Good Friday evening to all of you here on StockMarketChat! I hope everyone on this sub made out pretty nicely in the market this past week, and are ready for the new trading week ahead. :)
Here is everything you need to know to get you ready for the trading week beginning June 5th, 2023.

Dow leaps 700 points on hot jobs report, Nasdaq notches sixth straight winning week: Live updates - (Source)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged Friday as traders cheered a strong jobs report and the passage of a debt ceiling bill that averts a U.S. default.
The 30-stock Dow jumped 701.19 points, or 2.12%, to end at 33,762.76 — its best day since January. The S&P 500 climbed 1.45% to close at 4,282.37. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.07% to 13,240.77, reaching its highest level since April 2022 during the session.
With Friday’s gains, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished the holiday-shortened trading week about 1.8% and 2% higher, respectively. The Dow’s Friday advance pushed it into positive territory for the week, finishing up around 2%. The Nasdaq notched its sixth straight week higher, a streak length not seen for the technology-heavy index since 2020.
Nonfarm payrolls grew much more than expected in May, rising 339,000. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a relatively modest 190,000 increase. It marked the 29th straight month of positive job growth.
Recently strong employment data had been pressuring stocks on the notion it would keep the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. But Friday data also showed average hourly earnings rose less than economists expected year over year, while the unemployment rate was higher than anticipated.
Both data points have given investors hope that the Fed could pause its interest rate hike campaign at the policy meeting later this month, according to Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
“The so-called Goldilocks has entered the house,” Sandven said. “Clearly, on the bullish side, there are signs that inflation is starting to wane, speculation that the Fed is going to move into pause mode, increasing the likelihood of a soft landing.”
Easing concerns around the U.S. debt ceiling also helped sentiment. The Senate passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling late Thursday night, sending the bill to President Joe Biden’s desk. That comes after the House passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act on Wednesday, just days before the June 5 deadline set by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Lululemon shares popped more than 11% on strong results and a guidance boost, while MongoDB surged 28% on a blowout forecast.

This past week saw the following moves in the S&P:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL S&P TREE MAP FOR THE PAST WEEK!)

S&P Sectors for this past week:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE S&P SECTORS FOR THE PAST WEEK!)

Major Indices for this past week:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE MAJOR INDICES FOR THE PAST WEEK!)

Major Futures Markets as of Friday's close:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE MAJOR FUTURES INDICES AS OF FRIDAY!)

Economic Calendar for the Week Ahead:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ECONOMIC CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK AHEAD!)

Percentage Changes for the Major Indices, WTD, MTD, QTD, YTD as of Friday's close:

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S&P Sectors for the Past Week:

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Major Indices Pullback/Correction Levels as of Friday's close:

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Major Indices Rally Levels as of Friday's close:

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Most Anticipated Earnings Releases for this week:

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Here are the upcoming IPO's for this week:

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Friday's Stock Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART LINK #1!)

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART LINK #2!)

A Resilient Labor Market = A Resilient Economy

Another month, another employment surprise. Should we be surprised anymore?
Economists expected payrolls to grow by about 187,000 in May. That’s still a solid job growth number, but a stepdown from what we’ve seen this year through April. However, actual payroll growth beat expectations for the 14th straight month.
The economy created 339,000 jobs in May, close to double expectations. Better still, payroll growth in March and April were revised higher by a total of 93,000!

• March payrolls were revised up by 52,000, from 165,000 to 217,000
• April payroll were revised up by 41,000, from 253,000 to 294,000

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

We’ve got two months of payroll data since the Silicon Valley Bank crisis in March, and nothing suggests weakness arising from that banking crisis.
Over the first five months of the year, the economy’s added 1.5 million jobs. That in a nutshell tells you how the economy is doing. For perspective, the average annual payroll growth between 1940 and 2022 was 1.5 million. During the last expansion, 2010-2019, average annual payroll growth was 2.2 million per year.

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But what about the unemployment rate?
The unemployment rate did rise from a 50-year low of 3.4% to 3.7%. This does raise some cause for concern but digging through the data suggests it may be noise more than anything else.
It probably helps to understand that the job growth and unemployment rate data come from different sources. The former comes from asking about 120,000+ businesses how many people they hired. The latter comes from asking about 60,000 households about their employment status. No surprise, the latter is noisier.
A big reason for the weak household survey (and rising unemployment rate) is that more than 400,000 people who were self-employed said they were no longer employed. As you can see in the following chart this is very noisy data, but the recent trend seems to be toward lower self-employment. It’s basically reversing the surge we saw in 2021, when self-employment surged. So, what we’re seeing now may simply be normalization of the labor market as more workers move from self-employment to W2 jobs with an employer.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Also, the unemployment rate can be impacted by people leaving the labor force (technically defined as those “not looking for work”) and an aging population. I’ve discussed in prior blogs how we can get around this by looking at the employment-population ratio for prime age workers, i.e. workers aged 25-54 years. This measures the number of people working as a percent of the civilian population. Think of it as the opposite of the unemployment rate, and because we use prime age, you also get around the demographic issue.
The good news is that the prime-age employment-population ratio dropped only a tick, from 80.8% to 80.7%. This still leaves it higher than at any point between 2002 and 2022.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

All in all, the labor market remains strong and resilient, despite all the recession calls. Perhaps its not as strong as the headline payroll growth number of 339,000 suggests, but any number above 150,000 would be good at this point. And we’re certainly well above that.
In fact, looking at the job growth and employment-population data, this labor market is probably the strongest we’ve seen since the late 1990’s. Our view since the end of last year has been that the economy can avoid a recession this year, and nothing we’ve seen to date suggests we need to reverse that view. Far from it.

June Better in Pre-Election Years

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Since 1971 June has shone brighter on NASDAQ stocks as a rule ranking eighth best with an 0.8% average gain, up 29 of 52 years. This contributes to NASDAQ’s “Best 8 Months” which ends in June. Small caps also fare well in June. Russell 2000 has averaged 0.6% in June since 1979 advancing 63.6% of the time.
June ranks near the bottom on the Dow Jones Industrials just above September since 1950 with an average loss of 0.2%. S&P 500 performs similarly poorly, ranking ninth, but essentially flat (0.02% average gain).
Despite being much stronger S&P 500 pre-election year June ranks fifth best. For the rest it is just sixth best. Average monthly gains in pre-election year June range from DJIA 1.1% to a respectable 2.4% for NASDAQ. Russell 2000 has been the most consistently bullish in pre-election years, up 8 of the last 11 (72.7% of the time).

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

The June Swoon?

Stocks did it again, as the S&P 500 gained 0.2% in the month of May, making it now 10 of the past 11 years that stocks finished green in May. Of course, it gained only 0.01% last year and only 0.25% this year, so the recent returns weren’t off the charts by any measure.
Looking specifically at this year, tech added more than 9% in May, thanks to excitement over AI and Nvidia, with communication services and consumer discretionary also in the green, while the other eight sectors were lower.
Specifically, turning to the month of June, stocks historically have hit a bit of trouble here. Since 1950, up 0.03% on average, the fourth worst month of the year. Over the past 20 years, only January and September have been worse and in the past decade, it is again the fourth worst month. The one bit of good news is during a pre-election year is it up 1.5%, the fifth-best month of the year.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Here’s another chart we’ve shared before, but years that gained big in January (like 2023) tend to see some periods of consolidation in late May/early June, but eventually experience a surge higher into July. Given the flattish overall May, this could be playing out again.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

What if stocks were having a good year heading into June? Since 1950, if the S&P 500 was up more than 8% for the year going into June (like this year), the month of June was up an impressive 1.2% on average versus the average June return of 0.03%, while in a pre-election year the returns jumped to 1.8%. The percent of the time where returns were higher gets better as well, from 54.8% in your average June to nearly 74% if up 8% or more for the year heading into June, to 80% of the time higher if up 8% for the year in a pre-election year.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Overall, it has been a very nice run for stocks this year and we remain overweight stocks in the Carson Investment Research House Views. June could potentially cause some volatility, but when all is said and done, we wouldn’t bet against more strength and higher prices in June.

NASDAQ and Russell 2000 Lead June Pre-Election Strength

Over the last 21 years, June has been a rather lackluster month. DJIA, S&P 500 and Russell 1000 have all recorded average losses in the month. Russell 2000 has fared better with a modest average gain. Historically the month has opened respectably, advancing on the first and second trading days.
From there the market then drifted sideways and lower into negative territory just ahead of mid-month. Here the market rallied to create a nice mid-month bulge that quickly evaporated and returned to losses. The brisk, post, mid-month drop is typically followed by a month end rally led by technology and small caps.
Historical performance in pre-election years has been much stronger with all five indexes finishing with average gains. June’s overall pattern in pre-election is similar to the last 21-years pattern with a brief, shallow pullback after a solid start.
In pre-election years the mid-month rally has been much more robust beginning around the sixth trading day and lasting until the fifteenth. Followed by another modest retreat and rally into the end of Q2.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

May and YTD 2023 Asset Class Performance

May 2023 is now behind us, and below is a look at how various asset classes performed during the month using US-listed exchange-traded products as proxies. We also include YTD and YoY total returns.
May was a month of divergence where Tech/AI soared, and the rest of the market fell. Notably, the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) gained 7.88% in May while the Dow Jones Dividend ETF (DVY) fell 7.7%. That's a 15 percentage-point spread!
At the sector level, it was a similar story. While the Tech sector (XLK) rose 8.9%, sectors like Energy (XLE), Consumer Staples (XLP), Materials (XLB), and Utilities (XLU) fell more than 5%. In total, 8 of 11 sectors were in the red for the month.
Outside the US, we saw pullbacks in most areas of the world other than Brazil, India, and Japan. China, Hong Kong, France, Canada, Italy, Spain, and the UK all fell more than 5%.
All of the commodity-related ETFs/ETNs were in the red for May, with oil (USO) and natural gas (UNG) falling the most at more than 10% each.
Finally, fixed-income ETFs also fell in May as interest rates bounced back. The aggregate bond market ETF (AGG) was down 1.14% in May, leaving it up just 2.6% YTD and down 2.2% year-over-year.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

How Worried Should We Be About Consumer Debt?

A very common question we get these days is whether we’re concerned about the massive increase in consumer debt.
Short answer: No. Well, not yet anyway. But let’s walk through it in 6 charts.
The New York Federal Reserve (NY Fed) releases a quarterly report on household debt and credit, and the latest one that was released last week came with the headline:
“Household Debt Hits $17.05 Trillion in First Quarter.” But let’s look at the details. Household debt increased by $148 billion in Q1. That translates to a 0.9% increase, which is the slowest quarterly increase in two years. Most of the increase in debt was from mortgage originations ($121 billion) – mortgage debt makes up $12 trillion of the total $17 trillion in debt. The rest was auto loan and student loan balances.
Here’s something interesting: credit card balances were flat in Q1, at $986 billion. The fact that overall balances are higher than where they were in 2019 ($927 billion) should not be surprising given we just experienced a lot of inflation. Prices rose at the fastest pace in 40 years, and so you should expect card balances to increase. However, incomes rose as well.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

When you think debt, the key question is whether households are able to service that debt. A good measure of that is to look at debt service costs as a percent of disposable income. As of Q4 2022, that’s at 9.7%, slightly lower than what it was before the pandemic and well below the historical average.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

There’s even better news: disposable income grew 2.9% in the first quarter of 2023. Significantly higher than the 0.9% increase in total household debt, let alone interest costs!
Part of that includes the large boost to social security income due to inflation adjustments in January. Also, tax brackets were adjusted higher, resulting in more money in household wallets.
But even if you exclude these one-off increases, disposable income growth has been strong between February and April, rising at a 5% annualized pace. In fact, employee compensation by itself has risen at a 3.9% annualized pace over the past three months. Meanwhile, inflation is running just about 3% – which means households are seeing real income gains (adjusted for inflation).

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

This is why consumers don’t feel the need to borrow to the extent they did before the pandemic. Credit utilization rates measure credit card balances as a percent of available credit. As you can see in the following chart, utilization rates for both credit cards and home equity lines of credit are well below pre-pandemic averages.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Lack of stress showing in delinquency data as well Another way to look for signs of consumer stress is to look at the debt delinquency data. As of the first quarter, the NY Fed survey showed that the percent of loan balances that were more than 90 days delinquent was stable around 1.5%. That’s down from 1.9% a year ago, and quite a bit below the 3% average in 2019.

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Even third-party collections are at record lows, with just over 5% of consumers having collections against them as of the first quarter. This is down from 6% a year ago and below the 2019 average of 9.2%. The average collection amount per person is $1,316, which is lower than the $1,452 average in late 2019. This is surprising because just with inflation you’d have thought the amount would be higher.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

All in all, the data on consumer finances is not showing much cause for concern. So, count us in the “not worried” camp. At least, not yet.

Some Good Inflation News

While the market prices in a much higher likelihood of a rate hike at the June meeting, there was actually some decent news on the inflation front today. Starting with the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence report, in this month's update, the inflation expectations component fell to 6.1% from a peak of 7.9% fifteen months ago in March 2022 (first time reading touched 7.9%). Looking at the chart below, this reading was also at 6.1% fifteen months before that first peak. In other words, for all the talk about how inflation has been stickier, the pace of decline in this indicator on the way down has been the same as the pace of increase on the way up.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Another notable report was today's release of the Dallas Fed Manufacturing report. The Prices Paid component of that report showed a decline from 19.5 down to 13.8 which was the lowest reading since July 2020. For the month of May, two of the five components (Empire and Philadelphia) showed modest m/m increases from multi-month lows, and three showed significant declines to multi-month lows. The chart below shows a composite of the Prices Paid component using the z-scores for each of the five individual components going back to 2010. The peak for this component was 19 months ago in November 2021. Unlike the inflation expectations of the Conference Board survey, this reading hasn't declined quite as fast as it increased in the 19 months leading up to the peak, but at -0.2, it is still below its historical average dating back to 2010 and back down to levels it was at right before the COVID shock hit the economy in early 2020.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Home Prices Bounce in Hardest Hit Areas

March data on home prices across the country were released today with updated S&P CoreLogic Case Shiller numbers. Case Shiller home prices had been falling rapidly in many of the twenty cities tracked, but in March we actually saw a pretty big month-over-month bounce in some of the hardest-hit areas like San Diego, San Francisco, LA, Denver, and Phoenix. Some cities still saw declines, however. Las Vegas saw a m/m drop of 0.93%, while Miami fell 0.41%, and Seattle fell 0.28%.
On a year-over-year basis, Miami is still up the most with a gain of 10.86%. As shown in the table below, Miami home prices are up 59.87% from pre-COVID levels in February 2020, and they're only down 2.9% from post-COVID highs. Only Tampa is up more than Miami from pre-COVID levels (+61.04%), but Tampa prices are down more from their post-COVID highs (-4.70%) than Miami (-2.90%).
Four cities are down more than 10% from their post-COVID highs: San Diego (-10.12%), Las Vegas (-10.95%), San Francisco (-16.35%), and Seattle (-16.50%). New York is down the least from post-COVID highs of any city tracked at just -2.9%.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Below we include charts of home price levels across all 20 cities tracked by Case Shiller along with the three composite indices. We've included a vertical red line on each chart to highlight pre-COVID levels. When looking through the charts, you can see this month's small bounce back in most cities after a 6-9 month pullback in prices from peaks seen early last year.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

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STOCK MARKET VIDEO: Stock Market Analysis Video for Week Ending June 5th, 2023

(CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE VIDEO!)

(VIDEO NOT YET POSTED.)

STOCK MARKET VIDEO: ShadowTrader Video Weekly 6/2/23

([CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE VIDEO!]())

(VIDEO NOT YET POSTED.)
Here is the list of notable tickers reporting earnings in this upcoming trading week ahead-

($NIO $GTLB $GME $CIEN $DOCU $SAIC $ASO $SJM $CXM $THO $OLLI $MOMO $CBRL $FERG $TTC $HQY $CPB $PLAY $QMCO $FCEL $LOVE $ABM $CNM $HTOO $TCOM $JOAN $UNFI $SFIX $CHS $GIII $SIG $SMAR $PL $ZFOX $HYZN $VRA $CASY $MTN $SMTC $ALYA $DBI $SCWX $JILL $OESX $BSE $REVG $VBNK $VRNT $RENT $HCP)

(CLICK HERE FOR NEXT WEEK'S MOST NOTABLE EARNINGS RELEASES!)

(CLICK HERE FOR NEXT WEEK'S HIGHEST VOLATILITY EARNINGS RELEASES!)

([CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S PRE-MARKET NOTABLE EARNINGS RELEASES!]())

(N/A.)

Here is the full list of companies report earnings for this upcoming trading week ahead which includes the date/time of release & consensus estimates courtesy of Earnings Whispers:

Monday 6.5.23 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Monday 6.5.23 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Tuesday 6.6.23 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR TUESDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Tuesday 6.6.23 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR TUESDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Wednesday 6.7.23 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR WEDNESDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Wednesday 6.7.23 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR WEDNESDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Thursday 6.8.23 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR THURSDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Thursday 6.8.23 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR THURSDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Friday 6.9.23 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES LINK!)

Friday 6.9.23 After Market Close:

([CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())

(NONE.)

(T.B.A. THIS WEEKEND.)

(T.B.A. THIS WEEKEND.) (T.B.A. THIS WEEKEND.).

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DISCUSS!

What are you all watching for in this upcoming trading week?

