I'm keeping track of all the VR games I’ve played this year to catalogue them in hopes that they may give fellow VR gamers some fresh games to try out, or reasons to revisit older games that have had big updates. I'm currently up to 52 different VR games played this year. The first 22 that I played from January to March can be found here. The latest 30 games are mostly on the Quest, but many are available on PCVR.
Some of the games listed below, I can see playing all year long, others are not my cup of tea, but they may interest you enough to try them out. In either case, here are my quick thoughts on the 30 games I’ve played during April and May of 2023.
TLDR: My top 5 games to check out are at the bottom and so is some info for a game giveaway.

1. ARK and ADE $9.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: A fun shooter with Pistol Whip vibes that is absolutely worth the price of admission. From the store page: “ARK and ADE is an action-jammed FPS shooter in which you get to experience the glory of the 80’s arcade era in a neon fused setting. Shoot your way through retro-futuristic levels filled with enemies, iconic over the top bosses and never ending bullets!” I played this game back when it was in App Lab before it graduated to the full store. It was such a fun shooter back then, and I’d look forward to new levels coming out every few months. Now that it made it out of app lab, has a bunch of levels and had the gameplay polished, it’s absolutely worth a pickup, especially for that price.
   
2. Project Third Eye $9.99 Quest My quick take:A game where you make your own fun. From the store page: “Project Third Eye is an action physics sandbox with a built-in visual scripting panel to apply logic to spawnable items. This allows you to build your own modifications to the game and customize behaviors as you like.” Just like the description says, this is more of a proof of concept and sandbox game more so than a full fledged game with objectives. There are certainly neat ideas here and there, and the dev is really active with updates on Reddit. If you like to experiment and see how concepts develop in a game, you may enjoy this, but there’s no real direction beyond experimenting, so I dropped off fairly quickly.
   
3. Jousting VR Demo $9.99 Quest / Steam Quest Demo My quick take:A bit light on gameplay, but there is some charm here. From the store page:“XIII century, Europe, royal market courtyard. You are a knight who joined the medieval tournament. Your task is 'simple.' Jump on your trusty steed, grab your lance & defeat the enemy. Take into consideration speed, accuracy, strength. Equipment is also important. The better gear the easier the task. Oh, and other knights - they want to win as much as you do.” As advertised, it's a jousting game in VR. I enjoyed the demo, but honestly it was a bit too finicky at times and just not worth a full buy to me. The atmosphere was fun though and there was a progression loop for those who get into it.
   
4. Demeo $39.99 Quest and Steam (flatscreen as well) My quick take:This is a great game that I revisited from start to finish with four players. A must own. From the store page: “Adventurers, it’s time to unite! Gather your friends and fight monsters in Demeo, the turn-based tabletop strategy game of battle and glory. Roll dice, pick up miniatures, and free the world of Gilmerra in round after round of tabletop board game fun. With a huge assortment of monsters, playable classes, and environments to explore, it’s never the same game twice." I finally got a chance to play through the entirety of the game in VR with four friends, through each world, while trying a variety of characters. We even made a video ranking the best players and levels. It really is a solid dungeon crawling adventure. With 2 or more friends, this game really shines and is such a fun ride, despite how punishing the bosses can be. This is the closest you can get to D&D in VR without having a dungeon master. Well worth the asking price.
   
5. Build and Drive Racing Demo Free Quest / Steam My quick take: Early days in development, maybe something to keep an eye on to see how it improves. From the store page: "Get ready for a new experience on Windows desktop and VR, where you get to build your ultimate racing machine, tailored to your driving style and optimized for performance, or race to the finish line with a monster what makes you smile. With stylised graphics and arcade-like physics, every turn, straightway and ramp will put your skills to the test. Feel the thrill of the race like never before in VR, as you immerse yourself counting the seconds on the home stretch." An early demo that has seen some updates. Maybe worth looking at in a few months after a bit more development. I did like what I saw, but honestly, if you’re looking for a finished racing game, try Mini Motor Racing X instead or some of the other heavier PCVR games available.
   
6. Les Mills Body Combat $29.99 Quest My quick take: No subscriptions, great coaches and fun workouts that will make you sweat. From the store page: “Work out at home with a premium fitness app. LES MILLS, the world's leading fitness company, brings the BODYCOMBAT experience to your VR headset with an extensive workout portfolio, top-quality coaching, innovative mechanics, and different intensities.” With no subscriptions or hidden fees, lots of workouts, motivating coaches and the ability to compete with friends on leaderboards, this really is a dynamite workout app. I was working up a good sweat during my workouts, so be sure you have good facial insert and a fan ready. Highly recommended if you want a workout in VR for just the price of entry.
   
7. Interkosmos 2000 $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take:A difficult puzzle game, but rewarding if you have the patience. From the store page: “Go to space. Save the Future. Try not to Die. Welcome (back) to the world of Interkosmos for an even wilder, weirder and more wondrous adventure. Experience the intense exhilaration of spaceflight. Explore the awe-inspiring interiors of a realistic space capsule. Master the crucial systems that will keep you in orbit (and breathing). And while you’re at it, try your best not to die. Should you complete your mission, you just might save the future – and yourself. Should you fail? Let’s not think about that.” An intense puzzle game where you’re piloting a space ship with some very finicky controls. I found the experience way too difficult and exacting. Along with a bit of bugginess, that didn’t help in me determining if the error was my fault or the game's. If you have the patience, there certainly is some rewarding gameplay here, and an interesting story, but I found it all a bit too much to see to the end.
   
8. The Light Brigade $24.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: In a world of rougelikes, this is one that stands out. From the store page: “As a member of The Light Brigade, humanity’s last line of defense, brave ruins bathed in darkness and free the trapped souls who need the salvation only your gun can provide. Shoot, master spells, and upgrade your capabilities to herald the Sun’s return in this roguelike VR shooter.” There’s quite a lot of rouge shooters on Quest and despite the plethora of choices, this one stands out. Be warned, it starts out slowly, but gets quite fun after you get to know the systems after about an hour in. While I did make it to the last boss, I died and never went back to finished it. The gameplay loop and dynamic levels were solid though. The slight upgrades and different classes during each run were interesting and kept me going for a while. The most frustrating time I had was learning the little tips, tricks and finer gameplay points, but it was worth the push through that initial rough patch.
   
9. Resident Evil 4 $39.99 Quest My quick take: One of the best games in VR. A must own. From the store page: “Explore the world of Resident Evil 4, entirely remastered for VR. Step into the shoes of special agent Leon S. Kennedy on his mission to rescue the U.S. President’s daughter who was kidnapped by a mysterious cult. Come face to face with enemies, and uncover secrets with gameplay that revolutionized the survival horror genre. Battle horrific creatures and face-off against mind-controlled villagers while discovering their connection to the cult behind the abduction.” I forgot so much about this game from when I first played it 18 years ago on the GameCube. The long length, fun characters and how exciting the gun play is, all just came together perfectly. The development team spent a ton of time getting the VR feeling just right, and it’s absolutely one of the best on the Quest and well worth the price of entry. Additionally, once you play through the game the first time it really changes from survival horror to a whole new type of game action game. Simply outstanding.
   
10. Mini Golf Hustler Free Quest My quick take: Early days in development. Some good ideas, but a bit too rough around the edges. From the store page: “Challenge Slick Willie Puttman in this FREE nine hole demo of Mini Golf Hustler. Hazards include armed torpedoes, tentacled arms, ornery tikis and more! Multiple betting games, including skins, match play and the fearsome traveling snake. All played at the same time.” I thought I’d check out another mini golf game to see what other ideas there might be outside of the king - Walkabout Mini Golf. While there were some solid ideas for holes, the betting felt uneven, and everything else felt in their very early stages. To be fair, no other mini golf game feels even close to the accuracy of Walkabout, so I think it’s a tough go for any other games to match. It's probably best to stick with the champ for now, but I applaud the dev for trying something different.
    
11. Pin City Free Quest (open beta on Discord) / Steam My quick take: Early days, but wow, worth a download and one to watch in the future. From the store page: "Pin City is a bowling game unlike any other bowling game you’ve played before. We strove to bring the spirit of mini-golf into the world of bowling. We’ve taken the standard bowling setup (straight lane, 10 pins, 1 ball) and expanded, transformed, and evolved it. We wanted to give people a chance to bowl in ways that would be impossible, illegal, or extremely impractical.” An early alpha game, but boy, what a great start, I’m really looking forward to the team getting the physics feeling right with weight and feel of the bowling balls and seeing how much more gameplay they can add. Really worth the download or heading over to their Discord to get a Quest key for free to try it out. The quirky bowling, physics and gameplay they're experimenting with really got me excited to see how this one comes together in the next several months.
    
12. Mash Me Up Free Quest My quick take: Please devs, add more multiplayer support! From the store page: “Do you want to play party games with your friends or meet someone new? All is just one button press away with Mash Me Up. One button, multiple games. Will it be Air Hockey, Pier Pong, Flingball, or… Get ready for a surprise! Press, Play, Enjoy and Go Again!” If this game got a bit more development love it would be incredible. As it stands now, there are several mini games you can play against one person. Most are just okay, but a handful are real gems, and one particularly is incredible - Geo Guesser. Hands down the best mini game in the pack. With four, or six players and some new content, they could easily charge for just this one game. As it stands now, it’s a great two player game, but you’ll need to bring your own friend as the servers are pretty barren. Worth a download though for sure as you’ll get a night of fun out of it.
    
13. THZZLS - Treasures Lost In Time $4.99 Quest My quick take: A unique puzzler that can be pretty relaxing, but repetitive. From the store page: “Our first THZZLE is called "Der Bazar", the world's first VR toy theatre puzzle game. The Bazar is a VR puzzle game where you have to place furniture and props in the right places in old-fashioned rooms according to an old picture you see. The game is set in 19th century Germany and each room has objects taken from the German lifestyle magazine "Der Bazar", published in Berlin.” This one used to be free, with paid content, but it has since changed as they added more content. You recreate a scene with cutouts of people and furniture in a 3D space. It seemed to have endless puzzles with randomization of scenes. I could see someone going to this for a relaxing 10-15 minutes, but it is a lot of the same each time and didn’t grab me fully. If you’re looking for a puzzle game that’s outside of the usual ones you find in the store, it’s not a bad choice for the price. Keep in mind though its hand tracking only, so for some that may be a non starter, even though it felt just fine.
    
14. Barbaria $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take:What I imagine Gorn is like with a solid game loop of RTS. From the store page: “Do you have what it takes to be the Mightiest in Barbaria? Welcome to a brutal world where visceral motion-controlled combat blends seamlessly with god-scale base-building and asynchronous multiplayer raids. Use fists, axes, swords, bows, rocks, or anything you can grab to dominate your foes in intense 1st-person combat. Then jump out to your immortal form and watch your minions carry on the battle while you rain down meteors from above. Systemic combat, versatile enemy AI, and player-created defenses make every battle unique.” I recognize there is a lot here to do in this game - if you like the game loop. Unfortunately, it really didn’t do much for me. I was expecting more RTS than Gorn style gameplay and was not pulled in by the fighting or quests offered. I have to say that the humor was spot on, and it certainly had good visuals, the game was just not for me. All that being said, there is a lot of content here and you could be playing this for quite some time if you think this could be your jam.
    
