Hotels close to soaky mountain waterpark

Hi all! My husband and I are going to Disneyland & California Adventure for just one day and I opted for a park hopper. We won’t be able to ride thrill rides because I’m pregnant (so just the easy going stuff & shows). We plan on taking a break at the hotel midday, but doing rope drop to close. Any tips or things that we should definitely do in either park? I’m starting to make a rough plan for our itinerary.
Also, is it possible to view World of Color and then jump over to see Wondrous Journey? Or am I living in a dream world? We’ll be going on Tuesday, July 11th if that gives any insight.
Thanks in advance!

I used to play a game in the early 90’s that was on floppy disc.
It’s super vague in my own memories
It was a character that was trying to go up a mountain and you had to play mini games to progress forward.
I think the games helped teach you to type but I cannot remember much more detail than that.
I tried googling it but can’t find anything the even closely resembles what I was thinking of.
I kept all my old floppy disc games but that one so it bothers me even more that I have no proof this game even exists.
But to make me feel like I am not losing my mind Reddit is my last hope.
Just didn’t know which Reddit thread to put this under so I just picked video games.

Some time ago, I made two posts with some of Percy's best feats. The first one can viewed here. And the second: here.
Now I know that Jason isn't the most liked character in the fandom, but I like him. So I wanted to scale him.
Contents: Strength, speed, reaction speed, skill, durability, actual powers, Tl;dscaling, closing segment.
​
He was able to throw a club hard enough to knock down a Venti. Even causing it to curve so that it would hit Dylan when he tried to doge:

Jason threw the club. It seemed useless with the winds so strong, but the club flew right at Dylan, even curving when he tried to dodge, and smacked in the head so hard he fell to his knees
The Lost Hero

He was able to deflect a spear hit from a giant:

Jason raised his javelin to block the giant's next strike-a big mistake. Don't fight force with force, a voice chided him-the wolf Lupa, who told him that long ago. He managed to deflect the spear, but it grazed his shoulder, and his arm went numb.
The Lost Hero

The same giant was able to cause the entire mountain to shake just by slamming the butt of said spear into the ground:

Before they could get very far, Enceladus slammed his spear against the ground. The entire mountain shook.
The Lost Hero

Moving onto House of Hades, we see him casually shatter a metal with a kick, firmly putting him into the superhuman category of strength. Not only that, but he managed to stagger and knocked a giant to his knees:

One last time Jason flew at [Clytius], kicking him in the chest, and the giant's breastplate shattered. Clytius staggered backward..He fell to his knees, and the demigods encircled him
House of Hades

He was able to cut through a statue made of metal with help from Piper:

Piper and Jason went to work on Hygeia. They slashed through the statue's knees
Blood of Olympus

We are now done with Jason it the strength department. Obviously, he lacks many feats in this department, especially compared to Percy, but he is definitely stronger than an average human.
Speed:
He was able to stab a giant:

[Jason] rolled away from the giant's first spear thrust and jabbed Enceladus in the ankle. Jason's javelin managed to pierce the thick dragon hide, and golden ichor-the blood of immortals-trickled down the giant's clawed foot.
The Lost Hero

This might not seem that impressive, but Jason was being slowed down by Gaea. The Giant was being helped by Gaea. Finally, the giant was predicting Jason's attacks:

Enceladus' spear missed him by a millimeter. Jason kept dodging, but the ground stuck to his feet. Gaea was getting stronger, and the giant was getting faster. Enceladus might be slow, but he was not dumb. He began anticipating Jason's moves, and Jason's attacks were only annoying him
The Lost Hero

We see this here again:

Enceladus let him approach, grinning with anticipation. At the last second, Jason faked a strike and rolled between the giant's legs. He came up quickly, thrusting with all his might, ready to stab the giant in the small of his back, but Enceladus anticipated the trick. He stepped aside with too much speed and agility for a giant, as if the earth were helping him move.
The Lost Hero

Reaction/ combat speed. This is where Jason really shines. As he has several impressive feats:
He was able to keep up with Lit. The same guy who was so good, he earned the name Reaper of Men:

Lit charged.
The guy was fast. He slashed and sliced, and Jason could barely dodge the strikes, but his mind went into a different mode-analyzing patterns, learning Lit's style, which was all offense, no defense.
The Lost Hero

He can react to giants:

Jason raised his javelin to block the giant's next strike-a big mistake. Don't fight force with force, a voice chided him-the wolf Lupa, who told him that long ago. He managed to deflect the spear, but it grazed his shoulder, and his arm went numb.
The Lost Hero

He scales to Percy in reaction speed and was able to amaze Piper:

[Piper] rolled to the edge of the road and looked back, dazed and horrified, as [Percy and Jason] crossed swords, gold against bronze. Sparks flew. Their blades blurred-strike and parry-and the pavement trembled. The first exchange only took a second, but Piper couldn't believe the speed of their sword fighting.
Mark of Athena

The same guy who I scaled to have reaction speed as fast as 10 milliseconds. And the average human reacts at 250 milliseconds.
He can react to lightning:

Jason called down another lightning strike, but Ephialtes caught it on his spear and deflected the blast, melting a life-size plastic cow. He slammed a stone column out of his way like a stack of building blocks. Percy tried to keep the lake churning. He didn’t want Otis rising to join this fight, but as Ephialtes closed the last few feet, Percy had to switch focus. Jason and he met the giant’s charge. They lunged around Ephialtes, stabbing and slashing in a blur of gold and bronze, but the giant parried every strike. “I will not yield!” Ephialtes roared. “You may have ruined my spectacle, but Gaea will still destroy your world!” Percy lashed out, slicing the giant’s spear in half. Ephialtes wasn’t even fazed. The giant swept low with the blunt end and knocked Percy off his feet. Percy landed hard on his sword arm, and Riptide clattered out of his grip. Mark of Athena

While technically not reacting to lighting, Percy fought a giant who could, so Ephialtes' reaction speed=Percy's. What I'm getting at here is Ephialtes can react to lightning. Percy can keep up with Ephialtes. So Percy=Ephialtes' reaction speed. Jason=Percy reaction speed. Therefore, Jason=Ephialtes' reaction speed.
Too much for you to follow, here:

Jason swung at the first spirit. His blade passed through it and the creature's smoky form disintegrated. The second spirit let loose a bolt of lightning, but Jason's blade absorbed the charge. Jason stepped in-one quick thrust, and the second storm spirit dissolved into gold powder
The Lost Hero

There you go.
He reacts to arrows:

This time Jason's senses were on high alert. He felt the air ripple as an arrow materialized, racing towards Nico's chest.
Jason intercepted it with his sword and deflected it sideways.
House of Hades

Now, Romans use a type of composite bow called a Sagittarii. Composite bows can shoot arrows as a speed of 250 to 370 feet per second (76 to 113 m/s).
Also keep in mind that he is nearsighted. Giving him even less time to react than normal:

"Oh, of course!" Asclepius said. "You're a bit nearsighted! Simple fix."
He opened the drawer, whipped out a prescription pad and an eyeglasses case. He scribbled something on the pad, then handed the glasses and the scrip to Jason.
Blood of Olympus

So all in all, he has some fast reaction speed. Well above human.
Next up, skill.
He can keep up with Lit, a man so deadly, he was named the Reaper of Men:

Lit charged.
The guy was fast. He slashed and sliced, and Jason could barely dodge the strikes, but his mind went into a different mode-analyzing patterns, learning Lit's style, which was all offense, no defense.
The Lost Hero

He did all of this:

"I slew the Trojan sea monster," Jason continued. "I toppled the black throne of Kronos, and destroyed the Titan Krios with my own hands. And now I'm going to destroy you, Porphyrion, and feed you to your own wolves."
The Lost Hero

He killed the Trojan sea monster and killed a Titan without a weapon.
Durability:
He is immune to, or at least, resistant to electricity:

Dylan's form flickered. "That was enough lightning to kill twenty men!"
The Lost Hero

He survived this:

Enceladus let him approach, grinning with anticipation. At the last second, Jason faked a strike and rolled between the giant's legs. He came up quickly, thrusting with all his might, ready to stab the giant in the small of his back, but Enceladus anticipated the trick. He stepped aside with too much speed and agility for a giant, as if the earth were helping him move. He swept his spear sideways and met Jason's javelin-and with a snap like a shotgun blast, the golden weapon shattered.
The explosion was hotter than the giant's breath, blinding Jason with golden light. The force knocked him off his feet and squeezed the breath out of him.
The Lost Hero

While this is an already impressive feat, we have this to make this even more impressive:

The javlin's destruction had released so much energy, it had blasted a perfect cone-shaped pit thirty feet deep, fusing the dirt and rock into a slick, glassy substance.
The lost Hero

He was uncut by plastic shrapnel:

Together, the giants picked up a fake mountain as big as Percy's New York apartment and hurled it at the demigods. Percy and Jason bolted. They dove into the nearest trench and the mountain shattered above them, spraying them with plastic shrapnel.
Mark of Athena

He can tank a hit from a giant trident, although he was in a lot of pain:

Jason managed to avoid the prongs of the trident again, but the giant swung the other end around and smacked him in the chest.
Jason reeled back, stunned and in pain. Polybotes came in for the kill. Just before the trident would have perforated him, Jason's ventus acted on its own. It spiraled sideways, whisking Jason thirty feet across the courtyard.

Powers. This is another place he is impressive in. He has several abilities he can call on in a clutch:
He can correct aim of things he throws:

Jason threw the club. It seemed useless with the winds so strong, but the club flew right at Dylan, even curving when he tried to dodge, and smacked in the head so hard he fell to his knees
The Lost Hero

He can control air pressure:

[Jason] felt a tugging sensation in his gut, and the air pressure dropped so rapidly his ears popped.
The Lost Hero

He can summon Tempest, a horse made of wind and electricity:

Suddenly the air turned cold. Piper's ears popped. About fifty yards away, a miniature cyclone three stories tall tore across the tops of the sunflowers like a scene from The Wizard of Oz. It touched down on the road next to Jason and took the form of a horse-a misty steed with lightning flickering through its body
Mark of Athena

Jason and Percy working together can create a massive storm:

On the deck of the Argo II, Percy and Jason stood together, their swords crossed. Annabeth got a tingle down her spine as she realized the boys were working together as one, summoning the sky and the sea to do their bidding. Water and wind churned together. Waves heaved against the ramparts and lightning flashed. Giant eagles were knocked out of the sky. Wreckage of the flying chariot burned in the water, and Coach Hedge swung a mounted crossbow, taking potshots at the Roman birds as the flew overhead.
The Mark of Athena

Jason can fly and carry people with him:

Jason summoned the wind to carry him and Piper to shore
Mark of Athena

He can cause water to boil and temporarily blind Piper:

BOOM! Lightning stirred the water into a boiling cauldron, steaming and hissing with electricity. Piper blinked the yellow spots out her eyes as the god Achelous wailed and dissolved under beneath the surface
Mark of Athena

He can use wind offensively:

The demigods rolled to either side, and Jason summoned the wind, using the giant's own momentum to shove him into the water
Mark of Athena

He can get angry enough to generate electricity:

the air turned electric-literally, as Jason started throwing off sparks.
Mark of Athena

He can melt iron and cause gold to steam:

Just then, thunder boomed overhead. Lightning flashed, and the bars on the nearest window burst into sizzling, melted stubs of iron.
Jason flew in like Peter Pan, electricity sparking around him and his gold sword steaming.
House of Hades