Join the Official Reddit Stock Market Chat Discord Server HERE!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a great new trading week ahead StockMarketChat. :)

Jesi had never been in a hotel before certainly not one as fine as the one Mr Ericson took her and Damion too. They had a suite all to themselves it had two bedrooms connected to a living room, and kitchen. The hotel room was larger then the apparent she used to share with her mama all those years ago. Damion shared a room with Mr. Ericson but for the first time in her life Jesi had a room all to herself. She thought it would feel secure, but she still slept with a knife under her pillow. Still the bed was so soft she felt like it was going to swallow her alive every night. Her nights were one thing but the days were another thing entirely, they were a whirlwind activity. First there was the image coach, a person that Mr. Ericson hired to find a way to make sure Damion and Jesi, both looked nicer then street kids but were still comfortable. Then there was the mountain of paper work and explanations of how her life would change once she signed the papers. Mr. Ecrison said that the press had heard there was an heir to the O’Connal empire but they didn’t have her name or face yet. He was hoping that meant they would have a quite arrival when their plane landed in upstate New York.
He realized he was wrong the moment they entered the airport. Mr. Ericson was shocked to see the number of reporters swarming the gate. He cursed under his breath he’d been so careful he’d even gone out of his way to ask O’Connal’s business partner Constance Karington if they could borrow her family’s private jet to fly the girl in under the radar. With a sigh he squared his shoulders and looked at the two young adults behind him. “You both need to stay quite they will snap photos, shout questions, and shove whatever kind of recording devices they have practically down your throats for a sound bite. Do not give them one.” Mr. Ericson commanded as he lead them toward the crowd. Airport security was already attempting to hold the crowd back. The instant the crowd caught sight of Jesi flashes began to blind them all while the questions started flying
“Miss Jahari is it true you never knew your father?”
“Miss Jahari are you going to sell the company?”
“Miss, Jahari how does it feel to be Cinderella?”
Jesi was proud of herself for not pulling her knife on any of the reporters at the airport. She didn’t like people in general and she certainly wasn’t used to crowds surrounding and recording her. Mr Ericson parted the crowd as best he could and then shoved both Jesi and Damion into a waiting black sedan, with a driver. A short ride later and the small black sedan pulled up to a set of iron gates in the center of a brick wall that surrounded a mansion as big as a castle. The street in front of the wall however was filled bumper to bumper with cars parked on the curb. As the black sedan they were in pulled up to the gates people mobbed the car banging on the windows shouting questions making it hard for the car to move. Mr. Ericson pushed a button on his phone and the gates swung inward admitting the car the driver moved forward slowly through the throng as the gates swung shut behind them. The car pulled up to the front of the house and an older matronly type woman, came rushing out, as Mr. Ericson opened Jesi’s door.
“Ah, let me look at you!” the woman cried out in a thick Irish accent as she looked at Jesi.
“Jesminda Jahari this is your father’s maid and cook Mrs. Mable Mcguil, she has served your father’s family since before I can remember.”
“Aye, your mother must have been a beauty. Why just look at ya! You did get yer Father’s hair though I see, and his eyes.” Mable said as she reached out to brush a strand of red hair from Jesi’s face
“You knew my father?’ Jesi asked
“Knew him? Why I helped his mother raise ‘im I did. Kindest boy you’d ever want to meet. Ack, but he did he ever have a stubborn streak.” Mable added with a laugh
“Mable, my dear, I know you want to get to know Miss Jahari but that’s better left inside I think as the wolves are snapping pictures at the gate.”
“Ack, of course where are my manners, get in here all of ye.” Mable said as she turned to lead the way into the house. Mr. Ericson handed Damion and Jesi the 2 small carry on bags worth of clothes they’d purchased a few days ago, and motioned the two of them to follow Mable inside while he took his own bag from the trunk.
Jesi stepped wide eyed into the large foyer, the floors were a black and gold marble. The walls were a pristine white, with a stair case on either side curving up to the open second floor but what drew Jesi’s eye was a large painting hanging on the wall between the stair cases. A small family of three with a rather severe looking man with blonde hair standing tall a woman beside him with red hair gave anyone who entered a warm welcoming smile. The boy in the front drew jesi in he was around 7 at the time of the painting. Red hair green eyes but the happy smile he gave didn’t quite make it to his eyes. Jesi walked toward the painting staring at the child.
“That’s your father.” Mabel said walking up beside Jesi. “I remember that day clear as a bell yer grandfather insisted on a family portrait sitting. Ah, but yer father little scamp that he was was having none of it. All he wanted was to go out and play in the yard. The artist finally got yer grandfather to agree to take a photo to make the painting off of. As soon as he was free Conner went out and rolled through the grass in that fancy suit you see ‘im wearing. Aye but yer Grandfather was in a snit for days over the grass stains.”
“This house is massive.” Jesi said looking around the foyer.”
“Ah, but we do agree on that. To the left You’ll find the kitchen, dinning room, ballroom, bathroom, den, and living room. Through the right door you’ll find the home theater, another bathroom, library, office, gym and indoor pool. Upstairs there are nine bedrooms each with their own on suite bathroom, And the master bedroom has exclusive access to it’s own balcony. The third floor contains the greenhouse conservatory and excellent views.”
“So many rooms for only three people.” Jesi marveled turning a slow circle around the foyer.
“Yes, that was yer Grandfather for ye. The man insisted on showing the world how successful he was by getting the best of everything privet jet, fancy yacht, all the cars, the house. Yer father was a much simpler type He would have been happy with a one room apparent in the city. That’s why he never replaced the privet jet after the crash. He didn’t see a need, said if he was gonna fly it could be commercially, with real people.”
Jesi stood staring at the painting tears burned the back of her throat, as waves of emotion beat at her. Her father sounded like such a good man she wished she could have known him, but right on the heels of that she was so angry, her father lived in such excess while she and her mother had scraped by on nothing. Yet according to Ericson her father had never known that she existed her grandfather had lied to her father to her mother. Jesi choked back the tears and clung to the only emotion that had kept her alive for so long. Anger. “I hate them.” she ground between clenched teeth.
Mabel’s face fell she seemed to be hoping for a more joyful reaction from Jesi, but to her credit she didn’t try to talk the girl out of her pain either. Damion walked over and placed an arm around Jesi’s shoulders. “Mrs. Mcguil, is there a room we can go to for rest and a little privacy?” Damion asked
As soon as the door to the large guest bedroom drifted shut behind them Jesminda let her real feelings be known. She broke into deep sobs and fell into Damion’s arms.
“I don’t- I can’t- How could he- How could they-” Jesi started so many sentences but the jumble of emotion stampeding through her.
“Easy Jes, take a breath.” Damion tried as he held her.
“Why am I morning a man I never met? A man who abandoned me?” Jesi started
“Because he didn’t abandon you not on purpose Jes.”
“I want to hate him. I need to hate him, Why can’t I hate him?” Jesi sobbed
“Your right Jes it’s not fair. None of this is fair. It’s a lot to take in, and neither of us have taken the time to really process this.”
“In the hotel he didn’t seem real, but now… He was my father, and I never knew his name.”
“I know, Jes, it’s not fair.”
“He was stolen from me!”
“Yes he was.”
“This whole life was stolen from me!” Jesi hiccuped
Damion just held her and let her cry. There was so much for them both to process. Jesi was now one of the richest women in the nation, and she had insisted that Damion share her home as the brother he’d been to her since the day they’d met.
Jesi spent the rest of the day in the guest room that was now her bedroom with Damion bouncing between sorrow and anger like a rubber ball. Eventually she cried herself to sleep. Damion had just eased her into the plush bed, when a soft knock sounded on the door.
“Hey, uumm.” Damion stammered he wished he could remember the maid’s name.
“Mabel deary. How is she?” Mabel asked as she tried to look past Daion towards Jesi.
“She’s sleeping.” Damion said protectivily blocking to door.
“I mean her no harm.” Mabel said gently
Damion winced and tried to force himself to relax “Sorry, I know you don’t it’s just…” He trailed off at a loss “I’ve protectd her since she was five. Its just really hard to let that go.”
“Ye love her then?” Mable asked
“Of course.” Damion stopped and then a thought occurred to him “Oh! Oh you mean! No, no we’re not like that. She’s basically the sister I -” he stopped.
“Yer sister?”
“The crash that took my parents. It also killed my five year old sister Amy. Three days later I met Jesi, she looks nothing like Amy, but she was the same age and well I guess I wanted to protect her the way I couldn’t protect my family.”
“Ack, ye poor dear.” Mabel said with tears pooling in her eyes. “She’s safe here though, not a sole can get past the walls without setting off the alarms.”
Damion stiffened “Jesi, doesn’t like loud noises. Not since her mother was shot.”
“She was there?” Mable asked
“I thought Mr. Ericson would have told you?” Damion asked in confusion
“No, he told me who she was and that her mother had been killed but nothing else.”
“Yeah, she was there, her mom had to take her to work that night and, she says all she remembers is her mom stuffing her in a cabinet then she heard someone yell for the manager then the shots.”
“My God! Did she see anything?”
“No the officer on the scene worked really hard to make sure she didn’t see anything, But she’s been really jumpy ever since.”
“Ack, the poor dear. Well it seems there’s nothing more You and I can do for her til she wakes come I’ll show ye to yer room you must be tired as well.”
“I-I can’t leave her I’ll just stay here with her.”
“She’s safe here. Your safe here. You need rest too.”
“And I’ll get it right here beside her.”
“Ye’ve taken care of her for thirteen years, Ye’ve earned a rest and so has she.”
“We rest better together.”
“I’m sure ye do, and you’ll be ale to hear her through the wall if there’s trouble.” Mable encouraged
“I-”
“Yer both safe. She’ll be fine.”
Damion reluctantly followed Mable from the room. Mable made a show of taking a key from her pocket and locking the door to the room she explained that she was the only one with a key to unlock the bedroom doors but that all door could be locked or unlocked from the inside.
The next morning Mable opened Jesminda’s door with a cart of food behind her. “Good moring Miss Jes-” Mable froze as Jesi lept from the bed a knife brandished in her hand it’s tip nearly rested on Mabel’s neck
“Sorry,” Jesi said as she lowered the knife. “Force of habit.”
“Well, I will say that’s a new way to get the blood runnin in the mornin.” Mabel said with a giggle “Is there a reason ye have a knife on ye?”
“I’ve slept with a knife since I was sixteen.”
“And ye haven’t cut yerself?” Mable tried to joke
“No, Sargent Mullens trained me and Damion how to defend ourselves.”
“Sargent Mullens?” Mable asked
“He was staying at the first homeless shelter we crashed at after leaving the home. I was young inexperienced in street life and so excited to have my first shower in weeks I wasn’t careful enough. After I walked into the ladies room a man grabbed me from behind. He clamped his hand over my mouth and put a knife to my throat. I tried to scream to struggle while he cut my clothes off. Sargent Mullens heard the struggle and rushed in. He pulled the man off before anything happened and called for help. The man tried to cut Mullens but he dodged the blade, disarmed him, and held him until the folks that ran the shelter arrived. He told them to bring the guy to the police for sexual assault. After he helped me and Damion disappear when the police showed up and then taught us how to survive on the streets we stayed with him for about 4 months, until he disappeared.”
“That must have been hard on ye both.” Mable said
“It’s life on the street.”
“Jesi!” Damion called out as he rushed into the room.
“Ah and that saves me the trouble of bringing breakfast to ye as well.” Mable said as she motioned to the cart behind her. “I didn’t know yer preferences, so I, well, I made yer Father’s favorites. Bacon, sausage, pancakes, as well as some fruit a selection of juices and, aspirin.”
“How did you know I have a headache?” Jesi asked
“I’ve spent more then a night or two crying meself te sleep. I know the headache ye wake with in the morin all to well. OOP!” Mable said as she pulled her phone from her pocket. “And it seems that Ericson has arrived for the day with company not far behind. Best ye eat up and prepare seems as though yer in for yoru first dose of Constance.”
“Heellloo, Constance Karington,” The tall blonde woman in her early twenties stepped up to Jesi and offered her hand “Your sister.”
“I have a sister?” Jesi asked
“No, you do not.” Ericson answered.
“Oh not a biological sister but Conner was like a second father to me.” Constance said
“That makes one of us.” Jesi griped under her breath
“Oh look at you aren’t you a vision well besides that scare on your neck but don’t you worry my step-mom knows a great plastic surgeon we’ll have that gone in days.”
Jesi rested a self conscious hand over the knife scare on her collar bone.
“I wish you had consulted with me Ms. Karington, Miss Jahri’s schedule is full today.”
“Oh, so I cleared my entire morning of running my very successful company to hang out with my new sister for nothing” Constance protested actually pouting at Ericson.
“I believe you’ll find the company belongs to both of you Ms. Karington, and as I Said if you’d checked with me I could have told you that Miss Jahari’s scheduled is full this morning.”
“Oh come on I’m sure you don’t need a stuffy old man telling you what to do Jesi. You don’t mind if I call you Jesi do you?” Constance’s words dripped with sugar.
“Actually I do mind.” Jesi wasn’t buying Constance’s act for a second. “And Ercison has a full day planned.”
“Well, what am I supposed to do with an open morning Ericson?” Constance tried again
“Since your so keen to have family time I suggest you go connect with your brother.” Ericson suggested
“I suppose I could find Skyler but I look forward to dinner tonight Jesminda.” Constance commanded
“I will contact your office and arrange for a dinner in a few weeks then.” Ericson offered.
“I look forward to it.” Constance said with a smile as she turned to go.
“Oh Ms. Karington I would like to know how our confidential flight itinerary was leaked to the press.” Ericson asked
“Oh right, I have talked to my pilot about that rest assured he’ll be disciplined for his loose lips. Ta.” Constance tossed over her shoulder as she left.
“Who was that?” Damion asked when the door closed behind Constance
“Constance Karington, she is the co CEO of O’Connal and Karington Enterprises.”
“Isn’t she kinda young to be a CEO?” Jesi asked
“She was a child prodigy she graduated high school early and earned her MBA by the time she was 20. Two years ago she convinced her father to entire and hand over his half of the company to her.”
Constance slammed the front door to her family’s home. And let out a frustrated scream.
“I take it your plan to get Cinderella to sign the papers was a bust?” her brother Skyler appeared at the top of the stairs.
“I thought you’d still be sleeping.” Constance griped
“I was until you slammed the door quite rude if I’m honest sister dear.” Skyler, said with a lazy drawl
“Well, tell whoever your current girlfriend is I’m sorry to have disturbed her.” Constance replied with a forced smile
“You can drop the loving sister routine Constance I’m alone today.”
“For once.” Constance laughed sarcastically. “What do Nora find you flirting with a waitress?”
“Her name was Ashley and no, she asked for commitment, and you know I don’t do commitment.”
“Hm. Yet another doe eyed debutante that thought she could marry New York’s most eligible bachelor?”
“Yes you’d think they’d know better by now don’t they all talk?”
“Brother this may surprise you but the world does not actually revolve around you.”
“And it doesn’t serve you sister dear. A fact it seems ‘Cinderella’ reminded you of today.” Skyer gloated
“That company is mine! Conner promised it to me! Then that worthless brainless rat shows up and takes everything from me!” Constance shouted.
“I’m not sure Cinderella showed up isn’t more like Connor hunted her down?”
“Cinderella?” Constance said as a calculating smile slid on to her face
“That look never bodes well.” Skyler observed
“Well, every Cinderella needs her Prince Charming doesn’t she.”
“As I understand it she came with hers did she not?”
“The street rat no he’s more a brother to her as I understand it, but you Brother dear are currently between lovers at the moment.”
“Ha! Don’t even try it. Your little Cinderella is no where near my type.”
“Oh please, she’s beautiful, rich, and a woman that’s exactly your type.”
“Hardly, once a street rat always a street rat!” Skyler objected
“I don’t care, you will romance her get her so infatuated with you that when you tell her it’s in her best interst to sign over the company she’ll comply.”
“And if it can’t.”
“Then you’ll keep it in your pants until you marry her! I will not let some brat swoop in and steal everything I worked my entire life to get!”
“You can’t make me do any of this.”
“Can’t I? Last I checked Brother dear I control your trust fund.”

