Monsoon is a season of relief, bringing refreshing showers and transforming the surroundings into a lush green paradise. However, it also presents unique challenges for car owners. Without proper preparation, your vehicle may suffer from issues like rust, reduced braking efficiency, tire wear, and electrical problems. To ensure a hassle-free monsoon driving experience, it's essential to take proactive steps to maintain your car. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore expert tips and recommendations to keep your vehicle in top shape during the rainy season. By following these simple yet effective monsoon car care practices, you can enjoy the rains without any worries.

1. Protecting Your Car Exteriors

During monsoons, excessive water accumulation can lead to rust and damage to your car's exterior paint. To prevent this, we recommend applying a thin protective layer of wax polish that acts as a barrier against water. Additionally, greasing door hinges and using anti-corrosion sprays on metal components help ensure their longevity. Loose rubber seals around windows, sunroofs, and replaced glass can cause water leakage, leading to rust. Promptly addressing these issues is crucial to avoid further complications.

2. Ensuring Brake Precision

Proper brake performance is vital for safe driving in any weather, especially during monsoons. Worn-out brakes and insufficient tire tread can increase braking distance, compromising safety. Regularly check and clean brake pads for optimal performance. If they underperform, seek professional assistance or consider replacing them. Reliable brakes, along with good tire grip, provide the confidence and control required for safe braking in wet conditions.

3.Tire Care for Monsoons

Tires bear the brunt of wet and slippery roads during the monsoon season. They play a crucial role in maintaining traction, smooth driving, and overall safety. To ensure optimum tire condition, check for adequate tread depth. Tires with ample tread offer excellent grip on wet surfaces. Look for faded tread-wear indicators inside the grooves, and if they're no longer visible, it's time for a tire change. You can conveniently purchase the best monsoon car tires online and have them installed at your nearest tire shop. Maintaining recommended tire pressure is equally important for optimal performance.

4.Wipers and Washer Maintenance

Windshield wipers are indispensable during monsoons. Dry rubber blades may crack and become inefficient, leading to poor visibility. Regularly inspect and replace wiper blades if necessary. Ensure the windshield wiper-washing fluid is at the optimum level for clear visibility.

5.Wipers and Washer Maintenance

A well-functioning electrical system is crucial for safe driving in monsoons. Keep your car's battery terminals clean to prevent moisture accumulation. Insulate exposed wires and promptly replace any malfunctioning headlights, tail lights, or indicators. Proper lighting is essential during heavy rains.

6.Air Filter Maintenance

A well-functioning electrical system is crucial for safe driving in monsoons. Keep your car's battery terminals clean to prevent moisture accumulation. Insulate exposed wires and promptly replace any malfunctioning headlights, tail lights, or indicators. Proper lighting is essential during heavy rains.

7.Oil and Coolant Level Maintenance

Maintaining adequate levels of oil and coolant is essential for optimal engine performance. Check the levels regularly and take corrective action if necessary. Similarly, ensure the brake fluid is filled up to the recommended level.

8.Spare and Emergency Kit Essentials

Unpredictable weather calls for preparedness. Keep spare items like wiper blades, fuses, and other essential tools in your car during the monsoon season. It's advisable to have a well-equipped toolbox that includes a tire puncture kit and a tire inflator. These tools can be lifesavers in case of emergencies on the road. Additionally, consider carrying personal items such as spare clothes, a flashlight, an umbrella, a rain suit, and a towel. These items will come in handy during unexpected downpours or unforeseen circumstances.

Conclusion

By following these easy monsoon car care tips, you can ensure that your vehicle is prepared to face the challenges of the rainy season. From protecting your car's exteriors to maintaining tire grip, brake efficiency, and electrical components, each aspect plays a crucial role in ensuring a safe and enjoyable driving experience. Remember to check and address any issues promptly to avoid costly repairs in the future. With proper maintenance and preparedness, you can confidently navigate the rainy roads and embrace the joys of monsoon motoring.
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car-care-service-maintenance-monsoon-car-care.html

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All prices include shipping. All are used unless marked (NEW). PP F&F. No notes.
YOU HAVE TO SEND ME A MESSAGE AFTER DIBS. I know this is going to move so make it easy for me please!
1: Guntec USA Single Point Sling $15
2: Brownells AR Upper Lapping Tool (NEW) $20
3: Strike Industries 15° Grip $15
4: Griffin M2 Sights $80
5: Strike Industries Adjustable Gas Block. .750. Center clamp screw broken. Functions. $20
6: Unknown Offset M-lock Pic Rail $10
7: Midwest Industries Offset Pic Rail $15
8: Unknown Nickel Boron Carrier. No bolt. Cam pin included. $45
9: Green Mountain barrel an gas tube. 16" 7.62x39 .750 1:9.5 twist. Had the gas port opened to .125 to run subs with an adjustable block for supers. 120rds of brown bear subs down the pipe. $50
10: Magpul RSA. Pic rail sling mount. $12
11: PSA Enhanced Polished FCG $20
12: Strike 308 Ultimate Dust Cover. Black (NEW) $8
13: Strike 5.56 Ultimate Dust Cover. Black. $8
14: Strike Industries Fang Trigger Guard. Black $8
15: BCM KAG M-Lok. Black $10
16: Unknown Milspec Charging Handle $10
17: UTG Milspec Charging Handle $10
18: Unknown Ambi Charging Handle $25

I want to start offering coatings on wraps for companies.
I assume it's required to polish the wrap before a coating is applied.
I was wondering if you could just clay towel a new wrap that was just applied and coat it and exclude the polishing.
​
Thanks any tips are appreciated.

Bathroom is one of the most frequently used spaces in people's daily lives. In this limited space, it is necessary to store miscellaneous items such as towels, jewelry, cosmetics, etc. If not properly stored, the clutter will greatly affect the feeling and convenience of residents. Here are several ways to store in the bathroom, providing you with a comfortable and beautiful bathroom space to enjoy a relaxing bath time.
1.Mirror cabinet
The mirror above the washbasin in the bathroom is an essential part of the home, but many people choose to match it with a separate mirror, which is more beautiful, but there is no storage space at all. Our daily necessities have a lot of bottles, cans, and jars. If there is no place to store them, the bathroom space will be very messy, and we also have difficulty finding things. Therefore, when choosing, everyone can choose a design that integrates storage mirrors, This not only looks beautiful but also increases the storage space.
2.Bathroom cabinet
When it comes to bathroom storage, the design of the bathroom cabinet is essential. Every household has a bathroom cabinet, but it is not an easy task to design it reasonably. Because there is a drainage pipe in the bathroom cabinet, there is a part of the space that we cannot use. We can make several more drawers, paired with a shelf design with pulleys, which will make it much easier to retrieve and store items.

1. Don't waste space above the toilet

In many households, the bathroom space is relatively small but there is no place to store, which is also a very tricky problem for everyone. In fact, we can use the space above the toilet to store and store things. We can install perforated shelves and partitions, which can greatly increase the storage function of the space, and the overall bathroom will not be messy.
4.Hangers and shelves
Hangers and shelves are one of the indispensable matching and storage items in the bathroom. We can use shelves to hang towels and place sanitary products. There are many small daily necessities at home, such as facial cleanser, shampoo, shower gel, razor, electric toothbrush, and so on. With shelves, we don't have to worry.

1. The shower room can be stored on the glass

If there is no space for storage on the glass in the shower room, we can choose to install several suction cup shaped small hooks on the shower door. This not only allows for the entrance of some bath towels, towels, and shower flowers, but also facilitates the removal of items and achieves dry and wet separation.
6.Place clothes storage baskets in the bathroom
We can place one to two clothes storage baskets in the bathroom because we often throw dirty clothes around and find them at home, which is not very convenient. With the storage basket, we can have a designated storage location for our daily dirty clothes. The bathroom space is relatively large, and we can place two so that clothes can be classified and stored. We also have a lot of convenience when cleaning. If the space is limited, we can install the storage basket on the wall, which is both beautiful and practical. It is really a good way to have the best of both worlds.
NPET Laundry Basket is specially designed for the single person, family or maybe for students use, it is convenient, big, simple and elegant as well.The bottom is made of Oxford cloth, and the body is made of EVA waterproof plastic. Thicken and sturdy.It can collapse when not in use, saving space.It meets storage needs while saving storage space such as luggage and drawers.Breathable mesh helps airflow, which combats odors caused by dirty clothing, sweat, and dampness. Mesh sides make it easy to see when a hamper is filled. Since these are common laundry culprits for students and athletes, mesh can be a great option.Mesh hampers let air travel to clothes better, so sweat and dirt air out, reducing odors trapped in clothes. Perfect for athletes and fitness enthusiasts who need to work out and toss their clothes in the hamper quickly!

