This forum has given me so much good advice, thought I would return the favour if you’re ever in Japan with a small human.
Stroller and getting around
We hired a stroller from a nice lady (cash only) and it was a lifesaver in that it was extremely foldable so we could get it into restaurants and up and down stairs if we needed to. Generally speaking, the metro in Tokyo is accessible and there are lifts everywhere — just follow the signs. (If you use Google maps, it won’t tell you where the accessible exits are - only the nearest exits). However the JR isn’t accessible at all and lifts are almost non existent. A foldable pram works well in a taxi if the walking gets too much. We took buses in Kyoto with the pram and it was not my favourite as the buses get really crowded and you have to try and “sumimasen” your way to the front to pay the fare (don’t sit in the back of the bus.)
Food
In Tokyo, everything opens at 11am. So we relied fairly heavily on the local 7/11 for breakfast and snacks. We did do a few restaurants that had lines and had to rely on electronic distraction (ie Octonauts on the iPad with headphones) to keep the small human occupied. Every restaurant will give you wipes so I stashed a lot of these in my bag for future use, you will need them. Not every restaurant will give the kid a fork (or think to give the kid a fork) so there was a few times when I used a plastic one stored from my bag. There really weren’t any high chairs (not that we needed one anyway but it occurred to me that we never got an offer) so either he had his own seat or was propped on my lap if it was a tight restaurant.
Rubbish
Take a stash of garbage bags with you, there are no bins anywhere. You’ll need them for stashing snack wrappers, empty bottles, whatever refuse your toddler dreams up.
Luggage forwarding
I had visions in my head of never having to move luggage the entire time. But it turns out that we were in an apartment/hotel/rental in Osaka that didn’t accept forwarding so that popped a hole in that dream. Check with your hotel!
Tokyo
Pokémon Centre
The kid loves Pokémon but I didn’t like my chances of booking a space in the cafe (there was no space). We went anyway and worked our away around the massive gift store which he was just as happy with. Came out with a whole bunch of Pokémon merch as the centre intended. It is hilariously noted that the same merch was cheaper in Yobodashi. Oh, and the kid lost the Eevee figurine several times (showed up in the pram cover and then lost forever in the streets of Harajuku) so if your kid is particularly attached to small pieces, I would consider getting duplicates (after Harajuku, we got Eevee triplicates)
Disney Sea
I guess the only thing I can say is: don't go when it's raining? (We had booked on Klook in advance and were locked in.) Everybody else had the same idea and the park was pretty empty. I think it might have been nice on a sunny day. All the stalls were closed, lots of rides were not possible or at least looked incredibly uncomfortable - the people on the Gondola looked pretty miserable. We mostly did the mermaid lagoon section which was targeted towards young kids and luckily undercover (not much wait times either) but all in all it was probably the shortest Disney trip I've ever done and we were out by 2pm.
As an observation, I thought it was interesting there was not much in the way of modern merch? No Frozen at all, no Encanto, no Moana etc etc you get the drift. Not a complaint, just interesting. Lots of headbands though.
Kiddyland
Giant toy store with six different levels. We amazingly didn’t buy anything there but you might want to hold onto your wallet. I think we were an anomaly.
TeamLabs
Booked Teamlabs pretty early on and so we had reserved tickets for the opening 10am session. It was pretty fun and definitely interesting. He wasn’t too thrilled with some of the darker rooms but worked his way through it. Wear shorts as there are some rooms where the water reached his thighs. If dark rooms and wet rooms are not your kids thing, the staff offer kid-friendly detours.
Osaka
Osaka Castle
Spent a full day in the parks around Osaka Castle. Lots of park to run around and rocks to climb. With the castle, noting that the castle exterior is stunning however the interior is not for kids. It’s a museum for history buffs (so all me.) lots of reading and some photos and he bored of it really quickly. We ended up having to speed run down the floors. So not worth it with kids basically, he was much happier outside doing his thing. We also did the boat ride and it was eh.
Osaka Aquarium
We had high expectations that it would be as good as Monterey. It was really fantastic and had an awesome time but it’s a whole day excursion. All the kids had play passports that you can get at the front to stamp what animals you’ve seen. The kid was “fished out” by the last half an hour, he wanted to look at something other than fish and was (slightly) relieved to get out.
Nara
The kid loved the deer, and for the most part they were pretty gentle with him. They 100% were not so gentle on my husband and he got chased around. The temple was pretty amazing but the kid did not care so much about that and just wanted to go back and hang with the deer some more.
Kyoto
Umekoji Park
Took the small human to Umekoji Park and it was lovely with a creek that he could wade in (the Japanese kids brought toys and nets to scoop tadpoles) and a playground he could play in. Lots of greenery he could run around in. It wasn’t remarkable for me but he loved it so if you need green that doesn’t involve temples, it’s a good kid-friendly choice.
Arashima Bamboo and Monkey Park
We got up extra early to beat the crowds. The small human enjoyed the Bamboo Park and picking up sticks, it wasn’t too intensive for him as it was pretty pram-friendly. It turned into a thirty degree day as we headed to the Monkey Park. It’s a really steep incline 450m up so we didn’t bother to take the pram (although we saw some parents who did), he did really well and walked all the way up but I can understand that there are lots of kids who would not be thrilled with the idea. All the way up the top is a playground area so he glommed onto the playground and not so much the monkeys (ask me how thrilled I was that we walked that distance in steaming hot weather for him to be distracted by a shoddy seesaw)
I dragged him to see the monkeys and we kept a safe distance of 2 metres, but his heart wasn’t in it anymore.
Where we stayed
Mimaru Akasaka - Tokyo
Bon Condominium Umeda - Osaka
The Blossom - Kyoto
We did our best to stay in places that were 40sqm and family friendly. We knew that it would be pretty stressful to stay somewhere where we would be tripping over each other. As a result, our hotels required a little bit more in travel time (extra five to ten minutes?).
Our hotels were pretty great overall. Just a note though - Bon Condominium needed to turn on a boiler before we could get hot water for a shower. If you’re at The Blossom, make sure you check out the basement floor for free snacks.
Random bits and pieces
Random busty ladies
I have been to Japan a few times before (but never with a kid) and in those previous times, I have very distinct memories of lots of random not-quite-clothed manga statuettes everywhere I went. So I was all prepared to talk to the small human about what they were doing and why they were semi-dressed. But in my two weeks, I never saw a single one so my prepared speech never happened. I have no idea where they all went. Maybe they all migrated to Akhibara?
Loxonin
It’s random but you can buy this rub at any pharmacy and it saved my legs considerably on days when I walked 20kms.
Electronic distraction
I’m that parent. When the lines or the public transport ride was too long, I popped some headphones on and gave him an iPad. It saved my stress levels and from him getting completely rowdy. I think particularly the restauranteurs appreciated for the most part a silent child.
Most people speak English. They really appreciate it when you try to speak to them in Japanese though.
Masks
Mask usage has dropped considerably, even on public transport.
Kids clothes
Was all set to buy the kid a new wardrobe annnnd there’s not that many obvious places to buy kids clothes other than H&M and Uniqlo. Sometimes not even Uniqlo - the Roppongi store has no kids section as a case in point. H&M overall had the better selection.
Bathrooms
Bathrooms are everywhere and they’re all extremely clean. We never really worried about finding one. We just made him go every three hours or so to avoid any potential issues or leaks. We only had one real emergency where I had to run him through a department store but got there in time and crisis was averted.
Happy to answer any questions or help where I can!

Pierce redraft rankings for Fantasy Footballers Podcast:
Analyst 1: ranked 22
Analyst 2: ranked 24
Analyst 3: ranked 32
Analyst 3: I have 2 main reasons for this; one is the historical context and data on draft capital. And then you mix that with a new coaching staff that was not here for that rookie breakout last year. Pierce is a day 3 pick and for better or worse the difference between a day 2 pick and a day 3 pick in the NFL is massive...the 2nd round and 3rd round picks those are perceived as so valuable, so much was work is put into them, and then day 3 is like "OK we're gonna shotgun 4th through 7th get special teamers" and what not and... but here's the proof right? I went back and over the last decade I looked at all of the best 4th round running backs over the last decade... I'm talking about the ones who performed well...the best of the best over the last decade who proved they were good. The next year, their sophmore year, on average, those players lost 42 fantasy points per season on average and in fact almost all of them were worse...only 2 of the top 10 were better in year 2: Tarik Cohen and Rhamandre Stevenson... if you compare that to the guys picked in round 3... just barely ahead on average... they scored 20 more fantasy points per [game] (season?) and 50% of them improve on their rookie numbers. But day 3 picks just don't have the same...the team is not invested the same way and so that's another issue. They went out this off season, with this coaching staff, and picked up Devon Singeltary. DS is make it 3 million dollars, Pierce is making a million dollars....DS does not get enough respect in my opinion as a running back. He is a good veteran running back who just played meaningful snaps for a Super Bowl contender who took a second round pick in James Cook and said no..."You're the backup I got a 177 carries, you get 89 carries." You combine all of this and you look ...at the percentage of running back carries that went to Damian Pierce. I mean yeah he had a great season but part of the reason he had a great season was because his primary ...the next most carries went to Dare Ogunbowale.
Analyst 2: 10 of the 13 games he played he was a 85% or higher snap count...he had 6 or 7 games at a 100%.
Analyst 1: Thats outrageous...
Analyst 3: ...This doesn't project to be a great team, to have a rookie quarterback who will probably start week one, if you look back at the last decade of how their running backs performed: only one was a top 24 running back. I'm completely out on Damian Pierce. I worry he could be the next Jeremy Langford, and you might not even remember Jeremy Langford but he was a 4th round pick, had a great rookie campaign, everybody loved him... and then...

