Used dirt bikes for sale near me under $2000
A reddit all about dual sport motorcycles
2010.12.11 02:11 katui A reddit all about dual sport motorcycles
A sub all about riding dual sports or dual sporting rides.
2011.05.27 11:20 Weatherstation Disc Exchange
A market to buy, sell, or trade disc golf discs, bags, and other related items.
2010.10.24 20:37 jwegan Subreddit for Shiba Inu dogs
Subreddit for Shiba Inu dogs. Post your pictures, videos, questions, etc.
2023.03.20 22:57 boteva My story
Hi everyone,
I am a 44-year-old father of two amazing kids and husband to an amazing wife. I want to share my story with you, hoping that it can inspire guys like me.
My story began during my mother's pregnancy when my father hit her a couple of times, causing me to shiver inside her womb. My first childhood memories were of the hits I received from my cruel and brutal father. He worked in moving and weighed 240 pounds, making it even harder to endure. My mother was also subjected to his abuse, and one of the most traumatic events was when I saw him choke her when I was 10 years old, she almost died.
I suffered from this abuse throughout my childhood until I was 17 years old, including emotional abuse and neglect. After I joined the army, I almost shot him when he was very close to hitting me again. Only today do I understand how much stress and anxiety I experienced and still do.
Shortly after my army service, I developed an autoimmune disease called Myelitis , which caused me to use a wheelchair for a few weeks. After recovering, I started training again, doing gym workouts and running.
From 2001 to 2006, I worked in the center of Jerusalem, where terrorist attacks were frequent. I was close to most of them and to this day, I am hypervigilant from every loud noise. But I didn't let any of this stop me from becoming a better person. I started working in the high tech industry and became an expert and manager in my field. I also ran in 10km competitions, and in my late twenties, I met my wife. My traumatic childhood caused me a lot of problems in my relationships, but I am still married, and my wife still loves me, and I love her. I am lucky.
When I was 39 years old, another autoimmune attack came, and I was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). It was even harder than the previous one, and I got a drop foot (100%). My hands also became very weak, and my whole body was affected. I was hospitalized for two months, and during this time, I got meningitis, causing me to lose 24 pounds.
During my hospitalization, I was diagnosed with two other autoimmune diseases - Hashimoto's (hypothyroidism) and Behçet's (the incomplete version). I was under high prednisone dosage (corticosteroid) - about 60 mg per day for more than a year, and I tapered down for three more years. For the first two years, I also did several cycles of Mabthera.
One week after my release from the hospital, I went back to work, managing my team and completing the internal data platform of my organization. At the same time, I got back to training, but it was awful. I couldn't even hold the pull-up bar, and my biceps were so weak that I couldn't do biceps curls of 8 pounds. I couldn't walk without a brace for my drop foot for almost four months. But I didn't give up. I started meditating, doing guided imagery, and using cannabis, which really helped me, especially with my mood and neuropathy. However, I stopped using cannabis last month as it stopped working and caused a lot of loops and paranoia.
About a year later my leg became better, as well as most of my body parts. It was very hard to train, but still, I kept grinding.
Throughout all this time, there has been one movie playing in my head - running the Jerusalem Marathon (10km). I ran it a few years back, and I can still remember every single meter of the course. Ever since that day, I have been imagining running it again someday.
During this time, I came across David Goggins and his first book, along with his Joe Rogan interview. I was incredibly inspired by his story, particularly given that he had suffered from domestic violence. I could relate to his struggles and hardships, and his success story motivated me to train harder. I have seen a great deal of progress since then, with improvements in my pull-ups (I am now able to do 16 reps), bicep curls (up to 36 pounds in each hand), and kettlebell exercises (using 16kg kettlebells for almost all exercises).
However, over the past year, I have been experiencing some sort of mental regression. Memories from my childhood and my insecurities have resurfaced, and I found myself in a deep depression. I was unable to think clearly and felt hopeless, my sleep was very poor (2-3 hours). Despite this, I continued to train. Eventually, I began psychotherapy and was diagnosed with CPTSD (complex post-traumatic stress disorder). Medications and therapy have helped me immensely, and although I still have my ups and downs, I am in a much better place mentally these days.
One month ago, I went to the park and started running while listening to one of Goggins' motivational videos. After running for about a mile, I began to consider quitting, but Goggins' voice continued to push me forward. As I passed the 5km mark, I heard him say: “Life ain’t about medals, ain’t about fucking certificates.It ain’t about houses, money, cars,fame, all that bullshit. It’s about scars. So when you get judged, you won’t get judged on your medals, you get judged on your scars. Those scars show your willingness to get to the side, They show your failures, they show your willingness to start from scratch. They show what you’re wanting to do, to go the distance, to see what you’re capable of. So make sure in life don’t be afraid to get scars.”
It touched my inner self and almost made me cry. I continued to run and eventually completed 10km, which was the first time in 7 years since I had last done it. It was then that I realized how much power was inside me.
