I'm having a hard time with everything except content creation, with managing everything, doing adjustments to my content, and staying inside "my niche" and promoting of course.
I have a 9-5 job, 6 pets to take care, a house that needs constant clean up, and i love playing videogames (that's my relaxing time). I just don't have the time to do it all.
I started my nsfw content creation because i wanted to explore my sexuality and just learn to love my body(which is working amazingly), it wasn't much about making tons of money out of it, but now i would like to make at least enough to drop my 9-5 job and make myself a small nail technician career as my main income so i can juggle both.
Before going in fully i did my research and i make a plan. I didn't realize at the moment but that plan would only work if i have a few subs that actually would be active, which is not the case... I also realize that there's more lurking guys than active ones, which is totally fine but then i need a new plan and subs.
The other thing is that I feel really lost about my online presence. I just don't know anymore what was supposed to be my niche, or how much i want to show, or if i was going for a persona instead of just being myself.
I just lost myself at some point and idk anymore what i want to do with myself and my content.
The only social media that i actually use is reddit and is not for any nsfw related just for wholesome nice pg13 stuff, and mixing it with my fansly/of is kinda making it no fun for me. I don't like tiktok, i don't understand twitter and ig is okay but I'm mostly afraid someone who knows me recognizes my clothes or my house, so I'm always second guessing what I'm posting.
I also realized in this past few weeks that i really don't know how to talk with guys. I'm no sure what is the etiquette in most cases, and been feeling that not having enough time to be present all the time is making me look pretty boring and lazy.
I have lots of plans, i know what i want to do with my page, and i even have small goals to keep me focus, but this last two weeks i got sick and depress and i got behind from my actual job and from my fansly/of work.
I thought about quitting because of the lack of time, but i really wanna make it work, i want to try everything before deciding to close my little shop.
I have a tiny tiny tiny "community" and to be honest that makes me really happy, but i feel disappointed of myself in not been able to exploit all my potential. I feel heartbroken that i lost 3 followers this month, this is huge for me because i only had 18.
Other issue for me is i don't have money to invest, my room is not pretty, i don't have nice clothes neither pretty lingerie. I was trying to post a theme bundle on sundays but i cant keep doing it cause i cant buy a new outfit each week, so that idea just died.
So i guess im going through a type of fansly babe existential crisis? type of thing...
What do you do when you feel completely lost but want to keep going? when you dont have time? or get depress or sick?
What i know is...

1. i don't want to show my face.
2. i would like to remove the blur of my content at 100 subs(but i guess that for me that's pretty unrealistic and i would end up just showing all)
3. I don't have an amazing body but maybe i can compensated with my personality, i just need a way to show it.
4. I want to have a small community of 100 subs (thats my "i made it" goal).
5. be the type of content creator who has wholesome "friendships" with their subs.
6. not lowering my price from 10.
7. be a content creator who is respected inside the community and by her fans.

I think all of that is pretty unrealistic, and i would like to get there but i truly don't understand how. I feel like deaf ears and feel pretty stupid too cause there's already soo much info and good advices but i don't have the time to do all that is required to get there.
is just frustrating at this point... I know subs wont drop on me but i don't know how to deal with all.
I think im gonna make my OF free and just keep the pay stuff on fasnly but there's still the issue of time management and my little existential crisis.
Thanks anyone who read it...

I just got a modded PS3 this past weekend, I've been trying to figure out how run ISOs. I got a 2tb external hard drive and have it in exFAT format. Using webman mod and prepISO I was able to get the system to recognize the games on the hard drive. Here is the question. I was able to run MK9 just fine, the loading takes a little bit though, but when I try to run Spider-man Web of Shadows, I can't get past the first screen. Any suggestions on what I can do to resolve this issue?

The second edition of ESC took place in Frankfurt, Germany. Does that mean one of the German songs won in 1956 as the usual tradition is? Well no it was Switzerland who also hosted the first edition but apparently didn't want to host another the next year. To this day rumours persist that Germany got second place probably with "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" from Walter Andreas Schwarz but since no ranking was released to this day we can't know for sure. Some even believe Germany won. Anyway the good thing about this contest is that this contest can be fully watched with moving images. The director of this was Michael Kehlmann, an Austrian movie director. I sinceryly hope he was better at camerawork for his movies as it was filmed rather static and with a persistence of keeping the artists heads in close-up for lengthy periods which felt rather disturbing to me. Quality wise the songs were in my opinion a lot weaker than the previous edition with most contestants playing it rather safe and with little variety.
1957 saw the introduction of a real jury system where each country had to divide 10 points over the rivaling countries. So here it was made clear you can't vote for your own country, a rule which probably was not in place in 1956 but as of 1957 it was set in stone and never changed. Don't really know if that meant that 1 country could give the full 10 points to just 1 country. I notice however that only France divided their points over 2 countries while all other countries divided their points over 3 to 6 countries. No one ended up with 0 points and every country got points from at least 2 countries. Strange system but at least better than the shady backroom voting from the previous edition, which certainly was put into question and led to protest. To this day there is still a points system and no matter the result there is always people not understanding why song X ended up so low and song Y so high. Some things never change and this adds to the fun. Apparently the points system was borrowed from UK's 'Festival of British Popular Songs' which decided on the entry representing the UK in the ESC. So a scoreboard was introduced which was adapted after each call (by a traditional phone) from one of the juries of the competing countries.
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With the 3 countries broadcasting but not sending a song for various reasons (UK, Austria, Denmark) last year now joining the competition there was no more need for each country to send 2 songs. So 1 song per country (and this remained so for later editions) but 2 people were allowed on stage (in 1956 only solo artists on stage). So more countries involved (10 vs 7 in 1956) but less songs (10 vs 14 in 1956). Last change was a rule stipulating that songs could not exceed 3 minutes but a few countries really went over that limit by quite a margin. Maybe that rule was introduced quite late and therefore no one was disqualified for exceeding it.
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We saw a first duet with Denmark. Italy and the Netherlands had a musician accompanying the singer. We also saw a first prop emerging (Germany) and some other costumes than the traditional tuxedo or evening gown (Denmark).
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For those wanting more info about this edition check the wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest_1957
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The full show can be watched here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViOi13j5cO8&t=4s
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1. Belgium - Straatdeuntje - Bobbejaan Schoepen (32 years) starts at 3:15
   Language: Dutch - Result: 8th (tied) - Points: 5
   

Just like previous edition the ESC kicked off with a song sung in Dutch however this time it comes from the Dutch/Flemmish speaking part of Belgium (Flanders). Bobbejaan Schoepen was the first Flemmish singer to try. Even though his success period was far before my time I knew that whistling was a trademark of his. He even had a song dedicated to whistling 'De jodelende fluiter' (The yodling whistler). Bobbejaan had an obsession with the Far West and often dressed with a cow-boy hat and later founded a theme park with a Wild West theme giving it his name 'Bobbejaanland'. Here of course he was as expected in a suit but with his hands in his pockets immediately giving him a pretty laid back attitude. The song is indeed a happy one about a melody he hears everywhere he goes making him happy. Don't think this had a chance winning, enjoyable definitely but in the end a bit too simplistic.
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1. Luxembourg - Amours mortes aka Tant de peine - Danièle Dupré (29-30 years) starts at 7:25
   Language: French - Result: 4th (tied) - Points: 8
   

