So guys, I've only got only a few more months left to be a teenager, so I decided to give you a few tips about life and such. I hope you will follow them, or at least learn from them, thats all I want, you all deserve to be happy
1 - Listen to your parents, I know it sounds stupid, but in most cases they will be right - but don't forget you must listen to yourself also, take your parents' advice, they are there to help you in life
2 - If you feel a friend has bad influence on you - just let them go, memories last, sometimes forever, but being in a toxic company is way worse, I've been forced to do things mainly because others in my company were thinking it's ''cool''
3 - Take relationships seriously, since I am a guy, I can talk about guys, don't break girls' hearts, be good, if you get hurt, don't become ''that guy'', you know what I talk about, remember the nice things and move on
4 - Music will be your friend, don't ever be ashamed to listen to music you enjoy just because others hate on it
5 - Live life to it's fullest, time flies, I remember the times when me and my friends were playing Minecraft all night long, sleeping late for school because of that our friend died in the cave and we had to find his items
6 - If you believe you got some kind of mental illness, talk to your parents, if they do not take you seriously in first place, take your time to make the conversation serious, your mental health is a priority!!
7 - Don't compare to others, you are unique
8 - This is a really important one - DON'T DO DRUGS, especially hard ones (since a lot of people asked me about drugs in the comments - if you wanna try, be responsible and take care! Remove any sharp objects nearby, choose a nice company, enjoy the moment, don't overdo it - it wont end up in anything good, take care everyone!)
9 - Sadly, the chances of you still being friends with the people you are friends with now - are very low, I am in contact with about 5-6, 1 or 2 of which I can trust my life
10 - Stop obsessing with what you look on the outside, yea, I know, we all got that facial feature we hate, most people do not even notice
11 - If a friend of yours seems sad or depressed, talk to them, sometimes a few nice words can save a life!!
12 - USE CONDOMS!! Not only about pregnancy, there are tons of others who got STDs, keep yourself save
13 - Just don't smoke, it's not cool, you smell like ashtray - save up those money and learn investing
14 - Workout, fitness is great, it builds not only muscles, also your character and discipline
15 - Be responsible, you must realize that words/actions may affect someone's life heavily - also yours
16 - Play Minecraft from time to time, especially if you can invite friends in the server, this will build your friendship!
17 - My favorite number, also fav year, when I was 17 my life literally changed''360 degrees no scope'' (this means it whooped me and made me rethink the way I live) - thats for those who do not understand why I used it that way- You need to understand that, life won't always be easy and happy, there will be days you will cry to be over, keep pushing, never give up!
18 - Be responsible when driving, at 18 most of you will get their driving license, don't speed.. take your time to learn, practice is a must
and last one
19 - School is not teaching you the things you must know in life, to some point makes you stupid, I said it, same for university, it also kills artists and people with real talent, studying is important, but improving your skills outside of school is absolutely a must!If you ask a tiger and a fish to climb a tree, the fish will live it's life thinking it's worthless and stupid!! Same on the other side if you ask a tiger to swim in the deep ocean, find what you are good at, get better at it and rock life, also try to make some cash on the way to the top!
--- Learn how to pay taxes ---
I hope this helps, your fellow soon not to be a teenager friend - S
cya guys when I turn 113, take care until then
Edit: since its 2:38am for me now, I enjoyed reading and replying to each one of you, I will continue replying tommorow moment to as much as you, also my PM is open, I already helped a few in there, talk to you all tommorow, cya! Edit 2: Ayo, I gave my best to reply to as much comments as possible, but its actually impossible because of the huge flow, I am sorry for not replying to yall, take care guys, I will reply from time to time, but I am now busy since the week started for me, stay safe!

Artist: Run The Jewels
Album: RTJ4
Date Released: June 3rd, 2020
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Artist Background
The duo consisting of Atlanta rapper Killer Mike, and legendary underground produceMC El-P, known together as Run The Jewels, originally came together as a result of Adult Swim executive Jason DeMarco who introduced the two in 2011. After his 2011 album PL3DGE peaked at #115 on the US charts, Killer Mike told Jason that he wanted to make his own AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted. Jason informed Mike, “If you want AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted modernized, the only producer I know who comes close to the Bomb Squad-level of production is El-P”. The duo’s chemistry was immediate, as El-P went on to produce all of Killer Mike’s 2012 last solo album R.A.P. Music, and Mike featured on El-P’s final solo album Cancer 4 Cure. Mike and El’s respective albums released within a week of each other in May 2012, and the two embarked on a twenty-city US tour in the following months. After returning from tour, the pair had found a friendship growing between themselves, and made the decision to put other projects on hold and focus on the chemistry that had been sparked. Recording at an upstate NY studio beginning in April 2013, the duo re-appropriated the phrase “Run The Jewels” from the LL Cool J track “Cheesy Rat Blues", and released their self-titled collaborative album, for free via digital download, only a mere 2 months later in June 2013.
36” Chain vs. Pistol & Fist
Run The Jewels discography currently exists in a distinct pairing. With Run The Jewels as their debut, this record set the group's tone as a light-hearted, braggadocious duo with as much confidence in their abilities as swag in their punchlines. Just over a year later, the sequel Run The Jewels 2 took the foundation set from their freshman effort and dialed the insanity up to 11. RTJ2 pushed the boundaries of their aggression and flows to new heights; with incredible energy in their verses, and absolutely impeccable beats, blending El-P’s signature industrial sound with sharp synth arpeggios, chopped Zach De La Rocha vocals, and absolutely bonkers Travis Barker drums.
It was then nearly 3 years before Jamie and Mike followed up their breakout RTJ2, with Run The Jewels 3 being released again ahead of its scheduled release date via free digital download, this time on Christmas Eve 2016. Instead of these two attempting to outdo the pure insanity and in-your-face attitude found in their predecessor, Mike and El decide to evolve themselves as a group. The duo had noticeably pulled back on the swag and dick jokes which made such a splash on RTJ2, instead choosing a more subdued, electronic approach to their beats, as well as a clearly stronger political approach in their lyrics. This change in sound and style is demonstrated in the album cover’s artwork. The first two records featured the distinctive RTJ “Pistol and Fist”, with the fist tightly gripping a chain. The chain, in my opinion, represents the swag and braggadocio that drove the aggressive nature of their first two albums. In RTJ3 the chain is removed, leaving only hands that have transformed from bleeding and bandaged, to a pristine gold.
This brings us to early 2020. It’s been nearly 4 years of living in a post-Trump America, and El-P announces that Run The Jewels fourth record has been completed. Mike and El live-stream the first single “yankee and the brave” on Instagram on March 22nd, 2020. Lyrically and sonically, RTJ4 exists as the successor to Run The Jewels 3, with Mike and El again taking the good from their previous effort and launching it into the creative stratosphere. El-P’s beats are again leaning towards the synthetic, electronic side, this time with the intensity dialed all the way up to 11. From a lyrical perspective, RTJ takes the politically-charged lyrics from their predecessor, and again, up the ante, laying down some of the hardest hitting and politically poignant bars either of these two have ever spit.
Album Review
2020 was a year that none of us will soon forget. An unprecedented global health crisis kept the majority of us inside for months at a time. RTJ4 was announced on May 12th, 2020, with a release date slated for June 5th, 2020. However, with 2020 as the gift that won’t stop giving, the end of May was highlighted by the unjust killing of George Floyd. The phrase heard around the world, “I can’t breathe” instantly became a rally-cry for the oppressed to finally take to the streets to demand systemic police reform, as Floyd’s death was not the first time this phrase was uttered in an unjust police killing. In fact, a 2020 study by the New York Times showed that at least 70 people have died in police custody after using the same phrase over the past decade. As millions of American’s began organizing protests and demonstrations in the wake of Floyd’s death, Run The Jewels made the decision to release their latest chapter two days ahead of the scheduled release. El-P tweeted, just minutes ahead of the drop, “Fuck it, why wait. The world is infested with bullshit, so here’s something raw to listen to while you deal with it all. We hope it brings you some joy. Stay safe and hopeful out there and thank you for giving 2 friends the chance to be heard and do what they love”. In line with all past Run The Jewels releases, the album was made available for free digital download, two days ahead of its scheduled release date, on June 3rd, 2020.
THE RETURN (we don’t mean no harm but we truly mean all the disrespect)
RTJ4 opens with the first single, “yankee and the brave (ep. 4)”. Using the team names from their respective hometown baseball teams, Mike and El use the opening track to prove that they’re not just a hip-hop duo, they’re brothers, for better or worse. El-P kicks this installment off with rapid-fire, machine-gun esque snares, matching Killer Mike’s aggressive flow and tightly packed rhymes, before El jumps in to trade some dense rhymes as well. Mike and El depict themselves as outlaws, with Mike surrounded by cops with only one bullet remaining. He contemplates suicide instead of allowing the police to take him alive, until El-P jumps back in, offering Mike a way out, with a getaway car waiting outside. This tense situation is depicted lightheartedly in this song’s music video, which was released via Adult Swim and features the duo animated.
The trade-off between Mike and El’s short verses are reminiscent of late-80’s EPMD flows, while the production sounds like boom-bap that’s been sent to us from the future. This distinctive blend of old-school rap roots and forward thinking production is what continues to separate Run The Jewels from absolutely all of their contemporaries. While so many artists are continually playing catch-up with the latest trends, RTJ are side-stepping the trendy and moving forward with the mind-bending.
FLEXIN’ (ayo one for mayhem, two for mischief)
The second single “ooh la la” samples a Gang Star track "DWYCK (feat. Nice & Smooth)" as the basis for the chorus. I say “samples” as that’s how it is credited in the album’s liner notes, however it’s truly an interpolation of Greg Nice’s bar, slowed down slightly, and sung by El-P and Greg Nice himself. El-P is a true old-head at heart, and it’s abundantly obvious in his work, even going as far as to recruit legendary producer DJ Premiere to handle the scratching on the back end of this banger.
Out of key piano chords are looped to quickly create an unsettling aura surrounding the track, before El-P’s voice cuts through the infectious piano like a whip. Pounding, up-tempo drums are introduced after the chorus’ first iteration, creating what is possibly El-P’s first danceable beat. Lyrically, Mike and El-P initially seem scattered on this track, however the music video quickly makes their point very obvious.

”we imagined the world on the day that the age old struggle of class was finally over. a day that humanity, empathy and community were victorious over the forces that would separate us based on arbitrary systems created by man.
this video is a fantasy of waking up on a day that there is no monetary system, no dividing line, no false construct to tell our fellow man that they are less or more than anyone else. not that people are without but that the whole meaning of money has vanished. that we have somehow solved our self created caste system and can now start fresh with love, hope and celebration. its a dream of humanity’s V-DAY… and the party we know would pop off.”

The video envisions a society celebrating the fact that the class system we currently exist within has finally imploded. Money is worthless, and we have rejected the desire to bind ourselves to the constraints of capitalism. All creeds and colors unite to burn the system that has so effectively controlled us for over a century. It’s a party, and if there was a song to celebrate the end of the world as it is currently known, “ooh la la” is that song.
Mike’s last verse features a few metaphors and comparisons celebrating the destruction of capitalism, saving the most poignant for last:

I used to love Bruce, but livin' my vida loca
Helped me understand I'm probably more of a Joker
When we usher in chaos, just know that we did it smiling
Cannibals on this island, inmates run the asylum

Premo’s expertly cut scratches lead us into the equally hard hitting sample flip of “Misdemeanor”, by Foster Stevens as the basis for the beat to “out of sight”. Lending yet another nod to the old-school greats that laid the foundation for RTJ, “out of sight” samples the same track as The D.O.C.’s “It’s Funky Enough”, only adding a bouncy, electronic synth atop the inverted chord hits, and uptempo, industrial drums, to create an absolutely infectious groove for Mike and El’s dynamic chemistry to shine, rapidly jumping between each other’s two line flows in the first verse.
“out of sight” shows each MC providing insight into how each of them earned a living and achieved their current status. Mike and El’s opening verse each details themselves robbing people in order to eat. El alludes to the fact that he crossed his accomplices in crime for the whole bag, while Mike details the fact his assailant tells him it’s an “honor” to be robbed by his mother’s only son.
While El-P’s production is the obvious stand out on first listen, Killer Mike comes through with one of the most sonically pleasing and technically proficient verses of 2020.

We the motivating, devastating, captivating
Ghost and Rae relating product of the fuckin' '80s
Coke dealin' babies, never regulating, bag accumulating
It would not be overstating to say they are underrating
The pride of Brooklyn and the Grady, baby
We don't need no compliments or confidence
Our attitude and latitude is "fuck you, pay me"

The dense, intricate rhyme schemes smack you in the face, almost distracting you from Mike’s delivery and blistering flow on the verse; flexing his legendary status while paying homage to his drug-dealing past. This absolutely stunning display of technical skill, story telling, and complex rhyming illustrates how RTJ seamlessly integrates the best of both old school and new school hip-hop.
“out of sight” also features a guest verse from 2 Chainz, and he continues to lay the braggadocio on thick. Considering Tity Boi’s dedication to trap stylings, his verse feels right at home on the flex track, despite it’s late 80’s tribute sample, a considerable departure from his usual sound palette.
Up until this point, I haven’t mentioned any of the El-P’s lyrics specifically. El-P is a great rapper, but Killer Mike… Well, Killer Mike is an incredible rapper. He’s the guy who draws you in. El-P is the one who lays the foundation for greatness and Mike is the show stopper, and that’s generally the case for most RTJ tracks. But on “holy calamafuck”, El-P seems determined to make people stop and ask, “Who the fuck is this?!”.
A sharp, yet nearly minimalistic drum kit backing a heavily distorted synthesizer melody lays beneath rhymically knocking cow-bells. This aggressively set stage allows Mike and El to flex as the dynamic duo they are, until the beat suddenly takes a turn for the chaotic. A gnarled, ultra-menacing synth overtakes everything while Mike screams into the abyss, until a distorted snare, enormous 808s, and skeletal hi-hats cut through and launch the beat switch into another dimension. The minimal, yet incredibly dark soundscape allows El-P to snap in a way I have never heard from him previously. His rhymes schemes are reminiscent of an old MF DOOM lyric notebook, while his topics flawlessly combine flexing, psychedelic use, and his well-cemented legacy in the hip-hop community. Cutting and pasting a few of his bars into this review could not convey a fraction of how stunning El-P’s performance on “holy calamafuck” is.
Slightly later in the track list, making liberal use of the Ether song “Gang of Four”, “the ground below” samples and loops the sharp guitar riff and adds aggressive, pounding drums as the basis for the beat; this is finally reminiscent of the forward-thinking, stridulous production El-P has built his reputation on. Capitalising on the classic RTJ moment, Mike and El both flex in their own unique ways. Mike compares himself to Godzilla taking on Tokyo, and El-P demands respect for his name as the legend he is, threatening to smack dying children for mispronouncing his name with his middle finger to the world; his complete disregard for human life and confidence in his abilities are summed up at the end of his verse.

