#2024 fucked me Up Financially.

[monster-noises]

AaHHHHGHHH got some mail today that i forgot i was waiting on from the local health sugar to help me with my blood sugar stuff

And they fucking just.. assigned me an appointment date with no input from me so of course it's in the middle of a fucking work day and i have no time off left to spend on yaking the day off, and it's late enough in the morning that i can't reaaaally scootch my schedule down..

And like maybe i could find a way to finagle a sick day in there but Apparently

I need Literally All Of Those those to cover my first week off after surgery

Because insurance through work comes in a week After you start your leave, because that's when they approve it (this whole coverage thing is making me so steaming boiling mad regardless, this is just shiny deep red cherry on top of the fucking cake i sweaR TO G O D)

So I don't really want to Do that and loose more pay somewhere else

So now I don't know what to fucking do because i Work when the Doctors Offices are Open (just like.. all of them. In general.) so i can't really reschedule, but cancelling may be a bad idea because i probably won't get to go back until after surgery, if i don't have to go back through the application process to see this doctor anyway.

I'm going to start throwing things and having a breakdown I try to actually start looking after my health and I end up in this situation it's disgusting i'm so pissed off.

[seilon]

If i don’t get an update soon on my god damn top surgery insurance negotiation im going to lose my fucking mind

[twpsyn-who]

Talking a little bit about 'boycotting Eurovision' under Keep Reading, feel free to scroll down if is not what you want to see.

The most used argument on the matter of banning Israel from Eurovision is the fact that Russia got banned from Eurovision, which is the worst argument anyone could bring.

Kindly reminder that Russia didn't get banned because of the war with Ukraine. Russia got banned because many countries has threatened to withdraw from the competition. Sadly, that's a big difference.

Yes, the countries has threatened to withdraw because they support Ukraine and see Russia as the party in the wrong. That was their reason. EBU's reason for banning Russian was because those countries threatened to withdraw, not because the war was bad and Russia must be stopped.

This situation isn't the same. Why? Because many countries support Israel in their genocide. Because this time around Palestine is the party in the wrong. Because we're taught to believe that Israel isn't in the wrong here.**

Boycotting Eurovision won't work. There are people out there who don't know the truth and want to watch Eurovision. There are people out there who don't care and will watch Eurovision regardless of the situation. There are people out there who, despite having the facts, still don't see Israel as the bad guy in this situation and will watch Eurovision. Sadly, boycotting won't work unless everyone does it.

The only way Israel will get banned, in my opinion, is by going through the same thing as Russia. If other countries threatened to withdraw- and not any countries, but the ones investing the most in Eurovision, then yes. That will get Israel banned.

Otherwise? The only thing we do is hurt artists that don't deserve it. Artists who use Eurovision as a way to get more exposure and experience. Artists who deserve to be heard.

Don't vote for Israel's entry. Don't stream their song either. Heck, turn off the TV when is their turn to perform.

**This whole situation (the war, not Eurovision) isn't only black and white. Civilians die daily because of this, all of them from both sides. Innocent people who has no fault. Let's not forget that

[kalashtars]

things I've bought in the last 24 hours: hyperfixation edition

[wandersee]

it's so absolutely torturous only having $650 left on my car loan but being entirely unable to pay ANYTHING towards it due to lack of day job like. me outright owning my little disaster of a car is RIGHT THERE ;0; not to mention not having to worry about the $300 monthly payments, so it'd free that non-existent money up, which would be sooooooo life changing :")

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Shifting $677m from the banks to the people, every year, forever

I'll be in TUCSON, AZ from November 8-10: I'm the GUEST OF HONOR at the TUSCON SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION.

"Switching costs" are one of the great underappreciated evils in our world: the more it costs you to change from one product or service to another, the worse the vendor, provider, or service you're using today can treat you without risking your business.

Businesses set out to keep switching costs as high as possible. Literally. Mark Zuckerberg's capos send him memos chortling about how Facebook's new photos feature will punish anyone who leaves for a rival service with the loss of all their family photos – meaning Zuck can torment those users for profit and they'll still stick around so long as the abuse is less bad than the loss of all their cherished memories:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/facebooks-secret-war-switching-costs

It's often hard to quantify switching costs. We can tell when they're high, say, if your landlord ties your internet service to your lease (splitting the profits with a shitty ISP that overcharges and underdelivers), the switching cost of getting a new internet provider is the cost of moving house. We can tell when they're low, too: you can switch from one podcatcher program to another just by exporting your list of subscriptions from the old one and importing it into the new one:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/16/keep-it-really-simple-stupid/#read-receipts-are-you-kidding-me-seriously-fuck-that-noise

But sometimes, economists can get a rough idea of the dollar value of high switching costs. For example, a group of economists working for the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau calculated that the hassle of changing banks is costing Americans at least $677m per year (see page 526):

https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_personal-financial-data-rights-final-rule_2024-10.pdf

The CFPB economists used a very conservative methodology, so the number is likely higher, but let's stick with that figure for now. The switching costs of changing banks – determining which bank has the best deal for you, then transfering over your account histories, cards, payees, and automated bill payments – are costing everyday Americans more than half a billion dollars, every year.

Now, the CFPB wasn't gathering this data just to make you mad. They wanted to do something about all this money – to find a way to lower switching costs, and, in so doing, transfer all that money from bank shareholders and executives to the American public.

And that's just what they did. A newly finalized Personal Financial Data Rights rule will allow you to authorize third parties – other banks, comparison shopping sites, brokers, anyone who offers you a better deal, or help you find one – to request your account data from your bank. Your bank will be required to provide that data.

I loved this rule when they first proposed it:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/10/getting-things-done/#deliverism

And I like the final rule even better. They've really nailed this one, even down to the fine-grained details where interop wonks like me get very deep into the weeds. For example, a thorny problem with interop rules like this one is "who gets to decide how the interoperability works?" Where will the data-formats come from? How will we know they're fit for purpose?

