certainly not the rulers of the real world.
The best we can do is enjoy the guidance and assistance gods and goddesses grant us as we write and communicate with a higher realm through them. The ideas we use, the emotions we use, everything we put into a story is from beyond our brain and beyond our consciousness. Postmodernist writers think the world will bend at the knee for them, and that’s not how it works. Postmodernist readers think their opinion is to be never questioned and that’s not how it works either.
Currently, we are treated with movies that go nowhere, shows that are filled with virtue signaling, games that just try to be meta about political or industrial advocacy, and it’s an utter mess. Again, if these postmodernists said the truth about the media, we’d have positive results coming from them. But we don’t. We don’t have postmodernists making the next big classic and we don’t have readers understanding the most basic themes from something as old as mythology. All the while, the answers have been granted to us by our ancestors for thousands of years.
So far, I’ve covered emotions and the ability to write, but what exactly causes a reader to read something in the first place?
The opinion of a reader is subjective, but the interests of a reader is easy to predict due to the objectivity of behavior patterns and the fact that people who like a genre will read that genre. Genre is not the only factor, there is a lot that can turn the reader on and off. But we shall dive into that another time as we explore topics like the muse, the zodiacs, and personas.
Till next time.
submitted by Erwinblackthorn to TDLH [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:19 Severe-Chemistry9548 how to change my account on switch?

my ex used to play fallguys on my switch on his account. i want to log out and use mine (which i only used in the PC before), but i obviously dont have access to his epic account. is there anything i can do or i can just never play fall guys on my switch again? the nintendo account of course its mine.
obs: asking him is not an option, hes not legally allowed to talk to me or beeing close to me, so.
submitted by Severe-Chemistry9548 to FallGuysGame [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:16 LinaLunaMoonchild I am a nocturnal animal, trying to overcome routines.

Hello, my name is Lina, you can call me Luna too if you'd like.
I find myself waking up at one or two in the morning, putting on a light jacket and my bagpack and wondering the streets of Berlin. Sometimes I stop at a park or a playground, take a few minutes to play on the swing.
It's not like Berlin is ever silent, not in the center at least but it's so quiet. You don't have to listen to music with NC headphones on because the cars are too loud, so you can hear yourself walking on the stone or grass or gravel.
Then I go back to sleep a few hours later. Often I don't have my phone with me. I'm not scared. Yesterdaynight there was a cat. I was allowed to pet it for a bit, then we went our separate ways.
I'm looking for people to chat. It would be best if we can have a real conversation. None of this daily how are you stuff. Most days I'm okay. Nothing more, nothing less.
I like to watch movies, listen to music or build with Lego. Sometimes play with it too. I like to do stuff alone. Stuff like gaming or going to the cinema. Sometimes it's fun to play with others too, though. I also like to play d&d or roleplay or just make stuff up in my mind. Creating characters is something I truly love.
If you wanna chat please know that I won't change platforms, I don't share my voice or pictures of me. I don't want to be anything else then text on your screen. Also please include a star in your first message. Either an emoji or at least this: *
Hoping to hear from you, Lina.
submitted by LinaLunaMoonchild to MakeNewFriendsHere [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:15 Aomine_Daikiti Can I change my steam account?

So I bought FFXIV Complete Edition on my brothers steam account, played 80h and now he wants to move out so I will no longer can use his account. What should I do? Can I buy ffxiv on my new steam account and link it to my SE account somehow? And if so, should i buy endwalker again or owning the base game would be enough?
submitted by Aomine_Daikiti to ffxiv [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:14 DawnlightWarrior 27 [M4F] Spain/Europe/Online - In search of that which will make my springtime bloom

Hey you! Yes you, the one reading this message. I hope you like this message and here is a bit of information about me:
Who the hell I am?



Have you decided to talk to me yet? Maybe these opinions will help you
He is a really handsome boy - My grandmother
My brother is special and crazy, don't talk to him. - My brother
I want to make him mine, break up after a few months and write a song about him. – Taylor Swift
I wanted him as my padawan, but they imposed Anakin Skywalker on me and you know how it ended. - Obi Wan Kenobi
He was going to be the model I used for my sculpture David, but he's neither as handsome nor as strong. - Michelangelo
I was about to hire him to play Sebastian in La La Land, but he can't sing well or play the piano, Emma Stone preferred him to Ryan Gosling. - Damien Chazelle (La la land's Director)
I turned down Ted Mosby for so many years because I waited for him, he never came and in the end I had to stay with Mosby. - Robin Scherbatsky
I'd like to see him die in one of my movies - Quentin Tarantino
He has a good musical taste and at least he does not put the music to full volume - My neighbor
If you think we can get along, do not hesitate to send me a message or a chat invitation, you are pretty welcome. The chatting app that I use most now is Discord, but I can use any other app if you prefer or just chat on reddit. Please include some information about yourself in your message. If you're not sure how to break the ice, ~throw a iceberg at me~ include an interesting question you've been thinking about lately, a song you love or any interesting thing, if you can't think about a question, this is my question for you, What would be the last song you would listen to if you knew today was your last day on earth?
submitted by DawnlightWarrior to r4r [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:14 bturner290101 I Won’t Always Love You (but it’s now a lead sheet!) + Dancers coming soon!

Hey all, the mfer who tabbed out Luke’s part in The Place and I Won’t Always Love You back again! I’ve now compiled a lead sheet that I feel pretty confident in, the problem with the first section is it’s very countrapuntal so there’s very few notes that actually definitively say what each chord is, I used my best judgement and some m u s i c t h e o r y to take a stab at it. Should be pretty solid. I didn’t tab out the specific voicings for the first part, if you would like that check out Tyler’s solo performance at The Windmill (it’s on YouTube) you’re all smart cookies I’m sure you can figure it out.
https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/black-country-new-road/i-wont-always-love-you-chords-4708589
I figured out Dancers last week I know how to play basically all of it I just need to tab it out which takes a little time, tab should be up within the next week or so and the lead sheet to soon follow! If I don’t fulfill that promise I apologize I’m starting rehearsals for my thesis show (I’m a drama major at my college) so I’m really busy. Have fun, post clips if you use either the tab or the chart (remember kids, never trust the default chord voicings ug gives you) I would love to see if I did a good job translating the song.
submitted by bturner290101 to BlackCountryNewRoad [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:14 Kokichi_Ouma666 Hello, it's me again. Just wanted to try again.

