Brevard county parks and rec jobs

Hey all! I’ll try to keep this concise but looking for some advice. Right now I work as a Jr Systems Admin at a prominent credit union making about 72k a year. The facilities and company are just spot on. Amazing offices and on site cafe, coffee, gym, etc. The actual work I do itself is NOT where I wanna be.
Recently got my CCNA and Sec+ and just now got an offer for a Jr Network Engineer which is the job I want to be doing. Salary is 82k, for an ISP servicing my county. They work on the courthouses, fire stations, public libraries. They do the infra for the county basically.
Problem is I went in for an on-site and the facilities and building are VERY run down and the offices and desks are really old and worn out. Basically the work itself seems perfect for me. But the location is a huge downgrade.
Thoughts and advice?

https://www.reddit.com/IGSRep/comments/cg1p8marcoxnt93s\_igs\_rep\_page/
An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire
Banners of Ruin
Biped
CORPSE FACTORY
DUSK ’28: ULTIMATE EDITION
Dead Island Definitive Edition
Dishonored
Eldest Souls
Gedonia
Hero’s Hour
Lamentum (HL 4,70 zł)
Legend of Keepers: Career of a Dungeon Manager
Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee
Oddworld: New 'n’ Tasty with Alf & Abe DLC Packs
Oddworld: Soulstorm Enhanced Edition
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD
Rain World
Röki
THE GAME OF LIFE
The Ascent
The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard
Trolley Problem, Inc.
Fanatical Mystery Bundles Leftovers
Noitu Love 2: Devolution x 2
OUTBUDDIES DX
Vambrace: Cold Soul
Adventures of Chris
Serial Cleaner
Dark Devotion
Kingdom Rush Frontiers
Everhood
The Town of Light x 2
Crumble
Dead End Job x 2
Valfaris
Garbage x 2
Alchemy Garden
Double Kick Heroes x 2
Nihilumbra
Dub Dash
Stick it to The Man!
SEUM: Speedrunners from Hell
Reventure
Iron Marines
Beasts of Maravilla Island
Weaving Tides
Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic
White Night
Hidden Shapes - Trick or Cats
tiny & Tall: Gleipnir
Doodle Derby
Gone Home + Original Soundtrack
Omen Exitio: Plague
Tesla Force
The Black Heart
Police Stories
From Space
DESOLATE
Just Die Already
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus
TIER 0
Back 4 blood eu
Destiny 2 Planet of Peace Exclusive Emblem
Dirt Rally 2.0 + 3 DLC
F1 2012
F1 2019 Anniversary
Grand Theft Auto Vice City
Remnant from the Ashes
Road to Guangdong - Story-Based Indie Road Trip Driving Game
the wolf among us
TIER 1
Absolver
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night
borderlands Game of the year enhanced Edition
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection EU
Darksiders genesis
Doom Eternal
Duke Nukem Manhattan Project
Elex
Endless Space 2 – Deluxe Edition
friday the 13th
Geometry Wars 3 Dimensions Evolved Mystery
Genital Jousting
Grid Autosport
Grid ultimate edition
Golf With Friends
GoNNER BLüEBERRY EDiTION
guild wars 2 heroic edition
guild wars nightfall
Hitman Absolution
House Flipper
Just cause 3 XXL
Kingdom Rush
Kerbal Space Program x 2
Legend Of Grimrock
Lego Marvel 2 Deluxe
Little Dragons Cafe
Mafia III: Definitive Edition
MAIN ASSEMBLY
Maneater
Mordhau
Orn the tiny forest sprite
Outward US x 2
Overcooked 2 + Surf and Turf + Too Many Cooks
pathfinder wrath
PGA TOUR 2k21 x 2
Phantasmagoria
Portal Knights
Pro cycling manager 2019
Project Cars
Project CARS 2 + Japanese Cars Bonus Pack
Risen
Sairento VR
Scum
Second Extinction
Sonic Forces
Spyro Reignited Trilogy x 2
Starbound
Star Trek Bridge Crew
State of Decay 2
streets of rogue
Summer in Mara
Superhot VR
Tales of Zestiria
Team Sonic Racing
Tekken 7
The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion GOTY
The Division + DLC US
Tomb Raider GOTY
Total War: MEDIEVAL II – Definitive Edition
TRINE 2 Complete Story
TRINE 3 The Artifacts of Power
Tracks - The Train Set Game
WARHAMMER 40,000: Gladius- Relics of War
Warhammer 40000 : Mechanicus
Wasteland 2 Directors Cut
Wasteland 3
valkyria chronicles IV Complete
X-com 2
TIER 2
ABZU
Armello x 3
asterix obelix xxl3
Band of Defenders
batman arkham knight
Battle Chasers: Nightwar
Beyond Blue
BioShock Infinite
Book of Demons
CHAOS CODE -NEW SIGN OF CATASTROPHE-
Choice Chamber
Chess Ultra
Cities skylines
civilization IV Complete Edition
Civilization 5
Dead by Daylight
Degrees of Separation
Drake Hollow
Driftland: The Magic Revival x 2
Endless Space 2
Europa Universalis IV
eXperience 112
FEZ
Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China - Deluxe Edition
Forced
From Space
Gamedec
Gato Roboto
Golf With Friends
Gunman Tales
Hotshot Racing
human fall flat
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1
Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
Just Cause 3
Killing Floor 2
King's Bounty: Crossworlds
King’s Bounty: Warriors of the North - The Complete Edition
Last Oasis
Manhunt
Megadimension Neptunia VII
Men of War: Assault Squad 2 - War Chest Edition
METAL SLUG 3
Metro Last Light Redux
Miscreated
MO:Astray
Morphopolis
Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021
Natural Selection 2
NecroWorm
Neo Cab
NEOVERSE
Not For Broadcast
Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty
Odyssey - The Story of Science
OF MICE AND SAND -REVISED-
One Step From Eden
Opus Magnum
Overcooked
Overgrowth
PATHOLOGIC 2
Pillars Of Eternity
Phoenix Point Year one edition
Planespace Torment Enhanced Edition
Plunge
Quantum League
Quest of Dungeons
Railroad tycoon 3
Rise of Industry
River City Melee Mach
Roarr! The Adventures of Rampage Rex
Sanctuary RPG: Black Edition
Scribblenauts Unmasked
Scythe Digital Edition
Serious Sam 3 BFE
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut
Shing!
Skullgirls
Sinking Island
Slinger VR
SNIPER GHOST WARRIOR CONTRACTS
Sonic All Stars Transformed Collection
Sparkle 2
Sparkle Unleashed
Starbound
Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds Saga
STAR WARS Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy
STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast
STAR WARS The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition
Star Wars Kotor 2
Star Wolves 3: Civil War
stick fight the game
Stronhold Crusader 2
Struggling
Styx Master of Shadows
SUPER TIME FORCE ULTRA
SurrounDead
Surviving Mars x 2
Swords of Gurrah
Tannenberg
THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIII STEAM EDITION
The Technomancer
tilt brush
Titan Quest Anniversary Edition
The Bard’s Tale IV: Director’s Cut
The Beast Inside
The Gardens Between
The Incredible Adventures of Van Hesing
the long dark survival Edition
The Stillness of the Wind
The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse
The town of light
The walking dead the new frontier
The Wild Eight
Train Valley 2
Trüberbrook
Tropico 5
Tsioque
Unto The End
Valfaris
Voidship: The Long Journey
volcanoids
Wargroove
WARSAW
West of Dead x 2
Wizard Of Legends x 2
Worms Clan Wars
Without Within 3
XCOM: Chimera Squad
Yooka Laylee
Zwei: The Arges Adventure
Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection
TIER 3
112 Operator
911 Operator
Acorn Assault: Rodent Revolution
Ageless
AI War 2
Alan Wake's American Nightmare
Alien Shooter 2 Conscription
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
angry video game nerd
Arcana Hearts 3
Armada 2526 Gold Edition
arma X
As Far As The Eye
Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
Atari Vault
AVEN COLONY
Before we Leave
Belladonna
BLACKHOLE
Blitzkrieg Anthology
Boomerang Fu
Bomber Crew - Deluxe Edition
Boreal Blade
Borealis
Bridge Constructor Playground
Broken Age x 3
Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons
Bunker Punks
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Cally's caves 3
Callys Caves 4
Capitalism 2
Carmageddon Max Damage
Cast of the Seven Godsends
Cepheus Protocol
Chaos Reborn
City Siege: Faction Island
COLT CANYON
Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!
Crazy Belts
crazy machines 3
Creeping Terror
Crowntakers
Crying Suns
CTU: Counter Terrorism Unit
Cybarian: The Time Travelling Warrior
Cyber Hook
Dad Quest x 2
Dark Heritage: Guardians of Hope
Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage
Darksiders Warmastered Edition
Dark Strokes The Legend of the Snow Kingdom Collectors Edition
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
Death to Spies: Moment of Truth
Death Squared
DESOLATE
Detached
Deus Ex: Invisible War
Dimension Drifter
Distrust : Polar Survival
Double Dragon IV
Draw Slasher
Duke Nukem Forever x 2
Dungeons 3
Dungeon Siege II
DV: Rings of Saturn
EarthNight
EarthX
Eliza
Enforcer: Police Crime Action
ENSLAVED™: Odyssey to the West™ Premium Edition
Epistory - Typing Chronicles
Etherborn
Etherlords I & II
Evergarden
evoland
F1 2018
Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered
Farming World
Fire
Fort Triumph
Fury Unleashed x 2
Garfield Kart
Gas Guzzlers Extreme
Goat simulator
Golf Gang
God's Trigger
Go Home Dinosaurs
Going Under
Gone Home + Original Soundtrack
Grim Legends 2: Song of the Dark Swan
GRIP: Combat Racing
Guilty Gear Sign
Gunscape Standard Edition
Hacknet + DLC
Heaven’s Vault
Heavy Burger
Heroes of Annihilated Empires
Hexologic
Hidden Object Bundle 5 in 1
Hidden Object 6in1 bundle
Hive Jump
Hopiko
HORACE
Hue
Hyperspace Invaders II: Pixel Edition
In Between
Innerspace
INMOST
Inside My Radio
Iris and the Giant
Iron Fisticle
John Wick
Just Die Already
ken follet
Kingdom: Classic
King Oddball
Knights of Pen & Paper 2
Knight's Retreat
Labyronia RPG
Labyronia RPG 2
Laser Disco Defenders
Leisure Suit Larry 7 - Love for Sail
Lemuria Lost in Space
Levelhead
LIBERATED
Little Misfortune
Livelock
Lostwinds
Lovecraft’s Untold Stories
Lust from Beyond: M Edition
Lust for Darkness
Luxor 3
Mages of Mystralia
Magrunner: Dark Pulse
Masquerade: The Baubles of Doom
Medieval Kingdom Wars
Mini Ninjas
MirrorMoon EP
Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine
Moon Hunters
MotoGP 15
Morkredd
MOUNT & BLADE
MXGP - The Official Motocross Videogame
My Memory of Us
Mystery Loss
Narcos: Rise of the Cartels
Nba Playgrounds
Neon Chrome
Newt One
Nex Machina
Neverending Nightmares
Neverout
Niffelheim
Night Call
Nowhere Prophet
Odallus: The Dark Call
Of Orcs And Men
Offworld Trading Company + Jupiter's Forge Expansion Pack
Omen Exitio: Plague
Orbital Racer
Out of Space
Overload
Overlord II x 2
Pac-Man 256
PAC-MAN™ CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION 2
Paper Fire Rookie
Paperbark
Paradigm
Particula
Pathway
Pawnbarian
Payday 2
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind
Perfect Universe
Pesterquest
Pickers
Pikuniku
Pirate Pop Plus
Pixel Heroes
Pixplode
Planet Alpha
Planet of the Eyes
Police Stories
port royale 3 gold
Post Master
POPUP DUNGEON
Prehistoric Tales
Quantum Conundrum
Radio Commander
Rapture Rejects
Rebel Galaxy
red orchestra 2
Re-Legion
REMOTHERED: BROKEN PORCELAIN
Remnants of Naezith
RESIDENT EVIL HD
Rezrog
Retimed
Ring of Pain
Road Redemption
ROCK OF AGES 3: MAKE & BREAK
Röki
Roombo: First Blood
Rover Mechanic Simulator
RRRR
Rustler
Sakura Agent
Sakura Angels
Sakura Beach
Sakura Beach 2
Sakura Fantasy
Sakura Magical Girls
Sakura Shrine Girls
Sakura Spirit
Samorost 3
Serial Cleaner
Seven enchanted edition
Sigma Theory: Global Cold War
SIMULACRA + SIMULACRA 2
Sins Of The Demon
Shadowrun Hong Kong Extended Edition
Shoppe Keep
Shoppe Keep 2
Smile For Me
SKULLY
Smoke and Sacrifice
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing
Soulblight
Space Pilgrim Academy: Reunion
space run galaxy
Speedrunners
Spellspire
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
StarCrossed
State of mind
Stealth 2: A Game of Clones
Stealth Bastard Deluxe x 2
Steamburg
Still Life 2
Storm Of Spears
Strider
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
Sudden Strike 4
Sundered
Super Hexagon
Supraland
Super Mutant Alien Assault
Super Panda Adventures
Swag and Sorcery
Syberia
Syberia II
Syberia 3
System Shock: Enhanced Edition
Tabletop Playground
Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation
Teleglitch Die More Edition
Telefrag VR
Teslagrad
Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Time Mysteries 3: The Final Enigma
The Amazing American Circus
Tharsis
The Ball
The Deed
The dropping of the dead
The Dwarves
The Hex
The King's Bird
The Last Door: Season 2 - Collector's Edition
The Lost Crown
The Purring Quest
There Came An Echo
The Haunted Island, A Frog Detective Game
The Signal From Tölva
Think of the Children
This War of Mine
ToeJam & Earl Back in the Groove
Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation
Tomb Raider V: Chronicles
Tomb Raider Legend
Tomb Raider Underworld
Tooth and Tail
Train Station Renovation
Treasure Hunter Simulator
Tropico 4
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
Underhero
Unrest
Valnir Rok Survival RPG
Vane
Velocity Ultra Deluxe
Vertiginous Golf
Viking Saga The Cursed Ring
Wanderlust: Travel Stories
Wandersong
warlock 2
war tech fighters
Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest
Without Within 2
Whispers of a machine
Wings of Vi
Yoku's Island Express
Youropa
Zoo Park
TIER 4
Acceleration of SUGURI 2
Age of Wonders III
Alien Spidy
Almost There: The Platformer
Angvik
A New Beginning – Final Cut
AtmaSphere
Battle vs chees
Circuit Breakers
Corridor Z
CreaVures
Cubicle Quest
Dagon – The Eldritch Box DLC
Dashing Dinos
Death Fungeon
Drawful 2
DungeonUp x 2
Earth 2150 Trilogy
Enclave
Endless Space – Collection
Evergarden
Formula Car Racing
Fluffy Horde
Gorky 17
Guts And Glory
Hacknet Deluxe Edition
Haegemonia: The Solon Heritage
HIVESWAP: Act 1
Holy Potatoes a Spy Story
Homefront
Horizon Shift
Joggernauts
Journey of a Roach
Learn Japanese to survive Hiragana Battle
Left in the Dark: No One on Board
Leisure Suit Larry 5 - Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
Leisure Suit Larry 6 - Shape Up Or Slip Out
Little Racers STREET
Lock Parsing 2
Love is Dead
Midnight Mysteries 3: Devil on the Mississippi
Memoria
Moss Destruction
NAIRI: Tower of Shirin
NeuroVoider
No Time to Explain Remastered
One Finger Death Punch
OneShift
Out of Reach: Treasure Royale
Pesterquest
Purrfect Date – Visual Novel/Dating Simulator
Raceland
Regions Of Ruin
Regular Human Basketball x 2
Rencounter
Renoir
Return to Mysterious Island
Resort Boss: Golf
Rym 9000
Seraph
Shooting Stars!
Silence
Sky Break
Space Pilgrim Episode III: Delta Pavonis
Space Pilgrim Episode IV: Sol
Spandex Force: Champion Rising
Steel Rats
Super Daryl Deluxe
Sword Legacy Omen
Taxi
The Adventure Pals x 3
The Deed: Dynasty
The Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dream
The Spiral Scouts
The Uncertain - The Last Quiet Day
Tiny Troopers
ttv2
Twilight City Love as a Cure
Two Worlds: Epic Edition
Tumblestone
Unhack
Unhack 2
Viking Saga The Cursed Ring
White Noise Online
World Keepers Last Resort
Zombie Party x 2

