Lowes jobs

Let's talk about an actual play session I actually just had.
We log on at 6:45pm. We sit down together, look at the map, nothing interesting going on. OK lets do a nightmare dungeon. Which one? So we debate briefly and categorize - okay we don't wanna do this affix, that affix, or that affix, so we can do any of these 8. We realize we're overthinking it, we tell Bob to just pick one and go. Bob picks one. As we open the map to figure out where I Can't Believe It's Not Hell is located, we notice it's 7pm and a hell tide just spawned. We decide to pivot - several people need gear. So let's quickly hit the hell tide.
We go do that. Finding the mystery chest takes 15 minutes, getting everyone to 175 currency takes about the same amount of time. Steve dies. Steve can't open the mystery chest. Bob and I open it. We go help Steve farm currency. It's now 30 minutes into this. We go back to the chest. It's gone. We try to find Steve the new chest so he can open it. Bob points out we'd be silly not to open the new chest too. We spend another 10 minutes getting that sorted out.
Bob and I get two chests, Steve gets one, Steve is a little bummed about dying. No big deal. It is now 7:50.
We do our first dungeon of the night. We get out, do all the awkward inventory management stuff (I'm sure you've heard someone else bitch about the towns being weird already). It is now 8:15. There is a timer for the world boss spawning at 8:30pm. We discuss. We probably can't get a dungeon done in 15 minutes, and we're all low on the world boss currency, so we decide to wait for that. We try to be efficient and pick our next dungeon, but we already had a couple lined up so that really doesn't help much.
It's now 8:40. We do our second dungeon of the night. We get out at 8:55. We pick our next dungeon. A hell rift spawns in. Steve says he wants to do it. We debate doing a quick dungeon before we go, but Steve points out he already missed out on a chest tonight and the hell rift seems to reset the mystery chest at the halfway mark, so if we do another dungeon, we won't be able to get both mystery chests from this hell rift.
We do the hell rift again. Finding the second chest is hard, because it's a variable spawn timer. We start looking at the 30 minute mark but it actually doesn't appear until the 45 minute mark, so we spent 15 minutes literally running around going "our map must be incomplete" and doing nothing at all productive.
We are frustrated and in a hurry. We agree to just spam sigils until we have to call it for the night. Two dungeons in, we fire off a sigil that has "crits deal 60% less damage" and "monsters regen 1.5% of their max health per second" and "monsters enrage when another monster dies near them" (or some other shit like that, I forget the exact combo, but I want that 30 minutes of my life back) and we all agree never to just spam sigils without fucking reading them again because fuck that shit.
We end our play session at 11pm, having played Diablo for 4 hours and 15 minutes, and having done one world boss, 2 ish hell tides, and 5 dungeons. We collectively spent well over 90 minutes either standing near the world boss, walking to a dungeon, or walking around the hell tide looking for something that doesn't show up on the map and only appears on the minimap when its basically on your screen.
Diablo 4 has more waiting in it than any other ARPG I've ever played, and nowhere is it more pronounced than in a group where people don't all agree on exactly what the top priority is.
Too many things are on long timers. Too many things only happen once every X hours. Too many things happen every other hour BUT there's an inflection point in the middle where you lose a bunch of value if you haven't already done the thing. Too many things require you to be standing there when the thing starts, or else you miss out, so you can't do anything else while you wait for it.
It's not so bad in solo play because you can just do what you want. But in a group where everyone has slightly different goals and each goal requires a very different activity to get it done optimally, this feels awful. You can't compromise and do a little bit of what everyone wants, because everything that people want is on competing timers. If there's a hell tide up right now, you can't do "just one more dungeon", because in 25 minutes that helltide's mystery chest is despawning and you lose half the value of the helltide if you don't get it done now. Likewise, your friend can't just "wait for the next helltide", because if it's the 9pm helltide, the next one isn't STARTING til 11pm or later, and your friend is a normal person with a 9-5 job he isn't STARTING a project in Diablo 4 at 11pm. So either you do this hell tide or he doesn't get a hell tide done today.
Even in solo play, getting jerked around like this is fucking weird for an ARPG. You can't ever sit down and just vibe on an activity, because either the activity has a forced end point (two mystery chests per hell rift/30 minute wait between legion invasions/4 hours ish between world bosses?) or the activity is open ended but it's deeply suboptimal to miss out on all the timed events that happen during your play session because almost all the timed events have badly needed upgrade currency you can't get from anything you can grind 24/7.
And all of this doesn't even mention the simplest thing that nearly everyone who hits WT3 immediately stubs their toe on: Every single active whispering tree quest resets at once on a 90 minute rotation, so if you are doing whispering tree stuff, every 90 minutes there's an awkward 10 minute dead spot where you can't really start any whispering tree quests because you won't finish them before they reset and any in-progress quest or dungeon won't give whispering tree points. So you literally get forced by the game to stop for 10 minutes out of every 90.
I understand a lot of you aren't in endgame yet but man, seriously, this shit is outright weird. I've never played an ARPG that seemed to go out of its way to shove a stick into my spokes like this one does.

The Netherlands, one of Europe's most stunning nations, is renowned for its history, art, culture, lake houses, and superior public services. Here, you may find jobs, free healthcare, kind people, a safe atmosphere, and free transportation. As a result, individuals from many nations are drawn to purchase real estate here. This area is quite safe due to the low crime rate. Just like here, a good opportunity if you intend to invest in Dubai apartment with the best Dubai property management company.

Im feeling lost, after an on and off relationship of 4 years. I've never felt these emotions until now.I feel I have lost sense of self, hope for future and excitement in life. it was 2 weeks ago. I stupidly reached out to him because I saw him at work. How do I move on from someone I have to see at work?
our story.
we both met online but recognized that we worked in the sample place but different departments. after a while we started waving at each other. eventually our worlds merged. we created a bubble of safety. I didn't set any boundaries and being an empath I felt all responsible for his depression/anxiety. while I was feeling his emotions. we both avoided difficult conversations. our backgrounds were very different. I came from a very cultural and conservative family as an immigrant. He grew up here, in a loving family. my parents expectations were very different (you date and get married). we spent our free time learning, watching documentaries, building leggos, cooking. I hid a lot of personal things I was dealing with from him, I felt like he never understood me. when I tried to communicate to him how back home my extended family tried to married me home he said he didn't want to know and it hurt him, he never made an effort when I needed him. we eventually fell into routine of reverting to avoiding our troubles. one day after years it got so bad that he told me I had to make a choice. having a very low self esteem I thought he was telling me to break up. we remained as friends for a few months until one day when I was at my lowest and depended on him for support he sent me a text telling me that he was seeing someone and that he didn't know how to tell me. I had gotten so bad when I needed him that I went to ER, it was my worst nightmare to get this text. due to my demand we met in person and talked. we cried and he kept telling me he feels the same way. after 2 or so weeks today I reached out to him because I wanted him to quit his job because I didn't know how to control my emotions. I hate seeing him around. I don't feel angry anymore I just feel like I didn't move on and im trying the best way I know how. I got an appointment at a therapist. Im trying to work on myself but it feels like I lost my best friend, and hope for my future.

You’re finally out, high school classes are done:
Now college awaits with a new rising sun!
You’ve studied and labored, your intentions are pure,
Now brace yourself, friend, for the shit you’ll endure.
​
You’ll start optimistic, with a heart full of a hope
As you look for a Yes-Fish in a sea full of Nope.
You landed in DreamSchool, expectations are high,
But you can’t seem to get noticed, so you ask yourself why.
​
Do professors just hate you? Do your papers lack spice?
You had causes and passions – and your I.D. pic looks nice!
Don’t they know who you are? So fresh, so inspired!
Why is it just you that seems so undesired?
​
Ignored for the most part, then rejected the rest
And then a low C… on your first fucking test!
But you studied the culture, the college’s line
Filled your schedule with classes, 6, 7, 8, 9!
​
What going on here? Who the Hell has the nerve?
Nobody told you the prof grades on a curve!
You toil and suffer, you study and fuss,
And then you’re rewarded with a brand new… C+.
​
You realize slowly that high school has passed;
Who you were doesn’t matter, so you’d better change fast.
Your TA’s don’t care about how much you grind,
During finals you wonder if you’re losing your mind.
​
You make a few friends – that’s key, don’t forget –
And the dream you once had starts to look like regret.
You follow your passions in a field you hate,
But you know you’ll be rich, so you patiently wait.
​
Four years go by, you finally adapt:
You flatter in papers, you learn to write crap.
You walk at commencement, you’ve earned your degree,
But each job you find wants a fresh PhD.
​
But college has taught you to grovel and fawn,
And that life is a game, and you must play the pawn.
So you use the right buzzwords, by prestige still allured,
Hoping that work is worth the shit you’ve endured.
​
And lo and behold, the day comes at last:
You sign a low offer, tie yourself to the mast.
You’re a working adult now: your money’s your own
Except for the fact that you took out student loans.
​
Flash-forward a year as your soul takes a beating,
Each day is a torment: more mail, more meetings.
The culture is cult-like, the people are schmucks,
You don’t want to admit it, but your job really sucks.
​
You start applying again: the old pain returns
Living paycheck to paycheck, with little to burn.
So start your own business! Oh yes, that’s the cure!
Yeah, brace yourself, friend, for the shit you’ll endure.