Hello, it's me again. It's been a while, hasn't it?
If you don't know me, my name is Azuka and I am a 30 year old, pansexual woman. I Live in Germany and I am bilingual (German/English).
To be quite honest with you, I haven't been feeling like myself lately. I'm still looking for friends that I can be me with. It would be nice to meet some more people my age.
Watching anime together, play Pokémon together, talk about life and random things. I am in love with fictional characters and that makes me happy. It's also a big passion of mine to create my own character and get couple art of her and my fictional crushes. It gives me comfort and joy,so I'm not going to be ashamed of it.
My humor is very weird. I jump from dad jokes to puns to playful gamer rage. Yes, I am a little nuts in the noggin, but that's me and I embrace it.
My personality can be a little all over the place. I'm childish, caring, a big goofball, weird, passionate about things I love (Zelda, anime etc.). I can talk for hours about what I love and I could discuss Zelda theories like a fanatic. But, I don't do it as much anymore. (bad experiences with people.)
Please, don't get me wrong when I say, that I need some affection too. I take care of people. Build them up, try to cheer them up when they aren't doing OK, listen to them and be there for them. I don't mind that at all. But I need that too. It's getting very exhausting for me to keep giving, if no one gives back. I'm human and I have my limits. At some point I get exhausted and start ghosting people unwillingly, because I don't know what to do with myself.
I keep trying to find friends that I click with. That enjoy my company and feel comfortable around me to be themselves, and vice versa. Yes, I can be flirty when I am comfortable with someone, but it's important to me to tell me if something I do makes you feel uncomfortable.
Also, I want to add that I suffer from severe depression and when I start getting along with someone, I can be clingy. Separation anxiety. That comes from a childhood experience of mine, where people left me or replaced me quite a lot. So I get scared of that and react unconsciously with being clingy.
I love daydreaming and fantasizing about being in a different world. Where the love for music that I have is very helpful. I can just turn off reality for a bit and imagine how it would be, living the life of my character I create for every universe that I put her into. Be it the Land of Hyrule or the Regions of the Pokémon World or even the UA. I love making up stories and comission artists to draw specific scenes of these daydreams.
There are a lot of different things I want to learn: Drawing, speaking Japanese, playing guitar and singing. Learning from someone is something that I always wanted to do to achieve these things.
This is a part of who I am and thank you for taking the time to read this. If you did, the password is Sheikah. Since the notifications here are quite broken, we can also talk on discord or telegram.
It may be a random idea, but I have a discord server that I intended to use for people I met here to click with eachother as well. I always wanted to create my own little friend group, where I can be my goofy ass self. Where we can watch anime together, play Pokémon scarlet and violet together, get hyped about games and pre-orders together.
I am aware that this sounds childish, but I really just wanted to get it out there and let you have a glimpse of what my little brain wants.
I'd also appreciate if I wasn't the only female around lol. Also, I'd welcome more of the lgbtq community, since I don't want anyone to feel left out! Some fangirling would be really cool to do together!
Hopefully this isn't too much to ask for?
Thank you again. Have a great day!
submitted by Kokichi_Ouma666 to Needafriend [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:13 KiraraChin A wonderful article about Kazuki Tomono

