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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Damn... That's a bummer sigs.

If you can't repair it, I'd do some research before buying a new one. I hear that a lot of them today are crap even though the prices are sky high. I'd try to get one with as few computer parts on it as possible, since most of your repair bills in the future will be because of circuit board problems which may or may not be purposefully built into the products these days.

Knock on wood, but I bought a used Amana Washer/Dryer combo when I first moved here for $325 and they just work. I don't know how old they are, but I've had them for going on 14 years now myself. I'm sure there is a board or two underneath somewhere, but they'd be really simple things since there is nothing but dials and knobs on both machines without even a simple LED or LCD screen anywhere to be found.

I've heard that Amana is crap today though even though they used to be top-tier.

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My washer and dryer came with my house—a 1990’s Maytag washer and an early 2000’s Amana dryer. You can pry my laundry set from my cold dead hands. In fact I will put them in my will to make sure they stay in the family. Heirlooms

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Originally posted by Brenda:
With a little help from Goggle I found an easier way of accessing Word rather then going directly to the icon, which means getting off my home page. So that is good.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
With a little help from Goggle I found an easier way of accessing Word rather then going directly to the icon, which means getting off my home page. So that is good.

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Nice. How are you opening it now?

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Originally posted by Brenda:
I type Word into the search area on the taskbar and it brings up Word 2007 which is what is on the computer. Even brings up all my documents. I just it open at the top of the menu and voila a new Word page.

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Nice Brenda. I'm aware that is a feature now, but I've been using Windows for so long that most of the time it wasn't so I tend to forget that it even exists, despite the fact that it always says "search" down there.

Like I said before, there's a lot of ways to do pretty much everything in Windows, and really no wrong way to do any of it as long as it makes sense to you and is easy to get there.

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And the good thing for me is that I don't have to leave whatever else I maybe doing on the internet.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
I type Word into the search area on the taskbar and it brings up Word 2007 which is what is on the computer. Even brings up all my documents. I just it open at the top of the menu and voila a new Word page.

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Nice Brenda. I'm aware that is a feature now, but I've been using Windows for so long that most of the time it wasn't so I tend to forget that it even exists, despite the fact that it always says "search" down there.

Like I said before, there's a lot of ways to do pretty much everything in Windows, and really no wrong way to do any of it as long as it makes sense to you and is easy to get there.

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And the good thing for me is that I don't have to leave whatever else I maybe doing on the internet.

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Right.


Are you aware that you can "PIN" your frequently used programs on the taskbar and make it even easier to open them?

Try it out. Next time you open your browser and Word, you see the icon in the taskbar there? Bring your pointer over it, right click on that with your mouse and it will bring up a Context Menu. Depending on the program there will be anywhere from 2 options that pop up to quite a few. Sometimes those options will be a list of your most recently opened files within that program (like your book in word, for instance).

One of the options though will be "Pin to Taskbar".

If you left click on "Pin to Taskbar" the icon will remain on the taskbar even after you close the internet or word.

Then any time you want to open those programs all you have to do is click on them and they open without even searching.



Even better, on when you pin Word to the taskbar, you can right click on it and your book will be one of the Context Menu options as long as it was one of the last 10 or so Word Documents that you opened and you won't even have to search for your book to open it.



For most people there is plenty of room on that taskbar for all of the icons of their most used programs. You're probably only going to need a few. With all my computer work I use a ton of programs and I've never even run out of taskbar space. But I do tend to add and remove programs pretty frequently. When I know that I'm done using something for good or even just for a really long time I remove it just so I'm not clogging up the interface with stuff I won't be using.


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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
I will keep all of that in mind. But no, I didn't I know that you could pin Word to the taskbar. Somehow last night I managed to get rid of the Edge icon on taskbar. Didn't notice it till this morning. Thinking about whether not it is important to put that back.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
I will keep all of that in mind. But no, I didn't I know that you could pin Word to the taskbar. Somehow last night I managed to get rid of the Edge icon on taskbar. Didn't notice it till this morning. Thinking about whether not it is important to put that back.

