Hey so I'm really new to this community (jumped in on the SEW) hype. Decided to try Termina because as great as the first game is, it kind of felt like cheating since I already knew a decent amount of the first half of the game. I played Termina for two hours last night. Just enough to get through the intro and get my ass handed to me a bunch of times and I gotta say. I love this game so far.
Majora's mask is my favourite Zelda game. The feeling of "there's something very wrong about this place" is something very special I experienced with that game in my childhood. Playing Termina last night I couldn't help but be reminded of that feeling. I can't help but be curious if the developer is inspired by MM. Obviously I was instantly reminded of it with the creepy evil looking moon. And the game is called Termina FFS lol (Termina is the alternate reality that MM takes place in.) I guess my question is if the developer has posted anywhere about his inspirations for this game, but also I just wanted to gush about these two games that I love haha.

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data: 2023-05-30 TOTAL: 226 GENRE: Nu Disco / Indie Dance
On May 30, 2023, the Traxsource Top 100 Nu Disco/Indie Dance chart provides a captivating snapshot of the genre's current landscape. This dynamic chart showcases the talent and creativity of artists who are pushing the boundaries of Nu Disco and Indie Dance. Packed with infectious hooks, vintage-inspired grooves, and a modern twist, the tracks in this chart capture the essence of the genre. From established producers to rising stars, the chart offers a delightful blend of nostalgic vibes and fresh sounds. Whether you're a dedicated fan or new to the scene, the Traxsource chart is a treasure trove of exciting music to explore.
Adri Block,Paul Parsons - Disco Supreme
Adri Block,Paul Parsons - Do That Again - Nu Disco Club Mix
Adri Block,Paul Parsons - Don't Wanna Let You Go - Club Mix
Adri Block,Paul Parsons - Dubb To My Music - Vintage Nu Disco Dubb
Adri Block,Paul Parsons - Dusty Grooves, Pt. 2
Adri Block,Paul Parsons - Latin Hustle
Adri Block,Paul Parsons - Let Me Be the One
Adri Block,Paul Parsons - Love to See You Dancing
Adri Block,Paul Parsons - Must Be Love
Adri Block,Paul Parsons - My Sunshine
Adri Block,Paul Parsons - Nobody Knows
Adri Block,Paul Parsons - People Of The Night - Club Mix
Adri Block,Paul Parsons - Right On Time - Nu Disco Club Mix
Adri Block,Paul Parsons - Warrior - Nu Disco Club Mix
Andromeda Orchestra - Bad Girl - Disco Dub Mix
Andromeda Orchestra - Bad Girl
Andromeda Orchestra - Mozambique
Andromeda Orchestra - Twilight Lady
Andy Bach - Back to the Funk
Angelo Ferreri,Moon Rocket - Superstition
Atlantic Ocean,Disco Dandies - Waterfall 2023 - Disco Dandies Remix
Block & Crown,Paul Parsons - Looking For Love - Nu Disco Club Mix
Block & Crown,Paul Parsons - My Beats Shoot Back - Original Mix
Block & Crown,Paul Parsons - Stand Up (Dance Now) - Original Mix
Block & Crown,Paul Parsons - Your Lovin Is So Right - Club Mix
Block & Crown,Staples Brown,Paul Parsons - Streetlife - Block & Crown & Paul Parsons Special Remix
Block & Crown - Boogie Nights - Original Mix
Block & Crown - Comin' Out - Nudisco Mix
Block & Crown - Love 2 Love U - Original Mix
Block & Crown - Rhythm of the Night - Original Mix
Block & Crown - Shadow Dancers - Original Mix
CN Williams - Windy City
Cady,Processman,Dicky Trisco - Adupé - Dicky Trisco Ruff Dub
Cady,Processman,Dicky Trisco - Sou Baiana - Dicky Trisco Remix
Cady,Processman,JKriv - Adupé - JKriv Remix
Cady,Processman,Joutro Mundo - Adupé - Joutro Mundo Remix
Cady,Processman - Adupé - Processman Disco Mix
Cady,Processman - Sou Baiana - Original Extended Mix
Charly Angelz - About Disco - Dub
Charly Angelz - About Disco
Charly Angelz - As I'm Livin' - Dub
Charly Angelz - As I'm Livin'
Chemars - The After
Claborg,Paul Parsons - Don't Tear Down Your Love - Original Mix
Clarkson - Hot Sweet Thing
Cliff Colada - Disco Musik
Corrado Alunni - Funk Decision - Vocal
Corrado Alunni - Reality
Corrado Alunni - The Groove Line
Cøhen - She's Gone
DJ Popinjay - Do It Do It
DJ Popinjay - For Brothers & Sisters
DJ Popinjay - Funky Light
DJ Popinjay - Like To Do
DJ Popinjay - Out Of My Hands
D.P.V.,Chemars - You & Me - Chemars Edit
D.P.V. - Chasing Dreams
D.P.V. - Club Indigo
D.P.V. - Funk Flavor
D.P.V. - Liar Liar
D.P.V. - Pretender
D.P.V. - Share The Love
D.P.V. - Sunshine
D.P.V. - Take Me Back
D.P.V. - The Essence
D.P.V. - You & Me
Da Lukas - Drop the Funk - Extended Version
David Zero - Vanilla
De la Muerte,D.P.V.,The Idaho Cartel - Something New - The Idaho Cartel Remix
De la Muerte,D.P.V. - Something New - D.P.V. Club Edit
De la Muerte,D.P.V. - Something New
Dexter Jones - Gorilla Groove
Dexter Jones - Space Sister
Diego Forsinetti - Transilvania Express
Doche - Rock Steady
Dussh - African Queen
Eelke Kleijn,Lee Cabrera - Self Control - Eelke Kleijn 12AU Cosmic Aeroplane Mix
Eelke Kleijn,Lee Cabrera - Self Control
Ferry Ultra,Ashley Slater,Never Dull - Why Did You Do It - Never Dull Extended Remix
Ferry Ultra,Ashley Slater,Never Dull - Why Did You Do It - Never Dull Instrumental Remix
Fingerman - Just B U
Fran Deeper - Rollerdisko
Fran Deeper - Weekendmood
Garas,MF Productions,Venessa Jackson - Good Vibes - Original Mix
Giman,Chic_Ago - The Job
Groovemasta - Dynamite
Groovemasta - The Funk
Groovemasta - The Jam
Groovemasta - Your Love Got Me Hot
Hotmood,Din Jay - Disco Business - Din Jay Remix
Hotmood,Garas - Disco Business - Garas Remix
Hotmood - Disco Business
Hotmood - Disco Love
Hotmood - Four On The Floor
Hotmood - You & Me
IACO - Jet In Groove
Igor Gonya - Whoo-hoo-hoo
Infrasoul - Zephyr
International Dateline - Acidisco
J.B. Boogie - Blue Sky
Jack Matter,Chris Lambert - About the Paper
Jack Matter - Heart of Glass - Jack Matter Love To Mooch Remix
Jaegerossa - Get It Together
Jaegerossa - Into the Light
Jazz Mango - Chamba
Jerk Boy - Acid House Destiny - DJ Tool
Jerk Boy - Dropping Acid In Napoli
Jerk Boy - E.R.M.B - Dub Mix
Jerk Boy - E.R.M.B
Jerk Boy - My Cat Seven
Joi N'Juno,Amane,Art of Tones - Namaseo - Art Of Tones Remix
Joi N'Juno - Mamayeho - Extended Mix
Joi N'Juno - Namaseo - Extended Mix
Jolyon Petch,Dr Packer - Spinning Around - Dr Packer Remix
[email protected] - Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody
[email protected] - Bees N Things N Flowers
[email protected] - Change Your Mind
[email protected] - I'm From London (And We Can't Get In)
[email protected] - Smokey Vibes
Larry Funk - Get Away
Lubelski,Life on Planets - Mercury In Retrograde - Extended Mix
Luke Delite,Michelle Weeks - Give Me Your Love
Lup Ino - Jamaican Grrl
Lup Ino - Second Chances
Lup Ino - Tune in for Love
MVC Project - Funky R-Evolution
Mario Maltese - Shaka Shaka
Mark Lower,Fleur De Mur - Burn For Love - Extended Mix
Mark Lower,Fleur De Mur - Don't Mess With Disco - Extended Mix
Mark Lower - Larry's Way
Mark Whites - Be with U
Miguel Campbell - Private Dancer
Miguel Campbell - Private Dub
Moodena - Honky Tonk Man
Nicola Nisi - Honey
Paolo Bardelli,Raffaele Giusti - The Boogie Is Back Again - Nu Club Mix
Paul Parsons,Bronx Cheer - Kiss Kiss - Original Mix
Paul Parsons - Boogie Fever
Paul Parsons - Born To Be Free - Classic Club Mix
Paul Parsons - By My Side - Original Mix
Paul Parsons - Disco Dancers
Paul Parsons - Goin' Down
Paul Parsons - Mainline Once Again
Paul Parsons - Origins of Love 1985
Paul Parsons - Party
Paul Parsons - The No.1
Paul Parsons - Ups & Downs
Paul Parsons - Where Is the Love
Phazed Groove - Follow Me
Praise Cats,Andrea Love,Les Bisous - Shined On Me - Les Bisous Extended Remix
Punky Wash,Hotmood - Milk Shakers - Hotmood Remix
Punky Wash - Milk Shakers
Purple Disco Machine,Kungs - Substitution - Extended
Quinten 909 - Can't Give U Up
Rafael Yapudjian - Beats And Hats
Raffaele Ciavolino - Soul Mood - Extended Mix
Re-Tide - Disco Floor - Extended Mix
Re-Tide - Good Vibrations - Extended Mix
Reece Johnson - D.T.Y.B
Risk Assessment,DJ Romain - NEVER LET YOU DOWN - LOST IN THE LOOP DUB
Risk Assessment,DJ Romain - NEVER LET YOU DOWN - RISK ASSESSMENT CLUB MIX
Risk Assessment,Monica Blaire - It’s Not Right But It’s Okay - Instrumental Mix
Risk Assessment,Monica Blaire - It’s Not Right But It’s Okay - Vocal Mix
Risk Assessment - 5 O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING
Risk Assessment - ARE YOU READY
Risk Assessment - Are You Ready DUB
Risk Assessment - Are You Ready Main Mix
Risk Assessment - BABY CALL ME
Risk Assessment - CAN YOU DIG IT
Risk Assessment - DANCIN' IN MY EYES - Risky Rework
Risk Assessment - DANCIN' IN MY EYES
Risk Assessment - DO BETTER
Risk Assessment - DREAMZ
Risk Assessment - Disco Night - A Extended Disco Mix Part 1
Risk Assessment - I HEAR MUZIK - A DISCO LOVE AFFAIR
Risk Assessment - I'M SO GLAD
Risk Assessment - JOLLOF
Risk Assessment - JUMP
Risk Assessment - LOVIN' YOU
Risk Assessment - MAYB - Original Mix Part 1
Risk Assessment - SOUL DEEP
Risk Assessment - U MUST BE MY
Risk Assessment - U MUST BE MY
Risk Assessment - WANT U BACK
Risk Assessment - WELCOME
Rodney Hunter - Dream
Romain Villeroy - Can Feel The Music
Romain Villeroy - Start the Party - Original Mix
Romain Villeroy - They Got Me
Sammy Deuce - That's The Joint
Scruscru,Hotmood - Just House - Hotmood Remix
Scruscru,Sweet Fruity Brunch - Just House - Sweet Fruity Brunch Remix
Scruscru - Fluting Right Here
Scruscru - Just House
Scruscru - One For The Ditch
Sek,Art of Tones - Show Me The Power - Art of Tones Dub
Sek,Art of Tones - Show Me The Power - Art of Tones Remix
Solazz,Andy Buchan - Blow Your Mind - Andy Buchan Brassmonkeys Remix
Solazz - Blow Your Mind
Solazz - Fever Rising
Sound Support - Bump Into You
Sound Support - Higher
Sound Support - The Rock
Sound Support - Work 2 It
Souxsoul,Venessa Jackson - Born To Dance - Instrumental Mix
Souxsoul,Venessa Jackson - Born To Dance
Stewart Birch - New Life For Me
Tensnake,DRAMA - Rooftop
Tensnake,DRAMA - Rooftop
Tensnake,Jessy Lanza - Keep It Secret
Tensnake,Ninetails - Bodytalk
Tensnake,Ninetails - Bodytalk
Tensnake,Panama - Sunshine
Tensnake,Panama - Sunshine
Tensnake,Purple Disco Machine - Coma Cat - Purple Disco Machine Extended Re-Work
Tensnake,Teira - Take Your Time (Do It Right)
Tensnake,Teira - Take Your Time (Do It Right)
Tensnake - Fiesta Mágica
Tensnake - Fiesta Mágica
Tensnake - How Will I Know
Tensnake - How Will I Know
WEISS,Purple Disco Machine - Feel My Needs - Purple Disco Machine Extended Mix
Walter Ashra - We're Going To Do The House
White Ocean - Somebody
Yam Who?,Jaegerossa,Sulene Fleming - Let's Not Talk About Love - Extended Dance Mix
Yam Who?,Jaegerossa,Sulene Fleming - Let's Not Talk About Love - Instrumental Mix
FileCat - Traxsource Top 100 Nu Disco _ Indie Dance 2023-05-30 2.zip FileCat - Traxsource Top 100 Nu Disco _ Indie Dance 2023-05-30.zip

Can someone help me decide what to do?
I've been using a Galaxy Note 10+ for over a year now, truly love the phone. Never had any issues with it honestly, anytime it's slowed down a factory reset seems to have cleared it right up. Even the camera astonishes a lot of people with iphone 13s and so on. I adopted all Samsung's eco system as far as mobile goes so I don't want to switch now. I've never owned an apple product and I'm kinda proud of that at this point...
So my dilemma is that my phone cracked a while ago, the displays so crispy while watching stuff I decided I didn't care and I'd ride it out until the S21 ultra is cheap. Well the display finally has an unresponsive section that's about a half inch tall and an annoyance.
Samsung Care charges 300usd since I'd need a new lcd otherwise it'd be 200$. I can buy the phone on eBay (where I bought mine originally) for 208$. The S21 Ultra is still hovering in the 400$ range. Presumably I could sell my phone for 100$ and replace it, which would cost me about 100$.
Would it be worth upgrading to the S21 ultra for 200$ extra? Or should I just buy the note 10+ again. Another option at the same price range as the note 10+ is the S21 5G 128gb. The note 20 ultra is also an option its currently 284$ is it worth the extra 85 bucks?
Would love to hear pros and cons, and maybe other options if you know of any, thank you!

