Review the events of the day, and list any situations/events that impacted you. Pick the situation(s) that had the most impact on you and answer all of the questions below for each situation.
(Use a new comment for each new situation that you want to introspect upon.)
​

1. What was the situation?
2. How did I react to the situation? (eg. Didn't go to bed to sleep at 10PM. Stayed up on reddit instead)
3. Why did I react this way? (eg. Poor self-control, addicted to reddit)
4. What was the outcome? (eg. felt groggy and tired throughout the day)
5. Is the situation positive or negative? (eg. negative)
6. Do I want to change it? (eg. YES)
7. How can I change it? (eg. Go to sleep on time)
8. What substitute can be utilized? (eg. Use tech in the morning instead of at night before bed; replace reddit at night with reading a book)
9. What are some ways of remembering when I am getting into this situation? (eg. Set phone alarm for sleep at 9:45PM. Turn off modem at 10PM)

Be honest. Be specific. Try to articulate why you felt that way.

Hey PoeAI community!
I'm excited to share two new tools I've developed for poe.com that will help you interact with the platform in a more efficient and personalized way. Meet poe-shell and poe_sidebar_robots_remover!

1. poe-shell

poe-shell is a powerful command-line tool that helps you perform tasks on poe.com that might be difficult or time-consuming to do on the website. It wraps almost all webpage functions on poe.com through the ading2210/poe-api. Before using, you'll need to get an API token from poe.com and save it to the POE_TOKEN environment variable. Then you can call any function defined in poe-api by passing the function name and arguments. For example:

POE_TOKEN=xxxxxxx ./poe-shell.py bot_names jq . POE_TOKEN=xxxxxxx ./poe-shell.py send_message capybara "hello 你好" jq -r '.text_new' tr -d '\n' 

For specific functions and arguments, please refer to ading2210/poe-api.

2. poe_sidebar_robots_remover

Tired of seeing useless robots cluttering up your Poe.com sidebar? poe_sidebar_robots_remover is a handy Tampermonkey script that helps you remove those unwanted bots from your sidebar.
How to use:

1. Install Tampermonkey
2. Click to install the script

With these two tools, I hope to improve your Poe.com experience and make it easier to interact with the platform. All the code for these tools was generated by Poe's GPT-4, and I reviewed and tested the code to ensure it runs smoothly.
If you encounter any issues or have feature requests, feel free to file an issue or create a pull request. I appreciate your feedback and support!
Happy coding, and enjoy your enhanced Poe.com experience!

I know I have ADHD. I've known all my life. I don't care about being heard, or figuring out whether I have it, or talking about my struggles, I know that I have ADHD. All I want is to be treated for it. I've tried the sunshine and fresh air and exercise method, it doesn't work, although it's nice.
I'd like to get a diagnosis, so I can get accomodations at my workplace, and a prescription, to start treating my ADHD. I set an appointment with Donefirst, because I saw nothing but good reviews here on reddit- but now that I'm searching it again, I'm seeing mostly bad reviews on reddit and on their site. Saying they get you a prescription, but then leave you hanging for weeks in between refills, have poor customer service, etc. Plus now I'm seeing articles saying that rite aid, walgreens, cvs etc, all the big pharmacies, aren't accepting prescriptions from Donefirst or any telemedicine provider. So I don't know where I'd even pick it up if I did get a prescription.
So I'm just... lost now. I thought I was doing a good thing, I thought I figured it out, and now even if I back out of the Donefirst appointment I wasted ten bucks on it nothing. I'm so tired of not having my adhd treated, I'm a fucking high school dropout and I can't even study for a dirt-easy GED because I can't fucking focus on anything. I'm not stupid, I just can't focus.
I don't know what to do, I just want a cheap, reliable way to get a diagnosis and prescription for adhd, with refills that aren't like pulling teeth. I don't have insurance, the only way I was planning on paying for the medicine was with the Takeda program to get free vyvanse if you're under a certain income threshold. The $80 a month that Done is was already a not-fun hit with my current situation financially.
Sorry to rant, uh.. tl;dr any suggestions?

Hey guys, RC is causing me stress. I’m aiming for 170+ in August and a month ago got 168 on a PT, since then i’ve been drilling LG and LR a ton but most of my issues are coming from RC. I was missing 5-6 in Logic games so I drilled those like crazy and got -1 on LG on a practice test for the first time today, but I’ve been taking practice tests recently and have been struggling to get past a 166-167 plateau. Only been PTing since start of May, once or twice a week, using PTs from the 60- to 80s. Reading comp is causing me a lot of stress now; I never really worried about it during my studying as I missed 5 on my diagnostic but it’s been fluctuating SO much. It’s frustrating because if I could get my score in this section to even be reliably -4 I’d feel like my score would be easier to predict. According to 7sage I miss an average of 6 ish per reading comp section. I took a PT on Monday and missed 4 in RC, did a timed section yesterday and missed 3, but today I took a 4 section PT and missed 9 in reading comp! I was a bit tired as it was my last section but I don’t feel like that should account for missing 9. Only missed 1 in the first LR section and 5 in the other LR section. I could tell as I was taking the RC section that it wasn’t going that well but what worries me is that in blind review I only corrected 3 of the wrong answers. I recently started doing a small summary in my head of each paragraph’s purpose before moving to the next and trying to read quickly and actively while focusing on structure. I also keep in mind the authors tone and keep track of change in viewpoints, etc. I feel like sometimes I “click” with a RC section and it goes well but if I get confused during a passage it can be really hard for me to get questions right. It feels like it just comes down to whether I happen to get a passage that is easy for me to comprehend, which I don’t like. I was doing small summaries on paper for a bit but found that it didn’t help me much and took up time so I stopped. I’ve read a bit of the LSAT Trainer’s RC sections as well. I keep a wrong answer journal for LR and redo games but I’m at a loss for how to attack RC. I know it’s just one practice test, but this is the worst I’ve gotten on a RC section and it’s stressing me out bc I am not sure how to see a consistent improvement in this section and I’ve heard people talk about how it’s hard to improve. I probably should have paid attention to this section earlier but I didn’t anticipate it being such an issue. Any advice? Should I just keep drilling RC sections?