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My normal answer would be no, but is Edge the browser that you use?

If that's your browser, you might as well pin it back on the taskbar. It's the same steps I mentioned in the previous post.

Any program that you open will show an icon on the task bar. Just right click that icon when the program is open for the pop up menu and select "Pin to taskbar" and when you close the program the icon will stay on the taskbar.



When you removed it, you might have right clicked and accidentally clicked on "unpin from taskbar".

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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
I use Chrome as my browser and it turned out that Edge was doing an update adding another AI to things. So, the icon came back after a bit. I just ignore things like that anyways.

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Okay. You don't need to pin it then. I never use Edge for anything. Most people don't.

Next time you log in here with chrome though, give pinning it to the taskbar a shot. It's really super easy to do and is a time saver. Once you've done that, you can do it with Word anything else you use too.

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So, all is good. Still thinking about stuff and I really, really, really have to shoot off an email to that publishing site I found.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
I use Chrome as my browser and it turned out that Edge was doing an update adding another AI to things. So, the icon came back after a bit. I just ignore things like that anyways.

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Okay. You don't need to pin it then. I never use Edge for anything. Most people don't.

Next time you log in here with chrome though, give pinning it to the taskbar a shot. It's really super easy to do and is a time saver. Once you've done that, you can do it with Word anything else you use too.

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So, all is good. Still thinking about stuff and I really, really, really have to shoot off an email to that publishing site I found.

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Go for it.

I'm finally getting some stuff done that I was talking about doing.

My old man is coming by to visit tomorrow so I started cleaning my living room this afternoon. A deeper clean than usual... moving some stuff that's been in there for no reason for a long time now and also using microfiber cloths to really dust everything good before I vac it all up...

And that got me to look at the rat's nest of cables behind and all around my TV.

Sensless...

I've already removed 2 things I don't need to have plugged in there after tracing all the wires, and I found an abandoned RJ45 cable, VGA cable and coaxial cable that have been back there so long I don't even remember what I was using any of them for before I abandoned them. I also found my two 20-packs of velcro cable ties that I got for free after rebate maybe 4 years ago and are just now finally getting used (they are AWESOME, btw...).

I'm moving some furniture around while I do it too...

My old man is finally going to have a side table and a coaster to put his Coke on when we're watching a movie tomorrow. That's the really nice table that was in the kitchen above my recycle box and that the Air Fryer was on. Way too low to the ground for that job, really.

Not that it's the best replacement, but it will do until I find something better, I have a REALLY nice decorative shelving unit that my Step-Dad gave me when they moved. I believe it was actually a TV stand at some point, maybe? It's a really tall one with about 5 shelves under that top shelf. I won't be able to put my recycle box under or inside it, but it's going to raise my air fryer to the appropriate height until I can find a good cabinet or something to put over there instead. The recycle box will need to be put to the side of it for now. There will be enough room between the shelving unit and the kitchen door for that. I'm going to look and see if I have another nice unused tote for the recyclables instead, since all I'm using right now is an old Amazon packing box for that job right now.


I believe I'm going to take the small bedside cabinet from an old set I gave away out of my master bedroom and put that where the tiny cabinet with the hidden compartment is now. That's the one I've got my router and cordless tool battery charger on that's sitting in between my TV stand and the curio cabinet. It looks really stupid there because it's sideways... It's super thin from the front, but very deep. I can't really get to those drawers and they don't hold much anyhow. Not that it will look great in my bedroom either, but I don't really use it all that much and I'll need something to put the TV on if I take that bedside dresser out of the bedroom. I'll have to find a new home for the towels that I stored in there, but they were my "garbage" extra towels from some various old sets that I never use for bathing. They can all be put in a tote or a box in a closet, really. Once that's in the living room, I can use those two very large drawers to store most of the stuff that's cluttering up my curio cabinet.


