Chinese food mays landing nj

Hello, welcome, dear visitor!
Right now, you're reading the words of a 25-year-old Brazilian guy, and to be honest, I'm possibly one of the most eclectic guys you can meet. You know that person who's interested in so many different things that you just feel like you could talk for hours and hours and never get bored? Well, I hope to be that person for you.
I work remotely in an online education business, my hours are flexible, which allows me to enjoy geographical freedom, so I want to take this opportunity to adopt digital nomadism, even if it's just for a year or two, it's an experience I need to live.
Studying history and culture from other countries is something that fascinates me, I mean, I'm even interested in the smallest details of everyday life. That means I research about people's experiences living in those countries, the cultural differences they feel between cities, how laws work, what entertainment options are available, which local bands are successful in that region, what language-related difficulties they face, how social life is in general, what the food is like, etc. For instance, I also love watching movies and series set in other countries, and there are YouTube channels where a guy with a camera walks through various cities around the world, just filming, like a "virtual tour," I think it's awesome. I need to travel and see all these things with my own eyes. I want to feel the world, discover new flavors, appreciate new melodies, acquire new accents... I want to live.
I'm writing this ad for two reasons:
First: As mentioned in the previous paragraph, I'm very interested in life in other countries, in the broadest way you can imagine. So being able to talk to people who were born in other parts of the world, often with a completely different background from mine, would be special, don't you think? I believe we can share experiences and learn a lot from each other. We can learn from our differences, we can be surprised by our similarities, we can laugh together at various memes and dumb jokes. We can share playlists.
Second: I really want to expand my social circle, I'm open to new friendships in my life, that add value and stay long term! That would be perfect. However, I have to be transparent with you about the type of person I'm looking for, here are the requirements:
. You are truly open and receptive to a new friendship.
. You feel comfortable with long messages. You're quite talkative.
. You believe we have things in common (the more, the better) and we can get along well.
. The more optimistic and self-confident you are, the better.
. I'm open to meeting people from any continent, country, city, even Brazilians.
. I'm open to people of all ages (as long as you're an adult).
Music: I listen to pretty much everything: Rock (progressive, punk, new wave, grunge, classic, indie, emo, etc), POP, Jazz, Blues, R&B, Reggae, Tango, Classical Music, Bossa Nova, Country, Metal, Soul, etc. Old and new songs, no problem at all. I've created more than 40 playlists on my Spotify, and each one is in a different language. Discovering new artists is something I do almost daily. Consequently, I also enjoy watching people dance, and my favorite styles are Tango, Jazz, Tap, Classical Ballet, Waltz, and Urban Dance. I really love watching choreography videos. If you want to see my playlists on Spotify, here's the link:
https://www.reddit.com/usezliperz/comments/12uuotg/my_playlists/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
You'll find playlists in Italian 🇮🇹, French 🇫🇷, Spanish 🇪🇸, English 🇬🇧, Portuguese 🇵🇹, Japanese 🇯🇵, Korean 🇰🇷, Arabic 🇦🇪, Hebrew 🇮🇱, Hindi 🇮🇳, Turkish 🇹🇷, Indonesian 🇮🇩, Azerbaijani 🇦🇿, Finnish 🇫🇮, Hungarian 🇭🇺, Slovenian 🇸🇮, Romanian 🇷🇴, Czech 🇨🇿, German 🇩🇪, Greek 🇬🇷, Polish 🇵🇱, Chinese 🇨🇳 (Mandarin, Cantonese), Russian 🇷🇺, Ukrainian 🇺🇦, Dutch 🇳🇱, Filipino 🇵🇭, Swedish 🇸🇪, Catalan 🇦🇩, Kabyle 🇩🇿, Danish 🇩🇰, Bengali 🇧🇩, Georgian 🇬🇪, Latin 🇻🇦, Malayalam 🇮🇳, Luganda 🇺🇬, Persian 🇮🇷, Neapolitan 🇮🇹, Norwegian 🇳🇴, Vietnamese 🇻🇳, Telugu 🇮🇳, Uzbek 🇺🇿, Swahili 🇰🇪.
The "Sodamania" playlist is my favorite band's playlist, Soda Stereo from Argentina 🇦🇷.
Movies: Believe it or not, I watch movies of any genre, from horror (Us, Hostel, SAW) to children's animations (Chicken Little, Over the Hedge, Tangled), as long as the experience is good, that's what matters. My official favorite movies are: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Once, Blue Jay, Bridge to Terabithia, Finding Neverland. There are other movies that could make this list because I love them too: La Vita È Bella, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, It's a Wonderful Life, Shutter Island, Jab We Met, Arrival, Eternals... There are many other movies that I really enjoyed watching, like Logan, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Tree of Life, Song to Song, Catch Me If You Can, Forrest Gump, Grease, Medianeras, etc. And yes, I'm excited to watch Barbie in the cinema. I like classics like Rocky, Rambo, but there are many other classics that I haven't watched yet, you'd be surprised if you knew. The actress I like the most is Audrey Hepburn, for everything she represented, for her elegance on and off the screen, super authentic and admirable. When it comes to TV series, I also like several (Suits is one of my favorites), however, in recent years, I've been giving a lot of preference to Korean dramas. I used to really enjoy a Japanese reality show called Terrace House, but it got canceled. Honorable mention goes to Bnei Aruba, a great Israeli series.
Sports: I root for a Brazilian soccer team called Grêmio. I love watching Olympic games (including Winter Olympics). I like watching F1 races (rooting for Leclerc), Tennis matches. I'm getting closer and closer to the major American leagues, and I'm strongly sympathizing with the Boston Celtics, in the other leagues, I still don't have a defined team. When I was a kid, I played soccer and practiced swimming. In the future, I want to play tennis, and it would also be cool to practice martial arts (kung fu, karate, and taekwondo).
Languages: Portuguese 🇧🇷 is my native language, but I can handle English 🇬🇧 and Spanish 🇪🇸 pretty well too. I've studied a bit (basic) of Italian 🇮🇹, French 🇫🇷, German 🇩🇪, and Norwegian 🇳🇴. Right now, I'm studying the Arabic alphabet 🇦🇪 and taking my first steps in Korean 🇰🇷, Japanese 🇯🇵, Hebrew 🇮🇱, and Croatian 🇭🇷.
Religion: I'm a Noahide. A non-Jew who believes in the Torah. My theological view is similar to Orthodox Judaism, although our lifestyles are different. So if you're Jewish (or Israeli 🇮🇱), it would be great to have your company. If you're Muslim, know that I'd love to meet you too. I want to visit several Muslim countries, including each of the United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪, Morocco 🇲🇦, Turkey 🇹🇷 (especially Izmir), Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦, Egypt 🇪🇬, Jordan 🇯🇴, Qatar 🇶🇦, etc. If you're Hindu 🇮🇳 or any other religion, feel welcome too. My family is Christian, so I have no problem talking to Christians either.
Politics: I'll only talk about the economic issue: I believe in the free market, I love the Austrian School, and I identify with Mises' thinking. That's it.
Look, I'm a guy who loves to laugh. I like to have fun. I like to have deep conversations and also silly conversations. I like to talk about Greek mythology, architecture, technology, and also like to talk about fashion, cooking, animals, etc. I'm ambiverted, I hate lies, my zodiac sign is Gemini (not that it matters), I need to fight procrastination every day. I walk fast on the street, and it bothers me when people are walking slowly in front of me. I’m from Belo Horizonte and I've never been to Rio de Janeiro. I have a diary. I want to leave photographic records for future generations. I hate bothering people. But you know what? I'm a great listener, and I'm looking forward to meeting you and hearing your stories! We can be great friends... I know that most of the time things don't work out here the way we'd like them to, but so what? We're here now, and we have the chance to do things differently, right?! So come on, let's start something beautiful!
If you've read this far and identified with my words, send me your best message, and I'll make it worth it!
P.S: if you're too shy: https://www.reddit.com/usezliperz/comments/10ctifs/penpal_form/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

The Unabomber died today and in reading his obituary, I came across this tidbit. He started praying to the Grandfather Rabbit, since snowshoe rabbits were his main source of food in the winter. In prison, he said his biggest fear was losing touch his contact with his sense of "wild nature".
Humans need to create reasons and patterns to keep them motivated and to fend off their sense on powerlessness. Religion,stories, gods keep us going.
Here's the excerpt from the article and the NYX obit. Also a fantastic podcast about Ted K. Episode 4 about his relationship with his brother is heartbreaking and fascinating. https://open.spotify.com/show/0CWSL5C1D9TaxdGgq3eOOw
Obit
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/10/us/ted-kaczynski-dead.html
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From:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/theresa-kintz-interview-with-ted-kaczynski
“This is kind of personal,” he begins by saying, and I ask if he wants me to turn off the tape. He says “no, I can tell you about it. While I was living in the woods I sort of invented some gods for myself” and he laughs. “Not that I believed in these things intellectually, but they were ideas that sort of corresponded with some of the feelings I had. I think the first one I invented was Grandfather Rabbit. You know the snowshoe rabbits were my main source of meat during the winters. I had spent a lot of time learning what they do and following their tracks all around before I could get close enough to shoot them. Sometimes you would track a rabbit around and around and then the tracks disappear. You can’t figure out where that rabbit went and lose the trail. I invented a myth for myself, that this was the Grandfather Rabbit, the grandfather who was responsible for the existence of all other rabbits. He was able to disappear, that is why you couldn’t catch him and why you would never see him... Every time I shot a snowshoe rabbit, I would always say ‘thank you Grandfather Rabbit.’ After a while I acquired an urge to draw snowshoe rabbits. I sort of got involved with them to the extent that they would occupy a great deal of my thought. I actually did have a wooden object that, among other things, I carved a snowshoe rabbit in. I planned to do a better one, just for the snowshoe rabbits, but I never did get it done. There was another one that I sometimes called the Will ‘o the Wisp, or the wings of the morning. That’s when you go out in to the hills in the morning and you just feel drawn to go on and on and on and on, then you are following the wisp. That was another god that I invented for myself.”
So Ted Kaczynski, living out in the wilderness, like generations of prehistoric peoples before him, had innocently rediscovered the forest’s gods. I wondered if he felt that those gods had forsaken him now as he sat facing life in prison with no more freedom, no more connection to the wild, nothing left of that life that was so important to him except for his sincere love of nature, his love of knowledge and his commitment to the revolutionary project of hastening the collapse of the techno-industrial system. I asked if he was afraid of losing his mind, if the circumstances he found himself in now would break his spirit? He answered, “No, what worries me is that I might in a sense adapt to this environment and come to be comfortable here and not resent it anymore. And I am afraid that as the years go by that I may forget, I may begin to lose my memories of the mountains and the woods and that’s what really worries me, that I might lose those memories, and lose that sense of contact with wild nature in general. But I am not afraid they are going to break my spirit.” And he offered the following advice to green anarchists who share his critique of the technological system and want to hasten the collapse of, as Edward Abbey put it, “the destroying juggernaut of industrial civilization”: “Never lose hope, be persistent and stubborn and never give up. There are many instances in history where apparent losers suddenly turn out to be winners unexpectedly, so you should never conclude all hope is lost.”
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Welcome to the Kentucky Jelly Multiverse! A cluster of 9 maps u can transfer between at will. Please join our discord for details.
We're Low-key, laid-back and just want to enjoy the game.
All servers are PVE unless stated otherwise
Loot does drop when u die on the PvE-C server
The servers...
Server Name: Kentucky Jelly Map: Exiled Lands Direct Connect: 45.35.207.54:33100
Server Name: Pleasure Palace of Derketo Map: Exiled Lands (w/Snowhunter's mods)
Server Name: Kentucky Jelly Siptah Map: Isle of Siptah
Server Name: Kentucky Jelly Savage Wilds Map: Savage Wilds
Server Name: Kentucky Jelly Saphire Lands Map: LCBA "Saphire Exiles"
Server Name: Dominion of Kings (KYJ) Map: Empire of Stygia (WIP)
Server: KYJ-Isle of Men Map: Isle of Men
Server: Realm of Kulan Gath Map:Exiled Lands (PvE-C)
Server: Tir-na-nog (KYJ) Map:Tir-na-nog
Universal Mods (in no certian order): °Less Building Placement Restrictions °Emberlight °Fashionist °Pippi °Pythagoras: Expanded Building °Hosav's Pets Extended °Improved Quality of Life (IQoL) °Immerse RP: Building & Decor °Dungeon Master Tools (DMTools/DMT) °Armor and Weapons Stats on Bench °Alchemists Secrets °Beyond Decor: Rustic Edition °Simple Minimap (by Xevyr) °Amunets Server Transfer °Exiles Extreme °Ravencrest Couriers °Savage Steel vol. 1 °Stacksize Plus (x10)
Universal Server Settings: Daily Restart: 3:00 am EST Player EXP Rate: x2 Harvest Resources: x2 Decay time: off. Bases will be wiped at the admin's discretion if the owner(s) do not log in for 2 months
Building Restrictions Not many. Don't block content, and if you think you may be too close to someone else's build, please speak to them before building there.
Discord https://discord.gg/ZYGVGY3caQ

