#I kinda miss the community service stuff we did in middle school(?). I remember one was actually quite fun! It was during a fair I think?

[sepiasys]

Learned about a walk-in interview thing to sign up for? It’s on the 28th. 6 different things to sign up for(?), is for getting a job.

I can already feel the anxiety bubbling up in my body :(

It’ll be fine, though. As awkward as it’ll be.

🤎—————🤎

HAHA HEY LOOK ITS A DRAFT FROM AUGUST 25TH THAT I DIDNT POST

Anyways we (me and bestie) havent been sent the thing for the interview or whatever. We (sys) have been kinda planning to not go anyways tbh. I’m sure it’d have been interesting but also, I’m pretty sure we’re not really prepared for job stuff yet.

[surveysonfleek]

663.

What type of movies do you get into the easiest? i can enjoy any genre as long as the beginning grabs my attention.

If you could learn to play any instrument, what would you pick? piano.

What is it about a stranger that makes you interested in them? their name, their behaviour or whatever they’re wearing.

Are you materialistic? slightly. clothing-wise i’ll buy anything but i’m picky with perfumes, makeup, shoes and technology.

Do you think more with your heart, your mind or your body? heart.

What types of things fascinate you? traveling.

Do you think it’s all right to completely ruin someone’s life on purpose? not at all. unless they did something that terrible to deserve it.

What are your opinions on bullying? does anyone actually support bullying? it’s terrible, duh.

If you were a writer, what type of stuff would you most likely write? probably anecdotes of my life.

Do you have any mental disorders or diseases? no.

How do you feel upon seeing someone who’s missing an appendage? i always feel a slight bit of sympathy for them, is that bad?

Do you feel you’re more beautiful inside or out? hahaha. inside if i had to choose.

Do you let music move your body, or do you hold back? depends on my mood.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes to have fun? no lol.

What is something that is often on your mind (besides specific people)? work, my future, things i have to do, my plans for the week.

What kinds of feelings do your hobbies leave you with? relaxation, satisfaction, enjoyment.

Why is your favorite store your favorite? it’s affordable and you can find basically anything in it.

Do you prefer touch screens to non-touch screens? of course. everything is touch screen these days.

Can you handle the stress of working in food/customer service? i worked as a waitress for three years, it’s shit. i hate the ‘customer is always right’ bullshit, some people are actually just plain rude and do not deserve service of any kind.

Are you ever rude to people on purpose? i’m only rude to people who are rude to me first.

Can you feel the rush of energy a band brings when playing live? yes.

How do you feel when you’re around a lot of people you don’t know? awkward and unsure what to do. i’m not as social as i used to be.

Do you pick up on the feelings of others easily? i think i can.

What kind of place would you want to raise your children? somewhere like i grew up. a newer community, the suburbs, close to surrounding cities.

Would you let your child have a pet? of course, i’d definitely let them have at least one pet and see how things go from there. definitely start off with something low maintenance.

Where were you raised and what’s it like? i was raised in an older town that was super multicultural then moved to a new suburb when i was 9. it was okay, we were some of the very few ethnic families in the area but now it’s getting more multicultural which is good.

Is there a reason behind your name? i don’t think so.

Are you in love and if so, for how long? yes, eight years and counting.

How many times have you thought you were in love? once.

How did you know you were in love? idk i just did.

Have you done drugs and if so, which was the best? yes. honestly probably mdma although i probably won’t touch drugs anymore.

Do you recycle, or do you feel guilty about not recycling? i recycle.

Have you ever been sexually educated? yes.

Did you attend public or private school? private.

Are you an only child or do you have siblings? one sis.

What age did you lose your virginity? 18.

What will your life be like in twenty years? no idea. hopefully happy.

Have you ever offended a celebrity? nope.

Would you marry someone if you thought their parents were insane? i’d have to try and see it from their point of view, but at the end of the day i’m an adult and can make my own decisions.

Have you ever been at home and wondered where everyone went? yes.

Did you know grape juice and baking soda can be used as invisible ink? cool.

Is it fun to be mean to little kids? lmao. no.

