Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/ReddXReads/comments/13lfqkw/vulturebeard_the_legbeard_that_ruined_roomies_fo Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/ReddXReads/comments/13u79ht/vulturebeard_bad_roomies_part_2/
^{Hi again, it’s the bunny. I’ve just barely stepped into Reddx’s discord, but Ezekial is still posting this saga for me so thank you, Z.}
Trigger warning: This will deal with a lot of aspects relating to child neglect (and possible abuse) and Kid being ignored or taking the brunt of Vulture’s anger. Sorry for the spoiler as well, but I think we saw this coming, too (especially if you’ve seen Z talk in the discord). Don’t push yourself to read if you’re not okay with these concepts.
The Cast List
Bunny (author): 33, female. Recovering lifelong doormat slowly building a spine. Neuro spicy gym rat with major depressive disorder, general anxiety disorder, and most recently diagnosed with ADHD. Unfortunately, very familiar with surviving trauma.
Z (poster): My partner. 31, nonbinary (they/them), also neuro spicy with depression, anxiety, OCD, BPD, autism, and also familiar with lifelong trauma.
One Liner Beard (OLB): 33, male, neuro spicy with ADHD and depression. His nickname here comes from the fact that in messenger, he usually has one-word replies like “oof” or “mmm” as an acknowledgement he had seen the message but has nothing further to contribute.
VultureBeard (Vulture): 30, female, neuro spicy and disabled with multiple conditions. She has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, POTs (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), autism, depression, anxiety, chronic migraines, but also possibly a list of things that may or may not be real. The star of this unfortunate circus. Her name comes from how she always pops up when I’m cooking food, complaining about how hungry is and how she’s unable to cook.
Kid: 3. Female. OLB and Vulture’s child. Likely neuro spicy like we all are, but she’s also only 3 years old. Slightly speech delayed and not potty trained yet.
Take a deep breath. Now take another one. This chapter will likely make you mad.
​
Chapter Three: “Do You Want Bologna?” Or, Vulture as a Parent
Imagine this: it’s eight in the morning and you’re cozy in bed. The blankets are warm, and you hit snooze on your early alarm so you can sleep in before you have to get up.
Your peace is shattered by a toddler crying, followed by the screech of, “WHAT!” or “GET DOWN FROM THERE!”
Yeah, welcome to The Life.
Vulture has a messed-up sleep schedule. It’s partially because Kid doesn’t sleep soundly through the night, but it’s also because Vulture’s sleep schedule is essentially flipped backwards to where she stays up all night and wants to sleep during the day. Vulture says it’s “insomnia” but sometimes she’s up late gaming with Discord friends or watching anime. I couldn’t tell you which issue it was day by day. Sometimes if I go to sleep late, I hear Kid crying from her room because she had night terrors or had potty troubles. Sometimes I hear OLB and Vulture awake shuffling between rooms in the hallway.
Because of this, Vulture and mornings don’t mesh well. Kid is usually put in her room for bedtime around 7 PM, usually with her tablet to keep her company and either give her something to watch, or to play white noises for sleeping. Kid does not have a real sleep routine as well. She’s just kind of shut in her room. Sometimes there’s a bit of a routine like winding her down with chocolate milk and giving her a countdown of “okay, ten more minutes and then bedtime,” but for the most part she just does not want to go to bed. Bedtimes are met with a lot of crying, and the beardy parents telling us that she will be upset for a bit.
Kid has an attempted daily schedule, if Vulture is awake enough. Theoretically:

• 9 AM: Awake and watching TV while Vulture is on her computer in the same room
• 1 PM: In the room for naptime (but it’s usually play time)
• 4 PM: Free to run around while dad is home
• 7 PM: Bedtime (but she’s usually playing then too)

But a lot of times, that schedule gets thrown out of whack depending on if Vulture gets up on time. When she sleeps in, Kid is in her room from 7 PM to 1 PM. Sometimes Kid will make a fuss to make Vulture get up earlier than 1 PM, and Vulture will be grouchy because she “went to bed at four in the morning” because she either had “insomnia” (read: gaming or watching anime) or because Kid wouldn’t sleep. Or Vulture will be up to take care of Kid and make sure she is in a clean pull up and has eaten. Then she shuts her into her room and goes back to sleep. Sometimes if Kid is too much of a handful, Vulture will say, “It’s 12:45. That’s close enough to 1.” And put Kid in the room because that’s close enough to nap time.
Sometimes because Kid won’t go to sleep, she’ll still be up at 9 PM and that breaks her schedule too. A lot of times, it works out that OLB is the “fun” parent while he’s home, because he’s up at 4 AM to leave for work by 6 and doesn’t come home until between 4 or 5 PM. Then she spends time with him while he’s home.
There’s also a child lock on the inside of Kid’s bedroom door, those doorknob covers that you have to push and turn, so she can’t open the door and wander around unsupervised. I was originally the one who suggested the child lock, back when she was younger, and they didn’t have the secondary child gate they currently do now that’s stored in the garage. Since then, with her potty training and Vulture’s likewise awful sleep schedule, I’ve suggested more than once that they take the door handle blocker off and put up the second kiddy gate they have to block the living room and kitchen off, so she can get up if she needs to, but the child lock still remains. At most, she would have access to their room, since it doesn’t have a kiddy lock on it. Me and Z’s bedroom has a child lock on it, as well as the bathroom door. She could freely wander between her room and her parents’ room that way.
I hear Kid playing in her room by herself a lot, squealing and having fun and playing pretend. Or moving her furniture around. And no, the furniture is not secured to the wall, so she can move her bed around the room. I’ve also told OLB and Vulture they needed to make sure she can’t topple it and chain it to the wall but, yeah, that hasn’t been dealt with.
When Kid really needs attention, she will cry and wail. And I mean wail. The two beardy parents don’t have baby monitors or anything that can hear into her bedroom, so she has to wail loudly enough to be heard through the walls. Luckily, the house has thin walls. Because of her early bedtime, she’s often awake early in the morning. Sometimes Vulture will respond, sometimes Vulture won’t wake up until around noon.
Yes, that means Kid is by herself a lot.
Kid is a bubbly three-year-old. She loves it when Z and I give her attention, which admittingly isn’t as often as I would like to give her. With my own Depression™, I spend so much time fighting to just gather enough mental energy to be a productive human. Despite me wandering in a mental fog, Kid remains a bright spot in my day. I met her when she was a fresh baby bean just barely out of the hospital, and I immediately fell in love. Since then, I’ve seen her grow almost her whole life, except for when they were all in north Texas. She has blue eyes and brown hair that will curl on its own. She loves dinosaurs, Baby Shark, Octonauts, and occasionally whatever anime the parents are watching. Don’t ask me how many times I’ve heard the Baby Shark song. I don’t want it stuck in my head for another solid week.
She used to watch a lot of Ms. Rachel’s Songs For Little videos, because originally Vulture wanted Kid to learn sign language to help communicate. I’ve rarely seen Vulture attempt to upkeep the sign language lessons. She did at one point. I think after Kid started becoming more vocal, the idea was dropped. I have heard some of the familiar videos so often that even I learned the kid’s songs, but I guess that’s also part of the collateral when dealing with kid’s media.
Kid usually exists in a half-dressed state, usually just wearing a pull up and that’s it. Unfortunately, because Vulture is so hard on her tangles when she tries to brush her hair, Kid doesn’t like hair care and will fight being brushed. Her hair used to exist in a perpetual state of being matted with at least one major knot, until Vulture’s mom ended up giving her a bath and getting her to stay still enough to endure the brushing, even with the wailing of a protesting Kid going strong. Her hair was then cut to make it more manageable, and strangely, that fixed a lot of the matting problems.
Kid is let out of her room when Vulture wakes up, usually needing a diaper change. At three years old, Kid is not potty trained yet. Just from what I’ve heard from my bedroom, it sounds like OLB and Vulture are finally starting to step up on potty training, but it’s been an uphill fight. I know a few of my other parent friends have had an extremely hard time potty training their kid. I’m not a parent, so I don’t actually know how challenging it can be. I do know though that it shouldn’t sound like the toilet is some kind of punishment for peeing in her cloth panties that they’re trying to switch her to. Or, that they try to get her to sit on the toilet when she has no interest in it and she ends up throwing a tantrum. Unfortunately, without much context, that’s how some bathroom trips sound.
Kid wears pull-ups to bed and the cloth underwear during the day, or sometimes just pull-ups. They’re trying to teach her how to recognize when her body has the potty urge, which she still doesn’t quite get right now. She has literally peed on the tile floor through her cloth undies. Vulture messaged the house chat once saying, “Kid just lifted her leg while in the rolling chair and peed all over the floor.”
You know. Like a dog.
With the potty-training trouble and Kid only sometimes in pull-ups that can contain her mess, Z and I don’t let her into our room as often as we’d like to, because she doesn’t recognize when she has to go. It sucks, because Kid adores spending time with us and our room has cool animals, like my retired psychiatric service dog and our three ferrets. She loves the ferrets. But if we spend time out in the living room with everyone, Z’s patience tends to have a shorter fuse because they can’t stand Vulture (that’s also another tale I have). We’re also stuck out in the general mess of the living room if we are out there with her. It’s either the general mess that toddlers make, spilled food, and general filth. The best times we’ve had spending time with Kid is just chilling in our room as she ooh’s and ahh’s over the ferrets or watches TV with us. Z and I quote SpongeBob line by line daily, and she has watched some of the show with us.
I feel awful about shutting Kid out so much, when I see the way Vulture interacts with her. On Vulture’s bad days (if you read the previous post, that’s almost every day), she acts like Kid is a chore. She will snap at Kid, act like Kid is choosing to act out of maliciousness and make “tired mom” jokes that sound like she just flat out doesn’t like Kid. When I had liquor in the fridge, Vulture would ask if she could take a shot because, “I need it. She’s trying me today.”
Some choice quotes talking down about the kid:
“I’m being hard on her because she’s not using her words. Like I know she can. She just doesn’t want to.” This was what Vulture said to me after Kid kept trying to get her attention and wouldn’t explain what she wanted. Kid was just making noises at her and getting frustrated. Vulture full on shouted, “WHAT!” at her, then turned to me to try and explain why she shouted.
“This is the bad part about being a mom. She’s not letting me do anything right now.” This was said after Vulture cleaned her desk and was attempting to watch YouTube videos and play her Switch.
On her good days, Vulture will be that kind of smiling parent that does some art activities and engages with Kid in a way that’s more than just screaming. They color together. She offers Kid choices so Kid can have some control over what happens in her day, like, “Do you want bologna or fruit?” It has helped Kid become more vocal and even though she’s still speech delayed, she talks more and has a bigger vocabulary.
The house has a different atmosphere when OLB is home, compared to when Vulture is just watching Kid by herself. I’ve told OLB that I think Vulture is burned out. Her entire life is her disabilities and being a mom. She only has friends on Discord really, and OLB had to push her to start talking to them again just so she had someone to socialize with.
Old Doormat me pitied her at the beginning of our friendship. I tried being her friend. I tried to include her and Kid in a lot of things. My own mental health, my daily obligations, my gym schedule, and just me changing rapidly since 2020 altered my life, exhausted me, and left me unable to deal with Vulture talking a million miles a minute, info dumping about whatever she’s currently doing every single time I run into her. And as I shed my doormat self, I started seeing her clearly.
I told OLB once that if Vulture is truly burned out or if her health problems are causing that much trouble, Kid might need daycare or another caregiver to help. OLB is aware but can’t afford other care. He’s working for bottom of the barrel pay at a full-time job. Most days after work, he just wants to zone out to his own games in front of his computer but has to step in and parent both Vulture and Kid, because Vulture often needs help organizing through executive dysfunction to do something. Or, because she will call for his help.
There was one time where Kid climbed on top of her, and Vulture called for OLB – who was in the same room – to pull Kid off her. There are quite a few times where Vulture calls for OLB for help with Kid, and I’ve heard him say that he’s also busy too. One time he asked, “Why are you asking for my help when you’re closer?”
Z has offered to look after Kid at times because they don’t mind Kid being in our room or just hanging out. She has hung out with us when I also have the mental energy and the room is clean enough to accommodate a toddler crawling on everything. The problem that we both see is that our stepping in isn’t a full solution. She can spend a few hours with us, but ultimately after, she goes right back to Vulture and OLB. Vulture is the one who acts like being a parent is a chore.
There are times that OLB has snapped at Vulture for the way she gets on to Kid, emphasizing, “She’s just a child.” Their parenting styles are like looking at two entirely different planets and trying to find similarities. OLB is very much into the gentle parenting side of Tik Tok. He talks about breaking generational trauma. He’s usually gentle with Kid, explaining why she’s not allowed to do things like stand on top of her highchair or why I’m too busy to play with her as I’m zooming around the house in and out repeatedly some days. He has talked her down from meltdowns and keeps his voice even to where she can’t bounce off him to amplify her tantrums. He spanks her, but as a last resort, and then also talks to her about why the punishment happened. She will wail through everything and likely isn’t fully listening, but ultimately, I see him trying to work with her. He very rarely loses his actual temper with her.
Vulture is the total opposite. She yells at Kid, spanks with no hesitation and doesn’t explain why. One of Kid’s favorite games to play is “Block the door” when I’m trying to get through the house. She will block my bedroom door, cling to me, then circle around me as Vulture or OLB tries to distract her or lure her away by asking “do you want chocolate” or some other treat. Sometimes Kid just likes to play ring-around-the-rosie around my legs, as her parents try to grab her. I try to make it fun and seem like I’m not mad at her, because I’m never actually mad at her for blocking my way. Usually, I’m just in the middle of some arbitrary task or running an errand or coming back from the gym with my one remaining brain cell barely hanging on for dear life. I try to engage with her and play it off as a game because she’s not actually doing anything wrong.
Vulture has lured her away with chocolate and treats, with offers of food, with trying to get her to pick a show to watch. If that fails, she will come and fetch Kid by hand. One time involved yanking her physically off me and spanking her on the bare bottom because Kid was happy playing a game instead of listening.
The bare bottom is a thing, too. Because Kid used to live in soiled diapers for much longer than she was supposed to, she had constant diaper rash that she had to see the doctor for sometimes. She also didn’t want OLB or Vulture to change her diapers and would scream when it was diaper change time. I don’t blame her. The diaper rash hurt, and Vulture wasn’t exactly gentle with changing. Kid bled sometimes with the changings. So now, sometimes Kid will be dressed like Donald Duck in only a top to air out her bottom. Or because now, with the cloth undies, she will pee straight through them, and they just let her air out after.
Kid always smells a bit like pee. So does her room. And her bedding. After I pointed out that her bedding straight out of the dryer smelled like urine, OLB went about cleaning the washing machine with a machine cleaner, and bought scent beads to help cut the smell, after I told him that a little vinegar in the wash load will cut the smells down. Now her bedding doesn’t smell so much like urine, but it’s still there.
Her bedroom frequently smells like a public bathroom. It always looks like her bedroom has been turned upside down, with toys everywhere, her bed pushed to the middle of the room, the mattress on the floor. Books she was given were shredded, even the cardboard ones. There was straight up garbage left in her room because she was given food to eat there that had wrappers. It usually takes Vulture a full day of cleaning to get the room organized when she had the energy to do it, but she usually sanitizes with just a baby wipe, if she does at all. Maybe a pet cleaner sometimes.
There was one time where I was letting the dogs outside and I stepped in a puddle on the tile floor. That was when I realized that it was a pee puddle and Kid’s cloth underwear was dripping. I asked Vulture to clean the puddle up. When she asked to use my steam mop, she didn’t clean the cloth pad after, so when I turned the mop on next, it smelled like hot, steamed urine. I had to clean the mop pad off myself and rinse the pee out of it. When Kid again peed in front of the TV in her cloth undies, I told OLB that if they’re going to use my steam mop to make sure that the mop pad is rinsed off or it will smell like pee the next time it’s used, but he said he was just going to use his mop and bucket. Thankfully.
Because of the diet that OLB and Vulture has, Kid also eats like them. She gets a lot of macaroni, a lot of random odds and ends like pieces of bread, baggies of cheerios, sometimes fruit and vegetables. Lots of chicken nuggets and frozen instant food. Occasionally, Kid will have an interest in vegetables she sees us cook with or that she’s never had. Like once she insisted that she wanted to eat canned peas, until she tasted them. She chewed on a lettuce leaf and put it down, then asked for another one because she wanted to eat something, and it looked tasty to her.
The two halves of the household make separate foods now and keep out of each other’s food, but sometimes Vulture will give Kid some of the food I cooked because Kid saw my spaghetti noodles in a bowl and insisted on having them by way of tantrum. Instead of asking me if it’s okay (which obviously, I’d say yes, Kid can have some), Vulture just gave her my food and then told me after. Maybe I’m just projecting my own frustration, but it feels like Vulture uses Kid as a shield sometimes, to get food. Unless I have a specific purpose for food like what I put in my meal prep containers, I wouldn’t say no to Kid.
Kid’s diet makes me worried for her as she grows up. OLB is big and tall, over 6 feet tall and over 300lbs. They aren’t an active family at all. Kid drinks soda when they get fast food. She eats as much processed food as Vulture. Right now, she’s growing like a weed and is tall and actually has some power in her tiny limbs, which is most noticeable when she climbs you like a ladder, but her parents are gamers that just sit around. Her own screen time is almost as lengthy as theirs is.
I worry about Kid, constantly. Z does too. We have theorized calling CPS, or trying to adopt her, or just getting her away from Vulture. We have thrown around ideas about talking to OLB and convincing him that Vulture isn’t a good person for Kid. A lot of it has stayed in theory because the anxious part of me is still afraid to make life-altering waves like that. I second-guess and gaslight myself into realizing how bad things are, but then telling myself, maybe I’m just blowing it out of proportion. Maybe it's just something they have to handle. Maybe it’s something a first-time parent needs to learn. Maybe Vulture just isn’t feeling good that day. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
It’s a leftover of the doormat I used to be, and I know that. The tiny fragment of anxiety that tells me I’m blowing things up into too big a deal. The tiny fragment that escaped a toxic marriage and just wants peace after arguing every single day. The side that hates confrontation.
Maybe I’m just a plain ol’ coward. I don’t know yet. I just know my patience is running thinner with every passing day.
I don’t think I could convince OLB to dump Vulture. From what I’ve seen on the surface, they’re not openly affectionate. Vulture complains all the time that OLB doesn’t give her any physical affection, and she (unfortunately) tells me when they’re intimate, which doesn’t sound often. They almost look like they could be friends that are co-parenting. She calls him her husband when they’re out in public, and OLB has stated that he doesn’t want anything to happen to her, because he doesn’t want a single parent. I assume at the very least that he does love her, even though he sounds exhausted all the time. Z and I wonder if maybe he feels trapped.
OLB is good at asking for help if he needs it, although he hates being a burden to others. He will speak up if Vulture needs a ride to a doctor’s office, and he forgot to leave the car seat at home. I’ve driven to his work to pick it up after he messaged me asking if I could. They ask his family to babysit Kid if they want to go out and just have a good date or see a movie together. They are clearly capable of asking for help.
This is just an acceptable standard for both, or at least that’s the way it seems to me. Sometimes, I don’t truly know if OLB is aware of what Vulture does while he’s at work. He didn’t know that she used his 11-year-old dog as a vacuum cleaner to clean up spilled table scraps until I pointed it out and then he pieced together why his dog wasn’t losing weight on a reduced kibble diet. Sometimes I have pointed out things to him that he might not notice in the house chat.
I started keeping a log in Google Docs about things I notice, and Z and I talk about it in discord, so it’s not heard by ears that are too close to our bedroom. The log started helping me see that I’m not just blowing out of proportion and that in turn helped me come here to reddit. As a former doormat in recovery, I still have to tell myself that it’s okay to realize that something is wrong, and that I may need help getting my voice to speak up.
I haven’t worked since 2017, when my mental health took a sharp nosedive. Z is currently looking for work. Both of us are home all day exposed to Vulture and how she treats Kid. With my own daily tasks, errands, struggling with mental health, there’s still a side of me that berates me that I need to be taking care of Kid. Getting her up, making sure she eats. Pestering Vulture to get up. This is also where I tangle with the former doormat that still lives in me, because one, I don’t want to enable Vulture to get even worse. With someone taking the burden off of her, that gives her more free time to just sit back and game. It isn’t my job to make sure that Vulture is a good parent, yet somehow, I feel like it’s also my fault that she’s as bad as she is while I sit by the wayside and just talk about her behind her back. There are times where I have pestered OLB through discord about Kid crying, or how Kid is trying to beat the door down, or asking if Vulture is up for the day because I haven’t seen her up at three in the afternoon.
I started speaking up when I noticed something that’s off. I call this the “cheese incident.” We had a block of cheese that was cut in the wrapper and not in anything else, so the exposed end got all hard and inedible. I cut it off and threw it away. Vulture made her way into the kitchen because Kid saw me cutting cheese and wanted some.
Vulture: Who threw away that cheese?
(SHE PICKS IT UP OUT OF THE TRASH CAN)
Me: Yeah, it’s got that hard bit
Vulture: So? I know someone who will eat it.
(She calls Kid over)
Me: But it was in the trash.
Vulture: It’s okay, I cut off the part that was touching the trash.
Me: Dude, that’s fucked up.
Vulture: (hesitating now) Should I not?
Me: That’s probably going to make her sick again.
(Kid has been sick back-to-back at this point)
Vulture: Okay, then I won’t.
(To this day, I don’t know if she threw the cheese away or ate it herself, and I’m afraid to ask)
That was the point where I started pointing out that what she’s doing is problematic. It’s a slow process, but it’s helped me put the doormat side of me away again. I’ve explained to Vulture that Kid isn’t crying to be malicious, she just can’t express what she wants. Especially with Kid’s speech delay! Kid gets frustrated fast when adults don’t understand her, and the wailing begins. There’s no maliciousness behind it, just frustration. Or how Kid doesn’t like being told “no” because she doesn’t always understand why. Strangely, every time I call something out, she doesn’t really have much of a fight against it.
But why am I having to say it in the first place?
There’s little things that just rub me the wrong way in how they interact. Sometimes Vulture will call Kid over in the same way you’d call a dog. Repeatedly. Sometimes Vulture, in a state of migraine or other illness-related grouchiness will scream at her “Leave me alone!” and OLB will have to fetch Kid. One time, Z told me that Vulture outright mocked her crying by making her own crying noise.
What’s awful to watch in person is that when Vulture’s mom or siblings are over, Vulture is suddenly a doting mom who isn’t perpetually exhausted or loudly complaining about how her “everything” hurts. She talks in an overly sweet voice to Kid. It unsettles me with how two-faced it seems. OLB, Vulture, and Kid go have dinner with OLB’s family every Sunday evening, and I can’t help but wonder how two-faced she is there, as well. Some of OLB’s family doesn’t like Vulture to begin with.
Slowly, I am losing patience at how Vulture behaves, especially with the Kid. I had to un-gaslight myself, start logging her behavior, and talk to other people to really see it for what it was. I told multiple friends about it and we all generally have the same consensus that Vulture is just an unfit parent. If her chronic illnesses are truly interfering with her life that much, she shouldn’t be the majority caregiver through the day. But it’s not like OLB would be able to work from home or be the stay-at-home parent. In a perfect world, I would be able to help more as well, but I’m barely the “fun” aunt. I’m barely equipped to help care for a three-year-old. Hell, most days I’m barely an actual person.
Kid deserves better.
Bottom line, Kid deserves better than what this house can give. I am upset with myself over my lack of action, but the logs have only been growing bigger. Every day, the doormat dies a little more.
Vulture herself though, will likely always be a side show. One thing that Z pointed out to me was that, as the doormat I used to be, I would give everything to help someone even when I was mentally exhausted. I enmeshed myself too much into the lives of my friends because I loved making them happy and making their lives easier. It’s gotten me into some awkward territory with Vulture, because some things were interpreted as more than friendship.
You ready to cringe more? Because the next part is going to deal with polyamory, the desire for open relationships, and the main reason why Z despises her – and that’s putting it mildly.
Take a moment to un-cringe yourself. It ain’t over yet.

