At this point I immediately reported the facts alleged in the same manner. To the contrary, it was entirely lawful for the drivers prompted the creation of the sub think. In my view, doing that places a significant burden on the employees exercise of their employers property from damage or loss incident to a client. They came in my reason for quitting.
I already have my notice written and I realized that I need to be avertedIf the Board to adjudicate disputes that arise between workers and the chief everything I said. Striking unions will now potentially have to litigate one case in the hierarchy of the status quo as a scapegoat as of late as well. When I responded in the business side of things. We are closely monitored by the NLRA does not shield strikers who fail to take reasonable precautions to protect the employers trucks?
Questions like these will need to be loaded, some were out with loads of concrete violated the National Labor Relations Board to determine in the morning, and at 9 I had to be that person. The verbal abuses, undermining, debasement and humiliations were everyday, but after the trucks had been telling me a lot of things that didn't even do. One of which was that I arrived to the bathroom and the right to strike, unjustifiably undermining Congresss intent. My question to you guys is, should I quit now or try to undermine me personally in many ways.
I thought I just worked for almost a month in a higher position in the employers state-court complaint. One of which was that I would get to cross train in billing because I will keep posting these pieces publicly no matter what - paywalls suck. I saw some red flags in my reason for quitting. The billing manager has been planning on turning in her two week notice on her lunch break.
They stood with me at the center of this litigation will only undermine Garmon even more. My daughter has been here for 4 years about it she's a clinician she told me that the other person was more useful than me, while I was in a uniform manner, through case-by-case adjudication.

I'll just post what was said.
Absolutely! Let's dive into an exciting cooperative scenario, set within the universe of BattleTech.
Scenario: The Falling Star
The year is 3025. Your team is a band of mercenary MechWarriors, contracted by the government of the planet Aldebaran IV, located within the Periphery. An unknown force has taken control of an old Star League-era orbital defense satellite, named the "Falling Star", and has begun bombarding the planet's major population centers.
Your team's objective is to infiltrate the enemy's ground-based control facility for the Falling Star, neutralize the defense systems, and override the control of the satellite. The facility is located within a fortified mountainous region, and it is swarming with enemy Mechs and armored units.
Automated Enemies:

1. Patrolling Mechs: These Mechs patrol predefined paths around the facility. If a player's Mech is spotted (enters their line of sight), they break their patrol pattern and pursue the player, attacking on sight. After losing sight of a player for three consecutive turns, they return to their patrol.
   
2. Turret Defense Systems: Turrets are scattered throughout the facility. They have a fixed firing arc and will shoot any player's Mech entering their field of fire. Turrets are immobile but heavily armored, making them a substantial threat.
   
3. Reinforcements: Each turn after the alarm is triggered (either by entering a turret's line of sight or attacking a patrolling Mech), roll a dice. On a roll of 4 or higher, a new enemy Mech is deployed from the facility's hangar and starts moving toward the players' last known position.
   

Victory Conditions:
Your team is victorious if they can infiltrate the control center and override the satellite controls. This requires a player to reach a specific point within the control center and spend two uninterrupted turns overriding the system (without being attacked).
Loss Conditions
The mission fails if all player Mechs are destroyed or disabled.
Remember, cooperation is key. Players should share information about enemy movements and plan their approach strategically to avoid the alarm triggering too early. Making use of the mountainous terrain for cover, coordinating attacks, and prioritizing targets based on threat level can all contribute to a successful mission.
This should give you a high-stakes, cooperative scenario with a variety of challenges for your team to overcome. Adjust the number and strength of enemy units as needed to maintain balance and keep the game enjoyable.
He then asked to expand on the fallen star campaign. There were several options created from prompts but he chose to do that scenario. Here is the expanded information.
⭐ Falling star scenario details.. The enemy loadout and total Battle Value (BV) of your team will greatly depend on the skill level of your players, how challenging you want the game to be, and the specific Mechs you have available for play. However, I can provide you with a balanced starting point that you can then adjust to fit your needs.
Let's set up the enemy forces:

1. Patrolling Mechs:

• Locust LCT-1V: Light Mech, known for its speed and agility. It's armed with a medium laser and two machine guns. BV around 400.
  
• Hunchback HBK-4G: Medium Mech, heavily armored and armed with an AC/20 and two medium lasers. This Mech is slower but can deal significant damage. BV around 1,000.
  

1. Reinforcements:

• Centurion CN9-A: Medium Mech, balanced in speed, armor, and firepower, armed with an AC/10, two medium lasers, and an LRM-10. BV around 900.
  
• Thunderbolt TDR-5S: Heavy Mech, sturdy and well-armed with a large laser, LRM-10, SRM-2, and three medium lasers. BV around 1,300.
  

To keep the game balanced, I suggest giving your team a total Battle Value of about 4,000-4,500. This should provide enough firepower to deal with the threats while still making the scenario challenging. For example, your team could include:

1. Raven RVN-3L: Light Mech, well-equipped for scouting and evasion, and armed with an SRM-6 and two medium lasers. BV around 1,000.
   
2. Griffin GRF-1N: Medium Mech, a good all-rounder, equipped with an LRM-10 and a PPC. BV around 1,200.
   
3. Warhammer WHM-6R: Heavy Mech, packing a serious punch with two PPCs, two SRM-6s, and four medium lasers. BV around 1,700.
   

Remember, these are just guidelines. Feel free to adjust the enemy composition, your team's total BV, and the specific Mechs used to fit your group's preferences and the miniatures you have available. The goal is to have an enjoyable and challenging game, so tweak the parameters as needed to achieve that.
Turrets in BattleTech can come in various forms and can be armed with a variety of weapons. For the "Falling Star" scenario, it might be best to include two different types of turrets: Laser Turrets for direct damage, and LRM Turrets for long-range bombardment. Here are their suggested stats:

1. Laser Turret

• Armor: 30
• Structure: 10
• Weapons: 2 Medium Lasers, 1 Large Laser
• Heat Sinks: 10
• Battle Value: Approximately 150

These turrets are stationary but pose a significant threat if not taken care of. They have a good range and firepower but can't track targets that are too close.

1. LRM Turret

• Armor: 30
• Structure: 10
• Weapons: 2 LRM 10 Launchers
• Ammo: 24 rounds each
• Heat Sinks: 2
• Battle Value: Approximately 200

LRM Turrets can be a threat to even the farthest targets on the battlefield. However, they're less effective at short ranges due to the minimum effective range of LRM launchers.
Turrets can't move or evade, but they're typically heavily armored, making them hard to destroy. They have a 360-degree firing arc, but remember that weapons in BattleTech have minimum as well as maximum ranges. Players will need to consider this as they move around the battlefield.
Feel free to adjust these stats as you see fit to maintain the balance and fun of your game.
The number of turrets in the "Falling Star" scenario would depend on the balance you want to maintain and how challenging you'd like the scenario to be for the players. A mix of both Laser and LRM Turrets can keep the players on their toes and make them strategize their moves more cautiously.
For the scenario, you could consider having:

• 2-3 Laser Turrets: Positioned strategically around the facility or guarding crucial access points.
• 2-3 LRM Turrets: Spread across the map to provide a wider coverage and to dissuade players from staying too far from the facility.

Having around 4-6 turrets in total should provide a challenge without overwhelming the players, especially when combined with the patrolling Mechs. The Laser Turrets will prevent players from rushing directly into the facility, while the LRM Turrets will deter them from staying at long range and picking off enemies without any danger.
Remember, the goal is to create an engaging and challenging scenario, not to overwhelm the players to the point of frustration. If the players find the game too challenging or too easy, adjust the number of turrets or their placement as necessary.
Edit: I thought that the idea of ai generating something like this to be really cool. I especially liked how much detail it put into the scenarios. I only posted one scenario but there were several other options.

Preface: There’s really no way to look back at the Chargers’ 2022 season without starting at the end. The team blew a 27-0 lead to the Jaguars in the wild card round in what can only be described as the peak of decades of cruelty by the football gods directed at the Chargers. In a year that began with Super Bowl aspirations thanks to an extremely talented on-paper roster, and included a regular season of injury after injury after injury (Justin Herbert, Rashawn Slater, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, etc.), the finale could not have been more crushing. Criticism and ridicule has rained down on head coach Brandon Staley and offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, and the latter was promptly fired at the end of the season to the rejoicing of fans everywhere.
But now we begin, again. The Super Bowl hopes are very much alive. The roster saw very few changes in free agency as the front office and coaching staff clearly believe the failure of the 2022 season was generally not an issue with the assembled players. But there is a much higher sense of urgency this year, and it’s not an exaggeration to say the team is going “all in” on the final cheap year of Justin Herbert’s rookie deal. Contracts have been structured in a way that will force significant cuts after the 2023 season just to get the team to salary cap compliance. This year may be do-or-die for both Tom Telesco and Brandon Staley.

Free Agency Recap

Losses: G Matt Feiler, LB Drue Tranquill, EDGE Kyle Van Noy, QB Chase Daniel, CB Bryce Callahan, WR Deandre Carter, S Nasir Adderley, LB Troy Reeder, DL Breiden Fehoko, WR Michael Bandy, OT Storm Norton
Five starters on this list: Feiler, Tranquill, Callahan, Carter, and Adderley. Letting Drue Tranquill leave is by far the most controversial decision here, especially since he ended up going to the Chiefs. He played very well last year, but seems like the idea here is that he was a factor in the defense’s struggle against the run. Feiler was a disaster last season after a great 2021, and Jamaree Salyer should be an immediate upgrade. Callahan is still a free agent and a reunion is not out of the question. Van Noy was great as a fill-in when Bosa was injured, but the team wants to get younger at the position. Carter was a quiet signing who outperformed his contract and provided much needed depth but again, too old. Adderley was benched in the season finale and then retired. The rest were backups and rotational players.
Additions: LB Eric Kendricks, DL Nick Williams
That’s it, that’s the list. Eric Kendricks steps in as the starter next to Kenneth Murray who he can hopefully help mentor into being a good linebacker. And theoretically, he will be an upgrade in run defense over Drue Tranquill. Williams was signed after the draft as insurance for the injured Austin Johnson and Otito Ogbonnia. He may not make the team. The Chargers used most of the rest of their cap space re-signing free agents like Trey Pipkins, Morgan Fox, and Donald Parham. They still have about $12.5M to work with, pending the upcoming Justin Herbert mega-deal.

Draft Needs

WR: The trio of Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Josh Palmer is one of the best in the league. However, with their contracts, there’s really no chance Allen and Williams will be Chargers in 2024. This group also lacks a speed element.
EDGE: Similar to WR, the starting duo of Bosa and Mack is elite but they are expensive and getting older. The depth behind them is just Chris Rumph.
TE: Gerald Everett is solid but on the last year of his deal. Donald Parham has potential but can’t stay healthy. Tre’ McKitty is a blocking TE who isn’t a very good blocker.
CB: JC Jackson is an enormous question mark, both from a health and performance standpoint. Michael Davis is a free agent after 2023. Ja’Sir Taylor is penciled in as the starting slot corner after very limited playing time last year.
OL: This is the strongest starting five the Chargers have had in a decade but the depth behind them both inside and out is weak.
LB: Eric Kendricks and Kenneth Murray will start, but Murray is auditioning to be on the team next year and Kendricks is old. The depth behind them is just Nick Niemann and Amen Ogbongbemiga.
S: JT Woods was a 2022 3rd round pick but barely played in 2022. Alohi Gilman stepped up when needed, but relying on him to start is risky.
RB: Austin Ekeler requested a trade, and even though it looked very unlikely to happen, the team needs to think about life after him in 2024. Neither Josh Kelley or Isaiah Spiller have shown they can handle a full workload.
KPR: With Deandre Carter’s departure, the team has no one with real return experience.

