Trying to disappear for first few days of MIL visit
We haven’t seen my in-laws in over a year and half and all I can say is thank goodness!
They’re traveling to New York from New Mexico, showing up on Monday for a week-long visit with us (where they’ll be staying in our home). I'll be on a carefully scheduled yoga retreat from Saturday-Tuesday, missing the first day and half of their visit. My husband is beyond frustrated with me, but I think I’m being generous considering our history!
I’m from an emotionally intelligent, educated family where we treat one another with respect, openly seeking help for our mental health issues (ranging from anxiety to autism), not taking our struggles out on one another, and the parents are always the parents and the children are the children.
My mother-in-law, on the other hand, acts like a spiteful 12-year-old. When I was pregnant, I invited her to travel from her home (then in Indiana) to stay with us and attend the baby shower. She arrived just hours before it started, demanding to be entertained (thus, I attended my shower with dirty hair and no makeup). During the opening gifts portion, she gave me handkerchiefs as a gift “in case we can’t make it out to get diapers” (we live in a city!), and then she accused all of my friends of giving her “the stink eye” and started weeding my garden mid-party.
When I gave birth to our twin girls, I told her she couldn’t come visit them before they were 2 months old UNLESS she got a flu vaccine (as twins are often underweight and a flu can be devastating--this was recommended by my OB, that only non-smoking, flu vaccinated adults be around the babies). She refused. I did indeed deliver early, with one of our girls weighing under 4 lbs and ending up in the NICU. SHE CAME ANYWAYS! She made my poor FIL drive from Indiana to NYC and arrived in my hospital room dressed to the nines and stinking of perfume, demanding to hold the healthier baby. When my husband asked if she’d sanitized, she said “I already washed my hands at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.”
My husband was so torn--I was hormonal, worried about our baby on the ventilator, and recovering from a C-section; I demanded he kick her out or I would get a divorce. He was crying saying it was his mom, what could he do? My own mother interceded and told me that my husband was doing his best, that I had to be patient.
Fast forward several weeks, both babies are finally home. I’m going to the grocery store for the first time, breasts aching between pumps, and I get a message from her that she's’ consulted a lawyer and is suing for custody of “her babies.” WTF?!?!? I came home crying and my husband finally established some boundaries with his parents, especially regarding the way my MIL talks to me, but the nonsense continues.
It’s 8 years later, but every time they visit, there’s some nonsense. When the girls were 10 months old, she’d take them out of their playpen and walk away, saying, “they’ll be fine. I always let my kids do whatever.” She let them chew on keys and plastic knives, treating me like an overprotective nutjob. In her defense, my own parents said I was a bit of a helicopter mom and over the top about organic food, but they RESPECTED my choices when they were with my kids.
I thought my MIL must know how I feel about her after all of this, but clearly not. Once again, in the grocery store, she contacts me (this time calling). Her dad had died, and she asked me how to cope with it. I was 35, she was in her 60s. I’d experienced far less loss (only grandparents and pets)--I don’t know why she chose me. I talked to her the best I could, trying to be comforting, but it was bizarre and confusing.
The last time they visited, they had an obese, elderly terrier that she insisted I buy “ranch dressing” for, so she would eat her food. They got this dog designated an emotional support animal so they could fly with it, the annoying part being I had to keep my two well-behaved 50lb dogs away from “Baby” during her visit because “they upset her.”
When we tried to have a one one talk with my father-in-law about what he wanted for his retirement (having spent over 50 years as a mechanic), she ran down the stairs, assuming we were bad mouthing her, screaming that we don’t understand her, ranting that my FIL fixed a neighbor's sink 30 years ago and he definitely had an affair with her, that he has undiagnosed Parkinson’s and autism (which he clearly doesn't have), and we don't’ know what she goes through. I rushed my kids upstairs and counted the minutes until they left.
This past year she’s texted my husband constantly about her daily worries, her relationship with his dad, their marital problems, and EVEN ABOUT THEIR SEX LIFE! Yuck! (How her husband still has a libido, but because of her OB problems she’s not interested… I hate that we know this). My poor husband went ashen after this text. I poured him a bourbon and ordered him takeout.
He said to ignore it, like he always does, but I sent her a stern text about boundaries (that my husband has a demanding job, a special needs daughter, another daughter, and lots on his plate! That we’re here for them in emergencies, but she’s crossing the parent/child line and it has to stop). She simply responded “okay.” I was shocked when she began to respect this boundary for several months. But then they hit us up for money to come visit us and relatives in Indiana (having been conned out of a fortune by their other son, a drug addict, and their grandson, a layabout). We offered plane fare and nothing more (we can pick them up and they can stay here), but they declined.
Bottom line, I cannot stand this woman--I cut out toxic people, and if she weren’t family, she wouldn’t be in my life. Of course I’m delighted I’ll miss the insanity of welcoming them (and their dog) into our home, but my husband is beyond bitter. He’s completely warm with my family, but I must say, it’s not hard. He said he never knew how a normal family functioned until he married me. I’ll be polite, but am spending minimal time with my MIL. AITAH?

So yeah, I own 112/113 DLC for Payday, as listed on the steam library by right clicking Payday 2 and going to the DLC Tab.
I've compiled a list of all the DLC I own for the people following at home:

PAYDAY 2: 10th Anniversary Jester Mask PAYDAY 2: A Merry Payday Christmas Soundtrack PAYDAY 2: Alienware Alpha Mask Pack PAYDAY 2: Alienware Alpha Mauler PAYDAY 2: Armored Transport PAYDAY 2: August Event PAYDAY 2: Biker Character Pack PAYDAY 2: Black Cat Heist PAYDAY 2: Border Crossing Heist PAYDAY 2: Breakfast in Tijuana Heist PAYDAY 2: Buluc's Mansion Heist PAYDAY 2: Career Criminal Content PAYDAY 2: Cartel Optics Mod Pack PAYDAY 2: Clover Character Pack PAYDAY 2: Crimefest 2017 PAYDAY 2: Crude Awakening Bundle PAYDAY 2: Crude Awakening Heist PAYDAY 2: Cryptographer's Color PAYDAY 2: Dragan Character Pack PAYDAY 2: Dragon Pack PAYDAY 2: F*uck Cancer - Big Mike Mask PAYDAY 2: Federales Weapon Pack PAYDAY 2: Fugitive Weapon Pack PAYDAY 2: Gage Assault Pack PAYDAY 2: Gage Chivalry Pack PAYDAY 2: Gage Historical Pack PAYDAY 2: Gage Mod Courier PAYDAY 2: Gage Ninja Pack PAYDAY 2: Gage Russian Weapon Pack PAYDAY 2: Gage Shotgun Pack PAYDAY 2: Gage Sniper Pack PAYDAY 2: Gage Spec Ops Pack PAYDAY 2: Gage Weapon Pack #01 PAYDAY 2: Gage Weapon Pack #02 PAYDAY 2: Golden Dagger Tailor Pack PAYDAY 2: Guardians Tailor Pack PAYDAY 2: Gunslinger Weapon Pack PAYDAY 2: h3h3 Character Pack PAYDAY 2: High Octane Tailor Pack PAYDAY 2: Hostile Takeover Bundle PAYDAY 2: Hostile Takeover Heist PAYDAY 2: Hotline Miami PAYDAY 2: Housewarming Party PAYDAY 2: Humble Mask Pack PAYDAY 2: Humble Mask Pack 2 PAYDAY 2: Humble Mask Pack 3 PAYDAY 2: Humble Mask Pack 4 PAYDAY 2: Humble Mask Pack 5 PAYDAY 2: Jiu Feng Smuggler Pack PAYDAY 2: Jiu Feng Smuggler Pack 2 PAYDAY 2: Jiu Feng Smuggler Pack 3 PAYDAY 2: Jiu Feng Smuggler Pack 4 PAYDAY 2: John Wick Heists PAYDAY 2: John Wick Weapon Pack PAYDAY 2: Lawless Tailor Pack PAYDAY 2: Leaf Color PAYDAY 2: Lost in Transit Bundle PAYDAY 2: Lost in Transit Heist PAYDAY 2: McShay Mod Pack PAYDAY 2: McShay Weapon Pack PAYDAY 2: McShay Weapon Pack 2 PAYDAY 2: McShay Weapon Pack 3 PAYDAY 2: McShay Weapon Pack 4 PAYDAY 2: Mega City Tailor Pack PAYDAY 2: Midland Bundle PAYDAY 2: Midland Ranch Heist PAYDAY 2: Mountain Master Heist PAYDAY 2: Offshore Payday PAYDAY 2: PAYDAYCON 2016 PAYDAY 2: Pen Melee Weapon PAYDAY 2: Pre-order Bonus PAYDAY 2: San Martín Bank Heist PAYDAY 2: Scarface Character Pack PAYDAY 2: Scarface Heist PAYDAY 2: Sokol Character Pack PAYDAY 2: Southbound Tailor Pack PAYDAY 2: SteelSeries Troll Mask PAYDAY 2: Street Smart Tailor Pack PAYDAY 2: Sydney Character Pack PAYDAY 2: Sydney Mega Mask PAYDAY 2: Tailor Pack 1 PAYDAY 2: Tailor Pack 2 PAYDAY 2: Tailor Pack 3 PAYDAY 2: Alesso Heist PAYDAY 2: The B-Sides Soundtrack PAYDAY 2: The Big Bank Heist PAYDAY 2: The Bomb Heists PAYDAY 2: The Butcher's AK/CAR Mod Pack PAYDAY 2: The Butcher's BBQ Pack PAYDAY 2: The Butcher's Western Pack PAYDAY 2: The COMPLETELY OVERKILL Pack PAYDAY 2: The Diamond Heist PAYDAY 2: The Goat Simulator Heist PAYDAY 2: The Golden Grin Casino Heist PAYDAY 2: The Jack Mask Pack PAYDAY 2: The Joker Mask Pack PAYDAY 2: The King Mask Pack PAYDAY 2: The Official Soundtrack PAYDAY 2: The OVERKILL Pack PAYDAY 2: The PAYDAYCON 2015 Mask Pack PAYDAY 2: The Point BReak Heists PAYDAY 2: The Queen Mask Pack PAYDAY 2: The Ukrainian Prisoner Heist PAYDAY 2: The Wolf Pack PAYDAY 2: Tijuana Music Pack PAYDAY 2: Toy PAYDAY 2: VR PAYDAY 2: Weapon Color Pack 1 PAYDAY 2: Weapon Color Pack 2 PAYDAY 2: Weapon Color Pack 3 PAYDAY 2: Winter Ghosts Tailor Pack PAYDAY 2: Yakuza Character Pack 

​
Anyone got any leads on the dozer mask code? I've got leads for any missing DLC if you guys need help being pointed the right way.
Like this Steam Guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=933765298
​
I had trouble with shipping back in the day and now I fear I might never get it...

All games are obtained by ME. If the game has a region lock, it will be locked to EU region.

Paypal F&F or G&S - fees on you. PRICES IN EURO

Lower rep goes first.

Googledocs https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x939dac0XlG3tRhyYX_9Lf93usR0uqyVHPCYmB7RRys
Discount at purchase
5% @ €15-29
7% @ €30-59
10% @ €60+
12% @ €100+
15% @ €150+

Game	F&F (€EU)
112 Operator	0.30
112 Operator	0.30
2064: Read Only Memories	0.60
7 Billion Humans	4.50
911 Operator	0.30
911 Operator	0.30
A Little Golf Journey	2.50
A Long Way Down	1.00
Aeterna Noctis	4.00
After The Fall	15.00
Agent in Depth	0.20
Aground	4.00
Alchemist's Castle	0.20
APICO	7.00
Arcade Paradise - Arcade Paradise EP	0.20
Arcade Spirits	0.20
Arise: A Simple Story	2.50
Arizona Sunshine	6.00
Armello	1.20
Aviary Attorney	0.20
AWAKE - Definitive Edition	0.20
Baba Is You	5.00
Back 4 Blood	9.00
Backbone	0.20
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition	2.00
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition	2.00
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition	1.00
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition	2.00
Baldur's Gate: Faces of Good and Evil	1.00
Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear	2.00
Batora: Lost Haven	2.00
BattleGroupVR	1.00
Bean Stalker	2.00
Beasts of Maravilla Island	2.00
Beat Hazard 3	6.00
Ben 10: Power Trip	1.50
Bionic Commando	0.20
Blade of Darkness	3.00
Blaston	1.00
Breathedge	2.50
Broken Age	0.20
Calico	0.20
Calico	0.20
Call of the Sea	1.00
Car Mechanic Simulator VR	1.50
Cats and the Other Lives	0.50
Cave Digger 2: Dig Harder	2.00
CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience	1.50
Chivalry: Medieval Warfare	1.50
Click and Slay	0.20
Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues	0.50
Combat Tested	1.00
Control Ultimate Edition	6.00
Cook-Out	1.00
Corridor Z	0.10
Crash Drive 2	1.00
Creaks	1.00
Cris Tales	0.50
Crying Suns	0.50
Cube Escape Collection	2.50
Dagon - The Eldritch Box DLC	0.10
Dark Deity	1.50
DARQ	1.00
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition	-
Death and Taxes	2.50
Death Squared	0.20
Desolate	0.50
Detached: Non-VR Edition	0.50
Devil May Cry 5 + Vergil	6.00
Devil May Cry HD Collection	6.00
Disaster Band	3.00
DmC Devil May Cry	3.00
DOOM 64	1.00
DOOM VFR	3.00
Doughlings: Arcade	0.50
Doughlings: Invasion	0.20
Draw Slasher	0.10
Drawful 2	0.10
Dread Delusion	4.00
Dreamscaper	1.50
Driftland: The Magic Revival	0.10
Epistory - Typing Chronicles	0.80
Eternal Threads	3.50
Euro Truck Simulator 2	5.00
Evan's Remains	0.10
EXAPUNKS	1.00
Expeditions: Viking	1.50
Explosionade	0.20
Farming Simulator 17	2.00
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Rise of SH1FT3R	1.50
Field of Glory II	1.00
Flynn: Son of Crimson	1.50
Forgive me Father	1.00
Forgotton Anne	7.00
Frick, Inc.	3.00
From Space	4.00
fsongs	0.20
Fury Unleashed	0.50
GameGuru Classic	-
Gauntlet - Necromancer	-
Gauntlet Slayer Edition + DLC Necromancer	1.50
Ghostrunner	5.00
Gift of Parthax	0.20
Gigantosaurus The Game	1.20
Go Home Dinosaurs!	0.20
Golf Gang	0.50
Gotham Knights	15.00
GRAVEN	5.00
Guilty Gear X2 #Reload	0.40
Guns & Fishes	0.20
Hack 'n' Slash + Soundtrack (& Spacebase GIFT)	0.20
Hacknet	0.50
Hamilton's Great Adventure	0.10
Harmony's Odyssey	0.50
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice	4.00
Homeworld Remastered Collection	1.00
Human Resource Machine	5.00
Hyper Gunsport	0.50
Hypnospace Outlaw	3.00
ibb & obb - Best Friends Forever Double Pack	2.00
Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure	4.50
Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition	1.00
Impaler	1.50
Indivisible	2.00
Influent	2.50
Into the Pit	1.00
Into the Radius VR	7.00
Izmir: An Independence Simulator	0.20
Jumanji: The Video Game	1.50
Just Die Already	1.00
Killing Floor 2 Digital Deluxe Edition	4.00
King and Assassins	0.20
Kingdom Two Crowns	2.50
Labyrinthine	4.00
Lair of the Clockwork God	1.00
Lake	2.00
Last Resort Island	0.50
Learn Japanese To Survive - Hiragana Battle	0.40
Learn Japanese To Survive! Kanji Combat	0.40
Learn Japanese To Survive! Katakana War	0.40
Learning Factory	3.50
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4	1.80
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7	2.20
LEGO Jurassic World	1.50
LEGO MARVEL Super Heroes	1.50
LEGO MARVEL Super Heroes 2	1.50
LEGO MARVEL's Avengers	1.50
LEGO The Hobbit + 3 DLCs	2.50
LEGO The Hobbit DLC 1 - The Big Little Character Pack	-
LEGO The Hobbit DLC 2 - Side Quest Character Pack	-
LEGO The Hobbit DLC 3 - The Battle Pack	-
LEGO The Lord of the Rings	2.50
Lighthouse Keeper	0.20
Little League World Series Baseball 2022	0.50
Little Orpheus	2.00
Loot River	3.00
Love Letter	0.20
Lust from Beyond: M Edition	0.50
Magicka	0.50
Maize	1.25
Marooners	0.20
Melody's Escape 2	0.70
Meow Express	0.40
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition	3.00
MirrorMoon EP	0.10
Monaco	0.50
Monument Valley	1.50
Monument Valley 2	1.50
Moon Hunters	0.20
Mordhau	5.00
Mortal Kombat 11	6.00
Mortal Shell	4.00
Mount & Blade: Warband	2.00
Murder by Numbers	0.50
MY LITTLE PONY: A Maretime Bay Adventure	10.00
Nanotale - Typing Chronicles	3.00
NecroWorm	0.20
Neverout	0.20
Neverwinter Nights: Dark Dreams of Furiae	2.50
Neverwinter Nights: Infinite Dungeons	1.00
Neverwinter Nights: Pirates of the Sword Coast	1.00
Neverwinter Nights: Tyrants of the Moonsea	1.50
Neverwinter Nights: Wyvern Crown of Cormyr	1.00
Neverwinter Nights: Darkness Over Daggerford	3.50
Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition	3.50
Newt One	0.30
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl	1.00
Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix	0.50
Nightmare Reaper	6.00
No Straight Roads: Encore Edition	4.00
Non-Stop Raiders	0.50
Orbital Racer	0.10
Orbital Racer	0.10
Out of Reach: Treasure Royale	0.10
Pandemic: The Board Game + Mutation + Roles & Events	4.00
Pathfinder: Kingmaker	4.00
Patron	2.50
PAW Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls	2.50
PAYDAY 2	1.00
PAYDAY 2: F*ck Cancer - Big Mike Mask	-
Perfect	0.50
Pikuniku	0.50
Pilgrims	0.30
Pill Baby	0.20
Pixplode	0.10
Pixross	0.20
Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition	1.50
Planet TD	0.20
PlateUp!	7.00
PLAYNE	5.00
Police Stories	1.00
Praey for the Gods	3.00
Princess Farmer	2.00
Project Arrhythmia	1.00
Project Chemistry	1.00
Propnight	2.00
Quadrata	1.50
Radio Commander	0.20
Railway Empire	1.00
Rayon Riddles - Rise of the Goblin King	1.00
Red Faction: Armageddon	0.50
Remnants of Naezith	0.30
Renowned Explorers: International Society	0.50
Rescue Party: Live!	1.50
Rise of the Slime	2.00
River City Girls	4.50
Roarr! Jurassic Edition	0.10
RPG Maker VX	0.20
RUMBLE	4.50
Rym 9000	0.10
Sable	1.50
Salt and Sanctuary	3.50
Sands of Aura	3.00
Say No! More	0.20
SCP: 5K	5.00
SHENZHEN I/O	2.50
Shing!	-
Shooty Fruity	1.00
Slinger VR	0.10
Small World 2 + Be not Afraid + Cursed + Grand Dames	2.00
Songbringer	0.30
Songs of Iron	3.00
Soul Axiom Rebooted	2.00
Soul Searching	0.20
Soulblight	0.10
Soulflow	0.20
Soundfall	4.00
Space Crew: Legendary Edition	0.50
Splendor	1.50
Stacking	0.10
StarCrossed	0.30
State of Decay 2	9.00
Staxel	2.00
Steel Rats	0.20
Stick Fight: The Game	2.00
STONE	1.50
Strange Brigade	1.50
Strange Brigade	1.50
Street Fighter V	2.50
Strider	0.50
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones	0.30
Sunlight	0.20
Superfly	0.20
SUPERHOT VR	7.00
Supraland Six Inches Under	5.00
Swords and Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon	0.20
Syberia - The World Before	4.50
SYMMETRY	0.20
System Shock 2	0.40
System Shock: Enhanced Edition	0.40
Takelings House Party	0.50
Tales of the Neon Sea	1.00
Tannenberg	1.25
Teacup	0.50
Teacup	0.50
Telefrag VR	0.10
Terra Alia	2.50
The Almost Gone	1.00
The Amazing American Circus	0.10
The Amazing American Circus	0.10
The Anacrusis	0.50
The Blackout Club	2.00
The Citadel	2.50
THE GAME OF LIFE 2	5.00
The Hong Kong Massacre	2.00
The Inner World	0.30
The LEGO Movie - Videogame	1.00
The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game	2.00
The Mortuary Assistant	7.00
The Smurfs - Mission Vileaf	6.00
The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia	0.50
The USB Stick Found in the Grass	0.10
The Wizards - Dark Times	2.00
Them and Us	2.00
Ticket to Ride	0.50
TIS-100	2.00
Titan Quest Anniversary Edition	3.00
ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove	0.10
Trombone Champ	8.00
Turbo Golf Racing	3.50
Ultra Street Fighter IV	1.50
Until You Fall	3.00
Vagante	1.20
Vault of the Void	5.00
Verdun	1.50
Vertigo Remastered	1.50
Visage	8.00
Wanderer	1.50
Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War	2.00
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus	1.00
Warhammer: Vermintide 2	2.00
We are alright (Wszystko z nami w porządku)	0.10
West of Dead	0.30
while True: learn()	2.50
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School	1.75
Winkeltje The Little Shop	4.00
Worms Rumble	1.00
WRATH: Aeon of Ruin	1.00
Wytchwood	4.00
X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack	0.20
X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack	0.20
XEL	0.40
Yoku's Island Express	0.50
Yonder The Cloud Catcher Chronicles	3.00
You Can Kana	3.50
Zenith MMO	6.00
Zombie Army Trilogy	2.00
Zombie Driver HD Complete Edition	0.10