I played this game about 11 years ago on my father Ipad, Ipad broken many years ago. It about a farmer boy doing quest for this red (or brown) hair witch to enlong his father life because the father was ill. In the mc house, the witch sit on a broom and ocasionally give quest for the farmer boy, due within 1 month in game time. If the boy fail to deliver on time, then game over.

• Prominent features: Basically like stardew valley, have four season, farming, exploring new area, etc. During main menu, there are option to choose weather type. The home screen when opening the app featuring the farmer boy pulling a cart with many other npc on his cart, while the witch was sitting in her broom and flying beside.
  
• Farming crops: I remember that the first two crop during Spring were Watermelon and Strawberry.
  
• Game prominent NPC:
  
  • The Witch: she is good looking, long hair, always sit on a broom floating inside main character house. - A White Crow, the crow will give a quest, asking us to help him recover his black feathers by finding a bottle of ink. - A Shiba: Under the main character home is the village area, there is a Shiba dog running in cirle around the center of village, if we give it enough food, it will follow us home. - A Cave girl: the cave girl sell cooking recipes. I remeber there was a Strawberry smoothies recipe. - The Girl next door (one of the dating option): she live with her gloomy brother, to the left screen of the main character home. She like Strawberry smoothies, giving it yield higher heart point award. When you reach the dating state, she will give you a challenge. She jump on your cart, and you have to pull the cart to her favourite destination then return to her home within the time limit. Succeeding and she officially date you. (I tried but never succeed)
• Game features that I remember: - There is four type of fertilizer, labeling A B C D - The field can be automatically water, but we have to run to a nearby well to scoop water and run back to refill the watering system. - The farmer boy alway carry a big cart, the cart can be upgrade, the last upgrade option is a green card with leaves pattern. When the boy go inside his house, the cart disappear. - To the right screen of the main character home, there is an animal house. I managed to collect chickens and the Shiba so far. Whenever I forgot to feed the Shiba just one day, he will run away and re-appear in the village by the next morning. - The upper screen of the mc house is a locked field, pay material to unlock and get extra fields to plant. There are many others area that I didn't explore.
  
  • During the night, if you don't sleep and wake until 5am, the mc will exhaust and collapse. He will be deliver home and have to pay nursery fee. - Lastly, if the mc were not able to complete the witch quest on time, he will fall to the ground, crying because the witch won't enlong his father life. The game end and you have to start over. Even if you complete the quest, there will be another. I never completed more than 1 year in game because I was elementary school back then and don't know about saving the file to a slot :((( Please help me find this game, it was really good, I remembered the game image so clearly yet never read the game name :((.

P/S: It is not any of the harvest moon series, not rune factory series, stardew valley, Magician quest: mysterious time.
Old post link: https://www.reddit.com/tipofmyjoystick/comments/13u70u3/ios20082013_pixeladventurefarm_game_farmer_doing/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Possible TW? maybe, idk. talking about how my dad treated me when I was little
I am so sorry for this giant wall of text, I just have to vent for a minute. I doubt it will fix anything, but I am desperate. My dad was horrible to me when I was little, the "typical" stuff like getting pissed if I showed any emotion other than fear, basically. If I got sad, if I got mad, even if I got too happy/excited (only when he was in a really bad mood though), he would get mad and pretty much just try to get to shut up and not show have any feelings. He would always blame everything on me (not even an exaggeration, he seriously blamed me for basically anything he could, even if it obviously made no sense). Then when my mom started trying to get him to stop, he finally started to get better when he was around my mom, but to compensate for that he would have me go on a drive with him every 2-3 days where he would spend the entire drive berating me and yelling at me for whatever I did that had upset him over the past couple of days. He would always tell me I was being manipulative whenever I cried, no matter what it was about, even if I got hurt. He was always telling me how weak I was and how I needed to "be stronger" and "be a man", and he would try to embarrass me any time he saw an easy opportunity to do it, especially around extended family (namely, his family). I remember one time when I was really little (idk how old exactly, I suck w/ remembering my age in my memories) and our family was at Costco, I basically started throwing a tantrum and started crying about something (so he was kinda justified in this case, prob) about something, I don't remember what. Then he told me to stop and when I didn't he told my mom he'd take me out to the car, then while he was carrying me out to the car he put my head on his shoulder and started whispering to me about how I was ruining my Mom's day and was being childish and selfish. I noticed that everyone was watching me, and he said that everyone was watching me because of how I was acting and that they were all thinking I was so annoying and childish and selfish, and were all judging me. Which, idk, maybe they were, I have no idea. Then when we got out to the car, he just started completely ignoring me. Although, sometimes I got a break from this, but it was almost worse in a way, because that was when he would just completely ignore me. He would ignore me for days at a time, a couple times he did for like a full week or two. Then when he is done he just goes back to normal and acts like nothing happened and like everything is normal between us. He has *finally* gotten better since, but he still gets really bad sometimes. One weird thing I noticed, literally *the day I turned 18*, he got so much better. I can't even explain in what way, but he was just so much better towards me, and he had pretty much finally stopped being so suspicious of me all the time, always thinking I was up to something or trying to hide something from him. Before I turned 18, he would go through my room almost every day while I was at school, and he would always look through my phone and iPad every night and send screenshots of anything he found that he didn't like to himself. I didn't know he did that until he started showing me the screenshots and accusing me of stuff in some of our arguments. He was finally getting better for a while, but over the past year or so now, he has been getting worse again. He will just completely ignore me like at least once a week for a day or so, and whenever he is a little upset he will stomp around the house and slam doors and just be super impatient. If my room isn't clean when he goes to walk through, he will just kick everything out of the way super hard and really angrily, and then be mad at me for a couple hours for not cleaning it. If I do anything without telling/asking him, like going into town or stuff like that, he will be mad that I didn't let him know beforehand. Yesterday, after he went into town, I noticed he had accidentally left a drill on the driveway right next to the sidewalk, and so I picked it up and put it in the house by the front door so it didn't get stolen. When he got home I told him I noticed the drill outside and wasn't sure if he left it out there on purpose or not, and that I had put it by the door just in case. He then got really irritated and started snapping at me saying "I know it was out there, I put it out there for a reason. Put. It. Back." and started storming around the house. Then later that night he noticed one of our dogs (who barely eats, it is really hard to get him to eat his food) had some food in his bowl, and apparently he had already been fed dinner and ate it all that night. When he noticed that he yelled asking us if we had given the dogs extra food, and when I said yes and my mom said that we did cause they were really hungry and we didn't know he had already fed them, he stormed over to each of their food bowls, picked them up, stormed out to the garage and put them up on a shelf so they couldn't get them, which I have *never* seen him do before now. I am gonna stop writing about what he has done because this post is already way too long, and I could go on forever saying stuff he has done. But basically, I am so tired of this, I am so tired of him getting worse again and started to act like he used to. Honestly, I think he truly hated me as a kid, not even joking. I am 19, in college, living at home. I had to quit my job because I can't keep up with that and school lately, and I am barely staying caught up with school. In fact, I have to read almost 200 pages in a book and write 3 separate papers on it for class, which is in ~9 hours. I don't have a source of income really, and so I am stuck here. I can't be stuck here for any longer, I swear. So many nights lately I have been seriously considering just taking one of our cars and sleeping in some random parking lot just so I could get out of the house and away from him, I almost did a couple times but was too worried that he would notice it on the cameras in the morning so I didn't. I want to just move out, but I am in the worst depression I have ever been in right now and am just getting worse and worse overall, and am starting to fall behind really badly with all my schoolwork. I would honestly go homeless if I tried to move out right now, I think. I am too weak right now to even support myself financially enough to move out and rent a cheap apartment, and I want to so badly. He is so bad these past few days and I just want to get out of here and get as far way from him as I can right no. I swear, I don't know how much longer I can do this for. If he keeps getting worse, I honestly don't know if I can keep doing this, I don't think I can keep going on like this for much longer. I want someone to talk to this about with, but I feel too weak whenever I try to, especially since I start crying a bunch of the time when talking about it, which makes me feel 1000x weaker. I just hope he will start getting better a little bit, or that I will be able to figure something out for what to do about this. Because I can't do this anymore. I can't keep going on like this. Sorry for such a long post and for ranting so much, just had to get this out there, maybe this will help me stop feeling so bad for myself rn. Thanks for spending the time to read this essay of a rant, honestly appreciate it if you did, that means that what I am feeling is at least somewhat valid, maybe