Have you ever wanted to be a teacher so you could be mean to little kids? omg no.

Have you ever been embarrassed to discuss something with a doctor? yes.

Do you enjoy talking to people over webcam? no, i hate it. i had to do that weekly for my internship, it was just awkward.

Is there a video game that you have beaten everyone you challenged at it? tekken haha.

Would you ever push someone into the middle of the street? no lol.

Are you desperate for things to change? yes.

Do you talk to people about your problems? hardly.

Have you ever become unconscious? nope.

Do you hate being the first person to start a conversation? umm it depends if i’m comfortable around the person. i’m not one to start conversations with strangers though.

Would you rather die or eat another human being? ugh, idk. 

Do you think people who say that they ‘don’t have regrets’ telling a lie? i can believe that. sometimes there’s some things you wish you could have done differently but don’t necessarily dwell on it.

How many cups of coffee do you have to drink to totally become hyper? one. i never drink coffee so one does the job.

Do you ever get hyper off of sugar? nope.

Would you ever become a psychologist? How about a psychiatrist? i wouldn’t but it’d be cool to study.

Do you know what the difference between a psychiatrist and psychologist is? tbh no.

Does/did the last person you text messaged go to the same school as you? nope.

Is there anything worrying you? kinda.

If so, have you talked to anyone about it? nope.

What colour are the eyes of the last person you held hands with? brown.

Is it possible to be “just friends” with someone you have feelings for? yes, of course. you’d hopefully move on eventually.

Is there someone of the opposite sex that you can talk to about anything? yes.

Are you looking forward to anything? yes.

Should you be doing something else right now? probably sleeping.

Is it important to be on a similar intelligence level as the person you’re with? it would be nice but not necessary. 

What’s your favorite Ben & Jerry’s flavor? idk, i’ve had it a handful of times but can’t remember any flavours i really love.

What do you really watch on TV in the middle of the night? netflix.

What’s your favorite song to sing in the shower? none.

Have you ever had your phone taken away at school? yes.

How old were you the first time you dyed your hair? 11 i think. didn’t work.

What do your slippers look like? i don’t have any fluffy ones, i just wear my nike slides around the house.

Do you think your ex still wants to be with you? no.

Where were you two hours ago? playing gta.

Has anyone ever cried in your arms? yes.

How would you react if a doctor told you that you were infertile? i’d be pretty sad. it would haunt me.

What was the last thing you randomly decided to buy on the spur of the moment? i totally forgot... which is a good thing! it means i haven’t been shopping irresponsibly lol.

Do you get along with your best friend’s parents? yes.

What’s the closest thing to you that’s blue? the lid of my water bottle.

Are there any foods that you love but can’t eat, for any reason? dairy. i’m lactose intolerant. i do take lacteeze sometimes but i find that it doesn’t work that well.

Are you hiding something from someone at the moment? nope.

What flavor was the last ice-cream you ate? butterscotch. it was so good!!!

Have you ever told anyone that you never wanted to lose them? yes.

First name of the last person to text you? dwayne.

What are your plans for the weekend? maybe work. depends on my mood.

[garbageivereleasedintothevoid]

09-08-20

Nearly 3am and Yoshi found a cricket of some sort. He was trying to get it and I flipped over what it was under and stepped on it for him. Aka I didn't want it to get away because it looked like it might be a small cave cricket(also known as camel crickets or spider crickets or if you're my family specifically, a hoppy.) After it was smashed, I couldn't tell for certain but god I hope not. I hate those things so much. My mom was like desperately afraid of them. And she passed that on to me. They're the literal worst bug. Of all the things my last apartment did have, I'm glad Hoppies were not on that list. Would trade pretty much any common Indiana insect if it meant not having to deal with them. Flies are probably the only exception because while I'm not afraid of them, they buzz by your ear when you sleep and try to get in your ear, nose, and mouth more than an ENT. You ever almost inhaled a fly? What about squashed one in your hair? Yeah. Fuck flies. The inhalation has nearly occured several times. The squashing in my hair only happened once. It only needed to happen once for me to learn my lesson. Also I was like 16 and at my granny's house and I had to go tell her what happened when she shouted from the living room asking why I was gagging. I came into the room and just looked at her with my mouth wide open and she was like "What?!" And I said "Remember that fly?" And she said yes and I was like... "He landed in my hair... and I... squashed him..." and she helped me get as much of it out as I could but ended up letting me go take a bath. (Bathing... was a thing she didn't like me doing over there because her water pressure in the tub was like barely a trickle so it took a lot of money to bathe for her budget.) Which I know she would have done either way but... yeah.

