#I've like 200 hrs give or take

[polarfarina]

Omg we are getting close to one year of totk aren't we

[honeybeeofficial]

okay I know your post was about how annoying it is when people make comments about selling your craft and while I certainly can’t speak for other people I would spend mmmmh I’d say $450 on horseshoe crab bag. I have $450 in my bank account right now and would use it to buy a horseshoe crab shaped bag.

This illustrates another piece of the issue that maybe I didn't fully spell out in my post about how badly people underestimate the cost of handmade goods– which is that even when a non-crafter hears "handmade crafts are expensive," they still often don't really grasp the scale we're talking about.

When the same friend I mentioned in the original post found out that I handmade the journal I carry around, he asked if he could pay me to make him one. He said he would happily pay $15–20 for a good journal. I laughed and told him that the labor involved would make it a lot more expensive than that, and he went "oh, like… 30–40? Yeah, that might be more than I'd want to spend." …The actual cost for that journal would likely be around $80–100.

What makes me think you didn't fully comprehend my original post is that in that post, I gave a rough estimated overview of what the cost would be. I said that if I'm charging what my labor is actually worth, $615 is the bare minimum for that item, and that it would likely be more.

After updating my math and factoring in things like packaging + shipping, the "fair price" for a horseshoe crab bag comes out to $780 USD. That's with me charging $25/hr, which is less than I make at my actual job even though leatherworking is more physically taxing. I made a post about how commissions would work if anyone actually wanted to spend that much.

I'm not mad at you, anon (nor am I mad at the friend I've mentioned), but it's clear to me that the original point about how expensive handmade goods are didn't really click for you. Fast fashion and mass industrial production have really degraded our sense of how much things are actually worth, because you can get just about anything almost instantly for a tiny fraction of what it would take an individual to produce.

For the same reason, I've ruled out ever taking my graphic design career in a freelance direction– anytime I've taken a freelance project, or considered it, I get to the point where I calculate what to charge and I just wince and shy away from the project entirely… because I have a gut feeling that something like a logo "should" cost around $100–200… but when I do the math for my time, I would actually have to charge $600–1000 (for a logo! Just a logo!), and I'm just mentally incapable of enforcing that for myself day in and day out to make a living wage.

If you have 5–10 minutes, I'd recommend this exercise to anyone:

Think of a project or task you've done lately. Pick something with measurable start and end points, such as an art project, folding laundry, washing the dishes, writing an essay, etc.

How much do you think you would pay someone else to do that task for you? Write that down. This is "A."

How long did that task take you to do? Write that down (in # of hours). This is "B." Approximate number is fine.

Did that task require any special tools? What about materials? Even basic things like sponges, paint, etc. Roughly estimate the cost of all the tools and materials you used. Because you'd likely get multiple uses out of most tools/materials, divide that number by 5. Write down the new number; this is "C."

What do you think is a fair minimum wage for your area? Many people have been fighting for $15/hr for a long time, but arguably this is still too low. If you're not sure, use $15/hr as a baseline. Write that down. This is "D."

Multiply B by D. Add C. This new number is "E."

How close is E to A? I'd be willing to bet that E is quite a bit higher than A. Remember, the hourly wage you used to calculate this might not even reflect what this work is actually worth. Does this give you a better idea of what you would actually need to pay someone to do that task for you?

Not all work is quantifiable in this way, and modern technology does allow for processes to be combined and optimized in ways that won't be reflected in your process. For example, buying a single bagel would not cost $60, because a bagel shop can make lots of bagels at the same time, using the same materials and equipment. But this absolutely does apply to things like hiring someone to clean your house, do your homework, or– of course– create handmade crafts.

[loadednachosao3]

what I make is WILDLY inconsistent from month to month, which is inconvenient, so it needs to be planned around. I could make $600 or $8k depending on the customers, my health, whether or not I made any content for passive sales recently... my average when you take into account my best customer is about $200/hr, but if I were to just talk to a rando on the phone instead of fucking around with my whale, my rate has me earning about $120/hr. that doesn't include anything extra, like tributes (tips, basically), content buys, or things like that.

that also doesn't mean I WILL make that much just by being signed on. I could wait for hours for a 2-minute call, or I could talk for 3 hours to the same guy and rake in bank. it all depends.

for me, with the niches I've picked, it comes pretty naturally. I've always been a very sexual person, so this career progression wasn't too difficult for me! the hardest part is making sure at the start to learn all the common scams so you can stop yourself from falling for them.

and BOUNDARIES! especially for people who have been socialized not to "rock the boat," it can be difficult to enforce them at first. but you need to be able to do that in this business! even if you market as submissive, stand firm!

but as far as the actual work goes... some guys are more difficult than others because their kinks aren't as familiar to me, or they're really picky, or I need to be tuned the fuck in the entire time... usually though, it's a lot of being mean, laughing at their tiny dicks, and taunting them with my body, which is easy peasy by now!

ok, I guess I lied a bit... when you're independent, there's also the matter of things like marketing, graphic design, audiovisual editing... the clerical work is a SLOG! so be aware if you try to go into it that that's what you're in for. it's a job like any other, so it's not a total breeze!

