Wow, I have one heck of a backlog to post here. My last post was mostly dedicated to scents my friend got for himself, so this time, have a wall of my own personal try-ons.

• My preferences: I like spices, vanilla, floral lavender, most florals, and woods. Hit or miss on gourmands as a whole due to multiple tricky notes like honey and butter; also hit or miss on ambers and musks. I avoid roses, prominent indoles, grass, smoke, leather, pepper, coffee, soil, patchouli, mint, butter, or anything soapy or powdery (which unfortunately includes a few synthetic florals). I’m also, sadly, anosmic to hedione.
• Friend’s preferences: He loves sandalwood (especially the real deal Indian sandalwood). He also likes lilac, floral lavender, chocolate, vanilla, bakery and boozy gourmands, woods/forest scents, and darker notes like smoke and leather. He avoids anything soapy, aquatic, or astringent, dislikes patchouli, is anosmic to benzyl acetate (present in some fruit and floral notes), and prefers stereotypically fem scents on other people (i.e. me).

Alkemia Aelfscyne (An otherworldly enchantment of luminescent white amber, meadowsweet, wood hyacinth, lonicera [honeysuckle], woodbine, sweetfern, cashmeran wood and delicate green tea.)

• What I smell: It’s undeniably mainstream. I can pick up green/clean and woody notes alongside the floral sickly-sweetness. I think my trouble with these more abstract scents is that I can make no mental associations with them beyond “this smells like [store with a lot of perfume].”
• What he smells: “Oh wow. This reminds me of one thing and one thing only. Lipton Brisk. It’s overly lemony, fake iced tea.”
• Author’s note: “I saw a review of this one where someone said this scent made them horny.” “This doesn’t make me horny, just thirsty. Which is not horny in this case.”

Alkemia Ecstasies of Light (The lustrous glow of white amber infused with pear blossoms, white figs, gorse flowers, winter honeysuckle, and osmanthus.)

• What I smell: Yup, that’s also mainstream. As a case in point of my previous statement, this scent smells like Sephora and maybe also Play-Doh. It’s sweeter than Ecstasies and I definitely notice the fig.
• What he smells: “Okay, that’s less mainstream to me… never mind. Only slightly less mainstream. Fits the profile but I’m getting a sweetness that might not be in that type of thing. Is there fruit in here?”

Alkemia Fireflies in the Garden (A balmy summer evening redolent with honeysuckle, buttonbush, summersweet and Holboellia blossoms floating on green waves of fresh cut clovergrass.)

• What I smell: Florals and…. Is this one of those mystery Jelly Belly beans? Because the grass in the vial is reminiscent of earwax! On my skin, however, it mercifully calms down; what remains is a sugary sweet and fruity blend of florals (probably the Holboellia, apparently that smells like cantaloupe). It’s a bit sweet for me.
• What he smells: “Wow. That is STRONG. That one actually feels more mainstream to me than some of the ones you figured were mainstream! It’s like a flower bomb went off – I couldn’t tell you what.”

Alkemia Midnight Garden (A lunar intoxication of night-flowering white flowers – tuberose, lily, honeysuckle, gardenia, and moonflower.)

• What I smell: Yesss. Gorgeous florals.
• What he smells: He got something vegetal out of the vial, but on my skin, “Oh yeah, that’s florals.”

Alkemia Novella (A cozy afternoon of curled up in a favorite chair - delicately spiced Lavender de Provence, steaming Earl Gray tea, and tattered old paperback books.)

• What I smell: Paper. A lot of paper. Oh dear. Rather like newsprint.
• What he smells: “Well, you told me that if I got a vegetal note I wouldn’t be far off this time, but wow, this smacked me in the face with it. That’s all I’m getting. It’s like a vegetable garden. That is the most strongly vegetal thing you’ve gotten!”
• Author’s note: Argh.

Alkemia Silken Tent (Candied angelica, chrysanthemums, white flowering nardo [honeysuckle], clove flowers, jasmine-scented rice pudding, blonde caramel, infused with golden amber.) Tested previously but now I’m trying the spray.

• What I smell: While wet, “okay, this is mainstream, but like, friendly mainstream. Wait… this is doing something weird.” I’m frankly not sure what I’m smelling, but it’s not what I got out of the oil sample. The oil sample reminded me a lot of Poesie Madar (pleasant florals and rice pudding) but this is like a gentler mainstream perfume. I can only guess that I’m getting mainly amber and chrysanthemum. To my annoyance, the spray is still skin-hugging and it only lasted about two hours. Which is an improvement from 15 minutes, but damn.
• What he smells: “I’m getting more flowers, but there’s also… is there citrus in here? I’m getting something lemony. Idunno, passionfruit or something that doesn’t smell as strongly, but is still a (tangy) fruit.” After reading off the notes, he could recognize the chrysanthemum.

BPAL Dorian (This blend is an artful deception: a sweet gilded blossom lying over a twisted and corrupted core. A Victorian fougere with three pale musks and dark, sugared vanilla tea.)
Note: We have no idea if this was Dorian or a mix of things due to the rollerball, but it was labeled as a sniffie of Dorian, so.

• What I smell: It’s just kinda…. Plant? I dunno. It might be unexpectedly bitter tea or just the fougere base. A little more wear time brought out some bergamot, and something sweet – hard to tell whether vanilla, floral, or both.
• What he smells: “I’m getting mostly… it’s almost like NA Elephant on a Penny Farthing.” (Which is a dark chocolate donut. I think it might be more like Olympic Orchids Seattle Chocolate.)
• Author’s note: I have to admit, it’s definitely easy to read whatever we’re smelling as dark chocolate. The ensuing conversation with fellow indie enjoyers resulted in everyone being quite baffled at that impression.

BPAL Vanilla, Champaca, and Gardenia

• What I smell: It’s what it says on the tin. Beautiful.
• What he smells: “Oh wow, that’s strong.” “Flowers!” “Yeah.”

Fantome Olwyn (Magnolias, plush white lilies, night-blooming jasmine, and gardenias over rich, buttery vanilla, myrrh, benzoin, and a hint of orange blossom.)

• What I smell: Heck of a floral in the bottle, but mellows out on my skin. I think I’m amping the myrrh with a side of white floral creaminess, because it’s not very sweet.
• What he smells: “I’m not sure if I’m getting menthol or alcohol, but there’s a cooling effect from this. Kinda… reminds me of the water of a clear lagoon?” I think he’s mistaking the floral creaminess for something else, but he likes it.

Little Book Eater Cleopatra (rosemary, jasmine, goat’s milk, honey, myrrh, and frankincense)

• What I smell: Resins? Rosemary? Pretty faint and tough to figure out to me.
• What he smells: “Yeah, I wouldn’t be able to identify any of these, but it’s floral.” Okay, so there’s hedione I’m not smelling :(

Little Book Eater Emily Dickinson (honey, vanilla, wildflowers, and sandalwood)

• What I smell: Vitamins? It’s powdery. Oh dear.
• What he smells: “Yeah, I can’t put my finger on it, but I can tell this isn’t supposed to be what it smells like.”

Little Book Eater Matilda Wormwood (candied lavender, honey, cake batter, orange, and vanilla)

• What I smell: Vanilla cake in the bottle, butter cookie out of the bottle.
• What he smells: “Cinnamon-y baked goods?”

Luvmilk Lofty Castle (Candied lavender, fresh honey, puffs of cotton candy, and raw sugar.)

• What I smell: Sugary, cotton-candy-y, there might be some honey in there. On my skin there’s something bitter coming out that I guess is medicinal lavender. It calmed down after a few minutes though, and now I think I’ll enjoy its sheer sugariness more when it’s warmer.
• What he smells: “Ooh, this is sweet and cozy. I like it. There’s more complexity than just sugar though… cinnamon? Vanilla?” On my skin: “Yeah, there’s some medicinal lavender in there that might also be Vicks Vaporub.”

Nemat Jasmine (single note)

• What I smell: Oh my, that’s a first. That is some stanky jasmine. I was starting to wonder if my nose was just being kind to me and sparing me from indoles – I’ve tried jasmine from about five other houses at this point and either I’ve been anosmic, they’re generally pleasant, or there’s something else wrong with the note.
• What he smells: “I’ve smelled this before but can’t figure out what flower it is. It almost punched me in the face. Is that just straight marigolds?” (he does not like marigolds, but they aren’t indolic.) After some explanation of different types of jasmine: “Oh. OH. Yeah, it’s cat piss.”

Nemat Mogra (Indian jasmine single note)

• What I smell: Much more pleasant than the other Nemat jasmine, but I suspect there is still some potential to go stanky.
• What he smells: “What is this? Well, it’s a flower, but yeah, idk.”

Nocturne Alchemy Honeysuckle Crystalline (Egyptian Honeysuckle, Blue European Honeysuckle, White Japanese Honeysuckle crystal, and Egyptian Vanilla (Crystalline).)

• What I smell: Well, while this was more floral in the vial, all I’m getting on my hand is… green. Like crushed leaves. Also, this has particularly poor longevity on me. It was basically gone within an hour.
• What he smells: “Okay, yeah. Darker flowers than [Pikake Moonstone] but very similar.”

Nocturne Alchemy Pikake Moonstone (Hawaiian pikake flowers, gardenia essence accord, jasmine, Moonstone absolute, vanilla bean milk, Bastet’s Amber absolute, and eNVie saphir.)

• What I smell: Floral in the vial… Why am I only getting the resinous base notes on my skin?
• What he smells: “Wow, yeah. Very floral. I’m gonna get this wrong, but maybe rose? [close but no cigar.] Gardenia? [yup!] Maybe some chrysanthemum? [ok you have a point]”

Nocturne Alchemy Rosewater Whipped Honey Bee (Rosewater, whipped orange blossom honey, Pink Sugar dust accord, Bastet’s Musk, and vanilla bean.)

• What I smell: It’s what it says on the tin. Rose and honey in the vial.
• What he smells: “That’s an Arnold Palmer.”

Nocturne Alchemy Sugar Bunny (Sugar, rice milk, Bastet’s Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream accord, vanilla bean, drizzle of caramelized Pink Sugar accord, and horchata spices.)

• What I smell: Overly sugary caramel. Ruh roh.
• What he smells: “Pine straw. Wait, no. Yeah, it’s like the detritus under a pine tree, which means I might be getting a bit of mulch, which means I might be getting a bit of poop.”
• Author’s note: Hey, quick question, WTF?

Nocturne Alchemy Tonka Bean Honey Bee (Orange blossom honey, Venezuelan tonka bean absolute, caramelized white tobacco leaf essence, and coumarin.)

• What I smell: Tobacco. It’s not strong but it’s enough to turn me off.
• What he smells: “Eh, yeah, something faintly floral.”
• Author’s note: This one is on me for not realizing there was tobacco in here before I picked it up in a destash sampler.

Nocturne Alchemy Vanilla Marshmallow Honey Bee (Vanilla bean cordial, marshmallow crème, orange blossom honey, bergamot essence, Madagascar anise essence, vanilla crème, vanilla sugar, and vanilla-amber essence accord.)

• What I smell: It’s a straight sugar bomb.
• What he smells: “It’s not as strong as the other NAs, but I’m mostly picking up fruit.”
• Author's note: You can probably tell at this point that NA and my skin are not getting along.

Nui Cobalt At Your Command (Pistachio creme, coriander, black cardamom, and humid ylang flower.)

• What I smell: Whoa. Heady floral spicy fancy soap. Poofed into thankfully unsoapy but still undesirable cilantro once it hit my skin, maybe with a little ylang left to keep the fanciness. Note to self: it might just be NCD’s version of ylang, or the combo with the coriander, but now that I have a scent where I can actually pick it out of the mix I’m not loving it.
• What he smells: “That smells like honeydew! God, that reminds me that I haven’t had honeydew in a million years.” You know, he’s got a point. “The pistachio creme probably turned it into melon.”
• Author’s note: While I have an appallingly low hit rate with NCD, I did have a reason to try them again: my friend and I both got 5ml bottles of one of my few hits, Dendrophilia. That’s a scent I really want to start layering more often, especially with super-sweet scents.

Nui Cobalt Subspace (Warm almond milk, dewy blue lotus, labdanum, gardenia, driftwood, and porcelain musk.)

• What I smell: Soapier than I’d like in the vial, but I get all those sweeter notes. I can’t really comprehend this one. Poofed into something vaguely green once it hit my skin, with a bit of gardenia showing up later.
• What he smells: “If you put a gun to my head I’d say it smells like some kind of sauce simmering on a stove, with a background floral note I can’t identify.”
• Author’s note: Continued from my thoughts on At Your Command, I have to admit I was pretty disappointed in both scents. It’s not just my low hit rate with the house, it’s that the combos just aren’t interesting enough for what they represent. You don’t just make a whole kink-themed collection and then have probably all the sub scents be clean skin with some kind of twist. Given the general agreement with this sentiment, perhaps BPAL’s Lupercalia and Shunga scents have set a high bar. (My friend got a sniffie of one because he thought it was funny, but outside of that we haven’t tried any yet.)

Osmofolia Lilas (Wet spring dew, purple lilacs, and velvet musk.)

• What I smell: Pretty weak but it’s definitely lilac! Alas, when I put it on, it was all indoles all the time. The hedione is dead. Long live the hedione.
• What he smells: “I’m getting something green, but in a good way, not a tomato leaf way. But this is faint enough that I feel like I need to stick it up my nose.” *looks at notes* “Oh!”

Poesie Cybele (orange blossom, creamy almond, burning resins, a lion’s mane warmed in the sun, shimmering hints of honey)

• What I smell: Well, that’s unfortunate. It took a bit to make itself clear, but I’m getting burnt plastic. This isn’t the first Poesie scent where I’ve gotten plastic, but this has nothing in common with the other ones… so I’m stumped.
• What he smells: “That smells… very resin-y to me. Almost like, museum-old, rather than old-person old.” After describing: “I almost said orange, but backed off because I thought I was wrong!”

