Jeep door latch stuck

Okay so, I was born in Canada in 1994. Ive always had memories of my past life basically my whole life, I always remembered distinctly being a gay jewish man from Chicago, I was born sometime in the 60s or possibly late 50s, I have a few vague memories of being a small child, Random stuff like going to the bakery with who I remembered as my "mom", standing in the hallway of a house with her, getting ice cream from a vendor with some other kids.
I remember meeting A man in a bar when I was In my early 20s and leaving with him, unfortunately I can't really remember what he looked like, just that he was white and wasn't old but wasnt particularly young either and he was taller than me. I'm pretty sure I was murdered, I don't know if it was him or someone else or how or where I was murdered, but I'm pretty sure it involved my skull and sulfuric acid and I'm pretty sure I drove somewhere shortly before.
Unrelated to my death things I can remember: There was something about a coffee shop, I can't remember what I did for work but i remember that I liked my job and was friends with everyone there, and getting stuck mopping the floor was my least favourite part, I remember having a little fluffy white dog at some point, liked to draw and liked sports, particularly baseball and bowling. I can't remember what my face looked like but I can remember my torso a little bit, skinny and somewhat fit and I had light brown skin. I think I had a sister or a bestfriend that was a girl, young with dark shoulder length hair, I remember standing on a balcony with her, with a super crappy view that just faced another building lol. And I can remember the inside of a friend's apartment from the front door, there were 3 other men there, one of them was angry and yelling because one of the other men didn't want to sleep with him.
I'm probably leaving out a bunch of stuff, but those are the main things I guess. I've tried to look it up a few times but haven't really been able to find anything that matches up, would love to know what you guys think and if you have any ideas! -also I was trying my best to sum this up and keep it relatively short, if you'd like further details or elaboration about anything please let me know.

Hello,
I will confess one of the most difficult moments of my life.
I moved to Thailand in December 2018 after experiencing emotional disappointment and my parents' divorce.
I fell in love with a woman much older than me and worked in her bars and guest house. I learned a lot and I flourished in the work. I have ceased to be a naive young man and I am in front of a confident and mature man.
I encountered several difficulties that transformed me forever. I will be brief to avoid the message being too long.
First of all, I had a lot of trouble renewing my visa because of Thailand's very strict immigration policy. The visa renewal was a source of intense stress, I had to leave the country several times to renew my visa and I underwent long interrogations at the immigration station at Bangkok airport. I was also scammed by an unscrupulous visa agency.
Then I encountered many money problems during the pandemic. I got into debt and got stuck in Thailand with the borders closed. I adapted by working as an IT freelancer and we managed to save his two bars from bankruptcy.
The worst I experienced was my ex-girlfriend's domestic violence. This Thai woman was 23 years older than me and was very narcissistic. She wanted to shine in society by all possible ways.
I don't have a very clear memory of the events that happened, but I was subjected to wanton violence and acts of wickedness on a regular basis.
She insulted me, humiliated me and belittled me in public. She hit me in my sleep. She deprived me of food. She locked me out. She stopped me from talking to my friends or family. She forced me to abandon my cat in a temple. She called the police to expel me from the city. She repeatedly attacked me with butcher knives, glass bottles, rolling pins, choppers and billiard balls. She also introduced me to cannabis use and I suffered from this addiction for 3 years. I quit smoking cannabis 3 months ago.
One day she attacked with a 20 cm knife to try to kill me. I locked myself in the toilet to escape him. She slashed and stabbed the plastic bathroom door in an attempt to get at me, then calmed down.
I can't get this traumatic event out of my memory. I remember the sound of the blade penetrating the plastic of the door, I remember the sweltering heat and the angry screams of the Thai woman. I remember feeling like I couldn't run away from that tiny toilet. I have never been so helpless in my entire life. This memory haunts me regularly.
I was a naive and immature person but I was not endowed with bad intentions. I did everything possible to help her on a daily basis, sometimes working 14 hours a day. I got nothing back.
I never initiated the conflict and I first tried to resolve the conflicts by talking and imposing limits to make me respect which only made things worse.
After a while I broke down and became violent hitting walls, breaking windows and objects and then taunting my ex girlfriend. When I feel in danger, I'm the kind of man to face up and fight back. I don't run away. I admit to having been physically violent with her when I had to defend myself. I slapped her, tackled her, shoved her, pulled her hair and twisted a finger. I know it's wrong but she was doing everything to make me lose control. She constantly harassed me even when I tried to run away from the argument.
I got tired of being violent so I decided to break up and move to Cambodia a year ago. I'm rebuilding my life, I don't have a lot of money but I have an amazing girlfriend who takes care of me and is very nice.
Before living in Thailand, I was a more carefree and spontaneous albeit naive and inexperienced man. Now I'm a strong and confident man, but I feel like something has broken inside me. I became very serious, grave and concerned. Not much brings me joy and I feel jaded by everything. I feel like I've lost a part of myself, I feel like I've lost my innocence. I feel empty and disillusioned. I no longer have that spark and energy that drove me to travel, experiment and meet people. I no longer want anything and I sit passively.
I don't know if I'm fine. I'm happy to have control over myself and my life, but I have no hope and very little joy. I am very tired

I was gonna use a throwaway, but the worst didn't happen so I guess it doesn't really matter. I had a bit of a rumbly tummy situation brewing right as I was leaving work yesterday afternoon but I thought, you know what, it's fine, I'll be home in 25ish minutes, I'll do what I need to do when I get home. What I obviously wasn't thinking about is the fact that this is traffic we're dealing with, and there's always a chance that traffic will be much worse than you're anticipating on any given day...
I'm stuck in a queue of traffic and looking at live traffic updates on google maps and I can see my estimated arrival time to get home just went from a yellow "27 minutes" to a slightly orange "31 minutes". Meanwhile, the tummy is starting to rumble a bit more and I've had to clench a few times because I know there's 0% chance of letting off a dry fart. It was guaranteed to be a wet one -- when you know you know. I'm thinking, "Don't panic" and I turn my music up louder because I somehow think if I distract myself with my playlist and don't think about the situation that's developing everything will settle down.
I make a bit more progress, get through the roundabout after what feels like an eternity and I'm now on the motorway. Traffic is still backed up and moving at a crawl. At this point I'm actually starting to panic. It's very clear there's an unavoidable diarrhoea situation transpiring, and now it's not a question of if I'm gonna have an explosive trip to the toilet, but when it's gonna happen. Google maps is now showing a deep red "39 minutes" to get home. Fuck.
Traffic starts moving a bit, but it's very slow. I've turned my music up even more and I'm singing along to every song, just trying to keep my mind off my situation. After a bit of progress, traffic grinds to a complete halt again, and now it's starting to feel like every time my car starts and stops, the diarrhoea is just being urged on. I'm in the middle lane on the motorway, there's traffic on either side of me, I have no way out.
At this point my palms are getting sweaty and I'm starting to play out various scenarios in my head -- let's say I shit myself right here in my car, what kind of cleanup are we talking about when I get home? Fuck fuck fuck, I don't wanna think about that. If I open my car door on the motorway, is there any way I can angle my butt such that I can shit out the side of my car without other people realising what's happening? Even if they see me, is that a better outcome than shitting myself in my car? What if I shit on the floor mat instead of on the seat? A million thoughts are racing through my head and the adrenaline is pumping...
While this whole scenario is playing out I'm slowly, slowly, slowly making progress on my trip home, and I somehow finally made it after a 52-minute ordeal, hastily parked the car, ran inside and let 'er rip! I get to live through another day as a grown man who hasn't shat himself!

