Miami Heat Play-by-Play announcer Eric Reid mentioned this interesting wrinkle of the 2022/23 season for the Heat last night as we challenged Caleb Martin’s foul on Luka. Spo and the Heat Coaching staff have really been using the challenge as efficiently and effectively as possible this season, saving them almost exclusively for the 4th. Of course, there have been plenty of times he hasn’t used it but the times he has have been great

1971 - The Jackson 5 play at Curtis Hixon Hall in Tampa, Florida.
1971- J5 release a new single, "Mama's Pearl", in the UK. It will peak at #25 there
https://imgur.com/Rqi2qxC
1990- Michael receives a tour of Donald Trump's Taj Mahal Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City on opening day
https://imgur.com/a/cRAZmq2
https://youtu.be/GGWjUYWatTo
1997 - The "Blood On The Dance Floor" short film is premiered on VH1
1997- Michael arrives in Paris with Grace & Prince.They check in to the George V Hotel. He rehearses for the second leg of the History Tour at the Disneyland Paris parade rehearsals studios.
2003-Michael, Chris and Brett Ratner have dinner at the Forge Restaurant in Miami with Al Malnik and Serena Williams
https://imgur.com/a/icthADO
2004- Mark Geragos & Ben Brafman go to Santa Maria courthouse where they obtain the Arvizo family court documents in the JC Penney case.
2004- Judge Lachs refuses visitation rights to Debbie but he accepts to nullify her 2001 decision to give up her parental tights which sets a new battle between Michael & Debbie’s attorneys.
https://cite.case.law/cal-app-4th/136/980/

1. In 2019, Diane Keaton told InStyle that she hadn't been on a date in 35 years. She said, "I have a lot of male friends. I have a lot of friends, but no dates. No mwah-mwah."
2. In a 2022 blog post, Drew Barrymore wrote, "After two kids and a separation from their father that has made me cautious, I have had the pleasure of shifting my focus when it comes to love for myself and my two daughters. I know that does not include a man nor has it for a while. And since entering life as a single mom, I have not been able to have an intimate relationship. I have had the honor and a pleasure to actually work on myself and learn what parenting is, again something I was not exactly clear on growing up, and I've had many learning curves thrown my way."
3. In an essay for Glamour UK, model and activist Yasmin Benoit wrote, "I live a perfectly happy and fulfilled life as a Black asexual, aromantic woman. I don't need a partner to complete me — I'm complete just the way I am."
4. In 2020, Sharon Stone told The Drew Barrymore Show, "I'm done dating. I've had it with dating ... I just find people to be insincere and not worth my time. I enjoy my alone time and my time with my kids and my friends more."
5. In a 2019 interview with Vogue, Emma Watson coined the term "self-partnered" to describe her contentment with singleness.
6. In 2020, Charlize Theron told The Drew Barrymore Show that she hadn't dated anyone in over five years. She said, "I'm in a place in my life where you have to come with a lot of game. Not the kind of game that we think of, [but] the kind of game where my life is really good, so you better be able to bring that and maybe better, because I just won't accept anything less."
7. In 2013, Stevie Nicks told Vulture, "Most women would not be happy being me. People say, 'But you’re alone.' But I don't feel alone. I feel very un-alone. I feel very sparkly and excited about everything. I know women who are going, like, 'I don't want to grow old alone.' And I'm like, 'See, that doesn't scare me.' Because I'll never be alone. I'll always be surrounded by people. I'm like the crystal ball, and these are all the rings of Saturn around me."
8. In 2015, Mindy Kaling told Good Housekeeping, "I don't need marriage. I don't need anyone to take care of all my needs and desires. I can take care of them myself now."
9. In 2022, Julie Bowen told The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she "retired" from dating and adopted a dog as a "retirement gift."
10. In 2020, Fran Drescher told People, "Getting really connected to myself has been a great journey, because now I'm not even feeling like I have to be in a relationship, because I'm in a relationship with myself — and it's going quite well."
11. In 2021, Jane Fonda told Harper's Bazaar, "I don't want to be in a relationship, a sexual relationship, again. I don't have that desire."
12. Appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show in 2021, Allison Janney said, "I really am, at this time in my life, getting to know who I am and what I want. So I'd love to eventually find someone to share my life with, but if it doesn't happen, I think I'll be just fine."
13. In 2017, January Jones told Red magazine, "Something else would suffer if a relationship came along. Yes, I'm willing to make that sacrifice for the right relationship — I just don't feel I need a partner. Do I want one? Maybe. But I don't feel unhappy or lonely. It would have to be someone so amazing that I would want to make room. Someone who would contribute to my happiness and not take away from it."
14. In 2019, Teri Hatcher told People, "There is a difference between being lonely and being alone. I have been single for a very long time, but there is nothing lonely about my life. I want to remove the stigma of that."
15. Sheryl Crow almost got married three times, but she's grateful that she never went through with it. In 2022, she told The Howard Stern Show, "I go, 'Thank you, God. Thank you. I didn't get married.'"
16. In a 2016 essay for Time magazine, Chelsea Handler wrote, "After experiencing all that [dating and romance] and seriously thinking about marriage, I respectfully reserve a table for one in the restaurant of life."
17. In 2018, Carol Vorderman told the Irish Independent, "Being single, in my mind, means I have lots of boyfriends at the same time and no commitment to any of them. Perfect. I haven't had a committed thing for years, out of choice. I don't want it."
18. And finally, in a 1981 interview with Barbara Walters, Katharine Hepburn said, "I put on pants 50 years ago and declared a sort of middle road. I have not lived as a woman. I have lived as a man. I've just done what I damn well wanted to, and I've made enough money to support myself, and I ain't afraid of being alone."

