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Bonbon Girls 303 was a 7 membered girl group created from "Produce Camp 2020"; the third season of the Chinese version of Produce 101. The group disbanded July 4th, 2022.
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
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.)
View Poll 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.
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
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 😅