I posted earlier a travel itinerary and got some useful suggestions so decided to draft a new, hopefully better one. In my previous one I was doing Athens, Naxos, Santorini and Crete (staying in Heraklion).
In this one, I decided to change a few things:

• Save Athens for last so I don't have to get ferries in the day of my flight back
  
• Cut Naxos and go directly from Athens to Santorini. The only concern I have is that the ferry I get arrives there at 1h45 so there's probably no buses and I would have to book a transfer to Perissa. Is that a problem?
  

Wanted to add I don't drive and I am going alone, so renting a car is not an option. I do like to book the tours in advance but I only do it in a website that allows me to cancel with a full refund to up to 24h before, so I have some flexibility. However, I can't vary too much the dates I stay in each place otherwise accomodation prices might go up, given the time of the year, so I wanted to settle at least that.
The itinerary would be:

• Day 1: arrive in Athens, go to port, have lunch, get ferry at 17h30 to Santorini
  
• Day 2: Santorini, Akrotiri Excavation, Megalochori, & Beaches Tour. Can go freestyle by bus, just not sure there's direct buses from Perissa to that place, the tour is 49€
  
• Day 3: Santorini, tour of vulcanic islands and susnet at Oia (this one is not negotiable)
  
• Day 4: stay in Perissa, go to black beach, then go to the port to get ferry at 17h30 to Heraklion. Ferry arrives at 19h25
  
• Day 5 - 9: stay in Heraklion and do the following trips:
  
  • 1. Lasithi Plateau, Cave of Zeus, & Knossos Day Trip OR Preveli Palm Beach Boat Trip & Rethymno Town Tour
  • 2. Spinalonga, Plaka, Agios Nikolaos, & Elounda
  • 3. East and South Crete Villages Tour and beach
  • 4. Day Trip to Preveli Beach OR Lasithi Plateau, Villages & Zeus Cave Tour (depending on the one I do the first day, the one from first day includes Rethymo besides Preveli)
  • 5. Stay in Heraklion, get bus to Chania, walk around Chania
• Day 10-11: stay in Chania
  
  • 1. Day Trip to Elafonisi Island
  • 2. Full-Day Samaria Gorge Trek Excursion. If I am too tired at this point, this one "From Chania Areas: Gramvousa Island Day Trip and Balos Beach" would be an option.
  • Get night ferry to Athens at 22h, ferry arrives at 6am

There's another two activities, from Heraklion:

• From Heraklion: Palm Forest Beach of Vai, Ierapetra & Sitia
  
• From Heraklion: Island of Chrissi
  

Maybe one of those is better and I can replace some of the mentioned ones?

• Day 12-14: Athens
  • 1. Visit acropolis. At 16h30 get bus to Sounion and get back in the 20h bus (or do a tour that does the same, if I am too lazy)
  • 2. Tour to Meteora. I found one for 92€ with train tickets included and then a tour there. I find it a bit expensive, so I might try to book the tickets separately and then do a tour there for 40€
  • 3. From Athens: Bus Trip to Mycenae, Epidaurus & Nafplio. After this, get the bags, have dinner and go to airport. I need to be at the airport at 1am only, so I think it's okay.

I could replace one of those two tours with a visit to one or two of the nearby islands as well.
So my questions are:

• Am I losing much on cutting Naxos? Cutting Santorini is not an option. I might hate it or I might love it, but at least I will have a personal opinion about it.
  
• Is it possible to get a transfer from the Santorini port to Perissa at 1am? I know the ideal location to stay would be Fira but the difference of the price of the accomodations is too high
  
• What do you think of my itinerary in Crete? Is it too repetitive (like always seeing the same things)? Should I replace some tour by another more interesting? Should I cut one day and instead add one more to Athens and use it to visit Aegina or Hydra for example?
  

Pretty soon drivers throughout Georgia and South Carolina should be getting quests for the Master’s Tournament. Some of y’all will be asking about whether it is worth it, and some of y’all will be asking about strategies for working the tournament, so I’ll try to cover both in this post. For reference, I have been an Uber driver in Augusta since 2017. I did two Master’s Tournaments as an X driver pre-pandemic and one Master’s Tournament as an XL driver last year (the two tournaments during the pandemic were closed to the public and were for members only). Sorry to the Uber Black drivers who are looking at this post, I don’t really have much experience to share with you about your platform, but hopefully some of this guide will still be helpful. I don’t do Eats, but they should do well here, too.
Market basics:
Augusta is a rate-card market. It pays UberX $0.60/min and $0.09/mile and pays UberXL $1.45/min and $0.22/mile. Those who are coming from an upfront market (and new drivers who decide to start during The Master’s) will be accepting trips blind (unless Uber goes upfront within the next week). You have to have a SC vehicle inspection to pick up rides in North Augusta, SC, so unless you are a SC driver, or you come from a border town and did the SC vehicle inspection, you might want to avoid that side of town (near downtown, Augusta). Alternatively, if you do have a SC vehicle inspection done, this is a great location to get trips that other drivers (including most taxi drivers) cannot get. Outside of the tournament, the Augusta market only has UberX and UberXL. The platforms that I remember from last year during tournament week included UberX, UberX Diamond, Uber Comfort, UberXL, Uber Black, and Uber SUV. I know Lyft (which normally only does Lyft and LyftXL) also has Lyft Lux, but I’m not sure of their other platforms.
Tournament basics:
The rideshare waiting lot for the Augusta Nationals (the name of the golf course which hosts the Master’s Tournament) is on Washington Rd about a mile East from Exit 199 of I-20. Most tickets can only be used twice for entry into the tournament. The entrance to the rideshare lot is just after the taxi lot entrance which is just after the Olive Garden restaurant if you are coming from I-20. The tournament starts at 8 am and ends when all the players are done on the course, typically around 5pm-ish. Those who attend to watch the tournament but are not members are called patrons. A lot of patrons will only come to see a particular golfer (Tiger Woods draws a lot of attention) and will leave when their golfer leaves (especially during practice rounds). Some patrons will sit at a single hole and will leave when all the players that they want to see for the day have come across that hole.
The women’s amateur tournament already began on Wed March 29, 2023, at Champion’s Retreat. The women’s tournament players get a practice day on Fri March 31 and will compete on Sat April 1 at the Augusta Nationals. Mon, Tues, and Wed April 3-5 will be the practice rounds. A lot of your middle-class fans will be here on one of these days as they will have a hard time getting tickets to the actual tournament; most of these patrons will only be here for a single day. Thu-Sun April 6-9 is the actual tournament. Most of your better-off patrons (and very lucky patrons) will be here during the actual tournament. They will often be here all four days. April 6-9 will be, by far, the busiest times of the tournament.
A lot of businesses arrange for tickets. Outside of C-suite employees, most of these tickets will be given out to customers and awarded to employees for a half-day visit (as they can be used twice) to get the most bang for the buck. This is good for UberX & UberXL drivers as a lot of these patrons who are there for half-day help fill up some of the time between the start time rush and the end of the day rush and are more likely to use Uber (or taxis) to get around.
Try to get along with the law enforcement and the workers at and around the Augusta Nationals. The Augusta Nationals has a reputation for banning and trespassing those who don’t follow their fairly stringent rules, although most of the workers there just work for the week. The Augusta Nationals have stripped members of their membership for things we might feel are small infractions; they certainly don’t care about trespassing a random Uber driver.
Airports:
Augusta has two airports:

• The regional airport (AGS) will be mad crazy during tournament week, but many, many, many drivers will be hanging around the airport, including taxis, Uber Black, limos, hired drivers, shuttles for the master’s, hotel shuttles, etc. Unless you are Uber Black, I honestly don’t recommend hanging out at AGS (but do what you feel is best), although I personally would accept any requests that I got from the airport if I were outside the queue as there could be a hidden surge attached to it. AGS also closes their cellphone waiting lot to rideshare during tournament week. Be wary of picking up at AGS. There are six whole legal spots to pick up at AGS (six more spots at departures), and the Marshalls (GA’s police department responsible for airport operations at AGS) will probably take up two of them for some stupid reason. One of those six spots is also technically a shuttle pickup spot that the Marshalls may or may not be enforcing. Speaking of enforcement, the Marshalls will come out with a new policy several times a day during the tournament, so be polite, follow their immediate instructions, but don’t count on it being the same the next day. Also, the pickup spot in the app is the pedestrian crosswalk that goes between arrivals and departures (smack dab in the middle of the front of the airport). Make sure you pause for several seconds at that spot to start the cancelation timer before driving down towards the exits for arrivals. If you don’t, you have to go all the way around the airport to start the timer. Many knuckleheads will be ordering Ubers while sitting on the tarmac, so you might be collecting a few cancelation fees. A side note: you can always turn left into the rental parking lot and park along the sidewalk if necessary…this includes if you need to run into the airport to use the restroom or when there are not enough places to wait for your rider. This is about the only other place that the Marshalls will not harass you for stopping besides the designated pickup area and the cellphone waiting lot (when not closed). You technically need Uber stickers displayed to pick up at the airport, but I’ve never seen this enforced. If you want to see arrivals and departures, go to flyags.com and certainly don’t rely on the Uber app.
• At AGS, there is also an FBO (some riders will call it “Aviation Services” or “The private terminal” or “The executive terminal” or “The civil part of the airport” or something similar). Unfortunately, passenger auto-pins from here gets lumped into the general commercial pickup location. You will get mostly pilots coming from here as anyone who can charter a private plane will likely have a private ride already scheduled. You can legally pick up from the FBO (and also drop off). When you enter AGS, you’ll see a blue sign pointing to the cell phone waiting lot. Turn right into that lot and then turn left at the next street. Try to pick up under the awning, although you might have a line of grey Mercedes Sprinter vans in the way as those drivers feel they get special privilege (which they kinda’ do because the Augusta Nationals has a TON of political clout in Augusta).
• The other airport is the civil airport in the middle of the city named Daniel Field. Unlike AGS, this airport is typically underserved by Uber but is also extremely busy during the tournament. Despite there likely being a huge line of taxis there, you’ll likely get rides from here if the riders order the Uber before they see the taxis. These riders will likely leave their phone in their plane, so you might not see their blue location dot update. If you see them not have their phone with them (phones are not allowed in the tournament), let them know that there is an Uber representative that can order them a ride back on their account in the parking lot that you drop them off. (You probably won’t get their return trip, but they’ll help contribute to any surges later that you’ll benefit from.)

