#also i have a lot of stuff in storage to sell later

[shopwitchvamp]

hello wonderful witch-vampire-being, tis me again with another question :) is every single one of the 'last chance' listings Absolutely Positively being retired, or are they just at high risk of it and if they get enough orders they might be kept in circulation? asking because a lot of the last chance joggers are ones I've been eyeing for a While but i'm unsure if budgeting will allow me to grab all of them since the universe has yet to pay out my '$10k for adhd bisexuality' stimulus check. hoping you get yours soon xoxo

Short answer: They're all at high risk of retiring, so these preorders are the last guaranteed chance to have access to those designs in all sizes. Long answer: There's like 4 different possible scenarios for any last chance design, so lemme break those down here.

Specific *only* to Jealous Flame Skaters and Midis: I want to redo the art on them so they match better with the other flame skirts (jealous flame was designed first and all the other ones came along later, so I feel like jealous flame could use some sprucing up at this point). Those two are last chance in the sense that if you like them how they look now, this is the last chance to order them that way. Afterwards they'll be gone for a while until I can finish & release the updated version.

Demand is high and the design lives to see another day: In the case that demand is actually still pretty high, I'll keep the design around rather than retire it. For example, I had Astrology Skaters and Ouija Skaters as last chance preorders before. Ouija had a strong resurgence in popularity so it survived. Astrology did not. It's not about hitting a specific number threshhold, but more about performance compared to other designs. Right now for this round, the top 3 that might survive are Red & White Spider Lily Midis, Agony Joggers, and Apathy Joggers. I need to cut designs to make room for new stuff, so I don't think I'll rescue more 2 or 3 last chance designs at most and I'm gonna be pretty ruthless in my decisions. To give an idea of how it's going so far- if preorders ended today I'd only consider saving Red & White Spider Lily Midis.

The design will retire after preorders, but I'll order extras to have one last ready-to-ship drop after fulfillment is done: For any designs that have enough preorders to be at or near the order minimum with my manu, I'll of course be ordering at least the minimum and possibly a few extras. Any I order beyond what I need for preorder fulfillment will be released ready-to-ship. BUT please know that if I don't get any preorders in a specific size (usually this effects D Size, but it could be any size) I won't order extras of them because it would mean having to order at least the order minimum with my manu and likely leave me stuck with a bunch of that size for quite a while. After extras sell, the design will retire.

The design will retire after preorders, and it also won't have a final ready-to-ship drop (or it will have one but of like 1 or 2 pieces only in certain sizes): Scenario A) Designs that haven't received any preorders will fall into this category (right now there's two of them: Checkerboard Joggers and Passion's Flame Joggers). If I don't have any preorders to fulfill I won't order any more of the design. I'll dig through all my storage and mix bins of random straggler clothes to see if there's any remaining somewhere and release those ready-to-ship. After those sell, if there were any to sell, the design will immediately retire. Scenario B) Designs that only get a few preorders, I can work with my manu to order them like "samples" to not need to order a bunch extra to hit the order minimums. I won't order more than what are needed to fulfill preorders so there won't be extras to release besides any random strays still around somewhere. The list of designs currently in this category is really long, so I'm just gonna insert a screenshot here (the negative numbers are how many preorders have come in for that design):

If at any point anyone has questions about a specific design/size, feel free to ask and I'll let you know if it's looking like it will have ready-to-ship extras later on or if these preorders are the Absolute Last Chance to get one.

[queervegancryptid]

I'm working on a book for people new to Linux. I've been using it since I was around 18, when I got my first laptop. This was 2007, and it was expensive for someone as poor as me to get a computer, which is why my parents didn't buy me one until I started college and moved out. I also got my first phone at this age, a $20 AT&T brick. Nothing like what we have today.

It shipped with Windows XP, which already wasn't great, but then came the Vista update, and I was a little peeved. I thought, "This can be done better." And I don't remember how, but I stumbled upon Linux and open source software in general. I'm poor, but I had some blank CDs and DVDs, so I started trying different distros to find one I liked. I played around with it and learned a lot, both about Linux as an OS and about hardware, software, and firmware more generally. How the parts fit together, what each one does and how, etc. I'm not an expert, but I learn best by doing. By playing, really.

I'm glad I developed this background knowledge, because a couple years later, my laptop was stolen. I was stuck living with my parents and had no prospects, but I did have some old computer parts.

Really old ones. Way too little storage and RAM for modern Windows or macOS, then called OS X. So I had to get creative with some obscure distros, like Damn Small Linux. It wasn't perfect, but it was also a machine cobbled together with spare parts that arguably should have been trashed but thankfully weren't.

Being in these situations sucks, but it's also cool to know that you can do stuff to survive if you absolutely must. And with the enshittification of tech lately, especially with Windows shoehorning in its AI bullshit and forcing you to upload shit to the cloud, a lot of people are going to be looking for an alternative. Since I've been there, I figured I could write a short guide for people in this position.

Linux appeals to me for a number of reasons. It's very customizable, so in practical terms, I do enjoy that. There are also a lot of different distros to choose from, and most of them work well out of the box. (That wasn't always the case.) But I'm mostly drawn to open source as a philosophical concept. It's like the opposite of the software-as-service and subscription models favored by a lot of companies today. I'm still really mad that I can't mod my Switch without risking my Nintendo account being kneecapped, as an example. They can do that in part because of the closed-source nature of their product.

On that note, gaming has also come a long way on Linux. I still dual-boot Windows alongside it, because once or twice a year, I run into something that I can't make work on Linux. It would probably be more accurate to say that I don't feel like making it work on Linux, because it probably can be done, but the effort is more than I feel like expending for the payoff.

My only real complaint about it is that the fingerprint scanner on my laptop doesn't work with Linux. But I also don't need it to, so it isn't a deal-breaker for me. It would be nice, but I'm already not super comfortable with anyone having my biometric data, so it isn't like I'm champing at the bit to make it work. Still, even if it did, it wouldn't be sent to anyone. Can't say I'm confident that the same is true of Microsoft and Apple and Google.

But when you get away from those companies, you realize how much of their shtick is about selling you things and collecting info about you. You want your computer to do basic computer stuff again without the unnecessary AI shit baked right into the cake? Use Linux. It will change your life.

Want to stick it to your capitalist overlords? Use Linux. I mean, do other things, too. But using Linux is a good start.

[oatyarn]

been really blessed in terms of yarn lately: my friend and his family just moved to oregon, and his mom is a knitter and also dyes and sells her own yarns. while packing to move she gathered two huge storage totes full of skeins she didn't want enough to go through the trouble of moving, and she gifted them to me!!! its all very nice stuff, merino wool and cotton primarily, and a lot of it is her own dyed yarn. it all came as skeins, though, not wound into balls, and i didn't have a yarn winder and sure as shit wasn't going to ask the nice ladies at the local yarn store to wind any of that for free.

so i did go down to the yarn store on my day off, and asked after winders - specified i didn't need anything fancy, something small would do, the most budget friendly option preferably.

then i mentioned my friends mom by name, explained why i had a need for a winder all the sudden, because i've always just bought yarn there and had them wind it for me. and the lady working there goes, "y'know, i have a pretty nice winder at home that's just sitting collecting dust since i really just use the one here at the shop. it cost about a hundred bucks, but i could just give it to you. i'd rather it go somewhere where it would get some use than sit around and collect dust."

and so two days later i went back and she gave it to me! fully assembled as well, all i had to do was clamp it to my desk and get going. i don't have a swift, so it's a little tricky, but my setup means i am able to use my knees as a makeshift swift, so it's working out! i've wound six skeins into balls so far and i'm super excited to do more.

[tris-magistus]

hello to start off I'm zebulon hughes

and since i left my ex-wife 6 years ago for cheating on me. i have experienced the worsted 6 years of my 46 alive,

bc1qqst5jhkek9rxhxpuehmxpqe3kne2eu295gkhz5

BTC

the same weekend i left i was let go from my job as a Maintenance supervisor, During COVID. Collected unemployment for about two years met this homeless girl i tired to help then she started to beat me literally, I'm not someone to ever rise my hand to a woman no matter how bad it is, to have the cops take her out 3 times 3rd and last time she broke a bottle over my head.