Welcome back to another check-in for The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green!
Today we look at sunsets in all possible ways, high school competitions, and the Miracle of Istanbul.
SUMMARY
Chapter 16: Academic Decathlon. John attended a boarding school in Alabama. His roommate and best friend Todd convinced him to participate in the Academic Decathlon, where John excelled compared to his average grades. One of the tasks was to give a speech, and John chose the topic of rivers, one of his favorite subjects. Years later, in 2020, overwhelmed with worry about the pandemic, John compares his thoughts to a river overflowing its banks. He looks back on how important his relationship with Todd is, he is one of those people whose love keeps you going. 4.5 stars.
Chapter 17: Sunsets. The chapter starts out with a variety of ways how to describe sunsets - poetically, through photograph, and scientifically. Green then quotes Toni Morrison, who wrote that sometimes the thing itself is enough, without having to describe it. Green reminisces about his dog Willy, who showed vulnerability by baring his belly. John worries that he's built an armor of cynicism for himself instead. He concludes by saying that you cannot see beauty unless you make yourself vulnerable to it (anyone else getting "All the Light We Cannot See" vibes from this description??). 5 stars.
Chapter 18: Jerzy Dudek’s Performance on May 25, 2005. This is a sports story. Jerzy Dudek, who grew up in Poland as the son of a coal miner, loves soccer. He trained to be a miner, but earned money as a goalkeeper on the side. He was first picked up by a Polish team, then by a Dutch team, and finally by Liverpool, who offered him a multimillion-dollar contract. In the 2004-2005 season, the Champions League final is played in Istanbul. The game is dramatic, with Milan scoring early and Liverpool scoring in the second half, ending in a tie. Dudek saves the game in the last minute with a tactic he had never practiced before and which was recommended to him by a teammate. You cannot see the future, neither the good nor the bad. 5 stars.
Video of Jerzy Dudek's double save
See you on 2nd June when u/espiller1 will present the next three chapters about Penguins of Madagascar, Piggly Wiggly, and Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
If you like to read ahead, check out the marginalia! Beware the spoilers though.

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List of Top 5 Picks-

• Gissah Perfume
• Giorgio Armani
• Ajmal
• Chanel
• Dior

In this guide, we present the top five unisex summer fragrances by GenericPerfumes that exude freshness, elegance, and universal appeal. Let's explore the world of unisex scents and discover the perfect fragrance for the summer.

