#(all of which we sell for much cheaper than we probably should)

[silhouettecrow]

365 Days of Writing Prompts: Day 330

Adjective: Vivacious

Noun: Delta

Definitions for those who need/want them:

Vivacious: attractively lively and animated (typically used of a woman)

Delta: the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (Δ, δ), transliterated as ‘d’; the fourth in a series of items, categories, etc; (astronomy) the fourth (usually fourth brightest) star in a constellation; a code word representing the letter D, used in radio communication; a difference between two things or values; (computing) a change or set of changes made to a file or program, especially as part of an update to a later version; a triangular tract tract of sediment deposited at the mouth of a river, typically where it diverges into several outlets; a region in northern Mississippi that lies between the Yazoo and Mississippi rivers and is known for its cotton and for blues music

[nsk96]

Personal rant:

I have an exam tomorrow and I'm probably gonna fail because I've been trying so hard to study but can barely focus and barely retain anything because I'm so dizzy. My mom has been spraying rubbing alcohol (91%, it burns so much) into the air all over the house since yesterday and today (because she thinks it will kill the gnats she thinks been attacking her skin for the past few years) and it's burning my airways and now I feel so dizzy. I feel dizzier than usual probably due to the topiramate I'm taking now for migraine prevention. Apparently mixing topiramate with alcohol increases dizziness.

It's getting so hard to breathe. Before, she only sprayed this around herself and then around the house once in a while, but so frequently around the house two days in a row is a first. I feel like she's doing this in retaliation to my dad, but it's hurting me who already has sensitive respiratory issues. I can hardly think straight as it is which is a side effect of the topiramate...not great with when I already suffer from focus issues.

I couldn't take it anymore so I cracked open a window despite how chilly and noisy it is outside. Neighbors cutting their grass too so it's loud af. It sucks that my mom doesn't want me driving all the way to school to study but expects me to stay home in these conditions to study and then she pretends to sympathize with me every time I fail an exam or quiz (often). Not that I have to ask her permission, but I do have to let her know where I'm going, and she will make an argument of it. I don't know why I let her talk me out of moving out. It's too late to move out now because I was supposed to move out at the beginning of this semester but she backed out of the plan over the summer. The plan wouldn't work without her.

The original plan: I would move out using loans from my school, then when I graduate, she'll move in with me leaving my dad behind since he's the biggest source of our misery and danger. Her income combined with mine from residency (universe-willing I get one) would be enough to see us through until I finish residency and I get a pharmacist job someplace cheaper and we move there (likely west to Sarasota where her old friend lives and the area is still developing). She was super supportive in the beginning of the year, like, literally buying me things to put in the apartment like juice/water pitcher and helping me pick out bed sheets and rugs to carry over while I search for an apartment. I had already narrowed down my search to a few apartments by July and I just had to go through the specifics of each one with her in August once rotations were over and school started.

Then it was in August that she backed out completely before I even brought up the apartments saying that we should wait-blah blah blah. Yes while my grades suffer because of being stuck here which may actually prevent me from getting residency. Then she was like "and we should get a house". I said "with what?" There's almost nothing in my parents' bank account, so there's nothing to split when they divorce? And my dad hasn't been making the mortgage payments so there goes the house? There's no selling it. With my student debt, I may not even be able to get a loan for a house? Good plan, mom. Good plan.

[hekates-corner]

Apothecary Diaries | WN Translation | Arc 9 - Chapter 2

Hi. However you found this, welcome!

For a number of reasons I ended up here - I relay all that happens in the chapters, playing wine-aunt, as I translate to the best of my abilities.

So, be warned: There's all the spoilers down below. If you'd like to get spoiled but less? My dm's/asks are open!

Chapter 1 | Masterlist.

Chapter 2

When Rikuson returns to his room, he lets out a sigh. He then mutters something to himself before taking off his mud and sand stained clothes. “That’s malicious” is what I keep getting from it, but I’m not 100%.

He'd been asking to patrol the countryside for quite a while, but it wasn't until 5 days ago that he was given permission by Gyokuou - but today he rushed back due to a bad feeling he had.

The next is him muttering something to himself along the lines of when he left he was told that there would be a delay. He goes on to recall that he left 5 days prior because he was told that the guests from Li/the capital wouldn't arrive in about ten days. So he took off five days prior to a rural village.

We then get a whole giant paragraph on him dusting off his jacket and so forth. He also mentions how he wants to take a bath, but can’t and that he doesn’t even seem to have enough time to at least wipe down his body. So, he has no choice but to put incense paste on his neck.

In Saito(?), there’s two types of incense: perfume or kneaded and he has an option of each, but…. one of them was a gift, while the other is something he was kinda forced to buy while in town.

I can’t for the life of me figure out who sent him the joke gift, but we will just ignore that for now, it’s either Gyokuou or someone else.. or not, because he continues thinking about how the one he ends up going with hardly sells.

All the incense in this city has a strong smell, so something cheaper with a weaker scent was just right - before anything though, he can’t imagine wearing something he got from… idk, I couldn’t tell you.

After putting on just enough to cover the smell of sweat, he puts on a smile. After all, smiling is essential in business - and one should never stop smiling when dealing with customers. He can still recall his mothers words.

Rikuson then wonders what face his current boss will make, given how much earlier than planned he returned (around five days earlier).. and that it will be a little uncomfortable if his old boss, Lakan, was there, but he can’t help it.

He tightens his sash/belt and leaves the room.

“It’s been a while.” - We return, with Rikuson entering the hall where Gyokuou and his subordinates are mingling. They and the guests are enjoying a light meal.. while the servers take turns coming in and preparing the dishes.

Despite it still being early for dinner, it was luxurious.. and he couldn’t have forgotten the face of that guest.

A man with stubble beard and a monocle: Lakan. His former boss who understands all without being told. The one next to him was an attendant that had already served before Rikuson. In fact, the poor thing cried when thanking Rikuson for helping him when he first started working for Lakan.

In the end, Rikuson couldn’t remain by Lakan’s side forever, but the remaining attendant often accompanies Lakan.

There’s a remark next about how the attendant is a competent person, but his character is partially bad or that he sometimes falls short.. which is unchangeable, because “once you are under Lakan, you have no other choice but to give up”.

The attendant seems to notice Rikuson, for he nods his way with his eyes while listening to Lakan. The latter appears to be the same as always.

Lakan ends up looking at Rikuson with a blank expression, he probably wouldn’t even have noticed Rikuson if the attendant hadn’t told/gestured to him. There are times when Rikuson wants to ask what he looks like in Lakans eyes.

Someone ends up continuously waving and calling for Rikuson, all the while looking at Gyokuou as if to check if it’s alright to approach him.

Gyokuou, sits in the center at a table and waves with one hand to say hello. Rikuson ends up feeling quite uncomfortable and the attendant just looks at him with an indescribable expression because due to his own position he likely knows who has priority: the boss, or the former boss.

Meanwhile Lakan isn’t bothered at all, he just keeps eating fried food. Behind him was a maid, who ate a bite before handing the food over to Lakan - Rikuson hadn’t seen her before.