Hi all. Every couple of months or so I put up a post with links to some cool PC ports, decompilations, remakes, demakes, fan games, total conversion mods, texture packs etc and it's about that time again! If anyone has any interesting ones they would like me to add to the list just let me know in the comments, always looking for more. Enjoy!
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Super Mario 64 Render96: download in the comments section of this video -
https://youtu.be/drmRvEsMWh0
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AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake): https://am2r-another-metroid-2-remake.en.uptodown.com/windows/download (OR native Linux port through this launcher:
https://github.com/AM2R-Community-Developers/AM2RLauncher)
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Black Reliquary (free total conversion mod for Darkest Dungeon): https://store.steampowered.com/app/2119270/Black_Reliquary/
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Bloodborne Demake - download link in description of video: https://youtu.be/9Pz_T6Kog6k
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Castlevania The Lecarde Chronicles 2: https://www.myabandonware.com/game/castlevania-the-lecarde-chronicles-2-bw5
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Chronicles of Riddick - Escape From Butchers Bay: https://www.reddit.com/SteamDeck/comments/13jaq6t/easiest_install_method_the_chronicles_of_riddick/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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Dead Space Demake: https://brumley53.itch.io/dead-space-demake
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Devilution X (Diablo 1): https://www.reddit.com/SteamDeck/comments/w9epsg/guide_diablo_1_on_steam_deck_using_devilutionx/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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Doom RPG: https://www.reddit.com/SteamDeck/comments/vo9kjc/newly_released_doom_rpg_port_works_on_steam_deck/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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Doom 2 RPG: https://www.reddit.com/SteamDeck/comments/13c52s5/doom_2_rpg_on_deck/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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Duke Nukem Forever Restoration Project: https://www.moddb.com/mods/dnf2001-restoration-project
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Dune 2: https://github.com/OpenDUNE/OpenDUNE
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Enderal (free total conversion Mod for Skyrim): https://store.steampowered.com/app/933480/Enderal_Forgotten_Stories/
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Entropy Zero 2 (free Half Life 2 mod): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1583720/Entropy__Zero_2/
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Final Fantasy 7 Satsuki Yatoshi Mod: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4aaaDnCE82g&feature=youtu.be
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Final Fantasy 9 Moguri Mod: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc7SpRNGE_I&feature=youtu.be
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Golden Axe Returns: https://gamejolt.com/games/GoldenAxeReturns/779852
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GTA San Andrea's Definitive Edition Mod: https://www.definitive-edition-project.com/sa-de
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Jak & Daxter Precursor Legacy Decompilation: https://www.reddit.com/SteamDeck/comments/vgni7w/jak_and_daxter_precursor_legacy_on_steam_deck_a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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Jedi Knight Dark Forces 2 Unreal Engine: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PT2rEgeCJCE&feature=youtu.be
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Kirbys Dreamland 2 DX: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7724/
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Marathon Trilogy: https://www.reddit.com/Marathon/comments/10lya69/sorry_i_took_so_long_but_mu_steam_deck_controlle?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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Mega Man Rock N Roll: https://dennisengelhard.com/rock-n-roll/
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Mini Doom 2: http://calavera.studio/en/games/minidoom2/
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Mortal Kombat Defenders of The Earth: https://mortal-kombat-defenders-of-the-earth.en.uptodown.com/windows
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Mushroom Kingdom Fusion: https://fusion-fangaming.itch.io/mushroom-kingdom-fusion/devlog/329765/v08-update
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Mystery of Solarus DX (Zelda Link to the Past fan game - NB game needs to be in .zip format when adding to Solarus Launcher!!): https://www.solarus-games.org/games/the-legend-of-zelda-mystery-of-solarus-dx/ (needs the Windows version of the Solarus Launcher found here: https://www.solarus-games.org/download/)
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NBA Jam: Legends on Fire Edition (conversion mod of NBA JAM: On Fire Edition (OFE) for PlayStation 3 - installation instructions for RPCS3 in link): https://forums.nba-live.com/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=114923
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Need For Speed Pro Street and Underground 2 (in comments): https://www.reddit.com/SteamDeck/comments/138iubc/working_need_for_speed_pro_street_for_steam_deck/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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No One Lives Forever 1 & 2: http://nolfrevival.tk/
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Persona 3 FES HD Overhaul Mod & Widescreen Patch: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=deFqMs1tBYo&feature=youtu.be
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Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst: https://www.pioneer2.net/community/threads/ephinea-pso-bb-on-steam-deck-official-thread.24850/
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PlayStation Home: https://github.com/NagatoDEV/PlayStation-Home-Master-Archive
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PokéMMO: https://pokemmo.com/downloads/
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Pokémon Infinite Fusion: https://www.pokemoncoders.com/pokemon-infinite-fusion/
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Pokémon Unbound: https://www.pokeharbor.com/2022/08/pokemon-unbound/
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Pokémon Uranium: https://www.reddit.com/pokemonuranium/comments/m9yvd6/download_links/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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Portal Stories: Mel (free Portal 2 mod): https://store.steampowered.com/app/317400/Portal_Stories_Mel/
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Prince of Persia Original Trilogy: https://www.popot.org/get_the_games.php?game=SDLPoP
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Rayman Redemption: https://www.reddit.com/SteamDeck/comments/ygjc07/rayman_redemption_a_fan_made_reimagination_of_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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Resident Evil 4 HD Project: https://www.re4hd.com/?page_id=9654
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Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 Decompilation: https://openrct2.org/
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Ship of Harkinian (Zelda: Ocarina of Time PC port): https://github.com/HarbourMasters/Shipwright
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Silent Hill 2 Enhanced Edition: https://www.reddit.com/SteamDeck/comments/yv3qf5/guide_how_to_get_silent_hill_2_enhanced_edition/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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Simpsons Hit & Run: https://youtu.be/QV-70fe4hWc
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Smash 64 Remix: https://github.com/JSsixtyfousmashremix/releases/tag/1.3.0
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Sonic 2 HD: https://sonic-2-hd.en.uptodown.com/windows
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Sonic After The Sequel DX: https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/sonic-after-the-sequel-dx.37097/
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Sonic CD (2011) Decompilation: https://github.com/Rubberduckycooly/Sonic-CD-11-Decompilation
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Sonic Master System Remake: https://gamejolt.com/games/sonicsmsremake/639432
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Sonic Project 06: https://youtu.be/ZJlzjSXIguo
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Sonic Robo Blast 2: https://www.srb2.org/
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Sonic the Hedgehog (2013) and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2013) Decompilation: https://github.com/Rubberduckycooly/Sonic-1-2-2013-Decompilation
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Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit: https://gamejolt.com/games/sonictripletrouble16bit/322794
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Star Wars Movie Duels (total conversion mod for Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy): https://www.reddit.com/SteamDeck/comments/1336a12/how_to_get_the_best_jedi_experience_on_the_steam/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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Streets of Rage Remake: https://street-rage-remake.en.uptodown.com/windows
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Streets of Rage 2 - Final Fight Crossover: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4527/
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Super Mario 3: Mario Forever: https://mario-forever.en.uptodown.com/windows
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Super Mario 64 Plus: https://retroresolve.com/how-to-play-the-super-mario-64-pc-port-on-steam-deck/
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Super Mario Bros X: https://super-mario-bros-x.en.uptodown.com/windows
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Super Mario Kart Wii Deluxe: download the .wbfs file from their Discord linked in this Reddit comment and play through Dolphin - https://www.reddit.com/EmulationOnAndroid/comments/yjprno/mario_kart_wii_deluxe_60_544_tracks_10_arenas/iup8zjh?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
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Super Mario World: Return to Dinosaur Land: https://www.smwcentral.net/?a=details&id=4990&p=section
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Super Smash Flash 2: https://www.reddit.com/SteamDeck/comments/1086ac3/super_smash_flash_2_on_steam_deck_guide_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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Super Smash Land: https://www.supersmashland.com/
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Syndicate Wars: http://swars.vexillium.org/
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NB: FOR THE FOLLOWING HENRIKO MAGNIFICO TEXTURE PACKS WHEN YOU GO TO DOWNLOAD, IT MIGHT TAKE YOU TO A PATREON PAGE. IF SO, HIS POSTS STAY BEHIND A PAYWALL FOR A SMALL WHILE SO JUST KEEP SCROLLING DOWN TO OLDER POSTS FOR WHATEVER GAME YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A PACK FOR!
Texture Pack 4K For Luigis Mansion: https://www.henrikomagnifico.com/luigis-mansion-4k
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Texture Pack 4K For Super Mario 3D Land: https://www.henrikomagnifico.com/super-mario-3d-land-hd
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Texture Pack 4K For Super Mario Sunshine: https://www.henrikomagnifico.com/super-mario-sunshine-4k
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Texture Pack 4K For Zelda Majora's Mask 3D : https://www.henrikomagnifico.com/zelda-majoras-mask-3d-4k
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Texture Pack 4K For Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D: https://www.henrikomagnifico.com/zelda-ocarina-of-time-3d-4k
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Texture Pack 4K For Zelda Twilight Princess: https://www.henrikomagnifico.com/zelda-twilight-princess-4k
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Texture Pack 4K For Zelda A Link Between Worlds: https://www.henrikomagnifico.com/zelda-a-link-between-worlds-4k
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Texture Pack 4K For Zelda Skyward Sword: https://www.henrikomagnifico.com/zelda-skyward-sword-4k
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Texture Pack HD For Mario Kart 64: https://github.com/AndratVA/Mario-Kart-64-HD
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Texture Pack HD For Paper Mario 64 - located in top comment of YouTube video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fO0Hqhk7qxA
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The Driver Syndicate: https://driver-syndicate.com/
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The Legend of Banjo-Kazooie: The Bear Waker: https://fangamez.net/nin/n64/legend-of-banjo.html
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The Legend of Zelda A Link To The Past Decompilation: https://github.com/snesrev/zelda3
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X-Com Decompilation: https://openxcom.org/downloads-milestones/
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IN PROGRESS - Ones to keep an eye on!
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Paper Mario Decompile: https://papermar.io/
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Banjo-Kazooie Decompile: https://github.com/n64decomp/banjo-kazooie

So my wife and I are newly weds, I am 24 and she's 25. We got married in November 2022 and finally closed on our first house January of this year, 2023. We're both out of college grads working decent jobs in a growing city (Austin, TX). I graduated first before her and moved to this city first, I had to pay full rent on my own when I was living here alone and that ate up about half of my then salary.
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My family lives aboard and I only get to see them once every two years or three, lately I haven't been able to travel to them due to some visa issues so they are the ones coming to see me. My wife and I agreed that we would let them stay with us since they are coming from abroad and I only rarely get to see them. This includes my two sisters and both my parents, and we had agreed and talked about this in December. They are going two stay exactly two months, the girls are coming earlier, then my father is only spending the last three weeks of those 8-weeks.
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Now, fast forward to April of this year, roughly only 3 months after we got our first house together and living alone, my wife's father (FIL) gets a new job in the same city we are in. He is making roughly what my wife and I make combined, and this is a huge step-up for him. His wife (MIL) also works, shes a realtor and also got other part-time remote work, so she is working roughly two jobs. To say that they have the means is an understatement. He is set to start work in April and they start looking for places to live.
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First they decide that they want to buy a house instead of rent; fine, more power to you.
Then they find a house that they really like, lakeside just like their other lake-house, but turns out it is a new-build, and it will take some months to finish (they say 6mo, but they just broke ground in May, and there have been numerous delays due to weather, so I have a feeling it will be more than 6 months, that is just something contractors say to get you to sign).
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So they asked my wife if they can stay with us until the house is done, agreeing to leave right before my family comes seeing as they had "booked" our place first. So they would be staying with us for two months (they currently are as I am writing this). When the wife brought this up to me, I obviously couldn't say no; tit-for-tat, if she will deal with my family staying, I will deal with hers.
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The problem is it is now 6-weeks into their stay with us and I am starting to get fed-up. I don't feel like I am in my house any more and lost my sense of privacy. Everything we purchase (cause again, we got a new house and needed to buy new appliances, grill, oven, etc) the MIL takes pictures of and shares with their extended family groupchat (she's an oversharer), in that groupchat, one of the aunts LOVES to comment on everything we do, and keeps saying "Oh those lucky DINKS!!" (double income no kids).
I find that quite irksome just flat-out envious/greedy. That term is disgusting. We are two young people just starting out their lives and we are allowed to spend a little on our future house. Most of our old furniture tools are hand-me-downs I got from my college frat-house! Plus, no one told her to date a guy with a previous marriage with kids.
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Not to mention, the in-laws don't have any kids in college anymore, haven't for quite some time. And even then, my wife graduated with student-loan debt, I didn't. My parents paid for everything for me, and are doing the same for my two sisters. I feel like that deserves some respect. Even though they earn less that what my in-laws make.
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The in-laws are making roughly four-incomes, buying a new lakeside house, got a new car, yet we are the one envied of what little we have when we make purchases. It feels annoying. And I am a very private person, I don't like sharing what we purchase.
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We also don't have privacy in the sense that, I can't lay down with my wife on the couch and do nothing. I can't just walk around the house in my underwear or no shirt. We barely get to sit and watch TV now, we have to retreat to our room and watch there. They (in-laws) leave on weekends to go back to their place and then com back Sunday-night. I live for those weekends when they're gone, but during the week it feels like I am confined.
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My only worry now is that, after my parents leave in August, they ask to come stay again until their house is done god-knows when...
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Am I an asshole for being annoyed at their stay? Shouldn't they just rent out a place until theirs is done, or buy something that is already done? I am willing to accept the situation now, but if they do ask to stay after, I am afraid I will have to say no to my wife.
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EDIT: I also want to say that the FIL has helped us fix a lot of things in the house, and installing new toilets. They also did help us move-in. But I feel like that still does not offset the change in our lives when they can very easily rent-out. The MIL also got proceeds ($8k) from the sale our house since she was our realtor, even though I am the one who found the house, toured it, and sent it to her. All she did was the paperwork and the "representation", which wasn't much and frequently made mistakes.

This isn't a very popular theory, but please hear me out. First, let me break down why Daenerys must go to Casterly Rock at some point. According to GRRM in his Dec 23, 2022 Notablog:

The Lannister castle is not ON TOP of the Rock. It is INSIDE the Rock. All of it. Barracks, armories, bedchambers, grand halls, servant’s quarters, dungeons, sept, everything. That’s what makes the Rock the strongest and most impregnable seat in all of Westeros. The Eyrie, Winterfell, Storm’s End, they all have formidable defenses… but none of them can match Casterly Rock. When Harren the Black built Harrenhal, he thought his immense new castle could defy even dragons. Stone does not burn, he reasoned. But stone does melt, and dragons fly, and… well, you know the rest. And Balerion’s flames proved hot enough to turn Harren’s massive towers molten.
But Casterly Rock is a mountain, and its chambers and halls are buried deep inside, under tons of solid stone. No curtain wall in Westeros, however thick, can even come close.
What does this all mean?
Maybe nothing. I just wanted to set the record straight. Give you all something to think about.
Casterly Rock will not remain forever offstage, I hope. I have two more novels to go, and my plan is to have one or more of my viewpoint characters visit the Rock in THE WINDS OF WINTER or A DREAM OF SPRING, so I can show you all the wonders and terrors and treasures of House Lannister first hand. Meanwhile, feel free to ponder… could Casterly Rock stand against dragons?
We know it can be taken by apes.

George is surprisingly open in saying that Daenerys will invade Casterly Rock. Apparently, GRRM is also joking about apes that populate Gibraltar, but this could also be a reference to what many call the "monkey demon" or "monkey man" Tyrion Lannister:

"We have become swollen, bloated, foul. Brother couples with sister in the bed of kings, and the fruit of their incest capers in his palace to the piping of a twisted little monkey demon. Highborn ladies fornicate with fools and give birth to monsters!" - Tyrion V, ACOK
"The dwarf, the evil counselor, the twisted little monkey demon. I'm all that stands between them and chaos." - Tyrion X, ACOK
The dwarf pushed his black dragon across a range of mountains. "But what do I know? Your false father is a great lord, and I am just some twisted little monkey man. Still, I'd do things differently." Tyrion VI, ADWD

Now I think the method of invasion is also pretty spelled out. In season 7 of the show, Tyrion conquered Casterly Rock by using the sewer system he was in charge of in this youth and this was hinted at in ADWD too.

So to mark his manhood, Tyrion was given charge of all the drains and cisterns within Casterly Rock. Perhaps he hoped I'd fall into one. But Tywin had been disappointed in that. The drains never drained half so well as when he had charge of them. - Tyrion II, ADWD

Daenerys used the same strategy to take Meereen:

It had been a moon's turn since the last good rain, and the sewers were only thigh-high. The oilcloth they'd wrapped around their torches kept them dry, so they had light... They took some wrong turnings, but once they found the surface Strong Belwas led them to the nearest fighting pit, where they surprised a few guards and struck the chains off the slaves. Within an hour, half the fighting slaves in Meereen had risen. - Daenerys VI, ASOS

We can learn a lot about the books from the show. In the show, Daenerys takes over the Dothraki hordes at Vaes Dothrak and sails to Westeros. Daenerys was last seen at the end of ADWD with the Dothraki. The 1993 outline by George already states that Daenerys is destined to invade with a Dothraki horde, so I think this is basically a guarantee to happen in the books. Daenerys has to light a second fire for death, which will likely be at Vaes Dothrak, burning the khals and Dosh Khaleen crones that refuse to submit to her. This will also fulfill the prophecy that her son (the dragon Drogon) will be the stallion that will mount the world and trample nations into dust. She will inevitable return to Meereen to find Tyrion has taken over power, allying with Victarion, Marwyn, Moqorro, the Second Sons, and Barristan. Then, she will need to address the war with Qarth that was setup in Daenerys III of ADWD when Xaro declared war. She will also have to reunite with Quaithe who has told her "to go west you must go east". Now this cryptic prophecy could be fulfilled by her going east from Meereen to Qarth and then going west to the Free Cities and from there going to Westeros. However, Daenerys does not need to go to the Free Cities herself. Including Victarion's fleet, she'd still have a limited number of ships that can maybe carry 20,000. Even if she gets more ships, it will never be enough to carry the over 100,000 Dothraki. She can easily leave a couple generals to lead the remaining Dothraki to take the Free Cities in her stead.
In the show she landed on Dragonstone, where she was born. This is poetic, but it's strategically stupid. She will need to ship her main army of Dothraki calvary by boat, and the absolute worst choice possible would be a volcanic island near King's Landing where they'll be sitting ducks for Aegon and his allies to destroy. She can't go straight to King's Landing because Dothraki calvary are not trained to siege cities. They need open fields to be effective.
The only option to land would be a place far from King's Landing where she can access plains. Lannisport is perfect for this. It will be a great base to land, allow her access to large resource to feed her army and supply it, ports, plains and a mountain base for her dragons to reside. She will have time to forge alliances in a foreign land and easily conquer places nearby like Riverrun, Highgarden, and Oldtown, as well as using Victarion to take back the Iron Islands. If Aegon aligns with the Tyrells and Martells to defeat Cersei before Daenerys lands, then it makes sense for her to take down these key houses first. She will have more time to gather alliances that would be more effective in sieging and taking King's Landing than the Dothraki.
Now say somehow Daenerys would be able to land near King's Landing, take the city and defeat Aegon. Why would she need to conquer Casterly Rock afterwards? Wouldn't they simply bend the knee? Once King's Landing falls, they could make an alliance with the North and go straight through the Riverlands, Stormlands, Dorne, Highgarden, and Oldtown. Casterly Rock is literally the last place she and her horde of Dothraki would go, and by the time they conquer everything, they don't even need to invade Casterly Rock. Like Aegon the Conqueror, she can raid a few key capitals and the rest will bend the knee. It also seems like a pretty quick and easy 2nd Dance with Dragons war to just immediately take King's Landing and sweep the rest of the kingdom. I think taking King's Landing first is unrealistic, frankly boring, and not going to happen in the books.
Now some may argue that the sunset sea is untraversed and would be a bad start to try and cross because its unknowable and perhaps too vast, which I understand, but hear me out. George introduced glass candles in AFFC, which allow you to see things far away, even across the seas, so these would be the obvious tool to see what's beyond east of Essos. Conveniently, everyone with a glass candle is intertwined in Daenerys' storyline. If Marwyn reaches Daenerys like he plans, then he can provide his glass candle to her. Daenerys is also likely going to Qarth after Meereen, where she can also use Quaithe's glass candle.
In addition, George loves using history as inspiration and subverting it. Columbus famously crossed the unknown Atlantic to land in America, and the Natives were slaughtered. The Dothraki are based primarily on the Golden Horde and Native Americans. It would be great subversion to have the tribes inspired by Native Americans invade and slaughter the white people rather than the other way around. It feels very Martinesque.
But anyways, this is my thoughts about it. It's certainly not set in stone, but I feel like there's a very strong case for Daenerys to land in the Westerlands first.
Let me know your thoughts! Agree? Disagree?

