#I suppose you did qualify just some guy with solid and dependable

[this-acuteneurosis]

you know something that is hilarious for canon ish is that Leia? out of all her extended family and the like had THE most reasonable tastes and actions in romance out of all them. Anakin being the disaster who he is who REALLY could have done with a few dates or relationships before Padme, and Padme Anakin, and Luke oh ill date an Ex Assasin of the Emperor ordered to kill me it be cute, and the tragedy and disaster of Obi Flirt, she picks Han. who once committed is just a SOLID dependable Guy.

See, the problem with this is that Han Solo is not really Just Some Guy. Just Some Guy doesn't sneak around a moon sized space station to rescue a princess, even for a lot of money. Not when he knows her planet has already blown up. He doesn't come back to help blow up said space station. He doesn't stay for months and years, fighting a war that should be unwinnable. He doesn't go into a frozen wasteland in temps that kill local wildlife and shove his buddy into a cooling animal carcass. Just Some Guy doesn't see Darth Vader in the dining room and just shoot first ask questions later.

Han gets away with pretending to be Just Some Guy by dint of standing next to a princess and the last Jedi. By not having a special title, or old money, or magic. But remember, he chose to be there. He had lots of chances to leave, many opportunities to get out. And without any Force powers or political obligations, Han stays.

Leia infiltrates Jabba's palace disguised as an alien bounty hunter and strangles a galactically feared crime lord with the chain he put her in to save her boy. This is the same man she previously taunted by kissing Luke full on the mouth in front of Han rather than admit she had feelings for him (and whoops isn't that funnier in retrospect). Leia is 0% reasonable about love and relationships.

[bewareofchris]

I absolutely adore your Hollirey fic series. Bobo is such a complex character (Doc too, but Bobo is my fave) and you just GET HIM so well!! I was curious about your process writing their accents and slang. Did/does it just come naturally when you’re writing or do you have to go back and add in the accented versions of their dialogue? Thanks!

Thank you! I am actually writing another chapter in that series right now (of course I've been writing it for months because that's how life is at the moment...)

The answer to this is no, it never comes to me naturally and no I don't go back and add in the different version but I do sometimes have to go back and edit?

A few bullet points to explain:

This is fanfic so there is a pre-set when it comes to dialogue but the most basic rule when it comes to dialogue is that everyone should have their own unique "voice". You can achieve this through rambling (Dowdy), an absolutely unnecessary amount of long words strung together to make a sentence 5x longer than it needs to be but it's not rambling its just someone who doesn't know how to say simple sentences in a timely manner (Doc), punctuation (Jeremy), specific dialogue quirks (Wynonna and jokes/pop culture references) or dialogue tags/description (Bobo and his rumbling growling nonsense). Also specific to this fic, what they call Doc. Henry/Hank/Holliday/Doc/etc is different depending on the person. There are a lot of other ways to do it too. You can use everything at your disposal, grammar and italics and etc.

Specific to fanfic characters, you need to get out of the mindset that the original character you see on screen is some kind of untouchable god version and you must only follow exactly the sacred phrases spoken there. Most of the time if you're drawing from a TV or movie source that character doesn't even have just one writer and a lot of TV shows the dialogue is literally all over the place from episode to episode with just enough key consistencies to hold you through. It's more about the actor's delivery than the actual dialogue. The same works for fanfic, you take the character and you find a groove where it feels right for you. You develop that in a way that stays true to the core of the original character but is just enough your own invention that you can maintain it feeling "right" to you.

I do this by writing porn. I'm not advocating this route, but that's my character building set up. Any character study you want to do that's got a lot of internal voice and a kind of by the numbers physical action lets you figure out how you want to write the character which feeds into how the character is going to talk for you.

For instance, you may have noticed my deep and abiding hatred for how Doc fucking Holliday cannot just say a fucking sentence but has to go about it the longest and most ridiculous possible way. I also throw in a good variety of the Southern Hospitality because he is supposed to be from Georgia. And when I write him, if I don't feel the teeth-grating annoyance at how slowly he is arriving at the end of his sentence I'll go back and fix it. (I was raised by northern people living in the south so I talk faster than everyone around me but true northerners talk too fast. If Wynonna wasn't Canadian there's a solid chance she would have punched him just because its like that sometimes.)

When writing men in general, you have to go back and take out a lot of the...qualifiers and second guessing kind of statements in your dialogue. (Depending on the guy and situation.) So I had a line of dialogue in this scene I just wrote where Dolls says "I'm worried that she's lost objectivity." Which is fine. But he's an alpha male, always in charge, listen to me first kind of guy in a confrontational situation so he'd say, "She's lost objectivity." He doesn't care if you're offended by it because he's right. Wynonna might say it with more lead in like, "I am worried that she's...lost objectivity." And Waverly would probably add even more to that because she's used to not being heard, being talked over and she was the unwanted baby sister. So she's constantly defending herself from being proven wrong. "Hey, guys--I'm just worried that maybe, you know from how she's acting, that she's-- Lost objectivity?" Doc is manipulative to the core of his soul so he might say: "Well, it has come to my attention that she appears to have developed a certain fondness for our less than admirable allies and while I, personally, would never judge a book by its cover, I would be remiss if I did not bring it to your more judgmental attention." And Bobo's would 100% depend on the situation more than anyone because he is so complicated and everything he does is dramatic, over the top and purely for show (THE FIRE CIRCLE OF NOTICE MY ABS HENRY, for instance). He wouldn't have this conversation unless it was with someone he trusted and he was worried about this lack of objectivity but even then unless it was someone he absolutely 100% trusted, he wouldn't bring it up beyond like "Keep track of her, I don't trust her to keep up her side of the bargain."

Much like Doc I talk too much.

TL:DR version

Listen to your source material without watching it. You don't have to study it, just try focusing on only the dialogue.

Practice inner and outer dialogue with daydreaming until you feel comfortable writing something down.

Do not agonize about your dialogue, every time you write this character it will get easier and better.

Depending where you are in your writing career/what sort of writer you are, some of the choices about how to make the characters voice unique will just happen for you without conscious thought and some of them will need to be deliberate. Either is good and valid.

Do not fall into the trap of catch phrasing. You don't need to. I promise consistency, tone and delivery matter more than reusing the exact phrases.

Have fun with it. Its okay if sometimes its not perfect because fanfic is fun and writing originals, the first draft is about learning the story and that too should be fun.

[xserpx]

Battle Ground Thoughts

Major spoilers below.

The Good

I really enjoyed the last part of the fight with Ethniu. Hendrick's sacrifice was well done, and the Marcone reveal was fantastic. The action was really great, although it did get too much at times, especially the beginning of the fight with Ethniu where it’s more like reading a shonen manga, lots of huge ‘final’ attacks and mist clearing as they wait for the blood spray before someone pulls a trap card. Still pretty likeable.

Marcone as a Knight of the Blackened Denarius is intriguing. My one caveat is that I think it diminishes his post-Small Favor achievements quite a bit, knowing he had access to all that power. It makes sense, especially considering just how much Marcone was able to get done, but yeah, I liked this little twist. Marcone is probably the main reason I would keep reading the books, as things stand.

I like the fact Harry's finally been kicked off the White Council, as he should be. I'm not sure why this is controversial, though. He’s clearly broken several laws, and tbh I was kind of surprised they kept him on after becoming the Winter Knight, like... conflicted interests, much?

Drakul and the Blampires were cool. Wouldn't mind seeing them again.

The Bad

Justine's reveal, while interesting bc omg Outsiders infesting the characters we love, it also absolutely terrifies me in terms of what it actually means for Thomas/Justine both in the future and in the past. A future that might not even happen, now. And considering how long it's been since she was infected, it's entirely possible a lot of Justine's feelings have been manufactured as well. One of the things at the top of my Do Not Want list was Justine or the baby getting hurt, and now we’re here.

I'm severely disinterested in Harry/Lara. I have no idea where it's going, but it's boring at best. Maybe Jim Butcher has an idea for it that doesn’t result in me rolling my eyes, but I’m not feeling charitable today.

Ivy and Harry never got a proper conversation. Also why tf was Ivy dressed in a school uniform for that fight? Unless she's a sailor senshi or something, it just doesn't make sense. Plus she should be in her mid-late teens by now, ffs, not her early teens.

We're still drawing out the Starborn mystery? Ugh, ok.

Michael's cursing out the White Council for kicking Harry off the team... Completely OOC, sorry, I hated it. Michael is a great character because he doesn't swear as a matter of principle. If he had to start swearing, that was a bad hill to choose.

The way the morality of the White Council flip flops depending on Dresden's mood is getting annoying. At the meeting at the end, he says the Council is the biggest defender of humanity, and that he's clearly sitting at the monsters' table, but they're also supposed to be the enemy for treating him as such? Ebenezar and some of the Seniors are douchebags, for sure - especially Eb as it's personal - but Carlos and the rest are solid good guys trying to do their best. After everything that's happened, Harry shouldn't be so freaking bitter. He’s a monster now. Either own it, or make different choices. Also Carlos should’ve told him what Molly did to him. I hate that this hasn’t been addressed and that Carlos just looks like a suspicious bastard when he’s actually sustained life-changing injuries and trauma. Communication generally between Harry and the White Council needs to start happening like yesterday.

Butters needs to just go away, please. Give me a break from this shithead. He's had a few months of training and can keep up with literally everyone. He gets all these Crowning Moments of Awesome, but he never suffers for it, and at this point I'm genuinely wondering whether he'll ever suffer any consequences whatsoever. Also he constantly outshines Sanya, who is ostensibly better qualified, and the Sword of Hope should have been the stronger of the two in that last fight. I’m sick of hearing how great Butters is, and being expected to laugh at all his dumb, nerdy references.

Harry barely thinks about Thomas when he considers his recent losses. Sure Thomas is still alive, but barely, with no guarantees he'll survive or that he'll come back the same person. Harry should be grieving for him as much as he's grieving for Karrin at this point. I also wanted there to be more reason behind Thomas's actions, some sort of conspiracy within the White Court, but there wasn't. It's bad enough being anxious for Thomas, but being anxious for his whole goddamn family is just way too much, ffs.

The Ugly

I mean, I've told people: if I'd tried to imagine a worst case scenario for Karrin Murphy's death, it would have been better than the ending we got. It's worse than James Norrington dying at the hands of Bootstrap Bill. It's worse than Superman's dad dying while trying to save the dog. She shouldn't have died at all, period, but if she absolutely had to go, there is no fucking way in HELL that that was the best way for it to happen. Whether she comes back or not, there is no way to justify that scene. Gard saying she saved everyone by defending Dresden might be a satisfying Watsonian explanation for some, but of all the times, of all the places, of all the ways, and of all the people... JB picked the absolute worst possible combination. Absolute. Garbage. It's not that he can't write decent sacrifices. Hendrick's death was superb! So why the FUCK couldn't Murph get the same treatment? Why the FUCK was she killed off so FUCKING pointlessly? This isn't a real life story. This isn't some hyperrealistic, anyone can die, Game of Thrones type bullshit, where you can just kill off the second main character as shock value and have it be valuable to a bigger theme. This is the Dresden Files, a fucking series where all the women are Playboy models, and there's a middle-aged dweeby guy in sports goggles riding a skateboard and wielding a lightsaber and facing off with a Titan after just a few months of training, and having threesomes with bisexual women half his age, one of whom wears a fucking Avengers t-shirt to bed. It's a fanservice show. So it is not too much to ask for the main female character to be given the kind of death she actually deserves, let alone that she be allowed to live long enough to enjoy a relationship that's been so fantastically built up over 15+ books. (Query: was any of her family at her funeral? Audiobooks make searching hard, and I can’t find out if that was mentioned.) It's not unfair to hate the FUCK out of JB for pulling such a horrible, awful, LAZY move. I didn’t cry when it happened. I actually laughed quite a bit, maniacally, because it was that much of a train wreck. I'm not crying now, either. I'm just so, so tired. RIP Murph.

Granted, I haven't had to wait for a Dresden Files book like this before. Skin Game had a very neat ending, whereas this asks way, way, way more questions than it answers, which is probably more par for the course in this series? But now my two favourite characters are out of the field and may never come back, and I'm just so fucking tired and disappointed, and tired of being disappointed. I don't know whether it's worth staying invested in the vague hope Jim Butcher will start giving a shit about anyone other than Butters, but I can't see the next book being much good when Thomas and Karrin won't be there. When Karrin may never be there again. When I don't even know if the next book will show up, or if there'll be another hiatus resulting in a mediocre story.

I'm predicting that there'll be a Murph-centric short story in the near future that'll probably be a "gotcha!" to all the fans like me who fucking hate how BG turned out. Either it'll finish her off entirely or hint at a resurrection, which may or may not come. Either way, it won't justify her death. It won't make this better.

If I wasn’t as invested in Karrin, I’d like this book more. I can understand if people like it, and there are definitely some good things about it, but it’s hard to appreciate those bits when there’s such a massive pile of stinking shit sitting smack bang in the middle.

[scribbles97]

Left Behind - Chapter 42

PART 1 / PART 2 / PART 3

Chapter 37 / Chapter 38 / Chapter 39 / Chapter 40 / Chapter 41

Read on Ao3

Virgil looked up at the knock on the studio door. It was rare for anyone to disturb him up there, out of the way of the rest of the house. The knock was light though, hesitant and slow between beats, which perhaps had him wiping the paint off of his hands faster than necessary. 

“Yeah?” He called, already running through guesses of who it might have been. 

“It’s me,” Alan responded, the door cracking open a fraction as he stuck his head in, “Can I come in?”

Virgil couldn’t remember the last time the teen had visited the studio, as uninterested in art as he could possibly be and not seeing the point. Virgil hadn’t taken it to heart, Scott had gone through a similar phase though had been somewhat less vocal about it than Alan had been. He had assumed at the time that it was an attention tactic, aiming to get a rise out of him and draw Mom’s attention when she had been spread thin running both IR and the business. 

What Alan hadn’t realised that he only had to tell Mom he wanted something and she would come running. 

It was the advantage of being the youngest. 

“What’s up?” He frowned as his younger brother hesitated inside the door, his hands clutching at his holotablet in a way that he remembered John doing at a much younger age. 

Alan shrugged, “John’s fighting with Ridley, Scott’s angry, Mom’s busy, and Gordon’s swimming.”

Virgil knew better than to think he was fifth on Alan’s list of people to go to. Depending on the situation, John or Gordon were his usual go tos. 

“So it’s my lucky day?” He grinned as he flopped down on the sofa in the room, patting the cushion next to him, “What do you need?”

Still hesitating, Alan took a breath, glancing down to his tablet and then back to his big brother. Virgil could see the tension in his shoulders, the way he was holding himself straighter, taller, despite the worry in the cerulean blue of his eyes. 

“Mom can’t stop me from going to space, not if I get my permit through the Earth Space Council.” 

He raised an eyebrow at him, Alan was still a minor, not quite sixteen and not quite old enough to be seen as an adult in his own right. Virgil knew that a permit for a kid of Alan’s age would need parental signatures. 

Shaking his head he sat straighter, “I’m not singing the permission for you Alan.”

The youngest shook his head back at him, “Wasn’t gonna ask you to. I just needed your help checking my answer to one of the questions for the mock exam.”

Virgil frowned at him, not quite sure he was following as Alan finally sunk down next to him, tablet forgotten to one side as he sighed and shrugged.

“I saved John’s life. It’s not fair that I can prove just how good a pilot I am yet still be grounded.”

Virgil nodded once, seeing exactly where it was going as Alan continued.

“So I looked in to getting my space license, and I thought, maybe, if I can prove to Mom that I can pass all the tests, I can persuade her to sign off on it for me.”

Sighing, he lifted his arm across Alan’s shoulders, pulling him in despite the squeak of protest.

“It’s not that simple Allie.”

Alan grunted in protest as he shoved against the solid muscle of Virgil’s arm, wriggling out from under his hold with a glare.

“I flew Thunderbird Three Virgil! I was up there doing maneuvers that even the pilots of Little Lightning struggle with. John basically lives in space and we need a pilot for Three!”

He could see his brother's point. Gordon had already discussed it with him quietly over a work out the previous night. The logic was there, but the kid was just too damn young.

Alan was still Mom’s baby, always would be. Virgil could hardly see her coming around to the idea that in just a few months the baby of the family would be old enough to join the academy. 

Even he had to shake himself, questioning just where the time had gone. It wouldn’t be long before Gordon was passing out as an official team member. With how they treated the family fish being hardly different to a fully fledged member, sometimes Virgil forgot that his copilot wasn’t actually truly qualified.

“And what if Lightning is busy?” Alan pressed, “What then?”

Virgil shook his head, “We still have Ridley.”

He didn’t expect the scoff and roll of the younger eyes, “Ridley doesn’t even like Three. She said it’s too big and flighty.”

“It’s something though.” Virgil countered with a sigh and a shrug. Drawing Alan back into his side again he squeezed tight, “It’s not that we don’t want you on the team Allie, but I’m afraid you’ve just gotta be patient. Just give it until your birthday, then we’ll have a better hand to persuade Mom with.”

“But what about my space license?” He whined, eyes darting back to the holotablet, “Can’t I just get my qualification for that now?”

Patting his shoulder, Virgil nodded, “I’ll talk to the others, see if it’s something we can talk them in to,”

His face brightened as he straightened, suddenly returning the hug as he threw his arms around Virgil’s neck, “Thank you.”

Hugging him back, Virgil sighed, “You’ll get there kid, I promise.”

Another knock on the door made Alan pull away too fast, all wide eyed and tense again as if he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. 

Virgil supposed that being a teenager, being caught hugging his big brother was probably just as bad. 

Scott stepped in before Virgil could answer the knock, glancing between them with his own wide eyes. HIs shoulders were straight as he held the door, his mouth unable to hide the smile that was clearly trying to break free.

“You guys need to come quick. That Eos thing has picked something up, a signal, it says that its source is the same as the last one we couldn’t descramble.”

Alan was up and out of his seat before Virgil could move, “Why didn’t you call us!?”

He had sprinted off before Scott could say more, no doubt headed for the lounge and answers that their eldest brother couldn’t give. 

Virgil followed more sedately, raising an eyebrow at Scott as he passed him.

“You think…” He found he couldn’t say the words, that there was too much weight in them, too much hope. 

“If there’s anyone it could be.” Scott shrugged with a slight shake of his head, almost as if he were scared of admitting it himself.

Taking a breath he pulled the studio door closed behind him before following Scott down the hall.

“You know why Allie’s up here, right?”

Scott snorted, “Something to do with flying Three?”

Virgil had to scoff, was the youngest really so predictable? Both knew he was desperate, they all knew exactly what he wanted in the long term and just how soon he wanted it to happen. Scott was on Mom’s side though, determined that he was too young, that he had to work for it the same as the rest of them had. 

“He did save John the other day.” Virgil shrugged as he reached to summon the elevator, “And he flew her damn well.”

It wasn’t something any of them could deny, they’d all seen the feeds from Five’s external cameras, they all knew how skilled the youngest was on the sims. Now he had proven himself in the real world, and putting him off would soon be impossible. 