​

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Conclusion

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Hello!
I hope everyone here is doing well.
I have some unfortunate news to start this write up off with.
If you've been following my write ups, you may have seen that my mums health has not been the best. Unfortunately, this monday we received news that we were fearing to hear. To keep it short and sweet, months but not many. So, to say that this write up was a struggle is keeping it very light. Between crying, talking to family, crying more and just... you know?
So, here it is! I tried but you can most likely see a bit of a decline in everything.
(c) - Champ
D/DWCS - Debut/Dana Whites' Contender Series
FLS - Fight Lose Streak
FWS - Fight Win Streak
NS - No Streak
(#x) - Rank in Division
x/3 - Confidence Levels
Lets do this thing.
Prelims
Light Heavyweight
Maxim Grishin (-150) (32-9-2, NS) v Philipe Lins (+120) (16-5-0, 2 FWS) - This is a fun one to start off the prelims. Grishin is coming off a strong win against William Knight, and it was Grishins very precise striking that got him the decision win. Knight was fairly relentless with the takedowns, attempting 9 and only landing 30% of those, with minimal control time. Grishin is very well prepared for most of his fights and his well roundedness showed during that fight against Knight, someone who has insane amounts of power but with the athleticism of a slug. Grishin is a veteran of this sport, and whilst some might say that he’s at that age where we see a natural decline in every attribute of a fighter, he could still very much get a win here if he keeps this fight neat and clean, since Lins himself is a bit of a brawler who pushes an incredible pace in short bursts. Grishin will need to rely on his footwork in order to frustrate Lins and force Lins to make a mistake, and rest assured that Lins has a propensity to make mistakes. Lins loves to make a fight gritty and exciting, and it’s what we saw when he fought the fairly old and slow OSP, and it’s exactly how I thought the fight would go, because Lins is a bit of a bulldozer when he fights, nothing but offence with very little defence, he’s exciting and sometimes that’s enough to be pushed in the UFC, but I feel like these two have been destined to fight at some point. They both started in the UFC in 2020, they both have the same UFC record, but the main stat that I want to point out, and I know that stats don’t mean much in the long run, but Lins has absorbed more strikes per minute compared to Grishin. This pretty much only tells me that Grishin is a touch more patient and tactical with his approach, he stays at distance and just throws attacks without much chance of his opponent retaliating. Lins has a fairly solid chance if he pushes the pace, and that’s most likely what he’s going to do, but he also has a tiny bit of an advantage on the ground, and since he does have a bit of a grappling background and has used his wrestling in his fights, that might be the more smart way to defeat Grishin. However, I do not like how Lins strikes, its very narrow and reckless, almost reminding me of Michael Chandler in that sense, just straight down the pipe aggression, minimal head movement and all out attacks. If Grishin can see that coming, angle off or circle away and land a counter, then this is going to be Grishin’s fight all day, but at the age of 39, I just don’t know if his chin can withstand the power of Lins. I got Grishin winning due to his technical advantage, but Lins will make a great underdog pick.
Grishin via UD - (1/3)
Bantamweight
Luan Lacerda (-130) (12-2-0, NS) v Da’mon Blackshear (+100) (12-5-1, NS) - Lacerda is coming off a tough loss against Stamann, and that’s an incredibly tough debuting dance partner, and despite the odds being stacked against him, he did relatively well and learnt so much throughout that three round bout. Lacerda looked about as good as anyone who is making his debut against a veteran like Stamann can look, and he surprised me with his takedown success, albeit it was only one takedown, but to be able to do that against a highly dangerous wrestler like Stamann is pretty damn awesome. Lacerda in this particular bout will look to get the fight to the ground, as many of Blackshear’s opponents have done in the past and thus far in the UFC. Lacerda has nothing but submission finishes on his record and I feel like whilst Blackshear is going to be aware of that submission threat, nothing Blackshear can do will be able to prepare him for the skill gap on the ground between these two fighters. Lacerda also has very decent stand up and he utilises a Muay Thai style of striking, very heavy on the feet, heavy kicks from both sides, but he lacks any defensive counters that would potentially dissuade Blackshear from pushing forward, which is why I still think Lacerda taking this fight to the ground is the only clear way to get a win. Blackshear is coming off a tough loss against a very dangerous prospect in Farid Basharat, and it was the puzzle of Basharats skillset that somewhat froze Blackshear a little bit, it was the pressure on the feet, as well as the wrestling and takedown attempts that just overwhelmed Blackshear a tiny bit. Blackshear does have a few submissions on his record, but I feel like they have been against fighters who just lose by submissions a fair bit, so there’s a bit of a pattern there. Blackshear could have the knowledge to keep the fight on the feet and avoid any submissions, but if history dictates his ability to grapple, its that the better wrestlegrappler usually wins the exchanges, and in this case, Lacerda is the better grappler, plus he comes from the Nova Uniao which is a gym I have multiple times in past have said is one of the best. I got Lacerda winning this one, but if you were to place a bet I think this one is going over 1.5 rounds, it’s going to mostly be a bit of a chess match in my opinion.
Lacerda via UD - (1/3)
Women’s Strawweight
Jihn Yu Frey (-110) (11-8-0, 2 FLS) v Elise Reed (-110) (6-3-0, NS) - Well this is something. Frey is coming off two tough back to back losses, and it seems that she has been used as a stepping stone for a lot of the other prospects that have made their way through the rankings. Now, Frey is no doubt a very tough fighter to deal with, she is fairly athletic and physically strong, able to shove aside a lot of the takedown attempts from her opponents, but whilst she’s decent in the counter-wrestling department, she’s a bit of a easy target when it comes to strikers, as we saw when she fought Polyana Viana. She level changes a lot, dipping her head often in order to lunge attacks, but her head is always on the centre line and that could be enough of a read for Reed to set up her own attacks. The other problem is that Frey isn’t a young chicken anymore, she’s nearing 40 years of age and is coming off a KO loss. Frey does have a chance to win this fight, and that’s only if she uses her sheer physicality and strength to control and negate the striking of Reed. Reed is coming off a tough submission loss against Lookboonme, and if you’ve been following Lookboonme’s career, that’s a wild thing to say. Reed is someone who i’m not completely sold on, but if there’s one thing that she does very well, its pressure. She isn’t the type to just be patient in the centre of the octagon and exchange punches, she’s very good at starting fast and pressuring her opponent towards the cage, cutting off movement with her own lateral movement and just throwing attacks, despite her attacks sometimes being a bit overzealous and sloppy. I think that pressure is going to be key, and we have seen a few times now that Frey kind of crumbles under pressure fairly easily, she has her back against the cage pretty often and I think the longer this fight goes on, the more worn out she is going to be, and that’s when Reed will look her best.
Reed via UD - (2/3)
Bantamweight
Daniel Santos (-165) (10-2-0, NS) v Johnny Munoz Jr (+140) (12-2-0, NS) - Let’s give this fight another shot huh? Santos is one hard fighter to predict because during his first fight, he fought Arce and he wasn’t very effective with his punches, he struck at a 27% accuracy which is pretty damn low, and he got outstruck about 3:1, so overall it wasn’t an excellent performance. During his most recent performance however he fought a tiny bit better, albeit he did get hurt a lot in the first round after eating Castaneda’s head kick and later his punches. Santos loves to set up the right hand with a strong jab or lead hook, it’s pretty much his only attack that he relies on. However, his ability to eat punches is not so great, he gets hurt so often and even though he recovered reasonably well when he fought Castaneda, it still does not give me a whole lot of confidence especially since he’s about to face another dangerous fighter in Munoz Jr. Santos can recover fairly well though, but he still shows problems with his skillset and that’s just a bit of a defensive deficit. The only thing that I can see that’s somewhat positive about him is that he doesn’t fade after getting hurt, he gets hurt easily, sure, but he recovers and moves forward relentlessly, and that can break the spirit of his opponent. His KO over Castaneda, and the gorgeous combinations before that eventual finish was a brilliant display of smart targeting and relentless pressure, and if he can replicate that very same level of pressure in this fight, he could find a whole lot of success. Still, Santos only has two fights in the UFC and I haven’t exactly seen anything major that makes me confidently think that he can win this one, apart from that incredible fight against Castaneda. Munoz Jr is coming off a strong win against Sholinian, and he looked very strong in there. However, one thing that stood out to me was how forward his lead leg was, it was exposed and it was at an angle that Sholinian could have targeted because the foot was turned on the inside, and you cannot check kicks if the foot is turned inwards unless that approaching kick is an inside leg kicks. Munoz Jr is very good at reading and reacting to his opponents movements and tendencies, we saw this when Sholinian kept ducking towards Munoz’s lead leg side, and Munoz saw that and threatened with a lead kick/knee, he is very good at reading his opponent and that could be a bit of a problem for Santos. However, Munoz Jr does succumb to pressure a little bit, he tends to be backed up a lot, and if Santos’ last fight tells us anything, its that Santos is the type of fighter to constantly move forward and force his opponent to back up, with the unfortunate downside of him being highly susceptible to being hurt. Now, in regards to this prediction, I do have Santos winning this one, simply because I feel like any form of lack of defence shown during his Castaneda fight would have been fixed for this fight, because Santos does come from the same gym that Oliveira comes from, so it’s highly possible that they’re well prepared. Either way, this is a 50/50 for me but I got Santos winning this one.
Santos via UD - (1/3)
Heavyweight
Andrei Arlovski (-115) (34-21-0, NS) v Don’Tale Mayes (-105) (9-5-0, NS) - Well this is certainly a fight. Arlovski is coming off a tough submission loss against Rogerio de Lima, and it was the first loss in a while for Arlovski who previously was on a bit of a winning streak, albeit it wasn’t the best fights in his career, which is understandable because Arlovski is old now, and has started to fight a lot more methodically. Arlovski is still very capable of winning, there isn’t any sign of him slowing down, he isn’t stiff or one to gas easily, he looks reasonably okay in terms of fitness and athleticism, and being reasonably okay is pretty great for the Heavyweight division. Mayes is not a unique opponent that Arlovski has faced, and I think Arlovski’s experience is going to play a pivotal role in this fight. Arlovski will probably steer clear from striking against the much larger and potentially more dangerous fighter, so I can only guess that Arlovski is going to wrestle a lot in this fight since Hamdy has shown that Mayes is fairly easy to wrestle. The only problem is that the last time Arlovski has secured a takedown was back in 2018 against Abdurakhimov, and even during his winning streak from 2020 onwards, he hasn’t really attempted any takedowns, which only makes me think him getting takedowns will throw off Mayes a whole lot. Mayes no doubt has a huge size advantage here, and perhaps a power advantage. Although we have not seen great things from Mayes, he has been a bit of a silent fighter, or at least a forgotten one because of his performances being a bit dull apart from his Parisian win which is a bit of a lower level fight in this division. Mayes has a lot of power in his hands, and since he has a bit of a reach and height advantage, Arlovski will most likely play the safe game in this fight, chop at the legs and just lure Mayes into throwing something. Now, whether or not Mayes can crack the chin of Arlovski is the main question here, but considering that Arlovski has eaten some massive shots before and still stood tall makes me think that overall Arlovski has a lot of advantages here. However, and I cannot stress this enough, age is a massive factor here and this is Heavyweight, so whilst my prediction is a boring Arlovski decision win, Mayes via KO is a strong alt bet.
Arlovski via UD - (1/3)
Bantamweight
John Castaneda (19-6-0, NS) v Muin Gafarov (D) (18-4-0, 2 FWS) - This is going to be a fantastic bout to watch for those that love striking. Castaneda is coming off a tough loss against Daniel Santos, and it was a very explosive and exciting war for the most part. Castaneda is a very tricky fighter to get a read on because he is very good at switching stance and giving his opponent a whole lot of different looks. He does have a very kick heavy style and it’s quite diverse, often attacking from all angles, targeting all sections of his opponent whilst moving around and feeling a groove. However, he is at his worst when he decides to box in range, and I know that sounds strange but like, whenever he’s in the pocket he tends to eat a lot of punches because he is not as comfortable in the pocket as he is at range launching kicks. However, that comfortability that Castaneda loves at range can be disrupted by the sheer explosiveness of Gafarov’s attacks, and I mean, if someone who is coming off two ferocious knockout wins after missing his chance at DWCS, I highly expect Gafarov to take off like a greyhound (the dog, not the bus, although, the bus might count here too) and overwhelm, or at least attempt to overwhelm Castaneda, because it’s very difficult to kick off a retreating motion, and Castaneda chooses to throw a punch than there’s a possibility that we could see the very same flaws in Castaneda’s boxing show once again during this fight. Gafarov is coming off two savage KO’s on LFA leading into this debut, and he’s no doubt going to carry some serious energy and excitement into this fight. Gafarov is a very exciting fighter that has come from some very good organisations such as One Championship and LFA, and that experience against incredibly talented strikers (especially in One) is no doubt going to help him coming into this fight against Castaneda. Now, Castaneda is not an easy outing for anyone, and as long as Gafarov does not become too placated with eating the kicks and timing his attacks, he should be okay because ultimately what bothers Castaneda the most, outside of being hit in the face, is the thought of being hit in the face, and I know that sounds like armchair psychologist stuff, but he does crumble under chaos. I think we are going to see a short and sweet KO by Gafarov, because if he doesn’t get Castaneda out of there in the first or second, by the third round he’s going to be pretty gassed. I got Gafarov winning this one, if you couldn’t already tell. As for betting, this one doesn’t go the distance in my opinion.
Gafarov via KO R1 - (1/3)
Welterweight