Just like last year Luxembourg send a female French singer to represent them. As expected she went for a French chanson about a break up. I'm absolutely no fan of these type of songs unless it has some quicker pace. Also I often compare French chansons with Edith Piaff whose famous hits at least had some recognizable melody and chorus. Danièle's birth date varies from the source. The most common is that she was born in 1927 but other sources say her birth year is 1938 which is a huge difference. Looks to me 1927 is correct as she already had quite a bit of songs as a minor star and retired from the music business in 1958. She would during the show become long lasting friends with her compatriot entering for France Paule Desjardins.
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1. United Kingdom - All - Patricia Bredin (22 years) starts at 10:55
   Language: English - Result: 7th - Points: 6
   

Patricia Bredin had the honour to be the UK's first ESC entry. She won as part of the Malcolm Lockyer Quartet the first Festival of British Popular Songs convincingly. Patricia was in the first place an actress (Malcolm Lockyer was a film composer and conductor so makes sense) but also did musicals. Presenter Anaid Iplicjian (from Armenian descent) referred to the UK as England a few times. With a duration of 1'52 this song remained the shortest in ESC history until 2015 when Finland came with a song of only 1'27. So yeah I can be pretty short about this entry too. She has a high soprano voice so even if your English is good it's just hard to understand what she is singing most of the time. It felt more like an opera song and I guess that's why it didn't do too well here. Was the disappointing result the reason UK didn't enter in 1958 and also didn't organise the Festival of British Popular Songs? However from 1959 they wouldn't miss a single ESC. Patricia's song was never recorded or released on a single.
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1. Italy - Corde della mia chitarra - Nunzio Gallo (28 years) starts at 13:35
   Language: Italian - Result: 6th - Points: 7
   

In previous edition two young females were sent, this time a male artist got a try. Nunzio Gallo was accompanied by a guitar player who gets quite a bit of exposure with some solos (a really long one at the start). Nunzio sings a ballad which gave me much more latino/Spanish vibes than Italian. He sings a love song not for a woman but for his guitar. This theme actually reminds me of the Belgian entry of 2010 Tom Dice with "Me and my guitar". The biggest problem is the song's duration with over 5 minutes going well beyond the maximum time limit. Also its very slow pace makes it very hard to sit through. Fortunately Italy would bring a real hit in the next edition.
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1. Austria - Wohin kleines Pony - Bob Martin (34 years) starts at 19:45
   Language: German - Result: 10th - Points: 3
   

Debut for Austria but Bob Martin wasn't the first Austrian performing in ESC. That honour goes to Freddy Quinn entering in 1956 for Germany with "So geht das jede Nacht". The song is accompanied by jazzy music. Of course a 30+ guy singing about riding his pony through the fields is a tad weird but at least he seems to be having a good time smiling a lot during his performance. It's also the only song which is (slightly) more uptempo than the other entries. A last place is rather harsh but I can understand this song perhaps didn't really fit well in the contest. After ESC he remained popular in southern Austria. His real name was Leo Heppe.
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1. Netherlands - Net als toen - Corry Brokken (24 years) starts at 23:20
   Language: Dutch - Result: 1st - Points: 31
   

The winning song and this time even a critical one like me will find it hard to disagree. If they stuck to the rules this entry would be disqualified as it is going approximately 1 and half minute over the 3 minutes time limit. However it doesn't feel like ever lasting like Italy's due to a good pacing, great vocals and some really good music accompanying the song. Dutch conductor Dolf van der Linden was so eager to start making the orchestra start before Corry Brokken reached the microphone. Corry's previous entry was a break up song now it's again about a relationship but one that is already lasting a very long time. So yes the couple especially the man have become old (and grey) and their love has become a bit stale. But since he can still flirt (with other women I suppose) his wife wishes he would be sweet and gallant towards her, give her roses, say she is beautiful and all that jazz just like the time they first fell in love (referring to the song's title). Yes it's kinda weird given the young age of Corry and it's rather schmulzy. Also the style is a bit the same as her 1956 song "Voorgoed voorbij". However her vocals and the accompanying music really make up for that. About halfway a violin joins her on stage who also gets a solo towards the end. I'm not surprised this won quite convincingly and deservedly.
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1. Germany - Telefon, Telefon - Margot Hielscher (37 years) starts at 28:30
   Language: German - Result: 4th (tied) - Points: 8
   

Host Germany did the opoosite of Italy after sending 2 men in 1956, now a woman was selected. Margot Hielscher already tried her luck at the German National final in 1956 but was unsuccessful. In 1957 she won and became the first woman to represent Germany at ESC. She was the first artist to use a prop on stage. What was more applicable than a telephone since that was the instrument for many years to come for the juries of the participating countries to send their points. Margot used the phone for another purpose though, expecting a call from her lover. Between talking in several languages (mostly saying hello) she sings in a calm and soft voice. The song in itself is not that special but the phone as gimmick is cool. Her song was also too long almost like 4 minutes. Placing 4th wasn't too bad and we would see her return the next year with a more uptempo song (and another prop). For the German audience she was no unknown being active since the 1940s as both singer and actress.
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1. France - La belle amour - Paule Desjardins (34-35 years) starts at 33:40
   Language: French - Result: 2nd - Points: 17
   

A song about love in a French café. I liked this one more than the French song from Luxembourg. It came second and I don't think that is undeserved given she has a lovely voice even though the song in itself quickly fades from my memory. Paule had moderate success with a musical career lasting until 1962. When she married she stopped singing and started working as designer for the lingerie company of her husband. Her full birth date is unknown, Spanish wiki mentioned she was born in 1922.
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1. Denmark - Skibet skal sejle i nat - Birthe Wilke (20 years) and Gustav Winckler (31 years) starts at 38:00
   Language: Danish - Result: 3rd - Points: 10
   

Denmark made its debut bringing the ESC its first duet. They were actually the only contestants in the first Dansk Melodi Grand Prix where 6 songs were entered 2 by them as duet and 2 by each as solo artists. As native Dutch/Flemmish speaker I can clearly hear it's from the same language family (German) as mine even though I hardly understand a word of it. I like the sound of it though and while it's nice that the presenter tells us that the translation of the song is "when the ship is sailing out" looking at the man's uniform it's pretty clear he is a sailor saying goodbye to his beloved girlfriend and future wife who is also wearing a typical dress from the country. There is also some gestures like him kissing a picture of her indicating he will be thinking about her on his trip and putting a ring on her finger meaning they will marry when he comes back. Actually the sailing theme is already clear before we see the couple as the orchestra starts with the sound of a ship's horn. It's all lovey dovey and cute but it works and they sing in harmony, complementary. A top 3 placing was well deserved in my opinion. Oh yes and there was in the end an 11 second kiss which definitely shocked the audience. They were applauded anyway. Did that hamper their chances to win, nah I think the Dutch entry was just too strong.
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1. Switzerland - L'Enfant que j'étais - Lys Assia (33 years) starts at 42: 30