0xC04a15045Fa1b7EbA20332bb07C4fbC70272993B

ETH

i started selling stuff online, and getting free stuff off FBMP and reselling it, then my 1st of 4 cars that i lost in this time was impounded, Because it broke down in a place that I couldn't move it and it needed to be moved so the cops had to tow it and it has been in the impound lot for the last two months, More than that now it was before Christmas and I was the last time I saw my son, because I can't Get to him,

6pya4cNj6j5t4mif6aVucGdm9i4m4tR4wATk87mkdRiw

SOL

When I left my ex I moved back in with my father he was aged and needed assistance anyway I'm still here, though he passed 4 months ago now, After losing my first car because Someone ran a red light and T boned me and totaled My truck, Yeah I was the third time I had the girl I was trying to help she accused me of stealing that night and broke a bottle of my head Right after the car accident and as the last time I had the cops pick her up.

UQC7zPcCYd2eVq8sFbpde2gCO5hHxVmKrlYapmPmQWECYhKf

TON

Almost a year later my friends parents gave me a car I was driving that for a few months and that caught fire in my driveway at 12:00 o'clock on my birthday going into my birthday What about $9000 worth of stuff I was selling at flea markets and because I had it loaded up to go out The next day.

TCJ2QbyXtysDWSyBwBhTmvd8MFadEhEeFL

TRX

I didn't have the proper insurance Coverage so nothing was covered. Throughout this whole time I'm trying to meet someone again and that's when I realized how many scammers are actually online it's my numbing how many, I've lost thousands of dollars to them.

Chime pay tag $Zebulon-Hughes

Around that time is when I got my 401K for my job that I was at for 15 years, I live on that and I bought another car Few months later that one got impounded also not having the paperwork straight,

PayPal email zdart378@gmail.com

This entire time I trying to put myself back together from being broken and trying to meet someone to try and make happy because that's the kind of person I am and that's all I want to do if you be happy again, And the only way I'm truly happy is making someone else happy, and I hate going through all this completely and utterly on.

Eventually I'm able to save up and get the car my dreams a BMW X3 Would you last Of my four oh one k money, and selling stuff and random things online to make money. Oh throughout all this I'm living in a shack outside of my Late Fathers house still,

I used My BMW to empty out storage units that I won at auction all last year as a business gone to flea markets 6 days a week and discovered that I really enjoy buying other people's stuff at cheap then,

Water Started pouring out of my motor, Fill it for a while still filling up every time I stopped, Until one time it wouldn't start and ended up parking in a spot where I needed to get it started and moved so the cops had it impounded while towed and the impound fee was way too much and it's been sitting there almost three months, Again with all my stuff in it and the racket that Is the tow yard it was going up $50 a day.

And just before I lost my car it was the last time I saw my son before Christmas.

And around July August I had to empty out a storage unit with a 500 pound safe in it I lifted that into my car and caused spinal stenosis I still don't walk correctly because the Spinal fluid is not in my spinal cord as it should be.

[analogwriting]

The Other Side of Paradise

Chapter 14: [Premade Sandwiches]

Killer x gn!reader word count: 2k a/n: another 241!! i coulda made it all one fat chapter but i feel like it's better and easier to read when its split between 2-3k word count tags: @tremendoushorsepatrolgoth, @h0n3y-l3m0n05 first|next

Once you were home, the planning began. As if the stars aligned, everyone was able to meet up once more before you were set to leave. It was a miracle that could happen in general, especially on short notice. 

The three quit their jobs, fully committed to this now. Even if the revenge didn’t go as planned or if you ran out of steam and didn’t go through with it, all four of you were genuinely enjoying what you were doing. Maybe one day you’d remove the masks and just enjoy the vibe of being yourselves, but you also liked to be able to be whatever you wanted outside of the light. Not being in the constant light or being worried about being recognized was kind of nice.

You also paid the fee for terminating the rental contract early. The contract wasn’t up for another six months and you didn’t have the time to wait around that long. So, you bit the bullet and paid for the rest of the month and whatever the penalty was. You weren’t worried about money, but it was just an annoying thing and you just hated landlords. It was a lot less hassle than selling a house though, so at least there was that.

Over the next week and a half, the four of you worked on cleaning up the house and packing it up. You weren’t sure what the size of this penthouse would be, so you settled on putting most stuff in a storage unit and only packing up the essentials for now. You figured you could bring the rest up later once you saw what you were working with living-wise.

You still had the party with all your friends to celebrate everything, so there were blow up mattresses and bean bags all over the place, but most things were gone and moved out. You were out in the backyard, working the grill. You did get better at cooking ever since Killer left. When you moved in with everyone, you wanted to give back somehow, so you decided to do that through their stomachs. 

You weren’t great with words, so you figured cooking something would be just as fine. That it would say enough.

Though, the last time you were all together…You looked around the backyard as the memories flooded back - might be a different backyard, but the same reasons and vibe. Many different memories flashed in your mind. You looked to a large tree, reminiscent of the one you and Killer climbed in your youth. The two of you just climbed the tallest one you could find, watching the world from high up in the trees. It had been a calming and relaxing time. Serene. You wished it had lasted forever.

“Don’t you fucking dare.” 

Suddenly, you were ripped out of your thoughts. You looked up to see Hop standing not far from you, her hands on her hips. “Huh?” You blinked.

“I know what you’re thinking and don’t you fucking do that. They are not fucking worth it. He is not fucking worth it, hear me?” She frowned, shaking her head.

It seemed no matter how much time has passed, he always found a way to creep into your mind. Well, it didn’t help that your whole livelihood right now was dedicated to sticking it to him somehow, which you hadn’t quite figured out how to do yet, but you feel like he still would even if you weren’t on this vendetta. 

He was just such a large part of your life for so long - it was hard to always be pissed and angry. Sometimes you were sad and yearned for old times.

“You’re right. The glass is long gone broken.” You shake your head, taking a deep breath. “I should just focus on the here and now. Enjoy the last night with our friends.”

She nodded. “Besides, once we get settled out there, I think we should have another party, inviting everyone. I’m sure everyone is going to have the same concerns that you do…” Understandably so.

You frowned, nodding. There was going to be a weird air. It wasn’t being all together and what happened the last time you were all together. Rather, it was why you were together. The last time one of you hit it big and went to the city, they ditched everyone. “They” being the boys. You four were determined to make sure that never happened. You didn’t plan on dropping your friends.

“I’m sure everyone is going to be worried it’ll end up the same. I think having everyone out there after we get settled will definitely help sooth the minds of everyone.” You moved some of the burgers and hot dogs to the plate before loading up the grill again.

“We should make everyone key copies. Just like this house. I feel like that’ll also help. They know they can drop in at any time. There won’t even be a chance of us ghosting, but I think it’ll put everyone at ease.” Hop nodded, putting her hair up in a ponytail - she had just gotten out of the shower.

“Hop! Where is the aux cord!” Bubblegum’s voice rang from the house. 

“You had it last!” She rolled her eyes.

“I did not! You did! Or I wouldn’t be hollering at you!” He appeared in the doorway of the porch with a disgruntled look on his face.

Hop rolled her eyes before pausing. “Oh yeah. I did. It should be in the garage next to the fridge.”

Bubblegum stared at her for a moment. “Wh-” He shook his head. “You know what? I don’t even care.” Then he turned and headed back inside. 

“He’s so dramatic.” Hop turned to look at you with a roll of her eyes. “Well, everyone should be arriving soon. I gotta pick up some people from the airport. Need anything before I head out?”

You shook your head. “Nah, should be fine. Drive safe.”

“Hey, y’all!” You looked over, seeing Quincey walking out of the back. A large smile spread across your face. “Hey, Quinn! Glad you could make it!” You walked over to her as Hop waved at her when she headed out.

“What have you been up to these days? The usual?” Quincey hugged you tightly and smiled at you as she pulled away. 

You snorted, nodding. “Oh you know. Just playing peek-a-boo with the devil these days and whatnot.” She chuckled and the two of you fell into conversation as you tended to the grill once more.