Jason has the ability to track people who use winds as a method of transport so things like air spirits can't run from him:

Jason couldn't exactly see him, but he'd had enough experience controlling the wind that he could track the angel's path-a warm wisp of red and gold zipping across the street..
House of Hades

He can control the four winds and even construct this out of wind:

[Jason] thrust out his hand. A swirl of dust shot toward the nearest horse. A lasso-a rope of wind, more tightly wound than any tornado-wrapped around the horse's neck. ..In less than a minute he had tethered all four venti. He reined them in, still whining and bucking, but they couldn't break Jason's rope. It felt like flying four kites in a strong wind-hard, yes, but not impossible.
House of Hades

He uses wind defensively:

Jason summoned gusts of wind to last aside javelins and arrows. He deflected a vial of Greek fire right up the throat of a gryphon, which burst into flames and spiraled into the pit.
House of Hades

He can carry others without having to fly himself:

Three dead Romans rose into the air and flew across the chasm. Then three more joined them. Finally Jason flew himself across and his squad began cutting through some very surprised-looking telkhines
House of Hades

He can use a sword or a javelin:

Jason slashed his gladius in a wide arc, vaporizing the nearest suitors; then he vaulted onto the table and jumped over Antinous' head. In midair he willed his bade to extend into a javelin-a trick he'd never tried with this sword-but somehow he knew it would work.
Blood of Olympus

He once more demonstrates his ability to create objects from air and now he can encase himself in air armor:

[Jason] raised his arm and summoned a lasso of wind... He lashed out with his wind rope, searching for strongest, most ornery *ventus in the storm.
He lassoed a nasty patch of storm cloud and pulled it in. "You're serving me today."
Howling in protest, the ventus encircled him. The storm above the ship seemed to lessen just a bit, as if the other venti were thinking Oh, crud. That guy means business.
Jason levitated off the deck, encased in his own miniature tornado. Spinning like a corkscrew, he plunged into the water.

Jason is capable of summoning weird lightning stuff at the bottom of the ocean. Also worth noting it is still as deadly and didn't shock Percy who was also in the water next to him. On top of that, he can now separate the volts to attack multiple targets instead of just one:

But [Jason] couldn't think of a better option. He thrust up his sword. Immediately the blade glowed red-hot.
A diffuse cloud of yellow light billowed through the depths, like someone had poured liquid neon into the water. The light hit Jason's sword and splayed outward in ten separate tendrils, zapping the basiliks.
Blood of Olympus

He can carry a current throughout his body, holding it for latter:

With a deafening blast, a white-hot bolt arced from the sky, straight through Jason's body as he leaped, wreathed in lightning, at the giant king.
Jason fell on King Porphyrion with such force that the giant crumpled to his knees-blasted with lightning and stabbed in the neck with a golden gladius.

He can blast a 30 foot giant off a clif:

Porphyrion lashed out wildly with his spear, but Jason cut it in half with his gladius. He charged in, jabbing his sword through the giant's breastplate, then summoned the winds and blasted Porphyrion off the edge of the cliff.
Blood of Olympus

Tl;dr and scaling: So Jason is powerful. He is definitely superhuman in al physical states. I am going to say, city level durability. His power level is at mountain level.
Closing segment: Honestly I think he could have been more powerful if we'd seen him in more books. Also I didn't use a Trials of Apollo feats as there I didn't find any. If you see any feats I missed let me know so I can scale them. So what did you think? Did this make you see Jason as more or less powerful than you originally thought? Who else would you like me to scale?
Respect Jason Grace, son of the sky god, Zeus!

I awoke in the darkest hour of the night, sweating and cold. I felt as though something had just left us there, or perhaps still remained. A cold fear crept along my clammy skin. I looked over to where my talking crow was asleep, nested on the pillows.
Detective Winters was snoring in his own bed. The open window was watching me until I looked up. Then the feeling was gone.
I laid back down. When I slept again I dreamed of the woman I had left behind in my home. It seemed so long ago. I wondered if she was still there. Somehow I knew she was. I suddenly couldn't stop thinking about her. I really didn't like her, yet my instincts told me to worry about her. So I did.
As dawn crept light across the twisted landscape outside the hotel window I thought of her. Then I got up and ate my sandwich out of the fridge and drank some water out of the sink. I left piece of it for Cory and went to brush my teeth.
Detective Winters woke up as his phone was ringing. He listened and said very little. I could tell he was talking to his boss.
"Ready to go?" He asked me as he laid back down.
"I am; are you?" I nodded at his prostration.
"Let's stay and eat." Cory suggested as he fed.
We all shuffled out of the hotel room to the car, Cory flitting from place to place and finally gliding to the car, boldly.
Three crows took the opportunity to scold him from the wire above. He avoided them and looked at me. He said:
"You should know your old home. Or sadness will prevail." Cory told me.
"I know." I took him with me into the car, hugging him gently to me.
"What is it?" Detective Winters asked me with consideration, looking in his rearview mirror at me.
"There is a woman I left behind in my home. I have started worrying about her." I told him the truth.
"I thought you were homeless." He handed me his phone.
"Are you?" I asked him. Sometimes I adopted Cory's mannerisms when dealing with people, not intentionally.
"Touche' Mr. Lord, touche'." Detective Winters went ahead and lit a jacked-up looking rolly: all bent and with bits of tobacco sticking out of it. He opened the car door a crack while we sat there. I dialed the number.
"Isidore?" I said her name when she picked up.
"Christ, Lord! I thought you were gone forever!" She exclaimed. She started saying a bunch of stuff about the house and bills before I said:
"I don't care about the house. I called for you." I said.
"I need you to come back. I can't do this on my own. I know you won't leave me, why are you gone?" Isidore started crying into the phone.
"Isidore, how can you say that? We barely know each other. I invited you in, I didn't think you would stay. That's why I left, because you wouldn't." I explained honestly. I had only just spent a few nights with her and we barely had more than a conversation before that. Then she had just decided she was in love with me and moved in. Not that she had anything to move, she had arrived with her toothbrush and pajamas. I'd thought it cute, until she stayed.
"I know you." Isidore sounded strange.
"Yeah, I know you too. It's not like that. What do you want from me?" I must have sounded different to her than I meant to, for she simply said:
"Just your love."
"I can't just love you." I claimed. I was lying. I fell in love with people all the time. I did actually care for her, I was just being very cowardly about it at the time.
"Then accept my love for you." She negotiated.
"Fine. Is that all? Are you okay?" I asked.
"I am not okay. I literally need you." Her voice was very quiet when she said this. I believed her, even though I did not want to.
"I have to go. I have work to do. I will call you..." I paused as Detective Winters made a gesture of walking fingers and a knock on a door. I hate charades. "I will come see you later."
Then I hung up as she said 'goodbye' and told me she loved me.
"Let's go. She's fine." I shrugged and restored his phone to his hand.
"Her name's Isidore?" Detective Winters chuckled. "That's like calling a girl Charlie. It's kinda cute, I guess."
"She doesn't need a cute name." I promised him.
He ignited the engine and drove us to the scene of murder. Beholding the darkness within the earth filled me with fear and dread. Detective Winters told me over and over that I was going with him into the darkness. I refused to go down there, panic sweeping me in strokes instead. I was suffocating on my own doubt of survival, anticipating such an adventure.
Cory was left behind as he dragged me by handcuff to his wrist into the dizzy and pale threshold. Then by mere candlelight we went amid the cackling specters of the dim. I closed my eyes to see, knowing it is the way in such a place.
I remembered the mirrored veins of the paths above this place. All of them followed the water and it rode the top of the stones. Therefore I knew my way, as surely as I knew the paths that had formed directly above, in the young forests amid the ruined heath. Without the sky, without my bird, without my sight, I was paralyzed by fear of the dark dwellers. There was only one way out and that was forward. In my paralysis I had no control over myself except to know I was fleeing in panic, unable to stop.
I looked down to find the handcuff was free and the light shone from the floor, spinning. With his thumb broken to free his hand, Detective Winters was laying there examining the injury.
"We have to leave." I hissed in terror. I hunched down.
"You ruined my thumb." He snarled back. His eyes rolled and he actually fainted where he lay. I took up the flashlight and used it to bath his body in light. There I left him and continued to escape the place he had brought me.
Upon the kill I stumbled, alone. There the chalk outline remained. Two children. Looked like they were dragged and discarded in a heap. The extension cords all went to one junction and split into the three lanterns that shone in that one room as day. I was in the heart of the labyrinth, I had escaped nothing. The handcuff hung freely and I looked at its shiny surface.
Reflected there in the polish of the cuffs I could see the shape of one of the dark dwellers. It was on the wall and ceiling behind me, watching me from the darkness. I turned and it skittered into a crack in the wall with lightning quickness, its many centipede legs making it look like the animation of a flipbook, its length rippling in the darkness.
I staggered back in mortal mystery. My eyes were wide and I choked on the breath I had exhaled, trying to scream in sheer terror. Then I closed my mouth on my tongue, knowing with reptile swiftness not to make a sound.
For they were all around me.
The ceilings and the corners of the floors and the corridors filled with their monstrous shape. They were more like spiders, or something I cannot even describe. Their movements in the darkness were so quick it was as though they were one shape and then the other as they flailed and flung themselves at blinking speeds through the shadows.
Without the light I would be torn apart as the two victims that were taken before we arrived. I could not breath, knowing I would die in the darkness. One of them put its dark spindly scythe of black chitin into the light for a split second and I saw the urticating hairs bristling, ready to impale me with a thousand needles just by touching me.
I lifted what I thought was a rock, to defend myself. I pulled it free from the edge of the corridor, from under some rags. As I held it up I found a better grip, shifting my fingers into its grooves. The creatures scattered. I was breathing heavily, still gripped by terror.
I had to escape back out of there and I somehow took a step out of the light back the way I had come. Or so I thought. I turned and turned again, feeling my way along with my left hand on the wall. My right hand held the object which now felt light for a stone. My panic had subsided and I had moved without thinking. I was lost in the darkness.
I felt my way along. I kept thinking I could hear the creatures. Then up ahead I saw the light. In the middle of the light stood a policeman, gesturing for me. I stopped and watched. It came closer, the eyes horrible and empty of life. Then as it escaped the light I saw it was merely an illusion. Somehow it could hide what it looked like, refusing to be seen in its entirety. The creature came for me and then I screamed.
It was a flash of scythe-like spider legs by the thousands and its many horrible eyes and its beak-like mandibles. It was coming for me out of the darkness, a silhouette against the lanterns beyond. I was screaming and curling away from it, about to be torn to pieces by it.
Resounding gunblasts flashed brightly and lit up its awfulness. The bullets tore into it, black ichor splashing where its flesh was. Then it fell over, twitching and curling and steaming. It quickly dissolved into a puddle of nightmares.
"What in Hell was that?" Detective Winters was shaking violently and still aiming his gun, even though he had emptied it.
"How should I know, Detective? This is your crime scene." I complained. I was shivering and sweating and knew there were more. "There are more of those things."
"My Lord, are you alive?" Cory called into the hole.
"It's your crow." Detective Winters sighed in awe.
"I know that. How did he get out of your car?" I wondered, distractedly.
"I left my window down, I think." Detective Winters realized; his own mind easily choosing to think of something else.
"You think, or you know?" I demanded, severely stressed. I accepted the flashlight and trembling, he removed my handcuff without reason, while I was holding the light. I tried to hand it back and he gestured for me to wait a second by holding up one finger. He looked at my freed hand without realizing what I was holding.
"Jesus, I just 'think', okay? Sorry." Detective Winters reloaded his weapon and grimaced. It looked very difficult with his ruined thumb.
"My Lord, are you alive?" Cory asked a second time.
That is when we all heard them. I heard them and Detective Winters heard them and Cory heard them. Their voices froze my blood. The damned things were speaking! The penultimate horror I felt was a sweeping and cold knowledge of them. That they could speak and had their own language was fearsome in its perversion. Nothing like that should exist and to give it intelligence was the work of a mad creator. Their language challenged Man's place in Creation, putting something so blasphemous in place of the Will of Man. Such a horror could break my mind with every syllable that they uttered with inhuman mouths. They did not only speak their chittering abomination, for some of them whispered plain English from the darkness as well:
"This is the home. This is the darkness. It belongs rightly. All the food. The flesh is food. This belongs, too, the flesh, the food." They spoke in a unified and horrifying whisper.
"My Lord, you should come out of there. The Folk of the Shaded Places will kill you for trespassing. Then they will eat you." Cory called to me from above.
"I got that!" I shouted back and the sound of my voice stirred the one nearest to us.
"Time to go!" Detective Winters made me go first with the light.
We made our move and instantly it was as though the walls and ceiling had come alive. They were all around us, shifting rapidly, each taking the place of another to avoid the light and the gun. I shone it on them and they fled the beam. Likewise, Detective Winters let them have a taste of his firearm as he shot a bullet into each one that got too close.
Breathing rapidly and wide eyed we emerged to find the rest of the policemen had already departed. Only Detective Winters's car and Cory remained. I had expected some sort of rescue, as though getting out would mean safety. I looked at the object I held: it was a skull.
I turned back and stared into the darkness down there. Cory flitted to my shoulder and said into my ear:
"They will come right on out that hole and snatch you back in if you get too close."
"Thanks." I nodded, my mouth hanging open as I stood in waves of terror. Part of my mind had not escaped. I needed to go back down there and get it real quick. It would only take one second.
"Hang on." Detective Winters curled over and threw up a bunch of thick chunky bile onto a hapless banana slug. He reached down and used a leaf to flick it out of the vomit onto some nearby moss. "Sorry about that."
"Must go now." Cory advised in urgent repetition.
I went and got in the car and watched the horror hole with dreadful apprehension. I set the skull up front on the passenger seat. Then I tried to learn how to breath normally again. I noticed that Detective Winters's driver side window was actually down.
Eventually Detective Winters had managed to light the smoke he had kept behind his ear that entire time. It was sagging with sweat and he took a few unhappy puffs before he flicked it down into the hole. I prayed none of the Folk would come flailing out and entangle him, kicking and screaming, into the dark.
"We are lucky to be alive. If that really happened." Detective Winters decided we both had merely freaked out in the dark down there as we drove away. He held up his dislocated thumb and added: "We couldn't die."
"Death will always happen." Cory objected.
Detective Winters handed me his phone and I put in the address. Then the GPS guided him to my old house as the sun went down. When we pulled up she was waiting, her bags packed. She got into the car.
"I'm coming with you." Isidore told me and Detective Winters. "I won't stay here alone. Oh Lord, I've just got to say it. I just have to tell you."
"Well, not right now, maybe later." I looked out the window, away from her. In my mind I could still see the outline of those creatures. The horrible flash of their bodies. My heart pounded in anxiety, just thinking of them. I had always known of them, knew they existed. I had never, not even in my most dreaded nightmares, dreamed of meeting them.
"Your husband works with me. I am Detective Winters." Detective Winters introduced himself, again holding up his dislocated thumb. Isidore said nothing to him. She had her own ways.
"I am Cory." My crow spoke to her. She did not understand. She said:
"He is so cute!" Isidore told me. Then she wouldn't tolerate me looking away from her. She took my hand and placed it over her belly. I was very surprised to find that so much time had passed already, since I had left. I looked and she was glowing as we drove under dappled streetlights.
"Nine months." I realized.
"I have wanted to tell you for so long!" Isidore smiled.