An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire
Banners of Ruin
Biped
CORPSE FACTORY
DUSK ’28: ULTIMATE EDITION
Dead Island Definitive Edition
Dishonored
Eldest Souls
Gedonia
Hero’s Hour
Lamentum (HL 4,70 zł)
Legend of Keepers: Career of a Dungeon Manager
Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee
Oddworld: New 'n’ Tasty with Alf & Abe DLC Packs
Oddworld: Soulstorm Enhanced Edition
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD
Rain World
Röki
THE GAME OF LIFE
The Ascent
The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard
Trolley Problem, Inc.
Fanatical Mystery Bundles Leftovers
Noitu Love 2: Devolution x 2
OUTBUDDIES DX
Vambrace: Cold Soul
Adventures of Chris
Serial Cleaner
Dark Devotion
Kingdom Rush Frontiers
Everhood
The Town of Light x 2
Crumble
Dead End Job x 2
Valfaris
Garbage x 2
Alchemy Garden
Double Kick Heroes x 2
Nihilumbra
Dub Dash
Stick it to The Man!
SEUM: Speedrunners from Hell
Reventure
Iron Marines
Beasts of Maravilla Island
Weaving Tides
Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic
White Night
Hidden Shapes - Trick or Cats
tiny & Tall: Gleipnir
Doodle Derby
Gone Home + Original Soundtrack
Omen Exitio: Plague
Tesla Force
The Black Heart
Police Stories
From Space
DESOLATE
Just Die Already
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus
TIER 0
Back 4 blood eu
Destiny 2 Planet of Peace Exclusive Emblem
Dirt Rally 2.0 + 3 DLC
F1 2012
F1 2019 Anniversary
Grand Theft Auto Vice City
Remnant from the Ashes
Road to Guangdong - Story-Based Indie Road Trip Driving Game
the wolf among us
TIER 1
Absolver
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night
borderlands Game of the year enhanced Edition
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection EU
Darksiders genesis
Doom Eternal
Duke Nukem Manhattan Project
Elex
Endless Space 2 – Deluxe Edition
friday the 13th
Geometry Wars 3 Dimensions Evolved Mystery
Genital Jousting
Grid Autosport
Grid ultimate edition
Golf With Friends
GoNNER BLüEBERRY EDiTION
guild wars 2 heroic edition
guild wars nightfall
Hitman Absolution
House Flipper
Just cause 3 XXL
Kingdom Rush
Kerbal Space Program x 2
Legend Of Grimrock
Lego Marvel 2 Deluxe
Little Dragons Cafe
Mafia III: Definitive Edition
MAIN ASSEMBLY
Maneater
Mordhau
Orn the tiny forest sprite
Outward US x 2
Overcooked 2 + Surf and Turf + Too Many Cooks
pathfinder wrath
PGA TOUR 2k21 x 2
Phantasmagoria
Portal Knights
Pro cycling manager 2019
Project Cars
Project CARS 2 + Japanese Cars Bonus Pack
Risen
Sairento VR
Scum
Second Extinction
Sonic Forces
Spyro Reignited Trilogy x 2
Starbound
Star Trek Bridge Crew
State of Decay 2
streets of rogue
Summer in Mara
Superhot VR
Tales of Zestiria
Team Sonic Racing
Tekken 7
The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion GOTY
The Division + DLC US
Tomb Raider GOTY
Total War: MEDIEVAL II – Definitive Edition
TRINE 2 Complete Story
TRINE 3 The Artifacts of Power
Tracks - The Train Set Game
WARHAMMER 40,000: Gladius- Relics of War
Warhammer 40000 : Mechanicus
Wasteland 2 Directors Cut
Wasteland 3
valkyria chronicles IV Complete
X-com 2
TIER 2
ABZU
Armello x 3
asterix obelix xxl3
Band of Defenders
batman arkham knight
Battle Chasers: Nightwar
Beyond Blue
BioShock Infinite
Book of Demons
CHAOS CODE -NEW SIGN OF CATASTROPHE-
Choice Chamber
Chess Ultra
Cities skylines
civilization IV Complete Edition
Civilization 5
Dead by Daylight
Degrees of Separation
Drake Hollow
Driftland: The Magic Revival x 2
Endless Space 2
Europa Universalis IV
eXperience 112
FEZ
Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China - Deluxe Edition
Forced
From Space
Gamedec
Gato Roboto
Golf With Friends
Gunman Tales
Hotshot Racing
human fall flat
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1
Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
Just Cause 3
Killing Floor 2
King's Bounty: Crossworlds
King’s Bounty: Warriors of the North - The Complete Edition
Last Oasis
Manhunt
Megadimension Neptunia VII
Men of War: Assault Squad 2 - War Chest Edition
METAL SLUG 3
Metro Last Light Redux
Miscreated
MO:Astray
Morphopolis
Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021
Natural Selection 2
NecroWorm
Neo Cab
NEOVERSE
Not For Broadcast
Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty
Odyssey - The Story of Science
OF MICE AND SAND -REVISED-
One Step From Eden
Opus Magnum
Overcooked
Overgrowth
PATHOLOGIC 2
Pillars Of Eternity
Phoenix Point Year one edition
Planespace Torment Enhanced Edition
Plunge
Quantum League
Quest of Dungeons
Railroad tycoon 3
Rise of Industry
River City Melee Mach
Roarr! The Adventures of Rampage Rex
Sanctuary RPG: Black Edition
Scribblenauts Unmasked
Scythe Digital Edition
Serious Sam 3 BFE
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut
Shing!
Skullgirls
Sinking Island
Slinger VR
SNIPER GHOST WARRIOR CONTRACTS
Sonic All Stars Transformed Collection
Sparkle 2
Sparkle Unleashed
Starbound
Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds Saga
STAR WARS Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy
STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast
STAR WARS The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition
Star Wars Kotor 2
Star Wolves 3: Civil War
stick fight the game
Stronhold Crusader 2
Struggling
Styx Master of Shadows
SUPER TIME FORCE ULTRA
SurrounDead
Surviving Mars x 2
Swords of Gurrah
Tannenberg
THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIII STEAM EDITION
The Technomancer
tilt brush
Titan Quest Anniversary Edition
The Bard’s Tale IV: Director’s Cut
The Beast Inside
The Gardens Between
The Incredible Adventures of Van Hesing
the long dark survival Edition
The Stillness of the Wind
The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse
The town of light
The walking dead the new frontier
The Wild Eight
Train Valley 2
Trüberbrook
Tropico 5
Tsioque
Unto The End
Valfaris
Voidship: The Long Journey
volcanoids
Wargroove
WARSAW
West of Dead x 2
Wizard Of Legends x 2
Worms Clan Wars
Without Within 3
XCOM: Chimera Squad
Yooka Laylee
Zwei: The Arges Adventure
Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection
TIER 3
112 Operator
911 Operator
Acorn Assault: Rodent Revolution
Ageless
AI War 2
Alan Wake's American Nightmare
Alien Shooter 2 Conscription
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
angry video game nerd
Arcana Hearts 3
Armada 2526 Gold Edition
arma X
As Far As The Eye
Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
Atari Vault
AVEN COLONY
Before we Leave
Belladonna
BLACKHOLE
Blitzkrieg Anthology
Boomerang Fu
Bomber Crew - Deluxe Edition
Boreal Blade
Borealis
Bridge Constructor Playground
Broken Age x 3
Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons
Bunker Punks
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Cally's caves 3
Callys Caves 4
Capitalism 2
Carmageddon Max Damage
Cast of the Seven Godsends
Cepheus Protocol
Chaos Reborn
City Siege: Faction Island
COLT CANYON
Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!
Crazy Belts
crazy machines 3
Creeping Terror
Crowntakers
Crying Suns
CTU: Counter Terrorism Unit
Cybarian: The Time Travelling Warrior
Cyber Hook
Dad Quest x 2
Dark Heritage: Guardians of Hope
Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage
Darksiders Warmastered Edition
Dark Strokes The Legend of the Snow Kingdom Collectors Edition
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
Death to Spies: Moment of Truth
Death Squared
DESOLATE
Detached
Deus Ex: Invisible War
Dimension Drifter
Distrust : Polar Survival
Double Dragon IV
Draw Slasher
Duke Nukem Forever x 2
Dungeons 3
Dungeon Siege II
DV: Rings of Saturn
EarthNight
EarthX
Eliza
Enforcer: Police Crime Action
ENSLAVED™: Odyssey to the West™ Premium Edition
Epistory - Typing Chronicles
Etherborn
Etherlords I & II
Evergarden
evoland
F1 2018
Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered
Farming World
Fire
Fort Triumph
Fury Unleashed x 2
Garfield Kart
Gas Guzzlers Extreme
Goat simulator
Golf Gang
God's Trigger
Go Home Dinosaurs
Going Under
Gone Home + Original Soundtrack
Grim Legends 2: Song of the Dark Swan
GRIP: Combat Racing
Guilty Gear Sign
Gunscape Standard Edition
Hacknet + DLC
Heaven’s Vault
Heavy Burger
Heroes of Annihilated Empires
Hexologic
Hidden Object Bundle 5 in 1
Hidden Object 6in1 bundle
Hive Jump
Hopiko
HORACE
Hue
Hyperspace Invaders II: Pixel Edition
In Between
Innerspace
INMOST
Inside My Radio
Iris and the Giant
Iron Fisticle
John Wick
Just Die Already
ken follet
Kingdom: Classic
King Oddball
Knights of Pen & Paper 2
Knight's Retreat
Labyronia RPG
Labyronia RPG 2
Laser Disco Defenders
Leisure Suit Larry 7 - Love for Sail
Lemuria Lost in Space
Levelhead
LIBERATED
Little Misfortune
Livelock
Lostwinds
Lovecraft’s Untold Stories
Lust from Beyond: M Edition
Lust for Darkness
Luxor 3
Mages of Mystralia
Magrunner: Dark Pulse
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Before I get started I would like to make a disclaimer that this will be a lengthly post so forgive me for any grammatical errors or run-ons. Also, I am retelling each story as well as it was told to me. I will not be changing any descriptions - that are compared to movies - as to be appease any skeptics who don’t believe these accounts solely because the eye witness makes a film comparison. Furthermore, all three of these incidents were told to me over the years from three very different people who have no connection to each other. I never shared the other stories I heard about this family to the person sharing their own account as to not influence their own memory or story. I just let them confide in me their own experience with this family.
First story: I went to high school with a well known, successful pow wow dance competitor and this was his story. He began dating this girl from a large family prominent in the pow wow competition world. The parents of the large family were not employed and the father performed odd jobs around the community. Their main source of income was the monetary prizes and winnings from competing in pow wows - it was their main source of income. Having a large family with no stable income resulted in them being low on the socioeconomic ladder.
Being from a small rural Rez town there isn’t much to do for date night. So it is very common to drive around on old dirt roads and park and stargaze. One night he picks up the youngest daughter to spend time together. However, that night they opt to stay parked in his car on her family’s property. Most Navajo families have their homes in small circular networks such as a cul-de-sac minus the paved round about. There is a derelict traditional mud roof hogan on the property. The roof was caved in but the framing for the doorway was still intact. Oddly enough there was still a raggedly old Navajo blanket draped over the doorway lightly flapping in the wind. He says all of sudden the dogs started howling and barking. They both stopped talking and stared at the dogs. Something had the dogs attention. The dogs target their alarmed barking at the doorway of the old hogan. He feels uneasy but tries to hide it. She is still smiling and unfazed by all the commotion. The blanket stops flapping in the wind and falls flat. Its eerily silent except for the howling of the dogs. Suddenly, something rips through the doorway of the old hogan. As this figure exits the hogan the dogs began to chase it. He told me it was a f*cking werewolf! He said it looked exactly how the lycans looked in underworld the movie except not muscular. Like a sickly, emaciated werewolf. He said it takes about three long strides before jumping incredibly high straight into the trees. The dogs continue to chase it and cry off into the distance. He is in complete shock. He realizes that his girl’s reaction did not match his. She seemed familiar or unafraid. In the moments following he said she seemed to for lack of a better word tried to gaslight him. She began to tease him in an unfunny way and emasculate him by insinuating he was afraid. She said things like “oOoOh yOu’Re aFrAiD oF sKiNwAlKers” Long story short they eventually ended their relationship. It was a very ugly split. He said her family was nasty etc. He said he should’ve listened to all the other pow wow community members when they warned him that, that family was bad and they dealt in bad medicine.
Second Story: The older siblings of that family all shared residence in Phoenix. It is very common for people from the Rez to move to the valley after high school. The older siblings weren’t any different. This story was told to me by another young Navajo man. Just like the first he didn’t believe in traditional values - he believed that SW, spiritual healing, medicine men etc. were all myth. At the time he was dating the second youngest daughter. He expressed that her older brothers didn’t like him and on many occasions tried to physically fight him. The SW family members were known partiers and on many occasions would throw Rez parties (parties in the city with all or most attendees being from the Rez). The older brothers despised him; however, he recalled that they would call a cease fire so to speak during house parties. He said they would even be so kind as to even make him mixed drinks or bring him beers. He didn’t think anything of it. As nice as the brothers appeared he still wasn’t allowed to spend the night with his girlfriend under their roof. So after the house parties would dwindle down and end he found himself behind the wheel of his car driving back to his own apartment. He would never remember getting into his vehicle, driving home, or getting pulled over. He believed he was just blacking out from the alcohol. I know it is very dangerous to get behind the wheel and drink and drive - mind you this is his story and I’m only repeating what he said and I am not condoning any of it. Him and his girlfriend loved each other so he always returned to spend time with her. Fast forward to the next 4 house parties and the same thing kept happening. He would spend the night in jail and rack up another DUI. Pretty soon he had 4-6 DUI’s. He did time and paid the fines. He lost his job and his lifestyle. His mother who was a very traditional Navajo woman and single mother begged him to come home back to the Rez and get his life sorted. Without any other prospects he decided to come back to the Rez. Upon returning home his mother drove him to see a medicine woman. Feeling hopeless and lost he thought what could it hurt, right? If he didn’t believe in it or it didn’t exist what is the harm - nothing lost, nothing gained mentality. At least it would satisfy his mother’s anxiety. He was shocked that by looking into the fire the medicine woman told him in detail everything. He had never met this medicine woman before or up until this point had never been to a ceremony. She told him that she saw him drinking and partying with SW. She told him that the alcoholic drinks they were offering him were laced with corpse powder. She saw their hatred for him. Their bad medicine was meant to be fatal. They were trying to kill him. She said had those cops never pulled him over each time he would’ve continued on his way to his death. At the point of returning home him and that girl had broken up due to his trouble with the law and troubles with drinking.
Third story: This story was told to me by a gay Navajo man who had a long standing strictly platonic friendship with one of the brothers. They had gone to high school together and had remained friends in life. This happened at one of the aforementioned notorious Rez parties the SW family members used to host. The other brothers got upset and visibly angry that there was a gay man at their party. They wanted him to leave or else there would be trouble. The gay man told his friend that he would gladly leave to avoid any drama. However, he pleaded with him to stay and enjoy the festivities. The gay man was told to wait in the friends room while the friend sorted everything out and calmed down his brothers. About 30 to 45 minutes passes. He decides it isn’t worth the trouble and he is just going to leave. He walks down the back stairwell that directly leads to the garage. As he slowly and quietly descends he begins to hear the brothers arguing. He stands silent and begins to listen. He can hear the familiar voice of his friend pleading with his brothers. He repeatedly hears his friend command his brothers “not to FIGHT him or put anything on him”. On the Rez any form of the phrase “put anything on him/someone” roughly translates to when someone witches another person. If someone witches another person they put bad medicine on them. So the term “put anything on him” can only mean putting bad medicine or cursing. It’s just common sense knowledge on the Rez. If you are not from the Rez you may have many ways to interpret that phrase but there is only one meaning on the Rez. He is shocked about what he hears and slowly back tracks up the stairs and finds another way out of the house. He leaves and never goes to another party there.
It is said among the members of the small town that the pow wow family are SW who curse their rivals in order to win pow wow competitions. If you are from the Rez I am sure you might have heard of this family or have even heard stories yourself.