15. Toy Monsters Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take:Plants vs Zombies in AR with hand tracking that does enough unique stuff to be worth it. From the store page: “Toy Monsters VR is a mixed-reality tabletop tower defense inspired by classic Plants vs Zombies. Built from the ground up with hand tracking and passthrough in mind. As you progress through the 20 levels, you'll unlock new toys with unique special powers. You can enhance your toys with magical potions and use crystal power to unleash magic beams from your hands, transform your fingers into flamethrowers, and more.” This game has come a long way since its initial release. It’s a solid hand tracking Plants vs. Zombies game with its own twist on powers and uses passthrough quite nicely. My biggest complaint is that you really need to complete the game all in one go (about an hour or so) as it doesn’t keep track of your upgrades if you quit. Essentially, trying to pass a later level without prior upgrades or powerups is near impossible. Despite that one issue, give at least the demo a try and if you like it, the price is pretty fair for what you get.
    
16. Exit Condition One Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take: A bit rough around the edges, but escape room fans will find fun with it. From the store page: “You awake from cryo in a mysterious museum. A robot refers to you as a curator and the security system is malfunctioning. Can you get things back to normal and escape? There are no jump scares. The game is designed ground-up for roomscale VR on the Quest, but supports all locomotion modes. Most objects can be interacted with, it fully uses physics, and the hands don't ‘ghost out.’” According to the description, this is still a work in progress. That being said, it was a neat escape game that I felt I got my money’s worth from. It certainly was a bit rough around the edges with its gameplay and had some obscure puzzles to work through, but I did finish it and had a good time with it. Try the demo for sure, and perhaps when it’s finally finished, some of those rough edges will be polished up, but as it stands now, it was pretty solid.
    
17. Hyperdash Free Quest/Steam My quick take: A solid online shooter, but you'll have to put in the time to get good to find the fun. From the store page: “Hyper Dash is a free VR multiplayer team based shooter. Payload, Domination, Control Point, (Team) Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Elimination, Ball and remix them with Mutators! Dash, sprint, and rail grind your way across the arenas to engage the enemy in fast-paced combat and secure the objective for your team. Offline mode/Bots, Dedicated servers, Private servers, Rebind-able controls, Left hand support, Voice chat.” For a free to play shooter, this one had great controls, nice graphics, a good gameplay loop, plenty of comfort options and a solid player base. All that being said, every player I faced off against were top tier, so I spent my time just dying round after round. This is a good game with a solid player base and there's fun here - if you’re willing to learn the ropes. It's bad for newbies like me just looking to have a good time and get a few kills.
    
18. Please, Don’t Touch Anything $9.99 Quest / $4.99 Steam My quick take: A game for escape room devotees only. From the store page: "Please, Don’t Touch Anything is a cryptic, brain-racking button-pushing puzzle game. Covering for a colleague taking a bathroom break, you find yourself in front of a mysterious console with a green screen monitor showing a pixelated live image of an unknown city. Also present is an ominous red button with the simple instruction to not touch anything! Push the red button once or press it many times. Your choices and actions will lead to outrageous and frightening consequences and over 30 unique puzzle endings.” This is a weird one. A really obscure puzzle game that rewards experimentation, but is absolutely punishing with difficulty. If you’re really good at escape games and don’t get frustrated easily, you may enjoy the tedium. If not, you’ll end up like me, watching a tutorial to find out how to get different endings. But if you find yourself doing that, why not just watch a playthrough.
    
19. Eleven Table Tennis $29.99 Quest/Steam My quick take: Still one of the best, but there’s so much untapped potential. From the store page: “The ultimate Table Tennis simulator. Play opponents in online multiplayer or practice against the advanced AI. With physics designed to be as real as ever achieved in a Table Tennis simulator, you will forget you are in VR." I finally got back to this game after the new UI was implemented. It looks much more user friendly, but much to my disappointment, there were no new arenas, music, or official doubles options. There is so much potential for expanding this game, and I feel like the devs are just content to have it remain in the state it currently is. Which, to be fair, is a perfect implementation of table tennis in VR. It’s still one of the best VR games out there and absolutely a must own. I just really wish they would add an officially supported doubles mode and expand out the game a bit more because the unofficial doubles mode is a real pain to get set up and only barely worth the struggle. If you'd like to see how to set that doubles up currently, here is a video I was a part of.
    
20. Breachers $29.99 Quest/Steam My quick take: Come one, come all, this is 5 v 5 at its finest. From the store page: “In Breachers, you plan your assault or orchestrate your defense as a team through intense close-quarters combat. Whether you play as an enforcer or a revolter, master your nifty gadgetry, customize your powerful weaponry and beat your opponents in stunning environments. Intuitive to grasp. Endlessly playable.” Wow, wow, wow. This officially launched and is such a polished game. With multiple maps, intuitive movement and full lobbies, this game is simply spectacular. Despite the difficulty curve in being good at the game, it’s still a fun time even if you’re not the best, which is something special that few games manage to pull off. Where this game especially shines is with friends. If you can muster up a team of five to take on other random players, you’ll be playing this game for months. Give this a go, and if you're not any good, that's okay, because you'll still be better than the bots and a welcome addition to someone's team.
    
21. Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Outcast (Sidequest mod) Free Demo on Quest / $9.99 (Full Game on Steam) My quick take: Come for the lightsaber play, stay if you can tolerate the puzzles. From the store page: “JK XR is a standalone VR port of the popular Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast game by Lucasarts and Raven Software. Brought to VR by Team Beef & Friends. There are lots of mods and access to the free demo level available through the JK XR Companion App, which is automatically also installed alongside JK XR on your headset.” I never played this game when it first came out on flatscreen in 2002, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first part of the game you’re playing essentially as a Han Solo type - a smart talkin’ gun slinger. The next part, you’re a cool Jedi chopping off limbs. Absolutely great execution as always by Team Beef, and you can’t beat the price. There is even a free demo to try out to see if you like it. All that being said, the game’s old puzzles, navigation and gameplay felt every bit of 20 years old. After dying multiple times because of missing an exact jump, getting lost and backtracking because I didn't see an obscure elevator and wasting time trying to navigate odd puzzles, I just found it to be too much to overcome to continue to the end. This is no slight on Team Beef and the great work they did with this port, the game just hasn’t aged the best.
    
22. CoasterMania $9.99 Quest My quick take:Early days, but still some fun to be had. There could be something special here after a few updates. From the store page: “CoasterMania is a physics-based VR rollercoaster game where you create the ride of your life! Use wacky contraptions and elements to fly through the sky, then experience your creation by jumping in the front seat. Sandbox mode: Build your dream rollercoaster without any rules but the rules of physics. When you're done, share your coaster or experience the engineering marvels of others. Design your own rides and upload them online.” You know, this game is just silly fun. It's early days for sure, and the tracks don't twist and come together as easily together as I’d hoped, which makes for a difficult time creating exactly what you want. It is satisfying though to have a roller coaster leap from one track to another over a gap. At this point the game is more of a sandbox than a full game with objectives (which is coming). The coasters other people have created are fun, so if you’re not into creating, there is that option to play with other people's designs, plus you can ride them in first person. I look forward to more updates and think it's worth looking at for sure, but if you’re looking for something a bit more fleshed out currently you can try Stunt Track Builder.
    
23. David Slade Mysteries: Case Files $9.99 Quest/Steam My quick take: You’re a forensic cop, here are your tools. Good luck dummy. From the store page: “Take to the dark and violent streets of downtown Riverside, where you investigate gruesome and violent homicides using a range of Forensic tools and your wits! Inspired by the classic Police Quest adventure series, reborn & reimagined for VR. Includes two epic episodes!” Slade is a murder mystery game that is ruthless in it’s difficulty. Honestly, there are several play throughs of this game on YouTube and none have beaten the first case because it was too hard, they all gave up. This game offers no hints, is super abstract and insanely difficult. Why did I keep playing? Well, the game’s tools were implemented quite well, the story was compelling, and I just felt I had to see this through to the end for my own sanity. Despite being as hard as nails, I somehow managed to finish the first case, then moved on to the second. No real spoilers, but the second case does a complete 180 and essentially becomes a horror game where you’re only weapon is your wits. A real departure from the first case. Again, I found myself frustrated, confused and turned around, but again, I had to power through it because something kept pulling me in. If you’re a masochist for puzzle games, I’d recommend this game.
    
24. Home Detective Free w/IAP - Quest My quick take:Fun use of AR, but pretty basic. From the store page: “Use your own living room to solve the crime! Using passthrough, the crime scene is overlaid onto your play area, leaving you free to explore and find clues. Use the patent-pending Residual Heat Scanner to detect the criminals' recent movements, and then dust for fingerprints or try to find evidence left behind. With your wits, and your trusty sidekick Steve Dobbins' snarky comments, you're sure to get to the bottom of these confusing crimes.” I appreciate the interesting use of passthrough and AR in this game. The first case is free to try, so if you’re into AR and passthrough, it’s worth a try. It's $3.99 for another case if you’re into it, but right now, it’s a pretty basic, but solid idea. My biggest complaint is that all my tools were on a shelf that was inaccessible because they were in my wall. I guess AR is still not quite there yet.
    
25. Vertigo Remastered $24.99 Steam My quick take: A fun and wacky ride from start to finish. From the store page: “It's a classic premise - a massive subterranean scientific facility full of mysteries, with aliens bursting in from alternate universes to wreak havoc. The twist? You're one of those aliens. But you're not here to wreak havoc (collateral damage disregarded), you're just trying to get home. A difficult endeavor, as it turns out this facility is more than prepared to deal with extraterrestrial threats.” Because I heard such great things about Vertigo 2, I thought I’d try out this game before I played the sequel. I was really blown away by how fun the game was and pleasantly surprised that it holds up so well. Considering its a 2016 remake, and VR was still figuring out a lot of things like movement, this still felt fresh. With lots of unique ideas, upgrades and areas to play in, I heartily recommend this one and am looking forward to playing the sequel.
    
26. Playin’ Pickleball $19.99 Quest My quick take:Solid physics, but really only for pickleball fans, or a group of four friends. From the store page: “Playin’ Pickleball is an authentic reproduction of Pickleball in Virtual Reality! Physics, sounds and mechanics have been carefully mapped from actual Pickleball game play. Even the scoring and rules are based on the USA Pickleball Association’s Official Rulebook.” Pickleball is sweeping the nation and if I recall correctly, even ForeVR is getting in on the game with an upcoming title. I’m much more of a tennis than pickleball guy, but I have to say, this game has pretty solid physics. Like most games, this is exponentially better with one or better yet, three other people you know. The AI players can be pretty uninteresting hitting it back and forth without much variance. Also the environments are a bit basic. I have to applaud the movement, physics and customizable items though as they all felt very well implemented. If you want something a bit less daunting than tennis, this might be what you're looking for.
    
27. Pong $6.99 Quest My quick take:A neat take on Pong, but you’ll have more fun with Cybrix. From the store page: “Classic paddle game reimagined for VR. Destroy all the bricks. Use your paddles to swing at the balls and the balls have built-in assistance to return back toward you. Take advantage of the pistol and magneto power-ups to cause major damage. Or just swing hard at the balls to create large blast radius. Oh and watch out for those mines going for your head. Lean left/right or crouch to avoid.” I appreciated the ideas the developers had in this modern take on Pong, but it was ultimately quite short and not nearly as fun as Cybrix. That being said for the price, I got my money’s worth and would love to see it get a bit more polish and levels in an update.
    