Poesie Hina (an intoxicating tiare flower soliflore)

• What I smell: Perfect. It’s like my Tahitian gardenia shampoo but with some greenness in there that rounds it out.
• What he smells: “Oh, now I’m picking up a grassy side of this.”

Poesie Nectar (the sweet scent of honeysuckle blossoms - honeyed, intoxicating, irresistible)

• What I smell: Like Honeysuckle Crystalline, this is beautiful in the vial and then it’s grass with a little sugar behind it on my skin. It’s also much fainter than it has any right to be on my skin - argh. However, after some time, it does round out into a nicer combination of these two aspects of the smell of honeysuckle.
• What he smells: “Floral sweet. This reminds me of…. purple flowers for some reason.”

Hi Reddit. I already have an idea of what I want to say, but I felt refreshed after getting some different perspectives from friends so I'm involving the entire internet now.
I'm willing to elaborate, but because I plan to keep it concise and direct I don't think too many details are relevant. I'm a rambler but I'll try to stick to the important points. There was a person I was seeing while I was living in another city for temporary work. This city is far enough from me that traveling there is something of an event, especially because I can't afford flights and have to take on the 8-9 hour drive.
I thought this person was absolutely incredible. Intelligent, smart, extremely funny. From the second I sat down on our first date we interacting like we'd known each other for years. So comfortable, so on the same wavelength. I felt like we matched each other almost exactly on humor and interests and intellect. We had a million inside jokes by the first date just because of the way we talked over text.
I was stupid and cut things off. I told him that it was because I was scared of forming serious attachments when I was only in his city for three months. It wasn't true, but it was a sound excuse. He agreed to still be friends but I was too broken up and ashamed about it that I just never texted him again. I started dating someone else from back home and eventually broke up with them for a lot of reasons, one of them being that I never felt as happy or connected to them as I did with the other-city-guy (it was was from my biggest reason, but it was an important one to me).
Now we're a year later and I have another temporary job that's still a decent drive from his city but drastically closer. We reconnected. For the first month or two we'd exchange one or two texts a day, keeping it pretty casual. Events from last year weren't discussed. Yesterday our schedules finally lined up and I got to see him. I was genuinely expecting that I'd been remembering him through rose-colored lenses, that I'd see him in person and the way he shone in my memory would be dulled -- basically that the spell of infatuation would break. It didn't. When I saw him it slightly took my breath away. The date was so fun, so comfortable. Later in the night I became friends with this cute couple at a bar that he and I had been making up a backstory for (something we used to do on dates).
We plotted for me to go up to them and casually sus out how accurate our fictional back story had been (we were honestly really close to the truth). After some more talking and drinking, they asked about the guy I was with and I made a joke about how he was probably my soulmate but it was never going to work. They asked me what made me think that, and I said, "Oh, well a lot of reasons. But really the best way to capture all of them is just that when I'm with him I feel like I'm talking to a mirror." For context I was a slightly lonely, overimaginative kid, and so this day I have a habit of having long conversations with myself in the mirror. It's sort of in lieu of journal entries when I don't have the energy to write, or I just make up stories. The couple said that that's how they feel when they're together, and they told me that I should tell him how I feel even if nothing comes of it.
SO. That was what I wanted to do, but the next day our time was cut short because he had work obligations. We both seemed to get kind of awkward and ramble-y when it came time for me to leave. He gave me a kiss and I casually but warmly said I hoped I'd see him around, and then I left. I felt horrible that I didn't get the chance to tell him how I felt. I had a short, respectable, light cry outside of his apartment, and then I went home.
I want to call him later today and just put it all out there. Not in an overwhelming way at all. Right now I thought I'd just say, "Hey. There were some things I wanted to say to you this weekend but I didn't get the opportunity. I'm sorry about how I ended things last year. It wasn't what I wanted and I acted immaturely. I really didn't think I'd ever get to see you again. I know that our lives don't line up, I just wanted you to know that I think you're incredible and I really like you. I hope that doesn't make you uncomfortable."
I'm mentally preparing myself for him not to feel the same way. One of the things I admire about him is his practicality, and I could imagine him not reciprocating my feelings solely as a result of the distance. It's relevant to note that I wouldn't be able to move to his city (which is a city I wanted to move to before I'd met him, btw) for at least three years.
Any perspective is appreciated. If you confessed potentially unrequited feelings, feel welcome to share your story. If you imagined what you would say in this situation, please share. After writing this out I think I just wanted to get this off my chest in addition to getting some advice.

Background: Recently, one member of a discord group (who i'll call B) added 2 new people into the discord server (Y and D who they knew in real life and were ) without asking or bringing it up to the rest of the group beforehand. Y and D quickly began to dominate the conversation on the server, mostly only speaking to B and ignoring others, especially my partner A. A had confided in me many times that they felt ignored since Y and D joined, even telling me about a time they joined a public call D and B were in together they both ignored A and even started making fun of them as if they weren't there. A and myself approached R, the person who owned the current server we had been using, and expressed our issue with Y and D being allowed to join without them knowing anyone other than B or anyone being asked first, especially because not even a year prior R and other member K both cornered me in a group DM that excluded A and yelled at me to the point of tears for doing the same situation with B and someone else we'll call Z. When that happened they yelled at me about how it felt like I was trying to replace them and called me an asshole for doing it. I immediately removed B and Z and apologized to them, explaining the situation that I added them without the consent of others. They understood and sent their own apologies to R and K for the miscommunication. R later made the server we currently use for everyone added B and Z herself to which everyone became very close friends. After bringing this up to R she began to gaslight me, saying that that never happened.
The other night we were supposed to have one of our weekly scheduled game nights. A had a particularly bad day leading up to it and was looking forward to the game as a means to de-stress. The group confirmed we were all still good to go 2 hours before game time so A and I decided to chill and take a small nap before game time. We woke up around a half hour before hand to see that R, another friend had canceled the game last minute. How we have these games set up is that all members need to be present in other for us to play. I have brought up how impractical this is and offered suggestions in the past to allow for those present to be able to still play and have a good time, but no one else agreed stating they wouldn't want to have a good time without everyone else present. A was understandably upset as he had been looking forward to this day since our last game and sent a message in the chat about how everyone's consistently canceling has caused us to only play a handful of games within the past 3-4 months. Our discord server has a venting chat were people can talk about the bs that's been going on in their lives, but A has refused to use it seeing as how no one responds to them or offers any support, meaning their only outlet for their problems is myself and what is supposed to be a once weekly game they use to de-stress. A really cares about the commitment we all make to each other to show up and enjoy each others company and have fun, in the past going as far as canceling dental surgery just to be able to show up for the others, but people have been canceling at the last minute for months now and it had begun to wear on A. A took responsibility for not telling everyone about everything they have been going through, but expressed their anger with the situation.
Here is where things went bad. As A and i are married I felt the need to back them up and sent my own message expressing my disappointment and anger with the group. They had hurt my partner, but had also begun to act very careless about when and how the cancel the game times always claiming mental health reasons to the point that I felt some had begun to abuse the term. We all take each others and our own mental health very seriously, but when one person would cancel multiple times for thinking their cat was angry at them while someone else who had lost their housing and been in and out of an inpatient program was still committed, it began to come off like some people were willing to claim anything as a "mental health problem" just for the sake of getting out of the game. I brought this up and said how we need to have a conversation about not just playing fast and loose with the mental health card as it takes away its seriousness for those in the group when they go through actual crisis and it isn't fair to those people especially those like A who actively puts their own issues aside for the sake of everyone else still having a good time. I was immediately attacked and called an asshole for "pitting peoples problems together" and belittling one problem just because it wasn't as serious as another. This is where my main issue started. As they did this they continually began to accuse me of belittling others quote "all because i want to play a game". My issue isn't and never was because i wanted to play the game, it was because they were actively being disrespectful by constantly canceling last minute and ignoring the effort my partner went through to ensure the games would continue. The rest of the night turned into a barrage of messages attacking me for being rude, all of which ignored A's original message as well as attempted to boil my argument down to "OP wants to game". One of the people who took to the fore front of these messages was Y, one of the newest members who had not been around while Z was going through a really bad time or while A was dealing with surgeries. I had tried to exclude Y and D from the conversation early on by saying "you guys are new and do not know the entire story of what is happening here, i am sorry you are having to see all this." That night concluded with everyone else stating that we needed to discuss this problem further when everyone is level headed and in better moods.
The next day I apologized for coming off as rude and hurting others feelings and expressed how the reason I said what i did wasn't just because i was defending my spouse, but because I too had begun feeling excluded from the group and felt for a long time that my only options were to either scream louder "HEY LOOK AT ME" to which i would be branded an attention hog and swarmed with insulting messages like i was last night or for me to ignore the situation and continue to be ignored, at which point when these problems came up they would respond "well we never knew you had an issue", which again was another one of their responses to what A had said. I expressed that i felt stuck and did not know how to move forward in this group without constantly being the asshole regardless of which path i took. That is when Y responded, again attempting to shrink my issues down to "OP wants to game" which i never even mentioned other than when i said that i didnt like how they were constantly shrinking my problems down to just that. I told Y that she needed to stop responding to this because the situation was not about her or D and the fact that she was constantly the first to respond was taking away the chance for others to respond directly to my messages without first being influenced by her pov when she does not have the full picture as she has only been in the server a couple of weeks. I expressed to her multiple times i was not trying to be rude to her but that i would appreciate if she would take a step back and allow the others to respond first. She herself had even begun her messages with "not to butt in" because she was aware that she had no part in this, yet wanted to let her two cents be known anyways.
Y went ballistic, sending multiple one word messages like "I" "oh" "i didnt" "sorry" "I just" attempting to convey an anxiety attack. I continued to apologize to her telling her she had nothing to worry about but just that i needed to hear from other people before i heard from her. Immediately the chat that had been more or less radio silent while i was attempting to calmly and rationally explain my situation (like i was asked to) blew up with everyone rushing to Y's defense and trying to calm her down completely ignoring any of my apologies. Y continued regardless and said that she was just trying to offer solutions (none of her messages actually contained any solutions, just petty insults directed toward me) to which i responded saying I understood she wanted to help, but I had already offered many solutions myself in the past and in DMs that she wasnt aware of and if they had refused to listen to me then i didnt think they would listen to her either and i would really prefer to just hear from the others first before she jumped in with solutions. That's when Y said "oh okay, i see you're just an asshole then."
I don't know how the rest of the chat went after that because I left it. I was done being insulted especially from someone i didn't even know and who i had genuinely tried to be nice too up to that point. It all just started to feel like petty high school drama at that point. I felt betrayed by everyone else who called me their friend but ignored and belittled me and my partner while rushing to the defense of a total stranger who the worst thing i had ever said to was "please stop responding before others get the chance" as the conversation was about how THEY were treating me and A, not how Y was. I left the server and deleted my discord deciding I would rather spend my time taking care of myself and my family than be roped back into their drama where i am insulted by people who i dont even know. After i left, A (who was asleep while this was happening) read through the messages and saw that Y continued to insult me, calling me even more names and quoting things i said to be like " 'oH i FeEl LiKe Im BeInG iGnOrEd' IGNORES ME INSTEAD. What a bitch." among other things. Apparently no one in the chat told her that was rude or tried to further explain my side which honestly im fine with, i've left the chat and they have proven to me that they genuinely were just trying to replace me and A with these new people. I feel shame because of the amount of time and energy i poured into these relationships that are just gone now. We helped each other out emotionally and even financially. We sent gifts to each other over the years, were each others shoulders to cry on, and I even helped Z and R navigate their feelings for each other. Am I The Asshole?

It started out with me running in a storm trying to reach a little townhouse for safety. Then the old classic phenomenon occurs when you’re trying to run in a dream and it feels like ur treading water. I see lightning bolts get closer and closer when I finally reach the bottom of the steps and grab onto the handrail and boom⚡️I get struck. I was definitely fucked up but still alive so I push thru up the stairs and we get inside of the house. Inside it’s dark and wooden and I see all my family members. (Now I’ve been watching that new show on Netflix called sweet tooth so this house had an eery apocalyptic kinda vibe to it). Then Blah blah blah, one thing led to another and I die☠️. Usually when does happens, I just wake up and go about my day. But the dream was not over. I was sort of shot in another moment of time with a completely different scenario and identity with all the same people, only they had no recollection of my death. The funny thing is that the last person I saw when I died and the first thing I saw when I reincarnated was my father. He looked the same as well, but when I looked down at my feet, I knew something was different. I ran to the mirror and low and behold, I don’t recognize myself. I look like this jacked lesbian no kidding😅. Admiring my chiseled abs then started doing a gun show all in this bathroom mirror LMAO. I also had this bandage around my breasts, like a chest binder. That was my only indication that I was a lesbian until for some reason, I like came out to my dad. His reaction was standard, but this moment was honestly just like a side quest because the entire time I was having crazy revelations. I had all my past memories And it seems like I was the only one who knew that. So I was lucid enough to tell myself that I had reincarnated, but it’s almost like I wasn’t supposed to know that. I kept wondering why this happened to me but also so grateful of how good my life turned out thanks to all the choices I made in my past life, ya know like karma. But somehow, since I was the only one that was aware of this, it leads me to another revelation I had. Everyone kept calling me, Goddard like that was my legal fucking name.. I’m like Goddard? like that preschool? (I’m a toddler teacher irl so, checks out lol). I realize that Goddard shortened to GOD and I was like holy shit am I god? As I was thinking this time jumped, to me sitting in a canoe in blue ass water, other people/family members were there and I mean, I guess we are God in our own way. We are all one.. after this, I finally woke up and realized I had slept for 12 hours. It’s a new moon so I don’t know if that has anything to do with it but yeah , just let me know what you guys think of this. I know it’s really long. Any interpretations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks y’all 🙏🩵