This is a super-hard problem. If we put the monopolies whose power we're trying to undermine in charge of this, they can easily cheat by delivering data in uselessly obfuscated formats. For example, when I used California's privacy law to force Mailchimp to provide list of all the mailing lists I've been signed up for without my permission, they sent me thousands of folders containing more than 5,900 spreadsheets listing their internal serial numbers for the lists I'm on, with no way to find out what these lists are called or how to get off of them:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/22/degoogled/#kafka-as-a-service

So if we're not going to let the companies decide on data formats, who should be in charge of this? One possibility is to require the use of a standard, but again, which standard? We can ask a standards body to make a new standard, which they're often very good at, but not when the stakes are high like this. Standards bodies are very weak institutions that large companies are very good at capturing:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/30/weak-institutions/

Here's how the CFPB solved this: they listed out the characteristics of a good standards body, listed out the data types that the standard would have to encompass, and then told banks that so long as they used a standard from a good standards body that covered all the data-types, they'd be in the clear.

Once the rule is in effect, you'll be able to go to a comparison shopping site and authorize it to go to your bank for your transaction history, and then tell you which bank – out of all the banks in America – will pay you the most for your deposits and charge you the least for your debts. Then, after you open a new account, you can authorize the new bank to go back to your old bank and get all your data: payees, scheduled payments, payment history, all of it. Switching banks will be as easy as switching mobile phone carriers – just a few clicks and a few minutes' work to get your old number working on a phone with a new provider.

This will save Americans at least $677 million, every year. Which is to say, it will cost the banks at least $670 million every year.

Naturally, America's largest banks are suing to block the rule:

https://www.americanbanker.com/news/cfpbs-open-banking-rule-faces-suit-from-bank-policy-institute

Of course, the banks claim that they're only suing to protect you, and the $677m annual transfer from their investors to the public has nothing to do with it. The banks claim to be worried about bank-fraud, which is a real thing that we should be worried about. They say that an interoperability rule could make it easier for scammers to get at your data and even transfer your account to a sleazy fly-by-night operation without your consent. This is also true!

It is obviously true that a bad interop rule would be bad. But it doesn't follow that every interop rule is bad, or that it's impossible to make a good one. The CFPB has made a very good one.

For starters, you can't just authorize anyone to get your data. Eligible third parties have to meet stringent criteria and vetting. These third parties are only allowed to ask for the narrowest slice of your data needed to perform the task you've set for them. They aren't allowed to use that data for anything else, and as soon as they've finished, they must delete your data. You can also revoke their access to your data at any time, for any reason, with one click – none of this "call a customer service rep and wait on hold" nonsense.

What's more, if your bank has any doubts about a request for your data, they are empowered to (temporarily) refuse to provide it, until they confirm with you that everything is on the up-and-up.

I wrote about the lawsuit this week for @eff@mastodon.social's Deeplinks blog:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/10/no-matter-what-bank-says-its-your-money-your-data-and-your-choice

In that article, I point out the tedious, obvious ruses of securitywashing and privacywashing, where a company insists that its most abusive, exploitative, invasive conduct can't be challenged because that would expose their customers to security and privacy risks. This is such bullshit.

It's bullshit when printer companies say they can't let you use third party ink – for your own good:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/01/hp-ceo-blocking-third-party-ink-from-printers-fights-viruses/

It's bullshit when car companies say they can't let you use third party mechanics – for your own good:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/03/rip-david-graeber/#rolling-surveillance-platforms

It's bullshit when Apple says they can't let you use third party app stores – for your own good:

https://www.eff.org/document/letter-bruce-schneier-senate-judiciary-regarding-app-store-security

It's bullshit when Facebook says you can't independently monitor the paid disinformation in your feed – for your own good:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/05/comprehensive-sex-ed/#quis-custodiet-ipsos-zuck

And it's bullshit when the banks say you can't change to a bank that charges you less, and pays you more – for your own good.

CFPB boss Rohit Chopra is part of a cohort of Biden enforcers who've hit upon a devastatingly effective tactic for fighting corporate power: they read the law and found out what they're allowed to do, and then did it:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/23/getting-stuff-done/#praxis

The CFPB was created in 2010 with the passage of the Consumer Financial Protection Act, which specifically empowers the CFPB to make this kind of data-sharing rule. Back when the CFPA was in Congress, the banks howled about this rule, whining that they were being forced to share their data with their competitors.

But your account data isn't your bank's data. It's your data. And the CFPB is gonna let you have it, and they're gonna save you and your fellow Americans at least $677m/year – forever.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/01/bankshot/#personal-financial-data-rights

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

happy disability pride month!

i am physically disabled by serious chronic illness! (also autistic)

my income is about 1/3 of the local minimum wage.

and with grocery prices still super high and no food stamp increase to match, expenses related to my disability (i'm stuck in bed almost all the time because i physically cannot sit up for very long without fucking up my entire body for weeks), and various unfortunate surprises...

i'm broke, struggling and extremely stressed out about money.

there's about $100 in my bank account rn (July 12, 2024), I don't get paid again for over 3 weeks, and i'm running out or completely out of a bunch of necessities.

would any financially secure adults be willing to help with even a dollar?

a walmart card would let me pay for grocery delivery (i'm unable to shop in person & walmart's cheapest.) they can be sent anonymously (or not) and start at $5.

(my email is thatdiabolicalfeminist at gmail dot com)

i also have a food and necessities wishIist if you'd like to help that way. there's a lot of basic stuff on there that i need but can't afford.

(there's also uber/visa/etc cards on there if you'd like to help but don't want to choose.)

i'm incredibly sorry and embarrassed to have to ask for help again. i just don't have any other options rn. literally any help would make a massive difference and i'm so sorry to ask.

thank you so much for tolerating this on your dash!

[martian-astro10]

Solar return observations- Part 2

The year in which you have aquarius AC, you will focus more on yourself, if you've been hanging out with "friends" who don't make you feel happy, this is the year when you'll get the courage to leave them.