Elizeu Zaleski (-110) (23-7-0, NS) v Abubaker Nurmagomedov (-110) (17-3-1, 2 FWS) - I like this fight. Zaleski is coming off a fairly strong win against Saint-Denis thanks to his technical striking and sheer volume, and also thanks to Saint-Denis’ lack of takedown effectiveness which no doubt helped Zaleski a whole lot. Zaleski has always been a very tricky fighter to get a read on, he isn’t exactly a great fighter, he just has an incredibly wide selection of striking attacks that he uses relentlessly when he fights. Everything Zaleski does makes his opponent think for a second in order to react. The problem is that whenever something is coming back Zaleski’s way, it makes his whole rhythm change and he gets sloppy, and Abubaker isn’t the type to just stand there and absorb attacks. Zaleski needs to keep this fight on the feet in order to win, but unfortunately with how often he gets taken down, I feel like someone like Nurmagomedov won’t have much problem with being the aggressor and looking for takedowns. Zaleski also tends to load up alot, usually ending his combo with a wild, powerful right hand that can often outbalance him. This is of course me talking about him after watching his latest fight against Saint Denis, so there’s a solid chance that he has tightened things up, but honestly, Zaleski’s big attacks and propensity to throw that heavy right ending a combo is going to lead to him being a lot more tired, and that’s not exactly a great thing to see when you’re facing someone who has excellent cardio and great wrestling. Nurmagomedov is about as classic as one can get when we talk about Sambo style fighters, they like to pressure and to wrestle, and that’s honestly all I can see Nurmagomedov aiming to achieve this weekend, wrestle and smother, as well as avoid any defensive submissions that Zaleski will use. However, I am still a bit apprehensive about siding with Nurmagomedov primarily due to his experience in the UFC, he has only fought twice during the 2020’s and his opponents weren’t exactly high level competition. He is facing a veteran who, whilst has a whole lot of knockouts on his record, has shown that he is capable on the ground as a submission artist, and it’s a submission that Zawada caught Nurmagomedov on during Nurmagomedov’s debut, so there is a fairly solid chance here for Zaleski to get a win here through a finish, but I honestly just don’t see it going any other way than Nurmagomedov putting on a heavy pressure and a wrestling clinic. However, Zaleski’s knees are still going to be a primary advantage here, he throws it with such nasty intent and power, and even Saint-Denis learnt the hard way not to attempt takedowns brazenly against Zaleski. So, whilst Nurmagomedov has a wrestling advantage, those knees could definitely land flush, and I think that’s going to be a massive factor in this fight. Regardless, I still feel like Nurmagomedov can get a win here, but boy is this a fascinating fight.
Nurmagomedov via UD - (1/3)
Main Card
Lightweight
Jamie Mullarkey (16-5-0) (2 FWS) v Muhammadjon Naimov (D) (8-2-0, 3 FWS) - Alright, this is going to be an insanely short prediction because I just finished writing the original write up (Kutateladze/Mullarkey) and then the UFC does this and now i’m mildly annoyed lol. Let’s stick to what we know for sure. Mullarkey is both taller and longer than Naimov, has experience in the UFC, is coming off a full camp and is a proper lightweight. Mullarkey is also coming off two strong back to back wins, one in which he fought Michael Johnson and we all know by now that Johnson isn’t an easy opponent for anyone. Mullarkey likes to strike at a distance but also puts emphasis on his punches once his range is honed in, and his range is usually figured out by the second round, so I suspect that since he has a significant reach advantage, that range finding moment in the first round could come sooner than usual. Mullarkey has added another aspect to his game though, and that’s wrestling, and whilst he’s always been a bit of a wrestler, he has become a lot better at controlling his opponent and keeping one slight step ahead of them on the ground, and considering that Naimov is coming in as a late replacement against a fairly well rounded Mullarkey, the more Mullarkey mixes in his attacks, gets a takedown and ultimately keeps Naimov guessing as to what’s coming next, the more chance he has at winning this fight. By default though, just by him coming in a bit more prepared physically against a fighter who is fighting with 10 extra pounds and with less than a week of prep time… everything here just points to Mullarkey getting a win this weekend. This is one of those rare (or maybe first ever) predictions in which I didn’t break down anything for Naimov, and that’s just because there really isn’t much to say until we see something. So, for now this is a “bet at your own risk” kind of deal, as most late replacement bouts should be treated, but I do have fairly high confidence in Mullarkey getting a win here.
Mullarkey via KO R2 - (2/3)
Women’s Flyweight
Karine Silva (-225) (15-4-0, 6 FWS) v Ketlen Souza (D) (+175) (13-3-0, 5 FWS) - Well this is something. Silva is coming off a very strong debut submission win against Poliana Botelho, and it was a bit of a rough fight for Silva but ultimately she did get a submission just before the first round finished. Silva is definitely not a striker, she is a bit of a one dimensional fighter in that regard and I feel like she is going to require a whole lot of pressure in order to throw Souza’s offence off a bit and not let her settle into her own rhythm. However, it has been almost a year since Silva’s debut fight and I wonder if any momentum that she gained coming into the UFC has been lost since then because that’s a bit of a long time away from being in the cage. Whilst I did say that Silva isn’t a striker, she still does have some decent combos, and one of her better ones is a one two combo followed by a left mid-section or head kick, and I think with Silva’s slight head advantage, this could possibly throw Souza off a little bit. However I still think this will be ultimately a grappler versus striker bout with Silva needing to take this fight to the ground. Souza is making her debut coming off a strong 5 Fight Win Streak, with her last few wins being from Invicta, but giving her record and history a bit of a look, one thing stood out to me, and that was the amount of lower level fighters she fought against outside of Invicta, and that kind of rings some alarm bells, but maybe that’s just me focusing too much on her record pre-Invicta. Anyway, Souza is a knockout artist, everything she throws comes with a whole lot of force and power, and you can tell in her frame that she’s built for that, but I also think that she is still able to be controlled on the ground by a much better grappler, in this case that would be Silva. The only thing that Silva really needs to worry about is both entering the clinch because Souza has very strong knees, and exiting the clinch where Souza can throw a quick and powerful flurry. At its core, this is very much a striker versus grappler bout between two rather green fighters, and considering that we have seen what Silva is capable of against a fairly tested opponent like Botelho, I feel like that experience is only going to show in this bout against the very dangerous Souza. If there is an underdog that you wanna be on, it would have to be Souza, but as for my prediction, I feel like Silva might get the win here, I just wonder how long it would take before Silva finds that much needed takedown. My best guess is that the first 3-4 minutes would be a bit of a tit-for-tat striking bout, followed by a takedown attempt by Silva. With that said though, there is a possibility that this could be over 1.5 rounds despite both fighters being prolific finishers.
Silva via Sub R2 - (1/3)
Flyweight
Tim Elliott (#14) (-175) (18-12-1, NS) v Victor Altamirano (+145) (12-2-0, 2 FWS) - Well this is going to be a scrap. Elliott is coming off an incredibly hard fought win against Ulanbekov, and it was such a back and forth war, as most Elliott fights tend to be. Elliott is a grinder, he is one of those fighters that just doesn’t stop pressing on the gas pedal, shooting takedowns, throwing heavy strikes often and overall making it absolute hell for his opponents. It’s not just his skillset and ability that makes him a dangerous fighter, its his unorthodox style, he is a very odd fighter to get a read on, there’s a lot of different looks, funky looks, constantly moving and just not looking like a standard fighter. However, the big problem Elliott is probably facing during this camp is the absence of James Krause, this is his first fight without his main coach being in his corner, so there is a chance that we might not see the same Elliott. That of course could go both ways, either he could have finetuned his skillset a bit more with the new team, or he could still look like the same fighter. Either way, Elliott is a highly dangerous fighter to deal with, and since Elliott is mostly a wrestler, he does have, in my opinion, a style advantage coming into this fight since Altamirano is primarily a striker. Altamirano is coming off back to back wins, with his most recent victory being against the very tall and quite dangerous Salvador, and Altamirano adjusted relatively well to Salvadors quite wild and ineffective striking. He also landed a few takedowns which was probably the smartest choice anyone might make when facing someone like Salvador, but if we are to compare who is the better wrestler, there is no doubt in my mind that Elliott is leagues above Altamirano. However, with how accurate Altamirano is on the feet, it’s a near perfect counter to Elliott’s wrestling advantage because whilst Elliott does create a whole lot of chaos when it comes to wrestling, he also has a terrible chin and if Altamirano can read through the awkward movements, maybe throw up middle attacks such as an uppercut or a knee, I suspect that’s where we are going to see Elliott potentially get caught. Altamirano also has a slight edge in reach which only plays in the favour of the Mexican warrior. This is a bit of a tough one to predict due to the style clash, but I think Elliott will be able to edge out a decision win here, as long as he doesn’t commit about 20 or so fouls during the fight, because he has the propensity to just be a bit of a dirty fighter too.
Elliott via UD - (2/3)
Lightweight
Jim Miller (+200) (35-17-0, NS) v Jared Gordon (-250) (19-6-0, NS) - I love this fight. Miller is coming off a tough loss against Hernandez in which it was mostly a stand up bout where Hernandez just controlled the fight a lot better, negating a fair bit of Millers own offence. Miller needs no introduction, and if you’ve been reading my stuff for the past few years, you know his tendencies, his proclivities in the cage and his primary advantages over most of his opponents. His only chance in this fight in my opinion is to try to out-activity Gordon, and that’s a tall task for anyone to achieve due to Gordon’s own insane cardio and activity. Miller does perhaps have a chance on the feet since Gordon is coming off a “knockout” loss and might still be dealing with some post-KO cobwebs since he’s taking this fight on short notice. Miller is a veteran and will also have a bit of an experience advantage coming into this fight, and since Gordon isn’t a vastly unique fighter in terms of style and technique, Miller will probably know what to do or how to handle Gordon. Gordon on the other hand is coming off, for the most part, an outstanding fight against Green in which he was actually a fairly effective striker against the dangerous boxer, and it really showcased how well prepared Gordon gets for his fights, and I believe that’s testament to the camp work as we have seen with his team-mate Belal Muhammad and his massive success in recent years. Gordon has one major advantage over Miller in my opinion and that’s cardio and durability, he is an incredibly durable fighter who can push a nasty pace from the get-go, and I believe that’s going to be his main goal during this fight, just make Miller suffocate under pressure and overwhelm him with either grappling or striking, however i’m leaning towards the thinking that Gordon will just wrestle since Miller doesn’t have the best takedown defence. I know some of you are thinking that Miller could catch Gordon in a guillotine or some sort of defensive submission off his back, but I feel like Gordon has enough wherewithal to avoid all of that. There is also the matter of age, Miller has been on a bit of a slow decline, and whilst he has been winning a fair bit these last couple of years, the longer the fight goes on, the more slower and fatigued he gets, and with the amount of pressure and the pace that Gordon fights at, I can only assume momentum will be on the side of Gordon. I got Gordon winning this one. It will be a low confidence pick due to this sudden turn-around against a high level opponent like Miller, but ultimately I think Gordon wins this one.
Gordon via UD - (1/3)
Co-Main Event
Featherweight
Alex Caceres (#15) (-175) (20-13-0, NS) v Daniel Pineda (+140) (28-14-0, NS) - This is an interesting Co-Main for sure. Caceres is coming off a win against Julian Erosa, and it was a fantastic and incredibly sneaky head kick that caught Erosa off guard, and that’s essentially the weaponry that Caceres has mastered throughout his career. Caceres is one hell of a fantastic striker who uses traditional martial arts techniques in his fights often and with great effectiveness due to the rarity of seeing it in a practical MMA environment. Basically, he’s an incredibly difficult striker to get a read on and uses his speed and timing to land brilliantly thrown attacks. However that can some at a downside, and we have seen this particular downside in a lot of his fights, and that’s distance management, he has a heavy reliance on keeping a fight at a certain distance where he can throw and land these devastating kicks, and he utilises great footwork and movement in order to maintain this distance, but as soon as he is being crowded and pressured, he sometimes crumbles under that pressure and his opponent typically lands a takedown or just suffocates him in pocket pressure, overwhelming him with everything and anything. However, since he is facing Pineda, the biggest threat that will come his way is wrestling, so I suspect that Caceres’ footwork and evasive movements will allow him to stay away from Pineda’s aggressive attacks and takedown attempts. Pineda has been a bit of a weird one for me to talk about, because on one hand, I don’t think he’s ready for a lot of UFC’s competition, especially not in Featherweight where there are absolute killers, but on the other hand, he can give us exciting moments. Pineda’s level of competition does not shine a light on what Caceres has been able to accomplish, and with Pineda’s last win being against Tucker Lutz, a reasonably okay fighter, I just feel like Pineda’s biting off more than he can chew in this fight. Pineda no doubt has a bit of a wrestling advantage in this fight and he’s going to press forward and try to crowd Caceres’ striking, but depending on his approach he could get caught over and over again, and Caceres himself does have a very flexible ground game in which he could catch Pineda with something on the ground. This is a fun fight though, but I got Caceres winning this one.
Caceres via KO R3 - (2/3)
Main Event
Flyweight
Kai Kara-France (#4) (-110) (24-10-0, NS) v Amir Albazi (#7) (-110) (16-1-0, 5 FWS) - Interesting fight we got here for the main event. Kara France is coming off a fantastic fight against Brandon Moreno, and even though he lost, it was nothing but valuable experience against the best of the best in the division, and on the feet it was a reasonably close competition. Kara-France is a kickboxer, we know this already and i’m sure we collectively expect to see Kara-France to showcase his striking during this fight, but it’s his elusiveness and head movement that makes him such a tricky striker, there is rarely a moment where Kara-France is a stationary target, he’s always level changing, keeping his head off the centre-line and when he presses forward to attack, he tends to angle off in other to keep away from a lot of retaliatory strikes. This no doubt is testament to how excellent the striking training is at City Kickboxing, but what Albazi offers is capable of shutting all of that down. Albazi is a strange one for me to talk about, because if we look at his record, it looks like he has stumbled his way into this position, and that’s not because he was pushed into this main event, it’s simply due to the lack of talent outside of the top 10 of the division, and Albazi has just snuck his way into this Main Event. Albazi is a very well rounded fighter who has a major grappling and submission advantage over Kara-France, which shouldn’t be a surprise because that’s the easiest way to get a Kickboxer to not do his or her thing. However, the quality of competition, as I have stated with the Co-Main Event fighter Pineda, is not on the level of Kara-France, and I believe that the fight that Kara-France had against Moreno has pushed him because he tasted what it’s like to fight a champion and that’s a strong motivator. I believe that Kara-France has enough technical capabilities to move away and keep fleet-footed enough so that Albazi will need to work a touch harder in order to either close in the distance, or get that much needed takedown. This is all pure speculation though and we could possibly see Albazi feint low and attack high with a thunderous overhand, and that’s the beauty of the sport. However, I still stick by what I think, and that’s that Albazi only has one way to win this fight, and I feel that Kara-France and his team know exactly what to do and what to avoid. Very interesting fight for both warriors, but I got Kara-France winning this one, albeit it will be mostly a “wait and see” fight, so not a high confidence pick.
Kara-France via KO R4 - (1/3)
Locks of this week are going to be a hybrid of last weeks locks. There are locks this week, but i'm also adding an additional parlay.
Locks of this week: Mullarkey, Elliott, Caceres (Reed is optional)
Parlay: Lacerda/Blackshear o1.5 - Reed/Frey Goes the Distance - Gafarov/Castaneda Does not go the distance - Elliott/Altamirano o1.5. (Silva/Souza o1.5 is optional)
Alt Bets are: Lins KO, Mayes KO, Souza KO, Miller Sub/KO (Double Chance)
if you wish to keep in contact with me or follow me on twitter, my twitter handle is @Slayer_Tip, and my Discord is Slayertip#7013.
Lets have a fun and friendly discussion down below about this weekends card!
I hope you all have an amazing day, look after yourselves, and enjoy this awesome event!