It's a four day week but that's no reason not to celebrate hump day! Only 2 more days till the weekend woot! Come on in and get some awesome deals on good quality stuff! I've got a variety of great pieces for y'all! 👌🏽
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2. 1939-d Mercury Dime NGC MS-64 FB..... $45 shipped SOLD
   
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5. $1fv 90% silver dimes - 9 mercs & 1 rosie, all readable dates..... $23 SOLD
   
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1. 14k white gold diamond fleur-de-lis earrings.... $265 💎
   
2. 14k white gold J hook earrings with brilliant channel-set diamonds... quite possibly the nicest earrings I've ever seen! Pics and vids do not do them justice, but check out the updated gif..... $386 🌟 -- GIF of both sets of earrings
   

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My friend group has a love/hate relationship with the Destiny IP. It feels like 2-3 months out of the year we’ll all hop in, see the sights, chase a few pieces of shiny loot, then inevitably get burnt on the grind of it all. Then, whatever season we joined for ends, and we’re greeted with a new power cap, new weapons to chase, some new activity to grind, and a bunch of content that gets devalued by no longer dropping rewarding loot- pushing you into the current seasonal farm.
My friends and I like Destiny. The art and music is wonderful. The core gameplay is polished and addicting. It’s cool to build a magical space man and shoot a bunch of aliens with your friends. But wow does Bungie get in its own way with the frantic seasonal model and monetization.
After dropping off and watching from a distance as Lightfall (the most recent expansion) made a mediocre splash on the greater community, I threw around the idea of trying Destiny 1. If my biggest issues with the franchise are being forced into a hyper-curated handful of activities, constantly paying just to get in the game, and getting nickel-and-dimed with microtransactions and pricelocked dungeons and events, then a Destiny no longer supported by Bungie would fix that.
Then, for the first time in years, Destiny 1 and all its expansions went on sale for $20. I took the plunge.
And I was completely right.
Destiny 1 in its current state is the platonic ideal of the single player MMORPG experience. You can ride all the rides- and the game/content holds up remarkably well.
Jumping back in with my max level character, I was surprised with not only just how much there is to do, see, and try, but how much bite all the activities have with their difficulty. Matchmade activities like Strikes have gone from 10 minute throwaway stomps to challenging centerpiece missions that require thought and careful execution to tackle. The expansion campaigns, if run at or below the set power level, play like the campaigns of other AAA games with all of the satisfaction of a looter shooter’s “number go up” reward scheduling.
But what makes the experience such a stark improvement from Destiny 2 is how much power the player has over their experience. There is no FOMO about grinding a seasonal activity or missing a key weapon or armor drop. There is no fear that content you enjoy will be removed in the future before you get to experience it. The entire expanse of the game since it was initially released is laid out with no costs or restrictions outside the amount of players you’ll need to scrape together for a raid. You can bounce from campaign mission to patrol quest to strike to gear-hunting; from vanilla launch content to the most recent expansion; and the only incentive that controls those decisions is your own enjoyment and goals.
It’s sad to realize that the worst parts of the Destiny franchise are the constant meddling of the live-service model. When you strip that out, you have a solid, expansive, and immersive world of gameplay that’s easy to lose yourself in and explore every corner of, while still getting that sweet, sweet incremental reward of loot.
These kinds of games aren’t for everyone, but if you’ve been looking for a looter-shooter that respects your time, the ghost of Destiny 1 will treat you much better than its micro-managing descendant.
Has anyone else had a similar experience comparing “dead” games to their live counterparts?

Criticism about current state of the game.
-Story (spoilers!):

• Epilogue chapter:

A total downgrade from Marcus' Plane where we met various new characters/bosses as well as new locations. 90% of the chapter is about fighting same enemies we fought before in the known locations. Fighting as other characters sure felt good, but it didn't feel much unique because of the things I said.
We weren't able to discover the world of Shadow's Descendant at all. As I said most of the chapter is about past and it is boring and lazy choice for me.

• Bosses:

There were 4 new bosses for this Chapter. Which is actually ok for a single Chapter but 2 of them are just downgraded SFA characters (Midnight and Lynx). And the other 2 (Stranger and Mnemos) didn't felt unique gameplay-wise, let me explain:
Mnemos wields Composite Sword with Dadao and Katana mix moves with a goofy jump "special" ability. They will release Composite Sword's own style later.
Stranger surely felt unique atmosphere-wise but I can't tell the same in gameplay. He is nothing more than a Herald with a katana and Shadow Mind's abilities. And his so called special shadow abilities are just a rush with the Katana and Deactivation. I expected much more from Stranger after seeing what they have done with Titan in SF2 and Shadow boss fights.
-Raids:
This mode totally flipped down the game's balance orders. They release extremely overpowered sets but there are still few strategies working (most of the time TN does the job). When they nerf or buff a set/perk, it either becomes too OP and abusable for events/story or too weak for Raids (examples: Arrow and Guardian Dragon).

• Bosses:

First 3 bosses they released were simply recolors of existant sets and even the one location for 3 bosses is a recolor of Dynasty Palace.
-Current event:
Butcher's avatar has literally taken from SFA and it doesn't fit SF3's artstyle (seriously, it looks like a mod). And this is a first from Nekki, they were lazy to remaster an existing avatar using SF3 artstyle.
"New" shadow abilities don't look polished at all. It is clear that they were lazy to make new animations, weapon's shadow ability is just Dynasty jump kick and Rift mix. Hook shadow ability is the same attack with a kick in the end.
"New" weapon is 90% axes and they know it, they know Butcher's moveset is a remaster of Axes moves of SF3 but they still introduce it like a "new" style.
Butcher boss fight is a joke. The "cage" doesn't work like SFA where it is actually a cage I don't think it is a bug because in the bonus description it says «You can create a cage that deals damage to your opponent when they touch it. As long as the cage stands, you deal increased damage and receive reduced damage». So it is basically a damaging aura that looks like a cage. Also, why are Butcher's and set's resolution 144P or is it just me?
-Copy-Paste sets from SFA:
Champion of the Pit: They used this set to introduce Knuckles style and they were lazy to make new animation for its shadow ability as well. Ground slam shadow ability of the set still doesn't have any SFX.
Lynx: The set bonus is just Steel Sakura but better. Lynx himself doesn't even have most of his SFA abilities (toy with food shadow ability added later for the adventure).
Raven of the Looming Night: Probably the most legit copy paste. However, the set bonus is just Ling but better (which actually makes sense but you know).
Wrath Demon: I already explained above
Anyways, I want to say a few things about SFA. What I like about SFA devs is that they are not lazy to polish stuff. If they release a new character, it really feels new and unique with animations or SFX (Yunlin, Itu) even if they use some of SF3 assets which is ok in my eyes since they are doing it properly. They are not lazy to make a new skin every month. Yes there are recolors but you can agree with that they really put some work in new skins. They also release new taunts, stances, win poses with cool animations every month.
When it comes to SF3, what is the last original set came to the game? Stranger which has taken from the final boss of the game and it doesn't even introduce a new style. Wolf Leader was the last original set with a new style that came to the game with new Knife and Battle Horn weapons. Battle horn's shadow ability is basically normal horn but with a knockdown in the end. But the set itself is original with the design and SFX of the horn so it is at least fine for me.
I am not saying that they should release new sets every week but if you plan about releasing something, do it properly.
Share your opinions below.

Hello witcher fans few years ago i saw a meme about how a death march is a cakewalk( kurwa spacerek in polish) and someone beat whole game using only a wooden club while wearing only towel from wyzima and not using swallow . Now i want you to help me set some challenge rules ( i got only few rules set all rules below) and ask you if you would like to see the run and in what form

1. only wepon is wooden club
   
2. only armor is towel
   
3. no swallow
   
4. no signs acept quen with no upgrades and axii only in conversations
   

I recently started dating/hooking up with this guy. He is really great and we have good adult time fun together. His apartment is very typical for a young single bachelor. Actually, I’d argue he’s probably cleaner than the average young single guy in the US. No judgment, I’m certainly not spotless in my own life and I try not to generalize, but hygiene standards are a factor when dating.
But his sheets are not clean. Not icky, but not clean. And his towels are… definitely not clean. Towels are important for the shower after adult time fun. He doesn’t have a rug or towel in his bathroom for when you step out of the shower either. Again, in my experience, kinda typical stuff for single dudes.
I’d avoid this whole situation if I could and just move activities to my place, but my current living situation (w/ parents) is not conducive to this type of relationship.
I’d like to fuck in a relatively clean, ideally made, bed and take a shower afterwards with a mostly clean towel. This is a very new type of arrangement, so some of these early things could kind of make or break it.
How do I explain this without sounding like I’m nagging or telling him to do his chores? Do I bring a towel over myself? Would that seem like I’m moving things in??? Do I say “hey dude, can we just make your bed really quick before we get into it? By the way, when is the last time you washed your sheets?” That sounds like a mood killer, but being dirty in a regular dirty way and not a sexy dirty way is admittedly a mood killer for me. Do I keep these thoughts to myself and not mention it at all and chalk this up as a very short-term casual relationship that ran its course?
If it helps to ease the discussion, there would be an increased incentive for sex if these things were cleaner. Like I literally would be in a better and more frequent mental place for sexy time if I knew these things were clean.
Never been in this situation in dating. Looking for advice or shared experiences.