I had all of my electric stuff for the generator plug laying on the floor in my livingroom for 2 or 3 years now. I also had about 20 carpet pads for steps sitting with them ever since I painted those basement steps too. These are extra pads I bought in case they didn't hold up well over the years and needed replacements, but the ones I've been using for years now have held up great and after I vaccumed all of them up a few weeks back they looked brand new. I probably won't need those for years and years, really, so I'm going to wrap them up in plastic and they'll probably go out in the top shelf in my shed where I don't have to look at them anymore.

I also had the oak medicine cabinet and the over-the-toilet cabinet/towel holder sitting in front of all of that too. I took the time to take the doors and all the hardware off of them so I can sand them, bagged up all of the hardware and screws in two separate bags so I don't lose anything or mix them up when it's time to put them back together, and they're out in my back porch now, waiting to go in my shed temporarily until I'm ready to sand them down sometime over the next few weeks.

So after moving all of that, now I have the space to put the end table over there for my dad.

I've got everything powered down around there now except for my internet router and gave the power strip and all the cables a much needed wipedown. I'm deciding what all I need to have over there and what can be brought to the corner decorative double shelf piece with a drawer underneath that I've got my printer and base home phone device on (paper for the printer is all that's in the drawer, both regular and photo paper, since it's a really nice printer). But I've got a beast of a double power strip on that thing and there's only 2 things plugged into it... Meanwhile I've got a billion things plugged into that outlet between the TV stand and the curio cabinet. It's just stupid and messy.

It's going to be great when it's all done, but I've got a lot of thinking to do about how I want it all to be when it's done. I've also got to dust everything down along the way and get all the stuff I'm no longer going to be using in there in its proper storage place too.

I wish I started earlier. Sun stays out longer now, but I'm quickly losing daylight. I'm going to be doing a lot of work with the lights on tonight, but I really need to get everything done behind the TV stand before that happens or that's going to be a pain in the ass without the proper lighting.

I still have to clean my bathroom and kitchen too. Boy... I'm going to be working into the wee hours of the night.

Oh well....

It's all for a good cause.



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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Yeah... Got a ton done yesterday for sure...

My dad left at around 6:30 and instead of going grocery shopping I decided to mow the front lawn. Just barely made it before sundown. Now if I want to mow the back a 2nd time since it's already long again, I can just do that tomorrow when it's in the 80's. By the time I was finished I was sweating and that's a cold wind. Going back down in the high 40's low 50's tonight before the 83 high tomorrow... Spring in Chicago.

Could you send me a picture of a similar footstool, Brenda? Maybe I can think of something you could try to get it back home.

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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Yeah... Got a ton done yesterday for sure...

My dad left at around 6:30 and instead of going grocery shopping I decided to mow the front lawn. Just barely made it before sundown. Now if I want to mow the back a 2nd time since it's already long again, I can just do that tomorrow when it's in the 80's. By the time I was finished I was sweating and that's a cold wind. Going back down in the high 40's low 50's tonight before the 83 high tomorrow... Spring in Chicago.

Could you send me a picture of a similar footstool, Brenda? Maybe I can think of something you could try to get it back home.

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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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I tried looking for a picture of it last night on the store's website and couldn't find it. Wish I had written down how big it is.


https://www.thebrick.com/collections/furniture-living-room-ottomans

It is the blue one on the right hand side of the page. I hope I did it right.

Sorry, I still haven't really gotten the hang of copying pictures or whatever you call it. I did find a picture of it on another store's website and it is 14 by 74". If that is any help?

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Originally posted by Brenda:
I will keep all of that in mind. But no, I didn't I know that you could pin Word to the taskbar. Somehow last night I managed to get rid of the Edge icon on taskbar. Didn't notice it till this morning. Thinking about whether not it is important to put that back.

SIX:
My normal answer would be no, but is Edge the browser that you use?
If that's your browser, you might as well pin it back on the taskbar. It's the same steps I mentioned in the previous post.
Any program that you open will show an icon on the task bar. Just right click that icon when the program is open for the pop up menu and select "Pin to taskbar" and when you close the program the icon will stay on the taskbar.