Map of raiding targets
One option when beginning a journey onto the plains, is to raid other villages. The goal is to gain items which are not already present in the home village. One place to look for fellow raiders is at a Neiim Camp, which has shared maintenance from the nearby villages. Here you will meet other Neiim, but not all of them are raiders. Usually there will be rumors in the surrounding villages if a raid is being prepared. Listen for these rumors, so you do not travel unnecessarily. You yourself can also organize a raid if there is not one already.
When packing for a raid, you will wear hemp clothes while traveling to survive the heat. It is also important to pack a bow in case someone decides to resist. Arrows can be made before the raid since “if the land is too poor to make arrows it is also too poor to raid.” Instead fill the animal packs with food and water. You are not in foreign lands to steal food to eat. Although looting foreign food to bring back home can be a good idea. Also remember to pack leather clothes. Leather will provide minor protection if it comes to fighting.
When you are traveling with your horse, remember to follow the stone piles. Ask nearby villages if you do not understand what a particular animal means. Usually predator stone piles are the last stone piles you see before entering non-Chiim lands.
Raiding Zhilln
Your favored target will be the Zhilln. They have the wealthiest non-Chiim villages. Treated seafood from their food storage is highly valued. Even more is their salt. If you see any container with this, take it.
Do not raid the Zhilln during a monsoon, since the Joiim are not there to protect us from their waters. The best time to raid is during midday when the sun is highest and the fishers are out at sea. The trick here is to avoid their harpoons which function a lot like spears. The difference is that every Zhilln knows how to use a harpoon. If you can make sure there are no harpoons readily available to the Zhilln, raiding at night is also a possible option.
Raiding Gorgoneans
A secondary target are the wealthy Gorgoneans. Inside the dense forests, Gorgonean tribes can be found. Dense forests are terrible for horse riding, so try to find open paths to their villages.
Good loot are tools like sickles which can be used by the Joiim. A weapon they use, called the Atlatl, is considered highly dangerous. If you spot a strange spear, run away, but not in a straight line. Looting an Atlatl and mastering it however, can make you a formidable warrior.
Raiding Southern Xantheans
To the south there are other tribes which readily practice raiding. There is only one target worth raiding here, and that is the copper village. On the path to the copper village there are more stone piles than anywhere else on the steppes. The Xantheans here are dangerous and are prepared for our raids. Do not raid this village without a proper host.
If you decide to raid another South Xanthean village, look out for exotic items, which they have looted from elsewhere.
Raiding Northern Xantheans
Do not raid here, they do not have access to any loot which is worth the trip. On the other hand, be prepared to compete against their raids.
Raiding Chiim
Only the most desperate hosts will attempt to raid fellow Chiim. In this case, tradition is to paint your horse red to show the desperation. Only a disaster can make you do this and the goal of the red paint is to mitigate the disaster. Usually violence can be avoided when your target understands the need.
Do not raid Chiim for any other reason. “Do not hunt horses in a desert”.

previous
The PV Hobby Horse, a small cargo ship in the manufacturer’s default medium grey, sat at one end of the docks. Mid-bulk transports took the other occupied slots, while the big ships were loaded by drone on the opposite side of the station.
Sidra Boston, captain of the Hobby Horse and professional bounty hunter, found herself facing a trip back into aslodzhin space to fulfill a promise. The trip was going to cost. Any other species’ space, she’d find someone that needed a small cargo delivered, but not so the aslodzhins. They already had her and her ship registered as a private vehicle for the purpose of bounty hunting, and their rules were as strict and inflexible as their carapace.
On a whim, she checked for any bounties put out by the aslodzhin courts. That she found one surprised her; the fact that the bounty was so low it wouldn’t even cover docking fees didn’t. Still, the skip was reportedly on this station, and it saved her a few credits.
Sidra wandered the station, stopping in the first eatery she encountered. They did a passable burger and fries, but the milkshake tasted like sweetened sludge, and was undrinkable.
She paid for her meal and looked at the warrant again. The hikarin female shouldn’t be difficult to find. Hikarins were tall, often well over two meters, thin, fine-boned, furry, and had six limbs, sometimes walking on four, sometimes on three and sometimes on two. The center two limbs were long and strong enough to act as legs, yet they had grasping feet-hands. This station, in human space, had few hikarins, and even fewer with the rare, orange fur of her bounty.
Finding her quarry was easier than expected. She sat against the wall in the main concourse and held a sign asking for food or assistance to get to Lizshak, a world in aslodzhin space.
Sidra didn’t have any weapons or cuffs on her, but thought she’d give it a try. “Minsahee?” she asked.
The hikarin nodded. Her large eyes were sunken, her fur a matted and dull orange-brown beneath crusted clothes. “Can you help me get home?”
“Minsahee, I have a warrant for your arrest for failure to appear before the aslodzhin court. You can come with me quietly, or I can go back and get my cuffs and shackles and we can do this the hard way.”
Minsahee’s eyes filled with tears. “You mean, you’ll take me to Lizshak?”
“I wasn’t planning on going that far, but I’ll get you to aslodzhin space, Station 47, and the court will take you wherever you’re meant to stand trial.” Sidra extended a hand to help the hikarin to her feet.
She was too weak to walk on two limbs, instead leaning over to walk on four, and even then, her steps were unsteady. Sidra put an arm around her and was surprised at how bony the woman felt under the fur.
“Do you need a doctor?”
Minsahee leaned against Sidra. “No, I’m just tired.”
Sidra didn’t see a need to put the hikarin in the cell built into the cargo bay, and instead offered her a bunk in an unused cabin. “I’m trusting you not to be stupid,” she said. “Remember, I could take you on my worst day and your best, so don’t make me lock you up.”
Minsahee said nothing. Instead, she lay on the bunk, once again on the verge of tears.
Sidra grabbed a meal bar from the pantry and gave it to her with a jug of water. “There’s a washroom right next door if you need it. Once we’re in the hyper lane I’ll have time to answer any questions.”
At least the return trip to aslodzhin space would be quiet. She’d spent the last two weeks with a crippled turgen in the cell, cursing her every minute he was awake, until she finally snapped, “You wouldn’t stop! You threatened to kill the hikarin you’d already hurt, and the aslodzhin officer, and me! How was I to know you can’t walk or stand without the use of your tail, anyway?”
The court was at first reluctant to pay the bounty, given his condition. Once they saw the bodycam footage, though, they relented.
This was a strange one, though. She’d picked up skips in various states of injury or illness, but never one that seemed on the verge of starving to death.
Once they were in the lane, course plotted in, she returned to the cabin Minsahee was using. The door was still open, and the empty wrapper for the meal bar was folded neatly and laid next to the pillow on the bunk. The hikarin had drunk half the water and was sleeping curled up in a ball.
Sidra closed the door and slept in a chair right outside it. It wouldn’t do to have the gal try to sneak to the cockpit and reroute the ship to Lizshak.
When Sidra woke a few hours later, Minsahee was still asleep. She heated up a can of potato-leek soup with ham and filled a bowl for herself. It was just as she started on her meal that Minsahee entered, carrying the half-empty water jug and meal bar wrapper.
Sidra looked up at her. “You hungry?”
Minsahee nodded and Sidra got up and poured the other half can of soup into a bowl, put a spoon in it, and set it on the table opposite herself. She sat back down and nodded at the bowl.
The hikarin got the message and sat to eat. She ate as if it was the last meal she’d ever get. Still, she only managed to eat half of it.
“Thank you, Captain.”
“So, Minsahee, why Lizshak?”
“I have—had a home there. Maybe I can go back to my job after I serve my time.”
“Your warrant didn’t say anything about your crime. You mind telling me?”
“Not a crime, a civil infraction.” Minsahee still held on to the meal bar wrapper until Sidra pointed at the recycler where she finally deposited it.
“What was the infraction, and how much time are you facing?”
“Mandatory three standard days for failure to appear for an appointment to have my signature notarized.”
Sidra’s spoon stopped halfway to her mouth which hung open. She set the spoon back in the bowl. “Say that again?”
“I was closing out a lease, which required a notarized signature. I had an appointment at the court notary but had to leave the day prior for Amherst station where you picked me up.”
“Why is that?”
“My hemi-brother was injured and in intensive care there. He was my only remaining family.”
Sidra sighed. “Was. I take it he didn’t make it?”
Minsahee shook her head. “I spent every credit I had getting there and had no way back.”
“How long were you on Amherst?”
“I don’t know in standard days, but seventy-one human days.”
“Shit.” Sidra went back to eating her soup. “Do you feel a little better with some food in your belly?”
“Yes, Captain. Thank you again.”
“I’m going to lay out a few simple rules on my ship. One: never enter the cockpit unless I tell you to. Two: never cycle an airlock unless I tell you to. Three: Clean up after yourself. That includes putting your leftovers in the fridge over there and finishing them later. I hate waste. Four: if you’re using the washroom, flip the switch just inside the door up, so I know you’re in there, and flip it down when you leave.”
“Yes, Captain, I will do those things.”
“As long as you don’t break the rules, you can call me Sid. Is it okay if I call you Min?”
Minsahee nodded. “Yes, I’d like that.”
Sidra stood up and cleaned up her dishes. “Not rules, but a few helpful things. If you want to wait to eat when I eat, that’s fine, but if you’re hungry, don’t be afraid to come in and feed yourself. Drinking water is available from the labeled tap over there. First aid kit is right there, too, but there’s nothing in there to make me go night-night or get you high. If you need to, feel free to use my shampoo. I take it you haven’t had a good wash in a while, right?”
Minsahee looked down at the table. “Right.”
“Hey, don’t be embarrassed. It’s not your fault. Social Services on Amherst should’ve done something to help.”
As Minsahee put her leftovers in the fridge, Sidra flopped down on the sofa and started up a holo series. She hadn’t been able to pay any attention with her last passenger, so it seemed like a good time to catch up.
She heard the shower start and stop several times. At least she knows how to wash without wasting water, Sidra thought. During quiet parts of the holo she could hear pained grunts and sharp intakes of breath from the cabins.
Sidra paused the holo and went to check on Minsahee. Her door was open, and she was trying to untangle bright orange fur with her fingers. Her clothes lay in a pile beside the bed.
Sidra grabbed a comb and brush from the washroom and tapped on her door. “Would you like some help?”
“I don’t want to be a bother—”
“Nonsense. You can throw those clothes and the bedsheets in the sterilizer and come sit in the galley with me. I’ll work on your back while you work on your front.”
“But I’m naked.”
“So? See anyone else around here?”
Minsahee picked up the clothes and sheets and put them in the machine that Sidra pointed to. It started automatically, and she followed Sidra back to the galley.
“I’m gonna sit on the sofa, just sit on the floor in front of me and I’ll get started on your back.”
Once they’d settled in, Sidra resumed play on the holo and began to comb the mats out of the hikarin’s fur. She was careful not to pull too hard, instead treating it as she did the rescue cat she’d had years before.
“Captain, why would you do this for me?”
“I told you, Min, call me Sid.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “Maybe I just don’t want the court to think I abused you on the way.”
Minsahee shook her head. “That’s not it. You could’ve brought me in exactly as you found me, and they wouldn’t care. So why, Sid?”
“Most of the time my job’s pretty lonely. I guess it’s just nice having a skip that isn’t trying to run, or kill me, or anything of the sort.” She laughed. “You’re the first bounty I’ve ever picked up that wanted to go serve your time.”
“I can’t get work until I do,” she said, “so I should.”
Once Sidra had worked out the mats on Minsahee’s head, back, and upper arms, she handed the comb to her and began to brush out those areas. All the while, the two watched episode after episode of the holo.
They stopped partway through the evening to eat; Minsahee reheating and finishing her soup and Sidra making herself a sandwich. Even though her clothes were clean, Minsahee didn’t rush to dress. When Sidra had finished with the brush, Minsahee took over, brushing her forelimbs and legs, chest, belly, and neck.
As one of the holo episodes ended, Sidra stopped it and stood. “I’m going to shower and go to bed. If you want to keep watching you can, just no spoilers.”
“Spoilers?”
“If you watch more episodes, don’t tell me what happens. I like to find out for myself.”
“I think I’m just going to finish brushing out my legs, and then go to sleep myself. I’m not ready to put clothes on with how good my fur feels right now. Besides, I think the show’s more enjoyable with a friend.”
Sidra nodded and left the galley. A friend, she thought, is that how she sees me? The sterilizer was on the way to the cabins, so she pulled out the sheets and clothes, made up Minsahee’s bed, and laid her folded clothes in the center of it. The four-sleeved top had a large rip on one of the lower sleeves, but Sidra didn’t have any way to repair it.
She stepped into the shower, wet herself down, scrubbed, and rinsed quickly. She walked out carrying her clothes and wrapped in a towel. Minsahee waited for her just inside the door of her cabin. “Thank you again, ca—Sid.”
“Get some sleep, Min.” Sidra dropped her clothes and the towel in the sterilizer on her way by and lay down to sleep in her own cabin. She knew for sure now that Minsahee wasn’t going to sneak onto the bridge or try to strangle her in her sleep.
The next morning, Sidra pulled the treasure she’d picked up on Amherst out of the pantry. Two real potatoes. She’d planned on gorging on home fries, but since she had company, she’d share. Shit, she thought, company? I thought I was hauling a skip.
As she finished chopping the potatoes, she answered herself aloud, “No, she’s a good woman. She just missed an appointment, we all do. It’s the bugs that are the baddies here.”
“Did you say something?”
Sidra jumped, knocking the knife off the counter. It landed on her foot, leaving a long gash. “Ow, shit!”
“Lay down and elevate your foot,” Minsahee said with more force than Sidra thought her capable of. She pulled the first-aid kit off the wall and dropped down next to Sidra. In a matter of seconds, she’d cleaned the wound, and begun pulling out the suture kit. “I’m sorry, Captain, it’s deep and it needs stitches.”
“What was your job?” Sidra asked.
“Second-rank-emergency-trauma-physician-first-class,” she answered, as she sprayed a numbing agent on the injury.
“Aslodzhin titles. That would be like, what, an ER doctor in human space?”
“Similar,” she said, while stitching up Sidra’s foot. “The only things we don’t do are those we pass off to surgeons or specialists.”
Within a matter of minutes, Sidra’s foot was stitched and bandaged, and Minsahee helped her to the sofa where she could lie down and elevate her foot. Only after she was settled did she notice that besides tending her wound, Minsahee had cleaned up the blood, tidied up the suture and bandage packages, and repacked the first aid kit.
“Thanks, Min. Or I guess I should say Doctor Minsahee.”
“There’s no need for that. But I will have to take care of you for a few days. You need to stay off that foot as much as possible.”
“Ugh.”
“What were you preparing to cook?”
“I was going to make us some home fries. The potatoes are chopped and ready.”
“I don’t know what home fries or potatoes are, but if you talk me through it, I can make it for you.”
As Sidra lay on the sofa, eating home fries, she looked at the hikarin woman seated in the chair across from her, savoring them, taking her time.
“You know, Min, I think these may be the best home fries I’ve ever had. I don’t know whether it’s the potatoes, the cook, or the company.”
“Like I said, everything’s better with a friend.”
“We’ll have to do this again.”
“When I finish my time?”
“That sounds like a plan. I can hang around and wait a few days for you. Maybe even find some potatoes there on the station…wouldn’t that be something?”
Minsahee cleaned up the mess in the galley and made sure Sidra had water close to hand. “I’ll go make sure the cabins and washroom are clean. If you need anything, call.”
“They’re clean enough. Let’s watch some more of this series.” The next episode started, and Sidra looked at her foot, then at the hikarin woman curled up on the floor watching with her. She’d always worked alone, but maybe she could do with a doctor on board…or even a friend.
Reedsy prompt: Write about two people striking up an unlikely friendship.
Original Post

