#I am not getting an apartment because they are more expensive then my mortgage around here

[a-shrieking-cloud-of-bats]

just chiming in to say that yes apparently tumblr is harvesting a fuckton of data with tumblr live and this is a universal social media thing

so like if you want to use non mastodon social media you’re fucked in any case

tumblr is not uniquely terrible in this sense

okay actually taking my sabbatical

[cowboyjen68]

Hi Jen, please forgive me if this sounds deranged. I understand if you don't reply, but I don't know any older women like me to go to for advice. Also, please disregard this if i forget to press anon (paranoid lol)

I never thought I wanted kids, my fiancé says she doesn't (sometimes she says things that make me think otherwise, but im going to say she doesn't because I have to take her at her word)

The thing is that recently it's been more and more in my head. Im in my early 30s so I don't know if it's a biological clock thing, I know I should say it to her but im not sure if I should either because I don't want to cause problems in our relationship, but also I don't even know if I understand how I feel about it (this is made worse by the fact that, while we live in the same city, we have temporarily had to live apart for financial reasons while saving for a mortgage)

The thing is, I feel like I'm starting to really want kids, which I know I should say to her

But

I feel like I only want kids with her if that makes sense? If I was with anyone else, I wouldn't want to

I'm not even sure if I actually want kids at all. It's more like (sorry if this is gross or anything). i have this increasing... need for want of a better word? To have with her what straight people have, I wish I could get pregnant by her somehow, I wish I could make a person who is made of me and of her, this makes me feel guilty and pained and confused (just to clarify this is not sexual confusion, I am and have always been exclusively same-sex attracted) I guess I just am at the point where I love her so much that I want something that I can't have, im not sure whether I actually want kids or whether it's some hormonal thing but (I know this sounds weird) i3 guess I wish I could express our love in that way? But I'm kind of in my feelings and confused about it, I dont know where to start or whether to tell her or what I would even say to her about it. Also most of my friends are either younger (wouldn't get it) or straight (and it would be humiliating to me to go to them over something that they could do without a second thought)

Anyway, i thought I'd come here because I know you have a lot more experience than me, and i was wondering what you would do in my position

I am one of those moms who never wanted kids. I am a realist and understood from a pretty young age that kids are a pain in the ass. They are expensive, a lifelong commitment, noisy, unpredictable and invasive. I was raised around nephews and nieces and younger cousins .I saw women my age get pregnant in high school. I grew up in the 80’s where half the “After School Specials” were about the hardships of teen pregnancy and a fair amount of books for teen girls and sitcoms aimed at my demographic featured young women having and raising unplanned kids. I very clearly saw the writing on the wall and wanted NO part of it. I wanted MY LIFE to be mine. 

     I have 5 kids all adopted from foster care and the truth is I didn’t want ANY Of them. I stated in my dating profile that kids were a deal breaker. I communicated over the course of my second relationship that kids were of negative interest to me and my life. My mind never changed and in all truth I just got tired of saying no and we became foster parents. MY ex loved the “IDEA” of being a parent but not the actual work. I understood this about her which was one reason I pushed back for years before giving in and agreeing. I know, based on my parents and my siblings I would be a decent mom, I just didn’t want to be. My kids are all grown except my 17 year old. They are 25, 25, 26 and 23. I have a pretty good relationship with them. My oldest daughter has a daughter who is 21 months. I am not a wonderful grandma. I work all the time and we live hours apart. I am focused on my life and home and future because for a 17 year marriage I neglected it. My kids all know I was a reluctant parent because we have a very open and honest relationship.

      Parenting with my ex was horrible. I worked two jobs, budgeted, did the majority of the homework, bedtime ritual, morning prep and house work and I spent years being exhausted. I partially stayed with her because until the final adoption we could not legally be married so I had NO legal right to the older 4 and was not about to abandon them to my wife. 

      I am telling you this background so you understand that I have a unique and possibly skewed perspective about parenting as a lesbian. It is totally normal to be unsure about wanting kids. I would say most straight people also go back and forth between the emotional idea of having kids as an extension of love and of a good use of their compatibility and partnership, to have and raise a happy, healthy child (ren) AND knowing the stress of money, unpredictable times, and the fact that, no matter how great parents are , kids are people and they very quickly for their own idea, personalities and who KNOWS what can happen given those facts. The difference is just that lesbians can’t accidentally become parents so we have to either overcome the fear and want the kids more than we don’t OR stay childless. Many great parents did not get there with careful planning, just one day they are thrust into the role and step up to the task. 

     My advice is to keep talking to your partner about your thoughts." I think I might want kids” is not the same and “WE MUST have kids or I won’t be happy”. Communicate your confusion and insecurities about it and also the good things you see about becoming parents.  I highly suggest volunteering for Big Brother Big Sisters, or even getting a foster care respite license. When you do respite you are essentially babysitting kids so adoptive and foster parents can get a break. These kids can be everything from charming and sweet to struggling with mental illness and trauma (which is why it requires training).. You can get a lot of fulfillment, experience and learning moments plus you are giving exhausted caretakers a break. Offer to babysit a friend's kids. See if the local Girl Scout needs volunteers, A lot of nature centers run kids summer programs or weekend programs like birthday parties and always need volunteers. Consider taking some childhood or first time parent classes. All of this is to give you a well rounded perspective of how kids can be, which is sometimes awful but very often wonderful and sweet and even when they are misbehaving you can feel joy in watching these tiny people learn and grow. 

You are correct about the idea of biological children vs adoption. They are not the same. I know a lot of people want to believe that they are exactly the same connection and bond but in my experience that is a lie people often tell themselves.  The fact is, parenting a child that is not biological does take a little more effort to bond and connect. Eventually it strengthens and can be wonderful but it is unique. Not better or worse, just different. My kids were all older, 4, 7, 8, 10, and 16 when they came into my life so they were already established in personality and habits and world view so it took time to align with each other. We are now all more like friends than a parent/child relationship but perhaps that just happens with age and maturity.  Adoption is by far cheaper with more available resources (through foster care) than using a sperm bank or asking a friend to donate so one of you can be pregnant but each couple needs to weigh what works for them. 

     I would suggest putting off major discussions until you can see each other but if not, do it over zoom or facetime so you can see each other’s expressions and have a nuanced conversation. I would not make any major purchases like a house until you are settled a bit and you both are at least on the same page with kids. That page might be neither of you are sure yet or that you both think it should wait until life is less up in the air to decide together. If you land solidly in the “i must have kids” camp and she says “NO”, you might have your answer. Then you must decide between letting go of the need for kids or moving on from the relationship. The worst thing you can do is push someone who is expressing that they don’t want kids into having kids. This is a bad deal. 

I know this is a lot. Kids are a big deal to both the relationship and to the kids who are brought into that relationship, no matter now that happens. I wish you the best and I hope, together, you can talk it out and get some clarity.

[ctraceywrites]

This week has been A LOT.

My cousin is visiting so we've been running around more to go out and Do Things while he's here. They're fun and I definitely want to do them, but I'm also just very tired. Bad timing mostly.

I also broke my finger and got a flat tire and my cat hasn't been doing well and all that is probably going to be pretty expensive and I'm already been over spending recently.

My whole body aches from sleeping on a shitty pull out bed and from the fall I had the other day and I haven't been getting enough sleep because people just keep ignoring the fact that I'm trying to sleep in the living room and turn lights on, bang pots and pans around, and stay up talking all night.

I need to rest and get some peace for a while, but I'm not expecting to get that, at least not until I move.

The plan was to get a house, but no matter how much I save I'm still no where near the amount I need to get a mortgage that will let me get a livable house in the area I'm looking. Instead, I'm not looking into apartments and am on a waiting list for low income housing near the area I wanted to move.

I have not told my mother I'm looking at apartments. If/when I move in just going to go, say nothing and just leave.

[theniftycat]

First Three Days of War. A Russian Diary

PREFACE: I’ve been writing this diary since the third day of the war in Ukraine. I don’t support this war and so don’t millions of Russians who are violently suppressed by Putin and his regime. I decided to translate this diary in order to attract attention and support to Russian non-profit organisations who provide care and legal support to protestors.

It’s an ongoing project because the war isn’t over yet.

Note: in [] I add clarifying information that wasn’t there in the original.

27th of February, 4 am.

I’ll help future historians.

I’m 31 years old, I live in Yakutsk, I’m a Russian citizen and I’m ethnically Yakut. [Yakutsk is in the Far East, Yakuts are a Siberian Asian native people.] My political views are left-leaning, I think that the government is there to serve people. I’m disabled [I have spastic palsy], I work at an IT company. I have two unfinished degrees: in French Philology and Physics. [I’m also a queer woman.]

Today is the third day of the Russian war on Ukraine. I realise that my perspective is quite removed from the thick of it, Ukraine is a long way from Yakutsk, but that’s not the point, the point is that it was my state that started this war. I understand that I bear the collective responsibility for it and that I’ll experience the consequences personally.

Before the war started, I could not imagine that it was possible, so in the morning, when I woke up and heard about it, I didn’t immediately understand what had happened. I don’t remember how I found out about the invasion, I don’t follow the news and I don’t follow a lot of people online. In general, I usually use social networks less than an average person. I remember how, when my remote work shift began, I realised that I needed to get on Telegram, which I started using only in December, to see what Ekaterina Schulmann [a Russian political scientist] was writing and subscribe to her. I think that’s when I realized what happened.

In my company, almost all the employees are about my age. In addition, we create programs for foreign consumers, so the news of the outbreak of war was met with panic by many, including myself. I, like many of my colleagues, love to travel, use the Internet a lot, love foreign content and work with American programs and websites. Therefore, when questions about the company supporting us in moving abroad immediately arose in the work chat, I was not surprised.

Oh, well, and the dollar, of course. [before the war it cost about 75 rubles, at the moment it costs more than 100, which means that everything will get more expensive] Now it doesn’t even immediately come to mind that until this Thursday I had plans for the future. I have savings and assets in dollars and rubles. I was planning to buy an apartment in Kaliningrad this year, and I was worried that since the beginning of the year, due to politics, the mortgage rate has been rising and the ruble has fluctuated. Of course, few people like the prospect of losing money. In addition, due to my disability, I work part-time, and accordingly, I only receive half of the possible salary. And to see how this little money disappears when I had planned to travel around Europe after moving was terrifying. Now I don’t think about it anymore, because all of this is now in the fantasy section. [It’s gotten a lot worse since then.]

I could not focus on work and was only refreshing pages to learn what the media, colleagues, and acquaintances were writing. I wrote to my parents that we need to buy a lot of food that lasts long.

After work, I watched the Rain TV channel until night, it’s known as an independent channel. Dad at that time watched the federal television and received a shock dose of government propaganda. I don’t think Rain is flawless, but you have to rely on something at such moments.

I signed a petition against the war and wrote to my deputy on the website of the State Duma. Without thinking that it would change anything, but just to do something. Before going to bed, I shared my position on Instagram and wrote down some thoughts in my stories.

Yesterday I woke up after six hours of sleep and immediately began reading the news, this had never happened to me before. I was alert, my brain was busy. I explained the situation to foreign friends. I worked during work hours. After work, I watched Rain again. I realised that the situation reminded me most of all of the German attack on Poland in 1939. How do you make sense of the fact that you are now quite possibly in the same situation as ordinary Germans in that September? How to understand all this? They certainly thought that the war would be short and frivolous. But in the end, the world in which they lived collapsed. And now, as I understood yesterday, the same thing can happen.

Okay, maybe not Germany in 1939, but Germany in 1914. I started reading “Three Comrades” and I came across these paragraphs that look like a prophecy:

“ 1918. That was in hospital. A fresh convoy had come in a few days before. Paper bandages. Badly wounded cases. Groans. Low operating-trolleys trundling back and forth all day. Josef Stoll was in the bed next to mine. Both his legs were off, but he didn’t know that. He could not see it, because the bedclothes were supported on a wire cradle. He would not have believed it anyway, for he could still feel the pain in his feet. Two chaps died in the night in our room, one very slowly and hard.

1919. Home again. Revolution. Starvation. And outside the machine-guns rattling. Soldier against soldier.

1920. Putsch. Karl Bröger shot. Köster and Lenz arrested. My mother in hospital. Cancer.

1921. . . .

I pondered awhile. No, I couldn’t remember. That year, was missing. 1922, I was a platelayer in Thuringia; 1923, advertising manager for a rubber goods firm. That was during the inflation. At one time I was earning as much as two hundred billion marks a month. We used to be paid twice a day, each payment followed by a half-hour’s leave, so that one could dash out to the shops and buy something before next publication of the dollar exchange rate — for by that time the money would be again worth only half.”

I don’t think the war will be long, but after the war, Russia will be isolated anyway. As long as Putin is in office. And no one will like it, so someone will overthrow him. And after that, too, there will be years of misfortune. Probably. Likely.

I understood what my approximate position in the world is. Now we must live day by day and try to stay ourselves.

I love history and literature, but I am not an expert in either.

Today I slept for seven hours, but in the morning I woke up with the feeling that my head had been working all night. I already felt tired in the morning. Mom threw a text in our family chat on WhatsApp about how Putin is a genius. I thought I could let it go. I could not. I don’t try to hold back my emotions because they have to be lived through and let go. I was gloomy for much of the day.

I could not focus on anything, because the feeling of reality and inevitability of what was happening overtook me gradually. Hours passed. Yesterday it was a game for me. Not today.

The book was not read, and the videos on various non-military topics that my favorite channels released were not watched. Then I decided to write this. Then I was distracted by playing with my cat Dymok. Then I played the last mission in Tropico 3 and lost (I play games every day. [Not anymore.] A lot of mobile games when watching videos and a couple of hours in Tropico 3 the last days). And then I sat down to finish writing this text.

I wrote it because I wanted to know how the Germans felt at the beginning of their wars. The Germans, who did not need wars, but who were plunged into them anyway. The Germans, who to this day share a collective responsibility, and who experienced all the consequences personally.

I don’t lift the yoke of responsibility either from them or from myself. I just want to understand. Such sources are hard to find, so I’ll create my own.

I will also write that I do not protest on the street, because I can only go outside in winter with someone’s help. Besides, I live in Yakutsk. I have a friend in Moscow who went to the protests on Thursday and today. Now he is sitting in the police station, because he was detained before the protests even began, without being given the reasons for his detention. I can’t be in his place, so at least I’ll write about it.

AFTERWORD: My friend is still detained, he is a trans man. Since writing this text I’ve been trying to find out what happened to him and help him as much as I can. This text is here to support the non-profit organisations that helped me in this quest.

PLEASE, DONATE TO:

International LGBT+ Film Festival Side by Side

Russian LGBT Network

OVD-Info

[notebooknebula]

Private Money & Self-Storage Investing with Scott Meyers and Jay Conner

https://www.jayconner.com/private-money-self-storage-investing-with-scott-meyers-and-jay-conner/

Scott Meyers shares the world of Self-Storage Investing

Scott and his affiliated companies focus on the acquisition, development, and syndicating of self-storage facilities nationwide. He currently owns and operates over 2,200,000 square feet and over 13,000 units nationwide.

His education organization www.SelfStorageInvesting.com provides courses, tools, life events, and mentoring to help others launch self-storage businesses to enjoy a lifestyle, as his saying goes “free from tenant, toilets & trash!”

His various companies are also very mission-focused and funded the construction of 12 houses in Mexico and the Dominican Republic by taking his staff, partners & other associates on their all-expense-paid short-term mission trips.

Timestamps:

0:01 – Get Ready To Be Plugged Into The Money

1:38 – Jay’s New Book: “Where To Get The Money Now”- https://www.JayConner.com/Book

2:58 – Today’s guest: Scott Meyers

5:44 – How Scott Meyers got started in the real estate business

8:31 – Scott Meyers’ very first storage facility

10:15 – Scott Meyers’ lesson learned on his first storage facility deal

11:04 – What is syndication?

13:29 – Does the storage investing business also offer multiple exit strategies?

17:09 – Get connected with Scott Meyers – https://www.SelfStorageInvesting.com

18:34 – How does the pandemic affect the Self-Storage industry?

22:09 – No business strives unless it’s solving a lot of people’s problems

23:10 – Scott Meyers’ recent projects

25:19 – Best way on starting with Self-Storage Investing business

27:43 – Common mistakes that new self-storage investors make

30:17 – Scott Meyers’ parting comments – “It’s when everybody is running out that you should be, not just running in but understanding what it means to be in the real estate business.”

Private Money Academy Conference:

https://jaysliveevent.com/live/?oprid=&ref=42135

Have you read Jay’s new book: Where to Get The Money Now? It is available FREE (all you pay is the shipping and handling) at https://www.JayConner.com/Book

Free Webinar: http://bit.ly/jaymoneypodcast

Jay Conner is a proven real estate investment leader. Without using his own money or credit, Jay maximizes creative methods to buy and sell properties with profits averaging $64,000 per deal.

What is Real Estate Investing? Live Private Money Academy Conference

https://youtu.be/QyeBbDOF4wo

YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/c/RealEstateInvestingWithJayConner

iTunes:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/private-money-academy-real-estate-investing-jay-conner/id1377723034

Listen to our Podcast:

https://realestateinvestingdeals.mypodcastworld.com/11241/private-money-self-storage-investing-with-scott-meyers-and-jay-conner

Private Money & Self-Storage Investing with Scott Meyers and Jay Conner

Jay Conner:

Stir. And you are still struggling to do your first deal because you don’t have the funding and you can’t find the money for your deals, or are you a wholesaler? And you’ve received some assignment fees, but there’s some deals you want to stay in, but you said probably haven’t been able to stay in the deals because you don’t have the money or the funding, or are you a seasoned real estate investor? And you’ve done a ton of deals, but you’re sick and tired of paying high interest rates and you want to be in control of your business and you just want to get some more cheap money really, really fast. Well, if you answered yes to any of those three questions, don’t go anywhere because I’m getting ready to plug you into the money right now.

Well, hello and welcome to another episode of the private money academy podcast. I’m Jay Conner, the private money authority. I’m the host of the show. And I want to welcome you here to the show here on the private money academy podcast. We obviously always talk about private money and getting deals funded, getting money for your deals. But in addition to that, I typically have an amazing guest and expert to join me here on the show. And today is no exception, but before I introduce you to my good friend and expert in this area of self storage, that you’re going to find amazing. I’ve got a free gift for you for just being here on the show. And that is, I just recently released my new book, which is titled where to get the money now, subtitle, how and where to get money for your real estate deals without relying on traditional or hard money lenders.

So here’s the deal folks. I just released this book hit number one on Amazon. And this book was show you. Step-by-step how I went from having no funding from ideals to over $2 million in less than 90 days and how you can get plugged into money as well. We’re not talking about traditional money. We’re not talking about institutional lenders, how to get money very, very fast at super cheap, low interest rates. And I’m glad to send this book to you for free, just cover delivery. You can get the book for free at www dot Jay Conner, J a y C o n n er.com forward slash book. Again, you can get the book, we’ll ship it right out to you@wwwdotjcounterjayconner.com forward slash book. And we’ll get you plugged into the funding for your deals right away. What, as I mentioned, I’ve got an amazing guest and a very, very close personal friend of mine on the show with me today, a little bit about him before I bring him on he and his affiliated companies, they focus in this area on the acquisition, the development and the syndicating of self storage facilities nationwide.

Now, my guests currently owns any operates over check this out 2 million, 200,000, my land’s square feet and over 13,000 units that is gotten nationwide. Well, not only does he do the business, but he also teaches and coaches other real estate investors that want to learn about self storage and how that works. His education company is self storage, investing.com, and it provides courses and tools and live events, coaching, and mentoring to help others launch like you self storage businesses to enjoy the lifestyle. And, you know, as my guest, a good friend is known to say many, many times, get in this business and you’ll be free from tenants free from toilets free from trash. Well, you know, one thing that he and I talk about, and he and I are in a high end mastermind group together, his various companies are also very mission focused. He’s got a heart of gold, he’s got a servant’s heart and he is so far to date. He’s funded the construction of 12 houses, and I’m very, very familiar with this project. 12 houses down in Mexico and the Dominican Republic by taking his staff, his partners, his friends, his business associates on their all expense paid mission trip to do houses for these people. Wow. What a service heart, where that my good friend, Scott Myers, welcome to the podcast.

Scott Meyer:

Hey Jay, it is a good to see you again, my friend, how are you?

Jay Conner:

I am doing fantastic. I know we’ve got a mastermind meeting coming up pretty soon out there in Scottsdale. Are you going to make that one or you don’t know?

Scott Meyer:

I am looking forward to it and I will attend to any, and all of those that will be held in Arizona because now I have a two kiddos that are going to grand canyon university in Phoenix. And so we’re going to be spending a lot of time out in Arizona.