When you removed it, you might have right clicked and accidentally clicked on "unpin from taskbar".


BRENDA:
I use Chrome as my browser and it turned out that Edge was doing an update adding another AI to things. So, the icon came back after a bit. I just ignore things like that anyways.
So, all is good. Still thinking about stuff and I really, really, really have to shoot off an email to that publishing site I found.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
All done outside for today. Still dry but there were some dark clouds moving in.


Ran into the lady that used to come in and look after my mum. We keep talking about a coffee date but we haven't go there yet. Maybe next week.

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Anyways some good news and bad news from her. Her husband just went through his last cancer treatment last week, which is fantastic news.

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But they got a phone call in the middle of the night at the end of March saying that his mother had died. He couldn't go home because he wasn't allowed to fly because of his treatments. He's from Eastern Europe. She's hoping to go back to work.

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Got a call from my dentist cancelling my appointment for next Monday. It's been shoved back to June. Called the office to find out when.

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SIX:
I'm finally getting some stuff done that I was talking about doing.

My old man is coming by to visit tomorrow so I started cleaning my living room this afternoon. A deeper clean than usual... moving some stuff that's been in there for no reason for a long time now and also using microfiber cloths to really dust everything good before I vac it all up...

And that got me to look at the rat's nest of cables behind and all around my TV.

Sensless...

I've already removed 2 things I don't need to have plugged in there after tracing all the wires, and I found an abandoned RJ45 cable, VGA cable and coaxial cable that have been back there so long I don't even remember what I was using any of them for before I abandoned them. I also found my two 20-packs of velcro cable ties that I got for free after rebate maybe 4 years ago and are just now finally getting used (they are AWESOME, btw...).

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I'm moving some furniture around while I do it too...

My old man is finally going to have a side table and a coaster to put his Coke on when we're watching a movie tomorrow. That's the really nice table that was in the kitchen above my recycle box and that the Air Fryer was on. Way too low to the ground for that job, really.

Not that it's the best replacement, but it will do until I find something better, I have a REALLY nice decorative shelving unit that my Step-Dad gave me when they moved. I believe it was actually a TV stand at some point, maybe? It's a really tall one with about 5 shelves under that top shelf. I won't be able to put my recycle box under or inside it, but it's going to raise my air fryer to the appropriate height until I can find a good cabinet or something to put over there instead. The recycle box will need to be put to the side of it for now. There will be enough room between the shelving unit and the kitchen door for that. I'm going to look and see if I have another nice unused tote for the recyclables instead, since all I'm using right now is an old Amazon packing box for that job right now.


I believe I'm going to take the small bedside cabinet from an old set I gave away out of my master bedroom and put that where the tiny cabinet with the hidden compartment is now. That's the one I've got my router and cordless tool battery charger on that's sitting in between my TV stand and the curio cabinet. It looks really stupid there because it's sideways... It's super thin from the front, but very deep. I can't really get to those drawers and they don't hold much anyhow. Not that it will look great in my bedroom either, but I don't really use it all that much and I'll need something to put the TV on if I take that bedside dresser out of the bedroom. I'll have to find a new home for the towels that I stored in there, but they were my "garbage" extra towels from some various old sets that I never use for bathing. They can all be put in a tote or a box in a closet, really. Once that's in the living room, I can use those two very large drawers to store most of the stuff that's cluttering up my curio cabinet.


I had all of my electric stuff for the generator plug laying on the floor in my livingroom for 2 or 3 years now. I also had about 20 carpet pads for steps sitting with them ever since I painted those basement steps too. These are extra pads I bought in case they didn't hold up well over the years and needed replacements, but the ones I've been using for years now have held up great and after I vaccumed all of them up a few weeks back they looked brand new. I probably won't need those for years and years, really, so I'm going to wrap them up in plastic and they'll probably go out in the top shelf in my shed where I don't have to look at them anymore.