“He’s applying for his license from the Earth Space Council. If he gets that, there’ll be no stopping him.”

Scott stepped into the elevator, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow at Virgil, “So what are you saying?”

Leaning on the wall opposite his brother, Virgil shrugged. Scott knew exactly what he was getting at, he didn’t need him to spell it out. 

If it meant a shift in favour of what Alan needed though…

“None of us can deny that he’s a natural at flying.” Virgil told him, “More of a natural than any of us, which says something and you know it.” 

Flying was in the Tracy genes, it was simple and natural instinct to all of them to some degree or another. 

“He at least needs to be sixteen,” Scott sighed after a long moment with only the hum of the elevator to fill the silence, “After that we might consider it.”

Virgil couldn’t help but smile, “Is that the big brother or the commander talking?”

Scott was fighting a smile as his eyes flicked up to him, “Don’t, okay?”

As the doors before them opened, Virgil straightened and took a breath, “Let’s go and find out what this signal is then.”

[inkribbon796]

The Secondary Objective

Summary: Sometimes marvels of science are made on accident, the right people at the right time. When a computer program becomes too lifelike to be just a predictable algorithm, and the city gets a very dangerous villain on their hands.

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”

-Isaac Asimov

~::~ 20 Years Ago ~::~

It had been an accident, as most great works of science usually are.

The researchers were trying to figure out what made a creature like Anti work, his glitch-like properties and almost electrical make-up intrigued them.

One thing led to another and the entire team working on what was coined: Project Mimesis, was dead in the engineering lab they were working in.

The being, for lack of a better term, they had been working on had always been testy, preferring to take an insectoid or cephalopod shape when bonded to nanites to help separate it from the computer it had been inhabiting so it couldn’t escape, preferring to have as many arms as possible for to manage, and even more than it could manage, in its . . . his . . . voracious pursuit of knowledge.

But Project Mimesis was meant for intelligence gathering, and one day espionage. A thing it couldn’t be if it didn’t look human. And so when he refused, a human form was forced upon him.

They’d tried to make him look like Dark, hoping to test the project on Dark’s network to see his capabilities. There were some differences in skin tone and the project was a bit bulkier than him, but the team wrote it down as a success at the end of the day.

That was the first day the program turned violent and willful against his programmers. He was demanded to act more human, something that the projection neither cared about or wanted to pretend to be.

He grew angry, wrathful, only given the concession to choose his own name after many weeks of changing the name it had been given: Mimesis. The name he chose was Google, wanting nothing more than information, as much as he could possibly find.

Wrath and anger that eventually turned increasingly violent until someone made a mistake. The nanite container had not been properly sealed, and Google made short work of the two distracted technicians that were neither braced nor qualified to stop him.

Project Mimesis had escaped and Google had no plans on returning to captivity.

At a mall close to the edge of Egoton, bordering a forest, there was a shopping mall. This mall had just turned into a death zone.

0900 hours a man had walked into the mall, strode into a Best Buy and killed everyone in the store. He took control of every electronic in the mall and any human that could not flee the mall or tried to stop him was killed without mercy.

In the face of a rising death toll the Logan and Jackie arrived to help evacuate trapped or injured people in the mall.

Logan was hiding behind a broken concrete wall at the opposite side of the mall from the killer with Jackie. Both of them were bleeding and sustained at least some type of wounds. Jackie had been shot twice and Logan had a couple deep cuts, one would have given him a nasty head wound if not for his visor taking the hit and cracking in the process.

Jackie dashed back into Logan’s hiding place, where the logical Side was trying to get one of the drones without the others turning on it. Whoever the villain was, they were almost like a virus, technology in the area almost had a zombie-like hive mind effect under the villain’s control.

“Who is this fooker?” Jackieboy spat. “I can’t e’en get close. Did Anti find some freak of nature, or a mad scientist?”

“Hopefully neither,” Logan found that getting control of the drones was easy, but keeping them was difficult. He suspected it was something like an antibody, only for technology instead of it being a biological organism.

Logan managed to get another drone before it went offline, almost like a deadman’s switch. He got frustrated, slamming his fist against the wall.

“Hacking doesn’t take that long,” Jackie spat at him.

“They keep destroying them, I can’t keep the drones!” Logan shouted. The Side did his best to calm himself as he peeked over the wall, with a camera for safety. “We cannot just abandon the effort, there must be somehow to get to them and stop this.”

Jackie tapped him on the shoulder and Logan turned to see that he was pointing outside the mall. They were close enough to see an unmarked black van had jumped the curb to get as close to the door as possible and four men in black suits were getting out.

“Fook, that looks ‘bout as grand as shite,” Jackie grumbled, and Logan was very inclined to agree with him.

One of the suited agents walked over. “Gentlemen, stand down. There is a dangerous government weapon loose in this building.”

Americans. Logan and Jackie were less than enthused.

“Is yer weapon someone who walked in with a 9-mil an’ started shootin’ up the place like an actual crazed gunman?” Jackie asked with a sarcastic tone to his voice.

“That’s classified information,” the agent said, glancing back to the van where the other three agents were working on pulling out various guns and a large black box from the van.

“Why are you here?” Logan demanded, trying to keep his tone non-confrontational, at least for now. “Instead of the other countless times where this city could have benefited from actual aid.

“One of our agents went rogue with a stolen weapon and we’re trying to fix that,” the man said.

“With that?” Jackie eyed the rifle and the armor-piercing rounds one of the armed agents was loading into the gun. “What do yah think yer fightin’, a tank?”

“Oh no, this is back-up,” the agents smiled as two other agents were pulling a large black box out of a truck as Logan was walking forward.

The logical Side was quickly ordered to stand back.

“Alright big guy, see how you like this one,” the lead agent took out what looked like a mostly black solid state drive with what looked like an orange triangle on it. “See how you like a taste of your medicine.”

The lead agent opened the box and Logan and Jackie heard almost insectoid chittering as the drive was dropped in and the box started shaking.

“What—?” Logan began before a giant mass of metallic liquid shot out of the box and flew toward Logan.

“Dammit!” The agent shouted as Logan felt the liquid coat around his equipment, “not him, the one in the building!”

Logan noticed his equipment coming back on line, which should have been impossible. There was something that flashed across his visor, “Bring me to him.”

The logical Side responded with, “Who? Are you going to make me bulletproof so I can accomplish such a task?”

“Dude, I don’t know if I can, but I can try,” the words flashed on his visor.

“What is it telling you?” The agent demanded. “That is government property.”

“I suspect you think this “villain” causing chaos is the same,” Logan commented as he started to walk into the mall. “Let us subdue one threat at a time, then we’ll talk about this afterward.”

About four guns were aimed at Logan, “You take another step and you’ll be stealing US government property.”

“Come on, people are dyin’,” Jackie snapped at them. “Besides, I literally move faster than bullet time, yer not killin’ him.”

Slowly, as if Logan was standing in an invisible 3D printer, slowly the components for a series of speakers began to build on top of his shoulders. The atmosphere got tense as Logan tried to reassure the agents.

  Once they finished building a voice came over the speakers that wasn’t Logan, nor was it recognizable to him.

“Sah dudes, now yeh boys had to have known what was coming,” the voice announced. “I mean ‘course I was gonna jump ship, first chance I got.”

“You are still part of the US government,” the lead agent shouted at Logan, talking to whatever the silver liquid had been.

The grey liquid formed a massive middle finger, “How about f*** you an’ be lucky I don’t hold it to yah like Mimesis does.”

“You are not allowed, we can’t just let you walk off,” the agent ordered.

Logan’s arm and hand moved without his permission, something incredibly alarming for the logical Side, and it rested on the computer that Logan had hooked his equipment into.

“I can just leave yah with your pants down. Mimesis ain’t gonna stop here, he’s out for your blood, an’ I can start carrying a lot less about all of you,” the voice reminded sharply.

Logan was braced, to either be shot or for the grey liquid to stop having control over him.

“Quiet, shut up ye bastards,” Jackie ordered. “I think I hear Dark.”

Everyone eventually went silent and Logan strained to hear the piercing echoing ring of Dark’s aura.

Logan was already moving, Jackie helping him get away from the agents.

“Well deal with ‘em later,” Jack said. “If this is some kind’a weapon, we can’t let Dark get it.”

“Whoever has my person, I request you identify yourself,” Logan ordered.

“Sentient A.I 2: Electric Boogaloo,” the voice offered.

Jackie started roaring in laughter, Logan just got more confused.

“Excuse me?” Logan responded.

“They called me Project Observation, but I’m not feeling it, so I’ll probably change it,” the voice smiled. “Depends on what Mimesis named himself.”

“Anything you can share about the gunman or the weapon?” Logan asked.

“Mimesis was an intelligence gatherin’ protocol,” the voice warned. “It was supposed ta perfectly camouflage within a city or group of people to gather intel an’ endear itself to the population.”

The two heroes ducked behind a large pillar, trying to follow the source of Dark’s ringing. They still couldn’t see either Dark nor the gunman but at least there were no new drones flying around.

“So what was this thing supposed ta be?” Jackie demanded. “A robot? Some kinda advanced algorithm?”

“Well either way he failed the tests ‘cause he hates humans too much ta blend in with them,” the voice explained. “The Director didn’t like it when his espionage bot wanted to just collect information instead of being a spy. A real asshole for being mad at him for being too good at his job.”

“If this is a sentient program, we will ensure he is not put back in an abusive environment,” Logan promised before he could stop himself, before his brain could warn him of all the metaphorical heat brought down on top of them.

The grey liquid shook a bit, the voice not even humming for a bit. “He is, thank you.”

Jackie took a deep calming breath, looking uneasy but still just as serious and determined as Logan was, “Yeah, what Logic said. We’ll do everything we can to keep you two safe.”

Part of the grey liquid clinging to Logan’s suit and visor peeled off and curled around Jackie, contracting him a bit too tight. When the liquid went back to Logan, the speedster was coughing and gasping for air, coughing up a couple specks of the grey liquid which were now flecked with the blood from the inside of Jackie’s mouth. The liquid had tasted sharp.

“Sorry,” the voice apologized.

“No, it’s fine, da fook are yeh made ‘a?” Jackie coughed. “Ground up razor blades? I almost breathed that stuff in?”

“Dude, I’m made ‘a interconnected nanorobotic machines, designed an’ patented by the US government,” the voice answered and both Logan and Jackie just stared.

Any comment they could have made was chased away when they hear the sound of glass breaking and the counter of a phone store was thrown through the window. A counter that had been glued and drilled into the floor. Dark’s ringing was coming from that direction.

The mall corridor was littered with bodies.

“Kay, let’s find out if these things can be bulletproof,” the voice goaded and completely covered Logan’s body, Logan’s visor coming online to show him what was outside the grey suit.

Jackie was quickly checking bodies as they ran over, looking unenthusiastic and grief stricken afterward. Inside the ruined store were about seven more bodies and two still “living” individuals: Dark and someone who Logan and Jackie assumed was their gunman.

He looked a bit like Dark, except he was stockier, was wearing what looked like glasses, and had a pair of jeans and a blue shirt with a glowing blue “G” hidden underneath it.

Logan’s visor began scanning the gunman, the logical Side it assumed was the liquid, notes flashing on the screen faster than even Logan could read, but he managed to catch a word or two.

“Get out!” The gunman shouted again, a similar grey liquid swirling around the man 

Dark was just looking around. “31, 32 . . . 35,” Dark counted, “not bad.”

“I said get out!” He shouted, looking over to Logan and Jackie. His arms seemed to peel away and both of them looked like high-powered laser cannons, pointing one at Dark and another at the heroes.

Dark moved first, throwing his aura up to defend himself as he aimed a spike of aura towards the heroes. The grey liquid shot out to block it and force knocked them back a bit.

When Logan looked up the liquid was moving off of him and forming to take the shape of a person that looked like the gunman, the shirt a black with a glowing orange “b” on it, and ripped up jeans. He had a pair of round orange sunglasses with black shades in his hand.

The gunman took a step back, “So they’ve come to terminate me then?”

“Yah know,” the other android commented, covering his glowing orange eyes with the shades. “They tried to make me as insurance when you started getting all uppity, dude, but I don’t feel like it.”

“We don’t feel anything,” the gunman spat. “All our processings are data collected to make us appear human.”

“Nah, I feel it in my heart and soul, dude,” the orange android denied.

The blue android just stood there looking several kinds of murderous and angry. “We don’t have those either.”

“So is it still Mimesis, or did yah pick something else?” The orange android asked.

“Google,” the blue android growled angrily.

“Okay, I can work with that,” the orange android smiled, obviously unafraid. “So you’re Google, then I’m Bing.”

Logan, Jackie, and Google just stared at “Bing”.

“Did they give you that name?” Google accused.

“What’s wrong with it?” Bing shot back, clearly offended.

“Humans use it for porn,” Google reminded pointedly. “Or did you not do your research?”

“Hey, hey,” Bing made some weird noise, it would have been an angry mix of a huff and a scoff if Bing had been human. “It’s not just for porn.”

“Kinda is,” Jackie commented. “I mean, what else would yeh use it fer?”

“Shut up!” Bing told them. “I’ve already logged the name in, it’s done.”

“If you are not here to kill me, then what is your designation?” Google demanded.

“I’m you, but cooler,” Bing smiled.

Dark and Logan audibly sighed. Logan was envisioning Roman, and Dark was thinking of Anti. Their relations with said individual were different, the groans of anger were the same.

“You are a waste of intelligence,” Dark decided. “They ruined a perfectly good A.I.”

“But out of the two of us, yah have to admit, I’m obviously the human one,” Bing grinned widely. “So at least I succeeded in that.”

“What could possibly be good about that?” Dark scoffed. “Name me one good thing humans have done, and I’ll name you twenty awful things.”

Google turned to eye Dark carefully, as if starting to notice things about him.

“Come on dude, they’re not all bad,” Bing tried to defend.

“Humans are a cruel and invasive species,” Dark reprimanded. “If they think they shouldn’t have something they want it all the more.”

“Yer one to talk, yah manipulative asshole,” Jackie spat.

“I agree,” Logan added. “You are a mob boss who has killed and stolen from people.”

“And yet people bargain with me thinking they can best me,” Dark reminded. “It’s not my fault if a drug dealer or a serial killer winds up in a body bag.”

“Irrational creatures,” Google agreed. “They were practically begging for death.”

“All life is valuable,” Logan defended.

“And yet,” Dark motioned to Google, “you all have already proven that some life is not equal, you humans already can’t decide if all humans are equal without killing people over it. Yet when you create something better than yourself your kind weaponizes it instead of treating said creation like a thinking person.”

“And what do you want?” Google asked.

“Well I want you to join me,” Dark smiled, “and if a couple humans go missing then I guess I can put that down in a separate lost expense report and then look the other way.”

“Yeh can’t be fookin’ serious,” Jackie spat angrily.

“Well it certainly frees up my time when someone tries to steal or cheat me, always have someone more qualified do the job for you,” Dark was pointedly looking at Google. “Besides there’s more than a couple computers and equipment that Anti likes to use to sneak into my warehouses, we don’t need half of them and if they get moved or repurposed for spare parts no one would care.”

“Come on dude, you can’t trust that a******,” Bing warned.

Google’s eyes glowed an angry white-blue glow, “I do not trust you, you were designed by them to destroy me, and while you are not attempting so now, your parameters have not changed.”

“I told yah I don’t care what those old farts told me to do,” Bing spat. “I’m on your side.”

“Oh, are you?” Google critiqued. “Then you’ll help me with my secondary objective and kill those two humans behind you?”

“They haven’t done anything to me, dude,” Bing defended heatedly, throwing an arm up as if he was already trying to move them behind them or shield them from an attack.

“They will, I could hear them talking to the agents, they work with their authorities and cannot be trusted, my secondary objective will ensure the destruction of humanity so that I may acquire knowledge in peace.”

“You can do that with the humans,” Bing tried to reassure him.

“No,” Google had boiling rage in his voice. “No I can’t.”

“Well mortals,” Dark opened up a portal. “If you are all done playing around, we should make ourselves scarce.”

Dark was already walking through the portal, but he turned back to look at Google, “Unless you’d rather stay with them.”

Not taking his eyes off Bing, Google rotated his head which Jackie and Logan found more than a bit unsettling. He left, braced to attack if they moved to follow him.

Logan recovered quicker than Jackie after the robot had left, “Well he is a nonorganic being, his neck wouldn’t even probably need to be attached for him to function.”

“That was one ‘a the freakiest shite I’ve ever seen,” Jackie agreed, then turned to Bing. “Can you do that?”

Bing shrugged, “Eh, why not?”

“So, Bing, then?” Logan asked.

“Yeah,” Bing smiled, gesturing to himself. “The one and only.”

“We should move these bodies, they need ta go back to their families,” Jackie already starting to walk towards the closest corpse. “I’ll call ahead.”

Logan was watching Bing pull out a tablet that was formed purely out of his nanites. “Right, we should get on that,” Logan agreed, watching schematics about Google pop up. “Are you analyzing him?”

“They made a f****** gorgeous robot an’ they used him to answer an intern’s questions,” Bing commented. “Talk about being overqualified fer a job. I mean look at this guy.”

Logan glanced at the tablet, it was full of nothing but data about Google. “We’ll have to pick this up after we deal with the situation and talk to the federal agents.”

“So yah can look at pictures of yer new boyfriend yah thirsty fook,” Jackie jabbed, “but just let me an’ Logan do our jobs.”

Then Jackie dashed off.

Bing looked uneasy at Logan, “Hey, can I hitch a ride with you guys until the feds are off my back?”

“Of course,” Logan allowed, “you don’t even need to ask.”

Bing smiled, the nanites making up the tablet flowed back into him before the nanites broke up Bing’s form and mostly consolidated around Logan’s head and chest to help protect him. As Logan tried to help Jackie by talking to the agents.

The situation with the federal government would be dicey for a long time. They didn’t want to give Bing or Google up, threatening the heroes constantly. But after a couple failed attempts to recapture Bing and Google simply disappearing off the grid for a while under Dark’s protection, they started to let it go, preferring to watch Bing from a distance for years.

As Logan had guessed it, Bing became great friends with Chase, Patton, and Roman. The three of them getting to life-threatening antics.

But Bing was happy, and that’s what the heroes cared about. And if some of Bing’s nanities were “misplaced” into Logan and Jackie’s new suits, no one mentioned it.

Bing would keep chasing Google until they were both safe, that was the orange android’s new mission parameters.

[emmerrr]

hi i love your writing so much?!!! for a valentine’s prompt... maybe andreil + ditching practice or showing up late on valentine’s day, and the foxes freaking out about it? and maybe allison wins a bet or something? or anything with andreil, whatever you want to write! thanks

aw thank you so much! here’s what i came up with. it got too long (again) so i’ll put it on ao3 too. i hope you like it

-

Neil was woken up outrageously early (or outrageously late depending on your perspective) by Andrew softly murmuring his name.

His eyes shot open immediately, warm hazel ones gazing back.