Life is but a dream? more like LIFE IS BUT A FUCKING NIGHTMARE!
I Grew up with Avenged Sevenfold in my teenage years, they were one of the first Metal bands i actively began listening to, and Nightmare, to this day, is still one of the best Metal album to me
Come Hail to the King and these guys shamelessly ripped off Alice in Chain, The Entire song of "Sad but True" by Metallica, thinking we won't fucking notice it, but fine, because after that they gave us the Stage which was sort of a flop, but at the same time, a return to form, and with a concept that actually aged really fucking well, I won’t pretend to be a genius when it comes to reviewing music, or any kind of Media in general, I don’t use fancy wordings like someone from fucking Loudwire, or Metalc(s)ucks, or even fucking Metal Injection, and quite frankly, I think my reviews suck, I don’t have much faith in them, I just type whatever comes to my mind, but once in a blue fucking moon, a record either manages to take me off my feet with how good they are, or, how fucking atrocious and disastrous it is, so come the new Avenged Sevenfold album and its quite literally the worst fucking album they could have ever made, this makes Hail to the King an actual 10/10 in comparison, there is not a single positive I could write about this shit, it would be like picking up a dog turd from the street and tossing it in the garbage, at the end of the day, you did something for the environment, but at the cost of dirtying your hand with literal shit.
There is 5 factors I take into account when im deciding if an album is worthy of a certain score, and the list is as follows: Vocals, Musicianship, Production, Lyrics, and lastly Instruments.
Let’s start with the Vocals, because oh my fucking god it’s nails on a chalkboard, it’s like someone is actively trying to brainfuck me through my earhole with a rusty and molded Drill, I’d rather walk on fucking legos for the rest of my life than dealing with this fucking vocals, whatever the hell M Shadows is trying to do in this shit is NOT working, the opening track has some really ass tier lyrics (which I will get to later) and M Shadows does the wimpiest, Shittiest, tired, nasally and processed screams I probably ever fucking heard, this makes Danzig in his current time look actually fucking amazing in comparison, this makes Vince Fucking Neil sounds almost audible, Almost is the keyword here, because the vocals gets progressively way fucking worse, M Shadows cannot hit any fucking right notes, nor the highs, nor the lows, no in between, nothing, they all sound forced and as if someone was kicked in the balls and let out the most desperate cry but with the voice of Lisa Simpson, And DO NOT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE SINGLES! M Shadows’ vocals gets progressively way fucking worse the more this album drags out its 53 minute runtime, and it doesn’t fucking help that M Shadows actually admitted in an interview that he and everyone else was high out of their fucking mind and decided “you know what? We should make the shittiest Mr. Bungle Rip-off we can with Nobody and We Love You!” Nobody is one hell of a fucking title because I wish Nobody had to fucking write this tired, phoned in, ‘we had to make music to please our record label’ type of fucking music, this is a band actively pissing off whatever goodwill they had, and that’s not even mentioning the Fucking NFT and “Deathbat club” shit they have going on, that is a topic for a completely different discussion, going back, Nobody was the first single, and the beginning sounds like someone shoved up a tuba in Synyster Gates’ asshole and let out the loudest fart he could possibly do, the entire fucking song sounds disjointed and as if it was recorded by a fucking cover band, not a multi-platinum selling Metal band who SHOULD have at this point DECADES of experience, like Jesus fucking Christ in a Maid Outfit HOW THE FUCK DOES SOMEONE FUCK UP SOMETHING THIS HARD?! It’s fascinates me because this band made one of the best album in the form of Nightmare, then they actively fucking made the middest music imaginable, Nobody sounds like it’s walking with fucking crutches, Nobody is so fucking bad that every fucking fiber of my body is actively telling me to stop listening to this, listen to a better band, but because I am a fucking Masochist I suffered through it, it doesn’t get better, oh NO IT DOESN’T, skipping to We Love You, we have the Mr. Bungle rip-off that we all fucking loved when it came out (if you couldn’t tell already, that last part was pure fucking sass and sarcasm) whoever the fuck thought this was a good fucking single or a song in general to release should be fucking forced to listen to Psychosinner for the rest of their life, M Shadows tries to do some kind of spoken section mid verse with More Power More Money More Whatever the fuck the word of the day is, and it just sounds way too fucking pandering, and that is coming from someone who suffered through Skillet’s discography at one point, if it wasn’t for that I would legit thought its a fucking piss-take on Christian Rock and Metal as a whole, all it needed was some vague “we love god blah blah blah” so yeah, the Spoken word section thing did NOT work at all, and you know what else doesn’t work? DRAGGING YOUR FUCKING SONGS OUT TO 5+ MINUTES! Half the fucking album drags on for WAY TOO FUCKING LONG, and what DOESN’T HELP is the fact that nothing on this album sounds like it was written with the mind of an album, this sounds like a demo a fucking no name band shits out on Bandcamp or Soundcloud, but im getting side tracked, We Love You is a fucking shitshow of epic proportions, whoever the fuck thought they should use Autotune to make M Shadows sound robotic should be fired from their job, I’m dead fucking serious, and good to know they fucking play fucking FORTNITE with the amazing lyrics like “More Sex More Pill Build Tall Build Higher Build Wider” just for that alone, Fuck You A7X, I despise Shitnite with all my fucking passion and you making reference to that, even unintentionally pisses me off to no end, I’m already dragging the point of the vocals sounding shit, so I won’t even bother torturing you guys with this anymore, instead, let me torture you with the fact that EVERYBODY SOUNDS COMPLETELY FUCKING WASTED HERE! Seriously where the fuck is the cool solos from Synyster?! Where is the kickass and in your face drumming?! Why does everything sound so compressed?! Why does this fucking album sounds like they ran out of ideas so they tried to do the shittiest of rip-off they can think about from bands that are popular these days?! AND WHY, THE FUCK, DOES THIS ALBUM SOUND LIKE IT’S BEING PUT THROUGH A FUCKING GUILLOTINE ?! Everything that defined this band is long fucking gone, nothing is left here, just a husk, a broken down shell of a band that used to write cool stuff, even if you never liked their music, you could always respect them for putting in the work, but here? The entire musicianship is down the drain, this sounds like a band on its deathbed, the entire album is just not fun to listen to, at least there is always some redeeming quality in a bad album, or a fucking excuse why it turned out to be shit, but “Ohh nooooo M Shadows blew his vocals, the Horror!” guess who else fucking blew his vocals out? Matt Heafy from Trivium, and what did he do? Despite not being able to Scream for a while, he made Silence in the Snow in response, where he showcased his rather nice singing ability, is that album perfect? No, but it is an example that despite an album being average, the singing can be a redeeming quality of that, so I will not, under any fucking circumstances will take “BuT He BlEw HiS vOcAls OuT hE cAn’t sInG lIke He UsEd To AnYmOrE!!!” As a fucking excuse when Matt Heafy and a lot of other Metal Vocalist fucking made the best out of a bad situation and still managed to make decent recordings, also, you know what else doesn’t work on this shitshow of an album? MIXING COUNTRY WITH FUCKING METAL! It, LEGIT angers me to hear country in Metal because guess what, most of the country songs are hot garbage, all me an elitist all you want but Country nowadays sucks Donkey Balls, Maybe I’m just not looking at the right direction or the right artist but whatever because IM NOT DONE TEARING THIS FUCKING ALBUM 12 ASSHOLES YET! And this song is the longest on the entire album, clocking in at 7 and a half minutes, I am a fan of long songs, if they are done right,oh and please excuse me while I fucking bash my head into the nearest wall I can find because MY FUCKING GOD WHOEVER PUT SIREN NOISES IN THE SONG LEGITIMATELY HATES PEOPLES BECAUSE THIS IS FUCKING EARRAPE PERSONIFIED, Like my fucking God, Lucifer himself is not this fucking Satanic to try and piss humans off in Hell, Cosmic, which is the title of the song, can Fuck Right off Sideways in a Fucking Fake Taxi Casting and then blow whatever the fucking dick it can find because this song literally facefucks me with how bad this shit is, and that’s not even touching on how completely BORING the next track is, I damn near fell asleep from it when I first listened to it, it was the closest I probably got to music actually putting me to sleep from how BORING It is, and my god I already touched on the production but can I just ask why does everything sound like its AI generated? Oh waaaaait, I know now, BECAUSE AVENGED SEVENFOLD BECAME NFT BROS! AND FUCKING SCAMMING DICKHEADS! So no wonder they want to try and cater to the lowest common fucking denominator by putting out a song that makes all the NFT Bros and shills and rich companies cum from the cash they see in their eyes, also can I just ask, how do you make PIANO sound so horribly fucking bad? It’s like someone just got a cheap synth and tried to mimic how Piano sounds like but with the worst settings possible, so that’s the vocals, musicianship, and the fucking production in a nutshell, BUT WAIT, THERE IS MORE! If that wasn’t enough, M Shadows does his worst possible fucking T-Pain impression on the song Easier! Add that to the list of why the fuck does this exist: Music Edition. Anyways, that was the only noteworthy thing I could possibly point out in that song, aside from that its generic Imagine Dragons-Core, but now we have a trilogy of songs in the from of G. O, And D...wait you expected me to give them the full song title with the brackets? Sweet summer child, you are not on a fucking Simple Plan fan Group page, Anyways, G is a fucking Voivod rip-off, in the worst possible way, Did they seriously fucking think im not gonna notice that? Its a literal fucking Voivod rip-off, and on the topic of Voivod, can I ask what the fuck this shit has to do with Avant-Garde? Are peoples really just gonna put Avant-Garde in every single fucking disjointed shitty mess a fucking artist does? By that same logic Kanye West is Avant-Garde, Machine Gun Kelly is Avant-Garde, even fucking Lil Pump is Avant-Garde by this fucking logic, this is the furthest from fucking Avant-Garde, it’s a few peoples writing the shittiest of fucking “prog metal” if you can even call it that, and then selling it as some revolutionary sound while they forget that IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT HAS BEEN DOING THAT FOR NEARLY 2 DECADES! MY FUCKING GOD THIS ALBUM FINDS MORE WAYS TO JUST PISS ME THE FUCK OFF!!! also, even more spoken words, fucking kill me, but since we are nearing the end of this fucking album how about we talk about just how shitty the lyrics are? I already touched on how fucking horrible We Love You’s lyrics are, but it’s even worse on some songs, like Cosmic, with such gems like “Pain, it founds its way back in, until we meet again, into that good night” or how about Beautiful Morning? Where it literally says “Help me to hear and hear me to save And save me before I've gone too far Let me inhale my passage to hell While slowly exhaling the scar” wow, such insightful lyrics, this is the worst fucking cliched and generic Im14andthisisdeep type of lyrics I ever saw, then we get this fucking amazing words on the opening track “Game Over” that is literally just a word vomit, don’t believe me? Then look up to the fucking lyrics yourself, half the song is just M Shadows burping out whatever the fucking word of the day is, “Open, blurry, nurture, loving Crawling, walking, fleeting, glory Welcome, brother, stranger, bloody Ally, teacher, recess, buddy Secret, toothless, fairy, pillow Money, kissing, nervous, hero Warmly ordinary, Changes, hormones, high school, threesome Roll call, study, license, freedom Novice, flirting, first time, lover Party, fighting, wasted, summer Questions, doubtful, wedding, family Happy, ever, after, dead end Daily iteration” This is literally half the fucking song! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! HOW DOES A GROWN FUCKING MAN COME UP WITH SUCH A SHITTY SONG LIKE THIS?! “Give me a delete button, Delete!” yeah I WISH I COULD FUCKING DELETE THIS FROM EXISTENCE! And you know you have to truly run out of idea, WHEN YOU HAVE TO USE GUILE’S THEME FROM STREET FIGHTER AS A SAMPLE IN YOUR FUCKING SONG CALLED ORDINARY!!! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND AVENGED SEVENFOLD?! DID YOU SERIOUSLY THINK I WON’T FUCKING NOTICE IT?! DID YOU SERIOUSLY THINK FOR A FRACTION OF A FUCKING SECOND THAT YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH SUCH A BLATANT PLAGIARISM ?! If I was Capcom I would fucking sue. Plain and fucking simple, and with the album almost over and my rage ran out...mostly, how about we talk about the fucking instrument? Oh wait, there is nothing to talk about there, because the Instruments are fucking dead on this album, and when it’s not dead it’s fucking pretentious like all hell, trying to sound triumphant, sounding motivating, but only being a generic fucking Frank Sinatra rip-off by the second to last track Death, which is a fitting title considering this band is fucking Dead to me, the entire mixing is all over the place and nothing blends in together, nothing feels like it belongs there, nothing on this fucking album is made competently, but what the fuck did I expected from a band that tried to cash in on the pyramid scheme that is fucking NFTs? The Fucking Rev, is rolling in his grave from seeing what this band turned out to be, you made Bad Music and that much is fucking clear at this point, I don’t care if I look like an asshole saying this but fuck it, Avenged Sevenfold DIED with Jimmy Sullivan, The Stage was a simple fucking fluke, that aged about as well as a fucking Big Mac left in the fridge for 20 years, and im not even gonna fucking mention the instrumental closing track because MY PATIENCE HAS RAN OUT! And quite frankly, Fuck that Beethoven wanna-be fucking track, it can suck my dick for all I care.
In conclusion: THERE IS NO FUCKING CONCLUSION! THIS SHIT FUCKING SUCKS HORSE DICK! Life is but a dream? MORE LIKE LIFE IS BUT A FUCKING NIGHTMARE! Did they seriously think they can get away with this shit AGAIN?! IT DIDN’T WORK WHEN THEY FUCKING RIPPED OFF METALLICA AND WHAT NOT ON HAIL TO THE KING! AND IT SURE AS HELL DIDN’T WORK TO BE A FUCKING MR. BUNGLE T-PAIN VOIVOD CAPCOM WANNA-BE JACKASSES! Avant-Garde? WHERE THE FUCK IS THE AVANT-GARDE!? THIS IS THE FURTHEST THING OF AVANT-GARDE! JUST BECAUSE IT’S A FUCKING MESS IT DOESN’T MEAN ITS FUCKING AVANT-GARDE JUST IN THE SAME VEIN AS NOTHING IS FUCKING NINTENDO-CORE JUST BECAUSE IT HAS MIDI OR 8-BIT TUNES IN THEM! Game Over is a fucking AMAZING title because I wish this fucking album would have ended right on that stupid song, Mattel is also a fitting title because this is a fucking band trying to make their band a fucking brand in the same way Kiss or Metallica is a fucking brand at this point, I Wish Nobody would had to go through the fucking suffering that this shit is, when did peoples fucking standards went down this much?! I cannot for the life of me understand how the hell does this album have such a high as fuck rating when FUCKING METALLICA’S BLACK ALBUM IS RATED LOWER THAN THIS SHIT!!! And can I just ask who the fuck does this band love so much? Me?? Who the fuck is me?! WHO THE FUCK IS WE?! I don’t see anyone I know fucking acting like rabid dogs over something as shitty as this, I rather drink my own piss and cut my veins before I ever fucking classify myself as we or me or you by this band, If I could I would fucking steal a SpaceX rocket and send this fucking album into Cosmic with the hopes of this shit melting into the sun forever, I wanted to have a Beautiful Morning but Avenged Dickfold decided to fucking ruin it for me, it would be so much fucking Easier to just be lobotomized instead of paying any fucking attention to this band anymore, but since they are mainstream, here I am bitching and moaning like a fucking bitch in heat for a monkey to fuck, hopefully that fuck would be much better and it actually hits the G Spot instead of huffing and puffing like a pussy from getting tired after 2 minutes, I Have a new found Respect for Ordinary Man By Ozzy because while its not his best material, as well as even his latest album, I can respect him for still making the music he loves instead of phoning it in like Avenging Sevenfucktards did while also plagiarizing the shit out of everything, this band is fucking Dead to me, Death must have swung at them when they had the guts to make Hail to the King, I wish this was really just a dream, then again, Life is NOTHING But a fucking dream because DEAR FUCKING GOD I WISH THERE WAS AN ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE WHERE I LIVE AND THIS ALBUM DOESN’T EXIST THERE! I WISH I COULD FUCKING AVENGE THIS ALBUM IN SEVEN WAYS AND THEN JUST FOLD IT UP LIKE A NEWSPAPER SO MY DOG CAN TAKE A GIGANTIC FUCKING SHIT ON IT BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE LESS FUCKING DISGUSTING THAN TOUCHING THIS PIECE OF DIARRHEA WITH A 10 FOOT POLE, FUCK M SHADOWS, FUCK SYNYSTER GATES, FUCK EVERYONE WHO WORKED ON THIS ALBUM, FUCK YOU, FUCK THE CRITICS FOR ALLOWING THIS SHIT IN MUSIC, FUCK THE NFT BROS FUCK THE FANS FOR HAVING SUCH A LOW STANDARD TO HAVE THE GUTS AND RATE THIS HIGHER THAN THE FUCKING BLACK ALBUM! BY MOTHER FUCKING METALLICA!!! And last but not least, FUCK, THIS, ALBUM! I RATHER HAVE AN EAGLE CLAW MY EYES OUT, I RATHER HAVE SOMEONE STICK THEIR DICKS IN MY EARHOLES BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE LESS OF A BRAINFUCK THAN THIS SHITTY EXCUSE OF A MUSIC! NOT A SINGLE FUCKING PIECE OF ALCOHOL COULD NUMB THE PAIN I FEEL AFTER LISTENING TO THIS SHIT INDUCING ASS LICKING BALLS SUCKING DICK CHEWING CUMSTAIN OF A FUCKING PUSSY OF AN ALBUM LISTEN TO LITERALLY ANY OTHER ALBUM! LIKE I DON’T KNOW……..Terrasite? Yeah that one is a good album, listen to that one instead, as for this album? It’s the worst album of NOT JUST THIS YEAR! BUT THIS DECADE!
0 OUT OF FUCKING 5