I (31m) just broke up with my (26f) girlfriend today.
You guys I don't really know where to start and I don't really want to ramble but I guess I'm going to anyways.
We've been together about 1.25 years, live 5 hours apart and have seen eachother almost every weekend except maybe 6-8.
I'll never forget the first time we met, she had never done a LDR before, was recovering from being sick so I offered to drive down to see her. We got a hotel (not classy I know) in a location that she works and loves, I remembered hugging her, putting a face to a name so to speak. We had met on Boo (app, highly recommend it) and we had these engaging long conversations about everything... The first message I sent her was about history, something I am very interested in and my god, the conversation flowed and continued to flow. The level of connection we had almost instantly was like no other I have ever felt.
I remember us getting out of the car and being weak in the knees with taking it all in. It was real now. She was even more beautiful than in her pictures. I hugged her and felt so alive and happy. We checked into the hotel, we both had to pee really bad and joked about peeing on the rug in the lobby as we were standing in line.
I came directly from a 10 hour day at work (carpenter) was so filthy and went directly into the shower. I get out of the shower and we held eachother and talked for hours laughing and having a good time. We both didn't even realize how hungry we were. We went out and got waffle house which was a first time for me. Our relationship was full of many firsts for us.
Right away I knew I had to have her, I asked her if she would want to continue and be my gf and she said she'd be a fool not to. A month or so in we told eachother we loved eachother at a very special location in my life, we had both been fighting the urge to say it sooner.
This woman changed me. She made me better. I cried more in front of her than I have in my entire life, something I have always been uncomfortable with. I am so grateful for her for being supportive to me in that way.
I remember us meeting eachother's families and it felt so good. I felt like I had a place in hers and I know she did in mine. My grandma's health is going downhill and has been for a while now, this Christmas my gma handmade my gf this really cool and cute old school apron with my gf's and gma's name on it. Added to that, my gf's profession is baking, something she is very passionate about. That's never happened in my entire dating life and my gf and I were so honored.
A couple months back her GPA developed cancer and has been going downhill, I have a motorcycle, turns out same exact one he had. He gave me his bells. I was so honored, I was speechless and stammering looking at them.
The plan has been for 6 months or more that I move to her to close the distance. Initially I was scared, I had never wanted to move away from my family before and had never taken that big of a risk before. We discussed at length who moves where and both agreed it would be best if I moved there due to a variety of factors.
Life got in the way, I had a couple old junky vehicles that needed attention and money and spent a couple months like crazy after work working on them with my brother. The amount of frustration and guilt I had for not moving in with her tomorrow was insane. We talked about it several times and agreed that it was for the best that I get all my ducks in a row before I move, as coming back home every weekend for however long it takes to square up my life would make both of our lives harder when it would already be challenging initially living together and have me acclimate to her area.
I had several job offers in her area soon after dating. Most of them not a good idea. As an example I could work for a family friend who gets drunk on every job and can't pay his bills... so we agreed that I needed to figure out what I wanted to do for work for myself in a way that benefitted me.
About a month ago my mom and her friend came down to visit, all four of us stayed at airBnB close to gf's work and in the area in which we would move. It was a lot of fun. I felt something was off in gf. The morning before mom, friend, and I were to leave I looked at gf's phone and had found she posted on reddit about us but the post was deleted so I didn't see much. I felt betrayed. She had become distant and wasn't talking to me much and she'd rather talk to strangers instead of me? I confronted her about it and a fight ensued.
So I decided to stay another couple days with her to work on ourselves, I helped her at work for a half a day (something I've done several times that everyone enjoys), we went back to her place and she got super drunk. Told me she felt like her life is falling apart and she's not happy. I held her while she cried, listened, and told her I'd be there for her rain or shine always. At one point she stood up... barely and she got a look in her eyes combined with her body language where I was near certain she was going to hit me (been here before in the past with others). It scared the shit out of me.
I left in the afternoon the next day after she told me I was her person, and she was laying in bed crying uncontrollably. It was so hard to leave but I had thought it would be better for her if I did.
For a couple weeks all communication on her end dropped. We used to talk all the time, and I was lucky to get an "I love you" once a day. I begged her to talk to me and not give up on us. The only times we talked she had clearly been drinking and said some truly horrible things about me. Character assassination repeatedly, I told her in confidence previously about some deep dark secrets I have and insecurities and she used then against me to tear my soul apart. I was devastated, I thought of leaving her then, but I didn't because I still loved her and she had been a great partner up until this point. She had stopped going to work, did not work for two weeks. From what I gather she spent most of that time at her mom's probably drinking and not doing much else.
One weekend we were supposed to go to a family wedding on my side, lots of people coming from out of town who are huge in my life I don't get to see often at all. A day or two before she told me she wasn't coming, and the thought of being with me and talking to me riddled her with anxiety. I spent that weekend surrounded by beautiful strangers and happy times and it was hard for me to quell the thoughts about "the grass is always greener". At one point an attractive woman was talking to me briefly at a bar after the wedding, playing with her hair etc. It was clear she was into me. It felt good to have someone give me the time of day but I felt terrible for putting on an impression that I was available and happy.
Then this weekend (memorial day weekend)... oh God. Gf and I had plans to go to a concert, stay at a hotel. I told her I said I don't want to go to a concert with you and your sister and spend money and pretend everything is fine when it most definitely isn't. She told me that was selfish because her sister was looking forward to it. So I begrudgingly agreed to continue with the concert.
We saw eachother for the first time in three weeks and right away I sensed the guilt from her for being cruel to me. I tried to point it out and she denied it, she was a lot more physically attentive with me and giving me compliments. The first night we were alone and it was hard but I think we undid some of the damage and reconnected a lot. I think we were both happy about the progress but sad at what we had become.
Concert was the next day, it was great, again she's attentive and amazing like the woman I fell in love with. My hopes had reactivated for us a little and my smile was genuine instead of forced.
Her mom had texted us Sunday (the next day, clarification gf lives with mom so I stay there when I visit) and had said to try to not be at the house all day since the house had many people in it already. Okay, makes sense. We occupied our time doing other things, and drove back to her mom's around 8 or 9p.
On the way there, one of my brother's (E) calls me and asked if I had heard what had happened to my other brother (B). I had said no, I hadn't heard I had assumed he had got the job he was looking at. E tells me B's apartment building collapsed. B was safe, but lucky to be alive realistically. B had lost everything he's ever had, he escaped with the clothes he had on and his phone, he didn't even have his wallet.
I'm dissasociating as I'm hearing all of this, driving gf and me back to gf's mom's house. Our relationship is dying, and I get the feeling that her mom isn't happy with me. We get to her mom's house and her mom and aunt (who is currently living there, I've seen her only twice) are drinking on the porch and want gf and me to come out and talk to them. Was a demand not a request. I don't know how long this went on, best guess is 1-1.5 hours but they berated me, were drawing wild ass conclusions about me, you name it, really weird, scary and hurtful things. I didn't bother to try to defend myself because there was no point. Gf sat there quietly and agreed with them partially. I felt so betrayed, hurt and alone, she didn't stand up for me. I asked her if she would speak to her mother or my behalf and she said she wouldn't. I found out I'm no longer welcome at the house, complicating our relationship further.
Memorial day the next day, I hadn't even really slept, no shower, I left gf's mom's house at 5a when I knew no one would be there and waited at a truck stop for hours for my gf to wake up and come talk to me. Eventually she did, and I told her my respect and trust for her mom was in the sewer and I was afraid her crazy ass alcoholic mother was twisting my gf's opinion of me over the last month. I told her I don't know how you can do it but please get out of that house soon. Between B losing everything he owns and the verbal assault I had last night I was in a very dark place. Later that day, completely dead inside with no sleep we made it to her dad's side of the family where everyone appreciates me and loves me. We had fun in the backyard, I did my best to try to forget about B and last night but I couldn't. I went inside at some point to pee and I snapped. I found my gf in the backyard and announced in front of her family that I had to go home immediately.
As she was driving me back to her car I reminded her about how I had been to the hospital for her brother several times and how I would like the same respect for myself. This frustrated her. I said I think now is the time we agree to go to therapy and she did agree, however I felt she didn't want to.
I've been working like a dog this week sweating my ass off, hadn't heard much from gf at all, last night I asked when can we talk again? She said today after work. I woke up this morning and I knew I couldn't take it anymore. I knew in my heart I have always supported her and loved her deeply. I knew all the sacrifices I already made and all the sacrifices I would continue to make in the future with my moving to her, and how she still would refuse to give me the proper recognition and reciprocation I deserve.
I broke up with her this morning. I'm hoping to meet halfway this weekend to exchange our stuff. I'm also hoping she'll do some self work and come back to me before I move on for good, I told her my door will be open to her for a while but I don't know how long.
Moral of the story- changing for people is good if it's good, sacrificing for people is good if it's good, loving people is good if it's good. If the person you are with refuses to communicate and reciprocate, it's not your fault. We make our own choices. Please be smarter than me and take care of yourselves.

Hello New Zealanders! (Can I call you kiwis?)
I have travel questions for you. If this isn't the right subreddit, or there's a wiki or travel advice thread that I missed, please let me know.
I have the great fortune to have just booked an extraordinarily cheap flight to Auckland from the U.S. using airline miles. (It's on Delta -- less than 50,000 miles round trip for travel in November, late January, Febuary, and parts of March -- happy to share the specifics if anyone wants.)
My family and I will be there over the U.S. Thanksiving holiday -- Nov. 19 (that's when we land--we leave the US on the 17th) through Nov. 25 (that's when we depart, and, thanks to the International Date Line, also when we get home!). Not a lot of time, I know, but really all we can spare in that part of the year.
My family is small -- it's just my wife and I, and my 7-year-old daughter. We like all sorts of vacations, from wine tasting (okay, maybe not the kiddo) to relaxing beach vacations, to nature hikes and camping, to city life and culture. We also love food, though the wife is a vegetarian and the kiddo doens't like seafood. We live in Salt Lake City, Utah, so we have the mountain life at home, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't be interested in exploring in NZ, too. I guess the only think we can really cross off the list is anything Lord of the Rings related, as my family isn't really into Tolkien and haven't seen the movies (though I have). My wife travels internationally for work a few times a year, and I'm hopeful that this won't be our only visit to your awesome country, but I think we have to assume that this will be a once-in-a-lifetime trip for us.
I've looked through the generic New Zealand travel sites, but don't have a really good feeling for what a reasonable itinarary looks like for our time there. Right now, I have the following questions:
1) Is it worth it to try to get to the South Island at all? Or should we just focus on stuff in the north. In other words, is there anything in the south that we absolutely can't miss, and worth the travel time and cost?
2) I was looking at a couple of sites that offer campervans or RVs at reasonable cost. We own an RV and are used to driving and sleeping in it. Is that a good way to explore the North Island? Are there ample places to park and/or campgrounds near cities or attractions? Or would staying in hotels and using public transit / taxis / car rentals be better? I'm pretty sure we don't want to stick just to Auckland, but on the other hand if driving a 6-8 meter campervan or RV around, and finding a place to park it while we're at attractions is going to be a huge hassle, then we'll consider alternatives.
3) For stuff to do, I'm fairly certain we'll want to check out Waitomo caves (my daughter, who's obsessed with nature, will want to check out the glow worms!) snorkel on Poor Knights Islands, and have a beach day (Hot Water Beach? some place else?). We might want to check out Waiheke Island, hike in Egmont National Park, and have a Maori experience at some place like Te Pa Tu, or take a whale watching or other cruise or ferry. Any thoughts on any of those activities? What should we do in Auckland? Is Wellington worth visiting? If we were to do something like a wine tasting, or want to hang out at a brewery, is that OK for kids? Are kids admitted to those places? Are there kids activities in pubs/breweries/wineries? What else should be on our bucket list?
(P.S. I got most of my ideas here... I don't know how interesting or reputable the site is: https://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/11-must-do-north-island-experiences/)
Thanks so much!