So currently ex and I aren't talking it's been 2 months. I broke up with her cause I was in a massive depressive/anxiety spiral and our communication broke apart over months among other things. We both were still very much in love but it wasn't healthy for us anymore.
I moved there for her and got on well with her guy friends. I also already had some ties there with people I game online with. Overall I kind of like it there but it's different from my usual area.
Now I'm struggling with the thought of making her feel like I'm chasing her or making her feel uncomfortable. I thought about going to the same town just a few miles away from our old apartment we had together. I liked the area and I want familiarity. The thing is we both need to grow and heal from our relationship still. I still have feelings for her but as we are now probably no 2nd chance. It probably wouldn't be any time soon but I feel like I don't belong anywhere else.
Breaking down the pros of living in the area again. Pro: -low cost of living -friends in area -higher wages -better job stability -be able to live by myself/own apartment -have pets without worry of being turned away -most of my hobbies are within reach Con: -suburb living -higher population -tornado alley lol -mutual friend group with ex (this doesn't bother me but again I don't want her to feel uncomfortable)
I probably should just do what's best for me and let her figure out how she feels about me being there again. Who knows if we both work on our stuff maybe we can drift back together one day.
Thoughts? Thanks!

Hi there,
I did way worse than expected my second semester and I'm well below median at a T-30 law school.
I don't really have a good explanation or excuse for why. I just didn't really understand how to prepare and study for law school exams. I spent way too much time trying to catch up on my readings and not nearly enough time outlining, doing practice qs, or understanding the big-picture concepts.
I ended up panic-cramming for almost all my exams, earning mainly B-/Bs.
Does anyone have advice for what I can say during summer job interviews that will show I'm a hard worker despite my grades? I have solid prior legal experience in BL, as well as supervisors from in-house legal depts who can vouch for my work ethic.
I know my grades will be my biggest barrier for BL. I don't want to come off as someone who makes excuses for performance, but at the same time, I want to be able to show that I'd still be an asset as a hire. Any advice or tips would be much appreciated.

https://www.reddit.com/Anarcho_Capitalism/comments/140gfr2/can_private_cities_be_at_least_an_improvement/
According to that link above, private cities are at least an improvement to the cause of libertarianism and ancap. The sample given is Prospera (my favorite project). A private city with 5% income tax and 1% land tax. I've heard the reason they have income tax at all is so not to be labeled as tax haven. They can actually run this with even lower or no tax. However, part of their income is from buying land, and selling it higher after the city is governed. But who cares. Low tax is better than high tax.
According to this link https://www.reddit.com/Anarcho_Capitalism/comments/13wm3dv/can_we_have_private_cities_in_ancap_societies/ most ancap believe that private cities are valid expression of ancap. We can have private cities in ancapnistan. Just like we can have private schools, private restaurants, private factories, etc.
So I see an obvious path to ancapnistan.
Turn as many cities as possible into private cities.
It doesn't have to be libertarian at first. But competition among cities will tend to favor libertarianism. At the end, tax payers will have more choices. You can choose to live in a city where everyone has a gun, or you can choose to live in a city like Singapore where crime rate is so low but has mandatory draft, and so on. Every low tax region will pressure regions around it to lower tax too. Otherwise, economically productive people will go to low tax regions.
If we look at democracy. Yes democracy have ultimate beneficiaries, namely the voters. Democracies have rulers. But trying to get rid those voters is a high hanghing fruit. No society is run without rulers yet. We need intermediate steps toward that direction.
What is the problem with rulers? The problem with ruler is they rule over something they do not necessarily create or produce. Think about it. We don't even think owners of cinemas or schools as "rulers". But they are rulers for all practical purpose. Reddit corporation rule redit. Facebook corporation rule facebook. And so on on and so on. They make the rules. They rule. And we don't mind. Why? They create reddit. It's usually okay to let people rule what they create.
Do communities create cities? Sort of but not quite. Imagine a newborn people or immigrant. What did they do to contribute to the well being of the cities? Nothing yet. Imagine an old dying person. Once they die they lost citizenship. They probably did a lot for the city but once they die they can't pass on their share of the city to their children. The children get free citizenship just like children of welfare recipients.
If we look at the most anti libertarian rules there is, it's not done out of profit. It's usually done out of desire to get rid competitors, envy, and obedience to economically worthless voters. Cradle to grave welfare recipients are there because welfare recipients that contribute nothing to economy has the same voting right as tax payers. A private cities being run for profit will of course favor tax payers over welfare recipients. But a democracy favor cradle to grave welfare recipients because they can vote just as well as the most productive tax payers or job creators.
Trans ideology is there because government provide free healthcare. So people make imaginary problem to get trans surgery.
The imbalance between contribution and power, and not power itself is the problem. It's okay to have power over something you create or buy. That is just how capitalism work. It's not okay to have power just because you're born on some place or move.
So how do we turn every democratic cities into private cities?
Simple. Turn voters into share holding owners. Most voters will be better off as share holding owners than mere voters. They still can vote. Shareholders in a commune or corporation can vote. They can sell their shares if they don't like the direction the city is going.
I'll continue.

I'm a disabled veteran looking to retire as soon as I can from a federal job. I don't really care if the retirement amount is really low.
I'm wondering If I can do a deferred retirement at 48 years old and collect when Im 57 or or 62? This is with 10 years of federal service, 4 years military and 6 civil service.

I didn't go to pre-K, I did go to a morning class, but I never went to pre-k. In 1st grade, I went half days, and my mom would take me out in the afternoons. I did go to a homeschooling teacher for a little while, I can't remember how I did. Then, 2nd through 4th grade, I went normally. Then, she took me out to homeschool me, it didn't work out so she stuck me back in later in the year.
I surely fell behind because I couldn't stay focused on my schoolwork at home, that's why my mom put me back in public schooling. Which I'm thankful for. I missed a lot of school through my education years, due to an illness I had which had me vomiting quite frequently. They took me out of class for math because I fell behind, and I had comprehension issues due to my ADHD. I have attention deficits. But, now it's gotten better. In 5th grade towards the end of the year they brought up to my mom they would like to place me on an IEP due to falling behind in a few subjects; Reading and Mathematics.
Fast forward to current time, given I was in an IEP I feel like I'm intellectually or developmentally delayed. I feel like I'm slow, I currently live at home and work in the hospital as a certified nursing assistant. I work full time, but I feel dumb. I pay rent at home even though I'm so bad with money it's insane. I'm impulsive with money especially, I prioritize things badly. I know I'm doing it too, it's just like impulsive. It's weird. I have bad anxiety, social anxiety as well.. anxiety for every situation it seems like. I've gone to therapy for it, because I feel like I'm existing... not living. My therapist says that given that I was able to pass my CNA state certification I'd have to be average or above average in intelligence to even pass it.
I feel like everyone around me knows something is "off". Even though I haven't heard it, I'm sure they talk? I don't really care about anything else anyone has to say BUT the thought of them thinking that I'd be slow or intellectually delayed bothers me. As a kid I walked and talked on time, and passed my childhood milestones. It wasn't ever indicated I was intellectually delayed.
I got employee of the month 2 months being in the hospital, but I've made big mistakes no one got hurt. I've been a CNA 4 years prior. These nurses are my age and younger and they seem so mature. I feel like sometimes I feel dumb and inadequate. I'm quiet, but I want to be smart and an intellectual. They always say how a hard job I do. These nurses hangout and are friends with each other. I feel out of sorts here. There's been times where they come sit by me cause I sit away from them. Do you think they think something is off? They seem to like me and keep me included. THEY are articulate, I think I'm articulate online but offline it's bad.
I don't know if I'm overthinking this?
There's patients that come in with cognitive deficits or intellectual disabilities. I don't act like them, but everytime I hear something along those lines I panic. I worry people think that about me. I worked with adults with intellectual disabilities and it triggered something in me. I had to quit because of it.
I got drunk the other night and said to my friends "I think I'm slow" and they were like "No you arent!" But idk if they say they cause they didn't want to hurt my feelings.
The CNA test is common sense but my therapist said that I'd have to hold an average intelligence.
I still live at home, I'm 26, needing dental work done and now I have to get insurance on my own because I don't have any now. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Is this just anxiety? My one friend said socially I probably have anxiety over. I do have bad social anxiety and I'm quiet. I spend money and sometimes go into overdrafts, I'm bad with money but I know I am and it's an issue. I spend money to be happy, because I'm so sad a lot. I am paying off my car to my mom, I pay rent everyday check to my mom. It's not like I'm living here for free. I would love my own place but I can't afford it.
I feel like at work I'm slow, even though they tell me I do amazing. These nurses are younger and my age and they are so assertive, confident and I more so go with the flow.
I'm pretty quiet, I'm opening up now. I feel like I do stupid shit all the time... and I've been a CNA for a long time.
I went to college for a few weeks, and we took standardized testing to know what classes to place you in due to your education, you know. I didn't do well on it. Idk if it was cause I didn't take my time, or I got distracted easily. I do have ADD. I'm bad with money and everything else.
I just feel like I'm 26 and I have nothing. Absolutely nothing. Dating is nonexistent, which doesn't surprise me. I've always had issues with it. I don't have kids, probably a good thing if I'm low intelligence?
For example, I was working tonight and forgot a patient was NPO. It was a silly mistake she was thirsty and she can have sips with meds. So the nurse said she can't have water. I obviously didn't read the sign that said NPO. And I feel so stupid.