I have noticed that a lot of people in their last year of college have capricorn in 11th. This basically means that you prefer hanging out with people whose professional goals align with yours and who you think can help in advancing your career. (you may also feel very lonely)

Everyone knows that a stellium in 1st house indicates an increased self worth but I have seen that a 2nd house stellium also has the same effect. (we were going through some financial difficulties last year, and this year my mom has a 2nd house stellium and basically all our issues got resolved and she went to this meditation and yoga centre, she has been taking really good care of herself and she looks so happy 🥺, she's literally glowing)

I have Mars in 12th this year.... And God, it is so difficult to control your anger but with this you HAVE to suppress your anger. Even if you express your emotions, nobody's gonna listen to you. (it's like when you know that someone is a bad person but everybody else loves them so you have to pretend that you like them too)

If you are someone who keeps their feelings to themselves, the year when you have your moon in pisces can be a great year for you. You're gonna be a waterfall this year, and I don't think that it's a bad thing, sometimes, you just need to let it all out. (emotions occupy space in your body, so just cry and yell)

Last year, I had pluto in 2nd house and it was the year when I started earning money ALL ON MY OWN (and also the year when I realised that break up is not the most painful thing, it's the drdrdrdrdr sound that the atm makes when you take out money, THAT SHIT HURTS)

If you have neptune conjunct Venus in 7th in libra - that guy is not good, he's love bombing you, RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN

On the other hand, The year when you have moon in capricorn in 7th, is the year when you'll realise that it's much more important to be with a guy who takes care of you when you're sick and does household chores and is clean and hygienic instead of being with a guy who wants to fuck you 24/7 (btw, it's possible to be with a guy who's both, it's just very rare)

When I was preparing for this post, I noticed that a lot of people had their first kiss when their asteroid kiss was conjuncting Mars/Venus. I guess it makes sense, but I'm not really sure. (take it as you like) kiss asteroid number = 8267

The year that my sister started her master's she had a virgo AC with a 9th house chiron and.... This girl was so exhausted that she did not even have the time to talk to me, we literally talked on her birthday, the next year 🙂. That's how busy she was. My advice to you is to eat as healthy as you can, the probability of you getting sick is high so take care of yourself. (especially if you have pluto in 6th house)

(all pictures are taken from Pinterest)

© martian-astro All rights reserved, 2024

[kalpeavaris]

[ Emergency Commissions ]

Pricelist

I'm not going to sugarcoat it, I fucked up financially due to misjudgement of my current finances (and how much I had available on my hand) as I was getting new supplies for my freelance work as well as medical movement aids (braces etc).

PayPal reverted an already paid charge a week after it was taken from my bank account, placing me in debt with my PP account and asking for the money until Tuesday, next week (18th of February). This is not the first time it happened, though I didn't suspect that this would happen again.

Since I'm officially living off of government funding (retirement/disability fund) due to me being disallowed to work as of 2024 as I was marked 'too disabled to contribute to work society' (yeah, that's how they call it I fear PFF) making money through other means than my art/freelance art is incredibly limited for me.

My commissions are always open, and I'm willing to take more than 3 slots if necessary, though I assure you that full transparency will be given through work queues (Trello) and the ability for updates whenever needed by the client.

If you're interested in a commission, feel free to either shoot me a message over here on tumblr or on Discord (kalpea_varis).

[who-is-page]

Greener Grasses and Fossilized Paw Prints: Where (and Why) the Greymuzzles Go

Author: Page Type: Essay Words: 1,229 Summary: Page's personal experience as an adult canine psychopomp, and how it applies to the dearth of older otherkin in general alterhuman community spaces. Answering the question of: where are all the older otherkin? And why do people always seem to eventually leave? Author's Note: The term "greymuzzle" is used within the scope of this essay's title to reference older otherkin who have been active in alterhuman spaces for extended periods of time (a nod to the word's original definition within furry spaces), and is not referring to greymuzzle's most frequent definition in alterhuman groups as a community-given term denoting an individual with noteworthy activity and contribution.

[Part of the Sol System’s Alterhuman Writing Project for 2024. If you don’t want to see these posts, block the tag #inkedclaws]

When I was a young otherkin, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, I found it difficult to conceptualize why there was such a dearth of older community members, especially those 30 and above. I could understand the theoretics behind the disparity, of course— social media platforms, as we all know, tend to skew towards younger audiences due to generational differences in technological proficiency/preference. Established adults with working lives and families don’t necessarily have the same amount of free-time that young adults or teenagers do, either. But even with all that taken into account, it seemed like the number of otherkin aged 13-21 in comparison to the number of otherkin aged 30+ was less a gradual decline and more an unfathomable chasm of difference. The community had been around for decades at that point, with plenty of ghost town groups and abandoned forums to demonstrate that fact… and unless the Veil was secretly age-restricted, those people hadn’t up and disappeared into thin air. So where were people going? And, more importantly, why?

It was a question I’d never been able to answer in a way that felt satisfactory as a teenager and later as a young adult. But now, feeling the call of the void myself, I finally do have an answer and an understanding that I never could have achieved five or ten years ago: why the fuck would I be online when I could be playing video games or having sex with my hot partners instead?

It’s a crude and simplistic way to put it, but just hear me out. As an established adult, I have access to funds, stability, and freedom that I never had as a teenager or even as a young adult who still felt at the mercy of an uncaring universe’s slightest whims. My support systems in high school and college suffered from the same sort of financial and social precariousness that come with the territory of navigating the world as a young adult, but my support systems now are made up of other established adults; while I’ll never say that everything is always perfect for all of us, it’s much easier to get on your feet and stay on your feet when your arms are linked with people who are more firmly rooted in one way or another. I have access to a type of freedom that I could never have imagined as a teenager, because it was literally outside of the range of what was possible for me and my peers.

