House for rent in colonia nj

I always try to hide having mental problems. I’ve lived a very fucked up, unfair life (I’ve witnessed about any and everything)
2 weeks ago my friend asked me if I had any mental health issues because our other friend told her I was in the 7th floor a few times (she had to come get me, I didn’t drive then)
I told her I diagnosed with C-PTSD, major depressive, borderline personality disorder and generalized anxiety disorder along with a few other clusters. I’m currently in group therapy 3x a week and seek frequent help for. She told me I’ll be fine that she has PTSD and it’s way worse and more severe than C-PTSD. I didn’t really know what to say back. Caught me very off guard. I’m not open about my mental health for many many reason (I am seriously never okay. I cry in my sleep from trauma flash backs and faint from how hard I get worked up but I do my fucking best to hide this flaw and how beat down I am) I try to act as normal as possible because I never let me guard down with anyone and constantly paranoid what could be said. I just agreed with her while she went on to tell me about all her trauma. She also said what I have must be wrong because she doesn’t have flash backs so that she didn’t really understand why they told me that. It’s been 2 weeks and it’s still bothering me this was said. I feel invalided. I feel I’m a suck up.
I had to force myself to get out of the house in an attempt to have a good, normal time so I can just be normal and like everyone else and like always, fucking always somehow mental health ruined it for me. I feel invalid, I feel I’m a phony, I feel like every night I’ve woke myself up bawling, every time I’ve just stood there in a trance remembering a traumatic event, every time I’ve fainted, completely soaked my shirt from sweat, broke down, beat my head in for the thoughts to go away was for no reason because mine is easier and I’ll be okay that I just overreacted. I’m NEVER FUCKING OKAY!!!! It ended in me cutting again and now my 14 month free self harming has ended. I can’t tell anyone anyways. But I need it off my chest. Maybe I can breathe better now.

First time with problem tenant. Made mistake of a deal letting someone move in that didn’t qualify because realtor vouched for them as contractor to finish the basement. After a year of nightmare and no work completed and discounted rents and late every month (they are still behind in about $3-4k of work) and ow $1600 still for march and another $2000 for April. Plus they haven’t paid their water bill in a year so it’s now $500 balance going onto my property taxes apparently.
What should I plan for or expect to do? I do have $4400 in deposit collected. I can only assume worst case they pay me nothing more , maybe they don’t want to leave.
Please advise.

I felt so bad for this poor little girl. First, she loses her mom who almost blew up the house when she was cooking meth. Her dad didn't let her say goodbye to her mom because she didn't want her to see her like that. Then, her dad dies trying to help a friend's pregnant daughter get to the hospital. He tells her soon before he dies that she isn't going to have any more hardship because she's already had enough for a lifetime. But then none of his friends are willing to take her, not even the selfish ass father of the pregnant girl that he died helping. So she goes into the system. She comes back with injuries because she ended up in a foster family where she was being abused. And once those parents found out about the abuse, they dumped her like she was trash because "he's our son" and she was apparently just nothing to them. I was glad when Naomi finally adopted her, but still, it's just wrong that she had to go through all of that.

Hi all,
I’m far from an expert in these matters but I have consumed San Pedro on 4 occasions or so previously. On 3 of those occasions I took a cutting from a large, wild SP. On the 4th occasion a took a cutting from a fairly large house grown SP.
I have my own potted SP now and I’ve been thinking a lot recently about consuming it. I’ve had some difficult times recently and I want that mental refresh that this medicine can give you.
However I’m unsure if my SP is mature enough to be cut and consumed. Is there a ball park height/diameter that would be considered minimum size for sufficient maturity?
I’ll measure my SP when I get home later.

Hello. In my house, there is only 1 coax port in the living room that the modem is using. I would like to be able to run a wired internet connection to another room to use for gaming, but there isn’t another coax or ethernet port. We have hardwood floors and I doubt we could run it through the wall. Is there an easy solution for this? Or is my only option to try to have someone come out and install another port? I’ve heard about the powerline adapters, but they seem to have a bad reputation. TIA!