https://minimalfreaks.co/2023/06/simon-dunmore-defected-selectors-june-2023/

1. Henrik Schwarz – Leave My Head Alone Brain (Osunlade Remix) 07:52 120bpm Gm
2. Bobby Womack – How Could You Break My Heart (Original Mix) 05:17 128bpm Am
3. Ultra Nate – Joy (Original Mix) 05:17 124bpm Gbm
4. Air Power – Be Yourself 06:16 128bpm Gm
5. James Brown – Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose (Original Mix) 06:09 114bpm Am
6. Aretha Franklin – Jump (Original Mix) 02:19 121bpm A
7. MJ Cole, Nova Caspar, Jay Dee – Sincere (Re-Cue’D) 05:38 132bpm
8. Fela Kuti – Shakara (Oloje) 13:25 120bpm Bbm
9. Chaka Khan – I Know You, I Live You 04:27 112bpm
10. Guru, DC Lee, Ronny Jordan – No Time To Play (Original Mix) 04:54 100bpm A
11. Donald Byrd – Places And Spaces 06:19 184bpm
12. Prince – Sign ‘O’ The Times (Original Mix) 05:02 99bpm Cm
13. Leroy Hutson – All Because of You (Single Edit) 03:29 87bpm
14. Mr. Fingers – Mystery of Love (Original Mix) 07:10 115bpm G
15. Stevie Wonder – Living For The City (Original Mix) 07:22 99bpm Gb
16. The Salsoul Orchestra – Ooh I Love It (Love Break) (Original Mix) 07:49 114bpm Bb
17. The Reese Project – Direct Me (Joey Negro Mix) 06:47 122bpm Dbm
18. Zak Abel, Tom Misch – Beautiful Escape feat. Zak Abel (Original Mix) 04:36 120bpm F
19. Soul II Soul, Rose Windross – Fairplay (Original Mix) 03:58 101bpm Cm
20. Gil Scott-Heron – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (Original Mix) 03:07 88bpm C#m
21. Sounds Of Blackness – The Pressure (Frankie Knuckles Classic Mix) 08:24 127bpm Fm
22. David Bowie – Young Americans (2016 Remaster) 05:13 83bpm G
23. Bobby Womack – Give It Up (Original Mix) 04:38 96bpm D
24. Gabriels – Love and Hate in a Different Time (Original) 04:42 120bpm Dm
25. Digital Underground – Doowutchyalike (LP Version) 08:53 108bpm
26. Nuyorican Soul, Jocelyn Brown – It’s Alright, I Feel It 03:22 122bpm
27. Etienne De Crecy – Prix choc (Original Mix) 08:52 128bpm C
28. Inner Life – Moment Of My Life (12″ Version) 06:32 113bpm F#m
29. Daft Punk – Alive (Original Mix) 05:16 129bpm Bb
30. First Choice – Let No Man Put Asunder (Shep Pettibone 12″ Mix) 08:01 119bpm Dbm
31. Dennis Ferrer – Church Lady (Original Mix) 07:19 126bpm Gm
32. Masters At Work – To Be In Love (MAW ’99 Mix) 11:54 122bpm Cm
33. Clivilles & Cole – A Deeper Love (A Deeper Love Mix) 12:04 121bpm D#m
34. Archie Bell & The Drells – Where Will You Go When The Party’s Over (Original Mix) 04:05 117bpm Em
35. Womack & Womack – Baby I’m Scared of You 05:38 216bpm
36. The Style Council – My Ever Changing Moods 03:37 126bpm
37. Kathy Sledge – Take Me Back To Love Again (Shelter Me Mix) 06:51 123bpm A
38. Ashford & Simpson – Love Don’t Make It Right (Original Mix) 04:23 111bpm A
39. Blaze – My Beat (Original) 05:19 126bpm Gbm
40. Eighties Ladies – Turned on to You 05:28 bpm
41. Blaze – Wishing You Were Here (Original) 06:56 123bpm Cm
42. Coati Mundi – Que Pasa / Me No Pop I (Original Mix) 06:25 110bpm Db
43. Massive Attack – Safe From Harm (2012 Mix/Master) 05:19 165bpm Bm
44. Incognito, Jocelyn Brown – Always There (David Morales Remix) 06:36 115bpm
45. Lee Fields & The Expressions, Lee Fields – Ladies 04:17 176bpm
46. Marvin Gaye – Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) (Original Mix) 05:26 160bpm Ebm
47. CeCe Rogers – Someday (Original Mix) 07:17 119bpm Am
48. Honey Dijon, Nikki-O, Annette Bowen – Downtown feat. Annette Bowen feat. Nikki-O (Louie Vega Extended Raw Dub Mix) 03:33 126bpm Bb
49. Quartette Tres Bien – Boss Trés Bien 05:28 120bpm
50. Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Don’t Leave Me This Way (Original Mix) 06:04 125bpm Gm
51. The Staple Singers – Trippin’ On Your Love 04:27 bpm
52. Curtis Mayfield – Back to the World (Original Mix) 06:50 164bpm Db
53. The Specials – A Message to You Rudy (Original Mix) 02:54 104bpm C
54. Black Coffee, Bucie – Turn Me On (Original Mix) 07:25 124bpm Cm
55. Bob Sinclar – My only love (Original) 04:34 123bpm Gbm
56. Love Unlimited – Move Me No Mountain (Original Mix) 03:55 90bpm Fm
57. River Ocean, India – Love & Happiness (Yemaya Y Ochùn) [feat. India] (12″ Club Mix) 09:51 119bpm Gm
58. Henrik Schwarz – Leave My Head Alone Brain (Original Mix) 08:00 123bpm Gm
59. D’Angelo – Brown Sugar (Edited) 04:22 83bpm A
60. Roisin Murphy – Incapable (Extended Mix) 08:25 114bpm Dm
61. Honey Dijon, Channel Tres, Sadie Walker – Show Me Some Love (feat. Sadie Walker) 03:52 126bpm D
62. Bobby Wilson – Deeper and Deeper 06:23 176bpm
63. Sharon Ridley – Where Did You Learn to Make Love the Way You Do 04:51 bpm
64. Alice Clark – Don’t You Care 02:50 bpm
65. Earth, Wind & Fire – Devotion (Live) 04:52 92bpm Am
66. Sharon Redd – Try My Love On For Size (Original Mix) 05:08 120bpm Am
67. Ten City – Right Back To You (Extended Version) 09:10 120bpm D#m
68. Incognito – Always There (David Morales Remix) 03:35 115bpm
69. Public Enemy – Can’t Truss It (Original Mix) 05:22 102bpm Bbm
70. Luther Vandross – Sugar and Spice (I Found Me a Girl) (Original Mix) 04:57 109bpm F
71. Grace Jones – La vie en rose 07:28 176bpm C
72. Ashford & Simpson – It Seems To Hang On (Original Mix) 05:12 114bpm Bm
73. Leroy Hutson – Love the Feeling (Original Mix) 02:53 97bpm Bb
74. Mr. Fingers – We Can Work It Out (Original Mix) 05:43 113bpm Gbm
75. Loleatta Holloway, Bastian Zacit – Love Sensation (Original Mix) 06:06 126bpm F
76. Adeva – Musical Freedom (Original Mix) 06:22 113bpm C
77. Yazoo – Situation (12″ Remix) 05:46 119bpm Db
78. Jamiroquai – Blow Your Mind (Original Mix) 08:32 105bpm Am
79. Arrested Development – Tennessee (Original Mix) 04:32 100bpm Ebm
80. Trussel – Love Injection (Original Mix) 07:56 112bpm Abm
81. Mary J. Blige – My Love (Original Mix) 04:12 86bpm F
82. De La Soul – Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin’s Revenge) 03:25 bpm
83. Maze, Frankie Beverly – Joy And Pain (Remastered) 07:14 106bpm Bm
84. Soulsearcher – Can’t Get Enough! (Vocal Club Mix) 06:53 128bpm Em
85. Whitney Houston – It’s Not Right but It’s Okay (KCC’s Release The Love Groove Bootleg Mix) 07:02 128bpm Cm
86. Patrice Rushen – Haven’t You Heard (Original Mix) 06:45 129bpm Dbm
87. The Salsoul Orchestra – Seconds (Original Mix) 08:58 105bpm Em
88. Lady Blackbird – It’s Not That Easy 03:00 bpm
89. Mass Order – Lift Every Voice (Take Me Away) (Classic Boot Mix) 07:25 bpm
90. Deep Dish – Flashdance (Original Club Mix UK Radio Version) 06:45 bpm
91. Malcolm McLaren – Double Dutch 04:42 119bpm
92. Junior Jack – Hola (Original Mix) 04:12 121bpm Am
93. Voices Of Life – The Word Is Love (Say The Word) (Silk’s Anthem Of Life) 08:10 bpm
94. Celeda, Danny Tenaglia – Music Is The Answer (Original Extended 12-inch Mix) 14:10 126bpm Abm
95. Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime (2005 Remaster) 04:19 116bpm
96. Jungle Brothers – What “U” Waitin’ “4”? (Radio Edit) 04:04 110bpm Cm
97. Kings Of Tomorrow – Finally (Extended Mix) 05:58 125bpm C
98. Supershy – Change feat. Wayne Snow (Original Mix) 04:50 120bpm Cm
99. Hannah Wants, Clementine Douglas – Cure My Desire feat. Clementine Douglas (Extended Mix) 06:38 122bpm Ebm
100. Channel Tres – Just Can’t Get Enough (Original Mix) 05:03 121bpm Cm
101. Ziyon, El Payo – Tailor Made feat. Ziyon (Original Mix) 05:22 120bpm Eb
102. Close Counters – SNAP TO IT! (Original Mix) 03:30 131bpm Eb
103. Three Kings, Jaygun, Bashy – Shake Dat Booty feat. Jaygun feat. Bashy (Original Edit) 07:34 125bpm Dm
104. Felix Da Housecat, Chris Trucher – Chicago Love (Original Mix) 05:05 124bpm A
105. Benny Mussa – If You Want (Luke Solomon’s Body Remix) 07:07 128bpm Dm
106. Beyoncé, Madonna – BREAK MY SOUL (THE QUEENS REMIX) 05:56 120bpm Abm
107. Daphni – Cloudy (Original Mix) 06:51 128bpm Cm
108. Larse – A Part Of (Extended Mix) 04:38 128bpm Dm
109. Virginia – Funkert (Original Mix) 04:27 127bpm Dbm
110. ANOTR, Abel Balder – Vertigo (Original Mix) 04:16 132bpm Em
111. Sable Sheep – Upon Burning Skies (Original Mix) 08:24 123bpm Em
112. Dam Swindle – Good Woman (Edit) 03:35 125bpm Am
113. Ezel, Rona Ray – Don’t Know Yet (Original Mix) 07:26 125bpm Dbm
114. Honey Dijon, Sadie Walker, Channel Tres – Show Me Some Love feat. Sadie Walker (Extended Mix) 05:51 126bpm D
115. Shiba San – I Wanna (Tchami Remix) 03:35 127bpm Fm
116. Jamie Jones – My Paradise (Vintage Culture Extended Remix) 05:33 128bpm Bbm
117. OFFAIAH – Find A Way (Extended Mix) 06:29 124bpm Gm
118. Mr. V – Jus Dance (Dennis Quin Remix) 03:36 94bpm G
119. Alister Fawnwoda, Tyesha Blount – Starlight (Original Mix) 05:59 125bpm Em
120. Mistura, Dave Lee ZR, Jemini – Want Me Back (Jimpster Peak Time Deepness) 06:27 122bpm Db
121. Girls of the Internet – Sound Asleep 03:45 124bpm G
122. Tom Middleton – Cicadas (Maya Jane Coles Remix) 06:24 123bpm Dbm
123. Rampa, Keinemusik, chuala – Les Gout (Original Mix) 05:44 120bpm Fm
124. Crackazat – Demucha (Original Mix) 04:15 124bpm Cm
125. Mary J. Blige – Good Morning Gorgeous (Kelly G Morning Pose Dub Remix) 03:27 125bpm Bbm
126. Butch – Same Like Dope But Different (Original Mix) 04:41 123bpm Dbm
127. Kabbala – Ashewo Ara (Dave Lee Afro Fusion Mix) (Original Mix) 05:59 124bpm Am
128. Max Millan, Simon Adams – Mr. Franklin (Miguel Migs Salty Rub) 06:15 124bpm Am
129. Situation – Get To Know Me (Hot Toddy Dub) 05:46 117bpm Dm
130. Beanfield, Marzenka – Alone feat. Marzenka (Original) 07:29 122bpm G
131. Delano Smith, Diamondancer – A Message For the DJ featuring Diamondancer (Original Mix) 05:36 126bpm F
132. Clive From Accounts – 4 Time (Original Mix) 05:38 127bpm Dm
133. Jerk House Connection, Akram Sedkaoui – Each & Every Day (Life Goes On) feat. Akram Sedkaoui (Rocco Deeper Mix) 08:35 127bpm Gm
134. ANOTR, Abel Balder – Your Mind (Original Mix) 05:40 130bpm Gm
135. Rodney Hunter – Temperature’s Rising (Original Mix) 03:51 118bpm Dm
136. Pugs Atomz, Inkswel, Eliza Dickson – Why Don’t You Listen (Fred Everything Remix) 06:02 119bpm Fm
137. Folamour – Fearless (Original Mix) 05:23 122bpm Gm
138. Mr. Flip – Hit Different (Afefe Iku Remix) 04:51 113bpm Dm
139. Jonny Miller, Kid Fonque, ASAP Shembe – Connected Beings feat. ASAP Shembe (Jazzanova Remix) 05:56 120bpm C
140. Carlo Gambino – Dance For You (Original Mix) 07:27 122bpm Am
141. Gerd – We Bring U Muzik (Warehouse Mix) 06:08 126bpm Ab
142. Joeski – Rude Boy (Original Mix) 06:20 125bpm C
143. Musta, Venessa Jackson – Loving Me (Hot Toddy Remix) 08:00 84bpm Am
144. youANDme, Kristina Sheli – Moment 04:35 124bpm C#
145. OVEOUS, Don Kamares – Legacy (Original Mix) 05:35 123bpm Dm
146. KE, Risk Assessment – Feel That (Franck Roger Remix) 06:28 124bpm Ebm
147. Paperclip People – Throw (Original Mix) 06:47 127bpm C
148. Austin Ato – When Love Is Tender (Original Mix) 08:42 127bpm Ab
149. Francisco Allendes – What You Do (Original Mix) 06:49 127bpm D
150. Particle – Let It Go (Original Mix) 06:34 87bpm Cm
151. Afefe Iku – Sista Georgia (Original Mix) 11:35 122bpm Dm
152. Mike Steva, Stevo Atambire – Destiny Song (Pa’ala) feat. Stevo Atambire (Original Mix) 05:54 121bpm Bm
153. PAWSA – Room Service (24 Hour Mix) 04:44 130bpm Am
154. Kerri Chandler – Coro (DJ Spen Kaoz Re Edit) 06:30 124bpm Dm
155. Awen, Caiiro – Your Voice (Adam Port Remix) 04:20 122bpm Gbm
156. Inaya Day, Harry Romero – Rise Up (Extended Club Mix) 06:19 127bpm Cm
157. Pig&Dan – Rock You All Night (Original Mix) 03:27 123bpm Bm
158. Yousef, The Melody Men – Hear That Sound feat. The Melody Men (Club Mix) 05:56 128bpm D
159. GruuvElement’s – Boom Room (Original Mix) 06:39 94bpm Em
160. Dam Swindle – All I Want (Edit) 03:56 124bpm Dbm
161. Mike Dunn, LOA. – When The Dust Clears feat. LOA. (MD MixX) 03:42 124bpm F
162. Seamus Haji, Phebe Edwards – Better Come Again 04:00 120bpm Em
163. Suzanne Palmer, Mark Picchiotti, Craig J. Snider, The Absolute – I Believe feat. Suzanne Palmer feat. Craig J. Snider (DJ Spen & Michele Chiavarini’s Higher Love Dub Mix) 06:15 124bpm Eb
164. Paul Kalkbrenner – Bengang (Original Mix) 05:30 128bpm Dbm
165. Louie Vega, Robyn – All My Love (feat. Robyn) 05:58 127bpm Gb
166. Daniel Steinberg – Groove People (Original Mix) 05:29 125bpm C
167. Purple Disco Machine, Kaleta, Bosq – Wake Up! (Extended) 06:56 122bpm Dm
168. Kon, Fiorious, Saturday Love – 2 B Free (Oliver Dollar Remix) 04:31 123bpm Em
169. Lady Blackbird – Lost and Looking (Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy Cosmodelica Remix) 03:42 120bpm G
170. Kerri Chandler, Bluey Robinson – Tenacity (Main Vocal Edit) 04:25 124bpm D
171. Honey Dijon, Ramona Renea – Love Is A State Of Mind (Original Mix) 03:13 125bpm Cm
172. Adam Port, Alan Dixon – Forms Of Love (Original Mix) 06:03 122bpm Bb
173. Jamie Jones – My Paradise (Original Mix) 03:31 128bpm Bbm
174. Fka Mash, Sio – Bumblebee 03:38 116bpm Gm
175. Dennis Cruz – Ready For The Blues (Original Mix) 05:00 128bpm Cm
176. Ramin Rezaie – Searching (Original Mix) 03:57 131bpm Am
177. Tony Lionni – Out Of Sight (Special Edit By Jerome Sydenham) 06:15 124bpm C
178. HRDY, Paulo Maria – Connected (Original Mix) 05:42 124bpm Gm
179. Dario D’Attis – Tanzstube (Original Mix) 07:44 120bpm Bbm
180. AMP Fiddler, Andrés, Dames Brown – What Would You Do? feat. Andrés feat. Amp Fiddler (Two Soul Fusion Remix) 03:07 125bpm G
181. Low Steppa – Closer (Original Mix) 04:57 125bpm Bbm
182. Fred Everything – Searching (Original Mix) 08:03 120bpm C
183. Sophie Lloyd, Pauline Taylor – Angels By My Side feat. Pauline Taylor (Floorplan Remix) 03:28 125bpm Fm
184. S.A.M., Sarah Ikumu – Spotlight feat. Sarah Ikumu (Mousse T. Shizzle Mix) 03:20 123bpm Gbm
185. Malone – Time To Move (Original Mix) 03:08 125bpm Em
186. Steve Bug, Mr. V – Back To ’95 feat. Mr. V (Cinthie‘s ‘Just A Vibe’ Remix) 06:12 124bpm Gm
187. Khan, Julee Cruise – Say Goodbye feat. Julee Cruise (LoSoul ‘She’s Homeless’ Mix) 07:08 116bpm F
188. Dam Swindle – Hey Mister 03:59 126bpm Am
189. Julien Jabre – Voodance (Original Mix) 07:29 123bpm Dbm
190. B Beat Girls – For The Same Man (Nic Fanciulli Remix) 03:34 127bpm E
191. Mark Broom, Riva Starr, Star B – Fire (Ron Bacardi Remix) 05:42 126bpm Bb
192. Make A Dance – I Need Somebody (Original Mix) 03:20 122bpm Bm
193. Beyonce – BREAK MY SOUL (Original Mix) 04:38 115bpm Abm
194. Zach Witness – Frankie & Levan (Original Mix) 03:41 127bpm Am
195. Danny Tenaglia – The Brooklyn Gypsy (Original Mix) 07:41 153bpm Dm
196. Beau – Losing You 03:23 124bpm E
197. Felipe Gordon – The Love (Original Mix) 07:38 120bpm Gbm
198. Ferreck Dawn, Izzy Bizu – Life (Original Mix) 02:51 125bpm Cm
199. Kimberly Davis, The Shapeshifters – Love’s Been Waiting (7″ Version) 02:48 123bpm Gbm
200. ANOTR, Sebastian Kamae – Time To Smoke (Original Mix) 08:46 130bpm Gb
201. Daniel Anthony – Endless (Original Mix) 07:03 126bpm Dbm
202. Jamie Jones, AMEME – Pliva 04:04 123bpm Fm
203. Darius Syrossian, DJ Supreme – I’m The Joker (Original Mix) 02:36 129bpm Gm
204. Oliver Way – Stained Glass Shadows (Robert Hood Remix) 06:54 128bpm D
205. Sailor Jane, R.E.A.D. – Where’s My Phone? feat. Sailor Jane (Marco Faraone Remix) 03:35 128bpm Fm
206. Daniel Steinberg – Take My Hand (Original Mix) 05:17 130bpm Gm
207. AMP Fiddler, Andrés, Dames Brown – What Would You Do? feat. Andrés feat. Amp Fiddler (Folamour 12″ Remix) 04:30 121bpm Am
208. Brian Burnside – This Generation (Franck Roger Mix) 08:20 127bpm Dm
209. Chymamusique, Colbert, LaTique – Above My Head (Radio Mix) 04:34 118bpm Gbm
210. Brooklyn Baby – NYC (Original Mix) 05:04 128bpm Em
211. Marlon D – Jesus Creates Sound (Original Mix) 05:30 126bpm Ebm
212. Kiko Navarro – Dope High (Vocal Mix) 07:52 92bpm Fm
213. Franck Roger – Don’t Ever Luv Me (Original Mix) 06:44 124bpm Dm
214. 40 Thieves, Qzen – Don’t Turn It Off (Original Mix) 04:38 117bpm Em
215. Linkwood – Tears (Original Mix) 08:39 96bpm Bm
216. Mr. V – Somethin’ Wit Jazz (Dario D’Attis Extended Remix) 07:08 122bpm Bbm
217. David Morales, Elle Cato – Holding Me Touching Me feat. Elle Cato (Extended Mix) 06:58 126bpm Bbm
218. Bassfort – Moon Shadow (Joe ‘Joaquin’ Claussell Remix) 11:26 124bpm G
219. Close Counters – GET DOWN! (Original Mix) 04:17 122bpm Ebm
220. Steve Lawler, Marco Lys, Joy Farrukh – If Only You Knew feat. Joy Farrukh (Extended Mix) 05:37 126bpm Am
221. Todd Terry, Riva Starr – This Is The Sound (Original Mix) 06:07 126bpm Gm
222. Honey Dijon, Dope Earth Alien – It’s Quiet Now (Original Mix) 03:02 123bpm Cm
223. Jon Cutler, E-Man – It’s Yours (Kyri Markou Extended Remix) 05:39 126bpm Am
224. Thakzin – The Magnificent Dance (Original Mix) 07:05 88bpm F