After this experience, I decided to register for the Jerusalem Marathon. On the day of the race, I drove there with my wife. A few minutes before the race, she wished me well and “have fun” and I replied, "Honey, I'm not going to have fun here. I'm going into battle, and even if the sky falls, I won't stop running." As soon as the race began, I encountered many tough slopes on the course, as Jerusalem is built on mountains that are approximately 800 meters high. Despite the challenging track, I didn't give up, recalling every step from my imagination. I knew exactly how difficult it would be, but I never stopped running, not even for a second. Eventually, I completed the 10km race.
It was one of the most significant moments of my life, and I hugged my wife and thanked her for all her support. A few hours later, I emailed my neurologist and thanked him for his amazing treatment during the years. Many of my friends also sent their love. I had finally achieved my dream, and now I am going to create new ones.
This is my story, and I hope it will inspire and bring hope to others.
Stay hard!
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boteva to
davidgoggins [link] [comments]
2023.03.20 22:56 Wonder-Lad Revenge stories. What are you favourites?
I feel like it's one of the most common story writing topics out there. Kinda find it hard to wrap my head around it. The incident that leads to revenge as a motivation needs to be impactful enough on a character and the audience to make them changing their life course a beliveable decision.
I mean I feel vindictive all the time too, but I usually get better after I sleep on it a bit. Heard people used to do ritualistic things like licking bitter liver nightly or sleeping on hard wood to remind themselves about the cause and the hate.
Anyway, beside the philosphical discussion behind the post. I can think of three revenge stories that to me are iconic.
The classic tale of Count of Monte Cristo. What's there to say about it, it's a classic for a reason. Love, hate, revenge, death, wins and loses. It's all there.
Berserk. Guts's journey through hell itself to rip the wings off of saint Griffith. He also ponders on what it means to dedicate a life to revenge and struggles with his motivation from time to time.
Lastly, Uchicha Sasuke the avenger. Sasuke's been through a lot. His entire life is a conspiracy, not to mention how scarring the image of the Uchiha massacre was for him. It's also a story where revenge is achived and we're left with the aftermath.
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Wonder-Lad to
TwoBestFriendsPlay [link] [comments]
2023.03.20 22:56 grzlyPOG lost progress
i suppose LDing is like going to the gym you gain progress when you do it for a month but it only takes a week ot two to lose it all and this is whats happened with me. i used to attempt to LD everynight for 28 nights and have had around 7LDS i was so happy with these results. but i had a break due to personal things and now i cant even remember 1 dream. is there anyway i can gain this progress back faster or do i start from square 1 again?
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grzlyPOG to
LucidDreaming [link] [comments]
2023.03.20 22:55 SilverSpliff Going long nickel here
2023.03.20 22:54 snippyfire Correct me if I’m wrong, but NWT listings MUST have merchandise tags, right?
Purchased something listed as NWT. Received item was zero merchandise tags, laundered smell, and clear signs of piling and use.
Seller is insane and continues to argue she did nothing wrong and item is new. Wants me to return it.
I opened a case with support for the item being not as described. Don’t want the hassle or cost of having to return the item, nor do I think I should have to when the seller was clearly misleading in her original listing.
What normally happens in cases like this?
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snippyfire to
poshmark [link] [comments]
2023.03.20 22:54 samm0b0 Take a £5k paycut for a bit of job satisfaction?
So there's a few moving parts to this, will try and keep it brief but give a bit of context.
I left my old job at the end of 2022 due to there being zero progression within the role. Both a pay rise and any prospective training or shadowing work was also denied, no bad blood here it was merely a business decision that my manager fought for and lost over. This was an I.T Technician role paying just shy of £25k.
I took another job as a Service Delivery Engineer for just roughly £33k, big change from all the I.T work I had done up until this point, a lot of sales, a lot of production, a LOT of project management. Currently, however, I've done roughly a full days worth of work in about 3 weeks and save for about 10% of the daily tasks the role sucks. It seems at a certain point the workload will ramp up, mind you. Scope for progression into Sales Engineer or even Systems Architect is quite high, it's more a matter of when and how.
So here's the kicker, I was recently scouted for an I.T Analyst role who have sinced offered me the job, and I'm struggling to decide whether it would be worth it. Initial pay would be £26.7k, going up to £28.5k in a month, but it has the perks of a 4 day work week, so 31 hours, with half in office, half from home (I'm a fan of the hybrid environment and am currently in office full time). The role itself would actually be a step DOWN from the initial one I left in terms of tasks and daily responsibilities, but there would be the chance to heavily shadow the Infrastructure Engineer lead and learn directly from them quite soon. They have also, however, confirmed they cannot guarantee a position in that team opening up.
My driving force is turning I.T into a longstanding and prospective career, I initially left my previous role in the hopes of moving into Infrastructure/Networking/Engineering in some form. I just want to keep learning primarily.