The worst part is I’m a nail tech!! I feel like I’ve done everything and tried every product I can think of to help.
My nails are so thin they hurt. I stopped using gel polish on myself all together to give them a break and was just painting with Vinylux on my days off of work. I’m constantly putting almond oil on and I even have the CND oil pen in my purse for when I’m out. I do a weekly manicure on myself to clean up my cuticles and such.
You’d think they would have been nice when I was pregnant (2 years ago) but nope! Not even with all the vitamins I was taking.
I just bought the OPI Repair Mode & Nail Envy and I’ve been using it for almost a week and see/feel no difference. It was kinda my last hope I’m not sure what else I can do. I drink tons of water and eat fairly healthy. I was drying my hands off with a hand towel earlier and my index finger nail bent in half and it was excruciating.
Am I doing something wrong? Forgetting something? I feel like I’m giving my clients the same advice and their nails are better, but mine aren’t. Help!

Hey all,
Back at it again after just now finishing Double Agents. A definite overall improvement over last season, but one that is still a bit of a slog to get through and not without its flaws. Let’s discuss.
Disclaimer: At this stage I have only seen seasons 5-36 of The Challenge, plus the VS spinoffs. Please refrain from spoiling any other seasons, or returning players. Thanks :)
TL;DR Summary
Double Agents continues with the skull twist introduced last season, forcing people to enter and win an elimination if they want to make it to the final. Whilst they try to tweak this twist to create a better season, it still negatively impacts things overall. The cast is pretty solid, but the boot order is rough and has a major alliance dominate through the whole season WotW2 style. There are a few standout characters which bring life to an otherwise boring season, and daily challenges are mostly ok. Eliminations quickly got old with the same set of 5 reused over and over, albeit with a few tweaks. Fortunately it has an incredible, tough final unlike something we’ve seen in recent memory (not counting WotW), and winners which feel mostly satisfying.
The Good

• The opening half of the season was genuinely quite entertaining and good
• Devin and Kyle are in strong form this season - fantastic commentary and entertainment
• Theresa brings it her whole time on the season
• Big T has a major breakout season, having her true MC moment
• The format is actually pretty interesting and good, outside of the skull twist.
• The final is fantastic - tough, entertaining and hits all the nails on the head
• Amber has a really satisfying and strong win

The Not So Good

• … but I don’t feel as strongly about CT taking another win - I want new winners!
• The season is way too long - I’ve just looked at the cast again and I forgot half of the people that were here.
• The skull twist yet again eventually causes people to line up and ‘take their turn’ - boring!
• Fessy is quite possibly my most hated contestant in recent memory.
• The season is boring and predictable, especially after the halfway point.
• Eliminations get old - and Hall Brawl is ridiculously overused. Like c’mon Fessy getting to do it twice?
• Some strange or dodgy production decisions - the first elimination not being mens - the third Hall Brawl not being mens (and giving us Kyle v CT), Fessy being allowed to stay in the game after the Nelson HB, etc.
• Too many medical DQs