By the time I was sixteen Linda got my dad to send me off to what they thought was boarding school. In reality it was a compound where the Order of the Wren would begin training me so I could be a full-fledged member.
During this time D and I would talk on the phone a few times a week. Since the Order had me move around so often I had to be the one doing the calling. These conversations didn't last as long as I would have liked because there was no privacy in the hotel rooms we would frequently stay at.
By we, I mean the two experienced hunters I would have to learn from. Their names were Williams and King. Neither did much talking and I could tell they didn't like having me around. Not that I could blame them. I was inexperienced and they had better things to do than to hold my hand and explain things to me. That meant that when we had to go somewhere to slay some monstrosity, I would have to wait in the hotel we were staying at.
I was bored out of my mind most of the time when we were traveling the country but I would learn to love those dull moments soon enough.
Williams was alright even though he smelt like a chimney, but at least he was patient with me and kind. However, King was crazy, cynical and had an unhealthy obsession with explosives. I asked him about it once and he told me “In this line of work, some things are vulnerable to fire, monk root, silver and stuff, right? But in my experience nothing can survive when twenty pounds of homemade explosives go boom.”
The days passed slowly so I would kill time by sharpening rune covered blades that would hurt all sorts of monsters, making specialized ammo, documenting everything I thought was noteworthy so future generations of members could learn from us, reading, playing cards and waiting for Farsight to call.
I asked Williams about Farsight on a few occasions and he told me that they were high ranking members of the Order who essentially ran everything. Since they were a secretive bunch, who they were and how they knew where to send all the teams was a mystery.
Most people I spoke to said they thought the biggest clue on how Farsight operated was the history of the Order itself.
Learning about the Order was a top priority during my studies at the compound. The long and the short is: back in the day there were some nerds that saved a bunch of books and scrolls from a fire that was about to consume a library named after some guy named Alexander. Lots of these people died as a result of saving what they could and because of their sacrifice the Order knows how to dispose and kill monsters.
My studies were not limited to history either. Most of the time was spent doing military drills, however on a few occasions I got to try my hand at magic. That being said, magic welders are rare and I was not one of them.
The first time I ever saw any action we were waiting somewhere in Ohio when the phone rang.
King answered the phone, waited and responded with ‘yes’, ‘no’ and finally ‘understood’ before hanging up.
“What did they say?” asked Williams.
King sighed and shook his head. “We got a plane to catch,” King answered as he slapped his knees and stood up.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Alaska.”
“What's in Alaska?” Williams asked before I could.
“Farsight got wind of some town that went missing.”
“A town went missing?” I asked, pinching my eyebrows together in confusion.
“It happens,” King shrugged. “Roanoke, Waterway… Etcetera.”
“Waterway?” I asked. “Never heard of it.”
“That's because it disappeared,” Williams answered before turning to King. “Did Farsight tell you what was there?”
King gave him a look before returning to pack up his things. “Do they ever?”
Getting to our destination meant getting in three different single engine planes that all took off and landed on someone's field instead of an airport. Each of the planes were held together by duct tape and prayers. After that, we rode in a boat for an hour.
The island we were assigned to go to was small and covered with equal parts trees, brush and rocks. There weren't many houses and the nicest one of them was a doublewide trailer in poor condition.
“Where is everyone?” I asked as we made our way off the dock and onto land.
“I don't like this,” Williams added as he took out the HSD (Handheld Supernatural Detector. It sort of looked like half of a bike handle covered in copper wire, black electricians tape and at the end there are two antennas). “Nothing” Williams said after waving it around a little while.
“Keep it activated” King said, his shotgun at the ready as he led us through what passed as a town on this island.
“Maybe the signal is too weak” I suggested.
“Might be,” King responded. “Might not even be supernatural?”
“What else could it be?” I asked.
“Disease? Jobs disappearing” King answered.
“Doesn't look like there were lots of jobs here anyways” Williams pointed out, waving the HSD in different directions but not picking up anything. “Besides, Farsight isn't wrong about these things” he added as King led us to the first house and walked in.
“How many people lived here?” I asked.
“No more than thirty,” King answered.
We kept checking the houses, but time after time there were no clues to tell us what happened to the island's occupants. There were no signs of struggle, the clothes were still on the hangers and there was even food that sat around for so long that whatever it once was became mostly mold.
“So what's the plan?” I asked after reaching the last house before the forest started. I was hoping that they would say something that involved a hot shower. After the trip out here I felt that I could have used one.
Or two.
“It's going to get dark soon,” King answered, looking at the sunset. “And since we don't know what we are dealing with, we should find a place to stay for the night.”
“Where?” I asked.
“Churches are safer than most places” Williams suggested, pointing to a squat, square building.
The door was unlocked so we let ourselves in. The first thing King and Williams did was to see if we were alone. They checked the confessionals, the back office, the bathroom, under every pew and kept their eyes on the rafters.
King figured the safest part of the building was the back office, so we all went there. With the three of us it was cramped. I would have suggested staying in one of the houses, but it wouldn't have felt right sleeping in a strangers house when they were missing, besides, places of worship would provide safety. At least from some things.
On the desk that belonged to the priest was a newspaper and Williams picked it up to check the date. Something I would never have thought of doing, and saw that it was two months old.
“In a place like this, I wouldn't think they would get their news fresh off the press” King responded when Williams pointed this out.
“Still” Williams said. “That's a long time, even for way out here.”
When it came to claiming sleeping areas it was nearly impossible for all of us to be satisfied with the results. Not only was it crammed with all of us in the back office, but both men also suffered from night terrors.
By the time we all had our designated sleeping spots, Williams grumbled about being low on cigarettes and ordered me to run to the island's convenience store and “grab an armful.”
At first I protested, but they told me that since the island was abandoned it wasn't stealing.
It was my turn to grumble, but I did as I was told.
As I walked to the convenience store, I wondered how Farsight would react if they knew King and Williams sent me off by myself like this.
Pulling the door open to go inside, I was surprised to find that the store looked nearly the same as the one in Gray Hill. They had stuffed animals on the walls, pickled pig parts in glass jars, they even had the same off brand food items that I could never find anywhere other than home.
Excited, I raced to the cooler and found the same brand of ginger ale I loved so much. I sucked down one, feeling the carbonation reach up into my nose and burn like hell.
Once I loaded the rest of the bottles in my bag I went over to the counter and hopped over it to grab Williams his cigarettes.
After leaving the store I saw a truck parked out front of the church that wasn't there when I left. Feeling something was wrong I ducked behind a fence. Just in time too because a second later the door swung open and a group of people were dragging King and Williams to the truck.
The people seemed to be wearing the furs of all sorts of animals. From skunk to deer to bear and whatever else that lived on the island. At first I thought their faces were covered in dirt, however thanks to D’s alterations I could see that it was actually black rocks glistening in the dying light. Not only that but they were growing out of these people. One had a large piece coming straight up from behind his left collarbone, another had her face peppered with small rocks but the man who appeared to be their leader had one coming out of his eye socket.
King and Williams were shouting at the group, what they were saying I can’t repeat and if I cleaned it up it wouldn't be much of a sentence.
I stayed still and out of sight until the truck pulled away. Since I was only armed with the buck knife I kept on my belt at all times I wouldn’t be much help. Even less so if I was caught by whoever took the more experienced monster hunters.
As soon as the truck was out of sight I ran into the church to grab the weapons we brought with us. Both shotguns that were filled with special shells we made ourselves and our rune covered machetes.
Just as I was about to leave I remembered the backpack filled with explosives. When I scooped that up I took off in the direction I last saw the truck going.
I ran for about two miles before finally finding the truck which was parked in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road. Most of the journey was uphill, however thanks to what D did to me I had plenty of energy to spare.
It didn't take long for me to see that there were tracks that led into the woods and without thinking about it, I followed them. King and Williams needed my help.
The tracks were easy to follow considering there were six people plus King and Williams who were struggling with their abductors.
I had been tracking these people for fifteen or twenty minutes by the time I came across a rocky hill, and since rocks don't leave tracks, I thought I lost them. However, just then I saw a small cave entrance. Figuring that was where King and Williams were taken, I hustled up the hill to investigate, making sure I kept low and quiet.
When I got in the cave I thought my eyes would adjust, however it didn't. Inside was completely dark and there was no sound other than my own breathing and footfalls. I would come to learn later than caves are like that. Completely dark so even my eyes couldn't adjust and they muffle sounds.
After a short time of navigating down a narrow passageway by dragging my hand on the wall I saw a faint orange glow and slowly walked towards it, careful not to make any sound. As I drew closer, I heard a group of people chanting in a strange language that almost sounded like angry small dogs.
A few stalagmites and stalactites separated the passageway I was on from a large open area with small bonfires scattered around. The people who took King and Williams were circling a large black monolith that sat in the middle of the room and they seemed to be praying to it. To me the monolith resembled the rocks that grew out of the people.
“I’mma kill you” shouted a familiar voice about ten feet below where I stood. It was King. Both he and Williams had their hands tied behind them, around a rock. “Stem to stern, you hear that? You hear that?!”
As King was shouting, I figured I would have less of a chance at getting caught if I climbed down the steep cave wall instead of following the path. Thankfully I managed to get to them without making a sound that Kings yelling didn't muffle.
D made me a borderline superhero, and superheroes save people. So even though my heart was jumping out of my chest, that didn't stop me from doing what I had to do.
“Shh” I whispered to Williams as I put the handle of my knife in his still bound hand. “I’m leaving the bag of explosives behind you. The shotguns and your machete too.”
Williams didn't make a sound, but he nodded and started to cut the ropes.
King was still shouting to his abductors, masking my voice as I told Williams that I was going to buy them time by serving as a distraction.
Without waiting for a nod, I went back the way I came and started climbing. I was sure I was going to get caught when I caused a few rocks to fall, but then Williams started to yell, joining King to mask the sound.
After reaching the passageway I came from, I turned around to see Williams give me a slight nod. Then I shouted for everyone to hear.
“Your mom shaves her chest and you—”
I didn't get any further than that because the people hissed and ran towards me. Some climbed the wall I just did while others ran down the path I chose not to take in order to reach the two more experienced hunters.
Seeing how fast they were moving made me regret not thinking past this part of the plan.
I ran as fast as I could down the dark and narrow path I entered from. The entire time I could hear them behind me and I imagined that they were getting closer.
As soon as I got outside, it was dark and I made a split second decision to run to the coast. This would make it look like I was trying to get to a boat instead of buying the more experienced monster hunters some time. However every time I tried to head towards the beach a few of my pursuers would be in my way, forcing me to change course.
After what D did to me I was fast, not Olympic speed but it was safe to say I was faster than everyone I knew. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw that these people were keeping pace with me. If it was just one of them, I wouldn't have given it much thought, but all of them were. Even the fat and the old ones.
I tried coming up with answers that might help my chances if I had to fight these people, or should I say what these people became? The rocks gave them enhanced strength and speed, but other than that the clues I had were minimal. The rocks could have been anything from viral, extraterrestrial, interdimensional or even parasitic.
However it was safe to say that even if it was parasitic it was not demonic. If it was, the HSD would’ve picked it up.
If I knew what language these people were speaking, that would narrow the possibilities that much further.
I must have been running for about ten minutes before I realized three things at once. The first thing was these people were much faster than they were letting on and were just toying with me. The second was that I was being herded back to the cave and the third was that I was going to have to stop running and fight.
As soon as I stopped running, I pulled the machete out from its sheath and turned to face those who meant me harm.
They surrounded me like a pack of wolves, and like a pack of wolves they snapped their jaws and made sounds that reminded me of a group of angry tiny dogs barking. These people also attacked like wolves too because the ones behind me would be doing the attacking.
The first one tried to jump onto my shoulders but before she could wrap her arms and legs around me I quickly turned around and used her momentum to throw her into the others. Immediately another lept towards me and was met with a front kick, connecting right below the belly button.
That was when the third one, the one with the rock growing out of his eye, bit my hand.
I don't know who was more surprised, me because I was bit, or him because it cracked his teeth.
I recovered from the shock before he did and raised the machete up to cut off his head.
As I swung he lifted up his hand to block it. Even though I didn't take his head, I still managed to take his hand and half of his forearm.
If he felt pain he sure hid it well.
He swiped at me with his other hand and I leaned back to dodge it. He was fast though and managed to rake my cheek with his nails.
Before I could swing my weapon again, another jumped on my back and put me in a choke hold. The grip was tight and as I tried to free myself the others tackled me. Thankfully this loosened the grip around my neck. However I was on my back and the others were closing in.
I kicked one of my attackers in the knee so it broke and went backwards. This person didn't make a sound and I doubt they felt it.
One of them kicked me in the face and even though it didn't knock me out, it hurt like hell and made me see stars.
I swung my machete in a wide half circle, managing to open the belly of another.
That bought me some room but as I tried to stand up two more jumped on my back and took me to the ground. The rest all piled on top of me, snapping at me while growling and nipping at each other to get out of the way so they could get to me.
I really thought this was going to be how I was going to die, however just then all of them went limp and fell.
A fraction of a second later I heard an explosion coming from the cave.
As I layed there, in the bottom of the pile of bodies, it felt like my heart was going to explode. I was so close to dying, but I prevailed.
I won.
I let out a warcry that Otis would have been proud of and pushed the bodies off of me.
Standing up, I gave one of my attackers a kick for good measure. However it was like kicking a dried up hornets nest and the toe of my boot went right through. The only part that wasn’t brittle was the rocks that grew out of them.
Wiping my boots off in the grass, I heard shouting on the other side of the hill. As soon as I heard this I knew it was Williams and King and ran towards them, a large grin on my face.
“Hey” I yelled out happily when I saw them, but they didn’t seem to hear me and were yelling at each other. Not because they were angry, but because the explosion made them momentarily deaf.
“What?” King asked as he rubbed his ears.
“You’re an idiot,” Williams shouted.
“I can’t hear you,” King complained, pointing at his ears.
“Are you two okay?” I asked as I jogged closer to them.
Williams saw me in the corner of his eye and jumped. When he saw it was me a grin spread on his face. “Hey, you’re alive.”
“Of course I am.”
“What?” King shouted before turning around and seeing me.
“You saved us” Williams answered as he used his pinkie finger to rub deep in his ear.
“Damn,” King said as he took my chin in hand and turned my head to get a look at my face.
“It was nothing,” I answered.
With a closer inspection of my nose, King sucked air through his teeth. “Could've been worse, I guess.”
“It’s true what they said about you,” Williams yelled. “The Order is going to hear of this.”
“Hear of—-“ I started, nervously. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Wrong?” Williams asked loudly, his ears were still ringing.
“What are you saying?” King shouted.
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked, louder than before.
Williams and King looked at each other for a moment and there was a fleeting mischievous expression that came over their faces.
“Where's my cigarettes?” Williams asked sternly.
I didn't know what to say to this and stammered.
A smile grew on William's face and he walked past me. “Just playing with you, kid. Just playing with you.”
“You did good,” King said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “I think Farsight was right about you.”
“Right about me?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
King smiled. “You remember the first day of training?”
I nodded because dozens of kids jogged in formation for miles at five in the morning, sparring with blunt weapons, performing military drills, eating in the mess hall during mealtimes and sleeping in one of the bunkhouses that were hidden in the woods wasn't something I was likely to forget. “Why?”
“You remember that little test they gave you?”
I nodded. All of the questions involved how to dispose of one monster or another. Most of the monsters I never heard of, but as I filled the questionnaire out I remembered Otis’ wise words during my time mowing the lawn at Miss Luther's house: Gotta hit them with your bullets.
This was what I used to answer all the questions.
“Yeah, what about it?”
King squeezed my shoulder and his smile grew. “The Order was impressed and I don't know if I should tell you this or not, but… they think you're going to save the world.”
WAE