I don't really know what the purpose of this post is. Just to vent, I guess. Maybe you guys can tell me it's going to be okay. Or you can tell me it's hopeless and I don't deserve a job anyway.
The title isn't some sarcastic jab at people in my life telling me I need to try harder. It's something I tell myself because it's literally true.
I've been unemployed for nine months. My last job was a contract that ended and the search has been slow. In the past nine months I've applied to a little over 140 jobs. Which is a pitiful amount. I've had 10 interviews in this whole time. I had one yesterday and I have one tomorrow. I also potentially have another one coming up.
I'm super lazy. My parents help me out financially. I have two thousand dollars left in savings. I have more money coming in from taxes. My unemployment benefits ran out a couple months ago. My last job was in IT so I'm currently looking for IT work but I've widened my search to outside that field. I graduated with a BS in math back in 2019. My last job was my only real full time job I've ever had.
The most I try to do in a day is apply to at least three jobs per day. I started with one job a day. Then moved up to two then three. I try to tailor my resume and cover letter to each job. Sometimes I do rewrites of my cover letter and I use that as an excuse to not send out any apps. "don't need to apply today, too busy improving my cover letter and resume :D :D :D !!!!!". I tell myself that my low application output is to ensure quality over quantity but that's bullshit. Every resume and cover letter I send out is literally the exact same minus a few items. I could just easy apply to everything and get similar results. And even then I often go multiple days at a time without applying to anything.
I'm too comfortable.
I don't think I deserve a job. I have no one to practice interviews with so I bomb every single one. They happen so far apart that I forget how to do them. I'm 27. I graduated college four years ago and have nothing to show for it. I think my massive employment gap will only make me more untouchable. My fallback plan is to look for minimum wage/part time work once my money starts truly running out. There's always work in Starbucks or Chipotle for failures like me.
I'm just feeling so hopeless. But then again I deserve this. I would just like to be done with the search. I turned down a good paying job because it was too dangerous. But I wonder if that was the right choice. It wasn't.
Being unemployed is hell, especially if you have enabling parents and are already a lazy piece of shit.

Per US minimum wage can be as low as $9-$15. It's not really doable. Is it common for Russian adults to be working retail/service jobs? How hard is it to get by? How expensive is it compared to say the US?

For context I had a serving job for a little under a year. They exclude me and a couple of other people, but it’s pretty bad with me. I don’t care about that. I care about constantly being criticized, constantly being yelled at, constantly feeling like I’m not good enough during a time where I am at my all time low for other personal reasons.
The other week work had put me on a 5 day schedule with 3 doubles. I couldn’t handle it and requested to have at least a 4 day week or 1 less double. Both denied. My mind and body couldn’t handle it.
For more context I am prone to seizures but have only had 4 in my life. I am in my 20s. I take my meds religiously and haven’t done anything crazy like drink or do drugs.
I had a seizure behind the wheel where I quite literally could have died. They say it was stress induced.
Now I am currently unemployed, not knowing how I am going to make this months rent. All I know is I can’t go back there. My mind and body can’t take it. I reached my limit.

The Use of Identity Politics to Undermine the Left Anna Coco
The US government and ruling elite have infiltrated and attempted to destroy the Left since its inception. In the 1960’s the CIA think tanks came up with numerous strategies to destroy the Left, such as promoting drug use and promiscuous sexuality as a form of not only “Brave New World” escapism, but diverting attention from working class issues. Remember Jerry Garcia repeating Timothy Leary’s famous quote “turn on, tune in, and drop out?” Even the decriminalization of marijuana today is really not to stop the Prison Industrial Complex, which is still arresting millions of young men, especially those of colour, but about pushing escapism as a replacement for protesting in a country where half the population lives near or below the poverty line. “Get high; forget your cares.” “Don’t fight back. Jesus was a pacifist.” (Forget that Jesus flogged the bankers in the temple during Passover.) The Communist Party USA and other Left parties were successful in pushing back this degeneration, discouraging drug and alcohol use as well as criticizing sexual objectification, particularly of women.
Another government strategy involved promoting Identity Politics, which along with political correctness in the late 1980’s actually achieved its goal of successfully undermining the Left as can be seen in its current state. This time period wasn’t coincidental, since this was the time the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union was collapsing. It was at this point that the Left started turning inward and becoming fragmented, with no centre to keep it together which is what the Soviet Union represented. Feeling betrayed, demoralized, and bewildered, the CIA easily infiltrated and injected the Left with its poisonous sting, causing many Left parties to reject dialectical materialism, and in some cases even Marxism itself! ID politics was the late 1960’s brain child of the CIA to divide and conquer the Left, pitting groups against each other. Political Correctness helped promote ID politics by using the same methods as McCarthyism. Since socialism is a logical, scientific economic system, proponents couldn’t be allowed to explain or discuss what is was or it would convert others; therefore McCarthyism relied on shutting down debates and free discussion by employing name calling, shouting down speakers, and further isolating and marginalizing Leftists, especially through blacklisting them.
From the 1930’s to the 1970’s the motto of the Communist Party and the Left was “Black and White Unite”. The question for example of the CP getting involved, whether in the Scottsboro Case or in unionizing the segregated South, took place with many open debates, where all questions were allowed to be raised, discussed, and answered, including those by less advanced white workers who didn’t understand or agree. It was the openness of these discussions and debates that allowed this sector to understand the nature of racism and to make the CP’s motto a success. In a nation that was then only 12% black, gaining white support during the Civil Rights era was crucial in changing the nation and its laws. The Black Panther Party understood this and gave talk in some of the poorest white communities such as in the Appalachians; even converting and forming important alliances with white working class organizations, such as the Young Patriots in Chicago.
The CIA unfortunately successfully changed “Black and White Unite” into Identity Politics in the 1970’s, where different special interest groups began vying for crumbs, promoting selfish individualism and rejecting collectivism, one of the basic foundations of Marxist Leninist ideology.
Following bourgeois feminism, white men were now the enemy and women felt pitted to fight men in order to demand more managerial jobs. Blacks began demanding the right to have more black police officers; as if women oppressing other women or black officers cracking the heads of black men was somehow progressive. What followers of ID politics failed to understand was that changing the driver didn’t change the system. My chances as a woman of dying from a preventable heart attack are the same whether the doctor at the hospital today is male or female, as are the chances a black man having his head smashed in by the cops whether the officer is white or black. Instead of collectivism, workers divided among race, sex, ethnicity, religion, etc., promoting selfish individualism. Of course there are supportive women and people of colour. But certain individuals are not the system. A perfect example was the Left dismantling the anti-war movement during the Obama administration because it would be seen as racist to protest a black president. What was forgotten were the millions killed abroad in US wars of Imperialism, especially Africans who didn’t care what race the current president was. As a result, today, Libyan men are being sold into slavery!
Whereas before ID politics, the enemy was clearly understood to be US imperialism, or the 1%, now the enemy had become the white, heterosexual, male workers. Marxists understand that white men are not our enemies, but our necessary allies in getting reforms under capitalism and in overthrowing the true enemy, the 1%. United we stand, divided we fall.
Unfortunately this vilification and exclusion of white males led to bitterness, creating the racism and sexism we see today. Many were driven into the arms of the right-wing in order to feel included. Enter transgender ideology, the new ID politics of today. Exploiting the Lesbian, gay, and bisexual movement, although the ideology itself is anti-gay and homophobic, it has been promoting itself as the Civil Rights movement of the 21st century. Let’s forget that Native people, African-Americans, and women still haven’t won many significant civil rights.
If white men were the enemy of yesteryear, women are now the new enemy, regardless of colour or race, allowing men their turn to experience inclusion in the Left by attacking and excluding women.
It’s not for nothing that penises are still called penises, but vaginas are front-holes, breast-feeding is chest-feeding, and woman can get their monthlies just like men (although I would seriously suggest that any man who does should go see a doctor ASAP and have their hemorrhoids put back in). Because transgender ideology, which is not the same as transgender individuals, just as all feminists are not bourgeois feminists, is a two-pronged attack not just against women, but the Left, too.
Its first prong of attack undermines women’s contribution to reproducing capital, both as the sex that bears tomorrow workers and cannon fodder and as workers. Discussions on birth control, maternity leave, food stamps, public services, as well as low wages and work inequality along with sexual harassment that affect working class women, become subordinate to transgender questions that affect less than 1/10 of 1% of the population, such as unisex bathrooms.
The second prong undermines the unity of the Left and the possibility of revolution. As Lenin said, “There can be no real mass movement without the women.” How can there be when women represent half the population and are the most exploited sex under crapitalism? In fact, how many people are aware that every major revolution in history was started by women? From the English, French, and the Russian Revolution, which by the way took place on March 8, 1917, International Women’s Day, it was women demanding bread that began it all. It is women who generally have to take care of and feed the family, especially the children. Prevent women from organizing or leading their own organizations, and the 1% are guaranteed there will be no reform or revolution.
What is Marxism? What does it represent? It doesn’t represent Hegelian idealism nor does it represent bourgeois mechanistic science. It represents a historical, dialectical materialism that analyzes the evolution of human society from one form to another, as Charles Darwin’s theories in the Origin of the Species analyzed the evolution of living beings.
Much of the transgender movement isn’t even working class; it mainly represents white, upper middle-class males who are racist, homophobic, and misogynist. It argues for gender stereotypes that tell homosexual men, for example, that they are really women or that racism is an imaginary concept. When transwomen says they are women, they are in fact negating not just biology and science, but eliminating the whole history of oppression that women experience. You heard the expression, you are what you eat. Imagine someone saying “I ate some soul food last night and I’m feeling black, although I’ve never seen a black person in my lilywhite town.”
Transgender ideology has set a dangerous precedent by referring to feelings rather than biology, which ultimately allows discrimination not just against women, but people of colour including native people.
Women aren’t oppressed because of a feeling, but because of their sex; for physically being the only sex that can literally reproduce the workers for capital. Being a woman isn’t a feeling. Just like being black isn’t a feeling. Being a Native American isn’t a feeling. I can’t wash off my sex any more than a person of colour can wash off their colour. Is capitalism a feeling, too? Can we unfeel exploitation on Monday morning?
Liberals who reject dialectical materialism reject nature and the evolutionary connection in nature.
Transgender ideology is effectively using language to erase women and subordinate them to the fetishes of men in nearly every English-speaking country. With the passing in England of the Gender Recognition Act, which Congress is trying to pass in the US as the Equality Act, women must defer to men as men now have the right to enter female facilities and colonize female sports at will against the wishes of women and the safety of girls. It took until 1920 for women in the US to have separate bathrooms, which Russian women won in the 1917 revolution. Lenin in fact championed female-only spaces and female leadership in female organizations. Really, how many women would like to turn around in the women’s showers and see a throbbing hard boner on a transgender woman staring at you? What about at a Rape Centre or women’s prison? For those who don’t know, it’s already happening: paedophiles and male rapists insisting they feel like women have been allowed into girls’ bathrooms and even placed in women’s prisons where they have raped women. Female sports and scholarships, better kiss that goodbye as men by birth have a physical advantage over women. Let’s go back to 1950’s America.
When the Left so wholehearted absorbed trans ideology, it threw scientific socialism under the bus as well as thoroughly self-destructing, making it the butt of jokes for the right-wing. From Black Lives Matter to FRSO Left, ISO, WWP, CWL, and PC USA to name just a few, all these organizations are now being redubbed Politically Correct USA.
It is rape to ever demand or try to coerce someone to have sex regardless of their age, sex, or gender. There is no place in any civilized society to allow rape or rape culture, and especially not the Left. In other cases, women were expelled for exposing male sexual predators, such as in ISO, DSA, WWP, and PC USA. I was told I should be ashamed of myself for shaming the PC USA by exposing a predator, when that party should be ashamed. In other cases, women were expelled because they didn’t agree with male comrades over the question of prostitution and violent porn. Imagine the outrage if a black man was stripped of his position and expelled, because he didn’t like to be called an N* and didn’t agree that slavery and lynching films weren’t empowering? In fact, why is the Left offended by Black Face, but not by Drag? Transgenderism is misogyny in drag.
Soros has spent over millions of dollars promoting transgenderism. Yet women on the Left who complained were ridiculed and silenced.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the CP subverted itself to neoliberalism when it decided to pimp itself to the Democratic Party. Even the ISO, FRSO right and many other so-called Left parties began embracing bourgeois liberalism, which has its roots in neo-liberalism or the free market economy, completing wedding themselves to parliamentary instead revolutionary goals.
Think of the level of misogyny; the CIA couldn’t destroy so many grousp like WW, which has existed for 60 years. How did it finally destroy these parties through transgenderism? Before we think this is an organic movement, which is separate from being transgender, it is actually funded by the CIA and its think tanks. That is the reason why it funded by so much money. Any legitimate organization would distance itself from these elements and I’m sure there are LGBTQ+ organizations that did.
When the National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund hosted the 2018 Trans Equality Now Awards in Washington D.C. on May 17, 2018, its sponsors looked like something from a parody. The list included: the CIA, George Soros’ Open Society, Facebook (which is partially funded by the Atlantic Council, i.e. NATO), Google, Amazon, Capital One Bank, Shook, Hardy & Bacon (a law firm dedicated to defending Big Pharma), as well as a number of pharmaceutical companies and clinics including: Gilead Sciences, Meltzer Clinic, and Pharma. [See comments at the end of this article.] For women on the Left, this open display by the CIA and Soros was like the government and the bankers sticking their middle finger at them. It proved what they had been saying all along.
To this day, the Left still hasn’t apologized to women and is still promoting destructive ID politics, pushing women to the hypocritical right-wing. It makes perfect sense for liberals to be doing this, because as their name suggests neo-liberalism, they want to push women to the right. But why the Left? In fact, why was the Left so eager to adopt trans ideology and expel women.
Either promote the Left, that is the Left we’ve inherited and, like a corrupt union, we understand as Marxist-Leninists that we don’t destroy, but attempt to revitalize, or create female Left organizations like Women for Racial and Economic Equality to push Left more left.
Comment on sources
The source for the CIA and others having funded the 2018 Trans Equality Now Awards seems to have “disappeared” from the internet, and they seem to have decided that their sponsorship of the 2019 awards would have been too open. However, after some searching, we were able to find the Transgender Equality Annual Report 2017, at: https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/annual%20report%20 2017%20final.pdf (page 8; page 10 of pdf), which includes the same sponsors as in 2018.
Also, Soros’ Open Society Foundations has funded individual transgender activists who are leaders in various Left organizations. One is Imani Henry, a leading member of International Action Center and Workers World Party. The source of this is available at: https://www. opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/cfp_20050101.pdf, on p. 10-11. This criticism is more aimed at his party than at him himself, for allowing him to accept this funding, just as no progressive trade union organization would have its members accept money from the American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), a notorious conduit for CIA funding.
As sources mysteriously disappear from the internet, we have put these sources on the web-site used by Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity (www.RedStarPublishers.org).
Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity

The Use of Identity Politics to Undermine the Left Anna Coco
The US government and ruling elite have infiltrated and attempted to destroy the Left since its inception. In the 1960’s the CIA think tanks came up with numerous strategies to destroy the Left, such as promoting drug use and promiscuous sexuality as a form of not only “Brave New World” escapism, but diverting attention from working class issues. Remember Jerry Garcia repeating Timothy Leary’s famous quote “turn on, tune in, and drop out?” Even the decriminalization of marijuana today is really not to stop the Prison Industrial Complex, which is still arresting millions of young men, especially those of colour, but about pushing escapism as a replacement for protesting in a country where half the population lives near or below the poverty line. “Get high; forget your cares.” “Don’t fight back. Jesus was a pacifist.” (Forget that Jesus flogged the bankers in the temple during Passover.) The Communist Party USA and other Left parties were successful in pushing back this degeneration, discouraging drug and alcohol use as well as criticizing sexual objectification, particularly of women.
Another government strategy involved promoting Identity Politics, which along with political correctness in the late 1980’s actually achieved its goal of successfully undermining the Left as can be seen in its current state. This time period wasn’t coincidental, since this was the time the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union was collapsing. It was at this point that the Left started turning inward and becoming fragmented, with no centre to keep it together which is what the Soviet Union represented. Feeling betrayed, demoralized, and bewildered, the CIA easily infiltrated and injected the Left with its poisonous sting, causing many Left parties to reject dialectical materialism, and in some cases even Marxism itself! ID politics was the late 1960’s brain child of the CIA to divide and conquer the Left, pitting groups against each other. Political Correctness helped promote ID politics by using the same methods as McCarthyism. Since socialism is a logical, scientific economic system, proponents couldn’t be allowed to explain or discuss what is was or it would convert others; therefore McCarthyism relied on shutting down debates and free discussion by employing name calling, shouting down speakers, and further isolating and marginalizing Leftists, especially through blacklisting them.
From the 1930’s to the 1970’s the motto of the Communist Party and the Left was “Black and White Unite”. The question for example of the CP getting involved, whether in the Scottsboro Case or in unionizing the segregated South, took place with many open debates, where all questions were allowed to be raised, discussed, and answered, including those by less advanced white workers who didn’t understand or agree. It was the openness of these discussions and debates that allowed this sector to understand the nature of racism and to make the CP’s motto a success. In a nation that was then only 12% black, gaining white support during the Civil Rights era was crucial in changing the nation and its laws. The Black Panther Party understood this and gave talk in some of the poorest white communities such as in the Appalachians; even converting and forming important alliances with white working class organizations, such as the Young Patriots in Chicago.
The CIA unfortunately successfully changed “Black and White Unite” into Identity Politics in the 1970’s, where different special interest groups began vying for crumbs, promoting selfish individualism and rejecting collectivism, one of the basic foundations of Marxist Leninist ideology.
Following bourgeois feminism, white men were now the enemy and women felt pitted to fight men in order to demand more managerial jobs. Blacks began demanding the right to have more black police officers; as if women oppressing other women or black officers cracking the heads of black men was somehow progressive. What followers of ID politics failed to understand was that changing the driver didn’t change the system. My chances as a woman of dying from a preventable heart attack are the same whether the doctor at the hospital today is male or female, as are the chances a black man having his head smashed in by the cops whether the officer is white or black. Instead of collectivism, workers divided among race, sex, ethnicity, religion, etc., promoting selfish individualism. Of course there are supportive women and people of colour. But certain individuals are not the system. A perfect example was the Left dismantling the anti-war movement during the Obama administration because it would be seen as racist to protest a black president. What was forgotten were the millions killed abroad in US wars of Imperialism, especially Africans who didn’t care what race the current president was. As a result, today, Libyan men are being sold into slavery!
Whereas before ID politics, the enemy was clearly understood to be US imperialism, or the 1%, now the enemy had become the white, heterosexual, male workers. Marxists understand that white men are not our enemies, but our necessary allies in getting reforms under capitalism and in overthrowing the true enemy, the 1%. United we stand, divided we fall.
Unfortunately this vilification and exclusion of white males led to bitterness, creating the racism and sexism we see today. Many were driven into the arms of the right-wing in order to feel included. Enter transgender ideology, the new ID politics of today. Exploiting the Lesbian, gay, and bisexual movement, although the ideology itself is anti-gay and homophobic, it has been promoting itself as the Civil Rights movement of the 21st century. Let’s forget that Native people, African-Americans, and women still haven’t won many significant civil rights.
If white men were the enemy of yesteryear, women are now the new enemy, regardless of colour or race, allowing men their turn to experience inclusion in the Left by attacking and excluding women.
It’s not for nothing that penises are still called penises, but vaginas are front-holes, breast-feeding is chest-feeding, and woman can get their monthlies just like men (although I would seriously suggest that any man who does should go see a doctor ASAP and have their hemorrhoids put back in). Because transgender ideology, which is not the same as transgender individuals, just as all feminists are not bourgeois feminists, is a two-pronged attack not just against women, but the Left, too.
Its first prong of attack undermines women’s contribution to reproducing capital, both as the sex that bears tomorrow workers and cannon fodder and as workers. Discussions on birth control, maternity leave, food stamps, public services, as well as low wages and work inequality along with sexual harassment that affect working class women, become subordinate to transgender questions that affect less than 1/10 of 1% of the population, such as unisex bathrooms.
The second prong undermines the unity of the Left and the possibility of revolution. As Lenin said, “There can be no real mass movement without the women.” How can there be when women represent half the population and are the most exploited sex under crapitalism? In fact, how many people are aware that every major revolution in history was started by women? From the English, French, and the Russian Revolution, which by the way took place on March 8, 1917, International Women’s Day, it was women demanding bread that began it all. It is women who generally have to take care of and feed the family, especially the children. Prevent women from organizing or leading their own organizations, and the 1% are guaranteed there will be no reform or revolution.
What is Marxism? What does it represent? It doesn’t represent Hegelian idealism nor does it represent bourgeois mechanistic science. It represents a historical, dialectical materialism that analyzes the evolution of human society from one form to another, as Charles Darwin’s theories in the Origin of the Species analyzed the evolution of living beings.
Much of the transgender movement isn’t even working class; it mainly represents white, upper middle-class males who are racist, homophobic, and misogynist. It argues for gender stereotypes that tell homosexual men, for example, that they are really women or that racism is an imaginary concept. When transwomen says they are women, they are in fact negating not just biology and science, but eliminating the whole history of oppression that women experience. You heard the expression, you are what you eat. Imagine someone saying “I ate some soul food last night and I’m feeling black, although I’ve never seen a black person in my lilywhite town.”
Transgender ideology has set a dangerous precedent by referring to feelings rather than biology, which ultimately allows discrimination not just against women, but people of colour including native people.
Women aren’t oppressed because of a feeling, but because of their sex; for physically being the only sex that can literally reproduce the workers for capital. Being a woman isn’t a feeling. Just like being black isn’t a feeling. Being a Native American isn’t a feeling. I can’t wash off my sex any more than a person of colour can wash off their colour. Is capitalism a feeling, too? Can we unfeel exploitation on Monday morning?
Liberals who reject dialectical materialism reject nature and the evolutionary connection in nature.
Transgender ideology is effectively using language to erase women and subordinate them to the fetishes of men in nearly every English-speaking country. With the passing in England of the Gender Recognition Act, which Congress is trying to pass in the US as the Equality Act, women must defer to men as men now have the right to enter female facilities and colonize female sports at will against the wishes of women and the safety of girls. It took until 1920 for women in the US to have separate bathrooms, which Russian women won in the 1917 revolution. Lenin in fact championed female-only spaces and female leadership in female organizations. Really, how many women would like to turn around in the women’s showers and see a throbbing hard boner on a transgender woman staring at you? What about at a Rape Centre or women’s prison? For those who don’t know, it’s already happening: paedophiles and male rapists insisting they feel like women have been allowed into girls’ bathrooms and even placed in women’s prisons where they have raped women. Female sports and scholarships, better kiss that goodbye as men by birth have a physical advantage over women. Let’s go back to 1950’s America.
When the Left so wholehearted absorbed trans ideology, it threw scientific socialism under the bus as well as thoroughly self-destructing, making it the butt of jokes for the right-wing. From Black Lives Matter to FRSO Left, ISO, WWP, CWL, and PC USA to name just a few, all these organizations are now being redubbed Politically Correct USA.
It is rape to ever demand or try to coerce someone to have sex regardless of their age, sex, or gender. There is no place in any civilized society to allow rape or rape culture, and especially not the Left. In other cases, women were expelled for exposing male sexual predators, such as in ISO, DSA, WWP, and PC USA. I was told I should be ashamed of myself for shaming the PC USA by exposing a predator, when that party should be ashamed. In other cases, women were expelled because they didn’t agree with male comrades over the question of prostitution and violent porn. Imagine the outrage if a black man was stripped of his position and expelled, because he didn’t like to be called an N* and didn’t agree that slavery and lynching films weren’t empowering? In fact, why is the Left offended by Black Face, but not by Drag? Transgenderism is misogyny in drag.
Soros has spent over millions of dollars promoting transgenderism. Yet women on the Left who complained were ridiculed and silenced.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the CP subverted itself to neoliberalism when it decided to pimp itself to the Democratic Party. Even the ISO, FRSO right and many other so-called Left parties began embracing bourgeois liberalism, which has its roots in neo-liberalism or the free market economy, completing wedding themselves to parliamentary instead revolutionary goals.
Think of the level of misogyny; the CIA couldn’t destroy so many grousp like WW, which has existed for 60 years. How did it finally destroy these parties through transgenderism? Before we think this is an organic movement, which is separate from being transgender, it is actually funded by the CIA and its think tanks. That is the reason why it funded by so much money. Any legitimate organization would distance itself from these elements and I’m sure there are LGBTQ+ organizations that did.
When the National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund hosted the 2018 Trans Equality Now Awards in Washington D.C. on May 17, 2018, its sponsors looked like something from a parody. The list included: the CIA, George Soros’ Open Society, Facebook (which is partially funded by the Atlantic Council, i.e. NATO), Google, Amazon, Capital One Bank, Shook, Hardy & Bacon (a law firm dedicated to defending Big Pharma), as well as a number of pharmaceutical companies and clinics including: Gilead Sciences, Meltzer Clinic, and Pharma. [See comments at the end of this article.] For women on the Left, this open display by the CIA and Soros was like the government and the bankers sticking their middle finger at them. It proved what they had been saying all along.
To this day, the Left still hasn’t apologized to women and is still promoting destructive ID politics, pushing women to the hypocritical right-wing. It makes perfect sense for liberals to be doing this, because as their name suggests neo-liberalism, they want to push women to the right. But why the Left? In fact, why was the Left so eager to adopt trans ideology and expel women.
Either promote the Left, that is the Left we’ve inherited and, like a corrupt union, we understand as Marxist-Leninists that we don’t destroy, but attempt to revitalize, or create female Left organizations like Women for Racial and Economic Equality to push Left more left.
Comment on sources
The source for the CIA and others having funded the 2018 Trans Equality Now Awards seems to have “disappeared” from the internet, and they seem to have decided that their sponsorship of the 2019 awards would have been too open. However, after some searching, we were able to find the Transgender Equality Annual Report 2017, at: https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/annual%20report%20 2017%20final.pdf (page 8; page 10 of pdf), which includes the same sponsors as in 2018.
Also, Soros’ Open Society Foundations has funded individual transgender activists who are leaders in various Left organizations. One is Imani Henry, a leading member of International Action Center and Workers World Party. The source of this is available at: https://www. opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/cfp_20050101.pdf, on p. 10-11. This criticism is more aimed at his party than at him himself, for allowing him to accept this funding, just as no progressive trade union organization would have its members accept money from the American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), a notorious conduit for CIA funding.
As sources mysteriously disappear from the internet, we have put these sources on the web-site used by Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity (www.RedStarPublishers.org).
Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity

Part 26: https://www.reddit.com/Viidith22/comments/141nvay/my_roommate_is_slenderman_part_26/
(Terry)
I awoke an hour later, brain pulsing. I was in the back of the van laying on the floor, “The prodigal son returns, welcome back you crazy son of a bitch!” Tucker laughed.
“Took on a god face to face. Pretty sure the only one with bigger balls than that would be Abraham. Though, balls didn’t save you.” Doc said, looking up from his book.
“Took the last core I had, but at least I can say I’ve killed a god now.” Tucker snickered with a smirk.
“Concentrated light, can’t say it’s what I would have thought of, but it was effective.”
“Yeah, wasn’t effective portably until we came across some anti-matter from a crashed–”
“What?” I tried sitting up but failed.
“Right.” He stood, propping up the left row of seats, and pulled out a black case. Flicking it up he aimed it down at me, “Anti-matter annihilation laser. Think you can piece it together.” There were about five lenses that each shrunk, narrowing the barrel to a tip. Everything but the lenses was coated in a vanta black paint, “Each lens reduces the energy state while also–”
“I couldn’t give less fucks if I pulled them out of Doc’s patients. You killed him with that thing?”
“Yup, his head’s probably gettin' breathed in from the wildlife out here.” He clicked the case shut, put it back in place, and sat.
“And the data is intact?”
There was a brief pause, “While it is, I feel it’s important to be more concerned about yourself. You have major skull fractures, a concussion, you’re missing your face flesh, your back had to be clotted to avoid you bleeding out, and you are severely low on blood. You should be sleeping right now.”
“I just, I had to know.”
“Knowing you, you’ll be back on your feet in–”
I passed out again before he finished talking.
---------------------------------------------
When I awoke, I was on my bed, Sepratine was applying herbs to my face, “Ho–”
“16 hours, Doctor Sadist and Rachel are busy. You really ought to be more cautious, this isn’t one of your video games.”
“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind. You heard from Jones?”
“No, apparently he passed out at the wheel after he parked. The Sadist said they’d be out for a while. He’s having Rachel look them over once she finishes a project she’s working on.”
“Shouldn’t you be helping her?”
She put her mortar down and sighed, “Flip onto your side, I need to replace the bandages on your back, then you need to eat.”
She finished tending to me in silence, then went to cook. The whole time, I just wanted to get up and finish everything. But even if I did, the data wasn’t fully recovered until it was sifted through. So I resigned to wait until the detective got back to me.
Sepratine came back a while later with a plate toppling over itself and a glass of water. Not to get too detailed, but both were empty in a matter of… 30 seconds or so? “Now get back to sleep. Your face should be back to normal in another day, and your skull is still fusing back together.”
“Let me know when Jones has the info.” She stood, taking my plate and cup.
“Someone will I’m sure. Get some rest, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t. You were reckless enough… Whatever, goodbye.”
-------------------------------
When I came to again, my face was dry, the medicine Sepratine had put on felt like a cracked desert, leaving a green crust behind. I stood, heading to the bathroom to wash my face. I took my meds, then removed the bandages from my back. Heading back to my room, I grabbed my phone, seeing several missed calls and texts. I immediately opened the message from Jones.
Call me when you wake up, I’ve got it, you’re not gonna believe where it is.
The phone rang four times, “Eh? Terry, that you?” He yawned.
“Yeah, what’s the deal?”
“You remember when you first met me?”
“No.”
“Well, I was headed to a town down in southeastern Oregon, one that wasn’t on any maps. And you’re not gonna believe this shit, but Tenyit Lane, the place I went, that’s where he’s being held.”
“So you know where I need to go?”
“Yeah, the place is a hot zone for organizations. There’re at least seven that I’ve recorded since I first went, and that’s not including–”
“And?”
“Well, point is, there’s security everywhere, people are gonna be everywhere, and the police and government officials are gonna be too busy counting bodies to care about one missing person.”
“Send me the coordinates.” I took a picture of my wall, putting the phone back against my ear.
“I’ll do you one better, I still have an old map to the place, I’ll send it over.”
“I don’t care what you say, I am paying you after this.”
I was already out the door, wearing nothing but a hoodie and sweatpants. I started the car, threw on EDM, and headed down to find Joseph.
------------------------------
A grey smoke rose in the night air above the town. I had a good ten miles left on the empty road before getting to the one stop on the entire strip. As I climbed the mountain, I turned my windshield wipers up more and more. The road was coated in a light crust of white, the speckles dropping ever so carefully in the light wind.
As I rounded a bend, I saw a flicker of headlights through the pine trees. Rounding the next one, I saw the lights again, this time coming around their own turn, before heading in my direction. The snow picked up as I met the gaze of the other driver, it was her.
I screeched to a stop, whipping a U-turn that nearly sent me into the rails. I stopped, having noticed her car was pulled over to the railing too. I jumped out of my car, running over to her, and grasping her in my arms, “I thought I’d killed you Tresca!”
Setting her down, my brain fully processed its surroundings. The person in front of me was Joseph, he was a bit shocked, but the rest of him reminded me of how he looked when we first met, “I-I’m sorry, I just–”
“Look, Terry. Honestly, it’s great to see you, great to have clear evidence I’m not crazy, great to know all those fun ass memories at the apartment were real. But…”
“I’m just so glad you’re okay.”
He smirked, but his eyes were hollow, “Yeah, okay…”
“I mean, you’re alive though!”
“Terry, this isn’t going to work.” He looked up, “I can’t ignore what you said when you saw me.” He looked back at me, nervous, “I read up on you, it was intrusive, and I’m sorry for that, but I can’t keep being a replacement. I need to live my own life, I need to get away from all this, I…” His eyes filled, but refused to streak, “I want to live a life away from all of this. I know a normal life isn’t really an option anymore. But I still wanna do what I can.”
“You… read my files?” I glanced at my phone, thinking about the picture I’d taken before leaving, “Which ones?”
“Your old life, hers too. Once I got ahold of my files, I decided to do some digging. I was me, but not I guess, I had to get an understanding of who the people I used to know were. I know about Tresca, I remember your conversation with Maerod.”
“I…”
He waited for a while, a few cars flew by us before he took the rope, “I will never regret the time we had. We had fun, we had some adventures and even a few emotional tipping points. Without you and everyone else, I’d probably have a slab of a ruck on top of me now. I don’t feel like dying anymore, but I also don’t feel like living. I’m sorry, but… I need to find my life out there.” He threw his arm up, gesturing around, “But if I stay with you, I’ll never get that chance.”
I tried to maintain myself, for seemingly the first time, taking Joseph as a person in. His overgrown brown hair, his blue eyes, broad shoulders, bland outfit. “You look different from before.”
“I feel different.” He shot a breath out his nose.
I staggered, “Let me grab something from my car before you go. You mind coming with?”
He nodded, gazing up at the grey sky. Several more cars flew past us as we made our way to mine. When we got there, I pulled out a small bag,
I reached into my car, pulling out the contract, “This was the guy that placed a hit on your wife. He’s dead now.”
A car flew by, lighting up his face to reveal his frozen face, “Y-you mean it? Who killed him?” He snatched the paper from my hand, looking over the entire sheet.
“The detective put on her case, the original guy is my understanding. Goes by Jones, he’s a P.I. now.”
“Really? Where is he?”
I cleared my throat, “You su–”
“Positive, where is he?”
I rubbed my arm, but looking at his hopeful face, I caved, “Apex Investigation Office, downtown Albany.”
He hugged me, “Thank you… Seriously, this…” He cried into my stomach for a time before pulling back and recomposing himself. Rubbing his nose dry, he turned around.
“Wait!”
He stopped, turning his head to me, “Yeah?”
I held onto my phone, debating to show him the picture or not. We stood still as two more cars flew by, followed by one with sirens. I pushed my phone back into my pocket, “Where are you going?”
He turned back to his car, holding up the contract, “To repay a debt. You’ll get yours too one of these days.”
Sitting in his car, he drove off without another word.
I sat in mine, pulling the phone from my pocket, and opened the gallery. I had one recent picture, it was one of the walls in my room, one with several posters. All of which were had drawn anime style portraits of Tresca. “Maybe Abraham was right, and maybe, Joseph has the right idea too.”
----------------------------------------
(Joseph)
Epilogue:
I dried my face as I left him behind, unsure of what to do first. I sat with music blasting for the first hour, mind flashing through the events like a slideshow. When I eventually came across a convenience store. It was a 24/7 place, the kind that had hot dogs on the roller for days at a time, and the only people that worked there couldn’t get a job anywhere else.
I pulled into a parking space and picked my phone off the passenger seat. I’d already decided I’d go to the detective’s place last. But I’d never been to Rachel’s before, and I didn’t remember her phone number. “What if I?”
I dialed a number, letting it ring a good five times when “Chad’s Cads how can I help you?”
“God, tell me that isn’t the name of your shop.”
“Joseph? Is that you bro?”
“Yeah, it’s been a while, good to hear from you.”
“Where the hell have you been man!? Terry’s out look–”
“It’s all sorted now. I don’t mean to be callous, I promise I’ll catch you up to speed later. But do you have Rachel’s number?”
“Oh, yeah. Everything good dude?”
“Yeah, she apparently told Terry to have me see her when he found me, so…”
“Oh for sure.”
“So can you send me her number?”
“Oh right, yeah. Good luck bro, come by when you have time. I wanna see how strong you are.”
“Sounds good Chad.” I hung up, smiling. A minute or so later, I had her number.
“Joseph?” Her voice was smooth.
“Hey Rachel I…”
“Chad messaged me.”
“Gotcha, Terry said you wanted to see me?”
“Yes, there’s a lot you need to know biologically if you want to pass for human.”
I sighed, rubbing my side, “Where should I meet you?”
“I’ll send you the location, Sepratine will be here too.”
“Oh, yaaaaaay.” She was alright, but she always had a whole bag of chips on her shoulder.
“See you soon. Oh, and did you happen to feel an aching in your right side at any point?”
“More than you know.”
“How frequently?”“Well, I was starved for a few days at one point, aside from that though I’d say a couple times a week if not more?”
“...Was that the entire time you were gone?”
“Not entirely sure, the first month or so is still kind of hazy, but since I was moved into town yeah.”
“...Okay, just… See you when you arrive.” Click
“I thought Doc was supposed to be the cryptic one of the bunch,” I smirked, a tear forming in my eye. “Goddamnit.” I wiped it, clicking the address she’d sent me, and heading on my way. Only after I picked up some gas station food.
-----------------------------------
“Oh my.”
“It’s me.” I did jazz hands, wearing a faux smile.
“Your soul is much… larger than I anticipated. Come inside, I’m sure you’re hungry.”
A whiff of cedar and sweetgrass slapped me in the face, “Wow, that’s… pungent.”
“Apologies, my sense of smell isn’t very strong, and Sepratine is….”She took a sharp intake of breath, closing the door behind me.
Looking around, the house seemed pretty standard, aside from the greenhouse in the living room, “So uh, what’s this you got goin here?”
“Take your shoes off please,” She did the same, “Creating chemicals from what’s in the air is taxing, it’s more convenient to just have the plants you need on hand.” She headed toward a door down the hall, “My equipment is downstairs.” She opened the door and I followed.
The air was a solid 80 or so, with humidity so thick it was like snorkeling, pollen so strong it activated allergies I hadn’t had since I was five. “Quite the quaint home you have here.”
“Oh right, sorry again.”
“No, you’re good, I’m just gonna need a few boxes of tissues is all.”
“Oh Jo–Joseph, my gods, you’re… wow. Different is a word, what happened to your soul?” Sepratine was turned to us, standing in front of a table with apparently every plant unknown to man of it.
“That’s kinda why I’m here.”
“Oh right, don’t mind me, just running a few experiments, Rachel has the perfect climate down here for a few plants.”
“Alright Joseph, hop on the bed.” Rachel stood in front of a wooden table, I couldn’t help but notice vials and jars stacked neatly on a counter that circled half the room, as well as a set of tables that held assorted plants with different lights hovering over them.
I sat on the table, “You need me to turn my head and cough?”
“No, first I need you to eat. It’ll be easier if you’re digesting food.”
She headed to a small closed-off area, then came back, plate in hand. Mostly just leafy greens. Maybe some kind of bean too?
“Go ahead, this should pass through you at just the right speed for me to catch it.” She turned, heading to another room, “Oh right, when you’re done I’ll need you to take off your shirt and lie down.” Then she headed through a door.
A few minutes passed and I finished the salad. Putting my plate on an open section of a counter and throwing my shirt to the side, I laid down, “Sepratine, you know anything about Vampirism?”
“Only rumors, they’re rare, so you’re the only one I’ve met.”
“Rarer than what you are?”
“Dryads are uncommon for sure. But given my personal experience, I’d say you’re one of a kind.”
“Awwwe, thank you.” I said sarcastically, “But is that all? They’re rare?”
“You’re here for Rachel because they’re rare. She’s met something like five, even got to do a lab experiment on one of them, saw how their stem reacted to stimulus. She’s the closest thing to an expert I can think of.”
Rachel made her entrance with the smack of the door on the wall, “Alright, don’t worry Joseph, I’m not going to cut you open today, I just want to see how large your stem has gotten. Based on your soul, you might be around half to ¾ vampire. But the only way to tell for sure is to see the size of your stem.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask, but everyone else I’ve met who knows about it has been a psychopath. What’s a stem?”
“Oh, kind of like a parasite is my current understanding.” She picked up a large metal plate, pressed it against my stomach, and used a metal rod to probe my right side.
“Come again?”
“Well… it’s more like a symbiotic relationship? Consider it another organ, only it’s wrapped around a portion of your large intestine. A full vampire has them fused, and it becomes an addition. But a partial, you can still see where they are two entities.”
“So you can cure me?”
She scoffed, “No.” Putting the plate and rod away, she pulled out a roundish object and squeezed some kind of gel onto the end before rubbing it against my right side. “If it’s removed, both entities die. You’re a symbiote now, you each rely on each other. In return for giving it nutrients, it gives you cells that allow you to regenerate anything short of half or more of it. They’re akin to stem cells, but enhanced. It extracts your DNA and replicates what it needs to to keep you alive for as long as possible. That’s the working theory I currently have anyway.”
“So I have a parasite in me?”
“A symbiote, you two aid each other, there are only benefits for each of you. Not to mention the enhanced soul… which I’m not entirely sure what causes that yet. Though the more vampirized you are, the more spiritual power a vampire seems to have. Considering that’s how it’s been with the last five, it’s only an assumption. But if that is the case, I am curious about the correlation.” She put the device down, handing me a towel, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to see the images I got back. Time to see how far along you are.”
Patting me on the stomach, she walked out of sight, and I wiped my side down. Sitting up, I hopped off the table, picked up my shirt, throwing it back on. Then, it was dark.
---------------------------
My eyes shot open, I was upright on the hardwood table, eyes darting around for the threat.
“Relaaaax, you’re fine.” Rachel and Sepratine stood beside me, and I loosened up, wired as hell.
Standing, I regained my balance, “Which one of you knocked me out?”
“Neither.” Rachel said, offended, “You fainted, you had several nutrient deficiencies, and call me crazy, but I don’t think you were willing to hear what I had to say.”
I mulled it over, a burst of panic surging when I thought about the thing inside me. But I managed to push it back into its little jar. Which I promptly placed back on the shelf with the rest of my emotions. “I’m fine.”
“Yes, now. But I have to be honest with you, the ultrasound came back more worrying than I expected. You’re only about ¼ so far. Your soul is far larger than any of my calculations suggested.”
“Right on.”
“Joseph, you have far more potential than I expected. While I advise safety, occasionally fasting may build up your soul to around as strong as Smudge.”
“Cool beans.”
“The issue is that you have an extremely high-functioning stem. You’ll need extremely nutrient-dense foods with extremely specific nutrients to maintain yourself as you are, let alone grow stronger. I’ll have what you need, but if you don’t want to go on a killing spree every few days, you’ll need an extremely strict diet.”
“How much is that gonna run me?”
She sighed, rubbing her eyes, “Quite frankly, I’ll charge you what it costs me. I don’t want you going on a murder frenzy. You’re my friend, but that’d also guarantee your death. As not only an alchemist, but a scientist, I can’t allow that. I’ll charge you at the end of each month. How does that sound?”
“Cool, do you have an estimate?”
“Joseph I feel you are hearing me but not listening.”
“No, I’ve got it.”
“This will be in the ballpark of 1500 dollars a month, and that’s alongside normal meals. Which should help you not only maintain but build up. The pain will feel like you’re being digested if you get to the point of dangerous starvation. Now, repeat everything I just said back to you.”
When I did from start to finish, she rubbed her face, “Alright, you can pick up your supply weekly from here. For now, though, I have something that should hold you over until next Friday, when I’ll have the actual supplies.”
She helped load a few milk crates into my overstuffed car, and when I went to start my car, she gestured for me to roll the window down. “Yes?”
“There are places you can get help you know?”
“I think I can handle the vampirism thing.”
“Joseph…” She stared at me, tugging at my bucket of guilt, tipping it ever so slightly.
“I’ll be fine. Thank you Rachel.” I flicked the button up and the window went with it as I pulled out of her driveway in the suburbs of West Salem.
-----------------------------
“Joseph?” The familiar guy behind a desk just across from me stared, eye agape.
“D-Detective? What uh… what happened to your erm… you?”
“Long story. What happened to you?”
“Long story.”
He chuckled, “Guess you were in that town for a while. What are you doing here?”
I held up the contract, “I’ve got a debt I needa pay.”
-------------------------------------
Author’s Note:
Hey guys, 4Shot speaking. Holy FUCK guys. This has been my longest-running series, it’s been 3.5 years in the making. Hell, it was the series that got me into this whole writing shebang. It feels weird to be saying goodbye to Joseph, given this series has been with me since the start. I’ve seen my ups alongside this story, and those who read or listened to the poker scene in my detective series will know I’ve had my downs.
Though, it’s not exactly the end. I have one final series I’ll be writing to wrap everything up. Those who have followed my first three may notice a trend. And yes, the final series will be a continuation of Jones’ tale. It’s been a long time coming, and I hope to complete it before february, which is when I’ll be taking an extended hiatus. I’ll be back, but I have some things I want to do first. This entire unraveling story will have been a part of my life for over 4 years by then, something like that is hard to just let go, and I have some life I wanna experience. So I may be gone for around 6 months to a year when I’ve finished the Detective’s story.
I’m glad so many of you have enjoyed my stories. I honestly never expected to go anywhere with any of this, thought I’d give this series up around part 3, and writing would just be another dead hobby of mine. But here we are. Honestly, there are a lot of people to thank, but the main people are my boy TeeStache who got me into writing, NaturesTemper who picked up my terrible rough draft of this series, and Viidith who first found my detective series and asked to narrate it, and proceeded to narrate my Lighthouse series.
It’s been a crazy ride out there, and I only intend to make it crazier in the future. Thanks again guys, cheers.