Hello, welcome, dear visitor!
Right now, you're reading the words of a 25-year-old Brazilian guy, and to be honest, I'm possibly one of the most eclectic guys you can meet. You know that person who's interested in so many different things that you just feel like you could talk for hours and hours and never get bored? Well, I hope to be that person for you.
I work remotely in an online education business, my hours are flexible, which allows me to enjoy geographical freedom, so I want to take this opportunity to adopt digital nomadism, even if it's just for a year or two, it's an experience I need to live.
Studying history and culture from other countries is something that fascinates me, I mean, I'm even interested in the smallest details of everyday life. That means I research about people's experiences living in those countries, the cultural differences they feel between cities, how laws work, what entertainment options are available, which local bands are successful in that region, what language-related difficulties they face, how social life is in general, what the food is like, etc. For instance, I also love watching movies and series set in other countries, and there are YouTube channels where a guy with a camera walks through various cities around the world, just filming, like a "virtual tour," I think it's awesome. I need to travel and see all these things with my own eyes. I want to feel the world, discover new flavors, appreciate new melodies, acquire new accents... I want to live.
I'm writing this ad for two reasons:
First: As mentioned in the previous paragraph, I'm very interested in life in other countries, in the broadest way you can imagine. So being able to talk to people who were born in other parts of the world, often with a completely different background from mine, would be special, don't you think? I believe we can share experiences and learn a lot from each other. We can learn from our differences, we can be surprised by our similarities, we can laugh together at various memes and dumb jokes. We can share playlists.
Second: I really want to expand my social circle, I'm open to new friendships in my life, that add value and stay long term! That would be perfect. However, I have to be transparent with you about the type of person I'm looking for, here are the requirements:
. You are truly open and receptive to a new friendship.
. You feel comfortable with long messages. You're quite talkative.
. You believe we have things in common (the more, the better) and we can get along well.
. The more optimistic and self-confident you are, the better.
. I'm open to meeting people from any continent, country, city, even Brazilians.
. I'm open to people of all ages (as long as you're an adult).
Music: I listen to pretty much everything: Rock (progressive, punk, new wave, grunge, classic, indie, emo, etc), POP, Jazz, Blues, R&B, Reggae, Tango, Classical Music, Bossa Nova, Country, Metal, Soul, etc. Old and new songs, no problem at all. I've created more than 40 playlists on my Spotify, and each one is in a different language. Discovering new artists is something I do almost daily. Consequently, I also enjoy watching people dance, and my favorite styles are Tango, Jazz, Tap, Classical Ballet, Waltz, and Urban Dance. I really love watching choreography videos. If you want to see my playlists on Spotify, here's the link:
https://www.reddit.com/usezliperz/comments/12uuotg/my_playlists/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
You'll find playlists in Italian 🇮🇹, French 🇫🇷, Spanish 🇪🇸, English 🇬🇧, Portuguese 🇵🇹, Japanese 🇯🇵, Korean 🇰🇷, Arabic 🇦🇪, Hebrew 🇮🇱, Hindi 🇮🇳, Turkish 🇹🇷, Indonesian 🇮🇩, Azerbaijani 🇦🇿, Finnish 🇫🇮, Hungarian 🇭🇺, Slovenian 🇸🇮, Romanian 🇷🇴, Czech 🇨🇿, German 🇩🇪, Greek 🇬🇷, Polish 🇵🇱, Chinese 🇨🇳 (Mandarin, Cantonese), Russian 🇷🇺, Ukrainian 🇺🇦, Dutch 🇳🇱, Filipino 🇵🇭, Swedish 🇸🇪, Catalan 🇦🇩, Kabyle 🇩🇿, Danish 🇩🇰, Bengali 🇧🇩, Georgian 🇬🇪, Latin 🇻🇦, Malayalam 🇮🇳, Luganda 🇺🇬, Persian 🇮🇷, Neapolitan 🇮🇹, Norwegian 🇳🇴, Vietnamese 🇻🇳, Telugu 🇮🇳, Uzbek 🇺🇿, Swahili 🇰🇪.
The "Sodamania" playlist is my favorite band's playlist, Soda Stereo from Argentina 🇦🇷.
Movies: Believe it or not, I watch movies of any genre, from horror (Us, Hostel, SAW) to children's animations (Chicken Little, Over the Hedge, Tangled), as long as the experience is good, that's what matters. My official favorite movies are: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Once, Blue Jay, Bridge to Terabithia, Finding Neverland. There are other movies that could make this list because I love them too: La Vita È Bella, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, It's a Wonderful Life, Shutter Island, Jab We Met, Arrival, Eternals... There are many other movies that I really enjoyed watching, like Logan, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Tree of Life, Song to Song, Catch Me If You Can, Forrest Gump, Grease, Medianeras, etc. And yes, I'm excited to watch Barbie in the cinema. I like classics like Rocky, Rambo, but there are many other classics that I haven't watched yet, you'd be surprised if you knew. The actress I like the most is Audrey Hepburn, for everything she represented, for her elegance on and off the screen, super authentic and admirable. When it comes to TV series, I also like several (Suits is one of my favorites), however, in recent years, I've been giving a lot of preference to Korean dramas. I used to really enjoy a Japanese reality show called Terrace House, but it got canceled. Honorable mention goes to Bnei Aruba, a great Israeli series.
Sports: I root for a Brazilian soccer team called Grêmio. I love watching Olympic games (including Winter Olympics). I like watching F1 races (rooting for Leclerc), Tennis matches. I'm getting closer and closer to the major American leagues, and I'm strongly sympathizing with the Boston Celtics, in the other leagues, I still don't have a defined team. When I was a kid, I played soccer and practiced swimming. In the future, I want to play tennis, and it would also be cool to practice martial arts (kung fu, karate, and taekwondo).
Languages: Portuguese 🇧🇷 is my native language, but I can handle English 🇬🇧 and Spanish 🇪🇸 pretty well too. I've studied a bit (basic) of Italian 🇮🇹, French 🇫🇷, German 🇩🇪, and Norwegian 🇳🇴. Right now, I'm studying the Arabic alphabet 🇦🇪 and taking my first steps in Korean 🇰🇷, Japanese 🇯🇵, Hebrew 🇮🇱, and Croatian 🇭🇷.
Religion: I'm a Noahide. A non-Jew who believes in the Torah. My theological view is similar to Orthodox Judaism, although our lifestyles are different. So if you're Jewish (or Israeli 🇮🇱), it would be great to have your company. If you're Muslim, know that I'd love to meet you too. I want to visit several Muslim countries, including each of the United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪, Morocco 🇲🇦, Turkey 🇹🇷 (especially Izmir), Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦, Egypt 🇪🇬, Jordan 🇯🇴, Qatar 🇶🇦, etc. If you're Hindu 🇮🇳 or any other religion, feel welcome too. My family is Christian, so I have no problem talking to Christians either.
Politics: I'll only talk about the economic issue: I believe in the free market, I love the Austrian School, and I identify with Mises' thinking. That's it.
Look, I'm a guy who loves to laugh. I like to have fun. I like to have deep conversations and also silly conversations. I like to talk about Greek mythology, architecture, technology, and also like to talk about fashion, cooking, animals, etc. I'm ambiverted, I hate lies, my zodiac sign is Gemini (not that it matters), I need to fight procrastination every day. I walk fast on the street, and it bothers me when people are walking slowly in front of me. I’m from Belo Horizonte and I've never been to Rio de Janeiro. I have a diary. I want to leave photographic records for future generations. I hate bothering people. But you know what? I'm a great listener, and I'm looking forward to meeting you and hearing your stories! We can be great friends... I know that most of the time things don't work out here the way we'd like them to, but so what? We're here now, and we have the chance to do things differently, right?! So come on, let's start something beautiful!
If you've read this far and identified with my words, send me your best message, and I'll make it worth it!
P.S: if you're too shy: https://www.reddit.com/usezliperz/comments/10ctifs/penpal_form/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Here's a very informative post because I'm very serious about finding the right person for me. I've clearly marked and categorized everything, so feel free to skim the parts that interest you the most.
What brings me to reddit for dating: For the short of it, I've been doing online dating for about 7 years, and could only describe my experience as a sisyphean struggle. With more traditional dating platforms having been absolutely torturous and a complete waste of time, with me rarely ever finding matches and those I do get ending up being ghosts or people who just don't respond less than productive, I'm hoping this might give me a breakthrough.
Age: 26, open to 18-32~. I’m less about age, more about attraction.
Appearance: 5'8", medium length blond hair (pictures are from when it was short), blue eyes, white skin, slim fit body type. I dress almost exclusively in black if I can help it, hence "closeted goth". I've been told I'm fairly handsome, but I'm including a few (poorly taken) pictures, so you can decide for yourself whether or not I've been lied to!
(Imgur seems to be having problems lately so if you're getting an error that's why. My posts tend to get automatically removed if I include any other image hosters but if you message me I can send alternatives no problem.)
Face: https://imgur.com/a/ykiCkwQ
Body (Warning: Shirtless): https://imgur.com/a/zO96e63
Interests: Many of my interests fall into the "nerd" category. Games (video and tabletop), anime, music, art, sci-fi and fantasy stuff of all varieties. I enjoy a lot of RPG's, and some of my favorite game series include kingdom hearts, fire emblem, dark souls, and a fair few others. I play a lot of league at a fairly high level, but I'm not exactly proud of that because the game damages my sanity at times.
In general, I like to keep in shape, play games with friends, share music I think is great, watch tv/movies/anime (horror and psychological stuff especially), share memes, read, and do some amateur writing. I'm also rather intelligent/insightful and enjoy some nuanced discussion.
Location: Currently in central NJ, somewhere in the no man's land between nyc and philly. I'd prefer someone local who I can meet in person, but won't pass up someone great online who's willing to eventually relocate or that I can eventually relocate to.
Looking For: Monogamous relationship, ideally something serious. I feel that what I'd like the most is to find someone very special to me, who I can love with all my heart and spend my life with. It'd probably be my greatest joy in life to be able to do that, and have someone do so in return. That said, this is just a description of my ideal scenario, not what I'd expect out of every relationship.
Traits I'm Looking For: Kind, loving, trustworthy, understanding. Good sense of humor, emotionally intelligent, communicates well. In this regard, I wouldn't ask for anything I don't freely give. I also very fond of women who are dominant/aggressive in a playful way, as well as role reversal dynamics.
Personality: Generally cool headed, laid back, and kind. Introverted, but can be extroverted when I'm in my element and otherwise comfortable. Deceptively intelligent despite how incredibly basic my pictures look, but I also tend to clown around a lot so that's not easy to discern at first. I’m also very reasonable, with a strong preference for peacefully resolving issues, so you can expect very little to no drama and good communication. Oh, and according to a myers briggs test, I'm an INFJ?
Fun facts: I have a deep and sexy voice which many people don't expect, and a great many people tell me I should get into radio or voice acting. I'm also a bit dead on the inside but that's probably because there's a skeleton living inside me.
Partner preferences: I'm a big fan of goth/alt girls, as well as tomboys. I also really like short hair, usually between pixie and neck length, and have a sizable interest in women that are taller than me. But these aren't dealbreakers! As long as I find you attractive, everything is fine.
Dealbreakers/Requirements : Similar interests are pretty important for me. I tend to play a lot of games in my free time for entertainment, so having a partner that I can do that together with is my ideal. I do have a strong preference for body type that I unfortunately can't get past, with that preference being the thinner end of the spectrum when it comes to proportions/body fat. So basically petite/slim/fit/muscular. PLEASE DON'T BE A SOCIOPATH, OR ACT LIKE ONE!
If you have any questions about anything I mentioned (or didn't), just ask and I'll absolutely answer them for you. I'm very friendly so absolutely feel free to come talk to me.