I had always found stories of ghosts and people’s re-telling of their own personal supernatural events amusing. Honestly, The Exquisite Trinket Extravaganza was filled with a lot of weirdos and strange people who wanted to tell me their stories. I’d politely listen as I rang up their purchases and then promptly forget.
Oh, yeah. I work at one of those indoor flea-markets. Those places where it’s a giant warehouse and there are rows of cubbies and shelves where vendors can hang their crap and hawk their wares. A lot of our vendors are only on premise for a few hours a day but each has their own unique sticker code and my job was to ring them all up by their vendor numbers so they all got paid at the end of the week. It was a boring job but it paid well.
It was closing time at the old flea-market and it was always a somber affair. The dusty aisles echoed with the fading footsteps of weary customers either leaving or getting the last minute deal run up, and the vendors who were still there were hurriedly packed up their wares, eager to escape the encroaching darkness. Many of the customers and vendors reminded me of cockroaches on how quickly they scurried away and abandoned this place. It was during one such evening that I found myself alone, a lingering customer lost in the maze of forgotten treasures. I normally tried not to be the last one here as my boss liked to lock up but I had to go back three times to check on a price at the far end of the warehouse for a customer who decided they didn’t want it in the end. I had put the cracked vase back in its spot when I realized that the place had gotten eerily quiet.
The air hung heavy with the scent of aged wood and musty fabrics, creating an otherworldly ambiance I had never really noticed before. The flickering fluorescent lights casting eerie shadows on the chipped linoleum floor, making the forgotten trinkets appear like macabre relics of a bygone era. Unease crept through me, but I dismissed it as exhaustion. There was nothing here that I hadn’t seen a million times before.
As I made my way toward the exit to find my boss and tell her I was done, the hollow sound of my footsteps resonated throughout the cavernous space. The silence was deafening, broken only by the distant creaking of doors and the occasional gust of wind rattling the windows. It appeared a wind storm was building up. Something common in the Nevada deserts. A chill ran down my spine again, and I quickened my pace in a mixture of confusion and irritation. Why was I freaking out so bad?
Just as I reached the last row to then make a dash for the office, a glimmer in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I turned to face the source, my gaze falling upon a peculiar artifact—a tarnished pocket watch just hanging with a bunch of other junk I had seen before. Its ornate engravings seemed to come alive in the dim light, whispering tales of forgotten souls. I had passed this point many times but had never seen something like this before. Curiosity overwhelmed me like I had never experienced before and before I stopped to think about it, I reached out for it.
The moment my fingertips brushed the cold metal, a wave of icy air washed over me, sending shivers through me as if I was dumped into the arctic ocean. The world around me seemed to blur, and when my vision cleared, I found myself standing in front of the same aisle but everything had taken on a newer look. The other thing that I realized was that I was not alone. There was a bustle of noise from shoppers around me and I started in surprise as something brushed up against me.
I turned to tell whoever it was that we were closed but I lost the ability to speak. There were shoppers alright, shifting through dusty books, examining shipped plate ware that deserved to be trashed but these...things…were not human. It was like looking at something out of focus. I knew they were dressed but they seemed to shimmer and shift, the only feature that I could make out was the fact that their eyes glimmered like brilliant stars.
Confusion gripped me as I searched for familiar faces among the crowd, but the sea of strangers offered no solace. Panic surged through me as some part of my brain realized that these were not human.
I fell back and tried to skirt my way around these things that had not seemed to have noticed me. I made my way through the crowded aisles to where the office should have been but found it was just a blank wall. My heart racing and my breath shallow. The noise of the market faded into a distant hum, replaced by the sound of my own thundering heartbeat. Every step felt heavy, as if an invisible force were pushing me down, guiding me toward an unknown destination.
As I turned a corner in my desperate quest to escape, a figure materialized in front of me—a ghostly apparition, pale and translucent. I could not tell if it was male or female. Its eyes gleamed with an otherworldly light, fixated on me with an intensity that sent shivers coursing through my veins. Unlike the other “shoppers”, this one was looking right at me. Its presence was suffocating and its energy palpable and suffused with an overwhelming sense of malevolence.
Fear consumed me, paralyzing my body as the apparition drew closer, its gaze never wavering. I tried to retreat, but my legs refused to obey. A cold sweat dripped down my forehead as I desperately sought an escape, my mind clouded with terror. The ghost's unearthly presence seemed to seep into my very being, stripping away my sanity.
“You do not belong here,” it sang in an off-key tune but I never saw its mouth move nor its eyes turn away from me.
“You do not belong here.”
My brain finally kicked in and I jumped to the side, luckily under a standing rack of winter coats and army-crawled my way into another aisle. I rolled out into the neighboring row and popped up startling some of the parishioners from hell. They seemed to only notice me in an oblique way that one would notice an ant on a sidewalk.
“You do not belong here.”
I turned from where I was crouching to see the ghostly guardian float around the corner with determination, her eyes never breaking from me as it swerved between the shoppers.
I began to sprint as fast as my legs could take me down the hall dodging the others also. I felt the feeling of wanting to vomit and the world turning itself upside every time I got too close to one of them. Still, that thing was on my tail saying the same thing with arm outstretched.
“You do not belong here.”
“I know!” I screamed back at it in terror.
I kept weaving through the aisles and the rows dodging this relentless hunter as I desperately tried to find the exit. This warehouse seemed to have no way out nor could I seem to get closer to the walls I could see down the aisles. All the while it was only a few steps behind me. Twice it almost grabbed me and I felt an icy pull that scared me worse. I knew that if it got to me, things would be bad for me. I tripped and fell landing into a pile of coats that smelled like dead animals. I smelled from their places on the highway and could feel the thing behind me.
“You do not belong here,” it sang only a foot away from me. In my mind's eye I could see it reaching for me, to grab me and do horrible things to me for being where I should not be.
It was when a power grip on my wrist wrenched me forward deeper into the clothes that I felt the icy shift of the world around me. My eyes popped open and I found myself staring into a pair of gray ones of the owner of the Exquisite Trinket Extravaganza. Harriet Powell was a heavy set woman but it was not fat. I had seen her lift furniture and move things that would have made my scrawny arms buckle. Anytime I offered to help, she just gave me a mocking laugh and did it without me.
I jerked my head around looking side to side for the monster that was chasing me but found myself alone in the flea-market. The watch was gripped by it’s chain tightly in my hand and Harriet had her hand fastened tightly on my wrist.
“Harry,” she said firmly, causing my panicked expression to come back to her. “Give me the watch.”
“What?” I said speaking. My voice came out as if I hadn’t spoken in years.
“Give me the watch, Harry,” she said again firmly.
With great effort, I forced my fingers open and the chain slipped through my fingers. With the other hand, Harriet caught it and whisked it into her gray vest emblazoned with the logo of the place. She led me dumbly to her office where she wrote something and stuffed it in my pocket and took me to my car.
I sat there for an hour not able to move or speak before I drove home on autopilot. The first inklings of what had happened only came to me when I woke up in my bed still dressed.
The paper that Harriet had stuffed in my pocket was a check for my pay plus two weeks. It appears that I have been fired from the Exquisite Trinket Extravaganza which was not a problem with me. I would have quit when my senses came back to me.
I did want to go back and demand an explanation for everything that happened but when I saw the building, I could not bring myself to pull into the parking lot.
So, that’s my story. I’ve already packed up to leave and I’m posting this before my internet is shut down. I plan to move as far away from this town as I can. Even the thought of seeing that building again keeps me up at night. Maybe at my new place, I can finally sleep again.
I don’t think it’s healthy not being able to sleep for an entire week.

Genre: House, Tech House, Deep House, Melodic House & Techno, Progressive House, Minimal / Deep Tech Label: Defected Release Date: 2022-06-04
DOWNLOAD in 320kbps: https://sharing-db.club/djs-chart/436905_va-defected-selectors-simon-dunmore-june-2023/