Honestly, it feels like every time Riot releases a "high skill ceiling, difficult champion who takes hundreds of hours to master, but who rewards you for that effort when perfected" champion, they have to absolutely break their legs because of pro play. And all of them seem to somehow find their way into my favorite champions list (except for pro play).
​
Ryze got pretty much everything that made him interesting removed. I'm gonna say it, I liked the previous rework of Ryze better, when his passive was the mana scaling and "your cooldowns are totally normal until you cast 5 spells and then you become a machine gun." His ultimate was still his old ultimate, Desperate Power, and his E had a very unique mechanic, the only iteration we've ever seen in the game of this kind of ability, where it hit the target and then bounced to nearby targets, before each bounce then bounced back to the original, each dealing individual damage. So the more secondary targets there are, the more damage the initial target takes on the second bounce. But that entire kit, and everything that made Ryze fun to me, is gone. I have played every iteration of Ryze from season 1 onward, and he was the first champion I ever bought. I can't even recognize this current version from anything that I have ever enjoyed playing, and I hate that my first champion was removed from the game to this extent.
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Now, his Q is the only thing that resets. Desperate Power is removed in favor of Realm Warp, which barely does anything in any layer of solo queue except get used by trolls to trick their team into teleporting to the enemy fountain. Or half the time when a Ryze happens to be on my team, I don't even see it until I've walked out of it because I'm looking at the fight instead of at myself and it takes like a second of the startup time for the visual to appear on my screen.
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Next was Kalista, whose ability to reposition made her very quickly become the most broken ADC in the game. Losing the ability to double the dash distance when going backwards was warranted for sure, but having so much of her power tied to her support being nearby and doing their job right makes her unplayable for 99.5% of the ranked ladder, especially since nobody knows what her abilities do and 99% of the time, they'll either use it to throw themselves out when you use it as an engage or to throw themselves in when you use it as a disengage. And the intention is fairly obvious. If you're stun locked and under half health, get outta there. If you're half a mile behind me, get in there, even if you're not an engage champion. It teleports you to your auto range towards me from the target after knocking them up. Just jump in and get the knock up. You'll be fine.
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And then Azir. A champion who promised the fantasy of controlling these soldiers into battle, using their autoattacks to DPS. Only ever viable because of the Shurima Shuffle because he has no attack speed items to build and his soldiers apply spell damage instead of on-hit, making him have to choose between dealing damage on each attack and attacking fast enough for it to be worth it. The only reason he builds Nashor's Tooth is because it's the only item in the game that gives both attack speed and ability power without wasting AD on him. Seriously, make the bird's soldiers deal on-hit effects instead of on-spell effects, you cowards! But nerf their base damage a bit and remove the Shurima Shuffle as compensation. Make him a hyperscaling DPS champion.
​
The next one up is Aurelion Sol. An extremely, extremely difficult champion who relied on perfect positioning, his DPS and area control were practically unmatched, but he was balanced by an assassin getting in his face and murdering him in half a second. But now he's changed into something completely different. A fairly mobile DPS champion who can only move in 1 direction when he starts moving and who has a better "Get off me" tool. Haven't tried new Asol yet, but I actually like the idea of this iteration better than the last one. But it sucks for you old Asol mains, all 2 of you out there.
​
And now the most recent one, Zeri. The actual meat and potatoes of this post, finally. Zeri was originally an on-hit champion. The bonus AD from overcapped attack speed was because you would always overcap your attack speed in this champions intended build. She had tons of hybrid damage and on-hit synergies at a time when the item support for all of this had been removed by the item rework a year (or was it 2? I don't remember) prior to her launch. And she lost all of it in favor of some extra crit damage on her W and E. She has gone from being a very powerful and consistent champion who required literally hundreds of hours to learn (it took me over 100 games to finally get a positive win rate on this champion after the bruiser build was removed the first time). And she lost all of it because of one single thing: Sheen.
​
The fact that her Q would both activate and discharge Sheen has kept Sheen in her item builds since day 1. Trinity Force, Divine Sunderer, and Essence Reaver have all landed in her item build at one point or another. It has been her primary form of damage throughout all of her iterations. Zeri has become synonymous with Sheen synergy. And it is finally, finally, as those of us who love this champion have been begging Riot to do literally since her launch, being removed. Good fucking riddance. And yet, they're also removing her entire passive and replacing it with nothing.
​
So, what would I like to see from Zeri?
Passive: Living Battery
Basically as it's being changed to be, taking on the passive from her Q, except that now, a fully charged zap destroys the enemy shield and gives her a shield worth 70% of the target's as well as a 10% movement speed boost.
Q: Unchanged.
W: Remove the crit, add in an AP ratio, make the damage magic again. Reduce AD scaling to 80%, increase AP scaling to 40%.
E: On-hit damage no longer gets increased by crit chance. Instead, increase the AD and AP ratios.
R: Remove the chain lightning as being bonus damage on Q. Instead, the chain lightning deals a small amount of % max health magic damage that cannot critically strike as an on-hit effect. Being an on-hit effect, Runaan's bolts will also turn into chain lightnings. However, the lightnings do no damage aside from their % max health magic damage when they hit something other than an initial target, so Runaan's triples the number of lightnings, but the chains don't apply the on-hit damage.
​
Honestly, I'm half wondering if we can just straight have release Zeri without Sheen interaction back. Copy, paste, remove Sheen interaction, and ship it. Just to see what would happen, if she would explode as a broken champion again or if she wasn't really broken on launch and it was just the Tri-Force build that caused it.
​
Zeri is genuinely the most fun that I have ever had playing League, and I have been playing this game since season 1. I have played every major iteration of every champion with very few exceptions. And Zeri as this high speed, low initial damage but high DPS marksman has been the most fun that I've ever had on this game. And I see her going the way of every other "most fun champion in the game" that I've ever enjoyed. Zeri today is almost unrecognizable from her release. All I can hope for is that the removal of Sheen enables them to buff her back up in other ways without her becoming broken again.
​
But this is Riot we're talking about. Likely what'll happen is that pro will find some other way to break her and they'll need to gut her again.
​
And just to be clear, no, I have not enjoyed these champions because they were broken. I enjoyed Azir before the Shurima Shuffle was added in (because originally you couldn't ult or Q during E). I enjoyed Ryze in the space between reworks when he wasn't that strong, really. I couldn't make full use of everything in Kalista's kit to capitalize on it being strong. And I actively avoided playing Zeri when the bruiser build was popular the first time because I thought it was too degenerate.