Told my bestfriend a few months ago that I liked him, felt too attached to him, needed to progress into a short-term relationship or I didn't feel like I could keep being friends with him anymore. He had stated before that he would never date anyone close to him, and I had felt like that too, but I thought that since I developed feelings for him after letting myself see him that way, maybe he would too.
He didn't reciprocate or fight for me to stay friends, I took it as he didn't care about losing me. I didn't speak to him for a month. Blocked him on everything, ignored him in the hallway. One month later I realize that even though I didn't want it to be an ultimatum, it was pretty f*cked up for me to do that, especially considering we are incredibly incompatible long-term. I send him a long apology letter telling him why he was so important to me, apologized for everything I felt I did wrong, explained to him why our conversation was more hurtful than just a simple rejection (I've been rejected before and understand I am not hot shit), verbalized my understanding that we will never be together, asked to just be friends again and talk. He told me he is seeing someone new and wants me to move on from this, not open to having a convo about it, doesn't think we should hang out individually, doesn't mind if he still sees me at professional or social events. Looking back, his response was reasonable. It just was surprising and out of the blue because at the end of our previous convo, he reassured me he wasn't mad, was glad I told him, was open to having more conversations if I needed more closure, and didn't want me to feel uncomfortable or horrible around him in the future since we have many mutual friends and are in the same profession. It also just sucked that I wrote him a long, vulnerable letter (which is a lot, but he told me he was unwilling to speak in-person with me about it), explaining all of my feelings and all I got was a chatgpt paragraph response back from him.
Since then, we have not spoken. We see each other in passing and both just pretend like the other doesn't exist. I will likely never have to intentionally see him again after this week, I've been focusing my efforts into nonmutual friends and make other plans during group events that I know he will be attending and just make separate plans with our mutual friends. Even though it sounds like he doesn't mind if I try to talk to him in a group setting, I honestly cannot imagine having a normal convo with him anymore. I don't think he's wrong for keeping his distance, but it's just disappointing coming from being close friends to this. I feel like he could've done that without just shutting me down. I think he cares about me, maybe the conversation we would have had would just be hurtful so he thinks it's better to say nothing at all, but I would rather him just be honest. Nonetheless, I'm not going to put in effort to be in someone's life if they don't want to be in mine.
I feel way less emotionally intense than I did at the start of this all. I think I just feel like it's sad and stupid that things ended this way. I don't think we can be friends again and I cannot imagine interacting with him at all. I feel hurt having put in so much effort to fix things and reflect on how poorly I went about this only to get shut down. I feel moved on from it in terms of I don't need answers to all the questions I had about things before, and all the details of the conversation are no longer things that I want to analyze anymore. I'm not waiting on him to come around, but now I just feel like I'm waiting for the next shoe to drop. I still think about wanting to talk to him about random things we used to enjoy, as we had similar sense of humor and a lot of shared interests. But I recognize that if we ever talk again it will be a different version of him than who I used to know, so I'd rather just not. I know he's dating someone else, and it does hurt to think about but it's more just a "known fact" rather than something that makes me spiral. I'm not someone who dates just to date or for the drama, I felt like we were already doing a lot of the relationship-y things together which is why I caught feelings and thought that things might work for us for the short-term. I have faith for the right person to come, even if it's not in the forseeable future and am pretty content being single. How do I fully put this in the past? I guess I'm just looking for reassurance that time will make me completely forget this and him.

Time/Day: TBD, but initially planning on it being on Wednesdays at 8:00 PM EST, starting on June 26th (prone to change)
Frequency: Weekly
Players: 4-5
Video/Voice/Text: Voice, using Foundry VTT
Description: In Washing D.C., known as the Capital Wasteland, the world as we know has fallen. Decay and ruin spread across the land even after 200 years since that fateful day. That is... with one exception. Inexplicably, to the north, a grand over encompassing and encroaching forest has remained, a verdant sea of flora as far as the eye can stretch in a seemingly dead land. Every passing day, the forest grows and spreads further, over taking ruins and returning the world to before it was stained by mankind's touch. The Verdant Vale.
At its heart, one sole location remains, a pre-war research base known as Genetitech. Its towering ruin lies in ominous vigil over the vast woodland. Few dare to venture into the Verdant Vale. Fewer still ever return.
This is a short 4 chapter adventure delving into the depths of the Verdant Vale and Genetitech, discovering its secrets and hopefully, making it out alive. The party, entrusted by Elder Lyons (though not necessarily part of the Brotherhood of Steel) have been sent out to investigate the Verdant Vale in hopes of understanding and potentially utilizing the miracle that occurred there to the benefit of the world, as they had done with the Water Purifier and the Aqua Pura project. The party will be starting at level 10.
This is a playtest for an adventure in the works. (IMPORTANT pls read ty) Players will be expected to take notes of their experience, express their thoughts and critiques, having them ready in written form. I will be recording the sessions for note keeping as well. I want players actively seeking to exploit even the most miniscule of bugs or mistakes to refine the adventure. If you're interested and are willing to do the above, DM me on Discord (Blubber Nibble) so I may interview you! I'll see you there! New players are welcome!

I'm making this post because there's a lot of information and requests scattered around regarding the upcoming changes and improvements to text generation.
I thought I'd share my personal wish list in the hopes that we could discuss it and what others want. With some luck, the NovelAI team will see it and keep in mind for future products as they develop their product.
So, without further ado, here's what I'm hoping for:

• 32k Context in Opus Tier: Because more context forgives a lot of sins.
• Automatic vectorization of lorebooks and longer works to make maximal use of whatever context we have.
• Integration of image gen into the text editor, so we can click a button to get a character or scene illustration. With text adventure mode, you could gen an image automatically on certain kinds of events.
• A hybridized mode between a chat (SillyTavern) and long-form prose. Text adventure heads in that direction, but not quite because of the Do/Say mechanic that makes it hard to combine actions and words. However, a full chat-style interface often lacks scene descriptions and interludes that set the stage. (Maybe this is what AetheRoom is going to be?)

HERE'S THE BIG ONE:
Build in an "Oracle." An Oracle is a randomized means of answering a question to advance a plot. They are commonly used for solo roleplaying in which the playeuser attempts something. It allows there to be setbacks and challenges.
As it stands, if a character tries to, for example, break into a house. They might start by trying to open the front door. Is it locked? The AI wouldn't know what the author wants to happen here so it would probably give a vauge response and stall, hoping the author gives it a clue if there's nothing in the context to help.
The AI could use an Oracle to decide. The basic D6 oracle works like this:

The D6 oracle is as simple as rolling a single six-sided die, and consulting the following table (something that becomes so second nature after a while). 1. No, and 2. No 3. No, but 4. Yes, but 5. Yes 6. Yes, and But what do these results actually mean? They answer any question you have. 

So the character tries the front door. The AI consults the oracle in the background. In this context, the question is: "Is the front door unlocked?" to which the following possibilities might be generated:

1. No, and you hear a dog barking inside. Yikes!
2. No, it's not unlocked.
3. No, it's not unlocked, but you see an open window.
4. Yes, it's unlocked but you spot a security camera pointing at the door.
5. Yes, it's unlocked!
6. Yes, it's unlocked and there are bushes hiding you from view from the street. Bonus!

See what I mean? Instant plot help to keep things moving forward if the author doesn't want to get bogged down in those details. You can add a "likely" or "unlikely" modifier to do a + or - to the roll, too. The key would be to build it in fairly transparently where the AI looks at what the character is attempting to do, determines a question, makes the roll and then crafts the response.
Anyway, I hope you guys and the team find this useful as a discussion point.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B3qmG7qSEA63Ds6maagPyW8fE92UQRWJlGI_vkq1YKw/edit?usp=sharing
Here are the top highlights in the 500 games:
Total GamesWinsLossesGames with FFOpponent FF 50025324720984

OT's	OT Wins	OT L's
84	48	36

	Goal Differentials			Time Left
	All ff Games	Lossess Only	Wins Only	Losses Only	Wins Only
Totals:	-111	-302	191	3:30:38	2:26:29
Mean:	-0.531	-2.416	2.274	1:41	1:45
Std Dev:	2.577	1.021	1.348	1:04	1:13

Some background:

I played exclusively competitive 3s while tracking these games. While I had reached Champ rank in earlier seasons, I had been squished down by the re-structuring and began this journey pretty much "hardstuck" at D1. I achieved C1 at some point, and ended pretty squarely again in D3.
I know I undercounted opponent forfeits, because I cannot see opponent forfeits unless they get a unanimous vote. I was able to count some others due to some chatting by the other team (e.g. opponent says "y would we ff") or if someone ragequit since you need to "forfeit" before leaving the match. Considering how much I was undercounting opponent forfeits, I think this demonstrates pretty plausibly that opponents and your own team will vote for forfeit at roughly equivalent frequencies over the long run.
As noted, I did not shy away from initiated forfeit votes myself. I'm a believer in forfeiting to cut one's losses.

Why did I do this?

Someone else made a post where they documented roughly 300 games of theirs until there was 100 forfeit votes. They wanted to say that there "is a problem" with forfeiting in this game. My hope was to either demonstrate that there isn't really a problem, or to at least help us shine some nuance on the data and mindsets of forfeiting in the competitive 3v3 space of RL.

Key findings

The first point is that, even with undercounting opponent forfeits, the opposing team still yielded games (or at least someone wanted to ff) to my team roughly 40% of the time. That is 40% of all games with ff, not 40% of all games played - although, coincidentally, forfeits seem to happen in roughly 40% of games by either one team or the other. We could extrapolate by doubling the "Own Team" forfeit votes, which comes out to 250. So my numbers predict that someone in a 3v3 match will vote to forfeit every other match that you play. That is actually way more significant than I thought even before I started writing this post.
But a point I wanted to emphasize is that on average, you aren't losing more games because your opponent forfeits early when you consider that opponents are yielding games to you early in roughly equal parts.
If we look a little closer at the data, we can see why this matters even more.
Firstly, there were only 5 (five!) matches where my team completed a comeback to win after someone voted to forfeit. Is this self-fulfilling prophesy, or are people rightfully forfeiting games that are unwinnable? That is very difficult to say with certainty, but I do have some numbers.
Let's look at goal differentials. These differentials were recorded when the first forfeit vote was cast (where noted in the data I tried to record the final score). For games my team lost the mean differential was -2.416 with a std dev of 1.021, meaning that for 2/3 of those games, votes were cast with a goal deficit larger than 1. This demonstrates that there are relatively few times people cast forfeit votes while losing by only 1 goal. For wins, the numbers were 2.274 and 1.348.
Now for time. In losses, the first ff vote was cast with 3 hours and 30 minutes of total game clock remaining (across all 500 games). That's an average of 1:41. While 1:41 is quite a bit of time to comeback, it's also a long time to drive around being frustrated with teammates you can't seem to mesh with. Again, this is three and a half hours of game clock, with more time in between for any additional goal scored. The standard deviation was 1:04, so that's a fairly wide spread of time left. Many games only resulted in forfeits with a few seconds remaining as the teams seem to finally break their will to compete.
Of note: RL won't let you ff before 3:30, so this certainly holds down the mean and possibly std dev for time remaining data.

My Takeaways

My philosophy on forfeiting remains the same, though I am more thoughtful about it now. I try to wait a little longer before I throw out the first forfeit vote, but after this exercise quantifying the time lost versus how many games you can actually win after a forfeit happens, I am as adamant as ever that forfeiting is a worthwhile exercise when you are playing a game such as this. It's not all about mental tenacity and never giving up, or trying to improve your play by playing with bad teammates or simply playing from behind. Ultimately this is a game for 99.99% of us (those who aren't E-sports pros) and as such, we deserve to be able to throw in the towel and move on to the next game when it isn't fun.
Does forfeiting cause a loss due to the mental result of giving up, or do people forfeit when they know the game is likely lost? I think it's mostly the latter, but there are elements of our mental state that matter. Once that first forfeit vote is cast, it's hard to not worry whether your teammate is going to go afk or stop trying. That affects your own focus and you may question the possibility of a win. So this is a real concern, but again, over 500 games with 125 games where my team cast a forfeit vote, we only won 5 of those games. Those are ridiculously low odds. And don't forget the pettiness and extreme measures players in this game will go to when they get angry. Afk, throwing, chat-spamming, etc.
I do not believe forfeiting is itself a problem. In fact I much prefer an early forfeit to people throwing tantrums in games, essentially holding us all hostage because of pettiness. That said, there are a LOT of forfeits, and some are winnable. There are less quantifiable elements at play as well. How do you feel about your team? How were the goals scored? How quick were they? How is your team moving and responding? You can often tell a different between a group that you don't want to play with after going down 2 goals and a group that you would keep playing with if the score is 0-3 or 0-4. I think using this judgement in your forfeiting decisions is good and I encourage it.
Finally, I also want to urge anyone here reading this not to throw games and refuse to forfeit, just making other people miserable while playing. Life is too short to intentionally ruin another gamer's gaming session.
Okay, let me know if you all see any other interesting data points or have additional thoughts! Enjoy!

Cross Posted It makes me irrationally angry when people ask when we're having a second baby. For context, my husband and I never seriously thought about having kids until we were much older. Our son was born when we were 38 and 39. We're very happy with our little family and even if our finances and lifestyle would allow it we are not interested in having more children. It started at my 6 week appointment with my OB when we were talking about contraception. I told her that we were very serious about not having any more children and my husband is planning on getting a vasectomy. She tried to dissuade us from that, said that we would more than likely change our minds and we would regret that decision. I know she has probably seen it happen a lot but I was just so taken aback by her forwardness. We spent my whole pregnancy together, but she doesnt know EVERYTHING about me and my husband and our lives, so I felt like she wad just completely disregarding everything I was saying. We often get it from my mother-in-law, too, who has an old school mentality of having lots of kids because that's what she wanted. She was very disappointed to hear that we didn't want any more kids and she constantly asks, "Are you sure?" and says things like, "Won't he be lonely?" It gets me when friends, or even strangers, say things, too. For example, we will be talking about how our baby is relatively easy, has a good temperament, and sleeps well and they'll say things like "Oh, that'll trick you into having a second one!" Or they'll just ask straight out, "Are you having a second one soon?" Just because we've had one baby doesn't mean that I've suddenly become a baby-making factory. I also get second-hand anger for folks who experience fertility issues (I have several close friends who tried for YEARS and I saw first-hand how much of a toll it can take). We did not experience any fertility issues, but we very well could have and it could be really hurtful to someone to just say "You should have a second one!" Their baby may be the result of years of trying and failing and suffering losses and treatments and financial struggles, and to just flippantly say, "Do it again!" is pretty insensitive. Can we all just agree not to ask people "WhEn ArE yOu HaViNg A sEcOnD bAbY?"