TAXES TOO!! you have to do them on your own, or get a sex worker-friendly accountant (lots will turn you down if you do 18+ work). so set aside 30% for that (or however much for your area)!

as for its similarities to 1-800-SALAMANCA, I actually based a lot of the content off of my real experiences! I modeled early Nacho off of some of my most annoying customers, lmao. the stubbornness, the hanging up without saying bye, the "you're the Dom, aren't you supposed to tell me my own kinks without me giving you any info???" bullshit, deleting and remaking the account... a little bit of a vent story there, LOL!

now, I don't have as glamorous a career as Lalo, nor do I have nearly as many finsubs. but I've done my fair share of findom before, so Lalo's personality is sort of a mixture of my persona and how I'd imagine him as a character to act! also, the site they use is named the way it is because it's a parody of the site I mainly work on, lmao. but with improved functionality.

I got into it because I had health issues that caused me to quit my vanilla job. I tried to be a freelance writer for a while... what a mistake! I should have gotten right into sex work, then maybe I wouldn't have had to piss through all my savings. I just figured, I like sex, camgirls make money, I'm hot... why not?

alas, camming was a LOT more work than I was expecting, especially with a physical disability! I found out through camming that phone sex was still a thing, and got into that instead. whew! much better! I also create content to sell on several sites. that's good for passive income, which is great on bad days!

as for whether I'd recommend it... I'd say yes, but with caveats. you have to be a certain type of person: firm with boundaries, decently creative, strong stomach, resilient to negative comments and insults directed toward both your body and personality, strong sense of marketing and design (or willing to learn), and the drive to keep going even when it's slow.

what you do NOT have to be: conventionally attractive, allosexual, a nymphomaniac, non-monogamous, white, skinny, cis, big-boobed, attracted to men, completely confident with your body, a total master of everything, into every kink. of course, having some or all of these things will certainly help you (hello privilege), but ANYONE of any sex, gender, color or creed can do this! trust me: there are men attracted to EVERY type of person. and they WILL pay to get what they want (your attention/content).

so I'd say go for it if you think you'd like it, but DO. YOUR. RESEARCH. FIRST! lots of it! you're NOT going to make it big selling feet pics on onlyfans as a total newbie. you CAN make a decent (or amazing) living off of it if you have dedication, creativity, patience, and time, though!

thanks for the thorough questions! let me know if you guys have more!

[crackinthecup]

@mossquitoman cheers for the tag <3

An estimate of how many physical books I own:

Around 200, give or take.

Favorite author:

Good ol’ Jirt.

A popular book I've never read and never intend to read:

A series rather than one book but I’ve never read A Song of Ice and Fire.

A popular book I thought was just meh:

Not sure how popular it is but I read the Starborn series by Lucy Hounsom not too long ago and I enjoyed many things about it but some things also rubbed me up the wrong way.

Longest book I own:

I’ve got the three-book edition of The Histories of Middle-earth, and I’m assuming one of them is probably the longest book I own. Either that or maybe Perdido Street Station by China Miéville.

Longest series I own all the books to:

Definitely the Histories!

Prettiest book I own:

My LotR books! I’ve got a clothbound hardback edition of the trilogy with the spines slotting together into the White Tree of Gondor.

A book or series I wish more people knew about:

The Ketty Jay series by Chris Wooding is about space pirates and it’s very well written and very fun with an incredible cast of characters and not many people seem to have read it, sadly.

Book I'm reading now:

More like three books I’m reading now haha. Lirael by Garth Nix, The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher, and Phantom by Susan Kay (technically a re-read as I’ve had a resurgence of my teenage love for Phantom of the Opera).

Book that's been on my TBR list for a while but I still haven't got around to it:

My partner has been telling me I should read the Bartimaeus series for literal years now oops. I’ll get round to it eventually!

Do you have any books in a language other than English:

Not where I currently live, I don’t think.

And lastly, paperback, hardcover or ebook?

Ebooks, for the convenience. I like to read in bed at night and on the tube/train, and I find it a lot easier if I don’t have to wrangle a physical book.

Tagging @antares0606 @alackofghosts @andtheirlovewasrenewed @mirkwood-hr-department @elevenelvenswords (if you fancy!)

[thegeminisage]

they call it the river of the dead bc i died 10000 times trying to get korok seeds here

ANOTHER shrine in a cave on the great plateau. 10/10 i love that

i keep getting nothing but shields in chests and its starting to piss me off. i dont use them much, i havent broken a single one this whole game. give me literally ANYTHING else!!

died in the shrine when i was alllmost done. smh

DIED AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

deeply tempted to turn around and leave but No. i'm so close

I FUCKING. GOT IT. FUCK THAT SHRINE!!!!

placed one of my travel medallions at the REAL temple of time. i never have to walk back here again lol

not that i need to come back...i'm finishing up the great plateau korok hunt right here. i have one left that starts elsewhere and ends on the great plateau but im at nearly 200 seeds rn and ive been making myself cuckoo bananas hunting seeds so i deserve a sidequest break. i'm thinking the rito bridge is a good place 2 start

BUT FIRST, MY AMIIBO! i keep foprgetting to do these lol

YOOOOOO mirror of twilight fabric!!! sexy

AND demon king fabric.....

