Me and my gf have been dating for over a year now so I think I’m just crazy but I think she might be pregnant and hiding it from me or unaware. For context she told me that she got an iud and is on birth control that stops her period (not a lie, she has been on it since we’ve been together) and uses that to guilt me into nutting in her sometimes. She told me she is worried she has crohn’s disease, but I think she could be mistaking symptoms since they seem more like pregnancy symptoms from what they are said to be online (nausia, fatigue, mood swings, breathlessness). She also has recently stopped drinking, although she is on medication that makes drinking less enjoyable. She still rips her dab pen which makes me think that she doesn’t think she’s pregnant, but Ive seen people claim weed helps with pregnancy symptoms (what the fuck is this world coming to). With all that being said I’m pretty sure she isn’t pregnant, but the voice in the back of my head would go away if she took a pregnancy test. Would it be wrong of me to ask her to take one if I buy it?

To start... what am I doing here? I'm starting to wonder if I genuinely want a relationship or if I just like the idea of being in one. Though maybe I just haven't met the right people. I'm not in the best situation to be trying to meet someone in person at the moment. Between work and other things taking up the free time in my schedule. That being said I have a fair bit of down time during the day currently that I can make use of pursuing something online at least.
Why reddit of all places? Frankly just cause it's not a dating app. They encourage the worst of both men and women in dating. On top of that they help further promote a terrible dating culture. 10/10 not a fan, it's demeaning to both sexes in my opinion and only makes genuinely connecting with people that much harder.
So! A bit about me, I'm a home body. I prefer to spend my free time at home. How exciting, I know! Grab your bingo card cause I'm a pretty standard guy. Plays video games, watches anime, reads manga, big on movies, my music taste is ALL over the place, I ride a motorcycle, I have a few guns and go shooting every once in a while when I can spare the ammo for it. Usually make a day of it with friends/family. Probably (definitely) spend too much time on YouTube. I have an ongoing fascination with psychology/philosophy, always have and probably always will. Generally just a big nerd.
That being the case, my work keeps me active. I'm working at the airport currently fueling planes right now (this heat is so much fun), but I've done construction, restaurant work, planned on going into the Army but got out during basic (long story), and worked at a gym for a bit so I've always been in at least passable shape. I'm 6ft 170-ish lbs for an idea
What I'm looking for? Connection. To put it simply. Emotional and physical (get your mind out of the gutter) A kind of connection and bond you can't have with friends, even if you do kiss the homes good night Between snuggling/cuddling on the couch just lazing away watching whatever, talking about anything and everything, trudging through life's hurdles, learning about and being a part of each other's worlds.
That being said, and as much as I dislike it about myself I do find physical attraction to be really important, equally to personality. The lack of one can't be made up for by the other for me
With that out in the open I'm an open book! Except for a few pages I've ripped out... and a few others I've smeared in ink... and one or two that I've burned... but aside from those anything goes!
So I'd like to find out... does the abyss gaze back?

Today, I was in the run up area with 4 other planes. We were all Cessnas.
Tower asked who number one & number two was for takeoff & they responded accordingly with their tail numbers.
I was number five & debating on whether to let Tower know I was ready for departure since I wasn’t first in line. I finished my run up & I didn’t want to be forgotten or have other people jump in front of me so I told Tower “holding short in sequence runway 20 at Delta, ready for departure”.
It was to my understanding that “in sequence” meant I knew I would be cleared for takeoff in order behind everyone else. However, the aircraft ahead of me radioed & said he was holding short 20 and number one for departure.
Tower said he thought someone else was number one (me), but the other guy clarified he was first in line, which was correct. This makes me think that adding “in sequence” to my call didn’t mean what I thought it meant.
Should I have waited to be number one before saying anything? I can’t really find a straight answer online.

Here is a couple pics
Ouch https://imgur.com/a/YFW4RHc
I was attempting to drive a screw through wood into metal. So I had a lot of force behind my drill when it cammed out of the screw and went almost completely through the tip of my thumb. I think in the second picture you can see the chunk of nail through my skin, but I cannot get it out myself. This happened yesterday and I have soaked it in antiseptic wash for about a minute before and after work.
What I am curious about; can I just leave the chunk of nail and hope it heals? Or is this something more serious than I am thinking? Any/all advice will be appreciated!

Hey all. Is it possible to use Raycasting without a mouse or a camera? Or is there a workaround? I have an origin Vector3 and a hitPoint Vector3. Essentially a gun and where the bullet hits. This is for display purposes as the data is coming from somewhere else.
I can do it fine with a mouse click, and I actually instantiate some meshes on bones that follow animations, and I can instantiate a DecalGeometry quite well on those meshes on mouse click, but I am already drawing a line from origin to the hitpoint with the data and I want to raycast and have it intersect the mesh I am able to click on, and attach the Decal to the mesh it hits.
What happens with the raycaster using data is that it hits and attaches decals to TransformControlsPlane and not the mesh it is supposed to hit. The decals show underneath the model and follow moving it around, but its billboarded to me and not on the mesh I hit.
For the Raycaster.set direction, I used (hitPoint.sub(rayOrigin)).normalize(); I've also tried just hitPoint.normalize() since the line I draw uses the hitPoint just fine.
When I leave Raycaster.camera null, I get this error:THREE.Sprite: "Raycaster.camera" needs to be set in order to raycast against sprites.
So it seems like if I don't use a mouse or camera that it assumes I am attempting to raycast against a sprite, but in this case it’s apparently the TransformControlsPlane.
Is there a way to raycast in a particular direction given two Vector3's, and have it intersect with a mesh? Or is Raycasting specifically only for use with mouse clicks?