Hi! Thank you for reading my ad and considering me for a partner!
Before I pitch my vision, I'd like to share a little bit about myself. I'm 28 years old and am working full-time and attending classes. I have over a decade of experience in cooperative writing on and off, from varying levels of partners, literacy, and effort. I find that my greatest times in roleplaying come from when I have a primary partner with who I can bounce ideas and visions off of, who will do the same with me. A story, or a collection of them, is best when everyone writing it is driving it together.
So, what you can expect from me is generally three paragraphs, sometimes more if I'm feeling descriptive or if the story is hitting a milestone or change in setting. On very rare occasions with quick character interactions, I may dip down to two paragraphs, but this is rare, probably even non-existent in my modern writing. I'm more than happy to provide some samples of my writing as well, if a potential partner asks. I consider myself reasonably descriptive and literate, and I strongly prefer writing in third person.
What I'm looking for is a long-term partner who is interested in branching out our stories while we work together. Ideally, we'll start with one story, direction, and set of character, but eventually flesh out the world and characters around them. I'd also like to have a relatively vocal partner with who I can talk to OOC. It doesn't have to be constant conversation by any stretch, but at mutual check-ins. It's much easier to build a story and world together when you're comfortable talking to one another. I'd also like for my partner to be able to respond with a minimum of at least two paragraphs.
I realize my title states [M4F], but I'll actually write with anyone regardless of gender. However, as far as romantic settings go, my comfort level stays with MxF stories. On that note, even if the pairing is MxF, I'm not a believer that the pairing absolutely needs to end up in a romantic setting. This often ends up happening when I write, but I feel that too much pressure on characters who stem from different brains can really ruin organic character progression and development. I'm more than happy to write stories with anybody though, however, 18+ is an absolute must.
As my title states, I'm looking to write in an original medieval fantasy setting. I actually already have a few pages of worldbuilding content from an original world that I brought up a couple years ago, which I'd prefer to use as a base for our writing. I also have a few plot starters related to it. However, I'm negotiable to the worldbuilding, and for a committed and well fitting partner, more than happy to start from scratch or modify what I already have. I'd most likely prefer to write on Discord, but if you have an alternative, feel free to suggest it to me.
Thank you again for reading, and I hope to hear from you!