Helvark the Zartani aimed the colt M40 carbine across the flower filled valleys beyond the city. Following Bobby and Brianna's advice, he slowly let out the breath in his lungs as he lined the primitive iron sights up.
Then he squeezed the trigger.
The rifle recoiled gently into Helvark's shoulder as the .25 caliber HEP projectile clanged off the titanium torso silhouette a hundred meters away. Dead on, center mass, the alloy the projectile has been made of was splattered across it's surface.
The taller than average Brianna whooped and slapped Helvark's shoulder in congratulations.
"You're getting the hang of this new guy. You handle the old Morty pretty damn well for a lizard!"
Helvark smiled as he squeezed off a few more shots. the new, custom fit active hearing protection he'd been given muffled the rifle's sharp report as the titanium plate shook from another half dozen impacts. Helvark smiled, the sharp tang of spent high explosives like an addictive drug as took a deep breath from the rifles locked open bolt.
The two humans exchanged a look of pride as the newcomer calmly inserted another thirty round magazine and went to town on the plate.
"I think Helvark's gonna fit right in here. I'm glad you introduced him to the local traditions."
Brianna chuckled as she nudged Bobby in the ribs, she may have been five foot ten but she looked like a child next to her lover.
The giant laughed softly in agreeance, watching his little protegé huff the fumes from the burnt high explosives again. Before setting the rifle down on the cargo bed of Bobby's All terrain vehicle.
"Mr lizard is our people, even if he has scales."
Brianna chuckled at her giant boyfriend's nickname for the Zartani.
The two continued to watch as Helvark drew the Block 9mm he'd originally wanted to buy. Snapping a few quick shots to bust some orange ceramic discs placed intermittently around the field. Roughly every other disk shattered as Helvark improved his aim. When the small pistol's slide locked back, Bobby stepped up to the firing line. C150 broom handle held steadily in one hand.
Helvark flinched in awe as the monstrously sized pistol spit fire and ejected a .50 BMG casing high into the air. The titanium plate downrange sung as the tungsten penetrator ripped straight through it like a knife through milk.
In anyone else's hands, that pistol would be a small artillery piece. In Bobby's hand? It looked like a slightly larger than average pistol. He'd let helvark fire it once from the hip that morning.
That was when Helvark learned he could fly short distances with recoil.
Bobby shot Helvark a grin as he holstered the small cannon on his hip. Helvark smiled back, the human still scared him slightly, but he felt it was wise to fear someone who could throw you like a petulant pebble.
"So, you said something about the 'lidoffad Caber toss festival'? Is it possible for us to go? I.. I was a chemist back home."
Helvark asked the two humans, excitement visible on his scaled face. A challenge burned in his eyes.
Bobby just nodded.
"The grounds are a few hours away, we should get going. Festival starts at sundown."
...
As the sun fell on Lidoffad, the festival grounds lit up with massive floodlights. Dozens up dozens of species intermingled, many that were missing fingers and limbs sported armored prosthetics. Aliens rubbed shoulders with their human comrades as they manufactured the explosives for their metal Cabers.
One group was a single, lone Zartani, madly grinning as the waxy liquid fuel dripped from the condenser tube. With the fuel collecting in a round bottom flask with a hotplate set to low, Helvark mixed red iron oxide with a locally sourced nitrate powder. Stirring the two oxidizers together so they were homogeneous, Helvark picked up the round bottom flask. The liquid fuel inside now a milky white color while also being thin and oily. He slowly poured the liquid fuel into the oxidizers, mixing carefully until he had a firm, grey ball of putty the size of a basketball. Picking up the bowl, the Zartani hummed as he took it over to the charge pack for his Caber.
With smooth, gentle motions, Helvark added the last few kilograms of explosives and called over the loaders. His eyes falling onto the tapered metal poles magnetically suspended above their launch chutes a few hundred yards away. Massive, shielded floodlights illuminating their gleaming surfaces. Surprisingly, helvark was the first done and thus, first up for launch.
He smiled and watched as the several hundred kilogram charge was loaded onto a trawler and hauled off to the Cabers. He watched giddily as the small silhouettes of the humans loaded his charge into a Caber and lowered it into the chute. The two humans then quickly retreated to an underground bunker a hundred yards from the launch site.
A siren sounded and both chemists and spectators looked up as the host of the event, a Mousian named Frank, handed Helvark the detonator.
Smiling and bowing to the small crowd of spectators, Helvark clicked the detonator. The earth rumbled slightly as the tube flashed, a streak of silver visible only for a split second before it disappeared above the clouds.
...
Commander Sharva of the infantile New Geknosian government dropped out of warp above the flower covered planet, ready to rain hellfire on the human stronghold. Commander Sharva stood in front of the viewing port, readying his speech as his comms officer hacked into their communications network.
Just as he was about to start speaking, his sensor technician yelped.
"Sir there's an object-"
Helvark's Caber pierced through the observation glass, the commander, the armored bridge door and sailed down the central hallway into the ship's open reactor room door.
...
The Caber festival audience oohed and aahed as a new sun backlit the clouds for a few seconds before fading away.
Helvark just looked upwards incredulously before an audience member began cackling loudly before projecting a holographic screen for everyone to see. It showed a Geknosian commander from the back, posturing for a speech when he suddenly looked very concerned. Not long after, a twenty foot long metal pole ripped through the ship. Dr. Frank N Stein slapped Helvark's back before raising the microphone to his mouth.
"You know the rules, and so do I! Taking out a hostile ship is an automatic victory. This month's champion. HELVARK THE FOREIGNER!"
Helvark was not prepared for the crowd and fellow competitors to suddenly rush him. Fearing the worst, he closed his eyes and and covered his face.
He was not ready to be lifted onto the shoulders of about a hundred locals. He bewilderdly opened his eyes and looked around, finally catching the words the were cheering.
"INVADER!"
"SLAYER"
Helvark blushed, Heart pounding with excitement as he joined in on the chant to raucous cheers. However he had a feeling the strong scent of alcohol on the crowd had something to do with the over the top celebration. Eventually he was sat down on a massive metal throne on the roof of an all terrain vehicle and handed a metal mug of frothy beer.
He was about to refuse the drink as it was illegal to drink alcohol on his planet. Then a thought struck him.
I'm on Fucking Lidoffad not Zartania!
The Zartani raised the mug to his lips and drained the strong, bittersweet beer with a grin.