I also had the oak medicine cabinet and the over-the-toilet cabinet/towel holder sitting in front of all of that too. I took the time to take the doors and all the hardware off of them so I can sand them, bagged up all of the hardware and screws in two separate bags so I don't lose anything or mix them up when it's time to put them back together, and they're out in my back porch now, waiting to go in my shed temporarily until I'm ready to sand them down sometime over the next few weeks.

So after moving all of that, now I have the space to put the end table over there for my dad.

I've got everything powered down around there now except for my internet router and gave the power strip and all the cables a much needed wipedown. I'm deciding what all I need to have over there and what can be brought to the corner decorative double shelf piece with a drawer underneath that I've got my printer and base home phone device on (paper for the printer is all that's in the drawer, both regular and photo paper, since it's a really nice printer). But I've got a beast of a double power strip on that thing and there's only 2 things plugged into it... Meanwhile I've got a billion things plugged into that outlet between the TV stand and the curio cabinet. It's just stupid and messy.

It's going to be great when it's all done, but I've got a lot of thinking to do about how I want it all to be when it's done. I've also got to dust everything down along the way and get all the stuff I'm no longer going to be using in there in its proper storage place too.

I wish I started earlier. Sun stays out longer now, but I'm quickly losing daylight. I'm going to be doing a lot of work with the lights on tonight, but I really need to get everything done behind the TV stand before that happens or that's going to be a pain in the ass without the proper lighting.

I still have to clean my bathroom and kitchen too. Boy... I'm going to be working into the wee hours of the night.

Oh well....

It's all for a good cause.



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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
HOLY CRAP THAT TV STAND WAS HEAVY!!!!

I don't think it actually was a TV stand now though, come to think of it. I seem to remember my step dad had all of his stereo equipment on it back in the day. There is a plastic thing tacked into the back of it on every shelf that had holes for plugs and cables to go through for the different components.

It's got a solid black metal frame and each shelf is veneered high density fiberboard.

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It looks really nice in the corner of the kitchen with the air fryer on it. I found out that I can just barely fit my big crock pot in between the shelves if I take the top off, but I thought better of it and just put it back in the lower kitchen cabinets for now. Just because I have shelves there now doesn't mean I want to use them. I will have to dust that thing every once in a while and I don't need a ton of crap on it that doesn't need to be there. If I can figure out a way to remove one of the shelves and the brackets for it without breaking it, I may remove the 2nd from the bottom and then I can put a tote for recyclables on the bottom shelf. Otherwise, this thing is only going to be temporary.

I thought I had a 2nd really awesome power strip from a "back to school" special the power company runs every few years where you pay something stupid like $8 for a bunch of LED lightbulbs, a desk lamp, a night light, a power strip and some other goodies, but I was wrong. Unlike the one I've been using that I got the first time I bought a package, this doesn't have any USB chargers, and it's got a weird infered dongle that will power up 4 of the 6 outlets only when it senses movement in the room. I don't want any of that crap. I'm going to see if my dad wants it tomorrow. In the meantime I'm swapping the existing power strips I was using because now I've got a ton of room underneath the printer on the corner piece since the only thing there now is the power strip, so that will be a great place to charge my mp3 player and tablets instead of charging them on the floor by the TV stand.


Man... After 8PM already and it's dark out. I've got a lot of stuff to do yet. I'll probably be at this until midnight at least. I guess I'll just make sure I wake up early enough to clean the bathroom before I take a shower tomorrow because I doubt I'm going to be in the mood to clean a bathroom at 1AM.



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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Ten to Five and just finally wrapping things up. That was a LONG day...

The only thing I didn't get done was going through the more important paperwork, sorting through the drawer and doors on the bottom of the curio cabinet, and some more stuff to go through on that foyer table.

Kitchen and bathroom are clean too except for the toilet. I'm going to clean that right before my shower tomorrow.

Looks great. Can't wait until the old man comes tomorrow.