FCTRADE Instructions:
Portfolio Files ("PORTF".DAT) contain a list of Stock Securities. Stock Files ("STOCK".CSV) contain the history of trades.
* To operate on all stocks enter "PORTF" or "PORTF yyyymmdd".
* To operate on one stock enter "STOCK arg" where "arg" is blank, "yyyymmdd", "DUMP" (to output stats), "REBUY" (to make new Stock File history), or "RETRADE" (to compute new trades).
Historical Data Analysis:
Enter (1) for price movement analysis,
(2) to run simulation for FryCurve,
or (3) for price and dividend performance analysis.
[Note: Negate entry to use only closing price]
PROGRAM FCTRADE
V9.2 (C) Copyright 2024, Stephen C. Fry, all rights reserved.
* This program manages a portfolio of stocks and bonds via the
use of Comma-Separated-Value text files as described below.
-> ".CSV": Each security fund has its own CSV file, described below.
-> ".DAT": One master Portfolio file contains a list of the funds.
* The program assumes for each fund there is both a buy and a sell
order in place. When the price for a fund moves enough to trigger
the order (price decreases to trigger buy order, or increases to
trigger the sell) the trade is recorded; then this program is run
to generate the new buy- and sell-orders to be made.
* The program has operating parameters (contained in the disk file
"FRYCURV.CFG") that govern computational and output options.
(Note: if the file doesn't exist, a sample file will be created.)
* Each fund has trading parameters that govern the program's
computation of the new buy- and sell-orders. These parameters are
entered in the Portfolio file (one line for each fund). The most
important parameters are the Max and Min prices -- as long as the
price of the fund never falls below Min or rises above Max, then
the FryCurve Rule assures that the speculative trading (buying low
and selling high) actions always result in a profit.
* This program can also report the historical trading results for
the entire portfolio of funds listed in the master-CSV file. The
output file is named "PORTFHIS.TXT", which contains daily totals
and summarizes each year's totals and average earnings as a
percentage of the entire portfolio value.
* The program can also analyze historical data for any fund not in
the portfolio by downloading the data from Yahoo. The analysis
will plot historical prices and historical earnings (using the
additional dividend data also downloaded). It will also suggest
the trading parameters to be entered in the master-CSV file for
the fund to maximize profits (during the historical range given)
assuming the future will act like the past. See .
0. The file "FRYCURV.CFG" is a configuration file that sets many
parameters required by the program and determines the types of
outputs that will be produced. If the file does not exist then
a sample file will be created with a moderate set of parameters.
Any line beginning with "#" will be disregarded as a comment.
"FRYCURV.CFG" begins with a header line that is the current four-
digit year; after that are 3 to 6 lines of data as shown below:
a. Line 1:
Item Name Default Meaning
----+--------+-----+------------------------------------------------
1 NHIST 100 No. Y-values in Histogram Chart
2 NPSIM 10 No. points in Simulation Analysis
3! MPP 1 No. decades undeover trades in OVRUNDR
4! NFUTR 4 No. future buy/sell trades in 'DMP' file
5 MXLVL 5 Max. levels of buy/sell in 'DMP' file
6 NINB 6 No. initial Buy trades to fund (off curve)
7 PRMIN 5.00 Min. Dollar Profit required for trade
8 METHCB 4 Cost Basis Method (FIFO, LIFO, HIFO, LOFO, Avg)
9 LVLDBG 3 Debug level (higher for more debug messages)
----+--------+-----+------------------------------------------------
! Negate for Special Options (Sell-Profit calculation)
b. Line 2:
Item Name Default Meaning
----+--------+-----+------------------------------------------------
1-5 PINI .2-.7 Percentage to buy initial funding first 5 buys
6 RISK 0.5 Risk level (0 to 1) approaching Plan funding
7 PCTRD 1.5 % difference plan/actual for UndeOver trade
8 PREBUY .10 Ratio of orig for new buy (Under buy)
9 PRESEL .15 Ratio of orig for new sell (Under sell)
10 KTYTRD 0 Read ".TRD" file Code (1=Combine same prices)
----+--------+-----+------------------------------------------------
c. Line 3:
Item Name Default Meaning
----+--------+-----+------------------------------------------------
1 RFC .20 Default FryCurve Risk multiplier (-.9 to +.9)
2 RPM .00 PM multiplier for SuperFry Curve (Zero for off)
3 DPMIN .02 PM Difference minimum to allow a move
4 DPMOV .15 PM Difference minimum to force a move
5 NMDAY 100 Minimum Number Days at PM Diff to force a move
6 PMSHR 10 Minimum Percentage Shares Trade to force move
7 PLOPN 10 Lower Percent of price range to lower PN
8 PHIPX 90 Upper Percent of price range to raise PX
9 PNWPN 20 Percent of price range for new lower PN
10 PNWPX 80 Percent of price range for new higher PX
----+--------+-----+------------------------------------------------
d. Lines 4, 5, and 6 (optional):
Item Name Meaning
----+------+--------------------------------------------------------
1-15 FREC Default header parameters 5-19 in sample fund file
Line 4 for Stocks, line 5 for Bonds, line 6 for Other.
----+------+--------------------------------------------------------
I. The Portfolio-DAT file is a list of security-funds (with trading
parameters entered), then for each of the funds in the list
there is a Fund-CSV file that contains a history of all activity
for that fund. When there is new activity, it is recorded in a
text file (via Cut-and-Paste from browser to text editor, then
saved) that is comma- or tab-separated list of each trade details.
This trade-file must have a date-coded name: "yyyymmdd.TRD".
When this program is run with a trade-file as input, it is
recorded in a new altered version of each fund CSV file, named
with the extension ".NEW". Also it is computed (and stored in the
NEW file) the new trade orders that should be altered at the
brokerage.
A date-coded trade-file input will also generate an output list of
all future trades to be made. This file is named "TRADmmdd.OUT".
Ia. If a Fund-CSV file is entered (instead of the Portfolio file) on
input, then only the single fund can be processed. After the name
one can enter an additional parameter, which can be a trade-file
name (processed as above), or the command "DUMP" (which will
output the same as the "!" verbose option), or the command "REBUY"
will create a ".NEW" Fund-CSV file with only the pertinent shares
bought contained in it (old records of shares bought which are
eventually all sold are removed from the history). The command
"RETRADE" will recompute the buy/sell options for the last trade.
The command "CRASH" is preceded by a percentage number of the form
"p.t" where "t" is tenths of a percent and "p" is a digit from one
to nine; a new buy/sell record is generated assuming the current
price crashes by the specified percentage.
II. This program also analyzes the past history of stock-funds via the
use of comma-separated-value text (.TXT) files:
Each history file is a CSV file directly downloaded from
Yahoo-finance with the names 'fund'-H for price history, and
'fund'-D for dividend-only history (optional). Each 'fund' should
be the name listed in the master-CSV file, and the downloaded file
'fund'.CSV should be converted to 'fund'.TXT by using the FryWare
program TEXTRACT, or it can simply be renamed from 'CSV' to 'TXT'.
When the Portfolio-DAT name is entered at program execution, these
history files are used to compute profits in the portfolio history
output file "PORTFHIS.TXT". If there is no Fund-CSV file, then
the user can output a simple profit history of the fund, or the
program can run an optimizing simulation of the various FryCurve
parameters to maximize total profit from some time in the past up
to the current date.
For simple analysis, a comparison-CSV is used (and its name
entered at program execution) that has only two entries from the
Portfolio-DAT file: fund-name, and 'type'. Except for this
analysis, the file must start with one Stock fund ('type'=1), one
Bond fund ('type'=2), and the rest 'type'=0 to generate a report
comparing each such fund with stocks and bonds to examine
correlations.
IIa. For initial analysis using the 'fund'-H and 'fund'-D files, the
start and end dates are entered; from the data the program
suggests price limits ("PN" and "PX") and FryCurve shape
parameters ("RFC" and "PM").
-> "'fund'-A.CSV" is the price analysis output file, suitable for
spreadsheet input, which first shows price limits over the dates
given. Price-Change analysis looks at the past 1, 2, and 3 days
and whether the price goes up or down, and by how much. These
frequencies are tabulated and used to suggest percentage-change
buy/sell triggers ("PPB" and "PPS"). Next the price-change data
are tabulated: first column is 1/10ths percentage change, and the
next six columns are the number of days with up/down changes for
the last 1, 2, and 3 days. Next the complete price history is
tabulated: first column is the price, and the second column is
the number of days at that price.
-> "'fund'-A.OUT" is a human-readable summary of the above file.
-> "'fund'-B.OUT" shows the year-by-year performance (option 3) of
the fund with prices and dividends assuming an initial $100K.
Each year is character-plotted in its own graph, all years with
the same vertical scale so they could be placed end-to-end
horizontally to make one continuous graph.
-> "'fund'-B.CSV" is a spreadsheet-readable version of the graphs in
the file above: the first column is the entry number, second
column is an integer date in the form 'yyyymmdd', and the last
column is the value of the fund.
FryCurve shape optimization (option 2) uses two kinds of profit
merit that it tries to maximize: first is a simple sum of the
estimated profit (Profit-C described below) for all trades, and
the second type adds to the first the current liquidation value
of the fund at the current price (called Cashout-To-Liquidate in
some output.) Analysis type 20 is the same as option 2 except
that dividends are re-invested as an increase in shares, with a
periodic increase in AMXPLN to accommodate. Type 200 is option 2
like before except that re-invested shares result in a periodic
increase in PM to accommodate.
IIb. To run a long-term simulation using the 'fund'-H and 'fund'-D
files, one creates a file named 'fund'.SIM that specifies the
FryCurve parameters and financial constants as they change over
time at specific break points. There are two types of records in
the 'fund'.SIM file: "Header" and "Date" records. A Header record
must begin the SIM file, and its form is identical to the
'fund'.CSV header described below that contains the 'fund' name
followed by 18 FryCurve parameters. The header record parameters
take effect in the simulation for the dates following the next
"Date" record, which contains the date and financial constants.
It takes the form as follows: mm/dd/yyyy %APR $MNTH RPM
The first constant, "%APR", is the interest rate that unused cash
earns (Annual Percentage Rate as compounded daily), which defaults
to zero. The second constant, "$MNTH", is usually negative and it
represents the monthly dollars deposited (+) or withdrawn (-) from
the unused cash reserve (one usually deposits into a savings fund
whilst working, then withdraws a monthly stipend after retiring.)
$MNTH also defaults to zero. "RPM" defaults to zero, and is an
override of the parameter set in the .CFG file -- if nonzero then
the FryCurve parameters will adapt to the price conditions. After
the simulation, the file 'fund'.NEW is created, which can be
renamed to .CSV and used like an actual historical portfolio file
for that fund.
======================================================================
**
** PORTFOLIO-DAT FILE CONTAINS A HEADER RECORD FOR EACH STOCK-FUND:
**
ITEM NAME MEANING
HDR ----+---------+--------------------------------------------------
0 SNAM NAME OF FUND (CHAR*6)
1 AMXPLN PLANNED MAXIMUM AMOUNT TO EVER BE INVESTED ($)
2 ITYP INVESTMENT TYPE (1=STOCK, 2=BOND, 3=MUTUAL FUND)
3 PN MINIMUM PRICE
4 PX MAXIMUM PRICE
5 PM MIDDLE PRICE FACTOR (LESS THAN ONE)
or 5 RFC.PM "RFC" IS % (INT); "PM" IS (FRACT)
6 SN LOW-PRICE SCALE (IF NO "RFC")
7 SX HIGH-PRICE SCALE (IF NO "RFC")
8 PCTCM PERCENTAGE COMMISSION ON A SELL (+ CLEARING FEES)
9 TRFEE FIXED AMOUNT OF FEE ON A BUY OR A SELL
10 SRMIN MIN. REQUIRED SHARES TO TRADE
11 SRMAX MAX. ALLOWED SHARES TO TRADE
12 PPB(1) % DROP TO BUY STREAK 1
13 PPB(2) % DROP TO BUY STREAK 2
14 PPB(3) % DROP TO BUY STREAK 3
15 PPB(4) % DROP TO BUY STREAK 4
16 PPS(1) % RISE TO SELL STREAK 1
17 PPS(2) % RISE TO SELL STREAK 2
18 PPS(3) % RISE TO SELL STREAK 3
19 PPS(4) % RISE TO SELL STREAK 4
----+---------+--------------------------------------------------
PPS/B(5) (OPT.) PP(5) = PP(4) + PP(1)
PPS/B(6) (OPT.) PP(6) = PP(4) + PP(2)
HDR ----+---------+--------------------------------------------------
DCMAX DOLLAR-CURVE MAX UNIT INVERSE (AT MINIMUM PRICE)
DD MIDDLE SHARES FACTOR
--- ----+---------+--------------------------------------------------
** EACH STOCK-FUND FILE IS "SNAM".CSV -- IT MUST BEGIN WITH A
** HEADER-RECORD DESCRIBED ABOVE (ONLY FIRST 10 ITEMS REQUIRED).
THEN FOR EACH TRADE, A TRADE-RECORD IS ENTERED AS DESCRIBED BELOW.
** A NEW HEADER-RECORD MAY BE INSERTED WITHIN THE FILE -- IT WILL
** CHANGE THE PARAMETERS AS APPLIED TO FUTURE TRADES.
"TREC" EACH TRADE-RECORD CONTAINS DATA: (FIRST 4 ITEMS REQ'D)
ITEM NAME MEANING
TRD ----+---------+--------------------------------------------------
0 TDAT DATE OF TRADE (CHAR*8 OR CHAR*10)
0.5 TTIM TIME CODE (CHAR*5=HH:MM) [OPTIONAL]
1! AMTBUY AMOUNT BOUGHT ($)
2! AMTSEL AMOUNT SOLD ($)
3 PRICE PRICE OF STOCK
4 NSHR NUMBER OF SHARES BOUGHT/SOLD (+/-)
TRD ----+---------+--------------------------------------------------
5 SHRT TOTAL NUMBER SHARES OWNED
6 TFEE AMOUNT OF COMMISSION OR FEES ON THE TRADE
7 TVAL ~PROFIT ON THE TRADE (DELTA-PRICE)*"NSHR"/2
8 AMTTOT TOTAL DOLLAR AMOUNT OWNED
"AREC" 9 AMXACT ACTUAL MAXIMUM DOLLARS INVESTED AT "PN"
ITEM 10 PFC.PM NEW FRYCURVE PARAMS TO MATCH AMXACT TO AMXPLN
----+---+---------+--------------------------------------------------
1 11 MXSPLN MAXIMUM NO. SHARES AT MINIMUM PRICE USING AMXPLN
2 12 MXSACT MAXIMUM NO. SHARES AT MINIMUM PRICE USING AMXACT
3 13 PPCHG PERCENT CHANGE COMPARED TO LAST PRICE
--- ----+---------+--------------------------------------------------
! IF "AMTBUY" OR "AMTSEL" NEGATIVE, AND "NSHR"=0; THEN
DIVDND=! NSHR SET TO +/-(-"AMT")*(PREVIOUS "SHRT")
[ OPTIONAL RECORDS THAT FOLLOW INDICATE NEW BUY/SELL CHOICES ]
"WREC" EACH RECORD CONTAINS DATA IN FOLLOWING ORDER:
ITEM NAME MEANING
END ----+---------+--------------------------------------------------
7 PN.PX NEW LOW,HIGH PRICES
1 PFC,PM NEW FRYCURVE PARAMS
2 AMXNEW NEW MAXIMUM-INVESTED-AMOUNT
3 BUYPRC NEW PRICE TO STIMULATE A BUY
4 BUYAMT NO. SHARES TO BUY AT PRICE(3)
5 SELPRC NEW PRICE TO STIMULATE A SELL
6 SELAMT NO. SHARES TO SELL AT PRICE(5)
END ----+---------+--------------------------------------------------
=== ==================================================================
** SPECIAL 'FUND' NAMED "CASH.CSV" THAT CONTAINS RECORD OF ALL TRADES
** AND OTHER CASH TRANSACTIONS. ITS USE IS OPTIONAL, DESCRIBED BELOW
HDR ----+---------+--------------------------------------------------
. 0 "CASH" NAME OF FUND (CHAR*6)
HDR ----+---------+--------------------------------------------------
ITEM NAME MEANING
TRD ----+---------+--------------------------------------------------
. 0 CASHNM FUND NAME OR REASON FOR TRANSACTION (CHAR*6)
. 1 KASHDA DATE OF TRADE (CHAR*8 OR CHAR*10)
. 2 CASHTI TIME CODE (CHAR*5=HH:MM) [OPTIONAL]
. 3 AMT+ AMOUNT ADDED TO FUND ($)
. 4 AMT- AMOUNT SUBTRACTED FROM FUND ($)
. 5 TCASH TOTAL DOLLAR AMOUNT OF "CASH" FUND
TRD ----+---------+--------------------------------------------------
** HEADER RECORD HAS ONLY ONE ITEM ("CASH"); THE FOLLOWING RECORDS
** CONTAIN DATA DESCRIBING EACH CASH TRANSACTION.
**
** FOR EACH STOCK-FUND, "i", THE PARAMETERS BELOW ARE SAVED IN "FNDAT"
"k" NAME MEANING OF FNDAT("k", "i")
-----+---------+-----------------------------------------------------
1 AMXPLN PLANNED MAXIMUM AMOUNT TO EVER BE INVESTED ($)
2 NREC NUMBER OF RECORDS IN TRADE HISTORY ("TREC")
3 PN MINIMUM PRICE
4 PX MAXIMUM PRICE
5 RFC.PM "RFC" IS % (INT); "PM" IS (FRACT)
6 SN LOW-PRICE SCALE (IF NO "RFC")
7 SX HIGH-PRICE SCALE (IF NO "RFC")
8 PCTCM PERCENTAGE COMMISSION ON A SELL (+ CLEARING FEES)
9 TRFEE FIXED AMOUNT OF FEE ON A BUY OR A SELL
10 SRMIN MIN. REQUIRED SHARES TO TRADE
11 SRMAX MAX. ALLOWED SHARES TO TRADE
12 PRICE PRICE OF LAST TRADE
13 SHRT TOTAL SHARES OWNED
14 DSPNT TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT TO BUY THE "SHRT" SHARES
15 BUYPRC NEW PRICE TO STIMULATE A BUY
16 SELPRC NEW PRICE TO STIMULATE A SELL
17 NSHR NUMBER OF SHARES IN LAST TRADE
18 PRLAST PRICE OF TRADE BEFORE THE LAST TRADE (PENULTIMATE)
19 mmdd DATE OF LAST TRADE
20 NCONS NUMBER OF PREVIOUS CONSECUTIVE BUYS (+) OR SELLS (-)
======================================================================
"LVLDBG" NEW BUY/SELL OUTPUTS; EXTRA DEBUGGING
----------+----------------------------------------------------------
> 0 > BUY/SELL USING AMXPLN, ORIG CURVE
] 1 ] BUY/SELL USING AMXACT, ORIG CURVE
} 2 } BUY/SELL USING AMXPLN, OPTIMUM "PM"
3 - BUY/SELL USING AMXPLN, SUPERFRY "PM"
3 + BUY/SELL USING AMXACT, SUPERFRY "PM"
5 = BUY/SELL USING AMXPLN, ADJ. "PN"/"PX"; SUPERFRY "PM"
5 ~ BUY/SELL USING AMXPLN, ADJ. "PN"/"PX"; OPTIMUM "PM"
5 + BUY/SELL USING AMXACT, ADJ. "PN"/"PX"; SUPERFRY "PM"
----------+----------------------------------------------------------
6 NOTIFY IF OVER BUY/SELL DUE TO LIMITS
7 NOTIFY IF OVER BUY/SELL DUE TO LOW PROFIT
8 INCLUDE USING AMXACT IN OVER BUY/SELL LISTING
9 ADDITIONAL FLOWTRACE REPORTING
======================================================================
"FCTRADE" COMMAND-LINE ARGUMENTS AND COMMANDS:
---------
FCTRADE> portf[!] [yyyymmdd] [nn.dd] comnd
"portf" is either portfolio (.DAT) or individual stock fund (.CSV)
"yyyymmdd" is optional: either trade (.TRD) or positions (.POS)
J/LCOMM "comnd" Meaning
--------+----------+--------------------------------------------------
0 2 & DUMP Only output stats on the stocks (same as !)
0 3 REBUY Create new stock file with only buys (.CSV input)
x 3 REBUYx Same as REBUY except price splits "x" times.
x -3 SPLITx Redo stock file with price splits "x" times.
0 4 RETRADE New file and new trades with new FryCurve data.
0 1 RESELL Create new file assuming buying down from PX.
0 -1 RESOLD Create new file assuming buying up from PN.
0 5 CRASH Using current price, output new trades . . .
0 5/6 CRASH Assuming plus and minus crash of "nn.dd" percent.
0 6 CRASH Using "yyyymmdd" position prices, do new trades.
0 8 * COREL8 Correlate all stocks to the first (uses -H files)
1 4 DOBUY Create new file adding a Buy from current list.
-1 4 DOSELL Create new file adding a Sell from current list.
9 9 SIMUL8 Enter Trade-Simulation mode; trade from "portf"
======================================================================
& If positions (.POS) file and date "mmdd"="1231" then for year "yyyy"
all Capital Gains and Losses (on a sale) will be output to the file
'fund'yy.CGL for all funds in the portfolio.
* For correlation, one can enter two dates "yyyymmdd" for the start
and end dates (otherwise end at current date.) An output file
named "CORREL8.OUT" will contain a copy of the analysis output.
# If no "comnd" and "portf"# entered (pound-sign instead of
exclamation-point) then portfolio parameters take precedence over
stock-fund header parameters to decide new trades.
PORTFOLIO/FUND COMMAND-LINE ARGUMENTS AND COMMANDS:
--------------
After a normal "FCTRADE" command, a summary of the entire portfolio
is shown, then a list of the funds starts the "Portfolio" level.
One can enter "All" or "Full" to print out the current status of the
parameters for each fund in the portfolio, remaining at that level.
One can manually enter simulated trades on the funds in the portfolio
with the "Simul8" command, which enters the Trade-Simulation mode.
Enter "Exit" to leave the program, "Quit" to go up a level, or enter
one of the fund names to go down to the "Fund" level. As a shorthand
two-character entry composed of the first and last characters of the
fund name will suffice to choose that fund. At the "Fund" level you
can enter "Quit" to go up a level, or one of the following commands:
"comnd" Meaning
-----------+----------------------------------------------------------
DUMP Prints out the share-buying history (as per above "Dump")
PLOT nn Plots the FryCurve for the fund, indicating with a circle
---- the current location. "nn" is the height of the plot,
which defaults to 35 rows. Each set of shares bought
(yet unsold) is indicated at the buy-price as a line
of dots ending in an asterisk.
ZOOM oo Plots a Zoomed-in portion of the FryCurve -- the price
---- range for those shares bought. "oo", in percent, is
the amount of that range for padding, defaults to 10.
FC, new Change the FryCurve parameters temporarily until leaving
the "Fund" level. "new" = (PM, SN, SX) or (RFC.PM).
AMX, Amt [L] Change the Maximum Amount to be invested (temporarily.)
PN, PN [N] Change the FryCurve Price miNimum, "PN".
PX, PX [X] Change the FryCurve Price maXimum, "PX".
PNPX,both "both" are the two entries "PN" and "PX".
PM, PM [M] Change the FryCurve parameters temporarily using "PM" to
compute SN and SX using the RFC parameter.
RFC, RFC [R] Change the FryCurve Risk Factor, "RFC" (or "RFC.PM").
Price New Buy/Sell actions are shown for "Price" that will keep
the position on the curve.
Pr, Shr At the new price "Pr", assume "Shr" shares are bought (+)
or sold (-) to show profit and other position on curve
-Pct Compute new lower "Price" for above command's Buy action
based on current price minus "Pct" percent.
+Pct Compute new higher "Price" for above command Sell action
based on current price plus "Pct" percent.
CALC, Eqn Calculate and print solution to "Eqn" text of equations.
(Using 26 variables [A] to [Z], some preset as shown.)
"CALC STAY" will remain in FRYCALC until "EXIT" entry.
> Print Buy/Sell actions for initial conditions.
] Print Buy/Sell actions for optimum AMX.
} Print Buy/Sell actions for optimum PM.
======================================================================
One can also enter a fund name (or 2-char shorthand) to switch to a
particular fund; or the single character entry backslash will switch
to the next fund in the portfolio list; the 'pipe' character (shift
backslash) will switch to the previous fund in the list.
Variable Meaning
------------+---------------------------------------------------------
[A][B][C][D] Cash req'd to buy Stocks for next 1, 2, 3, Max trades
[E][F][G][H] Cash req'd to buy All Funds for next 1, 2, 3, Max trades
[I] Cash needed temporarily -- [G]+([D]-[C])/2
[J] Total Value of All Funds (shares x last-price)
[K] Total Portfolio Cash reserves (in 'CASH.CSV' if exists)
[L] "AMX" -- Maximum dollar Amount to be invested
[M] "PM" -- Price Midpoint
[N] "PN" -- Price miNimum
[P] "P" -- Current Price
[Q] Fc-Profit-Loss: dollar loss if shares above FryCurve
[R] "RFC" -- FryCurve Risk Factor
[S] "SHR" -- Current number of shares owned
[T] Total dollars spent for current shares owned
[U] Dollars to bUyin the position
[V] Buyin-Profit: [U] - [T]
[X] "PX" -- Price maXimum
======================================================================
MUTUAL-FUND OPTIONS: ("ITYP" = 3 in Header)
-----------
When the "dump" option (append ! to portfolio name on input) is used,
for each Mutual-Fund type a ".NEW" file is created with added records
for any new dividends posted to the fund. Note the 'fund'-H and
'fund'-D files should be up to date. It is assumed that Mutual Funds
are not traded often and that dividends are reinvested, thus needing
periodic updating -- plus manually inputting any fixed annual fees
that are taken out of the fund shares (as a 'sell' record.) One can
also manually input new dividends (thus not needing the '-D' file) to
the 'fund'.CSV file directly by creating a record with the post date
followed by the -negative- of the announced dividend (in dollars per
share) in the 'buy' column, then zero in the 'sell' column, ending
with the current share price. When the program is next run, a ".NEW"
file will be created with the appropriate dollars and totals for the
added record.
=====================================================================
=====================================================================
How the different Profit Values are computed:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
PROFIT-A: Current value = Price x N-Shares
-------- Profit = difference between current value and past value.
-------- If price drops, this profit can go negative.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
PROFIT-B = Sum of actual profits per trade.
-------- On a Buy, Profit=0
-------- On a Sell, Profit=(SharesSold)*(SellPrice - BuyPrice)
-------- Each share may have a different "BuyPrice"; profit is
-------- summed over all "SharesSold", starting at those with the
-------- lowest "BuyPrice". This profit will never go negative, but
-------- only increases after a Sell trade.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
*PROFIT-C = Sum of estimated profits per trade.
-------- Each trade profit estimated from price of previous trade.
-------- (Does not require past history of price at which each share
-------- was bought.)
-------- Profit=(LastPrice - CurrPrice)*(SharesBought) / 2
-------- Profit is divided by two because profit is assigned on both
-------- a buy and sell. On a sell, "SharesBought" is negative and
-------- since "CurrPrice" is greater than "LastPrice", the trade
-------- profit is positive (as it is for a buy trade also.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
PROFIT-D = Sum of profits per trade.
-------- Buy: Profit=ProfitC
-------- Sell: Profit=(ProfitB + ProfitC) / 2
-------- This profit is a composite between 'B' and 'C' types. It
-------- always increases (like 'C') but is usually better than 'C'.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
* Used to report profit on future trades for Fund-Commands