--

It wasn’t long before everyone started showing up. It’d been quite a long time since everyone was all together, so there was a lot of shouting, tears, and hot gossip. There were also a lot of congratulations for your band’s success. Everyone was over the moon for you. They didn’t know the news yet, but you were doing well even before, so it was just about that. 

You couldn’t wait to tell them all. These were the most important people of your life. You loved sharing every part of this journey with them, especially considering how much they had all done for you. Whether it was pitching in with helping with the band somehow or just giving words of support and encouragement, you were thankful for each and every one of them.

Eventually, everyone arrived. You looked around as you did a silent headcount in the backyard. Everyone was out conversing and snacking on the various things you had made for everyone. It always made your heart so full to see all your friends together. There was a tinge of sadness as that moment of yearning for old times came back but you pushed it away.

You walked over to the speakers, pausing the music. Heads turned in your direction, immediately falling silent. You snorted at the sudden dead air. “Hey, everyone!” You waved as Hop, Bubblegum, and Dive joined you. 

“I’m sure you can probably guess why we gathered you here today.” You smiled and a few people shrugged and nodded while others looked absolutely clueless. 

“I’ll fill in the blanks but…” You smiled widely. “After a long time, we’ve finally done it! We’ve caught the attention of Donquixote Entertainment!” Silence still overtook your friends as they processed before the cheering and screams began. You heard glasses clink as people cheered and took shots or downed their drinks.

It took a moment, but everyone settled down so you could continue speaking. 

“That being said, we’re going to have to leave.” You frowned and saw it mirrored in the crowd but murmurs of no surprise and a bit of expecting all of this. “We’re going to the city. They said they have a penthouse that they’re going to set up for us and we’ll sign the contract and look over things when we get there.” You paused for a moment, letting people catch up.

“However, we do plan on having a big party once we get settled in.” Cheers rang through again. “I know-” You paused as they settled back down. “I know there’s probably some uneasiness.” A somber tone shifted into the air as the elephant in the room was addressed. “After all, the last time some of us got big…look what happened. But if you think about it, they’re not the only ones who made it big.” You looked through your friend group, people furrowing their eyebrows, wondering where you were going with this.

“Quincey, you’re a big fashion designer. And you’ve still kept in contact with us. You didn’t drop us.” She blinked as the attention was turned on her and you watched as her face turned a bright red. “W-Well, I can’t just leave my friends behind…” She fidgeted. “You guys have always been there…”

“And UK.” The attention shifted to him and he blinked in surprise. “You just produced your own film and it won several awards. And you started working on another film with several A-list celebrities because of it. You’re still here and make time for us.” You watched as his face also turned a deep shade of red. “L-Like Quincey said, I can’t leave y’all behind. You’ve been there since the start.”

You nodded before scanning the crowd for a moment. “And Jaguar.” The large man jumped as the attention was shifted to him. “You just won the national championship for bodybuilding. You’ve been on tour doing various interviews and still make time for us.” Jaguar’s face and entire body turned a deep shade of red. He didn’t say anything, just nodded.

“What I’m saying is, fame won’t change us. I promise. Plenty of us have gotten famous and very well known and still keep in contact. Those four were anomalies and we’ll get to the bottom of it, but we’re going to keep talking to you guys because you’re our family. We wouldn’t be where we are without you.” You sighed, feeling exhausted from all the talking. “We’re not going to ditch you just because we’re signed with a big label company. I mean, we’re decently known now and we’re still here. And we’re going to continue to be here. No matter where we are.”

The slight tension in the air that had been there all night dissipated for the most part. Everyone knew you were right. Despite those four, there were some of you that did become famous and didn’t just ghost everyone. You weren’t going to do that either and you would make sure of that.

“On a collision course to hell we march!”

You started up the music again, people cheered, beers were chugged, shots were thrown back as everyone started up celebrating again. 

next

[vixenanswers]

Love what youre doing in this blog <3

Do you have any tips of staying organised, specifically keeping a tidy wardrobe and desk? Usually it takes me a long time to clean but normally whenever I finally tidy the things they never stay that way for long..

Thank you o2studies ♥️

I’m always really happy to hear that people are enjoying my stuff and it’s helpful to them!

I also really relate to struggling to keep your space organized as I used to struggle with that a lot when I first moved out. So I collected some tips that helped me and I hope they will do so for you too.

General tips:

Find a place for everything: The most important step in staying organised is to create an organization system that works for you. I think the things you need to keep in mind are 1. where do you need your things? 2. where is it easy to grab your things from? If you found a place that accomplishes both these points, try to keep your things in

Containers!: Putting things in containers prevents them from just laying around and thus reduces visual clutter. You can also just have a bucket where you put things that you need to put away later -> makes the tidying-up-process less overwhelming. This works both with containers for pencils and papers on your desk and for organizers in your closet

Put things away after using them: This is ofcourse one of the most basic tips, but it can be very helpfull to keep your place tidy. If you put things away after using them they don’t pile up.

Take time every day to de-clutter: If the last tip doesn’t work for you try this instead. For me this time used to be after coming home from school and now its in the morning before I start studying. Instead of taking a lot of time to clean everything, take a little time each day to for example put away the papers you worked on or the clothes you wore yesterday

Desk organization tips:

Keep only what you need on you desk: A cluttered workspace can be distracting and make it difficult to focus on the task at hand. It’s also helpful too keep open desk space, so you have space to work.

-> Keep things you need often nearby: Keeping the things you need most near your dominant hand makes it easier to grab them. This also makes it easier to put them back where they belong and you don’t have to shuffle things around because they’re hard to reach

Utilize your wall space, the space under your desk and stack vertically: A floating shelve/a pegboard or drawer organizers can be helpful to have more storage space and stacking things vertically is a more efficient use of space

Organize your desk according to your work process: Again if things already are where you need them to be, you don’t need to put them back and it’s also just more efficient. For example; a lot of people work from left to right, so they put documents they need to work on on the left of their desk and the documents they finished working on on the right

Wardrobe organization tips:

Clean out your closet: It can be hard to keep your wardrobe organized, when it’s overflowing so start off with downsizing and decluttering. Selling some off your stuff on websites like Poshmark or eBay or donate it to give it a second live

-> Make future clean outs easier: Place a distinct (i.e., brightly colored) hanger at the front of each section of your closet. Every time you wear something and wash it, hang it up in front of that hanger. After a few months, it’ll be pretty easy to see what got worn and what didn’t

-> Pack away seasonal clothing: Try to store the clothes you don’t need at the time somewhere else (like in another storage space/boxes or vacuum packs) to make place in your wardrobe

Create Zones: You could divide items by type, by color or based on how frequently you use them. Put high-use items in the front so they’re easy to grab and you don’t have to go through all your things. Zones also help to get an overview of everything you have so you again don’t have to go through everything

=> Hope that helped, thanks for the question!

[annakie]

FIXING THE HOUSE: Chapter 12 - We Can Make It on the Outside

Part One: I Do Not, In Fact, Have the Power

Part Two: Let’s Spend Lots of Money!

Part Three: All These Things That I’ve Done

Part Four: I Really Want to Stay At My House

A little interlude.

Part Five: Power Down

Part Six: You Will Leave Some Paint

Part Seven: Backwards to go Forwards

Part Eight: Master of Bathrooms

Part Nine: Within a Room, Somewhere

Part Ten: Rooms With No View

Part Eleven: Big Bang Room Part A and also Part B!

Part Twelve: We Can Make It On the Outside (YOU ARE HERE)

Part Thirteen: Mauve Haze Symphony

Part Fourteen (A) - In the Kitchen

Part Fourteen (B) - Copper Green

Hi, I know it's been like a week and a half but I was damn busy. I went to Minnesota and saw my buddies @ahab99 and @gloriousclio for a long weekend and it was fantastic! And then just generally busy since I got home, doing lots of projects for home and other personal life reasons. But there's still two posts to go after this one, so let's actually finish this!

Today we're going to talk about the garage and I think also just like, outside in general? And we'll leave the two biggest reveals for last.

Let's leave the living room and first head into the garage!

Look, the garage is not that exciting. The most exciting thing tbh was the fact that I got it like, halfway cleaned out back in July.

It's been too damn hot, YES EVEN IN OCTOBER to really finish the job after I, tbh, worked too hard on it in July, but I'm still glad I did that because of how bad it needed it, but we covered that already.

