9200 shawnee run road
I just can't deal with my mother's million issues anymore. . .
2023.03.28 10:42 pinkflamingos_ I just can't deal with my mother's million issues anymore. . .
The few days she was away, I felt like I could breathe again. And now she's back I realise she's such a chaotic person and she keeps getting in the way of me achieving anything and this reminds me of my schooldays. Never having lunch packed, always being late, she irritating teachers by telling them off and then they'd take it out on me, her blaming me for things that have nothing to do with me (her kid is sick so she can't meet up with friends - that's not true at all. I was perfectly fine, she hates meeting people because she doesn't feel put together so avoids them and uses me as the scapegoat).
She never reads financial documents or contracts and keeps falling for scams and bad plans from banks. She trusts the lawyers of the person she's doing a deal with, as if they'd have her best interests at heart. And then she's shell shocked when things go awry or something comes up.
Never remembers to file taxes on time, I have to do it for her. Or someone else before me had to.
She won't stop shopping and then hiding the shopping under the bed. Like 50 of the same shopper bag in multiple colours. Or 30 notebook shaped water bottles. And then she steals clothes I keep aside for donation and hides it in her room or in storage and I find it years later, moth eaten and have to deal with clearing her stuff out then. We've cleaned up her hoarding stash about 40 times since we were teenagers.
I wash all the dishes and dry them and put them away, but somehow she finds the one dirty cup waiting to be washes and insists on drinking from that one and fights with me over it. The clear mug drawer is right next to her.
She keeps rearranging things while they're in use. I put my phone down while waiting for a cab, or while reading a recipe, and she'll move it somewhere else. It's not that I put it down in the wrong place but she moves it regardless of where it is, or has to keep adjusting the angle it's in. She does this with my sister's baking items. Keeps moving things like sugar, flour and 'tidying' up while she's in between doing something.
She tips out soap from dishes we're soaking just to fill it up with plain water again
She hasn't exercised or had a fitness routine or minded her health for 20+ years. She won't even go for a walk consistently, and the one time she does she gets bored of the walking route and walks for 40-50mins all around the place and then gets so tired she doesn't go for another walk for months.
She washes dishes for fun and then keeps the tap running on full because she likes the sound. She will use bottles of dish soap but somehow the dishes still smell funky
She fills the kettle past the top line and it sputters onto my hand sometimes and it's so annoying to ask a million times that she stop doing that
She keeps ordering unhealthy food for me and then getting upset when I don't eat it.
She buys tons of veg and fruit (like 10+ kilos a week) and never eats any of it herself. She shops without a plan. When we were kids she'd cook once it a while, and too much, instead of a little everyday or every other day with some consistency.
She stores her laundry in the laundry machine, even though she has like 4 laundry bags.
She keeps talking over me and my sister or changing the topic and constantly needs attention.
She doesn't watch the road when she drives. She changes lanes erratically, drives faster when she sees a pedestrian crossing, says "he'll get out of the way" instead of slowing down when a stray dog runs by.
She doensn't respect a closed door. She knocks now (after I've asked a million times) and opens it immediately. She gets so angry if it's locked. She also opens the bathroom door when it's in use without asking whoever's inside whether they're cool with that. Fucking asshole.
She's rude to people. Service staff, maids, neighbours. Random people she comes across. And on the contrary she's also so charming that some people can't guess why I look so worn out or don't laugh at her stupid jokes.
She misses appointments ("the doctor can wait") and almost misses every flight ("they won't leave on time, it's ok if I'm not there on time.") WTF.
I am sick of how enmeshed our lives are. She won't anywhere without us tagging along, or if she does, it's with a lot of resistance. She's always late (starts getting ready when she's supposed to be at the location) and we have to do things like paint her nails (because she can no longer reach her toes) minutes before she has to leave, because she never plans to do it the night before. Also, I cannot shower or order food or go out when she's going out because she needs me to be her PA leading up to when she leaves the door. I can't have my earphones in (but I use them regardless) because that hour is exactly when she needs me. She says "we this, we that" and lumps my sister and I into every conversation she has with her friends. For the record, we're not in her life that much, so I don't know why every decision is so enmeshed.
And many other weird things that should be easy are the focus of life instead. I wish she would grow the fuck up.
But she's MY mother. I can't ignore her. I can't let her go to voicemail unless I want to risk the sky falling, I have to listen to her stories about neighbours 100 hours a day (like who's related to who for the millionth time), and I have to pick up if she hoards, makes a mess, treats people badly or gets in trouble because she doesn't do things like file taxes on time. Allowing her to explode is not an option. I wish it was.
submitted by pinkflamingos_ to Vent [link] [comments]
She never reads financial documents or contracts and keeps falling for scams and bad plans from banks. She trusts the lawyers of the person she's doing a deal with, as if they'd have her best interests at heart. And then she's shell shocked when things go awry or something comes up.
Never remembers to file taxes on time, I have to do it for her. Or someone else before me had to.
She won't stop shopping and then hiding the shopping under the bed. Like 50 of the same shopper bag in multiple colours. Or 30 notebook shaped water bottles. And then she steals clothes I keep aside for donation and hides it in her room or in storage and I find it years later, moth eaten and have to deal with clearing her stuff out then. We've cleaned up her hoarding stash about 40 times since we were teenagers.
I wash all the dishes and dry them and put them away, but somehow she finds the one dirty cup waiting to be washes and insists on drinking from that one and fights with me over it. The clear mug drawer is right next to her.
She keeps rearranging things while they're in use. I put my phone down while waiting for a cab, or while reading a recipe, and she'll move it somewhere else. It's not that I put it down in the wrong place but she moves it regardless of where it is, or has to keep adjusting the angle it's in. She does this with my sister's baking items. Keeps moving things like sugar, flour and 'tidying' up while she's in between doing something.
She tips out soap from dishes we're soaking just to fill it up with plain water again
She hasn't exercised or had a fitness routine or minded her health for 20+ years. She won't even go for a walk consistently, and the one time she does she gets bored of the walking route and walks for 40-50mins all around the place and then gets so tired she doesn't go for another walk for months.
She washes dishes for fun and then keeps the tap running on full because she likes the sound. She will use bottles of dish soap but somehow the dishes still smell funky
She fills the kettle past the top line and it sputters onto my hand sometimes and it's so annoying to ask a million times that she stop doing that
She keeps ordering unhealthy food for me and then getting upset when I don't eat it.
She buys tons of veg and fruit (like 10+ kilos a week) and never eats any of it herself. She shops without a plan. When we were kids she'd cook once it a while, and too much, instead of a little everyday or every other day with some consistency.
She stores her laundry in the laundry machine, even though she has like 4 laundry bags.
She keeps talking over me and my sister or changing the topic and constantly needs attention.
She doesn't watch the road when she drives. She changes lanes erratically, drives faster when she sees a pedestrian crossing, says "he'll get out of the way" instead of slowing down when a stray dog runs by.
She doensn't respect a closed door. She knocks now (after I've asked a million times) and opens it immediately. She gets so angry if it's locked. She also opens the bathroom door when it's in use without asking whoever's inside whether they're cool with that. Fucking asshole.
She's rude to people. Service staff, maids, neighbours. Random people she comes across. And on the contrary she's also so charming that some people can't guess why I look so worn out or don't laugh at her stupid jokes.
She misses appointments ("the doctor can wait") and almost misses every flight ("they won't leave on time, it's ok if I'm not there on time.") WTF.
I am sick of how enmeshed our lives are. She won't anywhere without us tagging along, or if she does, it's with a lot of resistance. She's always late (starts getting ready when she's supposed to be at the location) and we have to do things like paint her nails (because she can no longer reach her toes) minutes before she has to leave, because she never plans to do it the night before. Also, I cannot shower or order food or go out when she's going out because she needs me to be her PA leading up to when she leaves the door. I can't have my earphones in (but I use them regardless) because that hour is exactly when she needs me. She says "we this, we that" and lumps my sister and I into every conversation she has with her friends. For the record, we're not in her life that much, so I don't know why every decision is so enmeshed.
And many other weird things that should be easy are the focus of life instead. I wish she would grow the fuck up.
But she's MY mother. I can't ignore her. I can't let her go to voicemail unless I want to risk the sky falling, I have to listen to her stories about neighbours 100 hours a day (like who's related to who for the millionth time), and I have to pick up if she hoards, makes a mess, treats people badly or gets in trouble because she doesn't do things like file taxes on time. Allowing her to explode is not an option. I wish it was.
2023.03.28 10:37 xmastreee A question of lithium batteries and chargers.
My wife recently bought a couple of LED candle things, and they run off of three LR44 cells, so 4.5V basically. Now, rather than keep replacing them, I'm considering making the things rechargeable. To this end, I've been looking at batteries and chargers. The battery I'm considering is this one, and as for the charging circuitry, all roads seem to lead to a TP4056 based board, such as this one.
So far, so good, but I simply can't find any information about what voltage this board puts out. From that picture, I can see there's B+ and B-, for the battery obviously, and Out+ and Out-. So, what voltage is going to come out of Out+ and Out-? Is the 3.7 battery voltage stepped up to 5V?
There are a plethora of these boards for sale online, but none that I've found states what the output voltage is. Isn't that a somewhat important consideration when buying one?
submitted by xmastreee to AskElectronics [link] [comments]
So far, so good, but I simply can't find any information about what voltage this board puts out. From that picture, I can see there's B+ and B-, for the battery obviously, and Out+ and Out-. So, what voltage is going to come out of Out+ and Out-? Is the 3.7 battery voltage stepped up to 5V?
There are a plethora of these boards for sale online, but none that I've found states what the output voltage is. Isn't that a somewhat important consideration when buying one?
2023.03.28 10:32 obrigado_king Realistic Ways to Fund your Startup
- Friends and Family Borrowing money from friends and family is a classic way to start a business. While it may be harder to convince investors or banks of the quality of your idea, your family and friends often believe in your dream. They may be more willing to help fund your company. If you do go to friends and family for loans, it’s a good idea to make sure that each of you gets sound legal advice, especially if you are taking the money as a loan.
- Small Business Loans Some banks specifically offer loans to small businesses, but banks historically, are careful about giving money to small companies. It can be difficult to qualify. There are alternative lending companies, however, who may be better equipped to help you get your business off the ground.
- Trade Equity or Services Looking to get some web design done? See if you can barter with your neighbor who does some freelancing on the side. Perhaps you’ll help him with some marketing advice down the road. In virtually every city, there are communities of fledgling business owners who can work together.
- Bootstrapping One of the most common ways to get a business up and running is through “bootstrapping.” Basically, you use your own funds to run your business. This money may come from personal savings, low or no interest credit cards, or mortgages and lines of credit on your home. Getting a free credit report card will help you assess where you financially stand. Knowing this will help you figure out the interest rate you will get on loans, which can give you access to affordable credit.
- Incubator or Accelerator Business accelerators and incubators have sprung up all across the country, particularly near colleges with a strong business program. These spaces are part communal workspace and part mentorship development centers. Young businesses can get a great start here while partnering with some amazing people.
- Crowdfunding If you have a sexy idea and you’re great at social media, crowdfunding might be an option. When platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo first started, there were a number of businesses that had great success pulling together funding through their reach.
- Small Business Grants The Small Business Administration as well as other organizations sometimes offer grants to small businesses that are run by women, minorities, or veterans. If you fit into one of these categories, it’s worth speaking to your local SBA chapter, or Chamber of Commerce, to see if there’s local grant money that you may be able to apply.
- Local Contests Let’s face it; unless you have an incredible idea and a strong business history, you’re probably not going to make it to Shark Tank. Many local COCs and SBAs have decided, however, to run local Shark Tank style competitions. Since these are more locally focused, often requiring that a business operates in a particular area in order to enter, they may be less competitive.
- Keep Your Day Job This is the suggestion no one likes. If you currently have a job that is meeting your expenses and letting you live a relatively comfortable lifestyle, don’t be in such a hurry to quit your job and follow your business dreams. Spend some time getting the business off the ground and building through the early, difficult phases with the solidity of your 9-5 job paying your bills.
2023.03.28 10:14 circle1987 What would you do?
To my fellow PMC I nearly killed last night, I hope you had a safe extract. I was thinking about you last night and wondered if I did the right thing by not finishing you off.
For context: I'm up on hills opposite Scav Island/Barge, geared up the the balls. I hear a dude running on the side of the road beneath me. I unload my BT ammo into his face to the tune of "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I'm questin'! I'm questin'!" I stop shooting and apologies for my god-like-lazer-focused aim. Ask him if he needs a grizzly, warn him of the two scavs on the island. He politely declines, tells me I got him "good n proper" and should be fine to get to the extract as a chicken nugget. He's a Yank, I'm an outstanding gentleman. He tells me good luck and thanks for not finishing him off. I bid him fairwell as I scope him running to Tunnel.
What's people's perspective on this? Does anyone do this alot? I feel most people NEVER listen to me Comms and just kill me. I felt like a human yesterday. But next time, do i just go Judge Dread on his ass and move on? Even when he's begging for mercy? I know I'd be the same, but I always doe, and yesterday - he lived. Because of me.
submitted by circle1987 to EscapefromTarkov [link] [comments]
For context: I'm up on hills opposite Scav Island/Barge, geared up the the balls. I hear a dude running on the side of the road beneath me. I unload my BT ammo into his face to the tune of "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I'm questin'! I'm questin'!" I stop shooting and apologies for my god-like-lazer-focused aim. Ask him if he needs a grizzly, warn him of the two scavs on the island. He politely declines, tells me I got him "good n proper" and should be fine to get to the extract as a chicken nugget. He's a Yank, I'm an outstanding gentleman. He tells me good luck and thanks for not finishing him off. I bid him fairwell as I scope him running to Tunnel.
What's people's perspective on this? Does anyone do this alot? I feel most people NEVER listen to me Comms and just kill me. I felt like a human yesterday. But next time, do i just go Judge Dread on his ass and move on? Even when he's begging for mercy? I know I'd be the same, but I always doe, and yesterday - he lived. Because of me.
2023.03.28 10:13 _Triple_ [STORE] 900+ KNIVES/GLOVES/SKINS, 50.000$+ INVENTORY. M9 Fade, M4 Poseidon, Kara Gamma, BFK Freehand, BFK Bright Water, Spec Gloves Kimono, Nomad Fade, M9 Doppler, Skeleton, BFK B.Steel, AWP Fade, Stiletto Fade, S.Gloves Slingshot, BFK Ultra, Kara Damas, Bayo Lore, Bayo Gamma, Flip Fade & A Lot More
Everything in my inventory is up for trade. The most valuable items are listed here, the rest you can find in My Inventory
Feel free to Add Me or even better send a Trade Offer. Open for any suggestions: upgrades, downgrades / knives, gloves, skins / stickers, patterns, floats.
All Buyouts are listed in cash value.
KNIVES
★ Butterfly Knife Freehand FN #1, B/O: $1867
★ Butterfly Knife Bright Water MW, B/O: $1098
★ Butterfly Knife Blue Steel BS, B/O: $907
★ Butterfly Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $789
★ Butterfly Knife Stained FT, B/O: $695
⎯★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW #1, B/O: $888
★ Bayonet Gamma Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $727
★ Bayonet Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $608
★ Bayonet Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $521
★ Bayonet Rust Coat BS, B/O: $253
★ Bayonet Night FT, B/O: $251
★ StatTrak™ Bayonet Lore MW, B/O: $751
⎯★ Karambit Gamma Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $1343
★ Karambit Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $774
★ Karambit Rust Coat BS, B/O: $537
★ Karambit Boreal Forest FT, B/O: $488
⎯★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1523
★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1523
★ M9 Bayonet Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $1008
★ M9 Bayonet Blue Steel FT, B/O: $534
★ M9 Bayonet Rust Coat BS, B/O: $449
⎯★ Flip Knife Fade FN, B/O: $703
★ Flip Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) MW, B/O: $509
★ Flip Knife Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $406
★ Flip Knife Freehand FT, B/O: $228
★ StatTrak™ Flip Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $332
⎯★ Falchion Knife Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $292
★ Falchion Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $264
★ Falchion Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $258
★ Falchion Knife Bright Water MW, B/O: $133
⎯★ Stiletto Knife Fade FN, B/O: $822
★ Stiletto Knife Slaughter FN, B/O: $569
★ Stiletto Knife Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $530
★ Stiletto Knife Crimson Web FT, B/O: $396
★ StatTrak™ Stiletto Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $172
⎯★ Gut Knife Doppler (Sapphire) MW #1, B/O: $830
★ Gut Knife Fade FN, B/O: $204
★ Gut Knife Tiger Tooth FN, B/O: $138
★ Gut Knife Bright Water MW, B/O: $104
★ Gut Knife Freehand FT, B/O: $92
★ Gut Knife Urban Masked FT, B/O: $82
★ StatTrak™ Gut Knife Rust Coat BS, B/O: $93
⎯★ Shadow Daggers Fade FN, B/O: $258
★ Shadow Daggers Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $165
★ Shadow Daggers Blue Steel FT, B/O: $82
★ Shadow Daggers Bright Water FT, B/O: $82
★ Shadow Daggers Blue Steel WW, B/O: $80
★ Shadow Daggers Rust Coat BS, B/O: $74
★ StatTrak™ Shadow Daggers Marble Fade FN, B/O: $186
⎯★ Classic Knife Slaughter MW, B/O: $311
★ StatTrak™ Classic Knife Stained BS, B/O: $163
⎯★ Talon Knife Slaughter MW, B/O: $605
★ Talon Knife Scorched MW, B/O: $290
⎯★ Ursus Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $405
★ Ursus Knife Night Stripe MW, B/O: $162
⎯★ Paracord Knife Stained WW, B/O: $125
★ Paracord Knife Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $97
★ Paracord Knife Safari Mesh FT, B/O: $96
⎯★ Navaja Knife Safari Mesh FT, B/O: $71
★ Navaja Knife Scorched WW, B/O: $71
⎯★ Nomad Knife Fade FN, B/O: $1015
★ Skeleton Knife, B/O: $909
★ Bowie Knife Boreal Forest MW, B/O: $106
★ Survival Knife Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $97
GLOVES
★ Driver Gloves Crimson Weave FT, B/O: $335
★ Driver Gloves King Snake BS, B/O: $270
★ Driver Gloves Lunar Weave WW, B/O: $113
★ Driver Gloves Overtake WW, B/O: $88
★ Driver Gloves Overtake BS, B/O: $67
⎯★ Moto Gloves Transport MW, B/O: $171
★ Moto Gloves Polygon BS, B/O: $137
★ Moto Gloves Transport WW, B/O: $71
★ Moto Gloves 3rd Commando Company BS, B/O: $62
⎯★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Kimono WW, B/O: $1027
★ Specialist Gloves Tiger Strike FT, B/O: $654
★ Specialist Gloves Mogul FT, B/O: $295
★ Specialist Gloves Lt. Commander FT, B/O: $277
★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Web FT, B/O: $275
⎯★ Sport Gloves Slingshot FT, B/O: $796
★ Sport Gloves Amphibious BS #2, B/O: $699
★ Sport Gloves Omega FT, B/O: $656
⎯★ Broken Fang Gloves Unhinged BS, B/O: $60
WEAPONS
AK-47 Case Hardened BS, B/O: $130
AK-47 Bloodsport MW, B/O: $79
AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76
AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76
AK-47 Bloodsport FT, B/O: $70
AK-47 Neon Rider MW, B/O: $60
⎯AWP Fade FN, B/O: $864
AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $84
AWP Containment Breach FT, B/O: $69
AWP Containment Breach FT, B/O: $69
AWP Wildfire FT, B/O: $59
AWP Chromatic Aberration FN, B/O: $59
StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $65
StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $65
⎯Desert Eagle Blaze FN, B/O: $565
Desert Eagle Blaze FN, B/O: $565
Desert Eagle Printstream FN, B/O: $155
Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $58
⎯M4A1-S Icarus Fell FN, B/O: $414
M4A1-S Printstream MW, B/O: $204
M4A1-S Printstream MW, B/O: $204
⎯M4A4 Poseidon FN, B/O: $1402
M4A4 The Emperor FN, B/O: $152
M4A4 Asiimov WW, B/O: $97
⎯USP-S Kill Confirmed MW, B/O: $65
USP-S Printstream FT, B/O: $69
StatTrak™ USP-S Kill Confirmed FT, B/O: $123
StatTrak™ USP-S Neo-Noir FN, B/O: $106
⎯AUG Flame Jörmungandr FN, B/O: $218
P2000 Ocean Foam FN, B/O: $139
Souvenir SSG 08 Death Strike MW, B/O: $81
CZ75-Auto Emerald Quartz MW, B/O: $61
Trade Offer Link - Steam Profile Link - My Inventory
Some items on the list may no longer be available or are still locked, visit My Inventory for more details.
Send a Trade Offer for fastest response. I consider all offers.
Add me for discuss if there is a serious offer that needs to be discussed.