Jay Conner:

Oh, that’s great. Well, Carol joy and I we’ve already got our plane tickets. We’ve got our hotel reservations. So I look forward to seeing you in Scottsdale in just a few short weeks, right around the corner.

Scott Meyer:

Likewise can’t wait. Absolutely.

Jay Conner:

Well, Scott, as I told everybody in the introduction, I mean your expertise, your wheelhouses self storage and self storage facilities, but before we get into that world and your arena, first of all, just tell everybody how you got into real estate.

Scott Meyer:

Yeah. Wow. I think probably like most people out there started with the single family house and I learned from, and many folks on here will this name and a whole lot won’t Carleton sheets, who was one of the grandfathers along with Ron Legrand and some of the others that taught people how to get into real estate. So I followed this program to buy houses, rehab them refund, and some rent them out and then replicate and do that over and over again. So the burn method before it was called the bird method. And so that’s how we got started bought a single family house. This was back in 1993 was the first one that I ever bought. It had an assumable VA mortgage on it, which I don’t think there’s any of those left out there any longer and allowed me to get in and just assume that mortgage with very little experience in the way of even credit history at the time, it was a pretty young guy at the time, as you can tell by my age now and doing the math.

So that’s how it started. And then we moved on to buying up more. We refinanced about two more houses than we need to fix them up refinance and buy more. So we had about 75 in 76 houses and didn’t really have the cashflow and the, the, you know, the freedom that we wanted that Carlton sheets had mentioned in the home study system. So we thought, well, economies of scale will fix this. So we started getting into apartments and buying several complexes around central Indiana, but same thing and just kind of bought us more tenants, toilets, trash headaches, and the business model just wasn’t right for us. We wanted to have time. We wanted the freedom that real estate brings. And so to do that in real estate, that means no tenants, no toilets. So that’s either parking lots or self storage, and you can’t really build a lot of value in, in parking lots.

And then we found, but once I dug into self storage, I realized that, ah, this is, this is a place I need to be. People don’t pay rent. You lock them out and you sell their stuff off and get paid. You turn it around by taking a blower and you blow the unit out with no paint, no carpet, no extensive clean-out or repairs. And once I more, the more I looked into the business, I really saw the light and decided that this is the path I wanted to take. So sold their houses, our apartments, and now we’ve gone just, you know, 100% into self storage made that transition about 2005 to where we are now, today, which is where you mentioned Jay, we, we buy existing facilities. Still. That same model is in place. We also convert industrial buildings, grocery stores, anything that is, can be repurposed into so storage, we’ll buy it and convert it. And then we build from the ground up and we do a lot of this on by partnering and doing joint ventures and then syndicating the private equity, which is where you come in, Jay and you know, all too well, what that looks like and how we can leverage other people’s money and bring them along as limited partners to enjoy in the growth in this incredible business. So I hope that wasn’t longer than what you were looking for, but that’s, that’s my story.

Jay Conner:

No, that was perfect. Well, tell us the story about your very first self storage facility that you got into and, and what lessons did you learn from that first deal?

Scott Meyer:

Yeah, so the F the very first facility that I got into was a, that we were sending out mailers to facility owners, just like we all do in real estate to the asset class that we’re in. And we ran across some business owners and they were getting a business, a divorce. They were partners in a concrete business and things weren’t going so well. And they wanted, they were parting ways. And this facility, they owned together as well. Well, they, as what happens, unfortunately in the worst is the other one, one side wants to hurt the other. And the other one definitely wants to destroy the other one. And so that’s what they were doing. And they were destroying the value of the facility in the meantime. And so what that meant is we were able to get into this a facility for it, was it appraised for $800,000 more than what the selling price was?

And they just had to get out from under the note, because those two had done such a good job of fighting each other, that the bank was about ready to take the facility back. So I partnered, I partnered up with a gentleman. We came in at 50, 50 cash and both on the balance sheet and excuse me, on the loan request and ended up moving forward on this first property, by taking the existing tenants and raising the rates, which they hadn’t been raised in 10 years, we let them manage, well, let me see. We didn’t let her, we freed up her future to pursue other career opportunities and put a kiosk in place because we don’t have to manage these facilities with a person on site. And then we bought the land next door and expanded and built that up and leased that up as well.

So I sold off to my partner eventually. And that leads to, I guess, the second part of your question, Jay, which is what did I learn from this? Well, first of all, I, I understood the power of leveraging and bringing partners in to projects. But I also, the lesson I learned is that I, I really want to be in that manager position. I wanted to have that control rather than 50 50, and it’s not a control issue. It’s just that, you know, once I learned about syndication and moving on to other projects, that I can be the syndicator, the promoter, and the person who is calling the shots, and I can bring in limited partners for sometimes their balance sheets to sign on the loan as well. But mostly for the equity that is, that is required to get into a facility. So that was probably the biggest lesson. And I also learned, sometimes you shouldn’t bring people that are close to you or friends into a business as well. Sometimes it doesn’t always turn out well. Yeah. Yes.

Jay Conner:

I’ve been, I’ve been down that road myself as well. So to make sure everybody understands what you’re talking about, what do you mean by syndication? What’s that look like? And what’s the benefits of it.

Scott Meyer:

Yeah. So in the true sec definition, and I am paraphrasing, anytime you bring two or more people together into a project, and in this instance, a real estate investment where one person is, is active, doing all the heavy lifting, doing all the work, and the other person is bringing money and they’re passive. They don’t have a hand in making decisions or doing any of the project management in a project. Then, then you’ve created a security and then it’s governed by the securities and exchange commission. And so they state that you have to file that, and you have to register with the, depending on the fund or the entity that you set up that has to be registered. So for us, that is a true, so for us, there was one person, as I just mentioned me that I am the promoter. I am the active person on the investment.

Whereas I bring in then a lot of private equity, a lot of limited partners that come into the project. They don’t lend a hand. They’re not involved in the decision making process. And what they’re lending is money into the project. They’re investing into the project with me. And so their role and responsibility is to wire, the funds to close the project. And my responsibility is to do everything else, report back to them, the progress show, the projections and how we are exceeding, hopefully meeting, or if we are underperforming on our projections and then send out to our K ones at the end of the year, because they do become owners of this entity. And they get to participate in the upside as well as in the depreciation as well. So that’s, and I guess a limited sense without getting too far in the weeds, Jay, is, is the definition of a syndication and how we go about approaching the market. Yeah.

Jay Conner:

So, you know, in the world of single family houses, there’s multiple exit strategies. There’s multiple strategies of what someone’s going to do with that property after they invest in it, you know, you can, you can buy a single family house, you can fix it up, you can flip it, you can wholesale houses and, you know, wholesale houses out through other real estate investors. You can buy houses and you can fix them up and you can hold them, you know, for the longterm. So compare self storage to what I just did with single family houses. Are there all these different strategies as to how you can go about the self storage business. And second part of that question is if there are different strategies, how do you decide which one you’re going to do?

Scott Meyer:

Yeah, I’d say property is property. And, you know, in a general sense, and you can do all of the above. You know, we buy them and wholesale them, or sometimes a wholesale without us ever taking ownership or taking deed to the property. You can buy them, you can fix them up, turn around and flip them. You can buy them and turn them around partially, and then sell them off and call it a flip or non you sell them to the next person down the road. That’s going to take it the rest of the way, the way that we do it is typically we’re a longer-term hold three to five years. That gives us time to in an existing facility, really turn it around, raise rates, make the improvements, and reduce the expenses as much as possible to maximize the net operating income and then sell it for maximum dollar, our conversions and development.

You know, those projects take roughly four to five years to either buy a building, say a vacant grocery store and convert it to self storage, and then start from ground zero. And at least it up to 80, 85% occupancy and bring in our limited partners and allow them to have a payday and an exit that is comparable to if they were to invest in any other type of entity, a business over that time, and really focusing on the internal rate of return and the same goes for development. So in terms of an exit strategy, it’s a little more difficult in, in the way that we head into those larger projects with our partners in that we can’t do a 10 31, unless everybody decides to go along with us into the next project, which obviously they’re not going to. So at that point we will sell and that we will take our profits off the table.

And then we will move into the next project for our limited partners. For the most part, they are investing through a retirement vehicle like a self-directed IRA or a solo or a real estate 401k. So they don’t really have those tax consequences at, at, at the exit. We also are looking at in terms of an exit strategy. And I guess to back up a step, you know, Jay, I think you, and hopefully everybody on this call recognizes that you, you should always look at the exit strategy or determine what your exit strategy is before you get into a project. It’s not a good plan to just don’t say, well, there’s a good deal. I’m just going to buy it and figure it out later. You can find yourself, maybe a do not, you know, don’t want her later on down the road, or you sit back and take a look at your empire and you realize what a mess.

I can’t even manage this because I never paid any attention to what I was doing. So every time we hit into a project, you know, we identify if it’s a good deal, are we going to keep it? You know, if we’re going to flip this thing in a year, then we’ve got some, you know, capital short-term capital gains taxes. That’s a consideration. If we own it solely, then we can do a 10 31 into something else on. Do we want to do that three years from now? And I’m saying at any point in time, do we want to do that two or three years from now? Where, what are the interest rates going to be and what our cap rates going to be, and how do we expect the market and the economy? What’s it gonna look like? So we’re, we’re always looking six months a year down the road, five years down the road and anticipating what’s going on with the market, meaning interest rates and our capitalization rates, which is how we value these facilities.

And then overall, does this really fit in our business plan? I suffer like everybody from shiny object itis, and I want to buy them all, you know, if somebody else buys a self-storage facility and develop those one, and I’m going down the road, I was just like, that should have been mine. I should have built that. I should have bought that. And it’s a, it’s a real struggle. But if we get into that, you know, we can paint ourselves into a corner if we get into that situation where we just, you know, every once in a while we have to say no. Yeah, for sure.

Jay Conner:

So just to make sure everybody knows before, anybody’s got to jump off a listing here to the podcast. How can people get in contact with you and your companies, Scott, to learn more about what you do and how you can help them in this area of self storage?

Scott Meyer:

Sure. So we go into self storage, investing.com. That is the mothership, and there’s a links to our other websites that focus on the passive investing side of the business. But self-storage investing.com is really the mothership. And, and this is where we’ve been at this longer than anybody in the business and teaching people the right way to go about investing in self storage. I’m just in hopes that once again, you know, a rising tide raises all ships and so that we want everybody to be as educated as possible to go out into the marketplace before they do this to avoid any mistakes. And then also, you know, that just kind of makes it more difficult for the rest of us, that there are a lot of gunslingers out there that aren’t really doing their due diligence and doing things the right way. So that is our, our main purpose in educating people in the business. Cause it just makes it easier for all of us to conduct business in this incredible niche. Exactly.

Jay Conner:

So if you’re remotely interested folks and connecting them with Scott and his team, that website again is www dot self storage, investing.com, self storage, investing.com. We’re coming out here, hopefully on the other side of COVID and the pandemic and all that stuff. What are you seeing in the self storage industry? I mean, overall nationwide is the industry growing, how has COVID affected self storage?

Scott Meyer:

Yeah. Self storage is on a tear right now. I mean, if you look at the asset classes in real estate, no matter what stat you look at in terms of, you know, which asset class has done well, of course I’m biased, but the stats don’t lie, self storage and industrial are right up at the top. I think data centers may be up there as well. Industrial has done really well with Amazon expanding and, and the supporters of the Amazon and the distribution centers that are now coming down to the smaller market size. And, and as we see, unfortunately, the slow death of retail, the, the industrial side and the industrial sector has benefited greatly and self storage because we are heading into a time where we’re heading into a recession. Again, we also have seen now people come home from work and they had to clear out the dining room, the spare bedroom, the spare of family room, or living room and create a workspace for one of the income earners.

And sometimes too, they also last year during the lockdown, you know, when everybody was sent home from school, the colleges shut down and, and the kids had to put all their stuff into storage again, until they were able to go back. The kids that were in K through 12 came home, and we also had to make room in our homes to do school at home as well. So clearing out more furniture to make all of that happen. And then unfortunately there’s a whole lot of businesses that immediately when, when the lockdown started, it just went under because you know, customers are go figure on the lifeblood of their business. And if they couldn’t do it online, they went under. And so their inventory machinery and furniture, business furniture went into storage. And so, you know, we see this was somewhat of a microcosm of what we see during a recession and self storage really benefits during a recession because businesses downsize and put their things in storage, individuals downsized during a recession, they may have to move in with somebody else, a friend or move back home.

And so their extra stuff goes into storage. And so we, we, we spritz traditionally has always done better. You know, we go up to the right during times people buy more stuff and they store more stuff. That’s the nature of what we do here in this country. And if that’s you on behalf of the industry, I thank you for that mentality in this country. But during a recession, you know, we get the hockey stick effect. And then that’s when banks slow down development slows down of all sorts and then demand for self storage goes up. And so that’s what we saw during the pandemic last year. And 2020 was an absolute banner year for our industry. We have been, we have been contactless and touchless since before it was cool to be contactless and touchless using kiosks to rent a unit, much like a kiosk because self storage, you know, renting a unit is a very low labor intensive transaction that can be done over the internet.

And it can be done by way of a cell phone access to our facility, our software, getting a gate code and even a key fob and access on the phone to access a unit can all be done by way of a smartphone as well. So J we don’t, we don’t celebrate recessions personally, nor my company. We don’t celebrate pandemics for now shakes, but our, our industry, I’m, I’m thankful for the industry that we’re in because we have benefited with a huge wind in our sail, not only during a recession as we’re going to pet into again, but then the pandemic, which kind of accelerated that has really benefited our industry. Well, you know,

Jay Conner:

No business thrives, unless it’s solving a lot of people’s problems. And that’s what, and that’s what you and your company and the industry is doing. I mean, due to the pandemic, you got all this and increased demand for people needing to put their stuff somewhere. And unless your industry comes along and provides a place to put their stuff, then you know, you’re not a, you’re not solving that problem. So it’s what is, so let’s say someone is, and I’ll tell you, it’s the same thing as going on around here. It’s like here in my little area where Carol joy and I live total, total area of only 40,000 people, I know of four brand new self storage facilities that are under construction right now, four of them. And we already got them everywhere. It’s like my lands, people must have a whole, much more stuff. It’s just like, it’s crazy. It’s crazy. How are you? Are you doing new construction these days? Are you still focusing on existing facilities?

Scott Meyer:

Well, a little bit of both, we are, we were really focused on in 2020 on construction. We had some projects already in the pipeline and then also picked up some others from some folks that while we’re just kind of taking the ball the rest the way down the field, some folks that had some stalls due to due to COVID and some funding issues. And so absolutely we’ve been known developing for a number of years. Now, we’ve got the team, we’ve got the experience. We’re in several markets where we know where the demand is, and we just know it’s a business model that we can replicate over and over again, that allows us to look at a market. And, and Jay, if I could, just the reason why we see so many opportunities and why you’re seeing the say, four facilities going up in your town is a lot of folks will think, well, wait, I see these things everywhere.

Isn’t the market saturated. And you know, how can we possibly, you know, have enough demand for this, but, you know, when we go into a market and we’re looking at it in a place that potentially maybe good for developing a self storage facility, there’s a lot of research that goes into that. First of all, our market is really five mile radius. That’s all the further people are going to travel to a self storage facility from their home is about five miles. And so within that five miles, if the facility is the 1, 2, 3, 4 facilities are full, have a waiting list. And the raising rates every three or four months, then we know what equilibrium is in a market. And it’s, you know, anywhere from five and a half to six and a half, you know, five and a half to six and a half square foot per person.

And anytime that we’re below that if there’s only three or four square foot per person, we know that there’s a lot of demand in that market. So that, and rental rates will dictate when we’re going to go in and build. So it’s not a build it and they will come or hope that they will come and just, you know, hope is not a strategy. And we spend millions of dollars on these facilities. And so that is the reason why we’re seeing a lot about construction. And so we absolutely are bullish because of all the factors that I just mentioned that are, that are occurring in the market right now, which is creating a huge surge in demand for storage.

Jay Conner:

If someone is brand new to self storage, and they’re really interested in exploring it and, you know, really want to see if this makes sense for them, what’s the best way for a brand new person to even get started? Where do they start looking?

Scott Meyer:

Well, I think it starts with, with learning so that they know what they are looking for. And so no shameless plug, but we just got a lot of free resources on our website. Again, just to help people, you don’t have to spend a dime on it, just so you know, what you’re looking at and looking for, then begin to seek out if you’re a part of a real estate investor group in your city and there’s people that are in stores and then strike up a conversation. I I’d asked you to ask them to go out to lunch, to pick their brain, but we know that there’s a whole lot of folks that maybe aren’t interested in doing that these days, but if you can strike up a friendship, get into a conversation or even a subgroup, and some of these other real estate investor circles, or online with several meetups around at your area, then that’s the best way to get plugged in and just sit back and be a consumer of the information and to be a student of the industry to know what’s going on.

There’s I was in single family homes for a number of years. I was in commercial real estate being multifamily. And although a lot of that skillset applies and I’m looking at leverage and cap rates and underwriting, it’s a different business. And so to understand the nuances is really key before you take a take that next and first step, and we’ve seen, as you can imagine in our, on the education side of our business, we’ve seen a lot of folks that have taken that first step and they, and they stepped in a lot of do-do and create a lot of mistakes and messes for themselves. And men have come to us to help them unwind it and get out of it or to survive that one, you know, lose the battle, but win the war by understanding what it takes to succeed on the next one.

So, and then temper that with, you know, don’t, don’t analyze too much or, you know, analysis paralysis by analysis and analysis that causes paralysis. You, you, you know, the saying that to spend too much time researching before you do actually pull the trigger. So learn about the business, get some good advisors and mentors around you before, you know, to put some eyeballs on your underwriting and your offers, and obviously the good legal team or, or a, an attorney to look at your contracts before moving forward. Those are probably the best ways to Intuit, to avoid getting into a catastrophe. My

Jay Conner:

Good friend and guest today is Scott Myers, founder of self storage, investing.com. Be sure and check out his website for the free training and resources that he has there. One last question for you, Scott. And that is what are the most common mistakes or some of the most common mistakes that new real estate investors in self storage makes.

Scott Meyer:

Yeah, I’m writing a book on it as we speak, that’s going to be out before long. So I got 101 of them because that’s the title of the book. So I’ll, I’ll focus on how about the overarching one. And that is I think, and perhaps I’m guilty of this, you know, we’ve been teaching and training people how to do this for 16 years. And, you know, we, we, we state that it is a very simple and predictable business model because it’s compared to other businesses. It is, it’s a simpler and predictable business model. You know, we know the numbers, we know the equilibriums and we can go into a, an existing facility or a development project and make our projections and darn near hit our marks and, and beat them almost every time. But so I, I say that I’m, I’m a product of that.

And that is, I think people have heard that enough. And they’ve heard that, you know, this is a simple, less moving parts. You know, you don’t have the rehabs, you know, lock them out. They don’t pay their money and then you just blow it out and you’re done. You move on to the next and all that’s true, but it’s not a hobby. I mean, this is a business and you have to treat it as such and you have to walk the four corners of your business, and you have to understand it before you get in you. As most people know that are in commercial real estate, you make a $10,000 mistake in your underwriting, meaning you miss some expenses by 5,000 and you missed them. You know, they overstated the income for late fees and other things that shouldn’t have been counted. Well, a $10,000 mistake and underwriting is a hundred to $120,000 in value that you would over pay for a facility.

So you need to understand the nuances, how to value them, how to underwrite them before putting offers, in understanding how to analyze the market. And then for gosh sakes, I’m you don’t take your hands off the wheel and assume that this is a mailbox business because no rental businesses, I don’t care who you said listen to, or, or who says it. It’s not, it’s a business and a business needs to be tended. So a long-winded answer to your question, Jay. But the mistake that people make is that they think, and they hear and assume that it is a simple business because it’s simpler than what they were doing before, but it, it means that they have to understand it and they have to tend it. And, and you do have to farm the business once you own it. And constantly be working, looking at ways to grow occupancy, to grow rates and reduce expenses. And that is perpetual, and that is on a regular basis.

Jay Conner:

In other words, folks, don’t start doing this business without joining hips with somebody that knows what they’re doing, right. And of course, Scott Myers is the expert in this arena. Scott final comments and advice.

Scott Meyer:

Final comments change is good to see again, my friend, I can’t wait to, to see each other. I can’t hold that back. And so you always make me smile and I’m looking forward to hopefully getting together and having dinner together as well with you and Carol joy. And maybe we can get that old gray hair gentlemen, to pay our bill next time again, too, that might be nice and fight from that gang. It’s an exciting time to be in a, in real estate. There’s certainly a lot of changes and there’s some potential threats that are out there, but it’s when everybody’s running out that you should be not just running in again and shooting from the hip, but understanding, you know, what it means to be in the real estate asset class and investing the way and where you should be investing. But now it’s absolutely an exciting time to be doing so. So with that, just great to be here. I’m thankful for the industry of the real estate industry and self storage and a happy to help and assist anyone anywhere along the way that we can. And just be kind, just, just choose to be kind how’s that after a long weekend, so far, and it’s only Tuesday, I’ve had some difficult conversations. So how about I leave it with, let’s just choose to be kind to one another.