So I said this before but I made enough space to easily walk around, I put up some metal shelving for more storage/organization, and did some general tidying, so hey you can walk through it now.

There's a significant amount of stuff sitting in it that I'm waiting for a friend of mine to come get, idk when that's going to happen but I hope soon. Like a loveseat, a vacuum cleaner, a small desk etc. When those things are out, it'll be even better.

There's also several bags of clothes that need to go get donated and one bag of fandom-related shirts I was going to sell cheap here on tumblr maybe if I ever get around to it.

So one big improvement was just the fact that the drywall was starting to get real iffy. Some of it was straight up threatening to fall down. So that's fixed. I do not care that the new drywall is blue. It's a garage, I'll deal with it later, maybe. Also hey, shelving! Still messier than I want it to be. At least all that crap isn't on the floor anymore.

Also, no pic for this but apparently one of the beams across the ceiling in the garage was either loose or had come completely off the joist, maybe during the re-roofing? Anyway, Arturo fixed that, too.

So yeah, the workbench is still messy BUT.. remember way, WAY BACK in Part Two when I had no internet one night because the plug for this internet box was on the ceiling over my garage and it'd come loose, but I couldn't plug it back in because it was right over my car, which was blocked in by a dumpster?

Yeah, well, see, that won't be a problem again. Yay, I have power next to the workbench! A brand new outlet.

Crazy that there wasn't one there before. The only actual outlet nearby was against the back wall, pretty far away. And that outlet was SCARY. Very loose, felt really unsafe. It's been rewired and looks good now, too.

The most noticable improvement was this...

OK, see? Still TUFF there. It's actually a little better now. BUT... the windows! You can see through them! They don't have paint smeared on them! None of them have been shot through with a BB gun!

Look I love the kids who live across the street (and there are ALWAYS kids in that house, the kids who were kids when I moved in 21 years ago now have their own children, and there are always other kids there.) But occasionally they cause mischief and at SOME point someone shot a BB through my window and also into the siding a bit. I don't have any proof who did it or honestly exactly when, so I never confronted them, but it irked me for the last 2 or 3 years when it was there.

They were also just original to the house, and needed replacing. So now they've been replaced and look nice!

OK, enough of the dirty, stinky garage, at least until it gets actually cleaned out more.

-----

THE FRONT EXTERIOR!

The picture at the top of this post was the last picture I had from "Before" and that was taken day one of roof work back in late June or early July. The old roof, old gutters, old windows... etc. Just old and tired looking. You can see huge cracks in the driveway.

TBH it was starting to just look run down. Other problems were like, the garage door needed painting, honestly everything except the poles needed painting and that's only because they'd gotten so bad a couple of years ago that I had asked my lawn guy do it.

Obviously most of the things that improved the interior along that wall improved the exterior, like the windows and door.

All of the black trim along the fake shutters and next to the door got a fresh coat of black paint. The windows got touched up. I thought about replacing the light fixture but it's only like 10 years old so I didn't.

TBH the brick and cement could use a power wash, I need to talk to my neighbor's son about that since he does power washing. The new door especially looks so pretty. It also needed to be swept in that pic, it has since been, and the bushes trimmed.

My neighbor Veronica keeps reminding me that the bushes out front are too high, and she's right. I talked to my lawn guy about it and we decided to cut them way down in the spring when they'll start to grow back again.

Another improvement outside is security. I have a door lock camera, another camera you can't see in these pictures covering the front porch. There's a motion sensor spotlight camera over the driveway. And more stuff you'll see.

See? Camera.

New windows! Painted garage door!

The plan had been originally to power wash the driveway here. But there were those two HUGE cracks that were a problem. We filled them in with caulk(?) and cement but then you got... well, what's there. Also looked real bad.

Arturo ended up with a couple of extra bags of cement from another project. So he ended up putting a new entire layer of cement over the driveway.

He said it won't last forever, probably in the next couple of years we'll need to do a new driveway in order for it to look good, but by the time we got to this, the money was really starting to run dry.

So here's the front of the house now! It's so much better! Still has a little ways to go, but definitely not in the running for the shame of the block anymore.

Couple of other small things happened, including me washing the glass in my little lamppost, and spending $34 on ONE replacement pane that had broken long ago but it now looks fresh and whole.

There's also now a little sign you can kind of see on the door in a pleasant script that says "NO SOLICITING! Family, friends and Neighbors welcome!" I'm not sure if it's actually working or if people are just skipping my house now that it's clear I DON'T need new windows, but I haven't had any randos knock in a month or two since it went up.

---

Had Arturo make a small improvement to my gates -- there were just BIG gaps between the doors and the walls. Like you could pretty easily see my entire backyard if you wanted to peek in at either door.

So he bought and installed a border around both doors of the same cedar wood, and I had saved a quarter bucket of the stain from Joel so it got painted. I also put locks on the gates because the locks the gates came with seemed pretty easy to open from the outside with like, a coat hanger. Now... not possible.

The sidewalk is swept and most of that junk is gone now, though I'm still waiting on my friend to come get the extra granite that he requested Arturo bring for him. STOP CLUTTERING UP MY HOUSE!! :D

But tbh, I don't have the funds and haven't had the time to pretty up the sides of the yard yet.

BUT... big improvements have been made on the patio!

---

You may recall that the patio was in various states of looking pretty much like this all summer.

Eventually, as we finished up projects, the patio started getting a little cleaner and a little cleaner, combined with Monday or Tuesday Morning cleanups.

Hey, an empty, but ugly, patio floor! You may recall the patio ceiling got painted and the ceiling fan went up very early.

What's this? It's just ONE color instead of three or four worn through colors? I love it!! A nice green, which, again, was a darker shade on the same card as the ceiling color. I'm probably going to need to do yearly touchups but I have the can of paint for that for at least the next year or so. Believe it or not, these are not the same greens as in the dining room, nor the master bath, or the k-- wait we'll get to that. Just a lot of shades of green in the house, all different!

The patio furniture I think I mentioned at some other point got painted from stained red to the same color as the patio ceiling. I bought new grey cushions that look fantastic with them.

I also had taken the rug that had been under my computer desk the last couple of years and washed it off in the backyard, let it dry, then rolled it up and put it in the corner of the patio and forgot about it for a month or two.

When I was finishing the final cleanout of the patio for the painting I had an idea of what to do with it!

I also, back when all this started, had bought an adirondack chair. I wanted a nice lounger to relax on in my backyard, even though I had four perfectly good matching chairs already. But I wanted to lounge. I bought it in like... June, I think? The box arrived, I dragged it to the patio and it basically became a table for two months.

Just this last week I finally unboxed it, and spent three hours putting it together. I do love it!

The rug really adds a bit of homey-ness to the patio I think. It'll probably be need to tossed in a couple of years, but for now, I really like the look.

Hey, you can also see the new bathroom window from the outside here!

I really think the patio came together well. There's an element or two still missing.

And also... what's this?

I bought a house for my feral boys Buster and Peter for the winter! I really wanted them to have somewhere protected from the elements for those long week or three where it's actually cold in Dallas in the winter. I also wanted something that looked cute and gave them both their own space.

Still working on getting them to understand that it's for them, but Peter has at least checked it out!

Buster is under a chair over there being unimpressed. But also it's still in the 60's or 70's at night so they haven't needed it yet. I'm sprinkling food and treats in and on it to get them to try to investigate at least. There are warm beds on both the top and bottom levels for them. And you can see they also have beds in the chairs/floor where I see them sleeping.

They get oral flea medication every month or so btw.

The backyard is covered with cameras covering every inch. Nice cameras that solar recharge and are in high resolution. Every entrance of the house has at least two angles on it now. I'm really happy with that setup. Plus of course monitored alarm system.

There's no perfect home security, but I feel like I've made my house an unattractive target, at least. There are also generic signs posted about the video/alarm surveillance.

ANWYAY...

Fry and Pemily have also been enjoying supervised visits outside!

Fry loves dirt. Pemily loves just chilling out. I love hanging out out there after work and chilling with them. I do want to get a little side table for the lounger, but in due time. And YES I WEAR CROCS AROUND THE HOUSE. They're comfortable, ok? :D

Still gotta get the generator hooked up, and at some point actually finish beatifying the outside, but that's gonna take more money han I have left over now. I'll keep working on it, but also right now I'm letting myself just enjoy it.