accidentally spawned another epona. rode hr out to where the other horses were so she has community support lol

AWWW there's another monument near the great plateau...

ok, so i talked to karson in lookout landing ages back abt building this bridge. i think now they need supplies?

oh, i like how these guys refer to each other by name! i love the community feeling in totk...the way everybody wants to be a helper...

oh lmao i literally have enough wood already <3 maybe this is why they made trees enemies, to give us reasons to chop them up so we dont have to level entire forests at a time

OH HE SAID ACES!!!! good for him

SCREAM this dialogue. wings come in handy! or...wingy! don't sit your tail there, it's a support beam, not a perch! chaotic gay people <3 happy pride <3

had the brief thought "since i'm in hebra i should get some korok seeds here" no <3 not without <3 snow boots <3

which i havent seen any sign of...UGH i hope they arent still in gerudo desert...

im going to hateno!! i've been meaning to give this guy acorns for his cow feed for foreverrr

but, to do the school quest, i need to swing by kakariko first...thank goodness4 fast travel

ugh so many sidequests in kakariko i wanna do but i feel like i should wait until this 5th sage nonsense SIIIGH

ok, got the pic of the tapestry in paya's house! also accidentally saw the cuccos running by, followed them to their hideout. extremely tense trying to bust thru the rock wall with them standing there. no way was i using yunobo

BUT i was at a perfect angle to take a ring ruins pic for the stable guy!

found lasli who needs the anti-gloom stuff...UGH i hate that nobody remembers link!!! ugh and i need milk for this which i dont have >:(

well, i bet there's some in hateno and i was going there anyway lol

NAYDRA WAS HERE WHEN I SPAWNED........snaged myself a scale. UGH i can't believe they fucked dragon farming i'm in such deep shit i don't have ANY parts

acorns delivered, milk received! omg nice he'll trade me anytime.......reminds me of the rito lady trading arrows for chillshrooms lol now THAT was a bargain

got my mirror of twilight fabric put on 💪

oh man it is LOVELY. it has a nice rainbow-pearl sheen to it...it might be my fav yet

time to go appease schoolchildren

scream that link is listening in on this calamity lecture like he wasn't the main character in it without so much as a single acknowledgement of it by this dude. yet another way theyre alienating old players by trying NOT to alienate new ones

this guy talking up the hero's achievements WITHOUT ACTUALLY MENTIONING THAT IT IS LINK. this is my villain origin story

oh boy. for the next lesson i have to get monster extract from tarrey town. i have the car quest there i never finished, but maybe i should do more shrines/seeds first...

i haven't been to the depths in awhile.

that is DEFINITELY the devil (and many korok seeds) talking. actually i can decide tomorrow bc i have to <3 go to bed

[ilovetheseattlemariners]

Need to write, but hate it

I guess I should start with yesterday, which was its own big thing. Got on campus, instantly realized how miserable I was. Walked by my bandmate and knew that they'd have weed on them, but I continued walking to class. And then 180-ed right at the door of my lecture and walked back and took as many blinkers as my lungs could physically take. I have a hard time swallowing shit as of writing this 24 hrs later. I was just depressed. I think its because I love the cellist too much. I think also that I love my childhood best friend too much. I think its because I'm in so much need for love and its spilling out of me and it feels like I've just been eviscerated and I'm trying to stuff my intestines back inside of me. I just need some sort of romance in any possible way.

Anyways hit up the music building thinking that I was wanting to find this twink who I honestly have huge chances of homewrecking but in reality I just wanted to be with the cellist. But I think I fumbled it because I was so affectionate to the twink and honestly I told myself I was over the cellist because she can't give me what I want. My childhood friend probably can't give me what I want either. I just want to be perceived primarily. I can only exist if it's in your eyes. I think that's terrible and toxic. I don't want to be forgotten. I want to be thought of constantly. I want someone to go to used bookstores with. I want to be writing while you practice the cello. I want to be with you. Anyways I began getting so affectionate with the twink which honestly probably was the worst red flag thing imaginable. Like she walked away without even saying goodbye and then ended up spilling her guts over the same trumpeter I like the next instance I saw her. I don't think we like each other anymore. I mean, I'll get down bad for anyone, but I don't think we like each other anymore. I spilled my guts over him too, though, and I also spilled my guts over this childhood friend this morning. I think just having feelings is so embarrassing. I don't think this cellist likes me, but she's been perceiving me so much since then and I realize that all I need is just to be perceived to fall in love. Like she asked me how I was today and I felt capable of dying a thousand deaths, because I was filled with the feeling that I would either be brought to the most paradisiacal afterlife or that I would never really die: love would immortalize us.

I had a gig last night too which was fun. Almost no one showed up. I mean it was bizarre. It was switching through contradictory feelings in the blink of an eye.

Here's a vid from that. I literally captioned it "I wanna go home" on my CF. Cuz its true, I did wanna go home. Some parts of this scene I really can't stand. I'm not social or extroverted enough for it. I'd like to spend my nights reading or writing or something of that sort; I did try to find some corner to hunker down in so I could get some reading and writing done, but to no avail. But also people love the music so much and I love my bandmates so much. Also fuck transiting late. Also fuck rogers for having fucked up signal last night for no reason. And fuck my parents like god I need to move out so bad. I can't stand them any longer living with them is so annoying and terrible. I'll end my bratty rant there.

