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’m looking to get back into sewing and pattern cutting but having no luck finding some decent courses. I know Solihull college and the Mac run some good courses that last several weeks but there not currently enrolling at the mo.
Can anyone recommend some alternative good studios, colleges etc that have courses available? + I don’t mind travelling out of the city either

Hello ExJWs!!
ExMo here that served a Mormon mission in New York City. I have a question about your missionary/proselyting work. There are JW members that are more assertive by going into neighborhoods and knocking on doors (similar to Mormons)....and then there are those like I see in front of my work building that set up a shelf of Watchtower material and just stand in front of it. But I have never seen these missionaries talk to ANYBODY walking by or try to hand anything out.
Do members get to choose which style of proselyting they do? Is there a reason why the street corner missionaries are not more assertive?
Thanks!

Hello!
Idk if someone made this list na. A quick search in this sub did not yield the results I was looking for.
To preface this: Yes, we can study in our dorms / houses. Minsan talaga, we need that change of scenery when studying, especially during the height of exams season. Plus, hindi lahat may rooms na always conducive for studying. I am of the opinion na okay lang twice or thrice in a semester mag-study outside (arbitrary numbers).
Some of the cons that keep me from studying out are:

• SAFETY. I lived in Cebu since college (2015), so di na ako new sa environment. Pero with news about gun shootings sa cafe (to be fair, I'm only aware of one during college, pero schoolmate ko kasi ang victim so it hit closer to home), I have my reservations. PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF YOUR SAFETY DIN, can't stress this enough. It's a scary world.
• My chair sa room is so comfortable, my desk is wide and tama ang height. Well-lit din because lamp.
• Sadly, since the pandemic, parang shiny rare Pokemon na ang 24-hour places :(((
• Mas mahirap umuwi at night because less na ang jeeps that ply the road. Truly missing the pre-pandemic time vis-a-vis studying out and 24-hr places.

​

• For USC students, okay mag study sa library. They adjust their operating hours depende sa demand. Bring jacket!!! The library has a small retail corner (library and bar ops) where u can buy instant sachets ng kape, biscuits, candies, ordinary medicine like biogesic na you don't need prescription for, papers, pens, highlighters, drinks, may water dispenser for hot and cold water, may 7/11 across the street. If you prefer, be friends sa blockmates mo, order kayo sa Grab for food and coffee, share sa delivery fee. There's wifi but mahina sa library. You can mobile hotspot pero parang mahina ang Globe din there. Stay safe and vigilant pauwi at night.
• Library in your school / university if meron and conducive for studying. Take advantage sa binabayaran mong tuition. Plus, if you need to more references, chances are may books available kasi nga library: this dawned on me a little too late.
• IT Park has a lot of study places.
  • My favorite in undergrad was Krispy Kreme (coz hello donuts and relatively cheaper coffee) and Bo's Coffee yung near sa Jollibee/Chowking. Closed na ni nga branch sa Bo's, I think? No wifi na yata ang KK and di na 24 hours. I forgot when siya mag-close. Baka open pa ang Bo's Coffee branch in the same bloc where Krispy Kreme is.
  • Recently, may Dunkin Donuts na but they close mga 8 PM yata? For sure walang wifi. Idk okay lang mag-aral there. Takeout ka na lang ng kape.
  • Starbucks near the louvre triangle thingy na closed na today and near Sugbo Mercado. Closes like 2 AM as far a I know. Madaling mapuno. Don't finish 2 venti espresso-based coffee in a span of 4 hours before your big exam. I think no outlets? I haven't seen any. There's a Starbucks near Krispy Kreme/Jollibee/KFC din, pero I haven't tried.
  • Civet Coffee, pre-pandemic hanging 4 AM yata sila. Small tables, small chairs. Idk, my friends liked it there.
• MangoSix. Salinas Drive. Parang gusto ka na nilang paalisin sa lamig ng AC nila. I don't think you know what is cold before you experienced MangoSix cold. Bring jacket. Maybe may times na it won't be as cold. They have wifi. Contrary to (my) expectation, they don't just serve mango stuff, hehe. Limited outlets.
• Idk if Cafe Talk in Escario St. is still open for studying. Poor cell reception inside. Last time I was there was in undergrad, they have a box-like set up: you're inside a cubicle na sa sides ang opening so may ceiling ka, you squat inside like a Japanese would for meals. They had outlets per cubicle back then. Idk now.
• Bo's Coffee near Cebu Doc. I haven't tried, but I always see med students study here.
• Dunkin Donut, Fuente Circle. I think 24 hours sila, pero when I was there, they had to close at like 2 AM kasi they have to clean up, mag-open again in a few hours. For sure open na sila by 6 AM kasi I used to get my coffee there before I go to work. No outlet. No wifi. Love their coffee. Cheap, strong, good taste.
• Tom N Toms. Idk their operating hours sa new na location nila at 88th Avenue. Con is tuyoon kayo siya murag di for students and convenient lang if naay kay car? FOR ME. Back in undergrad, I studied sa branches nila in front of SM City Cebu (APM mall) and yung near sa Greenery. Okay study atmosphere. These 2 branches are already closed na today, sayang.
• Bo's Coffee sa Ramos, I haven't tried studying here. Saba daw here based sa naka-try. I think maraming med students here since near siya to medical schools. Maka-order ko sa foodpanda at dawn so I think 24 hours ni.
• Starbucks Colon, closes by 8 PM I think, small area. Madaling mapuno. May outlets daw but limited. The baristas are kind.
• *Dunkin Donuts, Colon - under construction pa I think, but may tarpaulin sila showing Dunkin, Idk when mag-open, high hopes for this place.
• Starbucks - BPI Ayala. I love it here sa morning kasi wala masyadong tao. Jazzy, quiet, chill vibe. Mapuno late in the afternoon, becomes noisy, closes at 12 AM I think. Their staff is accommodating and approachable. Poor cell reception sa Globe. Wifi is gosurfwifi.

If possible and you're lucky enough na you can have them in your space, get a comfortable chair with back support, a wide desk na appropriate say ang height, and a good lamp. This saves you the trouble of going out. SAFETY FIRST. Pa-deliver ka na lang ng kape.
​
Do you know of other studying out places in Cebu City na you'd like to share? (10%) char.