I translated it using DeepL for a different platform and decided to share it here too, for those who enjoyed his performances at the Worlds Championships. Here's the original link: https://mi-mollet.com/articles/-/41688
Why we are encouraged by Kazuki Tomono's fighting spirit. His "captivating" performance that had the audience on their feet, and his competitive spirit of "believing in himself".
Japan's first back-to-back championships won by Shoma Uno and Kaori Sakamoto. Rikuryu (Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara) became the first Japanese team to win the Grand Slam of the year. Furthermore, they became the first Japanese team to win all three categories. Kanadai (Kana Muramoto/Daisuke Takahashi) tied for Japan's highest ever ranking. The World Figure Skating Championships were full of records.
All the athletes, both domestic and international, shined in their own ways, but it was Kazuki Tomono who left an unforgettable sparkle in the hearts of all who saw his performance.
Despite some falls in both the Short Program (SP) and Free Skating (FS), he showed no signs of breakdowns, and placed 6th with his outstanding performance. Especially in FS, despite some mistakes, he marked 180.73 points, a new personal best. He made the packed Saitama Super Arena stand in awe of his performance.
He has now competed in 3 World Championships, and has recorded personal bests on all 3 occasions. What is the secret of his amazing strength in the competition? In order to tell you about Tomono's strength to live up to expectations, we would like to start by retracing his steps.
Never a promising athlete in his youth
Born in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture in 1998, Tomono began skating at the age of 4, but he was never a promising skater from the start. One of the proofs of this is the Nobeyama Training Camp. This was a training camp for novice skaters (9 to 12 years old as of July 1 of that year), both boys and girls, to gather promising skaters from all over the country, and the first group of students produced Shizuka Arakawa, a gold medalist at the Torino Olympics. Since then, world champions such as Daisuke Takahashi, Miki Ando, Mao Asada, and Yuzuru Hanyu have gone on to become world champions through this "Nobeyama Training Camp".
Current national team candidates such as Shoma Uno, Sota Yamamoto, Shun Sato, and Kao Miura have also experienced the Nobeyama Training Camp. However, Tomono has never participated in the Nobeyama training camp. In other words, he was not considered a future national team candidate at that time. In fact, as a junior, he was not selected for the Junior Grand Prix Series three years in a row. There was even one year when he went home feeling frustrated that he was the only one who failed out of all the competitors invited to the selection rounds.
Because the competitions are usually broadcast on terrestrial television, we tend to be under the illusion that we are watching figure skating, but the figure skating we are watching is an amateur sport. Most of the skaters are students and retire as soon as they graduate from college.
Tomono is also loved by skating fans for his unique programs such as "Japanese Doll" and "Fate of the Dog Officer," but the road to the top in Japan was difficult, and he revealed that he had planned to leave the competitive world after graduating from university.
However, in 2018, he placed 5th at her first World Championships. What was supposed to be just a student sport turned out to be the world's TOMONO. From here, Tomono's skating life changed at once.
The glory of "world No. 5" and the new conflict that emerged from it
However, as long as our dreams are far away, we do not experience the frustration of missing them. It is precisely because it seems out of reach and out of grasp that we become disenchanted with our own powerlessness and devastated by the two words "talent. After achieving the glory of "5th in the world," Tomono's competitive life was a battle against another kind of pressure.
After that, he trained hard to get back on the world stage, but he was unable to show his ability in the competition and finished outside the podium every year at the All-Japan Championships. The only thing that weighed on him more and more was the fact that he was ranked 5th in the world. In addition, a new generation, including Yuma Kagiyama, who later became a silver medalist at the Beijing Olympics, emerged, and the fierce race for selection became more and more intense. Tomono was always surrounded by first-rate talent.
And that seems to be where Tomono's conflict lay.
Uno, his classmate, has been called a "genius" since he was a Novice skater, and is a treasure of the skating world. Yamamoto, a rinkmate since childhood, was also considered a promising "star of the PyeongChang Olympics. The younger skaters, Kagiyama, Sato, and Miura, are such gems that they have been featured as "Kanto Three Crows" since they were still junior skaters. Of course, all of them have their own struggles and difficulties that cannot be described with superficial expressions, but they are exceptional in terms of the level of expectations. In contrast to these aces, I am just an ordinary skater. I have never experienced being a hopeful with high expectations. I have not come this far because I have special talent.
His openness to everyone is one of Tomono's virtues, but he is also a bit too gentle as a competitor, and is an entertainer at heart who professes that he does not like to fight. His many substitute appearances have paved the way for him, and he finds himself competing side by side with geniuses whom he thought were from a different world when he was a boy, but he is still somewhat unsure of his position in the world. I felt that such a weak heart, one more step, was clinging to Tomono's skating shoes.
This season's NHK Cup broke that spell.
Indeed, the result was not great, coming in 4th place. Uno, Yamamoto, and other rivals of the same generation were standing on the podium, but I could not bring home a medal. I wonder if he is still suffering from the same frustration that he felt at the Junior Grand Prix Series selection round. I felt that I was suffering from the same frustration that I had felt at the Junior Grand Prix Series selection round, and I was heartbroken. However, after the competition, Tomono's expression was clear.
He said, "I had been facing my weaknesses for a long time, and I thought it was time to let that go. After yesterday's match, I had a change in my mind, thinking that it was time for me to face my strength. Today was the first time I fully believed in my own strength and took on the challenge of facing my own strength.
Despite missing the podium, which had been his goal, Tomono never let out a negative or weak voice. Rather, he only looked forward. I felt a strength in him that I had never seen in Tomono before.
He faced his own strength, not his own weakness.
He won the representative battle, which was never in an advantageous position, and won the representative seat on his own. And then, he placed 6th in the World Championships in a magnificent performance, amidst the world's top skaters performing at their best. He himself commented on his "mysterious confidence," but I could no longer sense any sense of defeat or lack of confidence in Tomono, standing on the main rink of Saitama Super Arena. He believed in himself there, more than anyone else.
That is why, even if he fell down, he never lost his heart, never lost his passion, and skated what he could call his best. Unfortunately, he did not reach the medal, but without a doubt, he was the strongest Kazuki Tomono ever at that moment.
Behind those words was a break with himself, who had never been raised by the elite. It is true that my skating life may not have been what the adults expected of me. There may be many stars who are more talented than me. I believe that those who are in the world of competitions have to suffer in ways that we cannot even imagine.
But I am standing in this place right now. Let me believe in that, first of all. Let's expect more from ourselves than anyone else. That is how Tomono was able to change his mind. In this way, he was able to overcome his weakness.
Believing in Yourself" Makes Tomorrow a Little Better
Figure skating is famous for its short life span. Although not as long as women's figure skaters, most men's skaters also say goodbye to their competitive careers in their 20s. Tomono, now 24 years old, may not have much time left in his competitive career.
I am sure that teenage athletes will be gaining strength from now on. No one can guarantee that they will be able to compete in the World Championships again next year.
But strangely, when I look at Tomono, such pessimistic feeling disappears somewhere. Rather, my heart gets excited that Kazuki Tomono's prime period starts now. This is surely because we are also inspired by the "strength to believe in oneself" that Tomono has acquired.
People are not strong creatures. We make excuses, and we also make weak noises. We are tormented by a sense of inferiority, thinking we are not good enough compared to others, or we raise the white flag before we even begin to fight for fear of getting hurt. The more we grow up, the better we get at finding reasons not to do things.
It is easy to run away from our weaknesses. But that doesn't open the door to the future.
Even if you were not blessed with talent or the right environment from the start, if you have worked hard, you must first properly believe in yourself. Stop belittling yourself and give yourself more credit than anyone else for the person you are right now.
Seeing Tomono, who was defeated by his rivals that day, but still determined to "face his own strength, not his own weakness," gives me such courage. You don't have to have any evidence. It doesn't matter if it is bullshit or a bluff.
The highlight of Tomono's performance was the choreo sequence at the end of the competition. Failures, hesitations, worries, complexes, all are blown away as Tomono runs across the ice with such speed. The sense of speed and the exhilaration of his performance make the audience feel happy.
Even if I can't make someone smile like that, there must be something I can do. I too shall face not my weakness but my strength.
I was moved by Tomono's performance because it contained an important message for living life.
submitted by KiraraChin to FigureSkating [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:13 NewlySailedWaters 29 [M4F] Sydney, NSW - UNO Challenge!

Calling all board game, card game enthusiasts!! I'm once again looking for someone new to play a special version of UNO. It's UNO, but with extra spicy rules that I'm sure you'll love.
This special version hasn't been played since before the pandemic, but I think it's finally time to bring it back for a whole new audience of challengers! Be warned though, all who have challenged me to this version of UNO couldn't beat me. Do you think you have what it takes to beat my winning streak? (For those wondering, my winning streak is currently 3)
About the game: Fundamentally, it's still UNO. All of the rules and cards which you're familiar with are still present. But the penalties you serve to your opponent are not simply limited to getting them to draw extra cards. This could be as wholesome as giving your opponent a hug or kiss, to as spicy as heavy petting. Please don't ask me for specifics or the exact rules, as these will be explained fully right before we start playing.
About me: I love board games, card games, and even video games. I enjoy thinking of novel, fun house rules to games which can deliver a refreshing twist, with UNO being the prime example. I'm an open minded, non-judgmental, respectful, and understanding person who is always up for making new friends.
Stats: Single ~ Caucasian ~ Slim/average build ~ 190cm tall ~ Dark brown hair ~ Green eyes ~ Non-smoker ~ DDF ~ Clean/Hygienic ~ Vaccinated (Flu/COVID)
What I'm offering: A cheeky game of UNO ~ A relaxed time with chill company ~ Drinks and snacks ~ Can host/travel
Who I'm looking for: Women of any skill level in games are welcome. The most important thing is to be open-minded and willing to give new experiences a go. But if you're quite competitive, or experienced in board/card games then bring it on! I love a challenge. Please also be DDF/non-smoker, vaccinated against flu/COVID, able to travel or host, and willing to provide a photo before meeting
Thanks for reading! I look forward to your challenge.
submitted by NewlySailedWaters to R4Rstralia [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:12 ZephyrBrightmoon How to recognize when enough is enough in a relationship and establishing boundaries