Link to article

Hallo Leute, entschuldigung, das ganze erklärung ist sehr lang und auf englisch geschrieben. Ich hoffe dass es klar ist!
this is written from my friends perspective: "
I made a spoken agreement with a former colleague of mine who is a sound engineer. The agreement was 2000 Euro for the recording/mixing/mastering of my solo marimba album of 8 pieces to take place in June of 2022. The understanding between us was that this fee was a complete package as well as a discount price that the engineer decided to negotiate to keep me on as a client because the original price was too high. This was essentially a friend discount. Up until this point, no written agreements have been shared or signed.
June 1, 2 2022 – Recorded in his studio for two days, spoken agreement on a first draft deadline of mid-August. From here onward, all correspondence is in writing over Email or Whatsapp.
July 30 – informed that the engineer underwent a serious spine operation which inhibited him from moving and subsequently making any serious progress on the editing or mixing of the recordings. Sympathetically, I accepted a postponement of the first draft to the end of August.
October 12 – After a complication with the surgery which resulted in the engineer requiring a further postponement, the first draft of all recordings are received on this day.
December 7 – After review of the first draft, I sent many corrections that needed to be made to each piece of music including issues with missing parts, sound quality, and musical phrases not being lined up properly.
February 3 2023 – Second draft received with remaining sound quality issues, several corrections not being addressed, as well as new issues with tempo changes and weird cuts.
March 20 – Sound Engineer sends an Initial Invoice requesting the 2000 euro payout for the complete package before the end of the project and before all of my needs have been met.
March 22 – I state that the Invoice requests that the fee be paid within 30 days and that I normally do not pay the sum until the project is completed. I ask if the project will be able to be completed within these aforementioned 30 days. I suggested that, in the event that he cannot complete the project within 30 days that he either a) change the date of the invoice to a later date or b) I pay half of the fee as a deposit The engineer responds with a request to receive the entire sum and asks if he would be okay to start working on the corrections in July when he is finished with a different project.
March 23 – I respond by saying July is too late and that I could offer to pay half now and half when the project is complete. The engineer responds by beginning to harass me about the fact that I asked one of the composers to listen to the recording of her own piece and blaming for responding so late on and complaining about the original fee not being enough for the amount of work he is doing. However, he agrees to receive half of the money without sending an invoice. I begin to get the impression by his tone that this project is not of a priority to him and that, with the discounted price, came a discounted attentiveness as well.
March 24 – As a result of the condescending tone and aggressiveness of the previous email, I decided to create concrete deadlines for the completion of the project out of concern that, if I were to pay then, I would receive a lackluster performance from the engineer until the completion date. I give the engineer an ultimatum agreement for the final deadlines of the project that include dates for corrections and a final draft. He must either agree or disagree.
March 25 – the Engineer further harasses me by using guilt as a weapon for not understanding the reasons behind his lapse in following the timeline as well as using our friendship and the project itself as a manipulation tool. He demands that payment must be according to the contract without giving details. The engineer sends me a message on Whatsapp seemingly confused about the shift in tone and wants to know if there was a misunderstanding while repeating that he is busy with a different project from now until July. He tries twice to call me and I am not able to respond as I am on the road for vacation. I respond via text explaining that I would prefer to keep all contact in writing for my protection from manipulation and further harassment over the phone.
March 29 – The engineer attempts to recap the events of the project timeline with dates with exaggerated language and a harassing tone serving to manipulate my feelings toward the project. The engineer decides to cancel the previous March 20 invoice and requests additional cost to the project due to the “downgrade of our private relationship”. He first sends a “cancellation invoice” of the invoice subtracting the 2000 Euros. This new invoice removes the “complete package” label and decides to list all of his labor separately with the new Included VAT totaling a half payout of 1261.40 Euros.
April 1 – I respond in email stating that, due to his recent response, it was clear that he cannot handle the aforementioned deadlines requested. This resulted in a written confirmation from me of a cancellation of the project and deletion of all materials. The engineer continued to ask me to pay the previous 1261.40 Euros invoice which I did not agree to.
April 2 – I forward the original invoice which the engineer created which shows that the intention for the project was a complete package of 2000 euros implying that upon cancellation, there would no payout whatsoever. The engineer responds with 5 emails with 5 separate invoices requesting payment and things stop making sense. The final invoice he sends is dated December 7 2022 which requests a payout within seven days although it does not include VAT.
Do I have a defense? if nothing was previously in writing about the terms of cancellation, would I be free from paying him at all?

Hallo Leute, entschuldigung, das ganze erklärung ist sehr lang und auf englisch geschrieben. Ich hoffe dass es klar ist!
this is written from my friends perspective: "
I made a spoken agreement with a former colleague of mine who is a sound engineer. The agreement was 2000 Euro for the recording/mixing/mastering of my solo marimba album of 8 pieces to take place in June of 2022. The understanding between us was that this fee was a complete package as well as a discount price that the engineer decided to negotiate to keep me on as a client because the original price was too high. This was essentially a friend discount. Up until this point, no written agreements have been shared or signed.
June 1, 2 2022 – Recorded in his studio for two days, spoken agreement on a first draft deadline of mid-August. From here onward, all correspondence is in writing over Email or Whatsapp.
July 30 – informed that the engineer underwent a serious spine operation which inhibited him from moving and subsequently making any serious progress on the editing or mixing of the recordings. Sympathetically, I accepted a postponement of the first draft to the end of August.
October 12 – After a complication with the surgery which resulted in the engineer requiring a further postponement, the first draft of all recordings are received on this day.
December 7 – After review of the first draft, I sent many corrections that needed to be made to each piece of music including issues with missing parts, sound quality, and musical phrases not being lined up properly.
February 3 2023 – Second draft received with remaining sound quality issues, several corrections not being addressed, as well as new issues with tempo changes and weird cuts.
March 20 – Sound Engineer sends an Initial Invoice requesting the 2000 euro payout for the complete package before the end of the project and before all of my needs have been met.
March 22 – I state that the Invoice requests that the fee be paid within 30 days and that I normally do not pay the sum until the project is completed. I ask if the project will be able to be completed within these aforementioned 30 days. I suggested that, in the event that he cannot complete the project within 30 days that he either a) change the date of the invoice to a later date or b) I pay half of the fee as a deposit The engineer responds with a request to receive the entire sum and asks if he would be okay to start working on the corrections in July when he is finished with a different project.
March 23 – I respond by saying July is too late and that I could offer to pay half now and half when the project is complete. The engineer responds by beginning to harass me about the fact that I asked one of the composers to listen to the recording of her own piece and blaming for responding so late on and complaining about the original fee not being enough for the amount of work he is doing. However, he agrees to receive half of the money without sending an invoice. I begin to get the impression by his tone that this project is not of a priority to him and that, with the discounted price, came a discounted attentiveness as well.
March 24 – As a result of the condescending tone and aggressiveness of the previous email, I decided to create concrete deadlines for the completion of the project out of concern that, if I were to pay then, I would receive a lackluster performance from the engineer until the completion date. I give the engineer an ultimatum agreement for the final deadlines of the project that include dates for corrections and a final draft. He must either agree or disagree.
March 25 – the Engineer further harasses me by using guilt as a weapon for not understanding the reasons behind his lapse in following the timeline as well as using our friendship and the project itself as a manipulation tool. He demands that payment must be according to the contract without giving details. The engineer sends me a message on Whatsapp seemingly confused about the shift in tone and wants to know if there was a misunderstanding while repeating that he is busy with a different project from now until July. He tries twice to call me and I am not able to respond as I am on the road for vacation. I respond via text explaining that I would prefer to keep all contact in writing for my protection from manipulation and further harassment over the phone.
March 29 – The engineer attempts to recap the events of the project timeline with dates with exaggerated language and a harassing tone serving to manipulate my feelings toward the project. The engineer decides to cancel the previous March 20 invoice and requests additional cost to the project due to the “downgrade of our private relationship”. He first sends a “cancellation invoice” of the invoice subtracting the 2000 Euros. This new invoice removes the “complete package” label and decides to list all of his labor separately with the new Included VAT totaling a half payout of 1261.40 Euros.
April 1 – I respond in email stating that, due to his recent response, it was clear that he cannot handle the aforementioned deadlines requested. This resulted in a written confirmation from me of a cancellation of the project and deletion of all materials. The engineer continued to ask me to pay the previous 1261.40 Euros invoice which I did not agree to.
April 2 – I forward the original invoice which the engineer created which shows that the intention for the project was a complete package of 2000 euros implying that upon cancellation, there would no payout whatsoever. The engineer responds with 5 emails with 5 separate invoices requesting payment and things stop making sense. The final invoice he sends is dated December 7 2022 which requests a payout within seven days although it does not include VAT.
Do I have a defense? if nothing was previously in writing about the terms of cancellation, would I be free from paying him at all?