Link to FDA.gov recall
FDA’s traceback investigation identified a single production facility of the flour consumed by patients. FDA initiated an inspection at the General Mills Kansas City, MO, facility and collected product samples. One sample was found to be positive for Salmonella, and subsequent analysis by Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) found that the Salmonella in the positive sample matched the strain of Salmonella making people sick in this outbreak,” according to today’s outbreak announcement.

tldr : Awesome game with a lot of missing features. Blizzard made the perfect game for casual players but made it so simple that the engame is just a headache to play. They wanted to create something new but ended creating d3 with a lifeless open wolrd map.
The feedback im giving is not coming from an elite nor a casual player... i put myself between these two.
Changes i wish they would add/change :

• More monster variety : a massive open world but yet we fight the same monsters in every region... if seasons bring more im okay with that.
  
• World scaling : This feature feels good and bad at the same time. Maybe we should have more difficulty levels because right now the world feels easy af... world bosses die under 2-3 mins. Maybe increase the helltide area level to +10 or more which would affect everything in that area bosses too. (love the random high level boss in helltide, its like finding butcher)
  
• Open World : Global chat ? Proximity chat? Teleporting to players ?(not from town). Huge open world 0 interaction.
  
• Challenges & Difficulty : Probably devs are working on balance changes, as of now there is barely any challenge. If you wanna find challenge you have to go +10/15 lvl above your current level (with sigils) and even that feels somewhat easy. Just for example the first capstone dungeon is from lvl70+ and a lots of people including me did that on lvl57 (with a sorc).
  

Rewards & Drops: This part is my nightmare, as i saw how people loved the low drop rates in the beta i had hopes that this is gonna be the normal and every legendary drop gives me joy but no... after reaching lvl45+ legendary items drop like trash and in few hours your entire build is done. (any build). Isnt it better to grind for the stuff you want instead of getting everything instantly ?
Gold : I know this is a diablo thing but cant we have smaller gold amounts? like 10-100-1000-10k? watching these millions grow and spend is weird and removes the value. If my friend asks how much to enchante a weapon its so much more user friendly so say 500 than 133million...
Helltide : by far the best feature imo. Farming is rewarding there.
PvP : i saw other arpg games struggle with this to work for years and probably Lost Ark does it the best where you dont fight with your pve gear. If pve gear stays in pvp zones its gonna stay broken.
Aspects & Dungeons : dungeons are fine but the way we get all the aspects is again too easy, an aspect should be dropped inside that specific dungeon, so its worth going in more times, lucky drop is more rewarding.
Endgame & stats : Well the endgame grind loop is pretty much same as in D3. The nightmare dungeons/capstone are nice but there has to be some limits for builds. Lets dont turn this game into a run simulator with trillions of damage numbers floating above us. for example add limit to run speed.
Gems : that bag is needed asap
Inventory : the size is okay but dont make a dungeon drop 4x more than i can carry... this teleporting in and out is annoying
Map : (UI) : some filters would be nice and a list for all the sidequests which is done and not.
Bugs : - monsters stay dead in air - a lot of elites sometimes spawn inside cities - after teleporting skills cant be used - some fire effect from elites make the fps drop insanely - after joining and leaving the group brokes your own man, nothing is refreshing - sometimes and event pops up and randomly disappears. - there are still many sidequest with no cutscene skip function - after todays patch some monsters spawn under ground or in walls
<3

Have a few items i'm trying to clear out all in great condition, noted if games are loose or CIB. Open to Offers on bigger bundles for some discounts.
Shipping starts at $5.00 with Free Shipping on Bundles over $75 with Pics upon request.

PS4

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir Storybook Edition SEALED $140
Metro Redux CIB $15
Rise of the Tomb Raider 20th Anniversary Extras Only No Game $10
COD : Infinite Warfare Legacy Edition CIB $10
Plants vs Zombies 2 : Garden Warfare $10
Has Been Heroes CIB $10
The Division $5
Deus Ex MD $10

XBox One

One Lords of the Fallen $10
Phantom Black Controller CIB USED $30 (Controller is 7/10 cosmetic wise with bottom back bumpers having heavy scuffs & 9/10 overall function wise)

PS Vita

Toukiden: Kiwami $35
The Walking Dead: Season 2 $30
Hot Shots Golf World Invitational $30
Legend Of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel 1 $60
Dynasty Warriors Next $25
Stranger Of Sword City $30
Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space $30
Ragnarok Odyssey Ace $45
Shantae Half-Genie Hero [Risky Beats Edition] $60
UnEpic SEALED $130
Risk Of Rain SEALED $45
Aqua Kitty SEALED $60
Grand Kingdom Case $10
Toukiden : Kiwami Case $15
Reverie $40
Sir Eatsalot $50

3DS

Legend Of Legacy Launch Edition SEALED $65
Crush 3D Loose in 3DS Case $10
Cubic Ninja Loose in 3DS Case $10
Codename S.T.E.A.M $5
Warioware D.I.Y Loose in 3DS Case $30
Smash Bros 3DS CIB $17
Steel Diver CIB $8
Rodea the Sky Soldier Launch Edition CIB $30
OEM Charging Base for original 3DS $20

PS1

Fighter Maker Loose $10
FF Tactics GH CIB $30
FF9 CIB (Case damaged) $15
Crash Bandicoot 2 Loose in Twisted Metal GH Case $15
Sim City 2000 Game+Case (damaged) $10
Oddworld Abes Oddysee CIB $20

DS

Intec DS Case $10
Score 6x Game Cartridge Case $10
Bleach Blade Of Fate Loose $15
Advance Wars 2 Days of Ruin Loose $30

N64

N64 Console with hookups and 1x OEM Grey Controller (Controller is in good condition 8/10 and analog stick is 8/10, console was painted with black acrylic spray paint from previous owner and cartridge slot has been modded to play Japanese N64 carts so doesn't include the slot flaps) $70 shipped - https://imgur.com/a/d83hiHu
007 GoldenEye Loose $35
Beetle Adventure Racing Loose $20
Snowboard Kids 1 Loose $50
007 The World is Not Enough $20
Quake 2 $20
Rush 2049 (damaged label) $40
Armorines Project SWARM $15
Pokemon Puzzle League $30
WCW vs NWO Revenge $15