Jay Conner:

I love it. There you have it. Folks. My good friend and expert in self storage, Scott Meyers, visit him at www dot self storage, investing.com. Well, so glad to have everyone here on the show. I’m Jay Conner, the private money authority wishing you all the best here’s to taking your business to the next level. And we’ll see you right here on the next private money academy podcast.

[dreamypeaches]

run, baby, run | jj maybank x reader

request: @drewsephsmiles asked: an imagine where reader and jj sneak into midsummers under a different name, and he finally confessing his feelings as you guys are running away??

summary: angry at your friends for spending the night on the dark side without, you and jj decide to crash midsummers, only to grow closer throughout the night. 

warnings: alcohol use, cursing, ward cameron

word count: 3.2k

a/n: this made me so happy while writing it. it’s just a bunch of fluff and dorky jj. also, lmk if you notice the parks and rec reference in here. i think it’s pretty obvious lol. enjoy :)

You and JJ had been abandoned. Thrown to the wayside in favor of some Kook party. And not just any Kook party, but Midsummers, the Kookiest event of the year. To be fair to your friends, none of them wanted to be there either. Pope had to work with his dad, Kiara was forced by her parents, and John B was Sarah’s date. Usually, you would have attended as Kie’s date, keeping her company while the two of you got drunk off expensive champagne. But, since John B was attending this year, you didn’t want to leave JJ all alone. So now you found yourself in the least Kook place in the Outer Banks: lounging on the couch on the porch of the Chateau, smoking with JJ while complaining about your friends going to the dark side.

“Did you see John B is his monkey suit? He looked ridiculous. Sarah’s got him whipped for sure,” JJ noted, referencing the suit Sarah had picked out for his best friend for Midsummers. The moment John B had emerged from his room wearing a dark blue suit and a pair of fancy loafers, JJ couldn’t help but go off on the boy.

“Leave him alone, he’s in love,” You said emphasizing your words with a fake dreamy voice, “Besides, we both know your ultimate dream in life is to go Full Kook.”

“Yeah, well, doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to complain about it now. I mean, that suit probably cost more than my whole life, and Sarah just bought it like it was nothing.”

“You should see her closet. She’s got shit in there that could pay my parent’s mortgage five times over.”

JJ passed the joint you and you took a hit, mind wandering to Sarah’s closet full of beautiful party dresses. JJ sighed and flipped around so his head rested in your lap. Your fingers instantly went to his blonde locks, running through them lazily.

“If I went full Kook, I would buy a suit for every day of the week. No, every day of the month, plus one to sleep in. That’s what I want, so much money that I can sleep in a suit and not even think about it. If I fuck it up, oh well, I’ll just go buy a new one.”

You giggled at JJ, looking down at him as you passed him the joint. His red, hooded eyes met your own, just as glazed as his. For a moment, you were thankful that your friends were all stuck at Midsummers. You cherished moments like this, where it was just you and JJ. You had been friends with him and John B as long as you could remember, the three of you sharing a third grade class. The three of you were thick as thieves. You thought of John B as a brother. JJ, on the other hand, was something else entirely. He was your person, always there by your side. He could read you like no one else could, and you understood him just the same. That’s why you loved spending time alone with JJ. Neither of you had to be anyone else but yourselves. Sure, you could do that with the Pogues, but with you and JJ it was just different.

You’d really started to notice the difference lately. You noticed it in the way he looked at you, in the way his touch would linger on your skin, the way your heart skipped when he laughed and they way your stomach flutter when he sat close to you, like he was doing now.

Looking down at your best friend, observing his lazy smile and the way his hair felt against your fingers, you could safely say you were in love with JJ Maybank. And you were okay with that. You were also okay with never telling him your feelings, because you couldn’t risk losing him. Even if it was only as friends, you wanted to keep JJ by your side for the rest of your life.

You were pulled out of your thoughts by JJ booping you on the nose after handing you the joint, small giggles escaping his lips.

“Whatcha thinking about, sunshine?” He asked. You took a hit to avoid answering for a moment, mind racing to come up with something.

“Just imagining myself as a Kook at Midsummers right now. As much as I complain about it, I actually love getting all dressed up and getting shitfaced with Kie.” You said, Midsummers being the first thing that came to your mind. JJ suddenly shot up from his place on your lap, almost knocking your head with his own in the process. He spun around so he was facing you, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Then let’s fucking do it!” He said. You furrowed your eyebrows at the blonde boy.

“Do what? Go to Midsummers? JJ, how will we-”

“Sarah got John B an extra suit, just in case she hated the way the other one looked on him. And I’m sure Kie wouldn’t mind if you borrowed one of her dresses, it’s not like she uses them anyway.”

You opened your mouth, ready to question every aspect of his plan, when JJ jumped to his feet and stopped you. He positioned himself so he was standing obscenely straight, a studious look on his face.

“Ms. Y/L/N, would you do me the pleasure of allowing me to escort you to Midsummers this evening?” He said in a terrible fancy voice. He extended his hand towards you expectantly. You looked at his hand then up at his face. His gaze was soft as he looked at him, wiggling his eyebrows at you as he waited for your response. After a few moments of thinking over everything that could go wrong, you looked at him again, and remembered, this was JJ Maybank. You would walk through Hell for him. The only differences between Midsummers and Hell was free booze and food.

You gently placed your hand in his, meeting his eyes and smiled.

“It would be my honor.”

After stealing the extra suit from John B’s room, sneaking into Kiara’s house to pick out a dress (you knew where she hid the spare key), and quickly doing you make up in the car, you and JJ parked outside of Kook country club where Midsummers was taking place.

“So what’s the plan?” You asked. JJ just looked at you.

“What do you mean?”

You stared at him incredulously, throwing your arms in the air.

“What do you mean “what do you mean”? What is your plan for sneaking into the most prestigious Kook event in the Outer Banks?”

“When have I ever had a plan?”

You glared at him for a moment, before rolling your eyes and stepping out the car. He met you on your side of the car, positioning his arm for you to hold onto.

“If we get caught, I’m telling them you kidnapped me.”

JJ chuckled and started leading you towards the door.

“Don’t worry, sunshine, we’ll be fine. Just follow my lead.”

You sighed and shook your head, too used to JJ’s antics to truly be worried.  

When you were a few feet from the door, JJ leaned down till his lips were close to your ear.

“By the way, you look beautiful, sunshine.”

You turned your head away from him, trying to hide the smile that was stuck on your face.

A man stood in front of the door into the country club, blocking the way. He looked the pair of you up and down as you approached, picking every detail that set you and JJ apart from the Kooks. Despite dressing the part, you two didn’t hold yourselves the same way the Kooks did.

“I’m sorry, but the club is closed for a private event,” The man said with a look that said “sorry, not sorry.”

“Oh, we’re well aware. We’re here to attend. Sorry, we’re running late, you know how women can be with their make-up,” JJ said, motioning to you. You lightly elbowed him while continuing to smile politely at the man.

“I understand, sir, but…the event is at capacity. Maybe next year!” He said, giving you a snide smile. You glared at the man while JJ removed himself from your grasp.

“Excuse me, do you know who I am? My name is Charles Cameron, and I don’t think my uncle, Ward Cameron, would be very happy if his favorite nephew didn’t make it to his party. Especially a nephew who is visiting on his honeymoon and wants to show his wife the absolute best the Outer Banks has to offer.”

You felt your cheeks heat up as he referred to you as his wife. But you didn’t have time to dwell on it as the man opened the door quickly. The look on his face made it clear he didn’t want to take the chance of facing the wrath of Ward Cameron. JJ looped his arm with yours once again and led you inside, giving you a wink and a smirk after thanking the doorman.

“Wow you really unleashed your inner Karen back there, Charles,” You laughed.

“Nah, it was more of my inner Gretchen Wieners. I’m so glad you made me watch that movie last week. I went all my father, the inventor of toaster strudel on his ass,” JJ said, putting on his best teen girl voice.

“I think we need sign you up for acting classes, you’re a natural!”

“Classes? Nah, sunshine. The master doesn’t take classes, he teaches them.”

You threw your head back in laughter as he pulled you to the open bar. The pair of you ordered the fanciest and most expensive drink you could think of, trying your best to blend in with the Kooks surrounding you.

Sipping on your disgustingly expensive drinks, you moved through the crowd. You spotted John B and Sarah at he edge of the dance floor and led JJ toward them.

“What the hell are you doing here? Is that my suit?” John B questioned.

“It’s not like you were gonna wear it. Anyways, Y/N and I were no pissed that you guys abandoned us for this Kookfest, we decided to come crash your party. Free booze, dancing, the chance to fuck with some Kooks, it’s one hell of a honeymoon.”

He wrapped an arm around your waist and pulled you closer, giving John B an exaggerated smile.

“Honeymoon?” Sarah questioned, raising her eyebrows and giving you a sly smirk.

“Yup. Oh, and, by the way, if anyone asks, I’m your favorite cousin Charles. Okay, we’re gonna go find Kie. See you love birds later.” He led you away from the dance floor, but you didn’t miss Sarah mouth we’ll talk later at you.  

Sarah was the one to help you realize your feelings for JJ. When she had first started dating John B, she has assume the two of you were dating. When she asked you about, you were disgusted. After asking her to elaborate as to why she believed you were dating your best friend, it became less and less disgusting. Suddenly, you realized that you very much wanted to date your best friend. That had been three years ago. Ever since, Sarah was constantly pestering you about telling JJ how you feel. She would always mention things that proved JJ felt the same way. From the way he looked at you, how protective he was of you, how he got jealous when anyone was even remotely interested in you. But no matter how much Sarah pointed out to you, you could never believe that JJ would want to be anything but friends.

The pair of you wandered around Midsummers. You eventually found Kie, who had escaped the center of the party by hiding by the grill with Pope. After complimenting your dress, then realizing it was her own, you were forced to explain how you kinda, sorta broke into her house. You and JJ escaped her wrath quickly, running to the other end of the party. You spent the next hour wandering around, drinking champagne and making shitty small talk with the Kooks who always found ways to rope you into conversations. JJ had somehow convinced a lady that the both of you were very wealthy entrepreneurs on the look out for new companies to invest in.

“So, you do a lot of investing?” The lady, you think he name was Eleanor, asked.

“We like to dabble. I recently invested in some shirts I got a garage sale. Left those at Wendy’s on the way home, so,” JJ raised his glass towards the women, giving her a serious look, “the economy.”

You both let out the fakest rich laughs you could, causing the women to step away from you quickly. Your fake laughs turned into real giggles at the look the lady’s face. You walked father away from the crowd learning against a wall near the edge of the party.

“Who knew Midsummers could be so fun,” You remarked, grinning at JJ. He smiled back, bumping shoulders with you. You dissolved into a comfortable silence, observing the party moving in front of you. You glanced toward the front of the club and noticed the doorman from watching you and JJ.

“JJ!” You tapped the boys shoulder and nodded toward the man. He looked at him quickly before looking back at you.

“I think it’s time for an acting lesson. Lesson one, method acting,” JJ said. He leaned forward, placing a hand on your cheek. For a second, it seems like his lips are heading straight for yours. You stomach flips as he gets closer. But he suddenly changes course, his lips landing on your cheek.

“I don’t think that’s what method acting is,” You said.

“It’s my method of acting,” He whispered in your ear, sending a shiver down your spine. He quickly pulled away, going back to leaning against the wall. You gave yourself a moment to calm your racing heart before looking back towards the doorman. He was no longer watching the pair of you, thankfully. You returned your attention towards the party, trying to ignore the tingle on your cheek where his lips has touched.

Your head perked up as the music changed, the band playing Dream a Little Dream of Me. You let out a content sigh.

“I love this song,” You said. JJ gazed at you, taking in the peaceful look on your beautiful face. He slowly took your hand in his and brought it up to his lips. He placed a gentle kiss on your knuckles as he met your eyes. Your breath caught in your throat at the intensity of his gaze and practically swooned at the tone of his voice has he quietly spoke.

“Sunshine, would you like to dance?”

You could only nod, smiling at the boy as he led you to the dance floor. Your hands stayed clasped together, while your other hand rested on his shoulder. His hand landed dangerously low on your hip, gripping it and pulling you close. Your face was only about a foot from his, breath mingling as you swayed to the music.

“You look beautiful tonight,” He whispered.

“You already said that,” You whispered back.

“And I’ll say it again.” He grinned at you, pulling away to give you space to twirl before pulling you back in, closer than before.

“God, you deserve this. Not having to worry about a thing. Getting to wear beautiful dresses and go to glamorous parties. Why do people like Rafe Cameron, the living equivalent of trash, get to enjoy this shit while you, a literal goddess among women, gets stuck on the Cut with trash like me.” He glanced down has he spoke, refusing to meet your eyes. You placed your hand under his chin, lifting it to look at you.

“I’m glad this wasn’t my life. Because if I was stuck on Figure 8 I never would have had met you. I’m glad I’m stuck on the Cut, because I get to stuck with the coolest people I know. Even now, if I were given the chance to go Full Kook, I wouldn’t go anywhere unless you were with me.”

JJ looked at you, mouth agape. Your hand moved from his chin to his cheek. You started to move in, as did JJ, breath picking up the closer you got. Suddenly, a hand slammed onto JJ’s shoulder, making both of freeze.

“Enjoying your honeymoon, nephew?” Ward Cameron spoke from behind JJ. JJ looked in your eyes and smirked.

“Well honey, looks like we’re heading home early.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a few security guards making their way towards you. JJ gripped your hand and began running off the dance floor. You ran with him, laughing as he antagonized the security guards chasing after you. You kicked off your shoes as you ran, making a note in your head to apologize to Kie later. The two of you weaved through the crowd, running down the beach and into a grouping of trees. JJ suddenly pulled you to the side pressing you up against a tree. You could hear the the security guards talking at the edge of the woods.

“Just make sure they don’t make it back in.” One of them said, before walking away. You barely paid attention to the security guards, though, too busy staring into JJ’s eyes. You both were breathing heavily after your daring escape. JJ’s hair was a mess, falling into his eyes. He licked his lips, eyes moving from your eyes to your mouth. You reached up to brush his hair back. Hi hand caught your wrist, pulling you closer to him before his hands wrapped around your waist. His lips crashed onto yours  hungrily. You kissed him back with equal fervor, hands tangling in his hair and forcing his head closer. He tasted sweet and bubbly like the champagne you had consumed the night. He tasted like the stars, beautiful and sparkling and like a dream.

When you finally parted to catch your breath. His hand move up to your face, cupping your cheeks.

“I love you, Y/N. It may be selfish, but I’m so glad you got stuck on the Cut with me. Being around you makes me feel like I can be anything and that I don’t belong dead in a ditch somewhere. And for so long I thought I could handle just being friends, but I can’t fucking do it anymore. I want kiss you and hold you and make you feel good!You are my fucking sunshine and I want to give you everything you deserve. I may not be able to give it to you now, but, if you’ll let me, I will stop at nothing to give you everything.”

You were frozen. Tears were gather at the corner of your eyes as you took in his words. One of your hands moved to cover JJ’s on your cheek. You gave him a watery grin.

“JJ, you’re here in front of me. I already have everything.”

He smiled and captured your lips once again, silently thanking the universe for putting you in his life.

[nemodeutopia]

This is basically a 1000-word essay, so I’ll put this up here, but do encourage you to read, especially if we disagree and someone sent this to you in a desperate gamble to make you understand.

TLDWR: capitalism does all the ooga-booga that people say socialism does anyway, and the failings are all exactly the same and happens regardless of what economic system you use. Call it what you want, but make living independently actually possible, and the village people will be much less likely to come at you with our fucking pitchforks you idiots.

The reason I believe minimum wage is insufficient and the rich would be fine if they were more heavily taxed:

A lot of these numbers have been simplified to make it easier to follow, but other than the hypothetical 10% tax, they are all roughly accurate to what I could find researching.

If my tax rate is 10% and I make $300 dollars a week, then that leaves me with $270 a week. Take out for groceries at an average of $50 I have $220. Assuming that I don’t have any prescriptions, or rent, or cable, or gas, or utilities, or really anything else considered mandatory for adulting, then that’s not bad, right? But, most people do have those other things, so that’s not so good. So, instead, we make cuts here and there, eat less healthy, decide we probably don’t need to go to the doctor for that pain, because maybe it isn’t something serious after all, and if it is serious, we may have to miss work, and then we may get fired.

If the rich have a tax rate of 10% and make 5,000 dollars a week that gives them 4,500. They would pay more a week in taxes then I make in a week. But they would still have plenty of money to live comfortably.

Rounding down on most things here, but average rent for America is ballpark $1000 a month, mortgage rates I found reported around the same. And that is of course assuming that you qualify. Bear in mind that apartments can require that you make, for example, double the cost of living there as a security measure, and banks will turn you down if they believe your income is too low for a loan. Phone $100. Medical I won’t even presume to make an average on because insulin costs more than most gaming consoles. And I highly doubt the richest of executives is buying one of those every month. I also won’t touch cars, as gasoline prices fluctuate and mpg varies. A monthly pass for public transport, if you’re lucky enough that your city has reliable transport, averages at about $60, but closer to $100 isn’t super unusual for big cities.

So, changing that weekly take home of $270 to a monthly of 1,080 and check it against those prices. Assuming that utilities is included, which covers things as basic as trash disposal and plumbing, we are in pristine health and insurance is paid for and half way decent, which is not a given, as well as no student loans since we’re working on federal minimum wage here, we get to keep negative $80. It costs $80 more than you make at federal minimum wage to live for a month as an independent human being.

Reminder, the -$80 average I found does not include: Food, any form of health care, any utilities, clothing, internet or entertainment outside of what comes with your phone plan, transportation outside of public infrastructure, any surprise fees or expenses of any kind.

I am not touching education costs, including the additional cost of public school. I could make a whole post off the cost of public education without the rest of this depression inducing rant.

At above what Obama wanted to define as wealthy you could do that working one week a month and still have money to put back in the economy.

I grant that this was done off (just above) the federal minimum wage, so most people are probably making more money than this, especially if they’ve been in the same job for a while. But I also took the national average costs for most of the expenses. And anyone working for tips can very easily be making about half that. You also may have noticed that I didn’t include grocery in my monthly figure, because while everyone eats, the cost varies widely, and you can get free food if you need it from banks, churches, your job if you’re in that area of the service sector and lucky, etc.

Yes, if you just start printing money and handing it out, inflation is going to ruin life. But, if you redistribute existing wealth instead of letting it amass and be hoarded by a handful of individuals who basically just pass it around among themselves if they do anything, while still collecting more, then instead there would be a still largely constant amount of wealth, but it would be used instead of artificially rarified (now) or drastically devalued (creating new currency and adding it to the pile).  The people who say we can’t just pay people more willy-nilly aren’t wrong unfortunately. And I can certainly understand how someone who has their life style assured struggles (whether through managing to claw up, surviving to the point where it assured by government support paid by with taxes, or some combination) to understand the plight of those who don’t without realizing the climb keeps getting steeper.  Presently, people who are actively doing and creating are inevitably passing the money they earn back up to the people who do not, who pass a fraction of it back. Instead of just increasing the amount of currency, now largely a digital entity, so at least we don’t have to trade our wallets for wagons, we need to ensure circulation and assess distribution.

A lot of people don’t like the “s” word, even people on social security will talk about how socialism would destroy this nation. There are also people who believe minimum wage raising would destroy industries. They don’t think it’s fair that the rich should have to pay more. But, if the rich paid 10 cents on every dollar they brought in, they honestly might not even notice. If a person working minimum wage pays 10 cents on every dollar they make then they probably need to live with other people and pool all their recourses in a communal setting while politicians and the wealthy eat expensive meals, spend extravagantly and don’t suffer in the least, like in *insert current socialist or communist boogeyman state* but with the “average” person being aware people are living like this and not personally seeing it.

MacKenzie Scott has proven that the ultra-wealthy would not suffer from increased taxation by, essentially, cutting out the middle man and almost privatizing socialism, as absurd as that sounds. Dolly Parton is also an individual who proves that obnoxious levels of wealth are still possible while distributing wealth to those who don’t have it, though I don’t know as many of the particulars with her. I do know they both, as well as others I do not know, choose to redistribute their wealth to lower social rungs and are still fabulously wealthy.