disappointed with the refusal letter.
I’m a permanent resident of Canada and hold an Indian passport. I had planned to travel to the UK with my Canadian girlfriend for July. I hadn’t booked a flight ticket as home office recommends not to book one without approval of visa.
I’m a freelancer and work on contract basis so I jump between employers. I didn’t provide bank statements just a email confirmation mentioning I’m employed with this company. perhaps that’s what raised the red flags? Should I include 6 months statements and provide my tax return as proof of income? I made 71000 cad for 2022.
I submitted accommodation confirmation and a savings account of 3000 Cad. I have another 4000 savings in an investment hybrid account which can be easily liquidated and made into cash.
Will a lease agreement help? I also have a credit card with 13000 cad limit. Will both these 2 help to make my new application stronger?
Both my girlfriend and I want to visit Scotland. I have no family ties to the UK.
What can I do differently when I reapply?
also I’ll be filing my Canadian citizenship documents in September. So at this point should I even bother reapplying and go through all the stress and hassle of a visa again when I’ll be a Canadian citizen next year?

I’m on maternity leave, HMRC started refunding some tax on my payslip. But as soon as they did, my total taxable income of the year is decreased by that amount, whilst it being also added to the net salary.
I was expecting the total taxable to jus include my taxable salary (gross minus pension contribution) + SMP.
Figures: - July 2022: basic pay 1313.79, SMP: 2521.41, pension:65.69, yearly taxable:15728.93 - aug 2022: basic pay 523.93, SMP:626.64, pension:26.2, yearly taxable:16853.3. - sept 2022: basic pay:130.98, SMP:783.3, income tax refund:41, pension:45.71, yearly taxable:17721.87.
Shouldn’t the yearly taxable be 17761.03?

My mother is 50yrs old as of August 4th. She will be 51. She is still conventionally attractive (well, I suppose some would say she is average since she is overweight and also honestly bc we’re black) with enough makeup but doesn’t wear makeup around the house anymore like she used to (I’ve noticed that ever since the whole my older brother having a mental break+going to rehab she has steadily begun to take worse care of her appearance. She used to wear makeup around the house or look more presentable. I remember her as having been notably nice looking when I was little.)
I suspect, even though I’m not positive, that she partly stays inside as much as she does because she was attacked (and I think maybe robbed) back in 2008. Sometimes when she’s angry with my father and they’re arguing, she’ll accuse him of having “set her up” and of being a spy for the government.
My brother is in rehab in part due to her and my father’s negligence. I can admittedly have trouble not resenting her these days - she had an abusive childhood herself (sexual abuse, physical abuse from her dad, was put out of the house w her sister when she was 12) but I feel like even though she seemed v healthy when I was a child she has not made serious steps to overcome it. I’d say she’s manipulative and she tends to mostly stay home and watch I guess conspiracy videos against the vaccine (she is rlly anti vaccine and masks. To an annoying extent.)
She is a “housewife” but I would not say she is a good mother (she mentioned she used to “hit” my brother when he was little.) She is very cynical but can also come off kind of bubbly or joke-y (she does have a sense of humor.)
I would not say she has made good life decisions. She never completed college, started her family at 27 but still ended up being a not-so great parent overall, and chose a man who doesn’t make good money, is unintelligent, is not actually terribly attractive… just a myriad of bad decision making.
She can kind of give off the energy of someone who was once above average, like the kind of confidence that someone who was once above average tends to have.
She does not actually take good care of her health and still talks a fair amount abt her childhood.
When she is angry she develops this very intense energy - starts yelling loudly, it’s like her energy quite literally changes? It almost feels abusive in a way idk how to explain it, it’s just a body language thing. You’ll feel threatened by her. But when she is healthy and especially when I was younger she was nothing like that at all. I’ve been surprised as I’ve grown older by how she really is
Before I was born she was apparently trying to be a rapper and met Tupac. She has old photos of it, she was rapping w her sister. Obviously, nothing came of that.
She is anti-abortion now and complains about “whores” even though she had multiple abortions herself when young, and admitted to me once that she used to be promiscuous.
She has talked abt “indoctrination” before and tells me to “do research.” She is like this bc of how my grandpa raised her I guess, she tends to rant abt how he didn’t raise her to be stupid sometimes (in arguments w my father too.) But I don’t think she’s as smart as she likely believes she is anyway. If she were, I don’t think she’d have ended up w a man who makes below average money and without any kind of way to support herself if she and that man divorced.
Her job other than being a housewife that I remember was being a social worker. I remember a few months ago she was talking abt having been a social worker to my dad w great importance (saying they hired her due to her “speaking skills” or something. You could tell she really believed it.)
She smokes marijuana to “destress.”
I get the impression when she talks abt the city she grew up in that she perceives it or thinks of it as being like the same as it was back then, even though it obviously wouldn’t be now? I feel like she made a huge mistake by raising my brother and I in a primarily white and Asian environment, but she seems to deal w internalized racism so that likely has smthn to do w it
She is colorist… sort of? Like I remember she made a comment (not to the girl’s face of course) abt how my former best friend was “dark” and I have gotten the impression that she has made comments abt my older brother’s skin tone in the past (abt him being dark skinned.) Bur said she thought my cousin who is dark skinned was nice looking (the one on my dad’s said of course) even though I’d argue my former best friend was undoubtedly better looking than my cousin.
She is religious and is annoying abt reading the Bible (always tells me to do it even tho I don’t care)! but still walks around the house swearing like there’s no tomorrow.
She mentioned she used to be “crazy” according to others and would start throwing things when upset. She has no money saved up, and we still live in an apartment complex. I find it fair to suggest that she has made awful life decisions.
She is presently still trying to find online work to save up some money for my birthday (I’ll be turning eighteen.) I am astounded by how bad her life decisions have been.
She actually once filmed a video of me in like summer 2022 bc I asked her to (would have been 49 at the time.) She sounds sort of fake yet simultaneously bubbly. We did take pictures after, she was wearing makeup and looked happy but also sort of nervous (they’re on my profile if you want to get a feel for body language.)
In spite of the fact that she likely has undiagnosed mental health issues she does come off more “normal” between my father and herself.
I remember she suggested that my aunt told her that she believes/believed she looks better than she actually does or did (like a long time ago, like probably about twenty-ish years ago.)
She attended community college but became pregnant/had my brother and didn’t finish partly because of it (she apparently had a high GPA whilst there, she suggested that school was too expensive.) She had to get her GED as she had issues w bullying at school (she talks a lot about people having tried to fight her and her sister when she was young.)
It is possible that she is an ESFP or ESFJ (she is most likely one of the two.) MBTITypeMe guessed her to be an ESFP more recently, and this is indeed possible, but when I think of the way she behaved it seemed more like an Fe user to me (though I know ESFP’s are supposed to have strong fe as well.)
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[Premiership - 2022/2023]