PS3 $6 Each unless Noted

Final Fantasy X/X2 Remaster Limited Edition CIB $15
NiNoKuni 1 Steelbook CIB $30
Tales Of Symphonia Chronicles CIB $20
Zone Of The Enders HD Collection CIB $15
Yakuza 3 Loose $15
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection Loose $15
Genji Days Of The Blade $20
Genji Days Of The Blade Loose $10
South Park : The Stick of Truth SEALED $10
Need for Speed Most Wanted CIB $10
Infamous
Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 3
Call of Duty Ghost
Need for Speed Pro Street
Call of Duty Modern Warfare
Red Faction Guerilla x2
Battlefield 3
MoH Warfighter LE Loose
Darksiders
Darksiders 2
Crysis 2
Deus Ex HR
Call of Duty 2 Steelbook
Mercenaries 2 in Generic Case
Warhawk
Call of Duty MW3 x2
Assassins Creed 4 BF
Beyond Steelbook Bad shape broken at spine
Uncharted Dual Pack in Custom generic case

PS2 $6 Each Unless Noted

Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec $10
Soul Caliber 2 CIB $15
ATV Offroad Fury 4 $10
MDK 2 Armageddon Loose $10
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 $10
The Getaway $10
Samurai Showdown Anthology $30
007 Agent Under Fire Loose $10
Test Drive GH $10
FIFA 2001 CIB $10
Star Wars The Force Unleashed CIB
Army Men Soldiers of Misfortune
Welcome to Jumpack Demo Disc
Metal Arms in Generic Case
MX vs ATX
Army Men
Rocky
NCAA Football 2004
Army Men : Sarges Hero
Full Spectrum Warrior
FIFA 2001 MLS
NCAA Football 2003
NCAA Football 2004
Eye Toy Antigrav with Eye Camera $20
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2
Wheel of Fortune
Motorcross Mania 3
Seaworld Deep Sea Adventures
Socom US Navy Seal
Red Faction Case $5
Final Fantasy X-2
ThrillVille
Call of Duty 2 The Big Red One in generic Case

Snes Games

Mortal Kombat 2 (label is damaged) $10

XB360 $7 Each unless Noted

Zone Of The Enders HD Collection Limited Edition SEALED $60
The Evil Within
BF3 Limited Edition
Kinect Adventures
Motionsports
Call of Duty Ghosts
3rd Party Controller $10
Darksiders 2
Marvel Ultimate Alliance in Gamestop Case $10
OEM Black Controller with Battery Pack $20

OG Xbox $7 Each unless Noted

Fable The Lost Chapters PH $15
TRON 2.0 Killer App $15
Testdrive
Call of Duty 2 $10
Need for Speed Underground $10
Midnight Club 3 Case with Burnout 3 Disc
Wreckless
Unreal Championship 1
Mace Griffon
Cabelas Deer Hunt 2005
Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball
Chase : Hollywood Stunt Driver
Star Wars : Obi-Wan CIB $10

Gamecube

GB Player OEM Case Holder *Missing outer cardboard and Manual $25
NFL2k3 CIB $8
Monopoly Party+Manual in Blockbuster Case $10
Star Wars Rogue Leader+Manual in DVD Case $15
Spiderman 2 Player's Choice (Missing Manual) $15
Megaman Anniversary Collection (Missing Manual) $20
MC Groovez Dance Craze$10
Fifa Soccer 2002 $10
Spiderman 1 Case $5
007 NightFire Case with Fantastic Four Games $5

Switch

TechKen Switch Pro Wireless Controller Purple $20
Ys VIII Lacrimosa Of DANA (PAL Version) CIB $40

Wii

Nights Journey of Dreams in Gamestop Case & Manual $10
Generic Dual Wiimote Charging Dock $10

Covers, Cases and Manuals

8x Universal Game Cases (N64,SNES,Genesis,etc) $8 Each
3DS Persona Q : Shadow of the Labyrinth Case $15
Wii Dragon Quest Swords Manual $7
Wii Monster Hunter 3 Manual $5
Wii Elebits Manual $5
GC Ghost Recon Case & Manual $7
GC True Crime Streets of LA Case & Manual $10
GC Spiderman 1 Case Only $7
GC Dead to Rights Case & Manual $10
GC Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow Case & Manual $10
GC Hitman 2 Case & Manual $10
GC MoH Frontline Case & Manual $7
GC Rainbow Six 3 Case & Manual $7
PS2 Call of Duty FH Case & Manual $7
GC NFL 2K3 Case $5
GC Turok Evolution Case & Manual $5
PS4 Nioh Case $5
PS Vita Exist Archive Case $5
PS3 Zone of Enders HD Collection Case & Manual $10
PS2 Dragon Quest 8 Case & Manual $10
PS2 Onimusha 2 Case & Manual $10
PS2 Tekken 5 Case & Manual $10
PS2 Kingdom Hearts 1 GH Case & Manual $10
PS2 Kingdom Hearts 2 GH Case & Manual $10
PS2 Area 51 Case PAL version $5
GC NBA 2K2 Case & Manual $10
PS2 Final Fantasy X-2 Case $ Manual $10
PS2 Starwars Battlefront Case & Manual $10
GC Prince of Persia Cover & Manual $10
GC Viewtiful Joe 1 Manual $20
PS2 Katamari Damacy Cover & Manual $10
GC Burnout 3 Takedown $5
PS2 Nightmare before Christmas Oogies Revenge Cover & Manual $15
PS2 GTA San Andreas Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Capcom Classic Collection Cover & Manual $15
PS2 Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution Manual $5
PS2 Megaman X Collection Cover & Manual $15
PS2 Star Ocean Till the End of Time Cover & Manual $10
PS2 R-Type Final Cover & Manual $15
PS2 Soul Caliber 2 Cover $7
XB Panzer Dragoon Orta Cover & Manual $30
XB Ninja Gaiden Black Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Mad Maestro Cover & Manual $10
PS2 007 Everything or Nothing Manual $5
PS2 Half Life 2 Cover $10
PS2 Devil May Cry 3 Cover & Manual $10
PS2 FF X-2 Cover & Manual $10
PS2 REZ Cover & Manual $15
PS2 Rygar Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Chaos Legion Manual $7
PS2 Zone of Enders 1 Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Final Fantasy 12 Manual $7
PS2 Front Mission 4 Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence Cover $7
PS2 Escape from Monkey Island Cover $7
PS1 Final Fantasy Chronicles GH Back/Front Cover & Manual $10
PS1 Tenchu 1 Cover & Manual $15
PS1 Final Fantasy 7 GH Front/Back Cover & Manual $15
PS1 Buster Bros Collection Cover & Manual $20
GC Zelda Master Quest Manual + Windwaker Promotional Paperwork $30
PS2 Black Case & Manual $10