Defending the Draft: 2023 Washington Commanders 8-8-1
Preface:
Hope.
This 2023 season will be the most interesting for the Commanders franchise in a long long time. We enter this season with more uncertainty than I have ever been a part of, however, the one thing the fan base is certain of... is the future is brighter. Dan Snyder purchased the franchise in 1999 and subsequently done nothing but run a blue blood franchise into the ground. This team has lacked direction for a long time and a large part of that was due to Dan Snyder's meddling in the day-to-day football operations of the team. Starting his ownership with signing washed up HOF veterans, to then overspending in free agency (Albert Haynesworth is arguably the worst free agent signing of all time), drug scandal with thetraining staff, the mishandling of the RG3 and Kirk Cousins situation, Not resigning Trent Williams, and lastly we've now reached tumultuous time where his off the field issues have hung a dark cloud over a once proud franchise. Although, lol, his most egregious mistake may be hiring Jim Zorn as head coach. It's egregious that his only punishment is a 6 billion dollar payout for his franchise. I hope the banks bury him and he faces the deserved legal actions. As of now there had been an agreement to sell the franchise to 76'rs and NJ Devils owner, Josh Harris.... and is 20ish members of his parliament. We await to hear news of the reviews from the NFL financial committee to close out the process. Last news I came across was he has cut down the number of minority owners to 20. It will be a pleasure when this agreement is finalized. He could be a terrible owner, but it would still be an upgrade from Synder. Harris, seemingly has been a hands off owner and properly allows the people he's hired to operate the team. This last sports season he's had both of his teams deep in the playoff hunt. This season will be interesting. A lot of questions all around: Sam Howell? Chase Young? Ron Rivera? Eric Bienemy? Josh Harris? I'm not sure of those answers, but I'm very excited to find them out.
Coaching:
HC- Ron Rivera OC- Eric Bieniemy DC- Jack Del Rio
Key Additions: Eric Bieniemy
Ole' Riverboat Ron Rivera is back and going into his 4th season with the Washington Commanders, hopefully his last. I believe Ron Rivera is a leader of men, but I highly question his actual coaching skills and team building. I've currently seen enough of this coaching regime and front office to safely say let's move on. There's been several things that I believed were firable offenses.... the Carson Wentz trade. Some rumors have said that this was a Snyder push. Not entirely positive, but Ron bragged that it was his call. Our team at that point was not a qb away from being really good, let alone a Carson Wentz level of qb. The next fireable offense was starting Wentz over Hienke when the playoffs were on the line. Wentz ended up being benched for Hienke, but it was too little too late. The next fireable offense was not realizing we were eliminated from the playoffs. Going into the last week of the season Ron planned on starting Hieneke. Pretty odd to not know you're out of the playoffs, let alone to test Sam Howell out for next season. Additionally, there's been some pretty questionable roster creation decisions. I absolutely hate the versatile secondary and offensive line philosophy. We currently have a patch work offensive line that has the means to fluctuate between average to below average. Not a single player on the line is top 5 at their respected position. Two years ago we had a top 10 o-line, but that had Brandon Sherff playing like a top 5 guard and Charles Leno having his best season. Our o-line took a significant step back this past season and now looks to be our biggest weakness. Ron has shown to trust his own board and has reached (according to the consensus big board) with every single pick so far. People mistake 2019 as one of his drafts ( Sweat, McLaurin, Holcomb), but he was hired at the end of the season. Take this with a grain of salt as it takes at least 3 years to properly review a draft. Rons 1st round picks have been the following: 2020 pick 2 Chase Young- the correct pick at the time, but hard to botch the 2nd overall pick, 2021 pick 19 Jamin Davis- hated the pick at the time, too early for a linebacker... let a lone a project. On tape he looked lost a lot and made up for it with his elite athleticism. He's shown progress, but nothing showing he's worthy of the pick. 2022 pick 16 Jahan Dotson- looks to be an absolute baller, had him ranked above Olave in the pre-draft process. Was a slight reach above the consensus board, but flashed high end ability. Davis has been the only mistake in the 1st round thus far. When I say mistake I don't necessarily mean player, but the roster building philosophy. Whether reaching on Phidarian Mathis in the 2nd round of 2022. Lol, he was older than Payne coming out of the draft, one year of good production, and was taken a round too early. In the next round Brian Robinson was taken and was really just a body. Haven't really seen anything elite with him so far and was a meh pick. John Bates in the 4th round was egregious. Now I have to give credit where it's due. Kam Curl was an absolute steal and can solidify himself as top 5 safety this season if he continues to play this well. Our other starting safety in Darrick Forest also had a lot of bright spots playing this past season.
Arguably, our best offseason move was signing Eric Bieniemy. I'm absolutely excited. Forget everything about him not calling the plays. Reports from OTA's shows his hands on approach and full control of the offense. One of my favorites things I've heard is he is using OTA's to see what the players can do and crafting the offense to their abilities. Time and time again (Scott Turner) you see coaches say this is the offense and not change anything to match the players strengths. We don't know for sure how the offense will look, but if it's anything close to the motion west coast offense the Chiefs have... boy lessssss gooooooo. Jack Del Rio has been up-and-down in his time in Washington. He's had two very slow starts with the defense to start year, however, they've finished strong and kept his job safe. This is really the no excuse year and everyone needs to show up amd show out.
Free Agency:
Key Departures:
Taylor Hieneke- signed with the Falcons
Cole Holcolm- signed with the Steelers
Bobby McCain- signed with the Giants
Carson Wentz- TBD
J.D. McKissic- TBD
Trai Turner TBD
Andrew Norwell- will be released when he passes a physical
Summary:
In my personal oppinion, the only player that hurt losing in free agency was Cole Holcolm. Linebacker is our one weak spot on defense, however, not resigning Holcolm shows Ron's belief in Jaymin Davis's progression. Cole was limited to 7 games last season and has yet to truly break out. Always played very solid and losing him downgraded the position. We've moved on from both starting guards from last year in Norwell and Turner (previously on the Panthers). Both players were liabilities last season and the guard position was easily upgradeable. Bonny McCain was a solid do it all for is player. Lined up at corner, safety, and nickel throughout the season. Hieneke was a big fan favorite, but was never the answer. We thank you for your service though. Carson Wentz, fuck you. Loved J.D. and his time here, suffered a major injury. Not sure if he gets picked up hy another team.
Key Additions:
Andrew Wiley- 3 years for 24 million, 12 guaranteed. Previously on the Chiefs
Nick Gates- 3 years for 16.5 million, 8 million guaranteed. Previously on the Giants
Jacoby Brissett- 1 year for 8 million, 7.5 million guaranteed. Previously on the Browns
Cody Barton- 1 year for 3.5 million, 3.5 million guaranteed. Previously on the Seahawks
Summary:
Simple. In free agency the Commanders did not overspend and tackled positions of need. None of the players signed are top 5 at their position, however, they could all possibly end up being upgrades to what we have. The most interesting is Andrew Wiley. He allowed 9 sacks (tied for 3rd most)... but man he put on the performance of his life in the superbowl. Another stat that favors him is pass block win-rate, which measure if a lineman can sustain a block for 2.5 seconds. Wylie ranked 9th in that stat last season. I translate that stat to mean can a lineman sustain a block against thr initial rush and counter move off the snap. After that 2.5 seconds the ball is thrown or the play breaks down. Another key factor to this signing is it kicks Samuel Cosmi inside to guard. Cosmi has shown flashes being a high end lineman and I expect him to be even better kicking to guard from right tackle. Guard was our weakest position on the line and Wylie signing helped to upgrade the RG position. Nick Gates is expected to he our starting center. He's coming off of a brutal leg injury that made him consider retirement. Has played guard and center and has some positional flexibility. Jacoby Brissett is the best backup qb in thr league. A solid signing if Howell doesn't pan out. Just a solid game manager that doesn't commit many turnovers. Cody Barton is another unproven guy. Last year was his first year with significant reps. Bobby Wagner leaving in FA and Jordyn Brooks injury made em the guy. He showed flashes of coverage abilities and had a lot of tackles. The tackles weren't necessarily a product of his abilities and more so of cleaning up on a bad run defense team. I've read some notes that he has trouble getting off of blocks. Honestly, haven't watched much on the guy, but reports were he played solid down the stretch.
The Draft:
Link to all RAS scores for our draft class
https://commanderswire.usatoday.com/lists/2023-nfl-draft-ras-scores-for-the-washington-commanders-7-player-class-emmanuel-forbes/
Round 1:16 Emmanuel Forbes 6'1" 174 lbs. Mississippi St
Stats: 58 targets, 31 catches allowed for 284 yards (23 yards a game), 3 tds allowed/ 6 ints, 9 forced incompletions, 2 dropped ints, 46 tackles.
PFF Grade: 87.2
If being a 160 pounds is your only knock then I think you're doing something alright. The word on the street is he is already up to 174 pounds. You wouldnt realize hes only 174 pounds by the way he plays the run. Hes not scared to hit and flies ro the ball. Although, he does struggle to get off of blocks. Emmanuel Forbes, per PFF, had the highest rating in man coverage last season, albeit the snap count was very miniscule. Emmanuel Forbes is a lanky corner than played a lot of zone coverage and is a very good scheme fit for what we do. I like the pick and I'm not upset about taking him over Gonzalez, who also had his own question marks. Forbes set a NCAA record with 6 pick sixes. A lot of those were the right place at the right time, but when you have that high of a number than you're doing something right.
PFF:
Forbes is one of the best ballhawks in this class. Over the course of his three-year career, he came down with 13 interceptions. That’s four more than the next closest Power Five cornerback since 2020. Forbes was unbelievably dominant in man coverage in 2022, giving up only three catches while also snagging three interceptions. He also only allowed a 20% completion rate in man, the lowest among FBS
PROS
Remarkably lanky frame. Limbs for days — ideal for a corner.Has bounce like a hooper. He can challenge any catch point necessary. Elite ability to locate the football. All six of his interceptions came in man coverage.
CONS
Still a stick. Not much mass on his frame. Has eyes that get him in trouble. Some freelance tendencies on tape.Can get bowled over in the run game. Mediocre tackler over the course of his career.
Round 2: 47 Jartavius "Quan" Martin 5'11". 194 lbs Illinois
Stats: 74 targets, 42 catches allowed, 611 yards allowed, 3 tds allowed, 3 ints, 15 forced incompletions, 2 dropped ints, 4 missed tackles, 64 tackles.
PFF Grade: 73.2
Quan is a beast. I thought he was the 2nd best nickel prospect in the draft and a better deep safety than Brian Branch. Martin absolute rockets around the field in the run game. He started his career at cornerback before transitioning into the safety/nickel position. Another elite athlete that is a perfect fit for our Buffalo Nickel defense.
PFF:
Martin came to Illinois and immediately started as a true freshman in 2018. He originally started off as an outside corner before becoming more of a slot corner recently. He had arguably his best year in 2022, as his 15 forced incompletions were tied for the sixth-most among Power-Five corners. Martin’s 91.0 run-defense grade also led all Power Five cornerbacks. While he played corner at Illinois, we project him more as a safety for the next level.
PROS:
Explosive flat-foot breaks. Tremendous burst. Forceful and reliable tackler - 7 misses on the last 129 attempts last two seasons.Fills like a mac truck in the run game. Wants to come downhill and play in the backfield.
CONS:
Pure man skills are work in progress. Overagressive and liability to bite on fakes. cons On the lighter side for an around the line of scrimmage player. Gets caught with his eyes in the backfield on run
Round 3: 97 Ricky Stromberg 6'3" 306 lbs Arkansas
Stats: 9 impact blocks, 11 qb hurries, 0 qb hits, 0 sacks allowed
PFF Grade: 82.4
Nasty. Another guard experience player that spent his last two years at the center position. Award winner of the Jacob's Blocking Trophy for the SEC'S most outstanding blocker award. This is a solid player that has started since he was freshman in the SEC. He's been battle tested since he was kid and has improved every year. He has some knocks about his play strength, but a NFL program should get em to where he needs to be.
PFF:
Stromberg was a three-star recruit in the 2019 class and started for the Razorbacks as a true freshman, mostly at right guard. He moved inside to center for his sophomore season and spent his final three college seasons there. Stromberg’s 82.4 overall grade and 83.7 run-blocking grade in 2022 both ranked fourth among all centers in college football, and his nine big-time blocks were tied for fifth among FBS centers. Not to mention, Stromberg had an incredible performance at the NFL combine.
PROS:
Does not want to let blocks go. Can see him straining his butt of to stay engaged on tape. Tons of experience against top competition. Four-year starter with 3,121 career snaps.
CONS:
Forward lean gets going on the move, making him liable to topple over. Has wide hands to initiate contact in pass protection before resetting. Leaves himself open for stronger rushers.Unimpressive musculature, which leaves questions about how he'll anchor against NFL strength.
Round 4: Braeden Daniels 6'4" 296 lbs Utah STATS:
0 sacks allowed, 1 qb hit allowed, 14 hurries allowed.
PFF GRADE: 72.2 at tackle, 2021 84.4 at guard.
Braeden Daniels is another tackle/guard hybrid, with starting experience across his college career. This guy is on the lighter side but that allows him to be an Explosive athlete. Very raw at the tackle position and will be a developmental guy. I'd like to give em a try as our swing tackle and see how he performs. He was one of the quickest offensive lineman I've seen off the tape and that athleticism will let him climb to the next level. Even on the lightweight side I'd hate to see this guy running at me on the second level.
PFF:
Daniels is an experienced veteran who commanded the Utes’ offensive line for the past few years. He originally started as a guard before switching over to tackle. His best season came in 2021, as he put up an 84.4 PFF grade. Given his time on the interior, Daniels is at his best when run blocking, and his run-blocking grade in 2021 was an elite 89.1. He still held his own as a pass protector, allowing only five sacks in his Utah career.
PROS
Explodes out of his stance. Arguably the quickest get off in the offensive line class. Linebackers don't want to see him climbing. Gets on them before they can even react. Drive in his lower half to still move the line of scrimmage despite being under 300 pounds.
CONS
Wild into contact. He approaches blocks with the adjustment ability of a freight train. consDoesn't bring his hands with him. Clean engagements are rare on tape. Very light by NFL standards (294 pounds at combine).
Round 5: 137 KJ Henry 6'4" 260 lbs Clemson
STATS:
51 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 FF, 6 pass deflections, 50 qb pressures, 31 qb hurries, 14 qb hits.
PFF GRADE: 83.1
Loved this pick. Henry was a 5 star recruit coming out of high-school and decided to attend Clemson University. With Clemson having deep lines it took him a couple of years to get on the field. The stats look odd when you only see 3.5 sacks, however, the 50 qb pressures is the key stat. Seems more like bad luck that the sack numbers weren't high. Clemson's whole d-line underperformed (Bresee, Murphey) and they should have picked up more sacks from Henry who was the best DE on that team last year. The team clearly liked him as we traded back up for him. He's not elite athlete, but he is an elite hands guy. Almost had that veteran presence in college. High motor and will immediately make an impact as a rotational de, a position that sorely needed an upgrade.
PFF:
On a team with Myles Murphy, you can easily make the case that KJ Henry was Clemson's best defensive end this year, as he posted better PFF grades than Murphy in every category and even generated 19 more pressures. The only problem is That Henry is 24 years old while Murphy is only 21. Therefore, Henry was expected to produce this well against younger competition. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that he can’t still improve. If Henry's play this season is any indication of his potential, he can still have a great NFL career as an edge defender.
PROS:
Heavy hands that are so well refined. Uses them independently to use combination moves.Utilizes hesitations and head fakes so well to catch linemen off-balance. Coaches rave about the type of teammate he is. He is the type of player you want in the locker room.
CONS:
First step that's unimposing for a rusher on the smaller side. Late bloomer. Wasn't even a starter until this past fall. One of the oldest prospects in the class. Already 24 years old.
Round 6: 193 Chris Rodriguez 6'0" 217 lbs Kentucky
STATS: 8 games played, 175 attempts, 904 rushing yards, 6 tds, 5.2 ypa, 5 catches, 41 rec yards.
PFF GRADE: 90.8
Chris Rodriguez is a PFF darling and was rated as the 7th best running back. This guy's is a pure one cut, run you over, power back. There's not much finesse to his game, but there's highlights of dragging guys 10-yards down the field. He does not posses break away speed, but he will get you 40 yards. He was suspended 4 games due to a dui and he may have been drafted higher on am abysmal Kentucky team. An extra 4 games of stats against SEC competition and no suspension may have jumped him into the 4th round. This was an Eric Bienemy guy and they brought him in because of that. Isiah Pacheco was another EB guy.
PFF:
Rodriguez is a powerful runner, but he lacks the burst and creativity to become anything more than a downhill grinder. He has the size and mentality to do the dirty work between the tackles, but it could be a challenge for him to get to and through the hole quickly in the NFL. He’s a physical blitz protector, so teams might envision a role for him as a second-half battering ram and third-down quarterback protector.
PROS:
Two-time team captain. Thick frame with ability to pick up tough yards. Makes tacklers feel his size at impact. Stays square getting through downhill cuts. Low success rate guaranteed for arm-tacklers. Stays on his feet through heavy angle strikes. Allows lead blockers to do their work. Steps up with force against incoming rushers.
CONS:
Below-average burst getting through line of scrimmage. Lacks finesse to navigate tight run lanes. Change of direction is heavy. One-speed running style is easy to track for linebackers. Pad level is a little tall as run-finisher. Inconsistent finding assignment versus blitz.
Round 7: 233 Andre Jones 6'4" 248 lbs Louisiana
STATS: 7 sacks, 5 qb hits, 20 hurries.
PFF GRADE: 77.2
Andre Jones was another hybrid de/lb player coming out last year. He possess 34 1/4" arms which is an elite number for his size. May move to LB, but I'm not sure that's the right move with a 4.71 40-yard dash. He doesn't have much a pass rush move set playing a hybrid role, but does use length to his advantage. A solid developmental pick.
PROS:
Shows a natural feel for setting up blockers and getting them off-balance. His hands are active and violent, and Jones quickly disengages with blockers and counters when his initial move stalls. Possesses accurate snap anticipation and timing to beat blockers off the edge. Offers some versatility, rushing from a two-and three-point stance with the playing speed to stand up in space.Flashes strength as a bull rusher and his energy doesn't plateau. Showed initial quickness and good flexibility to dip and bend. Jones has active hands and suddenness to his movements, demonstrating the ability to counter inside. Has fluid footwork to redirect, reverse momentum and close with a burst. Regularly first off the ball with good snap anticipation. He’s a high-effort pass rusher with an impressive combination of length and speed.
CONS:
Jones has to develop a counter move or two in the pass rush, and Jones needs to make better use of his hands. He lacks the speed of a chase and- tackle guy. He lacks twitch as a pass rusher and lacks the feet and flexibility to threaten around the edge. Jones also shows some stiffness when trying to bend the edge, often getting pushed past the pocket — he seems more comfortable countering back inside.
Draft Summary:
This was my favorite Ron Rivera/Martin Mayhew draft thus far. Going into the draft, offensive line, cornerback, and quarterback were our three biggest needs. Drafting in the middle of the round really took us out of the olineman race. The last one that interested me was Broderick Jones and he went off the board when the Steelers traded up. At that point in the draft it really left us with going cornerback. The Forbes pick was received negatively due to Christian Gonzalez being available. Both players will be viewed under the microscope throughout their careers. I'm fine with Forbes pick though. Another lanky cornerback who was an elite athlete. I did have Gonzalez rated higher going into the draft, but he slid for a reason. A lot of his tape shows him not necessarily being an elite cornerback, but being an elite athlete that plays corner. Forbes actually showed the athleticism, corner skills, and ballhawking ability. Some additional knocks against Gonazalez and his love of the game. Quan Martin was our biggest surprise pick of the draft. A lot of people had him going in the 3rd round, but I think the 2nd was a fine spot. Mayhew after the draft said he wish we were more aggressive at times, which I translated as not getting Brian Branch that went several picks before us. I think Quan was the backup option, but I like him as much as Branch. I think Quan will be a better deep safety and Bramch will be a better nickel. Liked Quan alot, but felt we should have gone o-line at this pick. Ocyrus Torrence would've been a sweet pick here. I think if that happened, the consensus view on our draft would shoot up. Quan will immediately via for playing time as our base defense is essentially a 4-2-5. Kendall Fuller was our only above average corner and now we turned our secondary into a strength. Ricky Stromberg and Braeden Daniels were our next two picks. I like Stromberg’s tape a lot and think by next he will be a solid starter at guard or center. Braeden Daniels will be a nice depth piece and if he's able to tame his play he could develop into a starter. Fun player to watch. KJ Henry was an awesome pick and can see him being a nice rotational piece. Good pick at an underrated area of need on our defense. RB wasn't a pressing need, but it's an underrated area of weakness. I think Brian Robinson is about as average of rb as you will see starting in the NFL. I wouldn't be surprised if Rodriguez slowly cut into Robinson's role over the next two years. Antonio Gibson has had some solid season, but has a severe fumbling problem. Andre Jones will be a depth piece that will need development moving forward.
Offseason summary:
The biggest question of our offseason was our owner, which now appears resolved. Our second biggest question... was who was our starting qb? Sam Howell. Ron preached all offseason that he was going with Howell and I'll be damned, he did. Brissett was good qb to bring in, not someone that would necessarily turn the offseason into a battle, but can be a starter if called upon. Really a true backup qb. I'm all in on the Sam Howell train. I love it for a multitude of reasons. One, he balls out and we have our qb of the future, two he plays well enough we give him another season and maybe Ron is out and we get a high draft pick, three he bombs and we fire Ron Rivera and go for Caleb Williams next season. If anything, it gives us a direction for our future. I'm ready for Ron to go and think he's only as good as his coordinators. I'm concerned that EB AND Howell turn the offense around Ron gets resigned and EB takes a head coaching role... then the offense regressed. Additionally, I don't want Ron to get credit for drafting Howell. It was 5th round pick, you and every team passed on him for 4 rounds. If Howell is that good... it's not because Ron was a genius and drafted him. Very similar to Seattle taking Russel. I am excited about EB being here and think he's the real deal. I will give Ron credit for allowing him to run his own offense as he sees fit. OTA's have shown that EB is pushing his guys hard and is trying to see what he can do with the offense. We really do have elite playmaker and I'm most excited to see what he can do with Antonio Gibson. I can see his role being that of Jerrick McKinnon, with more athleticism. Sam Howell has shown a lot of progress since his rookie season. Had issues with his foot work, but has shown vast improvements. We only have 1 preseason game and 1 NFL game of tape on him. I liked what he showed. When watching tape you could see him going through his progression, man absolutely saved the day wish his escapability- was under pressure the whole game, threw two beautiful deep passes, and won the game. He did throw one bad pick, but was under pressure and playing hero ball. He had one week of practice with the starters, now he has a whole offseason. Our defense should be a top 5 unit next season and we only got better. Chase Young should be fully healthy and he's the X-factor for the number one overall defense. He comes out plays to his full potential then he could be a mid teens sack guy. If we have that sort of production and Sam Howell plays well than we can compete for the decision. Big if though. Our secondary really lacked a 2nd option, Benjamin St Juyce has shown some flashes but didn't seeze the role last year. Now on paper he's the number and that's very solid. We return two top 6 defensive tackles and Montez Swear is one of the most underrated players in the league. He's yet to have a high sack season, but is very much that Jadaveon Ckowney type of player in the run game. Big question mark season for Jaymin Davis. We knew he needed development, but it's been slower than previously thought. Down the stretch he showed flashes that he was coming into his own and now is his year. He's one of the best athletes at linebacker in the league and his ceiling is very very high. Overall I predict we will go 10-7 and challenge for a wild card spot. That record can fluctuate each one, but I'm calling the improvement now. We went 8-8-1 with bottom 3 qb play. The defense got better, we hired a better offensive coordinator, Howell will at the minimum be slightly better than Hienke last season, we didn't lose any major pieces and had a solid all around draft. I'm truly excited to watch how our future plays out.