Language: French - Result: 8th (tied) - Points: 5
Lys Assia returned to defend the ESC crown of Switzerland. The new crown however went to the other returning performer from 1956 Corry Brokken. Interesting to note that her birthday was the 3rd of March, the same day as the the contest of 1957 took place. I can't think of any other reason why the ESC took place so early (usually it's in May). She wasn't however gifted a good end result finishing a tied 8th with Belgium. Hard to understand as I found this song about a happy childhood very sweet and more captivating than her entries from 1956. However it was also too long about 4 minutes. But vocally I found her a lot better than the French songs from Luxembourg and France. Was it perhaps too childish or too happy? Notice that the other 2 songs in the bottom 3 were Belgium and Austria both upbeat songs. However Lys would still come back for a third consecutive time in 1958 just like winner Corry Brokken. Lys would do well a year later but Corry suffered even a worse fate as title defender than Lys.
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My top 10 was a bit harder to compile except the top 2 which stuck with me after 1 hearing. The rest is not too memorable for me.
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1. Netherlands
   
2. Denmark
   
3. Switzerland
   
4. Germany
   
5. Austria
   
6. Belgium
   
7. France
   
8. Luxembourg
   
9. Italy
   
10. UK
    

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Deceased artists
Paule Desjardins (1962) 39-40 years (only the Spanish wiki has a year of decease)
Gustav Winckler (1979, cause: car crash) 53 years
Bob Martin (1998) 75 years
Nunzio Gallo (2008) 79 years
Bobbejaan Schoepen (2010) 85 years
Danièle Dupré (2015) 88 years, French wiki has birth year 1938 and decease in 2013 (75 years)
Corry Brokken (2016) 83 years
Margot Hielscher (2017) 97 years
Lys Assia (2018) 94 years
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Alive artists
Patricia Bredin (88 years)
Birthe Wilke (87 years)

Judgment Day 2006 (SmackDown)
Date: 21/5/06
Location: US Airways, Phoenix, Arizona
WWE Tag Team Championship:
MNM (c) w/Melina vs Paul London & Brian Kendrick
Cruiserweight Championship:
Gregory Helms (c) vs Super Crazy
United States Championship:
Chris Benoit (c) vs Finlay
The Undertaker vs Mark Henry w/Daivari
(After WrestleMania, Mark Henry and Daivari form an alliance which the World’s Strongest Man wants to make a further statement after taking Batista out of action. Henry targets The Undertaker, brutally attacks him on SmackDown and claims he’s the most dominant individual in the company. Henry challenges Taker to a match at Judgement Day which The Deadman accepts, saying it will be Judgment Day for Mark Henry for the sin he’s committed by attacking him. Mark Henry shockingly wins clean and The Great Khali is nowhere to be seen.)
Bobby Lashley vs Booker T w/Sharmell
(Booker T wins thanks to a distraction from Sharmell.)
Title vs Career Match for the World Heavyweight Championship:
Rey Mysterio (c) vs JBL
(Rey won’t be a jobber bitch to anyone in the build up to this match. Instead, JBL wins a #1 Contender’s Match against Chris Benoit to earn this opportunity for the World Heavyweight Championship. Bradshaw says Rey Mysterio’s win at No Way Out over him was a fluke and he’s that confident of beating Rey Mysterio this time that he’ll even put his career on the line. Rey says that not only will he beat Bradshaw again to keep his title but he’ll finally free the WWE and the fans from the poisonous bully that is JBL. Rey Mysterio retains the championship and beats JBL again to end his career… for now. The show draws to a close with the crowd taunting JBL.)
ECW One Night Stand 2006
Date: 11/6/06
Location: Hammerstein Ballroom, Manhattan, New York, New York
Kurt Angle vs Randy Orton
(Kurt Angle is drafted to ECW which pisses Vince McMahon off to the point he instructs Randy Orton who’s just been drafted to RW to take care of the traitor. Angle wins clean and this is Orton’s punishment for violating the Wellness Policy.)
Tazz vs Jerry Lawler
(Tazz squashes Lawler in 30 seconds.)
Extreme Rules Match for the World Heavyweight Championship:
Rey Mysterio (c) vs Tommy Dreamer
(With ECW back, Paul Heyman challenges Rey Mysterio who was once part of ECW to defend his championship at One Night Stand against one of his guys. Rey accepts and welcomes the challenge from anyone Heyman chooses. Paul Heyman picks the heart and soul of ECW, Tommy Dreamer! Dreamer says while he respects Rey, beating him for the World Championship on ECW’s return is an opportunity he just can’t pass up. Rey tells Dreamer he understands his thinking but he’s not allowing his boyhood dream to end right now. In a very good and brutal encounter, Rey Mysterio wins to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Both men shake hands after the match with Dreamer raising Rey’s arm.)
Hardcore Match:
Mick Foley vs Edge w/Lita
(The match we got in real life at WrestleMania 22 in real life happens here instead. After costing Edge the WWE Championship at Backlash, Mick Foley says that was just him getting even but he’s not done with Edge. Foley challenges the Rated R Superstar to a Hardcore match at this event which Edge accepts, promising to destroy the Hardcore Legend once and for all. We get that same flaming table spot in a brutal affair. Edge wins clean.)
Hardcore Match:
Sabu vs Terry Funk
(Just to emphasise ECW’s return further, let’s put the two craziest bastards going in a match against one another. Sabu wins in another brutal and bloody affair.)
Extreme Rules Match for the WWE Championship:
John Cena (c) vs Rob Van Dam
(Rob Van Dam tells John Cena in advance when he’s cashing in just like he did in real life. Van Dam tells Cena that he’s cashing in at ECW One Night Stand in a building that he calls home, The Hammerstein Ballroom. In a very back and forth main event with Cena being booed out of the building, Rob Van Dam beats John Cena clean to win the WWE Championship! Edge doesn’t appear in the slightest.)
Vengeance 2006 (Raw)
Date: 25/6/06
Location: Charlotte Bobcats Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina
Intercontinental Championship:
Shelton Benjamin (c) vs Val Venis
Ric Flair vs Umaga w/Armando Estrada
(Umaga wins clean to remain undefeated although Flair puts up a fight in his hometown.)
WWE World Tag Team Championship:
Carlito & Chris Masters (c) vs Sabu & The Sandman
Kane vs The Big Show
Kurt Angle vs Randy Orton
(Orton cheats to win after hitting a low blow when the referee isn’t looking. Angle leaves the company shortly after.)
D-Generation X vs The Spirit Squad
(Vince McMahon is furious that Triple H has aligned with Shawn Michaels again and says he should never have trusted him. Vince says there will be consequences and at Vengeance, DX will face off against all 5 members of The Spirit Squad. In the build up, DX rip the utter pss out the McMahons by dressing up as them, covering them and The Spirit Squad in sht, saying Vince McMahon loves c*cks etc. Despite the odds being against them, DX win this match in their first official match as a team again.)
WWE Championship:
Rob Van Dam (c) vs John Cena (No Contest)
(After ECW One Night Stand, John Cena says on the night Rob Van Dam was the better man and deserves to be the WWE Champion. Cena then tells Van Dam that he’s invoking his rematch clause at Vengeance. Mr. Monday Night welcomes the challenge, saying it’ll be another day at the office for him and he’ll prove his win at One Night Stand wasn’t a fluke. This match ends in a No Contest after a mysterious man attacks both men. The man is… Edge! Edge then Spears both Cena & Van Dam before holding up the WWE Championship as Vengeance draws to a close.)
Note:
(Mark Henry gets injured in his Judgment Day rematch against The Undertaker on SmackDown although the storyline is going to be that Batista injured Henry when attacking him upon return as part of his revenge after Henry injured him.)
The Great American Bash 2006 (SmackDown)
Date: 23/7/06
Location: Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
WWE Tag Team Championship:
Paul London & Brian Kendrick (c) vs The Pitbulls
Cruiserweight Championship:
Gregory Helms (c) vs Chavo Guerrero
The Undertaker vs Daivari
(Teddy Long forces Daivari to compete at The Great American Bash against The Undertaker as The Phenom publicly made it known he wants to get his hands on him for being the brains behind Mark Henry going after him in the first place. The Deadman utterly destroys Daivari here.)
United States Championship:
Chris Benoit (c) vs Finlay
Matt Hardy vs William Regal
Batista vs Mr.Kennedy
World Heavyweight Championship:
Rey Mysterio (c) vs Booker T w/Sharmell
(Booker T wins a Triple Threat Match against Bobby Lashley and Chris Benoit to earn this opportunity. Booker T says that it’s been 3 years since he was the World Heavyweight Champion and promises that the rut without the gold is coming to an end. Booker also says that someone has to end that little troll Rey Mysterio’s fairytale run and warns Rey it’s going to be him. Rey simply wants to continue his run and prove that he’s not a fluke of a champion every single time he gets the chance. Rey Mysterio retains the title via a roll up which Booker T can’t believe and shouts to Rey that he isn’t finished with him.)
SummerSlam 2006
Date: 20/8/06
Location: TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Extreme Rules Match for the Inaugural ECW Championship:
Sabu vs The Sandman vs Tommy Dreamer
(Paul Heyman announces the return of the ECW Championship and says the new ECW Champion will be crowned at SummerSlam involving 3 individuals who are the heart and soul of the brand. Sandman wins the championship in a crazy, bloody and fun opener.)
Women’s Championship:
Mickie James (c) vs Lita
United States Championship:
Finlay (c) vs Chris Benoit
Ric Flair vs Randy Orton
(Randy Orton targets his former Evolution teammate as his next Legend to decimate. Orton says that Ric Flair is nowadays nothing but a dumb, deluded old man with his best days behind him and he’s willing to put him down for good. Flair says Orton just like in Evolution is still a cocky, arrogant little brat who needs to be taught a lesson. Randy Orton wins clean with an RKO.)
Intercontinental Championship:
Shelton Benjamin (c) vs Kane
D-Generation X vs Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon & The Big Show
(Vince McMahon recruits The Big Show to help him take down DX. Vince says that DX is a disease to him and his company and that Big Show is the key to helping him destroy them. Big Show says that DX can try and make jokes all they want but he, Vince and Shane will be the last ones laughing. DX tell Vince he can hide behind that 500 knucklehead Big Show all they want, when the jokes are put to the side they’ll be kicking their ass and ending this at SummerSlam. DX win after Triple H pins Vince to end the feud between DX & The McMahons.)
Batista vs Bobby Lashley
(Bobby Lashley challenges Batista in order to prove he deserves to be here. Bobby feels challenging the best SmackDown has to offer is his best way to get noticed. Batista accepts Bobby’s challenge but tells him he’ll be introduced to the big leagues the hard way. Batista wins clean although Lashley takes him to the limit which Batista respects to the point he shakes Bobby Lashley’s hand after the match.)
World Heavyweight Championship:
Rey Mysterio (c) vs Booker T w/Sharmell
(Booker T challenges Rey Mysterio to face him again at the biggest party of the summer. Rey accepts and claims just like he did to JBL, he’ll beat Booker T again to prove that his win at The Great American Bash wasn’t a fluke. During the match, the referee is unconscious and Chavo Guerrero comes down to the ring in aid of his friend Mysterio. Chavo gets a steel chair and hits… Rey! With one of the hardest chair shots you’ll see and Booker T is utterly stunned. The referee regains consciousness and Booker T covers Rey Mysterio to win the World Heavyweight Championship!)
WWE Championship:
Rob Van Dam (c) vs Edge w/Lita vs John Cena
(Edge says he did what he did at Vengeance because not only does he hate John Cena and doesn’t want him touching the WWE Championship in the slightest but Rob Van Dam also holds the damn thing he wants. Cena says Edge has only delayed the inevitable which is him regaining his spot as the man and he now wants the chance to do it in his hometown meanwhile RVD tells them both that if they want his title, he welcomes the challenge. As a result, a Triple Threat Match is booked. Edge wins the championship by pinning Rob Van Dam after Lita hands him a pair of brass knuckles.)
Notes:
(Jeff Hardy returns to the WWE the night after SummerSlam although he doesn’t confront Edge.)
(Rob Van Dam and Sabu are suspended for violating the Wellness Policy.)
(Chavo Guerrero costs Rey Mysterio his rematch for the World Heavyweight Championship on the SmackDown after SummerSlam.)
And that’s part 42 over and done with guys! I hope you enjoyed what I brought to the table and of course love the fact I kept The Great Khali so far away from The Undertaker 😂 anyways, I’ll be back on Thursday to cover part 43 where we’ll see Trish Stratus retire, John Cena and Edge take their rival to a new level and at Survivor Series we’ll have Brand Warfare which ends up getting Extreme 👀 stay tuned!