WARNING: LONG POST IS LONG

When I say "enough is enough", I don't mean violence or other very, very large red flags or red flag factories.
I'm not going to go into the specifics of how I met my ex-husband, our dating, marriage, and other aspects of our relationship because I want to focus specifically on a particular type of behaviour here. This behaviour of my ex actually permeated our whole relationship in different ways and this story explains a lot of who he is, as a person. This kind of story could also apply to roommates, family members, or anyone you have to spend a lot of time around.
My ex-husband wanted me to wash the dishes all of the time. Dish washing was to be my duty and floor mopping was to be his duty, and so on. Division of chores is fine with me. We lived in an apartment that didn't have a dishwasher, just a single kitchen sink (not the two-sink variety where you can use one sink for soapy soak and the other one for rinsing off) and tap scenario.
I didn't mind being asked to do the dishes. I lived on my own at different parts of my life so of course I was capable of doing dishes. Get the dishes wet with the hottest water you can stand, use whatever kind of scrubber you need for the severity of the dirtiness of the dish, from scouring pad to stiff bristle brush, to the yellow sponge with that green stiff side, whatever. Soap up your scrubber and a dirty dish and scrub off the gunk. Make sure it looks clean, then rinse and stack to dry as you prefer.
Ex happened to come into the kitchen and managed to catch me washing the dishes for a moment. He then scrunched his face up in irritation and ripped the dish from me, growling, "You're doing it wrong!" I got upset and asked what I was doing wrong and he yelled, "You leave too much bubble on the dishes!" I had no clue but he explained that he thought I didn't rinse all of the soap off because he saw bubbles when I had the dish under the water and pulled it away, assuming it meant I was leaving soap residue on the plates and we were ingesting soap residue and were going to die from it. Anyone who has turned a faucet on to full blast would see that the water aerates as it comes out. It will bubble up on whatever surface it lands on and then the bubbles pop or wash away. It's just air bubbles in full pressure water shooting out of the tap.
I tried to tell him that but he refused to listen. He then angrily did the rest of the dishes. Its weird to watch someone Angry Wash a stack of dishes, but that's what he did, scowling, muttering to himself, and scrubbing so hard I thought he'd strip the rim decoration off of the Corelle dishware he was washing. He also absolutely drenched every plate, cup, and piece of cutlery in bleach! I made it clear that this was a stupid fight and he had no business yelling at me like that when I was just trying to do as he asked and wash the dishes. I then walked away before he could yell anymore at me.
A week or so later, he noticed I was washing the dishes again, but this time, I had finished and was putting away the plates. He said nothing, just sort of hovering at the doorway to the kitchen, then wandered away with a scowl. This time, he hadn't caught me in the act of washing any dishes directly. He saw me putting the clean dishes away. This meant he wasn't sure how I'd cleaned them. He waited until I dried my hands and left the kitchen to go do something else like watch YouTube or whatever. I saw him saunter into the kitchen and I thought nothing of it until I heard the water running continuously and heard some splashing about. I approached the kitchen doorway (It had no door. It's just an open entryway.) and was nearly knocked to the ground by the burning stench of bleach, and there he was, next to him a stack of every single plate, cup, and piece of cutlery he tried to guess I'd just washed. He was rewashing them! I complained, "Dude! I just washed those!!!" He replied with a snarl, "I know. That's why I have to rewash them."
What was his biggest beef? He didn't know if I "left bubble on the dishes" and I refused to douse our dishes in bleach. The smell from the kitchen made me cough and made my eyes water! Apparently we were all going to die if there wasn't enough bleach-wash of our dishes! He bleaches everything out of fear and terror.
We had another fight over how "unsafely I washed the dishes", and so I said to myself, fuck it, I refuse to do the dishes anymore! It took awhile but he finally noticed I wasn't doing the dishes, so then what did he do? Complained I wasn't doing the dishes. I told him why I gave up on it, that I was washing the dishes quite thoroughly enough and I resented him implying otherwise and then being so ridiculous as to rewash what I'd already washed. He argued he was forced to do it because I was doing them all wrong.
I walked away feeling shitty. I was a wife who couldn't properly do her share of the household duties and was letting my beloved husband down. A few days later, I came to him and apologized and said I promised to do the dishes again. He asked if I was going to do them correctly or not and I asked what he meant by that. He complained that I always had to do things in my life my way and never understood that so many of these things I did my way were better done if I did them his way. He said I was just too stubborn and selfish. I then offered to diligently learn "his way" and promised to do it exactly as he taught me.
He actually paused for a few moments to think about it, then scowled and said, "No. I don't believe you actually will do it my way if I'm not there to supervise you so no, you can't do the dishes. I will do them from now on." He then scowled at me with a face that said it was so awful that I had put him in a position that forced him to have to do the dishes!
Y'all. I gave up on this fight but not in sadness, but instead in irritation. I was not financially in a position to just up and move out, and back then, I still loved part of him and wanted to work things out, however not at the expense of my sanity and self-respect.
I realized that if he saw a dish I washed and yanked it out to re-wash it, the only person actually being hurt by this was him. I had left the kitchen and was doing my own thing, feeling satisfied that I had cleaned my dishes thoroughly safely enough. I stopped doing all the dishes and instead just washed the dish and cookware I had just finished using. If it sat in the sink for a bit before I got to them and this made him angry, I didn't care. They didn't sit longer than an hour and usually not even that long.
I stopped letting his, frankly dangerous, perfectionism be my problem anymore. I purchased my own damned set of plates and pointed out that they looked different than the others and that they were mine and he was not to even show the bottle of bleach to my plates let alone put any bleach *on them**. I shortened up my washing time to ensure he wouldn't be inclined to yank up my personal dishes and bleach them. Sure, I couldn't control if he pulled them out and *secretly bleached them but I wasn't going to play his crazy cat and mouse game. He hated the fact that I just no longer cared and he ended up giving up on trying to stealth-wash my stuff because he finally realized what I already had, that the only one who cared about it was him so the only person being burdened by it was him.
There's a reason I wrote up this whole story that goes beyond venting. I believe it feels kind of hollow and empty to give advice without explaining why you gave it or how you learned the advice you're trying to give.
I wanted people to see what I went through and feel my frustration to see if they were in a relationship with someone like this in their lives. You only truly know something when you experience it yourself. It's, of course, not about dishwashing but about disappointment and control.
Where the self-improvement angle comes in to this post:
Recognize when you're in a relationship that drains your soul even if there's no deep violence or verbal abuse. Someone doesn't have to be an alcoholic, drug addict, or violent person to still treat people miserably. Look deep at your relationship and ask yourself, "How much am I putting into this versus what I'm getting out of it?" Ask yourself if you feel you've been completely reasonable, and even ask other people you trust if you're not sure. If the consensus is you have, then allow yourself the right to feel reasonable and to feel tired of the disrespect. Tell yourself you don't deserve the treatment you're getting and then tell yourself that you're not going to *take it anymore***.
This advice can apply to roommates, best friends, and family members as much as it can apply to significant others, too. Reddit looOoOOoooOoves to tell people to "Dump them!/Divorce them!" and I don't think that's always the answer. Maybe like I once did, you feel you can't leave as you have nowhere to go, or maybe you think your relationship is still salvageable. Whatever your case, tell yourself you have a right to establish boundaries of respect in your home. If your partner refuses to respect you, you can refuse to accept and deal with their disrespect. Tell yourself it's ok to tell them, "I've done the very best I can and I'm tired of you disrespecting me over it. If you don't like how I did it, you can do it yourself but I'm done here." and either walk to some other part of your place and do your own thing or leave entirely and go for a walk to somewhere that's calming and enjoyable and do something nice for yourself to make up for their disrespect of you.
If you believe you've honestly tried your best and you feel you're not delusional on what "best" means, you don't have to tolerate this kind of behaviour and you don't deserve it. Don't let people like this bring you down.
Anyone who read this far, do you have any examples of these kinds of crazy control issues? Post them as a comment! I want to hear how you handled them!
submitted by ZephyrBrightmoon to selfimprovement [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:11 Shatter_Their_World The Buzz part 6