Whenever I think of Beenox, I think of a studio who always tried their hardest given the circumstances. These folks were Activision's whipping boy until they finally collapsed under the pressure of near annual Spider-Man game releases. Despite that enormous burden, I think they truly left their mark on the Spider-Man franchise in ways big and small.
Lots of people have already sung the praises of Shattered Dimensions so I'll keep it short. How many super hero games in recent memory have been able to match the visual variety and appeal of this game? Everyone's shooting for realistic open world AAA excellence, but Beenox shook their heads and gave us four uniquely comic book flavored comic book aesthetics. Obligatory Spider-verse mention here.
Edge of Time was an amazing game... for the first 3 hours admittedly. It has one of the most gripping openings to any Spider-Man media I've ever seen even if it didn't follow up on it well. While everything past act one kinda drags, the buddy road trip between Peter and Miguel across time and space was pitch perfect from start to finish. It was great to have the two most iconic voices for the character in animation get to have a whole romp to themselves.
The Amazing Spider-Man is where the wheels fell off the wagon, but it's not without its merits. Did this game lazily adapt the plot of the movie while throwing random filler? No! These artisans essentially made a pseduo-sequel to the movie a full week before it hit cinemas. Not only that, but in that space after the film, they essentially establish their own universe within the aesthetic of the TASM films with the Oscorp cross-species program being the main focus.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is where the wheels fell of the wagon, and the wagon proceeded to burst into flames. Did this game lazily adapt the plot of the movie while throwing random filler? Yes! The game is an unmitigated disaster in so many areas but that trademark Beenox creativity still glows faintly within. What other studio gave us ambidextrous swinging. Who else would've tried to pack a BioWare-esque conversation wheel and an InFamous-like morality system under such tough time constraints? Who would've thought to turn Kraven into an actually interesting mentor character for Peter? Only Beenox would.
In every single one of these games, a reverence for the character is tangible in every frame. I can think of few developers who so adamantly committed to seeing their unique vision for a licensed property through. I'm sorry they went out on such a low note, but I just want to applaud what great work they always did given the circumstances.

The Frennon Cult operated one idea - That Frennon himself would consume the earth and everyone would live within him, thus creating immortality. The day was approaching soon, in two days he would embark on his end goal - Lowering himself into the mighty lava lake and becoming immortally eternal. What if there was an easy way out? What if you could simply destroy your body, be rid of your mortal coil? Of course, this was quite complicated. You would be dead, so you could not get out of your body or travel to other places. But, your consciousness could travel around your mortal coil freely. Your immortal self would reside within your heart, floating around your body like a hologram. And when you wished to end your life, all you would have to do was let your mind and heart, and your soul, your spirit, go to the heart of the lava lake. Then, you would melt away. Your body would turn to smoke and ashes, and you would be dead. All you would be left with was the spirit. Your spirit would ascend to the other side of the planet and, with any luck, you could have an afterlife on another plane of existence.
If you were lucky, you may gain reincarnation on another plane of existence, but you would need to be reborn as a good person. The Frennon Cult believed, that Frennon could not be resurrected as evil. In his mind, he was the ultimate good and so he could not reincarnate as evil. You may be born as evil, but if you reformed yourself, you would then be reborn as good, which would allow you to take up the role of Frennon once again. For an immortal soul, this was a very desirable state. So, if you are a good person, if you are a moral person, then it is highly likely that your reincarnation will take a slightly positive course. If you are bad or evil, then your next incarnation will be the exact opposite. You may spend lifetimes in reincarnation as a good person or a bad person, and depending on the state of your heart, spirit, and mind you may become an even greater good person or a lesser evil person, who spends an even longer period of time in an endless cycle of reincarnation. The good people had it better than the bad people.
Unfortunately, you may not be good enough to become an incarnated god in your next life. Frennon is more than capable of creating immortal souls and even better incarnated gods in his next reincarnation. And, that is not all, there are plenty of beings, on this planet and elsewhere in our universe, who are capable of the same thing. So, if you are a very good person, if you are a saint, then you need to prepare yourself, you need to be careful and be very, very good. Not all incarnated gods or immortals, are good people. If a person has the capacity to reincarnate, then they can have countless lifetimes of evil incarnations.
Now, the Frennon Cult operated in secrecy. They were aware that no incarnated gods or immortal entities existed, and their existence was a secret kept from most people. So, they had to keep it very secret. No one could know about their existence. They could only keep it secret from the general population of this planet and beyond, and they only knew about this existence and their members by reading the books written by their founder, Frennon, which were filled with lies. He wanted to keep it secret, so he lied in his books. He even created other lies within his books, which lead the followers down the path of darkness.
The Frennon Cult was a cult that was meant to spread darkness, darkness that can only exist in the dark heart. The Frennon Cult had a dark, spiritual agenda, an evil agenda, a purpose. They wanted to bring about the end of the world, they wanted to bring about a demonic world order. This is why most of their followers were so dark. Most of them were very evil.
Most of them believed in evil, all of them were committed to evil. They believed in the goodness of evil. They did not wish to see the good in good people, and they did not wish to see the evil in evil people. The world was supposed to be divided into black and white, and they believed that they were the good, the virtuous, the chosen, the holy, the special, and the best, while the rest of the world were the evil, the wicked, the depraved, the cursed, the despicable, and the vile. This is why they lived in a dark and evil world.
The Frennon Cult was based on the idea of the selfless. They wanted to be selfless, to act as good people, and to not think about themselves or their own concerns. The world could have its problems, but they needed to focus on others. If they focused on themselves, then they would be selfish.
It was their choice, their right, and they were happy to live in a selfless, holy world. That was their world. They knew that the world was imperfect, that evil people lived in the world, that good people had to live in the world. There were all sorts of people in this world, some were good people, some were evil people. Some were good people with dark hearts, some were evil people with good hearts. Some were good people with evil hearts, some were evil people with good hearts.
There were all sorts of people in this world. They all deserved to live and they all deserved to die, and, as in their world, they all should be happy with their lives and their deaths. There was no point in dwelling on your own concerns or troubles, because you needed to focus on helping others. In their selfless world, all of their members needed to be happy and they should remain happy.
You may wonder if this is such a great idea. Well, the Frennon Cult thought that their selflessness was the most important thing. They believed that they could not be bad, if they were acting selfless. If they were selfless and good, then they could not be bad. They were happy to be good people and they would remain good people even if they themselves were corrupt, or if they themselves were corrupt. If they were selfish, then they would be bad people, and so they would also become bad people.
The world would be divided into all sorts of people, all of whom would be good or evil. Then, if you were evil, there would be evil incarnated gods and immortals who would dwell with you in that dark and evil world. In that way, you would have good people with bad hearts, and the other way around. The Frennon Cult was not interested in the world, they were not interested in the good people or the evil people, they were only interested in themselves.
Frennon was as close to the boogieman as an immortal entity could ever be. He created the boogieman, he gave it form, he brought it to the planet. So, he had some kind of relationship with the boogieman, he was something close to the boogieman, or something related to the boogieman. The boogieman was very evil, the boogieman was very corrupt, the boogieman would not be there without Frennon. Frennon would not have been so obsessed with helping others, if he was not closely associated with the boogieman.
And the boogieman was deeply affected by Frennon, he was his boogieman, his creation, and so he was more interested in the way of the Frennon Cult than he was in the other ways of the world.

