It used to be my text app (iText Express for mac) just makes spellchecks but now it corrects my grammar (after I upgraded) and I'm annoyed with it. If they were accurate, I might be fine with it but they are not.
Like the word peace - it kept asking me if I want to change it to piece or if I wrote piece, it ask if I want to change it to peace. Or with words like you're and your or then and than or any words in that similar vein. The suggestions are sort of reasonable but still annoying. (And yes, when I made a spellcheck of this post, it asked me if I want change peace to piece and piece to peace.)
The question is, why is it giving incorrect suggestions? I can't even turn it off because there's no such option. Sometimes it's helpful and other times I just give up. It actually confuses me more because then I second-guess my own decisions. English grammar is confusing enough so I don't need these oddly incorrect grammar suggestions.
Do you hate it when you text or word app corrects your grammar?
November 30, 2025
Scribtober 2025 Two
Here are the rest of my Scribtober drawings. The previous ones are here. (click on image for larger view)
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Have you been drawing or doing some creative endeavor?
November 29, 2025
Book Rants - Nov 2025
~ Books I read ~
What's it about: making sweet bean paste, cherry blossoms, leprosy (Hansen's disease), friendship
I enjoyed this though it's a little depressing and characters aren't exactly winning at life or anything. Tokue (main character) is like a mystical figure because she thinks differently than other people and I like her idea - you don't have to be useful to society to live, you just do. This ended kind abruptly as we don't know what Sentaro's (main character) future. I did expect a certain character's end but kind of didn't want it to happen. This is not a happy story and yet this is recommended as cozy book which I think it's a kind of true but we really need to redefine cozy because cozy always somehow comes with sorrow - this book certainly does but I still liked it.
November 23, 2025
Seven Things: Some little rants
01 - I don't know why I keep procrastinating. I just keep putting things off. My brain tells me go ahead and do that thing I need to do but then my other brain (or part of it) tells me to put it off, I have plenty of time and maybe sometimes that's true but most of the time, I end up doing everything at the last minute. I don't know, there is no solution.
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03 - My blog's feed or whatever is called isn't working as usual. I subscribe to my blog through the Blogger dashboard so I can see how blog posts looks in the Reading list dashboard. Usually when I published a post, it would show up right away but now it seems to take awhile or sometimes a day to show up - what's up with that? I can see the post is posted because it's there on my blog but not the reading list. No idea why it suddenly become buggy.
The Affinity apps were created/owned by Serif but Canva brought them out in 2024. The Serif people claimed they won't change anything with the new ownership. Then came this October, they began offering their app (now a combination of the three apps into one) simply called Affinity or Affinity Studio (supposedly version 3) for free. I was all ready to upgrade but I didn't. To download and use the Affinity app, you have to sign up for a Canva account which I am not willing to do.
I paid for the apps but now I can't use the new version because I refuse to open a Canva account [insert all the cursing here.] I'm actually willing to pay NOT to be involved with Canva. It might be stupid to refuse to use an app for this reason but I just couldn't do it.
So signing up for a Canva account didn't mean you have to use Canva but that's exactly what it means, doesn't it? You become a customer of Canva the moment you sign up for an account and even if they don't force you to use Canva or make you pay to use the Affinity app, things will not be that way because no big company swallows up a smaller company and that let everything be. I won't speculate how things will change but companies don't give out things for free for nothing. Affinity is free but you pay for it by being involved with Canva.
Canva is meant for non-designers, offering pre-made templates and other tools like fonts and images. I'm not saying Canva is bad but I simply prefer to never use them.
In conclusion, there is no conclusion because one day, I'll probably sign up for Canva account just to use Affinity when I could no longer use the old apps (Serif people aren't going to update the old versions anymore) because technology kept being upgraded and sometimes you are forced to upgrade even when you are reluctant to do so. (Here's the link to Affinity if you want to check it out: https://www.affinity.studio/get-affinity)
05 - Why are so many reviews with hidden spoilers at Goodreads are cut off and sometimes in mid-sentence? Where are the rest of it? This is rather disappointing when I wanted to find out the ending. All these cut-off reviews keep appearing or maybe I keep finding them and they are seemed to be one-star reviews. Do they get cut off because they are spoilers, too long or because they are one-star, two-star reviews? There seems to be an option to blur spoiler text so this hidden spoiler box method is not even needed unless it's super long.