Hello, welcome, dear visitor!
Right now, you're reading the words of a 25-year-old Brazilian guy, and to be honest, I'm possibly one of the most eclectic guys you can meet. You know that person who's interested in so many different things that you just feel like you could talk for hours and hours and never get bored? Well, I hope to be that person for you.
I work remotely in an online education business, my hours are flexible, which allows me to enjoy geographical freedom, so I want to take this opportunity to adopt digital nomadism, even if it's just for a year or two, it's an experience I need to live.
Studying history and culture from other countries is something that fascinates me, I mean, I'm even interested in the smallest details of everyday life. That means I research about people's experiences living in those countries, the cultural differences they feel between cities, how laws work, what entertainment options are available, which local bands are successful in that region, what language-related difficulties they face, how social life is in general, what the food is like, etc. For instance, I also love watching movies and series set in other countries, and there are YouTube channels where a guy with a camera walks through various cities around the world, just filming, like a "virtual tour," I think it's awesome. I need to travel and see all these things with my own eyes. I want to feel the world, discover new flavors, appreciate new melodies, acquire new accents... I want to live.
I'm writing this ad for two reasons:
First: As mentioned in the previous paragraph, I'm very interested in life in other countries, in the broadest way you can imagine. So being able to talk to people who were born in other parts of the world, often with a completely different background from mine, would be special, don't you think? I believe we can share experiences and learn a lot from each other. We can learn from our differences, we can be surprised by our similarities, we can laugh together at various memes and dumb jokes. We can share playlists.
Second: I really want to expand my social circle, I'm open to new friendships in my life, that add value and stay long term! That would be perfect. However, I have to be transparent with you about the type of person I'm looking for, here are the requirements:
. You are truly open and receptive to a new friendship.
. You feel comfortable with long messages. You're quite talkative.
. You believe we have things in common (the more, the better) and we can get along well.
. The more optimistic and self-confident you are, the better.
. I'm open to meeting people from any continent, country, city, even Brazilians.
. I'm open to people of all ages (as long as you're an adult).
Music: I listen to pretty much everything: Rock (progressive, punk, new wave, grunge, classic, indie, emo, etc), POP, Jazz, Blues, R&B, Reggae, Tango, Classical Music, Bossa Nova, Country, Metal, Soul, etc. Old and new songs, no problem at all. I've created more than 40 playlists on my Spotify, and each one is in a different language. Discovering new artists is something I do almost daily. Consequently, I also enjoy watching people dance, and my favorite styles are Tango, Jazz, Tap, Classical Ballet, Waltz, and Urban Dance. I really love watching choreography videos. If you want to see my playlists on Spotify, here's the link:
https://www.reddit.com/usezliperz/comments/12uuotg/my_playlists/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
You'll find playlists in Italian 🇮🇹, French 🇫🇷, Spanish 🇪🇸, English 🇬🇧, Portuguese 🇵🇹, Japanese 🇯🇵, Korean 🇰🇷, Arabic 🇦🇪, Hebrew 🇮🇱, Hindi 🇮🇳, Turkish 🇹🇷, Indonesian 🇮🇩, Azerbaijani 🇦🇿, Finnish 🇫🇮, Hungarian 🇭🇺, Slovenian 🇸🇮, Romanian 🇷🇴, Czech 🇨🇿, German 🇩🇪, Greek 🇬🇷, Polish 🇵🇱, Chinese 🇨🇳 (Mandarin, Cantonese), Russian 🇷🇺, Ukrainian 🇺🇦, Dutch 🇳🇱, Filipino 🇵🇭, Swedish 🇸🇪, Catalan 🇦🇩, Kabyle 🇩🇿, Danish 🇩🇰, Bengali 🇧🇩, Georgian 🇬🇪, Latin 🇻🇦, Malayalam 🇮🇳, Luganda 🇺🇬, Persian 🇮🇷, Neapolitan 🇮🇹, Norwegian 🇳🇴, Vietnamese 🇻🇳, Telugu 🇮🇳, Uzbek 🇺🇿, Swahili 🇰🇪.
The "Sodamania" playlist is my favorite band's playlist, Soda Stereo from Argentina 🇦🇷.
Movies: Believe it or not, I watch movies of any genre, from horror (Us, Hostel, SAW) to children's animations (Chicken Little, Over the Hedge, Tangled), as long as the experience is good, that's what matters. My official favorite movies are: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Once, Blue Jay, Bridge to Terabithia, Finding Neverland. There are other movies that could make this list because I love them too: La Vita È Bella, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, It's a Wonderful Life, Shutter Island, Jab We Met, Arrival, Eternals... There are many other movies that I really enjoyed watching, like Logan, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Tree of Life, Song to Song, Catch Me If You Can, Forrest Gump, Grease, Medianeras, etc. And yes, I'm excited to watch Barbie in the cinema. I like classics like Rocky, Rambo, but there are many other classics that I haven't watched yet, you'd be surprised if you knew. The actress I like the most is Audrey Hepburn, for everything she represented, for her elegance on and off the screen, super authentic and admirable. When it comes to TV series, I also like several (Suits is one of my favorites), however, in recent years, I've been giving a lot of preference to Korean dramas. I used to really enjoy a Japanese reality show called Terrace House, but it got canceled. Honorable mention goes to Bnei Aruba, a great Israeli series.
Sports: I root for a Brazilian soccer team called Grêmio. I love watching Olympic games (including Winter Olympics). I like watching F1 races (rooting for Leclerc), Tennis matches. I'm getting closer and closer to the major American leagues, and I'm strongly sympathizing with the Boston Celtics, in the other leagues, I still don't have a defined team. When I was a kid, I played soccer and practiced swimming. In the future, I want to play tennis, and it would also be cool to practice martial arts (kung fu, karate, and taekwondo).
Languages: Portuguese 🇧🇷 is my native language, but I can handle English 🇬🇧 and Spanish 🇪🇸 pretty well too. I've studied a bit (basic) of Italian 🇮🇹, French 🇫🇷, German 🇩🇪, and Norwegian 🇳🇴. Right now, I'm studying the Arabic alphabet 🇦🇪 and taking my first steps in Korean 🇰🇷, Japanese 🇯🇵, Hebrew 🇮🇱, and Croatian 🇭🇷.
Religion: I'm a Noahide. A non-Jew who believes in the Torah. My theological view is similar to Orthodox Judaism, although our lifestyles are different. So if you're Jewish (or Israeli 🇮🇱), it would be great to have your company. If you're Muslim, know that I'd love to meet you too. I want to visit several Muslim countries, including each of the United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪, Morocco 🇲🇦, Turkey 🇹🇷 (especially Izmir), Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦, Egypt 🇪🇬, Jordan 🇯🇴, Qatar 🇶🇦, etc. If you're Hindu 🇮🇳 or any other religion, feel welcome too. My family is Christian, so I have no problem talking to Christians either.
Politics: I'll only talk about the economic issue: I believe in the free market, I love the Austrian School, and I identify with Mises' thinking. That's it.
Look, I'm a guy who loves to laugh. I like to have fun. I like to have deep conversations and also silly conversations. I like to talk about Greek mythology, architecture, technology, and also like to talk about fashion, cooking, animals, etc. I'm ambiverted, I hate lies, my zodiac sign is Gemini (not that it matters), I need to fight procrastination every day. I walk fast on the street, and it bothers me when people are walking slowly in front of me. I’m from Belo Horizonte and I've never been to Rio de Janeiro. I have a diary. I want to leave photographic records for future generations. I hate bothering people. But you know what? I'm a great listener, and I'm looking forward to meeting you and hearing your stories! We can be great friends... I know that most of the time things don't work out here the way we'd like them to, but so what? We're here now, and we have the chance to do things differently, right?! So come on, let's start something beautiful!
If you've read this far and identified with my words, send me your best message, and I'll make it worth it!
P.S: if you're too shy: https://www.reddit.com/usezliperz/comments/10ctifs/penpal_form/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

**TL;DR**: Getting put on PIP, laid out 3 potential scenarios, have nearly 3 months saved ($10,000 / $3,341per month expenses) and hoping for thoughts and feedback.
Hi, I was notified that myself and others on my team will be pushed to a 4 week performance plan. If the requirements are not met we will be terminated with a severance package of a minimum of 2 - 4 weeks of pay based on tenure.
For context, I live in the very high cost of living state of Massachusetts and currently earn $96,000/year with a decent amount of job opportunities locally in the major metro area in and around Boston. I have no debts of any kind or other household members to consider.
Based on reconfiguring my bills and habits today, my fixed bills (rent, electric, internet, phone, car insurance), and before any severance or unemployment dollars, I have nearly 3 months of runway to find a new role with the $10,000 saved. If I manage to save the maximum $1,000 of the last 2 paychecks, I should in theory have a total of 3.5 months.

Expense	Avg. Amount
Rent	$1,625
Food	$1,100
Fixed Bills	$300
Health	$120
Home	$100
Coffee	$30
Public Transit	$40
Gas	$26
Subscriptions	$0
Electronics	$0
Clothes	$0
Travel	$0
Auto	$0
Total	$3,341

I have laid out 3 potential scenarios that could play out and am personally leaning towards option A. Open to feedback and would appreciate any and all advice.
Most likely - Option A)
Agree to PIP, save $800-$1,000 from the last 2 paychecks to increase my emergency savings. Do my best and attempt to hit the marks needed while at the same time be disciplined in applying and interviewing for a better or comparable role within a 3 month time span.
Somewhat likely - Option B)
Agree to the PIP, save $800-$1000 from my potential last 2 paychecks to increase my estimated 3 month emergency savings. Maintain my workload and “try” to hit the mark, but focus more effort during the workday to apply and interview.
Least likely - Option C)
Deny PIP, take the severance package and focus all effort in landing an offer in less than 3 months.