My boyfriend has a good friend, and him and his girlfriend are having a baby soon. Although our boyfriends are closer with each other, we got to know each other better through our boyfriends. We hung out with them for a while when we first started dating but after a few years it slowed.
We never had a conversation about it or agreed to stop seeing them or anything like that. That’s why I didn’t understand why I was so anxious, panicked and averted to attending their baby shower once we found out they were pregnant a year or so later.
Then I remembered a time when we had heard that these two got into a domestic dispute. She hit him for spilling hot food on their bed and promptly called her father to their home to essentially jump the man she is now having a child with. He did not press charges once the police arrived, they stayed together, and the next big thing to happen between them was the conception of their child. I know I don’t know all of the details so I won’t and cannot judge. All I know is that he made her angry at what I’m assuming was a bad time and he paid the price for that.
A big reminder of what it was like growing up with my mom unfortunately. Didn’t realize it reminded me until much later.
I was extremely overwhelmed by the idea of attending their baby shower. I didn’t know why but the shame of physically not being able to force myself to go was ruining my life for months. I felt terrible and ashamed for being as afraid as I was. I didn’t realize merely hearing about that incident triggered me until my friend mentioned that this may be the reason I don’t want to see them again while they’re in the process of having the baby.
We didn’t go to the baby shower. My boyfriend assured them that we have a lot of shit going on in our lives right now which is why we couldn’t make it, which is true. I’m currently in treatment for PTSD and he’s been working to the ends of the map all year. Still got them gifts and everything. I still feel extremely guilty for making assumptions by seeing my mom in her. I feel sympathy for my moms mistakes in life so I feel compelled to feel the same about this girl. The last thing I would ever want to do is compare her to my mom and how my mom treated me. I understand we’re in two very different parts of our lives but I hate that I’m making my issues hers without her even knowing it.
I know there will be a day where I have to face her again. I know it’s soon because we have a mutual friends wedding coming up. I don’t want to feel this way the next time that happens. I’m currently in somatic therapy trying to find some ways to cope and live with my triggers. I’m also trying extremely hard not to feel guilty for separating myself from what feels like an unsafe position. I feel selfish but I know my body and mind is just trying to keep myself safe and out of harms way. I’m trying to show myself kindness because of that.

I know from the trailers and other online sources that the movie is suppose to drop on June 2nd. However, movie theaters are allowing people to buy tickets for the 1st. Has the release date been moved?