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Learn Japanese to survive Hiragana Battle
Left in the Dark: No One on Board
Leisure Suit Larry 5 - Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
Leisure Suit Larry 6 - Shape Up Or Slip Out
Little Racers STREET
Lock Parsing 2
Love is Dead
Midnight Mysteries 3: Devil on the Mississippi
Memoria
Moss Destruction
NAIRI: Tower of Shirin
NeuroVoider
No Time to Explain Remastered
One Finger Death Punch
OneShift
Out of Reach: Treasure Royale
Pesterquest
Purrfect Date – Visual Novel/Dating Simulator
Raceland
Regions Of Ruin
Regular Human Basketball x 2
Rencounter
Renoir
Return to Mysterious Island
Resort Boss: Golf
Rym 9000
Seraph
Shooting Stars!
Silence
Sky Break
Space Pilgrim Episode III: Delta Pavonis
Space Pilgrim Episode IV: Sol
Spandex Force: Champion Rising
Steel Rats
Super Daryl Deluxe
Sword Legacy Omen
Taxi
The Adventure Pals x 3
The Deed: Dynasty
The Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dream
The Spiral Scouts
The Uncertain - The Last Quiet Day
Tiny Troopers
ttv2
Twilight City Love as a Cure
Two Worlds: Epic Edition
Tumblestone
Unhack
Unhack 2
Viking Saga The Cursed Ring
White Noise Online
World Keepers Last Resort
Zombie Party x 2