And more than just that freedom is the fact that I, as an adult, have a family! “Having a family” has, in my experience, some shitty, heteronormative connotations. As a teen, I always took it at face value as juggling bills, kids, white picket fence, other boring responsibilities that eat up your time, etc. But as an adult, now I know that having a family can be anything you make of it, and I make it extremely, obnoxiously queer. In my case, it’s living with people who understand me on a deep, foundational level, and who love me not in spite of who I am but because of who (and what) I am. It’s not passively being around those people; it’s actively, enthusiastically spending time with them because it’s fun and because I love them too and because they’re my people and I picked them and they picked me. As a kid, I’d never consciously recognized the difference between people you’re passively around because you have to be versus people you intentionally choose to be around and who intentionally choose you right back. In part, this is because as a kid you often don’t get the option to make that choice, while as an adult you have more control over your environment. Too often online environments feel like the former, rather than the latter, even if being within them is, technically, a choice. But here, now, I have people in my household who will go out of their way to intersect their daily lives with mine and ask, “You wanna walk to the park?” “You wanna grab a coffee?” or “You HAVE to see this YouTube essay I’m watching and no I don’t care that it’s 4 hours long on a topic you know nothing about, just trust me!!!!!” and that’s such a radically different and wonderful experience.

As an adult, I live with a group of people who make being alive more fun than I could have ever imagined. I have the ability to make my own fun in ways I couldn’t as a kid, for a variety of reasons. I don’t have to feel like an anxious purse chihuahua 24/7, agonizing over my existence and every possible thing that is liable to go wrong if I frivolously spend money on so much of the thought of a hot coffee. And I finally, finally understand why older otherkin disappear off the face of the Earth. It’s because being an adult nonhuman-identifying person is amazing in a way almost no one ever talks about: the euphoric experience of being known and loved, and of knowing and loving yourself.

There are so many exciting and wonderful things I could be doing in the meatspace with people I have actively chosen to spend my life with, and who fully accept and understand me as someone who’s queer, plural, and nonhuman. There’s so many enriching ways I could be engaging with my hobbies, the environment around me, and my local community. With this all in mind, why the fuck would I ever be in public online spaces where people try to argue with me about whether or not I exist, or if my experiences are real, or if I’m using the right and latest lingo to describe my experiences? Why would I subject myself to that when I could just roll my eyes, close the laptop, and go be a beloved canine psychopomp in the comfort of my werehouse instead?

That’s the crux of it. As adults with families and support networks, we have the option to not subject ourselves to the morifying ordeal of being known by asshole strangers online if we don’t want to. We can stick to just our families and our friend groups, and we will still have people around us who understand and who acknowledge and interact with our alterhumanity. The alterhuman community isn’t the only or even most important place for being our authentic selves; rather, it takes a backseat in the day-to-day life. It’s still something that’s fulfilling and worthwhile to engage with, but only on our own terms (terms that are quickly becoming incompatible with the ways Internet culture is evolving). But more often than not, there’s just more fun things to do.

In some ways, it’s kind of a relief to have had this epiphany. People haven’t vanished from alterhuman community spaces because they collectively ‘grew out of it’ like some anti-otherkin insist, or because the various generations of otherkin are so extraordinarily different from one another as to be oil-and-water. People vanish from online alterhuman spaces because offline life as an adult alterhuman is awesome. As an archivist it’s frustrating, but as a nonhuman, I find it a specific type of happiness that’s worth celebrating in its existence and prevalence. It’s an assurance that life only gets better as you get older: isn’t that grand?

[multi-kpop-fanfics]

valentine's on a budget

pairing: non-idol bf!Seungkwan x fem!reader

genre: angst, fluff, smut, established relationship!AU - minors dni.

warnings: a serious argument, mentions of financial troubles, crying, mentions of getting sick

smut warnings: making out, marking, teasing, dirty talk, use of petnames, fingering, nipple and breast play, minor panty stuffing, minor lingerie kink, oral sex (f rec), edging, mentions of multiple orgasms.

word count: 2.4k

summary: Valentine's day is the holiday you're waiting for the most every single year - but a certain mishap brings a series of events that might test your relationship.

Author's note: hello beloveds! i am finally back haha. this is my entry for the Cupid For You @svthub collab, hosted by my dear @wongyuseokie and the fic is solely dedicated to @dirtysvthoughts 💕I hope you will enjoy this fic Kenny, happy Valentine's and Carat day🥰

©multi-kpop-fanfics, 2024. No reposting allowed. No translations allowed without permission.

Valentine’s Day. Probably one of the days you’re anticipating the most within the year.

Knowing your boyfriend, he has planned something really exciting and fancy for the two of you - he always knows how to treat you right (and not just on Valentine’s).

When you accidentally found out about the reservation he had made in one of your favorite restaurants, you were smiling like a maniac and feeling giddy like a highschool girl. You could already imagine yourself in your favorite velvet dress and a pair of strappy heels, makeup and hair on fleek. Of course, there was no way you would let Seungkwan know he was busted, it would hurt his pride immensely.

That is, if things hadn’t gone to absolute hell.

“What do you mean the reservation was canceled?” You ask him with a baffled expression.

“You heard me. No fancy dinner tonight.” Seungkwan purses his lips in a thin line.

“Please tell me you’re just trying to mess around with me.”

“I wish I was, but I was forced to cancel it.”

“Forced? By what?!”

“My fucking bank account, Y/N.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“That’s….. I cannot tell you.”

“What do you mean you cannot tell me?! We’re literally sharing a home and a life!” You yell at him.

“I know! But I seriously cannot tell you! I just fucking can’t!” Seungkwan loses his temper.

“What makes it so hard for you to tell me the reason?!”

“My fucking pride!” He yells back.

Silence befalls the living room

“Of all the days to break my heart, I didn’t think you’d pick today.” You say with a monotonous voice, “But I guess your pride is more important.”

Seungkwan lets out something akin to a scoff before turning on his heel to walk out of the house. His action catches you off guard - he’s not the type to just walk away from an argument, let alone of this caliber.

“Whatever.” You roll your eyes in displeasure, going back to the bedroom to remove your dress and shoes.

Taking a glance in the mirror leaves an even more sour aftertaste in your mouth, as you were hoping you would be taking off these clothes a few hours later and perhaps in a more vulgar way. You push these thoughts away as you change into comfy clothes and go to the bathroom, picking up your makeup remover and cleanser to take off your makeup.

