u/Kapitalist_Pigdog2

True story. Met said friend in college and I felt we were pretty close. We played D&D together, board games, video games, etc. They actually introduced me to TI4 and I quite enjoyed it. At one point I thought I’d ask them to be the godparent of my child when/if I had one.

In 2022 without a word, I got kicked from their Discord server, which was how I was keeping in contact with college friends. Any attempts to contact the friend (who owned the server) were left on read or ignored. I never heard from them again. It actually hurt a lot at the time because I was already at a low point in my life.

Maybe I wasn’t great to be around back then, maybe I said something or maybe there was a misunderstanding; truly I do not know why. That uncertainty hurt more than the act itself. If I knew the reason I could at least improve myself. I didn’t know though, so I spent a long time assuming the worst about myself in what happened.

Eventually life got better. I got a new job, met a gaming group at a LFGS that played TI4 and we played every month or so unless people were busy, and I got a new girlfriend too. One day I saw my gaming friends whispering about something and when asked, they said they couldn’t talk about it until I signed an NDA. After signing it I was officially part of the Thunder’s Edge play-testing group, which was really fun. We contributed a lot of feedback and it was SO HARD to not comment on speculation from the community about the expansion.

Anyways, that was a long time ago now; if they texted me tomorrow it’d be like nothing happened. Granted, I didn’t seek out any of this with purpose. I’m just tickled that my name is forever stamped on every copy of the TE expansion for their favorite game they were so excited to introduce to me in their parents’ kitchen nearly a decade ago. Even their copy will have my name on it, whether they notice it or not.

It looks so much more calm to an observer but I swear it’s intense

The first video clip was just a few hours ago. There is/was an Eastern Box Turtle that you might encounter on occasion who’s been there for at least 6 years that my ex identified as female back in 2019. That turtle was easily recognizable because she had a missing hind foot, this must be someone else. Maybe a mate?

The second video is a rather healthy looking rat snake that I spotted only about 20 feet away this past Saturday. My mother always encouraged us to leave them alone because they are proficient at keeping the moles and chipmunks to manageable levels. We used to have a rat snake that became so large that it was mistaken for a garden hose (until it moved) more than once!

A few may remember this post I made last year: https://www.reddit.com/r/sailing/s/5kJhxHFAPA

Suffice it to say that I was not persuaded out of the idea of sailing (my fault for asking a subreddit of sailing enthusiasts).

I decided to look for something small, like a day sailor or dinghy, since I could easily move it and it wouldn’t require much special maintenance or overwintering prep; not to mention slip fees.

What do you know, out of sheer luck today I managed to buy a Sunfish for $100 and in sailing condition too! Needs a small hole topside patched but that shouldn’t be too bad. Can’t say I’ve ever seen a Sunfish+sail near me selling for less than $500 except for parts and rehab projects. Usually I see them for $700

Part of me wishes that I did get something that could comfortably fit more people and keep them dry; but my gf gets motion sickness extremely easily, so maybe it’s better to get something that’s just fun to sail. Plus the fish logo is cute.

I have a friend who will teach me the basics on my family’s pond. If I like it enough I’ll join my local sailing club this summer and keep it there to sail on the reservoir. If I REALLY like it, I might consider getting something bigger down the road if I’m in a good spot in my life to do so. If I don’t like it, I’m sure I could sell it within the week for more than I paid for it.

One of you did reach out to me and invited to take me sailing on the Great Lakes, I think I will still take them up on that once classes are over and I sail a little bit.