Hi all, the rear window trim on our 19 m3 was bent by a carwash, and my wife hates it. Can any of you point me to a repair manual so I an find a part number and instructions on how to fix this?
https://imgur.com/a/JwMcaSO

Long post
I didn’t have a good day at work yesterday. I currently work in a production facility. There was this coworker who’s been working their for six years. She’s a trainer as well. But I keep getting paired up with her. It seems to me that she thrives on perfection. She cleans and works on the machine inside and out.
I consider her to be high maintenance. when the lids fall underneath the spinning bars. you’re suppose to shovel the lids with this contraption. Shovel the lids down into the thing that spews the lids on the side of the machine. That then carry’s the lids onto the turn tables. That then get spun again on the spinning bars.
Anyways, I was just trying to tidy up my work area. So I don’t look sloppy and disorganized. Several times I was trying to shovel down the lids. Push the lids with the contraption into the hole. She goes on to say it causes the lids to get stuck on the opening.
She then raised her voice at me to not “push so hard” and made hand gestures. She went on to say that I push so hard. Then at some other time she went on to say how we should shovel, or what I call shovel. Dk what she calls it. Shovel at different times. It was all just a big mess. She went on to say how we both can’t shovel and how the turn tables get jammed.
Idk, all I know was that I couldn’t shovel lids when I needed to. I think she’s nuts. Then she was calling maintenance over. Two guys came and took a look at parts of the machine around the hole the fallen lids go into? They didn’t find anything. Then she got another guy from maintenance who basically did what he could. then she brought a fourth guy from maintenance then a fifth person- a girl from maintenance who was curious to see what was going on. They were working on it for a awhile.
And this particular coworker was extremely nit picky. The lids has to be stacked. Not a single lid could be facing the other side. Lots of people just show up and do the bare minimum. I might do a bit little more. But she was beyond nuts about the job. I’m my head I was like whoa girl, their just plastic lids and a cardboard box.
And on top of that she doesn’t let me carry the box past the tape machine on to the palette. I don’t particularly like carrying the boxes over. But for each box, it’s adding to my daily step count. Plus I spend about a min less away from the machine and the person standing across from me. She says along the line “ don’t worry about it” or something like “I got it.”
Now that I think about it. She’s nit picky about the cardboard boxes too! The boxes have to be labeled with a white printed paper. The basically says what’s inside and what # the box is. She’s nit picky about how the empty cardboard boxes are stacked before i use them to get filled up with plastic lids. Also how their stacked on the palette. Side by side each individual # stacked numerically.
Like as long as the five or six numbered boxes are on the same layer on the palette it should be fine? Like if 66 was on one side and 67 was on the other side of the layer or row whatever it’s called. But no to her it has to be 66 stacked next to 67.
I’d rather work by myself on a single machine than a machine that requires two people. But I’m not going to complain. I’ve thought about but I don’t want to get myself in trouble. I don’t want to be that person. When my coworker raised her voice at me. it left me traumatized. I can still hear it in my head.
I don’t think I want to work alongside her at a machine. What if I have to work with her again at next week? Should I complain about the coworker? Well, not about the coworker. But about having to work with that coworker? I hate to be that person. But if it says on that schedule for my next work day. That I have work with her. Then I’m seriously considering complaining to someone with a safety vest? To switch me with someone else? (22f Midwest).

Long post
I didn’t have a good day at work yesterday. I currently work in a production facility. There was this coworker who’s been working their for six years. She’s a trainer as well. But I keep getting paired up with her. It seems to me that she thrives on perfection. She cleans and works on the machine inside and out.
I consider her to be high maintenance. when the lids fall underneath the spinning bars. you’re suppose to shovel the lids with this contraption. Shovel the lids down into the thing that spews the lids on the side of the machine. That then carry’s the lids onto the turn tables. That then get spun again on the spinning bars.
Anyways, I was just trying to tidy up my work area. So I don’t look sloppy and disorganized. Several times I was trying to shovel down the lids. Push the lids with the contraption into the hole. She goes on to say it causes the lids to get stuck on the opening.
She then raised her voice at me to not “push so hard” and made hand gestures. She went on to say that I push so hard. Then at some other time she went on to say how we should shovel, or what I call shovel. Dk what she calls it. Shovel at different times. It was all just a big mess. She went on to say how we both can’t shovel and how the turn tables get jammed.
Idk, all I know was that I couldn’t shovel lids when I needed to. I think she’s nuts. Then she was calling maintenance over. Two guys came and took a look at parts of the machine around the hole the fallen lids go into? They didn’t find anything. Then she got another guy from maintenance who basically did what he could. then she brought a fourth guy from maintenance then a fifth person- a girl from maintenance who was curious to see what was going on. They were working on it for a awhile.
And this particular coworker was extremely nit picky. The lids has to be stacked. Not a single lid could be facing the other side. Lots of people just show up and do the bare minimum. I might do a bit little more. But she was beyond nuts about the job. I’m my head I was like whoa girl, their just plastic lids and a cardboard box.
And on top of that she doesn’t let me carry the box past the tape machine on to the palette. I don’t particularly like carrying the boxes over. But for each box, it’s adding to my daily step count. Plus I spend about a min less away from the machine and the person standing across from me. She says along the line “ don’t worry about it” or something like “I got it.”
Now that I think about it. She’s nit picky about the cardboard boxes too! The boxes have to be labeled with a white printed paper. The basically says what’s inside and what # the box is. She’s nit picky about how the empty cardboard boxes are stacked before i use them to get filled up with plastic lids. Also how their stacked on the palette. Side by side each individual # stacked numerically.
Like as long as the five or six numbered boxes are on the same layer on the palette it should be fine? Like if 66 was on one side and 67 was on the other side of the layer or row whatever it’s called. But no to her it has to be 66 stacked next to 67.
I’d rather work by myself on a single machine than a machine that requires two people. But I’m not going to complain. I’ve thought about but I don’t want to get myself in trouble. I don’t want to be that person. When my coworker raised her voice at me. it left me traumatized. I can still hear it in my head.
I don’t think I want to work alongside her at a machine. What if I have to work with her again at next week? Should I complain about the coworker? Well, not about the coworker. But about having to work with that coworker? I hate to be that person. But if it says on that schedule for my next work day. That I have work with her. Then I’m seriously considering complaining to someone with a safety vest? To switch me with someone else? (22f Midwest).

For context, my toddler aged daughter goes to nursery full time, whilst me and my partner work full time too. I WFH, he works hybrid. I am 27 and he is 32. As it stands right now my partner earns roughly double my salary, and as I have more flexibility, I am able to do pick up/drop offs at nursery, and get all the house admin done.
My partner is in the process of negotiating a promotion to a managerial role, to which I'm obviously proud of him, he's been excelling in his field etc. With this being said, this will probably take him to at least 2.5x my salary based on what's being said. He will also probably be doing more hours, meaning I will be even more so the primary caregiver (I do about 95% of the primary care duties for my daughter). I'm just in 2 minds about what this means for me and my role.
My plans prior to this were for me progress in my role, and continue to plant the seeds to a promotion. I've always been ambitious, wanting to hit the next goal, and learn new things. Should all be well, I will be embarking on a 3 year apprenticeship degree, which afterwards would put me in position for a mid-high level roles with a lot of responsibility. I would absolutely love to do this. This means more money, but I don't want to be the parent who misses out on school plays, or can't take their daughter to the dentist etc like some working mums aren't able to because of work meetings/deadlines/not being able to get out the office. My family is my number one priority, but I don't want to miss an opportunity to grow and miss out down the line. A part of me wonders if I should just continue to stay at the same level, do a good job knowing that if someone is needed at home- I can be that person because realistically someone has to be, and it won't be my partner.
Hopefully this makes sense!

Hey folks – May’s all wrapped up and ready for its contest!
Since the subreddit will shut down for 48 hours starting on Monday, June 12, I’ll leave the contest submissions open a little longer than usual. But you can go ahead and get your suggestions in right now through THIS VOTING SUBMISSION FORM RIGHT HERE. Let us know your favorite stories from May!
Please keep in mind that these twelve have to wait one year past their last victory before becoming eligible again:

MONTH WON	WINNER
April 2023	Adomanzius
March 2023	ChristianWallis
February 2023	PeaceSim
January 2023	EvilZucchinis
December 2022	girl_from_the_crypt
November 2022	RichardSaxon
October 2022	WorldAwayTweedy
September 2022	GTripp14
August 2022	genuinelygrim
July 2022	disco-dingus
June 2022	SirUlrichVonLichten
May 2022	twophonesonepager

A few more notes:

• Anyone can nominate any number of eligible stories.
  
• Only the first parts of series posts are eligible.
  
• Only stories from May 1 – 31, 2023 are eligible.
  
• Please remember, you must refrain from advertising stories on this post or on the upcoming voting thread.
  

Now get your story suggestions in!

Note: TLDR and Tips at the end.
I found out that I passed the PE Civil Structural a few weeks ago and as much as I wanted to post my results in celebration I felt compelled to provide a much more detailed response to my fellow engineers (especially those in the structural depth)! When preparing and doing research I had so much anxiety about the test. If you are like me, I tried to gauge the difficulty of the test based off of feedback and forum posts... However, you will hear everything from "Test is easier than xyz" or "It is much harder than xyz". Hopefully I can shed some light on this subject, give others a better sense of direction, and help you prepare so you crush it! (No I will not share with you anything even remotely close to what problems I saw on the test, this would break the NDA. I worked too hard to get here and so will you!)
​

My Background

I graduated from University of Portland, Oregon in 2015 with a BSCE and a good GPA of ~3.75. My civil friend group definitely helped me achieve that GPA by doing homework together. After graduation I did some additional studying to take the FE. I took it a few weeks after graduation at a Pearson Vue Center (turns out I would be back to the same one to take my PE) and passed it on my first try. Then I began my job search.
I applied to so many structural firms but had a hard time landing a job because they all wanted master degrees. Almost 4 months after graduation I landed my first job (remote) at a structural engineering software company that also provided consulting services. I can't help but laugh because the specialty/focus was on post-tensioned concrete (definitely did not learn any PT in school). I spent a few months learning the company's software and the basics of post-tensioned concrete. In fact a couple of the months I was in the customer support department.
Eventually I transitioned into the consulting department. We were typically subcontracted out by the EOR to do post-tensioned slab designs. I would say over 90% of my work was gravity design of two-way flat plate podiums. Oh.. and did I say I was remote? This made the job and learning curve so much more difficult. I could not simply hop over to my bosses office to ask a question and rarely did I get feedback on the work I did. I had no/little idea if I was doing things correctly. I honestly felt more like a drafter than an engineer because I would do the model creation, set up preliminary tendon layout/quantities based on 125 psi pre-compression and that was about it. Later on I got more understanding of what to look for when designing these systems (top and bottom stress limits, tendon sweep, deflection, crack mitigation, etc.) but the focus was still primarily the slab design.
About 3.25 years in (including a few months where I switched over to our licensing department to pick up slack) I was DONE with consulting. I was hating the long hours, the mediocre pay, and the lack of appreciation. One day the owner informed me that the consulting department was closing down. He gave me 3 months to look for another job. Fed up with consulting I asked if there was a different role I could take, his answer: Sales. Yuck... I just pictured a used car salesman. Talking with my colleagues and weighing the costs/benefits I decided to take the leap into a sales role. Part of this very difficult decision involved giving up on my dream of becoming a PE... I simply did not have the 4 years experience required.
Things changed about 1.5 years later and my new boss at the company approached me last year and asked if I was ever planning on getting my PE. I told him how I was short on the experience side of things and from there he put me in a position where I was using engineering (worked in the support team for another 6ish months and began the technical presentation side of my career).
In October of 2022 I signed up for the School of PE and schedule my test. I took the PE exam (CBT) May 16, 2023; 8 years after graduation and being out of consulting for almost 5 years. May 23rd I found out I passed!
​

Schedule and Resources

I allotted exactly 12 weeks to study with 1 day off before the test (which I did not actually do). After all was done I averaged roughly 25 hours per week; 300 hours total. Below is what my schedule looked like:
Week 1 - Week 8

• 3.5 hours of class with School of PE (M, T, W, R)
• 3 hours of rereading class notes/writing notecards on topics I felt needed consistent review (F).
• 4 hours rereading class notes/writing notecards (Sa)
• 3 hours rereading class notes/writing notecards (Su)
• 1 hour (re)doing class problems only using reference manual (Su). When I got to the structural depth part of the course, I spent this hour going through the codes to familiarize myself and honestly did not do any problems. (Su)
• Any spare time was spent doing School of PE flash cards and my own flashcards.

Week 9

• In place of class hours, I did as much of the breadth problems as I could from School of PE: Quizes and the Workshop Problems. (not the "Build your own exam/quiz").
• I took the NCEES practice exam at the end of the week as if it was test day (started at 8am, timed myself, took the 50 min break, etc.). I expected to completely fail the Depth section since I had only really attended the class and did not work problems yet. However, I really wanted to gauge the difficulty of the test so I new what/how to study moving forward. I scored 56/80. 34/40 morning and 23/40 afternoon. I spent about 3 hours on the morning took and then spent 5 hours on the afternoon. I ran out of time and had to blind guess on about 5 problems, which I got all wrong by the way. (this is where googling feedback about the NCEES practice exam difficulty got bad for my confidence).
• Did flash cards while riding in the car, waiting for food at restaurants, etc.

Week 10

• Reviewed and reworked all problems I got wrong on the NCEES practice exam. Looking at my schedule I did not hit my typical hours for the week (I did 0 studying the day after taking the practice test).
• Did flash cards while riding in the car, waiting for food at restaurants, etc.

Week 11

• Solved Structural Depth problems (no timer) from: https://amzn.to/3qidEnV. I found this an ok book to use. It has some errors and mess ups. Also, the wording/clarity of the questions was not to NCEES standards. However, the concepts and procedures helped a ton with learning the subjects. I found these rather challenging and got over 20 of them wrong going through it the first time. I never touched the breadth problems from this book.
• Did flash cards while riding in the car, waiting for food at restaurants, etc.

Week 12

• Took PPI Structural Depth test 1 with a 4 hour timer: https://amzn.to/3Ne6ZnO. (25/40)
• Repeated problems that I got wrong from the David G book (over 3 days)
• Took PPI Structural Depth test 2 with a 4 hour timer. (31/40)
• Retook NCEES morning test. (40/40!!!)
• Did a School of PE make your own quiz, breadth topics only. (18/20)
• Reviewed NCEES PM questions. Took another school of PE Breadth quiz (16/20)
• "Day off before exam" I panicked and review topics that I struggled on or wanted to refresh (roughly 3 hours). You will actually notice I did not fill in my schedule that day because I was in such a panic. After studying I tried to take it easy as much as possible. I ate well, took the dog on a walk, got some good sunshine, etc.

Test Day

• My anxiety was so bad the night before that I slept only about 3 hours (and that is being generous). I found myself struggling with basic math due to the lack of sleep.
• My first 2 problems were rather scary. I definitely panicked thinking the whole test was going to be that difficult but it just so happened to be the first 2. I think I was uncertain/skipped about 10 morning problems. I finished the breadth section, including a brief 30ish minute review on flagged/skipped problems, in about 3.25 hours. Note: you might not get a perfect 40/40 split on the questions.
• Depth problems went super quick at first. I finished the first 20ish problems in about 1.5 hours. This left 3.25 hours for the last 20 problems, I thought I was golden on time, however, the last quarter of the test ate up a ton of time. I recall spending well over 15 minutes on a problem simply because I grabbed the wrong equation (thanks lack of sleep). I ran out of time and blind guessed on about 5. I had probably 25 flagged/skipped.
• I left the test knowing I did not get a 100% but also that I did not get 0%. Based on the number of flagged questions and potential mistakes my gut told me I probably got at least a 60%.

​

TLDR and Tips

If someone out of school for 8 years and not in a "traditional" engineering role for 5 years can pass this test, so can you! Not only that but I only Commit, work hard, and conquer! As test day approaches focus on all that you have done and all of your successes. This will help build confidence which is key. I would have loved to solve more problems and study more topics but the thought of what I didn't know overwhelmed me and definitely did not help with my anxiety.