Speaking of writing, though, I just feel so insipid and uninspired. I don't want to do any writing any longer. My short story is looking to be an incomprehensible piece of crap that has no chance of following the rubric outlined for me, but honestly who cares I fucking think that class is the biggest waste of my time to ever exist. And also poetry for intro 200 which I still don't know what I'm doing for that class and, again, don't care at all. I'll just write something so absolutely distant to me that I'll find absolutely repulsive just to get it over with.

Pretty night sky. Let's share these things with each other more often. The thought of love is beginning to make me cry uncontrollably.

[capriciouscaprine]

happy new month to everyone!!!

I have SO MUCH to do for my coursework, but I wanted to take the time to write a post about what I'm up to currently, what this month holds for me, and what my goals are for the future as we all head towards summer

currently, I just hit a goal # this morning, although it didn't feel all that impactful, and I'm pretty sure that's bc I both didn't get enough sleep last night and bc I don't have any rewards set up for myself besides the emotional reward of hitting that goal; obviously, I need to be consistent about getting enough sleep and have rewards ready for myself, but both of these are uniquely tricky right now bc I have an absurd sleep schedule (6 pm-2 am), no time, and even less money

I'm coming out of a six week full time unpaid internship, so my hours were drastically cut at my actual job; instead of five days, I was down to just two, and they were the two days the least amount of work and thus fewest available hours to get paid; I got a boost from cat sitting for my neighbor, whose cat needs careful monitoring and specific medicine on a pretty strict schedule, but this pay cut was on top of paying tuition for the semester, so I currently have negative money aka am carrying a balance on my credit card, to the tune of $3.5k (oof)

the good news is that with spring pollen comes increased hours, as my job is on a farm with both plants and animals; we've got seedlings to water and plant, babies to feed, and field trips to prep for and manage, so I've jumped from 3-4 hour days to 5-6 hour days, five days a week; I get paid pretty okay ($16/hr after taxes), but I still typically get less than 30 hours a week, so my monthly pay is only around $1.5k (rounding down for safety, especially since this a very recent jump)

looking forward to things happening this month, I have my final paper for my most important class of my entire masters degree, due WITH a presentation and handout on April 10th, and then two weeks later (less than or exactly 14 days, iirc) I must give a comprehensive presentation (and possibly turn in some other stuff??) about myself, my internship, my previously mentioned final paper, and a problem from our final exam, which will determine if I get my degree or not

oh, and I need to plan and record another internship observation, which I had been under the impression that I wouldn't need to do, which is due by the 15th, right in between all of these other things being due

I am under immense pressure right now, and it's definitely having a negative impact on my mental health; I'm managing not to burst into tears constantly or run away to the woods (a very short distance for me, so particularly tempting) thanks to both succeeding at other goals and knowing that their are specific dates for all of this to be over by; all I have to do is turn everything in on time (even if it sucks), and I'll be done with this degree by the end of this month and officially graduate in early May (ugh, need to order and pay for my cap and gown this week (~$200))

heading into next month, after everything is turned in (seems impossible to imagine, tbh, which is why I'm writing this post), I'll be free to PLAN and SET GOALS

(I'm so excited!!!)

like I said before, my pay isn't high and I've got debt I need to address on top of more bills coming in the future (six months of car insurance D: ), but I have to believe that I can get everything paid for and still have enough money to have a tiny bit of fun, too; I need to still down and draw up a budget, ESPECIALLY for food since I'm going to finally have time to make more things for myself!!! which will absolutely be cheaper than all the pre-made and pre-portioned meals and snacks I've been buying

the last time I had a big goal, I had a bar and a line graph to track my savings (my house down payment! ty 2018 mini recession, you made home ownership possible); now it'll be the double whammy of 'saving' for bills and paying down the old debt, plus I'm genuinely at the point of needing a new phone WITH a case, and all the actually functional phones with enough storage space, etc run just under $350, so with accessories that could be $500 aka NOT an impulse purchase!

otherwise, my big goal is to clean up my house: it has been TRASHED by consecutive roommates, but particularly by the most recent one; I have bits of stuff taking up space from everyone who's moved in and then out again over the past 5+ years, but the last one (who I made a whole rant post about) was so filthy when it came to using the kitchen that they left me an infestation of MULTIPLE types of insects, some of which I've never even seen before!!!

here in the southern US, we already deal with some insect trouble bc it doesn't get cold enough to fully kill them off, plus they can always be brought into a clean house from our great outdoors, which we have lots of; it isn't unusual for even the shiniest of mansions to get a roach sneaking into a bathroom or a line of ants running into the kitchen

in comparison, my house is genuinely disgusting, and I haven't been able to DO anything about it since classes and thus deadlines started back in August; the good news is this project won't take, relatively, that much money, and I even have a pretty good idea of what all I need to do to almost completely fix this! the only real problem is that it'll take a fair bit of physical labor and thus energy, which I don't always have a lot of, so I'll need to be strategic and get things done in phases and also not give up!

there are a lot of expensive things that have gone wrong and need fixing around the house, and there are even more expensive changes I want to make; I need to remind myself that all of these will happen in time, and I need to not obsess over them or let them demotivate me as I'm working towards addressing the issues that I can

in the far-flung future (it feels like), getting my degree means I am qualified for teaching jobs!!! math and teachers in general are in pretty high demand in my area (where aren't they right now?), and the pay is relatively high, as in double the highest I've ever made before in my entire life; once I've got my degree, I can dedicate myself to getting one of those jobs at a nearby school, and at that point, once I start getting those paychecks (fingers crossed), a whole new world will open up for me!!!