"I hate zingers. I was told, growing up, that they are for the weak-minded. Like a 'Jedi mind trick', you know?" Detective Winters was doing something on his phone in our hotel room. His voice startled me as I lay half asleep on my own bed. He was sitting on his bed, half undressed, smoking under the fire alarm. I had no idea what he was talking about.
"Will you open a window? Cory has very small lungs." I requested.
"Cough." Cory said in perfect English. Then my talking crow imitated the hacking and coughing of Detective Winters in the middle of the night. It went on for about as long as a mummer's dance and then ended with the sound of a man spitting.
"Jesus would have sworn for a bird like that." Detective Winters applauded the performance and then used the lit cigarette in his mouth to light another and then he put the smoldering one in his mouth and used the lit one again to finish lighting the fresh tobacco. Then he accidentally scattered the rest of the brown stringy stuff all over the floor. He swept the remains of his new rolling kit off with the spill and shrugged, laid back, and puffed away.
"Goodness." Cory flitted down and inspected the stuff. He liked it too much and I told him to stay out of it.
A knock came upon the door. I already had a bad feeling. I'd read my horoscope and Detective Winters's too. We both had it coming our way. Nothing good could come from 'non-dairy starlight' and 'niche holes on the border'. Those phrases meant no sense, and yet our stars translated to those words, as they danced drunkenly across the keyboard of the starry skies.
"You get that." I stiffened.
"Uh, I always get it." Detective Winters smiled at me weirdly for being weird. He wasn't feeling the terror I felt. For a man who hated zingers: he sure took fear literally.
"One knock, my Lord. Very bad." Cory told me. I nodded, I already knew something was terribly amiss. Just because the armed and half naked policeman in my bedroom was blundering forward to grip the doorhandle without regard, didn't mean that we were safe. Only terror gripped my heart as my crow went to the bedpost and squawked in alarm, "Must go now!"
He opened the door and it was the same maid from before. She was wearing her regular street clothes instead of her uniform. She reminded Detective Winters that he was a policeman. He agreed and she asked him if, as a policeman, he could help her. He agreed to that too.
I didn't want to go, but I had no choice. Gagging and swaying stiffly like a terrified zombie I went with them; knowing this was going to be very bad, because I had read those weird horoscopes and believed them. Sweat shot out from my upper lip as I gibbered helplessly in dread:
"Where are we going?" I asked in apprehensive discernment, finally getting the words out of my sweaty lips.
"We are going to Sesame Street and Brooklyn Ave. You ever gone there before?" He accepted one of the woman's menthol cigarettes and fumbled with the book of matches from the hotel that was in the ashtray of his car. Then he put the cigarette to his lips and lit it while driving. He eventually cracked the window and let out most of the smoke.
"Why don't you open your window?" The woman asked. I was very afraid of the kind of trouble she was asking for. If I opened the window I might lose Cory in an awful way. Trembling I reached out and took the window's lever and opened the window a crack. Then I reached over and got the other one too. She smiled, like a golden devil, and cracked her window and then got her's down to about halfway. By then only the odor of the smoke remained.
"That's probably good." I gulped.
We got to her apartment and went inside to meet her husband and her son. The boy was tied to his bed and his eyes were terrifying and horrible. His face was monstrous and contorted and looked like a bad makeup special effect. Except that was his actual flesh. He struggled mightily and for a moment it was as though he would break free and rampage like an angry animal. His teeth glowed in the shade, sharp and ready to bite. He looked at us.
As his eyes met Detective Winters, the man froze. Then some of his hair started to wither and wilt. It became brittle and grey. He staggered backward and fell. I tried to avoid the gaze of whatever that was. It only wore her son, but something else was with us, watching us from within him. As Detective Winters made the communion of eye contact it had known him and known itself to him. Thus kin to its ways, he had fallen to the shock and horror of something unfathomably horrifying beyond words. The meaning of such a thing is simply instinctive, and to not know it is a blessing, and it cannot be known to someone until they have seen it, smelled the fruit-candy sweetness and the sulfur of its breath. Heard the voice of an angel, but not one from Heaven.
"Open the window." It commanded. The voice of this creature was not made by a human-will, yet it was from the lips of a child. Horrible and deep and grinding like a thousand souls on wheels of torture, all crying out this one phrase in unison, and then as one voice together and tormented and irresistible.
I quaked and fell back against the wall, refusing to look at it. I crept along the wall until I got to the shades. Then I drew them and let in the light. I gasped at the surreal horror I could see then:
The whole city was covered in flesh. Parts of people twitched and dripped and dangled everywhere. Skinless ones dragged their feet, leaving trails of themselves as they went. I heard a rumbling, or rather saw it, sensed it somehow. The clouds convulsed and began to drip and it was then raining. The rain was blood.
I screamed and fell back. Cory flapped around the room and the demonic thing with us was laughing. I clawed my way to the door, frantically. Detective Winters got up suddenly, and with a wild look in his eyes. His head was struck upon the shelf and a clacking monkey doll with chimes fell free onto my back as I crawled out the bedroom door.
The vision of ultimate horror burned the landscape into my memory. Once it is seen, it cannot be unseen. As I looked around I could still feel its presence on everything. I clawed at the floor, slick with the butcher's offal, but it was just the carpet. The fear was real, and as I held myself and cried in terror: I knew the carnage was still all around me, invisible. There were bodies hung from ropes, and chopped apart, and torn, and there were dead staked to the ceiling, and vivisectioned. Only I knew they were there, even if I couldn't see them. I had seen them and knew they still remained. My heartbeat slowed and I felt the clacking of the monkey on my back. I shook myself free of it and went and hid in a corner.
"My son, he is feeling better! You two have cured him! How do you do this? No exorcism? Nothing?" The father was in tears and holding up his son for us.
"Let's get out of here." Detective Winters helped me up. Cory rode on my outstretched left arm, nervously. I kept lowering my arm to which he would click his disapproval, each time. Detective Winters helped my shocked frame into the car and tossed the toy monkey onto the seat next to me. It had most likely followed us out of the apartment, or else he had carried it. Certainty is for the weak-minded, I concluded, as I stared at its malevolent glass eyes.
We got back to the hotel room and one of us put the monkey on top of the television.
"Time to get some sleep." Detective Winters stated. He laid down stiffly, like some kind of rigid corpse.
"Must go now." Cory hid behind my head on the pillow and softly called.
I watched sleeplessly as the horrible thing sat there atop the television. I could only speculate that it was the cause of the child's malady and that removing it had made everything better. I stared at the infinite evil in its dark glass eyes. Suddenly it started to chime its little chimes, clashing them loudly in the darkness.
"Oh, gawd! It's awake!" I yelled and sat up. Cory fluttered around on the bed, flapping frantically.
"What! What's happening?" Detective Winters woke to a start.
We laid back down and I started to fall asleep. As my eyes slowly started to close the absolute terror I had felt since the beginning was starting to subside just enough to catch my breath. Maybe I would not get left forgotten in the starry skies. Perhaps the wall of sleep had an unlocked door for me to get through safely to the other side. My eyes were fluttering shut when suddenly the monkey chimed again, evilly and terrifyingly in the dark.
"That thing!" I shrieked in gross terror as I woke suddenly.
In the darkness its shape sat there ready to pounce on the sleeper. It was watching our eyes close with its own eyes always wide open and staring, shining in the darkness. The toothy grin of the diabolical creature anticipated this third calamity upon our dying nerves.
My sleep brought the image of the mirrored eyes. I stared into a mirror, seeing its marble glass amid the tufted spiky hair. The monkey in the mirror wanted out; as I dreamed in a delirious fog. My dreams told me of its true nature in the true world. The one we shared alongside it.
The doll was merely where its existence met ours, like a kind of intact vortex. The space between the walls of the whirlpool, as it drains into the darkness, gurgling. I was staring too deeply into that darkness and there it was. I could see its true form there. It clambered up out of the darkness, held back only by the glass of the mirror.
Enraged, the monkey glared and snarled at me. It showed its sharp teeth and then it began hitting the glass. It threw itself against the glass over and over. As the glass fractured and broke, it began the crawl through, shrieking and snarling in terrifying rage. Its flesh was cut to the bone and it peeled off its own face coming through the broken glass like that. Then it came crawling across the floor to get to me, its hate-filled eyes glimmering over its vicious teeth.
Sleep was not a safe place to be. The chime blasted again, clanging loudly and diabolically. I jerked to my feet with a start, the image of the nightmare still clinging to what I thought I was seeing.
Except as I blinked away the nightmare I could see the dark liquid of its true form writhing back into the shape of the doll. Its shadows scattered across the wall like animated flames with no color. The foul smell of sweet and rotting things filled the air. I could hear its growl from the doll and from all around and from within my own mind, echoing from the memory of Dream.
Then without warning there was a loud detonation and blinding flash. The doll exploded into thousands of tiny sticks that were painted in red stripes. Detective Winters put his gun back into the holster.
"Perhaps now, we can get some sleep." He had a bent rolly in his mouth with bits of tobacco sticking out of it every which way. He managed to get it lit without setting it on fire and smoked it for a minute before he snuffed it out.
"I am too afraid to." I yawned.