And also, those hidden because of spoilers didn't have spoilers - why? I don't use Goodreads anymore so I don't know how it's done but I guess people could accidentally mark their review as hidden but so many people did this it must be too easy to do it.
Goodreads still have no translations for reviews in foreign languages even though it's owned by amazon who had their foreign language reviews with the option to translate them. Goodreads have tons of foreign languages reviews so it didn't make sense not to have the translation option.
I used to read amazon reviews but then they changed it so all you can read are top reviews and if you want to read the other reviews such as the one-star reviews, you have to sign into your amazon account or create one. I don't get this change. Why do you have to sign in to see all the reviews?
06 - My iphone (an old model) kept giving out notifications to finish setting it up but the thing is I don't want to set up those stupid features that are useless to me. Why should I waste time setting up things that I'm not going to use? It used to be you get to choose but now they just bug you to death until you do things their way. Well, I'm going to keeping ignoring all the notifications until I feel like finish setting up which should be in about ten years or when the phone dies.
07 - I don't like subscriptions - streaming tv/movies, streaming music, apps by subscription, etc. So I don't have any subscription, at least for now. Recently, I found that you have to pay by subscription to read the BBC News articles which had been free to read with advertisements for years. (And during those times, it kept asking you to sign up for an account which I never did.) I think you are allowed to read two articles for free and when you tried to read a third article, a popup screen would show up and ask you to sign up for a subscription to read the rest.
As a freeloader (which I loath to admit but it's true) of most internet websites, this is extremely disappointing. I know they and almost everybody who runs such websites needs to make a living but I just thought online news should be free. There are other places for news that are free (with advertisements - they all have advertisements) but I'm a creature of habit, so it's hard to change. So now I just read headlines.
What's on your mind these days?
November 15, 2025
Fiction: Ghosts in Need
This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Sean Jeating and posted at River's blog over here. This week's prompts are: squad, cemetery, flowers, painted, cross and/or barely, money, eat, freedom, courage. Last week's prompts were: technique, think, taught, way, completely and/or learn, write, exist, reading, lost. The week before, the prompts were: dog, night, bed, knowledge, move and/or years, stupid, help, craftsmanship, lost. I couldn't fit craftsmanship in there.
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Fiction: Ghosts in Need
01 - It wasn't that Chrysanthemum 'Chris' Woo was afraid of ghosts but on the rare occasion a ghost might ask her to do them a favor since she could see them.
Working at the Dish Mat, an automat that offered pre-made food from vending machines, was as stress-free as she could get. The quiet atmosphere and little interactions with strangers made things easy but left her with too much free time to think about her divorce, her ex-best friend, her failed career, her missing niece or her dead father.
For the first two days of each week, Chris was the lone worker in the automat and on Wednesdays, she shared duties with Paula Gregson who worked the other days. The overlapping day was Chris's mother's idea. She believed Chris needed a friend.
On an early Wednesday afternoon, Chris sat behind the counter in the back of the store and trying to read a novel but her concentration kept swaying. Paula was four hours late. Something in her guts told Chris something was wrong but she didn't know what to do.
The bell above the door tinkled. She looked up but it wasn't Paula. Chris closed the book and took out a notepad and pen from the drawers. Doodling was a technique that often helped her think.
November 10, 2025
Cover Stickers! The Horror!
The stickers are mostly to encourage sales, promote books, brag about what the book/author had garnered but basically are advertisements shoved into readers' faces. So what's the point of creating beautiful covers only to have them ruined by these stickers that never come off?
Often when I look for book covers for my book posts, I look for covers without these stickers or if it looks like I can remove them (digitally), I would. The ones I hate the most is the one announcing 'made into a movie or a show' and 'Some famous person's book club picks'.
There is a point to these stickers but at the same time, they are mostly offering stale information or information readers didn't care about, at least, I don't. But it's not as rampant as I made it sound but they are around and probably will never go away. Do they really work? They don't seem to work for me but maybe they work on other people.