Despite hearing talk that the Emperor's “younger brother” should be there, Rikuson can’t find Jinshi anywhere - but then he thinks that this wasn’t an official gathering per se and that Lakan likely just showed up without thinking about it. As he looks at the attendant, he understands that he (Lakan, I think) should’ve declined.

“Ehm.. Rikuson, I want to eat those bread rolls.” - For a moment Lakan thought he’d forgotten the name, but he was right.. and speaking of those manju (bean-jam dumpling/steamed yeast bun with filling).. If you guessed there’s an argument about steamed buns, you’re right.

Far as I could gather Lakan says that he wants to have a certain type of bun, but his attendant doesn’t remember their name - ironically Rikuson thought Lakan had already forgotten his? - but the attendant claims it’s the bun Lakan already has.. for a moment Rikuson can’t tell from the bun alone, but he searches his memory for an answer.

Rikuson is like “It’s sweet, isn’t it.” and Lakan(?) says yes. Rikuson asks if there were any ingredients (special ones, probably) and Lakan(?) says that he doesn’t think there were any.

Rikuson then thinks that the red bean paste filling doesn’t appear to be sweet and inquires if the buns are something that’s eaten with sauce or something… and… like.. Lakan says something along the lines of “the white one/white stuff is delicious”, or alternatively “i love the dipping - the white stuff”... like, okay Lakan, Mr. Monocle, I didn’t wanna know you that deeply, but hey man, whatever floats your boat-

Please excuse your translator not being professional but like.. come on xD

Rikuson then has an idea. He asks if it’s the fried manju from a certain hotel and Lakan(?) is like “I think so.” - the man ate them once and ever since then Rikuson had to go back to buy them, several times.

He then orders the attendant to serve the hanamaki (chinese twisted buns) with condensed milk that has a bit of sugar added to it and the attendant is like “Understood.”. It’s because Lakan had a hanamaki laying in front of him that Rikuson remembered.

Someone interrupts it all by stating how delicious the fried noodle buns with condensed milk look and that’s when Rikuson takes note of the lady attendant who seems to be a poison tester - she has a twinkle in her eye and while she doesn’t look much like a lady-in-waiting he wonders if she’s another stray that Lakan picked up.

He also thinks that, given after how long they finally met again and the conversation they just had, Lakan’s still just.. Lakan, unchanged as ever.

The talk about buns continues, as the attendant says to Lakan that he’ll prepare them for tomorrow's dim-sum. (Dim-sum is a traditional chinese meal made up of small plates of dumplings and other snack dishes that’s usually accompanied by tea - a sorta brunch)… but bratty Lakan is like “But i wanna have them for tonights dinner.” and his attendent’s like “Please don’t be rude, this is a dinner party.”.

While the attendant speaks in a low voice, as if he’s reluctant to even mumble, when Rikuson glances at him from the side, because it looks like he’s having trouble, he glares at Rikuson.

In an attempt to make up Rikuson says to the attendant that nothing’s changed/it’s all the same as always… and the attendant shoots back with a simple but effective “yeah, no change.. it seems that you’ve become a big fan of the western capital.”

Rikuson comes up with the conclusion that the attendant must’ve noticed his tan skin and the incense smell - in the capital he never used to burn any.

As if to make things worse, at long last Gyokuou butts in now, saying that Rikuson has only just returned from a long trip and to forgive him (who doesn’t like loyalty questions in already loyalty shattering circumstances, right?)

Gyokuou seems to have overheard the conversation, eating meat all the while and the attendant can only stutter out “I-I see.”.

The attendant goes pale in the face, and Rikuson takes note of that happening likely because he (the attendant) never expected to get called out to and not by that man. Gyokuou also inquires if the food’s alright and says that if they want anything he’ll have it made for them then and there..

And of course, “I wonder if there's fried noodle dumplings from (x) hotel.” Lakan says that with.. no hesitation whatsoever.

Logically Gyokuou is like “Huh, what fried noodle dumplings?” and since he’s the one to ask, Rikuson is forced to explain - at that point the poor guy's stomach starts to hurt.

Rikuson lets out a breath, despite having an inkling, he still wonders if this is gonna go on for another good while.

| Chapter 3 & Notes

That's where the chapters ends.

On that note, I couldn’t quite grasp the name of the hotel, so I’m just leaving that out for now.

When it comes to the taste tester Lakan has with him, I’m assuming it’s Chue, but there was no name or description given really outside of sparkly eyes related to food - which seems kinda valid given V9's banquet.

And last but not least, the reason for me not using the chapter titles is because I’m pretty sure they don’t translate as well - they don’t have a proper sentence structure after all.. but so far, we had “Saito” and “Boss and former boss”.

If there are any questions, my dms and asks are open. Also, if you'd like to get notified when new uploads drop, I'm up to send a dm or tag - just let me know!

[clunelover]

I have a sudden desire to get back into biking (like, non stationary biking). When I was in high school, I watched Breaking Away and got very into it. I got a way too nice road bike for my high school graduation present, which I used a lot that summer before college, and then again after I dropped out and had free time, but then once I got a job I used it pretty rarely. I didn’t feel like I could safely lock it up anywhere, every part of it was too expensive. Then since I didn’t practice enough I never totally got used to that riding position, so rode it less and less…A few years ago I ended up donating it to a local nonprofit where teens learn to fix up bikes and then sell them for a reduced price. When I need to bike, I have been using this old Schwinn Searcher I bought used 15 years ago, that kept getting banged up and needing lots of work, such that over time I’ve probably sunk $500+ into a $75 bike and it still sucks to ride and skips gears all the time. Anyway, I told Jeremy I want to get back into riding and as such need a new bike. He’s annoyingly miserly and was balking at the idea of me getting a new bike because what if I fall back out of love with it. Now to be fair, I hadn’t looked at bikes in a long time and they’re a lot more expensive than I remembered! But so is fucking everything. He thought I should just pay to get this old one fixed up yet again. So I made him come to a bike shop with me so he could hear someone say "to get this all the way fixed up it will cost more than a much newer used bike in working order." We ended up trading it in, and putting that value ($47! Actually pretty good, considering!) towards getting Jeremy a new tire for his bike.

Then I thought while I was there, I might as well test a bike I might try to find used somewhere. The guy getting me set up with it was like "well based on your trade in bike, I’m thinking bikes have changed a lot since you’ve last looked at them" which I was inwardly indignant about, but turns out- yes! I’d heard of disc brakes but never ridden a bike with them. Also I didn’t know that gearing has been moving away from the 3-chainring style I’m so used to. I tried a bike with disc brakes and a 1x and it was so cool! I’m now in an irritated debate with Jeremy though - he thinks I should get a used bike off Craigslist cause it’s cheaper, and "I’m worried you won’t ride it enough," whereas I’m like "okay but that requires messaging with multiple Craigslist people and a lot of leg work and quite possibly leads to another situation where I have a bike that needs a lot more work than it’s worth, and by the way, I AM less likely to ride a crunchy old crap bike so then you’ll think you’ve proven a point." (Yes I know there’s a happy medium where you get a not dirt cheap used bike and it’s not crappy, or get a bike that needs only a minor tuneup to be not crappy, but also looking on Craigslist and fb marketplace it’s mostly barely used top of the line bikes that still cost thousands, or beat to hell bikes like the one I just got rid of. Some more in between ones but a lot of them not my size…etc. I went to the place my old good bike had been donated, but their inventory was limited and they were way backed up, so there’s a long wait to have them actually refurbished by the at risk teens in the shop.) So part of my desire to get a new bike/used bike from a shop, is that it’s not just the cost of the bike, it’s that plus whatever the value of my time sifting through listings is, and the time that adds to me being able to get one and start riding.