For my 18th bday/ graduation I brought my two friends whom have known each other far longer than I’ve known them. We are not even on a very close best friend level. Anyways, I paid for the room at a really nice resort ($1.2k for four nights, my own money), I only asked them to pay for their flights which was $200 roundtrip.
Last night, I wanted to go to a popular shopping strip which was a $10 Uber from the hotel, something we planned on our informal itinerary. I kept asking friend 1 if we can go, and she was glued to her phone in the hotel room. After nagging her to get ready, she finally said “she doesn’t want to go”. That bugged me a lot, because like I’m paying so much for you guys to be here and I don’t want to waste it in a hotel room. She later defended this by saying that the weather said it was gonna rain (it’s miami so the weather is so unpredictable), but I feel like if this was the case, she would’ve said that instead of saying “I don’t want to go”.
Since I’m paying for the room, I want it neat. Friend 1 just does NOT care or respect that at all. Friend 2 is better with it. I have made it clear I wanted the room to be neat and they don’t really respect it. Wrappers everywhere, things thrown around. Today, mid day, after cleaning the room last night (which they did help me with), the room was pretty messy. I asked friend 2 if they could help me clean up, she said yea but never followed through. They both sat on the bed texting in some group chat while I’m tidying up. I asked friend 1 if she can get up so I can make the bed and she said she’s comfy and that I should just do it last. I’m trying to clean and I have to ask friend 2 three times just to hold out the bag to throw out the garbage , she’s too busy with some group chat. Then, when I finally finished with everything else, I wanted to make the bed. She kept questioning why I wanted to make the bed if she was just gonna lay back in it but the sheets were all messy. It was a back and forth and then I finally made the bed which friend 2 helped me with.
I’m getting annoyed. This is a trip where I’m paying for their stay, and it’s a celebration of my birthday and graduation. I just want a clean space. Not PRISTINE, but just tidy.

Hello! Looking for Lake Como itinerary help/suggestions for first time visitors. We will be visiting during the first week of October. Given it is not peak season, we are thinking of taking advantage of the (hopefully) quieter crowds by staying at a hotel in Bellagio. We are taking a train from Switzerland and will arrive Saturday afternoon. We have that evening through Tuesday to explore, then leave Wednesday morning for our next destination. During our stay, we plan to use the ferries to explore the neighboring towns, hire a private boat rental to explore the lake, go hiking, eat and drink, and take in the beauty of the lake.
I'm considering switching our flight to stay an extra day (leave early Thursday AM instead) so that we can truly relax and not have to rush.
My questions:

1. During this time of year, are the activities I mentioned enough to do for 4.5 days, or is that stay too long and I should stick with our original plan (3.5 days)? From my research, it seems plenty of restaurants will be open and not closed for the season yet, but do correct me if I'm wrong.
2. If we change our flights and say the extra day, that would require us to arrive at Milan Linate Airport (LIN) Airport by 9:30 AM latest. Our hotel offers a shuttle however it does not run at the early time we would need it to get to the ferry. It's a 35 min walk to downtown Bellagio so considering a car service instead, given luggage. Does anybody have recommendations for private cars from Bellagio to LIN?

Thank you so much!!!!

"Himiko, wake up," came Kaede's voice as she nudged Himiko awake. Himiko opened her eyes blearily. She looked up at Kaede, who was still in her pajamas, and then her clock, which read 6:30 a.m. Way too early for Himiko! Himiko turned back to Kaede.
​
"Nyeeeh...it's too early," she mumbled, snuggling back into her blanket. "Wake me up when September ends."
​
"I'm waking you up, now," Kaede said, pulling the covers off of Himiko. "Gundham is at the door! He wants to talk to you!" Himiko shot up, panic surging through her body. What could he have possibly wanted to see her about? Was it about Maga-Z? If so, why? Kokichi and Himiko had snuck him back in his cage the previous night. He was back safe and sound in his cage, right?
​
"W-Why does he wanna see me?!" she stammered.
​
"I don't know! Get up and find out for yourself," Kaede demanded, pointing outside Himiko and Tenko's room. Himiko closed her eyes and sighed.
​
"Is Kokichi down there?" she asked.
​
"No, he just asked for you," Kaede replied. Himiko felt her heart stop. Only her?! Himiko gulped before reluctantly climbing out of her bed.
​
"Nyeh...okay, I'll be down in a bit," she replied in a quiet voice. "Just let me get dressed and-"
​
"He said he wants to see you right now," Kaede said. "He said it's urgent. He's waiting for you in the living room."
​
"Oh...okay," Himiko mumbled. As Kaede walked back to her room to go back to sleep, Himiko crept down the stairs in apprehensive silence. It's okay, she thought to herself. Maybe he just wants to let me and Kokichi know that Maga-Z is back in his cage. With that in mind, she began to relax a little. The only question was...why did he only want to speak to Himiko? As she passed the boys' hallway, she heard a whisper.
​
"Pssst...Himiko!" Himiko turned to see Kokichi waving her over. Himiko rushed over to him.
​
"Kokichi!" she whispered with relief. "Gundham is here!"
​
"I know," Kokichi replied. "I heard him say that he wants to talk to you about something."
​
"But...what does he want to know?" Himiko whispered frantically, her voice growing louder the more upset she became. "We returned Maga-Z! There's no reason why Gundham should-"
​
"It's okay, Himiko. Just keep your cool, okay?" Kokichi whispered soothingly, holding a finger to her lips. "Just go out there and see what he wants. Maybe it's nothing."
​
"But he said it was urgent," Himiko said.
​
"Well, maybe to him it is, but it's probably not a big deal at all. You know how Gundham always makes a mountain out of a molehill," Kokichi pointed out. Himiko began to calm down. She took a few deep breaths.
​
"Yeah...you're probably right," she said. "Will you come with me, though?" Kokichi shook his head.
​
"Non, non," he replied. "I'll listen from here and help you out if you need it, but I think the reason he asked for only you is that he trusts you more than me. For what, I'm not sure. But you should go over there and see what he wants." Himiko nodded.
​
"Okay," she answered. Kokichi wished her good luck before she left to go see Gundham in the living room. He was sitting down on one of the couches with some weird-looking contraption next to him. When he saw her, he stood up from the couch immediately.
​
"Finally!" he said. "Himiko, I am afraid I must talk to you about something very serious and...unsettling." Himiko felt as if her heart was going to explode out of her chest. So it was bad, after all!
​
"A-About what?" she stammered.
​
"Do you know anything about this? " Gundham asked. He grabbed the weird-looking object and held it up to Himiko. Her eyes bugged out as she realized that the weird object was a small cage with the front bars extending outwards.
​
"W-What...h-how..." she stammered.
​
"This is Maga-Z's cage," Gundham explained. "Not only did I continue to find his cage empty, I found the cage itself twisted and torn open like the belly of a wildebeest after a lion has feasted on its poor, unfortunate carcass!"
​
"Oh...um...that's too bad," Himiko muttered. "But...no, I don't know why his cage looks like that. I really don't!" Gundham eyed her skeptically.
​
"Is there something you are not telling me?" he asked. "Are you and that nefarious boyfriend of yours up to something? After all, Maga-Z did not disappear until you and Kokichi were looking after him."
​
"Nyeh...well, maybe it's just a really bizarre coincidence!" Himiko insisted. "I don't know anything about that cage!"

"But you know about Maga-Z, don't you?" Gundham asked with a soul-piercing glare.

"Um...um..." she stammered. "Well, I..."
​
"It's alright, HimiCocoa Bean. We might as well come clean," Kokichi said, stepping into the living room. He stood next to Himiko and faced Gundham. "Alright, Gundham, here's what happened," he explained. "I took a picture of Maga-Z with Mahiru's camera. He died from the flash. Then, we revived him and snuck him back into his cage. But that's all we know."
​
"WHAT?!?!" Gundham seethed. "YOU LIE!!! THERE IS NOW WAY SOMEONE COULD EVER SLAY ONE OF MY DARK DEVAS OF DESTRUCTION!! THEY ARE IMPREGNABLE, INDESTRUCTIBLE, INVINCIBLE, ALL-POWERFUL BEINGS, AND YOU ARE SAYING THAT HE WAS SLAIN BY A MERE CAMERA?!?! HOW DARE YOU INSULT THEM!!! NOW, TELL ME WHAT REALLY HAPPENED, FIEND, OR I WILL THROW YOU INTO HADES' FIERY DOMAIN-AH!!"
​
"Welp, okay, then! If you say so!" Kokichi shrugged and smiled. "I accidentally left his cage open for too long, and he ran away!" Gundham glared angrily at him.
​
"INSOLENT FOOL!!" he growled. "I knew only you would do something so irresponsible and careless!"
​
"You did?!" Kokichi asked with a smart-alecky grin. "Oh, Gundy-goo, you're so sweet! You know me so well!"
​
"Grrraaaagghhhhh!!" Gundham roared with anger and frustration, and pointed at Kokichi. "You have infuriated me for the last time, you infernal creature!! You will surely pay for evoking my wrath! Prepare to-"
​
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Kokichi interrupted, waving his hand dismissively. "Are you gonna waste your time yelling at me, or are you gonna go look for your hamster, already?!"
​
"Just you wait..." Gundham said in a low, threatening voice. "I will find Maga-Z, and when I do...IT'LL BE THE END FOR YOU!!!" Gundham turned around and stomped furiously out the front door of Casa V3, slamming it behind him.
​
"Nyeh...I hope that's the end of that," Himiko said. "I can finally go back to bed now."
​
"Mm...no, I don't think so," Kokichi replied, grabbing Himiko's hand.
​
"B-But...why not?!" Himiko exclaimed.
​
"Did you not notice that cage?" Kokichi asked.
​
"Well, y-yeah, but we had nothing to do with that!" Himiko replied.
​
"But it's weird, dont'cha think?" Kokichi said. "The cage didn't look like that when I returned Maga-Z, but it's weird that it looks like that after I put him back. And why is Maga-Z still gone even though we put him back?"
​
"Well...that is kinda weird," Himiko admitted. "Maybe someone broke in and took him?" Kokichi shook his head.
​
"I don't think so, Monkey Buns," he replied. "I don't think anyone had any reason to steal Maga-Z. Besides, the broken bars were pointing outwards as if Maga-Z had broken out himself."
​
"Nyeh...what did you say?!" Himiko exclaimed.
​
"I think when we revived him, we somehow altered his genes to turn him into some kind of monster," Kokichi continued. "Remember how like Miu drank that serum that turned her into a monster?"
​
"W-W-W-W-Whaaaaaat?!?!" Himiko yelped. "You mean...we created a m-m-monster?!"
​
"Yeah, yeah!" Kokichi replied excitedly. "Nee-heehee...pretty cool, huh?"
​
"So what are we supposed to do, then?!" Himiko exclaimed.
​
"What else?!" Kokichi replied. He grabbed one of Gonta's nearby butterfly nets and slapped on a war hat. "We're goin' on a monster hunt!" he muttered dramatically while saluting.