You see a future where Run the Jewels ain’t the shit
Cancel my Hitler-killing trip
Turn the time machine back around a century

SO¢IAL JU$T-ICE (until my voice go from a shriek to whisper...)
While the first few tracks aren’t without their social and political themes, the back-end of RTJ4 is where Mike and El start to bust out the heavy topics. “goonies vs. E.T.”. starts off light, with El-P pointing to the irony of how once he finally started to make it “big” in the industry, the world began to descend into chaos due to climate changes, increasingly obvious social injustice, and political madness. He culminates his frustration with our disregard for the Earth with a fantastic quotable.

Fuck y’all got, another planet on stash?
Far from the fact of the flames and our trash
That is not snow, it is ash, and you gotta know
The past got a wrath, it’s a lover gone mad

Mike’s verse takes the light-hearted frustration expressed by El-P, and turns the aggression to the next level. Aiming his sights against the ruling class and their society that’s been designed to oppress people for profit, who have very meticulously painted themselves as celebrities and idols to the American public. Mike accepts that he will be villainized by these people for speaking against them, but he welcomes the nefarious role, knowing that the working class will eventually eat the rich, no matter how much they are stomped into the dirt.
And this is just the warmup.
If it’s possible for a song to represent a moment in time that captures the absolute shit storm that has been 2020, “walking in the snow” is that song. It’s release coincided perfectly with the protests for George Floyd which were sweeping the nation. Killer Mike’s verse directly references the phrase “I can’t breathe”, the last words of Eric Garner, which also happened to be the last words of Floyd as well. The fact that this verse was reportedly written in November 2019 perpetually underscores the importance of the content and perfectly represents how persistent this problem is. “walking in the snow” is a true encapsulation of both a defining moment in time and an ever-persisting issue.
But he doesn’t just stop at the racial injustice. Mike goes on an absolute rant about the American education system; how it’s not designed to teach people, but to discriminate against poor populations, limiting their legitimate opportunities, and therefore disproportionately leading them into a criminal lifestyle. He calls out the media as fear-mongers, and the apathy of the American public in the face of indecency. Fortunately for Mike, by the time we finally had the chance to hear this masterpiece, we were already on our feet, using this album as a war cry to mobilize against a tyrannical government that militarized against its own citizens simply for asking that we recognize systemic racism and demanding change. Killer Mike has the best verse of the year, no doubt in my mind.
The only drawback is that Mike’s verse is so fucking good that it completely overshadows El-P’s, which is also amazing. A menacing guitar riff and haunting synths kick the track off into a bouncy groove, where El-P unleashes a flurry of internal rhymes that does not relent for about half his verse. Even adding layers of social commentary within the densely packed bars, El refuses to quit and continues on his political tirade; criticizing ICE’s detainment center practices and the “pseudo-Christians” who support them, with a bar that now lives in my head:

Pseudo-Christians, y’all indifferent, kids in prison ain’t a sin? Shit
if even one scrap of what Jesus taught connected you’d feel different
what a disingenuous way to piss away existence, I don’t get it
I’d say you lost your goddamn minds if y’all possessed one to begin with

The combination of two of the best verses spit by any rapper(s) this year and production help from El-P and long time RTJ collaborator Little Shalimar, create a bouncy, aggressive, deeply truthful banger. “walking in the snow” not only encapsulates the crux of 2020 with lyrics that will become more powerful as they age, but will also forever be associated with the Black Lives Matter movement and the determination to expose continuing racial and societal injustices.
The sonic palette of RTJ4 holds an extremely unique place in El-P’s discography. Jamie is the definition of a self-made 90’s hip-hop legend. This is the dude who put New York underground hip-hop on the map with Company Flow, and he did it with his unique flavor of dark, noisy, dense, boom-bap. Whether he was doing it with the help of Rawkus, or completely independently during his Definitive Jux run, El-P has never made music with the intention of becoming famous. Funcrusher Plus, Fantastic Damage,I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, and Cancer 4 Cure are all highly revered as industrial, technical, abrasive, and completely unsuitable for the radio or a party. The fact that three songs on RTJ4 could easily be heard on the radio, at a party, or in a TV series credits scene is frankly, astounding. In a 2002 interview/documentary on El-P’s budding record label Def Jux, he stated that his friend bet him $500 that he could not make a beat that was “happy”. At the time of the interview, El-P said that he had not won that bet yet. While I might not qualify the beats on RTJ4 as “happy”, if you showed El-P the beat for “JU$T” in 2002, I believe he might have won that bet.
Pharell opens “JU$T” with the pre-chorus, spitting varied examples of how we’re all slaves to our current system throughout the track, over echoing snares and bouncy 808s before bright synth chords and up-tempo hi-hats burst in while Killer Mike delivers the chorus, pointing to the fact that the majority of the people featured on American currency owned slaves at one point in their lives. Mike’s verse touches on the fact that he has committed crimes to get where they are today. Mike is publicly open about his past as a drug dealer. So why is he a criminal, but Benjamin Franklin isn’t? These are the people who built our country, and they built it on the backs of slaves. He illustrates this theme with a more recent examples:

You believe corporations runnin marijuana? Ooh (how that happen?)
and your country gettin ran by a casino owner (ooh)
pedophiles sponsor all these fuckin’ racist bastards (they do)

When corporations are able to sell cannabis legally, but the government continually incarcerates people who trap, our president is a notoriously fraudulent businessman, and the people who helped put him in power run a pedophile ring, yet none of them face consequences and are allowed to continue to profit and remain in power while people suffer; well, we might be closer to slaves than previously imagined.
Rage Against The Machine frontman Zach de la Rocha also makes his mandatory feature appearance at the end of “JU$T”. As the only artist to feature on three Run The Jewels albums, Zach is essentially an unofficial member of the group at this point. His fiery verse is spit with the same “Rage” energy that set him apart in the mid-90’s, ending the track questioning his place in a capitalist society as a recipe for his inevitable demise, since his “breath”, or art, as his weapon to express himself is still being exploited for other’s profit.
Continuing with RTJ4’s heavily synthetic sonic palette, “never look back” features wavering synth leads resting above the slow-jams snappy snares and thumping bass, while a haunting voice echoes in the background. This unsettling aura provides additional gravity for Jamie and Mike to continue self-reflecting on defining moments in their childhood, and as well as how far they’ve come from those moments. Mike and El are both self-made men, and while they have a certain fondness for those gritty moments that defined them, moving forward in life is undoubtedly more important.
Skeletal drums reminiscent of a slowly pounding heart opens “pulling the pin”, before rhythmic hi-hats and textured, watery synths fluttering in the upper register resting above a bouncy synth lead, and punchy 808s, burst in. The track digs itself into a slower, marching groove and shows the duo figuratively doing exactly what the title implies. Painting a portrait of a society that has turned on itself, Mike and El are ready to pull the pin and start over.
The duo both detail their despise for the ruling class, pointing out multiple examples of how the elite have designed our society to keep poor people in their class. Simultaneously recognizing their own hypocrisy for profiting in a system that inherently discriminates; Mike reflects on his own success, knowing that living the lifestyle he enjoys is one built on oppression, and expresses the guilt that has caused him. El-P opens with a brutal metaphor for police, implying that they’re the root cause of the “wretched state of danger” our society exists within, and that the only effective corrective action is to numb yourself with drugs. Despite his advice, Jamie knows this is not a permanent solution, but one that causes more self-inflicted wounds.
The final piece of the puzzle that is RTJ4, “a few words for the firing squad” begins to close the album with ever crescending strings, and loud, thunderous drums which never seem to resolve, continuing throughout their verses. While the drums that lead to nowhere can be sonically unpleasant, the unresolved melodies are intentionally representative of their current mindsets. Their verses are reflective and grim, but simultaneously optimistic and envisions a world where tragedy is a less common occurrence.
El is grateful for what he has now but recognizes his entire life has been skewed by traumas, so out of place feels normal for him. He reflects on his current success, noting that the worst people tend to end up with the most, which makes becoming “rich” something not as desirable as it once was.
Mike opens up about the death of his mother who died while he was on an airplane, admitting his struggles to not cope with his trauma with opioids. However, his wife provides him the most important reason to stay clean “but my queen/say she need a king/not another junkie rapper fiend” while a heartbreaking saxophone solo highlights the gravity of his lyrics.
The track ends with what sounds the like wrap-up voiceover to a TV show, a conceptually satisfying ending, as the opening track “yankee and brave (ep.4)” began with El-P stating:

”This week, on Yankee and The Brave”

This voiceover paints the duo as brothers on the run from the law and crooked cops, and while this does close this “episode” out as intended, the critic in me is bothered by the slightly kitschy outro to such a spectacular album. The voices singing over and over, “Brave, brave, braaaaaave, Yankee and the Brave” would be, simply put, better left on the cutting room floor. The ending of this track alone is what knocks my score of this album down a few points. Despite its stellar lyrical content, with drums that never seem to reach that “holy shit!” moment, and the easily skippable outro, it’s upsetting to me that an album this great ends on such a low note.
Overview
RTJ4 is by far my favorite album of the year. El-P’s cutting edge approach to their sound, blended with lyrical content that continues to be more relevant by the day, the duo have come together with what is objectively their most accessible album to date. RTJ4 is the natural evolution of sound and subject matter for the duo; taking the foundation set by Run The Jewels 3 and evolving it into a more concise, more accessible, and more conceptual album. While I still personally prefer the “fuck the world” intensity and experimental nature of Run The Jewels 2, RTJ4 opens themselves up to a whole new world of exposure, and when you’re as talented as these two, you know they’re going to capitalize on it. RTJ is currently at their apex, and they’ve created an album that will make many new life-long fans going forward.
9.2/10
Discussion Points

• How does this compare to other RTJ releases? How about in comparison to the member’s solo works?
  
• Does the overwhelmingly positive critical reception of this album surprise you?
  
• How will this be looked back on in 5 years?
  
• What are your favorite lyrics?
  

Ayo, so I skimmed over Unordinary for a quick recap, and I ended up seeing something that I didn’t remember. A lot of people probably already realized this, but I just felt like sharing it because I just not realized it was the case.
Alright, so if you look at chapter 184 towards the end Claire states “I knew exactly how strong John would become long before the two of us met” and Adrion was listening to the entire convo. Obviously she didn’t really mean it, but hear me out. Now, if you go back to chapter 44, you’ll notice that afterwards Adrion ended up going to John and telling him. Also, if you view episode 42 you’ll get a brief view of the fight between Claire and John. This brings me to what I’ve realized. During the end of the fight the dialogues changed from what they originally were in episode 42. You may be thinking, meh it’s not really a big deal, but in reality it is. Why? It’s simple. In the original version (Episode 42) John literally says “Isnt that why you helped me in the first place?” as he continued to think the only reason Claire helped him was because she knew how strong he’d become.
KEEP IN MIND after their fight Claire never explained to John that that wasn’t the truth. Now, I understand anything before that was just John being a douche and he seemed like a big tyrant, but at the same time you need to keep in mind that John spent around 6 years as a cripple before that. He developed his ability at the end of middle school, meaning he was a cripple in both middle school and elementary. Although, middle school probably wasn’t as bad because he had Adrion and Claire.
Think about everything I just said. John still thinks that Claire was using him because she knew how he’d eventually turn out. Now remember, CLAIRE AND JOHN SPENT AROUND 5-6 YEARS TOGETHER. Answer me this, if you had a friend or someone you deeply cared about and you found out they were using you for 5-6 YEARS you’d simply shrug that shit off? Be honest. That right there plays a large key into how John’s acting. Lets not also forget the fact that he’s relived that shit for around 4 months due to Keon.
That brings me to another point. Why didn’t Seraphina trying talking to Adrion? Do you realize how much shit that could potentially change? Key word potentially. Not saying it would, but it definitely has the potential to change the circumstances. If Adrion told Sera what he heard Claire say as well as the fact that he told John, would that not change the circumstances up? Also, Seraphina herself knows that John went through that shit with Keon, so why did she choose to talk to him the way she did during the fight at the safe house. Hell, we don’t even know how Keon’s ability works. For all we know, the 4 months to us could’ve been 4 years for John. I’m saying what if he had to relive him meeting Claire all the way up to him fighting them? Just repeatedly thinking that you were used for 5 years by your closest friend, because you had power over and over again. If Seraphina had to relive her getting abused by her parents or her sister leaving, would she not be affected? If she went through that shit for 4 months, she’d still be the exact same as she is now? Yeah, ok. Don’t get me wrong, I like sera, but for a smart student, she’s said some very dumb words. At the end of the day though, she still cares about John. Just had to point out something I realized.

What I mean is a channel mostly dedicated to actually providing you with information about a city/country from the perspective of a traveler.
Kinda sick of all these vlogs of travelers living in Bali or Mexico for 3 months off their parents trust fund. A lot of these kind of videos come off as disingenuous and braggart in nature. I don't care about YOUR adventure, I want to know the best way to get around, the best places to visit, any traditional cuisine that I have to try while I'm there.
Two channels I find particularly great at this are Attache and Ayo World
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbkrifxiaHa0nVwW2sDCVqw
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgHHUazAGZhnvhXjFAkZeGg
These two have videos dedicated to informing you about the currency, how to get around, things to look out for, and must visit/see things.
If anyone has any other channels they’d suggest or recommend, please share them.