Hello! So the I-485 approval should come back any day now, after it’s approved, how long does my spouse have to wait to be able to travel home? She’s desperate to get home after being stuck in the US for 14 months. Does it take a long time to be mailed after it’s approved or can she leave as soon as it is approved.
Can she leave and I mail the green card to her? Or does she have to physically pick it up?
Thank you in advance!

The "Reviewing 80s Korean Pop Albums No One Cares About" series is back - I am cheating a bit though. This album is from 1990, and it was promoted on broadcast pretty succesfully. But it is an album that is not really talked about at all, and even in the singer's wider discography, it isn't really acknowledged. So here I am.
Today, we are going to be taking a nice listen to 80s teen singer and proto-idol, Lee Jiyeon's 1990 released third album- Spotify has it as "90 이지연 III 연(娟)" (with "90" referring to the year it came out, 이지연 being her name in hangul, III being the "serial number" of her album, and 연(娟) being the "title" of the album), while namuwiki lists it as just "연(娟)". Yeon, in this hanja, refers to "예쁠 연", which translates to "pretty, beautiful, graceful". Pretty fitting for such a beautiful person, imo. Also, to be noted that it is the third syllable of her name!
I have always wanted to write a long-ass writeup on her, but I just never got the chance. Her career, albeit short, is extremely eventful, full of upsn and downs, impactful n the long run, and there's a reason she has been given the name of "proto-idol". Her two biggest songs, the 1989 Gayo Top Ten Golden Cup Winner Wind, Please Stop Blowing and I Still Don't Know Love, have been covered by a lot of idols and singers to this day, with That Reason Was Pain To Me not beng far behind, and Graduation and After That being songs played in almost every 7080s concert. She basically laid the foundations of a teen pop singer in Korea. This does not mean that there have never been teen singers elsewhere before,or that Jiyeon's image and songs weren't influenced by them - the influence of Tiffany/Debbie Gibson vibe American teen pop-rock as well as Okada Yukiko/Nakamori Akina vibe (or just in general, Showa era) Japanese idol pop are very visible on this album too. But sometimes, you just gotta have one person who does something the local style for it to become mainstream or more widely recognised in that country.
Also, I must confess, in this case, I am extremely biased, for Jiyeon has been my favourite 80s singer for a good while now. I just absolute stan and love her, and I have documented some shenanigans of mine on here too, such as dressing up as her for a RPD event, or playlisting her songs to get her to 100 monthly listeners on Spotify for no damn reason.
Which means, I know and love the songs on the album already, and I really wish I could relive that moment when I first heard the songs to give y'all an unbiased review. But alas, here we are. I shouldn't be calling this post "Reviewing", but "Gushing over", I guess. But I'll do my best.
For the first episode, I always compared the songs to the original because we looked at an album of remakes. Here, I'll take the chorus and translate the chorus lyrics, as to give a little insight on the meaning of the song

#1 : 늦지 않았어요 / It's Not Too Late

Rating : 8.5/10
Review : The album opens with a melancholic, nostalgic, mid-tempo city-pop genre song. When I first heard it, I remember being bowled over by the prominent and catchy bass line, as well as the little vocal embellishment hook. It has a very distinguishable and mellow vibe, and the guitar solo in the middle is pretty fitting and doesn't overdo it. The lyrics are about an impending breakup, and the wish to avoid it, but they're delivered in a very... matter-of-fact way which kinda makes it iconic lol. Jiyeon's vocals are as usual, clean and crisp, and the higher parts are sung with no effort. It is a hidden city pop gem, and people who like that genre and all its subgenres will love this one too.
​

나-나-나는 내 소원,
I-I-I, my wish,
나-나-나는 내 생명,
I-I-I, my life,
다시 한번만 생각해줘요,
Do think again one more time,
늦지 않았어요.
It's not too late.

​

#2 : 하지만 / However

Rating : 8.5/10
Review : We go on, to a fast-paced disco-esque beat, with the bass again taking precedence, and a very high-energy but sparse synth backing up the verse. The vocals are nice and deep in the verse, and pick up pitch and power in the chorus (A/N : SLAYYYYY THE HIGH NOTES GIRLIEEEE). It sadly loses a bit of rhythm in the hook part, but I think the vocal buildup is pretty. The guitar solo is also top notch - as expected from Baekdusan, 60s-70s metal band who are Jiyeon's agency seniors and usually played the band instruments in her songs. I would have wished for a bridge part and a final, bombastic ^{side eye} chorus instead of just repeating it once again. For a song that only has such less structure, the fact that it fills 3 minutes is kinda great lol. All in all it's a super disco headbanger with a nice amount of vocal showcase mixed in.
​

내가 필요할 땐 항상 그대 멀리 서서 바라보고만 있네
Always when I needed you, you were always standing far away and just watching
아무 표정도 없이, 느낌도 없이, 바라보고만 있네
Without any expression, without any feeling, just watching on
내가 싫어졌나?
Did you hate me?
잊혀졌나?
Did you forget me?
착각일까?
Is it an illusion?
떠나가네
You just left
(A/N idrk if it's "I left" or "you left", because it's not obvious)
하지만
However,
후회하네
You regret
(A/N here again, it could be "I regret" or "you regret" and I can't really figure the context out at all, so just choose what you want to hear lol. Either he regrets leaving her - which makes the most sense as she complains about him not being there for her, or she regrets leaving him for some reason)

#3 : 세상은 하나 , 당신도 하나 / There's Only One World, There's Only One You, Too

Rating : 7.5/10
Review : A bit of a cool off from the previous high tempo song, is a mellow, soft and slow RnB ballad, which sometimes picks up a little tempo here and there but keeps the soft and rather sad-ish atmosphere - with a nice acoustic guitar part in here too. Korean producers in the 80s loved their instrumental breaks - not surprisingy, as a lot of them are former musicians themselves. The chorus consists of two parts - one slow one, and one rather faster part that is connected nicely. For anyone who likes mellow and moody songs, this one's for you. The opening instrument reminds a little of 1991 release "Scattered Days" by Kang Susie (who was called Lee Jiyeon's direct succesor in the "innocent singer" lineage), is it bells? Glockenspiel? either way, it's beautiful.
​

새상은 하나,
There's only one world,
당신도 하나
There's also only one you
하나뿐인 세상 속에
In this one world
나만이 홀로
Only I alone
사랑해, 사랑해, 사랑해
I love you, I love you, I love you
그대를 떠나보낼 때
When I sent you away
마음 아파고
My heart hurt
나는 웃어야 해요
I should be laughing
사랑해요
I love you

​

#4 : Love For Night

Rating : 9/10
So this is the title track of the album. It was sent, with Jiyeon, to the annual, now-defunct ABU (Asian Broadcasting Union)'s Pop Music Festival) as Korea's representation, and won (iirc) 3rd prize. It was performed there before this album came out (she was also on top of her popularity), and loking at the good public response to it, they added it to her abum. Now, the most impressive thing about this song is that the entire chorus is in English. Like, 100%. The lyrics are simple, yes, but for 1990 and a Hallyu-less Korea, this was great, we might even say ahead of it's times. But it did land Jiyeon and her producers in a bit of hot water - KBS. KBS didn't allow any foreign words or songs on it's broadcast, so they had to re-write the title of the song and the chorus into Korean. "Love for night", (which already is a pretty ambiguous because of the lack of an article - is it "love for A night" or love for THE night?) became :
- "사랑을 위한 밤" (Which translates back into "A night for love"... yeah weird ik)
- "한밤의 풋사랑" (translating back to "One night's young love" which makes it EVEN weirder) or
- "사랑의 밤" (A night of love),
depending on the station and occasion lol. The album has it as "사랑을 위한 밤", so I guess that's that.
They even translated the entire chorus to korean for one show, which was so disastrous I refuse to acknowledge it. It's just plain bad. I want to believe Jiyeon heard the lyrics for the first time and went, in true gen z sense, "ijbol".
Back to the song - it's a uptempo disco dance song (run-of-the-mill, if you want it that way, because the beat is generic tbh) and is so extremely catchy. With nice bell synths and a Madonna-esque percussion line, I'm yet to see a person who doesn't bop along. Not just the "na na na" part in the beginning is catchy af - the lyics are super sing-along-able, the hook is in english and even then pretty easy to sing along even for someone who doesn't speak english. The vocals are classic Jiyeon-style clean, playful and powerful. It's a very simple, "generic" dance song tbh, and the instrumental break ist just basically the percussion instrumentation with nothing else in the middle (no guitar AT ALL!) - which is kinda sad, because the ABU Fest version had a beat change and a dance break (which she killed) in that part. It would have been so nice to keep that in the album version, or add a nice guitar solo there. Bridges and stuff weren't really a thing in even 80s American Pop music (afaik but PLEASE correct me) so there's none here too (The prevalence of the bridge only came after RnB dance pop made it's big entrance into the Korean pop scene). It's a nice introductory song to her, it's catchy, cute and fun - it's as simple pop as can get.