The one hour you spent perfecting your face is wiped off in seconds, as if it never existed in the first place. But again, you choose to push away the thoughts of Valentine’s dinner away.

You go back to the living room and sit on the couch, turning on the television to zap between channels. 

The house feels quite empty without your boyfriend around, but you’re not in the headspace to deal with him at the moment.

That is, until you hear thundering outside.

Great, now he’s going to get all soaked, you think, grumbling to yourself. Whatever, he’s a grown man, he should know how to take care of himself.

The thundering grows louder and you can now hear heavy rain pouring on the streets and hitting the windows. You get up from your seat and slide the curtain to the side, your worries growing bigger.

You pick up your phone and dial Seungkwan’s number, but you’re horrified when you hear his phone ringing between the couch pillows.

“Fuck.” You curse and run back to the bedroom to grab a pair of boots and your umbrella, terrified that something bad could potentially happen to your boyfriend.

As soon as you run back to the door and turn the knob to open it, you’re greeted with a soaking wet Seungkwan, whose eyes are colored red - possibly from crying.

“I’m sorry.” He sniffles, shaking like a leaf.

“God, please get inside.” You pull him on the entrance carpet and close the door behind him. “Stay here, I’ll be back soon.”

You make a short trip to the bathroom and return with two towels in your hands, handing them over to Seungkwan.

“Thank you.” He mutters and starts patting the towels to soak the excess water off his clothes.

“You can thank me after you take a shower. Can’t risk you getting sick.”

Seungkwan nods wordlessly and carefully walks towards the bathroom, closing the door behind him. You let out a puff of air through your mouth when you hear the shower tap running and you take off your boots, setting them next to the doormat. 

You’re not stupid -  the elephant in the room is too big to ignore and you don’t intend to just gaze upon it. You return to the bedroom and sit on the mattress, picking your phone from your pocket. It accidentally slips from your fingers and falls on the floor with a loud thud.

“Fuck.” You kneel down to grab your phone, but an unfamiliar box hidden under the bed catches your attention. You struggle a bit to take it out, but you manage to bring it in front of you.

You notice the seal has already been cracked and your eyes widen when you open the box to reveal a brand new laptop.

“What the hell?” You narrow your eyes. “Why is a laptop here?”

“Why do you think it’s here?”

Seungkwan’s voice catches you off guard and you whip your head around to face him.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on? Or is it going to hurt your pride?”

“This laptop is for you, Y/N.” He admits with a neutral expression.

“For me?”

“Yeah, since the one you had completely broke down.”

“How do you even know that?!”

“I saw the receipt from the shop you took it to get it fixed. The owner didn’t charge you and he wrote comments. It’s not hard to put two and two together.”

“Still, what does that have to do with canceling the reservation?” You cross your arms in front of your chest.

“Well, I weighed my options and decided that getting you a new laptop was more imminent and would relieve you of the stress of not being able to work properly and whether you would spend a hefty amount of money on a new device.”

Your features soften when you piece everything together.

“You….used the reservation money for the laptop?”

“Pretty much.” Seungkwan rubs the back of his neck. “Although I hated that I had to ruin Valentine’s because of that. But I didn’t want to watch you be upset because of one dumb device breaking down.”

You can’t help but want to burst into tears after your boyfriend’s confession. 

“I wish I had more money to give you both the laptop and the dinner date, but capitalism kinda hates fun, I guess.”

“Oh my God, Kwan, I-” You cover your mouth with your hands, keeping your sobs from escaping.

“Y/N, it’s okay, it was my fault too.” Your boyfriend wraps his arms around you, rubbing your back soothingly.

“God, I feel like such an asshole right now.”

“Well, to be honest, I wasn’t any better. If I had told you about the laptop from the beginning, nothing would have happened.”

“I’m so sorry.” You give him a muffled apology, hiding your face in his chest.

“I’m sorry too, darling.”

“It’s just that-” You wipe away your tears, “I was really looking forward to that dinner and I had coordinated my entire outfit inside out and all that.”

“I mean…. It’s not too late to check out the inside…” Seungkwan pouts his lips with sneaky glances.

“Well…..I still have it on���” You look at him with a grin, “Do you want to unwrap me?”

“I was a little strapped for cash this year. Do you want to unwrap me instead?” He raises his brow teasingly. “You can think of it as an apology.”

Your grin grows wider and you untie the knot of his bathrobe, letting it fall open to reveal his naked body. You don’t hesitate to take off your clothes and show him the cotton candy pink lacey set you bought recently, just for tonight.

“Holy shit, Y/N, a man could die here.” Seungkwan lets out a ragged breath.

“Mmm, you seem perfectly fine to me.” You smirk and kneel in front of him, slowly wrapping your hand around his half-hard cock. You look up to your boyfriend once before sliding out your tongue to give his shaft a few licks to test the waters.

“Ever the tease, aren’t you?” He threads his hand in your hair and you giggle, kissing the tip of his cock.

“Well, serves you right for putting me through misery.”

“Oh, now you’ve done it.” Seungkwan chuckles and pulls you on your feet, lightly shoving you on the bed. He discards the bathrobe on the floor and climbs over you, capturing your lips in a quite hungry kiss.

“You have no idea how nuts you drive me.”

“Is this about the argument or the lacey set?”

“Both. But talking isn’t the thing we’re supposed to be doing now.”

“I know. You should be doing me.” You grin on his lips.

“Ever the smartass, huh?” You can feel him grinning back.

“Takes one to know one.”

He takes another look at you and the grin is still plastered on his face. Except this time, he wordlessly runs his hands over the semi-sheer lace covering your breasts, his fingertips toying with the delicate material. He carefully slides it down to uncover your soft flesh, deft digits eagerly playing with your taut nipples.

“Mm, that feels nice.” You exhale in satisfaction and you part your legs to let your boyfriend slot himself between them.

“I can give you better than nice.” He whispers and pinches the buds, eliciting a whine from your mouth. He pinches them and rolls them a bit harder, forcing your back to arch off the bed.

“That’s more like it.” He licks his bottom lip and dives his head to attach his lips on your breasts, making out with the plush mounds. He keeps his mouth busy with your nipples, all while his right hand descends towards your neglected core.