• Set a schedule and stick to it as best you can. I honestly wish I had roughly 1 more week to do a final polish on topics I wanted to review.
• Save some PTO for those days you want to take practice exams/need a break. I took 3 days of PTO. I studied my normal amount on those days but then had the rest of the day to myself to exercise, play video games, do chores, etc.
• I honestly would not bother with the School of PE Depth problems too much. If you have extra time then go for it. They were simply way too focused and lengthy that they are not a good use of time IMO.
• ABSOLUTELY do these depth problems with a 4 hour timer: https://amzn.to/3Ne6ZnO
• Do the Depth problems from: https://amzn.to/3qidEnV
• Solve problems as if it were exam day; only use the resources available, remove the cover from your calculator, use one computer monitor. After doing this for a few days, I found myself making silly mistakes over and over again. I actually created a notecard for me to drill the process into my head (I even brought it with me on test day to read it before I got out of my car. Obviously I could not bring it in with me). The notecard read:

1. Read the problem CAREFULLY
2. Write down the variable AND units you are solving for
3. Solve (read table footnotes, watch conversions, verify correct table and variables)
4. Check math
5. Read problem AGAIN
6. Check units AGAIN
7. Answer

• While studying, review problems that you get wrong! I cannot stress this one enough. I even marked problems so I could come back and try them again a 3rd or 4th time if necessary.
• Ask for extra booklets and extra pens at the testing center if possible. The booklets are larger than I thought. This means you do not have to erase your work if you move on from a problem. I wish I would have known this going into the test. I also recommend turning it landscape rather than portrait.
• Try and bank some time for the afternoon.
• Do not get hung up on a problem. I really only took extra time on problems that I KNEW I would get right even though it took 10 minutes.
• Use the index for the codes on problems you do not know, even if you think the problem is a conceptual one. Search key words. You might find something that can help. If I would have done this, I probably would have gotten a few more problems correct.
• Pack the night before (lunch, calculator, snack, water, glasses cleaner, etc.).
• Sleep, exercise, and fit in fun. My reward each Saturday was going out to lunch with my wife and friends after studying. I would also play video games, go to a movie, or do something else on the weekends after I finished studying.

Some other resources that I was recommended but did not get the chance to use:

• Breadth Problems: https://amzn.to/43RP5N1
• https://civilengineeringacademy.com/breadth/

We had a bad breakup because she treated me terribly and I had a lot of evidence she was cheating on me. Since the breakup we had one talk over group chat with her family. I didn’t want to meet up with them in person to talk because they kept insulting me and said I was not a man enough to meet up in person and that apparently I’m delusional and too immature to meet up with them.
After that I sent them a message saying that they all seem like mean people and part of me is glad I don’t have to deal with them anymore. Anyways after so said that every single one of there family members has blocked me on all social media and my number.
Following the break up I tried to go to the doctor’s appointments which they refused. Now, they won’t tell me when or where my son will be born if it even is mine and I have no way of contacting them to know anything. This shit hurts.
I know the child is unborn and everything but being so in the dark about everything going on hurts. Before we broke up I offered to support her 100% financially which I was already doing so we she could stay home and take care of him. Now she is back home living with her parents making barely enough to get by. I offered her everything and she still left. I just want to be a good dad and wanted to be there for the birth of my son. Any advice?

Hey yall! So I thought it would be fun to make a bit of a observation/theory about our "favorite" new addition to the story:
Baby Dionysus!
Now, Baby Dio is a bit of a contentious figure amongst LO critics and fans for a couple of reasons: 1. Perse and Hades SHOULD NOT be caring for a child at this stage of their relationship. 2. His plot-line came out of nowhere. 3. There's waayy too many things that require PxH's attention to suddenly throw a baby into the mix.
Though his introduction involved little to no build up, (it felt like it came out of left field) according to RS's old tumblr, it does seem like she had always planned Dio to be introduced at some point. But I dont think it happened the way it was originally intended.
My theory is in 2 parts: Dio was added to help with the slowly declining readership/satisfaction of the comic; and Dio's circumstances played out as a response to criticism.
Low Viewership
Now, we all know that LO is still incredibly popular, but it definitely has been dipping in and out of the number one spot despite updates, likes have started to decline, and criticism towards the story has started to become more frequent amongst readers.
That brings about my first theory. A funny thing that happens in media (typically sitcoms) is a production tactic referred to as the "Cousin Oliver Syndrome."(Look it up, its pretty interesting) This is an occurence within tv where production decides to add a new baby/young kid to the cast to try and counter declining views; named after cousin Oliver from the "Brady Bunch." A last ditch effort to draw in viewers with cutesy shenanigans. Think of any finished live action sitcom you enjoy. Remember how they added a baby towards the end of their run?
Now back to LO, RS has talked about how she watches tv pretty often while shes working, a lot of the comedy in LO is reminiscent of sitcom tropes and shenanigans. Maybe the baby being added was planned to happen like this, or maybe she got a bit of inspo from her favorite tv shows 👀 what better way to counteract the lack of interest in PxH (after rushing their marriage) than adding a baby? And not just any baby, one of the more anticipated gods that fans had been theorizing about since the beginning.
This is just conjecture tho, I have no real proof of this theory other than my gut and the formulaic way Dio was introduced... like straight out of a sitcom.
Criticism
The second part of my theory is that Dio's rushed birth was not just to bring back readers, but as a response to specific criticisms: 1. "LO has an anti adoption narrative," (DEBUNKED, PxH are happy to foster baby Dio, didnt even hesitate to strongarm him from his own father) 2. "Hades is a terrible father," (DEBUNKED- He gave Thanatos a sandwhich AND didnt give a fuck that his wife decided to foster a baby without telling him) 3. "Persephone isnt mature enough to be a mother," (DEBUNKED, only a mature person would throw a tantrum until being given someone else's baby)
Jokes aside, one of the bigger conspiracy theories in this sub is that RS lurks and tends to respond to criticisms through the comic. In regards to Dio's birth, there was a lot criticism towards Persephone witholding Dio from Zeus because she seemed to not agree with letting him be raised by Nymphs (Bad optics). So next episode, it was haphazardly retconned that Zeus was lying, readily gave her the baby and just left after telling Perse a few factoids about Dio, not even holding him or saying bye. RS is known to retcon and write established characters OOC in order to counteract backlash or criticism, nothing new, but that one was so obvious. There are plenty of organic ways Zeus couldve left Dio with Persephone, but ofc RS wrote it to make Zeus seem as flippant as possible ABOUT HIS NEWBORN CHILD, in order to make Persephone seem empathetic and responsible. 🙄 Any other story I would say it was absurd to consider a baby being added as response to criticism, but for LO (and RS), it makes sense to me.
The weird pacing, circumstance, and inconsistencies of Dio's birth lead me to believe that while it was going to happen (as hinted by RS in her old tumblr), the reasoning and purpose changed. Dio's presence hasnt added anything to the story yet, even the other gods seem to not really care about his birth, which is so weird because gods being born were always a big deal in the original myths, but whatever. His arc even got undercut so that Persephone could harass Leuce. He's barely been alive and he's already being treated as a cutesy accesory to the pair so that they can seem more "domestic."
But yea. Those are my observation/theories, mostly because his birth arc seemed insincere and was introduced at a really strange point in the story. What do y'all think? :) Are you happy baby Dio is here? Do you think his addition was genuine, or was it just a way to bring in viewership? Or maybe even a response to criticism?

Have you ever had a friend or family member that got weirdly threatened or jealous when you said you were starting to write? What’s up with that? Seems like a harmless activity, so who in their right mind would want to stop someone from doing it?
I get my family scoffing and saying “Sure, Jan.” As they’re very petty and not supportive. I know they’re d*cks so I’m used to it and don’t tell them anything about my current life anymore. But a friend recently got super weirded out when I told her I was starting to write.
Both of my parents died in the last couple of years, I did grief counseling, and that’s when I discovered the healing power of writing. I also wrote both of their obituaries for our family, and got a lot of very positive feedback telling me they were extremely powerful. (My only “published” work so far aside from some stuff in high school literary magazine.)
My BFF from college and I didn’t talk for many years because a lot of things happened between us (that’s a story for a different subreddit.) Basically codependent female friendship stuff where we started out inseparable, then became competitive frienemies. Years passed and we’re older now. The first time we reconnected we went to dinner and she talked on her cell phone to other people in her industry the entire night. When she wasn’t on her phone she was bragging about her fabulous career in Hollywood. I know this behavior stems from low self esteem, but it was still infuriating. The next day she emailed me a very long missive about how my husband was “stealing (my) sparkle.” I told her off and we didn’t speak again for a couple of years.
We reconnected again recently, she apologized for her rude behavior the last time we met, and admitted it was based in insecurity on her part. We’ve been going to coffee and talking about our mutual dysfunctional families. It’s very healing. One day she told me about drama in a writing group she had joined. I listened, gave feedback, then I excitedly told her I had started writing too, and that I had taken some writing workshops online. I thought it would be awesome to have a friend who also writes, but I could actually see the annoyance in her face as I told her. After that, every time she and I spoke about writing, she said things like “Why don’t you try selling your artwork? You’re such a talented painter. I know a guy who sells his art at a kiosk in the (rundown and abandoned) mall! You could do that too. Want me to give him your number?” WTF? Was I stepping on her territory? I didn’t get into it because it was so weird. And I’m reluctant to call people on their crap, due to this blowing up in my face with family in the past.
One day we were sitting in the park drinking coffee, and I was telling her a story about how my brother and his wife started trolling me with peeps. She laughed and said, “These stories are hilarious! You should paint about them!” 🤔😐 I really had to stop myself from responding “Yeah or I could write them down.” Which is what I’m doing. Another day I mentioned a one day short story class I took, and how my goal was to get something published one day. She looked down, laughed, then quickly changed the subject.
She started sending me samples of her writing. But it became clear to me that this was not going to be a mutual exchange, as I was her audience. It’s all so ridiculous. Anyway I’m enjoying the friendship for what it is, and now I change the subject when writing comes up.
But I’m curious, have you ever encountered people being weirdly threatened or judgmental when you talk about writing?

so most of this this actually happened last year. my uncle, kyle (26), had a baby. his girlfriend jessica (26) moved in with him and became close with our family. they’re the entitled parents of this story.
for context, my mother is the oldest of six and kyle is the second youngest. most of the family lives in a different state besides us and kyle. we watched their baby every weekend for them, especially after jessica became pregnant with baby number two. they got pregnant again literally three weeks after giving birth to the first baby.
a couple weeks before jessica’s due date, they tell us that they’re moving to a small midwest state, which is far away. my mom is devastated because she had fallen in love with baby #1 and was excited for baby #2. when we asked them who would help them with the babies, kyle said “no one helps us here anyways so it won’t be any different”. this felt like a slap in the face for my mom, who not only watched the baby every weekend, but spent hundreds of dollars on baby things.
so they pack up and move away. jessica’s dad bought them a small house to live in out there, and for a few weeks everything was fine.
then they started complaining about the house. the house was a “fixer upper”. jessicas dad couldn’t afford to buy them a nice house in addition to his own stuff. kyle and jessica sold the house and moved into an apartment. jessica’s dad was upset and asked for the money since it was technically his house and they said no. this caused basically jessica’s entire family to cut them off.
jessica was a sahm and kyle was working. then kyle quit his job to help with the babies. i don’t know what else they expected when they ran out of money and got evicted. kyle asked my mom for money, which she sent. the next month, he asked for more money. that’s when we figured out he was planning on asking my mom to pay their rent every month. my mom said no but they were able to get a couple hundred more out of her by saying “think of our kids!!”. eventually they were kicked out of their apartment. they had no money and no house. jessica’s family wouldn’t talk to them. kyle’s parents had no money, his other siblings were pissed at him (he also asked them for money).
something about my mom is that she’s the kindness person in the world. you could literally burn her house down and she would still help you when you needed it. we also have a decently large house. for a four person family (dad, mom, me, littler brother) we have plenty of space.
so, to all of our disappointment, my mom let kyle and jessica move into our house with their two babies. at this point the babies are 18 and 6 months old. my room is the biggest (excluding masters) so i moved out into the guest room.
kyle and jessica had seven dogs and seven cats that they wanted to move into our house. since me and my dad are allergic to cats, we told them no cats. we told them they could keep one dog. naturally, they shit talked my mom to their whole family, who immediately told us. they were saying that my mom was cruel and didn’t understand how pets were a part of their family.
my mom paid upwards of $2000 on their move back with the agreement that they would pay her back one day (unlikely).
when they finally moved in, we were on vacation. my grandpa flew down to help them move in. my grandpa found seven cats in our garage. turns out they thought they would be able to hide them in there the entire time they lived with us. i don’t even know how they thought it would work out.
so many things happened that won’t fit into this post, but imagine the worlds worst roommates and that’s them. they were terrible. we all celebrated the day they finally moved out.

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"The art of war" describes the General as administering a region of his people, keeping the nobles sidelined as much as possible, needing to be able to raise large peasant armies and disband them quickly, and not linger on the battlefield so the peasants become angry... all that lead me to imagine a China completely reformed by the warring states era, in order to allow a general produce huge peasant armies, quickly, under only the king's orders, with no interference and an already built supply chain ...
And I found this today. In a lot of ways it makes what's happening in kingdom more interesting, at least to me. It makes total sense how Ouki and Renpa would muse about the conclusion of the age... if it was all about armies getting bigger and bigger, the winning side was the one that could keep fielding huge armies for more decades than their enemies. Which is pretty much how it went... and its partly because Qin transformed itself the most. Hara probably intended "The war god king Sho" to reflect that, someone who transformed the society to be most efficient at warfare.
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https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/23445/2.1-Warring_States-2010.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
"Introduction: The Warring States period resembles the Spring and Autumn period in many ways. The multi-state structure of the Chinese cultural sphere continued as before, and most of the major states of the earlier period continued to play key roles. Warfare, as the name of the period implies, continued to be endemic, and the historical chronicles continue to read as a bewildering list of armed conflicts and shifting alliances. In fact, however, the Warring States period was one of dramatic social and political changes.
Perhaps the most basic of these changes concerned the ways in which wars were fought. During the Spring and Autumn years, battles were conducted by small groups of chariot-driven patricians. Managing a two-wheeled vehicle over the often uncharted terrain of a battlefield while wielding bow and arrow or sword to deadly effect required years of training, and the number of men who were qualified to lead armies in this way was very limited. Each chariot was accompanied by a group of infantrymen, by rule seventy-two, but usually far fewer, probably closer to ten. Thus a large army in the field, with over a thousand chariots, might consist in total of ten or twenty thousand soldiers. With the population of the major states numbering several millions at this time, such a force could be raised with relative ease by the lords of such states.
During the Warring States period, the situation was very different. One reason why the armies of Wu and Yue had been so effective during the period 506-476 was that they did not employ chariot warfare. The uneven country of the south, split by rivers everywhere, made chariot warfare impractical, and Wu and Yue chose instead to raise massive armies of infantry. Infantry armies moved as rapidly as traditional ones – after all, the infantrymen that accompanied chariots limited the mobility of the whole – and they could be used much more flexibly than armies tied to chariot riding patricians. Horseback command, rather than chariot command, also gave patrician officers more freedom of movement.
The northern states learned the lessons of the period of Wu-Yue hegemony. The chariot was largely discarded, and instead of concentrating on the size and training of their elite officer corps, patrician lords cultivated huge armies of peasant infantrymen. During the Warring States years, the overall population of China grew rapidly, spurred by great strides in agricultural technology – the raw material for massive armies was there. Traditional state structures were not conducive to the raising of such numbers of men, however. To achieve the military ends that became increasingly vital to the survival of the state, the patrician lords and their advisors engineered fundamental changes in the structure of the state itself. Three of these changes stand out: 1) the altered relationship between the peasant and the lord; 2) revisions in political administration that increased centralized control to the disadvantage of the patrician class; 3) a sharp rise in social mobility occasioned by the need for true expertise in the management of large armies and growing, centralized states.
Most profoundly changed was the relationship between the lord and the peasantry. The altered military situation now made farmers doubly valuable to their lords: they represented not only his main source of income, but the heart of his war machine as well. Systems of taxation in state after state were reformulated so that the peasant’s payment to his lord no longer took the form of field labor, but was a direct payment in cash or in crops, resources that could sustain the lord’s household or be converted to funds necessary to raise and provision armies. In the course of this transition, the peasantry for the first time were viewed as, in some sense, possessing the lands upon which they paid tax. In some states they were even licensed to buy and sell land, the truest test of ownership in the modern sense.
The altered relationship between ruler and people is also reflected in the restructuring of administration which occurred in many states. The degree of change varied widely from state to state: among the major states, Chu was probably least touched by them, while Qin was unquestionably the most fundamentally transformed. The nature of the changes also differed among states, but there was a common thread. In virtually all cases, state administration was restructured so that lands and cities were divided into centrally designated units and control over these units was directly determined by the ruler and his close advisors, rather than becoming the hereditary prerogatives of patrician clans. Thus the peasants and city-dwelling commoners fell increasingly under the control of the ruler’s court, and the regional patrician clans more and more found themselves excluded from access to real power. The increased control that the lord exercised aided him in the task of maintaining the state’s readiness in war and coherence in diplomatic policy.
Finally, the fast growing need for skilled men able to administer the vastly more complex military and political demands of the Warring States period created a lively demand for men of intellectual talent. Whereas the most prized skills of the Spring and Autumn period had been the charioteering skills and ritualized etiquette of the patrician born – abilities that could be drilled into any young man – the Warring States prized the ability to devise clever and original strategies of war, or of economic and diplomatic policy. Raw intelligence and learning which was often derived through study of books or with an expert teacher were now the qualities most prized; whatever their virtues of bravery, bearing, and clan loyalty, the patrician class held no monopoly on intelligence, and, in time, little advantage with regard to learning as well. Consequently, the Warring States was a time of sharply increasing social mobility. Positions of power gradually shifted into the hands of men of wit, many of whom were of low birth or sons of very junior branches of the shi class.
Along with changes in agricultural technology and commerce, these factors made the Warring States both the bloodiest and most dynamic era of Chinese history."