28. Extreme Escape $4.99 Quest / Steam (Early Access) My quick take:One of those special games where you really feel like you're in the environment. From the store page: “Have you ever wondered how it would feel to travel in a hot air balloon and fly above clouds? Have you ever wanted to face your fear of heights and enclosed spaces? Perhaps you wanted to become a pilot and test your critical thinking skills. Looking for a breathtaking experience? Try Extreme Escape.” The game says “early access,” but honestly I believe this has been abandoned. For the price, you get an extremely short, but fun and unique escape room experience. You’re not going to find this game too hard, but I was brought into its world and completely immersed - I had a true sense of dread and panic. The even shorter “demo” inside the game puts you on a sinking submarine and was extremely memorable. Seldom have I felt so immersed in a game. I’d recommend it for this price, just because of how it made me feel, but it’s a real shame about the very short length and that it’s abandoned.
    
29. The Last Worker $19.99 Quest / SteamMy quick take:Gaming with a heavy message, but mediocre gameplay. From the store page:“The Last Worker is an immersive narrative adventure centered around a lone worker’s last stand in an increasingly automated world, The Last Worker is a unique blend of work simulation and stealth strategic gameplay. The game is set in a lonely, oppressive but strangely beautiful environment, with characters designed by comics legend Mick McMahon. Kurt works for the world’s largest retailer and is forced to choose between capitalism or activism. Having dedicated his life to work, Kurt’s loyalty is put to the test when a group of activists ask him to dismantle Jüngle from the inside.” I really wanted to like this game. It had an interesting concept, but navigating, fail states and some very annoying bugs frustrated me to the point where I just said it wasn’t worth my time. That and the story wasn’t speaking to me. It’s well rated, so I’m probably on the opposite side of this one from most people. It's unique in many ways, so check out the teaser and see if it might be for you.
    
30. Shadow Point $19.99 Quest My quick take:Fisherman’s Tale vibes with an excellent story and puzzles that makes you feel smart. From the store page: “Built for VR, Shadow Point is a story-driven puzzle game set between a mountaintop observatory and an ever-changing fantasy world. Explore a vibrant kingdom, cast shadows and solve mind-bending puzzles as you uncover the mystery of missing schoolgirl, Lorna McCabe who vanished from Shadow Point Observatory twelve years ago. As your adventure unfolds, you will manipulate gravity, play with your own reflection, walk on walls, peer through a magical lens to reveal an alternate reality and much more.” I had this game on my wishlist forever and finally pulled the trigger, and boy am I glad I did. I really enjoyed the story, gameplay and ended up marathoning it in one session (which I don't recommend doing). It is a few hours long, and there are extra puzzles to go back to if you’d like. It had some serious Fisherman’s Tale vibes, so if you like those type of puzzle games, this is for you. The puzzles make you stop and think, and more importantly, progress nicely. I was never stuck, but certainly had to really contemplate how to solve some of them. It is slightly finicky with having to line up the shadows exactly to progress, but that is a minor complaint. Give this one a go for sure.
    

I hope you find a few games on this list that you might not have heard of, or that you might find worth revisiting. Let me know here or on the Ruff Talk Discord channel if you have a game you enjoy that I should try, I'm always open to recommendations. Until then, I hope your next VR experience is a memorable one.
Also, the week this is posted, I'm hosting a contest where one winner gets a $29.99 or less, Quest game of their choice. You can enter on the discord channel above, but will need to have five posts on the discord channel within a week to enter, so if that interests you, feel free to join. The Ruff Talk guys usually have giveaways every week and it's some solid VR chat if you're looking for like-minded individuals in a non-toxic space.
TLDR: Top five games to check out - Ark and Ade, Pin City, Breachers, Shadow Point, Vertigo Remastered

I have a townhouse 3 b3ba in a very nice neigborhood. I want to rent my townhouse and get a single house near by. My boyfriend also has a townhouse very closed to me. He has two kids and we have them one day a week and other weekends. They would come Saturday evening to spend the night at my place. My boyfriend will eventually move in with me but we have no rush and very happy with our schedule now. I want the kids to have their own spaces and comfortable space when they spend the night at my house. I also have lot of friends and host parties often, so it's little tight when we all get together.
I don't have much expenses besides morgages and car payments. After max out my 401K and stuff, my take home is around 10K.
The house that i look at is around 650K. 4b4ba and bigger space. Not sure if it's a good time to buy a house when i don't really need it?

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Her escort returned, then led her into the main hall and towards the thrones, where he bowed to the king and queen as he introduced her. “Your Majesties, this is Lady Moriko, of the Sakiya Temple.” The hall was not terribly busy, but it was also the center point of business for the court, so there were plenty of people to see her being introduced and hear her name. She’d also spotted Princess Kagami, though she didn’t really have the opportunity to look around for the rest.
“It is a pleasure and honor to meet you, Your Majesties.” Moriko said to them as she curtsied. She’d practiced enough to not be awkward, but she’d always preferred bowing. Court rules were more formal than the rest of life however, and she had been given a recent education to make sure she got the basics right.
“Lady Moriko, it is good to put a face to one of the names I’ve been hearing so much about recently.” King Yoshihiro replied, giving a slight nod to acknowledge her introduction, signaling her escort to leave.
Queen Phaedra shot her husband an amused glance before leaning forward to give Moriko a warm smile. “I’ve heard much about you from my daughters, they seem quite taken with you. I am quite looking forward to talking with you over dinner tonight.” The queen’s fair appearance gave quite a bit of proof to Princess Kagami’s name, the eldest daughter was practically a mirror of her mother.
“There is some court business to attend to yet, but we will be joining you in our private dining hall shortly.” The king was about to continue when another male voice spoke up.
“Lady Moriko, perhaps I can escort you there and keep you entertained awhile?” The speaker was a young blonde man in his teens, though tall and unusually solidly built for his age, with a moderately tan complexion that contrasted with his fairer hair.
King Yoshihiro smiled slightly as he gestured toward the boy. “Lady Moriko, I should like to introduce you to Prince Gou, my youngest.”
Moriko gave the young prince a shallower curtsy than she’d given the king and queen as she considered how best to respond. “Ah, it is a pleasure to meet you, your highness.” Prince Gou’s smile was a touch too warm and eager to please, and Moriko wanted to make sure she defused any vague hopes quickly. She doubted that he had any specific ideas in his mind beyond wanting to show off and be admired, but the young could become over-focused quickly.
Then she spied Princess Kagami looking at her youngest brother with an expression Moriko was certain she’d worn herself, and the perspective change gave her inspiration. “And I would be happy to be escorted by such a dashing young man.” She pitched her voice to make sure that ‘dashing’ sounded more like ‘cute’ than ‘handsome’, and had to suppress a desire to laugh as she took the offered arm with a smile. “You remind me of my younger brother, he’s always so earnest. I do hope you are a better swordsman than him however, it wasn’t too long ago that he lost a spar to a rabbit actor. Admittedly, the rabbit was a dungeon creature, but he’d only been a three-foot-tall humanoid for a few weeks.”
The twitch in Gou’s expression told Moriko that her verbal combo had hit his ego, but the prince only briefly stiffened before he inclined his head. “Well, maybe I can visit your dungeon someday and test myself against the same actor, and we could see.” His smile still seemed genuine enough, just a bit less intense, and Kagami’s smirk looked satisfied, so Moriko was fairly certain that she’d struck the right balance. He got to treat her like another older sister, no more.
As he showed her the way to the dining hall, Moriko replied “Well, if you have a good showing, perhaps my husband or I could have a spar with you as well. Don’t forget that I am a disciple of the monastery.” Well, that got his interest focused, and the resulting conversation was more about martial techniques than anything else. He really did remind her of Galan, though more composed and broadly educated. They’d either be best friends or consider each other rivals. Though the difference could be hard to tell sometimes.
The dining hall was maybe not quite as big as her family’s home back in Riverbridge, but they also had a larger home than average for their town. It not only held the large dining table but had enough space around it for servants to pass by each other while pushing carts, with furniture decorating the walls as well. If this was the private dining hall, the banquet hall had to be bigger than her monastery’s dining hall.
The rest of the royal family filtered in shortly after their arrival and Moriko finally got to meet the heir, Prince Ailwin, as well as the royal spouses; Prince Zarod, Princess Amhis, and Princess Catherine. Princess Tiriana’s fiance, Lord Ilimater, was currently in his homeland. He would acquire the title of Prince as well, once they were married.
There were a lot of names and faces to remember, even with having met the royal princesses two days ago and having studied the notes her master had given her. Prince Zarod was a little taller than Moriko was while she was wearing these boots, with curly, light brown hair that was kept barely tamed. He seemed affable enough and clearly doted on his wife, but to Moriko’s eye any apparent softness was an illusion, he had a solid sort of confidence that suggested he was reasonably capable at the least.
Princess Amhis was the least physically imposing member of the royal family. She was dark-haired with dusky skin, and barely taller than Kazue but not as slender, which led to a slight excess of curves. However, she was energetic to the point of effervescence, always ready to join any conversation while managing to keep track of everything going on in the room, and broke smoothly away when she was needed by one of the servants. She was quite the contrast against her much taller husband, but they also fitted against each other charmingly when she had a moment to rest in his arms.
Princess Catherine on the other hand was like a narrower, sharper version of her wife, Princess Kitiara. Both tall and blond, Catherine was more of a ‘rapier’ compared to Kitiara’s ‘broadsword’. Comparing them to weapons seemed apt, as neither took any care to hide their military bearing.
Moriko found herself swept into different conversations, not quite guided along a set flow so much as the center of a concerted effort to ensure that she was entertained and occupied until the King and Queen arrived. Following a bit of advice from Mordecai, she took the time during these conversations to make sure she complimented each piece of jewelry she’d been loaned for the occasion, borrowing some of her terminology from Kazue and Mordecai but keeping her compliments sincere. Her favorite was the necklace, a string of spectacular blue opal beads woven into a rope of gold threads, the beads flashing with occasional hints of fiery reds and yellows.
She hadn’t been certain where they were going to seat her, but she was only a little surprised to find herself seated between Queen Phaedra and Princess Kagami. Her new status as a Lady certainly didn’t put her there, but as an ‘ambassador’ and a specifically invited guest for a private meal it made more sense.
The dinner that was served was closer to a feast, and it came with the difficulty of restraint. Moriko was certainly not a messy or noisy eater, but eating in careful, small bites at a relatively slow rate was not the same as normal polite eating. It made talking during the meal easier, but it also made eating take at least twice as long, and Moriko tended to eat quite a lot. The conversation was kept social during the meal as well, ‘business’ talk waited until after dessert had been finished and the table cleared, then a selection of lightweight snacks and drinks was placed. The serving staff filtered out, leaving more items covered on the sideboards, but one new person entered. A young man in scribe’s robes, carrying a small portable desk and a couple of folders full of paper as well as a wax tablet and steel scribe for taking notes.
“Well, I suppose it's time to get down to business then,” Phaedra said softly. The scribe set up his desk and materials a discrete distance behind them. “We would like an official relationship with your family and dungeon. The very first thing we’ll need is an official name for the territory.”
Moriko took a moment to consult with Mordecai and Kazue, who had been spending a fair amount of time on the idea already. “Well, there have been a few thoughts. ‘the twin core dungeon’ was proposed, but dismissed due to possibly creating too strong an association with The Twins, and the same for being called the Kuiccihan dungeon. There weren’t any other descriptive title sort of names that anyone strongly wanted, so going back to geography, we’ve decided on being The Azeria Mountain Dungeon.” She smiled slightly. “Riverbridge is about the same distance as Azeria Forest, but I have to admit it doesn't have quite as strong a name."
King Yoshihiro chuckled. “Should I take offense that you wish to keep some distance from the Kingdom? No, no, I understand. Remaining distinct like that is for the best, it avoids confusion. Hmm.” He gave a thoughtful frown for a moment. “The mountain range itself is the Raincatcher Mountains, but as far as I know nothing is keeping the mountain and its foothills from being named Azeria Mountain. Assuming it doesn’t trip any existing treaties, we have no problems acknowledging that name officially.”
“Speaking of,” Moriko replied, “Could you go into some more detail on that? It’s not exactly something Kazue or I paid a lot of attention to, and Mordecai was rather out of the loop.”
Prince Ailwin took the lead here. “The basics are not complicated, though the treaty itself goes into a lot of specifics, exceptions, and conditionals. Throughout the mountain range are many tribes and small nations, plus a dwarven kingdom deep below. Most are considered Independent and are simply in a trade agreement mixed with a mutual defense treaty, as well as delineating their rights to travel freely as individuals inside of Kuicchan. Most of the burden of defense is left to the kingdoms, but the tribes can not let hostile forces traverse their territories without some level of challenge, unless clearly outmatched. In addition to those, other tribes are more closely tied to us, and have the status of Vassal State. They rule themselves independently but follow all of our applicable laws. Individuals of those tribes do not owe taxes to Kuiccihan, but the tribe as a whole owes some sort of duty to the kingdom.” He smiled slightly at that. “As most tribes who chose to be that independent and prefer the mountains also tend to have unique traits or talents, they also tend to be suitable for training the Marked, and that availability is usually accepted in lieu of tribute.” The prince paused a moment before he continued. “There are also some other arrangements involved with that, but it starts to get complicated, and they don’t affect your dungeon, so I think it best if we skip it for now.”
Moriko pursed her lips thoughtfully as she spoke with her spouses, then turned her attention back to the royals in front of her. “Alright, so what form of relationship are you seeking with us?” The princesses had talked about it with her the other night, but this occasion was stating it more formally.
“Something in between,” the King answered, “Namely, an Associated State. You would have more duty to us than the independent tribes, but the laws of our land do not automatically apply in your territory, unlike the vassal states. You would have a more complete sovereignty, just a formalized duty to be allies. In exchange for this, you gain our protection, and while our laws would not apply to you or yours inside the dungeon’s territory, they do apply to any of our citizens who are in your territory, and should you have grievance against a citizen of Kuiccihan who has left the dungeon, we can either judge the citizen by our laws or extradite them to your territory, depending upon your preferences.”
From there it became a matter of negotiating the fine points and then reviewing the finalized treaty after the scribe used his notes to edit the papers with an enchanted quill. Once everyone agreed on the finalized version, the scribe brought out a scroll case and a small stamp. He stamped each of the pages in order, then tapped the scroll case. The papers merged and flowed into a single sheet of paper as the scrolls case opened up, creating a single continuous document that then wrapped itself into the scroll case. All that was left was to sign and swear oaths to the intent and purpose of the treaty. When completed, the enchantments on the scroll case finished activating and the contents were fixed into place. There was no more editing that treaty, if anything needed to be changed it would have to be a whole new treaty written, witnessed, and signed.
It went a lot easier than it would have if Moriko didn’t have Mordecai and Kazue sitting in her head. Moriko didn’t have to process what she was reading, so she could just quickly scan over the lines and let the cores do the memorization and double checking everything was written correctly. Mordecai was the focus of analyzing it, given his experience, but Kazue’s passion for reading made it easier to take all the information quickly as she was used to reading fast.
It was late into the evening when everything was done, and much of the dessert and snack foods were gone. The King, Queen, Princess Kagami, Prince Ailwin, and his wife Princess Amhis were the only ones involved for most of the process, the rest had relaxed into a more lightweight socialization mode, coming and going as they pleased, though occasionally offering thoughts and opinions.
“Well, one more thing needs to be done tonight,” Queen Phaedra said with a smile. “Give us a moment, we need everyone back here, but they shouldn’t have gone far.”
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Hello, I’d like to preface that I’m not a mechanic; I’m mechanically inclined. I did take it to the dealer and they said I needed a new transmission and wouldn’t even consider a valve body. I’ve got a 2010 Subaru Outback (165K), I had a solenoid lock up on the valve body and as a result I replaced the valve body and drained and refilled the CVT. I’m in the process of doing the CVT relearn with a topdon artdiag pro. The car is on level ground on jack stands, it seems to be getting stuck on the Brake release portion. While the scanner is stuck on that I’ve noticed that the front wheels are slowly moving and the back are stationary. From my research, the cvt relearn should take about 5min, this is taking a bit longer and has me concerned, I’m not doing something right.
If anyone can provide me with any insight, I’d appreciate it.
Thank you.