Hello, welcome, dear visitor!
Right now, you're reading the words of a 25-year-old Brazilian guy, and to be honest, I'm possibly one of the most eclectic guys you can meet. You know that person who's interested in so many different things that you just feel like you could talk for hours and hours and never get bored? Well, I hope to be that person for you.
I work remotely in an online education business, my hours are flexible, which allows me to enjoy geographical freedom, so I want to take this opportunity to adopt digital nomadism, even if it's just for a year or two, it's an experience I need to live.
Studying history and culture from other countries is something that fascinates me, I mean, I'm even interested in the smallest details of everyday life. That means I research about people's experiences living in those countries, the cultural differences they feel between cities, how laws work, what entertainment options are available, which local bands are successful in that region, what language-related difficulties they face, how social life is in general, what the food is like, etc. For instance, I also love watching movies and series set in other countries, and there are YouTube channels where a guy with a camera walks through various cities around the world, just filming, like a "virtual tour," I think it's awesome. I need to travel and see all these things with my own eyes. I want to feel the world, discover new flavors, appreciate new melodies, acquire new accents... I want to live.
I'm writing this ad for two reasons:
First: As mentioned in the previous paragraph, I'm very interested in life in other countries, in the broadest way you can imagine. So being able to talk to people who were born in other parts of the world, often with a completely different background from mine, would be special, don't you think? I believe we can share experiences and learn a lot from each other. We can learn from our differences, we can be surprised by our similarities, we can laugh together at various memes and dumb jokes. We can share playlists.
Second: I really want to expand my social circle, I'm open to new friendships in my life, that add value and stay long term! That would be perfect. However, I have to be transparent with you about the type of person I'm looking for, here are the requirements:
. You are truly open and receptive to a new friendship.
. You feel comfortable with long messages. You're quite talkative.
. You believe we have things in common (the more, the better) and we can get along well.
. The more optimistic and self-confident you are, the better.
. I'm open to meeting people from any continent, country, city, even Brazilians.
. I'm open to people of all ages (as long as you're an adult).
Music: I listen to pretty much everything: Rock (progressive, punk, new wave, grunge, classic, indie, emo, etc), POP, Jazz, Blues, R&B, Reggae, Tango, Classical Music, Bossa Nova, Country, Metal, Soul, etc. Old and new songs, no problem at all. I've created more than 40 playlists on my Spotify, and each one is in a different language. Discovering new artists is something I do almost daily. Consequently, I also enjoy watching people dance, and my favorite styles are Tango, Jazz, Tap, Classical Ballet, Waltz, and Urban Dance. I really love watching choreography videos. If you want to see my playlists on Spotify, here's the link:
https://www.reddit.com/usezliperz/comments/12uuotg/my_playlists/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
You'll find playlists in Italian 🇮🇹, French 🇫🇷, Spanish 🇪🇸, English 🇬🇧, Portuguese 🇵🇹, Japanese 🇯🇵, Korean 🇰🇷, Arabic 🇦🇪, Hebrew 🇮🇱, Hindi 🇮🇳, Turkish 🇹🇷, Indonesian 🇮🇩, Azerbaijani 🇦🇿, Finnish 🇫🇮, Hungarian 🇭🇺, Slovenian 🇸🇮, Romanian 🇷🇴, Czech 🇨🇿, German 🇩🇪, Greek 🇬🇷, Polish 🇵🇱, Chinese 🇨🇳 (Mandarin, Cantonese), Russian 🇷🇺, Ukrainian 🇺🇦, Dutch 🇳🇱, Filipino 🇵🇭, Swedish 🇸🇪, Catalan 🇦🇩, Kabyle 🇩🇿, Danish 🇩🇰, Bengali 🇧🇩, Georgian 🇬🇪, Latin 🇻🇦, Malayalam 🇮🇳, Luganda 🇺🇬, Persian 🇮🇷, Neapolitan 🇮🇹, Norwegian 🇳🇴, Vietnamese 🇻🇳, Telugu 🇮🇳, Uzbek 🇺🇿, Swahili 🇰🇪.
The "Sodamania" playlist is my favorite band's playlist, Soda Stereo from Argentina 🇦🇷.
Movies: Believe it or not, I watch movies of any genre, from horror (Us, Hostel, SAW) to children's animations (Chicken Little, Over the Hedge, Tangled), as long as the experience is good, that's what matters. My official favorite movies are: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Once, Blue Jay, Bridge to Terabithia, Finding Neverland. There are other movies that could make this list because I love them too: La Vita È Bella, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, It's a Wonderful Life, Shutter Island, Jab We Met, Arrival, Eternals... There are many other movies that I really enjoyed watching, like Logan, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Tree of Life, Song to Song, Catch Me If You Can, Forrest Gump, Grease, Medianeras, etc. And yes, I'm excited to watch Barbie in the cinema. I like classics like Rocky, Rambo, but there are many other classics that I haven't watched yet, you'd be surprised if you knew. The actress I like the most is Audrey Hepburn, for everything she represented, for her elegance on and off the screen, super authentic and admirable. When it comes to TV series, I also like several (Suits is one of my favorites), however, in recent years, I've been giving a lot of preference to Korean dramas. I used to really enjoy a Japanese reality show called Terrace House, but it got canceled. Honorable mention goes to Bnei Aruba, a great Israeli series.
Sports: I root for a Brazilian soccer team called Grêmio. I love watching Olympic games (including Winter Olympics). I like watching F1 races (rooting for Leclerc), Tennis matches. I'm getting closer and closer to the major American leagues, and I'm strongly sympathizing with the Boston Celtics, in the other leagues, I still don't have a defined team. When I was a kid, I played soccer and practiced swimming. In the future, I want to play tennis, and it would also be cool to practice martial arts (kung fu, karate, and taekwondo).
Languages: Portuguese 🇧🇷 is my native language, but I can handle English 🇬🇧 and Spanish 🇪🇸 pretty well too. I've studied a bit (basic) of Italian 🇮🇹, French 🇫🇷, German 🇩🇪, and Norwegian 🇳🇴. Right now, I'm studying the Arabic alphabet 🇦🇪 and taking my first steps in Korean 🇰🇷, Japanese 🇯🇵, Hebrew 🇮🇱, and Croatian 🇭🇷.
Religion: I'm a Noahide. A non-Jew who believes in the Torah. My theological view is similar to Orthodox Judaism, although our lifestyles are different. So if you're Jewish (or Israeli 🇮🇱), it would be great to have your company. If you're Muslim, know that I'd love to meet you too. I want to visit several Muslim countries, including each of the United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪, Morocco 🇲🇦, Turkey 🇹🇷 (especially Izmir), Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦, Egypt 🇪🇬, Jordan 🇯🇴, Qatar 🇶🇦, etc. If you're Hindu 🇮🇳 or any other religion, feel welcome too. My family is Christian, so I have no problem talking to Christians either.
Politics: I'll only talk about the economic issue: I believe in the free market, I love the Austrian School, and I identify with Mises' thinking. That's it.
Look, I'm a guy who loves to laugh. I like to have fun. I like to have deep conversations and also silly conversations. I like to talk about Greek mythology, architecture, technology, and also like to talk about fashion, cooking, animals, etc. I'm ambiverted, I hate lies, my zodiac sign is Gemini (not that it matters), I need to fight procrastination every day. I walk fast on the street, and it bothers me when people are walking slowly in front of me. I’m from Belo Horizonte and I've never been to Rio de Janeiro. I have a diary. I want to leave photographic records for future generations. I hate bothering people. But you know what? I'm a great listener, and I'm looking forward to meeting you and hearing your stories! We can be great friends... I know that most of the time things don't work out here the way we'd like them to, but so what? We're here now, and we have the chance to do things differently, right?! So come on, let's start something beautiful!
If you've read this far and identified with my words, send me your best message, and I'll make it worth it!
P.S: if you're too shy: https://www.reddit.com/usezliperz/comments/10ctifs/penpal_form/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Hello, welcome, dear visitor!
Right now, you're reading the words of a 25-year-old Brazilian guy, and to be honest, I'm possibly one of the most eclectic guys you can meet. You know that person who's interested in so many different things that you just feel like you could talk for hours and hours and never get bored? Well, I hope to be that person for you.
I work remotely in an online education business, my hours are flexible, which allows me to enjoy geographical freedom, so I want to take this opportunity to adopt digital nomadism, even if it's just for a year or two, it's an experience I need to live.
Studying history and culture from other countries is something that fascinates me, I mean, I'm even interested in the smallest details of everyday life. That means I research about people's experiences living in those countries, the cultural differences they feel between cities, how laws work, what entertainment options are available, which local bands are successful in that region, what language-related difficulties they face, how social life is in general, what the food is like, etc. For instance, I also love watching movies and series set in other countries, and there are YouTube channels where a guy with a camera walks through various cities around the world, just filming, like a "virtual tour," I think it's awesome. I need to travel and see all these things with my own eyes. I want to feel the world, discover new flavors, appreciate new melodies, acquire new accents... I want to live.
I'm writing this ad for two reasons:
First: As mentioned in the previous paragraph, I'm very interested in life in other countries, in the broadest way you can imagine. So being able to talk to people who were born in other parts of the world, often with a completely different background from mine, would be special, don't you think? I believe we can share experiences and learn a lot from each other. We can learn from our differences, we can be surprised by our similarities, we can laugh together at various memes and dumb jokes. We can share playlists.
Second: I really want to expand my social circle, I'm open to new friendships in my life, that add value and stay long term! That would be perfect. However, I have to be transparent with you about the type of person I'm looking for, here are the requirements:
. You are truly open and receptive to a new friendship.
. You feel comfortable with long messages. You're quite talkative.
. You believe we have things in common (the more, the better) and we can get along well.
. The more optimistic and self-confident you are, the better.
. I'm open to meeting people from any continent, country, city, even Brazilians.
. I'm open to people of all ages (as long as you're an adult).
Music: I listen to pretty much everything: Rock (progressive, punk, new wave, grunge, classic, indie, emo, etc), POP, Jazz, Blues, R&B, Reggae, Tango, Classical Music, Bossa Nova, Country, Metal, Soul, etc. Old and new songs, no problem at all. I've created more than 40 playlists on my Spotify, and each one is in a different language. Discovering new artists is something I do almost daily. Consequently, I also enjoy watching people dance, and my favorite styles are Tango, Jazz, Tap, Classical Ballet, Waltz, and Urban Dance. I really love watching choreography videos. If you want to see my playlists on Spotify, here's the link:
https://www.reddit.com/usezliperz/comments/12uuotg/my_playlists/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
You'll find playlists in Italian 🇮🇹, French 🇫🇷, Spanish 🇪🇸, English 🇬🇧, Portuguese 🇵🇹, Japanese 🇯🇵, Korean 🇰🇷, Arabic 🇦🇪, Hebrew 🇮🇱, Hindi 🇮🇳, Turkish 🇹🇷, Indonesian 🇮🇩, Azerbaijani 🇦🇿, Finnish 🇫🇮, Hungarian 🇭🇺, Slovenian 🇸🇮, Romanian 🇷🇴, Czech 🇨🇿, German 🇩🇪, Greek 🇬🇷, Polish 🇵🇱, Chinese 🇨🇳 (Mandarin, Cantonese), Russian 🇷🇺, Ukrainian 🇺🇦, Dutch 🇳🇱, Filipino 🇵🇭, Swedish 🇸🇪, Catalan 🇦🇩, Kabyle 🇩🇿, Danish 🇩🇰, Bengali 🇧🇩, Georgian 🇬🇪, Latin 🇻🇦, Malayalam 🇮🇳, Luganda 🇺🇬, Persian 🇮🇷, Neapolitan 🇮🇹, Norwegian 🇳🇴, Vietnamese 🇻🇳, Telugu 🇮🇳, Uzbek 🇺🇿, Swahili 🇰🇪.
The "Sodamania" playlist is my favorite band's playlist, Soda Stereo from Argentina 🇦🇷.
Movies: Believe it or not, I watch movies of any genre, from horror (Us, Hostel, SAW) to children's animations (Chicken Little, Over the Hedge, Tangled), as long as the experience is good, that's what matters. My official favorite movies are: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Once, Blue Jay, Bridge to Terabithia, Finding Neverland. There are other movies that could make this list because I love them too: La Vita È Bella, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, It's a Wonderful Life, Shutter Island, Jab We Met, Arrival, Eternals... There are many other movies that I really enjoyed watching, like Logan, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Tree of Life, Song to Song, Catch Me If You Can, Forrest Gump, Grease, Medianeras, etc. And yes, I'm excited to watch Barbie in the cinema. I like classics like Rocky, Rambo, but there are many other classics that I haven't watched yet, you'd be surprised if you knew. The actress I like the most is Audrey Hepburn, for everything she represented, for her elegance on and off the screen, super authentic and admirable. When it comes to TV series, I also like several (Suits is one of my favorites), however, in recent years, I've been giving a lot of preference to Korean dramas. I used to really enjoy a Japanese reality show called Terrace House, but it got canceled. Honorable mention goes to Bnei Aruba, a great Israeli series.
Sports: I root for a Brazilian soccer team called Grêmio. I love watching Olympic games (including Winter Olympics). I like watching F1 races (rooting for Leclerc), Tennis matches. I'm getting closer and closer to the major American leagues, and I'm strongly sympathizing with the Boston Celtics, in the other leagues, I still don't have a defined team. When I was a kid, I played soccer and practiced swimming. In the future, I want to play tennis, and it would also be cool to practice martial arts (kung fu, karate, and taekwondo).
Languages: Portuguese 🇧🇷 is my native language, but I can handle English 🇬🇧 and Spanish 🇪🇸 pretty well too. I've studied a bit (basic) of Italian 🇮🇹, French 🇫🇷, German 🇩🇪, and Norwegian 🇳🇴. Right now, I'm studying the Arabic alphabet 🇦🇪 and taking my first steps in Korean 🇰🇷, Japanese 🇯🇵, Hebrew 🇮🇱, and Croatian 🇭🇷.
Religion: I'm a Noahide. A non-Jew who believes in the Torah. My theological view is similar to Orthodox Judaism, although our lifestyles are different. So if you're Jewish (or Israeli 🇮🇱), it would be great to have your company. If you're Muslim, know that I'd love to meet you too. I want to visit several Muslim countries, including each of the United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪, Morocco 🇲🇦, Turkey 🇹🇷 (especially Izmir), Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦, Egypt 🇪🇬, Jordan 🇯🇴, Qatar 🇶🇦, etc. If you're Hindu 🇮🇳 or any other religion, feel welcome too. My family is Christian, so I have no problem talking to Christians either.
Politics: I'll only talk about the economic issue: I believe in the free market, I love the Austrian School, and I identify with Mises' thinking. That's it.
Look, I'm a guy who loves to laugh. I like to have fun. I like to have deep conversations and also silly conversations. I like to talk about Greek mythology, architecture, technology, and also like to talk about fashion, cooking, animals, etc. I'm ambiverted, I hate lies, my zodiac sign is Gemini (not that it matters), I need to fight procrastination every day. I walk fast on the street, and it bothers me when people are walking slowly in front of me. I’m from Belo Horizonte and I've never been to Rio de Janeiro. I have a diary. I want to leave photographic records for future generations. I hate bothering people. But you know what? I'm a great listener, and I'm looking forward to meeting you and hearing your stories! We can be great friends... I know that most of the time things don't work out here the way we'd like them to, but so what? We're here now, and we have the chance to do things differently, right?! So come on, let's start something beautiful!
If you've read this far and identified with my words, send me your best message, and I'll make it worth it!
P.S: if you're too shy: https://www.reddit.com/usezliperz/comments/10ctifs/penpal_form/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

So through no real fault of my own, I've found myself very short of money and need to earn some more rather quickly.
I had an emergency fund of approx £4.5k in Feb. My ex was abusive, he's been arrested. He hurt our dog secretly and repeatedly. I used a lot of money on repeated vet visits (dog is fully insured but was £85 excess per visit). He damaged my car which had to be repaired. The whole heating system in the house needed servicing and some parts replacing. We've managed to sell the house and I have bought a new one (in process of selling at the moment) and have had to pay initial solicitors fees once for the current house and twice for the new house as an issue with our sale caused me to have to change house. We have a young child and he sent me a solicitors letter demanding shared custody. I paid £500 to a solicitor to reply. He has now served me with family court summons in July which the solicitor wants another £800 to pay. When he left the house he stopped paying for everything, including his daughter, so I was massively caught short.
Long story short, my savings are down to <£500 and I've yet to pay the £800 to the solicitor. My bank account has <£100 in it and I need it to cover fuel and food. Next payday is 25 June. If I can make it to then I can be ok, but I have no idea how to afford the solicitor, never mind anything else.
I'm already selling what I can on Vinted/marketplace. Is there any other ways I can make quick cash? Taking on extra work like delivery driving etc isn't an option as my daughter is young and it's only the two of us, I have no family to ask for childcare. I've been checking weekly and I don't qualify for free legal aid despite the abuse. On paper what I earn looks reasonable, but because he's landed me with all these bills (especially the mortgage) to pay alone, I am struggling.