I only remember a small part but i remember it very clearly, (all what about to say is in top-down view) you start as an alien in hospital room (could be a room in area 51) in bed surrounded by doctors/surgeons, you wake up and run through a double door with round windows running from them. The floor outside the room has some cracks that are filled with neon green liquid, and there are some flouting chunks of the floor you can jump on.
I've been searching for this game for years trying to find it but with no results lol, I'm starting to feel it was a fever dream that's been stuck with me since i was a kid😂

Chapter One
Chapter Seventeen
Martinez slouched his way into the kitchen. He wasn’t really paying attention to his surroundings; in his defense it was early in the morning and he’d failed at getting some appropriate shut-eye before he went and, you know, bared his entire soul to Chao. At least that was his plan. But as usual, the universe laughs at plans.
He placed a sealed plastic package into the coffee machine, then put a styrofoam cup in the appropriate location. He yawned as the machine began its burbling.
“Hey.”
Martinez snapped his head over at McCoy, who’d suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She leaned against the counter, with a big and very evil grin on her face.
“Um…” began Martinez, before he was interrupted by a voice from his other side.
“Hey.” Matt leaned there, and if McCoy looked evil then Matt looked positively diabolical. Martinez glanced behind him and saw more soldiers, all with looks of ill intent on their faces.
The corporal didn’t waste time in asking what the hell they were up to, he just started throwing hands and feet. Future scholars would count the resulting battle as one for the ages; Martinez even managed to tag Toke with a couple of pretty good punches and one really sweet roundhouse kick.
But in the end, it was still a case of one against many.
__________
“Mmmm mm mmm m mmm!” protested Martinez.
Chao sighed as she beheld his bruised and very taped-up state. “What did those idiots do to you?”
“Mm MMM mmm mm!” The corporal’s mouth was now duct-taped shut, so verbal acuity was not amongst his strong suits at the present.
She put her hands on her hips. “For crying out loud. Matt goes and gets me all worried that you’re somehow in trouble, he leads me over to some random closet and shoves me in here and I find you like this. What’s the game?”
“Gmmmm?”
Chao squatted, examining his bonds. “Well, they sure got you trussed up like a roast for the feast. Hey, if you want me to pull the tape off of your mouth just nod.”
After a moment, Martinez nodded. She reached for the tape covering his mouth, then hesitated. “Um. I don’t have much experience with this so I’ll leave it up to you. Is it better to go fast or slow? Blink once for fast, two for slow.”
With deliberation, Martinez blinked once. Chao nodded and yanked the tape off. They’d even left a convenient tab for her to grab ahold of.
“FUCKING OW!” yelled the corporal. “Um, sorry.”
Chao seated herself before his figure, which was tied up in a fetal position. “You know, the last few weeks have given me a bit of a crash-course on the types of grab-ass shenanigans you soldier types get up to. This is a new one, though. Care to educate me?”
Martinez stared at her in horrified disbelief. “Toke didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what? He just said you were in trouble and that I needed to help out.”
“That…that evil, evil son of a bitch. He said he’d explain everything!”
“Explain what? Luca, I am just about ready to walk out and leave you in here to eventually soil yourself.”
Now that he was literally hog-tied and unable to escape, Martinez realized he had to ‘fess up. “I like you,” he said in an almost-gasp. “I mean, I like you like you. In that way. I mean, I know it’s sudden. We’ve only known each other for maybe four weeks but you’re so smart and pretty and…and, you know about Asimov and Heinlein and Clarke and about orbital mechanics and star spectra.”
She sat in stunned silence while he continued. “I don’t bring much to the table, I get that. But I want to learn. After we come back from the Rithro’s repair mission, I want to go to college…I’ve started looking into that. I’m not much of a catch right now, but maybe one day you’d consider liking me that way as well…”
He was interrupted as she leaned down, grabbed his head, and planted a firm kiss upon his lips. After a moment of pure bliss for both of them, she pulled away. “You utter and complete idiot,” she said, but she said it with a smile. “Did you never think that perhaps you have some attractive qualities of your own?”
Martinez tried to shrug as best he could, being all tied up. “I mean, Toke did mention that I have some pretty nice abs?”
Chao’s eyes glinted in good humor. “Pretty nice? You’ve got an eight-pack. I could shred cheese on those bad boys.”
He looked up at her. “Wait. When did you see my abs?”
“Back when we were sequestered within Cheyenne Mountain, and we were strictly on sponge baths.” She patted his taut stomach, feeling up those aforementioned abs. “Anyways, do you want me to get you out of these bonds?”
“Um…”
Her good humor turned into a diabolical grin. “Or, would you like to remain in these bonds? Toke said something about a safe-word and safe-gesture, he said you’d explain it.”
“Of course he did. That fucker. Um. Chao, this has gone better than I could ever have imagined but I don’t think you need to know…”
“Know about what?” Her caressing of his unprotected stomach did not cease. “Does my corporal have a bit of a fetish?”
His brain seized up again at her emphasis on ‘my’. “I…”
“Let me put it this way. Would you like me to be all mean and nasty, or more cuddly and dommy mommy?”
After a long, long moment of silence he finally murmured, “Dommy mommy.”
“See? That wasn’t so hard. Well, admitting it wasn’t hard.” Her hand continued its explorations. “Now this here is indeed quite hard. Hmm. Good thing you are just too cute for words.”
“Cute?” He looked in disbelief at her, and then flinched at her continued caressing.
“One can be a badass and also cute, my dear corporal. You tick both boxes. Not to mention you’re into a fetish which I’ve wanted to indulge in for a while. Never found anyone who was into it, until now.”
Outside the closet, McCoy stood guard. She smiled in triumph as she heard Martinez yell out in pleasure, and turned to give Toke a thumbs-up.
“It’s about fuckin’ time,” she said.
Matt smiled back at her. He now sported an epic shiner under one eye. “Eh, some kids just need a bit of a nudge, you know?”
__________
It was…it was a wall. A wall he was looking at.
A wall covered in white stucco. Nothing too fancy, but it was indeed a wall and Joachim realized he was looking at it. That might seem like a substandard feat, but for a man who’d been in Joachim’s proverbial shoes it was a grand accomplishment.
His mouth worked as he swished his tongue around in his mouth. He looked around. He sat in a lawn chair in the middle of a beige room, lined on every wall with the stucco he’d just realized he was looking at. “H…hello?”
His voice felt old and clotted. Joachim looked down at his hand, and he saw wrinkled skin and age spots that he didn’t remember seeing there before.
This room only had one exit door, and now it opened. A lean man with dark skin entered. “Joachim Neimyer? I’m Zawahir Ibn Harith. How are you feeling, sir?”
Joachim fixed the newcomer with a steady eye. “I’ll be feeling better once I know where I am. And where is Corina?”
“Corina is on her way, she should be here within minutes. We had great hopes that your treatment was progressing well. Do you know what day it is, sir?”
“Of course I know what day it is! It’s…” Joachim trailed off as he realized that he didn’t know. The last few…years? Decades? He had glimpses of moments in time, as if viewed via a strobe-light. He now realized it was much, much later in time than he thought. “I…what happened?”
“Alzheimer’s, Mr. Neimeyer.” Zawahir’s eyes were kind. “You’ve been suffering from it for the last seven years. But we discovered…or, I should say, we adopted a methodology for treating it. It not only stops the damage, it has a way of reversing at least some of its effects. I fear you will never regain the memories from the time during which you suffered the most, but from now on your mind should function properly once more.”
Joachim rubbed his now-bald pate. “Is Corina all right?”
Zawahir pulled over a chair next to him and seated himself. “She is, blessedly, un-marked by the same affliction. We are, of course, putting her on a similar treatment as yourself just to make sure she remains so. With her consent, of course.”
The old man fixed Zawahir with a direct stare. “This whole thing smells experimental. Why choose me?”
“Mmm, you are as sharp as ever, sir. This is indeed an experiment, and we chose you because you are one of the preeminent rocket experts who ever lived. We need such skills now.”
“What?”
Zawahir leaned forward. “I will do my best to catch you up…”
__________
She walked through the door, supported by a cane. The one person, the beacon in Joachim’s life. Corina lit up upon seeing his gaze. A gaze with intent, with purpose. “They said you were feeling better!”
Before he or the surrounding interns could react, Joachim now found himself with a hundred-ish pounds of enthusiastic elderly woman in his lap.
“Tell me something only you know,” she whispered.
Joachim smiled. “Do you remember what I told you when we saw the green flash? That one time, in Hawaii? During our honeymoon?”
“I do. You said that the flash was the souls of those who’ve gone before.”
“And I promised you that, if I passed before you, that you would just need to look for the flash to see me.”
She clasped his wrinkled face in her own equally-lined hands. “You did better than that. You came back to me.”
“I guess I did.” He kissed her, reveling in the fact that this time he’d remember it.
Zawahir motioned to everyone else in the room. They all quickly got the hint and left the pair to their mutual happiness.
__________
The door of the simulator cracked open and Kifa came scuttling out. She peered up at the normally stony face of Master Sergeant Wilkes; right now the latter looked like he’d just been kicked in the chest by a donkey and was still trying to process it. “How did I do?” asked the xyrax. “It seems like I did quite well.”
“Um…Kifa. Well. Um. Did the controls seem to operate right?”
“Oh, yes! Very much, quite intuitive! It’s been ages since I simulated combat within an atmosphere! That was fun!”
“Fun. You do realize that you were going up against aces. I mean real, human aces?”
“Oh. I thought that was the case.” Kifa peered back into the simulator. “Was I not supposed to know that?”
Wilkes finally laughed, something that was fortunately captured by several cameras and used as blackmail material for many years after. “You did fine. You also just utterly smoked several of the finest pilots on Earth, and that includes non-Americans.” He regarded her with a steady gaze. “I wish I could recruit you to TOPGUN, I’d love to see you show those strutting peacocks a thing or two.”
“What is TOPGUN?”
He sighed. “Right now, it’s in the same exact department as buggy-whip manufacturing. You just showed these punks that, even in atmosphere, you’re death from above.”
Kifa seemed to shrink into themselves. “I didn’t mean to…”
“Now, now, Kifa, this is a good thing. Gotta keep those aforementioned strutting peacocks on their toes. But soon we’ll be dealing with fighting using orbital mechanics, something with which our air-combat people have about as much actual experience as they do with chatting up the fairer sex.”