Hi, I am a 37 year old man looking for a best friend. Someone who i can chat with every day about mundane things to deepest stuff. I am a regular guy and have a stable job and i just am in a phase of life where i do not have many friends. I love sports and movies and would love to meet up for coffee if you are near by. I am a good listener and not pushy. If you want any advice or going through a tough time i am very much here.
I am willing to spend time and energy and am interested in building a genuine connection. Hit me up if you can relate to this

Foundations of Humanity 28 (Upturned Stones) - an NoP fanfic
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Thank you u/SpacePaladin15 for establishing the Nature of Predators Universe, and for allowing Fanfics to flourish! Thank you again, u/Braquen, u/Acceptable_Egg5560, u/BiasMushroom721, and last but not least u/Liberty-Prime76 for proofreading! This is my side of the Nature of a Giant crossover!
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Memory transcription subject: Valek, Venlil tourist
Date [standardized human time]: Sept 11th, 2136. Middle of 3rd Claw
“Well then, what would that make me?”
I jolted, swinging around at the sound. I had felt the voice come from behind me and resonate in my own chest. My fur stood on end as I locked onto his baleful eye glaring down at me. Alvi was frozen to her seat and Maeve had a hand to her chest, her chair now sat nearly half a tail from the table from her jump, her veil fallen from the jolt.
“Jesus Fucking Christ, Tarlim!” She swung her head to meet his eye over her shoulder, “How are you so quiet? Please don't sneak up on me like that.”
Tarlim continued to stare me down, and I could feel myself crumbling under the weight of his attention, though Jacob broke his concentration with a kind greeting, which Maeve returned likewise before asking, “Would you like to join us? These two were just teaching me about Predator Disease. I hope that isn’t a problem?”
Just like that?! Just mentioning his diagnosis set him wild earlier, and we’re just going to keep talking?!
“Not at all!” Jacob replied while he wandered over to the opposite side of our table and sat himself down. So I guess we are going to just keep talking! Even though the Giant was so obviously glaring down at me! But despite that, they just sat across from us, squeezing onto adjacent seats.
I found my tail wrapping itself around Alvi. I didn’t want her to get hurt. I didn’t want anything to happen now that they found us. How… How did they find us? “How did you know where we were?”
The Beast swung its arms wi-
NO! No! Night be damned, you WILL get this through your thick skull Valek. Tarlim. He! Is Tarlim!
Tarlim swung his arms wide, emphasizing the otherwise barren balcony. "You have a human with you. It wasn't hard to guess. It’s a rather familiar feeling. I always seem to end up in a place that the rest of the herd isn’t, and the same seems true for humans." His weighty focus came back to me, "I believe one of you was saying that was a symptom of predator disease?”
“That’s right,” Maeve answered immediately, clueless to or pointedly ignoring Tarlim's eyes on me. “Though it confuses me how the behavior of observers can be part of a diagnosis. That seems… less than scientific.”
“Yes, I would also like to know the logic behind that,” his ears and eyes locked onto mine while pointedly eating a dough ball, “I am very curious.”
Maeve gave me a nod of encouragement, urging me to continue, “Well… I-If the herd is avoiding someone, they must not be communicating ‘safety’ well enough. O-Or even being aggressive! So they would need to be taught how to not be a danger to others.”
“Really?” His ears were perked to signal his interest. ”And since everyone runs, screams, freezes, and cowers at the sight of me simply…” His voice wavered into silence. I could see his expression barely holding back rage and despair as he forced himself to hold a neutral serious expression.
It was Maeve who finished the thought. “Simply for being what you are. Valek…” She faced me directly. Her voice was a tone I heard when we talked about difficult things; devoid of accusation and yet carried by a desperate need to know, “do you believe that a living creature, any thing, sapient or not, should be abandoned because of how they are born?”
My ears fell flat. I could feel the attention of the world on my psyche, and I felt my tail pull from Alvi to protect myself instead. “I… No… But… But what if they’re a danger to the herd? Even humans wouldn’t keep a dangerous human free, would they?”
Jacob spoke through one of his dough balls. “Depends on what you mean by ‘dangerous.’” He swallowed and picked up another, “most ‘dangerous’ humans are like those Venlil who stabbed their partner, or that other Venlil who smashed their partner’s head on some stairs.” What?! The three of us were all startled at that news. “One was a fear response, the other just a simple accident. Worth a punishment, sure, but not always imprisonment.”
Maeve gulped and added, “Jesus, what happened on Prime Station…? Anyway, something else I noticed is: your process seemed very… proactive. Humans are reactive to injustice, or at least we try to be. Even if we know someone is at high risk of being a danger to those around them, we believe it is wrong to punish them for something they haven’t done. Innocent until proven guilty is a key tenet of our entire justice system.”
“Hey, it’s like they said,” Tarlim swallowed another ball, “it’s about teaching, not justice.” And levied his next challenge against me. “So what is it that I need to be taught? After all, you guys freaked out at seeing me, so you must know exactly what made me so aggressive and dangerous! Right?”
Of course I know why I freaked out! It was because he was big and… he was big and… No, no, that wasn’t the only reason! It couldn’t be the only reason. He was… he was big and he… His teeth! That’s it! They were… big and… And… Was that really it? Was that as deep as this fear went? I can’t even say I was afraid for my life, or for Maeve or Alvi’s life. Not next to how I felt running across the farm. There had to be something more to this than just how he looked!
My mind was spinning trying to justify itself, when Maeve cut through the fog, “Valek… What do exterminators… do?”
I thought for a long moment, “They… They protect us from predators. When there is a predator sighting, they investigate, locate, then exterminate the creature.”
Maeve took a moment to think on my words, then continued, “So what would an exterminator do… if a sapient was a Predator? Would they exterminate them too?”
“Ah, that’s simple!” A gruff voice leapt over a mouthful of dough, “They shoot ‘em with a flare with shotgun-level powder, douse ‘em with gas, and watch ‘em burn alive! That’s what they do!”
The sudden shock derailed our lesson, before Maeve asked incredulously, “Excuse me?? Did you just say exterminators… exterminate… with fire?!” Fear was evident behind her voice.
That couldn’t be true! The exterminators weren’t like that! They were- they were…
The Gi- Tarlim propped up his data pad toward us. There was a human wearing a blue spacesuit standing opposite what looked like more than a dozen exterminators in full flamer gear. The human held up one hand. “Hail people of Venlil Prime! I come in Peace! Take me to your leader!” Instantly, the exterminator closest to him pulled out a flare gun and shot the human. He fell to the ground, the flare bouncing off.
“Ah must say,” Jacob picked up another ball of dough, “Ah thank God Ah wore that suit. That flare still gave me a good bruise, but at least Ah didn’t need any skin grafts.”
I wanted to say it was just that one Venlil. But when the human defended himself, he was doused with fuel. Then there was… there was Tarlim. He was scrambling. Trying to save the human. Trying- trying to protect a friend! But he couldn’t! Jacob was set ablaze! He- he was!
The video ended with Jacob burning on the ground.
They had to have their reasons! Their duty is to protect the herd! They were trained to do only that! They take an oath to do only that! They can’t be… Evil! There’s proof they aren’t!
Like there’s proof they helped people during Herd Protection?
My heart stopped still.
“I-I need to go.”
---
I could only hear my claws clacking against the tile as I bolted down the stairs, through the arcade and out the front door, filling my lungs with fresh air. In the noise of the city surrounding my isolation, I felt my heart steady its pulse, and I walked aimlessly to clear my head.
I looked around at the city, constantly moving and beating with life and activity. This was the prosperity that the Federation promised us, that Exterminators put themselves in harm's way to protect. Was all of it just a facade? Some cheap veneer to cover bloodstained rot? We weren’t a utopia, I had never believed that; the Federation and Exterminators can’t be perfect. But Emerald Marble, Krakotl researchers, Tarlim’s imprisonment… These kinds of things are not accidents, and are not the work of a single person.
My mind drifted as I tried to understand why, while my paws carried me back to the hotel. I didn’t take stock of my surroundings until I heard the familiar buzz of the Forum, and stopped a moment to listen.
“My cousin Mavek got into the JEOTC, you know! That kid’s going places!”
“Did you hear? Farzer’s son was diagnosed with predator disease.” --- “I always knew something was off about that boy.”
“I saw one of those freaks on the street.” --- “Another? Are you sure it was one of them?” --- “I saw the scars on their neck! There’s no doubt that they were from there!” --- “I still can’t believe that they would just throw all those monsters out on our streets.”
“No, really! I saw it!” --- “That’s a puddle of Speh! Nobody could live in those drain tunnels for so long!” --- “On my mother’s Star I saw it! I think they’re hiding in there, working together; planning something!” --- “But they’re diseased! They don’t have the brains to work together!”
“And now the landlords are trying to more than double our rent!” --- “Double?? But- but we’re barely making ends meet as it is!” --- “Look, there’s still time to negotiate the contract. In the meantime, I can get more double shifts in the lumber yard.”
“So I called the exterminators, but instead of setting out gas or poison, they bring out the flamers! An entire half of that reserve burnt to ash! Those things only had a couple years until they were ready to cut!” --- “What?! But that reserve was part of our finance plan! How are we going to pay the equipment loans when that forest’s harvest comes around?” --- “We’ll think of something. Brahk. It was a Groben root chewer! They shouldn’t burn the forest just ‘cause it bit a worker’s hand!”