6 months ago I worked for a short time at a somewhat upscale restaurant. It was the best job I've ever had in my life and I absolutely loved the environment there and the people I worked with aside from the problems I'm about to dig into here.
I ended up getting let go from this job-- I was a slow learner, and I got let go on performance. I loved my manager and he promised to give me a good review for whatever jobs I look at next, because he said he thought I was a good person. He is the kindest, most thoughtful manager I have ever worked for. When they were letting me go, I asked if I would be able to apply again, and he said yes in 6 months. He was also telling me how optimistic he was that things would work out.
Shortly after leaving the job, my car key went missing, which I have a hunch was due to my S.O.'s mother, but sadly we had no security cameras or proof, so we couldn't just have the cops go to the house looking for the key. Instead I spent a good 5 months unemployed, my S.O. saved up to get my car towed and keys made, all the while we were struggling financially and this all lead up to now- I now have a court date for overdue insurance in June and my license is suspended, and my S.O.'s car just got repoed TODAY!! Needless to say it's been a shitshow.
I absolutely loved the environment I was working in before, and I desperately need a job at the same time (obviously). Since I officially hit the 6 month mark on the 1st, I applied to the place again. I immediately got rejected from the location I worked at. I then applied to another location and got a call to interview tomorrow right after sending the application.
Should I hide the fact that I haven't worked since? On the resume I sent in I listed the establishment as the last place I'd worked, which showed it was 6 months ago, so I was honestly surprised they called.
Ever since getting the keys dealt with again, I technically did recently accept an offer at a place in a near management position which I left after a week of training because I was seeing some red flags that turned out to be PROVEN TRUE 🙃 Such as I still haven't been paid and it's been 3 pay periods now, even though I left, and legaladvice advised to to file a wage complaint.. so who knows what I would have endured there.
Should I mention that I got this position since the title may be impressive? Or is it best to shut my mouth that I had a job that I left that soon?
Now, inevitably they are going to ask me what happened the last time I was at the restaurant. Well, buckle in and get ready to hear a little workplace drama: I was a slow learner at first, i admit it. Once I got the hang of things, though, I REALLY got it, and it honestly was the easiest job in the world to me, and I LOVED doing it when everybody wasn't on my ass. Unfortunately, since I had prior frustrated my coworkers, it got to a point where even when I was doing light-years better, I would still have coworkers be on edge with me and always excessively checking to make sure I had things done, even after I had shown that I had my stuff down pat for a while now. 2 of the coworkers, the most on my ass ones, quit, and the manager assured me it wasn't because of me, but I feel that was a lie because I told them I don't work well under guilt or pressure. Basically I had a day where I broke down to my manager in the office, hysterical crying, telling him that I know how to do things now and that nobody's noticed, and he said that many did and many did not.
Once those 2 were out, I was left with the last coworker I'd be around regularly- and it was this girl who was bitter from being paid $1 less from the rest of us. I KNEW she was going to take this opportunity to be just as on my ass, if not more, than the last two, and honestly, I just didn't have the mental fortitude to deal with it. I don't do well for social games, I don't have the heart for it, and if someone is going to try to frame me for something, I have a bad habit of just letting it happen to get it over with. The girl was already snipping and it's been too long to remember specifics at that point, but I knew she was looking for any wrong thing I did to tell my manager. I wasn't planning on doing anything wrong and I wasn't doing anything wrong, but I had had enough, I felt genuinely just sad, heartbroken that this all had transpired and I didn't have the energy to play workplace drama games with this girl, it's genuinely just not something I like doing. I felt shattered, and terrible that my coworkers quit and it boiled down to the last underpaid girl who I actually liked LESS than the 2 who were most on my ass. Those two girls were actually good girls and I thought they had great allover personalities, I just wished they had cut me some slack once I got used to things. I really had a love-hate relationship with them. But prior to any of this happening, this same underpaid girl had made it known to coworkers that she was already upset with the job and bitter, she had an attitude about it and compared it to working at mcdonalds, but none of this was EVER within management's sight that I'm aware of. So they had no idea that this girl I was now left with has been moping around bitter and not taking this job seriously and always ready to quit and be mad at anything they ask her to do due to her pay for a while now. Thats why I lost my ability to play this game so quickly-- she was very visibly eager to try to dimish my every effort from the jump once the two coworkers left and she felt she had me all to herself and had leverage now, and could easily outsmart and outbeat me. I don't even remember what it was, but I snapped and told her I had covid (I didn't), because I knew she would freak out and ask not to be scheduled with me. I was suspended for 3 days because I caused such an upset with the covid comment and then returned to work. I figured once I said that I'd get in trouble but then it would blow over, and I was hoping they wouldn't schedule me with her any more, since they had just brought in a guy from another department to what my position was and he was REALLY good and I absolutely loved working with and learning from him. So after my 3 days, I go in for my next scheduled shift and I see I'm working with her again, even though I had sent a hotschedule message asking to be scheduled with the guy. Which my manager said was fine, but I couldn't do anything about the already posted next 2 weeks on the schedule, it just isn't a workplace where they will alter it. So once I see her I decided to whip out all of my work in the first hour, and I DID. I went complete horsepower mode and knocked out my whole shifts of work in the first hour, and went and laid down in the back for a second. I knew I may get in trouble for laying down, but I just wanted it to be over. I was exhausted as I had been up all night because a manipulative family member had an episode for the first time in a long time of not having one, waking me up when I needed to sleep for my shift. So when I knocked out all of my work in that one hour, I gave her NO room to talk to me. She was very obviously upset that I wasn't consulting her every 2 seconds and I didn't want to deal with this- it had me kicking my ass into gear to complete all that work so hard, but I knew this was the last time I could deal with this. I broke. So I decided to kind of ask for trouble a second time, after the whole lying about covid ordeal, and kind of laid down in the back.. somewhat on purpose, and somewhat because I was actually tired, because I knew this may be thr last straw where I get fired, and I just wanted it to all be done and over with, I was so sad, I just didn't want to have to work in such a degrading way like this where I am forever indebted to everyone and I have to prove my worth at 100X speed and be the picture perfect worker there, when I was already doing GOOD at that point. Alas, that was the last straw and it was over. And to be fair, just being a slow learner wasn't my only problem. Okay, I'm just going to be honest now. I learned at a decent pace, but my two ACTUAL biggest mistakes were that 1.) I have chronic pain and didn't disclose when I interviewed that I need to be home at a certain time in the evening (9/930 latest) to take a medication that impairs my driving, else I have trouble walking and it really slows me down. 2.) I projected my OCD onto the company and purposely overlapped the floors, making them think I was just a slow learner 😬😬 I did this with employee bathrooms as well. I also sprayed down spots of the employee bathrooms we weren't expected to spray down and was in fact told at first that we're NOT supposed to clean those parts, which gave me the ick and I would secretly spray those parts because they would be common/basic parts. Come to find out later that new guy said that's actually how we WERE supposed to do it.. anyways, at the end of the day during bathroom duties I wouod already be slowing down due to my pain to begin with since my medication wasn't getting into my body at the appropriate time, and on top of THAT, my slowing down was even worse because I was sneakily cleaning these parts of the bathroom that everyone would scold you for cleaning because it took too much time. So therenow you know the truth, i was contemplating just baring it all, so there it is. How in HEAVENS am I to explain this tomorrow? Since the manager said he would give me a good reference anywhere, should I assume he is also going to do that for me to the same restaurant of another location nearby? I am scared of putting my foot in my mouth, because what if I TL;DR the truth for them or tell them that I was bad, only for the manager to say I was great, and then it looks weird and I don't get hired, or, what if I lie and tell them I was great but the manager tells THIS place the truth, since it is the same chain? Basically what if his offer to give me a good reference only extends to external places unassociated with the company? Since I was rejected IMMEDIATELY after sending the resume into my prior location, I worry that the restaurant may hear the entire lowdown on what's happened. How should I navigate this? Another thing is now that the one car is suspended and one is repoed as of today, my S.O. and I are living with a relative, so that relative has to drive us around, so I'd have to leave around 4:30-5pm until he can get the car back, or until I pay my insurance AND get the okay from the state that I am officially unsuspended, because he needs toe dropped off at work around 6-630, he works graveyard. Basically the relative would have to drop me off to work, come and get me with him when I'm off my shift, and drop him off (I doubt she would let him use the car alone). Unless I'm thinking about this wrong, which I admit, my mind is currently overflooded and overwhelmed with what to do.

6 months ago I worked for a short time at a somewhat upscale restaurant. It was the best job I've ever had in my life and I absolutely loved the environment there and the people I worked with aside from the problems I'm about to dig into here.
I ended up getting let go from this job-- I was a slow learner, and I got let go on performance. I loved my manager and he promised to give me a good review for whatever jobs I look at next, because he said he thought I was a good person. He is the kindest, most thoughtful manager I have ever worked for. When they were letting me go, I asked if I would be able to apply again, and he said yes in 6 months. He was also telling me how optimistic he was that things would work out.
Shortly after leaving the job, my car key went missing, which I have a hunch was due to my S.O.'s mother, but sadly we had no security cameras or proof, so we couldn't just have the cops go to the house looking for the key. Instead I spent a good 5 months unemployed, my S.O. saved up to get my car towed and keys made, all the while we were struggling financially and this all lead up to now- I now have a court date for overdue insurance in June and my license is suspended, and my S.O.'s car just got repoed TODAY!! Needless to say it's been a shitshow.
I absolutely loved the environment I was working in before, and I desperately need a job at the same time (obviously). Since I officially hit the 6 month mark on the 1st, I applied to the place again. I immediately got rejected from the location I worked at. I then applied to another location and got a call to interview tomorrow right after sending the application.
Should I hide the fact that I haven't worked since? On the resume I sent in I listed the establishment as the last place I'd worked, which showed it was 6 months ago, so I was honestly surprised they called.
Ever since getting the keys dealt with again, I technically did recently accept an offer at a place in a near management position which I left after a week of training because I was seeing some red flags that turned out to be PROVEN TRUE 🙃 Such as I still haven't been paid and it's been 3 pay periods now, even though I left, and legaladvice advised to to file a wage complaint.. so who knows what I would have endured there.
Should I mention that I got this position since the title may be impressive? Or is it best to shut my mouth that I had a job that I left that soon?
Now, inevitably they are going to ask me what happened the last time I was at the restaurant. Well, buckle in and get ready to hear a little workplace drama: I was a slow learner at first, i admit it. Once I got the hang of things, though, I REALLY got it, and it honestly was the easiest job in the world to me, and I LOVED doing it when everybody wasn't on my ass. Unfortunately, since I had prior frustrated my coworkers, it got to a point where even when I was doing light-years better, I would still have coworkers be on edge with me and always excessively checking to make sure I had things done, even after I had shown that I had my stuff down pat for a while now. 2 of the coworkers, the most on my ass ones, quit, and the manager assured me it wasn't because of me, but I feel that was a lie because I told them I don't work well under guilt or pressure. Basically I had a day where I broke down to my manager in the office, hysterical crying, telling him that I know how to do things now and that nobody's noticed, and he said that many did and many did not.
Once those 2 were out, I was left with the last coworker I'd be around regularly- and it was this girl who was bitter from being paid $1 less from the rest of us. I KNEW she was going to take this opportunity to be just as on my ass, if not more, than the last two, and honestly, I just didn't have the mental fortitude to deal with it. I don't do well for social games, I don't have the heart for it, and if someone is going to try to frame me for something, I have a bad habit of just letting it happen to get it over with. The girl was already snipping and it's been too long to remember specifics at that point, but I knew she was looking for any wrong thing I did to tell my manager. I wasn't planning on doing anything wrong and I wasn't doing anything wrong, but I had had enough, I felt genuinely just sad, heartbroken that this all had transpired and I didn't have the energy to play workplace drama games with this girl, it's genuinely just not something I like doing. I felt shattered, and terrible that my coworkers quit and it boiled down to the last underpaid girl who I actually liked LESS than the 2 who were most on my ass. Those two girls were actually good girls and I thought they had great allover personalities, I just wished they had cut me some slack once I got used to things. I really had a love-hate relationship with them. But prior to any of this happening, this same underpaid girl had made it known to coworkers that she was already upset with the job and bitter, she had an attitude about it and compared it to working at mcdonalds, but none of this was EVER within management's sight that I'm aware of. So they had no idea that this girl I was now left with has been moping around bitter and not taking this job seriously and always ready to quit and be mad at anything they ask her to do due to her pay for a while now. Thats why I lost my ability to play this game so quickly-- she was very visibly eager to try to dimish my every effort from the jump once the two coworkers left and she felt she had me all to herself and had leverage now, and could easily outsmart and outbeat me. I don't even remember what it was, but I snapped and told her I had covid (I didn't), because I knew she would freak out and ask not to be scheduled with me. I was suspended for 3 days because I caused such an upset with the covid comment and then returned to work. I figured once I said that I'd get in trouble but then it would blow over, and I was hoping they wouldn't schedule me with her any more, since they had just brought in a guy from another department to what my position was and he was REALLY good and I absolutely loved working with and learning from him. So after my 3 days, I go in for my next scheduled shift and I see I'm working with her again, even though I had sent a hotschedule message asking to be scheduled with the guy. Which my manager said was fine, but I couldn't do anything about the already posted next 2 weeks on the schedule, it just isn't a workplace where they will alter it. So once I see her I decided to whip out all of my work in the first hour, and I DID. I went complete horsepower mode and knocked out my whole shifts of work in the first hour, and went and laid down in the back for a second. I knew I may get in trouble for laying down, but I just wanted it to be over. I was exhausted as I had been up all night because a manipulative family member had an episode for the first time in a long time of not having one, waking me up when I needed to sleep for my shift. So when I knocked out all of my work in that one hour, I gave her NO room to talk to me. She was very obviously upset that I wasn't consulting her every 2 seconds and I didn't want to deal with this- it had me kicking my ass into gear to complete all that work so hard, but I knew this was the last time I could deal with this. I broke. So I decided to kind of ask for trouble a second time, after the whole lying about covid ordeal, and kind of laid down in the back.. somewhat on purpose, and somewhat because I was actually tired, because I knew this may be thr last straw where I get fired, and I just wanted it to all be done and over with, I was so sad, I just didn't want to have to work in such a degrading way like this where I am forever indebted to everyone and I have to prove my worth at 100X speed and be the picture perfect worker there, when I was already doing GOOD at that point. Alas, that was the last straw and it was over. And to be fair, just being a slow learner wasn't my only problem. Okay, I'm just going to be honest now. I learned at a decent pace, but my two ACTUAL biggest mistakes were that 1.) I have chronic pain and didn't disclose when I interviewed that I need to be home at a certain time in the evening (9/930 latest) to take a medication that impairs my driving, else I have trouble walking and it really slows me down. 2.) I projected my OCD onto the company and purposely overlapped the floors, making them think I was just a slow learner 😬😬 I did this with employee bathrooms as well. I also sprayed down spots of the employee bathrooms we weren't expected to spray down and was in fact told at first that we're NOT supposed to clean those parts, which gave me the ick and I would secretly spray those parts because they would be common/basic parts. Come to find out later that new guy said that's actually how we WERE supposed to do it.. anyways, at the end of the day during bathroom duties I wouod already be slowing down due to my pain to begin with since my medication wasn't getting into my body at the appropriate time, and on top of THAT, my slowing down was even worse because I was sneakily cleaning these parts of the bathroom that everyone would scold you for cleaning because it took too much time. So therenow you know the truth, i was contemplating just baring it all, so there it is. How in HEAVENS am I to explain this tomorrow? Since the manager said he would give me a good reference anywhere, should I assume he is also going to do that for me to the same restaurant of another location nearby? I am scared of putting my foot in my mouth, because what if I TL;DR the truth for them or tell them that I was bad, only for the manager to say I was great, and then it looks weird and I don't get hired, or, what if I lie and tell them I was great but the manager tells THIS place the truth, since it is the same chain? Basically what if his offer to give me a good reference only extends to external places unassociated with the company? Since I was rejected IMMEDIATELY after sending the resume into my prior location, I worry that the restaurant may hear the entire lowdown on what's happened. How should I navigate this? Another thing is now that the one car is suspended and one is repoed as of today, my S.O. and I are living with a relative, so that relative has to drive us around, so I'd have to leave around 4:30-5pm until he can get the car back, or until I pay my insurance AND get the okay from the state that I am officially unsuspended, because he needs toe dropped off at work around 6-630, he works graveyard. Basically the relative would have to drop me off to work, come and get me with him when I'm off my shift, and drop him off (I doubt she would let him use the car alone). Unless I'm thinking about this wrong, which I admit, my mind is currently overflooded and overwhelmed with what to do.