I have chosen five races at Belmont Park and 2 races at Woodbine on Saturday June 3, 2023 that I am willing to take a shot at and hopefully find my next nice score. I will not be betting the last race at Belmont individually, but it is the last race of the late P5 which I will take a couple of small shots at. I have always preferred to get as many shots as I can to hit some type of exotics in one or two races but believe spreading in any pick type sequences is not the best use of my money. Much prefer using a few dollars every race and get more opportunities every day compared to putting all my eggs in one sequence and watching them all break when one horse or race does not go as expected.
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Belmont Park 4th Race: Maiden Special Weight --- Purse $75,000 --- 3 YOs & Up NY Bred Fillies & Mares --- 7 Furlongs Turf:
1)Ace Up Her Sleeve (12-1) Has 10 lifetime starts with 4 starts and 3 thirds since the beginning of this year. In her last three starts she was tried twice on the AWT in sprints against open company and then shipped back to NY to face state breds in a turf sprint, but race was moved to a muddy dirt track where she was well beaten but managed to get up for third. One slow work since at Delaware Park. Dialed In - Clearly Cheating by Broken Vow. 3x3 to Storm Cat, 4(C)x5(F)x5(F) to Mr. Prospector, 5x5 to Blushing Groom, 5(C)x5(C)x5(F) to Secretariat. As usual, most interested in her broodmare sire, Broken Vow, to figure out what distance is best for this runner, and I believe turf sprinting is the answer for this one. Broken Vow as a G2 SW on dirt but plenty of his progeny has won on grass up to a mile and he has a daughter (Broken Dreams) similar bred to this one's dam that won 3 stakes turf sprints including 2 of them G3 stakes and banked just shy of $400K. Fits with these.
6)La Chance (50-1) Has started 10 times in her career and has one second in 4 starts this year as her only board finish in her first ten starts. She will need her best effort yet but has the bloodlines to upset this field at a huge price. Her last two races and her recent works gives a clue that improvement is on the way after getting a trainer that acts like he knows what he is trying to achieve and gets her first real chance on grass. Looking At Lucky - One Wise Cowgirl by Wiseman's Ferry. 4x5 to Clever Trick. Her sire, Looking at Lucky, was a Champion 2 YO and Champion 3 YO on dirt in the U.S. and broodmare sire, Wiseman's Ferry, won a couple of G3 dirt stakes at 9 furlongs but is best remembered as sire of Wise Dan, who was good on dirt to begin his career but took his popularity to an entirely different level by winning 14 of his last 15 starts on grass with 1 second and 15 of 17 overall, with every grass start against either G1 or G2 competition. La Chance's dam, One Wise Cowgirl, has also produced a G1 sprint SW on dirt (Haveyougoneaway).
4)Cerretta (8-1) has started once this year finishing 3rd in a grass sprint but also started 7 times last year with a second and a third her other two board finishes. Has four decent to useful works since her last start which should move her forward. Midnight Lute - Lift by Pulpit. 5x4 to Mr. Prospector, 5x5 to Raise A Native & Secretariat.
7)Souffle (2-1) started twice last year, finishing second in her first start on grass as the favorite before returning as an odds-on heavy favorite and finished 4th after getting beaten to the early lead and then coming up empty late. This is her first start this year and trainer Clement is good at hiding which one of his trainees is ready to win first back or may need a race or two but normally uses Rosario when he thinks one is live and he does so here also. Will also race with lasix for the first time. Candy Ride - Portmagee by Hard Spun. 5x4 to Mr. Prospector. Both Candy Ride and Hard Spun are known for their high speed in mid-distance races especially but dam, Portmagee, won one 6 furlongs grass sprint in her career but falter both times when asked to go just slightly further.
My Risks: $4 Ex Box 1-6, $1 Ex Box 1-4-6, $1 Tri Box 1-4-6, $.10 Super Box 1-4-6-7, $.50 Super Key 4 with 1-6-7 with 1-6-7 with 1-6-7. Total Risks $25.40.
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Race 6: $.50 Pick 5 ---- 6 with 8 with 7 with 2,4,5 with 3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12. Total Risk $12.00.
Race 6: $.50 Pick 5 ---- 6,9 with 8 with 7 with 2,4,5, with 3,6,9,12. Total Risk $12.00.
Race 6: Allowance --- Purse $95,000 --- 3 YOs UP F&M N/W 1x or N/W 2 Lifetime --- 6 Furlongs Turf:
6) Anna Karenine (9-2) was shipped to U.S. late last year and was given the rest of the year off. Returned in March in a G3 stakes and sat close up early behind a crawling pace and faded after a half mile on grass. Cut back to 6 furlongs in her next start, she sat just behind the two early leaders in third, was sent after a half after the front runner had put only early challenger away but could not get by and hung in deep stretch to lose 2nd nearing the wire in this class and conditions. She has 4 more works in typical Brown style but should be getting close to her best effort. Tornado - Ivory Style by Desert Style. 4(C)x5(F)x5(F)x5(F) to Northern Dancer, 5x4 to Danzig, 5x5 to Special. Anna Karenine's 4th dam, Ivory Wand, is also 2nd dam of Elusive Quality, and this dam line flows back through Frizette, an important member of family #13.
9) Redifined (5-1) has one start this year where she tracked a fast early pace but came up empty in the stretch run in an O/C allowance race. However, she broke her maiden in the first start of her career, then competed in 3 stakes races, 2 of them listed and the other a G3 stakes where she placed in all three. She has recorded 3 very good works since her last race and is the one to beat. More Than Ready - Mrs. Boss by Wild Event. 4x5 to Northern Dancer, 5x5 to Nearctic.
5) Dekanter (12-1) has started twice this year which was also her first two starts of her career and finished 3rd on dirt, then won a maiden special weight race on grass in fairly fast time but it was during a small period when Aqueduct's grass course was blistering fast. Has 4 more works since her last start, none that are eye catching but all done on a 7-day then 6-day splits which is what you (or at least I) want to see from grass runners instead of fast works. Kantharos - Morning Rush by Unbridled's Song. 4x4 to Storm Cat, 5(C)x5(C)x5(F)x5(F) to Mr Prospector.
8) Michele M. (15-1) started twice last year, both time on the AWT, breaking her maiden in her first start before finishing unplaced in a Canadian listed stake. She will be making her first start of this year, first start on grass in her career and first start for a new trainer that wins often on grass but tends to struggle with trainees first start on grass. West Coast - Juliamarie by Mizzen Mast. 4x4 to Mr. Prospector, 5x5 to Secretariat, 5(C)x5(C)x5(F) to Raise A Native. Dam line traces back to Penelope/Prunella and the most influential family #1 in bloodlines history, without a doubt.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 6-9, $1 Tri Box 5-6-9, $5 Tri Straight 6 with 9 with 5, $1 Super Straight 5-6-9 with 5-6-9 with 5-6-9 with 8. Total Risk $27.00.
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7th Race: Maiden Special Weight --- Purse $90,000 --- 3 YOs & Up --- 1 1/16 Mile Turf:
8)Redistricting (3-1) is a first-time starter. It looks like his training started under another barn, then was a private purchase by current owner (private or purchases away from sales are not reported in most cases), then has a consistent work pattern for current trainer Brown with only one small break in his training that lasted 10 days until the day after the Ky Derby (likely concentrating on runners already entered to race). None of his works are eye catching but his last 9 works have all been at 4 furlongs officially, which is the normal Brown pattern. Kingman - Cascata by Montjeu. 4x4 to Kris, 5x4 to Northern Dancer.
1)Certified Loverboy (20-1) has started once this year where he tracked the early pace for 6 furlongs, then faded near the rail as the slow early pace quicken in a maiden race at 1 1/8 mile on grass, which is likely a little further than he is bred to excel at. Now cuts back 1/16 mile, which fits his bloodlines better and has one useful work since that start and returns to jockey who likely knows him better than others. Mendelsohn - Tasha's Moon by Malibu Moon. 4x4 to Mr. Prospector. Dam family traces back to family #3 which is the family of Sister One To True Blue, a daughter of a Byerley Turk mare who, along with her full brother Young True Blue, is most responsible for the formation of the 2nd X-factor gene family.
6)Ohana Honor (8-1) has two starts this year, the first on GP speed favoring dirt track where he tried to impact the race from well off the pace but had no real opportunity to do so. Next out, he was shipped to Aqueduct and moved to grass for the first grass start of his career where he was rolling in the stretch to just miss winning but also encountered enough trouble to make him late arriving to compete. Trainer Shug has put 6 more works in him since that effort, the first 4 useful works and then 2 easy works just to let him stretch his legs until a spot could be found to race him. Has the look of a trainer who is serious about breaking this one's maiden. Honor Code - Spacy Tracy by Awesome Again. 4x5 to Mr. Prospector, 5x5 to Bold Ruler, 5(C)x5(F)x5(F) to Northern Dancer. Dam has already produced 3 stakes winners from 6 known foals to race, including this one.
7)Fly Right (6-1) is making his first start of the year after making three starts last year and drew near the rail in every start, thereby forcing jockey to send him early for the lead to avoid being trapped (at least perceived by most). He has 10 works for his return, including last 9 at Belmont Park, but his last 4 works should have him fit and ready. Also goes first-time lasix. Astern - Fly By by Johar. 4x5 to Sadler's Wells, 5x5 to Danzig. 6th dam, Where You Lead, is an important and influential broodmare.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 1-8, $1 Tri Box 1-6-8, $1 Super 8 with 1-6-7 with 1-6-7 with 1-6-7, $3 Super Straight 8 with 1 with 6 with 7. Total Risk $25.00.
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8th Race: Allowance --- Purse $80,000 --- 3 Yos & Up N/W 1x or N/W 2 lifetime NY Bred --- 1 1/16 Mile:
7) Shadow Dragon (2-1) has three starts this year, finishing 2nd in a G3 stakes in his first start then giving a half-hearted effort in his next two in G2 stakes company, races he was clearly overmatched in and thrown against them much too soon in his young career. Will find these fits his current ability much better and looks like a solid key in the pick exotics. Has 6 works since his last start and most of them shows he still has a desire to be competitive. Army Mule - Fire Assay by Medaglia D'Oro. 5x5 to Northern Dancer but also has Somethingroyal crossing in the sire line through Secretariat and in the broodmare sire line and dam line through another son Sir Gaylord(x2). Has even more crossing influence through Turn-To & Teddy through multiple sons and daughters on both sides.
6) Ormstown (5-1) broke his maiden in his last start against NY bred in the third start of his career and now tries state-bred winners for the first time. This is a fairly weak field for an allowance race and the reason I landed on this one is I feel he has an ability to rate though he went gate to wire against easier in this last (or at least his bloodlines suggest he should). Bernardini - Sandra by Bluegrass Cat. 2x4 to A.P. Indy, 4x5 to Secretariat, 5(C)x4(F)x5(F) to Mr. Prospector, 5(C)x5(F)x5(F) to Northern Dancer.
My Risks: $8 Ex Straight 7-6. Total Risk $8.00.
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Race 9: Pennine Ridge Stakes(G2) --- Purse $200,000 ---- 3 YOs ---- 1 1/8 Mile Turf:
4) Silver Knott (2-1) has one start this year and was overmatched against much better than he will see here. Will be looking to make amends for such a poor showing in last. Probably a little more eager than normal as he was fresh off a break and ended up burning all his energy before the real running began on a slow grass course. Europe does not record works between races as most works on private property and normally have to rely on what trainers tells everyone. Brings a substitute jockey along as main rider stays in England for the Epsom Derby. Lope De Vega - God Given by Nathaniel. 5(C)x5(C)x5(F) to Mr. Prospector. Lope De Vega is a son of Shamardal (from 1st crop of Giant's Causeway and dam was a full sister to Street Cry). Broodmare sire, Nathaniel, is also a 2-time G1 stakes winner on grass but is more famously known as the sire of Enable (15 wins in 19 lifetime starts).
5) Congruent (10-1) has started four times this year with a win on the AWT 2 starts back his only board finish. He switches trainers since his last start and new trainer has put 7 works in him, the first 4 looks like they were leg stretching type works to let him get a good feel of Belmont dirt surface followed by 3 good solid works with two of them grass works. Tapit - Part The Seas by Stormy Atlantic. 4x4 to Seattle Slew, 4(C)x5(C)x4(F) to Mr. Prospector, 5x5 to Northern Dancer, In Reality & Secretariat.
2) Sharar (12-1) is making his U.S. debut after shipping over from Dubai, switching trainers and given plenty of time to rest and become familiar with U.S. racing. Like a typical Pletcher trainee, he put in a few non-descript works but works improved in his last two after he was switched to grass, which he had already suggested in his first two starts he did not like the feel of Dubai's dirt (possibly did not care from Belmont dirt either). Upset potential at good odds. Gun Runner - Sacre Coeur by Saint Ballado. 5x4 to Herbager.
8) Far Bridge (9-5) has three starts in his career, with all 3 coming this year and he has 2 wins and a second, losing his perfect record in his last start when beaten a nose. However, I will take a stand against him for the win as his two works are typical Pletcher works, but his last was not an improvement which is normal for one of his trainees just before a start. Could be the track switch but more likely last took a little fitness from him. Your call, as he certainly has the bloodlines to beat these. English Channel - Fitpitcher by Kitten's Joy. 5x5 to Northern Dancer.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 2-4, $1 Tri Box 2-4-5. Total Risk $16.00.
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Race 10: Maiden Claiming $40K --- Purse $45,000 ---- 3 YOs & Up New York Bred --- 1 1/16 Mile Turf:
3) War Prince (9-2) 4(C)x5(C)x5(F) to Northern Dancer.
4) Atlanta's Acuna (6-1) Complete outcross in first 5 generations.
5) Fluorescent Bay (20-1) 5x3 to Icecapade.
6) Just For Luck (12-1) 5x5 to Northern Dancer.
8) Silent Running (10-1) 5x5 to Secretariat.
9) Thethrillofvictory (5-1) Complete outcross in his first 5 generations.
10) Sea Cruise (30-1) Complete outcross in first 5 generations.
12) Bad Larry (4-1) 4(C)x5(C)x5(F) to Mr. Prospector.
No bets on this race but using these in last race of P5. Total Risk All Bets: $125.40.
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Woodbine June 3,2023:
5th Race: Maiden Special Weight --- Purse $111,600 --- 2 YOs ---- 5 Furlongs:
7) Call The Question (8-1) started once and finished last but had only 3 furlongs works with one poor gate work before that start in 4 1/2 furlongs and did not try after a poor break. Now has two more good works since that start, a 4-furlongs followed by a 3-furlongs gate work that is much better and now stretches out to 5-furlongs where she should get a better break from gate. 5(C)x5(F)x5(F) to Mr Prospector.
6) That Girl Artemus (6-1) is a first-time starter. Her 4-furlongs two back is very good followed by another good
4-furlongs work from the gate. If she breaks as well as she has shown, becomes a candidate to wire the field. 4x5 to Mr. Prospector.
2) Pipit (5-2) is a first-time starter. Has a good gate work two back at 4 furlongs followed by an easy 4 furlongs work. Attracts top jockey with an above average trainer. 4x4 to Mr. Prospector, 5x5 to Secretariat & Sir Ivor, 5(C)x5(C)x5(F) to Raise A Native, 5(C)x5(F)x5(F) to Northern Dancer.
9) Miramichi (15-1) has one start on the AWT at 4 1/2 furlongs, but drew outside on a rainy track which is usually the worst place to be, and the one just inside her got better break and she chased them throughout as they pull away while closest to the rail and she lost third at the wire to a late runner. Returns in two weeks but has another good 4 furlongs work since that start.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 6-7, $1 Tri Box 2-6-7, $.20 Super Box 2-6-7-9, $.30 Super Straight 2-7 with 2-7 with 6-9 with 6-9. Total Risk $22.00.
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Race 7: Royal North S(Can-2) --- Purse $175,000 --- 4 YOs & Up F&M --- 6 1/2 Furlongs Turf:
2) Bay Storm (3-1) has three starts this year with 2 seconds and one third. She has been an ultra-consistent runner throughout her career, missing a placing once in her 14 lifetime starts. While this looks like a step up for her into G2 company, it is actually a step down in class as she has missed twice to odds-on G1 winning fillies in her last 5 starts while 2nd both times, including beaten a nose by one of them. She will be going back on lasix for the first time in a while. 4x4 to Storm Cat.
8) Baby No Worries (12-1) has started four times this year, winning her first start in an allowance race on the AWT at TP with a good late kick to get up in time, then finishing 2nd in a small stakes race at same track in her third start using a good late kick again to just miss before finishing 3rd in her last start against the probable favorite in here in a G3 stakes race at this track with another good late kick. She has the look of finally putting it all together as she gets more racing experience and is also moving back to grass. 5x5 to Hoist The Flag & My Charmer.
5) Our Flash Drive (9-5) has started once this year and made it a winning effort in a G3 stakes race on the AWT at her home track here. She switches back to turf here where if she has a weakness, it is on grass as only one of her stake wins have come on that surface. However, all her grass tries have been in the U.S. where the competition is usually much tougher and since she is back on her home turf, so she deserves to be the favorite. One useful work since her last start. Outcross in her first 5 generations but has Nasrullah influences on both sides.
6) Sweet Enough (20-1) has started 3 times this year in two G3 stakes and a listed stakes race in the U.S. and has not placed. However, in all three starts, she was beaten by horses that would be vying for favoritism in here and her last indicated she is near to regaining her best form. Trainer is one of Canada's best and he has put 5 more works in her, the last three very good and indicates this filly is still moving forward. She will be racing on lasix for the first time this year. 5(C)x5(C)x5(F) to Mr. Prospector.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 2-8, $1 Tri Box 2-5-8, $.20 Super Box 2-5-6-8, $1 Super Key 2 with 5-6-8 with 5-6-8 with 5-6-8. Total Risks $26.80.
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Total Risks Both Tracks $174.80.

Guys, I need your honest opinion based on your experience.
I am an Asian Female, NY, Junior (nearing the end) and I just received a final grade of B+ in my Advanced Calc class. (By the way, my school is a private school so they got rid of the AP curriculum a long time ago, however, we still keep our reputation of being a rigorous school as we are highly ranked.) This would be my first and only B+ on my transcript and I am scared of its implications.
I won't have a straight A record now, but does it help that 90% of my classmates are taking Calc in their senior year as I am in one of the most advanced math offerings?
My goal is T20 schools and I heard they have a vetting process just for grades that eliminates students that don't meet their standards. My question is how much this B+ will hurt me.

Greetings! I hope you enjoy this new tale I've spun up! Trying a different POV this time around. Let me know what you think.
Next
Markus gazed once more at the package. It was tubular in shape, about ten inches in length, and rattled slightly when he shook it. There was no return address, and the delivery label was obviously hand-written in a gorgeous calligraphic font. Someone definitely took their time and care in creating this.
However, he didn’t recall ordering anything, nor did he have any friends or family with a looming marriage, so this arrival warranted some concern. It smelled somewhat of a campfire, but was otherwise a normal, nondescript cardboard tube with plastic caps.
As he inhaled the scent surrounding the tube, his mind was cast back to the few camping trips he had taken with his father, and of the many blóts he had performed with his old Kindred before they disbanded. Good memories, all. With a smile on his face, he gently uncapped the tube and emptied the contents out into his heavy palm.
As he had been expecting a letter, he wasn’t disappointed. What was interesting was the fact that said letter was made of honest-to-goodness vellum. A rolled piece of vellum, kept tight by a heavy signet ring.
Markus took the vellum to the kitchen table, and gently slid the ring off of it, laying it down, ignored for now.
Whomever had sent this to him had some serious skills. He was looking at what appeared to be an illuminated invitation. The handwriting was as exquisite as the lettering on the delivery label, and was a veritable joy to read.
Dearest Markus,
I am cordially inviting you to tea.
Please meet me at Kitcho Arashiyama – Kyoto, Japan.
Enclosed, please find your ticket to Japan.
I expect to see you there in three month’s time, at four PM local time on February 14th, 2023.
Yours,
Lucifer
Markus sat the letter down beside the seal, dumbfounded. Lucifer? Either someone was attempting to draw him into another LARP, or they must have sent the message to the wrong guy. Curious, he inspected the ring.
It was a heavy ring, with a curious, angular symbol embossed on it, surrounded by an almost hypnotic pattern of lines. The same symbol was also on either side of the ring. Smirking, he took a snapshot of it with his phone and did an image search.
It was, indeed, the sigil of Lucifer. Someone must have gone to some expense for this. Remembering that the message had said something about a plane ticket, Markus snatched up the tube and shook it some more. Out floated a second item. Picking it up off the floor, Markus saw that it looked curiously like a ticket of some sort. Round-trip from Louisville to Kyoto, open-ended. Nonstop, first class. Holy shit.
In disbelief, Markus checked the ticket online. It was booked through Quantas, and was, indeed, legitimate. Sitting back in the chair, he realized that he would be going to Japan in three months.
Three months was hardly enough time to get his passport in order. Still, if someone spent this much on a flight for him, he owed it to them to do his utmost to be there on time, and at his best.
The next day, he called in to work and went to a post office in Louisville to apply for a passport. Figuring the expense would be worth it, he went ahead and got it expedited. No sense in it arriving the day after his flight. This way, he would have it around the third week of January, leaving him enough time to not panic about having everything ready.
The second most important task done, he went home and perused the web for a nice outfit to wear to his tea meeting with “Lucifer”. A new kilt, belt and boots would do the trick. He would go to a nicer store for a dress shirt once he had the items.
Markus felt invigorated for the first time in several years once he had made the purchases. His life had been fraught with one setback or disaster after another for quite some time. He and his girlfriend of five years had split up last month, both of his grandfathers had passed while they were together, and his mother, the only family he had left, had developed Alzheimer’s and had already forgotten who he was. Markus couldn’t afford to take care of her on his own, and had been forced to place her in a home. A change would be welcome.
So, he started on the hardest and most important task: learning Japanese. He had three months to get fluent enough to get by without being seen as disrespectful. He had been an avid fan of most anime and manga for nearly thirty years, and hopefully watching the subtitled anime would come in handy in this endeavor. Thinking about his upcoming trip, Markus realized he’d need somewhere to stay. He scoured the internet, looking at reviews and ads for various hotels in the area of the restaurant he’d be dining at. After several hours of searching, he selected a place called Rikyuan Kyoto Nishikyogoku. He sent them an email detailing his trip and his needs, and got a reply with the costs. He put it on a credit card, and felt one more piece of the puzzle slip into place.
Markus made the necessary arrangements at work the next day, “planning” on two full weeks of being gone. Thankfully, his company was extremely flexible, and allowed him to take the required days off, no questions asked. When not working, Markus was deep in his Japanese lessons, cross-referencing what he heard in his anime with what he was learning. It took almost the entire three months, but by the end of it, he was watching entire episodes of “One-Punch Man” without subtitles and understanding about eighty percent of it.
Reading the katakana and hiragana, however, was proving to be a little more difficult. He could recognize the symbols for the various shops and restaurants, but was far from reading a newspaper.
On February tenth, he checked that the ticket was still valid, and packed enough for a month away. It was a depressingly small, single bag that he wound up having. Since a kilt was easy to care for, and he would be wearing a second one anyway, all he really had to pack were a few shirts, socks and underwear for the trip alongside his small bag of toiletries.
Once he was fully packed, he went about his life as usual. Work, eat, video games, sleep, and repeat. There was little in the way of friends, and no family left to visit besides his mother, who sadly never recognized him.
The day before his flight left, he decided to visit his mother one last time. He drove himself to the retirement home, and signed himself in to see her. It was a bright, if cold, afternoon.
Knocking on her door, he called out, “Hello? Mom? It’s me, Markus. May I come in?”
“Markus? Markus, Markus…. Now where have I heard that name before? Oh! Yes, please come in!” she replied.
Opening the door, he was surprised to see his mother in a bathrobe with a broad smile and outstretched arms. “My son! I’ve missed you. Your father is at work, but he should be home in an hour or so. I have some tea in the fridge. Would you like some?” she asked, her soft voice as pleasant as it ever was in his childhood. She wrapped him up in a warm, if weak, hug in her fragile arms.
“No thanks, Mom. I’ll get some water, instead. Can I get you a glass, too?” he replied.
“Oh, please. I’d appreciate that. I’ll just have a seat, then,” she said, taking a seat on the small chair at the writing desk.
Markus got two glasses of water from the tap, handed one to his mother and sat in a chair. “Mom? I’ve got something to tell you. Promise you won’t get mad?”
“I promise, son. Now, what is it?”
“I’m going on a trip tomorrow. To Kyoto for a business meeting. I don’t know when I’ll return,” he said softly.
“Oh! My boy is finally getting to travel. Your father will be so proud of you. He should be home soon, you know,” she said, taking a sip of her water.
Markus’ breath hitched at the second mention of his father, who had been dead and gone these past seventeen years. Forcing a smile, he said, “Yeah, Mom. You know how dad is, though. He works so much to make sure we have what we need.”
“He sure does, Markus. I do hope you get to see him before you leave. It’d mean the world to him. So! What’s this business meeting about?” she asked happily.
“Well, I’m not sure, if I’m honest. I just got a letter to meet someone in Kyoto. They included an open-ended plane ticket and everything. I checked everything out, and it’s all legitimate. It’s probably something pretty important. I just wish I knew why they chose a relative nobody like me,” he replied, deep in thought.
“It’s because my son is an amazing person. That’s why. I just know it,” she said, setting down her mostly untouched water on the writing desk. “I’m getting tired, now. Come see me again soon? I miss you so much,” she pleaded.
“Okay, Mom. As soon as I can. Let me help you to bed, okay? I know you’re tired,” Markus said, offering an arm to his mother.
“You’re such a sweet boy. You got that from your father, you know.”
His mother grunted softly as she climbed into bed, pulling the covers over her shoulders.
“I love you, Mom. Get some rest, and I’ll come see you as soon as I can, okay?”
“Okay, sweetheart. He’ll take care of you, you know.”
“Who will, Mom?”
“The man you’re going to meet for tea. He’ll take care of you. I’m sure of it,” she said sleepily.
“...meet for tea? What? I never…”
But Markus’ mother was already fast asleep, snoring softly. Markus looked at his mother in wonder. Shaking his head, he kissed her forehead and walked out of her room, shutting the door as quietly as he could manage.
He walked to the front desk and informed the receptionist that his mother was asleep, and that he would be leaving in the morning for Japan, in case she asked about him.
“Oh, that sounds wonderful, sir! I hope you enjoy your trip. I’ll make sure the aides know that she is asleep. Thank you for visiting her. I know it’s hard, but it does help them. Even when they don’t recognize you, connecting to their past is always helpful. Please be safe,” he said.
“Thank you. I will be. Take care of her, okay?” Markus asked softly, swallowing past the tight lump in his throat.
The receptionist nodded with a smile, and Markus went home, crying silently.
Obscenely early the next morning, Markus tossed his travel bag into his car and drove off to the airport. The drive was thankfully smooth and without any serious traffic. He got a decent spot in the long term parking lot, and went to check in to his flight.
Surprisingly enough, the wait for check-in was short and quick, allowing him to get to his gate with over an hour to spare. With such ample time, Markus got breakfast, and was able to savor the mostly bland fare. The boarding process was quick and efficient, and the other passengers were mostly quiet and tired. This allowed them to be able to leave a full fifteen minutes early, and Markus was soon on his way to Kyoto.
He found himself the only resident of first class, oddly enough. He and the flight attendant spoke cordially a few times, and he busied himself on his phone for most of the trip, napping occasionally for the nearly fourteen hour flight.
He was gently awoken by his flight attendant. “Markus? We will be landing soon. I need you to sit up and get your seatbelt on, okay?” she said softly.
“Hrmm? Oh. Okay, Sophia. I’m up. Thank you,” he replied with a smile. Sophia nodded and went to buckle herself in as well.
Safely buckled, Markus awaited the plane’s touchdown.
The plane landed, and all passengers disembarked just as orderly and quietly as they boarded. Once his bag had been claimed, Markus left the airport, and took his first breath of the air in Kyoto.
The air was cold, clean and crisp, with a promise of snow in the future. Markus had been busy during his flight, checking on the best ways to get to his destination. He settled on taking a bus, and then a train, as that was an experience he’d never had. Markus oriented himself, finding the correct stop, and sat down on a nearby bench to wait.
His adventure in Japan had just begun.
Next
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Master List