HT: 45' Ross County 0-1 Celtic

Match Info:
Date: April 02, 2023
Time: 11:00 (Etc/UTC)
Venue: Global Energy Stadium
Recent form
Ross County: LLWLLD
Celtic: WWWWWW
Lineups:
Ross County - 4-4-1-1
Starting XI: Ross Laidlaw, Connor Randall, Dylan Smith, Alex Iacovitti, George Harmon, David Cancola, Victor Loturi, Nohan Kenneh, Gwion Edwards, Eamonn Brophy, Jordan White
Substitutes: Ross Munro, Keith Watson, Ross Callachan, Owura Edwards, Josh Sims, Alex Samuel, Jordy Hiwula, Josh Stones, Simon Murray
Coach: M. Mackay
Celtic - 4-3-3
Starting XI: Joe Hart, Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Carl Starfelt, Greg Taylor, Matt O'Riley, Callum McGregor, Tomoki Iwata, Jota, Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda
Substitutes: Scott Bain, Yuki Kobayashi, Alexandro Bernabei, Stephen Welsh, Ben Summers, Sead Hakšabanović, David Turnbull, Rocco Vata, Hyun-gyu Oh
Coach: A. Postecoglou
Match Stats:
​

Ross County	0 - 1	Celtic
22%	Ball Possession	78%
2	Total Shots	11
1	Shots On Target	2
1	Shots Off Target	5
0	Blocked Shots	4
0	Shots Inside Box	7
2	Shots Outside Box	4
0	Corner Kicks	4
1	Offsides	2
5	Fouls	3
0	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0
2	Goalkeeper Saves	1
102	Passes	352
56 (55%)	Accurate Passes	308 (88%)

Match events
0' KICKOFF!
45' Penalty scored by Jota (Celtic)
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I translated it using DeepL for a different platform and decided to share it here too, for those who enjoyed his performances at the Worlds Championships. Here's the original link: https://mi-mollet.com/articles/-/41688
Why we are encouraged by Kazuki Tomono's fighting spirit. His "captivating" performance that had the audience on their feet, and his competitive spirit of "believing in himself".
Japan's first back-to-back championships won by Shoma Uno and Kaori Sakamoto. Rikuryu (Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara) became the first Japanese team to win the Grand Slam of the year. Furthermore, they became the first Japanese team to win all three categories. Kanadai (Kana Muramoto/Daisuke Takahashi) tied for Japan's highest ever ranking. The World Figure Skating Championships were full of records.
All the athletes, both domestic and international, shined in their own ways, but it was Kazuki Tomono who left an unforgettable sparkle in the hearts of all who saw his performance.
Despite some falls in both the Short Program (SP) and Free Skating (FS), he showed no signs of breakdowns, and placed 6th with his outstanding performance. Especially in FS, despite some mistakes, he marked 180.73 points, a new personal best. He made the packed Saitama Super Arena stand in awe of his performance.
He has now competed in 3 World Championships, and has recorded personal bests on all 3 occasions. What is the secret of his amazing strength in the competition? In order to tell you about Tomono's strength to live up to expectations, we would like to start by retracing his steps.
Never a promising athlete in his youth
Born in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture in 1998, Tomono began skating at the age of 4, but he was never a promising skater from the start. One of the proofs of this is the Nobeyama Training Camp. This was a training camp for novice skaters (9 to 12 years old as of July 1 of that year), both boys and girls, to gather promising skaters from all over the country, and the first group of students produced Shizuka Arakawa, a gold medalist at the Torino Olympics. Since then, world champions such as Daisuke Takahashi, Miki Ando, Mao Asada, and Yuzuru Hanyu have gone on to become world champions through this "Nobeyama Training Camp".
Current national team candidates such as Shoma Uno, Sota Yamamoto, Shun Sato, and Kao Miura have also experienced the Nobeyama Training Camp. However, Tomono has never participated in the Nobeyama training camp. In other words, he was not considered a future national team candidate at that time. In fact, as a junior, he was not selected for the Junior Grand Prix Series three years in a row. There was even one year when he went home feeling frustrated that he was the only one who failed out of all the competitors invited to the selection rounds.
Because the competitions are usually broadcast on terrestrial television, we tend to be under the illusion that we are watching figure skating, but the figure skating we are watching is an amateur sport. Most of the skaters are students and retire as soon as they graduate from college.
Tomono is also loved by skating fans for his unique programs such as "Japanese Doll" and "Fate of the Dog Officer," but the road to the top in Japan was difficult, and he revealed that he had planned to leave the competitive world after graduating from university.
However, in 2018, he placed 5th at her first World Championships. What was supposed to be just a student sport turned out to be the world's TOMONO. From here, Tomono's skating life changed at once.
The glory of "world No. 5" and the new conflict that emerged from it
However, as long as our dreams are far away, we do not experience the frustration of missing them. It is precisely because it seems out of reach and out of grasp that we become disenchanted with our own powerlessness and devastated by the two words "talent. After achieving the glory of "5th in the world," Tomono's competitive life was a battle against another kind of pressure.
After that, he trained hard to get back on the world stage, but he was unable to show his ability in the competition and finished outside the podium every year at the All-Japan Championships. The only thing that weighed on him more and more was the fact that he was ranked 5th in the world. In addition, a new generation, including Yuma Kagiyama, who later became a silver medalist at the Beijing Olympics, emerged, and the fierce race for selection became more and more intense. Tomono was always surrounded by first-rate talent.
And that seems to be where Tomono's conflict lay.
Uno, his classmate, has been called a "genius" since he was a Novice skater, and is a treasure of the skating world. Yamamoto, a rinkmate since childhood, was also considered a promising "star of the PyeongChang Olympics. The younger skaters, Kagiyama, Sato, and Miura, are such gems that they have been featured as "Kanto Three Crows" since they were still junior skaters. Of course, all of them have their own struggles and difficulties that cannot be described with superficial expressions, but they are exceptional in terms of the level of expectations. In contrast to these aces, I am just an ordinary skater. I have never experienced being a hopeful with high expectations. I have not come this far because I have special talent.
His openness to everyone is one of Tomono's virtues, but he is also a bit too gentle as a competitor, and is an entertainer at heart who professes that he does not like to fight. His many substitute appearances have paved the way for him, and he finds himself competing side by side with geniuses whom he thought were from a different world when he was a boy, but he is still somewhat unsure of his position in the world. I felt that such a weak heart, one more step, was clinging to Tomono's skating shoes.
This season's NHK Cup broke that spell.
Indeed, the result was not great, coming in 4th place. Uno, Yamamoto, and other rivals of the same generation were standing on the podium, but I could not bring home a medal. I wonder if he is still suffering from the same frustration that he felt at the Junior Grand Prix Series selection round. I felt that I was suffering from the same frustration that I had felt at the Junior Grand Prix Series selection round, and I was heartbroken. However, after the competition, Tomono's expression was clear.
He said, "I had been facing my weaknesses for a long time, and I thought it was time to let that go. After yesterday's match, I had a change in my mind, thinking that it was time for me to face my strength. Today was the first time I fully believed in my own strength and took on the challenge of facing my own strength.
Despite missing the podium, which had been his goal, Tomono never let out a negative or weak voice. Rather, he only looked forward. I felt a strength in him that I had never seen in Tomono before.
He faced his own strength, not his own weakness.
He won the representative battle, which was never in an advantageous position, and won the representative seat on his own. And then, he placed 6th in the World Championships in a magnificent performance, amidst the world's top skaters performing at their best. He himself commented on his "mysterious confidence," but I could no longer sense any sense of defeat or lack of confidence in Tomono, standing on the main rink of Saitama Super Arena. He believed in himself there, more than anyone else.
That is why, even if he fell down, he never lost his heart, never lost his passion, and skated what he could call his best. Unfortunately, he did not reach the medal, but without a doubt, he was the strongest Kazuki Tomono ever at that moment.
Behind those words was a break with himself, who had never been raised by the elite. It is true that my skating life may not have been what the adults expected of me. There may be many stars who are more talented than me. I believe that those who are in the world of competitions have to suffer in ways that we cannot even imagine.
But I am standing in this place right now. Let me believe in that, first of all. Let's expect more from ourselves than anyone else. That is how Tomono was able to change his mind. In this way, he was able to overcome his weakness.
Believing in Yourself" Makes Tomorrow a Little Better
Figure skating is famous for its short life span. Although not as long as women's figure skaters, most men's skaters also say goodbye to their competitive careers in their 20s. Tomono, now 24 years old, may not have much time left in his competitive career.
I am sure that teenage athletes will be gaining strength from now on. No one can guarantee that they will be able to compete in the World Championships again next year.
But strangely, when I look at Tomono, such pessimistic feeling disappears somewhere. Rather, my heart gets excited that Kazuki Tomono's prime period starts now. This is surely because we are also inspired by the "strength to believe in oneself" that Tomono has acquired.
People are not strong creatures. We make excuses, and we also make weak noises. We are tormented by a sense of inferiority, thinking we are not good enough compared to others, or we raise the white flag before we even begin to fight for fear of getting hurt. The more we grow up, the better we get at finding reasons not to do things.
It is easy to run away from our weaknesses. But that doesn't open the door to the future.
Even if you were not blessed with talent or the right environment from the start, if you have worked hard, you must first properly believe in yourself. Stop belittling yourself and give yourself more credit than anyone else for the person you are right now.
Seeing Tomono, who was defeated by his rivals that day, but still determined to "face his own strength, not his own weakness," gives me such courage. You don't have to have any evidence. It doesn't matter if it is bullshit or a bluff.
The highlight of Tomono's performance was the choreo sequence at the end of the competition. Failures, hesitations, worries, complexes, all are blown away as Tomono runs across the ice with such speed. The sense of speed and the exhilaration of his performance make the audience feel happy.
Even if I can't make someone smile like that, there must be something I can do. I too shall face not my weakness but my strength.
I was moved by Tomono's performance because it contained an important message for living life.