Background: I am an incoming full-time student at Rush medical college. I have been having trouble to find affordable housing (price range $1400/mo, but flexible). I recently found a place for $1500 including utilities (After much negotiation of course) around the City Garden Waldorf School. Specifically 5 minutes south of that school is where the house is. It takes 30 minutes of public transportation to go to school. It's a little far, but doable.
Now my questions are:

1. Is that area safe? I have heard mixed reviews on that area and would just like to hear more opnions.
2. Otherwise, do you know if ther are other places that I can consider that is within my price range? I am looking at a one bedroom for a studio that's close to Rush. Or really, any place that allows me to rent the whole place my self.

Thanks so much.

Most of these are cross posted in both eBay and Mercari. I’m always open to reasonable offers.
All comics come bagged and boarded. I always ship comics in a box or Gemini mailer, never in an envelope. Shipping within the US only. 1-2 comics = $6 3-9 comics = $11
Buy 5 or more comics and take $0.25 off each $2 comic and $0.50 off each $3 or higher comic. I’m always open to reasonable offers.
52 Weeks (DC Comics) 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 - $2 each 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 47, 50, 51: - $2 each 3 (1st Adrianna Tomaz, Isis) - $8 7 (1st Kate Kane, VF) - $5 7 (1st Kate Kane) - $8 9 (Cameo Batwoman) - $5 11 (1st Batwoman) - $15 12 (1st Isis) - $15 16 (Black Adam) - $5 23 (1st Osiris) - $5 45 (Black Adam) - $10 front back 46 (Black Adam) - $5 48 (1st Renee Montoya as the Question) - $8 52 Weeks - $5 Comics 52 Weeks - $8 Comics 52 Weeks - $15 Comics
Absolute Carnage Lethal Protectors 1 (2nd Print - 1st Shriek as Demagoblin)front back - $6
Absolute Carnage Miles Morales: 3 front back - $2
Absolution (AWA Upshot) 1 front back - $1
Action Comics 689 - 1st Black Suit Superman front back - $4 780 front back - $4
Age of X-Man Alpha: Blank Variant front1 front2 back1 back2 - $5
Alias Hardcover Volume 1 (Collects Issues #1-9) - $15 shipped via USPS Media Mail front back 1st page notes
Alpha Flight: 111 front back - $2
Amazing Spider-Man 195 - 2nd Appearance and Origin of Black Cat - $50 265 - 1st Silver Sable- $50 30 (Legacy 471) - 1st Ezekiel Sims, 1st Morlun - $50 34 front back - $8 37 front back - $8
Astonishing X-Men (AoA) 1-4 complete set $7
Astro City: 11 front back - $1
Authority 23, 24, 25, 27 - $4 each
Avengers Annual: 18 front back - $2
Avengers Spotlight: 30 front back -$1
Batman Fortnite Zero Point: 5 front back - $5 6 front back - $5
Bishop The Last X-Man 3 front back - $3 4 front back - $3
Black Panther (2022) #3 CGC 9.8, 1st Tosin front back - $180 shipped w/ insurance
Blue Devil: 10 front back - $1
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8: 2 front back - $3
Butcher Knight: 1 front back - $1
Cable 23 front back - $3
Cage: 1 front back - $3 1 newsstand front back - $3 2 front back - $2
Captain America 290 - 1st Sin as Mother Superior - $40
Captain Marvel 16 - Cameo of Phyla-Vell - $50
Daredevil 185 front back - $8 186 front back - $6
DC Comics World War III 1-4 DC 52 Weeks follow up with Black Adam. Complete set $8
Deadpool (2014) 31 - 1st Full Ellie Camacho, Deadpool’s daughter $25 33 - Deadpool’s daughter appearance - $5
Empire: 2 front back - $2
Flash: 774 cover A front back - $3 774 Cover B front back - $3
Gamma Flight 3A front back - $3 3B front back - $3 4A front back - $3 4B front back some color rub on front top staple - $3
Geiger: 3 - $5 6 - Cover B, C, D - $10 each
Generation X: 2, 6, 9, 18, 22, 23, 32, 33 - $1 each
Ghost Rider and Blaze Spirits of Vengeance 1 (polybagged) front back - $5
G.I. Joe A Real American Hero (Image): 3 front back - $3 4 front back - $3
Green Arrow (2001) 1-12 - $65 shipped (#1 CGC 9.6, #2-12 raw) Issue 1 is an old 1st gen CGC case with the old red label. These cases aren’t sealed completely and the sides can be slightly separated. See pictures and also CGC forum discussion
Green Lantern 46 front back - $2 46n front back - $2 52 DC Universe Logo front back - $5 53 front back - $2
Guardians of the Galaxy: 27 front back - $1
Gun Honey 1, Adam Hughes FOC Cover front back - $10
Hail Hydra: 1 Blank Variant front back - $5
Harley Quinn 25th Anniversary Special front back - $5
Hellcop 3 Sketch Cover 3 (Sketch Cover) front back - $4
Hotell Volume 2 1 front back - $3
Huntress (1989) #1, 1st Helena Bertineli - $10 front back
Incredible Hulk: 210 - $10 230 - $6 458, 459, 467 - $3 each
Iron Man 281 - 1st Cameo - $20 281 Marvel Legends Reprint - 1st Cameo - $15
JSA 23 front back - $6 53 front back - $4
Just a Pilgrim (Garth Ennis): 1 front back - $3
Maestro: 3 front back - $3
Marjorie Finnegan Temporal Criminal: 1 front back - $15
Maximum Security: 1 front back - $3
MCMLXXV 1 front back - $2
Midnight Nation: 2 front back - $3 7 front back - $3 8 front back - $3
Morbius the Living Vampire: 2 front back - $2
Nevermen: 1 front back - $1
New Think (AWA Upshot) 1 front back - $2
New Warriors: 6, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26, 29 - $2 each
New X-Men Academy X: 25, 35, 37, 43 - $3 each
Nice House on the Lake 2 front back - $8 3 front back - $8 4 front back - $5 5 front back - $5 6 front back - $5 8 front back - $5 9 front back - $5
Obergeist Ragnarok Highway 1 front back - $3 1b front back - $3 2 front back - $3
Objective Five: 1 front back - $1
Peter Parker Spider-Man: 32 front back - $3 34 front back - $3
Rai: 6 front back - $5 7 front back - $5
Red Star 3 front back - $3
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Part 1
Part 2
We were driving rapidly down Main Street as a horrible creature from another dimension followed behind us, its long strides keeping pace and making the car shake with each step it took. The engine roared as we sped away from the butcher shop. Randy was sitting in the seat next to me and it took me a minute to realize he was eating something.
It was a bucket of KFC.
"Seriously!? How can you be hungry at a time like this?? We're about to die, Randy!"
"We got bigger problems than that right now," he said, patting down his pockets with greasy fingers and leaving stains as he searched for something. "We're all out of booze! We need to make a pit stop as soon as you get a chance."
Normally this would be an absurd statement. But unfortunately the lack of alcohol was a bit of an issue, since there were plenty more monsters ready to come through into our world, and the only thing keeping them out was our ability to stay intoxicated so we didn’t see them. I had kept my percentage down below the legal driving limit, but I was starting to feel like that wasn't cutting it anymore.
"You need to start drinking more," Randy explained. "You're the one who saw it first, remember? If anything, this is kinda your fault."
I gripped the steering wheel with white knuckled rage and continued driving.
Regardless of what he said, I want to make sure it's on the record that this was all Randy's fault. He had admitted to making at least one wish using a cursed magic monkey paw - and we all know how that usually plays out.
I saw a convenience store and immediately slammed on the brakes. Reaching over Randy, I threw open his door and kicked him out. It was easy since he wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was already beginning to fall asleep.
"What the fuck, dude?" He yelled as I pulled away.
"Get us more booze! I'm gonna circle the block," I shouted at him out the window, picking up speed.
Then I took out my gun and aimed at the monster which was getting closer by the second. I took three shots at it over my shoulder and missed two of them. But the third caught it squarely in the neck and it began to howl a guttural cry, dripping black blood all over the street from its fresh wound. It slowed down momentarily, but then picked up its pace again, coming after me with renewed rage.
My goal had been accomplished, though. I’d been trying to keep it away from Randy, since he was on foot and more vulnerable. We would need to abandon the car, though, I realized. If I was going to start drinking more I wouldn’t be able to drive safely. As bad as things were getting, I wasn’t about to start breaking the law - especially that particular one. I’d seen enough death and destruction caused by drunk drivers over my years on the force. I wasn’t going to go down that road.
I looked back to see the creature still gaining on me.
My mind was racing trying to think of a way to evade it, to outwit it. I needed to do something to kill it. But what?
Suddenly my cell phone was ringing. I picked it up and looked at the caller ID. It was Jay, the delivery driver. He was in the car ahead of me and I had kind of forgotten he was there.