OK! Back inside next time for the last two updates!

[whoslaurapalmer]

hold on back to the housing conversation. when I said yesterday that living alone right now would entail 'making big sacrifices' and feeling childish about them it's like........

-well first of all, I did learn that mentally i can live alone, and, with the right mortgage, I could do it financially!! that was not a waste of time or information!!

-i want 3 bedrooms. i don't think it's unreasonable to want 3 bedrooms. I have things. it's okay to have Things. It's okay to want space and not feel like you are in a shoebox.

-i want one of the bedrooms for storage. I like holiday decor, and my mom and i had collected a great deal for christmas and halloween, and, I don't want to have to get rid of that! I love all that stuff, it's my style, I want to take it with me! but it's a lot of stuff. but if I got rid of it, I'd never see it again! I'd have to buy new decor, spend years getting that, and STILL struggle with having a place to store THAT! AND IT'S NOT BAD TO WANT TO HAVE SEASONAL DECOR

-EVEN AS A SINGLE WOMAN LIVING ALONE! IF IT'S DESIRABLE TO ME AND BRINGS ME JOY I SHOULD BE ABLE TO HAVE IT WITH ME! I CAN GET RID OF SOME OF IT LATER IF I REALLY WANT!! BUT I SHOULD BE ABLE TO TAKE IT!!

-and beyond the holiday decor -- family photos back to the 80s! 30 long years of medical records, some of which is the only surviving copy of it now especially after that time my digital medical records inexplicably got wiped!! some of my dad's old important papers that idk if I'll need!! my mom's old paperwork, some of which i can throw away and have but others I'm like, should i!! furniture i like, that i cannot successfully say if I can (not just should, but CAN) keep or not until I know where I'm going!!

-clothes! shoes!! coats!! puzzles i like to do sometimes!! little tables i like!! my hobbies my crafts my books!! some things that are so. superfluous and unnecessary and selfish and childish and unrealistic to want to keep as A SINGLE WOMAN LIVING ALONE but are things that are a part of me and my life that i shouldn't have to give up. right now. not right now.

-storage units are an expense! I can't store things in my aunt's garage indefinitely, that's not a long-term solution! that's my grandmother's house too and my grandmother is in her 90s although in great health but realistically, they can totally lose that garage space cause my aunt is NOT keeping that house when my grandmother goes.

-and sure i can go through all of that. I can pick what to keep and what to not keep. I can maybe say, sure, only two bedrooms. sure fine, only one! I can pare my life down to one bedroom! what is it that makes up 'my life'! 'my life' is not defined by possessions and a house is not primarily to put your stuff but that doesn't mean i don't have possessions or stuff and I didn't think that was asking a lot, to want to hold on to some things!!

-and even if i could yeah say that, I can't get that done by like, tonight, and say tomorrow, sure, let's look at smaller places! fine, I'll sell this and this and not regret it and we can stage the house differently! I'll get rid of things i take comfort in so I can fit somewhere else!!

-and even beyond that, though! the 2 bedroom options are limited!! I could get by with being in a townhouse and sharing walls if it was the right place but a lot of them aren't the right place for one reason or another!! and i said I'd never live in an HOA! but is THAT unrealistic! am I compromising something by agreeing to an HOA?? what would that even be!! but let's not act like HOAs are always great overall!! also there's still a lot of crime in the one that's in my budget and local! am I just being irresponsible by wanting to stay right in the town I grew up in?? shouldn't I want to be somewhere else??? shouldn't I want to see other things??

-WELL MAYBE I DO BUT NOT RIGHT NOW ESPECIALLY WHEN MY RIDE STILL LIVES HERE BECAUSE I DONT DRIVE AND I DONT SEE THAT HAPPENING SOON!!

realtor: lulu, why DONT you drive?

me: my stress response is to freeze and make myself as small as possible, so I cannot accurately say that if I was in a stress position on the road I would be able to confidently do the right things to not only keep my life safe but the lives of everyone else in the road, because driving is actually not an individual activity and you need to be able to trust other drivers to do the right thing at least like 80% of the time anyway

realtor: no i get that, I was like that. but I think it's one of those things that comes with driving experience, yknow? I think you'd develop it.

-or the manufactured homes are too far away!! 20 minutes isn't a lot of time for some people but when you don't drive and you ask your brother to take you almost everywhere and then you'd have to factor in that 20 minutes to your routines, to buying gas, to thinking about him having to drive back to his place at night on roads with heavy traffic, I can't ask my brother to do that and he doesn't want to!

-there was a fabled 3 bedroom townhouse that DID pop up nearby and I wanted to see it so fucking badly bc it looked so perfect. but it turned out the owner was renting it out (apparently this is a popular thing to do with townhouses too??) and the renter was not happy being asked to leave and refused to agree to showings and then it went to pending after only a week so we think the renter is trying to stay. and of course they should!! but. sigh alas for me.

joel: it was probably too good to be true.

me: MAYBE.........BUT I'LL NEVER KNOW NOW!

-I CANNOT rent. my income is not enough to rent ANYTHING. my brother gets away with renting bc again he lives in a 300 sq ft thing that was at one point a shed. and he pays over $800 for that now!! that's highway robbery.

-no I can't live in 300 sq ft of space and I don't think anyone should be asked to! unless you're joel vandelay, who just likes having his own space. but also, let us not forget that Joel vandelay himself also HAS PAPERWORK THAT HE WAS STORING HERE, IN THE ATTIC, BECAUSE HE DOESNT HAVE ROOM FOR IT THERE, OBVIOUSLY, AND WAS LOATH TO GET RID OF A BUNCH OF OLD STUFF TOO. THAT HE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO GET RID OF EITHER!!

-but then I think. okay so my brother moves in with me. we stay here. and I have more time to get rid of things and get new things if I want but then what if there's too little things in the house yknow?? what if I once again have too much to put somewhere else?? what if it winds up finally staged perfectly to sell purley by accident because i had more time to consider this and that but then we're not fucking selling it a couple months from now??

-and i don't think my what ifs are purely from a place of anxiety I think they are things to realistically think about!!

-and I'm the only one who can make decisions about my Things! possessions! everything! I don't want answers or advice or suggestions from anybody else about it!

-but sometimes i feel like other people have made decisions for me in their heads (i.e, lulu will have to get rid of certain things) and they're just waiting for me to get there myself.

-but even cousin's wife was like, yes you should be able to have room for this! but she also again says I'm not going to move right now into my forever home which is yes true but how can I think about moving in the future when I haven't done this one yet and I'll STILL have the same problems! with wanting room that I'm apparently not allowed right now!!

-IT'S NOT THAT DIRE IT'S NOT A MORAL FAILURE TO LIVE WITH MY BROTHER OR TAKE MORE TIME TO FIGURE THIS AND THAT OUT AND WE WILL NOT LIVE TOGETHER FOREVER IT'S ALL JUST A LOT AND I DONT WANT TO FEEL LIKE I COULD'VE LIVED ALONE RIGHT NOW IF ONLY I WAS. BETTER. LESS PICKY LESS CHILDISH LESS DISABLED but that part's a different conversation

-I GOTTA CALL THE MORTGAGE COMPANY AND I GOTTA GET DRESSED AND WASH MY FUCKING HAIR

[prismaticstreams]

How to balance all your interests when you have multiple passions?

I’ve been pondering how to balance all my different passions, interests, and side hustles, as I’m the kind of person who tends to love variety and easily gets excited about new projects. It’s often the completion part that I struggle with! This is a fairly common conundrum for certain personality types, and can also be related to conditions like ADHD. It can be really hard to know how to streamline and simplify things to make it more manageable and less chaotic.

Chronic illness can be a factor here too, as I often start a new project in a high energy period, but then may not have the physical energy to easily complete it. It can be hard to know how to handle this sometimes, as I can’t predict how I’ll feel from day to day or week to week. Sometimes I just have to let something go for a while, and accept that I will come back to it later. I also accept that there’s some projects I will abandon, and I don’t see it as a major problem as long as there’s no financial investment.