I've never had to do this before, so hopefully I make this coherant.
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I've been with my wife for 14 years - we nearly fell instantly in love, and spent all of our time together. I proposed shy of three years together in the fall, and we got married the following summer. We have three amazing kids together who we are both fully in love with. We live a relatively simple life - I work at a well-paying corporate job, she had held multiple jobs over the years and has always felt a strong sense of success. I wish I could say the same for me - I graduated college at once of the worst times for my generation and struggled with finding a solid career path. After a few years (before I proposed), I was lucky enough to get a temp job working for a Fortune 100 company and worked my way up over time. I never enjoyed my work, but always worked my butt off to be as successful as possible, knowing that there's always a "next thing" to shoot for.
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Mild story break, but very important. Throughout both of our lives, my wife and I have struggled with our weights. I have spent the majority of my life very overweight (don't think 'My 600 Pound Life', but the really really fat guy you see at a pool), and she has always been very overweight as well. We've worked on our weights throughout our relationships (I was actually in relatively good shape when we met) but neither of us have ever had continued success. She actually had lap band early in our relationship (before marriage) and ended up having all the fluid removed in the second year, rendering the device useless. That being said, I never loved her any less and always made sure she knew this.
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Last year, my wife had another (different) bariatic procedure done. For anyone not familiar with these surgeries, these are not taken lightly in the medical community - months of surgeon appointments, nutritionists, psych evaluations - and she did everything by the book. I continued to support her as she felt strongly about this. Since the procedure, she has lost ~70 pounds and is living a very active lifestyle.
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Cutting back to me - a little good news on my career. I started a new role two years ago, and began to hate it pretty quickly. Leadership was weak, had no vision, and I was struggling to get through the day - something I saw in one of my previous roles. The first time, I ended up seeing a psychiatrist and was put on antidepressants. The antidepressants made it easier to live my life, but as a side effect I began to gain weight. I had to balance out liking the person I felt like, and the person I looked like. I ended up being the heaviest I had been in my life, and stopped taking the pills and seeing the doctor (FWIW, I never really liked the doctor, he was fine but seemed like a means to a prescription). I've come back down in weight and have remained stable since then - but am still morbidly obese.
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I PROMISED good news - at my current job in the last year leadership changed, we re-orged, and leadership is working directly with me to build a career I love. I didn't think these kind of things could happen, but I'm actually happy with my job - I get up in the morning and look forward to taking on the day. Over the last few months, I've gone to conferences and I'm building a vision for the work I've been assigned. This happiness has bloomed in the last three months. Last week I shared my one year plan for the company with leadership and they were so impressed, they've asked me to bump the plan to three years. I shared this news with my wife and she seemed happy for me.
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This week has been rough, I can tell something has been different with my wife, and she seems distant. I know she sometimes has extreme hormone swings based on a non-threatening medical condition she has (I want to be very clear, this is a real thing, I'm not trying to be snarky) and assumed she is having an 'episode' - these usually last a few days and her body normalizes itself out. I pulled back being overly emotional with her because it's usually a negative trigger, but after our youngest was asleep she sent the older kids to watch a movie and told me she wanted to talk to me.
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Normally when we have issue with our relationship, we give it a few days and we share what's been bothering both of us. When she asked to talk, I immediately told her I am willing to talk, but truely have no issues to share with her. I shared what I just previously shared, which is I believe she's having an episode, and was trying to give her a little space. She began to tell me that with her weight loss, she has a new found confidence and feels like I'm dragging our family down. I never take the lead on planning active events for our family - we never have done this in the past - and she doesn't see me putting in the effort to lose weight that she is doing. I struggle with this for a few reasons:
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1) I don't feel like bariatric surgery is for me. I am in no way opposed to it for people who want it, but I don't see bariatric surgery as a solution for me. It's just not my thing and is a major committment.
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2) She has a job where she works limited hours, and works out everyday for two and a half hours. The gym has child care (for the baby) and once the big kids are on the bus, she goes to the gym and grinds super hard. I'm very proud of her for the work she puts in and I've shared this with her. I don't have the time to do that. I would either need to sacrifice my job (not happening) or go to the gym immediately after work and sacrifice the time with my kids (not ideal, IMO). I HAVE been working out 3-4 mornings a week in the basement, mostly cardio.
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3) She does all the shopping in the house, and she shops relatively clean. She buys some snacks for the kids - but I don't eat those, and eat what she buys for "us". I'm sure in theory if I ate 1200 calories a day, I would lose weight, but I'd also drive myself crazy starving. I've tried every diet there is, and I've never found longterm success.
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She also shared that she feels like I'm holding her back from doing hiking trips (I've never done so, we actually did a multi-night national park trip a few years back where we hiked multiple days) and doing things and she said she does not know if she can be with me if I don't share her new lifestyle.
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I was shocked by this as I've supported her in everything she has done in her life, and based on the last eight months, she is willing to throw it all away. I froze at the opportunity to say I'll do whatever it takes because I don't have the confidence that her goals will be realistic for me (she struggled to really drill down what this all looks like for me). I ended up at a stalemate, bawled my eyes out, and told her I needed to think about things before I could talk more.
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I spent a few hours reflecting and she said she wanted to talk more. This is where I'm really at a loss for words. She started going back to her original points she discussed, but then started bringing up how she was no longer satisfied sexually. She said sex with me is difficult (she never had a problem when she was larger) and she wants more in her sex life. She asked me if I would be interested in a threesome - which sounds like every guy's fantasy - but this was the most confusing part for her to bring this up here. This is something we had joked about a LONG time ago, and she never seemed interested in something like that. She said that she now fantasizes about someone holding her up during sex and I can't do that for her. I immediately said that absolutely that's not something I'm into with the context of our current situation. She then asked me what I thought about being in an open relationship - something we've never talked about, and something that truely hurt me. Again, for people who are in open relationships, that is fine, but not something I am interested in being a part of. I completely broke down with this and I feel like my world is collapsing down on me. I've already taken the day off work tomorrow, and don't even know what to do.
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Am I crazy to not have jumped at her suggestion to "share her new lifestyle"? I feel like I'm setting myself up for failure by doing so without even really understanding what that is. How do I even go about figuring out what to do next? I am too embarrassed to talk to my friends about this, do I need a therapist to talk to? Couples therapy? I have no idea.
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She's texted me since our last talk saying she loves me and always will, but I don't even know what to say to her back.
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Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
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TL;DR - My wife has lost a significant amount of weight, and now she says she can't be with me if I can't adopt her "lifestyle"