Hey y'all, I've been dealing with what seems to be VM after doing some research about it since last September. To make a long story short, it started when I was driving on the highway and I looked to my right and when I turned to look back forward, my head went in a complete spin. I pulled over and slept in a hotel parking lot for a couple hours thinking I could sleep it off.
Over the course of the first 4 months, I had severe derealization, brain zaps, became very forgetful, visual snow, extreme tinnitus, random sharp head pains lasting for 30 seconds I didn't have before, and sensitivity to lights and loud noises. No real vertigo or dizziness after the first episode which I'm wildly thankful for after reading some of your guys' stories, I commend all of you for dealing with the dizziness all the time because I don't think I would be able to.
Come to today and the only real symptoms I have now are dealing with things that are in uniform and tinnitus. An example of this is say walking down the cereal aisle in a grocery store and everything is pulled forward and all organized perfectly, it messes with my head and eyes. Also while driving, I can drive in the town/city fine for about 2 hours a day, but when I get on the highway forget about it. After about 30 minutes of highway driving my eyes start to get super heavy and I feel like I could just fall right asleep.
Has anyone else had the issues while driving as explained above. My theory is just the high speeds of the highway and everything looking the same for the most part messing with my head.
I've been to neurologist/ENT/PT and they can't seem to find any solution.

I loved Breath of the Wild and liked Tears of the Kingdom, but even though I give them both very high marks in many areas, neither of them REALLY scratched the itch for what I look for in open-world fantasy games!
Obviously, this is just a statement of my personal wants, so my perfect LoZ game is not going to be perfect to everyone else. What I'm about to describe is a very detailed Legend of Zelda RPG with a lot of little touches and complexities that not all fans of the series will be excited for (even though I think they would love it)-- so if lots of little details aren't fun for you, then turn back now!
ANYWAY
The game I would love to play is an open-world Legend of Zelda RPG with a heavy focus on the minutiae of the fantasy setting and an allowance for character- and skills-driven progression. In my perfect LoZ game, the story would revolve around an uncertain hero who is not necessarily bound by prophecy; by default, you would play as the classic Link we know and love, but you would also be able to change that and play as a Hylian of your own design (likely limited to just Hylians for technical reasons). Taller, shorter, hair style/color, skin tone, eyes, freckles, ear-flappiness, whatever you want. And the story would reflect that uncertainty, questioning what makes a hero and whether your successes are your own or if they are predetermined by destiny.
Similarly, by default, your skills would be that of a regular hacking-and-slashing adventurer, focusing on making you fight quickly and endure damage. But, it would also allow you to deviate and get better at other things instead, to make a hero of your own design. Abilities like those previously granted by the Sheikah slate could instead be relegated to magic, and you might need to hone that skill to get better at using it (having more mana, casting faster, and using stronger "spells" or whatever they would be called). Other areas of expertise might be marksmanship, charming people & getting better deals from merchants, or sneaking & sneak-attacking. Running while crouched isn't easy y'know!
Personally, I love alchemy, so I think it would be amazing if the ability to make potions and elixirs (which is already a feature in a handful of LoZ games) was codified into a concrete thing you can focus on and get better at :3
I'm aware that making an RPG include skills-based progression is a tricky prospect, and many games have implemented it in a way that is not actually fun, but I absolutely believe it can be done well. To me, the trick is to make progressing your skills unlock new abilities rather than just increment numbers like damages, resistances, and health. So, I might make my Hylian hero better at using bows/crossbows, and in doing so, unlock the ability to use arrows more creatively, like firing ropes you can climb like ladders or balance across like bridges, or shooting lanterns to explode into puddles of fire... in ADDITION to those invisible numbers-based improvements (firing faster, more accurately, farther distances, etc)!
Going on with examples of my ideal, if you invested in Alchemy instead, you could probably learn to make potions with crazier effects instead-- transforming into monsters for a short time, jumping higher or floating, sensing creatures through walls... all the fun stuff. Keeping in line with BOTW and TOTK, cooking could be another thing you get better at-- to unlock more interesting recipes with longer-lasting benefits and versatility to use different ingredients, etc
Combining these fun, visible abilities with quiet, incremental improvements is a great way to it feel like your adventure is really causing you to get stronger, no matter how you choose to face it.
In order to hone in on the "adventure" aspect of this adventure RPG, I think I would place a greater focus on the details of physically moving around the world. While we're used to thinking of trails between towns as nothing more than patches of dirt to hold forward on, they really could be a lot more interesting to traverse! BOTW and TOTK did a fair job of using geography to create natural paths and placing significant monster encounters along those paths-- but I firmly believe that making the physical journey more difficult is what makes the trek feel like a proper adventure. If you need to eat and sleep at least once every day, if food isn't as easy as just storing 999 apples in your pants, if crossing river-rapids can be actually very dangerous... these are things that turn the very act of moving from place to place into a sort of emergent puzzle you have to solve.
In line with that, I would increase the importance of using your horse (or maybe other kinds of mounts too!) to both speed up travel and to carry important things you wouldn't be safe traveling without! The ability to set up a little tent/campsite anywhere would be a good reason to haul some gear around, and even better if there's more complex equipment to use on your adventure. Portable cooking pots, ropes for tying and climbing and hauling, and replacement weapons and shields could all be heavy things you might not be able to lug around everywhere on your own! I would like to see the cold & heat system from BOTW/TOTK expanded to be a more important consideration in day-to-day adventuring across the whole map-- like you might need to find a river to cool down if you're on the road all day, or need to bundle up if you're traveling at night. And it could happen in more stages/degrees, too-- like instead of having heat or cold start killing you outright, it could start by sapping your stamina or slowing your attacks, etc.
Speaking of maps! Maps would be central to my idea of how you unlock progression in the over-world. In BOTW and TOTK, you unlock your map by climbing towers in each region... however, I think this method is a little boring ;w; and it is often criticized as a phenomenon called "Ubisoft towers" for its repetitive nature. Nintendo did a good job of making their towers be interesting landmarks by surrounding them with environmental puzzles or enemies, but it still encourages people to just rush in a straight line to the tower instead of actually engaging with the shape of the region. I would like to limit fast-travel to only the major towns, and you would only unlock fast-travel to each town after you reach it by yourself the first time. This could be explained as making maps or clearing away monsters to allow some cart/boat services to carry passengers along that specific path easily. At the same time, your own map would populate with details of the surrounding area, and regions would likely be defined by each having one major settlement inside them. Regions would broadly represent difficulty tiers, too, as the map becomes more hostile and dangerous the farther away you move from the starter village.
To keep true to the LoZ tradition of rewarding the player with iconic items, I would bring back a few key items such as the hookshot, power bracelet, boomerang, lens of truth... (and maybe a favorite of mine, Wind Waker's magic armor!) -- and these would each represent a significant advancement over natural items in their categories. The hookshot could obsolesce climbing ropes, the boomerang is the only ranged weapon that locks on and doesn't run out of ammo (and be bladed to cut down existing ropes, to drop things like bridges and chandeliers!), the power bracelet lets you toss aside boulders you would otherwise have to used bombs on and perform incredible feats like tearing up a tree to use it as a weapon... So they would all feel like you're unlocking a whole new way to solve the problems you encounter.
And one of the most important items of all... I would like to bring back a musical instrument for your Link! Music could be one of those skills you practice to unlock exciting abilities-- as in past games, playing the right melody at the right place can unlock doors, summon your horse, ask for hints from faraway/unseen allies, make time pass, and even calm or command enemies! The easiest melodies would include those that are most important for accessibility or quality-of-life (like hints and summoning your horse), while the more powerful effects would come later. Additionally, I think it would be very fun if you can choose what instrument your Link uses to channel these effects, from a selection of past instruments from LoZ games (Ocarina, lyre/harp, pan flute) and some that would be new to him (violin, lute, horn)!
As in previous games, you can outfit your Link in various clothes and armors to suit your playstyle or help with specific challenges. A variety of clothes are available at all major settlements, and they are separated into 3 parts (pants/torso/head) just like in BOTW/TOTK. Clothes, by themselves, offer various benefits and never hinder your movement, but if you wear armor, you can experience extra benefits and drawbacks according to the type you're wearing. Armors can be light, medium, or heavy. Light doesn't hinter movement, but offers little protection; medium offers more protection, but slows you down without preventing you from using movement abilities like climbing; heavy armor makes you invulnerable to many light attacks, but slows you down more and prevents you from climbing while wearing it (until you get very skilled with it, for example).
Instead of weapons breaking over time, they will just become dulled or weakened if used a lot. This causes a damage debuff, and getting the weapon repaired by a blacksmith then gives it an extra BONUS over its natural damage, rewarding you for keeping weapons in top shape. Something similar could happen to armor if people like the idea; rusty/chipped shields and armor defend less (e.g. lowers the threshold for heavy attacks causing damage through the shield or armor), but then getting them fixed gives you a bonus over the standard until they eventually wear down again-- and I would make this process of degradation happen a lot slower than it does in BOTW/TOTK to accompany the lessened focus.
So... I guess I'll go over what I think all the skills would be, in a LoZ RPG! It's important to strike a balance between detail and accessibility in a way that prioritizes fun. I settled on 9 different skills, as follows:
Fighting, Defense, Marksman, Charm, Stealth, Music, Magic, Alchemy, and Survival (which includes cooking)! Certain traits like health and stamina go up for everyone regardless of what you invest in. A specialized build, if you wanted to have a more unique experience, would focus on just a few of these-- For example, to get my preferred kind of hero fantasy, I could invest in mostly Marksman, Charm, and Alchemy. Someone else might want to go for a more classic combination like Fighting, Magic, and Stealth. And in the end, you wouldn't be forced to sacrifice anything; you would simply unlock things in an order that represents your preferences.
Fighting: Represents your skill with melee weapons. Here, you unlock abilities to use various one- or two-handed weapons (swords, axes, clubs, spears...) in new ways, specifically like techniques that change up the strategy of fighting. Make your maces stun monsters, make your axes break their shields, spin attacks with swords and claymores, whatever you can think of! In the background, this also increases your attack speed and the base damage you do with weapons, and decreases the rate at which your weapons degrade.
Defense: Represents your ability to use armor and shields effectively. This would offer various abilities for the different categories of armor and for all shields. Light, leathery armors might make you immune to fire, heavy armors might let you brace yourself in a way that prevents all damage for a moment, shields let you parry much easier and disarm enemies... In the background, this would decrease the damage you take from any attacks while blocking or wearing armor, and decrease the rate at which your shields and armor degrade.
Marksman: Represents using all projectile weapons like bows and crossbows. Firing rope-arrows to make ladders and bridges, causing lanterns and torches to create a lot of fire when shot, and probably lots of other things I just can't think of right now. Maybe signaling for NPC help from nearby settlements by shooting a flare into the air! In the background, this would make you draw and fire faster, and make your shots more accurate and travel farther.
Charm: Represents persuading people to help you more using guile or similar speechcraft. Even a low level of Charm can allow you to recruit one or two NPC buddies to fight by your side, and a higher level of Charm lets you recruit more, bolster their fighting ability, and outfit them how you want. Specific traits could cause certain NPC enemies to ignore your intrusions as long as you aren't trying to fight them, or even give up keys to locked doors, or make strangers share helpful consumable items with you. In the background, this increases the number of rupees you get from selling items, and decreases the cost of items you buy.
Stealth: Represents your ability to avoid detection by staying low and using cover and darkness to remain conceals. Run while sneaking, perform stealth attacks when you are undetected, sidle along walls to peek around corners (and throw items or fire bows without exposing yourself), roll/dive past enemies without alerting them, all the stuff you would expect. In the background, this decreases the likelihood for enemies to spot you and the sound you make when you are sneaking.
Music: Represents mastering the strange, ancient power entwined in melodies. As stated before, this would let you play more complex songs with specific supernatural effects (unlocking secret paths, soothing monsters and enemies, passing time) with the more quality-of-life songs coming earlier so more people are inclined to unlock them. The Music skill doesn't actually differentiate between what instrument you play; you're only limited by which instrument you choose to take with you on your journey. In the background, this increases the amount of rupees you can earn by playing your instrument in towns and the radius of songs that effect other NPCs or the environment.
Magic: Represents your ability to control mana and use it to cast whatever would be this setting's equivalent of "spells". There could be ways to focus on different uses for magic-- like shooting destructive blasts of fire, being able to heal your wounds slowly, quickly teleporting short distances, summoning a magic weapon to fight alongside you, enchanting a weapon to have fire/ice/lightning in it, manipulating objects telekinetically, all sorts of stuff you expect from magic! There is some functional overlap with alchemy here, but the difference would be that alchemy effects are more short-term and very strong, while magic effects can be regenerated/recast (not consumed by use) so are more reliable over time. And there would be plenty of differing effects, too. In the background, this would increase the mana available to cast spells, speed up casting time, and speed up how fast you regenerate mana (which is normally slow).
Alchemy: Represents your ability to mix mundane ingredients into potions that can be consumed to grant helpful effects. As mentioned earlier, you would unlock more powerful recipes with wild effects. Additionally, you could unlock some alchemy-adjacent abilities like poisoning weapons and arrows and throwing various unhelpful potions at enemies for debuffing effects. In the background, this would probably let you get more uses out of ingredients (/harvest more from plants), and increase the magnitude of potions that increase your strength/defense or restore your health, stamina, or magic.
Survival: Represents your ability to endure harsh conditions and stay an effective adventurer for longer. Survival would allow you to cook better food, give you more bonuses for sleeping in your own camp, and ignore penalties from being mildly cold or hot. In the background, this would increase the amount of time it takes for you to get hungry or tired. There are lots of fun little side-abilities you could add here for flavor, like tracking wildlife, getting more meat from hunting, etc.
I really enjoyed the puzzles in BOTW and TOTK, but since they are all thematically identical, it didn't feel like they were really incorporated into the setting, like they didn't really mean anything other than being a puzzle. The way to resolve this would be taking a bunch of shrine puzzles, putting them altogether in one big cave, and making it a proper dungeon again! By giving each dungeon a theme (abandoned mine, sunken castle ruins, Korok Forest root-cave, icy mountain pass, volcano, Forbidden Fortress, whatever you want!), you can insert the same puzzles into the environment and it makes it feel like they have a much greater sense of belonging in the setting/lore. If you could have one big dungeon in each region (along with the one major town in each region), I think that would provide plenty of challenges and variety for people to chew on-- ESPECIALLY if the dungeons are especially deep and treacherous, possibly requiring multiple expeditions to surpass deeper and scarier obstacles.
Anything on top of this would just be icing on the cake to make it really special. Maybe each town would have a home you could buy and furnish somehow, maybe you can do some of the fun side-activities we have gotten from BOTW (dyeing clothes, shield-surfing). Long-term allies with their own stories to quest through would be fun and are kind of a staple in the RPG genre. That's all I've thought of so far, I might revisit this later.