It's easy to say I highly value my time and work flexibility, as I really do, but I'm also skeptical as this new company is a non profit and couldn't entertain the idea of trying to match my counter offer or meet in the middle based off their original boundaries. So it puts me at unease for the future, but on paper the benefits seem great. I'm also looking to move soon and the hit on the monthly wage could set that back a bit.
I am firmly planted on the fence of stay or leave right now and was wondering if anybody had any helpful insights or have been through a similar position of moving backwards in order to move forwards?
submitted by
samm0b0 to
UKPersonalFinance [link] [comments]
2023.03.20 22:53 Jabre7 I can't for the life of me get past HR6...
I've decided to finally get back into 4U, I've mainly been goofing off with Custom Quests(they only awarded Potions don't worry) the last period I was into it. Now I'm determined to actually get through the game...except i had to use multiplayer as a crutch for alot of HR Hub stuff, and now that's gone I'm pretty sure...besides, I really want to get through HR7 and G Rank on my own. I'm stuck on HR Shargaru, and he's so much harder in this game for some reason...
i'm using upgraded Seregios hammer and base Seregios SnS, and fully upgraded(as far as I can without G Rank mats) Kecha Wacha Longsword and Greatsword. I also have the Grand Wailing Ghost longsword. My armor(which is probably what's dragging me down) is full Monoblos, all pieces are lv6. I've kept it so long for the maximum attack boost it gives with just a few decos. What's a better build for Shagaru? Once I reach HR7 I was gonna try to get either Akantor or Rajang armor(Rajang's armor I hear is really good).
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Jabre7 to
MonsterHunter [link] [comments]
2023.03.20 22:53 Kirbacho Anti Fatigue lenses, would it affect sports activities?
Just got done with optometry appnt and doctor introduced me to anti fatigue lenses matched to my rx. I do a lot of laptop and other screen viewing so made sense and went with it. What I forgot to consider was that I also ride road and mountain bikes and would be wearing the same pair of glasses.
Would there be any downsides to wearing these glasses for any sporting activities.
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Kirbacho to
glasses [link] [comments]
2023.03.20 22:51 doakes37 [Discussion] Showdown Top 100 Regulation C Team
If y'all remember, I posted a team I used to get top 10 with gallade a little while back. In that post, I promised to post the other team I was working on after I refined it a bit more. Unfortunately, I haven't really had any time to play at all due to school and other life events, so I never managed to get much higher than top 100 on the ladder. Still, I wanted to post the team to share and let y'all build upon it because it's pretty fun...and a bit evil.
I have two variants here. The original has glimmora and the newer version has arcanine. I had about the same amount of success with both, the major difference being that the arcanine team plays faster due to arcanine's offense. The glimmora team is slower and a bit meaner due to the toxic spike stall potential (which was a major part of my original conception of the team). The team is nowhere near perfect, and it loses to heavy offense/setup, but it's really fun when it works--takes a lot of practice to pilot though.
The main idea is pretty clear: just survive and wear down your opponent. Use perish, leech seed, toxic spikes, mortal spin, etc. to just slowly grind down the other side. I basically picked the most heinous, obnoxious, bulky pokemon I could think of and threw them together (except for dondozo because even I have standards). Once again, I hope y'all enjoy the team and improve upon it in ways that I couldn't.
Paste:
https://pokepast.es/f519a58f8e35d10d submitted by
doakes37 to
VGC [link] [comments]
2023.03.20 22:50 TheDirtySwine Need Advice! Is it normal to wait 4 months after receiving a contingent job offer?
I have found myself in a strange situation and wanted to get some advice on how to best proceed. I received a contingent job offer at the
beginning of January for a business that does consulting/contract work for other companies. We will call this business Company A.
Company A extended me a contingent offer without an official start date and suggested they would follow up with me weekly until they could confirm the start date with their client. They were pretty transparent from the beginning of the interviews and suggested that it
usually takes at least 1-2 months before they'd have a start date available since they need to negotiate their contract agreement with their client. Essentially the client agrees to pay for a set amount of consultants from Company A and they have to work out start dates based on their budget.
Well now it's been almost 4 months since I received the offer, and after escalating to Company A that this has been taking too long, they suggested that they've been having issues working out the start date with the client because the client is not communicating a clear date to them. Their client suggested it's possible that they won't be ready until May "latest". Company A says the delay is unusual for their client since they have a good business relationship with them, and they believe it's likely related to current economic conditions.
I have every reason to believe that Company A is legitimate, but I wanted to see if this was normal at all. It feels like a major red flag that it's taken this long, but I understand that it might not necessarily be in their control. Some other red flags are
- They came in $15k lower than the bottom of the range I discussed with them from the beginning (however there is $14k bonus potential, so total compensation would be at the bottom end of my range).
- They failed to negotiate at all when I tried.
- They also used to call me weekly but have resorted to email updates only after I told them that this was starting to be an unreasonable amount of time to wait.