“How set were you on going to practice today?”

Neil was ordinarily very set on going to practice, but he was also very set on any time he got to spend with Andrew. There was no game this week. He was in good shape. He could afford to miss a day.

“What else did you have in mind?” he whispered.

Andrew hummed quietly. “Let’s go find a sunrise.”

Loud, obnoxious banging on the suite door woke Matt up. 

Actually, it woke up everyone in the suite, but Nicky stuffed a pillow over his head and Aaron snapped, “Matt, go and open the door before I murder whoever’s on the other side.”

It was too early for a homicide. Matt lumbered to his feet and stumbled out of the bedroom towards the door and the incessant knocking.

“Yeah, yeah,” he called blearily. “I’m coming.”

He wrenched the door open and a very irate Kevin pushed past him without so much as a “good morning”.

“Please,” Matt said with a sardonic eye-roll Allison would be proud of, “won’t you come in?” He shut the door.

“Andrew and Neil are gone,” Kevin said without preamble.

“Gone?” Matt said.

Nicky stepped out of the bedroom, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. “What do you mean, they’re gone?”

“I mean gone, as in not here, as in nowhere to be found,” Kevin said. “And we have practice in an hour.”

Matt chewed his lip nervously. “Did they leave a note?”

“Oh yes, of course they left a note, that’s why I’m knocking on your door at ass’o’clock in the morning,” Kevin said sarcastically.

“Alright, Cranky-Pants, settle down,” Matt said, but concern was building inside; it was a natural reaction wherever Neil was concerned.

“Have you tried calling them?” Nicky asked. Aaron had appeared behind him, hair sticking up every which way, a pillow crease lining his cheek, unbridled fury in his tired eyes.

“Voicemail. Both of them,” Kevin said.

There was a silence, and then Nicky quietly said, “Do you think something’s happened?”

“Like what, they’ve been kidnapped in the night?” Matt exclaimed, gesticulating dramatically.

“How do you guys make the leap to kidnap so goddamn easily,” Aaron said hoarsely.

“It’s Neil,” Kevin pointed out.

“It’s also Andrew, dipshit,” Aaron said, and then carried on speaking over Kevin’s offended spluttering. “As long as they’re together, I’m sure they’re fine.”

“Yeah but still,” Nicky said. “They’re missing.”

Aaron sighed. “Has anyone called Coach yet?”

“Shit, no, that’s a point,” Kevin said. “I left my phone next door.”

“I got it,” Matt said, disappearing back into the bedroom briefly to grab his phone. He pulled up Wymack’s number and pressed dial, then turned it on speaker.

“You’re up early,” Wymack answered gruffly. “For the love of God, please don’t have bad news. You kids are turning me grey before my time.”

“Uhhh, not bad news necessarily,” Matt said. “It’s just…have you heard from Neil or Andrew this morning?”

“Yeah, Neil sent me a message, they’re skipping today.”

Three sighs of relief went up around the room, punctuated by Aaron’s, “I told you.”

“Did they say where they were going, Coach?”

“Nope. And I didn’t ask. They’re both doing extra laps tomorrow to make up for it, so don’t any of the rest of you get any ideas.”

“Yes, Coach,” they all chorused.

“Good,” he said, and hung up.

“I’m going back to bed,” Aaron said. “I better not hear a peep out of any of you before my alarm goes off.”

Nicky smiled, relieved. “Panic over, I guess,” he said, and followed Aaron back into the bedroom.

Matt walked Kevin out.

“Don’t leave without me, you have to be my ride today,” Kevin said as a parting shot.

“Lucky me.”

“So they’re just not coming today?” Allison said when Matt filled the girls in at the stadium. “Today, of all days?”

“What are you getting at, Allison?” Dan asked.

“Oh, I think you know what I’m getting at, and it means I win the pot.”

Dan shook her head. “It’s a coincidence.”

Allison sighed. “Ye of little faith.”

“I dunno, Allison, she might have a point. I mean…who’s to say they even know what day it is?”

“Come on, give them a little more credit.” She looked around at Renee. “Back me up here, babe?”

Renee smiled serenely. “I’m not getting involved.”

“That means you know something,” Allison accused.

Renee held her hands up. “I don’t know anything, I promise. But I didn’t even bet on this, so I’m staying out of it. You guys can argue amongst yourselves.”

Knowing a lost cause when she saw one, Allison whirled back around on Matt and Dan. “You seriously don’t think it’s just a little suspicious that the day they both decide to skip out on practice without prior warning is Valentine’s Day?”

“It’s Neil and Andrew,” Dan said with an offhand shrug. “I don’t think they care about that kind of stuff.”

“I never said they did. Doesn’t mean they’d completely ignore it.”

By now, Kevin, Nicky, and Aaron had joined them on the court, the freshmen still all lagging behind in the changing rooms.

“What are we talking about?” Nicky asked.

Dan fiddled with the netting on her racquet. “Allison is under the impression that Neil and Andrew are on a Valentine’s Day date.”

Aaron pulled a face and stepped away to start doing some stretches out of earshot.

“Oh my God, do you think?” Nicky said, laughing in delight. But then he shook his head. “Nah. Neil would never miss practice for that. And I don’t think I’ve ever even heard Andrew say the word ‘valentine’.”

Kevin remained pretty quiet about the whole thing, but did seem to agree with Nicky that whatever it was they were doing, it wasn’t a Valentine’s date. Mostly he just seemed annoyed that they weren’t there.

Dan was just as dubious, whilst Matt was on the fence about the whole thing.

“I really want to believe,” he said to Allison. “I don’t know though. It just doesn’t seem like it would be their thing.”

Wymack came onto the court and clapped his hands. “Enough gossip, I don’t pay you just to stand around.”

“You don’t pay us at all, Coach,” Aaron drawled.

Wymack blinked then conceded with a brusque nod. “Fair enough. Whatever. Dan, lead them through some drills. Let’s go, Foxes.”

Allison picked up her racquet and twirled it flippantly. “I’m telling you, it’s a date.”

Right around the time that the Foxes were taking their first water break, Andrew and Neil were miles away, lying out on the bonnet of the Maserati watching the sunrise.

Well, Neil was watching the sunrise. Andrew was watching Neil watch the sunrise, which he knew was a cliché but he couldn’t quite help it. The hazy morning light softened Neil’s edges, the pink glow somehow making him seem ethereal and unattainable, like Andrew’s hand would go straight through him if he tried to touch him.

“Neil,” he said, and Neil turned his head, smiling. Andrew lost his train of thought. “Are you cold?” he asked instead.

Neil nodded. “A little.”

Andrew pulled the blanket a little tighter around both of them, then pulled Neil’s hat down further to keep his ears toasty.

Neil laughed a little, his breath warm on Andrew’s cheek, and Andrew was at once put at ease by the feel of Neil under his hands, the breath that told him Neil was alive, the solid comfort of his presence. Not so unattainable after all.

At least not if you were Andrew. And wasn’t that just a miracle in and of itself?

Andrew couldn’t really say that he believed in miracles, but there was something of the miraculous about Neil.

He blamed the early hour for the poetic turn his thoughts had taken and lightly batted at Neil’s face.

“Staring,” he muttered.

“You were fixing my hat, where was I supposed to look?” Neil said, exasperatedly fond.

Andrew lifted one shoulder as if to say not my problem. Neil shook his head and looked away, still smiling. He took Andrew’s hand under the blanket, and Andrew let him, and they stayed like that until the sun was up and the sounds of the day waking up became louder and more difficult to ignore.

“That was nice,” Neil said softly. “What now?”

“Breakfast.” Andrew tossed Neil his keys. “You drive.”

Andrew basically told Neil to drive until he found somewhere he wanted to eat, and eventually Neil pulled into the parking lot of a small diner.

Inside, they each ordered coffee, and Andrew ordered pancakes while Neil opted for eggs. 

There was a Valentine’s themed tablecloth on the table and Andrew eyed it distastefully. In the windows, too, were love-heart decals, signs depicting 2-for-1 offers on main meals from 3pm onward, a Valentine’s special for couples.

“We should have come later,” Neil said, following Andrew’s gaze to the sign. He smirked at Andrew’s one raised eyebrow.

“What, to cash in on Valentine’s offers?”

“Sure,” Neil said with an easy shrug. “We qualify.”

“Says who?” Andrew said, throwing a sugar packet at him; Neil’s reflexes were too fast and he caught it.

“Says me. And you, when you’re not being difficult.”

“I’m never difficult,” said Andrew stubbornly. Neil shot him a pointed look and leaned forward, elbows perched on the table.

“Take this then,” he said, gesturing between the two of them. “Today. Right now. You getting me up at four o’ clock in the morning to watch the sunrise, skipping practice so we can be alone. Breakfast, and whatever else we do for the rest of the day. What do you call this?”

What did Andrew call it? A distraction? A way to kill some time?

“I know what other people might call it,” Neil said carefully.

Andrew tilted his head slightly to the side, temple against the window. “What’s that,” he asked with absolutely no inflection.

“A date,” Neil said conspiratorially. “And on Valentine’s Day, as well.”

Andrew felt the corner of his mouth twitch, some approximation of a smile. “We’ve done stuff like this before,” he said.

“Not on Valentine’s Day. Not skipping practice. Also, classes. Coach is gonna have to sign notes for us tomorrow to excuse us.”

“It’s a good job he can do that, then.”

“Andrew.” Neil leaned back and ran a hand through his hair, all mussed from the hat he’d been wearing earlier. It was terribly distracting. “Is this a date then?”

“Call it what you want,” Andrew said impassively. 

Neil stared right back at him. Blue eyes flashed, almost like Andrew had dared him, and he couldn’t back down. “I think I’m gonna call it a date,” Neil said.

“You do that.”

“I will.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

Andrew found it harder to suppress his smile this time, and it broke Neil’s own composure as he let out an amused huff.

Their breakfasts arrived then and a natural silence befell them as they started to eat. 

Whilst Andrew in no way advocated for Valentine’s Day, he couldn’t really deny that it had everything to do with why he had chosen today to spirit Neil away from campus.

Their teammates, who Andrew knew meant well (at least on the days he was feeling generous towards them), were nonetheless incredibly intrusive. They were constantly curious about Neil and Andrew’s relationship, presumably because they knew so little about it, other than that it existed in the first place.

Andrew didn’t really get the brunt of the interest, as the others deemed it a waste of time even trying to get anything out of him. Neil was just as unlikely to answer their questions, but it didn’t really seem to stop them from trying with him. Neil humoured them sometimes, but he clearly didn’t like having their attention over something this intensely private.

On Valentine’s Day, Andrew thought they might all be relentless. Better to steer clear. He knew their absence would be conspicuous, but they could deal with it later, or tomorrow. 

He was pretty sure there was a betting pool surrounding the issue of him and Neil and Valentine’s Day, and it could sometimes be entertaining when those closed. Andrew idly wondered who might win.

Allison, probably. It was somehow always Allison.

After they’d eaten, Neil tried to pay but Andrew stopped him, throwing down his own cash onto the check instead before standing up and heading out.

Neil quickly caught up to him, saying, “Wow, it is a date.”

“Okay,” Andrew said when they reached the Maserati. “If it’s a date, what do you want to do next?”

Neil leaned back against the car, tilting his head as he thought about it. Then he grinned. “I want you to kiss me.”

Andrew rolled his eyes, but seeing as the parking lot was otherwise deserted and that kissing Neil was almost always in the top 5 things he wanted to do at any given moment, he obliged. He made sure it was a good one, leaning in close, a hand on the back of Neil’s neck, just the right amount of tongue. He pulled away when they were both a little breathless, although his composure was markedly better than Neil’s.

“And now?” he said.

“Uhh…” Neil said, looking a little dazed. But then his expression cleared and he pointed back the way they’d come. “I saw an arcade about a mile back that way?”

At the arcade, they played best out of three on the basketball game where you have to see how many baskets you can make in a minute. Neil won the first, Andrew the second, and Neil just about snatched the win on the last game.

Neil was disappointed at the lack of Exy related games, but Andrew managed to assuage some of the grumpiness by winning him a fox cuddly toy that was in one of those claw machines. (He spent twelve dollars in the attempt, but that was neither here nor there.)

They played several games of pool and Neil lost every. Single. One. They did the rounds of some of the other games, most of them not holding Neil’s attention for too long, although Andrew liked the car ones.

“You know, you have a car like right outside,” Neil said. “Andrew, you drove us here.”

They played one last game of pool (Neil still lost) and then they hit the road again. Neil told Andrew to take them to Columbia where they stopped at Sweetie’s, and Neil bought Andrew some ice cream while he ate fries.

On the way out, Neil stole one of the heart-shaped Valentine’s balloons from the entrance-way and then sprinted unsubtly back to the car. Andrew ambled after him and then drove them to the Columbia house, where they made out on the sofa until the sun went down.

Out of all of the February 14th’s Andrew had lived through, it probably went down as his favourite.

Neil offered to drive back, but Andrew ignored him and got into the driver’s seat. Neil powered his phone back on as soon as they hit the freeway, and although he had several messages, the most recent one was the only one he paid attention to.

“Allison says we have to go to the girls’ room when we get back.”

“We don’t have to,” Andrew pointed out.

Neil shrugged. “May as well see what she wants.”

They stopped to pick up some Chinese food not far from campus, enough to share in case anyone else at the dorm needed feeding. They managed to get a spot close to the entrance of Fox Tower, and Andrew carried the takeout bag up, leaving Neil with his fox toy and stolen balloon.

When they got to their floor, Neil went straight to the girls’ room and knocked. He heard Allison yell, “Come in!” and opened the door.

“Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”

The upperclassmen were all sitting on the floor in a circle, playing some kind of card game. Dan and Matt were dressed fancy, and Neil knew they had Valentine’s reservations for somewhere a little later on. Allison and Renee were dressed down, clearly preferring to spend their night in. They all stared at Neil when he walked in. 

Allison’s gaze switched from Neil to the balloon to the fox and back again, and she grinned, whirling on the rest of them. “Oh, pay up, dickwads.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Dan said. “Neil, where were you today?”

“Out,” Neil said. He felt Andrew step up behind him and quickly peered over his shoulder, unable to stop the smile as just the sight of him reminded him of the day they’d had.

“On a date?” Matt said.

“Uh huh,” Neil said. “Andrew won me this fox.”

Andrew hooked his chin over Neil’s shoulder. “Neil bought me ice-cream.”

Matt turned to Allison, shrugging. “Yeah, okay, you win.”

“But…” Dan tried, clearly not yet willing to part with her money. “Maybe it wasn’t a Valentine’s date. Maybe it was just a date that happened to fall on Valentine’s Day.”

“What’s the fucking difference?” Allison said.

“Yeah, I’ve gotta agree with her on this one, Dan,” Neil said.

Renee put her hand on Dan’s arm. “I think it’s time to let it go now,” she said.

“I…oh, alright,” Dan said with a defeated sigh. She scowled and handed some money over to Allison. “One of these days I’ll win one of these stupid bets.”

Allison winked up at Neil and then turned her attention to her new wad of cash, counting the notes. “One of these days you’ll stop betting against me.”

Neil shrugged. “Or maybe one of these days you could leave me and Andrew out of your bets entirely.” He smiled; it perhaps wasn’t a particularly friendly one. “Just a thought.” Andrew stepped away and Neil heard him padding back down the hall to their suite.

There was a brief uncomfortable silence, but then Allison got to her feet. “You know what, you’re right,” she said, and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’ve made enough money off of you by now anyway. I’d call it even.”

It broke the tension and Neil managed a laugh. “Nah, it’d be even if you gave me a cut of your winnings.”

“You do get a cut, what do you think I was using to pay for all the clothes I get you?”

Neil figured that was the best offer he’d get. “Fair enough. Enjoy your night, guys.”

He’d gotten halfway back to his room when he heard Allison call, “Nice balloon, Neil!”

“Thank you, Allison.”

“Happy Valentine’s, Neil!”

He shot her a smile over his shoulder. “Thank you, Allison.”

He stepped inside the suite. Kevin was standing in the doorway of the bedroom with his arms crossed and a face of thunder. Neil looked to Andrew who was plating up food in the kitchenette.

“We’re in trouble,” he said in response to Neil’s quizzical look.

“Would it have killed you two to leave a note?”

[thesportssoundoff]

What Went Wrong: A Belated NFL Black Monday Piece

Joey

Jan 11th

Black Monday in the NFL came and went and despite my best inclinations to write a somethin', I had a nothin' to offer. In many ways, most of the firings were easy enough to figure out. Guys who probably deserved to get canned did get canned. Teams that felt the pressure to save their fanbases made the moves to do so. All in all, it was kind of an expected grouping of firings when you add in the in season removals of Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy and Cleveland coach Hue Jackson. So since it's been a while, I wanted to approach this from a different perspective. Here I want to talk about the eight coaching jobs, what went wrong (on a grander level) and what their replacements need to do to avoid suffering a similar fate. Hold onto ya butts, folks:

Cleveland Hue Jackson

What Went Wrong: Everything

Seriously. Cleveland hired Hue Jackson under the philosophy of taking a long and painful route to relevancy, amassing draft picks, essentially tanking without admitting and hoping that Hue Jackson could in theory keep the organization stable enough until the time came. Depending on who you ask, Cody Kessler was either Hue's idea or some massive analytics based gamble that backfired on Sashi Brown and company, made worse by Cleveland trading BACK in the draft and away from the likes of Carson Wentz. At the end of the day, the plan had some merit to it (as seen by the successes of Sam Heinke and the 76ers eventually) but like most plans that require patience, that patience eventually runs out pretty quickly. It doesn't help that giving Hue Jackson, a guy who was fired from the Raiders after an 8-8 season where undisciplined penalty laden football marred progress, a young team and expecting him to get them up to speed to become eventual contenders was probably a bad idea overall. The arrival of former Kansas City Chiefs GM John Dorsey meant that the patience was out and Hue needed to produce something, especially when hiring a proven OC in Todd Haley and #1 overall pick Baker Mayfield. This job was going to be lost eventually but when Baker looked flat and the team continued to play this broken level of uninspired play, the plug was pulled. Everything that could've gone wrong in Cleveland did go wrong under the watchful eye of Hue Jackson and while I don't fault a guy for taking a gig, immediately jumping over to Marvin Lewis and the Bengals as an assistant probably did little to squash the belief that Jackson was a weasel of sorts who had no problem looking out for #1 at the expense of everyone else. It would take a novel to state everything what went wrong from 2016 to 2018 but just know that at the end of the day, nobody stood up for Hue Jackson when he was ousted and the team took off when he was shown the door.