“Listen,” he said quickly. “I got a plan. We need to lure that thing to the swamp. Just follow me and keep up the pace.”
“It’s a cop car,” I said dryly. “I’m pretty sure I can keep up with your piece of shit-”
My words were cut short as the line went dead and the car ahead of me began to accelerate rapidly. I floored it but found the guy was still gaining distance between the two of us.
Whatever he had under the hood was making that little car go a lot faster than I would have thought possible.
My phone dinged and I looked down to see a text from Jay. It was an eggplant with a water spray emoji.
This fucking town…
*
We reached the edge of the city limits of Hollow’s End to find a parking lot which sloped at an unnatural angle downwards. At the bottom of this strange gravel lot was a murky-looking swamp full of brackish green water. A small copse of trees stood to one side near the shore.
No other cars were parked there which was good, since the creature was still close behind us.
I was following Jay as closely as I could and imitating his car’s movements, although my vehicle was sluggish and clumsy by comparison. He was still driving at top speed, and I figured it was important that I keep up with him for whatever he planned to do.
When we reached the edge of the water, near that little grouping of trees, he hit the brakes and swerved to the right. His tires stayed on the gravel, but just barely. The entire parking lot was sloped so severely towards the water that the force of gravity was insisting on taking us into the swamp.
Realizing that my bigger vehicle wouldn’t make the turn in time, I hit the brakes early and tried to slow down, knowing that otherwise I would crash right into a tree or go into the water trying to make the move.
As soon as I slowed down I could hear the creature’s breath and its movements just behind the car. I avoided the temptation to look back, since I knew it would be my death if I did. Instead, I yanked hard on the wheel and turned it to the right, skidding to a stop on the grass, my fender just inches away from a large pine tree.
The creature’s brakes were not quite as good as mine, since it was desperate to kill me and hadn’t really slowed down. Instead, it went skidding into the green water, coated with algae and looking much thicker than was normal. It was like a giant bowl of pea soup. The creature was thrashing around, looking as if it were in pain, and then I noticed the tendrils of swamp water moving on its skin, pulling it in deeper, like an enormous squid wrestling with a shark.
My phone rang again and I picked it up, my eyes still focused on the creature trying to get out of the swamp. It looked like it would not be able to escape from whatever was holding it there, and I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t gone in with that wild last minute maneuver.
Then it was as if an enormous hand reached up from below and pulled the creature under. Despite the fact that there were only dark empty sockets where eyes should have been, I could have sworn I saw them widen as it was dragged under, and then was gone.
“Problem solved,” Jay said when I answered the phone. “You can thank me later. And we’ll definitely owe Swampy a favor. Now let’s get back into town and grab Randy. Maybe the three of us can figure out a solution to this whole mess.”
*
I managed to convince Jay to let me ride shotgun in his car, telling him that mine was having engine trouble. This was partly as a ploy to make him our designated driver, but also to cover for the fact that he was clearly the superior driver of a far better automobile than my cruiser. And who knew when we’d have to outrun one of those monsters again?
After applying copious amounts of duct tape to all of the mirrors on the vehicle, we were off, heading back towards the convenience store where I’d left Randy.
We found him out front with a large paper bag full of bottles in his arms, sleeping in the grassy ditch near the road. There were several children taking turns at poking him with a stick.
“Okay, beat it, kids!” I yelled at them as we approached.
The children ran off and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a few of them looked very odd. One had a furry face and ears like a dog, while another had red eyes, and yet another was running on all fours. They scattered in every direction, making it difficult to pinpoint any other discrepancies.
“What’s the deal with this town?” I muttered to nobody in particular.
“How much time do you have?” Jay asked, laughing. “This place is weirder than you could possibly imagine. There’s a lot of history here. Sorry to say, you didn’t really know what you were getting into when you moved to this place.”
“Can you give me a quick summary?” I asked, kicking Randy gently in the ribs. He snored and swatted the air like an annoyed cat, then rolled over on his other side. His right leg began to pump up and down as if he were chasing a rabbit in his dreams.
“I’m not really at liberty to discuss all of it. People in Hollow’s End prefer to keep their secrets to themselves. But if you get to know them, you’ll find most folks are nice enough. As long as you live here, anyways. Tourists do tend to occasionally go missing if they stay out past sunrise. And if you meet anyone wearing a hooded robe your best bet is to avoid them. Oh, and there’s this guy named Frank who-”
Randy sat bolt upright, screaming at the top of his lungs, clutching the bag of liquor bottles so tightly against his chest that I thought they would shatter.
“It’s okay, man,” I said, leaning down to pat his shoulder in what I hoped was a comforting gesture. “It was just a nightmare.”
He was breathing heavily for a few moments and didn’t respond. But then finally he unscrewed the cap of one of the liquor bottles and took a long gulp.
“Right. A nightmare. That’s all it was.”
He didn’t seem entirely convinced.
“Alright, what’s the plan, guys?” Jay asked. “I’m happy to help out if you need me to.”
I took one of the liquor bottles from Randy and took a long drink from it. After wiping my mouth, I screwed the cap back on and stuffed the bottle in my pocket. Thinking hard about the next lead to follow up on, I came up short. We didn’t really have anything.
“Do you know anyone who would be interested in buying a monkey paw?” I asked. “Is there anyone in town dumb enough or reckless enough to take ownership of it? Because I feel like that fucking thing is at the center of all of this. It’s like a murder investigation - if we can find the weapon used to commit the crime, we might be able to solve it.”
Jay looked at me and Randy looked at the ground between his legs.
“I know just the guy,” Jay answered. “You know how I was telling you to stay away from Frank? Well, we might need to disregard that advice, just temporarily.”
*
The three of us pulled up outside a house a short while later, now with Jay behind the wheel, chauffeuring us around town.
We went up to the front door and he continued explaining the protocol for how to deal with this Frank individual.
“Remember, whatever you do, don’t stare. And don’t go inside his house - whatever he wants to tell us he can tell us outside. People who go in there are usually tourists, and they’re never, ever seen again. That’s like guaranteed death just stepping into that place.”
I tried not to think about how many rules I was breaking, how many vows in my oath as a Sheriff were completely null and void now.
“You know I’m a police officer, right? Most people don’t speak so freely about the kidnapping and murder of tourists.”
Randy slapped my arm.
“Come on, man. Just when we’re starting to think you’re cool, you go and say something like that. Killing tourists is a proud tradition in Hollow’s End. If you don’t like it then you shouldn’t have moved here.”
I didn’t have time to debate the subject anymore, as Jay was now knocking on the front door of the house.
The door swung open on the first knock, as if it had been slightly ajar.
“Hello,” Jay called into the darkness. “Frank? Are you there? I need to talk to you about something.”
He stuck his head into the dark gap afforded by the open door. For a moment I had a horrible mental image of it slamming shut on his neck, squeezing and choking him as blood poured from wounds created by the pressure of sharp wood on his flesh.
But instead, something worse happened.
Jay let out a gasp and then disappeared through the gap. As if he had been picked up by his hair and was dragged inside by a hungry bear.
My heart was pounding fast as I realized I was going to have to ignore all of Jay's warnings if I was going to save him and the town. Despite the dangers, we were going to have to go inside after all.
YT
TCC