Defending the Draft: 2023 Washington Commanders 8-8-1
Preface:
Hope.
This 2023 season will be the most interesting for the Commanders franchise in a long long time. We enter this season with more uncertainty than I have ever been a part of, however, the one thing the fan base is certain of... is the future is brighter. Dan Snyder purchased the franchise in 1999 and subsequently done nothing but run a blue blood franchise into the ground. This team has lacked direction for a long time and a large part of that was due to Dan Snyder's meddling in the day-to-day football operations of the team. Starting his ownership with signing washed up HOF veterans, to then overspending in free agency (Albert Haynesworth is arguably the worst free agent signing of all time), drug scandal with thetraining staff, the mishandling of the RG3 and Kirk Cousins situation, Not resigning Trent Williams, and lastly we've now reached tumultuous time where his off the field issues have hung a dark cloud over a once proud franchise. Although, lol, his most egregious mistake may be hiring Jim Zorn as head coach. It's egregious that his only punishment is a 6 billion dollar payout for his franchise. I hope the banks bury him and he faces the deserved legal actions. As of now there had been an agreement to sell the franchise to 76'rs and NJ Devils owner, Josh Harris.... and is 20ish members of his parliament. We await to hear news of the reviews from the NFL financial committee to close out the process. Last news I came across was he has cut down the number of minority owners to 20. It will be a pleasure when this agreement is finalized. He could be a terrible owner, but it would still be an upgrade from Synder. Harris, seemingly has been a hands off owner and properly allows the people he's hired to operate the team. This last sports season he's had both of his teams deep in the playoff hunt. This season will be interesting. A lot of questions all around: Sam Howell? Chase Young? Ron Rivera? Eric Bienemy? Josh Harris? I'm not sure of those answers, but I'm very excited to find them out.
Coaching:
HC- Ron Rivera OC- Eric Bieniemy DC- Jack Del Rio
Key Additions: Eric Bieniemy
Ole' Riverboat Ron Rivera is back and going into his 4th season with the Washington Commanders, hopefully his last. I believe Ron Rivera is a leader of men, but I highly question his actual coaching skills and team building. I've currently seen enough of this coaching regime and front office to safely say let's move on. There's been several things that I believed were firable offenses.... the Carson Wentz trade. Some rumors have said that this was a Snyder push. Not entirely positive, but Ron bragged that it was his call. Our team at that point was not a qb away from being really good, let alone a Carson Wentz level of qb. The next fireable offense was starting Wentz over Hienke when the playoffs were on the line. Wentz ended up being benched for Hienke, but it was too little too late. The next fireable offense was not realizing we were eliminated from the playoffs. Going into the last week of the season Ron planned on starting Hieneke. Pretty odd to not know you're out of the playoffs, let alone to test Sam Howell out for next season. Additionally, there's been some pretty questionable roster creation decisions. I absolutely hate the versatile secondary and offensive line philosophy. We currently have a patch work offensive line that has the means to fluctuate between average to below average. Not a single player on the line is top 5 at their respected position. Two years ago we had a top 10 o-line, but that had Brandon Sherff playing like a top 5 guard and Charles Leno having his best season. Our o-line took a significant step back this past season and now looks to be our biggest weakness. Ron has shown to trust his own board and has reached (according to the consensus big board) with every single pick so far. People mistake 2019 as one of his drafts ( Sweat, McLaurin, Holcomb), but he was hired at the end of the season. Take this with a grain of salt as it takes at least 3 years to properly review a draft. Rons 1st round picks have been the following: 2020 pick 2 Chase Young- the correct pick at the time, but hard to botch the 2nd overall pick, 2021 pick 19 Jamin Davis- hated the pick at the time, too early for a linebacker... let a lone a project. On tape he looked lost a lot and made up for it with his elite athleticism. He's shown progress, but nothing showing he's worthy of the pick. 2022 pick 16 Jahan Dotson- looks to be an absolute baller, had him ranked above Olave in the pre-draft process. Was a slight reach above the consensus board, but flashed high end ability. Davis has been the only mistake in the 1st round thus far. When I say mistake I don't necessarily mean player, but the roster building philosophy. Whether reaching on Phidarian Mathis in the 2nd round of 2022. Lol, he was older than Payne coming out of the draft, one year of good production, and was taken a round too early. In the next round Brian Robinson was taken and was really just a body. Haven't really seen anything elite with him so far and was a meh pick. John Bates in the 4th round was egregious. Now I have to give credit where it's due. Kam Curl was an absolute steal and can solidify himself as top 5 safety this season if he continues to play this well. Our other starting safety in Darrick Forest also had a lot of bright spots playing this past season.
Arguably, our best offseason move was signing Eric Bieniemy. I'm absolutely excited. Forget everything about him not calling the plays. Reports from OTA's shows his hands on approach and full control of the offense. One of my favorites things I've heard is he is using OTA's to see what the players can do and crafting the offense to their abilities. Time and time again (Scott Turner) you see coaches say this is the offense and not change anything to match the players strengths. We don't know for sure how the offense will look, but if it's anything close to the motion west coast offense the Chiefs have... boy lessssss gooooooo. Jack Del Rio has been up-and-down in his time in Washington. He's had two very slow starts with the defense to start year, however, they've finished strong and kept his job safe. This is really the no excuse year and everyone needs to show up amd show out.
Free Agency:
Key Departures:
Taylor Hieneke- signed with the Falcons
Cole Holcolm- signed with the Steelers
Bobby McCain- signed with the Giants
Carson Wentz- TBD
J.D. McKissic- TBD
Trai Turner TBD
Andrew Norwell- will be released when he passes a physical
Summary:
In my personal oppinion, the only player that hurt losing in free agency was Cole Holcolm. Linebacker is our one weak spot on defense, however, not resigning Holcolm shows Ron's belief in Jaymin Davis's progression. Cole was limited to 7 games last season and has yet to truly break out. Always played very solid and losing him downgraded the position. We've moved on from both starting guards from last year in Norwell and Turner (previously on the Panthers). Both players were liabilities last season and the guard position was easily upgradeable. Bonny McCain was a solid do it all for is player. Lined up at corner, safety, and nickel throughout the season. Hieneke was a big fan favorite, but was never the answer. We thank you for your service though. Carson Wentz, fuck you. Loved J.D. and his time here, suffered a major injury. Not sure if he gets picked up hy another team.
Key Additions:
Andrew Wiley- 3 years for 24 million, 12 guaranteed. Previously on the Chiefs
Nick Gates- 3 years for 16.5 million, 8 million guaranteed. Previously on the Giants
Jacoby Brissett- 1 year for 8 million, 7.5 million guaranteed. Previously on the Browns
Cody Barton- 1 year for 3.5 million, 3.5 million guaranteed. Previously on the Seahawks
Summary:
Simple. In free agency the Commanders did not overspend and tackled positions of need. None of the players signed are top 5 at their position, however, they could all possibly end up being upgrades to what we have. The most interesting is Andrew Wiley. He allowed 9 sacks (tied for 3rd most)... but man he put on the performance of his life in the superbowl. Another stat that favors him is pass block win-rate, which measure if a lineman can sustain a block for 2.5 seconds. Wylie ranked 9th in that stat last season. I translate that stat to mean can a lineman sustain a block against thr initial rush and counter move off the snap. After that 2.5 seconds the ball is thrown or the play breaks down. Another key factor to this signing is it kicks Samuel Cosmi inside to guard. Cosmi has shown flashes being a high end lineman and I expect him to be even better kicking to guard from right tackle. Guard was our weakest position on the line and Wylie signing helped to upgrade the RG position. Nick Gates is expected to he our starting center. He's coming off of a brutal leg injury that made him consider retirement. Has played guard and center and has some positional flexibility. Jacoby Brissett is the best backup qb in thr league. A solid signing if Howell doesn't pan out. Just a solid game manager that doesn't commit many turnovers. Cody Barton is another unproven guy. Last year was his first year with significant reps. Bobby Wagner leaving in FA and Jordyn Brooks injury made em the guy. He showed flashes of coverage abilities and had a lot of tackles. The tackles weren't necessarily a product of his abilities and more so of cleaning up on a bad run defense team. I've read some notes that he has trouble getting off of blocks. Honestly, haven't watched much on the guy, but reports were he played solid down the stretch.
The Draft:
Link to all RAS scores for our draft class
https://commanderswire.usatoday.com/lists/2023-nfl-draft-ras-scores-for-the-washington-commanders-7-player-class-emmanuel-forbes/
Round 1:16 Emmanuel Forbes 6'1" 174 lbs. Mississippi St
Stats: 58 targets, 31 catches allowed for 284 yards (23 yards a game), 3 tds allowed/ 6 ints, 9 forced incompletions, 2 dropped ints, 46 tackles.
PFF Grade: 87.2
If being a 160 pounds is your only knock then I think you're doing something alright. The word on the street is he is already up to 174 pounds. You wouldnt realize hes only 174 pounds by the way he plays the run. Hes not scared to hit and flies ro the ball. Although, he does struggle to get off of blocks. Emmanuel Forbes, per PFF, had the highest rating in man coverage last season, albeit the snap count was very miniscule. Emmanuel Forbes is a lanky corner than played a lot of zone coverage and is a very good scheme fit for what we do. I like the pick and I'm not upset about taking him over Gonzalez, who also had his own question marks. Forbes set a NCAA record with 6 pick sixes. A lot of those were the right place at the right time, but when you have that high of a number than you're doing something right.
PFF:
Forbes is one of the best ballhawks in this class. Over the course of his three-year career, he came down with 13 interceptions. That’s four more than the next closest Power Five cornerback since 2020. Forbes was unbelievably dominant in man coverage in 2022, giving up only three catches while also snagging three interceptions. He also only allowed a 20% completion rate in man, the lowest among FBS
PROS
Remarkably lanky frame. Limbs for days — ideal for a corner.Has bounce like a hooper. He can challenge any catch point necessary. Elite ability to locate the football. All six of his interceptions came in man coverage.
CONS
Still a stick. Not much mass on his frame. Has eyes that get him in trouble. Some freelance tendencies on tape.Can get bowled over in the run game. Mediocre tackler over the course of his career.
Round 2: 47 Jartavius "Quan" Martin 5'11". 194 lbs Illinois
Stats: 74 targets, 42 catches allowed, 611 yards allowed, 3 tds allowed, 3 ints, 15 forced incompletions, 2 dropped ints, 4 missed tackles, 64 tackles.
PFF Grade: 73.2
Quan is a beast. I thought he was the 2nd best nickel prospect in the draft and a better deep safety than Brian Branch. Martin absolute rockets around the field in the run game. He started his career at cornerback before transitioning into the safety/nickel position. Another elite athlete that is a perfect fit for our Buffalo Nickel defense.
PFF:
Martin came to Illinois and immediately started as a true freshman in 2018. He originally started off as an outside corner before becoming more of a slot corner recently. He had arguably his best year in 2022, as his 15 forced incompletions were tied for the sixth-most among Power-Five corners. Martin’s 91.0 run-defense grade also led all Power Five cornerbacks. While he played corner at Illinois, we project him more as a safety for the next level.
PROS:
Explosive flat-foot breaks. Tremendous burst. Forceful and reliable tackler - 7 misses on the last 129 attempts last two seasons.Fills like a mac truck in the run game. Wants to come downhill and play in the backfield.
CONS:
Pure man skills are work in progress. Overagressive and liability to bite on fakes. cons On the lighter side for an around the line of scrimmage player. Gets caught with his eyes in the backfield on run
Round 3: 97 Ricky Stromberg 6'3" 306 lbs Arkansas
Stats: 9 impact blocks, 11 qb hurries, 0 qb hits, 0 sacks allowed
PFF Grade: 82.4
Nasty. Another guard experience player that spent his last two years at the center position. Award winner of the Jacob's Blocking Trophy for the SEC'S most outstanding blocker award. This is a solid player that has started since he was freshman in the SEC. He's been battle tested since he was kid and has improved every year. He has some knocks about his play strength, but a NFL program should get em to where he needs to be.
PFF:
Stromberg was a three-star recruit in the 2019 class and started for the Razorbacks as a true freshman, mostly at right guard. He moved inside to center for his sophomore season and spent his final three college seasons there. Stromberg’s 82.4 overall grade and 83.7 run-blocking grade in 2022 both ranked fourth among all centers in college football, and his nine big-time blocks were tied for fifth among FBS centers. Not to mention, Stromberg had an incredible performance at the NFL combine.
PROS:
Does not want to let blocks go. Can see him straining his butt of to stay engaged on tape. Tons of experience against top competition. Four-year starter with 3,121 career snaps.
CONS:
Forward lean gets going on the move, making him liable to topple over. Has wide hands to initiate contact in pass protection before resetting. Leaves himself open for stronger rushers.Unimpressive musculature, which leaves questions about how he'll anchor against NFL strength.
Round 4: Braeden Daniels 6'4" 296 lbs Utah STATS:
0 sacks allowed, 1 qb hit allowed, 14 hurries allowed.
PFF GRADE: 72.2 at tackle, 2021 84.4 at guard.
Braeden Daniels is another tackle/guard hybrid, with starting experience across his college career. This guy is on the lighter side but that allows him to be an Explosive athlete. Very raw at the tackle position and will be a developmental guy. I'd like to give em a try as our swing tackle and see how he performs. He was one of the quickest offensive lineman I've seen off the tape and that athleticism will let him climb to the next level. Even on the lightweight side I'd hate to see this guy running at me on the second level.
PFF:
Daniels is an experienced veteran who commanded the Utes’ offensive line for the past few years. He originally started as a guard before switching over to tackle. His best season came in 2021, as he put up an 84.4 PFF grade. Given his time on the interior, Daniels is at his best when run blocking, and his run-blocking grade in 2021 was an elite 89.1. He still held his own as a pass protector, allowing only five sacks in his Utah career.
PROS
Explodes out of his stance. Arguably the quickest get off in the offensive line class. Linebackers don't want to see him climbing. Gets on them before they can even react. Drive in his lower half to still move the line of scrimmage despite being under 300 pounds.
CONS
Wild into contact. He approaches blocks with the adjustment ability of a freight train. consDoesn't bring his hands with him. Clean engagements are rare on tape. Very light by NFL standards (294 pounds at combine).
Round 5: 137 KJ Henry 6'4" 260 lbs Clemson
STATS:
51 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 FF, 6 pass deflections, 50 qb pressures, 31 qb hurries, 14 qb hits.
PFF GRADE: 83.1
Loved this pick. Henry was a 5 star recruit coming out of high-school and decided to attend Clemson University. With Clemson having deep lines it took him a couple of years to get on the field. The stats look odd when you only see 3.5 sacks, however, the 50 qb pressures is the key stat. Seems more like bad luck that the sack numbers weren't high. Clemson's whole d-line underperformed (Bresee, Murphey) and they should have picked up more sacks from Henry who was the best DE on that team last year. The team clearly liked him as we traded back up for him. He's not elite athlete, but he is an elite hands guy. Almost had that veteran presence in college. High motor and will immediately make an impact as a rotational de, a position that sorely needed an upgrade.
PFF:
On a team with Myles Murphy, you can easily make the case that KJ Henry was Clemson's best defensive end this year, as he posted better PFF grades than Murphy in every category and even generated 19 more pressures. The only problem is That Henry is 24 years old while Murphy is only 21. Therefore, Henry was expected to produce this well against younger competition. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that he can’t still improve. If Henry's play this season is any indication of his potential, he can still have a great NFL career as an edge defender.
PROS:
Heavy hands that are so well refined. Uses them independently to use combination moves.Utilizes hesitations and head fakes so well to catch linemen off-balance. Coaches rave about the type of teammate he is. He is the type of player you want in the locker room.
CONS:
First step that's unimposing for a rusher on the smaller side. Late bloomer. Wasn't even a starter until this past fall. One of the oldest prospects in the class. Already 24 years old.
Round 6: 193 Chris Rodriguez 6'0" 217 lbs Kentucky
STATS: 8 games played, 175 attempts, 904 rushing yards, 6 tds, 5.2 ypa, 5 catches, 41 rec yards.
PFF GRADE: 90.8
Chris Rodriguez is a PFF darling and was rated as the 7th best running back. This guy's is a pure one cut, run you over, power back. There's not much finesse to his game, but there's highlights of dragging guys 10-yards down the field. He does not posses break away speed, but he will get you 40 yards. He was suspended 4 games due to a dui and he may have been drafted higher on am abysmal Kentucky team. An extra 4 games of stats against SEC competition and no suspension may have jumped him into the 4th round. This was an Eric Bienemy guy and they brought him in because of that. Isiah Pacheco was another EB guy.
PFF:
Rodriguez is a powerful runner, but he lacks the burst and creativity to become anything more than a downhill grinder. He has the size and mentality to do the dirty work between the tackles, but it could be a challenge for him to get to and through the hole quickly in the NFL. He’s a physical blitz protector, so teams might envision a role for him as a second-half battering ram and third-down quarterback protector.
PROS:
Two-time team captain. Thick frame with ability to pick up tough yards. Makes tacklers feel his size at impact. Stays square getting through downhill cuts. Low success rate guaranteed for arm-tacklers. Stays on his feet through heavy angle strikes. Allows lead blockers to do their work. Steps up with force against incoming rushers.
CONS:
Below-average burst getting through line of scrimmage. Lacks finesse to navigate tight run lanes. Change of direction is heavy. One-speed running style is easy to track for linebackers. Pad level is a little tall as run-finisher. Inconsistent finding assignment versus blitz.
Round 7: 233 Andre Jones 6'4" 248 lbs Louisiana
STATS: 7 sacks, 5 qb hits, 20 hurries.
PFF GRADE: 77.2
Andre Jones was another hybrid de/lb player coming out last year. He possess 34 1/4" arms which is an elite number for his size. May move to LB, but I'm not sure that's the right move with a 4.71 40-yard dash. He doesn't have much a pass rush move set playing a hybrid role, but does use length to his advantage. A solid developmental pick.
PROS:
Shows a natural feel for setting up blockers and getting them off-balance. His hands are active and violent, and Jones quickly disengages with blockers and counters when his initial move stalls. Possesses accurate snap anticipation and timing to beat blockers off the edge. Offers some versatility, rushing from a two-and three-point stance with the playing speed to stand up in space.Flashes strength as a bull rusher and his energy doesn't plateau. Showed initial quickness and good flexibility to dip and bend. Jones has active hands and suddenness to his movements, demonstrating the ability to counter inside. Has fluid footwork to redirect, reverse momentum and close with a burst. Regularly first off the ball with good snap anticipation. He’s a high-effort pass rusher with an impressive combination of length and speed.
CONS:
Jones has to develop a counter move or two in the pass rush, and Jones needs to make better use of his hands. He lacks the speed of a chase and- tackle guy. He lacks twitch as a pass rusher and lacks the feet and flexibility to threaten around the edge. Jones also shows some stiffness when trying to bend the edge, often getting pushed past the pocket — he seems more comfortable countering back inside.
Draft Summary:
This was my favorite Ron Rivera/Martin Mayhew draft thus far. Going into the draft, offensive line, cornerback, and quarterback were our three biggest needs. Drafting in the middle of the round really took us out of the olineman race. The last one that interested me was Broderick Jones and he went off the board when the Steelers traded up. At that point in the draft it really left us with going cornerback. The Forbes pick was received negatively due to Christian Gonzalez being available. Both players will be viewed under the microscope throughout their careers. I'm fine with Forbes pick though. Another lanky cornerback who was an elite athlete. I did have Gonzalez rated higher going into the draft, but he slid for a reason. A lot of his tape shows him not necessarily being an elite cornerback, but being an elite athlete that plays corner. Forbes actually showed the athleticism, corner skills, and ballhawking ability. Some additional knocks against Gonazalez and his love of the game. Quan Martin was our biggest surprise pick of the draft. A lot of people had him going in the 3rd round, but I think the 2nd was a fine spot. Mayhew after the draft said he wish we were more aggressive at times, which I translated as not getting Brian Branch that went several picks before us. I think Quan was the backup option, but I like him as much as Branch. I think Quan will be a better deep safety and Bramch will be a better nickel. Liked Quan alot, but felt we should have gone o-line at this pick. Ocyrus Torrence would've been a sweet pick here. I think if that happened, the consensus view on our draft would shoot up. Quan will immediately via for playing time as our base defense is essentially a 4-2-5. Kendall Fuller was our only above average corner and now we turned our secondary into a strength. Ricky Stromberg and Braeden Daniels were our next two picks. I like Stromberg’s tape a lot and think by next he will be a solid starter at guard or center. Braeden Daniels will be a nice depth piece and if he's able to tame his play he could develop into a starter. Fun player to watch. KJ Henry was an awesome pick and can see him being a nice rotational piece. Good pick at an underrated area of need on our defense. RB wasn't a pressing need, but it's an underrated area of weakness. I think Brian Robinson is about as average of rb as you will see starting in the NFL. I wouldn't be surprised if Rodriguez slowly cut into Robinson's role over the next two years. Antonio Gibson has had some solid season, but has a severe fumbling problem. Andre Jones will be a depth piece that will need development moving forward.
Offseason summary:
The biggest question of our offseason was our owner, which now appears resolved. Our second biggest question... was who was our starting qb? Sam Howell. Ron preached all offseason that he was going with Howell and I'll be damned, he did. Brissett was good qb to bring in, not someone that would necessarily turn the offseason into a battle, but can be a starter if called upon. Really a true backup qb. I'm all in on the Sam Howell train. I love it for a multitude of reasons. One, he balls out and we have our qb of the future, two he plays well enough we give him another season and maybe Ron is out and we get a high draft pick, three he bombs and we fire Ron Rivera and go for Caleb Williams next season. If anything, it gives us a direction for our future. I'm ready for Ron to go and think he's only as good as his coordinators. I'm concerned that EB AND Howell turn the offense around Ron gets resigned and EB takes a head coaching role... then the offense regressed. Additionally, I don't want Ron to get credit for drafting Howell. It was 5th round pick, you and every team passed on him for 4 rounds. If Howell is that good... it's not because Ron was a genius and drafted him. Very similar to Seattle taking Russel. I am excited about EB being here and think he's the real deal. I will give Ron credit for allowing him to run his own offense as he sees fit. OTA's have shown that EB is pushing his guys hard and is trying to see what he can do with the offense. We really do have elite playmaker and I'm most excited to see what he can do with Antonio Gibson. I can see his role being that of Jerrick McKinnon, with more athleticism. Sam Howell has shown a lot of progress since his rookie season. Had issues with his foot work, but has shown vast improvements. We only have 1 preseason game and 1 NFL game of tape on him. I liked what he showed. When watching tape you could see him going through his progression, man absolutely saved the day wish his escapability- was under pressure the whole game, threw two beautiful deep passes, and won the game. He did throw one bad pick, but was under pressure and playing hero ball. He had one week of practice with the starters, now he has a whole offseason. Our defense should be a top 5 unit next season and we only got better. Chase Young should be fully healthy and he's the X-factor for the number one overall defense. He comes out plays to his full potential then he could be a mid teens sack guy. If we have that sort of production and Sam Howell plays well than we can compete for the decision. Big if though. Our secondary really lacked a 2nd option, Benjamin St Juyce has shown some flashes but didn't seeze the role last year. Now on paper he's the number and that's very solid. We return two top 6 defensive tackles and Montez Swear is one of the most underrated players in the league. He's yet to have a high sack season, but is very much that Jadaveon Ckowney type of player in the run game. Big question mark season for Jaymin Davis. We knew he needed development, but it's been slower than previously thought. Down the stretch he showed flashes that he was coming into his own and now is his year. He's one of the best athletes at linebacker in the league and his ceiling is very very high. Overall I predict we will go 10-7 and challenge for a wild card spot. That record can fluctuate each one, but I'm calling the improvement now. We went 8-8-1 with bottom 3 qb play. The defense got better, we hired a better offensive coordinator, Howell will at the minimum be slightly better than Hienke last season, we didn't lose any major pieces and had a solid all around draft. I'm truly excited to watch how our future plays out.