[katzirra]

2024 is going to be a good year, god damnit. Already this month:

I'm working really hard on my health. I'm hoping my doctor visit has good results next month. Been really making efforts, still need to cut down my bread and cheese but HEY. Eating regularly is A BIG STEP.

I'm healing my relationship with art - and having fun with it/feeling good about it mostly.

I've been doing studies a lot, and applying those studies. Trying new stuff again - just... trying to enjoy it...

In that vein also; I'm not really giving a shit about fandom, I'm back to just throwing steaks to the wolves and going back to my hovel. I'll have fun with people but I'm not chasing shit anymore. It makes me feel like trash.

Becca is helping me with some financial stuff - she is handling rent for a few months and gave me some money to help me with some shit!!

WHICH; BIBBLE'S SURGERY IS FINALLY ALMOST PAID OFF!! AFTER A FUCKING YEAR AND BUSTING MY ASS I'M SO CLOSE!!!

I got like six of my credit cards either paid off, or paid into the green now, which means my credit score is going to heal too!! HELLO 700 CLUB, I'M COMING BACK UGH!!

Thank you to everyone who helped with Bibble's surgery again btw, also my lovely 3 Patrons who paid for a LARGE payment recently on it!! ;; it means the WORLD to me when I can take a load off myself like that.

I'm PRAYING I get a tax return this year... and that it's anything... I'm also hoping that I can get in contact with HR and drop my insurance at work because my doctor isn't in network, and I'm being fucked out of $200-300 a check that I'm not using that way and that's FUCKED.

Also like, that's a chunk of change I can use for other things too :/

ALSO WITH MY BILLS BEING MANAGEABLE - MAYBE IF I DON'T FUCK IT UP THIS WILL BE THE NEW PC YEAR.

FUCKING CROSSES MY FUCKING FINGERS.

[falllingthroughspace]

Nevermind me I just want to complain a little

In December 2021 I decided to try to change my career and signed up for courses in QA, they lasted 2 months and all looked great. In February I quit my job since I was invited to intern for a huge IT company. The internship usually lasts for 3-4 months, it is unpaid, but afterwards you are all but guaranteed to be employed. I was cautiously optimistic, I had my savings to last me 4 months or so and was really happy about the opportunity.

Then the war happened. At my old job, the European company severed all ties with us within a week. The huge IT company suspended all hire in my country which meant that after internship they couldn't place me. My partner and I moved to Georgia for a couple of months because we were afraid that the border would close and all hell would break loose. But I was still doing my internship as it was good experience for me and I still had hope.

In August we returned home for a couple of reasons - one of them was that I wanted to try to get employed and start earning money. You see, before all that, my country was a huge hub for IT companies and IT probably was the only sector where you could earn good money, not just 500$ to barely get by (with rent costing 300$). But now almost all those companies left, all specialists left, and even if somebody was hiring, they wanted people with skills and commercial (not internship) experience. No one wants junior specialists, but only juniors remain in the country (because all other specialists have money to move/they are valuable enough to be relocated by the company). It was said, it would take 3-6 months to find a job in this climate and you shouldn't bother. But I had hope, because unlike most juniors, I had some experience - I did intern in a big famous IT company.

Three months later....I am so tired. When there is a vacancy, within a couple of hours 100-200 CVs are being sent, and most of the time, your resume is ignored. If it's not ignored, you are given a test task, and you spend days doing it - half of the time you don't even receive any feedback on it. I got interviewed a couple of times - I think they went well, but still I got no offer. Last time, I thought the interview went splendidly - I answered most of the questions, the HR afterwards said I was great and promised that I would get some feedback by Friday. Nothing came. On Tuesday, I wrote to them myself and was asked to give them some time till the end of the week - they really liked me, but had some other people to interview. I never heard from them again. I've spent a month in communication with this company to just be ignored.

I am tired, I am unemployed and I feel terrible. Thank god for my partner who can support me without issues - he understands the situation since he is working in the same sector and knows all the problems. I want to work but I don't want to give up - I've spent so long studying and learning new stuff to be able to work and I don't want it to go to waste. But I don't want to be leeching off my partner doing nothing all day, except monitoring vacancies and doing test tasks. I just want this to end...

Sorry for this long rant, I just wanted to document this somewhere.

