Clemson youth football camp 2022 dates
Feedback for my Quant/Trader resume
2023.06.02 15:00 Jobdriaan Feedback for my Quant/Trader resume
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2023.06.02 13:49 Then_Marionberry_259 JUN 02, 2023 ME.TO MONETA ANNOUNCES VOTING RESULTS FROM ANNUAL GENERAL & SPECIAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS
 | https://preview.redd.it/k3z9am06fl3b1.png?width=3500&format=png&auto=webp&s=87164675ddd38bfacb675e871dbb910b1a0af386 submitted by Then_Marionberry_259 to Treaty_Creek [link] [comments] Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2023) - Moneta Gold Inc. (TSX: ME) (OTCQX: MEAUF) (FSE: MOPA) ("Moneta" or the "Corporation") announced the approval of each of the matters set out in the Corporation's Management Information Circular (the "Circular") dated April 18, 2023 at the 2023 Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders held at the offices of McCarthy Tétrault LLP on June 1, 2023. The total number of shares represented by shareholders present in person and by proxy at the Meeting was 62,975,235 representing 61.30% of the Corporation's outstanding shares. Election of Directors Each of the following eight director nominees proposed by management in the Circular was elected. The votes were cast as follows: https://preview.redd.it/1z9xo436fl3b1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=5b7f61e08bd632504b292fdc7095b4edb575fa9c Appointment of Auditors BDO Canada LLP was reappointed as auditor of the Corporation and the Directors were authorized to fix the auditor's compensation. Results of the vote were as follows: https://preview.redd.it/xv5tp346fl3b1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=103a6ba0d7562d1a0ab49d789660538e94ccf90a Approval of Articles of Amendment The passing of a special resolution to amend the Corporation's Articles of Amalgamation as set out in the Circular and in Schedule "B" thereto was approved. Results of the vote were as follows: https://preview.redd.it/0pjy7t46fl3b1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=72dd8de9a96d3cc68151fa1ee3e9a3610198ce9d Mr. Mark N.J. Ashcroft did not stand for re-election. Mr. Gary O'Connor, President and Chief Executive Officer remarked, "On behalf of our entire Board of Directors and Management, I would like to thank Mark for his outstanding contributions throughout his time on the Board, including his exceptional dedication in leading our Safety and Sustainability Committee. We wish him every success in his future endeavours." About Moneta Gold Moneta is a Canadian-based gold exploration company focused on advancing its 100% wholly owned Tower Gold project, located in the Timmins region of Northeastern Ontario, Canada's most prolific gold producing camp. The September 2022, PEA study outlined a combined open pit and underground mining and a 7.0 million tonne per annum conventional leach operation over a 24-year mine life, with 4.6 Moz of recovered gold, generating an after-tax NPV5% of $1,066M, IRR of 31.7%, and a 2.6-year payback at a gold price US$1,600/oz. Tower Gold hosts an estimated gold mineral resource of 4.5 Moz indicated and 8.3 Moz inferred. Moneta is committed to creating shareholder value through the strategic allocation of capital and a focus on the current resource upgrade drilling program, while conducting all business activities in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Gary V. O'Connor, CEO 416-357-3319 [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) Ardem Keshishian, VP Corporate Development 416-471-5463 [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) The Company's public documents may be accessed at www.sedar.com. For further information on the Company, please visit our website at www.monetagold.com or email us at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/168462 https://preview.redd.it/8lqabs56fl3b1.png?width=1810&format=png&auto=webp&s=e85036f11babe9157e06839df8551a1221edd4bb
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2023.06.02 13:22 Boneyard_Tales The Church on the Hill
Short Synopsis
A young boy with an interest in local history and cemeteries learns about life and the value of friendship when he meets a child named Peter in the local cemetery that may not be all that he seems.
•
When I was a kid I had a fascination with graveyards, burial grounds and old churches. I wouldn’t call this a morbid fascination but more of a learning place for a kid of the age of 5 or 6 to explore death and what it means to be remembered by loved ones and friends. As this fascination grew it lead me to the study of local history which would become a keen interest for the rest of life.
My great uncle Tom, who was a mountain of a man as he had worked all of his life as a miner in the local pits, encouraged this interest I had shown in history and at my behest, after Uncle Tom picked me up from school, we would often take long walks with his mongrel dog Tina around the local cemetery. The cemetery was scattered around the large hillside of the local church on the hill. The church cut quite an imposing presence in the small village I grew up in, as it seemed to loom over the whole place sitting high above the rows of houses, local pub and farms. Everyone in the village attended the church at least a few times a week, but at night it was considered a spooky place to the children in the village and my friends considered me very odd and often ridiculed me for my interest in the place and I gained the affectionate nickname Spooky Steven. This wasn’t a bad thing, it was just kids playing around and now we are all grown, we often all sit together having a pint in the local pub and laugh about it. I had my fair share of pokes of fun at them too when we were kids, there was no Internet or game consoles back in those days, so entertainment was what we would make it.
The church was ancient and had gravestones and markers now crumbling with the decay of age that dated as far back as the Anglo Saxon period of Great Britain. This history always fascinated me and it became a common practice for me to head to the graveyard, most often alone in my youth, and make grave rubbings to find names from the past and look them up in the local archives at the town library. This small library was full of old documents such as land registry papers and birth or death records which dated back for hundreds of years, it was like google before computers. I would spend hours in there till closing time at 6pm, looking through all these ancient records and when names came up again and again in certain papers, you could slowly build up a picture of someone’s life. You could see when they were born, who they worked for, who they married and how their lives progressed, most of the older papers ended up with people inheriting land or buying farms and making their way as countryside workers, it was enthralling to me. I think it made me realise early in my life, that if you say someone’s name aloud or read it, that person’s memory is still alive. Even at a young age I found that rather comforting.
Listening to this I’m sure you can imagine I was a bit of a loner, you don’t get the nickname Spooky Steven for being the captain of the football team. No-one was ever cruel to me or anything, I was bullied a little for being different and that was upsetting at times but I wasn’t bothered and I always just kind of did my own thing, so you can imagine I was happy when at about 12 years of age I found a friend who was interested in the same things as I was.
One beautiful summer afternoon while in the graveyard among some shady ancient oaks swaying in the breeze, I was taking some graphite rubbings in a particularly old part of the cemetery and I meet a boy named Peter. Looking back it’s strange that I didn’t know Peter from school, but you don’t think about these things at a young age. When ever I was in that part of the cemetery Peter would often turn up unexpectedly and talk to me about what I was doing and why I was interested in these old names from the past. He was full of information and seemed old for his 13 years, he talked about a lot of the old names on the gravestones as if they were still living. He would tell me about Mr Jones the welsh baker, who spoke with such a strong accent that he was hard to understand and how John Blakley the blacksmith would often let the local children into his shop and teach them how to use the kilns and pay them a small wage for helping him keep the fires burning good and hot. I checked out all of these people that Peter talked about in the library and they were all legitimate people who had lived in the town often hundreds of years in the past. I didn’t question this as Peter would have access to the same documents from history that I did, but I had never seen Peter in the library and I was there most afternoons.
On another occasion Peter told me that he was made to leave school and work from a young age because his father had died in a farming accident, so he had been put to work to help support his family. These times I met Peter we’re all in the late 1980’s and early 90’s and it was only when I began to get a little older that I started to think Peter was not from around here. There was no way a boy of 13 years old would be allowed to work at the hard labour Jobs that Peter talked about doing. Drystone walling or working in the fields are highly dangerous jobs that deal with heavy equipment and chemicals that a child of that age would never be allowed to use in this day and age. But, still I thought nothing of it at first, my young ego thought that maybe he was trying to impress me so I would be his friend. I started to ask about him at school amongst my friends and then the teachers and no-one knew who this boy was. I was again ridiculed for having an imaginary friend so I took a bunch of school friends to the church yard to meet him, but he would never show when I was there with other people. This became very frustrating, so I stopped talking about him.
After about a year or two of meeting with Peter on a few different occasions in the cemetery, I began to notice things that were odd or different about him. The clothes he wore seemed old fashioned and unlike me he didn’t seem to be getting any older, at that age kids grow at an accelerated rate and I was already almost a whole foot taller, but Peter had remained the same. On the last day I saw Peter in those years I questioned him about his clothes and the way he looked and he took great offence to this, his eyes welled up and tears began to roll down his cheeks. I told him I was sorry and that I wouldn’t mention this again, he then said to me some words that I will never forget “Its ok” he said through his tears “It’s been my absolute pleasure to spend this time with you. Just do me a small solid and say my name every once in a while when you are here, I’d appreciate that” he then smiled at me in a way that breaks my heart when I remember it and walked away into a shady part of the cemetery and that was the last time I would see him as a child.
By the time I was around 16 years of age the local historian knew me by name and we had developed a friendship and she began to tell me stories from the past which were not written in any of the history books. Some of the stories she told me were spooky ones about hauntings and other strange paranormal stories of local legends. Because of this interest she had and the passion with which she told me these tales of local occurrences, I felt comfortable enough with her to mention Peter. Her eyes lit up and she asked me to please tell her more. I told her everything and we stayed together well passed closing time looking up names and histories of local residents but we couldn’t find anything about about a young local worker named Peter, however we did find information in a record about the death of a local farmer in his 40s who was crushed in an accident with his wheat plough in the summer of 1889. The strangest part of the story is still to come.
Later in life when I turned 18 I was a regular in the village pub and became very friendly with the landlord and often did shifts in the bar serving in the evening to help pay my way through college where I took a bachelor’s degree in history. In the summer for extra pay the landlord asked me if I were interested in clearing out some of the old attic spaces to get the place ready for an extension that they were going to build. The extra money was welcome so I agreed and that is where the most amazing thing happened. Amongst all the cobweb ridden stacks of books, papers and a wealth of old furniture I found a framed portrait from a very old 1890’s camera. The picture was of a boy laying dead on a bed of flowers on one of the big old wooden tables in the pub, it was Peter. I rummaged around and to my amazement I found hidden in the back of the frame an old newspaper clipping about the death of a 13 year old chimney sweep named Peter Robinson. I was not afraid, but the revelation came as more a relief to know that perhaps I wasn’t crazy and that Peter had reached out to me from somewhere beyond our own understanding of this world. I chose not to mention this to anyone as Peter had never shown himself to anyone else and it felt it would have betrayed our friendship that had occurred in those early years of my youth.
A few weeks later I found myself drawn back to that shady part of the church on the hill amongst those ancient oaks and mossy gravestones with bottle of beer in my hand. It was a beautiful day, there was a gentle breeze and the crickets, birds and insects chatted in the gentle afternoon, just like those summer days I had spend in this place as child with my Uncle Tom and Tina who were now themselves long since departed. I rose the bottle of beer in the air and said Peter’s name out loud and for a brief moment, from the corner of my eye I thought I saw the flicker of a boy standing in the distance in the summer shade and a smile spread across my face. That day I learned a lesson for good, that if we think of those who are dead and gone and remember them out loud they will live on and never be forgotten.
The End
Written By John Renney
submitted by Boneyard_Tales to ChillingApp [link] [comments]
A young boy with an interest in local history and cemeteries learns about life and the value of friendship when he meets a child named Peter in the local cemetery that may not be all that he seems.
•
When I was a kid I had a fascination with graveyards, burial grounds and old churches. I wouldn’t call this a morbid fascination but more of a learning place for a kid of the age of 5 or 6 to explore death and what it means to be remembered by loved ones and friends. As this fascination grew it lead me to the study of local history which would become a keen interest for the rest of life.
My great uncle Tom, who was a mountain of a man as he had worked all of his life as a miner in the local pits, encouraged this interest I had shown in history and at my behest, after Uncle Tom picked me up from school, we would often take long walks with his mongrel dog Tina around the local cemetery. The cemetery was scattered around the large hillside of the local church on the hill. The church cut quite an imposing presence in the small village I grew up in, as it seemed to loom over the whole place sitting high above the rows of houses, local pub and farms. Everyone in the village attended the church at least a few times a week, but at night it was considered a spooky place to the children in the village and my friends considered me very odd and often ridiculed me for my interest in the place and I gained the affectionate nickname Spooky Steven. This wasn’t a bad thing, it was just kids playing around and now we are all grown, we often all sit together having a pint in the local pub and laugh about it. I had my fair share of pokes of fun at them too when we were kids, there was no Internet or game consoles back in those days, so entertainment was what we would make it.
The church was ancient and had gravestones and markers now crumbling with the decay of age that dated as far back as the Anglo Saxon period of Great Britain. This history always fascinated me and it became a common practice for me to head to the graveyard, most often alone in my youth, and make grave rubbings to find names from the past and look them up in the local archives at the town library. This small library was full of old documents such as land registry papers and birth or death records which dated back for hundreds of years, it was like google before computers. I would spend hours in there till closing time at 6pm, looking through all these ancient records and when names came up again and again in certain papers, you could slowly build up a picture of someone’s life. You could see when they were born, who they worked for, who they married and how their lives progressed, most of the older papers ended up with people inheriting land or buying farms and making their way as countryside workers, it was enthralling to me. I think it made me realise early in my life, that if you say someone’s name aloud or read it, that person’s memory is still alive. Even at a young age I found that rather comforting.
Listening to this I’m sure you can imagine I was a bit of a loner, you don’t get the nickname Spooky Steven for being the captain of the football team. No-one was ever cruel to me or anything, I was bullied a little for being different and that was upsetting at times but I wasn’t bothered and I always just kind of did my own thing, so you can imagine I was happy when at about 12 years of age I found a friend who was interested in the same things as I was.
One beautiful summer afternoon while in the graveyard among some shady ancient oaks swaying in the breeze, I was taking some graphite rubbings in a particularly old part of the cemetery and I meet a boy named Peter. Looking back it’s strange that I didn’t know Peter from school, but you don’t think about these things at a young age. When ever I was in that part of the cemetery Peter would often turn up unexpectedly and talk to me about what I was doing and why I was interested in these old names from the past. He was full of information and seemed old for his 13 years, he talked about a lot of the old names on the gravestones as if they were still living. He would tell me about Mr Jones the welsh baker, who spoke with such a strong accent that he was hard to understand and how John Blakley the blacksmith would often let the local children into his shop and teach them how to use the kilns and pay them a small wage for helping him keep the fires burning good and hot. I checked out all of these people that Peter talked about in the library and they were all legitimate people who had lived in the town often hundreds of years in the past. I didn’t question this as Peter would have access to the same documents from history that I did, but I had never seen Peter in the library and I was there most afternoons.
On another occasion Peter told me that he was made to leave school and work from a young age because his father had died in a farming accident, so he had been put to work to help support his family. These times I met Peter we’re all in the late 1980’s and early 90’s and it was only when I began to get a little older that I started to think Peter was not from around here. There was no way a boy of 13 years old would be allowed to work at the hard labour Jobs that Peter talked about doing. Drystone walling or working in the fields are highly dangerous jobs that deal with heavy equipment and chemicals that a child of that age would never be allowed to use in this day and age. But, still I thought nothing of it at first, my young ego thought that maybe he was trying to impress me so I would be his friend. I started to ask about him at school amongst my friends and then the teachers and no-one knew who this boy was. I was again ridiculed for having an imaginary friend so I took a bunch of school friends to the church yard to meet him, but he would never show when I was there with other people. This became very frustrating, so I stopped talking about him.
After about a year or two of meeting with Peter on a few different occasions in the cemetery, I began to notice things that were odd or different about him. The clothes he wore seemed old fashioned and unlike me he didn’t seem to be getting any older, at that age kids grow at an accelerated rate and I was already almost a whole foot taller, but Peter had remained the same. On the last day I saw Peter in those years I questioned him about his clothes and the way he looked and he took great offence to this, his eyes welled up and tears began to roll down his cheeks. I told him I was sorry and that I wouldn’t mention this again, he then said to me some words that I will never forget “Its ok” he said through his tears “It’s been my absolute pleasure to spend this time with you. Just do me a small solid and say my name every once in a while when you are here, I’d appreciate that” he then smiled at me in a way that breaks my heart when I remember it and walked away into a shady part of the cemetery and that was the last time I would see him as a child.
By the time I was around 16 years of age the local historian knew me by name and we had developed a friendship and she began to tell me stories from the past which were not written in any of the history books. Some of the stories she told me were spooky ones about hauntings and other strange paranormal stories of local legends. Because of this interest she had and the passion with which she told me these tales of local occurrences, I felt comfortable enough with her to mention Peter. Her eyes lit up and she asked me to please tell her more. I told her everything and we stayed together well passed closing time looking up names and histories of local residents but we couldn’t find anything about about a young local worker named Peter, however we did find information in a record about the death of a local farmer in his 40s who was crushed in an accident with his wheat plough in the summer of 1889. The strangest part of the story is still to come.
Later in life when I turned 18 I was a regular in the village pub and became very friendly with the landlord and often did shifts in the bar serving in the evening to help pay my way through college where I took a bachelor’s degree in history. In the summer for extra pay the landlord asked me if I were interested in clearing out some of the old attic spaces to get the place ready for an extension that they were going to build. The extra money was welcome so I agreed and that is where the most amazing thing happened. Amongst all the cobweb ridden stacks of books, papers and a wealth of old furniture I found a framed portrait from a very old 1890’s camera. The picture was of a boy laying dead on a bed of flowers on one of the big old wooden tables in the pub, it was Peter. I rummaged around and to my amazement I found hidden in the back of the frame an old newspaper clipping about the death of a 13 year old chimney sweep named Peter Robinson. I was not afraid, but the revelation came as more a relief to know that perhaps I wasn’t crazy and that Peter had reached out to me from somewhere beyond our own understanding of this world. I chose not to mention this to anyone as Peter had never shown himself to anyone else and it felt it would have betrayed our friendship that had occurred in those early years of my youth.
A few weeks later I found myself drawn back to that shady part of the church on the hill amongst those ancient oaks and mossy gravestones with bottle of beer in my hand. It was a beautiful day, there was a gentle breeze and the crickets, birds and insects chatted in the gentle afternoon, just like those summer days I had spend in this place as child with my Uncle Tom and Tina who were now themselves long since departed. I rose the bottle of beer in the air and said Peter’s name out loud and for a brief moment, from the corner of my eye I thought I saw the flicker of a boy standing in the distance in the summer shade and a smile spread across my face. That day I learned a lesson for good, that if we think of those who are dead and gone and remember them out loud they will live on and never be forgotten.
The End
Written By John Renney
2023.06.02 09:56 Mother_Dare can't properly install SP Football Life
 | used to have no problem unistalling-reinstalling the game but now after installing, the game opens but there seems to be a problem with the sider. Anybody have a solution to this?? Thanks alot submitted by Mother_Dare to SPFootballLife [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/zhzc620r8k3b1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=368e442ba7ec3aa0ced0331bb696385b596d3ec7 https://preview.redd.it/eceqevko8k3b1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f7cc484e13f31b0ae2957620fb96cd300498164 |
2023.06.02 07:08 Sablefool May Book Nominations (Belated Post)
Title: The Peregrine Author: J.A. Baker Date of Publication: 1967 Country of Origin: England Pagecount: 191 in both TPB and HC Goodreads Rating: 4.16 average from 4,256 readers Genre Tags: Nonfiction, Nature Synopsis: From autumn to spring, J.A. Baker set out to track the daily comings and goings of a pair of peregrine falcons across the flat fen lands of eastern England. He followed the birds obsessively, observing them in the air and on the ground, in pursuit of their prey, making a kill, eating, and at rest, activities he describes with an extraordinary fusion of precision and poetry. And as he continued his mysterious private quest, his sense of human self slowly dissolved, to be replaced with the alien and implacable consciousness of a hawk.
It is this extraordinary metamorphosis, magical and terrifying, that these beautifully written pages record.
Kirkus Review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/j-a-bakethe-peregrine/
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Title: In the Lives of Puppets Author: T.J. Klune Date of Publication: 2023 Country of Origin: America Pagecount: 528 in TPB; 432 in HC Goodreads Rating: 4.15 average from 10,164 readers Genre Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, LGBT Synopsis: In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots — fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They're a family, hidden and safe.
The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled "HAP," he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio-a past spent hunting humans.
When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio's former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic's assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.
Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?
Publishers Weekly Review: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781250217448 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Title: Life Among the Savages Author: Shirley Jackson Date of Publication: 1953 Country of Origin: America Pagecount: 229 in both TPB and HC Goodreads Rating: 3.98 average from 7,332 readers Genre Tags: Nonfiction, Memoir Synopsis: Shirley Jackson, author of the classic short story "The Lottery", was known for her terse, haunting prose. But the writer possessed another side, one which is delightfully exposed in this hilariously charming memoir of her family's life in rural Vermont. Fans of Please Don't Eat the Daisies, Cheaper by the Dozen, and anything Erma Bombeck ever wrote will find much to recognize in Shirley Jackson's home and neighborhood: children who won't behave, cars that won't start, furnaces that break down, a pugnacious corner bully, household help that never stays, and a patient, capable husband who remains lovingly oblivious to the many thousands of things mothers and wives accomplish every single day.
"Our house," writes Jackson, "is old, noisy, and full. When we moved into it we had two children and about five thousand books; I expect that when we finally overflow and move out again we will have perhaps twenty children and easily half a million books." Jackson's literary talents are in evidence everywhere, as is her trenchant, unsentimental wit. Yet there is no mistaking the happiness and love in these pages, which are crowded with the raucous voices of an extraordinary family living a wonderfully ordinary life.
Publishers Weekly Review: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781681411125 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Title: The Watch that Ends the Night Author: Hugh MacLennan Date of Publication: 1958 Country of Origin: Canada Pagecount: 372 in TPB; 373 in HC Goodreads Rating: 4.09 average from 714 readers Genre Tags: Historical Fiction Synopsis: George and Catherine Stewart share not only the burden of Catherine's heart disease, which could cause her death at any time, but the memory of Jerome Martell, her first husband and George's closest friend. Martel, a brilliant doctor passionately concerned with social justice, is presumed to have died in a Nazi prison camp. His sudden return to Montreal precipitates the central crisis of the novel. Hugh MacLennan takes the reader into the lives of his three characters and back into the world of Montreal in the thirties, when politics could send an idealist across the world to Spain, France, Auschwitz, Russia, and China before his return home.
Kirkus Review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/hugh-maclennan-4/the-watch-that-ends-the-night-2/ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Title: As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow Author: Zoulfa Katouh Date of Publication: 2022 Country of Origin: Canada Pagecount: 432 in TPB; 373 in HC Goodreads Rating: 4.52 average from 14,781 readers Genre Tags: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Magic Realism Synopsis: Salama Kassab was a pharmacy student when the cries for freedom broke out in Syria. She still had her parents and her big brother; she still had her home. She had a normal teenager’s life.
Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion, Khawf, who haunts her every move in an effort to keep her safe.
But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. Salama must contend with bullets and bombs, military assaults, and her shifting sense of morality before she might finally breathe free. And when she crosses paths with the boy she was supposed to meet one fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all.
Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are—not a war, but a revolution—and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria’s freedom.
Kirkus Review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/zoulfa-katouh/as-long-as-the-lemon-trees-grow/
submitted by Sablefool to Literaturebythelake [link] [comments]
It is this extraordinary metamorphosis, magical and terrifying, that these beautifully written pages record.
Kirkus Review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/j-a-bakethe-peregrine/
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Title: In the Lives of Puppets Author: T.J. Klune Date of Publication: 2023 Country of Origin: America Pagecount: 528 in TPB; 432 in HC Goodreads Rating: 4.15 average from 10,164 readers Genre Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, LGBT Synopsis: In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots — fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They're a family, hidden and safe.
The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled "HAP," he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio-a past spent hunting humans.
When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio's former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic's assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.
Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?
Publishers Weekly Review: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781250217448 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Title: Life Among the Savages Author: Shirley Jackson Date of Publication: 1953 Country of Origin: America Pagecount: 229 in both TPB and HC Goodreads Rating: 3.98 average from 7,332 readers Genre Tags: Nonfiction, Memoir Synopsis: Shirley Jackson, author of the classic short story "The Lottery", was known for her terse, haunting prose. But the writer possessed another side, one which is delightfully exposed in this hilariously charming memoir of her family's life in rural Vermont. Fans of Please Don't Eat the Daisies, Cheaper by the Dozen, and anything Erma Bombeck ever wrote will find much to recognize in Shirley Jackson's home and neighborhood: children who won't behave, cars that won't start, furnaces that break down, a pugnacious corner bully, household help that never stays, and a patient, capable husband who remains lovingly oblivious to the many thousands of things mothers and wives accomplish every single day.
"Our house," writes Jackson, "is old, noisy, and full. When we moved into it we had two children and about five thousand books; I expect that when we finally overflow and move out again we will have perhaps twenty children and easily half a million books." Jackson's literary talents are in evidence everywhere, as is her trenchant, unsentimental wit. Yet there is no mistaking the happiness and love in these pages, which are crowded with the raucous voices of an extraordinary family living a wonderfully ordinary life.
Publishers Weekly Review: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781681411125 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Title: The Watch that Ends the Night Author: Hugh MacLennan Date of Publication: 1958 Country of Origin: Canada Pagecount: 372 in TPB; 373 in HC Goodreads Rating: 4.09 average from 714 readers Genre Tags: Historical Fiction Synopsis: George and Catherine Stewart share not only the burden of Catherine's heart disease, which could cause her death at any time, but the memory of Jerome Martell, her first husband and George's closest friend. Martel, a brilliant doctor passionately concerned with social justice, is presumed to have died in a Nazi prison camp. His sudden return to Montreal precipitates the central crisis of the novel. Hugh MacLennan takes the reader into the lives of his three characters and back into the world of Montreal in the thirties, when politics could send an idealist across the world to Spain, France, Auschwitz, Russia, and China before his return home.
Kirkus Review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/hugh-maclennan-4/the-watch-that-ends-the-night-2/ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Title: As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow Author: Zoulfa Katouh Date of Publication: 2022 Country of Origin: Canada Pagecount: 432 in TPB; 373 in HC Goodreads Rating: 4.52 average from 14,781 readers Genre Tags: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Magic Realism Synopsis: Salama Kassab was a pharmacy student when the cries for freedom broke out in Syria. She still had her parents and her big brother; she still had her home. She had a normal teenager’s life.
Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion, Khawf, who haunts her every move in an effort to keep her safe.
But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. Salama must contend with bullets and bombs, military assaults, and her shifting sense of morality before she might finally breathe free. And when she crosses paths with the boy she was supposed to meet one fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all.
Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are—not a war, but a revolution—and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria’s freedom.
Kirkus Review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/zoulfa-katouh/as-long-as-the-lemon-trees-grow/
2023.06.02 04:41 SchemesOfMiceAndMen [H] Assassin's Creed, Past Humble Bundles and leftovers including Hellblade, Grid Ultimate, VR games, Walking Dead Saints, Resident Evil HD and 0, Street Fighter and Ultra, Aliens, Ascent [W] games, lists, trades
Hello! I have a bunch of old Humble Bundles and some other keys up for trade. I have them organized 2 ways: 1) by specific humble bundles, 2) alphabetized at the very bottom. Hopefully that makes it easier to find what you are looking for!
I'm mostly interested in trading with people who plan to activate immediately instead of retrading later.
Humble Non-Choice Bundles :
In Your Face VR
Superfly
Battle Group VR
Zenith: The Last City
Humble Spring into VR Leftovers
Star Trek: Bridge Crew
Surgeon Simulator: Experience Reality
Humble VR Emporium Leftovers
House Flipper VR
Zero Caliber VR
Scary Games to Play in the Dark
Propnight
The Blackout Club
Them and Us
SCP: 5K
Amazing Adventures
Beyond a Steel Sky
Alfred Hitchcock Vertigo
Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot The First Cases
Resident Evil Decades of Horror
Resident Evil HD Remaster
Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster
Humble Capcom
Strider
Bionic Commando
Street Fighter V
Ultra Street Fighter IV
Humble T1D
Walking Dead Saints and Sinners
Bartlow's Dread Machine
Super Meat Boy
Rad
Pine
Gauntlet Slayer Edition
Humble Extras
Oxenfree
Vikings Wolves of Midgard
Gabriel Knight 3
Battalion 1944
Deadbeat Heroes
Octahedron: Transfixed Edition
Oh My Godheads
Niche
Magicat
Evergarden
Equilinox
To the Moon
Sims 3
Sims 3 High End Loft Stuff
Sims 3 Late Night
Sims 3 Date Night
Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box
Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising
Medal of Honor (Origin)
Burnout Paradise (Origin)
Mirror's Edge Origin
Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising Origin
Popolous Origin
Humble Choice Bundles:
April 2023 Choice
Aliens: Fireteam Elite
Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp
Revita
Founders' Fortune
October 2022 Choice
Disciples Liberation
Epic Chef
Railroad Corporation
Golf Gang
August 2022 Choice
The Ascent
Hot Wheels Unleashed
Gas Station Simulator
In Sound Mind
Humble June 2022
Phoenix Point GOTY
Siege Survival Gloria Victis
GameDec
Pumpkin Jack
I am Fish
Humble May 2022
Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom
Command and Conquer Remastered Collection (must activate by June 7th)
Spellcaster University
Embr
Humble April 2020 (5 Choices Left)
This is the Police 2
Raiden V Director's Cut
Driftland: Magic Revival
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
TruberBrook
Shoppe Keep 2
Capitalism 2
Humble June 2020 (5 Choices Left)
Supraland
Grid Ultimate Edition
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice
Felix the Reaper
Men of War: Assault Squad 2
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
Overload
The King's Bird
Humble August 2020 Leftovers
Wargroove
Little Big Workshop
Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition
Humble September 2020 Leftovers
Golf with Your Friends
Vampire the Masquerade Coteries of New York
Fun with Ragdolls the Game
Strange Brigade
Catherine Classic
Humble October 2020 Leftovers
Tropico 6 El Prez Edition
Iron Danger
Autonauts
Shadows Awakening
Fantasy Blacksmith
Goat of Duty
The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day
Basement
Humble November 2020 Leftovers
Darksiders 3
Imperator: Rome Deluxe Edition
Crying Suns
Darksburg
Rover Mechanic Simulator
Townsmen: A Kingdom Rebuilt
Humble December 2020 Leftovers
Shining Resonance Refrain
Zwei: The Arges Adventure
Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection
Tabletop Playground
Humble January 2021 Leftovers
PC Building Simulator
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
Warhammer: Chaosbane
Total Tank Simulator
Not Tonight
Vampire TM: Shadows of New york
The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines
Humble February 2021
Outward + The Soroboreans + Soundtrack
Endless Space 2 Digital Deluxe
Trine 4
The Wild Eight
Train Station Renovation
Boomerang Fu
Werewolf: Heart of the Forest
Humble March 2021
Control Standard Edition
Xcom: Chimera Squad
Elex
Kingdom Two Crowns
WWE 2K Battleground
Hotshot Racing
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind
Cyber Hook
Pesterquest
Wildfire
Boreal Blade
Ageless
Humble April 2021
Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts
F1 2020
Shenmue 3
Main Assembly
Rock of Ages 3
In Other Waters
Aven Colony
Colt Canyon
Skully
Popup Dungeon
Humble May 2021
Darksiders Genesis
Hellpoint
Cook, Serve, Delicious 3
Fury Unleashed
Size Matters
Retimed
Family Man
Vane
Humble Alphabetical List
Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot The First Cases Ageless Alfred Hitchcock Vertigo Aliens: Fireteam Elite Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey Autonauts Aven Colony Bartlow's Dread Machine Basement Battalion 1944 Battle Group VR Beyond a Steel Sky Bionic Commando Boomerang Fu Boreal Blade Burnout Paradise (Origin) Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box Capitalism 2 Catherine Classic Colt Canyon Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising Origin Command and Conquer Remastered Collection (must activate by June 7th) Control Standard Edition Cook, Serve, Delicious 3 Crying Suns Cyber Hook Darksburg Darksiders 3 Darksiders Genesis Deadbeat Heroes Disciples Liberation Driftland: Magic Revival Elex Embr Endless Space 2 Digital Deluxe Epic Chef Equilinox Evergarden F1 2020 Family Man Fantasy Blacksmith Felix the Reaper Founders' Fortune Fun with Ragdolls the Game Fury Unleashed Gabriel Knight 3 GameDec Gas Station Simulator Gauntlet Slayer Edition Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition Goat of Duty Golf Gang Golf with Your Friends Grid Ultimate Edition Hellblade Senua' Sacrifice Hellpoint Hot Wheels Unleashed Hotshot Racing House Flipper VR I am Fish Imperator: Rome Deluxe Edition In Other Waters In Sound Mind Iron Danger Kingdom Two Crowns Little Big Workshop Magicat Main Assembly Medal of Honor (Origin) Men of War: Assault Squad 2 Mirror's Edge Origin Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp Niche Not Tonight Octahedron: Transfixed Edition Oh My Godheads Outward + The Soroboreans + Soundtrack Overload Oxenfree PC Building Simulator Peaky Blinders: Mastermind Pesterquest Phoenix Point GOTY Pine Popolous Origin Popup Dungeon Propnight Pumpkin Jack Rad Raiden V Director's Cut Railroad Corporation Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster Resident Evil Decades of Horror Resident Evil HD Remaster Retimed Revita Rock of Ages 3 Rover Mechanic Simulator SCP: 5K Shadows Awakening Shenmue 3 Shining Resonance Refrain Shoppe Keep 2 Siege Survival Gloria Victis Sims 3 Sims 3 Date Night Sims 3 High End Loft Stuff Sims 3 Late Night Size Matters Skully Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts Spellcaster University Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom Star Trek: Bridge Crew Strange Brigade Street Fighter V Strider Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones Super Meat Boy Superfly Supraland Surgeon Simulator: Experience Reality Tabletop Playground The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines The Ascent The Blackout Club The King's Bird The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day The Wild Eight Them and Us This is the Police 2 To the Moon Total Tank Simulator Townsmen: A Kingdom Rebuilt Train Station Renovation Trine 4 Tropico 6 El Prez Edition TruberBrook Turok 2: Seeds of Evil Ultra Street Fighter IV Vampire TM: Shadows of New york Vampire the Masquerade Coteries of New York Vane Vikings Wolves of Midgard WWE 2K Battleground Walking Dead Saints and Sinners Wargroove Warhammer: Chaosbane Werewolf: Heart of the Forest Wildfire Xcom: Chimera Squad Zenith: The Last City Zero Caliber VR Zwei: The Arges Adventure Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection
Fanatical, GMG, other Keys:
Aragami Assassin's Creed Odyssey Gold (requires Uplay login) Atari Vault Biped Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead Cat Lady Card Game Clustertruck Crown Trick Deponia Doomsday Dustforce DX Everspace Everspace Encounters Dlc Everspace Upgrade to Deluxe Edition HoPiKo Holy Potatoes! A Spy Story?! Horizon Chase Turbo Kill It With Fire Liberated Metro Redux Bundle Monster Slayers Monster Slayers Advanced Classes Unlocker Monster Slayers Fire and Steel Expansion Monsters Den Chronicles Moon Hunters Neon Abyss Pillars of the Earth Project Nimbus: Complete Edition Quest Hunter Shadowhand RPG Card Game Shieldmaiden Remix Skyhill Slain Back from Hell Spirit Hunter Death Mark Starpoint Gemini Warlords Swords of Gargantua VR Tangledeep The Dark Eye Memoria The Long Reach Tokyo Xanadu eX+ Wayward Souls XIII Classic
I'm mostly interested in trades. Let me know what you got! Thanks!
submitted by SchemesOfMiceAndMen to SteamGameSwap [link] [comments]
I'm mostly interested in trading with people who plan to activate immediately instead of retrading later.