[lilacmoon83]

Finding You Always

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 236: Fireflies

The fire could be seen reflecting in Jekyll's eyes, as he was just a few feet from escape, but he lurched and looked down to find Charming's blade protruding from his chest. He landed on his feet, just at the edge and turned around, looking at him in shock. He saw the blackness slowly spider webbing from his wound and started to see the ash flaking from his body.

"No...this can't be! You can't defeat me!" Jekyll cried, as he lurched again and the blade returned to David's hand.

"I just did," the Prince stated.

"You're done...and you're never going to hurt my wife again, let alone haunt her," David assured him.

"The Chalice absorbed the Olympian crystal long ago. No Underworld, no afterlife, nothing...you just stop existing and we rest easy, knowing that not even your soul can cause harm to anyone ever again," he continued. Jekyll tried to charge at the Prince again, but the white fire from the Chalice sword consumed him in a brilliant flash. He screamed briefly, as he was destroyed and his cries were swiftly squelched, as was his existence.

"And that is the end of the video that has more than fifty million views, worldwide. That tiny clip alone has double that, worldwide. It's action packed, it gets the heart racing, in more ways than one, and people seem enthralled by it to the point of obsession," Goldie said into her mic, as she conducted her latest live podcast. They had spent a pretty penny in the last year on the best equipment, including a high end VPN, to hide their location. They weren't wanted in the Land Without Magic, per say, but it was no secret that they were and they knew some idiot fans would only be too happy to make a citizen arrest if they might get the attention of the Charming family, who had gone mostly dark since the namesake of their family had killed the insane monster known as Dr. Jekyll.

On her show though, she was not playing the clip to celebrate it. But instead, she was playing it to continue to push her fear narrative. Her numbers were significant, as some out there did see the danger of a family with so much power.

"But if this one man, combined with his wife, has this much power...how can any of us truly ever feel safe? He could wipe us out even more easily than he did Dr. Jekyll. And he has sired five children that are potentially even stronger than him," she continued.

"Five children that can control the weather...and lay waste to an entire city with one conjured storm," she added.

"And I'm sure some might argue that the beloved Charmings would never do that...because they're good. But most of those same people have read the book and know that Snow and Charming have gone dark before. What is preventing that from happening again? Or preventing one of their kids from turning evil as well?" she said.

"If tragedy struck any one of them...what would stop them from lashing out with vengeance in their pain? If you've read the book...then you know that's what happened to the Evil Queen. She didn't just wake up and decide to be evil. She lost the man she loved and thousands died for it," she continued.

"What would stop Charming from doing the same if he lost his beloved Snow or Snow if she lost her Charming?" she asked, as she read the chat and smirked.

"I see many agree with me...but none of us know what exactly we can do about it. However, you'll be happy to know that there are those out there that are trying to see to our safety," she said.

"They are trying to develop a solution to this problem, but can only do so with the help of the people. And it's being done with your donations. With your donations, we can fight this fight," Goldie said.

"So donate today, share this podcast far and wide, and know that you're doing something to secure our future. Until next time," she said, ending the stream and taking off her headphones.

While it was true that they had spent most of what they had to get set up and lived the first few weeks in a crappy motel, it wasn't long before they were approached by an investor.

Amelia Blaine, owner of several billion dollar retail chains nation and worldwide, offered to fund them if they continued to push their fear narrative, with the stipulation that there was a solution. A vague, yet plausible one and help them build a citizen militia, without the citizens even realizing they were being radicalized. It was a common military tactic, so they weren't too surprised to learn that Ms. Blaine answered to a man named General Mendoza. They hadn't met him yet, but knew he was the man that Major Patricia Donovan had once worked for and then betrayed in favor of the Charmings.

Mendoza had gone almost as dark as the Charmings had in the last year and was working on ways to bring them down. This one was just one plan and Ms. Blaine even let it slip that they were working on ways to combat or even destroy magic. Goldie didn't know if that was possible, but she and Grimm were all in and used her podcast and his blog as a megaphone to put fear into people about the Charmings, the United Realms, and magic in general. In return, they were paid incredibly well and their equipment was upgraded to state of the art. They now lived in an expensive New York penthouse apartment and enjoyed all the luxuries.

"You really think General Mendoza and his team can find a way to destroy magic?" Grimm asked. She smirked.

"I don't know...but if they can, I'm going to enjoy watching the United Realms burn and the Charmings suffering," she replied. He smirked back.

"I'd bring marshmallows to that bonfire," he agreed.

"How are the numbers tonight?" she asked.

"About four thousand live on the biggest platform. Less, but significant on the smaller ones and we always get good numbers on replays," he replied.

"And the Truest podcast?" she asked, knowing that Eva Charming had streamed earlier that night.

"Let's not do that to ourselves," he replied.

"I want to know her numbers," Goldie demanded. He winced.

"On the largest platform...she had twenty-thousand live and her replay numbers are already climbing past our live count," he revealed, ready for the coming tirade, as Goldie let out a frustrated yell.

"Why!? Why is everyone so enamored with that prissy little upstart!?" she raged.

"She's not even a real journalist!" Goldie complained.

"Yeah...but she's their daughter. You shouldn't be surprised," he said.

"We have to get our numbers up…" Goldie said.

"I agree," Amelia Blaine said, as she arrived with her bodyguards.

"You can't just barge in here whenever you want," Goldie said.

"Oh, but I can since I pay the mortgage on this place," Amelia replied.

"Your live numbers tonight are dismal, at best," she added.

"What do you expect? Most people salivate over that damned family. Not many want to tune in and hear us talk crap about them," Grimm reminded her.

"I'm aware, Mr. Grimm. Even less people read your pitiful blog," she said. He glared at her, but was silent.

"What do you want us to do?" Goldie asked in frustration.

"You're hyper focused on the parents. Start going after the kids. Stoke fear about the children," she suggested.

"Snow and Charming are ignoring you. They're seasoned at this and don't care what people say or think about them. The children on the other hand will elicit a reaction and one we might be able to exploit if done right," she said. Goldie smirked.

"That I can do...and I'll enjoy it," the blonde agreed.

"Let's hope you do well...the General isn't impressed by your numbers at all. If you don't improve, this posh little lifestyle goes away and you're on the street," Amelia warned, as she left with her goons.

"So...who are you going to focus on first?" Grimm asked. Goldie smirked.

"Who else? Emma has interacted in this world more than any of their kids. She's got plenty to exploit and it will drive mommy and daddy Charming crazy," she said. He smirked.

"Indeed it will," he agreed.

"But we won't stop there. The twins will be next, then the youngest ones. By the end, Mama Snow will be at our door ready to rip my head off and I'll get it all on tape,"

"And the General will be ready to trap them both when they come," he agreed.

~*~

Rose and Fandral turned on the inter realm communication system that Sif had provided for them. Rose and Sif actually communicated on a regular basis, but it had been a while and she hadn't seen the twins yet.

"Good morning Sif," Rose greeted. She smiled.

"Good morning to both of you...I apologize for being out of communication for a while, but much has happened here recently," she said.

"Really?" Fandral asked. She nodded.

"It's a lot though and there have been many developments. Thor is leaving Earth soon...but not before the funeral," she replied.

"Funeral? Who has passed?" Rose asked.

"Well, I'm afraid Natasha is gone...but so is Mr. Stark," she replied, stunning them.

"Like I said, much has happened, though some of it is very good. Natasha and Tony are the reason that much of it is wonderful news. But I would rather explain everything in person," she said.

"Things are safe here now. I was hoping you could visit and so was Thor...before he leaves," she added. Rose smiled.

"Things are quiet here...I don't see why not and the kids would love it," she said. Fandral smiled and nodded.

"We'll contact Hermes and make all the necessary arrangements to be away. Zorro can more than handle things around here for a few days," Fandral said. Sif smiled.

"That's wonderful...and I can't wait to meet these two in person," she replied, as she spotted the twin babies in their arms.

"And Astrid and Gunnar can't wait to meet their Aunty Sif and Uncle Thor either," Rose replied.

"Strong Asgardian names...I will see you all soon," Sif said, as the transmission winked out.

"Poor Natasha…" Rose said sadly.

"I know...she helped us much when Seth banished us. I am glad we are going to honor her," Fandral replied. She nodded.

"Well, we should go tell the kids and pack. We have a lot to do in just a couple hours," she replied. He nodded, as they took the babies back upstairs to prepare.

~*~

Bobby closed his locker and slung his backpack over his shoulder, before meandering toward the direction of his first class of the day. Being normal definitely had its advantages and being back in school on a regular basis was nice. He would never be normal, even in a place like Storybrooke, but he had plenty of friends and was definitely enjoying the peace.

"Morning Bobby," Zia said, as she and Olivia rounded the corner to meet him.

"Morning," he said, as he joined hands with the dark haired girl. He was aware that both had a crush on him, shortly after he resumed his freshman year last year, but any romantic feelings he had were for Zia. Olivia understood and she was still good friends with them both. He saw the banner being hung up for Winter Formal that weekend and looked at her. Olivia smiled at them and went into the classroom.

"I'll make myself scarce," the blonde said.

"Well...that was subtle," Zia mentioned. He chuckled.

"I'm not sure I could be subtle myself even...tact is not something Charmings are known for, so you wanna go to the dance?" he asked. She smiled and nodded.

"I'd love to," she agreed.

"Okay...but I have to warn you that my Mom is going to go all out and take like a gazillion photos, so just prepare for being blinded by camera flashes," he joked. She giggled.

"I love your Mom and I'm prepared for our upcoming photo shoot," she teased back, as they went into the classroom and the bell rang.

~*~

After morning training with James and his father, David did a quick patrol around Storybrooke since Emma had taken the morning off and then stopped at Granny's for takeout. He arrived at Snow's office and nodded politely to her receptionist, who still got a little awestruck and blushed every time she saw him. He winced though, as he heard his wife raise her voice through the door.

"Meeting with the heads of state?" he asked. Chloe, the receptionist, nodded.

"Midas insists on arguing with her...I don't know why, because he never wins," she replied. He smirked.

"Because he's no match," David said, as he quietly went in and closed the door, waiting off to the side. Hyde and Hiram had unveiled a host of new inventions in the last year that they had rolled out. One was the hologram system of communication, allowing the heads of state to meet from their own castles or offices on most occasions. They got together in person from time to time, but this eliminated the need for neutral locations and saved a lot of time most days. It was probably the only reason Midas was still alive too, because by the look on his wife's face, he could tell she was ready to put an arrow in his eye.

"King Midas...we are only days away from the grand opening of the Pleasure Island resort. Our teams and crews have worked tirelessly to transform a once haven of crime and filth into a luxurious vacation resort for all ages and classes to enjoy," Snow said in a measured tone.

"I agreed to let you have the Casino wing, as I agreed that adults are free to make their own decisions on what to do with their money...but I draw the line at any kind of unsavory club as you're suggesting. I want this to be a family friendly place and not become an eyesore like Iago's," Snow said.

"Queen Snow...there is nothing wrong with the addition of a gentleman's club. There will be security and an age requirement, of course," Midas replied.

"No…" Snow refuted.

"This has to be put to a vote!" Midas insisted.

"Normally yes and most of the time, I would be reluctant to do anything without diplomacy, but this is one time I am going to use my executive powers. And gentleman's club is putting this nicely," she said, as she held up a folder that had his proposal in it.

"This is nothing more than a strip club and a brothel and I won't have it. Your motion is denied by executive decision," she said.

"You can't do that, your prissy little wench!" Midas said, as his anger exploded. David clenched his fist and rooted his feet into the floor. It was taking him every ounce of control he could muster not to tell him off himself, but he knew Snow could handle him.

"King Midas...if you're going to continue this kind of behavior, then you will be removed from this project. Am I clear?" Snow snapped. He shrank back a little.

"Very well, Your Majesty," he spat.

"It's clear we all need some time to cool off, some of us more than others. We'll take a long lunch and reconvene in two hours," she said, as she pressed a button on her computer and their holograms disappeared.

"It must have taken you every ounce of control you have not to intervene and rip his head off," she mused. He smirked.

"I know you can handle it, but you're right...I'd like to make him smack himself and turn himself into a gold statue," he replied. She giggled.

"I think we would all enjoy that, a little too much," she said, as he set the food down on her desk and then took her in his arms.

"So...long lunch?" he asked. She smirked.

"Mmm…I could definitely use it," she replied.

"And here I thought I was going to have to be quick," he mused, as they swayed together. She bit her bottom lip.

"Well, at the risk of inflating your ego...you're never quick," she said. He smirked.

"Good to know," he replied, as she looked in the sack, finding all her favorites.

"Two different kinds of dessert?" she asked. He shrugged.

"I figured we'd work it off," he replied. She bit her bottom lip again, as they moved to the sofa in her office. Maybe she should have made it a three hour lunch…

~*~

Leo hopped off Pegasus and petted his mane, before leading him to the trough for a drink and something to eat. He and Pegasus, along with Firestorm, also did an aerial patrol of the reserve in the morning and checked on all the animals. He and Elsa had hired staff that they trusted and vetted to help run the reserve to help out. Everything was running smoothly and Firestorm cawed, as he sat on his perch and watched Leo.

"I didn't forget you, buddy," he promised, as he grabbed a handful of seeds and held out his hand so the Phoenix could eat too. After he finished, Leo ruffled his feathers affectionately and checked over the inventory of food and supplies that had just been delivered.

"Leo...I think that mother Unicorn is about to give birth!" one of his young workers said, as he rushed in.

"Okay...did you call the equestrian vet?" Leo asked.

"That's the thing...he's in surgery. I guess one of the horse's at the stables needed emergency surgery this morning," the kid said, as he was nearly panicked.

"Okay...relax, I've gone this before and so has my sister," he said, as he dialed Eva.

"Hey...the vet is unavailable and we have a unicorn ready to give birth. Can you pop over here?" he asked, as he listened.

"Thanks Eva," he said, as he hung up.

"She's on her way," he said, as he started gathering some supplies.

"Need some help?" Kristoff asked, as he arrived with Sven. Kristoff and Sven were frequent visitors and helpers at the reserve too.

"Yeah, the vet is busy and we have a mama unicorn ready to go. Eva's on her way," Leo said.

"Okay...baby Unicorn time. Looks like Hope might get that Unicorn for her birthday," he teased.

"Yeah…Emma keeps telling my parents not to, but you know they're going to," Leo said, as they headed out to the stables, just as Eva arrived to help with the birthing.

"Thanks for coming," he said. She smiled.

"You know that I love this and it's a pretty slow day at the hospital. Plus, my audience will love hearing about the birth of a baby unicorn," she replied.

"You know...I wasn't sure your podcast was a good idea at first, but you're really good at it," Kristoff said.

"Thanks," she replied.

"Yeah...and it helps that you make Goldie's podcast look like a joke," Leo added.

"That is a bonus...I wouldn't usually wish misfortune on anyone, but she's the exception," she agreed, as they arrived at the stables.

~*~

Summer concentrated, as she went through her dance routine for the school's upcoming recital. Upon returning to dance, her instructor expressed a suggestion that Summer would excel in rhythmic gymnastics. Summer loved both dance and gymnastics and it seemed like the perfect blend of both. So she had begun training and her instructor had been right about it being her niche. She finished her routine with an impressive backflip and caught her baton, as her music ended. Her instructor gave her a hug.

"You are going to be the star of the recital," she assured. Summer blushed slightly.

"Thanks…" she said.

"Your parents must be bursting at the seams with pride," she mentioned. She grinned.

"My Dad was just showing me the new camera he bought last night for the recital and Mom has already bought new albums. It's a little embarrassing," she joked.

"I think it's sweet," she said, as then pointed off to the side.

"And you have another admirer," she said, as Summer spotted JJ watching and waiting for her, still in his uniform from working as a paramedic. She grabbed her towel and her bag, before hurrying over to greet him.

"Hey...you busy for lunch?" he asked.

"Not at all...Granny's?" she asked.

"They do have the best crinkle cut fries," he replied, with a smile.

"Definitely...it's a date," she agreed, as they joined hands and headed out to his car.

"How was work?" she asked.

"Slow day...but I guess that's good when you're a paramedic," he replied. They had been dating a little over a year now and things were getting serious between them. She hadn't told him that she loved him yet and he hadn't said it either...but she knew what she was feeling and was wondering if he felt the same. She thought about talking to Emma about it to see if she should tell him before he said it to her. She loved her Mom, but since her parents fell in love fighting trolls and her mom lost her memory, and her dad nearly died multiple times, and her mother was cursed before they could be together, Summer felt that her mother's experience in this matter was so different than the norm that Emma might be the better advisor in this aspect.

Her parents had this true, all encompassing love that was amazing, but could be intimidating at the same time. JJ was from the Land Without Magic, so she didn't want to scare him with all these expectations that she had about love. Emma had experience in his world as well and probably would have the best advice in this respect.

After an enjoyable lunch, they exited the diner, hand in hand and he looked over at her.

"You look like you have something to say," she mentioned. He smiled.

"Yeah…I'm just not sure how to say it," he replied.

"You can tell me anything," she assured him.

"So…I want to take you somewhere special tonight, for our date. But then I realized that I have no idea where," he said.

"Why don't we just take a walk? There's a lot of trails in the woods down by the Toll bridge," she replied. He smiled.

"Okay…I'll pick you up at seven," he said, as he leaned in and kissed her tenderly. Her heart fluttered, as she watched him go and then she turned to hurry in the other direction.

"Whoa...where the fire?" Emma asked.

"Emma...thank God, I have to talk to you," Summer replied. The blonde smirked.

"Okay...you can talk while I eat through these onion rings," she said, as they found an outdoor table at Granny's.

"So…JJ said he wanted to go somewhere special tonight and he didn't know where and stupid me just suggested that we take a walk on the trails down by the Toll bridge," Summer said. Emma shrugged.

"What's wrong with that?" she asked.

"Emma...it's the Toll bridge! I mean, the Toll bridge, as in the infamous Troll bridge where the greatest love story of all time was freaking born!" she replied.

"What if JJ thinks I have some expectations from him and he bails?" she fretted. Emma smirked.

"What if he doesn't and slaps the big L on you?" the blonde asked, enjoying her baby sister's tiny little freak out. Summer sat there, thinking that over for a minute.

"This stuff is so...hard!" she complained, making her older sister chuckle.

"Oh I know...believe me," she said.

"Maybe Mom and Dad have it right. Maybe fighting trolls and dodging Black Knights was easier than this," Summer said.

"Nah…Mom and Dad are just weird. In the best way, but weird. Love usually doesn't blossom from assault with a rock and entrapment by net," Emma replied, as they shared a chuckle.

"Or fighting smelly trolls," Summer added with a giggle.

"Seriously though...if he's thinking about taking you somewhere special, then he certainly wasn't planning on bailing in the first place, cause he would have already done that," Emma said. Summer nodded.

"Yeah…I guess you're right," she agreed.

"And he's not from here so if he's not running away after everything he's seen...then I don't think he's going to," she said. Summer nodded, instantly feeling better.

"Thanks…I was right to talk to you," Summer said.

"Anytime," Emma said, as they hugged.

"I have to get back to campus...I'll see you later," she called.

"Good luck!" Emma called back, as she finished lunch and headed back to the station.

~*~

Snow kissed him passionately, as they got dressed and he was trying to button his shirt.

"Mmm…I should have called for a three hour lunch," she mewled, as he kissed her intensely.

"I know...but we can always have an encore later tonight," he promised, as he kissed her forehead and finished buttoning his shirt.

"I am going to hold you to that, handsome," she purred, as they held each other close.

"Summer will be out with JJ and Bobby is going over to hang out with Gideon at Belle and Gold's. That leaves us to our own devices," he said. She smiled.

"I can't wait for that then," she replied, as he kissed her again, before leaving her office. She turned back to her desk and pulled up the model of the upcoming resort that was opening imminently on her computer. It was going to be a beautiful vacation spot, but there was still much to do.

"You're late," Regina said, as Snow logged back onto the meeting.

"Sorry…" Snow replied.

"That's okay...we're all late. No one wants to spend another three hours with Midas, even virtually," she said.

"True, but it's better than being in the same room as him and this whole virtual thing solves the problem of finding agreeable neutral locations for our meetings," Snow said, with a sigh.

"Why are all these stuffed shirts so concerned by where we have the meeting?" she complained. Regina smirked.

"Men, especially men stuck in their old ways, tend to be territorial," Jasmine chimed in, as she logged in.

"Midas must be losing his mind since you haven't admitted him to the meeting yet," Phillip said, as he logged on.

"No one can stand the windbag and this is coming from me, who has a windbag for a father-in-law," Eric agreed.

"At least Triton refuses to attend, because he can't be bothered with matters of the "filthy human world," as he puts it," Glinda said.

"Yeah...why hasn't Abigail and Frederick taken over at least some of his duties yet. He's no spring chicken," Zorro said. Usually, it was Rose or Fandral attending, but since they had gone to visit Thor, Zorro was standing in for them.