Greetings! I hope you enjoy this new tale I've spun up! Trying a different POV this time around. Let me know what you think.
​
Markus gazed once more at the package. It was tubular in shape, about ten inches in length, and rattled slightly when he shook it. There was no return address, and the delivery label was obviously hand-written in a gorgeous calligraphic font. Someone definitely took their time and care in creating this.
However, he didn’t recall ordering anything, nor did he have any friends or family with a looming marriage, so this arrival warranted some concern. It smelled somewhat of a campfire, but was otherwise a normal, nondescript cardboard tube with plastic caps.
As he inhaled the scent surrounding the tube, his mind was cast back to the few camping trips he had taken with his father, and of the many blóts he had performed with his old Kindred before they disbanded. Good memories, all. With a smile on his face, he gently uncapped the tube and emptied the contents out into his heavy palm.
As he had been expecting a letter, he wasn’t disappointed. What was interesting was the fact that said letter was made of honest-to-goodness vellum. A rolled piece of vellum, kept tight by a heavy signet ring.
Markus took the vellum to the kitchen table, and gently slid the ring off of it, laying it down, ignored for now.
Whomever had sent this to him had some serious skills. He was looking at what appeared to be an illuminated invitation. The handwriting was as exquisite as the lettering on the delivery label, and was a veritable joy to read.
Dearest Markus,
I am cordially inviting you to tea.
Please meet me at Kitcho Arashiyama – Kyoto, Japan.
Enclosed, please find your ticket to Japan.
I expect to see you there in three month’s time, at four PM local time on February 14th, 2023.
Yours,
Lucifer
Markus sat the letter down beside the seal, dumbfounded. Lucifer? Either someone was attempting to draw him into another LARP, or they must have sent the message to the wrong guy. Curious, he inspected the ring.
It was a heavy ring, with a curious, angular symbol embossed on it, surrounded by an almost hypnotic pattern of lines. The same symbol was also on either side of the ring. Smirking, he took a snapshot of it with his phone and did an image search.
It was, indeed, the sigil of Lucifer. Someone must have gone to some expense for this. Remembering that the message had said something about a plane ticket, Markus snatched up the tube and shook it some more. Out floated a second item. Picking it up off the floor, Markus saw that it looked curiously like a ticket of some sort. Round-trip from Louisville to Kyoto, open-ended. Nonstop, first class. Holy shit.
In disbelief, Markus checked the ticket online. It was booked through Quantas, and was, indeed, legitimate. Sitting back in the chair, he realized that he would be going to Japan in three months.
Three months was hardly enough time to get his passport in order. Still, if someone spent this much on a flight for him, he owed it to them to do his utmost to be there on time, and at his best.
The next day, he called in to work and went to a post office in Louisville to apply for a passport. Figuring the expense would be worth it, he went ahead and got it expedited. No sense in it arriving the day after his flight. This way, he would have it around the third week of January, leaving him enough time to not panic about having everything ready.
The second most important task done, he went home and perused the web for a nice outfit to wear to his tea meeting with “Lucifer”. A new kilt, belt and boots would do the trick. He would go to a nicer store for a dress shirt once he had the items.
Markus felt invigorated for the first time in several years once he had made the purchases. His life had been fraught with one setback or disaster after another for quite some time. He and his girlfriend of five years had split up last month, both of his grandfathers had passed while they were together, and his mother, the only family he had left, had developed Alzheimer’s and had already forgotten who he was. Markus couldn’t afford to take care of her on his own, and had been forced to place her in a home. A change would be welcome.
So, he started on the hardest and most important task: learning Japanese. He had three months to get fluent enough to get by without being seen as disrespectful. He had been an avid fan of most anime and manga for nearly thirty years, and hopefully watching the subtitled anime would come in handy in this endeavor. Thinking about his upcoming trip, Markus realized he’d need somewhere to stay. He scoured the internet, looking at reviews and ads for various hotels in the area of the restaurant he’d be dining at. After several hours of searching, he selected a place called Rikyuan Kyoto Nishikyogoku. He sent them an email detailing his trip and his needs, and got a reply with the costs. He put it on a credit card, and felt one more piece of the puzzle slip into place.
Markus made the necessary arrangements at work the next day, “planning” on two full weeks of being gone. Thankfully, his company was extremely flexible, and allowed him to take the required days off, no questions asked. When not working, Markus was deep in his Japanese lessons, cross-referencing what he heard in his anime with what he was learning. It took almost the entire three months, but by the end of it, he was watching entire episodes of “One-Punch Man” without subtitles and understanding about eighty percent of it.
Reading the katakana and hiragana, however, was proving to be a little more difficult. He could recognize the symbols for the various shops and restaurants, but was far from reading a newspaper.
On February tenth, he checked that the ticket was still valid, and packed enough for a month away. It was a depressingly small, single bag that he wound up having. Since a kilt was easy to care for, and he would be wearing a second one anyway, all he really had to pack were a few shirts, socks and underwear for the trip alongside his small bag of toiletries.
Once he was fully packed, he went about his life as usual. Work, eat, video games, sleep, and repeat. There was little in the way of friends, and no family left to visit besides his mother, who sadly never recognized him.
The day before his flight left, he decided to visit his mother one last time. He drove himself to the retirement home, and signed himself in to see her. It was a bright, if cold, afternoon.
Knocking on her door, he called out, “Hello? Mom? It’s me, Markus. May I come in?”
“Markus? Markus, Markus…. Now where have I heard that name before? Oh! Yes, please come in!” she replied.
Opening the door, he was pleasantly surprised to see his mother in a bathrobe with a broad smile and outstretched arms. “My son! I’ve missed you. Your father is at work, but he should be home in an hour or so. I have some tea in the fridge. Would you like some?” she asked, her soft voice as pleasant as it ever was in his childhood. She wrapped him up in a warm, if weak, hug in her fragile arms.
“No thanks, Mom. I’ll get some water, instead. Can I get you a glass, too?” he replied.
“Oh, please. I’d appreciate that. I’ll just have a seat, then,” she said, taking a seat on the small chair at the writing desk.
Markus got two glasses of water from the tap, handed one to his mother and sat in a chair. “Mom? I’ve got something to tell you. Promise you won’t get mad?”
“I promise, son. Now, what is it?”
“I’m going on a trip tomorrow. To Kyoto for a business meeting. I don’t know when I’ll return,” he said softly.
“Oh! My boy is finally getting to travel. Your father will be so proud of you. He should be home soon, you know,” she said, taking a sip of her water.
Markus’ breath hitched at the second mention of his father, who had been dead and gone these past seventeen years. Forcing a smile, he said, “Yeah, Mom. You know how dad is, though. He works so much to make sure we have what we need.”
“He sure does, Markus. I do hope you get to see him before you leave. It’d mean the world to him. So! What’s this business meeting about?” she asked happily.
“Well, I’m not sure, if I’m honest. I just got a letter to meet someone in Kyoto. They included an open-ended plane ticket and everything. I checked everything out, and it’s all legitimate. It’s probably something pretty important. I just wish I knew why they chose a relative nobody like me,” he replied, deep in thought.
“It’s because my son is an amazing person. That’s why. I just know it,” she said, setting down her water on the writing desk. “I’m getting tired, now. Come see me again soon? I miss you so much,” she pleaded.
“Okay, Mom. As soon as I can. Let me help you to bed, okay? I know you’re tired,” Markus said, offering an arm to his mother.
“You’re such a sweet boy. You got that from your father, you know.”
His mother grunted softly as she climbed into bed, pulling the covers over her shoulders.
“I love you, Mom. Get some rest, and I’ll come see you as soon as I can, okay?”
“Okay, sweetheart. He’ll take care of you, you know.”
“Who will, Mom?”
“The man you’re going to meet for tea. He’ll take care of you. I’m sure of it,” she said sleepily.
“...meet for tea? What? I never…”
But Markus’ mother was already fast asleep, snoring softly. Markus looked at his mother in wonder. Shaking his head, he kissed her forehead and walked out of her room, shutting the door as quietly as he could manage.
He walked to the front desk and informed the receptionist that his mother was asleep, and that he would be leaving in the morning for Japan, in case she asked about him.
“Oh, that sounds wonderful, sir! I hope you enjoy your trip. I’ll make sure the aides know that she is asleep. Thank you for visiting her. I know it’s hard, but it does help them. Even when they don’t recognize you, connecting to their past is always helpful. Please be safe,” he said.
“Thank you. I will be. Take care of her, okay?” Markus asked softly, swallowing past the tight lump in his throat.
The receptionist nodded with a smile, and Markus went home, crying silently.
************
Obscenely early the next morning, Markus tossed his travel bag into his car and drove off to the airport. The drive was thankfully smooth and without any serious traffic. He got a decent spot in the long term parking lot, and went to check in to his flight.
Surprisingly enough, the wait for check-in was short and quick, allowing him to get to his gate with over an hour to spare. With ample time, Markus got breakfast, and was able to savor the mostly bland fare. The boarding process was quick and efficient, and the other passengers were mostly quiet and tired. This allowed them to be able to leave a full fifteen minutes early, and Markus was soon on his way to Kyoto.
He found himself the only resident of first class, oddly enough. He and the flight attendant spoke cordially a few times, and he busied himself on his phone for most of the trip, napping occasionally for the nearly fourteen hour flight.
He was gently awoken by his flight attendant. “Markus? We will be landing soon. I need you to sit up and get your seatbelt on, okay?” she said softly.
“Hrmm? Oh. Okay, Sophia. I’m up. Thank you,” he replied with a smile. Sophia nodded and went to buckle herself in as well.
Safely buckled, Markus awaited the plane’s touchdown.
The plane landed, and all passengers disembarked just as orderly and quietly as they boarded. Once his bag had been claimed, Markus left the airport, and took his first breath of the air in Kyoto.
The air was cold, clean and crisp, with a promise of snow in the future. Markus had been busy during his flight, checking on the best ways to get to his destination. He settled on taking a bus, and then a train, as that was an experience he’d never had. Markus oriented himself, and found the correct stop, and sat down on a nearby bench to wait.
His adventure in Japan had just begun.

I bought an Oru Bay ST during the Memorial Day sale, along with a bunch of bits and bobs, and was hoping to get out this weekend. There's a meandering, slow-moving creek near me that I was planning to paddle on, but the forecast is saying the wind is going to be up a bit. It's pretty well sheltered by trees. (Black Creek in Monroe County NY, if anyone is familiar with it.)
I've gone paddling a handful of times, including a basic class, and I've taken to it well, but this would be a first trip solo in an unfamiliar boat. I'm a decent swimmer, the creek is neither particularly wide nor fast moving, and I'd be wearing a PFD. While I'd prefer it, getting a buddy to go isn't in the cards.
Thoughts? Should I scrub the outing, or will the wind likely not be a big issue?

Just had one of my favourite type of dreams, namely the above sort.
It resulted from a 'where do i live, have lived dream' and lasted only shortly but seemed fun.
It took the form of a group of X-Men style clad furred beings confronting some establishment (hotel) on "what happened to this place" to which the people working there (seemingly recognizing them) being all 'don't wanna say anything in fear of my superiors' with a superior deliberately hidden from camera coming out somewhere and telling them it is none of their business and the old leader of the group then telling them they'll make it their business 'again'.
Cut (flashback) to a messy basement showing the same group waking up from an implied long sleep badly in need of a haircut. (there was an implied feeling here that there was a gummy bears tv-show influence with someone 'asking' the question where their friends are likely now and the in-dream feeling having that person be a grown up Sunny from gummy bears)
We cut to a nearby inner city basketball court next to a small park with a guy in a white version of a Spawn-cape and white bodysuit but visible face (strong implication of this guy looking like Cavin from gummy bears but i think in-dream his face was always hidden by sunlight/turned away), crouching on a basket pole, next cut showing him using Onmyōji style paper seals to fight, by capturing beings, namely an animated tree in the sequence, with a net made of light coming from said seals as the seals imbed themselves around in the ground around it.
He talks with one of the group (implied to be the leader) saying that -insert name here- (implied to be the groups resident old guy, and giving a feeling of Hudson from gargoylez) "Had said that your group was only 50years off from their 'hatching'/'planned emergence' (concept didn't translate well in dream). Though I also get the idea that only 17 years have passed 'since then'
It is here the feeling of this being a remake/sequel to a previous show is solidified as a rapid burst of 'images that fans should remember' plays (but nothing I can remember, and the feeling delivered was 'look at all these villains' to my recollection)
We then cut to a guy in a -cant see shit-level dark basement looking towards a stereotypic sidewalk level arched window (on of those coal-holes) and laments about his being. We transition to a fantasy of his where he colors what looks like a slow pan of wall street building in different colors warping them as he does so and I get the impression of a name: 'Color wizard' with an accompanying idea of 'This guy used to be a joke villain'.
He calms down again and turns around in the basement as we get image of heavily scarred old woman's face a feet feet away asking him 'If he'll avenge hemake them pay for here' (idea here was a bit garbled) to which he answers 'of Course mother' and the accompanying idea is 'Oh no, he is still under the thrall of his mother' with the potential idea of (how is she still alive)
Sudddenly though the scene changes as the basement gets illuminated and we see he is actually lying on a rack (clothed) and the nother-face turns into that of a dominatrix straddling him, pulling his neck via a chain as she arcs upwards from the previous low position as both smile. Color wizard reaches up to her and as he caresses her cheek with his finger tips color and the woman herself start to slough off of her figure at an accelerating pace until she turns into dust-like particulate of color falling on him. He stands up and another woman, looking exactly the same feature wise, but in different, clothes (a dress I think) hands him a cloak as the motion of standing up removes the remains of the previous woman from him (or part gets absorbed).
Cut to color wizard in a police-chief office being asked about the new appearance of the X-Men furries (sorry quickest name I could get) to which he makes a big show of going 'Nope, I don't need this, please ask someone else' and 'I had to endure enough back then, during the ... upheaval, I don't need this' as he leaves the station but the implied feeling and quick shot of his face says 'I'll get my revenge'.
Wake here - (explanation long, but only lasted 3-4 minutes in-dream at most I wanna say)

I have a friend coming to town from Europe that I haven’t seen in years. I know the area is well trodden but curious if there’s any suggestions for lunch on Saturday in river north? I don’t dine there often and I’m trying to get a spot near their hotel. I feel like lots of places can be hit or miss and I don’t want to disappoint! Also ok with nearby areas. Was thinking maybe XOCO? Thanks!

Christopher Smith, the Peacemaker

"This is my job and I'm damned good at it. If I wasn't, I wouldn't be here risking my life and the lives of all the innocent prey! I'm Peacemaker... And I'll kill to keep the peace!"