Is there any reason to believe I'm being taken advantage of? Is this normal for contract businesses? Should I just cut my losses and treat this as a lost cause?
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TheDirtySwine to
jobs [link] [comments]
2023.03.20 22:47 Greeny11 Can you play your round from any sets of tees when recording a handicap?
Me and a friend are looking to sign up to England Golf and start to record a handicap as we’ve been playing nearly a year now and started to break 100 regularly.
A course we are looking to play in the near future is a par 72 from the middle tees and par 67 from the front and a much longer course than we are used to. Usually we would play from the middle ‘mens’ tees but this course is the hardest we would have played and requires multiple tee shots that have to carry over 200+yards and unfortunately driver is the only club I’ve got no confidence in and I’m not the biggest hitter at all. I’m almost certain I’d do better and have a more enjoyable time playing the front tees for this particular course.
Am I right in assuming we have the option of playing the front tees and recording our score against that when recording our round, or do you have to play from certain tees?
Probably a silly question but any help would be great!
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Greeny11 to
golf [link] [comments]
2023.03.20 22:46 Boring_Barber5172 I finally realized I liked the idea and possibilities of The Mandalorian more so than the reality of The Mandalorian
It finally dawned on me, my denial has ceased, I like the idea of The Mandalorian and what it could have represented more than what we actually got.
Initially I loved the universe and the show. It was going to save Star Wars and it did… for a time. I propped Mandalorian up into something it wasn’t, a savior of the brand. A new chance for a proper sequel.
After the finale of season 2 and looking at the characters I imagined a future with Din, Grogu, Luke, R2, Ahsoka, Boba Fett, Ezra, Sabine, Hera all battling Thrawn, Moff Gideon, and the remnants of the Empire. Disney Star Wars free from the ST with room to craft a new alternate sequel.
Over the course of two years I had hope for this franchise. Kenobi show! Boba Fett show! It grew my hopes and my crafted hopeful head canon into unattainable dreams. Kenobi crashed and burned, but I still had The Mandalorian timeline. Then BOBF was a punch to the gut. That was ok though. We got two episodes of Mandalorian content and they were perfect. Luke training with Grogu was one of my favorite Star Wars scenes. I really thought what I imagined would become a reality… up until the final minutes. Then they undid it all.
Grogu is back with Din. Season 3 starts and no mention of Luke. Two pointless episodes later, littered with glaring plot holes and bad dialogue nearly sinking to the depths of BOBF, I questioned why I even liked this show in the first place, so I started my re-watch. One final chance for a dying brand.
Many of the episodes feel hollow now than they did when I first watched them. I still love certain episodes and feel they give that sense of wonder and heart I had when I was a kid. I could still see the possibilities of these characters and where the show could go and what it could do. And I’m thankful for all of that. One last final spark of joy out of a franchise I loved.
But they are going down a path I can’t follow.
With Season 3 Episode 3 introducing the “I am Inevitable” nature of the ST, I suppose that is what these characters and show will always mean to me. Nothing more than a what if and a fleeting moment of that original sense of wonder of awe I had with this once great franchise.
submitted by
Boring_Barber5172 to
saltierthancrait [link] [comments]
2023.03.20 22:45 AutoModerator [Get] Biaheza – Dropshipping Course (COMPLETE) Full Course Download
| Get the course here: https://www.genkicourses.com/product/biaheza-dropshipping-course-complete/ [Get] Biaheza – Dropshipping Course (COMPLETE) Full Course Download https://preview.redd.it/5cx7i7k8hyoa1.jpg?width=225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af32a89ce19a41819fb7ae5134829fe734bd22f5 About The Course: This course outlines the systems and secrets I used to make over $300,000+ in my first year with entrepreneurship While I was still 17 years old… And was also a high school dropout… So what’s your excuse? It’s time to crush it. I want you to take a moment and imagine a world where you could… Never worry about money ever again. Build a six figure marketing agency and the best part? it’s a reality that all of my students are living RIGHT NOW. Take care of your family & loved ones. Yeah… this is something close to my heart. My marketing agency finally allowed me to take care of my mom and the people who believed in me when I had nothing. Travel the world, anytime! Yes… that’s right. After this course you will have the location freedom to travel anywhere in the world you want! Now, who is the genius (kidding… kinda) behind this whole course? Let me introduce myself, my name is Iman. At the age of Seventeen, I dropped out of high school to commit to the world of online marketing. Within my first year I had made over $300,000+, I had traveled the world working from my computer, I had constructed my dream lifestyle and this was all done through the power of what I teach in Six Figure SMMA. I run my own digital marketing agency based out here in London, although we have clients out in Amsterdam and St. Tropez. I have my personal brand which is another six figure business… Then I have a few other smaller income streams here and there. I love the internet! Haha Damn… I worked hard for this life. I worked hard to create the sort of income where I can take care of my family and not even check the price… I guess that’s why I’m so passionate about what I teach. It’s because it changed my life in unexplainable ways. I don’t think I could ever go back to my old life after living like this. submitted by AutoModerator to GenkiCourses_2023 [link] [comments] |
2023.03.20 22:44 thenebular Need help learning how to hack Mac G4 firmware or Openfirmware
A couple years ago while examining my Mac Cube motherboard I discovered it had a DAC chip on it (
https://i.redd.it/y89fybgqvvq41.jpg). Now if any of you remember, the Mac Cube was known for only having USB audio, so an onboard DAC is an interesting thing. Further investigation lead me to find it connected to an amp chip and a speaker connector. Everything is still connected (I was told a rumour that it was needed for the startup chime, but haven't found it repeated anywhere else) but I have no idea where to start on getting it to show up once the computer is booted. The datasheet for the chip says that it's controlled via i²c.