Hello, welcome, dear visitor!
Right now, you're reading the words of a 25-year-old Brazilian guy, and to be honest, I'm possibly one of the most eclectic guys you can meet. You know that person who's interested in so many different things that you just feel like you could talk for hours and hours and never get bored? Well, I hope to be that person for you.
I work remotely in an online education business, my hours are flexible, which allows me to enjoy geographical freedom, so I want to take this opportunity to adopt digital nomadism, even if it's just for a year or two, it's an experience I need to live.
Studying history and culture from other countries is something that fascinates me, I mean, I'm even interested in the smallest details of everyday life. That means I research about people's experiences living in those countries, the cultural differences they feel between cities, how laws work, what entertainment options are available, which local bands are successful in that region, what language-related difficulties they face, how social life is in general, what the food is like, etc. For instance, I also love watching movies and series set in other countries, and there are YouTube channels where a guy with a camera walks through various cities around the world, just filming, like a "virtual tour," I think it's awesome. I need to travel and see all these things with my own eyes. I want to feel the world, discover new flavors, appreciate new melodies, acquire new accents... I want to live.
I'm writing this ad for two reasons:
First: As mentioned in the previous paragraph, I'm very interested in life in other countries, in the broadest way you can imagine. So being able to talk to people who were born in other parts of the world, often with a completely different background from mine, would be special, don't you think? I believe we can share experiences and learn a lot from each other. We can learn from our differences, we can be surprised by our similarities, we can laugh together at various memes and dumb jokes. We can share playlists.
Second: I really want to expand my social circle, I'm open to new friendships in my life, that add value and stay long term! That would be perfect. However, I have to be transparent with you about the type of person I'm looking for, here are the requirements:
. You are truly open and receptive to a new friendship.
. You feel comfortable with long messages. You're quite talkative.
. You believe we have things in common (the more, the better) and we can get along well.
. The more optimistic and self-confident you are, the better.
. I'm open to meeting people from any continent, country, city, even Brazilians.
. I'm open to people of all ages (as long as you're an adult).
Music: I listen to pretty much everything: Rock (progressive, punk, new wave, grunge, classic, indie, emo, etc), POP, Jazz, Blues, R&B, Reggae, Tango, Classical Music, Bossa Nova, Country, Metal, Soul, etc. Old and new songs, no problem at all. I've created more than 40 playlists on my Spotify, and each one is in a different language. Discovering new artists is something I do almost daily. Consequently, I also enjoy watching people dance, and my favorite styles are Tango, Jazz, Tap, Classical Ballet, Waltz, and Urban Dance. I really love watching choreography videos. If you want to see my playlists on Spotify, here's the link:
https://www.reddit.com/usezliperz/comments/12uuotg/my_playlists/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
You'll find playlists in Italian 🇮🇹, French 🇫🇷, Spanish 🇪🇸, English 🇬🇧, Portuguese 🇵🇹, Japanese 🇯🇵, Korean 🇰🇷, Arabic 🇦🇪, Hebrew 🇮🇱, Hindi 🇮🇳, Turkish 🇹🇷, Indonesian 🇮🇩, Azerbaijani 🇦🇿, Finnish 🇫🇮, Hungarian 🇭🇺, Slovenian 🇸🇮, Romanian 🇷🇴, Czech 🇨🇿, German 🇩🇪, Greek 🇬🇷, Polish 🇵🇱, Chinese 🇨🇳 (Mandarin, Cantonese), Russian 🇷🇺, Ukrainian 🇺🇦, Dutch 🇳🇱, Filipino 🇵🇭, Swedish 🇸🇪, Catalan 🇦🇩, Kabyle 🇩🇿, Danish 🇩🇰, Bengali 🇧🇩, Georgian 🇬🇪, Latin 🇻🇦, Malayalam 🇮🇳, Luganda 🇺🇬, Persian 🇮🇷, Neapolitan 🇮🇹, Norwegian 🇳🇴, Vietnamese 🇻🇳, Telugu 🇮🇳, Uzbek 🇺🇿, Swahili 🇰🇪.
The "Sodamania" playlist is my favorite band's playlist, Soda Stereo from Argentina 🇦🇷.
Movies: Believe it or not, I watch movies of any genre, from horror (Us, Hostel, SAW) to children's animations (Chicken Little, Over the Hedge, Tangled), as long as the experience is good, that's what matters. My official favorite movies are: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Once, Blue Jay, Bridge to Terabithia, Finding Neverland. There are other movies that could make this list because I love them too: La Vita È Bella, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, It's a Wonderful Life, Shutter Island, Jab We Met, Arrival, Eternals... There are many other movies that I really enjoyed watching, like Logan, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Tree of Life, Song to Song, Catch Me If You Can, Forrest Gump, Grease, Medianeras, etc. And yes, I'm excited to watch Barbie in the cinema. I like classics like Rocky, Rambo, but there are many other classics that I haven't watched yet, you'd be surprised if you knew. The actress I like the most is Audrey Hepburn, for everything she represented, for her elegance on and off the screen, super authentic and admirable. When it comes to TV series, I also like several (Suits is one of my favorites), however, in recent years, I've been giving a lot of preference to Korean dramas. I used to really enjoy a Japanese reality show called Terrace House, but it got canceled. Honorable mention goes to Bnei Aruba, a great Israeli series.
Sports: I root for a Brazilian soccer team called Grêmio. I love watching Olympic games (including Winter Olympics). I like watching F1 races (rooting for Leclerc), Tennis matches. I'm getting closer and closer to the major American leagues, and I'm strongly sympathizing with the Boston Celtics, in the other leagues, I still don't have a defined team. When I was a kid, I played soccer and practiced swimming. In the future, I want to play tennis, and it would also be cool to practice martial arts (kung fu, karate, and taekwondo).
Languages: Portuguese 🇧🇷 is my native language, but I can handle English 🇬🇧 and Spanish 🇪🇸 pretty well too. I've studied a bit (basic) of Italian 🇮🇹, French 🇫🇷, German 🇩🇪, and Norwegian 🇳🇴. Right now, I'm studying the Arabic alphabet 🇦🇪 and taking my first steps in Korean 🇰🇷, Japanese 🇯🇵, Hebrew 🇮🇱, and Croatian 🇭🇷.
Religion: I'm a Noahide. A non-Jew who believes in the Torah. My theological view is similar to Orthodox Judaism, although our lifestyles are different. So if you're Jewish (or Israeli 🇮🇱), it would be great to have your company. If you're Muslim, know that I'd love to meet you too. I want to visit several Muslim countries, including each of the United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪, Morocco 🇲🇦, Turkey 🇹🇷 (especially Izmir), Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦, Egypt 🇪🇬, Jordan 🇯🇴, Qatar 🇶🇦, etc. If you're Hindu 🇮🇳 or any other religion, feel welcome too. My family is Christian, so I have no problem talking to Christians either.
Politics: I'll only talk about the economic issue: I believe in the free market, I love the Austrian School, and I identify with Mises' thinking. That's it.
Look, I'm a guy who loves to laugh. I like to have fun. I like to have deep conversations and also silly conversations. I like to talk about Greek mythology, architecture, technology, and also like to talk about fashion, cooking, animals, etc. I'm ambiverted, I hate lies, my zodiac sign is Gemini (not that it matters), I need to fight procrastination every day. I walk fast on the street, and it bothers me when people are walking slowly in front of me. I’m from Belo Horizonte and I've never been to Rio de Janeiro. I have a diary. I want to leave photographic records for future generations. I hate bothering people. But you know what? I'm a great listener, and I'm looking forward to meeting you and hearing your stories! We can be great friends... I know that most of the time things don't work out here the way we'd like them to, but so what? We're here now, and we have the chance to do things differently, right?! So come on, let's start something beautiful!
If you've read this far and identified with my words, send me your best message, and I'll make it worth it!
P.S: if you're too shy: https://www.reddit.com/usezliperz/comments/10ctifs/penpal_form/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Hello, welcome, dear visitor!
Right now, you're reading the words of a 25-year-old Brazilian guy, and to be honest, I'm possibly one of the most eclectic guys you can meet. You know that person who's interested in so many different things that you just feel like you could talk for hours and hours and never get bored? Well, I hope to be that person for you.
I work remotely in an online education business, my hours are flexible, which allows me to enjoy geographical freedom, so I want to take this opportunity to adopt digital nomadism, even if it's just for a year or two, it's an experience I need to live.
Studying history and culture from other countries is something that fascinates me, I mean, I'm even interested in the smallest details of everyday life. That means I research about people's experiences living in those countries, the cultural differences they feel between cities, how laws work, what entertainment options are available, which local bands are successful in that region, what language-related difficulties they face, how social life is in general, what the food is like, etc. For instance, I also love watching movies and series set in other countries, and there are YouTube channels where a guy with a camera walks through various cities around the world, just filming, like a "virtual tour," I think it's awesome. I need to travel and see all these things with my own eyes. I want to feel the world, discover new flavors, appreciate new melodies, acquire new accents... I want to live.
I'm writing this ad for two reasons:
First: As mentioned in the previous paragraph, I'm very interested in life in other countries, in the broadest way you can imagine. So being able to talk to people who were born in other parts of the world, often with a completely different background from mine, would be special, don't you think? I believe we can share experiences and learn a lot from each other. We can learn from our differences, we can be surprised by our similarities, we can laugh together at various memes and dumb jokes. We can share playlists.
Second: I really want to expand my social circle, I'm open to new friendships in my life, that add value and stay long term! That would be perfect. However, I have to be transparent with you about the type of person I'm looking for, here are the requirements:
. You are truly open and receptive to a new friendship.
. You feel comfortable with long messages. You're quite talkative.
. You believe we have things in common (the more, the better) and we can get along well.
. The more optimistic and self-confident you are, the better.
. I'm open to meeting people from any continent, country, city, even Brazilians.
. I'm open to people of all ages (as long as you're an adult).
Music: I listen to pretty much everything: Rock (progressive, punk, new wave, grunge, classic, indie, emo, etc), POP, Jazz, Blues, R&B, Reggae, Tango, Classical Music, Bossa Nova, Country, Metal, Soul, etc. Old and new songs, no problem at all. I've created more than 40 playlists on my Spotify, and each one is in a different language. Discovering new artists is something I do almost daily. Consequently, I also enjoy watching people dance, and my favorite styles are Tango, Jazz, Tap, Classical Ballet, Waltz, and Urban Dance. I really love watching choreography videos. If you want to see my playlists on Spotify, here's the link:
https://www.reddit.com/usezliperz/comments/12uuotg/my_playlists/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
You'll find playlists in Italian 🇮🇹, French 🇫🇷, Spanish 🇪🇸, English 🇬🇧, Portuguese 🇵🇹, Japanese 🇯🇵, Korean 🇰🇷, Arabic 🇦🇪, Hebrew 🇮🇱, Hindi 🇮🇳, Turkish 🇹🇷, Indonesian 🇮🇩, Azerbaijani 🇦🇿, Finnish 🇫🇮, Hungarian 🇭🇺, Slovenian 🇸🇮, Romanian 🇷🇴, Czech 🇨🇿, German 🇩🇪, Greek 🇬🇷, Polish 🇵🇱, Chinese 🇨🇳 (Mandarin, Cantonese), Russian 🇷🇺, Ukrainian 🇺🇦, Dutch 🇳🇱, Filipino 🇵🇭, Swedish 🇸🇪, Catalan 🇦🇩, Kabyle 🇩🇿, Danish 🇩🇰, Bengali 🇧🇩, Georgian 🇬🇪, Latin 🇻🇦, Malayalam 🇮🇳, Luganda 🇺🇬, Persian 🇮🇷, Neapolitan 🇮🇹, Norwegian 🇳🇴, Vietnamese 🇻🇳, Telugu 🇮🇳, Uzbek 🇺🇿, Swahili 🇰🇪.
The "Sodamania" playlist is my favorite band's playlist, Soda Stereo from Argentina 🇦🇷.
Movies: Believe it or not, I watch movies of any genre, from horror (Us, Hostel, SAW) to children's animations (Chicken Little, Over the Hedge, Tangled), as long as the experience is good, that's what matters. My official favorite movies are: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Once, Blue Jay, Bridge to Terabithia, Finding Neverland. There are other movies that could make this list because I love them too: La Vita È Bella, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, It's a Wonderful Life, Shutter Island, Jab We Met, Arrival, Eternals... There are many other movies that I really enjoyed watching, like Logan, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Tree of Life, Song to Song, Catch Me If You Can, Forrest Gump, Grease, Medianeras, etc. And yes, I'm excited to watch Barbie in the cinema. I like classics like Rocky, Rambo, but there are many other classics that I haven't watched yet, you'd be surprised if you knew. The actress I like the most is Audrey Hepburn, for everything she represented, for her elegance on and off the screen, super authentic and admirable. When it comes to TV series, I also like several (Suits is one of my favorites), however, in recent years, I've been giving a lot of preference to Korean dramas. I used to really enjoy a Japanese reality show called Terrace House, but it got canceled. Honorable mention goes to Bnei Aruba, a great Israeli series.
Sports: I root for a Brazilian soccer team called Grêmio. I love watching Olympic games (including Winter Olympics). I like watching F1 races (rooting for Leclerc), Tennis matches. I'm getting closer and closer to the major American leagues, and I'm strongly sympathizing with the Boston Celtics, in the other leagues, I still don't have a defined team. When I was a kid, I played soccer and practiced swimming. In the future, I want to play tennis, and it would also be cool to practice martial arts (kung fu, karate, and taekwondo).
Languages: Portuguese 🇧🇷 is my native language, but I can handle English 🇬🇧 and Spanish 🇪🇸 pretty well too. I've studied a bit (basic) of Italian 🇮🇹, French 🇫🇷, German 🇩🇪, and Norwegian 🇳🇴. Right now, I'm studying the Arabic alphabet 🇦🇪 and taking my first steps in Korean 🇰🇷, Japanese 🇯🇵, Hebrew 🇮🇱, and Croatian 🇭🇷.
Religion: I'm a Noahide. A non-Jew who believes in the Torah. My theological view is similar to Orthodox Judaism, although our lifestyles are different. So if you're Jewish (or Israeli 🇮🇱), it would be great to have your company. If you're Muslim, know that I'd love to meet you too. I want to visit several Muslim countries, including each of the United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪, Morocco 🇲🇦, Turkey 🇹🇷 (especially Izmir), Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦, Egypt 🇪🇬, Jordan 🇯🇴, Qatar 🇶🇦, etc. If you're Hindu 🇮🇳 or any other religion, feel welcome too. My family is Christian, so I have no problem talking to Christians either.
Politics: I'll only talk about the economic issue: I believe in the free market, I love the Austrian School, and I identify with Mises' thinking. That's it.
Look, I'm a guy who loves to laugh. I like to have fun. I like to have deep conversations and also silly conversations. I like to talk about Greek mythology, architecture, technology, and also like to talk about fashion, cooking, animals, etc. I'm ambiverted, I hate lies, my zodiac sign is Gemini (not that it matters), I need to fight procrastination every day. I walk fast on the street, and it bothers me when people are walking slowly in front of me. I’m from Belo Horizonte and I've never been to Rio de Janeiro. I have a diary. I want to leave photographic records for future generations. I hate bothering people. But you know what? I'm a great listener, and I'm looking forward to meeting you and hearing your stories! We can be great friends... I know that most of the time things don't work out here the way we'd like them to, but so what? We're here now, and we have the chance to do things differently, right?! So come on, let's start something beautiful!
If you've read this far and identified with my words, send me your best message, and I'll make it worth it!
P.S: if you're too shy: https://www.reddit.com/usezliperz/comments/10ctifs/penpal_form/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Here there are no rules.
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People live social media, watch porn, listen to pathological music, believe in politics which is just poor theater.
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This world is completely fucked up. Morality doesn't exist.
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Even if you try to choose something, everything is given to you in advance. It's not your choice, it's the choice that was given to you.
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We live in the "best" of times but this is blinding. True, if you live in a country like the US or Europe you may feel safe because you have food, etc.
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But what else? Just eat, work, feel safe and that's it.
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In my opinion, it's the principle of contrast. They give us a "seemingly" good life because we only know it.
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People don't know what they are doing, everyone pretends to know, but no one really has a clue.
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We have been given a name, upbringing, friends, religion, political side, etc.
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We should go beyond any limitations of the mind. Look more broadly at the world, beyond the norms thrown at us.
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"Identity" is not you. It is just an artificial, imposed program.