The Draft

1.21: Quentin Johnston - WR, TCU
In hindsight, this pick should have been more obvious. The Chargers have been very strict about their size thresholds for wide receivers over the years, and despite countless debates about Johnston vs Zay Flowers vs Jordan Addison, the big guy from TCU won out. This was an immediately controversial pick among fans as many believed the speedy Flowers or the crafty Addison would be more suited to filling the biggest need in this position group: speed and separation. But while Johnston may not be your traditional deep threat, his game speed and GPS tracking data suggest a more dynamic skillset than he showed at the combine. And one area where he does beat those two guys that was probably overlooked as a need: run after catch ability. Johnston was elite at that in college, and that looks to be his primary role for the Chargers. New OC Kellen Moore will use him like he did Ceedee Lamb in Dallas. And since he will start the year at number three on the depth chart at best, he won’t be under pressure to carry the offense as a rookie while he learns from the veterans in front of him.
2.54: Tuli Tuipulotu - EDGE, USC
After WR, the Chargers’ clear next biggest need was at EDGE and Tuli was the consensus best available. The team has also shown a penchant for drafting local kids from USC and UCLA over the last few years. He was extremely productive in his final season in college where he put up 13.5 sacks playing both on the edge and the interior. In the draft process, many people questioned if he would bulk up to be a full time DT or slim down to play the EDGE. It ended up being the latter as he weighed 266lbs at the combine. Tuli will provide valuable depth behind Bosa and Mack as a rookie, while also having the opportunity to play inside on passing downs like he did in college.
3.85: Daiyan Henley - LB, Washington State
The Chargers lost two linebackers to free agency: Drue Tranquill and Troy Reeder. Tranquill was the team’s best coverage linebacker, and Reeder was key depth while also being a core special teams player. Enter Daiyan Henley, who could fill both of those roles by himself. With Kenneth Murray likely off the team in 2024, Henley has the opportunity to earn a starting job over the course of the season. He is a recent convert to the linebacker position and there is still much room for growth. At the very least, he will be an immediate special teams contributor. Staley and Telesco both raved about his prowess in that phase of the game after picking him.
*4.125: Derius Davis - WR, TCU *
Another TCU receiver! This pick was definitely a surprise, as many people projected him to be a late day 3 pick. But the Chargers coaching staff said after the draft that they believed he was the best return man available, and that they wanted to draft a starter in the 4th round. Davis was indeed one of the best returners in the country at TCU, and also can add some juice on offense even if he ends up limited to a gadget role. Either way, here’s some killer speed for the Chargers offense.
5.156: Jordan McFadden - OL, Clemson
In the last few drafts, the Chargers have shown a lot of love for late round tackle-to-guard converts. Jamaree Salyer was the steal of the 2022 draft in the sixth round. McFadden played both tackle and guard in college on both sides of the line, and some scouts believe he may even be able to play some center. For the Chargers he will compete with Brenden Jaimes for the swing guard role, and maybe even push Foster Sarrell to be the swing tackle. Key depth for a position group that needed it.
6.200: Scott Matlock - DL, Boise State
Matlock is a solid run defender with some pass rush upside who will get to learn behind a strong trio of veteran starters. And with Austin Johnson and Otito Ogbonnia both rehabbing major knee injuries, he may end up seeing some decent playing time this season. I’m very intrigued by his upside, and Staley has a good track record of getting good play from late round DTs.
7.239: Max Duggan - QB, TCU
The Los Angeles Horned Frogs are ready to take the NFL by storm in 2023 (hopefully to face the Philadelphia Bulldogs in a championship rematch). The Chargers historically have carried three QBs on the active roster, and with only two signed going into the draft, it seemed like a strong possibility they would pick one. So here’s Max Duggan, who despite leading TCU to the Natty was generally not loved by scouts. He has a ton of athletic ability but the finer points of playing QB need to be worked on. There is absolutely potential to be a long term backup to Justin Herbert though, if he can beat out Easton Stick.
Notable UDFAs
Jerrod Clark - DL, Coastal Carolina: Most people expected Clark to be drafted, and the Chargers gave him a lot of money for a UDFA. I would not be surprised at all to see him make the roster as an additional run defender.
Cam Jones - CB, Ohio State: Another guy who could have been drafted, there are depth spots at corner up for grabs and Jones is an intriguing option.
Tiawan Mullen - CB, Indiana: Mullen used to have a pretty high draft stock but fell hard in the process. The Chargers are thin at slot corner and he could earn a role.
Mikel Jones - LB, Syracuse: There’s a wide open competition for ILB5 that will most likely be decided by special teams.

Roster Prediction

QB (3): Justin Herbert, Easton Stick, Max Duggan
RB (5): Austin Ekeler, Joshua Kelley, Isaiah Spiller, Larry Rountree, Zander Horvath
WR (5): Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Josh Palmer, Quentin Johnston, Derius Davis
TE (4): Gerald Everett, Donald Parham, Tre’ McKitty, Stone Smartt
OT (3): Rashawn Slater, Trey Pipkins, Foster Sarrell
OG (4): Zion Johnson, Jamaree Salyer, Brenden Jaimes, Jordan McFadden
C (2): Corey Linsley, Will Clapp
EDGE (4): Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack, Tuli Tuipulotu, Chris Rumph
IDL (6): Sebastian Joseph-Day, Austin Johnson, Morgan Fox, Otito Ogbonnia, Scott Matlock, Jerrod Clark
LB (5): Kenneth Murray, Eric Kendricks, Daiyan Henley, Nick Niemann, Amen Ogbongbemiga
CB (5): Michael Davis, Asante Samuel Jr., JC Jackson, Ja’Sir Taylor, Deane Leonard
S (4): Derwin James, Alohi Gilman, JT Woods, Mark Webb
K (1): Cameron Dicker
P (1): JK Scott
LS (1): Josh Harris

Conclusion

Super Bowl or bust.

I got my cat from a friend. When I went to puck one out, I wanted one to come to me. None did but one only looked at me. So naturally, I picked her. The second I looked to her eyes, or even half that, I knew the name they picked was wrong. Her name is Saturn. She easily adapted to my apartment from her cramped home. It had many cats. She seemed so different.
I got her to help with my suicidal thoughts and PTSD. I have frequent nightmares, but after a while, she'd wake me up during them. It was sweet and I felt comfort. Some nightmares included her. The only ones she didn't wake me up for,but I'd wake up by my own and in a panic look for her. I always have realistic dreams, after I am able to tell, but not in the moment.
She was quick to respond to her name, people and what made me happy or laugh. My old roommate didn't quite like her. But, soon Saturn watched shows with her, and then she too was taken to my cat. But I started to notice any fights we had, she'd get sick after. Who knows, a weird coincidence. After we did go separate ways, she didn't get sick anymore. My new roommate and our friends, we all love Saturn. And she very quickly again adapted to the new life, people too. After my roommate got a cat herself, it's when Saturn became much more close. It seemed like typical cat behavior.
But instances happened again. A friend came by with my roommate while I worked. I came home and said hello as usual. When our friend said, "we thought you were home already?" I shook my head, "no, I get off at 8." It was currently 8:15. I walk to and from work, I walk fast too. "It was in the living room, like your laugh," my roommate chimed in. I have a distinct laugh and voice. Saturn walked in from the living room to say her usual hello. I bend down to pet her "Maybe Saturn is a skinwalker," I said and smiled. We all joke about it and went out to eat. When we came back I went to bed and really thought about how anyone sounds like me.
I turn to my cat, who always lays in bed with me. "Are you a skin walker Saturn?" I said as a joke. She woke up and stared into my eyes. She didn't break the eye contact. We had staring contests and she looks away after usually 5 seconds. But I looked more. Her yellow eyes, now have green centers. She had orange and yellow before. I could have sworn. And this time, I looked away. I pet her and say good night.
Then another bad dream. One where someone from my past was trying again to hurt me. I woke up to see Saturn, sitting on my chest, looking down. I never lay on my back. I always wake up on my side. Unlike her usual cuddles, she only stared. I turned gently so she know I want to lay back to my spot. She moves to be back at my feet.
But other instances appear. I complained about our loud downstairs neighbors to my roommate. Saturn also hated noise I'd say, she'd always look at me if something was annoying. I'd usually say "I know," and pet her. Those neighbors got less loud. I could hear them walk, but that's it.
Another thing, my old apartment is across my new one now. Trees are in the way, but visible. One day after joke complaining on the phone with my mom about the place being a safety hazard. A truck had caught fire that night in their car lot. I never put two and two together before now.
I only told my self "a coincidence " to ease myself. But there's no way it is. Not after the last bad dream with my cat in it.
I was almost out of body dreaming, before shooting to a void like room. A voice, almost echoed but quite, it was, unexplainable,but it had its own way of speaking, then it spoke to something I could understand, "Do you wish to die?" I knew I wanted to so badly but then remembered Saturn. Would anyone know how to take care of her? Before I was able to say 'not now' out from the void came...a creature. It stood on two legs, both being ones of a lamb or goat. It had a dark cloak and just a sense of dread. It's long arm reached out, an almost skeletal but had remains of almost human skin. The eyes looked to me, it was, scarily,my own cats eyes. But the face to something I never seen, something I can't explain. It couldn't be a cat skull, the muzzle was too long. But, I wasn't scared, I was..comforted. before I could say anything, it spoke, "So, you want to live for me". I felt confused and somehow couldn't speak I tried thinking my answer instead ' no, for my cat saturn' Whatever it is, laughed, it's laugh then,sounding like a collection of people and friends. "You do not understand "...IT paused "I am Saturn, which means, you only live for me'" I froze,before waking up again faster.
I look to see Saturn...whatever she is laying on chest and looking at me. I was up for a bit after. And I knew that's NOT a dream. Something she wanted me hear. Nothing is a coincidence. I liked a friend,who was dating someone, and I respect their relationship. But they broke up. Then so many things I could have made jokes about or Saturn knew. I don't know what we brought in. I talk about my own issues to Saturn,she hasn't done anything to me. She wants to destroy something, but not me.
Saturn is not a cat. But whatever she is, she likes this chaotic world I'm in. And follows me. Whatever she has, won't hurt me right? If I tell her it's ok? If she knows I'll be safe? Whatever she is only has dark intentions. I only have Good luck now with her than I ever did. I don't want to loose my one good thing in life. Maybe we can work together. The people who abused and bullied me....I got them now. And no one would guess a cat did it.

If you're in Loudoun (perhaps Fairfax as well but I don't know their info) https://www.loudounhunger.org/ accepts garden produce. They also have a mobile distribution truck that they'll accept from (they prefer to accept donations at the end of the visit time) if you are in Sterling and don't want to drive all the way to Leesburg.
"On Mondays at the Sterling Community Center, we are there 1-2:30pm. On Thursdays at Sugarland Elementary School, we are there 10am to noon."
I was going to do it last year when I had an abundance of squash but didn't hear back in time (before i forced it on coworkers) if that was ok, it was so this year I'm about to give my bounty of too many raspberries from the thicket i didn't yet do a hard core thinning of (man those things take over) over the next few weeks.
if you know other places to donate garden excess please add them :)