Hey hey hey, I got inspired to post this from this bad boy post https://www.reddit.com/ApplyingToCollege/comments/ldgo94/ayo_some_wise_advice_from_a_senio
So now that I am done with my applying to college journey I feel like I can take an AP test on College apps and get a 5.
Disclaimer:
I am a low income intl' from an underrepresented country, so most of this info is tiny details that matter to these specific students. Also, some of the info may apply to First Gen / Low Income Domestic students so I'll let you know when it does. Now, let's start!
​

1. APPLY EA DANG IT: EA is an incredible opportunity so y'all should go for it. These schools care for students that apply EA even though they say they don't. Applying EA NEVER EVER hurts (unless you procrastinated too much, so that's your fault not EA's) Some of the great schools that give money to Intl' students and have EA are (MIT, UChicago, Colorado College, Reed College, Babson...) There must be more that I missed.
2. Apply ED DANG IT: This sounds like the EA advice but ED is much more serious topic. You need to be sure of what you want. Why did I mention this as an advice? Well, here's why. You might be tempted to apply to Harvard, Stanford, Yale or whatever Elite college that has REA but most of the time it is a bad idea. Applying REA means that you can't apply EA to several schools. So you are bound to use your early advantage on these big names (who honestly don't care much if you apply REA or RD unless you row or have legacy). So even though it is tempting to aim big, remember that you're low income international student and that a 50% acceptance rate is a reach for you. So be realistic and find the one school that has ED that you would LOVE to go to. It can be a T20 or a T50, you just gotta love it and remember to apply EA. If you think that you'd really love to go to school A (25% acceptance rate) but your dream school is school B (7%), in my opinion is that the smarter choice would be applying ED to school A. T20s aren't everything. T40s ARE AWESOME TOO!
3. SAFETIES don't exist for Low income international students. The closest thing to a safety that I was able to apply to is Albion College, a small LAC that has a 69% acceptance rate. I was able to get their highest merit scholarship, a 55% of full cost of attendance and then, had to apply for aid so that they could stack more money on the top. So the Higher the acceptance rate, the Lower the aid. Now yes, you do get to an equilibrium point where you have the perfect balance between "safety" and aid and I guess an example of that is Berea College, but remember, SAFETIES AREN'T A THING FOR LOW INCOME INTL'.
4. Fee waivers!!! Get Fee waivers! If you're in one of those International schools where you can get an SAT fee waiver, by all means, DO IT! It not only waives the SAT, but also the score sends and the CSS profile. (I for example was limited to apply to schools that accepted self reporting). Now if you don't, email the school for a CSS fee waiver!! Don't pay for a service that is supposed to provide you money—I think that's common sense. Get the Common App fee waiver, as it pays for 20 colleges.
5. If you come across any red flags while researching schools for financial aid, just don't apply, it ain't worth it. (I for example applied for Tulane even though the average aid is very low for internationals and they said that "I could still compete". BS! My rejection was because of money! They wanted me to be able to pay 50K a year as a minimum.
6. Here's a link to a Google sheet that has a list of most colleges in the US with stats on their aid policies. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EKRq8ZSvng2JJfM0LOuog3a6EBNjqAbj21a4l51mtg4/edit#gid=0
7. INTERVIEWS: If you're like me and most likely applying to many 45%-15% acceptance rate colleges, ask for interviews! It's easy write "insert college name admissions interviews" on google and the first link that appears is gonna be a page where you can register for an interview if the school provides that. Interviews are not the most important thing out there, but if you're already shot in the leg before the race, you kind of what to everything you can to win the race. We'll forever be disadvantaged as Low income international students (and that's very logical) so we do everything to increase the chances.
8. If you think the AO doesn't know your case as an intl' student, write it in the additional info section on the common app. That section is for you to explain stuff!
9. Prospective recruited athletes: Make sure to contact the coaches of the schools you're aiming for very early. September type early. And apply ED (maybe REA) to the college that has the perfect balance between "your love for the college" and "the coach's demonstrated interest".
10. APPEALS EXIST AND ARE VERY VALID!!! If you are 6K shy of what you need -- Appeal. If they gave you a loan of less than 2K --Appeal and tell them that there is no way you can take it. If you can't pay your deposit because of money or logistical issues --- Ask them to waive it. All of these are your rights, so don't shy away.
11. ED2 is important too! I know a lot of people who got in ED2 but were either rejected or deferred through ED1 so keep that as an option!
12. The Duolingo English test is an awesome opportunity for those who don't have much money to spend on a whooopping 200$ for TOEFL. It is 40 bucks and some colleges even give you a fee waiver to take it!! (Pssst Colorado college)
13. Now this is very specific to students who are low income internationals but live in a very small country that is underrepresented. Yes, you kind of are a Gem for colleges, but you come at a high price! Would you buy two Maseratis if you had $500K or would you opt for a Maserati and a Lamborghini? Same goes for colleges. They really want the kid with high academics from Laos, but once they got it, they won't look for more that year (especially if he /she/they cost them a full ride scholarship. So my point here is, if you're from a small underrepresented country and you're looking for full tuition/full ride, you shouldn't apply RD for schools where somebody else in your country got in through ED. For example, someone got in Bowdoin ED with a full ride from Kyrgyzstan. I am an applicant from Kyrgyzstan applying to Bowdoin RD and looking for full tuition, that same year. I shouldn't bother applying. My chances of getting in there are lower than for any other Uni. Of course, if you really think you should apply, that's on you. You think you are very different and the college will notice that, I guess you can go ahead and do it. Also this doesn't apply to medium-large sized countries of course.
14. Some more advice that apply to everyone is listed in u/SnooLemons5080's post that I linked above.

​
Now thanks for your attention if you actually read the whole thing, and I hope you are ready for college apps season lmao. Keep a positive mindset, but also be realistic. Balance is key, and that is how I was able to get accepted in an AWESOME university now.
I’m 100% forgetting some random important things so I’ll comment them later, but if anyone has any advice they want to add, comment it.

I hate it.
Him and Ayo Dosunmu both might be scratching their heads because they were first round picks when their names were first thrown into the fray however they returned back to college to improve their craft -- taking the advice of front offices in the NBA. Once they did, they were expecting to be rewarded for their efforts but fell victim to problems that shouldn't plague players of their caliber -- the age issue.
Draft boards across the internet are fighting to determine who is better -- Jeremiah Robinson Earl or Charles Bassey and it is an important battle because it could mean one player goes lottery while the other player goes towards the end of the round.
For people who may not know Charles Bassey, he's a 6'1'' F/C playing at Western Kentucky. In his third season at the school, he was sold on the concept of developing into something special and he really has. Averaging a double-double for your college career isn't a bad thing. Taking the time to develop your range around the court isn't bad either.
He's probably the most athletic center available this year -- having the ability to run coast to coast on any given possession. Sometimes, he'll even complete the journey with the ball in his hand, a trait that would be a wet dream for some analysts if the name of the prospect was sexier. He's also an elite insider scorer but doesn't have an elite post game -- which a professional coaching staff could easily fix by improving his footwork concerns. His offensive game revolving around a ton of screens along with great transition basketball fits into most NBA offenses and he's probably a lot more NBA ready than Evan Mobley -- who may need time to truly develop but still remains the far superior prospect. Bassey's rim rat abilities remain one of his most appealing traits -- always managing to make a good play on the ball in the paint.
What continues to be annoying is the concept of shaming prospects for being "raw" -- this idea that you should have every figured out in college, which I'm sure a lot of us realize never happens and it is rarely true for almost all prospects that enter the NBA. Bassey has an excellent modern big man game with the old school charm. Athletically speaking, he's almost everything you want from a prospect.
So why isn't he getting talked about more?
Maybe it is the age concern we have with prospects that come in from other countries -- is he really 20? He had a tibial plateau fracture in his sophomore year -- and he still looks good. He commits turnovers -- almost all big men commit turnovers. It feels like we hear too many vacuous reasons to not take the guy who and it is a shame.
Anyway, it feels like we don't talk enough about Bassey. He's been everyone's sleeper pick in every draft year that he has been brought-up, this may just be another year except he actually stays in the draft. And personally, I hope he does. Watching him play WKU has been a treat -- his take on the game will never go out of style and hopefully, he'll be able to showcase his skills at the next level.

Let me give you every reason that Kanye West is nothing but an undeserved scapegoat, who had provided nothing but top-tier music since his debut. Let me school you with some straight facts: Kanye, despite his publicity stunts, is regarded by many as a kind, compassionate individual. He often talks to his fans, and from all accounts is genuinely interested in what they have to say, what their life is like, and what their goals are. This is somebody who for the past nine years has been public enemy number one. It would be easy for him to go into absolute seclusion, and bitterly resent everybody, but he doesn't. He has a passion behind what he does, and it reflects in his music. Rick Rubin regards Kanye as the most influential and groundbreaking artist in hip-hop at the moment. Paul McCartney regards Kanye as a genius. He invited Seth Rogen and James Franco to perform their "Bound 3" parody at his wedding. He has won the love and respect of anybody who genuinely takes an interest in his music (Which has won 21 grammy awards, might I add). Despite the VMA incident, Kanye and Taylor Swift are good friends, and Swift herself has a deep respect for Kanye as an artist. Not to mention, the dude has not had it easy. He slaved for years as a producer before finally making his big break on the production for Jay-Z's Blueprint, with beats for Ain't No Love (Heart of the City) and I.Z.Z.O (Takeover). Despite his success as a producer, everybody told him he couldn't rap, and would never make it. He eventually dropped College Dropout in 2004, reinventing the game with an album full of incredible soul-beats at a time where everybody was still trying to copy the G-Funk West Coast vibe Dr. Dre's 2001 had left. The album had smash hits like Through the Wire, where he rapped about his near-death experience in a car crash while STILL WEARING his reconstructive mouthgear; or his club-hit about Jesus in Jesus Walks, at a time where you weren't going to get anything religious on the radio unless you're on country/gospel station in the South. Late Registration debuted 2005, with a completely fresh Soul sound, and featuring the talents of Adam Levine (Maroon 5), Nas, Jay-Z, and of course Jamie Foxx in his smash hit "Gold Digger". I don't care who you are, this song had everybody dancing and was played and still is played in every club from New York to Tokyo to Berlin. His other single "Diamonds From Sierra Lione" touched on the issues of Blood Diamonds and the exploitation of Africans by Africans "Over here, its the drug trade - we die from drugs/ Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs". This album also has one of his most heart-felt songs Kanye has produced to date: "Hey Mama", his tribute to his mother Donda West, who raised him as single black mother in Chicago, with all the trials and tribulations that brought. The song is a beautiful display of a man who has a deepfound respect for the one who gave him everything. "I was three years old when you and I moved to the Chi/ Late december, harsh winter gave me a cold/ You fixed me up something that was good for my soul/ Famous homemade chicken soup, can I have another bowl?/ You worked late nights just to keep on the lights/ Momma got the training wheels so I could keep on my bike/ ... and it don't gotta be mother's day/ or your birthday for me to just call and say: 'Mama!' I wanna scream so loud for you/ cause i'm so proud of you." 2007 Kanye released Graduation. This was a completely new sound to his previous Soulful works. This had a heavy techno/EDM inspiration, from artists such as Daft Punk and Deadmau5. His hit song "Stronger", sampling the also famous Daft Punk song "Harder, Better, Faster" was played once again world-wide in every club from L.A. to London to Sydney. It was groundbreaking, as Kanye melded genres that nobody had been able to meld. He gave popularity to the Robotic Voice trope that many artists copy to this day, and re-purposed auto-tune. It was no longer for untalented hacks who couldn't sing: It was for artists who wanted to give a specific feel to their music. Then by 2008, things really started going south for Kanye. His mother passed away due to complications with a cosmetic surgical operation, his relationship with his girlfriend was deteriorating, and he had a hatred of himself. It was in this despair and desperation that he produced his darkest work, "808s and Heartbreaks", which is essentially his thesis on pop music, providing us with an incredible set of pop beats, all of which were phenomenal, and embracing the cold, detached Robot Voice that he had popularized as a way of reflecting the depression and lack of joy and humanity he possessed. The album provided him an avenue to channel the dark times he was going through. The track "Coldest Winter" is directly about the passing of his mother, Donda "It's 4am and I can't sleep/ Her love is all that I can see/ Memories made in the coldest winte goodbye my friend, will I ever love again/ If spring can take the snow away, can it wash away all our mistakes?/ Memories made in the coldest winte Goodbye my friend, I won't ever love again" Then, in 2010 Kanye releases his Magnum Opus, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy". Critically acclaimed and regarded by many as the greatest rap album of all time, this album blew everybody out of the water, with not a single bad track. It received the near impossible 10/10 rating by Pitchfork, putting it in the same league as "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Abbey Road" by the Beatles, "London Calling" by The Clash, and "Animals" by Pink Floyd. It was deeply self-reflexive, and in most senses a powerful declaration that he was not defeated, that he is in fact at the top of his game and that nothing can stop Yeezy season approaching. His song "Power" is nothing short of an inspiring, uplifting, empowering composition which firmly asserts that Kanye is back, and he does not give a flying fuck. "Screams from the haters got a nice ring to it/ I guess every superhero need his theme music". His other single "All of the Lights" has a whopping fifteen extra artists, including Rihanna, Elton John, Fergie, Kid Cudi and many others. I could write a whole essay on Runaway, or Blame Game Then, in 2013 Kanye released "Yeezus", a.k.a. ABSOLUTE GENIUS. It is his anti-hiphop album of harsh, grinding samples, and disjointed jarring beats that comes together and by no sense of reason create some beautifully profound music. He denounces the institutional racism of the DEA and the CCA in his controversial track "New Slaves". He mocks the hubris and egocentrism that everybody sees him as having in his track I am a God, which takes the absolute piss out of the modern man who considers himself a god, with the absurd line "I am a God/ So hurry up with my damn croissants!" Kanye has stopped caring what people think about him a long time ago. But that's not what makes the album ABSOLUTE GENIUS. It's the fact that the entire album is in fact an allegory depicting the Tragic fall of the "Yeezus" persona, going from absolute stardom and egotism with the strong, hard hitting, angry, egotistical tracks On Sight, Black Skinhead, I am a God, and New Slaves. Then, it shows the invevitable Tragic fall, like something straight from Aristotle himself: Hold My Liquor and I'm in it deal with Alcohol and Sex addiction in a way that shouts the typical social glorification of the Rockstar lifestyle, whilst robbing it of all its glory. Had to stop at 7/11 like I needed gas/ I'm lying I needed condoms don't look through the glass./ Chasing love all the bittersweet hours lost/ eating asian pussy all I need was sweet and sour sauce The distorted sound of the tracks and the uneasy schizophrenic sampling shows the deterioration of the Yeezus persona as he get in too deep, the distortion of his voice throughout the song makes the listener realise the horror of what it is to embrace these aspects of life. Blood on the Leaves is the climax of the album. He returns to the Robot Voice to show the detachment and emotionless state that his sinful ways have led him to, removing his humanity and making him a heartless, soulless machine. This song is the Anagnorisis of the album (Similar to when Oedipus realizes that he's married his mother in the Greek Tragedy). Yeezus has fallen low since he declared himself a god. "Now you sittin' courtside, wifey on the other side/ Gotta keep 'em separated, I call that apartheid/ Then she said she impregnated, that's the night your heart died/ Then you gotta go and tell your girl and report that/ Main reason cause your pastor said you can't abort that/ Now your driver say that new Benz you can't afford that/ All that cocaine on the table you can't snort that/ That goin' to that owin' money that the court got/ All in on that alimony, uh, yeah-yeah, she got you homie/ 'til death but do your part, unholy matrimony." Guilt Trip is a continuation of Yeezus' road to redemption, his catharsis (Continuation of his Robot Voice). It's Yeezus' attempts to overcome his failed relationship and coming to terms with his own fallibility. "Focus on the future and let the crew knock her" "If you loved me so much then why'd you let me go?" (x3) Then, we get into the final stage with the last two songs: Send it Up and Bound 2. Send it Up is Yeezus coming to terms with what has happened and joyfully choosing to put it all behind him. "Reliving the past? Your loss" is the beginning of the song, and it ends with Beanie Mann singing "Memories dont live like people do; They always 'member you/ whether things are good or bad/ it's just the memories that you had". At the end of Kanye's verse, he shows that the Yeezus persona has revived anew "Yeezus just rose again." Bound 2 is the 'happy ending' of Yeezus. Yeezus, after all that he's endured: the greatness, the loss, the suffering and the revival; he now is redeemed. He no longer is chasing the fame, the money, the superficial things, and he's found that "One good girl [who] is worth a thousand bitches" meaning that he has a legitimate relationship with a woman, as opposed to all the bitchy girls that he's been dealing with. This girl gives him everything that Yeezus could ever ask for: companionship. The final lines of the song reflect their relationship. It's not perfect, but "you know, ain't nobody perfect". They celebrate the small milestones of making it to thanksgiving and to Christmas; perhaps they can make it all the way to the altar, but first she's going to need to forget and forgive the person that Yeezus was. In the last two lines, Yeezus sums up the entire journey, on a number of levels: After this long-ass journey and transition that Yeezus has gone through, reflecting the verses of these raps and self-reflection; or the verses of him against his demons; or the verses of the Bible as they get married they're both tired, and sad at the state of how things are for people still living their lives full of despair, and in a metaphor and reference to the shortest "verse" in the Bible, they weep, just as "Jesus wept." "Hey, you remember where we first met?/ Okay, I don't remember where we first met/ But hey, admittin' is the first step/ And hey, you know ain't nobody perfect/ And I know, with the hoes I got the worst rep/ But hey, their backstroke I'm tryna perfect/ And hey, ayo, we made it: Thanksgivin'/ So hey, maybe we can make it to Christmas/ She asked me what I wished for on my wishlist/ Have you ever asked your bitch for other bitches?/ Maybe we could still make it to the church steps/ But first, you gon' remember how to forget/ After all these long-ass verses/ I'm tired, you tired, Jesus wept" Now I've been writing this comment for the past hour, so I won't even go into his non-musical exploits, but rest assured that as far as fashion goes, Kanye West is leading the forefront with his Red Octobers or Yeezy Boost Sneakers with a resale value of several thousand dollars each. Now, I hope that if you actually took the time to read at least half of this, you will see that the hatred for Kanye is little more than an attempt to marginalize one of the greatest artists of our time. His outbursts, though not classy, are not unfounded. Heck, John Lennon literally said the Beatles were bigger than Jesus; if that's not hubris I don't know what is. Both Lennon and West are icons and artists who have changed this world forever. Just because you haven't taken the time to see further than your limited frame-of-reference by no means makes Kanye a bad artist or a bad human being. He is God sent, and full to the brim of musical talent. His new album will undoubtedly bring another wave of incredible artistry.