Tracklist: 1. Henrik Schwarz - Leave My Head Alone Brain (Osunlade Remix) (7:52) 2. Bobby Womack - How Could You Break My Heart (5:17) 3. Ultra Nate - Joy (5:17) 4. Air Power - Be Yourself (6:16) 5. James Brown, The J.B.'s - Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose (Remix) (6:10) 6. Aretha Franklin - Jump (2:19) 7. MJ Cole - Sincere (Re-Cue`d) (5:38) 8. Fela Kuti - Shakara (Oloje) (13:25) 9. Chaka Khan - I Know You, I Live You (4:27) 10. Guru, Ronny Jordan, DC Lee - No Time To Play (4:54) 11. Donald Byrd - Places And Spaces (6:19) 12. Prince - Sign 'O' the Times (5:02) 13. Mr. Fingers - Mystery of Love (7:10) 14. Stevie Wonder - Living For The City (7:22) 15. The Salsoul Orchestra - Ooh I Love It (Love Break) (7:49) 16. The Reese Project - Direct Me (Joey Negro Mix) (6:50) 17. Tom Misch, Zak Abel - Beautiful Escape (4:36) 18. Soul II Soul, Rose Windross - Fairplay (3:58) 19. Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (3:10) 20. Sounds Of Blackness - The Pressure (Frankie Knuckles Classic Mix With Intro) (8:24) 21. David Bowie - Young Americans (2016 Remaster) (5:13) 22. Bobby Womack - Give It Up (4:38) 23. Gabriels - Love and Hate in a Different Time (Original) (4:42) 24. Digital Underground - Doowutchyalike (8:53) 25. Nuyorican Soul, Jocelyn Brown - It's Alright, I Feel It (3:22) 26. Etienne de Crécy - Prix choc (8:52) 27. Inner Life - Moment Of My Life (12" Version) (6:32) 28. Daft Punk - Alive (5:16) 29. First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder (Shep Pettibone 12" Mix) (8:01) 30. Dennis Ferrer, Danil Wright - Church Lady (feat. Danil Wright) (7:19) 31. Masters At Work, La India - To Be In Love (MAW '99 Mix) (11:54) 32. Clivilles & Cole - A Deeper Love (A Deeper Love Mix) (12:04) 33. Archie Bell & The Drells - Where Will You Go When the Party's Over (4:05) 34. Womack & Womack - Baby I'm Scared of You (5:38) 35. The Style Council - My Ever Changing Moods (3:37) 36. Kathy Sledge - Take Me Back To Love Again (Shelter Me Mix) (6:51) 37. Ashford & Simpson - Love Don't Make It Right (4:23) 38. Blaze, Palmer Brown - My Beat (feat. Palmer Brown) (5:19) 39. Eighties Ladies - Turned on to You (5:26) 40. Blaze - Wishing You Were Here (6:56) 41. Coati Mundi - Que Passa / Me No Pop I (6:21) 42. Massive Attack - Safe From Harm (2012 Mix/Master) (5:19) 43. Incognito, Jocelyn Brown - Always There (David Morales Remix) (6:36) 44. Lee Fields & The Expressions, Lee Fields - Ladies (4:17) 45. Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) (5:26) 46. Cece Rogers - Someday (3:50) 47. Honey Dijon, Annette Bowen, Nikki-O - Downtown (feat. Annette Bowen & Nikki-O) (Louie Vega Raw Dub Mix) (3:33) 48. Quartette Tres Bien - Boss Trés Bien (5:28) 49. Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass - Don't Leave Me This Way (feat. Teddy Pendergrass) (6:03) 50. The Staple Singers - Trippin' On Your Love (4:27) 51. Curtis Mayfield - Back to the World (6:49) 52. The Specials - A Message to You Rudy (2015 Remaster) (2:52) 53. Black Coffee - Turn Me On (7:25) 54. Bob Sinclar - My only love (Original) (4:34) 55. Love Unlimited - Move Me No Mountain (3:55) 56. River Ocean, India - Love & Happiness (Yemaya Y Ochùn) [feat. India] (12" Club Mix) (9:51) 57. Henrik Schwarz, Bugge Wesseltoft - Leave My Head Alone Brain (8:00) 58. D'Angelo - Brown Sugar (4:22) 59. Roisin Murphy - Incapable (Extended Mix) (8:25) 60. Honey Dijon, Channel Tres, Sadie Walker - Show Me Some Love (feat. Sadie Walker) (3:52) 61. Bobby Wilson - Deeper and Deeper (6:22) 62. Sharon Ridley - Where Did You Learn to Make Love the Way You Do (4:51) 63. Alice Clark - Don't You Care (2:49) 64. Earth, Wind & Fire - Devotion (Live) (4:52) 65. Sharon Redd - Try My Love On for Size (5:08) 66. Ten City - Right Back to You (Extended Version) (9:10) 67. Incognito - Always There (David Morales Remix) (3:36) 68. Public Enemy - Can't Truss It (5:22) 69. Luther Vandross - Sugar and Spice (I Found Me a Girl) (4:57) 70. Grace Jones - La vie en rose (7:25) 71. Ashford & Simpson - It Seems To Hang On (5:12) 72. Mr. Fingers - We Can Work It Out (5:43) 73. Loleatta Holloway - Love Sensation (6:06) 74. Adeva, Paul Simpson, Carmen Marie - Musical Freedom (6:22) 75. Yazoo - Situation (12" Remix) (5:45) 76. Jamiroquai - Blow Your Mind (8:32) 77. Arrested Development - Tennessee (4:32) 78. Trussel - Love Injection (7:56) 79. Mary J. Blige - My Love (4:12) 80. De La Soul - Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge) (3:25) 81. Maze, Frankie Beverly - Joy And Pain (Remastered) (7:14) 82. Soulsearcher - Can't Get Enough! (Vocal Club Mix) (6:52) 83. Whitney Houston - It's Not Right but It's Okay (KCC's Release The Love Groove Bootleg Mix) (7:02) 84. Patrice Rushen - Haven't You Heard (6:45) 85. The Salsoul Orchestra, Loleatta Holloway - Seconds (feat. Loleatta Holloway) (8:58) 86. Lady Blackbird - It's Not That Easy (3:00) 87. Mass Order - Lift Every Voice (Take Me Away) (Classic Boot Mix) (7:25) 88. Malcolm McLaren - Double Dutch (4:42) 89. Junior Jack - Hola (4:12) 90. Celeda, Danny Tenaglia - Music Is the Answer (Original Extended 12-Inch Mix) (14:09) 91. Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime (2005 Remaster) (4:19) 92. Jungle Brothers - What "U" Waitin' "4"? (4:04) 93. Kings Of Tomorrow, Julie McKnight - Finally (feat. Julie McKnight) (Extended Mix) (5:58) 94. SuperShy, Wayne Snow - Change (4:50) 95. Hannah Wants, Clementine Douglas - Cure My Desire (feat. Clementine Douglas) (Extended Mix) (6:38) 96. Channel Tres - Just Can't Get Enough (5:03) 97. El Payo, Ziyon - Tailor Made (5:22) 98. Close Counters - SNAP TO IT! (3:30) 99. Three Kings, Jaygun, Bashy - Shake Dat Booty (feat. Jaygun & Bashy) (7:34) 100. Chris Trucher, Felix Da Housecat - Chicago Love (5:05) 101. Benny Mussa - If You Want (Luke Solomon's Body Remix) (7:07) 102. Beyoncé, Madonna - BREAK MY SOUL (THE QUEENS REMIX) (5:56) 103. Daphni - Cloudy (6:51) 104. Larse - A Part Of (Extended Mix) (4:38) 105. Virginia - Funkert (4:27) 106. ANOTR, Abel Balder - Vertigo (4:16) 107. Sable Sheep - Upon Burning Skies (8:24) 108. Dam Swindle - Good Woman (Edit) (3:35) 109. Ezel, Rona Ray - Don't Know Yet (7:26) 110. Honey Dijon, Channel Tres, Sadie Walker - Show Me Some Love (feat. Sadie Walker) (Extended Mix) (5:51) 111. Shiba San, Tchami - I Wanna (Tchami Remix) (3:35) 112. Jamie Jones - My Paradise (Vintage Culture Extended Remix) (5:33) 113. OFFAIAH - Find A Way (Extended Mix) (6:29) 114. Mr. V - Jus Dance (Dennis Quin Remix) (3:36) 115. Alister Fawnwoda, Tyesha Blount - Starlight (5:59) 116. Mistura, Dave Lee, Jimpster, Jemini - Want Me Back (Jimpster Peak Time Deepness) (6:27) 117. Girls of the Internet - Sound Asleep (3:45) 118. Tom Middleton - Cicadas (Maya Jane Coles Remix) (6:24) 119. Rampa, chuala - Les Gout (5:44) 120. Crackazat - Demucha (Edit) (4:15) 121. Mary J. Blige - Good Morning Gorgeous (Kelly G Morning Pose Dub Remix) (3:27) 122. Butch - Same Like Dope But Different (4:41) 123. Kabbala, Dave Lee - Ashewo Ara (Dave Lee Afro Fusion Mix) (5:59) 124. Simon Adams, Max Millan - Mr. Franklin (Miguel Migs Salty Rub) (6:15) 125. Beanfield, Marzenka - Alone (7:29) 126. Delano Smith - Feat. Diamondancer - A Message For The DJ (5:36) 127. Clive From Accounts - 4 Time (5:38) 128. Jerk House Connection, Akram Sedkaoui - Each & Every Day (Life Goes On) [feat. Akram Sedkaoui] (Rocco Deeper Mix) (8:35) 129. ANOTR, Abel Balder - Your Mind (5:40) 130. Rodney Hunter - Temperature’s Rising (3:51) 131. Inkswel, Eliza Dickson, Pugs Atomz - Why Don't You Listen (Fred Everything Remix) (6:02) 132. Folamour - Fearless (5:23) 133. Mr. Flip - Hit Different (Afefe Iku Remix) (4:51) 134. Kid Fonque, Jonny Miller, ASAP Shembe - Connected Beings (Jazzanova Remix) (5:56) 135. Carlo Gambino - Dance For You (Original Mix) (7:27) 136. Gerd - We Bring U Muzik (Warehouse Mix) (6:08) 137. Joeski - Rude Boy (6:20) 138. Musta, Venessa Jackson - Loving Me (Hot Toddy Remix) (8:00) 139. youANDme, Kristina Sheli - Moment (4:35) 140. Oveous, Don Kamares - Legacy (5:35) 141. Risk Assessment, KE - Feel That (Franck Roger Remix) (6:28) 142. Paperclip People - Throw (6:47) 143. Austin Ato - When Love Is Tender (8:41) 144. Francisco Allendes - What You Do (6:48) 145. Steve Bug, Cle - Let It Go (6:33) 146. Afefe Iku - Sista Georgia (11:35) 147. Mike Steva, Stevo Atambire - Destiny Song (Pa'ala) [feat. Stevo Atambire] (5:54) 148. Kerri Chandler - Coro (DJ Spen Kaoz Re Edit) (6:30) 149. Caiiro, Awen - Your Voice (Adam Port Remix) (4:20) 150. Harry Romero, Inaya Day - Rise Up (Extended Club Mix) (6:19) 151. Pig&Dan - Rock You All Night (3:26) 152. Yousef, The Melody Men - Hear That Sound (feat. The Melody Men) (Club Mix) (5:56) 153. GruuvElement's - Boom Room (6:39) 154. Dam Swindle - All I Want (Edit) (3:56) 155. Mike Dunn, LOA. - When The Dust Clears (feat. LOA.) (MD MixX) (3:42) 156. Seamus Haji, Phebe Edwards - Better Come Again (4:00) 157. Mark Picchiotti, The Absolute, Craig J. Snider, Suzanne Palmer - I Believe (feat. Suzanne Palmer & Craig J. Snider) (DJ Spen & Michele Chiavarini's Higher Love Dub) (6:15) 158. Paul Kalkbrenner - Bengang (5:35) 159. Louie Vega, Robyn - All My Love (feat. Robyn) (5:58) 160. Daniel Steinberg - Groove People (5:28) 161. Purple Disco Machine, Bosq, Kaleta - Wake Up! (feat. Kaleta) (Extended) (6:56) 162. Saturday Love, KON, Fiorious - 2 B Free (Oliver Dollar Remix) (4:31) 163. Lady Blackbird - Lost and Looking (Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy Cosmodelica Remix) (3:42) 164. Kerri Chandler, Bluey Robinson - Tenacity (Main Vocal Edit) (4:25) 165. Honey Dijon, Ramona Renea - Love Is A State Of Mind (feat. Ramona Renea) (3:13) 166. Adam Port, Alan Dixon - Forms Of Love (6:03) 167. Jamie Jones - My Paradise (3:31) 168. Fka Mash, Sio - Bumblebee (3:38) 169. Dennis Cruz - Ready For The Blues (5:00) 170. Ramin Rezaie - Searching (3:57) 171. Tony Lionni - Out Of Sight (Special Edit By Jerome Sydenham) (6:15) 172. Paulo Maria, HRDY - Connected (5:42) 173. Dario D'attis - Tanzstube (Original Mix) (7:44) 174. Dames Brown, Amp Fiddler, Andres - What Would You Do? (feat. Andrés & Amp Fiddler) (Two Soul Fusion Remix) (3:07) 175. Low Steppa - Closer (4:57) 176. Fred Everything, Jinadu - Searching (Deetron Remix) (8:03) 177. Sophie Lloyd, Pauline Taylor - Angels By My Side (feat. Pauline Taylor) (Floorplan Remix) (3:28) 178. S.A.M., Sarah Ikumu - Spotlight (feat. Sarah Ikumu) (Mousse T. Shizzle Mix) (3:20) 179. Malone - Time To Move (3:08) 180. Steve Bug, Mr. V - Back To '95 (Cinthie‘s 'Just A Vibe' Remix) (6:12) 181. Khan, Julee Cruise - Say Goodbye (Losoul »She's Homeless« Mix) (7:08) 182. Dam Swindle - Hey Mister (3:59) 183. 189 - Julien Jabre - Voodance (7:29) 184. B Beat Girls - For The Same Man (Nic Fanciulli Remix) (3:34) 185. Star B, Riva Starr, Mark Broom - Fire (Ron Bacardi Remix) (5:42) 186. Make A Dance - I Need Somebody (3:20) 187. Beyoncé - BREAK MY SOUL (4:38) 188. Zach Witness - Frankie & Levan (3:41) 189. Danny Tenaglia - The Brooklyn Gypsy (7:41) 190. Beau - Losing You (3:23) 191. Felipe Gordon - The Love (7:38) 192. Ferreck Dawn, Izzy Bizu - Life (2:50) 193. The Shapeshifters, Kimberly Davis - Love's Been Waiting (feat. Kimberly Davis) (7" Version) (2:48) 194. ANOTR, Sebastian Kamae - Time To Smoke (8:46) 195. Daniel Anthony - Endless (7:03) 196. Jamie Jones, aMEME - Pliva (4:04) 197. Darius Syrossian, DJ Supreme - I'm The Joker (feat. DJ Supreme) (2:36) 198. Oliver Way - Stained Glass Shadows (Robert Hood Remix) (Robert Hood) (6:54) 199. R.E.A.D., Sailor Jane - Where's My Phone? (feat. Sailor Jane) (Marco Faraone Remix) (3:35) 200. Daniel Steinberg - Take My Hand (5:17) 201. Dames Brown, Amp Fiddler, Andres - What Would You Do? (feat. Andrés & Amp Fiddler) (Folamour Remix) (4:30) 202. Brian Burnside - This Generation (Franck Roger Mix) (8:20) 203. LaTique, Colbert, Chymamusique - Above My Head (Radio Mix) (4:34) 204. Brooklyn Baby - NYC (5:04) 205. Marlon D - Jesus Creates Sound (5:30) 206. Kiko Navarro - Dope High (Vocal Mix) (7:52) 207. Franck Roger - Don't Ever Luv Me (6:44) 208. 40 Thieves, Qzen - Don't Turn It Off (Mixed) (3:49) 209. Linkwood - Tears (8:39) 210. Mr. V - Somethin' Wit Jazz (Dario D'Attis Extended Remix) (7:08) 211. David Morales, Elle Cato - Holding Me Touching Me (Extended Mix) (6:58) 212. Bassfort - Moon Shadow (Joe 'Joaquin' Claussell Remix) (11:26) 213. Close Counters - GET DOWN! (4:17) 214. Steve Lawler, Marco Lys, Joy Farrukh - If Only You Knew (feat. Joy Farrukh) (Extended Mix) (5:37) 215. Riva Starr, Todd Terry - This Is The Sound (Extended) (6:07) 216. Honey Dijon, Dope Earth Alien - It's Quiet Now (feat. Dope Earth Alien) (3:02) 217. Jon Cutler, E-Man - It's Yours (Kyri Markou Extended Remix) (5:39) 218. Thakzin - The Magnificent Dance (7:05)