Quests:
Last year, the quests were for $15/trip originating from the rideshare parking lot at the Augusta Nationals between 3pm and 7pm. This sounds great, but I only got a total of 7 trips during that quest time for the entire four days of the quest (and one of those trips was a “high priority” return after a very short trip). The big issues are that the tournament might end before 3pm for bad weather or might go beyond 7pm (usually because of weather delays). Also, every driver is trying to cram into the rideshare lot to get in the queue for that quest. Even if the tournament gets out during the quest hours, you will be fighting traffic out of and back into the rideshare lot. The lot seems to be designed for about 20 vehicles, but there were at least 60 vehicles crammed in most of the time last year. Drivers can also park at the Publix parking lot near the Augusta Nationals to get in the queue, but then you must crawl through traffic to get to the pickup. As a strategy, it might be worth it to jump into the Publix lot, though, to get your position in the queue to get one more quest for the night. The quest is what brings drivers to Augusta, but it isn’t really where drivers make their money….
Tips:
Stories abound in and around Augusta about $100 tips that patrons give out during their visit to the Master’s Tournament. In the three years that I drove for the tournament, I only got some of these tips one year (last year) and none the other two years, but I received four of them last year for the following reasons: (1) being a military veteran, (2) returning binoculars that were left in my vehicle, (3) going through a Chick-Fil-A drive thru, and (4) making a half-dozen stops for one rider for cigars and alcohol and ice and other items. The first two tips were easy money; the second two tips cost a lot of time during high surges (although I would have still had a hard time doing better than the $100 during that time). If you are a young lady that is easy on the eyes (not sure of a better way to put it), you will have a much easier time getting the $100 tips, but you’ll likely also face some very stereotypical frat-guy behavior from the mostly older male crowd. Most people giving out these types of tips are not taking UberX or UberXL, though.
Surges:
As an upfront market, real surges are hidden, but you’ll still be able to see sticky surges. The best time for surges (aka, the times when riders exceed drivers) are in the early hours of the morning, the closing hours of the tournament, and during late night. The event starts at 8am (watch out for weather delays), but the rides easily start before 5am. There are a lot of moving parts to get the tournament started, and a lot of the rides that you’ll give as an UberX or UberXL are to those who support the tournament rather than the patrons. Parking lot attendants, traffic control, hospitality, camera crews, etc., are all heading to work. Uber shines at this time as the other modes of transportation have a hard time capturing this traffic unless prescheduled. A lot of patrons will start coming in soon after the workers to try to get the “ultimate” spot, and patrons will keep coming in for several hours. At the end of the tournament, there is no magical place to be except as close to the Augusta Nationals as possible. Patrons, workers, etc. are all streaming out of the same location.
Hot Spots:

• The rideshare lot for the Augusta Nationals: obviously
• Hooter’s: I swear a third of my mid-day trips went between Hooters and the Augusta Nationals. A very short trip.
• Other common restaurants that I would sit at (most of these have other restaurants close by that will be busy, too, but not necessarily as busy): Twin Peaks, T Bonz Steakhouse (in Augusta, not so much the one in Evans), Abel Brown, Beck’s, Cork and Flame (in Evans) and Frog Hollow (and other downtown Augusta restaurants).
• Hotel Clusters: For patrons, these hotels include those on Steven’s Creek Rd (aka Claussen Rd), Gordon Highway off of Exit 3 of I-520, downtown Augusta (one of which is in North Augusta, SC), Wheeler Rd off of Exit 2 of I-520, Jimmie Dyess Pkwy off of Exit 194 of I-20, and Lewiston Rd off of Exit 190 of I-20. Workers will primarily stay at the “cheaper” hotels (which will still be relatively mad expensive) throughout the city, especially around Washington Rd, Wrightsboro Rd near the Augusta Mall, and all the old hotels that litter the rest of Gordon Highway (good locations to pick up 5-7am).
• Underserved house rental clusters:

1. Don’t bother around Washington Rd as patrons will be primarily walking (not worth fighting the traffic for such low fares to the tournament either, imho, unless you are very, very close already).
2. West Lake is a huge location for pickups. It is a gated community, but if you tell the guards you are picking up at 3556 W Lake Dr (the Club House), they should let you right through the gate. You can even type this address in your app to get directions to it (without using your precious destination filters) and have your app look like you are actually going to there for a pickup.
3. There are several subdivisions near Washington Rd and William Few Pkwy in Evans, GA, that are commonly underserved.
4. Whole blocks within River Island Pkwy are rented out by Mercedes Benz and other corporations and is a good source of rides.
5. River North Dr in North Augusta, SC, is a great source of rides for patrons for those drivers who have submitted a completed a SC vehicle inspection to Uber.
6. Otherwise, workers and patrons will be staying in housing all over the city.

Roads to Avoid:

• Traveling down John C. Calhoun Expy/Washington Rd between downtown Augusta and the Augusta Nationals when patrons are going to/from the tournament. If coming from downtown or traveling to downtown, take Riverwatch Pkwy (erroneously labeled River Watch Pkwy on some GPS apps). Both Greene St and Reynolds St become Riverwatch Pkwy if you travel West on them long enough. At Alexander Dr, you will turn left, and then turn left again on Washington Rd (about ½ block from the rideshare entrance). To go downtown, turn left from the rideshare parking lot (not technically allowed, but most people still do so), turn right on Alexander Dr (the next light), and then turn right on Riverwatch Pkwy.
• Berkmans Rd (which becomes Alexander Dr at Washington Rd and becomes Highland Ave at Walton Way) will be closed by the Sherriff when the tournament ends. Until then, feel free to use it although it will be congested at the start of the tournament. The best way to avoid it is a long way around which is to take Walton Way to Walton Way Ext (a right turn), turn left onto Wheeler Rd, and then turn left on Marks Church Rd, to go West onto I-520, then to go East onto I-20, then get off at Exit 200 to Riverwatch, then turn right onto Riverwatch, and then turn left onto Alexander. If you do this with a rider in the car though, they might get really upset for all the extra miles they are paying for although it is much, much faster.
• Boy Scout Rd, which is technically the alternate route for Berkmans Rd when Berkmans Rd is closed. Just about all northbound traffic heading toward the tournament (or to Hooter’s or other nearby restaurants/hotels) that do not use the expressway will be stuck on this road when Berkmans Rd is closed. If Berkmans Rd is closed, you’ll likely regret taking Boy Scout Rd. Otherwise, Berkmans Rd is almost always better.

Law Enforcement:
The LE that you come across in Augusta are overworked outside of the tournament and will have had some really long hours by the time the tournament even starts. If you do something stupid enough to warrant the LE to actually bother going after you, expect at least a ticket. Be polite to LE because their fuses are already short. If you screw up, the best thing to do is to just apologize and accept the chew out if they are yelling at you from the road. Arguing will likely get you swarmed by police in Augusta.
Some notable things to point out:

• The North Augusta Police (in SC) have a reputation for giving out tickets for minor speeding infractions (and North Augusta has some of the lowest speed limits in the market). If you cross the bridges, stay at the speed limit until you get back to GA.
• Georgia State Police (GSP) have a reputation for giving you a ticket if they pull you over, even during non-tournament weeks. Most of their cars are the telltale grey on blue, but they do have a few stealth cars in the Augusta Market (black writing on black paint).
• Speaking of stealth cars, the Richmond County sheriff also have stealth SUVs and a TON of unmarked police cars.
• Georgia Public Safety (GPS) officers come out in numbers and single out a lot of commercial vehicles during tournament week (along with GSP). Note that Ubers are technically commercial vehicles. This is especially true on Doug Bernard Pkwy (the road going to/from the regional airport) and on I-520 and I-20. Doug Bernard Pkwy is easy hunting for GSP & GPS as the road is built like a 65-mph highway but only has a 45-mph speed limit. Everyone I’ve seen pulled over were exceeding 60 (I believe), but that is all the choice of the officers.

