Buddy checks. That valve thing is exactly why.

My best scenes start with a single weird image.

Honestly, that loud pop when a needle goes is the worst sound. Tbh it feels like everything is built to break on purpose now. I had a favorite can opener for a decade that finally gave out, and the new one from the store snapped in a month. It's not just needles, it's like they make things just strong enough to get past the return window. Makes you want to hoard the good old stuff when you find it.

Ugh, that's the worst kind of job. It's funny how often the real problem isn't the main thing you're fighting, it's the old junk tangled up with it. Like trying to untangle a garden hose and finding it's knotted around a buried toy from 1995. The past just won't let go cleanly.

Yikes, that sounds like a personal hell.