Honestly the more I think about it, the more I realize my granny really was the source of most of my positive childhood memories. I willingly stayed the night with her pretty often. Sometimes I'd help her get groceries. She was getting weaker as much as she hated to admit it and driving anywhere outside the north park area freaked her out and I think she had started to lose memory of places she didn't see at least monthly. She'd never have told anyone that though. She was always self reliant. And her letting me help bring in groceries was always rewarded by letting me spend the night and us cooking together. I always enjoyed that.

When I was in middle school, she would pick me up from school on Fridays and we'd go get ice cream at Dairy Queen. If she had won recently at "The boat" we'd get something more substantial on occasion. We did McDonald's for a bit. I remember there was an older black lady that worked up front a lot and she was the nicest person. And one day she wasn't there anymore and we never asked why. Mostly I think my granny was sure she had passed away. Maybe she was right but we never mentioned it to each other. She must have passed away by now.

After my cousin was born, sometimes we'd all three do stuff together. Usually it was just me and her or her and my cousin though. I remember resenting Jennifer at first because it meant I got less attention from Granny but Jen and I actually became close after a bit. She looked up to me I think. And I was proud of the person she was becoming. We drifted apart after I graduated high school. Really more once I started going to TSA but... idk. I just hope Jennifer is doing okay. She seemed to be getting conservative by the time I left so I hope she kicked that because her dad is literally a union steward. Like holy shit. It was her grandparents on her mom's side and granny that were doing it. Like jfc you're father literally works as a union steward. As his actual job. I wore a local 37 shirt around the house of bread and peace when I was staying there while doing laundry. And one of the people doing community service was like who do you know that works local 37? And I was like "Uh, John Benjey..." and he just cracked a smile and said "How do you know John Benjey?" And I was like "He's my uncle." And dude kinda crossed a line by asking me to put in a good word for him. I was like "I'm sure you're great and all but idk you and I don't really talk to my family anymore." And luckily Sarah Wolf was there to try and redirect conversation. I was doing laundry and she asked him to do something in another room or whatever.

Anyway point is I miss my granny and cooking with her was some of my best childhood memories.

[preciousmetals0]

Oilers Upset; Nothin’ Streamin’ but Debt

Oilers Upset; Nothin’ Streamin’ but Debt:

Much Ado About Nothing?

For the past several days, Wall Street fretted over plunging oil prices. Well, Wall Street was concerned for a while … the financial media just decided it was finally time to take notice.

In classic financial media form, however, it appears that the hype surrounding negative oil prices actually prompted a near-term bottom. Oil surged more than 30% today, as the practically undeliverable May futures contract cycled out and the June contract rolled in.

A couple of factors drove oil higher today.

First, tensions are once again ratcheting up in the Middle East. After Iranian ships buzzed U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf, President Trump tweeted: “I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.”

Nothing boosts oil prices like rising Middle Eastern tensions.

Second, the U.S. Senate just passed a new $484 billion pandemic relief bill. And to think that I wasn’t stimulated enough this morning!

The new bill allocates about $320 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program — you know, the one that was supposed to help small businesses but ended up going to publicly traded companies like Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE: SHAK) and Ruth’s Hospitality Group Inc. (Nasdaq: RUTH)?

Wall Street’s thinking here is that more stimulus equals a stronger economic recovery, which means more demand for oil — assuming I’ve got my math right here.

So, not to worry. Everything is all hunky-dory now…

The Takeaway:

With crude oil rallying again, it begs the question: Was the oil panic a false alarm?

False alarms are really funny, aren’t they? What if your home, what if your family … what if your dope was on fire?