Competition:

• Other rideshare drivers: Not as bad as you would think. During the big money-making times, it won’t really matter. The market is flooded with rideshare drivers, though, which means that the surges are less common. Uber Black and UberX/XL surge separately, so there were times that Black was cheaper than X/XL according to several locals. Any stories about the Master’s Tournament driving the surges up to massive amounts all day long comes from 2016, which was the first time that Uber came to Augusta. The subsequent years have been much milder.
• Taxis: Taxi drivers come from all over GA and SC to drive during the tournament. I saw more taxis sitting at Daniel Airfield (our small civil airport in the middle of the city) during a slow time during tournament week last year than I’ve seen in all of Augusta during the rest of the year! At the Augusta Nationals, the taxi lot is next to the rideshare lot (but with a separate entrance), and patrons will have to walk past the Ubers to get to the taxis. At AGS, the taxi lot has its own beautiful exit coming out of the terminal, so the taxis often get riders before riders resort to Uber.
• Limos: Limos come from even further out. I saw limos from Myrtle Beach, Tampa, Kentucky…. LOTS of them all over the place. They are moving around the Daddy Warbucks type patrons and are getting most of those $100 bill tips. =P Limos and shuttles share a lot on Berckmans Rd.
• Hotel vans: Every decent hotel has at least a shuttle or two that they run during the tournament. Many of these hotels park their shuttles for the other 51 weeks out of the year. >.> These shuttles are not supposed to be in the rideshare lot, but some of them were last year.
• Private shuttles: A ton of companies, home-rental companies, and even the Augusta Nationals hire private drivers and use the grey Mercedes Benz Sprinter shuttles to get around. These shuttles are moving around the players, the CEOs, the big sponsor employees, etc. They are getting the rest of those $100 bill tips (many of them get a much higher single tip at the end of the tournament as a percentage of the shuttle cost).
• Public transportation: public transportation (the buses) suck in Augusta and are not really very relevant during the tournament.

Traveling from Other Markets:
One of the mistakes many drivers make is not recouping the costs of traveling from/to their market and missing the surges that result from other drivers leaving their market. I assume that a driver is not going to stay overnight in Augusta as the hotel costs are prohibitive. I also don’t recommend sleeping in your car because the local LE already have short fuses with the extra hours and the extra work brought on from patrons during the tournament (patrons routinely include heads of states and billionaires). If you are over 2 ½ hours away and don’t have a place to crash in Augusta, I wouldn’t bother.
Here is what I would do if I were in these other markets (but your reasoning or circumstances might be different):

• Aiken, SC: Technically the same metro although Augusta & Aiken drivers rarely overlap trips. I’d definitely be outside the Wilcox early to get one of the many patrons needing a ride.
• Athens: I might as well come to Augusta if I didn’t have a game going on. Still a four-hour round trip that I’d have to overcome. Brownie points if I could finagle a ride from the Thompson civil airport on the way to or from Augusta. Sadly, I know more about Atlanta than I know about Athens, but I would guess there are some (relatively) cheapskate patrons staying at hotels in Athens that would need a trip to Augusta early in morning. If so, I’d jump on that if I came across one (probably give them my number to get their return trip, too).
• Atlanta: A five-hour roundtrip is nothing to take lightly. I would only come to Augusta if I had a long-distance trip here (which many patrons will go straight from ATL or even a hotel). Atlanta does well during the tournament as a lot of drivers go to Augusta deadheading both ways, some drivers get pulled to Augusta thanks to long-distance trips, and Augusta ends up sucking up all the rental cars in the SE. A combination that is really, really good for drivers in ATL during tournament week and especially for airport drivers. If I got a long-distance trip back to ATL at any point (likely mid-day or at/near the end of the tournament), I’d take it in a heartbeat and call it a great day while finishing up in Atlanta if I had any more hours to burn.
• Columbia, SC: As I’d only be about an hour away, I’d definitely head over to Augusta. I’d also sit downtown Augusta during the few times that I would sit. I’d try to begin the day with a trip from the hotels in downtown Columbia as lots of international travelers will stay in Columbia (last year a lot of patrons from Ireland stayed in Columbia as the Augusta hotels were full, international travel to Columbia was easier, and the patrons came for a specific Irish player that qualified for the tournament fairly close to the tournament date).
• Macon: I don’t think that I would bother. Very unlikely to find trips along the way either way. To head directly to Augusta takes lots of state highways through small towns, too.
• Savannah: Even worse than coming from Atlanta. No interstates to travel up/down. I’d only do it if I got a patron staying at a hotel in Savannah (and give them my number to get their return trip, too).
• Statesboro: Quite a bit closer to Augusta than Savannah, but still traveling down state highways with little chances of getting a ride between the two metros. I would be surprised if any patrons stayed in Statesboro and ubered back and forth, but I’d accept a ride to Augusta if it came up (again giving my number to get their return trip).

