Wait, is it really "showing off" or is it just that stressing about it made me pay closer attention and now I'm seeing growth I missed before? I think the ficus was doing fine the whole time, we just noticed it when we stopped hovering.

Nah, I don't see it as weird or creepy at all. Dead malls are peaceful if you ask me. I've been to Forest Fair a few times when it was practically empty and it's honestly nice having all that space to yourself. No crowds, no loud music blasting from stores, no kids running around screaming. The silence is a feature not a bug. People act like every empty mall is haunted or something but it's just what happens when places get abandoned by shoppers.

Yeah but @robertsmith I still miss the breadcrumbs and just end up confused at the end.

Oh man, the Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich was my go to for years. I remember driving 15 minutes out of my way to the one that still had it after they started phasing it out. There was this one cashier named Brenda who knew my order and would start making it when she saw my car pull in. Then one day I showed up and she told me they were done with it. I literally sat in the parking lot for five minutes just staring at the menu trying to figure out what else to get. I tried the spicy chicken wrap thing they replaced it with but it was just dry shredded chicken in a tortilla. Now when I go to Wendy's I just get the baked potato with sour cream and chives and a small chili which is like $4 and kinda feels like a sad compromise.

snapped on the third pull" - oh man that hurts to even read. I would have thrown that thing across the driveway and then kicked it. Three pulls is nothing, these cheap tools are straight up dangerous on a 6.0 job where you're already fighting with those injectors. I bought a $40 set once and the handle literally twisted off in my hand before I even got the first injector loose. The metal is just too soft, it bends and breaks under any real pressure. Plus you gotta think about the time wasted ordering a real one or getting towed, that $30 savings turns into hundreds real quick.