Second line-up! Couldn't forget the Star Spirits, the Koopalings and the rest, could I?
​
Eldstar: Bill Tost (Dace from the Pokémon anime)
Mamar: Hynden Walch (Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time)
Skolar: Stan Hart (Professor Oak)
Muskular: Christopher Sabat (Giroro from Sgt. Frog)
Misstar: Michele Knotz (Jessie from Team Rocket)
Klevar: Jason Griffith (Cilan from the Pokémon anime)
Kalmar: David Wills (Merrick from the Pokémon anime)
Petey Piranha: Fred Tatasciore (Reptar)
King Boo: Nolan North (HIM from Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion)
Funky Kong: Sam Riegel (Emperor Awesome from Wander Over Yonder)
Kamek and King Bob-omb: Kevin Michael Richardson (Ojo Tango from The Powerpuff Girls Movie; reprising his role from The Super Mario Bros. Movie as well)
Boom Boom and the Goombas: Aaron LaPlante (Spear from Primal and the Gremlins from Hotel Transylvania)
Larry Koopa: Frank Welker (Lazlow from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy)
Morton Koopa Jr.: Brad Garrett (Torque from Buzz Lightyear of Star Command)
Wendy O. Koopa: Jennifer Hale (Princess Morbucks from The Powerpuff Girls)
Iggy Koopa: Dee Bradley Baker (Daffy Duck)
Roy Koopa: Jeff Bennett (Baboon Kaboom from The Powerpuff Girls Movie)
Lemmy Koopa: Eric Bauza (Woody Woodpecker)
Ludwig Von Koopa: Ben Diskin (Numbuh One from Codename: Kids Next Door)

Smackdown (02/06/23):
"BROGUE KICK! Into the cover... and it's all over! Sheamus is qualified for Money in the Bank!"
After a hard-fought victory over Karrion Kross, Sheamus claws out the win. After the match, Ridge Holland and Butch come down to the ring and it looks like they're going down to the ring to celebrate with the Celtic Warrior. Ridge enters the ring and starts to celebrate but at ringside, Butch looks on at the two men in the ring who don't even acknowledge the fact he's there. Butch looks at them, looks at his Brawling Brutes shirt, and walks to the back.

Smackdown (09/06/23):
We cut to a shot backstage of a bloodied and battered Ridge Holland. He's unconscious, down on the concrete floor. Sheamus is calling for paramedic's, meanwhile there's no sign of Butch anywhere.

Money in the Bank (01/07/23):
Sheamus is at the top of the ladder, nearing closer and closer to the briefcase. HE'S GOT A HAND ON THE BRIEFCASE! WAIT! A hooded figure pulls him off the ladder. Sheamus grabs the man and pulls him in for a headlock, he takes off the hood... IT'S BUTCH! Sheamus asks why Butch would do this, but Butch grabs Sheamus, EX-PLEX ON THE LADDER! Butch leaves the ring and goes up the ramp and he hears chants of "Brusierweight! Bruiserweight!" from the London crowd. He looks into the crowd, smiles, and leaves.

Build-up to Summerslam:
On the first Smackdown after MITB, Sheamus demands that Butch comes out and explains himself. But he doesn't get Butch, he gets the Bruiserweight, PETE DUNNE! He marches down to the ring and without saying a word, Dunne lays Sheamus out with a Bitter End, grabs his arm and stamps on it, and he damn near breaks it!
A week after, Dunne enters a 4 way match to crown a new number 1 contender for Austin Theory's US title. Dunne wins the match, pinning Santos Escobar. After the match however, Sheamus comes down and kick's Pete Dunne's head off and demands that he enters the match.
The week after, Sheamus goes against Theory and if he wins, he enters the match in Detroit. Despite Dunne interfering, Sheamus wins the match and makes it a triple threat.

Summerslam (05/08/23):
Pete Dunne vs Sheamus vs Austin Theory (c) - United States Championship
Theory basically gets banished to the side for this one as Sheamus and Dunne knock ten layers of shit out of each other, with Theory playing the cunning heel trying to pick up the pieces. In the end, Sheamus takes out Theory with a High Cross through the announce table, he slides back into the ring and Dunne STAMPS ON HIS INJURED ARM! He lands a Bitter End before locking Sheamus in a crossface, targeting that injured arm. Sheamus taps and Dunne wins the US title! After the match, Dunne clocks Sheamus with the title to make sure he's out of the picture.

Over the next few weeks on Smackdown, Dunne holds the 'Bruiserweight Invitational' where he invites people to step up and take him on for the US title, here's how his matches go over the next few weeks:
Smackdown (11/08/23):
Pete Dunne (c) def. Austin Theory
Smackdown (18/08/23):
Pete Dunne (c) def. Montez Ford
Smackdown (25/08/23):
Pete Dunne (c) def. AJ Styles
Dunne holds his title aloft and he celebrates after a big win over AJ Styles, but then... OUT COMES TYLER BATE! Bate walks out and he comes down to the ring to stand face to face with his former BSS tag partner.

Smackdown (01/09/23):
Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne stand face to face and Bate tells Dunne that he's proud that he's back to being that sick bastard he used to be, because it'll be even sweeter when he gets his revenge from Takeover: Chicago and he ends his comeback. The two men get into a brawl which ends with Bate landing a Tyler Driver '97 through the announce table.

Clash at the Castle 2 (16/09/23):
Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne (c) - United States Championship
Two UK boys fighting over the US title, and what a match it is. An utter 5-star classic in Cardiff with both men putting on an unreal matchup but in the end, Dunne nails Bate with an avalanche Bitter End for the win. After the match, Dunne goes to injure Bate, but then... SHEAMUS RETURNS! Sheamus runs down to the ring and goes for Dunne. Dunne tries to leave, BUT RIDGE HOLLAND IS BACK TOO! Sheamus and Ridge beat down Dunne before Ridge pounces Pete into a Brogue Kick.

Build-up to Survivor Series:
Smackdown (22/09/23):
BANGER....
Smackdown (29/09/23):
AFTER BANGER...
Smackdown (06/09/23):
AFTER BANGER...
(Dunne def. Ridge in a very hard-hitting match)
Smackdown (13/09/23):
AFTER BANGER...

Survivor Series (14/09/23):
Sheamus vs Pete Dunne (c) - United States Championship
AFTER BANGER! Both men put on a BANGER (okay I'll stop now) with the crowd cheering and cringing in pain after every single powerful shot. In the end, Sheamus goes for the Brogue Kick, but Dunne ducks and lands one of his own! He nails the Ex-Plex for the 3 count and he retains. After the match, Dunne sits in the corner and looks on as Ridge Holland helps Sheamus to his feet. All 3 men look at each other and nod, before Ridge and Sheamus walk to the back as Dunne celebrates.

Epilogue:
Dunne holds the title onward, defeating LA Knight at Royal Rumble and Rey Mysterio at Elimination Chamber before finally losing the title to Santos Escobar in a multi-man ladder match in Philly. After this, I'd build up Dunne in high-profile feud against the likes of Lashley and even Lesnar before having win the 2025 men's rumble match before having him challenge Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship at 'Mania 41 in a rematch from Takeover: New York. Would he beat Gunther? I'll leave that up to you.