Of course: it's here too. How deep do I have to dig to see these things? Are they even buried at all?
I looked for and found a place to sit, then dug out my pad. Tarlim seemed surprised we didn’t know about him, but Alvi had, and she lived in the Capitol, so his lawsuit must have been televised. And he was right, all I had to search was ‘Dawn Creek correctional facility’ and I immediately found page after page of reports.
“A shame upon Corrections!”
“The secret drug trade of Dawn Creek”
“The failure of Dawn Creek’s Correctional Facility: Doing more harm than good.”
“Against the Herd: The predators deserved it!”
“Venlil weakness on full display”
“The illegal modifications of proven therapy devices!”
I clicked on that last one, figuring it would be the most likely to describe even a little of what physically went on inside. And it did. My stomach turned over and my heart sank to meet it: pictures of empty cells, empty of inhabitants and beds and tables and light. An open bathroom that once was sterile now a splashed palate of grime and filth. A kitchen that no one should ever eat from, with food that defies definition.
And the therapy devices! The Herd Therapy room had a photo of the safe spot, one of the investigators standing inside for scale. The article said that the room would commonly take twelve but that circle looked like it was rated for half that! And the electronics for the floor… They were a nightmare! The voltage was shown to be half-again over the mandated amount!
Then I saw The Chair… it was too big. A massive crown of connectors for the head. Metal clamps for the limbs instead of cloth straps. Electric probes set apart that a normal Venlil would be too small to connect. There… there was only one person that could have been used on.
“My stars… Why had it taken so long for the Light to find this?”
Maybe because it was never in shade?
‘Facility patient testimonials’. It took skipping three pages to get past all of Tarlim’s lawsuit, before I found another one. “This is the third week that I’ve been on latrine duty. Doctor Volm said it would teach me to value the herd. B-But I have to do it alone! I don’t understand…” Spoken from a patient of Clegel Falls Correctional Facility, followed immediately by the same Dr. Volm talking about how the diseased needed to learn their lesson with hard work. That the neglect was simply from a lack of staff. And the author sung the Doctor’s praises in their prose.
Fine. If hard work is how you fix predator disease, then what is their success rate?
The patient name went nowhere, she testified while incarcerated and never left. But the author was prolific, and I found one story that followed a success case. Checking their name, four others were released with them, in addition to a pawful from around the planet. Perfect! I would be able to cross reference their names and find out what happened! Doing just that, I found other release records, but it was just the same names again.
Ok… well if it is so successful, they must want everyone to know it! So finding lists of released persons shouldn’t be too hard. ‘Correctional facility release stories’... hmm, nope. ‘Correctional Facility successes’ - OH that is not what I meant. Brahk. Fine, how about ‘Dangerous predators released on the city’. There we go.
There’s Dawn Creek again. Guess Tarlim wasn’t lying about setting everyone loose. Alright here we go. Let's check these names. There’s my twelve. And there they are again. And again. Why is this story eve- Wait. [Standardized Human Times: 2129? 2126? 2132]...? They’re just releasing the same list over and over!
Were these people even patients?!
I checked each article detailing their release, and they couldn’t even get their diagnoses straight. Same issues: predator sympathizer was on every list, herdless behavior on most, excessive aggression on one or two, but they kept switching who had what. Ok, fine, just pick one!
Kaulna. The first article with her name mentioned predator sympathy, so start there. Treated at the Capitol… and Sweetwater? And Glacierview?? They’re on opposite sides of the Band!! Sun blast it, fine, what about early life? Nothing about education. This ‘Kaulna’ is alive and well in Clegal… and four years old. Oh, one with a medal for honorable service?? No, He died before my Kaulna’s first treatment.
Alright let's try Chelm the… Gojid Harchen? Ok what about Tarsi… who has three single biological mothers in separate cities. Brahking spawn of speh! Stranek?! Anyone?!
Please! Just one person! Just one person who got out who’s not- who’s not…
There was one.
“My son was cured after we took him to the Facility. Only took a few paws to find the right sedative!”
Wait, paws?
I altered my search. ‘Correctional sedatives’. Tons of stories now appeared. New stories. A parent would bring a child in and they would get a sedative to correct the ‘disease’ the child had and be sent on their way. There were several results about such things happening on the Yotul homeworld. But… none of these people were actually interred in the facilities. I found a public list of inmates who were incarcerated in the Capitol in the last month and compared names with the parents talking about their kids.
The kids who returned weren’t on the list. The kids who didn’t… they were.
None of the kids who were on the list had any records of leaving. No record of someone leaving after checking in. Only… only…
… Tarlim. I’m so sorry Tarlim.
I felt the wind around me as my legs sprinted back to the arcade. I shouldered through the door and kept running back to the food court, then bounded up the steps to our table, spurned again by the sound of Alvi crying.
“If what… They do is a choice… what even is a predator?” I crested the top of the stairs, “What… what even is predator disease?”
I knew the answer.
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Long post…
I’m an RCA, started in November of last year. 5/20 I submitted 2 leave requests, 1 for 6/2 & 6/3. Fiancé comes home for 3 days every 7 weeks they know that. Never had an issue before. I was denied due to 6 reg’s being let off, found someone to swap 6/2 & wasn’t scheduled for 6/3 due to no schedule yet. It was posted Tuesday the week of & when asked, my PM kept saying I’d be fine to go. Thursday came & I asked again. He said should be fine, it’s up to you even after I asked what he would do if he were me. No clear answer. Note: I was scheduled for my reg route which wasn’t her normal day off. Which changed to me being switched to an AUX route. Clearly they’re stupid.
Friday came & I started throwing up so I cancelled our hotel (have the proof) & text my PM & SV won’t be in tomorrow, stomach bug. No reply. Saturday morning my PM text saying “Bring me your resignation form when you get back from your trip.” I didn’t reply. Called my steward, she said to just talk to him & tell him I was actually sick & offer my cancellation proof which our meeting is at 10 this morning.
Next, my 2nd request is for this Saturday for my daughter’s birthday which I never received anything stating it’s been approved or denied but I’ve already booked & paid for the venue so now I’m really nervous that even if this gets cleared up, that they won’t let me off this Saturday… or what if this doesn’t get cleared…
P.S. They are SUPER bad about posting schedules & making changes without notice. Our schedules are usually posted on wednesdays for the following Saturday & week after. I’ve already been in trouble for not reporting on an AUX route 3 months ago & they sent another office CCA to my HOUSE to make sure I was ok & I wasn’t even scheduled on my last day!! & when I called my SV, I said I wasn’t notified of any changes & she said I was still required to report which I did but it was damn near 2!!!
Opinions? Advice? What would you do???

tl;dr
My lazy wife expects me to do nearly everything and I'm really missing any affection and companionship.
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So, I've been married for about 10 years and we have 2 wonderful kids. Over the last few years, my relationship with my wife has changed for the worse. About a year ago, she basically just decided that we can no longer sleep in the same bed due to my snoring. So, now I kind of just live out of the guest room/office. We never really spend time together. I've been mostly just focusing on spending time with the kids and taking care of the house.
My wife is a stay-at-home mom but spends most of her time laying in bed. Lately, she has only been able to do the kids home schooling and some laundry once a week. Although, she is able to use the riding mower every other week. For context, I work a full-time job 8 hours a day and every day I'm expected to make/get dinner, clean up the kitchen, and take care of the kids until bedtime. It's just exhausting to come home every day and feel like I have to do everything.
For more context, my wife has been dealing with some back problems, anxiety, and I think a thyroid condition that seems to sap your energy. But at this point, I think she's just really lazy and tries to use this stuff as an excuse for not taking care of her responsibilities. I've tried to be patient and hope that she starts doing stuff more. Nothing will change if she's just laying in bed all day.
I've been really missing the companionship and affection of my partner. I feel like a single Dad with a terrible roommate most of the time. I've started thinking about looking for someone new, but that just seems really selfish. Leaving the relationship has so many negative consequences and I wouldn't be able to afford it right now anyway.
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Thanks for letting me vent!

I know I shouldn't but I have exactly 1 coworker who genuinely makes me feel so guilty. We collect carts for a supermarket, and for the most part I've treated this job like an absolute joke. I've come in late, I've left early, I've gotten high on the job and even just sat down for an hour and just read a book.
But I happen to have 1 coworker that I only see on Sundays, and when I see him he always tells me not to worry about sitting down, and he'd be a hypocrite for asking me to stop my break when he does the same thing. The problem is that even if he doesn't see it he most assuredly works a hundred times harder than me, and our "breaks" are not comparable.
I've never felt bad about things like this before. I've always felt that if my fellow coworkers are bothered by my laziness then they can simply be just as lazy. But this guy is actually just nice and genuine and I was just wondering if anyone else has encountered such a wholesome coworker before?