The format
The format this season is equal parts good and bad.
It’s a partners season with shifting teams. Male/female teams are initially self-selected at the start of the season after the first challenge. I quite liked how they left it up to the contestants to choose their first partner - good drama and some really cool teams came out of it. These teams would not stick it out though, as the season introduced multiple twists to allow shifting and changing.
As always, we had our usual daily challenges, where teams compete, in their duos, for a win. The winners of a challenge become our ‘Double Agents’ for the week. After the challenge, everyone beside the Double Agents would participate in nominations to discuss who they want to put up for elimination. Individually, all contestants would then vote for the team they want to send into elimination (anonymously)
Following these noms, the Double Agents are privately shown the nominated team as well as all individuals that voted to send them in. They are then given the power to send in their opponent after arriving to the elimination arena and seeing the game.
Eliminations shake out like usual, albeit with a limited pool of games this season, but are played individually in male/female days rather than as duos. After an individual is eliminated, a few things happen. The losing contestants partner becomes a ‘Rogue Agent’ and will be left alone, unable to compete, until a new partner pops up in the next episode as a result of THAT elimination. The winning individual of the elimination can either stay with their partner, take the losing individual’s partner, or steal ANY other partner on the show, except for the Double Agents.
If this alone was the format - top tier. Whilst I loved some of those initial teams, the ability for them to shift around was fantastic. I loved seeing the drama involved with picking new partners, and how it forced some unlikely duos together.
Unfortunately, the winner of the elimination also gets… a skull… and this is what is required in order to run the final. They openly state a limited number of skulls this season, but it doesn’t do too much to alleviate the issues introduced by this twist last season. Everyone just lines up to take their turn in the elimination, and it slows down the season and makes it a struggle to get through. I hope to never see this twist again - it takes out so much unpredictability.
The cast
Look the cast is overall good this season. There are some flops but we have some great people around, and a season without Bananas at that. Unfortunately the boot order is a bit tough to watch - we lose a lot of the entertainment due to the dominant, bland alliance, and so the cast slowly gets worse over. I’ve got a LOT of contestants to get through so might try to keep things a bit briefer.
CT: I’ve been on a bit of a rollercoaster with CT lately. I keep wanting to see the CT we saw upon his initial return - that stint around Rivals - Exes 2. But I think the fact of the matter is that he’s different yet again. I found him to honestly be a little dull at times this season. The first 3/4s he really didn’t provide a whole lot. Then you DO get the drama with Big T, his showdown with Fessy, and his eventual win with Amber, so things do come around in the end and his win is cathartic if only because he wasn’t part of that majority alliance all season. I also like the full circle moment of him taking a win in Iceland after Exes (which I BELIEVE was also there?). I would have enjoyed a new winner on the male side though... getting Turbo/Rogan was nice, but it feels like we’re falling back into familiar territory with Jordan/Bananas/CT winning.
Amber: I really enjoyed watching and rooting for Amber this season. Her initial partnership with Darrell was fantastic, and one of my favourite pairings of the season. Unfortunately, she for some reason gets shafted by the edit through 80% of the season and barely gets to show any personality or narration capabilities. I love that she got to shine a bit more in the final few episodes though, winning the two (admittedly easy) Hall Brawls, and absolutely SMASHING that tough final. She in no way had to lean on her partner, crushing almost all aspects of the final and putting in a memorable finish and win - love seeing a rookie come through and take the crown. I really hope to see more of her, perhaps in more of a main character role, in the future.
Cory: Loved seeing Cory make a deep run again. Whilst he WAS aligned with the majority alliance, and thus pretty safe all season, he’s a great confessionalist that has only improved over time, and provides fantastic narration through this whole season. He’s also really funny in confessionals this time around, calling out the antics in the house in his trademark style. Loved to see him earn a little bit of money ‘for his family’, and was dying at his rotating door of female partners all season. A good Cory season.
Kam: Much like CT I find I am often on a bit of a rollercoaster with Kam. I think I prefer seeing her need to scrap from the bottom, because I found it hard to root for her this season as the leader of the majority alliance. She dominated from start to finish, and for someone that loves an underdog, it often put me in a position where I’d be rooting against her, and even disliking her. Her arrogance sometimes rubs me the wrong way, even though it IS sometimes earnt with how she has played in the past. In the end though, I came back around on her and was able to appreciate her presence and gameplay this season. I enjoyed seeing her take 2nd place too.
Leroy: Leroy’s ‘final’ season (tbd if that proves to be true or not), and what a way to go out. He may not have won, liked he set out to do, but this is Leroy’s best season through and through. He has agency over the game, and without Bananas to lead the pack, steps up alongside Kam to make decisions and actually have a say. It’s refreshing to see from him, and I enjoyed his usual placement as the ‘straight man’ amongst the antics of his house. Again, his placement in that majority often made it hard to get behind his plight, but I’m happy for his performance this season and think this will be a great way for him to finish his challenge career, if that proves to be true. Great daily performances alongside Kaycee, and a commendable final effort. Probably would have liked to see him secure the win here, although if that meant a Nany win I wouldn’t have been super happy.
Nany: Speaking of Nany… gosh since her return I’ve liked her less with each appearance. She had some really awful moments last season and continued to showcase some bad personality traits this time around, yet again betraying one of her ‘best friends’ Aneesa. Her proximity to the Big Brother alliance, even more so than Kam/Leroy due to how ingrained she is, also puts a big taint on her character, as Josh, Fessy and to a lesser extent Kaycee aren’t my favourite contestants at the moment. I hate that he storyline is the EXACT SAME every season. Line for line I feel like she has the same confessionals every time ‘I’m finally here to take my win after x seasons’.
Fessy: Holy crap. I actually haven’t outright hated someone on The Challenge in a long, long time. There was Paulie, sure, but I LOVED to hate on him. Fessy is my least favourite contestant in recent memory, and it’s not even close. Firstly, he has to be the least-charismatic villain the show has ever seen. He has the personality of a wet towel, and combined with his inflated sense of self and arrogance, it gives us a truly hateable contestant. He belittled and blamed his female contestants all season long, and then when he finally gets his ‘first choice’, he gives up in the final and tries to gaslight it into being Kaycee’s fault. Seeing him place last in the final was FANTASTIC, and I LOVED that everyone dogged on him for his choices. Production included with that fantastic Karma Chameleon needle drop. His ego is ridiculous, and I think he should have been DQed after his actions in that Nelson Hall Brawl. Just ridiculous and unsafe. The fact that he was allowed to compete in a second HB after that is an awful choice on production’s end. I need him to get humbled in elimination BAD. Preferably a physical one.
Kaycee: My feelings towards Kaycee are much, much less severe that Fessy. Kaycee suffers from just being boring. She’s completely likeable, and she seems cool. She’s a great competitor. But her personality doesn’t feel geared towards the challenge, and for someone making it so deep two season in a row, I’d hope to see a bit MORE from her. Whether this is productions’ fault or her own is yet to be seen, but if she continues to be on the show I’d love to see some more entertainment from her. I felt horrible for her in the final though, and was genuinely sad to see her go out that way, even if I was satisfied with Fessy losing.
Kyle: One of the three shining points of entertainment this season - Kyle is in strong form. He’s never in the majority, and often getting betrayed by the minority, and so we get Kyle playing this scrappy game all season long. He’s fantastic in confessionals this season, it’s almost a stand-out for him, providing non-stop comedy both there and in the house itself. His heart and determination is on display yet again too, following his injury in the final Hall Brawl of the season against Fessy. I would have loved to see Kyle take this one home this season - I truly do feel like he has it in him to win. I’ll be highlighting many Kyle quotes and moments below.
Big T: Yet another shining point of entertainment this season. I’ve mentioned how much I’ve enjoyed Big T in her fleeting moments on the previous two seasons, and I absolutely loved seeing her get a main-character season this time around. She is one of our main narrators and storylines from the get-go, quickly ending up as CTs partner and giving us a fantastic story of triumph and building confidence. She goes through ups and downs with CT as a partner when he leaves her for Kam, and eventually makes his way back, but all throughout she remains likeable and such a bright presence. Unfortunately I don’t think she’s ever going to be a winning threat… but in terms of entertainment value and personality, I think she should continue to do many more Challenges.
Darrell: Alongside Amber, Darrell gets done DIRTY this season. We have one of the most iconic vets of the game, and he’s reduced to a few fleeting confessionals here and there, with nothing in between? So disrespectful of Production. Darrell is absolute gold in confessionals, and the ones he DOES get are almost always memorable and fun. I wish we would have seen even more of him, and his relationship with Amber. One of the only true partnerships this season imo, never betraying each other and always being supportive.
Aneesa: This is going to surprise some of you based on how I’ve spoken about Aneesa over her last few appearances, but I actually think she brought it this season. She’s no physical-threat, or winning-threat, but entertainment-wise I actually think she was memorable. She won multiple dailies, with different partners, and earnt a gold skull as well, against Tori of all people, even if her eventual elimination performance is dreadful. The relationship with Fessy as her partner, as well as Kyle after switching, were both fantastic in different ways. Fessy because it was GREAT to see him constantly handicapped, and Kyle because they genuinely worked well together and had great chemistry. One of Aneesa’s more memorable seasons in a long time.
Nam: I feel so bad for Nam. Having Lolo as a partner for most of the season and then getting DQed with an injury. He was a little boring, but I’d like to see him back to get another shot. I think he could bring something given a better starting hand.
Gabby: I liked Gabby. I don’t think she’s anything crazy or unique from what we’ve seen before, but she had a strong confessional style and was able to speak well. Kinda hate that she eventually gave in an hooked up with Mr. Introvert though.
Josh: Josh this season was how I remembered Josh from Big Brother. It’s taken a while, but he’s gone from surprisingly ok back to what I first thought of him - loud, obnoxious and annoying. Fortunately, his presence this season was appreciated because he had a fantastic foil to his personality in Devin. The Devin v Josh stuff was the highlight of the season entertainment-wise. And seeing the true side of Fessy this season makes Josh look likeable in comparison.
Lolo: Wow, what an absolute flop. Lolo showed so much promise on the VS spin-off and is a complete let-down this season. She pretty much whinges from Day 1 when things aren’t going her way and constantly blames Nam for everything happening. And then she just quits? What a fail. They should have brought back Louise.
Devin: Devin’s first season in a little while, and what a memorable one. He almost single handedly makes the first half of this season. Much like with Bananas, he just has a way of getting under people’s skin like nobody else can. I LOVE it. The way he played Josh over and over and over never ceased making me laugh. ‘Big brother sucks’, ‘what’s 8x9’ and many more will be referenced further a bit below. He was comedy gold this season and the entertainment value dropped off significantly after his boot. Also adds Wes to his surprising elimination win list.
Amber M: Amber had quite a bit of exposure through the first half of the season - quite a bit of drama surrounding her and her relationship with Devin and others, but she ultimately didn’t lead enough of an impact to be all that memorable.
Mechie: Mechie seemed like a good person and the small insights we got into his backstory were good, but he’s not built for The Challenge and I’d be pretty surprised if we see him again.
Theresa: Theresa was an absolute STAR this season. This is my favourite season of hers ever. She may not have made it deep but she brought back her signature personality matched with a bit more maturity and it hit all the right notes for me. She was smart, feisty, and unafraid to back down from the major alliance. I loved her relationship with Jay and was rooting hard for the two of them to make a deep run.
Jay: As mentioned with Theresa, out of the whole season I was rooting the most for Theresa/Jay. I loved both of them and thought they complemented each other really well. It was nice to see Jay make it a little further than usual - he always seems to get targeted for his size, and he continued to be targeted this season, but he was fortunately able to make it a little deeper. Really likeable, love his never-back-down attitude. He’s a great player and I’d love to see him become a staple to the point where he isn’t targeted as much and can play the game a bit longer.
Ashley: Ashley was literally in and out of the house not once but TWICE. It’s a shame Ashley leaves so many seasons early because you can’t say she doesn’t bring drama and personality.
Lio: Nothing really to say about Lio - I don’t follow WWE so had no attachment to him, and he’s pretty low-key on the season up until leaving.
Tori: A surprising early finish for Tori, especially considering she lost to Aneesa. It was nice having her out a little early. We’ve seen a lot of her lately and I probably didn’t want to see a whole season of her again this soon.
Nelson: A brutal exit for Nelson. I think he got unlucky off the bat getting a rookie and things went downhill from there when he’s blindsided by Fessy to secure his own gold skull. A lot of heart shown by Nelson in that hall brawl despite the matchup. I wish Fessy would have been DQed here and Nelson stay in the game in his place.
Natalie A: Another Survivor on the show! And another Survivor to bring it. I really like Natalie, and her pairing with Wes was a dream come true. They have very similar personalities and ways of playing the game. Devastated that she had to go home for an emergency and I really hope we get to see her back in the future.
Wes: As said, a dream pairing for him with Nat A, but such a lacklustre season from him. I would have loved to see Devin, Kyle, Wes run that little minority, but instead we get a bit of a half-assed attempt from Wes where his head isn’t in the game. Wes’ appearances seem to go one way or the other lately: a deep run or out early. Lame.
Liv, Joseph I actually can’t remember, despite watching these early episodes less than three weeks ago. Oops.
Nicole Z: Wtf?!?! I was keen to see Nicole Z and then she’s medically removed so early? Absolutely brutal. I think her pair-up with Devin would have been interesting to see develop further.
The challenges
The dailies
We get some pretty interesting dailies this season, and some which are quite unique. Not all of them are memorable, but some of my favourites:

• Decryption: I love me an all out brawl for the first challenge of a season. In male and female heats, contestants have to run up a mound to grab a single capture and memorise a key to a puzzle. A good opener to the season.
• Road Kill: This caused a few injuries that would affect individuals on the season, but it was a fun challenge nonetheless. Brawls between two duos are held on top of a moving truck, with the aim to push each other off the side into a suspended net. Good stuff.
• Drone Control: I needed to mention this because it was so low budget and dumb. I hated it. One contestant wears a VR headset whilst the other is blindfolded and must control a drone streaming it’s view to the headset. They need to coordinate to reach the end of a tunnel. So lame.
• Agent Down is pretty good - one team member hangs from a ledge whilst the other must pull out 200m of rope before they can grab onto their partner and help them hang. Big T’s facial expressions here had me dying, and loved the heart and drive Jay/Theresa put into almost winning this.
• Aerial Takedown had the chance to be so cool, but is inevitably thrown away by the entire male side of the house aside from Jay, and some of the female side too. In male/female heats contestants hold onto the side of a large cargo net being carried by a helicopter, and must fight to be last on changing. Instead of a good brawl we just get people playing for skulls and alliances though. Lame.
• All Brawl is the kind of challenge we need more of. Just chuck them into a mud pit more often, it’s always good TV. Male/female heats again, players need to search a giant mud pit for a single large X. It was cool to see the strategy from Nam/CT and a lesser extent Theresa here. Also Lolo sulking because of physical contact.
• Survive the Night is literally built up for THREE episodes. It’s teased in, say episode 1, then episode 2 ends before the challenge has ever begun, and then it’s finally played in episode 3. And then it’s not even good. For all the spectacle and design of the challenge, it ends up flopping with the likes of Kam refusing to play to try and earn Leroy the win. And suss that no-one was penalised for not trying here when almost the whole house cops a penalty after Aerial Takedown.
• Undercover is a stunning challenge, involving swimming along a line between two tectonic plates. Beautiful scenery and location, it was so cool. Kyle/Aneesa clutching the win was fantastic. Fessy blaming Nany when he kicked her in the face to begin with was not fantastic. Also he tried to pull her back down to the line when she was going up for a breath what is WRONG with this man.
• Global Domination: Big flop. Teams just rolling in balls working together.