Is anyone interested in critiquing the first chapter of my planned cultivation fantasy series. Sort of an alpha reader? it's less than 1800 words. I want to get several people's opinions of my prose before I write more chapters.
“I can’t wait to eat it.” Gong Li salivated over his next meal. Which was unfortunate, on account of the fact that it wasn’t dead yet.
Over 30 paces away from where he hid was a gnarlwood elk, its hind quarters marked by significant scarring that almost resembled burn marks. Presumably from a recent run in with a predator.
The gnarlwood elk was a truly majestic spirit beast that naturally cultivated the aspect of wood. And as was typically the case for spirit beasts, the path of its cultivation expressed itself in its unique physiology. The creature’s skin was the color of smooth, deep brown bark. It had fur like a normal elk, but it was green and looked more like moss that covered little of the lower half of the beast’s body. The elk sported massive antlers that more closely resembled gnarled tree branches, hence its namesake, with large flower buds growing out from it. Those flower buds were more than mere decoration, however. When opened, they would produce a pollen like substance. When exposed to it, a potential predator would experience severe irritation in its eyes and respiratory system. Also, the beast was about the size of a draft horse.
Li licked his lips in anticipation. “Mhm wood chi infused venison. My meat and veggies all in one bite.”
The Gnarlwood Elk stood cautiously in a clearing in the forest. It drank from a nearby brook, occasionally scanning the area for any signs of predators.
But Gong Li’s next meal wouldn’t find him. He had been on hunts before, but this was the first time he was permitted to join in on the hunt of a spirit beast. Such a thing would normally be too dangerous for someone of his cultivation and he was not expected to take part in the hunt itself. But the important thing was that the spirit beast didn’t notice him. This was an opportunity for Li to demonstrate his ability to suppress his spiritual power. What little he had as a mortal realm cultivator, anyway. Failing to do so might cost him and others their lives the elders of his clan told him. So he was sent on this hunt alongside his cousin Gong Fang and his team of beast hunters to prove his worth.
“Ready”, whispered the man himself in the bushes on Gong Li’s left. Gong Fang sported wild, spiky black hair that shimmered in the noonday sun with oil. His lean corded muscles clearly visible, as he wasn’t wearing a shirt. They bulged as if ready to rip out of his skin as he prepared himself for the hunt.
“Ready,” To Gong Fang’s own left was a woman. Gong Yue was built tall but slender. She shared the tanned complexion that most of the Gong Clan sported, which contrasted nicely with her short, silver hair. After a brief flash of light surrounded her uplifted hands, a wooden bow with a dark blue stone above the grip appeared in her grasp.
“Fire,” Gong Fang catapulted himself out of his hiding spot and into the clearing keeping up a storm of dirt and grass as he went. Gong Yue summoned an updraft, allowing her to take flight and break off small tree branches. As she knocked her arrow, the dark blue stone socketed into her bow’s limbs glowed with sparks of lightning inside. The sparks made their way to the bow proper, and Gong Li could smell the faint hint of ozone in the air.
The beast immediately knew something was wrong, but it was too late. Just as the gnarlwood elk popped its head back up, the arrow struck its neck. The beast reeled.
Gong Fang continued his charge, summoning a massive curved cleaver from his storage ring.
Gong Li watched as the beast struggled to get back on its feet, but the electrical current from the arrow had overloaded its nervous system. It violently flung mud into the air as Gong Yue fired another arrow into its flank.
As he closed in Gong Fang launched himself over ten paces into the air. He came down on the creature’s neck hard; The weight of the sword, his body and his technique. Together they easily cleaved through the base of the creature's neck. Gore sputtered out from the elk’s body and onto Fang but he jumped away from his fallen prey before the flower buds on the antlers blossomed. The beauty of the vibrant yellow petals were marred by the red gore that now covered them.
Fang was grinning. Grinning with the mischievous glee like a kid in an abandoned candy shop.
“Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about.” Fang triumphed over his kill. His enthusiasm was contagious. Li couldn’t help but cheer as well, despite the gory scene.
As Li and Yue caught up to Fang, Yue generated a current of air around them. The current, shaped like a dome, would keep the pollen from the flowers from getting to them.
Fang looked down at Li was a few finger widths shorter. “so little cousin tell me what you think of our technique?”
“Your methods are solid. Yue using lightning to paralyze the target, which gives you time to close the distance and quickly deliver a killing blow. I initially wondered why you use a cleaver instead of a spear as a melee hunting weapon, but now I see the logic of it. Cooks typically use cleavers to cut through bone and thick meat. However, a cleaver style sword can also be an effective way of killing an enemy quickly if you have the strength and precision to wield it. If you attempted to pierce the large Grade 2 beast’s neck with a spear and raw strength alone, it wouldn’t have guaranteed a kill. Given the strong hide and healing factor of the target. But by using force chi, you can apply greater kinetic energy and wield a heavier weapon.”
Fang grinned and looked towards Yue. “Told you he was a smart one.”
“Do you use this strategy against all your targets?” Li asked.
“No. Different prey calls for different methods. Although this is the strategy we use most often. We specialize in hunting large herbivores. That’s what sells the best prices on the market, anyway. They’re also the main course for the most profitable dishes of the clan owned restaurant. Also you’d be amazed what a pair of testicles from just about any large spirit beast would go for.
Li raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Spirit beast testicles?”
Yue interjected. “Many people think the testicles of large spirit beasts make for a potent aphrodisiac and may even increase fertility. There’s not much evidence to support the claim, but who am I to deny a fool so eager to part with his money?”
Fang barked a laugh. “Especially if it’s lining my pockets, eh.”
“We should get moving now,” Yue started scanning the area. “The scars on the elk may look old, but wood aspected beasts have an especially efficient healing factor. The creature that gave it those wounds could be nearby.
“Alright then, just give me five minutes to clean my sword and wash the blood off in the brook.
As Fang made his way to the brook Li turned towards Yue. “I was wondering, cousin Yue. Why use a bow with a lightning aspected beast core instead of cultivating it yourself? It would seem like the perfect fit to supplement your wind path.”
Yue shook her head, “Well, for one, the lightning aspect is hard on the body. It’s one of the most difficult aspects to cultivate.”
“No offense, but you don’t cross me as the type who would fear a little hard work.”
“No I’m not. But…” Yue trailed off.
“Funds. Right?
Yue gave Fang a regrettable expression. “Lightning is also one of the rarer aspects out there. To learn to adapt to cycling it through my meridians, any large quantity would require me to go through several Grade 2 beast cores. The clan simply doesn’t have those kinds of resources anymore. Our current situation is the reason why the elders requested we take you on this hunt with us. While your own path was designed for smithing the metal and fire aspect have obvious combat applications. They want as many of us prepared to defend the clan as possible. Should our enemies decide to take advantage of our weakness and hasten the clan’s fall.
As Li contemplated the clan’s current predicament, he found himself suddenly slapped with a torrent of water. After recovering from the initial shock, Li looked in Fang’s general direction. And there he was beaming with satisfaction in the brook over 10 paces away, sword in hand.
“You bastard.” Yue screamed.
Fang simply laughed and pulled back his weapon. He dipped the bulk of the cleaver in the water and made a sweeping motion back towards Li and Yue creating another wave of water. The water was accelerated to deceptively high velocities due to his application of force chi to enhance the swing. Yue was ready for him this time however. She generated a wall of wind chi that redirected the wave of water back at Fang. The combined force of the water and Yue’s wind technique knocked Fang off his feet submerging him in the brook’s shallow waters.
Yue laughed.
Li flicked off a piece of the gnarlwood elk’s bark-like carapace off his shoulder with a sigh of irration. “You’re a child cousin Fa-.”
Li found himself smacked hard by a current of air. He went spinning and before he knew his face smacked hard into the dirt, dazed. It took a moment to realize what had happened. Yue had struck him with her own technique. But why? He was only a mortal realm cultivator. She wouldn’t have hit him with an attack that hard, only for her own amusement.
His head was spinning, but Li did his best to lift it up and look around. It was then that he came to realize what had happened.
The impact knocked him a clean fifteen paces away, on the other side of the stream for his own safety. For the predator had arrived to claim its wounded prey.