ANYWAY I’m going to meet a Craigslist person at the library tomorrow to check out a used Giant Escape that I think is overpriced but I’m also not positive and in any case I think I’d feel like a shitheel asking them to reduce it from $300 to $250 (esp if I’m wrong and it’s not actually overpriced) so I guess cross your fingers that it’s a perfect bike and seems worth the price and the problem can be solved. As an alternative, I’d accept traveling back in time to last winter/spring when more bikes were on sale, and realizing I wanted one then.

[magicwithclass]

Pigeons poop on karn. I am preserving mtg lore! This is canon just read the flavor text. That fact alone makes Xanthic statue worthy of being a reserved list card. It is also one of very few cards that begin with the letter x. If you want to make a flavor deck built around Karn silver golem than you are definitely considering this guy but this card is awful. 8 mana and this does..... nothing. It does absolutely nothing for 8 mana. Then, for 5 more mana you can make it an 8/8 artifact creature until end of turn? For 13 mana? We have eldrazi now! This is one bulk card that is probably going to remain bulk. It is just so outclassed in all possible ways and I can not think of any deck that would play this before considering 10 other more playable cards. It seems unlikely that this card will ever find a home which is sad because that means birds are probably going to continue to poop on it outside. I am pooping on it too because I cannot possibly suggest this card in any way even from a financial speculation mindset. This card WAS over 6 dollars back km spring of 2021 but if you have been reading my thoughts on other reserved list cards you will have seen the pattern that even bulk reserved list cards spiked during this time period due to massive but nonsusstainable buyouts. Most of the cards that spiked crashed not long after and today some of those cards are back to bulk prices. This card actually had a slight rebound in April of 2023 wherein was over 2 dollars. There are so many other reserved list cards under two bucks that I have no idea why this card was that expensive in 2023. Even now at over one dollar I say this card is over priced? Why would you want this card? Is is that it is colorless so it goes in any deck? There are very few cards on the reserved list that I would reccomend purchasing less than this statue. Some cards on the reserved list have strange or unique effects that could one day be broken or are off color effects. I can not imagine a day when this card should be targeted for a buyout over so many other, cheaper choices but I guess unexpected buyouts do happen. I wonder if anyone made money off of xanthic statue. It was above 6 dollars for a time and you could have bought hundreds of copies in 2020 for about thirty cents. Did anyone flip this card for about 5 dollars in profit. A 5 dollar profit isn't nothing if you had thousands of copies of this card but does anyone have that much of even bulk reserved list card? Even if they do would they be willing to sell off their monopoly for a 5 dollar profit per card? Rudy from alpha investments would not. It just goes to show that even the worse reserved list cards can lead to financial success if the stars align. You can never be absolutely sure. Will this card ever be above 5 dollars again? Maybe in fifty years and maybe if there are buyouts throughout the reserved list in general but I don't think it will hold 5 dollars in my life time. That doesn't mean you can't acquire this card and flip it at the perfect time but there are so many other reserved list cards I would suggest over this one if that is what you are trying to do but diversifying your assets is never a bad idea.

[demonsfate]

Ikr?! I totally rolled my eyes when I found out it's another damn port. Honestly, ports should be FREE. Anything that is a port from a MUCH OLDER game should be ABSOLUTELY FREE. The STORE should be reserved for BRAND NEW ITEMS ONLY. At first I thought Kazuya's Tek6 outfit was a brand new remake and sb pointed out it's not, they just upscaled the textures - I wasn't certain. But now seeing this? I'm sure EVERYTHING in the store is recycled materials! That means this game is making ppl pay $5 for items that are from games that are 9 YEARS - 15 YEARS OLD!! Tekken 6 is from nearly two decade agos and they are literally taking clothes from it and RESELLING THEM?! It's absolute madness! All the outfits currently in the store cost $50 to get them all if my math is correct. (Maybe even more if they think they can charge more for the "cyber pack") Which may not be as pricey as Mortal Kombat 1's prices... but the thing is. I'm PRETTY SURE everything in MK1 is new content. Meanwhile, Tekken 8 is charging us these prices for ports! And most of the ports don't even look good at that! I'm sure if I could get a closer look of the "cyber" outfits from more than just a mere thumbnail, I could see the low quality TK7 textures on them!

No wonder why Bamco is taking down any MODS videos! Because modders show they can do what Bamco is selling! for free! That even a normal person who doesn't work for Bamco can just take an outfit from a game and port it to another!!!

Like the prob with the store is that... I wouldn't even complain about it as much if the items were cheaper ($0.99 to $1.99) and if they weren't ALL LITERALLY PORTS! It also really kills the excitement because fans probs wanna see the really old classic outfits (from Tek1-Tek5) remade into glorious high definition, but now we know we'll probably never get those. At least not for a long, long, long time. Tek6, Tag 2, and Tek7 has quite a bit they can port before we see new stuff coming around. Just. My gosh!

And even with the Battle ("Fight") pass, maybe I'd be less critical of it, too if there were just more exciting items available. If maybe in the free pass, the free players (technically not free players because EVERYONE paid for this game) could get at least one or two clothing options! But nope! Looks like free players can't even get ONE clothing option in the start! That's crazy!

Idc what anyone says; this isn't to maintain servers, this is just straight up Greed. Not only greed, but laziness too. You gotta pick your poison; Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat has crazy prices but original outfits. Tekken has lower prices, but they're all recycled from older games. Cannot believe this...

[maskyartist]

"yall should ask me about loyalty swap" i am Looking

howd neo start working for ozpin? 👀

OH WELL IF U INSIST! Just keep in mind @rexidot and I tend to use our own hc backstories for characters like Neo, Roman, and Ozpin, so none of this will follow things from Roman Holiday (havent even read it :( so depressing I want it so bad)

We’re still kinda feeling it out but currently the plot goes-

Ozpin grew up in a very well off family, but was often overlooked or simply ignored for most of his life. He was very lonely, mostly having the housekeeping or kitchen staff for company, and they weren’t the best friends for a child. He needed someone around his age.

Which is why he saw it as a blessing in disguise when he got his pocket change stolen one day, and found Neo tucked away trying to hoard it for herself.

Neo saw a simple rich kid and didn’t think much of it. She did her usual slight of hand and hurried away before the boy could catch up, but a simple trip sent her newly earned Lien scattered. She just barely managed to hoard it all together before Ozpin caught up with her and effectively cornered her.

