Oh, that one's a doozy...
So, ngl, I was getting to write this up for like a month, maybe even more depending on how you count things... Anywho let's get to the point:
As some astute viewers might have noticed I've been a little less active lately you can have some fun with definition of 'lately' here. Now, I've felt somewhat compelled to explain that issue to all you lovely folk who don't give a slightest ▯ about it. And to punctuate that with a lovely month-long Train ending today. Alas, the life has it's own plans, hence delay and I'm lazy af but we can omit that deatail Regardless, Question is - why am I here? I think it's mostly legacy compatibility issue. I was gonna make that post in one form or another and it has to be done or else it'll bother me. Problems discussed henceforth have less meaning right now. It was supposed to be a form of vent, self-help or maybe a coping mechanism, now it's juast a wall of text partially to satisy my and partially to obfuscate the train. But lest get back to the topic at hand - why was I gone.
A while back coming on to a year now it seems I've met a girl. And oh boy, was she something! And don't throw the words around easy, but she was closer to perfect than I'd ever dream about. Yeah, I fell head over heels for her. And the best part is she was into me as well. So one thing led to another and as it happens we end up together as a couple. And I basically end up the happiest guy on the planet. Oh, and my trip to Japan (a life long dream) happens around that time as well totally amazing, got to visit all my favourite spots from Yakuza IRL, wonderfull place. So yeah, I was quite absorbed with life and didn't have much time to hang here. Long story short, here comes January and she says she doesn't feel it and breaks up with me. I was davastated. Crashed right from the top to like the lowest point in my life ever. Now, I had a plenty of time to hang around here then but I didn't really want to be around. Here, or anywhere for that matter. Yes, what you might think of came to me. In hindsight I don't know if it really mattered, but I was under some form of professional care, so if I did came to use you as a shoulder to cry on you wouldn't bare it all on your own... Anyway I struggled a lot right to somewhere around April. April came and I was like a new man! All the problems gone and I'm feeling good! That's where we get that aforementioned monthly timeline. Was gonna write up a long post like that one and tell y'all to hop on a train that end on my bday! But life had different plans again and I've fallen on some bad health do people do it? do you fall on bad health? whatver, I guess I did. Nothing too too serious, just some lifelong ailments acting up WAY more than usual. But that was enough to throw me off-kilter for a while. But I got some meds, I've got a hospital visit for treatment planned soon™, and overall I'm better. Now my bday came and well, I'm kinda down again. I'm getting older and while I'm seemingly doing well life kinda sucks. But why do I write this? You can't really help me nor am I looking for pity. I know ppl have it way worse then I do yet here I am crying about my First World Problems. So I'll just close it with a little Simpsons meme I might be overusing, but that resonates with me well. find attached below
For the train - it's mostly bundled, non-reg locked, non-free crap exceptions apply lvl 2/3 (sorry, mixed) and runs from my bday till the end of the week. I ran out of slots on this one lol it should be fine but some eagle eyed individual might run a sanity check if all's linked correctly (all my private GAs should be in this one) making trains is a ▯ Oh, and there's a little something for my 💙 as well ;)

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6 months ago*

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obligatory yearly train

View Results
potato
cake

reserved for reservation purposes

6 months ago
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Last hour bump!

For those struggling - solution will appear here after the train is done

6 months ago
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random stats so far:
at least 8 ppl won more then 1 GA from the train lucky bastards :D
at least 1 ga had wrong region locks fml

6 months ago
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solution

since people asked

Throughout the post 5 characters were emphasised using either bold or italics ** and * respectively. These characters combined created a GA code you should type into the URL - https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/HERE/. To make solving easier characters appeared in text in the same order they were in the code - i.e. the first emphasised character in the text is the first character in the code. To find these caracters you could either use your eagle eyes or right click the textbox and choose "inspect" to see the source code and spot <bold> and <em> tags for bold and italics respectively. I guess one of the biggest hurdles was "z" in "Yakuza" hiding in the spoiler as it looks pretty much normal despite being italicised...

honestly it was done more as a bot protection measure rather than a puzzle itself. Typically I would hide the link in a comma or a full stop but I've heard bots are scraping posts for anything between /two slashes/ so I went for the single characters route...

6 months ago*
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Though i didn't get it thanks for telling me about the inspect stuff, useful to know

6 months ago
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Happy birthday! And oof man... sorry to hear that. Had a similar experience and issues that developed after it. Communities like this one have been a very pleasant distraction. It's always nice to have the opportunity to try a new, cool looking game and you meet some awesome people in the process. Hope things work out in the end and that you manage to fulfill your dreams one way or the other.

6 months ago
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Thanks for train and happy Birthday 🍰.

6 months ago
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Hey thanks for the endless train (it loops, don't know if it's intended or not :) )

As I often say, it's better to vent here than to keep it inside.

Life sucks a lot, but know that it does for (mostly) everyone. Which counts is that you find things you love and that you care about.

6 months ago
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(it loops, don't know if it's intended or not :) )

yes it is :D

Which counts is that you find things you love and that you care about.

ye, the problems is when you don't. and I don't. I'm kinda in a state on nihilistic bliss rn. I barely hang on to caring about my health but I'm kinda like - why should I if In The End Nothing Else Matters?