Does anyone know some good resources that I can use to start learning what I need to do to investigate what the chip already does and how to control it from a G4 Mac motherboard so that I might be able to get it working from within an OS?
submitted by
thenebular to
hardwarehacking [link] [comments]
2023.03.20 22:44 tauopathic My (21M) boyfriend and I (23F) are both bisexual. He wants to experience a man just once, but I don't feel comfortable with that. How do we come to a compromise?
Hello, I am hoping to hear some advice on my current situation with my (21M) boyfriend and I (23F). Both of us are bisexual, which is completely fine with me—in fact, I actually really wanted a bisexual partner as I felt like having a partner who is bisexual like me would make me feel closer to them and have us relate to each other better than if I dated a strictly straight man or strictly lesbian woman. Both me and my boyfriend love each other very much and actually previously dated from summer of 2022 to the end of November of 2022, and went on a break before the two of us got back together at the end of February this year. But having a bisexual man as my partner actually has become a bit more of a challenge than I expected. The way that I'm attracted to women differs greatly from the way I'm attracted to men, as my attraction to women is moreso based on an emotional level while with men it is more based on both emotional and physical. For my boyfriend, his attraction towards women is both emotional and physical, while his attraction towards men is purely physical. He is incredibly attracted to male genitalia to the point that sometimes I feel somewhat insecure that I don't have the "right parts." He often expresses his fantasies of wanting to be topped by men and sometimes when he's horny and I ask him what he's thinking about, he'll say he's thinking about sucking dick or "getting his hole used by a big cock." It does frustrate me but I simply do not say anything as I believe he has a right to have those kinds of fantasies.
I do not want to invalidate or erase his bisexuality, and he can't control his attraction towards male genitalia if it is his preference. But at the same time I do wish that he would focus solely on me and feel sexual attraction towards only me, his girlfriend. Perhaps that may be selfish to say, but I do not feel any sexual attraction towards anybody else, male or female, than him. He once asked me if we could make a deal where if in our relationship he could have sex with a man once, then I could have sex with a woman once. I did not feel comfortable with that and expressed that and he seemed quite upset after that but simply just said he was fine.
We had a discussion today and he said it did kind of bum him out that I did not want to go through with that arrangement because he really, REALLY wants to experience having sex with a man even just once, and as much as he wishes he didn't have these desires, they're still in him no matter what. I told him that it would be very likely to make me incredibly upset as I believe in exclusivity and want him to only want to have sex with me. He then said he will try his best to simply forget or suppress the male fantasies he has, as my mental wellbeing is more important to him than his fantasies, and will try his best to just be straight. But it does make me feel guilty as I do not want to force him to be somebody he isn't and I do not want to erase or invalidate his bisexuality.
Over the course of our relationship I've agreed to try pegging even though it's something I'm not really into, but he said he wants to experience a REAL penis even just once.
Honestly, I just don't know what to do.
(TLDR; bi boyfriend wants some dick but i don't feel comfortable with it but also do not want to erase or suppress that side of him that is attracted to men because that would be wrong)
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tauopathic to
relationship_advice [link] [comments]
2023.03.20 22:42 LiseEclaire [Leveling up the World] - Academy Arc - Chapter 716
Out there - Patreon (for all those curious or wanting to support :)) At the Beginning
Adventure Arc - Arc 2
Wilderness Arc - Arc 3
Academy Arc - Arc 4
Previously on Leveling up the World…
Book 2 (start of the Adventure/City Arc) is available for pre-order!
A thin shimmering layer covered the sword once Dallion returned to the real world.it wasn’t the standard shimmering of an otherworlder, at least not entirely. There was a slight nuance to it, making it appear both to be part of this world, but also not.
“This what you wanted?” Dallion stood up.
Based on the intense emotions resonating from both Phoil and Raven, the answer was obvious. Even so, the black-haired noble had no desire to surrender a compliment.
“How many tries did it take you?” he asked.
“Two. Does it matter?”
“Not particularly.”
Internally, Dallion frowned. He’d learned to accept that nobles respected items, least of all.