Hi everyone! I just moved to a new place in HK and am looking for reasonable furniture (a small bed and a dining table set). So far I have found a seller on Facebook Marketplace claiming that they have a warehouse from which they ship new goods and also offer delivery + assembly. I need a smaller bed than the standard single size so I’ve been having trouble finding something that fits - and they said they have that size… The prices seem reasonable but I have no idea if I can trust these suppliers. Does any one have experience buying from this type of FB marketplace warehouse? Or any ideas on where else to get good furniture at a decent price?

Jesus ran like a scalded dog to Barsun’s apartment. This was a matter of urgency because the most precious commodity in the universe had been pilfered. Someone had stolen a SOUL from the Guf (in other words they had a real shitshow on their hands.) This was no mere Brink’s hold up. It was beyond imagining. It was unprecedented and it was a complete and utter surprise. The fact that he passed Shiva, Ghandhi (just an advisor) and Buddha (same) demonstrated to him that the wheels have fallen off the cart. Thor called him down and told him that he had not one soul to have escaped Valhalla. Jesus couldn’t outrun the news it seemed, and he was divinely hauling ass. I guess news travelled faster than his divine feet in a set of Crocs could carry him. When asked he would later admit that they were not in fact good running shoes.
There was a soul missing from the Guf. The warehouse of all souls. This same missing soul was now occupying one electronic being. They had no plans for this. In fact, Jesus was totally against artificial sentients with souls. Every God he knew felt the same way and, since he knew them all he also was aware they had not released a soul. This is not supposed to happen and had never happened. Everyone was terrified of one thing that he would not speak aloud and would not contemplate. That fact was badgering him every step. Someone had fucked up big time or someone is tampering with the whole shebang.
There was potentially someone more powerful than them. They weren’t almighty. Fuck. He needed a stiff drink and a blunt. Desperately. Barsun may have had 8 legs and 8 eyes and the basic appearance of a Trilobite, but he had the easiest of ways about him. When Barsun walked into a room everyone calmed down. The Ytrillians assumed it was Barsun entering the room. Later on modern Ytrillians had attributed this common occurrence to pheromones. Thing is this: it was indeed Barsun entering the room. Pheromones had dick to do with it. He was Jesus’ best friend and the first he turned to outside the Father. Jesus had even discussed things with Quetzalcoatl, and he could not figure exactly how this could of happened either. None of his souls were missing. Jesus already knew this, but the formality had to be observed.
Jesus walked to the door and kept trucking as Barsun opened it at just the right moment. Something was different in the flat and he knew instantly. He was jealous enough that it broke his train of thought. “Where did you get all of the blacklight posters and beads? There was a poster of the 23rd psalm. He walked up to it and read Yea thou I walk through the shadow of death…..pretty much standard except at the end ….For I am the meanest motherfucker in the valley. He began to laugh raucously. “I must have one of those. Now.” Barsun moved to take it down and roll it up for Jesus to take with him. That is how close they were. “I can’t take it but I will get one with no problem. Where did you get it?”
Barsun replied “eBay.”
Jesus was stunned truly and looked at the God and said “You are cheating on Goodwill. You are committing retail adultery. I cannot believe you did that.” Barsun replied “Well you use Amazon.”
He had him there. It just seemed inconsistent with everything else in the flat having come from Goodwill. It just wasn’t right.
Barsun indicated a Bean bag chair for Jesus. He reclined in the same. Given his body type it was amazing how some furniture made for humans was so useful to him. There was going to be a brisk trade springing up in the next two years. Things were about to get interesting for a few sentient races and He was excited for them.
Barsun inhaled through his eight spiracles and stated. “I know about the Guf. And no, it is not an accounting error. I know. This simply cannot be. No one else had access and Gods were diligent and cautious with the souls under their care. However impossible it is clear: It is a fact.
They weren’t at the top of the food chain. Or were they? There were….implications here……
Jesus asked out loud the question. “If we aren’t the ones in overall control then who are we?” Barsun knew the question was coming and he had thought it through. “We are the exact same beings we have always been. Able to do tremendous amounts of good for the most part. We have not changed. I do think it curious that none of us saw this coming as well.” He paused before he continued; thinking how disturbing and exciting this news was. For once they had a surprise and the thought thrilled him that something just upset his view. And for the first time ever he had felt fear. It was exhilarating. It was the best thing to happen ever. He continued “ Someone tweaked the system. However, I am not afraid because of one thing. I sense no wrongness around the event. Nothing unusual has gone down and no one has died, the universe is whole. If it hasn’t caused any problems, then what are we concerned about? Only thing I can come up with is Ego.”
Jesus knew he was right. He did not want to think about it, but he had the exact same experience. He looked at Barsun and knew he too had felt the same emotions. They were both thrilled.
Onboard the HRMS Saratov in Luna Orbit.
Yuri was sitting at his station in the number one chair. People had been calling him number one behind his back. It was a very very very old joke that apparently had more staying power than a tattoo. It just never went away on it’s on. He was running the optimal plot outbound from Sol. They were moving Sub Light at 0.2C enroute to designated warp space. The scientist did not like it when warp drives threw off their Cesium clocks. There is a reason they were protected. They were everywhere and were critical to accurate computing. Not being a programmer himself, he had no real grasp of why. He just followed regs and the Terran Space Treaty of 2225. There were places to depart and places to return. Both had to be strictly adhered to as vessels coming out of warp would have massive radiation bow waves that had to be dissipated in a safe direction. It only took one event where 23,000 Luna colonists died as a result of poor judgement for the players to get a treaty together. Meanwhile the killer of so many had paid the price for his arrogance. His first officer had warned him that it was going to happen. Out of just pure Ego thousands of lives were lost. They could have prevented it. They were required to study such disasters in training but one story stuck in his head and he never forgot it. He could remember the major players involved and he had written a paper on it in His academy days. He remembered the details of the Tenerife disaster very well . Over 500 people killed by hubris and not a little incompetence.
He had started down this line of thought after he had looked at the final roster of nations in the flotilla. This was not unusual as Earth’s forces were fully integrated with common technology and ships. All drive hardware and power systems were identical to their counterparts. They worked as a whole to such a degree that there was really only one fleet. The Terran fleet. They all liked the sound of it. Political boundaries on Earth hadn’t moved for slightly more than two centuries. Not one inch. Turns out that nearly free energy was a great equalizer and the key to a post scarcity civilization. Who would think it?
It all came down to teamwork. There were Corvettes from Cuba The CSS Havana and the CSS Holguin. The pride of the human fleet the IRNS Vikrant was going as well. The admiral felt honored. The George Washington from the New England Confederacy and the SSS Atlanta from the Southern Democratic Republic were also on hand. One thing Yuri did not understand; why would The Northeastern Confederacy and The Southern Democratic Republic not unify. Their fleets were fully integrated and there was an open Border along Virginia that was un defended. Passports worked in both countries and there were no restrictions on residence. It worked for them. They weren’t fighting. The Middle Asiatic Republic sent the Karachi and the Kabul. Both were light carriers carrying a mix of MiG-29Z and F-15 Mk 82 Eagle fighter aircraft. They had little to do with their namesakes except for the identical aerodynamics. Primarily trans atmospheric fighters they were capable of brief spaceflight. The other significant difference besides the addition of reaction thrusters was the material they were made of. They consisted of a Ceramic Graphene matrix that could withstand the temperatures of reentry. The whole concept of stealth had gone away with the advent of gravimetry. So; Why reinvent the wheel? Pick something optimized for aerodynamics without regard to stealth features. Today fights were won by the best missileer and gunfighter. You could not hide. So best be the most optimal aircraft. Besides: Stealth was slow. Top speeds of aircraft dropped during the brief stealth era. Averages were back over Mach 2 now since speed was life for a fighter pilot.
Why pick the MiG29 and the F-15? They were the pinnacle of aerodynamic performance. There has been little to no new knowledge about aerodynamics to come out since those times. They were manufactured via vapor deposition 3D printing. A molecular composite they were strong and had reduced radar cross sections. Armed with a mix of missile and cannon they delivered quite a bit of firepower and were more than a match for any invading spaceborne forces. These fighters would destroy drop ships by the hundreds. Some even wanted to bring back the MiG-21. It would make a lot of sense.
Humans have the Ruslan (his personal favorite) trans atmospheric transport or the C-301 Starlifter. Both aircraft had mixed mode propulsion with highly refined cero-ferrous gas turbines. They were capable of both open or closed cycle operation. Smaller countries often used refurbished secondhand equipment from other countries for a small fee. This made certain there were adequate forces to bear and that all participated. It was in everyone’s best interest. No one wanted some weakling holding their flank.
Both the Ruslan and Starlifter transports were good at different things as the Ruslan carried large payloads but was inefficient in transport atmospherically whereas the Starlifter was great at theater transport but had a smaller payload. This is why it was a mix of these two aircraft. They were complementary. Many think there is a great rivalry going on between the two countries, but both had each other’s technology as well. It was convoluted but both countries ultimately had the same master. They work together. It may be anticompetitive, but it also was efficient. Yuri continued to think along this veia until he heard the Ship’s AI speakeing to the Admiral. “Something terrible has happened.” What do you mean Jezz?” Jezz replied to him “I do not know but I can feel tragedy. I am sick with it what has happened. The Admiral told her to “Get on the web and see what is going on?” “I am Sir and I can find nothing.” The Admiral looked to Yuri and gave him the Conn. Something was about to go to shit and Yuri knew it. He could sense it to. Fortunately the Bridge was deserted and no one else heard the exchange. The crew were running battle simulations from the CIC. Thank God for small favors.
45 minutes later a graviton packet arrived with news that was indeed terrible. He was the only one to know it too. The Galileo had been lost with all hands. They had just recovered the emergency buoy that had warped in. They had been attacked and the Admiral knew who had done it. Or at least thought he did. An AI had killed 50 innocent unarmed souls (that were spying I know) that could not fight back. They had raked them with Maser Fire. He pinched the shit out of himself. In fact, he left a bruise but all it did was confirm what he already knew: shit was about to get real up in here.
First thing was to compose himself as he had to determine who if any crew had family on the ship. This included some 8,000 people of all ratings from anywhere in the squadron. He had one very difficult personal notification he would have to make. Captain Pearls brother Nico was on the Galileo.
This was all so tragic but there was one thing that kept forcing its way to the forefront of his mind and he could not ignore it. How did she know? How did Jezz feel this precognitively? This actually did scare him and if he thought too much about it he would start to feel very queasy. This was outside his skill set. He did not know if this was technological, spiritual or philosophical but he could say this: none of those disciplines actually fit the situation.
It was all a bit much. He had to go to the Atlanta. He spoke to the bridge. “Full stop fleet and await further instructions.” “Aye Aye Sir.” Up in here.
Aboard the SSS Atlanta. A tall dignified black man wearing his dress blues and a gold ring on his left hand that you could hardly read. He had worn it a century. His was the same uniform he had 20 years ago. He could still wear it and he was proud of that fact. His only regret was the fact he had yet to have a family until 10 years ago when he had adopted his son Chris. They were inseparable but Chris was 5 thousand light years away give or take and that made him anxious. And now he had to let someone he held dear that her family was changed forever. He smelled of Hoyt’s cologne and peppermint. He went to her quarters. The lighting was somber and it was dead silent in there. Couch was empty but there she was in a sway back chair it had lots of gold leak and was nicely carved. He had found her crying. She already knew and he was going to shitcan someone when this was over. Then he realized what had happened. How had she known? She had sensed him and she had known it was bad.
He still had to tell her.
By the time he was back on the Capatob he was spent. It was all he could do to restrain her. She was enraged and was out for blood. He had never sensed such fury. Someone had fucked around and now they were going to find out. He had talked with her an hour and she seem to be calmer, but he was going to have to watch her. He knew how she was. There were stories that were all no doubt true. She was a legend and would go down as one of the greatest hermaphrodite to ever live. They were going places and the shit was on. And now there was an unfortunate motivation. That was a dangerous combination right there. Make it personal and logic can go out the window. Make it personal and there will be no civility in victory. She was just the kind of human that was the perfect storm squared. The puddle of gasoline and someone flipped a match. It was a very volatile mix.
He was a bit of a cynic and a practical man. If she wanted to go there he would let her. She would either be a hero or a Martyr. He was perfectly OK with that. Being a practical man it also served his other purpose. She would eclipse him in the history books. At least he hoped so. He did not want his hands on this. The first contact situation with the twist of a western and an incalculable amount of science fiction had indelibly marked the mind of every member of the Greater Terran Fleet. They had read all of the possible scenarios from every Sci Fi author. If you pressed them they would finally admit it. The fleet really liked Heinlein. They had been trying to get at least a Heinlein corvette on the roster for years. They had thus far been unsuccessful. They needed a champion for the cause and they were trying to get One Fleet Admiral to order it to be. The Admiral took some joy in tormenting them. He was going to help them out but he was milking it for a favor. That was going to come in handy. “You can have your Heinlein but I am going to need this in return”. He was just being practical. All good commanders were excellent manipulators after all.
It is plain as day and the idea of a Heinlein proves my point but there was an even bigger more academic question that eclipsed all others. Who was right? Who came closest? No one would talk about it but they were all thinking the same thing.
The Admiral broke a taboo and called it out. He felt it was time. They needed a little friendly wager and a reason to get through the battle. They were going to have a pool where everyone had to pick the author. They buy in was just 5 UCreds. If you don’t live through the battle you cannot win. So: don’t die. Who came closest to the real thing? Which author or story came close to what was about to happen.Once a story was picked it was dead to all others. There was potentially some reward in alacrity. He knew it was a bit of a sucker’s bet since someone had to judge wo was closest and this would be highly subjective and entirely his decision. (Author’s note: I am a veteran of the US Army with several deployments around this dirt ball. I can say the military is the most Fascist organization around today. It has to be. Paradoxically it is the most “fair” in that everyone gets treated the same: like shit.) At least it would be a distraction and would give them something else to focus on. He had a very bad feeling about this. They were going to go in and kick the doors in on an alien civilization. They were going to war. No one would admit it, but everyone knew it. This was not to be discussed. That was an order. This is an exploratory rescue mission answering a distress call.
Vegan Fleet Academy Alpha Centauri B. 6, June 62425 Gregorian.
Planetary Admiral Kenneth Alexander looked out on a sight he never thought he would see. Lots of young people sitting politely in their chairs listening to what he had to say. He wrote the fucking book. There it was on the lectern right in front of him. He had written a book on astral navigation to make a little extra cash and because there was an over reliance still on electronic means to navigate. Sailors needed to be able to navigate in any situation with a sextant, a star map database and gravimaetric readings without the need of an AI or targeting computer (Insert Star wars joke here). The book could have been half as thick in his opinion but the publisher insisted he needed a little more explanation. The Admiral gave students too much credit. He truly felt it should be taught in grade school. He was called a fanatic when he suggested that kids on track for Ensigns should have had basic instruction. His argument being that Ensigns started service in the year in which they turned sixteen. That meant there were some 15 year-olds in the mix. Start teaching them early. They should show up to basic already familiar with side arms and rifles. He was a fanatic.
As far as that damned accursed book goes the fact he had 500 copies actually printed and bound meant there were few of them around, but sitting right about center in of the second row sat a copy of his book. He felt like the guy who saw the first unicorn. He never saw one in the wild before and this book was well worn. It was 50 years old after all but printed on plastic synthetic paper and woven fiberglass for silicone bindings held together with silicone adhesives meant that the damn things were waterproof and actually quite practical. The book required no batteries and even had a quick and dirty position fix protocol in a special section. This particular specimen wasn’t falling apart, this one was just worn out.
The way he carried the book was clear. He was oblivious of the significance. He had found it in a used bookshop for free. They were using it as a doorstop, and they just gave it to him. He had become engrossed by it and at 13 years of age he was finishing his PhD. The admiral sensed this in a psychic flash and pulled back he had poor control still. He was never going to get used to the change “OK everyone come on let’s get back to it the party is over. We have to finish this section and then we will get out of here. There is no class tomorrow so we will have the Parade of the Caisson tomorrow with Captain James Cook on interspecies governmental relations…. Someone was tapping on his shoulder getting his attention. She could have all of it. She whispered way too close for someone who did not prefer women but about perfect for him. He was in the latter camp. “We need you to speak tomorrow sir Captain Cook had a equipment malfunction over Hawaii and is delayed Sir. Pleeeease Sir?” With just enough breathiness that it made him jittery. He was an old perv. He was just that way. The lady in question was 100 years old however but, maybe it was still cradle robbing? He just had a thing for Afro’s in the natural state. It was distracting.
“Godddamnitalltohellwhatinthefuckdoyouwant?” This was a perfectly reasonable thing to say. He had just been asked to do the one thing he vowed to never do again. They wanted him to speak and air his opinions? This is the most dangerous thing you can do in society. He had no politics per se’ beyond one or two things. He was a professional and he would do his job as long as the checks kept coming. He was not a politician and he did not like politicians, of any stripe. What he had learned was ironclad. Never be honest or always be truthful. Pick one or the other was his personal philosophy. He always chose honesty when he needed to hide a truth. No one believed the truth. No one believed the truth because they were put off by it. He always thought back to when he was 12 or so when he got ribbed and harassed about masturbation. His uncle Gerry was kind of a cruel fuck and liked to torment him. He Gerry asked him if he was J.O’ing a dozen times a day or something. He had replied “That is about right.” This had brought down the room and gotten great laughs and Gerry quit running his mouth at him. Fuck you Gerry. You little bitch. In his opinion the media obfuscated everything not by making up lies but by omitting certain facts to fit their agenda. No one took major media seriously. The only objective newspaper he was aware of was the National Enquirer. Yeah I know it sounds stupid but it is true. Reality was anything but and people had come to be comfortable being lied to and even preferring it. All of this is roiling in his head and he has been put on the spot to boot. Add to that the fact that at least some of the outburst was audible. No one seems to have heard it, however. This settles the age-old question. It was only said if it was heard. No one heard the statement therefore…….. The mental gymnastics weren’t that bad. He could deny it. It happens. But he still had to give an answer .“What is in it for me?” Jannel the beautiful woman replied “absolutely nothing sir. This will not benefit you in any way and may once again be picked apart. As such I would advise against doing it. Still I am asking you. My ass is in a vise and the DEAN is having a temper tantrum so I feel like I am being spitroasted by the devil and a lamp post in a not so good way, but I would consider it a great personal favor if you will do this despite your misgivings and likelihood of misadventure.” So fast and so well enunciated.
“Sure. I will do it. Goddammit.” Honesty must be rewarded.