[prolifeproliberty]

[Image ID: A man sitting at an intersection with a sign reading “Homeless Hungry Anything Helps”. Another man stands next to him with a blue sign with the Walmart logo that says “Hiring” in English and Spanish. End ID]

From Joyce R. Carter on Facebook:

Excellent analysis by a long-time advocate:

“I've been waiting to comment on this picture that has been shared with the intent being humorous and probably spurred by some underlying frustration. Today is the day to serve up a little reality. Here are my questions for the Walmart guy: 1) Will you hire him if he doesn't pass a background check or has committed a felony? 2) Will you provide him clothes to work in and when those get dirty will you help him get them washed or do you think that first paycheck will pay for an apartment, utilities, appliances, and laundry detergent? 3) Will you immediately pay for any healthcare including mental healthcare he needs? With medications? 4) Will you keep him as an employee if he has an exacerbation of PTSD, anxiety, schizophrenia, or anything else while at work? 5) Will you have someone watch his only earthly possessions while he is working so no one steals them? 6) Will you provide childcare or transportation or a bed for a good night's sleep or food to sustain him while he works? (I could go on...) Maybe the answers are "yes." If so, kudos to you and I will be bringing a large number of friends to apply for every opening you have. If not, hmmmm.... the "just get a freaking job" argument is not so easy to quip, is it? Many of those who are homeless do work or want to work. Many can't. It is truly not a simple fix. Judging them helps in no way at all! Some homeless hold signs... One of the reasons is because people don't talk to them. (I am fully aware there are bogus people out there plying on sympathies who hold signs and don't have legitimate needs.... I actually don't advocate for giving cash to those "flying signs.") My point is, "just get a damn job" is not simple. Please take some time to understand some of the most devastating underlying issues. These are people with feelings and worth. Please treat them like it!!” Important things to think about.

Important to think about.

Of course, the answer is never government handouts. If anything, it’s reducing regulations on employment and abolishing minimum wage so that employers will be more willing to hire those deemed “unemployable”

Imagine if someone was willing to offer the homeless man $5 an hour, 40 hours a week. That’s $200 a week. Now imagine if no taxes were taken out of that paycheck and he got to take all of that home. $800 a month may not get you an apartment, but it could give you a membership at a 24-hr gym (access to showers and a secure place to store belongings) plus some food.

Not only that, but now you have a record of employment. If you can keep that job for a year, your chances of getting a higher paying job go up considerably.

What gets in the way of this? Government.

Minimum wage prevents companies from taking a gamble on someone who might not show up, might have substance abuse problems, might have mental health issues, and so on.

If you have to pay $10 or $15 an hour, you’re going to automate what you can, increase the responsibilities for each position, and only hire the “safest” candidates.

Free market is always the answer.

[the-one-nigman]

Firstly, I would like to preface this review with this: To all the other reviewers out there giving this game a positive rating, trying to make funny jokes about how good the gameplay is, they're just trying to farm points. If you look at their playtime, most of them have less than an hour! You cannot truly experience the greatness of this game in a few minutes, an hour, or even 10. I have only just scratched the surface with my 100 hours, so I will be making constant updates as I play this game

My review: Pros: Tree Simulator 2022 is a game like no other. Every aspect has been carefully crafted to deliver the best possible player experience. You start out knowing nothing about the game (at least as long as you didn't look up any tutorials, which I STRONGLY suggest against doing, as it spoils the whole game). The lack of tutorial with only a few controls posted on the store page leads to exploratory gameplay. You adventure along with your tree, looking at the different magnificently crafted features. Each one just adds a whole new layer of complexity, a whole new path to go down. You will spend hours, lost, pouring over every aspect of this game, I warn you it's very addictive. Cons: Though the developer talks so much about the multiplayer features, they are highly overrated. At first it may seem good to have other trees there with you, adventuring with you along your way, but in the end it just distracts from the real gameplay, the interaction between you and your tree. In the end, it is much more immersive to play singleplayer, the one true, original mode. And then there's the graphics. They are pretty good, and it's nice that they've gotten better, but I feel the same way about them as I do about the multiplayer. They honestly just take away from the game. True, there's a grayscale option, but who wants that? No one, that's who! No, what we really need is a black and white mode. Just black and white. No fancy 3Dness, just you and a black & white tree. This would truly make the graphics amazing

Stats broken down: - Overall: 13/10 - Fun: 12/10 - Gameplay: 10/10 - Graphics: 9/10 - Story: 11/10 - Singleplayer: 16/10 - Multiplayer: 4/10 - Immersiveness: 14/10 - Difficulty Curve: 10/10

In the end: Tree simulator 2022 was an amazing addition to this already spectacular franchise. There are some elements of it that could be improved, some features that could be added, and some features that just honestly take away from the game, but in the end the story, the difficulty curve, the funness and the gameplay outweigh all else, ending up with at 13/10 overall.

200 hr edit: Wow it's been another 100 hours already! The time's gone by so fast! I feel like it was just yesterday that I had a mere 100 hours, and yet I have grown so much since then, as a person and as a tree. In terms of the gameplay, it has not gotten any worse, I could even go as far as to say it's gotten better. The story's always new and refreshing, and I've seen many UFOs at this point. It always seems like seeing UFOs will get old, yet each UFO always feels different. The creator of this game has done something beautiful with it, allowing each UFO to be it's own experience, it's own game in it of itself. I have now gotten through all of the settings in their basic forms, so now I'm working on going deep. I can confirm that this game has infinite replay-ability, and it never gets old. The amount of depth you can go into with each setting is utterly breathtaking. I can still confidently say that I have only just barely scratched the surface of this game with my 200 hours, so I will continue to update this review.