Started taking golf seriously this year and hitting the range 3-4 times a week. I’ve been slowly replacing hand me downs in my bag (2 months ago got fitted for tm stealth irons and just recently grabbed a Callaway paradym driver). I carry my driver around 270 and so I’m looking to grab a 3 wood to fill a big gap. The bigger question is I currently have a TM R580 TI 5 wood (MAS2 ultralite 60 flex R shaft) and after a quick google search it says it’s from 2002. Is this worth replacing right away? Are modern day fairway woods that much better? I carry my 5 iron about 190 and this wood doesn’t seem to go much further than that. Maybe 200-210. Is this normal for a 5 wood or should I consider picking up a new 5 wood when I pick up my 3 wood?
Ideally I’d like my 3 wood to be around 245-250 and 5 wood 225-230. Not sure if that’s ridiculous or not would love some input. Thanks!

My (32f) sister (27f) & I live on the opposite side of the world. Despite that, we’ve always been close. I would never miss her important events, eg: graduations spending thousands on plane tickets & presents to be there with her. I’ve financed all her wants & needs since young age. We talk about everything (so I thought). 2yrs ago, she told me she met a guy & it would be her 1st boyfriend (education was #1 priority 4 us both). I was very excited & wanted to know everything. She would drip feed me some info but not too much. Which I accepted & didn’t want to push until she was ready. FF 6-8 months, I ask her what the plan 4 the future is (a general Q ), She tells me she’s getting married in 4m! I’m shocked. I didn’t even know they were engaged, the family has not met him & I certainly have never even spoken to him. She tells me I need to be her MH! I have a very demanding job & I also have a 2yr old & both my H I can not just take leave on a whim. She knows all this very well. I beg her to tell our parents(who would be so excited & never judgmental), she does 2 months before the wedding. She used the excuse of this being a cultural thing & I’ve just forgotten (it’s not). I tell her, I I may not make it due to work & the short notice. She gets mad & plays victim, saying how I’m just trying to ruin her life. Refuses to introduce her soon to be husband to me even via phone. I & H managed to get leave, spend over $10k for just tickets for us 3, fly 20hrs+ each way with a toddler & surprise her 3 days b4 the wedding. She is pleasantly surprised & we both cry & she said how over them moon she is her niece and my H could make it too. The wedding day, my family & I get texts fm her about change of plans for the day & we are now to meet her 6hrs later than planned, for family photos & just before the wedding starts. We thought this was strange but we comply. They arrive ~3.5hrs late & blamed traffic! Just as we were about to walk in, the MIL turns & asks us why we missed the wedding! Turns out, they had a day of celebration elsewhere with their friends & his family & we are just invited to the reception! I’m angry & heartbroken for my poor parents also. My H & I leave with our toddler after escorting the bride & groom into the reception hall. No family photo as it’s now too late and the reception has started. I don’t say anything other than my daughter being tired, gave her a hug & congratulating her prior to leaving. I get a text several hours later from hr saying, it’s a shame we couldn’t stay for photos (they apparently took some later on but they had their actual wedding photos done earlier where we weren’t invited). I lose it & tell her to never speak to me again, + call her a few colorful names. My family are begging me to forgive her (she hasn’t apologized or asked for forgiveness) as she’s just young! I don’t buy it. So, AITA?