“Which fairer sex? I mean, my kind is hermaphroditic so I know the mechanics but…” Kifa trailed off as it blinked its four big, oil-drop eyes.
“You are too damned cute for your own good. Pick a sex, any one, I for one do not give a fuck anymore. Point being, we humans need a crash-course in how to fight in space. No atmo, so trying to maneuver using flaps and wings and things is right out. We need to understand how orbits work. Not just intellectually, but in our bones.” Wilkes patted the simulator. “We need you to teach us. We need you to teach an army. Well, navy. Technically. I guess it would count as a navy. Either way. You know how to do this shit, and you just proved that even in atmosphere you can run rings around our best and brightest. So. Are you willing to show us your voodoo?”
“My voodoo…” The blue-furred spider suddenly rose on all of its legs. “Of course! This will be used against the Breakers, yes?”
“Of course.”
“Then it will be my greatest pleasure to show you all of my voodoo!” Kifa paused. “Although, if I received a headpat or two it would also help me properly consider how best to teach you.”
Sergeant Wilkes sighed and reached down. Kifa purred in delight as the usually-taciturn sergeant unleashed the full might and power of Human Headpats upon the alien pilot.
__________
Sadaf watched as the two dark-haired women and one blonde-haired woman had a black-and-white cap fitted over their heads. Both had received a haircut for this day; Parvati for one seemed to be less than thrilled about losing some of her tresses.
“This is the snoopy-cap,” said the aide who stood between the two women. The surroundings were sterile and very, very white. “This cap contains your communications, and it will keep your hair in place during launch.” This was the actual process getting shown to the world. Behind them, Ravindar and Martinez were also in the process of getting suited up, but this was done with much less fanfare. The aide’s words carried to them all, of course.
“Arms up!” Everyone going into space today raised their arms, and a large tubby-looking upper suit then slid down over five figures. Many human hands made sure that their heads made it through the upper ring. “This is the upper part of your pressure suit,” said the aide. “The gloves and helmet will complete that part, but that will come later. Now I will need you all to step into your pants…”
Everyone did so; Chao was the one who didn’t quite make it look elegant. She grinned at Martinez as she fumbled for a bit getting her pressure-suit trousers on; his resulting blush was caught for the cameras but it wasn’t until a week later that someone realized what it meant.
“Latch!” The aide’s voice was hard as metal.
Many hands reached out, twisting multiple metal rings to lock the upper and lower halves of the four pressure suits into one cohesive piece.
“I still say we could make them some proper hardsuits,” said Sadaf to Takh. The two stood off to the side, not exactly part of the dance but not apart from it either.
“No, I think this is better,” said Takh. “We need to make this look more like a…human effort.” Her XO stood at parade-rest, with both sets of arms clasped behind his back.
Sadaf nodded. “I will default to your judgement. By the way…how are you and Corporal McCoy getting along?” She nodded towards the last-minute addition to the crew.
“Um…Ma’am, I…” His faltering was not helped by watching the humans in the clean-room getting clear helmets fixed over their heads. Each latching was followed-up by a tap on the shoulder and a thumbs-up.
The big human, Ravindar, waved his arms over his shoulders as he got the feel for the suit. He’d managed to get the helmet on without an issue, in spite of his substantial beard. “Need more air?” asked a much smaller woman at his side. He shook his head, while he continued to flex and get comfortable with how the suit restricted his motions.
Getting the Sikh to this moment had been a master-class in diplomacy. Not least of which was because he still carried a weapon upon his person. Sadaf had no experience with ‘Sikhism’, but she could appreciate any culture or creed which dictated the need to carry a protective weapon at all times. It appealed to her nature.
“Do you think Parvati knows that he’s, well, into her?” asked Takh.
His captain’s voice became damn near sultry. “Now Takh, and here I thought you were all clueless. I’ve heard of the effort these humans went through to get Chao and Luca together. Would you like me to ask them to perform a similar effort for you and Corporal McCoy? Hmmm? It would make for quite the photo-op, as the humans would say.”
Takh felt a bit of panic, somehow. “No!” His panicked reply was low, hopefully not picked up by the surrounding cameras. “I mean, she’s so small. I could hurt her…assuming she wants to be romantic, of course.”
“Romantic? Takh, I admit I am still learning about human body language but trust me…if you want that, she wants that.” She pondered the humans in the room still going through some last-minute checks of their pressure suits. “Let’s put it this way. If you don’t make a move, then I just might ask Dhuz if it’s okay to add a human to our harem when we get back.”
“What?”
“I have learned quite the delightful human phrase. It is, as they say, Time To Nut Up Or Shut Up. I do find McCoy really cute, after all. As do you.”
Her XO grumbled semi-silently for a bit. “Fair enough, Captain. I’ll ask her. While we’re out there.”
“Good.” The humans in the clean room were now about finished with their checks, and Sadaf felt a bit of a thrill. She was, after all, witness to a species taking their first steps into a larger universe.
Five hoses were now shoved into five chest-mounted receptacles, each hose leading to its own hand-held air-conditioning unit. Another complicated round of checks, slaps, and thumbs-ups then followed.
“They do know that we’re just going to walk beside them right into the landing boat, right?” asked Takh. “This whole process isn’t really necessary.”
“Let them have this moment,” said Sadaf with a gentle smile. “They’re having fun.”
__________
The five white-suited individuals emerged from the hallway to pretty much universal uproar, both in person and online. The suit color was all NASA, but the logos were not. All four wore the emblem of the United Nations at their shoulder, a pair of olive branches surrounding a polar view of the world. The four humans all did their bit and waved for the cameras. Those in charge of the cameras did as instructed, and ignored the two black-and-sliver figures behind the quartet. The latter weren’t wearing any sort of pressure suit.
In the middle of the courtyard hovered the real talking piece, a landing boat from the Rithro. Its entry door was already lowered, and with another wave to the cameras from each of the five humans, they walked up the ramp and into the craft.
The five of them then looked at each other as the door began to close behind them. They’d trained together for a bit, enough to get a feel for each other. But now there was a real sense among them of holy shit what now?
Their mutual what-nows were interrupted as Tofa appeared. The arachnoid alien held a tray in one pedipalp, and upon that tray sat a little dish of what looked like Brazil nuts.
“Greetings!” chirped Tofa. “Welcome to Rithro Air, I assure you we have an excellent safety reputation. Well, almost excellent, if you don’t count the affair around Barnard’s Star. You may now take off your pressure suits. May I interest you in a nut?”
The four humans (and a few of the aliens) flinched as Ravindar let loose with a hearty belly-laugh. He reached up to undo his helmet while he beamed a brilliant white smile at their greeter. “You? I like you. We’re going to be fast friends.” He reached down to pluck a nut from the tray. “Madame? Do you want to take the first nut? Or should I taste it first?”
“Um…” For once, Parvati looked uncertain within her glass-and-cloth cocoon. “If you wish to taste, then please go ahead.”
“As you wish.” Ravindar held her eyes as he bit into the proffered nut. “It seems to be all right,” he pronounced.
After the great ceremony with which they’d been ensconced into their pressure suits, the humans then with reluctance emerged from their cocoons.
“We set up some chairs for everyone!” exclaimed Tofa, who gestured to the sides of the landing craft.
“Um, where do we put all of this?” asked Martinez as he held up a pressure-suit gauntlet.
The alien spider blinked. “Oh, right! Kexal, would you mind helping our guests stow their material?”
__________
The conference room at ULA now looked out over an even-greater bustle of activity. They were determined to at least match SpaceX in terms of tonnage-to-orbit; maybe they’d do so more efficiently? The mere notion had set a fire under everyone.
Joachim sat in a wheelchair while he studied those in front of him. “Ladies and gentlemen. I have, through some strange technological miracle, been re-granted the use of my mind. Not only that; they tell me that I and my wife might, if certain tests go well…we could become that which we once were. I intend to make sure that this gift does not go to waste. Not for me, nor for my wife, nor for the rest of humanity. Anyways. We have some aliens who need our help, we have some psychotic robot idiots who are fucking things up for everyone, and we need to get some serious tonnage into orbit as a result. Is that about the shape of things?”
“That’s pretty much the shape of it, sir,” said Dwight.
Joachim pointed a wrinkled finger at the speaker. “You. I’ve been caught up enough that I know you were the one to advocate for the use of Sea Dragon.”
“Just as a Hail Mary,” Dwight protested.
Clara cleared her throat. “I mean, I understand the enthusiasm but nobody has ever fired a pressure-fed engine that big. A single engine, mind you.”
Joachim rubbed his chin. “I understand your concern. But also keep in mind, this is a pintle injector, not a shower-head like they had on the F-1s on the Saturn-Five’s first stage. Pintle injectors were classified at the time. That’s a pity, because pintle injectors are safe as houses.”
Clara looked over at him. “Really?”
“Oh yeah, they’re pretty much bomb-proof.”
The team regarded the design now up on the screen. Clara was the first to speak their mutual thought. “Could…could we make this work?”
Joachim’s exclamation brought them all up short. “Of COURSE we can!” He thumped his cane into the floor for added emphasis. “Gentlemen…and ladies, please forgive me Clara…not one month ago I was a drooling wreck of a human. Today I come before you with my mind re-borne and in full function. I intend to make full use of that function. As does my wife, God bless her. We are going to set an example.”
Joachim stood, levering himself upright via his cane. “Here I stand,” he said. “Like Martin Luther before me, I can do no other.”
After a moment, everybody else in the conference room stood as well.
“Welp, we’re all standing,” said Dwight. “Okay, so what do we do now?”
Joachim pointed his cane at the screen. “Now, my dear Dwight, we Build. That. Fucking. Thing. We’re gonna show these Coalition assholes how we humans put some serious fucking tonnage into orbit.”
“Fuck yeah,” said Clara, as an unholy light came into her eyes.
“Fuck yes indeed,” replied Joachim. “The question now is, what do we put into it?”
The other people in the room looked at each other, just before bursting out into exclamations as to what they wanted put into that first launch. It was the sound of people on an expense account to beat the band.

