You could make a pretty good surrealist novel out of this. Have the detective/dreamer switching back and forth, in the noir world you’re solving a case that turns out to be a cold case in the waking world and this leads the dreamer to solving the case for real. All the while the noir partner seems to be keenly aware that he’s a dream, but does what he can to keep the detective focused so the dream doesn’t dissolve. Finally it culminates with the all the clues found and the partner breaks the veil so the dreamer wakes up with the information and realizes the murderer was someone in his own life or something.

Keep it real subtle maybe, like it’s two completely different stories jumping back and fourth, but it slowly meshes together as it gets closer to the end. Characters introduced in one side play play roles in the other but are only introduced once. “Dan Smith, a heavy set guy from accounting jokes in the break room” "as you walk into the most recent scene you overhear officer Smith quip, 'it’s nights like this that make me wish I’d become an accountant. ’ causing the detective to double take before the partner draws him back in.

Fuck I’d read it.

Removed by mod

Removed by mod

I’m an American with a minority wife. Even if we could afford to go somewhere, we can’t get close to a boarder without ICE black bagging us.

I’ve been reading T. Kingfisher lately and in absolutely in love. I picked up The Hollow Places thinking it would probably be a waste but it’s become my favorite book. I’ve just started What Moves the Dead, and in already hooked, her descriptive ability is immaculate.

I would also recommend The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Sterling, Hide by Kiersten White, and Bunny by Mona Awad.

That’s the main reason we adopted it, best choice we ever made.

I’d highly suggest it. The winter solstice is a very refreshing take on the holiday season. Gifts aren’t expected, we mostly just give socks, or warm blankets. Everyone in the house has a drawstring bag associated with the holiday and we put the socks and maybe candies in them too be opened after dinner on solstice night. Bigger gifts aren’t frowned upon, but they have to be something meaningful and ideally with some level of hand made. This last year my spouse gave me 5 pairs of socks that she tyedyed herself and I gave her a dinosaur shaped coathook and plack for her backpack to hang on.

“Does this have anything to do with me?”

Most cases, the answer is no and I simply have to not care about it.

I celebrate the solstice in both the summer and winter.

The winter solstice is a celebration of the family of hearth and home. A quite and intimate celebration within your household where you exchange handmade gifts with the goal of improving the lives of those around you.

The summer solstice is a celebration of the family of the trail, those you pick up along the way who come to mean more than a passing fondness. This is celebrated as a large bonfire where everyone brings food or drink for theirs and two more and are encouraged to invite someone they’d like to know better than they already do. The goal is to meet others and celebrate life.

Arlo Guthree’s Alice’s Restaurant has you covered. I play it every Thanksgiving.

He’s got a far better grasp on career and financial stability but he’s to nervous to do things like drive in the big city or see doctors about mental health. He’s amazing with computers but not great with mechanical things.

I on the other hand suck with computers and am excellent with mechanical things. I put a lot of effort into self improvement and mental health, but still float around jobs and only have a stable homelife because of my spouse. I’d like to say all the DIY stuff I got growing up helped with that, but most of them were shit quality and the ones that didn’t break got absorbed into my dad’s things anyway. My diy skills come exclusively from living with a moto of “well fine, I’ll just do it myself”

Oh fuck i have a long history of this…

My parents got me a cheap set of tools, pliers, screw drivers, level and a wood burner with no wood to burn at 10. My brother got a gameboy SP and Pokémon.

Two years later I got an electric shaver and Cologne. I didn’t start growing facial hair until 17 and didn’t have enough to need more than one pass with a razor until 26. Still have the Cologne, it’s not awful but it’s also not a smell that works for me.

14 I got a store made cake and $20. I can’t eat the cake, the frosting makes my face hurt and that’s been a problem since I was 5 so they know I can’t eat the cake.

Basically, I didn’t get a present for me until I met my wife at 30.

I’m actually giving that a try now because it comes packaged with bazzite! I just wish I could figure out modding lol

That’s fair, though honestly the only issue I ever had on the Xbox was having a loading screen every 5 minutes.

I know it makes me sound like an of man shouting at clouds but the other day I installed Morrowind and was genuinely blown away by how smooth and reliable it ran and all the content in the game fitting in 2gb of space. Skyrim requires I delete my other games to make room and still requires a whole second game worth of mods to match the stability and quantity of morrowind.

They’re currently in litigation one child labor exploitation for profiting off of child made content and for terrible child safety standards for basically ignoring that it was a pedophile feeding ground. It’s not dead though, probably going to be profitable forever.

The roads in my city are as far from flat as you can get. The potholes aren’t bad but the roads are build to slope into the gutters and the gutters occasionally cut through the streets like reverse speed bumps, the train tracks are like crossing wagon ruts.

So if I see you rolling around in some luxury sports car with a 3in clearance, I’m going to assume you’re too fucking stupid to deserve that much money.

All but one has passed and the one remaining is kind if rocky now that my parents have poisoned the relationship with talk of hope manipulative and toxic my partner is for enforcing such awful things like limited screen time and bathing regularly to my child.

Pan pizza, marinara sauce, half mozzarella, half Provolone.

Pepperoni, jalapeno, mushrooms, olives, chives, and pineapple.

Pepperoni on top so it crisps on the bake, garlic and basil on the crust.

I have a billiard break cue, it’s hollow steel pipe with brass and galvanized fittings to screw it together. Based off the material, original colors, and general look it’s probably from the early 70’s.

Without fail, if a drunk person finds out it’s hollow they get super weird about it. They hand it back like it’s a writhing appendage, avoid using it when offered, even had a guy drop it like it was gonna bite him. Either way, I play better with it than I ever did before, and I gave it a gorgeous glossy crimson repaint.