So how do you handle this tendency? 

I personally find it’s best to embrace it, and find ways to work around it rather than trying to pigeonhole myself into only one project, passion or interest at a time. However, if you’re trying to make money, earn an income or build a business - and you need to pay the bills with it to survive - then you will probably need to narrow down to one thing at a time for work. You can still allow yourself freedom to explore in your free time, though.

For example, I love borrowing a wide range of books from the library, and reading about a bunch of different topics at once. Switching from one book to another works for me and I find it stimulating. The great thing is that the books all get returned to the library, so they don't create long-term clutter. I also enjoy writing blog posts about a range of different topics, rather than sticking to one particular subject.

Same goes for my art - I have one style that I sell commercially, and then do whatever I want in the rest of my spare time as it captures my fancy. I find creating different IG/Tumblr accounts for particular art styles/niches works well. If it becomes popular and sells it's a cool bonus, but I don't worry too much about it making money. Digital art is great because it doesn't take up storage space, so I'm shifting from doing large pieces on canvas to doing more digital art.

Having said all that, I do have a bunch of blogs and Tumblr accounts floating around on the internet that I've forgotten about and largely abandoned. Same with old creative projects in storage. But it's okay, because I enjoyed exploring that idea/hobby/style for a brief period of time. Sometimes I go back and integrate creative stuff from the past into my current projects (for example, taking an old blog post and updating it for my current blog).

It can become a problem if you waste a lot of money on hobbies you forget about or business ideas that never get off the ground, so I’d recommend finding ways to avoid spending too much money to begin with. Ideally, it’s best to spend no money and find free activities, but obviously this is not always possible. My post about Decluttering My Fantasy Self may be relevant if this is you.

If you're multipassionate, I don't think there's one right or wrong way to manage your interests and hobbies. Some people like to focus intensely on one hobby at a time, then move on to something else. Others enjoy moving between different interests simultaneously to keep them stimulated. I've done both at different times in my life. Emilie Wapnick has a great book about this called How to Be Everything which is more focused on career, but you can apply the same principles to hobbies and side hustles as well.

[dollsonmain]

Scott asked me if the store changes what store-made foods are available with the seasons and it doesn't seem like it.

Same sandwiches all the time, though Manager will make something different if what we normally serve isn't available, like if we run out of hot dogs she'll pull something out of the big freezer and make steak and cheese or something like that. We also have "Tornados" which are taquitos but she rarely makes those, or makes them later in the day when I'm not there.

Every once in a while she'll introduce a different sandwich to the case, like we'd kept two rows of pork sausage with American cheese, and recently she swapped one row to pork sausage with pepperjack.

But mostly it doesn't change. The amount we make changes, though. With the kids in school and weather turning cold, fewer people feel like coming in to the store at all so instead of filling the sandwich case all the way, we're putting 3 of each (or 6 of each on ones that still sell well), and brewing a "large brew" on one of the automated pots that we usually brew a "medium brew" on. She ordered a couple cans of pie filling for the grocery and a couple more baking ingredients. That's it.

The decor doesn't change, either. There is a string of Christmas lights along the front window-bay and that's on always.

We do have some seasonal stuff like it was water guns and water balloons, then Halloween candy, and now it's socks, gloves, and hats.

It got me thinking, though, that the store is very light on decor and ambiance in general.

The walls are a peachy-beige, the cabinets are the same, counter tops are a faux granite look, floors a basic, mid-darkness fake wood vinyl plank (which is disintegrating.....), coolers and food racks are black, there are slat walls behind the counter and all along one side of the store that are a light wood color.

I can see why decorating isn't a priority, though, because there's so much STUFF in there. Decoration would probably get a little visually overwhelming.

Every counter surface is covered in a machine and none of them match including around the register, there are lots and lots of different branded refrigerators and freezers standing all around the walls, the drinks/cooler wall is all different colors and types of bottles and cans, the grocery section, which is not tiny, is a complete hodge podge of stuff, there are a few branded light-up signs in the windows, etc.

Also, decorations would have to be stored somewhere and there's no storage space in the store.

Having actually thought about it, though, it's kind of stark and sterile in there despite all the random stuff. They certainly don't want people to get too comfortable and hang around.

It's a "get your stuff and go away" aesthetic.

[womanofwords]

Pockets

Another day being the new Spider-Man, and Miles had his hands full. Literally.

A little kid had given him a lollipop, an old man had put a tie on him, an an appreciative cake maker had given him a set of twelve chocolate cupcakes with gooey centres in the middle. He really should have made himself pockets. Or at least accessorized with a bag.

"Ugh, I hate this!" Miles yelled, putting the stuff onto the nearest table. Hobie looked up and sighed.

"What now, Peter Pan?" he yawned.

"My clothes don't have pockets. I need pockets," Miles whined. "Where else am I supposed to put my stuff, then?"

"Just make the pocket yourselves."

"I've never done that before."

Hobie raised an eyebrow. "You what?"

"I've never sewed clothes before."

"The term is altered, and I've got ya covered. Come on." Hobie grabbed Miles and dragged him through a portal into his universe.

The first thing Miles thought of was that it looked like a collage of newspaper clippings. A lot more people dressed like Hobie did, making Miles feel oddly left out. "Where are we going, anyway?" Miles asked.

"There's an old textiles factory that got shut down and they left some stuff behind," Hobie explained. "Seemed a shame to let it go to waste. So I took one of their sewin' machines and supplies and their tutorial books."

"And this is going to help me . . . how?" Miles asked.

"I'm going to alter your suits so you 'ave pockets," Hobie said.

"Nice," Miles said. "Oh, no."

"What?"

"I don't have anything to change into. Got anything my size?" Miles asked.

"Storage room's in the back. Change outta that and get one of the clothes they couldn't sell."

"Fine." There was relative quiet for a few minutes, only punctuated by Miles removing his suit and searching for something else to wear. Eventually, the British punk could hear curse words in both English and Spanish. "HOBIE!" Miles yelled, ten minutes later.

"What?"

"Why didn't you tell me that the clothes here WERE ALL GIRLS' CLOTHES?!" Miles yelled, stepping out wearing a shirt with a butterfly on it and a long denim skirt that stopped at the ankles.

"I didn't know. And I don't believe in gender-specific clothing," Hobie said.

"This is so embarrassing!"

"I don't believe in embarrassment."

"There literally aren't even any pants!" Miles sat down, crossing his legs with embarrassment. "Just skirts and dresses! Not even good ones."

"No wonder it got shut down," Hobie said. "Look, I'm almost done, so why don't you just sit back and see if there's anything that embarrasses you less?"

Miles stormed off, and Hobie got back to work.

(PAUSE)

"Here we go!" Hobie proudly presented the new and improved Spider-suit to Miles. "With some deep pockets."

"Thanks, Hobie!" Miles looked at the suit with glee. "How much should I-"

"I don't believe in money. And this is because you're a friend."

"I thought you didn't believe in friends."

"I never said that. I do believe in friends. I also believe in inside jokes." A flash momentarily blinded him as Hobie ambushed him with a large, clunky camera. "An' I'm keepin' this."

"No!" Miles yelled. "Hobie, don't you dare do anything that you were thinking of doing with that picture!"

Hobie let out a dramatic sigh. "Well, I was plannin' to keep it locked up an' all to meself, but if you feel that strongly, then I'll get Gwendy on the case!"

"No, don't you dare!" Miles grabbed at the picture, and Hobie played keep-away. "Please not Gwen!"

"Relax, she'd think it was cute!"

"It would be so embarrassing!"

"Going to see her now!" Hobie opened a portal, and Miles had no choice but to go through it after him.

They were in Nueva York, Spidey Headquarters. He got weird looks as he chased Hobie through the many hallways. And then she was there.

"What the heck?" Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Miles and Hobie. Hobie sniggered as Miles despereately tried to cover himself up. "Hobie, what did you do?"

"He wanted pockets," Hobie said. "But he didn't have anything to wear in the meantime and I told him to wear what was available."

"And there were no boy clothes?" Gwen asked.

"No," Hobie and Gwen chorused.

"Get changed," Gwen said. "Hobie, be nice to Miles."