I was excited to have found three out of the four tiny fish company varieties locally.
I tried the mussels last week and they were just OK. Nothing special. Nothing horribly offensive either, just OK.
I had much higher hopes for the rockfish.
I sautéed up some mushrooms, scallions, and tossed them in some Momofuku scallion and soy noodles then put the rockfish on top.
First off, it looks like absolute hell. Yeah it’s the color of soy sauce. What do you expect. But man it just does not look appetizing. This carries forward to eating it unfortunately too. The fish was dense but dry. The flavor was of soy at one point but also of just sort of general fishiness. The fish flaked easily into chunks when forked and sort of blended in with the mushrooms in a manner that made it hard to tell what I was about to stick into my mouth at any given time. Let’s just say I was constantly hoping it was a mushroom.
In the end I finished the bowl but would’ve been much happier had I left the fish off
Never again.
I’ve still got a tin of the smoke Geoduck left to try and now I’m scared.

Hi I own a PlayStation and I’m looking for someone to game with I would prefer some who’s 13-15 (close to my age) if you want to play comment your user I like to play games like: Fortnite, Minecraft, spider man ps4, FNAF, and more
My user: bobclown6264

link to comment on original thread
For some clarity -
I was referring mostly to the immortal/radiant ranked clown fiesta that all of the streamers also complain about. In no way am I criticizing my own community/fans - CS also had growing pains… we all know how bad CSGO MM is and always has been. Faceit/esea came in and made it better, being able to block people, having a karma system, and generally being a better place for people who actually are trying to WIN games (hence the monthly fee to belong to those communities)
When I said the community in valorant is a bit cringe I wasn’t even referring to the content creators either - everyone has their own unique style of content - I’m thinking more about the insta lock duelist one tricks who just run it down not trying to win / communicate / don’t care. Maybe I’m jaded from being a pro and expect a lot from people who are similar rank of mine, but it seems counter intuitive to have a “ranked” mode that people don’t take seriously.
I see this has turned into a VALORANT vs CSGO/CS2 debate but that wasn’t my intention at all. I have respect for both games, i like playing both games, that said i was a cs pro for a decade before VALORANT came out. I’m not quitting VALORANT and would never ditch the new fans / community that VALORANT has allowed me to reach and build!
I will apologize if I offended anyone but now that I am retired I’m just trying to have fun while also doing my best to win ranked games. I get mad when I have people that are blatantly boosted / not trying in my games sure, but it feels like it happens WAY more in valorant than it ever did in CSGO.
Thank you for reading this :) I have no intentions on quitting VALORANT and like I said before I really hate that that’s what this entire thread has turned into - a battle of which game is better and what community is the lesser of two evils. At the end of the day I am retired and a full time content creator so of course I will go to where the hype is!

I’m 17 and I go to the gym almost everyday. Some weeks ago this man that is way older than me (in his 50s/60s) started to talk to me. Everything started fine, he complimented me on going hard at the gym, asked my name… Until he asked me if I had ever gone to the sauna, because he’s never seen me there. I said no and he said that whenever I wanted to go I could just ask him and he would open the door from the men’s side for me (my gym only has 1 sauna for both men and women + you need a higher subscription to be able to use it). I didn’t think anything of this in that moment, but now that I think about it (with everything that has happened since) it seems a bit creepy.
Fast forward to some days ago, he made small talk with me in the middle of my session and when I finished I went to say bye to him. He then gave me a KISS ON THE CHEEK and ASKED ME FOR MY INSTAGRAM. At the time I wasn’t thinking clearly and gave it to him…
Today I saw him at the gym and clearly ignored him. Clearly as in he definitely understood that I was ignoring him purposely. Also I stopped following him and removed him as a follower on instagram. I don’t like to be mean to people and never am, but it is okay to ignore him right? 😔 And if he ever comes up to me again, it’s okay to say that it’s not normal for a man his age to ask a girl my age for her instagram, right?

At a discord room I visit, people often state while Brosnan's movies obviously were box office successes in Britain esp GoldenEye, he isn't as in-grained with Bond as he is in the rest of the world. That in the UK no single actor is ubiquitous with the role.
It does make me wonder because even outside the core Bond community, I notice with Brits I met online and irl including not just casual fans but even people who don't remotely care about 007 or even just spy movies period................... Much of them are aware that not only has there been 007 actors before Brosnan but they seem to know the names of several generations of the character. Enugh that its quite common to hear from random Brits including non-fans state "Oh Connery is the best!" and "I miss the Roger Moore days", etc. Even Milleneals UK people I know who grew up with Brosnan at least are aware of Connery and Moore (including those who never seen the pre-90s movies and openly state either Brosnan or Craig is their fav if only because they are the only ones they are exposed to).
As an American who was born in the 90s I will state before Craig's run Brosnan was not only the BOND for the American mainstream but he's the only one that most Americans even know about (even with the Craig era replacing him). So much that even people who don't know Pierce is the name of the 90s Bond actor like elder men who grew up in the Great Depression and preppy school girls I had as classmates who don't care about action flicks immediately picture Brosnan's image (ot at least his general basic features like dark hair and blue eyes) with Bond. Hell despite Craig being Bond for a whole generation, I met plenty of people born in the 2000s who associate Bond looking like Pierce Brosnan than Craig! Pretty much what I wrote above also applies to Canadian fans from my experience visiting the country to meet relatives and chatting online in gaming message boards and on Steam.
In addition despite the popular belief that Dalton's movies were flopped, they actually made profits worldwide. A hardcore fan told me its a misconception that was created by the fact Dalton's run underperformed in America but not only did it make cash world wide but they actually made around equal gross profits to Roger Moore's last 3 007 movies before he stepped down. That Dalton's movies was certainly popular in the UK during their original run.
I will also point out talking with non-English folks such as people from El Salvador, France, UAE, Japan, and elsewhere across the world online, they seem to only associate Bond with Brosnan and Craig and are ignorant of earlier iterations (excepting obviously older people who remembered when Connery and others were front page news in local non-English newspapers and magazines of their countries).
So i am very curious if Brosnan is not as popular in Britain as he is elsewhere throughout the world where people still associate Bond with his image including those who don't know his name is Pierce Brosnan and young people who grew up with Craig? I will also add I notice Pierce Brosnan even in the UK is so ubiquitous among video gamers too!
What exactly made Brosnan so ubiquitous with Bond outside the UK esp North America? In addition what exactly makes Brosnan so associated with video games and so known among hardcore gamers who don't watch movies and TV? Why does it seem Dalton isn't looked down upon in the UK and had some following in his native country while TLD and LTK are seen as corny failed attempts to successfully do what Casino Royale managed to execute decades among audiences outside of Britain esp North America (and Dalton so forgotten internationally so many people don't know a more realistic brutal Bond was already attempted before Casino Royale)?

After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Miles Morales — Brooklyn's full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man — is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves most.