2023.03.28 09:56 draladar114 Recommendations for 5K to 10K road racing shoe for wide flat feet? Is Takumi Sen 9 too narrow for me?
 | Hi there! Looking for road racing shoes for wide flat feet. Ideally: submitted by draladar114 to RunningShoeGeeks [link] [comments] - Fast, responsive, bouncy - and light. I want the best of the best, complying with my other requirements though. - Stable, secure when cornering and on uneven terrain (bumpy roads or sidewalks). This requirement makes it difficult for some (not all) high-stack shoes. - Some level of protection, but it doesn't need to be super cushioned. No marathons, maybe 1 HMs a year, most typical distance will be 8-10K. - Snug, but wide enough for wide flat feet. I find the biggest issues in the midfoot area. - Possibly durable too. - Not super expensive, up to around €200 maybe (hoping for €150-€180 on sale). It doesn't have to be the latest model, it just needs to be the best fit for my needs. Thank you for your recommendations! Examples of shoes I tried/used and liked: - Puma Deviate Nitro Elite - almost the perfect shoe, very light, ideal cushioning level for me, stable with its low stack, inexpensive (good deals in Europe). But it's not as propulsive as some other plated shoes out there. Used this one for my 10K PB, but I believe there's something that can propel me more forward. It could be a tiny bit wider, but no big issues with that. - Puma Deviate Nitro 2 - my current interval/uptempo training shoe. It's awesome, but not propulsive enough and too heavy for racing. Pretty wide, comfortable, great outsole, likely durable, inexpensive (good deals in Europe). - Saucony Endorphin Pro 2 - tried them on indoors only. Unfortunately, I needed one size up, but it was not available. Highly propulsive, a little firm, but I recall width was likely ok. I think I liked Pro 3 better. - Saucony Endorphin Pro 3 - Pretty much ok in every way, maybe midfoot could be a little wider. Slight worries about durability. I tried them on at home, but returned them because of a defective insole and haven't came across a good deal on them since then. Shoes that didn't fit: - Nike ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT% 2 - really great shoes, but too narrow midfoot. - Adidas Adizero Takumi Sen 9 - I am not sure here. I want to love this shoe, but it feels too narrow to me, causing me to feel the inner edge of the insole in the middle of my foot. I appreciate the low stack, low weight, speedy feeling. See image; is it too bad? I can test the shoes indoors at home only so that I can return them. I am a forefoot/midfoot striker (cadence could be better - in 170's during easy and tempo runs), weight 70 kg, age 46, (flat road) 10K PB 37:40. I compete in a lot of races, usually once a week all year round. Typically between 5K-12K, usually somewhat hilly races (elev gain 150-350m per race) with hybrid terrain which means 10-50% roads, 20-80% nice non-technical trails, 5-20% technical terrain. However, there's a road event that I want to participate in a few times a year. I am looking for the best shoes for me for these. My foot is overflowing in the midsection where the arch should be. https://preview.redd.it/zh4ol0t3sfqa1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f78b7737e96ce4b522c28c75c6f410936c0d3c3 |
2023.03.28 09:33 Technical_Contestant Terrific tuesday
Dear diary
Woke up at 4am but stayed in bed until 6 trying to unpick the dream, sleeping in bed the other way up in an attempt to change the coordinates.
Coffee, meds, cigarettes; the morning ritual of God why am I still smoking. A song plays in my head determined to block me from thinking about the dream further.
Had enough of stimulating myself, chemically speaking and went to make bed, sat on the golden feathers and wrote in blue and gold book with orange ink inserted into quill. Affirmations, gratitude, all the good things and God solves for me.
As I'm writing out lines I watch the flow of spacing to get it through my thick skull the actual reason for alignment with higher vibration; unity consciousness. What needs to be solved today I question god, is it more of the same thing just from a different angle until something happens?
Diary tells me there's a lecture on at the institute regarding the ten pound poms and I have to go to school as I have two assignments due. Angel card pulled says get out in nature today, positivity card tells me the umph in triumph is required when trying.
Sooo much time to spend...daily cards pulled, recorded in book, caught up with sister's - they are my current rock - early morning touch base between the US and AUS makes the pain of distance less every day. I love them so much, they have helped with the goal of the collective.
Left over chicken and chips for breakfast, diet gone out the window this week, dark night of the soul again. Reading the power of one bit by bit, it's such a great story, I miss boxing.
Shower, potions applied to skin smells like real vanilla, looks in mirror until I think I'm me. Clothing applied, all black today, hair back up in a bun and boots for walking - the suede is fucked from yesterday's rain, sigh. Weather says no need for weapons today, leaves giant umbrella against wall.
Walks and watches the parade of cars, the little kids wishing me a good morning. Finds blue chalk, graffs the shelter with my tag. Same bus driver as yesterday and the train wasn't too far behind. Packed carriage, the idea of everyone is you pushed out, I'm fending off energetic push back on my frequency from men eyeball fucking me, can hear their thoughts ticking over regarding my appearance.
Wander through station separate from the tide, through the turn of the barrier and up to outside. Hide. Come back, cross road, there's a tool cd on the ground and strewn chaos from a crazy person. He tells me to watch his stuff as he disappears into the convenience store. When he magically reappears we put hands up almost touching and I heal some of his issues, he broke out in goosebumps.
Walks away, walks up the same way as usual, finds silver ring in doorway. Places ring on finger and weaves through back streets to the hidden coffee refuge to hide again. Places ring on a window sill, it will be back in its evolved form if it really wants me.
Coffee at Zhivago's laneway, uses blue chalk to add to the current running list of travellers. Rejoins reality, coffee still in hand and sees what's changed. Finds red guitar pick, thinks about Knifey, he said he would message me in a month and his time is up, I won't contact him again. Lossy to a dear friend, I forgive you.
Sits at battle station, it had been a while. Two windows side by side, instructions and response. Typing, touch typing, I kinda forgot how much I enjoy watching the words appear on screen as fingers remember the dance...got stuck, gave up as the other thing was calling me.
Wanders off down into the mall, music intersected areas, to stand under a tree and just listen. Found a man blowing a trumpet riding an elephant and arrived on time to the theatre.
Numbers, names, locations, dates offered up for synchronization data, I feel like an undercover agent on a recon mission. No idea its relevance yet, knows it matters doesn't matter - depends on when I go down that rabbit hole.
To the train station once more, waits on platform, saw Mikey and Graham briefly as we were in the same world space for an instant. Eventually got back to the place I'm staying at, and mum was home from her trip, I made us lunch and we got into the scotch. Telling eachother the stories of our trips, the pictures painted in each others minds fills in the blanks.
The Amanda fairy dropped by with cake and I've just written this chapter into the library.
submitted by Technical_Contestant to LibraryofBabel [link] [comments]
Woke up at 4am but stayed in bed until 6 trying to unpick the dream, sleeping in bed the other way up in an attempt to change the coordinates.
Coffee, meds, cigarettes; the morning ritual of God why am I still smoking. A song plays in my head determined to block me from thinking about the dream further.
Had enough of stimulating myself, chemically speaking and went to make bed, sat on the golden feathers and wrote in blue and gold book with orange ink inserted into quill. Affirmations, gratitude, all the good things and God solves for me.
As I'm writing out lines I watch the flow of spacing to get it through my thick skull the actual reason for alignment with higher vibration; unity consciousness. What needs to be solved today I question god, is it more of the same thing just from a different angle until something happens?
Diary tells me there's a lecture on at the institute regarding the ten pound poms and I have to go to school as I have two assignments due. Angel card pulled says get out in nature today, positivity card tells me the umph in triumph is required when trying.
Sooo much time to spend...daily cards pulled, recorded in book, caught up with sister's - they are my current rock - early morning touch base between the US and AUS makes the pain of distance less every day. I love them so much, they have helped with the goal of the collective.
Left over chicken and chips for breakfast, diet gone out the window this week, dark night of the soul again. Reading the power of one bit by bit, it's such a great story, I miss boxing.
Shower, potions applied to skin smells like real vanilla, looks in mirror until I think I'm me. Clothing applied, all black today, hair back up in a bun and boots for walking - the suede is fucked from yesterday's rain, sigh. Weather says no need for weapons today, leaves giant umbrella against wall.
Walks and watches the parade of cars, the little kids wishing me a good morning. Finds blue chalk, graffs the shelter with my tag. Same bus driver as yesterday and the train wasn't too far behind. Packed carriage, the idea of everyone is you pushed out, I'm fending off energetic push back on my frequency from men eyeball fucking me, can hear their thoughts ticking over regarding my appearance.
Wander through station separate from the tide, through the turn of the barrier and up to outside. Hide. Come back, cross road, there's a tool cd on the ground and strewn chaos from a crazy person. He tells me to watch his stuff as he disappears into the convenience store. When he magically reappears we put hands up almost touching and I heal some of his issues, he broke out in goosebumps.
Walks away, walks up the same way as usual, finds silver ring in doorway. Places ring on finger and weaves through back streets to the hidden coffee refuge to hide again. Places ring on a window sill, it will be back in its evolved form if it really wants me.
Coffee at Zhivago's laneway, uses blue chalk to add to the current running list of travellers. Rejoins reality, coffee still in hand and sees what's changed. Finds red guitar pick, thinks about Knifey, he said he would message me in a month and his time is up, I won't contact him again. Lossy to a dear friend, I forgive you.
Sits at battle station, it had been a while. Two windows side by side, instructions and response. Typing, touch typing, I kinda forgot how much I enjoy watching the words appear on screen as fingers remember the dance...got stuck, gave up as the other thing was calling me.
Wanders off down into the mall, music intersected areas, to stand under a tree and just listen. Found a man blowing a trumpet riding an elephant and arrived on time to the theatre.
Numbers, names, locations, dates offered up for synchronization data, I feel like an undercover agent on a recon mission. No idea its relevance yet, knows it matters doesn't matter - depends on when I go down that rabbit hole.
To the train station once more, waits on platform, saw Mikey and Graham briefly as we were in the same world space for an instant. Eventually got back to the place I'm staying at, and mum was home from her trip, I made us lunch and we got into the scotch. Telling eachother the stories of our trips, the pictures painted in each others minds fills in the blanks.
The Amanda fairy dropped by with cake and I've just written this chapter into the library.
2023.03.28 09:30 glo75001 Auli Tour Package I Auli Travel Package 2022
WAYS TO REACH AULI
Airplane – Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun, roughly 300 kilometres from Auli, is the closest airport. Dehradun’s Jolly Grant Airport is a domestic airport located around 20 kilometres from the city centre.By train, there are railway stations in Rishikesh, Haridwar, and Dehradun. Rishikesh is the closest railhead to Auli (250 km approx). Auli may be reached via bus or taxi from Rishikesh.
By Road – Joshimath is 16 kilometres apart by road from Auli. Between Joshimath and Rishikesh, state transport buses run often (253 km). Between Joshimath and Rishikesh (253 km), Haridwar (277 km), Dehradun (298 km), and Delhi (298 km), Local Transport Union buses and State Transport buses run (500 km). Auli may be reached via ropeway, bus, or cab from Joshimath.
2023.03.28 09:26 olucletravaladna 🎲 Cambridge Gaming Collective - Sat 1st Apr 1pm-7pm 🎲
Next meetup is this Saturday 1st April (no joke!) and here's all the details in case you've never attended before:
submitted by olucletravaladna to cambridge [link] [comments]
- What kind of games do we play? We play all kinds of tabletop games (card games, party games, eurogames, short ones, long ones, hidden roles, social deduction, resource management, tile-laying, roll-and-write, dexterity, rpg, and the list goes on...)
- Who brings the games? Our collection is entirely derived from our generous members who collectively bring a ton of games that is always more than can be played in a session. So, feel free to bring along your own games to share!
- But I don't have any games. And I am entirely new to this hobby. Can I attend anyway? Of course! You are always welcome to attend and we will do our best to help you learn to play any game you want to try. So, don't worry, there's always lots of people willing to show you the ropes! There's no age limit and no club membership of any kind. It's open to the whole community!
- Can I play (insert game name here)? If you have ideas for specific games to play or would like to see brought along, write a comment to let everyone know and we can get things rolling. Also, if you have a BoardGameGeek account, you can leave a link to your profile so that people can browse your collection and let you know if they want you to bring something in particular ;)
- How many people will be there? Attendance varies depending the time of the year, but we're usually between 12 and 30 people. So, don't worry, you're guaranteed to find players for a game!
- Is there a limit on attendance? There is no limit on attendance, but as you can see in this photo from one of our previous meetups, we don't have a lot of tables (even though we have plenty of chairs, lol!). For this reason, please use the MeetUp page to RSVP and keep it updated if you no longer can make it.
- Where is it? We meet on the Cambridge Sea Cadets (42 Cheddars Lane CB5 8LD), which is next to the Museum of Technology, between the Riverside and Newmarket Road. If you're having trouble finding us, check this photo and this one.
- Can I eat, drink or bring food? Our venue gives us plenty of freedom with lots of space and we can bring in our own food and drink. There's a kitchen with a microwave oven, a kettle, cutlery, glasses and mugs. We only ask to clean after yourselves if you use them. The big Tesco is just one minute walk away.
- But, is it free? Unfortunately, since we have to pay for the space, we can't run this for free. Therefore, a suggested donation of £4 or £5 per person will be much appreciated to support us covering the rent and keep this running. If you can't pay, that's totally fine and you will still be welcome to join us any time anyway :)
- Is there parking space on site? The venue has about 10 free parking spaces on site. Alternatively, the big Tesco next door has also free parking (up to three hours).
- Is it wheelchair-accessible? The venue is fully wheelchair accessible, including bathroom facilities.
2023.03.28 09:25 tracyagodfrey EV Tuesday Week 72
It's EV Tuesday!
28th March 2023Good morning EV Tuesday followers!
It is your favourite time of the week! EV Tuesday is here for your enjoyment. We have been working away in the office to see what delights we can bring to you this week, and boy do we have a good selection this week.
Take a look at our bonus link this week. The very first link, our EV Tax Reminder Campaign, has been all over the press this week! We talk about how much money is being wasted by the Government on sending out Electric Vehicles Road Tax letters.
As the clocks have gone forward, the nights are lighter, soon it will be time to relax in the garden as you settle down to read your EV Tuesday Newsletter.
Have a little read, click on the links below and see what we have researched for you this week. As always there is an app, a great tip and a car review. So, sit back, relax and get reading through EV Tuesdays newsletter. We will be posting this to our social media channels including Facebook, Twitter & Reddit (check out evcables subreddit). If you have access to our blog, you will get an extra item :)
Right, ready.....steady.........GO!!
Feedback, Requests, Questions? As always, please give us feedback on Twitter. Which item is your favourite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Just send a tweet to @ev_cables and put #EVTuesdays at the end so we can find it. Have a great week everyone and happy reading!
BONUS NEWS ARTICLE: EVCABLES.COM
Take a look at our EV Tax Reminder Campaign. Here we discuss how much money the Government is wasting on sending Road Tax reminder letters to EV car owners!1. EV APP OF THE WEEK: INSTAVOLT
The Instavolt App runs alongside our contactless payment option and provides another simple way to access our award winning DC Rapid Electric Vehicle charging network. In addition to the functional benefits the App provides (i.e. location mapping, navigation and VAT receipts), customers using our EV charging App are given exclusive access to the following rewards programs, which are not available to those using our contactless payment option. Download Here2. EV NEWS: SURREY COUNTY COUNCIL
Surrey County Council and Connected Kerb have agreed a contract to support the rollout of thousands of electric vehicle chargepoints across the county in the coming years.The contract, the largest in the UK to date, will release up to £60million of investment for Connected Kerb to install public EV chargepoints across the county. The aim will be to install thousands over the next five years and Connected Kerb have been licensed to operate the chargepoints for 15 years from installation.3. EV TIP: LEARN THE EV LINGO
In order to make a difference, you need to embrace difference. That includes getting used to a new vocabulary and blowing the dust off your physics knowledge:kW (kilowatt): 1,000 watts – with EVs, it’s used mostly to reflect the electric motor’s maximum power output.
kWh (kilowatt-hour): The amount of electricity a 1,000W appliance uses per hour.
MPkWh (miles per kilowatt-hour): The estimated miles an EV can go on one kilowatt-hour of battery.
MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent): The same as MPkWh, but in a more relatable form if you’re used to comparing petrol or diesel cars.
Regenerative braking: A method of braking used by EVs as well as hybrids to store and use energy recovered from braking.
Off-peak charging: Charging your EV during the less busy times of day for a lower cost.
Range: The distance you can travel before the battery requires a recharge or you need to visit the pumps – simply expressed in miles or kilometres.
Range anxiety: The worry that your car’s battery will run out before you arrive at your destination or get a chance to recharge.
4. EV CHARGING NETWORKS: SHELL CHARGING SOLUTIONS
One ecosystem for your charging needs. From hardware to software, Shell Recharge Solutions offers integrated solutions for charging at home, at work and on-the-go.5. EV REVIEW: CAR WOW
Tesla Model YThe Tesla Model Y is an electric SUV that is a cutting-edge alternative to models such as the BMW iX3, Audi Q4 e-tron and Mercedes EQB.
Based on the hugely popular Model 3, it’s a bit like if someone uploaded a picture of a Model 3 into Photoshop and started stretching its proportions.
It’s longer and ever so slightly wider, but noticeably (more than 15cm) taller, meaning it looks more like a shrunken Model X.
Until next time. Have a fantastic week!
EV Cables Team
ENJOYING EV TUESDAYS? PLEASE SHARE...EV Cables is a small UK-based startup on a mission to help drive the adoption of electric vehicles and create a more sustainable future. EV Tuesdays is our way of connecting and giving back to the community, whilst helping to grow our business. We'd be extremely grateful if you could share the newsletter sign-up page with your friends (which also gives them 5% off their first order with us). It really makes a huge difference to us and we promise to pack as much value as possible into each weekly edition.
To make life easier, you can just cut, paste, and edit the following:
"I've signed up for EV Tuesdays, a fabulous newsletter for electric vehicle fans (think tips, tools, news etc) from EV Cables. They're currently giving away a 5% discount voucher for new sign-ups. You can sign up here: https://evcables.com/pages/ev-tuesdays"
2023.03.28 09:20 wardmuylaert Belgian Half Marathon Championships
This is also posted on my blog, but there are no ads so I don't care where you read it.
The Belgian Half Marathon Championship last year was my second time running a half marathon. That time I set a PR at 1:16:43. This year the same group was handling the organisation. A flat course and avoiding too many turns. A field of competitors aiming to run fast and limited to those running 80 minutes or faster. What's not to love?
I decided to start reintroducing workouts in the week of 30 Jan-5 Feb, i.e., six weeks before the race (including race week). I will count down in this section. Workouts are described in terms of their goal effort / planned idea. I ran quite some by feel because of the undulating terrain, so that confuses the matter further. Up weeks I aim for 120 km total, long run of 30 km. A usual split over the week would be: 18, 14, 23, 14, 11, 30, and 10 km. All the details and meaningful deviations are mentioned explicitly further down.
Week 6. Monday I planned 2×3k LT, but because of a red light that became 3k, ~1.5k, and ~1.5k. Paces averaged 3:47, 3:42, and 3:52. Heartrate seemed to be high 150s until the final km which was low 160s.
Wednesday I tried Marathon pace, something I had never done before. I was not signed up for a marathon, but was tentatively trying to get into Rotterdam (16 April) still. When I saw Rotterdam had sold out, I realised I was for the first time in my life actually in the mood to try a marathon. Despite being sold out, people can still put their bibs up for sale in case they got injured or something similar. If I managed to at some point get a bib that way, I wanted to at least have given Marathon pace a try beforehand. Wednesday was a first try at that. I set out to do 12 km. Pace wise the calculators put me around a 2h40 marathon (3:47-3:48 per km). I ended up aiming for that as the faster end of a slightly more conservative range: 3:47-3:54. I had no heart rate to aim for and the terrain was still undulating, so feeling wise I settled on "feels easier than LT, but you gotta remember to push harder than regular running". Splits were: 3:40, :54, :34, :45, :50, :59, 4:13, 3:38, 3:55, 3:57, 4:02, and 3:58. Heart rate apparently hovered around 155-157. I don't really look at my watch during this. Just vibes. Also am doing Citystrides at the same time (and really for almost all my runs) and it turns out dead ends are not great when you're pushing the pace some.
Later that week my left hip area felt a bit more tired than I liked, so I decided to do just one workout per week the rest of the weeks, replacing a workout day with strides instead. No point overdoing things when you are coming back to the harder work.
Week 5. Monday I did some strides. I do not really count them any more, I just wing it and hope I will hit something in the 6-8 range. Tends to work out. Wednesday I did 12k Marathon pace again. Again mostly by feel, though I glanced at my watch if I noticed it buzzing. Parts of this workout was on earth frozen into weird angles which I had to navigate a bit carefully to not twist an ankle. Other parts had thawed in the sun and instead had a muddy slippery upper layer. That said, most sections were fine. I tried a gel to see what the stomach would say: it was fine. Splits: 3:42, :59, :47, 4:03, 3:46, :49, :52, 4:03, 3:51, :48, :38, :50. Heart rate in the low 150s, so that was likely not hard enough.
Week 4. I took a down week so that I could do two more up weeks before race week. Two days with strides, a 25 km long run. 96 km total.
Week 3. Monday was strides again. By this point I had actually signed up for the half marathon, so I switched away from Marathon pace and did some LT again on Wednesday. I had planned to do 3×3k, which comes down to about 30 minutes total. Aim for ~2 minute break in-between reps. Seems I went by vibes again. If taking it more seriously on the flat, the goal would probably be about 3:35 per km. Actual split: 3:43, :34, :40, jog, :29, :35, :50, jog, :49, :42, :49. Average: 3:41 per km. As before: undulating and citystrides. Heart rate high 150s, low 160s near the end. I was happy when I neared the end of the workout. I recall back in the day aiming more for like 170 for LT work though, so I might be taking these too easily. The realisation did not bother me. I'm having fun. Felt a bit deflated for Saturday's long run, like when you run out of carby energy. Not sure what was up with that, don't think it was related to anything.