Humble Non-Choice Bundles :
In Your Face VR
Superfly
Battle Group VR
Zenith: The Last City
Humble Spring into VR Leftovers
Star Trek: Bridge Crew
Surgeon Simulator: Experience Reality
Humble VR Emporium Leftovers
House Flipper VR
Zero Caliber VR
Scary Games to Play in the Dark
Propnight
The Blackout Club
Them and Us
SCP: 5K
Amazing Adventures
Beyond a Steel Sky
Alfred Hitchcock Vertigo
Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot The First Cases
Resident Evil Decades of Horror
Resident Evil HD Remaster
Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster
Humble Capcom
Strider
Bionic Commando
Street Fighter V
Ultra Street Fighter IV
Humble T1D
Walking Dead Saints and Sinners
Bartlow's Dread Machine
Super Meat Boy
Rad
Pine
Gauntlet Slayer Edition
Humble Extras
Oxenfree
Vikings Wolves of Midgard
Gabriel Knight 3
Battalion 1944
Deadbeat Heroes
Octahedron: Transfixed Edition
Oh My Godheads
Niche
Magicat
Evergarden
Equilinox
To the Moon
Sims 3
Sims 3 High End Loft Stuff
Sims 3 Late Night
Sims 3 Date Night
Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box
Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising
Medal of Honor (Origin)
Burnout Paradise (Origin)
Mirror's Edge Origin
Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising Origin
Popolous Origin
Humble Choice Bundles:
April 2023 Choice
Aliens: Fireteam Elite
Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp
Revita
Founders' Fortune
October 2022 Choice
Disciples Liberation
Epic Chef
Railroad Corporation
Golf Gang
August 2022 Choice
The Ascent
Hot Wheels Unleashed
Gas Station Simulator
In Sound Mind
Humble June 2022
Phoenix Point GOTY
Siege Survival Gloria Victis
GameDec
Pumpkin Jack
I am Fish
Humble May 2022
Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom
Command and Conquer Remastered Collection (must activate by June 7th)
Spellcaster University
Embr
Humble April 2020 (5 Choices Left)
This is the Police 2
Raiden V Director's Cut
Driftland: Magic Revival
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
TruberBrook
Shoppe Keep 2
Capitalism 2
Humble June 2020 (5 Choices Left)
Supraland
Grid Ultimate Edition
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice
Felix the Reaper
Men of War: Assault Squad 2
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
Overload
The King's Bird
Humble August 2020 Leftovers
Wargroove
Little Big Workshop
Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition
Humble September 2020 Leftovers
Golf with Your Friends
Vampire the Masquerade Coteries of New York
Fun with Ragdolls the Game
Strange Brigade
Catherine Classic
Humble October 2020 Leftovers
Tropico 6 El Prez Edition
Iron Danger
Autonauts
Shadows Awakening
Fantasy Blacksmith
Goat of Duty
The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day
Basement
Humble November 2020 Leftovers
Darksiders 3
Imperator: Rome Deluxe Edition
Crying Suns
Darksburg
Rover Mechanic Simulator
Townsmen: A Kingdom Rebuilt
Humble December 2020 Leftovers
Shining Resonance Refrain
Zwei: The Arges Adventure
Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection
Tabletop Playground
Humble January 2021 Leftovers
PC Building Simulator
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
Warhammer: Chaosbane
Total Tank Simulator
Not Tonight
Vampire TM: Shadows of New york
The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines
Humble February 2021
Outward + The Soroboreans + Soundtrack
Endless Space 2 Digital Deluxe
Trine 4
The Wild Eight
Train Station Renovation
Boomerang Fu
Werewolf: Heart of the Forest
Humble March 2021
Control Standard Edition
Xcom: Chimera Squad
Elex
Kingdom Two Crowns
WWE 2K Battleground
Hotshot Racing
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind
Cyber Hook
Pesterquest
Wildfire
Boreal Blade
Ageless
Humble April 2021
Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts
F1 2020
Shenmue 3
Main Assembly
Rock of Ages 3
In Other Waters
Aven Colony
Colt Canyon
Skully
Popup Dungeon
Humble May 2021
Darksiders Genesis
Hellpoint
Cook, Serve, Delicious 3
Fury Unleashed
Size Matters
Retimed
Family Man
Vane
Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot The First Cases Ageless Alfred Hitchcock Vertigo Aliens: Fireteam Elite Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey Autonauts Aven Colony Bartlow's Dread Machine Basement Battalion 1944 Battle Group VR Beyond a Steel Sky Bionic Commando Boomerang Fu Boreal Blade Burnout Paradise (Origin) Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box Capitalism 2 Catherine Classic Colt Canyon Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising Origin Command and Conquer Remastered Collection (must activate by June 7th) Control Standard Edition Cook, Serve, Delicious 3 Crying Suns Cyber Hook Darksburg Darksiders 3 Darksiders Genesis Deadbeat Heroes Disciples Liberation Driftland: Magic Revival Elex Embr Endless Space 2 Digital Deluxe Epic Chef Equilinox Evergarden F1 2020 Family Man Fantasy Blacksmith Felix the Reaper Founders' Fortune Fun with Ragdolls the Game Fury Unleashed Gabriel Knight 3 GameDec Gas Station Simulator Gauntlet Slayer Edition Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition Goat of Duty Golf Gang Golf with Your Friends Grid Ultimate Edition Hellblade Senua' Sacrifice Hellpoint Hot Wheels Unleashed Hotshot Racing House Flipper VR I am Fish Imperator: Rome Deluxe Edition In Other Waters In Sound Mind Iron Danger Kingdom Two Crowns Little Big Workshop Magicat Main Assembly Medal of Honor (Origin) Men of War: Assault Squad 2 Mirror's Edge Origin Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp Niche Not Tonight Octahedron: Transfixed Edition Oh My Godheads Outward + The Soroboreans + Soundtrack Overload Oxenfree PC Building Simulator Peaky Blinders: Mastermind Pesterquest Phoenix Point GOTY Pine Popolous Origin Popup Dungeon Propnight Pumpkin Jack Rad Raiden V Director's Cut Railroad Corporation Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster Resident Evil Decades of Horror Resident Evil HD Remaster Retimed Revita Rock of Ages 3 Rover Mechanic Simulator SCP: 5K Shadows Awakening Shenmue 3 Shining Resonance Refrain Shoppe Keep 2 Siege Survival Gloria Victis Sims 3 Sims 3 Date Night Sims 3 High End Loft Stuff Sims 3 Late Night Size Matters Skully Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts Spellcaster University Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom Star Trek: Bridge Crew Strange Brigade Street Fighter V Strider Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones Super Meat Boy Superfly Supraland Surgeon Simulator: Experience Reality Tabletop Playground The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines The Ascent The Blackout Club The King's Bird The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day The Wild Eight Them and Us This is the Police 2 To the Moon Total Tank Simulator Townsmen: A Kingdom Rebuilt Train Station Renovation Trine 4 Tropico 6 El Prez Edition TruberBrook Turok 2: Seeds of Evil Ultra Street Fighter IV Vampire TM: Shadows of New york Vampire the Masquerade Coteries of New York Vane Vikings Wolves of Midgard WWE 2K Battleground Walking Dead Saints and Sinners Wargroove Warhammer: Chaosbane Werewolf: Heart of the Forest Wildfire Xcom: Chimera Squad Zenith: The Last City Zero Caliber VR Zwei: The Arges Adventure Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection
Fanatical, GMG, other Keys:
Aragami Assassin's Creed Odyssey Gold (requires Uplay login) Atari Vault Biped Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead Cat Lady Card Game Clustertruck Crown Trick Deponia Doomsday Dustforce DX Everspace Everspace Encounters Dlc Everspace Upgrade to Deluxe Edition HoPiKo Holy Potatoes! A Spy Story?! Horizon Chase Turbo Kill It With Fire Liberated Metro Redux Bundle Monster Slayers Monster Slayers Advanced Classes Unlocker Monster Slayers Fire and Steel Expansion Monsters Den Chronicles Moon Hunters Neon Abyss Pillars of the Earth Project Nimbus: Complete Edition Quest Hunter Shadowhand RPG Card Game Shieldmaiden Remix Skyhill Slain Back from Hell Spirit Hunter Death Mark Starpoint Gemini Warlords Swords of Gargantua VR Tangledeep The Dark Eye Memoria The Long Reach Tokyo Xanadu eX+ Wayward Souls XIII Classic
I'm mostly interested in trades. Let me know what you got! Thanks!
2023.06.02 04:16 CurlsofMe Traumatized. Pls Advice me.
I don’t know how this relationship was for me but I feel traumatized, scarred, and scared for my future relationships(if I ever get into one; doubt it).
I started dating this guy whom I knew since we were teenagers, now we’re both in our 20s when we started dating. Waited for him to come back from Boot Camp. During this time, very flirtatious, wanted to marry me, all in etc. this happened 2022, but later that year a month after making it official. I find out he’s been cheating on me. I developed trust issues etc, he did the whole crying scene and I took him back (first mistake I guess) but I was always in love with this person. Throughout our relationship, I’ve always felt like he’d put me aside and choose his buddies over and when I would explain to him how I felt, I’d get “you are too sensitive”, “you need to stop being weak” or “you’re just jealous, / butthurt because I don’t want to do xyz with you” or my favorite “you think too much” . This made me feel really sad because I feel like I’ve done a lot for this person, changed states, left job offers, allowed him to live with me, plate on the table kind of girl and I just wanted him to see how much I loved him. Further down, about a month ago I was trying to break up with him because the whole situation was getting worse. I spent three days trying to break up with him. On the third date, he ignored my requests and kept saying I belong to him, that I’m never going to get someone better than him, and proceeds to flip me over and penetrates me while I’m begging him to stop, finishes off and pulls my underwear back up. I explained to him how I felt violated but his only two responses were I thought you were joking ( I was crying and this person has always stopped when I asked before) and I should’ve fought him harder to get him off me. Idk if this is rape but he said it doesn’t count because we’re together. I forgave him as well. Lastly, we broke it off because I couldn’t take it anymore. Another incident where he preferred to do something with his friend instead of me even though it was for our living situation. I feel like this person drained me, my soul, and shattered me completely. My mental health sunk bad in this relationship, sleepless nights, crying and afraid all of the time.
He says he wants to be friends at least because that way he can treat me different. Just says he’s really sorry but never takes accountability.
Advice? Thank you.
submitted by CurlsofMe to abusiverelationships [link] [comments]
I started dating this guy whom I knew since we were teenagers, now we’re both in our 20s when we started dating. Waited for him to come back from Boot Camp. During this time, very flirtatious, wanted to marry me, all in etc. this happened 2022, but later that year a month after making it official. I find out he’s been cheating on me. I developed trust issues etc, he did the whole crying scene and I took him back (first mistake I guess) but I was always in love with this person. Throughout our relationship, I’ve always felt like he’d put me aside and choose his buddies over and when I would explain to him how I felt, I’d get “you are too sensitive”, “you need to stop being weak” or “you’re just jealous, / butthurt because I don’t want to do xyz with you” or my favorite “you think too much” . This made me feel really sad because I feel like I’ve done a lot for this person, changed states, left job offers, allowed him to live with me, plate on the table kind of girl and I just wanted him to see how much I loved him. Further down, about a month ago I was trying to break up with him because the whole situation was getting worse. I spent three days trying to break up with him. On the third date, he ignored my requests and kept saying I belong to him, that I’m never going to get someone better than him, and proceeds to flip me over and penetrates me while I’m begging him to stop, finishes off and pulls my underwear back up. I explained to him how I felt violated but his only two responses were I thought you were joking ( I was crying and this person has always stopped when I asked before) and I should’ve fought him harder to get him off me. Idk if this is rape but he said it doesn’t count because we’re together. I forgave him as well. Lastly, we broke it off because I couldn’t take it anymore. Another incident where he preferred to do something with his friend instead of me even though it was for our living situation. I feel like this person drained me, my soul, and shattered me completely. My mental health sunk bad in this relationship, sleepless nights, crying and afraid all of the time.
He says he wants to be friends at least because that way he can treat me different. Just says he’s really sorry but never takes accountability.
Advice? Thank you.
2023.06.02 02:07 lonelydad1991 Single dad figuring out how to move on
In December 2022 I was suicidal, lowest point of my life, it finally sunk in after nearly 2 years of being separated from my wife who I have a child with, that my marriage was over. One day I went to work and spent 6 hours thinking about a bridge near my house that someone has taken their life on, I planned to drive to that bridge and just stand on it and see how it felt. It had just been the first Christmas without my son, I was in a dark place.
I'm not there anymore, i've been slowly pulling myself out (and had friends nudging too).
I don't have it bad, good job, not stupid (most of the time), not the ugliest guy in the room, I know how to get fit (currently very fat but know I can change that). Honestly, i'm pretty average, but in a world of some pretty awful situations I have it pretty good.
I seem to slip in and out of depression, always have since I was a teenager, my dad left when I was 13 after an affair and it tore my family apart. It certainly could have been worse though, I sometimes feel as though i'm not entitled to live so much with the past when there are people out there that have it so much worse than me. But I wanted to vent and look for some words of encouragement, maybe someone has been in my shoes and could share their journey out.
My wife kicked me out because I was a crappy husband, I could have been better but I also feel as though it was a two-way street and I struggle most days not to resent her (I do my very best not to as my mum resented my father and it didn't help things). It's hard not to though, she has complete control of my time with my son, she won't budge on any agreement simply because 'she knows whats best for him' and it's a pretty fail safe argument, she's a good mother and a wonderful person, but her biggest downfall is her inability to see it from the other side. She considers my perspective but in a way that she 'knows' how i'm feeling without ever really consulting me or hearing it. She's very righteous and it can be pretty hard sometimes not to tell her how it is. I feel as though I am unable to say anything out of fear of an argument and difficulty then co-parenting. Her worst offense since we broke up is honestly just still coming to me for support on family matters etc. as if I were still her husband even though she has a new partner and she's introduced him to our son (something she wouldn't do if it wasn't a committed long-term relationship).
I'm 31 my son is now 5, I was 28 when she kicked me out, I was 18 stone, and lost 3 stone in a year, I really started to turn myself around and decided to take one last swing at my marriage, it was going so well until we finally had a fateful argument about how I wanted more time with my son. She threw it in my face and its sods law as if we'd just gotten back together the argument was moot anyway. But overall it was a good thing, as it demonstrated we still had communication issues and they were never going away, the relationship was good to end when it did. But in the following 2 years I put 3 stone back on and fell into a deep slump that I still haven't recovered from.
When I got back into shape I tried dating, and even in my current state have tried reaching out to women or whatever but I really just don't get much attention. Online dating feels tragic I can spend months swiping with no matches and when I finally do get one I blow it in the space of a week.
I don't think i'm in a position to get back into another relationship but I feel traumatised by my marriage and I don't really know how to recover.
The last 3 weeks i've been killing it, slamming overtime and pulling in great numbers with work, i've been going to football with work weekly and loving it (even though I suck at football) and i've been weight training and even eating properly for the last week. But I used to have this sense of purpose where I'd finish a day like that and be coming home to my family, I spent every second of my life once my dad left committing to never become him, turns out faithfulness isn't the only term of marriage (how naive I know). I fucked up, but I also rid myself of a woman who wasn't good for me. Now I come home empty, alone and even when I do have my son I feel so disengaged from him, all I here from him is how he wants to see Mum and 'Steve' this and 'Steve' that, because 'Steve' is such a great guy (he's not called Steve ^^, my ex-wifes new partner). I have no quarrel with Steve, but its all very hard to hear.
I have so much I want to say to my ex, but none of it would be healthy and it wouldn't really make a difference. But I feel so hard done by in our outcome, I moved away from my hometown to be closer to her family when my son was born, but now i'm so isolated because I stayed to be close to him when we separated.
I've tried self help books, i've tried losing myself in work or study but it just feels so aimless when I don't have someone to come home to, and I honestly just don't get the attention I once did when I was a young 20s lad with a spring in his step and the naivety to make cringeworthy mistakes that ended in actual relationships with women. Not great ones, but i'd take anything over nothing at this point.
As a 30 year old i'm so scared to come off as too forward or too pushy, I try to be myself but I also try to demonstrate confidence and change things up a little, but I just don't get anywhere with it. I feel so disconnected.
Money isn't great but it isn't terrible either, I get paid well but I have alot of debt from my marriage (I foot the bill for the wedding etc, didn't want to legal battle out of fear of losing my pension, my wife didn't have one but I had a good one).
I'm just really not sure where to go from here, if anyone has any great book suggestions or whatever I would really welcome it.
TLDR my wife left, I have a son that I see less than i'd like to (and don't want to fight a legal battle as i've read it's a lose-lose). I'm lost and feel without purpose, and just don't know what to look forward to.
submitted by lonelydad1991 to Advice [link] [comments]
I'm not there anymore, i've been slowly pulling myself out (and had friends nudging too).
I don't have it bad, good job, not stupid (most of the time), not the ugliest guy in the room, I know how to get fit (currently very fat but know I can change that). Honestly, i'm pretty average, but in a world of some pretty awful situations I have it pretty good.
I seem to slip in and out of depression, always have since I was a teenager, my dad left when I was 13 after an affair and it tore my family apart. It certainly could have been worse though, I sometimes feel as though i'm not entitled to live so much with the past when there are people out there that have it so much worse than me. But I wanted to vent and look for some words of encouragement, maybe someone has been in my shoes and could share their journey out.
My wife kicked me out because I was a crappy husband, I could have been better but I also feel as though it was a two-way street and I struggle most days not to resent her (I do my very best not to as my mum resented my father and it didn't help things). It's hard not to though, she has complete control of my time with my son, she won't budge on any agreement simply because 'she knows whats best for him' and it's a pretty fail safe argument, she's a good mother and a wonderful person, but her biggest downfall is her inability to see it from the other side. She considers my perspective but in a way that she 'knows' how i'm feeling without ever really consulting me or hearing it. She's very righteous and it can be pretty hard sometimes not to tell her how it is. I feel as though I am unable to say anything out of fear of an argument and difficulty then co-parenting. Her worst offense since we broke up is honestly just still coming to me for support on family matters etc. as if I were still her husband even though she has a new partner and she's introduced him to our son (something she wouldn't do if it wasn't a committed long-term relationship).
I'm 31 my son is now 5, I was 28 when she kicked me out, I was 18 stone, and lost 3 stone in a year, I really started to turn myself around and decided to take one last swing at my marriage, it was going so well until we finally had a fateful argument about how I wanted more time with my son. She threw it in my face and its sods law as if we'd just gotten back together the argument was moot anyway. But overall it was a good thing, as it demonstrated we still had communication issues and they were never going away, the relationship was good to end when it did. But in the following 2 years I put 3 stone back on and fell into a deep slump that I still haven't recovered from.
When I got back into shape I tried dating, and even in my current state have tried reaching out to women or whatever but I really just don't get much attention. Online dating feels tragic I can spend months swiping with no matches and when I finally do get one I blow it in the space of a week.
I don't think i'm in a position to get back into another relationship but I feel traumatised by my marriage and I don't really know how to recover.
The last 3 weeks i've been killing it, slamming overtime and pulling in great numbers with work, i've been going to football with work weekly and loving it (even though I suck at football) and i've been weight training and even eating properly for the last week. But I used to have this sense of purpose where I'd finish a day like that and be coming home to my family, I spent every second of my life once my dad left committing to never become him, turns out faithfulness isn't the only term of marriage (how naive I know). I fucked up, but I also rid myself of a woman who wasn't good for me. Now I come home empty, alone and even when I do have my son I feel so disengaged from him, all I here from him is how he wants to see Mum and 'Steve' this and 'Steve' that, because 'Steve' is such a great guy (he's not called Steve ^^, my ex-wifes new partner). I have no quarrel with Steve, but its all very hard to hear.
I have so much I want to say to my ex, but none of it would be healthy and it wouldn't really make a difference. But I feel so hard done by in our outcome, I moved away from my hometown to be closer to her family when my son was born, but now i'm so isolated because I stayed to be close to him when we separated.
I've tried self help books, i've tried losing myself in work or study but it just feels so aimless when I don't have someone to come home to, and I honestly just don't get the attention I once did when I was a young 20s lad with a spring in his step and the naivety to make cringeworthy mistakes that ended in actual relationships with women. Not great ones, but i'd take anything over nothing at this point.
As a 30 year old i'm so scared to come off as too forward or too pushy, I try to be myself but I also try to demonstrate confidence and change things up a little, but I just don't get anywhere with it. I feel so disconnected.
Money isn't great but it isn't terrible either, I get paid well but I have alot of debt from my marriage (I foot the bill for the wedding etc, didn't want to legal battle out of fear of losing my pension, my wife didn't have one but I had a good one).
I'm just really not sure where to go from here, if anyone has any great book suggestions or whatever I would really welcome it.
TLDR my wife left, I have a son that I see less than i'd like to (and don't want to fight a legal battle as i've read it's a lose-lose). I'm lost and feel without purpose, and just don't know what to look forward to.
2023.06.02 01:18 Glaurung_Quena The anime miniseries "Uchu no senshi" vs Verhoeven's Starship Troopers vs the Heinlein's novel
There was an anime direct to home video miniseries in 1988 based on Heinlein's "Starship Troopers," called "Uchu no senshi" (Soldiers of the universe). The six episodes were released on laserdisk and tape in Japan, and AFAIK, have never been reissued since. I have seen it only because of rips of the laserdisk with fan-translated subs available from torrent sites.
The anime series is OK but not great. It avoids all the (endless, very grumpy) lectures about politics in the original novel and just sticks to the story of Juan Rico, his romance with Carmencita, and the war against the Bugs. It also only covers the first third to half of the novel (Johnny graduates from boot camp at the start of episode 4 of 6). Naturally, since it's anime, the powered armour of the original novel is featured front and centre.
On watching the series, I noticed some odd parallels between how the Anime departs from the novel and how the Verhoeven Starship Troopers movie departs from the novel. Does it make sense to think that the scriptwriter (Neumeier) consulted the anime series to fill in his very careless and sloppy reading of the actual novel? Verhoeven cut out the powered armour of the novel completely, allegedly for budgetary reasons. Other than that, though:
1, Novel: Johnny Rico was active in track, swimming, and debate in high school. Anime: Juan Rico plays American football. Movie: Johnny Rico is a football player.
2, Novel: Rico knows a girl named Carmen but their friendship occupies a couple sentences. She visits him for a date in officer training school, but they aren't in love. Anime: Rico is head over heels for Carmencita, and this is front and centre. Movie: Rico and Carmen's relationship is front and centre.
3, Novel: Rico's family is rich, unlike his best friend, who is poor. Anime: everyone in his social circle is well to do. Movie: everyone owns all the toys and doesn't need to worry about money, in the usual Hollywood "everyone is upper middle class" way.
4, Novel: Rico is a Filipino whose native language is Tagalong (revealed on the last page). Anime: Rico is blonde and blue-eyed. His classmates are likewise mostly very white looking. Movie: Despite supposedly being located in Buenos Aires, all these supposed Latino characters look very Anglo, like they came from an upper class LA high school.
In other areas, the movie takes something partially developed in the anime and runs with it to a new, often quite foolish place.
5, Novel: Rico lives somewhere in a former colony of Spain, but not in the Western Hemisphere (if you pay close attention to the subtle clues sprinkled sparsely through the opening chapters). Anime: Rico lives somewhere where American football is popular, there are lots of people with Hispanic names, all the signage is in English, and the sun rises over the ocean. (Florida?, Texas? California in a retrograde version of Earth? Japan but with everyone mysteriously having Spanish names?). Movie: Rico lives in an Americanized, Anglicized, whitewashed version of Buenos Aires, because Neumeier did not actually read the novel with much attention and failed to realize that Rico's mother was travelling away from home when she died in the Bug attack on that city.
6, Novel: boot camp instructor Staff Sergeant Zim asks the new recruits if any of them can take him in a fight. When he then breaks the wrist of one of the recruits who fights him, he apologizes for it – “I’m sorry, you hurried me a little.” Anime: Zim hurts a recruit’s forearm, possibly on purpose, and says “go to the dispensary, it’s just a simple dislocation, you’ll be better in three hours.” Movie: Zim deliberately and with malice breaks of the arm of an already defeated man (movie Zim = sociopath).
7, Novel: Zim trains the recruits in knife throwing. A recruit asks why they are doing something so primitive when the enemy has nuclear bombs. Zim replies with two short lectures, one on how there is no such thing as a dangerous weapon, only a dangerous man, and second on how the military’s job is not to obliterate the enemy but to exert as much or as little violence against the enemy as the government desires. Anime: there's a severely condensed version of the first lecture about dangerous men. Movie: Zim doesn’t answer the question at all, he just stabs the recruit in the hand because sociopath.
Finally, there are a few places where the movie follows neither the anime nor the book.
8, Novel: Zim cares deeply for the welfare of his trainees, and this is explicitly conveyed through a lot of words. Anime: in the three episodes set in boot camp, Zim is harder and more cruel, but we are shown through his expressions that despite the mean exterior, he cares a great deal about the welfare of his trainees. Movie: Zim is a sociopath who goes out of his way to hurt his trainees.
9, Novel: Zim's cheeks are "shaved blue," so he’s pale skinned. No other description of his appearance is given. Anime: Zim is of African descent, and just about the only character depicted with non pale skin. Movie: Zim is a blond, Aryan looking white guy. (considering Hollywood's racist approach to casting, this is not surprising)
Looking at all of that together, I start wondering: could the script for the movie have been borrowing from the anime? If you've seen the anime yourself, please let me know your thoughts. If you haven't: it's six short episodes, and worth your time if you are a Heinlein completist.
(eta: fixed formatting, hopefully more readable now)
submitted by Glaurung_Quena to heinlein [link] [comments]
The anime series is OK but not great. It avoids all the (endless, very grumpy) lectures about politics in the original novel and just sticks to the story of Juan Rico, his romance with Carmencita, and the war against the Bugs. It also only covers the first third to half of the novel (Johnny graduates from boot camp at the start of episode 4 of 6). Naturally, since it's anime, the powered armour of the original novel is featured front and centre.
On watching the series, I noticed some odd parallels between how the Anime departs from the novel and how the Verhoeven Starship Troopers movie departs from the novel. Does it make sense to think that the scriptwriter (Neumeier) consulted the anime series to fill in his very careless and sloppy reading of the actual novel? Verhoeven cut out the powered armour of the novel completely, allegedly for budgetary reasons. Other than that, though:
1, Novel: Johnny Rico was active in track, swimming, and debate in high school. Anime: Juan Rico plays American football. Movie: Johnny Rico is a football player.
2, Novel: Rico knows a girl named Carmen but their friendship occupies a couple sentences. She visits him for a date in officer training school, but they aren't in love. Anime: Rico is head over heels for Carmencita, and this is front and centre. Movie: Rico and Carmen's relationship is front and centre.
3, Novel: Rico's family is rich, unlike his best friend, who is poor. Anime: everyone in his social circle is well to do. Movie: everyone owns all the toys and doesn't need to worry about money, in the usual Hollywood "everyone is upper middle class" way.
4, Novel: Rico is a Filipino whose native language is Tagalong (revealed on the last page). Anime: Rico is blonde and blue-eyed. His classmates are likewise mostly very white looking. Movie: Despite supposedly being located in Buenos Aires, all these supposed Latino characters look very Anglo, like they came from an upper class LA high school.
In other areas, the movie takes something partially developed in the anime and runs with it to a new, often quite foolish place.
5, Novel: Rico lives somewhere in a former colony of Spain, but not in the Western Hemisphere (if you pay close attention to the subtle clues sprinkled sparsely through the opening chapters). Anime: Rico lives somewhere where American football is popular, there are lots of people with Hispanic names, all the signage is in English, and the sun rises over the ocean. (Florida?, Texas? California in a retrograde version of Earth? Japan but with everyone mysteriously having Spanish names?). Movie: Rico lives in an Americanized, Anglicized, whitewashed version of Buenos Aires, because Neumeier did not actually read the novel with much attention and failed to realize that Rico's mother was travelling away from home when she died in the Bug attack on that city.
6, Novel: boot camp instructor Staff Sergeant Zim asks the new recruits if any of them can take him in a fight. When he then breaks the wrist of one of the recruits who fights him, he apologizes for it – “I’m sorry, you hurried me a little.” Anime: Zim hurts a recruit’s forearm, possibly on purpose, and says “go to the dispensary, it’s just a simple dislocation, you’ll be better in three hours.” Movie: Zim deliberately and with malice breaks of the arm of an already defeated man (movie Zim = sociopath).
7, Novel: Zim trains the recruits in knife throwing. A recruit asks why they are doing something so primitive when the enemy has nuclear bombs. Zim replies with two short lectures, one on how there is no such thing as a dangerous weapon, only a dangerous man, and second on how the military’s job is not to obliterate the enemy but to exert as much or as little violence against the enemy as the government desires. Anime: there's a severely condensed version of the first lecture about dangerous men. Movie: Zim doesn’t answer the question at all, he just stabs the recruit in the hand because sociopath.
Finally, there are a few places where the movie follows neither the anime nor the book.
8, Novel: Zim cares deeply for the welfare of his trainees, and this is explicitly conveyed through a lot of words. Anime: in the three episodes set in boot camp, Zim is harder and more cruel, but we are shown through his expressions that despite the mean exterior, he cares a great deal about the welfare of his trainees. Movie: Zim is a sociopath who goes out of his way to hurt his trainees.
9, Novel: Zim's cheeks are "shaved blue," so he’s pale skinned. No other description of his appearance is given. Anime: Zim is of African descent, and just about the only character depicted with non pale skin. Movie: Zim is a blond, Aryan looking white guy. (considering Hollywood's racist approach to casting, this is not surprising)
Looking at all of that together, I start wondering: could the script for the movie have been borrowing from the anime? If you've seen the anime yourself, please let me know your thoughts. If you haven't: it's six short episodes, and worth your time if you are a Heinlein completist.
(eta: fixed formatting, hopefully more readable now)
2023.06.01 23:28 turtlesburner Visiting NYC. Giants-related recs?
I’m visiting NYC for 10 days in July. One of the things that has happened in the decade+ that I’ve been gone is that I’ve become a watcher of football and fan of the Giants - are there any places worth visiting from a Big Blue angle? Places of historical value, Giants-leaning sports bars? Could be in the city or in Jersey. Also, is MetLife worth visiting during the off-season?
In case someone’s about to recommend it, I’m unfortunately going to be leaving just as training camp starts :/ Didn’t think to check the dates before booking flights.
submitted by turtlesburner to NYGiants [link] [comments]
In case someone’s about to recommend it, I’m unfortunately going to be leaving just as training camp starts :/ Didn’t think to check the dates before booking flights.
2023.06.01 21:31 Clay_Bricks Every retiring LEGO set (June 2023 update)
Another month, another retirement update! A lot of sets changed dates this month, and even more new sets got added! Which reminds me, I'm considering making a /legoleak Discord server in order to expand more on leaks, answer questions, and provide daily retirement updates. If there's interest in that, I'll work on having it done before the next list!
As always, we owe a massive thanks to ZombieYeti from the BrickHound Discord for providing this valuable data. If you're looking for real-time in-stock/deal alerts for Lego.com and other sites, make sure to check out his server: https://discord.gg/BwezK2t5qf
This information is scraped directly from Lego's website, and all dates are subject to change. ZombieYeti is currently developing a website to host this data and offer real-time updates. In the meantime, here is a list of every set and their corresponding retirement date as per LEGO's system!
FULL LIST ON GOOGLE SHEETS HERE <--
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Due to Reddit's character limits, we can't include everything here, but the full spreadsheet contains every set.
CHANGES IN JUNE:
NEW SETS ADDED:
SETS RETIRING IN 2023:
submitted by Clay_Bricks to Legoleak [link] [comments]
As always, we owe a massive thanks to ZombieYeti from the BrickHound Discord for providing this valuable data. If you're looking for real-time in-stock/deal alerts for Lego.com and other sites, make sure to check out his server: https://discord.gg/BwezK2t5qf
This information is scraped directly from Lego's website, and all dates are subject to change. ZombieYeti is currently developing a website to host this data and offer real-time updates. In the meantime, here is a list of every set and their corresponding retirement date as per LEGO's system!
FULL LIST ON GOOGLE SHEETS HERE <--
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Due to Reddit's character limits, we can't include everything here, but the full spreadsheet contains every set.