"That's easy...control issues. My mother was only too happy to hand these duties over to me," Tiana chimed in.

"You know, we could just forget to let him into the meeting," Elsa said.

"I'm with her," Guinevere agreed.

"I'm all for that. Dad warned me plenty about Midas," Thomas said.

"I still can't believe he suggested we allow a strip club," Snow complained. Regina snorted.

"I can," she said. Snow sighed.

"I think we need to utilize the mute button a bit more or I'm going to permanently mute him this time," Aphrodite said, making them chuckle.

"Let's get this over with," she said, as she admitted him to the meeting.

"You are ten minutes late, Queen Snow. Again. If you cannot conduct these meetings on time, then perhaps someone else should organize them," he replied. Snow rolled her eyes.

"Or maybe you shouldn't attend at all," she retorted. He snorted.

"Oh, you would love that, but this is as much my project as it is anyone's and I have many more proposals to be considered. Neverland, after all, is a territory and we agreed that it and Pleasure Island should not be acquisitioned by any one Kingdom," he said.

"You only agreed to that, because we would never let you use military force to take that territory," Phillip said, but Midas ignored him.

"Fine, Your Majesty, you have the floor for a final time. But I warn you, if anything proposed involves the exploitation of young people, it gets an immediate veto," Snow said, as the meeting continued. It was going to be a long afternoon.

~*~

"Yes...that's all of it," Henry said, as he talked to his publisher in the Land Without Magic and listened to him on the other end.

"I know that you're used to a bit more calamity going on around here, but believe me, the rest of us are enjoying the peaceful times. I think my readers can appreciate that," Henry said, rolling his eyes. This guy wanted drama and battle all the time.

"I agree...the politics here are pretty much the same. Believe me, it's my grandmother's least favorite part of her job," Henry said, before listening again.

"Yes, you'll have a detailed exclusive of the resort opening next week. I'll be covering it all," he said, as he listened to his publisher again.

"Thanks," Henry said, as he hung up, just as Ella carried a box into the kitchen.

"Not enough drama in Storybrooke this week for him?" she joked. He snickered.

"Yeah...he didn't say it's been boring lately, but I'm sure he's thinking it," he replied, as he looked at the box.

"What's this?" he asked.

"It was in the closet," she replied.

"Oh yeah...this is the box of manuscripts that Grimm left behind. Great grandpa Xander gave it to me to sort through. Guess I forgot about it," he muttered, as he leafed through the notebooks and wrinkled his nose.

"Yeah...this guy writes some dark stuff," he said.

"Wasn't he writing these so he could get your grandparents blood and use it as ink?" she asked. He nodded.

"Yeah…I think that was their plan," he said, as he tossed it back in the box with disgust.

"And he was pretty intent on torturing my grandparents," he said.

"We should burn these," Ella said.

"You're right…" he agreed, as they took the box into the backyard and emptied the contents into the fire pit. She handed the lighter and he lit the notebooks on fire.

"No gruesome, horrible futures for our family. Only happiness," Henry said, as he put his arm around her. She smiled and they watched the fire together.

~*~

"This was a great place to come...I knew I could count on you to pick the perfect place," JJ said, as they walked along the trail through the woods. They were well past the Toll Bridge now and the winter foliage and dusting of snow was gorgeous.

"I think it's a Charming thing...we all seem to love the woods. Except Emma," she joked. He chuckled.

"Did you have special places you liked to go back in Boston?" she asked.

"A few. There were a couple of nice parks and bike trails. The city is so busy though...it's nothing like here," he said, as he smiled at her.

"In a good way," he added, as they stopped by the babbling stream.

"This place is unique...is that what keeps you here?" she asked. He smiled and brushed her hair away from her face.

"No...you keep me here," he replied and she bit her bottom lip, as she blushed.

"I'm really not good at any of this," Summer confessed. He chuckled.

"You're you...and that's what I love," he confessed, as their eyes met.

"Love?" she squeaked. He smiled.

"Yeah…I love you. I was kind of nervous about how to tell you. I mean, you're the daughter of two people that have this amazing love story and I'm just a normal guy," he replied.

"You're not just normal. Believe me, if you were, my family or this place would have scared you away long ago," she joked. He chuckled.

"Guess so…" he said.

"I love you too, JJ," she replied and they shared a kiss at that. They joined hands then and started back toward town.

~*~

"Well...what do you think?" Natalie asked, as she finished her latest exhibit. Xander held his grandson and smiled.

"I think it looks great...just like what Snow and David described," he said, admiring the Cibola exhibit, particularly the new addition of the tallest tower display. Anyone was allowed to tour Cibola, but it was known now that not everyone was allowed to venture to the top of the tallest tower. They weren't sure what would happen if someone did, but Zia had been clear that the texts she had read forbade the wrong people from going there.

"Thanks," she said, as she stood back to admire her work and he put his hand on her shoulder.

"This combined with the new Northuldra display should draw a few classrooms," she said.

"It will do more than that," Xander said.

"He's right, sweetie," her mother agreed, as Thalia sided up to Xander and smiled, as she took their grandson from him.

"Thanks Mom," Natalie replied.

"Are you considering doing the digital tours?" Thalia asked.

"I am...I mean, this stuff is so amazing and the world should see it all. I just don't want to do anything to endanger our family," Natalie replied.

"And Snow and David seem to think there is no harm in virtual tours. They said that there are good people out there that deserve to see all this and since we can't let them in...virtually is a safe way to do it," Xander said.

"He's right...this is always what you wanted. To present the discoveries and wonders like this to the world," Thalia agreed. She nodded.

"We agree," David said, as he and Snow arrived, hand in hand.

"Yeah, we don't see how sharing the Atlantis museum with the world, at least virtually, will hurt. As much bad as we've seen…" Snow said, as she looked at her husband fondly.

"We know there is more good in the world than bad," she finished. He gently lifted her chin with his hand, as he caressed her cheek.

"There is...even if it doesn't always seem that way," he agreed.

"And the exhibit looks great. You recreated it down to the last detail," he added, as they came closer. Levi cooed and Snow couldn't help herself.

"Come see Aunty Snow," she said, as Thalia handed him to her and she cuddled him.

"Oh...you're getting so big," Snow cooed.

"Yeah...you'll be ready for those wooden swords before we know it, won't you, big guy?" David cooed to him, as he peered down.

"You're really insistent on the sword thing, huh?" Natalie asked.

"Of course...it's a Charming tradition," he replied.

"Well…I was going to ask who wants to babysit tonight so I could get a drink with Diego," she said, calling Zorro by his first name.

"But I sense that I don't need to," she replied.

"Yeah, we'll watch him. I think it's our turn anyway," David said.

"It's not...but sure," Xander replied.

"It is kind of their turn," Natalie told him.

"Okay...well, we get next time," Snow said, as she kissed his head and handed him back to Thalia.

"Okay...well, you have fun with grandma and grandpa, sweetie," Natalie said, as she kissed her son and gathered her stuff.

"Granny's?" Xander asked all of them. Snow and David smiled.

"Yeah, we'll join you," he said.

"Sounds like the perfect evening," Snow agreed.

~*~

King Runeard emerged from the desert that evening and loomed around the Agrabah marketplace. He had found the desert surrounding Agrabah to be ideal in the past year. It was vast and rarely traversed and thanks to his powers, he took shelter in the cave of wonders without incident. Thanks to his unique powers, he went undetected by the magic guarding the treasures inside. He had to be careful where he went, lest he wished to reveal himself. When he was too close to a Charming, the elements seemed to go wild, as if to warn their chosen. It infuriated him. He was being denied his Throne and magic had grown to be a very great nuisance. When he exterminated the Northuldra, this had been his reason for doing so. Magic was a disease and only when it was eliminated could the balance be restored. And he was going to find a way to do that.

He disappeared from the Agrabah marketplace and outside Iago's in the rundown east part of Storybrooke. It seemed to be the only portion of the town that was resistant to the Charmings and refused to be bettered by their interference. The only reason they were probably still allowed to exist was because the Charmings were not dictators. He found it absurd though. It was rot like this that he would be their undoing. They refused to crush their opposition, but that opposition would not hesitate to crush them in return, given the opportunity. He took advantage of this little spot though and walked into the Tavern. No one there would tell anyone if they happened to recognize him and most probably wouldn't anyway. He signaled the bartender and he gave him a skeptical look, before coming over to him.

"Your strongest ale," he requested.

"This ain't that fancy artisan place like they have on the west side. You want something hard in here, you should go with brandy or whiskey," the bartender said.

"Fine then...brandy," he replied. The bartender poured it for him and he took a drink.

"I don't want any trouble. I see one badge or one freaking Charming poke their head in this bar…" Iago said.

"And you'll do what against my power or theirs for that matter?" Runeard challenged. Iago closed his mouth and continued to glare at the man.

"Not to worry, my friend...I am not ready for any confrontation either and they barely patrol this end, am I correct?" Runeard asked.

"Here and there...but generally no. Charming sends someone to check on me once a while to see if he can find any violations or reasons to shut me down...but I'm careful," Iago replied.

"Good man...use their rules of good conduct against them," Runeard complimented.

"Yeah…I miss the days under Seth. Those days were lawless and he had Charming on a leash. He didn't bother me for two years and we were like the Pleasure Island of the Mainland," Iago replied.

"Yes...they have taken quite a bite out of the crime, so to speak, in the last year when they took down the island," Runeard agreed.

"Is that what you and all your patrons do? Lament the good 'ole days when you could thieve and pillage without check?" Runeard asked derisively.

"It's better than what you do...lurking in the shadows and pretending you have real power," Iago spat. Runeard touched the man and he was stricken. He started to turn gray, but Runeard pulled away. He gasped and fell back against the counter, as he looked at the man with wide eyes.

"I am not pretending I have power...I could kill everyone in this town with a simple touch. But as you can imagine, that power is not always feasible or easily weaponized. But when I figure out how to do it...then I will shred all the realms down to nothing and begin anew under my rule!" he said, as he stood up.

"I trust my drink is on the house," he said.

"Whatever...just get out!" Iago stammered. Runeard started to leave when a man at a table he passed called out.

"You might want to contact this man...he may be able to help you find what you need," the burly man said. Runeard looked at him and took the card.

"General Mendoza?" he asked. The man nodded.

"And how can someone from outside the United Realms help me?" Runeard asked.

"He wants to take the Charmings down as much as you and has vast resources, plus information or so he says," the man said.

"And why would he use you to tell me, Mr.?" Runeard asked.

"Rourke...and he hired me, because I'm a mercenary for hire and he pays very well. Do with that information what you will," Rourke replied, as he finished his drink.

"He sent this too, since he figured you wouldn't have one of these," Rourke continued, as he handed him a flip style cell phone.

"You'll have to figure out the rest, but it's what's called a burner phone and can't be traced," he added, before getting up and leaving the bar. Runeard left to and returned to his solace in the desert to contemplate this new development.

[lucidpantone]

Do you rent in New York or you have a mortgage? I wanna move to NYC so bad after covid

Also thanks everyone for congratulating me. I feel really adult now and its kinda of scary when I think about it but am also super excited.

This is super long but its for my anon. I love talking about NYC real estate so let me tell you everything I know. Also if you make it here hit me up and I’ll take you out for a beer.

I have rented for years in NYC at least a decade on/off. I have lived in queens, bk and manhattan. I have paid $600 for rent and up to $2100 for rent. Its all about location in the city and also living conditions and what job you have. When I paid $600 it was my very first apartment I didnt live their long it was more like i just got to the city i needed a place to live in for a couple of months that was cheap but it was literally a closet deep in queens like basically long island at that point. So it wasnt the kinda of place you would stay in long. This is what I suggest you do. Look for a place in crown heights BK for $700-800 a month maybe for 3 months just to have somewhere to sleep at night while you find a job and get to know the city. Try to move to nyc with 2k in savings. My next move was to Astoria which is a young neighborhood in queens and super close to the city. Lived in another closest for $800 but I was by the city at least. I was in my first year of grad school so I didnt really have time to work so my options were limited but in my 2nd year of grad school I got a job working in this super fancy restaurant in the meat packing district and made bank in tips and thats when I got a “real” apt. Also I have so many stories about serving the super wealthy and movie stars in the meat packing.It was wild. You want to get a job like this just to get on your feet. The fancier the better tips but honestly even shitty dive bars in the east village have good tips. New yorkers are very generous because most have been where you are. Anyways my new apt was about 1k but the roommate was hell so I bounced out of there after 3 months and got an apt where I would come to meet my best friend and soul sister in the city. I got the biggest room I have ever lived in for 1100k in prime astoria and it was such a good apt. We had a hellish roommate but eventually she left. All these apartments were in Astoria. Astoria is a very affordable hip area to live in. I saved up my money graduated grad school got a real job and then finally I made the move into the city. Manhattan living is expensive. NYC isnt like anywhere else the money upfront they want for a studio is insane. So if your moving here do not aim to get an apt go on one of the roommate sites and just sneak into a apt where someone is moving out. So I moved into a shoebox in the Upper west side. It was $1850 and you had to pay first, last and security and the brokers fee (Oh lets not get into brokers fees people they are wild) so that was basically 1850x4 just for a shoebox studio(FYI everything is tiny in NYC, all the living spaces are micro. get use to it). So almost 8k but finally i got to live on my own. Lived there for 2 years. Move to chelsea because the UWS is beautiful but very family centric lived in this dope asf triplex in chelsea and paid 1900. Then left NYC to replace a colleague in London for maternity leave for about 16months. London is sooooo cheap compared to NYC its like the kiddie pool for expensive ass real estate. Thats why I laugh when brits are like its so expensive like bish you dont know expensive okay. When I got back I took over my friends place for the summer because she left to her hamptons pad and so I basically house sat but also paid reduced rent it was 1400 in prime Williamsburg. My friend is rich asf so my hard earned rent was her play money. After the summer ended I finally signed another real lease and thats where am at now. I adore this apartment its in prime williamsburg semi-lux and I just treated myself when I got this place. I work in a super stressful job so for me am at this point I dont mind paying to feel comfortable and have perks. I work my fucking ass off I deserve it. Ok so details on my new pad. So am going back to chelsea..... covid is a bish but lets thank her for crashing the nyc real estate market because there is no way i would be buying this apt if covid hadnt happened. I had been considering buying for a few years so I ave been saving but with no real plan. I told my dad last year during covid april that if the market dropped maybe I should buy. My family is from LA so my dad gets paying 2k in rent he did it for years too and he has been wanting me to get out of the rental market. Metro city rental markets are a racket. Anyways this would not be possible without my father. He basically said you get half the deposit saved and I will lend you the other half. Well around feb I had the half and my dad was like ok cool you find something let me know.Do not get me wrong my apt needs a TON of work thats why its so well priced and when I mean well priced I mean stupid expensive but well priced for NYC. I am going to need to redo the floors, rip out the kitchen, rip out the bathroom. Install overhead lighting, rebrick the fireplace and paint everywhere but its mine also am gonna have two months where I carry rent and a mortgage so I have 60 days to basically renovate if I get desperate I will sleep on my besties couch in brooklyn so I have am options but yea. Mortgage is close to my current rent at 2150 but I live in a COOP (this is going to be super confusing for the europeans. They like WTF is a coop?!?!?!) and so my building maintenance is about $800 on top of my mortgage. Its been a long decade of nyc renting to get here but I did. Now for you anon just do it. Look I tell everyone. Live in NYC for one year of your life it will change you entirely as a person you will learn to become a survivor here. What do they say? If you can make it in NYC you can make it anywhere. Its sooo hard and the city is literally the concrete jungle but its also amazing and so alive and so rich and yes you may find yourself one late night coming home after working 12hrs on your feet sitting on a brownstone stoop balling your eyes out thinking “I am not cut out for this” but I promise you the rewards you will earn back are irreplaceable. There is a reason people from all over the world flock here. It really is like no other place so if you can keep your head down. Work a couple of shitty jobs and get $1500 under you then pull the trigger. Take the leap! I promise it will change your life forever.

[obxfiles]

I was just casually scrolling through tumblr at 4 o’clock in the morning when I came across your post. Usually I’m a quiet lurker because idfk how to talk to people, but I felt compelled to respond to your post about you feeling “behind” in life. I know you’ve gotten several replies already, but you’re just going to have to deal with me throwing some more love and support at you, okay?

I, too, left a long-term relationship (my marriage to be more specific). I moved back home to my parents’ house because I could no longer afford to live on my own, without the financial partnership of my ex (and we were just barely scraping by together as it were. NY state isn’t a cheap place to live in). Here’s the kicker: I also have two young sons. It hit me hardest knowing that I couldn’t provide for the tiny humans I brought into this world — after all, it was my choice to leave a toxic relationship and split apart my family, not theirs. Yet, here I was, feeling like I was dragging them down with me. They didn’t ask for this life. I felt like a complete failure as a mother. Some days I still do. I felt like I was taking a thousand steps backwards in life. After all, when my parents were my age, they were buying a house and I couldn’t even afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment. So, I did what you did — I went back to school. Between raising kids and my own schooling, I was barely able to work to pay living expenses and bills, let alone save money. More debt. Finally, I graduated just in time for the pandemic to hit and found myself out of work for even longer. More debt. (This year has kicked most of our asses, I think, so you should allow yourself some leeway and compassion now more than ever).

I’m convinced at this point in my life that feeling “behind” seems to be a very millennial trait. Our generation has inherited a world waaaay different than that of our parents and grandparents. To be honest, most days it feels impossible to get ahead. Things seem futile, working against us. Statistically speaking, we have less income and way more debt than previous generations. It’s not uncommon to be living at home at our age these days, and although I totally understand where your frustration is coming from, please do not let it weigh you down. I promise, you are not alone and there is no shame in needing some help to get through the tough times.

Despite your obstacles and setbacks, look how FAR you’ve come. You left an abusive relationship. You went back to school and earned a degree. Neither of those had to have been smooth-sailing tasks for you. It’s easy to feel “stuck” or to compare yourself to others around you, especially in an age where we can see who’s getting engaged or married or pregnant or a mortgage with the press of a social media app. STOB IT. You’ve overcome some massive hurdles that your twenties have thrown in your way. Be proud of that. It took me breaking myself into a million pieces in order to rebuild myself into who I truly wanted to be. I’m certainly not there yet, but I am getting closer. YOU are too. Hold that notion to your chest and be PROUD of that. It’s not a race, so pace yourself and breathe. Your struggles have given you more strength and wisdom than you are currently giving yourself credit for. ✨

I apologize for my long-winded, early-morning ramblings. Also, be safe (today of all days, when tensions are crazy high in this country. yikes!) and stay healthy. 💜💜

oh my goodness, thank you so much for reaching out and sharing your story with me. i’m so sorry you had to go through that but i am so, so proud of you for getting yourself and your little ones out of that situation. there’s always this odd feeling that comes with having survived an abusive situation. i don’t know how bad it was for you, but i can only imagine and sympathize. for me, i never thought i’d survive it. i never imagined myself living this long, if i am being very honest. so there’s this odd feeling of not having any kind of direction now having reached this point. and then when i finally try to set out a direction, and carve my path, the pandemic hit and it felt like everything just  got ruined. and it sounds selfish when i know others have and are going through worse, but truly everything seemed to just fall completely to pieces. it’s a scary situation for so, so many reasons. everything just feels so uncertain. it’s especially hard when i go to my social media and see everyone that all somehow kept the jobs they had pre-pandemic, going forward with their lives whereas i feel like mine has completely frozen into place. but we have to have faith that this will come to an end and good things will come again. thank you so, so much for saying this <3 it’s hard for me to really acknowledge the things i’ve gone through and survived through. i’m told that’s part of the ptsd, second-guessing your own strength and constantly thinking “someone had it worse, so who am i to complain or acknowledge my struggles” but that’s the trauma talking. i need to make my voice louder than the voice of the trauma, the anxiety, the icky thoughts. i need to let myself acknowledge my survival and strrength. thank you so, so much for saying this <3

i have faith everything will work out. this time of frightfulness and uncertainity will come to an end and things will get better. the sun will shine again for us all, i am so, so certain of that. please know how thankful i am for you, reaching out and sharing your story with me in this way. please, please know i am always, always here for you if you ever need to talk. we aren’t alone, even if we may feel that we are. i am so, so proud of you and i am always here for you if you ever need a friend to talk to. thank you again, so, so much <3

[trainthief]

hi! i love your blog quite a bit, you really do have the most kind patient vibes and a very calming presence (+ your photos are so pretty). dunno if this is a tough question, but what are some of the pros/cons of living in wyoming? i've gotten attached to the idea of it, but i've never been.

hey thank you! I’m glad I'm putting some good out into the world. 

and that’s a very good question, it’s a pretty mixed bag for a lot of reasons. I have a special place in my heart for Wyoming because most of my best childhood memories are from the ranch my family used to run there, but I have to admit I may be a little biased. 