My car window of my 1998 Volvo C70 at the passenger side had already a problem since more than a month. It could open easily, but then it would not close entirely. It would get stuck at like 70 percent. However, since today it fell in my door and I could not get it up anymore. We fixed it with pulling the window with our hands and got it fixed in position with some tape. What could be the problem and will it be expensive to fix?

Are you a whiskey or wine enthusiast looking to add a touch of rustic charm to your home decor? Look no further! In this guide, we will walk you through the process of building your very own whiskey or wine barrel liquor cabinet. With a few simple steps and some creativity, you can transform a reclaimed whiskey barrel into a unique and functional piece of furniture. So let's dive in and discover how you can create your own whiskey or wine barrel liquor cabinet.
Gather the Materials:
The first step in building your whiskey or wine barrel liquor cabinet is to gather all the necessary materials. Here's a list of what you'll need:
A reclaimed whiskey or wine barrel: You can find these online or at local antique stores.
Tools: Drill, jigsaw, screws, screwdriver, measuring tape, sandpaper.
Wood for shelves and door: Choose a wood type that complements the barrel's aesthetic.
Hardware: Hinges, handles, and a latch for the cabinet door.
Prepare the Barrel:
Before you start assembling your whiskey or wine barrel liquor cabinet, it's important to prepare the barrel. Clean the barrel thoroughly, removing any dirt or residue from its previous use. Sand the surface to smoothen any rough edges and ensure a clean working space. Take care to maintain the barrel's natural charm and character during the process.
Design and Measurements:
Decide on the design and layout of your liquor cabinet. Measure the barrel's dimensions and plan the placement of shelves and the door. Consider the size of your whiskey or wine bottles and glassware to determine the shelf spacing. Sketch out your design on paper or use design software to visualize the final product.
Cutting and Assembly:
Using a jigsaw or a similar cutting tool, carefully cut out the door opening on the barrel. Ensure that the door opening aligns with your design and measurements. Next, cut the wooden shelves according to the determined sizes and sand them to a smooth finish.
Attach the shelves inside the barrel using screws or brackets, ensuring they are level and sturdy. Install hinges and a latch for the door, allowing it to swing open and close securely.
Finishing Touches:
Once the assembly is complete, give your whiskey or wine barrel liquor cabinet a final touch. Apply a protective finish to the wooden surfaces to enhance their durability and showcase the natural beauty of the wood. Consider staining or varnishing the barrel for added appeal.
Buying Online Whiskey Barrel Bars:
If you're not inclined to build your own whiskey or wine barrel liquor cabinet, you can explore the option of buying one online. Many online retailers offer a wide variety of whiskey barrel bars and cabinets to suit your preferences. Search for reputable sellers who provide detailed product descriptions, high-quality images, and positive customer reviews. Take measurements and consider the dimensions carefully to ensure it fits your space.
Conclusion: Building your own whiskey or wine barrel liquor cabinet is a rewarding and creative project that adds a touch of uniqueness to your home. Whether you choose to craft one from scratch or buy online, a whiskey barrel liquor cabinet serves as a stunning centerpiece that beautifully displays your collection. So roll up your sleeves, embrace your DIY spirit, and indulge in the pleasure of owning a whiskey or wine barrel liquor cabinet that reflects your style and passion for spirits.

So couple of days back, I (27M) was working on my computer and a bat came into my room. Now this is an important context, it was midnight and all the doors were closed like 3-4 hrs before this bat started flying everywhere in my room. We ended up getting the bat out without anyone getting bitten or scratched.
But my dad says that the only way the bag could've made it into the house was when I was walking back home, it must've latched itself onto my backpack somehow and we came it into the house together.
After that I checked everywhere for any visible bite marks or scratches but i don't see or feel anything. Now i know that rabies symptoms usually don't show up until it's too late, wanted to seek some advice before i visit my local hospital.
Please help me out on this one, as I'm really confused and want to seek some help/advice from this sub.

I’m looking for advice about whether the following situation is a matter for civil court, criminal court, or what. All of this takes place in Aurora, CO.
I have a 2012 Jeep Patriot, and the transmission gave out. I called around and found an auto shop that quoted me $3300 for a CVT transmission.
I first took the car to the shop on Mar xx, 2022. I called the shop every day for 22 days asking for an update on my car. Sometimes it would go to voicemail. Sometimes they would respond via text with things like “we’re working on it, we’ll let you know when it’s ready”. If they actually responded it would be the same “we’ll let you know.”
On Mar xx, 2022, they let me know my car was ready for pickup. Since they kept my car for so long without updates, I complained and asked for some sort of discount. When it was all said and done, they agreed on paper for me to give $2200 cash for the services. It came with a 12,000 mile or 12 month warranty.
I drove the car approximately 12 miles before the transmission gave out again. I had the car towed back to the same auto shop, and gave the staff a call to let them know why the car had come back. They apologized and said they would get on fixing it.
I waited 7 business days before giving them a call again asking for the status of my car. This time the car was in their possession for xx days. I didn’t call and text every day like I did the first time, but the results were still the same. I’d get the voicemail, no response, or a “we’ll let you know” text.
This time when I picked up the car, I was able to drive about 50 miles before the car broke down again. Again, I had the car towed back to their shop. And again, I gave them a call and let them know the situation. We played the same games again for about 6 weeks, when finally I got a call from the auto shop owner’s personal phone saying that they would give me a refund and my car back in approximately 2 weeks. I told them that I’d need my car that day, because I had just been offered a position in a touring show as a performer, and I would be on the road and out of town for 10 months. At that point they hung up the phone. I ordered an Uber to go to the shop and when I got there the door to the shop was locked and the garage door was closed, but I could see people inside.
Then I went on tour, and was not in town. I did keep trying to contact them via phone, and text, and I had friends and family check on the vehicle for me. Everyone was able to confirm that the vehicle was still there, but they kept the front door of the shop locked, and if anyone tried to go around to the garage, they’d close the doors.
I arrived back in town on May 15, and I still haven’t gotten in touch with anyone, although I have confirmed that the vehicle is still on their property.
Of course, I have kept all of the tow receipts, and screenshots of texts, and all of my cell phone records. During the time I didn’t have a car, I had to rent cars, take ubers, busses, etc. and I feel like after the first time I got my car back, they should reimburse me for all of that extra money that wouldn’t have been spent.
So, what should I do about getting my car back? And should I press for the uber money, etc.? Do I need a lawyer??