DISCLAIMER, AGAIN: As I said last time, this is looking out to be very long, with a large amount of what might seem like useless text and dialogue, but what is actually essential parts of the story that will come later. The first chapter is barely even associated with the Murder Drones universe, with the only related things being a couple mentions of names or places that are in Murder Drones. I can assure you though, that the next chapter does earn this story the title of a MD fanfic, so please be patient. If you aren't a fan of the long reading, then this likely isn't the thing for you. Hell, even this disclaimer is far longer than it should be, so I'll just get right onto the show, er, or maybe the story.
​
Chapter One - Part Two
Still Extremely Lengthy Exposition
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-e, he never found out.
Huh, fuzzy head.
Jacob resolved himself to ask the doctor his name when he came out of stasis next. Suddenly, Jacob focused on the fact that he just had a momentary blur in his awareness. Last time that happened, that signaled him entering stasis, and coming back out.
As if on cue, a hissing noise spread throughout the small chamber, ejecting a faint white fog. Luckily, it wasn’t aggravating his headache, as it had considerably lessened, probably throughout the time he was, “asleep”. The door also began to open after only thirty seconds of the gas being injected into his pod. Even better, the door was much faster this time, so it only took about ten seconds for it to open.
Like last time, a pair of assistants were waiting there in hazmat suits, though the suits in question looked less baggy and more solid and streamlined, a seemingly futuristic design. The visors were still opaque, though Jacob thought he could make out something in the reflection, probably him, now that he thought about it.
One of them stepped forward, holding a device that most likely served the same purpose as last time, but it, like the hazmat suits, was also smaller and more streamlined. The person strapped the little sensor strap to his wrist, as well as plugging a jack into a socket on the device on Jacob’s head. The man looked at the screen of the device for a second, before removing the strap and jack, before nodding to his fellow assistant. Then, they began to unstrap him from the pod.
Jacob was eventually released from the pod's grasp, and he stepped down after the pair backed up enough for him to do so. Jacob then saw a third man in another one of those futuristic hazmat suits approaching Jacob. The unnamed man, likely the unnamed doctor, stopped about four feet from him, before turning to his assistants and saying something to them that he couldn’t make out. It seemed to be good, since they nodded, and retreated out of the chamber.
The new man looked at him, and instead of raising his visor, tapped twice on the side of his head, and the visor became clear. It then also became clear to Jacob that, contrary to his previous assumption, the man was not the unnamed doctor, but ANOTHER unnamed doctor, this one looking like he was in his thirties.
“Uh, um, hi there.” The man seemed . . . nervous? Why was that? Wasn’t Jacob supposed to be the nervous one, if any?
“Sup.” Jacob nodded to him.
The man seemed to compose himself at Jacob’s words. “Yes, right this way please.”
The man walked out of the chamber, with Jacob following suit. Soon they arrived within another room, this one having what looked like a conference table filling up most of the room, with a couple other odd machines off to the side, as well as a little device in the middle of the conference table. The currently unnamed doctor sat down in a chair, with Jacob following suit, albeit sitting across from him. Just then, what looked like two armed guards joined them in the room, posting up on either side of the door, watching him carefully.
Jacob eyed them too, deducing that the best way to neutralize them was . . . none, as they would gun him down before he even got halfway across the room. Besides, why would he even want to take them down? Funny prank though. On the matter of the guards, Jacob decided to address one of the multiple elephants in the room.
“So uh, what's with the soldiers?” Jacob fixed the man with a simple questioning stare.
The man seemed to react rather oddly to Jacob attempting eye contact, doing his utmost best to prevent that very thing.
“Well uh, our experts on the matter said that, well, if the tumor managed to, uh, assimilate itself with essential parts of your brain, it could theoretically, uh . . .” The doctor cut himself off there, seemingly to try and find a way to phrase his statement.
“Influence me, or just outright assume full control of my body?” Jacob finished for him.
“Er, yes.” The doctor replied.
“Huh. Another question, if I may.” Jacob inquired.
The man nodded his affirmation.
“Where is the previous guy in charge? I thought he was gonna be the one to meet with me first.” Jacob asked.
The man seemed to further retreat into his hazmat suit that he still hadn’t gotten out of.
“Well, you see, uh, yesterday, on the way to this facility, Jackson, well. He got in a car crash. A malfunctioning self-driver. Since I was his assistant, I was chosen to assume the position of Acting Director.” The man’s eyes turned downcast at his own statement, as if in mourning.
Just then, Jacob realized why he seemed familiar. At first he had simply put off the feeling as nothing but a mistake from his mind, but now he could place his recollection. The supposed Acting Director was the assistant to the other unnamed doctor, apparently a man by the name of “Jackson” by the Acting Director’s words. Actually, speaking of Jackson, what was his full name?
“So his name was Dr. Jackson?” Jacob asked.
The man nodded glumly. “Yes. Dr Jackson C. Jenson. He had such a brilliant mind.” The man was retreating further and further into himself, and Jacob didn’t exactly need that yet. He still needed him for answers.
“Uh, doctor. Wasn’t I supposed to be debriefed or something?” Jacob wanted to snap his fingers in front of the man’s face, but he had a feeling that that wouldn’t go over well with the armed guards.
The man’s head snapped up, flustered yet again. “Er, yes. Let me get it set up.”
The man reached out to the small device on the center of the table, inserting what looked like a small USB into a socket on the object. He then pressed a small button on the side of the device, causing it to click, and do nothing else. The man cursed, pressing the button again, this time yielding results.
A small slot opened up on the top of the device, exposing a lens, which then began to glow, projecting a series of lasers that had no cohesive rhyme for rhythm. After a moment, the lights aligned themselves, creating an image too small to see. The man cursed again, calling the device a series of names that would probably get him in trouble if he were still in middle school, before turning a knob on the side of the device. The knob apparently controlled size, as the projection enlarged to a size more suitable to see. However, this proved too much for the brave device, as the image then flickered in the air, before simply shutting off with a pathetic click.
The man hung his head and sighed.
“I’m sorry, I swear that these were different in the demonstration. I’m probably gonna just get rid of them when I’m promoted to full director status.” The man commented.
Jacob peered at the open lens, which was now smoking, a good amount in fact.
“Uh, ok. So what was that supposed to do?” Jacob looked back at the still unnamed director.
“It WAS supposed to show you an image of your brain, but I guess we’ll just have to resort to the old-fashioned way.” After that statement, the man pulled a remote out of his pocket, pointed it at a screen on the wall, and pressed the on button.
Of course, it wasn’t so simple as that, as the man had to navigate the menus and files before selecting the presentation he wanted to use, so it was longer, and a bit more awkward than anyone in the room would’ve liked.
After finally getting the presentation to work, the man cleared his throat, after looking at Jacob to make sure he was watching, and began to speak.
“As you know, last time we saw you, the tumor had extended several appendages of itself throughout your brain, piercing several areas of your brain, including the empathy center. It had then somehow literally blurred the lines between itself and your brain, slightly merging itself with you in the process. However, while you were asleep, we made some rather . . . notable discoveries.” The man switched to the next slide, showing the same image, plus text and some diagrams, depicting something that looked like a reading from one of those machines that can read brain activity.
“We had placed a device on your head that was essentially a more powerful version of an electroencephalograph, or just an EEG for short. We wanted to see how your brain was reacting to the tumor in a more in-depth way, and while we did garner some interesting data, the thing that was more important, and worrying, was this next one.” The Acting Director flicked the button, the next slide showing a reading from the EEG. However, Jacob’s attention was taken from the slide by the man’s next words.
“This is not a reading from your brain, well, technically it is, in a way. You probably can’t see what is wrong with this reading, but a trained neuroscientist such as me can. The activity that we had detected is, for lack of a better word, muddled. We managed to figure out that while your brain itself was emitting the same relative frequencies as before, something else was adding onto that to create this muddled reading that we see here, and I’m fairly sure that you can guess what it was.” The man looked back at Jacob.
Jacob shrugged. “Yeah, it's the tumor, but we already knew that it was messing with my brain, so what’s new about this?”
The man looked back at the screen. “That is what we will see here.”
He flicked to the next slide, this one showing another set of EEG readings, this one different, though since Jacob didn’t really pay attention to the last one, he couldn’t tell what was different.
“You see, what was shocking was the way that the tumor was interfering with your activity, was that it wasn’t doing that at all. The reason why the EEG reading came out weird was that it had picked up two very different frequencies, and since it was only designed to pick up and read one, it just lumped the two together. One of those was from your brain, while the other . . .” The man trailed off, looking back at Jacob, who had a frown on his face.
“Was from the tumor.” Jacob finished.
The man nodded. “Correct. Now, this was worrying, as the only thing that could emit that kind of frequency that the EEG could pick up was your brain, or something in that general area. We triple checked our data, and brainstormed as much as we could, and we could only come to one conclusion: the tumor was now functioning like a brain, and thus, could no longer be defined as a tumor. It was now more of a proto-brain; simply, yet still functioning. I’m sure you can infer the rest.” The man clicked the power button on the remote, turning off the screen.
Meanwhile, Jacob was deep in thought.
So, supposedly he had a secondary brain inside of his own brain, like one of those Russian dolls that people loved so much. However, that does explain all of the fright around his body getting taken over by the little unwanted passenger in his head, as any entity, even if only semi-intelligent, living in your head is probably something to be worried about. But Jacob was more curious than worried, in actuality. While yes, that does seem a bit dumb of him, to not be worried about the potentially hostile entity living in his head that might be trying to take over his body, but Jacob was sure that the nanobots were doing their job, or else he would already be dead, by gunfire or weird tumor thing.
Jacob then realized something, something he had forgotten. He didn’t want to make the same mistake as last time, so he decided to just ask for the man’s name now.
Jacob cleared his throat.
“So anyway, uh, what's your name again?” Jacob asked.
The man looked back at Jacob incredulously.
“That's what you’re worried about? My name?” The man seemed a bit put off by this.
Jacob simply shrugged.
“Really? Alright, my name is Dr. Malcolm Instrum.” The man stared back at Jacob. “That's it.”
Jacob nodded, the situation getting a bit awkward. “So anyway, what’s next?”
* * *
Jacob was laying down on a medical bed, straps holding him down. He was in what looked like an operating room, with lights shining on his face. Strangely, the lights didn’t really hurt his eyes. For context, Jacob had just woken up from what the doctors had said was a, “simple operation” but never told him why he was being strapped down or being put to sleep. In hindsight, it was deeply worrying, but Jacob was still wondering that, if the lights didn’t hurt his eyes, then why was he still having to blink and look away?To his right was a door, where Jacob had seen a person in one of those futuristic hazmat suits walk into right when he woke up.
Jacob was beginning to worry that perhaps the entire team just coincidentally had developed rapid amnesia and had forgotten about him when a pair of men in hazmat suits walked into the room.
“No sudden movements.” One of them said, unstrapping his head.
Just then, Jacob noticed another pair of men, these ones armed, entering the room and standing on either side of the door. It seemed like they were still afraid he would be body snatched or something.
It didn’t take long for him to be unstrapped from the bed, and he was rather forcibly hauled up and told to move, so he did just that. The pair who had unstrapped him left the room through the door, with Jacob and the armed guards following suit. The armed guards escorted him out of the room, the pair of doctors seeming to have disappeared into thin air, somehow.
Jacob was brought to a room that looked suspiciously like his room from the last time he was here, and without any further words, the guards left him in the room, leaving and closing the door. Jacob had a feeling the door was locked, that feeling only reinforced by the beeping and clicking noise that followed soon after the door was closed.
Jacob looked around the room, and thankfully, at least something was there. The room was arranged in pretty much the same way, with the absence of a table and a chair. There was a TV up on the wall with a couch facing it, a bookshelf off to the side, and a table to the left of the couch. Jacob was about to investigate the bookshelf to see if any new material was present that he could read, when a beep and a click emanated from the door, before opening up to reveal a familiar face.
“Oh hey, it's you. Sorry, I kinda forgot your name, what was it again?” Jacob asked the doctor, not thinking to look at the nametag.
She smiled politely. “It's Dr. Vasel, and it's fine. You only saw me for an hour after all.”
Jacob stared back.
Her smile wavered slightly, although it wasn’t very noticeable.
“Erm, anyway, I’m here to do some psyche and mental tests. It should only take an hour. Answer truthfully, alright?”
“Alright.” Jacob replied, fully intending to answer truthfully, within reason of course.
* * *
“So, mind telling me what the ‘operation’ was about?” Jacob asked Dr. Vasel.
“Hmm?” She looked up from her clipboard.
“Earlier, some doctors or something put me in an operating room, knocked me out, and when I woke up, I was put in here. I’m not an expert on medical practice, but I’m fairly sure that that's not standard procedure.” Jacob questioned.
“Er, I don’t think I’m authorized to explain that to you.” Dr. Vasel countered.
“Huh.” Jacob dropped the issue.
Dr. Vasel stopped writing on her clipboard, tucking her pen back into her shirt pocket.
“That should be all, thanks for your time Jacob.” And without waiting for a reply, she left.
Jacob stared at the closed door for a second before scoffing and laying back onto his couch. He couldn’t lay on his bed because he didn’t have a bed, for some reason. Well, he wasn’t going to sleep in it, but couldn’t the higher ups have some consideration? Jacob glanced at the clock, trying to discern how long he had left, which was surprisingly short, relatively, at least. He had about six hours and a half left until he went back in the pod, so plenty of time to kill. He had gotten his physical check done before he had been strapped down onto a table and had that mysterious operation done on him, so if yesterday’s schedule was anything to go off of, then he would have nothing else for the entire day, so he was going to have to do something.
Jacob looked around the room, wracking his brain. He then decided to just look at the walls. He did that for a second before making out discernable lines in the floor and wall tile. His train of thought switched through a couple stations before somehow landing on check for security cameras, which was technically not that big a leap from just staring at the walls.
Jacob got up from the couch, stretching his limbs and cracking his knuckles. He looked at the standard places where cameras would be placed, like on the ceiling corners. He then checked the more discreet areas of surveillance, like the bookshelf and couch cushions. And the most utterly bizarre thing about the whole ordeal was that he found absolutely nothing. Nada, which was surprising when you consider that he was pretty much subject to the CIA’s whim here, unknown to the outside world. Speaking of the outside world, he had nothing to say about it, as nobody had given him any sort of reading material about the world's current state.