“Alright, then. Now about your part of the deal? I need to be out before dark.”
“I’ll keep my word.” Raven pointed at the sword in a slow, dismissive fashion. That was more than enough for Phoil to pick up the weapon. Instead of heading outside, though, he went up the stairs to the private area of the building. “It’ll take me a bit to get my seal adjusted. Meet you at the door in half an hour?”
“Half an hour.” Dallion nodded. “See you there.”
This was the best deal he’d get, so there was no point in shaking the boat. He himself had something to pick up from his room.
Onda, did you get all that? Dallion asked as he went back into the corridor.
Well done, old man. One could almost near the nymph clapping. Lamer than me, but still cool.
What did I do wrong?
Nothing. Everything was perfect. The set up, the way you convinced the guardian, the selection of the material… It’s your logic that’s messed up. No, not exactly messed up, just too dependent on other things.
Hmm.
Keeping himself from running along the corridor, Dallion made his way to his room. The new feat he’d achieved filled him with more energy than was healthy. He tried getting rid of some of it by extending magic threads out of his hand—weaving them into a rope, as Katka had instructed—but that made him even more restless. Magic had a way to make its owner feel invincible, almost as if he’d drunk a bucket of energy drinks.
“Ruby, we’re heading outside.” Dallion pulled back the cluster of threads back into him, then took the aetherizer he kept hidden in a drawer with an invisibility symbol on it. “How do you feel about that?”
The shardfly stoically flew off the spot on the ceiling, taking its place on Dallion’s shoulder. For some reason, that reminded Dallion of Gleam.
Within seconds, the euphoria he had accumulated vanished without a trace. Was he capable of bringing the shardfly back? It had to be more complicated than opening a portal to the banished world. And even if it wasn’t, Dallion had no way of reaching that realm again.
“Tell me when you sense nearby illusions, okay?” Dallion said.
Okay. Ruby flocked his wings.
“And don’t get into any fights, even if I’m attacked. Got it?”
Dallion looked at his heavy gear. Considering what he would be facing, having his armadil shield and harpsisword would help. Unfortunately, he’d have to make do with his Nox dagger.
Less than a minute was necessary for Dallion to reach the main door of the building. Judging by the occasional look of disapproval he received from passing apprentices, it was safe to say that the glamor from the challenge was starting to wear off. And then there was the waiting. Every second dragged on. Unlike Dallion, Raven didn’t seem to be remotely in a hurry to get there.
Now you know what it feels like for guardians, Nil commented.
Precisely thirty minutes after he’d promised, Raven appeared, walking calmly down the corridor. Surprisingly, he wasn’t alone.
“Mage Tisaku?” Dallion asked.
The man didn’t seem at all pleased to be there. The fact that he was showed the pull Raven’s family had.
“Dallion,” the man acknowledged the other’s presence as he walked by, stopping right in front of the door. “Two hours,” he said, fingers drawing an intricate pattern faster than the human eye could see. A top level awakened would have trouble following the design. Unlike the standard spell, this was composed of a single pattern.
Purple light blended with the threads and symbols covering the door’s surface, melting them away.
“Try not to get in trouble. I don’t want to owe the White Eye favors.” The door opened.
“Yes, mage.” Dallion was the only one to answer.
Meanwhile, Raves passed by as if both of them were beneath him. The sad truth was that thanks to his father, they probably were.
From such an angle, the surroundings seemed a lot better than what Dallion had seen from the rooftop. That was to be expected; the mages had taken great care to cover all undesirable sights with illusions. If one didn’t know better, they would swear that the cluster of buildings surrounding the Learning Hall was pretty much the same as it always had been. Occasionally, there would be small signs that something was wrong—some magic symbols wouldn’t glow as bright, some streets would have a quarter of the people they were supposed to—but the illusion was close to perfect.
“Well, we’re out.” Raven looked at Dallion. “How what?”
“Now, I need to see a dwarf.”
After ten steps, Ruby mentioned that they were near an illusion. The spell was quite subtle, creating the impression that Dallion was walking along the same path. In a matter of minutes, he had reached his destination—the shop he had frequented so many times while outside.
That wasn’t remotely true. Discretely casting the spell that let him see through illusions, Dallion found that he’d reached an entirely new area. The level of the spell was beyond impressive; it had successfully created a false memory of the area and maintained it as reality, while in truth shardflies were destroying more and more of the surroundings.
A few steps from the shop, Dallion stopped. A small, quickly constructed building was in front of him. It was impossible to tell whether he’d find the same people on the inside, or the whole thing was nothing but a fake façade.
“Aren’t you going in there?” Raven asked.
“No.” Some things were better left uncertain. “I changed my mind. There’s somewhere else I need to be.”
Ignoring the noble’s comments, Dallion went back through illusion to the first place—the potion lab. The trip took slightly longer than Dallion remembered. To his surprise, the actual building was still there, mostly intact.