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Item	Price	MSRP	% Off	History*
A Memoir Blue	$7.69	$10.99	30% off	New Lowest
Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot The First Cases	$25.11	$39.99	37% off	Lowest price $19.99 on 2023-4-26
Agatha Christie The Abc Murders	$3.99	$39.99	90% off	Matches low
Albacete Warrior Ps4 Ps5	$9.44	$13.49	30% off	New Lowest
Alfred Hitchcock Vertigo	$32.09	$53.49	40% off	Lowest price $26.74 on 2023-3-29
Alfred Hitchcock Vertigo	$32.09	$53.49	40% off	Lowest price $26.74 on 2023-3-29
Among Us	$4.89	$6.99	30% off	New Lowest
Arkanoid Eternal Battle	$15.99	$39.99	60% off	New Lowest
Ashen	$13.37	$53.49	75% off	Matches low
Assassins Creed Valhalla Deluxe Ps4 Ps5	$24.99	$89.99	72% off	Matches low
Assetto Corsa Competizione	$18.18	$53.49	66% off	Lowest price $16.04 on 2022-11-18
Assetto Corsa Competizione	$18.18	$53.49	66% off	Lowest price $16.04 on 2022-11-18
Assetto Corsa Ultimate Edition	$18.19	$51.99	65% off	Lowest price $10.39 on 2021-9-1
Atelier Ryza 2 Lost Legends And The Secret Fairy Ps4 And Ps5	$39.99	$79.99	50% off	Matches low
Atelier Ryza 2 Lost Legends And The Secret Fairy Ultimate Edition	$73.24	$146.49	50% off	Matches low
Atelier Ryza Ever Darkness The Secret Hideout	$39.99	$79.99	50% off	Matches low
Atv Drift Tricks	$3.34	$33.49	90% off	Lowest price $2.67 on 2021-11-29
Back 4 Blood Standard Edition Ps4 And Ps5	$15.99	$79.99	80% off	Matches low
Battlefield 1	$10.39	$25.99	60% off	Lowest price $3.89 on 2020-7-22
Battlefield 2042 Ps4	$23.99	$79.99	70% off	New Lowest
Battlefield 2042 Ps4 Ps5	$26.99	$89.99	70% off	New Lowest
Before Your Eyes	$15.99	$19.99	20% off	New Lowest
Beyond A Steel Sky	$18.72	$53.49	65% off	Matches low
Beyond A Steel Sky	$18.72	$53.49	65% off	Matches low
Biomutant Ps4 Ps5	$15.99	$39.99	60% off	Matches low
Blacksad Under The Skin	$10.79	$66.99	83% off	Lowest price $10.04 on 2023-3-1
Borderlands 3 Ps4 And Ps5	$11.99	$79.99	85% off	Matches low
Borderlands 3 Super Deluxe Edition Ps4 And Ps5	$24.99	$99.99	75% off	Matches low
Bugsnax	$13.39	$33.49	60% off	Matches low
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Chernobylite	$19.99	$39.99	50% off	Lowest price $17.99 on 2023-3-1
Chicken Police Paint It Red	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	New Lowest
Chicken Police Paint It Red Ps4 Ps5	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	New Lowest
Chrono Cross The Radical Dreamers Edition	$18.89	$26.99	30% off	Matches low
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Cooking Simulator	$14.84	$26.99	45% off	Matches low
Crash Bandicoot Crashiversary Bundle	$59.99	$149.99	60% off	Matches low
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Cricket 22	$27.99	$69.99	60% off	New Lowest
Cricket 22	$27.99	$69.99	60% off	New Lowest
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Crossing Souls	$2.99	$19.99	85% off	Matches low
Crsed Dark Horse Bundle	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	Lowest price $10.79 on 2023-4-12
Crsed Nutcracker Bundle	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	Matches low
Crsed Street Kid Bundle	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	Lowest price $10.79 on 2023-4-12
Crsed Vampire Hunter Bundle	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	Lowest price $10.79 on 2023-4-12
Crusader Kings Iii	$43.54	$66.99	35% off	New Lowest
Curse Of The Sea Rats	$21.59	$26.99	20% off	New Lowest
Curse Of The Sea Rats	$21.59	$26.99	20% off	New Lowest
Dark Souls Ii Scholar Of The First Sin	$24.99	$49.99	50% off	Lowest price $12.49 on 2019-12-2
Dark Souls Iii	$39.99	$79.99	50% off	Lowest price $12.79 on 2020-6-3
Dark Souls Remastered	$27.49	$54.99	50% off	Matches low
Darkest Dungeon	$6.69	$33.49	80% off	Lowest price $3.34 on 2023-3-1
Dayz	$40.19	$66.99	40% off	Lowest price $33.49 on 2022-12-21
Dead Island 2	$78.40	$98.00	19% off	New Lowest
Dead Space	$62.99	$89.99	30% off	New Lowest
Deathloop	$19.99	$79.99	75% off	New Lowest
Deeeer Simulator Your Average Everyday Deer Game	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	Matches low
Deemo Reborn	$16.04	$53.49	70% off	Matches low
Deep Rock Galactic	$13.19	$39.99	67% off	Matches low
Deexit Eternal Matters	$21.59	$26.99	20% off	New Lowest
Deliver Us Mars Ps4 Ps5	$27.99	$39.99	30% off	Matches low
Demeo	$37.44	$53.49	30% off	New Lowest
Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba The Hinokami Chronicles Ps4 Ps5	$39.99	$79.99	50% off	Matches low
Deus Ex Mankind Divided	$5.99	$39.99	85% off	Lowest price $5.59 on 2020-3-4
Disney Dreamlight Valley	$29.99	$39.99	25% off	Matches low
Disney Speedstorm Standard Founders Pack	$31.99	$39.99	20% off	New Lowest
Divinity Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition	$31.99	$79.99	60% off	Lowest price $26.39 on 2021-8-18
Doom Eternal Deluxe Edition	$30.85	$119.99	74% off	Lowest price $23.37 on 2023-5-12
Doom Eternal Year One Pass Standalone	$15.99	$39.99	60% off	Matches low
Dragon Ball Z Kakarot Legendary Edition	$79.99	$159.99	50% off	Matches low
Dungeons 3	$19.99	$66.99	70% off	Lowest price $8.02 on 2020-2-19
Dying Light 2 Stay Human Ps5	$39.99	$79.99	50% off	Matches low
Dying Light 2 Stay Human Ps5	$39.99	$79.99	50% off	New Lowest
Earth Defense Force 5	$31.99	$79.99	60% off	Matches low
Earth Defense Force41 Wingdiver The Shooter	$2.69	$26.99	90% off	Matches low
Earth Defense Forceiron Rain	$19.99	$79.99	75% off	Matches low
Earth Defense Forceworld Brothers	$32.09	$79.99	59% off	Matches low
Eiyuden Chronicle Rising	$11.99	$19.99	40% off	New Lowest
Ender Lilies Quietus Of The Knights	$15.49	$30.99	50% off	New Lowest
Enlisted Battle For Moscow High Caliber Bundle	$39.99	$79.99	50% off	New Lowest
Enlisted Battle Of Tunisia Desert Warriors Bundle	$26.74	$53.49	50% off	New Lowest
Enlisted Pacific War Maneuver Warfare Bundle	$19.99	$39.99	50% off	Matches low
Escape Game Fort Boyard	$11.99	$39.99	70% off	Lowest price $7.99 on 2023-3-1
Fallout 4	$8.90	$39.99	77% off	Lowest price $6.74 on 2022-9-28
Far Changing Tides	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	Matches low
Final Fantasy Vii Remake	$39.99	$79.99	50% off	Lowest price $31.99 on 2022-3-16
Final Fantasy Vii Remake Intergrade	$53.28	$93.49	43% off	Lowest price $52.35 on 2021-12-22
Final Fantasy Vii Remake Intergrade Digital Deluxe Edition	$80.39	$119.99	33% off	Lowest price $67.19 on 2021-12-22
Finding The Soul Orb Ps4 Ps5	$5.69	$9.49	40% off	New Lowest
Flashback	$5.02	$33.49	85% off	Lowest price $1.67 on 2022-5-18
Forspoken	$46.74	$93.49	50% off	New Lowest
Forspoken Digital Deluxe Upgrade	$16.50	$33.00	50% off	New Lowest
Fort Triumph	$9.17	$26.99	66% off	Lowest price $5.39 on 2023-3-1
Ghost Of Tsushima Directors Cut	$37.79	$	0% off	Matches low
Ghostrunner	$15.99	$39.99	60% off	Lowest price $13.99 on 2023-3-29
Ghostrunner Ps5	$15.99	$39.99	60% off	Lowest price $13.99 on 2023-3-29
Ghostwire Tokyo	$31.99	$79.99	60% off	Lowest price $27.99 on 2023-3-24
Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams Directors Cut	$3.99	$19.99	80% off	Matches low
Gleamlight	$6.59	$21.99	70% off	Lowest price $4.39 on 2023-4-12
Goat Simulator 3	$25.34	$38.99	35% off	New Lowest
God Of War Ragnark	$63.89	$89.99	29% off	New Lowest
God Of War Ragnark	$52.79	$79.99	34% off	New Lowest
Gotham Knights	$29.69	$89.99	67% off	Matches low
Gran Turismo 7	$39.99	$79.99	50% off	Matches low
Gran Turismo 7	$51.29	$89.99	43% off	Matches low
Grand Theft Auto The Trilogy The Definitive Edition	$39.99	$79.99	50% off	Matches low
Grand Theft Auto V Playstation5	$24.99	$12.50	-99% off	Lowest price $12.5 on 2022-6-15
Gravel	$2.69	$62.99	95% off	Matches low
Green Hell	$20.09	$33.49	40% off	New Lowest
Grimgrimoire Oncemore	$53.59	$66.99	20% off	New Lowest
Gungrave Gore	$30.14	$66.99	55% off	Matches low
Hades	$20.09	$33.49	40% off	Matches low
Hell Let Loose	$40.11	$53.49	25% off	Lowest price $37.44 on 2023-4-12
Hindsight	$13.19	$19.99	34% off	New Lowest
Hollow Knight	$9.99	$19.99	50% off	Lowest price $7.99 on 2021-2-24
Horizon Forbidden West	$39.99	$79.99	50% off	Matches low
Horizon Forbidden West	$51.29	$89.99	43% off	Matches low
Horse Tales Emerald Valley Ranch	$32.09	$53.49	40% off	Matches low
Hot Wheels Unleashed	$13.39	$66.99	80% off	Matches low
Hot Wheels Unleashed	$13.39	$66.99	80% off	Matches low
Hot Wheels Unleashed	$13.39	$66.99	80% off	New Lowest
I Hate Running Backwards	$1.99	$19.99	90% off	New Lowest
It Came From Space And Ate Our Brains	$1.99	$19.99	90% off	Matches low
It Takes Two Ps4 And Ps5	$27.49	$54.99	50% off	Lowest price $21.44 on 2022-4-27
Kingdom Come Deliverance Royal Edition	$10.69	$53.49	80% off	Matches low
La Noire	$24.99	$49.99	50% off	Matches low
Labyrinth Life	$26.79	$66.99	60% off	Lowest price $26.12 on 2022-12-21
Labyrinth Of Zangetsu	$31.99	$39.99	20% off	New Lowest
Lara Croft And The Temple Of Osiris	$4.04	$26.99	85% off	Matches low
Lara Croft Go	$2.69	$10.99	75% off	Lowest price $2.19 on 2020-2-21
Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga Ps4 Ps5	$31.99	$79.99	60% off	Matches low
Lets Sing 2023	$37.44	$53.49	30% off	New Lowest
Like A Dragon Ishin Ps4 Ps5	$55.99	$79.99	30% off	New Lowest
Little Nightmares I Ii Bundle Ps4 Ps5	$20.09	$66.99	70% off	Matches low
Little Nightmares Ii Deluxe Edition Ps4 Ps5	$21.39	$53.49	60% off	Matches low
Lost Judgment Digital Ultimate Edition Ps4 Ps5	$35.99	$119.99	70% off	Matches low
Lost Judgment Ps4 Ps5	$27.99	$79.99	65% off	Matches low
Lumines Remastered	$5.99	$19.99	70% off	Matches low
Madden Nfl 23 Ps4	$23.99	$79.99	70% off	Matches low
Madden Nfl 23 Ps5	$26.99	$89.99	70% off	Matches low
Mafia Definitive Edition	$18.72	$53.49	65% off	Matches low
Marsupilami Hoobadventure Ps5	$13.49	$39.99	66% off	Lowest price $11.99 on 2023-3-29
Marvels Avengers	$8.02	$79.99	89% off	New Lowest
Marvels Avengers	$8.02	$79.99	89% off	New Lowest
Marvels Guardians Of The Galaxy Ps4 And Ps5	$31.99	$79.99	60% off	Lowest price $23.99 on 2023-4-26
Marvels Midnight Suns Enhanced Edition	$44.99	$89.99	50% off	Matches low
Marvels Spiderman Miles Morales	$25.99	$64.99	60% off	Matches low
Mass Effect Legendary Edition	$19.99	$79.99	75% off	Matches low
Matchpoint Tennis Championships	$46.89	$66.99	30% off	Matches low
Metro Exodus	$7.99	$53.49	85% off	Matches low
Middleearth Shadow Of Mordor Game Of The Year Edition	$7.49	$29.99	75% off	Matches low
Miraculous Rise Of The Sphinx	$20.09	$66.99	70% off	New Lowest
Mlb The Show 23 Ps4	$52.79	$79.99	34% off	New Lowest
Mlb The Show 23 Ps5	$63.89	$89.99	29% off	New Lowest
Mobile Suit Gundam Battle Operation Code Fairy Standard Edition	$26.79	$66.99	60% off	New Lowest
Monster Energy Supercross The Official Videogame 6	$47.99	$79.99	40% off	New Lowest
Mortal Kombat Xl	$7.49	$29.99	75% off	Lowest price $5.99 on 2021-12-22
Mortal Shell Enhanced Edition	$15.99	$39.99	60% off	Lowest price $11.99 on 2023-3-15
Mortal Shell Enhanced Edition	$15.99	$39.99	60% off	New Lowest
Moto Racer 4	$5.34	$53.49	90% off	Lowest price $2.67 on 2021-8-25
Moto Racer 4 Deluxe Edition	$11.99	$79.99	85% off	Lowest price $3.99 on 2022-2-2
Motogp22 Ps4 Ps5	$10.04	$66.99	85% off	New Lowest
Murder Mystery Machine	$8.09	$26.99	70% off	New Lowest
Mxgp 2021 The Official Motocross Videogame	$10.04	$66.99	85% off	New Lowest
Mxgp 2021 The Official Motocross Videogame	$10.04	$66.99	85% off	New Lowest
Nba 2k23 Michael Jordan Edition Preorder	$24.49	$119.99	79% off	New Lowest
Necrosphere Deluxe	$3.29	$10.99	70% off	Matches low
Need For Speed Unbound Palace Edition	$29.99	$99.99	70% off	New Lowest
Neon White	$23.44	$33.49	30% off	New Lowest
New Super Luckys Tale	$11.99	$53.49	77% off	Matches low
New Tales From The Borderlands	$24.99	$49.99	50% off	Matches low
No Mans Sky Ps4 And Ps5	$39.99	$79.99	50% off	Matches low
Nobody Saves The World	$17.99	$29.99	40% off	Matches low
Norco	$11.69	$19.49	40% off	New Lowest
Not A Hero	$1.74	$17.49	90% off	New Lowest
Of Bird And Cage	$5.39	$13.49	60% off	New Lowest
Offroad Racing Buggy X Atv X Moto	$5.39	$26.99	80% off	Lowest price $2.69 on 2023-3-1
Offroad Racing Buggy X Atv X Moto	$5.39	$26.99	80% off	New Lowest
Olija	$5.99	$19.99	70% off	New Lowest
Olija	$5.99	$19.99	70% off	New Lowest
Olliolli World Ps4ps5	$23.99	$39.99	40% off	Lowest price $13.19 on 2022-12-21
Omen Of Sorrow	$20.24	$26.99	25% off	New Lowest
One Piece Odyssey Deluxe Edition Ps4 Ps5	$79.44	$113.49	30% off	New Lowest
Onee Chanbara Origin	$35.99	$79.99	55% off	Matches low
Orcs Must Die 3 Ps4 Ps5	$15.99	$39.99	60% off	New Lowest
Outer Wilds	$20.09	$Unavailable	0% off	Matches low
Outer Wilds Archaeologist Edition	$32.09	$53.49	40% off	Matches low
Pathfinder Kingmaker	$10.69	$66.99	84% off	Lowest price $8.02 on 2023-4-12
Peppa Pig World Adventures	$37.44	$53.49	30% off	New Lowest
Pga 2k23 Crossgen Edition	$31.49	$89.99	65% off	Matches low
Pga Tour 2k23	$26.39	$79.99	67% off	Matches low
Pga Tour 2k23 X Nba 2k23 Bundle	$35.99	$119.99	70% off	New Lowest
Pirates Outlaws	$16.09	$22.99	30% off	New Lowest
Postal 4 No Regerts	$37.44	$53.49	30% off	New Lowest
Process Of Elimination	$42.79	$53.49	20% off	New Lowest
Psychonauts	$2.69	$13.49	80% off	Matches low
Quake	$5.39	$13.49	60% off	Matches low
Raccoon City Edition	$18.74	$74.99	75% off	Matches low
Raiden Iv X Mikado Remix	$29.99	$39.99	25% off	New Lowest
Railway Empire	$13.49	$79.99	83% off	Matches low
Raptor Boyfriend A High School Romance Ps4 Ps5	$13.29	$18.99	30% off	Matches low
Ratchet And Clank Rift Apart	$37.79	$89.99	58% off	Matches low
Red Dead Redemption 2	$14.99	$79.99	81% off	Matches low
Resident Evil Village Gold Edition	$35.99	$59.99	40% off	Matches low
Rez Infinite	$15.99	$39.99	60% off	Lowest price $11.99 on 2023-1-4
Rez Infinite	$29.99	$39.99	25% off	Matches low
Ride 4	$10.04	$66.99	85% off	New Lowest
Ride 4 Ps4 And Ps5	$10.04	$66.99	85% off	New Lowest
Riders Republic Deluxe Edition	$24.99	$99.99	75% off	Matches low
Riders Republic Gold Edition	$32.49	$129.99	75% off	Matches low
Road 96 Mile 0	$13.99	$17.49	20% off	New Lowest
Road 96 Mile 0 Full Journey	$21.59	$35.99	40% off	New Lowest
Ronin	$2.02	$13.49	85% off	Matches low
Salt And Sacrifice	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	Matches low
Samurai Maiden Ps4 Ps5	$59.99	$79.99	25% off	New Lowest
Sayonara Wild Hearts	$10.49	$17.49	40% off	Lowest price $10.48 on 2020-12-22
Sbk22 Ps4 Ps5	$13.37	$53.49	75% off	New Lowest
Sekiro Shadows Die Twice	$39.99	$79.99	50% off	Matches low
Session Skate Sim	$33.49	$66.99	50% off	Matches low
Sherlock Holmes The Awakened Deluxe Edition	$53.59	$66.99	20% off	New Lowest
Sid Meiers Civilization Vi	$7.99	$79.99	90% off	Matches low
Sifu	$32.09	$53.49	40% off	Matches low
Sine Mora Ex	$5.99	$19.99	70% off	Lowest price $3.99 on 2021-5-26
Smile For Me	$15.99	$19.99	20% off	New Lowest
Sniper Elite 5	$39.99	$79.99	50% off	Matches low
Snowrunner	$26.74	$53.49	50% off	Matches low
Solar Ash	$26.74	$53.49	50% off	New Lowest
Sonic Frontiers Ps4 Ps5	$47.99	$79.99	40% off	New Lowest
Spacebase Startopia Extended Edition Ps4 And Ps5	$25.72	$86.49	70% off	Matches low
Spongebob Squarepants The Cosmic Shake	$31.99	$39.99	20% off	New Lowest
Star Wars Squadrons	$8.24	$54.99	85% off	Matches low
Strafe	$4.99	$19.99	75% off	New Lowest
Stranded Alien Dawn	$37.59	$46.99	20% off	New Lowest
Stranded Deep	$10.79	$26.99	60% off	Matches low
Stranger Of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin	$42.79	$79.99	46% off	New Lowest
Stray	$29.99	$39.99	25% off	New Lowest
Subject 13	$1.89	$9.49	80% off	Lowest price $0.94 on 2022-12-21
Sudden Strike 4	$13.49	$79.99	83% off	Lowest price $10.79 on 2021-3-17
Super Bomberman R	$29.99	$59.99	50% off	Lowest price $8.99 on 2021-11-10
Syberia The World Before	$40.19	$66.99	40% off	New Lowest
Tactics Ogre Reborn	$44.21	$66.99	34% off	New Lowest
Tails Of Iron	$11.72	$33.49	65% off	New Lowest
Tchia Ps4 Ps5	$29.99	$39.99	25% off	New Lowest
Terraria	$13.49	$19.99	32% off	Lowest price $7.99 on 2019-1-7
Tetris Effect	$26.74	$53.49	50% off	Lowest price $21.39 on 2022-11-18
Tetris Effect Connected	$40.11	$53.49	25% off	Matches low
The Casino Collection	$5.99	$14.99	60% off	Matches low
The Elder Scrolls Online	$7.49	$24.99	70% off	Matches low
The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Special Edition	$13.37	$53.49	75% off	Matches low
The Entropy Centre	$23.44	$33.49	30% off	Lowest price $21.76 on 2023-4-26
The Escapists 2	$8.09	$26.99	70% off	Lowest price $6.74 on 2020-12-22
The Forest	$10.79	$26.99	60% off	Lowest price $9.44 on 2023-2-15
The Jackbox Party Pack 8	$23.99	$39.99	40% off	Matches low
The Jackbox Party Pack 9	$27.99	$39.99	30% off	Matches low
The King Of Fighters Xv Standard Edition Ps4 Ps5	$31.99	$	0% off	Matches low
The Last Campfire	$4.99	$19.99	75% off	Lowest price $3.99 on 2023-3-29
The Last Of Us Part I	$63.89	$89.99	29% off	Matches low
The Last Worker	$20.24	$26.99	25% off	New Lowest
The Legend Of Heroes Trails To Azure	$42.79	$53.49	20% off	New Lowest
The Midnight Sanctuary	$4.04	$13.49	70% off	Matches low
The Outer Worlds Spacers Choice Edition	$52.79	$79.99	34% off	New Lowest
The Pathless Ps4 And Ps5	$26.74	$53.49	50% off	Matches low
The Quarry For Ps4	$26.39	$79.99	67% off	New Lowest
The Quarry For Ps5	$29.69	$89.99	67% off	New Lowest
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Complete Edition	$33.49	$66.99	50% off	Matches low
The Wreck	$21.59	$26.99	20% off	New Lowest
Tiny Metal	$5.99	$19.99	70% off	Matches low
Tiny Tinas Wonderlands For Ps4	$31.99	$79.99	60% off	New Lowest
Titan Souls	$1.99	$19.99	90% off	New Lowest
Tokyo Dark Remembrance	$8.09	$26.99	70% off	Matches low
Tortuga A Pirates Tale	$31.99	$39.99	20% off	Matches low
Townsmen Vr	$42.79	$53.49	20% off	New Lowest
Tramsim Console Edition Deluxe	$53.59	$66.99	20% off	New Lowest
Unpacking	$16.19	$26.99	40% off	New Lowest
Void Trrlm2 Void Terrarium 2	$40.11	$53.49	25% off	New Lowest
Warhammer 40000 Mechanicus	$10.69	$53.49	80% off	New Lowest
Wild Hearts Standard Edition	$53.99	$Early access trial	0% off	New Lowest
Wobbly Life	$18.39	$22.99	20% off	New Lowest
Wolfenstein Ii The New Colossus	$8.02	$79.99	89% off	Matches low
Wwe 2k23	$53.59	$79.99	33% off	New Lowest
Wwe 2k23 Crossgen Digital Edition	$67.49	$89.99	25% off	Matches low
Yakuza Like A Dragon Ps4 And Ps5	$19.99	$79.99	75% off	New Lowest
Yesterday Origins	$6.02	$33.49	82% off	Lowest price $2.34 on 2023-3-1

