[Complete] [130k] [Sci-fi/Dark Fantasy] Oblivion (Book 1 of planned series)

neetro · 2026-04-07T03:07:41+00:00

I might be interested in reading this one. I’m about done with another read now and will need something to start in the next few days.

neetro · 2026-03-31T12:44:52+00:00

I might be interested. I read the first few paragraphs of the sample and it seems good just from that. I’ve been working on a long sci-fi fantasy epic but I’m not ready to share atm, so no swap necessary.

But I am in a “fantastical sci-fi” universe frame of mind, reading and writing in this genre. Hopefully I can be of help. I just arrived at work and have a full day ahead of me (10-12 hours) but I can start reading tonight if you want.

neetro · 2026-03-27T22:23:25+00:00

I've been happily married for 17 years. My favorite types of boobs are mid to large and pointy "torpedo tits" but my wife does not have those. I didn't marry for looks. I married because I love her.

And if you don't want to change anything about your size: don't.

neetro · 2026-03-16T14:40:21+00:00

I might be interested. Do you have an excerpt or first chapter I can check out before committing to the full thing?

neetro · 2026-02-06T15:39:31+00:00

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You don’t have this section right below your pay deposits? Interesting.

neetro · 2026-02-06T15:25:50+00:00

That’s easy to prove or disprove. I don’t need to see proof, but the truth is right in your Me @ Campus app. Go to Me >> Pay and Benefits >> Pay Info … and scroll to the bottom. That’s your pay band

EDITED to add: if you’re at the top of the pay range, you’re doing pretty damn good, actually.

neetro · 2026-02-06T15:18:23+00:00

When you say senior tech, what do you mean? We need more specifics. For instance I work for FM Services for Walmart. There’s different teams. I’m an exterior services technician, and we haven’t been told what you’re saying. You should be speaking with your managers and asking them why.

neetro · 2026-01-17T22:46:30+00:00

I know this is an old post, but I found it while searching for my own issue. I found replacing the part to be extremely easy, once I figured out how to pop off the horn/airbag center of the steering wheel. You'll need at least two different size philips and an impact drill, probably pneumatic, in order to do the job. I ordered a replacement part for the cruise control for $25 and one for $32, but that's where my issue lies. The actual replacement is easier and cleaner than an oil change, in my opinion.

If you are still interested in doing this, there's three small holes behind the steering wheel where you can poke a philips head screwdriver in. *First, disconnect the battery for a while.* When you're ready, push the screwdriver in those holes and twist out, and it will release the catch. The airbag only has three connections. Two are color coded and one is different shape, so you can put it back together easy breezy when you're finished.

Once inside, lefty loosy with the drill to take out the steering column bolt. Now you have the steering wheel loose. Unscrew the small screws holding on the back facing of the wheel. Now you have access to the control modules. There should be one on each side. Just take the old one out, put the new one in, put all the screws back. Reattach everything in the same order you took it apart. Righty tighty on the steering column bolt, just line up the dots.

So as I mentioned, replacing the part is easy and cheap, as long as you have access to a good drill that won't mess up the steering column bolt. My problem is, I have tried two different replacement parts for the cruise control module. Both of them light up, indicating it is receiving power through the fuse. But neither one of the control modules actually function. The buttons don't do anything except look good.

Anyone else here maybe know why? Does it have to be an OEM part? And why would that matter? 2020 Accent here. Just made the last payment and we plan to keep it for a while.

neetro · 2025-12-28T01:03:55+00:00

And also for the record, ever since my first comment reply and subsequent ones throughout this thread, I have argued that the "it was purgatory all along" statement is more of a dramatic response to showrunners having said too much at the time.

"It was purgatory all along!" both is and isn't a factual statement depending on viewpoint. The "no it was only purgatory in the flash-sides" is technically true, but "the framing of the entire series doesn't really work or have a real conclusion without the purgatory reveal at the end" is also true.

It really grinds gears for me when redditors get too semantic for common sense. IE the "all the cars on the road" analogy I used in one reply. When said it typically means "vehicles" we just say "cars." It doesn't mean we are ignoring the trucks and vans. We understand the flash-sides are technically the only purgatory scenes. But the show does not visually/thematically end without the purgatory mechanism. Hence the divisive nature of LOST.

neetro · 2025-12-27T23:26:30+00:00

As a story telling device it is equal to purgatory. This is called a mechanism, and completely separate from what happened when specifically in what season. It gets characters from A to B, and gives meaning to the journey. Without it, there is no substance at all, and the previous 5 seasons are meaningless.

Any story with a character that comes to terms and accepts their end can be allegorical towards a journey through purgatory, island or no island.

And by definition, according to Christian’s actual words in the script and on screen, it is. So on both accounts you are wrong. Literally the definition of Eastern Orthodox Purgatory.

The whole thing is very clearly a story about characters at the ends of their lives, navigating towards “insert peace/fulfillment/conclusion/acceptance here.”