hi, i’m a seventeen year old high school student who is about to go into senior year. i’ve really struggled in school due to mental and physical issues, which dropped my gpa decently low (3.0), but i’m hoping i’m able to get into a few colleges with some sort of scholarship money if possible.
my plan is to go to an in-state university if possible and double major in english and classical literature with a minor in education. i would love to pursue family law or become an english professor in the future. i’ll be going into a law internship in my senior year and and also am doing a library internship over the summer, so i will have a defined idea of what i want to be by this time next year.
recently, my mom’s been talking to me about college majors. she really wants me to be a doctor, but i’m not good at math or biology or chem, and it’s not something i would enjoy. she’s been trying to convince me to not major in english or classical lit & thinks the decision is stupid and the degree would be worthless. she says that i should just become a garbage collector instead of going to college since i’ll just be going into a lot of debt if i “waste money on an english field.” both of my siblings are more stem smart and overall just smarter than me, & i think she wants me to follow in their footsteps by being in a math based field. i love my mom and think she’s just worried about me being able to find a job after college. she didn’t want me to struggle like her and my dad did. (both are teachers)
i’m having a lot of second thoughts about this. i know i would feel happy in an english based field,but is it worth it? i’ve never met anyone who majored in classical lit and i always see videos talking about how “useless” english degrees are. i have no incredible talent or anything that i’m actually good at except for creative writing, and even then i’m not sure it’s something i would want to base an entire career off of. i just want to be able to have enough money to support myself and any potential family that i may have.
should i just go into a pre-law major? are there any majors for people who are just not good at things? can someone who majored in english or classic lit tell me if you had any doubts and how you overcame them? any advice would do. thank you!