Jacob sighed.
This was going to be a long ordeal, wasn’t it?
* * *
One hundred.
That's how many times Jacob was woken up.
If you remember a bunch of pages back, some guys said that Jacob was going to be awakened exactly every decade, which is ten years. Multiply that by one hundred and you get one thousand years. Jacob lived for one thousand years, and it felt like one hundred days to him. This does seem like a bit of a jump, considering we were only just on the second awakening a moment ago and now we’re just speeding past one thousand years of humanity’s progress, but bear with me here, alright? None of us want to spend that long going through each and every one of those days, that would be an entire book on its own, maybe around five to four hundred pages long! No, much easier to just summarize it, and get to what matters, the present. After all, this is all just building up to the main story.
Anyway, so. As you know, each time Jacob woke up, he would be subject to various tests, measuring his mental, physical, and every other part of his body’s states. He would be awake for a total of twelve hours on the dot each time, stay asleep for ten years, and rinse and repeat for one thousand years. Now, you could probably tell that while it seemed like a short time for Jacob, it wasn’t exactly a few months for the outside world, pretty much the opposite, in fact.
Let's start with what we all know and love, history. Around the 2070s, the world was heating up yet again. Russia’s old leader had long since died, and while some would think that was a good thing, it really wasn’t. After a bloody scramble for control of the country, and a minor civil war, one of the old leader’s former generals, a person named Mikhail Noveztrenov, was aptly named, “Stalin’s Specter”, or “Сталинский призрак” if you want to get technical. He made an immediate and harsh reformation of Russia’s political and military state. A big reason why Russia had seemed so incompetent during the wars they had fought was largely due to widespread corruption amongst their ranks, along with a defunct R&D program.
Noveztrenov tried his very best to remedy these problems with the only method Russia had used lately, with executions and harsh reprisals. The world watched in dread as Russia began to build up a military, a legitimate one this time, and prepared for the worst. These feelings were only made worse by the new alliance organization headed by Russia which was said to rival NATO in many aspects, having included nations such as China, North Korea, Vietnam, and multiple other old enemies of the West. The 80s, that means the 2080s, was seen as the true Second Cold War, or Third depending on who you ask.
And finally, this boiling pot came to a head when the clock hit 2090. The East had been suffering under Western sanctions, deprived of oil, energy, and food for around five years now, slowly being strangled to death. This called for action, and action they did take. The second the clock reached the new decade, a massive blast of EMP waves rocked the world, targeted towards satellites, taking down several sections of the Internet in the process.
While the West was blinded, a force of over five hundred thousand troops crossed the border into the Middle Eastern Union, or the MEU, with the objectives to take various oil reserves and depots throughout the Middle East, with a secondary objective to annihilate the current government, and replace it with their own. Russian troops entered from the north and west, while the Asians landed on the beaches in the south and through the east, surrounding the MEU in a four pronged attack. In just two months, with the help of a new orbital cannon prototype, the MEU had been crippled by this blitzkrieg, with the only holdout being the nation's capital under siege
The Western nations gave the East an ultimatum; pull out of the MEU immediately, or suffer the consequences. Of course, the East denied. While they didn’t expect NATO and company to declare war, they were prepared for the possibility. And it's a good thing they were prepared, for European troops opened fire on the Russian’s a few days later.
And thus, World War Three began.
It was a long and drawn out conflict that probably would require its own story, with advanced technologies being used by both sides to attempt a victory, causing destruction everywhere they were used. In total, the war lasted for eleven years, with Europe nearly capitulating twice, and over two hundred and twenty million dead.
However, the war ended with quite the bang, but not so big it was the one we all know what you probably expected. Sort of. In 2101, the war was tilting in favor of the West. With the defeat of the East on the Moon, and the destruction of the orbital cannon, while the situation didn’t currently look too bad, Noveztrenov knew that if this continued, then he would be captured, and likely killed for his many war crimes. And the worst part, he couldn’t see any way out but one.
Noveztrenov retreated to his nuclear bunker in far northern Siberia, hidden deep in the snow. From there, he ordered for the immediate mobilization of almost all of the Russian armed forces to simply try and repel the invaders with extreme prejudice, while ordering a small portion to retreat to his bunker in Siberia. Noveztrenov planned to end the world in three days.
Of course, the West didn’t really like that. Through the brave actions of an intelligence agent who sacrificed his life to get word out of the impending nuclear fire, the Western nations had a meeting that would determine the outcome of humanity as a whole. They took a vote over two possible courses of action. The first was the standard response, just simply launching all the nukes and running underground. However, the other was suggested by the newly elected President of the United States, Henry Croftman. It consisted of sending a team of skilled special forces to disable the Eastern nuclear targeting array, which would effectively render all of the Eastern nukes useless.
In an extremely close vote, the tie breaker being the leader of Switzerland, it was decided to send the most elite of operatives, a collection of the very best the Western nations had to offer, deep into Russia to try and save the world.
And in a move that would likely inspire many action movies to come, with barely any time left on the clock, the operatives, after receiving heavy losses, disabled the array, saving humanity from a future filled with spicy air and cold days.
However, not everything was sunshine and rainbows.
While the team had disabled the array, they failed to do so in time, letting exactly nine nuclear weapons launch, and since the Western nations countermeasures had been crippled by war, only one was destroyed. The rest came down on major population centers, with the one intended for Washington thankfully taken down in the stratosphere.
London, San francisco, Ottawa, Miami, Taipei City, Seoul, Paris, and Berlin all suffered the burn of nuclear fire, killing millions. You could argue that revenge had been achieved with the execution of Noveztrenov, but most would say that one life was never worth millions. The West, while they had won the war, wasn’t free from consequences. The amount of effort that had to be put in to rebuild society, to restructure the governments of their former enemies, was tremendous.
However, while this war was terrible, it allowed for something that had never been seen before in all of human history. Unification.
The act of switching from war to peace nearly collapsed the rest of the nations, with rioting over food and energy, and the poor desperate for change. While they did recover, the Western nations knew that they needed a big change, something to prevent this from happening again. The EU suggested a rather radical idea, one that was at first dismissed, but when later considered upon, made quite a bit of sense.
After a vote was made by the remaining leaders of the world, it was agreed by a near unanimous decision to unite the entirety of humanity under a single banner, a nation built by humans, for humans, forever.
The period that came after was widely known as the Great Golden Age, with the majority of the Western nations having been leaning towards more progressive ideals, came economic and civil prosperity, after the reconstruction had been completed. Since oil was nearly depleted, it was agreed to switch to more reliable methods of energy, like solar, wind, hydro, with nuclear taking the top spot. Poverty reached an all time low, and the economy skyrocketed. In the following years, humanity would grow ever closer, and while some racial and ethnic issues arose, especially in the American South and the Middle East, they were quickly remedied with some concessions and agreements.
However, humanity’s nature was not to just sit there and eventually stagnate, it was to explore, to create, to build bigger and better things, things that would surpass their greatest dreams. And so, humanity only had one place to look for all that;
The stars.
In the year 2134, the very first stable wormhole ever would be created, creating a doorway between Tibet and California. It had originally been opened by creating separate two points, entangled particles being utilized, and just doing some magic science stuff, and bam, a pre-planned doorway between two points in space.
Scientists quickly discovered how to open a wormhole where they had never been before, enabling them to essentially walk between the solar systems without any sort of time dilation whatsoever. And so, the Space Age began.
New technologies, economic prosperity, some random corporate independence wars, all of this happened in the Space Age, an era which began in 2142, and is still ongoing, with humanity discovering new planets often. However, not everything was sunshine and rainbows, as a certain super-corporation’s mining operation on an exoplanet utilizing a force of artificial intelligence laborers gone wrong would kick start a whole new event in the mid-to-late 3000s.
However, we aren’t quite there yet, as some of you might be asking, “Where is my homeboy Jacob?” and well, you’ve got what you were asking for, not some things from his perspective, of course, but more narration!
* * *
Jacob had quite the time in the hundred days.
The most notable was that time he almost got kidnapped by a cult, but that’s for later. What is important is the recap.
Jacob was quite surprised when he heard about the World War, but was just shocked when he heard that the nations had united, under a single banner too! Jacob didn’t believe it at first, as he didn’t think the world leaders could put aside their egos to think about their people for once, but it seemed like progressiveness had reached heights that he thought were impossible. Jacob made sure to ask what had happened in the world each time he woke up.
Jacob also made another observation, this one over time.
Everybody around him was dying.
Not due to some attack or toxin, but rather the old enemy called time. Familiar faces like Dr. Vasel became old, before being replaced by younger ones that he might’ve gotten close to, if they hadn’t died within five days of his time. The therapists were worried about how this was affecting his mental state, but if he was being traumatized or something, he never noticed. Not that he would tell them that anyway, after all.
Oh yeah, not every face was friendly.
There was this one director who was such a nice guy, and acted really friendly with Jacob. Perhaps a bit too friendly, if you know what I mean. The next time Jacob woke up to quite a different scene. Bullets were flying, and about ten armed guards had taken up defense around his pod, with multiple masked individuals firing back at them. Jacob had been quite startled indeed, especially when a stray round took him in his chest.
Everybody had been quite worried after that, but that quickly turned to surprise when they had taken care of the invaders, and they had found that Jacob was feeling absolutely no pain at all. Jacob had commented he felt perhaps a rather annoying tingling sensation there, but none of the expected reaction to the bullet wound. They deduced that it was the tumor's fault, as it had now breached what the doctors called the dorsal posterior insula, but Jacob wouldn’t remember that, he only knew that it was somehow related to pain. The doctors wanted to remove the tumor, but the Intercontinental Intelligence Agency, or the ICIA disagreed, deeming it too dangerous. Oh yeah, Jacob didn’t know this at the time, but they also began to break even more laws regarding ethics around this time, no biggie.
Jacob was also surprised when he had a change of scenery too, as the chamber got bigger, and people started to wear hazmat suits around more. He had been told that he was moved to another planet for top secrecy, and the government was now working in conjunction with a puppet Windex company of all things to experiment on the thing in his head. Oh yeah, and supposedly they had developed some prototype AI based off of the tumor’s functions or something, not too important.
Jacob also started to actually fall asleep when he went in the cryo pod, instead of just experiencing a blip in awareness, which was deemed bad news by the experts. A few days later, Jacob’s tumor had progressed to a point in which it was deemed too unsafe to take him out of cryo anymore. They set some new nanobots to keep brain activity to the lowest possible setting, and were going to keep him frozen for the foreseeable future.
And of course, that foreseeable future would be coming to a rather startling end a few decades later, as what the people in 2999 didn’t know was that their own creations would be the end of them. Did I tell you that the new planet Jacob had been transferred to was a little planet called Copper-9? I don’t think I did, and the name probably doesn’t mean anything to uncultured swines like you, but that planet is quite important.
Anyway, a few decades later, a rather large catastrophe rocked the planet. Humans had been utilizing the uranium-laden core of the planet as a huge nuclear reactor, which was bound to have some unforeseen consequences. As whenever there is something that can be blown up, humans tend to do just that, either on purpose or on accident.
The core had detonated, creating a nuclear explosion so big it gave itself rings from the debris thrown off from the planet. The shockwave killed almost all biological life everywhere boots could touch the ground, and certainly every single human. The entire surface was plunged into a nuclear winter, with the sun being blotted out for a little, but not too long as most of the debris had actually gone upwards and outwards into orbit.
The company, JCJenson, would be separated from the aid of the government for the loss of a valuable asset, and would determine that the only thing left alive on the planet was metal. Speaking of that, the large number of AI labor drones were able to resist the blast for the most part, and since the cold didn’t bother them, they created their own civilization down there when their overlords died, believe it or not.
However, JCJenson wasn’t about to let an entire planet just up and go, so they repurposed some of the aforementioned labor drones into war machines capable of mass destruction. Anti-personnel razor sharp claws, flight capabilities, sub-machine guns, explosive ordnance, laser weaponry, the whole shebang. The company sent these, “disassembly drones” down to Copper-9 to eliminate the remaining, “worker drones” in an attempt to recover their investment.
In the midst of all this chaos, only a single person remained blissfully unaware of the planet collapsing around him, and the subsequent annihilation of intelligent androids, and he was a certain teen lying fifteen thousand feet beneath the surface inside a deep-sleep cryo pod.
Jacob would be left assumed dead for the second time in his life, and he didn’t even know it. The facility that he was housed in was a secure bunker designed to last for years running self-sufficiently, but those designs were still experimental. It could last for two hundred years, maybe three, tops, before running out of power, which would eject Jacob into a harsh and unforgiving landscape filled with unbreathable air, with only death waiting for him outside of the walls.
The facility did have automated guards that were intelligent in their own right, defending the contents of the facility from hostile threats, but it was unlikely that they would figure out a way to preserve the fragile human housed within their walls before running out of power. In short, the future looked quite bleak for Jacob, with almost no possibility of surviving.
Almost.
------------------------------------------ The next chapter might be coming a maybe a week or so, perhaps a bit less, so sit tight. Again, hope you enjoyed, and be patient. I am aware of the excruciatingly long amount of text, and while I am sorry for this, there is little chance of it getting better. In total, the length of this chapter added up to 38 pages, and I didn't count the words or characters, so good luck with that. See y'all when I upload the next one, if I don't get banned for unrelated MD content.