Hello, darlings, from Helena the Clown. I decided to tell you a thing that has happened to me. After that life changing night before Christmas, (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) I decided to step down for a bit and just rest. Take a break. Sleep in my cozy coffin my Vampire sleep. Be a little lazy. Something normal, for both us the immortals and for mortals alike. Especially after all the ordeal of that night.

I have to admit, when I had to write it all down, I kind of relieved it. And since it took me more to write it than to live it first hand, I had to return to it over and over, until my mind felt sour. But I needed to tell the story, it felt that I had to.

The psychedelic rollercoaster of that night was an experiment of the SRI (Romanian secret service) alongside the CIA, as the agent I caught told me. Was the experiment successful for them? I do not know. Both me and Sophie, the lovely Elf I met that night, who was a collateral victim of it, waited to see any signs from those bastards. Especially since their weapons were able to give a huge power to demons over us. Nothing clear was seen, on the outside, but our souls were heavy on residue, like some thick goo on them, that needed time to wash away. Yet, signs of slow healing are visible, albeit slow.

On the other hand, from time to time, I felt some mental ”breeze”. It felt like one of those attacks I experienced, the beginning of it, but dissipating fast. Some went harder than the rest. I talked to Sophie, it seems she had experienced those as well. The Buzz itself did not seem to get the proportions of that night so we can not tell if there are still some agents on us, or just some demons playing around, or our scars, or a combination of those. My ”gut feeling”, something I do not (mostly) rely upon, told me that, most likely, it was not a Human work. At least, not by agents or special drones, like that night.

Christmas was peaceful, my first Christmas I celebrated as a Christian since I became a Vampire. My confessor, father George Baka, the exorcist, managed to give me Holy Communion, after hiding me close to the church, in order not to inflict panic on my presence there for his Human parishioners. My dear friend Ruxandra drove me in and out of the village in Ialomița county. As I was back in Bucharest and Ruxandra spent some time with her boyfriend, I met Sophie at night at the Circus Park a few days after, where it all ended, after finding a way to get Vampire magic and Elven magic to work together.

Her parents were dead scared, they wanted to convince Sophie to leave Romania for the UK, in order to stay safe. It seems her mother was mostly afraid of the SRI, the descendent of the former communist political police, the Securitate, most of all. Sophie did not want to, since whatever happened in Romania could happen in the UK, hence the involvement of the CIA made it an international matter. And, besides, Sophie felt safer in here, where I resided and where so many Caterpillar Elves like her were, Elves she wanted to awake. She dressed up the whole time as a Christmas Elf (Yeah, some may say it was silly, but she enjoyed it.), even spoke to kids on Elves. Cannot blame her. She can have enough time in her immortal life to be a Full, ”serious” Elf.

Indeed, something happened. If it didn„t, I would not be writing this now. Father George decided to perform Holy Liturgy on the night of January the first, which is the secular New Year, like he used to do in the years before, especially since January the first this year was on sunday. Most people would stay up, party and skip church that morning. So, he did it at night, so that at least some will come, then start to party a little. Most will not come.

Ruxandra drove there, outside Bucharest, as usual. Since my presence would cause havoc, I was supposed to stay close by, not inside the church, with the people who will attend. Ruxandra asked me to help tune up her laptop, on which a fresh Linux installation was made. Since I knew Linux better than her, who is a lifelong Windows user, and her boyfriend was a Macbook type of guy, I decided to make myself useful a bit, before Holy Liturgy. Adrian came with us, still a bit uneasy about my presence in the car. We came out pretty early. I had the idea of going into the graveyard, where we used to spend time myself, Ruxandra and father George, in late summer and early autumn. Since both me and Ruxandra were supposed to take Holy Communion later that night, we needed to stop eating after midnight. After greeting father George, I decided to get to the graveyard, where there is a temporary plastic kiosk, somewhere near the corner of the graveyard. It was a pretty clean, countryside graveyard, nothing great or fancy.

I was dressed in one of my black belle epoque dresses, with a matching hat, this time. For a Vampire like me, winter cold is far better tolerated than for mortals, but even ourselves have our own limits. Ruxandra came with her laptop, Adrian followed her. People were gathering at church, as Father George performed a Lity. Ruxandra wanted to stay with me but, as she was visibly disturbed by the cold, I told her to get inside. In fact, if it weren't for my friends and Father George, I would have stayed at home in Bucharest, alone, as I do not care too much for the secular New Year. In order to get things going, Ruxandra came with Adrian„s Macbook and we managed to set up a small network, using her phone as well, in order we would be able to get online. She stayed with me a bit, then went to the church for Lity, and let me mind my own doing.

Yep, it was cold, even I found gloves useful. I spent decades in my grave, hibernating, but that was a special state, pretty different from the one when I am awake and active. I am pretty cold and harsh, but not that much not to feel the cold at all. I started installing and configuring some software from repositories into Ruxandra„s laptop. As night passed, kids around the village started to blow firecrackers and small fireworks on a large scale, it felt like war. I liked it, I admit it, the war flavor of it. I felt like going to them and playing along, but I could not, of course. They have not entered the graveyard, fortunately, although some firecrackers fell inside it. Poor dogs started to bark and howl of that noise.