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Sometimes when you look into the mirror, the mirror looks back.
William Bailey's forehead shattered the mirror like a sledgehammer. The last thing he remembered before he blacked out was the feeling that he was falling through the mirror. Sub-cranial hematoma, a concussion, maybe even a cracked skull--that had to be the reason for the strange feeling. The mirror was mounted on the wall just to the right of the bar, four feet tall by about three feet wide. As consciousness slipped away, common sense and his strong belief in the rational world told him that he couldn't fall through the mirror. He must have bounced his head off the wall and be falling toward the floor.
It seemed like just a second or two before William's eyes popped open. He lay on his back, on the hard wood floor of Fausto's, with Johnny Davis towering over him. Big Johnny probably wanted to finish him off, maybe kill him, and finally end their twenty-year-old feud. Either Big Johnny Davis and the ceiling lights above him were spinning, or William's head was spinning, but either way something wasn't right.
He raised his head and looked to his left, toward the bar. Except the bar wasn't there. Instead, he was staring at the bathrooms. That didn't make sense. It must be his brain that had gotten spun around. William turned his head and peered over his size-ten wingtips at the busted mirror. The wooden frame and most of the glass still clung to the wall, the rest sat broken on the ground. The bar had to be on his left. He looked again, and still saw the bathrooms. A brain bruise, maybe some fluid pressure building up might be the cause of it.
"Get up!" Big Johnny Davis said.
William looked up at him. Johnny stood behind him, just beyond his shoulders. Perfect place for him to stomp my head into the plank floor. Except Johnny Davis was holding out his hand.
"Come on, we've got to get out of here."
Davis looked scared. It was the first time William Bailey could ever remember Johnny Davis looking scared. William had always been scared of Big Johnny, but Big Johnny wasn't scared of anything or anyone.
Police sirens wailed in the distance.
Johnny glanced over his shoulder. William craned his neck to look where Johnny was looking, saw he was staring at the front door like a man terrified something bad was going to come through it. Big Johnny looked down at him again and pumped his hand. "Come on, get up. They'll be here any second."
"Who?" William asked. "Who'll be--" But before he finished, Big Johnny Davis reached down, grabbed him by both arms, and jerked him to his feet.
As he was dragged toward the door by the only man in town who truly hated him, William glanced up and saw the rusted metal sign nailed above the door. He had to have a concussion, probably severe; that had to be it, because the letters on the sign were backward. It said TUO.
As Johnny Davis pulled him out the door, William heard tires skid on the pavement.
"Where's your car?" Johnny asked.
William twisted away from the big man's grip, then turned to his left. "In the alley." He started to run, still not sure exactly what he was running from.
Behind him, Big John shouted, "The alley's over here."
William kept running but turned his head back toward Johnny. "I know where the alley--"
Something hit him across the midsection and toppled him to the ground. He got his hands up just in time to break his fall and managed to keep his head from slamming into the sidewalk. When he looked up he saw a shopping cart tumbled onto its side.
Once again, William found himself lying flat on his back, this time amid the spilled contents of the cart. It had been filled with junk: paper bags full of dirty clothes, canned food, bags of potato chips, a diamond shaped, orange road sign, and other trash that looked like it had been collected from back alley garbage bins.
The homeless man who'd been pushing the cart was scrawny, and wafer thin. His skin was the color of old shoe leather, and he wore a long gray beard, tangled and matted with food and bits of filth. He was sprawled on the ground next to his cart, half sitting up, staring at William with his bright blue eyes.
Car doors slammed, men shouted.
"You better get going," the homeless man said, as he cocked his head. "The police after you?"
Police!
Before William could assure the old man that the police weren't after him--he was a respected businessman and family man--someone behind him grabbed him under both arms and pulled him to his feet. William turned and found himself staring into the face of Johnny Davis. "The alley's that way," Johnny said, pointing to the other side of Fausto's. With one hand gripping William's jacket, Johnny dashed across the front of the bar toward the alley. The alley--right there, plain as day--on the other side of Fausto's, right where it shouldn't be, where it couldn't be. William had been here a thousand times. As you stepped out of the bar, the alley was on the left, Brockton's Ace Hardware on the right. Now everything was mixed up and in the wrong place.
Johnny Davis turned down the alley, dragging William behind him. After just a few steps, a spotlight flashed in front of them.
"Stop!" a voice commanded. "Get on the ground."
William couldn't see because Johnny was in his way. "Who's that yelling?" he asked.
Big Johnny stopped and William plowed into his back.
"Get on the ground," the voice boomed again.
William poked his head out from behind Johnny Davis's back. The blinding white light was in his face. He couldn't see a thing.
POP! POP! POP!
Gunshots.
Big Johnny sagged, then crashed to his knees. Instinctively, William bent forward and grabbed hold of Johnny. "What's the matter?"
More pops.
Johnny's big hand reached out and shoved William back toward the street. "Back door," he wheezed, then plunged forward onto his face.
William stood alone. Behind the white spotlight he saw blue police lights flashing. He was totally exposed.
POP! POP!
He saw flashes--little yellow spurts of flame--as something tugged at his jacket.
William had said "back door." What back door? Fausto's had a back door, but it didn't lead anywhere except to the open space behind the building used for trash and deliveries. Twenty feet of asphalt between the bar and the back of the building on the next block. William had parked his car at the end of the alley, but the police cars--or whatever they were--had the alley blocked off. The building behind Fausto's also had an alley that ran alongside it, but the owner had closed it off to keep the bums out. He'd put up a gate, padlocked it, and topped it with razor wire. It was a dead end.
Two more pops. Dead end or not it was better than standing here and getting shot. William turned and ran. He burst through the front door of Fausto's, dashed through the bar, past the shattered mirror, hit the back door at a dead run, and was outside behind the bar within seconds.
He could see the tail end of his car sticking out from the corner of the building, but with the cops blocking the alley, his car was useless to him. William glanced across the open space to the alley that ran next to the other building. The gate, the padlock, the razor wire--all still in place. To his right an overflowing garbage dumpster sat beside the back of Fausto's, jammed against the fire ladder.
The fire ladder.
An iron ladder bolted to the cinderblock wall.
William looked up. The top of the ladder was lost in shadow, but he knew it went up two stories to the roof. Last summer, when the toilet had stopped up, he'd come out back to take a leak and had stood behind the dumpster, peeing against the wall like a kid, one hand draped over the bottom rung of the ladder.
He slipped behind the dumpster. The smell made him gag. The bottom of the ladder was four feet from the ground. William reached up as high as he could, grabbed hold of the third rung, then hauled himself up.
Through the partially open back door came the sounds of heavy feet pounding on the hard wood floor of the bar.
Halfway up the ladder, he was exhausted--and scared. Shaking, he white-knuckled the ladder. Being more than ten feet off the ground terrified him. He needed a break, just a second or two to catch his breath. There was enough moonlight so he could see into one of the second story windows. Inside, junk was piled everywhere. Old barstools, a busted jukebox, furniture stacked almost to the ceiling. Years ago, old man Fausto lived on the second floor, but Jake, who'd bought the place from the old man and had decided to keep the name, used it for storage.
Below him, William heard the back door thrown open so hard it banged against the wall. He scrambled up until he reached the top of the ladder, then hoisted himself over the edge of the roof. Down on the ground a voice shouted, "There he is, up there."
Another gunshot. What the hell was going on?
The unmistakable sound of feet--fast feet, in shape feet, boot shod feet--scurrying up the ladder. Standing on the tar and pebble roof, William glanced around for something he could use as a weapon, shocked he was even thinking of such a thing. A five gallon plastic bucket was all there was. It stood upright, filled with rainwater. He picked it up and peered over the edge. A uniformed policeman was three quarters of the way up the ladder. Two more cops were right behind him.
William looked at the heavy bucket in his hands, thought about just dumping the water onto them but knew it wouldn't stop them. There was only one way to stop them, and that was to knock them off the ladder. He thought about warning them, maybe trying to scare them away. But they were cops. You couldn't scare them away.
So why had they shot Johnny Davis, and why were they shooting at him?
The first officer looked up and saw William staring down at him with the bucket in his hands. Their eyes locked for just a second and the cop stopped. In those eyes that stared back at him, William saw an almost maniacal determination that sent a shiver down his spine. The officer held his grip on the ladder with his right hand while his left dropped to the pistol resting in his gleaming leather holster. In one smooth motion he drew his gun and raised it toward William.
William Bailey tossed the bucket down the ladder. A shot rang out an instant before the heavy bucket thudded into the cop's head. Like a gruesome traffic accident happening before his eyes, William couldn't help but watch as the policeman fell, taking his two partners down with him. The last thing William saw before he turned away was a jumbled heap of black uniforms resting on the concrete below the ladder.
* * *
Hiding in the shadow of a telephone booth, thinking. Home. He had to get home. Had to get back to Marge and the kids. Maybe somehow he could explain what had happened. Vincent, his attorney, he would know what to do--maybe--but he was a civil lawyer not a criminal attorney. He wrote contracts and did personal injury on the side; he didn't get people out of jail who'd killed a cop by dropping a bucket of water on his head and knocking him and his buddies off the side of a building.