• Wolves

Eva: This energetic, iconic, chaotic queen has been plowing bitches over since day one (I’m bitches). It’s Juliana Lavarropas! Are you enjoying yourself today, angel?
Juliana: Oh my god hi bitches! I’m dad!! 😍 I am thriving this morning afternoon evening daytime runway category is you’re fired the house down boots im living hunty serve it to me like monkey brain in that ps4 game about war that scarred my mind 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩😜‼️💓
E: Just between us drag survivors (runner ups at that!), I have to wonder. It was a really bold move to jump straight to MPAR right after DS. Did you feel nervous at all?
J: Runner up!? I do think, twice even! Will MPAR bring me the third 🥰✨ well to be honest I was too high off serotonin from the support on the ds finale that somehow made me think “yes Juliana let’s instantly jump into the other extremely hard mentally taxing comp you can find this is what you should do!” And then on week 2 the hype wore off and so I was like æh😜 but in a I wanna nap forever way, I still do, hanging in there like Emily’s wigs 🌫‼️🌫‼️
E: I think it shows a great amount of creativity and grit that you were able to produce such high quality works even though you must’ve been exhausted after DS. How does it feel to be a finalist on BOTH comps?
J: I run on exhaustion and stress constantly I’m the 9 to 5 abusive husband of paper drag really ❤️🕴 I’m pretty much a big people pleaser so I run on the fact everyone else expects me to make the look and that’s what forces me to do it lmao ✨ if it works it works that’s all I can say really 💃🌫
Also not to be cocky but I knew I’d make it this far, not because “oh yeah I’m the shit Juliana Lavarropas winner of MPAR6 is here bow down” more like “I am so desperate for the attention this brings me and I am also too proud to let someone else send me home that I will do what I have to” wow this interview is really exposing all my mental issues isn’t it 😜‼️🥰
E: Don’t worry about it, that’s practically the purpose of this Tic Tac Lunch gig. Now to move on to the next question. Which look were you proudest of this entire season? Take your time, it’s hard to choose just one from your arsenal of great looks!
Juliana: Well I’m proud of most my looks (side eyeing some stuff 👁🌫) I think apart from my audition and promo which HONESTLY the flavor and taste those had is too much, also in competitive looks of course my week 4 bling bling boy glitter monster (honestly when I got casted my only objective was to win the render challenge and I’m forever happy that I did because if I didn’t girl that would’ve been a massive tantrum on my part 😍😍😍😜😜😜‼️‼️‼️) and also my week 8 because it was SO. MUCH. FUN. I will never get tired of blue looks and doing something that was very muah and also doing good (placement wise) whilst I was at it made me feel good and gave me the push I needed for the ball! ✨
E: Okay this one is a harder question. Did you have trouble with any look in particular this season and why?
J: Harder? Mom, this is easier my makeover is absolute garbage and get ready for a rant! 🌫👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩‼️😍 I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to serve for the makeover and as a huge perfectionist seeing that idea not come how I wanted it to frustrated me to no end, especially since sometimes if it isn’t what I wanted but at least I like it then I’ll accept, it but no, me and this makeover fought to nail and bone with each other 🥰. The ironic part is that I was high and I was so shocked but idk stop watch carried, that look was ok. Juliana looked like rotted ham on crack with a side of 7/11 hooker but make it art museum that’s about to go bankrupt. Very not so living no yass no wig no slay sis 🤬‼️
E: But in the end you still placed high so that is something to be proud of. Now, I have to spill a little bit of insider tea. One of my favorite things from the cast discord chat was you and Narcissus’s meme war against each other. How’s that going, have we concluded it yet, or is it still going on?
J: 6) GIRL I HAVE A FUCKING LIST OF RENAMES SOME OF WHICH IM TOO LAZY TOO FINISH SO IMMA JUST SHARE THEM ALL HERE YOU GO:

• Narscissors
  
• Carcisus
  
• Narsister
  
• Barcisus
  
• Narscircumsicion (My personal fave 😘)
  
• Narscivilization
  
• Caterpillarscissus
  
• Tubularscissus
  
• Starcissus
  
• Auricularcissus
  
• Cellularcissus
  
• Fliarcissus
  
• Tearcissus
  
• Pearcissus
  
• Jarcissus
  
• Earcissus
  
• FARTCISSUS IM WATCHING.
  

And remember that just because it’s over doesn’t mean it’s really over and if you think it’s over maybe I’ll be coming over again-!
E: Care to share some of your favorite home baked memes?
J: I HAVE MEMES FROM THE BALL I CANT SHARE THEM BC THE LOOKS ARENT OUT 💔💔💔💔 I do have some new and some old and some never seen before 😍 so imma just give you a nice selection of some of my favorites! The only one imma explain is the one of Daphne being Marge Simpson which is something only I find funny because I am the ✨😜💓problem💞😜✨ basically Daphne kept spelling honey as homey and oh my god why was that so funny but anyways she’s Marge Simpson now. Please refer to her as Marge Dubois or Daphne Simpson from now on 😘‼️💞👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩💓✨😍 (Editor's note: Some of these masterpieces may be automatically downloaded if you're on a computer bc of discord attachments.)

• Marge Dubois
• She should've won wig week y'all !!!
• Week 3 really said "Ayo, look like I'm going for a swim"
• This one is a plain out cursed monstrosity of hell
• bAbsKEtnvol
• The K of Killer stands for Kardashian.
• Top 4 y'all we did it 😍 🥳

E: Wow, each of these is a true work of art! I can’t wait to see the ball memes once it’s time. Is there anything else you want the audience at home to know?
J: Well we are coming to the end and I can’t help but feel whoever is reading right now is judging me 😄‼️ so I’m just gonna say that if I’m in physical and mental pain, I’m not because I am, no I’m not 😜‼️😍💞
AND [reveals into Cher costume] Đσ ㄚᵒᵘ ᗷ𝒆ⓁＩ𝔼ν𝔼 𝔦𝐍 lίⒻᗴ ᵃғт𝕖𝐑 ĹσⓋｅ [shits myself and dies]

Hello Redditors, A quick background: ABA is the largest (50 teams) BBGM basketball league. It’s is Hybrid meaning both CAP (User created my players) and GM (team manager) multiplayer bbgm league. This creates a unique dynamic that has held to us having over 280 members, far larger than any league at our age. All of our teams are named after former Basketball or sports franchise and several retro players and TV players are added to a mostly auto generated draft.
ABA was created by myself, Huy and Cole with help from former RBL owner ClevelandFan and RB96 owner BBKinney, at our conception we had 30 teams and 11 Create a players and were struggling immensely. Our small community watched the Bruce Gregory Boston Braves open the league with a pair of championships beating the Carolina Cougars and First time MVP Michael Briggs and Seattle SuperSonics and living legend Matt Pitts. The first dynasty has begun former however in Vancouver, with the infamous John Banks trade Vancouver paired legendary scorer Jett Steven’s with injury probe but unmatchable John Banks. Vancouver would be the first 70 win franchise and be the first team to win multiple none back to back titles. Banks will be remembered as the only None hall of fame MVP much like the real Derrick rose, in the mid 2020’s we also say the unique career of Byron Powers (a CAP) , Max Powers (a CAP) and tIde Jackson. 3 Hall of fame players who have yet to win a championship despite an array of impressive teams over a decade later. The aging but elite Detroit Falcons and legendary SF Jacob Onourah and the Dallas Chaps led by Iso Joe (no not the NBA player) emerged as the great franchises against Vancouver. The west was much stronger at this point. The Miami CAP dynasty was born. With a pair of future ball of famers, Jay Kumar (cap) and Axel Blaze (cap, get used to this name) Miami gave Tim Duncan esq star McPhearson Thompson a ring and emerged as the best team in the East until the emergence of a sleeping giant. The New Jersey Americans and the unprecedented duo of Bill Russel AND Wilt Chamberlin (with Muse Adam’s), The late 20’s saw this team and a littany of GMs including DUMBMATTER himself!!!! Dominate the East but not even Dumbmatter could beat the first two potential GOAT Gms in ABA history, JJ and Huy. Managing Anaheim Amigo’s Huy acquired Ayo McKinney, former UDFA Hassan Greene and Several other key stars to consistently make deep playoff runs and even win a chip. They later stayed solid by acquiring Byron Powers though never won a title. And JJ’s Utah Stars. The Stars led by the only player in ABA history, Marcus McPhearson, became the second team to win 70 games. A rookie LeBron James took Finals MVP in what was the single greatest season of the 20’s by the Stars. Marcus McPhearon would sign with Dallas and young star Big’n Chuckei (Cap) and the remains of the old contender. This Dallas team would be joined by a Tha’ Pentrato (cap) and Michael Scott (Cap) led Hawaii Hurricanes that started a new wave in the west. The new west appeared to be great however something new was emerging, something... special. The Arguable goat of ABA, Gm Damian led the Montreal Jazz and a series of stars including Jermaine Hawkins, Kevin Garnett and most notably Axel Blaze (cap) this team won 3 of the next six finals and made all 6 in a row. Winning 79 games multiple times. The west saw the emergence of a pair of arguably the great single players in ABA history (or at least two top 5). Jacob Owens, the Las Vegas Silver bandits longtime KD esc scorer. He led them even to a at the time record breaking 71 win season. The Melbourne Tigers, the first international team, and the Greatest player in ABA history, 8X MVP, David McGillian Jr. who led Melbroune to a championship and several 70 win seasons. As the Montreal dynasty began to wain and rapid expansion, we saw NZCFL players join ABA in mass thanks to a partnership brokered by Snohomish Salmon GM Killerdan and New Detroit GM Hail Slate.
These gms brought a new wave of contention to their respective conferences and saw the YouTube channel become something more with live streams regularly. This later led to ABA hosting the first ever BBGM annual tournament.
The Hurricanes, Tigers, Salmon and the next ABA goat, a duo or dynamic gms from other leagues including DBL, Ramen and Xndrew turned the expansion Minnesota muskets into the great franchise this side of Montreal. GM Irfan Bosna and superstar terron Forte nearly rivaled them briefly. Completing a 3 peat led by Jay Kumar (cap) and Axel Blaze (cap). the big four of the west currently dominate the ABA but the always good Cincinnati Royals and emerging expansion Tampa Bay Titans may have next.
ABA now enters it’s 3rd decade and 2nd in real life calendar year as one of the most stable and consistent and large bbgm leagues ever. Our growing community is closer than ever before and we have become a friendship that unmatched even my own original expectation of the server. Thank you to Oceanman, Huy, JJB, DDSavage, DaneMason, Billythekid, Killerdan, Killerdans brother ;) , Comllete Fleecer, BBKinney, Fike, .JJ, Damian, Xndrew, Ramen, Niko, Both Ben’s, boimenred, Luk, Three’s, ClevelandFan, Gino, Kidashi, Dumbmatter, Abdul, 42, Nobby, Gman, Irfan , Kiven, Jdoto, EJ, SPievy, Josh and the Gardner and a warm welcome to our new host of great members including the return of YBP, Pandora, goose , Fan, jongwon, penguins (and the former aab communtiy!!!)
We will be having a live end of 2030’s award show on January 17th.
YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCrIJQNNk5FandjjZCm9o0ig Discord server: https://discord.gg/Nb9z3d3
GM Mount Rushmore: Huy, .JJ, Xndrew, Damian
CAP Mount Rushmore: Axel Blaze, Byron Powers, tide Jackson, Tha’ Pentrato
Team Mount Rushmore: Montreal, Minnesota, Boston, Detroit.
Only team to never miss the playoffs: Dallas
Best player ever: David McGillian jr.
Biggest Bust Ever: Calvin Li (cap) or Chase Powers
Bets moment: Overtime game 7 Detroit vs Vancouver. Old onourah vs old Banks. What a game.
Worst moment: when I accidentally simmed the playoffs during the CF during Minnesota’s 2nd run.
Merry Christmas, Happy Year and Happy Anniversary ABA!!!!!!