Howdy!
I received my undergrad degree in History last year, and have always wanted to teach with it.
I am starting substitute teaching this incoming fall semester, but have yet to start my alternative certification program.
Is it possible to be hired as a full time teacher, even when you’re not certified? I have heard that you can, but you have to be working towards your certification by a certain date. I am just not sure.
If so, how was y’all’s experience with this?
Thanks!

Looking into joining the army/military. Was wanting to go into a pilot officer role but was told by recruiters that it’s pretty competitive and that I don’t have the best stats.
Currently 24 years old and work for a prestigious financial services firm. Made an 83 on the AFQT. -1.9 high school GPA (unmotivated). -3.3 college GPA (bachelors with 153 credits)
Currently looking into enlisting in an EOD role 89D, the contractor is looking something like this: -89D EOD, 4 years, airborne (I requested), 22k bonus after training, start as rank E4.
Just wondering everyone’s opinions on this contract and if it’s a good deal? Also wondering y’all’s thoughts on my chances of getting in as a pilot or I’m better off taking this contractor and using the gi bill for flight school later as a civilian?? Thank you!!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/hwthreads/?etsrc=sdt
Hey everyone,
I’ve just started my Etsy shop and would appreciate some feedback on how my shop setup is. Here’s a brief description and a couple of specific questions I’d love some feedback on:
Inspiration: came from a simple desire to create. I found myself constantly drawing and designing, and I realized I could share my creations with others. The name HumbledWarrior Threads reflects my military background and the meaning of my last name, which translates to "warrior." (Took this straight from my about me.)
Improvements: I’ve been using the browser Listadum to identify areas of improvement for my shop. This tool has helped me pinpoint key areas to focus on, but I’m eager to get some organic feedback from actual buyers and fellow sellers.
Questions:

1. How is the overall visual appeal and branding of my shop? Are there any elements that you think need improvement? 2. Are my product descriptions clear and compelling? Do they provide enough information to help potential buyers make a decision? 

Learnings: From the Etsy Seller Handbook, I’ve learned the importance of SEO and have been working on optimizing my listings with relevant keywords. I also understand the significance of high-quality photos and detailed descriptions to attract buyers.
I’m still growing and plan on creating more designs, but I would like to know how I stand now. All tips and critiques are welcome.
Thank you for your time and feedback!

Hey y'all! I just recently got into this game and I'm having a blast with it! Today I managed to unlock proud difficulty but now my question is: Where do I go from here? I know that sigil farming should be my main goal now since I will need them anyway but where do I start? Currently I main Id and work on my Susanoo. Are there specific fights I should look out for to farm for sigils?

Okay reddit, this is mostly just a rant, but also me wondering about the legality of this situation. So last I started working at a new company last week after being unemployed for about 6 months. Everything seemed to be going well with the application and interview process, although there was a few things that bothered me, and it felt as if it went a little too good. I had originally applied for an admin position, and the job description stated that the only requirements were that you had to reside in the area, and that you needed matric. No experience needed, and training would be provided. I sent in my application, and the recruiter was all too happy to arrange an interview, which I attended the very next day. A week later I attended my second interview. This was when the person who interviewed me, told me that they had already filled the position I had applied for, but they had another open vacancy for me if I was interested. Me desperately needing a job, was hesitant at first, but said I'll be able accept it. I started working the very next day, where they gave me a bunch of old videos of zoom recordings to watch ss "training". I agreed to a salary of R4500 per month, but on my second day, they came back to me, and offered me a "raise" to R4800 per month, because they had "realised that they were actually paying me below minimum wage". But here's the thing I'm a little sus about. Now I'm seeing that a day ago the same company posted the same admin position I had originally applied for, but with a whole R3000 difference in salary. Same job description and everything. I don't know if this is legal, but honestly I feel a bit pissed off. And quite frankly, I hate what I'm doing right now. I don't think I'll stay very long at this place, but I'll suck it up until I can find something better.

IF YOU KNOW OF A BANH MI IN METRO NASHVILLE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS LIST PLEASE CONTACT ME
What is a banh mi? It is a sandwich of Vietnamese origin, which includes all the elements of southeast Asian flavors encased in a French-colonial inspired baguette. There are many varieties, but the ones I am familiar with include meat and vegetables including cucumber, pickled carrot, pickled Asian radish, cilantro/coriander, and jalapeno pepper. This is served on a crusty yet soft baguette which is smeared with spread made from pate, mayonnaise, hollandaise, hoisin, fish sauce, or none of those. And while there are many meat options out there, the original being made of traditional Vietnamese cold cuts, locally there is one option that you will always find: sliced roast pork. The sandwich is equal parts sweet, spicy, sour, salty, savory, soft, crunchy, meaty, and fresh. It is absolutely my favorite sandwich of all time. Nashville, Tennessee has a robust Vietnamese community (particularly in West Nashville) and with it quite a few banh mi options. But which one is best? My guide will help you navigate.
To rate these, I ordered a standard bbq / roast pork banh mi or its nearest equivalent and dined in the establishment if possible. The reported price is rated based on the minimum cost for the sandwich without any tip on date of purchase in May 2024. Any taxes or fees are included in that cost. Other categories include the bread, veg, meat, spread, convenience, and vibe of the establishment. As a result, these scores (as always) are entirely subjective and are rated not just by sandwich but the entire experience.
See the summary in the table below and scroll down further for more detailed reviews listed in alphabetical order.

Rank	Store	Total Score	Price (May 2024)
The Best	Kien Giang	5.0	$6.76
Great	Interasian Market & Deli	4.4	$8.00
	Pho T&N	4.4	$8.19
	Hoang Tofu	4.4	$5.00
	VN Pho and Deli	4.1	$7.65
Okay	Han’s Vietnamese Deli & Boba	3.7	$8.20
	Miss Saigon	3.4	$8.14
	East Side Banh Mi	3.0	$12.55
Bad	Banh Mi and Roll+	2.6	$13.77
	Love Peace and Pho	2.6	$15.72
	Vui’s Kitchen	2.3	$12.55
Terrible	Mitchell Delicatessen	1.9	$10.91

~Banh Mi and Roll+~ – 1808 20^th Ave S.
While this is a flavorful banh mi, unfortunately this setup seems like it’s built for delivery rather than customer service. The meat is sliced thin, then cooked and dried out while waiting to be scooped into one of hundreds of sandwiches that will be bagged and tagged without a customer ever setting foot in the store. All this means your meat will be cold when you get it. This may not put off some folks, in fact it could be argued a cold pork sandwich is a quintessentially authentic banh mi. But what it tells me is these batches of meat are being made all in the morning to be slapped together at lunchtime without any real care. The chefs know full well the food will not make it to its customer warm, so why bother starting warm? Zero parking, plus a mandatory “convenience fee” for one of the most inconvenient eateries in Nashville unfortunately brings the experience down further.
Bread 5 - Meat 3 - Veg 5 - Spread 4 - Price 1 ($13.77) - Convenience 0 - Vibe 0
TOTAL SCORE 2.6

~East Side Banh Mi~ – 1000 Gallatin Ave.
Don’t get me wrong, this sandwich is delicious. But this banh mi misses the mark in a few key areas. First, the bread is all wrong. This may be a delicious, house-baked roll but it is not the type of bread you associate with a banh mi. When eating banh mi, hundreds of crumbs should fall on your shirt with each bite, a light, delicate bread with a gentle chew. This bread is none of those things. The other major flaw here is the pork. These are chunks of pork shoulder, lovingly roasted in a caramel pepper glaze. Delicious, but this isn’t the cut we’re looking for. The place also suffers from a tiny parking lot right on a busy Gallatin Pk and east Nashville hipster vibe which is never what I want when I’m getting banh mi. If none of this offends you and you’re willing to pay the price, then may you enjoy this more than I do.
Bread 3 - Meat 3 - Veg 5 - Spread 4 - Price 2 ($12.55) - Convenience 2 - Vibe 2
TOTAL SCORE 3.0

~Han’s Vietnamese Deli & Boba~ – 5694 Nolensville Pike & 7318 Hwy 70 S, Ste 101
If I’m in the area, which I often am since they have two locations, Han’s does an okay job at making banh mi. The bread and meat are good. But it’s got one major flaw that takes it down a notch: This is a very mayonnaise forward sandwich. They are proud of their house-made mayo, which when spread with the pate keeps the sandwich moist. But the flavor profile is so heavy on mayo, sometimes you can forget you’re supposed to be eating a banh mi. The saving grace is a little cup of brown liquid (not to be confused with soy sauce) that gives the customer control on the sweet hoisin notes. Problem is it is a *very* small cup of sauce which will get messy unless its poured directly into the bread elements that aren’t coated with mayo. The cup is not large enough for dipping, and there’s simply not enough sauce to get the entire sandwich into banh mi unison. The pickled carrot is cut into thin shreds, and the cucumber is cut into thin round slices rather than sticks or spears leaving a relatively unsatisfying bite. Han’s always asks if you want your sandwich with jalapeno pepper (a banh mi staple in these parts) rather than automatically including it, which is both cost-effective and courteous if you’re not a chili person. But if you include yourself in that demographic then what are you doing eating a banh mi in the first place? Overall, the banh mi is fine, if a little bland. Regarding vibe, I have been to Han’s many times, and each time I’ve been the Asian music playing over the speakers clashed with the Ranchera music blasting from the kitchen which puts a damper on my enjoyment.
Bread 5 - Meat 4 - Veg 3 - Spread 2 - Price 4 ($8.20) - Convenience 5 - Vibe 3
TOTAL SCORE 3.7

~Hoang Tofu~ – 6333 Charlotte Pike
This is the only banh mi shop in Nashville that honestly makes you feel like you’re in Vietnam. Half grocery, half restaurant, there’s no menu except some items written on pieces of paper posted on the counter or refrigerator door. There is very little English going on in here. You decide which banh mi you want by looking at photos and you make your order by its number. You wait, the sandwich comes out, and then you realize there’s been some mistake because they’re not charging you enough. You can eat at a table if you like, you’ve already paid. To top it off, the banh mi is amazing. It’s a little smaller than the other options in town (which is why it is equal to Kien Giang in score on price), and there’s no radish leaving all the crunch to an abundance of carrot. But for the price, I really do not care. Just buy another one, you’ll still be paying less than you would at many other shops. There is a $10 minimum if you pay by card, which makes the decision to buy two even easier! Want an even better deal? Buy five banh mi and your sixth is free. For real, there are people in town who make this their lunch for the work week. I may or may not be included among them. It gets dinged on convenience because of the lack of English, $10 minimum, and a crowded parking lot that is shared with eight other businesses.
Bread 5 - Meat 5 - Veg 4 - Spread 4 - Price 5 ($5.00) - Convenience 3 - Vibe 5
TOTAL SCORE 4.4