“You’re here to buy potions?” Raven crossed his arms. “I could have gotten you everything this third-rate place could make.”
“It’s not potions I’ve come for. Wait for me here, okay?”
The black-haired shrugged, then summoned a chair for him to sit in.
Reciting the names of the seven Moons, Dallion opened the door and stepped right in. The lab was in relatively good shape, if abandoned. Gone were the apprentices slaving away, as were most of their tools and material components.
Splitting into a dozen instances, Dallion went on. Every few seconds, he’d pause and split again, in case a flutter of shardflies came flying at him from somewhere. Thankfully, no such thing happened.
“Mage,” he said, as he approached the office of the lab’s owner. “Mage?” He entered.
The room was a lot smaller than he remembered. Seated on a rickety chair, slumped over a small old desk, was the mage. A strong stench of alcohol came filled the room, mixed in with tobacco smoke.
“Mage?”
“Mage no more,” the man said. His appearance was in worse shape than the room itself. One could only speculate how long it had taken him to reach such a wretched state, but it was more than a few weeks.
“The Academy rogued you?”
“Ha.” The man let out a sad laugh. “If they had rogued me, at least I’d have something. Now, I’m just a nobody that’s sentenced to remain here. I lost my reputation with this. All the conniving schemers that wanted to take me down had their chance. Everyone important wouldn’t speak to me, and anyone less important doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.” He pushed an empty glass across the desk.
Dallion couldn’t be sure whether he was being offered a drink or expected to fill the glass. Ultimately, he did neither.
“My apprentices left, as did all my customers.” The mage cast a spell, pulling the glass back. As he did, it filled up with murky liquid. “The archmage generously offered me temporary quarters in the apprentice wing. Me!” he tapped his chest with a finger. “To live with common apprentices.”
Would have been better than here, Dallion thought.
“Why not leave the Academy?” Dallion asked. “Temporarily.”
“No one’s leaving the Academy. Not with the war going on. The web of lies is in full effect. One province has fallen, two more are all losing ground. And the idiots in the south are still engaged in their petty squabbles.” He grabbed the glass and downed it in one go. For a moment, the stench in the room got worse. “Mages are too precious to be out in the open. Emperor’s orders. The way things are going, we’ll be ordered to fight.”
So, it’s that bad, Dallion thought.
He’d long suspected it, but this was the first time he’d gotten actual confirmation… if the words of a drunk could be believed. Looking at him, it was clear that the mage was a potion maker and an academic. He was not fit for combat. He’d probably forgotten all his combat spells decades ago, relying on the impenetrable strength of the Academy. His reputation was the most valuable thing he had, and now that was gone as well.
“They’ll be a need of potions again,” Dallion said, using his music skills to add as much joy to his words as possible.
“If the war doesn’t finish us, the blasted shardflies would!” The man tried to take another gulp from his glass, only then noticing it was empty. “You’re the hunter, aren’t you?” he asked. “Your level’s too high to be anything else.”
Here we go, Dallion prepared mentally.
“I guess I must thank you. I wanted to get you kicked out after you sealed off my room in the basement. Truth is you did me a favor. I don’t know what spell you cast on the shardflies, but they didn’t attack anyone here or try to destroy the place. They destroyed lots of buildings around me, but never mine.”
“The swarms came from here?”
“Who knows? Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. All of them appeared from the ground. The idiots thought they could stop them, and they did. The shardflies have been contained, but no one has any idea why they became active in the first place.”
“This whole place might be built on a shardfly nest…” Dallion whispered, more to himself than the mage.
Worst of all, it was all but confirmed that he had caused a stir with his arrival. An empath with nightmares of void was enough to stir any creature. No doubt it had happened subconsciously. Neither Dallion nor the creatures suspected. Even so, something had kept disturbing the shardflies, causing them to drill above ground and lash out at anything in sight.
“And the Academy has no overseer,” he added.
“Overseer.” The mage laughed. “We have enough battle constructs to destroy armies. That’s the problem, though. Everyone is too good at destroying. Those that aren’t affected don’t take the shardflies seriously, and those that are, are already considering how to use that to their political advantage. I did. I even snatched a few buildings from a few people. All of them are now holes in the ground.”
That sounded like something a mage would do. Yet, why hadn’t the Archmage intervened? Even with everyone busy covering up the situation, there was no way he wouldn’t notice by now. Unless, he too was covering up for the emperor. Such a dramatic failure could well be grounds for him to be replaced. Isolating the Learning Hall could well have been the best option from his point of view.
Dallion took out the aetherizer. He still had second thoughts about using it. Nonetheless, he linked the item to the realm and then activated it. The artifact turned purple.
Holy crap!