ayo this is a little rant but I'm dating this guy and he has said a few slurs around me, I correct him every time and express how it makes me uncomfortable to hear the r word/ f word. He says it is just a word that does not hold any meaning and he would never say it to the people of the intellectual disabilities or lgbtq community but my point is that you never know who may be apart of those communities. It could be he doesn't want to change his habit because that is controlling how he speaks/what word he chooses but ??? Sorry, those two words are common in your vocabulary ??? like out of all the words you claim to know you choose to say that?
another argument of his is that he goes by " actions are louder than words" which pisses me off. You choose to say words to other people and how you express yourself. All of that is an action in which can be used to describe your character. I don't believe he can consider himself to be nice is he says offensive language. I think all of his arguments to not say these words are dumb and it would be simple to progressive and not say such harsh words especially when they make your partner uncomfortable.
I have not shared this with him yet, but everytime he says this type of stuff I like him less. He doesn't exactly fulfill my needs so for him to be disappointing in other ways is annoying.
​
quick rant over. it might sound dumb to others but it annoys me. If anyone has dealt with something similar let me know how to defeat him at this "argument"

Thank you to Star Smiley on Youtube for finding these secrets!
I think we all know about these three characters, at least if you’ve been spending as much time browsing the wiki for content to fill the void. Tako (which, in this case, appears with the female variant’s pigtails), Uni (Empty Friend), and Meido have appeared as early as the 2014 trailer and, as recently discovered, appear in the game, squirreled away in various sectors of Blackspace.
Now, the connection can easily be drawn thanks to the Tako/Abbi similarities, so I think that these three characters are almost definitely directly related to the ‘ three oldest ones’ that the Branch Coral refers to. The Branch Coral refers to The Yellow Cat, Abbi, and Humphrey. There seems to be a connection able to be drawn here.
Obviously, Abbi and Tako are both squid-like in appearance, and, until now has been generally accepted that Abbi was what happened to the Tako design. Now that Tako has been found in the game, however, that throws this connection into question. It is certainly there, but how it is is what can be theorized.
Uni/Empty Friend could be compared the Big Yellow Cat. Uni is the only one explicitly called a ‘friend’ and the cat being ‘the favorite’ seems to be of the same sentiment. The Empty Friend stares with a watchful eye, which seems very much so to be the Big Yellow Cat’s modus operandi, too.
The final friend, Meido, would then be related to Humphrey. One major problem in this theory is that Meido seems to be a girl, and Humphrey seems to be a boy. Now, that big discrepancy does not explain away one big piece of evidence for this solution- that damned smile. Meido’s goofy face seems to be the closest rendition to that face that you can make on a small character sprite like that. After all, she seems to be one of, if not the only, humanoid character sprite to distinguish a smile, as far as I know.
But something that seems to support these connections even more, is each character’s location. Tako is found on a beach, Uni/Empty Friend in a treehouse, and Meido in a town. Now, Abbi, Tako, obviously the sea. Empty Friend appears in a glitched version of the treehouse, an area that seems to match the neighbor’s room very much. (also, note the cat on the calendar!) and Meido appears in Town World. A direct connection to Humphrey is kinda hard to draw, but it seems to be the most technologically advanced appearance of Black Space, has or has had somewhat of a population (enough to have that developer graveyard and that many houses) and is relatively big. This is reflected onto Humphrey, filled with mad science technology, is filled with tumorous expressions of himself alongside many sprout moles and the slime girls, and can fit three laboratories, a large library, a chase sequence, and way too many stomachs. So a connection can be drawn!
So, what does this all mean?
Well, I think these three characters of Tako, Uni, and Meido were the ORIGINAL big three. More humanoid, simpler imaginary friends which Sunny created, pre-Ayo the pizza here. After the pizza was there, Sunny’s mind tainted the three, mutating and molding them into more abstract forms and his mind developed into the Headspace. He stopped thinking of humans (for the most part) so he, possibly subconsciously, shaped them into otherwise inhuman forms to fit wacky dream world. Slapped even simpler labels of ‘[THING]’ which only the deepest recesses of Blackspace can restore and which only the deepest creatures which exist above blackspace can even remember what these three once were (see, the Branch Coral and Abbi.) (Kinda mirrored by how they were supposedly ‘scrapped’ from the game itself, and how we all thought that they had just taken the concept of Tako and made it into Abbi. I know I thought that until now.)
Tl;dr, my theory is Tako, Uni, and Meido are the original forms of Abbi, The Big Yellow Cat, and Humphrey.
Thank you for reading! If you have any information that may support or disprove this theory, feel free to share it!

We all know the alignment chart is flawed as nobody can ever sit in just one alignment, every action you take falls into a different one, so it's a bit more of a scale than a grid, but this is how I think about it in a way that makes a bit more sense to me. If you do end up following this description, you may want to consider changing the alignments of certain monsters to fit, for instance aboleths are normally lawful evil but I think neutral evil or chaotic neutral makes the most sense for them with this setup.
Lawful good: I see a lot of people saying that lawful good is the most boring alignment, but that is only if you see it as that one kid who tells the teacher that you have gum. If you think about it more as people like captain America or Ayo from marvel, it can be a lot more interesting. Lawful Good means that you want to help as many people as possible within a specific set of rules. Sure, this can limit actions, but some of the most interesting parts of the black panther came up when Ayo was under the command of a different leader. Those bonds can make a great character story, especially when connected to the plot.
Neutral good: my personal favorite and probably the most common alignment among actual people. Neutral good ideals are doing what is right, even if it is against the law or social standards. They don't actively dislike authority, but when you get down to it, that shiny badge doesn't mean anything to a neutral good person. It is the alignment of equality, as long as you aren't an asshat.
Chaotic good: this is not the "haha lol so random XD" alignment. Those are actions, not morals. Chaotic good people tend to dislike authority, and opt for freedom. There can still be rules, but they shouldn't be made by any one person. It is a hard alignment to play without moving more into chaotic neutral, but it is very fun, especially in a revolution game.
Lawful neutral: like all neutral alignments, lawful neutral people tend to have fairly self centered morals. They are fine with authority and laws, but their goal is their own and they likely won't do much outside of what can benefit them. It may seem like this alignment would have very little ambition and not make a great adventurer, but just because they worry about themselves first, doesn't mean they don't care about others. Family, close friends and partners are all motivaters for them. These are people they care about and they don't want to lose them.
Neutral: like lawful neutrals, true neutral people tend to focus more on the needs of themselves and those they are close to, but they have the neutral good's sense of justice. They will break the rules that they need to, but they won't go out of their way to.
Chaotic Neutral: oh boy! The bane of every dm. The "its what my character would do" alignment! Well, not really. While chaotic neutral gon' do what chaotic neutral gon' do, this, again, is not the "haha lol so random XD" alignment. Chaotic neutrals, again, like all neutral alignments focus most on what their closest group needs, however they often feel that certain laws and expectations are unjust, so they take a more direct approach to getting what they feel that they need. A chaotic neutral rogue would likely be a robinhood type character, taking from those that they feel have taken from them and using what they take to provide for themselves or those they are close to.
Lawful evil: my favorite of the evil alignments and the alignment of most lawyers. The evil alignment is an interesting thing, because most humans aren't actually evil, so its kind of hard to describe it in human terms. Evil means that you have no regard for others beyond what they can do for you. Lawful evil means that you have a system or set of regulations. Devils are the most famous examples of this, with their society being based on the hierarchy of the nine hells. They usually follow a leader or cause.
Neutral evil: neutral evil is a bit like lawful evil in that they usually have a hierarchy, but they usually have more foul play as far as enforcing it. Goblins create hierarchies of strength and push tasks on those who are below them and keep slaves mostly to flex, but also to have more people below them in the pecking order. This is the "might makes right" alignment and most who fall into this category just want to make sure that they are at the top.
Chaotic evil: this one is definitely not one held by many humans and is not exactly my favorite. A chaotic evil creature has no rules and practically no morals. As long as things are screeming, exploding, or both, they are happy. They make good henchman characters, but in my opinion they aren't the greatest campaign villains.

ayo as the title says, I’ve been undocumented for a good portion of my life. Parents couldn’t afford college for me since I don’t get any federal aid or qualify for in-state tuition so since sophomore year I’ve been stressing about it, but now all those woes are over and I can finally have a stress-free Christmas break, thank god for not having to write 12 supplements in like 10 days.
Demographics

• Gender: female
• Race/Ethnicity: asian, viet
• Residence: MA
• Income Bracket: less than 20k for a family of 5
• Type of School: public vocational high school with about 2.3k students
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): literally none. is being asian even considered being a URM anymore? lmao. not first gen bc my dad went to school here

Intended Major(s): heavily comp sci with a side of going into education, but going undecided just so I can explore further
Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 4.3 W out of 4.0 scale, school doesnt do UW but maybe 3.8 if I had to guess
• Rank (or percentile): 8/559, so that places me in like what top 1-2%??
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: all honors courses, 3 APs ( AP CSP, APES, APLang)
• Senior Year Course Load: programming and web, AP CSA, dual enrollment english, required PE and health, info technology, physics honors, aaand precalc honors

Standardized Testing: test optional, never got to take sat/act
Extracurriculars/Activities

1. SkillsUSA Member (9-12) Treasurer from (11-12) basically managed funds and organized fundraisers for my school’s SkillsUSA chapter and I also worked BTS on helping and organizing events related to the organization + helping out overall with any school wide functions.
   
2. I literally have taken care of my siblings so much I call it a full time job since I’ve been in high school
   
3. Math Club member (10-12) President from (11-12) I participate, help and planned functions related to the club, sometimes we go to competitions but I never win any xd, asian genes just don’t carry thru
   
4. NHS + NTHS (11-12) All around community service stuff
   
5. Peer Tutor at my school (10-11) usually after school and usually only with math and science subjects since that’s what I do best babeyyyyyy
   

Awards/Honors

1. high honor roll my entire time in hs minus like 2 terms
2. this programming and web award I got from my teacher in sophomore year which means a lot to me sentimentally
3. ton of skillsUSA awards, got medals in Mobile Robotics and Web Design in my school as well as a leader award and a perfect score award

Letters of Recommendation
1000000000/10 - my apes teacher... sings nothing except praises about me as far as I’ve heard from my guidance counselor lol. she’s truly the sweetest person ever helping me out when my mom got laid off due to covid and inspired me to become a teacher.. I do firmly believe we have a strong relationship :) I adore her lots. I waived my rights but she showed me one part of the rec and ngl I honestly cried, it was literally a stellar recommendation in my eyes.
7/10 - my algebra 2 teacher, she liked me lots and cared about me and I like her as well! I just didn’t know if we had as strong as a relationship and if she knows me that well also I sorta fell a lil in her class after covid bc of personal family struggles so idk
8/10 - guidance counselor, I think she knows me well and knows of my struggles w college n such and she did say she wrote me a good one so I’ll take her word for it I guess haha idk tho bc I didn’t talk to her much until junior year but I will say my relationship with her is still probably stronger than most students who have her as a counselor
Interviews
i did not interview with Wellesley ):
Essays
6/10 idk could be better i did most of them on the last day actually because I was debating if I really wanted to apply thru questbridge or not so.. they were rly on a whim which I sorta regretted at the time and I def could’ve done better. but they weren’t awful awful I guess I wrote my biographical on a metaphor with my favorite game (Splatoon) and comparing it to my life, talked a lot bout financial struggles and stuff ig wrote my other essay with the 3rd prompt bout community so I talked about my immigrant community and compared it to like a woven quilt or sumn I don’t remember ahaha, and then talked abt racism in the community sometimes and stuff. yeah ❤️ I was a mess lol
short answers I mainly focused about being a woman in STEM and how toxic masculinity in my comp sci class actually empowered me to do better, stuff like that
Schools Ranked in order 1. Amherst 2. Wellesley (matched) 3. Williams 4. Boston College 5. WashU 6. Tufts 7. Swarthmore 8. Vassar 9. Bowdoin 10. Scripps 11. Grinnell 12. Macalester
can u tell that I simp for 1. schools in my home state of Massachusetts and 2. LACs lollll
Additional Information:
still super shocked and grateful I get to go to one of my dreamies rent-free :) ngl I thought I wouldn’t even be a finalist much less get matched bc I thought my essays were awful and that’d ruin everything for me but I guess they’re not as bad as I thought they were??
maybe I got matched to Wellesley bc of the women in stem short answers ahaha. super excited to attend there tho!!
I sincerely know how hard it can be for my fellow undocumenteds/DACA/who don’t really qualify for aid and can’t really afford the conventional cost for college (+ how hard it can be since so many of us get lumped in with the international pool) so if you fall in that category feel free to PM me for advice and stuff if you need anything ♡

ok so this happened like 5 hours ago
i was in history class and we were learning about that one election where it was a tie (idk which one). anyways i thought i was muted so when my teacher was like "that one dude screwed the other dude over by telling his supporters to vote for the dude that was against the dude that got screwed over" i was like well fuck him that's such a bitch move smh that dude won the fucking popular vote just because he didn't win the fucking electoral college vote doesn't mean he like lost thats hella unfair,
then my teacher stopped talking, and was like ayo who said that (he was presenting something so he couldn't see the screen so he had no idea who it was) my class threw me under the bus and was like "khadeiza said it" and for some reason he didn't throw me out the meet, but what truly makes this a fuck up is that parent teacher conferences are tomorrow
TL;DR: i cussed in class and parent teacher conferences are tomorrow
also i would like to add i feel like the way i wrote that makes it seem like i said it loudly or whatever i actually kind of mumbled it to myself ya know i thought i was on mute so i kind of siad it to myself if a mumbly quiet way

The Last Precursor is an HFY-exclusive web-serial which focuses on the exploits of the last living human amidst a galaxy of unknown aliens. With his species all but extinct and now only known as the ancient Precursors, how will Admiral José Rodriguez survive in this hostile universe? Make sure to read the earlier chapters first if you missed them!
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Join the Cryoverse Discord!