Here are some samples covers that covered most type of print-on stickers:
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01 - Read With Jenna - No idea who Jenna is until I looked her up. Jenna Bush Hager, is a co-host on the Today show and daughter of former President George W. Bush - it makes perfect sense not to read her recommendations.
02 - The Good Morning America Book Club Pick! (with exclamation point) - Good Morning America is a morning tv show that I have never watched and I don't see why I would read their picks.
03 - Oprah's Book Club 2025 - I had seen Oprah Winfrey's show and she had some wisdom but that didn't mean I care for her book selections.
04 - Reese's Book Club - I had seen some of Reese Witherspoons' movies but they don't inspire me to read any of her book picks.
05 - Zibby's Book Club - A book club hosted monthly by Zibby Owens who owns a bookshop but I've never heard of her until today when I searched for book covers so no reason to read her picks.
November 04, 2025
IWSG Nov 2025: Some quirks that might be mad
I'm skipping the November Insecure Writer's Support Group question and go straight to reading quirks that are also writing quirks. I can only dismiss so many reading/writing quirks but I'm seem to struck on some more than others. But I'm listing just three today.
01 - Sometimes a singular word used often in one book can drive me nuts for no reason other than their repetition. Usually it's the more obvious repetition (such a phrase a character might keep saying) that get noticed but for me, single words getting used repeatedly always kind of annoys me. I don't know why that is or why I see them more often now. But I guess it's one of those reading quirks that some readers have to deal with.
02 - Whenever I read my name or names of people I know, sometimes I feel this certain unease. In a book I previously read, one of the character had the same name as me so I somehow read that name into some other version or else I skim over it. Why should it be weird characters have your name? Unless you have one of those unique names that never gets used in books, which I do not have, you will come across it. But somehow it's just odd reading it.
03 - Fair Enough (or sometimes Fair Point) - this expression (according to the Oxford dictionary) is "used to admit that something is reasonable or acceptable." Something about this sounds like some throwaway or useless phrase people say when they have nothing to say or when they agree to disagree or sometimes it seems it is used as some sarcasm or slight irritations. I don't know why I just get annoyed by this phrase. I don't think there is any good synonym to this other than 'I agree' which is quite simple. I'm wondering if that's why people use such phrases as 'Fair enough' to replaced simpler phrase which might sound bland.
What reading quirks do you think is maybe a bit mad to be mad about?
01 - Sometimes a singular word used often in one book can drive me nuts for no reason other than their repetition. Usually it's the more obvious repetition (such a phrase a character might keep saying) that get noticed but for me, single words getting used repeatedly always kind of annoys me. I don't know why that is or why I see them more often now. But I guess it's one of those reading quirks that some readers have to deal with.
02 - Whenever I read my name or names of people I know, sometimes I feel this certain unease. In a book I previously read, one of the character had the same name as me so I somehow read that name into some other version or else I skim over it. Why should it be weird characters have your name? Unless you have one of those unique names that never gets used in books, which I do not have, you will come across it. But somehow it's just odd reading it.
03 - Fair Enough (or sometimes Fair Point) - this expression (according to the Oxford dictionary) is "used to admit that something is reasonable or acceptable." Something about this sounds like some throwaway or useless phrase people say when they have nothing to say or when they agree to disagree or sometimes it seems it is used as some sarcasm or slight irritations. I don't know why I just get annoyed by this phrase. I don't think there is any good synonym to this other than 'I agree' which is quite simple. I'm wondering if that's why people use such phrases as 'Fair enough' to replaced simpler phrase which might sound bland.
What reading quirks do you think is maybe a bit mad to be mad about?
November 02, 2025
Messages from the universe or something like it
I spend way too much time browsing youtube or what people are calling 'doom scrolling.' So this means I often come across a lot of thumbnails with different words than the title of the video. Since images are more attractive to the eye than texts, they attracted me. But the question is, is youtube trying to tell me something or am I'm just reading into things for no reason?