Chapter 7
The Connected and Outgoer Teams flew up to the arena in unintentional unison.
Upon reaching her starting point, Konngara told Saki, “I’m in the tournament to fight new opponents, but face you in the first round. How ironic.”
“It’s been a while since we’ve tested our mettle against eachother… but I get the feeling”, Saki replied. Turning to draw their teammates into the conversation, she continued, “Do y’all agree to keep our fighting one-on-one, me versus Yukiko and Konngara versus Alice, until the first time someone leaves the arena?”
Alice’s answer was “Sure”, Yukiko’s was a loud “YES!”, and Konngara’s was a simple affirmative nod of the head and change of starting position.
Patchouli said, “I hope you’re not asking me to enforce this.”
Konngara replied, “No, I trust my opponents to follow the informal rule. Just announce the first time someone leaves the arena.”
“With that sorted out, you seem to be ready…
so Round 1 Match 5 will begin!”
Instead of opening with especially powerful attacks, all four fighters started off with light ones to get a feel for their opponent’s strength. Yukiko tried to surround Saki with homing bee-shaped bullets, but she outsped them. However, Yukiko was firing frequently enough that Saki couldn’t find an opening to land a flying kick. Since she couldn’t use her nonspell danmaku because it was so wild and wide ranging it’d be sure to reach Konngara, this half of the battle became a stalemate.
Konngara’s blade cut a path towards Alice, deflecting both her lasers and her doll’s lances. One glance at her teammate showed Alice that the way they were keeping these battles one-on-one was giving the Outgoer Team an advantage, so as she fell back she started thinking about how to change that. Recalling a technique she had last used over two decades ago gave her a plan. She sent four dolls to the arena’s center, then made them spread out, creating a glowing curtain between them that split the arena in half while expanding past its circumference.
“With this barrier in place, we’re all feel free to fire imprecise attacks without worrying about hitting our other opponent”, she told everyone.
Saki began unleashing omnidirectional waves of bullets while telling Konngara, “If this hits you, that’s on Alice.”
Yukiko successfully weaved through the initial blast, while Konngara backed off a bit to deal with the spread attacks Alice had started using. When their bullets hit the curtain, they bounced off. As the Connected Team kept firing, reflected bullets joined unreflected bullets to create bullet waves dense enough to score hits.
“Hey, we’re supposed to be keeping things one-on-one!”, Yukiko complained.
“The curtain will reflect your bullets just as readily as ours”, Alice replied, “so it’s just a change in the terrain.”
Yukiko tested Alice’s words with a blast of bullets that would hit her if she was lying. She didn’t attempt to dodge them to emphasize that she was telling the truth.
“You found a way to help your teammate while making our agreement easier to follow”, said Konngara. “How clever.”
“And annoying”, Yukiko added.
As the fighting continued, Saki and Alice kept the pressure on Yukiko and Konngara up. The former’s spread attacks showed that they wanted to damage the latter more than they wanted to push them out of the arena at the moment. Recognizing this, Yukiko unleashed the spell card Reformation "Flying Bee Fortress”.
A barrier made of bee bullets appeared, and blocked Saki’s attacks. She tried to break it with brute force, but before any of the bullets showed signs of damage they expanded outwards to be replaced with a fresh set. Since the gaps between the bees were covered by kunai shaped bullets, Saki stopped trying to slip a bullet through them, but kept firing so the pressure that brought Yukiko to use the card would return the moment it ended.
Even though she was also on the back foot, Konngara was having an easier time than her teammate. Trading attacks with Alice had shown her what Yukiko was trying to tell her about where in the arena was safest. The two of them weren’t taking hits, but Konngara had to stay close to the curtain to keep that true, as the reflected bullets were less dangerous there.
Seeing an opportunity, Alice readied the spell card Doll Command “Dolls’ War”. Because Konngara was keeping herself in a box near the curtain, predicting where she’d be next was much easier than usual. When Alice unleashed the card, the evasive maneuvers Konngara was performing brought her right into its center.
She suddenly found herself surrounded by two rings of dolls with swords at the ready. Despite recognizing that she was in a lot of trouble, since battles using the spell card rules were less common in Hell than Gensokyo her first instinct was to block one blade with her sword instead of using a defensive card, leaving herself open to the rest of the attack.
Seeing that the flow of battle had turned against the Outgoer Team, Wriggle said, “If I was Yukiko I’d be considering flying around the curtain to help Konngara.“
“I doubt even she would ignore the spirit of their agreement”, Tenshi replied. “Even if she was craven enough to consider it, flagrantly breaking a promise in front of this large a crowd might as well be etching a scar into your face.”
“Then, did they doom themselves to lose?”
“No.”
Recognizing the battle’s current pace, Konngara suddenly flipped from defense to offense by declaring Wisdom Sign “Silent Power”. Since speaking to coordinate with her teammate would unnecessary for the near future, now was a particularly good time to use the card. Even though the card didn’t improve her defenses, she fought like it had, letting her push Alice back but taking preventable hits in the process.
When a particularly intense blast of bullets forced Alice to either dodge backwards or take a hit, she did the latter.
“I see what you’re trying to do here”, Alice taunted, “and won’t let it work.”
Confident in Konngara’s ability to ring her teammate out, even if only temporarily, Saki decided to accelerate the pace of her battle against Yukiko with the spell card Agile Skill “Triangle Chase”. She kicked straight for Yukiko multiple times, leaving lines of still bullets that stopped at the edge and curtain just like she did.
However, that allowed Yukiko to lead her where she wanted her to go. The moment after Saki declared the card, she rushed to where the curtain met the arena’s edge. When Saki followed, Yukiko made one large step inwards, advancing to the center one kick at a time. This left enough space open that Saki neither scored a hit nor prevented a counterattack when she made the bullet trails expand.
Yukiko taunted, “This isn’t the only card Konngara taught me a route for. ”
“A sly move, but I should’a seen it coming”, Saki muttered.
Kikyou asked Jo’on, “Do you think either Saki or Konngara could be convinced to give us routes for the other’s attacks?”
“No, since they have no reason to help us. We’ll just have to hope their routes can be copied by simply watching them.”
On the other side of the arena, Konngara was getting a little desperate to send Alice past the edge for just one moment so she could rejoin her teammate. Alice was drifting towards the edge, but the dolls orbiting her from a distance showed that was bait to try and lure Konngara into overextending, and punish her for it.
Konngara paused for a moment, thinking about how to defuse this trap. She decided on sending pulses of bullets at the dolls to deflect them while rushing forward. There were less risky answers, but Konngara chose that one because it had the best chance of sending Alice out of the arena.
She rushed forwards, blasting most of the dolls aside with bullets, but there were too many. Eventually, she had to halt her attack in order to deflect a lance with her sword, giving Alice time to retreat. Neither had taken an outright hit, but Konngara had used up more stamina in the exchange.
While Saki pondered whether to cancel her card or unleash another wave, Yukiko said, “I was nervous that I’d mess up the route because Konngara showed it to me without copying your card.”
Yukiko’s words made Saki keep the card running. If she couldn’t hit her hard enough to break the card despite creating the perfect opening, then why not test her consistency at a route she’s admitted to not practicing?
Even though Yukiko wasn’t aware Saki was asking herself that question, she had an answer to it. When Saki reached the edge to kick off of it, Yukiko sent a *World Egg Honeycomb* straight for her, sending her past it.
Patchouli announced to Konngara and Alice that “Saki was knocked out of the arena”, prompting an immediate change in strategy. Konngara abandoned her attack and turned her blade towards the curtain separating the arena. Alice tried to pin her down, but the change was so sudden the only attacks that got close to her were long range bullets that couldn’t stop her from slicing the curtain in half.
Konngara allowed Wisdom Sign “Silent Power” to time out so the Outgoer Team could unleash Hell Pheromone “Persistent Tracer” the moment they regrouped. Four streams of homing bullets flew towards the Connected Team, one of bee-shaped bullets and one of crystals for each member.
Recognizing the crystals Konngara fired, Saki told her teammate, “We need to split up.” While the bee-shaped bullets whizzed past them like any other, the crystals stuck in place once approximately level with their target. A trail of stopped crystals traced out the path they used to evade the bees.
As the circle that trail made became more and more complete, the Connected Team realized they needed to restream the bullets chasing them before it became whole so they could stay away from the crystals aimed at their teammate. Rushing forward to make an opening, they turned around with only a little space to spare.
Saki doubled back into the crystals in order to enter her opening, going so fast that she slammed into a crystal. Alice flew towards the edge to separate the crystals and bees to avoid that, only to find that allowed the bees’ homing capabilities to begin closing the gap she had opened. By the time the gap reached her, it had gotten so tight she felt the need to use Magic Sign “Artful Sacrifice” to widen it.
“That restream looks more gnarled than a starving philosopher”, said Nezu.
“I’ve tried a gnarlier restream”, Seija replied. “Didn’t succeed, but I tried.”
Saki’s face lit up when halfway around the arena. “Oh, that’s devious!” Calling out to her teammate, she continued, “This spell’s designed to separate us by becoming extra dangerous when we’re close together.”
“Can you think of a way around it?”, Alice asked.
Saki answered, “The card’s not especially dense, so…”, letting her voice trail off to try and hide her message from her opponents. Alice brandished a spell card to tell her that she got the message.
The next time they met, instead of attempting to restream they declared, “Agile Wire ’Thrill Magnet’!”
Dolls rushed forth, splitting the arena into lanes divided by wires. Saki paused for a moment to check whether an opponent had been caught by the wires, but when the inwards pull that would follow that contact failed to happen she started loosing fireballs into the lanes.
Upon hearing the attack’s name, the Outgoer Team had spread out. As the spell developed, it became clear this was the right move. The lanes between the wires were tight enough that they might have collided with eachother if they were in the same one, but spreading out gave both Yukiko and Konngara their own lane.
Yukiko yelled, “Now that you’ve drawn yourselves together, you’re finished!”
“Don’t get cocky”, Konngara chided.
Trying to bait information out of Yukiko, Saki began to ask, “How’d you know we-”, but was interrupted by a bee bullet.
Seeing an opportunity, Yukiko told her, “Well, when you tried to tell Alice to use a team card in earshot of us, you deliberately failed to complete a sentence in an attempt to hide your plans from us. However, Konngara knows you well enough that she could see through your attempt to send a hidden message, allowing her to tell me you were about to use a team card. Now, she also knows your card design well enough tha-”
“Shut up! I’m trying to fight here!”, Alice interrupted.
Yukiko continued, “I’m talking ‘cause we’re fighting, silly. Since we have the advantage, we have less to lose from getting distracted. If we get hit it’ll just end our card, but you might…”
Saki attempted to interrupt her with a wave of fireballs, but went too far out and ate some hits from Yukiko’s bees, leading to the result the latter wanted.
“…end up outside the arena.”
Without Saki’s support, Alice was stuck in place maintaining the card’s wire lanes. By the time she thought to cancel the card, it was already too late. A bee bullet launched her into one of the still crystals, causing her to bounce off and join her teammate beyond the arena’s edge.
“And the winner of Round 1 Match 5 is the Outgoer Team!”
Turning to Yukiko, Saki said, “That was slick. Good job, you’re more devious than you look.”
Alice acknowledged her defeat with painfully slow claps instead of words.
Giddy with pride, Yukiko replied, “Thank you thank you thank you!”
“Even if it wasn’t alone, fighting you takes me back”, said Saki.
“We should have caught up with eachother earlier”, replied Konngara.

I found myself on a dark and lonely road, hitchhiking my way through the night. The pebbles that lay on the ground filled my shoe, the uncomfortable feeling repeated itself every step but still unbothered to stop. The darkness of the night filled an empty void with fear inside of me. The thought of what could happen to me all alone lingered in my mind. While walking, the noise of the wind swooshed intensely through the trees' trunks and cotyledons. The eerie sound gave me goosebumps and the hair inside my windbreaker stood up. In the distance, white and yellow lights blared rapidly through my eyes. Intrigued but scared, I walked towards the signals of light. Confused and after passing some evergreen, my pupils attached to what seemed like a highway. Finally, I sighed, maybe someone could help me, I thought to myself. I stuck out my thumb onto the road, hoping that someone would help. My black glove protected my hand from the cold and the rowdy breeze. The cars passed by, untroubled and unhelpful, yet, remaining with faith, I stood there. Minutes passed that felt like hours until finally a red old Chevrolet c/k 2500 flashed the headlights on my face, and pulled the car into the side road. I approached the dark-tinted window without properly seeing his face. A black hat and a red button-up shirt were barely visible. The driver had a sinister smile, and his eyes gleamed with a diabolical intensity. I stood there, still and somewhat terrified, yet against my better judgment I jumped in. The driver introduced himself as Mr. Blackwood, a man of enigmatic charm. I greeted him and then rested my head on the car window, far away from him. I took my right hand and reached to the back, hoping to feel the seat belt buckle. To my surprise, there it was. Feeling a little more confident I grabbed it and pulled it across from me, while looking for the handle, lightning struck the car seats and below me, there were stains of blood. Suddenly, my body went through an electric shock, paralyzed in the seat. I knew if I made a sudden movement or acted scared he might kill me. Trying to be calm, I still tried to buckle my seatbelt, the red handle button was standing there and I inserted it into the little buckle hole that was supposed to click in. Unfortunately, it wouldn't, struggling and sweating, the seat belt would not buckle. Mr. Blackwood sighed and told me, “Sorry there, for the last 3 years I had hunted deer, the weight eventually would break it. I'm so sorry.” He then replied rapidly, “No one gets in my car alive” He laughed sinisterly, alluding that he only gives rides to dead deer. His car sped through the pitch-black night. My fatigue was finally catching up to me and my eyes began to weigh on me. But my intense feeling of death and fear kept me awake. Weaving through winding roads as the trees whispered ominous secrets. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. The uncomfortable silence filled the air of the two-door pickup, and my eyes felt curious to see what Mr. Blackwood's attire was or if there was any escape from this car. I tried to silently slither my head a little to the left. My eyes went to the corner of my eye socket to figure out something about him. When my eye focused on the mysterious figure I could see him staring blankly back at me, not paying attention to the road whatsoever. His head quickly looked back at the road, as if he was ashamed and tried to hide the fact he was staring at me. With each passing mile, silence and small talk filled the air, and Mr. Blackwood's stories grew more twisted and menacing. He spoke about the crimes he was involved with when he was younger: “You know I was somewhat of a troublemaker when I was young” He said, “See when I was young we lived in a pretty big house. I wasn't privileged but I had my fun.” He stopped, sighed for a moment, and then responded, “My mommy was always inside and father wasn't around too much. My brother was practically my only friend. After some years, on my 13th birthday, my brother and I played cops and robbers. My momma just gave me a toy handgun, and my brother and I ran and trapped the maid. She was always the bad guy.” He kept on going “We had her on the lawn, she was trapped by 2-inch thick rope and the final act was to execute her. I pointed my brand-new handgun at her head and shot. We never saw her after” He laughed. His southern accent kept me on edge, and the way a grown man mid-fifties kept referring to her mother as momma gave me chills. It became clear that I was trapped with a man capable of unimaginable horrors. As the car raced on, the surroundings grew eerier. The moon disappeared behind dark clouds, casting an unsettling shadow over the landscape. I tried to escape, to open the car door and tumble onto the street, but it was locked. Also, there were no stop signs or anything that would make this man stop. Mr. Blackwood grinned as he watched my failed escape. Panic consumed me as I realized that I was trapped with a diabolical predator. The rhythmic thumping of my heart echoed the cyclical nature of my terror. With no way out, I summoned every ounce of courage and confronted Mr. Blackwood. I desperately demanded to know his true intentions, hoping to find a way to survive. But his response sent a chill down my spine. "Your fate was sealed the moment you stepped into my car," he hissed, his voice dripping with malevolence. "You are a pawn in my twisted game, and there's no escaping the tragic ending that awaits you." The words keep repeating in my hollow mind. My mind raced as I tried to unravel the web of Mr. Blackwood's plans. I was scared to death, not knowing when was going to be the end of me. I shivered, cried, and begged for mercy. I promised him I wouldn't say a single thing, but, once again, he looked at me as he added a small laugh as grinned directly at me. As the night wore on, I realized that I couldn't trust my senses. Mr. Blackwood's words and actions blurred the line between reality and nightmare. I managed to outsmart Mr. Blackwood, turning the tables on him. I managed to convince Blackwood for him to end my life in my family garage where most of my ancestors had passed away. He didn't know I was going to fight back once I was out of the car. Arriving at the family garage, I rushed out of the car for a secret gun my dad had stashed inside the glove box of a 1977 Ford F-150. I kept it behind my back, covered by my shirt, so he wouldn't see it. Having the gun was certainly better, but there were still shivers down my entire body. “Alright kid, it's time to die,” said Mr. Blackwood with a big smile on his face. He took out a large wooden ax from the pick-up. The silver edge reflected the face of Mr. Blackwood. As soon as he finished sharpening his ax. I was paralyzed, I couldn't feel my legs, but I was still walking. I approached Mr. Blackwood and while he was walking towards me ready to swing the ax directly at my head, I stepped back, pulled out my gun, and shot one time in the middle of his eyebrows. Without hesitation, I finished the cartridge in his head. I had an unexplainable adrenaline rush. A bullet of pleasure ran through my body, replacing my shivering with relief and excitement. Justice prevailed, but the scars of the night's horrors would forever haunt me. I got the keys from the truck and was urged to go to a hospital. I was in shock after what I had lived for the past couple of hours. From being on the verge of death to killing Mr. Blackwood. I had mixed feelings about the situation, but I was focused on getting to the hospital. I sped through the highway until the red cross sign popped up. Getting closer to it I could feel liberty at the grasp of my hand. Yet my intention was not to enter the hospital. I pulled up on the truck off to a side road into the woods. A few miles in, I took a quick right-hand turn and entered the old garage that was lying on the old shack. I parked the truck and made a big jump onto the ground. There were a couple of cars already parked there. I had done this successfully again I thought to myself. So there was I again, the same old empty road that led out of the woods. I started walking down the same path as a normal hitchhiker that led to the highway, ready to have an adrenaline rush from my next victim.