The son of Austrian industrialist Wolfgang Schmidt and American author Elizabeth Lewis, Christopher watched his father commit suicide when he was five years old after his father's secret past was revealed: he had commanded a Nazi concentration camp in Poland during World War II. Witnessing his father's suicide left Christopher traumatized, rebellious, and aggressive. He began to see visions of his father in an SS uniform, urging him to hone his mind and body to be worthy of his legacy. When he turned 18, Smith enlisted in the army and fought in the Vietnam War. After massacring a village of innocent people, Smith was court-martialed and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. He was granted parole by the government on the condition that he joined a secret, elite counter-terrorism unit called Project: Peacemaker. And so Smith became the Peacemaker, a government agent who loves peace so much that he's willing to kill for it, just as often operating outside of government oversight as within it. Though he apparently died at the hands of Eclipso, Peacemaker reemerged years later, seemingly having overcome his mental issues, and began mentoring young superhero Jaime Reyes, the Blue Beetle.
Source Key:
Vigilante (1983) Issue # = VG#
Peacemaker (1988) Issue # = PM#
Checkmate (1988) Issue # = CM#
Suicide Squad (1987) Issue # = SS#
Showcase '93 (1993) Issue # = SC#
Eclipso (1992) Issue # = EP#
Blue Beetle (2006) Issue # = BB#
Booster Gold (2007) Issue # = BG#
Handbook Entry: Who's Who: Update '87

Physicals

Strength

Striking

• Punches Micah through a stone wall^PM3
• Cracks the helmet of a reptile man's power armor with a punch^SC9
• Punches out a Reach soldier^BB25
• Beats down Vigilante^VG36
• Breaks down a door^PM2
• Punches out some terrorists^VG38
• Staggers a reptile man with a kick that no sells Peacemaker unloading a pistol into his chest^SC7

Lifting/Throwing

• Picks up a crate and smashes it on Vigilante^VG38
• Tosses aside two men with one arm apiece^CM25
• Lifts a man above his head with one arm^CM17
• Throws men through windows^CM23

Other

• Breaks Deadshot's chains^SC10
• Pulls the max on a lat pulldown machine with one arm^CM21

Durability

Blunt

• Takes a hit from mind-controlled Blue Beetle^BG29
• Takes a hit from Shade the Changing Man^SS28
• Takes a punch from a supervillain^PM4
• Takes a punch from Vigilante^VG36
• Takes another punch from Vigilante that sends him crashing back into crates^VG38
• Takes hits from Valentina Vostok^VG42
• Jumps off of a building and lands unharmed^VG42
• Flies straight through a metal wall of a dirigible^PM4
• A man breaks a stick hitting him with it^CM19

Other

• His armor is bulletproof^VG38
• Zapped with an electric attack that disables his cybernetic systems and lands in what appears to be toxic waste^SC6
• Caught in some kind of electric trap^SC9
• Went 72 hours with no sleep while performing several missions^PM3
• Overcomes Dr. Tzin-Tzin's attempt to hypnotically control him^PM4
  • Tzin-Tzin hypnotically compelled a man to tell him information about who hired him to spy^PM1

Speed/Agility

Reaction/Dodging

• Dodges machine gun fire^VG38
  • Again^PM1
• Turns to see an RPG headed for him and activates his helmet's defense before it can hit him^PM3
• Dodges an RPG^PM3
• Dodges a missile^CM25
• Dodges a blast from mind-controlled Blue Beetle^BG29
• Dodges a blast from Major Force^SS28
• Dodges a blast from a super-powered man^BB29
• Dodges Vigilante leaping at him^VG38
• Bats aside Valentina Vostok leaping at him^VG42

Movement/Agility

• Draws his gun and kills Dave Winston before he can react^VG36
• Grabs a robber's gun before he can shoot and slaps him silly with it^BB3
• Jumps between rooftops^VG37
• Practices his gymnastics^VG41

Skill/Misc

Marksmanship/Gunfighting

• Shoots the gun out of a man's hand^VG43
  • Again^PM3
• Guns down two soldiers flying back in power armor^SC6
• Shoots a Reach soldier off of its hoverboard^BB24
• Guns down a large group of terrorists^PM3
• Turns and quickly guns down a group of soldiers who ambush him^PM2
• Guns down two terrorists^VG36

Hand-to-Hand Combat

• Beats down Blue Beetle after turning off the Scarab's weapons^BG29
• Kills Micah, a highly skilled martial artist, in a fistfight^PM3
• Fights Vigilante fairly evenly before the cops interrupt them^VG38
• Defeats some reptile men in power armor^SC9
  • Again with a sword^SC11
• Defeats a plane full of terrorists^PM2
• Easily takes down some terrorists^PM1
• Manhandles some gunrunners^CM20
• Takes down Deadshot^SC8
• Uses a pressure point on Blue Beetle that makes him vomit^BB19
  • Points out pressure points on Giganta so Blue Beetle can hit them^BB19

Stealth

• Sneaks up on a terrorist while she's holding some pilots at gunpoint^VG36
• Snuck into a secret agency's headquarters disguised as a janitor^VG42
• Sneaks up on Blue Beetle on a motorcycle^BB7

Linguistics

• Speaks Romanian^CM19
• Speaks Italian^CM23
• Speaks French^CM24

General

• Selected to wield a Yellow Lantern ring^BB20
• Made anesthetic nerve gas from supplies he found in a convenience store^BB8
• Puts his guns on cave walls to detect where a monster is coming from via vibrations^BB12
• With help from Blue Beetle, overcomes the control of the Reach's Scarab amplified by a Sinestro Corps. ring^BB20

Gear

Helmet

Ultrasonic Waves

• Knocks out several terrorists, with Vigilante saying that he nearly passed out despite not being in its direct path^VG38
• Discombobulates agents after they dogpile him^VG42
• Takes down more terrorists^PM1
• Uses it to torture a man^CM24

Electronic Interfacing

• Interferes with the electronic guidance system steering some missiles, causing them to miss him^PM2
  • Makes the missiles explode before reaching their mark^PM2
• The surveillance equipment in the helmet gets through a secret agency's headquarters security so he can listen in on a conversation inside^VG43
• Taps into a phone line^CM23
  • Again^CM32
• Can remotely control his vehicles with his helmet^PM2
  • Activates a chair's self-destruct feature^CM25
• Begins to remove Bishop's power armor^CM25

Misc

• Creates a white sound field to prevent any sound from escaping the office he's in^VG43
• Creates a super-sonic defense screen to block an RPG^PM3
• Tests for radiation^SC6
• Infrared vision^CM17
• Audio sensors pick up people screaming in a different house^CM25

Firearms

• Mini nuke launcher he uses to blow up a pyramid^BG29
• Rifle that blasts back Major Force^SS28
  • In the previous issue of the crossover, Major Force no sold a point blank bazooka^CM16 and in the same issue, no sold Duchess' gun^SS28
• Submachine gun with teflon-coated bullets that shoots through power armor^SC6
• Shotgun that knocks back Blue Beetle^BG29
• Scoped pistol^VG42
  • Destroys a helicopter with one shot^VG37
  • Shoots through a man^VG38
  • Damages some concrete stairs^VG42
• Submachine gun that blasts through a woman^VG36
• Assault rifle with a grenade launcher that blows a hole in a wall^PM2
  • Blows up windows on a skyscraper^CM24
• Mows down terrorists with dual submachine guns^PM4

Vehicles

Helicopter

• Has heat seeking missiles^EP12
• Blows up boats with missiles^PM1
• Blows up a warehouse with missiles^CM17
• Blows up fighter jets with missiles^EP13
• Blows open Belle Reve's gates with missiles^SS29
• Blows up a truck with missiles^CM32
• Kills some terrorists with machine guns and missiles^PM1
• Kills soldiers in power armor with machine guns^CM32
• Shreds a supervillain with machine guns^PM4
• Mows down swaths of terrorists^PM4
• Tears up a house with machine guns^SS27
• Has radar^PM4
• Performs an infrared recon scan^CM33

Other

• Has a fighter jet called the Blackbird^PM1
  • Blasts a supervillain far away^PM2
  • Blows up a plane with machine guns^PM2
• Owns a hypersonic personal plane^CM25

Misc

• Wears a jetpack^PM4
  • Tackles a supervillain through a wall^PM4
  • Smashes through the front window of a helicopter^SS29
• Has a computer system in his secret lair^VG41
  • Automatically scans news reports^PM1
• Has a secret armory in his office^CM22
• Places a bug on a man^CM24

Respect Threads for scaling:

• Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes)
• Deadshot

Hi lovely people,
We just came back from our first trip to Japan and it was truly a memorable trip. We spent over 3 weeks in Japan from 07th May until 30th May. WE LOVE JAPAN! Can't wait to come back.
A little bit about us: We are both ~30y olds and enjoy a mix of urban, outdoor and culture during our holidays. We are foodies, but not hard-core as in we don't specifically organize our trips around restaurants. There are so many restaurants in Japan, it is hard to get a bad meal. We enjoy just wandering around neighbourhoods. Mostly low/mid-budget stuff with a splurge once in a while.
Our travel itinerary can be found here
General comments

• Time period of travel: We arrived 7th of May which is the last sunday of Golden week. We specifically wanted to avoid Golden week, as we heard it can be crazy busy due to domestic travels. And we also didn't want to go too late in May because June is rainy season in Japan. We were pretty lucky with the weather overall as we only had a couple of days of rain, most days were sunny and we even had some days of sweltering heat :O
• Like other people suggest, try to get in shape before you go! We are both in average shape. Almost every day we walked around 20.000 steps or more. The only rest days we had were the days where we were switching between cities, i.e. sitting in trains for longer periods of time. No complaints ;). I brought two pair of shoes: water-proof hiking shoes and one pair of light-weight running shoes. Switching between shoes was nice, I didn't have any blisters during my time in Japan luckily. All the walking compensated all the eating though!
• Check whether region specific JR passes might work for you. We decided against getting the nationwide JR passes as they didn't fit our needs and were expensive and instead opted for a regional JR Setouchi area pass. It was perfect for the Shimanami Kaido. We could travel from Osaka to Onomichi -> Hiroshima/Miyajima -> Kyoto. And it also gave us access to Nozomi shinkansen (fastest) and a great ferry ride between Matsuyama and Hiroshima.

Japanguide has a nice overview of all the passes : https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html

• Be flexible (That's how we like to travel). I mapped out most of the sights beforehand according to must-see's and mapped out what other interesting sights there would be in those areas. The day before or in the morning, we would decide what we would do roughly, sight-see according to neighborhood and just wing it a little bit. We just love to wander around and see what we come across, mixed with some google maps + "explore" function. Some days you are just tired and just want to hang out in a park, or you have temple-fatigue and want to do something entirely else. Same with food/restaurants, we usually just used google maps to see what kind of great restaurants were near us at that moment. We haven't lined up more than twice our whole time there and still ate wonderfully. We do tend to avoid overly hyped stuff anyways. I do keep in mind that everyone has their own ways.
• Buy e-sim if possible, it is the cheapest and easiest way. My partner bought an e-sim and it was so convenient! My phone unfortunately didn't support it and I had to buy a sim. I opted for getting one at BIC camera, which was the cheapest I could find. 10GB for 30 days for 3200 yen.
• Keep plastic bags for trash. Buying food from conbini, and eating it somewhere? say yes to that plastic bag, because you will need it to stash your garbage until you are back at your hotel where you can throw it away or you find a garbage bin at the train station per chance. I read about this a lot on this subreddit, but still I found it astonishing the lack of trash cans. Fascinating how the streets of Japan are so damn clean.
• Try Pokari sweat. :) I tried it for the first time there and I was hooked immediately. It is awesome! Best electrolyte drink ever and it definitely saved me during those hot sweaty days there. CC lemon is also great!
• Go for a haircut or some other beauty/massage treatment. The hospitality is amazing in Japan. You won't regret getting pampered in Japan. They have all kinds of crazy treatments. I got the best haircut of my life for 4400yen.

Trip report

PS. I am not mentioning everything we did in this post. I will just mention highlights. It is still a long read though ;).
D1 - D2 Osaka
We landed at Kansai airport. Before our trip, we also bought train vouchers for Osaka online (https://www.howto-osaka.com/en/ticket/). Best decision ever, because the journey was rough and we were exhausted by the time we landed. We only had to exchange our vouchers at the station and off we went.
Osaka was nice city to start with as it is a more manageable "smaller" city whilst recovering from our jetlag. Despite being smaller, I do think it is worth a visit. Osaka is so iconic at night. We stayed at a spacious Airbnb near Kuromon Ichiban market.

• Takoyaki :) We had our first try of takoyaki at Takotako King instead of one the places at Dotonbori to avoid the crazy lines. You can sit down, have a beer and yes the takoyaki is amazing. It should be crunchy on the outside and deliciously goeey on the inside, doused with sauces and katsuobushi. Man, I wish I could go back and eat it again. It is true, you can't get great takoyaki outside of Osaka, at least I didn't get that same crunchy gooey combo again in other cities.
• Discount sushi from Takashimaya department store. For the budget-minded, this is a no-brainer. Around 7PM, an hour before closing time, you can get delicious fatty tuna maki at discount prices in the basement of takashimaya. Other foods at the department store food floor such as the fresh mochi are delicious also. Takashimaya is my favorite department store for food I think!
• Osaka castle - Our first castle in Japan. The green roof and the golden ornaments are beautiful and unique!
• Dotonbori - iconic :) fun to walk along. The queues are long there. We avoided eating at Dotonbori.
• Shitenno-ji - beautiful pagoda with buddha statues inside. Do pay the fee to go inside and see the garden. You can also go into the pagoda and walk up.
• Huge fan of Shotengai's, Shinsaibashi-Suji Shopping Street. They are so quintessential Japan.
• Ramen Tendo, the first ramen joint that we tried in Japan, so it has a special place in my heart. They specialize in chicken broth with lots of umami katsuoboshi flavor. Noodles were great too, very bouncy. Delicious! Little did I know that this ramen joint was really one of the best we would have this trip. It set the bar high for sure!
• Visit a local grocery store. Maybe it is just me, but I love to browse at local grocery shops (KOHYO namba Minatomachi) and be fascinated by all the different things they sell. It is also a great place to buy food souvenirs, like miso, green tea etc. Lots of pre-cooked meals/ fried stuff. Just a wider selection than your typical conbini. And again discounts if you go ~1hr before closing time.

Skip Shinsekai: We visited during the day and it felt very empty to me. More like a tourist-trap, the eateries didn't look appealing to me. Maybe during the evening this area is more fun.
D3 Nara
We did Nara as a day-trip from Osaka.

• Yes, to feeding the deer. It is touristy, but it is so much fun to be chased by cookie-crazed deer. One more thing: deer's fart a lot. We were wondering where this weird high pitched sound was coming from, those are actually deer farts.
• Todai-ji is very impressive, definitely a must visit.
• Just wander around in Nara park, it's very lush and beautiful and has many more shrines and interesting sights, such as manyo botanical garden. I wish we had one more day to explore Nara but oh well maybe next time :)
• We ate lunch at Magura Koya, a small restaurant run by a lovely elderly couple. Delicious tuna dishes. I had a tuna sashimi bowl and my partner the fried tuna set meal, so fresh!
• We had the best pork bun at Hourokutei at the end of the Higashimuki shopping street. It's a small hole in the wall, but omg the squishy-est juicy-est porkbuns ever.

D4 Onomichi
After staying in Osaka for 3 days, we headed west for the Shimanami Kaido. We decided to stay in Onomichi (Hotel Beacon Onomichi) for the night before we started our two day bike trip. For this part of our trip, we picked up our 7-day Setouchi area pass at Shin-Osaka JR station. I just want to mention that I really love the hospitality of the staff in Japan. The JR office people were so nice and helpful. We reserved our seats for the shinkansen and off we went to Onomichi. Onomichi is a lovely little seaside town to just stroll around and take in the views. I really recommend spending at least half a day here. Don't skip it!

• Senkoji park observatory - we walked up to the observatory (ropeway available), please walk up as there are lots of nice alleyways, shrines and cats along the way :). The view is amazing, especially at sunset.
• Cat alley: honestly, every alley is cat alley.
• Onomichi Shotengai - very retro, lots of cute shops. We bought a nice poster from a little granny there.

D5 & D6 Shimanami Kaido -> Matsuyama
The next day, we picked up our reserved cross bikes from the general bike rental and off we went. Honestly, biking the shimanami kaido was the highlight of our trip. We took two days to bike the whole way, one day would definitely be too rushed for us. We stopped at Ikuchi island (Shimanaido NEST) for our halfway stay.
The sights along the way were great! It was so much fun to go down-hill, the uphills were do-able. We had great weather also, not too hot and no rain. Everything was clearly indicated, we just followed the blue lines. I felt very safe biking in Japan. PS. My butt did hurt from the saddle, so be warned! Bring some cushioned pants if you want to be safe side.

• First pitstop after the first bridge was Hassakuya. You have to stop here! They have delicious strawberry and citrus daifuku! The citrus had a bitter aftertaste, but they are famous for their citrus so its definitely nice to try.
• Just enjoy the views, stop everywhere to take pictures. There are lots of things to explore along the way.
• Stop at roadside stations such as > tatara shimanami park and yoshiumi iki-iki-kan. Especially before you take on the last bridge just do a little pit stop. It's a nice place to take some pictures of the insanely long bridge and have a citrus/vanilla soft cream.

https://shimanami-cycle.or.jp/ for more info and bike rental
We decided to bike one-way from Onomichi to Imabari and we have no regrets. I liked that we ended the bike trip with the longest bridge (4km!!). Imabari is very industrial, but after the fun long way down from the last bridge and being exhausted from biking you just want to get to the station and stuff yourself with pastries from the bakery at the station and go on to your next destination. Thus, we immediately took the train to Matsuyama. Originally, the plan was to enjoy the famous onsen in Matsuyama, but we didn't have enough time and we were also pretty tired. After checking-in at the hotel, it was already 4, we made our way to Matsuyama castle but unfortunately, we were too late to go in. It was still nice to view it from the outside and walk around the park. We planned to do sightseeing in Hiroshima the next day, so there was no more time to explore Matsuyama further.
D7 Hiroshima -> Miyajima
After Shiminami Kaido, we headed towards Hiroshima/Miyajima. We took an early ferry from Matsuyama. The ferry was included in the setouchi JR pass, so we gladly took advantage of that. It's a nice way to get to Hiroshima, just one last view of the Seto inland sea. One remark: if it is not JR serviced transportation, you do have to obtain separate tickets. Normally, just showing your setouchi JR pass is enough to get onboard the train, but for the ferry you do have to go to the ticket desk and show your JR pass to obtain the ferry tickets.