Love for night, don't you know, my lover
Love for night, need you, my lover
Love for night, don't you know, my lover
Love, love, Love for night

​

#5 : 사랑한다고 말하지 말아요 / Don't Tell Me You Love Me

Rating : 8/10
Remember I said that there are Showa idols/ Okada Yukiko influences on the album? Here they are. A sugary, sweet mid-tempo dance pop song where Jiyeon goes back to her "innocent" persona and voice and plays it up to the max. It would have fit so well on her first two albums, and could have easily replaced one of the 1192831923 ballads on there, and could have even been promoted on TV. I can so imagine even the outfits, a little cute choreography - it would have been as pioneering to the start of the "innocent singer legacy" as can be. The instrumental/backing vocals are the catchiest part of the song, with a sparse chorus that doesn't make sense (and actually does make sense because it's that vibe of a shy cute sweet girl who's to shy, sweet and cute to say the word with three syllables LMFAO) , but it's still pretty enjoyable and replayable.

아, 사랑을
Ah, love
말 안해도
Even if I don't say it
난, 사랑해
I, love
널, 사랑해
you, I love
사랑한다고 말하지 말아요
Don't say "I love you"
사랑이란 느낌이니까
Love is a feeling, after all

#6 : 내 마음 나도 몰라 / I Don't Know My Heart Too

Rating : 8.5/10
Review : This is another "cute" bop, with a bit more tempo and spunk, and it's a bit more... Jiyeon. Idk how to explain it, but if you've listened along to the album with me, it's more natural when it comes to her vocals and the delivery. It's not as sugary sweet, but like, funny and relatable cute. Age-appropriate cute. The lyrics were a big standout for me here, they're just kinda relatable because it's about a girl who is liking a person, but is just like super clumsy and shy about it. But she doesn't make shy her entire personality lol. Idk how to explain it - it sounds like she's just talking in a song, rather than making her voice fit a song. The song fits her, not the other way round. It fits in a musical when the main female lead is phoning her friend and like, lamenting that this guy has her in a chokehold loll. This could have been promoted nicely on broadcast too - there's so many awesome b-sides on the album.

신나는 영화구경 혼자선 아무런 의미가 없어
Watching a exciting movie alone has no meaning at all
나 혼자서 걷는 이 길이 쓸쓸해
The street that I'm walking alone is so lonely
어쩌다 그댈 보면 한마디 얘기도 하지 못하고
Either way, when I see you, I can't say a word
돌아서서 후회만하네
I turn around and just regret it all
내 마음 나도 몰라
I don't know my heart myself
어쩌면 좋아
Either way, I like it

​

#7 그대는 변덕장이 / You're Such A Moody Person

Rating : 9/10
Aaand we're back with some energy in the house! There's a lot of brass band elements and again, an almost signature prominent bass line in this uptempo dance track. If the previous two songs were about the innocent, sweet feeling of falling in love, this one is the almost natural continuation of the story : a "boyfriend-complaining" song LOL. The title is according to the 80s grammaspelling standards (nowadays, the spelling would be 변덕쟁이), and is kind of a hard word to translate. The word describes someone who changes very fast and can't stick to one thing or be consistent, most importantly when it comes to the mood or the atmosphere around them. And with that in mind, the quirky, almost brash delivery of the vocals and the blaring, loud instrumental comes off as no surprise at all - the girl in the lyrics is angry at her boy for not showing up to the date , leaving her coldly in the lurch, despite him saying he loves her. And when he finally meets her, there's not even an apology for that incident, and worse, he jokes around like nothing happened at all! Damn, girl. If he does that again, he's not a keeper. Hell hath no fury than our S/O spurned, they say, so... y'all, please, don't be late for dates!

그댄 정말 내 마음 몰라
You really don't know my heart
그대는 변덕장이
You're such a moody person
안절부절 어쩔 수 없어
Fidgeting around, unavoidably,
그대는 변덕장이
You're such a moody person
미워해도 그댈 정말 미워할 수 도 없어
Even though I hate you, I can't really hate you
사랑해도 그댈 정말 사랑할 수 도 없어
Even though I love you, I can't really love you

​

#8 촛불연가 / Candle Sonata

Rating : 8.5/10
There's more brass band, but a rather mid-tempo song that is sung entirely with a chorus. It has a very uplifting, flowing melody, but it's not necessarily a very happy vibe. It has a touch of melancholy, overcoming struggles and hope. The lyrics remind me of a song that would have been sung at protests - which the Korean 80s had seen a LOT. Korean 80s protest songs, be it "Morning Dew" or "Sangroksu" by Yang Hee-eun, were almost the same lyrically, about hope, love and overcoming hardships together, tied together by one central imagery (in this case, a candle).
Now, Jiyeon, being born 1970, would have been too young to actually participate in the actual protests that were at their peak in 1980 - 1985, and just about old enough, and 1 year into her career, to see democracy win over the dictatorship after almost half the nation fought for it in 1988. Plus, she had felt the impact of the dictatorship first-hand - she was one of the last singers to release 건전가요, "healthy songs" a.k.a. fake "patriotic" propaganda tracks dedicated to the dictatorship, on her debut album. She was one of the last singers that were considered "important " by the dictatorship, as her agency housed Baekdusan, the 60s metal band I talked about earlier. The thing about them is, is that metal and hard rock music was considered "unhealthy" and was actively censored and banned on the regular, and with them being one of THE bands the dictatorship didn't like, anyone who associated with them - including Jiyeon, whose debut songs were written and produced by their frontman, Yoo Hyunsang - would be under the eye of the censorship board (which also decided who is "societally important" and had to release patriotic propaganda songs on their albums).
With that info in my mind, I think this song is not just Jiyeon's attempt for a "public-friendly" song, but on an extended note, I interpret this song as an attempt to setting the record straight and disassociating with the dictatorship, it's like showing "hey, I'm on the side of my friends, and my generation". It's a good song, all in all, it's quite nice and easy to listen to.
​

내 친구들, 소원을 빌어봐요
My friends, let's pray for a wish
여기 둥글대 둥글대 모여서 작은 심지의 사랑을
Let's gather around, for a little lamp wick of love
오 그대여 소원을 빌어봐요
Oh, you, pray for a wish
여기 둥글대 둥글대 모여서 작은 연인의 꿈을
Let's gather around, for a little dream of lovers
함께 빌어요
Let's pray together

​

#9 졸업 Graduation

Rating : 8/10
Review : This song - which Jiyeon had recorded and released on her second album in 1989 already, was recorded by her classmates from her high school and her homeroom teacher as chorus. It takes one back to the hall of one's school, when all the high school seniors are in nice clothes, waiting for their graduation certificates, feeling sad, happy, hopeful, and still laughing and having fun until the last moment of them as high schoolers. It's a very nostalgic, melancholic, and warm ballad about graduating, including the sound of said students actually laughing, whistling, chattering, whispering in the interval and intro/outro. I wish I had found this song whn I was in high school, so my graduation would have been a bit more special, a bit more romanticised, and tied to a memory... I was just waiting to be gone from my school, to be honest. It's just now, that a few years have passed, that I realised I had a bonding to more classmates than I thought.
​

기쁠때 나, 슬플 때 나
When we were happy, or sad
같이 웃고 울던
when we laughed and cried together
우리들의 사랑
Our love
우린 잊지마라요
Let's not forget it
아름답던 우리 옛추억
Our beautiful past memories
따쓰했던 우리들 마음
Our warm hearts
이젠 다시 올 수 없어도
Even if they don't come again
우린 잊지마오
Let's not forget it

# 10 늦지 않았어요 (Instrumental) / It's Not Too Late (Instrumental)

Rating : 7/10
Review : This is the instrumental of the first track, It's Not Too Late. It's beautiful city pop. I just wish that the background vocals weren't there because they'e kinda... redundant, plus there are a lot of people that might wanna listen to just the instrumental. At least I do. The last instrumental on her album (Maybe We Were Young) had a beautiful whistling melody added on top of the instrumental, that gave a total feel to the song altogether. I wish that they could have just kept the background vocalists out of the track or put a guitar or sax melody playing the main melody on top.
---
With that, we conclude the review of 80s korean pop idol singer, Lee Jiyeon's third album, an album full of personality and diverse songs, vibes, beats and melodies! The combined score of the album is 8.25, which is fueled mainly by u/SeetheSeaInUDP's love for the singer lmfaooo. I'm curious to know y'alls ratings!
For the next album, I am thinking of going a little bit back into the 80s and maybe take a Min Hae-kyung or a Hye Eun-yi album.