Get the best value for your money with our reviews and comparisons of the top Best Portable Air Compressor For Truck Tires of 2023. Our experts have evaluated the top 9 picks to help you find the perfect option for your budget.
https://www.curveswithmoves.com/best-portable-air-compressor-for-truck-tires/

Hi Reddit!
Up for sale today: BEAUTIFUL set of New Level Combo Irons - 623CB 7-P, MODB-1 5-6 w/Aerotech Steelfiber FC90 stiff shafts, BB&F ferrules, Geoleap midsize grips (Amazon's version of GP MCC+4, feels identical). I put these together and gamed them for 3 rounds, removed paint-fill for that ultra clean look, then kept them in the garage and played my other sets (I have a heavy irons addiction). For those who don't know, New Level is a highly regarded DTC brand in the golf community with quality forgings - these feel just as soft and solid as any of my Srixon/Mizzy/Bridgestone sets.
Pics! - https://imgur.com/a/wQ8uMMR
Enough typing, go Google these irons and read some reviews and feedback. Then come back and take another look at these SLICK irons. Then convince yourself how much better you'd score if you had these bad boys. Then look at the prices for these shafts alone and realize that you're getting a great deal and PM me for PP info :)
Price: $400 shipped and insured via UPS. PayPal Goods and Services only to protect both parties. Buy with 1000000% confidence from a repeat, trusted seller on here (I doubt anyone else has sold more on this forum).
Have a great weekend and Hit 'em straight!

I've always had direct deposit with a job but my current one just gives us a printed one.
I got tired of check cashing fees so today i tried mobile deposit
I got an email instantly saying the full amount would be available on 6/13. But I mean it hadn't even been reviewed yet and it's still pending 9 hrs later.
I called chase and they said there were no holds on it and it should deposit tomorrow. Does anyone on here ever have issues mobile depositing their paycheck on Friday and it never being available on Saturday?