Previous Part
Part 001
.......................................
Three days pass.
Admiral Rodriguez stays inside the holodeck, quietly watching various memories from his life play out in front of him. Sometimes he laughs. Sometimes he cries. Sometimes, he simply looks on in silence.
A memory of a criminal blood-cult. They would stab hooks through people's feet, then hang them upside down and torture them for idle amusement. In the end, a few executives of Ramma's Chosen were found to be involved, which led to an internal purge of heretics.
An underworld slave trading ring. José and Nick once spent five years executing hundreds of top-level members, many of whom violated children for their sick amusement. Even so, many escaped to commit countless unseen atrocities elsewhere.
Two women, known as the Crimson Harlots. They seduced various government officials, coercing them to plant unknown devices inside top secret installations on various Core worlds. Eventually, those devices exploded, destroying the planets and killing trillions. The sisters vanished, never to be seen again.
...
The more memories José watches, the less intensely his loneliness and despair burns. Eventually, quiet logic and contemplation fill the void in his heart.
After the Crimson Sister's memory file fades, the holodeck goes still.
The synthmind, Umi, speaks from overhead. "Admiral. Would you like for me to play another memory file?"
José doesn't answer.
He stares into the void, a faint frown on his face.
"Humanity committed many atrocities."
"Naturally," Umi says, her monotone voice not revealing a personal bias one way or the other. "Of course, humans also performed many incredible acts of kindness. To look at only the negatives would require that you view history though a biased lens."
Slowly, José nods. "You're not wrong. I remember that one entrepreneur fellow, the ex-Orion Corp CEO. What was his name, again?"
"James Green," Umi replies, instantly pulling the file from José's memories. "He purchased the development rights to a Class II Type-K bio-world, one with a toxic atmosphere and insufficient planetary deposits for industrial purposes. Over the course of 2,000 years, he terraformed the planet to make it habitable for human life, then turned it into a refuge for orphaned children, the galaxy over."
"Haha..." José chuckles, a faint smile revealing itself. "I always used to hate Orion Corp. Looking back, they weren't all that bad. I had to visit Hetaria once on official business. The people there seemed... happy."
"Would you like me to replay that memory file, Admiral?"
"Nah, that's not really- actually... yes. Go ahead."
José starts to object, only to think better of it. The holodeck shifts around him, transforming into a replica of James Green's world, Hetaria. A glossy green sky spreads out overhead, while José appears in the middle of a city square, one with thousands of children running around, playing hide and seek, tag, or any number of other games.
In the memory, José's holographic self stands at attention, with Nick at his side, and a few other of Ramma's Chosen behind them. The group of warriors looks around, gazing at random children impassively, if only to pass the time.
From the other side of the square, a dark-skinned, black-haired man comes trotting forward, a smile on his face. A small contingent of bodyguards follows in his wake, but they keep their guns holstered, knowing such simple weapons won't be useful against any of Ramma's Chosen.
The man claps his hands and smiles. "Ah! Adjunct Belfos, the Twin-Headed Hydra, and the Golden Wolves! Haha, it's great to see you again!"
In front of José and Nick, Adjunct Belfos steps forward, a polite smile on her face. "Mister Green. It's been a while."
James Green shakes her hand while smiling from ear to ear.
The Adjunct continues. "I've come to fill your request. Based upon the information you've given us, we've placed this mission firmly in the Epsilon tier."
James' smile fades, ever so slightly. "Oh? The children who've gone missing, we suspect they were captured by pirates. Do you believe differently?"
"We do," The Adjunct says, her smile disappearing. "We've intercepted several transmissions in recent weeks from the Third Hand. It seems they have a few vessels near this sector."
"Ah, I see. Not pirates, then..." James murmurs. "...Cultists."
"Yes. We've been tracking a new underground network for the past several decades. They're adept at camouflaging themselves amidst civilian populations, but we've still managed to place several moles in their ranks. This isn't a good place to talk, though. Why don't we head inside?"
"An excellent suggestion," James concludes. "You know me. I'll never pass up an opportunity to show off my wine collection."
Both groups start to walk forward. As they do, a couple of boys run up to José and Nick, their eyes starry with excitement.
"Wow, you two are HUGE! How did you get so big?"
Nick smiles. "Eat your vegetables. Lots of kilgu, moppus, and spinach. That's how you turn out looking like me and Jojo."
José's holographic self nods. "Yep, Nicky-boy's right. You also have to do a hundred pushups, a hundred situps, and a ten kilometer run every day. No slacking off!"
Both boys nod, clearly enthralled. "Wow! You got it! We'll become super soldiers someday, just like you!"
The memory file fades away, leaving the flesh and blood José behind with a smile on his face.
"Haha. Cute kids. Wonder what happened to them after that."
The Admiral reflects on that last memory file. He recalls the beautiful scenery, the sight of all the kids frolicking about, and how utterly pleasant that world felt, overall.
"Yeah, you're right, Umi. There were some real shitbags among the humans, but there were good people, too. I can't lump the saints in with the sinners, or I'll lose focus on what really matters."
José's stomach growls. With a sigh, he stands up and disperses the holographic chair, stretching to pop his joints.
"What will you do next, Admiral?" Umi asks, as José turns to head toward the holodeck's exit doors.
The Terran pauses, a thoughtful look on his face. "Hm. Well, right now, I need to figure out the current galactic situation. I'm sure you've obtained plenty of intel I can use, so that shouldn't be a big problem. I need to learn more about the cats and crocodiles aboard the Bloodbearer, too. Finally, I need to start looking into what happened to humanity. I should visit the Core worlds; the fortresses of the various factions from my day. That sounds like a good place to start."
"Understood, Admiral. And what about the demons?"
José blinks in surprise. "The demons?"
"Yes. Have you forgotten? The reason you died and rebirthed inside the cloning pod: It was because a Demon Emperor slew you."
Umi transmits a visual recording to José, replaying the last several minutes before his death. The Admiral's expression blackens as he watches those last few painful moments.
"Sorry. I... I forgot. There was so much going on, I must have overlooked this."
"Yes, that was what I anticipated," Umi replies. "Nevertheless, now that you know, I must remind you that Ramma's doctrine states all heretics, especially anyone related to the demons, must be purged upon discovery. Naturally, as the current leader of humanity, you may choose to ignore this doctrine. However, I calculate that you will not abandon a core creed immediately. You know how dangerous demonkind is, after all."
José nods. "I do. Damn. How in the hell did the Shadow Emperor survive for one hundred million years?"
"The Shadow Emperor, Yama, claimed that he split his soul and body in half. He hid away in secret, regenerating himself to his peak condition. Naturally, as demon words are filled with lies, I must advise that you not take anything he says at face value. There is likely to be more to his story than what he's stated."
"Indeed. Demons are notorious backstabbers. Hmm. No matter what, I have to eliminate the Shadow Emperor before doing anything else. He caught me off-guard the first time, but that won't be the case, now. I'll have to take every precaution. Umi, start assembling a list of equipment necessary to totally eliminate any demons we might encounter. If the Shadow Emperor has survived, we should assume others may have, as well. For all we know, there might be Broodmothers somewhere, spawning imps. If that's the case, then..."
José trails off. His skin pales as a horrifying thought occurs to him.
"Umi. What are the odds that demons managed to resurge, somehow? A hundred million years ago, I mean. Could they have made a return and somehow wiped out humanity?"
"Affirmative. The likelihood is less than one percent, Admiral," Umi replies. "but even so, I would not advise ruling such a possibility out. While it is possible, the greatest evidence that humanity did not perish to the demons lies in the fact that no notable demonic presences were mentioned inside the Kraktol databases I recovered. Demons are immortal. As such, if they were to defeat humanity, then it would not be out of the question for them to control the entirety of the Local Cluster."
José falls silent.
He closes his eyes and begins to replay the entirety of the Tarus II mission from the beginning. Every moment, from when he first stepped off the Slipstream alongside Megla and the Kessu, all the way to his death, as well as recordings taken by Umi remotely via Lele's datapad. They appear in succession, giving him a play-by-play of the events that occurred.
After more than an hour, José opens his eyes.
"Umi. Tell me about the 'Buzor.' They look like giant bugs. That's what they are, right?"
"Affirmative. The Buzor appear to be vastly enlarged insects, arachnids, and other such formerly miniaturized creatures from the Motherworld, Terra."
"Hmm..." José grunts, stroking his beard. "Have the Kraktol or Kessu ever had dealings with the Buzor? They appear to be intelligent life-forms, not merely monsters acting on instinct."
"My queries reveal inconclusive results," Umi says. "The Kessu, naturally, have no computerized records I can search, outside of the Slipstream's memory banks. As for the Kraktol, I am only able to determine that they have engaged in 'amiable' relations with certain Buzor factions. The Buzor are neither allies nor enemies with the Kraktol."
Silently, José nods. He listens to Umi's summary, pondering on her words while brooding to himself.
"Something doesn't add up, here..." José murmurs. "Originally, you stated that the Kraktol were attacking the Kessu's homeworld to eliminate them. Correct?"
"Affirmative, Admiral."
"That action seems rather pointless, don't you think? The Kessu intentionally transitioned to a post-technology civilization and ceased all relations with the galaxy at large. Even if the Kraktol hated the Kessu, it's odd that they would wait several thousand years before launching a full-scale assault on the planet. Why not do so earlier?"
José continues. "Furthermore, it seems the only Kraktol still alive who remember the ancient blood-grudges are the Thülvik and some of her top-level administrators. I doubt the peasantry would care about some long-lost humiliation from a former enemy species."
Umi pauses a moment before replying. "Admiral, may I ask what argument you are making? Do you mean to imply that there is a deeper conspiracy happening here?"
"There always is," José replies, his voice low. "Since the Buzor are fighting alongside Yama and his minions, that implies a cooperative relationship. And why are they skulking underneath a mountain filled with Trifrancium deposits? Why choose the Kessu's homeworld? What are they trying to hide?"
"I have many questions..." José murmurs. "Too many to count. Did I ask anything similar before my death?"
"Negative," Umi answers. "These conjectures you've stated are brand new. I have adapted them into my processing matrix and will begin calculations regarding probable answers at once. My first hypothesis is that the Kessu, Buzor, and demons are working together in some way."
"I have a similar thought," José says. "But... it's too early to assert that without evidence. No... instead, I need to set aside the immediate extermination of Tarus II's demons. Gathering intelligence should be my primary goal, right now. I want to know why the demons and Buzor are working together, and how the Kessu and Kraktol fit into their plans. Seal everything I've spoken about with you in here inside a red-level classification file. I don't want any of this information leaking to our... passengers."
"Orders acknowledged, Admiral," Umi says, her voice as monotone as ever. "Do you have any other orders?"
José frowns. He rubs his stomach and sighs.
"No. The only thing I want at this moment is to eat some food. I'm starving."
"Currently, your body does not possess any augmentations. I recommend that once you obtain some sustenance, you should immediately head to the medical bay. Bio-entity Penelope will reinstall the biomods from your previous body, allowing you to reach your peak combat potential as quickly as possible."
José starts walking toward the holodeck's exit doors. They slide open, only for him to emerge into an empty hallway.
"Hm?" José says. "Where is everyone?"
"The majority of the Bloodbearer's personnel are currently asleep," Umi explains. "I informed them you would not emerge from the holodeck for several more hours. I calculated that you would like to maintain a certain level of privacy for a short while. Shall I inform them otherwise?"
"No. That's fine," the Admiral says. He turns and heads toward the mess hall, his stomach grumbling harder than before. "Damn. Now that I've rebirthed, I won't be able to use my psionic abilities anymore. Not having those available is... unfortunate."
"Affirmative. However, Admiral, not all is lost. Your former body suffered many expected abnormalities, all accumulated over thousands of years of its existence. Considering the amount of time you spent inside the stasis capsule, much of your internal structure had decomposed as well. By comparison, your current flesh-vessel is in pristine condition. Physiologically speaking, you will restart your biological clock, and soon your strength should rapidly eclipse your former self. I estimate that you will easily live for many thousands of years."
José rolls his eyes. "Wonderful. Lots of time to adjust to this ever-present sense of loneliness."
"My apologies, Admiral. I did not mean-"
"It's a joke, Umi. A joke."
"Affirmative. I will note this in my processing files."
...
José enters the mess hall. Inside, not a soul stirs.
He synthesizes multiple heaping plates of food and begins wildly gorging out to his heart's content. After more than thirty minutes, the Admiral consumes the meat equivalent of five chickens, making his stomach feel as if it's about to burst.
"Haha!" José laughs, his voice echoing in the empty room. "I can't remember the last time I got to ignore the rationing guidelines and pig out like this. Feels nice. Plus one to living in an empty, desolate future, eh, Umi?"
"...Affirmative, Admiral."
José cracks his neck and rubs his stomach.
"I forgot what it was like living without augmentations. Is this how unaugmented humans used to feel? My eyes are drooping."
"Presently, you do not possess the cerebral and neural efficiency-type biomods which all of Ramma's Chosen typically had installed. Thusly, your mind and body will fatigue more easily, particularly after three days of nonstop memory-viewing. I recommend several hours of bedrest to elevate your mental condition to its peak. Then, we will expend two to three days reinstalling your missing biomods."
"Sounds good," José says, rubbing his tired eyes. "Let's go with that."
The Admiral rises to his feet. He stretches hard, pops his back, and yawns. As he leaves, a bio-entity materializes inside the mess hall and cleans up his dishes before disappearing.
José strides down the corridor. His eyes droop, making him yawn several times.
"Admiral, your quarters are in the opposite direction," Umi says. "You no longer reside in the Private barracks. You took over Admiral Baruchen's quarters five point six months ago."
"...Oh."
José slows to a stop, turns around, and walks in the opposite direction, toward the Bridge.
"I didn't realize."
"I calculated as much," Umi says. "You will require additional time to readjust to your living situation."
The Admiral nods.
"You've got that right."
Next Part
.......................................
Author Note:
Ayo famalams, if you liked what you just read, consider subbing to my Patreon! I post patron-exclusive writing posts, with typically one post dedicated to TLP each month, and another to Cryopod. You help me survive long enough to not starve to death, and I give you fun things to read. It's a win-win! Check out some of those posts here and here!
Also consider reading The Cryopod to Hell, the primary story in the Cryoverse! Both stories are part of the Cryoverse, so they're deeply interlinked. You don't wanna miss them!
Thank you!