Fun Fact To Cover Spoilers: The first Final Fantasy was released in December of 1987 and has since had 15 main game instalments (though there has been many more side games released). There has also been various adaptations across various pieces of media such as mangas, animes, and films.
CW: Gambling
Mood Warning: Positive Ending
This is a repost, it was posted on here more than a year ago by u/asakurosol . OOP's account is now deleted.
This was originally posted in FFBraveExvius so it was written with the expectation that everyone would understand certain terms. Here is a brief explanation!
Whale- Someone who spends a lot of money on mobile games
BanneEvent-Where, for a limited time, you can get special characters by using the in game currency (In this case "Lapis") to pull for the character (like a slot machine).
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Whale of a Tale (December 13th, 2017)
Caution - Wall of text incoming.....don't say I didn't warn you....
I started playing FFBE shortly after launch in July of 2016. It was a fresh take on an old classic, my favorite series of all time, Final Fantasy. When I was 11, in 1988, living in New Jersey, I went to the Nintendo CES in New York City. Nintendo had demo booths for all the upcoming games, and the original Final Fantasy was one of them. It was the coolest game I had ever seen. I got it when it was released and it remained my favorite series of games for years. FFII and FFIII on SNES, I bought a Playstation so I could get FFVII, I got a PS3, but all I wanted to play was FFXII (I personally like Vaan).
Along came married life, kids, jobs, responsibilities, and I could no longer spend time on a console. I didn't have time to sit and play and grid out levels and complete the extra quests like defecting Ruby Weapon. Then FFBE was released. A short format game that I could play for 5 or 10 minutes and put it away. It didn't require a console or a TV, just a few minutes to play a couple of dungeon runs or a quick exploration, then I could put it away for later. It was perfect.
Expedition into the Abyss. The first banner I spent money on. I had been playing the game for 6 weeks or so and I had not found the FFBreveExvius subreddit or the Exvius Wiki, I went into the exploration blind and got wiped out. I leveled my team, I maxed my stats and I just could not win. I got to Ansel finally and beat him, but I was so low on energy. I used lapis refills just to limp past him. Then I got to the exit with the 3 bosses that kicked my but with their 10,000V attack. I was frustrated beyond belief, I had spent all my resources to pass this exploration, and I couldn't leave it like this. I broke my F2P resolve and put down $20. That should be enough to get me out of this dungeon and replace some of the lapis I sepnt so I could at least do the dailies again. I was adamant that I would not spend again.
The first Mog King event I recall was Festival of the Autum Moon, baking Mog Cakes. I spent hours, day after day, grinding the Coast for recipe ingredients. I kept my 2 ovens going, then I increased my capacity to 4 and I stayed true to my resolve, I did not spend any more money. I made it through, I got the Stellar Shield, I got the Lunar Pestle and the Rabbit's Foot. I acomplished my goals without macros, without more resources. My family though kept asking me, what am I tapping on my phone all the time? Why am I always looking at my screen?
I put the phone away and tried to limit myself, only a little while in the morning before I got everyone up for school, I would play for a little while at lunchtime when I wasn't around anyone. I would play on the toilet since I had nothing better to do while I poop. I would play after putting the kids to sleep. I was not taking anything from anyone. I was just playing a game.
I made it to November. The Crystal Tower. The release of Luneth and Refia. The best DPS and the best Healer available at the time. I had saved my lapis, I could do a 10+1 pull, I had maybe 20 or so tickets saved. I used all my resources and was trolled by a rainbow Edge. I was enraged, insenced, insistent that I get Luneth. I put in my card number into my digital wallet and upped myself $99 of Lapis. Then I pulled and pulled and pulled, and I got nothing. So I put in another $99 and pulled and pulled and I got Luneth! I could advance and defeat all new content and share the best DPS possible to all my friends.
It was only $200. I can spare that. I haven't bought a video game in 6 years. I deserve it, I earned it.
I didn't pull for the Brave Frontier cross over event. I saved my resources. I was depressed by all the Elza's I saw my friends sharing, but I was not lucky enough to pull her. I conceded that it was ok, and I could get her again in the future. I still beat the Trial of the Creator and got Maxwell. I had to work hard, but I got the Power of Creation TMR. That made my Luneth a king again.
Then came the Big Bridge. Gilgamesh. The BEST TMR you could get. I still have a 10+1 pull left after my Luneth. I had saved the tickets from the Mog King. I pulled for Greg and failed again. It was only $200 to get Luneth. How bad would that be for the best accessory in the game? I can make my Chizuru or my Cecil so strong. I put in my money again, $99....no Greg, $99....no Greg, $99....no Greg.... I took a break for a little bit. My family had plans for the day. I was angry now. How could I have spent $300 and not gotten what I wanted. When nobody was looking, around everyone, I did it again. $99....no Greg, $99...no Greg, $99...no Greg, $99.....
Finally. I had Gilgamesh. I had maxed out all of my unit inventory. I had to spend time to fuse units, I got my first Excalibur that day as well as some other great TMRs. But I finally had the Genji Golve and I could now make Chizuru strong enough to share with others. She could DPS at 350 attack and more! I could beat all the content with ease using her and Luneth. Yeah, I spent $700, but I would stop now. I had enough. I didn't want to be caught spending money I shouldn't on a video game. It was enough.
Lightning strikes, and I didn't spend anything. I was in control. I didn't need anything new. I was still in the game and doing great. So many events passed and I was still killing everything in sight with my team. I cleared all of the events and new story content. It was fun, I was not an addict, I spent time with my family, I didn't take their time away. I was on top.
Noctis, Prince of all Trades came along. I got greedy. I pulled again...another $300. I got off easy there. I was again in the lead. I was on top. I had the best attacker, best support, best all around at everything. I didn't need anything else.
The Mana Mystery Event came. I was excited! Randi, the Secret of Mana! The Secret of Mana was, hands down, one of the best games to ever come out for the SNES. Open world, exciting characters, fantastic story and fighting. The Nostalgia was incredible for this event. I had to have Randy. I had paid down most of the bill from getting Gilgamesh. I could afford it to have a piece of my childhood back, no matter what the cost. It cost me about $400. I was back to square 1 with paying my bill back. I had spent nearly $1700 on this game now, I couldn't spend any more. It was getting out of control. I unlinked the credit card and got back to my senses. I could keep playing my game. I put my maxed out Randi as my friend unit. I was determined to get the most out of him, no matter what. It was my hard earned money, I should not spend it frivilously.
I made it almost 4 months.
It was my birthday. The Brave Frontier banner was back. The Scyth weilding Queen Elza was back. It was my birthday and I wanted Elza. This was the first double 5* banner I ever tried to pull on. This was the first banner I pulled on after the guaranteed 5* base for Rainbows was announced. It was my birthday and I had to have Elza. I have to get what I want on my birthday. I charged $1500 that day to get her.
I was sick of my actions. I de-linked my card again. I now had a balance of nearly $4000, including other non FFBE related purchases. I had to find a way to stop. I transferred the balance to a new, zero interest card. My family was going on vacation and I needed to be clear to help with expenses. I had some cash saved, I was paying down my debt slowly, I had a plan, I was still in control.
While on vacation, the Veritas Banner was announced. The most anticipated unit since Orlandeau. I had an Orlandeau from tickets, it would be awesome to get a chaining partner for Orlandeau. Veritas of the Dark is the coolest, with the black armor, Dark Damage heals him, and Dark Retribution attack. Something in me snapped, and I was back to I had to have him. It was another double Rainbow banner, maybe I would be lucky this time.
$1000, no Veritas of the Dark. I had 4 Veritas of the Flame. I was angry. How could I have spent so much and not gotten the unit I wanted! Why would Final Fantasy, Gumi, Square Enix, not give it to me? How could I spend so much and not get what I want! Another $1000. I got 2 more Veritas of the Flame, another Orlandeau, a second Freviya, Olive, Emperor, but no Dark Veritas! How! Why! Now I am stubborn. I am not putting this much money out there to not get what I want. $99...no Dark Veritas, $99...no Dark Veritas, $99...a second Emperor, I almost threw my phone against the wall. $99....Finally, Veritas of the Dark. $2500, 9 Veritas of the Flame, half a dozen other 5* base, and I finally got the Veritas of the Dark.
Wait....WTF did I just do?!?!
Did I just really spend $2500 to get a little animated piece of code? What is my wife going to think? What will my kids say? I tell them I don't have much money to spare, I dutifully split my paycheck 3 ways, household expenses, savings and my spending money. I can do what I want with my spending money. I just won't get anything for myself for a year or so, pay this back to my card a couple hundred at a time.
Fuck it. I have what I want. I put in another $1000 just to keep me going with energy refils and I can play whenever and however I want.
Neir came, I pulled with the lapis I had left and got A2 and 2B. Luck is on my side now. Onion Knight, I got on 3 10+1 pulls. I am on top of the world. Gumi must have had some mercy on my account. I have all the units I need, sure there are some I want, but I can get by without Rem and Wilhelm. But who is this awesome new healer! Ayaka, dual white magic, reraise, the things I was missing for Agaion, the Robot Trial! With her, I could be at the top again. I could beat all the trials, all the new story content. It would all be a breeze. I had to get her. I moved all my debt to the balance transfer card. I have a clear card to work with. I can get it and make it go away and I can continue on as normal, just pay down the card and not spend on myself.
Next came Nyx. The Hero of Kingsgalive. I know most people thought it was aweful, but I even like Spirits Within, so hate all you want...I wanted to have Nyx. Another $400. I skipped halloween, but decided I had to have Loren for her TMR. It was a good as the Genji Golve, even better. It would make my team unstoppable for the 10 man trials. Another $500. Honestly I don't know what I spent here, I lost count.
The Tower of Zot! We can have Rubicant! Barbariccia would be cool, but Rubicant is one of my favorite enimies of all time. $99...no Rubicant, $99...no Rubicant. WTF!?! This is a 4* base! What is happening!? F&k it, AGAIN. $500, just to be sure. Get Rubicant, keep pulling for Barbariccia, don't need her, I already have 2 Trance Terra's, but why the F*%k not. Its good for the Raid Bonus.
All right! Rainbow Rate is up! EX rewards are 1.5X! Cloud is coming in December! This is the best time to put some $$ in so I am guananteed to get Cloud. Cloud is Awesome! Cloud is iconic! Cloud is the heart of Final Fantasy! I have my zero interest card at $11K, but I am paying it. I have a way of making it look like I am paying off an old debt to cover if my wife asks where the money went. I went all in. $3000 in lapis. That will last me a good long time, then I can pay off my debt and play and just let it all go away.
On December 7th, 2017, my wife asked if she could use my credit card to buy food and send it to a family member celebrating a huge accomplishment. Offhand, she asked if she could see the balance. She saw something in my response trying to dismiss it and wouldn't let it go. I asked her to go upstairs so we could talk in private. I confessed to having a balance of $5600 on my card due to Final Fantasy. A couple days later, I told her the rest of the story.
I am currently $15,800 in debt. My wife no longer trusts me. My kids, who ask me why I am playing Final Fantasy all the time, will never understand how I selfishly spent money I should have been using for their activities. Their birthdays, their festivals, their clothes, their school events, their weekends, their movies.
I have never spent more than $1000 on my wife at one time. I spent $16,000 on digital garbage in about a year. If she decides that she will not divorce me, I owe her more that I could ever repay. I am not playing anymore. I will not get Cloud. I will leave 500K lapis in an account that will stay idle. The "friends" I have will drop me as my days since last played increases. I will not get to beat Marlboro. I will not see how Chapter 2 plays out. I will not have any 7* units. FFBE is over.
I became a gambling addict over a game where there is no return, no reward, for spending my money.
I Flushed $16,000 down the toilet over a game.
TL;DR - Don't whale irresponsibly, the consequences WILL outweigh the investment.
TL;DR #2 - Some people are on this planet to be an example to others, don't be that Guy.
Edit -
Thank you all for your support and ideas. I have a lot of feedback on how I can improve the situation, I will update in some time after getting a few actions completed first.
I really appreciate each and every comment, I have read them all, and I plan to continue to read them to reinforce my resolve to keep my promise to my wife and to my family to remain open and honest.
Please be patient and OP will update.
Whale of a Tale-1 year later (December 7th, 2018)
Well....Its been a year. A year of repentance, a year of ups and downs and everything in between.
One year today marks the day my wife uncovered my FFBE gambling habit. If anyone is unfamiliar with the story, sort by Top (all time).
In the past year I have made a lot of progress. I have substantially paid down my debts, made amends with my family and worked hard to move forward. I cannot say I have been a perfect husband or father, but I would like to think I have improved in many areas. My life is changed beyond measure because of my inability to control myself playing this game.
The biggest blessing I have in my life is my wife. She looks out for me, for our family, and everyone she knows so that people are happy, do not go overboard and keep on a right path.
"Too much of anything is never a good thing" she tells me often. It can apply to food, exercise, work and gaming. I have changed my habits and work hard to include her and my children in everything, instead of trying to escape from them.
To people who wondered, I am 41, a hardware development engineer building servers and father of 3. I help get kids up and ready for school, help them with their homework and make sure bedtime and brushing teeth are enforced.
At my worst, I was pulling for Veritas of the Dark on a trip to the Aquarium with the kids and cousins, spending ~$2500 that day and ignoring my family as they joyfully wandered around looking at fish, octopus and seals. Playing raids on nature hikes with the Cub Scouts.
Now, I would like to believe I am more attentive, more present, in their lives and their mother's life.
My worst guilt is that I still want to play a game that nearly ruined my life.
I just wanted to say to everyone, thank you for your support. Thank you for your kind words, and even many of you who said outright how stupid I was. Thank you for the chance to be a part of Final Fantasy. May all your summons break into Rainbows.
Whale of a Tale - Epilogue (December 7th, 2020)
3 years ago, I posted a story of how I fell. I fell in the eyes of my family, the ones I swore to protect, opening them up to a mountain of risk and debt. Today, I have paid off my debt fully and I hope that I can leave this chapter of my life, my lies, my hidden obsession, my half truths, fully in the past.
Over the past 3 years I have seen a lot of changes. Since the pandemic began, it has been hard to watch as my children spend more and more time playing Roblox and less time playing outdoors, less time studying, physically active and spending time as a family. I realized that I set the precedent of this behavior. I do try to be a more engaged father and husband, it is a daily challenge to keep everyone happy, healthy and well fed.
As to the state of the game, I have followed what is going on at a distance. When I stopped playing, at the release of OG Cloud, a top tier DD was in the 1500 ATK range. When I started, Chizuru was a beast with a 300 ATK. Now, I see NV Remake Cloud at 5000+ ATK. Power creep is real and basically every dollar that I spent ($16000 and then some) has little to no value at this point in the META.
It has been a long period of reflection. There have been fights where all I can do is hang my head in shame as I accept the guilt of spending selfishly on a game when I could have redone the floors in my home and replaced the kitchen counters, the two of these desires of my wife have been postponed due to my lack of self control. These are my priorities now, doing things for my home, saving for my children's future, and I hope doing more to show my wife that she is the most important connection in my life. She forgave me, she supported my recovery and she kept me on the right path. She deserves all the credit for keeping our family together.
Do I miss playing? I do. I said it in the 1 year update and I will say it again. I hate that I still have a desire to play a game that nearly ruined my life. Do I regret my decision? I regret hiding what I was doing from my family and I strive to be more open and honest about what I want and what I am doing.
I don't want to ramble, so I will end here. I did it. I paid my debts. I hope that no one else falls into the same trap and spends beyond their means, or hides what they are doing from their loved ones. Good luck everyone!
-nothing
Reminder that I am not the OOP. Also brigading is not allowed on this sub.

My car has basically been standing since November and is in a pretty dire state cleanliness-wise. Looking for recommendations of a hand car wash to clean it that isn’t going to break the bank.
Based in the Bay, but something in Newport Road would also be good. If they’re open on Sundays, that would be ideal.
Thanks!

I am only accepting PayPal F&F.
Shipping is not included. Open to bundle offers.
​

$175	Shantae: half genie hero, pirate curse, risky revenge director's cut, slipcover	Selling as a bundle, all sealed	PS5
$40	Cthulhu Save Christmas	Sealed	PS5
$55	River city girls	Sealed	PS5
$95	Castlevania Requiem [Classic Edition]	Sealed	PS4
$75	Uncharted golden abyss	Sealed, small tear at the back	PS Vita
$60	Mvp baseball 2005	Sealed	Gamecube
$15	Dragon Ball Z Budokai player choice	Game, case, manual	Gamecube
$225	Pikmin	Sealed	Gamecube
$25	4 gameboy coloadvance lot (all loose) include pac-man collection GBA, spongebob square pants, lizzie mcguire 3 gba, tetris	All loose, selling as a bundle only	Gameboy Advance
$75	Fire Emblem Sacred Stones	Loose	Gameboy advance
$90	Golden sun + Golden sun the lost age	Both loose	Gameboy advance
$8	Lord Of The Rings Two Towers	Loose	Gameboy advance
$23	Mario kart super circuit	Loose	Gameboy advance
$5	Snood	Loose	Gameboy advance
$950	Mario and luigi superstar saga (sealed)	Sealed	Gameboy advance
$1200	Sealed gameboy color teal	Sealed, great condition	Gameboy Color
$30	Nano Assault	Loose	3ds
$45	Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Gates To Infinity	CIB	3ds
$40	Star Fox 64 3D	CIB	3ds
$12	Super smash bros	CIB	3ds
$5	Mario Vs donkey kong mini land	Manual only	DS
$18	Mario party DS	CIB	DS
$185	Mega Man Star Force 3 Red Joker	CIB, great condition	DS
$5	ATV Quad Frenzy	Loose	DS
$25	Dig Dug Digging Strike	CIB, sticker residue on the front	DS
$10	Super monkey ball touch & roll	Game, case, manual	DS
$30	3 wii games bundle include Truck racer, Miniclip Sushi Go-Round, Brave A Warrior's Tale	All games are sealed. Sealed game top right seal is broken. Selling as a bundle	Wii

​
​

$50	2064: Read Only Memories	Sealed	Switch
$50	Arc Of Alchemist	Sealed	Switch
$45	Astalon: Tears Of The Earth	Sealed	Switch
$65	Axiom Verge 1 & 2	Sealed	Switch
$30	Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe	CIB, LRG variant	Switch
$30	Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe	CIB, Bestbuy variant	Switch
$45	Black Bird	Sealed	Switch
$50	BloodRayne Betrayal: Fresh Bites	Sealed	Switch
$105	Bloodrayne 1 & 2: Revamped [Dual Pack]	Sealed	Switch
$100	Bloodstained curse of the moon	CIB, best buy variant	Switch
$60	Bloodstained curse of the moon 2	PAX west variant, sealed, small cut on the plastic cover	Switch
$65	Code of princess EX	Launch edition with soundtrack	Switch
$40	DARQ complete edition	Sealed	Switch
$95	Deponia Collection	Sealed	Switch
$60	Doom the classic collection	Sealed	Switch
$60	Dusk	Sealed	Switch
$55	Fairy Tail	Game, case, insert	Switch
$120 shipped	Fire emblem engage divine edition	Top seal broken, box is in decent condition	Switch
$33	Giga Wrecker ALT	Sealed, LRG variant	Switch
$35	Grand mountain adventure	Sealed	Switch
$35	Gris	LRG variant, sealed	Switch
$35	Hyper Parasite	Sealed	Switch
$30	Ion Fury	CIB	Switch
$85	Jay And Silent Bob: Mall Brawl	Sealed	Switch
$65	Langrisser I & II	Game, case, insert	Switch
$45	Last day of June	Sealed	Switch
$160 + shipping	Legend of Zelda Tears of the kingdom collector edition	Sealed, box is in pretty good condition other than minor damage at the front	Switch
$40	Mario strikers battle league	CIB	Switch
$46	Mercenary Kings	CIB	Switch
$75	Metal Unit super rare games	Sealed	Switch
$100	Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two	CIB	Switch
$60	Monster Sanctuary	Sealed	Switch
$50	Murder By Numbers Playasia edition	Sealed	Switch
$65	Octopath Traveler	CIB	Switch
$60	Oninaki	Sealed, JPN version	Switch
$50	Othercide	Sealed	Switch
$40	Pokemon Arceus	CIB	Switch
$40	Pokemon Brilliant Diamond	Sealed	Switch
$40	Pokemon Shield	CIB	Switch
$50	Quake	Sealed	Switch
$60	Rogue Heroes Ruins Of Tasos	Sealed	Switch
$56	Shantae and the seven sirens	Bestbuy variant	Switch
$65	Shantae and the seven sirens	LRG variant	Switch
$50	Slime-San Superslime Edition	CIB	Switch
$55	Sol Cresta: Dramatic Edition	Sealed	Switch
$80	Super mario party joycon bundle box only	BOX ONLY, no game or joycons, mint condition	Switch
$160	Stranger Things 3: The Game standard edition	Sealed	Switch
$35	Ms. Splosion Man	CIB	Switch
$45	River City Girls Zero	Sealed	Switch
$50	The missing	Sealed	Switch
$43	The mummy demastered	Sealed, bestbuy variant	Switch
$20	Valkyria Chronicles 4	Case and joycon skin only no game	Switch
$15	Witcher 3 wild hunt complete edition	No game, PEGI, box and insert and case	Switch
$45	World's End Club Deluxe Edition	Sealed	Switch
$40	Xenoblade chronicles 2	Loose	Switch