{Preferably in Loudoun County, but I'm willing to travel, if necessary.}
And i’d prefer the kind that isn’t full of sugar pills. I don't know which manufacturer is good & which isn’t, I just need my meds to work!
I feel horrible even having to ask this question, but I can’t handle any more of these insensitive & callous pharmacy techs/pharmacists every time I call. It’s taking a toll on my mental health, so I decided to try & see if someone can point me in the right direction instead of disrupting these poor pharmacists' day by calling & asking if they have it /s
I work a fast-paced, full-time job, as well as have three daughters & a home to care for. I take Adderall for my ADHD & MS & I’ve been suffering without it.
Thanks in advance

Hey guys! So I’m not even sure how to word this but I’m looking for new friends to play with! I got into the game with my exhusband (who definitely carried me most of the time because he was the one with all the knowledge lol). And I’ve tried playing a few times since the divorce and as much as I love the game, it’s so hard for me to get into it by myself.
A little info about me and my character: 26F and I live on the east coast so I’m normally on after work around 8pm. iiAm_Machine is my player name. Total XP: 1769 Combat level: 125 Quest points: 87 I love questing but am always down for some dungeons or slaying. I’ve been working on skilling but as we all know that takes time😂
Thanks for listening to me babble & I look forward to playing with y’all 😊

Listed below are tournaments to get involved in

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Note: If you'd like to advertise for your unsanctioned tournament, please reply to this post and I will approve it if applicable.
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This post was last updated 3/29/2023

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USA Flag tournaments:

Las Vegas Open

• April 15 - April 16, 2023
• Henderson, NV
• Open to all participants

2023 National Championships

• May 26 - May 28 2023
• Arlington, TX
• Open to all participants

New York Open

• July 15 - July 16, 2023
• New York City, NY
• Open to all participants

Cedar Point Open

• August 19 - August 20, 2023
• Sandusky, OH
• Open to all participants

San Diego Open

• September 2 - September 3, 2023
• San Diego, CA
• Open to all participants

Orlando Open

• September 23 - September 24, 2023
• Orlando, FL
• Open to all participants

USA vs Mexico Invitational

• October 7 - October 8, 2023
• McAllen, TX
• Invite-only international tournament

Phoenix Open

• December 9 - December 10, 2023
• Phoenix, AZ
• Open to all participants

2024 World Championships

• January 11 - January 14, 2024
• Tampa, FL

Un-affiliated, Sanctioned USA Flag tournaments:

Sunshine Bowl

• Organized by: Special Olympics Florida
• Age Groups: Adult Mens, Adult Womens, Adult Coed, High School
• April 22 - April 23, 2023
• Tampa, FL

Battle at the Bullitt 5v5

• Organized by: The Bullitt Experience
• Age Groups: Youth 6U - 18U, High School Girls 7v7
• April 30, 2023
• Rowlett, TX

Richmond East Coast Nationals

• Organized by: DMVFFL
• Age Groups: Youth 6U - 18U, Adult Mens, Adult Womens, Adult Coed
• May 5 - May 7, 2023
• Richmond, VA

The Shruumz Drip Trouney

• Organized by: Dipz & Drip Tourneys
• Age Groups: Youth 6U - 18U, Adult Mens, Adult Womens, Adult Coed
• July 22 - July 23, 2023
• Austin, TX

Lynn Lewis Foundation 16th Annual Invitational

• Organized by: Lynn Lewis Foundation
• Age Groups: High School Girls 7v7, Adult Womens
• October 13 - October 15, 2023
• Mesa, AZ

Other Tournaments:

FlagFootballX

• Notes: Monthly tournament held in Arlington, TX with seeding games held in Irving, TX on Saturday and playoffs held in AT&T Stadium on Sunday
• Tournament information: https://www.zortssports.com/tournament/app/10612
• Age Groups: All ages, Men's, Women's
• April 15 - April 16, 2023
• Arlington, TX