Ok I take back what I said most of these dailies SUCKED. I don’t know what I was on. Sure, there’s a couple nice ones. All Brawl is good, Road Kill is good, Decryption is good. But half the time everyone just works together or the challenge is bland/predictable.
The eliminations
I struggled with the eliminations this season. For such a long season, we only had six different eliminations, and some of them weren’t interesting or enjoyable to watch. I’ll touch on all of them though because they all have something worth mentioning:

• Fire Escape: We’ve seen it before - players are suspended upside down from a horizontal pole by their arms and legs and need to shimmy back and forth to the end and back. Throughout the season it gets increasingly harder with the addition of mounds/obstacles to move the ropes around. Jay v Leroy is a fantastic showdown here, with Leroy smashing through the back half. Bummed because Jay would have beaten literally anybody else at this. And then Big T gets her moment finishing and winning this, admittedly against Aneesa who just hung there, but still.
• Ring of Spies: Probably should have been more memorable than it was. It was essentially Pole Wrestle with a ring that you needed to get to a ‘goal’. It was ok, but I wouldn’t say Kyle v Joseph nor Nany v Gabby are memorable here.
• Snapping Point: This started off strong, much like reverse tug-of-war. Players are attached with a rope and must race around a few posts before rushing towards a button. At some point the rope runs out of slack and it turns into an endurance battle. Devin with the surprise upset over Wes here, Kaycee with the unfortunate win over Theresa, and then for the third time they, for some reason, make the rope longer? This completely removes the endurance portion of the challenge as the rope has enough slack to straight up reach the button, giving Cory a free win against Darrell due to his speed.
• Hall Brawl: I’ve decided that Hall Brawl probably shouldn’t be played anymore. It can be entertaining, see Zach v CJ, Rogan v Nelson, Theo v Kyle, but that’s because those are all EVEN matchups. More often than not it has been a steamroll lately, and it leads to, not only boring viewing, but the high possibility of injury too. Fessy should be banned from ever playing Hall Brawl again because his actions against Nelson were horrifying, tearing off his protective visor, rubbing dirt in his face and generally being an awful person and competitor. He’s then allowed to go BACK in where he dislocated Kyle’s finger in the first around. God his smugness at winning Hall Brawl’s makes me sick, considering it’s probably one of the only eliminations he easily wins every time because he’s a meathead. Amber B completely rolls over Amber M, and then again over Big T. No good Hall Brawls this time.
• Asset Destruction was just fine. A large cart of heavy balls needs to be pulled down a track and then tipped over, before they are used to smash a series of targets. I don’t know what happened with Tori’s cart, but ANEESA of all people teaches her a lesson. We also get Josh (and Mechie) being absolutely abysmal at this, giving us some fantastic comedy.
• Dead Ringer again, was just fine. I wasn’t a huge fan. It involves swinging out from a platform, attached to a rope, to collect rings and hook them onto towers. The later version of it introduces a puzzle as well. None of these matchups are interesting though, although Josh getting sent home is a cathartic experience.

The final
Dailies, mostly average. Eliminations, mostly average.
But the FINAL?!? ‘Finally, some good fucking food’
This Final was fantastic. It’s easily the best one since War of the Worlds, and I preferred the spectacle and visuals (location) of this one over WotW. It’s a beautiful final played over a rocky coastline, it incorporates a stunning ice cave, and is played at the tail end of a hurricane. The conditions are brutal, timing generally matters, and the first person to make it to TJ is the winner.
We had running/endurance along beautiful Icelandic coastline, a brawling checkpoint which recreated the first Decryption challenge (alright, that reuse is a bit lame), an eating checkpoint where Amber gets a glorious blood-beard, a kayaking portion, and overnight portion in a stunning locale, with an endless dripping of water and mental torture, some puzzles. It really ticked all the boxes and felt tough. CT and Amber’s win feels earned.
It was just a great final all-around. One of the best episode of the season I think, and if this is the new standard of final, I’m all for it. Makes me really reminiscent to like, the Rivals 1/2 or Exes final. Keen for more like this.
Random remaining thoughts from throughout the season

• The Agents theme was sometimes ok… and sometimes a little corny and lame: ‘I’m your handler’ and ‘I’ve created a secret dead drop somewhere worth 1 million’
• Leroy and Kam were a great relationship on the show - we haven’t had a couple as compelling since CT / Diem (rip)
• CT ending up with someone’s shoe and throwing it in Wes’ face was PEAK Challenge. The edit was fantastic. TJ laughing was fantastic. Wes not knowing it was CT. So good.
• Aneesa being the overall winner of the first challenge is insane, and then she picks Fessy, I was DEAD.
• I initially thought it was weird eliminations were played individually. Also thought it was very suss that the first elimination is a girls day and saves Wes and CT
• Devin, whispering: “Kyle… I can’t understand my partner.”
• Wes: ‘Let’s start with the facts. I am indeed rich’
• THE CRATER. Why did I not talk about this above. The location of the elimination arena inside a crater is incredible. So cool.
• Visuals/landscape of the truck challenge were incredible - the black, sandy landscape looked so cool.
• Darrell: ‘Lio doing Sonic the Hedgehog moves’
• The truck wrestle montage set to ‘More, More, More’ was great.
• The whole ‘Big Brother Sucks’ incident between Devin and Josh is perhaps my favourite altercation in recent memory. I was DYING. From the titular use of ‘Big Brother Sucks’ for some reason riling up Josh SO much, to ‘Hey Josh, what’s 8x9’ - it’s all so good. And the confessional commentary ‘He’s now foaming at the mouth. Crying. RAGING. Because I said BB sucks’
• Tori crying inconsolably whilst Devin is smiling from stealing her - loved it.
• Devin asking Amber to leave the room because she doesn’t belong - bit rude.
• Nelson wakes up Devin: ‘Amber comes in crying to me bro, crying on my shoulder’. Devin, just waking up ‘This can’t be real’
• Josh threatening Jay ‘This energy I’m feeling. Don’t make an enemy out of me’ - bro shut up.
• ‘Jay: ‘I’m not like these other contestants I will step in your mouth b*tch’ to Josh
• ‘I’m not going to fight you bro I’m not an idiot. Let’s sit down like adults and talk about this’ - Josh sulks and leaves. ‘A big baby’
• Fessy picking up slamming Nelson, lifting his visor and rubbing dirt in his eyes!? ‘Fessy there’s no more dirty play’ - that’s it? The whole Hall Brawl was just awful behaviour from Fessy and should have resulted in an immediate DQ.
• CT: ‘Cmon let me see that mean face.’ Big T: ‘ooooueeeuhhhhggg’
• Big T executing her plan of Aneesa v Tori, leading to Tori floundering and going home - fantastic stuff.
• Devin mooning Fessy through the glass
• ‘I just wanna punch his head’ ‘I know but we can’t because he’s a man child and it’s not worth it’
• CT gaslighting Theresa and saying he never agreed on Darrell’s name in front of everyone, when he did - brutal for Theresa.
• Theresa taking about her post-partum depression to audience and Cory - loved how real she was with this, and how open to talk about it on such a big platform.
• Devin setting up the Big Brother sucks VIP lounge after winning the challenge I CAN’T
• Lolo crying about not wanting to have Nam as a partner. Cut to Darrel ‘ain’t my problem’
• Devin trash talking Josh after he fails at the boat rope ‘And that’s how you do it ladies and gentlemen. Another star studded performance from Josh’ followed by Devin doing the exact same thing.
• ‘Give me the goof’
• ‘We’re gonna need to get Josh another pair of pants’ ‘Bro I’m not scared to be down here’
• ‘Josh we’ve got more in common than we thought my man’ ‘F*ck off Devin
• CT did Big T so dirty. Wanting to leave for another partner, fair enough. But approach the situation with some respect for your current partner. The way he shouts out Kam and acts like an obnoxious tool was hard to watch. I felt so bad for Big T. And then his drunken, slurred apology later completely flops when he approaches it in such a negative way. Worst look for CT in quite a long time
• ‘NAny, I’m home! What a trip, I’ll tell you all about it when we get back to headquarters’ - Kyle to Nany
• Kam: ‘It’s rubbing me the wrong way, I don’t want to be with anyone that isn’t humble’ - kind of the pot calling the kettle black. Kam is anything BUT humble.
• TJ trying to hold in laughter whilst Kyle outwardly reacts to getting Aneesa had me absolutely DYING. TJ literally had tears in his eyes trying to keep his composure. ‘I hate this game’ ‘Oh hi Aneesa’
• Fessy saying he’s better than CT and that the competition wasn’t the same - he’s taking the crown. ‘If we have to run, so long. It’s a wrap bro’ - what the actual hell is this delusional mess going on about. LOVE, in hindsight, that CT ends up winning this season after this interaction.
• Leroy: ‘Fessy doesn’t know that A, CT will whoop his ass, B CT is a much better player in this game and C, CT will whoop his ass’
• All season I was gobsmacked why Fessy was such a hot commodity? At this point he’s proven nothing except he can beat Jordan in Pole Wrestle with a literal one hand advantage, and Nelson in Hall Brawl. And yet everyone wants Fessy as their partner after he flopped last final. Absurd to me. CT, Darrel are right there all season long.
• Fessy whining because Amber can’t do the math challenge - grow up.
• Final announcement with Final Countdown and TJs ‘Let’s f*cking go’ - epic moment
• Fessy, to Cory: ‘We’re a different breed, me and you bro’ dude what do you MEAN. If by different breed, you’re referring to your entertainment-value, then fair enough because we’ve never seen someone this bad. Don’t lump Cory into that though.
• Running up that Hill needle dropped by The Challenge before Strange Things made it cool - loved it. Great musical moment with Kaycee getting tended to by the medics.
• ‘Go ahead and play the montage of me throwing up right here’
• Fessy using Kaycee’s knee as an excuse to not eat. He’s actually such a grub. Kaycee is standing there, tears in her eyes, eating and ready to keep playing, and Fessy just refuses and uses her as an excuse. No compassion at all
• Leroy to Fessy: Pusssssssyyyyyy
• TJ saying ‘alright you’re good’ and Amber immediately vomiting in front me him ‘that’s disgusting’
• Karma Chameleon drop after Fessy quits - possibly best song choice so far.
• ‘Fessy is not going to own any of this, we already know. Put Fessy’s interview right here saying I would’ve won if not for Kaycee’ - comedy gold from Cory.