Hey there, fellow dice rollers!
I've pieced together a boatload of Spotify playlists to accompany your wildest D&D adventures. Whether you're navigating the dim corridors of a forgotten dungeon or nursing an ale in a noisy tavern, I've got you covered. Featuring my own compositions plus a treasure trove from other amazing composers.
Mystery: Unravel enigmatic melodies and cryptic riddles, perfect for mysteries in your adventures.
Sad Piano: Delicate and heartfelt harmonies for poignant moments of vulnerability and reflection in your campaign.
Desert: Evocative tunes for your journey through sun-scorched sands and ancient ruins.
Dark Fantasy: Sinister melodies for adventures that delve into forbidden magic and cursed lands.
Underwater Adventure: Aquatic tunes guiding you through mystic realms and encounters with sea creatures. Dive in and explore!
Stream-Friendly Music for Twitch: Worry-free, copyright-safe tunes to energize your streaming sessions.
Feywild: Honor the fallen with somber melodies and poignant harmonies perfect for remembering brave heroes.
Vampires: Haunting harmonies for adventures featuring the enigmatic children of the night and their eternal intrigues.
Peaceful Fantasy Reading: Soothing music perfect for reading, writing, and relaxation, transporting you to a serene dreamscape.
Traveling: Embark on an epic journey with uplifting melodies and adventurous harmonies perfect for exploration and discovery.
Lovecraftian Horror: Unsettling tunes for D&D adventures that explore the unknown, confront cosmic horrors, and unravel the fragile fabric of reality itself.
Tavern Music: Step into the welcoming warmth of a lively tavern with this playlist.
The Wheel of Time Music: Enter the epic world of the Wheel of Time playlist, inspired by Robert Jordan's legendary saga.
Action: Unleash the adrenaline rush of the Action Scenes playlist.
Viking Music: Summon the warrior spirit with this Vikings and Norse playlist.
Tundra: Embark on a frosty adventure with this hand-picked Tundra playlist.
The Temple District: Enter the sacred realm of the Temple District with this specially curated playlist.
The Noble's Party: Step into the refined world of a noble's party with this elegant playlist.
The Camp: Gather around the campfire with this cozy Party's Camp playlist.
Melancholy: Immerse yourself in the tender embrace of sadness and melancholy with this evocative playlist.
Combat: Ignite the flames of battle with the Combat playlist.
Splendorous City: Embrace the vibrant pulse of a bustling metropolis with this Big City playlist.
The Court: Step into a world of intrigue and power with my Fantasy Court playlist.
Jungle Chronicles: Immerse yourself in the wild and untamed world of jungle adventures with this D&D-inspired playlist.
Town Music: Discover the charm of the Small Towns playlist. Cozy melodies evoke the close-knit communities and simple pleasures of life in a rural idyll.
Forest: Wander through the enchanting realms of the Forests playlist. Perfect for D&D adventures set in sylvan glades and the untamed wilds of nature's embrace.
Dungeon: Venture into the shadowy depths with this Dungeons playlist. Ideal for D&D expeditions into the unknown, filled with danger and hidden treasures.
Goblins & Love: Ignite the spark of romance with this Love playlist. Ideal for D&D moments of blossoming love and heartfelt connections between characters.
The Mountains: Explore the rugged world of the mountains with my D&D playlist.
Pirates: Set sail for high seas adventure with this Pirates playlist. Ideal for D&D sessions filled with treasure hunts and thrilling naval battles.
A Day in the Market: Welcome to the bustling market of melody! This playlist captures the vibrant energy of lively bazaars.
Exploring Nature: Embark on a journey through nature's splendor with this Exploring Nature playlist.
Farewell to a Hero: Honor the fallen with this Hero's Funeral playlist. Let the somber melodies and poignant harmonies pay tribute to the bravery and sacrifice of those who gave everything.

Hey there, fellow dice rollers!
I've pieced together a boatload of Spotify playlists to accompany your wildest D&D adventures. Whether you're navigating the dim corridors of a forgotten dungeon or nursing an ale in a noisy tavern, I've got you covered. Featuring my own compositions plus a treasure trove from other amazing composers.
Mystery: Unravel enigmatic melodies and cryptic riddles, perfect for mysteries in your adventures.
Sad Piano: Delicate and heartfelt harmonies for poignant moments of vulnerability and reflection in your campaign.
Desert: Evocative tunes for your journey through sun-scorched sands and ancient ruins.
Dark Fantasy: Sinister melodies for adventures that delve into forbidden magic and cursed lands.
Underwater Adventure: Aquatic tunes guiding you through mystic realms and encounters with sea creatures. Dive in and explore!
Stream-Friendly Music for Twitch: Worry-free, copyright-safe tunes to energize your streaming sessions.
Feywild: Honor the fallen with somber melodies and poignant harmonies perfect for remembering brave heroes.
Vampires: Haunting harmonies for adventures featuring the enigmatic children of the night and their eternal intrigues.
Peaceful Fantasy Reading: Soothing music perfect for reading, writing, and relaxation, transporting you to a serene dreamscape.
Traveling: Embark on an epic journey with uplifting melodies and adventurous harmonies perfect for exploration and discovery.
Lovecraftian Horror: Unsettling tunes for D&D adventures that explore the unknown, confront cosmic horrors, and unravel the fragile fabric of reality itself.
Tavern Music: Step into the welcoming warmth of a lively tavern with this playlist.
The Wheel of Time Music: Enter the epic world of the Wheel of Time playlist, inspired by Robert Jordan's legendary saga.
Action: Unleash the adrenaline rush of the Action Scenes playlist.
Viking Music: Summon the warrior spirit with this Vikings and Norse playlist.
Tundra: Embark on a frosty adventure with this hand-picked Tundra playlist.
The Temple District: Enter the sacred realm of the Temple District with this specially curated playlist.
The Noble's Party: Step into the refined world of a noble's party with this elegant playlist.
The Camp: Gather around the campfire with this cozy Party's Camp playlist.
Melancholy: Immerse yourself in the tender embrace of sadness and melancholy with this evocative playlist.
Combat: Ignite the flames of battle with the Combat playlist.
Splendorous City: Embrace the vibrant pulse of a bustling metropolis with this Big City playlist.
The Court: Step into a world of intrigue and power with my Fantasy Court playlist.
Jungle Chronicles: Immerse yourself in the wild and untamed world of jungle adventures with this D&D-inspired playlist.
Town Music: Discover the charm of the Small Towns playlist. Cozy melodies evoke the close-knit communities and simple pleasures of life in a rural idyll.
Forest: Wander through the enchanting realms of the Forests playlist. Perfect for D&D adventures set in sylvan glades and the untamed wilds of nature's embrace.
Dungeon: Venture into the shadowy depths with this Dungeons playlist. Ideal for D&D expeditions into the unknown, filled with danger and hidden treasures.
Goblins & Love: Ignite the spark of romance with this Love playlist. Ideal for D&D moments of blossoming love and heartfelt connections between characters.
The Mountains: Explore the rugged world of the mountains with my D&D playlist.
Pirates: Set sail for high seas adventure with this Pirates playlist. Ideal for D&D sessions filled with treasure hunts and thrilling naval battles.
A Day in the Market: Welcome to the bustling market of melody! This playlist captures the vibrant energy of lively bazaars.
Exploring Nature: Embark on a journey through nature's splendor with this Exploring Nature playlist.
Farewell to a Hero: Honor the fallen with this Hero's Funeral playlist. Let the somber melodies and poignant harmonies pay tribute to the bravery and sacrifice of those who gave everything.

Hey there, fellow dice rollers!
I've pieced together a boatload of Spotify playlists to accompany your wildest D&D adventures. Whether you're navigating the dim corridors of a forgotten dungeon or nursing an ale in a noisy tavern, I've got you covered. Featuring my own compositions plus a treasure trove from other amazing composers.
Mystery: Unravel enigmatic melodies and cryptic riddles, perfect for mysteries in your adventures.
Sad Piano: Delicate and heartfelt harmonies for poignant moments of vulnerability and reflection in your campaign.
Desert: Evocative tunes for your journey through sun-scorched sands and ancient ruins.
Dark Fantasy: Sinister melodies for adventures that delve into forbidden magic and cursed lands.
Underwater Adventure: Aquatic tunes guiding you through mystic realms and encounters with sea creatures. Dive in and explore!
Stream-Friendly Music for Twitch: Worry-free, copyright-safe tunes to energize your streaming sessions.
Feywild: Honor the fallen with somber melodies and poignant harmonies perfect for remembering brave heroes.
Vampires: Haunting harmonies for adventures featuring the enigmatic children of the night and their eternal intrigues.
Peaceful Fantasy Reading: Soothing music perfect for reading, writing, and relaxation, transporting you to a serene dreamscape.
Traveling: Embark on an epic journey with uplifting melodies and adventurous harmonies perfect for exploration and discovery.
Lovecraftian Horror: Unsettling tunes for D&D adventures that explore the unknown, confront cosmic horrors, and unravel the fragile fabric of reality itself.
Tavern Music: Step into the welcoming warmth of a lively tavern with this playlist.
The Wheel of Time Music: Enter the epic world of the Wheel of Time playlist, inspired by Robert Jordan's legendary saga.
Action: Unleash the adrenaline rush of the Action Scenes playlist.
Viking Music: Summon the warrior spirit with this Vikings and Norse playlist.
Tundra: Embark on a frosty adventure with this hand-picked Tundra playlist.
The Temple District: Enter the sacred realm of the Temple District with this specially curated playlist.
The Noble's Party: Step into the refined world of a noble's party with this elegant playlist.
The Camp: Gather around the campfire with this cozy Party's Camp playlist.
Melancholy: Immerse yourself in the tender embrace of sadness and melancholy with this evocative playlist.
Combat: Ignite the flames of battle with the Combat playlist.
Splendorous City: Embrace the vibrant pulse of a bustling metropolis with this Big City playlist.
The Court: Step into a world of intrigue and power with my Fantasy Court playlist.
Jungle Chronicles: Immerse yourself in the wild and untamed world of jungle adventures with this D&D-inspired playlist.
Town Music: Discover the charm of the Small Towns playlist. Cozy melodies evoke the close-knit communities and simple pleasures of life in a rural idyll.
Forest: Wander through the enchanting realms of the Forests playlist. Perfect for D&D adventures set in sylvan glades and the untamed wilds of nature's embrace.
Dungeon: Venture into the shadowy depths with this Dungeons playlist. Ideal for D&D expeditions into the unknown, filled with danger and hidden treasures.
Goblins & Love: Ignite the spark of romance with this Love playlist. Ideal for D&D moments of blossoming love and heartfelt connections between characters.
The Mountains: Explore the rugged world of the mountains with my D&D playlist.
Pirates: Set sail for high seas adventure with this Pirates playlist. Ideal for D&D sessions filled with treasure hunts and thrilling naval battles.
A Day in the Market: Welcome to the bustling market of melody! This playlist captures the vibrant energy of lively bazaars.
Exploring Nature: Embark on a journey through nature's splendor with this Exploring Nature playlist.
Farewell to a Hero: Honor the fallen with this Hero's Funeral playlist. Let the somber melodies and poignant harmonies pay tribute to the bravery and sacrifice of those who gave everything.