*History is a beta feature, only goes back as far as I've been tracking this item, and may not be 100% accurate

I crossed my first 1cr milestone yesterday; I was awaiting my May salary credit with the same excitement (if not more) as my first paycheck.
Background: 27M from a middle-class, education-first focussed family (father was a government servant, moved throughout the country during transfers, mum settled in the city so our education wasn't disrupted). Finally, their sacrifices paid off; I got into one of the top-ranked institutes and started working right after college, switching once in between.
Current distribution of assets:

• Equity (~70%)
  • Mutual Funds:
    • US Markets Index: 15.6L
    • Nifty 50 Index: 28L
    • Parag Parikh Flexi Cap: 7.25L
    • Other active MF: 1.7L (plan to remove these during re-balancing)
  • Direct Domestic Equity: 17L
• Debt (~25%)
  • Liquid Fund: 1.15L (will be moving this to FD)
  • FDs: 2.6L
  • Cash: 6.85L
  • EPF: 14.25L
• Gold: 6L (only SGBs)
• Real Estate: 0.5L (recently started exploring REITs and will be increasing it, hence kept it under this head)

In the above calculations, I'm yet to consider any inheritance (insignificant) or ESOPs that I have vested from my employer (since it's paper money).
Investment strategy: Experimented with active mutual funds initially but switched to passive investing after exposure to the idea. I started with some money for actively picking stocks that I liked (domestic market only) and did well (~40% returns), which became a portfolio of 17L. I understand that I do not have time to track the markets; hence most of my savings go into index funds and stocks whenever I feel like shopping (mostly existing ones I've researched already). Apart from that, I already have sorted out term insurance as well as health insurance for me and my family.
Major expenditures ahead:

1. Marriage with my long-term girlfriend.
2. I wanted to take my family on our first international vacation for a long time, will do that now.
3. I'm contemplating pursuing higher education outside India as well.

Personal preference: Retiring early was never my goal; it was rather financial independence behind building a corpus. The mental peace of not worrying about the financial implications even if I leave work is something I was after. I don't have any loans at the moment, nor do I plan to buy a home until I finally wish to settle this would allow me to move whenever and wherever I find a better opportunity. Also, this corpus could allow me to take calculated risks (either starting a business on my own or joining someone else's early stage) if I find something interesting.
I couldn't tell anyone about this milestone; I quietly celebrated with myself when I saw the "salary credited" notification on my phone. I have lurked here long enough, reading about the experiences of other folks who've already FI/REed; I thought I could, at least share my journey with you guys.

Time to learn about that bow that Hinoka pilfered from her brother.
Alondite/Ettard, Thoron, Yewfelle, Thyrsus, Gae Bolg, Balmung, Gurgurant, Spear of Assal/AreadbhaLúin, Hauteclere, Gleipnir, Cymbeline, Forseti, Gjallarbrú/Thökk/Gjöll/LeiptSylgr, Armads, Kriemhild, Naglfar, Tyrfing, Peshkatz/Kard, Excalibur, Caduceus Staff, Ginnungagap, Mystletainn, Reginleif, Thani, Sanngriðr, Raijinto, LyngheiðHreiðmarLofnheiðr, Basilikos, Gradivus, FEH OCs' weapons, Ragnell, Aureola, Mjölnir, Audhulma, FEH original weapons, Falchion, Aymr, Mulagir, Eckesachs, Bolganone, Imhullu, Maltet, Durandal, Fimbulvetr, Bölverk, Yato, Ivaldi, Freikugel, Parthia, Siegmund/Sieglinde, Ragnarök, Athame, Aurgelmir, Scythe of Sariel, Nidhogg, Amiti, Mercurius, Vidofnir, Fetters of Dromi, Asclepius, and Amatsu.

Fujin Yumi

In Fire Emblem: Fates, the Fujin Yumi is a mystical bow that belongs to Takumi, second prince of Hoshido and pineapple too angry to die. Thousands of years before the events of Fates, the world was consumed with strife because of war amongst the First Dragons, a dozen lizardmen who argued amongst each other because none of them could agree on what to name the continent of Fateslandia. One of the First Dragons, known as the Rainbow Sage, enlisted humans in this conflict by forging five legendary weapons and giving them to his human champions. After the war ended, humans predictably kept these weapons and proceeded to beat each other senseless with them. Two of the weapons, Raijinto and the Fujin Yumi, wound up as heirlooms of the royal family that followed the Dawn Dragon. Two more, Brynhildr and Siegfried, would become property of the royal family that followed the Dusk Dragon. As penance for getting humans involved in the First Dragons' war and thus plunging humans into their own endless cycle of conflict, he had to remain alive until he undid his mistake. His time finally came when Corrin arrived in Notre Sagesse with the fifth weapon, Yato. At the Rainbow Sage's passing, Corrin would weep furiously over the death of a strange old man they met five minutes ago and who is partly responsible for the ongoing tumult between Nohr and Hoshido.
In Fates, the Fujin Yumi allows Takumi to treat terrain as having a movement cost of 1. Heroes at release gave a different effect: the Fujin Yumi essentially gave Takumi the Pass skill if his HP was least 50%. In a subsequent refine, this effect was modified to be in line with Fates: Takumi now is not slowed by terrain like forests if his HP is at least 50%. Additionally, he can also warp to nearby allies if he has his HP at 50% or more.

Windy Old Bag

Starting with the obvious, Fujin Yumi is Japanese for "wind god bow."
The Kojiki ("An Account of Ancient Matters"), written down around A.D. 712, is a chronicle of early Japanese stories and legends concerning Shinto spirituality and mythology. In the Kojiki, the creator gods Izanami and Izanagi are wed and beget the eight island chains of Japan, as well as a variety of deities. Izanami dies while giving birth to the fire god Kagutsuchi; as he is made of fire, Kagutsuchi immolates Izanami as he is born. Izanagi blames Kagutsuchi for Izanami's death and beheads him.
Izanagi then travels to Yomi, the land of the dead, determined to retrieve his wife. When he finds her in the darkness and shadow, he cannot see her face, but she tells him that she has already eaten the food of the underworld and may only return to the land of the living if she is permitted by the lords of the dead. Izanagi hates the thought of leaving Izanami behind and wants to look upon her face once more, so he lights a torch. To Izanagi's horror, Izanami is a corpse of rotten flesh, feasted upon by maggots. Izanagi flees from her and pushes a boulder in the way to seal off the entrance to the underworld.
From Izanami's head, chest, stomach, hands, legs, and pudenda is born the thunder god, Raijin. Less is said about Fūjin, his brother, who is also born from Izanami's corpse. Nonetheless, both Fūjin and Raijin, as well as several lesser oni (demons) slip out through a gap between the entrance to the underworld and the boulder that Izanagi had left behind.
Fūjin is often depicted in Japanese art as carrying a bag; this is where he keeps the winds. You may have seen a famous illustration of him if you have played Animal Crossing. Although Fūjin and Raijin are oni and therefore usually troublesome, they are said to be Japan's saviors in two different incursions from the Asian mainland, driving away a Mongol invasion in 1274 and a larger combined Mongol-Chinese-Korean invasion in 1281.

Appearances Can Be Deceiving

The Fire Emblem Wikia speculates that the Fujin Yumi is modeled on a mythical Japanese bow, the Ame-no-Makakoyumi. This bow is given to Ame-no-Wakahiko, a god of grains, when he is sent to preside over the earth when Ame-no-Hohi, another god, did not report back to the other gods for several years. Ame-no-Wakahiko goes down to the earth and falls in love with a woman named Shitateruhime. Like Ame-no-hohi, Ame-no-Wakahiko forgets to report back to the other deities. After eight years pass, the other gods send a pheasant to go look for Ame-no-Wakahiko. Seeing the bird, Ame-no-Wakahiko takes the Ame-no-Makakoyumi and shoots it. The arrow cleaves straight through the bird and reaches all the way up to Heaven. The god Takamimusubi intercepts the arrow and flings it back down to earth. The arrow drops on Ame-no-Wakahiko, killing him.
The Wikia further speculates that the Fujin Yumi's arrows are modeled on the Ame-no-Habaya arrows. I admit that I could not find much about the Ame-no-Habaya arrows at all, although it is apparently the namesake of a jutsu used by the character Kinshiki in the Naruto series. It also shows up in the MOBA Onmyoji Arena.
I cannot say where the Wikia draws its conclusion that the Fujin Yumi invokes the Ame-no-Makakoyumi or the Ame-no-Habaya. The myth of Ame-no-Wakahiko is obscure and is not referenced by other Shinto mythology, so I have trouble agreeing with the Wikia's position, which may well be made up entirely.

Conclusion

Unlike Raijinto, the Fujin Yumi's namesake is not self-evident. Indeed, the only reason the Fujin Yumi might be so named is just to reference Raijin's brother. The Fujin Yumi, in its various depictions, does not really invoke wind as a element in the same way that Raijinto obviously invokes lightning.
While the Wikia might be inaccurate about the references to the Ame-no-Makakoyumi and Ame-no-Habaya, it is interesting that another name for the Ame-no-Makakoyumi is Ame-no-Hajiyumi. Players of Dragalia Lost (RIP) may remember that was a bow in that game, too. However, the Ame-no-Hajiyumi was associated with the element of water rather than wind. Put simply, Raijinto was obviously named after thunder god Raijin, so the Fujin Yumi was named after his wind god brother Fūjin but no effort was made to associate the bow itself with wind.
Curiously, Fūjin's bag of wind seems to be more common than expected. The ancient Greek deity Boreas was the god of the northern wind, who may have been accepted among the Bactrians as the wind god Oado, who may have then been accepted by the Chinese as the wind god Feng Bo, and then as the Japanese Fūjin. Their commonality is that they all are depicted with some kind of billowing bag of wind in their iconography. Notably, though, Boreas was also said to be himself kept in a bag, along with his brother winds, by the god Aeolus. This is referenced most famously in The Odyssey, when Odysseus lands on Aeolus's island and pleads for help getting home. Aeolus corrals the North, South, and East winds (Boreas, Notus, and Eurus, respectively) into a bag and lets only the gentle West wind, Zephyrus, blow to allow Odysseus and his crew to sail safely home. Aeolus instructs Odysseus not to open the bag or the other three winds will come out and blow him off-course. Although Odysseus ties up the bag tightly to keep the three winds sealed in, his crew suspects that there is gold in the bag, so they open it while Odysseus is sleeping and let the three winds loose. This naturally blows them off-course and they land back on Aeolus's island. This time, Aeolus tells them they are on their own getting back home. Bags of wind are apparently fairly common in mythology across the ancient world.
Legendary Hinoka's outfit is modeled on that of her mother, Mikoto. Since Mikoto appears as an enemy in Revelation and can wield a bow, there may be some implied connection between her and the Fujin Yumi. Again, the Wikia references a tweet by the Twitter account for Fire Emblem 0 that Mikoto once used the Fujin Yumi, though I could not track down this tweet. Either way, Legendary Hinoka reminds us that Hoshido and Nohr have common ground: both cultures have contempt for royal women because all of Corrin's sisters lack legendary weapons and thus lack plot relevance.
That's all I have on the Fujin Yumi. Until next time, philologists.

Trying to keep it short. I am a mother to a 5 year old. Current custody plan is 50/50, though I technically have more overnights during the week. My kid’s step mother has definitely crossed many boundaries, it definitely feels like her and I had a child. Anyways, some problematic occurrences include: her scheduling a parent teacher conference without my knowledge/consent, her taking my kid to the doctors without my knowledge/consent - when I was informed a few days later, I had told her next time I wish to be notified. Her response was, “well he was sick, it’s not like you could do anything”. More problems include: 2 copies of final progress reports were sent to dad’s home - I did not receive mine. Most recent occurrence is my ex is in the military & has mandatory duty, he has not informed me & I am fairly sure he will not. (Found out from a close source). He will be gone for a few weeks & this could easily be time spent with me. (I will still get my child on my days). Just looking for some insight on how others might handle these situations.