Conclusion
And there we have it. Fortunately Double Agents is an improvement over Total Madness. It’s nowhere near a perfect season and struggles with a boring storyline, some bland dailies, and the skull twist, but it also has a few individuals that really stand out, as well as good winners and a fantastic final.
Overall, I’m content with this one.
Next up I have All Stars 1 which I am incredibly excited about. I’ll be trying to do my usual predictions for it but I feel I’m going to get a ridiculous amount wrong. Lets see!
As always, let me know what you all thought of this season - keen to hear your thoughts on it, and please feel free to rag on Fessy with me. Thanks for reading!
Rankings
Wild that this marks my thirty-fifth season of The Challenge. A cool milestone. I’ve placed this in a spot which surprised me a little, I didn’t expect it to be so high, but comparing it to some of the seasons below is what landed it here. It could change, as always with these rankings.

1. S25: Free Agents
2. S24: Rivals 2
3. S33: War of the Worlds
4. S21: Rivals
5. S34: War of the Worlds 2
6. S13: The Duel
7. S30: Dirty 30
8. S10: Inferno 2
9. S29: Invasion of The Champions
10. S20: Cutthroat
11. S8: The Inferno
12. S19: Fresh Meat 2
13. S12: Fresh Meat
14. S26: Battle of the Exes 2
15. S22: Battle of the Exes
16. S32: Final Reckoning
17. S17: The Duel 2 (V)
18. S15: The Gauntlet 3
19. S18: The Ruins
20. S31: Vendettas
21. S36: Double Agents
22. S28: Rivals 3
23. The Challenge: Champs v Stars 2
24. The Challenge: Champs vs Pros
25. S6: Battle of the Sexes
26. S14: Inferno 3
27. S11: The Gauntlet 2
28. S7: The Gauntlet
29. The Challenge: Champs vs Stars
30. S5: Battle of the Seasons
31. S9: Battle of the Sexes 2
32. S23: Battle of the Seasons (2)
33. S27: Battle of the Bloodlines
34. S35: Total Madness
35. S16: The Island

Disclaimer: Unfortunately this is necessary now. I thought about re-writing my post but just because some people are stupid doesn't mean I don't stand behind what I've written. Yes, my English is not perfect but no, I don't need your advice on how to write my post. I'm not interested in sexting, hook-ups etc, no matter how hot you think you are. I'm not desperate. And please don't message me if you don't know what you want, I can't stress this enough. I'm certain in what I want and my post portrays that so you need to be certain as well. Thank you for your attention.
Hi!
My name's Vanessa. I'm 39 years old and I'm from Germany. I live close to the Dutch border. I have a 19 year old daughter who already moved out. I do not want to have any more children of my own. I'm about 5'4" and weigh around 220 lbs. So yes, my body isn't some nice and fit one like the one of a 20 year old.
I recently posted here but I'm finding it very difficult to write something that will attract the right people. If there is too much information nobody's gonna read, if you keep it straight to the point there will be zero effort. So I think I'll write one last polished and lengthy post and hope for the best.
So I'm really looking for my forever person, my best friend. The person I want to spend my life with, the person where I'll be proud to call them my own. I want to come home to happiness and goofiness. I want to talk, be silent, laugh, cry and be myself. And at the end of the day no matter how good or bad things have been, I know you'll accept me for who I am. I just really want to feel that spark when you first message me and we get along right away. Maybe that's still possible.
My interests include reading, gaming and various crafts like crochet, cross stitch or whatever I can get my hands on. I'd love to build something from scratch but I don't know how to do it.
I admit that I'm not always easy to deal with but I'm always willing to work on things if necessary and that should go both ways. I'm usually very relaxed and calm but I can have a temper, especially when I feel treated unfairly or I'm not getting taken seriously. I want equality in a relationship. I cry very easily and I also get scared very easily but I have a big heart and lots of love and care to give. Just please be ready to communicate and accept boundaries. I don't want to rush into things, I want to take my time to get to know you on a deeper level and build something that is solid.
I'm ready to settle. Wherever that might be. We'll figure that out. Maybe even marriage. Wherever our path will lead us.
I don't have a specific type of man I prefer. You should at least be 33 or older. You need to be financially stable or well off, not because I want anything but I can't support your ass (lol don't even ask). You should be a tad bit taller than me but that's not too difficult. Absolutely no smokers, sorry. I'm also not really 420 friendly. I don't care where you're from but it shouldn't be more than a 6 hour time difference.
Here's me. Flattering and unflattering pictures :
https://i.imgur.com/CzMDyyf.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/Rp64hOU.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/Vu119ON.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/DKd58k7.jpeg
I'm not going to reply if you don't attach a picture, I'm sorry. Also please put a tiny bit of effort into your reply such as age and location etc. I'll also ask you to verify yourself, too many scammers and catfish on here, sorry.
Unfortunately I'll be busy during the week now but I'll get back to you as soon as possible, promise!
Have a wonderful day!

Demographics: ORM+White+URM Mid-size city in smaller state Educated parents No need-based-aid
Hooks: Legacy (from one parent at different private schools for undergrad/grad)
Intended Major(s): Applied to Bioengineering, could possibly switch to math or add pre-med
Academics
GPA: 97/100uw 4.0uw 4.7ish-w (no official rank, but it was the top weighted GPA in class)
Course Profile: 4 honors + 8 AP + 5 post AP STEM oriented (Linear Algebra/DiffEq, MV Calc, Genetics Research, AP Physics C, etc) Most rigorous in school history
SAT/ACT: 1540 superscore (790M 750E)
AP: Four 5's, Three 4's plus two pending from senior year
Extracurriculars/Activities: (condensed & obfuscated)

1. Less common instrument Classical Guitar- 4 years, All-state + selective school group + somewhat unique school group Mariachi Band+ "Varsity Letter" in music, medium time commit
2. Common instrument - 11 years, state-level competitions, RCM level 9, other activities, high time commit
3. High school sports - 4 year x 2 sport athlete, 3 varsity letters on good teams (2nd in state), high time commit
4. Common school academic club A - 2 years, 3rd in state, modest time commit
5. Common school academic club B - 7 years, fun but no major accomplishments, modest time commit
6. Interesting & Unique volunteer activity during Covid lock-down, partner with local community group to make handcrafted items donated to Title 1 elementary students
7. Informal literary group / Reading
8. Summer employment (non-academic)

Awards/Honors:

1. Common Instrument RCM regional medal
2. National Merit Semifinalist
3. Academics: AP Scholar with Distinction, School recognition for grades