​
Adam's venture origins - $30
Creature in the well (sealed) - $50
Captain Tsubasa Rise of the new champions - $20
Deemo - $50
Disgaea 5 Japanese version with English - $45
Disgaea 5 - $30
Doom 64 - $40
HOA (pax west exclusive variant with sunflower seeds, sealed) - $100
HOA (sticker residue from gamestop) - $30
Knights And Bikes limited run (sealed) - $45
Oxenfree (no game, just case and manual) - $35
River City Girls (Asian version play english) - $33
Salt and sanctuary (sealed, drowned tome edition) - $140
Sniper elite 4 (sealed) - $35
Super bomber man R (PAL) - $15
Towerfall bestbuy edition (sealed) - $40
Tiny Barbarian launch edition CIB - $20
World end's club deluxe edition bestbuy cover (sealed) - $40
​
No case:
Bubble Bobble 4 Friends (minor damage on the cartridge covert art) - $30
Lego Marvel Super Heroes - $25
Star Wars: Jedi Knights II: Jedi Outcast - $30
​

Trading cards

Super rare games
- The lions song sealed pack $10
- Mundaun sealed pack $10
- Last day of June sealed pack $10
​

Gamecube manual only

Warioware $30
Mario Party 5 - $25
F zero gx - $25

So. Now a month and a half ago she decided to break up. Of course we had a few rough patches and all but we were together for 2 years and almost 4 months and everything was good. We didnt go out partying (because of a condition of me) but she was okay with it. In fact she said that she doesnt like it and also doesnt understand the point in drinking. Everytime there was something we needed go discuss, we did and it was all well after that. We both go to the same school and year so we have the same subjects and test dates. 3 weeks before the break up there was a math exam for which we both studied pretty much. I offered her my help but she was a but annoyed. It was always like this so I just told her I would be here if she wants any help. Then there was a week school holiday in which we didn't see each other but we called everyday through normal calls and facetime. After that I was only im school for 2 days of 4 (Tuesday and Friday) so these were the only days where I saw her after a (for us) long time. On Friday she was a bit pissed in the morning and began to argue but after school we quickly sorted it out and she hugged and kissed me. At home she called me and sent photos of what she did and we played together minecraft. On Saturday and Sunday too and everything was good. But on Sunday night she wrote with her friends in a group as I wanted to go to sleep. I just wanted a bit of attention of her before we went to sleep so I asked her about what they write. She answered and I tried to talk about it a bit but then she said that it's a topic between her and her friends and not me. After that I just said that I wanted to write with her for a bit but then she said "idk if it's gonna work out between us". We talked long after that but she basically said that she couldn't find herself while being in a relationship with me for so long (we are now 17&16) and that it's her fault because of school stress and she isn't ready for one right now. I understood her in that moment and the next day when we talked in person she hugged me and cried in my arms. She wanted to stay friends so we still wrote a bit. A week after that when we wrote again she had a tantrum because I asked her again why she did it because I couldn't understand it anymore and she said that it's all my fault, that I haven't given her any "freedom" and that I was bad for her. After that she went drinking every weekend (and still does it). She blocked me everywhere and ignores me when I look at her. I just don't understand it. She made plans with me in that one week of holidays and also planned to get intimate with me (all her). She always said that she loved me, even only hours before the breakup. She even looked at me the whole first week like she regretted it and I occasionally catch her how she glances at me. Also another point to mention is that her best friend always hated me. In the first few months she said to her that it would be good to breakup directly because of how bad I am to her and that it's better without me. The friend also ignored her once for 3 weeks because the friend wrote with an exfriend which she promised to never write again. Now they are all back together.
I am sorry that its so long but its just too much for me to handle it alone. My friends always say that I have to forget her but I can't. I still love her and truly do, because I literally did everything for her I could. Also how quickly she went over it is painful and how her friends talk shit about me and she just accepts it. I want to get back together with her but she only occasionally speaks to me. We are in the same friendgroup but right now I feel how it's splitting. Just someone help me and tell me what to do without letting her go. Please

Good morning gang and soccer is a funny sport, eh?
There are a lot of new soccer followers because of LAFC, and one thing new soccer fans struggle with is the sport does not go in a linear fashion like most American sports do. It's not just regular season playoffs championship every year; there are multiple competitions going on at once, with some more important than others. Throw in the idea of the two-leg format, and their heads really start to spin. I try to educate new fans as best I can, but it's understandable their confusion given their whole sports-following lives have gone in a straightforward fashion.
Cue last night's game and result as being a big hurdle for a new soccer fan to understand. It's a championship... but not the same one we won back in November. Is it more important than MLS Cup? Most of us would say yes... but some would say no. What was that game then against the Galaxy the other week. Well....
We lost 2-1. BUT... most of us aren't sad about it. We played pretty poorly, and yet the damage is very minimal at the end of the day. Leon began the match like we used to do under Bob - press the hell in the first 20 minutes. And like we used to do under Bob, they wore themselves out by the time the second half came around. So, even though the first half was brutal, I knew we'd have a chance in the second given how 2 Fast 2 Furious Leon began things.
We definitely looked better and more confident in the second half. I went from thinking we could win at the start of the game to just wanting us to minimize the damage and get back home. And we did just that and even snuck in a late goal in the 96th minute during a four minute stoppage time. That was wayyyy better than I expected us to finish.
Almost all credit goes to Johnny Mac, who kept us from losing 5-1. Our backline was constantly getting outrunned and outgunned, but J.Mac was there to save our asses. At this point, he won us MLS Cup and gave us a chance to win CCL on Sunday; he is our guy even when Max gets back. I dare say, he is playing even better this year than Max did last year.
Runner-up MOTM for us was Palacios, who had some timely and patient defensive moves that also helped stopped the beating. Without those two guys playing at a high level, Sunday turns into an exhibition game.
What went wrong? The tl;dr version is I think we approached this game like we were taking on another MLS team. But Leon was faster than anything we have faced this year. The talent gap between Liga MX and your average MLS team was on full display last night. I'm sure their month off helped them with the fresh legs, but my god was it hard to watch us backpedal through so much of the match.
The dark arts were also on display, and I was glad to see us perform them right back at Leon once our guys realized we weren't playing some dinky, low budget MLS side. We were lucky to avoid a Liga MX club on the road to this final, but you could tell our guys hadn't been tested with this level of a club like we had been in 2020.
So, we end it with a 2-1 loss but it somehow feels like a win. When you try to explain this to new soccer fans, it makes their heads spin. But that's what we got. A loss that feels like a win. Only down one goal and going back home to finish the job. Our CCL trophy hopes remain very much alive in a game where it could have brutally ended. And that, to me, is a win.
Welcome to the party new fans! See you all back here Monday morning.

Ok i already have post the 1st point of that three... but in the wrong sub. (Sry for broken english)

1. Why do we Not See chemtrails on pictures from earth ??
   
2. Look to the Horizon. There is ground, then White/grey fog, and then IT turns to blue... why should we See Ozean and jungle from outerspace?? Earth is an White grey Ball.
   
3. That theory is litlebit strange even for myself. But, IT is half moon. Sun is alot km far away why is there an sharp akurate line from White shiny moon to the shadow from earth and as dark aß IT is ?? ... u Now light is like waves and particle in same time... a Light in your Livingroom and an Apple also doesnt gives you akurate shadow line.
   

So wtf is that all ??

Since this sub was so helpful in planning, I wanted to share my itinerary and trip report! We had an incredible first time in Japan and I can't wait to go back.
Couldn't fit our (very detailed) itinerary in this post, but if you'd like to download it's here.
And our shareable Google map is here.
About us:

• We’re New Yorkers in our 30s who have been planning this trip for about 6 months.
• My bf has been learning Japanese for about a year, and I’ve been learning for about 5 months (a mix of Pimsleur and Duolingo).
• Boyfriend is into history and baseball, I'm into skincare and nature, but we’re both big on food so that was our number one priority.
• He has a peanut allergy and avoids all nuts. He learned to say that in Japanese (私はピーナッツアレルギーがあります - "Watashi wa piinattsu arerugī ga arimasu”), and every restaurant and hotel was understanding and careful. Luckily most cuisine is nut-free anyway, but we managed not to have any close calls in 2 weeks which is amazing.

Some overall learnings:

• If I were planning this trip again, I think I would skip Kanazawa. It was a lovely town and the food was amazing, but we wished we had spent that time with a night or two in Osaka instead of just making it a day trip from Kyoto.
• Even if you’re not a baseball fan, Japanese baseball games are so much fun. I’ve never experienced anything like it.
• I packed a suitcase and brought a fold-up duffel bag, and halfway through the trip I moved my clothes to the duffel and just used the suitcase for souvenirs. It was a great idea but we ended up buying an extra suitcase at Donki our last day anyway.
• We both felt a bit underdressed compared to locals, especially in Tokyo. I wish I’d packed more dresses, skirts and trousers and fewer jeans and tees - the only people I saw wearing sweats, athletic wear or cutoffs were other tourists. Obviously you can wear what you want, just be aware you’ll stick out! Also, women are generally more covered up, even on warmer days, to protect their skin from the sun.
• If you go clothes shopping, take your shoes off in dressing rooms. I made a right fool of myself.
• Clothes sizing is wildly different in Japan. Know your cm measurements! Your size here may be hurtful to your ego.
• People line up to get on the train (check the ground for a guide of where to stand) and let everyone off before they get on. This seems obvious, but I’ve been living in New York so long that I wanted to weep tears of joy every time.
• If you’re new to sitting showers: there are two buttons. One is to fill up a bowl of water, and the other is to turn on the handheld shower head. Both automatically turn off a minute after you turn them on, but you can also turn them off manually. You sit on the little stool and there’s usually a mirror in front of you, which is… a humbling experience. There are usually also scrubbing washcloths.
• The worst train station toilet was still nicer than a goddamn Nordstrom bathroom. It was a pleasure to have IBS in Japan.
• At many European and American historical sites, you pay a hefty flat fee to see everything. In Japan, you can usually get into the temple grounds for free, then pay for each individual building you go into. Most were 400-700y/person, which felt really reasonable.
• We came at an almost perfect time (mid-May) weather-wise. Most days it was clear or sunny with a high in the mid-seventies. We definitely got some rain, but less than we were expecting (maybe 3-4 rainy days and 5-6 rainy nights).

Hotel Reviews:
Tokyu Stay Shinjuku Eastside (Tokyo): This was a great basic hotel, close to plenty of transportation and right on the edge of Kabukicho. The buffet breakfast was the highlight - a great mix of Western and Japanese breakfast options, including a great miso soup. Hakone Airu (Hakone): Mixed review here. On the one hand, the in-room onsen and public onsen were both wonderful, and the service was extraordinary. On the other hand, the mix of Balinese and Japanese didn’t quite work, and dinner and breakfast were more confusing than enjoyable. Hotel Alza (Kyoto): By far our favorite stay. I can’t recommend this place enough, and it was definitely worth paying a little extra. They brought us an amazing bento breakfast in our rooms every morning, they had every amenity we could need (they even re-upped the free sheet masks every day), and the micro-bubble bath at the end of a long day of walking was amazing. Koyasan Syukubo Ekoin Temple (Mt Koya): This was a great temple experience. Koyasan in general is obviously pretty tourist-y, but Eko-in still made it feel authentic, and dinner and breakfast were both amazing. Your stay includes a meditation class, morning prayers and a morning fire ritual, and you can pay to attend a cemetery tour, all of which were great. Utaimachi (Kanazawa): We were only here for two nights, but this place was pretty good. Very close to the Higashi Chaya area, where we didn’t actually end up spending much time. Always love tatami mat flooring, and the washedryer was a nice bonus, but we were also right next to the lobby and right under another room so there was some noise. The Gate Asakusa (Tokyo): A great and very Westernized hotel with amazing views of Shinso-ji and the surrounding area. It’s on the top floors of a building right in the middle of all things Asakusa, but is still pretty quiet. And has a wonderful, deep soaking tub with free bath salts.

Tuesday: Arrival, Shinjuku

1 PM: Arrival at Haneda
We got customs and immigration forms to fill out on the plane and everything went fairly quickly. Picked up some cash and Suica cards, went to see about taking the Airport Limousine bus ($10/each) but we should have booked in advance because there wasn’t one for another hour. We ended up taking a taxi (about $50) to our hotel in Shinjuku.
4 PM: Arrival at hotel - Tokyu Stay Shinjuku East Side
We dropped our luggage and went to a nearby eel restaurant, Shinjuku Unatetsu. The eel was incredible and not too filling. Wandered Kabuki-cho for a bit, I dragged my bf through all 4 floors of Don Quijote (I had a list of beauty items to pick up), then rested at the hotel.
7 PM: Dinner in Shinjuku (Tsunahachi)
We went to Tsunahachi for dinner and got some amazing tempura (I wish we had sat at the bar to watch it being made!) and then crashed by 9 pm, because we are young and cool.

Wednesday: Harajuku, Meiji, and Shibuya

7 AM: Hotel breakfast
Up early for hotel breakfast, which has convinced bf to start making miso soup every morning.
9 AM: Shinjuku Station - Pick up JR Passes
We went to Shinjuku station to pick up our JR passes, then spent 30 minutes finding the place where we could get them before 10 AM. There was a long line (staff shortage) so we waited about an hour but we got them and headed to Harajuku.
11 AM: Meiji Shrine & Yoyogi Park
We walked to Meiji Shrine, stopping at the gardens along the way (well worth the 500y entrance fee, especially on a beautiful day). We were lucky to come across a wedding at the shrine. Then we walked around Yoyogi Park a bit.
1 PM: Lunch (Gyoza Lou)
Walked into Gyoza Lou and were seated right away. Incredible gyoza as well as beer and bean sprouts with meat sauce - maybe 10 bucks total for 2 people.
1:30 PM: Shopping/museums in Harajuku
We split up so I could do some shopping in vintage stores - Flamingo, TAGTAG and Kinji (my favorite), and bf could go to the Ota Memorial Museum for their Cats in Ukiyo-e exhibit (which he loved). I walked down Takeshita street to meet him and managed to get a green tea, strawberry and red bean paste crepe from Marion Crepes.
3 PM: Shibuya Scramble & Hachinko Statue
We grabbed the train to Shibuya, saw the scramble and the Hachinko statue, then entered the maze that is Tokyu Hands. I got some onsen powders for gifts and some more cosmetics. My boyfriend checked out the Bic camera store and I went to Gu, which is like the love child of Uniqlo and Primark. I immediately undid all the “light packing” I did with new clothes.
7 PM: Dinner Reservation - Shinjuku Kappu Nakajima
I got us a reservation a few months ago at Shinjuku Kappu Nakajima. It was probably one of the best meals of my life. The omakase came out to less than $100usd each, which felt like a steal.
9 PM: Golden Gai bar (Bar Araku)
We wandered Golden Gai and went into a bar where the entrance fee was waived for foreigners called Bar Araku. It was very small but had great vibes, highly recommend. I drank too much sake, which will be a theme.

Thursday: Shinjuku

4 AM: Earthquake
The phone alerts are insanely loud! We rushed down to the hotel lobby and the only other people there were fellow foreigners - apparently Japanese people at the hotel knew a 5.1 is okay to sleep through.
9 AM: Shinjuku Gyoen
We strolled around in the sun taking photos for about 3 hours. Today is a lot less planned than yesterday - I kind of wish I’d switched the itineraries after how long getting the JR Pass took. We did go to the fancy Starbucks, of course.
12 PM: Lunch (Kaiten Sushi Numazuto)
We tried to go to a nearby sushi place but it was full, so we walked up to Kaiten Sushi Numazuto. We were a little disappointed it wasn’t actually conveyor belt sushi (the conveyor belt was for show and you ordered from the staff). Stopped in Bic camera afterwards for a bit.
2 PM: Ninja Trick House
We tried to go to the Samurai museum but learned it closed a few weeks ago. A good excuse to go to the Ninja Trick House instead. You’re thinking: “Isn’t that place for children?” Yes. Yes it is. And we loved every minute. I now have a camera roll full of myself being terrible at throwing stars. The dream.
3 PM: Don Quijote
More Don Quijote, mostly to get out of the rain. Got my last few beauty products I really wanted and a few souvenirs. An overstimulating heaven.
6 PM: 3-hour Shinjuku Foodie Tour
We signed up for a 3-hour “foodie tour” of Shinjuku that stopped at a sushi place, a Japanese bbq spot with insane wagyu beef, and a sake tasting spot. It was great, and we loved our guide, but wished it had stopped at a few more spots to try more things.
9 PM: Walk around Shinjuku
We attempted to play pachinko, got very confused and lost $7. Tourism!