I've been at a job for 8 months that is both incredibly draining and yet there is more freedom than I can find myself using. I get paid just over 6 figures (although my Masters advisor and checking online says that I'm getting 30% less than I should be).
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I got poached by my manager who visited a class of mine in the pandemic, liked me and my project, and reached out later. He offered to create a position theoretically working with exactly the technology I wanted to work with at a pretty major company for me, but I was debating doing my own startup, pursuing a music career that had microscopically started getting some traction, and was also starting interviewing at FAANG companies. I decided to accept this offer partially because Mondays and Fridays I can work from home and can commute directly on my train line. In my mind, this allowed me to pursue music and some of my side projects, but in reality it's been incredibly difficult.
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The work is in a cutting edge technical field, but the software and hardware seem to be evolving at a slower rate than they or I expected for the particular missions we've established. Additionally, I am a collaborator and a socially energized person, and I was hired as the sole person working on the projects I work on. In fact, I technically don't even have a manager directly, although the person who takes over is the one who offered me the position. I'm also invited to meetings with higher ups from cross-company collabs with FAANG companies etc as essentially the resident Gen-Z with proficient technical and design knowledge, but I haven't said anything in meetings in months because A) I don't care about what the company creates at all (and I've given it a darn good try) and B) it's getting harder and harder for me to participate in the showmanship of everyone feeling valuable in these mandatory meetings where we know more or less what we're looking for, and they know the words to say to squeeze money or features out of us, and we know how to fight back, yadda yadda.
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At the end of the day, I know this is a key part of business that I'll eventually have to deal with if I go down my own entrepreneurial path with products, games, and songs that I already have in development, but I feel like I've gotten more or less all I can out of being in these meetings. Sometimes I feel like I could practice speaking up more, but I did when I got started, and now that the ball is rolling in all honesty I just don't have anything to say and I find myself just waiting for them to be over as fast as possible.
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My manager is quite kind, but he is like a grown child. He is the only competent manager in my department (potentially in the whole company), he's somewhat at corporate speak in an innocent, playful way to get people on the other end to do what he needs, and has his toes dipped in every project pond, but I don't know how healthy this is. I've got a lot of thoughts about him, and I'm grateful for the opportunity he gave me, but I feel like he regrets getting me into this mess. I think he hired me honestly as a bit of a quirky person in the office after finding out like 4 people quit our department right before I joined, and also I think my presence in meetings just shows that we tick the checklist for collaborators that we have a person who "does what I do".
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As a selfish thing, I'm in my upper 20s and it's summer time, and I would love to have a liiiittle more free time to just enjoy and not feel like I'm living for the weekends lmao. I need to use more vacation days regardless, I was losing my mind until I took a week off and it's kicked this sentiment into overdrive of how passively I've been letting life fly by.
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The things keeping me around in no particular order are:A) 1, maybe 2 coworkers who are the people I interact with the most outside of my relationship, and they're both hatching escape plans that are just much slower than me, but they both are excited for me to spread my wings and I'm excited for them! Honestly my coworkers in general are sweet, and a few of them I would love to stay in touch with, but the majority are not people who inspire me, there's almost no one that I look up to at a managerial level, etc.B) when I negotiated my salary, I got offered a 10k bonus for sticking around for a year. As a caveat, I talked to my manager a month ago about thinking about getting ready to quit, and he said he wants me to stay for a few more years, but I should invest my time in what I want to, and the only thing that would explicitly make him upset is if I leave 1 day after I accept the 10k.
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C) AFAIK hirability is worse when you don't have a job, especially now that I might be competing against all of the ex-FAANG tech people who are getting laid off, although I'm likely not trying to immediately get back into the workforce in a traditional sense. I got an offer to teach a college class a few months ago, and they said the offer will stand for fall, but I haven't contacted them, and I'm afraid that it being low paying and probably more hours of investment per week than they assume it will be will be detrimental, although it might be able to keep me on track with obligations and keep my resume alive.
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D) probably the largest point is that one of the projects has I would guess an above 50% chance at winning a relatively prestigious award, and I've worked on it quite a bit. However, I personally don't give a shit about it other than that it would be hilarious to say that I have it, although for resumes etc. it would be a nice advantage. I could however just say that I worked on "award winning" XYZ, which in all reality is probably fine but I would love opinions on this. The project finishes in less than 2 months, and the award would be given right before my 1 year mark.
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E) healthcare, food, and rent (lmao) although I do have some savings. If I tapped into my savings I'd be able to take the next year to focus hard on pivoting myself, commission a few things here and there, and be able to start making money in a more meaningful direction. However, then I might just be OUT, and although I feel extremely and optimistic, determined about any and all of these futures working out for me, I have so much fear of falling into a slump of hedonism with drinking, drugs, social media, or gaming (never let me touch an MMO again lol). I genuinely don't think this would happen but it would be devastating and it would be so hard to forgive myself over.
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I put a lot of stress on myself to perform even though the stakes are relatively low, and I have constant anxiety that I will be fired at any given moment for little to no reason (realistically imposter syndrome and just never getting used to how slow things work in the corporate world). I should note that it is my first non-academic "Career" type job, and for the sake of my personal story arc, I want to quit before I get fired 😅 I have so much more to say but I need to go to sleep so I can attend another meeting tomorrow 🥴 I would love to answer any and all questions if people want to ask them, and thank you for reading this!

I have followed the Pies for over 50 years, but usually only get to see them live once or twice a season.
The downside of living over in Perth!
I'm looking forward to seeing this incredible team tomorrow afternoon. Nothing feels better than beating WCE on their hallowed home ground - fingers crossed!

Hey everyone, my fiancé and I will be visiting the Tetons/Yellowstone in mid September and I am looking for advice/recommendations on where to stay while in Jackson for the first 4 nights. We ideally would like to stay in town, however, if there is a nicer place/better value locally we wouldn't be opposed to it. Only real requirement is staying around/under $500/night which seems to give a few nice options. Ones we have considered are the Parkway Inn (great reviews and on the "cheaper" side), Snow King resort, the Virginian , the Alpine House, Elk Country Inn (unfortunately above budget because the only room left is a suite but still considering), Spring Creek Ranch (outside of town). I originally was going to book the Ranch Inn for its excellent pricing and central location but I see mixed reviews as of late and it appears to be closing down soon. While this will mostly be just a place to sleep at the end of the day, I'd rather pay a few hundred more to have a better experience and this one worries me. If anyone has any input or experience with any of these, or obviously additional recommendations, we'd greatly appreciate it! We already booked 3 nights inside Yellowstone for the end of the trip, but need a home base for the Tetons. Looking to book within the next week and having a hard time picking! Thanks in advance!

Hi there! I recently bought a AP LCM2 (snack machine)
I have 2 coils D3/D5, that only do a half turn and doesn’t vend properly. Is this a motor issue? Or a coil issue?
Im 100% new to any all vending machines so any help is greatly appreciated!

Hey everyone!! Back with a new and updated post. These prices are WITHOUT shipping. I will provide a quote for you, but it usually isn't more than $6 unless the items won't fit in a regular bubble mailer.
Everything has been personally tested by me and is confirmed to be fully functional. I can provide pictures upon request. I tried to stay below pricecharting, if I'm off on any of my prices, I'm more than open to offers!
PLEASE NOTE: I am open to ALL offers. The worst I can say is no!
Here's everything I'm currently selling:
SNES Samurai Shodown $9 Loose, in roughish condition.
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Nintendo 64 Turok 2 Seeds of Evil (Gray cart) $10 Loose.
Nintendo 64 WWF Wrestlemania 2000 $14 Loose.
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Gamecube All-Star Baseball 2002 $3 Loose.
Gamecube ATV Quad Power Racing 2 $8 Loose.
Gamecube Bionicle $5 Loose.
Gamecube Chronicles of Narnia $5 Loose.
Gamecube City Racer $41 CIB.
Gamecube Disney Sports Skateboarding $20 Game, case, and original artwork only.
Gamecube Hunter The Reckoning $12 Loose.
Gamecube King Kong $9 Loose.
Gamecube Namco Museum 50th Anniversary $12 Loose.
Gamecube Sonic Adventure DX $30 Original case, cover art, and game.
Gamecube Super Mario Strikers $65 CIB.
Gamecube Spongebob Creature From Krusty Krab $17 CIB.
Gamecube Viewtiful Joe Red Hot Rumble $90 Sealed. Some damage on the backside label. Please inquire for pics.
Gamecube Whirl Tour $8 Missing manual.
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Wii Bass Pro Shops: The Hunt $2 Disc and box, no accessories.
Wii Bass Pro Shops: The Strike $2 Disc and box, no accessories.
Wii Big Buck Hunter Pro $10 CIB game and gun accessory, no big box. Shipping will be around $10.
Wii Black Eyed Peas Experience $2 CIB.
Wii Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011 $2 CIB.
Wii DJ Hero 2 $2 Disc and box.
Wii EA Sports Active 2 $2 Disc in box, no other accessories.
Wii EA Sports NFL Training Camp $2 Disc in box, no other accessories.
Wii Epic Mickey 2 $15 Sealed.
Wii Link's Crossbow Training $5 Included pouch that would come with Wii console.
Wii MLB Superstars $4 Disc and box.
Wii Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 $12 CIB.
Wii NASCAR The Game 2011 $5 Disc and box.
Wii Need for Speed Prostreet $4 Disc and box.
Wii New Super Mario Bros. Wii $18 Loose.
Wii Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 $3 Disc in box.
Wii Red Steel $3 Disc in box.
Wii Tony Hawk Ride $2 Disc in box, no skateboard.
Wii We Love Golf! $7 CIB.
Wii Wii Play $4 Loose.
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Gameboy Batman The Video Game $18 Loose.
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Gameboy Advance 007 Everything or Nothing $10 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Activision Anthology $21 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Avatar The Burning Earth $13 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Batman Begins $9 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Bratz $1 Loose, has no label.
Gameboy Advance Crash of the Titans $10 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Elf Bowling 1 & 2 $16 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Family Feud $5 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Fantastic 4 $6 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Finding Nemo $6 Loose.
Gameboy Advance GT3 Advance Pro Concept Racing $12 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Klonoa Empire of Dreams $41 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Madden 2003 $3 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Monster Force $7 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Mouse Trap/Operation/Simon $5 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Namco Museum $3 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Namco Museum 50th Anniversary $10 Loose.
Gameboy Advance NFL Blitz 2003 $8 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Nicktoons Freeze Frame Frenzy $5 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Nicktoons Freeze Frame Frenzy and Spongebob Squarepants Battle for Bikini Bottom Dual Cart $4 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Pirates of the Caribbean The Curse of the Black Pearl $7 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Scooby Doo $7 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Snood $7 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Spongebob's Atlantis Squarepantis $7 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Spongebob Squarepants Movie $10 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Sudoku Fever $4 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Texas Hold Em Poker $3 Loose.
Gameboy Advance That's So Raven $6 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Treasure Planet $9 Loose.
Gameboy Advance Ultimate Card Games $6 Loose.
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Nintendo DS Band Hero $12 CIB.
Nintendo DS Big Brain Academy $4 Loose.
Nintendo DS Bleach The Blade of Fate $12 Loose.
Nintendo DS Brain Age $4 CIB.
Nintendo DS Charlotte's Web $4 Loose.
Nintendo DS Coraline (Have two copies) $65 Both CIB.
Nintendo DS Contact $28 Loose.
Nintendo DS Dragon Ball Z Supersonic Warriors 2 $30 Loose.
Nintendo DS Dynasty Warriors DS Fighters Battle $10 Loose.
Nintendo DS Guitar Hero On Tour (Have two copies) $3 Both loose.
Nintendo DS Hannah Montana $4 Loose.
Nintendo DS Harvest Moon DS $20 Missing manual, otherwise cib.
Nintendo DS Imagine Babyz $3 Loose.
Nintendo DS Inuyasha Secret of the Divine Jewel $54 Loose.
Nintendo DS Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues $7 CIB.
Nintendo DS Madden 06 $4 Loose.
Nintendo DS Mario&Luigi Partners in Time $61 CIB.
Nintendo DS Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Have two copies) $8/$11 One copy loose, one cib.
Nintendo DS Metroid Prime Hunters First Hunt $8 Loose.
Nintendo DS Nicktoons Unite $9 Loose.
Nintendo DS Petz Catz 2 $3 Loose.
Nintendo DS Ratatouille $8 Loose.
Nintendo DS Scrabble $7 CIB.
Nintendo DS The Simpsons Game $14 Loose.
Nintendo DS Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor $50 CIB.
Nintendo DS Skate It $9 CIB.
Nintendo DS Sonic Colors $8 Loose.
Nintendo DS Sonic Rush $13 Loose.
Nintendo DS Suite Life of Zack & Cody Tipton Trouble $6 Loose.
Nintendo DS Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll $9 CIB.
Nintendo DS Tetris Party Deluxe (Have two copies) $9/$4 Both copies loose, one missing it's sticker.
Nintendo DS The Amazing Spider-Man $10 CIB.
Nintendo DS The Sims 2 Pets $5 Loose.
Nintendo DS Tom and Jerry Tales $8 Loose.
Nintendo DS Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam $6 Loose.
Nintendo DS Wipeout The Game $4 CIB.
NINTENDO DS BOX ONLY
Nintendo DS Cooking Mama $1
Nintendo DS Jump Super Stars $1 Japanese version box and manual.
Nintendo DS Scribblenauts $1
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Nintendo 3DS Fire Emblem Awakening $55 CIB.
Nintendo 3DS Fire Emblem Shadows of Valentia $37 CIB.
Nintendo 3DS Madden NFL Football $15 CIB Nintendo 3DS Luigi's Mansion $40 Loose.
Nintendo 3DS Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers $52 Loose.
Nintendo 3DS Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS $11 CIB.
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Nintendo Switch Bioshock The Collection $23 CIB.
Nintendo Switch Diofield Chronicle $30 CIB.
Nintendo Switch Diablo III Eternal Collection $22 CIB.
Nintendo Switch Dragon Ball: The Breakers $15 CIB.
Nintendo Switch Fire Emblem: Three Houses $33 CIB.
Nintendo Switch Moonlighter $15 Loose in gamestop box.
Nintendo Switch My Friend Pedro $20 Loose in gamestop box.
Nintendo Switch Supermarket Shriek $18 Sealed.
Nintendo Switch Tandem A Tale Of Shadows $28 Sealed.
Nintendo Switch Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes $25 Loose in gamestop box.
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Sega Genesis Frogger $10 Loose in original case (no artwork)
Sega Genesis Monopoly $7 Original case, artwork, and cartridge.
Sega Genesis Vectorman $10 Loose in original case (no artwork)
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PS1 Army Men Air Attack (Collector's Edition) $8 CIB, jewel case is broken.
PS1 Big Game Hunter Ultimate Challenge $5 Missing front page/manual.
PS1 Billiards $4 CIB. Jewel case is broken and cracked.
PS1 Bravo Air Race $12 CIB.
PS1 Cool Boarders 2 $3 Loose.
PS1 Command and Conquer Red Alert Retaliation $15 Missing manual.
PS1 Crossroad Crisis $7 CIB.
PS1 CyberTiger $7 CIB.
PS1 Dukes of Hazzard Racing For Home $9 CIB.
PS1 Final Fantasy Chronicles $18 Missing manual.
Greatest hits.PS1 Harvest Moon Back to Nature $50 CIB.
PS1 Jade Cocoon Demo Disc $10 Loose in sleeve.
PS1 Interactive CD Sampler Disc Volume 9 $10 CIB in it's sleeve.
PS1 Knockout Kings 2001 $7 CIB. Jewel case is broken.
PS1 Madden 98 $5 Loose.
PS1 Nascar Rumble $13 CIB.
PS1 NBA Shoot Out $5 Loose.
PS1 NCAA Football 2001 $10 CIB.
PS1 NBA Live 98 $4 Loose.
PS1 NHL 99 $4 CIB, jewel case is broken.
PS1 NHL Face Off 99 $5 CIB, jewel case is cracked.
PS1 NHL Face Off $4 Loose.
PS1 NHL 2000 $4 CIB, jewel case is broken.
PS1 Rally Cross 2 $6 CIB, jewel case is cracked and broken.
PS1 Raystorm $45 Loose.
PS1 Sesame Street Sports $8 CIB.
PS1 Sim Theme Park $6 Missing manual/front page.
PS1 Spongebob Squarepants Super Sponge $8 CIB, greatest hits.
PS1 Tetris Plus $6 CIB, jewel case is cracked.
PS1 Tiger Woods '99 $7 CIB.
PS1 Triple Play 99 $2 Loose.
PS1 Vigilante 8 $10 Loose.
PS1 WWF Smackdown $10 Missing manual/cover page.
PS1 WWF Warzone (Have two copies) $6/$4 One copy loose, one copy CIB.
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PS2 Def Jam Vendetta $22 Loose.
PS2 Enter the Matrix $10 CIB.
PS2 Ever Grace $20 CIB.
PS2 Grand Theft Auto III $5 Loose.
PS2 Hunter The Reckoning Wayward $6 Loose.
PS2 IHRA Professional Drag Racing 2005 $4 Loose.
PS2 Justice League Heroes $11 CIB.
PS2 Medal of Honor Frontline $4 CIB.
PS2 Naruto Ultimate Collection $110 Sealed! Please inquire for pics. Really cool collector's game.
PS2 Nightshade $28 Loose.
PS2 Onimusha Blade Warriors $9 Loose.
PS2 Playstation Underground Jampack $4 Loose.
PS2 R-Type Final $17 Loose.
PS2 Rygar $7 Loose.
PS2 Shinobi $11 Loose.
PS2 Spiderman $9 CIB.
PS2 Spongebob Squarepants Battle for Bikini Bottom $12 CIB.
PS2 Tetris Worlds $6 CIB.
PS2 The Thing $42 CIB.
PS2 Thunder Strike: Operation Phoenix $6 CIB.
PS2 CASE & MANUAL Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 $10 Case and manual only.
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PS3 The Last Of Us $20 CIB.
PS3 NBA 2k18 $10 Loose.
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PSP G-Force $3 Missing manual.
PSP Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 $8 CIB.
PSP Ghostbusters The Video Game $11 Loose in gamestop box.
PSP Ghost Rider $12 Loose in gamestop box.
PSP God of War Chains of Olympus $16 Loose.
PSP Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom $15 UMD, case and original artwork only.
PSP Kingdom of Paradise $5 Missing manual.
PSP Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars $12 CIB.
PSP LocoRoco $4 Loose.
PSP Lunar Silver Star Harmony $70 Sealed.
PSP Madden NFL 12 $20 CIB.
PSP Madden 2007 $5 CIB.
PSP Madden 2008 $5 CIB.
PSP Medal of Honor Heroes 2 $10 CIB.
.PSP Monster Hunter Freedom $18 Missing manual.
PSP MX vs ATV: Reflex $5 Loose in gamestop box.
PSP NBA 10 The Inside $6 CIB.
PSP NBA Live 2007 $5 CIB.
PSP Neopets Petpet Adventures The Wand of Wishing $5 Loose.
PSP Prince of Persia Rival Swords (Have two copies) $10 Both CIB.
PSP SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 $16 Loose.
PSP Socom U.S. Navy Seals Fireteam Bravo $4 CIB.
PSP Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas $7 CIB.
PSP Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's Tag Force 5 $30 Box, UMD, and original artwork only.
​
​
Xbox Doom 3 $10 CIB.
Xbox Evil Dead Fistful of Boomstick $20 Box, disc, and original artwork only.
Xbox Metal Slug 3 $20 CIB.
Xbox Soul Calibur II $10 CIB.
​
​
Xbox 360 Call of Duty Black Ops $12 CIB.
Xbox 360 Dragon's Dogma $5 CIB.
Xbox 360 Forza Horizon $17 CIB.
Xbox 360 Killer is Dead $20 Missing manual, otherwise CIB. Special Edition.Xbox 360 NCAA Football 12 $16 CIB.
Xbox 360 NCAA Football 13 $25 CIB.
​
​
Xbox One Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited $3 CIB.
Xbox One Rock Band 4 (Have two copies) $15 ea Both CIB.
Xbox One Titanfall $3 CIB.
Xbox One Rainbow Six Siege $3 Loose.
​
​
PC Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight $8 Comes with manual in original case.
​
​
GAME MANUALS:
Gameboy Batman Forever $10 Good.
Gameboy Boxxle II $20 Good.
Gameboy Tetris $4 Good.
Gameboy Advance Activision Anthology $10 Good.
Nintendo 64 007 GoldenEye $6 Good.
Nintendo 64 Mission Impossible $5 Good.
Nintendo 64 Mortal Kombat 4 $10 Good.
Nintendo 64 NBA Hang Time $6 Good.
Nintendo 64 Super Mario 64 $10 Good.
Nintendo 64 Super Smash Bros $12 Good.
Nintendo 64 Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey $5 Good.
​
​
AMIIBOS:
Blue Yarn Yoshi Good $15 Loose.
Chibi-Robo Good $10 Loose.
Green Yarn Yoshi Good $15 Loose.
Link Good $25 Loose, smash bros.
Marth Good $10 Loose.
Waddle Dee Good $13 Loose.
​
​
GAME ACCESORIES:
Poke Ball Plus $55 Loose, in good condition. No Mew.
OEM Nintendo Gameboy Mini Backpack $20 Cool little OEM nintendo collectible. Blue color, in good condition.
Club Nintendo Luigi Hat DS Carry Case Bag Pouch $20 Good condition, cool Luigi collectible.
Gameshark Pro 3.3 $20 Loose.
3rd party Gamecube memory cards $5 3rd party memory cards.
OEM Gamecube Controllers $35 ea Have four available, two black and two indigo, all have nice and tight sticks.
OEM Gameboy Four Player Adapter $15 Loose in good condition.
OEM SNES Controller $15 1 controller available, in good condition.
OEM Nintendo 64 Controller $20 Green controller, nice and tight stick.
OEM Nintendo 64 Controller Pak $30 CIB, box in okay condition.
OEM PS1 Controller $15 One PS One controller available.