“Kwan, please touch me more.” You beg with a whiny voice, wiggling your hips to get some kind of friction.

“You know, for someone who was really angry just half an hour ago, you’re quite the needy little thing right now.” He teases you more about your earlier behavior.

“I said I’m sorry!” You defend yourself.

“I know, darling. I wasn’t planning on keeping you high and dry.” He smiles sweetly as he slides his hand between your folds, moaning lowly as he lets his fingers get soaked in your arousal.

He plunges two of his slender fingers in your pussy, enjoying the way your walls clench greedily around them. Stilling them for a few seconds, he keeps making out with your chest, a few red marks already blooming on your skin.

“God, just stop teasing, please! I’m begging you!” You whine louder and wrap your legs around his back.

“You sound so cute when you beg for me, it almost makes me want to keep you wanting more.” 

“You’re mean.” You put your lips in a pout.

“But I’m also madly in love with you.” Seungkwan presses one last kiss on the valley of your breasts and he climbs down to bring himself on eye level with your lace-clad pussy.

He retracts his fingers and tugs the lace crotch upwards, making you moan and fist the sheets in response. Your reactions urge him to tug on it a bit harder, the thin material rubbing over your clit. Your entrance clenches in a needy manner, your slick gushing out and soaking the pink lace. 

“Eager to make it your second skin, aren’t you, darling?” Your boyfriend comments as he digs the pads of his fingers on your panties to push them in your hole, just enough to make them stick on your pussy.

“I’m n-not the sole c-culprit here.” You stutter, bucking your hips to get a bit more friction.

“One does not negate the other.” He bites back, pulling your panties away from your body, not missing the clear strings of your juices connecting to the fabric. He throws them somewhere in the room and gently unwraps your legs from his back.

He parts them open with his hands, finally uncovering your pussy.

“So worth the wait.” He whispers and licks a fat stripe over your slit, collecting your slick on his tongue.

“Oh God, yes.” You lean your head back on the pillow, your hand creeping in Seungkwan’s hair. The touch you were craving this whole time is finally yours and you couldn’t feel more blissful.

Sex with Seungkwan is never boring, but foreplay? It’s his fucking specialty.

Part of you wants to keep your eyes closed and get lost in the moment, but part of you also wants to keep them wide open and watch your boyfriend worship your cunt.

He uses his thumbs to keep your folds apart and make space for his tongue to re-explore your cunt and savor it like a Michelin star worthy meal.

“Have I told you before that you have the prettiest pussy in the world?” He peeks his head from between your legs.

“At least once during sex, Kwan. Not that I mind, of course.” You tug on his blond hair.

He flashes you a cocky smirk and purposefully circles your clit with the tip of his tongue, never breaking eye contact.

Your thighs clench on the bed, struggling to keep them still. If it wasn’t for Seungkwan’s hands, his head could have been crushed. 

His assault on your bundle of nerves is relentless and the buildup to your climax picks up the pace. 

You don’t want this to end yet, you want him to stay like this for the rest of the night, if possible.

All of a sudden, everything stops and you’re left on the edge of your orgasm, a loud whine bouncing off the walls of the bedroom.

“This might sound cheesy, but will you be my Valentine?” He asks you with doe eyes and glossy, cum covered lips.

“I can’t believe you have the nerve to say this right between my legs.” You protest from above, almost mad at him for ripping all stimulation away from you.

“I also have the nerve to edge you until you give me an answer.” He smirks.

“Fuck, how could I ever not want to be your Valentine?!” 

“Good to know.” Seungkwan grins wider.

“Because the night is still young and only one orgasm won’t cut it.”

[legy]

hi! i'm caelum. you might know me from @goldentruths-pod or from posting online. im in a financial quicksand pit and i really, really, really need help.

i'm disabled and receive approx ~$950 a month from social security. this has gone from "rough but survivable" when i first started receiving SSI to "i am literally not making ends meet" in 2024. right now my current status is that i am covering my basic needs but any kind of extra purchases are impossible. and the extra purchases i need to make keep piling up because i just can't afford them. some things i need include, in vague level of priority:

dolphin, my cat, is years overdue for a vet visit. this is going to be $300 minimum, possibly more because she has an adversarial relationship with the vet. she needs dental work done which they had quoted me as being $1500 but ive been putting it off for so long that i would not be surprised if that's more expensive too

i have learned today that my gold crown needs to be replaced. really unhappy about this one. it was a miserable experience the first time (everything that went wrong did go wrong, i'll spare you the details) but what is relevant here is that my insurance does not cover this and it was $900 last time. insurance also does not cover extracting the tooth either so that's cool. i have some time before this one is due (my next consult is in july)

my phone is approaching "unusably broken". i've had it for close to 4 years now. the call speaker no longer works (i can only use the phone on speaker mode) and it struggles to run apps or a web browser which makes things like GPS pretty dire. this would be like ~$100-$150 probably, i havent done serious phone shopping yet

my driver's license is expired and i need to get a new one. this was $110 last time. note i havent driven a car in years due to the disability but it's really valuable to have a universally recognized form of photo ID and ive already been hassled over it being expired

god this one is so embarrassing to get into but i had to flee my previous apartment last year due to it escalating into a DV situation. the other tenants did not pay the heating bill, which was in my name (and my dumb ass didnt close the account because it was the middle of february and i didnt want to freeze them to death) so i have a $250 utility bill in collections. i might be able to dispute or debt forgiveness this one but tbh ive been so fucking drained given everything else going on and also my phone barely works so i havent pursued it. especially since i can't afford to pay it if i cant challenge it

i would really like to have a passport again. my previous one was destroyed by my landlord in 2018 but even if it wasnt it'd also be expired now. not sure how much this one costs. likely $200?