I’m looking for advice about whether the following situation is a matter for civil court, criminal court, or what. All of this takes place in Aurora, CO.
I have a 2012 Jeep Patriot, and the transmission gave out. I called around and found an auto shop that quoted me $3300 for a CVT transmission.
I first took the car to the shop on Mar xx, 2022. I called the shop every day for 22 days asking for an update on my car. Sometimes it would go to voicemail. Sometimes they would respond via text with things like “we’re working on it, we’ll let you know when it’s ready”. If they actually responded it would be the same “we’ll let you know.”
On Mar xx, 2022, they let me know my car was ready for pickup. Since they kept my car for so long without updates, I complained and asked for some sort of discount. When it was all said and done, they agreed on paper for me to give $2200 cash for the services. It came with a 12,000 mile or 12 month warranty.
I drove the car approximately 12 miles before the transmission gave out again. I had the car towed back to the same auto shop, and gave the staff a call to let them know why the car had come back. They apologized and said they would get on fixing it.
I waited 7 business days before giving them a call again asking for the status of my car. This time the car was in their possession for xx days. I didn’t call and text every day like I did the first time, but the results were still the same. I’d get the voicemail, no response, or a “we’ll let you know” text.
This time when I picked up the car, I was able to drive about 50 miles before the car broke down again. Again, I had the car towed back to their shop. And again, I gave them a call and let them know the situation. We played the same games again for about 6 weeks, when finally I got a call from the auto shop owner’s personal phone saying that they would give me a refund and my car back in approximately 2 weeks. I told them that I’d need my car that day, because I had just been offered a position in a touring show as a performer, and I would be on the road and out of town for 10 months. At that point they hung up the phone. I ordered an Uber to go to the shop and when I got there the door to the shop was locked and the garage door was closed, but I could see people inside.
Then I went on tour, and was not in town. I did keep trying to contact them via phone, and text, and I had friends and family check on the vehicle for me. Everyone was able to confirm that the vehicle was still there, but they kept the front door of the shop locked, and if anyone tried to go around to the garage, they’d close the doors.
I arrived back in town on May 15, and I still haven’t gotten in touch with anyone, although I have confirmed that the vehicle is still on their property.
Of course, I have kept all of the tow receipts, and screenshots of texts, and all of my cell phone records. During the time I didn’t have a car, I had to rent cars, take ubers, busses, etc. and I feel like after the first time I got my car back, they should reimburse me for all of that extra money that wouldn’t have been spent.
So, what should I do about getting my car back? And should I press for the uber money, etc.? Do I need a lawyer??

I’m looking for advice about whether the following situation is a matter for civil court, criminal court, or what. All of this takes place in Aurora, CO.
I have a 2012 Jeep Patriot, and the transmission gave out. I called around and found an auto shop that quoted me $3300 for a CVT transmission.
I first took the car to the shop on Mar xx, 2022. I called the shop every day for 22 days asking for an update on my car. Sometimes it would go to voicemail. Sometimes they would respond via text with things like “we’re working on it, we’ll let you know when it’s ready”. If they actually responded it would be the same “we’ll let you know.”
On Mar xx, 2022, they let me know my car was ready for pickup. Since they kept my car for so long without updates, I complained and asked for some sort of discount. When it was all said and done, they agreed on paper for me to give $2200 cash for the services. It came with a 12,000 mile or 12 month warranty.
I drove the car approximately 12 miles before the transmission gave out again. I had the car towed back to the same auto shop, and gave the staff a call to let them know why the car had come back. They apologized and said they would get on fixing it.
I waited 7 business days before giving them a call again asking for the status of my car. This time the car was in their possession for xx days. I didn’t call and text every day like I did the first time, but the results were still the same. I’d get the voicemail, no response, or a “we’ll let you know” text.
This time when I picked up the car, I was able to drive about 50 miles before the car broke down again. Again, I had the car towed back to their shop. And again, I gave them a call and let them know the situation. We played the same games again for about 6 weeks, when finally I got a call from the auto shop owner’s personal phone saying that they would give me a refund and my car back in approximately 2 weeks. I told them that I’d need my car that day, because I had just been offered a position in a touring show as a performer, and I would be on the road and out of town for 10 months. At that point they hung up the phone. I ordered an Uber to go to the shop and when I got there the door to the shop was locked and the garage door was closed, but I could see people inside.
Then I went on tour, and was not in town. I did keep trying to contact them via phone, and text, and I had friends and family check on the vehicle for me. Everyone was able to confirm that the vehicle was still there, but they kept the front door of the shop locked, and if anyone tried to go around to the garage, they’d close the doors.
I arrived back in town on May 15, and I still haven’t gotten in touch with anyone, although I have confirmed that the vehicle is still on their property.
Of course, I have kept all of the tow receipts, and screenshots of texts, and all of my cell phone records. During the time I didn’t have a car, I had to rent cars, take ubers, busses, etc. and I feel like after the first time I got my car back, they should reimburse me for all of that extra money that wouldn’t have been spent.
So, what should I do about getting my car back? And should I press for the uber money, etc.? Do I need a lawyer??

I heard meowing from my garage and found a kitten hiding in the corner. It looks about 2 months old and was meowing like crazy. The kitten is super scared, but came out to eat some cat food we had when we gave hehim space. I'm really worried that the kitten somehow got stuck and has a mother outside because she/he looks clean and isn't skinny, but clearly was scared of humans. Should I open the garage door and let the kitten out to find its mom or try to trap it? We also played some kitten sounds on youtube to see if it would lure her out but she started freaking out and was frantically looking around and yowling/crying. I'm not sure what that meant though.

first post originally posted on lucid dreaming
here it is! the long awaited update of me talking to my girlfriend while she sleeps.
this happened just now. she was asleep and i went up to her calling her name until she mumbled something.
i instantly told her to go to the field of grass so we can start my experimenting.
the first thing i did which one of you guys recommended was to manifest myself in her dream. so i told her to turn around and she’ll see me. then i asked if she saw me and she said yes. i know she saw me and i talked thru my manifested self after she woke up and told me.
then another recommendation was to get her to see her past life. so i told her i made a door and to walk in and she’ll visit one of her past lives
i asked what she saw and she said “sand” what else? buildings red. i asked her what color her hair was and what gender. black hair and female
i asked her about what she remembers about her past life and she talked about having a horse.
then i asked how she died. she said she was shot and died by a bank. then said water as i’m typing i think maybe it wasnt a money bank but a water bank?
after that i took her out and brought her to the field. spawned in a picnic and gave her a sandwich and we sat down and she ate it. what’d it taste like? a sandwich (lol)
i wanted to think up on more experiments so i said i’d be back just wait here and look at the field and feel the weather as best as you could
this is where it gets insane. like wow.
math. i got her to do math.
what’s 2+2? she mumbled after some thinking 4.
then i moved up to 10+3
she was mumbling like she was thinking for a bit like ten seconds and said 27. well that’s not right so i ask again. a little mumbling later and she answered it right. 13.
next experiment was i wanted to see if she could feel me touching her in the real world. i poked her arm and aske where she felt it. she said she felt tingly. she felt tingly on her hand but higher up which technically would be her arm.
i wanna preface because some petiole were concerned i was doing this without concent. she gives me full concent and is as into this and curious as me. she’s into the shifting realms and projecting and has actually shifted before two years ago to the attack on titan world but not project. i try and make her project later (sorry if projecting isn’t allowed mods)
ok. next was her leg so i poked her there and she replied it was lower. i don’t think she knew what a leg was or the word for it so yeah that’s pretty right. i asked was it your arm or your leg. she said lower
then i asked her if she feels this to tell me. i blew on her face and she didn’t really know what happened last was the top of her head and she said it was all the way up.
last part was the projecting attempt. because she said she felt tingly i thought iut was like the vibrations you get when you’re about to project so i tell her to float out her body. before this i explained i was in the real world and ashe was in the dream world. inside outside.. she floated up and saw her body with me but at the field but in her head she thought if she floated any higher she’d go outside
then she told me she wanted to wake up so i woke her up. it was kinda hard to i flipped her over then had to shake her, i was worried she got stuck lol
instead of asking her if she saw this and that, i asked her to tell me everything she remembered and she described everything perfectly so this is 100% some real dream joining stuff. i asked her what year the western was and she told me 1843, same thing she told me while dreaming.
the blowing in her face turned into wind that she felt only on her face but she saw the grass move. the poking was me manifested poking her thru the grass at the spots i was doing irl. i kept telling her what else what else and she remembered almost everything. she remembered the math too all that. even the bunny i gave her when she got the math problem right. not me turning 100ft tall and her saying she doesn’t want me to squish her though
that’s it. wild right? maybe even revolutionary? i’ll be back with more experiments let me know what i should do and what you think!