Use this thread to get info, ask questions, and find a table buddy!
​

DATE	CITY	TICKETS
JUNE 14TH	TEMPE, AZ	https://www.tempeimprov.com/shows/214732
JUNE 15TH	SALT LAKE CITY, UT	https://www.wiseguyscomedy.com/events/beach-too-sandy
JUNE 21ST	ST. LOUIS, MO	https://st-louis.heliumcomedy.com/shows/216857
JUNE 22ND	KANSAS CITY, MO	https://improvkc.com/ShowDetails/8a89b74a-0994-4d5c-89f8-d2bcbf900af4/3ef90ddd-e238-427f-bd95-e028af25d0dc/Beach_too_Sandy__Water_too_Wet/Kansas_City_Improv
JULY 6TH	NEW YORK, NY	https://citywinery.com/newyork/online/article/NYC-Beach-Too-Sandy-Water-Too-Wet-7-6-23-8pm
JULY 7TH	SOMERVILLE, MA	https://thewilbur.com/armory/artist/beach-too-sandy
JULY 25TH	PHILADELPHIA, PA	https://concerts.livenation.com/beach-too-sandy-water-too-wet-philadelphia-pennsylvania-07-25-2023/event/02005E87DBD17972
JULY 26TH	WASHINGTON, DC	https://dcimprov-com.seatengine.com/shows/216019

Can't wait to see y'all at the shows!!!