I work in an entertainment park/zoo/hotel in the maintenance division. Most people work here seasonal. The CEO of the company changed about 6 years ago and he replaced most of the management. Long term employees with leading roles were fired or degraded. New ones were put in place. Since that day most of the sales have been going down and public news has been negative. Guests complain about food prices being 3x to 5x times the usual rate and parking prices changing overnight while guests are sleeping. The CEO orders to turn down ventilation, heating and water flow to a minimum in order to keep costs at a bare minimum of what's needed.
The new employees can just drive to the stores around here and order whatever they need for the park. Nobody controls what's ordered or what's needed. This results in lots of surplus goods and multiple people ordering the same things. Leaving us with several of the same objects. This seems very uneconomical to me.
Management brags to each other about how they ordered a power washer for the park since they needed to clean their terraces at home. This is just a small example.
This weekend there was nearly no staff in the hotel and rooms were filled with guests. The kitchen wasn't performing as usual and had to serve cold food. Rooms weren't cleaned in between stays and maintenance wasn't performed. Management told all employees to stay home. Resulting in chaotic situations and lots of guest complaints over the weekend.
What's the purpose of all this? Is the corporation being raided?
PS: I hope this is the right sub to ask this. If it isn't I'll kindly remove my post and find a more suiting subreddit.

We are flying to Jeju this weekend and I newly discovered this sub. We will not have a car, staying in Seogwipo city, and I didn’t book a tour in advance. Per a lot of posts here, the public busses are not optimal for getting around. All the tours on Viator are sold out. Are there tours that I can find when we arrive or are we just at the mercy of the public transportation?We’d like to see some of the major sights, we can see Cheonjiyeon Water Falls easily near our hotel. Also, we’d like to do a fishing trip, is that a thing out of either Jeju City or Seogwipo? Appreciate any assistance, I clearly should have planned better, but hoping I can salvage something for our 4 days on Jeju!

Hi All,
Recently relocated to Miami and looking for flight schools and/or clubs to rent. I have searched online but (IMO) nothing really stands out.
My rental needs: - IFR capable single engine piston, preferably with G1000 (most of my training was in 6-packs, but grown fond of G1000 features). - Been flying DAs more recently, but Cessna 172/182s are still an option. - (Will probably get downvoted) Would not mind trying out Cirrus.
School needs: - IFR refresher / Biannual. - Multi engine (eventually, maybe next year).
Am aware KMIA will complicate options a bit (basically 2 executive type airports near the area that are not a Bravo). And yes, expecting probably 30-45 minute drives to/from airport given location.
Thanks!

Hi everyone! I've been planning a trip to Japan for a while now, and I am happy to say that I will be going in about a week! Below is my itinerary, I'd appreciate it if anyone had any critiques and/or recommendations, as well as any things that I may have missed. I didn't plan out every day to the dot; I'd rather go around and explore and find new things.
I've got a few questions, as well:

• Does anyone know any nice seaside-view resturants in Odaiba?
• I missed the reservation for Kichi Kichi Omurice; is there any way I can still go?
• Am I able to cover up my tattoos and go into an onsen?
• How badly does it rain in June? Will it seriously affect my experience?

Itinerary:
Day 1: Thursday, June 8 (Shin-Okubo, Shibuya)
- Arrive at HND
- Pick up luggage
- Tokyo Monorail to Hamamatsucho, then Yamanote line to Shin-Okubo station to hotel
- Arrive at hotel, explore area for the night, dinner at Ichiran
- Mannenyu Onsen
Day 2: Friday, June 9 (Harajuku, Shinjuku)
- Meiji Jingu Shrine
- Yoyogi Park
- Harajuku Takeshita
- Crepes, Maccha House, Sweets
- Lunch: Gyukausu Motomura
- Shinjuku Gyoen Park
- Tokyo Metropolitan Building (views)
- Shinjuku Takashimaya Times Square (shopping)
- Uniqlo/Bicqlo
- Dinner: Ramen Nagi, Himawari Zushi Shintoshin, Curry (?)
Day 3: Saturday, June 10 (Roppongi, Shibuya)
- Creme de la creme
- Yelo
- Roppongi Hills
- Mori Art Museum
- Tokyo Midtown
- Lunch: Maguro to Shari
- Shibuya Crossing
- Shibuya Scramble Square (shopping)
- Shibuya Sky
- Dinner: Ginza Steak Shibuya 6:30 PM
Day 4: Sunday, June 11 (Toyosu, Odaiba)
- Teamlab Planets 9-9:30am
- Miraikan Museum
- Aqua City
- Diver City
- Symbol Promenade Park Hydrangea Stairs
Day 5: Monday, June 12 (Asakusa, Akihabara)
- Asakusa 7 am
Day 6: Tuesday, June 13 (Tsukiji, Nihonbashi, Ginza)
- Tsukiji Fish Market at 7 am
- Tsujihan
- Nihonbashi Takashimaya S.C.
- Uniqlo Ginza
- Ginza Art Aquarium
Day 7: Wednesday, June 14 (Free)
- Dinner: Sushi Tokyo Ten Roppongi 5:30 PM
Day 8: Thursday, June 15 (Tokyo -> Kyoto)
Day 9: Friday, June 16 (Gion, Downtown)
- Ramen Sen No Kaze
- 4 pm nishiki market
Day 10: Saturday, June 17 (Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizu-Dera)
Day 11: Sunday, June 18 (Arashiyama, Downtown)
- Arashiyama bamboo grove
- Arashiyama monkey park
- Tenryu-ji Temple
- taxi to Tenzan-no-yu Onsen
Day 12: Monday, June 19 (Kyoto -> Osaka)
- Yasaka Shrine
- Dotombori
Day 13: Tuesday, June 20 (Downtown, Dotonbori)
- Osaka Castle (?)
- Grand Front Mall
- Umeda Sky Building
Day 14: Wednesday, June 21 (Hiroshima, Miyajima)
- Atomic Bomb Dome
- Okonomimura
- Itsukushima Shrine
- Mt. Misen
- Miyajima Oysters!!!
Day 15: Thursday, June 22 (Osaka -> HND)
P.S. I will be using the 7-day JR pass for this trip, activating it on June 15 for when I leave to Kyoto. I was stupid and forgot that I'm actually leaving Osaka on the 8th day, so I'm unable to use my JR pass on the way back to Tokyo. It's fine, I'll just buy a one-way shinkansen pass.

Are players able to build objects in freeroam? Some of the boards a little too challenging (Eg. Rooftop building xp board in hotel area near Playa Azul).

Travelstart is a leading online travel agency that offers a wide range of flights, hotels, and car rentals at competitive prices. They have a team of experts who are always on hand to help you find the best deals on flights, and they offer a variety of features to make booking your travel as easy as possible.

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I live in San Diego and my parents have recently moved to a small town in KY, with the nearest airport being Lexington “Blue Grass Airport” which is about 90 minutes away itself. Other nearby airports would be Knoxville, Louisville, Nashville and the furthest and dumbest choice being Cincinnati. The prices are only ever so slightly cheaper at the airports other than Lexington, sometimes as low as a $50 difference, yet adding a minimum of an hour of driving time. Therefore I wanna stick to flying into Lexington. There’s not a lot of selection for airlines. Southwest doesn’t go to blue grass at all, and the only “cheap” airline is Allegiant which would only have Vegas as a layover, and might not even fly on the same day. That leaves the big three to choose from. Delta almost doesn’t show up in the results, costs more and I don’t have good memories from when I’ve previously flown on them. United charges nearly double what American would in theory.
Now supposedly starting in September United Express will fly from Denver all the way to Lexington. I’m not sure if this will bring United’s prices down a bit, or do nothing and it would be a horrible flight in December on a tiny plane. Almost all the regular flights are either American (both full and Eagle) thru DFW, or Chicago, and United thru Chicago. I’ve heard nothing but horror stories about O’hare, and being December I’m afraid of being canceled for weather reasons. It’s been over 10 years since I’ve had a layover in DFW, and it was bad back then, but that was including customs coming back from London and having to recheck bags and such. I recently flew on both United and American and the service on American has improved dramatically, while United flight attendants are still as unfriendly as ever. The problem with the DFW option, is the layovers are all really short, 40 minutes each way. I pretty much know everyone will say that’s not nearly enough time especially around the holidays and almost certainly having to change terminals.
I know it’s not even quite June yet, but the prices are already high, my parents are desperate for a visit, and my budget isn’t the greatest, and I wanna avoid missing a connection and avoid weather delays as much as possible. There’s not many American options for Chicago, unless I pay a lot more, same for Charlotte I believe. Almost all options are tight connections in DFW, or United thru O’hare. Not sure which poison to pick.