Friday: Hakone

7 AM: Set up luggage forwarding to Kyoto with hotel
Luggage forwarding is brilliant. We did it twice and it went so smoothly, for about $10 USD per bag. Highly recommend.
9 AM: Transit to Hakone
We got to experience Japanese transit at rush hour. I can’t believe I have to go back to the MTA after this. We took the subway to Tokyo station and then the Shinkansen to Odawara, then a train to Hakone-Yumoto. The hotel was only a 20-minute walk away, so we decided to take a more scenic route - which turned out to be a forest hike straight up switchbacks most of the way.
11 AM: Lunch in Hakone (Hatsuhana)
We stopped in a soba place called Hatsuhana with a system of writing your name down and waiting outside to be called in. They skipped our names because they weren’t in Japanese, but let us in when they realized their mistake. The soba was made and served by old aunties so of course it was insanely good and well worth it.
1 PM: Hakone Open Air Museum
We took the train down to the Hakone Open Air Museum, which lived up to the hype. I’m not normally into sculpture, but seeing it in nature, and the way the museum is laid out, made it incredible. And obviously the Picasso exhibit was amazing.
3 PM: Owakudani, Pirate Ship, Hakone Checkpoint
We took the train to the cable car to Owakudani, then the ropeway to Togendai, then the pirate ship ferry to Motohakone. We were running behind so unfortunately had to rush through the Hakone Checkpoint, which was empty but very cool.
6 PM: Dinner at hotel
Back to our hotel for our kaiseki meal. The staff spoke very little English and Google struggled with the menu, so we had no idea what we were eating half the time, but overall it was pretty good.
9 PM: Onsen time
Experienced my first public onsen, followed by the private onsen in our room. The tatami sleep did wonders for my back.

Saturday: Travel to Kyoto, Philosopher’s Path, Gion

8 AM: Breakfast, travel to Kyoto
Took the train to Odawara and then the Shinkansen to Kyoto station. We booked all of our Shinkansen seats about a week in advance but you can also book them on the day, I believe.
1 PM: Lunch in Gion
Our Kyoto hotel let us check in early, and then we went looking for lunch. Quickly learned that most every place in the Gion area has a line outside and closes at 2! We eventually found a tiny spot with insanely good ramen. It also had chicken sashimi on the menu but we weren’t brave enough.
2 PM: Philosopher’s Path, Ginkaku-ji
We took a bus over to the Philosopher’s Path, which was not busy at all because of the rain. It was pretty, and I could see how great it would look in cherry blossom season. We had to kind of rush to Ginkaku-ji, which was gorgeous nonetheless.
4 PM: Honen-in, Nanzen-ji
Stopped by Honen-in (which we had completely to ourselves, thanks rain!) and then Nanzen-ji. My bf is a big history guy and he went feral for the Hojo rock garden. It was very pretty and I’d love to see it in better weather.
6 PM: Food Tour of Gion & Pontocho
This food tour stopped at two places (an izakaya and a standing bar) with a walking tour of Gion and Pontocho in between. We also stopped at Yasaka shrine and caught a rehearsal of a traditional Japanese performance.
10 PM: Pain
My feet hurt so bad. Bring waterproof shoes, but make sure they don’t have 5 year old insoles. I tried some stick-on cooling acupuncture foot pads I picked up at Donki and they were bliss.

Sunday: Arashiyama, The Golden Pavilion and Tea Ceremony

8 AM: Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
The forecast was for heavy rain all day, but we lucked out and only got a few drizzles here and there. We headed to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest in the morning and it wasn’t too crowded. We did have an amazing bamboo dish at dinner last night so now bamboo makes me hungry.
10 AM: Tenryu-ji, Iwatayama Monkey Park
Headed over to Tenryu-ji, which was very nice but very crowded, and then to one of the things I looked forward to most on the trip, the Iwatayama Monkey Park. It’s a 20 minute hike up there but it is worth it. Oh my god. Getting to feed a baby monkey made my whole week.
12 PM: Lunch near Arashiyama (Udon Arashiyama-tei)
Headed back down to the main road and got duck udon at a little place called Udon Arashiyama-tei. I know I keep calling everything incredible but… yes.
1 PM: Ginkaku-ji
Ran into some bus issues (the first time we experienced anything public transit-wise not running as expected!) but eventually got over to Ginkaku-ji. It was also very crowded (seems like Japanese schools are big on field trips, which I’m jealous of) and not my favorite temple, but beautiful nonetheless.
3 PM: Daitoku-ji
We were ahead of schedule so we got to spend some time at our meeting place for the tea ceremony, Daitoku-ji. It ended up being our favorite temple, especially Daisen-in, a small and very quiet spot with a great self-guided tour. The monks showed us a section normally closed to non-Japanese tourists with beautiful calligraphy.
4 PM: Tea Ceremony (90 mins)
The tea ceremony we booked said it was in groups of up to ten, but it ended up being just us. It was very nice and relaxing, plus we got a little meal.
6 PM: Dinner (Gion Kappa), Pontocho Alley
We both nearly fell asleep on the bus back so we took it easy for the night. Went to an izakaya called Gion Kappa which had the best tuna belly we’d ever eaten, then did a quick walk around Pontocho Alley, got treats at 7-11 and went to bed early.

Monday: Fushimi Inari, Nishiki Market, Kyoto Imperial Palace (kinda)

9 AM: Fushimi Inari
Our plans to get up super early to beat the crowds to Fushimi Imari were hampered by the fact that we are no longer in our 20s. It was packed by the time we got there, and the amount of littering and defacing done by tourists was a bummer.
11 AM: Tofuku-ji
We had planned to go to the Imperial Palace at 10:30 for the Aoi Parade, but decided instead to get away from crowds by hiking from Fushimi Inari to Tofuku-ji, which was beautiful (I’d love to see it in the fall).
12 PM: Nishiki Market, lunch (Gyukatsu)
Grabbed lunch first at Gyukatsu (wagyu katsu - delicious) then wandered Nishiki a bit. It’s touristy, but fun.
2 PM: Kyoto Gyoen, Kyoto Handicraft Center
It was supposed to rain all day but ended up sunny, so we went back to the hotel to drop off our rain jackets and umbrellas. Stepped back outside and within ten minutes it was raining. We went to Kyoto Gyoen and saw the outside of the imperial palace; it was closed because of the parade earlier and half the garden was blocked off because the former emperor was visiting. Without the palace, Kyoto Gyoen is kind of meh. We walked over to Kyoto Handicraft Center which was also meh, but we picked up some nice lacquerware.
7:30 PM: Dinner at Roan Kiku Noi
We had a reservation at Roan Kiku Noi where we had maybe the best meal of our lives. Amazing that it only has two Michelin stars, honestly. Had fun trying to decipher the pain meds aisle at a Japanese pharmacy afterwards and then called it a night.

Tuesday: Day Trip to Nara

8 AM: Travel to Nara
We took the subway to the JR and were there in about an hour.
9 AM: Nara Deer Park
Two things about the Nara deer. One: if you bow to them, they bow back, and it’s very cute. And two, if you buy the 200y rice crackers to feed to them, do it somewhere where there aren’t very many of them. I got mobbed by like 15 deer and bitten 3 times. My fault for having skin approximately the shade of a rice cracker.
10 AM: Kofuku-ji, Nara National Museum
We saw Kofuku-ji and then the Nara National Museum, then stopped at a random little cafe for rice bowls with some kind of regional sauce (I can’t find it now!).
12 PM: Isetan Garden
We spent a long time finding the entrance to the Isetan garden only for it to be closed on Tuesdays.
2 PM: Giant Buddha
Saw Nandaimon Gate and the Daibutsu (giant Buddha), which are both every bit as enormous and glorious as advertised, as well as very crowded.
3 PM: Kasuga-taisha Shrine
Wandered over to Kasuga-taisha shrine, which is famous for its hundreds of lanterns and thousand-year-old trees. There’s a special inner area (paid) where you can see the lanterns lit up in the dark.
4 PM: Wait for the emperor
We got held up by a procession for, guess who, the former emperor again. Stalker.
5 PM: Nara shopping and snacks
Walked around Higashimuki Shopping Street and Mochiidono Shopping Arcade, bought a nice sake set and an amazing little hand-painted cat, ate some red bean paste pancakes and headed back to Kyoto.
7 PM: Dinner in Kyoto
Walked around Pontocho searching for dinner and landed on Yoshina, where we got even more kaiseki. Finished the night at Hello Dolly, a gorgeous jazz bar overlooking the river.

Wednesday: Day Trip to Osaka

7 AM: Depart hotel
Started by taking the subway to the JR. Took us about an hour altogether, though it would have been faster if we’d caught the express.
9 AM: Osaka Castle
We got to Osaka Castle in time for it to hit 85 degrees out. The outside of the castle is gorgeous, but the line to get in was long and I don’t know if the museum parts were worth the wait, especially with the crowds. The view from the top is nice, though.
12 PM: Okonomiyaki lunch (Abeton)
We went to an okonomiyaki spot in Avetica station called Abeton that was full of locals and absolutely bomb as hell.
1 PM: Shitteno-ji, Keitakuen Gardens
We headed to Shitteno-ji (our oldest temple yet) which was nice, though the climb to the top of then 5 story pagoda wasn’t worth the sweat. Then we walked over to Keitakuen Gardens, a small but gorgeous garden in Tennoji Park. Had a nice sit in the shade to digest and plan our next moves.
3 PM: Ebisuhigasbi, Mega Don Quijote
I am a crazy person, so I had to go to the Mega Don Quijote. We walked around Ebisuhigasbi for a while first, and while I was buying gifts in Donki, my boyfriend entered a sushi challenge for westerners (which turned out to just be “can a white boy handle wasabi”) and won a bunch of random crap! Now we own Japanese furniture wipes.
5 PM: Dotonbori & America-mura
We took the Osaka Loop to the Dotonbori area, which was super crowded as expected. We walked around America-mura and enjoyed seeing what they think of us. There are great designer vintage clothing shops here if that’s your thing.
6 PM: Dinner (Jiyuken)
We tried to get into Koni Doraku, a crab restaurant, but they were booked up, so we went to a tiny spot called Jiyuken for curry instead. I would do things for this curry. It was the platonic ideal of curry. It was served by old Japanese aunties from a very old recipe, so we knew it was going to be good, but it exceeded our wildest expectations… for <1000y each.
7 PM: Return to Kyoto
My feet were feeling real bad (the Nikes may look cool but they cannot support 25k steps a day) so we headed back to Kyoto and packed for our early morning tomorrow.

Thursday: Travel to Koyasan, Temple Stay

8 AM: Bus from Kyoto to Koyasan
The transit from Kyoto to Mt Koya is complicated, so we ended up just booking a bus directly from Kyoto Station to Koyasan (which barely cost more than public transit!). We got there bright and early for the 3 hour trip - if you take a bus out of Kyoto Station I definitely recommend giving yourself extra time to navigate to the right bus.
11 AM: Arrive at Eko-in, lunch
We arrived in Mt Koya and checked in to our temple, Eko-in. The quiet and the beauty hit me hard and I fell asleep for a few hours. We got a nice lunch at Hanabishi in town.
4 PM: Meditation class, dinner
The temple offered a meditation class, which was lovely, followed by a vegan dinner in our rooms. I can’t explain how peaceful this place was.
7 PM: Okuno-in Cemetery
We signed up for a monk-led tour of Okuno-in, which was definitely worth it. Came back for some public baths and fell asleep to the sound of rainfall.

Friday: Travel to Kanazawa, Higashi Chaya District

7 AM: Service & ritual at Eko-in
The day started with a religious service and a fire ritual at the temple. Both were stunning. I did wish that my fellow tourists had been a bit more respectful by showing up on time and following directions, but luckily, no one has more patience than a Buddhist monk.
9 AM: Travel to Kanazawa
We took a taxi through some sketchy mountain roads to Gokurakubashi Station, took two trains to Osaka Station, and then the JR Thunderbird to Kanazawa.
1 PM: Arrive at Kanazawa, Lunch (Maimon)
We got into Kanazawa station and went straight for a sushi spot called Maimon, which was delicious. Struggled a bit with the bus system and eventually got to our hotel, Utaimachi.
4 PM: Higashi Chaya District
Wandered the Higashi Chaya district a bit. It seemed kind of dead, but maybe we are just used to the hustle and bustle of Tokyo/Kyoto.
7 PM: Korinbo, dinner (Uguisu)
Walked down to the Korinbo area southwest of the park and found a tiny ramen spot called Uguisu. Incredible. Some of the best broth I’ve ever tasted plus amazing sous vide meats.
9 PM: Bar in Korinbo (Kohaku)
Went to a little upstairs whiskey bar called Kohaku. Boyfriend got Japanese whiskey and they made me a custom cocktail with sake, pineapple and passion fruit that was just insane. They were very nice and talked baseball with us for a while.

Saturday: Omicho Market, Kanazawa Castle, 21st Century Museum

9 AM: Kenroku-en Garden
We walked over to Kenroku-en Gardens, which were as beautiful as advertised. I was hurting pretty bad (crampy ladies, just know Japanese OTC painkillers are much weaker than ours, BYO Advil) so we’re moving slowly today.
12 PM: Omicho Market, lunch (Iki-Iki Sushi)
Walked to Omicho Market and ate little bits from different stalls, then waited about an hour to get into Iki-Iki Sushi. It was worth it. Some of the best, freshest sushi of my life.
2 PM: Kanazawa Castle, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
We walked around Kanazawa Castle a bit, then walked over to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. It was packed and the line to get tickets to the special exhibits was crazy, so we looked at the free ones and then headed back. Along the way we stopped in a few little stores and bought some handcrafted lacquerware from a local artist.
6 PM: Onnagawa Festival, dinner (Huni)
As we walked towards the restaurant, we came upon the Onnagawa Festival on the Plum Bridge, which included a beautiful dancing ceremony and lantern lighting. We went to Huni for dinner, our first “westernized Japanese” restaurant, and it was fantastic. 9 dishes served slowly over 3 hours at a table overlooking the river. Highly recommend if you’re in Kanazawa.
10 PM: Why does the bathtub have a phone
We went back to our hotel, struggled with the automated bathtub, and enjoyed our last night on tatami floors.

Sunday: Travel to Tokyo, Tokyo Giants Game, Ueno Park

7 AM: Travel to Tokyo
Grabbed a taxi we arranged the night before to Kanazawa Station - it would have been an easy bus journey but our number of bags has increased - and boarded the Shinkansen for Tokyo.
12 PM: Travel to Tokyo Dome and Tokyo Dome Park
Dropped our bags at our hotel in Asakusa, then headed for Tokyo Dome. We got there a little early to look around - there’s basically a full mall and food court and amusement park there. We grabbed some beers and some chicken katsu curry that was delicious.
2 PM: Tokyo Giants vs Chunichi Dragons
Japanese baseball games are so. much. fun. This was a random mid season game, and the stadium was full and people were amped. I’ve been to many American baseball games and never seen fans this excited. We also scored some fried cheese-wrapped hot dogs on a stick and a few more beers and had the time of our lives cheering for the Giants.
5 PM: Ueno Park
After trying and failing to find the jersey we were looking for, we walked to Ueno Park and looked around a bit. It was lovely, but we were exhausted and full of too many beers, so we headed back to Asakusa.
7 PM: Dinner in Asakusa
There was a festival all day around Shinso-ji and there were a ton of street vendors and day-drunk people when we arrived in the afternoon (as a native Louisianan, I approve) and it seemed like the partiers were going on into the night. We ducked into a restaurant for some buckwheat soba (never got the name, but it was only okay) and tucked in early.

Monday: Tsukiji Food Tour, Kapabashi Dougu, Akihabara

8 AM: 3-hour Tsukiji Food Tour + lunch
We started the day with a Tsukiji food tour, which ended up being my favorite food tour of the 3 by far. The guide was great, and we stopped by a dozen food stalls and sampled everything from mochi to fresh tuna to octopus cakes. We finished with lunch at Sushi Katsura, where our chef prepared everything in front of us.
12 PM: Imperial Palace, Don Quijote
We were planning to spend the afternoon exploring the Imperial Palace and Edo Castle Ruins, but it was hot and the palace was closed, so we walked to Taira no Masakado's Grave, then headed back to Asakusa for, you guessed it, Don Quijote. I did not intend for this trip to be “guess how many Don Quijotes I can visit” but here we are. We bought another suitcase and I filled it with food and gifts to bring home.
3 PM: Kappabashi Dougu
We walked Kappabashi Dougu and browsed kitchenwares while wishing we had a bigger kitchen, an unlimited budget and a way to get a hundred pounds of porcelain home in one piece.
6 PM: Akihabara dinner + games + drinks
We took the train to Akihabara, got dinner at Tsukada Nojo, then played games in a few arcades and ended the night at Game Bar A-button, which lets you play vintage handheld games while you drink.

Tuesday: Senso-ji, Flight

9 AM: Breakfast, Senso-ji
We got breakfast pancakes at Kohikan, then walked around Senso-ji and the surrounding shopping streets for a while.
12 PM: McDonald’s
Look, I couldn’t leave Japan without doing it, okay? I got the Teriyaki Chicken Burger (too sloppy and sweet) and bf got the Ebi Filet-O (he said it tasted exactly like a Filet-O-Fish). It was not great but I deserve that!
3 PM: Cab to the airport
I caught the flu on the flight home and have now been in bed for a week! Welcome back to America, baby.

Backstory: My ex girlfriend of almost 2 years came to me at the end of march two days after her birthday (2 weeks after our first vacation together visiting her family) and told me that she wants to be alone. She was crying and seemed anxious about her decision and I realized the seriousness of the situation so I didn’t want to make it any harder on her. I asked her since when she was feeling like this and she answered that she had these doubts since January. I asked her if she wants to end our relationship and wants us to forget each other where she cryingly replied that we couldn’t forget each other. I offered her that if she wants to be alone that I would leave her alone but if she wants to talk in 3-4 weeks time, that we could talk it over. She accepted and I immediately went into No contact.
In the coming weeks of April I was a total mess. I was thinking about her and our relationship daily. I realized that some behaviors of mine most likely led to a loss of attraction but rationally were never ever something to break up with somebody. Ever since then I started to work on my problems and facing the issues and traumas i kept neglecting.
I want to believe that we had a deep connections. During the course of our relationship on multiple occasion she confessed to me how much I mean to her and so did I. Overall I want to think that we had a harmonious relationship. Of course we argued sometimes but during those arguments I always tried to be patient with her. I offered my opinions to her in a mature way without lashing out and showed her gratitude for opening herself up to me. I wanted her to know that there would be no subject that she could not discuss with me. Eventually I realized that the way I treated her during our relationship was the best I could have done and the best she was ever treated by someone, so i don’t blame myself for the breakup.
During my time of self reflection in April I had this notion that if she truly wants the breakup that she wouldn’t reach out again because of how anxious she was and I didn’t see her gather up the strength to reach out only to break up with me a second time. And if she reached out then only to reconcile with me.
Well on Sunday 30th of April she reached out again asking to meet up. I agreed which I regret to this day. We met and talked a bit and eventually she told me that she had done a lot of thinking during the last weeks and that she definitely doesn’t want a relationship anymore. My heart shattered. I told her what she meant to me and that I don’t agree with this breakup. I gave a bit of pushback but I didn’t fight her on it. I told her that I understand where she is coming from and that I wish her nothing but the best.She wanted us stay friends because the thought of not having any contact would make her sad. I told her that my heart would not able to handle that. I told her that she please not be mad at me for removing all contact, because if I had to love her from a distance I don’t want to be reminded of what she’s doing daily and if she ever wanted to change her decision, she knows where to find me. I left after that and I knew the breakup was now official. May 1st I removed her and her friends from all my social media. Deleted all phone numbers and chat history. I started No contact again. Ever since then i workout daily. I stopped smoking weed, I go to bed early and wake up early. My body is in the best shape it has ever been. I work half of the week and work on my thesis during the rest of the week. I stopped checking her social media and started going to therapy.
But damn I would be lying if I wasn’t missing her daily. I know that it is not up to me to fix this relationship. She doesn’t want me and I have to accept that even when it breaks my heart.
I was 4 full weeks into No contact again when on last Sunday I went to an event with a group of friends of mine where I knew that my ex would be there. I knew that I should not have gone to that event but I also felt like that there is no reason for me to hide from her. When I was there she did notice me eventually and I couldn’t stop myself looking at her across the room. Eventually she came up to me and said hi. We exchanged a few words and I tried to keep it casual but she did not seem very excited to see me.
I regret going and it feels like I’ve ruined 4 weeks of no contact and that I’m back to day one.
I just don’t know what to do. I know I have to let her go and I truly want to. I also understand that there is someone out there who would love me the way I deserve to be loved. I just feel so defeated and I miss her a lot. I don’t want to cling onto false hope but I don’t know what else I can do to get out of this. I want to move on but I also wish that she comes back.