Week 2. Monday strides again, Wednesday 3×3k Threshold again. Same caveats. Paces: 3:34, :41, :44, jog, 46, :32, :53, jog, :33, :27, :48. Average: 3:39. HR a bit lower than last time. Was wearing a chest strap and I am not sure whether it connects up perfectly. Eventually reached 160 HR in the last km.
Week 1, race week. Distances for the week: 13-16.5-13.5-13.5-10-6-24. Tuesday I did race pace / threshold. By this I mean I wanted to see what a sub 1:15 half marathon might feel like, so I set out to do 2×2k at 3:33 per km. It was a shitty day raining through the night, morning, and during the lunch workout. Headwind for the stretch I planned to do the workout and there were soooo many puddles everywhere. Sunday was also looking shit, so I saw it as a good test in all manners. Felt a bit out of it in the warmup, but I was not deterred. Splits: 3:31, :34, jog, :35, :31. Average: 3:33 per km. Perfecto. Heart rate settled around 165 bpm. Feels like: maybe just a bit too fast for an entire half marathon. Thursday and Saturday, I threw in some strides to keep the legs on their toes (badumtsj).
Tried to use the bathroom (and would continue doing that periodically prerace just in case). Grabbed my bib. Went to sit in the cafeteria to pin the bib onto my singlet and the guy on the next table over was mentioning the wind might make this tricky. It did not seem to have bothered him that much in the end… :)
Bashir Abdi, a.k.a. the guy on the next table over, would end up winning the race in 59:51, a Belgian national record. He did conclude it could have been better with better weather.
I started some stretches and tried to time my getting ready to not stand around too long. It was around 8C and cloudy. Shorts and singlets would be fine for running, not as much for standing still. Eventually changed and dropped off my bag.
I ran maybe 2 km total as a warmup. Did two strides. They announced the start would be soon so I went on over the start area. The organisation had placed some signs so you knew where to line up: sub 65, 65-70, 70-75, and 75-80 minutes. The signs also said there would be pacers from 75 minutes and faster, spread out around every 2-3 minutes. None of us where I was lined up actually saw the 75 minute pacer though. Oh well. After a bit of an extra wait because the police was still clearing the course, we eventually got ready and waited for the gun.
After about 2-3 km, I found myself at the front of a little group, with another group maybe 10-20 metre ahead of us. The other group did not really pull away and from time to time someone would zoom past me to get to that group. Eventually I looked back, saw maybe 3 or 4 people, so I too decided to bridge the gap. A brief acceleration later, I latched onto the back of my new group of 25(!) people (I counted them afterwards using the official 5 km split). I was happy here and hung at the back of this group for the next several km. The pace kept perhaps a few seconds faster than I wanted for sub-75, but I was not going to let go of this group just yet. The wind picked up along the water and it was interesting to see how we all manoeuvred to try to not get hit too much by it. Did not feel like I was protected much though. At some point along the water I also saw someone lying face forward in the grass along the path. He looked like he might have been one of the elite or pacing African runners. I wondered how you could be so dead so shortly into a half marathon and whether he would be OK.
Around 6-6.5 km, we turn away from the water and shortly after that the path also narrows. Some jostling for position because of that actually saw me move up in the group without intending to. I felt good though and, without changing how the effort felt, seemed to be slowly moving up further in the group. The feeling did not last too long. Around 8.5 km, when passing under a highway bridge, I felt a side stitch developing. It did not hurt yet, but I recognised the signs and reined myself in. I went backwards in the group, sort of hung on for a bit, and then went out the back. But at least I did not have a side stitch.
As I tried to find the right effort again, I noticed I was alongside or in front of a woman. I only mention it because in situations like these she, rightfully so since she was around 10th at that time, gets more attention from the crowd with constant shouts of encouragement for "Elke". We ran together for a little bit, but by the time I hit the water again (around 10.5 km), I must have gapped her: the shouts were further behind me.
Somewhere around the halfway point. Elke in the background. Think white shirt is Ploegsteert. Runner furthest in the back is probably fluo yellow patches.
At some point a guy with a shirt that said "Ploegsteert" passed me and I latched on. We ran together for at least the second half of the path along the river. He did most of the work in front, I must admit. When we passed the spot where earlier the runner had been lying face forward, there now were two ambulances on the one-car-wide path. We had to squeeze past them. Now I really wondered what the hell had happened to the guy. Anyway, I had my own suffering to focus on.
Ploegsteert and I left the river path and stuck together. At some point a guy with some fluo yellow patches on his shirt passed us. I had spotted him a few times before as we yoyoed around one another throughout the race. This time I decided to follow. It seemed fine. However.
When we hit the bridge area again, around 16.5 km, I had a side stitch issue again. Now it was straight into pain. I tried to keep myself focused on the pace, but it actually hurt, so I slowed down a little. I had to let fluo yellow go. Soon, the side stitch was gone again. I think it was around the same spot as it had disappeared the round prior. My conclusion: that stretch of road is cursed. (Looking at the GPS splits, I am probably to blame though)
From here on, things are a bit more vague in my mind. I think Ploegsteert passed me again and, feeling better, I decided to hang on to him. I seemed alright again and started looking forward to the finish, breaking down the kms into "just x more minutes of holding on". We passed RAAC club guy, throughout the race I had seen him up ahead, but had never gotten close to him. I then recall following some guy in a triathlon suit, I assume he passed us and I latched on.
At around 20 km I decided it was time to just squeeze out anything I still had left. I sped up, repeating to myself it was almost over anyway, repeating to myself to just ignore any complaints from the body. Back on the track where we had started, I went into what I choose to describe as a sprint. Any onlookers may disagree with that nomenclature, but this is my story. I was passing other people though. As I came out of the final bend, two people were also sprinting for the line and for a moment there all three of us were abreast, racing our hearts out. It lifted my spirit and I tried my best to outkick them. I failed. They beat me. I crossed the line and had no clue what time I had. In my tunnelvision to sprint to the line and beat those guys, I had not even thought about looking at the clock on the finish line or my watch at any point in the past km.
Assuming I got their names right, the people I specifically mentioned finished as follows. All times chip times. RAAC guy 1:15:01. Ploegsteert 1:14:29, so he really dropped me. Fluo patches 1:15:00. Elke 1:15:46. Ah and of course Bashir Abdi, who set a Belgian national record in 59:51. He told the media afterwards he could have done better if it had not been for the wind. You and me both, Bashir, you and me both.
Of the 25 person group I was in at the 5k point, 12 finished ahead of me, 11 finished behind me, and 1 DNFed.
Splits dump. Since GPS wise the activity ran a little bit longer than a half marathon, all the projections slightly lowball the result. Projections are made from the cumulative time. As you can tell, the start was a little too fast. On a whole, I am satisfied with my race though.
Official splits, though I probably would not trust their distance. Overall position is neat though (includes women and non-Belgians). At least it went the right direction throughout.
Then around the end of January, I thought about the Rotterdam marathon again. I had a look to sign up for it aaaand they were sold out. It was at that moment that I realised: I was slightly disappointed about missing out. So from then on, I tried to have a look at the bib selling platform that Rotterdam offers, a place to get in contact with people that cannot do Rotterdam any more, e.g., because of injury, and are looking to sell their bib. It took a lot more checking than anticipated, but by early March I finally did have a bib.
So that lies in my future. The Rotterdam marathon on 16 April. I am not quite sure yet what time to aim for. Plugging this half marathon time into JD's vdot calculator makes for a scary sounding 2:36:35. I will probably aim for something more conservative, but how conservative? 2:40? 2:45? I am tempted by the 2:40 or more correctly 2:39:59. This race has shown "because it looks pretty" gets you there. I remain undecided though. My future holds a lot of pondering. And that marathon.
submitted by wardmuylaert to AdvancedRunning [link] [comments]
The Belgian Half Marathon Championship last year was my second time running a half marathon. That time I set a PR at 1:16:43. This year the same group was handling the organisation. A flat course and avoiding too many turns. A field of competitors aiming to run fast and limited to those running 80 minutes or faster. What's not to love?
Training
As described before, I spent the winter building my base. That was almost exclusively calm running to give whatever was causing the hip niggle to pop up from time to time the chance to fully disappear (knock on wood). Meanwhile I was pushing my weekly distance up to 120 km and holding it at that consistently. This also made me add a mid-week (mid-)long run, usually of about 23 km, once I hit 120 km weeks. All singles.I decided to start reintroducing workouts in the week of 30 Jan-5 Feb, i.e., six weeks before the race (including race week). I will count down in this section. Workouts are described in terms of their goal effort / planned idea. I ran quite some by feel because of the undulating terrain, so that confuses the matter further. Up weeks I aim for 120 km total, long run of 30 km. A usual split over the week would be: 18, 14, 23, 14, 11, 30, and 10 km. All the details and meaningful deviations are mentioned explicitly further down.
Week 6. Monday I planned 2×3k LT, but because of a red light that became 3k, ~1.5k, and ~1.5k. Paces averaged 3:47, 3:42, and 3:52. Heartrate seemed to be high 150s until the final km which was low 160s.
Wednesday I tried Marathon pace, something I had never done before. I was not signed up for a marathon, but was tentatively trying to get into Rotterdam (16 April) still. When I saw Rotterdam had sold out, I realised I was for the first time in my life actually in the mood to try a marathon. Despite being sold out, people can still put their bibs up for sale in case they got injured or something similar. If I managed to at some point get a bib that way, I wanted to at least have given Marathon pace a try beforehand. Wednesday was a first try at that. I set out to do 12 km. Pace wise the calculators put me around a 2h40 marathon (3:47-3:48 per km). I ended up aiming for that as the faster end of a slightly more conservative range: 3:47-3:54. I had no heart rate to aim for and the terrain was still undulating, so feeling wise I settled on "feels easier than LT, but you gotta remember to push harder than regular running". Splits were: 3:40, :54, :34, :45, :50, :59, 4:13, 3:38, 3:55, 3:57, 4:02, and 3:58. Heart rate apparently hovered around 155-157. I don't really look at my watch during this. Just vibes. Also am doing Citystrides at the same time (and really for almost all my runs) and it turns out dead ends are not great when you're pushing the pace some.
Later that week my left hip area felt a bit more tired than I liked, so I decided to do just one workout per week the rest of the weeks, replacing a workout day with strides instead. No point overdoing things when you are coming back to the harder work.
Week 5. Monday I did some strides. I do not really count them any more, I just wing it and hope I will hit something in the 6-8 range. Tends to work out. Wednesday I did 12k Marathon pace again. Again mostly by feel, though I glanced at my watch if I noticed it buzzing. Parts of this workout was on earth frozen into weird angles which I had to navigate a bit carefully to not twist an ankle. Other parts had thawed in the sun and instead had a muddy slippery upper layer. That said, most sections were fine. I tried a gel to see what the stomach would say: it was fine. Splits: 3:42, :59, :47, 4:03, 3:46, :49, :52, 4:03, 3:51, :48, :38, :50. Heart rate in the low 150s, so that was likely not hard enough.
Week 4. I took a down week so that I could do two more up weeks before race week. Two days with strides, a 25 km long run. 96 km total.
Week 3. Monday was strides again. By this point I had actually signed up for the half marathon, so I switched away from Marathon pace and did some LT again on Wednesday. I had planned to do 3×3k, which comes down to about 30 minutes total. Aim for ~2 minute break in-between reps. Seems I went by vibes again. If taking it more seriously on the flat, the goal would probably be about 3:35 per km. Actual split: 3:43, :34, :40, jog, :29, :35, :50, jog, :49, :42, :49. Average: 3:41 per km. As before: undulating and citystrides. Heart rate high 150s, low 160s near the end. I was happy when I neared the end of the workout. I recall back in the day aiming more for like 170 for LT work though, so I might be taking these too easily. The realisation did not bother me. I'm having fun. Felt a bit deflated for Saturday's long run, like when you run out of carby energy. Not sure what was up with that, don't think it was related to anything.
Week 2. Monday strides again, Wednesday 3×3k Threshold again. Same caveats. Paces: 3:34, :41, :44, jog, 46, :32, :53, jog, :33, :27, :48. Average: 3:39. HR a bit lower than last time. Was wearing a chest strap and I am not sure whether it connects up perfectly. Eventually reached 160 HR in the last km.
Week 1, race week. Distances for the week: 13-16.5-13.5-13.5-10-6-24. Tuesday I did race pace / threshold. By this I mean I wanted to see what a sub 1:15 half marathon might feel like, so I set out to do 2×2k at 3:33 per km. It was a shitty day raining through the night, morning, and during the lunch workout. Headwind for the stretch I planned to do the workout and there were soooo many puddles everywhere. Sunday was also looking shit, so I saw it as a good test in all manners. Felt a bit out of it in the warmup, but I was not deterred. Splits: 3:31, :34, jog, :35, :31. Average: 3:33 per km. Perfecto. Heart rate settled around 165 bpm. Feels like: maybe just a bit too fast for an entire half marathon. Thursday and Saturday, I threw in some strides to keep the legs on their toes (badumtsj).
Goal and Strategy
My obvious goal was to PR, beating last year's 1:16:43. I was not sure what shape I was actually in though. I had been running a decent amount, more than ever before, but not much of it fast. What could I run? Eventually I thought "sub 1:15 looks pretty, let's do that". Was I capable of it? No clue. Did I mind blowing up trying? Nah, just go for it. A true scientific approach. Note: this is why I did the workout I did the Tuesday before the race, I wanted some feel of the pace.Pre-Race
I had to wake up at 6:00 to get ready and catch my train. Had my usual bowl of muesli with soy milk (150g muesli, 300g soy milk). Did not have time for tea, so just had some water. I took the metro to catch a train and brought a bike along. Once dropped off in Ghent by the train, I biked the last 4 km to the stadium from which the race starts. Could have also taken a bus for that part, but it would have involved more waiting around in the station.Tried to use the bathroom (and would continue doing that periodically prerace just in case). Grabbed my bib. Went to sit in the cafeteria to pin the bib onto my singlet and the guy on the next table over was mentioning the wind might make this tricky. It did not seem to have bothered him that much in the end… :)
Bashir Abdi, a.k.a. the guy on the next table over, would end up winning the race in 59:51, a Belgian national record. He did conclude it could have been better with better weather.
I started some stretches and tried to time my getting ready to not stand around too long. It was around 8C and cloudy. Shorts and singlets would be fine for running, not as much for standing still. Eventually changed and dropped off my bag.
I ran maybe 2 km total as a warmup. Did two strides. They announced the start would be soon so I went on over the start area. The organisation had placed some signs so you knew where to line up: sub 65, 65-70, 70-75, and 75-80 minutes. The signs also said there would be pacers from 75 minutes and faster, spread out around every 2-3 minutes. None of us where I was lined up actually saw the 75 minute pacer though. Oh well. After a bit of an extra wait because the police was still clearing the course, we eventually got ready and waited for the gun.
Race
At the start line I had noticed a younger looking guy, bit taller than me, shirt was for RAAC, another club in Brussels. After the gun, he was in front of me, so I semi-followed him over the first 500 metre as a sort of pacing guide. We were both on the inside of the track so that worked out. Getting out of the track was a bit cramped, but then we were on the streets and things were fine. Everybody is a bit looking for their pace so I just focus on keeping things under control and doing it right™. According to my watch, the pace was a few seconds per km fast, but I figure that is just how these things start.After about 2-3 km, I found myself at the front of a little group, with another group maybe 10-20 metre ahead of us. The other group did not really pull away and from time to time someone would zoom past me to get to that group. Eventually I looked back, saw maybe 3 or 4 people, so I too decided to bridge the gap. A brief acceleration later, I latched onto the back of my new group of 25(!) people (I counted them afterwards using the official 5 km split). I was happy here and hung at the back of this group for the next several km. The pace kept perhaps a few seconds faster than I wanted for sub-75, but I was not going to let go of this group just yet. The wind picked up along the water and it was interesting to see how we all manoeuvred to try to not get hit too much by it. Did not feel like I was protected much though. At some point along the water I also saw someone lying face forward in the grass along the path. He looked like he might have been one of the elite or pacing African runners. I wondered how you could be so dead so shortly into a half marathon and whether he would be OK.
Around 6-6.5 km, we turn away from the water and shortly after that the path also narrows. Some jostling for position because of that actually saw me move up in the group without intending to. I felt good though and, without changing how the effort felt, seemed to be slowly moving up further in the group. The feeling did not last too long. Around 8.5 km, when passing under a highway bridge, I felt a side stitch developing. It did not hurt yet, but I recognised the signs and reined myself in. I went backwards in the group, sort of hung on for a bit, and then went out the back. But at least I did not have a side stitch.
As I tried to find the right effort again, I noticed I was alongside or in front of a woman. I only mention it because in situations like these she, rightfully so since she was around 10th at that time, gets more attention from the crowd with constant shouts of encouragement for "Elke". We ran together for a little bit, but by the time I hit the water again (around 10.5 km), I must have gapped her: the shouts were further behind me.
Somewhere around the halfway point. Elke in the background. Think white shirt is Ploegsteert. Runner furthest in the back is probably fluo yellow patches.
At some point a guy with a shirt that said "Ploegsteert" passed me and I latched on. We ran together for at least the second half of the path along the river. He did most of the work in front, I must admit. When we passed the spot where earlier the runner had been lying face forward, there now were two ambulances on the one-car-wide path. We had to squeeze past them. Now I really wondered what the hell had happened to the guy. Anyway, I had my own suffering to focus on.
Ploegsteert and I left the river path and stuck together. At some point a guy with some fluo yellow patches on his shirt passed us. I had spotted him a few times before as we yoyoed around one another throughout the race. This time I decided to follow. It seemed fine. However.
When we hit the bridge area again, around 16.5 km, I had a side stitch issue again. Now it was straight into pain. I tried to keep myself focused on the pace, but it actually hurt, so I slowed down a little. I had to let fluo yellow go. Soon, the side stitch was gone again. I think it was around the same spot as it had disappeared the round prior. My conclusion: that stretch of road is cursed. (Looking at the GPS splits, I am probably to blame though)
From here on, things are a bit more vague in my mind. I think Ploegsteert passed me again and, feeling better, I decided to hang on to him. I seemed alright again and started looking forward to the finish, breaking down the kms into "just x more minutes of holding on". We passed RAAC club guy, throughout the race I had seen him up ahead, but had never gotten close to him. I then recall following some guy in a triathlon suit, I assume he passed us and I latched on.
At around 20 km I decided it was time to just squeeze out anything I still had left. I sped up, repeating to myself it was almost over anyway, repeating to myself to just ignore any complaints from the body. Back on the track where we had started, I went into what I choose to describe as a sprint. Any onlookers may disagree with that nomenclature, but this is my story. I was passing other people though. As I came out of the final bend, two people were also sprinting for the line and for a moment there all three of us were abreast, racing our hearts out. It lifted my spirit and I tried my best to outkick them. I failed. They beat me. I crossed the line and had no clue what time I had. In my tunnelvision to sprint to the line and beat those guys, I had not even thought about looking at the clock on the finish line or my watch at any point in the past km.
Results
Once past the line, I did check my watch. Success! I did it, sub-75. Turns out "I'll go out at sub-75 pace because it looks pretty" is a valid tactic. Official results place me at 1:14:52. There's also my Strava for gazing at the map and splits.Assuming I got their names right, the people I specifically mentioned finished as follows. All times chip times. RAAC guy 1:15:01. Ploegsteert 1:14:29, so he really dropped me. Fluo patches 1:15:00. Elke 1:15:46. Ah and of course Bashir Abdi, who set a Belgian national record in 59:51. He told the media afterwards he could have done better if it had not been for the wind. You and me both, Bashir, you and me both.
Of the 25 person group I was in at the 5k point, 12 finished ahead of me, 11 finished behind me, and 1 DNFed.
Splits dump. Since GPS wise the activity ran a little bit longer than a half marathon, all the projections slightly lowball the result. Projections are made from the cumulative time. As you can tell, the start was a little too fast. On a whole, I am satisfied with my race though.
| Distance | Time | Split | Projected |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3:28 | 3:28.3 | 1:13:15 |
| 2 | 6:57 | 3:28.8 | 1:13:20 |
| 3 | 10:28 | 3:30.4 | 1:13:33 |
| 4 | 13:57 | 3:29.7 | 1:13:36 |
| 5 | 17:27 | 3:29.4 | 1:13:36 |
| 6 | 21:02 | 3:35.0 | 1:13:56 |
| 7 | 24:31 | 3:29.1 | 1:13:53 |
| 8 | 27:58 | 3:26.8 | 1:13:44 |
| 9 | 31:28 | 3:30.2 | 1:13:45 |
| 10 | 35:01 | 3:33.3 | 1:13:53 |
| 11 | 38:36 | 3:34.6 | 1:14:01 |
| 12 | 42:06 | 3:30.8 | 1:14:02 |
| 13 | 45:40 | 3:33.1 | 1:14:06 |
| 14 | 49:17 | 3:37.1 | 1:14:16 |
| 15 | 52:49 | 3:32.5 | 1:14:17 |
| 16 | 56:25 | 3:35.4 | 1:14:23 |
| 17 | 59:53 | 3:28.8 | 1:14:19 |
| 18 | 1:03:29 | 3:35.3 | 1:14:24 |
| 19 | 1:07:06 | 3:37.8 | 1:14:31 |
| 20 | 1:10:40 | 3:34.0 | 1:14:33 |
| 21 | 1:14:07 | 3:26.7 | 1:14:28 |
| Distance | Position | Time | Split pace | Projected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 169 | |||
| 5 | 156 | 17:40 | 3:32 | 1:14:33 |
| 10 | 135 | 35:37 | 3:35 | 1:15:09 |
| 13.2 | 131 | 46:33 | 3:25 | 1:14:24 |
| 18.2 | 124 | 1:04:49 | 3:39 | 1:15:08 |
| Finish | 120 | 1:14:52 | 3:28 |
Future
Maybe half a year ago, the thought first crept into my mind: maybe it is time to do a marathon. I never cared for them and for a long time used "they can wait till I can run sub-3" as an excuse when people asked me about them. That time has come and gone for a while now though, and I still did not care. Half a year ago, I for the first time considered the idea and had a look at the options. At the time, the Rotterdam marathon seemed like a good candidate. Largely flat, lotta fast people (i.e., people I could run with), relatively close-by. And then I got distracted from the idea again. I did not really care.Then around the end of January, I thought about the Rotterdam marathon again. I had a look to sign up for it aaaand they were sold out. It was at that moment that I realised: I was slightly disappointed about missing out. So from then on, I tried to have a look at the bib selling platform that Rotterdam offers, a place to get in contact with people that cannot do Rotterdam any more, e.g., because of injury, and are looking to sell their bib. It took a lot more checking than anticipated, but by early March I finally did have a bib.