I always try to hide having mental problems. I’ve lived a very fucked up, unfair life (I’ve witnessed about any and everything)
2 weeks ago my friend asked me if I had any mental health issues because our other friend told her I was in the 7th floor a few times (she had to come get me, I didn’t drive then)
I told her I diagnosed with C-PTSD, major depressive, borderline personality disorder and generalized anxiety disorder along with a few other clusters. I’m currently in group therapy 3x a week and seek frequent help for. She told me I’ll be fine that she has PTSD and it’s way worse and more severe than C-PTSD. I didn’t really know what to say back. Caught me very off guard. I’m not open about my mental health for many many reason (I am seriously never okay. I cry in my sleep from trauma flash backs and faint from how hard I get worked up but I do my fucking best to hide this flaw and how beat down I am) I try to act as normal as possible because I never let me guard down with anyone and constantly paranoid what could be said. I just agreed with her while she went on to tell me about all her trauma. She also said what I have must be wrong because she doesn’t have flash backs so that she didn’t really understand why they told me that. It’s been 2 weeks and it’s still bothering me this was said. I feel invalided. I feel I’m a suck up.
I had to force myself to get out of the house in an attempt to have a good, normal time so I can just be normal and like everyone else and like always, fucking always somehow mental health ruined it for me. I feel invalid, I feel I’m a phony, I feel like every night I’ve woke myself up bawling, every time I’ve just stood there in a trance remembering a traumatic event, every time I’ve fainted, completely soaked my shirt from sweat, broke down, beat my head in for the thoughts to go away was for no reason because mine is easier and I’ll be okay that I just overreacted. I’m NEVER FUCKING OKAY!!!! It ended in me cutting again and now my 14 month free self harming has ended. I can’t tell anyone anyways. But I need it off my chest. Maybe I can breathe better now.

For the past 6 months i have been in a very bad mental health state due to my mother in law. My husband and I are basically moving to another country and i was forced into moving with my in laws for some time . My husband lives in another country rn. So ever since ive moved in with my in laws my mil has created so much pain in my life.
Constant mental torture and abuse. She gossips and talks crap about me all day with people and when someone comes over to the house she cries to them and plays victim and then also calls my husband and cries to him. She has basically tried to ruin my life in every aspect. I can’t leave from here because im not financially independent and my husband says that it’s temporary.
In all of this suffering I made a friend who I thought was very supportive of me in the beginning. I told her everything that i was going through. We would go out all the time and i would feel better. 3 weeks ago my mil had the biggest fight/argument with me. I haven’t spoken to her since. It was so bad to the point where i was feeling the lowest I’ve ever felt in a long time. I was suicidal, not eating for 48 hrs straight etc. i went to go stay at my friends house for a night and she was very supportive of me. The next day my father in law texted me to come back home and thats what i did. I went home. My mil had did not speak to me after she opened the door for me. I went in my room and was very emotional and was crying. I called my friend and told her that I’m not feeling ok and I almost feel like i dont want to live at this point because i feel so alone. She hung up my call and said she’s going to call my husband because she was worried. Turns out she never called my husband and its been 2 weeks now and she hasn’t even called or texted me asking if im ok or not. I post stuff on ig stories and she sends “likes” .
I finally booked a session with a therapist tomorrow after all that ive been through in a past couple of weeks. I would appreciate any advice.