Hey everyone,
Not sure how many jazz lovers are on this forum, but heads up that Sunday jazz is back after a long COVID pause, and they need to get attendance back up and running. I can tell you it's a great experience, well worth the drive.
Here's the details for this week. I'd appreciate advice for where else to post this!
Sunday Jazz returns to the Osborne Bay Pub!
Sunday June 4, 2-4 pm
At the Osborne Bay Pub, 1534 Joan Avenue, Crofton
Reservations: 250-324-2245
Featuring Expressive vocalist Lorraine Nygaard with songs from her Nina Simone tribute as well as tunes from jazz, pop, soul and Broadway. Backed by Ashley Wey on piano, Louis Rudner on bass and Hans Verhoevan on drums.
$15 at the door
Sponsored by the Cowichan Valley Cultural Arts Society

I know quitting your job as a cook usually simply comes with two weeks notice or a ragequit walkout, but for eleven months I worked at a new franchise that had such potential which was being squandered by the incompetence of upper management. I present the nearly 6000 word thesis I turned in on my last day. Locations and names have been changed to cartoon references. Brackets represent ambiguous information in place of specific details.
Krusty Krab Careers Jobs
Opening in [Month/Year], Krusty Krab (KK) Bikini Bottom is on its 4th kitchen manager in less than a year. Krusty Krab O-Town has recently let go its inaugural kitchen manager and sous chef. Almost no member of the Bikini Bottom opening management team remains employed by KK. There is a pattern developing where one must question both the choice of employee and the directive given to new franchises. These lingering issues I brought concerns about in the first weeks of opening but was disregarded at every turn despite my experience with festival traffic. As a result I decided this was not a place I wanted to advance, but with a good-enough paycheck I’d be a lowly grunt in the kitchen four days a week, at five days a week I would have quit or been fired over a public outburst long ago. If Krusty Krab alters course slightly while being true to the brand this could be a successful chain.
My unique employment history in brick and mortar restaurants, food trucks, pop up culinary concepts, trade shows/conventions, and the film industry make me an ideal candidate to be on the opening team for new KK locations. My outgoing nature and foresight are valuable assets. For example, on training week before opening when I was standing around idly without a task I took it upon myself to organize the disarray that was dry storage. Overhearing Krabs tell another manager where he wanted the cleaning products placed, I had a jumping off point and the organization I created nine months ago is still largely in place. Since returning from my vacation in early February I have made it my mission to keep the storage area organized because it was again starting to resemble a hoarder’s house rather than a commercial kitchen. This is now part of my weekly routines because every time I turn my back there is more product being placed haphazardly just anywhere with little regard. I also recently reorganized the walk-in cooler because of problematic stocking with items being placed on the same shelf or below raw proteins. I also simply put all the like products together such as cheeses or fruits that were scattered amongst several shelves. With recent overordering I cannot keep up with the organization of the walk in cooler. The pattern recognition of food types and even simple shapes appears to be lost on the Bikini Bottom crew. My daily reorganization of containers is proof of this. Most days I’ll take a few minutes to put all cylinders together, all cambros together in descending volume, all deep and shallow pans next to each other rather than intermixed. My decision to be a kitchen manager at age 19 from 2005 thru 2008 and rarely enter restaurant management since is very calculated.
With my prior knowledge of professional kitchens I was becoming Bikini Bottom’s resident nag to coworkers as I made note of health department violations on a daily basis. I stopped after being largely ignored for two weeks. My regular health department nags include; a battle with jackets and hats being placed only in the designated area (a designated area that did not exist until I created a place for personal items a in January by neatly organizing the dry storage area again), waiting until prepped items are cooled before a cover is placed on top, placement of raw seafood, open containers (very often sugar, flour, and pancake mix bags ripped open and left), and dirty dishes/containers placed back in rotation. The dirty dishes and containers in rotation with the clean ones are at an atrociously high number. I have given up on making the 4th fryer seafood allergy safe too. With the low volume of seafood allergy safe items Bikini Bottom should purchase smaller baskets to visually discourage cross contamination with the other fryers and baskets. My skills to organize the kitchen do not end with simply where to store products to meet minimal health department standards.
Half of the space in the Bikini Bottom kitchen is completely wasted on an ill-advised walkway to the dishpit. An intelligent design would place a second doorway directly to the dishpit connected to the bar or where the bathrooms reside. Numerous times during the opening week of KK Bikini Bottom I said, yelled, sang, and muttered that we have too many food items for the amount of space we have. Icus stated that there was more space than Bluffington. Is Bluffington intelligently designed? Because Bikini Bottom most certainly isn’t. So Bikini Bottom actually has less space even if there is more square footage. See the attached diagram for an intelligent design that could potentially house a menu of this size. Bikini Bottom forces a line design on this kitchen when an open concept is needed for this menu. It’s as if this floorplan was created by a person who had only ever seen one commercial kitchen previously and couldn’t think 4th dimensionally to understand the needs of the workers to smoothly serve customers.
There is not enough counter space for pizzas without getting off the line, the microwave is placed completely out of the way, the freezer’s curved design is a waste of potential counter space and a falling hazard for containers stored on top of it, the toaster is an overcomplicated and overexpensive piece of machinery that serves exactly one purpose when a flat top could be used to toast bread and other purposes like a quesadilla special, sautee was designed without an overhang for spices, the pantry station lacks the counter space to have two containers of flour and two containers of batter for seafood allergies, there are no Frialator fryers which I have worked with at every single kitchen job previously instead we got the cheap Vulcan model (is that logical), the cheap low boy in pantry that doesn’t drain excess water anywhere it’s just supposed to evaporate somehow but doesn’t, the grill and fryer should be placed next to each other (with a higher volume of crossover than other stations), the floors are flat instead on having a mild decline towards the drains (just look at the standing water residing behind the oven right now), in the dishpit the spraying area and the filled sinks are backwards of a logical dipshit, the ramp to the back door is on the wrong side, there is no refrigerated place downstairs to stage extra food for busy shifts (the beer cooler is once again used for such food items because of this massive oversight), the prep station is an afterthought and miniscule, the dishes on the line are difficult to grab for anyone under 5’11” and inaccessible for anyone under 5’6” (instead of putting them underneath tables that also give that desperately needed counterspace I spoke of), there is not enough space to store to-go containers or boats behind the line, expo is lacking a low boy for the numerous items that are supposed to be cold but are instead kept at room temperature all day long, no one in management thought about buying shelves until right before Bikini Bottom opened as a result the clean full sheets sat on the floor for days, we had only the exact amount of 1⁄6 pans for an absurd amount of time making it impossible to rotate and clean them when necessary (which is daily), we still struggle with 1/9 pan supply. And just when I thought I documented all the poor design choices possible I stumbled upon a person whose office holiday party was booked at KK Bikini Bottom. The deck space works just fine as a deck. It does not double well as a gathering space. The space is too long and narrow for parties, it promotes little splitoff groups rather than a coming together of a larger gathering. It may be advantageous to contact a social psychologist for help designing a private party space that promotes intermingling rather than enforcing small pockets to form. The reorganization of the physical kitchen isn’t all that screams for an overhaul.
There are six positions on the line at the Krusty Krab; expo, oven, grill, sautee, fryer, and pantry. But the pantry and fryer positions are forced together like a bad remix. Everyone who mainly works pantry deserves a $6 raise immediately because it is a station and a half. Both Icus and Krumm, while kitchen manager, kind of acknowledged the pantry is too big for one station without outright mentioning the lopsided distribution of work. I imagine in the only location where this works, Bluffington, a second person joins the pantry at noon because of the unreasonable amount of items one person is tasked with. Bikini Bottom only has one person in this position at all times, maybe modify it for one person? The excess of items on the pantry position largely resembles a position I would call “set-up” or “build” at a previous job that made sensible choices. This build position should have tostadas, tacos, butcher’s blocks, toast, salads, lettuce wrap set ups, and preparing plating for whichever station is most bogged down. I have absolutely lost my mind yelling about salads at least once a month, ranting that they do not belong on the fryer position because of how illogical it is that five salads are included on the mountain of other items the pantry has. I have always considered working in a kitchen a kind of dance, and the pantry station demands an unnecessarily convoluted dance to keep up with the demand. Without the salads, tostadas, and tacos the station is already the busiest. Do we really need to combine ballet and swing by including these extra awkward dance steps in this single station? For a kitchen designed this poorly I suppose it is. Again, see attached document for an intelligently designed kitchen that might be able to accommodate this menu. Unless Bikini Bottom is going to close for a month to fix the baffling floor plan design the menu is shouting to be reduced to 30-36 items.
The menu is too big. Krusty Krab is the jack of all foods, master of none. In general I believe individual locations should be allowed 18% omissions, and 18% unique items to this wildly unwieldy menu sitting around 50 food items including sides. The insistence on keeping menu items that don’t sell at Bikini Bottom because of Bluffington is mind boggling. Chicken tenders do not sell at Bikini Bottom. fried sushi does not sell at Bikini Bottom, not enough to justify their place on the line. I don’t care how well these items work in Bluffinton. They. Do. Not. Work. At. Bikini. Bottom. If the KK location in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean sells an incredible amount of live krill does that mean Bikini Bottom and O-Town must sell live krill too? Take the fried sushi off the menu. I had a complete meltdown about this during a Dimmadome service and my valid point was met with indifference. Replace the kid’s tenders with a kid’s fish sticks. We already have the tilapia fish sticks on the line for tacos. Or make the kid’s fish sticks cod. We cut cod to order for fish tacos in spite of health code violations because it is too rare of an order to make beforehand. Saffron in mashed potatoes? If you must. Why are green tomatoes only on the menu during lunch? Bikini Bottom throws away a sizable amount of spoiled green tomatoes each week. Have green tomatoes on the menu all day long or don’t have them at all. The smoked salmon could go on salads or a special taco to justify its place on the line. The corn pico’s place on the line is unjustified. It only goes on one item, tostadas, which are not particularly popular. If we had a taco salad we could throw the corn pico on there. We also have unreasonable waste from unusable taco shells, smash up those imperfect taco shells and throw them on said taco salad. But before we add salads, let's get rid of the pear and kale salads. The pears' position on the line are unjustified, if we threw them on a taco variation maybe their place on the Bikini Bottom line could be argued but for now they only go on a salad that isn’t particularly popular. The kale salad is an issue of space for a 4th green for salads is too much. The krusty salad is my most hated house salad of all time. And it comes down to the toast with goat cheese. This ancillary step of spreading goat cheese on a cracker is an unnecessary step for an overly complicated dance and should be part of the expo dance if expo wasn’t a shoddily designed afterthought lacking a low boy.
There are a plethora of squeeze bottles on the pantry station that have no place on the overloaded station. They belong to an expo station with a low boy to keep them cold. Pantry has an overwhelming ten squeeze bottles: chipotle crema, sweet chili vinaigrette, buffalo, korean bbq, ranch, caesar, wine vinaigrette, lemon vinaigrette, honey mustard, and lemon aioli. Only the first four are justified on an intelligently designed fryer section, the second four belong on the build station, the last two have no place anywhere but expo. With this extra space sautee could keep their bottles and two purees cold in the fryer's lowboy instead of leaving them at room temperature all day inviting a pathogen party. This theorized intelligently designed expo would have room to keep these four squeeze bottles and a double of every sauce chilled to pour them into ramekins, a move that is highly common in the expo dance. The fact that expo doesn’t have a double of all squeeze bottles is foolish. Expo has to bother an overloaded station to pour these side sauces instead.
How many gallons of basil aioli has Bikini Bottom thrown away in 11 months? Four aiolis in general is way too many and most go on a single item; basil aioli on the incredibly unpopular veggie burger, lemon aioli for calamari, sweet chili aioli for the BLT that is only served half of the day, and garlic aioli actually goes on two items…I believe. What a colossal waste of precious little space, lose two aiolis and then you can sing the logical song with me. Perhaps we can put garlic aioli and sweet chili vinaigrette on the BLT separately and accomplish the exact same thing the sweet chili aioli does. The wings too have unneeded complications. Having worked at a sports bar specializing in wings for the better part of a decade I find KK’s plating of wings to be overly pretentious. The carrots, celery, and blue cheese have lost function. Heffer Wolf always said no one eats the carrot/celery julienne with blue cheese. It’s a complete waste of all the ingredients because you’ve gone too far with the presentation. Wings aren’t fancy. Wings are supposed to have a small pool of sauce and be sloppy. It’s like a sloppy joe that’s not sloppy, an unsloppy joe is a failure to sloppy joes just as the KK presentation of wings is a disparagement to the dish. Ever since training week back in 2022 I have used a scale to give Bikini Bottom a passing or failing grade.
Chokey Chicken to Chum Bucket is the scale I use to judge efficiency and sanity at Bikini Bottom. Both establishments are upscale casual dining experiences in Capitol City in the same vein as KK. Chokey had high employee retention and relatively smooth openings for new locations. Chum Bucket’s employee turnover was high and every location opening was chaotic. Which one sounds closer to KK? Chokey Chicken was filled with chefs I respect including Chef Ren Hoek who remains a close friend to this day. Ren lost his lifelong passion for kitchen work after working management at Chum Bucket. He’s actually seeking work in Bikini Bottom. Call him up at [phone number], but KK will give him Nam’ flashbacks of why he chose driving for a living rather than cooking for five years. The pair of us together helming Bikini Bottom with the ability to omit and create 18% of the overloaded menu can bring success to this franchise. We have worked well numerous times in the past on various concepts in the past including creating The Attack of the Pickled Tomatoes Burger for [Promotional live performance of a TV show] at the Capitol City Theater. We served 100 people in 60 at the [sitcom filming] lunch. That’s physically impossible but somehow we did it quite a few times.