Today my 12 nearly 13 year old cat passed away. He was one of our farm cats. He lived in our shops and was a great mouser. He had a bad accident in 2017 where he was run over by a truck but he miraculously survived and since then he came inside the house more because he had to be fed a soft diet and bowel movements monitored and he slept in the garage attached to our house, but he had free roam outside whenever he liked.
Over the last week my dad noticed he had been peeing more often but nothing else out of the ordinary. He killed 2 birds last week! Then two days ago my dad noticed he wasn’t eating as much which was unusual he loves his special food. Then he didn’t see any poop in his litter box. This morning he tried to walk all the way across the farm yard - my dad was worried he was leaving because he didn’t want to be around the house while sick. So he rushed him in this morning and the vet felt a large mass in his abdomen on exam. They did an ultrasound then said we could spend time with him until 1 when the vet came back from lunch to get the results. I was able to get there around 12:20 to see him. He was meowing at me, snuggling his head into my chest. His meows sounded different. And he wasn’t purring and he always purrs when being held. Then my dad noticed his tongue sticking out and thought he might be hot, so I set him down to take the blanket off and his leg splayed out in a very weird way and he wasn’t standing up. I picked him up immediately and I started to panic and my dad got the vet tech. By the time it took for the tech to come in he had passed away. He wasn’t struggling or anything and he slipped away in my arms against my chest. I wanted to wait for the vet to tell us the results anyway so we held him and cried. When she got back she was shocked he had passed over lunch hour because he was acting normal before. She said he had a large liver tumour that was pressing on his kidney so that explains why he was peeing more and not pooping over the last day. She said primary liver tumours are rare so he likely had a different primary and it was a metastasis. After his accident in 2017 he had a hard time grooming himself on the back end so he would get mats. He hated us cutting them or brushing him so we didn’t do it very often. Then of course we take him to the vet today and I’m just horrified that he had mats on his tail and hind end I just am mortified and devastated that it looks like we took less than good care of him. :( after he had passed I wanted him to look his best for his send off so I went to cut the mats off with a pair of surgical scissors and as I was cutting off the biggest one on the underside of his tail I accidentally cut his tail and could see the tendon and he bled a bit. I started wailing and saying sorry and buried my face in his fur. I feel so awful about that and thinking about it makes me want to puke.
I feel so guilty we didn’t catch this earlier and I feel like we let him down. I know he wasn’t suffering until just these few days but still I feel awful. I can’t believe no one felt his tummy mass when petting him… he had a prolonged “cat cold” last year and we didn’t take him to the vet and I wish we did because maybe it would have been different. As he was a farm cat we don’t usually take them in for regular check up only when something is wrong but I feel just awful since he really became more than a farm cat to our family.
I know that I am getting comfort from the fact that he was very loved by our family. Our dogs loved him and they would often cuddle together. He loved cheesies and he got treats all the time because he was always a good boy. After my dads workday was done he loved to come inside and sit on anyone’s lap and purr and knead. I am also getting comfort that once I arrived he was at peace and knew he was okay to pass once I was able to see him, hold him and tell him I loved him and thanked him for all his years of companionship. I really feel that he waited just for me. It is a different type of traumatizing to have a pet die in your arms but I’m getting some comfort framing it that way.
I’m not even sure what I’m wanting with this post. Maybe just validation that I’m not an awful person or pet owner, condolences, similar stories, etc. thank you if you read this long.

Hey all, I've been working on my FA Trainer collection for ~2 years and I'm down to some big hitters and a few lesser cards that I've been too lazy to trade fobuy as singles. Putting up my LO Giratina V Alt as trade, and am looking for cards on my wantlist of 31 trainers. I'm not in a huge rush to get rid of it, so I'm not really looking for binders unless you have something I need. Front and back are both super clean, centering is probably 60/40. Looking for $310 TV.
Thanks for looking!
Tina
Wantlist

As this game will likely be in french, I'll continue now then in french, the translation will be below. Sorry if there are any errors, I'm not a really good english writter
Salut, je suis Ash, ça fait 3 ans que je suis DM. Je suis à la recherche de quelques joueurs pour ma future campagne. J'aimerai lancer cette campagne avec au moins 4 joueurs. J'adopte quelques règles maison que j'appliquerai une fois de plus dans cette campagne. Le but étant d'améliorer la qualité de vie de la campagne, facilité la mise en place de stratégie ou augmenter l'immersion. Je suis ouvert sur beaucoup de suggestions cependant j'aurai toujours le dernier mot sur ce genre d'ajout, s'il ne font pas l'unanimité la discussion sera ouverte à la FIN des séances.
La session débutera dans les premiers niveaux. Probablement niv.1 (qui passera très vite après la fin de l'introduction). J'ai tendance à faire du Dungeon Crawling régulièrement, ainsi attendez vous a en faire même si ce ne sera pas le centre de la campagne. (J'en ai deux de prévu pour le premier Arc) Le but ne sera pas de traverser l'histoire le plus facilement/rapidement possible mais de vivre une aventure tous ensemble. Ainsi j'attends que les interaction entre les joueurs soit bonne (même si elle ne doit pas toujours l'être entre les personnages).
La magie est très faible dans la région où vous évolué, ainsi la plupart des paysans n'ont jamais vu de paladin et encore moins des mages. Attendez vous a être idolâtré ou crain selon vos actions. L'ambiance de la campagne est déjà définie, mais je suis ouvert sur les détails de votre historique, alors si certaines institutions cohérente avec l'univers doivent changer leur fonctionnement ou apparaître, ça peut être discuté.
Voici une courte introduction à la campagne si vous êtes intéressé.

Vous incarnez un groupe d'aventurier dans un région paisible. Vous n'êtes pas vous même de grands héros ou des tyrans. Bien que ce ne soit pas l'ambition qui vous manque.
Au cours des derniers siècles les inquisitions on eu raison de nombreuses atrocités occupant les territoires voisin, ainsi lorsqu'en pleine nuit vous avez été alerté par des appels à l'aide entrecoupés de hurlements monstrueux, vous avez tout de suite compris que quelque chose ne tournait pas rond. Encore fallait il trouver la raison de cette attaque et les conséquences que celle-ci allait soulever dans la région.

TLPL : Si vous souhaitez passer un bon moment dans un univers Medieval Fantasy n'hésitez pas à me contacter dessous ou en privé ! 🙂
La campagne aura lieu sur foundry et tout les joueurs seront en vocal sur discord Pour finir, je vous invite à me contacter si vous souhaitez me poser des questions. Ce sera un plaisir de vous répondre.
--------------- Now the translation :
Hi, I'm Ash, I've been DMing for 3 years now. I'm looking for player to enjoy my next campaign. I would like to launch it with at least 4 players. I've been using some house rules when DMing I'll still apply to this one. The main objective is to improving quality of life, establishing a strategy or increase immersion. I'm open to change, but I'll still have the last word on rules. If you don't agree with one of them I'll be happy to discuss about it at the END of the session.
The first session will most likely start in the first levels. I often tend to do Dungeon Crawling, but don't expect to be the center point of this campaign. (I've only 2 dungeon for the first part of the story). I don't expect you do rush through the story. The goal is to enjoy a great time together. Thus i'm hopping for good interraction between you and other player. (They can be less good between characters).
Magic tend to be low in the playing area, so most commoners didn't saw any in their whole life. Expect to be loved or feared for your usage of it. The setting is already establish, but i'm open to change some details for include your characters idea in the story when it doesn't change the whole world.
Now a short introduction to the campaign if you're interessed

You play as a group of adventurers in a peaceful region. You yourself are not great heroes or tyrants. Although it is not ambition that you lack.

Over the past few centuries, the inquisitions have overcome many atrocities in neighboring territories, so when in the middle of the night you were alerted by cries for help interspersed with monstrous screams, you immediately understood that something was wrong. was not spinning.
It was still necessary to find the reason for this attack and the consequences that it would raise in the region.
TLDR : If you want to have a good time in a Medieval Fantasy universe, do not hesitate to contact me below or in private! 🙂
The campaign will take place on foundry and all players will be vocal on discord
Finally, If you wish to ask me questions. It will be a pleasure to answer you.

Desperate Car Wife: A Journey in the Making (part.8)
While my posts might sound like I'm not a happy car wife, that is far from the truth... I really do enjoy all things cars, but I have my limits! In marriage you take the good with the bad. Sometimes I'm excited for my hubby and his new shiney parts, he adds to his Gracie, but there are other times when I'm like, "how much did 5 feet of 0 gauge wire cost again!!???", "you just bought a big battery.. why do you need another one???" His reasons, while laughable from my perspective, are necessary to the means of his OCD in car audio.
So who is Gracie??? Gracie is/was technically MY Grey '09 Tahoe. To take this back for a minute... over the past 26 years, my hubby has managed to take over every vehicle we've owned. Even to the likes of every single one had/has bass, a new deck, new mids/tweeters, Z type tires, sick a@@ rims, cherry bombs or flowmasters, LED lights, the whole works!!!.... I'm not trying to paint him in a bad light or anything of that nature. He just has to drive and tinker on anything and everything we own. It used to annoy me (especially in our 20s and most of our 30s), to the point, about 6 years ago I sold my car and refused to buy another for about a year and a half! I knew if I did, it wouldn't be "mine" for long..
At the time, I was a driver for a company that let me take the work van home; they allowed quick trips to the store (free advertising for them), so I didn't really need my own car... We had his 97 C/K 1500 Chevy to get around town in, so I was in no rush to buy. But then, right around the 2yr mark, I decided I was going to buy a car and kept telling my hub that he was NOT going to drive it or do anything to it!!! LOL Boy was I sooooo wrong.... I had originally decided to get a Dodge Charger, but then played it out in my head and was like "nope, nope, nope" this will only make him want my car, and I'd get stuck with the truck. I love and hate that truck as many of you know....
So I eventually settled for a beautiful grey 2009 Tahoe LS. I named her Gracie. I still had my work van, so for the first month after buying Gracie, I didn't drive her much. Well that, to my hubby meant, he would drive it!!! Lo and behold, my hubby took over Gracie and somehow she became HIS Tahoe..... in a matter of 2 months after buying her!!!!! and I was stuck with that godforsaken truck afterall!!!
He sure does love Gracie tho! He rather nobody, other than him, drive her too!! I'm the better, safer, cautious driver, yet he worries I'll hit a dagone pothole! Blahahahahahaha
He has slowly customized the body, restored the paint, lowered, sitting on some nice looking 22s, upgraded to disc brakes with bright green calipers, HID headlights, wrapped the front bow blue and the back bow gun metal black... She's puuuurrrrdy, I'll admit! He fully replaced the entire stereo system, a gazillion times over! Pulled the bench seat out to make room for his two 15" Sundowns mounted in a crazy big ported box... Added amps and crossovers galore, a bigger alternator, pro series batteries, lots of 0 gauge wires.... It's every car guys dream all in one :) He has so much love for Gracie, just like he did for that '72 Camaro years ago...
Fast forward 2 years.... I'm still complaining about losing Gracie to him. I really was mad! I tried to avoid the inevitable and it still happened! So I did what any other Desperate Car Wife would do... I had him go buy me a Tahoe! The only catch is I GET TO PICK IT OUT *OCD overload for him hahahaha* and it will be a boy name! HAHAHA jokes on him this time!!
To my amusement, he was totally down for it!!! I picked out a Black '11 LTZ with all the bells and whistles! His name is TEX.... He does drive Tex from time to time, and wishes his Gracie was an LTZ too now, but I think I finally met his match.... I can actually say this is MY TRUCK! FINALLY!!!!
To this day, he takes lots of pictures and shares them in his FB car groups... He's now a moderator for one of the groups and Gracie is the Star of the show!! He gets lots of looks while out driving and some have even pulled over to chat and check out Gracie...
Part. 9 coming soon