Winter 4986, 22 Aoimoth
Rasnah found Branston in the chapel of Soleil and was grateful she wouldn't have to climb the stairs to his office. She waited in the back for him to finish his prayers and blessings, the stack of heavy books weighing down her mind more than her arms. "General..." one of the parishioners greeted her in a respectful whisper as he passed, and she managed to force a smile.
"My dear Sir Rasnah, is that a library in your hands or are you just happy to see me?" Branston asked with a jovial laugh that shook his belly.
Rasnah wanted to smile for him, but he was too good a friend to deserve something fake, "I was hoping to use one of your classrooms, I assume the children are done with their studies for the day?"
The shift in Branston's demeanor was subtle, but she was relieved to see he understood her mood. He continued the smile for the sake of his priests and petitioners still mingling in the chapel. "Right this way, General." he opened the door to the courtyard for her, whispering, "Need a change of scene, my dear?"
"I need a blackboard," she explained, following him around the outer edge of the courtyard to the classrooms where the city children took their lessons. "The Temple has great rooms for planning battles, full of maps and tokens galore, but not a single blackboard."
"Seems like a great oversight," he chuckled, opening one of the classroom doors and gesturing her in, "Let us hope that fixing that particular problem isn't the only heroic accomplishment you're known for in generations to come."
Rasnah snorted out a genuine laugh at that, placing her pile on one of the tiny desks but going straight for the board. "The Clerics of Lune were able to identify four of the ten bodies from the tower," she explained, searching the tray for a large piece of chalk. "I've had someone tracing the names, but they weren't natives to Clearhelm, and they didn't come here through legal channels."
"Not surprising, considering..." he moved to stand beside her, squinting at the board, "What are you...?"
"Warlocks, Branston. We know there were Warlocks at the tower, but that's the only thing we know. What do you know about Warlock magic?"
Branston sucked in a pained breath, "Probably little more than you, my dear. Tell me what you know, and I will fill in any blanks I see."
With a sigh, Rasnah began to write on the board, speaking as she did so. She wanted to get everything out so she could actually see it, maybe draw connections she was missing from turning too many pages in too many books, "Warlock magic is neither divine nor arcane, though it is more similar to arcane in nature..."
"Except it's gifted to them by a patron, much like divine magic is gifted by the gods," Branston interjected. Rasnah had started to draw out the standard venn diagram with the 'divine' circle, and 'arcane' circle intersecting but stopped halfway through writing the word 'nature' between the two. Branston shook his head, "I'm afraid this won't work quite so cleanly in two dimensions..." he moved to the teacher's desk, taking a blank piece of paper and drawing out the venn diagram again, filling the page with the circles, so they touched the edges. Picking it up, he rolled the page into a tube, so the two circles intersected twice, "Warlock magic is the opposite of nature magic, though it has the same overlapping sources." he explained.
Rasnah groaned and erased her started 'nature' with the side of her hand, scrawling, 'warlock' in its place for simplicity's sake, "Let's just ignore nature for now then..." she tapped the new word, "Warlock magic leaves a very distinct residue, like both divine and arcane, but unlike them, it can't be accurately identified as anything other than 'warlock'..." But Branston hummed to interrupt her again.
"There are different types of warlock magic depending on the patron granting access to it," he explained, picking his own chalk and starting a list, "Demon magic from the hells, and necromantic magic from the abyss, are the two most documented..." both the hells and the abyss were seen as outside the heavenly planes, segments of the 'outer planes.'
Rasnah's nose crinkled in disgust at both examples. They were not new to her, but she hadn't known they could be identified by residual spell effects alone. Needing to make sure everything stayed clear, she recited what they both knew, "Demon magic is granted by patrons only interested in collecting souls. It can cut the ties between a person and their god, preventing them from going to the heavenly planes after death. Some accounts even state a Warlock powerful enough can cut off a Cleric or Paladin." it was the most terrifying thing any follower of the gods could imagine, but a close second was... "Necromantic magic raises the dead as undead, trapping and twisting souls in their decaying bodies."
"Do we know what kind of Warlocks we're dealing with?" Branston asked.
She shook her head in frustration, "Are there any other types?"
The Cleric nodded but then contradicted it with a shrug. When Rasnah arched an eyebrow at him, he sighed again, taking up his chalk, "Warlocks get their magic from a patron on the outer planes. Some theories suggest this is where the gods originated and that the beings who dwell there are the parents of our gods. Though 'parent' isn't the right word..." he drew out the names Hengist and Horsa side by side. Rasnah felt her nose crinkle again, a growl slipping out as he drew lines from each name up to a single word, 'law.'
He tapped the word, "Please keep in mind that all of this is theory posed by Mages and philosophers, there is no way of confirming any of it without making a pact ourselves, which obviously isn't an option..." Rasnah nodded curtly and gestured for him to continue. Branston cleared his throat, "In the outer planes exist beings of pure concepts, such as law and order. They embody ALL of the concept, even the parts that seem contradictory. Their children split these contradictions. You have to admit, my dear, that Hengist and Horsa both value law and order, only their execution of the concept contradicts each other."
"Horsa is evil." Rasnah growled.
"I'm not going to argue that, Sir Paladin, but humor me," he managed a smile and tapped the combining word again, "Warlocks make pacts with these sources and communicate with them directly. Such communication in itself is enough to drive them mad, add to the fact that the beings themselves often embody contradiction..."
"Which is why all Warlocks go mad." Rasnah interjected, "Even if they started off with good intentions for the power they gain from the pact, they all eventually end up crazy and dangerous. And most," she underlined the types of warlock magic they did know, "Start off insane..."
"Yes," Branston confirmed, tapping the types of magic as well then drawing a new word below them, 'law,' "Just as an example..." he muttered as he wrote, then louder explained, "Basically there are as many types as there may be beings to make a pact with. Unless these Warlocks have formed a pact we are already familiar with, we have no way of knowing who their patron is."
Rasnah threw her chalk into the tray in frustration, "Damn it, we know so little..."
The classroom door slipped open, and an elderly priest poked his head in before pulling back into the hall, speaking to someone there, "I found her, Sir."
A young Paladin stepped into the classroom, and Rasnah cleared her expression, becoming the General once again. The knight saluted, and Rasnah nodded for him to continue, "We found where they came from, Sir."
"Ask, and you shall receive." Branston muttered under his breath. But Rasnah had heard the hesitation in her Paladin's voice and narrowed her eyes at the man.
"Swailand, General..."
"Damn." Rasnah slammed her fist on the desk, her unopened books rattling with the force of it. She couldn't hold back the whispered, "Fuck..." her mind racing.
"Uh... Sir?" the Paladin started cautiously then snapped to attention as she glared up at him.
"Go to the Mages Guild, have them send a blanket message to all Hengist Temples, they are to find the Master Monk Veon-Zih, Ally to the Temple, First Class, and have him contact me through mirror as soon as possible."
"Sir!" the Paladin saluted, and just in case, repeated Veon-Zih's name and credentials before hurrying from the room.
"A Horsa province..." Branston sighed, "You think they'll let him in when they won't anyone else from the Temple?"
Rasnah sighed, leaning back on the desk and rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands, "Veon-Zih has connections everywhere. If anyone can insert themselves into this investigation, it's him." and the only people expressly banned from crossing Horsa's borders were Clerics and Paladins of Hengist. It took kingdom intervention to get such divine representatives across.
Branston took her by the shoulders, giving her a gentle shake, "I'll see what strings I can pull from my end. Soleil's light shines on all lands."
She managed a weak smile, "Thank you, Branston."
***
The same Paladin who delivered the first message brought the second four hours later. Rasnah ordered him to get dinner for himself and at least six hours of sleep before reporting to her again and made her way to the Mages Guild at a brisk walk, only a step removed from a jog.
The attending Mage at the front desk recognized her rank right away, even if she didn't know Rasnah personally, and stood to escort her to the call room. Rasnah was in enough of a hurry that she almost considered letting the other woman off, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She cleared her throat loudly, taking out her identification papers and tapping them on the table.
The Journeyman Mage had the decency to look ashamed before she resumed her seat, taking Rasnah's papers to confirm her identity and purpose. "My apologies, General..." She muttered for the breach in protocol.
Rasnah wasn't the type to yell or punish on a whim, but she did explain curtly, "These protocols are kept in place for a reason, Journeyman. You above all others should know the capabilities of magic to disguise an individual or take another form,"
"Those spells are very difficult, General, and highly regulated..." the Mage started but stopped at Rasnah's glare,
"And only those capable of both high-level magic and breaking the law would risk impersonating me. Those are exactly the people this protocol is in place to stop." She took back her papers without further admonishing the young woman, who hurried to take her to the call room.
The room was more like a long hall, lined with high-walled stalls. Above each stall's door were set two gems, this late in the evening, nearly all the red gems glowed steadily, mixing with the illuminating white light to tint the walls in pink. At the far end, above the largest stall, the red gem blinked. Rasnah's guide opened the stall door for her, chanting quietly as she did so until the red gem dimmed and the green began to glow in its place.
Within the stall was a single mirror, reaching from Rasnah's waist to just above her head, but the reflection was not her own. Veon-Zih had his eyes closed as he stretched with one arm and scratched his chiseled belly with the other. His already tan skin looked even darker with blotches of dust and dirt from the road. He'd obviously taken Rasnah's request for immediate communication very seriously.
The sight of him couldn't help but make her smile, "Hengist's pure soul, you're filthy, old man."
Veon-Zih scoffed, his eyes still closed as he finished his stretch, "And after I made a point of washing the blood from my knuckles just for you young whippersnapper..." his voice echoed in through the mirror, a reminder that he wasn't actually with her. As if to drive that point home, he said, "If you need me up there, Ras, you could've just sent an order to gate."
Rasnah shook her head, "Except that I actually need you in Swailand. Where are you now?"
Veon-Zih dropped his hands, "Halakon. Why Swailand?" Rasnah arched an eyebrow at the Monk, momentarily distracted by personal concerns for her old friend.
She resisted the urge to ask him about what had taken him to the desert province and instead stated, "Well, that explains the dust." before continuing with the matter at hand, "We have a lead on the Warlocks. The corpses originated in..."
"Corpses?" Veon-Zih interrupted.
Rasnah sighed. In her rush to continue the investigation, she'd forgotten he didn't already know about the tower, "We've found the Warlocks in Clearhelm, or more accurately, we found some of their bodies, a few of the corpses were still able to be identified after the fire and..."
"Fire?" Veon-Zih shook his head, "Start from the beginning Ras. If you want me to be your eyes and ears in Horsa land, I'll need to know everything."
So Rasnah told him what little they knew about the burning tower, but when she was done, he asked, "Where was it?" which made Rasnah look away. "Ras?"
"Just north of Hamerfoss... Shon was there. He's the one who saved the girl."
"What?!" Veon-Zih shouted, becoming larger in the mirror after stepping closer, "Rasnah, he's fifteen, what in all the hells was he..."
"He's a Sorcerer." Rasnah interrupted, and Veon-Zih's jaw dropped.
He swallowed, then -just as she feared- he nodded, "I'm coming up there, send orders for a gate."
"No, I need you in Swailand. We are taking care of Shon."
"I know how the government takes care of Sorcerers, General." he spat, "I'm coming up there. I might not keep money on hand, but I have enough favors I can cash in. I won't let them seal his ki. He can get his clearance and..."
"We are not going to give him the tattoo." Rasnah shouted over him, then continued calmly, "And he isn't leaving Hamerfoss." Veon-Zih arched a disbelieving eyebrow, and Rasnah rolled her eyes, "I can't tell if you're mocking me or genuinely don't believe me. The Temple is vouching for Shon so he can get a sealing item instead of a tattoo. It will block the ice magic but allow him to cast divine spells after he takes his Oath. We are taking care of him, V, and I need you in Swailand. If Horsa tries to take over our investigation I'll be left in the dark up here."
Veon-Zih sighed, leaning forward to rest his hand beside the mirror on his end. He rubbed his face and over his head with his free hand, still torn. When he spoke again, it was in a whisper, "Did he hurt anyone?"
"Hamerfoss has no less than forty-two men capable of healing all but the most deadly wounds..."
"Rasnah. Please?" Sorcerers rarely woke without some collateral damage.
"He was sparring with a fellow and froze his feet to the ground. The boy broke an ankle and suffered minor frostbite; both were healed the same night." Rasnah answered, trying to stay detached from the issue. Veon-Zih was already invested enough for both of them.
"I should have suspected... he's always been so cold." But ice was also incredibly rare. The cold of those who possessed that element made it difficult to find willing partners to carry on their bloodline. Instead, it passed through siblings and cousins who didn't manifest until it finally did many generations later.
"Shon is fine, Master Veon-Zih," Rasnah spoke quietly, waiting for her friend to meet her eyes before she continued, "he is one of the best Squires we've ever had, and we will not let him go so easily. I'll have you brought up here by gate as soon as possible. As soon as you're done in Swailand. I need you there, my friend."
Veon-Zih stood straight again and rolled his shoulders back with another sigh, "Let me get a shower, and I'll head out tonight."
"Would you like a horse?" Rasnah forced a smirk to try and lighten the mood, glad when Veon-Zih returned the smile.
"First you offer to get me up there faster, then you threaten to slow me down? General Rasnah, I thought you wanted to stay involved in this investigation?"
Rasnah snickered but continued on topic, "Branston has already contacted the Abbot of the Church in Sanoloa," the capital of Swailand, "I will have the reports and orders delivered to you with a gate to the closest Hengist-controlled Guild, after your, much needed, shower."
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Thanks for making it this far, you are the real MVP