Meanwhile, I managed to install Tor Browser, to get on the Dark Web. You know, you can meet some real Vampires there, if you know where to look. At first, when I discovered it, in the months after waking up from my decades of hibernation, in July 2021, alongside things like creepypasta, the world felt far more interesting on the dark side then today. As you may imagine, it was hard to distinguish at first creepypasta from real things, I am sure sometimes it is harder even for someone who was born and lived in this age to do it. Fortunately, I grew more experienced on this pretty fast. No one I could talk to from those hidden online communities was logged in, as it seemed, so I decided to start digging up some things regarding the effects on infrasounds.

Midnight came. I did not feel excited or anything, neither too sad. Perhaps just a little sad. Humans were having fun in the streets, explosions and stuff. Since the Holy Liturgy started, I stopped working on the laptop itself, and tried to listen to psaltical chants on Youtube. I admit I got bored fast, and went to my regular music. Earphones on maximum level, as I usually like to listen (I know, it is bad to do it for long.). I started to feel a little drowsy and sleepy. Probably something was at work at this point, as it was not normal for me (or my kind) to feel sleepy at night. At some point, I placed my head on the table and listened to the music with my eyes closed. My head was inside the hotspot, inside the wifi medium, but I did not realize it. I let myself drift into sleep, thinking that Ruxandra would wake me up.

I do not know how, Youtube seems moody at times regarding the autoplay, on being turned on and off. I usually keep it off. As I was signed in with my Google account, it seems it started to play things as I was sleeping, random stuff. I went on for about an hour and a half.

Eventually, I woke up. Some kind of ASMR or white noise clip was playing, a grey screen, looking a bit like static on an old black and white TV. The sound sounded a bit like that as well, but not exactly. I said something like ”ASMR Relaxing static for deep sleep”. I turned it off, as I was shaking sleepiness off from my mind. The outside was pretty silent, just some crackers from time to time. It was a feeling of things being a bit off. I do not know how to put it, the flavor of reality was off. A feeling that was a little familiar, since that night not too long ago. I was not too concerned, still, since it was not too strong, we have not noticed anything coming here. Indeed, a was a little troubled by this, but not as much as a mortal would have been, being alone, at night, in a graveyard. For me, it was a place and a time that I was in tune with. Perhaps, If I were Human, I would have had a better attitude in that situation. I started to say the Jesus Prayer a bit, and started to walk towards the church. As I was getting closer and felt better, I started to let my guard down and let my thoughts go loose.

I do not know what is the clear border between a thought and an attitude. I am not a psychologist, just my own rambling here. I think some thoughts work at the edge between the conscious and the unconscious, since they manifest in attitudes, even if the conscious does not want to admit them. Those are not just some deep unconscious processes, they are closer to the surface, so to say. Indeed, before Adam and Eve fell, they had no unconscious part of their souls, after the fall they lost sight of a large part of themselves. Only those very spiritually advanced can truly become fully aware of themselves, and turn the whole unconscious into conscious. Of course, I am not one of them.

Looking back at those moments, some things are blurry. I was not asleep, for sure, yet it felt a bit like a sleep-like state, the bizarreness of all. It seems some thoughts were moving from conscious to this semiconscious part, back and forth, not all at the same time. I was walking stiffer than I usually do (And I do walk pretty stiff usually.). There was something, I do not remember exactly how much I was aware of, I felt I needed to get closer to the church and away from the kiosk in the graveyard. I started to feel a bit, only a bit, like at the moments during that night, when I felt alone in the whole world. Not strong enough to have a strong attitude, it would have been better if the feeling was stronger.

I got close to the church, lights were on, but it was silent, like empty. Familiar feeling, but not too intense. I looked back at the graves, something felt new. Unreal in a new way. All this was still faint, for now. I heard some noises on the other side of the graveyard. Then I had a thought that some kids may enter the graveyard and steal the laptops and rest. Something from my mind was saying to stop, not to go into the weird, unreal darkness from there. But I brushed it out, being too faint, unfortunately for me. I went back towards that place.

As I would later find out, at this point, the Holy Liturgy was over, just a small snack for the people inside, Ruxandra was getting ready to come to me, outside, she just waited for the people to leave the church. She heard something outside, and felt my presence faintly. She decided to come out, to see if I had come too early. By the time she was out, I was already on my way back to the kiosk, she saw me from a distance. The sky was unusually dark on one side, and a feeling of a new unease was in the air. She started to go slowly towards the kiosk as well.

I walked into the viscous air. Viscous, again. But I was like under anesthesia or on some drugs. Maybe my state was akin to sleepwalking? I was not sleepwalking, for sure, but it felt only a bit like it, if it makes sense. What came next, in the next minute (or minutes) happened on that semiconscious level. I was forcing myself to get into the viscous thing, I would not call it air. Things were like getting blacker, but not physically. I felt worse and worse as I was getting closer to the kiosk. But as I felt worse, a part of my mind fought to keep it semiconscious, not to become aware. Was something taking over me, at least a bit? I do not know. It was like I was heading to my doom, but I was so afraid to admit to myself, so I struggled to ignore that I was doing just that.

The kiosk was in sight. Silence around me, a silence that seemed to stretch for miles. Or more. I was getting close to the kiosk, the alley went from the kiosk, and it crossed another alley near it, the kiosk was towards my left-front. Things got really black and, without knowing it, the blackness turned into something visible.

I do not know how long it all took. One second, maybe a few? The alley was blocked by something that looked like some kind of black curtain, blocking the normal reality. It was a physical blackness, for sure, but it contained more than that. It had vertical folds in it, like a physical curtain. I could not say how large it was, sideways and up, it covered the full front of my eyes, I did not have the time to check my peripheral vision, and up it covered much of the clear sky. I knew it was something that came from hell, no doubt about it. I knew I had no chance of running away, as it was too close, too big and too powerful. I was at its mercy. My heart soon became overwhelmed, my mind was soon to follow. On my last moment of consciousness, I let myself to the Lord, as nothing else could be done, realistically speaking. I fused this in an iconic gesture of prosternation, semiconsciously. I let myself fall to my knees and stop my head from hitting the ground with my palms.

At this time, Ruxandra noticed a black mist starting to gather like a small tower of mist. It was not thick, at least it appeared to her like this. As seconds passed, the mist grew thicker, while she noticed me stopping in my tracks, distantly, then the stars were not visible anymore and something she could not describe took over the sky. An emptiness. Yet, it seems all of it was less intense than for me, not just because of the distance, but some other reason. Perhaps her Human nature, or the fact that she was exposed to the things I have exposed to in the kiosk? Fear inside her started to escalate to panic.