For the last 6 years I haven’t been able to land a job in my industry. Id greatly appreciate any advice as I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I don’t even get through to interview stages.
The industry I’m trying to get into is pretty broad, but anything working with offenders, parolees and case management is my jam. For the most part I apply for entry level of low end jobs (level 4 in most gov departments), but never even make it to interview stages.
Here’s a bit about my experience and qualifications, and I’ll go into my efforts after:
Qualifications: BA psychology (80+%, with about 8 commendation letters) BA criminology Major addiction studies Cert 2 security Occupational first aid Drivers licence
Experience: 5+ years in security industry 6 months in government case management About a dozen internships in government departments Great with computers, data entry, research and relevant social and psych skill sets 9 years in fitness industry
Efforts: Constantly with a job seeking agency. Have tried a few Every few months I consult a resume/cover letter advisor Apply for at least 3 jobs a week, always checking job boards usually every Tuesday Even with in house recommendations I don’t progress. I’ve had about half a dozen attempts to get me a job from in house staff Turned down by wapol a couple times even though I pass every assessment
I’m in good physical health, have no criminal history and no mental health conditions. Currently I work pretty sporadically in security, with some great casual / seasonal gigs but none offer career progression or skill development and don’t offer consistent pay. I can see it pains my family and partner to see my efforts yield no results and I don’t know if I can keep this up.

FfFffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff why you put me through 3 rounds ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff to deny me fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff why the f you make me do a 10 hour project ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff say I did a good job ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff no reply fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff I know I did a good job mf ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffFFFFFFFFFFFFFffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff why you email me to do my 1st interview into a automated phone call fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff MF give me some respect i am a fellow human ok? Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff I hate getting my hopes up fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk only 2 weeks of this sh!t FKKKKKKKkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk and its taken its tole on me ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff ok Fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffkkckckckkcckkck you ask me my salary range and I get nervous FKkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk then I give you too low of a range and regret it FCkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk i'm not very good at this fkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkKKK!K!K!K!KKK!K!KK!K!K! but i am good at my job so please hire me before these mind games FKKKKKKKKKKKKKkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! break me FUUkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk I know u are delaying the process Fk!KK!K!K!K!K!KK!K!K!KK!Kk1k1k1 to keep me hanging while u interview others.

Hey- throwaway account for obvious reasons
Im really torn about what to do here, looking for advice:
Current job- HVAC PE/Associate at a large international Mep consulting firm. I sit in one of the smaller offices though mainly doing s&t / industrial projects. Hybrid (in office 2-3 days per week although it’s flexible,nobody gives me a hard time about not coming in), 30-40 minute commute, my boss left to work for a client (I liked him a lot) , one of my direct reports (eit) left for a career change, the other (cad operator) for a huge raise at another firm. Im overloaded with work since they left around 6 months ago and we have a listing up to replace the EIT, but the cad guy isn’t being replaced and so far it’s been difficult finding good applicants for the eit. I like my new supervisor but not as much as the one that left. Salary is a bit low for my level but I’ve been there 6 years so I guess that’s what happens - $120k plus straight overtime, 3 weeks vacation plus a week of sick time, company phone. Overall it’s a pretty comfortable gig and I guess I’m just in a rut right now with the workload and all of the recent coworkers departing. Our office used to have 7 mech-engs and now it’s down to me and one other guy. We do work as a group with a handful of other offices too.
A recruiter put me in touch with a smaller local firm that seems like a good fit - similar role - commercial projects, not as much S&T so probably easier work, larger local team, they seem friendly. 7 or 8 mech engs- They are more firm about showing up to the office full time (meh) but they’re closer - 20-30 mins. I have a written offer from them - $140k (salary, no ot), annual bonus $7-$10k, sign on bonus $10k in stock, 4 weeks pto, $40/mo towards cell phone but they don’t provide one. Comparable 401k and insurance.
I’m really stuck on the in-office policy, but it’s a big raise when the annual bonus is considered too.
I’m also interviewing at a third company that seems great, smaller than both of the first two, 2 days in office min., 10 mins away from my house - pretty sure I can get a similar salary as my first offer but I don’t have a written offer yet from these guys. Hoping I get one soon from them, I did mention that the first company gave me an offer.
Is it worth accepting the first offer or should I stick around at my current company and hope things get better, and continue job shopping in the meantime?
I’ve been thinking about it for a week and Some days I wake up wanting the new job, other days I don’t want it because I don’t want to go in every day and the raise is nice but maybe not worth it or something I could get elsewhere. On the other hand it’d be nice to have a lot of local coworkers again. There’s so many pros and cons and it doesn’t feel clear-cut.
Would appreciate any advice, words of wisdom, wwyd?
Thanks!