CHANGES IN JUNE:
| Theme | Set # | Set Name | Old Date | New Date | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avatar | 75577 | Mako Submarine | Dec 31, 2024 | Dec 31, 2023 | -1 year |
| Avatar | 75578 | Metkayina Reef Home | Dec 31, 2024 | Dec 31, 2023 | -1 year |
| Classic | 11020 | Build Together | Dec 31, 2024 | Dec 31, 2023 | -1 year |
| Duplo | 10966 | Bath Time Fun: Floating Animal Island | Dec 31, 2024 | Dec 31, 2023 | -1 year |
| City | 60388 | Gaming Tournament Truck | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Creator | 31143 | Birdhouse | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Friends | 41735 | Mobile Tiny House | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Harry Potter | 75969 | Hogwarts Astronomy Tower | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Icons | 10306 | Atari 2600 | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Ideas | 21331 | Sonic the Hedgehog - Green Hill Zone | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Jurassic Park / World | 76946 | Blue & Beta Velociraptor Capture | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Jurassic Park / World | 76951 | Pyroraptor & Dilophosaurus Transport | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Marvel | 76226 | Spider-Man Figure | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Marvel | 76241 | Hulk Mech Armor | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Marvel | 76243 | Rocket Mech Armor | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Marvel | 76245 | Ghost Rider Mech & Bike | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Marvel | 76256 | Ant-Man Construction Figure | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Speed Champions | 76906 | 1970 Ferrari 512 M | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Speed Champions | 76907 | Lotus Evija | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Star Wars | 75333 | Obi-Wan Kenobi's Jedi Starfighter | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Star Wars | 75344 | Boba Fett's Starship Microfighter | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
| Technic | 42138 | Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 | Dec 31, 2023 | Dec 31, 2024 | +1 year |
NEW SETS ADDED:
| Theme | Set # | Set Name | Retirement Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holiday / City | 60381 | City Advent Calendar 2023 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday / Friends | 41758 | Friends Advent Calendar 2023 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday / Harry Potter | 76418 | Harry Potter Advent Calendar 2023 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday / Marvel | 76267 | Marvel Advent Calendar 2023 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday / Star Wars | 75366 | Star Wars Advent Calendar 2023 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71777 | Kai's Dragon Power Flip | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71778 | Nya's Dragon Power Drift | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71779 | Lloyd's Dragon Power Spin | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Batman | 30653 | Batman 1992 Polybag | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Batman | 76224 | Batmobile: Batman vs. The Joker Chase | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Batman | 76252 | Batcave – Shadow Box | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Batman | 76264 | Batmobile Pursuit: Batman vs. The Joker (4+) | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Batman | 76265 | Batwing: Batman vs. The Joker | Dec 31, 2024 |
| City | 60367 | Passenger Airplane | Dec 31, 2024 |
| City / 2K Drive | 60395 | Combo Race Pack | Dec 31, 2024 |
| City / 2K Drive | 60396 | Modified Race Cars | Dec 31, 2024 |
| City / 2K Drive | 60397 | Monster Truck Race | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Creator | 31144 | Exotic Pink Parrot | Dec 31, 2024 |
| DREAMZzz | 40657 | Dream Village | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Friends | 41756 | Holiday Ski Slope and Café | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Friends | 41760 | Igloo Holiday Adventure | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Harry Potter | 76419 | Hogwarts Castle and Grounds | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Harry Potter | 76421 | Dobby the House-Elf | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Icons | 40634 | Icons of Play | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Mario | 71422 | Picnic at Mario's House | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Marvel | 76249 | Venomised Groot | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Marvel | 76261 | Spider-Man Final Battle | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Marvel | 76262 | Captain America's Shield | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Marvel | 76263 | Iron Man Hulkbuster vs. Thanos (4+) | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Marvel | 76266 | Endgame Final Battle | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Minecraft | 21247 | The Axolotl House | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Minecraft | 21248 | The Pumpkin Farm | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Minecraft | 21249 | The Crafting Box 4.0 | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Minecraft | 21250 | The Iron Golem Fortress | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Ninjago | 71789 | Kai and Ras's Car and Bike Battle (4+) | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Ninjago | 71790 | Imperium Dragon Hunter Hound | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Ninjago | 71791 | Zane's Dragon Power Spinjitzu Race Car | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Ninjago | 71792 | Sora's Transforming Mech Bike Racer | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Ninjago | 71793 | Heatwave Transforming Lava Dragon | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Ninjago | 71794 | Lloyd and Arin's Ninja Team Mechs | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Ninjago | 71795 | Temple of the Dragon Energy Cores | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Ninjago | 71796 | Elemental Dragon vs. The Empress Mech | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Ninjago | 71797 | Destiny's Bounty - Race Against Time | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Ninjago | 71798 | Nya and Arin's Baby Dragon Battle (4+) | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Sonic | 76993 | Sonic vs. Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Robot | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Star Wars | 75359 | 332nd Ahsoka's Clone Trooper Battle Pack | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Star Wars | 75360 | Yoda's Jedi Starfighter | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Star Wars | 75365 | Yavin 4 Rebel Base | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Star Wars | 75368 | Darth Vader Mech | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Star Wars | 75369 | Boba Fett Mech | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Star Wars | 75370 | Stormtrooper Mech | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Duplo | 10987 | Recycling Truck | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Duplo | 10994 | 3-in-1 Family House | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Duplo | 10997 | Camping Adventure | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Ninjago | 71799 | NINJAGO City Markets | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Technic | 42161 | Lamborghini Huracán Tecnica | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Icons | 10323 | PAC-MAN Arcade | Dec 31, 2026 |
| Technic | 42160 | Audi RS Q e-tron | Dec 31, 2026 |
SETS RETIRING IN 2023:
| Theme | Set # | Set Name | Retirement Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic | 11015 | Around the World | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Creator | 31123 | Off-Road Buggy | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 10780 | Mickey and Friends Castle Defenders | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 43203 | Aurora, Merida and Tiana's Enchanted Creations | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41962 | Unicorn Creative Family Pack | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Mario | 71404 | Goomba's Shoe | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Mario | 71407 | Cat Peach Suit and Frozen Tower | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Mario | 71409 | Big Spike's Cloudtop Challenge | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Mario | 71412 | Big Bad Island | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Mindstorms | 51515 | Robot Inventor | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Minecraft | 21187 | The Red Barn | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71738 | Zane's Titan Mech Battle | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71754 | Water Dragon | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71756 | Hydro Bounty | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71759 | Ninja Dragon Temple (4+) | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71762 | Kai's Fire Dragon EVO | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71770 | Zane's Golden Dragon Jet | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71773 | Kai's Golden Dragon Raider | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42129 | 4x4 Mercedes-Benz Zetros Trial Truck | Jul 31, 2023 |
| Minifigures | 71038 | LEGO® Minifigures Disney 100 | Aug 31, 2023 |
| Architecture | 21054 | The White House | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Art | 31203 | World Map | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Art | 31205 | Jim Lee Batman Collection | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Art | 31206 | The Rolling Stones | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Art | 31207 | Floral Art | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Avatar | 75571 | Neytiri & Thanator vs. AMP Suit Quaritch | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Avatar | 75573 | Floating Mountains: Site 26 & RDA Samson | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Avatar | 75577 | Mako Submarine | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Avatar | 75578 | Metkayina Reef Home | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Batman | 76181 | Batmobile: The Penguin Chase | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Batman | 76220 | Batman versus Harley Quinn (4+) | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Brickheadz | 40540 | Lion Dance Guy | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Brickheadz | 40541 | Manchester United Go Brick Me | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Brickheadz | 40542 | FC Barcelona Go Brick Me | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Brickheadz / Avatar | 40554 | Jake Sully & his Avatar | Dec 31, 2023 |
| BrickHeadz / Disney | 40377 | Donald Duck | Dec 31, 2023 |
| BrickHeadz / Disney | 40378 | Goofy & Pluto | Dec 31, 2023 |
| BrickHeadz / Disney | 40476 | Daisy Duck | Dec 31, 2023 |
| BrickHeadz / Disney | 40477 | Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey & Louie | Dec 31, 2023 |
| BrickHeadz / Disney | 40550 | Chip & Dale | Dec 31, 2023 |
| BrickHeadz / Disney | 40553 | Woody and Bo Peep | Dec 31, 2023 |
| BrickHeadz / Disney | 40622 | Disney 100th Celebration (Oswald, Mickey, Snow White, Tinker Bell) | Dec 31, 2023 |
| BrickHeadz / Harry Potter | 40495 | Harry, Hermione, Ron & Hagrid | Dec 31, 2023 |
| BrickHeadz / Harry Potter | 40560 | Professors of Hogwarts | Dec 31, 2023 |
| BrickHeadz / Minecraft | 40624 | Alex | Dec 31, 2023 |
| BrickHeadz / Minecraft | 40625 | Llama | Dec 31, 2023 |
| BrickHeadz / Minecraft | 40626 | Zombie | Dec 31, 2023 |
| BrickHeadz / Star Wars | 40539 | Ahsoka Tano | Dec 31, 2023 |
| BrickHeadz / Star Wars | 40623 | Battle of Endor Heroes | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 30590 | Farm Garden & Scarecrow Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 30638 | Police Bike Training Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 30639 | Dog Park and Scooter Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 41723 | Donut Shop | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 41726 | Holiday Camping Trip | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60253 | Ice-Cream Truck | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60313 | Space Ride Amusement Truck | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60314 | Ice Cream Truck Police Chase | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60315 | Police Mobile Command Truck | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60317 | Police Chase at the Bank | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60318 | Fire Helicopter | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60319 | Fire Rescue & Police Chase | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60320 | Fire Station | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60321 | Fire Brigade | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60322 | Race Car Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60323 | Stunt Plane | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60324 | Mobile Crane | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60325 | Cement Mixer Truck | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60327 | Horse Transporter | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60330 | Hospital | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60332 | Reckless Scorpion Stunt Bike | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60333 | Bathtub Stunt Bike | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60335 | Train Station | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60338 | Chimpanzee Smash Stunt Loop | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60339 | Double Loop Stunt Arena | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60341 | The Knockdown Stunt Challenge | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60342 | The Shark Attack Stunt Challenge | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60343 | Rescue Helicopter Transporter | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60346 | Barn & Farm Animals | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60348 | Lunar Roving Vehicle | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60349 | Lunar Space Station | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60350 | Lunar Research Base | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60351 | Rocket Launch Centre | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60353 | Wild Animal Rescue Missions | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60354 | Mars Spacecraft Exploration Missions | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60355 | Water Police Detective Missions | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60356 | Bear Stunt Bike | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60357 | Stunt Truck & Ring of Fire Challenge | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60358 | Cyber Stunt Bike | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60359 | Dunk Stunt Ramp Challenge | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60360 | Spinning Stunt Challenge | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60361 | Ultimate Stunt Riders Challenge | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60371 | Emergency Vehicles HQ | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60382 | Vet Van Rescue | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60385 | Construction Digger | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60390 | Park Tractor | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60393 | 4x4 Fire Truck Rescue | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60394 | ATV and Otter Habitat | Dec 31, 2023 |
| City | 60398 | Family House and Electric Car | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Classic | 11014 | Bricks and Wheels | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Classic | 11018 | Creative Ocean Fun | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Classic | 11019 | Bricks and Functions | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Classic | 11020 | Build Together | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Classic | 11021 | 90 Years of Play | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Classic | 11022 | Space Mission | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Classic | 11031 | Creative Monkey Fun | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Classic | 30510 | 90 Years of Cars Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Creator | 30641 | Panda Bear Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Creator | 30644 | Vintage Car Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Creator | 31111 | Cyber Drone | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Creator | 31118 | Surfer Beach House | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Creator | 31127 | Street Racer | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Creator | 31128 | Dolphin and Turtle | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Creator | 31130 | Sunken Treasure Mission | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Creator | 31131 | Downtown Noodle Shop | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Creator | 31132 | Viking Ship and the Midgard Serpent | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Creator | 40461 | Tulips | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Creator | 40469 | Tuk Tuk | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Creator | 40568 | Paris Postcard | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Creator | 40646 | Daffodils | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 10777 | Mickey and Minnie's Camping Trip | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 30646 | Moana's Dolphin Cove Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 40521 | Mini Disney The Haunted Mansion | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 41168 | Elsa's Jewellery Box | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 43187 | Rapunzel's Tower | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 43189 | Elsa and the Nokk Storybook Adventures | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 43194 | Anna and Elsa's Frozen Wonderland | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 43196 | Belle and the Beast's Castle | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 43197 | The Ice Castle | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 43198 | Anna's Castle Courtyard | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 43199 | Elsa's Castle Courtyard | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 43202 | The Madrigal House | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 43204 | Anna and Olaf's Castle Fun | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 43207 | Ariel's Underwater Palace | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 43208 | Jasmine and Mulan's Adventure | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Disney | 43209 | Elsa and the Nokk's Ice Stable | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 30560 | Pineapple Photo Holder & Mini Board Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41801 | My Pets Bracelet | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41802 | Unicorns Forever Bracelet | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41803 | Extra Dots series 8 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41805 | Creative Animal Drawer | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41806 | Ultimate Party Kit | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41807 | Bracelet Designer Mega Pack | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41947 | Mickey and Friends Bracelets Mega Pack | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41948 | Cute Banana Pen Holder | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41950 | Lots of DOTS - Lettering | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41951 | Message Board | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41957 | Adhesive Patches Mega Pack | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41959 | Cute Panda Tray | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41960 | Big Box | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots | 41961 | Designer Toolkit - Patterns | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots / Disney | 41963 | Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse Stitch-on Patch | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots / Disney | 41964 | Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse Back-to-School Project Box | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots / Harry Potter | 41808 | Hogwarts Accessories Pack | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots / Harry Potter | 41809 | Hedwig Pencil Holder | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Dots / Harry Potter | 41811 | Hogwarts Desktop Kit | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10411 | Learn About Chinese Culture | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10872 | Train Bridge and Tracks | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10882 | Train Tracks | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10930 | Bulldozer | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10938 | Dinosaur Nursery | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10944 | Space Shuttle Mission | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10948 | Parking Garage and Car Wash | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10949 | Farm Animal Care | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10955 | Animal Train | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10956 | Amusement Park | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10964 | Bath Time Fun: Floating Red Panda | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10966 | Bath Time Fun: Floating Animal Island | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10968 | Doctor Visit | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10972 | Wild Animals of the Ocean | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10973 | Wild Animals of South America | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10974 | Wild Animals of Asia | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10977 | My First Puppy & Kitten with Sounds | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10978 | Creative Building Time | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 10979 | Wild Animals of Europe | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo | 30648 | Whale Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo / Disney | 10899 | Frozen Ice Castle | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo / Disney | 10960 | Belle's Ballroom | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo / Disney | 10962 | Buzz Lightyear's Planetary Mission | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo / Holiday | 10976 | Santa's Gingerbread House | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Duplo / Marvel | 10963 | Spider-Man & Friends: Funfair Adventure | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 30633 | Skate Ramp | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 30634 | Friendship Flowers Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41443 | Olivia's Electric Car | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41677 | Forest Waterfall | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41696 | Pony-Washing Stable | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41697 | Turtle Protection Vehicle | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41699 | Pet Adoption Café | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41703 | Friendship Tree House | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41704 | Main Street Building | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41705 | Heartlake City Pizzeria | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41707 | Tree-Planting Vehicle | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41708 | Roller Disco Arcade | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41711 | Emma's Art School | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41712 | Recycling Truck | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41713 | Olivia's Space Academy | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41714 | Andrea's Theatre School | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41715 | Ice Cream Truck | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41716 | Stephanie's Sailing Adventure | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41717 | Mia's Wildlife Rescue | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41718 | Pet Day-Care Center | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41719 | Mobile Fashion Boutique | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41720 | Water Park | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41721 | Organic Farm | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41722 | Horse Show Trailer | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41729 | Organic Grocery Store | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41732 | Downtown Flower and Design Stores | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41733 | Mobile Bubble Tea Shop | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41741 | Dog Rescue Van | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41742 | Cat Hotel | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41743 | Hair Salon | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Friends | 41751 | Skate Park | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 30435 | Build Your Own Hogwarts Castle Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 30651 | Quidditch Practice Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 75968 | 4 Privet Drive | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 75979 | Hedwig | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 76386 | Hogwarts: Polyjuice Potion Mistake | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 76398 | Hogwarts Hospital Wing | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 76399 | Hogwarts Magical Trunk | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 76400 | Hogwarts Carriage and Thestrals | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 76401 | Hogwarts Courtyard: Sirius's Rescue | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 76403 | The Ministry of Magic | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 76406 | Hungarian Horntail Dragon | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 76408 | 12 Grimmauld Place | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 76409 | Gryffindor House Banner | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 76410 | Slytherin House Banner | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 76411 | Ravenclaw House Banner | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Harry Potter | 76412 | Hufflepuff House Banner | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday | 40426 | Christmas Wreath 2-in-1 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday | 40522 | Valentine Lovebirds | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday | 40523 | Easter Rabbits Display | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday | 40570 | Halloween Cat and Mouse | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday | 40571 | Wintertime Polar Bears | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday | 80110 | Lunar New Year Display | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday | 80111 | Lunar New Year Parade | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday / City | 60381 | City Advent Calendar 2023 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday / Creator | 30584 | Winter Holiday Train Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday / Creator | 30642 | Birthday Train Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday / Creator | 30643 | Easter Chickens Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday / Friends | 41758 | Friends Advent Calendar 2023 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday / Harry Potter | 76418 | Harry Potter Advent Calendar 2023 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday / Icons | 10293 | Santa's Visit | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday / Marvel | 76267 | Marvel Advent Calendar 2023 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Holiday / Star Wars | 75366 | Star Wars Advent Calendar 2023 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Icons | 10265 | Ford Mustang | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Icons | 10266 | NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Icons | 10273 | Haunted House | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Icons | 10276 | Colosseum | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Icons | 10289 | Bird of Paradise | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Icons | 10290 | Pickup Truck | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Icons | 10292 | The Friends Apartments | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Icons | 10299 | Real Madrid - Santiago Bernabéu Stadium | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Icons | 10497 | Galaxy Explorer | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Icons | 76989 | Horizon Forbidden West: Tallneck | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Icons / Modular | 10255 | Assembly Square | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Icons / Modular | 10270 | Bookshop | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Icons / Modular | 10278 | Police Station | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ideas | 21325 | Medieval Blacksmith | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ideas | 21326 | Winnie the Pooh | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ideas | 21329 | Fender Stratocaster | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ideas | 21337 | Table Football | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Jurassic Park / World | 76943 | Pteranodon Chase (4+) | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Jurassic Park / World | 76945 | Atrociraptor Dinosaur: Bike Chase | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Jurassic Park / World | 76947 | Quetzalcoatlus Plane Ambush | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Jurassic Park / World | 76948 | T. rex & Atrociraptor Dinosaur Breakout | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Jurassic Park / World | 76950 | Triceratops Pickup Truck Ambush | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Jurassic Park / World | 76956 | T. rex Breakout | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Lightyear | 76830 | Zyclops Chase (4+) | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Lightyear | 76831 | Zurg Battle | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Lightyear | 76832 | XL-15 Spaceship | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Mario | 30509 | Yellow Yoshi's Fruit Tree Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Mario | 71406 | Yoshi's Gift House | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Mario | 71413 | Character Packs Series 6 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Mario | 71414 | Conkdor's Noggin Bopper | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Mario | 71415 | Ice Mario Suit and Frozen World | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Mario | 71416 | Lava Wave Ride | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Mario | 71417 | Fliprus Snow Adventure | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Mario | 71418 | Creativity Toolbox | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 10781 | Spider-Man's Techno Trike (4+) | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 10784 | Spider-Man Webquarters Hangout (4+) | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 10790 | Team Spidey at Green Goblin's Lighthouse (4+) | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 30652 | Doctor Strange's Interdimensional Portal Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76187 | Venom | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76193 | The Guardians' Ship | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76206 | Iron Man Figure | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76207 | Attack on New Asgard | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76208 | The Goat Boat | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76209 | Thor's Hammer | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76211 | Shuri's Sunbird | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76212 | Shuri's Lab (4+) | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76213 | King Namor's Throne Room | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76214 | Black Panther: War on the Water | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76215 | Black Panther | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76216 | Iron Man Armory | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76225 | Miles Morales Figure | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76230 | Venom Figure | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76242 | Thanos Mech Armor | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76253 | Guardians of the Galaxy Headquarters | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Marvel | 76255 | The New Guardians' Ship | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Minecraft | 21164 | The Coral Reef | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Minecraft | 21170 | The Pig House | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Minecraft | 21172 | The Ruined Portal | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Minecraft | 21177 | The Creeper Ambush | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Minecraft | 21180 | The Guardian Battle | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Minecraft | 21181 | The Rabbit Ranch | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Minecraft | 21183 | The Training Grounds | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Minecraft | 21184 | The Bakery | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Minecraft | 21185 | The Nether Bastion | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Minecraft | 21186 | The Ice Castle | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Minecraft | 21188 | The Llama Village | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Minecraft | 21190 | The Abandoned Village | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Minecraft | 30647 | The Dripstone Cavern/The Stalactite Cave Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Miscellaneous | 40174 | LEGO Chess | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Miscellaneous | 40382 | Birthday Set | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Miscellaneous | 40393 | LEGOLAND Fire Academy | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Miscellaneous | 40584 | Birthday Diorama | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Monkie Kid | 30656 | Monkey King Marketplace Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Monkie Kid | 80008 | Monkie Kid's Cloud Jet | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Monkie Kid | 80030 | Monkie Kid's Staff Creations | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Monkie Kid | 80032 | Chang'e Moon Cake Factory | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Monkie Kid | 80033 | Evil Macaque's Mech | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Monkie Kid | 80034 | Nezha's Fire Ring | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Monkie Kid | 80035 | Monkie Kid's Galactic Explorer | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Monkie Kid | 80037 | Dragon of the East | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Monkie Kid | 80038 | Monkie Kid's Team Van | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Monkie Kid | 80039 | The Heavenly Realms | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 30649 | Ice Dragon Creature Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71757 | Lloyd's Ninja Mech (4+) | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71760 | Jay's Thunder Dragon EVO | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71761 | Zane's Power Up Mech EVO | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71763 | Lloyd's Race Car EVO | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71765 | Ninja Ultra Combo Mech | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71766 | Lloyd's Legendary Dragon | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71767 | Ninja Dojo Temple | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71768 | Jay's Golden Dragon Motorbike | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71769 | Cole's Dragon Cruiser | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71771 | The Crystal King Temple | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71772 | The Crystal King | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71774 | Lloyd's Golden Ultra Dragon | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71775 | Nya's Samurai X MECH | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71776 | Jay and Nya's Race Car EVO | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71777 | Kai's Dragon Power Flip | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71778 | Nya's Dragon Power Drift | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71779 | Lloyd's Dragon Power Spin | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Ninjago | 71781 | Lloyd's Mech Battle EVO | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Speed Champions | 30657 | McLaren Solus GT Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Speed Champions | 76900 | Koenigsegg Jesko | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Speed Champions | 76901 | Toyota GR Supra | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Speed Champions | 76910 | Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro and Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Speed Champions | 76911 | 007 Aston Martin DB5 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Speed Champions | 76912 | Fast & Furious 1970 Dodge Charger T | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 30654 | X-wing Starfighter Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75288 | AT-AT | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75292 | The Razor Crest | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75300 | Imperial TIE Fighter | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75301 | Luke Skywalker's X-wing Fighter | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75309 | Republic Gunship (Ultimate Collector Series) | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75312 | Boba Fett's Starship | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75317 | The Mandalorian & The Child | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75318 | The Child | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75320 | Snowtrooper Battle Pack | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75322 | Hoth AT-ST | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75323 | The Justifier | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75324 | Dark Trooper Attack | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75326 | Boba Fett's Throne Room | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75327 | Luke Skywalker (Red Five) Helmet | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75329 | Death Star Trench Run Diorama | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75330 | Dagobah Jedi Training Diorama | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75332 | AT-ST (4+) | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75334 | Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75335 | BD-1 | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75336 | Inquisitor Transport Scythe | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75338 | Ambush on Ferrix | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75339 | Death Star Trash Compactor Diorama | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75342 | Republic Fighter Tank | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Star Wars | 75343 | Dark Trooper Helmet | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 30655 | Forklift with Pallet Polybag | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42096 | Porsche 911 RSR | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42107 | Ducati Panigale V4 R | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42111 | Dom's Dodge Charger | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42117 | Race Plane | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42118 | Monster Jam Grave Digger | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42122 | Jeep Wrangler | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42123 | McLaren Senna GTR | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42125 | Ferrari 488 GTE 'AF Corse #51' | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42127 | The Batman - Batmobile | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42128 | Heavy-Duty Tow Truck | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42131 | Cat D11 Bulldozer | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42132 | Chopper | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42133 | Telehandler | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42134 | Monster Jam Megalodon | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42135 | Monster Jam El Toro Loco | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42137 | Formula E Porsche 99x Electric | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42139 | All-Terrain Vehicle | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42140 | App-Controlled Transformation Vehicle | Dec 31, 2023 |
| Technic | 42144 | Material Handler | Dec 31, 2023 |
2023.06.01 20:10 soggytoast278 Wanting to confront my ex (32M), he hurt me (23F) badly, after almost 6 months of no contact
Hey guys just found this sub and I really really need your help. Please don’t judge me. I was dating this guy in 2021-2022 for only 4 months. I was 22F and he was 30M, he said he’s at that point in life he wants to get married and it led to us deciding to get married. I jumped the g and talked to my family before he could and unfortunately his mother ended up saying no, because I’m too young and a modern woman. She wanted someone more traditional. He couldn’t go against his mother but gave me a option to just date him but it wouldn’t have no end goal. Things had already got too serious between us, maybe, we were too close, too close for comfort even, so after considering everything and not wanting to waste my youth on him I broke up with him. BUT this is where all the turmoil in my heart began. Firstly he wouldn’t stop texting me even after breaking up and after several sounds of screaming and crying on the phone with him. I shifted COUNTRIES and he was still texting me and had no issue taking my calls and talking to me for hours??? but wouldn’t change his mind. We were still talking to each other on the daily 3 months after breaking up. I know to call this a whirlwind romance is an understatement and vastly inaccurate. I feel he NEVER talked to his mom and in actuality he just played with my feelings because he never saw me as “wife material”. I feel extremely manipulated and used. It’s like I’m starting to piece everything together, its been 6 months since we spoke and almost a year since we broke up. I have been having an extremely hard time dating someone new because I am scared out of mind that someone is going to hurt me, use me for sex etc. I feel objectified and on edge on dates. I’ve been acting extremely sceptical and sarcastic on dates too and I’m finding it very hard to show more of my softer, feminine side, which is my true personality. It’s not like I haven’t moved on, I’ve developed new hobbies and excel at my new job but my love life is a mess. This man child has left me jaded. His birthday is in 3 days, oldie is turning 32 I want to confront him again and let him know how much of a piece of shit he is. In my mind it will make me feel better but then again I’m only 23 and very very very dumb. Please help.
submitted by soggytoast278 to relationship_advice [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 18:45 Jobdriaan Updated my CV using your feedback! How do you like it now? (Quant/trader)
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2023.06.01 18:28 packmanwiscy r/NFL Top 100 Players of the 2022 Season - HUB POST
Welcome to the Hub Post for the NFL Top 100 Players of the 2022 Season!
METHODOLOGY
Several years ago we made a decision to focus on ranking just the previous season based on feedback. This year we continued that plan and only ranked players based on their performance during the 2022 regular season, since that is an equal baseline for all players. Post Season play was not considered in the rankings which is a continuation from last year per sub feedback. Additionally, we have increased the games played requirement from 10 games to 11, to be closer in proportion to the prior standard of 10 games in a 16 game season.- Step 1: Getting the list of representatives. That’s what we did back in January. We started with over 100 rankers which led to 54 completed ranking submissions
- Step 2: We began nominating players who ranker’s believe should be considered that have played/ a minimum of 11 regular season games. Rankers from each of the represented fan bases submitted nominations for their own teams' players. This ended up being 194 players in total. This took about a week or so and was the only player pool for consideration.
- Step 3: The Grind. Once the pool was created, we utilized rankings threads about what tiers each player is in within their position group. Users were to break players into the following tiers for their peers to evaluate: Top 25, Top 50, Top 100, Top 101-125. This is done to give everyone an idea of where each ranker feels a player should be ranked based on 2022 regular season play only. This is an important distinction; if we were to rank players using past performance while projecting their standing heading into the 2023 season, the context would be completely different. Do you think a player who had a down year in 2022 will bounce back to the top tier player he’s been? I’d probably agree. However, that’s not what users were tasked with evaluating. Furthermore, we did this by positional grouping in individual threads; standard positional breakdown was QB, RB, WR, TE, OT, OG, OC, Interior Defensive Linemen (IDL), EDGE Rushers (EDGE), Off-Ball Linebackers (LB), Safety, CB. If most users have a player in Tier III (Top 100), for example, while someone has him unranked while another has him in Tier I, we’ll be able to find out why they are such outliers publicly. This took roughly 2 months, because we want everyone to have a thorough discussion of any questions they may have. It also helps individual rankers visualize where players should land on their own personal lists prior to submitting. It also helps prevent any funny business.
NOTE 2: No ranker was forced or encouraged to rank a certain numbelimited number of positions on their list based on some arbitrary formula or idea. For example, NO ONE was told they need to limit the number of QBs on their Top 100 list. No ranker was directed to ignore any positional value; users were encouraged to factor positional value as they saw it into their rankings since it is a largely subjective measure.
- Step 4: After discussions were completed, the remaining users submitted their own, personal Top 125 list. Ranking 125 players was done to get a more accurate and fair average, especially towards the bottom end of the list where rankings tend to wildly fluctuate. Users were given over a week to complete their list.
NOTE 2: All rankings will be made public. That may obviously bring some unwanted heat. But we don’t believe in skirting transparency for convenience sake. This was made known in the Call for Rankers and during the ranking process. This sub will only see the ranks for each post during the reveal. The final post - The Post Mortem - after all reveals will have a data dump with all ranks, individual sheets, and outlier ranking data made available.
- Step 5: With all rankings submitted and corrections made, if any, users lists were locked and their submissions finalized as their own. We then calculated an average rank as noted above. Unranked players were designated with a rank of 140 to tabulate the average for all nominated players. Additionally, one high rank and one low rank were removed from each player's tally to calculate the average rank. Players ranked 101-125 in the average will make the Honorable Mentions list while the remaining 1-100 will be the ranked players. Any ties were broken by their average before the one high rank and one low rank were removed.
- Step 6: The Reveal… where we are now!
After three years of ranking myself, I can tell you this is a fun way of spending the offseason regardless of the praise or scorn you get for the list. You get to interact with people and fanbases that you might not otherwise pay attention to, and analyze and watch players who you might know only in passing. Sometimes I say the final ranking isn’t the most important part, it’s about the journey of rewatching all these great players and having a newfound appreciation for them. I know I’ve become a more knowledgeable football fan since I first signed up to join the list, and I’m sure most rankers would say the same.
The rankers had a number of strategies for how they ranked the players and each was allowed to follow their own personal guidelines within the given parameters and as long as they were not simply using derivatives of other outside rankings. Basically, have your own positions and beliefs. As the reveal progresses, the rankers will have the ability to volunteer their player lists for the revealed numbers and/or where they ranked the listed players as they wish and you are free to engage with them.
Lastly, players will be revealed on the teams they played/finished the 2022 season with.
RANKING RELEASE SCHEDULE
The Honorable Mentions (125-101) will be released Tuesday. June 6th. The reveal will begin on Thursday, June 8th with spots 100-91. From there we will release a list every Tuesday and Thursday. The Post Mortem will follow the week after all reveal threads.If you want to follow along with the schedule here it is:
| Date | Post | Link | Date | Post | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1 | Hub Post | THIS POST! | |||
| June 6 | Honorable Mentions | link | June 8 | 100-91 | link |
| June 13 | 90-81 | link | June 15 | 80-71 | link |
| June 20 | 70-61 | link | June 22 | 60-51 | link |
| June 27 | 50-41 | link | June 29 | 40-31 | link |
| July 4 | 30-21 | link | July 6 | 20-11 | link |
| July 11 | 10-6 | link | July 13 | 5-1 | link |
| July 18 | Post Mortem | link |
See ya Tuesday for the honorable mentions!
packmanwiscy & mattkud
2023.06.01 17:51 Able_Possession8736 Defending the Draft 2023: WASHINGTON COMMANDERS
Defending the Draft: 2023 Washington Commanders 8-8-1
Preface:
Hope.
This 2023 season will be the most interesting for the Commanders franchise in a long long time. We enter this season with more uncertainty than I have ever been a part of, however, the one thing the fan base is certain of... is the future is brighter. Dan Snyder purchased the franchise in 1999 and subsequently done nothing but run a blue blood franchise into the ground. This team has lacked direction for a long time and a large part of that was due to Dan Snyder's meddling in the day-to-day football operations of the team. Starting his ownership with signing washed up HOF veterans, to then overspending in free agency (Albert Haynesworth is arguably the worst free agent signing of all time), drug scandal with thetraining staff, the mishandling of the RG3 and Kirk Cousins situation, Not resigning Trent Williams, and lastly we've now reached tumultuous time where his off the field issues have hung a dark cloud over a once proud franchise. Although, lol, his most egregious mistake may be hiring Jim Zorn as head coach. It's egregious that his only punishment is a 6 billion dollar payout for his franchise. I hope the banks bury him and he faces the deserved legal actions. As of now there had been an agreement to sell the franchise to 76'rs and NJ Devils owner, Josh Harris.... and is 20ish members of his parliament. We await to hear news of the reviews from the NFL financial committee to close out the process. Last news I came across was he has cut down the number of minority owners to 20. It will be a pleasure when this agreement is finalized. He could be a terrible owner, but it would still be an upgrade from Synder. Harris, seemingly has been a hands off owner and properly allows the people he's hired to operate the team. This last sports season he's had both of his teams deep in the playoff hunt. This season will be interesting. A lot of questions all around: Sam Howell? Chase Young? Ron Rivera? Eric Bienemy? Josh Harris? I'm not sure of those answers, but I'm very excited to find them out.
Coaching:
HC- Ron Rivera OC- Eric Bieniemy DC- Jack Del Rio
Key Additions: Eric Bieniemy
Ole' Riverboat Ron Rivera is back and going into his 4th season with the Washington Commanders, hopefully his last. I believe Ron Rivera is a leader of men, but I highly question his actual coaching skills and team building. I've currently seen enough of this coaching regime and front office to safely say let's move on. There's been several things that I believed were firable offenses.... the Carson Wentz trade. Some rumors have said that this was a Snyder push. Not entirely positive, but Ron bragged that it was his call. Our team at that point was not a qb away from being really good, let alone a Carson Wentz level of qb. The next fireable offense was starting Wentz over Hienke when the playoffs were on the line. Wentz ended up being benched for Hienke, but it was too little too late. The next fireable offense was not realizing we were eliminated from the playoffs. Going into the last week of the season Ron planned on starting Hieneke. Pretty odd to not know you're out of the playoffs, let alone to test Sam Howell out for next season. Additionally, there's been some pretty questionable roster creation decisions. I absolutely hate the versatile secondary and offensive line philosophy. We currently have a patch work offensive line that has the means to fluctuate between average to below average. Not a single player on the line is top 5 at their respected position. Two years ago we had a top 10 o-line, but that had Brandon Sherff playing like a top 5 guard and Charles Leno having his best season. Our o-line took a significant step back this past season and now looks to be our biggest weakness. Ron has shown to trust his own board and has reached (according to the consensus big board) with every single pick so far. People mistake 2019 as one of his drafts ( Sweat, McLaurin, Holcomb), but he was hired at the end of the season. Take this with a grain of salt as it takes at least 3 years to properly review a draft. Rons 1st round picks have been the following: 2020 pick 2 Chase Young- the correct pick at the time, but hard to botch the 2nd overall pick, 2021 pick 19 Jamin Davis- hated the pick at the time, too early for a linebacker... let a lone a project. On tape he looked lost a lot and made up for it with his elite athleticism. He's shown progress, but nothing showing he's worthy of the pick. 2022 pick 16 Jahan Dotson- looks to be an absolute baller, had him ranked above Olave in the pre-draft process. Was a slight reach above the consensus board, but flashed high end ability. Davis has been the only mistake in the 1st round thus far. When I say mistake I don't necessarily mean player, but the roster building philosophy. Whether reaching on Phidarian Mathis in the 2nd round of 2022. Lol, he was older than Payne coming out of the draft, one year of good production, and was taken a round too early. In the next round Brian Robinson was taken and was really just a body. Haven't really seen anything elite with him so far and was a meh pick. John Bates in the 4th round was egregious. Now I have to give credit where it's due. Kam Curl was an absolute steal and can solidify himself as top 5 safety this season if he continues to play this well. Our other starting safety in Darrick Forest also had a lot of bright spots playing this past season.
Arguably, our best offseason move was signing Eric Bieniemy. I'm absolutely excited. Forget everything about him not calling the plays. Reports from OTA's shows his hands on approach and full control of the offense. One of my favorites things I've heard is he is using OTA's to see what the players can do and crafting the offense to their abilities. Time and time again (Scott Turner) you see coaches say this is the offense and not change anything to match the players strengths. We don't know for sure how the offense will look, but if it's anything close to the motion west coast offense the Chiefs have... boy lessssss gooooooo. Jack Del Rio has been up-and-down in his time in Washington. He's had two very slow starts with the defense to start year, however, they've finished strong and kept his job safe. This is really the no excuse year and everyone needs to show up amd show out.
Free Agency:
Key Departures:
Taylor Hieneke- signed with the Falcons
Cole Holcolm- signed with the Steelers
Bobby McCain- signed with the Giants
Carson Wentz- TBD
J.D. McKissic- TBD
Trai Turner TBD
Andrew Norwell- will be released when he passes a physical
Summary:
In my personal oppinion, the only player that hurt losing in free agency was Cole Holcolm. Linebacker is our one weak spot on defense, however, not resigning Holcolm shows Ron's belief in Jaymin Davis's progression. Cole was limited to 7 games last season and has yet to truly break out. Always played very solid and losing him downgraded the position. We've moved on from both starting guards from last year in Norwell and Turner (previously on the Panthers). Both players were liabilities last season and the guard position was easily upgradeable. Bonny McCain was a solid do it all for is player. Lined up at corner, safety, and nickel throughout the season. Hieneke was a big fan favorite, but was never the answer. We thank you for your service though. Carson Wentz, fuck you. Loved J.D. and his time here, suffered a major injury. Not sure if he gets picked up hy another team.
Key Additions:
Andrew Wiley- 3 years for 24 million, 12 guaranteed. Previously on the Chiefs
Nick Gates- 3 years for 16.5 million, 8 million guaranteed. Previously on the Giants
Jacoby Brissett- 1 year for 8 million, 7.5 million guaranteed. Previously on the Browns
Cody Barton- 1 year for 3.5 million, 3.5 million guaranteed. Previously on the Seahawks
Summary:
Simple. In free agency the Commanders did not overspend and tackled positions of need. None of the players signed are top 5 at their position, however, they could all possibly end up being upgrades to what we have. The most interesting is Andrew Wiley. He allowed 9 sacks (tied for 3rd most)... but man he put on the performance of his life in the superbowl. Another stat that favors him is pass block win-rate, which measure if a lineman can sustain a block for 2.5 seconds. Wylie ranked 9th in that stat last season. I translate that stat to mean can a lineman sustain a block against thr initial rush and counter move off the snap. After that 2.5 seconds the ball is thrown or the play breaks down. Another key factor to this signing is it kicks Samuel Cosmi inside to guard. Cosmi has shown flashes being a high end lineman and I expect him to be even better kicking to guard from right tackle. Guard was our weakest position on the line and Wylie signing helped to upgrade the RG position. Nick Gates is expected to he our starting center. He's coming off of a brutal leg injury that made him consider retirement. Has played guard and center and has some positional flexibility. Jacoby Brissett is the best backup qb in thr league. A solid signing if Howell doesn't pan out. Just a solid game manager that doesn't commit many turnovers. Cody Barton is another unproven guy. Last year was his first year with significant reps. Bobby Wagner leaving in FA and Jordyn Brooks injury made em the guy. He showed flashes of coverage abilities and had a lot of tackles. The tackles weren't necessarily a product of his abilities and more so of cleaning up on a bad run defense team. I've read some notes that he has trouble getting off of blocks. Honestly, haven't watched much on the guy, but reports were he played solid down the stretch.