Where to begin? This is going to be long.
My partner and I have been together for 1 year 7 months. He moved into my house 3 months ago. I am really struggling and can't seem to make up my mind if I should end it and kick him out.
We've had a number of big fights over time that stem from concerns that I bring up, and in the end he pretty much thinks that I'm the problem. Slight background on me: in my previous relationship, my partner cheated with 14 other people (that I'm aware of), so I do have trust issues that I work on in therapy.
[Concern 1] Infidelity
VERY early into our relationship, I made the mistake of going through his phone and found a number of red flags (at least they are to me). The largest concern of mine being that he was still consistently visiting a website called Doublelist (basically Craigslist for sex). I confronted him about it and we had a huge fight. He ended up telling me he deleted the account. Fast forward to just a week and a half ago, I saw that same website was in my routers DNS logs (I'm in IT and monitor my network). I confronted him about it again, and brought up the fact that he told me he deleted his account, and he got irate. He stated that "If this ever came up again, he was going to leave" but apparently changed his mind. His alleged reason for visiting the site is that he "likes to look around when he's having doubts about us and then after a couple minutes realizes I'm enough for him". I told him that I'd never "go shopping" for other people when in a committed relationship.
On top of this, I know he hasn't been truthful about some people he communicates with. I know they have a past yet he denies it.
[Concern 2] Taking Advantage
When he moved in we decided that he'd pay for utilities. One evening recently I said "Hey, just so you know, I sent you a couple Venmo requests for last months utilities", as he has notifications turned off. He got mad immediately and said "Well it's not like you need it, it'll have to wait". He did end up paying, but that was the first time I felt like I was being taken advantage of.
A few days after that, I had gone to the grocery store and purchased food for both of us, gave him the receipt, and asked for him to calculate and send me his share. This still hasn't happened, even with a reminder.
A couple months ago, he "asked" out of the blue "Please look into adding me to your health insurance". I said that it would only be possible if we were in a domestic partnership (not available in our state anymore) or married. He said that we should get into a domestic partnership, which I said we can't.
[Concern 3] Emotional Manipulation & Availability
Every time that I would like to have a discussion about my concerns, things that are bothering me, or anything related to emotions, he responds in a way that makes it feel like I, and only I, am the problem. Here's an example of a recent exchange:
Him: Consistent negativity or foul moods affect me whether you mean to or not. So much of what I do is beginning to be mentally associated with negative feelings. This needs to be addressed. Me: Let's talk when you're done with work. Him: What is there to discuss? Me: How I'm feeling Him: We just had a long discussion. I don't want to keep having the same discussion. I'm sorry. Me: It's not the same discussion. If you don't want to listen to what I am struggling with, then that's a problem. Him: If it's anything to do with anything I am doing I am not interested in exploring it.
This exchange is what really set things off. Since then, he's been hiding in rooms and I've barely seen him. It's been 5 days. Finally, the other day, he came out when I was sitting outside and started saying things like "I think we can work through this, I love you" etc.
This is NOT the first time something like this has come up. Additional things he's said to me recently that are red flags:

• I don't know what I like to do anymore because you constantly beat me down with small comments
• I don't use your wi-fi network because I think you're spying on me
• I didn't forward mail to the house because I think you'd open it and judge me about my financial situation
• I would have never considered moving in with someone that has cameras (one in the driveway, one outside the front door) because it's creepy, but I love you so I can deal with it

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There's more, but this is already long as hell, so...
I know there are always things I can work on to be a better partner. That's part of life. However, I am concerned I am being emotionally manipulated and taken advantage of financially.
I'm really at a loss here lately. I'm not sure WHY it's so difficult for me to decide whether to keep trying to end it, but it's really making day-to-day life unbearable.

First off, I want to say that I love my girlfriend dearly, and I would NEVER ever cheat on her. We've been together 7 years, we've been through a lot of stress but I do want to marry her. The below happened last year.
The last couple years have been really rough year for us, I moved out of her house (with her family) with her and back home. Due to a stressful situation (Partly her but not completely) and back home...I was very sad, depressed, and suicidal at times. Moving back did help this, but then my life at home wasn't exactly peaceful and stress began to build up from that due to family arguments etc.
I have pretty much been a carer for my girlfriend since the start of our relationship due to illness, and from this the past 4 years or so have been pretty lacking in the sex department, I've found it difficult and my girlfriend has too as she always feels she isn't a good girlfriend and isn't giving me what I need. I've always assured her she's amazing, my one and only. Stress has built up over the years through and we both realized this. Sometimes we would go months and months without sex or anything of the sort. She's always been unkind to herself, and a lot of the stress has been taken out on me, but she's much much better now and doing really good for herself and I'm proud.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I was working with a female colleague that showed me attention...I stupidly have been on another forum where cheating is RIFE(not an excuse, but something to factor in) and sometimes encouraged. I was pretty certain that our relationship was going to end, when in fact, I think I was just depressed and couldn't see into the future..looking back.
I'm ashamed to say I gave this person my phone number and said text me if you want to go out sometime. However, I actually had NO intention of ever meeting up with them, and I don't really know why I even gave my number, I think at the time I was just a bit taken back that I had some attention and decided that it would be a good idea to give my number because I thought we were done for and I also liked that someone was chatting to me and showing me attention...I INSTANTLY regretted it, stomach in knots type of situation..especially looking back. I felt like I'd cheated on her when I look back...I know nothing physical happened and even talking to the girl I didn't flirt or entertain the idea, it was just a few normal conversations. I just feel like it was such a stupid mistake. I knew that afterwards, and even before I kind of forced myself to do it because I had it in my head that it was the right thing to do and was also encouraged by another forum to go ahead (stupid of me to listen).
I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't met up with her, and if she'd have text me I would have just delete the text, blocked the number or said you've got the wrong person. There was truly no motive behind it other than I thought we were going to break up (not to line someone else up) and someone gave me attention.
Do I tell my girlfriend about this interaction, or am I over thinking the whole situation and just need to wipe it off and forget about it because nothing actually happened?
I feel that she would blame herself for being a "bad" girlfriend by not giving me sex and attention that I "need". By no means is any of the above an excuse, I know that what I did wasn't the right thing.
TLDR; long term bf gave number to another girl her just met a few weeks ago and regretted it instantly, does he tell gf?

NARRATOR: (Black screen with text; The sound of buzzing bees can be heard) According to all known laws of aviation, : there is no way a bee should be able to fly. : Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. : The bee, of course, flies anyway : because bees don't care what humans think is impossible. BARRY BENSON: (Barry is picking out a shirt) Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. : Ooh, black and yellow! Let's shake it up a little. JANET BENSON: Barry! Breakfast is ready! BARRY: Coming! : Hang on a second. (Barry uses his antenna like a phone) : Hello? ADAM FLAYMAN:
(Through phone) - Barry? BARRY: - Adam? ADAM: - Can you believe this is happening? BARRY: - I can't. I'll pick you up. (Barry flies down the stairs) : MARTIN BENSON: Looking sharp. JANET: Use the stairs. Your father paid good money for those. BARRY: Sorry. I'm excited. MARTIN: Here's the graduate. We're very proud of you, son. : A perfect report card, all B's. JANET: Very proud. (Rubs Barry's hair) BARRY= Ma! I got a thing going here. JANET: - You got lint on your fuzz. BARRY: - Ow! That's me!
JANET: - Wave to us! We'll be in row 118,000. - Bye! (Barry flies out the door) JANET: Barry, I told you, stop flying in the house! (Barry drives through the hive,and is waved at by Adam who is reading a newspaper) BARRY== - Hey, Adam. ADAM: - Hey, Barry. (Adam gets in Barry's car) : - Is that fuzz gel? BARRY: - A little. Special day, graduation. ADAM: Never thought I'd make it. (Barry pulls away from the house and continues driving) BARRY: Three days grade school, three days high school... ADAM: Those were awkward. BARRY: Three days college. I'm glad I took a day and hitchhiked around the hive. ADAM== You did come back different. (Barry and Adam pass by Artie, who is jogging) ARTIE: - Hi, Barry!
BARRY: - Artie, growing a mustache? Looks good. ADAM: - Hear about Frankie? BARRY: - Yeah. ADAM== - You going to the funeral? BARRY: - No, I'm not going to his funeral. : Everybody knows, sting someone, you die. : Don't waste it on a squirrel. Such a hothead. ADAM: I guess he could have just gotten out of the way. (The car does a barrel roll on the loop-shaped bridge and lands on the highway) : I love this incorporating an amusement park into our regular day. BARRY: I guess that's why they say we don't need vacations. (Barry parallel parks the car and together they fly over the graduating students) Boy, quite a bit of pomp... under the circumstances. (Barry and Adam sit down and put on their hats) : - Well, Adam, today we are men.
ADAM: - We are! BARRY= - Bee-men. =ADAM= - Amen! BARRY AND ADAM: Hallelujah! (Barry and Adam both have a happy spasm) ANNOUNCER: Students, faculty, distinguished bees, : please welcome Dean Buzzwell. DEAN BUZZWELL: Welcome, New Hive Oity graduating class of... : ...9: : That concludes our ceremonies. : And begins your career at Honex Industries! ADAM: Will we pick our job today? (Adam and Barry get into a tour bus) BARRY= I heard it's just orientation. (Tour buses rise out of the ground and the students are automatically loaded into the buses) TOUR GUIDE: Heads up! Here we go.
ANNOUNCER: Keep your hands and antennas inside the tram at all times. BARRY: - Wonder what it'll be like? ADAM: - A little scary. TOUR GUIDE== Welcome to Honex, a division of Honesco : and a part of the Hexagon Group. Barry: This is it! BARRY AND ADAM: Wow. BARRY: Wow. (The bus drives down a road an on either side are the Bee's massive complicated Honey-making machines) TOUR GUIDE: We know that you, as a bee, have worked your whole life : to get to the point where you can work for your whole life. : Honey begins when our valiant Pollen Jocks bring the nectar to the hive. : Our top-secret formula : is automatically color-corrected,
scent-adjusted and bubble-contoured : into this soothing sweet syrup : with its distinctive golden glow you know as... EVERYONE ON BUS: Honey! (The guide has been collecting honey into a bottle and she throws it into the crowd on the bus and it is caught by a girl in the back) ADAM: - That girl was hot. BARRY: - She's my cousin! ADAM== - She is? BARRY: - Yes, we're all cousins. ADAM: - Right. You're right. TOUR GUIDE: - At Honex, we constantly strive : to improve every aspect of bee existence. : These bees are stress-testing a new helmet technology. (The bus passes by a Bee wearing a helmet who is being smashed into the ground with fly-swatters, newspapers and boots. He lifts a thumbs up but you can hear him groan) : ADAM==

• What do you think he makes? BARRY:
• Not enough. TOUR GUIDE: Here we have our latest advancement, the Krelman. (They pass by a turning wheel with Bees standing on pegs, who are each wearing a finger-shaped hat) Barry:
• Wow, What does that do? TOUR GUIDE:
• Catches that little strand of honey : that hangs after you pour it. Saves us millions. ADAM: (Intrigued) Can anyone work on the Krelman? TOUR GUIDE: Of course. Most bee jobs are small ones. But bees know that every small job, if it's done well, means a lot. : But choose carefully : because you'll stay in the job you pick for the rest of your life. (Everyone claps except for Barry) BARRY: The same job the rest of your life? I didn't know that. ADAM:

What's the difference? TOUR GUIDE: You'll be happy to know that bees, as a species, haven't had one day off : in 27 million years. BARRY: (Upset) So you'll just work us to death? : We'll sure try. (Everyone on the bus laughs except Barry. Barry and Adam are walking back home together) ADAM: Wow! That blew my mind! BARRY: "What's the difference?" How can you say that? : One job forever? That's an insane choice to have to make. ADAM: I'm relieved. Now we only have to make one decision in life. BARRY: But, Adam, how could they never have told us that? ADAM: Why would you question anything? We're bees. : We're the most perfectly functioning society on Earth.
BARRY: You ever think maybe things work a little too well here? ADAM: Like what? Give me one example. (Barry and Adam stop walking and it is revealed to the audience that hundreds of cars are speeding by and narrowly missing them in perfect unison) BARRY: I don't know. But you know what I'm talking about. ANNOUNCER: Please clear the gate. Royal Nectar Force on approach. BARRY: Wait a second. Check it out. (The Pollen jocks fly in, circle around and landing in line) : - Hey, those are Pollen Jocks! ADAM: - Wow. : I've never seen them this close. BARRY: They know what it's like outside the hive. ADAM: Yeah, but some don't come back. GIRL BEES: - Hey, Jocks! - Hi, Jocks! (The Pollen Jocks hook up their backpacks to machines that pump the nectar to trucks, which drive away)
LOU LO DUVA: You guys did great! : You're monsters! You're sky freaks! I love it! (Punching the Pollen Jocks in joy) I love it! ADAM: - I wonder where they were. BARRY: - I don't know. : Their day's not planned. : Outside the hive, flying who knows where, doing who knows what. : You can't just decide to be a Pollen Jock. You have to be bred for that. ADAM== Right. (Barry and Adam are covered in some pollen that floated off of the Pollen Jocks) BARRY: Look at that. That's more pollen than you and I will see in a lifetime. ADAM: It's just a status symbol. Bees make too much of it. BARRY: Perhaps. Unless you're wearing it and the ladies see you wearing it. (Barry waves at 2 girls standing a little away from them)
ADAM== Those ladies? Aren't they our cousins too? BARRY: Distant. Distant. POLLEN JOCK #1: Look at these two. POLLEN JOCK #2: - Couple of Hive Harrys. POLLEN JOCK #1: - Let's have fun with them. GIRL BEE #1: It must be dangerous being a Pollen Jock. BARRY: Yeah. Once a bear pinned me against a mushroom! : He had a paw on my throat, and with the other, he was slapping me! (Slaps Adam with his hand to represent his scenario) GIRL BEE #2: - Oh, my! BARRY: - I never thought I'd knock him out. GIRL BEE #1: (Looking at Adam) What were you doing during this? ADAM: Obviously I was trying to alert the authorities. BARRY: I can autograph that.
(The pollen jocks walk up to Barry and Adam, they pretend that Barry and Adam really are pollen jocks.) POLLEN JOCK #1: A little gusty out there today, wasn't it, comrades? BARRY: Yeah. Gusty. POLLEN JOCK #1: We're hitting a sunflower patch six miles from here tomorrow. BARRY: - Six miles, huh? ADAM: - Barry! POLLEN JOCK #2: A puddle jump for us, but maybe you're not up for it. BARRY: - Maybe I am. ADAM: - You are not! POLLEN JOCK #1: We're going 0900 at J-Gate. : What do you think, buzzy-boy? Are you bee enough? BARRY: I might be. It all depends on what 0900 means. (The scene cuts to Barry looking out on the hive-city from his balcony at night) MARTIN:
Hey, Honex! BARRY: Dad, you surprised me. MARTIN: You decide what you're interested in? BARRY: - Well, there's a lot of choices. - But you only get one. : Do you ever get bored doing the same job every day? MARTIN: Son, let me tell you about stirring. : You grab that stick, and you just move it around, and you stir it around. : You get yourself into a rhythm. It's a beautiful thing. BARRY: You know, Dad, the more I think about it, : maybe the honey field just isn't right for me. MARTIN: You were thinking of what, making balloon animals? : That's a bad job for a guy with a stinger. :
Janet, your son's not sure he wants to go into honey! JANET: - Barry, you are so funny sometimes. BARRY: - I'm not trying to be funny. MARTIN: You're not funny! You're going into honey. Our son, the stirrer! JANET: - You're gonna be a stirrer? BARRY: - No one's listening to me! MARTIN: Wait till you see the sticks I have. BARRY: I could say anything right now. I'm gonna get an ant tattoo! (Barry's parents don't listen to him and continue to ramble on) MARTIN: Let's open some honey and celebrate! BARRY: Maybe I'll pierce my thorax. Shave my antennae. : Shack up with a grasshopper. Get a gold tooth and call everybody "dawg"! JANET: I'm so proud. (The scene cuts to Barry and Adam waiting in line to get a job) ADAM: - We're starting work today!
BARRY: - Today's the day. ADAM: Come on! All the good jobs will be gone. BARRY: Yeah, right. JOB LISTER: Pollen counting, stunt bee, pouring, stirrer, front desk, hair removal... BEE IN FRONT OF LINE: - Is it still available? JOB LISTER: - Hang on. Two left! : One of them's yours! Congratulations! Step to the side. ADAM: - What'd you get? BEE IN FRONT OF LINE: - Picking crud out. Stellar! (He walks away) ADAM: Wow! JOB LISTER: Couple of newbies? ADAM: Yes, sir! Our first day! We are ready! JOB LISTER: Make your choice. (Adam and Barry look up at the job board. There are hundreds of constantly changing panels that contain available or unavailable jobs. It looks very confusing)
ADAM: - You want to go first? BARRY: - No, you go. ADAM: Oh, my. What's available? JOB LISTER: Restroom attendant's open, not for the reason you think. ADAM: - Any chance of getting the Krelman? JOB LISTER: - Sure, you're on. (Puts the Krelman finger-hat on Adam's head) (Suddenly the sign for Krelman closes out) : I'm sorry, the Krelman just closed out. (Takes Adam's hat off) Wax monkey's always open. ADAM: The Krelman opened up again. : What happened? JOB LISTER: A bee died. Makes an opening. See? He's dead. Another dead one. : Deady. Deadified. Two more dead. : Dead from the neck up. Dead from the neck down. That's life!
ADAM: Oh, this is so hard! (Barry remembers what the Pollen Jock offered him and he flies off) Heating, cooling, stunt bee, pourer, stirrer, : humming, inspector number seven, lint coordinator, stripe supervisor, : mite wrangler. Barry, what do you think I should... Barry? (Adam turns around and sees Barry flying away) : Barry! POLLEN JOCK: All right, we've got the sunflower patch in quadrant nine... ADAM: (Through phone) What happened to you? Where are you? BARRY: - I'm going out. ADAM: - Out? Out where? BARRY: - Out there. ADAM: - Oh, no! BARRY: I have to, before I go to work for the rest of my life. ADAM:
You're gonna die! You're crazy! (Barry hangs up) Hello? POLLEN JOCK #2: Another call coming in. : If anyone's feeling brave, there's a Korean deli on 83rd : that gets their roses today. BARRY: Hey, guys. POLLEN JOCK #1 == - Look at that. POLLEN JOCK #2: - Isn't that the kid we saw yesterday? LOU LO DUVA: Hold it, son, flight deck's restricted. POLLEN JOCK #1: It's OK, Lou. We're gonna take him up. (Puts hand on Barry's shoulder) LOU LO DUVA: (To Barry) Really? Feeling lucky, are you? BEE WITH CLIPBOARD: (To Barry) Sign here, here. Just initial that. : - Thank you. LOU LO DUVA: - OK. : You got a rain advisory today, :
and as you all know, bees cannot fly in rain. : So be careful. As always, watch your brooms, : hockey sticks, dogs, birds, bears and bats. : Also, I got a couple of reports of root beer being poured on us. : Murphy's in a home because of it, babbling like a cicada! BARRY: - That's awful. LOU LO DUVA: (Still talking through megaphone) - And a reminder for you rookies, : bee law number one, absolutely no talking to humans! : All right, launch positions! POLLEN JOCKS: (The Pollen Jocks run into formation) : Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz! Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz! Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz! LOU LU DUVA: Black and yellow! POLLEN JOCKS:
Hello! POLLEN JOCK #1: (To Barry)You ready for this, hot shot? BARRY: Yeah. Yeah, bring it on. POLLEN JOCK's: Wind, check. : - Antennae, check. - Nectar pack, check. : - Wings, check. - Stinger, check. BARRY: Scared out of my shorts, check. LOU LO DUVA: OK, ladies, : let's move it out! : Pound those petunias, you striped stem-suckers! : All of you, drain those flowers! (The pollen jocks fly out of the hive) BARRY: Wow! I'm out! : I can't believe I'm out! : So blue.
: I feel so fast and free! : Box kite! (Barry flies through the kite) : Wow! : Flowers! (A pollen jock puts on some high tech goggles that shows flowers similar to heat sink goggles.) POLLEN JOCK: This is Blue Leader. We have roses visual. : Bring it around 30 degrees and hold. : Roses! POLLEN JOCK #1: 30 degrees, roger. Bringing it around. : Stand to the side, kid. It's got a bit of a kick. (The pollen jock fires a high-tech gun at the flower, shooting tubes that suck up the nectar from the flower and collects it into a pouch on the gun) BARRY: That is one nectar collector! POLLEN JOCK #1== - Ever see pollination up close? BARRY: - No, sir. POLLEN JOCK #1:
(Barry and the Pollen jock fly over the field, the pollen jock sprinkles pollen as he goes) : I pick up some pollen here, sprinkle it over here. Maybe a dash over there, : a pinch on that one. See that? It's a little bit of magic. BARRY: That's amazing. Why do we do that? POLLEN JOCK #1: That's pollen power. More pollen, more flowers, more nectar, more honey for us. BARRY: Cool. POLLEN JOCK #1: I'm picking up a lot of bright yellow. could be daisies. Don't we need those? POLLEN JOCK #2: Copy that visual. : Wait. One of these flowers seems to be on the move. POLLEN JOCK #1: Say again? You're reporting a moving flower? POLLEN JOCK #2: Affirmative. (The Pollen jocks land near the "flowers" which, to the audience are obviously just tennis balls) KEN: (In the distance) That was on the line!
POLLEN JOCK #1: This is the coolest. What is it? POLLEN JOCK #2: I don't know, but I'm loving this color. : It smells good. Not like a flower, but I like it. POLLEN JOCK #1: Yeah, fuzzy. (Sticks his hand on the ball but it gets stuck) POLLEN JOCK #3== Chemical-y. (The pollen jock finally gets his hand free from the tennis ball) POLLEN JOCK #1: Careful, guys. It's a little grabby. (The pollen jocks turn around and see Barry lying his entire body on top of one of the tennis balls) POLLEN JOCK #2: My sweet lord of bees! POLLEN JOCK #3: Candy-brain, get off there! POLLEN JOCK #1: (Pointing upwards) Problem! (A human hand reaches down and grabs the tennis ball that Barry is stuck to) BARRY: - Guys! POLLEN JOCK #2: - This could be bad. POLLEN JOCK #3: Affirmative. (Vanessa Bloome starts bouncing the tennis ball, not knowing Barry is stick to it)
BARRY== Very close. : Gonna hurt. : Mama's little boy. (Barry is being hit back and forth by two humans playing tennis. He is still stuck to the ball) POLLEN JOCK #1: You are way out of position, rookie! KEN: Coming in at you like a MISSILE! (Barry flies past the pollen jocks, still stuck to the ball) BARRY: (In slow motion) Help me! POLLEN JOCK #2: I don't think these are flowers. POLLEN JOCK #3: - Should we tell him? POLLEN JOCK #1: - I think he knows. BARRY: What is this?! KEN: Match point! : You can start packing up, honey, because you're about to EAT IT! (A pollen jock coughs which confused Ken and he hits the ball the wrong way with Barry stuck to it and it goes flying into the city) BARRY:
Yowser! (Barry bounces around town and gets stuck in the engine of a car. He flies into the air conditioner and sees a bug that was frozen in there) BARRY: Ew, gross. (The man driving the car turns on the air conditioner which blows Barry into the car) GIRL IN CAR: There's a bee in the car! : - Do something! DAD DRIVING CAR: - I'm driving! BABY GIRL: (Waving at Barry) - Hi, bee. (Barry smiles and waves at the baby girl) GUY IN BACK OF CAR: - He's back here! : He's going to sting me! GIRL IN CAR: Nobody move. If you don't move, he won't sting you. Freeze! (Barry freezes as well, hovering in the middle of the car) : GRANDMA IN CAR== He blinked! (The grandma whips out some bee-spray and sprays everywhere in the car, climbing into the front seat, still trying to spray Barry) GIRL IN CAR: Spray him, Granny! DAD DRIVING THE CAR: What are you doing?! (Barry escapes the car through the air conditioner and is flying high above
the ground, safe.) BARRY: Wow... the tension level out here is unbelievable. (Barry sees that storm clouds are gathering and he can see rain clouds moving into this direction) : I gotta get home. : Can't fly in rain. : Can't fly in rain. (A rain drop hits Barry and one of his wings is damaged) : Can't fly in rain. (A second rain drop hits Barry again and he spirals downwards) Mayday! Mayday! Bee going down! (WW2 plane sound effects are played as he plummets, and he crash-lands on a plant inside an apartment near the window) VANESSA BLOOME: Ken, could you close the window please? KEN== Hey, check out my new resume. I made it into a fold-out brochure. : You see? (Folds brochure resume out) Folds out. (Ken closes the window, trapping Barry inside) BARRY: Oh, no. More humans. I don't need this. (Barry tries to fly away but smashes into the window and falls again) : What was that?
(Barry keeps trying to fly out the window but he keeps being knocked back because the window is closed) Maybe this time. This time. This time. This time! This time! This... : Drapes! (Barry taps the glass. He doesn't understand what it is) That is diabolical. KEN: It's fantastic. It's got all my special skills, even my top-ten favorite movies. ANDY: What's number one? Star Wars? KEN: Nah, I don't go for that... (Ken makes finger guns and makes "pew pew pew" sounds and then stops) : ...kind of stuff. BARRY: No wonder we shouldn't talk to them. They're out of their minds. KEN: When I leave a job interview, they're flabbergasted, can't believe what I say. BARRY: (Looking at the light on the ceiling) There's the sun. Maybe that's a way out. (Starts flying towards the lightbulb) : I don't remember the sun having a big 75 on it. (Barry hits the lightbulb and falls into the dip on the table that the humans are sitting at) KEN:
I predicted global warming. : I could feel it getting hotter. At first I thought it was just me. (Andy dips a chip into the bowl and scoops up some dip with Barry on it and is about to put it in his mouth) : Wait! Stop! Bee! (Andy drops the chip with Barry in fear and backs away. All the humans freak out) : Stand back. These are winter boots. (Ken has winter boots on his hands and he is about to smash the bee but Vanessa saves him last second) VANESSA: Wait! : Don't kill him! (Vanessa puts Barry in a glass to protect him) KEN: You know I'm allergic to them! This thing could kill me! VANESSA: Why does his life have less value than yours? KEN: Why does his life have any less value than mine? Is that your statement? VANESSA: I'm just saying all life has value. You don't know what he's capable of feeling. (Vanessa picks up Ken's brochure and puts it under the glass so she can carry Barry back to the window. Barry looks at Vanessa in amazement) KEN:
My brochure! VANESSA: There you go, little guy. (Vanessa opens the window and lets Barry out but Barry stays back and is still shocked that a human saved his life) KEN: I'm not scared of him. It's an allergic thing. VANESSA: Put that on your resume brochure. KEN: My whole face could puff up. ANDY: Make it one of your special skills. KEN: Knocking someone out is also a special skill. (Ken walks to the door) Right. Bye, Vanessa. Thanks. : - Vanessa, next week? Yogurt night? VANESSA: - Sure, Ken. You know, whatever. : (Vanessa tries to close door) KEN== - You could put carob chips on there. VANESSA: - Bye. (Closes door but Ken opens it again) KEN: - Supposed to be less calories.
VANESSA: - Bye. (Closes door) (Fast forward to the next day, Barry is still inside the house. He flies into the kitchen where Vanessa is doing dishes) BARRY== (Talking to himself) I gotta say something. : She saved my life. I gotta say something. : All right, here it goes. (Turns back) Nah. : What would I say? : I could really get in trouble. : It's a bee law. You're not supposed to talk to a human. : I can't believe I'm doing this. : I've got to. (Barry disguises himself as a character on a food can as Vanessa walks by again) : Oh, I can't do it. Come on! : No. Yes. No. : Do it. I can't.
: How should I start it? (Barry strikes a pose and wiggles his eyebrows) "You like jazz?" No, that's no good. (Vanessa is about to walk past Barry) Here she comes! Speak, you fool! : ...Hi! (Vanessa gasps and drops the dishes in fright and notices Barry on the counter) : I'm sorry. VANESSA: - You're talking. BARRY: - Yes, I know. VANESSA: (Pointing at Barry) You're talking! BARRY: I'm so sorry. VANESSA: No, it's OK. It's fine. I know I'm dreaming. : But I don't recall going to bed. BARRY: Well, I'm sure this is very disconcerting. VANESSA: This is a bit of a surprise to me. I mean, you're a bee!
BARRY: I am. And I'm not supposed to be doing this, (Pointing to the living room where Ken tried to kill him last night) but they were all trying to kill me. : And if it wasn't for you... : I had to thank you. It's just how I was raised. (Vanessa stabs her hand with a fork to test whether she's dreaming or not) : That was a little weird. VANESSA: - I'm talking with a bee. BARRY: - Yeah. VANESSA: I'm talking to a bee. And the bee is talking to me! BARRY: I just want to say I'm grateful. I'll leave now. (Barry turns to leave) VANESSA: - Wait! How did you learn to do that? BARRY: (Flying back) - What? VANESSA: The talking...thing. BARRY:
Same way you did, I guess. "Mama, Dada, honey." You pick it up. VANESSA: - That's very funny. BARRY: - Yeah. : Bees are funny. If we didn't laugh, we'd cry with what we have to deal with. : Anyway... VANESSA: Can I... : ...get you something? BARRY: - Like what? VANESSA: I don't know. I mean... I don't know. Coffee? BARRY: I don't want to put you out. VANESSA: It's no trouble. It takes two minutes. : - It's just coffee. BARRY: - I hate to impose. (Vanessa starts making coffee) VANESSA: - Don't be ridiculous!
BARRY: - Actually, I would love a cup. VANESSA: Hey, you want rum cake? BARRY: - I shouldn't. VANESSA: - Have some. BARRY: - No, I can't. VANESSA: - Come on! BARRY: I'm trying to lose a couple micrograms. VANESSA: - Where? BARRY: - These stripes don't help. VANESSA: You look great! BARRY: I don't know if you know anything about fashion. : Are you all right? VANESSA: (Pouring coffee on the floor and missing the cup completely) No. (Flash forward in time. Barry and Vanessa are sitting together at a table on top of the apartment building drinking coffee)
: BARRY== He's making the tie in the cab as they're flying up Madison. : He finally gets there. : He runs up the steps into the church. The wedding is on. : And he says, "Watermelon? I thought you said Guatemalan. : Why would I marry a watermelon?" (Barry laughs but Vanessa looks confused) VANESSA: Is that a bee joke? BARRY: That's the kind of stuff we do. VANESSA: Yeah, different. : So, what are you gonna do, Barry? (Barry stands on top of a sugar cube floating in his coffee and paddles it around with a straw like it's a gondola) BARRY: About work? I don't know. : I want to do my part for the hive, but I can't do it the way they want. VANESSA: I know how you feel.
BARRY: - You do? VANESSA: - Sure. : My parents wanted me to be a lawyer or a doctor, but I wanted to be a florist. BARRY: - Really? VANESSA: - My only interest is flowers. BARRY: Our new queen was just elected with that same campaign slogan. : Anyway, if you look... (Barry points to a tree in the middle of Central Park) : There's my hive right there. See it? VANESSA: You're in Sheep Meadow! BARRY: Yes! I'm right off the Turtle Pond! VANESSA: No way! I know that area. I lost a toe ring there once. BARRY: - Why do girls put rings on their toes? VANESSA: - Why not? BARRY:

• It's like putting a hat on your knee. VANESSA:
• Maybe I'll try that. (A custodian installing a lightbulb looks over at them but to his perspective it looks like Vanessa is talking to a cup of coffee on the table) CUSTODIAN:
• You all right, ma'am? VANESSA:
• Oh, yeah. Fine. : Just having two cups of coffee! BARRY: Anyway, this has been great. Thanks for the coffee. VANESSA== Yeah, it's no trouble. BARRY: Sorry I couldn't finish it. If I did, I'd be up the rest of my life. (Barry points towards the rum cake) : Can I take a piece of this with me? VANESSA: Sure! Here, have a crumb. (Vanessa hands Barry a crumb but it is still pretty big for Barry) BARRY:
• Thanks! VANESSA:
• Yeah. BARRY: All right. Well, then... I guess I'll see you around.
  : Or not. VANESSA: OK, Barry... BARRY: And thank you so much again... for before. VANESSA: Oh, that? That was nothing. BARRY: Well, not nothing, but... Anyway... (Vanessa and Barry hold hands, but Vanessa has to hold out a finger because her hands is to big and Barry holds that) (The custodian looks over again and it appears Vanessa is laughing at her coffee again. The lightbulb that he was screwing in sparks and he falls off the ladder) (Fast forward in time and we see two Bee Scientists testing out a parachute in a Honex wind tunnel) BEE SCIENTIST #1: This can't possibly work. BEE SCIENTIST #2: He's all set to go. We may as well try it. : OK, Dave, pull the chute. (Dave pulls the chute and the wind slams him against the wall and he falls on his face.The camera pans over and we see Barry and Adam walking together) ADAM:
  
• Sounds amazing. BARRY:
  
• It was amazing! : It was the scariest, happiest moment of my life.
  