FINAL UPDATE: Thank you all again, but I have now turned off notifications for this post. I want to reiterate that my doctor is NOT a paediatrician, she’s a family doctor working off her general, textbook knowledge of baby numbers. We do not see paediatricians in Canada unless you are referred to one for an issue, so I cannot just “get a paediatrician.” I also cannot just “get a new doctor,” but I don’t expect people outside of Canada to know how Canadian healthcare works so it’s ok. We will be looking for a new doc, but we will end up on a waiting list with many people who do not have a doctor at all. I won’t be leaving a bad public review (my whole family sees her, only ever had this problem) and I won’t be reporting her or trying to get her license revoked because this was one experience and that’s seriously dramatic.
If we can’t get a new doctor before her next appointment, I will try to ask more questions and stand up to her a bit more for my daughter (I’m really not used to questioning doctors and in the moment was too upset with what she was saying to really do anything.)
Thank you all for your advice and stories of your own big babies!
———
This is partly a rant and partly me wondering if I’m overreacting, but the doctor (family doc, not a ped) keeps calling my baby obese. She did this at the 4 month appointment and again at the 6 month appt. Not only that, but she’s being a bit rude about it imo.
I know I have a big baby (exclusively formula fed), she measured in at 99th percentile for both height and weight at 4mo and 6.5mo. But the doctor is only looking at her weight and telling me she’s too big. At the 4 month appointment she said I should spread out her feedings so she’s not “obese.” I was a little upset, since I feed my baby when she’s hungry and when she’s no longer hungry she stops, but I decided to mostly disregard it since I didn’t think a 4 mo could be classified as obese.
This time at her 6 month (really 6.5) appointment was much worse. Things she said to me this time:
-“Oh no no she’s so big! No no no she’s too big!!” (This was right when she walked through the door and again after looking at her weight. She doesn’t care that’s shes as long as an average 9 month old)
-“Oh no, you need to cut down on her feedings, we don’t want her to have a bad relationship with food.” (Can a 6.5mo have a bad relationship with food??)
-“She needs to know food is not a treat for when she does something good.” (She’s not a dog, I’m not tossing her a treat every time she rolls over, I feed her when she’s hungry.)
-“Is she crawling or walking yet?” (I said no, but she’s getting close to crawling) The doctor said: “Oh, it’s because she’s too big.” (No??? It’s because shes 6.5 months old???) ETA: she did say she was teasing but I didn’t think it was very funny
She suggested we try to spread her feedings to every 4 hours. I’d like to see her tell a screaming baby that she can’t eat yet because it’s been 3 hours since her last bottle and not 4…
Honestly I was almost in tears by the time she was done with all her comments. I felt like a bad mother for feeding my baby when she’s hungry. I kind of want a new doctor, but we’re in a smaller city in Canada and were pretty lucky to get this one because I have other family who see her. I don’t even want to go to her 9 month appointment for fear of being ridiculed again. I feel like she’s not even offering good medical advice, just teasing my baby for her size.
Anyways that’s my rant, maybe I’m overreacting but idk
Edit: WOW! Thank you everyone for your comments with advice and also your own experiences. I’m trying to read through them all as LO scoots backwards around the room 😂 We will definitely be on the hunt for a new doctor. It might be difficult but hopefully we can find one before her next appointment
Edit 2: I’m reading through all the comments and am overwhelmed! Thank you all, but I will say I don’t necessarily think she’s a bad doctor or a bad person, she’s just going about this in a wrong way and it’s not her area of expertise. She was good to me during the first part of my pregnancy when the OB was late responding to my referral, she helps my dad a lot with his diabetes and she remembered my grandmother’s cancer diagnosis years after she had already passed. She’s just not a good doctor for my big baby.
Edit 3: She has been hitting all her milestones even though she’s bigger! But just for clarification on how LO eats: she gets fed when she’s hungry, which is usually every 2.5-3 hours during the day. She doesn’t eat overnight so her total formula intake is usually between 26-30oz. She’s never gone above the recommended limit of 35oz, and now that’s she eating some more solids she eats a little less formula.

The 2023 James Beard Awards honored chefs and restaurants in a ceremony held in Chicago on Monday night.
All the winners: Among the top awards, Rob Rubba of Oyster Oyster in Washington, D.C. won Outstanding Chef, and Friday Saturday Sunday in Philadelphia, PA took home the Outstanding Restaurant award. * Best New Restaurant went to Kann in Portland, OR, and Ellen Yin of High Street Hospitality Group in Philadelphia, PA was named Outstanding Restaurateur. * Emerging Chef was awarded to Damarr Brown of Virtue in Chicago, IL, and Outstanding Bakery went to Yoli Tortilleria in Kansas City, MO.
Notable mentions: The Humanitarian of the Year award was given to Olivia Watkins and Karen Washington, co-founders of the Black Farmer Fund, which will receive a $20,000 grant. * The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Madhur Jaffrey, an actress, cookbook author, and chef who was inducted into the James Beard Foundation's Cookbook Hall of Fame in 2006.
New ethics code: The James Beard Foundation recently outlined a new ethics code for nominees, requiring them not to engage in inhumane, exploitative, or unlawful workplace practices; violent or abusive behavior; or any form of discrimination.
View original article on NPR
This summary was created by an AI system. The use of this summary is subject to our Terms of Service.