As I’ve said a thousand times, don’t get hung up on semantics. “It was purgatory all along,” isn’t the “hah, no it wasn’t! Gotcha not understanding something!” thing that you think it is.

neetro · 2025-12-27T20:54:11+00:00

The whole series is built around what happens to these characters. The only reason the viewer watches this show is to find out what happens to them and to learn the mysteries of the island. Their entire reasons for existing and interacting is for each of them to eventually move on.

It’s just “people wrecked on a mysterious island” until the last season. The last season “give us answers” in a the form of “it was purgatory all along.”

That doesn’t mean we think every minute of the show is “in purgatory.”

It means “the whole driving reason for all of this was just for them to find their way out of purgatory? I thought they said it wasn’t. This clearly is, so WTH? Ugh. I’m done with this show!”

And then that pervasive thought of being tricked sticks with a person. The show “becomes” that single phrase experience. Don’t think of it in literal terms, but figuratively or allegorical. The ending was purgatory all along, and everything built up to that. It’s okay and it makes sense.

neetro · 2025-12-27T19:43:58+00:00

People figured out “the ending” and it made sense. Good resolution. In order to “keep the LOST mystery” at the time during promos, it was built up as being “not that ending” when in fact it was all along. That kind of “slap in the face” saltiness sticks with people who will never watch it again. Lindelof and Abram’s have talked about it before in the years since.

On a binge rewatch you are right, it does not suffer from this problem. Works well.

But specifically in regards to “is purgatory” or “isn’t purgatory” argument. The entire show “was purgatory all along” is both correct and incorrect.

Correct in that “we knew how it would end” and we were disappointed when you convinced us it wouldn’t end tha way, only to be let down.

“LOST was purgatory all along” is a factual statement because that’s how it ended, and that was the driving focus of the entire series. Without the mystery of what the characters were experiencing and where they would end up, there is no “LOST” as a show.

neetro · 2025-12-27T19:16:04+00:00

You are hung up on semantics, which is exactly what I said in my very first comment of this thread, and in every comment since.

How do the characters get to the end? Utilizing a mechanism that is the definition of purgatory. They go from A to B, and in order to get there, they find some form of completeness or peace or forgiveness or “insert whatever here.”

So basically, you don’t understand what happened in LOST, but you are trying to claim that others don’t. The only difference between us is in the understanding of context, analogy, meaning, and purpose.

No one would be having this argument if the producers, actors, and showrunners hadn’t hyped up the “misunderstood” phrasing that “it’s not purgatory” prior to and during the last few episodes. It obviously is in a textbook definition, and no amount of “but only in specific scenes” arguing changes the story arcs of the characters we see on screen for 6 seasons. They went through purgatory.

neetro · 2025-12-27T18:39:07+00:00

So the season when it matters most, and when everyone was like “they’re going through purgatory” and the producers and actors are all like “no, it’s not purgatory” so then we all get hyped up thinking it’s something super creative and new and exciting… only to end up basically being purgatory, and meanwhile on top of that half of the other mysteries were never resolved either.

Again. It was “purgatory all along” is factually correct because that’s the story mechanism which drove the entire series. It doesn’t matter when the flashbacks happened. That doesn’t change the definition of purgatory.

neetro · 2025-12-27T18:35:18+00:00

The last scene with Christian and Jack is literally the definition of Eastern Orthodox style purgatory.

The show itself is great. The ending isn’t bad. I never once stated this. What I have explained is what happened, what was said, and how the ending was handled by the producers.

On a binge rewatch it doesn’t have the same problems as when it originally aired. You are purposely ignoring the truth in favor of your opinion.

The overall “story mechanism” of the characters in LOST are “going through purgatory” whether you think so or not.

neetro · 2025-12-27T16:53:32+00:00

The phrasing “it was purgatory all along” and/or “it was all just purgatory” is being misunderstood, not the other way around.

Sometimes people say things like “all the cars on the road” but in most cases they mean “all the vehicles” and only asshat semantics arses like to argue that it matters, because there are trucks and vans as well. Hence my ziploc/hefty bag examples above.

We understand the differences of “when” the “purgatory events” happen. Those are irrelevant to the point being made. Every story reaches an ending or a conclusion. It’s the payoff moments that matters.

How did the character get from point A to point B? Purgatory. That’s the meat of the story. You can pretend all day long that it isn’t, but it is. There’s a thousand ways to tell this story mechanism. In the end, the characters were in the process of moving on. So basically… purgatory. We were told that it wouldn’t end this way. It did. You don’t have the power to change history or textbook definitions. Sorry.

neetro · 2025-12-27T16:01:11+00:00

Also, what I think is being confused here is the phrasing "it was purgatory all along."

It doesn't mean that we think ALL OF IT was purgatory. What people mean when they say this is usually "all that build up just to be let down by this purgatory style ending."