Hello, darlings, from Helena the Clown. I decided to tell you a thing that has happened to me. After that life changing night before Christmas, (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) I decided to step down for a bit and just rest. Take a break. Sleep in my cozy coffin my Vampire sleep. Be a little lazy. Something normal, for both us the immortals and for mortals alike. Especially after all the ordeal of that night.
​
I have to admit, when I had to write it all down, I kind of relieved it. And since it took me more to write it than to live it first hand, I had to return to it over and over, until my mind felt sour. But I needed to tell the story, it felt that I had to.
​
The psychedelic rollercoaster of that night was an experiment of the SRI (Romanian secret service) alongside the CIA, as the agent I caught told me. Was the experiment successful for them? I do not know. Both me and Sophie, the lovely Elf I met that night, who was a collateral victim of it, waited to see any signs from those bastards. Especially since their weapons were able to give a huge power to demons over us. Nothing clear was seen, on the outside, but our souls were heavy on residue, like some thick goo on them, that needed time to wash away. Yet, signs of slow healing are visible, albeit slow.
​
On the other hand, from time to time, I felt some mental ”breeze”. It felt like one of those attacks I experienced, the beginning of it, but dissipating fast. Some went harder than the rest. I talked to Sophie, it seems she had experienced those as well. The Buzz itself did not seem to get the proportions of that night so we can not tell if there are still some agents on us, or just some demons playing around, or our scars, or a combination of those. My ”gut feeling”, something I do not (mostly) rely upon, told me that, most likely, it was not a Human work. At least, not by agents or special drones, like that night.
​
Christmas was peaceful, my first Christmas I celebrated as a Christian since I became a Vampire. My confessor, father George Baka, the exorcist, managed to give me Holy Communion, after hiding me close to the church, in order not to inflict panic on my presence there for his Human parishioners. My dear friend Ruxandra drove me in and out of the village in Ialomița county. As I was back in Bucharest and Ruxandra spent some time with her boyfriend, I met Sophie at night at the Circus Park a few days after, where it all ended, after finding a way to get Vampire magic and Elven magic to work together.
​
Her parents were dead scared, they wanted to convince Sophie to leave Romania for the UK, in order to stay safe. It seems her mother was mostly afraid of the SRI, the descendent of the former communist political police, the Securitate, most of all. Sophie did not want to, since whatever happened in Romania could happen in the UK, hence the involvement of the CIA made it an international matter. And, besides, Sophie felt safer in here, where I resided and where so many Caterpillar Elves like her were, Elves she wanted to awake. She dressed up the whole time as a Christmas Elf (Yeah, some may say it was silly, but she enjoyed it.), even spoke to kids on Elves. Cannot blame her. She can have enough time in her immortal life to be a Full, ”serious” Elf.
​
Indeed, something happened. If it didn„t, I would not be writing this now. Father George decided to perform Holy Liturgy on the night of January the first, which is the secular New Year, like he used to do in the years before, especially since January the first this year was on sunday. Most people would stay up, party and skip church that morning. So, he did it at night, so that at least some will come, then start to party a little. Most will not come.
​
Ruxandra drove there, outside Bucharest, as usual. Since my presence would cause havoc, I was supposed to stay close by, not inside the church, with the people who will attend. Ruxandra asked me to help tune up her laptop, on which a fresh Linux installation was made. Since I knew Linux better than her, who is a lifelong Windows user, and her boyfriend was a Macbook type of guy, I decided to make myself useful a bit, before Holy Liturgy. Adrian came with us, still a bit uneasy about my presence in the car. We came out pretty early. I had the idea of going into the graveyard, where we used to spend time myself, Ruxandra and father George, in late summer and early autumn. Since both me and Ruxandra were supposed to take Holy Communion later that night, we needed to stop eating after midnight. After greeting father George, I decided to get to the graveyard, where there is a temporary plastic kiosk, somewhere near the corner of the graveyard. It was a pretty clean, countryside graveyard, nothing great or fancy.
​
I was dressed in one of my black belle epoque dresses, with a matching hat, this time. For a Vampire like me, winter cold is far better tolerated than for mortals, but even ourselves have our own limits. Ruxandra came with her laptop, Adrian followed her. People were gathering at church, as Father George performed a Lity. Ruxandra wanted to stay with me but, as she was visibly disturbed by the cold, I told her to get inside. In fact, if it weren't for my friends and Father George, I would have stayed at home in Bucharest, alone, as I do not care too much for the secular New Year. In order to get things going, Ruxandra came with Adrian„s Macbook and we managed to set up a small network, using her phone as well, in order we would be able to get online. She stayed with me a bit, then went to the church for Lity, and let me mind my own doing.
​
Yep, it was cold, even I found gloves useful. I spent decades in my grave, hibernating, but that was a special state, pretty different from the one when I am awake and active. I am pretty cold and harsh, but not that much not to feel the cold at all. I started installing and configuring some software from repositories into Ruxandra„s laptop. As night passed, kids around the village started to blow firecrackers and small fireworks on a large scale, it felt like war. I liked it, I admit it, the war flavor of it. I felt like going to them and playing along, but I could not, of course. They have not entered the graveyard, fortunately, although some firecrackers fell inside it. Poor dogs started to bark and howl of that noise.
​
Meanwhile, I managed to install Tor Browser, to get on the Dark Web. You know, you can meet some real Vampires there, if you know where to look. At first, when I discovered it, in the months after waking up from my decades of hibernation, in July 2021, alongside things like creepypasta, the world felt far more interesting on the dark side then today. As you may imagine, it was hard to distinguish at first creepypasta from real things, I am sure sometimes it is harder even for someone who was born and lived in this age to do it. Fortunately, I grew more experienced on this pretty fast. No one I could talk to from those hidden online communities was logged in, as it seemed, so I decided to start digging up some things regarding the effects on infrasounds.
​
Midnight came. I did not feel excited or anything, neither too sad. Perhaps just a little sad. Humans were having fun in the streets, explosions and stuff. Since the Holy Liturgy started, I stopped working on the laptop itself, and tried to listen to psaltical chants on Youtube. I admit I got bored fast, and went to my regular music. Earphones on maximum level, as I usually like to listen (I know, it is bad to do it for long.). I started to feel a little drowsy and sleepy. Probably something was at work at this point, as it was not normal for me (or my kind) to feel sleepy at night. At some point, I placed my head on the table and listened to the music with my eyes closed. My head was inside the hotspot, inside the wifi medium, but I did not realize it. I let myself drift into sleep, thinking that Ruxandra would wake me up.
​
I do not know how, Youtube seems moody at times regarding the autoplay, on being turned on and off. I usually keep it off. As I was signed in with my Google account, it seems it started to play things as I was sleeping, random stuff. I went on for about an hour and a half.
​
Eventually, I woke up. Some kind of ASMR or white noise clip was playing, a grey screen, looking a bit like static on an old black and white TV. The sound sounded a bit like that as well, but not exactly. I said something like ”ASMR Relaxing static for deep sleep”. I turned it off, as I was shaking sleepiness off from my mind. The outside was pretty silent, just some crackers from time to time. It was a feeling of things being a bit off. I do not know how to put it, the flavor of reality was off. A feeling that was a little familiar, since that night not too long ago. I was not too concerned, still, since it was not too strong, we have not noticed anything coming here. Indeed, a was a little troubled by this, but not as much as a mortal would have been, being alone, at night, in a graveyard. For me, it was a place and a time that I was in tune with. Perhaps, If I were Human, I would have had a better attitude in that situation. I started to say the Jesus Prayer a bit, and started to walk towards the church. As I was getting closer and felt better, I started to let my guard down and let my thoughts go loose.
​
I do not know what is the clear border between a thought and an attitude. I am not a psychologist, just my own rambling here. I think some thoughts work at the edge between the conscious and the unconscious, since they manifest in attitudes, even if the conscious does not want to admit them. Those are not just some deep unconscious processes, they are closer to the surface, so to say. Indeed, before Adam and Eve fell, they had no unconscious part of their souls, after the fall they lost sight of a large part of themselves. Only those very spiritually advanced can truly become fully aware of themselves, and turn the whole unconscious into conscious. Of course, I am not one of them.
​
Looking back at those moments, some things are blurry. I was not asleep, for sure, yet it felt a bit like a sleep-like state, the bizarreness of all. It seems some thoughts were moving from conscious to this semiconscious part, back and forth, not all at the same time. I was walking stiffer than I usually do (And I do walk pretty stiff usually.). There was something, I do not remember exactly how much I was aware of, I felt I needed to get closer to the church and away from the kiosk in the graveyard. I started to feel a bit, only a bit, like at the moments during that night, when I felt alone in the whole world. Not strong enough to have a strong attitude, it would have been better if the feeling was stronger.
​
I got close to the church, lights were on, but it was silent, like empty. Familiar feeling, but not too intense. I looked back at the graves, something felt new. Unreal in a new way. All this was still faint, for now. I heard some noises on the other side of the graveyard. Then I had a thought that some kids may enter the graveyard and steal the laptops and rest. Something from my mind was saying to stop, not to go into the weird, unreal darkness from there. But I brushed it out, being too faint, unfortunately for me. I went back towards that place.