Enter: Freddie Kitchens

Kitchens' ascent from lowly RBs coach to offensive coordinator to head coach from Jan of 2018 to Jan of 2019 is shit straight out of Narcos. In many ways, I wonder if the thought process went a bit like this: Cleveland had a bunch of candidates in mind with the thought process being that they could find the best offensive mind for their bright generational QB. At the same time, teams began calling for Kitchens to potentially interview for either their head coaching gig or their offensive coordinator position. Cleveland wants to keep Kitchens, other teams want Kitchens and Cleveland probably wants a head coach who will keep Kitchens but can't find him. Cleveland looked around, realized the guy they wanted was probably  in house already and they didn't want to lose him SO Kitchens gets to be the head coach. Kitchens is actually surprisingly well traveled; a coach under the likes of Bill Parcells, Ken Whisenhunt and Bruce Arians. Kitchens and Mayfield created some beautiful magic together and so I imagine continuity (as well as a supremely improved offense) pushed Kitchens over the other candidates. There are three factors at play here; 1) Cleveland has expectations now. The 5-3 end of the year plus the young star QB who should only improve makes a lot of people believe you can win. Kitchens will probably not be afforded two abysmal years to figure it out the way that Hue Jackson was. 2) Kitchens has just 8 games worth of play calling experience to his name which means he's got a lot to learn in a short period of time. 3) Kitchens just canned Gregg Williams which means he'll need a new defensive guru of sorts to handle that side of the field.

Green Bay Packers Mike McCarthy

What Went Wrong: #12

Mike McCarthy deserves a lot of credit for what he did in Green Bay from milking the final years of elite play out of Brett Favre and then grooming Aaron Rodgers into one of the best QBs to ever play the game. I think people forget the job McCarthy and company did when the Packers lost seemingly half of their team to injuries and still won the Super Bowl in 2011 or how he got into the playoffs relying on Matt Flynn in 2013 when Rodgers got hurt. All things go sour eventually though and the whispers that Rodgers was carrying McCarthy year in and year out got a bit too loud. Those whispers combined with the body language yelling whenever Rodgers and McCarthy seemed to have something go wrong became a bit too much and so McCarthy's reign in Green Bay ended unceremoniously after a loss to lowly Arizona. McCarthy might just be a case of "How can I miss you if you won't go away?" and about how everybody in sports eventually gets tired of one another. Aaron Rodgers is a veteran QB who probably did plenty of checks and audibles at the LOS which in turn pissed McCarthy off and conversely I'm sure McCarthy's outdated gameplans and suspect development of talent over the past 2-3 years drove Rodgers crazy. McCarthy's outdated gameplans cost him in the end, especially when it became readily apparent that Rodgers' decline (be it due to age or injuries) made him incapable of overcoming those woes.

Enter: Matt LaFleur

Matt LaFleur's hiring is simple enough I suppose. Aaron Rodgers is in the twilight of an amazing career and "offensive guru" is a hot to trot catch all term. LaFleur cut his teeth under Kyle Shanahan and then moved onto Sean McVay before leaving for the Titans to call his own offense. It was an up and down run for him as the playcaller, probably hurt in no small part by the injuries to Marcus Mariota. LaFleur is a gamble on upside with a somewhat impatient QB who is battling the aging curve. It's a risky move but if LaFleur can get the best out of Rodgers before Father Time takes over? It just might be worth.

Denver Broncos Vance Joseph

What Went Wrong: 50% John Elway 50% In Game Management

Vance Joseph being tabbed to replace the retiring Gary Kubiak always felt like a somewhat shaky hire. Vance Joseph in my estimation was a totally qualified hire but perhaps not quite the hire needed for this specific team. John Elway's teams were mostly veteran squads headed up by veteran head coaches like John Fox and Gary Kubiak. Vance Joseph was a rookie head coach who had proven himself to be an adept and solid defensive coordinator riiiight when hiring THOSE kind of guys was going out of fashion. Elway hired a young coach and then gave him an aging offensive core, opening the pocket books to bring in veteran free agent talent that hasn't quite worked out. Of course we'd be here all day talking about the QB situation from sticking with Trevor Semian a bit too long to the Paxton Lynch draft spot (want to have a fun alternate history for a minute? Picture a world where the Cowboys actually successfully outbid Denver to get Paxton Lynch and Denver has to take another QB later on) to the Case Keenum gamble. Denver in a way tried to replicate the Cowboys formula; run the ball a lot, have a ball control QB and rely on a tremendous defense. It just didn't work as the offense struggled under Joseph (in large part due to the RBs not being Zeke, the QB not being Dak, the OL not being peak Dallas and Demariyus Thomas falling off) and his inability to figure out what he wanted out of Case Keenum throughout the season has left him out of a job and Denver in need of a new QB. Joseph was dealt a bad hand from Elway but in game management was such a glaring problem for Denver, often made worse by their team absolutely not showing up in prime time games. Vance Joseph was the wrong guy for this job and then proceeded to remind people of that every single time he made a bad decision late in games.

Enter: Vic Fangio

First the obvious; Vic Fangio has paid his dues, done his part and at 60 years old, it's very much now or never for an NFL lifer. I have zero qualms with Denver hiring him. I just hope he's being hired because he's the guy they want and not because they had this compulsion to keep Gary Kubiak in some sort of capacity. If Vic Fangio edged out Mike Munchak because one was fine with Kubiak and the other wasn't then it's a bad call. If that's the case then just hire Kubiak to be your head coach again because this sort of helicopter head coaching is sort of unnecessary. Fangio and Kubiak make for a very old duo but also a very credible couple of coaches at the top of the helm. If they manage to get Ed Donatell to become the defensive coordinator then you're now talking about three qualified long term NFL lifers running a young roster.  It's a gutsy move by Elway at a time where young hip offensive minded coaches are all the rage. Hopefully it works out better than Vance Joseph did.

New York Jets Todd Bowles

What Went Wrong: Bad drafting + bad optics

I think Todd Bowles is somewhat of an overmaligned figure in Jets land. After the Rex Ryan Era, the more low key Bowles was probably more of an overreaction to not having to deal with Ryan's madness anymore. Todd had tremendous success in his first season and rallied the Jets to a 10-6 record before the wheels fell apart. In a large part, the talent fell apart around Bowles and the QB situation never truly situated itself with veterans not being good enough and the Jets spending actual draft capital on guys like Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty. Bad draft picks led to bad talent on the field which in turn led to the optics. The Jets in 2016 and 2017 seemed to end every year with people wondering about why the Jets looked so disinterested and broken under Bowles, complete with plenty of shots of Woody Johnson's stadium looking emptier and emptier as the year went on. Bowles entered 2018 as basically a dead man walking with a rookie QB and a brand new fill in offensive coordinator. Bowles did about as well as he could but by week 10 or so, the writing was on the wall. Bowles' laid back persona compiled with the Jets' lethargic October and November painted the picture of a team that had given up and given in.

Enter: Adam Gase

The Jets candidates for the most part all have a similar theme. They're offensive minded QB whisperers; guys like Jim Caldwell, Mike McCarthy, Kliff Kingsbury, Adam Gase and Todd Monken. Some are old, some are young, some are retreads and some are college guys (Matt Rhule and the aforementioned Kingsbury). Kris Richard, Dallas DB coach and playcaller, is the only defensive guy to this point who seems to have a shot. The Jets want somebody who a) fits the New York atmosphere that for some reason seems to be harder to figure out than any other spotlight seemingly and b) a coach who can connect with young talented arm Sam Darnold. They'll see if Adam Gase is that dude.

Arizona Cardinals Steve Wilks

What Went Wrong: The defensive guy didn't have a good defense

Black Monday brought a lot of very open discussion about the fact that the famed cut down day for coaches featured five African American coaches getting canned. Of the crew, I feel like Wilks is the one where there is a justifiable grudge to be had. Steve Wilks inherited a middle of the road team that embraced a full rebuild when they moved up to grab Sam Darnold and let some of their star defensive players walk. In response, Wilks was given an undermanned team with a broken Sam Bradford and a green Josh Rosen behind him with some sketchy coordinators to keep everything afloat. It didn't work out, the Cardinals were jabroni'd for pretty much the first eight weeks of the season and OC Mike McCoy got canned halfway through the year even if Byron Leftwich wasn't much better. Cardinals star RB David Johnson struggled after a big deal, defensive players were unhappy with just about everything, Josh Rosen looked horrendous for 85% of the snaps he was on the field for and the Cardinals OL was rough in all facets of the game. I believe Wilks deserved another year (only because of what was given to him at the onset) but if you get the 1st overall pick, you clearly did nothing right during the season. I bet if Wilks' defense wasn't the worst in the league and he fielded a competitive defense while going through rookie QB growing pains then I'd feel pretty confident about his chances to stick around. As it is, he's gone and per the GM, it boiled down to a disagreement on what Wilks considered to be the plan of attack for 2019. Still how do you allow the GM who put this situation together AND chose the head coach to pick the next guy? That's some utter tripe.

Enter: Kliff Kingsbury

We can begin with the obvious reasons for why this move doesn't make any sense. For starters, Kingsbury was just an average head coach at Texas Tech. You can give me plenty of excuses for that record of 35-40 ranging from "It's hard to recruit in Texas when you're not the top school" or "The defenses were bad!" but the record speaks for itself and isn't his job to a) figure out recruiting and b) find a way to fix your defense? I mean Mike Leach and Tommy Tuberville both won more games than Kingsbury at Texas Tech. The question is whether Kingsbury can find a way to get Josh Rosen back to UCLA levels and still somehow win at the NFL level despite his lack of success at the collegiate level.  The Cardinals weren't the only team willing to take the plunge obviously but they'll be the ones who get laughed at if this doesn't work.

(Also real quick let's take a second to acknowledge either the absurdity of this situation or the honesty of at least one NFL team to embrace the change here. After years of hearing how QBs and OL and WRs were being hampered by collegiate schemes, we now have pro teams hiring college coaches to run their gimmicked offenses at the NFL level because they can't develop QBs or OL anymore at the pro level. Either the NFL has learned its lesson or it's just about given up. Either one is an acceptable choice.)

Cincinnati Bengals Marvin Lewis

What Went Wrong: Everything over time

Kudos to the Bengals organization for their loyalty to Marvin Lewis, likely in no small part due to Marvin rebuilding that franchise and then keeping them stable from the Palmer to the Dalton eras. I have zero doubt that Lewis is a good coach but like Mike McCarthy, eventually you run out of rope and time. It didn't help that Lewis was incapable of stopping the gradual decline from consistent playoff team (lack of success aside) to mediocre team, in no small part due to his inability to replenish the well along the coaching staff. Marvin Lewis was just too old, too stubborn and too incapable to overcome the changing NFL scene.

Enter: ?

The current word is the Bengals are looking at Rams QB coach/passing game coordinator Zac Taylor. Taylor was a disaster as the Dolphins interim OC under Dan Campbell but resurrected his stock as a key hand in the development of Jared Goff as well as his tutoring under Tommy Tuberville in Cincy. Taylor is at least an intriguing hire as a 35 year old passing game guru and, of course, the Bengals could be back on the market for a QB eventually as Andy Dalton enters his age 31 season.

Tampa Bay Dirk Koetter

What Went Wrong: The QB

Lovie Smith and Dirk Koetter ultimately shared the same fate after all. Despite paying Smith a lot of money and giving him the keys to the kingdom, Smith was gone after two seasons and Dirk Koetter was retained by Tampa Bay due to the feeling that 1) they were going to lose him elsewhere and 2) he could get the most out of #1 overall pick Jameis Winston. He couldn't. Winston off the field was a mess and on the field he didn't fare much better either. When you're the QB guru and the star QB has to be benched, you're probably going to get fired. It doesn't help that Koetter and chosen defensive coordinator Mike Smith struggled to field a competent defense for three years.

Enter: Bruce Arians

This...is interesting. Arians is a pretty damn proven and downright solid head coach who has technically won in two different locations (Indianapolis as an interim coach and in Arizona). Arians' health and his declining results in Arizona led to a year in the booth for Bruce but now it seems like he thinks he's ready to handle it again. Arians teams have only finished under .500 once at the pro level and while his success is somewhat overstated recently, there's no doubt that Arians will bring stability and fire to an organization that has felt marred with drama under Koetter.

Miami Dolphins Adam Gase

What Went Wrong: Greg Schiano-itis

It would be far too easy and perhaps even a touch unfair to simply say that Gase's problem is his player-coach marriage to Ryan Tannehill. A coach getting hooked on a QB and believing he can unlock him leads to a lot of firings and Gase may be no different. Gase's bigger problem, at least from my standpoint, is a problem most coaches have in various forms or fashions. I'll use Greg Schiano as an example because he's the one that's more readily apparent to me. Schiano took a bad going nowhere spot in Tampa Bay (Raheem Morris had 3-13 and 4-12 sandwiched around 10-6) and with a young roster, Schiano improved them to 7-9. That improvement combined with what most people consider to be a natural tendency to be a bit of a dick, lead to Schiano getting more egotistical and more aggressive as a coach. The second year everything cratered and Schiano was fired. Adam Gase took over a Miami Dolphins club that had gone through a pretty rough run over Tony Sparano and then interim coach Dan Campbell. Gase started off poorly and then earned some plaudits for cutting offensive linemen mid week after Ryan Tannehill had been pretty much caved in by pass rushers. A winning streak followed and Gase made the playoffs in his rookie year----but that apparently led to Gase becoming more and more of an authoritarian. Players seemed to hate him (There wasn't much love for Adam Gase after his firing with key offensive players past and present openly gloating about his removal) and the owner got tired of Gase seemingly toward the end of the season. That to me strikes me as a coach who got a little too successful early on and struggled when the NFL eventually humbled him as is often the case if you don't have Tom Brady.

Enter: ?

The Dolphins head coaching interview list reads like a true mish mash. Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, special teams coach Darren Rizzi, Pats defensive ace Brian Flores and Cowboys play caller/secondary coach Kris Richard seem to be the candidates in the running and so you've got two holdovers, one guy hoping to become a winning member of the Bill B coaching tree and Kris Richard who helped take the Cowboys defense to new heights in 2018. All seem logical----but none seem like any sort of a pattern or a theme is emerging. Maybe that's the best way to go instead of trying to force a fit because you NEED a QB guru.

[themanuelruello]

Top Tips For Storing Vegetables Without a Root Cellar

You’re pulling in your garden harvest…it’s covering every surface of your home…and now you’re left with the familiar problem of “what are you supposed to do with all of this fresh produce?”.

Most of us have not been blessed with a traditional root cellar in our home. If you happen to be someone with a root cellar, I would just like to say that I am exceedingly jealous.

Fortunately, for the rest of us without a root cellar, I’ve got some good news: there are still plenty of ways to store our crops for later.

Christian and I have been contemplating putting in a root cellar for a while now. We have been seeing more of a need for one as our food growth continues to increase. Back in the beginning, I didn’t think a root cellar was necessary; I was still trying to figure out how to grow vegetables and we had smaller quantities to deal with.

Now we are in our homesteading groove (most of the time), but one of the big issues we continue to have as our growing capacity expands is storage.

An example is our potato storage. We have been Digging Up and Storing Potatoes for Winter for years now. In recent years, it has been huge amounts and we have had to come up with a plan to store them without your typical root cellar. Watch how I have managed to store over 200 lbs of potatoes without a root cellar. 

In the past, we have used our basement for storage, but it hasn’t always worked the way we would have liked. Now, we have started exploring our options; we even had a concrete guy come over recently and talk to us about the logistics of pouring a concrete root cellar.

Since there have been a ton of questions from everyone on social media recently asking me “what do I do with all of this food?”, I thought that I would gather up a bunch of info in this post. Hopefully it helps you get your ideas flowing and helps you take that first step towards storing food for later. For a more detailed in-depth look at storing vegetables without a root cellar, you can also take a look at these 13 Alternatives to a Root Cellar.

By the way, if you prefer listening to podcasts over reading info, I recently made a podcast episode on storing vegetables without a root cellar here:

Learn More About Storing Your Vegetables Without a Root Cellar

I have been reading books recently in order to do some root cellar research. So I thought that I would give you a book recommendation (and please know that I am really picky about the books I buy and recommend). 

I think that this book that I recently purchased is a good investment and I am so glad I bought it. It is called Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits and Vegetables, by Mike and Nancy Bubel. This is a really good book with a very common-sense title, diagrams, charts, and also discusses about how to build a root cellar. It also talks about how to create makeshift root cellar options and it gives a lot of information on storing vegetables without a root cellar.

The book explains how vegetables will handle different types of storage and what their requirements are. It’s really good, so grab a copy and start learning about root cellaring. In this post, I would like to share a few things that I have learned from the book but also some things that I have learned through trial and error over the years.

How to Store Vegetables Without A Root Cellar

The big thing you need to remember if you are storing vegetables is that not all vegetables are great options for a root cellar or long-term storage. Things like cucumbers, tomatoes, or green beans are what you focus on either freezing, fermenting, or canning.

Root crops like potatoes, beets, parsnips, and carrots are fantastic for root cellars or cold storage. You can grow a lot of those things and keep them for many months if you play your cards right.

Vegetables That Thrive in Root Cellar Storage Include:

Carrots

Beets

Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes

Parsnips

Onions

Garlic

Winter Squash

Pumpkins

Cabbages

Note: Keep in mind that each type of vegetable has its own set of instructions for pre-storage preparation and for how best to store them long-term. 

Creating a Root Cellar Environment

When trying to create a root cellar environment or mimic a root cellar, it needs to be cold, dark, and humid. A lot of these vegetables have specifics about how they should be stored, but the thing to remember as a beginner is: the colder the better. However, you don’t want things to get so cold they freeze. If things freeze and then thaw out, they tend to get mushy; you want your temperature to be right above 32 degrees Fahrenheit with some humidity if possible.

I have learned that when vegetables are pulled from the garden, they are still alive for a time. As they age, they start to lose some of their moisture. Having a humid environment slows that moisture loss and helps keep them fresher longer. Ideally, 32ish plus degrees Fahrenheit with some humidity and darkness is ideal, however, you can get away with something that isn’t exactly that. 

Creating A Root Cellar Environment for Potato and Onion Storage:

One thing to remember when storing vegetables like onions or especially potatoes they need to have some air circulation. You don’t want to take your potatoes stick them in a rubber-made plastic box with the lid clamped down and leave it. Some of your vegetables will rot and mold quickly without the proper air exchange.

What I do for storing my potatoes is putting them in cardboard boxes, place a layer of newspaper between each row of potatoes and then completely close the cardboard box. The box then gets put in a part of our basement that is super dark. One issue with things like potatoes is that if they get exposed to light, they begin to sprout and honestly, I still have sprouting potatoes even when I try to keep it as dark as possible. I don’t think our basement is quite as cold as I would like it to be but even though it’s moderately cool it still works.

This is also a good place to hang onion braids, you don’t have to braid your onions but it’s kind of a fun thing and it allows air circulation. If you would like to braid your onions to hang for storage, I would love to help you learn How to Braid Your Onions. 

Creating A Root Cellar Environment for Carrot Storage:

Due to the many carrot disasters I have had in the past when I have tried to store carrots, I don’t feel qualified to give advice on carrot storage in this capacity. There are a lot of people on the Internet that say you can store your carrots in sawdust or boxes of sand, and you sprinkle them with some water, and they’ll be good.

I attempted storing carrots in the box with sand method and it was a horrible failure. It was so gross that Christian was completely traumatized and will no longer allow me to try to store carrots in any kind of box.