my food stamps were slashed in half (covid emergency ending lol) and do not cover my food costs for the month so im paying like $150 a month on food that i didnt have to previously. i can maybe fix this one but im slowly losing my mind from malnutrition from trying to not go into debt and also eat. so i havent had it in me to go 1v1 welfare bureaucracy and possibly make everything even worse

my shoes are probably two months out from fully decomposing. they were $100 three years ago and id like to get something comparable given they lasted me this long

the rest of my clothes are also very literally becoming threadbare, falling apart, or are too big and keep slipping off. i legitimately feel embarrassed to go in public these days because i dress so shitty all the time

insurance doesnt cover my HRT anymore so that's $30 a month i didnt used to have to pay

im sorry this turned into such a ramble. i'm in such a bad way right now, i have been for quite a while and the dental work news is really just the final straw. i can't really have a fundraising goal because due to the SSI asset limit i can never own more than $2000. & i'm aware both that this is the poor people sending each other the same 20 dollars website and that there are people urgently trying to raise money to escape an active genocide. but i held off from making this post as long as possible & idk what else i can do

anyway if theres anything you can contribute to help me i would appreciate it more than anything. at the very least i need to do something about my tooth.

http://paypal.me/hivehum

[d3adlyromb3ar]

jujutsu kaisen fic rec list ‧₊˚

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT | SOME CONTENT 18+

* You are responsible for your media consumption. Please do not proceed reading, if you have any kind of problem with any of the warnings in these fics.

— notes. pls go follow all of these amazing authors/pages! also thank you @saradika for the wonderful dividers💕

fic recommendations. april 2024

satoru gojo

♡ melodies of passion (series) @sykosugu

↳ he's the most powerful & ruthless yakuza boss in the city, and she's just a music store owner. but once he hears her singing voice, he wants nothing more than to hear it for the rest of his life..and she's not so sure about that.. he'll do anything to change that.

♡ "where is my wife?" @kingkonoha

↳ curses & curse users have discovered satoru’s greatest weakness, and it’s you, satoru’s sweet, ordinary housewife. after getting kidnapped by gojo’s enemies, he’ll do whatever it takes to get you back.

♡ i will possess your heart @bratbby333

↳ for as cocky as Satoru is, it’s oddly fitting. in his mind, everything belongs to him, including you.

♡ a typical family (series) @literaila

↳ satoru shows up unexpectedly after six months of silence, two little kids trailing behind him. chaos ensues.

toji fushiguro

♡ fix you (series) @tojikai

↳ "But you are here, right in front of me."

♡ the world underneath your skin (series) @gojosoath

↳ After spending most of his life as an underground hitman for desperate means to support himself financially — Toji Fushiguro gets recruited to work as an assassin for the government due to his his mastered skills. Through his new occupation, Toji struggles with muscle pains and is recommended to see a massage therapist. Toji meets Y/N, who becomes Toji’s massage therapist, and the two realize they both have toxic addictions they hide from daylight; Toji’s alcoholism and Y/N’s self-harm. Along the way, Toji and Y/N can’t seem to stay away from each other despite the darkness that threatens to keep them apart. 

♡ Quickie! @sickslimez

↳ toji just can’t keep his hands to himself after not fucking you for a week...which results in a quickie.

suguru geto

♡ on the run (series) @sykosugu

↳ she's an infamous bank robber, and he's the only detective that's been able to get close to her. he was never apart of her plans. but he's got his clutches in her and she can't let go.

kento nanami

♡ appreciation @ahkaahshi

↳ you know how you feel about nanami and how nanami feels about your bakery, but on a rainy day, you finally learn how he feels about you.

megumi fushiguro

♡ unholy matrimony (series) @chuluoyi

↳ in another life, in which fate is still screwing his life over, Fushiguro Megumi finds himself in an arranged marriage―with you.

[ghostmoor]

Help my friends recover from a nasty leak in their building that wrecked their bedroom (link)

My best friends CJ and Hex are disabled trans people living in Chicago. CJ has limited capacity to work that's supplemented by SSDI and Hex is totally incapable of working due to a combination of many disabling health issues but most recently the advancement of their EDS and some kind of progressive spinal/neurological issue that has yet to be diagnosed.

Yesterday (14/08/2024) they woke up to find a leak in their apartment building which, over the course of the morning, soaked through pretty much everything in their bedroom and it's still not entirely clear what's salvageable. EDIT: at minimum, they are going to need a new bed and mattress. They and their four cats are currently confined to one room in their already-small apartment, and this is happening on the back of multiple other stressors.

Being stuck on the other side of the ocean means I'm pretty powerless to do much for them but I WOULD like to give them a little bit of respite from the financial stress after this. I'd like to raise, say, $500, but anything helps. CJ's linktree is linked above - take a screenshot of a donation to their fundraiser, paypal or venmo, or purchase from one of their wishlists, and it becomes a fun coupon you can trade in with me for a free sketch.

Alternatively, if you wanna go whole hog: commission me! 5 slots open, first come first serve, money will go to CJ and Hex. You can read more about my commissions on my website and find my email there, or contact me on Discord (ghostmoor).

Cat tax for the long post

Edit 20/08/2024: Renter's insurance has declined to pay anything out. in light of this i want to up my goal a bit.

Edit 31/08/2024: Renter's insurance flipped and paid out! The bad news is that the whole building is leaking water everywhere. The flood was much worse in other apartments than we realised and frankly the habitability of the building is in question at this point. Due to Chicago's fucked up laws around water leaks in their unit specifically they do not have a right to pay reduced rent as they had hoped they would, thus the goal stands.

4/5 commission slots open

$204/$800

[romanarose]

Joel Takes a Strap

Written for Married Joel sits on you 2024 by the amazing @beefrobeefcal !!!

Joel Miller x trans!reader

Join my taglist : Masterlist

Buy Me A Coffee : Kofi : Go Fund Me

Summary: Joel takes a strap.... send tweet.

Warnings: sex toys, praise, body worship

Immersivity: Reader is trans and able bodied. Reader has had top surgury.

A/N: promt via Beef, must include this line "Marriage had been good to Joel. His mental health and financial stability had improved, and he seemed over all a happier person. The only drawback seemed to be the effect it had on his waistline."