(Impossible, sir. It’s in Johnson’s underwear.)

Let me answer this as simple as possible: This was no false alarm for oil.

Demand is in the toilet. It won’t come back for months — even if the U.S. economy suddenly reopened tomorrow.

What’s more, investors apparently believe that there will magically be somewhere to put the stuff once June rolls around.

In other words, we’ll likely see another crunch in oil prices when the June futures contract nears expiration.

I’m not predicting negative oil prices again — fool me once, yada yada yada — but there will be another reckoning.

But, Mr. Great Stuff, you said yesterday that there would be “amazing investment opportunities” in oil!

I did, and there will be. But only if you’re patient.

The best thing you can do right now is stay the course and be discerning in your investment strategies.

How you choose to weather the pandemic storm will make all the difference. I mean, you can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice … but you have better things to do with your free will.

When it comes to commodities, Banyan Hill’s own Matt Badiali has the answer. Not only is he a geology genius in his own right, but he led subscribers at his previous research firm through the financial collapse of 2008 … and showed them some exceptional gains.

Matt just released a brand-new interview where he reveals his entire process for finding winning stocks. Like I told you yesterday, these outrageous oil market days are separating the wheat from the chaff in the commodity world. So, Matt’s timing couldn’t be more perfect.

Click here now to see how Matt’s research can help you choose a path that’s clear.

Going: Getting Kinda Heavy

Like the crack of the whip, Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) attacks … front to back.

After reporting Street-beating earnings and revenue, Snap has the power today. The company reported a narrower-than-expected first-quarter loss on revenue that surged 44% to $462.5 million.

But daily user engagement was the real story for Snap. Daily active users rose 20% to 229 million, beating Wall Street’s target. Snap also projected an 18% rise in daily active users in the second quarter. Snapchat usage soared by 30% in the final week of March, the company said, with its Snap Camera app seeing a 30-fold increase in daily downloads.

However, there was a caveat to this otherwise rosy report. According to CEO Evan Spiegel: “While many advertising budgets declined due to COVID-19, we experienced high revenue growth rates in the first two months of the quarter which offset our lower growth in March.”

Did you catch that? “Offset our lower growth in March.”

That’s right. Even Snap is quietly warning that the pandemic could result in lower revenue going forward. While user growth was impressive, investors will want to think hard before chasing SNAP’s 25% rally today.

Going: Hey All You Cool Cats

Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) just blew Wall Street’s subscriber growth numbers out of the water.

Now, a beat was expected, and analysts steadily lifted their subscriber count estimates over the past month, but the results were somewhat astounding. For the quarter, Netflix added 15.77 million paid subscribers. That’s more than double the company’s own projections for 7 million new subs.

The company downplayed the explosive growth, noting that “progress against the virus will allow governments to lift the home confinement soon.” Because of this, Netflix projects only 7.5 million new subs in the second quarter.

However, Netflix’s financial figures soured the subscriber growth reports. Specifically, earnings missed the consensus estimate by $0.08 per share, and revenue of $5.77 billion was in line with Wall Street’s targets.

What’s more, the company announced it would issue $1 billion in new debt to help fund new content. With Netflix’s credit currently rated about three steps deep into “junk territory” by Moody’s, the new debt drove investor sentiment even lower on NFLX.

The combination of weaker-than-expected subscriber guidance, missed earnings targets and new debt pushed NFLX down about 2% today.

Gone: Max Overdrive

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is an old-school media company desperately trying to reinvent itself.

For proof, look no further than this morning’s quarterly earnings report. Revenue missed analysts’ targets, and pay-TV subscribers continued to flee. In fact, AT&T shed 897,000 pay-TV subs and 138,000 streaming video subs.

How do you lose streaming subs in a quarantine?

The report’s only bright spots were better-than-expected earnings and growth of 163,000 postpaid wireless phone customers. However, earnings only beat on an adjusted basis, excluding COVID-19’s impact on operations.

That impact? A 12% decline in WarnerMedia revenue, largely due to an advertising drop for CNN and TBS. The NCAA tournament’s cancellation also hit AT&T’s ad revenue hard.