Pros would be: 

- amazing outdoors, really great public lands virtually everywhere, some of the prettiest and most interesting natural features, especially in the north 

- in that same vein, the wildlife is amazing. areas of Wyoming have the most natural biodiversity of anywhere in the US, and you can have really incredible animal encounters there 

- 98,000 square miles and 570,000 people living on them, meaning it’s larger than the entirety of the UK and has a population smaller than Alaska’s. If you don’t prefer a lot of personal space and solitude then this might belong in the cons column for you, but for me its something I really value. there’s still plenty of friends to be made, which is important, but the only traffic you ever really encounter is when someone’s moving their herd across the road. 

- no income tax, the lowest sales tax of any state, very low cost of living (unless you’re in Jackson). depending on the town, I can buy a small house there and land myself a mortgage equal to the amount I'd pay for a bedroom in a shared apartment in most moderately-sized cities 

Cons: 

- Less people means less access to city amenities. You’re going to have a hard time ordering takeout in a lot of places, and you’ll have an almost impossible time finding a restaurant open after midnight. 

- most republican state. This isn’t something that bothers me quite as much as it does others, because with the exception of a short time living in London I’ve only ever lived in places that were extremely red, so I’m used to navigating that. But if you’re not, it might be quite a culture shock. in my personal experience, actual uncomfortable confrontations are fairly rare, because it’s a very rural area people tend to prefer the libertarian approach of not bothering you if you’re not bothering them. but I do have the privilege of being an average looking white man, and the look I am most comfortable in is the same boring outdoors clothes everyone else wears there, so I dont really stand out.  (this is not, of course, to say that there’s no liberal people or no gay people in Wyoming. but you’re not going to want to toss around trump jokes willy nilly because you might end up in a fight) 

- wildlife. as much as it’s a huge part of what I love about Wyoming, it’s also something you might need to adjust to. Grizzlies, wolves, cougars, etc... Unless you’re going to stay indoors the majority of the time (in which case you should probably just live somewhere else), you’re going to need to know how to deal with wild animals. There’s a reason 60% of Wyoming residents own guns. If you’re not comfortable with a gun, carrying bear spray any time you go out into the backcountry is a must. 

- insane winters. I love the cold, so I don’t mind it. But there were a few times we’d get snowed in over the roof of our house, and we’d have to wait until morning to tunnel out. 

if the cons sound a bit much to you, you could also try living in Montana or Utah, both of which have amazing outdoors as well. there are more people - Utah’s population is still less than half of New York city’s alone, although I find myself wishing there were fewer people around me all the time regardless - and both are still very republican but finding some token liberals will be a bit less difficult. if living in a liberal area is important to you, you could try places in Oregon or Colorado, though Oregon has always felt less wild and exciting to me, and if you live in Colorado don’t live in Denver. as far as I can tell everyone there just wears expensive Patagonia jackets so they can be seen in them, and because the mountains are an hour away they never actually go outdoors. 

[notebooknebula]

How to Build a Passive Rental Portfolio with Lane Kawaoka

https://www.jayconner.com/how-to-build-a-passive-rental-portfolio-with-lane-kawaoka/

Jay Conner (00:09): Well hello and welcome back to another exciting episode of Real Estate Investing with Jay Conner. I'm Jay Conner, your host and The Private Money Authority. And if this is your first time to the show, I want to give you a special welcome here on the show. We talk about everything related to real estate investing. We talk about all kinds of deals, we talk about single family houses, apartments, commercial land, sell storage and on and on and on. And if you've been following and listening in for a little while, you know I've had just some amazing guests and experts here on the show and today is no exception. But before I bring on my special guests today, I've got a free gift for everybody and that is if you are looking for more funding for your deals, regardless of what your mortgage broker or your hard money lender or such my site, I've got a free on demand online class that gives you the 5 steps that shows you exactly how I went from having no funding to over $2 million in funding in less than 90 days.

Jay Conner (01:12): So you can check it out and get right on over to www.JayConner.com/MoneyPodcast. So with that, I am so excited to have as my guest today, a good friend of mine also, we're in a mastermind group. His name is Lane Kawaoka and he currently owns 2,600 units as in apartments and et cetera across the United States. What you're going to love about listening to Lane today is that he is truly a virtual investor, meaning he lives in Hawaii, but all of his investments are in elsewhere in the United States. So we recently quit his day job as a professional engineer and he is now enjoying the wealth and the freedom that I know all of you all are looking for.

Jay Conner (02:11): So what Lane does is he partners with investors who want to build a portfolio but are too busy to mess with the tenants and the toilets and the termites, et cetera, by curating opportunities. And his company, which was called the HUI Deal Pipeline Club. Whereas investors have personal access to him and know that Lane is perfectly putting his money on the line too as well. Well, his pipeline club has acquired over $155 million of real estate and it's acquired by syndicating over $15 million of private equity just since 2016 so he's also another great connection as I am in this world of private money. So what Lane does is he reverse engineers the wealth building strategies that the rich use to the middle class via the 50 investing podcast, which you can check out. It's SimplePassiveCashflow.com and Lane's mission is to help hardworking professionals out of the rat race one free strategy call at a time. So with that, Lane welcome to the show!

Lane Kawaoka (03:15): Hey, thanks for having me, Jay. Aloha!

Jay Conner (03:17): Aloha. I love it. I love it. Like what's that thing you call when you put them around the neck and they welcome you to Hawaii, a lei. There you go. There you go. Yeah, well, as I said about Lane and I are in a high end mastermind group and we've gotten to know each other and in fact we were in the same focus group at our last mastermind meeting and I was just very, very intrigued with Lane and what he's got going on and it's therefore invited him here to the show. So whether you are a investor with capital or if you are a real estate investor and you're just sort of tired of going to the local REIA club, hanging around some broke people and you actually want to change what that looks like, you're definitely going to want to tune in today closely and learn how to connect with Lane. So Lane, give us your background story. How did you get, well, first of all, before you give us your background story, give us an overview of what you've got going on in this world of real estate investing. I mean, you've got over 2,600 units. What does that look like?

Lane Kawaoka (04:23): Yeah. So I'm kind of more evolved buy and hold investor instead of buying one of single family homes these days, I get sent apartment deals that get syndicated and I get to know the operators and sponsors and I do my due diligence, run the numbers, get the PNLs and rent rolls. Then I see if I want to invest and to bring along my investors with me.

Jay Conner (04:45): I got you. So you just said through syndication, just to make sure everybody understands what we're talking about. What do you mean when you say syndication?

Lane Kawaoka (04:56): Yeah, so a lot of these properties that, you know, say you're buying a hundred unit building, you know, you're going to need a couple of million dollars with down payment and you know, potentially funding from someone like yourself. But you know, you're going to get that private equity raise to get the big loan with the bank who controls 80% of it and you're going to pick up a $5 million property. Most people don't have $2 million lying around, nor is it very smart to you know, most of my investors, we go by this principle, we don't put any more than 5% of our net worth and to any one deal, [right?] So we diversify it over multitude of these types of syndications.

Jay Conner (05:38): So really what we're saying, when you say syndication, what we're talking about is using other people's money, private money, and having them invest into the deals with you. Right?

Lane Kawaoka (05:46): Right, right. So we create a couple of asset classes for general partners and limited partners, you know, limit partners, very little liability. They don't do anything other than bring your money in and check some monthly statements and hopefully we all get to the destination. Right?

Jay Conner (06:05): Exactly. Exactly. So you're living in Hawaii, none of your investments are there. All of your commercial properties are elsewhere in the United States. So how do you decide where you want to invest and where to go look for deals?

Lane Kawaoka (06:23): Yeah, I mean, my first criteria is cash flow. So the rent to value ratio is kind of what governs where I even start looking. So just like when I was buying single family homes, you know, I'm looking for a hundred thousand dollar house that rents for at least a thousand dollars a month. Because at that point I know I can pay all my expenses, all my mortgage expenses, and have a little bit buffer there to be able to cash flow because let's face it, I think over sessions coming up in the future and you know, even if the price goes down a little bit, I still want to be able to cash flow

Jay Conner (06:59): sure. That makes sense. So is there any particular area of the country or cities that you are focusing on or not focusing on?

Lane Kawaoka (07:09): Yeah, I mean most of the deals that I kind of look at are in the Southeast. More of the red States with very landlord friendly and a lot of blue color job force growth out there. A lot of manufacturing. Some of these places might be more tertiary market settlers. People hear less about, you know, like a Huntsville, Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, Gulf port, Mississippi, Lake Charles, Louisiana. You know, those are typical markets that we like to target as emerging markets.

Jay Conner (07:43): I got ya. So let's say you know, you've determined a particular city or area or the Southeast that you want to focus on. So where do you go find the deals? I mean there's other websites that you use. Do you use direct mail campaigns? I mean, if somebody is starting out, where do they go to look?

Lane Kawaoka (08:01): Yeah, I mean if you're starting out, I mean, I hate to say this, but you don't have a shot. I mean, I think in single family homes, we can all agree, most deals, 80% of them are found off market in the commercial realm, over 50 units, 80% of deals are controlled by brokers. Unless you close a hundred or 200 units before, he ain't going to get a shot at closing. This next one, people are saying, well, what about the other 20% that are out there? It's like, yeah, you can direct market a sophisticated seller who owns an apartment, but unless that property is some huge issues and you know, I target properties that are 90% occupied or more, so I can get that qualified for them. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, non-recourse Monday, I won't really want to deal with those 20% problem property even though they're out there. So it's an unfair game.

Jay Conner (08:54): Yeah. So you

Jay Conner (08:56): say if you've never done one of these deals is going to be very hard for you to break in. So how does somebody start?

Lane Kawaoka (09:04): Well, I mean that's where most of our investors, they've done a bunch of single family homes. They fill up their net worth to be half a million dollars or more. They've gotten sophisticated in terms of they know the risks of real estate and they know how it works. But then they come into deals as a passive investor and they invest anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 into a deal. And it's kind of buying your way into a big company. But it's, you know, you know the operators,

Jay Conner (09:36): right? So in other words, to really get started in this game, you need to be partnering up someone starting out. It needs to be like partnering up with someone like you that's already got the relationships that already knows the ropes that already knows how to do the workings of the deal. Right?

Lane Kawaoka (09:52): Right! And because we follow, we follow SPC protocol and there's a big thing about mass smart it being out there. So a lot of it, is you have to have a preexisting relationship with the sponsor you're going to work with. [Right] Most deals out there, 90 to 97% of deals are for non-acute investors, but you need to have a preexisting relationship.

Jay Conner (10:18): Exactly. I got you. So what's a realistic ride-over return that people can anticipate to get in these types of deals?

Lane Kawaoka (10:26): You know, from the get go, a lot of these properties with prudent leverage on it, your cash line, you know, high single digits, you know, maybe 8% that's usually, but these properties along of course cap rate compression has kind of taken over and it's hard to find these properties, which is why you've got to get about a thousand properties to find one that actually works. But the kind of deals that we kind of folk it's on or actually today, but there's some kind of value add opportunity. For example, putting about $4,000 into every unit with new paint, new flooring. And then it's just like on a pig. So they, we can raise those rents. 50 a hundred dollars if you get that bump in net operating income, which in commercial real estate, that's your operating income divided by your cap rate equals your, market place.

Jay Conner (11:22): Okay. So lane, you know, we hear people in your space and apartments talking about primary, you know, secondary, you know, other types of markets. So what's your comment and thought about, you know, should you invest in particular kinds of markets or not invest in particular kinds of markets?

Lane Kawaoka (11:42): Yeah, so I mean just to kind of define it for folks who don't know what primary, secondary, tertiary markets are. Primary markets are your top tier markets like Los Angeles, Hawaii, York, San Francisco, Seattle. You're not going to find the rent to value ratios out there to be able to cash flow. Now you know, I'm not going to knock anybody strategy in terms of investing, but my strategy is I want to cash flow on the property because my number one was not to lose money. You know, [that's a good rule.] You know that whole, you know, investing in those kinds of markets. Yeah. Everybody wants to live in a place like Seattle or San Francisco and generally the prices are going to be going up. But you know, we all seen what happened in the past and there's always going to be another recession where the prices kind of tank.

Lane Kawaoka (12:36): Again, I would rather skew my portfolio to more of, Hey, the property creates more rental income than it has an expenses and it can support itself. You regardless of what the market price is and when I can do that, I can sell at the right time whenever I want, at my price I want to be in. So to do that you need to go to a little bit off the beaten path to secondary markets like Birmingham, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Memphis, Little Rock or tertiary markets, which are about 50 a hundred thousand in population. Like you know, I guess El Paso is probably a larger Trisha market, but a Lake, Charles, Louisiana, Huntsville, Alabama would be good examples of tertiary markets.

Jay Conner (13:24): All right, I got you now. So that's the markets. So let's talk about for a moment the different kinds of properties or assets. So you know, in the commercial world you hear people talking about class A, assets class B, assets, class C assets. First of all, define for everybody what are these different types of classes of assets and what should you invest in?

Lane Kawaoka (13:48): Yeah, so the A-class or your brand new properties, these are the luxury assets that you know are usually brand new builds built anywhere from the last 20 years till now. The class B assets are kind of your 1980s 1990s vintage, a little bit older. And then the class C assets are like your 1950s to 1970s it doesn't go by age. There's no hard and fast rule, but you know, you talk to a broker, of course they're gonna bump up the rating on you for one grade, right? But you know, investors, you know, kinda know this lingo and they can kind of know what kind of class of building it is. But you know, just like how I said you don't invest in primary markets, you don't really want to be investing for class a luxury. We kind of target class B and C because that's where we can get a bargain. And we're not competing with unsophisticated investors just looking for a choppy asset. Right.

Jay Conner (14:45): That makes sense. Now you've mentioned a couple of times, you know there's another recession coming and of there always is. Nobody knows when for sure, but I know that you practice what you preach and you invest in what you would call recession proof assets. So other than say apartments or rentals, I have you got any other, of course nothing's guaranteed, but anything, any other what you would refer to as recession? Proof of assets?

Lane Kawaoka (15:15): Yeah, I mean another option are like mobile home parks. You know, I think when you talk about mobile home parks, people think about trailer homes, which that scares a lot of people off and that's a good sign. When people are scared on sophisticated, dumb money doesn't follow. So mobile home parks in a recession, if what you're thinking is people are going to the A class, people are going to move to the Bs, the Bs, they're going to move to the Cs and move into mobile home parks. It's an asset class that they aren't going to build any more of because of late on, no politician wants the responsible for permitting a mobile home park and also mobile home parks. Don't generate revenue for the city. So cities and counties don't want them, so they're, you know, most people in America believe it or not make under $30,000 and they need good housing like mobile home parks. That's one form. I'm, you know, I'm kind of getting into that a little bit. I know apartments the best, but I understand it's smart to invest in different asset classes. It's still sort of impacted by the economy. If you want to really go to the deep end and get totally non for later with the economy, I would say like settlement investing would be another good one. You know, investing off people's life insurances when they die, you get paid. Is that Saint out there? Nothing guaranteed more than death and taxes. Right?

Jay Conner (16:38): Right! Interesting. Interesting. Now I heard you mentioned this a few minutes ago, but I want to drill down on it. You referred to the rent to value ratio and that's you know, a common phrase in the broader commercial. So first of all, explain to everybody what do you mean by rent to value ratio and then what is your rule of thumb on what the ratio needs to be for the deal to make sense?

Lane Kawaoka (17:00): Yeah, so you know, just a quick example, some of the first properties when I was purchasing rental properties was a hundred thousand dollar house that rented for a thousand dollars a month. Threats evaluation. As you take the monthly rent divided by the purchase price, and that's the rent to value ratio, you're looking for something 1% or higher, 2% awesome. But it's sort of hard to find good areas. That's not a war zone, but you know, you're going to have to put it into the spreadsheet and go down. But line by line and every expense and income, but from a quick and dirty way of doing this, that the rent to value ratio above 1% is a good indicator that shows good cash flow, now I invest off cash flow. That may not be your, your listeners personal strategy. But when I'm investing off cash, I look for that 1% indicator. You know, like here in Hawaii, you know, this million dollar house rents for $3,000 a month. That's a 0.3%

Jay Conner (18:04): that works doesn't fit your formula, does it?

Lane Kawaoka (18:06): Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's the California will say no one all, you know, that doesn't work.

Jay Conner (18:12): Right. I got you. And you know I know this about you Lane, and that is, you know, it wasn't too long ago that you retired from your day job as an engineer, but you've been building this empire of real estate assets while doing a day job. How in the world do you do that? How do you find the time to do the, you know, actionable items that you gotta do in order to build this kind of investment company while you're working full time?

Lane Kawaoka (18:45): Yeah, I mean when I was just picking up single family homes my first five, seven years, you know, I use property management companies, you know, they're well worth, but 10% of your income that you bring in. Someone told me that you know, you don't do things unless you can scale it to seven acres and a single family homes are a great way to get started. Especially turnkey rentals. You know, like my first 20 podcasts were all about turnkey rentals, how I started. But as your network grows, you kind of drift into more syndications and private placements like all I have. And yes we use property managers, but there's also asset managers who are another layer of managers who kind of make sure we're doing the right thing with the asset and they are partners aligned with the passive investors. So everybody has skin in the game. And that's a key component that I don't invest without.

Jay Conner (19:40): Well that makes sense. That makes sense. Well, Lane, I know we put together a special URL for my listeners, which is www.jayconner.com/Lane, and tell our audience what is that URL address and why would they want to go there?

Lane Kawaoka (20:01): Yeah, so one thing that I've kind of, pretty much the only product I've made is, you know, your network is your net worth is what they say. And I work with high paid professionals who have money, most of which are accredited and you know, to get access to these deals, you've got to build up your network. Unfortunately, the worst place to go is these pre internet forums and the local real estate club because let's face it, they're just a bunch of broke people, you know, how do you prefer, you know they're not going out to be skiing scrapyard or whatnot. Use my podcast, which attracts passive investors and created this little mastermind.

Jay Conner (20:45): Excellent. So folks go to www.JayConner.com/Lane, and that will get you in contact with Lane and have a strategy session with them and have the opportunity to work together with him on commercial projects and invest if you like, and get connected and truly learn what passive income is about. So Lane, parting comments? Last piece of advice for our listeners and audience.

Lane Kawaoka (21:15): Yeah, I mean if people want to book a call, my email is lane@simplepassivecashflow. Just to make sure you tell me that Jay sent you because, and I think that's a big thing. That's why you and I joined these different masterminds, right? Jay like it's all about like it's a small world out there and you know, you never really want to work with some random person, so at least know they came from you. You know, I know that they're, you know, I can kind of follow the breadcrumbs, what kind of, what they're all about.

Jay Conner (21:45): You know, so our viewers have definitely heard me say this before, but I don't know who came up with the phrase that opposites attract. That's stupid. I mean, I want to hang around people that are like me, right? So yes, birds of the same feather do flock together. So anyway, Lane, I'm sure you'll be hearing from a good number of our, audience members Lane. Thank you so much, man, for taking the time to come here on the show and tell folks what you got going on.

Lane Kawaoka (22:12): Yeah, yeah, we'll catch up in a couple months there in San Diego. Good to see you again.

Jay Conner (22:17): You got it. Lane, thank you so much for coming on and I'll see you soon. Well there you have it folks. Thank you for joining in for another episode. I'm Jay Conner, The Private Money Authority, wishing you all the best and here's to taking your real estate investing business to the next level. We'll see you on the next show. Bye for now.

[homeremodelingatlanta7b]

Determining a Kitchen Remodeling Budget

Basement remodeling atlanta

It is very important to find out a financial budget for virtually any do it yourself project, and kitchen remodeling isn't exception.

A thing of caution: I spent hrs researching kitchen remodeling cost and budgeting online to accumulate data with this article. I ran into a few websites that gave size pricing for kitchen remodeling. Although I commiserate using look for an easy approach to determine remodeling pricing, this kind of advice just isn't based in reality. Remodeling jobs normally are so specific to the conditions of the building and tastes from the homeowner that no square footage pricing is ever going to starting point. I additionally encountered many sites that didn't offer you any real information about establishing a budget but basically interpreted Hanley Wood's Remodeling Cost vs. Value report that's published annually. You happen to be far better off going to the Cost vs. Value report on the web and evaluating the final results yourself.

home remodeling marietta

Like other things in this world a kitchen remodel will cost more than you thought it would and the sky's the limit about what it can cost determined by your preferences. You can find multiple factors that go into determining a remodeling budget.