Essays:
Common App very well written, lots of attention. Polished with review by non-parent relative.
Supplements a little more mixed - early batch more attention and refinement than later batches. Some review from guidance counselor.
LOR:
English teacher - Believe the LOR was superb based on written comments from previous report cards
Math teacher - solid, multiple years with teacher in the most advanced classes (although this teacher has worked with some off-the-charts math kids over their career).
College Guidance - solid, knew them well
Interviews:
MIT - fun & good. Stanford - shorter, first one, not noteworthy. Interviews not a personal strength.
Decisions
Acceptances: Rice [committed!!!], Harvey Mudd (HMC) , Carnegie Mellon (CMU), Swarthmore, Santa Clara (SCU w/merit > 50%), Rose-Hulman, State U
Waitlists: Brown, Washington University in St. Louis (WashU)
Transfer Option: University of Southern California (USC) EA Defer -> Reject -> Viterbi Pathways non-guaranteed transfer
Rejections: Stanford (REA), Princeton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Williams, Pomona
Retrospective:
Rice should be absolutely awesome! That said, the rejections from Stanford, MIT & Princeton hurt. Looking back, either needed to achieve a next-level award for music or needed a super strong STEM activity or needed recruitable athletics - easier said than done considering time commits especially senior year, and Covid-impacted summers weren't great.
From my school, there were 5 HYPSM acceptances. The hooks that worked for them: URM @ Stanford. Amazing Gov't/NewspapeSpeechDebate ECs + Academics + NMF @ Stanford. All arounder non-athletic ECs+ Academics @ Princeton. Great Gov't/NewspapeInternship + Academics @ Yale. NewspaperEditor + unique national sports champ + writing awards + more @ Harvard.
Hopefully this profile is useful for future applicants (Edit: added a little more detail)

This sub has been so helpful to me as I prepped for my surgery. I'm just sharing some tips that helped me and hopefully will help some others who are preparing for their surgeries:
​

• Pre Surgery Home Prep
  • Laundry
  • Fresh sheets on bed
  • Arrange extra pillows on bed morning of surgery
  • Bedside table stocked with: portable phone charger, apple juice, gatorade, water, gauze, medications, books, all TV remotes, headphones, iPad, chargers with long cords, eyeglasses, contacts, lapdesk
  • If you have pet(s) - set up feeding supplies and instructions for the person who is helping you post-op
  • Wash surgical bra (per surgeon's instructions)

​

• Shower Prep
  • stool/chair to sit on in shower
  • soap, shampoo, conditioner at a level that can be reached independently
  • small towels to pat skin dry (my regular towels/bath robe were too heavy and bulky)
  • hairdryer to dry incisions (optional)
  • any special post shower creams/bandages/tapes as per surgeon recommendations

​

• Pre Surgery Self Prep
  • trim nails, remove hand nail polish if required, remove piercings & jewelry as required
  • pack surgery bag - surgical bra, paperwork, any medication they want you to bring on surgery day, long socks for operating room (if allowed), headphones, books, comfort items, etc.
  • prep day of surgery outfit - button down loose top, loose drawstring sweat pants, comfy socks, slip on shoes.
  • pick up all Rx medications, OTC ointments, etc. from pharmacy before day of surgery!

​

• Supplies I bought (all available on Amazon - I can give specific recs if people want them and if it’s allowed)
  • Bed wedge pillow (it has a flat top and a side with a slope). I use it under my legs to relieve pressure on my lower back when sleeping elevated. I did not buy a maternity pillow, I use multiple standard bed pillows to keep me elevated when sleeping.
  • Disposable rinse free bathing sponges - I live in a very hot, humid climate. I used these to freshen up for the first few days after surgery (face, underarms, and decolletage) and they helped immensely.
  • Extra long reusable straws. In the early days, lifting a cup to my mouth was difficult (not because of pain but weakness). These allowed me to have a drink in my lap on a tray and sip by just tipping my chin down. I bought 15 inch reusable ones.
  • Gauze for padding. 3x3 Inch (Pack of 25). I use these on my breast fold incisions and to cushion the elastic of my surgical bra. I have gone through 2.5 boxes and am still using these at almost 2 wpo because I have a little bit of blood and like the cushion they provide.
  • Spare surgical bra. I bought a spare of the bra that my surgeon gave me so that I could have one ready after each shower. The inside of my bra gets soiled quickly due to having to apply special creams twice a day per my surgeon's instructions.
  • Sore throat lozenges - I have been intubated before and did not have a sore throat those times. I read here that some people did. I bought throat lozenges and I am very glad I did. I had pain akin to a strep throat for the first few days after surgery and the lozenges helped a lot!
  • Fiber gummies - check with your doctor regarding any supplements. I started fiber gummies a few days before surgery and my doctor also gave me a supplement specifically for post-surgical GI issues. I was able to go without issue 4 days after surgery and did not feel any discomfort before this. By 1 wpo, I had no noticeable abdominal bloating. I was pretty regular before surgery, and have a bean and lentil-heavy vegetarian diet, so this may play a part.
  • Dial antibacterial soap (white bar) - I used one fresh bar before surgery and another fresh bar after surgery. I am still using this soap. It actually smells nice.

​

• Pill reminder app - depending on your medication protocol, an app may be helpful. I was on a lot of medications/supplements (10+) and there would have been no way for me to keep track without an app to remind me what to take, how to take it, and allowing me to record when I did take something/forgot/skipped. I used the free version of MediSafe. I programmed all of my medications into the app a few days before surgery. It reminded me when to take what with notifications. I even programmed a reminder to walk every 2 hours into the app.

Best of luck to all of you! I am glad to be a part of this very supportive community. :)