But it’s not all bad…

AT&T finally leveraged all that WarnerMedia content goodness. The company’s new streaming service, HBO Max, will launch on May 27. HBO Max boasts more than 10,000 hours of premium content from both the HBO and Warner Bros. catalogs.

If AT&T handles this launch right, it could help turn things around for the debt-laden pay-TV dinosaur.

Snapchat, Netflix, rogue telecoms trying to get hip … it’s an entertainment exposé today at Great Stuff. But now, we’re passing the remote to you, to mix metaphors.

It’s time for you to spill your guts and speak the truth (and nothing but the truth) in today’s Poll of the Week!

How are you staying entertained during quarantine? Take the poll below and let us know!

(Psst … if you have a hankering to spin the yarn, always feel free to write us an email. You can reach us any time of day or night — you know … because that’s how online communication works. It’s 100% free and always will be, because nothing’s freer than speaking your mind. Once again, that’s GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com.)

That’s a wrap for today, but remember: You have just one more day for your email to appear in this week’s edition of Reader Feedback! (You know … because that’s how our weekly Reader Feedback features work.)

In the meantime, please do take care of yourself out there, dear reader! We here at Great Stuff sincerely hope you’re hanging in there. You can always catch us on social media: Facebook and Twitter.

Until next time, be Great!

Joseph Hargett

Editor, Great Stuff

[goldira01]

Much Ado About Nothing?

For the past several days, Wall Street fretted over plunging oil prices. Well, Wall Street was concerned for a while … the financial media just decided it was finally time to take notice.

In classic financial media form, however, it appears that the hype surrounding negative oil prices actually prompted a near-term bottom. Oil surged more than 30% today, as the practically undeliverable May futures contract cycled out and the June contract rolled in.

A couple of factors drove oil higher today.

First, tensions are once again ratcheting up in the Middle East. After Iranian ships buzzed U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf, President Trump tweeted: “I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.”

Nothing boosts oil prices like rising Middle Eastern tensions.

Second, the U.S. Senate just passed a new $484 billion pandemic relief bill. And to think that I wasn’t stimulated enough this morning!

The new bill allocates about $320 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program — you know, the one that was supposed to help small businesses but ended up going to publicly traded companies like Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE: SHAK) and Ruth’s Hospitality Group Inc. (Nasdaq: RUTH)?

Wall Street’s thinking here is that more stimulus equals a stronger economic recovery, which means more demand for oil — assuming I’ve got my math right here.

So, not to worry. Everything is all hunky-dory now…

The Takeaway:

With crude oil rallying again, it begs the question: Was the oil panic a false alarm?

False alarms are really funny, aren’t they? What if your home, what if your family … what if your dope was on fire?

(Impossible, sir. It’s in Johnson’s underwear.)

Let me answer this as simple as possible: This was no false alarm for oil.

Demand is in the toilet. It won’t come back for months — even if the U.S. economy suddenly reopened tomorrow.

What’s more, investors apparently believe that there will magically be somewhere to put the stuff once June rolls around.

In other words, we’ll likely see another crunch in oil prices when the June futures contract nears expiration.

I’m not predicting negative oil prices again — fool me once, yada yada yada — but there will be another reckoning.

But, Mr. Great Stuff, you said yesterday that there would be “amazing investment opportunities” in oil!

I did, and there will be. But only if you’re patient.

The best thing you can do right now is stay the course and be discerning in your investment strategies.

How you choose to weather the pandemic storm will make all the difference. I mean, you can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice … but you have better things to do with your free will.

When it comes to commodities, Banyan Hill’s own Matt Badiali has the answer. Not only is he a geology genius in his own right, but he led subscribers at his previous research firm through the financial collapse of 2008 … and showed them some exceptional gains.

Matt just released a brand-new interview where he reveals his entire process for finding winning stocks. Like I told you yesterday, these outrageous oil market days are separating the wheat from the chaff in the commodity world. So, Matt’s timing couldn’t be more perfect.

Click here now to see how Matt’s research can help you choose a path that’s clear.