Codes are SPLIT where possible. Only redeem the part you pay for.No DMI/DMR unless stated.
Paypal F&F only; ABSOLUTELY NO NOTES!
Prices are firm. Might accept a trade if it interests me.
$1 - 4K Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] - HD 2 Guns (2013) - iTunes [Ports] - HD 33 (2015) - MA [Ports] - HD Alex Cross (2012) - iTunes/Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Avengers: Infinity War (2018) - GP [Ports] - HD Beauty and the Beast (2017) - GP [Ports] - HD Boss Baby (2017) - MA [Ports] - HD Coco (2017) - GP [Ports] - HD Divergent (2014) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Expendables 2 (2012) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD F6: Fast & Furious 6 {Extended} (2013) - MA [Ports] - HD F7: Furious 7 {Extended} (2015) - MA [Ports] - HD F8: Fate of the Furious {Extended} (2017) - MA [Ports] - HD Finding Dory (2016) - GP [Ports] - HD Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) - GP [Ports] - HD Hitman's Bodyguard (2017) - GP [Doesn't Port] - HD Incredibles 2 (2018) - GP [Ports] - HD Jurassic World (2015) - MA [Ports] - HD Lion King (2019) - GP [Ports] - HD Noah (2014) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] - HD Norm of the North (2016) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] - HD Now You See Me (2013) - iTunes/Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2017) - GP [Ports] - HD Star Trek Beyond (2016) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - GP [Ports] - HD Taken 2 (2012) - iTunes/MA [Ports] - HD Thor: Ragnarok (2017) - GP [Ports] - HD Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Warrior {Canada} (2011) - iTunes [Doesn't Port]
$2 - 4K Daddy's Home (2015) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] - 4K Deadpool (2016) - iTunes [Ports] /Or HD elsewhere\ - 4K Jurassic World (2015) - iTunes [Ports] - 4K Legend of Hercules (2014) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] - 4K Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - 4K Star Trek Beyond (2016) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] - 4K Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - iTunes [Ports] /Or HD elsewhere\ - 4K Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] - 4K War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) - iTunes [Ports] /Or HD elsewhere\ - HD Big Wedding (2013) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] - HD Bring It On: Worldwide #Cheersmack (2017) - MA [Ports] - HD Captain Marvel (2019) - GP [Ports] - HD Cowboys & Aliens (2011) - iTunes [Ports] - HD Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (2012) - iTunes/MA [Ports] - HD F3: Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) - MA [Ports] - HD Frozen (2013) - MA/GP [Ports] - HD Ghostbusters (1984) - MA [Ports] - HD Hard Target 2 (2016) - iTunes [Ports] - HD Ice Age (2002) - MA [Ports] - HD Interstellar (2014) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) - MA [Ports] - HD Jurassic Park (1993) - MA [Ports] - HD Oblivion (2013) - MA [Ports] - HD Parental Guidance (2012) - iTunes [Ports] - HD Pitch Perfect (2012) - MA [Ports] - HD Prometheus (2012) - MA [Ports] /Maybe 4K iTunes\ - HD Rio 2 (2014) - MA [Ports] - HD Same Kind of Different as Me (2017) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] - HD Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) - GP [Ports] - HD Texas Chainsaw (2013) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] - HD What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012) - iTunes/Vudu [Doesn't Port]
$3 - 4K Captain Marvel (2019) - MA [Ports] - 4K Commuter (2018) - Vudu/iTunes [Doesn't Port] - 4K Deepwater Horizon (2016) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] - 4K Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] - 4K Ender's Game (2013) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - 4K Jigsaw (2017) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] /Or HD elsewhere\ - 4K Life of Pi (2012) - iTunes [Ports] /Or HD elsewhere\ - 4K Mechanic: Resurrection (2016) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] - 4K Pet Sematary (2019) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) - GP [Ports] - HD Big Hero 6 (2015) - GP [Ports] - HD Deepwater Horizon (2016) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD F2: 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) - MA [Ports] - HD Ghostbusters 2 (1989) - MA [Ports] - HD Good Dinosaur (2015) - GP [Ports] - HD Hammer of the Gods (2013) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Heat (2013) - MA [Ports] - HD Here Comes the Boom (2012) - MA [Ports] - HD Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (2011) - MA [Ports] - HD Last Duel (2021) - MA [Ports] - HD Magnificent Seven (2016) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Mary Poppins Returns (2018) - GP [Ports] - HD Mechanic: Resurrection (2016) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) - MA [Ports] - HD Parker (2013) - MA [Ports] - HD Patriots Day (2017) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) - MA [Ports] - HD Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) - MA [Ports] - HD Riddick {Unrated} (2013) - iTunes [Ports] - HD Sleeping Beauty (1956) - MA/GP [Ports] - HD Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Tyler Perry's Boo! A Madea Halloween (2016) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Underworld: Blood Wars (2017) - MA [Ports] - HD White House Down (2013) - MA [Ports]
$4 - 4K Anna (2019) - Vudu/iTunes [Doesn't Port] - 4K Avengers: Infinity War (2018) - iTunes [Ports] /Or HD elsewhere\ - 4K Cold Pursuit (2019) - Vudu/iTunes [Doesn't Port] - 4K Good Dinosaur (2015) - iTunes [Ports] /Or HD elsewhere\ - 4K Incredibles 2 (2018) - MA [Ports] - 4K Jason Bourne (2016) - MA [Ports] - 4K Lion King (2019) - MA [Ports] - 4K Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) - Vudu/iTunes [Doesn't Port] - HD Aladdin (1992) - GP [Ports]- HD Annie (2014) - MA [Ports] - HD Chasing Mavericks (2012) - MA [Ports] - HD Ferdinand (2017) - MA [Ports] - HD Finest Hours (2016) - MA/GP [Ports] - HD Halloween (2018) - MA [Ports] - HD Hope Springs (2012) - MA [Ports] - HD Identity Thief (2013) - iTunes [Ports] - HD Interview (2014) - MA [Ports] - HD Iron Man 3 (2013) - GP [Ports] - HD John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Lion King (1994) - GP [Ports] - HD Pain & Gain (2013) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] - HD Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) - GP [Ports] - HD Tomorrowland (2015) - MA/GP [Ports]
$5 - 4K Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) - MA [Ports] - 4K Frozen (2013) - iTunes [Ports] /Or HD elsewhere\ - 4K Ghost in the Shell (1996) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - 4K Halloween (2018) - MA [Ports] - 4K King Kong (2005) - MA [Ports] - 4K Night School {Extended} (2018) - MA [Ports] - 4K Spider-Man Homecoming (2017) - MA [Ports] - 4K Thor: Ragnarok (2017) - MA [Ports] - HD Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014) - MA/GP [Ports] - HD Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014) - GP [Ports] - HD F1: Fast and the Furious (2001) - MA [Ports] - HD F4: Fast and Furious (2009) - MA [Ports] - HD Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn (1942) - iTunes [Ports] - HD Jurassic Park 3 (2001) - MA [Ports] - HD Men in Black International (2019) - MA [Ports] - HD Monsters University (2013) - GP [Ports] - HD Race (2016) - iTunes [Ports] - HD Tomorrowland (2015) - MA [Ports] *With points* - HD Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection (2015) - MA [Ports] - HD We Die Young (2019) - Vudu/iTunes [Doesn't Port] - HD Wreck-It Ralph (2013) - GP [Ports]
$6 - 4K 21 Jump Street (2012) - MA [Ports] - 4K Hunter Killer (2018) - iTunes [Doesn't Port] /Or HD elsewhere\ - 4K Mary Poppins Returns (2018) - MA [Ports] - 4K Predator (1987) - MA [Ports] - HD Abominable (2019) - MA [Ports] - HD Boy (2016) - iTunes [Ports] - HD Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) - GP [Ports] - HD Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) - MA [Ports] - HD Madea's Family Reunion (2006) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Pixar Short Films Collection, Vol. 3 (2018) - MA [Ports] - HD Smokey and the Bandit (1977) - MA [Ports] - SD Warrior's Way (2010) - iTunes [Doesn't Port]
$7 - 4K Baby Driver (2017) - MA [Ports] - 4K Universal Soldier (1992) - Vudu/iTunes [Doesn't Port] - 4K Wreck-It Ralph (2013) - MA [Ports] - HD Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (2018) - MA [Ports] - HD Toy Story of Terror (2013) - GP [Ports]
$8 - 4K Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) - MA [Ports] *With points*- HD Bug's Life (1998) - GP [Ports] - HD Sony Buff Pass - MA [Ports]- HD Vow (2012) - MA [Ports]
$9 - 4K Air Force One (1997) - MA [Ports] - 4K Fifty shades Freed (2018) - MA [Ports] - 4K Parasite (2019) - Ma [Ports] - 4K Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) - Vudu [Doesn't Port]
$10 - 4K First Purge (2018) - MA [Ports] - HD Avengers Season 5 (1967) - Vudu [Doesn't Port] - HD Walking Dead Season 6 (2015) - Vudu [Doesn't Port]
Disclaimers:
If you have reached this point, I assume you have viewed my entire list. If you are choosing to buy one of these fantastic titles, AWESOME! Upvote, please! If you did not find anything of interest, that is okay. However, if you are going to downvote, I would request either reasoning or at the very least, make it a fair downvote. Not because I didn't have what you are looking for but maybe you found my prices to be unfair. Either way, thank you for looking.
4K iTunes movies may not show up in 4K. According to the sheets provided, they state the movies are 4K but I cannot personally guarantee it.
There are absolutely NO refunds. I check all codes prior to adding them to this list and again before sending them out.
Codes must be redeemed within a 24-hour window.
I will not respond to PMs without comments first.
I will not always be able to respond immediately to a new comment. The transaction will be made swiftly after a deal is made though.

Scroll over to see pricing

PayPal F&F, Cash App, Venmo, or Amazon GC ACCEPTED.
No Notes when sending funds!!!
Please assume split codes unless otherwise marked. Only redeem the portion of the code that you purchase.
Does NOT come with any sort of Disney Movie Insider Points, Sony Rewards, etc.

Disney 4K

Title	Price
Avengers: End Game - MA	$4
Avengers: Infinity War - MA	$4
Black Panther - Vu	$5
Call of the Wild - MA	$5
Cars 3 - iT	$5
Cruella - MA	$5
Doctor Strange - MA	$5.50
Frozen 2 -MA	$4
Good Dinosaur - MA	$5
Guardians of the Galaxy - iT	$5
Guardians of the Galaxy v2 - iT	$5
Inside Out -iT	$4
Iron Man 3 - iT	$4
Jungle Book (Live) (2016) - iT	$4.50
Lion King (Live) - MA	$4
Maleficient 2: Mistress of Evil - MA	$5
Moana - MA	$5.50
Mulan (Live) - MA	$4
Ralph Breaks the Internet - MA	$5
Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker - MA	$4
Thor: Love & Thunder - MA	$5
Toy Story 4 - MA	$5
Turning Red - MA	$5

4K

Title	Price
10 Cloverfield Lane - Vu	$7
3 From Hell - Vu or iT	$4
48 Hours - Vu or iT	$6
Ambulance- MA	$6.50
American Gangster- MA	$5
American Made- MA	$6
American Psycho - Vu , iT or GP	$5
Another 48 Hours - Vu or iT	$6
Batman - MA	$5
Bram Stoker's Dracula- MA	$5
Bullet Train - MA	$5.50
Bumblebee - Vu or iT	$5
Cabin in the Woods - Vu	$4
Clerks III - iT	$5
Cloverfield - Vu or iT	$6
Collateral - Vu or iT	$5
Coming to America - Vu or iT	$5
Cool Hand Luke (1967) - MA	$7
Crawl - iT or Vu	$5
Criminal - Vu	$5
Daniel Craig 5 Film

Casino Royale Quantum of Solace Skyfall Spectre No Time to Die - Vu $20 Deadpool - iT$3 Dragonslayer - Vu $5 Dune (2021) - MA$5 Elvis (2022) - MA$5.50 Escape from LA - Vu or iT$6.75 Fright Night - MA$5 Godfather - Vu or iT$5 Godfather Part 2 - Vu or iT$5 Godfather Part 3 Coda - Vu or iT$5 Grease - iT$5 Hacksaw Ridge - Vu $4 Heat - MA$5 Heavy Metal - MA$5.50 Highlander - Vu $5.50 In the Line of Fire - MA$5.50 Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Vu or iT$5 Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade - Vu or iT$5 Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom - Vu or iT$5 Jurassic Park - MA$5 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - MA$5 King's Man - MA$7 Last Night in Soho - MA$5.75 Matrix Resurrections - MA$6 Northman - MA$6 Plane - Vu or iT$7 Poltergeist - MA$5.50 Pulp Fiction - iT or Vu$5 Raiders of the Lost Ark - Vu or iT$5 Red - Vu $4.50 Red 2 - Vu $4.50 Reservoir Dogs - iT or Vu$6 Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City - MA$6.50 Rocky - Vu $5 Scream - Vu or iT$5 Scream 2 - Vu or iT$5 Shutter Island - Vu $6 Sicario - Vu or iT$5 Sicario: Day of the Soldado - MA$5 Smokin' Aces - MA$6 Speed - MA$5 Spiderman: No Way Home - MA$3.50 Stuber - MA$5.50 The Hitman's Bodyguard & Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard - Vu $10 The Lost Boys - MA$6 The Mummy - iT$5 The Mummy (Tom Cruise) (2017) - MA$5 The Protégé - Vu or iT$5.75 Top Gun: Maverick - Vu or iT$5.50 Untouchables - iT or Vu$6 Wolf of Wall Street - Vu or iT$5

Disney HD

Title	Price
101 Dalmatians - MA	$4
Age of Ultron - MA	$3
Age of Ultron - GP	$2
Aladdin (2019) - MA	$3
Aladdin (2019) - GP	$2
Aladdin (Robin Williams) - Vu	$4
Avengers: Age of Ulton - Vu	$3
Avengers: Age of Ulton - GP	$2
Avengers: End Game - Vu	$3
Avengers: End Game - GP	$2
Avengers: Infinity War - Vu	$2.50
Avengers: Infinity War - GP	$2
Beauty & the Beast (1991) - Vu	$2
Beauty & the Beast (1991) - GP	$2
Beauty & the Beast:
Enchanted Christmas - Vu	$6
Beauty & the Beast:
Enchanted Christmas - GP	$4.50
Beauty & the Beast (2017) - MA	$3
Beauty & the Beast (2017) - GP	$2
BFG - Vu	$3
Big Hero 6 - MA	$3
Big Hero 6 - GP	$2
Black Panther - MA	$3.50
Black Panther - GP	$2.50
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - GP	$2.50
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - MA	$4
Black Widow - MA	$4.50
Black Widow - GP	$3
Call of the Wild - Vu	$3
Call of the Wild - MA	$3
Call of the Wild - GP	$2
Captain America: Civil War - MA	$3
Captain America: Civil War - GP	$2
Captain Marvel - Vu	$3
Captain Marvel - GP	$2
Cars 2 - GP	$3
Cars 3 - MA	$3
Cars 3 - GP	$2
Celebrating Mickey - GP	$3
Cinderella (Live) - MA	$4
Cinderella (Live) - GP	$3
Coco - GP	$2
Cruella - MA	$3
Cruella - GP	$2
Doctor Strange - Vu	$3
Doctor Strange - GP	$2
Doctor Strange 2 - Vu	$4
Doctor Strange 2 - GP	$3
Dumbo (2019) - MA	$4
Dumbo (2019) - GP	$3
Emperor's New Groove - MA	$7
Emperor's New Groove - GP	$6.75
Eternals - GP	$2.50
Finding Dory - MA	$3.50
Finding Dory - GP	$2
Fox and the Hound 2 - GP	$5
Free Guy - Vu	$3
Free Guy - GP	$2
Frozen - MA	$3
Frozen - GP	$2
Frozen 2 - GP	$2
Frozen Sing Along - MA	$3
Frozen Sing Along - GP	$2
Good Dinosaur - MA	$4
Good Dinosaur - GP	$3
Guardians of the Galaxy - GP	$3
Guardians of the Galaxy v2 - GP	$3
Hercules - Vu	$6.50
Hercules - GP	$5.50
Hocus Pocus - MA	$3
Hocus Pocus - GP	$2
Incredibles 2 - MA	$3
Incredibles 2 - GP	$2
Inside Out - GP	$2
Into the Woods - GP	$2
Iron Man 3 - GP	$2
Jungle Book (Live) (2016) - GP	$3
Jungle Cruise - MA	$3
Jungle Cruise - GP	$2
Kronk's New Groove - MA	$6.75
Kronk's New Groove - GP	$6.50
Lady & the Tramp - MA	$5
Lady & the Tramp - GP	$4
Lightyear - Vu	$3.50
Lilo & Stitch - MA	$4
Lilo & Stitch - GP	$3.50
Lilo & Stitch 2 - MA	$4
Lion King (Animated) - MA	$4.50
Lion King (Animated) - GP	$3.50
Lion King (Live) - GP	$2
Little Mermaid - MA	$4.50
Little Mermaid - GP	$3.50
Little Mermaid 2 - MA	$7
Little Mermaid 2 - GP	$6.75
Little Mermaid 3 - MA	$7
Lone Ranger - Vu	$4
Lone Ranger - GP	$2
Luca - MA	$3
Luca - GP	$2
Maleficent - MA	$3
Maleficent - GP	$2
Maleficent 2 - GP	$3
Many Adventures of
Winnie the Pooh - MA	$4
Mary Poppins - MA	$3
Mary Poppins - GP	$2.50
Mary Poppins Returns - MA	$4
Mary Poppins Returns - GP	$2.50
Moana - GP	$2
Monsters University - GP	$4.25
Mulan (Live Action) - GP	$2
Mulan II - MA	$5
Mulan II - GP	$4
Nightmare Before Christmas - GP	$3.50
Onward - MA	$3
Onward - GP	$2
Oz the Great and Powerful - MA	$3
Oz the Great and Powerful - GP	$2
Peter Pan - MA	$5
Peter Pan - GP	$4
Pinocchio - GP	$4
Pirate Fairy - MA	$3
Pirate Fairy - GP	$2
POTC: Dead Men Tell No Tales - MA	$3
Planes - MA	$4
Planes - GP	$2
Planes: Fire & Rescue - MA	$4
Planes: Fire & Rescue - GP	$2
Pocahontas - MA	$5
Pocahontas - GP	$4
Pocahontas 2 - MA	$5
Pocahontas 2 - GP	$4
Ralph Breaks the Internet - Vu	$3
Ralph Breaks the Internet - GP	$2
Raya and the Last Dragon - MA	$4
Raya and the Last Dragon - GP	$3
Rescuers - Vu	$6
Rescuers - GP	$4
Rescuers Down Under - Vu	$6
Robin Hood - MA	$5
Robin Hood - GP	$3
Rogue One - Vu	$3
Rogue Wars: Star Wars Story - MA	$3
Rogue Wars: Star Wars Story - GP	$2
Ron's Gone Wrong - MA	$3.00
Santa Clause - MA	$4.50
Santa Clause - GP	$3
Santa Clause 2 - MA	$4.50
Santa Clause 2 - GP	$3
Santa Clause 3 - MA	$4.50
Santa Clause 3 - GP	$3
Saving Mr. Banks - MA	$4
Saving Mr. Banks - GP	$3
Sleeping Beauty - MA	$4
Sleeping Beauty - GP	$3
Snow White - GP	$4
Soul - MA	$3
Soul - GP	$2
Spies in Disguise - GP	$2
Star Wars Last Jedi - GP	$2
Star Wars: Force Awakens - MA	$3
Star Wars: Force Awakens - GP	$2
Star Wars: Last Jedi - MA	$3
Star Wars: Last Jedi - GP	$2
Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker - MA	$4
Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker - GP	$3
Star Wars: Rogue One - MA	$3
Star Wars: Rogue One - GP	$2
Strange World - GP	$3
Super Buddies - MA	$3
Super Buddies - GP	$2
Sword in the Stone - MA	$5
Tangled - MA	$5
Tangled - GP	$4.50
Thor: Dark World, The - MA	$3
Thor: Dark World, The - GP	$2
Thor: Love & Thunder - MA	$4
Thor: Love & Thunder - GP	$3
Thor: Ragnarok - MA	$3
Thor: Ragnarok - GP	$2
Tomorrowland - MA	$3
Tomorrowland - GP	$2
Toy Story 3 - GP	$3
Toy Story 4 - GP	$3
Toy Story: That Time Forgot - MA	$5
Toy Story: That Time Forgot - GP	$4.50
Turning Red - GP	$3
West Side Story - Vu	$2
West Side Story - GP	$1.50
Winnie the Pooh:
Springtime with Roo - MA	$4.50
Zootopia - MA	$4
Zootopia - GP	$3