"I don't believe in niceness," Hobie said. "But, yeah, sure."

Once Miles had finally changed, he took a moment to admire the new pockets. They were big and stretchy. He could totally fit so much stuff in there.

Hobie was awesome.

[mcalhenwrites]

Personal update, because... I don't know how things are going to go. I don't know when I'll update things. I don't know when I'll sleep properly and get any writing done. This hit when I was having a bit of a lapse in mental health, and I was discouraged about writing (but trying to keep myself from being pulled under!). I spent about 30 minutes pacing around my bathroom since it's further inside the building, trying to figure out if we were in the path of another tornado while the sirens blared. We were not. My town didn't get hit this time, like it did two weeks ago. Anyway. Two hours later, I'm face to face with a bed bug for the first time, and that fucked me up.

I broke down crying in a panic when I realized what it was and what it might meant for us. We're still searching through belongings because guess how much stuff we own? A LOT! (Someone advised me to go through each of my hundreds of books, page by page, to look for any hidden in them. I'm going to die.) But so far, it has only been the one. I haven't been mentally well. We're not rich over here, money is tight for my roommate and they're paying for all the bills. I just try to keep the place moderately clean, cook a few meals, and write my stories and hope they might sell a bit so I can make a little money to help out. I have been job searching and put in an application to one job that would've worked well for my disabilities, but I didn't get the job. I'm still waiting another month until my appointment to see a specialist about one of my severe health issues. One that can be treated and dealt with! But it's pretty bad! Things have been awful. Like seriously, I cannot catch a break. I don't know how to find the spoons I barely have to do all the work that needs done. I wanted to make progress on Seasons - and I still will, but I don't know how much this will slow that down - and I plan to finish up all those short stories for Geckos so I can publish them together. Geckos isn't really selling, but I am grateful it has sold a few copies. The apartment manager is aware of our situation. My library books are in gallon ziplocs to return in person Thursday and notify them that they might want to treat them or hold them back until they're certain they're safe for circulation again. Can't hurt. I just don't want anyone else to deal with this. I vacuumed this morning but I'm so sore and I can't sleep... tomorrow we are going to buy some things to help deal with this, like storage containers and bags and covers and whatnot. Seeing a lot of people mention steamers. I don't know how to live with this. Scabies during the beginning of covid was bad enough. Scabies being immediately followed by a fucking brown recluse bite that got badly infected and required me seeing a surgeon REALLY fucking sucked. Brown recluse infestatinos are awful! We left our shit apartment and broke lease to move here. It was decently good. Not the perfect place, but y'know. So seeing a bed bug in a building that's only about 2 years old... I worry we have neighbors who are dealing with it and won't say anything. It's a concern. I really don't want to live like this. The problem is I don't want to live at all now, because nothing ever lets up. My roommate is worried about me, so I have agreed this week to do some calling around for psychological help, but I am afraid to go to urgent care and pass along little fucking hell creatures. I'm afraid I might GET MORE OF THEM. Also, the one time I was in a psychiatric hospital was so bad, I had nightmares consistently about having to go back to one for over a year. I still get them sometimes. But I'm feeling suicidal in a "I can't deal with bed bugs" kind of way. I need help. I don't know how to get it. I'm mad that there are millions of other people in this same state. Why is our fucking country so into weapons and selling them to countries that blow up innocent people and starve them to death, so into guns it's appalling, but like... developing new antibiotics and housing people and looking for ways to take care of bed bugs? Nah. Why do that? Fuck the little people I guess.

[pbandjesse]

Today was a really productive day but man am I tired. It did not help that I was wildly congested last night. My nose hurts so bad and I woke up with it scabby and painful. It did not make me want to get up.

Plus I could hear James in the other room on the phone and then I heard people. We were finally getting an oven. But I did not want to interact. So I waited in bed until things got quiet. James came in to tell me we had an oven. And that is was little? It isn't the same width so it looks funny in the space. But it's fine we won't be here long.

I got dressed and made a little peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I felt a little ugly today. But it wasn't about me. I had things to do. And I was looking forward to it.

Even if my mood was not amazing. Like nothing was particularly wrong but I was a little on edge. I was happy to be going away from the apartment because like I said before it is bringing me stress. James packed all the boxes they could in the car. And getting that stuff out of here helped but still. The stress is real.

It is going to be so nice when I am back to a neat space that I have control over. I can't wait to have shelves and storage and everything I have been planning put together.

We would leave here and head over to the house. I was trying to be positive even if I was feeling a little off. Once we got to the house though I started to feel better. James would bring things inside and I would deliver them to the correct rooms. And it didn't take long. It was a lot of knickknacks and studio stuff and some kitchen things.

Once things were inside I went upstairs to start painting. The new color is so much better but, hilariously, the paint was frozen! I had forgotten it in the car and I just had to laugh. Thankfully it wasn't solid. And I was able to mix it and de-ice it. It wasn't as liquid but it would work.

James would join me eventually after putting away some stuff downstairs. I put them in charge of the edges I could reach. And we would switch back and forth from who was using a brush and who was using the roller.

Painting a ceiling is tough!! But we worked together and did a really good job and I absolutely love how it looks. Seriously once we were two hours in I just laid on the ground and felt so happy. Laying on the ground also just helped me see what would need to be touched up. But overall we were able to knock the whole thing out in less then three hours.

James would leave to go pack the car up, get gas, and pick us up lunch from Chipotle. And I was left to my own devices.

After taking a break I went to take the tape down in the bathroom. The green dried down so beautifully. I cannot wait to put up all the decorations. I struggled with some of the tape because I couldn't reach it but I got what I could and that very last piece James would get later on.

I went back to the bedroom to touch up what I could see. One of the issues with using such a dark blue against the windows I struggled to see. But I did my best and by looking at it from different angles I think I was able to get everything. And I still have a little leftover paint so I think everything will be just perfect in the end.

I cleaned up and put some things away. Moved stuff to the basement. And started unpacking what I could. I wanted to empty as many boxes as I could to send back home for further packing. I also hung out door knocker. I was having a good time.

But I was also hungry. So it was really nice when James got back with food. They sell were able to say hi to our new mail man. And he requested we put our name on the mail box! Can do! We got our very first piece of mail. Our homeowners insurance. Good. I'm glad it was a real piece of mail.

James brought things inside before they joined me in eating lunch. They took a moment to fix the fridge water dispenser because I couldn't figure it out. Turns out in my trying to fix it I had turned off the water to the fridge. Oops. But now we know how to fix it and turn off the water if needed in the future.

After lunch I would start unpacking the boxes they brought. And they would start working on the kitchen. I would join them and put away what I could. We don't have our pantry or island yet so we worked with what we had in front of us. We need two lazy susans for the corner cabinet but everything else went pretty well after some fussing.

I took all of our unframed stuff out of the box to put under a book to hopefully flatten it. And as we were finishing that the Fulwilers were coming over!

I was excited to share the house with them. Tucker took all kinds of pictures. And they had lots of questions. It was fun showing it off though they keep talking about furniture we can have that they have in the garage. We will see. I have mapped out a lot of our furniture so I don't know what will fit and I don't want to be over run. But we will see what works out.

After our tour we sat in the living room and talked about the plans for a while. But I was getting tired. My allergies have been touch and go all day but I think I was just beat. It was a long day.

They Fulwilers headed out and we followed after. We put all the boxes in the car and headed back to the apartment.

When we got back here we brought the boxes inside. But when we got in here James got super upset when we found my flower plant fell down! It was just to top heavy. So the flowers broke but there is still one that has bloomed yet so it's okay. It's an annual plant so I think it will be okay in the long run even if it was damaged.

James was overly upset. And that made me upset. But we would calm down and I got some spikes and take to reinforce the stem of the deeper and it will be okay. It will live.

James would do laundry and I would get in bed to rest with sweetp. Eventually we had a little dinner. James painted their nails. And I tried to feel alright.

I think I will take a shower and try to sleep. I actually was able to go to bed earlier then not sleeping last night so I'm hoping to do that again. Wish me luck.

Tomorrow I have a half day of work and then we are going to get tattoos!! I hope it is fun.

Sleep well everyone. Be safe and take care of yourselves. Goodnight!!