So that lies in my future. The Rotterdam marathon on 16 April. I am not quite sure yet what time to aim for. Plugging this half marathon time into JD's vdot calculator makes for a scary sounding 2:36:35. I will probably aim for something more conservative, but how conservative? 2:40? 2:45? I am tempted by the 2:40 or more correctly 2:39:59. This race has shown "because it looks pretty" gets you there. I remain undecided though. My future holds a lot of pondering. And that marathon.
2023.03.28 09:20 chineseshopx Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 40 Road Running Shoes PURPLE DV3853 500 S39-46
 | submitted by chineseshopx to u/chineseshopx [link] [comments] |
2023.03.28 09:16 NoZookeepergame2112 My (27f) fiancé (37m) has an anger management problem.
Posting on a friends reddit as I don’t want him to see.
My fiance, been together 4 years, has a violent temper, he is like Jekyll and Hyde.
He is sweet and caring, he’s very affectionate, helps around the house, buys me gifts and we spend most of our free time together, we’re best friends, he also cooks because I hate it which is awesome.
he’s so much fun to be around.
Until he gets angry.
His temper is very short, he roads rages pretty much everyday, sometimes to the point of tailgating and following people home, he has even told me he has run people off the side of the road. He hates how other people drive and he has a very long list of speeding offences.
Once we argued in the car over something so silly I can’t remember and he sped up to 150kms on a back road at night and wouldn’t slow down, I just had to wait for him to calm down.
He has punched holes in walls a few times mostly over work or when I or his family has upset him, he breaks things when he gets angry too, a guitar, a bedside table, an old xbox and has wiped stuff off our kitchen table once too. He gets worked up over little things too, like computers not working properly or not finding something in the house and says it’s work stress.
He’s always very apologetic when it’s over, I left him after he threatened me in a fight 2 years ago and he broke down and said he didn’t want to be this way, he said he would go to anger management and he did for 5 months so we got back together.
He was so much better, his family even said so, his temper isn’t a secret his family know about it and warned me, but I didn’t see it until we moved in together.
But he hasn’t been in the last 2 years, I have begged him to go, but he says work is too busy and his temper is getting worse.
I love this man so much, the good parts are my favourite human I’ve ever met, it’s just this dark side I can’t handle.
My friends are concerned and say I’m desensitised to it and I’m not seeing how bad it is, I confided in them after he lost his temper at a party a few weeks ago, he’s never done that before infront of my friends.
He has never hit me and I’ve never felt like he would.
I feel like I’m losing it and I don’t know how to fix it, I just want him to calm down so we can have peace.
TL;DR my fiancé has an anger management problem and I don’t know if it’s worth trying to help him anymore
submitted by NoZookeepergame2112 to relationships [link] [comments]
My fiance, been together 4 years, has a violent temper, he is like Jekyll and Hyde.
He is sweet and caring, he’s very affectionate, helps around the house, buys me gifts and we spend most of our free time together, we’re best friends, he also cooks because I hate it which is awesome.
he’s so much fun to be around.
Until he gets angry.
His temper is very short, he roads rages pretty much everyday, sometimes to the point of tailgating and following people home, he has even told me he has run people off the side of the road. He hates how other people drive and he has a very long list of speeding offences.
Once we argued in the car over something so silly I can’t remember and he sped up to 150kms on a back road at night and wouldn’t slow down, I just had to wait for him to calm down.
He has punched holes in walls a few times mostly over work or when I or his family has upset him, he breaks things when he gets angry too, a guitar, a bedside table, an old xbox and has wiped stuff off our kitchen table once too. He gets worked up over little things too, like computers not working properly or not finding something in the house and says it’s work stress.
He’s always very apologetic when it’s over, I left him after he threatened me in a fight 2 years ago and he broke down and said he didn’t want to be this way, he said he would go to anger management and he did for 5 months so we got back together.
He was so much better, his family even said so, his temper isn’t a secret his family know about it and warned me, but I didn’t see it until we moved in together.
But he hasn’t been in the last 2 years, I have begged him to go, but he says work is too busy and his temper is getting worse.
I love this man so much, the good parts are my favourite human I’ve ever met, it’s just this dark side I can’t handle.
My friends are concerned and say I’m desensitised to it and I’m not seeing how bad it is, I confided in them after he lost his temper at a party a few weeks ago, he’s never done that before infront of my friends.
He has never hit me and I’ve never felt like he would.
I feel like I’m losing it and I don’t know how to fix it, I just want him to calm down so we can have peace.
TL;DR my fiancé has an anger management problem and I don’t know if it’s worth trying to help him anymore
2023.03.28 09:15 Prestigious_Stress17 FROM FLAT TIRES TO DEAD BATTERIES: HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE NEAR ME IN GULFPORT, FL
 | Picture this: you’re driving down the road, enjoying your day when suddenly, your tire goes flat or your battery dies. We’ve all been there and can agree that it’s not a pleasant experience. But fear not! With the best roadside assistance near me in Gulfport, FL, these inconveniences can quickly become a thing of the past. Here, we’ll take you through everything you need to know about choosing the right roadside assistance service in order to keep those unexpected bumps on the road from ruining your day. submitted by Prestigious_Stress17 to u/Prestigious_Stress17 [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/a3dly697kfqa1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e91001678b9d6af3bf82e1ba5045d0d64df1754 What Does Roadside Assistance Cover?Roadside assistance can cover a wide range of services, from flat tire changes to jump-starting a dead battery. Some companies even offer 24/7 roadside assistance, so you can always have someone to call if you run into trouble on the road.Before you choose a roadside assistance plan, it’s important to understand what services are included and how much coverage you need. Here’s a breakdown of what most roadside assistance plans cover: Towing: If your car breaks down or gets stuck, roadside assistance can tow it to the nearest service station or repair shop. Flat tire changes: If you have a flat tire, roadside assistance can help you change it. They may even have a spare tire that they can loan you if you don’t have one. Jump-starts: If your battery dies, roadside assistance can give you a jump-start so you can get back on the road. Lockouts: If you accidentally lock your keys in your car, roadside assistance can help you get back in. Fuel delivery: If you run out of gas, roadside assistance can bring you enough fuel to get to the nearest gas station. How to Find the Best Roadside Assistance Near Me in Gulfport, FLWhen your car breaks down, the last thing you want to do is spend hours searching for a roadside assistance service that can help you. But with a little planning and research, you can find the best roadside assistance near you in no time.Here are a few tips on how to find the best roadside assistance near you:
What to Do When You Have Roadside AssistanceIf you’re stranded on the side of the road, the first thing you should do is call for roadside assistance near me. But how do you know which service to choose?There are a few things to consider when choosing a roadside assistance service. First, think about what kind of coverage you need. Do you want 24/7 support? Does your insurance company offer roadside assistance? Once you’ve determined what kind of coverage you need, research different roadside assistance services to see what they offer and how much they cost. Compare reviews from customers to get an idea of the quality of service each company provides. When you’ve found a few roadside assistance services that meet your needs, call each one and ask about their response time and availability in your area. Then, choose the company that you feel most comfortable with and that offers the best value for your money. CONCLUSIONChoosing the best roadside assistance near me in Gulfport, FL is essential for any driver, as it can help you stay safe and prepared in case of an emergency. With this guide, we have provided some tips on how to choose the best roadside assistance program that caters to your needs. We hope that this article has given you a better idea of what to look out for when selecting a roadside assistance provider and helped you make an informed decision. |
2023.03.28 09:12 mrsimpson928 bang
Bullet Club needs a shot in the fucking arm. I am pure heroin. Watch me overdose.
Sakura Genesis
The build to this is exactly the same. SANADA fresh off of a star-making New Japan Cup, Okada running wild with this new edge, it’s an interestingly built match. Things shall only get more interesting. SANADA finally outlasts the Rainmaker for the gold, landing the win to cement him as the fresh new main eventer.
Heading out of this, Okada is in full rage-baby mode, making his Kaito tantrum seem like child’s play as he wrecks everything at the press conference while demanding a rematch. The Road to Wrestling Dontaku tour starts. Over the first three nights, an enraged Okada teams with a skittish Yano as he decimates lower card guys with ease, laying his strikes in stiffer than usual. Following each match, his rematch request is left unanswered. Things get tenser. Okada’s now booked against members of SANADA’s stable on the tour, though not the champ himself. Okada gets stiffer, yet his request is again unanswered. Finally, Okada and SANADA are set to cross paths once more in trios tag competition, with Okada yet again making a rematch request beforehand. It seems to not matter however, as SANADA wins the tag by submitting Yano, seemingly destroying Okada’s case for a rematch.
Wrestling Dontaku
Desperate, Okada once again demands a rematch instantly following the match, however this time his request is answered. NO! SANADA wants Okada to earn a rematch with him if he wants it, but Okada is determined to do just that. An emergency CHAOS press conference is called, and Okada prepares to make the ultimate move, AS HE PREPARES TO PUT HIS CAREER WITH NEW JAPAN ON THE LINE FOR ANOTHER CRACK AT SANADA! The challenge is accepted and the match is made for Dontaku, and Okada seems to tune up the heelishness as he wrestles as cocky and vicious as ever. Unfortunately for Okada, the best is not enough though. The Rainmaker lands flush into the Cold Skull, allowing SANADA a sweet victory as he shocks the nation and runs the top star out of the company. Let the drought begin.
Forbidden Door
After no-showing his scheduled press conference, Okada is not seen until the AEWxNJPW joint show, making his grand return with a return many would believe to be triumphant. It’s announced that a battle royal will determine who joins Bryan Danielson in a trip to Japan to compete in the G1 Climax, and it seems like Orange Cassidy is the little engine that could. He’s like a giant slayer in this match, eliminating Big Bill, the Butcher, and Brian Cage before joining Rey Fenix as the final two. Things only get crazier from there however, AS OKADA STORMS THE RING AND LAYS BOTH EXHAUSTED MEN OUT WITH RAINMAKERS, ALLOWING HIM TO TOSS THEM OVER WITH EASE AND WIN THIS MATCH! Boos rain down on the Rainmaker as he rains spit down on OC’s carcass, but it doesn’t seem to faze our guy, as he’s seemingly fully unlocked a different side to himself as of right now… but is this just the first step?
G1 Climax
The two-block G1 comes around, and in our first match we see Finlay vs. Okada. Heh. Okada obliterates Finlay after a ten minute match, before grabbing a microphone and lambasting the crowd for supporting SANADA as he ran their top guy out of the company. He says that he shouldn’t be back right now, but he must exact vengeance. He says they don’t deserve him, but he’s here anyway. He says that he feels like… an outcast. An outsider, if you may. Snatching the Bullet Club shirt off of Finlay’s back, Okada declares himself the new leader of Bullet Club, demanding that the crew follow him as he can free them from the shackles of previous poor runs. The weak leave, the strong stay, and Bullet Club officially has itself a new leader. Okada proceeds to run through the rest of his block with an 8-1 record, before meeting and defeating Shingo in the finals to win his fifth G1 Climax.
Road to Wrestle Kingdom
With his newfound heelish attitude Kazuchika Okada seems to be heading full speed into his second Wrestle Kingdom main event with Will Ospreay, but before the two can meet, they’ve got a few hurdles to get over. Okada leads Bullet Club to instant success prior to WK, with guys like KENTA picking up the TV Championship while Austin and Bey claim the Junior Tag Titles. He manages to keep the success going on his end too, running the ready-made feuds with SANADA and Cassidy where he retains his briefcase and ultimately makes the match official.
Wrestle Kingdom
We reach our second main event between Ospreay and Okada here, and the two deliver overtime. Ospreay is proud of the fact that he accomplished his goal to win the world title again before the end of the year, but tonight he’s got to overcome the one man he’s got issues defeating in order to keep it. Gedo manages to interfere and cheat Okada to yet another Wrestle Kingdom win here, ending Ospreay’s reign as the young fucker still has a few more steps to take before he’s ready to beat Tokyo Dome Okada, BC or no BC.
Sakura Genesis
Bullet Club is back on top of the world, and it’s all thanks to the man they’ve tried to eviscerate in the past. After beating Ospreay and eventually Goto at New Beginning, Okada eagerly awaits the winner of the New Japan Cup at Sakura Genesis. The winner eventually reveals himself to be Ospreay, and the two have a Wrestle Kingdom rematch here where Ospreay is able to gain his win back and once again become IWGP World Champion.
submitted by mrsimpson928 to FantasyBookingElite [link] [comments]
Sakura Genesis
The build to this is exactly the same. SANADA fresh off of a star-making New Japan Cup, Okada running wild with this new edge, it’s an interestingly built match. Things shall only get more interesting. SANADA finally outlasts the Rainmaker for the gold, landing the win to cement him as the fresh new main eventer.
Heading out of this, Okada is in full rage-baby mode, making his Kaito tantrum seem like child’s play as he wrecks everything at the press conference while demanding a rematch. The Road to Wrestling Dontaku tour starts. Over the first three nights, an enraged Okada teams with a skittish Yano as he decimates lower card guys with ease, laying his strikes in stiffer than usual. Following each match, his rematch request is left unanswered. Things get tenser. Okada’s now booked against members of SANADA’s stable on the tour, though not the champ himself. Okada gets stiffer, yet his request is again unanswered. Finally, Okada and SANADA are set to cross paths once more in trios tag competition, with Okada yet again making a rematch request beforehand. It seems to not matter however, as SANADA wins the tag by submitting Yano, seemingly destroying Okada’s case for a rematch.
Wrestling Dontaku
Desperate, Okada once again demands a rematch instantly following the match, however this time his request is answered. NO! SANADA wants Okada to earn a rematch with him if he wants it, but Okada is determined to do just that. An emergency CHAOS press conference is called, and Okada prepares to make the ultimate move, AS HE PREPARES TO PUT HIS CAREER WITH NEW JAPAN ON THE LINE FOR ANOTHER CRACK AT SANADA! The challenge is accepted and the match is made for Dontaku, and Okada seems to tune up the heelishness as he wrestles as cocky and vicious as ever. Unfortunately for Okada, the best is not enough though. The Rainmaker lands flush into the Cold Skull, allowing SANADA a sweet victory as he shocks the nation and runs the top star out of the company. Let the drought begin.
Forbidden Door
After no-showing his scheduled press conference, Okada is not seen until the AEWxNJPW joint show, making his grand return with a return many would believe to be triumphant. It’s announced that a battle royal will determine who joins Bryan Danielson in a trip to Japan to compete in the G1 Climax, and it seems like Orange Cassidy is the little engine that could. He’s like a giant slayer in this match, eliminating Big Bill, the Butcher, and Brian Cage before joining Rey Fenix as the final two. Things only get crazier from there however, AS OKADA STORMS THE RING AND LAYS BOTH EXHAUSTED MEN OUT WITH RAINMAKERS, ALLOWING HIM TO TOSS THEM OVER WITH EASE AND WIN THIS MATCH! Boos rain down on the Rainmaker as he rains spit down on OC’s carcass, but it doesn’t seem to faze our guy, as he’s seemingly fully unlocked a different side to himself as of right now… but is this just the first step?
G1 Climax
The two-block G1 comes around, and in our first match we see Finlay vs. Okada. Heh. Okada obliterates Finlay after a ten minute match, before grabbing a microphone and lambasting the crowd for supporting SANADA as he ran their top guy out of the company. He says that he shouldn’t be back right now, but he must exact vengeance. He says they don’t deserve him, but he’s here anyway. He says that he feels like… an outcast. An outsider, if you may. Snatching the Bullet Club shirt off of Finlay’s back, Okada declares himself the new leader of Bullet Club, demanding that the crew follow him as he can free them from the shackles of previous poor runs. The weak leave, the strong stay, and Bullet Club officially has itself a new leader. Okada proceeds to run through the rest of his block with an 8-1 record, before meeting and defeating Shingo in the finals to win his fifth G1 Climax.
Road to Wrestle Kingdom
With his newfound heelish attitude Kazuchika Okada seems to be heading full speed into his second Wrestle Kingdom main event with Will Ospreay, but before the two can meet, they’ve got a few hurdles to get over. Okada leads Bullet Club to instant success prior to WK, with guys like KENTA picking up the TV Championship while Austin and Bey claim the Junior Tag Titles. He manages to keep the success going on his end too, running the ready-made feuds with SANADA and Cassidy where he retains his briefcase and ultimately makes the match official.
Wrestle Kingdom
We reach our second main event between Ospreay and Okada here, and the two deliver overtime. Ospreay is proud of the fact that he accomplished his goal to win the world title again before the end of the year, but tonight he’s got to overcome the one man he’s got issues defeating in order to keep it. Gedo manages to interfere and cheat Okada to yet another Wrestle Kingdom win here, ending Ospreay’s reign as the young fucker still has a few more steps to take before he’s ready to beat Tokyo Dome Okada, BC or no BC.
Sakura Genesis
Bullet Club is back on top of the world, and it’s all thanks to the man they’ve tried to eviscerate in the past. After beating Ospreay and eventually Goto at New Beginning, Okada eagerly awaits the winner of the New Japan Cup at Sakura Genesis. The winner eventually reveals himself to be Ospreay, and the two have a Wrestle Kingdom rematch here where Ospreay is able to gain his win back and once again become IWGP World Champion.
2023.03.28 09:12 Actual-Corner-9519 There's a reason why people drive slow
I always see people complaining like "UGH!! I can't stand slow drivers!" and honestly I'm one of those slow assholes people complain about. I don't drive drastically under the speed limit but I am cautious about my speed and more timid about my following distance and passing, people get really irate with me over it but there's a reason for it. When I was younger I would drive pretty fast until one day a random guy pointed a gun at me because I wanted to go faster than him, I came up behind him and passed him and he took offense to it. And then he got out pointing a gun at me and when I tried to get away, he got back in his truck and started chasing after me and I was so scared that I drove like 100 running red lights and didn't even care if I crashed trying to get away. And even though it was years ago, I feel like ever since then I've been terrified to pass people and if I get less than like 8 car lengths away from the car in front of me I worry that the driver is going to fucking kill me. I'm sure other people who drive slow on the road have had similar experiences to me. I envy people who feel so entitled to just "drive fast" with no fear and nothing bad ever happens to them.
submitted by Actual-Corner-9519 to offmychest [link] [comments]
2023.03.28 08:59 Pooja-12 Increasing Access To Machine Learning And Democratizing Data And Insights
We know how data accessibility, insight access, and data availability have changed over time and what Google is doing right now to support clients in democratizing the production of insights across organizational identities. In this blog, we'll talk about why artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are essential for producing insights in today's big data environment, as well as what Cloud Computing is doing to make this potent form of analysis more widely available. There are many best data science courses in India available online, which can benefit you in learning cutting-edge data science technologies.
The stakes are significant, according to a McKinsey analysis, which estimates that by 2030, organizations that fully integrate AI could face a 20% decrease in their cash flow compared to those that don't. Unsurprisingly, several businessmen frame their ML aims around HR challenges because AI and ML have historically been viewed as the domain of specialists and those with PhDs: establishing new departments, recruiting new talent, developing retention programs for the present staff, etc. However, this does not have to be the case. At Google Cloud, we're committed to integrating ML capabilities into every aspect of daily work for everyone who handles data, in addition to enhancing the efficiency of the experts.
We have created a complete set of tools specifically for specialists, the typical ML audience. Thanks to our AI Platform, they can iterate quickly and efficiently transition concepts to deployment. AI Hub streamlines teamwork among ML teams so that work can be completed more quickly and without duplicating work streams. The final option is TensorFlow Enterprise, which offers supporting and scalable TensorFlow on the cloud straight from the top OSS project contributors (we!)—making current specialists more quick-thinking and productive, which increases their production, which broadens access to ML inside a company.
However, to truly implement machine learning (ML) across an entire organization, we must develop and test that more personalities can use it to generate useful insights. Let's examine what Google Cloud is doing to democratize machine learning (ML) across three key personality types: data analysts, developers, and data engineers.
That's precisely what BigQuery ML accomplishes; it integrates machine learning into the data warehouse and is implemented using only a few simple SQL queries, which are considerably more known to analysts than the Python, R, and Scala-based tools many data scientists rely on. BigQueryML enables data analysts to run ML on enormous amounts of data to unearth previously unrecognized insights since it can scale to greater data volumes than typical business data warehouses. BigQuery has many models that can assist users with use cases, including segmentation, forecasting, prediction, anomaly detection, and recommendation. In addition, ML specialists can create bespoke models if necessary and upload them into BigQuery so that analysts can use them to measure.