By the time I was sixteen Linda got my dad to send me off to what they thought was boarding school. In reality it was a compound where the Order of the Wren would begin training me so I could be a full-fledged member.
During this time D and I would talk on the phone a few times a week. Since the Order had me move around so often I had to be the one doing the calling. These conversations didn't last as long as I would have liked because there was no privacy in the hotel rooms we would frequently stay at.
By we, I mean the two experienced hunters I would have to learn from. Their names were Williams and King. Neither did much talking and I could tell they didn't like having me around. Not that I could blame them. I was inexperienced and they had better things to do than to hold my hand and explain things to me. That meant that when we had to go somewhere to slay some monstrosity, I would have to wait in the hotel we were staying at.
I was bored out of my mind most of the time when we were traveling the country but I would learn to love those dull moments soon enough.
Williams was alright even though he smelt like a chimney, but at least he was patient with me and kind. However, King was crazy, cynical and had an unhealthy obsession with explosives. I asked him about it once and he told me “In this line of work, some things are vulnerable to fire, monk root, silver and stuff, right? But in my experience nothing can survive when twenty pounds of homemade explosives go boom.”
The days passed slowly so I would kill time by sharpening rune covered blades that would hurt all sorts of monsters, making specialized ammo, documenting everything I thought was noteworthy so future generations of members could learn from us, reading, playing cards and waiting for Farsight to call.
I asked Williams about Farsight on a few occasions and he told me that they were high ranking members of the Order who essentially ran everything. Since they were a secretive bunch, who they were and how they knew where to send all the teams was a mystery.
Most people I spoke to said they thought the biggest clue on how Farsight operated was the history of the Order itself.
Learning about the Order was a top priority during my studies at the compound. The long and the short is: back in the day there were some nerds that saved a bunch of books and scrolls from a fire that was about to consume a library named after some guy named Alexander. Lots of these people died as a result of saving what they could and because of their sacrifice the Order knows how to dispose and kill monsters.
My studies were not limited to history either. Most of the time was spent doing military drills, however on a few occasions I got to try my hand at magic. That being said, magic welders are rare and I was not one of them.
The first time I ever saw any action we were waiting somewhere in Ohio when the phone rang.
King answered the phone, waited and responded with ‘yes’, ‘no’ and finally ‘understood’ before hanging up.
“What did they say?” asked Williams.
King sighed and shook his head. “We got a plane to catch,” King answered as he slapped his knees and stood up.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Alaska.”
“What's in Alaska?” Williams asked before I could.
“Farsight got wind of some town that went missing.”
“A town went missing?” I asked, pinching my eyebrows together in confusion.
“It happens,” King shrugged. “Roanoke, Waterway… Etcetera.”
“Waterway?” I asked. “Never heard of it.”
“That's because it disappeared,” Williams answered before turning to King. “Did Farsight tell you what was there?”
King gave him a look before returning to pack up his things. “Do they ever?”
Getting to our destination meant getting in three different single engine planes that all took off and landed on someone's field instead of an airport. Each of the planes were held together by duct tape and prayers. After that, we rode in a boat for an hour.
The island we were assigned to go to was small and covered with equal parts trees, brush and rocks. There weren't many houses and the nicest one of them was a doublewide trailer in poor condition.
“Where is everyone?” I asked as we made our way off the dock and onto land.
“I don't like this,” Williams added as he took out the HSD (Handheld Supernatural Detector. It sort of looked like half of a bike handle covered in copper wire, black electricians tape and at the end there are two antennas). “Nothing” Williams said after waving it around a little while.
“Keep it activated” King said, his shotgun at the ready as he led us through what passed as a town on this island.
“Maybe the signal is too weak” I suggested.
“Might be,” King responded. “Might not even be supernatural?”
“What else could it be?” I asked.
“Disease? Jobs disappearing” King answered.
“Doesn't look like there were lots of jobs here anyways” Williams pointed out, waving the HSD in different directions but not picking up anything. “Besides, Farsight isn't wrong about these things” he added as King led us to the first house and walked in.
“How many people lived here?” I asked.
“No more than thirty,” King answered.
We kept checking the houses, but time after time there were no clues to tell us what happened to the island's occupants. There were no signs of struggle, the clothes were still on the hangers and there was even food that sat around for so long that whatever it once was became mostly mold.
“So what's the plan?” I asked after reaching the last house before the forest started. I was hoping that they would say something that involved a hot shower. After the trip out here I felt that I could have used one.
Or two.
“It's going to get dark soon,” King answered, looking at the sunset. “And since we don't know what we are dealing with, we should find a place to stay for the night.”
“Where?” I asked.
“Churches are safer than most places” Williams suggested, pointing to a squat, square building.
The door was unlocked so we let ourselves in. The first thing King and Williams did was to see if we were alone. They checked the confessionals, the back office, the bathroom, under every pew and kept their eyes on the rafters.
King figured the safest part of the building was the back office, so we all went there. With the three of us it was cramped. I would have suggested staying in one of the houses, but it wouldn't have felt right sleeping in a strangers house when they were missing, besides, places of worship would provide safety. At least from some things.
On the desk that belonged to the priest was a newspaper and Williams picked it up to check the date. Something I would never have thought of doing, and saw that it was two months old.
“In a place like this, I wouldn't think they would get their news fresh off the press” King responded when Williams pointed this out.
“Still” Williams said. “That's a long time, even for way out here.”
When it came to claiming sleeping areas it was nearly impossible for all of us to be satisfied with the results. Not only was it crammed with all of us in the back office, but both men also suffered from night terrors.
By the time we all had our designated sleeping spots, Williams grumbled about being low on cigarettes and ordered me to run to the island's convenience store and “grab an armful.”
At first I protested, but they told me that since the island was abandoned it wasn't stealing.
It was my turn to grumble, but I did as I was told.
As I walked to the convenience store, I wondered how Farsight would react if they knew King and Williams sent me off by myself like this.
Pulling the door open to go inside, I was surprised to find that the store looked nearly the same as the one in Gray Hill. They had stuffed animals on the walls, pickled pig parts in glass jars, they even had the same off brand food items that I could never find anywhere other than home.
Excited, I raced to the cooler and found the same brand of ginger ale I loved so much. I sucked down one, feeling the carbonation reach up into my nose and burn like hell.
Once I loaded the rest of the bottles in my bag I went over to the counter and hopped over it to grab Williams his cigarettes.
After leaving the store I saw a truck parked out front of the church that wasn't there when I left. Feeling something was wrong I ducked behind a fence. Just in time too because a second later the door swung open and a group of people were dragging King and Williams to the truck.
The people seemed to be wearing the furs of all sorts of animals. From skunk to deer to bear and whatever else that lived on the island. At first I thought their faces were covered in dirt, however thanks to D’s alterations I could see that it was actually black rocks glistening in the dying light. Not only that but they were growing out of these people. One had a large piece coming straight up from behind his left collarbone, another had her face peppered with small rocks but the man who appeared to be their leader had one coming out of his eye socket.
King and Williams were shouting at the group, what they were saying I can’t repeat and if I cleaned it up it wouldn't be much of a sentence.
I stayed still and out of sight until the truck pulled away. Since I was only armed with the buck knife I kept on my belt at all times I wouldn’t be much help. Even less so if I was caught by whoever took the more experienced monster hunters.
As soon as the truck was out of sight I ran into the church to grab the weapons we brought with us. Both shotguns that were filled with special shells we made ourselves and our rune covered machetes.
Just as I was about to leave I remembered the backpack filled with explosives. When I scooped that up I took off in the direction I last saw the truck going.
I ran for about two miles before finally finding the truck which was parked in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road. Most of the journey was uphill, however thanks to what D did to me I had plenty of energy to spare.
It didn't take long for me to see that there were tracks that led into the woods and without thinking about it, I followed them. King and Williams needed my help.
The tracks were easy to follow considering there were six people plus King and Williams who were struggling with their abductors.
I had been tracking these people for fifteen or twenty minutes by the time I came across a rocky hill, and since rocks don't leave tracks, I thought I lost them. However, just then I saw a small cave entrance. Figuring that was where King and Williams were taken, I hustled up the hill to investigate, making sure I kept low and quiet.
When I got in the cave I thought my eyes would adjust, however it didn't. Inside was completely dark and there was no sound other than my own breathing and footfalls. I would come to learn later than caves are like that. Completely dark so even my eyes couldn't adjust and they muffle sounds.
After a short time of navigating down a narrow passageway by dragging my hand on the wall I saw a faint orange glow and slowly walked towards it, careful not to make any sound. As I drew closer, I heard a group of people chanting in a strange language that almost sounded like angry small dogs.
A few stalagmites and stalactites separated the passageway I was on from a large open area with small bonfires scattered around. The people who took King and Williams were circling a large black monolith that sat in the middle of the room and they seemed to be praying to it. To me the monolith resembled the rocks that grew out of the people.
“I’mma kill you” shouted a familiar voice about ten feet below where I stood. It was King. Both he and Williams had their hands tied behind them, around a rock. “Stem to stern, you hear that? You hear that?!”
As King was shouting, I figured I would have less of a chance at getting caught if I climbed down the steep cave wall instead of following the path. Thankfully I managed to get to them without making a sound that Kings yelling didn't muffle.
D made me a borderline superhero, and superheroes save people. So even though my heart was jumping out of my chest, that didn't stop me from doing what I had to do.
“Shh” I whispered to Williams as I put the handle of my knife in his still bound hand. “I’m leaving the bag of explosives behind you. The shotguns and your machete too.”
Williams didn't make a sound, but he nodded and started to cut the ropes.
King was still shouting to his abductors, masking my voice as I told Williams that I was going to buy them time by serving as a distraction.
Without waiting for a nod, I went back the way I came and started climbing. I was sure I was going to get caught when I caused a few rocks to fall, but then Williams started to yell, joining King to mask the sound.
After reaching the passageway I came from, I turned around to see Williams give me a slight nod. Then I shouted for everyone to hear.
“Your mom shaves her chest and you—”
I didn't get any further than that because the people hissed and ran towards me. Some climbed the wall I just did while others ran down the path I chose not to take in order to reach the two more experienced hunters.
Seeing how fast they were moving made me regret not thinking past this part of the plan.
I ran as fast as I could down the dark and narrow path I entered from. The entire time I could hear them behind me and I imagined that they were getting closer.
As soon as I got outside, it was dark and I made a split second decision to run to the coast. This would make it look like I was trying to get to a boat instead of buying the more experienced monster hunters some time. However every time I tried to head towards the beach a few of my pursuers would be in my way, forcing me to change course.
After what D did to me I was fast, not Olympic speed but it was safe to say I was faster than everyone I knew. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw that these people were keeping pace with me. If it was just one of them, I wouldn't have given it much thought, but all of them were. Even the fat and the old ones.
I tried coming up with answers that might help my chances if I had to fight these people, or should I say what these people became? The rocks gave them enhanced strength and speed, but other than that the clues I had were minimal. The rocks could have been anything from viral, extraterrestrial, interdimensional or even parasitic.
However it was safe to say that even if it was parasitic it was not demonic. If it was, the HSD would’ve picked it up.
If I knew what language these people were speaking, that would narrow the possibilities that much further.
I must have been running for about ten minutes before I realized three things at once. The first thing was these people were much faster than they were letting on and were just toying with me. The second was that I was being herded back to the cave and the third was that I was going to have to stop running and fight.
As soon as I stopped running, I pulled the machete out from its sheath and turned to face those who meant me harm.
They surrounded me like a pack of wolves, and like a pack of wolves they snapped their jaws and made sounds that reminded me of a group of angry tiny dogs barking. These people also attacked like wolves too because the ones behind me would be doing the attacking.
The first one tried to jump onto my shoulders but before she could wrap her arms and legs around me I quickly turned around and used her momentum to throw her into the others. Immediately another lept towards me and was met with a front kick, connecting right below the belly button.
That was when the third one, the one with the rock growing out of his eye, bit my hand.
I don't know who was more surprised, me because I was bit, or him because it cracked his teeth.
I recovered from the shock before he did and raised the machete up to cut off his head.
As I swung he lifted up his hand to block it. Even though I didn't take his head, I still managed to take his hand and half of his forearm.
If he felt pain he sure hid it well.
He swiped at me with his other hand and I leaned back to dodge it. He was fast though and managed to rake my cheek with his nails.
Before I could swing my weapon again, another jumped on my back and put me in a choke hold. The grip was tight and as I tried to free myself the others tackled me. Thankfully this loosened the grip around my neck. However I was on my back and the others were closing in.
I kicked one of my attackers in the knee so it broke and went backwards. This person didn't make a sound and I doubt they felt it.
One of them kicked me in the face and even though it didn't knock me out, it hurt like hell and made me see stars.
I swung my machete in a wide half circle, managing to open the belly of another.
That bought me some room but as I tried to stand up two more jumped on my back and took me to the ground. The rest all piled on top of me, snapping at me while growling and nipping at each other to get out of the way so they could get to me.
I really thought this was going to be how I was going to die, however just then all of them went limp and fell.
A fraction of a second later I heard an explosion coming from the cave.
As I layed there, in the bottom of the pile of bodies, it felt like my heart was going to explode. I was so close to dying, but I prevailed.
I won.
I let out a warcry that Otis would have been proud of and pushed the bodies off of me.
Standing up, I gave one of my attackers a kick for good measure. However it was like kicking a dried up hornets nest and the toe of my boot went right through. The only part that wasn’t brittle was the rocks that grew out of them.
Wiping my boots off in the grass, I heard shouting on the other side of the hill. As soon as I heard this I knew it was Williams and King and ran towards them, a large grin on my face.
“Hey” I yelled out happily when I saw them, but they didn’t seem to hear me and were yelling at each other. Not because they were angry, but because the explosion made them momentarily deaf.
“What?” King asked as he rubbed his ears.
“You’re an idiot,” Williams shouted.
“I can’t hear you,” King complained, pointing at his ears.
“Are you two okay?” I asked as I jogged closer to them.
Williams saw me in the corner of his eye and jumped. When he saw it was me a grin spread on his face. “Hey, you’re alive.”
“Of course I am.”
“What?” King shouted before turning around and seeing me.
“You saved us” Williams answered as he used his pinkie finger to rub deep in his ear.
“Damn,” King said as he took my chin in hand and turned my head to get a look at my face.
“It was nothing,” I answered.
With a closer inspection of my nose, King sucked air through his teeth. “Could've been worse, I guess.”
“It’s true what they said about you,” Williams yelled. “The Order is going to hear of this.”
“Hear of—-“ I started, nervously. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Wrong?” Williams asked loudly, his ears were still ringing.
“What are you saying?” King shouted.
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked, louder than before.
Williams and King looked at each other for a moment and there was a fleeting mischievous expression that came over their faces.
“Where's my cigarettes?” Williams asked sternly.
I didn't know what to say to this and stammered.
A smile grew on William's face and he walked past me. “Just playing with you, kid. Just playing with you.”
“You did good,” King said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “I think Farsight was right about you.”
“Right about me?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
King smiled. “You remember the first day of training?”
I nodded because dozens of kids jogged in formation for miles at five in the morning, sparring with blunt weapons, performing military drills, eating in the mess hall during mealtimes and sleeping in one of the bunkhouses that were hidden in the woods wasn't something I was likely to forget. “Why?”
“You remember that little test they gave you?”
I nodded. All of the questions involved how to dispose of one monster or another. Most of the monsters I never heard of, but as I filled the questionnaire out I remembered Otis’ wise words during my time mowing the lawn at Miss Luther's house: Gotta hit them with your bullets.
This was what I used to answer all the questions.
“Yeah, what about it?”
King squeezed my shoulder and his smile grew. “The Order was impressed and I don't know if I should tell you this or not, but… they think you're going to save the world.”
WAE

I am planning to get together with 2 Friends and Jam at one of the Friends House. He Said that i could Plug my Bass into one of the Guitar Amps His dad owns (His dad is a Former metalcore guitarist) Last Time ive Been there i looked at the Amps and they Look Like they are real nice Amps and i do Not have the Money to Play For that in Case i would Break one of Them with my bass. I Heard that its Not the safesr Thing to do so now i am pretty confused on If i should Take my own little practice Bass amp to my Friends place instead. What Is Bass's opinion on this?