HD

Title	Price
13 Hours Secret Soldiers - Vu	$2
A Madea Christmas - Vu	$1.50
A Quiet Place - Vu or iT	$3
A Very Brady Sequel - Vu or iT	$5
Boss Baby - Vu	$2
Bourne Legacy - MA or iT	$0.75
Brady Bunch Movie - Vu	$5
Bring it on World CheerSmack - MA or iT	$0.50
Copshop - MA	$5
Croods - MA or iT	$3
Deadpool - MA	$1.50
Despicable Me 2 - MA	$2
How The Grinch Stole Christmas - MA	$3
E.T. - Vu or iT	$4
Edward Scissorhands - MA	$3
Emoji Movie - Vu	$2
Extreme Prejudice - Vu or iT	$4.50
Fast & Furious 6 - MA	$2
Fast & the Furious - Vu	$2
Frozen Ground - Vu	$2
Furious 7 - Vu or iT	$3
Fury - MA	$2.50
Heavy Metal 2000 - MA	$6.50
Hell or High Water - Vu	$5
Hitchcock - Vu	$2
House with a Clock
in its Walls (2018) - MA	$4
How to Train Your Dragon 2 - MA	$3
Hugo - Vu	$2
Hugo - iT	$2
Independence Day: Resurgence - MA	$2
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back - Vu or iT	$2
Jarhead 3: The Siege - MA	$2
Jason Bourne	iT
Jigsaw - Vu	$3
Jurassic World - Vu	$3
King of Staten Island - MA	$4
Kingsman: Golden Circle - MA	$2
La La Land - Vu	$2
Let's Be Cops- MA	$1
Miss Peregrine's
Home for Peculiar Children - Vu	$2
Mission Impossible Fallout - iT	$2
Mummy Tomb of the Dragon - MA	$3
Neighbors - iT	$2
Norm of the North - Vu	$2
Now You See Me - Vu	$2
Power Rangers - iT	$2
Pride & Prejudice (2005) - iT	$2
Resident Evil: Retribution - MA	$5.50
Rogue - Vu	$2
Schindler's List - Vu	$4
Secret Life of Pets - MA or iT	$2
Selma - Vu or iT	$3
Show Dogs (2018) - MA	$3
Sing - MA or iT	$2
Sinister - iT	$2
Snow White & the Huntsman - MA	$1
Split - MA	$3
Star Trek Beyond - Vu or iT	$3
Star Trek: Into Darkness - Vu or iT	$1
Step Up: All In - Vu or GP	$2
Super Troopers 2 - MA	$4
Superfly - MA	$3
Taken 2 - MA	$3
Terminator Dark Fate - Vu or iT	$2
The Bad News Bears (1976) - Vu	$4
The Captivev- Vu	$2
The Purge - MA	$3
The Women in Black - MA	$2
TMNT - Vu	$1.50
TMNT Out of the Shadows - iT	$2
Transformers: Age of Extinction - Vu	$1.50
Trolls - MA	$2
Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - Vu	$1
Tyler Perry's Temptation - Vu	$2
Tyler Perry's Witness Protection - Vu	$1.50
Venom - MA	$3
War for the Planet of the Apes - Vu	$2
Wind River - Vu or iT	$5

SD

Title	Price
21 Jump Street - MA	$1
Adventures of TinTin - Vu or iT	$1
Amazing Spider-Man - MA	$0.50
Annie - MA	$0.75
Concussion - MA	$0.50
Divergent - Vu	$0.50
Equalizer - MA	$1
G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra - iT	$1.50
Here Comes The Boom - MA	$1
Hugo - Vu or iT	$0.75
Justin Bieber Never Say Never - iT	$1.50
Miss Bala - MA	$3
Safe - iT	$0.50
Star Trek: Into Darkness - iT	$0.50
Star Trek: Into Darkness - Vu	$0.50
The Last Stand - iT	$0.50
The Last Witch Hunter - Vu	$1
The Smurfs 2 - MA	$1
The Spectacular Now - Vu	$1
Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - Vu	$0.50
Warm Bodies - Vu, iT or GP	$0.50
X-Men: Wolverine - iT	$1

Public opinion of TriMet's decisions have been pretty mixed, mostly because TriMet's decisions are so convoluted that they can be a real challenge to understand. In reality, Metro and Portlanders need to have a bigger civic conversation about the future of TriMet, looking at the big picture. We have 3 looming existential crises of TriMet to be concerned about that are bigger than revenue dips, crime, or homeless people.
Civic leaders and the public are focused on a quick "fix" for TriMet revenue drops - even though we've seen this coming for a long time, it's very predictable that TriMet's Board of Directors acts at the last minute. Also, very predictably, TriMet's Board opted for a fare increase because over the previous 20 years that's been a go-to answer to every problem (except for that one time they killed Fareless Square). The politically appointed boards of TriMet and Metro lack the unique specialized knowledge of the issues I'll bring up here. If TriMet knows about these larger issues, they're obviously burring it from public view. In the short term, increasing fares is like putting fresh paint on a house that's on fire; in this situation, that paint is HIGHLY flammable.
First - fare hikes as a tactic is a brain-dead move. Just the most utterly stupid and self-sabotaging response to a looming budget shortfall. I'm dwelling on this because it illustrates their terrible decision-making, which is functional proof they have no idea what they're doing. Some of the core reasons for this:

• Increasing fares reduces utilization. Higher cost means fewer people ride, which will decrease the ridership revenue. It will also marginally increase the number of people who won't pay (funny story, some of those who don't pay actually can't afford to). TriMet isn't a monopoly or inelastic service, and plenty of other choices exist that didn't exist 20 years ago: an actual bike share, scooters, electric bikes, UbeLyft, shared vehicles, and more bike paths. Before the pandemic, it was common that I would bus into downtown for work and then take a Lyft home because it wasn't all that expensive, like $8 more than a bus ride - TriMet's price increases make a system that wasn't very competitive simply less compelling.
  
• Across Portland we need to go through a process of austerity and downsizing government. I absolutely support Wheeler putting a pause on rate increases, but for God's sake, we have far too much largesse in every layer of government. If you need to learn what I'm talking about, read my old article on Parks & Rec. So many divisions/agencies have doubled their staff while reducing service levels. It's bonkers. Cutting throats needs to be an imperative. This is because the great majority of public sector employees in Oregon and Portland are incompetent, redundant, and only exist because Oregon and Portland have been reluctant to use automation. And I don't mean the cutting-edge AI stuff, I'm talking about people who still handle business processes as if they're paper forms. I could tell so many stories from my professional experience - but you'll have to take my word for it for now: culling this bureaucracy is the right move, and until there's a significant downsizing, the political class is taking none of the financial crisis or cost of living situation seriously.
  
• TriMet's operating budget/revenue is primarily Payroll Taxes, not passenger revenue. About 20-30% of TriMet's budget comes from people buying fares, whereas the bulk of money TriMet needs comes from payroll taxes that businesses pay directly. Because of this, transit activists (including myself) have been proponents of increasing the payroll taxes marginally to make TriMet free for riders. Of course, fareless transit comes with a wide variety of new and different problems (that's an article for another time). Still, when you understand that only a sliver of revenue comes from fares, increasing the fare simply results in a marginal increase in revenue. The much bigger problem is going to businesses investing outside of Metro, and changing workforces that 1) won't pay payroll taxes reliably, 2) don't need people to go into the office. Think about the longer-term game here: is TriMet's board going to increase fares as utilization drops and payroll taxes continually diminish? (See my point above about how their default answer is "yes" because it's the only politically expedient answer.)
  

Reading comments about the fare hikes, most of the public thinks TriMet is dealing with a safety or utilization issue. Both of these are 100% true: soft-on-crime progressives have wholly obliterated the working class perception of TriMet safety - there are so many different ways this has happened, but we should thank so many people in the media and political class: Ana del Rocio's crying wolf about racism in fare inspections (and the media entertaining it), or Mike Schmidt deinstitutionalizing of the justice system, or Legislature's inability to act on the massive mental health crisis and drug addiction crisis in Oregon. No matter the underlying cause, we have a system where deranged violent mentally ill tweakers can be disruptive on the train, but working-class people face a $250 fine if they can't afford a $2.50 ($2.80) ticket. TriMet is less safe, especially the light rail and bus lines. We could hypothetically talk about various policy and infrastructure changes, such as turnstiles and security guards - but pragmatically, this won't do shit when our society has adopted a philosophy of transforming the urban core into an open-air insane asylum and opened the doors to the prisons. This safety issue is well beyond TriMet's scope, and even if there was consensus among TriMet and Metro to solve this, the entire justice system and Legislature is still broken.

Fare Hikes and Utilization is the Red Herring - Let's talk about TriMet's future

In reality, multiple design choices made decades ago set us up for failure. But we also have to thank brain-dead progressive lunatics and corrupt politicos who have steered our transit decision-making into the ground.
There are three specific issues I'm going to talk about, with each becoming more consequential and disastrous for TriMet:

• Hub and Spoke Design and the need for a redesign of the entire system to fit new commuting/transit patterns
  
• Portland Light Rail's short cars are a capacity problem not worth the price tag to fix
  
• Autonomous vehicles are here, and it's just going to get worse for TriMet
  

The strategic design of TriMet's system is broken, and it's been broken before.

If you looked at a map of TriMet's bus and rail system, you'd see a design pattern often referred to as a "Radial Design" or sometimes a "Hub And Spoke" design. The Hub and Spoke strategy is building our transit system around centralized locations to connect to other routes. For Portland the idea is to go downtown (or sometimes a Park and Ride) where you can connect to your next destination. This is why the majority of bus routes and all the max routes go downtown, to our Transit Mall and Pioneer Square.
Downtown planning was a smart idea in the 1960s when it was coupled with Main Street economic theory and prototype urban development zones - all of this wrapped up in the 1972 Downtown Plan policy. During these decades, the primary economic idea of urban revitalization was that downtown cores could provide better business climates and shopping districts that amplify economic activity synergistically. In other words, packing all the office jobs and luxury shopping in one area is good for workers, business, and civic planning.
All very smart ideas in yester-year, so TriMet became focused on serving the downtown business community myopically. This myopia became so paramount that it was considered illegitimate (actually taboo, borderline illegal) if you used a Park & Ride facility to park and NOT ride downtown. Amanda Fritz once explained that we couldn't expand Barbur Transit Center because that would result in students parking at Barbur Transit Center and riding the bus to PCC Sylvania. This view implies that TriMet exists only to service downtown workers, not the students, not the impoverished mom needing to go to a grocery store.
How does TriMet's hub and spoke design represent its purpose?
Portland's unspoken rule of transit philosophy is that jobs pay for the system (remember, business payroll taxes pay for most of it), so TriMet should be focused on serving people utilizing it for their job - employers pay for it, and they get value out of it. But this is both unspoken (never said aloud) and largely unobserved. The whole idea of TriMet as a social service to serve low-income people, to help impoverished people - well, those ideas were just lukewarm political rhetoric that is tossed out as soon as some Undesirable with tattered clothing reeking of cigarettes gets aboard - then Portlanders jump right back "this is for workers only!" Sadly, there hasn't ever been a public consensus of why TriMet exists because I could equally argue that TriMet's purpose isn't serving the working class; it's actually vehicle emissions reductions - but here, too, reality contradicts that this is the purpose for why we operate TriMet. TriMet's real purpose seems to be "Spend money on lofty capital projects" and if we want to be cynical about it, we can elaborate "…because large capital projects enable grift, embezzlement, and inflating property values for developers."
We haven't always depended upon a hub and spoke design. A great article from Jarrett Walker written in 2010 on his Human Transit blog explains in "The Power and Pleasure of Grids"

Why aren't all frequent networks grids? The competing impulse is the radial network impulse, which says: "We have one downtown. Everyone is going there, so just run everything to there." Most networks start out radial, but some later transition to more of a grid form, often with compromises in which a grid pattern of routes is distorted around downtown so that many parallel routes converge there. You can see this pattern in many cities, Portland for example. Many of the lines extending north and east out of the city center form elements of a grid, but converge on the downtown. Many other major routes (numbered in the 70s in Portland's system) do not go downtown, but instead complete the grid pattern. This balance between grid and radial patterns was carefully constructed in 1982, replacing an old network in which almost all routes went downtown.

Over the years the grid pattern was neglected in favor of a downtown-focused investment strategy. To a real degree it made practical sense: that's where the jobs were. But again, this is the presumption that TriMet and Mass Transit ought to service workers first, and there's not much consensus on that. But while we can't decide on TriMet's purpose, we can absolutely agree on one important thing: Downtown is dead.
No 5-star hotel is going to fix it. (As of writing, I'm not even convinced that this mafia-connected bamboozle of public fraud will open.) No "tough-on-crime" DA to replace Mike Schmidt, like Nathan Vasquez, will fix downtown. It's not JUST a crime problem: most of the problems we deal with today mirror the problems facing Portland in the 1960s, especially our inability to invest in good infrastructure people actually want to use. That's on top of crime, vandalism, and an unhealthy business ecosystem.
IF we want to maintain TriMet (and that's a big IF, for reasons I'll explain below), then it will be focused on something other than downtown. We need to move back to a grid-design transit system, as this is a much easier way to use transit to get around the city, no matter your destination. If TriMet continues to exist and operate fleets in 20-30 years, this is the only way it exists - because it will just be too inconvenient to ride downtown as a side quest to your destination, especially as we look at 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now.
Of course, we can only transform some parts of the transit infrastructure this way, and there are no uplifting and moving train tracks here. So light rail doesn't have a future in the grid system - but even without the grid system, light rail is doomed.

The fatal flaws of light rail in Portland.

I want to preface this by saying I like light rail as a strategy, it's not a bad system or bad civic investment. I could write another 5,000-word essay on why Seattle did an excellent job with light rail and the specific decisions Portland made wildly incorrectly. In transit advocacy the wacktavists inappropriately categorized skeptics of Portland's light rail as some soft bigotry - as if you're racist if you don't like Portland's light rail - even though, ironically, most light rail systems tend to be built for the preference of white culture and white workers, precisely what happened here in Portland and most cities (but this is all a story for another time).
Portland's light rail system has a capacity problem and has dealt with this capacity problem quietly for the last 20+ years. When you see the capacity problem, you can quickly understand this light rail system won't work in the future. All the other smart cities in the world that designed light rail realized they needed big long trains to move many people. Portland decided to limit the train car length to the size of our city blocks to save construction costs - and this has always been a fatal flaw.
Portland's highest capacity train car is our Type 5, according to Wikipedia it has a seating capacity of 72 and an overall capacity of 186 per train car, meaning each train can accommodate up to 372, but even these numbers seem unreliable (*edit). Let's compare:

• Washington DC has 6-car trains capable of carrying 120 passengers per car, or 720 per train.
  
• Salt Lake City has a 4-car train capable of carrying 230 passengers per car, or 920 per train.
  
• Seattle's Link system has a 3 or 4-car train, each capable of carrying approximately 200 passengers per car, so 600 to 800 per train.
  

Portland's light rail lines have roughly the same people moving capacity as a single lane of a highway, maybe marginally more, maybe marginally less. These other cities have a light rail system that can move the same amount of people as an entire 3-lane highway.
You might suspect that Portland could simply run trains more frequently - but nah, that's impossible because the trains run through the central core of downtown Portland, and they're blocked by the real interfaces with road traffic and bottlenecks. TriMet/PBOT/Metro has offered rosy ideas that we could hypothetically run cars every 90 seconds, 2 minutes, 4 minutes, or 6 minutes (depending upon who you ask) - but these are garbage numbers invented out of thin air. For example, you could stand at Pioneer Courthouse Square at 4:50pm on a Wednesday in 2016 - there was a train opening doors to load passengers, and you could visibly see the next train at Pioneer Place Mall pulling into the station behind. Trains were running at approximately a 3 to 4 minute at peak - but on paper, TriMet will claim anything, as they don't give a shit about lying to the public. But the bigger problem is that trains were full. You might have to wait 90 minutes to find a train that offers a seat. And god forbid you had a bike.
I'm not making this very real capacity problem, Metro even acknowledges:

At the busiest hours of the day, 40 light rail trains must cross the river and traverse downtown – one train every 90 seconds. As the region grows and the demand for light rail increases, the region will need at least 64 MAX trains through downtown every hour, more than one train each minute. Our current system can't support that change.

Suppose you're silly enough to trust government propaganda. In that case, you can read the details of Metro study on this in 2019. If we assumed their numbers added up, it's just fucking impossible to run 62 trains per hour, because passenger loading and unloading can take a full minute (sometimes longer). So unless we want to apply substantial g-forces onto the passengers, the train isn't accelerating out of the stops fast enough. Not to mention how unreliable this whole system would be if a sole tweaker, bike rider, or person with a stroller held up the system for 2 minutes.
This is why the bottom line needs to be upfront about capacity - quoting Metro's study here:

Today MAX is limited to 2-car trains because of the length of downtown city blocks. A tunnel could allow for longer trains if the stations outside the downtown core are retrofitted. In the long-term, this could greatly increase MAX capacity.

Do you see that trick? Build a tunnel, yes - but the entire system has to be retrofitted. Literally every light rail station would need to be redesigned, the lines themselves recalculated for larger heavier trains - and extending platforms at Willow Creek might be simple enough, but how in the living fuck is Metro going to afford to expand the Zoo stop? Doubling the size of that platform would cost $500 million alone.
If the city weren't full of cheap dipshits, we would have elevated or buried our light rail lines in the 1980s or 90s, enabling longer train cars to run. Yes, we all knew back then that it was the best practice not to have light rail running on the street - it's less safe, less reliable, runs slower, and limits train car size. Oops.
Just to keep TriMet's own bullshit inflated utopian vision, it would mean spending another billion dollars just to unfuck downtown, bypass an aging bridge, and potentially allow a marginally higher volume of trains - which again is a band-aid on a mortal wound.
The real buried lede is that to add extra train cars means retrofitting all the stops in the system - that's tens of billions of dollars. You can argue costs, but Metro knows we need to do this. It means shutting down the system for a year or years while construction and retrofits happen. It's fucking outrageous. Is this system worth of people per line worth 20, 30, or 40 billion dollars? Fuck no, it ain't. Again, if we had a raging metropolis of industry and commerce downtown, we could reasonably entertain the idea for a moment - but we don't and never will again.
Some folks might argue that if we kill off the light rail system we'd lose out on all those lucrative Transit Oriented Developments. Originally the public was told that Transit Oriented Development strategy would cause a massive infusion of private investment because the light rail was so damn lucrative and desirable for Richard Florida's Creative Class. Turns out the Creative Class is now called today the Laptop Class, and they don't give a flying fuck about street cars, light rail, or walking scores - because most can't be bothered to put pants on during their "commute" from bed to desk. TOD was all a fantasy illusion from the beginning, as multiple studies about Portland commuters showed that college-educated white folks riding Max were equally comfortable riding their bike as a substitute for the same commute. All of these billions of dollars was to accommodate white fare-weather bikers. So here's my hot take on transit: pave over the rail lines and put in bike lanes, and boy, then you'd have a bike system to give folks like Maus a hardon. But of course, Bike Portland would complain because their focus isn't biking; they exist only to favor all poorly thought utopian transit ideas.
Another group of Max/TOD advocates would claim that TOD is better for disabled and impoverished people. And yeah, there's truth there, but see my entire argument above about the Hub & Spoke design of TriMet being the antithesis of transit as a social service. If you believe that TriMet should serve low-income people, you must advocate for a bus-centric grid design.
But even if you're a die-hard believer in light rail - there's another inevitable reality coming that is the nail in the coffin.

Autonomous vehicles will replace mass transit faster than the automobile replaced the horse.