I planned a trip to Europe with several of my friends. For context, three of us are lucky enough to have pretty good jobs where we are able to go on a trip like this, but we did have to save up for a couple years to make it happen and we were trying to stick to a budget. The fourth member of the group, we’ll call her Sally, definitely gets paid less than the rest of the group and during the planning phase, made sure we made more inexpensive choices.
Basically, I did most of the planning because I enjoy it, but before I booked anything, I would send a text to our group chat with a link and the cost and wait until everyone had okay’d it to book. This included hotels, train tickets, tours, entrance to historical sites, wine and food tastings, etc.
My other friends paid me back for their shares of the hotels, transportation, activities, etc but Sally basically ghosted me when I asked to be paid (a month and a half from the trip). We also asked for her flight information since she was flying in from somewhere else so we could coordinate and she never sent it.
She finally responded a week before the trip and said something was wrong with her phone so she didn’t get the messages and promised she would pay me while we were on the trip in cash because she was uncomfortable with bank transfers.
We make it to Europe and she is not there. She tells us she was in the hospital for a health issue and the doctors said no strenuous activity so she would no longer be able to go.
She had been having health issues throughout the summer. But also, two days after she broke the news to us (the first day of our trip) she posted on Instagram about doing a really strenuous and long hike up a mountain, which seemed a bit weird if she’s banned from strenuous activity.
I enjoyed my vacation, but now that I’m back, I owe an extra $1,000 on my credit card that I did not anticipate or save money for.
I asked my friends what we should do and they’re torn. One of them says we just split it and pay. But the other, who doesn’t know Sally that well, adamantly doesn’t want to pay me until I make a serious effort to get some money out of Sally first.
My dilemma is, would I be an asshole if I asked Sally, who’s not in the greatest financial situation and undergoing health issues for a significant amount of money for a trip she did not attend?

Hello, I don't have many close to me so I would love to try to make some friends. I prefer IRL (I'm in the Mid-Hudson region of NY) but online is okay too. I do have a bad habit of "ghosting" but that's really just me being shy to message first and poor memory, but I really am trying to work on it! Here's a lil profile/bio thing
Name: Kade Age: (almost) 22 Pronouns: he/they Favorite shows: Bojack Horseman, What We Do In The Shadows, It's Always Sunny, Regular Show, Cyberpunk:Edgerunners,,, some others I probably can't think of Favorite movies: Scream, American Psycho, Fear Street, SLC Punk, Mr.Right,,, I have so many movies that I like lol Favorite music artists: Waterparks, Ice Nine Kills, Pierce The Veil, Set It Off, Motionless in White,,, if they were ever at Warped Tour then I probably listen to them. Hobbies: creative writing and kandi
I'd like to think I'm kind and playful and fun to hang out with. I get excited easily and am usually down to do whatever. I do struggle with mental health a lot however but I'm making lots of progress, I just might get sad and anxious sometimes. I'm 420 friendly and drink on a regular basis but I will never pressure anyone if that's not your thing! I'm not sure what else to put here so, yeah just DM if you wanna be friends! :3

(25M) I tore my ACL in June 2017 exactly 5 years ago and my Meniscus on Thanksgiving ‘22. Only until I tore my meniscus did I feel a constant ache. The past year was full of planned business trips so I had to wait to close them out to schedule my procedure. The surgeon is using a graft from my quad tendon to repair the ACL.
Has anyone else gotten this specific procedure?
I still have a full range squat motion and my joints are hyper mobile (double jointed knees). I have to travel internationally for my procedure and I’m wondering what I will need to take with me to make the 10 day trip easier. I’ll be staying alone in a hotel for most of the time (can’t fly right after due to risks of blood clots)
Have any of you ever heard of the athletic truth group (knees over toes guy) and done any routines of his before the procedure? I’ve completely stopped pre-hab/strengthening routines and I regret it because my leg is in a constant ache like a 3/10. It’s from my knee down to my tibialis My line of work is quite physical so I spent these last weeks closing up contracts to focus on healing for the rest of the year.
I’ve never been under before and I’m also excited for the whole experience I know it will be painful and challenging but it’s almost like a reset, I get to set goals for the next year rebuild my body and potentially start playing my favorite sport again sand soccer.
I appreciate any dialogue and interaction under this post.