A/N 2: My taglist is back!!! follow the link to join <3

Divider by @animatedglittergraphics-n-more

It was a life few people really understood. Jackson was pretty open minded, considering there were bigger things to worry about than gay shit. Still, in 2003 someone being trans was pretty much the punchline to a joke if you knew what it was at all. So, when a transman came to Jackson, it wasn't exactly the warmest welcome.

Joel would like to think he'd have always been kind and welcoming. Maybe not the friendliest guy, but still. Joel didn't care what anyone chose to do to themselves, but he thought of Ellie. He thought of how she'd been treated at the tipsy bison that night, and Dina, Joels now-daughter in-law-... he wasn't able to be a safe person for her to come out to during that time but he wanted to be safety for someone else.

He had no idea you'd become his safe place as well.

Joel wished he could have been there for Ellie to come out the way she was ready to, but then things turned around. He'd repaired their relationship in a lot of ways, and now... now she was the one he came out to when he started seeing you. The ceremony had been small, little JJ as the ringbarrer.

Marriage had been good to Joel. His mental health and relation ship with Ellie improved and he seemed over all a happier person. The only drawback seemed to be the effect it had on his waistline.

This, however was not a drawback to you. When the world fell apart, if someone had an ounce of fat on their body, they were called obese, torn apart on the covers of grocery store magazines... but you saw Joel's weight gain as something beautiful. It meant he was safe. He was relaxed. He wasn't on the run. He was yours.

And you got a surprise for him.

You had made sue to clean it, and clean it good... but you had found a strap on while out, and were ready to use it on Joel. Joel was more inclined to top, but that didn't mean you didn't take control sometimes. He regularly takes several fingers up that cute-but-flat ass of his, and today you'd prepped him well, making sure to add lots of vasiline to the strap to ease him.

Now, Joel Miller had his legs spread across your lap as you sat on the edge of the couch, covering above your strap.

"You don't gotta do nothing you don't wanna." You reassure him.

Joel shakes his head, murmuring as he looks down. "It ain't that... I just don't wanna crush yuh, s'all."

You can't help smile at that. "You won't Joel. I love feeling you on me, l love the weight. You're fuck'n perfect."

And he smiles at that. Soft, but he smiles.

So you tease him. "Better take it now, I know Maria wants a turn for Tommy."

Joel visibly cringed at that, but laughed and the tension was gone from the room. Joel was happy, you were happy, and he had the support of his family. What everyone else thought didn't matter.

When Joel sinks down on you, feeling the weight of him push you into the couch cushions, you can't help but smile and feel his hands grip your shoulders.

"Good boy..." You praise the old man whose boyhood was far behind him. "Take my cock... just like that" If Joel was a boy, the strap is your cock. Who cares. In moments like these you can forget all the horrors of the outside world, forget reality.

"So fucking hot..." Breathy, Joel praises you back as he takes the whole strap up inside him. His hand goes to your chest, palm paying no mind to the surgery scares. "My handsome husband."

"Mmmmm... My handsome husband..."

Joel begins to move up and down, bouncing on you, his thick thighs working hard as he fucks himself. His cock slaps against your stomach. "Wanna make you cum too... how does... does that w-work?" You can see him bit his lip, pleasure filling his body.

You take his hard, leaking member in your hand, stroking him after you spit.

"Don't worry about that. We'll figure things out as he go, right now i just want you to focus on feeling good, Joel. Can you do that for me? Be my good boy and cum?"

Joel nods, a little curl falling on his forehead that is begining to sweat.

"yeah, I can do that... I can feel good... your cock feels good... I can feel good."

You love when he gets like this, lets go and lets his subby inner nature come out.

"I bet you can, Joel. I know it."

Thank you all so so much for reading!!!!

Want more trans content?

I wrote About a Girl which is Joel and tranfem reader and You'd Love me if I was a Worm, Would You Love me if I was A Man? which is reader transmasc reader coming out to santi and Big Boys Dont Cry which is trans reader AND trans santi

I hope to write a santi and trans reader series soon

How to keep up with my work?

Follow @romana-updates

ask to join my taglist

join my tumblr community

follow me on ao3 @romana_rose

Love you! hope to see more from Beefro's event!!!

[wolfertinger]

"keep anon buuut i feel we really glossed over salem's financial mishandling way too quickly. mostly because this ask reminded me:

"anon for safety, cannot provide ss sadly but salem used his kofi money to buy a dildo. plus hes asking about fursuit shit while apparently needing all the money to escape home or whatever. fucking liar"

i can comment to remembering in the past when puppy would e beg, such as claiming their mother would throw them out when they reached 18 only for them to become 18 and nothing happened. several times i remember them begging for money to eat. then posting massive amounts of mcdonalds (this was the context around the infamous pups gotta eat post. just to give you an idea of the amount of food bought). salem has never had to truly mature so it is not at all a stretch to say he has no money management skills."

^ this post was from october 2024 and i'm surprised how little has changed? he keeps vaguely talking about "needing to save up" but somehow mysteriously never has any money actually saved, where tf does it go?? he can't claim his momma is taking it anymore even tho he's being just as guilt trippy

several times now he's admitted his donations WAY exceed what he asks for (like a phone or computer, each is at the very least a few hundred dollars) and he keeps all the extra "for food and necessities". he never actually breaks down what he uses this money for, and razzicetea has stated not only does he omit the truth about going hungry such as the fact he frequently uses doordash despite his mom cooking for him and his family, but that he receives all of this money ON TOP OF BEING PAID $1,600 A MONTH IN SOCIAL SECURITY! which, by the way when the government finds out you've been dishonest about your funds, you don't get to queer black bunny boy your way out of it, you get your benefits taken away, you fucking moron. so have fun with that and remember that'll be your own fault

the ex razz even states he received enough money for a plane ticket to their partner home country and WILLINGLY chose not to invest in them, he spent it on a laptop, a phone, treats, doordash, sex toys, literally everything but wis... note that they have been dating for years now. not once has salem tried to see wis despite claiming to want to so badly. he's such a bad fucking liar and i can't believe people need it spelled out to them like this when he non stop posts about his life and exposes himself"