[dynalope]

Palia: First Impressions

Been playing a few hours of Palia this morning, an MMO that let me into their beta and, I must confess, I'm not quite sure what its going for.

I think its trying to be an MMO Harvest Moon/Stardew Valley but, so far, its been characterised by a great deal of waiting.

Everything is done in real time. If you want to make a plank out of a log, you have to wait 30 seconds to do that. If you want to sell some stuff from your dropbox, you have to wait for that to happen every hour or so.

But the real blow has come just now. I had finally finished making the bricks I need to build a house which took a long, long time because I needed 35 and they took 2 minutes each to make, not counting the time needed to go get the resources.

Regardless, I finally have all the bricks and planks I need, I put them into my house and I'm greeted with:

EIGHT FUCKING HOURS.

This game made me wait over an hour just to make 35 bricks and now it wants me to wait EIGHT HOURS for the house to build???

Nothing productive is even being done. It not like I can make use of the resources already created like I can with the plank or brick making process. Its just a really long timer they've added for, as far as I can tell, no fucking reason.

Not only that but the storage space you get in this game is WOEFUL.

Only a few hours in and I've found myself having to sell most of the resources I'm collecting and thats even after a backpack upgrade.

For some reason this game does not want you to be able to keep ahold of your resources.

Its so bad that characters will send you furniture (for the house I'll have in EIGHT REALTIME HOURS) saying things like "Hey, good job growing an onion! I've sent you a box to hold all your veg!" and the fucking box will be NON-FUNCTIONAL.

Every time you find a chest in the wild, you also take the chest with you to use at your house. A pretty cool feature, right?

WRONG. THE CHESTS ARE ALSO NON-FUNCTIONAL. THEY JUST SIT THERE AND LOOK "NICE".

So I have eleven chests sitting at my base, empty chests as far as I know, and I can't do ANYTHING with them even though I'm running out of storeage constantly.

Its a joke. Its a game thats trying to draw itself out (I assume because they aren't confident in the amount of content they have yet) and also starve you of resources.

I can only assume its a ploy for some later microtransactions because the ones already in this BETA (ITS A BETA WITH MICROTRANSACTIONS) are a JOKE.

At this time they only seem to sell outfits but, as far as I can tell, microtransations are the only current way to get new outfits. The cheapest outfit at this time requires you to buy £17 ($22) worth of their premium currency and obviously the outfits are priced to just be slightly too low to reach with a cheaper pack so you have to buy a more expensive pack and have some left over, as is standard with this predatory garbage.

So yeah, not impressed so far. I hope the game improves because it has a lot of charm and a chance to be a good bit of fun but right now the charm is just a front for a shallow game that has little content but timers worthy of a mobile game and microtransations.

Hope they improve.

[soloshikigami]

Solo's MadLad Summer and Stuff

Yeah, it's going to be a bit of a nutty summer. Already the spring brought some crazy shit, and I hate how much of the is bleeding into now but, that's life.

So what's behind the cut? One of my dumbass task lists, and then some... eh, not necessarily venting but just some stuff that I need to get off my chest.

Oh, and a quick announcement, I'm always open for commissions, but there's going to be an increase in advertisement for them, so please consider one!

Okay, task list time!

Clear out my closet (really need to bite the bullet and just get rid of some of the clothes that I just straight up don't wear)

Clean under my bed - I have a lot of space under there, not sure what I've shoved there and I need to figure it out.

Paperwork purge - old papers that aren't necessary for me to keep, as well as clear out manuals of stuff we don't have anymore/really are of no use

Spare Room - currently I'm using the very tiny spare bedroom we have as my own storage space, mostly, and I need to really just - again - get rid of stuff.

Power-washing - the side of my house needs it, I would also like to clean off our porches and the walkways, as well as seal them. I also promised a friend I would do power washing at her place as well, more on that later.

Martial Arts training - hoping to get a big boost here; I'm still getting used to how testing works with this dojo/style, and I'm sure there will be at least one test during the summer and I want to be more than ready for it.

Writing - Paply, Sansgust, Megalodontale, a new novel, and a head start on Kinktober, as well as many commissions as I can get.

Minecraft - I've been working on a project here that I hope to share soon!

Legos - a massive project that I might not be able to do this summer, per se, but gathering the materials and prepping for the process is on the to do list.

So, in my mind, I have until August 23rd to get these things done. The power washing is the hardest, because the porches and walkways will take a while, and the smoke from the Canadian wildfires is a concern along with the heat and humidity where I live. Plus I get the feeling my parent may try to discourage me from said project because it is a difficult thing to do, might not be worth the energy, time, and resources... I dunno we'll see.

Also dealing with a lot of other stuff... helping a friend pack up and sell their house, helping with whatever my mom needs help with, friend may possibly have cancer, dealing with other family stuff... just dealing with a lot of messes.

So here's hoping for health and productivity! @_@

[ozma914]

Oodles of Books: the Gift That Keeps On Reading

"If the Beast gave me a library like he gave to Belle, I'd marry him too." -- Aya Ling

 So, my wife's bosses were going through storage units, and had to sort through all the books their daughter collected over the years. Some were damaged, but they offered to give Emily and me most of the rest. Their daughter, they said, read a lot.

Not long after, they filled our Ford Escape with so many books I was afraid it would bottom out on every hill on the way home. A few days later, they did it again. Then again.

Mountains of books! Forests of books! More books than you'd ever read in a lifetime!

Ahem. If you'll pardon me for quoting Beauty and the Beast. I may have cried a little. I also may have cried a little while we were carrying them all up the steps into the house, but enough about my back.

It was Emily who had to clean up the books because, as it happens, I'm allergic to both dust and mold. Never thought I'd be glad about that. But I forgot, and later when I was cleaning our former bedroom/new reading room (our own library!) I gave myself an allergy attack. Too bad--eight hours of sleeping off the Benadryl, when I could have been reading.

Freaking scads of books! 

We're still sorting them, by author and genre. Authors like me, who don't stick to a genre, will be a problem. But many of them were novel series (love a good series), which helped. We unfolded a table and Emily got started while I was cooking and doing the dishes, which is completely understandable when you realize how much more organized her mind is than mine.

Really, the only member of the family who wasn't thrilled was the dog. (This all happened before Beowulf passed away.) When we first put up the table he liked to lay down under it, but as we unpacked more books that space became filled, too. Sometimes he just walked up to the table and looks sadly at his former doghouse.

"I am NOT amused. I can't even read."

A large percentage of the books are what's called high fantasy, which I take it are better enjoyed when you're high. Wait, let me check ...

Oh. Well, it means epic in scope, with forces threatening a world that is not our own. Game Of Thrones stuff, and didn't it take us a whole year to read through those massive tomes. The novel I wrote (and am currently trying to sell) is low fantasy: mostly set in the real world, with the addition of magical elements. Now we're talking about Harry Potter and the Giant Dump Truck of Money.

Many others are space opera, again similar to another novel in my submission process. Think Dune, the Lensman books, and of course Star Wars. (My Junior English teacher in high school was the daughter of E.E. Smith, who authored the Hugo-nominated Lensman series. Fun old-timey SF, and possibly an inspiration for the Green Lantern.)

There are also history books, mostly involving World War II, which made me squeal a little. Okay, a lot. There are mysteries, and both nonfiction and fiction books about horses, and encyclopedia yearbooks covering all the earlier years of my life and some before. We have our own library of books--something I always dreamed of.

I took this photo to document that someone decided to leave their shampoo behind, and buy a book instead. If you never leave your couch, you don't need shampoo.

It all made me a little sad.

Let's face it: even if I gave up writing and put all my spare time into reading, there's no way I'll ever get to all these books, plus the ones I already have, plus the ones on my reading list. We've still got books in boxes in the garage. I've got friends writing books that I want to read. It makes me want to retire to a rustic cabin in the woods and just become one with a comfortable chair.

Still, just having all those books up on shelves around us will cheer me up substantially, and better too many than not enough. With books, I may never go anywhere again--but I'll go everywhere.

That's a pretty good way to spend your time.

Remember: Every time you don't read a book, the author has an allergy attack. Keep authors healthy.

We and our books--I mean, the ones we wrote--can be found everywhere:

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914