Hello there !
I'm vacation planing for september and I need some information :) Figured I could ask here.
I have a boat license `Recreational Permit`. I can go as far as 6 miles from shelter. It concerns motorized boats. I can't sail.
Questions

1. how expensive is it to rent a boat say for 10 days. We would be 4 people. We will need something with 2 cabins. Another option is to have something without any cabin. just big enough for 4 people we would sleep in hotels near the shore if possible.
2. how expensive is the fuel there.

Thanks :)

Hello there !
I'm vacation planing for september and I need some information :) Figured I could ask here.
I have a boat license `Recreational Permit`. I can go as far as 6 miles from shelter. It concerns motorized boats. I can't sail.
Questions

1. how expensive is it to rent a boat say for 10 days. We would be 4 people. We will need something with 2 cabins. Another option is to have something without any cabin. just big enough for 4 people we would sleep in hotels near the shore if possible.
2. how expensive is the fuel there.

Thanks :)

How do you focus your credit card spend?
I currently have all Chase cards, and recently got the Citi AAdvantage card (that gives you admirals club access.)
I have a business that spends about 10,000 on credit cards monthly, and then also spends about 14,000 monthly on direct draft things that I think I can change to mailed checks via Plastiq.
I personally use credit cards a lot.
My question … how do you focus your spend? I was going to try to divert about $12,000/month to AAdvantage so that I can get miles and status. However the status with AA doesn’t seem amazing. After enough spend I can get free extra leg room seats if they exist and the occasional first class upgrade if it’s available. I never check bags, and if I ever did it’s so I frequent the $35 or whatever wouldn’t bother me.
Honestly the Citi AAdvantage credit card I got fixed my flying issues - Admirals club is great, and group 4 boarding at a minimum. That gets me on the plane and comfortable and storage for my carry on.
I know platinum, etc, gets me on the plane a little earlier which I value. And having miles to spend on trips is great. My booking of trips is always random and not based around holidays.
But I also want to focus on hotels, but have no currently loyalty at all. And sometimes the best hotels aren’t in a group. Like the Ludlow in NYC has these insane skybox rooms with like 270’ of floor to ceiling windows with ridiculous NYC views but I don’t think it’s part of any group.
Where I live is a small airport that has United and AA only, and both flights are about the same length and both flights goto one of their biggest hubs. So I only fly to one of those two hubs and then fly out from there.
I noticed anecdotally I tend to end up on American flights more than United. I think it’s because of earlier departures for American.
For hotels, I just considered not doing any spend there and just doing the Hilton card that gets you diamond status and be done with it.
My question - how do you figure out how to direct all your spend between credit card points, flights, and hotels?

I have been to New Orleans twice. Both times when I tried to order an Uber or Lyft, the cost of getting to the French Quarter or Downtown New Orleans from the airport has been $70-$120. I made the mistake of paying this exorbitant rate during my first visit.
On the second visit I asked for the price of local cabs at the airport and they all have a flat rate of $30. I also met a very nice driver who offered to pick me up at the hotel for my return to the airport for the same price.

Hello there Malta !
I'm vacation planing for september and I need some information :) Figured I could ask here.
I have a boat license `Recreational Permit`. I can go as far as 6 miles from shelter. It concerns motorized boats. I can't sail.
I have some questions with regards to boat renting:

1. how expensive is it to rent a boat say for 10 days. We would be 4 people. We will need something with 2 cabins. Another option is to have something without any cabin. just big enough for 4 people we would sleep in hotels near the shore if possible.
2. how expensive is the fuel there.

Thanks :)

Hello there Turkey !
I'm vacation planing for september and I need some information on Turkey :) Figured I could ask here.
I have a boat license `Recreational Permit`. I can go as far as 6 miles from shelter. It concerns motorized boats. I can't sail.
I have some questions with regards to boat renting in Izmir and Antalya

1. how expensive is it to rent a boat say for 10 days. We would be 4 people. We will need something with 2 cabins. Another option is to have something without any cabin. just big enough for 4 people we would sleep in hotels near the shore if possible.
2. how expensive is the fuel there.

Thanks :)