College hoops picks 2/12
Top tier:
Nah’shon Hyland 9,000
I don’t know very much at all about The Atlantic 10. I’ve seen Hyland play once, and boy is he impressive. He’s just a real fun player to watch. That doesn’t mean shit as far as DFS goes. But it just so happens Hyland is a star DFS player as well. The guy can put up numbers in bunches. He is mainly a scorer, but he does enough in the periphery to have a high floor. He sports a +30 usage rate. This VCU team only goes as far as Hyland brings them, and I believe VCU will bring it tonight.
Kofi Kockburn 8,700
Surprised I’m going with Cockburn over Dosunmu? Yeah I get that. This could easily come back to bite me when Dosunmu pops off for 50+. But I don’t see that happening. When building lineups, I try to come up with a story of how I think the game is going to go. Basically just predicting game script. And my best guess is that Illinois gets up big early on the backs of both Ayo and Kofi. Once the game is out of hand, Illinois plays it safe and gives the usage to it’s big man to secure the victory for them. Fact is, Nebraska has absolutely nobody to stop Kofi in the post. I see Ayo’s usage being slightly down, and Kofi’s up. I mean, this game could go any way. Nebraska could somehow get out to an early lead and it becomes Ayo time. But I think the way I explained it is the most likely outcome. Not to mention we get a 600$ discount pivoting off of Ayo onto Kofi, and Ayo will probably be more owned. In tournaments, rostering Kofi instead, if you buy into my game script prediction, could give you some leverage on the field. Just a thought, I would understand if you feel more comfortable with Dosunmu.
Other plays: Kyle Lofton
Mid tier:
Brandon Mahon 7,300
Now this pick isn’t a sexy one. Mahon isn’t going to wow you. But the man is consistent, and that is what we look for in his price range. Don’t get me wrong, he’s got upside. But chances are on this slate he nets you 25-30 DK points. Not much more or less. He’s just a solid fantasy producer with a modest but admirable usage rate. He’s the top option on his team, so he’s going to get his. Lately he has been giving some usage up to Darius Perry, but I don’t think that affects him too much on this slate.
Aamir Simms 7,800
I never like playing Aamir Sims much. But he has been producing lately, often making me wish I smartened up and just rostered him. The main reason I don’t usually roster him is because of the game environment. Almost every game Clemson plays has a dreadful total and projected pace. But despite that, Simms delivers consistently. And this is finally a matchup I would love to target him in. GT is dreadful at interior defense. They have Moses Wright to thank for that. They’ve got nobody to match up with Simms in the post. I say Simms has an absolutely dominant game.
Value picks:
Bubba Parham 4,200
I think we can potentially look to Parham as a true dart throw play. The fact is, his minutes are back up, and he’s far too cheap for a guy who plays 30-35 minutes, even if he isn’t used very much. Parham is so cheap, we don’t need him to do too much. Just fall into a few rebounds and assists, and just to score a few points within all those minutes. I’d say the chances are pretty good. I don’t love targeting players going against Clemson (I”m going to be light on Wright, Alverado, Usher and Devoe) but Bubba is just a value I’m not willing to pass up. Like always, there is a certain amount of risk with Parham, you’re never going to find a guy at 4,200 without sizable risk, but with all those minutes he has pretty high upside, for his price of course.
Other plays: Kevin Cross, Hason Ward

(Soda the catboy maid is currently doing parkour on a children's playground during his weekend off.) Thomas Jefferson, third us president, has been resurrected and boy does he need the bathroom. He goes up to Soda, completely ignoring the catboy maid thing and asks "excuse me cat boy, you look like a nice young man, can you tell me where the nearest bathroom facility is?" "No clue! I just saw an abandoned playground and wanted to hop around!" Soda responded happily before bopping towards one of the nearby streetlights which immediately flickered out leaving him standing in the darkness of the night with Thomas Jefferson looming in the distance. "Well the lights are off" says thomas jefferson awkwardly, not knowing what to say. "Guess I'm not findin the bathroom easily" he sighs, mind heavy with the knowledge that he is about to shit himself. Soon his pants will be heavy too. "Uh I'm gonna go in the bushes" says jefferson, before running away and leaving soda alone in the dark. The smell from Jefferson in the nearby bush wafted over to Soda immediately and he almost started crying. Jefferson came out of the Bush. "Whoa mama, that was a big one!" he exclaimed, before noticing Soda on the verge of tears. (Its dark, he has night vision, this is relevant later) "Hey buddy what's wrong?" Jeff murmurs, hugging Soda . "the,, smell,,,, repulsive" Soda tried to squirm out of the hug. Soda luckily was shorter than Jeff meaning he could shimmy his way down and out of the hug, he ended up falling on the ground which would be a fan-service moment if it wasn't dark. Goob from meet the robinsons crawled through the monkey bars while screeching. Tom cries, for the first person he has seen in 200 years thinks he is weird and stinky, which is true. However, that's beside the point, as tommy was just a resurrected president in need of a big shit. "Hey cat boy, im actually third president of the united states thomas Jefferson and i need your help time traveling to the 80s so i can beat ronald reagan to death (i hate ronald reagan)" he says.Goob from meet the robinsons is relevant to the plot, he comes over slinky. "I have this magic Acorn :) it can time travel you to whenever you want! :) " "Yo that's poggers goob from meet the robinsons, can i use it? I need to save my country from trickle down reagonomics" jeffy says. Goob from meet the robinsons pees on Soda just to be mean. Then he hands over the Acorn and flees before Soda can start crying. "Okay weird cat boy, wanna go on an adventure to the 80s and commit a violent crime?" Jeff yells, not realizing how loud he is. "Nyaa~~" Due to Sodas distress from being pissed on he has reverted to stereotypical catboy, "I'd love to go on a fun adventure with you mr.Jefferson sir, nya~~" Soda strikes a pose. "Okay weird cat boy thing, let's go!" Tom clutches the acorn and mutters a strange language that he does not know the meaning of. The acorn has such powerful magic it almost seems like a convenient plot device. Tom and Soda are picked up in a swirl of smoke and glitter and transported to the white house in the 80s, featuring the dumbass idiot who trickled on american poor people himself, ronald reagan. "Alright cat boy, since you're small and nimble, you're gonna be my advance scout. Hide in the vents and lemme know when its clear." Jeff reverts to leader mode, which he is good at, on account of being the third president of the united states. " Of course mr.Tommy sir! nyaaa~~ " he stuffs his stupid maid dress wearing ass into a vent. "Mistew Jeffy Siw,,, nya~~ . Reagan is all awone~~ nyaaa~~". "Thank you for your service weird baby talking cat boy, now it's time for Third US President Thomas Jefferson to save the day!" he declares, but not too loudly to avoid alerting reagan to his presence. He slips away into a hallway. A minute or so later and distant sounds of someone getting beaten to death reach sodas cat ears."uwu" Soda falls through the vents and snaps a receptionists neck. he uses this opportunity to snap back into reality and look around. the realization of everything going on hit him at once and he began to cry. a peaceful weekend of parkour was all that he had wanted, and yet he had just killed a woman. "denise,,, oh denise I'm so sorry" He cried through his apology to the woman who's nametag read 'brenda'. Thomas heard none of this, as he was engaged in the deliberate repeated blunt force trauma of ronald reagan. Finally ronald reagan died, and reaganomics died with him. "Thank fucking god" Thomas muttered, actually thanking himself. "I gotta go get that cat boy" he said to himself, turning around and heading back. "Eh? Where's that cat boy?" he wondered aloud, looking around. "Oh he probably fell through that giant hole in the ground where he was standing" he answered his own question. He walked to the edge of the hole and leaned over. "Ayo cat boy, ya doin alright?" he called down. "I,, I killed her. Gruntilda is no more, she had a wife and kids tom!! kids!! now Lucy's kids will never see her again " Soda sobbed and looked up through the hole "Also my leg hurts" the last statement was added in a monotone voice and Tom did the worm or something. After finishing his flawless execution of "the worm" Jeff came to his senses and considered what Soda had just said to him. "How many fuckin people did ya kill?" Jeff said, absolutely bewildered. "Ah whatever not like it matters, have your crisis at home, not here. Cause uh, secret service is lookin for us an they got guns, and you don't look bulletproof to me" thomas added, leaning down and stretching his arm. "Grab on!" Soda grabbed onto him and climbed up.
With the help of magical acorn they conveniently were teleported back to the park so they could go to bed. And they all went to bed and had a good sleep :)
Thanks for reading and happy holidays :)

Edit: Anytime I say inches I mean gallons!! Idk how I let that mistake slip through.
Ayo! I need some advice right now. I have two geckos, one my mother bought, and the other I bought. They are both happy, and healthy, but I've had them since they were little, and now their cages are small, and definately should be upgraded. (They're in a 15 GALLON tank, and obiously, the minimum is known to be 20 GALLONS.) Aside from the small cage, the geckos are healthy, and have a vet to go to, and all of that. I am worried for my geckos life quality, because they're living in small tanks. I really want to upgrade their tanks completely, and give them a nice substrate, better hides, and most of all, a bigger tank.
However, I do not have the money to do so, and my mother doesn't beleive we need a bigger tank, and thinks I'm just beleiving everything I see on the internet, which isn't true. I just want the best quality life for my geckos. Let me just mention, they're in good care, they have two big hides (Sometimes you'd have another hide, but the tank is too small. Instead I use the cold hide as a moist hide when they're going to shed.) My geckos eat regularly (every other day, crickets usually gutloaded with apples) and they haven't had any health problems. I've had one for a year, one for half a year, and they're both thriving.
What should I do about the tanks? I've planned on improving their tanks when I get a part-time-job, however it will be a while until I accomplish that. Should I keep trying to convince my mother, or try to do something else? Or are my geckos OK in their state until I can buy better tanks?
TL,DR: I'm 14 years old and caring for two geckos. Both geckos are happy and thriving, however their cages are too small (15 GALLON) and mother has reasoning to not buy bigger, more appropriate tanks. Going to fix their tanks when I get a part-time-job, but that won't be until a while. What should I do about this in the meantime?
Edit2: Fixed some writing
Edit3: just to make things clear, both geckos HAVE their own enclosures!
Edot4: fixed another spelling mistake

I have a playlist of "bisexual music", which is a scattered and not very cohesive (same) collection of songs with some sort of loose connected to being bi or just queer in general. But I want to make a proper collection of the stand-outs, the true non-monosexual flagship songs, and hear your best recommendations for similar songs! This list is not necessarily restricted to pop per se, I just felt like this was the largest and best music sub with a significant LGBTQ community ^^
Frank Ocean - Chanel

My guy pretty like a girl And he got fight stories to tell I see both sides like Chanel See on both sides like Chanel

A worthy candidate for being the bisexual anthem - Frank is one of the most famous openly bi dudes in the music industry, and lays it all out with clever wordplay over a beautiful instrumental in Chanel. Nothing to add really, except more praise. ^{And a long rant about how Frank never drops a goddamn album.}
Queen - Bicycle Race

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like

One of few oldies on the list, a certified classic, and the only song I know with a bike bell solo. While nothing in the lyrics is explicitly about bisexuality, I feel like Freddie Mercury being perhaps the most prominent bi celebrity may be a clue as to why someone would write an entire song seemingly about bicycles (and disagreeing with the status quo, as the verses suggest).
Mykki Blanco - Kingpinning (Ice Cold)

If you ain't a bisexual, then this shit here ain't consensual She brought her friends and they all freaks Keisha, Alisha, Keith, Malik

I. Love. This. Lyric. "If you ain't a bisexual, this shit here ain't consensual" bluntly delivered by gender-fluid illuminati prince/ss Blanco themselves is a power bar: if you ain't down with some queer ass shit, GTFO. Insanely underrated banger from an interesting album.
Blur - Girls & Boys

Looking for girls who want boys who like boys to be girls Who do boys like they're girls, who do girls like they're boys

Okay, another one not specifically about bisexuality (the intended meaning is a lot darker and describes young europeans on vacation having unprotected sex and getting STD:s. damn.) but y'all cannot deny that that hook is 1. insanely catchy and 2. a genderfuck anthem and a half. Who isn't looking for girls who like boys to be girls who do girls like they're boys? ^{Gender is bullshit! Let's have sex!}
Niykee Heaton - Nexus

Bring that girl over here, now the next chick Now she all up in my ear but where her friend is? Now they both hanging on me like a necklace I'm ambidextrous

INSANELY underrated song! Smooth, yet hard Murda Beatz-produced track where the quoted lines hit almost as hard for me as Mykki's. I'm ambidextrous... ayy...
Britney Spears - If U Seek Amy

Love me, hate me Say what you want about me But all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to, if you seek Amy

Mayyybe a bit of pandering to this sub where even the gayest of dudes would probably beg Britney to F-U-C-K him, but this chorus is a mainstream bi bop for the ages. Bonus points for that infamous wordplay.
Tyler, The Creator - GELATO

Ayo, tell me what's the prolo, I just pop models Boys or girls these days, shit, it don't matter

I was about to put "I've been kissing white boys since 2004" from I Ain't Got Time on here (which you should definitely also check out!), but I feel like GELATO (which is sadly not on Spotify :c) is a bit more underrated and unknown, and is just a chill-ass track in general. Also - straight-up Call Me By Your Name reference in this one!
Drop yours below! <3 I'm interested to hear anything that's explicitly about pansexuality, haven't heard much in that lane whatsoever.

We all know the alignment chart is flawed as nobody can ever sit in just one alignment, every action you take falls into a different one, so it's a bit more of a scale than a grid, but this is how I think about it in a way that makes a bit more sense to me. If you do end up following this description, you may want to consider changing the alignments of certain monsters to fit, for instance aboleths are normally lawful evil but I think neutral evil or chaotic neutral makes the most sense for them with this setup.
Lawful good: I see a lot of people saying that lawful good is the most boring alignment, but that is only if you see it as that one kid who tells the teacher that you have gum. If you think about it more as people like captain America or Ayo from marvel, it can be a lot more interesting. Lawful Good means that you want to help as many people as possible within a specific set of rules. Sure, this can limit actions, but some of the most interesting parts of the black panther came up when Ayo was under the command of a different leader. Those bonds can make a great character story, especially when connected to the plot.
Neutral good: my personal favorite and probably the most common alignment among actual people. Neutral good ideals are doing what is right, even if it is against the law or social standards. They don't actively dislike authority, but when you get down to it, that shiny badge doesn't mean anything to a neutral good person. It is the alignment of equality, as long as you aren't an asshat.
Chaotic good: this is not the "haha lol so random XD" alignment. Those are actions, not morals. Chaotic good people tend to dislike authority, and opt for freedom. There can still be rules, but they shouldn't be made by any one person. It is a hard alignment to play without moving more into chaotic neutral, but it is very fun, especially in a revolution game.
Lawful neutral: like all neutral alignments, lawful neutral people tend to have fairly self centered morals. They are fine with authority and laws, but their goal is their own and they likely won't do much outside of what can benefit them. It may seem like this alignment would have very little ambition and not make a great adventurer, but just because they worry about themselves first, doesn't mean they don't care about others. Family, close friends and partners are all motivaters for them. These are people they care about and they don't want to lose them.
Neutral: like lawful neutrals, true neutral people tend to focus more on the needs of themselves and those they are close to, but they have the neutral good's sense of justice. They will break the rules that they need to, but they won't go out of their way to.
Chaotic Neutral: oh boy! The bane of every dm. The "its what my character would do" alignment! Well, not really. While chaotic neutral gon' do what chaotic neutral gon' do, this, again, is not the "haha lol so random XD" alignment. Chaotic neutrals, again, like all neutral alignments focus most on what their closest group needs, however they often feel that certain laws and expectations are unjust, so they take a more direct approach to getting what they feel that they need. A chaotic neutral rogue would likely be a robinhood type character, taking from those that they feel have taken from them and using what they take to provide for themselves or those they are close to.
Lawful evil: my favorite of the evil alignments and the alignment of most lawyers. The evil alignment is an interesting thing, because most humans aren't actually evil, so its kind of hard to describe it in human terms. Evil means that you have no regard for others beyond what they can do for you. Lawful evil means that you have a system or set of regulations. Devils are the most famous examples of this, with their society being based on the hierarchy of the nine hells. They usually follow a leader or cause.
Neutral evil: neutral evil is a bit like lawful evil in that they usually have a hierarchy, but they usually have more foul play as far as enforcing it. Goblins create hierarchies of strength and push tasks on those who are below them and keep slaves mostly to flex, but also to have more people below them in the pecking order. This is the "might makes right" alignment and most who fall into this category just want to make sure that they are at the top.
Chaotic evil: this one is definitely not one held by many humans and is not exactly my favorite. A chaotic evil creature has no rules and practically no morals. As long as things are screeming, exploding, or both, they are happy. They make good henchman characters, but in my opinion they aren't the greatest campaign villains.