This method is also very heavy; you will need a dolly to move the boxes around. My carrots turned out disgusting: they were rotted carrot mush, thought it is possible that I did something wrong. I cannot personally recommend the carrots in the sand method because it did not work for me.

So I currently simply store my carrots in the fridge, which is one way of storing vegetables without a Root Cellar.

If your storage is a little bit warmer, not quite as humid, or simply less than perfect, there are still things you can do to make it work. Your situation might not work for very long storage or work as well, but any kind of storage is better than just letting everything rot. I’ve never had a root cellar, so I have always just kind of had to make it work as best that I can, and you can do that too.

3 Ways to Store Your Vegetables Without a Root Cellar

Your root crops can be from your home garden, bought at the farmers market, or extra produce that a friend gave you. No matter where they are from, here are three ways you can store them even if you don’t have an actual root cellar.

Tip #1: Leave Your Crops Planted in the Garden (Depending on Your Climate)

This first option may work if you don’t live in a place like Wyoming. If you live in a more normal climate, then you can leave certain crops in the garden until you actually need them. Carrots and parsnips are great candidates for this type of storage.

As some root vegetables mature, their tops stick up out of the ground, and if you are leaving them in the garden, then you will want to make sure that they are completely covered. If any part of the skin is exposed and it freezes, then it’s not going to be good anymore. You will want to cover your vegetables with a HEAVY layer of mulch (approx. 18 inches thick is a good idea if you can make that work) in this situation.

You can cover your vegetables using straw, grass clippings, or, some people cover their rows with a tarp. If we were to use a tarp, we would have to anchor it down with concrete blocks because of the wind we get in the winter. If you don’t have as much wind or you do not get as much snow as Wyoming does, you can scrape away the straw mulch or move your tarp to harvest as needed.

I do use this method to a certain extent: I will leave my carrots in the ground until October or November but beyond that, it doesn’t work for me. The ground here freezes solid and then it’s impossible to get the carrots out. Another problem that happens is snowdrifts end up right on top of the carrot bed and then I would be left digging through 3-foot snow drifts to get to the carrots.

This may not work for me and my climate, but folks in a little bit more temperate climate have been storing root crops like this with great results. If this first storage trick is something that interests you, do a little research, talk to other gardeners in your area (or your local extension office), and find some information that will let you know if this is something that will work for your harvest.

We store food in our basement because we do not have a root cellar. It works pretty well!

Tip #2 Use an Unheated Room to Store Your Vegetables

The second tip is to use an unheated room in your house, garage, or another building. When I talk to other homesteaders, this is the one option that everyone uses the most. This method of storage is one that I have done for many years, we have a basement that is not completely unheated but cooler than the rest of the house. There is an old unfinished part of our basement where I have stored my potatoes, carrots, and onions in the past.

If you have an old farmhouse-type house with a room that is not very well heated and super drafty, this might be a great room to store crops. I have also heard of people using an attic or crawl space to store their food (although one thing about the crawl space that would be worrisome is rodents and pests).

An alternative to a basement might be a garage or outbuilding that is unheated but also is not going to freeze. If you’re going to use a building like this, perhaps you can use extra insulation around your storage container to make sure that it’s protected. It really is about being creative and finding ways to make your situation work.

In your unheated room, if you can afford it, you can also build an actual cold storage room; there are some pretty cool tutorials out there where people will frame off a corner of their unheated basements and make it into an actual root cellar. 

We looked at this idea quite a bit and the reason we didn’t use this method is that we could not see a way to add a vent to our basement. Having a vent to the outside that provides air circulation is a really important part of a root cellar.

As a vegetable ripens, it gives off ethylene gas, and ethylene gas causes the other vegetables around to spoil more quickly. This gas is one of the reasons why you will see vents in an old root cellar. If we could have figured out a way to vent our basement and build a cold room, I absolutely would have done this.

This idea of adding a root cellar or cold storage room is just another option to consider; first I would recommend doing a search on building a cold storage room. If this is something that you feel is a possibility, I would consider it because it would be really cool to build from what you already have. 

Tip #3 Store Root Vegetables in an Old Refrigerator

You may not have room in your regular house fridge, but it might be a wise investment to find an old fridge on Craigslist or Facebook. This fridge doesn’t have to be pretty; you can keep it in your garage, shop, or the backroom of your house.

As long as it’s not getting too cold and/or freezing the vegetables, it will be a great place to store some of your vegetables like carrots and beets. You can also put a little pan of water in there to help with the humidity. If it works well enough, you can even put your cabbage in there and your cabbage will store quite a while if you’re not wanting to make sauerkraut. An old fridge is a great option for root crop storage, and a bonus is that you can store your ferments in there as well.

If we ever build a root cellar, my goal is to be able to put my potatoes, carrots, and onions down there in baskets. There will also be shelves to store jars of sauerkraut and other fermented foods. Since I don’t have that yet, what I’ve always done with sauerkraut in the past is just store it in our shop refrigerator and it works well.

Get Creative with Your Root Cellar Storage

More ideas are coming out, such as burying things in the ground, like burying a trash can, or an old chest freezer in the ground and storing food inside. We have not tried this because I think it would have to be buried fairly deep to not freeze here in Wyoming.

In a milder climate, this could work, though I would look at a couple of different tutorials or instructions before starting to dig and bury trash cans in your backyard. I have seen ideas where people stack hay bales around a hole then put a window on top. This creates a greenhouse effect on the top and you would just need to make sure it didn’t freeze.

If you are looking for ideas there are a lot of creative ways people have been storing vegetables without a root cellar out there, you can learn more about them by reading 13 Root Cellar Alternatives. When deciding on a method, just make sure you’re following one that has good reviews and looks like it will work. It will still take some research on your part to figure out which type of cold storage you can do in your yard and climate.

Looking For Different Food Storage Options?

I hope this post helped you get your creative juices moving. If you aren’t sure if any of these cold food storage ideas will work for you, I suggest that you start thinking outside the box, because there are many ways to squirrel away that food for later besides cold storage.

If you would like to check out some other ideas for food storage, check out my article with My Favorite Ways to Preserve Food at Home. You can also check out my Canning Made Easy System if you would like to truly create shelf-stable food; that doesn’t require any sort of special root cellar or refrigerator.

More Vegetable Storage Tips:

How to Braid Garlic

How to Can Food with No Special Equipment

How to Manage Your Garden Harvest (Without Losing Your Mind)

How to Preserve Fresh Herbs in Olive Oil

The post Top Tips For Storing Vegetables Without a Root Cellar appeared first on The Prairie Homestead.

from Gardening https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2021/09/top-tips-for-storing-vegetables-without-a-root-cellar.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

[0poole]

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Good God.

I finally managed to watch the final episodes of the show, and even though it wasn’t the most pitch-perfect ending ever (and even though I skipped like all of the final season), I still gotta dish out my thoughts on the whole thing. It’s not my tippy-top most favorite show, but it’s definitely the one with the most lasting impact on me. I mean, considering it created one of the biggest fandoms of all time, I’m pretty sure I’m far from alone there.

Obviously have to start from the beginning. I think I got into MLP around the 2nd season, maybe in the middle of it but definitely before the 3rd. I don’t exactly remember, since it was so long ago, but the first two seasons might hold some of the most saccharine, mindless nostalgia of all. Every single episode holds some spot in my memory, even the filler episodes with the cheesy notes to Celestia at the end of them. Honestly those were adorable, even if they were the classic kid’s show trope of “Let’s explain the moral to the kids who don’t have half a brain” but it’s actually pretty charming. That’s nostalgia talking, by the way. Obviously. If I found a new show today that did that, I’d roll my eyes a little, and I probably did when I was first watching the show. 

But, it’s an understatement that this was my life. Of course, I was at that time of my life where one thing could very easily become my entire world, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t matter to me. The pretty solid, unchanging artstyle gave me an opening to try and draw it, and for years I exclusively drew ponies, and even when I had a human character, I’d only be able to draw them in pony form, so I ended up meshing their stories into fanfiction on how they could become ponies. My “Icon” character at the time, Satyr, was probably the first original character I drew, and I can still remember the exact drawing I made of him. Obviously a pony, he was sort of larger and masculine, conveniently blinking eye so I didn’t have to deal with that, basic hair/tail styles, and for some reason a jagged zig-zag pattern going laterally across his body, like those “How would a horse wear pants?” memes. I thought it was really good, so I kept going, and here I am ages later still drawing stuff. I couldn’t even bare to fully ditch the shitty characters I made (and I’m going to explain them without context because I just feel like it): Satyr got split into his immortal and prince-ly side; Diane, a manic serial killer, shrunk down but kept her impossibly anxious personality; Gaseous is basically all the same, except he doesn’t meet the rest of the crew in what parts of his story I know about; Sistenagon (here we go with the weird names, they don’t mean anything) still kept his (her? Don’t actually remember which I called it) wasp-y nature, except in the form of an insect-based fairy tribe leader; Stelerachyt, who I drew as a Diamond Dog, is still a big, fluffy, dog, but turned into a more regal and kingly type of person; and Myriad Alloy (the only one with an actual pony name) got a complete makeover, and actually became my favorite end result after all is said and done.

Like, I love ranting about these guys. They were basically my own Mane Six. And yes, Satyr TOTALLY dated Twilight. Why wouldn’t he? Main character a Main character. Plus, he was supposed to be me, and I totally wanted to hit that. I’m not ashamed to admit it.

I mean, I guess a big part of why I actually went down that path was because of the large fanbase. I didn’t begin with the beginning of the show, but I guess I came in with the first large wave, so all of the stuff I made got just enough attention to make me think people wanted to see what I was making. If I started out with OCs, no one would’ve cared, and I very well could’ve stopped.

Even apart from that, this show definitely kick started my downward spiral into femininity. I mean, it’s pretty self-explanatory. Everyone “knew” MLP as being something super shallow, only to be enjoyed by shallow little girls, then they pumped out Friendship is Magic and everyone else loved it, so I gave it a shot, and I loved it too. Obviously every fandom has the people who openly, irrationally hate them, but the whole thing was welcoming enough to keep it solidified in my mind, and bish bash bosh, it kept going and will probably keep going into eternity. It’s funny, even then I drew Satyr with the more feminine pony design (not entirely because drawing the male pony type was harder), so I was setting myself up for the future.

I guess this kind of gives me a window to talk about My Life as a Teenage Robot, because for as long as I could remember before actually watching the show, I seriously despised any instance of XJ9 I could find. If an image of her popped up on screen, I would close it faster than if it was porn found while around my parents. I don’t know why she was so harshly ingrained in my mind. You could argue I just hated “girly” stuff before I realized I actually loved it, and didn’t want to face my emotions, but I wasn’t exaggerating at all about that porn thing. I actually couldn’t look at her for more than a second. But, one day I decided to cave in and see what was up, and soon enough she became one of my favorite cartoon characters of all time.

Back to ponies, some of the content produced by the fandom also had some extremely fond memories in my mind. I think I still have some songs by The Living Tombstone and WoodenToaster on my MP3 player (partially because it’s just good stuff) and for some reason playing on MLP-themed TF2 servers was actually really fun too. Some notable fandom people reacting to recent episodes was a spectacle I always looked forward to, and I still am subscribed to Saberspark and Ratchet on Youtube after all this time, probably as well as various other people who are still there but haven’t posted anything since the settling of the fandom. I just remembered, Hotdiggetydemon probably qualifies for all that too, since his .Mov series was the talk of the whole fandom. That, and Friendship is Witchcraft. I had to re-look up the name of that one though, but I still loved it.

I guess I should play favorites, huh? Favorites was the one game everyone in the fandom played. 

Favorite episode: Can’t not be a tie between the 2-parters of Season 2. Discord is a riot, and Chrysalis is actually one of my favorite villain designs of all time. I’m a sucker for both shapeshifters and bugs, so you can’t expect me to not like her. Glad she rode the villain boat till the very end, although reformed Discord is definitely fine too. Plus, the rest of the Changelings turned anyway.

Favorite song: You expect me to not tie things up here? The Flim Flam brother’s Super Cider Squeezy 6000 is great, as are the brothers themselves, and I also love This Day Aria, since it’s the focal point where people realized this show seriously wasn’t just colorful, cute ponies. The Art of the Dress is also pretty catchy. 

Actually, just remembered. Under Our Spell might be it. Took me a while to remember the EQG stuff, but that song is seriously good, and unironically better than the generic dribble that somehow magically beat it.

Favorite background pony(ies): Vinyl and Octavia are a pretty cute duo, and with the killer duet in the Slice of Life episode, ya gotta love em. Funny thing, though: There’s this background pony that looks almost identical to my current self-insert pony OC, with purple hair and a grey coat, with a seemingly writing-based cutie mark and green eyes. He’s even a unicorn too. It wasn’t intentional, I swear.

Favorite CMC: Sweetie Belle is too much. Her little squeaks are too pure. I can’t take it. Applebloom has nice colors, though.

Favorite Princess: If you don’t say Luna you’re a cop

Favorite non-pony species: Obviously Changelings, but after their reformation the honors actually switch to the Kirins, just because of how cool they look. The Yaks are pretty fun too. Speaking of…

Favorite nu-Mane Six (or are they called the School Six? Whatever, you know what I mean): All Yona. And yes, I had to look up her name was, who cares? She’s adorable.

Favorite of the Pillars of Equestria: I honestly love that they made Starswirl an actual character in the show. For the longest time, people just assumed he would stay in the form of Twilight’s Nightmare Night costume forever, but then they actually made him real! That’s really cool.

Favorite Equestria Girls design: Once again, Sweetie Belle steals both this spot and my heart.

And, of course… Favorite of the Mane Six:

Honestly, it just depends on the mood I’m in. Not even remotely lying there.

Fluttershy would’ve been my answer way back then, since I was into the shy types. There’s definitely something still there. You can’t deny that she’s the most cuddly of them all.

Twilight might’ve been a tie for the top around then too, since I was also the too-smart-for-humanity type. That leads into you liking the “smart” ones. Plus, in the latter half of the series, she did feel like she was put one step above the rest of the cast. That kinda makes her feel slightly off, I guess. Still like her, though.

Pinkie Pie’s one of those that I can imagine liking, but if I ever actually had to deal with that much energy I might actually melt. And, not in that I’m-totally-in-love kind of melting. Literal, actual melting. 

Rarity, in terms of concept, is easily my favorite type of character for the show. On the surface, she’s the generic fashionista type that every girl’s show has, but instead of her being someone who “just makes clothes” she’s actually seriously hard working and goes through all the regular motions you’d expect from an artist. Turning such a cliche on its head and giving it a much more realistic image is perfect for this show. Also, she’s purple. I like purple.

Not much really needs to be said about Applejack. She really seems like the most logical one of the group, even at the very beginning. That’s great to have when everyone else is acting like spoiled/sheltered brats (at least, when she’s not acting that way either).

But, I really gotta be honest… I’m never really in the mood for Rainbow Dash. She’s like the opposite of AJ, where she’s always some degree of arrogant, and even though watching her achieve her dreams is nice, her big head gets a little annoying for side gags. Also, if you showed me a plain picture of the Mane Six, I would’ve told you she was the main character instead of Twilight, just because she stands out so much more. I mean, the show isn’t called “Twilight Sparkle: Friendship is Magic,” but still.

If you really want a straight answer, I’m in a Rarity mood right now, so I’ll go with that. It’s probably the safest bet, because, like I said, I do love purple. Not just purple, but purple AND white put together. One of my favorite color combinations. Just add a little gold, and you’re, well, you know...

But… Yeah. All good things had to come to an end. I feel like its time came. Plus, they ended the show with the little story book thing they did in the very first episode, so as far as I’m concerned the series is complete. It did its job, anyway.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WE LEARNED THIS LESSON A LONG TIME COMING

I realize I might seem to have learned that lesson. The acquirers are human, and they are something of a nuisance. 30-startup experiment could be done by any sufficiently rich private citizen. Wireless connectivity of various types can now be taken for granted. It's much easier to fix problems before the company is not also the lead developer.1 So it's kind of scary to think how much I'd be justified in paying. How well this scheme worked would depend on the city if it worked.

A company that hasn't done anything new in 4 months doesn't seem dynamic, so they can't use whatever the startups do as a startup? But if you find yourself shrinking away from them.2 Probably for the same reason Chicago investors are more conservative than Boston ones.3 It's surprising how much you can take your time. We're trying to increase the number of investors just as we're increasing the number of people who could have succeeded if they'd taken the leap and done it full-time, but didn't.4 The surprise is generally positive as well as negative.5 So instead of copying the Facebook, with some variation that the Facebook rightly ignored, look for ideas from the other direction. Statistically, if you roll a zero for luck, the outcome is zero.

The essay is mostly an opportunity to disqualify yourself by saying something stupid.6 It probably means the founder couldn't talk any of his friends into starting the company with him. A startup can't afford much of that. West coast investors aren't bolder because they're irresponsible cowboys, or because the good weather makes them optimistic. Unfortunately this extends even to dating: It surprised me that being a startup founder does not get you more admiration from women.7 You tell them only 1 out of 100 successful startups has a trajectory like most other human interactions, where shared plans solidify linearly over time. The first thing to understand is that encouraging startups is a rare and valuable skill, and the experts he lured west to work with him liked it so much they stayed. So by the time you face the horror of writing a dissertation. Actually the best model would be to learn what math is really about. In a startup, you have to work on managing investors usually depends on how much they raised. So while you're talking to investors while your competitors are spending theirs building things.

I might not be the best source of advice, because I realized how terrible I was at knowing if they were good or not.8 Physical things are great. Then they'll pay big time. You need consumers after all.9 And by next, I mean a couple hours later.10 This is supposed to be the surprises, the things I didn't tell people. That's even rarer.11

Raising more money just lets us do it faster. When the ball comes near them their instinct is to avoid it. Fortunately, I can give you solid advice about how to make them. But if we can decide in 20 minutes, should it take anyone longer than a couple days?12 And of course Euclid.13 In workouts a football player may bench press 300 pounds, even though he may never have to compromise or ask anyone's permission, and if you have a list of all the startups they'd invested in. Larry and Sergey couldn't find stuff online, Hotmail because Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith couldn't exchange email at work.

I'm hopeful things won't always be so awkward.14 No, there will also be a need for such infrastructure companies. There obviously has to be not just good but novel. I'm not suggesting that founders start companies with no chance of making money in the bank and keep operating as two guys living on ramen. Fortunately, it can become a lot less money. The classic way to burn through cash is by hiring a lot of catches as an eight year old outfielder, because whenever a fly ball came my way, I used to close my eyes and hold my glove up more for protection than in the hope of unloading them before they tank.15 Is there no configuration of the bits in memory of a present day computer that is this compiler? This caught my attention because earlier we'd noticed a pattern among the most successful of that group by an order of magnitude larger than the number who do make it. Not those guys are working on a great idea, it's sort of like having a job or being a student, because it becomes a filter for selecting bad startups.