As I went on knees, I layed completely down, face down. The last thing I saw was that the lower edge of the curtain arose in a fold, on the ground and was sent towards me, covering me. I started screaming inside of my mind the Jesus Prayer, as Ruxandra lost it at this point and just screamed.

That thing, whatever it was, started to take me in gradually, but in a matter of a second, the most, if it makes sense. It felt like being taken up from the ground, at the mercy of that. I kept saying the Jesus prayer, trying to hold on, albeit it was harder and harder. I was inside a bubble of demonic power, this meant no way I would be able not to lose it on my own. Kept saying the Jesus Prayer, as things were speeding up. Something in the back of my mind kept saying: ”Hold on just a little… Just a little…” So I did, I held onto the prayer. Then I do not remember. I think it was like slipping into sleep.

Ruxandra was close to being broken, as she fell to her knees too. As I realized later on, after I talked to her, the first impulse was to run. But I was there, with that thing, and she refused to leave me there alone. Even if this was something she never experienced before, something of this magnitude. I can tell you, for a Human Ruxandra is pretty resilient to darkness. Many Humans, even grown men, just fail when they meet me. Just me, nothing stronger or darker. I never heard her scream of fear ever. Strong stock. So you can imagine at this point, at least loosely, how bad this was. But my friend stayed for me. Even if this could have been her doom. Even if all her instincts told her that was doom. Fortunately, she remembered not to look into the mist, after a few seconds, and that she needed to start the Jesus Prayer.

In a few seconds, after letting the forehead to the ground and closing the eyes, she was into it as well. Starting to feel lifted, as things were going faster and faster. At some point, Ruxandra„s mind went blank as well.

Fortunately, her screams were heard by father George and the rest who were still inside the church. He exited in a hurry, and people followed. They saw something tall and dark, that seemed to look a bit like a tornado, twisted in the middle. Father George started the exorcism formulas of Saint Basil the Great. Several people started to scream and ran away inside the church, some on the gate, into the street, as father George came bravely upon that, not looking at it. Adrian heard his voice going stronger and stronger as she went closer.

As he came close to touching the blackness, it started to retreat. He persisted into going further, cursing the powers of hell, and the thing started to back out (Technically to back up). The darkness went up and fading, seeing me and Ruxandra on the ground, holding each other, our eyes being closed and whispering the Jesus Prayer faintly. He did not stop until the night was clear.

He came close to us, gently touching our heads. Ruxandra gave a sigh and became silent. I opened my eyes and came to my senses. In a few seconds, my dear friend was awake as well. The night was back to its sweetness, the old graveyard as well, the place where I felt so cozy, like being caressed by a gentle ghost.

We looked at father George, as things started to come back to me. Ruxandra held on to me, as she started to realize as well that it was over. We were protected, as our minds blacked out. We did not remember how we ended up hugged. I whispered to her: ”Praise The Lord. It is gone…” Then, after a few seconds of silence: ”Are you ok? Let's get up.” Father George gave us his strong smile: ”If you ok, let's hurry. We shall not let Christ wait for us. I think the best way now is to go to the side of the church (the south of the church), to calm down people who are still inside, as well as those who fled.”

I got up, helped Ruxandra get up, got my clothes cleaned a bit, and waited for father George to call people back to the church. On a moment when the way was clear, we proceeded into the side and got to the altar side door.

As father George tried to bring people back, me and Ruxandra looked at each other. She was still shaken when I asked: ”Are you ok, sis?” She gave a calm sigh: ”It seems so… I am surprisingly well, after all it just was…” ”I feel you on this… I am surprisingly unaffected. I am not well but, if I remember what just happened, I was supposed to be a mess.” ”Yeah, indeed…” ”We were protected, I think. No way could we have made it on our own and be so unscathed. We need to thank The Lord.” I gave her another hug. We waited then in silence for things to calm down, it took about 15 minutes.

Father George came out of the side door to give us Holy Communion, the Body and Blood of our Lord. Ruxandra wanted to wait for me, instead of having Communion alongside the people in the church. After this moment, it felt like the last claw of that thing was gone, but it's leftovers remained, like scattered around. Yet, when Christ Himself comes to you, all those seem less than meek.

After getting inside, father George tried to get the people to stay and finish eating, but many of them left early, and this made the rest go with them pretty fast. While this happened, we talked a little. Ruxandra started: ”Those Cones, this was one of those, isn't it?” ”Probably I can say that it was. It felt somewhat like them, but not exactly.” She started telling me how it felt for her, then I told her how it was for me. She went on: ”I want to look into what you were listening to on those earphones, while you were sleeping. YouTube history.” ”Do you want to go back to all that? Being Human, you are more feeble than me.” ”There is something going on. I want to get to the bottom of it.”

Father George interrupted us: ”You just received The Lord and you are talking about His enemies? Come on, chill down and get inside.” White we ate, he did not allow us to speak too much of it. Then, he suggested we take a rest a bit, and sleep where he prepared for us. Then Adrian and father George collected all the devices from the kiosk and they were all shut down.

The next day, after we were all home, Sophie and her family came to father George, to get the Exorcism formulas performed on them, since Sophie was the subject of the work of hell that night. According to the old custom, the Exorcism Formulas of Saint Basil are performed not just in case of necessity, but also during the day of his feast, January the first. Unfortunately, most priests do not perform this ritual on this day anymore.

I met Odette, the mother of Sophie. We managed to get an interesting talk. But that is a story of in it„s own right. What I can tell you yet about her is that she was too a Caterpillar Elf.

Adrian, on his own, checked the YouTube history of the device, there were some weird things in there. Some of the clips appeared to be deleted, the last one was not. It became clear that they were taken down one by one. He woke up later the day before Ruxandra did, in a sleep paralysis experience.

I checked my Youtube account history as well. I dared not to listen to those still there. In case any of you shall ask for the link to those on DM, as I am sure many would want to, I will not share it, as I do not want to be responsible for what would happen.

There are, still, some things I would share with you, perhaps I shall do it, if I shall have the energy. There were some rough months for me. There are many things that can get you down in this world, not all are supernatural, many are just mundane crap that could bring down even a strong Vampire or Elf. But I shall try my best.

Take care of you and your loved ones. See you soon.

I blow you a kiss (not a bite),

Helena
submitted by Shatter_Their_World to Helena_The_Doll_Clown [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:10 Ok-Director9336 NoFap is great but I have a different problem and it's bad.