Hey guys, so I'm currently a final year medical student (IMG). I was initially planning to direct myself towards pediatrics, for several reasons; of course, besides having kids always putting a smile on my face & being naturally drawn towards them, I still felt like something was missing if I were to pursue that path. I say this with some reluctance, but primarily why I was pursuing this was because it seemed like the 'smarter' option if I were to attempt to apply for a US residency.
I'm a bit embarrassed to say this but, I still honestly felt a bit inferior to my colleagues who were pursuing specialties such as neurosurgery, or orthopedics...then I realized, maybe it's because I'm only pursuing pediatrics because it felt like the safer option rather than the one I'm actually interested in on an intellectual level. It made me a bit sad because I wanted to push myself to my full potential & feel a higher degree of challenge. I loved my pediatric rotations, and when I was given the choice of an elective, that's the one I went for, but it still felt...bland? I can't put my finger on it, but something just doesn't feel quite right and I'm confused. I loved peds ER because you just never know what's coming through the door, so if I were to subspecialize, I would've went for that, but I still feel like, my brain wants 'more' of deep/intellectual work where you can see progress longterm, rather than immediate, intense, solutions (although I do love that but in some sense I don't want to get bored of the same thing).
Initially, I was contemplating on peds ortho, because I absolutely fell in love with the patient population, the bread and butter, but the operations were way too loud for me to enjoy. Then I realized I probably enjoyed the outpatient side of it a lot more, which guided me to a more non-surgical specialty, which is why I thought of peds.
What pushes me away from peds is the idea of subspecializing, because I really didn't want to subspecialize in something unless it was neuro-related, and not in the peds neuro outpatient sense, cause the CP population honestly depresses me, I can't see myself working with that.
I feel like I'm trying to target a specialty that has some technical, intellectual & problem-solving work all combined, which is why I am now stuck in thinking of pursuing functional neurosurgery, which, I know sounds like a huge step from all the above, & that is exactly what brought me here. I feel like I still want to be part of that evolving world of brain research & so on, which is why I'm thinking maybe I should pursue neuro or maybe even peds neuro, I guess I was just more afraid of the depressing patient population in that regard. Not sure what would be a better fit.
I feel kind of stuck & it's messing with my perception of the future, since I need to start prepping for exams. My initial plan was to write Step 1 & Step 2 → internship in the country I graduated from → apply for peds residency. But now I feel pretty messed in the head, because I know I'd have to steer away from the US if my pursuit was targeted towards neurosurg.
I know what I do want to be part of is: a field where there is cutting-edge research (especially neuro), a field that is constantly growing, & a field where I won't get bored because of the intellectual stimulation. One that is nerdy in nature, and is integrated with a lot of new emerging technology (physics/nanotech/engineering). I still love interacting with patients, and seeing progress in their symptoms, so I'm not looking away from that.
TL;DR, please just read the last paragraph & if you know of any specialties that you would recommend a med student to shadow in, which seems to fit into the above, please do let me know. Kinda stuck. :(
Looking for compassionate/genuine answers please. <3

Questions for all:
Q1: What's at the bottom of your bucket list? Like the last thing you 100% wanna do.
Q2: WHEN IS GRANDPAS ASHES? IM THIRSTY FOR OLD PEOPLE!!!
Q3: What celeb guest do you want on the podcast that you actually have a chance of getting?
Q4: Is there anyone you've considered on being the 5th Goons member? Or considered a 5th at all?
Blarg Questions:
BQ1: Will you ever release music? 3/4 of the Goons have and I was wondering if you had plans.
BQ2: If golf didn't work out what sport would you be playing?
BQ3: Which minion do you find the most fuckable? Like you walk by it and bite your lip type beat.
McNasty Questions:
MQ1: When can we expect Hamster content?
MQ2: Was there ever a moment where you thought the Goons were done for?
MQ3: How often do you stalk the Community Tab on Twitter?
Soup Questions:
SQ1: Do you think Ethan is the unofficial 5th Goons member or is he just an associate?
SQ2: How often do you speed up in a school zone in your F150? And what's your killstreak?
SQ3: Do your neighbors ever complain about your screaming or band practice?
Dooo Questions:
DQ1: What pet would you have if you weren't allergic?
DQ2: As a 2'11" 54lb man how often do you get stuck trying to reach your door handles?
DQ3: Has there been anyone who has come close to recognizing you in public from your voice?
​
That's all my questions thank you for reading if you did. If you didn't FUCK YOU 🤬🤬🤬
-JujuCartoons

Loading screens were bad enough but now it takes like a minute for the hogwarts legacy logo to come up at the very beginning and I was stuck on the loading screen for 5 minutes. Just tried to enter olivanders and the little circle loading thing took a solid 20 seconds to open the door!

PREVIOUS - THE NIGHTBUS
We were able to spend the night in the closest hotel, a dinky little inn that had a very disinterested hostess. She just gave us a key and waved us upstairs. Doesn’t money mean anything to them? All of us were too tired to argue, though, so we crawled into bed and fell asleep.
I woke up with the sun shining in my face. I sighed with relief. Okay, maybe it was all a bad dream? Did I have a weird trip from something some asshole put in my drink? When I pulled out my phone, I noticed with a lurch it was 11:59, but I calmed myself down. Noon, then. I hadn’t put my phone on 24-hour time but 12-hour. It was right before noon. I fished my charger out of my handbag (never leave without it!) and looked out the window.
Our room overlooked the town square. It had a memorial, a statue of some explorer - complete with coonskin cap - that stared out into the distance. The clock tower was across from us, still stuck at 11:59, but at least it seems the chiming had been given a rest. I couldn't see the bus terminal, as it was behind the clock tower, but I could see the edge of town from here - we were in a small valley with steep hills all around us, coated in pine trees.
I sighed and scrolled on my phone. I still couldn't see why I had wifi while the others didn't. The network was called TERMINUS - the same name as on the sign on the bus terminal - and it was free to connect to. I could scroll through news sites and wikipedia, but when I tried to message other friends, the messages didn't go through. I could only assume they couldn't send me anything either.
Caroline and the others slowly stirred awake. "Ugh, meggs, what's goin on..."
I turned around. "We're in... Terminus, I guess." I tried looking it up on google maps, but didn't get any results.
"So far from home... What do they have for breakfast?"
I shrugged, smiling. "We'll have to see. You up for getting up?/"
"No... my head..."
I nodded and waited for the boys to wake up as well. All three had a hangover, but Collin's and Caroline's were truly massive. Charlie was fit enough to get out of bed and get ready to explore the inn, at least. I kept the key of the door with me and told both of them to stay inside - not that they were going anywhere.
The hallways of the inn were bland. It wasn't big - one hallway on each floor with about five or six doors and a staircase on one end. The wallpaper was probably supposed to be a calming vanilla with a daisy motif, but it just ended up looking old and yellowed. The doors were exactly the same cream color save for the silver number on the door. Ours was 25 - second floor, fifth room. I noticed it also had a chip near the lock.
Charlie and I made our way to the staircase. The uncomfortable silence was only broken by our creaking footsteps over the carpeted floor.
"So..."
"So."
I chuckled awkwardly. "Last night was... something, huh?"
"Hah, yeah..."
Creaky steps. "How are you holding up? I know you didn't sign up for this... I mean, none of us did."
"What are you talking about? We just took the wrong bus and ended up in the wrong town. I'm sure we can catch a different bus at the bus terminal and go home."
I nodded. "Y-yeah..." My smile felt a little forced, even for me. "Yeah! You're right."
It was quiet the rest of the way down. I didn't mean to sound so insincere.
"There sure are a lot of stairs." Charlie joked. "We were only on the second floor, right?"
"Yeah, we should be-"
We landed on the ground floor. Before us were two doors - both the same bland vanilla as the room's doors.
"Which way to the reception?"
"Er..." I hadn't actually paid attention when we got up, as I was herding three tired drunk people up to a room. Not that I'm naturally good at directions, either. "Let's try the right door."
Behind the door on the right was another hallway with three more doors. Charlie blinked. "This makes no sense. This door-" he pointed to the door on his immediate left "-would just lead us to the hallway to the left door." He opened the door, but when he stepped through, he was in an empty room, lit by a single lightbulb. The same inoffensive vanilla wallpaper lined this room.
He quietly closed the door. "Where the fuck are we."
I didn't answer. I know I must have looked ridiculous, my mouth just open and closing like a fish. I mean, come on, this is physically impossible! "Maybe it's an optical illusion or something? The room looks bigger than it really is because... it's empty, or the light, or..."
"Right." Charlie didn't seem convinced. "Let's keep going straight, then. This building can't go on forever." He walked down the hallway to the last door. I meekly followed him through the door. This time the room had another two doors, and to the left, a staircase leading up.
I blinked. "Are we... back to where we started?"
Charlie yelled in frustration and barreled down the rightmost door. After a little bit, I heard running footsteps coming up behind me, and with a slam, he opened that door. "What the FUCK! I WENT in a STRAIGHT LINE!" He started kicking the walls while swearing, damaging the daisies on the wallpaper.
I chuckled quietly in disbelief. "Ha. This makes me think of Portal. Or Stanley's Parable."
Charlie stopped kicking. "What?"
"Y-yeah! In Stanley's Parable, you're a character in a story narrated by The Narrator. You can - you can choose to go along with him or go against him, but he can also go against you. It's - it's about the illusion of choice."
Charlie still didn't understand. "I don't - I'm not a game nerd. You make no sense."
"We don't... have a choice. Not really. This place will not give us one. So we have to let this place pick for us."
I fished through my pockets. I came across a coin - it wasn't there in my pocket before, but I didn't question it. "Heads for left, tails for right."
It landed on tails. I reached out for the rightmost door, and we both went through.
We stood in the restaurant-part of the inn. Breakfast was still laid out, but no-one else was there. No-one else was eating. I went towards the lady behind the counter. "Hey, uh, we'd... we'd like to pay for our rooms. And breakfast."
The lady stared at us as if we were crazy. "What are ya talkin' about? You already paid."