As the cab he'd been waiting for pulled up, William stepped out from the dark and climbed into the back seat.
The driver turned around. "Where to?"
William pulled the door shut. "Uptown. 1721 Audubon Court."
"Fare's gonna be about fifteen dollars. After dark, I gotta have the money up front."
"What?"
"Company policy." The cabbie shrugged. "A lot of drivers been getting stiffed."
William opened his wallet, pulled out a twenty and handed it across the seat. The driver took it and almost slipped it into his cash box, then took a second look at the bill. His face tightened. "What the hell is this?"
"Huh?"
With the bill stretched between his hands, the cabbie stared at it for a second then looked up at William. "You're either the dumbest counterfeiter who ever lived or you've been had."
"What you are talking about?"
The driver faced the bill toward William but didn't hand it back to him. "It's printed backwards."
William looked at the twenty-dollar bill in the man's hand. It looked like--it was--an almost brand new bill, nothing wrong with it as far as he could tell.
"Get out of my cab," the driver said.
William didn't know what the man was talking about but knew he didn't want to get out. This cab was his only way home. He reached for the twenty. "If you don't like that one I've got another--"
The driver pulled his hands away. "I ain't giving this back. I got to turn it in to the police." He dropped one hand behind his seat back, then came up clutching a pistol, an old German Luger by the looks of it, the muzzle aimed straight at William's face. "In fact, I bet they give me a reward if I bring you in with it."
William jerked the door handle and rolled out into the street. He sprang to his feet and ran, the driver's yells just background noise. Has everyone gone crazy or is it just me?
Home. He had to get home.
* * *
Rain. Driving, relentless rain. William was just two blocks from Fausto's. In two hours, that's as far as he'd gotten--one block an hour. Police cars prowled the neighborhood, shinning spotlights into every nook and cranny, lighting up every shadow. Everyone in Fausto's knew his name. He'd been going there three or four nights a week after work for years. The cabbie had his address. William had given it to him when he told the hack driver where to drop him.
Ten o'clock at night, with nowhere to go and no way to get there, William sat behind the closed Goodwill store, under an overhang that barely kept the rain off of him.
Huddled in the dark, head sunk between his knees, he hadn't heard anyone approach.
"You don't look so good."
Startled, William looked up, prepared to run again. It was the homeless man he'd knocked over outside the bar. The one with the shopping cart and the leathery skin. William relaxed a little. "Excuse me?"
The man pushed his cart closer. "You're not supposed to be here."
William looked around. "Why not?"
The old man grinned, half his teeth gone.
William found it nearly impossible to tell his age. The guy could be forty and maybe had lived a hard life, or perhaps he was a well-preserved seventy, pickled by a lifetime of booze. William waved him off, expecting a plea for money. "I can't help you."
The old man stopped just a few feet away. "Everything's out of place isn't it?" He had a strange lilting voice. Almost like an accent.
And he was right. Everything was out of place--from Johnny Davis to the cab driver--everything was wrong.
Strapped to the back of the old man's shopping cart was a plastic sign about the size of a loaf of bread. William recognized the sign, the words, the colors, the logo of a local supermarket chain, all were familiar to him, but the letters were backward, unreadable.
Rainwater ran down William's face. He pointed to the sign. "Why's it written like that?"
The old man looked at the sign then back at William. "Like what?" he said, then shuffled away behind his basket.
* * *
The rain came down even harder. William slouched in a darkened doorway across the street from Fausto's. Nothing made sense. Everything was messed up, backward, out of whack. Almost like this wasn't his home, like he was a stranger seeing it for the first time.
But that was crazy. He'd grown up here, gone to Brother Martin High School, dated Jenny Underhill who went to Cabrini, lost her to Johnny Davis, then got her back only to lose her again the first year of college to some kid who drove a Mustang. Two years later William married Marge at Saint Luke's. They had two kids.
This town was his home. He recognized it. He knew the people here, Big Johnny and Zeke, the bartender at Fausto's. But things were different, little things. John Davis for one. In trying to help him, the big man had gotten himself killed. That wasn't John Davis--at least not the one William Bailey had known since seventh grade. Everything looked the same but wasn't. Nothing was quite right.
But they knew him--or someone like him.
A strange sensation crept over him that made the hair on the back of his neck rise. Maybe he didn't belong here. Maybe everything wasn't as it appeared. Maybe this wasn't his home. But if that were true, then whose home was it? Another thought, even scarier seeped through his brain. If he was here, who was there--at his home?
Crazy.
William dropped his head into his hands. Just considering such nonsense was a waste of time. Yet, here he was scanning the street, thinking of going back inside Fausto's, back to that mirror.
Not much time to think about it. The bar closed at three AM and it was already two-thirty. When he'd left--run for his life with Big Johnny--most of the mirror was still in the frame hanging on the wall.
Something about that damned mirror.
But Fausto's was dangerous, so a couple of hours ago William had found another mirror. In the men's room of a twenty-four hour gas station. The Chevron on North Rampart.
He had approached it cautiously, afraid he was going mad. As he peered over the sink into the mirror, he saw what he always saw, his own reflection. Holding up his left hand, he looked at the image in the mirror, at the watch strapped to his wrist. He noticed that the man in the mirror wore his watch on his right hand. Just the opposite.
William stood in the gas station bathroom for twenty minutes before he worked up his nerve. Finally, he took a deep breath, leaned back, then slammed his forehead into the dirt-streaked mirror. The glass shattered and cut his head. Blood dribbled off the tip of his nose into the sink. His reflection stared out at him from the other side of the mirror, blood running down his face, too.
I have gone crazy!
So the gas station hadn't worked out. Ducking police cruisers, William had wandered the streets, his head reeling. What was he doing?
On the sidewalk, he found a sopping wet magazine that the wind had blown up against the side of a newspaper machine. The cover caught his eye. He picked it up. It was printed backwards, the letters reversed, words running right to left. The spine was on the right. As he flipped through the pages, he couldn't read a thing. Then William had an idea.
In the bathroom of an all night restaurant he held the wet magazine up to the mirror. Perfect. The reflected image was normal, spine on the left, words running left to right, all the letters printed correctly. He could read it clearly. But what did it mean?
Then he drove his head into that mirror. The glass cracked. Someone walked in, a skinny waiter wearing an apron. He stood gawking as William leaned over the sink with tears of pain filling his eyes.
The waiter looked at the broken mirror, then jabbed a finger at William's bloody forehead. "What the hell are you doing?"
"An accident," he mumbled, pressing his fingers against the fresh cut.
The waiter turned. "I'm calling the cops."
William Bailey ran.
Now he was huddled in the rain staring at Fausto's across the street. Because he had nowhere else to go.
He stood and walked toward Fausto's. When he was halfway across the street, a police car glided around the corner, headlights reflecting off the wet pavement. The cops in no hurry, just cruising. William forced himself to keep walking, not to run. One foot in front of the other. In the downpour, odds were that the cops wouldn't even recognize him.
But they did recognize him.
The police car slid to a stop as its high beams clicked on and its blue strobe lights started popping. Both front doors flew open.
Like a sinner seeking the sanctuary of a church, William ran straight for Fausto's door. As he burst inside, Zeke looked up from behind the bar. "William! What the hell are you doing here?"
He ignored the bartender, running right past him, eyes focused on the broken mirror and its busted frame hanging on the wall.
Zeke again, "The cops been looking all over for you. Say you killed two officers and--"
Behind him the front door banged against the wall. "Police!" a voice behind him commanded. "Stop."
But William didn't stop. He kept running--running straight for the mirror. Reflected in its fragmented pieces he saw two uniformed police officers behind him, heard their boots pounding on the wooden floor. Just ten feet separated him from the mirror. At full speed he took two strides then dove. He stretched his arms out overhead and tucked his chin into his chest as his feet left the floor.
He felt one hand hit wall and the other strike broken glass. Then his head hit. More glass cracked, more skin split.
Darkness.
* * *
William's eyes popped open. He was staring at the ceiling. Rough voices, even rougher hands. They rolled him over onto his stomach and jerked his arms behind his back. He felt cold steel on his wrists and heard the metallic ratcheting as the handcuffs tightened and bit into his skin.
He tilted his head up and rested his chin against the floor. Blood poured down the side of his face; he watched it pool on the floor then seep between the wooden planks. By rolling his eyes up he could just see the empty spot on the wall where the mirror had hung. Lying on the floor, three feet from his head, was the broken frame and the rest of the glass.
The two cops grabbed his arms and yanked him to his feet, sending waves of pain through his shoulders and wrists. As they spun him toward the door, one of the officers said, "You're under arrest."
"Why?" William asked.
The officer pressed his face into William's. "Murdering your family for starters."
"My...my family." William felt his stomach cinch and his bowels turn to ice. A thought he'd had earlier in the night echoed inside his head. If he was here, who was there--at his home.
As the cops dragged him across the floor, William glanced up and saw the rusted metal sign nailed above the door.
OUT.
He was home.