THE compulsive gambler sub consciously wants to lose his shirt, of course, along with everything else he owns, and so he again and again puts down the rent money on the Montreal Expos or 80‐to‐1 2‐year‐old maiden fillies wear ing blinkers and bandaged forelegs. And if he's nothing else, Walter Matthau, the 50‐year‐old stage and movie actor, is a compulsive gambler. A few years ago, for instance, while in Florida to film episodes of a TV series called “Tallahassee 7000,” Matthau breath‐takingly managed in a mere two weeks to drop no less than $183,000. He lost the money, moreover, not by backing crippled nags at Hialeah but mainly instead by betting on the outcome of spring training baseball games, a way of tossing bundles of money out the window that should surely that year have won him the Nobel Prize for masochism.
Since dropping that $183,000, sum that eventually took, him six years to pay off to his increa ingly impatient Mafia ‐ connected book maker, Matthau has cut down con siderably on the amounts that he bets, especially when he goes to race tracks, and on a good day at Holly wood Park he can now come happily home having lost only $400 or $580.
Still, he continues casually to bet thousand dollars or so on things like N.B.A. play‐off games or whether or not a friend can name the capital of Albania, and so remains a prime example of the evils of gambling to all those New Yorkers who are thinking of taking a first‐time fling at the ponies because of an easy access these days to offtrack betting windows in Grand Central Station and elsewhere. “I think that off‐track betting is great for New York,” dryly remarked Matthau during a recent three‐day visit to the city from his home in California. “I mean, it's so democratic—if they keep up off‐track betting long enough, every body in town will be on welfare.”
Of course, though he has the mo rose, hangdog look of a chronic loser, Matthas is scarcely a loser in everything he gets mixed up in. Far from it, as a matter of fact. For example, when signing contracts for his last several movies he chose to gamble on accepting a percentage of the profits in lieu of a salary, and at least one of these gambles has al ready handsomely paid off—his per centage of “Cactus Flower,” a film he made a couple of years ago with Ingrid Bergman and Goldie Hawn, has so far amounted, to more than a million dollars. And he's also on the way to making another million or so as his share of the profits from each of his two most recent pictures—“A New Leaf,” a wacky comedy in which he is co‐starred with Elaine May, and “Plaza Suite,” the film version of Neil Simon's exceedingly successful Broadway play. So, unlike almost every other compulsive gamb er in the country, Matthau is nowadays just about literally rolling in money. Besides, pleased with the way that his career is going, with his marriage, with his three children, and with his seaside home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., Matthau is even happy, an emotion not normally associated with the compulsive gambler.
HOW does a compulsive gambler get to be one? The story of Matthau's life is perhaps an object lesson to all of those who have lately been spend ing their lunch hours in Grand Cen tral Station to wait in line for the dubious privilege of giving away their money to Howard Samuels and his Off track Betting Corporation. In any event, Matthau was born on the lower East Side of Manhattan on Oct. 1, 1920, the son of an impoverished Russian‐Jewish immigrant from Kiev, in the Ukraine, and of a Lithuanian born Jewish mother.
When Matthau was 3 years old, and his older brother, Henry, was 5, his father, a worker at such odd jobs as serving subpoenas for law firms, lit out for parts unknown, leaving him and his brother to be raised by their mother, Rose, who managed to scrape a marginal living for herself and her sons by working as a sewing machine operator in garment district sweatshops. In 1935, when Matthau was 15 years old, he learned of his father's death in Bellevue Hospital. His mother is still living, and—sup ported in the grand manner by her sons (Matthau's brother lives now on Long Island and is a jobber of surplus Army‐Navy goods)—divides her time these days between a penthouse on West End Avenue and a condo in Miami Beach.
During his childhood, Matthau, his brother and his mother lived in succession of cold‐water tenement apartments in the Ukrainian area of the Lower East Side, that is, around East Fifth Street near Second Av enue, being forced to vacate each apartment after only a few months because they'd got so hopelessly far behind in the rent that their land lord would have them evicted. Years later, when Matthau briefly sublet Paul Newman's house in Hollywood for $3,700 per month, he recalled with a shake of his head that $3,700 was more money than the Matthau family had spent on rent during 20 years on the Lower East Side. Mat thau, however, hasn't the slightest nostalgia these days for his poverty ridden childhood. “It was a night mare—a dreadful, horrible, stinking nightmare,” he grimly remembers.
On the Lower East Side, Matthau recalls, the highest ambition of most of his class ates was some day to become a salesman for a garment district dress house, for he himself secretly had far more exalted am bitions — by the age of 8, a day dreamer, a loner, a reader of Shake speare, he'd already determined to become a famous writer and actor. Encouraged by a teacher who ad mired his speaking voice, Matthau appeared in a number of school plays and also regularly recited poetry in school assemblies. On East Fifth Street, anyone who evinced an interest in poetry was thought by his classmates to be seriously lacking in machismo, and Matthau often found himself getting beaten up at recess by schoolyard bullies. So, already feet tall by the age of 10 (he weighed only 90 pounds, however, and, says Matthau, who is today 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 180 pounds; “when I drank cherry soda, I looked like thermometer”), he put himself through a regimen of muscle‐building until “I had Popeyelike bumps on my skinny arms and could beat up any body who made snide remarks about my poetry reading.”
When Matthau was 11 years old, in fact, one of those whom he alleges to have beaten up in the schoolyard was none other than Rocky Graziano, who grew up, of course, to become the middleweight boxing champion of the world. Of Matthau's claim to having beaten up Graziano, one can unequivocally make the following statement: The story either is or is not true.
IN any event, along with being a compulsive gambler, Matthau is also something of a compulsive stretcher of the truth. Or, to put it perhaps a bit more tactfully, a compulsive weaver of fiction when it comes to talking about his past. For example, bored with repeating the story of his life over and over again to interview ers, Matthau has on more than one occasion told newspapermen and magazine writers that his father was a defrocked Russian Orthodox priest who'd had to flee for his life from Czarist Kiev in 1906 because he'd been preaching sermons in support of Pope Pius X. And this story, told by Matthau to interviewers with an absolutely straight face, has appeared several times as the God's truth in such usually accurate publications as Time and Current Biography.
NOT long ago, too, when Matthau was in New York for a round of newspaper, maga zine, radio and TV interviews to promote “Plaza Suite,” chanced to be in earshot when he told a story to Neil Simon that he'd heard the night be fore from Gene Saks, the director, about a somewhat aging and hard ‐ of hearing actor who'd had trouble re membering his lines in a play last winter at the Palm Beach Playhouse in Florida. So, as Matthau told the story to Si mon, a prompter, unseen by the audience, was hidden in a hole cut into the front of the stage and instructed to call out only key words to the actor when a line was for gotten. “Drastic,” whispered the prompter when the actor went up in his lines on the opening night of the play. From the hard ‐ of ‐ hearing actor, no response. “Drastic,” repeated the prompter in a somewhat louder voice. Again, no response. “Drastic,” the prompter now all but shouted. Still no response, upon which a man in the second row of the orchestra stood up and yelled “Dastic!” The actor heard him, smiled, remem bered his line, and the play went on.
As show‐biz stories go, not bad. Not so great, either. The following evening, however, happened to be on hand when Matthau was being inter viewed by David Frost on Frost's TV talk show and was asked, “What was your most embarrassing moment in the theater?” And, without batting an eyelash, Matthau pro ceeded to tell the “drastic” story as though it was some thing that had happened to him years ago on Broadway.
He concocts personal anec dotes that aren't true, Mat thau later somewhat abashedly told me, because they liven up otherwise boring inter views and make his past seem more colorful than it really was. “Like saying that my father was a Catholic priest — I figure that makes me more interesting than just another Jewish actor who had a pair of Jewish parents,” Matthau explained to me with a grin. “Jewish and Catholic— if I can just work a Protestant into my background, I'm all set.”

Lu, SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!
Mo city is wack, He's down my list along with cheff dee and Lue.
I don't know about my feelings on like Adonis but I'm glad he held his own with Cheff Dee and Lue.