Not in the sense of becoming violent or a danger to society. But I find myself becoming more and more like.....a "happiness incel" (for lack of a better term.) I'm not an incel in the sense of lacking relationships or romance, I'm an incel in the sense of feeling cheated of a happy life, or of the experiences of life, or basically, cheated out of decades of life, to no small extent because of a narcissistic-manipulative mother, and Christianity.
I grew up in a stifling fundamentalist-Christian-homeschooling background. My mother wouldn't even let me read Newsweek unless she'd first gone through it to rip out anything remotely inappropriate (such as women in swimwear.) I wasn't allowed to read Batman (too evil,) we not only were banned from trick-or-treating on Halloween, but actually all had to sleep together in the living room for fear someone might break in and hurt us. At age five, I wasn't allowed to eat breakfast until I'd first memorized and recited a required number of Bible verses. My sister was required to practice 3 hours a day at age four, and spanked severely if she didn't - and as a teen, also once grounded 11 months for talking back one day.
And now, at 35, I feel horribly cheated of life. I get irrationally, almost tearfully, hard-to-breathe angry when I see people living happy lives, 5-bedroom houses, married and having kids, six-figure incomes, trips to exotic destinations, expensive travels (almost everyone at my church seems to be super-rich - and they grew up either non-Christian, or having a very lenient, go-enjoy-life form of Christianity,) having the time of their lives, and here I am at 35 with almost nothing to my name. I'm approaching age forty in the blink of an eye.
For clarification - it's not so much other people's money that I envy, it's their lack of restrictions. They grew up unfettered and live unfettered. For me, the religious conditioning I went through was brutal enough that, even though I'm "free now," I'm still shackled in my mind. I missed out on so much, and I'm now bitter and resentful enough that even if I did win the lottery or something tomorrow, I'd still not be able to enjoy it because of all the inner poison in my heart.
And before someone says "therapy," I've seen countless therapists to no avail.
Rant over. Thanks for listening, I always appreciate any even if just one ear.

for as long as i can remember my mother had this thing of pretending to be affluent in front of her friends and random shops we went to.
she's maxxed out my father's credit cards before. his credit score has been ruined and he had to take loans to repay debts and it's just a cycle.
when confronted, she'll just breakdown and start crying about how. obviously she's the bad person everytime, she does so much and how we're ungrateful.
she doesn't earn a single penny, has this constant self entitlement to our money, and idk what to do atp because going nc is not possible rn for me because of my two cats and i can't find pet friendly places to move to which doesn't charge exorbitant rent.

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 69%. (I'm a bot)

Oscar Pistorius's bid for parole collapsed in South Africa after it was revealed he had not yet served enough time to qualify for early release.
The parole board met to hear evidence, including from Pistorius and Ms Steenkamp's mother.
Earlier this week, they had received, but ignored, a letter from South Africa's top appeals court, which explained that Pistorius needed to spend another year and a half in prison before he could be considered for parole.
For weeks, officials had insisted the amputee former sprinter was eligible to apply for parole, having served half his sentence.
The confusion stems from the fact that Pistorius's time in prison has been broken up by appeals and by a period of house arrest.
It has been an emotional day for the Steenkamp family, who have welcomed the fact that Pistorius will not be yet be freed.

Summary Source FAQ Feedback Top keywords: Pistorius^#1 parole^#2 prison^#3 time^#4 Steenkamp^#5
Post found in /worldnews and /worldnews.
NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.

So the title really simplifies everything so this will be long..if you dont want to read it all, I'll try to TL;DR at the end but if even one person reads all of this I will be FOREVER grateful to you..

My GF and I were together for 7 years, for the first 4 years of our relationship I worked 60-70 hours a week as a Microbiologist and she worked as a bartender at nights. We never saw each other and eventually we broke up, it was a confusing time in our mid twenties and we didn't know what we wanted. It was the worst month of my life. I quit my job, moved 2 hours back home with my parents and cried like a little baby for weeks. I did everything to work on myself...I read books, I worked out, and most importantly I gave her space..

Eventually we started hanging out again and then COVID happened. It shut everything down, including my search for new employment and her bartending job. She eventually asked me to be her boyfriend again and when we realized COVID wasn't ending anytime soon, we decided to move out of our apartment and in with her parents for awhile to save money. Everything was great minus the whole pandemic part.

We were both unemployed for most of that year, it was awful but at the same time we found a new appreciation for each other. We got close again, we saw each other more than we ever had and I would be a liar if I told you I didn't love every second of it. By the end of 2020, we both had part-time jobs and had moved into a new apartment that my father owned. It was nice and it was cheap and we were ecstatic. During this time, I paid for all of the bills...Electric, rent, internet, heat, etc because she had an extreme amount of student loans to pay for. We agreed to this and I was more than happy to provide us a stable life while we both figured out our next direction in life..

Year 3, this past year, came around and my GF had enough of working for other people. She took her 15 years of Bartending experience and decided to open a bar with her mom, who wanted to retire. We were ecstatic! I was going through a massive depressive spell because the area we lived in did not have labs for me to get a similar job to the one I had before and anything even remotely close to my previous job was over an hour commute, but it was okay because I could still afford our rent and our bills and life was okay, at least she discovered her dreams and we were going to make it happen.

This past year we spent HOURS upon HOURS a week renovating her new space for her bar. We poured our blood, sweat, and tears into the project with the help of her family. It was never my bar, but I was just as involved in the renovations and the moral support as anyone. To be honest? Even with only a part time job I had less time off this past year than I ever did working 60-70 hours a week. We got a brand new bar renovated, approved, and open within 8 months. Work began in April and we were open by the second week of November. As you can imagine, this took up a lot of our time and I wasn't as serious about applying to jobs as I once was. We had a roof over our head, food in our stomachs, and bills were paid for. It wasn't my end goal and I wasn't satisfied but it was enough for now. I even worked as a Bar Back in her bar for 2 months, a position I was never comfortable with but did anyway to help support her while we opened so she didnt over hire on a bunch of employees that she might not have been able to keep long term. I was fine with this. Again, even with a part time job, I had less time off than I ever had.

Once she became settled into the routine of operating the bar, my role in it was reduced. I took a step back. We had a lot of talks about wanting to move to the town she opened the bar in (it was appox. 30mins away from our apartment) and we wanted a house. She and I definitely discussed my lack of career for myself but it was always way more of me venting and being self conscious of not having that dream career yet. I was under the impression that my contributions to her dreams was a decent enough excuse for now. Of course, I didn't have the income to get approved for a house so the job search began. I would be lying if I said I didn't drag my feet a little bit. I was tired, still very much depressed, and constantly getting rejection letters from jobs in my field.

Fast forward to 3 weeks ago, dozens of rejection emails later, and an awful night of crying. She sat me down and told me she wasn't sure if I was as serious as her in moving forward with our lives. Said I had "missed the ultimatum deadline" that she had given me to get a job (there was no deadline and to this day I don't understand where this came from), I hadn't asked her to get married yet, I hadn't gotten the full time job, and enough was enough. She was moving back with her parents and needed a break. I was devastated and still am. If I knew this was coming, I would've taken a job as a fucking garbage man or literally anything. I, of course, was searching WAY too hard for the perfect job.. I knew this.. and I only applied to things that I would absolutely love to do but in my view, I didn't NEED to go get any old full time job yet. We had no kids, our bills were paid for,we had food in our stomachs, and we had only JUST settled her into her dream bar, and its not like I was sitting around in my underwear 7 days a week being a deadbeat. I still was applying and working any hours she needed help with at her bar.

To be honest, I don't know where to go from here. I've given her space, I didn't reach out for over 2 weeks until I finally saw her post on Facebook that she was looking for a new apartment. I was heartbroken. I texted her asking her when she planned on moving out of our apartment and she responded that she will be down this Sunday to start packing. It will be the first time I've seen her in 3 weeks and I'm dying. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say or how to say it. I want closure, but I also don't want to lose her forever. Like I said, if I knew this was coming I would've taken any job anywhere but I thought my support the last year for her to make her dreams happen was what a relationship was all about. I wasn't some deadbeat sitting at home doing drugs and drinking, I was a supportive boyfriend that wanted to see her flourish and now that she has, it feels like I've being kicked to the curb. Someone please help me.

TL;DR: Girlfriend of 7 years dumped me 3 weeks ago because I didn't have a full time job to help us take the next step in our lives for the last 3 years due to COVID, working part-time, and then focusing entirely on her dreams of opening her business. I was never a deadbeat, I paid the bills and gave everything I had to our relationship and her dreams. Now she is coming over on Sunday to pack her things and it will be the first time I've seen her or talked to her since we broke up and I have no idea what to say or do.