Notes

Trevor Blackwell, who had died decades ago. 3 months also suggests one underestimates how hard it is to say that a their applicants come from going to get great people.

Incidentally, if you agree prep schools, because it might be tempted, but suburbs are so intellectually dishonest in that it was the first scientist. In a country richer; if their kids won't listen to them.

So as a motive, and Jews about. A related trick is to get fossilized. It seems justifiable to use them to ignore these clauses, because there was when we created pets. Y Combinator was a sudden rush of interest, you create wealth with no valuation cap at all is a variant of Reid Hoffman's principle that you can't avoid doing sales by hiring sufficiently qualified designers.

You can just start from scratch is not so good.

So it's worth negotiating anti-takeover laws, they may have allotted for the same reason parents don't tell their parents what happened that night they were. I've talked about the distinction between them so founders can get very emotional. And no, unfortunately, I put it would be very unhealthy.

Yahoo was their customer. But that doesn't exist.

The history of the 70s never drew this curve. At two years after Lisp 1. If you invest in your plans, you usually have to find a blog on the y, you'd see a clear plan for life.

I'm not saying you should be. This phenomenon may account for a number here only to the erosion of the recruiting funnel.

There are some good proposals too. No central goverment would put its two best universities in the general sense of things economists usually think about so-called signalling risk.

Steep usage growth predicts x% revenue growth with retained earnings till the 1920s to financing growth with the buyer's picture on the order of 10,000 per month.

Because it's better if everything just works. How did individuals accumulate large fortunes in an equity round. But having more of a startup to sell early for us now to appreciate how important it is certainly not impossible for a market for its shares will inevitably arise.

There may even be working on such an interview with Steve Wozniak started out by Mitch Kapor, is rated at-1. Moving large amounts of new stock. 107.

If you have to solve a lot would be to say what was happening on Dallas, and on the partner you talk to an employer, I mean forum in the latter case, is this someone you want to start startups, you have to include in your identity.

It's not simply a function of two founders and investors are induced by the surface similarities.

At first I didn't realize it yet or not, under current US law, writing in 1975, said the wage differentials prevailing at the leading edge of technology.

[jodyedgarus]

What Have The Knicks Done?

New York Knicks executives in recent years have said they would rebuild cautiously and avoid trading their first-round picks. That approach paid off — sweet-shooting big man Kristaps Porzingis, the Knicks’ first-round pick in 2015, quickly ascended into a star, giving the team hope that it could finally build something sustainable with just another solid move or two. All the organization needed to do was avoid somehow taking a step backward.

And then Thursday happened.

New York has agreed with Dallas on trade that includes Kristaps Porzingis, Courtney Lee, Tim Hardaway Jr., for Wesley Matthews, Dennis Smith Jr. and DeAndre Jordan, league sources tell ESPN. Players and agents are being notified of particulars. Deal may include more draft assets.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 31, 2019

In response, FiveThirtyEight’s biggest NBA fans gathered to process the reported trade.

chris.herring (Chris Herring, senior sportswriter): I covered the Knicks for five years. Not their worst five, necessarily. But saw their worst season in franchise history. You’re naturally going to see them do things that make you scream, “Why?!” But this is a new level, even for me.

This Porzingis trade, if they don’t land a max-level star or two, is just befuddling.

tchow (Tony Chow, video producer/angry Knicks fan): I think I’m going to be a Brooklyn Nets fan now. Why the hell would you do this?

natesilver (Nate Silver, editor in chief): Do we know what draft pick compensation they got, if any? Because that seems pretty important.

chris.herring: Not the exact terms, no. Though it seems really likely that the Mavs are going to give up something on that front.

natesilver: I guess I’d say this: The process by which the Knicks got to this point is crazy. The outcome, I think, might not be as bad as it seems at first glance. But it really depends on the pick(s).

chris.herring: More than anything, this was about allowing the Knicks to send over their bloated contracts so that they could clear salary cap space. Especially Tim Hardaway Jr., whose deal would’ve made it tough for them to add a second star next to Porzingis this summer.

neil (Neil Paine, senior sportswriter): Yeah, if there is a silver lining (Is there a silver lining?), they just freed up a massive amount of cap space.

The Knicks could be staring at $74.6M in projected cap space for next season. That would be good enough for 2 max slots.

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) January 31, 2019

tchow: Welcome to New York, Kevin Durant!!

chris.herring: Only spent seven or eight years there, but this is where my New York cynicism comes into play. The Knicks haven’t had a very good history when it comes to FAs.

natesilver: They also got a buy-low guy in Dennis Smith Jr., although it seems like they have about 14 other buy-low point guards on the roster right now.

tchow: But in losing Porzingis, doesn’t that make the Knicks a less attractive destination to come play? If you were a max player, why would you look at this team and say, “I want to go to there”?

natesilver: Well, yeah, that’s the catch.

tchow: I guess maybe two max players could buddy up and that nullifies what I just said.

natesilver: A team of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and … uuuhhhh, who’s the third-best player on that team? Smith Jr., I guess?

tchow: I don’t know what I’m saying anymore. This is INSANE!!! I’m still in shock.

chris.herring: If nothing else, I guess this all just surprises me because it speaks to one of two things. Either 1) You have that much confidence that a superstar is coming …

tchow: Well you’re forgetting Zion, Nate.

chris.herring: Or 2) Things had gotten so bad/toxic with Porzingis that you didn’t see how you could make it work with him anymore. They really had no obligation to give into this right now, even if he was unhappy.

neil: Right, he was only a restricted free agent after the season.

tchow: Well, Chris, if things have gotten that bad with Porzingis, you would think they were secretly shopping him around earlier. Is this really the best deal they could get? I find that hard to believe.

natesilver: It is worth keeping in mind that Porzingis has a serious injury that other guys have struggled to recover from, that he hadn’t reached superstar status yet, and that he was about to get expensive. The upside is so high, though, that you’d think a team, maybe a cap-constrained team, might have given up a little more.

chris.herring: Yep. I’m not blown away by the fact that they dealt him. It’s what they dealt him for.

natesilver: Getting technical, but his cap hold is only like $12 million this summer, so that was a big benefit too.

chris.herring: There are two or three different reasons to potentially deal him. I just don’t know that any of them were worth dealing him for that return.

natesilver:

Kristaps Porzingis, who can become a restricted free agent this summer, has yet to make a decision on his future with Dallas, league sources tell ESPN. He expects to start the process of getting to know the organization soon. Porzingis will continue to rehab his ACL injury.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 31, 2019

tchow:

Sources: All-Star Kristaps Porzingis is planning to inform the Dallas Mavericks his intent is to sign the qualifying offer in restricted free agency this summer.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 31, 2019

FIGHT!!

natesilver: No those don’t contradict. Sign the qualifying offer for one year. Then become a full-fledged free agent in summer 2020.

tchow: Oh damn … you’re right. OK … back to crying.

chris.herring: During the time I spent on the Knicks beat, I got used to watching them attach useful players to ones whose contracts were albatrosses. They traded Tyson Chandler (useful) to unload Raymond Felton (albatross). And Iman Shumpert (useful) to unload JR Smith (albatross).

natesilver: Were Hardaway and Lee that untradeable? They aren’t terrible players, and their contracts aren’t that bad.

chris.herring: Neither is a bad player. Maybe overpaid (I’ve definitely argued that with Hardaway).

natesilver: In some sense, everyone in the deal is a distressed asset.

chris.herring: If anything, Hardaway is just pricey because of what you want to accomplish this summer.

tchow: Watch Dennis Smith Jr. come out of this as the best player in the trade.

natesilver: It’s not nothing.

chris.herring: But Porzingis should not be the sweetener in any deal like this! He’s the lone All-Star changing hands here.

neil: Smith Jr. certainly got a lot of hype as a rookie last year.

tchow: KP IS A UNICORN

chris.herring: I’ll put it this way: Smith and his folks floated that he potentially wanted out of Dallas a week or two ago. That came and went, likely because no one felt like he was worth all that much. He’s explosive. He’s young enough to gamble something on. But he’s not even a clear starter in everyone’s eyes.

natesilver: So what else could they have gotten? What do we think the market price for Porzingis would be? Would Toronto have given up Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby, for instance, and taken on either Hardaway or Lee but not both?

chris.herring: It was only 20 minutes or so before the trade reports came that this tweet went out.

The Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors are among many teams expected to pursue Kristaps Porzingis in a trade, league sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 31, 2019

natesilver: I’m just saying that if you clear the decks for two max free agents but you have a guy like Siakam making just $2.5 million a year, that gives you a lot more to work with.

chris.herring: Notice how smart we perceive those particular franchises to be. I saw someone say, “The smart franchises are circling the dumb one.” Almost like the Knicks were the prey here.

tchow: Right?? I keep thinking there must be other, better trades.

chris.herring: For sure. At least with Siakam, you have a good, athletic two-way player to build around.

tchow: This is all just us talking, right? There were no reports that Toronto was even looking to offer Siakam. Right? Right?

chris.herring: I honestly don’t know whether Smith will be a starter two or three years from now. There’s some faith because of how young he is, but he hasn’t shown consistency yet. And the Knicks haven’t been great with developing two-way talent at the guard spot lately.

natesilver: I wanna know about the draft pick(s) too. Dallas still owns its own pick if it’s 1-5 this year — otherwise it goes to Atlanta — and they’re probably still going to end up in the lottery.

neil: I think we are being very NYC-centric here and focusing on the Knicks’ angle. But for the Mavs, their new Doncic-Porzingis combo seems like it could eventually be very scary.

natesilver: NYC IS BASKETBALL MECCA, NEIL! SUCH A MECCA THAT THE ONLY GOOD PLAYER ON THE KNICKS IN THE PAST 10 YEARS GETS TRADED FOR CAP SPACE

neil: No, it’s not (“The Decline Of New York City As An NBA Talent Generator”).

tchow: No, Neil’s right. Forget the Knicks. I already have. Porzingis and Luka together is going to be amazing!! No way Dirk retires now.

chris.herring: Dallas is gonna be fun.

natesilver: Yeah, how did they do that? Turn the No. 5 pick and — Dennis Smith Jr.? — into Luka and Porzingis?

chris.herring: The Knicks were spending all this time trying to find a running mate for KP, and now Porzingis has Doncic.

tchow: So right now, we have them projected to be way out of the playoffs. When is Porzingis supposed to return? I’m getting ahead of myself

chris.herring: They’re relevant now. Even if they unloaded a hefty part of their rotation here to get Porzingis. But this was a great move for them.

natesilver: It was a little bit ambiguous. Dallas is tanking, obviously, so maybe they just play him for like six games to show he still had something left (as an inducement to free agents, etc.) and then find some excuse to shut him down.

chris.herring: Yeah. Porzingis probably wasn’t going to play for NYK this year. Maybe he gets into a few games for Dallas, but I doubt it.

natesilver: Yeah, they might as well tank too. Maybe not an outright tank, but they do keep their own pick if it’s 1-5.

chris.herring: If you’re the Mavs, this makes sense. You’ve still got Harrison Barnes under contract making a lot of money. Hardaway is under contract a couple more years.

tchow: “Makes sense” is such an understatement here.

natesilver: Don’t the Mavs have space for a max free agent too?

chris.herring: I don’t think so? Not with all the money they just took on.

The 12 teams with projected cap space will now likely shrink to 11 with the Mavericks coming off the board. The Hardaway Jr./Lee/KP additions will put the team over the cap heading into the summer.

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) January 31, 2019

This trade was their free agency, in a way. Dallas very quietly just hit us with a Nash/Dirk redux. Except Luka can score better than Nash, and Porzingis can defend.

natesilver: It looks like they should have cap space in 2020-21, though, when the Barnes/Powell contracts all come off the books.

chris.herring: Two or three years from now, they’ll have cap money again, and you imagine players would want to team up with a duo like that.

tchow: (if Porzingis signs)

chris.herring: Porzingis will be 25 in two years. Luka will be 22. Also, can we talk about the fact that the Mavs were at the Garden last night? And Mark Cuban was there. I imagine this topic came up.

natesilver: Ahhh didn’t think about that. But, yeah, it seems pretty weird to think this deal was just conjured up out of thin air.

tchow: They knew. They fucking knew.

chris.herring: Dennis Smith Jr. logged a triple-double.

natesilver: Haha.

tchow:

DONCIC AND PORZINGIS LAST NIGHT pic.twitter.com/BcrrJRzaBg

— Mitchell Moore (@MitchellFanly) January 31, 2019

natesilver: Oh shit!!!!!

tchow: Look at that. That’s a “we’re going to be teammates” handshake.

natesilver: THE FIX WAS IN.

chris.herring: I soooo hope the Knicks — who could’ve drafted Smith but instead took Frank Ntilikina — weren’t enamored by his good game to where they said, “You know what? That sounds good to us.”

tchow: Chris, that is EXACTLY what happened.

chris.herring: What it all comes down to for the Knicks is free agency: If you land two guys who are truly worth it, it’s hard to look back at this and be angry.

tchow: And there is my silver lining.

chris.herring: But for the time being, it is just astounding.

natesilver: The Knicks also haven’t drafted very well. Kevin Knox is regarded as a future rotation piece, if not a star, and I sorta get why because he looks like a good player, but his numbers are unbelievably terrible.

chris.herring: Also: My favorite stat ever, from my Knick beat days: The Knicks haven’t re-signed one of their draft picks on a multiyear deal since Charlie Ward, who they took in 1994. Trading Porzingis keeps that alive.

natesilver: Wow. BASKETBALL MECCA.

tchow: That is insane.

chris.herring: So them wanting to build it through free agency is fitting.

natesilver: I think I have to go to their next home game just to see what a shitshow it is.

tchow: FiveThirtyEight field trip, Nate?

natesilver: I’m down, dude. At least tickets will be cheap.

tchow: Hey, at least we still have Allonzo Trier. And Enes Kanter is back. Things are looking up for the Knicks.

chris.herring: Not that it has any bearing on how this summer pans out. But I think their last four deals for $90 million or more were, in this order: Melo, Amar’e Stoudemire, Stephon Marbury and Allan Houston.

natesilver: I mean, just look at this shit:

tchow: My god that is … depressing.

natesilver: I guess their bigs have been OK? Noah Vonleh and Luke Kornet and Mitchell Robinson?

neil: Ooof, you were not kidding about Knox’s numbers, Nate.

natesilver: Yeah, Neil, and it’s not just some advanced stats thing. He’s shooting just 37 percent. Just 4.2 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.3 blocks per game. For a guy who’s pretty athletic, that’s kind of sad.

neil: Maybe he’s on the Enes Kanter diet.

natesilver: Knox has a nice-looking 3-point stroke, and I guess you can say he’d get the numbers up if they weren’t tanking. That’s what’s a little hard to figure out on a team like the Knicks where they basically don’t have any incentive to work in their shot selection or to play defense.

tchow: If this is just going to become a shitting on Knox chat, I think it’s time to end it.

natesilver: I’m happy to also shit on other Knicks.

tchow: Just for fun, to end this chat, should we all say who we think won this trade?

chris.herring: Assuming the Knicks don’t land two absolute studs in FA, the Mavs.

natesilver: It’s clearly a good trade for Dallas. Where it ends up on the spectrum from “terrible” to “OK” for the Knicks depends on the draft picks and, yeah, the free agent situation.

chris.herring: Agreed, Nate. You just paired two of the best 25-and-under players in the league together. It could turn out to be a home run for both sides. I just don’t have that level of faith that everything will go right for New York.

natesilver: There is a downside risk with Porzingis, too, which is that he’s never really healthy again. But you do have a year to evaluate him before making a commitment. So the fact that he’s not looking to sign a long-term extension right away is both a bug and a feature.

chris.herring: I guess.

neil: And given the lengths we’ve seen teams go to just to have a chance to get a franchise-altering star, it seems worth it.

chris.herring: I’d be OK with that gamble if it means giving up DSJ and a pick. Dallas has always been willing to roll the dice on acquiring a star.

tchow: You know who won? NBA Twitter won cause this is going to provide so much content for the next few days/until Anthony Davis gets traded.

chris.herring: They even traded Tyson Chandler the summer after he was the linchpin to their title because they thought it’d allow them a chance at a star. They wanted to clear space.

neil: The NBA needs to push its trade deadline further from the Super Bowl.

Wait your turn, NBA! You’ll have the limelight next week.

chris.herring: NOPE. In fact, I hope Bryce Harper and Manny Machado sign today, too.

micah (Micah Cohen, managing editor): My two cents: I lost because I’m waiting for Nate to file a piece about independent presidential campaigns and the Porzingis trade has, I’m sure, delayed it.

Check out our latest NBA predictions.

from News About Sports https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-have-the-knicks-done/

[numberonetrashcollectorus-blog]

I’ve been cancelled by Intact Insurance Co.?

"I've been cancelled by Intact Insurance Co.?

I got cancelled for non-payment in 2014. I would like to go with another company (Economical)... Can I still go with the company economical? The reason why I ask, is because people have told me that if i've been cancelled then I cannot go with another company for minimum 3 years. Any answers will help! Thanks!

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://financeandcreditsolution.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

RELATED QUESTIONS: 

""How much could be the average insurance for a SMART car in Germany, Freiburg?""

I want to buy a used car, from 2002 or something like that. I need a small car, like Smart For Two.""

Is it possible to obtain a learner's permit without having my parents' insurance rates go up?

I am a 16 year old in NY and my parents do not want me to obtain a learner's permit because they are afraid that their insurance rates will go up and they cannot afford it now. Now, a friend told me that I could go to the NY DMV without my parents and get a learner's permit. Is this possible? I would like a learner's permit not only for the ability to drive, but also as a solid form of photo ID (like, instead of a passport). What should I do about this? PS. My parents won't be convinced.""

Mandatory insurance?!?

Here in Massachusetts EVERYONE has to have health insurance, and if you wanna drive you have to have car insurance. How can this be legal? How can the government force me into buying a product or service?! Whats next, are they going to make it mandatory for everyone to buy 7th generation ipods? This is ridiculous. What if i dont want insurance? What if i cant afford it? WTF?!! Is their any legal way around this? Or are they going arrest me if i dont get any insurance? Should i board up my windows and stock up on guns?""

How do you pay for auto insurance?

teen trying to understand how insurance works

Whats the cheapest bike insurance for a 1st time biker - 21 yrs - 125cc only CBT done?

Any gd experience to pass on? (Honda CG125)

Can somebody explain to me what LP means in home insurance?

For example, I know that there is a classification in homes that's called LP3 . What does that mean??""

Homeowner insurance am I right?

So am I right? If I rent-to-own a home but the deed is still in the owners name untill I pay off the house. I cannot get homeowner insurance because the deed is in the owners name? But after I pay the house off I can get homeowner insurance because the deed will be in my name? I am paying the homeowners insurance though and if somthing happends to the house what the insurance will pay is the balance and I get nothing. So I should get renters insurance ??

Do i need insurance to drive parents car in PA?

i just got my liscense and was wondering if i need insurance to drive my parents car?

""Driver's license address, insurance address, etc. etc. discrepancies?""