Anyway, here are some very accurate, mostly true, sometimes too honest, messages found on thumbnails (out of context) at youtube that may or may not apply to me or to you.
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Have you seen any messages lately?
October 31, 2025
Fiction: Ghosts and Psychics in the Laundromat
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Fiction: Ghosts and psychics in the Laundromat
"Today, you will get shot but some fool will save you but you'll still feel some pain," said Carl Simon a few feet away in his Psy Booth in the Quick Mat, one of two laundromats with that name. People called it the Ghost Mat because of laundry being done by invisible hands as it was documented on Youtube. The Mat mostly ran itself with anyone following wall signs in many translated languages.
October 30, 2025
Book Rants: Oct 2025
What's it about: jobs, work, work relationships
This read like short stories (book is divided by jobs) as told by a nameless, thirty-something woman testing temp jobs to get an easy one because she was burnout from her previous job. She gets very involved with whatever job she was doing and is very competent at it which might make you hate her and yet, you don't. She cares about people and yet, she seems a bit aloof about relationships. But somehow she made us care about the people she cares about. Some of these jobs had a bit of paranormal to them, like a touch of whimsy.
There was a scene where someone left a threatening message 'Die alone' and she interpreted as someone saying, 'I rather die than die alone!' and I don't know why, I just laughed at this and it's like funniest thing to me but it probably isn't funny at all.
This is under the category of 'cozy Japanese reads' but I wish they wouldn't use the F word because that somehow took away the cozy. I enjoyed this book very much and the translation is wonderfully un-American.
October 28, 2025
Books I Unfinished - Oct 2025
I want to say these books aren't bad but I would be lying. But these are my opinions and you know what to do with opinions,right? Some of these books aren't bad, they are just bad to me as a reader. These are the books I stopped reading because I either lost interest or I simply didn't like it enough to continue. Sometimes I do finish a book even if I didn't like it because my brain sometimes refused to listen to the rest of me. Here are the books I unfinished lately.
What's it about: short stories, fantasy, science fiction
Quit at: 17%
Why I quit: I was enticed by the cover art but the oddity, craziness, weirdness was too much for me but mostly because there are no resolutions to these short stories. I know short stories usually don't have resolutions but these were so short, they wouldn't have fit in a resolution. I didn't read them all so I couldn't say if they get longer.
October 27, 2025
Scribtober 2025
When I did Inktober, I had a theme. So this year I'm going with a theme - Accidently Here - but it might as well be multiplicity because there are a lot of multiples but I'm still coming up with ideas. There's only a few days left in October so I'll probably continue this to November. Some of these I added in color background to get them to show more as they are done in pencil which doesn't show well. I will maybe color them later when I have the time, right now is really all about drawing. Here are just a few that I had done. (Click on image for closeup.)
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Have you been drawing or doing some creative endeavor?
October 23, 2025
Fiction: Ghosts in the Machines
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Fiction: Ghosts in the Machines
Jennifer Woo liked the peaceful atmosphere of the Dish Mat. Movements were slow and conversations were held in subdued voices. Most days, she sat and read novels behind the counter in the back. The Dish Mat was an automat that mostly ran itself. Anyone could get a quick meal from the multiple vending machines that lined the walls. During the week days, Jenny was there before 8am and closed a few minutes after 10pm. Despite the many instructions on the walls and the tent cards in various languages on the tables, people still asked Jenny questions. She had learned to disregard the minor irritation answering the same questions.
October 10, 2025
Fiction: Ghosts in the Laundromat
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Fiction: Ghosts in the Laundromat
The Quick Mat on the corner street was rumored to have ghosts but Gabrielle Woo knew it wasn't true as it was her second sister who started the rumor to get people interested in the place. Their mother thought it was a great idea as she made Jenny their publicist although Gabby didn't think they need a publicist for a laundromat.
During the week days, Gabby, the fourth sister of five, was behind the counter in the back of the store where she sat for twelve hours until closing time. Most she was there to answer questions such as how much for a cup of detergent even though it said so on the machines. Everything was in the two vending machines at the front so Gabby rarely had to do anything. But if you want her to keep an eye on your stuff, she would refuse. It wasn't her job or so she claimed.