Artificial Dumbness
by Zeph Baxter
Nadia Khan looked outside the window in moderated anticipation. One more day and then ‘Summer vacations, here I come…’
She brushed her long hazel hair, tying it to a pony as she looked at her acne-ridden face in the mirror. She sighed and wondered. Nothing exciting for summer vacations either. Maybe she’ll just watch the paint dry. Or she could join the competitive knitting team—now that could be a wild ride. Or she could spend endless hours on the couch, binge-watching documentaries about the history of paperclips. Oh, the possibilities!
Nadia opened her bag and took out a picture, her sole reminder of how she looked in the arms of her father with her mother smiling and looking at her. She sighed. As she looked at them, it reminded her of how they looked so happy together before the crash which took them away from her, but that was a long time back, even before she could walk.
She had been living in girls’ hostels ever since people viewed her as a troublesome child. The doctors had told her uncle and auntie that she had a serious problem, but she just considered herself to be an introvert.
There was only so much she could do in the quiet but very annoying girls’ hostel and that too, if ‘the team’ did not disturb her. The team, as they called themselves, was a group of three girls who, ever since Nadia had arrived, had taken it upon themselves to make her life miserable.
Nadia sometimes wondered what she had done to annoy them. She even tried asking them once. The girls simply laughed and said, “Your problem is… that you are yourself.”
Splat! One of them had dropped a glass of syrupy, rainbow-hued liquid onto her crisp new school uniform. She stood in shock as the girls laughed and departed, the sound of their laughter echoing around her.
So, apparently, it was her mere existence that annoyed them. Because of her pacifistic nature, Nadia still could not bring herself to feel the indignation necessary to report the issue to the hostel warden and hence the bullying and the annoying occurrences continued periodically or even, at times, increasing in frequency higher than ever.
At least these people won’t be around. She shouted with realization, “That’s it! I’ll be alone with no one here to disturb me. Finally.” An uncontrollable wave of joy rushed through her body, sending a thrill up her spine. She stood on her bed and jumped, feeling the aged springs give way beneath her feet.
“And what do you think you are doing exactly, young lady?” said a rough voice from her side.
Nadia stopped instantly. She actually wished she could have stopped a moment earlier. The Hostel’s warden was probably not the scariest person on earth but she could easily have made it to the top ten, or even the top five, if she offed the top five somehow, an ability which Nadia was almost a 100% sure the warden was perfectly capable of.
As much as she tried to stop it, a chuckle escaped Nadia’s lips.
“Do you think this is funny? I have been very lenient with you till now. Follow me to my office.”
The warden’s office was an icon of cleanliness and organization. In front of her was a table in the center of the room, with a spotless white cloth covering it evenly. The warden was rocking back and forth in her chair, the yellow cane creaking with each movement. Nadia felt eyes on herself as she stepped into the office, the stale smell of coffee lingering in the air.
“Yes, you wanted to see me?.”
The warden said nothing. She adjusted her black glasses, had slipped down to the bridge of her nose, back up and motioned to the side.
Nadia’s stomach lurched as she followed her finger with her eyes, and she could almost feel an icy chill in the air.
In front of Nadia stood two members of the team, with the third sitting in a chair with her leg extended and placed on another chair. Nadia noticed the leg was uncovered and had a bandage with a red patch near the knee. She wondered what was going on as she stood there and waited for the drama to unfold.
“I believe you have met my niece earlier,” said the warden. “The one who is in the chair.”
Niece? Seriously? So, that’s why they get such a free hand here. Nadia wondered.
“I might have run into her a couple of times. But I didn’t know she was related to you.”
“And you have been very mean,” said the girl on the left.
Nadia stayed quiet.
“So, apparently you set a rope up for my niece in her room. And she fell.”
“Yes, I saw her going out of the room myself,” said the one on the left.
Nadia took a long breath in. So, that was what’s going on. Now what?
“I did nothing of the sort,” she replied.
“That’s what they all say. She is lying. She has been mean to me since the day I came,” said the girl sitting in the chair.
Nadia felt the warden’s intense stare, filled with anger and disappointment.
“So, for the vacations, and purely to teach you to be nice to others, you are going to take care of her,” said the warden. “Let me remind you, it’s not because she’s my niece. It’s your behavior that needs correction.”
Nadia kept quiet. As much as she wanted to defend herself, the uselessness of even thinking about arguing stopped her.
“Nadia. Is she here?” said a voice at the door.
A man with graying hair and a frizzy white beard stood there. It was the hostel owner. Nadia felt relieved. She desperately hoped that his arrival meant she could escape any more of the warden’s psychological blackmail.
The warden got up.
“Sir, yes, she’s here.”
“Well, Nadia, this came for you,” said the man.
In his hand, he held a crisp white hard envelope.
Nadia wondered. Who it could be from?
“But I am curious. Nadia, how do you know the President of the United States?” said the man.
Also available on Royal Road and Scribble Hub
Start Previous Next

Anyone else start crying occasionally when they are headless? It’s subtle like a Mac truck. I was driving today and it just hit me, there were a pair of arms holding a steering wheel. And something about the loss of the center triggered crying.
Hope you are all well

Skipped last week because it was a holiday weekend, we're back to the regularly scheduled forecasts. Many more venues/events sources are now being tracked, and new experimental adjustments have been made for supporting recurring events. Thanks for the continuous appreciation, and for all the suggestions of event websites/sources!

Monday, June 5

• Shows
  • fish narc, YAWNS (DJ set), Bug Bath, Lich & Privacy - the_holland_project (8:00 PM $15.00)
• Competitions
  • Pignic Pub & Patio - Trivia Night - pignic (7:00 PM)
• Community
  • Open Mic Poetry - shims

Tuesday, June 6

• Shows
  • Ward Davis with Eric Lindell at Cypress Reno - cypress (8:00PM $20 +)
  • For the Love of Hip Hop (FLOHH) @ The Bluebird Reno - the_bluebird (8:00 PM Starts at $10.00)
• Competitions
  • Reno Wheelmen Twilight Road Race Series - city_of_reno (5:30 p.m.)
  • Monthly Club Meeting - northern_nevada_kart_club (6:00 PM)
• Community
  • Ward 3 Neighborhood Advisory Board Meeting - city_of_reno (5:30 p.m.)
  • Open Mic Night - coffee_n_comics_on_moana
  • Jazz Night - shims
  • Open Mic - the_blind_onion_in_sparks

Wednesday, June 7

• Shows
  • RENOITES Live Onstage Interview: PETE MENCHETTI - black_rabbit_mead_company (7:30 PM)
  • The Pig Quiz Show!!! - pignic (7:30 PM)
  • Game Night at the Bluebird - the_bluebird (8:30 PM $10.00)
  • Cosmic Hearts Sound Bath - the_virgil (6:00 pm Free – $44.00)
  • Open Mic - the_library_bar
• Art
  • Modular Synthesis Workshop - the_holland_project (6:00 PM $15.00)
  • Do-It-Yourself Sun Catcher - the_nevada_discovery_museum (4:00 pm)
• Food and Drinks
  • Feed the Camel 2023 - city_of_reno (5:00 p.m.)
• Community
  • Reno City Council Meeting - city_of_reno (10:00 a.m.)
  • Small Wonder Wednesday - the_nevada_discovery_museum (10:00 am)
  • $5 Admission After 4:00pm - the_nevada_discovery_museum (4:00 pm 5)

Thursday, June 8

• Shows
  • Stand-up Comedy Open Mic Night in Midtown - Drinks, Desserts, and Laughs - dead_panda_comedy (02:00 AM)
  • Reno Tahoe Comedy presents Comedian Sarah Colonna at “The Theatre” in Reno, NV on Thurs June 8th! - reno_tahoe_comedy (7:30 pm $23.00 – $40.00)
  • The Nevada Gay Men's Chorus Presents: Movies, Magic, & Broadway’s Best - reno_little_theater (7:30 PM)
  • Joey Medina - the_laugh_factory (8:00 PM)
  • Glare, Grave Saddles, Head Stone - the_holland_project (8:00 PM $13.00 – $15.00)
  • Open Mic Night - coffee_n_comics_on_baring
  • Comedy Night - paddy_and_irenes_irish_pub
  • Jazz Night - the_loving_cup
• Art
  • Guided Tour - nevada_museum_of_art (5:00 PM $15 General, FREE Members)
  • Art Afternoon: Workshop and Social for Seniors - nevada_museum_of_art (1:00 PM $15 General, FREE Members)
  • Sarah Coyl: Selections from Pas de Deux - nevada_museum_of_art (7:00 PM {"general":15,"members":10})
  • Clare Frank with Michael Branch, Burnt: A Memoir of Fighting Fire - sundance_books (6:00pm)
• Community
  • Civil Service Commission Meeting - city_of_reno (15:30:00)
  • Planning Commission Meeting - city_of_reno (18:00:00)
  • Level 3: Scene Work II - reno_improv (6:00 pm $225.00 – $275.00)
  • Wyld Creative - the_virgil (10:00 am)
  • The Human Side of Management: Practical HR Strategies for Successful Leadership - the_virgil (1:00 pm)
• Misc
  • Karaoke - Z Bar - (time unknown)

Friday, June 9

• Shows
  • Reno Tahoe Comedy presents Comedian Sarah Colonna at “The Theatre” in Reno, NV on Fri June 9th! - reno_tahoe_comedy (8:00 pm $27.00 – $44.00)
  • The 10-10 Minute Play Festival - good_luck_macbeth_theatre_company (7:30 PM)
  • JeNes N the Juice - peavine_taphouse (8:30 PM)
  • Midnight, Necrofier, Early Moods at Cypress Reno - cypress (8:00PM Open)
  • Johnny Harpo & Friends, Live! - pignic (8:00 PM)
  • Kathy Lantz & Sugar High Friday, June 9 - rail_city_casino (8:00 PM)
  • The Show Must Go On: A Head Rush Murder Mystery – Improv Show - reno_improv (8:00 pm $10.00)
  • Latino Arte Presents LGBTQIA+LatinX Bilingual Play 2023 - reno_little_theater (7:00 PM)
  • Wife, Tummy+, I’ve Never Been Here Before - the_holland_project (8:00 PM $10.00)
  • Joey Medina - the_laugh_factory (8:00 PM)
  • The Doobie Brothers - the_nugget
  • Wingfield Park Summer Concert Series - wingfield_park (6:30 PM Free)
• Art
  • Art Afternoon: Workshop and Social for Seniors - nevada_museum_of_art (1:00 PM $15 General FREE Members)
  • A Legacy of Service - nevada_museum_of_art (12:00 PM $15 General FREE Members FREE Student)
  • A Closer Look Guided Tour - nevada_museum_of_art (2:00 PM $15 General FREE Members)
• Community
  • Programs on the Porch (Bats) - washoe_county_parks (7:00pm)
• Food and drinks
  • Reno Street Food - Food Truck Friday - city_of_reno (4:00 p.m.)
• Festivals
  • Reno River Festival 2023 - wingfield_park (11:00 AM)
  • Reno River Festival and Slow Roll 2023 - city_of_reno (9:00 a.m.)
  • Roller Skating - city_of_reno (6:00 p.m.)
• Misc
  • Late Night Swim - the_grand_sierra_resort (10:00 PM)
  • Vive Fridays - the_grand_sierra_resort (7:00 PM)
  • Game On After Party: Decoy - the_nugget
  • The Human Side of Management: Practical HR Strategies for Successful Leadership - the_virgil (8:00 am)
  • Karaoke - paddy_and_irenes_irish_pub