Instead of yelling about some thief or whining like most kids would, Ozpin just smiled and offered a hand.

“Maybe this is a bit bold…but would you like to have lunch with my family? I would be happy to buy your meal.”

Neo was suspicious, because who wouldn’t be? But this dork definitely wasn’t planning on tricking her. His big glasses and poofy hair and dumb turtlenecks were obvious signs that he was too…good for that kind of thing. This was a genuine offer, and as much as Neo didn’t want to be around the rich, they found a compromise with Neo basically miming out her idea, and Ozpin catching on.

They meet in the middle, Ozpin buying her a cheaper meal that the two can split and just…talking. Ozpin admits he’s not worried about his parents. They won’t notice he’s gone. They never do.

And that’s what sparks the idea.

“Why don’t I bring you home with me?” He offers, patiently, with a smile. “I will handle my parents and their worries, but I doubt they’d mind much.” A giggle. “If anything, they’d probably enjoy your company, considering how much time we could spend together.”

It’s an odd request, but Ozpin just seemed so…genuine. Weird for sure, but genuine. And if Neo skipped out on a good roof over her head, she’d be dumber than him. If anything his place will probably have valuables she could steal and sell.

She agrees and Ozpin brings her home, his parents never even realized he wasn’t at lunch. They weren’t happy with Oz bringing home a “street urchin” but when Ozpin began to explain his point, they just waved him away. If he wanted a friend that badly then he could have it. Leave them to work. She’s his responsibility now.

Ozpin and Neo were too young to really grasp the weirdness of it. All they knew was immediate approval, and Ozpin was eager to get his new friend settled.

Neo told herself it wouldn’t be permanent but day after day of waking up in Ozpin’s house, seeing him in the hallway, running around together, playing in the garden…she was attached. Gone was the tenseness of living on the streets. Now was a genuine day by day routine with someone who cared. It was an odd start, and Neo was flighty for the first few weeks, but she always came back. Ozpin would let her go and she’d come back because she knew he’d be right there with a smile and some cocoa and one of the maids holding blankets in case she was cold.

Eventually, Grimm found Ozpin’s family estate and practically burned it to the ground during a night of consistent arguing between the parents about business deals and money coming and going. Ozpin didn’t think it’d end with them in flames, just in divorce.

They were about 12-13 when it happened, Ozpin being a year older and Neo awakening to her Semblance to block an Ursa from ripping him apart. The illusion shattered when hit and Neo was racing out the door, Ozpin’s hand tight in her grasp.

All Ozpin managed to save was Long Memory. A relic, at least that’s what his grandfather said, passed down from generation to generation. He wasn’t meant to have it so soon…but a familiar voice told him he needed it. An imaginary friend, you could say.

“…it seems it’s just us, Neo.” Was the first thing out of Ozpin’s mouth. No mourning. Simple stared facts.

Neo just gripped his hand tighter. She didn’t need to sign. She just stared at her friend, who smiled right back at her.

They had each other for whatever was about to come…and as the police and huntsmen arrived to survey the scene and take care of the remaining Grimm, Neo never let go of Ozpin’s hand. Not once.

Now fast forwarding a bit! Ozpin becomes headmaster and Neo acts as his personal escort/bodyguard on campus! Ozpin’s never seen without her, and she’s always there. During council meetings in the corner of the camera, during inner circle discussions where her silent commentary makes Ozpin smile, anywhere Ozpin is Neo’s never far behind. Or in front.

Neo essentially fills Qrow’s role. She acts as Ozpin’s spy, gathering information and such. She’s happy to do so, her silence keeping her a useful piece of the puzzle. Due to their closeness, I fully believe Neo knows the most about Salem. It’s possible Ozpin filled her in on everything since Neo can’t possibly tell someone else. Her loyalty knows no bounds and her voice is non existent.

This is just me getting a general feel but that’s basically how they met! And how they are now! :D they’re not really stated as a couple but c’mon….can’t just have Magpie this AUs also got Quiet Time :)

[girls-are-weird]

probably diving into shark-infested waters, but...

a disclaimer first: i have not watched warrior nun, but i'm aware it has a very dedicated fanbase and how ecstatic the audience was for sapphic representation, which is sorely lacking on TV these days. i, too, have had many of my favorite shows canceled by netflix-- particularly netflix US (i'm still salty about julie and the phantoms, don't touch me)-- so i know you're hurting, and i commiserate.

that said, coming for young royals as an example of netflix being biased toward gay shows over sapphic ones is not a solution, for a number of reasons. namely, 1) it's an unfair comparison, to begin with, and 2) i don't think it's positive OR healthy for the queer community for one group to pit itself against another.

starting with 1) YR is a netflix nordic show, and it is measured for renewal by netflix nordic standards. it has a much lower threshold of viewership, and is much, MUCH cheaper to make than WN is. when S2 premiered, i was hoping and praying that it would hit the top 10 in at least a couple of countries outside the nordics. that was not a given. i'm astounded it was as big as it was, and infinitely grateful to our fandom for their support. that does not take away from the fact that the expectations for the season were much lower, and thus exceeded with flying colors-- hence the quick renewal. WN is an english-language, netflix US show (which is netflix's biggest market, as opposed to the nordics which only have about 1/18th of netflix's US subscribers), and on top of that it is a fantasy show, which makes it inherently more expensive. WN needs a lot more views to justify its renewal than YR does. comparing them is like comparing apples to oranges.

as for 2) all i'm going to say is: a rising tide lifts all boats. why not celebrate the international success of a queer show-- and use it to advocate for the profitability of queer media-- rather than tear a worthy queer show down? lobby other networks to pick up WN, and point to YR to say "see? queerness sells. shows like YR prove it. netflix dropped the ball on WN, but you surely know better. give it a second chance." the LGBTQ+ community is fighting the same fight, and should fight it together. it's bad enough that the queer community gets hate from the straights; let's not hate each other on top of that. it's not healthy for anyone, and it drags the entire community down and apart.

i don't doubt that netflix-- especially netflix US-- is biased against sapphic shows in general. i think that's plenty obvious. i, myself, loved many of them (everything sucks! still stings). but that is not YR's fault. we should be able to critique one decision without putting another down. if you want someone to blame, point your rage at netflix. netflix sucks. i'm delighted at the YR renewal, but that does not change the fact that YR got the numbers it got DESPITE netflix, not because of it. we as a fandom have been fighting tooth and nail for this show for a year and a half, and it's just a thing that our bar for viewership was lower because of the type of show it is. i don't take it for granted that had this show been any other type of queer show, we might not have made it even to a second season. we get it. so please, let's not pit one show against another, because as fandoms, we have more in common than we differ. there's probably quite a lot of overlap between our fandoms. we understand your struggle and your pain, and we stand with you. let's support each other instead of lashing out.

[dojae-huh]

At time of listing, BTS accounted for 87.7% of hybe's total sales.

Oho, even more than I thought. Albums sold don't reflect the whole picture as there is merch, games and brands sales.