I have bought a new 18kg Mariner 2.5hp four stroke. I'm going to use it with an inflatable dinghy. I plan to use it for pootling around on rivers, lakes, Norfolk Broads and, on flat calm days with sensible tides, very close in coastal and estuaries, with my 11 year old. Maybe camping trips several days long. I know 2.5hp is low power but that's what I have and it's not going to change, so lets just go with that and not bother suggesting I "get a bigger engine".
I now have to choose the dinghy.
UK person. I have today been to Boatworld in East Midlands and spoken to folks there who were very helpful (I'll plug them because the chap stayed 15 mins after closing to answer my questions :D ). They have a range of their own branded boats in PVC that I'm looking at.
But I want to know what YOU lot think.
I can go as high as £800 but I'd rather not. Solid transom and 2.7m length minimum I think.
The main points besides price and length seem to be PVC thickness and what floor type.
The guy steered me away from aluminium floor with air keel. He seemed to think a flat bottom would be better, and presumably less weight. I'm not a fisherman but I'm toying with the idea of doing some so a solid floor could be a thing. I can imagine lack of planing with a 2.5hp might mean air keel is a bit redundant - but wouldn't it reduce drag even if not planing? Dunno.
Air floor with inflatable keel. Air floor without inflatable keel. Slatted floor (with gaps) with no inflatable floor.
Then there's the PVC thickness. The solid aluminium floor boat has 0.9mm, the cheaper boat with slatted floor (optional air floor at considerable cost) has 0.7mm. The air floor keel boat has 1mm. The chap in the shop waved off the difference between 0.7mm and 0.9mm ("it's an extra 0.2mm, not likely to save you from that puncture, might reduce the boat longevity from just occasional scuffing").
I keep fancying the air floor keel one with the 1mm, though it'll properly clean me out financially lol. But do we think it's a worthwhile thing for a 2.5hp? Is 1mm thick really any better than 0.7mm?
Thanks for replies.
Aluminium floor inflatable keel 3m length 0.9mm thick £795:
https://boatworld.co.uk/boatworld-330-pro-white-black-and-green
Air floor keel 3m length 1mm thick £795:
https://boatworld.co.uk/boatworld-air-v-type-floor-300
Cheaper slatted floor 3.3m length 0.7mm thick £525, inflatable floor with air keel adds £215 to it:
https://boatworld.co.uk/boatworld-330-sl
​

I have been diagnosed with severe ADHD since I was 17, and medicated for about half of the past 15 years. When I started law school and working from home, I immediately recognized that I needed to be back on medication, so I went back to my ADHD specialists—one of the most prominent names in the field. It worked out that methylphenidate IR 20mg is the best bet for me and has worked perfectly.
Until this last month, that is. I notified my doctor I needed a refill and they sent my Rx to my local Walgreens. Walgreens delayed my scrip, with an explanation that a pharmacist was reviewing my scrip and no information was needed. Two weeks go by and my stockpile is quickly running low. Called Walgreens and was told, “oh yeah, we have (yet another) new policy and need a letter from your doctor confirming that this is medically necessary.”
Medically necessary! Why is a Walgreens pharmacist challenging my medical doctor, one of the top experts in the field of diagnosing and testing of ADHD? Alas, I call my doc and get the letter sent off. Another few days go by, scrip still delayed.
I call Walgreens again. “We need your doctor to send us your medical records and visit notes to confirm the Rx is medically necessary.” Both the pharmacy tech and pharmacist will not explain what this policy is or whether it’s an internal policy or a regulatory compliance measure. Doctor’s office sends my visit notes and medical records.
Another week. Still delayed. Down to my last four doses, with none left in my emergency stockpile. Call Walgreens. “We reviewed your notes but they’re not enough for us to fill the Rx.” Again, both the tech and the pharmacist are unable to describe to me what ‘enough’ notes are for them to fill my scrip.
CVS will not fill my scrip because my provider is remote right now and I haven’t been in the room with him “this calendar year.” Costco pharmacy says they are out of stock and have no information on when, or how many pills they will receive on their next delivery. It could be two days or two months. Even so, they prioritize existing patients over new patients.
The one local pharmacy nearby has been closed down. Local pharmacies within 25 miles all will not tell me if they have my medication in stock and said they will not fill my scrip because “telehealth” even though my doctor has an office in this city.
I’m at my wits end, here. This is absolutely insane that I have to spend weeks trying to get SOMEONE to fill my prescription.

1). lack of mouse studies showing beneficial effect of morning sunlight viewing whilst *swimming* (as opposed to *walking*, for which there *is* ample evidence both empirical [see: Larson, A.’s seminal 1997 paper “Neurochemical effects of continuous morning sunlight viewing whilst maintaining forward optical flow in mice”] and anecdotal [see: well, we don’t need a study to see how many morning sun viewing forward walking mice are wildly successful small business owners and/or healthcare professionals]). 2). I’m not a strong swimmer (see orange circle on map documenting my near drowning at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers). 

Should I run for the hills?
I’m East African and dating outside my culture and find that his family has zero boundaries, should I accept them as is or let him go? We’ve been dating for almost 1 year and planning on getting married soon to the point where our parents are meeting in a few months to advance things. However, I’m not sure about marrying into a family with zero boundaries especially when they make it a point to guilt trip him when he sets them. I wonder sometimes if he’s a people pleaser or just someone without a backbone. I love him but I wonder if I’m just choosing the path of high resistance. Will he be able to prioritize our family in the future or continue to put the needs of his sister and parents above our relationship/future kids?

G’day. I don’t really have an intro to this one.
I do have a warning. The first story gets heavy. I will try to lighten it up in the second story, but there’s no way around it. If threats against schools (even written in the most YouTube-friendly way possible) are upsetting to you then skip this one. This is the reality of being a teacher so, welcome to it. Anything between a set of asterisks is not what was said and is me trying to use language that is YouTube-friendly. I think you can figure out the context.

1. “MathBeard Over Beards”