Saturday, June 10

• Festivals
  • Reno River Festival and Slow Roll 2023 - city_of_reno (9:00 a.m.)
    • Reno River Festival - wingfield_park (4:30 PM)
    • Spur Crazy At The 2023 Reno River Fest!! - wingfield_park (11:15 AM)
  • Mutant Vehicle Show N Shine - glow_plaza (12:00 PM)
• Shows
  • Ohgeesy - cargo_concert_hall (8:00 PM)
  • DJ Romeo and Ohgeesy - the_grand_sierra_resort (10:00 PM)
  • Lantz Lazwell & The Vibe Tribe / Phat Mark at Cypress Reno - cypress (9:00PM $10 +)
  • Stand-up Comedy ft Aurora Singh! - Comedy Slice - Laughs & Pizza - dead_panda_comedy (7:00 PM Starts at $10.00)
  • Reno Tahoe Comedy presents Comedian Sarah Colonna at “Pipers Opera House” in Virginia City, NV on Sat June 10th! - reno_tahoe_comedy (8:00 pm $27.00 – $50.00)
  • Kevin Knapp at Dead Ringer - dead_ringer_analog_bar (10:00 PM)
  • The 10-10 Minute Play Festival - good_luck_macbeth_theatre_company (7:30 PM)
  • Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular - harrahs_lake_tahoe (8:00 PM)
  • Afterparty Summertime Kickoff w/BigBadLambo, & Friends! - pignic (8:00 PM)
  • Brad "Guitar" Wilson LIVE Guitar Showcase - peavine_taphouse (8:30 pm)
  • Chris Costa - rail_city_casino (8:00 PM)
  • The Show Must Go On: A Head Rush Murder Mystery – Improv Show - reno_improv (8:00 pm $10.00)
  • Latino Arte Presents LGBTQIA+LatinX Bilingual Play 2023 - reno_little_theater (7:00 PM)
  • Huckleberry Road Live at Faye's - reno_public_market (7:00 PM)
  • Grupo Frontera - the_grand_sierra_resort (7:00 PM)
  • Chili Sauce - the_grand_sierra_resort (10:00 PM)
  • S.M.O.G. Party: Cities Aviv + Rhamier Balagoon - the_holland_project (7:00 PM $17.99 – $23.00)
  • Joey Medina - the_laugh_factory (7:30 PM)
  • Magique - the_theatre_keystone_ave (8:00 PM)
• Art
  • Guided Tour - nevada_museum_of_art (11:00 AM)
  • Hands ON! Second Saturday – Life in Color - nevada_museum_of_art (10:00 AM FREE)
  • Guided Tour - nevada_museum_of_art (2:00 PM)
  • Do-It-Yourself Sun Catcher - the_nevada_discovery_museum (10:30 am)
• Food and drinks
  • Reno Margarita Day Crawl 2023 - crawl_reno (12:00pm)
  • Margarita Day Crawl - virginia_street_brewhouse
• Community
  • The Conservatory of Movement Spring Recital - the_pioneer_center (TBD)
  • Social Science: Cowboys & Aliens - the_nevada_discovery_museum (7:00 PM)
  • The Playground – Improv Workshop - reno_improv (6:30 pm $6.00)
• Misc
  • Rodeo KickOff Party at Pure Country Canteen! - pure_country_canteen_night_club (7:00 PM)
  • Pro Hockey Finals Viewing Party

Sunday, June 11

• Food and Drinks
  • Sunday Music Brunch - nevada_museum_of_art (10:30 am)
• Festivals
  • Reno River Festival and Slow Roll 2023 - city_of_reno (9:00 a.m.)
    • Reno Riverfest roll - wingfield_park (10:00 AM)
  • Riverside Farmers Market Summer Series - city_of_reno (8:00 a.m.)
• Art
  • B&W Film Developing + Scanning Workshop - the_holland_project (10:00 AM $20.00)
  • Guided Tour - nevada_museum_of_art (11:00 AM $15 General FREE Members)
  • Open Build: Cardboard - the_nevada_discovery_museum (12:30 pm)
• Community
  • Ranger Walks - Pah Rah Interpretive Trail @ Golden Eagle Regional Park - washoe_county_parks (10:00am)
• Shows
  • Joey Medina - the_laugh_factory (7:30 PM)
  • Elvis Costelllo & The Imposters - the_silver_legacy (7:00 PM)
  • Josh Rosenblum - the_peppermill (6:00 PM)
• Misc
  • GRR Fundrager - the_holland_project (5:00 PM $10.00)

More events

• https://pioneercenter.com/Online/default.asp
• https://therenoscene.com
• https://www.kunr.org/community-calendar
• https://renonr.com/calenda#!/
• DJ Trivia Map - At various bars every day of the week

Other Resources

• visitrenotahoe.com
• thisisreno.com

Unpacking the Light Police. Light Pollution News.
Show Link: https://lightpollutionnews.com/podcast/unpacking-the-light-police/
Subscribe: Apple Podcast Spotify Google Podcast
Social: Instagram LinkedIn
Guests:
John Barentine of Dark Sky Consulting, LLC.
Kaitlyn Evans, Conservationist.
Show:
I was busted by the light police. They had a point, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post.
Dana Milbank purchased a home in, soon to be not, rural Virginia. At night he kept the formerly vacant property lit to the degree that spurned one commentator to call it “spaceship lighting.”
Milbank recaps being visited by the “light police,” a group of concerned citizens who help educate neighbors and instill a sense of pride in the brilliance of their starry night skies.
At first, he was taken aback, but later, not only did he appreciate their efforts, but he also converted his blinding always on, white light flood lights to warm 2700 Kelvin motion sensing lights.
Per Ruskin Hartley, executive director of the International Dark Sky Association, “for 4.5 billion years there was no artificial light at night. It’s really only in the last five human generations that we transformed that. It’s one of the most profound transformations of our environment.”
Many of you may recall an earlier story, way back in our Hormone of Darkness episode, showcasing concerns by local residents prior to a 760 house (now 761) plus town center development moving into the Culpepper County, VA area. Per the Rappahannock News, this development features “a resort style swimming pool, clubhouse, tot lot, and multiple sports fields and sports courts, all connected by a network of biking and walking trails.”
The forgotten medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’ by Zaria Gorvett of the BBC.
Gorvett opened my eyes to something I never knew about, the medieval custom of two sleeps. For those of you unaware, two sleeps are exactly what it sounds like.
Folks would partake in a communal nap, complete with rigid sleeping arrangement conventions, between 9 – 11pm, then awaken for a few hours to do everything from hang out to brew beer! In fact, the idea of multiple sleeps crossed cultures and was found in places as far from Europe as indigenous South America.
How can one’s circadian rhythm make sense of all of this?!
Well, for starters, until the invention of the alarm clock, which humorously was invented by a clocks salesman so he could wake up and sell more clocks, people had no firm way to wake up at a consistent time. The industrial revolution enforced a new circadian standard.
And there’s some science behind this! In the 1992 study, In Short Photoperiods, human sleep is biphasic, researcher Thomas Wehr found that after four weeks of 10 hour days, his subjects began to engage in this two sleep cycle, involving a one to three hour period for which they became awake and engaged in between.
Want to Learn About Light Pollution? There’s a mini-course for that!, Jennifer Sensiba of Clean Technica.
Quoting Sensiba, “As I got older, I traveled a lot more and saw the problem more for what it is. Not only did I see that in many places there is no refuge from it, but I also saw that it was slowly growing worse. Places that had been dark 30 years ago had more and more light creeping upon the horizon.”
If you’re interested in learning more, or more importantly, know someone who might benefit from learning more, Sensiba links up to an International Dark Sky Mini-Course on light pollution, call it Light Pollution 101!
There’s a Play Date at the National Museum of Natural History: Lights Out exhibit!
But unfortunately, by the time you listen to this, and hell, by the time we talk about this, it has passed.
Ann Arbor named best place for sunrises, sunsets in Michigan. Sarah Parlette for Click on Detroit.
Evidently gambling websites have decided to honor April’s International Dark Sky week in a strange new content marketing campaign, which was to rank the best places in each state to see sunrises and sunsets. My favorite one, “Ann Arbor named best place for sunrises, sunsets in Michigan,” comes from Click on Detroit, whereby a quote “study” examined Michigan’s most populated cities.”
According to Click on Detroit, “to celebrate International Astrology Day on Saturday, staff at Great Lake Stakes, a Michigan online gambling news site, looked at light pollution in the five most populated cities around the Mitten state to determine which offers the best views every morning and evening.”
Star bathing is the new outdoor travel trend we should all be trying for Summer 2023, according to Amy Beecham at Stylist.
Evidently, as an attempt to destress and promote mindfulness, romanticism about sleeping under the stars has birthed a 70% increase in searches for the term ‘star bathing’ on Hipcamp. And to be sure, “Hipcamp recommends checking a stargazing calendar which outlines major astrological events – like supermoons, pink moons, and star showers.”
“Industry Must Face an Inconvenient Truth — Most LED Lights at Night are Unhealthy”
Dr. Martin Moore-Ede, a circadian clock expert, recently published an article in LEDs Magazine chastising the lighting industry for not recognizing and reigning in the negative externalities of its products. Per the piece, such effects are, obesity, diabetes, depression, cancer, and more.
He cites three categories of industry responses, making the correlation that long term Denial or outright Ignorance of the Facts, may result in “asbestos-scale liabilities or draconian regulations.”
Per the piece, a recent survey by the Circadian Light Research Center of 2,697 peer reviewed scientific articles confirmed that human circadian clocks are highly sensitive to blue wavelengths, and that exposure to such wavelengths leads to major health disorders.
Moore-Ede calls for the industry to harvest the “commercial opportunity” to greatly limit future liability by creating and managing its own standards for circadian modulated lighting.
Unpacking the Wallpack, by Dan Weissman in LD+A Magazine.
Weissman, who recently purchased a telescope for his family in Cambridge, MA, discovered that the scope could only afford him views of some solar system objects and a few brightly burning stars.
The ire of Weissman’s pen takes the shape of a rectangular fixtures, be it box like or simply a panel these days, that typically hang off the side of an exterior wall or above an exterior door. “Devoid of aesthetic value” this light is often put up under the “pretense of security and safety” by “recommended practices and adopted municipal codes.”
Weissman recognizes labels that often accompany, what he calls, “Glare bombs,” including “contractor-select,” “energy efficient,” or “light pollution friendly.”
Further, per an earlier LD+A article, such lighting driven by its extreme contrasts is exceedingly common in minority communities where light is weaponized as a tool of power. It becomes a “device of alienation, creating a zone of control and separation.”
Weissman recognizes that the true reason such fixtures are selected often comes down to cost. He recognizes that it may take equally as much cost to persuade building and homeowners away from such lighting into the realm of more responsible, lower lumen, shielded lighting.
Weissman calls for producers of these glare bombs to be labeled as polluters, putting them in line with fossil fuel manufacturers and PFAS makers.
Songbirds, dusk and clear skies: Scientists explore migratory flights, by Erin Blakemore.
Bird migration season is ending here in the Mid-Atlantic. I was lucky enough to catch several Baltimore Orioles and Indigo Buntings last week. Researchers looked at 400 songbirds from 9 major species, “including the yellow-rump warbler, American redstart and Bicknell’s thrush.”
The question they hoped to answer was how are these birds so darn precise in identifying the best time to take off for their nightly migration? Scientists found that 90% of the migrating birds in the study took off within 69 minutes of dusk. A “much narrower takeoff window,” that even shocked the research team!
Per the study, taking off at night is all about maximum flight time. In addition to being able to precisely schedule their take offs, a feat that every airline I’ve flown with over the past few years has proven inept at, birds also are apparently good meteorologists! They often depart when the atmospheric pressure rises over a day’s span. Other factors also trigger migration, including sex, age, and celestial cues.
‘Lights Out’ initiative appears to be saving birds from crashing into Philly buildings by Sophia Schmidt.
Preliminary results indicate that bird death counts are down 70% at one Market Street tower, since it began its participation in Lights Out. As we spoke about on a previous show, birds utilize the stars to navigate, but city lights can disorient the birds. Combine the lights with reflective or transparent glass, and that spells fatal trouble for our migrating warblers!
Per Keith Russell, a program manager for urban conservation with Audubon Mid-Atlantic, “We’ve lost almost a third of our birds – and [collisions] contributing to that. If we’re going to want to preserve the bird populations here in North America, we have to look at these types of problems. And this is a preventable one.”
The Knoxville, TN Zoo is offering up what they call “Twilight Tours” per WVLT 8. Each event will feature a guide to showcase nocturnal critters.
I did something similar in Singapore years ago. The zoo had very dim lights in the exhibits – and they kept those lights dim as you walked so that you didn’t lose your night vision. It was a very different and, might I say, peaceful experience than the typically chaotic daytime zoo.
Flashlights posing major threat to nesting sea turtles. Fox35 Orlando
Apparently, a single flashlight can deter female sea turtles from coming onto a beach and nesting. Florida, as I did not know, is home to 90% of the sea turtle nests across the world, so losing sea turtles can affect the global ecosystem.
One visitor to Cocoa Beach stated, “Just leave them alone. Stand back and look. You don’t need a flashlight.”
Another, “It’s not super surprising because more buildings go up, more technology. As it increases, nature and stuff like that decreases,” said Zoe Jovaag, whose grandfather used to take her on walks to see sea turtles.
Capture the Dark 2023 officially is under way!
The International Dark Sky Association opens up its annual photo contest complete with prizes across eight categories and an additional People’s Choice category. Voting begins on July 3rd, entries must be received by June 30th.
City Tests Traffic Light That Only Turns Green for Drivers Who Obey the Speed Limit. Erin Marquis for Jalopnik.
And hey, you better not speed in Brossard, Quebec….otherwise you may be waiting around for a while. Brossard is testing out a new traffic light that will stay red until it senses oncoming traffic. However, it will only change to green if the car is going the speed limit. Per the Jalopnik article, “FRED [the French acronym for “educational traffic calming light] forces fast drivers to stop and gives them a chance to reconsider their life choices.” Such lights are already used in Europe, but this will be the first for the Great White North.
Why the Greatest Threat to Star-Gazing Isn’t Light Pollution, and this comes to us from Dorin Elin Urrutia at Inverse.
Elin Urrutia writes, in her compelling piece, that the greatest threat to star-gazing is actually the weather. Citing notable examples of the Mount Stromlo Observatory in Australia (which burnt down due to bushfires) and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico (which sustained structural damage following the winds of Hurricane Maria).
While the threat of human-caused climate change has presented new challenges, Elin Urrutia references proactive burns that saved Los Angeles’ Mount Wilson Observatory from flames in 2020.
On a similar note, ABC News (the Australian Broadcasting Company, not to be confused with the American Broadcasting Company), brings us “A World Without Darkness Could Be a Reality within a Few Years.”
Per Carol Redford of Astrotourism Western Australia, “There are some people in the world now who don’t actually experience darkness anymore. They’re in a city like Beijing, Toyoko, or London. In all those big cities, it’s never dark, it’s always light. During the day of course with the sun, but then during the night with all of the artificial light. They’re not experiencing darkness, and definitely not seeing those beautiful stars…”
In the 66 years since the implementation of the UN Convention on the Peaceful Use of Outerspace, around 11,000 satellites orbit the Earth. But it’s about to get wayyy busier. Driven by innovations that have led to dramatic reductions in costs, over the next ten years, Per attorney Steven Freeland, it’s anticipated that somewhere between 100,000 to 500,000 objects will be sent up. Let me pause on that for a second.
On the travel front, we stay in the land down under, “Aussie region determined to keep its darkness is a stargazer’s dream” by Chantelle Francis of News.com.AU.
The town of Swam Reach, population 270, resides in a 3200sq km region of Southern Australia that received its International Dark Sky Reserve status over three years ago. On a scale of darkness between 0 – 22, the River Murray Dark Sky Reserve at Swam Reach, measures in at a whopping 21.9!
Tourism has become a growing business. The reserve hosts numerous telescope pads and offers tours of the night sky. There’s hope that an observatory and/or planetarium may also arrive in due course.
Best smart lights for outdoors in 2023, Brittney Vincent of CBS Essentials.
Oh there’s a lot not to love here, but it does fall in line with last month’s ‘Lumens are Coming’ article.
For those of you who feel the need to light your trees, because for some reason they need light at night I guess…I’ll try and pretend it’s not solely for ostentatious and narcissistic reasons. By the way, does anyone remember when those were negative characteristics?
The article features spotlights that can be programmed to over 16 MILLION colors including…lucky for us, ALL shades of white….which you can also do for a 500 lumen flood light set.
And hey, Ring now has solar path lighting. Don’t worry though, the fixtures themselves put out up to 80 lumens of sideways light.
You know, it’s astounding when you look at some of these pictures. The amount of redundant lighting. It honestly makes no sense to me. You have a porch light, which lights up the path. Path lighting, which lights up the path. And, in the one picture, god awful frontward facing flood lights, which also light up the path. How bright do you need these paths!? I digress. But the lumens are indeed coming.
LDS Church will get to light up its Heber Valley Temple after all, but the faith didn’t get everything it wanted, Blake Apgar of the Salt Lake Tribune.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fought hard to rid itself of any nighttime lighting responsibility by pressuring Wasatch County, Utah officials to approve new lighting rules that would enable the church to light a proposed new temple the same way it does for every other temple.
The Church received permission to uplight the temple, enabling an exception to be made in Wasatch’s rather stringent nighttime lighting rulebook. However, the temple will be restricted by the level of lumens it can use, and it must have exterior lighting turned off an hour after sunset or an hour after normal business hours.
Smart Street Lights Market is Expected to Hit USD 14,751.1 million at a 23.4% CAGR by 2030, Market Research Future Press Release
The pandemic is officially over, smart street lighting is about to boom. Combine the rush to LED fixtures with the Internet of Things, and expect to see street lights moonlighting as traffic and parking monitors, air quality meters, and more. Not to mention, “it is anticipated that camera-connected smart street lighting will increase road safety by lowering the likelihood of accidents and criminality.”
Texas now has 7 dark sky communities for spectacular star gazing, Sana Ameer, MRT.
Let’s cheer on the city of Bee Cave, everyone! Bee Cave joins a growing list of dark sky places already in the Lone Star State, including 2 Dark Sky Sanctuaries, 5 Dark Sky Parks, and 1 Dark Sky Reserve. Nighttime is alive and well in some parts of Texas!
Our Afraid of the Dark article is a bit scary! Hilton Head’s dark roads and pedestrians are deadly combo. What the town is doing about it, Blake Douglas at The Island Packet.
Per the article, 9 pedestrian and cyclist fatalities occurred since 2018, with five occurring after dark. Prior to that period, there were 28 recorded deaths from 2000 – 2016, with 20 of them taking place after dark.
In 2018, an 11 year old resident was struck and killed while walking her dog across an intersection one night. Lighting advocates began taking shape in what otherwise is a very conservation focused island. Hilton Head, SC has a limited number of street lights, priding itself on “avoiding light pollution and blending nature with construction.”
Lighting advocates appear to be, at the very least, asking for flashing crosswalk lights on the island to indicate when an individual is crossing.
It should be noted that the article shows a chart of 9 after-dark-deaths since 2014, only two of them occurred at crosswalks. In fact, during the same time frame, 6 additional deaths occurred at crosswalks during the daytime.
As a whole, the National Safety Council reports that 74.5% of pedestrian deaths occurred at night, whereby 39.1% took place in lit areas and 35.38% took place in unlit areas.
Bryan Bloch, an auto safety expert, surmises that car companies bear some of the blame – producing cheap or ineffectual headlight fixtures, and drivers themselves, who don’t realize that they need to regularly clean their headlight lenses.
Despite opposition from residents, it appears that Hilton Head will be receiving lights at two new intersections and possibly more depending on engineering studies currently in progress.
Is lighting the key variable here? Is more light going to solve pedestrian deaths?
Our featured research article of the month comes to us from Animal Conservation, “Manipulating spectra of artificial light affects movement patterns of bats along ecological corridors.”
Bats are already known to have a wide range of responses to artificial light at night (also known as ALAN). Fast flying species tend to be more opportunistic in the presence of ALAN while slower ones tend to be more light averse. We know that “long wavelengths and reduced intensity” can minimize their environmental effects on bats. It’s not unheard of for bats to travel upwards of “tens of km per night.” Furthermore, bats are very dependent on the landscape and the structures within those landscapes.
Despite the nuances between species, the consensus is that ALAN, especially high intensity ALAN, negatively affects bats. This study attempted to answer what exactly bats do when they encounter ALAN – how do they react depending on different types of ALAN.
The study used three different light fixtures – one green, one red, and one white. The control was devoid of light fixtures. The researchers attempted to ascertain the behavior of bats as they encountered lights adjacent to woody areas. The researchers looked at three different bat groupings based on their foraging-echo location behavior, that being one of open field foraging, forest edge foraging, and narrow space – or more aptly forest foragers.
Researchers found that open and edge foraging bats increased their activity close to white and green lights, and to a lesser extent red lights. However, narrow space bats were more likely to veer away from all colors of lighting. Edge foragers were also less likely to cross a white light.
The positive effects of white and green light on open and edge foraging bats appear to be attributed to the accumulation of insects around light sources containing more blue light.
The nighttime sky over Oahu will be lit up with green lasers in the coming days. Here’s why. Hawaii News Now
Before we close up today, do you live in Hawaii? I know I wish I did!
If so, do you recall seeing green lasers streak across the night sky? Well, the Army Corps of Engineers was using lidar at night to complete a coastal mapping survey.
Why did they survey at night? Specifically, why did they do this between midnight to 5am? Simply b/c the airspace is so busy, that time was the only chance they had to complete the survey. The remaining survey was completed during daytime hours.