​
As I would later find out, at this point, the Holy Liturgy was over, just a small snack for the people inside, Ruxandra was getting ready to come to me, outside, she just waited for the people to leave the church. She heard something outside, and felt my presence faintly. She decided to come out, to see if I had come too early. By the time she was out, I was already on my way back to the kiosk, she saw me from a distance. The sky was unusually dark on one side, and a feeling of a new unease was in the air. She started to go slowly towards the kiosk as well.
​
I walked into the viscous air. Viscous, again. But I was like under anesthesia or on some drugs. Maybe my state was akin to sleepwalking? I was not sleepwalking, for sure, but it felt only a bit like it, if it makes sense. What came next, in the next minute (or minutes) happened on that semiconscious level. I was forcing myself to get into the viscous thing, I would not call it air. Things were like getting blacker, but not physically. I felt worse and worse as I was getting closer to the kiosk. But as I felt worse, a part of my mind fought to keep it semiconscious, not to become aware. Was something taking over me, at least a bit? I do not know. It was like I was heading to my doom, but I was so afraid to admit to myself, so I struggled to ignore that I was doing just that.
​
The kiosk was in sight. Silence around me, a silence that seemed to stretch for miles. Or more. I was getting close to the kiosk, the alley went from the kiosk, and it crossed another alley near it, the kiosk was towards my left-front. Things got really black and, without knowing it, the blackness turned into something visible.
​
I do not know how long it all took. One second, maybe a few? The alley was blocked by something that looked like some kind of black curtain, blocking the normal reality. It was a physical blackness, for sure, but it contained more than that. It had vertical folds in it, like a physical curtain. I could not say how large it was, sideways and up, it covered the full front of my eyes, I did not have the time to check my peripheral vision, and up it covered much of the clear sky. I knew it was something that came from hell, no doubt about it. I knew I had no chance of running away, as it was too close, too big and too powerful. I was at its mercy. My heart soon became overwhelmed, my mind was soon to follow. On my last moment of consciousness, I let myself to the Lord, as nothing else could be done, realistically speaking. I fused this in an iconic gesture of prosternation, semiconsciously. I let myself fall to my knees and stop my head from hitting the ground with my palms.
​
At this time, Ruxandra noticed a black mist starting to gather like a small tower of mist. It was not thick, at least it appeared to her like this. As seconds passed, the mist grew thicker, while she noticed me stopping in my tracks, distantly, then the stars were not visible anymore and something she could not describe took over the sky. An emptiness. Yet, it seems all of it was less intense than for me, not just because of the distance, but some other reason. Perhaps her Human nature, or the fact that she was exposed to the things I have exposed to in the kiosk? Fear inside her started to escalate to panic.
​
As I went on knees, I layed completely down, face down. The last thing I saw was that the lower edge of the curtain arose in a fold, on the ground and was sent towards me, covering me. I started screaming inside of my mind the Jesus Prayer, as Ruxandra lost it at this point and just screamed.
​
That thing, whatever it was, started to take me in gradually, but in a matter of a second, the most, if it makes sense. It felt like being taken up from the ground, at the mercy of that. I kept saying the Jesus prayer, trying to hold on, albeit it was harder and harder. I was inside a bubble of demonic power, this meant no way I would be able not to lose it on my own. Kept saying the Jesus Prayer, as things were speeding up. Something in the back of my mind kept saying: ”Hold on just a little… Just a little…” So I did, I held onto the prayer. Then I do not remember. I think it was like slipping into sleep.
​
Ruxandra was close to being broken, as she fell to her knees too. As I realized later on, after I talked to her, the first impulse was to run. But I was there, with that thing, and she refused to leave me there alone. Even if this was something she never experienced before, something of this magnitude. I can tell you, for a Human Ruxandra is pretty resilient to darkness. Many Humans, even grown men, just fail when they meet me. Just me, nothing stronger or darker. I never heard her scream of fear ever. Strong stock. So you can imagine at this point, at least loosely, how bad this was. But my friend stayed for me. Even if this could have been her doom. Even if all her instincts told her that was doom. Fortunately, she remembered not to look into the mist, after a few seconds, and that she needed to start the Jesus Prayer.
​
In a few seconds, after letting the forehead to the ground and closing the eyes, she was into it as well. Starting to feel lifted, as things were going faster and faster. At some point, Ruxandra„s mind went blank as well.
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Fortunately, her screams were heard by father George and the rest who were still inside the church. He exited in a hurry, and people followed. They saw something tall and dark, that seemed to look a bit like a tornado, twisted in the middle. Father George started the exorcism formulas of Saint Basil the Great. Several people started to scream and ran away inside the church, some on the gate, into the street, as father George came bravely upon that, not looking at it. Adrian heard his voice going stronger and stronger as she went closer.
​
As he came close to touching the blackness, it started to retreat. He persisted into going further, cursing the powers of hell, and the thing started to back out (Technically to back up). The darkness went up and fading, seeing me and Ruxandra on the ground, holding each other, our eyes being closed and whispering the Jesus Prayer faintly. He did not stop until the night was clear.
​
He came close to us, gently touching our heads. Ruxandra gave a sigh and became silent. I opened my eyes and came to my senses. In a few seconds, my dear friend was awake as well. The night was back to its sweetness, the old graveyard as well, the place where I felt so cozy, like being caressed by a gentle ghost.
​
We looked at father George, as things started to come back to me. Ruxandra held on to me, as she started to realize as well that it was over. We were protected, as our minds blacked out. We did not remember how we ended up hugged. I whispered to her: ”Praise The Lord. It is gone…” Then, after a few seconds of silence: ”Are you ok? Let's get up.” Father George gave us his strong smile: ”If you ok, let's hurry. We shall not let Christ wait for us. I think the best way now is to go to the side of the church (the south of the church), to calm down people who are still inside, as well as those who fled.”
​
I got up, helped Ruxandra get up, got my clothes cleaned a bit, and waited for father George to call people back to the church. On a moment when the way was clear, we proceeded into the side and got to the altar side door.
​
As father George tried to bring people back, me and Ruxandra looked at each other. She was still shaken when I asked: ”Are you ok, sis?” She gave a calm sigh: ”It seems so… I am surprisingly well, after all it just was…” ”I feel you on this… I am surprisingly unaffected. I am not well but, if I remember what just happened, I was supposed to be a mess.” ”Yeah, indeed…” ”We were protected, I think. No way could we have made it on our own and be so unscathed. We need to thank The Lord.” I gave her another hug. We waited then in silence for things to calm down, it took about 15 minutes.
​
Father George came out of the side door to give us Holy Communion, the Body and Blood of our Lord. Ruxandra wanted to wait for me, instead of having Communion alongside the people in the church. After this moment, it felt like the last claw of that thing was gone, but it's leftovers remained, like scattered around. Yet, when Christ Himself comes to you, all those seem less than meek.
​
After getting inside, father George tried to get the people to stay and finish eating, but many of them left early, and this made the rest go with them pretty fast. While this happened, we talked a little. Ruxandra started: ”Those Cones, this was one of those, isn't it?” ”Probably I can say that it was. It felt somewhat like them, but not exactly.” She started telling me how it felt for her, then I told her how it was for me. She went on: ”I want to look into what you were listening to on those earphones, while you were sleeping. YouTube history.” ”Do you want to go back to all that? Being Human, you are more feeble than me.” ”There is something going on. I want to get to the bottom of it.”
​
Father George interrupted us: ”You just received The Lord and you are talking about His enemies? Come on, chill down and get inside.” White we ate, he did not allow us to speak too much of it. Then, he suggested we take a rest a bit, and sleep where he prepared for us. Then Adrian and father George collected all the devices from the kiosk and they were all shut down.
​
The next day, after we were all home, Sophie and her family came to father George, to get the Exorcism formulas performed on them, since Sophie was the subject of the work of hell that night. According to the old custom, the Exorcism Formulas of Saint Basil are performed not just in case of necessity, but also during the day of his feast, January the first. Unfortunately, most priests do not perform this ritual on this day anymore.
​
I met Odette, the mother of Sophie. We managed to get an interesting talk. But that is a story of in it„s own right. What I can tell you yet about her is that she was too a Caterpillar Elf.
​
Adrian, on his own, checked the YouTube history of the device, there were some weird things in there. Some of the clips appeared to be deleted, the last one was not. It became clear that they were taken down one by one. He woke up later the day before Ruxandra did, in a sleep paralysis experience.
​
I checked my Youtube account history as well. I dared not to listen to those still there. In case any of you shall ask for the link to those on DM, as I am sure many would want to, I will not share it, as I do not want to be responsible for what would happen.
​
There are, still, some things I would share with you, perhaps I shall do it, if I shall have the energy. There were some rough months for me. There are many things that can get you down in this world, not all are supernatural, many are just mundane crap that could bring down even a strong Vampire or Elf. But I shall try my best.
​
Take care of you and your loved ones. See you soon.
​
I blow you a kiss (not a bite),
​
Helena