Most are all in my "gift inventory" and the trades for the most part go all through STEAM for both parties safety/
KEYS ONLY GAMES are the VR Games
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FULL STEAM INVENTORY https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198114574502/inventory/
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VR Games Only Battlewake MSRP $29.99 Electronauts Music MSRP The Walking Dead Onslaught - Deluxe Edition MSRP $39.99 Creed: Rise to Glory MSRP $29.99 Raw Data MSRP $39.99 Sprint Vector MSRP $29.99
Alan Wake Franchise Aliens: Colonial Marines - Reconnaissance Pack Aliens: Colonial Marines Sawed-off Double Barrel Shotgun Aliens: Colonial Marines SHARP Sticks Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Awesomenauts Awesomenauts - the 2D moba, Froggy G - Awesomenauts Character, Sheriff Lonestar - Awesomenauts Character, Scoop of Justice - Awesomenauts Character
Awesomenauts - Ravishing Raelynn Skin Barry's Commandant Costume Bastion Bastion + Soundtrack DLC Batman Arkham City: Harley Quinn's Revenge Battlefield: Bad Company™ 2 Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition Binary Domain Bioshock : BioShock™, BioShock™ Remastered
Unknown package 31771 = BioShock® 2, BioShock™ 2 Remastered
Unknown package 15360=BioShock™, BioShock® 2, BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den, BioShock™ Remastered, BioShock™ 2 Remastered, BioShock 2: Minerva's Den Remastered
Chivalry: Medieval Warfare Cogs
COH 2 - The Western Front Armies (Double Pack) - Multiplayer Standalone CoH 2 - The Western Front Armies: Oberkommando West, COH 2 - The Western Front Armies: US Forces
Company of Heroes Company of Heroes, Company of Heroes - Legacy Edition
Crysis Warhead®
The Darkness II Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution - Chaos Sorcerer Wargear DLC Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution - Farseer Wargear DLC Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution - Hive Tyrant Wargear DLC Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution - Lord General Wargear DLC Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution - The Last Stand Tau Commander Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution - Mekboy Wargear DLC Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution - Captain Wargear DLC Dawn of War II: Retribution – The Last Stand
Unknown package 12374 =Dead Island: Bloodbath Unknown package 27190 =Dead Island Riptide
Dead Island: Epidemic Beta Gift Dead Island: Epidemic
Unknown package 27281= Dead Island Riptide - Fashion Victim DLC
Deadlight
Unknown package 14708 =Dear Esther, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition Unknown package 11984 =Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link
Faerie Solitaire
Galactic Civilizations I and II Pack Galactic Civilizations® I: Ultimate Edition, Galactic Civilizations® II: Ultimate Edition
Hitman: Absolution™ Galactic Civilizations® II: Ultimate Edition Hitman: Blood Money Worms Crazy Golf I Am Alive Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Lucius Lucid Lucius II Just Cause 2 Just Cause 2 - Black Market Boom Pack DLC Just Cause 2: Agency Hovercraft Just Cause 2: Bull's Eye Assault Rifle Just Cause 2: Chevalier Classic Just Cause 2: Monster Truck DLC Just Cause 2: Rico's Signature Gun DLC Just Cause 2: Black Market Aerial Pack DLC Lara Croft GoL: All the Trappings - Challenge Pack 1 Lara Croft GoL: Hazardous Reunion - Challenge Pack 3 Lara Croft GoL: Raziel and Kain Character Pack Lara Croft GoL: Things that Go Boom - Challenge Pack 2 Max Payne 3 Max Payne 3: Cemetery Map Max Payne 3: Deadly Force Burst Max Payne 3: Pill Bottle Item Max Payne 3: Classic Max Payne Character Max Payne 3: Silent Killer Loadout Pack Max Payne 3: Special Edition Pack METAL SLUG 3 Metro: Last Light - Ranger Mode Metro: Last Light - RPK Miner Wars 2081 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind® Game of the Year Edition Nuclear Dawn Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Organ Trail: Director's Cut RAGE Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad with Rising Storm Remember Me Resident Evil Revelations 2 Resident Evil 5 Resident Evil: Revelations Enhancement Set Resident Evil: Revelations Rachael Ooze DLC Resident Evil: Revelations Lady HUNK DLC Resident Evil: Revelations Resistance Set Resident Evil: Revelations Jessica's G18 + Custom Part: Road Redemption Saints Row IV - College Daze Pack Saints Row IV: Commander-In-Chief Pack Saints Row: The Third Saints Row: The Third Season Pass DLC Pack Saints Row: The Third - Special Ops Vehicle Pack Street Fighter X Tekken: Street Fighter Boost Gem Pack 1 Shadow Warrior Shadow Warrior: Special Edition Upgrade Silent Hill Homecoming Sleeping Dogs: Drunken Fist Pack Sleeping Dogs: Police Protection Pack Sniper Elite V2 Sins of a Solar Empire®: Rebellion Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 Collector's Edition Sonic Adventure 2 Spec Ops: The Line S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl STAR WARS™: The Force Unleashed™ II Super Meat Boy Supreme Commander 2 Supreme Commander 2: Infinite War Battle Pack Zombie Driver HD
Unmechanical Tryst Tropico 5 4-Pack Gift Pre-Order Trine Enchanted Edition Torchlight II Unknown package 18579 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD - Revert Pack Survivalist The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition Thirty Flights of Loving Tomb Raider: Anniversary The LEGO® Movie - Videogame Thief Tomb Raider: Legend Tomb Raider: Underworld Thief DLC: Booster Bundle THIEF DLC: The Forsaken - Challenge Map
Unknown package 15351= ncludes 15 items: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Anniversary Edition, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Emperor’s Elite Pack, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Traitor Legions Pack, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Golden Relic Bolter, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Golden Relic Chainsword, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Power Sword, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Chaos Unleashed Map Pack, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Dreadnought DLC, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Legion of the Damned Armour Set, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Alpha Legion Champion Armour Set, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Blood Angels Veteran Armour Set, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Salamanders Veteran Armour Set, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Iron Hands Chapter Pack DLC, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Death Guard Champion Chapter Pack DLC, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Soundtrack

Please, feel free to add any events below! Check out the Visitor's Guide for more things to do around town!
Looking to meet up with people? Check out Meetup St. Louis.
​
Be sure to continue scrolling past the Weekly Events for Trivia Nights, Live Music, Sporting Events, Local Comedy, and more!
​

• Blues on the Block at National Blues Museum
  • Every Saturday until August 5th
  • Come on down to the corner of Washington Ave. and 6th Street from 4 to 7 PM. Bring your lawn chair!
• Brentwood Summer Beats
  • June 9, 2023
  • Join others for an evening of music in Brentwood Park!
• Cardinals HOF Presents Flashback Fridays
  • June 9, 2023
  • Visit the Cardinals Museum for a candid interview in Sportsman’s Park Theater with 2006 Cardinals World Champion Gary Bennett on Friday, June 9th at 4:00pm.
• Cardinals HOF Presents Saturday Signings
  • June 10, 2023
  • Saturday, June 10th is Saturday Signings with 2006 Cardinals World Champion Gary Bennett from 10am-12pm in the Cardinals Museum!
• Central West End Cocktail Party
  • June 10, 2023
  • Mark your calendars for the 7th Annual Central West End Cocktail Party on Saturday June 10, 2023, from 5-10 PM! Enjoy live entertainment, a cocktail competition, and food and drinks available for purchase from CWE bars and restaurants. Grab your friends and family for a fun-filled evening, featuring live music, street performers, fire dancers, roller skaters and more!
• Cherokee Pop Shop
  • June 10, 2023
  • Join others at the Rita Ford Community Center, where talented artisans will gather to showcase their handmade goods, art, fashion, jewelry and more. This is a perfect opportunity to discover new artists, support local businesses, and connect with the vibrant community of St. Louis. With live music, food & drink trucks, the Cherokee Pop Shop is a must-visit event for anyone who loves creativity, community, and shopping.
• Chess at the Brewery
  • Every Wednesday
  • Local meetup group of chess players that meet at breweries on Wednesday nights. They rotate locations each week.
  • See their Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/chessatthebrewery/) for the location this week.
• Chihuly in the Missouri Botanical Garden
  • Running until October 15, 2023
  • The work of world-renowned artist Dale Chihuly is coming to the Missouri Botanical Garden in a stunning exhibition uniting art and nature. With thousands of pieces of blown glass forms in 20 dramatic installations throughout the Garden’s grounds, Chihuly in the Garden 2023 presents these artworks on a grand scale
• Circus Flora presents "Undercover"
  • June 1 - 25, 2023
  • This summer, Circus Flora enters the daring world of espionage! With nods to beloved spy stories throughout the years, Undercover introduces the world’s top double agent who faces an archvillain obsessed with world domination. Our spy has plenty of helpful allies – but the villain has a team, too. Will good overcome bad . . . and how? Aerialists, acrobats, contortionists, and comedians will craft this thrilling story, which will captivate your whole family!
• City Social on Washington Avenue
  • June 9, 2023
  • City Social, downtown St. Louis’ ultimate summer block party, returns on June 9 from 4 to 9 p.m.
  • Free and open to all, the event will take place on Washington Avenue between Tucker Boulevard and 14th Street. This is your chance to kick back, relax and enjoy live music with family, friends, neighbors and coworkers.
• Family Night with Fredbird
  • Wednesdays
  • Join others at Cardinals Nation Restaurant & Bar for Family Night with Fredbird on select Wednesday evenings this off-season! Bring your family down for games, prizes, and meet Fredbird from 6:30-7:30pm.
• Ferguson Farmers’ Market
  • Every Saturday
  • Enjoy live music and special events in a festive family atmosphere, and discover a wide variety of edible delights, including homemade jelly, farm fresh eggs, honey, spices, and meats. You’ll also find an ever-changing array of gift and specialty vendors, selling everything from cut flowers and bedding plants to hand-painted artwork and small-batch soaps.
  • If it’s homemade, handmade or fresh and tasty, you can buy it at the Ferguson Farmers’ Market.
• Golf the Galleries at The Sheldon
  • June 9, 2023
  • Join others for the 6th season of this playable, artist-designed, nine-hole mini golf installation, designed to be inclusive, family friendly and accessible. All proceeds from Golf the Galleries support The Sheldon’s visual arts programming, offering opportunities for local and national artists to share their work with the St. Louis community through free gallery exhibitions and educational programs.
• Juneteeth Celebration in the Delmar Loop
  • June 10, 2023
  • Expect live art demonstrations, including a community mural painting; animated performances from the Red and Black Brass Band, DJ KP and more; bounce houses, face painting and other activities for the whole family.
• Karaoke Wednesdays at HandleBar
  • Every Wednesday
  • Browse the catalog and find your favorite songs to sing! Songbookslive.com/stlredcarpet
• Karaoke Wednesdays at Mack's Bar & Grill
  • Every Wednesday
• Lafayette Square Summer Concert Series
  • June 3, 2023
  • As part of Lafayette Square’s free summer concert series, Power Play Band will perform in Lafayette Park on June 3. Spanning genres such as jazz, classic rock, R&B, swing, Latin and pop, Power Play does it all! Gather friends and family, pack food and beverages, and don’t miss this lively event.
• Landmarks Downtown Walking Tours
  • Every Saturday
  • Landmarks Downtown St. Louis Walking Tours: History, Culture, Architecture, and Exercise: What could be better on a Saturday morning?
• Open Mic Night at Schlafly Bottleworks (Maplewood)
  • Every Wednesday
  • Join others every Wednesday evening and showcase your talents with our Open Mic Night! Open sign up begins at 6:30PM with music starting at 7:00PM. They welcome original material, covers and spoken word! Grab a beer, then play and listen every Wednesday! There are no cover charges and no drink minimums to attend.
• Picnic in your Park at the Arch
  • June 11, 2023
  • Join others at the third annual Picnic in Your Park. Picnic in Your Park raises awareness and critical funds for their mission of park conservation, preservation, education and community programs.
• Rockin' the Riverfront at the Arch
  • Every Friday & Saturday
  • Gateway Arch Park Foundation presents a new series, Rockin' the Riverfront, to bring fun, summer-long, family-friendly entertainment along the St. Louis’ Riverfront to enhance your trip down to the Arch, riverboats and surrounding parks!
• Sensory-Friendly Family Night at the Missouri Botanical Garden
  • June 5, 2023
  • Explore, discover and experience the beauty of the Missouri Botanical Garden at this family-friendly event, which allows children and adults with sensory-processing needs to experience the attraction in a secure environment.
  • Attendees will be able to participate in hands-on activities, play in the Children’s Garden and explore the indoor Brookings Exploration Center, which features a calming corner.
  • Musical guest Low Rent District will perform during the event, and Different Dynamics will join for interactive music activities.
• Shakespeare in the Park: Twelfth Night
  • May 31 - June 25, 2023
  • Often regarded as William Shakespeare’s greatest comedy, Twelfth Night is bursting with romance, music and high times.
  • Shakespeare in the Park is free to attend; no reservations are required. Just show up with your blankets, chairs and picnics and find a spot on the lawn. Shakespeare Glen opens at 6:30. Food by Steve’s Hot Dogs is available for purchase, and drinks by STL Barkeep.
• Soccer Pre-Match Street Party at Schlafly Tap Room
  • June 10, 2023
  • Join others before every City SC home match for a Street Party with the St. Louligans Soccer Supporters Group. They will block off the street next to the Tap Room (now known as Louligan Street) so fans can enjoy good beer, great food, music and fun before they march over to the stadium together.
• Soulard Farmer's Market
  • Wednesdays - Saturdays
  • Soulard Farmers Market is located at 730 Carroll Street in St. Louis, Missouri, a half mile north of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. The market is open Wednesday through Saturday, year round. They feature locally grown and shipped in goods, including: produce, meats, cheeses, spices, gourmet kettle corn, flowers, baked goods, and general merchandise. There are also several different eateries that have many food options, which allows customers the convenience to grab a quick bite to eat and a drink while shopping.
• St. Louis Soap Box Derby
  • June 11, 2023
  • The All-American Soap Box Derby is a youth racing program, which has run nationally since 1934. Hosted by the St. Louis Jaycees, the regional St. Louis race has been held each June on The Hill for more than 15 years.
• Summer Beer & Food Pairing at the Biergarten
  • June 9, 2023
  • This beer and food pairing at the Anheuser-Busch Biergarten will get you ready for summer.
  • The meal begins with pineapple-chicken kebabs paired with Beach Bum, a combination of Kona Big Wave Golden Ale and Mango Cart, and a summer solstice salad accompanied by Stella Artois Solstice Lager. The entrée will be Spanish paella paired with Cutwater Lime Margarita, followed by a dreamsicle float for dessert and a NÜTRL Orange Hard Seltzer to wash it down.
• Sunrise Yoga at Kiener Plaza
  • Every Tuesday
  • Awaken your body and bask in the morning sunlight! This gentle yoga practice is designed to energize and align your body and mind through movement and breath. Bring your own mat/towel and water bottle.
• Thursday Nights at the Museum
  • Every Thursday
  • Kick off your weekend at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park! Each Thursday Night at the Museum will be the most fun, engaging, uplifting, thought-provoking, perspective-shaping night of your week. And there are drinks.
  • Join others starting at 5:30pm for happy hour and pop-up activities, such as brief tours, games, and performances. The main stage comes to life at 6:30pm, light appetizers and drinks are available for purchase until 7:00pm, and the Museum’s exhibits are open until 8:00pm for you to explore!
• Tower Grove Farmer's Market
  • Every Tuesday & Saturday
  • Join others every Saturday of the 2023 Tower Grove Farmers Market Season. They'll have over 100 vendors with local produce, meat, flowers, eggs, honey, prepared foods, art, jewelry, live music, and so much more.
• Twangfest at Off Broadway
  • June 7 - 10, 2023
  • Twangfest, a nonprofit grassroots music festival presented by Urban Chestnut Brewing Co., returns to St. Louis from June 7 to 10.
  • Held at Off Broadway, Twangfest will feature the best in live Americana, country, folk, pop, rock and soul. This year’s lineup includes Black Joe Lewis, James McMurtry, Nadine, The Waco Brothers and more.
• Whitaker Music Festival
  • Every Wednesday until August 2nd
  • The Missouri Botanical Garden is an idyllic place to listen to live music. On Wednesday evenings throughout the summer, the garden hosts free, open-air concerts as part of the annual Whitaker Music Festival.