ADAM: Humans! I can't believe you were with humans! : Giant, scary humans! What were they like? BARRY: Huge and crazy. They talk crazy. : They eat crazy giant things. They drive crazy. ADAM: - Do they try and kill you, like on TV? BARRY: - Some of them. But some of them don't. ADAM: - How'd you get back? BARRY: - Poodle. ADAM: You did it, and I'm glad. You saw whatever you wanted to see. : You had your "experience." Now you can pick out your job and be normal. BARRY: - Well... ADAM: - Well? BARRY: Well, I met someone.
ADAM: You did? Was she Bee-ish? : - A wasp?! Your parents will kill you! BARRY: - No, no, no, not a wasp. ADAM: - Spider? BARRY: - I'm not attracted to spiders. : I know, for everyone else, it's the hottest thing, with the eight legs and all. : I can't get by that face. ADAM: So who is she? BARRY: She's... human. ADAM: No, no. That's a bee law. You wouldn't break a bee law. BARRY: - Her name's Vanessa. (Adam puts his head in his hands) ADAM: - Oh, boy. BARRY== She's so nice. And she's a florist! ADAM: Oh, no! You're dating a human florist!
BARRY: We're not dating. ADAM: You're flying outside the hive, talking to humans that attack our homes : with power washers and M-80s! That's one-eighth a stick of dynamite! BARRY: She saved my life! And she understands me. ADAM: This is over! BARRY: Eat this. (Barry gives Adam a piece of the crumb that he got from Vanessa. Adam eats it) ADAM: (Adam's tone changes) This is not over! What was that? BARRY: - They call it a crumb. ADAM: - It was so stingin' stripey! BARRY: And that's not what they eat. That's what falls off what they eat! : - You know what a Cinnabon is? ADAM: - No. (Adam opens a door behind him and he pulls Barry in)
BARRY: It's bread and cinnamon and frosting. ADAM: Be quiet! BARRY: They heat it up... ADAM: Sit down! (Adam forces Barry to sit down) BARRY: (Still rambling about Cinnabons) ...really hot! (Adam grabs Barry by the shoulders) ADAM: - Listen to me! : We are not them! We're us. There's us and there's them! BARRY== Yes, but who can deny the heart that is yearning? ADAM: There's no yearning. Stop yearning. Listen to me! : You have got to start thinking bee, my friend. Thinking bee! BARRY: - Thinking bee. WORKER BEE: - Thinking bee. WORKER BEES AND ADAM: Thinking bee! Thinking bee!
Thinking bee! Thinking bee! (Flash forward in time; Barry is laying on a raft in a pool full of honey. He is wearing sunglasses) JANET: There he is. He's in the pool. MARTIN: You know what your problem is, Barry? (Barry pulls down his sunglasses and he looks annoyed) BARRY: (Sarcastic) I gotta start thinking bee? JANET: How much longer will this go on? MARTIN: It's been three days! Why aren't you working? (Puts sunglasses back on) BARRY: I've got a lot of big life decisions to think about. MARTIN: What life? You have no life! You have no job. You're barely a bee! JANET: Would it kill you to make a little honey? (Barry rolls off the raft and sinks into the honey pool) : Barry, come out. Your father's talking to you. : Martin, would you talk to him? MARTIN:
Barry, I'm talking to you! (Barry keeps sinking into the honey until he is suddenly in Central Park having a picnic with Vanessa) (Barry has a cup of honey and he clinks his glass with Vanessas. Suddenly a mosquito lands on Vanessa and she slaps it, killing it. They both gasp but then burst out laughing) VANESSA: You coming? (The camera pans over and Vanessa is climbing into a small yellow airplane) BARRY: Got everything? VANESSA: All set! BARRY: Go ahead. I'll catch up. (Vanessa lifts off and flies ahead) VANESSA: Don't be too long. (Barry catches up with Vanessa and he sticks out his arms like ana irplane. He rolls from side to side, and Vanessa copies him with the airplane) VANESSA: Watch this! (Barry stays back and watches as Vanessa draws a heart in the air using pink smoke from the plane, but on the last loop-the-loop she suddenly crashes into a mountain and the plane explodes. The destroyed plane falls into some rocks and explodes a second time) BARRY: Vanessa! (As Barry is yelling his mouth fills with honey and he wakes up, discovering that he was just day dreaming. He slowly sinks back into the honey pool) MARTIN: - We're still here.
JANET: - I told you not to yell at him. : He doesn't respond to yelling! MARTIN: - Then why yell at me? JANET: - Because you don't listen! MARTIN: I'm not listening to this. BARRY: Sorry, I've gotta go. MARTIN: - Where are you going? BARRY: - I'm meeting a friend. JANET: A girl? Is this why you can't decide? BARRY: Bye. (Barry flies out the door and Martin shakes his head) : JANET== I just hope she's Bee-ish. (Fast forward in time and Barry is sitting on Vanessa's shoulder and she is closing up her shop) BARRY: They have a huge parade of flowers every year in Pasadena? VANESSA: To be in the Tournament of Roses, that's every florist's dream!
: Up on a float, surrounded by flowers, crowds cheering. BARRY: A tournament. Do the roses compete in athletic events? VANESSA: No. All right, I've got one. How come you don't fly everywhere? BARRY: It's exhausting. Why don't you run everywhere? It's faster. VANESSA: Yeah, OK, I see, I see. All right, your turn. BARRY: TiVo. You can just freeze live TV? That's insane! VANESSA: You don't have that? BARRY: We have Hivo, but it's a disease. It's a horrible, horrible disease. VANESSA: Oh, my. (A human walks by and Barry narrowly avoids him) PASSERBY: Dumb bees! VANESSA: You must want to sting all those jerks. BARRY: We try not to sting.
It's usually fatal for us. VANESSA: So you have to watch your temper (They walk into a store) BARRY: Very carefully. You kick a wall, take a walk, : write an angry letter and throw it out. Work through it like any emotion: : Anger, jealousy, lust. (Suddenly an employee(Hector) hits Barry off of Vanessa's shoulder. Hector thinks he's saving Vanessa) VANESSA: (To Barry) Oh, my goodness! Are you OK? (Barry is getting up off the floor) BARRY: Yeah. VANESSA: (To Hector) - What is wrong with you?! HECTOR: (Confused) - It's a bug. VANESSA: He's not bothering anybody. Get out of here, you creep! (Vanessa hits Hector across the face with the magazine he had and then hits him in the head. Hector backs away covering his head) Barry: What was that? A Pic 'N' Save circular? (Vanessa sets Barry back on her shoulder)
VANESSA: Yeah, it was. How did you know? BARRY: It felt like about 10 pages. Seventy-five is pretty much our limit. VANESSA: You've really got that down to a science. BARRY: - Oh, we have to. I lost a cousin to Italian Vogue. VANESSA: - I'll bet. (Barry looks to his right and notices there is honey for sale in the aisle) BARRY: What in the name of Mighty Hercules is this? (Barry looks at all the brands of honey, shocked) How did this get here? Cute Bee, Golden Blossom, : Ray Liotta Private Select? (Barry puts his hands up and slowly turns around, a look of disgust on his face) VANESSA: - Is he that actor? BARRY: - I never heard of him. : - Why is this here? VANESSA: - For people. We eat it. BARRY:
You don't have enough food of your own?! (Hector looks back and notices that Vanessa is talking to Barry) VANESSA: - Well, yes. BARRY: - How do you get it? VANESSA: - Bees make it. BARRY: - I know who makes it! : And it's hard to make it! : There's heating, cooling, stirring. You need a whole Krelman thing! VANESSA: - It's organic. BARRY: - It's our-ganic! VANESSA: It's just honey, Barry. BARRY: Just what?! : Bees don't know about this! This is stealing! A lot of stealing! : You've taken our homes, schools, hospitals! This is all we have! :
And it's on sale?! I'm getting to the bottom of this. : I'm getting to the bottom of all of this! (Flash forward in time; Barry paints his face with black strikes like a soldier and sneaks into the storage section of the store) (Two men, including Hector, are loading boxes into some trucks) : SUPERMARKET EMPLOYEE== Hey, Hector. : - You almost done? HECTOR: - Almost. (Barry takes a step to peak around the corner) (Whispering) He is here. I sense it. : Well, I guess I'll go home now (Hector pretends to walk away by walking in place and speaking loudly) : and just leave this nice honey out, with no one around. BARRY: You're busted, box boy! HECTOR: I knew I heard something! So you can talk! BARRY: I can talk. And now you'll start talking! : Where you getting the sweet stuff?
Who's your supplier? HECTOR: I don't understand. I thought we were friends. : The last thing we want to do is upset bees! (Hector takes a thumbtack out of the board behind him and sword-fights Barry. Barry is using his stinger like a sword) : You're too late! It's ours now! BARRY: You, sir, have crossed the wrong sword! HECTOR: You, sir, will be lunch for my iguana, Ignacio! (Barry hits the thumbtack out of Hectors hand and Hector surrenders) Barry: Where is the honey coming from? : Tell me where! HECTOR: (Pointing to leaving truck) Honey Farms! It comes from Honey Farms! (Barry chases after the truck but it is getting away. He flies onto a bicyclists' backpack and he catches up to the truck) CAR DRIVER: (To bicyclist) Crazy person! (Barry flies off and lands on the windshield of the Honey farms truck. Barry looks around and sees dead bugs splattered everywhere) BARRY: What horrible thing has happened here?
: These faces, they never knew what hit them. And now : they're on the road to nowhere! (Barry hears a sudden whisper) (Barry looks up and sees Mooseblood, a mosquito playing dead) MOOSEBLOOD: Just keep still. BARRY: What? You're not dead? MOOSEBLOOD: Do I look dead? They will wipe anything that moves. Where you headed? BARRY: To Honey Farms. I am onto something huge here. MOOSEBLOOD: I'm going to Alaska. Moose blood, crazy stuff. Blows your head off! ANOTHER BUG PLAYING DEAD: I'm going to Tacoma. (Barry looks at another bug) BARRY: - And you? MOOSEBLOOD: - He really is dead. BARRY: All right. (Another bug hits the windshield and the drivers notice. They activate the windshield wipers) MOOSEBLOOD== Uh-oh! (The windshield wipers are slowly sliding over the dead bugs and wiping
them off) BARRY: - What is that?! MOOSEBLOOD: - Oh, no! : - A wiper! Triple blade! BARRY: - Triple blade? MOOSEBLOOD: Jump on! It's your only chance, bee! (Mooseblood and Barry grab onto the wiper and they hold on as it wipes the windshield) Why does everything have to be so doggone clean?! : How much do you people need to see?! (Bangs on windshield) : Open your eyes! Stick your head out the window! RADIO IN TRUCK: From NPR News in Washington, I'm Carl Kasell. MOOSEBLOOD: But don't kill no more bugs! (Mooseblood and Barry are washed off by the wipr fluid) MOOSEBLOOD: - Bee! BARRY: - Moose blood guy!! (Barry starts screaming as he hangs onto the antenna) (Suddenly it is revealed that a water bug is also hanging on the antenna.
There is a pause and then Barry and the water bug both start screaming) TRUCK DRIVER: - You hear something? GUY IN TRUCK: - Like what? TRUCK DRIVER: Like tiny screaming. GUY IN TRUCK: Turn off the radio. (The antenna starts to lower until it gets to low and sinks into the truck. The water bug flies off and Barry is forced to let go and he is blown away. He luckily lands inside a horn on top of the truck where he finds Mooseblood, who was blown into the same place) MOOSEBLOOD: Whassup, bee boy? BARRY: Hey, Blood. (Fast forward in time and we see that Barry is deep in conversation with Mooseblood. They have been sitting in this truck for a while) BARRY: ...Just a row of honey jars, as far as the eye could see. MOOSEBLOOD: Wow! BARRY: I assume wherever this truck goes is where they're getting it. : I mean, that honey's ours. MOOSEBLOOD: - Bees hang tight. BARRY:

• We're all jammed in. : It's a close community. MOOSEBLOOD: Not us, man. We on our own. Every mosquito on his own. BARRY:
• What if you get in trouble? MOOSEBLOOD:
• You a mosquito, you in trouble. : Nobody likes us. They just smack. See a mosquito, smack, smack! BARRY: At least you're out in the world. You must meet girls. MOOSEBLOOD: Mosquito girls try to trade up, get with a moth, dragonfly. : Mosquito girl don't want no mosquito. (An ambulance passes by and it has a blood donation sign on it) You got to be kidding me! : Mooseblood's about to leave the building! So long, bee! (Mooseblood leaves and flies onto the window of the ambulance where there are other mosquito's hanging out) :
• Hey, guys! OTHER MOSQUITO:
• Mooseblood!

MOOSEBLOOD: I knew I'd catch y'all down here. Did you bring your crazy straw? (The truck goes out of view and Barry notices that the truck he's on is pulling into a camp of some sort) TRUCK DRIVER: We throw it in jars, slap a label on it, and it's pretty much pure profit. (Barry flies out) BARRY: What is this place? BEEKEEPER 1#: A bee's got a brain the size of a pinhead. BEEKEEPER #2: They are pinheads! : Pinhead. : - Check out the new smoker. BEEKEEPER #1: - Oh, sweet. That's the one you want. : The Thomas 3000! BARRY: Smoker? BEEKEEPER #1: Ninety puffs a minute, semi-automatic. Twice the nicotine, all the tar. : A couple breaths of this knocks them right out.
BEEKEEPER #2: They make the honey, and we make the money. BARRY: "They make the honey, and we make the money"? (The Beekeeper sprays hundreds of cheap miniature apartments with the smoker. The bees are fainting or passing out) Oh, my! : What's going on? Are you OK? (Barry flies into one of the apartment and helps a Bee couple get off the ground. They are coughing and its hard for them to stand) BEE IN APARTMENT: Yeah. It doesn't last too long. BARRY: Do you know you're in a fake hive with fake walls? BEE IN APPARTMENT: Our queen was moved here. We had no choice. (The apartment room is completely empty except for a photo on the wall of the "queen" who is obviously a man in women's clothes) BARRY: This is your queen? That's a man in women's clothes! : That's a drag queen! : What is this? (Barry flies out and he discovers that there are hundreds of these structures, each housing thousands of Bees) Oh, no! : There's hundreds of them! (Barry takes out his camera and takes pictures of these Bee work camps. The beekeepers look very evil in these depictions)
Bee honey. : Our honey is being brazenly stolen on a massive scale! : This is worse than anything bears have done! I intend to do something. (Flash forward in time and Barry is showing these pictures to his parents) JANET: Oh, Barry, stop. MARTIN: Who told you humans are taking our honey? That's a rumor. BARRY: Do these look like rumors? (Holds up the pictures) UNCLE CARL: That's a conspiracy theory. These are obviously doctored photos. JANET: How did you get mixed up in this? ADAM: He's been talking to humans. JANET: - What? MARTIN: - Talking to humans?! ADAM: He has a human girlfriend. And they make out! JANET: Make out? Barry!
BARRY: We do not. ADAM: - You wish you could. MARTIN: - Whose side are you on? BARRY: The bees! UNCLE CARL: (He has been sitting in the back of the room this entire time) I dated a cricket once in San Antonio. Those crazy legs kept me up all night. JANET: Barry, this is what you want to do with your life? BARRY: I want to do it for all our lives. Nobody works harder than bees! : Dad, I remember you coming home so overworked : your hands were still stirring. You couldn't stop. JANET: I remember that. BARRY: What right do they have to our honey? : We live on two cups a year. They put it in lip balm for no reason whatsoever!
ADAM: Even if it's true, what can one bee do? BARRY: Sting them where it really hurts. MARTIN: In the face! The eye! : - That would hurt. BARRY: - No. MARTIN: Up the nose? That's a killer. BARRY: There's only one place you can sting the humans, one place where it matters. (Flash forward a bit in time and we are watching the Bee News) BEE NEWS NARRATOR: Hive at Five, the hive's only full-hour action news source. BEE PROTESTOR: No more bee beards! BEE NEWS NARRATOR: With Bob Bumble at the anchor desk. : Weather with Storm Stinger. : Sports with Buzz Larvi. : And Jeanette Chung. BOB BUMBLE: - Good evening. I'm Bob Bumble. JEANETTE CHUNG:

• And I'm Jeanette Chung. BOB BUMBLE: A tri-county bee, Barry Benson, : intends to sue the human race for stealing our honey, : packaging it and profiting from it illegally! JEANETTE CHUNG: Tomorrow night on Bee Larry King, : we'll have three former queens here in our studio, discussing their new book, : Classy Ladies, out this week on Hexagon. (The scene changes to an interview on the news with Bee version of Larry King and Barry) BEE LARRY KING: Tonight we're talking to Barry Benson. : Did you ever think, "I'm a kid from the hive. I can't do this"? BARRY: Bees have never been afraid to change the world. : What about Bee Columbus? Bee Gandhi? Bejesus? BEE LARRY KING: Where I'm from, we'd never sue humans.
  : We were thinking of stickball or candy stores. BARRY: How old are you? BEE LARRY KING: The bee community is supporting you in this case, : which will be the trial of the bee century. BARRY: You know, they have a Larry King in the human world too. BEE LARRY KING: It's a common name. Next week... BARRY: He looks like you and has a show and suspenders and colored dots... BEE LARRY KING: Next week... BARRY: Glasses, quotes on the bottom from the guest even though you just heard 'em. BEE LARRY KING: Bear Week next week! They're scary, hairy and here, live. (Bee Larry King gets annoyed and flies away offscreen) BARRY: Always leans forward, pointy shoulders, squinty eyes, very Jewish. (Flash forward in time. We see Vanessa enter and Ken enters behind her. They are arguing)
  