TL;DR 2: I don't want to paint her as some selfish person here. I am absolutely partly at fault for this but I just never saw it coming and thought what I was doing was being supportive and putting my career and life on hold to help her accomplish her dreams of owning a business. I love her very much and just want whats best, but I can't help but feel like this is a massive mistake.

By the time I was sixteen Linda got my dad to send me off to what they thought was boarding school. In reality it was a compound where the Order of the Wren would begin training me so I could be a full-fledged member.
During this time D and I would talk on the phone a few times a week. Since the Order had me move around so often I had to be the one doing the calling. These conversations didn't last as long as I would have liked because there was no privacy in the hotel rooms we would frequently stay at.
By we, I mean the two experienced hunters I would have to learn from. Their names were Williams and King. Neither did much talking and I could tell they didn't like having me around. Not that I could blame them. I was inexperienced and they had better things to do than to hold my hand and explain things to me. That meant that when we had to go somewhere to slay some monstrosity, I would have to wait in the hotel we were staying at.
I was bored out of my mind most of the time when we were traveling the country but I would learn to love those dull moments soon enough.
Williams was alright even though he smelt like a chimney, but at least he was patient with me and kind. However, King was crazy, cynical and had an unhealthy obsession with explosives. I asked him about it once and he told me “In this line of work, some things are vulnerable to fire, monk root, silver and stuff, right? But in my experience nothing can survive when twenty pounds of homemade explosives go boom.”
The days passed slowly so I would kill time by sharpening rune covered blades that would hurt all sorts of monsters, making specialized ammo, documenting everything I thought was noteworthy so future generations of members could learn from us, reading, playing cards and waiting for Farsight to call.
I asked Williams about Farsight on a few occasions and he told me that they were high ranking members of the Order who essentially ran everything. Since they were a secretive bunch, who they were and how they knew where to send all the teams was a mystery.
Most people I spoke to said they thought the biggest clue on how Farsight operated was the history of the Order itself.
Learning about the Order was a top priority during my studies at the compound. The long and the short is: back in the day there were some nerds that saved a bunch of books and scrolls from a fire that was about to consume a library named after some guy named Alexander. Lots of these people died as a result of saving what they could and because of their sacrifice the Order knows how to dispose and kill monsters.
My studies were not limited to history either. Most of the time was spent doing military drills, however on a few occasions I got to try my hand at magic. That being said, magic welders are rare and I was not one of them.
The first time I ever saw any action we were waiting somewhere in Ohio when the phone rang.
King answered the phone, waited and responded with ‘yes’, ‘no’ and finally ‘understood’ before hanging up.
“What did they say?” asked Williams.
King sighed and shook his head. “We got a plane to catch,” King answered as he slapped his knees and stood up.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Alaska.”
“What's in Alaska?” Williams asked before I could.
“Farsight got wind of some town that went missing.”
“A town went missing?” I asked, pinching my eyebrows together in confusion.
“It happens,” King shrugged. “Roanoke, Waterway… Etcetera.”
“Waterway?” I asked. “Never heard of it.”
“That's because it disappeared,” Williams answered before turning to King. “Did Farsight tell you what was there?”
King gave him a look before returning to pack up his things. “Do they ever?”
Getting to our destination meant getting in three different single engine planes that all took off and landed on someone's field instead of an airport. Each of the planes were held together by duct tape and prayers. After that, we rode in a boat for an hour.
The island we were assigned to go to was small and covered with equal parts trees, brush and rocks. There weren't many houses and the nicest one of them was a doublewide trailer in poor condition.
“Where is everyone?” I asked as we made our way off the dock and onto land.
“I don't like this,” Williams added as he took out the HSD (Handheld Supernatural Detector. It sort of looked like half of a bike handle covered in copper wire, black electricians tape and at the end there are two antennas). “Nothing” Williams said after waving it around a little while.
“Keep it activated” King said, his shotgun at the ready as he led us through what passed as a town on this island.
“Maybe the signal is too weak” I suggested.
“Might be,” King responded. “Might not even be supernatural?”
“What else could it be?” I asked.
“Disease? Jobs disappearing” King answered.
“Doesn't look like there were lots of jobs here anyways” Williams pointed out, waving the HSD in different directions but not picking up anything. “Besides, Farsight isn't wrong about these things” he added as King led us to the first house and walked in.
“How many people lived here?” I asked.
“No more than thirty,” King answered.
We kept checking the houses, but time after time there were no clues to tell us what happened to the island's occupants. There were no signs of struggle, the clothes were still on the hangers and there was even food that sat around for so long that whatever it once was became mostly mold.
“So what's the plan?” I asked after reaching the last house before the forest started. I was hoping that they would say something that involved a hot shower. After the trip out here I felt that I could have used one.
Or two.
“It's going to get dark soon,” King answered, looking at the sunset. “And since we don't know what we are dealing with, we should find a place to stay for the night.”
“Where?” I asked.
“Churches are safer than most places” Williams suggested, pointing to a squat, square building.
The door was unlocked so we let ourselves in. The first thing King and Williams did was to see if we were alone. They checked the confessionals, the back office, the bathroom, under every pew and kept their eyes on the rafters.
King figured the safest part of the building was the back office, so we all went there. With the three of us it was cramped. I would have suggested staying in one of the houses, but it wouldn't have felt right sleeping in a strangers house when they were missing, besides, places of worship would provide safety. At least from some things.
On the desk that belonged to the priest was a newspaper and Williams picked it up to check the date. Something I would never have thought of doing, and saw that it was two months old.
“In a place like this, I wouldn't think they would get their news fresh off the press” King responded when Williams pointed this out.
“Still” Williams said. “That's a long time, even for way out here.”
When it came to claiming sleeping areas it was nearly impossible for all of us to be satisfied with the results. Not only was it crammed with all of us in the back office, but both men also suffered from night terrors.
By the time we all had our designated sleeping spots, Williams grumbled about being low on cigarettes and ordered me to run to the island's convenience store and “grab an armful.”
At first I protested, but they told me that since the island was abandoned it wasn't stealing.
It was my turn to grumble, but I did as I was told.
As I walked to the convenience store, I wondered how Farsight would react if they knew King and Williams sent me off by myself like this.
Pulling the door open to go inside, I was surprised to find that the store looked nearly the same as the one in Gray Hill. They had stuffed animals on the walls, pickled pig parts in glass jars, they even had the same off brand food items that I could never find anywhere other than home.
Excited, I raced to the cooler and found the same brand of ginger ale I loved so much. I sucked down one, feeling the carbonation reach up into my nose and burn like hell.
Once I loaded the rest of the bottles in my bag I went over to the counter and hopped over it to grab Williams his cigarettes.
After leaving the store I saw a truck parked out front of the church that wasn't there when I left. Feeling something was wrong I ducked behind a fence. Just in time too because a second later the door swung open and a group of people were dragging King and Williams to the truck.
The people seemed to be wearing the furs of all sorts of animals. From skunk to deer to bear and whatever else that lived on the island. At first I thought their faces were covered in dirt, however thanks to D’s alterations I could see that it was actually black rocks glistening in the dying light. Not only that but they were growing out of these people. One had a large piece coming straight up from behind his left collarbone, another had her face peppered with small rocks but the man who appeared to be their leader had one coming out of his eye socket.
King and Williams were shouting at the group, what they were saying I can’t repeat and if I cleaned it up it wouldn't be much of a sentence.
I stayed still and out of sight until the truck pulled away. Since I was only armed with the buck knife I kept on my belt at all times I wouldn’t be much help. Even less so if I was caught by whoever took the more experienced monster hunters.
As soon as the truck was out of sight I ran into the church to grab the weapons we brought with us. Both shotguns that were filled with special shells we made ourselves and our rune covered machetes.
Just as I was about to leave I remembered the backpack filled with explosives. When I scooped that up I took off in the direction I last saw the truck going.
I ran for about two miles before finally finding the truck which was parked in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road. Most of the journey was uphill, however thanks to what D did to me I had plenty of energy to spare.
It didn't take long for me to see that there were tracks that led into the woods and without thinking about it, I followed them. King and Williams needed my help.
The tracks were easy to follow considering there were six people plus King and Williams who were struggling with their abductors.
I had been tracking these people for fifteen or twenty minutes by the time I came across a rocky hill, and since rocks don't leave tracks, I thought I lost them. However, just then I saw a small cave entrance. Figuring that was where King and Williams were taken, I hustled up the hill to investigate, making sure I kept low and quiet.
When I got in the cave I thought my eyes would adjust, however it didn't. Inside was completely dark and there was no sound other than my own breathing and footfalls. I would come to learn later than caves are like that. Completely dark so even my eyes couldn't adjust and they muffle sounds.
After a short time of navigating down a narrow passageway by dragging my hand on the wall I saw a faint orange glow and slowly walked towards it, careful not to make any sound. As I drew closer, I heard a group of people chanting in a strange language that almost sounded like angry small dogs.
A few stalagmites and stalactites separated the passageway I was on from a large open area with small bonfires scattered around. The people who took King and Williams were circling a large black monolith that sat in the middle of the room and they seemed to be praying to it. To me the monolith resembled the rocks that grew out of the people.
“I’mma kill you” shouted a familiar voice about ten feet below where I stood. It was King. Both he and Williams had their hands tied behind them, around a rock. “Stem to stern, you hear that? You hear that?!”
As King was shouting, I figured I would have less of a chance at getting caught if I climbed down the steep cave wall instead of following the path. Thankfully I managed to get to them without making a sound that Kings yelling didn't muffle.
D made me a borderline superhero, and superheroes save people. So even though my heart was jumping out of my chest, that didn't stop me from doing what I had to do.
“Shh” I whispered to Williams as I put the handle of my knife in his still bound hand. “I’m leaving the bag of explosives behind you. The shotguns and your machete too.”
Williams didn't make a sound, but he nodded and started to cut the ropes.
King was still shouting to his abductors, masking my voice as I told Williams that I was going to buy them time by serving as a distraction.
Without waiting for a nod, I went back the way I came and started climbing. I was sure I was going to get caught when I caused a few rocks to fall, but then Williams started to yell, joining King to mask the sound.
After reaching the passageway I came from, I turned around to see Williams give me a slight nod. Then I shouted for everyone to hear.
“Your mom shaves her chest and you—”
I didn't get any further than that because the people hissed and ran towards me. Some climbed the wall I just did while others ran down the path I chose not to take in order to reach the two more experienced hunters.
Seeing how fast they were moving made me regret not thinking past this part of the plan.
I ran as fast as I could down the dark and narrow path I entered from. The entire time I could hear them behind me and I imagined that they were getting closer.
As soon as I got outside, it was dark and I made a split second decision to run to the coast. This would make it look like I was trying to get to a boat instead of buying the more experienced monster hunters some time. However every time I tried to head towards the beach a few of my pursuers would be in my way, forcing me to change course.
After what D did to me I was fast, not Olympic speed but it was safe to say I was faster than everyone I knew. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw that these people were keeping pace with me. If it was just one of them, I wouldn't have given it much thought, but all of them were. Even the fat and the old ones.
I tried coming up with answers that might help my chances if I had to fight these people, or should I say what these people became? The rocks gave them enhanced strength and speed, but other than that the clues I had were minimal. The rocks could have been anything from viral, extraterrestrial, interdimensional or even parasitic.
However it was safe to say that even if it was parasitic it was not demonic. If it was, the HSD would’ve picked it up.
If I knew what language these people were speaking, that would narrow the possibilities that much further.
I must have been running for about ten minutes before I realized three things at once. The first thing was these people were much faster than they were letting on and were just toying with me. The second was that I was being herded back to the cave and the third was that I was going to have to stop running and fight.
As soon as I stopped running, I pulled the machete out from its sheath and turned to face those who meant me harm.
They surrounded me like a pack of wolves, and like a pack of wolves they snapped their jaws and made sounds that reminded me of a group of angry tiny dogs barking. These people also attacked like wolves too because the ones behind me would be doing the attacking.
The first one tried to jump onto my shoulders but before she could wrap her arms and legs around me I quickly turned around and used her momentum to throw her into the others. Immediately another lept towards me and was met with a front kick, connecting right below the belly button.
That was when the third one, the one with the rock growing out of his eye, bit my hand.
I don't know who was more surprised, me because I was bit, or him because it cracked his teeth.
I recovered from the shock before he did and raised the machete up to cut off his head.
As I swung he lifted up his hand to block it. Even though I didn't take his head, I still managed to take his hand and half of his forearm.
If he felt pain he sure hid it well.
He swiped at me with his other hand and I leaned back to dodge it. He was fast though and managed to rake my cheek with his nails.
Before I could swing my weapon again, another jumped on my back and put me in a choke hold. The grip was tight and as I tried to free myself the others tackled me. Thankfully this loosened the grip around my neck. However I was on my back and the others were closing in.
I kicked one of my attackers in the knee so it broke and went backwards. This person didn't make a sound and I doubt they felt it.
One of them kicked me in the face and even though it didn't knock me out, it hurt like hell and made me see stars.
I swung my machete in a wide half circle, managing to open the belly of another.
That bought me some room but as I tried to stand up two more jumped on my back and took me to the ground. The rest all piled on top of me, snapping at me while growling and nipping at each other to get out of the way so they could get to me.
I really thought this was going to be how I was going to die, however just then all of them went limp and fell.
A fraction of a second later I heard an explosion coming from the cave.
As I layed there, in the bottom of the pile of bodies, it felt like my heart was going to explode. I was so close to dying, but I prevailed.
I won.
I let out a warcry that Otis would have been proud of and pushed the bodies off of me.
Standing up, I gave one of my attackers a kick for good measure. However it was like kicking a dried up hornets nest and the toe of my boot went right through. The only part that wasn’t brittle was the rocks that grew out of them.
Wiping my boots off in the grass, I heard shouting on the other side of the hill. As soon as I heard this I knew it was Williams and King and ran towards them, a large grin on my face.
“Hey” I yelled out happily when I saw them, but they didn’t seem to hear me and were yelling at each other. Not because they were angry, but because the explosion made them momentarily deaf.
“What?” King asked as he rubbed his ears.
“You’re an idiot,” Williams shouted.
“I can’t hear you,” King complained, pointing at his ears.
“Are you two okay?” I asked as I jogged closer to them.
Williams saw me in the corner of his eye and jumped. When he saw it was me a grin spread on his face. “Hey, you’re alive.”
“Of course I am.”
“What?” King shouted before turning around and seeing me.
“You saved us” Williams answered as he used his pinkie finger to rub deep in his ear.
“Damn,” King said as he took my chin in hand and turned my head to get a look at my face.
“It was nothing,” I answered.
With a closer inspection of my nose, King sucked air through his teeth. “Could've been worse, I guess.”
“It’s true what they said about you,” Williams yelled. “The Order is going to hear of this.”
“Hear of—-“ I started, nervously. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Wrong?” Williams asked loudly, his ears were still ringing.
“What are you saying?” King shouted.
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked, louder than before.
Williams and King looked at each other for a moment and there was a fleeting mischievous expression that came over their faces.
“Where's my cigarettes?” Williams asked sternly.
I didn't know what to say to this and stammered.
A smile grew on William's face and he walked past me. “Just playing with you, kid. Just playing with you.”
“You did good,” King said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “I think Farsight was right about you.”
“Right about me?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
King smiled. “You remember the first day of training?”
I nodded because dozens of kids jogged in formation for miles at five in the morning, sparring with blunt weapons, performing military drills, eating in the mess hall during mealtimes and sleeping in one of the bunkhouses that were hidden in the woods wasn't something I was likely to forget. “Why?”
“You remember that little test they gave you?”
I nodded. All of the questions involved how to dispose of one monster or another. Most of the monsters I never heard of, but as I filled the questionnaire out I remembered Otis’ wise words during my time mowing the lawn at Miss Luther's house: Gotta hit them with your bullets.
This was what I used to answer all the questions.
“Yeah, what about it?”
King squeezed my shoulder and his smile grew. “The Order was impressed and I don't know if I should tell you this or not, but… they think you're going to save the world.”
WAE