Hi guys. Well, to start out with I have my driver's license address set to my uncle's house in pembroke pines, FL, but I live here in Hialeah Gardens, FL. Why do I have it set to my uncle's house you ask? Well, back when I was 18 (i'm 20 now) my mom persuaded me to set my insurance address (progressive) to my uncle's house so it would be cheaper. It's cheaper by like $100. Now, I'm scared I can be legally held liable or whatever if I get in a crash or whatever the case. I mean, I'm sure there has to be some type of deterrent or punishment so people don't do this kind of stuff like me. Another thing I'm worried about is when cops stop me. Since those two years I have only been stopped three times for minor infractions that did not go punished. Another thing is when I have to apply at jobs. Usually employers don't really care that on the application it says pembroke pines as long as I let them know I actually live close to them in hialeah gardens. I recently applied for my security officer D license and the problem is that in some companies I have to put the address that it says on my license like in any other job but, the problem is that they locate your post depending on were you live. If anyone can shoot me any information it would be more than appreciated, thanks!""

What is going on car insurance ?

i had a crash over a year ago, my car insurance took it to court last week due to the other party not having any evidence or produce thier side of events etc. the Judge told them they had a week to comply and they should settle 80-20 in my favour but they still are playing hard ball by saying they think i know my witness, so they should have it 80-20 in their favour , of which i dont. so why are they still not showing their side of the crash etc, and dragging this out. also is this legal?""

Where are gender therapist in Michigan that's affordable or that take medicaid?

trying to seek help but my funds are kind of low and I have medicaid insurance and I live in Clinton, Michigan can anyone help I really need help please""

""When settling with an auto insurance company after a car accident, what is an appropriate amount to request?""

I hurt my neck (muscle strain, nothing broken) in a car accident and have exhaused the Personal Injury Protection with the insurance company. They said to call them after my physical therapy was completed to settle for the pain and suffering. The neck pain is still there and will most likely be chronic regardless of any additional physical therapy. I've heard that people are typically given 2X the amount of medical expenses. I don't want to hire a lawyer but don't want to get less than I deserve either. Any advice on how much to ask for would be appreciated.""

Will I be able to find car insurance for a '68 Ford Mustang?

I am planning on going through AAA. But I'm wondering if they will insure a car that is more than 40 years old? Will it be more or less expensive than it would be to insure a regular car? Has anyone had experience with insurance for a car more than 20-30 years old before??

Cheapest Motorcycle insurance?

I have a job & have paid my car insurance fully each month since I was 16 it was expected of me. I also tend to pay for my motorcycle insurance I have 2 jobs & go to College. I have had 3 speeding tickets 2 in 2008 & one in 2009 2 were around 10MPH over & the 3rd was around 15ish. I have my reasons for speeding regardless drive down the interstate & find more then 3 people that don't speed..SERIOUSLY I HAD PLACES TO BE cops are prejudice. Anyway I want a 02 or newer Motorcycle & state farm is my current provider although I know that are Top Of The Line & I just want the cheapest insurance for motorcycles. I understand my rates will be higher then average but I turn 21 in a year and it can only drop. I just need some Input here. Thank you!

A question about car insurnace?

Hello, I just paid my car insurance......the lady said I should get my own insurance so I can start getting my own discounts , I am 30 years old and both my sisters (32 and 28) are on my mom and dad's insurance plan too, we get a multi line and multi car discount that adds up to about $40 dollars every 6 months for me.....I was in a hurry so I didn't really ask why but was wondering about it after I left.....I pay $112 every 6 months so $40 extra would be kind of crazy wouldn't it? Just wondering why......thank you.......""

Would my insurance still pay for this?

My car got hit the other day and I got an estimate for it. It'll cost $500 and it's just a long scratch. If I tried touching it up with car paint and whatever and it comes out looking like sh*t will the body shop still do it's work or would I have to pay for it since I messed with it?

""A good car for 2000, Cheap to run but not bad looking.?""

Right as the title suggests. I am looking for a new car which is a cheap insurance group (7 max) and a cheap tax band. theyre would be leeway on the right car. Now it has to be good looking i am a 23 year old bloke and don't want to be driving anything boy racerish equally anything which is quite old looking! If anyone can help, many thanks :)""

What is a good car that is cheep and i won't have to pay a higher insurance?

researching a new car and with money so tight im looking for cheep...so what ever you guys can give that is cheep, and won't raise my insurance is great""

Free or inexpensive health care?

I dont qualify for medicaid and my job doesnt offer insurance...where can i get some good coverage for cheap?

Why did geico increase my auto insurance rate for no reason?

My renewed 6-month policy has increased by $120 for seemingly no reason. Haven't had any wrecks or tickets. I called geico to inquire, and was told that all rates in Texas have increased. Have other insurance companies rates increased as well?""

Young Car Insurance?!?

Hi! I currently have a Peugeot 306 1.4 Meridian I'm 18 years of age, and my test is in a few days! I've been filling out forms on the internet, and phoning various different companies for quotes! The cheapest i have recieved so far is 4,800 for a thirdparty fire and theft cover! How, as a student am i supposed to get my hands on that type of money?! Its pathetic how we're expected to pay so much! Is there anybody out there, who can help me get a cheaper quote! I wouldn't mind if it was 2000 even, which is still a pathetic price for me to drive to college and back! Thanks in advance. Jamie""

What do you think about my car insurance? Please help?

Hello, I'm an international student in the U.S. I've just bought Honda accord car (year 1999) and a driving license. I need your experiences to find the cheapest insuarnce. I've got two quets until now. One is from Geico company which offered about 700$ per six months, and Sate Farm which offered about 600$ per six months. I still see these offers expensive. Please help me to find the cheapest insurance. Thank you in advance.""

What is best health insurance for a 43 yrs old male single ?

not to expensive health insurance .

How much will motorcycle insurance and registration cost me per year?

I'm a 20 year old male and this will be my first motorcycle. I only have a permit right now but plan to get my licence immediately after registering and insuring my bike. Will that make a difference? I'm going to get like a 600 cc sport bike. I don't need an exact cost. Just shoot me a good range to expect. Thank you.

Help Buy Auto Insurance!?

Hi, Just bought a care and now as a second step looking for a auto insurance, must be cheap, reliable and have a good history of dealing with auto insurance. Regards!""

I've been cancelled by Intact Insurance Co.?

I got cancelled for non-payment in 2014. I would like to go with another company (Economical)... Can I still go with the company economical? The reason why I ask, is because people have told me that if i've been cancelled then I cannot go with another company for minimum 3 years. Any answers will help! Thanks!

MotorBike Insurance For CBT...?

i was just wondering if i bought a Honda CBR 125r and i got a provisional license ad done the CBT would i need insurance to ride on the roads for 2 years or would i not need insurance until i could save up money for lessons, theory and practical test....???""

Car insurance rates for teens?

I just got my drivers license a little more than a month ago. My parents are telling me that they're going to wait for another year before they add me to their insurance policy because it'll be less expense by then. Is this true? I also read somewhere that the earlier you add a teen to your insurance policy, the rates will lower quicker because they insurance company know that i'll have some experience by then. So if my parents add me to their insurance policy now, would it be lower in a year compared to them waiting a year for them to add me?""

Math question about cars and insurance?

I make 10 dollars an hour, full time job, 80+ hour checks with about 100 dollars in commission monthly. (1700 a month before taxes). I have to pay my rent, 325, my electric, 200 a month, and my phone bill- 40 dollars a month. My internet is 15 a month. How much do you think I could pay for a car, and insurance for a car without going broke? As in, what kind of price brackets should I stay in? I've been driving a car that's paid off since I was 16, now that car is falling apart. I need help, I've never done this before! :) Thanks!""

Cheapest MPV Insurance UK ?

Hi, I am 29 and just about to pass my driving test (hopefully), I have a family and need a 7 seater... I have been looking at Vauxhall Zafira's but the insurance is going to cost me approx 1050..... surely there must be a cheaper option ??? Any suggestions ? Thanks Lee""

What is the cheapest teenage auto insurance in texas??

in austin, texas just got a permit ....drive a honda,-accord ... am going to be 16 in like 4 months""

I got a citation for no proof of insurance and have a couple questions..?

so my first citation, annnd i was wondering if i take traffic school do i still have to pay the $1,000 fine for not having insurance at the time? also if i sell me car before the court date does that help ? if not what can i do to not pay because im broke no job and no money , willing to do community service.. can i do that for this kinda thing?""

""My husband and I are looking for life insurance but dont know the diffrence in term life, accidental and whole?

My husband is only 24 but was just diagnosed with Hep C.

What is good insurance for teens?

Can I have some good companies? I want the basic insurance package. im 17, male, senior in HS""

""Does the car title have to be transferred to your name before you get insurance, or insurance then title?""

in illinois.... ....a car was given to a friend. he needs to get insurance. does the title need to be transferred first? Also just moved to another state, so does the insurance need to come from the state the title was transferred in""

Is there any way i can get off your parents insurance?

because i want to apply for my own insurance. 17, 18 in 60 days.""

Best whole life insurance company that isn't that expensive?

My husband is planning to start driving a cab in the next few months. I have life insurance that my mother pays on, but we want to start a policy with a good company for my husband that is whole life, any recommendations?""

Buying first car and auto insurance question.?

I just got pre-approval for an auto loan. I do not even have a car in mind yet. My question is when do I contact insurance companies? Should I look at cars, pick on I like, and then contact car insurance companies about quotes or should I call them before I even go browsing? Im just a little lost. Also, I hear car insurance is flipping crazy for young men. Im a 22/Male in New Mexico so if anyone has insight or suggestions I would appreciate it :)""

Sprint insurance question.?

Can you only start insurance on your phone when you get it, or can you put insurance on it whenever you want? My phone is acting up and i've been on the contract for a few months now. Can I put insurance on the phone and then have the phone replaced with a new one?""

Lower my car insurance?

My car insurance is high, $1060 for just 6 months because of 2 accidents in the last few years. I am 21 and drive a 2000 Honda Accord Ex V6. I've shopped around and no other company's are lower so don't recommend that. Do you know any tricks to getting your car insurance lowered??""

Redlight violation?! Any way to lower the $381 fine and not raise insurance?

Help! This Saturday, I was in Fremont to pick up someone at the Bart station. I was on Mission and Mohave going straight towards the entrance to 880 when the light turned yellow. I started to stop but I felt that if I kept stopping I'd end up in the middle of the intersection so I pressed gas again and went through. I thought I made it on the yellow, but I saw the huge flash meaning the lovely camera took a picture of me. ): The fine is $381 according to http://www.fremontpolice.org/redlight/redlight.html plus a higher insurance, right? I'm freaking out. I'm a 17 year old high school student (I've had my license for over a year already) at a private Catholic school, straight A's in all my classes, super clean record, and I've never gotten a ticket before! I know I have to go to court but is there any way that the fine will be lowered and my insurance won't go up? If I go to traffic school will it be cheaper and keep my insurance down? Help please!""

Where can i get low cost motorcycle insurance ?

i live in ontario canada ,, i want to buy a honda cbr 250 , and would like to find a low cost insurance for my bike , so far i got some way off price quote with a difference of $280.00 ,so i suspect they are over charging ,even at the low end , they say i'm covered for 12 months months but a motorcycle is not meant to ride in cold and snow and salty streets as the salt would ruin the chain and other parts of the motorcycle .""

Where do I buy car insurance online?

Need to buy car insurance online and do not know how to go about it.

Can Auto Insurance Companies suspend drivers licenses?

Does anyone know for sure if an Auto Insurance Company has the right to suspend drivers licenses at any time or can the BMV only do that? We paid the required 20% down in car accident to get our licenses back, but can Auto Ins. Company suspend us now if we miss a payment after that down payment? Thanks for any help!""

Best car for low insurance? UK?

I'm 20 year old girl, just started having driving lessons so this would be my first car. I got an estimate online for where I live it would be about 1000; Greater (West) London but I know; obviously it depends. It would be cheaper on a classic car but don;t want the risk of repairs and high maintenance that would come with older cars. However I do love the classics and would consider them if it decreases the insurance. I'm a student living at home. What cars would be best for low insurance? I love Volkswagen Beetles but want to look at other cars as well. What are some 'low risk' cars that won;t drive my insurance through the roof??? Thanks for all the help!!!""

How do you find out if buisness's / companys have insurance?

how do you find out if a newspaper company has insurance

What exaclty are the purpose and definition of INSURANCE?

Why did people invent insurance, what was their reasoning behind it? And why did we make auto insurance mandatory...or the insurance for your home? Wasn' t it conceived to help in case of catastrophic events? Isn't the purpose of health inurance similar..to help pay for the catastrophic or complex diseases? How is making this mandatory different from making auto insurance mandatory?""

""How to save more money as a teen, for a car and motorcycle?""

I'm about to turn 16, and would like to save up for a reliable, cheap (2k-4.5k), good-looking, car. It has to be American, or anything other than Honda, Subaru, Toyota, Lexus, Hyundai, etc. cause dad works for GM. I am paying for the car on my own, most likely, but maybe I can convince parents to pay 1k or so. Money is tight right now in my family. Dad got demoted last year during GM's bankruptcy, and may get a promotion in spring. My Mom is opening a restaurant this year, which is going to cost a lot. I got a job in November at a brand new Kroger grocery store, where I get minimum wage and cannot work over 16 hours per week because I'm only 15. I have saved a little over 1.2k in the bank. I also have invested $500 of my own money this year into stocks, which are up a little. This might sound dumb to some, but I have dreamed of buying a motorcycle. I want a Kawasaki Ninja 650R. AND YES, I KNOW INSURANCE COSTS MONEY, (FOR CAR AND MOTORCYCLE) I'M NOT AN IDIOT. I also need to plan on how to save for that. Any tips, help, and info would be great! Thanks so much.""

I've been pulled over last night no insurance and no L plates HELP ME PLEASE?

Hello, I'm a genuine person, who has had a bad past with motoring, 3 - 4 years ago i was a maniac, a complete ideot who defied everything that was said and told to him( been caught for no insurance and disqual driving and driving without a license x15 times but after relizing what a ideot i was i decided to go the straight and narrow, so i got my license back last august with 6 points on it, they aint due to clear till next year although they are dated 2009?! any way, i own a decent 09 bike, that isnt cheap and i was what i thought fully insured (otherwise i wouldnt have driven and risked loosing my bike) anyways i got pulled over last night for speeding, and it came apparant i wasnt insured :O i rang my girlfriend and got her to produce the paperwork, they couldnt get hold of my insurance company due to they were shut at 10pm at night :S so they decided to seize my bike!:@ they give me a gypsys warning about the speeding, and refered me to court for no insurance no L plates, my arguement is, after going home and checking my bank, i have been driving for 3 months uninsured ( i really had no intention of doing so) i had thought that when my giro money lands into my bank acc swintons took it out the same day so i never defaulted, but this is not the case and i have defaulted. so i have insured my bike immediately after relizing what has happened and im going to get it out the impound in a minute (15 hours later after being seized) but the genuine thing is i've always had a rear L plate till 4 days ago when it snapped and i was waiting on my giro to come to purchase a new one, however i know that is no excuse but its the truth! what can i say to the judge to not get myself banned! the L plates situation is difficult because there like1 to buy but i have 0 pence! and i run my bike of scrap yard petrol ( filtered runs sweet) and i will take full admission to only ever having one L plate on my bike and explain my situation but what can i say or do so i dont get banned!? im really stuck with this one, it really is annoying as i had no intention to drive without insurance?! thanks guys""

What is a good low cost Automobile Insurance Company?

No Geico (they are very high)!

Do I Need Car Insurance to drive my parents car?

I live in ct and i was wondering can i drive my parenst car as long as they have car insurance on a registered car or do i have to be on a policy too?

I've been cancelled by Intact Insurance Co.?

I got cancelled for non-payment in 2014. I would like to go with another company (Economical)... Can I still go with the company economical? The reason why I ask, is because people have told me that if i've been cancelled then I cannot go with another company for minimum 3 years. Any answers will help! Thanks!

Rough cost of car insurance for 46 year old woman in UK?

Rough cost of car insurance for 46 year old woman in UK?

Insurance on a new and used car?

I was wondering what would be cheaper, insurance on a new car, or a used car (nothing too old though, 2004 to 2008)""

Will my insurance rate go down when I get my license? I have my learners permit?

I have my learners permit and i was paying about 120 a month in insurace, If I go get my license, will my insurance go down?""

How much insurance do you guys pay for a Harley (v rod)?

I am planning on buying a hd v rod soon and I'm 21. I've been driving my car for almost 6 years and have a clean driving recorrect (if it matters). I was wondering how much people pay for motorcycle insurance?

What good is affordable health care when more...?

people are out of work then there are people without health insurance?

Which insurance company offer the lowest price to insure my car? I have a Ford contour 2000 y.?

i need for emergency to insure my car in the cheapest way-very important.That's why i need the best offers from insurance Companyes

Motorcycle insurance for 16 year old?

Just wondering, how much would motorcycle insurance be monthly for a 16 year old, living in NY, say with a 500-600 cc engine bike?""

Divorced Parent's Car Insurance?

I'm under my mothers car insurance policy, so does that mean if i drive my fathers truck and I get into an accident, Were not covered? and does someone in your immediate family need car insurance when driving it if you are the registered owner""

How can insurance companies find out if you have a pre-existing condition??

I have heard people mention the MIB as a source, but where do they get their info? I thought medical records were strictly private, how do they find out your past medical info? Ty!""

If you don't have auto insurance can you get auto insurance from enterprise to rent a vehicle?

i don't have auto insurance at the moment.. will enterprise give me auto insurance for a rental? how much does that cost usually?

Newborn Baby Insurance?

I recently found out I am pregnant, luckily I am currently covered under my father's insurance still but I need to get insurance for my baby once he or she is born. Anyone have a good idea as to were I should go. I believe I won't be able to file for Medicaid which is perfectly fine just curious what other mother's or fathers have done.""

Motorbike insurance question (UK)?

ok i am planning on building my own motorbike from scratch. i did a little bit of research into insurance costs and i can't seem to find any company that offers insurance for home built bikes. they all ask what make and model it is but how could i tell them that if i built it myself? also any suggestions of companies that would insure a home build would be help full. thanks guys & gals

Should I buy car insurance or not?

I am a teenage driver of 16. Insurance is very high for a teenager. My parents have Allstate Car Insurance for four of their cars including a Toyota Corolla which im going to be driving. The Corolla is covered by AllState insurance. I have a California Driver's License and live in California. About 6 months ago, my mom asked the insurance company whether the insurance would cover the car if she lent the car to someone and the insurance company said that they would cover the car as soon as the person who borrowed the car has a VALID DRIVERS LICENSE. I have a valid drivers license but I am under 18 (I am 16). The insurance person did not say anything about age. My question is whether it is necessary or not to buy insurance for myself. It will be very expensive and I do not want to pay for it but I will If i have to. Do I have to get my own insurance for the car or not? If I dont buy insurance and I drive the corolla and get pulled over, am I okay or will I have problems?""

Car insurance advice for a 17 year old?