Kita's eyes widen at the blue-eyed princess's offer.
"You know where he is?" Kita stammers, caught off guard by the sudden awareness.
"Do you still seek revenge?" The princess asks.
Kita doesn't respond, this posh girl has her number. 'Still'? She doesn't want to give away all of her leverage, what kind of an interrogator gets interrogated?
"I've looked into the dark one's eyes," The princess adds. "I saw something similar to what I'm seeing now,"
The black eyes? Is the dark one missing their soul as well?
"What'd you see?"
The girl pauses, squinting at Kita before shrugging her shoulders. "Loss,"
"Tell me what you know." Kita orders.
"I will tell you, if you take me with you,"
"Huh?"
"It's obvious you aren't an interrogator. Your methods alone are beyond mediocre,"
"You an expert victim or something?" Kita scoffs.
"Not quite," The princess chuckles. "I will tell you anything you want to know if you get me out of here,"
"What makes you think I can do that?"
"I've seen you destroy armies, Kita."
Kita shuffles backwards. This princess doesn't just know about her soul, she knows more about Kita's past, than Kita. Armies? She remembers nothing of destroying armies. The idea of being so powerful sends a shiver down her spine.
A curiosity. A new desire. Such power sounds enticing. She couldn't fathom losing to the dark one despite having so much power- She may be underestimating the number of souls she needs to consume. The amount of power she currently has is barely a fraction of what she's achieved before.
"I'm not really that girl anymore," Kita stutters, trying to deflect the information.
"I noticed," The princess responds, rising to her feet. "You're much more polite now,"
"I am?" Kita says, stepping backwards as the blue-haired girl steps towards her. The girl is tall and walks with a towering posture. A royal walk. Slow and encroaching.
"You've forgotten everything this time? It is as if you don't even remember who you were,"
"And what do you think I was?" Kita asks.
"A warrior. A leader… A monster,"
The princess reaches her arms out to Kita, prompting a defensive stance. But before Kita can prepare, the princess's arms drape around her shoulders and then pulls Kita in for a warm, firm, hug.
"You poor thing," The princess whispers. "You're the shell of your former self,"
Kita pushes the girl off of her, overwhelmed by the sadness being expressed. She doesn't see herself the way this woman does and being called a shell is degrading. Is this some kind of disrespect? The way royalty manipulates the minds of others?
"People change," Kita scoffs. "I don't need your comparisons,"
"Sorry," The princess responds politely, surprising Kita yet again. "We were good friends in your past life… You usually remember me,"
"Well, I don't… Not this time,"
"Then I shall befriend you yet again," The princess passes an endearing smile.
"Not interested," Kita dismisses, "I'll get you out of here if you tell me everything you know about the dark and my past,"
"Escaped prisoner!" a voice yells from beyond the door, echoing through the stairwell. Prompting a look of urgency as they both glance towards the door.
"We have a deal," The Princess nods. "My name is Raya,"
"Listen, Princess. There's a kid named Jan who also had his soul stolen. I'm getting him out of here as well,"
The guards definitely noticed Kita's little mess once they got back. It's time to get out of here- she steps over to the door and knocks twice. Raising her hand in preparation for the door to swing open. The moment the burly guard reveals herself, Kita consumes her soul and catches the falling body to pull it into the room. From the corner of her eye, she sees Raya grab a knife from the guard's body and strap the rifle over her shoulder.
"You know how to use that?" Kita asks, raising an eyebrow.
"I've never met a royal who couldn't," She responds with a focused expression on her face.
Kita glances out the doorway to see only two other guards on the floor- the rest must have left to search for the prisoner. She walks straight towards both of them with her hands raised and from a reasonable distance she casts another consume spell. That's thirteen. It's not enough. After what the princess told her, it all feels so distant.
"Come on," Kita clears her throat. The floor is empty, and they need to get a move on before they realize she's on this floor. She positions herself by the door to the stairwell, taking a deep breath to focus up.
The princesses' blue hair and rags stand out like a sore thumb. Anyone would notice her or know she's a prisoner- sneaking about won't do. They'll have to fight their way out. This girl had better know what she's doing.
"They're planning on trading the kid, do you know where they would take him?"
"Vlad's office, on the second floor,"
This is the fourth floor, so his office is up six flights of stairs. Nothing too crazy, from there, are three more flights to the exit.
Kita cracks open the door to the stairway, looking through the gaps in the railing below to see if the coast is clear. She then looks up to see an open door three flights up, on the third floor.
They step into the stairwell and scurry their way up the three flights of stairs whilst trying to remain as quiet as possible. Before she reaches the top of the third-floor staircase, she pauses to look into the door. She sees four sets of poots huddled together by the door and readies a spell.
As she takes another silent step to the top of the stairs, the group of raiders breaks and each of them step into the stairwell. Kita freezes in a moment of panic, and one of the raiders looks in her direction before a look falls on the raider's face.
"She's here!" He yells, raising a pistol at her as the others turn to raise their weapons as well.
Raya instinctively steps up close to Kita's back as she rotates her wrist. Kita's natural reaction to danger comes with a muscle memory she was hoping to see. The same one from the rich folk's tent- Shield.
The raiders open fire in the stairwell, bullets erupt in all directions as bright streaks of light ricochet into the sphere of energy surrounding Kita and Raya.
Click.
The first raider runs out of ammo. Kita raises her arm across her body, preparing to strike.
Three more clicks follow. The nearest raider is out of her reach, and still reloading. She drops the shield and announces a spell in her mind.
Slice.
Her arm extends, and like a sword- she slashes across the nearest raider's chest. In the same motion, a sharp slice of wind crosses the raider's chest- Creating a deep gash from his shoulder to his pelvis. The upper third of the gun in his hand falls clean off the rest of the weapon before his body falls to the floor.
Without a second thought, Kita raises her hand at the two raiders nearest to the door and casts a push. The doorway to the third-floor busts open, sending the two raiders through the newly made hole.
As Kita raises her arm to the last raider, who's just finished reloading. Raya suddenly appears in front of her. With a few swift strafes, Raya kicks the gun out of the raider's hands and uses the blade she'd collected in three swift moves. An X marked by two cuts to the raider's chest, and a cut to the throat.
"Holy shit. The Princess is violent," Kita jests.
"I led an army," Raya chuckles.
"Sure, but those two extra cuts were just-" Kita exhales and puts her hands on her waist.
"Oh please, did you see what you did to that guy's chest?" Raya rolls her eyes. "I've never seen you do that one before,"
"Is that right? Your pal Kita the conqueror couldn't think of that one, huh?" Kita smiles, a knowingly smug one. She jokes, but she genuinely feels proud of herself for thinking of it.
Raya laughs, readying her rifle, "You're different, but you haven't really changed,"
"What's changed?"
"For starters, the old Kita would've taken them all out with one spell," Raya responds, stepping into the hallway of the third floor.
"Well, I prefer to make it a fair fight," She sasses, stepping into the debris-filled room to hear the sound of a few coughs. They step over the bodies of two other raiders who must've been on the other side of the wall.
Two sudden pops erupt from Raya's gun, dropping a guard at the opposite end of the room who was still on his feet. On one half of the room are rows of bunk beds, with the other half having a kitchen and a seating area. The place is a mess- understandably considering how many people probably stay here.
"How many souls?" Raya asks, surveying the room.
"Huh?"
"How many do you have left?"
"Feels like… nine," Kita answers. "We should head upstairs,"
"We got lucky. This is usually where they all congregate," Raya says, turning back to the stairway.
"Where would they be?"
"Mostly likely a job,"
Kita's eyes widen, thinking it might have something to do with the kid. She double-times her way out of the room and up the stairs when she hears the ricocheting of bullets before the sound of crackling emits from the floor below.
She casts a shield all around her, and Raya steps inside moments after. They both start moving up the staircase, trying to shift in unison to avoid either of them being exposed to the whizzing bullets.
^{AUTHOR'S NOTES
Read ahead on RoyalRoad [https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/68702/soul-stealer-anti-hero-reincarnation-fantasy](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/68702/soul-stealer-anti-hero-reincarnation-fantasy})
^{Kita's thoughts - Post Chapter 9
"I really need to pee"}

I’m a 6’ tall, fit/muscular, asian American man in the Bay Area looking for a fun, fit and attractive woman for friends and possibly more. I’m extroverted, active, well educated and a successful professional. I like to travel and play sports (tennis, golf, swim, volleyball). I like to laugh and make people laugh.
I’d like to meet someone, chat, and see if there’s a fun vibe between us and go from there.
I have a pic in my profile.

I realized recently that I haven't seen much of this at all. Almost all the fantasy I've read tends to have "video game" magic that is constructed in a wholly artificial way, or that originates from some high-concept idea.
There's almost nothing I've read that features the sort of thing that real-life occult traditions talk about, like astral projection, chaos magic, contacting other planes, or making deals/bargains with spirits like you find in many real-world traditions.
The Golem and the Djinni was based on this, as are the Sixth World books by Rebecca Roanhorse, and I think I've run across a couple of other books that were (although names escape me now)
But it just doesn't seem very common.
Not looking for generic urban fantasy recs. (no Dresden Files, that's not it) This is specifically looking for books that revolved around real-world occult or indigenous magical traditions.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz was the first Super Monkey Ball game I ever played, and it holds a special place in my heart. Many consider Banana Blitz HD to be the better version of the game, due to it axing the motion controls, but I believe that Banana Blitz HD is inferior to the original for a few reasons, which I will explain below:

The physics

The updated controls are generally touted as the main improvement made by Banana Blitz HD, however a lot of people don't realize that this came at a cost. The physics in Banana Blitz worked really well with the level designs, however in HD, there are numerous gameplay issues. The physics are generally much more bumpy and bouncy than they were in the original. The monkey will often bounce off the ground going over tiny cracks and bumps that were mostly absorbed in the original game. Platforms that move up and down, such as the segmented ring platforms in Jumble Jungle 8, which are extremely frustrating to navigate in HD due to the bouncier physics. The points where the rotating tiles meet in Cobalt Caverns 4 are another example of the bouncy physics messing up the gameplay, but there are many other instances of this happening.
In addition to the generally increased bounciness of HD, the physics also feel a lot less tight. It feels like you have a less precision in narrow sections than you did in the Wii version, and the controls feel kind of loose in general. Thankfully Banana Mania is a significant improvement over Banana Blitz HD in this regard. Another dumb change to the physics was the addition of a hard-coded speed cap. While it doesn't come up super often, it really shouldn't be there at all, and the original game got on just fine without it. This problem is also removed in Banana Mania. One last problem is that characters generally seem lighter than they were in the Wii version, getting knocked around by enemies, bumpers and bosses a lot more than they used to, but more on that later.

The visuals

The best way to test whether a HD remake of a Wii game does a good job at remastering it is to compare it against running the Wii game on Dolphin with the resolution upscaled. BBHD fails this test. A lot of the textures and colour palettes feel a lot more oversaturated and contrasted than they were in the Wii version, and in my opinion they are generally worse overall.
Additionally, some of the world designs look worse as well. Smooth Sherbet's skies are less varied in colour compared to the colourful auroras of the Wii version, and lacks the purplish hue it had in the original. Detritus Desert now lacks the dustiness that the original version had. Pirates Ocean is now bathed in a bright and warm yellow light, making the stage feel much more inviting, which flies in the face of what Pirates Ocean is supposed to be. Cobalt Caverns' colour palette is less varied, now being mostly blue instead of a mix of blue and purple, and the water is now dark and opaque, instead of the more aesthetically pleasing translucent appearance it has in the Wii version. Ultra Heaven's lighting is much worse, having less of a twilight feel to it and being more evenly lit instead of the varied lighting it had before, and the clouds also look worse now.
On the bright side, Sinking Swamp definitely looks better, no longer having that sickly green colour to it that it had in the original, and I also prefer Space Case without the purple hue that the Wii version had, but on the whole, I prefer the way the original looked. Another visual change I don't like is the coloured side of the balls being slightly more opaque. Finally, I generally prefer the original UI design of the Wii version, than the generic modern design.

The level design

Banana Mania was not the first remake to change the design of levels, but while Banana Mania generally tried to make excessively difficult levels easier, Banana Blitz HD tries to make levels harder. The problem is it did this in a stupid way. They made a blanket change to all levels that use parallel rails. Parallel rails were a recurring stage element in Banana Blitz, that you could ride along. They were pretty interesting and generally a fun mechanic. In HD, they are all replaced with generic balancing beams. Not only does this generally make the game less interesting and unique, but also while this certainly makes the affected levels more difficult, the other levels were mostly untouched, and this results in HD having noticeable difficulty spikes and drops within worlds. I think the worst offender for this is Cobalt Caverns 5, which is quite a bit more difficult than the other levels in that world. This maybe wouldn't be so bad were it not for the aforementioned different physics, which make balancing sections generally more difficult.
One other notable level that was made more difficult is Volcanic Pools 5, which is a really weird stage to single out to make more difficult, as it was actually already one of the most difficult stages in that world. To make it even more difficult, the width of the non-rotating tiles was almost halved. This results in this level being a very noticeable difficulty spike for no real reason.
Overall I think the original designs were not only more interesting, but made the game's difficulty more balanced overall.