Here’s a list I’ve compiled of all the major summer events, thought it would be helpful:
Taste of Syracuse • June 2-3 11am-10pm • Clinton Square
Syracuse Bike Party • Last Saturday of each month, 6:45 meet time • Clinton Square (or alternative site)
Fayetteville Farmers Market CNY • Every Thursday, 12-6pm • Fayetteville Town Center
Syracuse Downtown Farmers Market • Every Tuesday, 8am-2pm • Clinton Square
Cazenovia Farmers' Market • Every Saturday, 9am-2pm • Memorial Park on Albany Street
Bank Alley Urban Market • June 11, July 16, August 13 • 11am-4pm • Bank Allley Downtown Syracuse
Bank Alley Social Club • Shop Small Sundays • June 18, July 23 • 11am-5pm • Located at Salt City Market
Syracuse Shakespeare In The Park • June 2-11 • Thornden Park Amphitheater
St. Sophia’s Greek Cultural Festival • June 8-10 • 325 Waring Road
CNY Pride Festival & Parade • June 10, 11am parade, 12-5pm festival • Inner Harbor
2023 New York State Blues Festival • June 15-17 • Chevy Court
Westcott Art Trail • June 17, 10am-6pm • Westcott Community Center
Polish Days in Syracuse • June 9-11 • Clinton Square
Syracuse Jazz Fest • June 21-25 • Hanover and Clinton Square
St. Elias Middle Eastern Festival • July 13-16, various times • 4988 Onondaga Road
Syracuse Nationals • July 20-22 • NYS Fairgrounds
M&T Bank Syracuse Arts & Crafts Festival • July 28-30 • Columbus Circle
Skaneateles Antique and Classic Boat Show • July 28-30 • Skaneateles, NY
Visit Syracuse Hanover Square Thursdays • Live music every Thursday in August • Hanover Square Downtown
Madison Bouckville Antique Week • August 14-20 • Rt 20 Bouckville, NY
The Skaneateles Festival • Live music events • July-August, various dates • Downtown Skaneateles
St. George Macedonian Festival • August 4-6 • 5083 Onondaga Road
CNY Scottish Games • August 12, 9am-8pm • Long Branch Park, Liverpool
Syracuse Irish Festival • September 8-9 • Clinton Square
Strathmore Art on the Porches • September 9, 11am-5pm • Ruskin Ave
Golden Harvest Festival • September 9-10, 10am-5pm • Beaver Lake Nature Center
Festa Italiana Syracuse • September 15-17 • Corner of Montgomery and Washington Streets (in front of city hall)
Westcott Street Cultural Fair • October 1, 12-6:30pm • Westcott Neighborhood
LaFayette Apple Festival • October 7-8 • 5330 Rowland Road, LaFayette
Syracuse Mets Home Games June: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 28, 29, 30 July: 1, 2, 3, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 August: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 September: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Rosamond Gifford Zoo • Open every sinlge day • 10:00am - 4:30pm
Museums: • Skä•noñh - Great Law of Peace Center • Everson Museum of Art • Museum of Science & Technology - MOST • Erie Canal Museum • Salt Museum • Onondaga Historical Association
Theaters and stages: • The Palace Theatre Syracuse • Landmark Theatre • The Westcott Theater • The Oncenter • Syracuse Stage • Redhouse Theater
Some parks and beaches, more below: • Beaver Lake Nature Center (has lots of activities and programs!) • Clark Reservation • Green Lakes State Park • Sylvan Beach Amusement Park • Thornden Park
Onondaga County Parks • Find parks, beaches, and activities here: https://onondagacountyparks.com
Syracuse Parks & Rec • Find parks and activities here: https://www.syr.gov/Departments/Parks-Recreation
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation • Find parks, beaches, activities, and historic sites here: https://parks.ny.gov
The Great New York State Fair Free/reduced price/theme days: ⭐️Thursday, August 24, 2023 Student Youth Day Youth and Students under 18 years of age are admitted free on this day. ID showing date of birth may be requested.
⭐️Friday, August 25, 2023 Pride Day The first state fair in America to host an official Pride Day to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community.
New Americans Day Witness approximately 100 people as they complete a long and challenging process to pledge their allegiance to the United States and become Americans. Ceremony will be held at Daniella’s Seafood & Pasta House in the Art & Home Center.
⭐️Monday, August 28, 2023 Law Enforcement Day We honor the men and women of law enforcement in New York State with free admission to any active or retired law enforcement or corrections personnel who presents a badge or picture ID from the department from which they are or were employed.
⭐️Tuesday, August 29, 2023 Fire & Rescue Day We honor the brave men and women of fire and emergency services agencies with free admission to any active or retired member of a fire department or emergency services organization who has a picture ID from that department or organization.
⭐️Wednesday, August 30, 2023 Women's Day A mini-fair will be held from 10:00am to 4:00pm at the Chevy Court Pavilion featuring many advocacy groups for women… feel free to stop by to get information, learn, and ask any questions.
⭐️Thursday, August 31, 2023 Armed Forces Day We celebrate all members of the military with free admission to any active duty or veteran with military identification (Military ID Card, form DD-214 or NYS Driver License, Learner Permit or non-driver ID card with a veteran designation).
⭐️Friday, September 1, 2023 Native Americans Day We honor all members of Native American tribes with free admission on this day. ID is not required. Make sure to visit the Indian Village throughout the day for cultural performances and crafts.

Urfi Javed Opens Up About Her Father’s Torture, Relatives Calling Her a Porn Actress Urfi Javed, who has starred in several TV series such as Bade Bhaiyya Ki Dulhaniya, Kasautii Zindagii Kay 2 and Chandra Nandani, was the first contestant to be evicted from Bigg Boss OTT.
Urfi Javed had a difficult life, away from the glamour and blitz that she is a part of now. She had to scrap her way out of her old abusive life in order to make a name for herself. In a recent interview with Siddharth Kannan, Urfi opened up about the struggles that she had to go through to come all the way up where she is now. The actress does not have much memories to remember her days at home fondly – in fact she hopes that no girl goes through the torture that she was a victim of.
When Urfi was just a school student, some notorious group circulated her pictures on adult websites which came to the notice of her parents and relatives. Instead of standing by her in her difficult time, her father physically and mentally abused her, for a stretch of two years. Her relatives even asked to check her bank balance, insinuating that she might have earned crores by involving herself in adult content. Recalling her trauma, Urfi added that for years, she could not even remember her own name and her voice. Her father had the mandate in the house that girls cannot make decisions – that should be done by the male members of the family.
Earlier, in an interview last year with The Times of India, she spoke of the time when she ran away from home to escape the torture. Urfi said that she and her other two siblings stayed for a week in a park in Delhi. They started looking out for jobs and was lucky to find one in a call centre. Soon after the incident, her father remarried and the responsibilities of her mother and her other siblings came on her. She said that her father’s remarriage was a blessing in disguise because that helped them to break the shackles of his torture and explore life without restrictions.
Urfi, who has starred in several TV series such as Bade Bhaiyya Ki Dulhaniya, Kasautii Zindagii Kay 2 and Chandra Nandani, was the first contestant to be evicted from Bigg Boss OTT.
https://www.news18.com/news/movies/bigg-boss-ott-fame-urfi-javed-opens-up-about-her-fathers-torture-relatives-calling-her-a-porn-actress-4107611.html

Band comes on kinda late imo, but that’s the only thing on them. That venue was kinda not great. Great location, but why does it feel slapped together? A bunch of cheap plastic chairs zip tied together. Employees who know absolutely nothing about what they’re selling. They all seemed first day on the job. Absolutely disgusting food. Makeshift bathroom facilities. $22 drinks. They cut off the drinks before show ended. Bugs everywhere.
No wonder people started walking out early and didn’t seem that into it. It’s a shame cause they put on a decent show. Just my honest opinion. Tinley Park is better, but Live Nation just killing the concert going experience.

Hey, this is about my friend Lisa. She actually ended up becoming homeless, and let me tell you, it's been a really rough journey for her. It all started when she lost her job and couldn't find another one in time. She just couldn't keep up with the rent and her landlord kicked her out of her apartment. Lisa crashed on some friends' couches for a while, but things didn't work out, and she ended up on the streets. Man, life out there is tough. She had to constantly search for places to stay, and most nights she ended up crashing in sketchy places like abandoned buildings or park benches. Can you imagine? It's scary as hell. The scariest thing is the violence she's had to face (was mugged and even assaulted by random people. It's messed up, you know? She always has to be on high alert and trying to stay out of trouble. I can't even imagine what that must have been like. Being homeless messed with her head big time. She is constantly on edge, always looking over her shoulder, and she often goes hungry. It's just not right, you know?
She met another girl a couple of weeks ago who lives in a van and lets Lisa sleep in the van a few nights a week. Seeing my friend go through all of this has been really tough. I try to help her as much as I can but this situation has changed her so much, she's becoming very distant and vague. Idk what to do anymore.

I went back to my old job 2 weeks ago, there’s 2 different plants under the same company, same huge parking lot. My bf works at the mill part, I’m at the treat plant. Often from October or November until March, everyone is scheduled 7 days a week because orders increase a TON at that time, but come March 1 it goes back to Mon- fri with the occasional Saturday scheduled if orders weren’t completely finished for the week.
Well the mill still hasn’t stopped 7 days a week this year, treat plant is mon- fri and a good bit of saturdays. We work this Saturday, fine by me bc we had sat- mon off, Mon being paid and then I was off Tuesday and yesterday for my 17 month olds surgery. So I could use the extra work day. But my supervisor told us today to prepare to work 7 days a week the next 2 months or more. We work 2 shift, 3-11. My kids wake up between 7-9, often either 8 or 9. I already hate that I don’t feel like I get enough time with them before work, but would I be crazy to try to transition them into waking up at like 6/6:30 am so I can spend more time with them? Especially working 7 days a week 😭

I thought this sub would be an uplifting community but its so doomy and gloomy it makes me doubt my entire career choice.
In my personal life, I have so many mentors, past teachers and people from all across Australia who are encouraging me to be a teacher. In my experience talking to teachers in person about my career choice the vibes are very much "you have amazing days and terrible days, you have amazing kids and terrible kids, it has goods and bads just like any job". But this sub makes it sound like "being a teacher is selling your sole to the devil, say goodbye to your santiy and will to live, escape now before it's too late".
I don't want to live in denial, I know there's a behavioural crisis, salary issues, understaffing and manipulation from higher ups. But despite all that, are there teachers out there who still love their job? Who are having a good experience? Or are you even atleast satisfied? Would you still choose it over other career paths?
I've worked in corporate/industry and it was solesucking, I couldn't stand sitting in pointless meetings talking about profits for products I didn't care about. Even though I'm great at what I do and had tried working in marketing, real estate, media, research, I've done it all and all of it left me feeling unforfilled and slogging away for no real reason, I had a mini-crisis that led to me quitting my job and feeling like I'd never find a career that I felt passionate about. It wasn't until a mentor said I'd make a great teacher with my niche in communications that I pursued it. I'm working in schools now as an SSO and doing my master of teaching and for the most part I'm really enjoying it.
I felt like teaching was my ikigai, something I'm good at, something I can get paid for and something the world needs. I'm a realist/optimistic person who came from a very successfully run low SES school so I always felt I could handle what teaching threw at me. I also had planned to go back into research for a education company once I had teaching well under my belt because I want to do something that matters. I feel so passionate but I know it's not going to be a walk in the park.
But still this sub has alarm bells going off in my head, so much so I'm like, do I even want to risk it. I feel myself filling with doubt everytime I see a "teaching is a scam job and is ruining my life" post which is much more frequent than any uplifting post. Does everyone seriously really feel this way?
So please, if you have anything mildly positive to say to a student teacher about teaching as career choice, say it. Extra points if you can give me some detail rather than just "I love teaching trust me" I need to know why and if I'd be able to see that for myself aswell.
Ya girl, and I imagine alot of other student teachers, need to hear it. Before i have a second mini-life crisis. Lol.