6 months ago
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I encountered this too in the past. You just find ways to pass the time , food has no taste , and you're bored of people.

What helped me was a change of my habits. New job, new friends, new things to discover.

It's not easy to go out of our dark bubble, but in the end that matters, believe me.

6 months ago
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I feel you there, mate. She was perfect for me, but in my case the bad health fell on her. Turmoil for years, until she returned to her home planet because she was not from this world.
Life continues, but it's not the same. I hope you can get over those health issues, and also I hope maybe you'll find someone else.
And I wish you a happy birthday. Or at least one that's not too bad...

6 months ago
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I recently got a girlfriend, after not having one for about 10 years. It’s a big adjustment, and I don’t seem to have the same spare time that I used to. My gaming time has to be sacrificed first, and that’s been so difficult. But, I love her, and she has had a positive impact on me as well. I guess I’m at that age that I could settle down without a second thought, but this relationship feels like a first girlfriend again. Apprehensive.

Not sure why I just shared that.
Hope you get better soon.
I couldn’t find the door to the train, oh well 🤷🏻‍♀️

6 months ago
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inspect harder, I know you can do it ;)

6 months ago
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Oh, I found more than 5 possible characters is the problem, which means any one of those is incorrect. I just can’t get the right combo to crack it.

6 months ago
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Odd, I was trying to avoid such situation.
You made me go inspect that myself and to be frank I think you're overthinking it. I cannot find any spares...

6 months ago
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I’m a sucker for spelling mistakes…it’s ok, I’ll survive.

6 months ago
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Same! I came across four highlighted characters, but also a whole lot of spelling errors. I just can’t find the right combination haha.

6 months ago
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ye, I forgot to run the Spelchek on it. Was gonna do it "later" as I wanted to launch the train asap. Now it's way overdue.
but I guarantee there's full set of characters available w/o any spelling mistakes ;)

6 months ago
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Ah, that last missing piece was so well hidden! Awesome, awesome train, by the way!

6 months ago
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6 months ago
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life does suck sometimes, hoping the good times don't hide much longer

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6 months ago
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6 months ago
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happy birthday Devirk, and thanks for the nice ride. and get well soon.
and — always look on the bright side of life.

6 months ago
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Happy birthday, man. I wish you strength and a quick recovery from all the misfortunes you're facing.

6 months ago
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Hope you recover well, and happy birthday. Here's to a better and brighter year ahead!

6 months ago
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It's always a roller coaster...I hope you'll be on your way up from now on.

6 months ago
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I kept attentively querying your lines for a ways to help out your heart, but I think it is these things which build our character or let us fall.

Either way, belated happy birthday!

6 months ago
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belated

nope, not yet, still in time :)

6 months ago
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That is a proverbial mess to dig through. I found 4 but have a headache. I might try again later. Either way it's good you are feeling better.

6 months ago
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yeah, it's quite devious. ended up harder than expected, but it's doable ;)

6 months ago
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oh I found it finally that was quite crafty had to pull out all the stops

6 months ago*
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Happy birthday, wishing you all the best!

6 months ago
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Damn dude, that's rough.

Nice work on the giveaway though, good to be part of a community and have something to focus on in tough times.

6 months ago
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Life's a bitch sometimes and all we can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Wishing you a brighter year this time around.

6 months ago
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Long story short, here comes January and she says she doesn't feel it and breaks up with me. I was davastated. Crashed right from the top to like the lowest point in my life eve

I think the trick is to decide that your happiness doesn't depend on someone else's decisions. Which is easier said than done though 👀
Nice train, too

6 months ago
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thanks, those are all handmade cars too! :D

6 months ago
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Happy belated birthday, buddy! I’m glad you’re feeling better.

6 months ago
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but you're still on time!

6 months ago
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Yay! Have fun on your special day, okay? (:

6 months ago
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6 months ago
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Happy (belated?) birthday!
Don't feel too bad about "first-world" problems, u can still feel sad even despite someone else having somewhat bigger problems.

6 months ago
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(belated?)

nope :)

6 months ago
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In that case just a Happy Birthday, sir! o7

6 months ago
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Happy Birthday OP! I haven't figured out the solution just yet, but I'm working on it.

All in due time :)

6 months ago
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This moved me a little bit, I really like your philosophy. Trying to stay positive in times like these is not easy, hope you are better and stay better. Best wishes from me and good luck on your endeavors.

Oh and also, happy birthing day.

6 months ago
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oh, I have a philosophy?! good to know :D

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6 months ago
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Okay, nevermind. I am offended.

How can a person be so full of life despite all their struggles?

6 months ago
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I have died inside. It's less of "full of life" and more of a blissfull acceptance of futility of it all type of thing.
in other words - why worry, we're all f&^$% regardless, just enjoy the show;
in other words - I'm not happy, I just can't be sad anymore

6 months ago
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That's true, we can't change the world with one person at a time, but we can enjoy ourselves one person at a time.

Enjoy the show and play the game, it will be fine in the end.

6 months ago
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Happy belated birthday, get well soon :)

6 months ago
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not belated yet ;)

6 months ago
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Happy bday! Well, life is a rollercoaster, sometimes it is attached 1, sometimes it is arrached 2, part of the experience, i guess

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6 months ago
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6 months ago
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Have a happy birthday and a happy resurrection, Devirk :)

6 months ago
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