October 06, 2025
Book series I've only read one book of (Vol. 2)
What's it about: time, space, another planet
What I think: I should love this because it's the kind of book I do like reading but I can't seem to get into it. Perhaps if I had read this as a child, I might have loved it and even devour the series but it was dull to me.
Reasons to quit series: It was kind of dull
What's it about: missing mother, amateur sleuthing
What I think: Being Sherlock Holmes' younger sister, there is some expectation that really wouldn't have been there if that's not the case. For some odd reason, I keep thinking Holmes is going to come and solve the mystery but nope. Apparently Enola backwards spells Alone and that's somehow described her well. At times, she seems awfully mature and at others, she is essentially a child playing a game. I don't dislike her but I also don't like her. The mysteries (there seems to be two here) is a bit bland to me.
Reasons to quit series: If she is her own original character with no relations to Sherlock Holmes, I might like her but mostly the mysteries was dull.
October 01, 2025
Fiction: How to save 127 people with a lot of trying
This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Sean Jeating and posted at River's blog over here. This week's prompts are: hear, modern, influenza, physical, organs, original, pea, human, rather, size.
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Fiction: How to save 127 people with a lot of trying [The first part is here]
01 - "Cordelia Elizabeth Anne Allbright, get your arse up." Tabby's voice sank into Cody's mind. It was quiet, firm with plenty of bossiness that reminded Cody of her granny, Gerty, who whisper-yelled all her names whenever Cody was in trouble.
"We agreed I only have to do this once a month not whenever you feel like it!" Cody responded. There was still one day before September ended. She was exhausted from two hours of cleaning bathrooms at the Groovy Diner. She deserved her rest.
Tabby kneaded Cody's back. "Do you wish to let 127 innocents die?"
Guilt, Gerty was an expert on making Cody feel it with a few words. Somehow Tabby knew the same trick. Growing up with Gerty, Cody had learned never to do anything stupidly immoral because 'karma doesn't just bite you, it obliterate your soul' as she relished in reminding Cody.
"You have no time to linger. Get up and get to JFK airport ASAP."
It was jarring to have Tabby's voice in Cody's head. Tabby said transferring thoughts was faster and a talking cat led to all kinds of trouble.
"No, I—!" Cody's voice dropped. It was vexing how Tabby turned on and off her voice like a radio. It made arguing with her maddening. All her life, Cody either write down what she wanted to say or not say them at all. She knew sign language but rarely used it. But there was an advantage in not speaking - you don't have to answer questions you don't want. Such as why you have men's clothes in your closet when you're a single woman. Mrs. Roman, Cody's landlady, knew why. A year ago, Cody was sleeping in her room when she heard screams. Without a thought, she changed into Male Cody (MC), charged down the stairs and knocked out Mrs. Roman's ex-husband before he could kill her. In fear, MC had changed back to Cody. As easily as she was to accept Cody's ability, Mrs. Roman still snooped around Cody's room now and then.
When Cody first realized her ability to change forms, she thought she was a genetic freak. Gerty assured her at least she wasn't a cockroach. Gerty evoked all small animals had tougher lives than humans.
Over the years, Cody had changed into many different faces and body shapes but no matter who she changed into, they would always be the same age as her. MC had been her go-to disguise since her teens. If there had been an original MC, Cody didn't remember. As she reached eighteen, she made MC's physical size to six feet six inches and then was unable to change it. Gerty said it was fate.
Perhaps meeting Tabby was fate. At least, Gerty would say so. Tabby, like Gerty, had a sense of righteousness and an abundance of bossiness. As she walked toward the bathroom, Cody reminded herself Tabby was only trying to save lives. Everything else, including Cody, was minor stuff.
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September 30, 2025
IWSG Oct 2025: Love what you create?
The October question at Insecure Writer's Support Group is What is the most favorite thing you have written, published or not? And why?
There a lot of things I really loved that I had written but somehow I can't think of them today. Maybe it's the ideas I loved more than the actual writing. My mind at the moment is more focused on what I'm working on now rather on what I had written.