Okay experienced nurses need some helpful advise here. So I'm stuck in a situation where I have too many options and they all seem good but any advise is appreciated.
So for someone who has been a med/surge nurse 4 years now since 2019 feeling soo burned out with it recently even tho im only a 0.6fte, but I always had interest in ICU and higher level of care wanting to learn more. I have offers for a RN fellowship/training in a level 1, level 2, and level 3 trauma center. where would you start. So I already work at the level 3 hospital and some of fellow co-workers have gone up to that icu and have no bad things to say they have also been trying to recruit me to go there since covid but I was finishing up school and figuring out what i want to do, I know that ICU knowledge will never be a bad thing and always be useful and open more doors. So what direction would yall go? I have no family obligations like kids or anything yet, no mortgage to worry about for now. Only thing I might have to move into the city from the suburbs for the Level 1 neuro icu and have to rent a studio or 1 bedroom since traffic is horrible her, which is not a big deal as my expenses are relatively low. The level 1 is a state university medical center and the others are 300+ bed community hospitals but they are also close enough to the city that they do get sick patients too they are not rural by any means.
Pay is pretty much identical for all of them, part of me is thinking just move up to the icu where i currently already work. eventually I would like to move away from bedside tho maybe NP route but for now I'm still bedside. Thanks

Author's Note: This original work had once been created in hopes to be an original Star Wars story. The author has adapted the story to be its own original work taking place in the franchise. In particular, the author has chosen between the movies of Episode 6 and 7. Main characters, battles and other major events will either be cut out or referenced. This is not a fanfiction. All characters were created from the author aside other characters, such as the sentient species, items like blasters, were created and rightfully owned by Lucasfilm.
17 Standards Years Ago
She recalled the day when her brother was gone for good. Little Sorella was 6 years old. She and her brother, Dearthair, 12 were on their own in Kail.
Kail was Coruscant's smaller twin, on the grassland planet Miero. The town had stone adobes of shops and homes, everyone full of giddy and glow. Out to the south laid Neero, a spaceport settlement. On the occasion, some folk traveled to Neero to obtain exotic goods to sell back in Kail.
Despite the hearty prosperity of Kail, Sorella, and Dearthair were orphans. They hid in their ruined home, once full of glee and joy, now faded, cracked, and sloppy. Clothes, pots, pans, holograms, and drawers with emptiness now occupied the home.
Their parents ventured to Neero, trusting Dearthair to take care of the place while they were gone.
Later that day, an investigator visited the home to confirm that their parents, had died while protecting a kid from being taken away by traffickers.
With no parents, they were brought to the next town, Grangor. Yet, both knew, they couldn't stay there. The foster center was a heap, a dump. The caregiver didn't care about the kids trashing the place, she just wanted her money from the adoption fee to bid and brag about how she won another bet on Odupiendo racing. The children there began to form groups, making turfs and destroying each other's territory.
Not to mention, the possibility of separation. Their chances were even higher considering families of Grangor could only afford for 2 children to raise. They knew if either one of them left, they would no longer be the family they once knew before.
So by the next day, Sorella and Dearthair escaped and stayed in Kail. All it became was their next worst nightmare. The town had been ransacked by raiders. The community now had to use its funds to restore what was lost. And that meant raising prices and trips to Neero to resell exotic goods for better deals.
Despite this, they went back to their home and pondered about the food they would eat and how they could keep the place up.
At first, they begged for a bit. And when begging didn't work, one would pickpocket the distracted fool. They used any credit they acquired to quiet the rumbles in their stomachs.
Dearthair even began to ask for jobs around town but no one wanted to hire them. Not enough money to pay, one vendor noted. Had they not used the funds, there would've been a chance.
However, sometimes, if the shipments they received or the abundance of the crop were good, a few of the family friends they knew would stop by and give the siblings food. One of them, Kli, a Zeltron, tried her best to visit often, cleaning their home and cooked meals. She told them she would have offered her place but unfortunately, due to audits visiting, she did not want to risk them being taken back to foster care. (After all, for her, it was hard to lie. She hated telling a lie).
The siblings didn't mind, they appreciated the help.
They did eventually stop pickpocketing aside Dearthair who had gotten better at it. He promised to stop but he figured a few credits wouldn't hurt.
He was almost caught once at the same time as the day Sorella last saw him.
Dearthair was eyeing around a restaurant, searching for a clumsy idiot. There were a few visitors from other worlds here, whining and belching their sorrows away about some rumored war. This prompted Dearthair to steal without worry. Who would even notice? Even the bartenders would be too busy to give these drunks their drinks and people chatted about their life at tables.
As he passed by a few patrons, talk fumbled into the air. "Did you hear?" a Rodian stammered. "They're taking the children....just come in and start shooting..."
"What is the New Republic going to do about it? Nothing!" a Twi'lek snapped.
"I've heard that they use certain techniques....they don't remember who they were," an elderly man huffed.
Dearthair grumbled. None of these clients seemed to be carrying a huge sum of credits. Most looked down on their luck. Then there was...
He spotted a drunken human fool, slamming his credits on the counter. The human had on shiny boots with a blaster at his side, and gold linings on his coat toppled with a furry vest. "Moar!" he yelped. "Dang tenders....can't even affurd a proper dr...visit Kail they said, the best place to hide and..."
Dearthair slithered by the human's side, eyeing the gold before his eyes. He glimpsed around the room, checking for onlookers one last night in case anyone had the idea to look.
He stopped as he felt the human turn to him. "Hey kid...cun you tell sumone to hurry it up? I hit the jackpot today!"
"Oh, did you?" Dearthair said, raising his eyebrows.
"Sure did," the human burped. "Got me a hefty bounty and now I lay here low. I heard this place was the besst. It's gone to crap. You all this money for nothing....you might as well just take off to another place....they say a storm's brewing....so run if you an..."
"Really, huh?" Dearthair continued, now secretly roaming his hand in the human's coat pockets, scrambling for credits.
"Kid, listen to me, HIC-UP, you're better off on your own if I were you." The human sneezed and tossed his credits on the counter to the bartender. "Yo tender, gimme another one of those bluey thingies. The watchmacallit with the special."
"That's unfortunate," Dearthair hummed, now counting how many credits he had in his hand before shoving it in his pocket.
The human swirled around in his seat, causing Dearthair to flinch. He froze, terrified that he was caught. The human hadn't seen it but the way his eyes stared at the boy...it was like he knew.
He proved to be wrong as he sighed. "Kid, I know I...HI-CUP...may look like a fool but...never turn your back down on an offer. Look around...no one's coming to help you. The town got ransacked by raiders and do you get? Nothing. You have to use everything on your own to 'fix' your problems. Yet if it was Neero, oh, for sure, let's make it all pretty and shiny for the tourists. And yet they stop the imports because of the darn fear of theft."
"Well, everyone helps when they can," Dearthiar noted. "A little bit of help can go a long way."
"Yeah, but to be a man...you have to learn to be on your own. You wanna be someone's babysitter fine. They admire you more though...when you can show you can stand on your own two feet. That's what everyone wants. So guess what...if this upcoming war starts and the New Republic ain't doing a lick of Bantha dong to help....then my allegiance is to those who offer me a place."
The human glanced at his new drink sitting quietly, took one long chug, and laid his head on the counter to sleep.
Dearthair breathed in and out, full of relief. The other customers were still busy with their worries. Digging in for a few more credits, he booked out of the restaurant, heading back home.
He knocked on the door and sounded the bell, alerting Sorella he was there. She led him in and they counted the credits.
"1,000 credits," Dearthair noted. "Enough for 2 loaves of bread, some pieces of fruit, blue milk, porridge from Kali's and maybe we'll have enough to buy The Last Starfighter." He nodded to the holoprojector they had propped by the window along with a few holograms.
"Can't wait to watch that one, I heard from Yue it was a good show," Sorella said.
They went out to buy the items and returned home happily. Yet, Dearthair's mind did not venture off from the human's words. Even when watching The Last Starfighter, he kept thinking back to that old kook's speech. Were they truly doomed to be there?
Well, he knew the guy was drunk but still...his words held some truth.
Kail was surely picking its place back up but time proved other areas were now suffering. Neero was barely getting any more exotic goods, causing another economic shift, leaving Kail to sell only what they produced around them. And last of Grangor, pfff, who knows. And with words about war, kidnappings, and no one helping....it made Dearthair wonder how he could escape this.
He stared at Sorella, intentively interested in the hologram. She had become a bit of a handful now. Kli wasn't around as much considering she was preparing her shop for inspection. Sorella once had almost set the house on fire by trying to cook some food. Or that other time when she tried to take some strange "candy" from an alien, he had to swipe her away.
He was the one who had to take charge, making sure they had food, she wasn't going anywhere she shouldn't be, keep aware of who was at the door, and how to pickpocket....come to think of it, he surely could've survived by himself. Still, he knew Sorella was all that was left of the family he knew.
His parents...they would be so proud of him, doing all he could to provide for himself and his sister. Yet, there was only so much he could do now.
"Hey, Sorella?" he asked as the hologram ended, the hero fading in the blue light. "Do you ever think about...getting away from here?"
Sorella thought for a bit. "I don't know...I mean...I like it here. It can be rebuilt. We just need to get more money."
Dearthair felt his heart clenched. "Well, what if you had to get away from here....and go anywhere else?"
"Well, yeah, I would go but then I go back over here," Sorella beamed.
"What is it that you love about it here?"
"Well, how it used to be. Remember when Kli would give us those Oprair cakes, Ronen with the Swirly Tumblers, Jei let us play with the Pikies. This...is home to me. I can't imagine leaving it." Sorella's eyes glistened with tears. "And Mom...Dad..."
Dearthair swung his head. He circuited his eyes back to Sorella only, seeing her stare into space, more tears plundering down.
He felt guilty seeing her eyes like that. It would eat him up next, reminding him about his parents. It reminded him though what a baby she was...she could never keep her emotions in check. She was always so sensitive when it came to things that bothered her, like when he told her to be careful about cooking.
"Are we going to go away?"
Sorella's eyes were now on Dearthair, awaiting an answer.
Dearthair shook his head. "The only one coming and going is me," he said, patting her head. "You're staying here."
Sorella laughed. She yawned and got up, heading towards her room. "Goodnight, Dearthair," she said. "Thanks for always looking out for me, brother."
Dearthair smiled. "Of course," he said, his eyes averted away. "Anything to keep family together."
She didn't remember the exact time, but it happened at the darkest hour of the night. Sorella woke up to hearing screams, and loud wails booming through the atmosphere.
Then came the smoke. She sniffed the air, a wisp of charcoal and harsh heat filling her lungs. She coughed a little before getting up, wondering if maybe it was Dearthair this time trying to cook (he had his moments too).
Instead of the glare from the windows, she saw bright gleams of blazes erupting around the other homes.
"What?" she gasped, checking around and seeing the chaos unfold before her eyes.
A few of the homes were destroyed, either eaten alive by the pulsing inferno or shattered apart.
People were running everywhere, bellows echoing and confusion amassing.
What the hell was going on?
"Dearthair! Kail's on fire!" Sorella yelled, running to her brother's room. She went inside to see he wasn't there. "Dearthair?"
BOOM!
The house shook wildly. Sorella stumbled to keep her balance. She ducked under a table, stayed for a few minutes, and then bolted out to the door again, to peek.
She now saw one of the sources of the chaos. Before her eyes was a white armored abomination, its hideous nightmarish visor scanning around for its next victim. Behind its body, it held a giant tank and in its hands, a huge gun with a nozzle. The abomination aimed the nozzle at a home and enraptured its flames from the gun. It engulfed the house in seconds.
Sorella gulped, stepping back inside her home. Danger lurked behind her as she twirled around to see flames were now entering her home.
Sorella shrieked and scampered out.
She took no notice of the abomination known as the Flametrooper, eyeing her running away. "We have one here, near the homes," he noted.
Sorella mindlessly searched around. "Dearhair!" she cried, wondering where he was. She even looked for the adults, any familiar faces but no one stopped, they continue to run without care.
"Help!"
Sorella turned to see a kid like her now snatched up by another abomination. This one had a different visor, its helmets more delicate with design and he carried no tank, just a blaster in his hand. "That's almost all of them!" the second abomination, the Stormtrooper said, carrying the struggling kid away.
Sorella felt a verge of tears and bellows in her body but she knew she had to escape. In times of danger like this taught by Dearthair, she knew she had to run.
She darted past a couple more homes before she then saw one of the Stormtroopers takes notice of her. "Get her!"
She crawled through gaps, between walls, under trenches, anywhere to get away from the horrid monsters.
She never turned around.
Sorella made it safe once she had entered a small hole in a broken-down store, its entrance blocked by the fallen beam supports. The troopers behind her attempted to fight their way in, clashing with the beams. She ran to the back entrance and shut the door, hoping for some reason at least that would stop them.
She turned around to see another nightmare. The Stormtroopers with the kids were heading inside large vehicles. Kids all stuck together, hugging one another and crying. A few bodies laid on the ground. Some folks still fought the troopers, which unfortunately ended in their demise.
"You won't take him away from me!" a mother yelled. She was on the ground the second she jumped at a trooper.
Sorella hid behind a crate, peering from above. She spotted him.
"Dearthair?" she said, seeing a familiar figure. He was guided by two Stormtroopers, heading inside one of the large vehicles.
"No, Dearthair!" Sorella yelled.
She foolishly ran forward, only to be picked up by someone. Kli held her in her arms, rampantly charging towards a land speeder.
"No, my brother!"
"We'll find him," Kli said. "I'm sorry, Sorella, there's nothing we can do. You will die!"
"I don't care, I don't want them to take my brother!".
Sorella's eyes misted. Her vision blurred as she turned from the inferno of homes to the somber kids in vehicles and looked back to the land speeder, a few others joining them. There were the last of parents, shopkeepers, and their children.
"Hit it!" Kli said as she strapped herself and Sorella in.
"No, Dearthair!" Sorella said, turning around.
The pad to the vehicle closed up, sealing the familiar figure's fate.
"No! Turn back! Turn back!" Sorella pleaded. "Mom...Dad...brother!"
No one gave her any recognition as the land speeder surged forward, Kili holding Sorella tightly, trying to calm her.
"We have to tell everyone about this," Kli hollered. Get the New Republic, contact the other planets around us and..."
She never finished her words as a huge blast exploded behind them, sending the vehicle tumbling.
All Sorella remembered from this part was that she was flying in the air for a bit and hit the ground, knocking her to sleep.
Thanks for reading this if you made it to the end! This is my first time writing in a while (I know I probably messed up some stuff) and I'm all about improving at my craft. Critique away every little bit, just help me to know what I can do to improve!