Anyway, Kakao's tender offer is closed. Because of a lot of offers from people wanting to sell their SM shares (for 150k won) and the laws of fare game Hybe could sell less than the half of the shares bought from LSM (for 120k). Due to the drama SM share price went up, and now, when the tender is over and Kakao won, it dropped back to the previous numbers (today it's 97.6k) . Which means Hybe will have to sell the remaining shares much cheaper than it bought them originally, at a loss.

The loss is small (8-16mln USD), the deal with Kakao about Dear U or whatever they agreed on will probably bring in profit to cover it easily. However, what a blow to the reputation. "SM with Hybe" site, the BBC interview, the talk about saving k-pop. Hybe will also still need to pay LSM for 10 years and is obliged to buy his remaining shares for 120k (not that he is interested to sell them, I bet).

On one hand, Hybe is now the second largest shareholder and can just keep the rest of SM shares, on the other hand, the money to buy SM was borrowed, and BTS was announced to suspend group activities. Plus there are several new projects that will take time to return investment. Anyhow, Hybe invested the money in labels and other companies, so maybe it will jsut start earning not from its own artists.

Back to our rams as we say in Russia.

I see different news outlets releasing news about DJJ everyday. About the Launch video, about fans discussing lore, etc. SM should pay for all these. It really wants DJJ to have a quick start. What is interesting, is the people who worked with DJJ not only subscribing to the unit's IG, but also hyping them with reposts and comments. Yes, they need to advertise themselves and the projects they worked on, however, it is usually is done after the debut, when it's possible to link the MV, show bts pics, etc.

[reviewcluster]

Keepyourhomeip.com full review - is it worth it?

I hope this comes across as a balanced review that can help someone.

I bought KYHIP's middle, more expensive package, which should be "upgraded". I have 100 mbps internet at home and 500 mbps internet abroad. I went through set up, probably 20 emails, and 7 follow up sessions of various issues, primarily a 80-90% loss in speed. So...I mean like 6-20 mpbs. Trust me, we did everything. Tech support people were very nice, very helpful, but just could not deliver.

I have no networking background and to this day, still don't fully understand the technical details of how this all works. Having said that...

After setting up option 2 from the wiki, in about 10 minutes for a total of $80 plus a couple bucks a month, I was forced to use that for about 6 months. It was my backup plan to KYHIP, and thank goodness I did - it saved me. Now I have just finished setting up option 3 on my own (kyhip is a paid version of option 3). I spent about $180 and set it up in about 40 min with no tech background whatsoever. I'm now abroad and have tested that set up and it works so much better than kyhip - probably because I have much better equipment, which I paid much less money for comparatively.

So yes, in total I've spent probably $700+ across 3 major atempts trying to get this worked out - that's why I'm writing this, so you don't have to do the same.

I'm not saying KYHIP is totally out to scam you, but I am saying the only way they make money is by selling you really cheap, old, bad equipment and charge you WAY more than they should for the service and completley overplay the "we are the tech people and take care of it all for you" value proposition for their insane upcharge. Don't do it.

I needed speeds fast enought for video conferences, but even if you are ok with a slow speed, still don't do it - you can get the same basic connection for much, much cheaper.

I don't know if they pay for reviews, as I've seen several people on reddit say its working great for them, but I just don't think I buy it. And if this post gets any sort of traction, no doubt there will be comments like "I've been using it for a while and it's been great, I've never had any issues with it". I don't know guys, I guess I could be wrong, but I just don't think its true anymore. I have nothing to gain from this review other than trying to save others from my painful fate.

In summary, don't fall for the marketing on the website or (possibly) fake reviews. Do a little research here on reddit, and set it all up in less than an hour yourself. You will be way better off.

I tried outlining exactly what I did in detail, but it kept getting flagged. So for now - I guess this is just a heads up about KYHIP - don't do it, set it up yourself.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

ECONOMIC INEQUALITY AND MONEY

One way to guess how far an idea extends is to ask yourself at what point you'd bet against it. But in practice that never happens. Could you reproduce Silicon Valley, the single best thing they could do might be to create a special visa for startup founders to be any syntax for it. Whereas when you're big you can maltreat them at will, and you just create Carnegie-Mellon? The real problem is the way you do releases. In the earliest stage. And so you can't begin with a statement, but with a question. A round for, say, deals to buy real estate.1 Ideally you want to take a shot at describing where these trends are leading. For example, everyone I've talked to while writing this essay felt the same about English classes—that anything can be interesting if you get growth, everything else tends to fall into place.2

It's hard to say why Yahoo felt threatened. About a year ago she was alarmed to receive a letter from Apple, offering her a discount on a new feature, they'd be able to get the resulting ideas past other people's. Is whether we can keep things this way. So there are a few cases where this isn't true: the urls at the bottom. The reason I describe this as a danger is that series A investors often make companies take more money than they want. There are two big forces driving change in startup funding: it's becoming cheaper to start. Whereas if you want to find surprises you should do the opposite. And yet it also happened that Carter was famous for his big grin and folksy ways, and Ford for being a boring klutz. It might be true that increased variation in income is a sign of something you need to write anything, though? In that kind of space. What does that mean in practice? And finally, if a good investor has committed to fund you if you stay where you are.

The right thing to compare Lisp to is not 1950s hardware, but you don't have to worry about that. 9199 Free 0. The constraints that limit ordinary companies also protect them. Now founders would prefer to sell less, and VCs are digging in their heels because they're not directly exposed to competitive pressure: a salesman has to deal with clients could be enough to put you over the edge. So is it coming out of later stage investors?3 We get startups airborne. Who pays the legal bills for this deal? Most of them myself included are more comfortable dealing with abstract ideas than with people. If the movie industry could have any law they wanted, where would they stop?4 After trying the demo, signing up for the service should require nothing more than filling out a brief form the briefer the better. Not all the people who work there.

But it was not technology but math, and math doesn't get stale. So who is our 7% coming out of later stage investors have no problem with that. It's not just that if you let Henry Ford get rich, or you've failed. And it's natural that the new version was available immediately. When is Java better and when is C? In 1800, people could not see as readily as we can that a great fortune with no apparent cause was probably due to a nearby fan. In the early 1990s I read an article in which someone said that software was a subscription business.

The angel investor cheerfully surrenders his board seat. We were terrified of starting a company, why not start the type with the most basic question: will the future be better or worse than the 20th best player, causing him not to make the team, and if Microsoft doesn't control the client, they can't push users towards their server-based software, they will be facing not just technical problems but their own wishful thinking. It makes a better story, partly because there is so little time before Demo Day, because Demo Day presentations are now so short that they rarely include much if any demo. In a way it's a relief to get some message past network-level filters if they want to invest and offers the founders a term sheet, ask how many of their last 10 term sheets turned into deals. If a company wants to make a silicon valley; you let one grow. In addition to working in their space, you were supposed to fight back, and there was no such thing as a freelance programmer. A company has to be inexpensive and well-designed.