Do you want to become an AI or ML specialist? Sign up for the best data science course in Bangalore, offered by Learnbay.
BigQuery ML has been successfully implemented by customers in a wide range of sectors and use cases. By combining machine learning and geospatial analytics, Geotab is advancing the development of smarter cities. Telus has already used ML to deploy detection methods that secure its network. UPS has used it to obtain correct package volume forecasting. BigQuery ML has even been used to predict moviegoers' preferences. In addition, we see financial institutions assessing insurance risk, insurance forecasting by merchants, and gaming enterprises anticipating long-term client value. For data analysts to drive this analysis in the past would have been impossible. Today, in addition to being effective, it has a relatively short path to production.
Developers (as well as data scientists and analysts) now have the extraordinary speed and efficiency to automatically construct and deploy ML models on structured data with AutoML Tables, a tool for generating machine learning models at scale. A codeless interface not only makes it simple for anyone to create models and integrate them into larger systems, but it also speeds up the deployment of ML models, reduces costs, and improves their quality. By speaking to the correct user at the right time and place, our customers have been able to conduct marketing programs that have generated 140% higher levels of user engagement and 150% more subscribers per dollar spent than industry standards.
Furthermore, these ML APIs serve more purposes than only helping app developers. These APIs are simple for ETL developers utilizing Cloud Data Fusion to incorporate into data integration pipelines to improve and prepare analysis for downstream apps and consumers. The point, clicking, dragging, and dropping ML now comes naturally.
The open-source Dataproc road and the fog Data Flow path are two categories of data engineering that we have attempted to integrate machine learning (ML) capabilities into. Let's look at both.
We make it simple to run SparkML jobs that you may be able to create or have already created for people who support open source and are familiar with Hadoop and Spark settings. You can get a free trial of our simple-to-run Qwiklab, which can introduce you to ML using Spark on Dataproc. To enable GPU-powered ML, we also allow customers to deploy customized OSS clusters on customized machines quickly. Users of Dataproc may now easily deploy ML, take advantage of user-friendly notebooks, schedule cluster deletion, and other capabilities that were previously announced this year.
To design and manage ML workflows in production for data engineers using Dataflow, Google Cloud has made TensorFlow Extended (TFX) simple. This integration uses Apache Beam (Dataflow's SDK) to produce a toolkit for creating ML pipelines, a collection of common components you may use in a pipeline or ML training script, and libraries for the core functionality of many common components. Our solution teams aim to simplify this by publishing widely used patterns like anomaly detection, which telco customers use for cybersecurity, and banks for financial fraud detection. Visit the data science course in Pune to learn how fraud detection is done using tools used by data scientists.
submitted by Pooja-12 to aboutupdates [link] [comments]
The stakes are significant, according to a McKinsey analysis, which estimates that by 2030, organizations that fully integrate AI could face a 20% decrease in their cash flow compared to those that don't. Unsurprisingly, several businessmen frame their ML aims around HR challenges because AI and ML have historically been viewed as the domain of specialists and those with PhDs: establishing new departments, recruiting new talent, developing retention programs for the present staff, etc. However, this does not have to be the case. At Google Cloud, we're committed to integrating ML capabilities into every aspect of daily work for everyone who handles data, in addition to enhancing the efficiency of the experts.
We have created a complete set of tools specifically for specialists, the typical ML audience. Thanks to our AI Platform, they can iterate quickly and efficiently transition concepts to deployment. AI Hub streamlines teamwork among ML teams so that work can be completed more quickly and without duplicating work streams. The final option is TensorFlow Enterprise, which offers supporting and scalable TensorFlow on the cloud straight from the top OSS project contributors (we!)—making current specialists more quick-thinking and productive, which increases their production, which broadens access to ML inside a company.
However, to truly implement machine learning (ML) across an entire organization, we must develop and test that more personalities can use it to generate useful insights. Let's examine what Google Cloud is doing to democratize machine learning (ML) across three key personality types: data analysts, developers, and data engineers.
- Data Analysts
That's precisely what BigQuery ML accomplishes; it integrates machine learning into the data warehouse and is implemented using only a few simple SQL queries, which are considerably more known to analysts than the Python, R, and Scala-based tools many data scientists rely on. BigQueryML enables data analysts to run ML on enormous amounts of data to unearth previously unrecognized insights since it can scale to greater data volumes than typical business data warehouses. BigQuery has many models that can assist users with use cases, including segmentation, forecasting, prediction, anomaly detection, and recommendation. In addition, ML specialists can create bespoke models if necessary and upload them into BigQuery so that analysts can use them to measure.
Do you want to become an AI or ML specialist? Sign up for the best data science course in Bangalore, offered by Learnbay.
BigQuery ML has been successfully implemented by customers in a wide range of sectors and use cases. By combining machine learning and geospatial analytics, Geotab is advancing the development of smarter cities. Telus has already used ML to deploy detection methods that secure its network. UPS has used it to obtain correct package volume forecasting. BigQuery ML has even been used to predict moviegoers' preferences. In addition, we see financial institutions assessing insurance risk, insurance forecasting by merchants, and gaming enterprises anticipating long-term client value. For data analysts to drive this analysis in the past would have been impossible. Today, in addition to being effective, it has a relatively short path to production.
- Developers
Developers (as well as data scientists and analysts) now have the extraordinary speed and efficiency to automatically construct and deploy ML models on structured data with AutoML Tables, a tool for generating machine learning models at scale. A codeless interface not only makes it simple for anyone to create models and integrate them into larger systems, but it also speeds up the deployment of ML models, reduces costs, and improves their quality. By speaking to the correct user at the right time and place, our customers have been able to conduct marketing programs that have generated 140% higher levels of user engagement and 150% more subscribers per dollar spent than industry standards.
Furthermore, these ML APIs serve more purposes than only helping app developers. These APIs are simple for ETL developers utilizing Cloud Data Fusion to incorporate into data integration pipelines to improve and prepare analysis for downstream apps and consumers. The point, clicking, dragging, and dropping ML now comes naturally.
- Data Engineering
The open-source Dataproc road and the fog Data Flow path are two categories of data engineering that we have attempted to integrate machine learning (ML) capabilities into. Let's look at both.
We make it simple to run SparkML jobs that you may be able to create or have already created for people who support open source and are familiar with Hadoop and Spark settings. You can get a free trial of our simple-to-run Qwiklab, which can introduce you to ML using Spark on Dataproc. To enable GPU-powered ML, we also allow customers to deploy customized OSS clusters on customized machines quickly. Users of Dataproc may now easily deploy ML, take advantage of user-friendly notebooks, schedule cluster deletion, and other capabilities that were previously announced this year.
To design and manage ML workflows in production for data engineers using Dataflow, Google Cloud has made TensorFlow Extended (TFX) simple. This integration uses Apache Beam (Dataflow's SDK) to produce a toolkit for creating ML pipelines, a collection of common components you may use in a pipeline or ML training script, and libraries for the core functionality of many common components. Our solution teams aim to simplify this by publishing widely used patterns like anomaly detection, which telco customers use for cybersecurity, and banks for financial fraud detection. Visit the data science course in Pune to learn how fraud detection is done using tools used by data scientists.
To Sum Up
The most important use of big data—producing insights that help organizations in making forecasts, discovering new customer segments, making recommendations, and more—is democratized by bringing ML skills to this large group of new personas. Businesses that can use artificial intelligence and machine learning more widely will win because the deeper insights they provide will become increasingly important to corporate success. According to Google, the finest ideas tend to pop up rather than be squashed. Your entire organization will be prepared for whatever happens once everyone has access to the data and the resources needed to analyze it.2023.03.28 08:37 HeadOfSpectre Faerie Tale - Twelfth Entry
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Second Entry
Third Entry
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Fifth Entry
Sixth Entry
Seventh Entry
Eighth Entry
Ninth Entry
Tenth Entry
Eleventh Entry
Journal of Camille Lambert - April 14th (Part 4)
The screams of monsters who unfortunately were no longer beyond my comprehension echoed through the eternal night. I looked up to see one of the nearby warped buildings buckling, as the familiar shape of the Crab Nightwalker hefted its weight on top of it.
It looked considerably different from when I’d last seen it in Puriysk. It's now ill-fitting shell was adorned by glowing flowers, with red vines clinging to it like a sickness and hanging off of it like tendrils. In those tendrils, I could see screaming men, being pulled toward its maw. Pulsating flesh oozed out of the Crab's armor, as if it had overstuffed itself to the point where that armor could no longer contain it.
I watched as the Crab began to pry into the building it stood on, and as its tendrils probed through the windows, dragging out screaming men who shot hopelessly at it as if they stood any chance of killing it.
In the distance, I could see the beginnings of an orange glow as somewhere in Parsons a fire spread… not started by Nina this time. Progress? Looking down toward the street, past the out of place hardware store that Calhoun had escaped into, I could see various Nightwalkers fleeing for their lives, as their former brethren, newly marked by the Rosen Prince pursued them.
It was like something out of a nightmare… impossible horror after impossible horror, melded together and left to tear at each other's throats. The hellish monsters I’d known all my life versus the oppressive militia who I’d long since learned to fear, while a floral parasite ran rampant through the streets, consuming them all. The fact that the backdrop to this madness was now the twisted result of intersecting one town on top of another seemed trivial compared to the insanity that dominated the streets.
I turned, about to descend the stairs of the clock tower to throw myself back into the chaos when from the corner of my eye, I noticed Dom scrambling up the makeshift stairwell that Calhoun had formed out of the collapsed roof of the church. He had Gretchen slung over his shoulder, and Nina was coming up behind him. She hastily swapped out the magazine in her shotgun for a new one, before looking down frantically.
I ran to the far side of the tower to help Dom and Gretchen up through the broken clock face. She went first, followed by him.
“What’s going on down there?” I asked.
“Good news, the Bat thing is dead. Bad news, the Rosen Prince got it.” Dom said, reaching back to pull Nina up behind him.
Almost on cue, I heard yet another demonic screech from the hole in the church roof behind us and I saw another familiar face clawing its way up Calhoun’s makeshift stairwell.
For the most part, it looked like the same Horned Nightwalker we saw in Calhoun’s courtyard although now I could see the glowing flowers of the Rosen Prince adorning its arms and shoulders. Its hands had changed too, with jutting blades now protruding from its wrist. Gretchen looked back at the Horned Nightwalker with a grimace, before giving a sweeping motion with her hand. As the Nightwalker reached the top of the makeshift stairwell, I saw it buckle, then collapse, sending the creature crashing back down to the ground floor along with a significant portion of the roof. I hoped that might keep it down for a while longer.
“Holy fucking shit, what the hell happened here?” Nina cried, looking out over Parsons.
“The mist was already moving the town, I had to make do,” I said. “Don’t ask me how I did it, I don’t know! I don’t think any of the locals came through, though.”
Nina looked back at me, before shaking her head in exasperation.
“Well I hope to fuck they didn’t,” She said. “Cuz I do not have any kind of rescue plan.”
“What about Calhoun?” Dom asked.
“Wounded and on the run,” I said.
“Well let’s track his ass down and get the fuck out of here,” Nina said. “How badly did you hurt him?”
“I shot him twice in the stomach and he fell out the window,” I said and pointed to the broken clock face. Nina looked at it again, before looking straight down.
“Christ… and he survived that?” She asked.
“Evidently… since this pocket reality is still holding together,” Gretchen said. She rubbed at the back of her neck, wincing in pain as she did.
“How bad is it?” I asked.
“I’ll survive,” She said, “But let us deal with Calhoun first. If he is wise, he will recognize the futility of this engagement and seek to return to the Eldest. We cannot permit that to happen. Then he may be lost to us.”
I stared out of the clock tower again, looking toward Calhoun’s House a short distance away.
“Can you get there alright?” I asked.
“I’ll manage,” She assured me, although before we could decide how to proceed, another inhuman scream echoed from the Church below.
Nina screamed back at it in a condescending tone, then added: “Shut it, you vegetable fuck! We’re having a conversation!” As if in response to that, several crimson vines latched onto the sides of the hole in the roof, slithering outward to grab purchase onto the sides, before beginning to pull something up.
Gretchen sighed, rubbing at her temples and shaking her head.
“Why are you the way that you are?” Was all she asked.
A massive claw appeared on the edge of the roof, as the Horned Nightwalker… or at least what it had become, attempted to climb its way out. Its hands had already changed into sickle like claws that reminded me of the Horselike Nightwalker I’d seen in Puriysk. Several spider like legs rose out of the hole in the roof, lifting the new creature out of the ruined church and onto the roof as it dragged itself toward us.
“Such a bounty laid out before me!” The voice of the Rosen Prince snarled, “And I have you to thank, Gretchen Di Cesare! Yet, my hunger is not yet sated… for you have not yet joined with me, child!”
Nina readied her shotgun, firing into the new creature's face. Batlike wings unfurled from its back, closing around its body and taking the brunt of the fire.
“I grow ever stronger, from the wonderful creatures I have dined on. They offer me little in knowledge, but much in strength!”
As The Rosen Prince advanced on us, I noticed something else from the corner of my eye. The Crab Nightwalker was drawing closer to us as well. I know that Gretchen saw it too. Nina stopped shooting while shimmering blossoms with pale yellow eyes inside opened on the Prince’s wings as the fires quickly died down.
“Ah… ironic, is it not? To find you now in the same position you were in when you invoked me here. Cornered… Helpless... Desperate…”
Gritting her teeth, Gretchen gently pushed Nina aside, staring down the coming Prince.
“You presume far too much, my old friend…” She panted, before looking at us. “Grab something, hold it tight, and pray to whatever God may be listening.”
With a wave of her hand, Gretchen brought down more of the roof beneath the Rosen Prince. It did little to slow it down, but it did enough. Gretchen turned, grabbing the metal frame of the turret clock and letting out a cry of exertion.
I felt the ground move beneath us again, although this time it wasn’t something in the tower she was moving.
It was the tower itself.
In one swift motion, the clock tower had detached from the rest of the church and launched itself toward an adjacent building. The lower part of it lodged itself into the roof of that other building completely, causing part of it to crumble. Somehow though, the clocktower remained intact… for the most part. I imagined that had to be thanks to Gretchen.
“What the fuck are you trying to do?!” Nina cried, looking over at Gretchen with a new fear of God in her eyes.
“You told me to learn…” Gretchen hissed, “I’m learning…”
She strained again, looking back as the Rosen Prince spread his wings to take flight. Nina, Dom, and I grabbed hold of the frame of the turret clock since it seemed like the sturdiest thing to grab as Gretchen moved the tower again, launching it into another building, this one closer to Calhoun’s house.
The impact was too much for me this time. I lost my grip and was thrown to the ground, rolling toward one of the broken clock faces.
“Cam?” Nina called, before letting go of the clock to dive after me. She wasn’t fast enough.
The wind rushed past me as I fell out of the window, landing hard on the roof of the building below. I saw Nina looking down at me from above, before leaping down after me. She landed with a little more grace, and unevenly stumbled to my side, hastily putting a hand on my shoulder.
“You alright?” She asked.
I gave a half nod since despite being in considerable pain I was pretty sure I hadn’t broken anything.
“CAM!” I heard Dom cry, and saw him going to the window next. For a moment, I was sure he was about to jump down too, although Nina waved an arm to stop him.
“Don’t!” She said, “Stay with Gretchen! Get to the house, and kill that one eyed motherfucker if you see him! We’ll catch up!”
Dom hesitated, before looking to see that the Rosen Prince had launched himself onto the last building we’d been on. The Crab Nightwalker was almost on top of him now, and I watched as the two pressed together, their features sliding together as they formed into something new. Pieces of the crab's armor slid onto that twisted amalgamation of bodies, partially reinforcing its spiderlike legs. The batlike wings on its back grew larger to accommodate the new size of this creature, then split to form new wings. It morphed and changed, adapting to the prey it now hunted, becoming something draconic, arachnid, equine, humanoid, and floral all in one unholy mixture. Such a thing should not have ever been… and yet it was and when the change was complete, what was left was an armored creature three times taller than a man with several chitinous horse legs, segmented like a crab or a spiders protruding from its bulbous lower body. It had a hunched-over torso like a human’s, with thick arms ending in chitinous claws and a head that split open like a flower, with gnashing teeth in its center and antlers adorning its shoulders like pauldrons.
Of all the horrors I had seen in this world… this was by far the worst.
The flesh and armor it did not take from the Crab Nightwalker slunk away, pulsating and trying to reform into something new, while the body the Rosen Prince had made for himself spread its six draconic wings to give chase to Gretchen.
The tower moved again, launching itself toward another building and Nina grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the hole in the roof of the building we were on that the tower had left. I had just enough time to see the Rosen Prince take flight in pursuit of the tower before we made it inside the building.
After all the noise out there, the silence inside was almost jarring… and if I wasn’t absolutely terrified by the fucking flower dragon made out of every horrible thing that had tried to kill me in the past few days chasing after my friend, I might have even found it calming.
The building we were in looked as if it’d once been somebody's apartment. Nina looked around for a bit, before finding a door leading out into a hall.
“Come on, we should hurry,” She said, gesturing for me to follow her. I was certain that she had no idea where she was going, but to be fair I didn’t either so I followed her.
“Do all of your jobs go this badly?” I asked, as we headed for a door at the end of the hall.
“Not this badly, no,” She said. “This right here is a brand new record.”
We went through the door, heading down a flight of stairs, and out into the lobby of the building. Nina paused by the front door, looking out onto the street to ensure the coast was at least somewhat clear before moving ‘Somewhat clear’ being the operative term here.
The streets of Parsons were reduced to little more than complete pandemonium. I could see the burning corpses of the Rosen around us, along with one lone member of the Sheriff’s Boys who seemed too dazed to even realize we were there.
As the flames of the dead burned around him, devouring ruined cars and blackening the bricks of the buildings around him, he wandered aimlessly.
We all paused as behind us, one of the buildings that Gretchen had hit when she’d decided to turn a building into an airplane began to collapse. I could hear people screaming and felt a knot in my stomach tighten. The lucky sounded as if they’d been crushed outright… the unlucky just kept screaming.
Both the man on the street and I stared at the ruins of the collapsed building, and looking back at him I was hit with the knowledge that everyone in this miserable city probably knew that this was the end. They were all going to die here… whether it was at the hands of the Rosen, the Nightwalkers, or the destruction, they were all going to die. Maybe they all hadn’t accepted it as my friend on the street had… but it was a chilling truth.
This that had once been their paradise was now their tomb… and once Calhoun was dead, even that would no longer remain. I wondered if we were just as doomed as they were… and I wondered if we were just in denial about it.
Well… no time to think too hard about it now.
I felt Nina pulling at my arm.
“Let’s go,” She said. “I think the road up ahead is clear!”
The other man was looking at me now.
From behind us, I could hear the cries of the Rosen and looked back to see them sifting through the ruins of the collapsed building, looking for survivors. The man on the road just laughed, before calmly taking out his gun and putting it under his chin.
I heard the gunshot but didn’t see him die. By then we’d already moved on. But it still made me flinch.
The gate to Calhoun’s House was just up ahead, although it was not unguarded. I could see several more trucks, like the one Kevin had driven parked out front, with a few of the Sheriff’s Boys stationed around them.
As far as I could tell, the courtyard was pretty secure… perhaps they were waiting for Calhoun’s return. The clock tower was lodged in a building half a block away, and I saw it make its final push toward the twisted house, crashing into it head-on and shattering its malformed architecture.
In defiance of all laws of physics though, the clocktower still held together, despite jutting out of the front of that twisted building. The Sheriff’s Boys at the gate watched it with slack-jawed awe, before a familiar voice on a megaphone brought them back to attention.
“GUNS UP BOYS! COMPANY’S COMING!”
Between the cars, I could see Kevin holding his megaphone and pointing toward the building the clock tower had just jumped from. Of course Kevin was still alive. This day just hadn’t gone badly enough…
The Sheriff’s Boys manning the guns on their trucks got to work immediately, spinning to take aim at the Rosen Prince as he loomed over the nearby building, regarding the assembled prey with every eye on his sickly, pulsating body. I saw his wings spread wide as he began his final descent toward the courtyard. The bullets tore away chunks of his writhing flesh, but they did not slow him down. Instead, he simply folded his wings over his torso, shielding his body from the hail of gunfire as he made his advance.
The Rosen Prince lunged forward with one jagged claw, crushing one of the nearby trucks like it was made of paper. I saw Kevin take a step back, grimacing in rage before tossing his megaphone aside. Some of his men fled, but he stood his ground… probably because he physically could not run.
“You sonofabitch…” he growled, before pulling a gun from his holster. My eyes widened as I recognized it.
Gretchen’s revolver.
Kevin must have found it after we’d left!
I wondered if he knew what it did, and I got my answer only moments later. He pulled the trigger, striking one of the wings of the Rosen Prince.
The creature shrank back, letting out a hiss of pain, although seeming more confused than hurt. Pink mist rose up from its wing, and I saw the flesh begin to bubble and sear. The Rosen Prince recoiled, its flesh twisting as every eye on its body widened. Kevin kept the gun trained on the Prince, but didn’t fire again. The Rosen Prince retreated back up on top of the building. Its burning wing detached itself, although that didn’t quite seem to be enough. Entire chunks of what I suspect used to be the Bat Nightwalker sloughed out of its body as it tried to shed whatever flesh that Gretchen’s blessed bullet had destroyed.