KEN: In tennis, you attack at the point of weakness! VANESSA: It was my grandmother, Ken. She's 81. KEN== Honey, her backhand's a joke! I'm not gonna take advantage of that? BARRY: (To Ken) Quiet, please. Actual work going on here. KEN: (Pointing at Barry) - Is that that same bee? VANESSA: - Yes, it is! : I'm helping him sue the human race. BARRY: - Hello. KEN: - Hello, bee. VANESSA: This is Ken. BARRY: (Recalling the "Winter Boots" incident earlier) Yeah, I remember you. Timberland, size ten and a half. Vibram sole, I believe. KEN: (To Vanessa) Why does he talk again? VANESSA:
Listen, you better go 'cause we're really busy working. KEN: But it's our yogurt night! VANESSA: (Holding door open for Ken) Bye-bye. KEN: (Yelling) Why is yogurt night so difficult?! (Ken leaves and Vanessa walks over to Barry. His workplace is a mess) VANESSA: You poor thing. You two have been at this for hours! BARRY: Yes, and Adam here has been a huge help. ADAM: - Frosting... - How many sugars? ==BARRY== Just one. I try not to use the competition. : So why are you helping me? VANESSA: Bees have good qualities. : And it takes my mind off the shop. : Instead of flowers, people are giving balloon bouquets now. BARRY:
Those are great, if you're three. VANESSA: And artificial flowers. BARRY: - Oh, those just get me psychotic! VANESSA: - Yeah, me too. : BARRY: Bent stingers, pointless pollination. ADAM: Bees must hate those fake things! : Nothing worse than a daffodil that's had work done. : Maybe this could make up for it a little bit. VANESSA: - This lawsuit's a pretty big deal. BARRY: - I guess. ADAM: You sure you want to go through with it? BARRY: Am I sure? When I'm done with the humans, they won't be able : to say, "Honey, I'm home," without paying a royalty! (Flash forward in time and we are watching the human news. The camera shows
a crowd outside a courthouse) NEWS REPORTER: It's an incredible scene here in downtown Manhattan, : where the world anxiously waits, because for the first time in history, : we will hear for ourselves if a honeybee can actually speak. (We are no longer watching through a news camera) ADAM: What have we gotten into here, Barry? BARRY: It's pretty big, isn't it? ADAM== (Looking at the hundreds of people around the courthouse) I can't believe how many humans don't work during the day. BARRY: You think billion-dollar multinational food companies have good lawyers? SECURITY GUARD: Everybody needs to stay behind the barricade. (A limousine drives up and a fat man,Layton Montgomery, a honey industry owner gets out and walks past Barry) ADAM: - What's the matter? BARRY: - I don't know, I just got a chill. (Fast forward in time and everyone is in the court) MONTGOMERY: Well, if it isn't the bee team.
(To Honey Industry lawyers) You boys work on this? MAN: All rise! The Honorable Judge Bumbleton presiding. JUDGE BUMBLETON: All right. Case number 4475, : Superior Court of New York, Barry Bee Benson v. the Honey Industry : is now in session. : Mr. Montgomery, you're representing the five food companies collectively? MONTGOMERY: A privilege. JUDGE BUMBLETON: Mr. Benson... you're representing all the bees of the world? (Everyone looks closely, they are waiting to see if a Bee can really talk) (Barry makes several buzzing sounds to sound like a Bee) BARRY: I'm kidding. Yes, Your Honor, we're ready to proceed. JUDGE BUMBLBETON: Mr. Montgomery, your opening statement, please. MONTGOMERY: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, : my grandmother was a simple woman. :
Born on a farm, she believed it was man's divine right : to benefit from the bounty of nature God put before us. : If we lived in the topsy-turvy world Mr. Benson imagines, : just think of what would it mean. : I would have to negotiate with the silkworm : for the elastic in my britches! : Talking bee! (Montgomery walks over and looks closely at Barry) : How do we know this isn't some sort of : holographic motion-picture-capture Hollywood wizardry? : They could be using laser beams! : Robotics! Ventriloquism! Cloning! For all we know, : he could be on steroids! JUDGE BUMBLETON: Mr. Benson?
BARRY: Ladies and gentlemen, there's no trickery here. : I'm just an ordinary bee. Honey's pretty important to me. : It's important to all bees. We invented it! : We make it. And we protect it with our lives. : Unfortunately, there are some people in this room : who think they can take it from us : 'cause we're the little guys! I'm hoping that, after this is all over, : you'll see how, by taking our honey, you not only take everything we have : but everything we are! JANET== (To Martin) I wish he'd dress like that all the time. So nice! JUDGE BUMBLETON: Call your first witness. BARRY: So, Mr. Klauss Vanderhayden
of Honey Farms, big company you have. KLAUSS VANDERHAYDEN: I suppose so. BARRY: I see you also own Honeyburton and Honron! KLAUSS: Yes, they provide beekeepers for our farms. BARRY: Beekeeper. I find that to be a very disturbing term. : I don't imagine you employ any bee-free-ers, do you? KLAUSS: (Quietly) - No. BARRY: - I couldn't hear you. KLAUSS: - No. BARRY: - No. : Because you don't free bees. You keep bees. Not only that, : it seems you thought a bear would be an appropriate image for a jar of honey. KLAUSS: They're very lovable creatures.
: Yogi Bear, Fozzie Bear, Build-A-Bear. BARRY: You mean like this? (The bear from Over The Hedge barges in through the back door and it is roaring and standing on its hind legs. It is thrashing its claws and people are screaming. It is being held back by a guard who has the bear on a chain) : (Pointing to the roaring bear) Bears kill bees! : How'd you like his head crashing through your living room?! : Biting into your couch! Spitting out your throw pillows! JUDGE BUMBLETON: OK, that's enough. Take him away. (The bear stops roaring and thrashing and walks out) BARRY: So, Mr. Sting, thank you for being here. Your name intrigues me. : - Where have I heard it before? MR. STING: - I was with a band called The Police. BARRY: But you've never been a police officer, have you? STING: No, I haven't. BARRY:
No, you haven't. And so here we have yet another example : of bee culture casually stolen by a human : for nothing more than a prance-about stage name. STING: Oh, please. BARRY: Have you ever been stung, Mr. Sting? : Because I'm feeling a little stung, Sting. : Or should I say... Mr. Gordon M. Sumner! MONTGOMERY: That's not his real name?! You idiots! BARRY: Mr. Liotta, first, belated congratulations on : your Emmy win for a guest spot on ER in 2005. RAY LIOTTA: Thank you. Thank you. BARRY: I see from your resume that you're devilishly handsome : with a churning inner turmoil
that's ready to blow. RAY LIOTTA: I enjoy what I do. Is that a crime? BARRY: Not yet it isn't. But is this what it's come to for you? : Exploiting tiny, helpless bees so you don't : have to rehearse your part and learn your lines, sir? RAY LIOTTA: Watch it, Benson! I could blow right now! BARRY: This isn't a goodfella. This is a badfella! (Ray Liotta looses it and tries to grab Barry) RAY LIOTTA: Why doesn't someone just step on this creep, and we can all go home?! JUDGE BUMBLETON: - Order in this court! RAY LIOTTA: - You're all thinking it! (Judge Bumbleton starts banging her gavel) JUDGE BUMBLETON: Order! Order, I say! RAY LIOTTA: - Say it! MAN:

• Mr. Liotta, please sit down! (We see a montage of magazines which feature the court case) (Flash forward in time and Barry is back home with Vanessa) BARRY: I think it was awfully nice of that bear to pitch in like that. VANESSA: I think the jury's on our side. BARRY: Are we doing everything right,you know, legally? VANESSA: I'm a florist. BARRY: Right. Well, here's to a great team. VANESSA: To a great team! (Ken walks in from work. He sees Barry and he looks upset when he sees Barry clinking his glass with Vanessa) KEN: Well, hello. VANESSA:
• Oh, Ken! BARRY:
• Hello! VANESSA: I didn't think you were coming. : No, I was just late. I tried to call, but... (Ken holds up his phone and flips it open. The phone has no charge) ...the battery... VANESSA:

I didn't want all this to go to waste, so I called Barry. Luckily, he was free. KEN: Oh, that was lucky. (Ken sits down at the table across from Barry and Vanessa leaves the room) VANESSA: There's a little left. I could heat it up. KEN: (Not taking his eyes off Barry) Yeah, heat it up, sure, whatever. BARRY: So I hear you're quite a tennis player. : I'm not much for the game myself. The ball's a little grabby. KEN: That's where I usually sit. Right... (Points to where Barry is sitting) there. VANESSA: (Calling from other room) Ken, Barry was looking at your resume, : and he agreed with me that eating with chopsticks isn't really a special skill. KEN: (To Barry) You think I don't see what you're doing? BARRY: I know how hard it is to find the right job. We have that in common.
KEN: Do we? BARRY: Bees have 100 percent employment, but we do jobs like taking the crud out. KEN: (Menacingly) That's just what I was thinking about doing. (Ken reaches for a fork on the table but knocks if on the floor. He goes to pick it up) VANESSA: Ken, I let Barry borrow your razor for his fuzz. I hope that was all right. (Ken quickly rises back up after hearing this but hits his head on the table and yells) BARRY: I'm going to drain the old stinger. KEN: Yeah, you do that. (Barry flies past Ken to get to the bathroom and Ken freaks out, splashing some of the wine he was using to cool his head in his eyes. He yells in anger) (Barry looks at the magazines featuring his victories in court) BARRY: Look at that. (Barry flies into the bathroom) (He puts his hand on his head but this makes hurts him and makes him even madder. He yells again) (Barry is washing his hands in the sink but then Ken walks in) KEN: You know, you know I've just about had it (Closes bathroom door behind him) with your little mind games. (Ken is menacingly rolling up a magazine) BARRY:
(Backing away) - What's that? KEN: - Italian Vogue. BARRY: Mamma mia, that's a lot of pages. KEN: It's a lot of ads. BARRY: Remember what Van said, why is your life more valuable than mine? KEN: That's funny, I just can't seem to recall that! (Ken smashes everything off the sink with the magazine and Barry narrowly escapes) (Ken follows Barry around and tries to hit him with the magazine but he keeps missing) (Ken gets a spray bottle) : I think something stinks in here! BARRY: (Enjoying the spray) I love the smell of flowers. (Ken holds a lighter in front of the spray bottle) KEN: How do you like the smell of flames?! BARRY: Not as much. (Ken fires his make-shift flamethrower but misses Barry, burning the bathroom. He torches the whole room but looses his footing and falls into the bathtub. After getting hit in the head by falling objects 3 times he picks up the shower head, revealing a Water bug hiding under it) WATER BUG: Water bug! Not taking sides!
(Barry gets up out of a pile of bathroom supplies and he is wearing a chapstick hat) BARRY: Ken, I'm wearing a Chapstick hat! This is pathetic! (Ken switches the shower head to lethal) KEN: I've got issues! (Ken sprays Barry with the shower head and he crash lands into the toilet) (Ken menacingly looks down into the toilet at Barry) Well, well, well, a royal flush! BARRY: - You're bluffing. KEN: - Am I? (flushes toilet) (Barry grabs a chapstick from the toilet seat and uses it to surf in the flushing toilet) BARRY: Surf's up, dude! (Barry flies out of the toilet on the chapstick and sprays Ken's face with the toilet water) : EW,Poo water! BARRY: That bowl is gnarly. KEN: (Aiming a toilet cleaner at Barry) Except for those dirty yellow rings! (Barry cowers and covers his head and Vanessa runs in and takes the toilet cleaner from Ken just before he hits Barry) VANESSA: Kenneth! What are you doing?! KEN== (Leaning towards Barry)
You know, I don't even like honey! I don't eat it! VANESSA: We need to talk! (Vanessa pulls Ken out of the bathroom) : He's just a little bee! : And he happens to be the nicest bee I've met in a long time! KEN: Long time? What are you talking about?! Are there other bugs in your life? VANESSA: No, but there are other things bugging me in life. And you're one of them! KEN: Fine! Talking bees, no yogurt night... : My nerves are fried from riding on this emotional roller coaster! VANESSA: Goodbye, Ken. (Ken huffs and walks out and slams the door. But suddenly he walks back in and stares at Barry) : And for your information, I prefer sugar-free, artificial sweeteners MADE BY MAN! (Ken leaves again and Vanessa leans in towards Barry) VANESSA: I'm sorry about all that. (Ken walks back in again)
KEN: I know it's got an aftertaste! I LIKE IT! (Ken leaves for the last time) VANESSA: I always felt there was some kind of barrier between Ken and me. : I couldn't overcome it. Oh, well. : Are you OK for the trial? BARRY: I believe Mr. Montgomery is about out of ideas. (Flash forward in time and Barry, Adam, and Vanessa are back in court) MONTGOMERY-- We would like to call Mr. Barry Benson Bee to the stand. ADAM: Good idea! You can really see why he's considered one of the best lawyers... (Barry stares at Adam) ...Yeah. LAWYER: Layton, you've gotta weave some magic with this jury, or it's gonna be all over. MONTGOMERY: Don't worry. The only thing I have to do to turn this jury around : is to remind them of what they don't like about bees. (To lawyer)

• You got the tweezers? LAWYER:
• Are you allergic? MONTGOMERY: Only to losing, son. Only to losing. : Mr. Benson Bee, I'll ask you what I think we'd all like to know. : What exactly is your relationship (Points to Vanessa) : to that woman? BARRY: We're friends. MONTGOMERY:
• Good friends? BARRY:
• Yes. MONTGOMERY: How good? Do you live together? ADAM: Wait a minute... : MONTGOMERY: Are you her little... : ...bedbug? (Adam's stinger starts vibrating. He is agitated) I've seen a bee documentary or two. From what I understand,
  : doesn't your queen give birth to all the bee children? BARRY:
  
• Yeah, but... MONTGOMERY: (Pointing at Janet and Martin)
  
• So those aren't your real parents! JANET:
  
• Oh, Barry... BARRY:
  
• Yes, they are! ADAM: Hold me back! (Vanessa tries to hold Adam back. He wants to sting Montgomery) MONTGOMERY: You're an illegitimate bee, aren't you, Benson? ADAM: He's denouncing bees! MONTGOMERY: Don't y'all date your cousins? (Montgomery leans over on the jury stand and stares at Adam) VANESSA:
  
• Objection! (Vanessa raises her hand to object but Adam gets free. He flies straight at Montgomery) =ADAM:
  
• I'm going to pincushion this guy! BARRY: Adam, don't! It's what he wants! (Adam stings Montgomery in the butt and he starts thrashing around)
  