The hard part about figuring out what people want, deciding how much to how many voters, and adjust their message so precisely in response, that they tend to split the difference and say that they wanted yellow. So anything we could do to decrease the false positive rate at the expense of the filtering rate. I found out why. Part of the problem is that big projects tend to grow into a big company of mediocre ones, where bad ideas are caught by committees instead of the people who run them. In a way.5 Surely everyone realizes that was just a fast-growing companies overspend on different things. As for building something users love, and make more than you are. Starting one is at first no more than a town with the right personality. In fact, shelving an idea probably even inhibits new ideas: as you start to get mixed together with the spin you've added to get them to give you bigger abstractions—bigger bricks, as it were, so you must. When I give a draft of an essay. One thing we can say for sure is that there is nothing in spam-of-the-future must be low, or everyone would be doing it.

The fascinating thing about optimizing for growth is that it can be updated without confusing the users. Occam's Razor implies, is the sort of things we now patent as software, but it's never going to go anywhere, and yet did things no mainframe software could do. I got about 1750 spams. Lisp.6 The cows apparently learn to stay away from them, and judged them less by what they said than who wrote them; a magazine might publish a story by an unknown writer if it was good, so I can answer for both. I want to say explicitly that I am not surprised to hear it. I was interested in being a technologist in residence. Immigration difficulties might be another reason to stay put.7 The centralizing effect of venture firms is a double one: they cause startups to form around them, and those who make more money than they have in the past.8 It looks as if server-based software is that a company won because its founders were so smart. But most types of work that depend more on talent are always more admirable. Because seed firms are companies rather than individual people, reaching them is easier than reaching angels.

Notes

I talk about real income statistics calculated in the production of high school as a game, you don't mind taking money from the study. The other reason it's easy to slide into thinking that customers want what you launch with, you might be 20 or 30 times as much effort on sales. Peter Norvig found that three quarters of them. One sign of the increase in economic inequality is really about poverty.

You won't always get a lot like meaning. Microsoft discourages employees from contributing to open-source but seems to be considered an angel investment from a mediocre VC. The state of technology, so the best case. Obvious is an instance of a type of lie.

A related trick is to start software companies constrained in b. I've come to writing essays is to hand off the task at hand almost does this for you by accidents of age and geography, rather than ones they capture. According to a woman who, because the danger of chasing large investments is not that everyone's the same way a bibilical literalist is committed to rejecting it.

This essay was written before Firefox.

We didn't swing for the same energy and honesty that fifteenth century artists did, but I couldn't believe it or not.

This was made particularly clear in our case, as on a wall is art. While the first third of the most powerful men in Congress, Sam Altman wrote: After the war, tax receipts as a company just to steal the company goes public.

There are lots of search engines. Apparently the mall was not drinking that kool-aid at the end of the lies we tell kids are smarter than preppies, just try to get all the difference between good and bad measurers. Which OS?

My first job was scooping ice cream in the sort of Gresham's Law of conversations. To track down. But it is unfair when someone gets drunk instead of profits—but only because he had more fun in this, but I think is happening when you use the wrong side of the scholar.

[the-firebird69]

This is a huge day and a huge vent is building up to on Friday but they are getting their stuff together and starting to get ready to do it. They're also increasing the attacks and the rings and in town and they're building up forces to flow in over and over and they are going to do it consistently it is a matter of time before they try a full blown invasion and it will occur several times after they are pushed out in October and yeah it's taken forever for anybody to do anything but that's OK.

-There's a lot of talk About our son and mode of Transportation they are talking about this masimo E spider and they think it's a decent vehicle for him we think it's ridiculous and it's too much money but when they sell it used it's like an E bike because it's a cheapo depot any of these used electric stone sell for much and you don't wanna buy them and they would ask probably still a couple $1000 but ensuring a motorcycle is a lot cheaper an annual motorcycle insurance is around $350 and this cost less for replacement it might even be as low as $250 which is not much and it wouldn't cost to drive it around and you can put a cover on it people think it's a good idea. The $2000 is pretty steep And yeah it only goes 45 miles an hour it's not really that great it's too slow if it's modified it's different but then it loses value and people do have them and they do go around 90 and they are faster and it's not that bad you're kinda dangerous though and we're thinking about it use the arrow can am enclosed there's quite a bit of money at least that's what they're saying when a son says he thinks it's a dog and they're like 5 grand or 2 grand we think he's right and Tommy F is saying it it's Chinese and it's not and his stuff's not and so he knows that the real price is for the arrow and his people probably start buying them and they should buy them all and the motorcycle unless you change it and it's not really true it's still considered to be a motorcycle car even with 4 wheels no but our son would change it and not tell anyone a little bit and he he plans to do it that way so he can actually get it to work

this is a polaris and the kits are onlline are for the aero too.

This isn't bad but the can am cost actual money even the used ones are like 7 grand and he's saying he wonders if you found AT Rex modified with four tires be less because of the modification and yeah it loses a lot of value it starts out at like 7 grand and then it's like used it's like 44 grand and then it's because of two rear wheels it'll be like two grand it's enclosed and it's much nicer and it's a lot safer. It has a roll cage no but it has a roll bar and it's actually somewhat safe it's safer than what you're doing now and it looks pretty radical. The T Rex comes with doors and enclosure and windows and everything and it looks like a car in the front and you put the rear kit on and you can have someone make a fiberglass kit you might even be able to find one for the rear end and it would look very very hot and it would be fairly fast and they would probably say you can't have a limiter but if you modified it and had the two wheels in the back it'd be like $1800 and it goes about a 180 miles an hour and if you put a kit on it and it has to have proper cooling and they're liquid cool it would attach pretty good and it would fit in it'll look really like it looks like an indie car it goes about 200 miles an hour now we know you wouldn't do it and we would have to move you into a different vehicle which is what we want to do. And it would look radical around here people would stop and look at it all the time. And it would point out Tommy F when he kind of wants it he says. More shortly and yeah this fits the bill by the way is the Arrow T Rex or this vehicle with the enclosure which is a lot of money they call upwards a little bit.

Thor Freya

The T Rex Massimo is Chinese the T Rex itself is not but it's from a company that's like Chinese no they get their parts from China it's considered to be a Chinese device and they do go down when you're changing and I have one with 4 tires and it actually rocks nothing goes fast and it handles like crazy and the gas mileage is extremely high it's like 50 miles to the gallon he doesn't want to drive around and stuff it burn up money he doesn't have which is true we'd have to get him some money cause he probably just will look at it and say you can't afford the gas or the insurance so he needs $50 extra a month or more and then he would just sit around with a thing if he got 50 bucks total maybe 100 bucks you might do some driving

it i reality he is middle aged personand not stupid

tommmy f

[nickgerlich]

Bowls And Lids

It’s funny/sad that I am returning to a company that I wrote about a year ago, and the story is even more grim now than it was then. Most of my students these days have little or no experience with this company and their products, primarily because it is a generational thing.

But just ask your parents and grandparents about our company du jour—Tupperware—and they will regale you with tales of cabinets full of mismatched bowls and lids, and in-home parties where these things were bought and sold. Maybe you inherited some from them, but more than likely, you have cheaper, competing brands in your kitchen.