“Keep shooting!” Kevin called, starting to limp back behind the remaining trucks. “Governor Calhoun is on his way! And get me somebody to help deal with that fucking flying tower!”
I looked over at Nina and saw her eyes narrowed as she watched Kevin leave. I watched her grip her gun tightly and put a hand on her arm.
“Don’t!” I warned, “Those trucks will tear us to pieces!”
I could see in her eyes that she wanted to argue, but clearly she knew better. Her eyes then darted toward the wall and I could see her doing the math in her head.
“Left side of the street, move fast, keep low,” She said. “We’ll jump the fence.”
That sounded like a slightly smarter idea, and I let Nina take the lead.
The trucks didn’t even seem to see us, and kept shooting at the Rosen Prince. I could even see a few crimson flares shooting up from some of the Sheriff’s Boys, catching the Prince’s body and setting his flesh alight as he retreated back atop the building again. Nina reached the fence first and I boosted her up to the top. She straddled it for a moment, reaching down to help pull me up before we dropped down into the courtyard together. She grabbed her shotgun again, keeping at the ready for when the inevitable shooting began.
The courtyard was in an even worse state than we’d left it in. The fountain was almost completely destroyed and had soaked the ground beneath us, turning anything that wasn’t protected by the cobblestone into mud.
Countless bodies, belonging to men, Rosen and Nightwalkers along with a few blackened things that I think were Nightwalkers, littered the ground. The truck that Kevin had used to attack us was crashed into a nearby wall and looked more or less completely totaled. We could see Kevin limping over toward where the clock tower was, looking up at it as he barked orders.
“Where’s my fucking explosives? We need to get back inside the house without letting any more of those things out through the fucking door!”
Nina stifled a laugh.
“Oh man… I forgot about the portal to hell…” She said under her breath, as if it was the funniest joke she’d ever heard.
The clock tower shifted, as the section of the house it had embedded itself in began to crumble. The tower sank down to the ground, still remaining intact. I took that as a sign that Gretchen and Dom were still inside.
“MOVE!” Kevin cried, ushering his men back as a cloud of dust flooded the courtyard. Nina and I shielded our eyes for a moment, although I realized as soon as she did the kind of opportunity that had just appeared for us. She gestured for me to follow, leading me toward the house under the cover of the dust.
“Whoever’s in that thing, I want them fucking dead!” Kevin said, coughing through the dust. He turned away from the clock tower, waving a hand in front of his face to try and escape the dust. Nina and I were almost at the front door now, and I already knew what she planned to do.
Honestly, I thought it was a terrible idea. But at this point, I was still on board with it.
Kevin looked up, noticing us just as we reached the door. Through the dust, I could see his eyes widen as Nina reached the front door and pulled it open.
“NO!” He cried, reaching out as if he could somehow stop us.
He couldn’t.
On the other side of the door, I could see reddish sands. I could feel the acrid heat and burning wind on my face. And I could see dark figures amongst the sands, looking up as soon as the door opened.
Not Nightwalkers… not Rosen.
Something else.
Nina fired a few rounds from her shotgun, forcing Kevin to try and run. He dove to the ground, crawling behind the shattered remains of the water fountain, as the Sheriff’s Boys turned to see that on top of all their existing problems, they now also had to deal with a portal to actual literal Hell. Because why not? I’m sure it really sucked to be them at that moment.
I saw the first of the blackened Demons charge through the door, snarling like a wild dog. It was torn to pieces by some gunfire from one of the Sheriff’s Boys almost immediately, but more followed.
There weren’t a lot of demons that poured out of that door… but there were enough.
I saw one of them leaping onto one of the Sheriff’s Boys. Its entire torso split open vertically, revealing a velvety mouth, full of teeth that clamped down on the poor man before he could do more than scream. As the Sheriff’s Boys tried to deal with the demons, Nina unleashed burning death upon them all, mindlessly shooting anything that moved. She paused only to pull the door closed, since I guess it made sense not to just leave that hanging open and unattended. I suppose it’s not like she needed even more Demons.
Behind the fountain, I saw Kevin struggling to stand as he tried to escape the carnage… and I started toward him.
Kevin saw me coming and hastily reached for Gretchen’s revolver, but I was faster. I raised my gun and fired twice, hitting him once in the arm and once in the chest. Kevin let out a cry of pain. The revolver slipped out of his hand and clattered uselessly to the ground. He left it where it lay, trying desperately to pull himself back as I pulled the trigger again, shooting him in the stomach two more times.
Finally, I was on top of him and pressed my foot down on his injured leg, earning a final cry of pain from him.
“What was that you said to me the other day?” I hissed, “When I kill you, I’ll have my boys do it… I’ll let them have their way with you first…”
My eyes burned into Kevin’s, and though he tried to keep a defiant face, I could see the fear in them.
“Where are your boys now, Kev?” I asked.
“It’s… Kevin…” He rasped, although I could still hear the fear in his voice.
I’ve gotta be honest… it was kinda funny.
“I know,” I replied as I squeezed the trigger one last time.
I might have only been using a .22, but it did the job perfectly. Kevin’s head jerked backward and he sank down into the mud, his eyes still open and staring quietly into infinity. I’d remember those eyes… but they would not haunt me.
I looked over at Nina, who gave a wide berth to the Sheriff’s Boys and the Demons trying to maul them as she ran to my side. She looked down at Kevin’s body, and I saw a wry smirk cross her lips, though as she reached down to pick up Gretchen’s revolver.
“Guess he shouldn’t have run for office,” She said, before looking toward the clock tower.
Through some of the crumbling bricks, I could see two figures limping out of the ruins.
“Dom…” I said, running toward him.
Gretchen was slung over his shoulder, but it was hard to say who was supporting who at that point. He collapsed down into a sitting position, and let her flop down onto the ground. The only indicator I could hear that she was still alive was her slight groan of pain.
“Oh my God, you’re okay?” I asked.
Dom just gave me a meek thumbs up.
“Next time… let’s… let’s not do… whatever that was…” He said, pointing vaguely at the clock tower. I pulled him into a hug, that he weakly returned.
“Hey… you good?” Nina asked, looking down at Gretchen and giving her a slight kick.
“Test results… sub-optimal. Do not recommend second attempt,” She groaned.
“Yeah, you’re fine. Get up, you big fucking nerdy baby.”
She reached down to help pull Gretchen to her feet again.
“Hot tea…” She murmured, as she leaned against the crumbling clock tower for support. “Hot tea… and a bath…”
She looked over at Nina.
“What are you doing when this is all over?”
“Oh, I’m gonna get fucking drunk and buy a lottery ticket,” She said. “I do not know how we’re all still alive right now, but I’m feeling pretty damn lucky.”
“Alcohol… yes… in tea…” Gretchen agreed, “You’re buying.”
With a trembling hand, she took her journal out of her jacket, turned to a fresh page, and in letters large enough for me to read wrote: ‘TOWER. NO.’
A distant roar pulled out attention back toward the gate. Above it, I could see the Rosen Prince descending from the building again for round 2. He was smaller this time, and had shed his wings… yet his form was otherwise unchanged.
Gretchen just closed her eyes in exasperation before sighing.
“Right… him…”
Through the gate, I could see the Sheriff’s Boys in the trucks trying to fight the Demons and the Prince to no avail. One of the trucks hastily sped off into the night. The other one stood its ground, shooting vainly at the Rosen Prince as he came for them. He brought one claw down like a hammer, crushing the men in the truck like it was nothing, then drawing it back to hit them again out of rage.
Hissing in satisfaction, we watched as the Rosen Prince continued toward the gate, his many legs going over it as he advanced into the courtyard.
“This night draws to its close, my old friend.” He snarled. “It seems you can run no more… while my strength, is everlasting. It is time… come into my ocean, as you were always meant to.”
“Oh fuck off already,” Gretchen huffed, before noticing Nina out of the corner of her eye, offering her the revolver. They traded a look before Gretchen took it and aimed it at the beast that advanced on us. The moment it realized what was being aimed at it, I heard it snarl with rage. Its body tensed as it lunged for us, trying to close the distance before she could shoot.
But it was already too late.
The gunshot echoed through the courtyard as the bullet hit the Rosen Prince square in the chest, and I saw his body begin to seize up. He clawed at his chest, many eyes going wide. A pained scream escaped him. Pink mist rose from the wound, causing its flesh to bubble and squirm. The Rosen Prince’s eyes fixated on Gretchen again as his body began to die.
“WRETCHED WOMAN!” It hissed, throwing its weight toward us as its body convulsed and boiled. “THIS WORLD REMAINS MINE… YOU SHALL NOT RUN FROM ME AGAIN!”
“Yes, this world is yours,” Gretchen agreed. “Enjoy it while it lasts. I imagine it won’t be for much longer. Your services are no longer required here. But thank you for your assistance.”
“TREACHEROUS WITCH!” The Rosen Prince snarled, desperately trying to crawl toward us. I saw the lower half of its body break away. Its legs curled in on themselves, twitching weakly in death. Only the Prince’s rotting torso remained now and Gretchen stared into its countless eyes, cold and unblinking.
As it tried to pull itself closer to us, one of its claws broke off. It’s movements slowed, as the amalgamation of corpses the Rosen Prince had assembled melted away. I could see the luminous flowers on its body starting to die, as the eyes turned white and fell away. In a few moments, the body of the Rosen Prince lay still as the flesh melted off of its bones… and silence filled the air.
“Is it dead…” I asked quietly, “Really dead?”
“No,” Gretchen replied. “The other drones will still be active, and I suspect he’ll be coming back for us shortly, once he can build something even worse to throw at us. We should leave now, while we still have the chance.”
“What about Calhoun?” I asked.
“If he’s not dead already, I vote we leave him to the Rosen Prince,” Gretchen said. She checked the cylinder of her revolver, “Seems whoever had this wasted the last of my ammunition… luckily I had foresight. Camille, you still have the bullet?”
“Right here,” I said, reaching into my pocket to take it out.
“Good,” She handed the revolver off to me, before turning away and heading toward the door. Her gait was slow and she gave the Rosen Prince a wide berth.
“I’ll remove the rune on Calhoun’s door. If we can find the room with the Eldest again, we should have a way out. We can use the last bullet on him, and see if it works… no promises, but right now I we’re low on options so it will have to suffice fo-”
A sudden onslaught of gunshots interrupted her. I saw Gretchen hit the ground with a pained cry, clutching at her side. Nina ran to her immediately, dragging her behind the ruins of the fountain, while Dom and I ran back toward the clock tower.
A single figure stood under the gate, shuffling past the ruined trucks with a heavy pistol in his hand.
Governor Calhoun looked significantly worse than when I’d last seen him. His skin looked a shade paler and his good eye seemed sunken. He’d stripped off both his shirt and suit jacket and I could see the bullet wounds in his stomach from where I’d shot him… although that was not what stood out the most. His skin was adorned with fresh cuts, with streaks of blood flowing from them like rivers. In his other hand, he held his ritual dagger.
“Leaving me for dead?” He asked, his voice hoarse and cold, “After all you’ve done… to ruin my world… to burn my temple and salt the earth upon which it was built, and you can’t even finish the job? Disappointing.” Nina tried to pop out of cover, but Calhoun shot first, grazing the stone by her head and sending her back down.
“It’s a shame it had to come to this,” Calhoun said. “I would have saved your world. I would have saved each and every one of you. But now after you’ve gone and wasted everything I’ve done… decades of good… I see now that there is no salvation for you people. There never was. I built paradise! And you’ve burned it! Corrupted it! Unleashed plague upon it! Why? I did no harm to you! I left you people be! And yet in stubborn defiance of my efforts to resolve this peacefully, you’ve-”
“Kill yourself,” Nina called, and Calhoun trained off.
“Excuse me…” He hissed.
“We’ve got you four to one, and you’re already looking like death warmed over… so cut the speech, Calhoun. Cut the theatrics… and let’s just get this the fuck over with you self-righteous fuck!”
I saw Calhoun actually crack a smile there.
“Ill-mannered until the end,” He said, before finally lowering his gun and tossing it aside, “Well… at least you were consistent, in life.”
He took another trembling step forward before sinking down to his knees. I saw Nina rising out from behind cover, while Dom and I did the same, our guns remaining trained on him. Calhoun looked at us, before slowly taking his knife and turning it toward his stomach.
Was… was he actually going to do it? Just like that?
Nina seemed surprised, pausing as she locked eyes with him.
“If there’s no salvation,” Calhoun said, “Then all that remains is death…”
With that, he drove the dagger into his stomach, sucking in a breath as he did. Nina actually flinched at the sight of it, but I stayed still, watching as Calhoun buried the dagger deep into his body, and as the blood dribbled down his hands.
“Holy Lugal,” he rasped, “I have no home to defend… no souls to offer. And so, I offer my own. Grant me retribution and I shall become yours.”
My eyes widened, and I could see Nina's doing the same. We understood all too late why he’d mutilated himself…
We fired on Calhoun, but it was too late.
A blinding crimson glow had already spread through his body, traveling along the carvings he’d made in his flesh and I could feel the air around us rippling. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear Calhoun screaming, followed by a faint voice over all of the noise. A voice I only barely recognized as Gretchen’s screaming:
“RUN!”
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Seventh Entry
Eighth Entry
Ninth Entry
Tenth Entry
Eleventh Entry
Journal of Camille Lambert - April 14th (Part 4)
The screams of monsters who unfortunately were no longer beyond my comprehension echoed through the eternal night. I looked up to see one of the nearby warped buildings buckling, as the familiar shape of the Crab Nightwalker hefted its weight on top of it.
It looked considerably different from when I’d last seen it in Puriysk. It's now ill-fitting shell was adorned by glowing flowers, with red vines clinging to it like a sickness and hanging off of it like tendrils. In those tendrils, I could see screaming men, being pulled toward its maw. Pulsating flesh oozed out of the Crab's armor, as if it had overstuffed itself to the point where that armor could no longer contain it.
I watched as the Crab began to pry into the building it stood on, and as its tendrils probed through the windows, dragging out screaming men who shot hopelessly at it as if they stood any chance of killing it.
In the distance, I could see the beginnings of an orange glow as somewhere in Parsons a fire spread… not started by Nina this time. Progress? Looking down toward the street, past the out of place hardware store that Calhoun had escaped into, I could see various Nightwalkers fleeing for their lives, as their former brethren, newly marked by the Rosen Prince pursued them.
It was like something out of a nightmare… impossible horror after impossible horror, melded together and left to tear at each other's throats. The hellish monsters I’d known all my life versus the oppressive militia who I’d long since learned to fear, while a floral parasite ran rampant through the streets, consuming them all. The fact that the backdrop to this madness was now the twisted result of intersecting one town on top of another seemed trivial compared to the insanity that dominated the streets.
I turned, about to descend the stairs of the clock tower to throw myself back into the chaos when from the corner of my eye, I noticed Dom scrambling up the makeshift stairwell that Calhoun had formed out of the collapsed roof of the church. He had Gretchen slung over his shoulder, and Nina was coming up behind him. She hastily swapped out the magazine in her shotgun for a new one, before looking down frantically.
I ran to the far side of the tower to help Dom and Gretchen up through the broken clock face. She went first, followed by him.
“What’s going on down there?” I asked.
“Good news, the Bat thing is dead. Bad news, the Rosen Prince got it.” Dom said, reaching back to pull Nina up behind him.
Almost on cue, I heard yet another demonic screech from the hole in the church roof behind us and I saw another familiar face clawing its way up Calhoun’s makeshift stairwell.
For the most part, it looked like the same Horned Nightwalker we saw in Calhoun’s courtyard although now I could see the glowing flowers of the Rosen Prince adorning its arms and shoulders. Its hands had changed too, with jutting blades now protruding from its wrist. Gretchen looked back at the Horned Nightwalker with a grimace, before giving a sweeping motion with her hand. As the Nightwalker reached the top of the makeshift stairwell, I saw it buckle, then collapse, sending the creature crashing back down to the ground floor along with a significant portion of the roof. I hoped that might keep it down for a while longer.
“Holy fucking shit, what the hell happened here?” Nina cried, looking out over Parsons.
“The mist was already moving the town, I had to make do,” I said. “Don’t ask me how I did it, I don’t know! I don’t think any of the locals came through, though.”
Nina looked back at me, before shaking her head in exasperation.
“Well I hope to fuck they didn’t,” She said. “Cuz I do not have any kind of rescue plan.”
“What about Calhoun?” Dom asked.
“Wounded and on the run,” I said.
“Well let’s track his ass down and get the fuck out of here,” Nina said. “How badly did you hurt him?”
“I shot him twice in the stomach and he fell out the window,” I said and pointed to the broken clock face. Nina looked at it again, before looking straight down.
“Christ… and he survived that?” She asked.
“Evidently… since this pocket reality is still holding together,” Gretchen said. She rubbed at the back of her neck, wincing in pain as she did.
“How bad is it?” I asked.
“I’ll survive,” She said, “But let us deal with Calhoun first. If he is wise, he will recognize the futility of this engagement and seek to return to the Eldest. We cannot permit that to happen. Then he may be lost to us.”
I stared out of the clock tower again, looking toward Calhoun’s House a short distance away.
“Can you get there alright?” I asked.
“I’ll manage,” She assured me, although before we could decide how to proceed, another inhuman scream echoed from the Church below.
Nina screamed back at it in a condescending tone, then added: “Shut it, you vegetable fuck! We’re having a conversation!” As if in response to that, several crimson vines latched onto the sides of the hole in the roof, slithering outward to grab purchase onto the sides, before beginning to pull something up.
Gretchen sighed, rubbing at her temples and shaking her head.
“Why are you the way that you are?” Was all she asked.
A massive claw appeared on the edge of the roof, as the Horned Nightwalker… or at least what it had become, attempted to climb its way out. Its hands had already changed into sickle like claws that reminded me of the Horselike Nightwalker I’d seen in Puriysk. Several spider like legs rose out of the hole in the roof, lifting the new creature out of the ruined church and onto the roof as it dragged itself toward us.
“Such a bounty laid out before me!” The voice of the Rosen Prince snarled, “And I have you to thank, Gretchen Di Cesare! Yet, my hunger is not yet sated… for you have not yet joined with me, child!”
Nina readied her shotgun, firing into the new creature's face. Batlike wings unfurled from its back, closing around its body and taking the brunt of the fire.
“I grow ever stronger, from the wonderful creatures I have dined on. They offer me little in knowledge, but much in strength!”
As The Rosen Prince advanced on us, I noticed something else from the corner of my eye. The Crab Nightwalker was drawing closer to us as well. I know that Gretchen saw it too. Nina stopped shooting while shimmering blossoms with pale yellow eyes inside opened on the Prince’s wings as the fires quickly died down.
“Ah… ironic, is it not? To find you now in the same position you were in when you invoked me here. Cornered… Helpless... Desperate…”
Gritting her teeth, Gretchen gently pushed Nina aside, staring down the coming Prince.
“You presume far too much, my old friend…” She panted, before looking at us. “Grab something, hold it tight, and pray to whatever God may be listening.”
With a wave of her hand, Gretchen brought down more of the roof beneath the Rosen Prince. It did little to slow it down, but it did enough. Gretchen turned, grabbing the metal frame of the turret clock and letting out a cry of exertion.
I felt the ground move beneath us again, although this time it wasn’t something in the tower she was moving.
It was the tower itself.
In one swift motion, the clock tower had detached from the rest of the church and launched itself toward an adjacent building. The lower part of it lodged itself into the roof of that other building completely, causing part of it to crumble. Somehow though, the clocktower remained intact… for the most part. I imagined that had to be thanks to Gretchen.
“What the fuck are you trying to do?!” Nina cried, looking over at Gretchen with a new fear of God in her eyes.
“You told me to learn…” Gretchen hissed, “I’m learning…”
She strained again, looking back as the Rosen Prince spread his wings to take flight. Nina, Dom, and I grabbed hold of the frame of the turret clock since it seemed like the sturdiest thing to grab as Gretchen moved the tower again, launching it into another building, this one closer to Calhoun’s house.
The impact was too much for me this time. I lost my grip and was thrown to the ground, rolling toward one of the broken clock faces.
“Cam?” Nina called, before letting go of the clock to dive after me. She wasn’t fast enough.
The wind rushed past me as I fell out of the window, landing hard on the roof of the building below. I saw Nina looking down at me from above, before leaping down after me. She landed with a little more grace, and unevenly stumbled to my side, hastily putting a hand on my shoulder.
“You alright?” She asked.
I gave a half nod since despite being in considerable pain I was pretty sure I hadn’t broken anything.
“CAM!” I heard Dom cry, and saw him going to the window next. For a moment, I was sure he was about to jump down too, although Nina waved an arm to stop him.
“Don’t!” She said, “Stay with Gretchen! Get to the house, and kill that one eyed motherfucker if you see him! We’ll catch up!”
Dom hesitated, before looking to see that the Rosen Prince had launched himself onto the last building we’d been on. The Crab Nightwalker was almost on top of him now, and I watched as the two pressed together, their features sliding together as they formed into something new. Pieces of the crab's armor slid onto that twisted amalgamation of bodies, partially reinforcing its spiderlike legs. The batlike wings on its back grew larger to accommodate the new size of this creature, then split to form new wings. It morphed and changed, adapting to the prey it now hunted, becoming something draconic, arachnid, equine, humanoid, and floral all in one unholy mixture. Such a thing should not have ever been… and yet it was and when the change was complete, what was left was an armored creature three times taller than a man with several chitinous horse legs, segmented like a crab or a spiders protruding from its bulbous lower body. It had a hunched-over torso like a human’s, with thick arms ending in chitinous claws and a head that split open like a flower, with gnashing teeth in its center and antlers adorning its shoulders like pauldrons.