A fun anecdote about Ren Hoek’s KK experience from the soft launch; on training week numerous times I brought concerns about being seafood allergy safe that were dismissed. As mentioned earlier the pantry station lacks the counter space to have two containers of flour and two containers of batter, one each of which seafood never touches. Before the soft launch Chef Stimpy from Bluffington insisted all customers just kind of know everything is prone to be seafood contaminated. Well, chef Ren was a customer that night and this absolutely was not communicated to customers. He claimed to have a slight seafood allergy and was not informed of what the crab soup was. In reality he does not have a seafood allergy. I didn’t discuss the seafood issue with Ren, separately we noticed egregious violations of food safety standards and we each responded in our own way. The soft launch service was so awful that night Chef Ren walked out of a free meal to pay for some ramen, never to return to Bikini Bottom. I attribute this oversight, and many of Bikini Bottom’s (and probably O-Town’s) problems to hubris over the Bluffington location.
Chef Chokey would also be hesitant to join the KK team. It will cost a finder’s fee just for me to reveal Chef Chokey’s name. Chef Chokey was a lead in the rapid expansion of Chokey Chicken restaurants. He opened numerous restaurants and was big on the philosophy that each restaurant must have its own personality in order to fit the unique local culture and the variety of working spaces. This is in direct conflict with the KK way that everything must be exactly like the Bluffington location no matter what. There was only one Chokey Chicken location that had the full menu, Chokey Springfield. Chokey Springfield had a large space which was intelligently designed to accommodate such a large menu. The KK menu is all over the place, closing in on 50 menu items which comes up as a failure on the Chokey Chicken/Chum Bucket scale. This is not the only area KK comes up as a major failure on the Chokey Chicken/Chum Bucket scale.
Has anyone in this company ever worked festival traffic before? Does anyone have the experience of working next to a major venue with 8000 seats before this one? The way Bikini Bottom handles Dimmadome services it certainly appears that the decision-makers fall on the wrong side of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Having all 50 items available during such massive traffic is completely asinine. An unwillingness to serve a partial menu is hindering the Bikini Bottom kitchen staff. I have worked festival traffic before, and Dimmadome events bring in festival traffic. I’ve worked inside a festival whose line never ended but every customer got their order in 5 minutes or less because the line kept flowing with only four items on the menu as that’s what was warranted at the B-Sharps Music Festival. I refuse to be set up for failure the way Bikini Bottom sets up Dimmadome services for failure. The entire week of concerts in [summer] 2022 I was set up for failure every day (it was after this I modified my availability to keep my sanity and my paycheck). When I brought my concerns about running efficiently during Dimmadome services I was labeled a B-worker for the first time in my employment history by Icus and Krabs. It is that moment which I was either going to holler at them both for being 2-dimensional thinkers who were obviously unqualified for the positions they accepted in this company, or just put my head down. If Bikini Bottom has a successful concert day service, hail your team because they snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. They swam with concrete shoes. I often wonder how many customers had bad experiences and never returned after concert days. A Dimmadome service should have no more than 25 items and have one or two specials to divert traffic towards an area the kitchen can keep moving. An Open Cup Open Plate (OCOP) special for foot traffic is absolutely needed. When I suggested OCOP special, Heffer was intrigued by this idea and immediately named burgers as the special to keep foot traffic flowing. Smithers wouldn’t hear this idea, babbling on about what’s advertised instead of hearing out a sound idea. This prattle despite radio commercials having inaccurate hours and social media promoting Bikini Bottom’s steak tacos to this day. I always found Smithers to be a better fit as a middle management office pencil pusher than as a hands-on restaurant manager. Overall I find KK managers are selected to be automatons not to question their orders rather than critical thinkers who could take the restaurant to the next level. During brunch service is another period of time that must be modified to lessen the heft of items. Having a full menu that barely works plus brunch is so deep into Chum Bucket territory, in my opinion we now have to use the Tropic Thunder scale of full [R-word censored by jobs] to describe a 60-plus-item brunch. Chef Ren hired back a Chum Bucket cook who had a mental breakdown and stormed out during brunch (plus full menu) service because Ren knew the employee was justified and upper management was completely unreasonable in their brunch requests. It’s not just questionable decisions that hinder KK staff but improper equipment as well.
This is the first restaurant I have worked at which uses a touch screen on the line rather than tickets. From day one I found this to be technology for technology’s sake inferior to tickets. Chef Ren forced a new Chum Bucket location to rip out touch screens from the line and bring in ticket printers because of the higher efficiency. The touch screen is a great idea for expo, not the entire line. My biggest gripe is that each station does not get all the information. Early on I was regularly yelled at for not staggering my items, well I can’t see the rest of the order; a problem I have never had with a ticket system. Touchscreen software is also much more prone to errors and glitches. When I reported an error during a heavy service Icus and Krabs blamed my skills on the line without looking into the malfunctioning screen further. It was glitchy for weeks before the two finally investigated and corrected the issue I brought to their attention long before. Those two gave me an immense amount of ammunition to dislike them in the opening weeks until I stopped caring. The issue I had with being unable to scroll beyond the bottom of a completely filled screen has returned and is still there as of [my last day]. There are also important details that get buried. A frequent meltdown I have is that sauce on side requests and other important modifications are not capitalized or in red to catch the eye as they have been at jobs with tickets. These details get lost on Bikini Bottom’s touchscreens. A sauce on side salad made by me will be wrong 50% of the time because of the instructions being camouflaged in a word salad. This goes for coleslaw on the side and drizzle on the side too. Drizzle in general I dislike because of the pretentiousness, but whatever, drizzle it on top rather than putting it in a ramekin if you must. There are numerous places where Bikini Bottom overcomplicates matters for reasons I cannot ascertain.
Why is there such a large variety of plates? Why do we have a medium circular plate for salads and a large bowl for salads with protein? This just confuses the simplest of matters. I was told this is done because of the high price hike with protein, a larger presentation was desired. But that price hike is the price of protein in 2023. Bikini Bottom should put all salads in the large bowls and use all the circular salad plates in a skeet shooting promotion. I understand why we have both a circular platter plate and a pizza plate but in my restaurant the circular platter plates must go...or maybe the large platter plate instead. Is the large platter used for anything besides fish and chips? That extra space on fish and chips plates are only used for side sauces which can easily be delivered to customers on small circular plates. What is the medium oval plate doing that the medium rectangular plate isn’t? And vice versa. Why do they both exist when they are approximately the same size? Let me write an internet commercial where we break a lot of plates so we can get some logical use out of the superfluous plates. I don’t care which one is destroyed, the ovals or the rectangles but one of them is an unnecessary redundancy in excess done again. Speaking of commercials, the unimaginative radio advertisements for Bikini Bottom are doing little to lure new customers to the restaurant.
The three radio spots I have heard on KBBL all sound like they were produced by a marketing 101 student who wasn’t a natural in the field. The voiceover actor was so uncharismatic I was certain someone from the office was chosen at random to read the copy. Then I heard that same voiceover actor selling pool supplies on another radio station so I concluded that Bikini Bottom must have hired the cheapest guy in town to produce the most basic of commercials. Perhaps there is someone else you could hire more qualified to voiceover these commercials, an actor with experience on an Emmy award winning cable program whose unique place in the film industry was written about on [website] would be a much wiser choice to be the voice of the KK? (See external link). In the ad there was no catchphrase, no jingle, no music whatsoever. This simple approach to commercials lacks the pizazz to catch the attention of radio listeners. The first two commercials I heard would get a C in marketing 101 as they were nearly the exact same and accomplished the bare minimum to sell wares, the third one would maybe get a B- because there was some sort of attempted gimmick with the voiceover whispering to represent thinking inside his head about what he was going to eat later at KK. Not only does this commercial give no reason for the man to think inside his head, the outside world still and unpopulated. To see what a creative person would do with this concept see the attached script. There is an attempted slogan that could become part of an ad campaign. Commercials aren’t the only lost opportunities in promotions.
There are numerous promotional celebrity tie-ins at Bikini Bottom’s fingertips with Dimmadome performers. The restaurant could have a Phish sandwich as a OCOP special on [Phish performance dates], or a pretentious Jelly Roll on [Jelly Roll performance date]. Has anyone reached out to the Dimmadome theater or talent management for approved special menu items to be promoted inside the dome? Perhaps a special 20% discount to ticket holders? Is Bikini Bottom capable of getting permits to extend Open Container hours beyond [cutoff time] for an afterparty or block party throughout a Dimmadome concert? I see additional marketing opportunities left on the table for all new locations.
I believe new KK locations are missing out on a marketing campaign by opening with the entire cumbersome 50 item menu. This is a staggering amount of menu items which is too much to ask new staffers to perfect all at once. After a few months expanding the menu by approximately ten items is catching to customers who haven’t returned after a single visit or infrequently stop into KK. There are ten new food items that might appeal to them. Just like it appears KK doesn’t know what it’s looking for in a good commercial spot, this company doesn’t appear to recognize a talented from an untalented worker until it’s too late.
It is my understanding that KK had a headhunter to find Icus, the first Bikini Bottom kitchen manager. If it were up to me I’d hire someone to break the legs of that headhunter for bringing in a subpar kitchen lead. We are still attempting to recover from the lousy choices she made in the floor plan. If anybody responsible for Bikini Bottom’s floor plan is still giving input, stop them immediately. Once the doors were open to the public Icus had his head in the clouds to a point where I questioned if he saw the writing on the walls of an imminent demotion and stopped trying as a result. I had a full deck of 3x5 cards in an archaic powerpoint presentation bringing numerous concerns to light that he kept putting off listening to until he was fired. Those same cards were broken out for this essay. The second kitchen manager, Krumm, is a good lesson in honesty. According to Heffer, Krumm was given a bill of goods about how smoothly KK Bikini Bottom was running. Since Krumm stepped into a latrine pit which he was led to believe was a heated pool, he left in short time. Krumm also had plans to modify the menu but when his bosses told him to be a rodeo clown rather than a cowboy Krumm didn’t take too kindly to that. Meanwhile Heffer was the savior of the Bikini Bottom kitchen. I didn’t agree with every single decision he made, but I did with a majority of them. Heffer’s overhaul was such a blessing so I didn’t have to fiddle with the organization of 60% of the equipment anymore, only about 20% now. Too bad Heffer’s crippling depression came back after bashing his head into the wall out of frustration with the shackles KK restrained him with.
The current management team is enthusiastic but inexperienced. I see an accumulation of small infractions that might bring down Bikini Bottom’s health department rating significantly. I see the entire management team being inattentive or unaware about organizational issues. Whatever bureaucratic nonsense corporate tasks everyone with from the original sous chef Skeeter to Patty Mayonnaise that makes them walk away from the line between 11am and 1pm especially is infuriating. I have never been left alone on a multi-person line during peak hours so regularly, and I won’t tolerate it anymore. As much as I believe in his drive, I imagine our current kitchen manager SpongeBob will be let go after a disastrous service during the Dimmadome concert season that someone has to take the fall for. Chef Ren and I could help bring experience in management and dealing with festival traffic...if corporate does not force us to follow a failing strategy.
After working nearly a year at KK you may ask why I’m not proficient on more than one station. Excellent question. First, when I move over to another station the squeeze bottles are never labeled (until Stu Pickles was hired, now they’re sometimes labeled), so I always looked at the glut of unlabeled sauces and I’d go back to my station because the basic information is missing (also a health department violation for having numerous unlabeled, unchilled bottles). In his first week the new general manager Stu Pickles pulled out 90% of the containers under the grill station because they were lacking labels despite an expected health department visit. The second reason for my menu ignorance is the mountain of prep for my own and upcoming shifts I have piled up on my station throughout service. My attention to detail appears to be next level with my ability to anticipate stocking all items for all shifts including the weeknd. The third reason I wouldn’t learn multiple stations is a defense against the afternoon conference calls. In [month] the Bikini Bottom line was unprepared for a busy post lunch because one cook was cut and our expo person was busy with a conference call. The two of us remaining on the line had a miserable slog through an unexpectedly busy afternoon. When I brought this up to Krabs he disregarded me, being a good bean counter he quoted the cost percentage. What he didn’t take into account was the missing expo person who could have jumped on the line and expo to help the understaffed two man team. That person was stuck on a conference call. Just recently I saw the company actively lose money because of this poorly thought-out meeting during business hours. A customer wanted to order a dessert that was 86ed but had been restocked by our prep cook an hour before. The server was unable to sell them their dessert because the only person in the building who could help un-86 an item was on a conference call. This conference call calamity is another bone-headed choice that speaks to a larger decision-making problem within the corporate structure. Finish the conference calls by 10:45 am eastern.
In conclusion, I quit my position as a lowly grunt for this company because of its unwarranted perplexing dance steps and below average management. I don’t care how much varnish and lacquer is supplied, I refuse to polish this Bikini Bottom turd as a manager or full-time employee under the current circumstances. You would have to take a pickaxe to the floor, possibly relocate the bathrooms to add a door to the dishpit, get rid of the cheap low boy that doesn’t properly drain excess water, and Mr Gorbachov knock down that wall in the middle of the kitchen to give the proper amount of space to work. Or simply reduce the menu to 36 items (including sides) because that’s the amount of space this dreadful design can comfortably output. Would Gordon Ramsay compliment KK for all the unnecessary convoluted complications abound, or would Chef Ramsay yell about keeping it simple and demand KK chuck it in the flip? Thanks to the numerous pop up restaurants I have been a part of and the hectic world of trade shows/conventions, I may have more experience than anyone else employed by KK in smoothly opening a new location. I would enjoy being part of the opening team to ensure new locations have an efficiency Bikini Bottom lacks, and to keep upper management away from their worst instincts. Work with me and Chef Ren and we will help you become a well oiled machine like Chokey Chicken instead of the Chum Bucket cesspit Bikini Bottom currently embodies.