So yeah, second part. I forgot to say the page count last time of this chapter last time, so I'll say it now. Chapter four is about fifty pages long, so it fits the bill when it comes to these things. Not much else to say, so enjoy.
​
​
* * *
Jacob pondered.
On what exactly? Oh fine, I’ll tell you.
Jacob had just received what was, hopefully, a relatively unfiltered version of the recent events and situation on the planet. After about an hour of explanation, A had finished on the arrival of the disassembly drones, and the subsequent widespread assault on the worker drones. When Jacob had asked for the specific story of A’s squad, A had skirted around it, only lightly touching upon the subject. It was slightly suspicious, but Jacob didn’t plan on doing anything about it.
However, if it was the truth, it only raised more questions than answers. The fact that a company was willing to exterminate the entirety of what was probably a massive investment was just baffling. Jacob could only come up with two explanations, one of which was rather worrying to think about. The first was that of changing times; perhaps the company was so rich, and technology so advanced, that the worker drones could be replaced with the ease of buying another shipload of tissues. If you threw away an entire box of tissues, it would be annoying to say the least, but it wouldn’t cost a lot to just get another one.
But, it just didn’t make sense to Jacob that that would be the case. The United States military in the time of Jacob had heaps, thousands of missiles, and could afford to replace them as they were used. But if they all disappeared at once? It would take lots of time, money, and effort to replace each and every single last one of the lost payloads, and not to mention the logistical nightmare it would be.
So, that led Jacob to his other solution, one that insinuated a scenario far more confusing and sinister. If the company decided to just annihilate every worker drone, which is a very radical and illogical decision by a galaxy-spanning megacorporation, then it would line up with certain other decisions made by other people in the past.
During the Second World War, the U.S. government was fearful of a potential Japanese invasion. They believed that, if they did land boots on American soil, that the Japanese-Americans would rise up, taking the side of the invaders. And so, Roosevelt made the Executive Order 9066, ordering over one hundred and twenty thousand Japanese-Americans to be interned in concentration camps, where they would remain until near the end of the war.
This was an apt example for how even the most level-headed of individuals could make bad decisions under the influence of fear. If Jacob assumed that the same was true for this day and age, then perhaps the administration at the company had sent machines to kill the entire worker drone populace due some or maybe even all of them being much more dangerous than what was being let on. It was a bit far-fetched, but was the one of the only viable solutions at the moment, aside from his theory that nothing was real and they were all figments of the imagination of a being so complex they were nothing but fiction to it, but the chances of that were little to none.
Right?
Jacob’s pondering was interrupted by someone waving their hand in front of his face.
“Ugh, hello?” A snapped his fingers twice. “You there?”
Jacob blinked, refocusing on his present company. “Uh yeah, just processing.”
A scoffed. “Processing what? I thought humans were superior or something?”
Jacob smacked A’s hand out of his face. “Me too.”
A raised an LED eyebrow.
“Doesn’t matter.” Jacob waved hand in a dismissive way. “What now?”
“I dunno. That's all I had.” A shrugged.
“Nothing else you’re hiding?” Jacob questioned.
“No. There isn’t.” A glared at Jacob. “Now drop it.”
Jacob held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, jeez man, calm down. I just don’t wanna be bored for however long I’m stuck here.”
“Yeah well, that's not really my problem.” A stated.
Jacob didn’t reply, only sighing, before standing and getting up out of his seat.
A startled. “Wait, where are you going?”
“Out.” Jacob simply replied.
“Why?” A inquired.
Jacob shrugged. “Bored.”
A got to his feet as well. “Fine then. I guess I’m going as well.”
“You’re coming with?” Jacob asked incredulously.
“Yeah. I can’t have you running off and getting yourself killed.” A reasoned.
“They kept saying that too.” Jacob grumbled.
“Who said that?” A tilted his head.
“K and X.” Jacob answered. “Also, why don’t y’all have normal names? Why just letters?”
“I dunno.” A non-committedly replied.
“Huh.” Jacob took that as a cue to leave, turning to the ladder.
A followed closely behind, waiting until Jacob had gone through the small exit to ascend himself.
Jacob didn’t bother to use the ladder on the way down, buckling his knees and dropping the last few feet, hearing the snow crunch beneath him. He had been prepared to absorb the impact, but it seemed like whatever advanced mechanics his suit possessed had done the job all by itself, which was pretty nice. He made a mental note to test out the capabilities later on, just to get a general sense of the limits and what would be a danger to him.
Jacob heard a similar crunching noise behind him, causing him to look backwards, seeing A just awkwardly standing there.
“Just gonna follow me? Really?” Jacob was slightly annoyed.
“Yeah. I’ve gotta keep you safe until someone else takes you off my hands, or else I’ll-” A cut himself off.
Jacob took note of that, inferring what he might have been about to say. It only served to confirm his notion that he was sort of a VIP on the planet. He was to be protected at all costs, which was pretty nice for Jacob.
“So, you gonna do anything?” A asked.
* * *
The sound of snow crunching filled the empty room as the pair walked into it.
“Can we go back already?” X complained.
“No, and be quiet.” K scolded him. “It’s too echoey in this room, it’s annoying.”
X scoffed. “Pff, it’s fine. Nobody’s around for miles, we’re all good. Now when can we go back?”
K rolled her eyes. “We can go back when we find something, You heard what he said.”
“What who said?” X inquired.
“You idiot, our squad leader!? Our boss that we’ve spent who knows how long with!?” K cried out.
“Calm down, just messing around.” X leaned against the wall.
“Whatever, you know what A said. We can’t come back until we’ve found water.” K reminded X.
“Why do we even need it? I’m sure he’ll be fine.” X waved off the issue.
“He’ll die.” K deadpanned.
“He can walk it off.” X waved off the issue again.
“I don’t care, just get off the wall, we’ve gotta search every building.” K gestured for X to follow.
“How can we even find anything in here? Everywhere else we’ve checked has been empty.” X took his place next to K.
“You never know, now get to it.” K kicked over a rock, exposing a small marble.
X trotted over to a dented metal counter on one side of the room, peering underneath it.
“Nothing here, this is useless.” X whined.
“Shut up.” K called out.
X surprisingly obliged, kneeling down and searching the small cabinets that were connected to the counter. After finding nothing but a small skeleton huddled inside one of them, X sighed heavily, before making his way over to a large metal box. It might’ve been taller than him if it wasn’t tipped over on its side, with an assortment of power cords snaking out from an outlet on the back of it. Seeing a small handle on the front, X tugged on it, the slight rust giving way to superior strength.
However, X’s eyes went wide with shock, which changed to glee.
“Hey, look what I’ve found!” X called out to K.
K’s head whipped up, staring at the prize that X was brandishing. “You found- what is that?”
If the two had any idea what warm food was, they would’ve recognized the lumpy frozen good that X had in his hands as a perfectly preserved rotisserie chicken. If they had any sort of reheating device, and if they had proper taste buds, they might have been able to enjoy the sweet experience of a Thanksgiving dinner. However, they were ignorant robots who were about as smart as a middle schooler, so the only reaction that they, or at least one of them had, was confusion.
“I dunno, but it says chicken on the side!” X proudly exclaimed.
“What’s chicken?” K questioned.
“I’m . . . not sure . . . but I’m pretty sure it's food.” X’s LED eyebrows furrowed in thought.
“How do you know that?” K asked.
“Uh, I don't?” X seemed more confused than ecstatic now.
K shook her head. “Did you find anything useful?”
“Well I found this clear thing, but it only says something called ‘Dasani’ on the side.” X held up a clear plastic bottle, putting his finger in quotation marks when he said it.
“Give me that!” K dashed across the room, snatching the item out of X’s hands.
“Wha- hey!” X tried to grab at it, but K held it out of his reach.
“Back up!” K swatted X in the face, inciting a squawk of surprise.
“I found it first, give it back!” X shot back, tackling K, causing the bottle to roll across the ground.
The two began slugging at each other, scrabbling across the ground for dominance over a goddamn bottle, like a gang of the aforementioned middle schoolers. Nearly crushing the contested item multiple times, the two spent a good thirty seconds duking it out. And after K finally managed to curl into a ball around the bottle, X tried to no avail to recapture his former possession.
“You motherfu-” X was cut off by a noise from the door that led deeper into the building
The two highly professional disassembly drones shot to their feet, their gazes snapping to the origin of the sound. Standing there was a figure, about the same height as K and X, with familiar black plating and armor, kneeling down to grab a small blue marble that was on the floor. It appears as though the idiot had been trying to be sneaky to avoid capturing the attention of the killer robots, which clearly didn’t go as planned.
“Uh, hi.” The drone said after a moment of silence.
Even more silence.
The military drone took that as a cue to scoop up the marble, before dashing out of the room.
K and X instantly took chase, with K pocketing the small bottle for later. The military drone wasn’t quite fast, but it did make use of its head start well. The unnamed drone disappeared behind the corner, with the pair of disassembly drones right on his heels. However, when K turned around the edge, a bullet tore through the air, finding its home in her head. Completely unprepared, she fell to the ground.
X, contrary to what some might do, didn’t stop to assist her, instead just simply vaulting over her body, speeding onward. He was rapidly closing the distance between him and the military drone, when his prey suddenly whipped around with a pistol in its hand. X, unlike his comrade, was prepared for this inevitability, turning to the side and out of the path of the trio of bullets as they flew by him. X followed up on this by diving down onto the hapless drone, trying to skewer it on gleaming metal claws.
The drone didn’t have a chance to fight, but unknown to X, he did have time to press the small panic button on its jawline, or where the jawline would be if it was a human. If anyone on this planet was familiar with standard police or even military practice, they would recognize the small button as the useful yet annoying panic button.
For a bit of context, the panic button is usually represented as a small and easy-to-access device that, when activated, sends out an emergency distress signal that would notify the proper authorities of the panic button’s location and a dire situation. The panic button is common in the military, police personnel, elderly homes, schools, corporate buildings, apartment buildings, and basically everywhere else that isn’t a ghetto.
The drone, however, proved to be much smarter than his predecessors, much to the dismay of X. It dove to the side, dropping down and through a weakened rusty grate. As X’s claws scraped against the wall, the fleeing drone tossed a metal panel that was blocking the way out to his side, before dashing through the door. X jumped down to the lower floor, before continuing his chase.
A flurry of bullets ripped towards him, but X brought his arm up, letting his forearm absorb the projectiles that hit, and most missed. The drone ran down a comically long flight of stairs, taking three steps at a time. The stairs continued downward, eventually opening up to a basement with a gaping hole in the wall, which led straight into darkness. The drone nearly fell into the hole from the momentum of jumping down the stairs. But, it just managed to skid to a stop at the edge.
X landed at the foot of the stairs, crouching to absorb the impact. X’s gaze focused on the drone that was pointing the pistol at X, sights drawing a solid bead on his head. However, when it pulled the trigger, it was only met with a slight clicking sound. The drone gaze jerked down to the pistol, then straight back up to X, who was now diving towards it, claws outstretched.
The drone jumped backwards, losing his balance. Its foot slipped off the edge, and while the sudden space between it and X saved its life for the time being, it did have to contend with gravity, which was now pulling on the drone by a considerable amount.
X watched as the drone tumbled down the pit, hitting the sides. However, the sides of the pit were both sloped and slick with a thin sheet of ice, causing the drone to slide down to the bottom. The drone slammed against a large rusty metal pipe, which was a solid indicator of the pit’s identity as a sewer.
The drone scrambled to its feet, caving the skull in of a skeleton that appeared to have been a former inspector when one took into account the corpse’s clipboard and tattered clothes. X slammed down onto the large pipe, causing it to resonate like a gong. The drone snatched up a small length of rusty metal rebar that had impaled itself on the ground, the edge of the steel surprisingly sharp. The drone adopted a fighting stance, pointing the business end towards X.
The robotic predator didn’t care, however, just simply stabbing his prey with his own pointy stick, the sharp end of his nanite acid tail. The sharp tool stuck itself in the drone’s shoulder, causing it to drop the bar and curse. X took the opportunity to grip the drone by the head, while digging the claws of his other hand in its chest. X then looked into the opaque black visor of the military drone, before pulling in two opposite directions.
The effects were made known quickly, with the head of the military drone migrating away from its home connected to the body. Oil splashed down onto X, who took the opportunity to feed. X dropped the head, letting it hit the ground with a clang, dropping the body as well.
X stood over the fallen corpse, claws gleaming with oil. K landed next to him, retracting her wings.
“So you got it?” K asked.
“No I didn’t, he got away. This body right here is just a random pigeon, and you’re just hallucinating.” X replied sarcastically. “Also, how the hell did you get here so fast?”
K rolled her eyes. “Oh, be quiet. I’m just making sure, because knowing you, you would probably let him go for the funny.” She ignored his latter question.
“Well now that you mention it . . .” X looked sorrowfully at the body.
K punched him in the arm. “Whatever, we gotta go. I seriously doubt that he was alone-”
She was cut off yet again by a loud crash that originated from the hole up on the wall. The duo whipped around, only to see several guns pointed straight at them.
“Sup.” X nodded at the intruders.
* * *
The sound of conversation could be audibly heard from the lit tent.
The tent had been designated as the de facto headquarters for the former facility personnel, with a smaller offshoot serving as a meeting room for the leadership. The offshoot tent in question was currently being used for its purpose, with an emergency meeting being called. Not because of the discovery of a dead body, but for a different matter entirely.
“Can anyone at least tell me how this happened?” The Lead Engineer leaned on the table.
One of the data officers stepped forward. “We believe that when we were evacuating the facility, an error occurred that declassified the file.” They answered.
“An error did this.” The General wasn’t convinced.
“Well, yes. The computers had been degrading for a while now, and we had noticed that several of our autonomous programs were misbehaving, or just outright not working at all.” The data officer replied.
“And we did nothing about this?” The General glared at the trio of data officers that had joined them.
“We actually were doing all we could, but we didn’t have the materials to make a complete fix.” The Lead Engineer interjected.
“Why didn’t you tell me then!?” The General exclaimed.
“I did. You probably just forgot again.” The Lead Engineer suggested.
“What? I have the best memory here.” The General puffed out his chest proudly.
“Alright then, what were we just talking about?” The Lead Engineer inquired.
The General frowned. “We were talking?”
The Lead Engineer facepalmed. “Goddamn idiot.”
One of the data officers stepped up. “Uh, sir? There is still the matter of the ones who discovered the information.”
“Oh yeah, uh, dump them off the eastern bridge.” The Lead Engineer waved off the issue.
With a simple nod, the data officers left, accompanied by a few guards as well. The Lead Engineer sat back in his chair, before steepling his fingers on the desk. He looked back and forth between the assembled leadership, before the General spoke up.
“So, are we gonna continue or what?” He crossed his arms.
“Yes, sorry.” The Lead Engineer motioned to one of his ministers. “You take the lead, Kane.”
Kane got up, walking to the front of the tent, dragging a projector on a cart with him. When he arrived, he pulled down the white screen, securing the hook on a latch on the bottom. He then adjusted the cart, facing the lens towards the screen. He then attached a laptop to the projector, pressing a few buttons and fiddling with a few switches, cursing once. Finally, the projector flickered to life, shining an image onto the screen.
Kane cleared his throat. “Ahem, so. What you are seeing here is the first page of the document in question. As you can see here, it appears to be warning against a drone viewing whatever the contents of this file is.” Kane flicked to the next slide. “It continues to vehemently express this multiple times, not really differing in its warning at all.”
One of the military ministers, Alicia, raised her hand. “Uh, question?”
Kane paused. “What is it?”
“Its warning against drones? She asked.
“Yes, it is. I’ll explain this later on, so save your questions for the end please.” Kane looked back to the projection, skipping through the slides until he landed on the first one without a warning.
“Ah, here we go. So, as you can see here, this appears to be a logo for JCJenson-'' Kane was interrupted by a faint, “In Spaaaaacee!” from an unknown source. “Uh, anyway, as all of you know, JCJenson was the company that owned this planet, and the one that provided the drones that the government were using in their facility, which was us.” Kane flicked to the next slide.
“Here we can see a title for a project, along with several bits of accompanying information, like locations, associates, page number, references, you get the picture.” Kane then produced a long ruler from what seemed like thin air, before pointing the end at one of the words. “Pay attention to this one here ‘AbsoSolv’ as it’ll come up several times later on.” Going to the next slide, Kane cleared his throat yet again.
“This page is more confusing, as it appears to be mentioning several unit serial numbers that don’t match up with standard format, which are mixed in with several other ones that are in different format, like this one here,” Kane pointed his stick at a random one from the line. “This one says, S-010011X01, which I believe has a main identifying letter instead of a string of numbers based on time of construction.”
“Additionally, while some of these feature the normal serial numbers that worker drones use, they have another identifier after it, separated by a dash.” Kane flipped to the next slide.
“This one is more straightforward, as it appears to be featuring a set of technical designs of a modified worker drone with the serial number and other associated information listed at the top. The notes on the side are observations on the modifications that can be seen in the designs. Some of the original worker drone parts can be seen, but a majority of the inner and outer mass seem to have been altered or replaced with a substance that is described as ‘fleshy’. You can see at the very bottom a signature of an unknown human administrator, and a notice that marks the drone for ‘disassembly’ as an addendum can be seen that marks whatever this is as a failure, and a recommendation to request more data from their source.”
Kane took a breath, before going to the next slide. “This is essentially the same as the last one, and this continues for a few slides. Nothing of note can be found in them, save for a few different serial numbers that were listed in one of the prior slides.”
Kane flicked to the next slide. “This one has two addendums, which I will say in a moment. The image is different as well, with noticeably less random mutations and more of a form taking place. This one was supposedly much more successful than the others, and while it was still marked as a failure, the first addendum said that the team working on the project should strip the data from the drone in as best a condition as they could. The second one simply noted they were naming the specific strain of code they were using to ‘Absolute Solver’. The addendum does not mention any reason or motive behind the name, only noting the fact that their shareholders would be pleased.”
“The next one is the first apparent success in the line of experiments that JCJenson seemed to be doing. A single growth can be seen protruding from the back of the spinal transmitter, and several other growths have sprouted inside. However, it is noted that the drone survived the process, and remained somewhat coherent for a period of time afterwards, which seems to be an outlier when considering the others. There isn’t an addendum on this one, only a request from the team for more extensive data from their source to compare to this experiment.”
“This trend continues for a good while, so I’ll just summarize the important bits for all of you.” Kane stated. “Each version continued to show more and more productive attributes and traits, as is par the standard course. Throughout the notes, requests, and addendums, whoever was typing up the document repeatedly noted some things that I will review later, such as Absolute Solver, the ‘source’, Camp 98.7, Cabin Fever Labs, and disassembly drones.”
Kane flicked to the final slide. “This is the final page, with some items to note. It appears to be a reiteration of the specifics of the agreement between the government and JCJenson, with a few additional key things. It includes the standard formalities and the usual junk that we all know, but something else as well. When mentioning the exchange of data that came from the asset-” Kane paused as the room underwent an uncomfortable shuffle in their seats. “They mention a clear correlation between this project that JCJenson is, or was, working on, and the asset. They also instructed the government contacts that any unauthorized personnel, which included government agents, were now barred from entering Camp 98.7 due to ‘hazardous environmental conditions’ and that this was nonnegotiable.”
Kane turned away from the projector, clasping his hands in front of himself. “And now to explain.”
“From what me and the team I assigned could gather, we deduced the meanings and purposes behind several items that were mentioned in this file. The first and most obvious, the ‘source’ that is mentioned. They are receiving data from this source, which seems to be essential to the development of what they were working on. Based on their words, we figured that the source is likely the asset, and yes, the same asset that we are all familiar with.” Kane paused, seemingly to let his words sink in.
“Continuing on, we began to dissect what Camp 98.7 was. It was very clearly a location of sorts, but where it was and what it was used for was more complicated. While we never arrived at a solid conclusion, we believed that the most likely avenue was that Camp 98.7 might have been an outpost of sorts, perhaps used in conjunction with these Cabin Fever Labs.”
“On the matter of the Cabin Fever Labs, we can clearly assume that research and development of this Absolute Solver was being conducted there, and perhaps Camp 98.7 was a sort of staging ground or other type of location related to the lab. We believe that the location of one or both of these sites are hidden within another file.”
“And perhaps the most intriguing and complex matter of them all, Absolute Solver. We figured that it was likely that this Absolute Solver was instrumental in whatever experiments they were doing, or even being one of the subjects of the experiments themselves. From what we gather, Absolute Solver is something, maybe a piece of alien machinery, some sort of unknown lifeform, an experimental strain of cutting-edge code, one of those things, but whatever it is, it is not something that is ‘normal’. It appears to have a unique effect on those it hosts or comes into contact with, rapidly generating new organic material, with sometimes uncontrolled effects. While the file only shows the experiments that used drones, we don’t know if any humans or other organic lifeforms were included either. Likely not, considering the legality of the situation, but it's open to discussion.”
Kane took a large breath, before continuing.
“And finally, the disassembly drones. They seem simple, but my team believed it to be heavily related to our current situation. They aren’t mentioned very often, but they appear to be a direct result of their experiments or related to one. From what we could gather, they are meant to, well, disassemble. Drones on par with military-grade ones that are capable of a variety of things, like bullet fire, rocket launching, melee combat, flight, digital warfare, and regeneration.” Kane watched as his words dawned upon his audience, expressions filling with shock.
“Yes, those drones. The disassembly drones that we read about are likely some variant of the unknown assailants that attacked the facility, and stole the asset in the process.”
The General sputtered. “B-but that would be a severe political incident! If those drones were under the command of JCJenson, and they stole GOVERNMENT property, then they would be liable for retaliation!”
Kane tried to calm the room. “Now, hold on, I’m not done-”
The Lead Engineer also appeared to be shocked. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier!?”
“You told me to wait for the meeting!” Kane exclaimed.
The room erupted into disarray.
“We need to mobilize, hunt down those damn traitors!”
“What's their last known location!?”
“Where is the nearest transmitter, send out a request for retaliatory action!”
Suddenly, a drone burst into the room, knocking over the projector cart in the process. Everyone turned to look at him, ceasing the chaos for a moment.
“Er, uh, sirs?” The drone asked.
“Yes?” The General and the Lead Engineer stood up at the same time.
“I, uh,” The drone looked back and forth between the two administrators. “Well, we received a panic signal from one of our scouts.”
The General scoffed. “Why would that be enough to warrant our intervention? He probably just tripped on a conveniently placed banana peel.”
The messenger fidgeted nervously. “Well, his partner reported moments before the signal came in that he heard gunshots.”
The administrative drones shared a collective uneasy look.
“What did you do?” The General asked slowly.
“The officers who received the signal first sent in two of the patrol squads that were nearby at the time.” The messenger answered.
The drones in assembly all either looked down in disappointment or facepalmed.
The General spoke up after a moment. “Send in a squad as fast as you can to their last known location. Only veterans, and outfit them with heavy weaponry and explosive ordnance.” The General paused, before adding an afterthought. “And give them some cutting equipment too.”
The messenger blinked in surprise. “Wait, sir, are you sure-”
“Just tell the officers already!” The General slammed his fist down onto the cheap plastic table, which formed a crack.
The messenger saluted quickly, before dashing out of the room.
The Lead Engineer took a cursory look at the assembled drones, before he sighed.
“We’re screwed.”
* * *
“Are you going back anytime soon?”
Jacob looked back at his unwanted companion.
“No.” He answered simply, before resuming his casual trot.
“We’re getting too far away from the spire, and the sun is coming up in an hour or two. I for one don’t want to get caught out.” A insisted.
“Well I don’t die from a bit of sunlight, so too bad.” Jacob stepped over a tire rim.
“I’m not sure that’s your choice.” A stated.
Jacob paused and looked backward. “Oh, so you’re bossing me around now?”
“Maybe, if you keep on making dumb decisions like this.” A stopped as well.
“Pff, I’ll be fine.” Jacob waved his hand in the air to emphasize his point.
“You won’t last ten minutes.” A dead-panned.
“Nah, I’ll speedrun this stuff, I’ll be off-planet in an hour.” Jacob proudly said.
A shook his head and sighed. “Whatever you say.”
Jacob didn’t answer.
Jacob then looked around. “Wait, where are we? I wasn’t keeping track.”
“And you said that you would- whatever, we’re like, three miles away from the base.” A replied.
“Huh, went that far?” Jacob asked.
A frowned. “Three miles isn’t that far-”
A was interrupted by a rather loud crack that resonated through the landscape.
Jacob blinked. “Uh, ok then-”
Jacob was also interrupted by a trio of cracks and bangs, sounding slightly familiar.
“Are those-” Jacob was, yet again, interrupted by even more bangs.
“-gunshots?” He finished.
“I wouldn’t worry, those idiots are probably either messing around, or they found a worker drone to kill.” A nonchalantly answered.
“Shouldn’t we go check it out though?” Jacob inquired.
“It isn’t a problem.” A said, annoyed.
“Well it would give me something to do.” Jacob insisted.
A checked the time, before looking at the horizon for signs of sunlight.
“Eh, fine. Wouldn’t hurt, I guess.” A shrugged.
“Nice.” Jacob grinned underneath his ballistic visor.
* * *
K sliced through the head of the last desperate drone, before spitting out a bullet.
“You done?” K called out to X.
“Yeah, I guess. By the way, do you still have my Dasani thing?” X looked at K hopefully.
“Yes, I do. And besides, it isn’t yours, it's for Jacob.” K answered.
“What? Why is he getting it? Why not me?” X exclaimed.
“Because it's water, idiot. An uncontaminated source, like A told us, remember?” K glared at X.
“I guess, but that's water?” X asked.
“Yes, it is. It matches the description.” K replied
“Description?” X questioned.
“Yeah, the description. You know what description means, right?” K seemed even more annoyed.
“I know what it means.” X snapped. “But how do you know what water looks like?”
K just shrugged, before turning towards the exit.
“Come on, we gotta get back soon.” She flew upwards, landing on the ledge.
X followed suit, tracing their steps back through the building. X looked back up at the rusty grate that the drone had fallen through, which he now identified as being part of a weirdly placed catwalk. Scanning the environment, X found that the only entrance to the small alcove would be the hole in the catwalk. The basement that the small room was connected to didn’t have an entrance either, only having the gaping hole in the side of the room, which likely wasn't intended. That would mean that a person would have to chop through the sewer wall to get into the basement and adjoining alcove, or jump off the catwalk. Both of those options didn’t make any sort of sense at all. In fact, the catwalk wasn’t even needed, someone could have just removed the entire basement-and-alcove plan entirely, which also removed the necessity for a catwalk. All in all, whoever designed the building was either high off of some crazy drugs, an idiot, or both.
But, none of these thoughts went through X’s head, as he was only thinking about the devastating loss of his cool plastic bottle.
K hefted herself up onto the rusty catwalk, with X following close behind. K went through the doorway, only for a rather eventful event to stop her momentarily.
A rocket screamed through the air, smacking K straight in the chest. The resulting explosion blew X backwards and K apart, with oil splashing onto the ground in the process. With a clatter, X hit the ground, slightly dazed. He looked to his left to see what looked like the arm of K, twitching slightly. X tried to get up, only to fall again, after he put his weight on a hand that wasn’t there.
X, seeing the failure of Operation: GTFU, adjusted his position so that he could get up with his other hand only, which was thankfully still there. Investigating his left arm, he could see that everything down from the elbow had been separated from himself in the blast. He didn’t have time to look for it or go get it, so he simply let the matter go.
Standing up, X stared through the smoke, before diving back down onto the ground when another rocket came streaking past him. It scratched his face, sending small sparks up, before heading down the other hallway. X pointed his own rocket launcher into the fog, before firing off a flurry of shots. He heard explosions, but wasn’t rewarded with screams or grunts of pain. Problematic, to say the least.
X took the opportunity to kick K’s assorted dismembered body parts down into the lower alcove, where she should eventually reassemble herself. She was really taking a beating recently, and she would probably be frustrated about that when X was all done, but that wasn’t his problem-
X nearly met the same fate as K when another rocket flew from the open doorway, the fog starting to clear up. X jumped up and over the RPG, letting it fly into the unexplored depths of the building. He couldn’t do this dance forever, so he made the executive decision to charge into the unknown.
* * *
​
​
​
Anyway, I'll be posting the next part tomorrow, so hang on tight for the singular person that made it to the end. No need to like, this is purely for my own benefit. See ya.