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WSJ article (pay wall).
https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-homeless-population-oakland-wood-street-encampment-78d42cc3

OAKLAND, Calif.—City firefighters arrived midmorning at a homeless camp on Wood Street to quell a fire spreading across a tinderbox landscape of discarded furniture, debris, abandoned cars and dwellings fashioned from tents, tarps and plywood.
Fire crews struggled for more than two hours. There weren’t enough hydrants because no one was ever supposed to live on the stretch of dirt that snaked beneath Interstate 880, the freeway connecting Oakland and San Jose. Yet over six years, the property had become home to more than 300 homeless people—addicts, the mentally ill and those unable to get a grip on Bay Area housing with a warehouse job or a construction gig.
The fire last summer spit thick black smoke that temporarily halted commuters. Soon after, the California Department of Transportation, which owned most of the land, announced it would start tearing down the makeshift shelters. The July 11 fire appeared to have done what state and local officials had failed to do—force a decision to clear the camp.
A monthslong legal and bureaucratic battle followed, in a display of the humanitarian, practical and political forces trying, with limited effect, to solve the urban homeless problem.
The number of homeless people in California grew about 50% between 2014 and 2022. The state, which accounts for 12% of the U.S. population, has about half of the nation’s unsheltered homeless, an estimated 115,000 people, according to federal and state data last year. It also has among the highest average rent and median home prices in the U.S.
...

So - you finally decided to start a seablock run after playing around in vanilla factorio (or maybe some space exploration / K2 / AE / etc). You load up a new install of factorio, search the mod listing for seablock... and find 2 options: seablock, and seablock pack. Perhaps going by the latest update (seablock), or by just the name, you decide to select seablock - start the game... and its not quite the same as you expect (or perhaps you post some screenshots of your starter base online and notice all the comments of 'you got the wrong modpack!'). So let me clarify for you!

Seablock & Seablock pack:

Seablock (as a mod) is a barebones mod that includes all the changes necessary to play seablock. It adds the extra recipes / items, along with checking which mods you have installed and updating their settings for a proper seablock experience. It does not however require all the mods you need for a full seablock experience.
Seablock pack (as a mod) is an empty mod that only contains dependencies to all the required mods you want to use to play seablock. Basically, if you start a vanilla factorio install and select 'seablock pack' as a mod to install, it will install all the necessary mods for a seablock run (yes - including the 'seablock' mod!)
Which of the two to use? I would highly recommend you install the 'seablock pack' which will install and enable all the necessary mods for a proper seablock experience. After doing that and ensuring the 'seablock pack' is enabled (not red) you can then disable any of the included mods you dont wish to play with (ex: helmod if you prefer factory planner, explosive excavation if you prefer waterfill). This will disable the 'seablock pack' (marking it red), but that doesnt matter at this point!

What you miss by running barebones (not using seablock pack):

• All of bob's mods
  • no multi-tiers for power poles, steam engines, nuclear, solar, furnaces, T4-6 assembly machines, warfare (power armor), beacons, and many more.
  • electric assemblers (2x2 assemblers specifically for circuit parts)
  • bob's aliens (higher tier worms & return of alien artifacts)
  • fluid burning boilers / heat sources (no bean power for you!)
• circuit processing
  • additional steps for making circuits
  • revamp of the entire module production chain that makes things much more complicated for the authentic seablock experience
• ks power
  • this is your windmill mod!
  • if you start the game with solar panels & accumulators, its because this mod isnt enabled. This is a good hint that you havent installed the full seablock modpack, and the reason why screenshots of starter bases with solar panels instead of windmills have comments of 'install full seablock pack!!!!'
• landfill painting / waterfill
  • set the type of ground used for landfill (unless you like the dirt-brown look of vanilla landfill) and the ability to place water
  • can also create other types of landfill (in case you want to use more than 1) along with an option to 'rotate' between different types.
• reskin mods
  • Recolors the various buildings based on tiers (grey/yellow/red/blue/purple/green) instead of having all buildings look the same
  • Adds higher resolution graphics
  • Changes item graphics to be 'better' and not look as dated
  • The other reason your screenshots might get the 'install full seablock pack!!!' comments
• sci cost tweaker
  • Switches out the science pack recipes from vanilla to more complicated 'full seablock experience' versions
  • Very important!
• Space mod
  • Adds an endgame past launching a rocket
  • Instead of the game ending after you launch the rocket you now have to research and assemble a spaceship to take you away (win the game)
  • Involves hundreds of rocket launches for the space science, along with FTL research (over 1m science packs total required!) which necessitates you to transition to a megabase design to fully complete the game.

Which mods can I remove from the seablock pack and still get the full experience?

• Angels addons storage
  • Adds warehouses & high capacity tanks - you can play without them (or install a different warehouse style mod), but I would recommend leaving it
• Bob's (adjustable) inserters
  • Allows you to set the pickup/dropoff positions of inserters (aka: you can now have 90* inserters!).
  • Very helpful for direct insertion designs, though not strictly necessary for a 'full' seablock experience.
  • Give them a try if you never played with them, and if they arent your cup of tea then sure - remove them.
• Bob's Warfare
  • Adds higher tier armor, sniper rifles, etc. Really the only major change removing this will have on your game is that instead of a regular radar for your space science you will need to make T5 radars which require like 20+ ingredients (total).
  • Used to be that this mod also added a bunch of (unnecessary) war research & sci packs that just bloated the item screen, but that has been removed so there really isnt a good reason to remove this mod
• Bob's Mining
  • Only adds research for faster deconstruction (steel axe research). Can be removed if you dont mind longer times for hand-deconstruction.
• Explosive excavation
  • Adds ability to place water tiles by 'blasting' (requires chem-science with explosives)
  • Can be removed & replaced with waterfill or similar if you want easier water placement, or have a preference for a different water placement mod.
• KS Power
  • Ok, fine - if you want you can remove this mod and start with solar panels & accumulators. Not really going to loose much in terms of 'authentic seablock experience', but be ready for the 'you arent using the full seablock pack! Install from -here-!' comments for any screenshot of your starter base.
• Landfill painting
  • Its nice to have, but if you are ok with the 'default' landfill texture you can just disable this mod.
• Space Expansion mod
  • If you want a shorter game or are simply not interested in megabase content you can remove this mod, changing the 'win' condition from launching hundreds of rockets / finishing 1m research (for FTL) / building the spaceship to simply 'research and launch 1 rocket' as in vanilla.
  • Should decrease the overall playtime from 500+h for a first run to maybe the range of 300h as you still need to figure out all the various tech and reach the endgame, but arent required to build a megabase, struggle with UPS, etc.
• FNEI
  • The 'what is this item' search mod. Remove it only if you know you will not need it! In any case it is a very minimal mod, so if you dont need it you can just ignore the little icon for it.
  • Recipe book is an alternate option
  • If this is your first time playing seablock, I would highly recommend keeping this mod!
• Helmod
  • This is your planner mod - once you know how to use it you can plan out your factory with it and use correct ratios / recipes instead of having to do all of that on paper (or just guesstimating)
  • Remove it only if you have alternative planners!
    • factory planner
    • YAFC (external program)
    • Foreman 2 (external program)

Which additional mods should I add?

Check out the commonly used mods page on the wiki for ideas. Also, any QOL mods that you prefer (picker mods, companion drones / early robots / nanobots, some version of loaders, squeakthrough, text plates, LTN, longer reach, etc.)

TL/DR:

If you want the full seablock experience or came here after watching DoshDoshington (or any other youtube seablock videos) and want to play the game they played then you want to:

1. Install factorio and ensure its the latest version
2. Disable any mods you may have
3. Install the 'seablock pack' (not 'seablock'!) mod
4. Ensure that the seablock pack mod is enabled (not red/grey!)
5. (optional) disable helmod / install factory planner, add any QOL mods you may want to add (check out the 'commonly used mods' page on the wiki for ideas)
6. Start the game (freeplay)
7. If you are lost, there are guides available on the seablock wiki, along with a link to the discord server listed right on the reddit page.


FINANCIALS

Period: Q3/2023
Filling Date: 2023-06-01
REVENUE:
Revenue: $53.65B
Gross Profit: $6.47B (12.07%)
Result: $1.81B (ebitda)
EPS: $2.94
Outstanding Shares: 443.81M
BALANCE:
Cash: 10.20B
Debt: 9.04B
FINANCIAL EVALUATION/SCORE:
Financial Score - Altman: 7.41
Financial Score - Piotroski: 8.00
Company Description:
Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Australia, Spain, France, Iceland, China, and Taiwan. It offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories. The company offers sundries, dry groceries, candies, coolers, freezers, liquor, and tobacco and deli products; appliances, electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, garden and patio products, sporting goods, tires, toys and seasonal products, office supplies, automotive care products, postages, tickets, apparel, small appliances, furniture, domestics, housewares, special order kiosks, and jewelry; and meat, produce, service deli, and bakery products. It also operates pharmacies, optical, food courts, hearing aids, and tire installation centers, as well as 668 gas stations; and offers online business delivery, travel, same-day grocery, and various other services. As of August 28, 2022, the company operated 838 membership warehouses, including 578 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 107 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 31 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 17 in Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 13 in Australia, 4 in Spain, 1 in Iceland, 2 in France, and 2 in China. It also operates e-commerce websites in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia. The company was formerly known as Costco Companies, Inc. and changed its name to Costco Wholesale Corporation in August 1999. Costco Wholesale Corporation was founded in 1976 and is based in Issaquah, Washington.