Of all the horrors I had seen in this world… this was by far the worst.
The flesh and armor it did not take from the Crab Nightwalker slunk away, pulsating and trying to reform into something new, while the body the Rosen Prince had made for himself spread its six draconic wings to give chase to Gretchen.
The tower moved again, launching itself toward another building and Nina grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the hole in the roof of the building we were on that the tower had left. I had just enough time to see the Rosen Prince take flight in pursuit of the tower before we made it inside the building.
After all the noise out there, the silence inside was almost jarring… and if I wasn’t absolutely terrified by the fucking flower dragon made out of every horrible thing that had tried to kill me in the past few days chasing after my friend, I might have even found it calming.
The building we were in looked as if it’d once been somebody's apartment. Nina looked around for a bit, before finding a door leading out into a hall.
“Come on, we should hurry,” She said, gesturing for me to follow her. I was certain that she had no idea where she was going, but to be fair I didn’t either so I followed her.
“Do all of your jobs go this badly?” I asked, as we headed for a door at the end of the hall.
“Not this badly, no,” She said. “This right here is a brand new record.”
We went through the door, heading down a flight of stairs, and out into the lobby of the building. Nina paused by the front door, looking out onto the street to ensure the coast was at least somewhat clear before moving ‘Somewhat clear’ being the operative term here.
The streets of Parsons were reduced to little more than complete pandemonium. I could see the burning corpses of the Rosen around us, along with one lone member of the Sheriff’s Boys who seemed too dazed to even realize we were there.
As the flames of the dead burned around him, devouring ruined cars and blackening the bricks of the buildings around him, he wandered aimlessly.
We all paused as behind us, one of the buildings that Gretchen had hit when she’d decided to turn a building into an airplane began to collapse. I could hear people screaming and felt a knot in my stomach tighten. The lucky sounded as if they’d been crushed outright… the unlucky just kept screaming.
Both the man on the street and I stared at the ruins of the collapsed building, and looking back at him I was hit with the knowledge that everyone in this miserable city probably knew that this was the end. They were all going to die here… whether it was at the hands of the Rosen, the Nightwalkers, or the destruction, they were all going to die. Maybe they all hadn’t accepted it as my friend on the street had… but it was a chilling truth.
This that had once been their paradise was now their tomb… and once Calhoun was dead, even that would no longer remain. I wondered if we were just as doomed as they were… and I wondered if we were just in denial about it.
Well… no time to think too hard about it now.
I felt Nina pulling at my arm.
“Let’s go,” She said. “I think the road up ahead is clear!”
The other man was looking at me now.
From behind us, I could hear the cries of the Rosen and looked back to see them sifting through the ruins of the collapsed building, looking for survivors. The man on the road just laughed, before calmly taking out his gun and putting it under his chin.
I heard the gunshot but didn’t see him die. By then we’d already moved on. But it still made me flinch.
The gate to Calhoun’s House was just up ahead, although it was not unguarded. I could see several more trucks, like the one Kevin had driven parked out front, with a few of the Sheriff’s Boys stationed around them.
As far as I could tell, the courtyard was pretty secure… perhaps they were waiting for Calhoun’s return. The clock tower was lodged in a building half a block away, and I saw it make its final push toward the twisted house, crashing into it head-on and shattering its malformed architecture.
In defiance of all laws of physics though, the clocktower still held together, despite jutting out of the front of that twisted building. The Sheriff’s Boys at the gate watched it with slack-jawed awe, before a familiar voice on a megaphone brought them back to attention.
“GUNS UP BOYS! COMPANY’S COMING!”
Between the cars, I could see Kevin holding his megaphone and pointing toward the building the clock tower had just jumped from. Of course Kevin was still alive. This day just hadn’t gone badly enough…
The Sheriff’s Boys manning the guns on their trucks got to work immediately, spinning to take aim at the Rosen Prince as he loomed over the nearby building, regarding the assembled prey with every eye on his sickly, pulsating body. I saw his wings spread wide as he began his final descent toward the courtyard. The bullets tore away chunks of his writhing flesh, but they did not slow him down. Instead, he simply folded his wings over his torso, shielding his body from the hail of gunfire as he made his advance.
The Rosen Prince lunged forward with one jagged claw, crushing one of the nearby trucks like it was made of paper. I saw Kevin take a step back, grimacing in rage before tossing his megaphone aside. Some of his men fled, but he stood his ground… probably because he physically could not run.
“You sonofabitch…” he growled, before pulling a gun from his holster. My eyes widened as I recognized it.
Gretchen’s revolver.
Kevin must have found it after we’d left!
I wondered if he knew what it did, and I got my answer only moments later. He pulled the trigger, striking one of the wings of the Rosen Prince.
The creature shrank back, letting out a hiss of pain, although seeming more confused than hurt. Pink mist rose up from its wing, and I saw the flesh begin to bubble and sear. The Rosen Prince recoiled, its flesh twisting as every eye on its body widened. Kevin kept the gun trained on the Prince, but didn’t fire again. The Rosen Prince retreated back up on top of the building. Its burning wing detached itself, although that didn’t quite seem to be enough. Entire chunks of what I suspect used to be the Bat Nightwalker sloughed out of its body as it tried to shed whatever flesh that Gretchen’s blessed bullet had destroyed.
“Keep shooting!” Kevin called, starting to limp back behind the remaining trucks. “Governor Calhoun is on his way! And get me somebody to help deal with that fucking flying tower!”
I looked over at Nina and saw her eyes narrowed as she watched Kevin leave. I watched her grip her gun tightly and put a hand on her arm.
“Don’t!” I warned, “Those trucks will tear us to pieces!”
I could see in her eyes that she wanted to argue, but clearly she knew better. Her eyes then darted toward the wall and I could see her doing the math in her head.
“Left side of the street, move fast, keep low,” She said. “We’ll jump the fence.”
That sounded like a slightly smarter idea, and I let Nina take the lead.
The trucks didn’t even seem to see us, and kept shooting at the Rosen Prince. I could even see a few crimson flares shooting up from some of the Sheriff’s Boys, catching the Prince’s body and setting his flesh alight as he retreated back atop the building again. Nina reached the fence first and I boosted her up to the top. She straddled it for a moment, reaching down to help pull me up before we dropped down into the courtyard together. She grabbed her shotgun again, keeping at the ready for when the inevitable shooting began.
The courtyard was in an even worse state than we’d left it in. The fountain was almost completely destroyed and had soaked the ground beneath us, turning anything that wasn’t protected by the cobblestone into mud.
Countless bodies, belonging to men, Rosen and Nightwalkers along with a few blackened things that I think were Nightwalkers, littered the ground. The truck that Kevin had used to attack us was crashed into a nearby wall and looked more or less completely totaled. We could see Kevin limping over toward where the clock tower was, looking up at it as he barked orders.
“Where’s my fucking explosives? We need to get back inside the house without letting any more of those things out through the fucking door!”
Nina stifled a laugh.
“Oh man… I forgot about the portal to hell…” She said under her breath, as if it was the funniest joke she’d ever heard.
The clock tower shifted, as the section of the house it had embedded itself in began to crumble. The tower sank down to the ground, still remaining intact. I took that as a sign that Gretchen and Dom were still inside.
“MOVE!” Kevin cried, ushering his men back as a cloud of dust flooded the courtyard. Nina and I shielded our eyes for a moment, although I realized as soon as she did the kind of opportunity that had just appeared for us. She gestured for me to follow, leading me toward the house under the cover of the dust.
“Whoever’s in that thing, I want them fucking dead!” Kevin said, coughing through the dust. He turned away from the clock tower, waving a hand in front of his face to try and escape the dust. Nina and I were almost at the front door now, and I already knew what she planned to do.
Honestly, I thought it was a terrible idea. But at this point, I was still on board with it.
Kevin looked up, noticing us just as we reached the door. Through the dust, I could see his eyes widen as Nina reached the front door and pulled it open.
“NO!” He cried, reaching out as if he could somehow stop us.
He couldn’t.
On the other side of the door, I could see reddish sands. I could feel the acrid heat and burning wind on my face. And I could see dark figures amongst the sands, looking up as soon as the door opened.
Not Nightwalkers… not Rosen.
Something else.
Nina fired a few rounds from her shotgun, forcing Kevin to try and run. He dove to the ground, crawling behind the shattered remains of the water fountain, as the Sheriff’s Boys turned to see that on top of all their existing problems, they now also had to deal with a portal to actual literal Hell. Because why not? I’m sure it really sucked to be them at that moment.
I saw the first of the blackened Demons charge through the door, snarling like a wild dog. It was torn to pieces by some gunfire from one of the Sheriff’s Boys almost immediately, but more followed.
There weren’t a lot of demons that poured out of that door… but there were enough.
I saw one of them leaping onto one of the Sheriff’s Boys. Its entire torso split open vertically, revealing a velvety mouth, full of teeth that clamped down on the poor man before he could do more than scream. As the Sheriff’s Boys tried to deal with the demons, Nina unleashed burning death upon them all, mindlessly shooting anything that moved. She paused only to pull the door closed, since I guess it made sense not to just leave that hanging open and unattended. I suppose it’s not like she needed even more Demons.
Behind the fountain, I saw Kevin struggling to stand as he tried to escape the carnage… and I started toward him.
Kevin saw me coming and hastily reached for Gretchen’s revolver, but I was faster. I raised my gun and fired twice, hitting him once in the arm and once in the chest. Kevin let out a cry of pain. The revolver slipped out of his hand and clattered uselessly to the ground. He left it where it lay, trying desperately to pull himself back as I pulled the trigger again, shooting him in the stomach two more times.
Finally, I was on top of him and pressed my foot down on his injured leg, earning a final cry of pain from him.
“What was that you said to me the other day?” I hissed, “When I kill you, I’ll have my boys do it… I’ll let them have their way with you first…”
My eyes burned into Kevin’s, and though he tried to keep a defiant face, I could see the fear in them.
“Where are your boys now, Kev?” I asked.
“It’s… Kevin…” He rasped, although I could still hear the fear in his voice.
I’ve gotta be honest… it was kinda funny.
“I know,” I replied as I squeezed the trigger one last time.
I might have only been using a .22, but it did the job perfectly. Kevin’s head jerked backward and he sank down into the mud, his eyes still open and staring quietly into infinity. I’d remember those eyes… but they would not haunt me.
I looked over at Nina, who gave a wide berth to the Sheriff’s Boys and the Demons trying to maul them as she ran to my side. She looked down at Kevin’s body, and I saw a wry smirk cross her lips, though as she reached down to pick up Gretchen’s revolver.
“Guess he shouldn’t have run for office,” She said, before looking toward the clock tower.
Through some of the crumbling bricks, I could see two figures limping out of the ruins.
“Dom…” I said, running toward him.
Gretchen was slung over his shoulder, but it was hard to say who was supporting who at that point. He collapsed down into a sitting position, and let her flop down onto the ground. The only indicator I could hear that she was still alive was her slight groan of pain.
“Oh my God, you’re okay?” I asked.
Dom just gave me a meek thumbs up.
“Next time… let’s… let’s not do… whatever that was…” He said, pointing vaguely at the clock tower. I pulled him into a hug, that he weakly returned.
“Hey… you good?” Nina asked, looking down at Gretchen and giving her a slight kick.
“Test results… sub-optimal. Do not recommend second attempt,” She groaned.
“Yeah, you’re fine. Get up, you big fucking nerdy baby.”
She reached down to help pull Gretchen to her feet again.
“Hot tea…” She murmured, as she leaned against the crumbling clock tower for support. “Hot tea… and a bath…”
She looked over at Nina.
“What are you doing when this is all over?”
“Oh, I’m gonna get fucking drunk and buy a lottery ticket,” She said. “I do not know how we’re all still alive right now, but I’m feeling pretty damn lucky.”
“Alcohol… yes… in tea…” Gretchen agreed, “You’re buying.”
With a trembling hand, she took her journal out of her jacket, turned to a fresh page, and in letters large enough for me to read wrote: ‘TOWER. NO.’
A distant roar pulled out attention back toward the gate. Above it, I could see the Rosen Prince descending from the building again for round 2. He was smaller this time, and had shed his wings… yet his form was otherwise unchanged.
Gretchen just closed her eyes in exasperation before sighing.
“Right… him…”
Through the gate, I could see the Sheriff’s Boys in the trucks trying to fight the Demons and the Prince to no avail. One of the trucks hastily sped off into the night. The other one stood its ground, shooting vainly at the Rosen Prince as he came for them. He brought one claw down like a hammer, crushing the men in the truck like it was nothing, then drawing it back to hit them again out of rage.
Hissing in satisfaction, we watched as the Rosen Prince continued toward the gate, his many legs going over it as he advanced into the courtyard.
“This night draws to its close, my old friend.” He snarled. “It seems you can run no more… while my strength, is everlasting. It is time… come into my ocean, as you were always meant to.”
“Oh fuck off already,” Gretchen huffed, before noticing Nina out of the corner of her eye, offering her the revolver. They traded a look before Gretchen took it and aimed it at the beast that advanced on us. The moment it realized what was being aimed at it, I heard it snarl with rage. Its body tensed as it lunged for us, trying to close the distance before she could shoot.
But it was already too late.
The gunshot echoed through the courtyard as the bullet hit the Rosen Prince square in the chest, and I saw his body begin to seize up. He clawed at his chest, many eyes going wide. A pained scream escaped him. Pink mist rose from the wound, causing its flesh to bubble and squirm. The Rosen Prince’s eyes fixated on Gretchen again as his body began to die.
“WRETCHED WOMAN!” It hissed, throwing its weight toward us as its body convulsed and boiled. “THIS WORLD REMAINS MINE… YOU SHALL NOT RUN FROM ME AGAIN!”
“Yes, this world is yours,” Gretchen agreed. “Enjoy it while it lasts. I imagine it won’t be for much longer. Your services are no longer required here. But thank you for your assistance.”
“TREACHEROUS WITCH!” The Rosen Prince snarled, desperately trying to crawl toward us. I saw the lower half of its body break away. Its legs curled in on themselves, twitching weakly in death. Only the Prince’s rotting torso remained now and Gretchen stared into its countless eyes, cold and unblinking.
As it tried to pull itself closer to us, one of its claws broke off. It’s movements slowed, as the amalgamation of corpses the Rosen Prince had assembled melted away. I could see the luminous flowers on its body starting to die, as the eyes turned white and fell away. In a few moments, the body of the Rosen Prince lay still as the flesh melted off of its bones… and silence filled the air.
“Is it dead…” I asked quietly, “Really dead?”
“No,” Gretchen replied. “The other drones will still be active, and I suspect he’ll be coming back for us shortly, once he can build something even worse to throw at us. We should leave now, while we still have the chance.”
“What about Calhoun?” I asked.
“If he’s not dead already, I vote we leave him to the Rosen Prince,” Gretchen said. She checked the cylinder of her revolver, “Seems whoever had this wasted the last of my ammunition… luckily I had foresight. Camille, you still have the bullet?”
“Right here,” I said, reaching into my pocket to take it out.
“Good,” She handed the revolver off to me, before turning away and heading toward the door. Her gait was slow and she gave the Rosen Prince a wide berth.
“I’ll remove the rune on Calhoun’s door. If we can find the room with the Eldest again, we should have a way out. We can use the last bullet on him, and see if it works… no promises, but right now I we’re low on options so it will have to suffice fo-”
A sudden onslaught of gunshots interrupted her. I saw Gretchen hit the ground with a pained cry, clutching at her side. Nina ran to her immediately, dragging her behind the ruins of the fountain, while Dom and I ran back toward the clock tower.
A single figure stood under the gate, shuffling past the ruined trucks with a heavy pistol in his hand.
Governor Calhoun looked significantly worse than when I’d last seen him. His skin looked a shade paler and his good eye seemed sunken. He’d stripped off both his shirt and suit jacket and I could see the bullet wounds in his stomach from where I’d shot him… although that was not what stood out the most. His skin was adorned with fresh cuts, with streaks of blood flowing from them like rivers. In his other hand, he held his ritual dagger.
“Leaving me for dead?” He asked, his voice hoarse and cold, “After all you’ve done… to ruin my world… to burn my temple and salt the earth upon which it was built, and you can’t even finish the job? Disappointing.” Nina tried to pop out of cover, but Calhoun shot first, grazing the stone by her head and sending her back down.
“It’s a shame it had to come to this,” Calhoun said. “I would have saved your world. I would have saved each and every one of you. But now after you’ve gone and wasted everything I’ve done… decades of good… I see now that there is no salvation for you people. There never was. I built paradise! And you’ve burned it! Corrupted it! Unleashed plague upon it! Why? I did no harm to you! I left you people be! And yet in stubborn defiance of my efforts to resolve this peacefully, you’ve-”
“Kill yourself,” Nina called, and Calhoun trained off.
“Excuse me…” He hissed.
“We’ve got you four to one, and you’re already looking like death warmed over… so cut the speech, Calhoun. Cut the theatrics… and let’s just get this the fuck over with you self-righteous fuck!”
I saw Calhoun actually crack a smile there.
“Ill-mannered until the end,” He said, before finally lowering his gun and tossing it aside, “Well… at least you were consistent, in life.”
He took another trembling step forward before sinking down to his knees. I saw Nina rising out from behind cover, while Dom and I did the same, our guns remaining trained on him. Calhoun looked at us, before slowly taking his knife and turning it toward his stomach.
Was… was he actually going to do it? Just like that?
Nina seemed surprised, pausing as she locked eyes with him.
“If there’s no salvation,” Calhoun said, “Then all that remains is death…”
With that, he drove the dagger into his stomach, sucking in a breath as he did. Nina actually flinched at the sight of it, but I stayed still, watching as Calhoun buried the dagger deep into his body, and as the blood dribbled down his hands.
“Holy Lugal,” he rasped, “I have no home to defend… no souls to offer. And so, I offer my own. Grant me retribution and I shall become yours.”
My eyes widened, and I could see Nina's doing the same. We understood all too late why he’d mutilated himself…
We fired on Calhoun, but it was too late.
A blinding crimson glow had already spread through his body, traveling along the carvings he’d made in his flesh and I could feel the air around us rippling. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear Calhoun screaming, followed by a faint voice over all of the noise. A voice I only barely recognized as Gretchen’s screaming:
“RUN!”
2023.03.28 08:30 webdev20 How much does it cost to start an online business?
Starting an online business can be an exciting and potentially lucrative venture, but it's important to consider the costs involved before taking the plunge. While it's true that starting an online business can be significantly cheaper than starting a brick-and-mortar business, there are still a number of expenses that you'll need to budget for. In this blog post, we'll break down the various costs associated with starting an online business and give you an idea of how much you can expect to spend.
Hosting is the service that allows your website to be accessible on the internet. There are a number of different hosting options available, from shared hosting to dedicated servers. Shared hosting is the most affordable option, with plans starting at around $5 per month. However, if you expect your website to receive a lot of traffic, you may want to consider a VPS or dedicated server, which can cost anywhere from $20 to $200 per month.
The cost of website design and development can vary widely depending on the complexity of your website and the experience of the professionals you hire. A basic website can cost anywhere from $500 to $5,000, while a more complex website with custom features can cost upwards of $10,000.
Hosted platforms generally have a monthly fee, which can range from $29 to $299 per month depending on the features you need. Self-hosted platforms are generally free, but you'll need to pay for hosting and may need to hire a developer to set up your store.
The cost of marketing and advertising can vary widely depending on the channels you choose and the competition in your industry. However, you can generally expect to spend anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per month on marketing and advertising.
It's important to consider these costs carefully, as they can significantly impact your profit margins. Some e-commerce platforms offer integrations with third-party logistics (3PL) providers, which can help you streamline your shipping and fulfillment processes.
In some cases, you may also need to hire a lawyer or other legal professional to help you navigate the complex legal and regulatory landscape of starting a business. This can be costly, with legal fees ranging from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars or more.
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submitted by webdev20 to u/webdev20 [link] [comments]
Domain Name and Hosting
The first thing you'll need to do when starting an online business is secure a domain name and hosting. Your domain name is your website's address, and it's important to choose one that's easy to remember and relevant to your business. While the cost of a domain name can vary depending on the extension (.com, .net, .org, etc.), you can generally expect to pay anywhere from $10 to $50 per year.Hosting is the service that allows your website to be accessible on the internet. There are a number of different hosting options available, from shared hosting to dedicated servers. Shared hosting is the most affordable option, with plans starting at around $5 per month. However, if you expect your website to receive a lot of traffic, you may want to consider a VPS or dedicated server, which can cost anywhere from $20 to $200 per month.
Website Design and Development
Once you've secured your domain name and hosting, you'll need to design and develop your website. If you have experience with web design and development, you may be able to create your website yourself. However, if you're not familiar with these skills, you may need to hire a web designer and developer.The cost of website design and development can vary widely depending on the complexity of your website and the experience of the professionals you hire. A basic website can cost anywhere from $500 to $5,000, while a more complex website with custom features can cost upwards of $10,000.
E-commerce Platform
If you plan on selling products or services through your website, you'll need to choose an e-commerce platform. There are a number of different options available, from hosted platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce to self-hosted platforms like WooCommerce and Magento.Hosted platforms generally have a monthly fee, which can range from $29 to $299 per month depending on the features you need. Self-hosted platforms are generally free, but you'll need to pay for hosting and may need to hire a developer to set up your store.