There had to be hundreds, if not thousands, or vortexes in the twenty miles area surrounding him; so many that he could tell when one started, and another ended, not what level they were. Suddenly, all this seemed more than a natural phenomenon.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this story, consider joining my patreon or check out my other stories on redditserials:
The Scuu Paradox (a Space Opera Sci Fi)
The Cassandrian Theory (a Space Opera Sci Fi)
The Impeccable Adventure of the Reluctant Dungeon (Dungeon Core Adventure Comedy)
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2023.03.20 22:41 MoonPrismPowerBottom Is shutter lag worse than s22U?
Hi! Please don't roast me for asking. I've seen comments here and there but nothing consistent. The s22U camera is my personal favorite of all phones I've used due to very few blurry photos and a natural color result. Is the s23 honestly worse than the s22 as far as shutter lag or whatever causes the blur? I use this for my work and I simply can't work with that. Thanks everyone for reading.
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2023.03.20 22:40 Last-Ninja Etsy ferris wheel
Not sure what else to call it lol but I thought I'd share this. I spent over a week worrying why my shop slowed down. Barely any sales for the past week. Favorites were almost non existent. But now it's all back to normal. Well, at least what's normal for me, my regular 3 sales a day which never seems to get higher. Anyway, looks like Etsy turned my visibility on again. Sorry guys, just venting. Can anyone else relate?
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2023.03.20 22:39 ImMikeHonco New to anti-depressants in general. How long before you noticed a real change.
I’m new to Lexapro and anti/depressants in general. Was wondering what most folks see as a timeline for real results. For me it’s more my anxiety than anything else that my doctor is hoping to get under control. Been on it for about a week now.
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2023.03.20 22:38 Noraboboramora I know we can't talk about it...but can we talk about it?
Hey Dad - I know your family Doesn't Talk About Things, but it's really getting me down and I don't know how to relate to you.
Your family history is your business and from the little I can tell it's really painful, but on the other I just feel so confused and shut out. Something the fuck is up but LITERALLY all you've ever said is "sometimes people disagree about how they remember things", "[X relative] can be charming but she's manipulative and you shouldn't believe what she says", and "Relatives X and Y are really good at hurting one another, and you shouldn't get drawn into a conflict between them".
The last time Relative X was in touch with me it got back to you, and you said you wanted to discuss it and that I was welcome to ask any questions. But on the phone you just said they shouldn't be trusted, and when I said I was really confused about all this and could use some context, it was the same thing again. "You don't need to worry about anything." "The past is the past." Then you changed the subject and started monologuing about politics.
I can and have come up with all kinds of upsetting scenarios about what might have happened in the past in that family. Someone stole money from somebody? Someone told a lie about someone? Someone accused someone else of abuse?
I know you don't want to talk about your past, but could you at least acknowledge how it affects me to have this huge secret in the family? Or talk about your own emotions around any of this, or tell me what it's like for you to not talk about it? I don't know if I'm being fair to you, you shouldn't have to go through your trauma just because I'm curious. But I feel crazy that I'm supposed to pretend that nothing is wrong and none of this is happening. It makes me feel like I can't tell you anything that's upsetting or difficult in my life, and never have any kind of serious disagreement with you, because apparently there are some subjects (which ones?!?!) that would break us if they were ever spoken about.
I know you aren't going to tell me, but why won't you talk to me about this? You can't just decide that it doesn't affect me.
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2023.03.20 22:36 FlatulentMarmot Buying on FB Marketplace
I'm going to buy an SeriesS off FB marketplace; I don't know much about Xbox's.
Ignoring all the usual scams, is it possible for the Xbox to get locked by the seller, or in some other way made not possible for me to use?
Is there anything I should look out for? Should I get it reset while I'm there (does that make sense)? Should I log-in before I buy? ....etc
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2023.03.20 22:33 oblivionuntld Movie mix sounds good at the studio but terrible at the theater
I am working on the sound of an semi amateur movie. Its the first time i am doing audio for a movie and i have to admit a bit lost at the moment.I have quite some experience when it comes to mixing music and sound design and i know how to use the tools.
To explain the situation a director friend asked for help last moment.I went through doing dialogue editing and that took a lot of time since all of the recorded mics had notable problems.I added bgs and designed sfx.I then mixed everything along including the music. It was all a slow proccess but in the end it went well and the meetings were going well and everyone was happy.
The mix sounded good at my room with studio monitors.Same thing at the directors studio and at another studio that we do our meetings.The audio sounds reasonable through headphones and through my home cinema. I am targeting -24 lufs.
Now starts the disaster part.They had a viewing session on a theater the other day( that unfortunately i could not attend) and they told me that the sound was not very good and the dialogue was barely audible.The fact that it sounds good on monitors and all other sources till now makes me thing that i am missing something major when it comes to mixing for theater rooms.
I have to start thinking about what i am doing wrong and how to fix that. Things that come in mind is that i am not mixing at a reference level.Most of the time i am not monitoring at a high level and i now understand that this might be a possible reason.
I would appreciate any suggestion at possible causes and maybe anything that i could read to educate myself regarding mixing for theaters.I admit that i am inexperienced so please bear with me.
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