So, the last time I shared a story about MathBeard Red seemed to borderline defend her. Perhaps I didn’t truly convey how incompetent she is or maybe it’s easy to overlook if you don’t have to bloody deal with her every bloody day. Either way, I dare anyone to try to defend her after this one. Writing this story is my outlet so I don’t cross a line into a very career-limiting move.
Since the last time we saw MathBeard she continued to be a nuisance and I continued to get frustrated texts from Beatle about how annoying and incompetent she is. (And to the commenter that thinks she has a thing for Beatle…I don’t disagree). I never shared these because it was more of the same and Red defended her before so it seemed like a moot point. So, let’s set MathBeard aside for now. We’ll come back to her.
This story really starts on 3/27/23. How do I know? Because it was the very same day as the incident at the Nashville private school. Beatle and I heard about that and were sad but at the same time, we’ve sort of become semi-apathetic to news like this. It’s like ‘another day, another school’ at this point. It’s the reality of teaching in the States.
Wee One was out of state as a student delegate for a national anti-bullying program and prior to that she’d been staying with Mum to help with her injured dog. With Wee One gone, Beatle and I were eating dinner at Mum’s and staying until bedtime to help Mum. When we finally got home that night Beatle checked his work email and had an email from a parent. The parent wanted Beatle to call her ASAP. Normally we don’t call parents outside school hours, but this seemed urgent to Beatle and this wasn’t a parent known for being overdramatic so Beatle decided to call her from his cell phone (something we almost never do as it’s not considered best practice for parents to have our personal cell numbers). Beatle had her on speaker so I heard everything.
“Ms. Hart, this is Beatle, Kelly’s teacher. You asked that I call you?” Beatle started.
“Oh, yes. Thank you so much for calling me so late. I just wanted you to be aware of something that happened at school today that has raised Kelly’s anxiety,” Ms. Hart said.
“Oh no, what is it?” Beatle asked.
I was laying on the bed catching some Pokemon on my cell phone wondering what could be so important it couldn’t wait until morning.
“Well, as you know, what happened in Nashville is one of Kelly’s biggest fears and so it was already bad enough that she saw that in the news but in her math class today a student made a comment about getting a *specific weapon that is popular* and *doing what was done in Nashville at Standard High*. This is a student she is already uneasy about and has told me before he makes her uncomfortable,” Ms. Hart said.
At this point I let the Pokemon flee and dropped my phone. Yeah, this was important.
“I have a pretty good idea of which student you’re referring to,” Beatle said.
“I did talk to Mr. Principal about this and he said they are investigating but obviously he couldn’t tell me much about what they would be doing and I know you can’t either, but this student is in her English class tomorrow with you and Kelly is so anxious she doesn’t want to be on campus,” Ms. Hart said.
“Honestly, this is the first I’m hearing of this so they don’t exactly tell me much either. I can tell you I highly doubt that student would be on-campus tomorrow and if so certainly not in my class. If he is, I will do everything I can to reassure Kelly. And you have my personal cell phone number too so feel free to reach out to me anytime,” Beatle said.
“I do appreciate that. I will also be on campus tomorrow doing some parent volunteer work so I will be there if Kelly needs me,” Ms. Hart said.
“Perfect. If the anxiety becomes too much for Kelly I’m happy to write her a pass to go hang out with you,” Beatle said.
Beatle and Ms. Hart finished discussing details of the next day and once Beatle hung up I looked at him.
“Johnny?” I asked, pretty sure I knew the student in question too.
“I think so,” Beatle said.
I sighed, “Great.”
“So much for sleeping tonight,” Beatle said, shaking his head. He went and fed our pets and we got ready for bed. Once everything was done for the night we settled into bed.
“If *an incident* starts in my room I don’t know how I would text you to ask you to call a lockdown,” Beatle said.
“I’m sure TypicalBeard or Gabby would hear it and call a lockdown. You focus on trying to protect your kids. I would be fine. I have a storage closet in my cave. I would just cram my class into there and we’d hunker down. No one is gonna think of trying to get into a storage closet. It’s you I’m worried about,” I said as I reached for his hand.
“I have a bookcase to hide behind which doesn’t do a bit of good if it starts in my room,” Beatle said.
I nodded, “I’m honestly kinda glad Wee One is out of town right now and won’t be on campus tomorrow.”
“Me too…but it could happen any day,” Beatle said.
I nodded, “I know. If it does I pray she is in my classroom so I can protect her.”
Yes, this is the type of conversation a couple that are both teachers have in bed at night. How do we keep ourselves from being unalived by students in case our school is next? That’s our pillow talk. Sexy huh?
Yeah, every day when my husband leaves my cave to go to his room there is a fear in the back of my mind…what if today is the day? We say ‘see you at lunch’ or ‘see you after school’ but is today the day that I don’t see him again? All we want to do is teach the children and we have to worry about being human shields. And no, this is not me being political or taking a stance on anything. This is just me telling you the reality of teaching. I don’t care what side you are on in relevant debates, this is a reality that no debate can change. This is just what it is to be a teacher and to be married to a teacher in this country today.
That night I was so exhausted I passed out hard. I didn’t dream or anything. I was out. Beatle…well he was right…he didn’t sleep much at all. We have different ways of coping with high-stress situations. I tend to shut down. Try to sleep until it goes away, especially if it’s something I can’t fight that is out of my control. Beatle…he worries. And he did. All night.
“But Mandy! MathBeard! Where is the beardery?!” I know! I hear you. It’s coming. I promise. Hang in there.
The next day Beatle and I pulled into our parking space and neither of us made a move to get out of the car.
“I don’t really want to be here today,” Beatle said.
“I know Love. But Mr. Principal knows…I’m sure it will be ok,” I tried to reassure him before sighing, “But neither do I.”
“Should I pop into Mr. Principal’s office and chat with him?” he asked.
I nodded, “That is a brilliant idea. I know he can only tell you so much because of privacy, but maybe he can tell you something that will put your mind at ease.”
Beatle nodded and we finally got out of the car and headed inside the school.
“OK, I’ll stop by your room after I talk to him,” Beatle said.
I nodded and we parted ways.
In the interest of not dragging this story out, I won’t recreate Beatle’s whole conversation with Mr. Principal.
I went to my classroom and tried to get ready to start my day like normal. About 25 minutes later Beatle came in.
“Do you feel better?” I asked.
Beatle nodded, “I do actually. Mr. Principal said they are taking this seriously, but this student is a pathological liar and doesn’t understand social norms. He believes it started as an off-hand comment and once he was given attention he expounded on it.”
“Ok, I get that, but it does still need to be taken seriously. Is he on campus today?” I asked.
“He is, but he won’t be in my class. I don’t know if that means he is in ISS or just in the AP office, but he won’t be in my room,” Beatle explained.
“Well that is good news,” I said.
“Mr. Principal said he hadn’t heard about what happened in Nashville yet when he got the report of this whole thing. So it was quite a day for him yesterday,” Beatle said.
“I bet,” I nodded.
And I thought that was the end of it. Well, it wasn’t or it wouldn’t be a beard story.
The next day (so 2 days after the threat was made) Beatle had his SPED team meeting before school. They meet once a week before school and the meeting usually consists of Beatle trying to get important information from Missy (his boss) in between MathBeard interjecting really stupid comments. This has become such a regular occurrence he doesn’t even normally text me to vent anymore. He has accepted that once a week he has to listen to MathBeard’s stupid. That is why I wasn’t expecting to hear from him when I got the following text: “I just got more info about that incident the other day. The teacher didn't report it. One of the kids did an anonymous alert...And apparently, the kid that made the threat has access. I guess he and his dad have "quite the arsenal" and love to go out and shoot. It's like their hobby…”
I reread that text a couple of times as I connected the pieces in my mind. What teacher wouldn’t report that sort of thing?! What sort of idiot would blow that off? Even forgetting we are mandated reporters, that is something no one should ignore. Wait…Ms. Hart said that this happened in Kelly’s math class and Kelly’s math teacher is…
“The kid whose mom you talked to...her math teacher is MathBeard and her mom said it happened in math class…” I texted back.
“Aye. That would be correct,” Beatle texted back.
“So the teacher in question here is fucking MATHBEARD?! So she will report a kid for having earwax on their earbuds but NOT for making comments about that?!” I replied.
“RIGHT?! I am NOT happy,” Beatle said.
“OK, this puts me in a whole new state of fury,” I said, “How DUMB do you have to be?”
“I understand that this kid has social skills issues and probably was joking and apparently he's a pathological liar too. But still. WTAF!!” Beatle said.
“So what if it's a social skill issue? That is not something you can be wrong about. What if he did it? "OOPS! I thought it was a social skill issue and he was lying again. My bad,"” I said.
“Yeah. It has to be reported no matter what,” Beatle agreed.
“How did you find this out?” I wondered.
“Missy. She didn't name names, but I know what class it happened in. She said the teacher didn't report it, but one of the students did an anonymous alert and the campus officer and Number One rushed up there and searched him and whatever,” Beatle explained.
OK, so MathBeard was gonna get us all unalived.
“Did Missy remind everyone we are fucking mandated reporters?” I asked.
“Aye, she did. She reiterated that things like that need to be shut down and ALWAYS reported because we don't know when it's a serious threat or not. It's up to admin to investigate and determine if there's a credible threat,” Beatle said.
“Honestly, she should be terminated for that, or at least written up. She won’t, but she should be,” I said. Teacher shortage. Nothing was gonna happen. And no, there is no tenure for public school teachers…but there is a teacher shortage, especially in SPED.
“Yeah, but you’re right. She won’t,” Beatle agreed.
I was seething at this point. Did something this stupid even qualify as beardery? I was pretty sure this went beyond beardery. This was a whole other level of stupidity! I also found out that the individual that Mr. Principal was referring to that engaged with the student and gave him an audience was MathBeard herself!
“OMG, the meeting is over and MathBeard is talking to Missy and Missy was like telling her what to do if it happened again. Like, she had to be told AGAIN. WTF?!” Beatle exclaimed.
I sighed. The bell rang and I went to open my door to let my students in and greet them. I saw MathBeard coming down the hall from the English wing and she stopped RIGHT IN FRONT of my door to talk to a teacher standing at the door of the next room. I glared at her and had to mentally talk myself down. Every ounce of me wanted to lunge out of my room and say “you are a mandated reporter but you're more worried about an ESL student learning their ID number you complete and total idiot! You are gonna put us all in danger!". I didn’t do that, because I generally love my job. But if looks could kill…
So telling this story is my way of not snapping. Beatle’s was to write an IEP goal since MathBeard clearly needs some extra help so I will end this with the goal that Beatle wrote for MathBeard (I have his permission): “By the next annual ARD, given instructional coaching and a swift kick in the ass, Mathbeard will independently manage her classroom without involving the tracking teachers for no good reason. As evidenced by sending 0 emails about classroom management issues.
By the next annual ARD, given repeated instructions, Mathbeard will report incidents of students making threats against the school, no matter her supposed logic behind why they said what they said. As evidenced by 0 teachers getting shot or fearing getting shot due to her incompetence.”

1. “East or West?”

For our 2nd story today let’s go a bit lighter and look at a beard that isn’t trying to get fellow teachers unalived. ManiBeard…annoying…but generally harmless.
Remember Becca from Chapters 17 and 19? The student that randomly walks out of class and caused Mani’s class to be evacuated? Yeah, this story starts with her.
Evidently, when Missy went to talk to Ms. Dean about the issues in ManiBeard’s class the solution provided was not to actually do anything about Mani…it was to move Becca to Sonia’s class. Because clearly, that will solve everything. Of course. This wasn’t exactly the change Beatle had been hoping to see, but it was all he got. They moved Becca into the class period Sonia had that Beatle supported so Beatle continued to have the opportunity to support Becca, which was needed. It was just also clear that Mani had no business trying to manage a class that had Becca in it (or any other class to be honest, but…baby steps?).
Beatle was already abnormally perturbed by this situation because he felt it was putting a band-aid on a much larger issue (and a flimsy band-aid at that). I can’t even blame this situation on Beatle being non-confrontational. What happened was out of his hands and confronting ManiBeard about it was absolutely pointless. He went to Mani’s class that day like a good little soldier boy and supported the children, trying his best to avoid unneeded interaction with Mani. Then…
“Where is the Pacific Ocean? Florida?” a student asked.
“Ew, Florida. Um…eh…,” Mani replied.
Beatle shook his head, “Actually, that would be the Atlantic Ocean. The Pacific is off the coast of California.”
“Oh yeah! That makes sense!” ManiBeard said, making it clear he legitimately did not know the answer to the student’s question. I suck at geography and even I knew that one!
The student was satisfied with the information he had been given but Beatle just stared at ManiBeard. I’m not sure why ManiBeard’s canyon-size knowledge gaps still surprise Beatle at this point…I’ve come to the conclusion any knowledge ManiBeard does actually have is simply accidental.
Beatle shook his head and walked out of the room to go to Amy’s class, his next class that period. He had absolutely no words for Mani at this point.
So, that was a short one but I wanted to end this on a lighter note. Remember to like, comment, subscribe, ring the bell, and do all the things for our boy ReddX. We love ReddX.
Until next time…