Marketing and Advertising
Once your website is up and running, you'll need to market and advertise your business in order to attract customers. There are a number of different marketing and advertising channels available, from social media to search engine optimization (SEO) to pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.The cost of marketing and advertising can vary widely depending on the channels you choose and the competition in your industry. However, you can generally expect to spend anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per month on marketing and advertising.
Inventory and Shipping
If you're selling physical products through your website, you'll need to budget for inventory and shipping costs. The cost of inventory will depend on the products you're selling and the volume you expect to sell. Shipping costs will depend on the size and weight of your products, as well as the shipping method you choose.It's important to consider these costs carefully, as they can significantly impact your profit margins. Some e-commerce platforms offer integrations with third-party logistics (3PL) providers, which can help you streamline your shipping and fulfillment processes.
Legal and Regulatory Costs
Finally, it's important to consider the legal and regulatory costs of starting an online business. Depending on the type of business you are starting and where you are located, you may need to obtain business licenses, register for taxes, and comply with a range of other legal and regulatory requirements.In some cases, you may also need to hire a lawyer or other legal professional to help you navigate the complex legal and regulatory landscape of starting a business. This can be costly, with legal fees ranging from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars or more.
Conclusion
Starting an online business can be a great way to achieve financial independence and pursue your passion. However, it's important to understand the costs involved before you get started. By considering the five major costs outlined above, you can create a realistic budget for your online business and avoid any unpleasant surprises down the road.
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2023.03.28 08:23 0utcast9851 [FNV] Cannot leave Doc Mitchell's house
Something has gone terribly wrong, and I'm not entire clear what. I recently came back to the game after a long break, wanting to do a new playthrough. I had removed a few mods, installed some new ones, made sure everything that could be up to date was, and started a new character. I went through the entire character creation process, settled on everything I wanted, but when I go to leave the house, I either get an infinite loading screen or a frozen one. I can't even COC out of the house, so I have no idea what could be going wrong on a brand new character. Load order to follow, as always.
Worth noting: Fallout Character Overhaul is at version 3.0, because I cannot get 3.1 to work for the life of me. The Frontier is kept at version 1.0 because I unfortunately have not gotten around to playing it yet and would prefer to do so with as much content intact as possible when I do so; I do use the old Frontier Unofficial Patch in the meantime.
FalloutNV.esm
DeadMoney.esm
HonestHearts.esm
OldWorldBlues.esm
LonesomeRoad.esm
GunRunnersArsenal.esm
ClassicPack.esm
MercenaryPack.esm
TribalPack.esm
CaravanPack.esm
YUP - Base Game + All DLC.esm
War Never Changes.esm
Functional Post Game Ending.esm
The Frontier.esm
Fallout The Frontier Unofficial Patch.esm
ClaimtheMojave.esm
Run the Lucky 38.esm
MoreMojave.esm
FCOMaster.esm
AWorldOfPain(Preview).esm
TLD_Travelers.esm
Momod.esm
enclavebunker.esm
SaxxonsQuestPack.esm
Functional Post Game Ending - AWOP Patch.esm
MoonQuest.esm
Cyberware.esm
NVStripOpen.esm
ClaimtheMojaveMoreMojave.esp
Tammer's NIF-Bashed Weapons Mega-Pack.esm
FNV Vlad's Weapon Depot.esp
Tammer's NIF-Bashed Armor Mega-Pack.esm
FNV Honest Herb's Power Armor Emporium.esp
Functional Post Game Ending - YUP Patch.esm
D.E.I.M.O.S..esm
TFMakeovers.esp
QuickStart_Only_Do_Once.esm
SomeguySeries.esm
Weapons.of.the.New.Millenia.esm
More Perks.esm
SpeedyResources.esm
YUP - NPC Fixes (Base Game + All DLC).esp
Unofficial Patch NVSE Plus.esp
JustAssortedMods.esp
Cyberware OWB.esp
PerkEveryLevel.esp
ExoSkeleton.esp
RockwellDescentMod.esp
The Lucky 38 Empire.esp
NiptonRebuilt.esp
More Perks Update.esp
populatedcasino.esp
FCO - NPC Changes.esp
StripOpenMain.esp
Weapons.of.the.New.Millenia.Store.esp
CourierCacheWSE.esp
T60.esp
FalloutNVCheatTerminal.esp
War Never Changes.esp
ClaimtheMojaveTLD.esp
NewVegasBounties.esp
TheInheritance.esp
Gambling.esp
New Vegas Map Markers.esp
Freeside Junkers Store.esp
AutumnLeaves.esp
VanGraffHostilityFactionFix.esp
DragonskinTacticalOutfit.esp
Liberty Loft.esp
WorkingSunglasses.esp
Donta1979 MK117 Prototype Armor.esp
Area 51 - Project Roswell.esp
almostPerfect.esp
Sierra Madre Vending Addon.esp
All Vending Codes - Dead Money.esp
Enhanced Scope Zoom.esp
EnergyWeapons v_0_2a.esp
Moddable Unique Weps.esp
Asurah_Reanimation_Handgrips.esp
Asurah_reanimation.esp
188Veronica.esp
Weapons.of.the.New.Millenia.Store.LITE.esp
ClaimtheMojaveFrontier.esp
AnT.esp
Better Pack Rat Perk.esp
AWOP-MoMod.esp
CasinoBankMoney.esp
CasinoHeistPack.esp
Better Sierra Madre Casino.esp
KissPill.esp
Breakdown that surplus ammo.esp
CompanionImplants.esp
EDE MK2.2.esp
PEAWcalculated.esp
EnergyWeaponDeNerf.esp
ArmedToTheTeethNV-Redux.esp
XFO - 6aa - Epic Skills - Effects Over 100 (NVSE req).esp
Frontier - Arachnophobia Patch.esp
Frontier - Enable Slaves Harbour.esp
DragonskinNCRPersonnelWearingOutfits.esp
Gun Runners' Arsenal Integrated.esp
War Never Changes - Seven.esp
Holster Gear.esp
IntelligentPerk_v1.0.esp
JIP Improved Recipe Menu.esp
JackofAllTraits.esp
NoFallDamage.esp
MonocyteImplantImproved.esp
The Mod Configuration Menu.esp
MoMod-Terminators.esp
Skilled_Nerf.esp
The Weapon Mod Menu.esp
SaveCass.esp
TWO BEARS HIGHFIVING.esp
Weapons.of.the.New.Millenia.Honest.Hearts.Grunt.Patch.esp
Weapons.of.the.New.Millenia.Leveled.Lists.esp
Readius_NV.esp
BoostedSkills.esp
CASM.esp
ArmourRepairKits.esp
Redpastebloodsausage.esp
Better Sneak - No Stealth Field.esp
Dead Money - Hack Vending Machines.esp
SMVendingMachineCrafting.esp
Dead Money - Less Loot.esp
Expanded Traits.esp
DynamicMonocyteLimbRegen.esp
Faction Armor Redone.esp
Honest Hearts Workbench Crate Luck.esp
Immersive Karma.esp
Even More Accurate Geiger Clicking.esp
SwiftLearner15%+7ranks.esp
Improved Throwing1.esp
Imp's Timescale Adjuster.esp
Karma Perks.esp
Nerd trait.esp
SlowLearnerTrait_65.esp
Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Caps Random Luck.esp
History.esp
MOD.Time.LaterSunset.esp
MOD.Time.Scale_1.esp
MOD.Time.Scale_10.esp
MOD.Time.Scale_20.esp
UnlimitedTraits.esp
WeaponsSpecialtyTraits.esp
Cave Fungus Mutation.esp
VanGraffHostilityQuestFix.esp
Limitless Stats.esp
Timescale Pacemaker.esp
workbench better recycle.esp
realistic headshots.esp
minigun replacer.esp
m110.esp
FCO - GlowingOne.esp
FCO - OHSB NPC Edits.esp
safehousekeys.esp
If a plugin doesn't have an obvious name and you'd like me to check what mod it comes from, please don't hesitate to ask me. Thank you in advance.
submitted by 0utcast9851 to FalloutMods [link] [comments]
Worth noting: Fallout Character Overhaul is at version 3.0, because I cannot get 3.1 to work for the life of me. The Frontier is kept at version 1.0 because I unfortunately have not gotten around to playing it yet and would prefer to do so with as much content intact as possible when I do so; I do use the old Frontier Unofficial Patch in the meantime.
FalloutNV.esm
DeadMoney.esm
HonestHearts.esm
OldWorldBlues.esm
LonesomeRoad.esm
GunRunnersArsenal.esm
ClassicPack.esm
MercenaryPack.esm
TribalPack.esm
CaravanPack.esm
YUP - Base Game + All DLC.esm
War Never Changes.esm
Functional Post Game Ending.esm
The Frontier.esm
Fallout The Frontier Unofficial Patch.esm
ClaimtheMojave.esm
Run the Lucky 38.esm
MoreMojave.esm
FCOMaster.esm
AWorldOfPain(Preview).esm
TLD_Travelers.esm
Momod.esm
enclavebunker.esm
SaxxonsQuestPack.esm
Functional Post Game Ending - AWOP Patch.esm
MoonQuest.esm
Cyberware.esm
NVStripOpen.esm
ClaimtheMojaveMoreMojave.esp
Tammer's NIF-Bashed Weapons Mega-Pack.esm
FNV Vlad's Weapon Depot.esp
Tammer's NIF-Bashed Armor Mega-Pack.esm
FNV Honest Herb's Power Armor Emporium.esp
Functional Post Game Ending - YUP Patch.esm
D.E.I.M.O.S..esm
TFMakeovers.esp
QuickStart_Only_Do_Once.esm
SomeguySeries.esm
Weapons.of.the.New.Millenia.esm
More Perks.esm
SpeedyResources.esm
YUP - NPC Fixes (Base Game + All DLC).esp
Unofficial Patch NVSE Plus.esp
JustAssortedMods.esp
Cyberware OWB.esp
PerkEveryLevel.esp
ExoSkeleton.esp
RockwellDescentMod.esp
The Lucky 38 Empire.esp
NiptonRebuilt.esp
More Perks Update.esp
populatedcasino.esp
FCO - NPC Changes.esp
StripOpenMain.esp
Weapons.of.the.New.Millenia.Store.esp
CourierCacheWSE.esp
T60.esp
FalloutNVCheatTerminal.esp
War Never Changes.esp
ClaimtheMojaveTLD.esp
NewVegasBounties.esp
TheInheritance.esp
Gambling.esp
New Vegas Map Markers.esp
Freeside Junkers Store.esp
AutumnLeaves.esp
VanGraffHostilityFactionFix.esp
DragonskinTacticalOutfit.esp
Liberty Loft.esp
WorkingSunglasses.esp
Donta1979 MK117 Prototype Armor.esp
Area 51 - Project Roswell.esp
almostPerfect.esp
Sierra Madre Vending Addon.esp
All Vending Codes - Dead Money.esp
Enhanced Scope Zoom.esp
EnergyWeapons v_0_2a.esp
Moddable Unique Weps.esp
Asurah_Reanimation_Handgrips.esp
Asurah_reanimation.esp
188Veronica.esp
Weapons.of.the.New.Millenia.Store.LITE.esp
ClaimtheMojaveFrontier.esp
AnT.esp
Better Pack Rat Perk.esp
AWOP-MoMod.esp
CasinoBankMoney.esp
CasinoHeistPack.esp
Better Sierra Madre Casino.esp
KissPill.esp
Breakdown that surplus ammo.esp
CompanionImplants.esp
EDE MK2.2.esp
PEAWcalculated.esp
EnergyWeaponDeNerf.esp
ArmedToTheTeethNV-Redux.esp
XFO - 6aa - Epic Skills - Effects Over 100 (NVSE req).esp
Frontier - Arachnophobia Patch.esp
Frontier - Enable Slaves Harbour.esp
DragonskinNCRPersonnelWearingOutfits.esp
Gun Runners' Arsenal Integrated.esp
War Never Changes - Seven.esp
Holster Gear.esp
IntelligentPerk_v1.0.esp
JIP Improved Recipe Menu.esp
JackofAllTraits.esp
NoFallDamage.esp
MonocyteImplantImproved.esp
The Mod Configuration Menu.esp
MoMod-Terminators.esp
Skilled_Nerf.esp
The Weapon Mod Menu.esp
SaveCass.esp
TWO BEARS HIGHFIVING.esp
Weapons.of.the.New.Millenia.Honest.Hearts.Grunt.Patch.esp
Weapons.of.the.New.Millenia.Leveled.Lists.esp
Readius_NV.esp
BoostedSkills.esp
CASM.esp
ArmourRepairKits.esp
Redpastebloodsausage.esp
Better Sneak - No Stealth Field.esp
Dead Money - Hack Vending Machines.esp
SMVendingMachineCrafting.esp
Dead Money - Less Loot.esp
Expanded Traits.esp
DynamicMonocyteLimbRegen.esp
Faction Armor Redone.esp
Honest Hearts Workbench Crate Luck.esp
Immersive Karma.esp
Even More Accurate Geiger Clicking.esp
SwiftLearner15%+7ranks.esp
Improved Throwing1.esp
Imp's Timescale Adjuster.esp
Karma Perks.esp
Nerd trait.esp
SlowLearnerTrait_65.esp
Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Caps Random Luck.esp
History.esp
MOD.Time.LaterSunset.esp
MOD.Time.Scale_1.esp
MOD.Time.Scale_10.esp
MOD.Time.Scale_20.esp
UnlimitedTraits.esp
WeaponsSpecialtyTraits.esp
Cave Fungus Mutation.esp
VanGraffHostilityQuestFix.esp
Limitless Stats.esp
Timescale Pacemaker.esp
workbench better recycle.esp
realistic headshots.esp
minigun replacer.esp
m110.esp
FCO - GlowingOne.esp
FCO - OHSB NPC Edits.esp
safehousekeys.esp
If a plugin doesn't have an obvious name and you'd like me to check what mod it comes from, please don't hesitate to ask me. Thank you in advance.
2023.03.28 07:48 boringandaloof November 2019
4: LeBarón and Langford families massacre: Nine Americans are killed when Mexican gang members open fire on their vehicles while driving to a wedding about 110 kilometers (70 mi) south of the Mexico–United States border / Amnesty International alleges that Bangladesh killed 466 people in 2018 under the guise of an anti-drugs campaign in what appears to be a wave of extrajudicial executions / The United States formally begins process to pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
5: 11,000 scientists from around the world publish a study in the journal BioScience, warning "clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency".
6: 2019 Fada N'Gourma Attack: At least 37 people are killed and 60 others injured when gunmen attack a Canadian gold mining company convoy on a road in Burkina Faso.
7: Former Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda is sentenced to 30 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the longest sentence ever handed down by the International Criminal Court.
9: The Supreme Court of India awards a holy site in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh to Hindus, rejecting a Muslim claim. The move is likely to spur sectarian disputes / Cyclone Bulbul kills seven in West Bengal, India and seven in Bangladesh. 2,000,000 people are evacuated.
10: 2019 Bolivian Protests - Evo Morales and Álvaro García Linera resigns in response to fierce three-week long protests. Within hours, Adriana Salvatierra and Víctor Borda also tender their resignations, leading to a political crisis.
11: Hong Kong Protests - A traffic officer shoots a youth in Sai Wan Ho during a city-wide strike. A man is also set on fire by protesters on the same day / A transit of Mercury occurs.
12: 2019 Bolivian Protests - Jeanine Áñez takes power as interim President of Bolivia amidst a political crisis.
13: Public impeachment hearings against U.S. President Donald Trump begin in the House of Representatives / Hong Kong protests - The Chinese University of Hong Kong officially announces a premature end to the semester as a result of large-scale protests and civil unrest. Besides CUHK, several Hong Kong universities switch to online learning and suspend on-campus class. The Education Bureau in Hong Kong officially announces to close all schools in Hong Kong due to the ongoing protests.
14: A mass shooting occurs at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, United States, resulting in 3 deaths (including the perpetrator) and 3 injuries / Italy declares a state of emergency in Venice following record flooding.
17: Hong Kong Protests - Police use tear gas and water cannons against protesters who try to break through cordons and reach The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which is at the center of a week-long standoff between demonstrators and law enforcement. Protesters fight back with Molotov cocktails, arrows, and bricks.
19: Google enters the video game market with the launch of Stadia.
21: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is indicted on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.
23: An independence referendum begins in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. Voters overwhelmingly choose independence / Extinction - The last known Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia dies.
24: Busy Bee Crash - A plane crashes shortly after takeoff in a densely populated area of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing all 19 people on board and at least 10 more on the ground.
25: The World Meteorological Organization reports that levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached another new record high of 407.8 parts per million, with "no sign of a slowdown, let alone a decline." / IPv4 address exhaustion - The RIPE NCC, which is the official regional Internet registry (RIR) for Europe, officially announces that it has run out of IPv4 addresses.
26: Albania Earthquake - 51 people are killed and around 2,000 others injured in a 6.4-magnitude earthquake in northwestern Albania. The earthquake is the strongest to hit Albania in more than 40 years, and the world's deadliest earthquake in 2019 / Chilean Protests - Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International issue reports on Chile's situation denouncing grave human rights violations, including excessive violence use and detention abuses by police forces. Among police brutality acts there are records of police agents firing non-lethal ammunition to protesters' faces against provider's regulations, resulting in more than 200 people with severe eye trauma and more than 50 requiring prosthetic eyes.
27: The U.S. Government passes the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.
30: The 2019 Southeast Asian Games begin in the Philippines.
submitted by boringandaloof to illumonopoli [link] [comments]
5: 11,000 scientists from around the world publish a study in the journal BioScience, warning "clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency".
6: 2019 Fada N'Gourma Attack: At least 37 people are killed and 60 others injured when gunmen attack a Canadian gold mining company convoy on a road in Burkina Faso.
7: Former Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda is sentenced to 30 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the longest sentence ever handed down by the International Criminal Court.
9: The Supreme Court of India awards a holy site in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh to Hindus, rejecting a Muslim claim. The move is likely to spur sectarian disputes / Cyclone Bulbul kills seven in West Bengal, India and seven in Bangladesh. 2,000,000 people are evacuated.
10: 2019 Bolivian Protests - Evo Morales and Álvaro García Linera resigns in response to fierce three-week long protests. Within hours, Adriana Salvatierra and Víctor Borda also tender their resignations, leading to a political crisis.
11: Hong Kong Protests - A traffic officer shoots a youth in Sai Wan Ho during a city-wide strike. A man is also set on fire by protesters on the same day / A transit of Mercury occurs.
12: 2019 Bolivian Protests - Jeanine Áñez takes power as interim President of Bolivia amidst a political crisis.
13: Public impeachment hearings against U.S. President Donald Trump begin in the House of Representatives / Hong Kong protests - The Chinese University of Hong Kong officially announces a premature end to the semester as a result of large-scale protests and civil unrest. Besides CUHK, several Hong Kong universities switch to online learning and suspend on-campus class. The Education Bureau in Hong Kong officially announces to close all schools in Hong Kong due to the ongoing protests.
14: A mass shooting occurs at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, United States, resulting in 3 deaths (including the perpetrator) and 3 injuries / Italy declares a state of emergency in Venice following record flooding.
17: Hong Kong Protests - Police use tear gas and water cannons against protesters who try to break through cordons and reach The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which is at the center of a week-long standoff between demonstrators and law enforcement. Protesters fight back with Molotov cocktails, arrows, and bricks.
19: Google enters the video game market with the launch of Stadia.
21: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is indicted on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.
23: An independence referendum begins in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. Voters overwhelmingly choose independence / Extinction - The last known Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia dies.
24: Busy Bee Crash - A plane crashes shortly after takeoff in a densely populated area of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing all 19 people on board and at least 10 more on the ground.
25: The World Meteorological Organization reports that levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached another new record high of 407.8 parts per million, with "no sign of a slowdown, let alone a decline." / IPv4 address exhaustion - The RIPE NCC, which is the official regional Internet registry (RIR) for Europe, officially announces that it has run out of IPv4 addresses.
26: Albania Earthquake - 51 people are killed and around 2,000 others injured in a 6.4-magnitude earthquake in northwestern Albania. The earthquake is the strongest to hit Albania in more than 40 years, and the world's deadliest earthquake in 2019 / Chilean Protests - Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International issue reports on Chile's situation denouncing grave human rights violations, including excessive violence use and detention abuses by police forces. Among police brutality acts there are records of police agents firing non-lethal ammunition to protesters' faces against provider's regulations, resulting in more than 200 people with severe eye trauma and more than 50 requiring prosthetic eyes.
27: The U.S. Government passes the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.
30: The 2019 Southeast Asian Games begin in the Philippines.
2023.03.28 07:31 redsourpatchkidz The fender liner on my Mazda 3 got knocked off by road debris, now there is audible friction when braking. What could be causing the sound?
 | 2016 Mazda 3 I Sport with 139,000 miles. submitted by redsourpatchkidz to autorepair [link] [comments] About a month ago, front driver side fender liner fell off when I was driving on the freeway. I had to brake suddenly for an accident that had just happened a few miles ahead of me. One of the cars involved in that accident had scattered debris on the road and I couldn’t avoid running over some of it. I heard a thunk noise when I ran over the debris, then I saw my fender liner had fallen off after I was off the freeway. For about 3 weeks, my car has had this audible whirring noise when I brake. I’m not sure if my brake pads need to be replaced or if this is friction potentially caused by the lost fender liner. Here is a video where you can hear the noise I would like to know what might have caused this sound to start happening and if I need to go to a mechanic or an auto body shop. TIA |