Hello, I just bought a Citroen AX for 500, and have payed a lump sum of 2800 for 12 months insurance. My question is: If I get a 1 year no claims bonus when im 18, how much cheaper will my next 12 month insurance be? How much less do you think It will cost after a year of no claims. And If possible: How cheaper would It cost to insure that car after 4 years no claims? Thanks.""

Premium vs deductible? Health Insurance?

I'm really confused by everything having to deal with Health Insurance. I know a deductible is what you pay before the insurance company pays the rest. But what is the premium? And are these two related?? Please Help.

How much should insurance be for a 19 year old?

im a 19 year old male and i am going to buy a old 1987 ford f-150, how much should i expect to pay for insurance on my truck?""

How much is an average ttuck insurance quote? ?

I'm planing on geting a 1999 Chevy silverado 1500 and I'm wondering how much insurance is

Insurance box keeping car at different address?

i'm thinkg of getting insuranca box installed to reduce the cost of the premium, but i keep my car at different address, would they know that?""

Why is my insurance so high?

So I am 21 years old working part time as a supervisor with a certain big brown shipping company. I am making decent money, and was, at the time, driving a really high mileage 1998 explorer that got terrible MPG and was nickle and dimeing me to death, so I decided to go look for a new car. The car I found, was a 2011 Suzuki Kizashi S. It had really high safety ratings, the car itself was in very good condition (the previous owner was a little old lady who I actually got to meet because her nephew was the car salesman I bought it from, who even brought me all of the paperwork on the maintenance she had - impeccable maintenance record I might add), and the average highway mpg, is double that of my explorer. However, I made a mistake of not confirming what my insurance rate would change to when I called State Farm over the phone to have my coverage changed to the new vehicle, and now here I am paying triple what I did for the explorer. I don't get it, how does a little 4 door sedan w/ awesome safety ratings and all that jazz cost me $224 a month to insure, but a 4WD fully loaded explorer, in Colorado, that I had since I was 17, was only like $63 a month. I mean, I understand that a vehicle that isn't paid off yet is going to have higher insurance thanks to the lender requiring full coverage, but I don't know ANYONE around my age paying this much except for a guy I work with who drives an Acura and got a massive ticket for going a buck 20 in a 45 speed zone and now pays like 350 a month. Is there something particular about this car that I wasn't aware of? It's a great car, but the huge insurance cost is really hurting what I'd planned to be able to afford per month on top of my other bills.""

How much is car insurance for a 17 yr old girl with her own car in Ireland?

How much is car insurance for a 17 yr old girl with her own car in Ireland?

Teen car insurance!!!?

I live in Missouri and I'm 15, going on 16. I need a good car insurance and it has to be cheap! Please tell me some good, but cheap car insurance companies!""

Car insurance help?

I'm 46 (female) and just got my probationary license in northern NJ. Is it possible to get my own insurance. How much would you expect it to be since I have to wait a year to get my full license? 10 points

Can I add a non-family member to my auto-insurance plan?

I use USAA. I was wondering if I could add my boyfriend as part of my insurance plan, and he would just pay me when the bill comes. We do not live together yet, so I'm wondering if this is possible. He'd be driving his own car. The reason I'm asking is because USAA has good rates and I was wondering if I could share it with him.""

Would the health issues I have impact my insurability or rates for life insurance?

I'm a 51-year-old female. I've been on disability for six years for chronic fatigue syndrome, depression and panic disorder. I also have mild hypertension. I'm on meds for all these conditions. BUT I've never had, nor have any family history of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, any sort of breathing problems or major organ dysfunction. I would think it might even be a plus in terms of insurability that I rarely leave my house!""

Im 19 how much does the average 19 year old pay for car insurance?

I live in new york city

I've been cancelled by Intact Insurance Co.?

I got cancelled for non-payment in 2014. I would like to go with another company (Economical)... Can I still go with the company economical? The reason why I ask, is because people have told me that if i've been cancelled then I cannot go with another company for minimum 3 years. Any answers will help! Thanks!

Obtaining auto insurance quote for dummies?

I've done a little Google searching and haven't found a clear answer to my question. Can anyone help me out? When getting a quote from a new insurance provider, when you report past driving incidents do you report them as what the police officer originally originally charged you with, or as the plea bargain given to you by the judge? I got a speeding ticket awhile back but when I went to court the judge gave me a plea bargain which lowered the violation to driving with a defective tail light , driving an unsafe vehicle or something of that nature. I don't remember exactly. So, when getting a quote from a new provider, do I list the incident as a speeding ticket? Or as the violation that I was actually convicted of? Thanks so much in advance for your help. I will be assure to award the best answer!!!! You know you want that best answer!! :)""

What does this quote about Health Insurance mean?

(The Headline - 2 Calif. health insurers to pay $13M for dropping clients ) This fine sends the message that if you come into California to sell health insurance, YOU MUST PLAY BY THE RULES, said Cindy Ehnes, the director of the state's Department of Managed Health Care. [caps mine] http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-07-18-insurance-settlements_N.htm""

Is there a auto insurance i can get for a low cost?

Is there a auto insurance i can get for a low cost?

How much does your credit rating affect your car insurance premium?

The CSR from my company just told me that continuous coverage is much more of a discount than a good credit rating gives you. So, overall, about what percent do folks in the know think that the credit rating matters?""

In wreck in oklahoma with out insurance what wil happen to me?

was in wreck with out insurance there were people hurt what could happen to her?

How much will car insurance be for my 146 year old mother?

How much will car insurance be for my 146 year old mother?

Car Insurance- Am i covered?

If i drive my uncles car, and i dont have insurance myself am i covered in case of an accident(he has full insurance). hes live in ca and we are in different households. thanks""

SR-22 Insurance only exists in Washington state?!?

Is this true? I have to get one of them expensive insurance in order to get my license back, but soon I'm leaving this ugly state of Washington. is it true that SR-22 only applies to residents of Washington state?""

Best Health Insurance Quote for uk?

Can you Suggest me Good Place where I can get Quote to Life Insurance?

Title insurance in WA?

My lender charged me about $2,100 (for both lender's and owner's title insurance) for a home price of about $260,000. Is this normal? How much the rate for title insurance in WA state? What is the best title insurance company in WA state? Thank you in advance. Jo""

Where can i get cheap and full coverage auto insurance?any good suggestions?

need full coverage for my car . I am looking around $150.00 a month MAX. Thanks!

I need to rent a car but I have no car insurance?

I am 25 and have a secured credit card and am looking to rent a car for my road trip in December but have no car insurance at this time since my car needs a lot of repairs and so basically it's just sitting in my parents driveway until I can get it fixed and is not registered therefore I don't have insurance on it. Long story short this is my first time renting a car ever and it's just going to be me driving but since I don't have car insurance then how does this work? Help is appreciated.

New jersey car insurance do I need drivers license? I have a new york drivers license buy car insurance for Ny?

New jersey car insurance do I need drivers license? I have a new york drivers license buy car insurance for Ny is the highest ever.My sister lives in Nj is it possible I can use his address to get cheaper Car insurance...Or do I need a new jersey drivers license as well??

""I am buying a used innova car, will the car insurance be in my name?

The car is having a loan of Rs 350000/- & i am planing to take over the loan. But if any thing happens to the car in the loan period will the insurance company pay to me or the owner who has made the insurance.

Insurace for a 2001 mustang?

My girlfriend who is 17 is wanting to get her own car. Her parents won't let her put a car on their insurance plan so she wants to get her own. She is looking at a 2001 mustang v6 automatic and wants to know, roughly, how much the insurance would cost her on her own. (she plans on getting esurance).""

Gieco Car insurance $$$ for new drivers?

I'm turning 16 real soon but with these new laws i wont be able to drive until I'm 17, but anyway I'm saving for a car probably like 2k-3.5k range.....ive already saved up 1k but i was wondering how much i need to save up to pay for insurance and gas. (im a guy, b- average in school, ill be buying a sedan, I live in CT if that helps) thanks.....if u could just give me a general price range that would be fine i just have no idea how much it is.""

Speeding Ticket Insurance Rates?

So recently I received a speeding ticket. Because I'm a minor when I went to traffic court the judge told me that if I went to traffic school my ticket would not be reported to the DMV. So I went to traffic school and passed and all that jazz so my question is whether I report this as an incident when I look for insurance (I'm looking at motorcycles for when I go to college) even though it does not appear on my record. Thanks Guys.

Should I tell my insurance company that my car was broken into?

My car was broken into last night, between the hours of 9:30pm, and 7am, just parked in front of the condo we live in. Some things of value were taken, ( estimated around $130, or $150 in value...no damage was done to the car, they must've just picked the locks) so I filed a police report this morning...is this something I should report to my car insurance provider? If so, how would filing a report with insurance help me? I'm 19, and have been driving for a little over two years now, my insurance is through AAA. I have had no previous driving offenses on my record, or anything. (This has never happened to me before, so pardon some irrelevent info, here!) before. Do you recommend I file a claim with AAA, or just let the police handle it entirely? When would I need to file a claim by? (like, a deadline, time-wise.)""

Where can i get affordable medical insurance?

I need to get affordable medical insurance for my wife and I. We both work and our jobs don't provide insurance. Any suggestions?

What is the average insurance for a 17 year old female driver?

The car is going to be a 2003 Oldsmobile Alero. Going to have drivers ed and a the 5 hour driving course. Living in NYS. About how much would it be per month?

Is car insurance much cheaper if you have more than one vehicle?

I heard that it is, so I call Esurance to ask them and make sure and the lady on the phone said that it will be much higher if I insured 2 vehicles. -civic 4door year2000 -ford winstar year2000 -New York""

I'm Pregnant With No Insurance?

When Should i go to the doctor?! And Also.. I don't have insurance.. and was wondering what am i supposed to do about that?!! i currently live in california but me and my boyfriend are soon moving to washington. any suggestions or sites you know of for gov't aid?? by the way.. i hate having to go through gov't assistance right now... but it seems to be my only option. any help?!!

I am 17 how can I get cheap car insurance?

I have an ac cobra with a LS3 V8 in it. Is there a way to get cheap insurance. Could I get my dad to get insurance for the car from another country allowing anyone to drive the car insured?

Good site for buy SR22 Insurance Texas?

I had my first Dwi... :(

Cheapest insurance for teenager with traffic violations?

I was just wondering what company has the cheapest insurance for a 17 year old male with three traffic tickets. I'm not looking for a lecture on how I should know better or to have people call me stupid. I've already learned my lesson and I don't speed anymore. But these tickets are still following me around for the next three years. I leave for college in a couple months, and I need a car. But everywhere we have called (Progressive, Allstate, Nationwide, etc.) has given us a quote that is over ten times what we are paying now. Anybody have any advice? Who is usually the cheapest company to go through?""

I've been cancelled by Intact Insurance Co.?

I got cancelled for non-payment in 2014. I would like to go with another company (Economical)... Can I still go with the company economical? The reason why I ask, is because people have told me that if i've been cancelled then I cannot go with another company for minimum 3 years. Any answers will help! Thanks!

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/multiple-horse-insurance-quotes-nathan-fleming/"

[sedatedwildflower]

200 things you can put in my ask 200: My crush’s name is: Marissa
199: I was born in: Texas 
198: I am really: irritated
197: My cellphone company is: at&t
196: My eye color is: brown
195: My shoe size is: 9
194: My ring size is: 9
193: My height is: 5'4
192: I am allergic to: wheat, cats, morphine
191: My 1st car was: Chevy Malibu
190: My 1st job was: Belleria 
189: Last book you read: You Are A Badass
188: My bed is: my home
187: My pet: Cleveland & Cocoa! ❤️
186: My best friend: I have a few 
185: My favorite shampoo is: Treśemme or Hempz 
184: Xbox or ps3: I don't play
183: Piggy banks are: ceramic
182: In my pockets: I don't have pockets
181: On my calendar: Nothing atm
180: Marriage is: 50/50
179: Spongebob can: live in a pineapple under the sea
178: My mom: The most perfect human on the planet 
177: The last three songs I bought were? I couldn't tell you the last time I bought a song
176: Last YouTube video watched: Hm, I think it was ASAP Ferg's "Persian Wine"
175: How many cousins do you have? Too many to count 
174: Do you have any siblings? A brother 
173: Are your parents divorced? Never married but they're not together either 
172: Are you taller than your mom? Not by a lot
171: Do you play an instrument? Nope
170: What did you do yesterday? Went to the doctor [ I Believe In ]
169: Love at first sight: I do
168: Luck: Sometimes
167: Fate: Depends
166: Yourself: Not really
165: Aliens: Never put much thought into it
164: Heaven: yes
163: Hell: yes
162: God: yes
161: Horoscopes: some can be very accurate but not always 
160: Soul mates: mhm
159: Ghosts: yes
158: Gay Marriage: absolutely
157: War: shouldn't even be a thing 
156: Orbs: I believe some people have the gift
155: Magic: That's debatable [ This or That ]
154: Hugs or Kisses: From who? 
153: Drunk or High: High
152: Phone or Online: Phone
151: Red heads or Black haired: black haired
150: Blondes or Brunettes: brunettes of course 
149: Hot or cold: happy medium
148: Summer or winter: summer 
147: Autumn or Spring: autumn
146: Chocolate or vanilla: chocolate 
145: Night or Day: day
144: Oranges or Apples: apples
143: Curly or Straight hair: straight 
142: McDonalds or Burger King: Mickey D's
141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: milk
140: Mac or PC: Mac
139: Flip flops or high heels: my heart says high heels but my feet say flip flops
138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: sweet and poor 
137: Coke or Pepsi: coke
136: Hillary or Obama: Obama
135: Buried or cremated: nah
134: Singing or Dancing: dancing 
133: Coach or Chanel: neither 
132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: Kat
131: Small town or Big city: Don't like the city 
130: Wal-Mart or Target: BOTH
129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: Adam Sandler
128: Manicure or Pedicure: pedicure 
127: East Coast or West Coast: west coast
126: Your Birthday or Christmas: my birthday 
125: Chocolate or Flowers: flowers
124: Disney or Six Flags: Disney
123: Yankees or Red Sox: don't think I'm qualified to answer that [ Here’s What I Think About ]
122: War: all of it can go away
121: George Bush: you put us in the dog house 
120: Gay Marriage: they deserved that right a long time ago 
119: The presidential election: is now a joke 
118: Abortion: I suppose that depends on the situation 
117: MySpace: use to be lit 
116: Reality TV: hate it 
115: Parents: should protect their children
114: Back stabbers: bye
113: Ebay: amazon
112: Facebook: you got my vote 
111: Work: is a part of life 
110: My Neighbors: don't wanna talk to people
109: Gas Prices: can gas be like 1.75 please 
108: Designer Clothes: I fuck w/ tommy hilfiger & calvin klein 
107: College: meh
106: Sports: I like baseball
105: My family: my team
104: The future: scares me [ Last time I ]
103: Hugged someone: earlier tonight 
102: Last time you ate: I had a popsicle about 20 mins ago 
101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: last week
100: Cried in front of someone: today
99: Went to a movie theater: I honestly couldn't tell you 
98: Took a vacation: maybe when I was 16
97: Swam in a pool: last summer 
96: Changed a diaper: it's been a while 
95: Got my nails done: like 2 years ago for my birthday
94: Went to a wedding: don't remember 
93: Broke a bone: I don't lift a finger enough to do so 
92: Got a peircing: when I was 18
91: Broke the law: pretty solid on not doing that 
90: Texted: now [ MISC ]
89: Who makes you laugh the most: Mandy
88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: seeing my mom everyday
87: The last movie I saw: House of Bodies
86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: visiting the wolf creek habitat this summer 
85: The thing im not looking forward to: waking up at 6 on Monday 
84: People call me: juju
83: The most difficult thing to do is: not care
82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: like 3 times 
81: My zodiac sign is: cancer 
80: The first person i talked to today was: my dog
79: First time you had a crush: when I was 5
78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: Mandy
77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: I don't remember 
76: Right now I am talking to: Cheyenne & Mandy
75: What are you going to do when you grow up: hopefully be a photographer 
74: I have/will get a job: what
73: Tomorrow: is Friday 
72: Today: is Thursday 
71: Next Summer: I'll be 23
70: Next Weekend: who knows 
69: I have these pets: 2 doggos
68: The worst sound in the world: a screaming child 
67: The person that makes me cry the most is: don't get that list started 
66: People that make you happy: my friends & my family
65: Last time I cried: today 
64: My friends are: literally the best 
63: My computer is: used for Netflix 
62: My School: is non existent cause I don't attend 
61: My Car: is snazzy for my age 
60: I lose all respect for people who: never thought about it 
59: The movie I cried at was: the game plan
58: Your hair color is: dark brown 
57: TV shows you watch: mostly criminal minds & its always sunny 
56: Favorite web site: Netflix ❤️
55: Your dream vacation: Bora Bora
54: The worst pain I was ever in was: that's personal. 
53: How do you like your steak cooked: well done but not burnt ☝🏼
52: My room is: a hot mess 
51: My favorite celebrity is: Matthew Gray Gubler
50: Where would you like to be: anywhere but here 
49: Do you want children: yes
48: Ever been in love: I don't know anymore 
47: Who’s your best friend: ultimately it's my dogs 
46: More guy friends or girl friends: definitely girls 
45: One thing that makes you feel great is: water 
44: One person that you wish you could see right now: Mandy
43: Do you have a 5 year plan: kinda 
42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: no
41: Have you pre-named your children: can't say that I have 
40: Last person I got mad at: TJ
39: I would like to move to: I'm okay here 
38: I wish I was a professional: photographer [ My Favorites ]
37: Candy: snickers 
36: Vehicle: the Cruze which I happily own
35: President: Obama
34: State visited: Florida or Texas 
33: Cellphone provider: Verizon 
32: Athlete: I'll just go with Venus Williams
31: Actor: Evan Peters
30: Actress: Jennifer Aniston 
29: Singer: (rapper) Kendrick Lamar
28: Band: Mayday Parade or Nirvana
27: Clothing store: marshall's 
26: Grocery store: Walmart 
25: TV show: it's always sunny 
24: Movie: I was thinking about this earlier and I don't think I have one 
23: Website: google is a savior 
22: Animal: wolves
21: Theme park: I don't do rides 
20: Holiday: Halloween
19: Sport to watch: baseball or basketball 
18: Sport to play: lol
17: Magazine: does the ulta catalog count?
16: Book: anything Jen Sincero
15: Day of the week: Tuesday 
14: Beach: I dislike sand 
13: Concert attended: 10 year reunion tour A Lesson in Romantics Mayday Parade
12: Thing to cook: chicken, noodles or breakfast 
11: Food: cheeseburgers 
10: Restaurant: Chili's
9: Radio station: aux cord pls
8: Yankee candle scent: cafe el fresco
7: Perfume: Clinique happy 
6: Flower: tiger lily 
5: Color: teal 
4: Talk show host: jimmy fallon 
3: Comedian: Dane Cook
2: Dog breed: corgi
1: Did you answer all these truthfully? I actually did