There’s only one person in this story. “They” is a gender neutral pronoun.
A couple years ago, I arranged a “hookup” with a person I met on an app. I say hookup with quotes because we didn’t really hook up, but I digress. An hour later, I went to their house, and we talked for a bit about their sexual boundaries before they leaned in to kiss me, and their breath smelled like weed. I asked if they’d been smoking, and they said yes. I asked how high they were, and they said “I’m not really, I just had a baby hit before you got here”. We started kissing, but I was uncomfortable with it, especially with how much they were trying to pull down my pants and how aggressive they were being.
At one point, I offered to touch them “down there”, and they said “yes please”, but I decided not to do it. I said I didn’t want to go any further, and they asked me to hang out for a bit while they worked from home. We hung out for a bit, until they revealed they were married (they’d previously said they had a “roommate”, but this was actually their spouse) and I decided to just leave. They texted me later saying I was a tease and they were hoping to have sex.
Anyway, I randomly thought of this today. I’m worried that they smoked any weed at all, that I took advantage of them or something. With what I know now, I probably wouldn’t do anything with someone who’d ingested any amount of a substance, regardless of the claim that they’d had only a little, but I’m just wondering about this situation.

My name is Tristan and I am looking for a room in a group house in NW DC (i.e. Adams Morgan, Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, Columbia Heights, etc.). My budget is up to 1300 a month including utilities and I could move in anytime between April 15th - May 15th. A little bit about myself, I am 27, work for a solar engineering firm and am an artist. I enjoy video games, data science,, spending time outside, chemistry, leftist politics, beer, and travel. Additionally, I am social and like to hang out, am clean, and tend to wake up early and go to bed around 10 PM. I am really prioritizing the quality of roommates in my search right now. I want to be around fun, interesting, likeminded young professionals in their mid to late 20's. LGBTQ and Coed housing options are welcome. Please reach out if it sounds like we would be a good fit.