The place I deliver for is located in a pretty suburban / rural area of a city of 90,000, so even when I do get to deliver closer to downtown it's not too hectic. Traffic is usually pretty good and I can always find a parking spot. For those who deliver in a big city like New York or LA, what's it like? What are some unique challenges that you wouldn't find in a rural delivery setting? And maybe some unexpected bonuses to working in such a busy and enclosed space? I'm especially interested to hear from people who drive for their job, as I think that would be particularly challenging in certain settings

When you don’t see someone for a while, they tend to look kind of different the next time you meet. That’s not because they’ve actually changed, but rather due to your memory being inaccurate. Still, I don’t think my roommate has always had barnacles growing on her.
Kit Sutton did indeed look different. Beautiful, but different.
In the short time we’d been apart, her hair had grown to an impressive length. It trailed after her through the water as she effortlessly hopped from rock to rock before landing in front of us. She was even more scantily clad than usual; in fact, she wasn’t wearing anything at all. Her normally olive skin had adopted a pearlescent sheen, interrupted by the algae, starfish and seashells clinging to her body. Her eyes shone in the light of our torch and she regarded us with an unreadable expression, putting a hand to her hip.
"I can't believe you're actually here." She shook her head, sounding like she wasn't even sure herself what tone to strike. "You… you'd better leave. And fast. I-it's nice to see you, though."
I took a step forward and hugged her. She felt slippery. "I've missed you."
"Yeah. Me too. You should still go now."
"You need to come back," I said. "I'm sorry I ever gave up on you. There has to be a way for you to come back."
She shook her head. "Eva, you saw what my father can do. You saw the wave and you just saw his grotto guard. There's, like, a thousand more where that one came from."
"What are you doing here anyways? Isn't this a kinda way too lonely spot for you to hang out?" Elijah asked. "Doesn't seem very you."
"Yeah. It's… not." She rolled her eyes. "I'm basically grounded. My Dad's gonna keep me here for the next two hundred years or so. I'm not allowed to leave until he trusts me again."
"Two hundred years?" Eli echoed.
Kit massaged her temples. "I don't like it either, believe me." Looking up, a hopeful expression crossed her face. "How's Nettie?"
"She misses you," I told her.
"She does? That's, um… nice."
"It's cool, I know about you two."
"Oh. Well. I'm really glad she's thinking about me. Is that mean? Because I don't want her to be unhappy, it just feels good, you know?"
"I can imagine," I answered. "And it only proves my point. We have to get you out of here."
"Dude, I said no. You actually can't beat my father. I wish that was an option, but it's simply not."
"Kit…"
"It's Chandra." She raised her head to fix me with a stern gaze. So empty, so joyless, so… unlike her. "It was nice being Kit and running around up top and living with you. Those were a good few years, and now here I am, paying the price. There is nothing you can do against my Dad."
Silence descended upon us for a sober couple seconds. I studied her expression, her set jaw and taut shoulders. "And what about you?" I asked. "Can you do something?"
Kit snorted. "You've never even seen me use any sort of powers."
"But you have them, don't you?"
"Actually, I do." She casually raised a hand, her wrist slowly describing a circle. Eli and I watched in astonished silence as a trail of water snaked its way up from the lake, arching above her head and trickling back down on the other side of the stepstone. Kit Sutton looked after it disinterestedly, then turned to us with a bored shrug. "I guess I can sorta control water."
Elijah was gaping at her. "Could you do this the whole time?"
"Nope. Only when I'm in my natural habitat. I'm the crown princess—" she spat out the words in discontent, forming air-quotes around them— "and the heiress to the throne, so I'm, like, ultra connected to my element or whatever. Not like my siblings."
"But as of now, you are stronger than them?" I queried. "Is there any possibility you could become stronger than your father, too?"
For a moment, she stared at me, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. "Actually, let me show you something." Her naked feet never once slipping on the wet stone, she proceeded towards the nearest platform rock, jumping off with ease and landing gracefully. After trading shrugs with Elijah Carter, we scrambled after her. She led us back a little ways and then down one of the other passages we'd glimpsed before, barely losing a word the whole time. I stopped trying to strike up a conversation, focusing solely on keeping up with her unnaturally sleek, swift steps.
"The olm you saw before was one of my father's guardians," she called out sharply over her shoulder. "The sea breeds giants, as they say. Or rather, Dad does. He keeps creating abominations like that, and he uses them to ward off outsiders in places where they don't belong. They're obviously not stopping me from running away again—you've seen that they'll obey me. But his Majesty has made it quite clear that if I break out, he's going to turn the town into a swamp. I'm not going to be responsible for people's deaths, or the loss of their homes. Especially not… not hers."
She came to a halt, squaring her shoulders. Above her head, I could make out the silhouette of an opening in the tunnel. "We're here. This… this should be enough proof that he'll make good on any threat he's ever uttered." She stepped aside to make way for us.
We hesitantly pushed past her and into the room that lay before us. It was different from all the others we'd seen thus far—it didn't lure one into a false sense of security with its descriptive beauty. In fact, the second the beam of our flashlight illuminated its interior, every last fiber of my being started to cry out to me, telling me to run. My flight instinct kicking in, I tried desperately to stay grounded somehow, to keep control. I couldn't allow myself to panic. This was a horrible time to end up going dimensions. I had to remain in this reality, no matter how difficult the sight before me was rendering the task.
I heard Elijah Carter gag beside me, his stomach revolting at what he saw. His hand abruptly flew to my shoulder, cold, sweat-slick fingers clamping down on my skin, hard enough to bruise. With my own stomach doing kick-flips inside my body, I could understand his reaction far too well. Instead of shrinking away, I reached up to graze his knuckles with my own, a fleeting touch I couldn't find the strength to hold. It was hard to be reassuring given the circumstances.
We were looking at a gallery of corpses. They lined the walls, the floor, the ceiling, all in different states of wholeness and decay. A viscous, transparent fluid was gluing them to the stone, fixing them in their respective places. In some spots, it looked quite shiny and fresh, while in others, it had hardened, encasing the dead bodies like clear, pale amber. It was an unorganized chaos, the carcasses strewn practically everywhere, some overlapping, some upside down. Some had their eyes still open, their faces eternally frozen in void, empty expressions of terror. Most bodies weren't even complete—arms, legs or heads were missing, pronounced bitemarks marring the aged yet well-preserved flesh.
Elijah and I found ourselves standing rooted to the ground, too terrified to move, too dazed to speak. My friend's dark gaze frantically raced over the walls, flickering across the horrid display, taking in the carnage. My own eyes seemed to be burning. My head was spinning, and I had to hold onto his arm to support myself—it felt as though my legs were about to give way beneath me.
A shimmering light at the center of the room caught my attention. Somehow finding it within me to steady myself, I took a couple faltering steps towards it. Elijah Carter followed suit and Kit Sutton wordlessly trailed after us. Stepping over the dozens and dozens of corpses in my way, I tried hard to keep my wits about me. When I finally reached its source, I was surprised to find it to be a pond, or rather a bottomless hole of water. Another connection to the sea, no doubt. The shine however seemed fine from within it, from down below where there would normally be just darkness. Looking in, the breath was once again stolen from my lungs. It felt rather like peering through a small window into a very large hall. I could only see a fracture of what lay beneath.
Hovering within the endless masses of water was the enormous statue of a woman. Her stony pale arms were raised, her hands reaching out almost pleadingly, as if she was hoping for someone to pull her up from her cold, abyssal grave. Her eyes, one of which was about the size of my head, were wide open, her colorless stare holding a wild, unreadable mix of emotions. Her lips were parted in a silent scream. An unearthly, bright glow surrounded her; it seemed to come from within her body rather than anywhere else. It was disturbingly beautiful.
"Her name was Calypso."
Kit's voice pulled me from my trance. When I turned to face her, she pointedly avoided my gaze. An idea took shape in my mind, created by the faint, wavery undertone of mourning in her words. "She was someone special, wasn't she?"
"My mother."
I swallowed, my pulse still thrumming in my ears. Stepping forward, I tentatively grasped my roommate's hand. She let go of a soft breath, the corner of her mouth twitching. "These people here have been rotting away for centuries. It's the worst punishment imaginable, isn't it. The lucky ones are dead before they get glued down, but the ones he's really angry at, he covers in that goo when they're, like, lethally injured. I don't quite know what this stuff is, but it slows down all those organic processes, the death, the decomposition…" She paused. "With Mom, it was different. He turned her to stone. The same kind that grows from the ground here, you know; that smooth, shiny kinda rock that looks real pretty."
"What did she do to piss off your Dad?"
"What did any of these poor fuckers do? Most of these are failed cult leaders, actually. You'd never guess how many cults the deep ones have dedicated to them. As for my mother, I don't know. I can't even remember her, to be honest." She shrugged with affected carelessness. "You see it now? My father is… just beyond comprehension."
"So are you, though, aren't you? If you think about it."
"Eva, I know you're trying to boost morale here, but it's not working. Please let me get you out of here. And for heaven's sake, don't come back."
She led us back through the labyrinth of tunnels and corridors, staying well behind when we caught the first glimpse of daylight.
"I promise I'll think of something," I told her. "I'll find a way to get you out."
She merely shook her head. "No, you won't. Just go home and look for a new roommate. Or move back in with Nettie. She'll be glad."
I clenched my teeth, but allowed Eli to press his palm to my back, guiding me towards the exit.
"Actually, just… just wait. Could you tell her I, like, miss her? A lot?" Kit shouted after us, a sudden note of warmth softening her voice.
Elijah turned back to her with a sad smile. "Of course."
We didn't return to the car straight away, instead walking along the shore for a little while. My extra limbs having retracted and Eli's face having returned to a less nauseous color, we didn't bear any outward traces of our experience in the cave. We didn’t talk much, but we almost leaned onto one other with how closely we stuck to each other’s side. Eventually, I gathered the strength to break the silence. “This can’t stand, obviously.”
“You still want to get her out?” He gave me a sidelong glance. “This is more for Nettie’s sake than anything else, isn’t it?”
“I do like Kit Sutton, and I miss her tremendously,” I stated. “But largely, it is.”
Elijah, having nothing else to add, gave a noncommittal grunt.
“Would you mind if I asked you something personal?” I asked.
“Try it and find out.”
“I was wondering about what Mary Markov said about you earlier,” I began. “An incident at a highschool.”
He sighed. Silence fell, and for a minute I thought he wouldn’t respond at all. Then, he slowed down, coming to a halt and turning to look out at the horizon. “So how do we do this, Shirley? You really want me to pour my heart out to you and let you in on my tragic past as we stare at the tossing waves? That’s a bit too romantic for the two of us, if you ask me.”
“But you’d let me in on your tragic past in a less romantic setting?”
“Oh sure, anytime,” he said lightly. “Well, not any time. I’d be okay talking to you about it, though. See, it doesn’t matter to me if you know or not, the problem is kinda the headspace and getting the words out of my mouth in the first place.”
“I’m glad you feel like you could do that with me.” I regarded his profile, noting how he swallowed and shut his eyes for a moment.
“Let’s go back to the car.”
So we did. Only that it wasn’t quite how we left it. Elijah noticed it first—a low, hissed curse escaped him as he bent down to inspect the damage. The back window had been smashed in. The brown folder Mary Markov had given me was gone.
X
1
2: deadbeat roommate
3: creepy crush
4: relocation
5: beach concert
6: First date
7: Temp work
8: roommate talk
9: a dismal worldview
10: warehouse
11: staircase
12: explanation
13: hurt
14: hospital
15: ocean
16: diner
17: government work
18: something in the caves
19: shopping cart
20: olms and Jewels