Review the events of the day, and list any situations/events that impacted you. Pick the situation(s) that had the most impact on you and answer all of the questions below for each situation.
(Use a new comment for each new situation that you want to introspect upon.)
​

1. What was the situation?
2. How did I react to the situation? (eg. Didn't go to bed to sleep at 10PM. Stayed up on reddit instead)
3. Why did I react this way? (eg. Poor self-control, addicted to reddit)
4. What was the outcome? (eg. felt groggy and tired throughout the day)
5. Is the situation positive or negative? (eg. negative)
6. Do I want to change it? (eg. YES)
7. How can I change it? (eg. Go to sleep on time)
8. What substitute can be utilized? (eg. Use tech in the morning instead of at night before bed; replace reddit at night with reading a book)
9. What are some ways of remembering when I am getting into this situation? (eg. Set phone alarm for sleep at 9:45PM. Turn off modem at 10PM)

Be honest. Be specific. Try to articulate why you felt that way.

My apologies if that has been posted already but I couldn't find it. Some days ago, the Daily Sceptic reported of a new study by Kevin Bardosh from the University of Washington supported by Collateral Global. I finished reading his whole article and it's probably the most comprehensive synthesis of the harms of lockdown I have seen yet in a scientific publication. Bardosh doesn't really add anything new to the debate but he developed a conceptual framework to systematically consider the harms of lockdowns. He went through hundreds of studies, with a special focus on those which already summarized the results of former research (like meta-analyses or systematic reviews). I was quite impressed by the breadth of topics covered and found several sources in the citations that I want to read next.
Will this article convince your pro-lockdown friends? Surely not, and not just because you can't reason people out of something they didn't reason themselves into in the first place. Bardosh doesn't intent to compare costs with benefits, but he really just looks at one side of the equation. Those who think that lockdowns saved millions and millions of lives will still say it was worth it.
Herby et al. (2022) has become a sceptics' favorite to point to the little benefits of lockdowns regarding mortality reduction. In my opinion, their estimates likely still overestimate any potential positive effects of lockdowns because almost all the evidence they use is from the first half of 2020. I find simple statistics that you can look up yourself on websites like Our World in Data to be more convincing in illustrating that lockdowns did little to nothing to reduce mortality over the whole pandemic. But you know how in these days of scientism, people like to throw academic studies at each other and use them like Pokemon cards. If not for that purpose, I think Bardosh (2023) will be useful as a lookup for further literature on specific aspects of lockdown harms.
Oh, and if you think this is all petty because lockdowns were wrong no matter what correlations some professors find them to have with whatever, I can understand that. Like it was recently posted here: It's not really about the data. Like most of you, I don't need any research to know that lockdowns were immoral and preposterous. But remember that a significant share of the population still believes that we were simply "following the science". I'm thankful for all the brave scientists who keep calling this out as complete bs, as tiring as it is.
If the link above was too hidden in the text, here's another link to the study: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4447806

Hey, I backed into a parking concrete pillar the other day —which was also my birthday🥲— and damaged the bumper. I got a clay bar kit, 80 grit sandpaper, and putty to fill in a minor hole from Canadian Tire but they didn't have Honda Civic NH578 primer and paint and I don't know if I need a clear coat? The clay bar got rid of most of the paint transfer but I didn't think I should sand it and fill in the hole without having the paint on hand. CT said they don't NH578 in stock anywhere in the city and it isn't available on their site so does anyone know where I can get a small affordable touchup kit? I also tried Amazon but I couldn't find a kit that had enough good reviews and don't know if I can trust them to be any good.
BTW I know absolutely NOTHING about cars and don't wanna mess up the paint even more so I can use all the advice yall got.
Thanks

​

Intro

To preface this review, I just need to say that this is going to be a very, very long read. Going through it myself just for the fun of it takes around 30 minutes — it's almost 7k words of text, including lyric references. So for the best experience, listen to the album beforehand to understand what the hell I was thinking when I wrote this review, play the album while reading, and set a good amount of time aside.
Another thing to get out of the way: yes, this is 9 months late 😭 I'm not sorry — when I find an album review online it's always around a paragraph per song or even shorter. It makes sense from a journalistic perspective, but I want to do this album justice, hence taking 7 months to write out all my thoughts.
This shit is comprehensive, and possibly a bit too overanalyzed and wordy, especially in Talk that Talk and Trouble. Each song review will compose of my commentary going over the song, writing the details I noticed through months of listening, followed by a conclusion. Also, mild swearing warning, I like implementing a touch of "French" when I'm very emotional about something. Anyway, onto the review!
​
​
​

Between 1&2 💞

Album Review
​
​
​
TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT
TELL ME WHAT YOU NEED
​
​
​

Talk that Talk 🎙

Lead producer: collapsedone
​
One of the most perfect TWICE songs.
I think this is one of TWICE’s best-sounding title tracks. Warm modulated synths, a thrumming bass line, distant bells, shimmering synths — the purpose of this song is to be fun and my god is it excellent at it, like… Sana and Chaeyoung are saying knock-knock-knock and beep-beep-beep as if they’re some kind of car. So much fun.
Further along in the verse, Dahyun’s voice sounds so full and smooth with that harmony layered on top. Tzuyu coming in with the Yes or Yes, Push & Pull, and 1 to 10 references — these are 5 years of song references in one line. And Jeongyeon closes the pre-chorus accompanied by a rising synth to drop into chorus one. Jeongyeon slays pre-choruses.
The drums accelerate, the synths start blasting, and Jihyo opens to that party of a chorus with her godly vocals,
​

Tell me what you want
Tell me what you need
A to Z da malhaebwa
But shijageun ireoke have
Talk that talk ttak han madi
Talk that talk L-O-V-E
deullyeojweo ooh
Now now now now now yeah~

​
During Sana's Talk that Talk~ lines there’s this ascending synth bell that gently rings with the descending melody and it sounds absolutely gorgeous. And the choreography during that part of the chorus is so so so so fun: the talking hands bit, spelling L-O-V-E, concluding with the deullyeojweo ooh! Oh my god Jihyo the deullyeojweo ooh…
Have I mentioned this song is fun?
Speeding through verse 2; Chaeyoung’s little part with the cat ears popping in the music video is adorable; Momo’s part with her stretching her arms out looks so damn cool; and Dahyun with her replay part sounds so lovely — although I think it sonically sounds a touch random, it makes sense thematically.
And now for this pre-chorus. Mina and Jihyo leading into it sound great BUT JEONGYEON… Now, she is my ult bias, and this pre-chorus sounds almost identical to the first one, but the way she holds that final note, enunciating and holding that now~ for one more beat before the chorus drops sounds so goddamn perfect — the song teeters on a cliff edge. Jeongyeon slays pre-choruses.
Dropping into the second chorus and man, Jihyo powered through that first chorus, but the way Nayeon delivers it just hits different. She has this indescribable “pop” voice (I promise this wasn't on purpose) that stands out and shouts this is THE chorus. I think this is especially apparent in how both lead into their choruses where Jihyo starts the chorus at 120% power while Nayeon waits until [Tell me] WHAT YOU WANT to full-send it. Later in the chorus, she also highlights “malhaebwa” in a similar way.
Another deullyeojweo ooh! Nayeon travels to Narnia, and Mina the engineer strikes again in this heavenly, underwater-esque bridge,
​

The simple words “I love you”
That’s all I wanna hear
Without hesitation, I’ll go up to you
I’ll make it simple
And just tell you I love you

​
The word “love” is said for the first time in the song. There’s a funky keyboard-like instrument behind Chaeyoung’s part. Jihyo, Chaeyoung, and Nayeon take the initiative in their lyrics, professing their love before closing the bridge.
And now for the pièce-de-résistance: this final double chorus is exceptional — 40 seconds of crack-laced euphoria; Jihyo switches up the chorus and the choreo, Dahyun comes in with her airy and fluttery “Talk that Talk”, Momo comes out of nowhere with “oh yeah it sounds so good!” — you’re damn right it does, and this is where the song SOARS.
​

han beon deo~ haejweo
geurae banggeum geu mal~

​
Nayeon outright shouts “Tell me what you need” and then Jeongyeon sings the above lines in such an ethereal, warm way that the first line ascends while the second line descends, causing a lull in the song before the finale with Nayeon finishing off the song with the final deullyeojweo ooh! What a party. What a song.
​
THE GOOD

• The synths of all time
• The chimes during Talk-that-talk~
• Jeongyeon’s pre-chorus going into Nayeon’s chorus
• The entirety of that magical, double-shot, final chorus and outro
• Solid line distribution

Needs Work

• The opening hook (Tell me what you want) and accompanying choreography could be “catchier”

Core Memory

• Singing (and dancing) my heart out when this song played at a K-pop club

​
Lyrics and theme-wise, if this were to have been TWICE’s last comeback, they’ve once again built upon the theme they've been doing since debut: a Bildungsroman, a coming-of-age story.
This song’s chorus is so honest yet so simple; it asks the listener, in this case, the other half of the relationship, to be more upfront and open with their love (never be scared of love) that before the relationship can continue and flourish there has to be a foundation and commitment of love between each other.
TWICE debuted with a song about making your crush go ooh ahh. Years later, they started maturing after asking “What is love?” by imagining their crush responding with “yes” when asking them out — and now concluding with the phrase “Talk that talk, [talk that] L-O-V-E”, being upfront with the relationship, wishing their partner to also be happy, to commit to them, to feel the love that they want to impart on them. From gawking like ooh-ahh to talking out your shared love like real adults — to having a true relationship between (one and) two.
And can I just say before finishing off Talk that Talk's review that this is such a fun and repeatable song with many little intricacies hidden in the nonet’s vocals and the production. This is the third draft I’m writing about Talk that Talk and its original word count pretty much quadrupled.
Harkening back to TWICE’s roots by combining mature thinking with youthful character, an incredible ending to look forward to, and just simply being a club-banger that’s easy to listen to, TTT is an easy 10/10.
​
​
​
WATCH ME GO WATCH ME GO
RULE THE WORLD
​
​
​

Queen of Hearts 👑

Lead producer: LDN Noise of SM
​
If there was one B-side to promote in a live clip, this was a solid choice.
Helmed by LDN Noise going headlong into the Western boy-group rock-band aesthetic, Queen of Hearts is a boom-boom-clap song through and through. The drums are very prominent throughout the song, only giving room to riffs of electric guitar in the chorus to drive and continue the momentum of the music.
And speaking of the chorus, vocal line each got a chorus to flex and they did not fuck around,
​