The Draft:
Round 1 Pick 16: Emmanuel Forbes- CB
Round 2 Pick 47: Jatavius Martin- NCB/S
Round 3 Pick 97: Ricky Stromberg- C/G
Round 4 Pick 118: Braeden Daniels- T/G
Round 5 Pick 137: KJ Henry-DE
Round 6 Pick 193: Chris Rodriguez-RB
Round 7 Pick 223: Andre Jones- DE/LB
Link to all RAS scores for our draft class
https://commanderswire.usatoday.com/lists/2023-nfl-draft-ras-scores-for-the-washington-commanders-7-player-class-emmanuel-forbes/
Round 1:16 Emmanuel Forbes 6'1" 174 lbs. Mississippi St
Stats: 58 targets, 31 catches allowed for 284 yards (23 yards a game), 3 tds allowed/ 6 ints, 9 forced incompletions, 2 dropped ints, 46 tackles.
PFF Grade: 87.2
If being a 160 pounds is your only knock then I think you're doing something alright. The word on the street is he is already up to 174 pounds. You wouldnt realize hes only 174 pounds by the way he plays the run. Hes not scared to hit and flies ro the ball. Although, he does struggle to get off of blocks. Emmanuel Forbes, per PFF, had the highest rating in man coverage last season, albeit the snap count was very miniscule. Emmanuel Forbes is a lanky corner than played a lot of zone coverage and is a very good scheme fit for what we do. I like the pick and I'm not upset about taking him over Gonzalez, who also had his own question marks. Forbes set a NCAA record with 6 pick sixes. A lot of those were the right place at the right time, but when you have that high of a number than you're doing something right.
PFF:
Forbes is one of the best ballhawks in this class. Over the course of his three-year career, he came down with 13 interceptions. That’s four more than the next closest Power Five cornerback since 2020. Forbes was unbelievably dominant in man coverage in 2022, giving up only three catches while also snagging three interceptions. He also only allowed a 20% completion rate in man, the lowest among FBS
PROS
Remarkably lanky frame. Limbs for days — ideal for a corner.Has bounce like a hooper. He can challenge any catch point necessary. Elite ability to locate the football. All six of his interceptions came in man coverage.
CONS
Still a stick. Not much mass on his frame. Has eyes that get him in trouble. Some freelance tendencies on tape.Can get bowled over in the run game. Mediocre tackler over the course of his career.
Round 2: 47 Jartavius "Quan" Martin 5'11". 194 lbs Illinois
Stats: 74 targets, 42 catches allowed, 611 yards allowed, 3 tds allowed, 3 ints, 15 forced incompletions, 2 dropped ints, 4 missed tackles, 64 tackles.
PFF Grade: 73.2
Quan is a beast. I thought he was the 2nd best nickel prospect in the draft and a better deep safety than Brian Branch. Martin absolute rockets around the field in the run game. He started his career at cornerback before transitioning into the safety/nickel position. Another elite athlete that is a perfect fit for our Buffalo Nickel defense.
PFF:
Martin came to Illinois and immediately started as a true freshman in 2018. He originally started off as an outside corner before becoming more of a slot corner recently. He had arguably his best year in 2022, as his 15 forced incompletions were tied for the sixth-most among Power-Five corners. Martin’s 91.0 run-defense grade also led all Power Five cornerbacks. While he played corner at Illinois, we project him more as a safety for the next level.
PROS:
Explosive flat-foot breaks. Tremendous burst. Forceful and reliable tackler - 7 misses on the last 129 attempts last two seasons.Fills like a mac truck in the run game. Wants to come downhill and play in the backfield.
CONS:
Pure man skills are work in progress. Overagressive and liability to bite on fakes. cons On the lighter side for an around the line of scrimmage player. Gets caught with his eyes in the backfield on run
Round 3: 97 Ricky Stromberg 6'3" 306 lbs Arkansas
Stats: 9 impact blocks, 11 qb hurries, 0 qb hits, 0 sacks allowed
PFF Grade: 82.4
Nasty. Another guard experience player that spent his last two years at the center position. Award winner of the Jacob's Blocking Trophy for the SEC'S most outstanding blocker award. This is a solid player that has started since he was freshman in the SEC. He's been battle tested since he was kid and has improved every year. He has some knocks about his play strength, but a NFL program should get em to where he needs to be.
PFF:
Stromberg was a three-star recruit in the 2019 class and started for the Razorbacks as a true freshman, mostly at right guard. He moved inside to center for his sophomore season and spent his final three college seasons there. Stromberg’s 82.4 overall grade and 83.7 run-blocking grade in 2022 both ranked fourth among all centers in college football, and his nine big-time blocks were tied for fifth among FBS centers. Not to mention, Stromberg had an incredible performance at the NFL combine.
PROS:
Does not want to let blocks go. Can see him straining his butt of to stay engaged on tape. Tons of experience against top competition. Four-year starter with 3,121 career snaps.
CONS:
Forward lean gets going on the move, making him liable to topple over. Has wide hands to initiate contact in pass protection before resetting. Leaves himself open for stronger rushers.Unimpressive musculature, which leaves questions about how he'll anchor against NFL strength.
Round 4: Braeden Daniels 6'4" 296 lbs Utah STATS:
0 sacks allowed, 1 qb hit allowed, 14 hurries allowed.
PFF GRADE: 72.2 at tackle, 2021 84.4 at guard.
Braeden Daniels is another tackle/guard hybrid, with starting experience across his college career. This guy is on the lighter side but that allows him to be an Explosive athlete. Very raw at the tackle position and will be a developmental guy. I'd like to give em a try as our swing tackle and see how he performs. He was one of the quickest offensive lineman I've seen off the tape and that athleticism will let him climb to the next level. Even on the lightweight side I'd hate to see this guy running at me on the second level.
PFF:
Daniels is an experienced veteran who commanded the Utes’ offensive line for the past few years. He originally started as a guard before switching over to tackle. His best season came in 2021, as he put up an 84.4 PFF grade. Given his time on the interior, Daniels is at his best when run blocking, and his run-blocking grade in 2021 was an elite 89.1. He still held his own as a pass protector, allowing only five sacks in his Utah career.
PROS
Explodes out of his stance. Arguably the quickest get off in the offensive line class. Linebackers don't want to see him climbing. Gets on them before they can even react. Drive in his lower half to still move the line of scrimmage despite being under 300 pounds.
CONS
Wild into contact. He approaches blocks with the adjustment ability of a freight train. consDoesn't bring his hands with him. Clean engagements are rare on tape. Very light by NFL standards (294 pounds at combine).
Round 5: 137 KJ Henry 6'4" 260 lbs Clemson
STATS:
51 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 FF, 6 pass deflections, 50 qb pressures, 31 qb hurries, 14 qb hits.
PFF GRADE: 83.1
Loved this pick. Henry was a 5 star recruit coming out of high-school and decided to attend Clemson University. With Clemson having deep lines it took him a couple of years to get on the field. The stats look odd when you only see 3.5 sacks, however, the 50 qb pressures is the key stat. Seems more like bad luck that the sack numbers weren't high. Clemson's whole d-line underperformed (Bresee, Murphey) and they should have picked up more sacks from Henry who was the best DE on that team last year. The team clearly liked him as we traded back up for him. He's not elite athlete, but he is an elite hands guy. Almost had that veteran presence in college. High motor and will immediately make an impact as a rotational de, a position that sorely needed an upgrade.
PFF:
On a team with Myles Murphy, you can easily make the case that KJ Henry was Clemson's best defensive end this year, as he posted better PFF grades than Murphy in every category and even generated 19 more pressures. The only problem is That Henry is 24 years old while Murphy is only 21. Therefore, Henry was expected to produce this well against younger competition. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that he can’t still improve. If Henry's play this season is any indication of his potential, he can still have a great NFL career as an edge defender.
PROS:
Heavy hands that are so well refined. Uses them independently to use combination moves.Utilizes hesitations and head fakes so well to catch linemen off-balance. Coaches rave about the type of teammate he is. He is the type of player you want in the locker room.
CONS:
First step that's unimposing for a rusher on the smaller side. Late bloomer. Wasn't even a starter until this past fall. One of the oldest prospects in the class. Already 24 years old.
Round 6: 193 Chris Rodriguez 6'0" 217 lbs Kentucky
STATS: 8 games played, 175 attempts, 904 rushing yards, 6 tds, 5.2 ypa, 5 catches, 41 rec yards.
PFF GRADE: 90.8
Chris Rodriguez is a PFF darling and was rated as the 7th best running back. This guy's is a pure one cut, run you over, power back. There's not much finesse to his game, but there's highlights of dragging guys 10-yards down the field. He does not posses break away speed, but he will get you 40 yards. He was suspended 4 games due to a dui and he may have been drafted higher on am abysmal Kentucky team. An extra 4 games of stats against SEC competition and no suspension may have jumped him into the 4th round. This was an Eric Bienemy guy and they brought him in because of that. Isiah Pacheco was another EB guy.
PFF:
Rodriguez is a powerful runner, but he lacks the burst and creativity to become anything more than a downhill grinder. He has the size and mentality to do the dirty work between the tackles, but it could be a challenge for him to get to and through the hole quickly in the NFL. He’s a physical blitz protector, so teams might envision a role for him as a second-half battering ram and third-down quarterback protector.
PROS:
Two-time team captain. Thick frame with ability to pick up tough yards. Makes tacklers feel his size at impact. Stays square getting through downhill cuts. Low success rate guaranteed for arm-tacklers. Stays on his feet through heavy angle strikes. Allows lead blockers to do their work. Steps up with force against incoming rushers.
CONS:
Below-average burst getting through line of scrimmage. Lacks finesse to navigate tight run lanes. Change of direction is heavy. One-speed running style is easy to track for linebackers. Pad level is a little tall as run-finisher. Inconsistent finding assignment versus blitz.
Round 7: 233 Andre Jones 6'4" 248 lbs Louisiana
STATS: 7 sacks, 5 qb hits, 20 hurries.
PFF GRADE: 77.2
Andre Jones was another hybrid de/lb player coming out last year. He possess 34 1/4" arms which is an elite number for his size. May move to LB, but I'm not sure that's the right move with a 4.71 40-yard dash. He doesn't have much a pass rush move set playing a hybrid role, but does use length to his advantage. A solid developmental pick.
PROS:
Shows a natural feel for setting up blockers and getting them off-balance. His hands are active and violent, and Jones quickly disengages with blockers and counters when his initial move stalls. Possesses accurate snap anticipation and timing to beat blockers off the edge. Offers some versatility, rushing from a two-and three-point stance with the playing speed to stand up in space.Flashes strength as a bull rusher and his energy doesn't plateau. Showed initial quickness and good flexibility to dip and bend. Jones has active hands and suddenness to his movements, demonstrating the ability to counter inside. Has fluid footwork to redirect, reverse momentum and close with a burst. Regularly first off the ball with good snap anticipation. He’s a high-effort pass rusher with an impressive combination of length and speed.
CONS:
Jones has to develop a counter move or two in the pass rush, and Jones needs to make better use of his hands. He lacks the speed of a chase and- tackle guy. He lacks twitch as a pass rusher and lacks the feet and flexibility to threaten around the edge. Jones also shows some stiffness when trying to bend the edge, often getting pushed past the pocket — he seems more comfortable countering back inside.
Draft Summary:
This was my favorite Ron Rivera/Martin Mayhew draft thus far. Going into the draft, offensive line, cornerback, and quarterback were our three biggest needs. Drafting in the middle of the round really took us out of the olineman race. The last one that interested me was Broderick Jones and he went off the board when the Steelers traded up. At that point in the draft it really left us with going cornerback. The Forbes pick was received negatively due to Christian Gonzalez being available. Both players will be viewed under the microscope throughout their careers. I'm fine with Forbes pick though. Another lanky cornerback who was an elite athlete. I did have Gonzalez rated higher going into the draft, but he slid for a reason. A lot of his tape shows him not necessarily being an elite cornerback, but being an elite athlete that plays corner. Forbes actually showed the athleticism, corner skills, and ballhawking ability. Some additional knocks against Gonazalez and his love of the game. Quan Martin was our biggest surprise pick of the draft. A lot of people had him going in the 3rd round, but I think the 2nd was a fine spot. Mayhew after the draft said he wish we were more aggressive at times, which I translated as not getting Brian Branch that went several picks before us. I think Quan was the backup option, but I like him as much as Branch. I think Quan will be a better deep safety and Bramch will be a better nickel. Liked Quan alot, but felt we should have gone o-line at this pick. Ocyrus Torrence would've been a sweet pick here. I think if that happened, the consensus view on our draft would shoot up. Quan will immediately via for playing time as our base defense is essentially a 4-2-5. Kendall Fuller was our only above average corner and now we turned our secondary into a strength. Ricky Stromberg and Braeden Daniels were our next two picks. I like Stromberg’s tape a lot and think by next he will be a solid starter at guard or center. Braeden Daniels will be a nice depth piece and if he's able to tame his play he could develop into a starter. Fun player to watch. KJ Henry was an awesome pick and can see him being a nice rotational piece. Good pick at an underrated area of need on our defense. RB wasn't a pressing need, but it's an underrated area of weakness. I think Brian Robinson is about as average of rb as you will see starting in the NFL. I wouldn't be surprised if Rodriguez slowly cut into Robinson's role over the next two years. Antonio Gibson has had some solid season, but has a severe fumbling problem. Andre Jones will be a depth piece that will need development moving forward.
Offseason summary:
The biggest question of our offseason was our owner, which now appears resolved. Our second biggest question... was who was our starting qb? Sam Howell. Ron preached all offseason that he was going with Howell and I'll be damned, he did. Brissett was good qb to bring in, not someone that would necessarily turn the offseason into a battle, but can be a starter if called upon. Really a true backup qb. I'm all in on the Sam Howell train. I love it for a multitude of reasons. One, he balls out and we have our qb of the future, two he plays well enough we give him another season and maybe Ron is out and we get a high draft pick, three he bombs and we fire Ron Rivera and go for Caleb Williams next season. If anything, it gives us a direction for our future. I'm ready for Ron to go and think he's only as good as his coordinators. I'm concerned that EB AND Howell turn the offense around Ron gets resigned and EB takes a head coaching role... then the offense regressed. Additionally, I don't want Ron to get credit for drafting Howell. It was 5th round pick, you and every team passed on him for 4 rounds. If Howell is that good... it's not because Ron was a genius and drafted him. Very similar to Seattle taking Russel. I am excited about EB being here and think he's the real deal. I will give Ron credit for allowing him to run his own offense as he sees fit. OTA's have shown that EB is pushing his guys hard and is trying to see what he can do with the offense. We really do have elite playmaker and I'm most excited to see what he can do with Antonio Gibson. I can see his role being that of Jerrick McKinnon, with more athleticism. Sam Howell has shown a lot of progress since his rookie season. Had issues with his foot work, but has shown vast improvements. We only have 1 preseason game and 1 NFL game of tape on him. I liked what he showed. When watching tape you could see him going through his progression, man absolutely saved the day wish his escapability- was under pressure the whole game, threw two beautiful deep passes, and won the game. He did throw one bad pick, but was under pressure and playing hero ball. He had one week of practice with the starters, now he has a whole offseason. Our defense should be a top 5 unit next season and we only got better. Chase Young should be fully healthy and he's the X-factor for the number one overall defense. He comes out plays to his full potential then he could be a mid teens sack guy. If we have that sort of production and Sam Howell plays well than we can compete for the decision. Big if though. Our secondary really lacked a 2nd option, Benjamin St Juyce has shown some flashes but didn't seeze the role last year. Now on paper he's the number and that's very solid. We return two top 6 defensive tackles and Montez Swear is one of the most underrated players in the league. He's yet to have a high sack season, but is very much that Jadaveon Ckowney type of player in the run game. Big question mark season for Jaymin Davis. We knew he needed development, but it's been slower than previously thought. Down the stretch he showed flashes that he was coming into his own and now is his year. He's one of the best athletes at linebacker in the league and his ceiling is very very high. Overall I predict we will go 10-7 and challenge for a wild card spot. That record can fluctuate each one, but I'm calling the improvement now. We went 8-8-1 with bottom 3 qb play. The defense got better, we hired a better offensive coordinator, Howell will at the minimum be slightly better than Hienke last season, we didn't lose any major pieces and had a solid all around draft. I'm truly excited to watch how our future plays out.
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Preface:
Hope.
This 2023 season will be the most interesting for the Commanders franchise in a long long time. We enter this season with more uncertainty than I have ever been a part of, however, the one thing the fan base is certain of... is the future is brighter. Dan Snyder purchased the franchise in 1999 and subsequently done nothing but run a blue blood franchise into the ground. This team has lacked direction for a long time and a large part of that was due to Dan Snyder's meddling in the day-to-day football operations of the team. Starting his ownership with signing washed up HOF veterans, to then overspending in free agency (Albert Haynesworth is arguably the worst free agent signing of all time), drug scandal with thetraining staff, the mishandling of the RG3 and Kirk Cousins situation, Not resigning Trent Williams, and lastly we've now reached tumultuous time where his off the field issues have hung a dark cloud over a once proud franchise. Although, lol, his most egregious mistake may be hiring Jim Zorn as head coach. It's egregious that his only punishment is a 6 billion dollar payout for his franchise. I hope the banks bury him and he faces the deserved legal actions. As of now there had been an agreement to sell the franchise to 76'rs and NJ Devils owner, Josh Harris.... and is 20ish members of his parliament. We await to hear news of the reviews from the NFL financial committee to close out the process. Last news I came across was he has cut down the number of minority owners to 20. It will be a pleasure when this agreement is finalized. He could be a terrible owner, but it would still be an upgrade from Synder. Harris, seemingly has been a hands off owner and properly allows the people he's hired to operate the team. This last sports season he's had both of his teams deep in the playoff hunt. This season will be interesting. A lot of questions all around: Sam Howell? Chase Young? Ron Rivera? Eric Bienemy? Josh Harris? I'm not sure of those answers, but I'm very excited to find them out.
Coaching:
HC- Ron Rivera OC- Eric Bieniemy DC- Jack Del Rio
Key Additions: Eric Bieniemy
Ole' Riverboat Ron Rivera is back and going into his 4th season with the Washington Commanders, hopefully his last. I believe Ron Rivera is a leader of men, but I highly question his actual coaching skills and team building. I've currently seen enough of this coaching regime and front office to safely say let's move on. There's been several things that I believed were firable offenses.... the Carson Wentz trade. Some rumors have said that this was a Snyder push. Not entirely positive, but Ron bragged that it was his call. Our team at that point was not a qb away from being really good, let alone a Carson Wentz level of qb. The next fireable offense was starting Wentz over Hienke when the playoffs were on the line. Wentz ended up being benched for Hienke, but it was too little too late. The next fireable offense was not realizing we were eliminated from the playoffs. Going into the last week of the season Ron planned on starting Hieneke. Pretty odd to not know you're out of the playoffs, let alone to test Sam Howell out for next season. Additionally, there's been some pretty questionable roster creation decisions. I absolutely hate the versatile secondary and offensive line philosophy. We currently have a patch work offensive line that has the means to fluctuate between average to below average. Not a single player on the line is top 5 at their respected position. Two years ago we had a top 10 o-line, but that had Brandon Sherff playing like a top 5 guard and Charles Leno having his best season. Our o-line took a significant step back this past season and now looks to be our biggest weakness. Ron has shown to trust his own board and has reached (according to the consensus big board) with every single pick so far. People mistake 2019 as one of his drafts ( Sweat, McLaurin, Holcomb), but he was hired at the end of the season. Take this with a grain of salt as it takes at least 3 years to properly review a draft. Rons 1st round picks have been the following: 2020 pick 2 Chase Young- the correct pick at the time, but hard to botch the 2nd overall pick, 2021 pick 19 Jamin Davis- hated the pick at the time, too early for a linebacker... let a lone a project. On tape he looked lost a lot and made up for it with his elite athleticism. He's shown progress, but nothing showing he's worthy of the pick. 2022 pick 16 Jahan Dotson- looks to be an absolute baller, had him ranked above Olave in the pre-draft process. Was a slight reach above the consensus board, but flashed high end ability. Davis has been the only mistake in the 1st round thus far. When I say mistake I don't necessarily mean player, but the roster building philosophy. Whether reaching on Phidarian Mathis in the 2nd round of 2022. Lol, he was older than Payne coming out of the draft, one year of good production, and was taken a round too early. In the next round Brian Robinson was taken and was really just a body. Haven't really seen anything elite with him so far and was a meh pick. John Bates in the 4th round was egregious. Now I have to give credit where it's due. Kam Curl was an absolute steal and can solidify himself as top 5 safety this season if he continues to play this well. Our other starting safety in Darrick Forest also had a lot of bright spots playing this past season.
Arguably, our best offseason move was signing Eric Bieniemy. I'm absolutely excited. Forget everything about him not calling the plays. Reports from OTA's shows his hands on approach and full control of the offense. One of my favorites things I've heard is he is using OTA's to see what the players can do and crafting the offense to their abilities. Time and time again (Scott Turner) you see coaches say this is the offense and not change anything to match the players strengths. We don't know for sure how the offense will look, but if it's anything close to the motion west coast offense the Chiefs have... boy lessssss gooooooo. Jack Del Rio has been up-and-down in his time in Washington. He's had two very slow starts with the defense to start year, however, they've finished strong and kept his job safe. This is really the no excuse year and everyone needs to show up amd show out.
Free Agency:
Key Departures:
Taylor Hieneke- signed with the Falcons
Cole Holcolm- signed with the Steelers
Bobby McCain- signed with the Giants
Carson Wentz- TBD
J.D. McKissic- TBD
Trai Turner TBD
Andrew Norwell- will be released when he passes a physical
Summary:
In my personal oppinion, the only player that hurt losing in free agency was Cole Holcolm. Linebacker is our one weak spot on defense, however, not resigning Holcolm shows Ron's belief in Jaymin Davis's progression. Cole was limited to 7 games last season and has yet to truly break out. Always played very solid and losing him downgraded the position. We've moved on from both starting guards from last year in Norwell and Turner (previously on the Panthers). Both players were liabilities last season and the guard position was easily upgradeable. Bonny McCain was a solid do it all for is player. Lined up at corner, safety, and nickel throughout the season. Hieneke was a big fan favorite, but was never the answer. We thank you for your service though. Carson Wentz, fuck you. Loved J.D. and his time here, suffered a major injury. Not sure if he gets picked up hy another team.
Key Additions:
Andrew Wiley- 3 years for 24 million, 12 guaranteed. Previously on the Chiefs
Nick Gates- 3 years for 16.5 million, 8 million guaranteed. Previously on the Giants
Jacoby Brissett- 1 year for 8 million, 7.5 million guaranteed. Previously on the Browns
Cody Barton- 1 year for 3.5 million, 3.5 million guaranteed. Previously on the Seahawks
Summary:
Simple. In free agency the Commanders did not overspend and tackled positions of need. None of the players signed are top 5 at their position, however, they could all possibly end up being upgrades to what we have. The most interesting is Andrew Wiley. He allowed 9 sacks (tied for 3rd most)... but man he put on the performance of his life in the superbowl. Another stat that favors him is pass block win-rate, which measure if a lineman can sustain a block for 2.5 seconds. Wylie ranked 9th in that stat last season. I translate that stat to mean can a lineman sustain a block against thr initial rush and counter move off the snap. After that 2.5 seconds the ball is thrown or the play breaks down. Another key factor to this signing is it kicks Samuel Cosmi inside to guard. Cosmi has shown flashes being a high end lineman and I expect him to be even better kicking to guard from right tackle. Guard was our weakest position on the line and Wylie signing helped to upgrade the RG position. Nick Gates is expected to he our starting center. He's coming off of a brutal leg injury that made him consider retirement. Has played guard and center and has some positional flexibility. Jacoby Brissett is the best backup qb in thr league. A solid signing if Howell doesn't pan out. Just a solid game manager that doesn't commit many turnovers. Cody Barton is another unproven guy. Last year was his first year with significant reps. Bobby Wagner leaving in FA and Jordyn Brooks injury made em the guy. He showed flashes of coverage abilities and had a lot of tackles. The tackles weren't necessarily a product of his abilities and more so of cleaning up on a bad run defense team. I've read some notes that he has trouble getting off of blocks. Honestly, haven't watched much on the guy, but reports were he played solid down the stretch.
The Draft:
Round 1 Pick 16: Emmanuel Forbes- CB
Round 2 Pick 47: Jatavius Martin- NCB/S
Round 3 Pick 97: Ricky Stromberg- C/G
Round 4 Pick 118: Braeden Daniels- T/G
Round 5 Pick 137: KJ Henry-DE
Round 6 Pick 193: Chris Rodriguez-RB
Round 7 Pick 223: Andre Jones- DE/LB
Link to all RAS scores for our draft class
https://commanderswire.usatoday.com/lists/2023-nfl-draft-ras-scores-for-the-washington-commanders-7-player-class-emmanuel-forbes/
Round 1:16 Emmanuel Forbes 6'1" 174 lbs. Mississippi St
Stats: 58 targets, 31 catches allowed for 284 yards (23 yards a game), 3 tds allowed/ 6 ints, 9 forced incompletions, 2 dropped ints, 46 tackles.
PFF Grade: 87.2
If being a 160 pounds is your only knock then I think you're doing something alright. The word on the street is he is already up to 174 pounds. You wouldnt realize hes only 174 pounds by the way he plays the run. Hes not scared to hit and flies ro the ball. Although, he does struggle to get off of blocks. Emmanuel Forbes, per PFF, had the highest rating in man coverage last season, albeit the snap count was very miniscule. Emmanuel Forbes is a lanky corner than played a lot of zone coverage and is a very good scheme fit for what we do. I like the pick and I'm not upset about taking him over Gonzalez, who also had his own question marks. Forbes set a NCAA record with 6 pick sixes. A lot of those were the right place at the right time, but when you have that high of a number than you're doing something right.
PFF:
Forbes is one of the best ballhawks in this class. Over the course of his three-year career, he came down with 13 interceptions. That’s four more than the next closest Power Five cornerback since 2020. Forbes was unbelievably dominant in man coverage in 2022, giving up only three catches while also snagging three interceptions. He also only allowed a 20% completion rate in man, the lowest among FBS
PROS
Remarkably lanky frame. Limbs for days — ideal for a corner.Has bounce like a hooper. He can challenge any catch point necessary. Elite ability to locate the football. All six of his interceptions came in man coverage.
CONS
Still a stick. Not much mass on his frame. Has eyes that get him in trouble. Some freelance tendencies on tape.Can get bowled over in the run game. Mediocre tackler over the course of his career.
Round 2: 47 Jartavius "Quan" Martin 5'11". 194 lbs Illinois
Stats: 74 targets, 42 catches allowed, 611 yards allowed, 3 tds allowed, 3 ints, 15 forced incompletions, 2 dropped ints, 4 missed tackles, 64 tackles.
PFF Grade: 73.2
Quan is a beast. I thought he was the 2nd best nickel prospect in the draft and a better deep safety than Brian Branch. Martin absolute rockets around the field in the run game. He started his career at cornerback before transitioning into the safety/nickel position. Another elite athlete that is a perfect fit for our Buffalo Nickel defense.
PFF:
Martin came to Illinois and immediately started as a true freshman in 2018. He originally started off as an outside corner before becoming more of a slot corner recently. He had arguably his best year in 2022, as his 15 forced incompletions were tied for the sixth-most among Power-Five corners. Martin’s 91.0 run-defense grade also led all Power Five cornerbacks. While he played corner at Illinois, we project him more as a safety for the next level.
PROS:
Explosive flat-foot breaks. Tremendous burst. Forceful and reliable tackler - 7 misses on the last 129 attempts last two seasons.Fills like a mac truck in the run game. Wants to come downhill and play in the backfield.
CONS:
Pure man skills are work in progress. Overagressive and liability to bite on fakes. cons On the lighter side for an around the line of scrimmage player. Gets caught with his eyes in the backfield on run
Round 3: 97 Ricky Stromberg 6'3" 306 lbs Arkansas
Stats: 9 impact blocks, 11 qb hurries, 0 qb hits, 0 sacks allowed
PFF Grade: 82.4
Nasty. Another guard experience player that spent his last two years at the center position. Award winner of the Jacob's Blocking Trophy for the SEC'S most outstanding blocker award. This is a solid player that has started since he was freshman in the SEC. He's been battle tested since he was kid and has improved every year. He has some knocks about his play strength, but a NFL program should get em to where he needs to be.
PFF:
Stromberg was a three-star recruit in the 2019 class and started for the Razorbacks as a true freshman, mostly at right guard. He moved inside to center for his sophomore season and spent his final three college seasons there. Stromberg’s 82.4 overall grade and 83.7 run-blocking grade in 2022 both ranked fourth among all centers in college football, and his nine big-time blocks were tied for fifth among FBS centers. Not to mention, Stromberg had an incredible performance at the NFL combine.
PROS:
Does not want to let blocks go. Can see him straining his butt of to stay engaged on tape. Tons of experience against top competition. Four-year starter with 3,121 career snaps.
CONS:
Forward lean gets going on the move, making him liable to topple over. Has wide hands to initiate contact in pass protection before resetting. Leaves himself open for stronger rushers.Unimpressive musculature, which leaves questions about how he'll anchor against NFL strength.
Round 4: Braeden Daniels 6'4" 296 lbs Utah STATS:
0 sacks allowed, 1 qb hit allowed, 14 hurries allowed.
PFF GRADE: 72.2 at tackle, 2021 84.4 at guard.
Braeden Daniels is another tackle/guard hybrid, with starting experience across his college career. This guy is on the lighter side but that allows him to be an Explosive athlete. Very raw at the tackle position and will be a developmental guy. I'd like to give em a try as our swing tackle and see how he performs. He was one of the quickest offensive lineman I've seen off the tape and that athleticism will let him climb to the next level. Even on the lightweight side I'd hate to see this guy running at me on the second level.
PFF:
Daniels is an experienced veteran who commanded the Utes’ offensive line for the past few years. He originally started as a guard before switching over to tackle. His best season came in 2021, as he put up an 84.4 PFF grade. Given his time on the interior, Daniels is at his best when run blocking, and his run-blocking grade in 2021 was an elite 89.1. He still held his own as a pass protector, allowing only five sacks in his Utah career.
PROS
Explodes out of his stance. Arguably the quickest get off in the offensive line class. Linebackers don't want to see him climbing. Gets on them before they can even react. Drive in his lower half to still move the line of scrimmage despite being under 300 pounds.
CONS
Wild into contact. He approaches blocks with the adjustment ability of a freight train. consDoesn't bring his hands with him. Clean engagements are rare on tape. Very light by NFL standards (294 pounds at combine).
Round 5: 137 KJ Henry 6'4" 260 lbs Clemson
STATS:
51 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 FF, 6 pass deflections, 50 qb pressures, 31 qb hurries, 14 qb hits.
PFF GRADE: 83.1
Loved this pick. Henry was a 5 star recruit coming out of high-school and decided to attend Clemson University. With Clemson having deep lines it took him a couple of years to get on the field. The stats look odd when you only see 3.5 sacks, however, the 50 qb pressures is the key stat. Seems more like bad luck that the sack numbers weren't high. Clemson's whole d-line underperformed (Bresee, Murphey) and they should have picked up more sacks from Henry who was the best DE on that team last year. The team clearly liked him as we traded back up for him. He's not elite athlete, but he is an elite hands guy. Almost had that veteran presence in college. High motor and will immediately make an impact as a rotational de, a position that sorely needed an upgrade.
PFF:
On a team with Myles Murphy, you can easily make the case that KJ Henry was Clemson's best defensive end this year, as he posted better PFF grades than Murphy in every category and even generated 19 more pressures. The only problem is That Henry is 24 years old while Murphy is only 21. Therefore, Henry was expected to produce this well against younger competition. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that he can’t still improve. If Henry's play this season is any indication of his potential, he can still have a great NFL career as an edge defender.
PROS:
Heavy hands that are so well refined. Uses them independently to use combination moves.Utilizes hesitations and head fakes so well to catch linemen off-balance. Coaches rave about the type of teammate he is. He is the type of player you want in the locker room.
CONS:
First step that's unimposing for a rusher on the smaller side. Late bloomer. Wasn't even a starter until this past fall. One of the oldest prospects in the class. Already 24 years old.
Round 6: 193 Chris Rodriguez 6'0" 217 lbs Kentucky
STATS: 8 games played, 175 attempts, 904 rushing yards, 6 tds, 5.2 ypa, 5 catches, 41 rec yards.
PFF GRADE: 90.8
Chris Rodriguez is a PFF darling and was rated as the 7th best running back. This guy's is a pure one cut, run you over, power back. There's not much finesse to his game, but there's highlights of dragging guys 10-yards down the field. He does not posses break away speed, but he will get you 40 yards. He was suspended 4 games due to a dui and he may have been drafted higher on am abysmal Kentucky team. An extra 4 games of stats against SEC competition and no suspension may have jumped him into the 4th round. This was an Eric Bienemy guy and they brought him in because of that. Isiah Pacheco was another EB guy.
PFF:
Rodriguez is a powerful runner, but he lacks the burst and creativity to become anything more than a downhill grinder. He has the size and mentality to do the dirty work between the tackles, but it could be a challenge for him to get to and through the hole quickly in the NFL. He’s a physical blitz protector, so teams might envision a role for him as a second-half battering ram and third-down quarterback protector.
PROS:
Two-time team captain. Thick frame with ability to pick up tough yards. Makes tacklers feel his size at impact. Stays square getting through downhill cuts. Low success rate guaranteed for arm-tacklers. Stays on his feet through heavy angle strikes. Allows lead blockers to do their work. Steps up with force against incoming rushers.
CONS:
Below-average burst getting through line of scrimmage. Lacks finesse to navigate tight run lanes. Change of direction is heavy. One-speed running style is easy to track for linebackers. Pad level is a little tall as run-finisher. Inconsistent finding assignment versus blitz.
Round 7: 233 Andre Jones 6'4" 248 lbs Louisiana
STATS: 7 sacks, 5 qb hits, 20 hurries.
PFF GRADE: 77.2
Andre Jones was another hybrid de/lb player coming out last year. He possess 34 1/4" arms which is an elite number for his size. May move to LB, but I'm not sure that's the right move with a 4.71 40-yard dash. He doesn't have much a pass rush move set playing a hybrid role, but does use length to his advantage. A solid developmental pick.
PROS:
Shows a natural feel for setting up blockers and getting them off-balance. His hands are active and violent, and Jones quickly disengages with blockers and counters when his initial move stalls. Possesses accurate snap anticipation and timing to beat blockers off the edge. Offers some versatility, rushing from a two-and three-point stance with the playing speed to stand up in space.Flashes strength as a bull rusher and his energy doesn't plateau. Showed initial quickness and good flexibility to dip and bend. Jones has active hands and suddenness to his movements, demonstrating the ability to counter inside. Has fluid footwork to redirect, reverse momentum and close with a burst. Regularly first off the ball with good snap anticipation. He’s a high-effort pass rusher with an impressive combination of length and speed.
CONS:
Jones has to develop a counter move or two in the pass rush, and Jones needs to make better use of his hands. He lacks the speed of a chase and- tackle guy. He lacks twitch as a pass rusher and lacks the feet and flexibility to threaten around the edge. Jones also shows some stiffness when trying to bend the edge, often getting pushed past the pocket — he seems more comfortable countering back inside.