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fslE1PK78Jo
On a social media page, I was asked if I knew John Mack MD. Here is my reply:
We were active together in the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, IPPNW. I sat with him briefly in Moscow in 1985 while he was having a drink during the celebration of IPPNW’s winning the Nobel Peace Prize. I attended a MUFON meeting that he addressed a few years before he tragically died. I asked him a pointed question from the floor, and I was dealt with rather curtly by him. Still, I admired him so much in so many ways when I was a physician peace activist and finally as a contact experiencer. Although we looked at challenge of flying saucers in different ways, I still miss him.
Below is an excerpt from a detailed Vanity Fair article about life and death of this remarkable human being, John Mack MD.
· “ In Newport with the other experiencers, a Tom Hanks look-alike who wanted to be known as “Scott,” the way Mack referred to him in Abduction, remembered their last meeting at Cuvelier’s villa, in the summer of 2004. Mack was excited about his new book, on the survival of consciousness. Scott confessed his own fear of death. Mack reassured him. “You never know when it will be your time,” he said. “We could all go at any time. I could walk out on the street and get hit by a car.”
Raymond Czechowski, a 50-year-old computer technician, had spent three-and-a-half hours at the Royal British Legion, a military charity in north London, planning the latest poppy drive to aid the troops, in the course of which he downed five or six pints of shandy—beer mixed with lemonade and ice. Then, on that mild, clear Monday night of September 27, 2004, he pointed his silver Peugeot north and started driving home.
Just ahead, shortly after 11 P.M., in the north London suburb of Barnet, John Mack climbed wearily out of the Underground station at Totteridge and Whetstone. His talk had gone well, and many in the audience had brought copies of his Lawrence biography, which they asked him to sign. He had also spoken about the death of his father, Edward Mack, who, 31 years before, almost to the day, had been driving home with the groceries to their summer home in Thetford, Vermont, when his car collided with a truck. In London, Mack was staying with a family friend, Veronica Keen, a widow who told him she had been receiving messages from her deceased husband—more evidence, Mack thought, of survival of consciousness. She had said to call her from the station, and she would pick him up, but Mack decided to walk. He crossed a divider and stepped into the busy street. His American instinct was to look to the left.
Czechowski hit the brakes, but too late. Mack’s body flew into the air, shattering the Peugeot’s windshield before traveling over the roof and landing heavily on the ground. “He just stepped there, bang,” Czechowski told the police, who registered his alcohol level at well over the limit.
Mack never regained consciousness. From a crumpled paper with an address on it found in his pocket, the police learned his destination and his identity.
Keen, who sat with Mack’s body at the morgue, said he materialized and told her, “It was as if I was touched with a feather. I did not feel a thing. I was given a choice: should I go, or should I stay? I looked down at my broken body and decided to go.”
At Mack’s funeral, many recalled one of his favorite quotes, from Rilke’s Letter to a Young Poet (as translated by Stephen Mitchell): “That is at bottom the only courage that is demanded of us: to have courage for the most strange, the most singular and the most inexplicable that we may encounter. That mankind has in this sense been cowardly has done life endless harm; the experiences that are called ‘visions,’ the whole so-called ‘spirit-world,’ death, all those things that are so closely akin to us, have by daily parrying been so crowded out of life that the senses with which we could have grasped them are atrophied. To say nothing of God.”
Barbara Lamb and other friends also reported visitations.
Roberta Colasanti, one of Mack’s research associates, said he communicated to her a cryptic message on the abductions they had been studying: “It’s not what we thought.” Colasanti waited breathlessly for the solution to the mystery, but it didn’t come. Mack promised to return with more information. So far, he hasn’t.”
·
· I still think about this wonderful man, the doctors' peace movement and how in the 1990s on different paths, we became involved in the mystery of flying saucers. I believe that he is still with us in spirit. Joseph Burkes MD
VANITYFAIR.COM
Inside the Alien-Abduction Support-Group Annual Meeting…
Inside the Alien-Abduction Support-Group Annual Meeting in Newport, R.I.
​

TLDR: Digestive issues (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite) Omental Infarction Omentectomy and appendectomy Months of pain and digestive issues after surgery, more than feels normal Canker sores from hell
In December, I was in Taiwan and I got what I thought was food poisoning. After getting some fluids and anti-nausea meds in the ER, i was a bit better. Still had nausea off and on for a few days, but recovered.
In February, I ended up in the ER for what I thought was appendicitis. Symptoms: lower right abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea. After CT scan and blood work, they diagnosed me with diverticulitis (which apparently normally happens on the left, not the right), sent me home with antibiotics and pain meds. About a week later the pain was worse, so I went back to the ER. Another CT scan, then they decided to do a laparoscopy. My appendix wasnt very inflamed, but they removed it just in case (lab work did find fecaliths, so good thing they removed it). There was also excess fluid in my abdomen so I had a drainage tube and blood bag for about a week (very sexy). Took antibiotics. Another week goes by, the abdominal pain becomes unbearable. I couldn't sit up without help, my partner had to help me get in and out of bed, I needed help walking to the toilet, I had to sleep sitting up because laying down on my back hurt like hell. I was throwing up everything I consumed, water included. Back at the ER for a third time, and another CT scan found inflammation in my upper right colon. They gave me the choice to be admitted, or to go home and schedule an appointment with the surgeon who did my appendectomy. I scheduled an appointment for a couple days out, but the pain was so bad that I was back at the ER the night before my appointment. CT scan... they diagnose me with Omental Infarction. Next day, March 1st, I had a full omentectomy. I have somewhat graphic pictures, if anyone wants to see. They had to make a 10cm incision above my belly button. Half of my omentum was necrotic.
Recovery from the omentectomy was hell. I mean, my abs were cut in half! But I was hopeful that once I recovered, that would be the end of it. My surgeon said "we'll never know why you got omental infarction, but it looks like it was just some rare incident." Side note: that hospital shut down as of May 1st, so I can't even contact my surgeon anymore.
As I slowly got my strength back, I was still having really loose stools and frequent nausea. Every day I would get cramps in my abs (even today, I'll get random cramps and my ribs and back are constantly in low-level pain).
May 12th I saw my GP, and she told me "this pain is normal after such a big surgery," even though I was having debilitating pain and the cramps kept moving around my abdomen. I was still having digestive issues as well, so I asked her for a referral to a GI (they took forever to get the referral for me). May 18th I was out of town with my partner, and we went to the ER because I hadn't been able to eat for 3 days and my abdominal pain was pretty bad. Thankfully, these doctors actually listened to me! They got me in quickly and did a CT scan and blood work, and gave me fluids and anti-nausea meds. Blood work came back normal, CT scan showed inflammation in my ileum. They couldn't give me a clear diagnosis, but they advised I get a colonoscopy (which I've been trying to get scheduled for a month) and prescribed me antibiotics and anti-nausea meds.
My poops finally have shape now, and the nausea is only bad every couple of days. My appetite has been small ever since surgery, and I've gone from 220lbs to 200lbs (but hey, I'm not complaining about that!). My bathroom trips are still very frequent and urgent, I just get a sudden grumble and have to run to the nearest toilet.
And to top it all off, about a week ago I started getting some canker sores. That's nothing too new to me, I get awful canker sores a few times a year and usually manage them with warm salt water, hydrogen peroxide, and orajel. But THESE canker sores... I feel like my mouth is being tortured to attone for my many sins. I have two on the inside of my lower lip, one inside each cheek, something under my tongue, and the tip of my tongue constantly feels like it's on fire. My lymph nodes on my neck are swollen and tender. I can hardly eat, I've resigned myself to warm tea and popsicles. There's not enough orajel in the world. I can take pictures, if requested.
So, thoughts? I have a consultation with a GI on Monday, but I'm worries they won't take me seriously. I feel like I need a colonoscopy and endoscopy. I had to withdraw from school for the semester because I knew there was no way I could catch up with all I'd missed, so I've been lonely and purpose-less for months. Thankfully my antidepressants have been working well. And I started a summer job this week! But I can't keep living with my body like this. It's torture.
Current medications: 150mg Wellbutrin (antidepressant), 200mg Pristiq (antidepressant), larin FE 1/20 28-day tablet (birth control), 7500mcg methylfolate

Number two. I actually managed not to save Soris and not to steal Ser Garlan's sword. Largely thanks to zavtra13, we have done this...

1. I was rude to the king, ashe has no idea what life is like in the alienage. Generally fine with Duncan, he seems like a good man, for a human. Also he saved us, even though he left Soris hanging. Seemed to have reason for that
2. Wynne seemed nice.
3. This former templar guy is funny. Likable even.
4. Daveth was likable, although he was really acting stupid around Morrigan and her mother.
5. Didn't like Ser Jory at all. Skilled, but stupid and naive,
6. Loghain seems reasonable.
7. Ash Warrior was a bit of a bigot, but he seemed to have appreciate the interest in his work and the story about.
8. Saved the dog.
9. Gave the prisoner food for key.
10. Really considered messing with Pick. Compassion got the better of her.
11. Quartermaster, trust me treat them better or you may end up as a certain cook in Denerim.

Wilds

1. Bandaged the soldier
2. Found the chest
3. Saving the locker for the poor woman who lost a husband and son.
4. What the hell was that thing??? Dropped interesting shoes though.
5. Interesting woman with interesting fashion. Kinda odd, but mostly polite toward me at least.
6. Mother even weirder, but seemed polite if treated politely.

This one is mostly gameplay, not so much about dialogue.
Now Ostagar again.... How should a City Elf described before react in these situations

1. Attitude towards the result of Joining
2. Attitude towards being sent to Tower of Ishal.
3. Attitude towards Alistair after this all.
4. Attitude towards Morrigan.
5. Feelings about the entire situation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fslE1PK78Jo
On a social media page, I was asked if I knew John Mack MD. Here is my reply:
We were active together in the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, IPPNW. I sat with him briefly in Moscow in 1985 while he was having a drink during the celebration of IPPNW’s winning the Nobel Peace Prize. I attended a MUFON meeting that he addressed a few years before he tragically died. I asked him a pointed question from the floor, and I was dealt with rather curtly by him. Still, I admired him so much in so many ways when I was a physician peace activist and finally as a contact experiencer. Although we looked at challenge of flying saucers in different ways, I still miss him.
Below is an excerpt from a detailed Vanity Fair article about life and death of this remarkable human being, John Mack MD.
· “ In Newport with the other experiencers, a Tom Hanks look-alike who wanted to be known as “Scott,” the way Mack referred to him in Abduction, remembered their last meeting at Cuvelier’s villa, in the summer of 2004. Mack was excited about his new book, on the survival of consciousness. Scott confessed his own fear of death. Mack reassured him. “You never know when it will be your time,” he said. “We could all go at any time. I could walk out on the street and get hit by a car.”
Raymond Czechowski, a 50-year-old computer technician, had spent three-and-a-half hours at the Royal British Legion, a military charity in north London, planning the latest poppy drive to aid the troops, in the course of which he downed five or six pints of shandy—beer mixed with lemonade and ice. Then, on that mild, clear Monday night of September 27, 2004, he pointed his silver Peugeot north and started driving home.
Just ahead, shortly after 11 P.M., in the north London suburb of Barnet, John Mack climbed wearily out of the Underground station at Totteridge and Whetstone. His talk had gone well, and many in the audience had brought copies of his Lawrence biography, which they asked him to sign. He had also spoken about the death of his father, Edward Mack, who, 31 years before, almost to the day, had been driving home with the groceries to their summer home in Thetford, Vermont, when his car collided with a truck. In London, Mack was staying with a family friend, Veronica Keen, a widow who told him she had been receiving messages from her deceased husband—more evidence, Mack thought, of survival of consciousness. She had said to call her from the station, and she would pick him up, but Mack decided to walk. He crossed a divider and stepped into the busy street. His American instinct was to look to the left.
Czechowski hit the brakes, but too late. Mack’s body flew into the air, shattering the Peugeot’s windshield before traveling over the roof and landing heavily on the ground. “He just stepped there, bang,” Czechowski told the police, who registered his alcohol level at well over the limit.
Mack never regained consciousness. From a crumpled paper with an address on it found in his pocket, the police learned his destination and his identity.
Keen, who sat with Mack’s body at the morgue, said he materialized and told her, “It was as if I was touched with a feather. I did not feel a thing. I was given a choice: should I go, or should I stay? I looked down at my broken body and decided to go.”
At Mack’s funeral, many recalled one of his favorite quotes, from Rilke’s Letter to a Young Poet (as translated by Stephen Mitchell): “That is at bottom the only courage that is demanded of us: to have courage for the most strange, the most singular and the most inexplicable that we may encounter. That mankind has in this sense been cowardly has done life endless harm; the experiences that are called ‘visions,’ the whole so-called ‘spirit-world,’ death, all those things that are so closely akin to us, have by daily parrying been so crowded out of life that the senses with which we could have grasped them are atrophied. To say nothing of God.”
Barbara Lamb and other friends also reported visitations.
Roberta Colasanti, one of Mack’s research associates, said he communicated to her a cryptic message on the abductions they had been studying: “It’s not what we thought.” Colasanti waited breathlessly for the solution to the mystery, but it didn’t come. Mack promised to return with more information. So far, he hasn’t.”
·
· I still think about this wonderful man, the doctors' peace movement and how in the 1990s on different paths, we became involved in the mystery of flying saucers. I believe that he is still with us in spirit. Joseph Burkes MD
VANITYFAIR.COM
Inside the Alien-Abduction Support-Group Annual Meeting…
Inside the Alien-Abduction Support-Group Annual Meeting in Newport, R.I.
Social Media
We were both active in the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, IPPNW. I still think about this wonderful man, the doctors' peace movement and how in the 1990s on different paths, we became involved in the mystery of flying saucers. I believe that he is still with us in spirit.
https://underground.contact/2022/12/11/i-remember-john-mack-md/