400 hr edit: Oops, I was supposed to do another edit at 300, but I was just too distracted by Tree Simulator 2022's amazing gameplay to notice the time! Well, now that I've hit 400 hours it seem a good a time as any to write another update on this truly breathtaking, honestly addictive experience. I thought I had gotten through the basics of the settings at 200 hours, but boooyyyy was I wrong. I have now learned enough about this game to know that I haven't gotten through even 1% of what this game has to offer. I have now seen many more parts of this game, each one not closing off paths that I knew about, but instead opening up new paths, new alleyways to go down. New ways to play, new discoveries to make. I can now confirm that I am fully immersed in Tree Simulator 2022's gameplay, everything about it just pulled me in and refuses to let me go. Everything is just perfect. I know I was critical of Multiplayer at first, but now that I'm getting into it, I'm really starting to understand and enjoy what it could mean for the over-all game. I think at first I was just overwhelmed at the new possibilities it could bring. It just made this whole new branch is the ever-growing tree of gameplay, one larger than any of the others. Now that I have gotten through 400 hours, however, I can now see why the creator added it. It just makes the game so different, that it almost would merit it's own game. Now that I've seen even just a tiny bit of what multiplayer can bring, though, I will now be trying to explore down that path a little before I go and experience the true, original, single-player, gameplay once again.

1k HOUR EDIT: It's been 1k hours now, and Tree Simulator 2022 is still the best game I've ever played. Firstly a few things to note: There's been a few updates, some of which I've liked, and some of which seem to have introduced bugs. Firstly, I love the idea of a tree timer in the top left corner. It really helped me, especially because I didn't really want to quit out of the app to check my time. I needed some way of knowing when to update this review, and honestly having to go back to steam every once in a while is annoying. The only thing I've found about it is that it seems to get an outdated time. I don't know why this is happening, but for me it's like 40 hours off. This wasn't too much of a problem, as I noticed it immediately and the difference hasn't changed, but it's slightly annoying. There was also another update that seems to have done nothing, except for that now every ~100 hours, it will randomly set the time on and turn it to the max speed. This is very annoying for my immersion in the game, so I wish it could be fixed. Another bug I've been seeing for as long as I've been playing is that sometimes the resolution of the game will randomly change, and it's quite annoying. Other than that, it's been fun. I've been playing a bunch of both singleplayer and multiplayer, switching between them every couple days. I've noticed that some trees have been leaveing (get it?) recently, and this has made me very sad. Some I thought were dedicated, but alas they had to go. I don't think it was because of the game though, it was probably just that they had to do something irl, whatever that means. Game wise, it's been interesting. More UFOs (I think I'm starting to understand some hidden lore with them), and more tree watching. Some how the author has come up with a game that can be interesting even after the 1k hours mark, which is not something that can be said for just anyone. Like I said before, I'm even just now figuring out some hidden lore, I think there's a connection with the UFOs and another detail I noticed around the 900 hour mark. The past 100 hours have been dedicated to trying to figure out more details. It's super interesting looking into this lore, the author has done an excellent job with making surface level facts clear, but then adding small details in for the dedicated people like myself.

Alas it seems as though I've reached steam's review length limit, so I will be continuing this review in the comments.

1k HOURS CONTINUED:

I've found the game to somehow still meet my optimal difficulty level even after all this time. The game makes it satisfying learning new skills and getting better, while then becoming more difficult to match your skills. It does an excellent job balancing on the fine line of satisfying parts, while still being a good challenge.

NOTE: I've been getting a lot of friend requests recently, and I really appreciate it, but please know that for each request I get I will check your time in tree simulator 2022, and if you don't have at least 500 hours (or close to it), I will deny your request

[stillsolo]

for the first in a while, I'm gonna ... try to take it easy, today.  

I actually have a lot to do but I really need to chill the fuck out for a second and take a breather.  my OCD's made my life remarkably difficult lately and I've begun to disassociate in order to cope.  I know disassociation plays a key role in obsessive-compulsive disorders; I know my OCD's fairly severe and it's been getting worse as I get older, but I'm not...usually this bad.  Even when under stress.

for example, a batch of 200 commissioned banner icons suddenly turns into 400+, and I'm still not done because I can't stop keep remaking them.  

oh, this one's coloring is off. but these frames are split second to each other ... can't have that, gotta redo 'em. 

 wait, the pixels are...'weird' looking in the corner, here.  rejected.

this one could've been cropped way better.  how could I expect them to use this?

why is this one in the 'final version' folder when the border around it overlapped a part of the icon?

I need to redo these 73 because the shadow is too dark and blocky beneath the icon.  it’s supposed to be a fade.  it’s what they ordered and you’re not giving them what they asked for. 

someone's paying you for this shit get it TOGETHER

yesterday, my OCD got triggered about 3 times?  I have a couple of forms.  I had a breakdown in front of my mother after she came home and asked me if I ate and I know I must've made some kinda stupid face that gave it away because seconds after she'd asked, I realized I didn't know what the hell ate other than the toast she'd watched me eat before she left for work at 9am.  It was 11pm when she asked.  