Draft Summary:
This was my favorite Ron Rivera/Martin Mayhew draft thus far. Going into the draft, offensive line, cornerback, and quarterback were our three biggest needs. Drafting in the middle of the round really took us out of the olineman race. The last one that interested me was Broderick Jones and he went off the board when the Steelers traded up. At that point in the draft it really left us with going cornerback. The Forbes pick was received negatively due to Christian Gonzalez being available. Both players will be viewed under the microscope throughout their careers. I'm fine with Forbes pick though. Another lanky cornerback who was an elite athlete. I did have Gonzalez rated higher going into the draft, but he slid for a reason. A lot of his tape shows him not necessarily being an elite cornerback, but being an elite athlete that plays corner. Forbes actually showed the athleticism, corner skills, and ballhawking ability. Some additional knocks against Gonazalez and his love of the game. Quan Martin was our biggest surprise pick of the draft. A lot of people had him going in the 3rd round, but I think the 2nd was a fine spot. Mayhew after the draft said he wish we were more aggressive at times, which I translated as not getting Brian Branch that went several picks before us. I think Quan was the backup option, but I like him as much as Branch. I think Quan will be a better deep safety and Bramch will be a better nickel. Liked Quan alot, but felt we should have gone o-line at this pick. Ocyrus Torrence would've been a sweet pick here. I think if that happened, the consensus view on our draft would shoot up. Quan will immediately via for playing time as our base defense is essentially a 4-2-5. Kendall Fuller was our only above average corner and now we turned our secondary into a strength. Ricky Stromberg and Braeden Daniels were our next two picks. I like Stromberg’s tape a lot and think by next he will be a solid starter at guard or center. Braeden Daniels will be a nice depth piece and if he's able to tame his play he could develop into a starter. Fun player to watch. KJ Henry was an awesome pick and can see him being a nice rotational piece. Good pick at an underrated area of need on our defense. RB wasn't a pressing need, but it's an underrated area of weakness. I think Brian Robinson is about as average of rb as you will see starting in the NFL. I wouldn't be surprised if Rodriguez slowly cut into Robinson's role over the next two years. Antonio Gibson has had some solid season, but has a severe fumbling problem. Andre Jones will be a depth piece that will need development moving forward.
Offseason summary:
The biggest question of our offseason was our owner, which now appears resolved. Our second biggest question... was who was our starting qb? Sam Howell. Ron preached all offseason that he was going with Howell and I'll be damned, he did. Brissett was good qb to bring in, not someone that would necessarily turn the offseason into a battle, but can be a starter if called upon. Really a true backup qb. I'm all in on the Sam Howell train. I love it for a multitude of reasons. One, he balls out and we have our qb of the future, two he plays well enough we give him another season and maybe Ron is out and we get a high draft pick, three he bombs and we fire Ron Rivera and go for Caleb Williams next season. If anything, it gives us a direction for our future. I'm ready for Ron to go and think he's only as good as his coordinators. I'm concerned that EB AND Howell turn the offense around Ron gets resigned and EB takes a head coaching role... then the offense regressed. Additionally, I don't want Ron to get credit for drafting Howell. It was 5th round pick, you and every team passed on him for 4 rounds. If Howell is that good... it's not because Ron was a genius and drafted him. Very similar to Seattle taking Russel. I am excited about EB being here and think he's the real deal. I will give Ron credit for allowing him to run his own offense as he sees fit. OTA's have shown that EB is pushing his guys hard and is trying to see what he can do with the offense. We really do have elite playmaker and I'm most excited to see what he can do with Antonio Gibson. I can see his role being that of Jerrick McKinnon, with more athleticism. Sam Howell has shown a lot of progress since his rookie season. Had issues with his foot work, but has shown vast improvements. We only have 1 preseason game and 1 NFL game of tape on him. I liked what he showed. When watching tape you could see him going through his progression, man absolutely saved the day wish his escapability- was under pressure the whole game, threw two beautiful deep passes, and won the game. He did throw one bad pick, but was under pressure and playing hero ball. He had one week of practice with the starters, now he has a whole offseason. Our defense should be a top 5 unit next season and we only got better. Chase Young should be fully healthy and he's the X-factor for the number one overall defense. He comes out plays to his full potential then he could be a mid teens sack guy. If we have that sort of production and Sam Howell plays well than we can compete for the decision. Big if though. Our secondary really lacked a 2nd option, Benjamin St Juyce has shown some flashes but didn't seeze the role last year. Now on paper he's the number and that's very solid. We return two top 6 defensive tackles and Montez Swear is one of the most underrated players in the league. He's yet to have a high sack season, but is very much that Jadaveon Ckowney type of player in the run game. Big question mark season for Jaymin Davis. We knew he needed development, but it's been slower than previously thought. Down the stretch he showed flashes that he was coming into his own and now is his year. He's one of the best athletes at linebacker in the league and his ceiling is very very high. Overall I predict we will go 10-7 and challenge for a wild card spot. That record can fluctuate each one, but I'm calling the improvement now. We went 8-8-1 with bottom 3 qb play. The defense got better, we hired a better offensive coordinator, Howell will at the minimum be slightly better than Hienke last season, we didn't lose any major pieces and had a solid all around draft. I'm truly excited to watch how our future plays out.
2023.06.01 16:23 Then_Marionberry_259 JUN 01, 2023 CNC.V CANADA NICKEL CONTINUES TO INTERSECT HIGH-GRADE, NEAR-SURFACE MINERALIZATION AT TEXMONT PROJECT
 | https://preview.redd.it/zezrfy7j1f3b1.png?width=3500&format=png&auto=webp&s=f940a666e00e55d6032686a762eb0ac296b23275 submitted by Then_Marionberry_259 to Treaty_Creek [link] [comments] Highlights
Mark Selby , CEO of Canada Nickel, said, "This latest set of assay results reinforce our thesis of near-surface high-grade intervals within thick mineralized sections which support the potential for near-term, smaller scale, open pit production. We look forward to delivering an initial resource and Preliminary Economic Analysis ("PEA") on Texmont this year as its near-term production potential is highly complementary to our large-scale Crawford and regional nickel sulphide project potential." Latest Drill Results The drill results further confirm the interpretation of the Texmont deposit, as displaying zoning in its mineralization, with a higher-grade core >1.0% nickel ranging between 2 to 8 metres thick, encompassed by moderate-high grade mineralization of 0.6-1.0% nickel between 12 to 25 metres thick and surrounded by lower grade mineralization of 0.25% and higher, with widths up to 150 metres (see Tables 1 and 2). Mineralization has been drilled to a vertical depth of 444 metres and remains open at depth. Canada Nickel expects to produce a mineral resource estimate on the Texmont Project later this year using the 28,884 metres of drilling completed during the previous 2006 -2008 drill program and 9,726 metres in the current 2022-2023 program. This resource will form part of a PEA expected by the end of 2023. Table 1: Texmont exploration drilling results - high grade highlights https://preview.redd.it/23hk2wlj1f3b1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=d57bcd9821d6b5f77e869c53caa51832f78c4ccd
https://preview.redd.it/jw4zoihk1f3b1.jpg?width=376&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=744e4f3884c0de48cbc7ba05bed2ef92713aa676 Table 2: Texmont exploration drilling results – downhole average https://preview.redd.it/fcs7ucxk1f3b1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=5aa3142dea3e2d47430441f2146caa8992071bf8 https://preview.redd.it/lkn977dl1f3b1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=3f378500188f60262ab937bfaf4159610ac47cc6 Table 3: Texmont Drillhole Orientation https://preview.redd.it/gai18atl1f3b1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=161a83fcf083a6ef5e55cfad068a8dee307af837 From the 11 drillholes in this release, five were drilled in the southern half of the property close to the past producing Texmont mine. The remaining six drillholes were drilled in the northern half of the property, testing the strike length extent of the mineralization. Drillholes TXT23-24, TXT23-29, TXT23-30, TXT23-31 and TXT23-33 in the southern half of the property all intersected varying degrees of mineralization predominantly hosted in peridotites and to a lesser extent in adjacent mineralized komatiites. All drillholes cut across the interpreted low to moderate to high grade shells, with the best intersection in hole TXT23-30 at 1.34% Ni over 8.5 metres within a moderate-high grade shell of 0.83% Ni over 19.5 metres, within a low grade shell of 0.22% Ni over 127.4 metres. Holes TXT23-29 and TXT23-30 were drilled sub-parallel to strike to test the presence of inferred cross cutting faults, as well as to confirm the continuity of the mineralized shells (low, moderate and high) across geologic sections in an area of the mineralization where existing underground infrastructure makes it difficult to drill on-section. The six remaining holes drilled in the north section of the property (Figure 2) all intersected varying degrees of nickel mineralization, with holes TXT23-32 and TXT23-35 having the best results, intersecting high grade nickel very close to surface, with overburden less than 5.5 metres in TXT23-35. TXT23-35 intersected 9.0 metres of 1.03 % nickel, within a larger section of 25.5 metres of 0.72% nickel, within an overall mineralized envelope of 174.5 metres grading 0.30% nickel. Assays, Quality Assurance/Quality Control and Drilling and Assay Edwin Escarraga , MSc, P.Geo., a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for the on-going drilling and sampling program, including quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC). The core is collected from the drill in sealed core trays and transported to the core logging facility. The core is marked and sampled at 1.5 metre lengths and cut with a diamond blade saw. One set of samples is transported in secured bags directly from the Canada Nickel core shack to Actlabs Timmins, while a second set of samples is securely shipped to SGS Lakefield for preparation, with analysis performed at SGS Burnaby or SGS Callao ( Peru ). All are ISO/IEC 17025 accredited labs. Analysis for precious metals (gold, platinum, and palladium) are completed by Fire Assay while analysis for nickel, cobalt, sulphur and other elements are performed using a peroxide fusion and ICP-OES analysis. Certified standards and blanks are inserted at a rate of 3 QA/QC samples per 20 core samples making a batch of 60 samples that are submitted for analysis. Qualified Person and Data Verification Stephen J. Balch P.Geo The magnetic images shown in this press release were created from Canada Nickel's interpretation of datasets provided by the Ontario Geological Survey. About Canada Nickel Company Canada Nickel Company Inc. is advancing the next generation of nickel-sulphide projects to deliver nickel required to feed the high growth electric vehicle and stainless-steel markets. Canada Nickel Company has applied in multiple jurisdictions to trademark the terms NetZero Nickel TM , NetZero Cobalt TM , NetZero Iron TM and is pursuing the development of processes to allow the production of net zero carbon nickel, cobalt, and iron products. Canada Nickel provides investors with leverage to nickel in low political risk jurisdictions. Canada Nickel is currently anchored by its 100% owned flagship Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulphide Project in the heart of the prolific TimminsCochrane mining camp. For more information, please visit www.canadanickel.com.For further information, please contact: Mark Selby CEO Phone: 647-256-1954 Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain information that may constitute "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward looking information includes, but is not limited to, drill and exploration results relating to the target properties described herein (the "Properties"), the potential of the Crawford Nickel Sulphide Project, the Texmont Project and the other Properties, timing of economic studies and mineral resource estimates, the ability to sell marketable materials, strategic plans, including future exploration and development results, and corporate and technical objectives. Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon several assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could affect the outcome include, among others: future prices and the supply of metals, the future demand for metals, the results of drilling, inability to raise the money necessary to incur the expenditures required to retain and advance the property, environmental liabilities (known and unknown), general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties, results of exploration programs, risks of the mining industry, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, failure to obtain regulatory or shareholder approvals, and the impact of COVID-19 related disruptions in relation to the Company's business operations including upon its employees, suppliers, facilities and other stakeholders. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. All forward-looking information contained in this press release is given as of the date hereof and is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management as at the date hereof. Canada Nickel disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. https://preview.redd.it/mvfdg19m1f3b1.jpg?width=376&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f0a624b73a57be02795f8e5b21219345503ba3af View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/canada-nickel-continues-to-intersect-high-grade-near-surface-mineralization-at-texmont-project-301839423.html SOURCE Canada Nickel Company Inc. https://preview.redd.it/tn6jmuom1f3b1.png?width=4000&format=png&auto=webp&s=2a5b189bafd858a74a42a2a30a7bf608695d3fbd
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2023.06.01 16:13 rustybelts Ranking FBS Programs by Flair:Enrollment Ratio
Some offseason drivel.
Simple ratio of number of instances of an FBS school's flair (including any alternate flairs) divided by the school's enrollment.
Note: This is a count of flair, not users. Example: If a user has [UCF] primary flair and [UCF alternate (the Citronaut)] secondary flair, that counts as 2 in the Flair column rather than 1. In other words, users who double up on their school's flair offerings count twice. There certainly are users who double up, but I feel like it does not affect the numbers much. This method makes sure to capture users who do not use their school's standard flair and instead use their school's alternate flair. (Note: Not every school has alternate flair. * Bearcat tears 😿 *)
Data sources:
Here's conference summaries:
submitted by rustybelts to CFB [link] [comments]
Simple ratio of number of instances of an FBS school's flair (including any alternate flairs) divided by the school's enrollment.
Note: This is a count of flair, not users. Example: If a user has [UCF] primary flair and [UCF alternate (the Citronaut)] secondary flair, that counts as 2 in the Flair column rather than 1. In other words, users who double up on their school's flair offerings count twice. There certainly are users who double up, but I feel like it does not affect the numbers much. This method makes sure to capture users who do not use their school's standard flair and instead use their school's alternate flair. (Note: Not every school has alternate flair. * Bearcat tears 😿 *)
Data sources:
- Enrollment (Some of these are out of date by a few years. This was the easiest source to pull from. I am not going to track down current official enrollment numbers for 133 separate institutions.)
- Flair count (Accessed 05/31/2023)
| Rank | Program | Conf. | Flair | Enrollment | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Notre Dame | FBS Independents | 7,745 | 13,139 | 58.9% |
| 2 | Michigan | Big Ten | 17,127 | 50,278 | 34.1% |
| 3 | Oregon | Pac-12 | 6,789 | 22,257 | 30.5% |
| 4 | Alabama | SEC | 11,674 | 38,316 | 30.5% |
| 5 | Ohio State | Big Ten | 18,118 | 61,677 | 29.4% |
| 6 | Nebraska | Big Ten | 6,963 | 24,431 | 28.5% |
| 7 | Navy | American | 1,249 | 4,528 | 27.6% |
| 8 | Oklahoma | Big 12 | 7,349 | 28,042 | 26.2% |
| 9 | Georgia | SEC | 10,467 | 40,118 | 26.1% |
| 10 | Army | FBS Independents | 1,189 | 4,594 | 25.9% |
| 11 | Clemson | ACC | 6,127 | 27,341 | 22.4% |
| 12 | Tennessee | SEC | 6,856 | 31,701 | 21.6% |
| 13 | Auburn | SEC | 6,349 | 31,526 | 20.1% |
| 14 | LSU | SEC | 7,170 | 35,912 | 20.0% |
| 15 | Texas | Big 12 | 10,325 | 51,991 | 19.9% |
| 16 | Miami | ACC | 3,307 | 19,096 | 17.3% |
| 17 | Florida | SEC | 9,042 | 55,781 | 16.2% |
| 18 | TCU | Big 12 | 1,932 | 11,938 | 16.2% |
| 19 | Penn State | Big Ten | 7,297 | 47,560 | 15.3% |
| 20 | Iowa | Big Ten | 4,447 | 29,909 | 14.9% |
| 21 | Air Force | Mountain West | 613 | 4,181 | 14.7% |
| 22 | Florida State | ACC | 6,392 | 45,130 | 14.2% |
| 23 | Wisconsin | Big Ten | 6,543 | 47,932 | 13.7% |
| 24 | Michigan State | Big Ten | 6,394 | 49,659 | 12.9% |
| 25 | Arkansas | SEC | 3,675 | 29,068 | 12.6% |
| 26 | South Carolina | SEC | 4,455 | 35,471 | 12.6% |
| 27 | Virginia Tech | ACC | 4,615 | 37,279 | 12.4% |
| 28 | Stanford | Pac-12 | 2,132 | 17,680 | 12.1% |
| 29 | Texas A&M | SEC | 8,597 | 72,530 | 11.9% |
| 30 | West Virginia | Big 12 | 2,996 | 25,474 | 11.8% |
| 31 | Oklahoma State | Big 12 | 2,770 | 24,660 | 11.2% |
| 32 | Baylor | Big 12 | 2,238 | 20,626 | 10.9% |
| 33 | USC | Pac-12 | 4,995 | 49,318 | 10.1% |
| 34 | Georgia Tech | ACC | 4,426 | 43,844 | 10.1% |
| 35 | Tulsa | American | 384 | 3,832 | 10.0% |
| 36 | Kansas State | Big 12 | 1,940 | 20,229 | 9.6% |
| 37 | Iowa State | Big 12 | 2,895 | 30,708 | 9.4% |
| 38 | Ole Miss | SEC | 1,957 | 21,203 | 9.2% |
| 39 | Kentucky | SEC | 2,782 | 30,390 | 9.2% |
| 40 | Washington | Pac-12 | 4,721 | 52,439 | 9.0% |
| 41 | Vanderbilt | SEC | 1,178 | 13,796 | 8.5% |
| 42 | Missouri | SEC | 2,640 | 31,412 | 8.4% |
| 43 | Washington State | Pac-12 | 2,361 | 29,843 | 7.9% |
| 44 | Wake Forest | ACC | 703 | 8,947 | 7.9% |
| 45 | Mississippi State | SEC | 1,775 | 23,086 | 7.7% |
| 46 | Kansas | Big 12 | 2,035 | 26,780 | 7.6% |
| 47 | North Carolina | ACC | 2,377 | 31,733 | 7.5% |
| 48 | Utah | Pac-12 | 2,535 | 34,464 | 7.4% |
| 49 | Pittsburgh | ACC | 2,134 | 29,238 | 7.3% |
| 50 | Texas Tech | Big 12 | 2,927 | 40,542 | 7.2% |
| 51 | Northwestern | Big Ten | 1,631 | 22,933 | 7.1% |
| 52 | Minnesota | Big Ten | 3,474 | 52,376 | 6.6% |
| 53 | Boston College | ACC | 991 | 15,046 | 6.6% |
| 54 | Louisville | ACC | 1,441 | 22,140 | 6.5% |
| 55 | Appalachian State | Sun Belt | 1,309 | 20,641 | 6.3% |
| 56 | Syracuse | ACC | 1,364 | 21,772 | 6.3% |
| 57 | Virginia | ACC | 1,616 | 26,026 | 6.2% |
| 58 | Colorado | Pac-12 | 2,280 | 37,956 | 6.0% |
| 59 | Boise State | Mountain West | 1,545 | 25,830 | 6.0% |
| 60 | NC State | ACC | 2,189 | 36,831 | 5.9% |
| 61 | Duke | ACC | 1,047 | 17,620 | 5.9% |
| 62 | Cincinnati | Big 12 | 2,370 | 40,281 | 5.9% |
| 63 | SMU | American | 728 | 12,385 | 5.9% |
| 64 | UCLA | Pac-12 | 2,737 | 47,516 | 5.8% |
| 65 | Oregon State | Pac-12 | 1,892 | 33,193 | 5.7% |
| 66 | Tulane | American | 746 | 13,127 | 5.7% |
| 67 | California | Pac-12 | 2,563 | 45,435 | 5.6% |
| 68 | Purdue | Big Ten | 2,688 | 49,639 | 5.4% |
| 69 | Maryland | Big Ten | 2,149 | 41,272 | 5.2% |
| 70 | UCF | Big 12 | 3,619 | 70,406 | 5.1% |
| 71 | Wyoming | Mountain West | 588 | 11,479 | 5.1% |
| 72 | BYU | Big 12 | 1,592 | 34,802 | 4.6% |
| 73 | Indiana | Big Ten | 2,043 | 45,328 | 4.5% |
| 74 | Rice | American | 373 | 8,285 | 4.5% |
| 75 | UAB | American | 998 | 22,289 | 4.5% |
| 76 | Marshall | Sun Belt | 484 | 11,125 | 4.4% |
| 77 | Illinois | Big Ten | 2,450 | 56,607 | 4.3% |
| 78 | Western Michigan | MAC | 741 | 19,038 | 3.9% |
| 79 | Houston | Big 12 | 1,828 | 47,031 | 3.9% |
| 80 | Coastal Carolina | Sun Belt | 406 | 10,473 | 3.9% |
| 81 | Central Michigan | MAC | 597 | 15,465 | 3.9% |
| 82 | Toledo | MAC | 653 | 17,045 | 3.8% |
| 83 | Memphis | American | 768 | 21,622 | 3.6% |
| 84 | Rutgers | Big Ten | 1,790 | 50,804 | 3.5% |
| 85 | Arizona State | Pac-12 | 2,715 | 77,881 | 3.5% |
| 86 | Georgia Southern | Sun Belt | 913 | 27,091 | 3.4% |
| 87 | Hawai'i | Mountain West | 640 | 19,097 | 3.4% |
| 88 | Northern Illinois | MAC | 534 | 16,234 | 3.3% |
| 89 | South Alabama | Sun Belt | 452 | 13,992 | 3.2% |
| 90 | Louisiana Tech | Conference USA | 355 | 11,037 | 3.2% |
| 91 | Arizona | Pac-12 | 1,551 | 49,471 | 3.1% |
| 92 | Ohio | MAC | 753 | 24,429 | 3.1% |
| 93 | James Madison | Sun Belt | 659 | 22,166 | 3.0% |
| 94 | Jacksonville State | Conference USA | 269 | 9,238 | 2.9% |
| 95 | Troy | Sun Belt | 416 | 14,901 | 2.8% |
| 96 | USF | American | 1,232 | 44,322 | 2.8% |
| 97 | Louisiana | Sun Belt | 426 | 16,225 | 2.6% |
| 98 | Miami (OH) | MAC | 502 | 19,216 | 2.6% |
| 99 | Bowling Green | MAC | 457 | 17,645 | 2.6% |
| 100 | Temple | American | 897 | 35,626 | 2.5% |
| 101 | Connecticut | FBS Independents | 800 | 32,146 | 2.5% |
| 102 | Southern Miss | Sun Belt | 343 | 14,146 | 2.4% |
| 103 | San Diego State | Mountain West | 778 | 35,732 | 2.2% |
| 104 | ECU | American | 602 | 28,021 | 2.1% |
| 105 | Colorado State | Mountain West | 702 | 32,777 | 2.1% |
| 106 | Eastern Michigan | MAC | 328 | 15,370 | 2.1% |
| 107 | Fresno State | Mountain West | 492 | 24,585 | 2.0% |
| 108 | UTSA | American | 688 | 34,734 | 2.0% |
| 109 | Akron | MAC | 274 | 14,516 | 1.9% |
| 110 | WKU | Conference USA | 292 | 16,750 | 1.7% |
| 111 | Middle Tennessee | Conference USA | 359 | 20,857 | 1.7% |
| 112 | North Texas | American | 724 | 42,454 | 1.7% |
| 113 | Nevada | Mountain West | 348 | 21,034 | 1.7% |
| 114 | Utah State | Mountain West | 429 | 27,426 | 1.6% |
| 115 | Texas State | Sun Belt | 576 | 37,864 | 1.5% |
| 116 | Old Dominion | Sun Belt | 345 | 23,494 | 1.5% |
| 117 | Arkansas State | Sun Belt | 188 | 12,863 | 1.5% |
| 118 | Ball State | MAC | 270 | 19,337 | 1.4% |
| 119 | Buffalo | MAC | 447 | 32,332 | 1.4% |
| 120 | ULM | Sun Belt | 114 | 8,565 | 1.3% |
| 121 | Kent State | MAC | 338 | 26,597 | 1.3% |
| 122 | FAU | American | 374 | 30,155 | 1.2% |
| 123 | Charlotte | American | 376 | 30,448 | 1.2% |
| 124 | UMass | FBS Independents | 389 | 32,045 | 1.2% |
| 125 | Sam Houston | Conference USA | 247 | 21,679 | 1.1% |
| 126 | New Mexico State | Conference USA | 148 | 13,904 | 1.1% |
| 127 | New Mexico | Mountain West | 228 | 21,738 | 1.0% |
| 128 | UNLV | Mountain West | 313 | 30,679 | 1.0% |
| 129 | San José State | Mountain West | 330 | 37,133 | 0.9% |
| 130 | Georgia State | Sun Belt | 478 | 55,466 | 0.9% |
| 131 | UTEP | Conference USA | 184 | 24,003 | 0.8% |
| 132 | FIU | Conference USA | 217 | 56,732 | 0.4% |
| 133 | Liberty | Conference USA | 225 | 95,148 | 0.2% |
Here's conference summaries:
| Rank | Conf. | Flair | Enrollment | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SEC | 78,617 | 490,310 | 16.0% |
| 2 | Big Ten | 83,114 | 630,405 | 13.2% |
| 3 | FBS Independents | 10,123 | 81,924 | 12.4% |
| 4 | ACC | 38,729 | 382,043 | 10.1% |
| 5 | Big 12 | 46,816 | 473,510 | 9.9% |
| 6 | Pac-12 | 37,271 | 497,453 | 7.5% |
| 7 | American | 10,139 | 331,828 | 3.1% |
| 8 | MAC | 5,894 | 237,224 | 2.5% |
| 9 | Sun Belt | 7,109 | 289,012 | 2.5% |
| 10 | Mountain West | 7,006 | 291,691 | 2.4% |
| 11 | Conference USA | 2,296 | 269,348 | 0.9% |
2023.06.01 16:11 Backinblack09 Aita for telling my mom I’d buy her in a nursing home
So I (23 M) had went to live with my mom (45 F)and sister and mom’s bf since my parents separated in 2015. Ever since the move my mom treated me as if I was a burden and not a priority. When we left I was entering my sophomore year of hs and where we lived was just in the line to where the school didn’t need to send a bus. As a result of that I had to walk to school for 3 years in snow,rain,sleet,hail, blistering heat you name it. I would ask her from time to time if she could drop me off as sometimes I wouldn’t want to make that walk… but her only response was she “didn’t want to touch his car” even though her bf traded in her car to get the one they had at the time. This was also around the time where my little brother was born… While I’ll admit I didn’t go out of my way to help her with the newborn she wasn’t exactly the best parent. There were times where she would get off work.. come home sit in her car for hours talking to her friend, come up stairs, and watch TV till she passed out. Then would try to throw my brother on me or my sister because she was “tired”. As the years passed I graduate HS even with all the turmoil going on. Over the summer I have a busy with the college I’ll be attending in the fall.. I tell my mother 2 weeks in advance when the date would be and when I need to be there.. the day comes and she tells me “she doesn’t have the car because he needed to go do something” so now I’m frustrated because the same person who told me since I was 7 how important education was, is the same person preventing me from getting one. Fast forward a couple months to when I get to the school, and I’ve been there about a month but I got there early because of football. The school I went to was D3 for most sports so it’s not like I was on scholarship or anything, I get called into the financial aid office and am told I’m in jeopardy of getting kicked out the school because my financial aid hasn’t been processed, it takes 3 attempts to get my mother to pick up the phone and had it not been for my football coach I would have been kicked from the college. Fast forward a year and I have to leave the school due to it being to expensive and her “not wanting to deal with that”. So in the fall of 2018 I go to my local community college. While I’m there it’s arranged that she has to drop me off and pick me up as the college is a ways away from our home. One particular day I’m waiting and she’s not there at the time she’s suppose to be. I think to myself ok she’s running late… however as minutes turn into hours it becomes clear that she simply forgot about me. I walk to the McDonald’s that’s near the college where she works… and is told my mother came to get me earlier than the time she was suppose to and if I showed up that her coworkers would give her a call and she would be back… she went home without me. Fast forward to the end of the semester and as I’m trying to register for classes I can’t because once again financial aid issue… so now I have to come out of pocket to pay for it. Around this time my older brother comes up from the city to stay with us. As said before I wasn’t much help with my brother as he was growing cause I was a 2 sport athlete in HS as well as in advanced classes, not my responsibility to care for a child I didn’t create. However my mom put on some sob story to my brother who came up here with some animosity toward me for “not helping mom”. When my brother arrived my mother started asking us for money as she was pregnant once again and her bf just lost his job cause his dumbass stole from a gas station and got fired. It didn’t help that he also had 3 children with a woman 3 Popeyes biscuits away from having her own gravitational pull. So now instead of being able to save so I can get the money needed to pay off my school she’s telling me I need to give her $150 a month to stay in a roach motel. It doesn’t help that atp in time she was rarely cooking so I was bring food from my job which I was basically paying full price for.. she’s gonna say “you should be happy you’re providing for your family” as if I’m not 19 years old. Fast forward and I’m finally able to pay off my debt and go back to school. This was in spring of 2020 so as you know covid hit shortly after. Once again once the semester was over could let get my transcript due to a overdue balance because I didn’t receive financial aid her response when I confronted her was “oh I don’t do computers I can’t help you” as if all the info wasn’t on the paper in front of her. Eventually the rules at the school changed and I was able to get my transcripts a year and a half later. I transfer and get accepted into Michigan state university. Fast forward to august of 2022 and I’m about 350 miles from any family. She tells me to send her my address because she wants to send me a “care package” that never came. As the year winds down I am informed that my father can’t come get me as he has prior obligations to tend to. While I’m the phone she has the audacity to tell me “don’t even ask me to come get you” so because of that I was stuck in Michigan for about 2 1/2 weeks longer than expected. I eventually get back home to NY and don’t plan on staying here longer than I have to. A couple days ago a conversation was brought up. She was saying how as she gets older with her having 5 children she’ll be well taken care of. I told her not to let it come down to me cause if it came down to me she’s going in a nursing home. She asked how could I do that to my mother to which I responded my mother died in 2015 idk who you are. While I can admit is a bit harsh I feel in justified with the years of BS I had to deal with so aita?
Edit: for those wondering why I kept contact it was mainly for my younger siblings.. not for her. Even though I have my issues with her I still want to see my younger siblings
submitted by Backinblack09 to AITAH [link] [comments]
Edit: for those wondering why I kept contact it was mainly for my younger siblings.. not for her. Even though I have my issues with her I still want to see my younger siblings
2023.06.01 13:47 More-Head6459 Defending the Draft 2023: WASHINGTON COMMANDERS
Defending the Draft: 2023 Washington Commanders 8-8-1
Preface:
Hope.
This 2023 season will be the most interesting for the Commanders franchise in a long long time. We enter this season with more uncertainty than I have ever been a part of, however, the one thing the fan base is certain of... is the future is brighter. Dan Snyder purchased the franchise in 1999 and subsequently done nothing but run a blue blood franchise into the ground. This team has lacked direction for a long time and a large part of that was due to Dan Snyder's meddling in the day-to-day football operations of the team. Starting his ownership with signing washed up HOF veterans, to then overspending in free agency (Albert Haynesworth is arguably the worst free agent signing of all time), drug scandal with thetraining staff, the mishandling of the RG3 and Kirk Cousins situation, Not resigning Trent Williams, and lastly we've now reached tumultuous time where his off the field issues have hung a dark cloud over a once proud franchise. Although, lol, his most egregious mistake may be hiring Jim Zorn as head coach. It's egregious that his only punishment is a 6 billion dollar payout for his franchise. I hope the banks bury him and he faces the deserved legal actions. As of now there had been an agreement to sell the franchise to 76'rs and NJ Devils owner, Josh Harris.... and is 20ish members of his parliament. We await to hear news of the reviews from the NFL financial committee to close out the process. Last news I came across was he has cut down the number of minority owners to 20. It will be a pleasure when this agreement is finalized. He could be a terrible owner, but it would still be an upgrade from Synder. Harris, seemingly has been a hands off owner and properly allows the people he's hired to operate the team. This last sports season he's had both of his teams deep in the playoff hunt. This season will be interesting. A lot of questions all around: Sam Howell? Chase Young? Ron Rivera? Eric Bienemy? Josh Harris? I'm not sure of those answers, but I'm very excited to find them out.
Coaching:
HC- Ron Rivera OC- Eric Bieniemy DC- Jack Del Rio
Key Additions: Eric Bieniemy
Ole' Riverboat Ron Rivera is back and going into his 4th season with the Washington Commanders, hopefully his last. I believe Ron Rivera is a leader of men, but I highly question his actual coaching skills and team building. I've currently seen enough of this coaching regime and front office to safely say let's move on. There's been several things that I believed were firable offenses.... the Carson Wentz trade. Some rumors have said that this was a Snyder push. Not entirely positive, but Ron bragged that it was his call. Our team at that point was not a qb away from being really good, let alone a Carson Wentz level of qb. The next fireable offense was starting Wentz over Hienke when the playoffs were on the line. Wentz ended up being benched for Hienke, but it was too little too late. The next fireable offense was not realizing we were eliminated from the playoffs. Going into the last week of the season Ron planned on starting Hieneke. Pretty odd to not know you're out of the playoffs, let alone to test Sam Howell out for next season. Additionally, there's been some pretty questionable roster creation decisions. I absolutely hate the versatile secondary and offensive line philosophy. We currently have a patch work offensive line that has the means to fluctuate between average to below average. Not a single player on the line is top 5 at their respected position. Two years ago we had a top 10 o-line, but that had Brandon Sherff playing like a top 5 guard and Charles Leno having his best season. Our o-line took a significant step back this past season and now looks to be our biggest weakness. Ron has shown to trust his own board and has reached (according to the consensus big board) with every single pick so far. People mistake 2019 as one of his drafts ( Sweat, McLaurin, Holcomb), but he was hired at the end of the season. Take this with a grain of salt as it takes at least 3 years to properly review a draft. Rons 1st round picks have been the following: 2020 pick 2 Chase Young- the correct pick at the time, but hard to botch the 2nd overall pick, 2021 pick 19 Jamin Davis- hated the pick at the time, too early for a linebacker... let a lone a project. On tape he looked lost a lot and made up for it with his elite athleticism. He's shown progress, but nothing showing he's worthy of the pick. 2022 pick 16 Jahan Dotson- looks to be an absolute baller, had him ranked above Olave in the pre-draft process. Was a slight reach above the consensus board, but flashed high end ability. Davis has been the only mistake in the 1st round thus far. When I say mistake I don't necessarily mean player, but the roster building philosophy. Whether reaching on Phidarian Mathis in the 2nd round of 2022. Lol, he was older than Payne coming out of the draft, one year of good production, and was taken a round too early. In the next round Brian Robinson was taken and was really just a body. Haven't really seen anything elite with him so far and was a meh pick. John Bates in the 4th round was egregious. Now I have to give credit where it's due. Kam Curl was an absolute steal and can solidify himself as top 5 safety this season if he continues to play this well. Our other starting safety in Darrick Forest also had a lot of bright spots playing this past season.
Arguably, our best offseason move was signing Eric Bieniemy. I'm absolutely excited. Forget everything about him not calling the plays. Reports from OTA's shows his hands on approach and full control of the offense. One of my favorites things I've heard is he is using OTA's to see what the players can do and crafting the offense to their abilities. Time and time again (Scott Turner) you see coaches say this is the offense and not change anything to match the players strengths. We don't know for sure how the offense will look, but if it's anything close to the motion west coast offense the Chiefs have... boy lessssss gooooooo. Jack Del Rio has been up-and-down in his time in Washington. He's had two very slow starts with the defense to start year, however, they've finished strong and kept his job safe. This is really the no excuse year and everyone needs to show up amd show out.
Free Agency:
Key Departures:
Taylor Hieneke- signed with the Falcons
Cole Holcolm- signed with the Steelers
Bobby McCain- signed with the Giants
Carson Wentz- TBD
J.D. McKissic- TBD
Trai Turner TBD
Andrew Norwell- will be released when he passes a physical
Summary:
In my personal oppinion, the only player that hurt losing in free agency was Cole Holcolm. Linebacker is our one weak spot on defense, however, not resigning Holcolm shows Ron's belief in Jaymin Davis's progression. Cole was limited to 7 games last season and has yet to truly break out. Always played very solid and losing him downgraded the position. We've moved on from both starting guards from last year in Norwell and Turner (previously on the Panthers). Both players were liabilities last season and the guard position was easily upgradeable. Bonny McCain was a solid do it all for is player. Lined up at corner, safety, and nickel throughout the season. Hieneke was a big fan favorite, but was never the answer. We thank you for your service though. Carson Wentz, fuck you. Loved J.D. and his time here, suffered a major injury. Not sure if he gets picked up hy another team.