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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Goddamnit... Had a visit from my Smoke Demon tonight...

I can't even remember the last time I had a night terror. I was living here. I know I've had a few of them since I moved here, but I think my last one was before the covid lockdowns.

I wish I remember what the dream I was having was about. It wasn't a nightmare at first, and my dad was in it. I think at some point we got separated and I was looking for him. All I can remember now is that I found him creepy house that was a drastic shift in tone from everything else before it. He said he was alright, but something happened... I think I remember him saying it made him cry? But that was it... I was pulled away backwards from him while he was talking on a mattress that was either on some sort of roller coaster to hell or just back into the void and out of that reality. As I slid back down into nothingness, I heard heavy breathing all around me...

Turns out that was me breathing heavy IRL...

BAM!!!!

Eyes open. We're in reality again. But I can't move. Trapped again in the terrifying realm of half life and half dreams...

And my wiggle-the-toes solution I'd come to figure out was the easiest way out was not working so well this time. And against my better judgement, I look in the corner. Yup. There he is. My AIO computer monitor on my coffee table thankfully sheilding my eyes from seeing his full form, but there's his head in the corner with those glowing white eyes staring right back into mine. Thankfully, he's not moving. He never does. He just stands there staring at me... smoke swirling all around his head but somehow never dimming the glow of those eyes as if they're in front of smoke itself...

Heavy breathing. Loud...

I scream out "FUCK YOU!"... But I know that I don't really. It's only in my head. I can't speak. I can't ever speak...

Wiggling my toes still, but now trying to perform the Herculean task of sitting upright and breaking the spell since the tried and true method of toe wiggling is not waking my feet up fast enough to kick my way out.

Look anywhere but that corner. Focus on escape. Anywhere but that corner...

Fuck!

I'm staring right into his dead eyes again. I know none of this is real, but the panic is very real. Adrenaline is really pumping now. I can feel it. The breathing is even heavier now.

I'm giving him the finger. I can feel that I am, but without moving my head because that's still impossible, I move my eyes to look down at where it feels my hand should be, but in reality my entire arm is pinned lifelessly at my side.

I never looked back at the corner a third time and eventually I managed to kick my way out of the nightmare and wake up.

And it's only 2:33AM. Shit. I've only gotten a few hours sleep.

And now I'm here. Had me a cigarette and wasting time because the only thing to do now is wake up completely before I go back to the dream realm.

To do otherwise would be foolish. If there is any hint of the sleep chemicals flowing through my blood before I sleep again I'll be plunged right back into the place between worlds where the demons roam and I have no ability to do anything but breath heavy and feel a terror the likes of which I've never faced in real life. Being beat half to death and stabbed by 4 guys doesn't have shit on whatever these episodes really are.

Christ... These Night Terror / Sleep Paralaysis episodes are something else.


If I had just one good thing to still say about the internet in 2026 is that somewhere along the line it let me know that I wasn't crazy and that there were other people who have had the same experience.

Back when I had my first visit from Mr. Smoke, I was in my early 20's living at my Grandma's house. Anybody I mentioned it to didn't know what the hell I was talking about, so I just stopped mentioning it. Even when it happened again, I never told a soul. At least not until I had youtube videos of other people explaining similar phenomena and that there had been a name put to it.

I don't always see Mr. Smoke when I have a sleep paralysis episode... Those are just the worst ones.

The heavy breathing was new... at least breathing so heavy that I heard it in my dream as if it was echoing all around me, and where it was fully audible the entire time I was back in my living room. This is the first time I woke up in the terror already fully terrorized before I even tried to move. Usually that terror and sense of unbelievable dread only starts after I realize I can't move. Maybe that's why I couldn't even wiggle my toes out of this one.

Well... I'm up now.

I won't be falling right back into the pit again by starting a new sleep cycle from scratch. Hopefully I'm back down before the sun comes up.

Maybe if I'm lucky, I won't have to go through that again for another 7 years or so...

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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

What an awful night for you!

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