Going: Getting Kinda Heavy

Like the crack of the whip, Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) attacks … front to back.

After reporting Street-beating earnings and revenue, Snap has the power today. The company reported a narrower-than-expected first-quarter loss on revenue that surged 44% to $462.5 million.

But daily user engagement was the real story for Snap. Daily active users rose 20% to 229 million, beating Wall Street’s target. Snap also projected an 18% rise in daily active users in the second quarter. Snapchat usage soared by 30% in the final week of March, the company said, with its Snap Camera app seeing a 30-fold increase in daily downloads.

However, there was a caveat to this otherwise rosy report. According to CEO Evan Spiegel: “While many advertising budgets declined due to COVID-19, we experienced high revenue growth rates in the first two months of the quarter which offset our lower growth in March.”

Did you catch that? “Offset our lower growth in March.”

That’s right. Even Snap is quietly warning that the pandemic could result in lower revenue going forward. While user growth was impressive, investors will want to think hard before chasing SNAP’s 25% rally today.

Going: Hey All You Cool Cats

Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) just blew Wall Street’s subscriber growth numbers out of the water.

Now, a beat was expected, and analysts steadily lifted their subscriber count estimates over the past month, but the results were somewhat astounding. For the quarter, Netflix added 15.77 million paid subscribers. That’s more than double the company’s own projections for 7 million new subs.

The company downplayed the explosive growth, noting that “progress against the virus will allow governments to lift the home confinement soon.” Because of this, Netflix projects only 7.5 million new subs in the second quarter.

However, Netflix’s financial figures soured the subscriber growth reports. Specifically, earnings missed the consensus estimate by $0.08 per share, and revenue of $5.77 billion was in line with Wall Street’s targets.

What’s more, the company announced it would issue $1 billion in new debt to help fund new content. With Netflix’s credit currently rated about three steps deep into “junk territory” by Moody’s, the new debt drove investor sentiment even lower on NFLX.

The combination of weaker-than-expected subscriber guidance, missed earnings targets and new debt pushed NFLX down about 2% today.

Gone: Max Overdrive

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is an old-school media company desperately trying to reinvent itself.

For proof, look no further than this morning’s quarterly earnings report. Revenue missed analysts’ targets, and pay-TV subscribers continued to flee. In fact, AT&T shed 897,000 pay-TV subs and 138,000 streaming video subs.

How do you lose streaming subs in a quarantine?

The report’s only bright spots were better-than-expected earnings and growth of 163,000 postpaid wireless phone customers. However, earnings only beat on an adjusted basis, excluding COVID-19’s impact on operations.

That impact? A 12% decline in WarnerMedia revenue, largely due to an advertising drop for CNN and TBS. The NCAA tournament’s cancellation also hit AT&T’s ad revenue hard.

But it’s not all bad…

AT&T finally leveraged all that WarnerMedia content goodness. The company’s new streaming service, HBO Max, will launch on May 27. HBO Max boasts more than 10,000 hours of premium content from both the HBO and Warner Bros. catalogs.

If AT&T handles this launch right, it could help turn things around for the debt-laden pay-TV dinosaur.

Snapchat, Netflix, rogue telecoms trying to get hip … it’s an entertainment exposé today at Great Stuff. But now, we’re passing the remote to you, to mix metaphors.

It’s time for you to spill your guts and speak the truth (and nothing but the truth) in today’s Poll of the Week!

How are you staying entertained during quarantine? Take the poll below and let us know!

(Psst … if you have a hankering to spin the yarn, always feel free to write us an email. You can reach us any time of day or night — you know … because that’s how online communication works. It’s 100% free and always will be, because nothing’s freer than speaking your mind. Once again, that’s GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com.)

That’s a wrap for today, but remember: You have just one more day for your email to appear in this week’s edition of Reader Feedback! (You know … because that’s how our weekly Reader Feedback features work.)

In the meantime, please do take care of yourself out there, dear reader! We here at Great Stuff sincerely hope you’re hanging in there. You can always catch us on social media: Facebook and Twitter.

Until next time, be Great!

Joseph Hargett

Editor, Great Stuff