It was a long trip. This is a long post. Apologies in advance.
HIGHLIGHTS (Days 1-14 of 28) KYOTO--Kiyomizu temple; Nanzenji temple; Nijo Castle; Sanjusangendo temple; Shugakuin Imperial Villa; Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion); Fushimi Inari shrine; 184th Kamogawa-Odori geisha show HIMEJI-The castle and garden. NARA-Todaiji temple UJI-Byodoin temple IZU KOGEN--Jogasaki Coast nature trail
TOKYO, Monday 5/8
We arrived mid-afternoon at Tokyo/Haneda, right after Golden Week ended. It turned out to be, coincidentally, the day when the Japanese government officially downgraded the Covid pandemic to the level of a seasonal flu.
Fresh off a 13-hour flight and experiencing Japan for the first time, we went from touchdown to hotel check-in in something like 90 minutes, braving an almost-rush-hour crush on the Keikyu Line train from the Terminal 3 station.
Experience has taught us that meticulously planning every step of arrival in a new country is crucial to avoiding confusion, getting lost or simply wasting time.
Pre-loaded Suica cards on our smartphones led us straight to the train without standing in any lines.
We' chose the Shinagawa Station area of central Tokyo to spare our jetlagged selves another leg of indeterminate length--four or five hours at least--to reach our Kyoto base. Shinagawa is a straight shot--no transfers--from Haneda and a great place to catch a bullet train.
It was a geezer move that gave us plenty of time to familiarize ourselves with the layout and operation of one of Japan's busiest train stations.
Before crashing for the night, we'd taken care of some business by getting cash from an ATM and picking up reserved seat tickets for a post-Kyoto leg. We used a JR Railway ticket machine to print out the tickets, using QR codes emailed to us the previous month when we bought the tickets online directly from JR-East railway (we avoided costly middlemen in all our travel and entertainment purchases, something that requires planning but is easily doable from abroad). Like all our electronic machine transactions in Japan, there was an English language option on the touch-screen.
A machine also checked us in at the Prince Hotel Shinagawa, part of a modern high-rise development, chosen mainly for convenience. It's a one-block walk from the train station and was perfect for a couple jet-lagged Japan newbies. What we got, for the princely sum of $116 USD, was a spacious (by Japan standards) room on the 34th floor with a dead-on view of Tokyo Tower. Dinner was carryout sushi from the Queen's Isetan department store on the opposite side of the station, plus beer and sake from a convenience store, all consumed in the hotel room with Tokyo's skyline at our feet.
KYOTO , Tuesday 5/9
On the advice of an old Japan hand, we made Kyoto our base for the first two weeks. It worked well. We explored a fabulous city, took three day trips (Himeji/Osaka; Nara; Uji) and left town wishing we'd had time for more.
We expected our first full day to be a blur, due to jetlag, but it wasn't too bad. Following advice from this sub for first-time shinkansen travelers, we got to the station an hour early.
We bought far enough in advance on the Smart EX app to get a slight discount. We booked back row seats on the right-hand side for easy luggage storage but discovered that both our bags (including my larger one, which measures 142 cm [L+H+W]) also fit on the overhead rack. We never had luggage problems on trains during our trip.
Our train to Kyoto had great Fuji views, our first. After depositing the bags in a Kyoto station storage locker (rented with the smartphone Suica card), we made our first sightseeing stop: Toji Temple, a quick subway ride and walk away.
About picking hotels
We used triangulation to pick hotels; that is, cross-checking information from various sources to give us the best possible chance of getting a good place at a decent price. Sources included a handful of guidebooks from the public library, Trip Advisor and this sub.
Solaria Nishitetsu Hotel Kyoto Premier ($221 USD per night with massive breakfast buffet, best of the trip) turned out to be a great base. We paid extra for a room facing the Kamo River, a popular gathering spot for locals, tourists and joggers. We benefited from early booking (more than six months in advance, shortly after Japan began opening up). Inflation and other factors have since raised the price of the same room by about 10 percent.
The newish (opened in 2017) hotel attracts mainly Japanese/Asian travelers who, like me, enjoyed the onsen in the basement. We also put the coin-operated washedryers to good use.
KYOTO, Wednesday 5/10
Up and out, thanks to jetlag, shortly after 5 a.m., walking deserted streets to the foot of magical Kiyomizu temple, arriving just as it opened at 6 a.m. We were back at the hotel for breakfast by 8, after walking down the picturesque, cobbled streets of Sannenzaka, shops still closed, with more tourists starting to trickle in.
About choosing sightseeing spots
I'm a sucker for ratings, assuming they're done well. So, guidebook must-sees, like DK Eyewitness's or Lonely Planet's, star ratings in the Michelin Green Guide to Japan or in the downloaded Gateway to Japan guide (a steal at $10 and in your pocket for free on Kindle app) and, finally, Japan Guide's recommendations helped guide our steps.
That's how we ended up spending the afternoon at Nanzenji, a must-see Zen temple, which, like Kiyomizu, is laid out at the foot of the mountains east of town.
Lunch this day was at Junsei, a yudofo (boiled tofu) restaurant we stumbled onto near the temple. We used wooden sticks to skim the surface of an iron vat filled with simmering soy milk, that was set before us over a gas flame.
About finding restaurants
If you've never been to Japan but lurk on this sub, you've already heard that it's practically impossible to get a bad meal. We booked a handful of places before leaving home but agree with others that you rarely need to do that to eat well. If you're determined to hit a place that's highly popular, often with deep-pocketed foreign tourists, reservations may be required.
We're foodies, up to a point, but Japan's profusion of starred Michelin restaurants was wasted on us. We've learned over the years that we seldom enjoy paying the inflated cost. Over four weeks, we ate once at a Michelin one-star, chosen for other reasons.
That said, Michelin's Bib Gourmands (good, affordable restaurants) never disappointed us. They are plentiful in Japan, especially in Kyoto and Tokyo, and worth seeking out. Most of the time, though, we picked places to eat by cross-checking Google (asking for "soba noodles" near me, for example) and Tabelog, the indispensible crowd-sourced Japanese website (we looked for places in the 3.5 range).
Non-speakers of Japanese can have a hard time making reservations. We found that we could make them in advance from abroad through services like TableCheck (and an apparently expanding number of others aimed at tourists, usually charging a fee; sometimes small, sometimes steep). On the ground in Japan, we sometimes reserved for free through Google and Tabelog (at random places which you can find on Google or Tabelog restaurant listings); they were always honored. We also asked hotel reception desks for reservation help on occasion. We went to a couple restaurants in person and booked a table for later. But the easiest and often best way to get in is simply to arrive on the early side for lunch (by 11:30 or so) or dinner (between 5 and 5:30). More than once, we walked right into a place and were seated, only to discover lots of people waiting in line outside when we left. That said, if you're looking for an above-average meal on a Saturday night, especially in a popular location, you might want to book in advance.
Konbinis (convenience stores) are cheap, good and extremely reliable sources of takeout. And though we liked what we got there (mainly onigiri), we wound up relying on them less and less as the trip went along. The same was true of department store basements, which lived up to their reputation as fantastic food sources, for locals and tourists alike. We learned that we could often eat for the same amount or less in restaurants geared to locals or foreigners on limited budgets, rather than chowing down in our hotel room.
KYOTO, Thursday 5/11
We hit Nijo Castle in the morning and Sento Imperial Palace, one of several attractions we reserved in advance through the Imperial Household Agency. All were well worth it (and free of charge). The agency website explains the rules, which vary somewhat from site to site. We also toured Kyoto Imperial Palace.
About navigation
Just as the Google Translate app (and similar devices) have broken down language barriers, several travel apps have vastly simplified the business of getting around. Google Maps was our basic navigational tool and it rarely failed us. Another app that helped work in concert with Google Maps was Navitime's Japan Travel guide. Both provide alternate routes, detailed information on trains and stations and much more. Sometimes, when we popped out of subway station, we'd check the compass app on the smartphone to make sure we were heading off in the right direction. It doesn't hurt that public transit throughout the country increasingly uses English or romaji to translate Japanese. Over four weeks, we only found one place where we had trouble deciphering the destination signs on buses (oddly enough, in Himeji, a tourist magnet).
KYOTO, Friday, 5/12
A busy day started at Katsura Imperial Villa. Like other Imperial Household venues, a guided tour (in Japanese, but with free English audio guide) is the only way to see the place and its beautiful gardens.
We also caught a kabuki for beginners show at sumptuous Minamiza Theatre--tickets purchased online in advance--after briefly stopping by bustling Yasaka-jinja shrine down the street.
Dinner was our priciest splurge: Itoh, a serene, traditional style steak house in the atmospheric Gion neighborhood. We hadn't initially planned on eating Kobe beef, since we've pretty much given up beef in our everyday lives, but we were persuaded by a family member who correctly posed the question: If not now, when? Worth the steep tab ($264), not least because our table overlooked the tiny Shirakawa canal, the service was great and now we can say we know what Kobe beef is all about. Like buttah.
KYOTO, Saturday 5/13
We were at Sanjusangendo when it opened and glad we'd gone. The display of 500 life-size, gilded 1000-armed kannon in Japan's longest wooden structure was unforgettable.
We're museum people--either you are or you ain't--and the special exhibition at Kyoto National Museum on the 850th anniversary of the founder of Shin Buddhism was well worth it. Unfortunately, like most Japanese museums, photos were prohibited inside. In this regard, technically advanced Japan lags much of the civilized world; even Old Europe has greatly loosened such restrictions in recent years. Smartphone cameras can be a nuisance to other visitors, but they are a quick and easy way of capturing what you've seen and preserving it for later study.
Lunch was at Vegan Ramen Uzu Kyoto, a Bib Gourmand and the weirdest place we ate. Expanded availability of vegetarian ramen is a promising, healthier trend, and we enjoyed it at several places in Tokyo and Kyoto. A TableCheck reservation, made well in advance, got us seats at this cutting-edge spot. Dining is at a polished black surface in a darkened room bathed by the illumination of a giant, swirling teamLab artwork. Pricey but good.
KYOTO, Sunday 5/14
We're horseplayers and enjoyed a day at recently reopened Kyoto Racecourse, capacity 120,000. Betting is easy; just stop by the information desk for instructions in English.
Dinner at Tiger Gyoza Hall was lively, inexpensive and delicious. It was the only restaurant on our trip that we visited twice; reservable on Google.
KYOTO, Monday 5/15
No place put us through more hoops than Kokedera, better known at Moss Temple. It was well worth the difficulty of getting a needed reservation; if you do it by mail from abroad--the least expensive way to go--you need a couple months head start (and an International Reply Coupon, which you have to buy online from the Swiss Postal System). We got there and back via city buses. Along the way we crossed Togetsukyo Bridge in the very congested tourist hotbed of Arashiyama. It didn't make us regret our decision to skip the area.
Afterward we visited Ninnaji temple. Ryoanji temple and its famous rock garden (where noisy fellow tourists made a Zen experience impossible) and Kinkakuji, the incredible Golden Pavilion. The place was jammed but crowd control is excellent and we're glad we made it.
KYOTO, Tuesday 5/16
Shugakuin Imperial Villa, a vast imperial property of gardens and buildings (which you cannot enter) on the northeastern outskirts, was our favorite Imperial Household Agency site. We felt fortunate to get advance tickets through their lottery but saw that same-day tickets were also available there and at other Agency sites; it would be a long way to go, however, if all tickets were gone on the day you wanted to enter. Since we made a conscious decision to visit Japan after the cherry blossom and Golden Week crowds were gone, we have no idea what things are like during busier times.
We strolled the Philosopher's Path after lunch. Perhaps if it had been a quiet early or cherry blossom time, we might have been blown away. Instead, it was a rare disappointment. It struck us as a very conventional touristy trail; nothing special at all.
On the other hand, Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion), near one end of the path, lived up to the hype. We capped the day by off by catching the procession of Aoi Matsuri, or Hollyhock Festival, one of Kyoto's three big annual festivals. The parade of hundreds of elaborately costumed people, some on horseback, highlighted by a pair of ox-drawn carts, was a hoot. What surprised us was the absence of music or any sort of percussion.
HIMEJI and OSAKA, Wednesday 5/17
A shinkansen whisked us to Himeji for a tour of the incomparable castle and impressive gardens. We took advantage of the unique Himeji Castle English Speaking Guide service, which generously provides personal tours with an area resident, in English, at no cost (book online in advance).
Lunch was at Mentetsu, a very good ramen shop at a mall located between the train station and the castle. Recommended.
We finished the excursion at Osaka's famous, crazy Dotonburi neighborhood, a cross between Times Square and Disney. Dinner was our first okonomiyaki, deliciously prepared at Okonomiyaki Mizuno (a Bib Gourmand). We're allergic to standing in line---life is too short--and we never waited more than 30 minutes for a table on our trip. They took our order at Mizuno while we were in line, and it was prepared before our countertop seats shortly after we got in. Oishī!
UJI, Thursday 5/18
Uji is renowned for its tea and Byodoin temple, best known for its elegant phoenix hall, which is pictured on the back of the 10 Yen coin. It was a great day trip, including lunch at a traditional local soba shop that served cold noodles sobayu style; you pour hot soba stock--the cloudy water the noodles were boiled in--into what's left of your soy-based dipping sauce and drink the (supposedly) healthy brew. Definitely the way to go. Mampukuji, a Zen temple, was a worthwhile stop before we caught a train back to Kyoto.
NARA, Friday 5/19
Our first day of heavy rain failed to dampen the visit to one of the best places on our trip. The town, a tourist favorite because, or in spite of, the overpopulation of overly friendly deer, is well-described elsewhere. We toured Todai-ji, with its giant Bronze Buddha, had lunch at the cute and delicious Pizzeria Trattoria Magazzino (Bib Gourmand) and checked out Kohfukuji temple, too.
KYOTO, Saturday 5/20
Fushimi Inari shrine, on almost every Kyoto must-see list, lives up to its reputation. We followed good advice from this sub and arrived early, a few minutes before 8 a.m. Already, crowds were building. We detoured from the main path through thousands of torii gates and wandered instead up an almost totally deserted sylvan trail on the south side of Mt. Inari, past bamboo groves, a few minor shrines and some houses. After about 45 minutes, we reached a set of stone stairs to the summit. From the top, we took the main path down, dodging the stream of fellow tourists as best we could and gaping at the gates and the view from the halfway point. We highly recommend this alternative way of seeing the best of two Fushimi Inari worlds.
We celebrated our last full day in Kyoto, and our 40th wedding anniversary, with a memorable kaiseki lunch at Hana Kitcho, a Michelin one-star booked weeks in advance from home. The beautifully decorated private room, attentive service, imaginative presentation, museum-quality stoneware and delicious food were certainly up to one-star standards.
The minute that advance online tickets went on sale for the 184th Kamogawa Odori, I jumped on them. The tourist-oriented geisha dance performance is held in May at a theater that overlooks the Kamo River. We were lucky to have been given seats in the front row and when one of the geishas tossed a white cloth package in my direction I snatched it. I now have an unexpected souvenir, a cloth banner autographed by the geisha herself. The fantastic show will remain in memory.
IZU KOGEN, Sunday 5/21
We left Kyoto for the Izu Peninsula and what turned out to be the best single night of our trip. Hanafubuki, a modern ryokan I learned about on this sub, was everything we could have wanted. It features 9 private outdoor onsens on beautifully landscaped property and elegant guest rooms with fluffy futons for sleeping on tatami mats. The ten-course dinner was exquisite. Breakfast, a seven-course feast that featured whole grilled horse mackerel and golden-eye sea bream, was simply amazing.
IZU KOGEN, Monday 5/22
A short walk from the ryokan is the scenic Jogasaki Coast nature trail, a rugged stretch of rocks and pounding surf. A guy I met there who introduced himself as Zeus, a Japanese native currently living in California and in town to visit his parents, compared the coastline to Monterey Bay. We could have used another night to allow us to explore the trail at greater length.
Lunch was at a great local restaurant, walking distance from the train station, Honke Maguroya, featuring local fish and top-grade tuna. The wasabi rhizome, which you grate yourself, is a tipoff to the quality of the sushi, but the prices are extremely reasonable. Recommended.
From there we headed back to Tokyo and the remainder of our trip. Highlights and a full (too full?) final report coming soon.

I’m hoping to come up next month for the Rangers vs Newcastle match, the plan is to stop over and drive back in the morning but just in case hotel prices are sky high and I decide to just park up and drive home on the same day, is there anywhere fairly close to the stadium that’s safe enough to leave the car unattended that late at night? (Match kicks off at 7:45 so by the time I get out and back to the car it could be getting on towards 11pm).

Disclaimer: I would like to point out that I did not always aim for the highest CPP (cost per point) or the most optimized booking. My primary goal was to secure everything we needed for our trip. This proved to be a rather intricate booking process, requiring many hours of research from both me and my partner. This travel will take place in December 2023 to February 2024

Background

My points-saving journey began the moment I realized I wanted to marry my partner. (Now, if you ever wondered what romance looks like for an award travel enthusiast, this is it!). I was lucky to travel frequently in my previous job, allowing me to rack up significant points through my card spending. This large points balance allowed me to time everything perfectly and coincide with my sabbatical.