I know quitting your job as a cook usually simply comes with two weeks notice or a ragequit walkout, but for eleven months I worked at a new franchise that had such potential which was being squandered by the incompetence of upper management. I present the nearly 6000 word thesis I turned in on my last day. Locations and names have been changed to cartoon references. Brackets represent ambiguous information in place of specific details.
Krusty Krab Careers Jobs
Opening in [Month/Year], Krusty Krab (KK) Bikini Bottom is on its 4th kitchen manager in less than a year. Krusty Krab O-Town has recently let go its inaugural kitchen manager and sous chef. Almost no member of the Bikini Bottom opening management team remains employed by KK. There is a pattern developing where one must question both the choice of employee and the directive given to new franchises. These lingering issues I brought concerns about in the first weeks of opening but was disregarded at every turn despite my experience with festival traffic. As a result I decided this was not a place I wanted to advance, but with a good-enough paycheck I’d be a lowly grunt in the kitchen four days a week, at five days a week I would have quit or been fired over a public outburst long ago. If Krusty Krab alters course slightly while being true to the brand this could be a successful chain.
My unique employment history in brick and mortar restaurants, food trucks, pop up culinary concepts, trade shows/conventions, and the film industry make me an ideal candidate to be on the opening team for new KK locations. My outgoing nature and foresight are valuable assets. For example, on training week before opening when I was standing around idly without a task I took it upon myself to organize the disarray that was dry storage. Overhearing Krabs tell another manager where he wanted the cleaning products placed, I had a jumping off point and the organization I created nine months ago is still largely in place. Since returning from my vacation in early February I have made it my mission to keep the storage area organized because it was again starting to resemble a hoarder’s house rather than a commercial kitchen. This is now part of my weekly routines because every time I turn my back there is more product being placed haphazardly just anywhere with little regard. I also recently reorganized the walk-in cooler because of problematic stocking with items being placed on the same shelf or below raw proteins. I also simply put all the like products together such as cheeses or fruits that were scattered amongst several shelves. With recent overordering I cannot keep up with the organization of the walk in cooler. The pattern recognition of food types and even simple shapes appears to be lost on the Bikini Bottom crew. My daily reorganization of containers is proof of this. Most days I’ll take a few minutes to put all cylinders together, all cambros together in descending volume, all deep and shallow pans next to each other rather than intermixed. My decision to be a kitchen manager at age 19 from 2005 thru 2008 and rarely enter restaurant management since is very calculated.
With my prior knowledge of professional kitchens I was becoming Bikini Bottom’s resident nag to coworkers as I made note of health department violations on a daily basis. I stopped after being largely ignored for two weeks. My regular health department nags include; a battle with jackets and hats being placed only in the designated area (a designated area that did not exist until I created a place for personal items a in January by neatly organizing the dry storage area again), waiting until prepped items are cooled before a cover is placed on top, placement of raw seafood, open containers (very often sugar, flour, and pancake mix bags ripped open and left), and dirty dishes/containers placed back in rotation. The dirty dishes and containers in rotation with the clean ones are at an atrociously high number. I have given up on making the 4th fryer seafood allergy safe too. With the low volume of seafood allergy safe items Bikini Bottom should purchase smaller baskets to visually discourage cross contamination with the other fryers and baskets. My skills to organize the kitchen do not end with simply where to store products to meet minimal health department standards.
Half of the space in the Bikini Bottom kitchen is completely wasted on an ill-advised walkway to the dishpit. An intelligent design would place a second doorway directly to the dishpit connected to the bar or where the bathrooms reside. Numerous times during the opening week of KK Bikini Bottom I said, yelled, sang, and muttered that we have too many food items for the amount of space we have. Icus stated that there was more space than Bluffington. Is Bluffington intelligently designed? Because Bikini Bottom most certainly isn’t. So Bikini Bottom actually has less space even if there is more square footage. See the attached diagram for an intelligent design that could potentially house a menu of this size. Bikini Bottom forces a line design on this kitchen when an open concept is needed for this menu. It’s as if this floorplan was created by a person who had only ever seen one commercial kitchen previously and couldn’t think 4th dimensionally to understand the needs of the workers to smoothly serve customers.
There is not enough counter space for pizzas without getting off the line, the microwave is placed completely out of the way, the freezer’s curved design is a waste of potential counter space and a falling hazard for containers stored on top of it, the toaster is an overcomplicated and overexpensive piece of machinery that serves exactly one purpose when a flat top could be used to toast bread and other purposes like a quesadilla special, sautee was designed without an overhang for spices, the pantry station lacks the counter space to have two containers of flour and two containers of batter for seafood allergies, there are no Frialator fryers which I have worked with at every single kitchen job previously instead we got the cheap Vulcan model (is that logical), the cheap low boy in pantry that doesn’t drain excess water anywhere it’s just supposed to evaporate somehow but doesn’t, the grill and fryer should be placed next to each other (with a higher volume of crossover than other stations), the floors are flat instead on having a mild decline towards the drains (just look at the standing water residing behind the oven right now), in the dishpit the spraying area and the filled sinks are backwards of a logical dipshit, the ramp to the back door is on the wrong side, there is no refrigerated place downstairs to stage extra food for busy shifts (the beer cooler is once again used for such food items because of this massive oversight), the prep station is an afterthought and miniscule, the dishes on the line are difficult to grab for anyone under 5’11” and inaccessible for anyone under 5’6” (instead of putting them underneath tables that also give that desperately needed counterspace I spoke of), there is not enough space to store to-go containers or boats behind the line, expo is lacking a low boy for the numerous items that are supposed to be cold but are instead kept at room temperature all day long, no one in management thought about buying shelves until right before Bikini Bottom opened as a result the clean full sheets sat on the floor for days, we had only the exact amount of 1⁄6 pans for an absurd amount of time making it impossible to rotate and clean them when necessary (which is daily), we still struggle with 1/9 pan supply. And just when I thought I documented all the poor design choices possible I stumbled upon a person whose office holiday party was booked at KK Bikini Bottom. The deck space works just fine as a deck. It does not double well as a gathering space. The space is too long and narrow for parties, it promotes little splitoff groups rather than a coming together of a larger gathering. It may be advantageous to contact a social psychologist for help designing a private party space that promotes intermingling rather than enforcing small pockets to form. The reorganization of the physical kitchen isn’t all that screams for an overhaul.
There are six positions on the line at the Krusty Krab; expo, oven, grill, sautee, fryer, and pantry. But the pantry and fryer positions are forced together like a bad remix. Everyone who mainly works pantry deserves a $6 raise immediately because it is a station and a half. Both Icus and Krumm, while kitchen manager, kind of acknowledged the pantry is too big for one station without outright mentioning the lopsided distribution of work. I imagine in the only location where this works, Bluffington, a second person joins the pantry at noon because of the unreasonable amount of items one person is tasked with. Bikini Bottom only has one person in this position at all times, maybe modify it for one person? The excess of items on the pantry position largely resembles a position I would call “set-up” or “build” at a previous job that made sensible choices. This build position should have tostadas, tacos, butcher’s blocks, toast, salads, lettuce wrap set ups, and preparing plating for whichever station is most bogged down. I have absolutely lost my mind yelling about salads at least once a month, ranting that they do not belong on the fryer position because of how illogical it is that five salads are included on the mountain of other items the pantry has. I have always considered working in a kitchen a kind of dance, and the pantry station demands an unnecessarily convoluted dance to keep up with the demand. Without the salads, tostadas, and tacos the station is already the busiest. Do we really need to combine ballet and swing by including these extra awkward dance steps in this single station? For a kitchen designed this poorly I suppose it is. Again, see attached document for an intelligently designed kitchen that might be able to accommodate this menu. Unless Bikini Bottom is going to close for a month to fix the baffling floor plan design the menu is shouting to be reduced to 30-36 items.
The menu is too big. Krusty Krab is the jack of all foods, master of none. In general I believe individual locations should be allowed 18% omissions, and 18% unique items to this wildly unwieldy menu sitting around 50 food items including sides. The insistence on keeping menu items that don’t sell at Bikini Bottom because of Bluffington is mind boggling. Chicken tenders do not sell at Bikini Bottom. fried sushi does not sell at Bikini Bottom, not enough to justify their place on the line. I don’t care how well these items work in Bluffinton. They. Do. Not. Work. At. Bikini. Bottom. If the KK location in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean sells an incredible amount of live krill does that mean Bikini Bottom and O-Town must sell live krill too? Take the fried sushi off the menu. I had a complete meltdown about this during a Dimmadome service and my valid point was met with indifference. Replace the kid’s tenders with a kid’s fish sticks. We already have the tilapia fish sticks on the line for tacos. Or make the kid’s fish sticks cod. We cut cod to order for fish tacos in spite of health code violations because it is too rare of an order to make beforehand. Saffron in mashed potatoes? If you must. Why are green tomatoes only on the menu during lunch? Bikini Bottom throws away a sizable amount of spoiled green tomatoes each week. Have green tomatoes on the menu all day long or don’t have them at all. The smoked salmon could go on salads or a special taco to justify its place on the line. The corn pico’s place on the line is unjustified. It only goes on one item, tostadas, which are not particularly popular. If we had a taco salad we could throw the corn pico on there. We also have unreasonable waste from unusable taco shells, smash up those imperfect taco shells and throw them on said taco salad. But before we add salads, let's get rid of the pear and kale salads. The pears' position on the line are unjustified, if we threw them on a taco variation maybe their place on the Bikini Bottom line could be argued but for now they only go on a salad that isn’t particularly popular. The kale salad is an issue of space for a 4th green for salads is too much. The krusty salad is my most hated house salad of all time. And it comes down to the toast with goat cheese. This ancillary step of spreading goat cheese on a cracker is an unnecessary step for an overly complicated dance and should be part of the expo dance if expo wasn’t a shoddily designed afterthought lacking a low boy.
There are a plethora of squeeze bottles on the pantry station that have no place on the overloaded station. They belong to an expo station with a low boy to keep them cold. Pantry has an overwhelming ten squeeze bottles: chipotle crema, sweet chili vinaigrette, buffalo, korean bbq, ranch, caesar, wine vinaigrette, lemon vinaigrette, honey mustard, and lemon aioli. Only the first four are justified on an intelligently designed fryer section, the second four belong on the build station, the last two have no place anywhere but expo. With this extra space sautee could keep their bottles and two purees cold in the fryer's lowboy instead of leaving them at room temperature all day inviting a pathogen party. This theorized intelligently designed expo would have room to keep these four squeeze bottles and a double of every sauce chilled to pour them into ramekins, a move that is highly common in the expo dance. The fact that expo doesn’t have a double of all squeeze bottles is foolish. Expo has to bother an overloaded station to pour these side sauces instead.
How many gallons of basil aioli has Bikini Bottom thrown away in 11 months? Four aiolis in general is way too many and most go on a single item; basil aioli on the incredibly unpopular veggie burger, lemon aioli for calamari, sweet chili aioli for the BLT that is only served half of the day, and garlic aioli actually goes on two items…I believe. What a colossal waste of precious little space, lose two aiolis and then you can sing the logical song with me. Perhaps we can put garlic aioli and sweet chili vinaigrette on the BLT separately and accomplish the exact same thing the sweet chili aioli does. The wings too have unneeded complications. Having worked at a sports bar specializing in wings for the better part of a decade I find KK’s plating of wings to be overly pretentious. The carrots, celery, and blue cheese have lost function. Heffer Wolf always said no one eats the carrot/celery julienne with blue cheese. It’s a complete waste of all the ingredients because you’ve gone too far with the presentation. Wings aren’t fancy. Wings are supposed to have a small pool of sauce and be sloppy. It’s like a sloppy joe that’s not sloppy, an unsloppy joe is a failure to sloppy joes just as the KK presentation of wings is a disparagement to the dish. Ever since training week back in 2022 I have used a scale to give Bikini Bottom a passing or failing grade.
Chokey Chicken to Chum Bucket is the scale I use to judge efficiency and sanity at Bikini Bottom. Both establishments are upscale casual dining experiences in Capitol City in the same vein as KK. Chokey had high employee retention and relatively smooth openings for new locations. Chum Bucket’s employee turnover was high and every location opening was chaotic. Which one sounds closer to KK? Chokey Chicken was filled with chefs I respect including Chef Ren Hoek who remains a close friend to this day. Ren lost his lifelong passion for kitchen work after working management at Chum Bucket. He’s actually seeking work in Bikini Bottom. Call him up at [phone number], but KK will give him Nam’ flashbacks of why he chose driving for a living rather than cooking for five years. The pair of us together helming Bikini Bottom with the ability to omit and create 18% of the overloaded menu can bring success to this franchise. We have worked well numerous times in the past on various concepts in the past including creating The Attack of the Pickled Tomatoes Burger for [Promotional live performance of a TV show] at the Capitol City Theater. We served 100 people in 60 at the [sitcom filming] lunch. That’s physically impossible but somehow we did it quite a few times.
A fun anecdote about Ren Hoek’s KK experience from the soft launch; on training week numerous times I brought concerns about being seafood allergy safe that were dismissed. As mentioned earlier the pantry station lacks the counter space to have two containers of flour and two containers of batter, one each of which seafood never touches. Before the soft launch Chef Stimpy from Bluffington insisted all customers just kind of know everything is prone to be seafood contaminated. Well, chef Ren was a customer that night and this absolutely was not communicated to customers. He claimed to have a slight seafood allergy and was not informed of what the crab soup was. In reality he does not have a seafood allergy. I didn’t discuss the seafood issue with Ren, separately we noticed egregious violations of food safety standards and we each responded in our own way. The soft launch service was so awful that night Chef Ren walked out of a free meal to pay for some ramen, never to return to Bikini Bottom. I attribute this oversight, and many of Bikini Bottom’s (and probably O-Town’s) problems to hubris over the Bluffington location.
Chef Chokey would also be hesitant to join the KK team. It will cost a finder’s fee just for me to reveal Chef Chokey’s name. Chef Chokey was a lead in the rapid expansion of Chokey Chicken restaurants. He opened numerous restaurants and was big on the philosophy that each restaurant must have its own personality in order to fit the unique local culture and the variety of working spaces. This is in direct conflict with the KK way that everything must be exactly like the Bluffington location no matter what. There was only one Chokey Chicken location that had the full menu, Chokey Springfield. Chokey Springfield had a large space which was intelligently designed to accommodate such a large menu. The KK menu is all over the place, closing in on 50 menu items which comes up as a failure on the Chokey Chicken/Chum Bucket scale. This is not the only area KK comes up as a major failure on the Chokey Chicken/Chum Bucket scale.
Has anyone in this company ever worked festival traffic before? Does anyone have the experience of working next to a major venue with 8000 seats before this one? The way Bikini Bottom handles Dimmadome services it certainly appears that the decision-makers fall on the wrong side of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Having all 50 items available during such massive traffic is completely asinine. An unwillingness to serve a partial menu is hindering the Bikini Bottom kitchen staff. I have worked festival traffic before, and Dimmadome events bring in festival traffic. I’ve worked inside a festival whose line never ended but every customer got their order in 5 minutes or less because the line kept flowing with only four items on the menu as that’s what was warranted at the B-Sharps Music Festival. I refuse to be set up for failure the way Bikini Bottom sets up Dimmadome services for failure. The entire week of concerts in [summer] 2022 I was set up for failure every day (it was after this I modified my availability to keep my sanity and my paycheck). When I brought my concerns about running efficiently during Dimmadome services I was labeled a B-worker for the first time in my employment history by Icus and Krabs. It is that moment which I was either going to holler at them both for being 2-dimensional thinkers who were obviously unqualified for the positions they accepted in this company, or just put my head down. If Bikini Bottom has a successful concert day service, hail your team because they snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. They swam with concrete shoes. I often wonder how many customers had bad experiences and never returned after concert days. A Dimmadome service should have no more than 25 items and have one or two specials to divert traffic towards an area the kitchen can keep moving. An Open Cup Open Plate (OCOP) special for foot traffic is absolutely needed. When I suggested OCOP special, Heffer was intrigued by this idea and immediately named burgers as the special to keep foot traffic flowing. Smithers wouldn’t hear this idea, babbling on about what’s advertised instead of hearing out a sound idea. This prattle despite radio commercials having inaccurate hours and social media promoting Bikini Bottom’s steak tacos to this day. I always found Smithers to be a better fit as a middle management office pencil pusher than as a hands-on restaurant manager. Overall I find KK managers are selected to be automatons not to question their orders rather than critical thinkers who could take the restaurant to the next level. During brunch service is another period of time that must be modified to lessen the heft of items. Having a full menu that barely works plus brunch is so deep into Chum Bucket territory, in my opinion we now have to use the Tropic Thunder scale of full retard to describe a 60-plus-item brunch. Chef Ren hired back a Chum Bucket cook who had a mental breakdown and stormed out during brunch (plus full menu) service because Ren knew the employee was justified and upper management was completely unreasonable in their brunch requests. It’s not just questionable decisions that hinder KK staff but improper equipment as well.
This is the first restaurant I have worked at which uses a touch screen on the line rather than tickets. From day one I found this to be technology for technology’s sake inferior to tickets. Chef Ren forced a new Chum Bucket location to rip out touch screens from the line and bring in ticket printers because of the higher efficiency. The touch screen is a great idea for expo, not the entire line. My biggest gripe is that each station does not get all the information. Early on I was regularly yelled at for not staggering my items, well I can’t see the rest of the order; a problem I have never had with a ticket system. Touchscreen software is also much more prone to errors and glitches. When I reported an error during a heavy service Icus and Krabs blamed my skills on the line without looking into the malfunctioning screen further. It was glitchy for weeks before the two finally investigated and corrected the issue I brought to their attention long before. Those two gave me an immense amount of ammunition to dislike them in the opening weeks until I stopped caring. The issue I had with being unable to scroll beyond the bottom of a completely filled screen has returned and is still there as of [my last day]. There are also important details that get buried. A frequent meltdown I have is that sauce on side requests and other important modifications are not capitalized or in red to catch the eye as they have been at jobs with tickets. These details get lost on Bikini Bottom’s touchscreens. A sauce on side salad made by me will be wrong 50% of the time because of the instructions being camouflaged in a word salad. This goes for coleslaw on the side and drizzle on the side too. Drizzle in general I dislike because of the pretentiousness, but whatever, drizzle it on top rather than putting it in a ramekin if you must. There are numerous places where Bikini Bottom overcomplicates matters for reasons I cannot ascertain.
Why is there such a large variety of plates? Why do we have a medium circular plate for salads and a large bowl for salads with protein? This just confuses the simplest of matters. I was told this is done because of the high price hike with protein, a larger presentation was desired. But that price hike is the price of protein in 2023. Bikini Bottom should put all salads in the large bowls and use all the circular salad plates in a skeet shooting promotion. I understand why we have both a circular platter plate and a pizza plate but in my restaurant the circular platter plates must go...or maybe the large platter plate instead. Is the large platter used for anything besides fish and chips? That extra space on fish and chips plates are only used for side sauces which can easily be delivered to customers on small circular plates. What is the medium oval plate doing that the medium rectangular plate isn’t? And vice versa. Why do they both exist when they are approximately the same size? Let me write an internet commercial where we break a lot of plates so we can get some logical use out of the superfluous plates. I don’t care which one is destroyed, the ovals or the rectangles but one of them is an unnecessary redundancy in excess done again. Speaking of commercials, the unimaginative radio advertisements for Bikini Bottom are doing little to lure new customers to the restaurant.
The three radio spots I have heard on KBBL all sound like they were produced by a marketing 101 student who wasn’t a natural in the field. The voiceover actor was so uncharismatic I was certain someone from the office was chosen at random to read the copy. Then I heard that same voiceover actor selling pool supplies on another radio station so I concluded that Bikini Bottom must have hired the cheapest guy in town to produce the most basic of commercials. Perhaps there is someone else you could hire more qualified to voiceover these commercials, an actor with experience on an Emmy award winning cable program whose unique place in the film industry was written about on [website] would be a much wiser choice to be the voice of the KK? (See external link). In the ad there was no catchphrase, no jingle, no music whatsoever. This simple approach to commercials lacks the pizazz to catch the attention of radio listeners. The first two commercials I heard would get a C in marketing 101 as they were nearly the exact same and accomplished the bare minimum to sell wares, the third one would maybe get a B- because there was some sort of attempted gimmick with the voiceover whispering to represent thinking inside his head about what he was going to eat later at KK. Not only does this commercial give no reason for the man to think inside his head, the outside world still and unpopulated. To see what a creative person would do with this concept see the attached script. There is an attempted slogan that could become part of an ad campaign. Commercials aren’t the only lost opportunities in promotions.
There are numerous promotional celebrity tie-ins at Bikini Bottom’s fingertips with Dimmadome performers. The restaurant could have a Phish sandwich as a OCOP special on [Phish performance dates], or a pretentious Jelly Roll on [Jelly Roll performance date]. Has anyone reached out to the Dimmadome theater or talent management for approved special menu items to be promoted inside the dome? Perhaps a special 20% discount to ticket holders? Is Bikini Bottom capable of getting permits to extend Open Container hours beyond [cutoff time] for an afterparty or block party throughout a Dimmadome concert? I see additional marketing opportunities left on the table for all new locations.
I believe new KK locations are missing out on a marketing campaign by opening with the entire cumbersome 50 item menu. This is a staggering amount of menu items which is too much to ask new staffers to perfect all at once. After a few months expanding the menu by approximately ten items is catching to customers who haven’t returned after a single visit or infrequently stop into KK. There are ten new food items that might appeal to them. Just like it appears KK doesn’t know what it’s looking for in a good commercial spot, this company doesn’t appear to recognize a talented from an untalented worker until it’s too late.
It is my understanding that KK had a headhunter to find Icus, the first Bikini Bottom kitchen manager. If it were up to me I’d hire someone to break the legs of that headhunter for bringing in a subpar kitchen lead. We are still attempting to recover from the lousy choices she made in the floor plan. If anybody responsible for Bikini Bottom’s floor plan is still giving input, stop them immediately. Once the doors were open to the public Icus had his head in the clouds to a point where I questioned if he saw the writing on the walls of an imminent demotion and stopped trying as a result. I had a full deck of 3x5 cards in an archaic powerpoint presentation bringing numerous concerns to light that he kept putting off listening to until he was fired. Those same cards were broken out for this essay. The second kitchen manager, Krumm, is a good lesson in honesty. According to Heffer, Krumm was given a bill of goods about how smoothly KK Bikini Bottom was running. Since Krumm stepped into a latrine pit which he was led to believe was a heated pool, he left in short time. Krumm also had plans to modify the menu but when his bosses told him to be a rodeo clown rather than a cowboy Krumm didn’t take too kindly to that. Meanwhile Heffer was the savior of the Bikini Bottom kitchen. I didn’t agree with every single decision he made, but I did with a majority of them. Heffer’s overhaul was such a blessing so I didn’t have to fiddle with the organization of 60% of the equipment anymore, only about 20% now. Too bad Heffer’s crippling depression came back after bashing his head into the wall out of frustration with the shackles KK restrained him with.
The current management team is enthusiastic but inexperienced. I see an accumulation of small infractions that might bring down Bikini Bottom’s health department rating significantly. I see the entire management team being inattentive or unaware about organizational issues. Whatever bureaucratic nonsense corporate tasks everyone with from the original sous chef Skeeter to Patty Mayonnaise that makes them walk away from the line between 11am and 1pm especially is infuriating. I have never been left alone on a multi-person line during peak hours so regularly, and I won’t tolerate it anymore. As much as I believe in his drive, I imagine our current kitchen manager SpongeBob will be let go after a disastrous service during the Dimmadome concert season that someone has to take the fall for. Chef Ren and I could help bring experience in management and dealing with festival traffic...if corporate does not force us to follow a failing strategy.
After working nearly a year at KK you may ask why I’m not proficient on more than one station. Excellent question. First, when I move over to another station the squeeze bottles are never labeled (until Stu Pickles was hired, now they’re sometimes labeled), so I always looked at the glut of unlabeled sauces and I’d go back to my station because the basic information is missing (also a health department violation for having numerous unlabeled, unchilled bottles). In his first week the new general manager Stu Pickles pulled out 90% of the containers under the grill station because they were lacking labels despite an expected health department visit. The second reason for my menu ignorance is the mountain of prep for my own and upcoming shifts I have piled up on my station throughout service. My attention to detail appears to be next level with my ability to anticipate stocking all items for all shifts including the weeknd. The third reason I wouldn’t learn multiple stations is a defense against the afternoon conference calls. In [month] the Bikini Bottom line was unprepared for a busy post lunch because one cook was cut and our expo person was busy with a conference call. The two of us remaining on the line had a miserable slog through an unexpectedly busy afternoon. When I brought this up to Krabs he disregarded me, being a good bean counter he quoted the cost percentage. What he didn’t take into account was the missing expo person who could have jumped on the line and expo to help the understaffed two man team. That person was stuck on a conference call. Just recently I saw the company actively lose money because of this poorly thought-out meeting during business hours. A customer wanted to order a dessert that was 86ed but had been restocked by our prep cook an hour before. The server was unable to sell them their dessert because the only person in the building who could help un-86 an item was on a conference call. This conference call calamity is another bone-headed choice that speaks to a larger decision-making problem within the corporate structure. Finish the conference calls by 10:45 am eastern.
In conclusion, I quit my position as a lowly grunt for this company because of its unwarranted perplexing dance steps and below average management. I don’t care how much varnish and lacquer is supplied, I refuse to polish this Bikini Bottom turd as a manager or full-time employee under the current circumstances. You would have to take a pickaxe to the floor, possibly relocate the bathrooms to add a door to the dishpit, get rid of the cheap low boy that doesn’t properly drain excess water, and Mr Gorbachov knock down that wall in the middle of the kitchen to give the proper amount of space to work. Or simply reduce the menu to 36 items (including sides) because that’s the amount of space this dreadful design can comfortably output. Would Gordon Ramsay compliment KK for all the unnecessary convoluted complications abound, or would Chef Ramsay yell about keeping it simple and demand KK chuck it in the flip? Thanks to the numerous pop up restaurants I have been a part of and the hectic world of trade shows/conventions, I may have more experience than anyone else employed by KK in smoothly opening a new location. I would enjoy being part of the opening team to ensure new locations have an efficiency Bikini Bottom lacks, and to keep upper management away from their worst instincts. Work with me and Chef Ren and we will help you become a well oiled machine like Chokey Chicken instead of the Chum Bucket cesspit Bikini Bottom currently embodies.