Part 1
I took a deep breath before blowing into the little straw attached to the breathalyzer test.
"Keep it going, another few seconds," the newly reinstated sheriff's deputy Randy said from the passenger seat next to me.
Finally the device made a noise and the numbers 0.07 appeared on the screen.
"Okay, I'm good to drive. I'll need to keep ingesting roughly one beer every hour from this point on."
Randy nodded.
"Okay, now you go," I said, replacing the disposable straw in the breathalyzer test.
He blew into the straw and after a few seconds it came up on the display.
"O.16. That’s not gonna do it with your tolerance, bud. I'm gonna need you to drink something, Randy. You gotta be sharp for this."
He pulled out a bottle of whiskey and unscrewed the cap, taking a long swig of it before belching. When I was satisfied he was intoxicated enough to avoid seeing any more invisible monsters, I told him to buckle up.
Normally I don’t condone drinking and driving, even if it is technically within the legal limits, but these were special circumstances. Randy had infected me with some sort of… Well, I don’t really know how to describe it. Ghost virus? Hallucinating monster plague?
I was seeing things in mirrors and reflective surfaces now, just like he had been. It was as if they now served as peepholes into another dimension. Therefore, we had covered up the rear view and side mirrors with duct tape. I had also gotten rid of my aviators, which was a shame, because they completed my whole outfit. I was even growing a mustache to complete the small town Sheriff everyman appearance, but the hair growth on my upper lip was patchy and gross-looking still.
Before growing it, I hadn’t realized facial dandruff was a real thing. Well, it turns out it definitely is.
Sorry, I’m getting tangential again. That happens to me when I drink.
To sum it all up, Randy was the old sheriff in Hollow’s End, but he’d run into some kind of trouble recently. This trouble had caused him to see horrible things which appeared in reflective surfaces - windows and mirrors all over town which had been smashed by him in what I at first assumed was a drunken rage. Now I realized he was drinking to drown out the demons. The liquor made them less noticeable, and less frequent.
“This case has to be connected with everything that’s happening,” I said as we started driving - our destination still unknown. “That man who disappeared. In such a small town, these things have to be connected.”
“Not necessarily,” Randy replied. “This town is weird as hell, dude. Fucked up shit happens here literally all the time. You just haven’t lived here long enough to see any of it.”
I ignored this and pressed onward, trying to get something useful out of the man.
“Okay, you’re not much help. Is there someone in town who is in the know? Someone who can give us the low-down?”
“Well… The only person I can think of like that would be the butcher. He’s sort of like the unofficial mayor of Hollow’s End," Randy explained. "But he’s not exactly the talkative type.”
“Great. That’s something, at least. Point me towards the butcher shop. Let’s go have a chat with this guy," I said to Randy, only to realize he had promptly fallen asleep after his last statement.
I drove towards the commercial district, eyes peeled for a Butcher Shop sign.
Eventually I found it.
*
We pulled up in front of the place and I could tell right away that something was off. And by that I mean there was a terrible smell that I associated with spoiled meat. Something inside the shop was long past its expiration date, and the rank odor was making its way out to the street.
There was a closed sign hanging from the door, despite the hours indicating it should be open. Alarm bells started ringing in my mind even louder than before and I told Randy to watch the front of the shop while I went around to the back.
He was now wide awake again, acting as if he hadn't just been asleep seconds prior.
After knocking on the back door, I tried the handle. To my surprise, it opened.
I went inside and was hit with a knockout punch of decay right to my nose. My eyes started watering at the smell of meat gone sour, the sound of buzzing flies growing louder as I stepped inside the kitchen.
There was blood everywhere - and not just in the usual places where you would expect it to be in a butcher’s shop. It was splattered on the ceiling and all over the floor. There was one particularly large bloodstain in the far corner of the room that was in the shape of a human body, and judging by the deep crimson color of it whoever had been laying there had lost a sufficient amount of bodily fluids to render them dead half a dozen times over.
I heard footsteps from the other side of a translucent plastic curtain which separated the kitchen from the front of the shop. Pulling out my service revolver, I took a cautious step forward and pulled back the hammer, ready for anything.
My heart was pounding fast as I spoke in my best 'don't fuck with me' cop-voice.
“This is the sheriff. Whoever’s behind the curtain, come out with your hands up. Do it now!”
There was an identical sound on the other side of the divider, indicating another gun was being readied for action.
“No way, man,” said a gruff voice on the other side. “You’re not taking me alive.”
My heart skipped a beat as I realized I was potentially about to die. There was going to be a shootout. And a lot more blood was about to be decorating the walls of this butcher shop.
Then I realized the voice sounded familiar.
“RANDY!?”
He came through the curtain and I almost shot him anyway.
“Oh, sorry. I thought it was a bad guy impersonating you,” Randy said.
“So you decided to impersonate a bad guy? How does that make any sense?”
“They wouldn’t kill one of their own, man. Think about it.”
I let out a deep breath and counted to ten in my mind, trying to think of other ways to stop myself from murdering him.
Would anyone notice if Randy went missing? No, don't think like that. Only bad things will come of it.
I tried to focus on the case.
“That’s a lot of blood,” I said, pointing at the man-shaped brownish-red puddle in the corner. “Looks like some bad shit went down here. Maybe this butcher guy is good for the murder of our missing man.”
“Nah,” Randy said, waving it off. “That puddle has been there for weeks. We play poker here every Friday. It’s, well, it would be too hard to explain what happened. But just trust me that the blood-letting was consensual, even if it did get a bit out of hand.”
“I don’t even want to know.”
“Well, you asked.”
“So all of this blood looks NORMAL to you?”
“For this place, yeah."
"And the smell?"
He nodded.
"But I did notice one weird thing.”
“What’s that?” I asked, completely exasperated by this point.
“No mirrors anywhere. There’s usually a couple of them out front in the customer area that are gone now. And he hasn’t cleaned his knives. That's not like him. He loves these knives like they're his own non-existent children. It’s like he didn’t want them to be shiny. He wanted them to stay bloody.”
Mirrors. Glass. Steel can be polished to be so reflective you can see your face in it. Or other things.
“He’s infected too.”
“Yup. This shit’s spreading. Who knows how far it could get if we don’t stop it.”
He held up one finger, produced a flask from his pocket, and drank a large swallow of whiskey.
“Alright, where to next?” he asked after burping loudly. “This was a bust.”
*
We were walking out the front door of the place when we saw a car pull up to the curb. A young man got out, looking like he was in his late twenties.
The car had a company name on the side and I realized it looked familiar. It was actually the next lead I was planning to follow up on.
J&M Delivery Co.
Booze, burgers, pizza and MORE!
Delivering to all citizens of Hollow’s End
(Unless you're a Subterranean)
(No forest deliveries after 4PM)
I read the sign twice and was about to ask the man why they didn’t deliver to the Subterraneans, and who the Subterraneans were, and who the hell would order pizza from a forest, but decided it would be better to stay focused.
“What are you guys doing here?” the man asked, heading towards the shop.
“Hey, Jay. We were looking for the butcher, but he’s gone,” Randy replied quickly. “Where’s Muriel? Maybe she knows something.”
“She’s been gone since last night. There was some sort of crisis and she ran out of the house without saying goodbye. I figured the butcher might have an idea where she went.”
“We were just in there. He’s gone but the doors are unlocked. Must’ve left in a hurry,” I said. “Does she have a cell phone? Maybe we can track her with the GPS.”
“Nah, she’s not really into technology. She has one of those brick Nokia phones that she’s managed to keep alive for twenty years or so, but she leaves it at home most of the time, and the rest of the time she’s at the casino where there’s no signal.”
“Okay, maybe that’s where she is.”
“I checked already. None of the employees have seen her since the weekend.”
It occurred to me suddenly that there was another missing person who I was investigating, and this man was a potential witness.
“I need to ask you about something else,” I said, pulling out a picture of the missing man. “Do you know this person?”
He squinted at it for half a second.
“Sure, that’s John Grayson. He’s a delivery driver with our company.”
“Are you aware that he’s been missing now for nearly two days?”
He hesitated, then looked at Randy.
“Is he cool?” he asked cautiously.
“Yeah, he’s already got the curse. He’s good.”
I looked back and forth between the two of them.
“What the fuck!? So this is like, just a known thing around here? If I stay in town too long I’m gonna become cursed by this place?”
“No, no. No. Well, kinda. It’s hard to explain. And even more hard to explain because of all the weird shit going down,” Randy said. “Now the important thing is this town has its hooks in you. And because of that, you’ll have a very difficult time leaving this place. You’re a part of it and it's a part of you. That's the way it works. One way or another, if you stay in Hollow’s End for too long, you’re gonna get bit by something.”
“I didn’t think it was possible for me to be any more confused.”
“Do you have the monkey paw?” Randy asked Jay, making me even more confused.
“No. But, I’m starting to think it might be the cause of all of this trouble.”
Feeling like I was about to lose my mind, or had already done so, I put my foot down and yelled in my loudest, most authoritative voice.
“ENOUGH!”
The two of them looked at me stupidly.
“Monkey paws? The butcher? Disappearing people all over town? Just… Tell me this is a prank. You guys are messing with me because I’m new in town. Right? Is there a YouTube video being filmed? Am I being punked? Is this a reboot!?”
The two men stared at me a moment longer then went back to talking as if I weren’t standing there.
“It’s definitely got something to do with that paw. The butcher should have just gotten rid of the damn thing when he found it in that shipment of discarded monkey carcasses. Everyone knows monkey paw wishes are tainted. Who the fuck would be dumb enough to actually use one of them?” Jay was saying.
“Well, I mean, how can you possibly know just by looking at the monkey paw that it’s evil? There have to be at least a few GOOD monkey paws out there that grant wishes, right?”
Jay and I suddenly shared a psychic thought connection, and I saw he had the same idea I did, at the exact same moment.
“You made a wish on the fucking monkey paw, didn’t you?” we both blurted out in unison.
Randy looked down at the ground. It took a few seconds for him to confess. When he finally did it was in the most obnoxious, affected, half-apologetic tone of voice I'd ever heard.
“I always wanted to be able to teleport like Nightcrawler from X-Men. I didn’t realize it was gonna open up a series of gateways to alternate dimensions, potentially causing the destruction of reality. That part was completely unexpected.”
It took me a few moments to figure out what he meant. But then it all came together.
“It was your fault! You made me see the monsters in the mirrors! It was all because of you and your STUPID monkey paw WISH!”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “But on the plus side, check this out!”
He jumped into the nearby front window of the butcher shop and, instead of shattering, it rippled outwards from its center like a pool of water disrupted by a stone being thrown into it. He disappeared into the glass and was gone.
The two of us stood there for several minutes in stunned silence, unsure if he was going to come back. I went into the shop to see if he was in there but it was empty.
Just as we were about to walk away awkwardly, he leapt back through the liquid glass carrying a bag of fast food in his hand. The paper bag was stained with grease and said, “KFC” on it.
“See!? We don’t even have one of these in town! I just teleported to Pittsburgh and back!”
The window glass continued to make ripples and didn't settle down into its usual smoothness, I noticed. Not only that, but there was now something moving in the glass. A huge dark creature with long limbs, crawling on six legs. It was sniffing the ground like a dog hunting a rabbit. Then it turned sharply to look at us through the glass. There was no question in my mind that it saw us.
"Randy, did you ever consider that using the powers granted by the cursed magic monkey paw might be a VERY BAD idea?"
He looked at me stupidly.
A strange sound began to come from the glass window of the storefront as a set of huge legs came through from the other side, followed by another, and another. It was an indescribable sound, but if I had to compare it to anything it would be like if fingernails on a chalkboard and microphone feedback had an ear-splitting baby together.
Sitting atop the legs with too many joints was a horrifying creature with a long snout lined with sharp teeth. Odd openings split its rough alligator skin in places, looking like gills, but not quite. Its eyes were black and dull as it surveyed the downtown street of Hollow's End.
After it was through the glass it sniffed the air, and I hoped that maybe this creature didn't breathe oxygen and it would keel over, dead, from the toxic air of our world.
But of course the stupid thing was fine. I guess whatever world it came from had a similar atmosphere to ours.
A second later it spotted us and began to race toward us with murder in its eyes.
"RUN!" I yelled, and turned around to see Jay and Randy already in their respective vehicles and ready to drive away without me.
"Hop in," Randy yelled shifting over into the passenger seat. "Come on man, get away from that thing. Whatever it is, it looks PISSED!"
YT
TCC