Key Additions:
Andrew Wiley- 3 years for 24 million, 12 guaranteed. Previously on the Chiefs
Nick Gates- 3 years for 16.5 million, 8 million guaranteed. Previously on the Giants
Jacoby Brissett- 1 year for 8 million, 7.5 million guaranteed. Previously on the Browns
Cody Barton- 1 year for 3.5 million, 3.5 million guaranteed. Previously on the Seahawks
Summary:
Simple. In free agency the Commanders did not overspend and tackled positions of need. None of the players signed are top 5 at their position, however, they could all possibly end up being upgrades to what we have. The most interesting is Andrew Wiley. He allowed 9 sacks (tied for 3rd most)... but man he put on the performance of his life in the superbowl. Another stat that favors him is pass block win-rate, which measure if a lineman can sustain a block for 2.5 seconds. Wylie ranked 9th in that stat last season. I translate that stat to mean can a lineman sustain a block against thr initial rush and counter move off the snap. After that 2.5 seconds the ball is thrown or the play breaks down. Another key factor to this signing is it kicks Samuel Cosmi inside to guard. Cosmi has shown flashes being a high end lineman and I expect him to be even better kicking to guard from right tackle. Guard was our weakest position on the line and Wylie signing helped to upgrade the RG position. Nick Gates is expected to he our starting center. He's coming off of a brutal leg injury that made him consider retirement. Has played guard and center and has some positional flexibility. Jacoby Brissett is the best backup qb in thr league. A solid signing if Howell doesn't pan out. Just a solid game manager that doesn't commit many turnovers. Cody Barton is another unproven guy. Last year was his first year with significant reps. Bobby Wagner leaving in FA and Jordyn Brooks injury made em the guy. He showed flashes of coverage abilities and had a lot of tackles. The tackles weren't necessarily a product of his abilities and more so of cleaning up on a bad run defense team. I've read some notes that he has trouble getting off of blocks. Honestly, haven't watched much on the guy, but reports were he played solid down the stretch.
The Draft:
Round 1 Pick 16: Emmanuel Forbes- CB
Round 2 Pick 47: Jatavius Martin- NCB/S
Round 3 Pick 97: Ricky Stromberg- C/G
Round 4 Pick 118: Braeden Daniels- T/G
Round 5 Pick 137: KJ Henry-DE
Round 6 Pick 193: Chris Rodriguez-RB
Round 7 Pick 223: Andre Jones- DE/LB
Link to all RAS scores for our draft class
https://commanderswire.usatoday.com/lists/2023-nfl-draft-ras-scores-for-the-washington-commanders-7-player-class-emmanuel-forbes/
Round 1:16 Emmanuel Forbes 6'1" 174 lbs. Mississippi St
Stats: 58 targets, 31 catches allowed for 284 yards (23 yards a game), 3 tds allowed/ 6 ints, 9 forced incompletions, 2 dropped ints, 46 tackles.
PFF Grade: 87.2
If being a 160 pounds is your only knock then I think you're doing something alright. The word on the street is he is already up to 174 pounds. You wouldnt realize hes only 174 pounds by the way he plays the run. Hes not scared to hit and flies ro the ball. Although, he does struggle to get off of blocks. Emmanuel Forbes, per PFF, had the highest rating in man coverage last season, albeit the snap count was very miniscule. Emmanuel Forbes is a lanky corner than played a lot of zone coverage and is a very good scheme fit for what we do. I like the pick and I'm not upset about taking him over Gonzalez, who also had his own question marks. Forbes set a NCAA record with 6 pick sixes. A lot of those were the right place at the right time, but when you have that high of a number than you're doing something right.
PFF:
Forbes is one of the best ballhawks in this class. Over the course of his three-year career, he came down with 13 interceptions. That’s four more than the next closest Power Five cornerback since 2020. Forbes was unbelievably dominant in man coverage in 2022, giving up only three catches while also snagging three interceptions. He also only allowed a 20% completion rate in man, the lowest among FBS
PROS
Remarkably lanky frame. Limbs for days — ideal for a corner.Has bounce like a hooper. He can challenge any catch point necessary. Elite ability to locate the football. All six of his interceptions came in man coverage.
CONS
Still a stick. Not much mass on his frame. Has eyes that get him in trouble. Some freelance tendencies on tape.Can get bowled over in the run game. Mediocre tackler over the course of his career.
Round 2: 47 Jartavius "Quan" Martin 5'11". 194 lbs Illinois
Stats: 74 targets, 42 catches allowed, 611 yards allowed, 3 tds allowed, 3 ints, 15 forced incompletions, 2 dropped ints, 4 missed tackles, 64 tackles.
PFF Grade: 73.2
Quan is a beast. I thought he was the 2nd best nickel prospect in the draft and a better deep safety than Brian Branch. Martin absolute rockets around the field in the run game. He started his career at cornerback before transitioning into the safety/nickel position. Another elite athlete that is a perfect fit for our Buffalo Nickel defense.
PFF:
Martin came to Illinois and immediately started as a true freshman in 2018. He originally started off as an outside corner before becoming more of a slot corner recently. He had arguably his best year in 2022, as his 15 forced incompletions were tied for the sixth-most among Power-Five corners. Martin’s 91.0 run-defense grade also led all Power Five cornerbacks. While he played corner at Illinois, we project him more as a safety for the next level.
PROS:
Explosive flat-foot breaks. Tremendous burst. Forceful and reliable tackler - 7 misses on the last 129 attempts last two seasons.Fills like a mac truck in the run game. Wants to come downhill and play in the backfield.
CONS:
Pure man skills are work in progress. Overagressive and liability to bite on fakes. cons On the lighter side for an around the line of scrimmage player. Gets caught with his eyes in the backfield on run
Round 3: 97 Ricky Stromberg 6'3" 306 lbs Arkansas
Stats: 9 impact blocks, 11 qb hurries, 0 qb hits, 0 sacks allowed
PFF Grade: 82.4
Nasty. Another guard experience player that spent his last two years at the center position. Award winner of the Jacob's Blocking Trophy for the SEC'S most outstanding blocker award. This is a solid player that has started since he was freshman in the SEC. He's been battle tested since he was kid and has improved every year. He has some knocks about his play strength, but a NFL program should get em to where he needs to be.
PFF:
Stromberg was a three-star recruit in the 2019 class and started for the Razorbacks as a true freshman, mostly at right guard. He moved inside to center for his sophomore season and spent his final three college seasons there. Stromberg’s 82.4 overall grade and 83.7 run-blocking grade in 2022 both ranked fourth among all centers in college football, and his nine big-time blocks were tied for fifth among FBS centers. Not to mention, Stromberg had an incredible performance at the NFL combine.
PROS:
Does not want to let blocks go. Can see him straining his butt of to stay engaged on tape. Tons of experience against top competition. Four-year starter with 3,121 career snaps.
CONS:
Forward lean gets going on the move, making him liable to topple over. Has wide hands to initiate contact in pass protection before resetting. Leaves himself open for stronger rushers.Unimpressive musculature, which leaves questions about how he'll anchor against NFL strength.
Round 4: Braeden Daniels 6'4" 296 lbs Utah STATS:
0 sacks allowed, 1 qb hit allowed, 14 hurries allowed.
PFF GRADE: 72.2 at tackle, 2021 84.4 at guard.
Braeden Daniels is another tackle/guard hybrid, with starting experience across his college career. This guy is on the lighter side but that allows him to be an Explosive athlete. Very raw at the tackle position and will be a developmental guy. I'd like to give em a try as our swing tackle and see how he performs. He was one of the quickest offensive lineman I've seen off the tape and that athleticism will let him climb to the next level. Even on the lightweight side I'd hate to see this guy running at me on the second level.
PFF:
Daniels is an experienced veteran who commanded the Utes’ offensive line for the past few years. He originally started as a guard before switching over to tackle. His best season came in 2021, as he put up an 84.4 PFF grade. Given his time on the interior, Daniels is at his best when run blocking, and his run-blocking grade in 2021 was an elite 89.1. He still held his own as a pass protector, allowing only five sacks in his Utah career.
PROS
Explodes out of his stance. Arguably the quickest get off in the offensive line class. Linebackers don't want to see him climbing. Gets on them before they can even react. Drive in his lower half to still move the line of scrimmage despite being under 300 pounds.
CONS
Wild into contact. He approaches blocks with the adjustment ability of a freight train. consDoesn't bring his hands with him. Clean engagements are rare on tape. Very light by NFL standards (294 pounds at combine).
Round 5: 137 KJ Henry 6'4" 260 lbs Clemson
STATS:
51 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 FF, 6 pass deflections, 50 qb pressures, 31 qb hurries, 14 qb hits.
PFF GRADE: 83.1
Loved this pick. Henry was a 5 star recruit coming out of high-school and decided to attend Clemson University. With Clemson having deep lines it took him a couple of years to get on the field. The stats look odd when you only see 3.5 sacks, however, the 50 qb pressures is the key stat. Seems more like bad luck that the sack numbers weren't high. Clemson's whole d-line underperformed (Bresee, Murphey) and they should have picked up more sacks from Henry who was the best DE on that team last year. The team clearly liked him as we traded back up for him. He's not elite athlete, but he is an elite hands guy. Almost had that veteran presence in college. High motor and will immediately make an impact as a rotational de, a position that sorely needed an upgrade.
PFF:
On a team with Myles Murphy, you can easily make the case that KJ Henry was Clemson's best defensive end this year, as he posted better PFF grades than Murphy in every category and even generated 19 more pressures. The only problem is That Henry is 24 years old while Murphy is only 21. Therefore, Henry was expected to produce this well against younger competition. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that he can’t still improve. If Henry's play this season is any indication of his potential, he can still have a great NFL career as an edge defender.
PROS:
Heavy hands that are so well refined. Uses them independently to use combination moves.Utilizes hesitations and head fakes so well to catch linemen off-balance. Coaches rave about the type of teammate he is. He is the type of player you want in the locker room.
CONS:
First step that's unimposing for a rusher on the smaller side. Late bloomer. Wasn't even a starter until this past fall. One of the oldest prospects in the class. Already 24 years old.
Round 6: 193 Chris Rodriguez 6'0" 217 lbs Kentucky
STATS: 8 games played, 175 attempts, 904 rushing yards, 6 tds, 5.2 ypa, 5 catches, 41 rec yards.
PFF GRADE: 90.8
Chris Rodriguez is a PFF darling and was rated as the 7th best running back. This guy's is a pure one cut, run you over, power back. There's not much finesse to his game, but there's highlights of dragging guys 10-yards down the field. He does not posses break away speed, but he will get you 40 yards. He was suspended 4 games due to a dui and he may have been drafted higher on am abysmal Kentucky team. An extra 4 games of stats against SEC competition and no suspension may have jumped him into the 4th round. This was an Eric Bienemy guy and they brought him in because of that. Isiah Pacheco was another EB guy.
PFF:
Rodriguez is a powerful runner, but he lacks the burst and creativity to become anything more than a downhill grinder. He has the size and mentality to do the dirty work between the tackles, but it could be a challenge for him to get to and through the hole quickly in the NFL. He’s a physical blitz protector, so teams might envision a role for him as a second-half battering ram and third-down quarterback protector.
PROS:
Two-time team captain. Thick frame with ability to pick up tough yards. Makes tacklers feel his size at impact. Stays square getting through downhill cuts. Low success rate guaranteed for arm-tacklers. Stays on his feet through heavy angle strikes. Allows lead blockers to do their work. Steps up with force against incoming rushers.
CONS:
Below-average burst getting through line of scrimmage. Lacks finesse to navigate tight run lanes. Change of direction is heavy. One-speed running style is easy to track for linebackers. Pad level is a little tall as run-finisher. Inconsistent finding assignment versus blitz.
Round 7: 233 Andre Jones 6'4" 248 lbs Louisiana
STATS: 7 sacks, 5 qb hits, 20 hurries.
PFF GRADE: 77.2
Andre Jones was another hybrid de/lb player coming out last year. He possess 34 1/4" arms which is an elite number for his size. May move to LB, but I'm not sure that's the right move with a 4.71 40-yard dash. He doesn't have much a pass rush move set playing a hybrid role, but does use length to his advantage. A solid developmental pick.
PROS:
Shows a natural feel for setting up blockers and getting them off-balance. His hands are active and violent, and Jones quickly disengages with blockers and counters when his initial move stalls. Possesses accurate snap anticipation and timing to beat blockers off the edge. Offers some versatility, rushing from a two-and three-point stance with the playing speed to stand up in space.Flashes strength as a bull rusher and his energy doesn't plateau. Showed initial quickness and good flexibility to dip and bend. Jones has active hands and suddenness to his movements, demonstrating the ability to counter inside. Has fluid footwork to redirect, reverse momentum and close with a burst. Regularly first off the ball with good snap anticipation. He’s a high-effort pass rusher with an impressive combination of length and speed.
CONS:
Jones has to develop a counter move or two in the pass rush, and Jones needs to make better use of his hands. He lacks the speed of a chase and- tackle guy. He lacks twitch as a pass rusher and lacks the feet and flexibility to threaten around the edge. Jones also shows some stiffness when trying to bend the edge, often getting pushed past the pocket — he seems more comfortable countering back inside.
Draft Summary:
This was my favorite Ron Rivera/Martin Mayhew draft thus far. Going into the draft, offensive line, cornerback, and quarterback were our three biggest needs. Drafting in the middle of the round really took us out of the olineman race. The last one that interested me was Broderick Jones and he went off the board when the Steelers traded up. At that point in the draft it really left us with going cornerback. The Forbes pick was received negatively due to Christian Gonzalez being available. Both players will be viewed under the microscope throughout their careers. I'm fine with Forbes pick though. Another lanky cornerback who was an elite athlete. I did have Gonzalez rated higher going into the draft, but he slid for a reason. A lot of his tape shows him not necessarily being an elite cornerback, but being an elite athlete that plays corner. Forbes actually showed the athleticism, corner skills, and ballhawking ability. Some additional knocks against Gonazalez and his love of the game. Quan Martin was our biggest surprise pick of the draft. A lot of people had him going in the 3rd round, but I think the 2nd was a fine spot. Mayhew after the draft said he wish we were more aggressive at times, which I translated as not getting Brian Branch that went several picks before us. I think Quan was the backup option, but I like him as much as Branch. I think Quan will be a better deep safety and Bramch will be a better nickel. Liked Quan alot, but felt we should have gone o-line at this pick. Ocyrus Torrence would've been a sweet pick here. I think if that happened, the consensus view on our draft would shoot up. Quan will immediately via for playing time as our base defense is essentially a 4-2-5. Kendall Fuller was our only above average corner and now we turned our secondary into a strength. Ricky Stromberg and Braeden Daniels were our next two picks. I like Stromberg’s tape a lot and think by next he will be a solid starter at guard or center. Braeden Daniels will be a nice depth piece and if he's able to tame his play he could develop into a starter. Fun player to watch. KJ Henry was an awesome pick and can see him being a nice rotational piece. Good pick at an underrated area of need on our defense. RB wasn't a pressing need, but it's an underrated area of weakness. I think Brian Robinson is about as average of rb as you will see starting in the NFL. I wouldn't be surprised if Rodriguez slowly cut into Robinson's role over the next two years. Antonio Gibson has had some solid season, but has a severe fumbling problem. Andre Jones will be a depth piece that will need development moving forward.
Offseason summary:
The biggest question of our offseason was our owner, which now appears resolved. Our second biggest question... was who was our starting qb? Sam Howell. Ron preached all offseason that he was going with Howell and I'll be damned, he did. Brissett was good qb to bring in, not someone that would necessarily turn the offseason into a battle, but can be a starter if called upon. Really a true backup qb. I'm all in on the Sam Howell train. I love it for a multitude of reasons. One, he balls out and we have our qb of the future, two he plays well enough we give him another season and maybe Ron is out and we get a high draft pick, three he bombs and we fire Ron Rivera and go for Caleb Williams next season. If anything, it gives us a direction for our future. I'm ready for Ron to go and think he's only as good as his coordinators. I'm concerned that EB AND Howell turn the offense around Ron gets resigned and EB takes a head coaching role... then the offense regressed. Additionally, I don't want Ron to get credit for drafting Howell. It was 5th round pick, you and every team passed on him for 4 rounds. If Howell is that good... it's not because Ron was a genius and drafted him. Very similar to Seattle taking Russel. I am excited about EB being here and think he's the real deal. I will give Ron credit for allowing him to run his own offense as he sees fit. OTA's have shown that EB is pushing his guys hard and is trying to see what he can do with the offense. We really do have elite playmaker and I'm most excited to see what he can do with Antonio Gibson. I can see his role being that of Jerrick McKinnon, with more athleticism. Sam Howell has shown a lot of progress since his rookie season. Had issues with his foot work, but has shown vast improvements. We only have 1 preseason game and 1 NFL game of tape on him. I liked what he showed. When watching tape you could see him going through his progression, man absolutely saved the day wish his escapability- was under pressure the whole game, threw two beautiful deep passes, and won the game. He did throw one bad pick, but was under pressure and playing hero ball. He had one week of practice with the starters, now he has a whole offseason. Our defense should be a top 5 unit next season and we only got better. Chase Young should be fully healthy and he's the X-factor for the number one overall defense. He comes out plays to his full potential then he could be a mid teens sack guy. If we have that sort of production and Sam Howell plays well than we can compete for the decision. Big if though. Our secondary really lacked a 2nd option, Benjamin St Juyce has shown some flashes but didn't seeze the role last year. Now on paper he's the number and that's very solid. We return two top 6 defensive tackles and Montez Swear is one of the most underrated players in the league. He's yet to have a high sack season, but is very much that Jadaveon Ckowney type of player in the run game. Big question mark season for Jaymin Davis. We knew he needed development, but it's been slower than previously thought. Down the stretch he showed flashes that he was coming into his own and now is his year. He's one of the best athletes at linebacker in the league and his ceiling is very very high. Overall I predict we will go 10-7 and challenge for a wild card spot. That record can fluctuate each one, but I'm calling the improvement now. We went 8-8-1 with bottom 3 qb play. The defense got better, we hired a better offensive coordinator, Howell will at the minimum be slightly better than Hienke last season, we didn't lose any major pieces and had a solid all around draft. I'm truly excited to watch how our future plays out.
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Preface:
Hope.
This 2023 season will be the most interesting for the Commanders franchise in a long long time. We enter this season with more uncertainty than I have ever been a part of, however, the one thing the fan base is certain of... is the future is brighter. Dan Snyder purchased the franchise in 1999 and subsequently done nothing but run a blue blood franchise into the ground. This team has lacked direction for a long time and a large part of that was due to Dan Snyder's meddling in the day-to-day football operations of the team. Starting his ownership with signing washed up HOF veterans, to then overspending in free agency (Albert Haynesworth is arguably the worst free agent signing of all time), drug scandal with thetraining staff, the mishandling of the RG3 and Kirk Cousins situation, Not resigning Trent Williams, and lastly we've now reached tumultuous time where his off the field issues have hung a dark cloud over a once proud franchise. Although, lol, his most egregious mistake may be hiring Jim Zorn as head coach. It's egregious that his only punishment is a 6 billion dollar payout for his franchise. I hope the banks bury him and he faces the deserved legal actions. As of now there had been an agreement to sell the franchise to 76'rs and NJ Devils owner, Josh Harris.... and is 20ish members of his parliament. We await to hear news of the reviews from the NFL financial committee to close out the process. Last news I came across was he has cut down the number of minority owners to 20. It will be a pleasure when this agreement is finalized. He could be a terrible owner, but it would still be an upgrade from Synder. Harris, seemingly has been a hands off owner and properly allows the people he's hired to operate the team. This last sports season he's had both of his teams deep in the playoff hunt. This season will be interesting. A lot of questions all around: Sam Howell? Chase Young? Ron Rivera? Eric Bienemy? Josh Harris? I'm not sure of those answers, but I'm very excited to find them out.
Coaching:
HC- Ron Rivera OC- Eric Bieniemy DC- Jack Del Rio
Key Additions: Eric Bieniemy
Ole' Riverboat Ron Rivera is back and going into his 4th season with the Washington Commanders, hopefully his last. I believe Ron Rivera is a leader of men, but I highly question his actual coaching skills and team building. I've currently seen enough of this coaching regime and front office to safely say let's move on. There's been several things that I believed were firable offenses.... the Carson Wentz trade. Some rumors have said that this was a Snyder push. Not entirely positive, but Ron bragged that it was his call. Our team at that point was not a qb away from being really good, let alone a Carson Wentz level of qb. The next fireable offense was starting Wentz over Hienke when the playoffs were on the line. Wentz ended up being benched for Hienke, but it was too little too late. The next fireable offense was not realizing we were eliminated from the playoffs. Going into the last week of the season Ron planned on starting Hieneke. Pretty odd to not know you're out of the playoffs, let alone to test Sam Howell out for next season. Additionally, there's been some pretty questionable roster creation decisions. I absolutely hate the versatile secondary and offensive line philosophy. We currently have a patch work offensive line that has the means to fluctuate between average to below average. Not a single player on the line is top 5 at their respected position. Two years ago we had a top 10 o-line, but that had Brandon Sherff playing like a top 5 guard and Charles Leno having his best season. Our o-line took a significant step back this past season and now looks to be our biggest weakness. Ron has shown to trust his own board and has reached (according to the consensus big board) with every single pick so far. People mistake 2019 as one of his drafts ( Sweat, McLaurin, Holcomb), but he was hired at the end of the season. Take this with a grain of salt as it takes at least 3 years to properly review a draft. Rons 1st round picks have been the following: 2020 pick 2 Chase Young- the correct pick at the time, but hard to botch the 2nd overall pick, 2021 pick 19 Jamin Davis- hated the pick at the time, too early for a linebacker... let a lone a project. On tape he looked lost a lot and made up for it with his elite athleticism. He's shown progress, but nothing showing he's worthy of the pick. 2022 pick 16 Jahan Dotson- looks to be an absolute baller, had him ranked above Olave in the pre-draft process. Was a slight reach above the consensus board, but flashed high end ability. Davis has been the only mistake in the 1st round thus far. When I say mistake I don't necessarily mean player, but the roster building philosophy. Whether reaching on Phidarian Mathis in the 2nd round of 2022. Lol, he was older than Payne coming out of the draft, one year of good production, and was taken a round too early. In the next round Brian Robinson was taken and was really just a body. Haven't really seen anything elite with him so far and was a meh pick. John Bates in the 4th round was egregious. Now I have to give credit where it's due. Kam Curl was an absolute steal and can solidify himself as top 5 safety this season if he continues to play this well. Our other starting safety in Darrick Forest also had a lot of bright spots playing this past season.
Arguably, our best offseason move was signing Eric Bieniemy. I'm absolutely excited. Forget everything about him not calling the plays. Reports from OTA's shows his hands on approach and full control of the offense. One of my favorites things I've heard is he is using OTA's to see what the players can do and crafting the offense to their abilities. Time and time again (Scott Turner) you see coaches say this is the offense and not change anything to match the players strengths. We don't know for sure how the offense will look, but if it's anything close to the motion west coast offense the Chiefs have... boy lessssss gooooooo. Jack Del Rio has been up-and-down in his time in Washington. He's had two very slow starts with the defense to start year, however, they've finished strong and kept his job safe. This is really the no excuse year and everyone needs to show up amd show out.
Free Agency:
Key Departures:
Taylor Hieneke- signed with the Falcons
Cole Holcolm- signed with the Steelers
Bobby McCain- signed with the Giants
Carson Wentz- TBD
J.D. McKissic- TBD
Trai Turner TBD
Andrew Norwell- will be released when he passes a physical
Summary:
In my personal oppinion, the only player that hurt losing in free agency was Cole Holcolm. Linebacker is our one weak spot on defense, however, not resigning Holcolm shows Ron's belief in Jaymin Davis's progression. Cole was limited to 7 games last season and has yet to truly break out. Always played very solid and losing him downgraded the position. We've moved on from both starting guards from last year in Norwell and Turner (previously on the Panthers). Both players were liabilities last season and the guard position was easily upgradeable. Bonny McCain was a solid do it all for is player. Lined up at corner, safety, and nickel throughout the season. Hieneke was a big fan favorite, but was never the answer. We thank you for your service though. Carson Wentz, fuck you. Loved J.D. and his time here, suffered a major injury. Not sure if he gets picked up hy another team.
Key Additions:
Andrew Wiley- 3 years for 24 million, 12 guaranteed. Previously on the Chiefs
Nick Gates- 3 years for 16.5 million, 8 million guaranteed. Previously on the Giants
Jacoby Brissett- 1 year for 8 million, 7.5 million guaranteed. Previously on the Browns
Cody Barton- 1 year for 3.5 million, 3.5 million guaranteed. Previously on the Seahawks
Summary:
Simple. In free agency the Commanders did not overspend and tackled positions of need. None of the players signed are top 5 at their position, however, they could all possibly end up being upgrades to what we have. The most interesting is Andrew Wiley. He allowed 9 sacks (tied for 3rd most)... but man he put on the performance of his life in the superbowl. Another stat that favors him is pass block win-rate, which measure if a lineman can sustain a block for 2.5 seconds. Wylie ranked 9th in that stat last season. I translate that stat to mean can a lineman sustain a block against thr initial rush and counter move off the snap. After that 2.5 seconds the ball is thrown or the play breaks down. Another key factor to this signing is it kicks Samuel Cosmi inside to guard. Cosmi has shown flashes being a high end lineman and I expect him to be even better kicking to guard from right tackle. Guard was our weakest position on the line and Wylie signing helped to upgrade the RG position. Nick Gates is expected to he our starting center. He's coming off of a brutal leg injury that made him consider retirement. Has played guard and center and has some positional flexibility. Jacoby Brissett is the best backup qb in thr league. A solid signing if Howell doesn't pan out. Just a solid game manager that doesn't commit many turnovers. Cody Barton is another unproven guy. Last year was his first year with significant reps. Bobby Wagner leaving in FA and Jordyn Brooks injury made em the guy. He showed flashes of coverage abilities and had a lot of tackles. The tackles weren't necessarily a product of his abilities and more so of cleaning up on a bad run defense team. I've read some notes that he has trouble getting off of blocks. Honestly, haven't watched much on the guy, but reports were he played solid down the stretch.
The Draft:
Round 1 Pick 16: Emmanuel Forbes- CB
Round 2 Pick 47: Jatavius Martin- NCB/S
Round 3 Pick 97: Ricky Stromberg- C/G
Round 4 Pick 118: Braeden Daniels- T/G
Round 5 Pick 137: KJ Henry-DE
Round 6 Pick 193: Chris Rodriguez-RB
Round 7 Pick 223: Andre Jones- DE/LB
Link to all RAS scores for our draft class
https://commanderswire.usatoday.com/lists/2023-nfl-draft-ras-scores-for-the-washington-commanders-7-player-class-emmanuel-forbes/
Round 1:16 Emmanuel Forbes 6'1" 174 lbs. Mississippi St
Stats: 58 targets, 31 catches allowed for 284 yards (23 yards a game), 3 tds allowed/ 6 ints, 9 forced incompletions, 2 dropped ints, 46 tackles.
PFF Grade: 87.2
If being a 160 pounds is your only knock then I think you're doing something alright. The word on the street is he is already up to 174 pounds. You wouldnt realize hes only 174 pounds by the way he plays the run. Hes not scared to hit and flies ro the ball. Although, he does struggle to get off of blocks. Emmanuel Forbes, per PFF, had the highest rating in man coverage last season, albeit the snap count was very miniscule. Emmanuel Forbes is a lanky corner than played a lot of zone coverage and is a very good scheme fit for what we do. I like the pick and I'm not upset about taking him over Gonzalez, who also had his own question marks. Forbes set a NCAA record with 6 pick sixes. A lot of those were the right place at the right time, but when you have that high of a number than you're doing something right.
PFF:
Forbes is one of the best ballhawks in this class. Over the course of his three-year career, he came down with 13 interceptions. That’s four more than the next closest Power Five cornerback since 2020. Forbes was unbelievably dominant in man coverage in 2022, giving up only three catches while also snagging three interceptions. He also only allowed a 20% completion rate in man, the lowest among FBS
PROS
Remarkably lanky frame. Limbs for days — ideal for a corner.Has bounce like a hooper. He can challenge any catch point necessary. Elite ability to locate the football. All six of his interceptions came in man coverage.
CONS
Still a stick. Not much mass on his frame. Has eyes that get him in trouble. Some freelance tendencies on tape.Can get bowled over in the run game. Mediocre tackler over the course of his career.
Round 2: 47 Jartavius "Quan" Martin 5'11". 194 lbs Illinois
Stats: 74 targets, 42 catches allowed, 611 yards allowed, 3 tds allowed, 3 ints, 15 forced incompletions, 2 dropped ints, 4 missed tackles, 64 tackles.
PFF Grade: 73.2
Quan is a beast. I thought he was the 2nd best nickel prospect in the draft and a better deep safety than Brian Branch. Martin absolute rockets around the field in the run game. He started his career at cornerback before transitioning into the safety/nickel position. Another elite athlete that is a perfect fit for our Buffalo Nickel defense.
PFF:
Martin came to Illinois and immediately started as a true freshman in 2018. He originally started off as an outside corner before becoming more of a slot corner recently. He had arguably his best year in 2022, as his 15 forced incompletions were tied for the sixth-most among Power-Five corners. Martin’s 91.0 run-defense grade also led all Power Five cornerbacks. While he played corner at Illinois, we project him more as a safety for the next level.
PROS:
Explosive flat-foot breaks. Tremendous burst. Forceful and reliable tackler - 7 misses on the last 129 attempts last two seasons.Fills like a mac truck in the run game. Wants to come downhill and play in the backfield.
CONS:
Pure man skills are work in progress. Overagressive and liability to bite on fakes. cons On the lighter side for an around the line of scrimmage player. Gets caught with his eyes in the backfield on run
Round 3: 97 Ricky Stromberg 6'3" 306 lbs Arkansas
Stats: 9 impact blocks, 11 qb hurries, 0 qb hits, 0 sacks allowed
PFF Grade: 82.4
Nasty. Another guard experience player that spent his last two years at the center position. Award winner of the Jacob's Blocking Trophy for the SEC'S most outstanding blocker award. This is a solid player that has started since he was freshman in the SEC. He's been battle tested since he was kid and has improved every year. He has some knocks about his play strength, but a NFL program should get em to where he needs to be.
PFF:
Stromberg was a three-star recruit in the 2019 class and started for the Razorbacks as a true freshman, mostly at right guard. He moved inside to center for his sophomore season and spent his final three college seasons there. Stromberg’s 82.4 overall grade and 83.7 run-blocking grade in 2022 both ranked fourth among all centers in college football, and his nine big-time blocks were tied for fifth among FBS centers. Not to mention, Stromberg had an incredible performance at the NFL combine.
PROS:
Does not want to let blocks go. Can see him straining his butt of to stay engaged on tape. Tons of experience against top competition. Four-year starter with 3,121 career snaps.
CONS:
Forward lean gets going on the move, making him liable to topple over. Has wide hands to initiate contact in pass protection before resetting. Leaves himself open for stronger rushers.Unimpressive musculature, which leaves questions about how he'll anchor against NFL strength.
Round 4: Braeden Daniels 6'4" 296 lbs Utah STATS:
0 sacks allowed, 1 qb hit allowed, 14 hurries allowed.
PFF GRADE: 72.2 at tackle, 2021 84.4 at guard.
Braeden Daniels is another tackle/guard hybrid, with starting experience across his college career. This guy is on the lighter side but that allows him to be an Explosive athlete. Very raw at the tackle position and will be a developmental guy. I'd like to give em a try as our swing tackle and see how he performs. He was one of the quickest offensive lineman I've seen off the tape and that athleticism will let him climb to the next level. Even on the lightweight side I'd hate to see this guy running at me on the second level.
PFF:
Daniels is an experienced veteran who commanded the Utes’ offensive line for the past few years. He originally started as a guard before switching over to tackle. His best season came in 2021, as he put up an 84.4 PFF grade. Given his time on the interior, Daniels is at his best when run blocking, and his run-blocking grade in 2021 was an elite 89.1. He still held his own as a pass protector, allowing only five sacks in his Utah career.
PROS
Explodes out of his stance. Arguably the quickest get off in the offensive line class. Linebackers don't want to see him climbing. Gets on them before they can even react. Drive in his lower half to still move the line of scrimmage despite being under 300 pounds.
CONS
Wild into contact. He approaches blocks with the adjustment ability of a freight train. consDoesn't bring his hands with him. Clean engagements are rare on tape. Very light by NFL standards (294 pounds at combine).
Round 5: 137 KJ Henry 6'4" 260 lbs Clemson
STATS:
51 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 FF, 6 pass deflections, 50 qb pressures, 31 qb hurries, 14 qb hits.
PFF GRADE: 83.1
Loved this pick. Henry was a 5 star recruit coming out of high-school and decided to attend Clemson University. With Clemson having deep lines it took him a couple of years to get on the field. The stats look odd when you only see 3.5 sacks, however, the 50 qb pressures is the key stat. Seems more like bad luck that the sack numbers weren't high. Clemson's whole d-line underperformed (Bresee, Murphey) and they should have picked up more sacks from Henry who was the best DE on that team last year. The team clearly liked him as we traded back up for him. He's not elite athlete, but he is an elite hands guy. Almost had that veteran presence in college. High motor and will immediately make an impact as a rotational de, a position that sorely needed an upgrade.
PFF:
On a team with Myles Murphy, you can easily make the case that KJ Henry was Clemson's best defensive end this year, as he posted better PFF grades than Murphy in every category and even generated 19 more pressures. The only problem is That Henry is 24 years old while Murphy is only 21. Therefore, Henry was expected to produce this well against younger competition. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that he can’t still improve. If Henry's play this season is any indication of his potential, he can still have a great NFL career as an edge defender.
PROS:
Heavy hands that are so well refined. Uses them independently to use combination moves.Utilizes hesitations and head fakes so well to catch linemen off-balance. Coaches rave about the type of teammate he is. He is the type of player you want in the locker room.
CONS:
First step that's unimposing for a rusher on the smaller side. Late bloomer. Wasn't even a starter until this past fall. One of the oldest prospects in the class. Already 24 years old.
Round 6: 193 Chris Rodriguez 6'0" 217 lbs Kentucky
STATS: 8 games played, 175 attempts, 904 rushing yards, 6 tds, 5.2 ypa, 5 catches, 41 rec yards.
PFF GRADE: 90.8
Chris Rodriguez is a PFF darling and was rated as the 7th best running back. This guy's is a pure one cut, run you over, power back. There's not much finesse to his game, but there's highlights of dragging guys 10-yards down the field. He does not posses break away speed, but he will get you 40 yards. He was suspended 4 games due to a dui and he may have been drafted higher on am abysmal Kentucky team. An extra 4 games of stats against SEC competition and no suspension may have jumped him into the 4th round. This was an Eric Bienemy guy and they brought him in because of that. Isiah Pacheco was another EB guy.
PFF:
Rodriguez is a powerful runner, but he lacks the burst and creativity to become anything more than a downhill grinder. He has the size and mentality to do the dirty work between the tackles, but it could be a challenge for him to get to and through the hole quickly in the NFL. He’s a physical blitz protector, so teams might envision a role for him as a second-half battering ram and third-down quarterback protector.
PROS:
Two-time team captain. Thick frame with ability to pick up tough yards. Makes tacklers feel his size at impact. Stays square getting through downhill cuts. Low success rate guaranteed for arm-tacklers. Stays on his feet through heavy angle strikes. Allows lead blockers to do their work. Steps up with force against incoming rushers.
CONS:
Below-average burst getting through line of scrimmage. Lacks finesse to navigate tight run lanes. Change of direction is heavy. One-speed running style is easy to track for linebackers. Pad level is a little tall as run-finisher. Inconsistent finding assignment versus blitz.
Round 7: 233 Andre Jones 6'4" 248 lbs Louisiana
STATS: 7 sacks, 5 qb hits, 20 hurries.
PFF GRADE: 77.2
Andre Jones was another hybrid de/lb player coming out last year. He possess 34 1/4" arms which is an elite number for his size. May move to LB, but I'm not sure that's the right move with a 4.71 40-yard dash. He doesn't have much a pass rush move set playing a hybrid role, but does use length to his advantage. A solid developmental pick.
PROS:
Shows a natural feel for setting up blockers and getting them off-balance. His hands are active and violent, and Jones quickly disengages with blockers and counters when his initial move stalls. Possesses accurate snap anticipation and timing to beat blockers off the edge. Offers some versatility, rushing from a two-and three-point stance with the playing speed to stand up in space.Flashes strength as a bull rusher and his energy doesn't plateau. Showed initial quickness and good flexibility to dip and bend. Jones has active hands and suddenness to his movements, demonstrating the ability to counter inside. Has fluid footwork to redirect, reverse momentum and close with a burst. Regularly first off the ball with good snap anticipation. He’s a high-effort pass rusher with an impressive combination of length and speed.