My Balances

• AMEX: 354,000
• Chase: 797,000
• IHG (Platinum): 429,000
• Marriott (Gold): 555,000 + 3x 50K Free Night Cert
• United (Gold): 120,000

The Flights

Route	Class	Point Source	Airlines	Points Cost	Cost (Taxes/Fees)	Retail Cost	Cents Per Point
LAX > SIN	Business	AMEX+Chase→ SQ	Singapore Airlines	214,000	$5.60	$19,986.00	9.34
SIN > DPS	Business	United	United Airlines	55,000	$47.60	$1,448.00	2.55
Inter Asia Flights	Economy	Various	-	-	$630.00	-	-
HKG > LAX	Business	AMEX SUB → Cathay	Cathay Pacific	140,000	$201.00	$10,134.00	7.10

The Hotels

Hotel Name	Room Type	Points Cost	Cost (Taxes/Fees)	Retail Cost	Cents Per Point
W Bali (New Years)	Base Room	154,000	$1,205.38	$3,254.00	2.11
Alila Villas Uluwatu	1 Bedroom Villa	120,000	-	$4,459.00	3.72
Alila Ubud	Forrest Villa	32,000	-	$1,183.52	3.70
Ritz Mandapa	Riverfront Pool Villa	519,088	-	$7,786.32	1.50
Westin Singapore	Base Room	0	-	$1,191.00	∞
The Shore at Katathani (Phuket)	Seaview Pool Villa	145,426	-	$2,181.39	1.50
Ban Sainai Resort (Krabi)	Cliff View Cottage	-	$271.59		-
Panvaree the Greenery (Khao Sok)	Lake View Villa	-	$613.66		-
Kimpton Kitalay (Koh Samui)	Base Room	222,000	-	$1,463.16	0.66
Kimpton Maa-Lai (Bangkok)	Base Room	134,000	-	$1,157.50	0.86
Intercontinental Saigon	Base Room	73,000	-	$466.00	0.64
Tam Coc Garden Resort (Ninh Binh Hotel)	Garden Bungalow	-	$626.19		-
Orchid Cruises (Ha Long Bay Hotel)	Suite Balcony	-	$450.65		-
Bespoke Trendy (Hanoi Hotel)	Trendy Suite	-	$263.00		-
W Hong Kong (Lunar New Year)	Base Room	401,000	-	$3,617.00	0.90

Totals

• Total Points Spent: 2,209,514
• Total Dollars Spent: $5,198.87
• Retail Value Total: $58,326.89
• Average Cents Per Point: 2.88

Celebrating a Major Milestone

I'm excited to share this journey, as it represents a significant achievement and one of the most substantial bookings I've ever coordinated.

Other Random Notes

• While this adventure doesn't surpass my all-time CPP (Cost Per Point) record (which was achieved in 2016 with Suites at around 13 CPP), it comes pretty close on the LAX->SIN direct flight.
• The Chase travel portal was expected to offer a floor of 2CPP, but it only provided 1.5 CPP.
• All my Hyatt bookings were Guest of Honor
• In terms of timing, I had to be incredibly fast to secure most of these bookings. The moment the reservations became available, I was on it. Cathay and Singapore were particularly competitive; their award space sold out within seconds.
• Depending on my remaining nights, I might attempt to 'ghost mattress run' Platinum status on Marriott by the end of the year for the complimentary breakfasts and upgrades (currently at 41 out of 50 nights).
• Regarding the W Bali, I had to split the cost between cash and points because I didn't have enough to cover everything with points alone.

Happy to answer any questions!

I have floor tickets for Seattle and my friend and I want to line up early. We'll be staying in a hotel. If we book one super close, would it be okay for us to plan on being able to go back for bathroom/food breaks? Would we have to go one at a time so the other can save our spots? I've never lined up for a big show like this before. Thanks :)

Chapter LXXXVIII
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Somewhere, West Virginia, USA.
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"Oh he's coming!" She said excitedly.
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Casius rolled his eyes. He sometimes forgot that She was an eldritch entity that had the power to tear the fabric of reality when She sat in Her chair bouncing around like a little kid waiting for their favorite cartoon to come on.
"Aren't you excited too Casius?!"
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"Positively vibrating Mistress." He stated with mock enthusiasm.
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"We knew she was going to tell him, but We didn't think it would be right away!" She did a little clap in excitement as She and Casius waited the arrival of Jeb.
​
Jeb, meanwhile, was less than thrilled. The talk he just had with the 3 kobolds was amusing at first. But grew more and more annoying as they insisted that what they said was true. That not only was his mother some horror from the void. But that HE was one as well!
​
He was not amused, Jeb thought as he stomped his way up the mountain to his mother. He didn't know what trick she pulled to make the kobolds think that she was some kind of monster or that he was one too. But it needed to be sorted. It was bad enough hearing from his dad that she was some sort of creature. Now he had to hear the same from the kobolds?!
​
Sure she was getting up there in age, he thought. But there comes a time where playing her little mind games takes it too far!
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But then he remembered the image in the mirror. The nightmares. Dan Mathers. He shook his head though.
"Just stress is all. That's all it is! All it WAS!"
​
That's what he kept telling himself at any rate. But the more he said it, whether aloud or in his head, the more it felt wrong. Like he was telling himself a lie to make himself feel better. The more he told it, the more he wanted to believe it.
​
He growled and slammed a fist into a nearby tree. He scratched his head like there was an itch that just wouldn't go away. He shook his head again but it did little good. It seemed like the more he thought about it the worse his head got.
​
Before long he was burning a path to his mother's cabin. Every greeting he got from his kin was ignored or unnoticed. His ears were ringing and his heart pounded as his breathing grew ragged with every step.
​
He was just going to have a simple talk with his Ma is all, he thought. But it felt like he was walking through a battlefield. His nerves were on high alert and his head ached. His fingers twitched from the adrenaline pumping its way throughout his system.
​
He was a jittery mess as he stood at the threshold. He forced himself to breathe. He balled his hands up into fists and placed them on either side of the worn wooden door and held his head down with his eyes closed. Or maybe he slammed them, he couldn't even tell with how wired he felt.
​
"Breathe. Just Breathe. 1. 2. 3." He resorted on his old breathing trick he would use whenever his temper started to flare up. He hasn't really needed it lately. Probably because he's been so busy being productive trying to get the kobolds sorted that he hasn't been anything more than mildly annoyed about things.
​
He still felt like he was getting into a ring when he finally opened the door. But at least he didn't feel like he was on crank.
"Hay Ma."
​
"Jeb!" His ma cheered as she stood and embraced him in a warm firm hug.
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"Casius." Jeb greeted simply.
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"Jebadiah." Casius returned with a smile.
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His mom returned to her seat with a wide smile on her face as Jeb took a seat of his own. He shifted uncomfortably for a moment before speaking to Casius.
"Can me and my Ma have a moment Casius?"
​
But his mom put a hand up.
"It's alright Jeb."
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"Ok. Fine. You need to stop your little mind games on my friends!" Jeb snapped.
​
"Oh? What mind games?" She asked with an innocent smile.
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"You know damn well! I don't know what you did but now it's got the lizardfolk thinkin' your some sort of demon!"
​
"Us? Or you?" She asked simply.
​
"What?"
​
"Do they think WE are, or are you afraid that they now think YOU are?"
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"T-t-that's not the point! The point-"
​
"Is you're worried that those looks your Pa gives Us, he gives to you when your not looking? That YOU killed Dan Mathers all those years ago? That what you see in the mirror is what you truly are? That those nightmares don't make you feel scared but instead feel good?" She asked, each question feeling like a knife that dug itself deeper into his head and chest.
​
With a roar he got up and pointed his finger at her.
"THIS ISN'T A FUCKIN' JOKE!"
​
"Does it look like We're laughing?" She said, smile still on her face.
​
"You know what?! I don't have to deal with this!" Jeb stated as he turned to leave the cabin. Only to find the door was gone. Not that there was a hole where it had been, but that it was just plain gone! A solid wall was where it was as if there hadn't ever been a door there in the first place.
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Jeb chuckled bitterly.
"Ok. Real funny."
​
Jeb ran his hands over the wall looking for the doorlatch. But the more he searched the angrier he got. He growled and turned to yell.
"ENOUGH OF YOUR FUCKIN' GAMES!"
​
He found himself surrounded in gloom and darkness. Only himself and his mom were illuminated in a pale blue glow. Casius and the cabin both were gone. She leaned forward and crossed her hands.
"Why don't you say what you REALLY want to say Jeb?"
​
Jeb looked around the darkness. His heart hammered and his body twitched and shook. His head was a mess as it felt like it was trying to pull itself apart. One part didn't want to say anything, the other was screaming to utter the words.
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"It's all true isn't it."
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It wasn't a question.
​
His mother smiled. Not the usual quirky smile she had whenever she played her tricks and games. Just a smile a mother would have when she would speak to her children.
"It is."
​
Everything stopped. Every nerve in his body stilled and his mind went silent. The silence stretched even as the darkness faded and the cabin and Casius faded back into view.
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"What I saw in the mirror. The nightmares. That's me isn't it?"
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She just nodded.
​
"And Dan Mathers? The other kids?"
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"Got what they deserved in the end." She replied.
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"They were just kids Ma!"
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"And they made your life hell for months."
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"That doesn't mean they deserved to die! At least not like they did!" Jeb went quiet after that.
​
An uncomfortable silence filled the air. Jeb wasn't sure if his Ma and Casius was just trying to give him time to think or if they weren't sure what to say either. He wasn't sure what to think let alone say. His life was a lie. Everything he knew and thought was a lie.
​
His father lied to him, Ruby lied to him, everybody lied to him.
"Why didn't you ever say anything when I was lil?"
​
She just shrugged her shoulders.
"It wouldn't have mattered. Whether it was 20 years ago or 20 minutes. This was still going to happen. Sam wanted all this kept from you "for your own good". He wanted nothing to do with any of it. We didn't say anything because, as We said, it didn't matter. This would've happened anyway. We figured you would be better prepared, mentally, if you were older. Telling children they have the potential to be gods either humbles them or turns them into monsters. So We waited."
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"What if I don't want to be a god?! What if I just want to be normal?! Regular, normal, Jeb?!"
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"That isn't in the cards Jeb. The day is fast approaching where you will have to decide. Either you accept you're not a mortal human, or you die."
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"What do you mean I'll die?"
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"As bad as you think you'll become. You can become much worse. Your humanity is what will damn you and those around you when the time comes. It will shatter and break and you'll be nothing more than a mad dog. And you'll be put down like one."
​
His head hurt. Not the existential force he was feeling when he came here. But just a regular headache. Like trying to force yourself to do paperwork. It was just too much. Her words were true, he knew that much. His Ma might like playing mind games but this was too much for her to play, especially on him. It all made some sort of sick sense in a way too.
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Like waking up and remembering what happened after too much drinking. You might not like what you remember, but at least it all made sense, sorta. But that didn't make his head any better.
"I-i gotta go."
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Jeb got up. Casius made to put a reaffirming hand on Jeb's shoulder. But he snapped and smacked away the hand.
"D-d-don't touch me! J-j-just don't."
​
He made for the, now reappeared, door and left. No calls or greetings were returned even as he left. He had too much that now occupied his mind.
​
The Crone and Casius watched Jeb leave.
"Will he be alright Mistress?"
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"He's a strong boy. Give him time." She stated in return.
​
Jeb didn't feel very strong though as he descended the mountain. His head felt fuzzy. He wanted to just stop and cry against a nearby tree. His limbs were heavy with every step he took. It felt like he was moving in slow motion.
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At some point he had enough. He screamed and yelled and thrashed. Pain, sorrow, anger. Like a dam broke he swung his fists at anything around him, even the air, just trying to let off steam, to feel better, to feel normal again.
​
He was tired. Just tired. Eventually his rage gave out and he sat with his back to a tree. Everything felt numb. Then he felt something on his face. It took him a moment to realize he was crying. Then the dam broke again, and he wailed and sobbed.
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