• Peace memorial museum - a history we must not forget and do not want to repeat
• We tried another Hiroshima speciality for lunch: Hiroshima Tsukemen. This tsukemen is GREAT. One of my favorite dishes. We ate at Tsukemen Karabu Tokaichimachi. The spicy umami dipping sauce is very addicting!

Surprisingly, it was very hard to find affordable good accommodation in Hiroshima. It was the weekend and two weeks before G7, so maybe that was the reason why it was harder to find accommodation. In the end, I found a nice simple hotel on Miyajima island and it was a good decision after all! After a long day in Hiroshima, we made our way to Miyajima to stay two nights. Staying on Miyajima island is lovely especially when all the day-trip tourist leave.
D8 Miyajima
Honestly, Miyajima is truly magical. Another highlight of our trip! We started the day early to get ahead of the crowd and that made it all so much more enjoyable. Seeing shrines and temples without a crowd is truly 1000x better! If you can stay at Miyajima island, do it! You don't have to splurge on expensive ryokan (although it would have been nice). We stayed at Sakuraya, which was very budget-friendly.

• Itsukishima Jinja - Nice but Daishoin and surrounding nature were the highlights for me.
• Daishoin - it is the most beautiful shrine complex I have seen in Japan this trip. I think it's because it was so quaint and it was embedded in the hill, surrounded by lush green nature. There were multiple complexes. There was a pathway studded with Jizo statues, buddist cave, prayer wheels and much more. While we were there, a ceremony with a monk was ongoing and everyone could participate in helping burning the origami peace cranes made by children, to make their wishes come true. We bought a little peace crane made from the ashes to remember this moment.
• Mt. Misen - we hiked up from Dashoin. It was ~2hrs? of steep stair climbing, 500m elevation gain. A challenge for sure but we definitely earned our way going down by ropeway :P. Views are great! go go! There is a bus to the ropeway so you don't have to suffer if you don't want to.
• Momijidani park - If you don't like Momiji trees, you can't be my friend.
• Snack along the Miyajima ometesando street. Crowded, but the cakes are great!

One remark, our hotel didn't include dinner and all the restaurants on the island close quite early. Luckily, with our setouchi JR pass, we could take the ferry for free, so went to the mainland for dinner. Just keep this in mind, when booking your stay.
D9 - D13 Kyoto
We took the early train to Kyoto and checked in at Tokyu stay Sanjo-karasuma. We had 5 days to explore Kyoto and by this time we had lost our FOMO a little bit and also decided to take it a bit more slow. We still ended up walking a lot anyways but at least we were sleeping in.
The day we arrived,15MAY, was supposed to be Aoi matsuri so we headed to Kamo river to see the festival. Unfortunately, the festival was postponed due to the slight rainfall and we had no clue! but we were next to Kyoto botanical garden and we decided to visit that instead!

• Kyoto botanical garden: it is a lovely garden with a huge variety of plants and trees to see. Really well maintained and during our visit there was a great rose garden in bloom. I recommend going there! It has a nice japanese garden section too with momiji trees and moss. A greenhouse with orchids. Lot's to see here. Only 200 yen.
• Arashiyama area - I really loved this area, not just for the bamboo forest. Togetsukyo bridge and Katsura river were the highlights for me. You can walk along the both sides of Katsura riverbank. A nice way to get to the bamboo forest and bypassing the busy beginning at the start of bamboo forest is by walking along the katsura river bank into Kameyama park and following the signs to Okochi sanso garden. You will end up at the backside of bamboo forest, which is the nicest part. We went more north to visit Pottery Tanuki, this area was very nice and quaint to walk around; bamboo, shrines and traditional houses everywhere.
• South kyoto - Fushimi Inari + Uji day trip - We visited fushimi inari around 9am and it was already very busy! If you hike deeper into the Tori gates, it gets more quiet. We decided not to hike to the top, but instead do a little loop and we stumbled upon some lovely fox shrines. After Fushimi Inari, we took the train just a little bit more south to Uji. If you like matcha, visit Uji. It is a scenic little town with lots of matcha specialized cafes. We ate at Torikiku, famous for their matcha soba and udon. I had the best matcha icecream dessert at Nakamura Tokichi Byodo-in. Again, the river views are beautiful! It's a great daytrip from kyoto. On the way back to kyoto, we spontaneously decided to visit the Gekkeikan Sake museum. It's a small museum, mostly about the history of Gekkeikan, but for 500 yen entry fee, you also get 3 small sake tastings. Fun for an hour or so. I wouldn't go all the way here just for the museum, but for us it was a nice stop on the way back to Kyoto.
• Gion - visit Gion in the evening and just wander around the little streets. Hanamikoji street is one of the more famous streets there.
• We ate amazing gyoza lunch at Gyoza-dokoro Sakemasa. Best gyozo of our trip.
• Higashiyama area - Heian jingu shrine, visit the attached garden for a fee, definitely worth it! We ate amazing mazesoba and ramen for lunch at Menya Yamahide. We also visited Kyoto handicraft center in this area where we bought an ukiyo-e painting. There was also a vintage antique market at that day. We just browsed a bit around the market and honestly that was a day worth of exploring :).

I didn't mention everything we did in Kyoto here. We also had so much more planned for Kyoto, but didn't get around to it, which was totally fine! We were also a bit temple-fatigued by that time and needed a slower pace. Hopefully next time, we can visit some of things we skipped. Furthermore, some days were incredibly hot (30 C degrees and humid) or we had whole days of rain. On those days, we decided to go shopping instead.

• Sanjo Meiten-gai shopping arcade , Compasso teramachi. One long shopping street between Omiya and Kyoto-kawaramachi station. My favorite shops were: Standard products, Tokyu hands and Loft.

D14 - D15 Takayama
After spending 5 days in Kyoto, it was time to leave the city and head for the Japanese alps. We took the shinkansen to Nagoya, where we changed to a limited express to Takayama. It took around 3 hours to get to Takayama, but we didn't mind. Train travel = resting time for our legs! Also, the views from the train were great!! I really enjoyed this train trip to Takayama. We arrived around noon and immediately checked in at our hotel (Hotel Kuretakeso Takayama). We had two nights in Takayama to explore the town.

• Hida beef - it's the wagyu of this area and I found my favorite place to eat it: Ajikura Tengoku. We went there twice for lunch, because it was that good. It was our first time in Japan to try yakiniku and sukiyaki. I really do appreciate the taste of wagyu but only in small amounts. I couldn't eat it everyday, because it's really so rich and yes paying for the premium cuts really does make a different in taste and texture of the wagyu beef.
• We really loved Takayama. Again, if you have time, stay overnight and wander around the streets during the evening when all the daytrippers leave. The town has such a nice vibe and it still has a very local feel to it.
• Miyagawa morning market. Fun to stroll around
• Hikaru museum - we stumbled upon this via google maps. It's a mayan temple-inspired building, very unique. You could visit the place just for the architecture itself, really impressive. It has a very nice collection of art. When we reached the top floor, there was a whole exhibition dedicated to a specific religious person. We didn't know beforehand but this museum is connected to a cult. Suddenly, it all made sense why this museum was so unique. We didn't mind, but it definitely puts the whole experience in a different light. It's a 1-hour walk from downtown, there is no direct bus connection unfortunately.
• Hida folk village - Open-air museum with nice re-builds of traditional mountain houses. We spend over half a day there. You can see local craftsmen doing their thing and you can also participate in pottery for example. There is a lovely pond and it is just pleasant to walk around. it's only a ~10 min. busride from Takayama bus station. You can buy combined entryfee+bus combo tickets at the bus station.

D16 Kamikochi -> Matsumoto
After checking out of our hotel in Takayama, we took the 7am bus to Kamikochi. We were only going to spend a day here, and then continue our way to Matsumoto to stay overnight.After ~1 hour of bus, we finally made it to Kamikochi. The Japanese alps are amazing. I wished we stayed longer in this area, but just the bus ride alone to Kamikochi was already a great with the views. We decided to hop off at Taisho pond bus stop and walk along all the major sights in the park. We had no specific plan. Just hike around as far as time allowed. For lunch, we stopped at this cute teishoku restaurant, where we ate katsu curry, a big lunch to fuel our walking. We also saw wild japanese macaques and lots of wildflowers where blooming during our time there.At the local shops, we bought some yummy pastries to snack on. I had the tastiest baumkuchen with cheesecake center and my partner had a chocolate ganache cookie. I really regret not buying more kamikochi pastries to take home while we were there.After spending the day walking around, we hopped on the 4pm bus towards Matsumoto. Checked in at Tabino hotel lit Matsumoto, where I relaxed in the onsen.
Tips:

• We were only carrying backpacks, so we hiked with them until we reached the kamikochi bus terminal, where you can drop off you bag at the storage for a small fee.
• Reservation is mandatory for the bus Kamikochi -> Matsumoto, you can do it online or while you are at the busstation before hiking.
• Transportation in the Japan alps is mostly by bus, do reserve ahead if you go at peak times. Main bus company is Nouhi bus: https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/.)

D17 Matsumoto Tokyo
After sleeping in, we did some sightseeing in Matsumoto before we moved on to Tokyo. We really liked wandering around in Matsumoto. Lots of cool shops with local crafts. We didn't know but the biggest national crafts fair is held in Matsumoto. Unfortunately, we were only able to stay for one day, but next time we would love to visit this crafts fair!
Matsumoto Castle - I really like the interior of the castle. It has been renovated, but still contains that castle feel. It is 5 story castle and you are allowed to climb all of it. It also included a pretty extensive gun/weaponry exhibition. Do arrive early because you do have to line-up within the castle to get from one floor to the other. This is due to the steep stairways, on which they allow only one-way traffic at a time.
Matsumoto city art museum - There was a nice exhibition from Yayoi Kusama. We didn't know but Yayoi Kusama was born in Matsumoto. It is a good replacement exhibition if you aren't able to snatch up tickets for Yayoi Kusama museum in Tokyo.
Nakamachi street and Frog street - street with persevered houses with craft shops, cafes, brewerys. What more do you want.
After spending the day in Matsumoto, we took the train to Tokyo, our last destination of our stay. We decided to stay in Ueno (Hotel resol ueno). This hotel was located close to Ueno JR.
D18 - D24 Tokyo
Last 7 days in Tokyo. By this time, we were just enjoying everything at a much slower pace. Tokyo is huge! Staying near the JR line is indeed a must like everyone said. I could go on hours about Tokyo, I am just going to mention some highlights here.

• Anmitsu at Anmitsu Mihashi. My favorite dessert! It contains agar jelly, mochi balls, red bean paste, fruit and a scoop of matcha icecream.
• shopping in Ginza - It's nice to go during the weekends when they close of the streets for cars. We liked visiting flagship stores of Muji, Uniqlo. Go to Itoya if you are a stationary freak.
• Ueno park - Museums, shrines, Lotus pond. Have a look at their website, there are almost always events in the park. :)
• Tsukiji market - very busy, but fun to have a look. Lines everywhere. Look for sushi restaurants that open around 11am, line up at one of those places. I don't think it has to be the one with 4.5 rating and 1000 reviews. Why? There are so many good restaurants in Tsukiji area. We went to Tsukiji Kagura Sushi.
• Hamarikyu gardens - Bonsai pine trees pruned to perfection. Ponds filled with sea water, thus there were seabass, little sardines and jellyfish in the water. Very special! You also had a nice skyline view from the park which is a cool contrast! It was nice and quiet.
• Tokyo Skytree - best view :) it also has a great shopping complex attached to it.
• Asakusa area - Senso-ji
• Yanaka Ginza - we went during the weekend and there was live music, little stalls and just very lively in general. Really nice to spend a morning. Largest preserved cemetery, which apparently welcomes visitors a lot for flower viewings. It is a preserved neighborhood with traditional houses and lots of shops selling crafts, gifts, souvenirs, and unique snacks.

That's it!
For 24 days, we spend around ~2500 euro p.p. (excl. 1000,- flights). This amount includes food, transportation, entrancefees and shopping/gifts. so average is ~100 euro/day. We didn't track every cost. Hotel costs were 900,- pp, which ranged from 50,- to 120,- per night accommodations. The conversion yen/euro is also great at the moment, so it might have contributed!
I hope you enjoyed my trip report. Let me know if there are any questions.

Two weeks ago, I was in South America visiting some friends. My first night there, my friend and I are walking into the hotel to go to bed and as I pass the lobby bar I notice a this man sitting by himself at one end. We make eye contact and I tell my friend I’m going to stay up for a while and try to meet him. I go to the bar and send him a drink, he picks it up with his left hand I note that he’s not wearing a ring and text that info to my friend who is like “yes!! Go for it!!” I walk over to talk to him and was in his room within 10 minutes. He was prepared. Had wine, condoms, body hair was very manicured. After we did the deed and we’re laying there cuddling and chatting, I make a stupid joke and say “does your wife know you’re with me right now?” to which he just laughs and says there’s no wife.
I end up spending the night and when I leave the next morning, we exchange numbers. We were both traveling to Europe later that week, each for work, but me to Italy and he to Spain. He follows me on instagram, no sign of a partner, and we start chatting all day every day there and on WhatsApp. After 9 days he convinces me to come stay with him in spain after wrapping up my work. I add two nights to my trip and way too much in flights to go stay with him. So Tuesday of this week I fly to spain, we go to dinner together and he is sweet as anything. I feel so into him and on Wednesday spent nearly the whole day in bed with him with some intermittent walks where we had deep talks about our lives and emotions. I asked him if he’s ever been married, had kids, had a pet, has he ever cheated on someone. He seemed so genuine when he said no.
Wednesday evening we’re at dinner and he tells me he’s tired of life on the road. He says he wants a real relationship and feels sad that he’s met me and can’t spend more time with me and that he wants to switch his career and is having a third-life crisis. I felt so sad for him! Smh. I was holding his hand across the table and reminding him that it was because of his transient nature that we could meet and reunite so quickly in the first place, and I offer to fly out more in the future to continue visiting him. He’s also due to be in my city in the US (he’s English) in October and I offered for him to stay with me. He acted like this wasn’t enough and I felt bad for him that he seemed to have such strong feelings (lol).
Wednesday night he slept fitfully and I kept waking up to him clinging to me and it was frustrating. I woke up yesterday morning early to catch my flight home and he’s laying in bed looking sad, then he says “do you normally get into men’s heads this much?” And he keeps telling me that I’m trouble and it was making me feel strange. He says I’m better at not getting attached than he is and I said I just wasn’t sad because I knew it wasn’t the end, it was just the beginning (LOLLL). He walked me out to my cab and kissed me goodbye and kept in touch all day long.
I get home yesterday evening and he video calls me and for a moment I thought I noticed a ring on his left hand and immediately asked about it. He laughs it off and I let it go. I was showing him my apartment and he comments on how my apartment is such a metaphor for who I am because it seemed like a lonely place and then he called me broken and said I’m afraid to be emotionally available and started asking if my ex husband hurt me so badly that I couldn’t trust people anymore. I rejected this psychoanalysis and said that while yes, I am independent, I have lots of friends and a pet and I don’t feel lonely. He started talking more about how attached he felt to me and I told him that maybe he feels lonely because he’s on the road touring all the time, and I asked who his best friend is. He started to cry and hung up on me.
I felt terrible and like maybe I hurt his feelings and I apologized to him over text and asked if he’d like some space. He sent back a weird cryptic message that said
i am a douche... and i think i know that so that why its hard for me to hear. I have met you who's awesome, your zest for life and drive is inspiring and refreshing, but i also have not been truthful. My actions over the last week could/will hurt people... and i dont want that to happen... i dont want you to hurt, or feel hurt, or be depressed or hate me, but i also dont want to hurt those who i should be faithful to. My loneliness is damaging to everyone around me... i feel like i have been more authentically me whilst simultaneously lying through my teeth and that is the "problem". I feel trapped between what i know i should do and what feels right. And even whist writing this... which is so hard to do and admit Im a douche... all i want to do it turn on the camera, look at your face and could happily sit in silence looking at you in awe of your passion for your dog magnets and pens... and yet my being dishonest with you will hurt and damage you, it would certainly damage my home relationships and i don't want anyone to hurt. My inability to be fulfilled and my now newly recognised acknowledgment of being lonely then make me question everything about my life.... Im sorry... so sorry
I immediately replied “are you married?” To which he said “yes”. I was a bit crushed, disappointed, creeped out, and massively angry for his wife. I was also triggered to the emotions of relationships I’ve been in where I was cheated on. I sent him a few explosive messages and told him to grow up and stop feeling sorry for himself.
I couldn’t sleep all night after this and I ended up looking him on Facebook. Yep. Wife of ten years. Beautiful wedding photos. 5 year old son, she stays home to care for the child while deadbeat dad traverses the world fucking women who are 8 years younger than him. Finally at 5 in the morning I get out of bed and realized I had a UTI. I start thinking about the possibility of him giving his wife an STD. I’m completely seething at this point. I unblock him and tell him that either he is telling her or I am and it’s happening today. He starts pleading with me and doesn’t acknowledge her emotions once, just that he’s going through so much, he didn’t realize he was lonely until I said it, he’s going to change and be better. I was emotionally dead to all of his pleading until he finally messaged her the following:
im so sorry... I have cheated on you... I have made the biggest fuck up of my life. When I was in Brazil I met someone... I am in such a bad head space... im sorry. She then met me in Barcelona... Im having a break down here... I didn't tell her I was married... I regret my actions so much... I cant phone you yet im stuck in the office... but please I would like to talk later... I promise it has never happened before... im so sorry... Obviously I know I fucked up... obviously I didnt want to tell you as I know it will rip our world apart... but to be clear... I don't want to loose you..... ive been a cunt... a dick... an asshole... I know I have... I want to be accountable for my actions.but I don't want to loose you... I am so ashamed of what I have done.... I told the woman involved last night…... And obviously she is mad... and want to also hold me accountable.. so she says she's going to message you to make sure ive told you.... Im so so so so so so SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO sorry.....I need therapy
(For the record I will not actually message his wife for confirmation. I do believe he actually sent the text)
After that I just felt sick and sad. I felt like she HAD to know, he tells me he’s never done this before and that’s why he’s so upset now but he had his ring off at the bar and he pursued me for over a week after we’d had the one night stand. I didn’t consent to being an affair partner, I would never. I’m also sad because I really liked him and I feel used and disappointed. And that of the two of us, I’m the one who seems to have more empathy for the woman he’s supposed to love. Luckily my friends are kind and uplifting to me so I have support and I know this won’t get me too down. A couple of my guy friends said I shouldn’t have gotten involved and shouldn’t have made him tell her. My women friends are very glad that I did.
When he showed me had messaged her I said Okay. Good luck with everything. Hope you get your life sorted. It’s not the end of the world but you’ve got a turbulent road ahead and I hope you learn from that and come out stronger and happier. I really liked you and thought you were one of the good ones. Really sad to find out the truth. All the best and please if you’re really feeling like you’re having some kind of mental health thing and you’re a danger to yourself, get help. Do actually get a therapist, know the emergency numbers, and reach out to your family if you need help.
I then blocked him and I feel bad for him weirdly and even feel I may have been too harsh with him. I was really harsh when I’d first messaged him - called him a child, said his behavior was gross, and when I made him tell his wife I said I didn’t care about his feelings. I wonder why he even told me the truth. What if he kills himself. What if it ruins an otherwise healthy marriage and causes trauma to his child. I feel like shit because at first I felt bad for him thinking he was sad that we couldn’t be together yet (lol) but now I’m realizing he was just anxious and panicking that I was going to find out about his marriage and blow his cover. Im out and about today and refusing to mope around about this, but it’s just such a sad situation all around. I don’t know if I made the choice but I am thinking that whether I did or didn’t, keeping him blocked is the best option.