You ain’t ready for it
Watch me go~ watch me go~
Rule the world
Know you never doubted baby
I’mma go run the whole universe~

​
Cymbals crashing, drums booming, and 3MIX belting all just so sound so equally good.
​

Baby I was born to rule~~
Yeah I’m the queen, I’m the queen
And it’s all because of you~~
That I’m the Queen of Hearts

​
These long, held-out notes performed by Jihyo and Nayeon are simply exquisite. Along with the shredding guitar, the drum set coming in full, and the interludes by Dahyun, Momo, and Chaeyoung, this is the part of the song that always, always, gives me goosebumps — it sounds so visceral, so energetic, so fun, so triumphant. Boom-boom-clap songs can be hit or miss with people, but there is no denying that the payoff from the first part of the chorus to this second part is worth the wait.
The theme of the song so far has been kind of spread around the song. The chorus alludes to it with the line "And it’s all because of you." But Mina shows more sides of it in the second verse, especially with the phrase
​

And now that I’m surrounded by all my girls
We be shining bright like diamonds and pearls

​
It sounds really lovely — in a very cheesy and affectionate kind of way, as it rightfully should — the song is about the girls and their fans. But the bridge is where the song indeed shows its colours
​

Screaming out my name
See it in the stage lights
Feel so lucky just to have ya
Cause I know deep down I was meant for something bigger! Greater!
I know you’re seeing what I see
Yeah I’ll be everything you need
I know I’m gonna walk the walk
And talk the talk to be~ [the Queen of Hearts]

​
This is a song CONCEIVED TO BE PERFORMED FOR THE FANS. It’s meant to be loud. It’s meant to be unapologetic. It’s meant to be sappy. And it’s all the more wonderful for it.
This is the TWICEiest shit ever.
Like Talk that Talk, Queen of Hearts also has a killer closer. The production already started to grow from the bridge, but now the guitarist finally went Super Saiyan and instead of supporting the drums, they both take the centrepiece in tandem, ending the chorus with a little shred.
Then finally, the closing moments of the song even manage to squeeze in some more sappiness.
​

So thank you for the memories
You’re all the ones who made me~
So thank you for the memories
That I’m the Queen of Hearts

​
I still can’t believe that this banger is a FAN SONG out of all things. Truly, the TWICEiest shit ever.
​
THE GOOD

• Adorable fucking lyrics
• Unrelenting, roaring chorus
• English and vocal flex
• Addicting guitar riffs

Needs Work

• Chaeyoung rapping in English in their Korean songs somehow slaps harder than her English rapping in their English songs, nonetheless, in QoH, it fits with the sound of the song

Life Highlight

• Walking home from a K-pop festival with this song playing, felt like a Queen of Hearts

​
I love these types of rock songs with how grunge and head-bang-able they are, there is just a certain nostalgic and cheesy quality to them that feels so appropriate and cozy. I don’t love putting them on repeat, because in this case, I do believe there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Perhaps more shredding, maybe even a guitar solo to rock out to, or more gusto from the drums, cymbals, bass guitar, or an accompaniment(!) of ad-libs from 3MIX to support Jihyo’s final chorus? A ONCE can dream of a truly bombastic rock song from TWICE. But then again that distracts from the core of what this song is: a fan song undercover as a rock song.
Queen of Hearts has so much sweetness in its lyrics and message that it's overflowing. The drums, guitar, and vocals can be as loud and intricate as they can, but the theme of this song is what makes it special from TWICE’s other rock songs, especially for fans of this type of sound — it’s a 9/10 for me.
​
​
​
I WANNA WANNA WANNA
TAKE YOU TO THE BASICS
​
​
​

Basics 🌈

Sole lyricist credit: Chaeyoung
​
Quite possibly the jammiest (pun intended) song of the album.
A song written by the Strawberry Princess herself — an event similar in frequency to other artists' releases with her last song being 2020’s silky Handle It — Basics first starts with an understated and dreamy delivery. After the first stanza, however, a bouncy Miami bass line emerges, revealing the true nature of the song: this is a classic summer bop!
This is especially apparent in the first rap.
​

dareun aedeulgwaneun dalla
Ain’t beggin’ for love
nappeun geon anijana ige naraseo
eodiro twilji molla
Like rainbow bubble gum
geureoni nal kkwak butjabadweo

​
Syllables are pronounced in a relaxed nature, bars often starting with an "ah" sound, flirty lines in English — this rap features a production full of pop with R&B flourishes and, in my opinion, this is Chaeyoung’s bag. Also, the line rainbow bubblegum is so adorable and so Chaeyoung.
​

I wanna wanna wanna take it to the basics
da weonhae weonhae weonhae? seodureuji ma Baby
ppeonhae ppeonhae malhae mweohae da al tende
Ah yeah ah yeah ah yeah ah yeah

​
That chorus is pure pop with a Miami bass backing; you better be bopping your head to the melody, if not booty poppin' to the bassline. Chaeyoung loves rhyming in the first half of the chorus to enhance its catchiness and it's damn incredible: the “wanna”, “weonhae”, and “ppeonhae” all combine to create these imperfect rhymes that continue momentum without feeling repetitive.
After the very Boy With Luv-sounding “ah yeah ah yeah, ah yeah ah yeah” comes an 8-bar split half and half between Chaeyoung and Momo. Coming from the chorus, the production completely cuts out for the first 2 bars. This adds tension; the song yearns to have that bass beat thumping again and all we have in the audio space in those 2 bars is Chaeyoung spitting and she delivered.
​

taneun deut tteugeoun samak wie
yeppeuge pieonan jangmi gata
joshimseure naege dagaol ttae
nado moreuge jjilleobeoril tende

​
Translating to:
​

Above the hot, burning desert
It’s like a rose that bloomed beautifully
When you come to me slowly
I will prick you unconsciously

​
The rap feels slick, effortless, and confident. Her diction remains sharp when enunciating each syllable but she doesn’t let the flow of her rap waver or build as her 4 bars go by, it’s just smooth consistency throughout. Even the lyrics possess an aura of laid-back collectedness that is just so her.
The things Chaeyoung can do when given her pen.
​
THE GOOD

• That sweet summer vibe of a chorus
• The “spaceship” post-chorus is killer
• Chaeyoung devoured this song
• Sure-footed, confident lyrics

Needs Work

• Perhaps an alteration of that ah yeah ah yeah line
• The way Jihyo did her pre-chorus line is good, but Mina’s is great

Core Memory

• After donating my hair, walking down the rainbow-coloured areas of downtown Toronto with this song playing was very… fitting

​
This song is summer bliss distilled into 2:56 of MP3. It’s dreamy, the raps are satisfying, and the ending is charming. I will say that although the second half of the song adds the stunning “spaceship” post-choruses and a floaty bridge with an incredible drumbeat-drop transition to the final chorus, the raps of the song make it feel a bit front-loaded. And in an album stacked with incredible finishers, it feels more apparent.
With that said, it’s an 8/10 bop for me. This song is so radio-friendly and easy to put on and it feels exactly what Chaeyoung would make if given the reins to produce a pop song all on her own. The lyrics are nonchalant but full of conviction, the wordplay is intricate, the production is playful, and it’s not too bombastic — the song's just a nice vibe. Songs like Basics are the standard for good, simple, repeatable pop music and I’m happy that Chaeyoung got to test her pen in this genre.
​
​
​
BABY WE’RE IN
TROUBLE TROUBLE
​
​
​

Trouble 💃

Sole lyricist credit: Jihyo
Background vocals: Jihyo
Lead composer credit: Jihyo
Vocal director credit: Jihyo (an assumption given her contributions in First Time)
​
One of the most enjoyable songs I’ve heard in a while.
There is an underlying tension within the first 4 bars of the song, Jihyo and Nayeon confidently open it to a nondescript array of synths and then the stanza ends, Momo announces “Let’s go”, the beat drops and it hits you:
This is a club song.
Dahyun's relaxed delivery contrasted with Jeongyeon's staccato flow, the wobbly synth beat with the sprinkle of that house piano, Sana dramatically slowing the song down only for Tzuyu to build it back up until the chorus drops,
​

• Nayeon opens it using a breathy tone, with vocal chops serving as harmonies
• The blooming of the house piano takes centre stage and the song ascends into euphoria
• A random drum roll capped off by a cymbal crash
• Jeongyeon’s pronunciation of the word “trouble” almost being a growl
• Chaeyoung slyly admitting “I like this trouble”
• The entirety of Tzuyu’s tro~oh~oh~ouble yeah~
• Sana using her deep voice for the na~na~na~na
• Jihyo leading the vocals during the synchronized T W I C E chant

​
This chorus is perfect. Toronto’s residential market needs this song injected into its veins because god damn this song has SO much house in it.
And then. AND THEN. ANOTHER KILLING PART. This rap fucking slaps.
​

gamchweo bwatja geugeon Fake
ppajin hamjeongeun Sweet cake

​
During the first 2 bars, Chaeyoung is keeping it calm because that trip of a chorus just ended and the song needs a breather, but I don't think anyone expected her to SNAP this hard afterwards:
​

You cannot resist this
Cannot miss this, such a bliss
Ima put it down down
Oh yeah, better kiss kiss

​
Below is the structure of her this portion of the rap, I’m not that well versed in this technical aspect of music theory but I digress, this is all in the span of around 5 seconds where it’s:
​

Triplet-triplet
Quadruplet-triplet
Quadruplet-doublet
Doublet-quadruplet

​
Now, 25/5 = 5 syllables per second isn’t groundbreaking, but goddamn it these 2 bars sound so nice — if there is one part in this album that I always repeat, it’s these bars. The addition of that first quadruplet for “cannot miss this” in the midst of all the triplets sticks out and accelerates the flow of the rap while the following doublets and quadruplets help to destabilize and slow the rap down as the verse closes. And can I just point out:
THE MAIN VOCALIST WROTE, DIRECTED, AND COMPOSED THIS SONG ‼
Chaeyoung of course delivered the fuck out of her verse but THIS is what you get when you have a member not only write the words they’re saying but also the melody and flow with which they sing it. This is what you get when one member knows the others so well that when they write a song, they know how to make the group as a whole exceed. This is what you get when the artists you stan love doing artist shit.
And. AND. That's not all — with how much I mentioned I love a damn good outro to close a song, this outro slaps as well:
​

Woo wee woo wee woo
I like this trouble be-be [Momo]
Woo wee woo wee woo
I like this trouble bay-be [Sana]
Woo wee woo wee woo
I like this trouble bay-beh [Chaeyoung]
Woo wee woo wee woo
I like this trou-ble [Jihyo]

​
What an outro.
Like, come on, Nayeon’s imitating a police siren for crying out loud. And this is all after her ad-libs in the final post-chorus; after the pianist going full tilt and playing that piano as if it was their last chance to ever play; after that final T W I C E chant by all the members come these blissful 20 seconds at the very end.
What a song.
​
THE GOOD

• The theme of relishing in an uncontrolled love
• Sana and Mina’s melody in the pre-chorus
• Chorus
• Post-chorus
• Rap
• Outro
• Wees and woos

Needs Work

• Mina’s line of “falling down, falling down, falling down low” in verse 2 feels a bit too abrupt of a change

Core Memory

• While writing Trouble's review I had this song on repeat for my whole subway commute and I must've been so distracting, just head-bopping and being so invested in enjoying a song

​
Need I say more, easy 9/10. The only reason I place Talk that Talk above Trouble is because of what that song represents but besides that, this song is one of the best “international” sounds they’ve put out. Actually, I haven’t listened to Eyes wide open in a while but this song is up there with one of the most sonically pleasing pieces of work they’ve done.
Clubbing TWICE music has always been a thing since TT was birthed in 2016, and has been a staple of their discography since 2019’s Fancy You and Feel Special mini albums, but Trouble unapologetically dives into and fits the house genre so well you’d think that this is TWICE’s bread and butter sound.
Trouble is Jihyo’s magnum opus. What a song.
​
​
​
BRAVE BRAVE BRAVE
FOR YOU
​
​
​

Brave 💖

Main producer: Slow Rabbit of HYBE
​
I first thought this was just a good song, then I read the lyrics.
Gentle guitar plucks, shimmering synths, a distant keyboard in the right ear, in the left an occasional glockenspiel, the melodic oohs from the members — this song is PRETTY.
​

The night that was unusually dark
Above this terrifying world, felt so lonely
The world has grown in the time of wandering
So hard to breathe

​
Mina and Chaeyoung open the song with how they feel lonely and that it's hard to breathe and now suddenly the song sounds bittersweet — I was not expecting the song to be more emotional. Brave describes a situation where the singer is in a darker place in life and it isn't until another person gives them hope by calling them 'brave' that they find the drive to keep on going.
Once the chorus hits, the melodies pick up, more guitars get added, and there’s even an electric guitar hidden in the mix somewhere, and the song drops the emotional front to reveal a mid-tempo pop song to dance to while crying in the club. The song as a whole still carries this melancholy feeling, but now with the added support of this chorus acting as a light amongst the gloom.
Continuing on in the second verse there's this gorgeous, well-placed break in the song that just lets it settle back into the gentle back and forth after that chorus. Only a seasoned producer would risk this much empty space in a song and Slow Rabbit went to fill those shoes.
Back onto the chorus, I'll take this moment to once again commend Slow Rabbit with the mixing of the song, because 4MIX will undoubtedly sound good in the chorus, and the interludes from Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Mina also sound really good, but undoubtedly the highlight of the choruses are these lines:
​