First
Memory transcription subject: Luke Schmidt, Human Businessman
Date [standardized human time]: December 18th, 2136
I was the only human in the bar. I chalked it up to timing and chance, as it wasn’t a hostile bar. Aside from a few glances and the fact that people passing by my table took great care not to touch me, I had no issues. I could barely keep my head off the table, but that was more a function of tiredness than anything. I had arrived on Venlil Prime only a few days ago, and the goofy sleep schedule messed with my brain. Barlethy Shipping did provide us with blackout curtains to set up over the windows of our bedrooms, but it was still challenging.
That wasn’t even mentioning all the work I’d been doing. I was a salesman for Barlethy Shipping, which had been established for about 50 years prior to First Contact. FTL ships were horrendously expensive, and usually only the government had access to them, but the Barlethy billionaire family cared quite a bit about expanding their business on this frontier, and were willing to pour millions into private FTL ships for their employees, as well as efforts to ensure that the Venlil legal system wasn’t a hassle. I was meant to set up business deals with aliens, using a variety of methods of varying moral standing, and although others had already done so, there was still a whole planet of opportunity.
As such, I had been talking to Venlil, viewing their wares, and traveling almost all the time I’d been here. When I wasn’t doing that, I was eating and sleeping. I really needed a break, so after fourteen hours of business, I arrived at the bar for a much-needed drink. I’d made a few successful deals thus far, so hopefully Barlethy Shipping wouldn’t mind the downtime too much.
I wasn’t really paying attention to the aliens around me, as I was rather exhausted, so I didn’t notice when the unfamiliar alien walked up to me. I did not recognize which species this was, which energized me. New things always did. The species was honestly rather ugly, which was weird because all the aliens I’d seen thus far were either cute or sleek, in my opinion. They had rough gray elephant skin with sparse thick, black hairs scattered around it, which made them look more like a hairy human than like an alien with fur. The top of their snout dangled down over their mouth, and they had short tusks and weird little giraffe horns. Their tail curled up like a squirrel’s, and their fingers were long, thin, and far too numerous. They looked like a squat, mammalian Arxur. And then, they sat down across from me.
“Hello there. You’re unique too! Isn’t that fun? Being the only one of your kind in sight really isn’t all that fun, but you get used to it,” she said, in a friendly, conversational tone that was apparently female, according to my translator.
I didn’t think that unfamiliar aliens were willing to get within an arm's length of unfamiliar humans. Maybe the Venlil or our other good allies, but I had never seen this race before. I said as much. “Pardon me, but who and what are you? I have never seen your species before, and I don’t think you’re allied with humanity.” I figured that she must be a regular here, since nobody gave her a second glance. Maybe she’d expressed wanting to meet a human for a while. I still had no idea what her deal was, though.
I think I came across a little harsher than I intended, but she didn’t seem to mind. She began, “Oh, pardon my manners. My name is Polkif, and I am a Zhetsian. You’re right, we’re not allied with humanity, and there aren’t a whole lot of us on Venlil Prime, so you probably haven’t heard of us. We don’t have a very large diaspora. I’ve been here a few years, and I’m used to being a novelty.”
I hummed, interested. Some part of me was always eager to talk to aliens, and I could indulge that now. Most of the time, my interactions with aliens were distinctly more… hostile, than I’d like, but that was unavoidable. Well, here was an opportunity to avoid hostilities! Though, I was still wondering why this wasn't shaping up to be hostile, so I asked, “Why are you comfortable walking up to random, unfamiliar humans? Even people who have been here since First Contact with us and who generally like humans aren’t often comfortable doing that. Especially since we have a reputation for being aggressive when drunk.”
Polkif snuffled, which my translator told me was laughter. After a few seconds, she said, “Well, we’re Zhetsians! We’re expected to be bold. We do have to be mindful of other species’ norms when offworld, but I don’t think they’ll kick my door down and drag me off to the predator disease facility just for being excited about talking to a human. I suppose you don’t know if they will until they do it, but I’ve gone this long without biased officers bagging me, so I figure my logic holds up. Besides, I don’t mind standing out and having to make an effort to fit in if it means I can avoid the current issues on my native planet, Miluja. Well, the issues are everywhere in Zhetsian space, but they’re especially strong there.”
I was intrigued, and thoughts of tiredness were out of my mind. Of course, there were a whole lot of aliens with all different cultures and histories, but this was new, even compared to other aliens I knew of, and was shaping up to be exciting. I would be especially tired later, but I didn’t mind the adrenaline that interest and excitement gave me right now. I prompted her, “What kind of issues?”
Polkif obliged me. “Civil unrest issues. All five Zhetsian planets are having issues with stampedes, mobs, protesting, and armed rebellion, but on Miluja it’s devolved into a civil war. Or Colony World 3, as it’s known offworld. They don’t like that we landed on naming it after Milu, since they say he had predator disease, but it’s tradition to call it that, and I like it better than the generic name, at least.
“Once the Cilany broadcast came out and reached us, it was pandemonium. Due to the anti-predator religion, a lot of people assumed that we were predators, so we split from the Federation. All the death cults and secret predator or predator-diseased sympathizers came out of the woodwork declaring this to be proof that they were right all along, and now everyone should join up with them and make a utopia, or something. Of course, all the elements that prevented those guys from making themselves known before were still there, so the government and the Federation-sympathizers cracked down on them. The rebellious elements were emboldened, though, and had quite a few guns and lots of repurposed farming equipment, so they fought back. This led to all the sympathizers still in the government to come out and support the rebellion too, except they were discovered, and you had tusk-fights in offices everywhere. It devolved from there, and now the whole planet is engulfed in civil war.
“The other planets are doing better, though not by much. Nitto is probably doing the best out of all of them, since the overwhelming majority of the government and populace was able to unite around the Nitre Rebellion’s legacy and kick the Federation out. Kipresa and Colony World 4 are undergoing low-level fighting and their share of unrest; their problems are mitigated by the fact that most of Kipresa just want to make money and aren’t up for fighting, and Colony World 4 knows that its denizens are mostly criminals, so they have a habit of not looking too closely as long as you don’t cause problems and there continue to be people willing to buy their ore. Mother Plains, our homeworld, has had more luck with the government cracking down on rebellion and dissent, but there are still decently sized patches that are held by rebel forces, and the Federation and government are growing more unpopular by the day.
“In short, there’s fighting and disruptions everywhere, though the last ship that came from Zhetsian space came a month ago, and I’m not sure how it’s progressed without me. The fact that no more ships have come is troubling enough. As for alliances, I can’t imagine that the UN wants to get involved in our civil wars, especially since most of the official governments would reject them anyway. So, we’re not allied with either the Federation or the UN, and I think we're best off focusing on getting ourselves to a stable position before helping anyone else with their problems.”
I sat back, stunned. Of course, in the back of my mind, I had figured that there might be intraspecies fighting somewhere in the Federation, but I’d started to discount that as a possibility, with how herd-focused and timid the Federation seemed. Species-wide civil wars and unrest was not what I expected. Though, if that’s what the situation back home was like, no wonder it seemed perfectly safe walking up to strange humans. I’ve known a few people from countries with civil unrest issues, and while some of them are intensely paranoid, some are fearless and barely blink at what normal people would consider notable dangers.
She continued after a few seconds. “I’m not quite sure where I stand on the issue. I am quite willing to call my home Miluja, and I have a lot of family who are farmers and on that side of the conflict, but you get leery of supporting such people after long enough away. The walls have ears when it comes to expressing dissent, you know. You’ve got to be on high alert if you want to do things the Federation government doesn’t approve of without them knocking on your door. It gets exhausting to hold such opinions after a while, in the face of all the opposition to them.”
She shook her head side-to-side slightly, and it occurred to me that she was probably looking for listeners in her blind spot. She had lowered her voice, too, so that I had to strain to hear her over the din of the bar. Even with how milquetoast that bit of opposition to the Federation ideology seemed, she didn’t seem like she wanted people to notice it. I’d had my share of paranoia, certain that the aggressive and somewhat underhanded negotiation tactics I’d used would be revealed, and I’d be fired and cause a huge diplomatic incident that would end in me being burned to a crisp. Well, her concerns couldn't have been that bad, since she seemed to settle down quickly enough. After she was done, she tipped her head back a bit to sip from her drink. Her snout prevented her from tilting the glass to her mouth all the way.
I decided to talk about myself a bit, since she seemed inclined to sit in silence, though she didn’t move away from my table. “Well, I’m sure you know about Earth. I’m here because I’m a representative of Barlethy Shipping, and I’m supposed to be negotiating deals with aliens, mostly Venlil. It doesn’t sound like we’ll be dealing with Zhetsians anytime soon, if it’s as bad as you say over there. I’ve been here for about a week on this trip, though I was here for a few weeks already during the Battle of Earth, and I’m already exhausted. Work and a weird sleep schedule will do that for you. After I’m done here, I’m going back to my hotel to sleep.”
Polkif responded, “Ah, I see. I’ve been an offworld business rep before, and it is not fun. Seeing other planets is enjoyable to a degree, but the schedule is grueling, other planets always have weird day/night cycles, and people tend to look down on Zhetsians as rebellious. I left for Venlil Prime about five years ago to help run a new branch of the farming equipment manufacturer I did sales for, though they try to hide their Zhetsian origins, and I exclusively work in non-public-facing roles. I was supposed to come back last month, but that didn’t pan out for obvious reasons. Oh well, I’ve got stable employment, since they’ve kept me on, and I think I can manage.”
I checked my holopad, and noted the time. It was 30 minutes until I wanted to go back to my apartment and sleep, since I’d scheduled an hour for this. A few thoughts flashed through my mind, most notably that getting back earlier would result in even more sleep, and that Polkif seemed nervous about discussing certain topics where others could hear. An idea sprang to mind, and I voiced it. “It’s been a pleasure talking with you, but I probably ought to start heading back to my hotel room. Do you want to discuss more things on the way? I’d love to hear more about you and your species, but it’s rather crowded in here.”