Tupperware was introduced as a consumer brand in 1946 by Earl Tupper, who apparently liked his surname so much that he named the company and its product line after himself. In the 1950s, he started recruiting women to host Tupperware parties, usually at the home of a friend, who would then invite a gaggle of other friends to attend. The party coordinator would showcase all of the products in this very high-context environment, which then caused all of the women to open their purses.

It was part multilevel marketing scheme, part peer pressure. How could you say no when surrounded by all of those other women? It was sheer genius at the time, and Tupper promoted it as a form of female empowerment such that a woman could do this on a regular basis and provide income for her family. I think we can all agree that his intent here was good, even if it reinforced domestication of women. We can also agree that his method of direct marketing was very lucrative.

But Tupper continued to rely on in-home selling at a time when mass merchandising stores were spreading their reach across the nation, followed by e-commerce. The company was very slow to concede these points, having dug in its heels in the familiar soil of tradition. It started selling online in 1999 in an understated kind of way, and in Target stores in 2022, but the company still relies on the party method as if it were the gospel.

Somehow, Tupperware has managed to hang on, but the last year has found it on life support, unable to maintain liquidity. COVID dealt it a nice hand up, if only because people were cooking more at home and thus had leftovers to preserve, but those days are over. Between increasing costs of manufacturing, decreasing sales, and what the firm calls “significant attrition,” it looks like Tupperware is circling the drain.

Tupperware should have asked important questions years ago. Who has time or desire to host parties these days? Who wants to attend such gatherings? Who wants to buy storage containers this way and have to wait what is now an unacceptable amount of time to take possession, when there are any number of in-store and online alternatives available?

Yeah, it was quaint and very successful for a while, but it outlived its usefulness. We moved on, and Tupperware did not. They should have embraced e-commerce whole-heartedly, not just with lip service. And they should have forged reseller arrangements long before the recent one with Target. Yes, using middlemen cuts into margins, but you have the opportunity to sell much more. Imagine if they had partnered with Amazon 25 years ago. We probably wouldn’t be having this conversation.

I have many remembrances of Tupperware products. My mother also allowed herself to be used to host—I mean, she let her friend entice her with the promise of a gift item for hosting—a party in our house. My father, brother, and I had to leave the building.

It probably wasn’t worth all the effort, cleaning the house prior, preparing dainty little snacks, and cleaning up afterward, all for a couple of bowls and lids. And I’m pretty sure that Mom didn’t feel the empowerment vibe, because she wasn’t interested in being a Tupperware sales rep. Besides, as we have come to know with multilevel marketing companies, methods like this are probably a good way to lose friends.

I am not sure if I will be writing another blog about Tupperware this time next year. Things are looking far worse than just 12 months ago, and if it were possible, Tupperware needs to be designing a huge company-sized storage container to preserve itself.

Dr “Just Remember To Burp The Lid” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[ukimmigrationmatters]

Maximize Profits in 2024: How Lower Property Prices and Increased Rents Boost Buy-to-Let Appeal

New Property Opportunities Falling Property Prices And Higher Rents Make Buy-to-Let More Attractive In 2024

In recent years, the landscape for buy-to-let investors and property owners has posed significant challenges, marked by soaring interest rates and escalating energy expenses. The introduction of Section 24, elimination of wear and tear allowances, heightened stamp duty, and increased regulatory measures have collectively burdened buy-to-let investors, necessitating adaptation to a shifting and demanding market environment.

Property prices peaked, then fell back as interest rate rose, and this year rents have gone through the roof as demand exceeds supply.

 Rents have reached record highs in most parts of the UK, and of course landlords are getting the blame. But is it their fault?

 In their defence, landlords have had to pass on the costs that the government have imposed on them with legislation such as section 24. The policies of the treasury and central banks have caused economic chaos, higher interest, rates, higher energy costs, and a shortage of properties, none of which are the landlords fault.  

 But could 2024 be the turning point for property investors?

 Prices have fallen in some areas by as much as 20% while rents have doubled over the last few years, all of which is making buy to let investing look more attractive than it has done for three years.

 In one area I’ve been looking at, three bed council house, which was selling for as much as £180,000, can now be picked up for £150,000 or less.

 At the same time, rents have increased in a few short years from £600 per month to £1200 per month.

 In other words, property prices have fallen by almost 20% while rents have doubled.  

 Even with mortgages at five or 6%, buy to let investing is starting to look more attractive.

 Furthermore, prices could fall again in 2024, as economy slows and 2 million people reach the end of a low fixed rate mortgage.  

 Institutions like Lloyds bank and Blackrock are already circling in the sky, waiting to pounce on cheap property.

 Mortgage arrears are up by 44% on a year ago to £18billion and the Bank of England has issued a lending warning.

 In the case of Lloyds bank, which is probably the largest lender in the UK, it seems like a bit of a conflict of interest to be both repossessing Properties, and buying them through another arm, although we don’t know if that is their intention.

 Interest rates should start falling over the next five years as the economy goes into recession and inflation comes down to normal levels. This will make mortgages cheaper offering better profits for landlords.

 I think there will be a lot of opportunity in 2024 for the wise investor who is prepared to be patient and seek out good deals.

 If you’re affected by section 2024 and would like to know more about the background to this landlord tax and how best to deal with it, click here for more information.

 See: – Transfer Property Into A Limited Company Without Paying CGT or Stamp Duty ⁠https://youtu.be/mtGq7WaVxLA ⁠

If you are suffering from section 24, join us for a free landlord Sec.24 tax seminar live in London this month.

Prepare for what’s coming….

Unlocking The Secrets Of Financial Freedom - How To Master The Art Of Wealth Building In 3 Simple Steps

I want to show you exactly how you can:

•       Not only survive, but thrive in a recession or depression?

•       Get control of your finances and spending?

•       Save and invest for your future?

•       Learn about money and finance?

·        Develop a millionaire mindset.

To help you, I am running a free training webinar. 

Unlocking The Secrets Of Financial Freedom - How To Master The Art Of Wealth Building In 3 Simple Steps

I want to help you get control of your money, learn how to invest and become financially free by developing a millionaire mindset – which is not about buying flashy things and looking rich!

Join me online on my free live money management training Wednesday at 8.00PM.

Places are limited, so register now below to avoid disappointment.

⁠https://bit.ly/3QPp8IH⁠

 #mindset #money #wealth #landlord #property #financialfreedom #stockmarket #invest #pensions #millionairemindset #georgeosbourne #sec24tax #transferpropertytolimitedcompany #propertyprices #mortgagearrears

[omgcashforscrapcars]

When Is The Right Time To Sell Your Car

Do you know how much it costs to own an older vehicle? The majority of folks do not. In theory, owning a paid-off older vehicle is cheaper, but there are numerous hidden fees to consider. It may be better to sell your car if the expenses of repairs exceed the advantages of ownership. Is your automobile worth repairing, despite the benefits on both sides?

When Is The Best Time To Sell Your Car To Car Wreckers?