CONS:
Jones has to develop a counter move or two in the pass rush, and Jones needs to make better use of his hands. He lacks the speed of a chase and- tackle guy. He lacks twitch as a pass rusher and lacks the feet and flexibility to threaten around the edge. Jones also shows some stiffness when trying to bend the edge, often getting pushed past the pocket — he seems more comfortable countering back inside.
Draft Summary:
This was my favorite Ron Rivera/Martin Mayhew draft thus far. Going into the draft, offensive line, cornerback, and quarterback were our three biggest needs. Drafting in the middle of the round really took us out of the olineman race. The last one that interested me was Broderick Jones and he went off the board when the Steelers traded up. At that point in the draft it really left us with going cornerback. The Forbes pick was received negatively due to Christian Gonzalez being available. Both players will be viewed under the microscope throughout their careers. I'm fine with Forbes pick though. Another lanky cornerback who was an elite athlete. I did have Gonzalez rated higher going into the draft, but he slid for a reason. A lot of his tape shows him not necessarily being an elite cornerback, but being an elite athlete that plays corner. Forbes actually showed the athleticism, corner skills, and ballhawking ability. Some additional knocks against Gonazalez and his love of the game. Quan Martin was our biggest surprise pick of the draft. A lot of people had him going in the 3rd round, but I think the 2nd was a fine spot. Mayhew after the draft said he wish we were more aggressive at times, which I translated as not getting Brian Branch that went several picks before us. I think Quan was the backup option, but I like him as much as Branch. I think Quan will be a better deep safety and Bramch will be a better nickel. Liked Quan alot, but felt we should have gone o-line at this pick. Ocyrus Torrence would've been a sweet pick here. I think if that happened, the consensus view on our draft would shoot up. Quan will immediately via for playing time as our base defense is essentially a 4-2-5. Kendall Fuller was our only above average corner and now we turned our secondary into a strength. Ricky Stromberg and Braeden Daniels were our next two picks. I like Stromberg’s tape a lot and think by next he will be a solid starter at guard or center. Braeden Daniels will be a nice depth piece and if he's able to tame his play he could develop into a starter. Fun player to watch. KJ Henry was an awesome pick and can see him being a nice rotational piece. Good pick at an underrated area of need on our defense. RB wasn't a pressing need, but it's an underrated area of weakness. I think Brian Robinson is about as average of rb as you will see starting in the NFL. I wouldn't be surprised if Rodriguez slowly cut into Robinson's role over the next two years. Antonio Gibson has had some solid season, but has a severe fumbling problem. Andre Jones will be a depth piece that will need development moving forward.
Offseason summary:
The biggest question of our offseason was our owner, which now appears resolved. Our second biggest question... was who was our starting qb? Sam Howell. Ron preached all offseason that he was going with Howell and I'll be damned, he did. Brissett was good qb to bring in, not someone that would necessarily turn the offseason into a battle, but can be a starter if called upon. Really a true backup qb. I'm all in on the Sam Howell train. I love it for a multitude of reasons. One, he balls out and we have our qb of the future, two he plays well enough we give him another season and maybe Ron is out and we get a high draft pick, three he bombs and we fire Ron Rivera and go for Caleb Williams next season. If anything, it gives us a direction for our future. I'm ready for Ron to go and think he's only as good as his coordinators. I'm concerned that EB AND Howell turn the offense around Ron gets resigned and EB takes a head coaching role... then the offense regressed. Additionally, I don't want Ron to get credit for drafting Howell. It was 5th round pick, you and every team passed on him for 4 rounds. If Howell is that good... it's not because Ron was a genius and drafted him. Very similar to Seattle taking Russel. I am excited about EB being here and think he's the real deal. I will give Ron credit for allowing him to run his own offense as he sees fit. OTA's have shown that EB is pushing his guys hard and is trying to see what he can do with the offense. We really do have elite playmaker and I'm most excited to see what he can do with Antonio Gibson. I can see his role being that of Jerrick McKinnon, with more athleticism. Sam Howell has shown a lot of progress since his rookie season. Had issues with his foot work, but has shown vast improvements. We only have 1 preseason game and 1 NFL game of tape on him. I liked what he showed. When watching tape you could see him going through his progression, man absolutely saved the day wish his escapability- was under pressure the whole game, threw two beautiful deep passes, and won the game. He did throw one bad pick, but was under pressure and playing hero ball. He had one week of practice with the starters, now he has a whole offseason. Our defense should be a top 5 unit next season and we only got better. Chase Young should be fully healthy and he's the X-factor for the number one overall defense. He comes out plays to his full potential then he could be a mid teens sack guy. If we have that sort of production and Sam Howell plays well than we can compete for the decision. Big if though. Our secondary really lacked a 2nd option, Benjamin St Juyce has shown some flashes but didn't seeze the role last year. Now on paper he's the number and that's very solid. We return two top 6 defensive tackles and Montez Swear is one of the most underrated players in the league. He's yet to have a high sack season, but is very much that Jadaveon Ckowney type of player in the run game. Big question mark season for Jaymin Davis. We knew he needed development, but it's been slower than previously thought. Down the stretch he showed flashes that he was coming into his own and now is his year. He's one of the best athletes at linebacker in the league and his ceiling is very very high. Overall I predict we will go 10-7 and challenge for a wild card spot. That record can fluctuate each one, but I'm calling the improvement now. We went 8-8-1 with bottom 3 qb play. The defense got better, we hired a better offensive coordinator, Howell will at the minimum be slightly better than Hienke last season, we didn't lose any major pieces and had a solid all around draft. I'm truly excited to watch how our future plays out.
2023.06.01 10:14 sylvaron Suddenly said goodbye to my baby girl (a sweet old cat)
I know this is obvious, but content warning on this post: I talk about a lot of diseases here and I don't want anyone to freak out if they have health anxiety for themselves or their pets.
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I had to say goodbye to my cat of 8 years. She was 16 years old, roughly, my wife and I got her from a shelter so we aren't sure. She was kept in the cages, seperate from other cats as she hadn't been acclimated yet. When they opened the cage she jumped into my wife's arms and started purring. We knew she was our cat at that very moment and that we would love her completely.
I really just want to chronicle my experience with her here, including all of her health issues because I need to validate myself for putting her through euthanasia.
This cat was an outstanding companion. She was the best companion I could ask for, and I was there for her through an enormous amount of health issues. Within a week of us adopting her from that shelter, she became very sick. Labored breathing, looking away from us, hiding as much as possible. She had an ear polyp that had grown so large it was hurting her greatly. The adoption center told us we could give her back and they would take care of her surgeries. We declined, told them we would keep her, and they told us they would pay for the main surgery. We took her to a multitude of appointments and a surgery center and helped her recover. She was great for a while. A few years, 2015 to 2019 everything was pretty golden with her and it was the best time of my life when I got to spend time with her.
In 2019 we received the worst possible news, she had mammary cancer on her left chain of breasts. They told us it had a high chance of mortality within a year, but that we could slow it down with surgery in case it hadn't spread to her lymphatic system yet. We opted to do the surgery and she came out on the other side doing wonderfully. We waited that year, upset as the date approached when it would be the 365th day. That came, and she was fine. Another year passed, and she was fine, or so we though--I felt more bumps, but on the other side of body. The cancer had infected her right mammary chain. We were worried about her surviving the surgery, as she was 14 and had already been through a few. Luckily she came out of it just fine, the recover was a bit rough but she was back to her old self within two weeks! Around this time we also found out she was deaf and most likely had been the entire time we had had her--haha! Everything, once again, was amazing for a while.
2021 hits and she has a massive eye ulcer. Her eye is clouded and bloodshot. The vets treat her for an eye ulcer as if it is bacterial for two weeks and it gets worse and worse. I take her to an emergency vet and they state she clearly as FHV and the infection is viral--it needs antivirals, not antibiotics. It clears but her eye is permanently damaged and she is probably 90% blind out of it.
2022 comes, and we notice some stuff changing in her--the vet lets us know she has kidney disease. It's relatively early, it'll probably give her another two years. I assume the cancer will get her before the kidney disease will, and just adjust the way I take care of her to fit her new disease.
Enter 2023, everything is still going well. She is slowing down a little bit day by day, sleeping more, probably up to about 20 hours a day by April. But she loves us, and she is so, so happy. Always purring, eating well, keeping herself hydrated despite her kidney disease progressing. May 28th hits, she's crying out at night and seems a little confused. I keep trying to bring her into bed but she gets down in really odd ways that aren't normal for her. I don't think too much of it. I wake up the next morning to my wife telling me that our girl was inconsolable last night and was crying out even when she picked her up to love on her. I go check her out and immediately notice something odd--she doesn't seem to see me. I walk around, wave my hand in front of her face, no registration. I pet her and she purrs. I get her to walk and she will walk-- into very odd areas of the house, into walls, into corners, trying to scout where she is. She's repeatedly trying to walk into walls on her right side. Her left side also has a bit of a limp to the back leg, it's constantly touching her front paw when she walks. She cries out and I go to her, she registers I'm there but wants to keep walking into things. We assume she is totally blind and are extremely unsettled as she is also known to be deaf. We go buy a laser point and she can see it! Three inches from her face, and only on her right side. So much so on her right that she won't register it if it's on her left at all--even if her right eye can see it. She doesn't register our other cat even though it is immediately to her left and she bumps into her, freaking my other cat out.
We take her to the emergency vet and wait for hours. The vet comes out and gives us some mixture of terrible news, starting with some small things--She has an ear infection, she has periodontitis, she has a galloping heartbeat, and it's starting to get worse, she has a blood pressure reading of 250 even after letting her rest for a bit. Anything over 180 is hospitalization for a cat (and for people fyi). To top it all off, they tested her in an empty room and determined she had a great deal of mental deficiencies. She was "a-visual," or lacking vision, she would constantly try to turn into walls even when she knew they were there, and she seemed to not recognize her left side of her body as I had mentioned. They figured, without testing to confirm, that she probably had a stroke or a tumor so advanced that it had affected her brain function. They were leaning towards stroke. They wanted to keep her there overnight for further tests and then recommended hospitalization as it would be unsafe to bring her home given her blood pressure. My wife and I looked at eachother and had the same thought, as unsettling as it was. We asked the vet to step away while we discussed--euthanasia? Could we really subject her to further testing, staying in a hospital for who knows how long when chances were she wouldn't get better? And if she got better, if they lowered her blood pressure and got her stable for us to bring home, how much longer would she have lasted given that she also had advancing cancer and kidney disease? I was willing to go to any measures to make her comfortable due to the lack of vision, hearing, and lack of awareness of her left side. I can deal with that. But I can't deal with her sitting in a hospital for so long, so confused and scared why we aren't there, when the only way she can recognize us is through touch and smell and those things aren't there with her. We told the vet we wanted to euthanize, through heavy tears. The vet had never mentioned this option (I don't know if this is normal, I think maybe it is usually left to the owner to come up with the idea maybe?). But she told us we could euthanize there, that we would get a little room and as much time with her as we wanted. We went to the room, our baby was brought to us and of course she couldn't see us. But there she was, and we were able to bring her out and cuddle her. This is the worst part. She was there for us. She licked my wife, and layed in my lap, she seemed relatively normal and loving. I just can't wrap my head around it, she had so many things going wrong and here she was giving us love. This is the part that hurts me and makes me feel like I did something wrong. How could an animal that needs to be euthanized still be loving on us? With everything listed though and me being utterly terrified of her having to stay in a hospital and possibly dying there, we went through with it. I held her until the very end, knowing I was never going to be the same person.
I am devastated, lost, confused, and searching to figure out if I made the right decision. The thing is, given the information and the number of systems failing in her body, logically it should be. But to know she still had fight in her, love in her? Love for me? To end her like that, was it mercy? Should I have let her continue, with the chance that maybe I would get to have her back in my arms at home, with things being relatively normal for a little while longer? What if things got way, way worse, would I feel even more terrible about myself to have let her go too far and to have her in too much pain? I think so, but I don't know as I chose to "early" option, if it was early. I'm just at a loss without a pet that I loved as much as my very own child. She was my everything, my comfort after work, after a stressful event she was there for me and now she isn't, and I cannot process that.
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On a happier note, let me talk about her demeanor for a bit because that's what I loved about her! She was a deaf cat, an old cat, and a sickly cat as I listed above. This means that I was responsible for her well being much more than a normal animal. It was like taking care of an elderly parent, or a baby. Constantly monitoring her, helping her eat, go to the bathroom, waking up 10-15 times a night to collect her as she cried out for me. These things strengthened my bond with her enormously. She was such a sweet girl, always wanting in my lap or to lay beside me. If I laid in bed for one minute, or sat down for one minute, there she was! She had places she loved to sleep, including on the beanbag in my wife's office. She would sleep there for 6-8 hours at a time, and then come around the corner to the living room sniffling (she had FHV so constant sniffles and sneezing), and we'd greet her with such excitement. She would follow me everywhere when she was awake, never ever wanting to leave my side. She would lick me any time I pet her (and continue licking me until I stopped). She would bite my nose when I put my face up to her face, lovingly. She had stinky breath from the gum disease but I didn't care. She loved using a heating pad we had sitting on the ground for her all year round as it helped her joints. She just loved heat--she would constantly try to jump into the oven when I opened it, or shove herself into the air fryer. Sunlight was king in her eyes and she would find it and camp it all day. She was nothing but purrs and love--immense, intense love for me that I gave her in return. I miss her, I miss her more than I could ever fathom. My love for her was so incredibly deep that it scares me to think I may never get to feel that with a pet again.
Thank you for listening to me if you read this though I don't need anybody to, I just really needed to get this off my chest somewhere and to have a written record of my time with her somewhere besides my heart. I know a lot of it is health concerns, a lot of it sounds negative, but the health issues I faced with her through the years were ways that I grew closer to her, and it is only the end that hurts me. The rest is simply a history of my love for her.
submitted by sylvaron to Petloss [link] [comments]
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I had to say goodbye to my cat of 8 years. She was 16 years old, roughly, my wife and I got her from a shelter so we aren't sure. She was kept in the cages, seperate from other cats as she hadn't been acclimated yet. When they opened the cage she jumped into my wife's arms and started purring. We knew she was our cat at that very moment and that we would love her completely.
I really just want to chronicle my experience with her here, including all of her health issues because I need to validate myself for putting her through euthanasia.
This cat was an outstanding companion. She was the best companion I could ask for, and I was there for her through an enormous amount of health issues. Within a week of us adopting her from that shelter, she became very sick. Labored breathing, looking away from us, hiding as much as possible. She had an ear polyp that had grown so large it was hurting her greatly. The adoption center told us we could give her back and they would take care of her surgeries. We declined, told them we would keep her, and they told us they would pay for the main surgery. We took her to a multitude of appointments and a surgery center and helped her recover. She was great for a while. A few years, 2015 to 2019 everything was pretty golden with her and it was the best time of my life when I got to spend time with her.
In 2019 we received the worst possible news, she had mammary cancer on her left chain of breasts. They told us it had a high chance of mortality within a year, but that we could slow it down with surgery in case it hadn't spread to her lymphatic system yet. We opted to do the surgery and she came out on the other side doing wonderfully. We waited that year, upset as the date approached when it would be the 365th day. That came, and she was fine. Another year passed, and she was fine, or so we though--I felt more bumps, but on the other side of body. The cancer had infected her right mammary chain. We were worried about her surviving the surgery, as she was 14 and had already been through a few. Luckily she came out of it just fine, the recover was a bit rough but she was back to her old self within two weeks! Around this time we also found out she was deaf and most likely had been the entire time we had had her--haha! Everything, once again, was amazing for a while.
2021 hits and she has a massive eye ulcer. Her eye is clouded and bloodshot. The vets treat her for an eye ulcer as if it is bacterial for two weeks and it gets worse and worse. I take her to an emergency vet and they state she clearly as FHV and the infection is viral--it needs antivirals, not antibiotics. It clears but her eye is permanently damaged and she is probably 90% blind out of it.
2022 comes, and we notice some stuff changing in her--the vet lets us know she has kidney disease. It's relatively early, it'll probably give her another two years. I assume the cancer will get her before the kidney disease will, and just adjust the way I take care of her to fit her new disease.
Enter 2023, everything is still going well. She is slowing down a little bit day by day, sleeping more, probably up to about 20 hours a day by April. But she loves us, and she is so, so happy. Always purring, eating well, keeping herself hydrated despite her kidney disease progressing. May 28th hits, she's crying out at night and seems a little confused. I keep trying to bring her into bed but she gets down in really odd ways that aren't normal for her. I don't think too much of it. I wake up the next morning to my wife telling me that our girl was inconsolable last night and was crying out even when she picked her up to love on her. I go check her out and immediately notice something odd--she doesn't seem to see me. I walk around, wave my hand in front of her face, no registration. I pet her and she purrs. I get her to walk and she will walk-- into very odd areas of the house, into walls, into corners, trying to scout where she is. She's repeatedly trying to walk into walls on her right side. Her left side also has a bit of a limp to the back leg, it's constantly touching her front paw when she walks. She cries out and I go to her, she registers I'm there but wants to keep walking into things. We assume she is totally blind and are extremely unsettled as she is also known to be deaf. We go buy a laser point and she can see it! Three inches from her face, and only on her right side. So much so on her right that she won't register it if it's on her left at all--even if her right eye can see it. She doesn't register our other cat even though it is immediately to her left and she bumps into her, freaking my other cat out.
We take her to the emergency vet and wait for hours. The vet comes out and gives us some mixture of terrible news, starting with some small things--She has an ear infection, she has periodontitis, she has a galloping heartbeat, and it's starting to get worse, she has a blood pressure reading of 250 even after letting her rest for a bit. Anything over 180 is hospitalization for a cat (and for people fyi). To top it all off, they tested her in an empty room and determined she had a great deal of mental deficiencies. She was "a-visual," or lacking vision, she would constantly try to turn into walls even when she knew they were there, and she seemed to not recognize her left side of her body as I had mentioned. They figured, without testing to confirm, that she probably had a stroke or a tumor so advanced that it had affected her brain function. They were leaning towards stroke. They wanted to keep her there overnight for further tests and then recommended hospitalization as it would be unsafe to bring her home given her blood pressure. My wife and I looked at eachother and had the same thought, as unsettling as it was. We asked the vet to step away while we discussed--euthanasia? Could we really subject her to further testing, staying in a hospital for who knows how long when chances were she wouldn't get better? And if she got better, if they lowered her blood pressure and got her stable for us to bring home, how much longer would she have lasted given that she also had advancing cancer and kidney disease? I was willing to go to any measures to make her comfortable due to the lack of vision, hearing, and lack of awareness of her left side. I can deal with that. But I can't deal with her sitting in a hospital for so long, so confused and scared why we aren't there, when the only way she can recognize us is through touch and smell and those things aren't there with her. We told the vet we wanted to euthanize, through heavy tears. The vet had never mentioned this option (I don't know if this is normal, I think maybe it is usually left to the owner to come up with the idea maybe?). But she told us we could euthanize there, that we would get a little room and as much time with her as we wanted. We went to the room, our baby was brought to us and of course she couldn't see us. But there she was, and we were able to bring her out and cuddle her. This is the worst part. She was there for us. She licked my wife, and layed in my lap, she seemed relatively normal and loving. I just can't wrap my head around it, she had so many things going wrong and here she was giving us love. This is the part that hurts me and makes me feel like I did something wrong. How could an animal that needs to be euthanized still be loving on us? With everything listed though and me being utterly terrified of her having to stay in a hospital and possibly dying there, we went through with it. I held her until the very end, knowing I was never going to be the same person.
I am devastated, lost, confused, and searching to figure out if I made the right decision. The thing is, given the information and the number of systems failing in her body, logically it should be. But to know she still had fight in her, love in her? Love for me? To end her like that, was it mercy? Should I have let her continue, with the chance that maybe I would get to have her back in my arms at home, with things being relatively normal for a little while longer? What if things got way, way worse, would I feel even more terrible about myself to have let her go too far and to have her in too much pain? I think so, but I don't know as I chose to "early" option, if it was early. I'm just at a loss without a pet that I loved as much as my very own child. She was my everything, my comfort after work, after a stressful event she was there for me and now she isn't, and I cannot process that.
--------------------------
On a happier note, let me talk about her demeanor for a bit because that's what I loved about her! She was a deaf cat, an old cat, and a sickly cat as I listed above. This means that I was responsible for her well being much more than a normal animal. It was like taking care of an elderly parent, or a baby. Constantly monitoring her, helping her eat, go to the bathroom, waking up 10-15 times a night to collect her as she cried out for me. These things strengthened my bond with her enormously. She was such a sweet girl, always wanting in my lap or to lay beside me. If I laid in bed for one minute, or sat down for one minute, there she was! She had places she loved to sleep, including on the beanbag in my wife's office. She would sleep there for 6-8 hours at a time, and then come around the corner to the living room sniffling (she had FHV so constant sniffles and sneezing), and we'd greet her with such excitement. She would follow me everywhere when she was awake, never ever wanting to leave my side. She would lick me any time I pet her (and continue licking me until I stopped). She would bite my nose when I put my face up to her face, lovingly. She had stinky breath from the gum disease but I didn't care. She loved using a heating pad we had sitting on the ground for her all year round as it helped her joints. She just loved heat--she would constantly try to jump into the oven when I opened it, or shove herself into the air fryer. Sunlight was king in her eyes and she would find it and camp it all day. She was nothing but purrs and love--immense, intense love for me that I gave her in return. I miss her, I miss her more than I could ever fathom. My love for her was so incredibly deep that it scares me to think I may never get to feel that with a pet again.
Thank you for listening to me if you read this though I don't need anybody to, I just really needed to get this off my chest somewhere and to have a written record of my time with her somewhere besides my heart. I know a lot of it is health concerns, a lot of it sounds negative, but the health issues I faced with her through the years were ways that I grew closer to her, and it is only the end that hurts me. The rest is simply a history of my love for her.
2023.06.01 05:40 Guilty_Chemistry9337 Hide Behind the Cypress Tree, pt. 1
There are instincts that you develop when you’re a parent. If you don’t have any children it might be a little hard to understand. If you have a toddler, for example, and they’re in the other room and silent for more than a few seconds, there’s a good chance they’re up to no good. I take that back, most of the time they’re doing nothing, but you still have to check. You feel a compulsion to check. I don’t think it’s a learned skill, I think it’s an actual instinct.
Paleolithic parents who didn’t check on their toddlers every few minutes, just to double check that they weren’t being stalked by smilodons were unlikely to have grandchildren and pass on their genes. You just feel you need to check, like getting goosebumps, a compulsion. I suppose it’s the same reason little kids are always demanding you look at them and what they’re doing.
I think that instinct starts to atrophy as your kids grow. They start learning to do things for themselves, and before you know it, they’re after their own privacy, not your attention. I don’t think it ever goes away though. I expect, decades from now, my own grown kids will visit and bring my grandkids with them. And the second I hear a baby crying in the earliest morning hours, I’ll be alert and ready for anything, sure as any old soldier who hears his name whispered in the dark of night.
I felt that alarm just the other day. First time in years. My boy came home from riding bikes with a couple of his friends. I’m pretty sure they worked out a scam where they asked each of their parents for a different new console for Christmas, and now they spend their weekends traveling between the three houses so they can play on all of them.
We all live in a nice neighborhood. A newer development than the one I grew up in, same town though. It’s the kind of place where kids are always playing in the streets, and the cars all routinely do under 20. My wife and I make sure the kids have helmets and pads, and we’re fine with the boy going out biking with his friends, as long as they stay in the neighborhood.
You know, a lot of people in my generation take some weird sort of pride in how irresponsible we used to be when we were young. I never wore a helmet. Rode to places, without telling any adults, that we never should have ridden to. Me and my friends would make impromptu jumps off of makeshift ramps and try to do stupid tricks, based loosely on stunts we’d seen on TV. Other people my age seem to wax nostalgic for that stuff and pretend it makes them somehow better people. I don’t get it. Sometimes I look back and shudder. We were lucky we escaped with only occasional bruises and road burns. It could have gone so much worse.
My son and his buddies came bustling in the front door at about 2 PM on a Saturday. They did the usual thing of raiding the kitchen for juice and his mother’s brownies, and I took that as my cue to abandon the television in the living room for my office. I was hardly noticing the chaos, by this point, it was becoming a regular weekend occurrence. But as I was just leaving, I caught something in the chatter. My boy said something about, “... that guy who was following us.”
He hadn’t said it any louder or more clearly than anything else they’d been talking about, all that stuff I’d been filtering out. Yet some deeper core process in my brain stem heard it, interpreted it, then hit the red alert button. My blood ran cold and every hair on my skin stood at attention.
I turned around and asked “Somebody followed you? What are you talking about?” I wasn’t consciously aware of how strict and stern my voice came out, yet when the jovial smiles dropped off of their faces it was apparent that it had been so.
“Huh?” my son said, his voice high-pitched and talking fast, like when he thinks he’s in trouble and needs to explain. “We thought we saw somebody following us. There wasn’t though. We didn’t really see anybody and we’d just spooked ourselves.”
“What did he look like?” I asked.
“Nothing? We really didn’t see anybody! Honest! I just saw something out of the corner of my eye! But there wasn’t really nobody there!”
“Yeah!,” said one of his buds. “Peripheral! Peripheral vision! I thought maybe I saw something too, but when I looked I didn’t see anything. I don’t have my glasses with me, but when I really looked I got a good look and there was nothing.”
The three boys had that semi-smiling but still concerned look that this was only a bizarre misunderstanding, but they were still being very sincere. “Were they in a car?”
“No, Dad, you don’t get it,” my boy continued, “They were small. We thought it was a kid.”
“Yeah,” said the third boy. “We thought maybe it was Tony Taylor’s stupid kid sister shadowing us. Getting close to throwing water balloons. Just cause she did that before.”
“If you didn’t get a good look how did you know it was a kid?”
“Because it was small!” my kid explained, though that wasn’t helping much. “What I mean is, at first I thought it was behind a little bush. It was way too small a bush to hide a grown-up. That’s why we thought it was probably Tony’s sister.”
“But you didn’t actually see Tony’s sister?” I asked.
“Nah,” said one of his buds. “And now that I think about it, that bush was probably too small for his sister too. It would have been silly. Like when a cartoon character hides behind a tiny object.”
“That’s why we think it was just in our heads,” explained the other boy, “That and the pole.”
“Yeah,” my son said. “The park on 14th and Taylor?” That was just a little community park, a single city block. Had a playground, lawn, a few trees, and some benches. “Anyway, we were riding past that, took a right on Taylor. And we were talking about how weird it would be if somebody really were following us. That’s when Brian thought he saw something. Behind a telephone pole.”
“I didn’t get a good look at it either,” the friend, Brian, “explained. Just thought I did. Know how you get up late at night to use the bathroom or whatever and you look down the hallway and you see a jacket or an office chair or something and because your eyes haven’t adjusted you think you see a ghost or burglar or something? Anyway, I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned there wasn’t anything there.”
“Yeah, it was just like sometimes that happens, except this time it happened twice on the same bike ride, is all,” the other friend explained.
“And you’re sure there was nothing there?”
“Sure we’re sure,” my boy said. “We know because that time we checked. We each rode our bikes around the pole and there was nothing. Honest!”
“Hmmm,” I said. The whole thing seemed reasonable and nothing to be concerned about, you’d think.. The boys seemed to relax at my supposed acceptance. “Alright, sounds good. Hey, just let me know before you leave the house again, alright?” They all rushed to seem agreeable as I left the room, then quickly resumed their snacking and preceded to play their games.
I kept my ear out, just in case. My boy, at least this time, dutifully told me his friends were about to leave. He wasn’t very happy with me when I said they wouldn’t be riding home on their bikes, I was going to drive them home. The other boys didn’t complain, but I suppose it wasn’t their place, so my boy did the advocating for them, which I promptly ignored. I hate doing that, ignoring my kid’s talkback. My dad was the same way. It didn’t help that I struggled to get both of their bikes in the trunk, and it was a pain to get them back out again. My boy sulked in the front seat on the short ride back home. Arms folded on chest, eyes staring straight ahead, that lip thing they do. He seemed embarrassed for having what he thought was an over-protective parent. I suppose he was angry at me as well for acting, as far as he knew, irrationally. Maybe he thought he was being punished for some infraction he didn’t understand.
Well, it only got worse when we got home. I told him he wasn’t allowed to go out alone on his bike anymore. I’d only had to do that once before, when he was grounded, and back then he’d known exactly what he’d done wrong and he had it coming. Now? Well, he was confused, furious, maybe betrayed, probably a little brokenhearted? I can’t blame him. He tramped upstairs to his room to await the return of his mother, who was certain to give a sympathetic ear. I can’t imagine how upset he’ll be if he checks the garage tomorrow and finds I’ve removed his tires, just in case.
I wish I could explain it to him. I don’t even know how.
Where should I even begin? The town?
When I was about my son’s age I had just seen that movie, The Goonies. It had just come out in theaters. I really liked that movie, felt a strong connection. A lot of people do, can’t blame them, sort of a timeless classic. Except I wasn’t really into pirate’s treasure or the Fratellis, what really made me connect was a simple single shot, still in the first act. It’s right after they cross the threshold, and leave the house on their adventure. It was a shot of the boys, from above, maybe a crane shot or a helicopter shot, as they’re riding their bikes down a narrow forested lane, great big evergreen trees densely growing on the side of the road, they’re all wearing raincoats and the road is still wet from recent rain.
That was my childhood. I’ve spent my whole life in the Pacific Northwest. People talk to outsiders about the rain, and they might picture a lot of rainfall, but it’s not the volume, it’s the duration. We don’t get so much rain, it just drizzles slowly, on and on, for maybe eight or nine months out of the year. It doesn’t matter where I am, inside a house, traveling far abroad, anywhere I am I can close my eyes and still smell the air on a chilly afternoon, playing outdoors with my friends.
It’s not petrichor, that sudden intense smell you get when it first starts to rain after a long dry spell. No, this was almost the opposite, a clean smell, almost the opposite of a scent, since the rain seemed to scrub the air clean. The strongest scent and I mean that in the loosest sense possible, must have been the evergreen needles. Not pine needles, those were too strong, and there weren’t that many pines anyway. Douglas fir and red cedar predominated, again the root ‘domination’ seems hyperbole. Yet those scents were there, ephemeral as it is. Also, there was a sort of pleasant dirtiness to the smell, at least when you rode bikes. It wasn’t dirt, or mud, or dust. Dust couldn’t have existed except perhaps for a few fleeting weeks in August. I think, looking back, it was the mud puddles. All the potholes in all the asphalt suburban roads would fill up after rain with water the color of chocolate milk. We’d swerve our BMX bikes, or the knock-off brands, all the way across the street just to splash through those puddles and test our “suspensions.,” meaning our ankles and knees. The smell was always stronger after that. It had an earthiness to it. Perhaps it was petrichor’s lesser-known watery cousin.
There were other sensations too, permanently seared into my brain like grill marks. A constant chilliness that was easy to ignore, until you started working up a good heart rate on your bike, then you noticed your lungs were so cold it felt like burning. The sound of your tires on the wet pavement, particularly when careening downhill at high speed. For some reason, people in the mid-80s used to like to decorate their front porches with cheap, polyester windsocks. They were often vividly colored, usually rainbow, like prototype pride flags. When an occasional wind stirred up enough to gust, the windsocks would flap, and owning to the water-soaked polyester, make a wet slapping sound. It was loud, it was distinct, but you learned to ignore it as part of the background, along with the cawing of crows and distant passing cars.
That was my perception of Farmingham as a kid. The town itself? Just a typical Pacific Northwest town. That might not mean much for younger people or modern visitors, but there was a time when such towns were all the same. They were logging towns. It was the greatest resource of the area from the late 19th century, right up until about the 80s, when the whole thing collapsed. Portland, Seattle, they had a few things going on beyond just the timber industry, but all the hundreds of little towns and small cities revolved around logging, and my town was no exception.
I remember going to the museum. It had free admission, and it was a popular field trip destination for the local school system. It used to be the City Hall, a weird Queen Anne-style construction. Imagine a big Victorian house, but blown up to absurd proportions, and with all sorts of superfluous decorations. Made out of local timber, of course. They had a hall for art, I can’t even remember why, now. Maybe they were local artists. I only remember paintings of sailboats and topless women, which was a rare sight for a kid at the time. There was a hall filled with 19th-century household artifacts. Chamber pots and weird children's toys.
Then there was the logging section, which was the bulk of the museum. It’s strange how different things seemed to be in the early days of the logging industry, despite being only about a hundred years old, from my perspective in the 1980s. If you look back a hundred years from today, in the 1920s, you had automobiles, airplanes, electrical appliances, jazz music, radio programs, flappers, it doesn’t feel that far removed, does it? No TV, no internet, but it wouldn’t be that strange. 1880s? Different world.
Imagine red cedars, so big you could have a full logging crew, arms stretched out, just barely manage to encircle one for a photographer. Felling a single tree was the work of days. Men could rest and eat their lunches in the shelter of a cut made into a trunk, and not worry for safety or room. They had to cut their own little platforms into the trees many feet off the ground, just so the trunk was a little bit thinner, and thus hours of labor saved. They used those long, flexible two-man saws. And double-bit axes. They worked in the gloom of the shade with old gas lanterns. Once cut down from massive logs thirty feet in diameter, they’d float the logs downhill in sluices, like primitive wooden make-shift water slides. Or they’d haul them down to the nearest river, the logs pulled by donkeys on corduroy roads. They’d lay large amounts of grease on the roads, so the logs would slide easily. You could still smell the grease on the old tools on display in the museum. The bigger towns had streets where the loggers would slide the logs down greased skids all the way down to the sea, where they’d float in big logjams until the mills were ready for processing. They’d call such roads “skid-rows.” Because of all the activity, they’d end up being the worst parts of town. Local citizens wouldn’t want to live there, due to all the stink and noise. They’d be on the other side of the brothels and the opium dens. It would be the sort of place where the destitute and the insane would find themselves when they’d finally lost anything. To this day, “skidrow” remains a euphemism for the part of a city where the homeless encamp.
That was the lore I’d learned as a child. That was my “ancestry” I was supposed to respect and admire, which I did, wholeheartedly. There were things they left out, though. Things that you might have suspected, from a naive perspective, would be perfect for kids, all the folklore that came with the logging industry. The ghost stories, and the tall tales. I would have eaten that up. They do talk about that kind of thing in places far removed from the Pacific Northwest. But I had never heard about any of it. Things like the Hidebehind. No, that I’d have to discover for myself.
There were four of us on those bike adventures. Myself. Ralph, my best friend. A tough guy, the bad boy, the most worldly of us, which is a strange thing to say about an eight-year-old kid. India, an archetypal ‘80s tomboy. She was the coolest person I knew at the time. Looking back, I wonder what her home life was like. I think I remember problematic warning signs that I couldn’t have recognized when I was so young, but now raise flags. Then there was Ben. A goofy kid, a wild mop of hair, coke bottle glasses, type 1 diabetic which seemed to make him both a bit pampered by his mother, who was in charge of all his insulin, diet, and schedule, and conversely a real risk taker when she wasn’t around.
When we first saw it…
No, wait. This was the problem with starting the story. Where does it all begin? I’ll need to talk about my Grandfather as well. I’ve had two different perspectives on my Grandfather, on the man that he was. The first was the healthy able-bodied grandparent I’d known as a young child. Then there was the man, as I learned about him after he had passed.
There was a middle period, from when I was 6 to when I was 16, when I hardly understood him at all, as he was hit with a double whammy of both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer's. His decline into an invalid was both steep and long drawn out. That part didn’t reflect who he was as a person.
What did I know of him when I was little? Well I knew he and my grandmother had a nice big house and some farmland, out in the broad flat valley north of Farmingham. Dairy country. It had been settled by Dutch immigrants back in the homesteading days. His family had been among the first pioneers in the county too. It didn’t register to me then that his surname was Norwegian, not Dutch. I knew he had served in the Navy in World War II, which I was immensely proud of for reasons I didn’t know why. I knew he had a job as a butcher in a nearby rural supermarket. He was a bit of a farmer too, more as a hobby and a side gig. He had a few cattle, but mostly grew and harvested hay to sell to the local dairies. I knew he had turned his garage into a machine shop, and could fix damn near anything. From the flat tires on my bicycle to the old flat-bed truck he’d haul hay with, to an old 1950s riding lawnmower he somehow managed to keep in working order. I knew he could draw a really cool cartoon cowboy, I knew he loved to watch football, and I knew the whiskers on his chin were very pokey, and they’d tickle you when he kissed you on the cheek, and that when you tried to rub the sensation away he’d laugh and laugh and laugh.