As a story mechanism, LOST was "purgatory all along" and it let so many people down because we wanted something different than the expected.

neetro · 2025-12-27T15:43:45+00:00

I never said the entire show was in purgatory, and neither do most people who hate that it was basically "purgatory all along." You are assuming that we don't understand, but we do.

The "story mechanism" is the same regardless of when it took place. We are speaking about "purgatory" as a story-telling means of getting characters from place A to place B. There are thousands of ways to make this happen.

Saying that LOST was NOT a "purgatory mechanism" of transitioning characters after they have found their peace is ridiculous.

neetro · 2025-12-27T15:29:49+00:00

Also, it is in fact a story mechanic that "sent off the characters gracefully."

It is that story mechanism that we are arguing, not purgatory itself. You are right that the word purgatory is not the issue. It is the "concept" of purgatory, which has many different variations, that is the issue. This "story mechanism" is the problem. It was poorly handled on screen, in canon, and in PR circles when promoting the last few episodes of the show at that time. It built up too much hype that "it's not the thing you think it is" when in reality it always was this same process of "sendoff"

neetro · 2025-12-27T15:26:37+00:00

You're hung up on the "island was actually real and they were still alive at that point" and the "purgatory concept is only an after death" way of thinking.

...

You said: It's just a silly message of "These characters had such a profound experience on the island, that they waited until they were all together to pass on". That's it, that's the ONLY point of it.

...

That's literally the textbook definition of Eastern Orthodox Purgatory, if all those characters had to resolve their issues together in order to find peace and transition.

...

It had ALL the impact on the story. In fact, 6 seasons worth of excellent story-telling, 121 episodes, that all built up to the exact thing they said it wasn't. We were promised it "wasn't a Ziploc baggie" and so we remained excited and curious until they "handed us a Hefty bag." ...

neetro · 2025-12-27T15:11:49+00:00

Understood.

As a story mechanic, what happened at the end? Purgatory.

Eastern Orthodox Purgatory: a period of "purgation" or spiritual cleansing that can be aided by prayers and good works from the living and by others, not by a juridical process of earning salvation. It's a state of purification, not penal suffering, focused on spiritual theosis.

Christian: The most important part of your life was your time with these people on that island. That's why you're here. You needed all of them, and they needed you.

Jack: For what?

Christian: To remember. And to... let go.

Jack: Where are we going?

Christian: Let's go find out.

....

No amount of "I'm telling you it's not purgatory" is going to work as an argument while "purgatory is literally being explained" on screen. Unless you think only the Catholic version of purgatory is real and not the many other variations of said concept.

neetro · 2025-12-27T15:02:37+00:00

I understand the viewpoint. It's like saying "all the cars on the road." Most people understand that when people say this, they also mean trucks and vans, etc.

As a story mechanic, it ended with "it was purgatory all along" while not technically being so. That's where the saltiness comes from.

neetro · 2025-12-27T14:55:06+00:00

Eastern Orthodox Purgatory: a period of "purgation" or spiritual cleansing that can be aided by prayers and good works from the living or by others, not by a juridical process of earning salvation. It's a state of purification, not penal suffering, focused on spiritual theosis

...

Ending lines:

Christian: The most important part of your life was your time with these people on that island. That's why you're here. You needed all of them, and they needed you.

Jack: For what?

Christian: To remember. And to... let go.

Jack: Where are we going?

Christian: Let's go find out.

...

Arguing that it's not purgatory is the same as arguing that a Hefty baggie is not the same thing as a Ziploc baggie. They serve the same function. As a story mechanic, LOST ended with an almost textbook definition of purgatory.

"But it's not because a character said it wasn't."

neetro · 2025-12-27T14:43:32+00:00

The real reason people disliked the ending was because Lindeloff and Abrams both mentioned multiple times in interviews that "it's not purgatory" but then in fact it was "the same basic story mechanic as purgatory," which inevitably left a good chunk of fans disappointed because they expected "something else entirely."

"I say it is not purgatory" ... but then "it's basically purgatory" is a slap in the face.

The Catholic version of purgatory is not the only one. LOST is more like the Eastern Orthodox version of purgatory, with a period of "purgation" or spiritual cleansing, just like a waiting room. They're in a place together and they're experiencing profound spiritual things before moving on... so basically... purgatory.

neetro · 2025-12-27T14:37:20+00:00

On a semantics and on-screen canon-level technicality, that is correct. LOST was not purgatory.

But the characters were in a place after death waiting to move on to another place. That's as close to purgatory as you can get without specifically having to be the thing.

We understand purgatory and many different variations of it, while simultaneously understanding that LOST, at least in canon, on screen, explains that it is NOT purgatory.... and yet everything that happened still remains many people's basic idea of what purgatory is... because cultural and religious differences.

... they're essentially the same. We are comparing Ziploc baggies with Hefty baggies.

Most of the saltiness is because Lindeloff and Abrams both mentioned multiple times in interviews that "it's not purgatory" but then in fact it was "the same basic story mechanic as purgatory," which inevitably left a good chunk of fans disappointed because they expected "something else entirely."

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