Something glinted in her eyes, and her fingers started twitching madly, bringing to mind images of sea anemones with bony tentacles. She responded, in a rather weird tone, “Oh, I’d love to do that. I don’t need to be anywhere for another three claws, so I’d be glad to discuss things on the way. Why don’t we finish our drinks and go?”
I’d almost finished my drink, so I downed the rest just as she chugged over half of her glass at once to finish it. As she hopped off the stool, I stopped leaning on the wall behind me, a poor substitute for a backrest, stretched my back a bit, and then grabbed my things and followed her.
It was rather empty outside, with only a few scattered and easily-avoidable groups of Venlil here and there on the street. I started towards my hotel, and Polkif followed. Once we’d gotten a decent ways away from anyone, Polkif started talking in a quiet but still conversational voice. “So what would you like to know?”
“Anything interesting,” I said. “Perhaps why you have a reputation for being rebellious, or why your government doesn’t like this Milu character, or why some of your planets are having it worse than others.”
“The walls have ears, but I have better vision and probably better hearing than you and most Venlil, so I’ll stop talking if there’s a chance of unwanted listeners. Do note that what I'm about to tell you is not the official history, and I could get in very serious trouble if people knew that I believed, or at least seriously considered, this stuff. I can drag you down with me if you start telling people about it. Capiche?”
This sounded serious, especially since her tone had gotten noticeably sharper. She seemed a lot more alert and less casual now, even considering the comments she made in the bar about the officials who handled predator disease, which reminded me of the old “knock on the door” of governments who took away people who opposed them, now that I thought about them. That was worrying, but it was probably something that required more context to understand. Also, it did not occur to me that aliens would have a word that translated to “capiche”, but I considered that it was context-appropriate and nodded. Polkif continued.
“Alright, so the first thing to know is that unwanted ideas and movements that spring up among us never quite manage to die, however much the Federation wants them to. We have quite a few dissident groups that are officially labeled “death cults”, as well as a lot of rebellious movements that the Federation has been working to stamp out. Many of these groups have survived centuries of opposition, and sometimes they preexist First Contact. The most notable of these groups are Linked Chains, the Steward Branch, the Inside, and the Nitre rebellion stuff on Nitto. Though, Linked Chains has spread offworld and has a pretty significant non-Zhetsian membership, so it isn’t near-exclusively Zhetsian like the others.
“What you should know is that, apart from a handful of bog-standard criminals and a few people looking for an excuse to cause harm, nobody dies or supports dying or misery in those groups. The Steward Branch is a religion that, especially now, is suspected to have been the original, true religion of Zhetsians, and which has as a core doctrine the idea that all life is precious and necessary for gaining true understanding. Including the predatory life. Linked Chains thinks that predators are necessary for the ecosystem to function properly, something that you humans seem to agree with. The Inside and the pro-Nitre stuff are the anti-Federation movements on Miluja and Nitto, respectively.
“The official accounts are pretty accurate as far as the origins of three of the movements, though Bilte is not evil, stupid, or manipulative like they portray him, the non-Steward branches are likely some combination of invented or blown way out of proportion by the Federation, and they like to underrepresent the amount of animosity that lingered after the Nitre rebellion’s resource issues were handled. Really, you need unofficial sources to get good histories for anything involving those movements. The thing they lie the most about, though, is the origins of the Inside on Miluja.
“A little over a century ago, Miluja, then only known as Colony World 3, started a program of reintroducing certain predators onto the planet in order to deal with pests. We’re a farming colony, you understand, so dealing with pests was a rather large priority, and sheer practicality overwhelmed the propaganda in this instance. The Exterminators Union threatened to withdraw over these changes, the planet called their bluff, and they left, only to realize that nobody wanted them back. A bounty system was implemented for unapproved wild predators, but a lot of other predators besides the original pest-killers started hanging around and coming out from the unannihilated parts of the wilderness that had been left when the Union left. People stopped minding, apparently. You can still access The Seven Sons of Aboulo TV show if you know where to look, it tells you something about what it was like back then. Much better than the contemporary first iteration of The Exterminators, which was a piece of over-the-top propaganda, though I digress.
“Of course, that wasn’t going to last forever. I can only imagine the reason we didn’t get shut down instantly was because we were, and remain, a bit of a backwater, and they all bought into their own lies enough that they thought we’d collapse on our own due to our changes. We didn’t, so they started helping the process along.
“The Farsul showed up to Zhetsian space and started poking around. The Farsul poking around in an unimportant, obscure species like ours can only mean trouble. They did some preliminary reconnaissance, then they threatened us if we didn’t disarm all of our civilian ships. We had the bright idea to retrofit all of our ships with guns, but apparently that encourages predator behavior, or something. Those made up almost all of our fleet! We really couldn’t afford the sanctions, scrutiny, accusations, and ostracization that would come from defying the Farsul, so we dutifully disarmed our ships, and shortly thereafter the Arxur showed up.”
At that, Polkif stopped talking, and a Venlil suddenly came out of a building that we had assumed was closed, almost hitting us with the door. The Venlil only heard the last part about the Arxur showing up, according to my calculations, and after a look of startlement that he shared with us, he turned around and headed the opposite direction. Polkif exhaled, and said, “The annoying thing about Venlil Prime is that there isn’t a night when everyone sleeps. There’s always a sizable portion of the population awake and active at any given moment, so you can’t avoid people staring at you nearly as much as you’d like.”
I bet a lot of people stared at Polkif. She seemed to be a regular in that bar, but elsewhere? Given that Polkif had stopped talking before I noticed the Venlil coming out of the building, I got the feeling that she was hyper-aware of scrutiny and always thinking about how people would perceive her every move. The walls have ears, after all. No wonder she was so noncommittal in the bar, compared to here. I figured that I should keep my observations to myself, though, and responded, “I can see that. On the bright side, not having a night means there’s nowhere you shouldn’t go at night. Wait, does the Federation even have street crime?”
Polkif snorted, which my translator told me indicated derision, same as for humans. “You’re more likely to get reported for predator disease for being out alone than to get mugged. But, yes, that will happen on occasion. Usually it takes the form of criminals running up, grabbing your bag, and running off again, no violence or confrontation involved. I know for a fact that there’s more violent crime than the Federation likes to admit to, though. Anyway, back to the story? Nobody’s watching.”
“Please.”
“Alright, so where were we? Farsul, ships, Arxur… Ah yes, the Arxur raid. After our fleet was significantly reduced, a fleet of more than a thousand Arxur ships showed up to Colony World 3. Normally this would be a death sentence, but a combination of tactics, guts, and on-the-ground resistance ended in us decimating the Arxur fleet, which then retreated with almost no cattle. Miluja hasn't had any Arxur problems since; they say we taste bad, and decimating their fleet probably put us firmly in the “don’t bother” camp. Fine by us! Anyway, during the battle, we’d asked around for help, but the other planets weren’t willing to divert resources, and I also suspect they wanted to avoid retaliation. They had to have known about the Farsul ship order. We also sent a few scouts further away to ask for help from other species, and that fleet did show up! Once the battle was already over and the Arxur were already retreating. Lazy cowards barely fired a single shot.
“As you might imagine, that fleet, known as the Assistance Fleet, stuck around. They offered to help us rebuild our bombed infrastructure and almost-annihilated fleet, for a hefty sum of cash and quite a lot of food. The other requirement was that we revert all of the changes we had made regarding predators and accept what was essentially an occupation. Our remaining pristine wilderness? Gone. Our new and unique ideas? Either well-hidden, taught away, or trapped in the minds of those stuck in facilities. Our wildlife? Mostly gone, although the original netry birds and jutalem are still around, despite the best efforts of the exterminators. Stubborn little bastards, they are. Some have taken them as a sort of symbol.
“The last important bit from that period is Milu. Things really sucked after the Assistance Fleet established themselves, as stated previously. Milu was a bureaucrat who schemed to smuggle out a whole bunch of information that the Outside occupiers wanted to destroy, subverted a great many efforts to diagnose people with predator disease and kill predators, and even worked to convince the physical fleet to head home instead of being threatening in our orbit. All around a stellar guy. He eventually got found out, diagnosed, and sent to a facility. The Outside tried to publicize it, for whichever reason, maybe to demoralize the Inside. It instead turned into a huge scandal, which ended in somebody blowing up the facility Milu was kept in, which resulted in several staff members dying and most of the inmates escaping, including Milu, who was never seen again. People started calling the colony Miluja around that time. Means something like “Milu’s Continuation” in the old Zhetsian language that people use to name things. As you can imagine, the Outside does not like that name, and while using it isn’t enough for a diagnosis, it will get you a whole lot of scrutiny that can easily lead to one.
“So, that’s that, mostly. Lots of fighting, lots of rebellion, lots of farmers telling their children all the things they don't teach in schools, and always the looming Federation ready to squash anything they don’t like. Personally, I’m quite surprised you lot managed to get a foothold. They go so hard on the propaganda.”
That was… a lot to take in. ‘Why does the Federation let them be like this?’ and ‘How horrible can the Federation be?’ were hardly original thoughts at this point, so I latched on to the one thing I understood well. “Well, Tarva was nice and nobody rushed us until we could handle it, and those were the lucky parts. Beyond that, it’s really a matter of time, as people see us not snapping and eating them. Personally, I suspect that the Federation going so hard on the propaganda was their undoing. They tell everyone that predators are pure evil, then predators who aren’t pure evil show up, so people figure the old framework no longer applies and they start judging things more rationally.”