I work in advanced technology, and the thing about tech is that the public and politicians deny that it's going to be there until the majority of the public finally experiences it. You could say this about personal computers, internet, cloud compute, electric cars, smartphones, distributed ledger (cryptocurrency), AI, and driverless vehicles.
Schrodinger's technology doesn't exist until it's measured in an Apple store or your mother asks you for tech support.
No one thought AI was really real until ChatGPT did their kid's homework, and today most people are coming to terms with the fact that ChatGPT 3.5 could do most people's jobs. And that's not even the most advanced AI, that's the freeware put out by Microsoft, they have paywalls to access the real deal.
In 2018 I rode in my colleague's Tesla in self-driving mode from downtown Portland to Top Golf in Hillsboro. We started our journey at the surface parking lot on the west side of the Morrison Bridge. He used his phone to tell the car to pull out of the parking spot and to pick us up. Then he gave the car the address, and it drove us the entire way without any human input necessary. The only time he provided feedback was to touch the turn signal to pass a slow car on the highway. People think self-driving isn't here - but it is - and it's gotten exponentially better and will continue to do so. People will complain and moan about idealized, utopian, pedantic "level 5" full self-driving, how none of it exists or could exist, as a Tesla passes them on the road and the driver is half asleep.
Of course, Portland and every major city have also thought deeply about self-driving technology, and a few places have implemented self-driving solutions - but so far, none of these are really at scale. Though it will be a short time before cost-conscious cities go all-in.
TriMet kicked around the idea of using an autonomous bus for a leg of the trip of the Southwest Corridor project, connecting a segment of the light rail route to the community college. It was bafflingly stupid and short-sighted to think they could use it in this niche application but that it wouldn't open the floodgates for a hundred different applications that eviscerate TriMet's labor model. The simplest example of autonomous operation would be to operate the light rail systems - because they don't make turns, all we need is an AI vision service to slam on the breaks if necessary - that technology has existed for 20+ years. We could retrofit the entire train system in about 3 to 6 months - replace every Max operator with a security guard, and maybe people would ride the Max again? But I digress.
Let's speculate about the far-future, some 5, 10, or 20 years from now: your transit options will expand significantly. The cost will decrease considerably for services using automated vehicles.
You'll look at your options as:

• Drive to work: fastest, takes $100+ worth of gas a month, but you also need $50+ for insurance and $500+ for the monthly car payment, plus those surprise maintenance and broken windows. Also, do you pay for parking? Pick a number for how much it costs to drive your personally owned and manually operated vehicle to work each month.
  
• Autonomous vehicle service: price TBA, but think of how much an Uber costs when you don't have to pay the driver, you don't have to pay for gas. An Uber that runs for $20 today would likely be $10 or less. So, to and from work 20 times a month, $200. $300? Ok, let's just say it's $400 a month. It's still all cheaper than owning a car and driving it to work. No parking fees, and it picks you up quickly enough that it's not a nuisance.
  
• Mass Transit: $150 per month, but ugghhh it's slow, it smells like piss, a guy jacked off in your hair, and you can't schedule a meeting for the first 30 minutes of your anticipated workday in case you miss a connection - and it breaks so often the government actively hides the reliability data from the public and media.
  

Just a few years into this future we'll see a brand new trend, one that already exists: a shared autonomous vehicle like a privately operated bus. For example, Uber Bus - it already exists as a commuter option in some cities, it's just not autonomous yet. The significant benefit of an autonomous bus is that these shared vehicles will utilize HOV lanes very commonly, and commuting in an autonomous vehicle will be as fast as driving to work in your manually operated car while also being less expensive.
Simultaneously automobile accidents in autonomous vehicles will be virtually non-existent, and insurance companies will start to increase prices on vehicles that lack AI/smart assisted safety driving features. Public leaders will see the value of creating lanes of traffic on highways dedicated explicitly to autonomous vehicles so that they can drive at much higher speeds than manually operated traffic. Oregon won't lead the way here, but wait until Texas or one of the Crazy States greenlights a speed limit differential, and self-driving vehicles have a speed limit of 90, 120, or 150 miles per hour. You might think "accidents would be terrible and deadly" but there will be fewer accidents in the autonomous lane than in manual lanes. At this point, it will be WAY faster to take an autonomous vehicle to your work.
Purchasing power of consumers will decrease while the cost of vehicles will increase (especially autonomous vehicles), making ownership of any vehicle less likely. Frankly, the great majority of people won't know how to drive and will never learn to - just like how young people today don't know how to use manual transmission. However, fleets of autonomous vehicles owned by companies like Tesla, Uber, and Lyft will benefit from scale and keep their autonomous bus fleets operating at low cost. This will lead to a trend where fewer and fewer people will own an automobile, and fewer people even bother learning how to drive or paying the enormous insurance cost.... while also depending upon automobiles more than we do today.
Eventually, in the distant future, manually driven vehicles will be prohibited in urban areas as some reckless relic from a bygone era.
Cities and public bodies don't have to be cut out of this system if they act responsibly. For example, cities could start a data brokering exchange where commuters provide their commuting data (i.e., pick-up point, destination, arrival time). The government uses either a privatized fleet or a publicly owned fleet of autonomous vehicles to move as many people as possible as often as possible. Sort of a publicly run car-pool list - or a hyper-responsive bus fleet that runs for the exact passengers going to exact locations. A big problem companies like Uber, Lyft, and Tesla will have is that they'll lack market saturation to optimize commuting routes - they'll be able to win unique rides, but the best way they can achieve the lowest cost service model is these super predictable and timely commuter riders. The more data points and riders, the more optimization they can achieve. These companies can look at the data for as many people as possible and bid for as many routes as possible - optimizing for convenience, time, energy usage, emissions, etc. The public will voluntarily participate if this is optimized to get the cheapest ride possible. If the government doesn't do this, the private sector will eventually.
As a parallel, no one today even considers how Metro runs garbage collection. No one cares. And if you didn't like Metro's trash service, if you needed a better service for unique needs, you go procure that on your own. Likewise, you wouldn't care about the quality of the commuting trip as long as it's up to some minimal standards of your class expectations, it's reliable, nearly as quick as driving your own vehicle, and it seems reasonably affordable.
If the public ran this data exchange, fees could subsidize lower-income riders. This is a theory on what a TriMet like system or mass transit system could look like in a primarily autonomous world where most people don't own their own or drive an automobile.
This system would be far from perfect, opening up all sorts of problems around mobility. However, it's hard to see how autonomous vehicles will not obliterate the value proposition of mass transit.

Another narrative on the same story.

As the working class moves to autonomous vehicles, transit agencies will collect fewer and fewer fares - prices and taxes will rise, creating a cycle of failure. As a result, some cities will make buses self-driving to cut costs. It could start with Tokyo, Shanghai, Oslo, et al. Again, it's unlikely that Portland or Oregon will be the first movers on this, but when cities start laying off hundreds of mass transit operators and cutting fares to practically nothing, there will be substantial public pressure to mimic locally. It will be inhumane, it will be illiberal, to make those impoverished bus-riding single mothers pay premiums. As most of the fleet becomes autonomous, responsive, and disconnected from labor costs, the next question arises: why do we still operate bus routes? Why big buses instead of smaller and nimble vehicles?
This alternative story/perspective leads to the same outcome: we figure out where people are going and when they need to get there - then dispatch the appropriate amount of vehicles to move that exact number of people as efficiently as possible.
But our local government getting its act together on all this is outside the world of possibility.
In a practical sense, we're going to see history repeat itself. Portland's mass transit history is about private and public entities over-extending themselves, getting too deep in debt on a flawed and outdated idea. As a result, the system collapses into consolidation or liquidation. Following this historical pattern, TriMet/Metro won't respond to changing conditions fast enough, and laughably stupid ideas like cranking up taxes or increasing ridership fares will continue to be the only option until the media finally acknowledges these groups are insolvent. I just hope we don't spend tens of billions of dollars propping up this zombie system before we can soberly realize that we made some mistakes and these vanity-laden projects 20 and 30 years ago need to die.
You see, the biggest flaw with TriMet isn't the design, it needs to be outpaced by technology, it's that the people making decisions at TriMet and Metro are going to make the politically expedient decisions, not the right decisions. They won't redesign, and they won't leverage technology for cost savings, so this charade will just get going along until the media simply declares they're insolvent.
Back to fares for a second - the media happily reprints TriMet's horseshit take about "The higher fares will bring in an estimated $4.9 million in annual revenue starting next year, the report says." Just sort of amazing to me there's no skepticism about this number - but most spectacular is no media considerations about alternative solutions. For example, I could tell TriMet how to save $9,548,091 next year - a useless program primarily utilized by white middle-class folks who own alternative methods of transport - and this would inconvenience way less transit-dependent people than raising fares. But, that's off the table - we're not even developing a decision matrix for when we kill the blackhole of money known as WES.