MONTGOMERY: Oh, I'm hit!! : Oh, lordy, I am hit! JUDGE BUMBLETON: (Banging gavel) Order! Order! MONTGOMERY: (Overreacting) The venom! The venom is coursing through my veins! : I have been felled by a winged beast of destruction! : You see? You can't treat them like equals! They're striped savages! : Stinging's the only thing they know! It's their way! BARRY: - Adam, stay with me. ADAM: - I can't feel my legs. MONTGOMERY: (Overreacting and throwing his body around the room) What angel of mercy will come forward to suck the poison : from my heaving buttocks? JUDGE BUMLBETON: I will have order in this court. Order!
: Order, please! (Flash forward in time and we see a human news reporter) NEWS REPORTER: The case of the honeybees versus the human race : took a pointed turn against the bees : yesterday when one of their legal team stung Layton T. Montgomery. (Adam is laying in a hospital bed and Barry flies in to see him) BARRY: - Hey, buddy. ADAM: - Hey. BARRY: - Is there much pain? ADAM: - Yeah. : I... : I blew the whole case, didn't I? BARRY: It doesn't matter. What matters is you're alive. You could have died. ADAM: I'd be better off dead. Look at me. (A small plastic sword is replaced as Adam's stinger) They got it from the cafeteria downstairs, in a tuna sandwich.
: Look, there's a little celery still on it. (Flicks off the celery and sighs) BARRY: What was it like to sting someone? ADAM: I can't explain it. It was all... : All adrenaline and then... and then ecstasy! BARRY: ...All right. ADAM: You think it was all a trap? BARRY: Of course. I'm sorry. I flew us right into this. : What were we thinking? Look at us. We're just a couple of bugs in this world. ADAM: What will the humans do to us if they win? BARRY: I don't know. ADAM: I hear they put the roaches in motels. That doesn't sound so bad. BARRY: Adam, they check in, but they don't check out!
ADAM: Oh, my. (Coughs) Could you get a nurse to close that window? BARRY: - Why? ADAM: - The smoke. (We can see that two humans are smoking cigarettes outside) : Bees don't smoke. BARRY: Right. Bees don't smoke. : Bees don't smoke! But some bees are smoking. : That's it! That's our case! ADAM: It is? It's not over? BARRY: Get dressed. I've gotta go somewhere. : Get back to the court and stall. Stall any way you can. (Flash forward in time and Adam is making a paper boat in the courtroom) ADAM: And assuming you've done step 29 correctly, you're ready for the tub! (We see that the jury have each made their own paper boats after being taught how by Adam. They all look confused) JUDGE BUMBLETON:
Mr. Flayman. ADAM: Yes? Yes, Your Honor! JUDGE BUMBLETON: Where is the rest of your team? ADAM: (Continues stalling) Well, Your Honor, it's interesting. : Bees are trained to fly haphazardly, : and as a result, we don't make very good time. : I actually heard a funny story about... MONTGOMERY: Your Honor, haven't these ridiculous bugs : taken up enough of this court's valuable time? : How much longer will we allow these absurd shenanigans to go on? : They have presented no compelling evidence to support their charges : against my clients, who run legitimate businesses. : I move for a complete dismissal
of this entire case! JUDGE BUMBLETON: Mr. Flayman, I'm afraid I'm going : to have to consider Mr. Montgomery's motion. ADAM: But you can't! We have a terrific case. MONTGOMERY: Where is your proof? Where is the evidence? : Show me the smoking gun! BARRY: (Barry flies in through the door) Hold it, Your Honor! You want a smoking gun? : Here is your smoking gun. (Vanessa walks in holding a bee smoker. She sets it down on the Judge's podium) JUDGE BUMBLETON: What is that? BARRY: It's a bee smoker! MONTGOMERY: (Picks up smoker) What, this? This harmless little contraption? : This couldn't hurt a fly, let alone a bee. (Montgomery accidentally fires it at the bees in the crowd and they faint
and cough) (Dozens of reporters start taking pictures of the suffering bees) BARRY: Look at what has happened : to bees who have never been asked, "Smoking or non?" : Is this what nature intended for us? : To be forcibly addicted to smoke machines : and man-made wooden slat work camps? : Living out our lives as honey slaves to the white man? (Barry points to the honey industry owners. One of them is an African American so he awkwardly separates himself from the others) LAWYER: - What are we gonna do? - He's playing the species card. BARRY: Ladies and gentlemen, please, free these bees! ADAM AND VANESSA: Free the bees! Free the bees! BEES IN CROWD: Free the bees! HUMAN JURY: Free the bees! Free the bees! JUDGE BUMBLETON: The court finds in favor of the bees!
BARRY: Vanessa, we won! VANESSA: I knew you could do it! High-five! (Vanessa hits Barry hard because her hand is too big) : Sorry. BARRY: (Overjoyed) I'm OK! You know what this means? : All the honey will finally belong to the bees. : Now we won't have to work so hard all the time. MONTGOMERY: This is an unholy perversion of the balance of nature, Benson. : You'll regret this. (Montgomery leaves and Barry goes outside the courtroom. Several reporters start asking Barry questions) REPORTER 1#: Barry, how much honey is out there? BARRY: All right. One at a time. REPORTER 2#: Barry, who are you wearing? BARRY: My sweater is Ralph Lauren, and I have no pants.
(Barry flies outside with the paparazzi and Adam and Vanessa stay back) ADAM: (To Vanessa) - What if Montgomery's right? Vanessa: - What do you mean? ADAM: We've been living the bee way a long time, 27 million years. (Flash forward in time and Barry is talking to a man) BUSINESS MAN: Congratulations on your victory. What will you demand as a settlement? BARRY: First, we'll demand a complete shutdown of all bee work camps. (As Barry is talking we see a montage of men putting "closed" tape over the work camps and freeing the bees in the crappy apartments) Then we want back the honey that was ours to begin with, : every last drop. (Men in suits are pushing all the honey of the aisle and into carts) We demand an end to the glorification of the bear as anything more (We see a statue of a bear-shaped honey container being pulled down by bees) than a filthy, smelly, bad-breath stink machine. : We're all aware of what they do in the woods. (We see Winnie the Pooh sharing his honey with Piglet in the cross-hairs of a high-tech sniper rifle) BARRY: (Looking through binoculars)
Wait for my signal. : Take him out. (Winnie gets hit by a tranquilizer dart and dramatically falls off the log he was standing on, his tongue hanging out. Piglet looks at Pooh in fear and the Sniper takes the honey.) SNIPER: He'll have nausea for a few hours, then he'll be fine. (Flash forward in time) BARRY: And we will no longer tolerate bee-negative nicknames... (Mr. Sting is sitting at home until he is taken out of his house by the men in suits) STING: But it's just a prance-about stage name! BARRY: ...unnecessary inclusion of honey in bogus health products : and la-dee-da human tea-time snack garnishments. (An old lady is mixing honey into her tea but suddenly men in suits smash her face down on the table and take the honey) OLD LADY: Can't breathe. (A honey truck pulls up to Barry's hive) WORKER: Bring it in, boys! : Hold it right there! Good. : Tap it.
(Tons of honey is being pumped into the hive's storage) BEE WORKER 1#: (Honey overflows from the cup) Mr. Buzzwell, we just passed three cups, and there's gallons more coming! : - I think we need to shut down! =BEE WORKER #2= - Shut down? We've never shut down. : Shut down honey production! DEAN BUZZWELL: Stop making honey! (The bees all leave their stations. Two bees run into a room and they put the keys into a machine) Turn your key, sir! (Two worker bees dramatically turn their keys, which opens the button which they press, shutting down the honey-making machines. This is the first time this has ever happened) BEE: ...What do we do now? (Flash forward in time and a Bee is about to jump into a pool full of honey) Cannonball! (The bee gets stuck in the honey and we get a short montage of Bees leaving work) (We see the Pollen Jocks flying but one of them gets a call on his antenna) LOU LU DUVA: (Through "phone") We're shutting honey production! : Mission abort. POLLEN JOCK #1: Aborting pollination and nectar detail. Returning to base. (The Pollen Jocks fly back to the hive)
(We get a time lapse of Central Park slowly wilting away as the bees all relax) BARRY: Adam, you wouldn't believe how much honey was out there. ADAM: Oh, yeah? BARRY: What's going on? Where is everybody? (The entire street is deserted) : - Are they out celebrating? ADAM: - They're home. : They don't know what to do. Laying out, sleeping in. : I heard your Uncle Carl was on his way to San Antonio with a cricket. BARRY: At least we got our honey back. ADAM: Sometimes I think, so what if humans liked our honey? Who wouldn't? : It's the greatest thing in the world! I was excited to be part of making it. : This was my new desk. This was my new job. I wanted to do it really well. :
And now... : Now I can't. (Flash forward in time and Barry is talking to Vanessa) BARRY: I don't understand why they're not happy. : I thought their lives would be better! : They're doing nothing. It's amazing. Honey really changes people. VANESSA: You don't have any idea what's going on, do you? BARRY: - What did you want to show me? (Vanessa takes Barry to the rooftop where they first had coffee and points to her store) VANESSA: - This. (Points at her flowers. They are all grey and wilting) BARRY: What happened here? VANESSA: That is not the half of it. (Small flash forward in time and Vanessa and Barry are on the roof of her store and she points to Central Park) (We see that Central Park is no longer green and colorful, rather it is grey, brown, and dead-like. It is very depressing to look at) BARRY: Oh, no. Oh, my. :
They're all wilting. VANESSA: Doesn't look very good, does it? BARRY: No. VANESSA: And whose fault do you think that is? BARRY: You know, I'm gonna guess bees. VANESSA== (Staring at Barry) Bees? BARRY: Specifically, me. : I didn't think bees not needing to make honey would affect all these things. VANESSA: It's not just flowers. Fruits, vegetables, they all need bees. BARRY: That's our whole SAT test right there. VANESSA: Take away produce, that affects the entire animal kingdom. : And then, of course... BARRY: The human species? : So if there's no more pollination,
: it could all just go south here, couldn't it? VANESSA: I know this is also partly my fault. BARRY: How about a suicide pact? VANESSA: How do we do it? BARRY: - I'll sting you, you step on me. VANESSA: - That just kills you twice. BARRY: Right, right. VANESSA: Listen, Barry... sorry, but I gotta get going. (Vanessa leaves) BARRY: (To himself) I had to open my mouth and talk. : Vanessa? : Vanessa? Why are you leaving? Where are you going? (Vanessa is getting into a taxi) VANESSA: To the final Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena. :
They've moved it to this weekend because all the flowers are dying. : It's the last chance I'll ever have to see it. BARRY: Vanessa, I just wanna say I'm sorry. I never meant it to turn out like this. VANESSA: I know. Me neither. (The taxi starts to drive away) BARRY: Tournament of Roses. Roses can't do sports. : Wait a minute. Roses. Roses? : Roses! : Vanessa! (Barry flies after the Taxi) VANESSA: Roses?! : Barry? (Barry is flying outside the window of the taxi) BARRY: - Roses are flowers! VANESSA: - Yes, they are. BARRY: Flowers, bees, pollen!
VANESSA: I know. That's why this is the last parade. BARRY: Maybe not. Could you ask him to slow down? VANESSA: Could you slow down? (The taxi driver screeches to a stop and Barry keeps flying forward) : Barry! (Barry flies back to the window) BARRY: OK, I made a huge mistake. This is a total disaster, all my fault. VANESSA: Yes, it kind of is. BARRY: I've ruined the planet. I wanted to help you : with the flower shop. I've made it worse. VANESSA: Actually, it's completely closed down. BARRY: I thought maybe you were remodeling. : But I have another idea, and it's greater than my previous ideas combined. VANESSA: I don't want to hear it!
BARRY: All right, they have the roses, the roses have the pollen. : I know every bee, plant and flower bud in this park. : All we gotta do is get what they've got back here with what we've got. : - Bees. VANESSA: - Park. BARRY: - Pollen! VANESSA: - Flowers. BARRY: - Re-pollination! VANESSA: - Across the nation! : Tournament of Roses, Pasadena, California. : They've got nothing but flowers, floats and cotton candy. : Security will be tight. BARRY: I have an idea.
(Flash forward in time. Vanessa is about to board a plane which has all the Roses on board. VANESSA: Vanessa Bloome, FTD. (Holds out badge) : Official floral business. It's real. SECURITY GUARD: Sorry, ma'am. Nice brooch. =VANESSA== Thank you. It was a gift. (Barry is revealed to be hiding inside the brooch) (Flash back in time and Barry and Vanessa are discussing their plan) BARRY: Once inside, we just pick the right float. VANESSA: How about The Princess and the Pea? : I could be the princess, and you could be the pea! BARRY: Yes, I got it. : - Where should I sit? GUARD: - What are you? BARRY: - I believe I'm the pea. GUARD: - The pea? VANESSA:
It goes under the mattresses. GUARD: - Not in this fairy tale, sweetheart. - I'm getting the marshal. VANESSA: You do that! This whole parade is a fiasco! : Let's see what this baby'll do. (Vanessa drives the float through traffic) GUARD: Hey, what are you doing?! BARRY== Then all we do is blend in with traffic... : ...without arousing suspicion. : Once at the airport, there's no stopping us. (Flash forward in time and Barry and Vanessa are about to get on a plane) SECURITY GUARD: Stop! Security. : - You and your insect pack your float? VANESSA: - Yes. SECURITY GUARD: Has it been in your possession the entire time? VANESSA: - Yes.
SECURITY GUARD: Would you remove your shoes? (To Barry) - Remove your stinger. BARRY: - It's part of me. SECURITY GUARD: I know. Just having some fun. Enjoy your flight. (Barry plotting with Vanessa) BARRY: Then if we're lucky, we'll have just enough pollen to do the job. (Flash forward in time and Barry and Vanessa are flying on the plane) Can you believe how lucky we are? We have just enough pollen to do the job! VANESSA: I think this is gonna work. BARRY: It's got to work. CAPTAIN SCOTT: (On intercom) Attention, passengers, this is Captain Scott. : We have a bit of bad weather in New York. : It looks like we'll experience a couple hours delay. VANESSA: Barry, these are cut flowers with no water. They'll never make it. BARRY:
I gotta get up there and talk to them. VANESSA== Be careful. (Barry flies right outside the cockpit door) BARRY: Can I get help with the Sky Mall magazine? I'd like to order the talking inflatable nose and ear hair trimmer. (The flight attendant opens the door and walks out and Barry flies into the cockpit unseen) BARRY: Captain, I'm in a real situation. CAPTAIN SCOTT: - What'd you say, Hal? CO-PILOT HAL: - Nothing. (Scott notices Barry and freaks out) CAPTAIN SCOTT: Bee! BARRY: No,no,no, Don't freak out! My entire species... (Captain Scott gets out of his seat and tries to suck Barry into a handheld vacuum) HAL: (To Scott) What are you doing? (Barry lands on Hals hair but Scott sees him. He tries to suck up Barry but instead he sucks up Hals toupee) CAPTAIN SCOTT: Uh-oh. BARRY: - Wait a minute! I'm an attorney!
HAL: (Hal doesn't know Barry is on his head) - Who's an attorney? CAPTAIN SCOTT: Don't move. (Scott hits Hal in the face with the vacuum in an attempt to hit Barry. Hal is knocked out and he falls on the life raft button which launches an infalatable boat into Scott, who gets knocked out and falls to the floor. They are both uncounscious.) BARRY: (To himself) Oh, Barry. BARRY: (On intercom, with a Southern accent) Good afternoon, passengers. This is your captain. : Would a Miss Vanessa Bloome in 24B please report to the cockpit? (Vanessa looks confused) (Normal accent) ...And please hurry! (Vanessa opens the door and sees the life raft and the uncounscious pilots) VANESSA: What happened here? BARRY: I tried to talk to them, but then there was a DustBuster, a toupee, a life raft exploded. : Now one's bald, one's in a boat, and they're both unconscious! VANESSA: ...Is that another bee joke? BARRY:

• No! : No one's flying the plane! BUD DITCHWATER: (Through radio on plane) This is JFK control tower, Flight 356. What's your status? VANESSA: This is Vanessa Bloome. I'm a florist from New York. BUD: Where's the pilot? VANESSA: He's unconscious, and so is the copilot. BUD: Not good. Does anyone onboard have flight experience? BARRY: As a matter of fact, there is. BUD:
• Who's that? BARRY:
• Barry Benson. BUD: From the honey trial?! Oh, great. BARRY: Vanessa, this is nothing more than a big metal bee. : It's got giant wings, huge engines.