Polkif hummed for a second, then responded, “That’s a decent theory. One would hope that some of that tolerance would extend to me, but I suppose you’re new, and old habits die hard. You know, there’s a few places on the planet I can’t go because of how riled up the populace is about predators, especially lately with you humans arriving. We’re the rebels, so I must be doing something horrible! Clowns, the lot of them.”
I imagine Polkif couldn’t get away with much, if what I took from her was accurate. Her race may have had some leeway with how deviant they were expected to be, but everything about her told me she was always under a lot of scrutiny. Though, this information didn’t seem like someone who perfectly obeyed every law and whim of the Federation would know about. So, I asked her, “If you’re under so much scrutiny, how do you know all this stuff? These unofficial histories don’t seem like something you could easily access.”
Polkif spoke again, but slower and with a weird cadence. “There’s more scrutiny for the Zhetsian diaspora than for Zhetsians on Zhetsian planets. That’s not to say that you aren’t always on high alert at all hours of the day because you never know who’s watching, who’s listening, who’ll report you, and what they’ll take as a sign that you have predator disease, or need your assets confiscated, or what have you. It just means that you have more trustworthy confidants and more leeway on Zhetsian planets. More people who can tell you stories and pass around contraband.
“As a relevant example of contraband, have you ever heard of The History of Non-Sapient Predators?”
I said, “No, I haven’t.”
She started twitching her fingers again, and the front of her snout flopped around a bit. I wasn’t aware she could move it. Then, she spoke. “The History of Non-Sapient Predators is one of the most well-known contraband books, at least amongst Zhetsians. It’s generally considered unsafe for us to get involved in movements offworld, and I’m not sure what contraband books exist elsewhere. Anyway, it’s up there with The Wild and Wondrous Deep, The Linked Chain, and The Social Strain. It’s an anthology of documents from the Galactic Archives, detailing the rise and fall of Colony World 3’s anti-Federation movement, as well as the context it takes place in.
“Most of the documents are publicly accessible in the Galactic Archives, just arranged in an unflattering manner. Some of them require special credentials to access, and a few are definitely not in the Archives, or reference documents that aren’t. It’s a common rumor that the Farsul Government Employee Registry doesn’t exist and is either completely hidden for some reason or a code for something else; also that many documents that used to be on the public network but classified were deleted or moved to a secret location or network after this book was created.
“It’s published under a pseudonym, and there are many theories on who made it. Whoever created it would have had to go to the Farsul homeworld, since the Archives are located there, and would have had to find a way to access non-public documents. It was definitely compiled before Milu, since neither he nor the name Miluja are mentioned. It cuts off after the Rebuilding starts. It was likely made by either a Zhetsian from Miluja or someone who greatly values Miluja, since it’s really only our history, despite the broad-sounding title. I’m sure there are other books detailing other species’ forgotten histories and interactions with non-sapient predators, but I don’t know about them. This is the history of our non-sapient predators.
“Anyway, that book is the defining source of the actual history of the Inside and Colony World 3. Copies are rare, but I used to know someone who had one back on Miluja.”
Wow. With every word that came out of Polkif’s mouth, a picture was being made of the side of the Federation that was so old and paranoid that it wouldn’t reveal itself, even now that Federation narratives were being questioned across the planet, or especially now that that was happening. Though, apparently Polkif wasn’t so paranoid as to hide it from me. I knew that my status as a human made people assume I was comfortable with predatory things, but I found that I did not take Polkif for the type to trust anyone she wasn’t extremely confident in. So I asked her, “Why are you telling me all this? I know I’m a human, but I could tell people. I’m a stranger to you.”
She snuffled again. “Remember when I said that I could drag you down with me? Well, I’ve actually been looking into you for a bit. You’re the only human I’ve seen out here, what can I say? I was interested. I’m quite good at navigating electronic things, and I happen to have discovered several dossiers of blackmail that your shipping company has provided you to help you make deals. Perhaps not as predatory as it could be, but I’m sure I could portray it properly if I needed to make this known to appropriate parties. I’m sure you know how illegal it is and how much of a diplomatic incident this would create.”
Wait.
She knew about that?
Sudden terror gripped me. I liked to think of my activities as aggressive business tactics, but her statement reminded me that it was still blackmail and would likely end in jail time and a diplomatic incident if I were caught. She also refueled the paranoia of getting reported for it that had been plaguing me ever since I arrived on Venlil Prime as a businessman. And, since this random alien who was simply interested in me could find it, that meant that I was in a very precarious position. Out of fear, and desperation, I shot back, “If I reported you, wouldn’t law enforcement just take you away before you could do anything, and wouldn’t they not listen to you if you’re a known predator? You seemed to imply that back at the bar.”
She replied just as quickly, “Exterminators. They deal with cases of predator disease, or really any crime involving the Zhetsian diaspora as they like to assume that we all have predator disease. Anyways, as you’re a human, they’re much less likely to believe anything you say, and that combined with experience and security measures means I will absolutely have time to send it off before they get me. I can be anonymous if need be. And don’t you try to delegate reporting to anyone or do it anonymously; if anyone comes knocking on my door, I’m blaming you, and out this goes.”
Well, damn. I stopped in the middle of the street to think, barely noticing Polkif’s eye glittering as she stopped next to me. I really should have known that someone like Polkif would only reveal anything to anyone if she was very sure that they wouldn’t reveal anything. Whether because she trusted them as people, or because she held something over them. I drastically misjudged her; she was intensely paranoid, but so good at masking that you never knew until she was already acting against you.
The aggressive negotiation tactics already stressed me out. When combined with Polkif’s knowledge of them, they made me feel far out of my depth. My mind was racing, but something did occur to me, and I asked her, “Do you do this frequently for the sake of it, or do you want something from me? You don’t seem the type to task unnecessary risks.”
More snuffling, of what I thought was a distinctly different character than previous snuffling. Probably a malicious laughter, if I had to guess. “I did have an idea that required a human. When I said that I had no copy of The History of Non-Sapient Predators on Venlil Prime, I lied. Had to see how you reacted, after all. I do indeed have a copy that I took with me from Miluja, and have made copies of it since. I was thinking that humanity having a copy would be useful. You guys can translate it, make copies, get famous and make boatloads of cash off of it, or whatever else you can think of. The Federation doesn't have eyes or tendrils on Earth, so the book, our history, won’t die, or at least it has a greater chance not to. I have no clue how many copies there are across the Federation, but I know it’s not that many. I was under the impression that humans quite liked the preservation of knowledge and history, based on what I’ve seen of humanity’s reaction to the Cilany and Yotul situations. So, you wouldn’t mind preserving important history that's been suppressed by the Federation.”
That was… surprisingly benign. I was about ready for her to demand I fork over all of my money, go rogue with my company ship, or commit crimes against exterminators and the government. A little bit of smuggling, especially of something this important, was nothing, especially compared to the activities I’d been engaging in. I already had to smuggle in some of the negotiation material, anyway.
She continued, “As I said, this book is very, very illegal, and even as a human you’re likely to get in a lot of trouble for having it. As you’ve already been able to hide all that blackmail, you shouldn’t have a problem hiding this, but do be careful, and do not get caught. Only look at it once you’re back on Earth, away from prying eyes, and don’t let your company find out until you don’t need their support. I'd recommend keeping your identity wholly separate from your ownership of that book. As for getting it to you, I happen to know that you’re going to be going to a certain library to do research on Venlil agricultural history tomorrow - you really shouldn’t use the DailyMemo112 app, it has poor security - so when you get there, look out for the book titled “History of Agricultural Exports of Venlil Prime: Volume 18” by “Bitsly” in the agriculture section. It’s a fake cover, obviously, with a few fake pages too, but it's what you're looking for, so take it and go. You should probably buy a few other books about Venlil Prime trade, for cover. Any questions?”
Aside from the fact that she casually mentioned that she knew about my daily schedule for the remaining 2 weeks of my trip, that was surprisingly straightforward. A few plans for what I'd do with the book were even percolating in my mind; I'd translate them to English, of course, and then I could post them anonymously online, maybe I could put a paywall or tip jar in there to make money off of it? I didn't need the money, since my job paid me well, but this could blow up, and I wouldn't be one of Barlethy Shipping's spacefaring employees if I didn't keep an eye out for opportunity. None of these ideas were something I needed Polkif for, though. So, I replied, “No. Uh, thank you for telling me all this? Fascinating stuff.”
“You’re welcome, and thank you, if you pull this off successfully. Oh, and don’t tell the UN. They care quite a bit about Venlil laws and sovereignty, you know. Them knowing will attract attention that neither of us want. Never tell anyone anything unless you absolutely have to, you know. Now, I believe that is your hotel right there?”
I looked away from Polkif, and noticed that we were indeed in front of the huge, gray hotel building I was staying in. I wasn't sure how Polkif knew it was mine, but I probably shouldn't have been surprised at that point. It spoke to how adrift and detached from all non-business endeavors I was on Venlil Prime that I didn’t recognize the area around the place I was staying until it was pointed out to me. With a sudden bout of melancholy washing out some of the paranoia, I said, “Indeed.”
She flopped her snout around a bit, twitching her fingers all the while. I assumed, or at least hoped, that this was the Zhetsian version of smiling. “See you never, probably. Further contact would only be suspicious. The walls have ears, so be careful. Goodbye.”
I watched her walk off, back towards the bar. I entered my hotel, feeling dazed now that everything had time to settle in. The adrenaline was wearing off, and with nothing new or exciting to occupy my attention, I crashed hard. Exhaustion, combined with the events and emotions of the past hour, made me incapable of having thoughts more complex than a sense of paranoia and a desire to go to bed.
I stumbled up to my room and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, without even pulling the blackout curtains over the window.
Previous