~Interasian Market & Deli~ – 2160 Nolensville Pike
Now this is a banh mi. But this is no restaurant, it is a grocery store in every way. You walk in to find someone waiting behind the checkout counter and a menu on their sneeze guard. You place an order, and that person radios the back, or disappears entirely, to make your banh mi. You browse the store, maybe think about a snack, a beverage, or a dessert. Five or ten minutes later your banh mi arrives, you pay, and you leave. Everything about the banh mi itself is perfect. Try your best not to eat it in the car (you will fail.) Pro Tip: call the store and order ahead. It’s never busy and the best part is they don’t expect a tip. This has its disadvantages, because sometimes you want to sit and enjoy your meal before getting back to your destination. But the lack of a dining area means they can keep the cost low by selling it as a grocery item. My biggest gripe with Interasian is there are several banh mi options only available Friday through Sunday, including their Roast Pork made with crispy pork belly ($9.25) But if the biggest disappointment is you aren’t able to eat more, then that’s a great problem to have.
Bread 5 - Meat 5 - Veg 5 - Spread 5 - Price 4 ($8.00) - Convenience 4 - Vibe 3
TOTAL SCORE 4.4

~Kien Giang~ – 5825 Charlotte Pike
Open since 1993, this restaurant is now one of the oldest independently owned eateries in Nashville. It holds a special place in my heart since this was the first home of Nashville banh mi and my first experience ever having one as an impressionable teen, and I spent a lot of time in this establishment having lived in the neighborhood. But my personal feelings aside, this is a traditional Vietnamese bistro with a full menu of options. The clientele is going to be mixed, with equal numbers of people speaking Vietnamese and English. But we are talking about banh mi here. The main thing Kien Giang has going on that no one else has is the spread. I don’t know what kind of magic they’re wielding to make this bbq pork, but it’s slathered in this kind of salmon-colored hoisin-hollandaise which is unbeatable in terms of flavor. Add to this the perfect bread, perfect veg, courteous table service, countered with the price point and ample parking: This is the GOAT banh mi in Nashville.
Bread 5 - Meat 5 - Veg 5 - Spread 5 - Price 5 ($6.76) - Convenience 5 - Vibe 5
TOTAL SCORE 5

~Love, Peace, and Pho~ – 2112 8^th Ave. S.
The first problem you may encounter at this place is finding a place to park. The parking lot directly adjacent to this store is reserved by the grocery. The paid lot across the busy 4-lane avenue is free for the first hour, but you still have to register your car online. According to the staff, the parking for Love, Peace, and Pho is the same lot as Gruhn Guitars at the end of the block. Unfortunately, there’s no signage indicating as such and this lot is walled and fenced and in a tow-happy neighborhood. The other option is the three (!) spaces of street parking directly out front. You’re greeted by a lovely interior, which is a very modern Southeast Asian chic with a mix of pop dance tunes and traditional music. The banh mi itself is served on a very nice porcelain plate on a wooden slab, and comes with a side of crab chips (a real treat of a snack.) The sandwich itself, however, is sorely lacking. The bread and veg are nice, although buried under the meat. The cilantro here has been replaced with chopped scallion, a departure from the norm but not necessarily offensive. The meat is the real loser here: despite the description of BBQ pork on the menu, this is salty, greasy, stir-fried pork. There is no spread on the sandwich, leaving the bread dampened by the pickled veg and the grease from the pork. The worst part of this experience is the check, an eye popping $15.74 which includes a non-negotiable 42 cent processing fee. The sandwich isn’t great, but it’s definitely not worth the price or the hassle.
Bread 5 - Meat 2 - Veg 4 - Spread 0 - Price 0 ($15.74) - Convenience 2 - Vibe 5
TOTAL SCORE 2.6

~Miss Saigon~ – 5849 Charlotte Pike
This place is in the same shopping center as Kien Giang, and is the first thing you see when you pull up the hill into that enormous parking lot. This restaurant has an old-school feel with dark colors, wood paneling and booths to sit in, trying to be simultaneously upscale and working class. Appropriately, the same could be said about their banh mi. The roll has the right kind of bread, but unfortunately for me it’s a little stale. The veg is perfect, including everything expects to find on a banh mi. The meat, however, is problematic in that these are large chunks of roast pork that are very dry. Whether the pork is overdone in the oven, or is old roast pork that has been frozen and reheated, it’s so desiccated the only way to bring it back to life is by soaking it in a bowl of pho. Compounding the problem, the sandwich has no spread at all, leaving the only moisture on this sandwich supplied by the veg. The resulting banh mi is very difficult to eat, scraping up my mouth as if I’d just eaten a bowl of Cap’n Crunch after having recovered from oral surgery. It’s entirely likely this pork is intended to be used as the protein in other saucier and soupier dishes on their menu and that the banh mi is an afterthought. And that’s how you should consider this banh mi, as well. (Pro tip: Go to Kien Giang, it’s right there!)
Bread 4 - Meat 2 - Veg 5 - Spread 0 - Price 3 ($8.14) - Convenience 5 - Vibe 5
TOTAL SCORE 3.4

~Mitchell Delicatessen~ – 1306 McGavock Pike
Nestled deep in the heart of Inglewood, inconveniently away from the daily hustle and bustle of Nashville, lies a sandwich shop with a tiny parking lot. They serve many delicious sandwiches at this shop. Their banh mi is not one of them. The roll is a Silke’s hoagie, sliced all the way through, which is a nice piece of bread but absolutely wrong for this sandwich. Inside you will find julienne jicama masquerading as pickled daikon, which is a surprise addition that absolutely works. Mixed in with the carrot, pickled cucumber, and cilantro it does the job admirably. There is a lack of jalapeno here, and more importantly an addition of a giant pickle spear. I get it, this is a deli and that’s their thing, but it doesn’t belong anywhere near a banh mi. But I can forgive that. What I can’t forgive is the meat and spread. The meat is described as “house roasted pork” but this has all the hallmarks of a no-rub pulled pork that’s been pulsed in the food processor. The result is a flavorless meat paste which oozes out of the roll with each bite. Speaking of ooze, the fluorescent yellow lime mayo that’s glopped all over this sandwich reminds me of whatever the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crawled from. It’s a salty sour mess which evokes mustard aioli more than any citrus. The delicatessen vibe is great if you want a BLT or a Reuben, but not a banh mi. All told, this abomination is not only the worst banh mi in Nashville, it’s a strong contender for worst sandwich. I cannot recommend this at all, and if Mitchell removed it from the menu, the world would be a better place.
Bread 2 - Meat 1 - Veg 3 - Spread 1 - Price 3 ($10.91) - Convenience 1 - Vibe 2
TOTAL SCORE 1.9

~Pho T & N~ – 3745 Annex Ave.
You could easily have missed this banh mi since this restaurant is mainly a pho bistro, and they only have a single BBQ pork banh mi on the menu. But that lone banh mi is exceptional. First thing I noticed about this sandwich is the size, which seems to be the largest banh mi option we have in town. The pork is barbecued a deep red, almost magenta color, and the marinade they use penetrates the meat with moisture, employing a heavy fish sauce element. Indeed, if you were to eat this blindfolded you could be forgiven for thinking it was seafood, as those rich, briny, and umami notes combine with a sweetness that elevates the meat to another plane. If I had one complaint about this sandwich it’s the spread, which as best I can tell is only butter. But the meat does so much heavy lifting in the flavor department, the modicum of spread only accentuates the meat. It’s difficult to notice any pickled radish; not saying it isn’t there but it isn’t throwing enough weight around to be obvious and that extra crunch is missed. Otherwise the veg is great. If you’re at the Costco and need lunch, and the siren song of a hot dog and soda combo hasn’t lured your ship to crash upon its rocky shores, definitely give this banh mi a shot.
Bread 5 - Meat 5 - Veg 4 - Spread 3 - Price 4 ($8.19) - Convenience 5 - Vibe 5
TOTAL SCORE 4.4

~VN Pho & Deli~ – 5906 Charlotte Pike, Ste C
This is the kind of banh mi you want. Everything about the sandwich is very good, including the bread which is baked in-house. I feel like I could use a little more flavor with the spread or a little more of it as the sandwich is a bit dry. Where this banh mi fails isn’t in the sandwich itself, but in the convenience factor. This store is right across from the shopping center you find Kien Giang, on a very busy Charlotte Pk. The parking lot is very narrow, on a slope, and there are not enough spaces. Once you get to the door you will see a warning sign this place is CASH ONLY which in 2024 can present a huge problem. All power to these folks who’ve been keeping this restaurant open for so long on a cash-only basis, which is a true testament to the quality of their food. There is an ATM on site which charges $4 for its use (no thanks) or you can express your frustration to the owner who will lovingly give you cash in exchange for a Venmo payment that you turn right back around and hand in to pay for your food. Leaving the establishment, you have to turn LEFT onto the street to head back towards White Bridge and the nearest access to I-40, which if it’s lunchtime is no small feat. They are also closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, which is an uncommon schedule that you will definitely forget, especially when you’re hungry. If you are willing to brave these conditions, you will be rewarded with a great sandwich. But when Kien Giang and Hoang Tofu are within walking distance and incredibly more accessible, this option suffers greatly.
Bread 5 - Meat 5 - Veg 5 - Spread 3 - Price 4 ($7.65) - Convenience 2 - Vibe 5
TOTAL SCORE 4.1

~Vui’s Kitchen~ – 2832 Bransford Ave and locations in Gallatin, Nolensville, and Franklin
My mother always said if you can’t say something nice, it’s better to say nothing at all. So here’s what I can say about Vui’s banh mi. Their only pork option is a thick cut of pork belly which is chargrilled, giving it a very nice street-food flavor that takes the banh mi back to its roots. I suppose that’s technically bbq? But the use of thick-cut pork belly means you will be getting large mouthfuls of hot fat dripping in soy sauce, which if that’s your thing, you do you, boo, but it doesn’t make for appetizing banh mi. (Side note: crispy pork belly is a very common Vietnamese cut and if you want to have that on a banh mi, Hoang Tofu and Interasian weekend-only have that option!) The spread is the only one I can confidently say features pate as its main ingredient; in fact, it may be the only ingredient as it has an unmistakably in-your-face flavor, with no sweetness. The rest of this sandwich is unfortunately regrettable. The bun looks, feels, and tastes like something off an assembly line, too soft with no crust at all. The bread is cut completely into two pieces, allowing all the contents of the sandwich to fall out while its being eaten. And the contents, oh, the contents: the veg on this sandwich is mostly lettuce. That’s right, lettuce! The pickled daikon and carrot are shredded fine enough to be considered a slaw slapped with thin bias-cut cucumber and so little cilantro and jalapeno I cannot be certain they are even present. What I ended up with was a deconstructed banh mi style salad with a pate and soy sauce dressing. I understand culinary art is a subjective thing, but Vui’s has become incredibly successful in the area across multiple locations, and I can’t help but feel upset there’s any portion of Nashvillians who think that this sandwich represents a quality banh mi. The pounding techno-pop pulsing through the speakers is also not what I want to hear when I’m eating something like this. If you’ve made it this far and are still considering Vui’s banh mi, please take a look at a map of Nashville and see how close Interasian Market is. Go get a banh mi there instead, and you’ll be back before the rest of your party has even found parking.
Bread 2 - Meat 3 - Veg 1 - Spread 4 - Price 2 ($12.55) - Convenience 2 - Vibe 2
TOTAL SCORE 2.3

We all know there’s a ton of discourse right now around the W- sometimes it’s exhausting, sometimes it’s fun, and sometimes it’s just nice to do what we’re all here to do: connect with each other about WNBA Basketball!
Let’s introduce ourselves and connect over:
-What got us into the WNBA
-What do you love that keeps you coming back
-What are you enjoying about the season
-What are you most excited about
-What’s surprising you the most this season
-How you’re bringing others in your life into the W!
-What teams and players are you enjoying so far this season that you didn’t expect?
(Obviously feel free to add in anything else, these are just ideas to get us started!) ————————————
I’ll go first!
-I played basketball growing up, but lived out in the country, so no one was really watching sports. I knew it existed as a kid, but it wasn’t accessible for me. Lisa Leslie was the first real awareness I had of a professional WBB player, but it was pretty peripheral. Played travel ball, but even then there wasn’t a lot of exposure.
I grew up outside of Waco, so watching BG’s undefeated season really reinvigorated my love for WBB. I was super exited to see her join the Mercury, but I wouldn’t have been able to tell you where to even find a game to watch at that point!
In 2020, because I’d been pretty politically active for a while, I rediscovered the W and started watching league pass. Been full on the W train since then!
-I’m enjoying the explosion of great media content and engagement! Absolutely there’s a ton of click bait trash, but the media by and for players is exploding in a way that is so refreshing.
-Personally, I LOVE that the league is so black, queer, and political. I love the explosive athleticism, the beautiful natural defensive talents, and the true team basketball in the W.
-I’m super surprised by the parity level this year and how many players are getting so much more comfortable showing their personalities on and off of the court! It’s so fun to see their confidence and comfort being who they are.
-I’ve been watching the W with my nephew and my best friend’s three boys. Pretty rad to see the little guys marvel at strong, capable female basketball players.
-I’ve been surprised this year by how much I’m enjoying watching… literally ALL of the teams. There’s something fun happening on every team in the league, even if they aren’t winning!!!
Stoked to see y’alls responses and sorry if the formatting is weird, I’m on mobile so I’ll try to fix it if it’s bad.