Just smoked a potent sativa so I feel like spreading some knowledge, all of this was learned over decades of local selling and applies to FBM

1. Know what to sell. You’re not gonna get market value for some niche collectible like you will on eBay. The best items to sell locally are tools, sports gear, furniture, Pokémon cards, housewares, electronics, video games, & sneakers. records/tapes/cds, clothing and jewelry sell very poorly there. High end items sell poorly. Source items that you see selling well in your area.
2. Always price a little higher than what you want, but not too high as to turn off potential non-haggling buyers. The buyers all want deals there, they won’t pay more like they will on eBay, they will always want it for less. Make them think you are giving them a deal when you’re really not.
3. Ignore lowballers, these are not the buyers you want even if you get them to a fair price. they won’t give 5 stars or reviews, they will be flakey, late, show up with less cash.
4. Who you sell to is the most important thing. You want every item to end up in the hands of a sane, reasonable buyer who will be friendly or professional and give you no issues.
5. This is why screening is the most important part of the job. If you have a good item at a fair price, you should get lots of messages , your job is to weed out the undesirable buyers and find the right one. Too many grammatical errors? Red flag. Too pushy too eager to buy? Red flag, lowball offer? Red flag, you checked their page and it looks suspicious in any way? Red flag. You get a general vibe when talking to these people , trust your gut always and wait for a buyer with all green flags.
6. If you get a really good vibe and you live in a safe area have them come and pick up the item. I’ve had 1000s of buyers come to my home and never once had a problem. Never ever travel to meet a buyer, if they flake you lost time and money. If it’s a high risk item I meet inside a Starbucks. Not in a parking lot , not at the police station, this is the best way.
7. Always be prepared for anything you might meet a smooth criminal one day. Have a weapon, or another person present , try not to meet late at night.
8. Check FBM for steals still plenty of people undervalue their stuff or list the item poorly.
9. Never Get high on your own supply
10. Manipulate search results with good keywords in your title . FBM gives you more characters than eBay use that to your advantage.

Trigger Warning- Racism
My 2 friends and I have been best friends ever since we were kids. Were almost 30 now and they say things that really frustrate me and make me question remaining friends with them. I feel like I’ve grown and diversified myself and they have the same mindset coming from the small white town we grew up in.
For example, when we visit downtown areas they make comments about how we need to lock the doors or try to park somewhere with cameras which just feels like a micro aggression. We went to the park downtown and my friend said "not to make it a race thing but why are there always so many black people here."
My one friend was talking about how she likes everyone at her job (seems like everyone who is white) except the one that argues with people on the phone who is "ghetto" and my friend leaned over and whispered "was she dark" and then they laughed. We passed a girl driving in her car and she had long eyelashes and they laughed at how long they are and my friend said "black b words always have those long eyelashes."
I could go on. I feel like they stereotype and say something about everyone who is different than them and put them in a box. But their totally fine with other white people who say worse stuff than this.
I don’t like confrontation but this shit hurts my soul. I know its absolutely awful and not ok is it worth trying to educate them or explaining how I feel when they say these things and if nothing changes cut them off? Or do I just do that now?
Besides them saying these things - I know, I’m not trying to rationalize it, I try to see the best in people and I value their friendship and our history, I can’t imagine my life without them, but things just feel different. I can’t believe the ignorance and how I’ve become awake to it and they haven’t at all.
I try to think about how their upbringing has made them this way but mine was similar and I’ve strived to learn and be a better person. I just feel like were not on the same wavelength and my blood boils when these remarks are made. I don’t respond or laugh. And I don’t think they have even noticed.
Please let me know the best way to go about this. I’m deeply sorry if reading this was triggering or hurtful.

Trigger Warning- Racism
My 2 friends and I have been best friends ever since we were kids. Were almost 30 now and they say things that really frustrate me and make me question remaining friends with them. I feel like I’ve grown and diversified myself and they have the same mindset coming from the small white town we grew up in.
For example, when we visit downtown areas they make comments about how we need to lock the doors or try to park somewhere with cameras which just feels like a micro aggression. We went to the park downtown and my friend said "not to make it a race thing but why are there always so many black people here."
My one friend was talking about how she likes everyone at her job (seems like everyone who is white) except the one that argues with people on the phone who is "ghetto" and my friend leaned over and whispered "was she dark" and then they laughed. We passed a girl driving in her car and she had long eyelashes and they laughed at how long they are and my friend said "black b words always have those long eyelashes."
I could go on. I feel like they stereotype and say something about everyone who is different than them and put them in a box. But their totally fine with other white people who say worse stuff than this.
I don’t like confrontation but this shit hurts my soul. I know its absolutely awful and not ok is it worth trying to educate them or explaining how I feel when they say these things and if nothing changes cut them off? Or do I just do that now?
Besides them saying these things - I know, I’m not trying to rationalize it, I try to see the best in people and I value their friendship and our history, I can’t imagine my life without them, but things just feel different. I can’t believe the ignorance and how I’ve become awake to it and they haven’t at all.
I try to think about how their upbringing has made them this way but mine was similar and I’ve strived to learn and be a better person. I just feel like were not on the same wavelength and my blood boils when these remarks are made. I don’t respond or laugh. And I don’t think they have even noticed.
Please let me know the best way to go about this. I’m deeply sorry if reading this was triggering or hurtful.