EDIT: filler picture so Reddit doesn't show my FUCKING CRYING FACE AS A THUMBNAIL LOL
Oh well, here we go again.
You know something has rattled your soul to the core when you suddenly feel an urge to go make a bazillion character post on Reddit. I've been to more than a dozen BM shows at this point, but only once have I felt the urge to post something like this before. Today, my dear kitsune-tachi, is the second time.
The dust after Bangkok show has settled, I'm completely emotionally drained, and overcharged at the same time. This was hands down one of the very best BM concerts I've attended. To be completely honest this is easily top 3 right after LMG and Helsinki (ok this one's odd so I'll quickly explain: this was the show where I was center barrier in a tiniest of venues with a stage so low and so close to the barrier, it seemed that the band was playing just for me in my living room, and I didn't even notice the dead crowd until I heard other hardcore fans in the pit ranting about it right after the show). Actually, not even "right after", but "alongside". It felt so good.
The circumstances of me getting to the show are batshit insane so I'll definitely give you that context. I've been monitoring flight prices for Bangkok for 2-3 months before, and they have always fluctuated around 1k USD for a roundtrip from Moscow (where I live). So on may 25th, at 11:00 pm in the evening, just for the sake of it I decide to check how much would it cost to fly to Bangkok the very next day. And I see a roundtrip flight through Manama, Bahrain, departing from DME on the 26th at 16:10, at 550$. The lowest price I've seen in many months. I frantically check the availability of show tickets. They are all available including VIP!! Well... Then there was a night of booking various things and packing my shit, and then an absolutely insane morning at work where I had to sort everything out in 3 hours to ensure my unavailability until Tuesday morning wouldn't negatively impact the company in any way until I had to leave for the airport at like ~12 pm.
I'm so glad I followed that urge to JUST GO. I wouldn't have even beat myself over it if I didn't, but it's really funny to think that there is another Polifem in a parallel universe somewhere who decided to go to bed instead of checking ticket prices, having absolutely no clue that he could've got an insane charge of positive energy for many months to come... And could've been sitting after the show with a bunch of Thai fans with a beer in hand, speaking no common language but vibing in the exact same emotional register with them. AND I'M SO HAPPY I'M NOT HIM!
So, how was the show itself?
Well. Funny how some things are totally different in an actual live environment compared to recordings, both pro-shot, and fancams. For example, we meme about Distortion constantly (including myself), but there's nothing more fun than shouting Alissa's lines and Wowowow's during C&R on top of your lungs at a concert. You can meme all you want about "worst setlist" if it has Distortion in it, but it's actually this song that will get your voice completely fucked at a show. Or gimme chocolate. Yeah, it's old, and hardcore fans are sick and tired of it, however, have you tried to jump as high as you can during the chorus following the exact rhythm of a snare drum? Try that at home, you're gonna be surprised. You'll instinctively be doing it live, and it's hella fun. Also it's great that the full instrumental mute is back in RoR for the smaller shows. The fact that it wasn't there in the 2019-2020 US/EU tour was really disappointing, this has always been a moment of great unification between the fans and the band, good thing that they now do it not only in Japan.
The whole setlist was an absolute fire, which was the general consensus right after Jakarta show, so I kinda knew what I was getting when booking tickets (I STILL can't believe how fucking crazy is that. I actually watched the fancam of the entire Jakarta show at home having absolutely no idea I'll actually be at the very next show in 3 days in person LOL 😂), but some things I already mentioned above, and some things about to be mentioned, still surprised me. Here are some highlights:
1) I really loved that both the opening and ending songs were BMD and IDZ respectively, since they hold a very special place in my heart. I've always wanted to hear BMD live ever since that first barrage of sound on the Wembley blu-ray, which completely and irreversibly punched me into the fox hole, and it really did rattle my bones live like hell. IDZ is simply my favourite song by BM and having it close the show was something truly inspiring.
2) I also considered GREAT the lack of stupid lore at the end. Having girls themselves say goodbye felt a lot more human and the show itself felt a lot more complete. All they did is said a couple of kind words, thanked for coming, asked how was the show, bowed, and left after saying goodbye in thai. But the impact of that felt really different from the usual lore shenanigans, and it was a lot more fulfilling.
3) Fucking Anthony Barone, why are you so good? Honestly his drumming brings so much energy and brutal vibe to the show, you cannot even properly deal with it. There was a fill, I think in iine of all things, which made my mind completely shut down and go "WHHAAAAT?!" He's the GOAT and his style suits this band immensely.
4) New costumes fit the girls really nicely and look gorgeous live. Lighting had a great production as well which enhanced that feeling. I actually think that the high quality video will be able to convey the full awesomeness of their costumes, so when the BD of the Clear Night gets released, everyone will have a chance to properly look at them.
5) They considerably upped their game with the video footage. I thought to myself that the screen is finally helping the experience instead of tampering with the flow of the show. Kami did get lost again, but the ladies looked amazing with the footage behind them, especially in MAYA, IDZ (the thumbs up moment in front of the starry sky was really amazing), and PA PA YA with fire and shit.
6) Speaking of... Well, I cannot just say nothing about PA PA YA here, can I? It's the biggest elephant in the room in this show after all. One big, charismatic, rapping Thai elephant in a magnificent red coat with a towel in his hand. AND IT WAS HEAT!!! Well first of all, the amount of towels in the first few rows (I was center in the 3rd row) was as many as you could've hoped for. Second of all, F.Hero was unbelievably lively and charismatic. He drowned the entire hall with his energy! Girls were having the time of their lives as well, they seemed very relaxed, it was obvious they didn't really rehearse his feat and improvised on the go, and that actually made the whole thing really special. Honestly, I recommend you go watch some fancams of his cameo, you'll get it.
7) The high kick in BxMxC instead of the usual ponytail headbang by Su really deserves its own honorable mention. When she just brutally kicked the air almost higher than her own height, it was obvious that no, they didn't actually get tired on the long tour with Sabaton. You don't do shit like this when you're off your game.
8) There were a couple of technical hiccups during the encore, particularly with Su. They had her backtrack stand out too much during one moment in MK (not nearly on the level of Kagerou in Moscow, but it was still visible), and also forgot to switch her mic on in the opening notes of IDZ so the first "rururu"s weren't there at all, which is a shame, she always sings those so softly, you really feel the moment. But oh well, it's a live show, shit happens. The sound overall was REALLY good though in this venue, even though Su was drowned out at times. And I say it while I stood at the front, I imagine it was even better near the sound desk.
However, all this time I was tiptoeing around the biggest highlight of the show for me. The thing that actually made Bangkok a cathartic experience. FUCKING MONOCHROME HOLY SHIT. It's a godlike, transcendental experience. Su sings it with such a passion, the song itself has such a good structure, beautiful melody, gorgeous passionate choreography, it's one of the very best things this band has ever released. A true classic. And live... It's just on another plane of existence. Unity, tranquility, some kind of emotional rebirth, you feel it all. Here's my face right after it finished. I just cried the entire song starting from the first chorus. I've only ever had a cathartic experience of this magnitude once in my life: during the intro to IDZ at LMG-2. And this feeling and memory of hearing Monochrome live for the first time will also be locked firmly in my mind until I die. This is simply inevitable.
Honestly everything just CLICKED for this show. The spontaneity with which I went to the show; availability of VIP tickets which allowed me to be at the front; great venue with amazing sound; absolute FIRE of a setlist, the best in years; unique performance of PA PA YA!!; energy of the crowd (at least where I was); and the band itself which is no doubt on top of their game right now. But what made it click isn't really the combination of all these points, but rather the single and indivisible pile of positive energy they helped to shape inside my soul during this amazing weekend.
I'm now sitting in Bahrain on my layover before flying back home. I feel surprisingly calm and focused. I don't feel like I really need more, and I'm not sad everything is over so quickly. Not at all. I'm just fully charged and feel completely rested and at peace. I want to go back to work, work hard, be better version of myself. And then, hopefully in half a year, I'll see them again. Fingers crossed.
NOTHING I have experienced in this life has EVER affected me emotionally stronger than a BABYMETAL show. I don't know why. Everything inside me just turns upside down, I gasp for air, I want to live, breathe, and experience, sparing no expense whatsoever. We truly live in a greatest of timelines. One in which BABYMETAL, having started as, let's be honest here, a quirky experiment and somewhat of a joke (albeit a really smart one) just stubbornly refuses to fall into obscurity and oblivion, and continues to improve for TWELVE YEARS ALREADY, while having 3 out of 4 founding members still going strong (obviously I include Koba in this equation). And the addition of Momoko as a full member will do wonders for them, I'm absolutely sure of it.
I really wish for everyone to have something in their lives with the same level of emotional engagement as we do with BABYMETAL. The world might become a better place. Otherwise, why would you even wanna live?