Oh na na na neon nal naige hae [Momo, then Tzuyu, then Momo]
On and on and on
Brave brave brave for ya [Dahyun, then Chaeyoung, then Mina]
Oh na na na neon nal sum shwige hae [Sana, then Momo, then Sana]
On and on and on oh trust me babe

​
Momo, Sana, and Tzuyu form this beautiful, surprisingly catchy, second half of the chorus accompanied by a guitar drop. It should not turn out this well with how conflicting the "na"s are with the guitar melody but it creates this gentle bopping ebb and flow that just feels so lush and mellow.
Diving into the bridge reveals that the listener of the song is revealed to not only be capable of supporting the singer through direct words but also through their thoughts and dreams; no matter how they convey their wishes to this person, they will always try to push themselves to be their truer, better selves for it. And, as can be discerned, this can be a song interpreted to be about ONCEs. About how they push TWICE to be their best selves despite the breathless hardships they face.
​
THE GOOD

• Special lyrics
• Pleasant sound to vibe out to
• That gentle break after the first chorus
• Jihyo’s high note at the end
• A Nayeon Jeongyeon joint high note ⁉️
• Just pretty vocals throughout

Needs Work

• Potentially hard to comprehend without translating the Korean lyrics

Core Memory

• Form of Therapy’s life motto revolves around the word “brave”. I don’t know where I got that from, but I remembered it right before watching his album reaction

​
I’m actually spoiled with the TWICE members’ easy-to-understand songwriting when a song like this pops up where it isn’t written by a member and the thematic bits are mostly in Korean I just tend to put it aside in favour of the other songs on the album. And, especially for a song focusing on a theme like this where the English phrases don’t do the Korean lyrics enough justice, it does place a barrier on the listening experience a bit, dropping it down to a 7/10 from an 8/10.
With that anecdote out of the way, this song is just such a vibe, man. I know that sounds super hippy to say but Brave is so mellow and smooth that I can’t help but sway a little when that chorus hits. And then I remember what the lyrics say and I stop and cry a bit on the inside. This song is so pure, raw, and full of heart — we need more songs like these where they just reminisce about life while putting up an upbeat front. Don't mind me just crying while dancing the night away.
This isn't the first time this theme has been sung by TWICE either, they've long trodden this path of supportive, confiding, up-lifting songs with Young & Wild, Rainbow, Queen, Go Hard, Depend on You, even this album's Queen of Hearts, and, of course, Feel Special. Brave just adds another on top of an already stacked lineup, unique with its mellow somberness.
Also now feels like a good time to get into my rating system:

• 7/10s are songs are ones that are simply good throughout or great songs with apparent flaws
• 8/10s are great songs with standout characteristics
• 9/10s are borderline perfect songs where I sometimes can't comprehend how great they are
• And 10/10s are the best of an artist's discography, songs that encapsulate their ethos perfectly or expand upon them in a meaningful way

​
​
​
I SEE THE LIES
ON THE TIP OF YOUR TONGUE
​
​
​

Gone 💨

Sole lyricist credit: Dahyun
​
Who the fuck pissed off Dubu this time??
It’s getting quite rare to see TWICE pull off brand new sounds because, with now 190 original songs under their belt, they’ve done so many genres and sub-genres varying from hyper pop, to bossa nova, to whatever 2020’s Go Hard is. So it’s surprising to know they’ve still got tricks up their sleeves and Gone is one of them.
The song starts with strings swinging back and forth and vocal chops dancing from ear to ear, teasing what’s yet to come. Jihyo enters the song with a whisper and the song sets its pace. A stagnant drum pad moves the song along and typical song progression would have Mina continuing the build but — it doesn’t. The song continues to simmer, adding a hint of high hat to the pot. And then, Sana and Tzuyu come on and surely the buildup must boil over right?
Silence, until…
​

I see the LIES on the top of your tongue

​
The strings emerge again on full blast, the simmer turns into a rolling boil, and the anger of the song is revealed.
​

All the fate I had towards you
Fades like a fog, gone, gone
Your flipping mind of doing this and that
I’m tired of it, it’s meaningless
In the beginning, it was hard to believe
With that, hatred increases

​
The singer is so scorned and burned from this relationship that they reminisce about all the effort they’ve put in since the beginning, but their “partner” is so unconcerned and unfaithful that they’ve just about had enough of the relationship altogether.
This has been Dahyun’s thing coming from 2020’s Bring It Back, 2021’s Cruel, 2022’s That’s all I’m saying, and even 2023's Don't Blame It On Me — emotionally charged breakup songs that make you feel as if she’s gone through a dozen bad relationships. Dispatch, do your job better, or don’t, I don’t really know.
Another highlight of the song is the post-chorus going into the bridge. This segment reiterates the structure from the first post-chorus — a barrage of drums supported by the rhythmic strumming of a bass guitar in the back along with a consistent synth filling out the soundscape. But this time, it’s Dahyun and Chaeyoung on the rap:
​

I can’t stand it anymore [Dahyun]
My patience, invisible
I can’t find it, it’s all gone
Even if I try to turn back, it’s too late [Chaeyoung]
There’s no use anymore
It has left, it’s long gone
You, with flipping mind, you are out [Momo]
I know that you know what I’m talking about [Dahyun]
Nothing you could say that could turn this around
I’m gone

​
Continuing the disrespected theme of the song, Dahyun notes that she’s finally had enough and Chaeyoung adding on that there’s no point salvaging what was once there for all of it is long gone. Momo and Dahyun round it off by telling the listener that there’s no point trying to reason with them or playing naive, they fucked up and there’s no coming back.
Can I just say, it is a bit of a shame that Chaeyoung’s rapping popped off in this album whilst Dahyun only has this one verse that she shares with Chaeyoung, but it just sounds so good how Dahyun eases in after the chorus with her light rapping tone and transitioning into her singing. She even holds the “gone” in a little crescendo for some added pizzazz.
And, there’s no way I’m not going to talk about Momo’s vocals in this bridge. Damned if she only got 1 line to use it in, her lower register is incredible. She sounds so smooth singing in this tone. All of TWICE do in particular and there is nary a weak vocal performance in this album.
To close the song off, a wash of synths gets to have their shine in the spotlight, showered with Nayeon’s belting, signifying the dramatic and drawn-out conclusion of this partnership.
​
THE GOOD

• They’ve still got a few surprises left
• Thundering chorus
• 2nd rap and bridge combo
• A bitter, crumbling relationship theme

Needs Work

• I’m not a huge fan of the mixing during the first post-chorus, where Momo's vocals were fighting with the production, which is disappointing because Momo is capable of an insane flow
• The post-chorus in general, specifically the first one, can be a bit tiring on repeat listens

Core Memory

• Actually, I think this song sounds like a mix between GOT7's Not By The Moon, BLACKPINK’s Love To Hate Me, and Dahyun’s Bring It Back. I don’t know where I got this thought came from, but it stuck

​
Going back to that point about the first post-chorus as a whole; songs that have the production continue unchanged into the post-chorus/2nd verse are very hit or miss for me — see TWICE's Don't Call Me Again for an overbearing example. The first post-chorus could use some work because the post-chorus going into the bridge contrasts Dahyun’s light tone nicely with the hard-hitting production, continuing the energy until it slowly fades into silence at the end of the bridge.
Back to the song as a whole, as much as TWICE has been experimenting with their sound for the past 4 years now, I’m happy they’re still finding new ways to explore what they’re capable of. And for that alone, even though I’m not a big fan of songs like these where they rely on sounding “big”, Dahyun’s lyricism and the thrill I receive every time I indulge myself in this song when I listen to it for the first time in a while elevates it to an 8/10. Keep on breaking hearts, Dubu.
​
​
​
INVINCIBLE
SUPERHEROES
​
​
​

When We Were Kids 🧸

Sole lyricist credit: Dahyun
​
Press play to reminisce, pull up lyrics to cry.
This song is so beautiful. I’m totally not writing this song review, crying on the bus, reminiscing about my childhood, while just having turned 21. I don’t know if these are happy or sad tears but this song is so beautiful either way.
Warm synths, muted piano, a gentle high hat, the younger members starting off the song — this has to be up there for one of the softest TWICE songs ever. And as it should, it’s one of the TWICEiest songs ever. And then Nayeon comes in,
​

Invincible superheroes, we wanted to be adults
To the higher, clearer world

​
The chords start swelling, the high hat keeps pace, and then the harmonies come in,
​

Remember when we were kids
When we were kids, we didn’t know
If we could go back
I will love it even more
Remember when we were kids

​
Jihyo takes up the second half of the chorus as it drops, trading the strings for an almost R&B synth production — if choir R&B takes off, this song started it. The song relishes in this cacophony of warm sounds until going back into its sparse and peaceful verses.
This time, the hints of piano are louder, little twinkling synths begin to shimmer, the drum buildup comes and Jeongyeon drives the song straight into the chorus. No time for the strings to build like in Nayeon’s — this song loves its chorus so much.
And can I just take this time to appreciate the amount of Jeongyeon vocals in this album. Her voice is so clean, stable, and projected — but also more tender and soft compared to the more pronounced tones of Nayeon and Jihyo.
The bridge comes in, repeating the phrase
​

I wish that I could meet
Could meet the younger me

​
Giving the song time to rest, before building back up to the last chorus — this time led by Jihyo, transitioning from the bridge with her own unique lead-in, completing the 3MIX trifecta. And interestingly enough, Chaeyoung follows up in the second half of the chorus, rather than another member of the vocal line. She really did pop off in this album.
As the last chorus begins to close, the percussion at its strongest, the harmonies as prolific as ever, the background choir vocals cranked up to their Sunday best, is the song going to end? Of course not! This is an album full of banger endings as if the songs don’t want to actually end, and When We Were Kids being the album closer very much indulges in that feeling.
After a brief refrain, supported by Nayeon’s high note with a touch of vibrato, the song almost dives back into a fourth chorus. Nayeon and Jeongyeon harmonize — an especially rare and heavenly moment. And the song repeats the bridge, reiterating that they want to meet their younger selves, this time with the more lush R&B production before closing with silence, a few piano notes, and Tzuyu singing the last line of the song
​

Oh, we were kids

​
Reflection, acceptance, hope. What a song.
​
THE GOOD

• Heavenly vocals throughout
• Generous harmonies
• Relatable, heartfelt lyrics
• Euphoric chorus
• Great closer to the album

Needs Work

• Refrain after the last chorus, "Back when we were kids," could’ve been executed better

Core Memory

• For an album titled Between 1&2, I don’t think anything hits harder than finishing the song reviews, with this song in particular, during your 21st birthday

​
I wrote the first part of this review at the beginning of November 2022. Then university, life, and other things got in the way of my headspace for me to feel confident about wrapping all of this up. In a way, I felt like I just didn’t want this review to end because of the joy that writing gives me. I didn’t want the happiness to end. And then it hit me, after watching a YouTuber rank animated movies and them placing Spirited Away at the top and explaining 'why' reminded me of just how important growing up is, and by extension this song.
This theme is important for both the rookie TWICE members in 2015 and the teenagers who would follow their journey and grow up with them, facing life’s obstacles along the way. Hardships that used to only involve family, crushes, and social media, evolve into working and commitments and all the struggles that adult life brings. Being a kid and enjoying the simple things in life is one of the most sought-after moments we want to relive because we took growing up for granted. The only thing we can do now is look back on ourselves with fondness and rose-tinted lenses.
TWICE’s original marketing was to resonate with people through their senses and their hearts. That was during their debut, and I think it still holds up today. In my opinion, touching people through their emotions is what TWICE does best and makes them one of K-pop’s all-time greats. It was never about having the best numbers — it was always about being the best idols. And to think that this journey of maturation and growth would occur from 2015 all the way to this song, being a fitting nod to TWICE’s 7th anniversary, I don’t think anyone at the company nor the group would ever imagine that they could get this far. It’s these nine women or none — 9/10.
This song honestly deserves a 10/10 with how much I noticed other people reminiscing their childhoods after I heard this song, it is such a widely-relatable message, but I am determined to limit myself to one 10/10 song per album and if I were to decide between TTT and WWWK, I'd give it to the one's that's more repeatable — Talk that Talk just has this electric energy about it.
​
​
​

Epilogue

And finally here is the end. If you made it this far in one sitting then I commend you, because I could not write this whole word jumble in one sitting. As alluded to, I started writing this album review sometime in October, after a series of edits the first draft was finished in March, and now here's the final draft in June.
I truly love this album. It got me through some important parts of my life, both good and bad, and it is just a pleasant listen throughout. Getting to relive this album again this week before finally completing the review has been an exciting journey. Brave hit me harder this time, after being overshadowed by the other gems of this album, and When We Were Kids finally got me to tear up and not just be emotionally satisfied.
I feel like there's something for everyone on this album. From the exhilarating thrills of TTT to the anthemic euphoria of QoH, the clubbing dichotomy of Trouble and Brave to the blissful glee of Basics, and the sweet reminiscence of WWWK to the thundering anger that is Gone. Like Eyes wide open, I liken Between 1&2 as a pop music taste platter — there's such an eclectic mix of pop, house, and dance in this album that there's bound to be a song that someone will love, like, and dislike.

Hey everyone, I have a 2017 Ford F250 and I am looking at the Continental TerrainContact A/T, I have heard Michelin makes a good tire for this truck as well as some of the other brands, but are there any tires y’all recommend? What do y’all think of the Continentals?
I’m not sold on that brand, but I have also had good experience with Continental in the past and that tire seems to get good reviews.
First truck, so with that kind of investment it’s nice to get some different opinions before you jump into things. Thank you in advance!
Edit: typo

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

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