Before with only a few writing experiences, I thought most of what I wrote was pretty decent but now with more years of writing, I have different opinions. It's pretty easy to fall in love with your creations even when you don't realize it. So I have learned to be more brutal (probably too strong a word) on what projects (writing or otherwise) to give up once I realized I'll never get them to the way I want. Some of my stories do stayed with me even when I had decided not to continue finishing them.
I've redo a lot of my artworks because I thought I could do better so with my writings, I do the same thing - rework them into better versions of what I want them to be or abandon them if necessary. Although I am a habitual procrastinator so what I abandoned doesn't always stayed abandoned
Do you always love what you created (writings or other creative endeavors)?
There a lot of things I really loved that I had written but somehow I can't think of them today. Maybe it's the ideas I loved more than the actual writing. My mind at the moment is more focused on what I'm working on now rather on what I had written.
Before with only a few writing experiences, I thought most of what I wrote was pretty decent but now with more years of writing, I have different opinions. It's pretty easy to fall in love with your creations even when you don't realize it. So I have learned to be more brutal (probably too strong a word) on what projects (writing or otherwise) to give up once I realized I'll never get them to the way I want. Some of my stories do stayed with me even when I had decided not to continue finishing them.
I've redo a lot of my artworks because I thought I could do better so with my writings, I do the same thing - rework them into better versions of what I want them to be or abandon them if necessary. Although I am a habitual procrastinator so what I abandoned doesn't always stayed abandoned
Do you always love what you created (writings or other creative endeavors)?
September 28, 2025
Book Rants: Sept 2025
I put in the spoiler alert text in red but is it useful? It's difficult to decide sometimes what is spoiler and what isn't. I think you cannot write your thoughts on certain books without some spoilers so yes, spoilers for all the books I mentioned here.
Here are all the books I read in September and other stuff I finished.
Books I Read:
What's it about: death of a teenage boy, investigation, teenagers, family, old crimes
This is like two books in one but the same story told twice - one in the victim's point of view (Joel, which was told in the present tense which is odd but acceptable) and the other is the investigation with various point of views, mostly Hanna's (a cop). It seemed like one of the views is redundant. I don't like going back and forth, it cuts off the continuation of the story each time.
I'm annoyed by how much useless information and how many detours the book made before getting to the end. Also, Hanna's father's crime/case hung over the entire book as it was constantly mentioned, constantly thought about by Hanna but of course no resolution but will probably be the last case of the series. But I do find that case more interesting than Joel's case.
Also, they kept mentioning Hanna's height (over 6 feet) and that annoys me because she really had no personality other than her height, her father's crime and also being awkward around everybody. This is a socially, awkward woman who got a bit too emotional when she shouldn't and her so-call great cop skills were mentioned but never utilized. Basically throughout the book, she was trying not to break down and sob. I don't think she's fit to be a cop, at least, she shouldn't be working Joel's case.
I wouldn't call this is a murder mystery or even a thriller, it's mostly about people and their emotions and thoughts. I guess titling this as The Night Singer seemed almost meaningless considering that was barely referenced twice but I guess in a way, it gives a certain mystery. I honestly expected something vile or ultra-violent or something unexpectedly better than this ending with that large knife shape on the cover. What actually happened was underwhelming and dumb and I wouldn't call it murder. I don't like this two viewpoints format so I'm not continuing this series.
September 25, 2025
Fiction: Until Next Month
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Fiction: Until Next Month
Cody was no olympian god but he had the strength of one. He lifted the end of the station wagon and pulled until its front wheels were on solid ground then he dropped it. Hasty, he pulled the car door open and pressed the driver's neck. Assured that there was a pulse, he took out his phone and called for an ambulance. After he tucked the phone away, he looked around. It was nearly dawn and the sky was still dark. He veered his eyes toward the water. If he had been one second later, the car would have gone into the lake and he would have to swim. Cody hated swimming especially in winter.
A giggle sounded. Cody bended to peek in the backseat. The toddler was grinning with drool down his chin. Cody waved at the boy. The boy waved his pacifier. Cody heard a moan and peered at the driver. He opened his eyes and started to speak but no words came out.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
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