So when my exams were going on I didn't even had time to even think about jerking off and so after the exams were I just decided to not masturbate ever again. There were two reasons: 1. I somehow didn't really had that much interest in porn or masturbating, I just did that casually only out of extreme horniness. So, it relatively very easy to quit it. 2. I was actually busy with other distractions. Yes, the problem with me is not porn or masturbation, It's the other distractions mainly youtube, netflix and gaming... I am currently preparing for a competitive exam (the hardest one in my country) but no matter how much I try I just keep going back to wasting my important time on the internet . Binge watching youtube and netfilx and playing a game that I don't even like... I just keep going back to it.
Please trust me I have tried everything, a dopamine detox, scheduling, trying pomodoro and idk what not. NOTHING WORKS, I JUST KEEPS GOING BACK TO IT I WASTE MY WHOLE DAY ..... I DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING PRODUCTIVE.... and I am mad at myself... Please help me out ... any advice you have for me is greatly appreciated >>
Note- Sorry for the english, it is not my native language.
submitted by Ok-Director9336 to NoFap [link] [comments]


2023.04.02 11:10 dishpoet playback stops being audible for a few seconds while recording and records a glitch sound

(ok trying this post again, managed to log into to my old account)
hello! new to PT, hoping to switch over from logic
i currently have the PT ultimate 30 trial and im running it on an M1 mac mini, Ventura, 8GB RAM, using a volt 176 interface
totally love it except that i have an issue where it will randomly stop playing audio for about 2-3 seconds. this is not a plugin trial and it has nothing to do with my interface since the same problem does not happen in logic. the main issue i have with this is that if i'm recording, and the audio stops for 2-3 seconds, the recording will continue to take place during that soundless time, but when i play it back later, there will be an audible glitch right when the sound cut out during the initial recording.
not sure if im explaining this well, but has anyone else encountered this? is it a CPU overload issue or something else?
thanks in advance for any leads into what may be happening!!
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2023.04.02 11:09 sweatshopworkor [30/M] looking to chat

Hello, I’m a 30M from Belgium looking for a chat.
I love literature, especially classics like the Brontë sisters and Jane Austen, but also more modern books like Colson Whitehead and Sally Roony.
I love travelling, especially south east Asia. So far I’ve visited Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. This summer I would like to travel again to Indonesia, visiting Java and Sumatra. If you have any tips that would be marvelous!
I love to draw and I play basketball (since I’m 6ft7). I’m training to run a marathon. Sports and keep physically fit are very important to me.
I’m my free time I like to game now and then too and read comics. I’m a big Marvel fan so If you are too, great!
If you are interested in a chat, send me a message stating age and gender. Hope to see you around!
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2023.04.02 11:06 melty444 Raspberry Pi Plex Server Issues

Hello!
I'm pretty new to this and I'm having some issues getting my Raspberry Pi to act as my Plex Media Server.
Initially I managed to get the Media Server app to install on the native Raspbian OS, but the webapp froze at launch without fail. I also had power issues as my Pi 3 B+ wasn't able to support a large external HDD without additional power.
While waiting for a new power supply, I've switched to Android OS through Emteria, for the sake of accessibility, and I've since sourced a mains power supply for my HDD. Even had the Plex APK downloaded ready.
Enabled all permissions for unknown applications on the Pi, but the Media Server now won't install. Says it is corrupt sometimes, incompatible others. Tried to download it through the Android app store (F-Droid) and looked through browser on the Pi but can't find a version that states it is supported, or an Android version at all in a store that isn't Amazon Fire or Google Play. Plex official site only offers Windows, Mac, Linux, etc., unless I want a "NAS" version - none of which look right for my hardware/OS.
What's the easiest way forward here to make my Raspberry Pi my always-on Plex Media Server?
Not against flashing my Pi OS again, if that's what it takes, but I'm finding Raspbian difficult to work with and I'm unsure which Android OS would allow me to install the Media Server APK.
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2023.04.02 11:06 birdwithtinyarms I did love you once

I glanced back at the curated memories my camera roll decided I needed to see; I saw and heard more than I thought I would.
5 years ago, my high school boyfriend and I went out with his family to celebrate his birthday. I have this picture of us smiling all happy and a close up video of his hands strumming a guitar. I felt nauseous listening to the guitar, because I remembered that moment as if I was there still. That was the first time anyone had ever played a song for me. Things didn’t work out and I’m glad we’re still friends; I wished you happy birthday like I do every year, I do hope it was happy.
4 years ago, I was running the backstage crew of a musical my senior year of high school. I helped paint the backgrounds, did the makeup for 30+ people, switched set pieces, etc, etc. I have a picture of the set I painted floating among all these shitty memories…
3 years ago, I was depressed in my room alone for days on end playing fucking among us on my pc. I fell in love with video games as escapism. I was dating my abuser at the time; I’m glad I deleted the pictures, but I know they would’ve been there and it still hurts.
2 years ago, I thought I was in love- the first sight, this is it, holy shit that’s how it feels kind of love. I have this picture of him kissing my cheek while we do a puzzle at my parents’ dining room table. Screenshots of us goofing off on call. Those were taken a week before my friend decided he didn’t want to live anymore, that was before I downed 16 shots of whiskey at a post funeral party and was assaulted, that was before he blamed me for being taken advantage of too drunk to speak, let alone consent.
1 year and 11 months ago, I went to see two movies with a friend at the drive-in an hour from us. 1 year and 11 months ago, we fucked through the first then bonded over our admiration of the second movie. 1 year and 11 months ago, I thought “oh shit” while listening to our playlist on the car ride back silently holding your hand.
At first I was scared that I was just coping with my loss terribly, coping with the assault, the abuse, the fear that nobody loves me or could actually love me.
It’s been almost 2 years with him: he calls our cat “daddy’s boy,” he buys me my favorite cheap wine every so often, he cuddles me every morning and night, he kisses me when my morning breath is bad, he helps me shower when my heart is too bad to do it alone for fear that I’ll fall again, he makes me origami animals in my favorite colored paper, he listens when I cry, he tears up when we’re stressed, and hugs me tightly when I’m breaking at the seams. I hope to look back on the photos of you with our kid someday and say, “look how beautiful he is.”
Everyone else before him, all those memories are things I’ll keep to myself. I still love the pictures and videos I have, I still loved those people in that time of my life, they were and still are meaningful, but I used to love them… I don’t look at those pictures how I look at pictures of you. I don’t spent my nights staring at a lock screen of their faces. I don’t glance around our room we built together to find memories of past lovers, I just see us and everything we’ve built together. I love you now
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