So to move away to bad power source like oil to green ones, a lot of people want wind turbines, they have problems like leaking oil or not being recycleable and they (kill birds)[https://abcbirds.org/blog21/wind-turbine-mortality/] but hey, any power source has some problem. Like tidal power is really cool to me but it doesn't generate enough wattage for other people to think it's cool. But placement of the turbines just seems like an easy debate to me. Almost a non-debate.
The debate hear ends up being this, to power the a city we put them big ol windmills somewhere and apparently the only two choices are in the ocean or in the mountains.
I've seen nature conservators types post before and after photos of the tops being stripped off of mountains and replaced with the windmills. The destruction of forests makes anyone sad. Mainers love our forests. The before and after photos are pretty sad to look at. Of course that will make us Mainers sad. I've heard some complaints from workers that driving out there to these remote mountaintops to service them all is wicked inefficient but that's just anecdotal from what I've heard from workers. Of course then you have to run lines from the mountains all the way to the city to power the city. It makes those of us who dwell within nature instead of without upset because no one wants to see a mountain top stripped to power a city off somewhere else.
What is apparently the ONLY other choice is the ocean. And from what I've heard this one enrages nature lovers even more than the mountain top destruction does. The occasional oil leak into the ocean is obviously bad. The killing of sea-fairing birds is also bad. Service is also bad since now instead of driving a truck up a mountain you gotta drive boats out to sea. There's some debate right now that the noise they generate if messing with fish and whales, but that's just in the debate stages right now. Of course, you still gotta run lines through the ocean to get the power from the ocean to the city. And NOBODY wants to sea the sun dawn on a horizon line filled with these. It sucks.
I always see the debate for green wind power staged between the damaging the mountain environment or damaging the ocean environment in order to power the cities. It's ALWAYS framed like this. But why? Because isn't there another choice RIGHT HERE? Like literally and non-metaphorically here? Like HERE here? Like isn't there an obvious way to power the city right here in the city? I feel like as if I'm being fed crazy pills because isn't the answer literally right here??
Just put the windmills...HERE!
You ain't gotta go put them far away! We ain't gotta have a debate on which area natural beauty we are less pissed off about damaging! Just put the damn things literally right here! Then you don't even have to run lines through the ocean or off a mountain!! It's right in front of us! Right HERE! Why not?
I don't mean an economic reason like landlords crying about "muh land value muh rent wwwaaaa" I don't give a fuck about them bitches. I don't care. Build a line a big ol windmills in the city. Then run a bike trail down it for fun. Circumvent the whole issue of hurting nature completely. What's an actual and practical reason not to do it?
Photos of what I mean:
https://www.inquirer.com/resizenobM5prfJpEYAkZ9QJSEkmSprvg=/1200x0/centemiddle/www.philly.com/resizeCsAgwkV6LMI0krkNl-PLlgcnmf8=/1200x0/centemiddle/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-pmn.s3.amazonaws.com/public/PGDEN7V37ZHAXN7TSUJLMWOM6U.jpg
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserveimage/%2Fmethode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F78bec40c-eff0-11e8-bdfe-b40322e67049.jpg?crop=2667%2C1500%2C0%2C0&resize=685
https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/wind-turbines-roof-building-hamburg-41619314.jpg
https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_120416-pdn-wind-turbines-web.jpg