For context, I'm planning on doing a double major in cs and math (aspiring quant dev or trader; rising frosh). I've checked out the course requirements and looked into the combined program; personally, I'm not too fond of the structure and lack of depth in the combined program, so I decided to stick with a double. I know it will be hard to complete all the requirements, but luckily I'm coming in with maxed-out ap credits (29-32/32) and a few DE courses, including have completed the calculus series and mechanics (physics). I think I'll probably have to do a couple of summer courses or a class or two during co-op; also, note that I'm doing three co-ops over five years. After viewing the requirements for the math degree, I thought it was relatively lax. Besides RA, which is renowned for its difficulty, the rest of the requirements don't seem all that bad to me as they nearly all are concept and computationally based and don't have much proofs unless I'm wrong; unless all the introductory and other courses have proofs as well (DE, LA, Stats&Prob, and electives like stochastic and higher level stats&prob). Lastly, I want to mention I'm planning on taking a CC class this summer, which transfers to a public speaking credit for the CS presentation requirement, so that should also help me get ahead in my requirements- I already confirmed I could do this before the fall with advising.
Any advice anyone has is well appreciated!

Planeo ir a Vallarta y ando viendo variedad de opciones de hoteles en páginas de agencia de viajes.
Lo que ando viendo con locales que trabajen en hoteles y visitantes, cuáles NO recomiendan reservar?
Aprovecho la función de traducir para que estadounidenses puedan contar sus historias de horror

It was near the end of a decade which had major success with both music and movies and was a time in hollywoood when there were so many masterpieces being made consistantly one after another and so much beautuful art that enriched our lives which have stayed with us and help shape our world views, stretching our imagination and our concepts of what movies were and how they can surpass our expectations beyond what we thought possible.
An example of such was Good will hunting, LA confidental, As good as it gets, Titanic, Boggie nights, Amistad, Jackie Brown, Gattica, Kundun, The sweet heraftter, The full monty, In and Out.
I don't think we have had a year jampacked with so much versatility and groundbreaking ideas successfully being executed within such a short amount of time.
I argue that year is one of hollywoods best due to the many amazing films that came out that year. I would love to here what year you think your favorite year for successful movies that stayed with them many years later and till this day.

I have a flight coming in on a Friday evening from Terminal 3 and my hotel is in Makati(Kamagong).
My hotel has an airport pick-up service for P1,550 pesos.
Should I just take Grab/Uber or take the airport pick-up service?