We're a smallish group with revolving door DMing, there are two longform campaigns going on and we occasionally run one shots. Most of us met thru a pokemon server but you won't be subject to runs of inside jokes or anything like that. You can simply join our server and a random one shot to feel things out if you like, or if you've got more initiative you can start DMing immediately. Or just shoot the breeze with us, it's cool.
There are a couple under 18s in the server, so be aware of that. Session 0s can be sorted out in server, we're open to chatting. Just DM me if you're interested.
I'm looking to start a 3rd longform campaign, but thanks to timezone differences ( I moved to Europe), my usual players are sort of stuck playing with me on weekends, so if you're also in Europe or something then maybe we can get that whole thing going. If you're not in Europe but have a flexible work arrangement, that's cool too. I would like to start DMing on Tuesdays at around 12 pm EST, but be aware things are subject to change.
just to get your expectations straight for when I am DMing:

• I don't use xp (ugly mechanical and narrative connotations)
• DnD is a tactical combat RPG, be aware of that if you're new. We are not hosting a high budget performative show for others to see, Critical Role and Dimension 20 are not representative of what a DnD table looks like
• Usually play by text, but I'll post maps and keep track of relative positioning. If you dispute a position then we'll work it out or try to integrate maps more clearly
• I don't care how much you love your character, if you die you die,
• slavery and bad shit is in the world cause i mean, it's fucking DnD and that's just the case in all the official modules, but I'm not gonna get super grainy about that or glorify it or anything. sometimes things might get gory to get a point across but outside of vague references to it there shall be no details regarding anything sexually explicit
• point buy, you'll be rolling plenty when you actually play, rolling for stats is degenerate
• all books allowed so far (one of the other DMs has rightly banned Conjure Animals in their games tho)
• you have to actually buy into the games and cooperate at the table
• no in fighting
• we all gay here
• you have to get used to me speaking in broad strokes about everything and calling things degenerate and understanding that I'm not serious about that

other benefits of the server:

• we might help you with your homework
• I occasionally give away steam keys
• the people it's founded around are very nice Personally I would prefer a couple more adults who are experienced with TTRPGs but it's okay if you're neither.