The bosses

The bosses were the worst part of the original game, so it would be pretty difficult to make them any worse in this game, but they found a way. In this version of the game, bosses now do significantly more knockback to the player through attacks, missiles, and contact with the player in general. This makes the bosses more obnoxious to fight, making this already bad aspect of the game even worse. In addition to this, some bosses also got specific changes. You can no longer skip the boring and tedious whack-a-mole and cannon sections of the world 4 boss, as the energy barrier now appears on the outer edge instead of the inner edge. In addition, the missiles fired in this boss now move much faster and turn in much tighter arcs with generally more aggressive targeting. This makes them way harder to avoid and makes the last section of the boss more frustrating. The world 6 boss now spawns far more falling meteors, making the fight more RNG dependant. You also can no longer run between the legs of the world 8 boss with smaller characters, forcing you to have to go around him.
One other change to the bosses which doesn't affect gameplay is that the world 7 boss is now less expressive during the opening cutscene to that boss for some reason. Kinda lame imo.

The music

You knew this one was coming! Apparently due to licensing issues, most of the music from the original game was replaced in this game. Some of the new songs were original compositions, but most were recycled from older games, Super Monkey Ball Adventure style. The new compositions are ok. World 1 and 8 are decent and world 4 is pretty good, though I generally prefer the originals, and world 9 and 10's new music is not very good. The rest of the worlds, and most of the boss themes were given recycled music, with the sole exception being world 3, which thankfully got to keep its funky music. The original music in Banana Blitz was really good, some of the best in the entire series. Most of them, except again world 3, were remixes of the already great songs from Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll, and they were given a ton of love by the composers for Banana Blitz, re-imagining them into amazing compositions that were super catchy and fit their respective worlds well.
The recycled songs aren't bad, per se, but they generally don't fit the worlds they were put in as well as the originals did, which is not surprising seeing as how those songs were specifically designed for their respective worlds. The biggest downgrade is Cobalt Caverns, which went from having an amazing theme and complete re-imagining of Studio One's theme to using a boring song from Monkey Boat.
But the biggest crime was the changing of the boss music. The originals all had a really unique feel to them, while their replacements were...subpar. Their process for selecting which songs to recycle seemed almost random for the bosses, like world 1's boss getting the credits theme as its music for some bizarre reason. The replacement music doesn't even come close to matching the energy and uniqueness of the boss music from the original game, with the exception of world 5's boss, the only one to receive an original composition which is actually pretty damn good.
The party game music is also recycled, and generally not as good in my opinion.

The lives exploit

With the changes to the design of some levels, you might expect Banana Blitz HD to be more difficult than its predecessor, but on that you would be dead wrong. Banana Blitz HD is actually much, much easier to beat without continues now than it was on the Wii, because of 2 unusual changes made to the game which allow for a ridiculous exploit that lets you attempt harder worlds like Sinking Swamp and Ultra Heaven with a huge stockpile of lives. In the original game, whenever you started a new world, you would be set to 3 lives, and would have those 3 lives, and any additional lives you could pick up within the world, to beat that world's 9 challenge stages without using a continue. However, in BBHD, this is no longer the case. Now, when entering a new world, you get to KEEP all of the lives you have already accumulated in that play session. This means if you start at world 1, and keep gaining lives overall during your playthrough, by the time you reach world 9, you will most likely have a pretty large stockpile of lives. Alternatively, you can keep replaying the early worlds over and over again, and build up as many lives as you want (the in-stage counter caps at 99, but the game actually lets you store over 1000 lives). Yes, that's right, if you want to, and have enough patience, you can enter world 10 Ultra Heaven with hundreds, or even thousands of lives, and completely obliterate it. As long as you don't restart a world or exit the game, you will keep your lives.
This gets even more ridiculous with the new ability to instantly re-play levels you have already beaten in a world without having to restart that world. This was most likely implemented to compensate for the removed practice mode (more on that later), but it allows you to pick one level, play it over and over and over again, and grind for more and more lives, as the bananas respawn every time you beat the level.
Now for the exploit: struggling with world 10? Do the following steps:

1. Restart world 10
2. Immediately exit the world
3. Go to Jumble Jungle
4. Pick stage 5
5. Repeatedly go down the narrow path with the 6 banana bunches, and then jump into the goal
6. This will net you 3 lives. Now simply hit "retry" on the level clear menu
7. Repeat until you have as many lives as you desire
8. Destroy Ultra Heaven!

Beating Ultra Heaven without continues in the Wii version, where you had to start the world with 3 lives, was a real accomplishment. In this game, it's a complete joke, thanks to this ridiculous exploit.

The missing content and lack of new content

Generally, when you remake a game, you want to add more features that weren't in the original game, to make the re-release worth getting. Banana Blitz HD does the OPPOSITE and removes several features from the original, while only really adding a time trial mode and a crappy mini game rush mode.
The first missing feature is a practice mode. The practice mode has been a staple in the Super Monkey Ball series since the first game on the Gamecube. It lets you pick any level you have unlocked, and play it over and over again with infinite lives to practice it to your heart's content. Banana Blitz was no exception to this, allowing you to practice levels on the level select screen by holding B, which would even let you practice bonus stages and bosses. You simply can't do this in Banana Blitz HD, for reasons I do not understand. This means you can only replay levels with lives enabled, and it also means there is no way to practice the bonus stages, as you only get 1 attempt at them after beating 4 levels upon restarting a world. Since some of the later bonus stages can be quite difficult to get a perfect on if you're not familiar with them, it really sucks that you can't practice them at all. Practice mode is such a basic feature of Super Monkey Ball that it is honestly kind of absurd that this game does not have one.
Another missing feature is the banana count. Banana Blitz introduced a banana count on the level select menu, telling you how many of the bananas in the level you have collected at least once throughout your playthroughs of it. Additionally, collecting all of the bananas, AND all of the hidden bananas in a level got you a complete message on the level select. This added a ton of replayability to Banana Blitz, and it is completely absent in Banana Blitz HD for some reason.
Replays are also missing. Another staple of the Super Monkey Ball series, the ability to save replays is completely absent from Banana Blitz HD, despite being present in the original. Not only that, but the instant replay has also been removed, which really sucks.
The total number of mini games has been reduced from 50 to 10, a massive reduction. I wasn't expecting all 50 to return, and frankly not all 50 of them should return, but now the game has fewer mini games than Super Monkey Ball 2. And they made some terrible decisions about which mini games to keep and which to remove.
Masao Shirosaki basically admitted that Banana Blitz was chosen to be remade as it was the most realistic for their limited budget and time, and this attitude definitely shows with regards to the content present in the final product. There is also version exclusive content, such as achievements that aren't present in the Nintendo Switch version, and the ability to play in different shaped balls being exclusive to the Steam version, and needless to say this is a really crappy practice that needs to die, especially since all the games share the same price tag.

The minigame selection and minigame changes

Since they were only going to put 10 mini games into Banana Blitz HD, you would think they would pick only the best mini games to bring back. Unfortunately they did not. A bunch of great games got cut, including Asteroid Crash, Disk Golf and Monkey Golf, Monkey Bowling, Monkey Race, Monkey Squash, Spaceship Landing, Treasure Submarine, and the best mini game from Banana Blitz: Monkey Wars. Meanwhile, they decided to keep several crappy mini games, like Hovercraft Race, Seesaw Ball, Slingshot and Whack-a-mole, as well as mediocre ones like Hurdle Race and Banana Blitz's rendition of Monkey Target.
In addition to this, several of the returning mini games are now noticeably worse than they were in the original. Dangerous Route's controls are now much worse, as you now no longer control the monkey directly, but control its acceleration in a frictionless environment, making precision movement extremely difficult. They also made it so that you have to be constantly collecting bananas to stand a chance at beating the levels. Hammer Throw and Hurdle Race are both victims of the game no longer supporting motion controls, as Hammer Throw is now controlled by twirling the control stick, which is a surefire way to wear down the notches on your controller if you use a notched controller like I do, and Hurdle Race is now an awkward button masher, which not only again damages your controller, but is also more awkward to play, as you have to mash buttons to move forward, and press a different button to jump, as opposed to there only being one button you use. In Monkey Snowboard, your monkey now takes FOREVER to get back up after falling down, and your hitbox in general seems to be a lot larger, making it harder to not hit obstacles or crash into other players. Though I do appreciate the fact that jumping off the ends of ramps now gives you a speed boost, as it is no longer better to just bypass the ramps entirely, which ruined the fun of the ramps in the original.
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And that about covers it. There other minor nitpicks I could make about the game, but overall I think these are the important points about why I think it is a bad remake, and why I prefer the original game over it, despite the motion controls.

A couple months ago I gave birth to my son who is the absolute light of my life. I contacted his father who I wasn’t with at the time and we decided to finally work on our relationship and get married.
We got married in Texas since he was able to get paternity leave and stay with me and my parents for a bit while we figured out logistics. We decided I would help him drive from Texas to Cali while my parents babysit my son for a little bit. We didn’t have enough space in the car for his car seat and we didn’t want to take him on a 30 hour car ride.
My mom never objected to the plan since she was flying in to see the house anyways. However the moment we got to our destination she tells us our baby really misses us and is depressed. My husband and I were very stressed because we didn’t have money for a plane ticket to fly back to get him. When I told my parents the situation they insinuated I just didn’t want to take care of him/ wanted to fuck off at my new home without him. When I heard that I cried and hung up because I was so upset.
My husband who didn’t appreciate the way they talked to me or went back on their word said he didn’t want my family staying at our house. I ranted to my sister about it and she ended up telling my mom. Now my mom is refusing to let me call or FaceTime to see my baby, and said she’s done with me and my family. I told her I wasn’t mad at her and even defended her but she says she thinks I’m a liar. I reminded her that I offered to fly in sooner if they help me with my ticket but that we were just in a money situation right now. She said she wasn’t going to get me a ticket because she’s not wasting anymore money on me (even though she offered to fly me out the other day to pick up my son).
I really wish she would’ve told me she didn’t want to watch him. She said I forced her into this, even though she had a month to say no. I can’t help but feel maybe I am in the wrong but I more than anything just want my son here with me.

To be frank, I'm not a fan of traveling. I'm absolutely terrified of planes and this trip would have me take 2 short flights and 2 long-haul flights and be away from home for ~11 days. We're going to see my Grandma, and it would be the first time since the passing of my Grandpa 4 years ago. While I do love her and occasionally talk with her on the phone I just don't want to travel. She's also super sweet and nice but the language barrier means I can only repeat basic phrases to her and nothing more. On the off-hand, it seems as if her mental health has gotten worse since my Grandpa's passing since she's been seeing things and preparing for guests she thinks she's having. She's still coherent and seems healthy but it would also worry me as I would be spending the time at her house and unsure as to how it would be if she had company again.
I've visited before but I've always either been bored or have counted the days until my return. These visits were also usually 4 years apart, so in recent memory I can only remember maybe the last 1 or 2 times I've visited, with the last one being a tough one since my Grandpa's passing shortly after getting back home.
As for me, I rarely spend time outside my home, and all the flying plus the extended stay away from home seems to be too much for me. Everyday for about a month now I've been constantly thinking and worrying about the trip and am afraid it won't stop until the actual trip a month and a half from now. Unfortunately the tickets were already bought and now I'm sitting here struggling to decide whether to go see her again or try and cancel my ticket for maybe a refund. If I refund I just know I'll feel regret for not seeing her, but at the same time being grateful and relieved for not having to travel. My family would still be going, and she would get to meet her great grandson on my brothers side. Sunk costs aside I wouldn't mind seeing her, but it's the traveling and time away from home plus the uncertainties that are making me question if I should visit or not.