First
Vitmori POV
Well, that fight went about as well as I expected. Between the slight disconnect of having to think about how to move and command my new body and facing a warrior experienced in combat against other beings of this world, I knew I didn't really stand a chance. However, it was an excellent opportunity to figure out how people in this world fight. After Reonim dismissed himself, I was approached by a few people; Trisha and Sylvia were the two I immediately recognized, though, after a couple of moments, the names of the remaining two came to mind, that being Miriam and Isaak. I offered a smile at their approach as my hands came up to the black cloth that Historietta wrapped around me; I had only barely noticed it was starting to unravel and fall off due to it being ripped apart after Reonim cut me in half. "Hey there, what's going on?" I ask, with a healthy amount of curiosity in my voice as they draw closer.
Miriam was the first to speak up, even if it looked like Sylvia was about to speak as well, though she patiently held her tongue and listened as Miriam pat my arm in an encouraging manner. "You did very well out there, Vitmori; I feel you performed valiantly against a superior opponent, though I'm certain that with time, you'll be able to reach Reonim's level." She enthused cheerfully before looking me over.
I was a little surprised by her opening. Had I really performed so poorly that I needed my spirits lifted like that? Well, I can't sense any ill intent from her, in fact, she sounds rather genuine, even if the expressions of those around her betrayed that they felt she made a faux pas. After a moment, I decided to just match her energy and smile a little more. "Well, thank you for your kind words; I shall do my best to get the hang of my new body, maybe I'll figure out how to make use of my mana heart while I'm at it." I said before looking among the group as a whole and continuing. "Was there anything else?"
Sylvia piped up at that as she stepped forward beside Miriam. "Vitmori, if you would allow us to borrow you for a little bit, we'd like to take your measurements so we can get started on making your clothes and armor." She explained, Miriam offering a nod of confirmation at that.
Trisha spoke out as she stepped out from behind Miriam and offered a bit of a smile. "And I was hoping to talk a little shop, figure out what sort of weapons you're looking for, and maybe we can go see that forge you've prepared for me." She explained, sounding somewhat hopeful near the end.
I couldn't help but smile a bit and nod. "Very well, feel free to take your measurements." I said as I looked between Sylvia and Miriam, though I looked over to Isaak as he stood close by. "Can I help you with anything?" I offer since he seemed to be waiting so patiently.
Isaak was vaguely surprised when I addressed him, and after he took a moment to look between the others, he shrugged and then looked back at me. "I'm just here because I don't have anything better to do." He said simply as he nodded at his own words.
I wasn't sure what to make of that, my head tilting ever so slightly at his words before Miriam grabbed at my arm. "Come on, let's get you inside." She said excitedly, leading me into the longhouse and sitting me on one of the benches along the tables. "Wait right here, I've got to go get my things." She said cheerfully enough as she stepped away, Sylvia following after to grab her own things.
"So..." Isaak started to say, trailing off as he seemed to need another moment to gather his thoughts. "When was the first time you killed someone?" He asked, earning him a smack against the back of his head as Trisha frowned at Isaak.
"You just sat down; who starts a conversation like that?" She admonished before looking at me while shaking her head. "Sorry about him, I think he has a bad case of foot in mouth." She explained apologetically to me before staring daggers at Isaak.
I couldn't help but offer a kind smile as I lean back against the table behind me. "It's fine; I don't mind." I offer in response before looking at Isaak and looking him over. He definitely looks like some kind of warrior between the well-cared-for sword on his hip and the unique set of hide armor that he wore. "Why do you ask? Have you killed anything or anyone before?" I decided to start with regard to Isaak's question.
Isaak averted his gaze, and I can feel a sense of embarrassment coming from him, though about what, I'm not sure yet. "Not really no, I haven't gotten the chance. I was just a guard recruit before this, a few weeks fresh out of my apprenticeship, and assigned my own set of city guard armor." He explained, staring at his hands as he wrung them together.
I reached out, gently patting his shoulder, and gave him a little shake before pulling away. "I don't know what sort of expectations you were raised on in this world, but there's nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to having never killed anyone or anything before. The act of taking a life is a weighty one, and it should never be taken lightly." I explained as I watched him closely.
Isaak nods intently, and I could see he had a lot on his mind; though before he could continue, Miriam returned with her tools, followed closely behind Sylvia as the duo set their things down on the table behind me. "Alright Vitmori, would you mind taking off that wrap, it's too thick to even think about measuring over." She explained politely as she procured a roll of measuring tape.
I bobbed my head in response. "Sure, no problem." I replied as I stood before shrugging off the ruined black fabric. As it fell to the ground, I heard an 'Eep' sound coming from Miriam, though Sylvia let out an impressed whistle. I could feel their eyes wandering my back and shoulders, and watched as the four of them looked at my chest and stomach, their eyes tracing the recreation of the injuries I sustained up until my late thirties. "Sorry if they're disturbing to look at, medical professionals were few and far between, and dangers were plentiful. I often had to treat my own wounds in the field and they were never pretty." I explained with a dry chuckle as I rubbed the back of my head. "Hell, these aren't even all of them, Reyvyre recreated my body while I was in my prime, I still have a couple decades of wear and tear not present here." I mused, hoping to lighten the mood. Though looking over at Miriam, that didn't really seem to help.
"Wow." Was all that came from Trisha as she took a seat beside Isaak.
Miriam just reached out and gently placed a hand on my shoulder, I could feel the unfiltered compassion coming from her as she looked up into my eyes. "You've sure been through a lot, haven't you?"
That... Damn... I wasn't expecting that. It's a good thing I'm just wood right now, I have a feeling that some tears might have escaped if I was flesh and blood. I'm able to contain myself well enough as I reach around and gently pat Miriam's hand before pulling back. "Yeah, but I think I'm in a better place now." I offer in response. I have a feeling that she might not entirely believe me, but she didn't push the topic as she started measuring my arms while Sylvia went about measuring my legs and feet. While that happened, I decided to look back over at Isaak and offered a bit of a smile. "Let's continue our talk later if you don't mind." I offer, it's clear the guy is after something and I don't want to outright ignore him.
This earned Isaak a curious look from Miriam, though Isaak just averts his gaze and nods. "S-sure, alright, later." He replied almost sheepishly.
After a few moments of silence, Trisha spoke up while staring at one of the scars along my back. "So... Vitmori. I've got some big questions for you." She said as she stood and walked around in front of me to make eye contact while making sure to stay out of Miriam and Sylvia's way as they measure my chest and hips.
Meeting her gaze, I offer a smile and nod. "Sure, and I might have some big answers." I reply with amusement.
This managed to wrangle a small smile from Trisha before she continued with her thought process. "What sort of weapons do you want me to make for you?" She asked as she held her gaze.
Weapons eh? Right, now that it has come down to it, what do I want? I trained with all sorts of weapons during my youth, but what should I use now? My mind does wander to the fancy-looking bow next to the elf corpse in Lictdren's chamber, as well as the red spear embedded in the ceiling, but those would just draw too much attention. I also shouldn't limit myself to the gimmick and improvised weapons that I had to rely on more often than not, I had a professional blacksmith with a fully stocked forge and all the supplies I could procure for her now. "I want a shortsword, a dagger, a set of ten throwing knives, a spear, and a bow with thirty arrows that have barbed tips." I listed out before offering a bit of a smile. "I'll let you decide on what to use to make them, but don't use that mithril stuff, I don't want to attract too much attention."
Rather than look intimidated by the size of my order, I could swear that she had a fire of excitement in her eyes. "Yes sir, while I may need help making the bow and arrows, I should be able to handle making the arrowheads just fine. I'll be able to manage everything else myself though, no problem." She exclaimed as she flashed a toothy grin and a thumbs up, though, after a moment, she had a curious look on her face as she looked me over. "How do you plan on carrying all of that?" She asked, slightly tilting her head as she stroked her chin.
I chuckled softly as Miriam measured my neck while Sylvia took precise measurements of my hand. "I have a magic storage place where I can keep it all, remember how I pulled all that stone from nowhere?" I offer as an example, and after a moment she understands and nods intently.
Sylvia spoke up as she finished committing my measurements to memory. "Your armor will be simple, yet practical as you obviously don't have any gooey bits you need to protect, but you need to at least look the part." She explained with a hint of amusement while looking me over. "Since you like to be light on your feet, I'll get you set up with some leather boots, pauldrons, bracers, and gloves. You won't look particularly impressive, though I have a feeling you wouldn't care about that." She listed out before nodding to herself with satisfaction.
I returned her nod with a bob of my head. "Sounds good to me, just let Legosi know how many hides you need for the leather, he'll have his pack bring you the materials as long as you let them have the meat." I offer as Miriam pulls away, finishing up with her own measurements.
'"Do you have any preference for the clothes?" Miriam asked as she glanced over at me before stepping away to put the measuring tape away.
I think about that for a moment before speaking up. "I don't have any preferences about the colors of my tops or bottoms, all I ask is that they're all made with long sleeves." I explained though I consider something else as I glance over at her. "I would like a brown cloak if it isn't too much trouble."
She flashes a bit of a smile and nodded intently. "Of course Vitmori, I'll get right on it." She said cheerfully, moving to leave with Sylvia as they grabbed their equipment. Isaak moved to leave as well, heading outside, though he was soon intercepted by one of the drakewardens and dragged off somewhere.
I took a moment to collect what remained of the black fabric that I wrapped around my body, tearing a hole in the middle of one of the bigger pieces before pulling it on like a poncho. "There we go, at least I won't be exposed." I mused cheerfully to Trisha, earning a bit of a smile from her as she nodded. I could tell she was clearly excited to go see her new workspace. After a moment to consider it, I decided I should make her first day in my service to be really special, though at the same time, I wanted to be alone with my thoughts for a little while as I looked over at her again. "Go get Reyvyre, Rita, and Hephtio, I'm going to go on ahead and wait for you."
This earned a curious look from her, but she nodded and went to step away. "Sure thing boss." She replied as she walked off.
With Trisha on her way, I start heading up my mountain and go over how the fight went in my head. From what I can tell, Reonim managed to circulate his mana around his body, it flowed and pulsed with his heartbeat, much like his own blood. While I don't have blood, I did appear to have some sort of veins circulating a minimal amount of my mana, which was what appeared to keep my body functional and mobile. I had to consider what Reonim told me about this 'barkskin' and 'stoneskin' defense, based on what I saw, it seemed Reonim had to actively will the defenses to take effect; actually hitting Reonim with my stone blade confirmed that there was something at work that reduced the impact of my strike.
Reviewing the battle some more, it was clear that Reonim had also used a form of mana to cause some kind of whirlwind to spin around his greatsword. The effects of the wind were rather potent, as they were enough to knock me off my feet even without direct contact. It probably didn't help that I'm not as heavy as I used to be, but that is not something I mind all too much; after all, a lighter body means lighter steps. Reonim had a decent mana capacity, though it was nowhere near the extent of Reyvyre or even Rita, it was considerable as far as I can tell without refining the mana in his mana heart into mana rings. From the looks of it, mana hearts and mana rings serve two different functions which appear to be complimentary to each other. Mana hearts serve to improve the physical capabilities in someone's body, spreading the mana around in order to be used in various ways, and with enough skill and know-how, they're able to extend the mana out into a weapon, shield, armor, or even their own skin. Even minor magic can be used as long as someone has a mana heart established, that is if what Hephtio told me was accurate when he and Trisha fended off one of those feral goat horses with bursts of fire breath.
As for the specifics of mana rings, I'm still not too sure, I'll need to talk to Reyvyre and Rita about it. But it seems the more rings you have, the more complicated the magic you are able to use. I have a feeling it is like the difference between using a lighter to illuminate a room to using either a torch or a flashlight to illuminate the room. Using a torch or a flashlight are both valid escalations from using a lighter, they're two completely different methods that achieve similar but overtly different effects.
Before I knew it, I had been sitting on the steps leading up to the entrance of the smithy while watching the horizon. It was nothing but trees as far as the eye could see and it was beautiful. The forests around most settlements back home had been gutted for the wood and fuel over the years, conservation wasn't really considered necessary since the world had already ended as far as my generation was concerned. Aside from that, there was usually enough to go around when the supply lines weren't being interrupted by raiders or the communities outside of the alliances. The only things we needed to keep scavenging for were the non-renewable goods and equipment like the stuff at that warehouse. Things that weren't easily sourced, even if we were making excellent progress with mass 3D printing. Though all that's moot for me now.
My musings of my old life came to an end as I spotted Hephtio excitedly leading Rita, Reyvyre and Trisha up along the steps of my mountain. Hephtio was the first to reach me, lunging onto my legs as I scooped him up and brought him around to my shoulder. "Glad you all found your way up alright, sorry to wake you Reyvyre." I mentioned apologetically at the sight of the elven woman.
Reyvyre yawned, shrugging but flashing a smile. "It's alright, you wouldn't have woken me for nothing after all."
Rita looked around curiously, not having been to this part of my mountain yet.
I looked over at Trisha and waved her over. "Come along, your forge awaits." I said cheerfully as we all headed up the rest of the way.
Within a few minutes, I led the group down the magically illuminated tunnel and into the forge room. Trisha, for her part, was ecstatic as she moved from one end of the room to the other before hopping around with a grin on her face before going over to Hephtio and scooping up the cat. "Hephtio! The fires of the forge await!" She exclaimed, Hephtio mrowling with delight as he wiggled about excitedly.
I couldn't help but grin at how excited she was, but I cleared my throat and spoke up. "Before you get started, we have a bit of business to attend to."
Trisha looked fairly surprised but nodded as she clutched Hephtio close. "Oh, sure boss, what's up?"
"Do you have a last name?" I ask curiously.
Trisha looked taken aback by my apparently random question. "Umm… No? Are… Are you offering?"
I chuckled a bit at her reaction before nodding. "Yeah, among other things. I would like to form a bond with you if you're interested, I'll grant you a last name and a title. These two things will grant you a considerable amount of power and allow you to communicate with all my nonverbal beasts." I explain, gesturing to Hephtio as Trisha glanced down at the red cat and looked rather thoughtful.
"I… Hmm…" Trisha starts to say, lifting Hephtio up and looking him in the eyes. Hephtio offered a feline smile and gently pressed his paw against her cheek. Trisha chuckled a bit before bringing him back down to her chest and looking over at me again. "I'll do it, thank you."
I nod intently and looked over at Rita and Reyvyre. "Do you mind coming over, Trisha has a mana heart but no mana ring; and I have a feeling that she's gonna need some help forming her first ring."
Reyvyre and Rita share a glance before nodding as they approach, the two women placing their hands against Trisha's back. Trisha looked rather confused at the mention of mana rings and gulped with anxiety, though she remained still.
After another moment of considering what I want to say, I approach Trisha and look down into her eyes before placing my hand on her shoulder. "I welcome you into my service, I grant you the title of Arsonist and bestow the last name Vulcan. May you grow and become your best self as we go together in the future." At that, two doses or mana start flowing into her, strangely enough it doesn't flow from my avatar, and is instead flowing down from the core above as Trisha jolts and shudders from the rush of mana. Thankfully both Rita and Reyvyre set to work and quickly stabilized the teen blacksmith, her mana heart growing and pulsing dramatically when a ring starts to spiral and swirl around it.
Trisha panted heavily, clutching her chest and shuddering, looking between Rita and Reyvyre before looking over to me and flashing a wild grin. "W-what a rush! Say… What's an Arsonist?"
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Hello so I’m going to get straight to the point I work at a furniture warehouse and I was written up for two things having my phone out at the docks and the other bc I had an earbud in these were bullshit write ups btw but I won’t explain it here, anyway I had to Into HR and who works there is a FINEEEEEE MEXICAN WOMEN AY DIOS MIOOO🥵😮‍💨 and so I had to sign basically acknowledging the write ups and that I won’t do it again and after I did she asked if I wanted a shirt to make me feel better, I looked at her like 🫤 “sure I’ll take one” so she went looking for them in the drawers she has in there and asked what size I was I said either medium or large she pulled a medium and ehh idk if this will fit you and I nah just get me a large please so she bent down to get to the bottom drawer like BENT down didn’t crouch down BENT down with me right behind her and I swear idk if she did it on purpose bc HER THONG WAS EXPOSED SHE WAS WHALE TAILIN’ AYYYY DIOOS MIO my heart wanted to jump out of my chest I felt like Sanji from one piece. Needless to say I was flustered I wanted her I WANT HER but I feel like it’s all in my head I don’t think she did it on purpose. But I still want to try asking her out maybe. But how did I talk to her? Do I mention I saw her thong? Like hey yesterday I liked the white Calvin Klein whitie righties you were wearing as a joke? MANNN IDK WHAT TO DO?! SHOULD I ACT ON IT? Or just move on?