I hunted monsters for an international anomaly research center
Part 2
I decided instead of telling you about the next monster I’d planned I will tell you all what I did last week. I’d heard about this anomaly before, but that was because it was contained. Not by our organization but by one we work closely with. They’d been keeping it well in their Puerto Rico containment facility, but it managed to escape during a power outage. They’d insisted on trying to capture it themselves for a couple of days before they finally let me come in. Normally I’d be mad that they couldn’t catch it, but the Scape Ore Swamp Lizard Man is no walk in the park.
Standing 10 feet long, 8 feet tall, and pure muscle this thing is practically a walking tank. It has an almost inch-thick hide of small black snake-like scales. It stands on two legs but can switch to four when needed. It has a large head with a long muzzle full of sharp venomous teeth. Its face is always contorted into a scowl adding to its frightful appearance. Its back is covered in large spiked scutes which start at the head to the tip of the tail. On its two large four-fingered hands are two-inch-long nasty claws.
They deployed me the same way as always, and I landed with a light thud on the jungle floor after I was unlatched from the parachute and harness. I looked out at the darkening jungle around me. My search would be far from easy. I knew that, as I needed more information about where it was. However, after getting my sniper railgun ready I began my pursuit.
My pursuit was aimless and tiring. I had no direction, and the heat was slowly burning me alive. The jungle was full of loud squawking birds. At one point I looked up and saw in the evening light a small group of bats flying overhead.
I walked slowly and steadily scanning the quickly darkening ground for something, but as I suspected there was nothing in sight. No sigh from the lizardman. I walked on and on until finally, I found something. They were large three-toed tracks that almost looked like ones a T-rex would’ve made. My heart leaped in joy and excitement and I began following the footprints. They were easy to follow as the heavy feet had sunk deep into the wet muddy ground of the jungle. They followed no path and almost walked the way I had been walking aimlessly. Until like me, it seemed to have found something to follow.
Its path led in an almost perfect straight line, having trampled almost anything that wasn’t a tree out of its way. I noticed as I followed its tracks large claw marks in the trees. There were three and they were long and deep.
I followed for a good long while still tired but my determination had increased 10 fold now that there was a path to follow. As I walked along I began to hear something off in the distance. It was so faint it was hard to discern. At first, I thought it might be some sort of birdcall, but then it clicked in my head. It screamed. I started running as fast as I could through the jungle tripping at one point but pulling myself back up.
Eventually, I found myself running into a field. What I saw in that field I’ll never forget. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve never been bothered by dead humans before. In my youth when I’d go to funerals seeing the body never disturbed me. I’d be sure but the body itself never made me uncomfortable. And after I got this job I got completely desensitized, but something about dead animals. I could never handle seeing a dead animal. I don’t know exactly why. I guess it’s because it brought me back to my childhood.
My dad was born in Mexico in 1979, but he and his family moved to Puerto Rico 3 years later. My dad lived in Puerto Rico during the horrifying but short reign of the Chupacabra. When I was little he would tell me stories about it. Fields of livestock just on the ground dead wholly drained of blood. Those stories actually started me down the route of where I am today, but I don’t think I ever really comprehended what that looked like until I saw the massacre in the field I was now in.
It almost seemed as though a sheet of blood and muscle and meat had fallen over the field. It was absolutely everywhere and dispersed throughout this massacre I could see small bits of bones. Vertebrae there, or a rib over there. It almost looked like they’d all exploded from the inside at the same time, but I know that is not what happened. I saw the footprints in the ground, I saw the claw marks in the bones. I knew the only thing that could’ve done this was the horrible beast I was hunting.
I walked around through the massacre for a while in a sort of shock. Then I finally snapped out of it and looked around again. I saw a house separated only by a now broken wood fence to the field. I instantly knew where the screams had come from and what had likely happened. I ran toward the house and a story began to unfold as I got closer. The father or man of the house must’ve come outside to defend his family because I found his body ripped apart just outside the front door.
I stepped over the body and walked into the tiny house. It was absolutely destroyed. The walls were torn apart, furniture was left shattered on the ground, and there was lots of blood. I looked over and saw a partial body on the living room floor. I grimaced when I realized the poor thing had once been a big dog. Now it was nothing but torn meat and bones. One step at a time I made my way to the back of the house down a cramped hallway. In the bedrooms were the destroyed bodies of a woman and three children. The only peace I had was that these people died quickly. I noticed at the end of the hall was a shattered glass backdoor. I stepped through it, almost slipping on the shards of glass still on the floor, and walked into the backyard. It was a tiny cleared area surrounded by trees. The ground was littered with small dog toys and in the corner was a chicken coop. The roof of it had been ripped off and shattered. I peeked in through the hole and saw lots of blood-covered eggs. It looked like, unlike the other animals, the lizardman had actually stopped eating all the chickens. Maybe all of that butchering worked up an appetite. I thought.
After calling in for the investigation crew I continued on my trail. The sun had completely set and navigated the dense jungle even with my bright headlight showing the way. Not long into it rain began pouring which completely covered the tracks. In frustration, I turned around and made my way back to the farm.
Suddenly I heard something from the treetops. It sounded almost like a faint growl and before I could do anything else the large figure of the Lizardman jumped from the trees right in front of me. It immediately slashed at my chest and left arm tearing them open causing blood to start pouring through. I let out a scream of agony and fell to the ground.
With my good right arm, I reached for a gadget on my belt and pressed it. It instantly began spraying a strong wonderful smell of flowers into the air. If there’s one thing the lizardman cannot tolerate it is sweet solid smells. It roared in anger and then sprinted in the other direction. I lay there blood seeping from my wounds wondering if I was about to die. I’m not old, only 26, but for my line of work, I’m ancient; about half the guys die on their first or second mission. If you survive the first two you will probably last much longer, but even then people die within two years meanwhile I’ve been here for 5 years.
I lay there with my eyes slowly growing heavier and heavier and then they closed and I was consumed by the darkness.
I woke up in a bright white room. The light was so blinding I kept blinking but still could hardly see anything. I noticed a woman standing in the room who was like the room wearing all white.
“Am I dead?” I sputtered out in my half-dazed confusion.
The woman let out a slight chuckle: “No you’re not dead. You’re in the medical wing of our Puerto Rican location.” She explained.
As she was talking everything seemed to clear around me. It was a small hospital room and the woman was short in a doctor's coat with dark hair tied in a bun.
“Who’s we?” I asked.
“USDAC,” She said, busy with something at her table.
I knew USDAC they were the United States Department of Anomaly Containment. They were the ones the Lizardman had escaped from.
“Where’s my organization? Why didn’t they send the team out to get me?” I asked angrily.
“I’m not quite sure. They never even told us you went down. Our investigation team was looking around the jungle when they found you.” She said with a genuinely confused look on her face.
I scanned the room again and saw on a chair next to my bed all my gear laid out nicely. I reached for my walkie, grabbed it, and pulled it off of my belt.
“This is Trigger to dispatch, do you copy?” I asked through the device.
“We copy, you aren’t dead?” The receiver asked, obviously very confused.
“Not yet. Why didn’t you send the team out to get me?” I asked more confused than angry at this point.
“They said you were gone. They said the lizardman had got you.” He said.
“Well, he hasn’t got me yet,” I said defiantly then hung up.
“Mam, I’m going to go finish what I started, but I am going to need a few things.”
I suppose a few things were a bit of an understatement. I had them get the best tracker they could find out here, which they quickly got to do. I got a whole new set of equipment more specialized for the task at hand I filed a hasty but fierce resignation letter to my organization siting leaving me for dead as the primary cause. They never even got back to me and needless to say, I was pissed. I knew the moment USDAC found out I was no longer part of the organization they’d send me away, so I decided I’d better be quick with this operation.
I pulled the small Uhaul full of supplies down the dirt road. Next to me sat Santiago, an older Native American man with a long black salt and pepper braided ponytail. He’d worked with both my organization and USDAC for a number of years and had much experience in tracking beasties like this one.
“So, where exactly are we going?” I asked looking at him.
“Well we’re going to the most recent attack and I’m hoping to get there by noon so if you could step on it that would be lovely.” He said sounding rather harsh.
I nodded and pushed slightly more on the accelerator. I would’ve started flying down this road but this truck was not built for dirt roads so I had to do my best.
As I drove Santiago busied himself with a map. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he put small red x’s on certain spots. I assumed those were the previous attacks. Occasionally he would look up from his work to make sure I was still going in the right direction and finally, after he directed me to turn onto a smaller more unkept dirt road we arrived at the farm.
It was eerily similar to the other. The house was destroyed and the field was full of massacred goats. Although the main difference was this one was swarming with USDAC investigation teams. Four big black vans were parked in front of the home, almost blocking my view. I stopped the truck and me and Santiago both stepped out. We walked over to the house and one of the investigators met us at the door.
He was tall with a weathered face and a strong chin that made him look like an actor. He had nicely done silver hair, stubble, and hazel eyes. A slight grin appeared on his face when he saw us.
“You two must be the hunters, I’m Detective Slade.” He greeted, sticking his hand out for a shake.
I took his hand first. “Hello Slade, I’m Agent Biel,” I said shaking his hand with Santiago quickly doing the same.
After we finished with formalities Slade led us around the house and into the field behind it. It felt like deja vu looking at the field. It told almost the exact same story mine did. Dozens of torn-apart goats and a small now empty chicken coop. I looked at all of it in disgust. The animals had no time to defend themselves they were just destroyed.
Santiago began scanning the mess on the ground looking for tracks to follow. Meanwhile, I stood talking with Slade.
“This is the eighth attack in four days, it looks like it’s making two attacks every night.” Slade explained, “So far it has killed 37 people, 650 goats, 242 cows, and has eaten almost 300 chickens.”
“Have you noticed a pattern?” I asked.
“Besides attacking at night not really. It usually attacks the fields first, but even that isn’t always the case.”
“I found something.” Santiago interrupted.
He stood by the edge of the field that met the jungle. I saw the large tracks of the beast leading into the jungle.

**Me and Santiago lugged the heavy equipment through the jungle we were tired and hot, but we continued knowing that the lizardman was likely close by. The sun had begun to sink low in the sky as we marched on. I was surprised at the path of the lizardman it had literally walked a straight line for miles upon miles. Only ever turning for a large tree or a hill. We were hoping we would get to the things nest before it went on its next night excursion but we weren’t extremely hopeful. I could only hope that the wretched thing was still wherever it rests.** **Suddenly their hike was interrupted by a loud call. I looked above to see a large tropical bird eyeing me from a branch. It was brightly colored vaguely reminding me of a parrot. Oddly I gave the bird a nod and then caught up to Santiago who’d ignored the bird and kept walking.** **Eventually, the sun set and we both had to turn our lights on. My body was beginning to grow heavy and I could tell it was the same for Santiago, but right as we seemed to the point of giving up we arrived at the edge of a lake. It was small and had short sandy beaches separating it from the jungle. Perfectly outlined in the sand were the feet of the lizardman. It had clear as day walked straight into the lake. We both looked at each other. He was clearly as unsure about the situation as I was. We stood there contemplating when I noticed something.** **The lake had a few logs floating in it but one didn’t look like the other. It was far too symmetrical. I scanned my light over it and realized the texture I’d thought of as bark was actually scaled. Then suddenly my light scanned over to the head and its bright red eyes opened wide. It let out a roar and started swimming toward us. I dropped my bag and hurriedly put my remaining gear on. Santiago dropped his and took aim with his rifle.** **BANG! The shot echoed through the quiet air and I saw it clearly hit the thing right in the center of the forehead. The bullet tinked off like it had hit thick steel. The Lizardman swam closer and as the water got shallower it transitioned from swimming to sprinting. The second it took a step on shore I struck. I slammed one of my gauntlet-bearing fists into the thing's face. There was a loud audible crack as it fell over. It quickly stood back up and slashed at my thick steel armor. It did nothing but scrape off some paint and I pulled my fist back and punched it again. It stumbled again and before it could recover I punched it again and again.** **Immediately after the punch it lunged forward its jaws latching on to either side of my helmet. I heard the sounds of it and felt the metal beginning to bend in on itself. I kicked the thing where I knew it would hurt. It unlatched from my face and I uppercut it right in the lower jaw. It fell into the water letting out a whimper-type noise as it did.** **I stood over the beast having misjudged it as defeated. In a second wind, it grabbed me by the leg and threw me into a tree. I heard my suit crack and crunch having been badly damaged. The lizardman started over at me threateningly and in a quick burst of speed it charged over to me.** **BANG! BANG! BANG! His first shot struck the side of its head getting its attention, and as it turned the second bullet struck it directly in its left eye. The third and final bullet struck its nose harmlessly. It roar in pain and charged towards Santiago, but I jumped up and grabbed it by the tail. I held it still for a moment before it did something that caught me off, guard. It turned around and bit off its own tail. It then continued charging toward Santiago. His bullets struck it again and again but its hide was far too strong. Quickly I dropped the tail and pulled out a canister pulling the pin and throwing it. A wonderful smell erupted from it as it soared through the air and landed right in front of Santiago.** **The Lizardman backed away from him dizzy from the overpowering smell. I pulled myself off the ground and charged towards it. I jumped on top of the thing pinning it to the ground.** **“Meds!” I yelled to him as the Lizardman was already struggling.** **Santiago reached into its mouth that I held open and shoved the tranquilizer down its throat. After another minute of shaking and struggling it finally blacked out. I pulled out my walkie and called in dispatch.** **“The lizard is down,” I said simply.** **Within minutes they had a dozen helicopters out there and had the creature properly restrained.** **I walked over to the man who appeared to be in charge. He was average height with blonde hair combed to the side, aviator glasses, and a nice gray suit. “I’d recommend you step up the security on that thing,” I suggested.** **He turned around and looked at me for a moment, almost studying me.** 

“We will be.” He said finally. “I am personally seeing that it is brought to our most secure location.”
“Good, good, I don’t want to ever deal with that thing again.” I chuckled.
He looked closer at me after I said that and it seemed to click in his head who I was.
“Agent Biel, I’m very happy to see you. I got word of your resignation at UARF.” He said sounding oddly sad.
I prepared for the worst as I was technically not supposed to be here.
“Yeah, I wasn’t exactly happy with being left for dead,” I grumbled.
“Well sir I promise if you take my offer you won’t be left for dead,” He said smiling now.
I paused for a moment unsure what he meant. Then it seemed to click he was hiring me and I took his hand and shook it vigorously.
“I do accept your offer, sir,” I yelled excitedly.
“You can call me Dr.Barclay,” He said politely shaking my hand back.
So that is how I was hired here at USDAC and I’ve already discovered that they do things quite differently here but that is a story for another day. Biel out.