So my friend (I'll call her A) was dropped off at my apartment yesterday. For context, she is 17F I am 21F. We live in Tennessee, close to Nashville.
She came in and immediately was throwing up, shaking, she's got cuts on her hands and feet but they are bandaged so I'm not 100% sure how bad they are but she says she might have some broken or at least bruised / fractured bones. She's got bruises all over her including her face.
I don't know much but I know it's from her parents.
I know that her parents have a history of abuse with her and I also know this specific incident was initiated physically by them but A acted in self defense and they were also injured.
After the incident her parents called the cops and we believe they told the police that she was drunk, she was the one who got violent, and then she left.
Obviously that is not the case.
The cops were looking for her I think all night as well as her parents but they don't know me or where I live so they didn't find her.
I know legally I can technically legally get in trouble for this because I'm 'harboring a minor' but I don't care I'd rather her be safe and get in trouble for it so y'all don't have to warn me about that. Her safety is 100% my priority here.
So she stayed the night at my place last night. This morning I left for work and a mutual friend of ours (C) picked her up and I believe they are both at C's house.
I know I'm supposed to report this as child abuse but she doesn't want her parents arrested and doesn't want to end up in foster care.
She's scared to go to the hospital because she doesn't want her parents to find her and she doesn't know if the authorities will believe her story over theirs.
I want her to stay with me as long as possible- I'm about to move into a new apartment that will have an extra bedroom that she can live in rent free until she's gotten back on her feet enough to start paying rent.
What are best options for her? How can she get emancipated as fast as possible so she can get out of that situation and living on her own? How can I help her? What should I be doing?
Thank you in advance <3

All dollar totals include tax and 20% tip. My husband's first time, my 5th. Food reviews at the end.
Saturday Planned:

11:45 - Flight lands
12:45- Drop bags at apartment in Marigny, (friend's apartment, not an airbnb)
Lunch - walk to Brieux Carre and have po boys at Nola Poboys & bar
Afternoon - Walk the quarter, circle back up to Lafitte’s to get to go drinks, Stop at historical houses (1850 House, Hermann-Grima, and Gallier), bike to the Music Box with stops at Pepps Pub, Domino, Studio Be, JJ’s, and Parleaux Beer.
6:00-7pm - Louis Armstrong park for Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival - Rebirth Brass Band
Dinner - 7:45 - N7 - Garden
Late - Saint Claude area / Frenchmen

Saturday - What we actually did:

2pm - Flight lands late after delays
3-5:30pm - dropped bags, inhaled po boys at Nola Poboys (one oyster, one bbq shrimp, 1 beer, 1 punch - $52), walked through French Market, then up to LaFitte's for a bloody mary and hurricane ($22), watched a second line wedding parade of a couple (adult son was carrying a cat sign that said "my parents got married today") fantastic brass band was intersected by another band in front of a jalopy car parade down Boubon. Nice that the brass band in the parade respectfully stopped playing at the confluence of both spectacles. Walked down Bourbon to see it on a Saturday knowing we would not come back at night. Cut down Iberville, considered oysters but were full from Nola Poboys, walked across Decatur to Jackson Square, then had a pint at Brieux Carre.
5:30-6:30 - Louis Armstrong park for Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival - Rebirth Brass Band - I always seek them out when I am here. I recognize there are so many beloved big brass bands but I will always just love the huge energy of such a large ensemble
6:30-7:30 - walked back to apartment, jumped into pool (we are from Canada so we can't resist outdoor swimming pools), took a super fast shower, dressed, and then realized we were further from N7 than I thought... reluctantly called an uber ($15)
7:45 - Dinner at N7. ($240)10:15pm - Drink at the Domino, then we crashed back at home.

Sunday - Planned

9-11:30 - Bike up LaFitte Greenway to Pegoda Cafe, then to City Park, explore City Park/Statue Garden, drop bikes back at home change for Arnaud’s
12:00-1:30 - Arnaud’s Jazz Bunch
1:30-4:30 - WWII museum, stop by Pat Obrien’s for Dueling Pianos on the walk home - starts at 4pm.
5:00 - apartment to rest
7:30 - Mosquito Supper Club
Late - Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge

Sunday - What we actually did

8am - picked up blue bikes (recommend you download the app and set up your account in advance), biked up Esplanade (dedicated bike lane!) to Pegoda Cafe - the plan was to just have one breakfast taco to save room for Arnaud's later but we were STARVING after a lack luster meal at N7 the night before. He had 2 bacon tacos with cheese, I had one tofu and one bacon with cheese, two sides of avocado, chai masala, and an orange juice ($42). I regret that we didn't try Leo's Bread that morning as well (because it is closed on Monday and Tuesday) and that probably would have been better for me than Cafe du Monde but it was good we did Cafe Du Monde later for my Husband.
9am - biking around the recreation loop of City Park (not scenic, oops), then back to the prettier parts. The sculpture garden didn't open until 10am so we biked around the ponds and up towards the Lake, then we stopped in at Cafe Du Monde (no line at 9:30am on a Sunday), ordered beignets and 2 cafe aux lait ($8.75 plus $2 tip). We sat and listened to live music and lots of kids dancing in the park. We only ate one of the three Beignets because we wanted to be hungry for brunch. Saw that yoga was starting in the columned pavilion. By the time we left at 10am the line up was very long at Cafe du Monde.
10-10:40 am - we took our time in the sculpture garden and I think it was one of the best collection of sculptures I have ever seen. We were completely captivated. I wish we had time to go to the Botanical Garden but we had to bike home to change and walk to Arnaud's.
10:40-11:20 am - we biked down Moss (along the water) to LaFitte Greenway.
11:20-11:40 - quick dip, shower and quick change at home - my husband REALLY wanted to uber because he didn't want to speed walk in our finery but I wanted to be extra hungry - we managed to walk from Marais and Esplanade to Arnaud's in 20 minutes and not be late.
12-2pm - Jazz Brunch at Arnaud's - Bloody mary, French 72, Arnaud's shrimp, Turtle Soup, Gulf Fish, and Grillades and Grits, Bananas Foster for 2 to share. $240.00
2pm-4pm - we walked home by way of the Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival in Louis Armstrong Park - enjoyed the music - back home, jumped in the pool, and rested for about an hour.
4pm-6:30pm - biked through the Bywater, two beers at Parleaux ($18), loved seeing all the families socializing and the kids all playing together in this outdoor grassy brewery. We were told to check out Kermit's from 6-7 instead of later because of the noise ordinance and it closing down by 10:30. So we biked by on our way back to the apartment and planned to go in but there was no music and a huge police presence under Highway 10. So we kept biking.
6:30-7 - pool, shower, quick change (every chance we were jumping in that pool to cool down.
7pm - uber to Mosquito Supper Club ($20) - I really thought we had to arrive RIGHT at 7:30... what a mistake that was. I wish we had just taken the streetcar because they didn't even talk to us until 8pm. I mean the food was goodish, the company at our table was fun, and it was a "fun" experience. But for $500... would not repeat. Also, the wine pairing was terrible and not at all worth it.
10:30pm - we walked to Columns - thinking we'd have a nightcap but it closed at 10pm. We talked to Tipitinas and listened from outside. Headed back to Frenchmen. Went into various spots. We walked home by way of the John - what a scene! We did not go in.

Monday - Planned

9am - Breakfast at Surrey’s (if we are feeling slow that morning, we’ll grab something at Verti Mart on the way to the walking tour and hit Surrey’s after for lunch)
10:30am - 12:30pm - Two Chick’s Walking Tour - Garden District
12:30 - 6pm - Courtyard brewery for a beer, St Charles Streetcar to Louisiana, walk back along Magazine (stop at Magpie)
Late Lunch: See where MaisLa Crawfish is today
6pm-8pm - Rest at apartment
8:30pm - Dinner at Elysian Bar on the patio

Monday - What we actually did
8:30 - Breakfast at Surrey’s
10-10:30 - walked along Magazine
10:30am - 12:30pm - Two Chick’s Walking Tour - Garden District
12:30 - 2pm - thought we were walking towards Louisiana on Magazine but ended up back in the CBD - oops. Grabbed a muffuletta to share at Conchon Butcher - I know this place isn't popular with the locals but I really love it. Sandwich, side of pickles, chips, one cocktail, one beer ($45). At this point my husband said he really didn't feel like going to the WWII museum.
2-4pm - we took the street car to Aubudon - and walked up to Boree for their frozen cocktails. Uber home (not my choice! $17)
4-7pm - stopped in a Verti Marte for an All That Jazz ($20). Then went to our apartment to chill by the pool- it was overcast, we were tired from a lot of walking, and we wanted to relax a bit by the pool.
7:45 - Paladar. Great meal but I didn't record the cost. Best dinner we had! Home after

Tuesday - 8am - we walked up to Toast Fairgrounds ($47 for three dishes, coffee, and a juice), walked back by way of Pegoda for another iced masala chai. Cleaned the apartment, remade the beds with fresh linens, did the laundry. 10:30am Cab to airport.
Food - Ranked from best to worst:

Paladar - best dinner we had, fantastic food, great ambiance.
Surreys - this was the best breakfast/brunch/lunch we had - I ate all of my shrimp and grits and an entire order of Bananas Foster french toast - I usually cannot eat that much but it was outstanding and I will go there every time I am in New Orleans going forward.
Pegoda - we loved the tacos
Cochon Butcher - we loved the sandwich here. I might even put this slightly above Pegoda.
Toast - really great brunch food - and we would probably love this place more if we hadn't been SO blown away by Surreys - also we were a little hungover for toast and I think that made me less hungry.
Mosquito Supper Club - cool experience but not worth the extremely high cost. Also, we did not like the main (a stuffed crab that tasted more like breadcrumbs and old bay, not enough pure sweet crabmeat flavour). The appetizer courses were the best - I would have been happy with the smoked fish dip all night. The wine pairing was a total letdown, very small pours, and long waits for wine. Should have ordered additional drinks to fill the gaps but that is on us. Also, the last pour was a thick syrupy Moscato wine and when I politely requested an alternative they poured me straight red vermouth... so I just left it.
Arnaud's was good - I mean no complaints, good value compared to the other Grand Dames. An experience... but like the food was just kind of gloppy. Felt like everything was thickened with corn starch. But it tasted good, just not elegant.
Nola Poyboy - we were starving, so we were satisfied but the po boys even fully dressed did not taste like much, disappointing bread, and there were lots of shells in my fried oysters - I had to spit out shell 4 times from an 8 inch.
N7 - biggest disappointment - great atmosphere, disappointing food - $240 for 3 small plates, 1 main, 3 glasses of wine, one beer.
Verti Marte - The All THAT JAZZ was inedible. I am sorry but the smell and the goop and the hot lunch meat... we had to throw it out and remove it from the apartment.

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