There are numerous places online you can check out help you establish a basic budget number to start with. Our recommendation is Remodeling Magazine's Cost vs. Value Report which is released by region and major city each year. The truly nice thing about this report would it be provides description from the "average" project to help you gauge in case your kitchen remodel is going to fall above or below the benchmark. Furthermore, i find their average pricing to be an exact reflection in the pricing for our company, so by recommending to clients before I even talk to them that they can investigate this report they are prone to begin a realistic budget we could work within to present them an incredible kitchen.

Custom Hutch designed with Semi-Custom Cabinets

While Remodeling Magazine's report is quite helpful, it is a very one size fits all method of establishing a budget. Continue reading if you want to try to hone your numbers a little.

Escape a pad and paper and jot down several notes about each factor along the way through their list:

Factor 1 Home Value- Consider not merely how you feel your home is worth, but also the price of similar homes where you live that curently have updates. The best site to check home values is zillow.com, simply enter your address and you also have an interactive map with home along with other information listed right on the map. Pay attention to which homes are of similar size to yours, happen to be purchased recently, but have a higher value, then peek in their windows to determine exactly what the house looks like. Ok, seriously, I became only kidding. Should you not know them perhaps it's time to meet the neighbors and ask for a simple tour.

Factor 2 Wow! - It is everything to use your primary goal and motivations. Write down each motivational factor which can be crucial that you you in the kitchen remodel. Here are several possible examples: Kitchen is falling apart. You want to cook and the layout doesn't suit you. You love to entertain and want to start living rooms like a place to gather. You need a kitchen that wows your guests. You get able to sell your own home and also the kitchen is really a sticking point with buyers... Now that you have your list, determine what motivations are most important and relist them in motivational order. Imagining your financial allowance beginning in "the middle" pay attention to which factors might move the budget up or down...i.e. attempting to remodel to encourage sales might slowly move the budget down, remodeling to wow guest might max it...etc.

Factor 3 Did someone say AGA? - List any "must haves" for a kitchen remodel to become worth the cost to you personally. Possible examples: granite counters, a tropical with an extra sink, an extra dishwasher, an advert quality gas range, etc.

Factor 4 Longevity- Determine to the best of what you can do the length of time you intend on owning the home.

Factor 5 Size Matters- Determine what amount of your property your kitchen encompasses. A sampling well over 100 modern home floorplans of 1000 to 3000 square feet homes revealed the average kitchen size to be 7% from the home's sq footage. If your kitchen is greater or smaller than this average you might need to decrease or increase your allowance accordingly.

Factor 6 Layout- should you may have learned you're going to want the sink moved, hawaiian isle sink added, an enclosed wall moved plus an exterior door added, you will want to add money on your budget well past such a basic facelift would cost.

Tricky layout: the decorative column conceals a sound wrapped drain pipe

Factor 7 Funding- Determine the maximum amount money you could manage to spend. If you're financing your project you are able to calculate such a lender will likely lend you. Lenders are interested in a personal debt to income ratio(DTI) of.36 or less. Your DTI is established by taking all of your monthly debt obligations (credit card payments, automobile financing, mortgage, etc.) and dividing from your monthly income. To discover your maximum safe monthly debt multiply.36 times your monthly income. Now subtract your existing monthly debt out of this number and you've got a monthly budget maximum. Here is a connect to a calculator that will perform the math for you personally: mortgage calculator

Putting it All Together

The key to managing your finances are choosing the amount of your home's value you should use being a budget guideline. While researching this article I discovered recommendations to make use of percentages starting from 10% to 25% of home value. For any kitchen remodel of any substance that features new flooring, appliances, cabinets, sink/faucet, lighting and bringing electric approximately code I have discovered anything below 15% to become very dubious number. I guess on a million dollar house 10% will be a workable budget, but on the 200k house a 20k affordability is marginal at the best for the complete kitchen remodel.

If resale value is very important for your requirements it is wise to keept the cost of your home renovation project within 20% of the present worth of your home. Staying within this range insures that the majority of the brand new kitchen's price is recouped in increased home value immediately, and the remaining cost must be recouped within 5 years because your home appreciates.

Ok, let's put into practice one example. Remember, there is no exact formula here. We have been simply doing good to become as informed as you possibly can and create a wise decision about how exactly much to spend on the kitchen remodel.

For the example let's use the house. It's a 50's cape cod with a modest square footage of 1500.

Factor 1 value: Zillow provides me with an estimated price of $167,500, however, I notice zillow hasn't yet updated and taken into account the single homes which are recently integrated the sector behind us with a starting expense of $270k. Zillow also has our square footage listed at under 1200. Looks like the previous owner did a bit remodeling with no permit. I am going to base my budget with a expense of 180k which is similar to other houses locally which might be exactly the same size.

Factor 2 Goals: My family and i want to entertain guests. To create a kitchen remodel worthwhile for all of us we must lose an interior wall to spread out up the kitchen and dining nook on the family area. I am going to add 1% to plan for this.

Factor 3 Most important items: As being a former chef two most important items for me personally are a new oven as well as a really nice propane range(no gas main service here), preferably an advertisement range modified for your kitchen at home (real commercial ranges lack insulation throughout the oven, critical for home safety). I am going to add another 1% to my budget to make certain there's enough money to acquire me my range and propane installation.

Factor 4 Longevity: We plan to be in the house at the very least 4 years. Generally of thumb it will take Five years for most remodeling to achieve and recoup all of its cost. Because we will probably be at least Five years I'm not gonna penalize the budget, consider there's a good chance we'll move right around Five years That's not me gonna increase it like I might whenever we were staying considerably longer.

Factor 5 Size Kitchen: The kitchen at home is approximately 140SquareFeet(SF). That's over 9% of the SF of your home, 2% excellent. Obviously this kitchen is going to require some extra material and cabinets. I'll in the budget 1% with this, I am hoping it's enough.

Factor 6 Layout: We are going to customize the layout of our kitchen pretty extensively. We currently use a cooktop peninsula. The product range will probably use a differnet wall as well as the dishwasher will move to the peninsula, though organic beef ditch the peninsula, slowly move the fridge and add hawaiian isle instead. About the only stuff that won't move may be the sink. I will add another 1% to my budget, again hoping $1800 (1% individuals 180k value) is enough to cover the electrical and plumbing changes.

In my base I am going to use 20%. Because i mentioned earlier on, you'll find gonna be people who will argue with me on that, but going lower often doesn't leave you with workable budget numbers for full blown kitchen remodels. I'm adding 4% according to my factors in the above list. I adjusted my zillow.com estimated home value to 180k depending on the comparable size and value of other homes around me. This provides me a working budget of 24% x 180k= $43,200 When I match it up to the Cost Vs. Value report I see that in the centre Atlantic Region an important Kitchen Renovation is $59, 098. It looks like my budget could be bit low, especially since i have really would really like granite countertops along with the Cost Vs. Value specs necessitate laminate tops. Conversely the kitchen at home is really a lot small compared to their 200SF benchmark, i really think I'll opt for my budget number and discover what my contractor can perform personally because budget.

[deepestdarkestsickestpartsofu]

Introduction

We met in spring of 2017. He changed my life forever, in a way that I will never be able to explain. What I would want you to understand before reading this, is how much love has taken charge of my feelings and impulses. 

I loved him, I love him. 

Nothing he did will ever change that.

At this point I bet you may be wondering who I am. Right... I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Nadir, a 25 year old man that is attracted to other men, but that’s not the most significant part in the story. I grew up in a quiet conservative town in Michigan, with a small population of less than 5,000 people. My mother is pretty old schooled and forced me to stay in school until I graduated. That meant no ‘girlfriends’, no sleepovers, no working. I always had the desire to help her monetarily by getting a job and at least pay the house bills. However she would constantly say to me to just focus on my studies and that would be what would help us in the long run.

My parents are originally from Israel. My mother grew up as Catholic, which was not the usual back then and my father grew up Jewish. They became less religious when they decided to move to the United States, which is where they had my siblings and I. They both lived here as immigrants and I didn’t understand what that meant when I was a child, I just thought we were like any other family living in the US. My father unfortunately passed away from a heart attack when I was 8 years old and it affected me in ways you couldn’t possibly imagine. During his wake, I didn’t cry. It was all so surreal and I felt like he would wake up randomly and claim that everything was a joke. He had a great sense of humor and always managed to make people smile, however his death wasn’t a joke. Once it was time to bury him, I cried as hard as I could since I knew I wouldn’t see him ever again. After that, my mother worked as hard as she could to give my siblings and I what we needed. She could barely afford to pay for the mortgage on the house until my older brothers started working and helping her out with as much as they could. My mother worked two jobs daily to make sure we had food on our table, clothes and a good education. 

It would hurt me to see her stress about providing for us, so eventually I managed to get a scholarship at San Francisco State University. Being the youngest of 4 children gave me a bit of an advantage to enjoy ‘the beauty of freedom’ as we know it now, and not have to struggle about being gay in the 70′s, not that it’s any different now. I mean there are hate crimes all over, shootings that keep getting more common by the minute and discrimination which is still pretty big now. That is one of the reasons why I decided not to come out to my mother, nor anyone in town for that matter. I was already struggling with self-acceptance and I didn’t want to be a burden to my mother. During my senior year of High School I managed to convince my mother to let me work to save up for essential stuff. I began working at a pharmacy and little by little saved up enough money to leave town and follow my dreams in a career I wanted. I wasn’t certain of what my major would be, however it needed to be in the art field. Whether it would be acting, directing, drawing or video editing. I decided to go with the flow and see what would appeal my interest. I wanted to be able to afford a place in ‘The City’, so working at that little pharmacy helped me save up & I also had a job secured so I would be able to help my mother with her expenses from afar. 

It took me a few months but right before spring classes started, I booked the first plane to San Francisco without looking back. My siblings showed up with my mother to the airport. Elijah, the oldest, was a bit of a role model growing up. He got married at 22, had 2 children and joined the police force. Amir, the second to oldest, was always a jokester which he definitely got from my father,  and had a bit of a ‘bad boy’ complex, which is quite the opposite of Elijah. He never got married, which my mother never agreed with, however he did have 3 kids, all with different women. Last but not least, my sister Hadassah, she was only 3 years older than me and I guess you could say we were the closest. Both of us would take care of my mom as much as possible and help her around the house as much as it was possible. She decided to stay in a community college to be closer to my mother and to help her financially as much as she possibly could. I hugged everyone goodbye, but when I got to my mother I couldn’t hold it in much longer. Tears started pouring down my face as I hugged her, but managed to remind her that this wasn’t a goodbye, but a ‘see you later’. I wish I could’ve come out to her, but I was afraid it would devastate her and we might lose the relationship we had built. As cliche as it sounds, she is my best friend, the person I trust the most in this world. I was considering staying as I hugged her. She pulled away and put our foreheads together. 

“You’ll be fine... You’ve got this! And remember einayim sheli, you’re stronger than you think! I’ll be supporting you from afar! Nothing you could do would ever disappoint me”.

“I love you mom. Don’t worry, I’ll send money your way and I’ll be back during the holidays!”

“You better, my dear! Now go, don’t want you to miss your flight”, she said as she hugged me once again.

Her words gave me enough courage to pick up my stuff and board the plane. I turned back once more before heading to the ramp and saw my siblings & her waving at me. Hadassah was hugging my mother and even though she was trying to stay as strong as possible, I saw tears rolling down her face. She noticed that I saw them and immediately wiped them off with a smile. I always admired how strong of a woman she is. She truly is a role model and someone I look up to as to how to live my life. However, I’ve never been as strong so I couldn’t hold back and started crying as I boarded the plane. 

The flight felt eternal and having anxiety didn’t help at all. I quit medication a few months before leaving since I didn’t think I would need it… Boy, was I wrong. I managed to calm myself down by working on some sketches I’ve been doing on my drawing paper pad. Next thing I knew, I was arriving in San Francisco, California; Population: 883,305, well... I guess now it’s 883,306 residents. I wasn’t necessarily going into San Francisco completely helpless, I was moving in with my best friend. I met Marcia in elementary school. Her father Sebastiao works for the government, and that’s as much as I know about him. That and the fact that he had to move to San Francisco due to a “really good job opportunity”.  Her father is originally from Brazil & his wife, Mayra is Mexican-American. Marcia grew up and learned all three languages, English, Spanish & Portuguese so she was able to fit in easier in “The Bay Area” when they left our little town. We would spend hours on the phone after she moved and she would tell me about San Francisco and how she thought I’d love it. She was honestly afraid to be one of those kids whose parents have to move regularly because of their jobs, but lucky for her, she didn’t have to do that. She set up a high bar for me arriving in San Fran and when I did... Well, let’s just say she didn’t disappoint. Her dad bought her an apartment and she was willing to share it with me at no cost, but I already had plans of helping her out with utilities & give her some extra cash to thank her for sharing her apartment with me. She shared her apartment with two puppies, Chuy & Elena, two small pomeranians whom she considered her children since she wasn’t planning on having any kids. When I told her I had gotten a scholarship to SF State, she immediately suggested I should move in with her. I wasn’t too sure of that idea, but it honestly was the best option I had so far.

I finally get my luggage and sit in the lobby to wait for her. I look around and see a lot of people meeting up with their loved one, whether it is their lover, or family. “You just left your family back there. You won’t even make it here nor achieve anything you had your mind set to. This is truly a bad idea. Why are you even doing here? You’re an idiot for leaving! All for some stupid experiment you want to try? Bullshit!”. I close my eyes and take another deep breath. I then feel my phone vibrate with the following text message:

“I see you!”

I looked up and saw her smile. She hadn’t grown much, stood about 5′6, black, curly shoulder-length hair, light skinned, with dorky glasses. People always claimed she was a weirdo, but who am I to judge? I was a bit taller than her, stood about 6′1, a bit of scruff on my face, brown semi clean-cut hair. I was always the weird kid at school, so we managed to click from the very beginning. She was the first person to talk to me in elementary school, and that meant the world to me. I was always a bit of an introvert, however she helped me come out of my shell little by little and when she left, I fell back into it. 

“Marcia! Babe! I’m so happy to see you!”

I ran to her and hugged her. It felt like yesterday that I had said goodbye to her at the airport. 

“Honeeeeey! Ugh, I’m soooo glad to see you! You smell soooo good! Don’t tell me you’re still into buying or should I say, collecting colognes?”

“Guilty!”

“Well then, you just might like what I have for you at home! Let me help you with your bags! I can’t wait for you to FINALLY meet Chuy & Elena! They’re going to LOVE you! My tia is still pretty mad that I named Elena after her, but she should take it as a compliment! It just means I love her! I mean, dogs are your most loyal companions... Not that she was ever loyal to my uncle, but still! I’m telling you, my little Elena is NOTHING like her!” 

I looked at her in disbelief. She still had that smile and a gleam in her eye. She had always had that hopeful gleam in her eye... Something I had lost a long time ago. 

I hated it.

“I’ll kill if I have to, but I’ll regain that hope again, just wait”

[anonymoustalks]

They also didn't want me to speak Korean outside of the house because "in America you speak only English."

(6-17-20) You both like Politics.

You: hi

Stranger: Hello

You: What is something important to you?

Stranger: My job.

You: Mhm how so?

Stranger: Because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to buy a house, save money, and have dinner every night.

You: Very reasonable

You: and grounded

Stranger: Considering that I grew up low-income, it only makes sense that I skimp and save.

You: ah yeah, that helps gives perspective for sure

Stranger: All I can really say is not having food every day isn't fun.

You: Mhm did you grow up not being able to eat every day?

Stranger: Yes.

You: What was that like?

Stranger: Hell.

You: Yeah I can imagine

Stranger: The savior was USDA subsidized cheese.

You: are you us-based?

Stranger: I was. I relocated to South Korea in 2007.

You: mhm was the food insecurity in the SU or south korea?

Stranger: The US.

You: where were you specifically, if you don't mind me asking?

Stranger: Detroit until I was 8, Denver from 8-22.

You: mhm

Stranger: You couldn't pay me to move back to the US, in spite of the fact that my parents always insisted that it was better than Korea.

You: Mhm I'd love to hear anything that you're willing to share

Stranger: Well, what do you want to hear?

You: well, everything lol

You: but I guess we don't have time lol

Stranger: What parts do you want to hear?

You: I never personally experienced food insecurity

You: or the circumstances around that

You: and what your family did

You: and I guess why you moved

Stranger: Food insecurity is hell. My parents simply lived with it and ignored it.

You: as context, I'm guessing your family were immigrants?

Stranger: I moved for job security and so I wouldn't face discrimination in the US. Yes, they immigrated from Korea.

You: mhm

You: I'm not really that familiar with detroit and things, but I feel like the naive question I'm sure you get is what about food banks?

You: or other stuff

Stranger: Not a thing back in 1980s/90s Detroit outside of churches, which my parents stayed away from.

You: ahh I didn't know

You: so I'm guessing subsidized school lunches probably also weren't a thing?

Stranger: Those were, but my parents didn't apply for those until we moved to Denver.

You: sounds really rough

Stranger: They didn't apply mostly for fear of deportation

You: undocumented?

Stranger: They were documented, the documentation wasn't always fully valid.

You: ah..

You: student visa?

Stranger: Green cards.

You: mhm I guess it's just so different it's hard for me to imagine

Stranger: Needless to say, people who work on private railyards don't make much.

You: my goodness

Stranger: About 50 cents an hour back in the 80s and 90s.

You: yeah... I just can't imagine

You: how did your family end up moving to denver?

Stranger: My father's job at the railyard was replaced by a sensor and they were concerned that Detroit was becoming too unsafe.

You: mhm this was the big crime era too?

Stranger: Yes. And we lived in a housing project that was effectively where you went to buy drugs or die.

You: buy drugs or die?

Stranger: Lot of dealers, criminals, and bait apartments in there.

You: okay, was just slightly confused about the wording if they made you buy or something

Stranger: The people in the apartment next to us were dealers.

You: mhm

Stranger: The Detroit PD raided the wrong unit, not theirs.

You: .......

Stranger: And that's why I don't respect the Detroit PD.

You: yeah that's terrible

Stranger: We did get money from them after it was found that they broke the most expensive thing in the apartment.

You: it's just so hard for me to imagine what your parents went through

You: coming to the US

You: and all of this

Stranger: I can provide some more insight if you'd like.

You: anything you want to share is good

Stranger: They had this twisted perspective on American customs and holidays.

You: meaning?

Stranger: They didn't get any of them per-se "right."

You: huh

Stranger: Xmas? Get up at 5 AM and eat a pack of Twinkies. "We're going to work."

Stranger: New year's? Get up at 5 AM and eat nothing. "We're going to work"

Stranger: They also told me to not get good grades, because "Americans don't"

You: huh that's unexpected to me...

Stranger: I got all A+s on the report cards, and even skipped a lot of grades after moving to Denver.

You: mhm good for you!

Stranger: They also didn't want me to speak Korean outside of the house because "in America you speak only English."

You: I'm trying to imagine things through their eyes

Stranger: What are you effectively seeing?

You: uhh very poor, desperate, scared

Stranger: That about summed them up.

You: yeah.

Stranger: Even now, they refuse help from me.

You: mhm... that sounds kinda vaguely asian

You: are they still in the us?

Stranger: Yes.

Stranger: Still living in Denver, too.

You: what did they do in denver?

Stranger: My mother is a cashier at a Wal-Mart, and my father is a gun salesman, since he became a citizen in 2012.

You: mhm

Stranger: They did let me pay off their mortgage in 2011, though.

You: oh that's good

You: I can imagine your parents being very proud of you

You: are you an only child or with siblings?

Stranger: I'm an only child.

Stranger: I doubt they could ever afford a second.

You: right

Stranger: Hell, they were still paying down the bill from my birth until I was 10.

You: yeah asian-american poverty is just something I'm so removed from it's just I don't even know what to say

Stranger: That was back when Koreans were below Hispanics on the social ladder

You: right... I didn't realize detroit or denver had any kind of korean population

Stranger: Not really, they just ended up in those places because there were jobs.

You: mhm

You: so you went through school in denver, graduated, did college, and then moved to korea?

Stranger: I went through high school in Denver, graduated, college fast-tracked from age 14, medical school from 16-22. Then got the hell out of the US.

You: oh my goodness that's incredible

Stranger: I started high school at age 8 due to the district insisting on testing me.

You: yeah um I didn't even realize that kind of thing was possible

Stranger: It is, and its just not common

Stranger: I learned a lot from the books my parents had around the apartment.

You: yeah

Stranger: Since all that they had were my father's textbooks from college and a few legal help books.

Stranger: And operating manuals, and legal documentation.

You: mhm it just sounds like such a whirlwind of stuff to go through

You: anyhow what brings you to the politics tag?

Stranger: I like politics, always have.

You: on omegle? haha ^^

Stranger: I like most politics.

You: ^^ I guess I would have imagined that most ordinary ppl who like politics would be on reddit I guess or something

You: unless they have something strange going for them lol

Stranger: I have nothing going for me politics-wise.