Then there were the parts of his life that I’d learn much later. Mostly from odd passing comments from relatives, or things I’d find in the public records. Like how he’d been a better grandfather than a father. Or how his life as I knew it had been a second, better life. He’d been born among the Norwegian settler community, way up in the deep, dark, forest-shrouded hills that rimmed the valley. He’d been a logger in his youth. Technologically he was only a generation or two from the ones I’d learned about in the museum. They’d replaced donkeys with diesel engines and corduroy roads with narrow gauge rail. It was still the same job, though. Dirty, dangerous, dark. Way back into those woods, living in little logging camps, civilization was always a several-day hike out. It became a vulgar sort of profession, filled with violent men, reprobates, and thieves. When my grandfather’s father was murdered on his front porch by a lunatic claiming he’d been wronged somehow, my grandfather hiked out of there, got into town, and joined the Navy. He vowed never to go back. The things he’d seen out in those woods were no good. He’d kept that existence away from me. Anyways…
Tommy Barker was the first of us to go missing. I say ‘us’ as if I knew him personally. I didn’t. He went to Farmingham Middle School, other side of town, and several grades above us. From our perspective, he may as well have been an adult living overseas.
Yet it felt like we got to know him. His face was everywhere, on TV, all over telephone poles. Everybody was talking about him. After he didn’t return from a friend’s house, everybody just sort of assumed, or maybe hoped, that he’d just gotten lost, or was trapped somewhere. They searched all the parks. Backyards, junkyards, refrigerators, trunks. Old-fashioned refrigerators, back before suction seals, had a simple handle with a latch that opened when you pulled on it. It wasn’t a problem when the fridges were in use and filled with food. But by the 80s old broke-down refrigerators started filling up backyards and junkyards, and they became deathtraps for kids playing hide-and-seek. The only opened from the outside. I remember thinking Tommy Barker was a little old to have likely been playing hide-and-seek, but people checked everywhere anyway. They never found him.
That was about the first time we saw the Hidebehind. Ben said he thought he saw somebody following us, looked like, maybe, a kid. We’d just slowly huffed our way up a moderately steep hill, Farmingham is full of them, and when we paused for a breather at the top, Ben said he saw it down the hill, closer to the base. Yet when we turned to look there was nothing there. Ben said he’d just seen it duck behind a car. That wasn’t the sort of behavior of a random kid minding his own business. Yet the slope afforded us a view under the car’s carriage, and except for the four tires, there were no signs of any feet hiding behind the body. At first, we thought he was pulling our leg. When he insisted he wasn’t, we started to tease him a little. He must have been seeing things, on account of his poor vision and thick glasses. The fact that those glasses afforded him vision as good as or better than any of us wasn’t something we considered.
The next person to disappear was Amy Brooks. Fifth-grader. Next elementary school over. I remember it feeling like when you’re traveling down the freeway, and there’s a big thunderstorm way down the road, but it keeps getting closer, and closer. I don’t remember what she looked like. Her face wasn’t plastered everywhere like Tommy’s had been. She was mentioned on the regional news, out of Seattle, her and Tommy together. Two missing kids from the same town in a short amount of time. The implication was as obvious as it was depraved. They didn’t think the kids were getting lost anymore. They didn’t do very much searching of backyards. The narratives changed too. Teachers started talking a lot about stranger danger. Local TV channels started recycling old After School Specials and public service announcements about the subject.
I’m not sure who saw it next. I think it was Ben again. We took him seriously this time though. I think. The one I’m sure I remember was soon after, and that time it was India who first saw it. It’s still crystal clear in my memory, almost forty years later, because that was the time I first saw it too. We were riding through a four-way stop, an Idaho Stop before they called it that, when India slammed to a stop, locking up her coaster brakes and leaving a long black streak of rubber on a dry patch of pavement. We stopped quickly after and asked what the problem was. We could tell by her face she’d seen it. She was still looking at it.
“I see it,” she whispered, unnecessarily. We all followed her gaze. We were looking, I don’t know, ten seconds? Twenty? We believed everything she said, we just couldn’t see it.
“Where?” Ralph asked.
“Four blocks down,” she whispered. “On the left. See the red car? Kinda rusty?” There was indeed a big old Lincoln Continental, looking pretty ratty and worn. I focused on that, still seeing nothing. “Past that, just to its right. See the street light pole? It’s just behind that.”
We also saw the pole she was talking about. Metal. Aluminum, I’d have guessed. It had different color patches, like metallic flakeboard. Like it’d had been melted together out of scrap.
I could see that clearly even from that distance. I saw nothing behind it. I could see plenty of other things in the background, cars, houses, bushes, front lawns, beauty bark landscape.. There was no indication of anything behind that pole.
And then it moved. It had been right there where she said it had been, yet it had somehow perfectly blended into the landscape, a trick of perspective. We didn’t see it at all until it moved, and almost as fast it had disappeared behind that light pole. We only got a hint. Brown in color, about our height in size.
We screamed. Short little startled screams, the involuntary sort that just burst out of you. Then we turned and started to pedal like mad, thoroughly spooked. We made it to the intersection of the next block when it was Ralph who screeched to a halt and shouted, “Wait!”
We slowed down and stopped, perhaps not as eagerly as we’d done when India yelled. Ralph was looking back over his shoulder, looking at that metal pole. “Did anybody see it move again?’ he asked. We all shook our heads in the negative. Ralph didn’t notice, but of course, he didn’t really need an answer, of course we hadn’t been watching.
“If it didn’t move, then it’s still there!” Ralph explained the obvious. It took a second to sink in, despite the obvious. “C’mon!” he shouted, and to our surprise, before we could react, he turned and took off, straight down the road, straight to where that thing had been lurking.
We were incredulous, but something about his order made us all follow hot on his heels. He was a sort of natural leader. I thought it was total foolishness, but I wasn’t going to let him go alone. I think I got out, “Are you crazy?!”
The wind was blowing hard past our faces as we raced as fast as we could, it made it hard to hear. Ralph shouted his response. “If it’s hiding that means its afraid!” That seemed reasonable, if not totally accurate. Lions hide from their prey before they attack. Then again, they don’t wait around when the whole herd charges. Really, the pole was coming up so fast there wasn’t a whole lot of time to argue. “Just blast past and look!” Ralph added. “We’re too fast! It won’t catch us.”
Sure, I thought to myself. Except maybe Ben, who always lagged behind the rest of us in a race. The lion would get Ben if any of us.
We rushed past that pole and all turned our heads to look. “See!” Ralph shouted in triumph. There was simply nothing there. A metal streetlight pole and nothing more. We stopped pedaling yet still sped on. “Hang on,” Ralph said, and at the next intersection he took a fast looping curve that threatened to crash us all, but we managed and curved behind him. We all came to the pole again where we stopped to see up close that there was nothing there, despite what we had seen moments before.
“Maybe it bilocated,” Ben offered. We groaned. We were all thinking it, but I think we were dismissive because it wasn’t as cool a word as ‘teleport.”
“Maybe it just moved when we weren’t looking,” I offered. That hadn’t been long, but that didn’t mean anything if it moved fast. The four of us slowly looked up from the base of the pole to our immediate surroundings. There were bushes. A car in a carport covered by a tarpaulin. The carport itself. Garbage cans. Stumps. Of course the ever-present trees. Whatever it was it could have been hiding behind anything. Maybe it was. We looked. Maybe it would make itself seen. None of us wanted that. “OK, let’s get going,” Ralph said, and we did so.
I got home feeling pretty shaken that afternoon. I felt safe at home. Except for the front room, which had a big bay window looking out onto the street, and the people who lived across it. There were plenty of garbage cans and telephone poles and stumps that a small, fast thing might hide behind. No, I felt more comfortable in my bedroom. There was a window, but a great thick conical cypress tree grew right in front of it, reaching way up over the roof of the house. If anything, it offered ME a place to hide, and peer out onto the street to either side of the tree. It was protective, as good as any heavy blanket.
submitted by Guilty_Chemistry9337 to EBDavis [link] [comments]
Paleolithic parents who didn’t check on their toddlers every few minutes, just to double check that they weren’t being stalked by smilodons were unlikely to have grandchildren and pass on their genes. You just feel you need to check, like getting goosebumps, a compulsion. I suppose it’s the same reason little kids are always demanding you look at them and what they’re doing.
I think that instinct starts to atrophy as your kids grow. They start learning to do things for themselves, and before you know it, they’re after their own privacy, not your attention. I don’t think it ever goes away though. I expect, decades from now, my own grown kids will visit and bring my grandkids with them. And the second I hear a baby crying in the earliest morning hours, I’ll be alert and ready for anything, sure as any old soldier who hears his name whispered in the dark of night.
I felt that alarm just the other day. First time in years. My boy came home from riding bikes with a couple of his friends. I’m pretty sure they worked out a scam where they asked each of their parents for a different new console for Christmas, and now they spend their weekends traveling between the three houses so they can play on all of them.
We all live in a nice neighborhood. A newer development than the one I grew up in, same town though. It’s the kind of place where kids are always playing in the streets, and the cars all routinely do under 20. My wife and I make sure the kids have helmets and pads, and we’re fine with the boy going out biking with his friends, as long as they stay in the neighborhood.
You know, a lot of people in my generation take some weird sort of pride in how irresponsible we used to be when we were young. I never wore a helmet. Rode to places, without telling any adults, that we never should have ridden to. Me and my friends would make impromptu jumps off of makeshift ramps and try to do stupid tricks, based loosely on stunts we’d seen on TV. Other people my age seem to wax nostalgic for that stuff and pretend it makes them somehow better people. I don’t get it. Sometimes I look back and shudder. We were lucky we escaped with only occasional bruises and road burns. It could have gone so much worse.
My son and his buddies came bustling in the front door at about 2 PM on a Saturday. They did the usual thing of raiding the kitchen for juice and his mother’s brownies, and I took that as my cue to abandon the television in the living room for my office. I was hardly noticing the chaos, by this point, it was becoming a regular weekend occurrence. But as I was just leaving, I caught something in the chatter. My boy said something about, “... that guy who was following us.”
He hadn’t said it any louder or more clearly than anything else they’d been talking about, all that stuff I’d been filtering out. Yet some deeper core process in my brain stem heard it, interpreted it, then hit the red alert button. My blood ran cold and every hair on my skin stood at attention.
I turned around and asked “Somebody followed you? What are you talking about?” I wasn’t consciously aware of how strict and stern my voice came out, yet when the jovial smiles dropped off of their faces it was apparent that it had been so.
“Huh?” my son said, his voice high-pitched and talking fast, like when he thinks he’s in trouble and needs to explain. “We thought we saw somebody following us. There wasn’t though. We didn’t really see anybody and we’d just spooked ourselves.”
“What did he look like?” I asked.
“Nothing? We really didn’t see anybody! Honest! I just saw something out of the corner of my eye! But there wasn’t really nobody there!”
“Yeah!,” said one of his buds. “Peripheral! Peripheral vision! I thought maybe I saw something too, but when I looked I didn’t see anything. I don’t have my glasses with me, but when I really looked I got a good look and there was nothing.”
The three boys had that semi-smiling but still concerned look that this was only a bizarre misunderstanding, but they were still being very sincere. “Were they in a car?”
“No, Dad, you don’t get it,” my boy continued, “They were small. We thought it was a kid.”
“Yeah,” said the third boy. “We thought maybe it was Tony Taylor’s stupid kid sister shadowing us. Getting close to throwing water balloons. Just cause she did that before.”
“If you didn’t get a good look how did you know it was a kid?”
“Because it was small!” my kid explained, though that wasn’t helping much. “What I mean is, at first I thought it was behind a little bush. It was way too small a bush to hide a grown-up. That’s why we thought it was probably Tony’s sister.”
“But you didn’t actually see Tony’s sister?” I asked.
“Nah,” said one of his buds. “And now that I think about it, that bush was probably too small for his sister too. It would have been silly. Like when a cartoon character hides behind a tiny object.”
“That’s why we think it was just in our heads,” explained the other boy, “That and the pole.”
“Yeah,” my son said. “The park on 14th and Taylor?” That was just a little community park, a single city block. Had a playground, lawn, a few trees, and some benches. “Anyway, we were riding past that, took a right on Taylor. And we were talking about how weird it would be if somebody really were following us. That’s when Brian thought he saw something. Behind a telephone pole.”
“I didn’t get a good look at it either,” the friend, Brian, “explained. Just thought I did. Know how you get up late at night to use the bathroom or whatever and you look down the hallway and you see a jacket or an office chair or something and because your eyes haven’t adjusted you think you see a ghost or burglar or something? Anyway, I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned there wasn’t anything there.”
“Yeah, it was just like sometimes that happens, except this time it happened twice on the same bike ride, is all,” the other friend explained.
“And you’re sure there was nothing there?”
“Sure we’re sure,” my boy said. “We know because that time we checked. We each rode our bikes around the pole and there was nothing. Honest!”
“Hmmm,” I said. The whole thing seemed reasonable and nothing to be concerned about, you’d think.. The boys seemed to relax at my supposed acceptance. “Alright, sounds good. Hey, just let me know before you leave the house again, alright?” They all rushed to seem agreeable as I left the room, then quickly resumed their snacking and preceded to play their games.
I kept my ear out, just in case. My boy, at least this time, dutifully told me his friends were about to leave. He wasn’t very happy with me when I said they wouldn’t be riding home on their bikes, I was going to drive them home. The other boys didn’t complain, but I suppose it wasn’t their place, so my boy did the advocating for them, which I promptly ignored. I hate doing that, ignoring my kid’s talkback. My dad was the same way. It didn’t help that I struggled to get both of their bikes in the trunk, and it was a pain to get them back out again. My boy sulked in the front seat on the short ride back home. Arms folded on chest, eyes staring straight ahead, that lip thing they do. He seemed embarrassed for having what he thought was an over-protective parent. I suppose he was angry at me as well for acting, as far as he knew, irrationally. Maybe he thought he was being punished for some infraction he didn’t understand.
Well, it only got worse when we got home. I told him he wasn’t allowed to go out alone on his bike anymore. I’d only had to do that once before, when he was grounded, and back then he’d known exactly what he’d done wrong and he had it coming. Now? Well, he was confused, furious, maybe betrayed, probably a little brokenhearted? I can’t blame him. He tramped upstairs to his room to await the return of his mother, who was certain to give a sympathetic ear. I can’t imagine how upset he’ll be if he checks the garage tomorrow and finds I’ve removed his tires, just in case.
I wish I could explain it to him. I don’t even know how.
Where should I even begin? The town?
When I was about my son’s age I had just seen that movie, The Goonies. It had just come out in theaters. I really liked that movie, felt a strong connection. A lot of people do, can’t blame them, sort of a timeless classic. Except I wasn’t really into pirate’s treasure or the Fratellis, what really made me connect was a simple single shot, still in the first act. It’s right after they cross the threshold, and leave the house on their adventure. It was a shot of the boys, from above, maybe a crane shot or a helicopter shot, as they’re riding their bikes down a narrow forested lane, great big evergreen trees densely growing on the side of the road, they’re all wearing raincoats and the road is still wet from recent rain.
That was my childhood. I’ve spent my whole life in the Pacific Northwest. People talk to outsiders about the rain, and they might picture a lot of rainfall, but it’s not the volume, it’s the duration. We don’t get so much rain, it just drizzles slowly, on and on, for maybe eight or nine months out of the year. It doesn’t matter where I am, inside a house, traveling far abroad, anywhere I am I can close my eyes and still smell the air on a chilly afternoon, playing outdoors with my friends.
It’s not petrichor, that sudden intense smell you get when it first starts to rain after a long dry spell. No, this was almost the opposite, a clean smell, almost the opposite of a scent, since the rain seemed to scrub the air clean. The strongest scent and I mean that in the loosest sense possible, must have been the evergreen needles. Not pine needles, those were too strong, and there weren’t that many pines anyway. Douglas fir and red cedar predominated, again the root ‘domination’ seems hyperbole. Yet those scents were there, ephemeral as it is. Also, there was a sort of pleasant dirtiness to the smell, at least when you rode bikes. It wasn’t dirt, or mud, or dust. Dust couldn’t have existed except perhaps for a few fleeting weeks in August. I think, looking back, it was the mud puddles. All the potholes in all the asphalt suburban roads would fill up after rain with water the color of chocolate milk. We’d swerve our BMX bikes, or the knock-off brands, all the way across the street just to splash through those puddles and test our “suspensions.,” meaning our ankles and knees. The smell was always stronger after that. It had an earthiness to it. Perhaps it was petrichor’s lesser-known watery cousin.
There were other sensations too, permanently seared into my brain like grill marks. A constant chilliness that was easy to ignore, until you started working up a good heart rate on your bike, then you noticed your lungs were so cold it felt like burning. The sound of your tires on the wet pavement, particularly when careening downhill at high speed. For some reason, people in the mid-80s used to like to decorate their front porches with cheap, polyester windsocks. They were often vividly colored, usually rainbow, like prototype pride flags. When an occasional wind stirred up enough to gust, the windsocks would flap, and owning to the water-soaked polyester, make a wet slapping sound. It was loud, it was distinct, but you learned to ignore it as part of the background, along with the cawing of crows and distant passing cars.
That was my perception of Farmingham as a kid. The town itself? Just a typical Pacific Northwest town. That might not mean much for younger people or modern visitors, but there was a time when such towns were all the same. They were logging towns. It was the greatest resource of the area from the late 19th century, right up until about the 80s, when the whole thing collapsed. Portland, Seattle, they had a few things going on beyond just the timber industry, but all the hundreds of little towns and small cities revolved around logging, and my town was no exception.
I remember going to the museum. It had free admission, and it was a popular field trip destination for the local school system. It used to be the City Hall, a weird Queen Anne-style construction. Imagine a big Victorian house, but blown up to absurd proportions, and with all sorts of superfluous decorations. Made out of local timber, of course. They had a hall for art, I can’t even remember why, now. Maybe they were local artists. I only remember paintings of sailboats and topless women, which was a rare sight for a kid at the time. There was a hall filled with 19th-century household artifacts. Chamber pots and weird children's toys.
Then there was the logging section, which was the bulk of the museum. It’s strange how different things seemed to be in the early days of the logging industry, despite being only about a hundred years old, from my perspective in the 1980s. If you look back a hundred years from today, in the 1920s, you had automobiles, airplanes, electrical appliances, jazz music, radio programs, flappers, it doesn’t feel that far removed, does it? No TV, no internet, but it wouldn’t be that strange. 1880s? Different world.
Imagine red cedars, so big you could have a full logging crew, arms stretched out, just barely manage to encircle one for a photographer. Felling a single tree was the work of days. Men could rest and eat their lunches in the shelter of a cut made into a trunk, and not worry for safety or room. They had to cut their own little platforms into the trees many feet off the ground, just so the trunk was a little bit thinner, and thus hours of labor saved. They used those long, flexible two-man saws. And double-bit axes. They worked in the gloom of the shade with old gas lanterns. Once cut down from massive logs thirty feet in diameter, they’d float the logs downhill in sluices, like primitive wooden make-shift water slides. Or they’d haul them down to the nearest river, the logs pulled by donkeys on corduroy roads. They’d lay large amounts of grease on the roads, so the logs would slide easily. You could still smell the grease on the old tools on display in the museum. The bigger towns had streets where the loggers would slide the logs down greased skids all the way down to the sea, where they’d float in big logjams until the mills were ready for processing. They’d call such roads “skid-rows.” Because of all the activity, they’d end up being the worst parts of town. Local citizens wouldn’t want to live there, due to all the stink and noise. They’d be on the other side of the brothels and the opium dens. It would be the sort of place where the destitute and the insane would find themselves when they’d finally lost anything. To this day, “skidrow” remains a euphemism for the part of a city where the homeless encamp.
That was the lore I’d learned as a child. That was my “ancestry” I was supposed to respect and admire, which I did, wholeheartedly. There were things they left out, though. Things that you might have suspected, from a naive perspective, would be perfect for kids, all the folklore that came with the logging industry. The ghost stories, and the tall tales. I would have eaten that up. They do talk about that kind of thing in places far removed from the Pacific Northwest. But I had never heard about any of it. Things like the Hidebehind. No, that I’d have to discover for myself.
There were four of us on those bike adventures. Myself. Ralph, my best friend. A tough guy, the bad boy, the most worldly of us, which is a strange thing to say about an eight-year-old kid. India, an archetypal ‘80s tomboy. She was the coolest person I knew at the time. Looking back, I wonder what her home life was like. I think I remember problematic warning signs that I couldn’t have recognized when I was so young, but now raise flags. Then there was Ben. A goofy kid, a wild mop of hair, coke bottle glasses, type 1 diabetic which seemed to make him both a bit pampered by his mother, who was in charge of all his insulin, diet, and schedule, and conversely a real risk taker when she wasn’t around.
When we first saw it…
No, wait. This was the problem with starting the story. Where does it all begin? I’ll need to talk about my Grandfather as well. I’ve had two different perspectives on my Grandfather, on the man that he was. The first was the healthy able-bodied grandparent I’d known as a young child. Then there was the man, as I learned about him after he had passed.
There was a middle period, from when I was 6 to when I was 16, when I hardly understood him at all, as he was hit with a double whammy of both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer's. His decline into an invalid was both steep and long drawn out. That part didn’t reflect who he was as a person.
What did I know of him when I was little? Well I knew he and my grandmother had a nice big house and some farmland, out in the broad flat valley north of Farmingham. Dairy country. It had been settled by Dutch immigrants back in the homesteading days. His family had been among the first pioneers in the county too. It didn’t register to me then that his surname was Norwegian, not Dutch. I knew he had served in the Navy in World War II, which I was immensely proud of for reasons I didn’t know why. I knew he had a job as a butcher in a nearby rural supermarket. He was a bit of a farmer too, more as a hobby and a side gig. He had a few cattle, but mostly grew and harvested hay to sell to the local dairies. I knew he had turned his garage into a machine shop, and could fix damn near anything. From the flat tires on my bicycle to the old flat-bed truck he’d haul hay with, to an old 1950s riding lawnmower he somehow managed to keep in working order. I knew he could draw a really cool cartoon cowboy, I knew he loved to watch football, and I knew the whiskers on his chin were very pokey, and they’d tickle you when he kissed you on the cheek, and that when you tried to rub the sensation away he’d laugh and laugh and laugh.
Then there were the parts of his life that I’d learn much later. Mostly from odd passing comments from relatives, or things I’d find in the public records. Like how he’d been a better grandfather than a father. Or how his life as I knew it had been a second, better life. He’d been born among the Norwegian settler community, way up in the deep, dark, forest-shrouded hills that rimmed the valley. He’d been a logger in his youth. Technologically he was only a generation or two from the ones I’d learned about in the museum. They’d replaced donkeys with diesel engines and corduroy roads with narrow gauge rail. It was still the same job, though. Dirty, dangerous, dark. Way back into those woods, living in little logging camps, civilization was always a several-day hike out. It became a vulgar sort of profession, filled with violent men, reprobates, and thieves. When my grandfather’s father was murdered on his front porch by a lunatic claiming he’d been wronged somehow, my grandfather hiked out of there, got into town, and joined the Navy. He vowed never to go back. The things he’d seen out in those woods were no good. He’d kept that existence away from me. Anyways…
Tommy Barker was the first of us to go missing. I say ‘us’ as if I knew him personally. I didn’t. He went to Farmingham Middle School, other side of town, and several grades above us. From our perspective, he may as well have been an adult living overseas.
Yet it felt like we got to know him. His face was everywhere, on TV, all over telephone poles. Everybody was talking about him. After he didn’t return from a friend’s house, everybody just sort of assumed, or maybe hoped, that he’d just gotten lost, or was trapped somewhere. They searched all the parks. Backyards, junkyards, refrigerators, trunks. Old-fashioned refrigerators, back before suction seals, had a simple handle with a latch that opened when you pulled on it. It wasn’t a problem when the fridges were in use and filled with food. But by the 80s old broke-down refrigerators started filling up backyards and junkyards, and they became deathtraps for kids playing hide-and-seek. The only opened from the outside. I remember thinking Tommy Barker was a little old to have likely been playing hide-and-seek, but people checked everywhere anyway. They never found him.
That was about the first time we saw the Hidebehind. Ben said he thought he saw somebody following us, looked like, maybe, a kid. We’d just slowly huffed our way up a moderately steep hill, Farmingham is full of them, and when we paused for a breather at the top, Ben said he saw it down the hill, closer to the base. Yet when we turned to look there was nothing there. Ben said he’d just seen it duck behind a car. That wasn’t the sort of behavior of a random kid minding his own business. Yet the slope afforded us a view under the car’s carriage, and except for the four tires, there were no signs of any feet hiding behind the body. At first, we thought he was pulling our leg. When he insisted he wasn’t, we started to tease him a little. He must have been seeing things, on account of his poor vision and thick glasses. The fact that those glasses afforded him vision as good as or better than any of us wasn’t something we considered.
The next person to disappear was Amy Brooks. Fifth-grader. Next elementary school over. I remember it feeling like when you’re traveling down the freeway, and there’s a big thunderstorm way down the road, but it keeps getting closer, and closer. I don’t remember what she looked like. Her face wasn’t plastered everywhere like Tommy’s had been. She was mentioned on the regional news, out of Seattle, her and Tommy together. Two missing kids from the same town in a short amount of time. The implication was as obvious as it was depraved. They didn’t think the kids were getting lost anymore. They didn’t do very much searching of backyards. The narratives changed too. Teachers started talking a lot about stranger danger. Local TV channels started recycling old After School Specials and public service announcements about the subject.
I’m not sure who saw it next. I think it was Ben again. We took him seriously this time though. I think. The one I’m sure I remember was soon after, and that time it was India who first saw it. It’s still crystal clear in my memory, almost forty years later, because that was the time I first saw it too. We were riding through a four-way stop, an Idaho Stop before they called it that, when India slammed to a stop, locking up her coaster brakes and leaving a long black streak of rubber on a dry patch of pavement. We stopped quickly after and asked what the problem was. We could tell by her face she’d seen it. She was still looking at it.
“I see it,” she whispered, unnecessarily. We all followed her gaze. We were looking, I don’t know, ten seconds? Twenty? We believed everything she said, we just couldn’t see it.
“Where?” Ralph asked.
“Four blocks down,” she whispered. “On the left. See the red car? Kinda rusty?” There was indeed a big old Lincoln Continental, looking pretty ratty and worn. I focused on that, still seeing nothing. “Past that, just to its right. See the street light pole? It’s just behind that.”
We also saw the pole she was talking about. Metal. Aluminum, I’d have guessed. It had different color patches, like metallic flakeboard. Like it’d had been melted together out of scrap.
I could see that clearly even from that distance. I saw nothing behind it. I could see plenty of other things in the background, cars, houses, bushes, front lawns, beauty bark landscape.. There was no indication of anything behind that pole.
And then it moved. It had been right there where she said it had been, yet it had somehow perfectly blended into the landscape, a trick of perspective. We didn’t see it at all until it moved, and almost as fast it had disappeared behind that light pole. We only got a hint. Brown in color, about our height in size.
We screamed. Short little startled screams, the involuntary sort that just burst out of you. Then we turned and started to pedal like mad, thoroughly spooked. We made it to the intersection of the next block when it was Ralph who screeched to a halt and shouted, “Wait!”
We slowed down and stopped, perhaps not as eagerly as we’d done when India yelled. Ralph was looking back over his shoulder, looking at that metal pole. “Did anybody see it move again?’ he asked. We all shook our heads in the negative. Ralph didn’t notice, but of course, he didn’t really need an answer, of course we hadn’t been watching.
“If it didn’t move, then it’s still there!” Ralph explained the obvious. It took a second to sink in, despite the obvious. “C’mon!” he shouted, and to our surprise, before we could react, he turned and took off, straight down the road, straight to where that thing had been lurking.
We were incredulous, but something about his order made us all follow hot on his heels. He was a sort of natural leader. I thought it was total foolishness, but I wasn’t going to let him go alone. I think I got out, “Are you crazy?!”
The wind was blowing hard past our faces as we raced as fast as we could, it made it hard to hear. Ralph shouted his response. “If it’s hiding that means its afraid!” That seemed reasonable, if not totally accurate. Lions hide from their prey before they attack. Then again, they don’t wait around when the whole herd charges. Really, the pole was coming up so fast there wasn’t a whole lot of time to argue. “Just blast past and look!” Ralph added. “We’re too fast! It won’t catch us.”
Sure, I thought to myself. Except maybe Ben, who always lagged behind the rest of us in a race. The lion would get Ben if any of us.
We rushed past that pole and all turned our heads to look. “See!” Ralph shouted in triumph. There was simply nothing there. A metal streetlight pole and nothing more. We stopped pedaling yet still sped on. “Hang on,” Ralph said, and at the next intersection he took a fast looping curve that threatened to crash us all, but we managed and curved behind him. We all came to the pole again where we stopped to see up close that there was nothing there, despite what we had seen moments before.
“Maybe it bilocated,” Ben offered. We groaned. We were all thinking it, but I think we were dismissive because it wasn’t as cool a word as ‘teleport.”
“Maybe it just moved when we weren’t looking,” I offered. That hadn’t been long, but that didn’t mean anything if it moved fast. The four of us slowly looked up from the base of the pole to our immediate surroundings. There were bushes. A car in a carport covered by a tarpaulin. The carport itself. Garbage cans. Stumps. Of course the ever-present trees. Whatever it was it could have been hiding behind anything. Maybe it was. We looked. Maybe it would make itself seen. None of us wanted that. “OK, let’s get going,” Ralph said, and we did so.
I got home feeling pretty shaken that afternoon. I felt safe at home. Except for the front room, which had a big bay window looking out onto the street, and the people who lived across it. There were plenty of garbage cans and telephone poles and stumps that a small, fast thing might hide behind. No, I felt more comfortable in my bedroom. There was a window, but a great thick conical cypress tree grew right in front of it, reaching way up over the roof of the house. If anything, it offered ME a place to hide, and peer out onto the street to either side of the tree. It was protective, as good as any heavy blanket.
2023.06.01 03:05 applehoba DAT Breakdown (April 23) 20AA 22RC 24PAT
 | Hello everyone! I took my DAT back in April and finally have the time to write about what I did to study. submitted by applehoba to predental [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/edhp95y73b3b1.jpg?width=1700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6741630f082f4bde35df9d93b2e522581827718c Study Plan: I was dumb and thought Booster was BootCamp, so in January, I purchased Booster. I did not use it at all and felt like the concepts were out of date compared to Bootcamp. I started studying full-time in February after recovering from my gastric sleeve surgery. I used the Ari Schedule for my studying, and when I had free time during the day, I did Anki flash cards. I studied from February 1st until April 1st, the only free day was Sundays. I graduated from college in December 2022 and lived off my savings to put focus on this exam. I worked on the scheduled materials for about 4 hours, then did 3 hours of review from previous content. I suggest looking at youtube videos of the biology content so you get a different perspective on the topics. Do as many practice tests as you can and go through them like you are taking the test again, EVEN FOR THE ONES YOU GOT RIGHT!!!! I have worked as a STEM tutor for the last 5 years at my universities study skills program, so if you guys need help, LMK! BIO: 18 I feel as if I really tried my best in this section. I was not doing well on the practice test on BootCamp and tried some on Booster. The booster tests were too easy, in my opinion, and I was scoring 25 in this section. Very specific questions are asked on the exam, and I feel like I did not go in-depth enough. I would suggest taking biology seriously and working on memorization!! CHEM: 21GC and 20OC. Chemistry was my favorite while in high school and university (also my minor). GC on BootCamp does more than prepare you for the exam. Focus on the practice problems and use the tagging system to your advantage. Tag a question as green ONLY if you can get it without looking at notes. If you get a question wrong, always mark it as red. Once you try it again and get it right, mark it yellow. I feel like you need to practice the question at least 3 times to be sure you fully understand what you did wrong. OC on BootCamp was also representative of the exam. I feel like the main focus should be on reaction mechanisms and drawing them out. The way I studied was after you complete the full lessons with Mike, try to draw the mechanism from memory. Even if you get it wrong, you are still practicing and can correct your mistakes later. Before you leave the lab section of OC due, remind yourself that you will see IR and NMR. This section is hard if you don't know the basic steps of spectroscopy. QR: 18 My QR section was very hard. I did not focus much on this section while studying but did well on the practice exams on Booster and BootCamp. There were more concepts that were not reviewed in either program during test day. So I suggest reviewing some other math and stats concepts outside of what is on the study websites. PM me if you need help! RC: 22 Reading comprehension is pretty straightforward if you read a lot of scientific literature. As someone who has a degree in Public health and chemistry, I read so many articles and papers that my brain hurts. I have been tutoring a few students on this section for English is their second language or do not have strong reading skills. My suggestion is to read the whole passage. I could not do any of the strategies on either program and get the question correct. I did not start reading until 4th grade (a story for another time), so the only way I can fully understand the passage is by reading/highlighting. I was able to read the entire passage and start answering questions. If you cannot find the context and answer the question in 30 sections, you need to bookmark it and move on. You will have more than enough time, in the end, to go back. Also, statement reason questions are there to trick you, go with what you can confirm and MOVE ON. don't stay on a question too long they are all weighted equally. PAT: 24PAT This was my favorite section by far and a mood refresher before moving on to the other sections. I used this booklet to simulate taking the actual exam. I believe that this is the reason I got a great score. I marked questions taking me longer than 20 seconds and came back. I finished the first round of answering in 40 minutes and had 20 minutes to review and complete the ones I missed. Let's start with keyholes. Keyholes are hard in the beginning but gradually get easier the more you practice. I suggest sitting as close to the screen as possible in this section and looking back and forth. While I did this section, I used my scrap paper as a doodle pad so I could keep my nerves down. As I did on the practice test, I skipped the entire TFE and leave it for the end. This section has always been the hardest for me and I valued my time on other sections more than struggling to work on this one. I spent about 15 seconds on each of the TFEs and focused on big changes or lines in the shapes instead of slight differences. This is the easiest way to eliminate answers. Visualizing the object may be hard at first but eventually, the 3D image will pop up. For the first few problems on the generator, take your time and grab something with different sides, like your phone. Familiarize yourself with the top, front, and right side(end) of the object so you have something physical to relate the problems to. Angle ranking should be quick and easy for you. Take about 20 sections per question max and you will still do great. I think of angle ranking in three ways flattening, filling, and scooping. Flattening is for the obtuse angles that you can compare to a straight line to tell which is the largest. The filling was for me to imagine pouring something into the angle and using it as a cup. Whichever angle held the most was the biggest. Scooping was the strategy I used for acute angles, where I imagined using the angle as a shovel and seeing how much it would pick up. These sound silly, but really work!! Hole punching is the main reason why the booklet helped with the practice paper. Teaching yourself how to fold and unfold things is very hard if you don't have craft experience. For the first week of PAT, I would cut out paper and mimic the holes and folds. After it is made, try the question on paper and make your answer on the grid. Unfold the template and see if you got it right. You need to be quick and efficient. Remember to look at all the answers if you can solve the question and pick the best guess! Cube counting is straightforward if you have a system. Always have a system and start from the bottom layer. You don't want to make a mistake counting because you can have 5 questions on the same diagram that are all going to be wrong. Pattern folding is really hard in the beginning. this is a section where practice problems really come in handy. I started with a few questions that I printed and folded to visualize the folding. This helped me understand how to do it in my head! Remember to look for big changes and defining marks like colored sides or unique shapes. Overall: I feel like I did well on the exam and was properly prepared. though I did not get what I wanted in the BIO and QR sections I am content with knowing I finished strong. I am submitting my apps tomorrow, so wish me good luck! Hopefully, you guys can find some insight, and feel free to ask any questions in the replies. You can also PM me for help, as I tutor applying students for free on the PAT section! |