A stacked set of games at your disposal today with THREE ranked matchups, with two of them being top-10 matchups as well. Honestly, at this point, I just hope none of these games get taken away from us like Gonzaga vs Baylor. Happy Tuesday and happy hoops!
7 Creighton (3-0) vs 10 Kansas (4-1) - 5 pm EST, ESPN
I don’t know what the AP voters are having but I want some of it, cause they somehow placed this Kansas team that barely beat now-unranked Kentucky and North Dakota State at No. 5. The Jayhawks are the prime example of a preseason team - where a team gets ranked highly to start and the voters are often too reliant on that premature estimation during the early season to struggle punishing teams that are not simply that good. Yeah, Ochai Agbaji and Marcus Garrett are fine, even great, college players, but there is no one in this team that really excites you to make you think that this is one of the best teams in the country. Thankfully the always level-headed CBB voters were braver to knock them down a peg, but they have to prove against a truly good team that they can hang with where the big boys play.
Well look at the adjective: play. Creighton ain’t here to play (no one got my Hard Times reference last time so extra brownie points if you get this one!).
Sure, the Bluejays aren’t exactly boxing with the giants in this short season so far. But they’ve done what Kansas couldn’t do - take care of business. They ran amuck through their oppositions in a clean fashion, and they showed off their firepower while doing so. Marcus Zegarowski has been showing why he’s one of college basketball’s premier guards, orchestrating the offense like Beethoven. They do, however, need their senior guard Mitch Ballock to get it going soon, as he is having a tough time finding his rhythm so far.
Colorado (2-0) vs 14 Tennessee (0-0) - 6 pm EST, SECN+
The Volunteers make their long-awaited debut of this historic season. Despite not playing a single game, Tennessee is still ranked 14 in the CBB poll and 12 in the AP Poll. So what is their magical power to keeping their poll position? Is it witchcraft? Black magic? Hypnosis on the Redditors?
More than likely is that the pollsters still see the incredible amount of talent at their disposal. Yves Pons and John Fulkerson are one of the best duos in the country, as these two seniors will anchor the team through the ups and downs of this crazy season. Season them with a pair of young, talented freshmen in Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer, two possible lottery picks in the upcoming draft, the Volunteers indeed have a squad.
Unfortunately, they might be met with a bucket of cold water as their welcome back present. This Colorado team is no walkover, and certainly isn’t going to lay down for this rusty Tennessee team that has yet to play together as a unit. Led by their senior lead guard McKinley Wright IV, the Buffaloes are sneaking up as one of the teams that have a legitimate shot at making into the field of 64 at the end of the season. However, they also had to pause their basketball activities for a week prior to this game, so let’s see if Wright can continue his scorching start to the season.
17 North Carolina (3-1) vs 3 Iowa (3-0) - 7:30 pm EST, ESPN
Luka Garza is making a mockery out of college basketball and he averages 34 points (!?) through three games this season. Despite the fact that they were against rather wimpy North Carolina Central, Southern, and Western Illinois teams, there is enough sample from his last three years of dominance to suggest that those gaudy numbers aren’t just a product of matchups.
However, North Carolina is perhaps one of the best-equipped teams to deal with this Hawkeye monster. With a plethora of big bodies like Armando Bacot, Walker Kessler, Day’Ron Sharpe, and Garrison Brooks to throw at him, the Tar Heels might have enough size - and fouls - to deal with Garza.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t stop the seven-footer - you can only hope to contain him. No matter what North Carolina does, Garza is going to get his. Rather, the more interesting point to observe is how much impact will Caleb Love have. Despite some shaky plays, Love is the point guard of one of the best offenses in the country. If the freshman sensation continues to settle in against this rather toothless Iowa defense, the Tar Heels might be able to chop that humongous tree down.
Austin Peay (3-1) vs Murray State (2-1) - 8:30 pm EST, ESPN+
Ohio Valley stand up! The Battle of the Borders gets extra spicy with a cherry (or a jalapeno?) on top as this is a clash between two of the best that OVC has to offer. Murray State always seems to replenish even after losing talents and stay competitive in the low-key stacked conference. The Racers are led by Tevin Brown, who recently became just the fourth player in Murray State history to have 1000 points and leading the team in points, assists, rebounds, AND steals. Newcomer Justice Hill is bombing from the deep and honestly, this is just a deep team with a lot of different options.
BUT can they overcome the power that is Terry Taylor?
The senior for Austin Peay is an absolute machine, as he was one of the four players last year to achieve the Jahlil Okafor (20-10 rolling out of bed) and he is just a force to be reckoned with, scoring at will and dropping 20s for fun. He is simply one of the best players in the country and Austin Peay should be considered as a serious threat jus for his existence.
8 Illinois (3-1) vs 12 Duke (2-1) - 9:30 pm EST, ESPN
It seems like every year we hear similar versions of the same story - these freshmen-filled teams struggle to find rhythm and people jump on the apocalyptic world-is-ending bandwagon about how this blueblood team is done for and they can kiss their chance at a tournament run goodbye. Inevidently every year, that argument mostly gets thrown out halfway through the season as teams figure out how to play as a system and the stars show why they are stars. It’s the same story we are hearing about in Kentucky and we are hearing about it now on Duke.
But will the ending be the same?
I am not the only person who is well and truly worried about this Duke team. Kentucky, I can see a pathway to them figuring things out. Duke? I’m not convinced. Despite another excellent recruitment headlined by their crown jewel that is Jalen Johnson, who has been exceptional and clearly Duke’s best player, this team just is not working. Maybe it’s the lack of shooting, maybe it's the lack of true point guard play, maybe it’s the fact that their rotation is so skinny that Joey Baker and Jordan Goldwire have to play double-digit minutes. The fact that this season is so start-and-stop with the COVID cases doesn’t help the team gelling together.
I’m not going to sit here and hide the fact that I’m a Duke fan cause I am, and I want to have optimism for this team, but the Jalen Johnson solo show has its ceiling.
Especially against this Illinois team, whose only loss is to the Baylor team that might be the best in the country right now. Ayo Dosunmu is a grown-ass man NBA-ready dude that is playing with kids (oh god that sounded.. uhhhhh) and Kofi Cockburn is a matchup nightmare for the Duke team that is starting aforementioned Johnson, a wing, at the 5. So don’t be surprised if the college basketball world celebrates once again as the Blue Devils take another tumble in this struggling season.
Honorable Mention
Delaware (1-0) vs UMBC (2-1) - 4 pm EST, ESPN3
Mid-major fans get a treat as one of the best in CAA and AE clashes.
Purdue (3-1) vs Miami (2-0) - 5 pm, ESPN2
Missing their star freshman Earl Timberlake sucks, but Miami has shown that they can still be a tournament team as two bubble teams collide.
22 Ohio State (3-0) vs Notre Dame (2-1) - 7:30 pm, ESPN2
The Fightin’ Irish is skinnier than skinny, but they have the ability to beat anyone if the shot falls. Meanwhile, Seth Towns and company are on a mission to keep Ohio State basketball relevant again.
Oral Roberts (1-3) vs Oklahoma State (4-0) - 8 pm, ESPN+ / UC Irvine (2-2) vs USC (3-1) - 10 pm, PAC12
See Cunningham, Cade and Mobley, Evan. If you want to see two of the top talent freshmen in action, tune in to these, you dirty draft heads!
Syracuse (3-0) vs 21 Rutgers (3-0) - 9:30 pm, ESPN2
It’s certainly a strange sight seeing Buttgers do so well in any college sports, but this year’s been whacky so why not have the Scarlett Knights run through Big Ten as well?

I REALLY love this game. Like im beginning this review at 2AM kinda love. There is so much i wanna say.
Initial reviews for Watch dogs legion have seemingly been positive, although with many flaws mentioned, and to the flaws i can agree. However for the rough week i have been playing, the world of legion has had me enthralled from when i selected my first operative, to when the credits rolled. My favourite no bullshit reviewer stated that London as a map was ubisofts best, but repetitive gameplay and an uninteresting storyline marred the experience as a whole. This was where i disagreed. There is so much i want to talk about so ill roughly outline my main points.
London:
Absolutely beautiful! Stunning detail in every part and im still finding little things that just give it so much character. I felt fully immersed and would often get lost after a mission just walking around, taking dumb selfies, saving my fellow londoners and all of the in between. This for me, was the first world that felt TRULY lived in and alive, and its mainly thanks to....
The Characters:
Recruit anyone! Thats the freedom you're given and its the main gimmick of the game. Creating your legion could have been done in numerous ways but i honestly think they nailed it. Since hearing about it, i wanted to be able to find a character who looked vaguely like me. That was all really, no huge expectations i expected the characters to be fully interchangeable and then cast to the side when the story came round but BOY was i wrong. First evening of playing i found a perfect recruit. Ellery Goodbeer by name, Lawyer by profession, hobbyist falconer (by passtime?) im studying law at university so to have this extra attachment to the character, for many im sure would be meaningless but for me, my bond with good old Ellery was fashioned quickly, and never stopped growing.
What took my by absolute surprise, was how much i enjoyed NOT being a jack of all trades. Here i was, taking on sneaking missions, car chases, hack minigames and (where i couldn't avoid it, shootouts and hand to hand combat), all while not having a character suited to... well any of it. Every character, by default is unique, has 'associates' ranging from family to business partners to rivals, and all of these NPC's are in the world In real time. Not only that but you can SEE your operatives moving about the world doing their own things. Its truly incredible to me. Ive always loved customisation in games, especially XCOM, i like to come up with storylines for my soldiers and it was no different here, except in legion, i didnt have to daydream, my unlikely band of hackers felt like a close knit group by the end of the game.
Each character also has a specific weapon set (if any) and certain traits ranging from being able to be released from jail early, to spontaneous death, to having unlimited hacking range, to AYO CARRR. Ellery had a quick bail out of jail perk. Clearly Ted Bundy was an inspiration of his, not that he has needed it yet. Other than the inexplicable reason Ellery can utilise kicks better than UFC kickboxers and is now champion of the undergroud fighting rings, Ellery is not great in combat. Armed with what non lethal tech can buy AKA an electric pistol, compared to Aiden and Marcus, Ellery would have his recently purchased law textbooks (a fact from his bio) shoved so far up his ass just hearing the word Dedsec would leave him with PTSD.
But again, this was what made the game so different! Being able to take this character and learn the game with him while no skills could really be improved on his end made everything feel so much more immersive. Well, that and PERMADEATH! Ellery could have died day one, he may die tomorrow as part of a routine trip to the london eye, or to that damn mask i cant get to in that heavily guarded building. When i began, i found out that for Ellery's sake i am, indeed, a pussy. Oh shit guns? Nah im out mate see you in court.. please? I quickly found out that the world of watch dogs is a dangerous one and if Ellery wasn't going to die from a glitch, a combat oriented story mission later on down the line could be his end. But as i continued playing, Ellery got more ballsy. Letting the drone do the handiwork while he waited in the car with the doors locked, turned into infiltration missions. At one point he thought fuck it, FIGHT TIME and blazed through a building with his SMG, all the while, this very real feeling that if Ellery was shot too many times, or i made a mistake? Gone. A similar, yet fantastically unique feeling ive had in DAYZ. I grew attachments to other characters as well, id say around five. My second favourite was basically a 1:1 look alike of 'Hitman' profession and all, all while using the hilariously fun 'gunkata' perk turning that guy into john wick on most missions.
He was how i survived many combat oriented missions, but as i got closer to the end of the game, and due to me clearly having many self esteem issues, i- uhh Ellery was the main character, the big cheese of Dedsec london branch, and i took him all the way to the end, and he lived... but there was a chance he couldn't have!
The Story:
Its true the story is more generic than some, and i dont want to get into specific missions for spoilers sake, however in some, my jaw dropped at the set pieces, lies and deception revealed themselves too me before i had a chance to question it. All in all? Better than WD 1 and 2 in my opinion. This was mainly due to how Ellery interacted with the pre made story characters as though he was indeed, the main character, its just so insane to comprehend how it was programmed. Whats more is for Ellery, there were never any default yes, okay, no answers, he had emotions, and he never broke 'character' for someone who is at root, an NP fucking C! Its true that it cannot be said for some voices. The aforementioned hitman said 'copy that' to almost ANYthing in game, but it grew one me as his catchphrase for a very by the numbers man.
When i recruited the hitman, he had said a car deal had gone south and he had lost his friend to it, and once i had the car, he said to destroy it as it reminded him of his friend. Fast-forward half a week and i turn the game on to him kneeling over a grave. "It should be me in that box, not you" he said, this attention to detail truly blew my mind, and just added to this lived in feeling of the world. A spot in the map where usually i wouldn't look at twice, suddenly had meaning to one of MY characters, but its for all characters and basically, your story is just waiting to unfold from the get go. And it was the plight of my characters and their city, that kept me engrossed in the story, all topped off when after finishing the game, at the top of the london eye, good old Ellery said 'Yeah this is my fucking city', its the little things for me fellas i wont lie.
So here we are. I hope youve enjoyed my sleep deprived rant about how much i am enjoying Legion, and how great a guy Ellery is. What next for him? Find his wife of course! A city load of npc's and however long it takes, Lisa Goodbeer will be found and made a dedsec member, with a fantastic reference from their lead, Ellery Goodbeer, at least until the DLC, if he survives!
There are some things that i hope would be improved over time:
For at least postgame, it would be cool to be able to train your operatives, not necessarily give them perfect loadouts, but for example, steal a firearm to keep or actually buy a car, its stupid thats locked up. #Wheels4Ellery. Yeah lets get that going!
While not necessarily expected given the core systems are in, a relationship gauge with how your characters interact would be awesome, i want my characters to act like they remember when Ellery saved them from certain death, or, say, and i do say GOD FORBID, i drive Lisa over and kill her, would Ellery act any different? Id hope so but wouldn't expect it.
Id toy with a permadeath idea similar to that of direct contact in metal gear. Essentially have a system either by selecting one or two operatives, or spending ETO to essentially never have them "die" for dumb mistakes or glitches. I dont know, it defeats permadeath doesn't it? But guys i have written more for a videogame NPC than for my coursework due in a few weeks so.... yeah its bad i know.
Bring back blackout and hack everything! Self explanatory. If Aidens kit doesn't have it, ill be sad.
Id love to discuss opinions, experiences and everything in between in the comments, thanks for reading :)