Hello NZPF, apologies for the long post
We are in a tricky situation, and hoping - to check if someone has experienced something similar, and the outcome in their case - that this acts as a reminder for FHB planning to buy a house & land package not repeat our mistake
Background In March 2021, we signed a Sale and purchase agreement for a house and land package in Wellington with titles due in December 2021.
-The vendor condition for the S&P agreement was we have a pre-agreed unconditional build contract with their preferred builder (which we had). The build contract is based on the master build template -Our condition in the land contract was including a sunset clause that activated in July 2022.
We had paid 10% of the land value as deposit towards the S&P agreement and 5% of the total build value as deposit towards the build contract.
Fast forward 2023 There is no confirmed date on the titles. We got in touch with our lawyer with the intent to activate our sunset clause but were thrown a curve ball.
Curve-ball Even though our land contract had a sunset clause, it does not cover our build contract, and the build contract in fact does not have any exit clause in our favour.
Our lawyer also indicated two further clauses in the build contract which stops our exit
the builder’s recoverable loss will be deemed to be the greater of:
-The deposit; or -The loss as is quantifiable and provable by the builder including, but not limited to, loss of profit

• Our lawyer has also advised us that exiting the S&P agreement without cancelling the build contract can be seen as "legally repudiating the build contract" causing issues.