The whirring blades of my MD-902 throbbed against the warm evening air, and I smiled.
From 5,000 feet, the ground flew by in a carpet of dark forests and kelly-green fields. The sun hung low on the horizon in a picturesque array of dazzling orange and gold, and I could make out the narrow strip of the Ohio River to my left, glistening in the fading daylight. This time of year, the trees would be full of the sweet aroma of fresh blossoms, and the frequent rains kept small pockets of fluffy white mist hanging in the treetops. It was a beautiful view, one that reminded me of why being a helicopter pilot trumped flying in a jumbo jet far above the clouds every day of the week.
Fourteen more days, and I’m debt free.
That made me grin even more. I’d been working as a charter pilot ever since I obtained my license at age 19, and after years of keeping my nose to the grindstone, I was closing on the final payment for real-estate in western Pennsylvania. With no debt, a fixer-upper house on 30 rural acres all to myself, and a respectable wage for a 26-year-old pilot, I looked forward to the financial freedom I could now enjoy. Maybe I’d take a vacation, somewhere exotic like Venice Italy, or the Dominican Republic. Or perhaps I’d sock the money back for the day I started a family.
“Remember kleineun, a real man looks after his own.”
My elderly ouma’s voice came back from the depths of my memories, her proud, sun-tanned face rising from the darkness. She and my Rhodesian grandfather had emigrated to the US when they were newlyweds, as the violence against white Boer descendants in South Africa spiraled out of control. My mother and father both died in a car crash when I was six, and it had been my grandparents who raised me. Due to this, I’d grown up with a slight accent that many of my classmates found amusing, and I could speak both English, and Afrikaans, the Boer tongue of our former home.
I shifted in my seat, stretched my back muscles, and glanced at the picture taped to my console. Both my parents flanked a grinning, gap-toothed six-year-old me, at the last Christmas we’d spent together. My mother beamed, her dark hair and Italian features a sharp contrast to my father’s sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Sometimes, I liked to imagine they were smiling at me with pride at how well I flew the old silver-colored bird my company had assigned to me, and that made the long, lonely flights easier to bear.
A flicker caught my eye, and I broke my gaze away from the photograph.
Perched in its small cradle above the controls, my little black Garmin fuzzed over for a few seconds, its screen shifting from brightly colored maps to a barrage of grey static.
Did the power chord come loose?
I checked, ensuring the power-cable for the unit’s battery was plugged into the port on the control panel. It was a brand-new GPS unit, and I’d used it a few times already, so I knew it wasn’t defective. Granted, I could fly and navigate without it, but the Garmin made my time as a pilot so much easier that the thought of going blind was dreadful.
My fuel gauge danced, clicked to empty, then to full, in a bizarre jolt.
More of the gauges began to stutter, the entire panel seeming to develop terrets all at once, and my pulse began to race. Something was wrong, very wrong, and the sludge inside my bowels churned with sour fear.
“Come on, come on.” I flicked switches, turned dials, punched buttons, but nothing seemed to fix the spasming electronics. Every gauge failed, and without warning, I found myself plunged into inky darkness.
Outside, the sun surrendered to the pull of night, the sky darker than usual. A distant rumble of thunder reverberated above the roar of my helicopter’s engine, and I thought I glimpsed a streak of yellowish lightning on the far horizon to my left.
Calm down Chris. We’re still flying, so it must just be a blown fuse. Stay in control and find a place to set her down.
My sweaty palm slid on the cyclic stick, and both feet weighed heavy on the yaw pedals. The collective stuck to my other hand with a nervous vibration, and I squinted against the abyss outside.
Beep.
I jumped despite myself, as the little Garmin on my panel flared back to life, the static pulling aside to reveal a twitching display. Each time the screen glitched, it showed the colorful map detailing my flight path over the ground below, but I noticed that some of the lines changed, the names shifting, as if the device couldn’t decide between two different versions of the world.
One name jutted out at me, slate gray like most of the major county names, appearing with ghostly flickers from between two neighboring ones.
Barron County.
I stared, confused. I’d flown over this section of southeastern Ohio plenty of times, and I knew the counties by heart. At this point, I should have been over the southern end of Noble County, and maybe dipping lower into Washington. There was no Barron County Ohio. I was sure of it.
And yet it shown back at me from the digital landscape, a strange, almost cigar-shaped chunk of terrain carved from the surrounding counties like a tumor, sometimes there, sometimes not, as my little Garmin struggled to find the correct map. Rain began to patter against my cockpit window, and the entire aircraft rattled from a strong gust of wind. Thick clouds closed over my field of vision like a sea of gray cotton.
The blood in my veins turned to ice, and I sucked in a nervous breath.
Land. I had to land. There was nothing else to do, my flight controls weren’t responding, and only my Garmin had managed to come back to life. Perhaps I’d been hit by lightning, and the electronics had been fried? Either way, it was too dark to tell, but a storm seemed to be brewing, and if I didn’t get my feet on the ground soon, I could be in real trouble.
“Better safe than sorry.” I pushed down on the collective to start my slow descent and clicked the talking button for my headset. “Any station, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, over.”
Nothing.
“Any station, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, requesting emergency assistance, over.”
Still nothing.
If the radio’s dead, I’m really up a creek.
With my hand shaking, I clicked on the mic one more time. “Any station, this is—”
Like a curtain pulling back, the fog cleared from around my window, and the words stuck in my throat.
Without my gauges, I couldn’t tell just how far I’d descended, but I was definitely very low. Thick trees poked up from the ground, and the hills rolled into high ridges with flat valley floors, fields and pastures pockmarking them. Rain fell all around in cold, silvery sheets, a normal feature for the mid spring in this part of Ohio.
What wasn’t normal, were the fires.
At first, I thought they were forest fires for the amount of smoke and flames that bellowed from each spot, but as I swooped lower, my eyes widened in horror.
They were houses.
Farms, cottages, little clusters that barely constituted villages, all of them belched orange flames and black pillars of sooty smoke. I couldn’t hear above the helicopter blades, but I could see the flashes on the ground, along the road, in between the trees, and even coming from the burning buildings, little jets of golden light that spat into the darkness with anger.
Gunfire. That’s rifle fire, a whole lot of it.
Tiny black figures darted through the shadows, barely discernable from where I sat, several hundred feet up. I couldn’t see much, but some were definitely running away, the streaks of yellow gunfire chasing them. A few dark gray vehicles rumbled down one of the gravel roads, and sprayed fire into the houses as it went. They were fighting, I realized, the people in the trucks and the locals. It was horrific, like something out of war-torn Afghanistan, but worse.
Then, I caught a glimpse of the others.
They didn’t move like the rest, who either fled from the dark vehicles, or fired back from behind cover. These skinny figures loped along with haphazard gaits, many running on all fours like animals, swarming from the trees by the dozens. They threw themselves into the gales of bullets without flinching, attacking anyone within range, and something about the way they moved, so fluid, so fearless, made my heart skip a beat.
What is that?
“Echo Four Actual to unknown caller, please respond, over.”
Choking back a cry of shock, I fumbled at the control panel with clumsy fingers, the man’s voice sharp and stern. I hadn’t realized that I’d let go of the talking button and clicked it down again. “Hello? Hello, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot out of Pittsburgh, over.”
An excruciating moment passed, and I continued to zoom over the trees, the fires falling away behind me as more silent forest took over.
“Roger that Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, we read you loud and clear. Please identify yourself and any passengers or cargo you might be carrying, over.”
Swallowing hard, I eyed the treetops, which looked much closer than they should have been. How far had I descended? “Echo Four Actual, my name is Christopher Dekker, and I am alone. I’m a charter flight from PA, carrying medical equipment for OSU in Columbus. My controls have been damaged, and I am unable to safely carry on due to the storm. Requesting permission to land, over.”
I watched the landscape slide by underneath me, once catching sight of what looked like a little white church surrounded by smaller huts, dozens of figures in the yard staring up at me as I flew over a towering ridgeline.
“Solid copy on that Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot. Be advised, your transponder shows you to be inside a restricted zone. Please cease all radio traffic, reduce your speed, climb to 3,000 feet and proceed north. We’ll talk you in from there. How copy, over?”
My heart jumped, and I let out a sigh of relief. “Roger that Echo Four Actual, my altimeter is down, but I’ll do my best to eyeball the altitude, over.”
With that, I pulled the collective upward, and tried my best to gauge how far I was by eyesight in the gathering night, rain still coming down all around me. This had to be some kind of disaster or riot, I decided. After all, the voice over the radio sounded like military, and those vehicles seemed to have heavy weapons. Maybe there was some kind of unrest going on here that I hadn’t heard about yet?
Kind of weird for it to happen in rural areas though. Spoiled college kids I get, but never saw farmers get so worked up before. They usually love the military.
Something moved in the corner of my eye, and I turned out of reflex.
My mouth fell open, and I froze, unable to scream.
In the sky beside me, a huge shadow glided along, and its leathery wings effortlessly carved through the gloom, flapping only on occasion to keep it aloft. It was too dark for me to see what color it was, but from the way it moved, I knew it wasn’t another helicopter. No, this thing was alive, easily the size of a small plane, and more than twice the length of my little McDonald Douglass. A long tail trailed behind it, and bore a distinct arrow-shaped snout, with twig-like spines fanned out around the back of its head. Whatever legs it had were drawn up under it like a bird, yet its skin appeared rough and knobby, almost resembling tree bark. Without pause, the gigantic bat-winged entity flew along beside me, as if my presence was on par with an annoying fly buzzing about its head.
Gripping the microphone switch so tight, I thought I’d crack the plastic, I whispered into my headset, forgetting all radio protocol. “T-There’s something up here.”
Static crackled.
“Douglas Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, say again your last, you’re coming in weak and unreadable, over.”
“There’s something up here.” I snarled into the headset, still glued to the controls of the helicopter, afraid to deviate even an inch from my course in case the monstrosity decided to turn on me. “A freaking huge thing, right beside me. I swear, it looks like a bat or . . . I don’t know.”
“Calm down.” The man on the other end of the radio broke his rigorous discipline as well, his voice deep, but level. “It won’t attack if you don’t move too fast. Slowly ease away from it and follow that course until you’re out of sight.”
I didn’t have time to think about how wrong that sounded, how the man’s strict tone had changed to one of knowledge, how he hadn’t been the least surprised by what I’d said. Instead, I slowly turned the helicopter away from the huge menace and edged the speed higher in tiny increments.
As soon as I was roughly two football fields away, I let myself relax, and clicked the mic switch. “It’s not following.”
“You’re sure?”
Eyeing the huge flapping wings, I nodded, then remembered he couldn’t see me. “Yeah, I’m well clear.”
“Good. Thank you, Mr. Dekker.”
Then, the radio went dead.
Something in my chest dropped, a weight that made my stomach roil. This wasn’t right, none of it. Who was that man? Why did he know about the thing I’d just seen? What was I supposed to—
A flash of light exploded from the trees to my right and shot into the air with a long finger of smoke.
What the . . .
On instinct, I jerked the cyclic stick to one side, and the helicopter swung to avoid the rocket.
Boom.
My world shook, metal screeched, and a dozen alarms began to go off inside the cockpit in a cacophony of beeps and sirens. Orange and red flames lit up the night sky just behind me, and the horizon started to spin wildly outside. Heat gushed from the cockpit door, and I smelled the greasy stench of burning oil. The safety belts dug into my shoulders, and with a final slip, the radio headset ripped free from my scalp.
I’m hit.
Desperate, I yanked on the controls, fought the bird even as she spun toward the ground in a wreath of flames, the inky black trees hurtling up to meet me. The helicopter went into full auto-rotation, the sky blurring past outside, and the alarms blared in a screech of doom. Panic slammed through my temples, I screamed at the top of my lungs, and for one brief second, my eyes locked on the little black Garmin still perched atop my control panel.
Its screen stopped twitching and settled on a map of the mysterious Barron County, with a little red arrow at the center of the screen, a few words popping up underneath it.
You are here.
Trees stabbed up into the sky, the belts crushed at my torso, glass shattered all around me, and the world went dark.
Copper, thick, warm, and tangy.
It filled my mouth, stank metallic in my nose, clogged my throat, choking me. In the murkiness, I fought for a surface, for a way out, blind and numb in the dark.
This way, kleineun.
My ouma’s voice echoed from somewhere in the shadows.
This way.
Both eyes flew open, and I gagged, spitting out a stream of red.
Pain throbbed in my ribs, and a heavy pressure sent a tingling numbness through my shoulders. Blood roared inside my temples, and stars danced before my eyes with a dizzying array. Humid night air kissed my skin, and something sticky coated my face, neck, and arms that hung straight up toward the ceiling.
Wait. Not up. Down.
I blinked at the wrinkled, torn ceiling of the cockpit, the glass all gone, the gray aluminum shredded like tissue paper. Just outside the broken windows, thick Appalachian bluegrass and stemmy underbrush swished in a feeble breeze, backlit by flashes of lightning from the thunderstorm overhead. Green and brown leaves covered everything in a wet carpet of triangles, and somewhere nearby, a cricket chirped.
Turning my head from side to side, I realized that I hung upside down inside the ruined helicopter, the top half burrowed into the mud. I could hear the hissing and crackling of flames, the pattering of rain falling on the hot aluminum, and the smaller brush fires around the downed aircraft sizzling out in the damp long grass. Charred steel and burning oil tainted the air, almost as strong as the metallic, coppery stench in my aching nose.
They shot me down. That military dude shot me out of the sky.
It didn’t make sense. I’d followed their orders, done everything they’d said, and yet the instant I veered safely away from whatever that thing in the sky had been, they’d fired, not at it, but at me.
Looking down (or rather, up) at my chest, I sucked in a gasp, which was harder to do that before.
The navy-blue shirt stuck to my torso with several big splotches of dark, rusty red. Most were clean slashes, but two held bits of glass sticking out of them, one alarmingly bigger than the other. They dripped cherry red blood onto my upturned face, and a wave of nausea hit me.
I gotta get down.
I flexed my arms to try and work some feeling back into them, praying nothing was broken. Half-numb from hanging so long, I palmed along my aching body until I felt the buckled for the seat belts.
“Okay.” I hissed between gritted teeth, in an effort to stave off my panic. “You can do this. Just hold on tight. Nice and tight. Here we go . . .”
Click.
Everything seemed to lurch, and I slid off the seat to plummet towards the muck-filled hole in the cockpit ceiling. My fingers were slick with blood and slipped over the smooth faux-leather pilot’s seat with ease. The shoulder belt snagged on the bits of glass that lay just under the left lowest rib, and a flare of white-hot pain ripped through me.
Wham.
I screamed, my right knee caught the edge of the aluminum ceiling, and both hands dove into a mound of leaf-covered glass shards on the opposite side of the hole. My head swam, being right-side-up again enough to make shadows gnaw at the corner of my eyes.
Forcing myself to breath slowly, I fought the urge to faint and slid back to sit on the smooth ceiling. I turned my hands over to see half a dozen bits of clear glass burrowed into my skin like greedy parasites, red blood weeping around the new cuts.
“Screw you.” I spat at the rubbish with angry tears in my eyes. “Screw you, screw you, screw you.”
The shards came out easy enough, and the cuts weren’t that deep, but that wasn’t what worried me. On my chest, the single piece of cockpit glass that remined was almost as big as my palm, and it really hurt. Just touching it felt like self-inflicted torture, but I knew it had to come out sooner or later.
Please don’t nick a vein.
Wiping my hands dry on my jeans, I gripped the shard with both hands, and jerked.
Fire roared over my ribs, and hot blood tickled my already grimy pale skin. I clapped a hand over the wound, pressing down hard, and grunted out a string of hateful expletives that my ouma would have slapped me for.
Lying on my back, I stared around me at the messy cargo compartment of the MD-902. Most of the medical supplies had been in cardboard boxes strapped down with heavy nylon tow-straps, but several cases had ruptured with the force of the impact, spraying bandages, syringes, and pill bottles all over the cluttered interior. Orange flames chewed at the crate furthest to the rear, the tail section long gone, but the foremost part of the hold was intact. Easily a million-dollar mess, it would have made me faint on any other trip, but today it was a godsend.
Half-blind in the darkness, I crawled along with only the firelight and lightning bolts to guide me, my right knee aching. Like a crippled raccoon, I collected things as I went, conscious of the two pallets of intact supplies weighing right over my head. I’d taken several different first-aid courses with some hunting buddies of mine, and the mental reflexes kicked in to help soothe my frazzled mind.
Check for bleeds, stop the worst, then move on.
Aside from my battered chest and stomach, the rest of me remained mostly unharmed. I had nasty bruises from the seatbelts, my right knee swelled, my nose slightly crooked and crusted in blood, but otherwise I was intact. Dowsing every scratch and cut with a bottle of isopropyl alcohol I found, I used butterfly closures on the smaller lacerations that peppered my skin. I wrapped soft white gauze over my abused palms and probed at the big cut where the last shard had been, only stopping when I was sure there were no pieces of glass wedged inside my flesh.
“Not too bad.” I grunted to myself, trying to sound impassive like a doctor might. “Rib must have stopped it. Gonna need stitches though. That’ll be fun.”
Pawing through the broken cases, I couldn’t find any suture chord, but just as I was about to give up, I noticed a small box that read ‘medical skin stapler’.
Bingo.
I tore the small white plastic stapler free from its packaging and eyeballed the device. I’d never done this before, only seen it in movies, and even though the cut in my skin hurt, I wondered if this wouldn’t be worse.
You’ve gotta do it. That bleeding needs to stop. Besides, no one’s coming to rescue you, not with those rocket-launching psychos out there.
Taking a deep breath, I pinched the skin around the gash together, and pressed the mouth of the stapler to it.
Click.
A sharp sting, like that of a needle bit at the skin, but it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as the cut itself. I worked my way across the two-inch laceration and gave out a sigh of relief when it was done.
“Not going to bleed to death today.” I daubed ointment around the staples before winding more bandages over the wound.
Popping a few low-grade painkillers that tumbled from the cargo, I crawled wriggled through the nearest shattered window into the wet grass.
Raindrops kissed my face, clean and cool on my sweaty skin. Despite the thick cloud cover, there was enough constant lightning strikes within the storm to let me get glimpses of the world around me. My helicopter lay on its back, the blades snapped like pencils, with bits and pieces of it burning in chunks all around the small break in the trees. Chest-high scrub brush grew all around the low-lying ground, with pockets of standing water in places. My ears still rang from the impact of the crash, but I could start to pick up more crickets, frogs, and even some nocturnal birds singing into the darkness, like they didn’t notice the huge the hulk of flaming metal that had fallen from the sky. Overhead, the thunder rumbled onward, the feeble wind whistling, and there were other flashes on the horizon, orange and red ones, with crackles that didn’t sound quite like lightning.
The guns. They’re still fighting.
Instinctively, I pulled out my cellphone, and tapped the screen.
It fluttered to life, but no matter how I tried, I couldn’t get through to anyone, not even with the emergency function designed to work around having no service. The complicated wonder of our modern world was little better than a glorified paperweight.
Stunned, I sat down with my back to the helicopter and rested my head against the aluminum skin of the craft. How I’d gone from a regular medical supply run to being marooned in this hellish parody of rural America, I didn’t know, but one thig was certain; I needed a plan. Whoever fired the missile could have already contacted my charter company and made up some excuse to keep them from coming to look for me. No one else knew I was here, and even though I now had six staples holding the worst of my injuries shut, I knew I needed proper medical attention. If I wanted to live, I’d have to rescue myself.
My bag. I need to get my go-bag, grab some gear and then . . . head somewhere else.
It took me a while to gather my green canvas paratrooper bag from its place behind the pilot’s seat and fill it with whatever supplies I could scrounge. My knee didn’t seem to be broken, but man did it hurt, and I dreaded the thought of walking on it for miles on end. I focused instead on inventorying my gear and trying to come up with a halfway intelligent plan of action.
I had a stainless-steel canteen with one of those detachable cups on the bottom, a little fishing kit, some duct tape, a lighter, a black LED flashlight with three spare batteries, a few tattered road maps with a compass, a spare pair of socks, medical supplies from the cargo, and a simple forest green plastic rain poncho. I also managed to unearth a functioning digital camcorder my ouma had gotten me for Christmas a few years back, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to do any filming in such a miserable state. Lastly, since it was a private supply run from a warehouse area near Pittsburgh to a direct hospital pad in Ohio, I’d been able to bring my K-Bar, a sturdy, and brutally simple knife designed for the Marine Corps that I used every time I went camping. It was pitiful in comparison to the rifle I wished I had with me, but that didn’t matter now. I had what I had, and I doubted my trusty Armalite would have alleviated my sore knee anyway.
Clicking on my flashlight, I huddled with the poncho around my shoulders inside the wreck of the chopper and peered at the dusty roadmaps. A small part of me hoped that a solution would jump out from the faded paper, but none came. These were all maps of western PA and eastern Ohio. None of them had a Barron County on them anywhere.
The man on the radio said to head north, right before they shot me down. That means they must be camped out to the north of here. South had that convoy and those burning houses, so that’s a no-go. Maybe I can backtrack eastward the way I came.
As if on cue, a soft pop echoed from over the eastern horizon, and I craned to look out the helicopter window, spotting more man-made flashes over the tree tops.
“Great.” I hissed between clenched teeth, aware of how the temperature dipped to a chilly 60 degrees, and how despite the conditions, my stomach had begun to growl. “Not going that way, are we? Westward it is.”
Walking away from my poor 902 proved to be harder than I’d anticipated. Despite the glass, the fizzling fires, and the darkness, it still held a familiar, human essence to it. Sitting inside it made me feel secure, safe, even calm about the situation. In any other circumstance, I would have just stayed with the downed aircraft to wait for help, but I knew the men who shot me down would likely find my crash site, and I didn’t want to be around when they did.
Unlike much of central and western Ohio, southeastern Ohio is hilly, brushy, and clogged with thick forests. Thorns snagged at my thin poncho and sliced at my pant legs. My knee throbbed, every step a form of self-inflicted torture. The rain never stopped, a steady drizzle from above just cold enough to be problematic as time went on, making me shiver. Mud slid under my tennis shoes, and every tree looked ten times bigger in the flickering beam of my cheap flashlight. Icy fear prickled at the back of my neck at some of the sounds that greeted me through the gloom. I’d been camping loads of times, both in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, but these noises were something otherworldly to me.
Strange howls, screeches, and calls permeated the rain-soaked sky, some almost roars, while others bordered on human in their intonation. The more I walked, the softer the distant gunfire became, and the more prevalent the odd sounds, until the shadows seemed to fill with them. I didn’t dare turn off my flashlight, or I’d been completely blind in the dark, but a little voice in the back of my head screamed that I was too visible, crunching through the gloomy forest with my long beam of light stabbing into the abyss. It felt as though a million eyes were on me, studying me, hunting me from the surrounding brush, and I bitterly recalled how much I’d loved the old Survivor Man TV series as a kid.
Not so fun being out in the woods at night. Especially alone.
A twig snapped somewhere behind me, and I whirled on the spot, one trembling hand resting on the hilt of my K-Bar.
Nothing. Nothing but trees, bushes, and rain dripping down in the darkness.
“This is stupid.” I whispered to myself to keep my nerves in check as I slowly spun on the spot. “I should have went eastward anyway. God knows how long I’m going to have to—”
Creak.
A groan of metal-on-metal echoed from somewhere to my right, and I spun to face it, yanking the knife on my belt free from its scabbard. It felt so small and useless in my hand, and I choked down a wave of nauseas fear.
Ka-whump. Creak. K-whump. Creak.
Underbrush cracked and crunched, a few smaller saplings thrashed, and from deep within the gloom, two yellow orbs flared to life. They poked through the mist in the trees, forming into slender fingers of golden light that swept back and forth in the dark.
The soldiers . . . they must be looking for me.
I swallowed hard and turned to slink away.
Ice jammed through my blood, and I froze on the spot, biting my tongue to stop the scream.
It stood not yards away, a huge form that towered a good twelve feet tall in the swirling shadows. Unpolished chrome blended with flash-rusted spots in the faded red paint, and grime-smeared glass shone with dull hues in the flashes of lightning. Where the wheels should have been, the rounded steel axels curved like some enormous hand had bent them, and the tires lay face-down on the muddy ground like big round feet, their hubcaps buried in the dirt. Dents, scrapes, and chips covered the battered thing, and its crooked little radio antenna pointed straight up from the old metal fender like a mast. I could barely make out the mud-coated VW on the rounded hood, and my mind reeled in shock.
Is . . . is that a car?
Both yellow headlights bathed me in a circle of bright, blinding light, and neither I nor the strange vehicle moved.
Seconds ticked by, the screech-thumping in the background only growing closer. I realized that I couldn’t hear any engine noises and had yet to see any soldiers or guns pointed my way. This car looked old, really old, like one of those classic Volkswagen Beetles that collectors fought over at auctions. Try as I might, I couldn’t see a driver inside the murky, mold-smeared windows.
Because there wasn’t one.
Lightning arched across the sky overhead, and the car standing in front of me blinked.
Its headlights slid shut, as if little metal shades had crawled over the bulbs for a moment and flicked open again. Something about that movement was so primal, so real, so lifelike, that every ounce of self-control I had melted in an instant.
Cursing under my breath, I lunged into the shrubs, and the world erupted around me.
Under my shoes, the ground shook, and the car surged after me in a cacophony of ka-thumps that made my already racing heart skip several beats. A weather-beaten brown tow truck from the 50’s charged through the thorns to my left, it’s headlights ablaze, and a dilapidated yellow school bus rose from its hiding place in the weeds to stand tall on four down-turned axel-legs. They all flicked their headlights on like giants waking from their slumber, and as I dodged past them, they each blared their horn into the night in alarm.
My breaths came short and tight, my knee burned, and I crashed through thorns and briars without thought to how badly I was getting cut up.
The cheap poncho tore, and I ripped it away as it caught on a tree branch.
A purple 70’s Mustang shook off its blanket of creeping vines and bounded from a stand of trees just ahead, forcing me to swerve to avoid being run over, my adrenaline at all-time highs.
This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening.
Slipping and sliding, I pushed through a stand of multiflora rose, and stumbled out into a flat, dark expanse.
I almost skidded to a stop.
What had once been a rather large field stood no taller than my shoestrings, the grass charred, and burnt. The storm above illuminated huge pieces of wreckage that lay scattered over the nearly 40-acre plot, and I could just make out the fire-blackened hulk of a fuselage resting a hundred yards away. The plane had been brought down a while ago it seemed, as there weren’t any flames left burning, and I threw myself toward it in frenzied desperation.
Burned grass and greasy brown topsoil slushed underfoot, and I could hear the squelching of the cars pursing me. Rain soaked me to the bone, and my lungs ached from sucking down the damp night air. A painful stich crept into my side, and I cursed myself for not putting in more time for cardio at the gym.
Something caught my left shoelace, and I hurtled to the ground, tasting mud and blood in between my teeth.
They’ve got me now.
I clawed at the mud, rolled, and watched a tire slam down mere inches from where my head had been. The Mustang loomed over me and jostled for position with the red Volkswagen and brown tow truck, the school bus still a few yards behind them. They couldn’t seem to decide who would get the pleasure of stomping me to death, and like a herd of stampeding wildebeest, they locked bumpers in an epic shoving match.
On all fours, I scampered out from under the sparring brutes, and dashed for the crumpled airplane, a white-painted DC-3 that looked like it had been cut in half by a gargantuan knife blade. I passed a snapped wing section, the oily remains of a turbo-prop engine, and a mutilated wheel from the landing gear. Climbing over a heap of mud, I squeezed into the back of the ruined flight cabin and dropped down into the dark cargo hold.
Wham.
No sooner had my sneakers hit the cold metal floor, and the entire plane rocked from the impact of something heavy ramming it just outside. I tumbled to my knees, screaming in pain as, once again, I managed to bash the sore one off a bracket in the wall.
My hand smeared in something gooey, and I scrabbled for my flashlight.
It clicked on, a wavering ball of white light in the pitch darkness, and I fought the urge to gag. “Oh man . . .”
Three people, or what was left of them, lay strewn over the narrow cargo area. Claret red blood coated the walls, caked on the floor, and clotted under my mud-spattered shoes. Bits of flesh and viscera were stuck to everything, and tatters of cloth hung from exposed sections of broken bone. An eerie set of bloody handprints adorned the walls, and the only reason I could tell it had been three people were the shoes; all of them bore anklebones sticking out above blood-soaked socks. It smelled sickly sweet, a strange, nauseas odor that crept into my nose and settled on the back of my tongue like an alien parasite.
Something glinted in the beam of my flashlight, and my pulse quickened as I pried the object loose from the severed arm that still clung to it.
“Hail Mary full of Grace.” I would have grinned if it weren’t for the fact that the plane continued to buck and roll under the assault from the cars outside.
The pistol looked old, but well-maintained, aside from the light coating of dark blood that stained its round wooden handle. It felt heavy, but good in my hand, and I turned it over to read the words, Waffenfabrik Mauser stenciled into the frame, with a large red 9 carved into the grip. For some reason, it vaguely reminded me of the blasters from Star Wars.
I fumbled with a little switch that looked like a safety on the back of the gun and stumbled toward a gap in the plane’s dented fuselage to aim out at the surrounding headlights.
Bang.
The old gun bucked reliably in my hand, its long barrel spitting a little jet of flame into the night. I had no idea if I hit anything, but the attacking cars recoiled, their horns blaring in confusion.
They turned, and scuttled for the tree line as fast as their mechanical legs could go, the entire ordeal over as fast as it had begun.
Did I do that?
Perplexed, I stared down at the pistol in my hand.
Whoosh.
A large, inky black shadow glided down from the clouds, and the yellow school bus moved too slow to react in time.
With a crash, the kicking nightmarish vehicle was thrown onto its side, spraying glass and chrome trim across the muddy field. Its electro-synth horn blared with wails of mechanical agony, as two huge talon-like feet clamped down on it, and the enormous head of the flying creature lowered to rip open its engine compartment.
The horn cut out, and the enormous flying entity jerked its head back to gulp down a mass of what looked like sticky black vines from the interior of the shattered bus.
At this range, I could see now that the flying creature bore two legs and had its wings half-tucked like a vulture that had descended to feed on roadkill. Its head turned slightly, and in the glow of another lightning bolt, my jaw went slack at the realization of what it was.
A tree trunk. It’s a rotted tree trunk.
I couldn’t tell where the reptilian beast began, and where the organic tree components ended, the upper part of the head shaped like a log, while the lower jaw resembled something out of a dinosaur movie. Its skin looked identical to the outside of a shagbark hickory but flexed with a supple featheriness that denoted something closer to skin. Sharp branch-like spines ranged down its back, and out to the end of its tail, which bore a massive round club shaped like a diseased tree-knot. Crouched on both hind legs, it braced the hooked ends of its folded wings against the ground like a bat, towering higher than a semi-truck. Under the folds of its armored head, a bulging pair of chameleon-like eyes constantly spun in their sockets, probing the dark for threats while it ate.
One black pupil locked onto the window I peered through, and my heart stopped.
The beast regarded me for a moment, with a curious, sideways sniff.
With a proud, contemptful head-toss, the shadow from the sky parted rows of razor-sharp teeth to let out a roar that shook the earth beneath my feet. It was the triumphant war cry of a creature that sat at the very top of the food chain, one that felt no threat from the fragile two-legged beings that walked the earth all around it. It hunted whenever it wanted, ate whatever it wanted, and flew wherever it wanted. It didn’t need to rip the plane apart to devour me.
Like my hunter-gatherer ancestors from thousands of years ago, I wasn’t even worth the energy it would take to pounce.
I’m hiding in the remains of the cockpit now, which is half-buried under the mud of the field, enough to shield the light from my screen so that thing doesn’t see it. My service only now came back, and it’s been over an hour since the winged beast started in on the dead bus. I don’t know when, or how I’m going to get out of here. I don’t know when anyone will even see this post, or if it will upload at all. My phone battery is almost dead, and at this point, I’m probably going to have to sleep among the corpses until daylight comes.
A dead man sleeping amongst friends.
If you live in the Noble County area in southeastern Ohio, be careful where you drive, fly, and boat. I don’t know if it’s possible to stumble into this strange place by ground, but if so, then these things are definitely headed your way.
If that happens . . . pray that they don’t find you.