VANESSA: I can't fly a plane. BARRY: - Why not? Isn't John Travolta a pilot? VANESSA: - Yes. BARRY: How hard could it be? (Vanessa sits down and flies for a little bit but we see lightning clouds outside the window) VANESSA: Wait, Barry! We're headed into some lightning. (An ominous lightning storm looms in front of the plane) (We are now watching the Bee News) BOB BUMBLE: This is Bob Bumble. We have some late-breaking news from JFK Airport, : where a suspenseful scene is developing. : Barry Benson, fresh from his legal victory... ADAM: That's Barry! BOB BUMBLE: ...is attempting to land a plane, loaded with people, flowers : and an incapacitated flight crew. JANET, MARTIN, UNCLE CAR AND ADAM: Flowers?! (The scene switches to the human news)
REPORTER: (Talking with Bob Bumble) We have a storm in the area and two individuals at the controls : with absolutely no flight experience. BOB BUMBLE: Just a minute. There's a bee on that plane. BUD: I'm quite familiar with Mr. Benson and his no-account compadres. : They've done enough damage. REPORTER: But isn't he your only hope? BUD: Technically, a bee shouldn't be able to fly at all. : Their wings are too small... BARRY: (Through radio) Haven't we heard this a million times? : "The surface area of the wings and body mass make no sense."... BOB BUMBLE: - Get this on the air! BEE: - Got it.
BEE NEWS CREW: - Stand by. BEE NEWS CREW: - We're going live! BARRY: (Through radio on TV) ...The way we work may be a mystery to you. : Making honey takes a lot of bees doing a lot of small jobs. : But let me tell you about a small job. : If you do it well, it makes a big difference. : More than we realized. To us, to everyone. : That's why I want to get bees back to working together. : That's the bee way! We're not made of Jell-O. : We get behind a fellow. : - Black and yellow! BEES: - Hello! (The scene switches and Barry is teaching Vanessa how to fly) BARRY:
Left, right, down, hover. VANESSA: - Hover? BARRY: - Forget hover. VANESSA: This isn't so hard. (Pretending to honk the horn) Beep-beep! Beep-beep! (A Lightning bolt hits the plane and autopilot turns off) Barry, what happened?! BARRY: Wait, I think we were on autopilot the whole time. VANESSA: - That may have been helping me. BARRY: - And now we're not! VANESSA: So it turns out I cannot fly a plane. (The plane plummets but we see Lou Lu Duva and the Pollen Jocks, along with multiple other bees flying towards the plane) Lou Lu DUva: All of you, let's get behind this fellow! Move it out! : Move out! (The scene switches back to Vanessa and Barry in the plane) BARRY: Our only chance is if I do what I'd do, you copy me with the wings of the plane! (Barry sticks out his arms like an airplane and flys in front of Vanessa's face)
VANESSA: Don't have to yell. BARRY: I'm not yelling! We're in a lot of trouble. VANESSA: It's very hard to concentrate with that panicky tone in your voice! BARRY: It's not a tone. I'm panicking! VANESSA: I can't do this! (Barry slaps Vanessa) BARRY: Vanessa, pull yourself together. You have to snap out of it! VANESSA: (Slaps Barry) You snap out of it. BARRY: (Slaps Vanessa) : You snap out of it. VANESSA: - You snap out of it! BARRY: - You snap out of it! (We see that all the Pollen Jocks are flying under the plane) VANESSA: - You snap out of it! BARRY: - You snap out of it!
VANESSA: - You snap out of it! BARRY: - You snap out of it! VANESSA: - Hold it! BARRY: - Why? Come on, it's my turn. VANESSA: How is the plane flying? (The plane is now safely flying) VANESSA: I don't know. (Barry's antennae rings like a phone. Barry picks up) BARRY: Hello? LOU LU DUVA: (Through "phone") Benson, got any flowers for a happy occasion in there? (All of the Pollen Jocks are carrying the plane) BARRY: The Pollen Jocks! : They do get behind a fellow. LOU LU DUVA: - Black and yellow. POLLEN JOCKS: - Hello. LOU LU DUVA: All right, let's drop this tin can
on the blacktop. BARRY: Where? I can't see anything. Can you? VANESSA: No, nothing. It's all cloudy. : Come on. You got to think bee, Barry. BARRY: - Thinking bee. - Thinking bee. (On the runway there are millions of bees laying on their backs) BEES: Thinking bee! Thinking bee! Thinking bee! BARRY: Wait a minute. I think I'm feeling something. VANESSA: - What? BARRY: - I don't know. It's strong, pulling me. : Like a 27-million-year-old instinct. : Bring the nose down. BEES: Thinking bee! Thinking bee! Thinking bee! CONTROL TOWER OPERATOR: - What in the world is on the tarmac? BUD: - Get some lights on that!
(It is revealed that all the bees are organized into a giant pulsating flower formation) BEES: Thinking bee! Thinking bee! Thinking bee! BARRY: - Vanessa, aim for the flower. VANESSA: - OK. BARRY: Out the engines. We're going in on bee power. Ready, boys? LOU LU DUVA: Affirmative! BARRY: Good. Good. Easy, now. That's it. : Land on that flower! : Ready? Full reverse! : Spin it around! (The plane's nose is pointed at a flower painted on a nearby plane) - Not that flower! The other one! VANESSA: - Which one? BARRY: - That flower. (The plane is now pointed at a fat guy in a flowered shirt. He freaks out and tries to take a picture of the plane) VANESSA: - I'm aiming at the flower!
BARRY: That's a fat guy in a flowered shirt. I mean the giant pulsating flower made of millions of bees! (The plane hovers over the bee-flower) : Pull forward. Nose down. Tail up. : Rotate around it. VANESSA: - This is insane, Barry! BARRY: - This's the only way I know how to fly. BUD: Am I koo-koo-kachoo, or is this plane flying in an insect-like pattern? (The plane is unrealistically hovering and spinning over the bee-flower) BARRY: Get your nose in there. Don't be afraid. Smell it. Full reverse! : Just drop it. Be a part of it. : Aim for the center! : Now drop it in! Drop it in, woman! : Come on, already. (The bees scatter and the plane safely lands) VANESSA: Barry, we did it! You taught me how to fly!
BARRY: - Yes! (Vanessa is about to high-five Barry) No high-five! VANESSA: - Right. ADAM: Barry, it worked! Did you see the giant flower? BARRY: What giant flower? Where? Of course I saw the flower! That was genius! ADAM: - Thank you. BARRY: - But we're not done yet. : Listen, everyone! : This runway is covered with the last pollen : from the last flowers available anywhere on Earth. : That means this is our last chance. : We're the only ones who make honey, pollinate flowers and dress like this. : If we're gonna survive as a species, this is our moment! What do you say?
: Are we going to be bees, or just Museum of Natural History keychains? BEES: We're bees! BEE WHO LIKES KEYCHAINS: Keychain! BARRY: Then follow me! Except Keychain. POLLEN JOCK #1: Hold on, Barry. Here. : You've earned this. BARRY: Yeah! : I'm a Pollen Jock! And it's a perfect fit. All I gotta do are the sleeves. (The Pollen Jocks throw Barry a nectar-collecting gun. Barry catches it) Oh, yeah. JANET: That's our Barry. (Barry and the Pollen Jocks get pollen from the flowers on the plane) (Flash forward in time and the Pollen Jocks are flying over NYC) : (Barry pollinates the flowers in Vanessa's shop and then heads to Central Park) BOY IN PARK: Mom! The bees are back! ADAM: (Putting on his Krelman hat) If anybody needs
to make a call, now's the time. : I got a feeling we'll be working late tonight! (The bee honey factories are back up and running) (Meanwhile at Vanessa's shop) VANESSA: (To customer) Here's your change. Have a great afternoon! Can I help who's next? : Would you like some honey with that? It is bee-approved. Don't forget these. (There is a room in the shop where Barry does legal work for other animals. He is currently talking with a Cow) COW: Milk, cream, cheese, it's all me. And I don't see a nickel! : Sometimes I just feel like a piece of meat! BARRY: I had no idea. VANESSA: Barry, I'm sorry. Have you got a moment? BARRY: Would you excuse me? My mosquito associate will help you. MOOSEBLOOD: Sorry I'm late. COW: He's a lawyer too?
MOOSEBLOOD: Ma'am, I was already a blood-sucking parasite. All I needed was a briefcase. VANESSA: Have a great afternoon! : Barry, I just got this huge tulip order, and I can't get them anywhere. BARRY: No problem, Vannie. Just leave it to me. VANESSA: You're a lifesaver, Barry. Can I help who's next? BARRY: All right, scramble, jocks! It's time to fly. VANESSA: Thank you, Barry! (Ken walks by on the sidewalk and sees the "bee-approved honey" in Vanessa's shop) KEN: That bee is living my life!! ANDY: Let it go, Kenny. KEN: - When will this nightmare end?! ANDY: - Let it all go. BARRY: - Beautiful day to fly. POLLEN JOCK:

• Sure is. BARRY: Between you and me, I was dying to get out of that office. (Barry recreates the scene near the beginning of the movie where he flies through the box kite. The movie fades to black and the credits being) [--after credits; No scene can be seen but the characters can be heard talking over the credits--] You have got to start thinking bee, my friend! :
• Thinking bee!
• Me? BARRY: (Talking over singer) Hold it. Let's just stop for a second. Hold it. : I'm sorry. I'm sorry, everyone. Can we stop here? SINGER: Oh, BarryBARRY: I'm not making a major life decision during a production number! SINGER: All right. Take ten, everybody. Wrap it up, guys. BARRY: I had virtually no rehearsal for that.

I am 33 male 6 ft 250 lbs no prior medical history of issues but I havent been to a doctor in 10 years. My mother passed away in 2021 and I had a period of depression for the better part of 2 years. During that time I gained about 25 lbs.
The good news is I’ve started wanting to live again. I started running 100 miles/month in March. I feel better, but I still am very fatigued some days and its been hard for me to lose weight despite the running. I also sometimes get mild to moderate headaches.
I went to the dentist the first time in 3 years and they checked my blood pressure. It was 168/98. They did a cleaning but refused to drill my cavity because they said my blood pressure is too high, and I need to see a doctor and fix that first. I asked is it that bad? She says yes which scared me.
So I go to see a doctor who got me in same day (normal clinic wellness visit). I haven’t been to doctor in over 10 years. I tell the doctor what the dentist told me. They say I might be nervous because it’s the dentist which is probably true. They take 3 readings, none of which are “good” she says but my third (and best) reading of 142/80 she says thats higher than shed like, but shes hesitant to put me on meds yet. She asks me some questions and thinks I may have sleep apnea and wants me to do a sleep study as she says that can contribute to hbp (i have noticed increased snoring and i wake up 2-3 times at least every night). They also take a blood sample and she says to schedule a physical exam at her office in the next few weeks and theyll take another bp reading, and to look into the sleep study as i was hesitant. She also asked me about thyroid problems, I told her i dont even know what that is and she says the blood test will tell us more.
Anyways, I get my blood test results today and the numbers that were out of range were:
TSH: Your Value 95.800 uIU/mL Standard Range 0.450 - 4.500 uIU/mL Flag H
T4, Free (Direct): Your Value 0.26 ng/dL Standard Range 0.82 - 1.77 ng/dL Flag L
Carbon Dioxide: Your Value 16 mmol/L Standard Range 20 - 29 mmol/L Flag L
Albumin: Your Value 5.5 g/dL Standard Range 4.0 - 5.0 g/dL Flag H
Alkaline Phosphatase: Your Value 40 IU/L Standard Range 44 - 121 IU/L Flag L
Vitamin D,25 Hydroxy: Your Value 25.6 ng/mL Standard Range 30.0 - 100.0 ng/mL Flag L
No one has contacted me yet about this, but reading online this could be hypothyroidism?
I guess my questions are:
1) I know I am overweight and was depressed, could this be causing all this or is this due to something else?
2) Should I do the sleep test first or the physical exam?
3) Could sleep apnea cause the hypothyroidism or vice versa?
4) What should I tell my dentist regarding my high blood pressure? I am sure it is in part due to me being nervous, but I have a cavity she refuses to drill? My doctor didn’t seem immediately worried about it and said we’d “monitor” it over the next few weeks.
Any input would be much appreciated, I have anxiety and this is making it even worse and I just don’t know what to do.

I'm not understanding the issue here. I'm trying to look at what users are doing once they come to the website. I have a segment for all email users. I pick my starting point... But then it looks like it is just going in an endless loop for the most part. How come? I wish I could post a screenshot of what I am seeing. But basically it is this.
Starting point -> Page A (496) Step+1 -> Page B (285) Step+2 -> Page A (184) Step+3 -> Page B (130) Step+4 -> Page A (55) Step+5 -> Page B (24)
Starts on the main page, then goes to another page, then back to main page, then back to the other page, then back to the main page. The numbers added are event count.
What is the issue here? Any ideas?
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Hey everyone! I’m a BU undergrad working on a project to inform Boston residents about our local government by creating and distributing a weekly newsletter summarizing Boston City Council meetings. This week there was no city council meeting, and instead there were many budget meetings about the City's budget for the next financial year (FY24). I took a deep look into the spending for the Boston Public Schools, (BPS) one of the biggest parts of spending for the city, breaking everything down. If anyone is interested in a quick digestible update on Boston government I have included my newsletter and the link to get free weekly information about local issues important to life in Boston. Previous suggestions have been super helpful so any and all feedback is appreciated!
While these are just large figure, nit picky spending stuff like which school gets the funding is done by the department, so if you're really interested, be sure to contact the BPS system and the superintendent!
Boston City Council Ways & Means Committee Meeting:
Duration: 1 hour 41 minutes
Attendance: All Present
$1.45 billion for Boston Public Schools (BPS) (FY24).
New Investments:

• $9.6 million for individualized education programs (IEPs) for students with disabilities to access the proper education to meet their needs.
• $6.3 million in dual language and bilingual education programs and to help multilingual and bilingual learners and teachers.
• $3.5 million for Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) programs that aim to better suit the needs of the student in literacy, cultural and linguistic responsiveness, and create standards aligned to a student’s grade.
• $1.2 million for expansion access and use of resources aimed to better student life such as family liaisons, bullying prevention, counselors, bilingual social workers, safety protocols, and more to give students all the support they need.
• $1.1 million for high school and alternative education pathways to expand Early College and Career Pathways programs from students grade 7-12 to create alternative pathways for certain students.
• $1.9 million for community engagement by creating a family hotline, translation and interpretation services, increasing Family Engagement Facilitators, and investing in the creation of 2 new roles: Chief of Community Engagement and Chief of Family Advancement.

Increased Funding:

• Estimated $84 million increase from last year, representing 31% of new spending.
• $1,800 more per student raising the number to $28,900.
• $15 million for school based Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding from the federal government to fund FY24 and project into FY25).

Various Specifically Outlined Spending:

• $328.1 million for various capital investments for BPSs such as building new schools, improving/remodeling existing schools, purchasing of new equipment/hardware for existing schools, and repairing damages.
• $657.1 million for investments in the Boston Center for Youth and Families, Department of Innovation and Technology, various recreation and safety departments, Mayor's Office of Housing, Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture, Boston Public Library, Boston Housing Authority, Boston Planning and Development Agency, and the Boston Public Health Commission.
• $40 million for the OPEB Liability Trust Fund for teachers and BPS workers.
• $1.8 million for transportation-related spending such as busing, roads, bridges, and other infrastructure related to BPS.
• $1.75 million for new computers and other technology.
• $39 million for equipment for schools such as computers, vehicles, medical equipment, supplies, buses, parking meters, street lights, and much more.
• $29.4 million for transportation and public realm improvements.
• $27.5 million for other projects such as Boston Housing Authority decarbonization, Waste and Sewage Commission operations, the animal shelter, and others.
• $2.2 million to extend building open times, landscaping, building repairs, and refinishing flooring.
• $100k for field trips and other activities

2023 Boston City Council Elections

• Go to https://www.purplely.org/ to get to know all the candidates in this year’s city council elections.

Resources:

• The city council meeting video and minutes are available here
• Use this link to access the city council calendar with meeting agenda and minutes.
• To find information about who your Council Member is, use this link to look up your address.
• To get more details about any bill or resolution, use this link to search by number or topic.
• If you have any questions you would like answered by the city council or any feedback on this newsletter, please email us at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).
• Sign up here to receive this letter after every city council meeting.

Hey everyone! I’m a BU undergrad working on a project to inform Boston residents about our local government by creating and distributing a weekly newsletter summarizing Boston City Council meetings. This week there was no city council meeting, and instead there were many budget meetings about the City's budget for the next financial year (FY24). I took a deep look into the spending for the Boston Public Schools, (BPS) one of the biggest parts of spending for the city, breaking everything down. If anyone is interested in a quick digestible update on Boston government I have included my newsletter and the link to get free weekly information about local issues important to life in Boston. Previous suggestions have been super helpful so any and all feedback is appreciated!
While these are just large figure, nit picky spending stuff like which school gets the funding is done by the department, so if you're really interested, be sure to contact the BPS system and the superintendent!
Boston City Council Ways & Means Committee Meeting:
Duration: 1 hour 41 minutes
Attendance: All Present
$1.45 billion for Boston Public Schools (BPS) (FY24).
New Investments:

• $9.6 million for individualized education programs (IEPs) for students with disabilities to access the proper education to meet their needs.
• $6.3 million in dual language and bilingual education programs and to help multilingual and bilingual learners and teachers.
• $3.5 million for Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) programs that aim to better suit the needs of the student in literacy, cultural and linguistic responsiveness, and create standards aligned to a student’s grade.
• $1.2 million for expansion access and use of resources aimed to better student life such as family liaisons, bullying prevention, counselors, bilingual social workers, safety protocols, and more to give students all the support they need.
• $1.1 million for high school and alternative education pathways to expand Early College and Career Pathways programs from students grade 7-12 to create alternative pathways for certain students.
• $1.9 million for community engagement by creating a family hotline, translation and interpretation services, increasing Family Engagement Facilitators, and investing in the creation of 2 new roles: Chief of Community Engagement and Chief of Family Advancement.

Increased Funding:

• Estimated $84 million increase from last year, representing 31% of new spending.
• $1,800 more per student raising the number to $28,900.
• $15 million for school based Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding from the federal government to fund FY24 and project into FY25).

Various Specifically Outlined Spending:

• $328.1 million for various capital investments for BPSs such as building new schools, improving/remodeling existing schools, purchasing of new equipment/hardware for existing schools, and repairing damages.
• $657.1 million for investments in the Boston Center for Youth and Families, Department of Innovation and Technology, various recreation and safety departments, Mayor's Office of Housing, Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture, Boston Public Library, Boston Housing Authority, Boston Planning and Development Agency, and the Boston Public Health Commission.
• $40 million for the OPEB Liability Trust Fund for teachers and BPS workers.
• $1.8 million for transportation-related spending such as busing, roads, bridges, and other infrastructure related to BPS.
• $1.75 million for new computers and other technology.
• $39 million for equipment for schools such as computers, vehicles, medical equipment, supplies, buses, parking meters, street lights, and much more.
• $29.4 million for transportation and public realm improvements.
• $27.5 million for other projects such as Boston Housing Authority decarbonization, Waste and Sewage Commission operations, the animal shelter, and others.
• $2.2 million to extend building open times, landscaping, building repairs, and refinishing flooring.
• $100k for field trips and other activities

2023 Boston City Council Elections

• Go to https://www.purplely.org/ to get to know all the candidates in this year’s city council elections.

Resources:

• The city council meeting video and minutes are available here
• Use this link to access the city council calendar with meeting agenda and minutes.
• To find information about who your Council Member is, use this link to look up your address.
• To get more details about any bill or resolution, use this link to search by number or topic.
• If you have any questions you would like answered by the city council or any feedback on this newsletter, please email us at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).
• Sign up here to receive this letter after every city council meeting.