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Sporting Events This Week	Attractions Around the Area	Comedy This Week
St. Louis Cardinals schedule	Anheuser-Busch Brewery	Funny Bone Comedy Club
St. Louis Blues schedule	City Museum	Helium Comedy Club
St. Louis City SC schedule	Gateway Arch	The Improv Shop
St. Louis Battlehawks schedule	Missouri History Museum
St. Louis Billikens schedule	National Blues Museum
Gateway Grizzlies schedule	St. Louis Aquarium
Gateway Motorsports Park	St. Louis Art Museum
St. Louis Ambush schedule	St. Louis Science Center
	St. Louis Zoo

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Trivia Nights
Location	Date/Time	More Information
Anheuser-Busch Biergarten	Tuesdays 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
Bar K	Tuesdays at 7:00 pm
City Foundry	Thursdays 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Joey B's on the Hill	Mondays 8:30 pm - 10:30 pm	Trivia Details
Nick's Pub	Mondays
Felix's Pizza Pub	Tuesdays at 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
Schlafly Brewpubs (Any Location)	Tuesdays 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Trivia Details
Rockwell Beer Co	Tuesdays	Trivia Details (Reservations required)
The Mack	Tuesdays at 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
The Pat Connolly Tavern	Wednesdays at 7:00 pm
The Post	Wednesdays 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm	Trivia Details
Pieces Board Game Bar & Cafe	Wednesdays	Trivia Details
HandleBar	Thursdays at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Trivia Details
Steve's Hot Dogs	Tuesdays 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Trivia Details

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Live Music This Week
Music Venues	Live Music Around Town
Blueberry Hill Duck Room	1860 Saloon
Chesterfield Amphitheater	BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups
Delmar Hall	Broadway Oyster Bar
Enterprise Center	City Foundry
The Fabulous Fox Theatre	Gallery Pub
The Factory	Game 6 Honky Tonk
Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre	Gaslight Lounge
Off Broadway	The Heavy Anchor
Old Rock House	Jazz St. Louis
The Pageant	Joe's Cafe
Red Flag	The Lot on the Landing
The Sheldon	McGurk's
St. Louis Music Park	SoFar St. Louis Secret performances around town
St. Louis Symphony Concert Calendar	Venice Cafe
Stifel Theatre	Yaquis on Cherokee

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Recurring Outdoor Activities
Big Muddy Adventures – STL Riverfront Adventure	Big Muddy Adventures was established in 2002. They are the first professional outfitteguiding company providing access to the wild wonders of the Middle Mississippi and Lower Missouri Rivers.
Gateway Arch Events	There are a variety of things to do along the Mississippi River.
Hidden Valley Ski Resort	Ziplining, scenic chairlift rides, and hiking trails opened during the summer. Skiing, snowboarding during the winter.

Through Lowes' use of automation, they have alienated an entire city from both shipping and deliveries.
My closest store is nearly 90 minutes away, so I prefer to have my items shipped. After going to my cart to check out, it asks for both my mailing and shipping address. After filling it out, it actually changes my city and zip code to a neighboring city. Huh!?
After wasting time trying to trick it into working, I called customer service for help. After explaining everything, I was assured it could be handled. 30 minutes later, I was told she was experiencing the exact issue I was having and couldn't get around it. I was then informed to call the store directly, and of course, they would be able to handle the issue.
Next up is the pro desk. "Yes, we've seen this issue with your town", but since we can't ship there, we would be happy to deliver it to you instead. It would normally cost you $79, but we will do it for $35 for your troubles. After adding the first item to the order, he discovered he wasn't able to mark it for delivery. "Sorry, you should should try calling Home Depot" <<-- (paraphrasing)
So, they deliver to the cities on both sides of us, and have to go through our city to reach the other, but we are, for lack of a better analogy, invisible to Lowes because of some address database it uses
You would hope you could complain to someone to actually have this remedied, but the red tape to get this issue to the right department is a mountain that no one wants to climb. So, Lowes has effectively blacklisted out city.
Isn't technology wonderful? What a joke!

Not your butt dummmy! The bottom of the golf swing. I am a 6 handicap and have been for about 25 years. I find this completely amazing because I am THE worst ball striker on the course. On the range, I’m a fucking tour player… on the course… more like Happy Gilmore.
My biggest problem is the blade to chunk over compensation. I can’t ever seem to the bottom of my swing when hitting the ball. Practice swings are ALWAYS perfect.
I have been trying to swing with just my left arm at the range to develop more pull through. But again, perfect at the range, horrible on the course. I am actually surprised that I’m a single digit handicap with how bad my ball strikes always are, but also makes me thing…. If I could just actually hit the ball on the club face I might 80 more often.
Any suggestions?
What do you long term players do to breakthrough to the next level?