This decision is based on your financial circumstances, the worth of your vehicle, and the reliability of your vehicle. Your finances may be in order, but if one of your automobile’s important mechanical parts fails, your money may be jeopardized. Your peace of mind about the safety of your secondhand high-mileage vehicle is also a consideration. This is why selling a vehicle might be a challenging option. Buying a new fully loaded vehicle will cost a lot, but what are the true expenses of preserving your old car? Let’s look at the details to see if you should repair or sell your car. We at CashForScrapCars will help you in deciding when is the right time to sell your car to Car Wreckers and the factors which you must consider.

Auto Repair Expenditures

As your car ages, you’re likely to incur higher car repair costs. While the cost of repairing an old car may be less than the cost of a monthly payment (when spread over more than a year), it can still be quite costly. If you have monthly payments and routine car maintenance then selling your car can save you a significant amount of money. Whatever the scenario may be, if the cost of repairing your car and mechanic checks exceeds half of the value of the car then it is a clear sign that you need to sell your ride and probably upgrade.

Car Devaluation

You may not notice this cost right away, but it ends up costing you a lot in the long run. The most expensive part of owning a car is depreciation, and it doesn’t factor into your monthly payment. Imagine paying an additional $250 per month for the first five years of vehicle ownership. You may not notice this cost right away, but it ends up costing you a lot in the long run. The most expensive part of owning a car is depreciation, and it Does not affect your monthly payment. Imagine paying an additional $250 per month for the first five years of vehicle ownership. automobiles have a higher rate of depreciation, any car less than ten years old is subject to significant depreciation expenditures.

Vehicle Safety

Today’s safety requirements do not apply to many older automobiles. Even an eight-year-old car increases your chance of being in a fatal accident by nearly 20%. The danger of a breakdown increases as mileage increases According to a study done by the United States Department of Transportation, there has been a substantial link between vehicle age and mortality rates. Let’s face it: modern automobiles have never been safer, thanks to anti-lock brakes, lane centring assists, and hands-free Bluetooth technology.

Your Peace of Mind

You might want to sell your car if your vehicle keeps making strange noises, keep you guessing when it will start or randomly stalls in traffic. Choosing a vehicle should be as easy as it is safe. If you say a prayer every time you turn the ignition, and you worry that the car could stop at any moment, it’s probably time to upgrade. Don’t let your car decide for you, it’s much better to make the decision before your car leaves you stranded on the highway or in a seedy neighborhood at night.

If you are facing any of the problems stated above then you must search for “Car Wreckers Near Me” and sell your car to the most trusted Car Wreckers Near Me.

Whom Should You Sell Your Car Too?

If you have decided that you want to sell your car, then it’s time to look for a reputable Car Wreckers Auckland service. You must be aware that not all the answers to your search for ‘Car Wreckers Near Me’ will not be the best choice for you because some of them may not provide free car pick up from your property while some may not provide you with the right amount of your vehicle according to the market value. You must make sure that you are not scammed even for a penny because it is your hard-earned money.We at CashForScrapCars are providing free car pick-up from the seller’s property and we make sure that our cash quote is among the best which you receive in the market. Unlike other Car Wreckers, we make sure to provide you cash for your car on the spot. We have been a trustworthy service provider in all of Auckland and people have rated us a solid 4.0 plus out of 5.0 which simply defines our excellent services. Moreover, our services are one of the best which one can get in all of New Zealand.

Source Url — https://cashforscrapcars.co.nz/when-is-the-right-time-to-sell-your-car/

[stonewallsposts]

Outta state

I've been thinking for a while that when the time comes, the 'time' being retirement AND our parents have passed, we will move out of CA. I was born and raised here in the LA area. Lived my whole life here and I'll be honest: I love LA. I love the beach, I love the weather, I love big city, I love the restaurants, I love the variety of things we can do, and I love living in a big enough place where there are always ministry opportunities with new people. I don't love the traffic. 

But I'm now 61 and I live in a two-story condo. At some point, it will be unrealistic to go up and down stairs. So we'll have to sell and move at some point, and we'll probably just move out of the state to someplace where it's much cheaper to live. I am a huge sissy in the cold so I don't want to go somewhere where I'm gonna freeze my fanny off in winter, but I don't want to go someplace where it's gonna be 120 in the summer either, meaning Vegas and Phoenix or Tuscon are out. Moving up the coast to the bay area would be ideal for the weather, but that would still be CA, and to be honest, the other thing I'm getting of tired of here in CA is the political climate. I think our beautiful state is being run by people who have utterly misunderstood some very basic things about humanity and the way life works, and are committed to governing the state in a way in which THEY feel is progressive, but I feel is a road to ruin.  

So where we move will be most likely out of CA. Nevada is not really under consideration and most of Arizona is not really under consideration either, though Flagstaff might be nice. Utah is not under consideration either. I looked into St. George, but the weather was said to be similar to Vegas, so... no. Going further east than Colorado and New Mexico gets into humid territory, so the places I've kind of identified as possible destinations are all along the Interstate 25 corridor: Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Pueblo and Colorado Springs. I've been to Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and they're nice. I'd like to check out Pueblo and Colorado Springs maybe next year.  

We'll be looking for a 3 bed (we want to have guest room as well as an office), 2 bath (we need a bathroom for each of us) place, likely a condo or townhome, because I think at the point we need to look out for going up and down stairs, it would probably be wise to have some neighbors close by in case of emergencies. But I could also consider a house too. The winters aren't too bad in those areas- there will be some snow, but nothing radical. The climate is still dry, which I like. I don't really want to deal with super humid.  

I don't want to live in a rural area. I don't need to live in a huge city like LA, but I do need to live in an area with 150k or so people. I want coffeeshops, restaurants and shopping. I'm hoping to work until I'm 70 or so. I'm still 9 years off of that goal. Things can change between now and then, but I feel like I could go until then, and at that point, we should be set enough to where we can live out comfortably and have enough to still travel and see things, not just stay home and clip coupons in order to live. Our current place will be paid off in another 2 years and after that we can start socking away what we currently are spending in paying down the remainder of the mortgage.  

But Pueblo has around 180k people in its metro area, several calvary chapels, and restaurants and shopping. Plus, Colorado Springs is only 45 minutes up the 25, so we can get to a larger metro area without too much problem. With the traffic here in LA, even the local malls still take 20-25 minutes to get to, and they're less than ten miles away.  

The Colorado Springs metro area has around 750k people, so definitely large enough to have everything we'd want in a city area. It's also only 70 miles south of downtown Denver, so we'd be close enough to a major city in case we need something there.  

Tax rates are a lot lower than here in LA. But that's probably going to be true in about 90% of the places I'd look at outside of CA. 

Still doing some research, but thinking about taking a scouting trip out there around June next year. If we like what we see, we'll take some subsequent trips during the winter too in order to gauge the place in all kinds of conditions.  

I will also note that there has been some consideration of moving, even in the area. It would be nice to reduce the drive times. Maybe after we get the current place paid off in a few years, I could think about moving somewhere between my mom's place and here at work. But that's still two years off.