Hello lovely readers,
Welcome to the second and final discussion of Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton. This autobiographical comic was Canada Reads (an annual "battle of the books") winner for 2023. You can read the first discussion here.
Summary
The story picks up one month after that horrible party. Kate sleeps with Mike. She continues to get weird sexual comments from the men she works with, but she has started to laugh the comments off. Many of the men seem to have problems with her giving them orders, and her superiors get pissy with her for minor things or for wanting ‘special treatment’. Joe, a fellow Nova Scotian, overhears her swearing in frustration and tells her that everyone at the mine is just yelling at the guy next to them for work they’re not doing themselves, but that people tend to be friendlier to people from their own region of Canada. Kate wonders aloud to Doug whether the oil sands make people better or worse.
The men at the mine have heard that Kate’s ‘little friends’ (her sister Becky and friend Lindsay) are going to be joining them, and she warns them to leave them alone. When Becky and Lindsay arrive, they are wearing skirts and they quickly notice the staring and weird behaviour from the men on site. Kate apologises for it, and they wonder why she is saying sorry.
Kate tells Becky and Lindsay that the other men have been leaving her alone since most people know about her and Mike, and they tell her it’s because in their eyes she’s ‘claimed’.
They take a trip to Gregoire Beach, but Kate doesn’t wear a swimsuit or go swimming. Becky asks her what’s up with her, as she’s noticed something is wrong. Kate talks about how everything at the beach seems so normal, but that she isn’t. However, she doesn’t explain further.
Kate looks for other jobs online, and sees a post for a job at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia.
Not long afterwards, she sees the man who forced himself on her at that party. He and the group of men he’s with see her and they start laughing.
Kate hears a man playing Peter’s Dream on his guitar, and joins in singing the song.
She goes to Becky’s room and tells her that she needs to leave the oil sands for a while, even though she and Lindsay have just arrived. She asks her to promise that she and Lindsay will look out for each other, and finally tells her about the assaults. Becky tells her that it wasn’t her fault, and wishes she had been there sooner to protect her as that’s her job as the big sister. She tells Kate that it happened to her too, at her university dorm. She tells Kate she should go.
We leave the oil sands, for a year in Victoria. Kate gets the museum job but it’s no more than 21 hours per week, so she gets a second job. In a coffee shop, she hears the song An Innis Aigh playing, and tells a woman who was wondering aloud about the language that it’s Gaelic.
Victoria seems like a nicer place than the oil sands, but it isn’t perfect – the city big problems with homelessness and mental health, but none of the old, rich people living there care [read runner note – according to Victoria’s Wikipedia page, the city is known for its disproportionately large retiree population. Some 23.4% of the population of Victoria and its surrounding area are over 65 years of age, which is higher than the overall Canadian distribution of over 65 year-olds in the population (19%). A historically popular cliché refers to Victoria as the home of "the newly wed and nearly dead"]. Kate is fired from her job for not taking American money and not wanting to sell the merchandise badly enough. One of her colleagues (I think?) sees her drawing a comic, and suggests that she should make a website.
Kate tells her parents that on her days off she works at a grocery store, and her father wonders what her degree was for. Shortly afterwards, she is fired from the grocery store for yawning and ‘being surly’. She goes on a date, but panics when the guy tries to kiss her at the end.
Kate can’t get a reprieve from her student loan payments, even though she paid half of it off the previous year with her oil sands earnings. She decides to go back to the oil sands to pay the rest off, and says goodbye to the museum.
After that brief reprieve, we’re back in the oil sands, this time at Shell Albian Sands. Kate has taken a job in the warehouse office, and her living quarters are a bit fancier than at the previous sites. The site also has a Tim Hortons, Wi-Fi and a gym, even yoga classes. Lindsay tells her that a lot of the warehouse crew from Long Lake have moved up there too. One of her new colleagues is Hatim, who is creepy in a new way, plaguing her with messages despite having a wife and children.
The team get a congratulations message with a gif for achieving three million man hours without a lost time incident (LTI). Kate’s boss, Ryan, tells her that they don’t have LTIs at the site because they look bad for the company, I guess implying that they cover them up.
She sees Doug again, who seems to feel that she’s all high and mighty now with her office job, and struggles with her ‘bossing him’ since she’s younger than him (and presumably because she’s female). When she has to cover a warehouse shift, Doug laughs about how she’s down from on high and has gone soft. He tells her that he sang with The Men of the Deeps and even sang for the queen, which she doubts because he has a terrible voice. She sings a bit of Coal Town Road (which I’m kind of disappointed doesn’t sound like Old Town Road) and asks if she could be in the choir too, but he seems annoyed about her singing a mining song when she’s not a miner.
Kate’s sister Becky is still working at Long Lake, but lives in Fort McMurray, and Kate goes to meet her there; she says it’s much better than living in the camp. She tells Kate, that one time a guy jumped out of the closet in her room, but she was able to kick him out. She always locked her door, but often heard the handle jiggling at night. She even had a stalker, who managed to get into her room with a bottle of alcohol and suggested doing body shots – she didn’t report it, but when he got fired everyone thought she had.
Kate struggles to read some of the order sheets because many of the workers are bad spellers or have unclear handwriting; many of the older men at the mine left school in grade six. Lindsay tells her about one of the lead hands from Newfoundland, who can’t read, and was humiliated by the other workers when they tried to make him read the safety memo aloud so they could laugh at him. Lindsay says she’s never seen a grown man ashamed like that, and they discuss how he’s one of the nicest guys there.
A group from the Calgary office visits the mine site, and Kate has to find the nice hard hats and safety vests for the visitors, the ones the actual workers can’t have because they’re too fancy. Basically, they have to put on a show for the head office people – everyone has to look sharp, make things tidier than normal etc. One of the visitors takes a photo of Kate. After they leave, Damian asks if he can have one of the fancy new vests, but they were taken back to Calgary even though they don’t need them at head office.
Kate continues doing her comics, and her colleagues occasionally read them. Ryan finds some of them in the scanner, which she had used to upload them to her website, and tells her not to leave her stuff lying around at work.
Becky and Kate discuss what it would have been like if their father had gone out to the oil sands to work when they were children, as many people did. They wonder if he would have been like the other men they work with, and how they must all be normal at home. Kate says she tries to remember that there are a lot of men who don’t bother her, but she doesn’t remember them because they’re not the ones in her face.
Their safety lectures tell them basic information about how ice is slippery and is all over the ground, which presumably every Canadian already knows. One of the men remarks that it’s not about safety, but an arse-covering exercise so that a worker can’t sue them if they fall. Kate doodles a pony in her notebook (thank you u/Amanda39 for linking to this comic in last week’s discussion!).
Many of the staff have families that they don’t see very often. One of the men gets a phonecall from his wife’s phone, which he answers thinking it’s an emergency as she never calls during the day; it turns out to be his young son, who is calling to see when he’s coming home next.
Brian asks Kate if she heard about the ducks (TITLE DROP!!); three hundred of them got stuck in a tailings pond at another oil sands site [read runner note – two years later, Syncrude was actually found guilty of the death of 1,600 ducks]. The site begins installing anti-waterfowl devices, and the staff are reminded that they have to wear PPE at all times. They’re also told about the death Gerald Snopes, another worker; some of the men talking amongst themselves, and Ryan tells them to have some respect. He had a heart attack while operating a crane, and threw himself out of the cab so that he wouldn’t land on the controls and cause an accident.
Kate hears about a road accident involving some men from Cape Breton. She asks Davy about it to see if she knows them, but neither of them do. Kate finds the news articles and feels annoyed that they were misidentified as Calgary men.
Kate notices some welts on her back; Lindsay has them too but doesn’t know what it is. Kate mentions all the dust they have to wipe off everything, and how there’s so much crap in the air. Lindsay wonders what kind of cancer they’ll have in 20 years.
Kate finds Doug building a scarecrow for the tailings pond, which is meant to scare off the ducks. Probably another arse-covering exercise.
Activists from Greenpeace try to block an oil sands pipeline, and 11 people are arrested. One of the workers gets angry about it, asking who will put their life on the line to unclog the pipe Greenpeace has blocked, and that it sure as hell won’t be the president of Shell. Kate hears about another death – a contractor was in his trucks, and one of the heavy haulers drove over it, crushing him.
Lindsay writes an article for a grassroots paper, giving the inside perspective on working at the oil sands. Kate considers doing a comic about it for them. Lindsay later wonders if she made a mistake writing her article, as many of the comments are critical, including many from women which Lindsay did not expect.
Kate sees a video on YouTube of Celina Harpe, an elder in the Cree community of Fort McKay, talking about the effect of the oil sands on the First Nation. Kate had not realised when she arrived there that Fort McKay was a First Nation, nor that it was so close to Syncrude. She thinks about how she’s not the president of Shell, but she’s still working there, and she can’t extract herself from having come.
At another safety meeting, the staff are down the safety pyramid, which has different levels: at the base it has at-risk behaviours, then near misses, then minor incidents, and it all leads to a major incident or a fatality.
Kate receives a phone call from a reporter at the Globe and Mail who had seen her comics about the oil sands. She asks several leading questions about her experience as a woman at the remote sites and the harassment, but Kate feels uncomfortable giving her examples. She later tells Lindsay that she couldn’t talk to the reporter as she felt like she just wanted gossip, and that the story was already written before she called.
The leering of one of the other workers bothers Kate in the lunchroom, and she tells Lindsay about her assaults. Lindsay is horrified that Mike and Brian laughed at her when she told them about it. Lindsay tells her that it happened to her in university as well.
Kate calls her parents to tell them that she’s finally paid off her student loan, but she needs to keep working at the site because now she has no money. She’s going to try making it as a cartoonist, and her parents are unimpressed.
Kate notices that Ryan is acting strangely, being absent a lot and not doing his work, and it can’t fully be explained by his recent divorce. She hears about other workers who are taking cocaine and behaving strangely too. She asks Ryan if he’s ok and he brushes it off. Kate contemplates the safety pyramid again. She finds a piece of paper on Ryan’s desk with an appointment for the employee assistance program. Emily later tells her that Ryan has left suddenly, and that they need to figure things out until a replacement is found.
Kate wonders why there are so many safety meetings but none have ever talked about drugs or alcohol. Her coworkers say that everyone knows why there is so much of both, and that the company can’t have safety meetings about illegal activities anyway.
Kate finally gets to leave the oil sands and go home. Her colleague Norman gives her prints of some of his photos of the northern lights as a leaving present, including one of a rainbow. Before she leaves, the company organises a staff photograph with all the workers on the site. Kate sees the man who assaulted her the second time, and he recognises her but can’t remember her name or who she is, and asks her how it’s going.
Kate trains her replacement, and finds out that she’s earning more than her despite not having any experience in tools. She complains to John about it, and finally rants about all her shitty treatment in the oil sands. She goes to see Gary in the head office, and demands her full bonus, which was going to be docked because she was leaving. Gary tells her it’s company policy. She tells him about the harassment, and he claims she could have come to them about it, but she fires back that he knows she couldn’t have. Gary agrees to give her the bonus. Her colleagues organise a going-away barbecue, and even Mike attends.
Back in Nova Scotia, Kate is reunited with her family. While out enjoying the seaside air, she chats to a farmer who tells her he’s keeping a field for his son who is working out west in case he ever comes back and wants to build a house. A man called Lauchie visits the house before moving west himself, and tells them there’s something for everyone out there and that the young people have everything they want. Out in Halifax with friends, she and Becky see a man from one of the camps, who tells Becky that they had a bet on who would sleep with her first. Their friends who haven’t worked in the oil sands can’t believe they’d let a man talk to them like that.
In the book’s afterword, Kate talks about how the book chronicles her specific experience at a specific time. She is wary of sensationalism of her story, especially because sexual assault is so common that it’s not actually sensational. She notes that neither of the men who raped her probably consider it to have been rape. She is also critical of the treatment of Indigenous people, and says the YouTube video of Celina Harpe was a “sword that cut through my ignorance”. We also find out that Becky died of cancer, and that her former coworkers pooled money together to send to her.
Bookclub Bingo 2023 categories: Non-Fiction, Graphic Novel (grey), Mod Pick (grey)
Other links:

• The first discussion
• Canada Reads page about Ducks [I hadn’t realised that Station Eleven, another recent bookclub read, was the runner up]
• Kate Beaton on Wikipedia
• Hark! A Vagrant, the archive of Kate Beaton’s comics website
• The original Hark! A Vagrant sketch comic about the oil sands (links to all five parts; I’ve posted the parts individually below this in case that’s easier)
• Original Ducks Part 1
• Original Ducks Part 2
• Original Ducks Part 3
• Original Ducks Part 4
• Original Ducks Part 5
• Lindsay Bird was one of the people in the book whose name wasn’t changed, and in 2019 she published a poetry collection about working in the oil sands called Boom Time. There’s a CBC article about the book here.

The questions are in the comments below. Thank you for joining me and u/fixtheblue in reading this book!

Texas likes to boast about its PL bonafides. Yet the guy got a $10,000 bond and was allowed back on the street despite his act of domestic violence, his previous history of violence and what PLers would call attempted murder of the fetus. (I want him either held or forced to cough up a higher bond but that's because of what he did to his (hopefully ex) partner.)
Yeah, I'm wondering why the PL movement isn't making more noise about both HIM and the bond amount. Also this illustrates one of PC's point that often a woman is in danger BECAUSE she is pregnant.
https://jezebel.com/texas-man-hit-pregnant-partner-in-the-stomach-hoping-to-1850495645
"Police in Iowa Park, Texas, responded to a call on May 28 and found Simon Wayne Streeter standing outside of a home with a pregnant woman who had visible injuries. The responding officer wrote in the arrest warrant affidavit that the woman had blood coming out of her nose, a swollen upper lip, scratches on the left side of her face, and a red mark on the left side of her neck.
The woman told police she was about 27 weeks pregnant by Streeter and that they’d been arguing. Streeter allegedly threatened to prevent her from seeing their other children and, during that argument, he punched her in the face, put his hands around her neck to choke her, and put his knee on her stomach and applied pressure. The woman told police that Streeter said something “to the effect of hoping that he caused her to abort their unborn baby.” (The medical term for miscarriage is spontaneous abortion.) She also said she hadn’t felt the baby move since before the fight; she was taken to a hospital for evaluation, but it’s not known if her pregnancy continued.
Police charged Streeter with assault of a pregnant person. Wichita County Jail records show he was held on a $10,000 bond and released on May 31. It was a mandatory 48-hour hold, because Streeter had been charged with a separate family assault about a year ago. Local news station KFDX reported that Streeter was previously arrested in March 2022 and charged with assault following an altercation with his brother. Streeter’s brother told police that Streeter was trying to shoot himself, and he’d tried to stop him from putting a gun in his mouth, which led to a fistfight. Bond was set at $2,000 in that case."

So I’m planning to leave LA after a work contract ends at the end of the year. One of my biggest issues is the corrupt LA city council and right now I’m struggling with noise pollution from all the helicopters (especially LAPD) and small plane owners causing excessive noise and fuel pollution.
Cities like Santa Monica and Beverly Hills fair better as far as getting direct support needed and I think one big problem with LA city is that it’s too big. DTLA should be it’s own council district, there’s no reason why Venice and DTLA should be in the same council district.
I think we need smaller districts with direct support and smaller safety teams to prevent LAPD using the lame excuse about LA being too big and needing to use helicopters. The noise pollution is really bad and despite what people say cities don’t have to be loud. That’s a failed policy choice. We need smaller districts, more green space, youth rec centers, and so much more. Housing and transportation should be at the county level and the board of supervisors should actually be supervising council districts. We need policies in place to prevent political corruption and we need more community owned affordable housing with trust accounts for said housing.
What are your thoughts on all of this???? Though I’m planning to leave LA I’m working to support a vote to have neighborhoods withdraw into smaller districts. #PowerToThePeople ✊🏿