Back in 2021, We had naively assumed the sunset clause covered both contracts. Our lawyer apparently incorrectly assumed we were handling the build contract (which we don't believe), and just filed our contract and did not give it the detailed look it required.
Current day We are in talks with the builder trying to cancel our build contract, with the "loss of profit" waived off and hopefully get a part of the deposit back. The response from them has been super slow (3 months to get a couple of decent responses) but indications are we might be able to get out by losing our deposit and not be liable for loss of profit.
We are also planning to go to a different lawyer. we think our lawyer had dropped the ball in 2021.
Our options -keep pushing for cancellation of build contract. Even though it's rough and we will lose around 25K we have made peace that in this market it might be better in the longer run to lose 25K and buy an existing build for cheaper (100k-200k less) - Ride out, and wait for titles to be issued. The build cost would also go up 15-20%
-any other options?
Thanks in advace

I (19F) have just realised how much I hate my family from both sides. As me and partner were discussing options for housing if we can't find a rental (because the rental market here is Australia fucking sucks), Hero was suggesting that we stay with his mother in Denmark (Denmark in Western Australia, not the Denmark with the red flag and white cross Is something he doesn't want to do for his own reasons, but said thay if we had to, we would), and that's made me think "oh man, if only my family were as caring as his". If you guys are wondering why, it's because my family wanted nothing to do with me and my siblings (5 brothers, 2 sisters) while we were growing up. We were considered the black sheeps of the family for so many reasons.
"You don't look like your father, are these really his kids?"
"Your skin isn't dark enough like ours, must be from your father"
"Your hair is super curly, just like your mother"
Blah blah blah, it was always a constant war between the two sides if we went to family events. They always had to nit pick each other and us over the littlest things. But things really took a turn for the worse in 2014. My mother was always abusive towards me and the kids, and I was the one taking the worse to protect my siblings, but this time she wanted to take things WAY too far. CPS got involved after the school reported the many bruises we had, and they wanted to take us in, but my mother had other plans; taking the lives of her kids and then offing herself. Basically a "If I can't have them, no one can" situation. Thankfully it didn't turn out that way otherwise I wouldn't be here telling the tale (that'll be for another post tho)
But where it really hit the fan was after me and my siblings were taken into foster care. We struggled, and we wanted to be with family, people we're comfortable with, but did they come? Nope. No one wanted to take us in, not an aunt, uncle, or even our fucking grandparents. My dad would have if he didn't have to work FIFO, something he did to take care of us before my mother drove him up the wall to the point of leaving. CPS always explained that family were busy, or couldn't afford to have us live with them, or were a risk because of our mother, but the reality was that they didn't want the responsibility of their nieces/nefphews or grandchildren, they were probably happy that we were out of their hair.
Honestly, for my mother's side of the family, we wanted nothing to do with them since they are all just drug addicts and just as abusive. So surely my dad's side would have helped, right? Wrong. In 2017, my father died in a car accident, and I thought that maybe that would help bring us closer, to grieve together and grow to love each other, especially since we were his kids, but after the funeral they ghosted. Yep, just like that. No contact, no visits, nothing. And I wanted to know why.
As soon as I got out of foster care at 18 in 2021, I asked for the case files that would describe EVERYTHING from 2014 to that point. It took me a whole night reading and sorting through everything and honestly, the stuff I read made me sick. Were they too busy to care for us? Nope. Could they afford to care for us? Yes. Was there any risks to care for us? NOT AT ALL. Their reasoning? They were too hesitant to see us. Yep, hesitant. But what reason is there to be hesitant to see us? THERE WAS NONE! It was some stupid excuse just to avoid us for 7-8 WHOLE FUCKING YEARS. I realised that we were outcasts, the black sheeps, we meant nothing to them.
Now, I still hate them. And I probably will for the rest of my life. I have a few of the relatives, who never bother to reach out to us, tag me and the 4th eldest (brother) of the family in their stupid posts. Reminiscing about the rare days we did spend on them, only to be ignored the whole time, and it makes me sick. They are the ones who ghosted so why keep up this act? They have missed out on so much in our lives. Our birthdays, Easter, Christmas, mother's and father's day, everything. And they're gonna miss out on special days like our weddings, baby showers, or anything like that. You guys probably will say "But OP, did you try to reach out to them?" Yes, I did. But after countless times of having no replies, why should I give them the time of day when they never gave a shit about me or my siblings? Treat people the way you want to be treated! Cast us out? Fine, we will do the same!
If you guys have read this far, I'm sorry for how long this rant is. Just thinking about them makes me feel sick to my stomach so all my emotions are scattered.
Oh, and if my family does somehow find this post, FUCK ALL OF YOU! You guys made this bed so you can lay on for the rest of your lives you selfish, ignorant pieces of shit. 🖕🖕🖕
Edit: The Denmark everyone knows about has a red flag and white cross, I don't know why I said blue. But if people are wondering, yes there's a town called Denmark here is Australia 😅