You: hm, but other things?

You: sorry if I'm prying

Stranger: In the medical field, yes.

You: huh?

Stranger: I'm a general practitioner, and a tenured one at that, so I'm among the ~150 important people at the KCDC.

You: oh what I meant is that I'm just surprised someone like you would be on omegle that's all haha ^^

You: since we're pretty trashy here haha

Stranger: Nowhere near as trashy as other people I've encountered

You: mhm maybe

Stranger: Namely the Detroit police department SWAT team

You: >.<

You: so do you have a list of political issues you care about the most?

Stranger: Yeah, mostly not defunding the KCDC.

You: do you get a lot of koreans on omegle?

Stranger: No, I've never encountered another Korean.

You: oh okay

You: yeah I don't think I've ever run into anyone from east asia

You: many from india though

Stranger: In case you're wondering, the KCDC is basically Korea's healthcare provider, and disease/drug regulator.

You: yeah I googled it

You: I thought korea did very well with coronavirus testing

Stranger: We did.

You: why are they trying to defund you?

Stranger: Because they want to stop covering things that many Koreans rely on, such as vision coverage (I benefit from it), as well as coverage of OTC drugs in hospitals.

You: hmm how is there not popular backlash?

You: I thought there was a general political adage that it's easy to give benefits, but hard to repeal them

Stranger: They've kept it under wraps by putting funding changes in fine print.

You: funding charges as in...?

Stranger: Funneling the money into reserves.

You: oh okay, it might be a bit over my head ^^

Stranger: Basically, the KCDC is funded in USD, so we can buy equipment without exchange rate issues, and they view the USD as a finite recourse. Its not, since saving it depreciates the value for us long-term.

You: huuh I didn't know that at all

Stranger: Meanwhile, I have to fight with a government-paid vision provider to get my new glasses.

You: btw why did your parents dislike korea so much?

Stranger: Korea was different in the 70s and 80s. The leaders were totalitarians mostly installed by the US. The economy was garbage, and it was impossible to get a stable job outside of manufacturing or the armed forces.

You: ah okay, thanks for the summary

Stranger: They were middle class in Korea, too. And they left that all for the US.

You: yeah... I didn't realize the exchange rate was so steep back then too

Stranger: Most of the reason they were poor in the US was because of their limited English.

You: Ah okay

You: What kind of conversations do you normally get into here on omegle?

Stranger: Usually something that ends with "the US owns Korea."

You: what?

Stranger: The Republicans in the US have this twisted idea that America owns Korea.

You: huh

You: and you enjoy talking to people like that?

Stranger: No, but I like trying to talk sense into them.

You: ^^;; it sounds like quite an argument

Stranger: And its hilarious to me.

You: ah yeah, I guess people do like the amusement

Stranger: I have spat out coffee laughing at their stupidity.

You: I think people come from very different places ^^

Stranger: To some of them its a foreign concept that people can make more money in countries other than the US.

You: I think it depends in part on people's skill sets

Stranger: They also don't understand how foreign currency works, since, sometimes if they ask about my pay, I give it to them in KRW.

You: lol

Stranger: They think I'm lying because the number in KRW exceeds 350 billion

Stranger: KRW is counted in a strange manner.

You: hm? how so?

Stranger: 1,000 KRW= 1 USD (one cheap meal). 100 KRW= 10 cents (which is the same cost as a burger here), 10 KRW= 1 cent (half a bottle of cola).

Stranger: You have to know it to recognize it on site.

You: huh...

Stranger: We make western money but don't pay western prices.

You: I'm just slightly confused basically

Stranger: McDonald's is expensive here, with a meal being $8.

Stranger: McDonald's is expensive here, with a meal being $8.

Stranger: The only things that really cost western prices are, well... western things.

You: mhm right

You: I feel like cost-of-living in different places is always a little hard for me to grasp

Stranger: I find it amazing that Coke is considered the cheap beverage here and in the US

You: I have a suspicion that in many circumstances people are just buying the bottle

Stranger: Still, I have always viewed it as expensive.

You: I mean if you look at the price of a 2L bottle versus a small bottle?

Stranger: Yes, but, still, too pricey when I was young.

You: the drink itself must be inexpensive to manufacture

You: but the retail price is elevated substantially

Stranger: My parents always viewed it as "why spend a buck on a 2L when Faygo is 75 cents, we can barely afford it as is"

Stranger: Which ingrained it as being a luxury product in my mind

You: lol

You: idk it's cheaper than milk, juice... so many things

You: I feel like it must be bad for public health

Stranger: Faygo is and always has been cheaper

Stranger: Probably because of competition

You: oh we don't have them here

Stranger: Faygo is highly regionalized to Detroit.

You: not distributed in my area

Stranger: In fairness, it helps the cost when its bottled a few blocks from the grocer.

You: I guess that's true

You: but there are always discount soft drink brands too

You: although I was never pressed enough at cash to really look very hard at the difference between a dollar or like 90 cents...

Stranger: My parents had to look carefully at those prices

You: yeah

Stranger: What would be 45 minutes in the grocer for a person who can grab-and-go items would be 1-2 hours for us.

You: mhm

Stranger: Which is why I buy the same three things at the grocer, so I don't need to price compare

You: mhm I feel spoiled because I don't really do much coupon shopping

Stranger: For what its worth, they did get the one symbol of wealth that Korean-Americans viewed as a symbol of wealth at the time.

You: which was?

Stranger: Color television set.

You: oh

You: I think you are around a decade older than me so it's hard for me to compare and contrast

Stranger: I'm 35.

You: yup

Stranger: So, I have faint memories of the 1980s.

You: I was born int he 90's

Stranger: The 90s were a good time.

You: I have faint memories of the 90's lol ^^

Stranger: That was when we got a computer

You: sounds about right

Stranger: My uncle imported KDS systems to the US, so we got that for free.

You: huh

Stranger: KDS became Emachines, a company you might have heard of

You: nope!

Stranger: Your household probably didn't have to buy whatever the cheapest system at Wal-Mart was.

You: uhh I think our first computer was some form of macintosh

Stranger: Which are systems for the wealthy next to Korean imports.

You: yeah it's really interesting to look back at this stuff

Stranger: I sometimes wish I could go back in time, but then I realize that'd effectively be starting from scratch.

You: uh yeah, that doesn't sound very fun

Stranger: There's no real reason to look back on the past for me.

You: yeah I don't really look back this far normally either

You: do you still speak much english in everyday life btw?

Stranger: Yes, on a daily basis. To the point where I still sound American when I speak it.

You: Oh I didn't know that

Stranger: I have no issues with speaking either language, luckily.

You: mhm that really helps

You: how is your social life?

Stranger: Basically zero friends in Korea.

You: aww...

You: is there like a barrier?

You: being foreign or something?

Stranger: No, since I am not foreign in the eyes of either the Korean government nor the people.

You: ah, so you're just saying it's just you? ^^

Stranger: Yes.

You: introverted?

Stranger: Yes.

You: mhm I wish you the best!

Stranger: My parents weren't too hot on the idea of me ever having friends.

You: oh...

You: you're not around them anymroe!

You: seriously, are you doing okay?

Stranger: I'm doing fine.

You: okay ^^

You: I think it's different to be happy and introverted vs. unhappy and introverted, if you know what I mean

Stranger: Not to mention, after I moved to Denver, it became harder to make friends.

You: hm, why?

Stranger: I was 8 and in high school. Take a guess.

You: ah...

You: yeah that threw me for a loop

You: ordinarily I thought most school systems didn't allow their kids to skip too far for well... I guess social reasons?

You: idk if things changed or how things happen on way or another

Stranger: And being Korean in a majority hispanic school didn't help, either.

You: mhm

Stranger: Since that was basically right after the LA riots, which made Koreans and hispanics hate each other.

You: right...

Stranger: I did get bullied for that.

You: :c

Stranger: Metal lunch trays don't feel too good in the back of the head

You: that's terrible

Stranger: And neither does getting tied to a chair with an extension cord

You: I just can't imagine

You: people just...

Stranger: You'd think they'd show mercy on someone effectively half their age and size.

You: yeah

You: also for some reason I thought of denver as kind of like a progressive white place

You: but idk if that's just more recently

Stranger: That's modern Denver.

You: yeah

Stranger: Back then it was a rougher place.

You: mhm

You: I think you have so much in your past

You: it's a lot

Stranger: A lot of people do.

You: mhm

Stranger: Not everyone can have a pretty story filled with bubblegum and rainbows.

You: yeah...

You: it's just sad

You: or well, so many things that America turns a blind eye too

You: even now

You: a kind of semi-willful ignorance

You: in favor of narratives I guess

Stranger: It would've been nice if I didn't have to carry a revolver everywhere.

You: huh you were licensed to carry as a kid?

Stranger: From when I was 18.

You: mhm

Stranger: My parents made me get licensed out of pure fear.

You: mhm

You: idk if it's your generation, your family's socioeconomic status, location, or all of the above, but your story is just so much more raw and dramatic than those of other asian americans I've heard

Stranger: Probably a mix.

Stranger: My experiences are in-line with your average LA Korean in the early 90s.

You: right

You: I just didn't know the differences could be so stark through one or two generations

Stranger: Well, remember, a riot happened that moved the Koreans up the ladder.

You: yeah

You: or maybe there's a rift between asian americans who were hear longer versus the large influx that came in the 90s

Stranger: Probably that, since not a lot came in the 80s.

You: yeah

Stranger: I remember the first time I visited Korea, it was like a different planet.

You: mhm

You: (not that I have any idea lol XD)

Stranger: My uncle took me to Seoul in 1995, which was when I realized that Korea wasn't what my parents made it out to be (they made it out to effectively be a 3rd world country).

You: mhm

Stranger: I'd say it was that visit that made me want to leave the US

You: you went through a lot

Stranger: I do consider some of it to be a lot.

You: have you ever thought about writing it up?

You: idk assembling it into a narrative of some kind?

Stranger: I have, but I'm not comfortable with it being on paper beyond legal documents.

You: mhm okay yeah

Stranger: For example, in the file cabinet next to me I have every single even slightly legal document from when I was born until I was 30.

You: mhm... I should do a better job of getting my paperwork together

Stranger: Just opening it, there's three folders of medical papers.

You: hospital?

Stranger: No, at home. The folders even include every payment on every medical bill from back then.

You: ah I meant, you were hospitalized often?

Stranger: No. Mostly just payments from my birth, as well as vision.

You: mhm

Stranger: The vision papers are expansive.

You: right

Stranger: Considering that I've needed to wear glasses since I was 2.

You: what??

Stranger: Effectively, my vision is garbage, and has been ever since.

You: so it's getting really late for me, but I wanted to thank you for sharing everything that you did ^^

Stranger: Have a nice night.

You: thank you!

You: best of luck with everything and I hope you're able to make more friends!

Stranger has disconnected.

[ducksmode]

Lucky Duck

“Drake had heard horror stories about adoption and the constant limbo some families could be in, waiting months or even years to finally sign those papers making your child yours, but he was willing to go through it all if it meant Gosalyn would be his daughter at the end of it all.”

Part Two of the “A Father, a Daughter, and a Launchpad” series.

Drake had heard horror stories about adoption and the constant limbo some families could be in, waiting months or even years to finally sign those papers making your child yours, but he was willing to go through it all if it meant Gosalyn would be his daughter at the end of it all. He knew it was hard work and that there was a lot to be done before Gosalyn could come home, but it was frustrating when he felt like he was doing everything right and still had to go through more interviews or home evaluations, or take a few more classes, get one more certification. 

The amount of paperwork alone made him want to tear his feathers out with all the forms he had to fill out, often passing out at the kitchen table surrounded by papers after a long night of Darkwing Duck patrol.

He would never be able to thank Launchpad enough for all he did for him during this time. His warm presence was always right by his side, taking all the classes with him, sitting through boring interviews, cleaning up the apartment before evaluations, always with a big smile on his face. 

He wonders how he can do it all without breaking down like he does, but then he sees his face when they go on their weekly visits to see Gosalyn and understands immediately. Drake will always wonder what he did to deserve Launchpad by his side, but to see he loves that spirited little girl just as much as he does makes him think he just might be the luckiest duck on Earth.

When they’re given the okay to have overnight visits with Gosalyn they celebrate by crying into each other’s arms since they know they’re just the littlest bit closer to adoption. Friday’s after school and Saturday mornings become the best moments of the week, and Drake feels like he could fly.

“What do you mean we need a house?” 

Gosalyn’s case worker has the decency to look just as upset as he feels, sighing as she shakes her head. 

“You know how these things go, Drake. I know it’s frustrating but the Agency has these rules for a reason.” she explains, taking a sip of her coffee.

“But it’s just- she’s been having her visits here for almost a month now and there’s never been a problem! Now we can’t go to court for permanent placement until we have a house?” Drake huffs, crossing his arms. Launchpad rubs his back from his seat next to him, his usual smile gone for once.

“I’m sorry, Drake. Truly, I am, it’s just how things are.” she says, reaching across the coffee table to pat his knee. 

“In better news, there was talks of extending your overnights to weekend visits.” she smiles, and Drake feels only marginally better.

Launchpad shows her out when she says she’d better get going, while Drake sits on the couch with his head in his hands. Only when he feels those strong arms wrap around him does he allow the tears to fall freely, unable to stop the sobs shaking his form.

“I know, baby… I know,” Launchpad soothes, holding him close. 

“I barely had enough for the down payment on this place! And-And now we need to buy a house?!” he cries, clutching onto Launchpad’s shirt, soaking it with his tears.

“Shh, it’s alright. We’ll figure it out…” Launchpad promises with a kiss to his forehead. 

“I just want to take her home…” Drake whimpers, and Launchpad’s heart breaks.

They do end up with weekend visits, and Drake is so happy he almost forgets to be stressed out about the house search, spending every free moment he has looking for the best house and figuring out the budget he needs to keep to get it. In between stressful feather pulling days, Launchpad takes them out for drives, Drake holding his arm where it rests on the center console. 

He points out houses to them whenever they happen to drive through neighborhoods, “Oh, I like the brick on that place- Whoa! that place has a treehouse- Look at that house’s backyard, nice huh, Gos?” 

Drake thinks he knows what he’s doing and loves him endlessly for it.

After another month of stress and car rides, Launchpad surprises him with a nice home cooked dinner, holding his hand over the table and smiling at him so fondly he feels tipsier than he should after only drinking one glass of wine.

“Drake I uh- I wanted to ask you something…” Launchpad stammers, looking nervous, and Drake suddenly feels very sober, wondering if this is what he thinks it is. He’s only slightly disappointed when Launchpad doesn’t pull out a little velvet box from his jacket pocket and instead passes over a piece of paper. 

He’s a little confused as he takes in the listing for a house he and Launchpad had been looking at.

“The house with the huge backyard near the hockey rink? What about it, sweetheart?” Drake asks, blushing at the lovestruck look his partner gives him at the pet name. 

“Do you like it?” Launchpad asks, squeezing his hand.

“I love it! And I really think Gosalyn would, too. Why?” he raises a brow. 

“How would you feel if I told you Scrooge offered to pay the down payment?” 

Drake nearly chokes in the middle of sipping his wine, Launchpad rushing over with a clatter to pat him on the back.

“He WHAT?!” Drake manages to cough out, eyes wide. Launchpad gives him a huge smile from where he kneels before him, only nodding at the incredulous look Drake is giving him. 

Drake surges forward to wrap his arms around Launchpad’s neck, joining their beaks in a wet kiss as tears are now streaming down both of their faces. Launchpad squeezes him tight as he spins him around, deepening the kiss and making Drake melt. 

He pulls away with a big watery smile, “He just wants us to pay off the rest of the mortgage but baby- baby, I did the math and we can do it!” Drake’s chest aches with hope and he nearly screams in excitement, opting for pulling Launchpad back in for another kiss instead.

The next few weeks of filling out mortgage paperwork and moving in are a bit hectic and Drake must have thanked Scrooge a million times by now, but Drake’s heart feels so full he could thank him a million times more for what he’s done for his family.

When they show Gosalyn the new house, their new house, completely taking her by surprise, she starts crying, it’s the first time she’s ever done so and Drake feels completely ill prepared until Launchpad just pulls them all into a tight hug, and he knows everything is going to be alright, wondering how he ever could have done this by himself.

On the day of the court hearing Drake is a nervous wreck, fiddling with his bow tie, tapping his feet, and sitting on his hands when the constant moving becomes too much even for him. The whole drive over Launchpad has the biggest, happiest, grin on his face and all he has to do is look over at him (and how handsome he looks in his formal outfit) to make his heart settle. 

As soon as they step out of the car, his partner takes his hand, both doing their best to crush each other’s hand with their nervous grips.

Waiting outside the courtroom for them is their huge family, and Drake does his best to not get overwhelmed but everyone else must sense his anxiety because they thankfully avoid talking to him and try not to crowd him. 

Gosalyn is waiting there for them with Mrs. Cavanaugh, and Drake almost starts crying the second he sees her. Launchpad isn’t doing much better, swooping down to grab her with his free arm to kiss all over her face, tears beginning to leak from his eyes.

“Launchpad! Come on, keep it together!” Gosalyn chides, looking embarrassed but Drake doesn’t miss the way she wipes at her eyes. 

“Sorry, Sorry, sweetie… ‘m just so excited…” Launchpad sniffles, setting her down and patting her head before wiping at his own eyes. Gosalyn takes one look at her soon to be official dad and how nervous he looks before launching forward to hug him around the legs. Before Drake can say anything to her, the courtroom doors open and it’s time for their case to be seen.

He wishes Launchpad could be there next to him as he and Gosalyn sit before the judge, but he wasn’t technically adopting her too, as it would have been much harder (and more expensive) to try and adopt her as an unmarried couple. They talked about it and while Launchpad was a bit upset that he would have to wait to officially be Gosalyn’s father, he knew how important it was to Drake to get her out of that orphanage and in their home.

He’s pulled out of his thoughts as the proceedings begin, only half listening to Gosalyn’s case worker speak highly of him and Launchpad and all they’ve done for his little girl. The judge listens then turns to him, and he gulps, calming slightly when Gosalyn grabs his hand under the table.

“It seems to me like you’ve done everything possible right, and from reading over your case file I’m confident that you are fully capable of taking care of this wonderful girl.” the judge says, giving him a little smile from her seat above them. “Is there anything you’d like to say before I sign off on these papers?” she asks.

Drake leans forward to the little mic in front of him, clearing his throat, “I just can’t wait for Gosalyn to be my daughter. From the moment I met her, I knew she was special, and she’s only proven me right since. It would make me so incredibly happy to have the privilege of being her father.” he says, somehow managing not to stutter, looking over at Gosalyn and smiling brightly at her as tears spill down her cheeks.

The judge smiles again before collecting the papers in front of her and grabbing her pen. “Then I won’t make you wait any longer.”

Drake waits until they’re outside the courtroom to jump up into Launchpad’s arms, both crying as their beaks meet in a chaste kiss, their family cheering around them. “What no kiss for me?” Gosalyn teases, and before she can run away from the coming hug, Launchpad scoops her up so he’s holding the both of them up in his arms, peppering the both of their faces with wet kisses.

When they finally make it home after a big party at Scrooge’s house, Launchpad has to carry Gosalyn in, passed out from the day’s excitement. Drake watches him tuck her in and kiss her forehead, his heart doing funny little flips at the domesticity of it all. 

Launchpad runs into Drake in the hallway as he gently closes the door behind him, that smile still stuck on his face. As he leans down, Drake meets him halfway with a slow kiss, sighing happily once they pull away.

“I love you, so much. You know that right?” Drake hums, cupping Launchpad’s cheek. 

“I couldn’t have done all of this without you, and Gosalyn loves you so much it only hurts a little bit to be her second favorite parent.” he chuckles, finding himself crying once again, overwhelmed with all the emotions of the day.

Launchpad wipes his tears away with a thumb, just staring at him for a moment before he’s suddenly down on one knee before him, and Drake’s stomach drops to his toes as he reaches into his jacket.

“You’re the most important person in the world to me, and it’s been killing me to wait until after the adoption to do this, but I knew how important it was to you and didn’t want to distract you. I was hoping I could wait a little longer, spoil you with a nice dinner, but I can’t wait anymore. Drake… will you marry me?” Launchpad finally asks, opening the box in his hands to reveal a beautiful engagement ring.

Drake is nodding before he can get his beak to work properly, sure that he doesn’t look as nice as he would have liked for this moment, sobbing out a single ‘Yes!’ before collapsing into Launchpad’s arms.

Drake wakes up the following morning as Gosalyn clambers into bed with them sleepily, curling up into his chest while Launchpad pulls him closer from behind, his hand tracing over the new ring adorning his left hand, and he knows he really is the luckiest duck in the world.