Credit for the original story goes to u/spacepaladin15.
[First] [Previous] [Next]
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Memory transcript subject: Tressa, Venlil civilian
Date [Standardized Human Time]: February 30th, 2177
Location: Lower sprawl of City 23, Venlil Prime
If they were spotted, there was little anyone could do to save them. Tressa’s pistol could maybe pick off one exterminator before the rest rushed them down, if his aim was solid and he didn’t fumble the shot entirely. With their current luck, the chances of his final stand making even the slightest difference was slim to none.
What they needed more than anything was stealth, tact. Slip in silently, act decisively, rush out with Beast before anyone could take notice. So when James managed to sprawl out on the sidewalk over a miniscule crack in the concrete and let out a cry of pain that drew the attention of all 3 or 4 other people on the street, Tressa knew they were truly already dead.
He decided not to voice this grim conviction as he helped his human compatriot to his feet. However, James’ slight limp when he got back to walking didn’t exactly lift his spirits. At a time like this, a sprained ankle was effectively a death sentence. If they got caught (when they got caught, at this rate), James wouldn’t be able to run. He alone was now condemned to an agonizing, slow death by immolation that the exterminators relished so dearly.
He’d stick by him, Tressa decided then and there, defending him pistol and claw until the last moment they fell together. As far as dying alongside each other went, burning was... well, it was far from romantic, but he’d take what he could get. Anything would be better than capture.
He’d seen what they did to the ones they didn’t just incinerate on the spot… The thought of James being tortured into one of their empty-eyed puppets, little more than a pet with the shock collar to match, filled his every step with furious determination. If he shot back, they’d be forced to try and kill both of them. It would be a mercy.
His bleak thoughts were silenced by a cloud of dust as Sasha carefully kicked in a dilapidated door. They’d snuck through another war-torn abandoned building, this one an apartment complex, to get a good look at the Tipped Quill before simply rushing Beast. From here, they could form something more resembling a plan of action.
Grabbing a pawful of coat fabric, Tressa wiped grime from the miraculously unbroken window to get a clearer view. He took a look through, and wiped harder. Then wiped his eyes with his other paw for good measure. The sight before him didn’t change.
​
A patrol vehicle sat outside the building, lights flashing and cabin empty. The cycling orange and yellow illuminated the rest of the scene, casting sharp shadows and harsh spotlights on the bare concrete. From his vantage point, Tressa could see the whole street lit in a garish blood-orange glow. It was empty. Not a single exterminator lay outside.
It had to be a trick of the light. Or a trick of the mind. Or perhaps they were already in the burned-out apartment, having spotted the group and lying in wait for the most dramatic moment to strike. He braced for impact. A rapid clicking noise behind him; he nearly drew his pistol before realizing the sound was familiar. It was nothing more than the sound of a keyboard.
While the rest of their group was pressed up against the cleared spot of the window to try and get a look outside, Trish was frantically typing something on her pad. Eyes widening enough to see their whites, she lashed her tail against the crumbling floor tiles to get their attention as she turned her pad around for them to see.
It was a video of the Tipped Quill. Live camera footage; Trish briefly wondered how she’d gotten access. Only briefly, though; the reality of what he was seeing chilled him to the core as soon as it registered, his brief spark of curiosity replaced with a dull, lifeless horror.
Stalking the bar were five figures clad in black combat armor, kinetic weaponry in hand. Exterminator emblems on their backs. One of them, a Venlil, walked up to a crumpled spiky fig…
Burai. One of them walked up to Burai, and just stared. Blue blood pooled beneath its boots, and it kneeled down to get a better look before getting up and walking away, leaving indigo footprints across the once-cleaned floor and flicking its tail in satisfaction. Tressa felt bile rise in his throat, and had to step away before he ruined the pad.
​
Sasha looked a second away from throwing up herself. Trish was seemingly too shocked to even react, simply staring at the pad blankly. James, however, had a gleam in his eyes. Not just tears (although those sparkled in the dim light of the pad as well) but intelligence. The beginnings of a plan were forming in his mind. He moved back to the window, and Tressa followed his motion as he began to mutter, apparently thinking aloud to himself.
"Those… those aren’t flame suits, are they?”
“It’s combat armor. If I tried to shoot them, I’d have trouble taking down a single one.”
“No, no, that’s not what I’m getting at— you think they keep those firebombs in their vehicle?
“I doubt they— Wait. You don’t mean… You think that could work?”
“It’d be fitting if nothing else. Yeah, if we can seal the front door… just need to get Beast out of there quickly before she gets seared as well.”
Sasha stepped over. “What are you two… no. That can’t be your plan. Do you really think they’ll just sit and wait? They can probably just shoot out the door, no matter what you try to block it with. And that’s assuming they haven’t already discovered the Den… although, even using the fire escape would buy us enough time to take Beast…”
“Will one of you tell me what you’re all muttering about over there?”
James wheeled around to face Trish, a cruel smile starting to break across his face. “We’re thinking the Tipped Quill could use a bit of a makeover. The standard exterminator fare, but this time…” His smile widened as he paused for dramatic effect, the spirit of Burai apparently possessing him for an instant. “...This time, they’ll get to enjoy the flames firsthand.”
“...You want to burn it down to kill them. That’s what you’re suggesting?”
Yeah, when she put it that bluntly, it did sound like a pretty dumb plan. They were exterminators; of course they’d know how to deal with fire. Maybe they’d be better off trying to use the patrol vehicle as a—
“I can keep their attention for a moment with the speaker system, when the time comes. Just give me the word.”
—
There weren’t any firebombs in the trunk. Or regular bombs, or even so much as a lighter. There was a storage case for the flamethrowers, but it was predictably empty. Tressa nearly slammed it closed in frustration before remembering their need for stealth.
“Nothing in this box either.” whispered James. “Do they just have their equipment on them at all times? Shouldn’t they at least keep spares somewhere?”
“If they did, we should have found them by now.” Tressa finished rummaging through a secret compartment under a cushion; they packed extra water, ammo, cuffs, even some medications. Everything except for a goddamned lighter. His tail lashed with such frustration that James understood instantly. He leaned out the door to talk to Trish, who was still keeping an eye on cams in case the exterminators found the Den or started approaching the front door.
“Trish, you think you can start some sort of electrical fire? There’s that panel on the wall right behind all the high-proof drinks; a strong spark’d be all you need.”
“Not a chance. The circuit breaker would stop me from doing anything remotely. And besides, those bottles are sealed. The alcohol won’t burn unless they’re broken. Maybe you could throw something at it? Something metal that could cause a short?”
“Throw something? And just… hope I don’t miss entirely, and hope it hits the right spot to cause a spark, and hope I can get out in time?”
“Then by all means, keep looking in there for a lighter. I don’t see any other…”
Trish halted mid-sentence. Her eyes went wide, darting between Tressa and the bar several times before she managed to make a noise. It was hard to call speech exactly, and while there were words mixed in, it held no meaning that the rest of them could discern. It took multiple failed attempts to string together a coherent sentence before she finally forced herself to stop and breathe. After several suspenseful moments spent gathering composure, she finally managed to find the words.
“Tressa, you brought your pistol, right? Do you think… would the panel spark enough if you shot it?”
—
Some part of his mind was vaguely aware of the herd at his back, nervously awaiting his move. Of the cold wind biting at his ears. Of the soft orange lighting, or the chatter he could just barely make out from inside the building, or the frigid door handle. But that part was very small. As far as his conscious mind was concerned, only two things existed. The gun in his hands, and the panel on the far wall. He could already imagine it, even though he was on the other side of the door. He lined up the shot in his head. His grips on the handles in both of his paws tightened.
“Make some noise for them… now!”
Trish clicked something on her pad, and flattened her ears before covering them with a free paw.
The speakers blared a harsh static tone, covering the sound of the door slipping open as Tressa peaked in just enough to take his shot. The exterminators were looking elsewhere, attention captivated by a flickering screen and sensed dulled by the cacophony around them. Despite their ample peripheral vision, none of them noticed as Tressa took aim.
The gun in his hands, and the panel on the far wall. Lower right side was where the cluster of capacitors he needed to hit would be, and that shot would strip right through a bottle of high-proof lureroot gin, the one Burai was always fond of. He forced his paw to stop shaking, twisted his head to get his eye aligned with the sights, and found his mark.
​
The trigger depressed with a satisfying click, followed instantly by the harsh kick and savage warcry as his shot rang out.
​
Tressa rushed to close the heavy wooden door, but out of the corner of his eye he saw the pandemonium he was leaving behind. A violent blue spark gave way to a grand jet of flame as the alcohol ignited. The exterminators wheeled around, apparently not noticing him in the slightest due to the sudden presence of a fire they hadn’t started. One of them started to back up, tail pressed against the ground in panic.
That was all Tressa was able to catch before he got the door closed. Even with his ears buzzing from the shot, he could hear the click of the lock automatically re-engaging. He dove backwards, letting himself fly head over heels for a pawful of meters before righting himself and taking aim at the doorframe with bated breath.
From the other side of the door, he heard a roar of flame. An agonized cry. He steeled himself, preparing for the door to fall away and the wrath of a pissed-off extermination crew to fall upon them like a thunderbolt. His aim was steady, head-level. He held his breath, ready to shoot anyone who made it out.
The sound of fire and the sounds of pain intermingled, one single furious, horrified roar of agony and hatred. There was a noise like a jet taking off. There was a shriek of pain in many voices. The door shook from the impact of a shockwave inside, then jittered violently from the impact of several bodies, fists and claws and boots all trying to break it down. A desperate wave of flesh and fur, slamming against the frame with less strength each time.
There was a noise like pleading, although it could have been the wind.
A few shots rang out from the inside of the bar, a couple piercing through the door. The bullet holes leaked with blood. One final, solitary howl of torture barely distinguished itself from the blaze for a few more seconds before choking out with a final gunshot.
Then, it was just the hushed crackling of flame.
---
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I want to preface this with I do believe some of my unhappiness and stress is in my head, and have been trying to work on addressing how I view things.
With that said my current job is in a field I have greatly enjoyed in the past (80% of the time my feeling towards the work I do is I can't believe I get paid to do this because I enjoy it and find it easy) has become something turning my work hours into near constant stress, and then dreading Sunday especially and feeling like I need to mentally prepare myself for work each day.
My job is a pretty small company and has been changing a lot lately, with people moving seats and feeling like we are pivoting every month or 2 months from what was discussed previously and my position which is more technical has been given more and more responsibilities to be customer facing, which I am fine with in smaller parts but specifically asked about that when I was hired as I know it isn't something I am good with and can be stressful, and has become a gateway for clients to essentially reach out directly to me and ask for work to be done and I am just to track my time I spend on it for the company to bill the client.
This isn't the only stressor, but I feel it is a major one, as it not only gives me way more customer interaction with no one else involved, but means I have to ingest, plan, and execute on any random thing one of our clients can think up of and is making me stress either overcommunicating with the CEO or just doing whatever potentially dumb thing a client asks of me.
Part of me wants to just talk with my boss and tell him that I don't think I am a good fit for the role anymore with the direction of the company, and take some time off to reflect and figure out if my issue is my industry or just my role in this company, my worry is I feel like I need a break from work for a bit, but know that can be a bit of a pain when finding a new job, but I feel like I am doing a meh job now at best and I hate feeling like I am not doing good work.
Any advice for anyone who has been in this situation or even just how to look at my situation to hopefully reorient myself would be great, thank you all.

TLDR: I signed a contract and put a deposit on a new car but after a very poor experience with the dealership I’m looking to back out.
Went into a dealership yesterday to test drive a new car before lunch. We loved the car and were about 95% prepared to buy. We had the salesman run the numbers and it seemed reasonable. We told them we would go for lunch to discuss then return later. At this point the General Sales Manager came over. He’s the epitome of a pushy car salesman. They clearly live by the mantra ‘never let a customer leave until the papers are signed’. It continued with us trying to leave and them asking us for ‘10 more minutes’ to get us a better deal ; better financing, removing add-on fees, etc., until finally we agreed to buy. Waiting around for another couple hours while they prepared the car and paperwork. Eventually it had been nearly 5 hours, my wife and daughter were exhausted and starving and we we just wanted to get out of there. I made a $1K deposit on my credit card and attempted to pay an extra $20K with my debit card. The debit card payment didn’t go through as it exceeded my daily limit. My bank would only grant $10K limit per day, so the salesman literally offered to accompany me to my home so I could get my check book and cut them a check. At this point we were just frustrated with the whole process. I told them we were leaving to have lunch (at 4:30!) and that I’d return with a check in 1.5hrs Once we had a chance to eat and reassess the situation we decided it was such a shitty experience that we didn’t want to proceed. The dealership blew up my phone with calls and messages when I didn’t return and I told them I was reconsidering my options. At this point the contract is signed and they have a deposit. The bulk of the down payment hasn’t been paid and they of course still have the car.
How much damage would I be doing to my credit score if I tell them I am backing out and cancel the credit card deposit?

Platform(s): Most probably PSX (99% sure, if not then PS2)
Genre: First person adventure game (I don't think it was point and click, but there it is possible)
Estimated year of release: Probably 90s
Graphics/art style: Rather realistic, dark, gloomy, kinda swampy (?), as I remember color palette to be green, brown, black etc.
Notable characters: The point is - you were alone. You walked through something resembling a village, a few houses here and there, but there was no one in sight. I remember somewhere near the begining you could find dog(s), their barking made me feel uncomfortable as a child, it was loud and they weren't friendly.
Notable gameplay mechanics: Can't say much besides I couldn't figure out what the hell waas going on. I don't remember game telling you that much. I was walking through those scattered houses looking for clues, items I could pick. Weirdly I remember a strange looking cursor in menu.
Other details: It is not myst, nor the sequel. That game was "uglier" in a sense of more dirty, dark color palette. The title should be 1 word, max 2, and I feel like it began with the letter "T", but that might be a false memory. That game really wierded me out as a kid, i was >10 years old probably, have played mostly racing games or some crash bandicoot, but that had a totally different feeling. If that helps, I'm from Poland and it probably wasn't a legal copy of the game.