Heelo! This is going to be a lot, but I'll try my best to keep it organized. I will give specifics on what all I'm dealing with at the very bottom.
I'm a 5'8, 240lbs, 23 year old trans man (afab) and I have the symptoms of a 65+ year old man.
I've been dealing with chronic back pain since 2018, with absolutely no improvement. Initially we found a tarlov cyst and thought that was it, but the neurosurgeon refused to operate because he said it disappeared and failed to appear on the scan, despite future doctors saying it was visible. This was the beginning of the downward spiral. He gave me gabapentin and duloxetine and sent me on my way. Neither medication helped, and I developed tremors and nerve sensitivity. Gentle brushes feel like sharp pokes, and I can't handle people touching me much anymore.
As time went on, my pain got worse. I went from walking around and going places, sitting at my desk all the time, to being unable to walk or sit more than once a week. I saw plenty of pain management doctors, but none of them helped. They would try nerve ablations, but they didn't help for more than a day and we came to the conclusion that it was the numbing shot that helped, not the ablation. After this failed, they dropped me. Three different pain management facilities did this.
My primary suggested muscle atrophy, which wouldn't have been the cause in the beginning, but we tried to go with it. Physical therapy did not help, and I instead developed sinus tachycardia. My heart rate spiked at 175 while doing basic exercises.
I eventually worsened further, and became fully bedridden. I gained 100lbs in less than a year, and my metabolism tanked. I have constant hunger pain for seemingly no reason. I don't overeat, but my primary refuses to believe that. I eat at most 1600cal a day. I've tried diets, and they only made me gain more weight. I've developed an ED from the way primary has treated me regarding this. Thinking about eating makes my stomach twist.
I can no longer walk more than a few feet in general, standing for more than 30 seconds makes my legs cramp up and my back ache. I am now wheelchair bound. When laying on my back, my ribs ache and it gets hard to breathe, when I reposition I start coughing. Laying in bed hurts. Sitting hurts. Standing hurts. I cannot get relief from the pain, and nobody knows what's wrong with me. They just say fibromyalgia, but that's not a diagnosis that they can do anything with.
(I'm trying to get disability because I can't work, but fibromyalgia isn't one they'll accept either, so it's further frustrating.)
I've developed issues with memory loss, coordination, speech, and eyesight. I can no longer remember things mere seconds ago. If I'm not looking at something, I'll forget about it. I don't have balance anymore. I can't hold conversations, my brain locks up. My astigmatism got a full point worse over 3 months. I don't know if these are relevant but I'll include them.
My mental health is abysmal and things have gotten bad, solely because I've lost hope in ever getting better. I just want to feel better again. I feel like I've been experiencing medical gaslighting because they all just say I can't possibly have these problems because of my age. But I do, so are they just ignoring the evidence? Along with that, I have anxiety and depression, so they blame that a lot. My testosterone also gets blamed for a lot of things, but I started that after all of the pain got bad, so that's not true either. I've checked with my HRT doctor and they confirmed it wouldn't cause any of these things, save for maybe contributing to the weight but not to this degree. I don't know what to do.
We've checked for everything we can think of. Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis (twice), Rheumatoid Arthritis, vitamin deficiencies, parathyroid stuff. I can't remember others. Those are just the main ones I've been suggested, so I'll leave them there.
The only things I know that I have are Renaud's Disease, Scoliosis, Kyphosis, and minor Arthritis in the low back. Probably still a Tarlov Cyst too. I'll add to this list as I remember things. I'm sorry for not having everything on hand and I'm sorry this post is so long/jumbled. It's hard to word things. I'm desperate for help or any suggestions on what to look into.
Medications that I take are as follows:
• busPIRone 5 mg tablet (2 daily)
• montelukast 10mg tablet (1 daily)
• methocarbamoL 750 mg tablet (2 daily)
• pantoprazole 40 mg EC tablet (1 daily)
• fremanezumab-vfrm 225 mg/1.5 mL syringe (1 monthly)
• gabapentin 300 mg capsule (2 daily)
• verapamiL 120 mg tablet (1 daily)
• cetirizine 10 mg tablet (1 daily)
• testosterone cypionate injection (1 weekly, .4)
• diclofenac sodium 1 % gel (as needed)
• acetaminophen 500 mg tablet (2 daily)
• multivitamin tablet (1 daily)
Thank you so much for your time Please let me know if I need to add any more information (I'll be editing anything I forget as I go, or to organize things better)