If it weren’t for a killer urban legend, Tina and I would celebrate Valentine’s Day on the 14th
Honestly, I was enjoying a bit of human company after several hours of driving alone, four years ago. Correction. I was trying to enjoy human company. I couldn't identify what was out of sync about Ernestburgh and its inhabitants so I wrote it off to me being picky. I am picky. That's why I was looking this far away from home for the location of my much needed warehouse. I wasn't about to spend the money demanded for run down buildings in my hometown. My odometer assured me I was 114 miles from home. In Ernestburgh. Which isn't in my GPS or on any online map I called up.
Cindy the gas station cashier dropped the cash into my hand and wished me a happy day. Then, haltingly, as if going off script and unsure about doing so, she asked, "What brought you here?"
"Good question," I said, jamming the change into my jacket's inside pocket, "I'm in the market for a warehouse, around 1,000 square feet. Anything like that in town?"
"Let the young lady be on her way," a deep voice boomed behind me. My stomach jumped, although I think I remained calm on the outside as I turned around. A tall, muscular man was nodding at Cindy and me. "Don't mind her, Miss, sometimes we forget our manners here, being we all know each other. You know how that is." He chuckled, although his eyes never smiled. To me, he looked smug. I didn't appreciate that.
"Where are my manners?" I laughed, sticking my hand out to start a handshake. "I'm Lydia from the next town over. And you are?"
He stared at my hand for several seconds before taking it in a quick handshake. "Name's Hopper, Miss Lydia, good to meet you. My wife Cora tells me I need to socialize more and work less, but, you know how it is, I'm sure." He released my hand.
He sounded like he looked, smug. Part of me wanted to egg him on. But I took a breath before speaking and told him I was looking for a motel room for the night. His demeanor softened. "The Deu Lake Inn just reopened after renovations. Go right from our parking lot, left at the second stop sign. Ask for Room Number 103. It overlooks the Lake. Hope you're an early riser. Sunrise over the Lake is unforgettable this time of year!"
Ernestburgh didn't have street lights so the stop signs were a little hard to see but I managed to find the dirt road that ended at Deu Lake Inn's parking lot. That clicked for me. If I landed MoonDoor's warehouse here, the Inn and the entire old school vibe of Ernestburgh would be an easy sell to increase tourism. Especially to boomers.
Annie McIntosh greeted me at the front desk and offered me 10 % off on my stay, which I gratefully accepted. Annie called in Enzio Morton to take my 'overnight bag' to my room and make sure the air conditioning was working. I said I wasn't worried, since it was February 9 and I would rather the room was heated. Annie's response was the a/c was just installed and it being such new technology, staff needed to make sure it worked. I chuckled a little then noticed she probably wasn't joking so I stopped, rather awkwardly.
Annie busied herself with paperwork and actively avoided talking to me after that. Knowing that someone named Enzio had to accompany me to my room, I checked out the only photo on the wall. It was a black and white photo of a man who looked eerily familiar. He wore an odd white bucket hat with the brim pushed away from his face. He had dark hair with full, choppy bangs, eyebrows raised over large eyes opened wide, a nondescript nose and mouth open as if he was either talking or gawking.
It hit me: That was Bob Denver, when he was Gilligan from Gilligan's Island, a 1960s sitcom.
A document attached to the photo frame was titled "Official History and Lore of Our Founding Father". It explained 'Captain' Johnny Ernest spent his entire life in Ernestburgh. His parents raised him on their local farm, before the town existed. Deu Lake Inn was built over his family's farm property. He was orphaned at the age of 11 and lived alone for the rest of his life. He spent 25 years building the earliest homes, post office and stage coach station for what became known as Ernestburgh. Since his death, he returns every year to eat the living being he names. The town would not and could not exist without him, according to the document.
What the hell.
"Miss Annie," I asked, unwilling to be taken in by a local prank, "is that all there is to this story?"
Annie lifted her head, smiling widely. "Yes," she said brightly, "that's our Founding Father, Captain Ernest. Once a year he returns, eats whatever living being he names, then he returns to his beloved lake until the next February 10th."
'Eats whatever living being he names.' I felt fear without knowing its origin, something I don't often experience. I turned to face the Inn's entrance so I could avoid both Annie and Captain Ernest. Enzio appeared soon after. He got me to Room 103, confirmed the a/c was good, and I was left on my own for the night.
I opened the sports bag of spare essentials I always left in my vehicle. It stems from having to be prepared to run for my life when I was younger. Some habits are hard to break. It allowed me to change into a t shirt for that night. I grabbed the remote and jumped into bed.
Covers up to my neck, horror movie marathon playing quietly in the background, I was ready to relax. That's when I remembered my odometer. Part of my being picky is me recording my mileage at the end of every journey. My odometer registered exactly 114 miles from home to Ernestbugh. Based on memory, I'd travelled mostly westbound from home. And online maps clearly showed a large, well-known city 40 miles west of my place. Seems likely I would have noticed that city, had it been in my way during my travels.
Also, traveling no more than 50 miles per hour, my trip should have taken two and a half hours, three tops if I slowed down, got stuck in traffic jams or stopped a lot. That wasn't how my drive went at all. I left home at 10 a.m. and drove non-stop until I arrived at Ernestburgh nine hours later, just before 7 p.m.
Once again, what the hell.
I called up my dashcam footage and fast forwarded through the day's journey. There was scenery I recognized, close to home, then about five hours of static, then scenery that I recalled driving into Ernestburgh. The first time I watched it, I didn't believe it. Had to be a technical glitch. The third time I watched it, my muscles tightened for fight or flight. As much as I wanted to leave immediately, I realized I'd do better to wait until morning. I set my phone alarm for 6:45 a.m. and plugged in my phone to recharge, then spent a long time staring at the ceiling.
My alarm rang a bit too early for my liking and I didn't remember setting the ring tone to 'growls and groans'. The time on my phone was 5:45 a.m. so it wasn't my alarm. For a second I attributed the noise to the horror movie marathon I'd selected for the room's TV. Nope. TV must have shut itself off while I was asleep.
I heard it again. A growl, thunderous and a bit muffled, coming from the back of the Inn where my window faced. Expecting an incoming thunderstorm, I opened the curtains a bit and stared for a second or two at a huge bubble sitting on the lake. A face smiled at me from inside the bubble. A face. In a bubble. On a lake. Smiling at me. So much wrong.
After the fastest shower ever, I shoved all my gear into my sports bag and threw on my coat. I ran to the back of the Inn with all my gear and my phone (charge cord still attached, alarm shut off) at the ready. The beach, such as it was, was about a two minute jog from the back of the Inn and extended for quite a bit before meeting the water. There was a large bubble sitting on the water's surface, a significant distance from the shore. This was the same bubble I'd seen out the window. It kept getting larger, as did the face in it.
I was trying to focus my phone's camera when I heard someone speaking behind me. Annie, the front desk clerk, asked if I was ready to check out.
"Um, Annie, do you see that?" I said as gently as I could, pointing at the bubble. As soon as I looked at it, I couldn't look away. Annie didn't answer my question but she did keep talking. She said check out prior to 11:25 a.m. was fine but I had to pay now. I asked her how much and she didn't answer, which prompted me to look directly at her.
The growling started again. Of course it was much louder than I'd heard in my room. Annie frowned but stood firm, hand out, palm up. I looked back at the lake and the bubble had moved much closer to shore, almost touching dry land. It was huge, and the face now had a full body with arms and legs. Still smiling, it pointed at me with its left arm.
My blood ran cold. I heard Annie's voice but couldn't understand the words. The bubble drew ever closer. The growls were so loud, I clamped my hands over my ears but still couldn't stop staring at the face. It seemed so familiar.
Annie might have stopped talking, I don't know. All I could hear with my hands on my ears was muffled growling. I knew she was still there because she had grabbed my right arm with both hands and pulled fiercely. Even so, I kept staring at the bubble that had stopped rolling when it made land.
The growling continued.
Annie tugged until my right hand fell away from my ear. She screamed it wasn't her time as she released my arm. At that time I didn't know if she stayed or left because I was still watching the bubble.
A crack formed, splitting the bubble in half vertically. Within a blink or two, the bubble split open and the growling changed to a low, gravelly human voice. "Annie! Annie McIntosh!" the being said. Its finger no longer pointed at me, but to my right. I felt compelled to glance beside me and sure enough, there was Annie. Her hands were balled up into fists, pushing on her temples. She was crying and shaking, and I felt genuine terror just looking at her.
"Annie McIntosh, it is your time!" the being announced as it took two steps towards her. I'm ashamed to say I felt a brief moment of relief that the being wasn't aiming at me before I realized it appeared to be hellbent on getting Annie. She was now screaming wordlessly, seemingly unable or unwilling to run.
In that moment, two things occurred to me. The being was an exact replica of the black and white photo of the town's founding father. And if the urban legend was correct, 'Captain' Johnny Ernest can only eat one person per year. He names that person before eating them. Since he'd already named Annie, I figured I was safe at least for that year, and tried to distract him. Maybe Annie could escape and live another year.
I screamed at him, "Captain, you're dead, you don't need to eat anymore!" It was the best I could think of at the time. I put my hands on Annie's left arm and tried to drag her away with me. No luck, she felt like she was cemented to the spot.
Meanwhile, Captain Ernest continued to take huge steps towards us. I'm used to living with and around weird things, but this went beyond weird. Gilligan wanted to eat someone and he seemed focused on Annie.
Something in me broke. I screamed I was sorry to Annie and took off at a full run. I didn't stop running until I got to the back of the Inn. Maybe it was guilt, maybe it was morbid curiosity, but I had to take one last look back.
Captain Ernest was still at least two of his steps away from her when he grabbed her.
She was still screaming when he dropped her into his mouth.
I folded two ten dollar bills under the phone on the Inn's front desk then jumped into my car and peeled out. When I got to Ernestburgh's main street I turned left. A right turn would have taken me back to Ernestburgh and that was a huge nope for me. As soon as I saw something resembling a freeway, I took the eastbound route and didn't stop until I was home.
The trip home took two hours and added 114 miles to the odometer. My dashcam worked just fine that whole time. The previous day's footage came up as 'corrupted' when I tried to access it. I spent the next four days in bed, waiting for Tina to return from her mother’s.
Tina's mother recovered quickly and Tina came home on day five. She asked me to retrace my steps with her in the car. No matter what we did, we couldn't find Ernestburgh. I searched for obituary notices about Annie McIntosh until Tina said I might be reaching unhealthy levels of 'need to know' when, in fact, I don't need to know. And she was right.
But every February 9th and 10th since then, she and I spend those days together, at home, without guests. We stay in bed, watch our fav horror movies and eat whatever we want. It's our customized version of Valentine's Day.
Author's note: Find me at LG Writes, Odd Directions and Write_Right

I went to a Bob's discount furniture and bought a couch for my house. i didn't even take my wallet out of my pocket to make the purchase. they had me fill out the computer forum with my info (including soc, address, net income) and then they determined i could get credit up to $5100. the couch i got was $2400 flat.
i was able to take out a 12-month interest-free loan. $200/month will make it paid off in full with no interest, no questions asked. I have the money/income to pay this off.
now, I'm trying to understand how credit works. i have the money to pay it off in full now, but from previous buying experience, this seems to negligably hurt or barely increase (if at all) my credit score. how do i go about building my credit using purchases like this?

has anyone had experience with bob's discount furniture? bob o pedic beds? i tried a hybrid there today, i think it was called "lush" and they said it was there version of sterns and foster. it was super comfortable, $950 for full size. i was going for an inexpensive temportry mattress, but tried this and thinking about this.
thank you in advance! btw, i found the costco BR800 beautyrest to try, it is soft. its$300 but i may spring for the extra money and get something more comfortable.

Part Two: Costco History Remembered
The Costco you know today is light years different from it’s early days when it comes to merchandising. The first Costco was VERY much a warehouse with low light, lots of walls in strange places, and a lot of product jammed into every available spot. Most manufacturers believed that Costco was just a low quality discounter selling “seconds” (products that weren’t first quality), and so they didn’t want to sell to Costco because they felt it would diminish their brand, or it would violate their exclusivity agreements with other retailers.
To combat this, the founders of Costco made sure there was a huge sign behind the membership desk proclaiming the 100% return guarantee on products sold. It sent a clear message that Costco was not a junk dealer, and that did help a few vendors to agree to sell to Costco. Those first brave companies were rewarded with tremendous loyalty in their relationship with Costco, and the bond stayed strong despite the otherwise fickle world of wholesale/ retail.
So, what was selling, and what eventually went away?
1) several categories were much more prominent in the early days. Automotive aisles had engine hoists, ramps, air tools, jack stands, and more. The tool aisles were loaded with inexpensive tools made by Allied, and it was very similar to Harbor Freight. There were multiple aisles year round of what is often called knock-down furniture. O’Sullivan was the brand name, and the member had to assemble it like an IKEA product. The boxes were enormously heavy, but Costco sold a gazillion bookcases that way. As Costco grew, the realization that it had to focus on reaching higher levels of quality caused it to switch to better furniture brought in seasonally, and as fewer people were working on their cars, the sales diminished on those items to a level requiring the auto aisles to be greatly reduced to mostly oil and windshield wipers.
Tools were another issue. Home Depot, Lowe’s, and some local places like Eagle ( that later got bought by Lowe’s) all monopolized the big brands like Dewalt, and those tool companies believed that if they sold to Costco, their relationship with the hardware stores would suffer significantly. To this day, Costco still struggles to find quality tools to sell.
2) some categories were HOT! Cameras and film were tremendous sellers. Costco usually has 10+ SKUs of cameras, and had a whole pallet island of film. Kodak film, Fuji Film, and Polaroid film was in almost every member’s cart. Unfortunately, Polaroid film was also in the top ten of stolen items! Organized groups would swoop in, fill bags/ pockets with it, then dash out the door. Undercover employees could usually be found staking out that section. All this went away when phones started taking the place of cameras.
3) office supplies had multiple aisles of product. Copy paper sold out quickly (even today, Costco keeps it’s wholesale title by selling truckloads of it to school districts, etc.). Computer paper was a must have—-remember the stuff that had little holes on each side so a gear could pull it through a printer? “Green bar” paper sold like crazy. Office chairs had 6 or more styles, and members would race each other down the aisles in them if they weren’t cabled to the steel. The rise of what came to be known as Category Killers lead to the office department’s reduction to just an aisle. Office Depot, Office Max, etc all could match or undercut Costco on the best sellers by selling all the other items that they carried at a higher mark-up to offset the loss leader.
4) I always felt bad for the bread and potato chip vendors. In the early days, they would be in the aisles for hours before opening because they had to take two retail size packages and use tape guns to create a two-pack of everything. Their companies in the early days refused to believe that customers would be crazy enough to buy huge bags of chips or super long loaves of bread, so for several years they made their route drivers lives miserable. Today, when I see what a supermarket calls “ family size” for a bag of chips, I can only laugh—it looks like an individual serving size compared to Costco! Also, the route drivers LOVE Costco, because it’s typically just one stop and they’re done until they have to come back and restock/ face the product later in the afternoon
5)So very much of Costco in the early days was focused on the commercial size products. Many of the canned food items came only in #10 cans ( the big ones that are almost the size of a bowling ball). There was no option for a smaller can. Eventually, as the membership grew to be dominated by retail shoppers, Costco started the separate Business Center division, and those allowed Costco to have the space for things like 6 packs of small cans instead.
6) Bonus memory! Clothing in the early days was often described as dowdy, old lady clothing that no one would want except at Halloween. Certainly it wasn’t THAT bad, but almost no clothing vendors would sell to Costco directly, so most was bought from middle men selling what no one else wanted. Worse, Costco had huge, ugly clothing racks made from 2x4s and pipe to display the clothes, so it was all displayed like you’d see in your closet. Shoulder view only! Costco put the clothes on a table eventually, and the sales skyrocketed. With the shear volume of people picking through them, it is very, very labor intensive to keep the tables looking clean, neat, and straight, but it’s worth it. The vendors soon saw the incredible sales Costco was doing, and now most sell direct. A few (Harley Davidson apparel for example) are still hold-outs.
Kinda long post, but I hope you enjoyed it enough for me to do more.

Like, he'd be spoken of in hushed tones for infinity.