India "10. Right to Choose Alternative Treatment Options if Available...including refusing care." https://www.metropolisindia.com/blog/preventive-healthcare/patients-rights/
​
"Staff were unanimously positive and excited to share their experiences of music therapy, from observing patients calm and happy, to joining in singing and dancing together." https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2023/06/01/could-music-therapy-help-reduce-distressing-incidents-on-nhs-inpatient-psychiatric-dementia-wards/
​
"adverse heart features may have genetic causal effects on psychiatric disorders and depression." https://sph.unc.edu/sph-news/new-study-reveals-strong-connection-between-heart-and-brain-health/
​
"San Francisco to Pay $2.2 Million Settlement to Victims in Laguna Honda Patient Abuse Scandal...drugged and abused others between 2016 and 2019...who were under conservatorship...given medications without their consent.” https://www.kqed.org/news/11952012/san-francisco-to-pay-2-2-million-settlement-to-victims-in-laguna-honda-patient-abuse-scandal
​
Philippines, "autism is neither a disorder nor a condition, but rather a lifelong developmental disability...Nothing about us, without us.” https://opinion.inquirer.net/?p=163662#ixzz83QzfR6rF
​
"systematic review, musculoskeletal injury (MSK) in adult athletes was associated with worsened scores across multiple domains of mental health...sleep disturbance, irritability, and persistent alterations in appetite. Worsening symptoms after injury include disordered eating, depression, apathy, and alienation. Expressive symptoms in response to injury include pain behaviors, rage, emotional outbursts." https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12178-023-09830-6
​
"Tennessee Gov Bill Lee’s administration accused the National Rifle Association of wanting to use involuntary commitment laws “to round up mentally ill people and deprive them of other liberties." "House Speaker Cameron Sexton...policy could be considered: involuntary commitment, more mental health in-patient beds." https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/tennessee/articles/2023-06-02/in-gun-law-push-tennessee-governors-office-memo-says-nra-prefers-to-round-up-mentally-ill-people
​
NY Times, "involuntary nature of the care being called for and the flawed antipsychotic...probably reduce hallucinations and delusions for around 60 percent of those who take them, but the science around their efficacy is far from definitive and some studies (though not all) indicate that long-term maintenance on the drugs may worsen outcomes." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/opinion/compulsory-mental-health-care-medication.html
​
"Joyal and Carpentier reports that nearly 50 percent of a non-clinical, random sample disclosed being interested in at least one sexual behavior historically deemed unusual or anomalous." https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-who-stray/202306/criminal-charges-and-consensual-kink
​
"psychiatry has been greatly influenced by for-profit managed care.2 The professional concern is that the quest for profits can trump the quality of care." https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/the-debt-crisis-and-a-bio-psycho-social-financial-model-for-psychiatry
​
"poll of U.S. adults found that 50 percent would be likely to consider a mental health treatment involving marijuana, 59 percent said they are unlikely to consider a treatment involving psychedelics." https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/05/10/2665806/0/en/Americans-Express-Worry-Over-Personal-Safety-in-Annual-Anxiety-and-Mental-Health-Poll.html
​
"What Hallucinogens Will Make You See." https://nautil.us/what-hallucinogens-will-make-you-see-308247/ https://youtu.be/r7OkE-Uj3Bg
​
Meme: they call it psychosis, I call it enlightenment. https://ifunny.co/picture/they-call-it-psychosis-i-call-it-enlightenment-bTQ99SxXA
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June 1 jealous father yelled at both dogs for sleeping next to me when listening to Beastie Boys.

India "10. Right to Choose Alternative Treatment Options if Available...including refusing care." https://www.metropolisindia.com/blog/preventive-healthcare/patients-rights/
​
"Staff were unanimously positive and excited to share their experiences of music therapy, from observing patients calm and happy, to joining in singing and dancing together." https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2023/06/01/could-music-therapy-help-reduce-distressing-incidents-on-nhs-inpatient-psychiatric-dementia-wards/
​
"adverse heart features may have genetic causal effects on psychiatric disorders and depression." https://sph.unc.edu/sph-news/new-study-reveals-strong-connection-between-heart-and-brain-health/
​
"San Francisco to Pay $2.2 Million Settlement to Victims in Laguna Honda Patient Abuse Scandal...drugged and abused others between 2016 and 2019...who were under conservatorship...given medications without their consent.” https://www.kqed.org/news/11952012/san-francisco-to-pay-2-2-million-settlement-to-victims-in-laguna-honda-patient-abuse-scandal
​
Philippines, "autism is neither a disorder nor a condition, but rather a lifelong developmental disability...Nothing about us, without us.” https://opinion.inquirer.net/?p=163662#ixzz83QzfR6rF
​
"systematic review, musculoskeletal injury (MSK) in adult athletes was associated with worsened scores across multiple domains of mental health...sleep disturbance, irritability, and persistent alterations in appetite. Worsening symptoms after injury include disordered eating, depression, apathy, and alienation. Expressive symptoms in response to injury include pain behaviors, rage, emotional outbursts." https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12178-023-09830-6
​
"Tennessee Gov Bill Lee’s administration accused the National Rifle Association of wanting to use involuntary commitment laws “to round up mentally ill people and deprive them of other liberties." "House Speaker Cameron Sexton...policy could be considered: involuntary commitment, more mental health in-patient beds." https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/tennessee/articles/2023-06-02/in-gun-law-push-tennessee-governors-office-memo-says-nra-prefers-to-round-up-mentally-ill-people
​
NY Times, "involuntary nature of the care being called for and the flawed antipsychotic...probably reduce hallucinations and delusions for around 60 percent of those who take them, but the science around their efficacy is far from definitive and some studies (though not all) indicate that long-term maintenance on the drugs may worsen outcomes." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/opinion/compulsory-mental-health-care-medication.html
​
"Joyal and Carpentier reports that nearly 50 percent of a non-clinical, random sample disclosed being interested in at least one sexual behavior historically deemed unusual or anomalous." https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-who-stray/202306/criminal-charges-and-consensual-kink
​
"psychiatry has been greatly influenced by for-profit managed care.2 The professional concern is that the quest for profits can trump the quality of care." https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/the-debt-crisis-and-a-bio-psycho-social-financial-model-for-psychiatry
​
"poll of U.S. adults found that 50 percent would be likely to consider a mental health treatment involving marijuana, 59 percent said they are unlikely to consider a treatment involving psychedelics." https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/05/10/2665806/0/en/Americans-Express-Worry-Over-Personal-Safety-in-Annual-Anxiety-and-Mental-Health-Poll.html
​
"What Hallucinogens Will Make You See." https://nautil.us/what-hallucinogens-will-make-you-see-308247/ https://youtu.be/r7OkE-Uj3Bg
​
Meme: they call it psychosis, I call it enlightenment. https://ifunny.co/picture/they-call-it-psychosis-i-call-it-enlightenment-bTQ99SxXA
​
June 1 jealous father yelled at both dogs for sleeping next to me when listening to Beastie Boys.

India "10. Right to Choose Alternative Treatment Options if Available...including refusing care." https://www.metropolisindia.com/blog/preventive-healthcare/patients-rights/
​
"Staff were unanimously positive and excited to share their experiences of music therapy, from observing patients calm and happy, to joining in singing and dancing together." https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2023/06/01/could-music-therapy-help-reduce-distressing-incidents-on-nhs-inpatient-psychiatric-dementia-wards/
​
"adverse heart features may have genetic causal effects on psychiatric disorders and depression." https://sph.unc.edu/sph-news/new-study-reveals-strong-connection-between-heart-and-brain-health/
​
"San Francisco to Pay $2.2 Million Settlement to Victims in Laguna Honda Patient Abuse Scandal...drugged and abused others between 2016 and 2019...who were under conservatorship...given medications without their consent.” https://www.kqed.org/news/11952012/san-francisco-to-pay-2-2-million-settlement-to-victims-in-laguna-honda-patient-abuse-scandal
​
Philippines, "autism is neither a disorder nor a condition, but rather a lifelong developmental disability...Nothing about us, without us.” https://opinion.inquirer.net/?p=163662#ixzz83QzfR6rF
​
"systematic review, musculoskeletal injury (MSK) in adult athletes was associated with worsened scores across multiple domains of mental health...sleep disturbance, irritability, and persistent alterations in appetite. Worsening symptoms after injury include disordered eating, depression, apathy, and alienation. Expressive symptoms in response to injury include pain behaviors, rage, emotional outbursts." https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12178-023-09830-6
​
"Tennessee Gov Bill Lee’s administration accused the National Rifle Association of wanting to use involuntary commitment laws “to round up mentally ill people and deprive them of other liberties." "House Speaker Cameron Sexton...policy could be considered: involuntary commitment, more mental health in-patient beds." https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/tennessee/articles/2023-06-02/in-gun-law-push-tennessee-governors-office-memo-says-nra-prefers-to-round-up-mentally-ill-people
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NY Times, "involuntary nature of the care being called for and the flawed antipsychotic...probably reduce hallucinations and delusions for around 60 percent of those who take them, but the science around their efficacy is far from definitive and some studies (though not all) indicate that long-term maintenance on the drugs may worsen outcomes." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/opinion/compulsory-mental-health-care-medication.html
​
"Joyal and Carpentier reports that nearly 50 percent of a non-clinical, random sample disclosed being interested in at least one sexual behavior historically deemed unusual or anomalous." https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-who-stray/202306/criminal-charges-and-consensual-kink
​
"psychiatry has been greatly influenced by for-profit managed care.2 The professional concern is that the quest for profits can trump the quality of care." https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/the-debt-crisis-and-a-bio-psycho-social-financial-model-for-psychiatry
​
"poll of U.S. adults found that 50 percent would be likely to consider a mental health treatment involving marijuana, 59 percent said they are unlikely to consider a treatment involving psychedelics." https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/05/10/2665806/0/en/Americans-Express-Worry-Over-Personal-Safety-in-Annual-Anxiety-and-Mental-Health-Poll.html
​
"What Hallucinogens Will Make You See." https://nautil.us/what-hallucinogens-will-make-you-see-308247/ https://youtu.be/r7OkE-Uj3Bg
​
Meme: they call it psychosis, I call it enlightenment. https://ifunny.co/picture/they-call-it-psychosis-i-call-it-enlightenment-bTQ99SxXA
​
June 1 jealous father yelled at both dogs for sleeping next to me when listening to Beastie Boys.

Traveling in mid July (It's probably going to be hot) for our honeymoon. My partner and I have a list of things to do but will mostly let the day take us wherever it may go. We kind of like self exploration but any suggestions and improvements to the given schedule are very welcome!
Our interests include:
Food
Anime
Games
Animals (Partner loves cats)
We split Tokyo into two stays. The first stay focuses on exploration and the return trip is chill/shopping. This is mainly to account for wanting to be in Kyoto during the Gion festival.
We were also thinking of just buying most of our clothes in Japan - Good/Bad idea? Would save room in the suitcase if we were already planning on buying

Hotel Stay	Planned Activities	Notes
Tokyo (Near Shibuya) [Tues - July 11]	Arrive around 2pm at Haneda, explore a bit around the hotel in Shibuya	Mostly free time to fight jet lag. Will pick up JR Pass, SuICa card, Sim Card
Tokyo [Wed]	Asakusa in the morning, Shibuya exploration, Shinjuku at night
Tokyo [Thur]	TBD, Exploration + Themed cafes. Maybe explore locations from Persona	Wondering if we should ship our luggage to our Kyoto Ryokan to make traversing Hakone easier. Anyone ever lose their luggage? (Biggest fear)
Hakone (Kowakien Mikawaya Ryokan) [Fri]	Check out a few sights if we are able hoping to see Fuji and maybe check out the Open Air musem, hang around private onsen ryokan. Time to cook myself and make people soup in the hot July weather	Activate our 7 day JR pass getting here.
Kyoto (Near Nishiki Market) [Sat]	Explore near hotel, maybe check out central/north kyoto (Kiyomizu-dera?), suggestions welcome here	Here during Gion Matsuri
Kyoto [Sun]	Arashiyama/Monkey Park
Kyoto [Mon]	Gion in the morning, Gion festival
Osaka (Kuromon Market) [Tues]	Check out the market, Aquarium, Osaka castle
Osaka [Weds]	Day Trip to Nara after checking in, Dotonbori at night
Tokyo (Shibuya) [Thur]	Shopping for return trip, check out anything we missed on the first stay of Tokyo
Tokyo [Fri]	TeamLabs Planets, Akihabara, Monster Hunter Cafe
Tokyo [Sat]	Get to Haneda for return

How easy is it to travel within Hakone?
I'm worried I didn't allot enough time in Osaka, but at the same time I couldn't think of much to do there other than sight see. We aren't into things like Universal (a little too busy for us), reason we didn't book any big theme parks.
Does this List look viable, is it too full/not full enough?
Thanks in advance!
*Fixed formatting

Im 18 months into my treatment and FINALLY got a rubber band for my cross bite yesterday.
Anyway, they attached two pieces of metal on the inside of my upper teeth and one of them sticks so far out that it’s scraping my tongue with every bite or swallow. It’s nearly unbearable and impossible to eat without tons of pain. The assistant who placed them said there would be some pain and to tough it out for awhile but I have some questions:
Is the pain supposed to go away on its own? Like will the teeth move enough that the metal piece won’t touch ny tongue anymore? (In your experience. I know you don’t know my specifics lol)
What can I do in the meantime? Is there something I can put on the metal or my tongue to stop them from scraping together constantly?
Thanks

UVa alumna claims professor groomed, sexually assaulted her
A 2020 University of Virginia graduate has accused one of her former professors of grooming, sexually assaulting and initiating an inappropriate romantic relationship during her tenure at the university, which began in 2018.
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Veritas Vineyard, Quirk Hotel targets of Insta scam
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This Memorial Day, a soldier is home after 7 decades
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class James Allen Coleman, known to family members and friends as Jimmie, was reported missing in action on April 25, 1951, near Chipori, South Korea, after an enemy mortar shell explosion during action in the Korean War.
Albemarle Symphony Orchestra grants Crozet pianist a 'wish of a lifetime'
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Even with so many options available, getting your news can be a challenge. The Weekly Progress is here to help. Here is a roundup of some of the week’s biggest stories from The Daily Progress, Charlottesville’s news of record and a resource for the community since 1892.
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Asking this for my friend with her permission, throwaway account. I was telling my parents about it at dinner the other day and they said it seems "whack" but they aren't divorced so i haven't dealt with it personally so i wanted to see if a 16 year old has more say in who they spend time with since we're basically adults.
My friends parents are divorced, they do one week each so she goes to parent A for a full week Sunday to Sunday then parent B, on and on. Her parents live within biking distance so she goes back and forth to grab stuff or watch a channel one has that the other doesn't frequently. Her grandma died and the funeral is out of state so would require travel and staying for a couple of days. The unrelated parent is not going and it's their week for her to stay and they have said she can't go with the other parent on a trip because it isn't their week. Since there's already a precedent of mixing it up some with visits and she's 16 can she just get on the plane and go of her own accord? We work so she has her own money and i know i or my parents would be willing to help too for flight/hotel if her trip has to be truly separated from her other parent for it to be legit. State she wants to go to is NY if that matters.