I also had mini-breakdown while talking to my customer and it was terribly embarrassing.  I got a nosebleed to top it all off too lmao  ( i'm so sorry if you're reading this, john omfg you've been the best to me and I'm sorry because I'm sure all you'd wanted was icons to rp sdfkjsd )

but I just. 

All of my friends think OCD is just me having high ass standards or just being 'know-it-all'.  I've been called that all my life.  In fact, I've been called that by friends I thought would never say anything like that about me because I thought we were friends

We live in this new age of 'awkward is cute'.   It's hip to be square, cool to be uncool, and sexy to be nerdy and quirky.  and there isn’t any better way to declare your individuality and weirdness than branding yourself 'so OCD' about something.  

Ahaha.

I fucking loathe people who do this.

OCD isn't a quirk or a set of tendencies.  It's not fucking buzzf.eed list, not a little buzzf.eed quiz you can take and readily relate to the results; it's an incapacitating, isolating disease that makes you afraid of your own mind.

If my friends could see, just once, what it's like for me, when I'm caught in an obsessive-compulsive loop, maybe then they'd finally understand me when I say ''''it's bad''''.

Even Something as simple as drawing a line-art from a sketch turns into a complete and total nightmare.  8/10 times, I'll redraw the line-art like — hm, I don' dunno — about 7 fuckin' times in a row, then, delete all of it because IDK, it wasn't 'right'?  ( Who am i kidding; I do the same with sketches ヽ(・ω・)ﾉ  )

Oh, yeah, for sure.  Me and my ‘high fucking standards' did this.

NO.  No one in their right mind would do this.  They wouldn’t re-draw the same fucking drawing 7 times in a row and the same layer style over and over, not even changing things up to maybe get some progress.      Nobody.  Jfc.

And oh, god, that moment when you realize, it's been more than 8/9 hrs since you began and you haven't eaten or drank anything; you don't remember the last time you looked at your phone or what the hell happened to the time because last time you looked, it was 11am and now it’s 9:48pm.

Moreover, you made exactly zero progress on your project — because IDK — there’s no valid reason?  JUST COULDN'T STOP HA

I never thought I would talk about this, but uh, Y'all know how much I love han.  I want Han to be seen in the best light possible.  while SW has been one of the few things that have held a light in my life, he's helped me become a better person in more ways than I can articulate.  and no, I don't mean I suddenly started picking trash up off the highways.

I mean, by writing him in this amazing place filled with people I don’t have IRL who share my interests, I’ve met so many new people, friends, learned so many lessons, about characters and life and writing.  

When I began writing Han, here, I had just learned what present and past tense was in English.  I was winging my writing, trying really hard to understand.  English isn't my first language.  In Cantonese, my native language, there's no such thing as a past tense.  

By writing Han with you guys, I've taken huge steps in life, without even realizing it. 

So, everything I do for han, I want for it to be good.  

Not outstanding, and definitely not exemplary or nonpareil — just ... good. 

And icons — haha.  I love icons.  I love and hate making them.  similar to my writing, I work very hard on his icons.  ... but I need to learn where to draw the line.  

I once remade an icon 23 times before I was happy with it.  ( i had 23 versions left in my folder lmao ).  like these here?  10 versions of each, in the least. 

( the last one is kinda an exception... I think.  I made that one well over 25 times, for sure.  but I think it's because I'm not accustomed to Blaine's coloring yet. ) 

Wow, this really turned into a long post.  I don't really care, though.  My OCD is something that has always been completely ignored IRL.  Shit, it's ignored by even my online friends.  I can't even game online without one of them thinking I must get off on establishing my superiority and overall knowledge of '???’ game.  Haha.

'Show me your build?' :D 'Er...nah. I think I'll pass.' 'Why?  What's the matter?' 'You'll pick it apart.'

It's never considered 'advice' when it's from me.  It's me as a know-it-all, as someone who looks down on others for not having up-to-par stats. 

I'm sorry I did the math for you so you wouldn't have to.  This is simply advice you're free to toss aside, but it's not like it matters.  Even if I reassured that—you're already too annoyed to listen for any longer.

So, I’ll also apologize for how I can recall faction modifiers, body part modifiers, critical hit and stealth modifiers, as well as debuffs; how a certain amount of damage of one type turns into inflicted damage to a target while considering type modifiers and armor, and knowing the damage formulas needed to calculate the number of hit points required to kill an armored or unarmored target, with or without a finisher multiplier figured in — because I want you to do the very best with your weapon of choice, even though I can name 5 different weapons that utterly outclass it by tenfold. 

In reality, I never had much of choice.  Information like that doesn't stop looping in my mind, even at night, when all I want is to sleep.

Sometimes ... I wish I could be that one character on a comedy show who has a quirky disorder or ''OCD'' and everyone seems to love him for it because he's funny when he does it or he's generally helpful 

More often than not, my OCD just ruins everything.  I don't feel like I belong anywhere.

I need to take a breather.