#cheapskate alert

[jesuistrestriste]

Art and Patrick’s dorm fridge at Stanford 😭😭

STOPPP LMFAO

yeah they have nothin in there ! they get 90% of their food from the dining halls and mooching off of other students/friends .

like everyone knows you two have enough money to buy groceries .. stop asking people for their granola bars……

[larissa-the-scribe]

Tell Me About This Time Loop, Again?

And so it begins... @inklings-challenge

Day 12

In Zo's mind, it never felt like the day was properly begun until Lyn woke up, looked around at the room they'd been staying in, frowned, and said—

Day 13

"Where are we? And why does it feel so... familiar?"

"Well you see," Zo replied, as he always did, peeking at the underside of the egg he was frying, "we're stuck in a time loop."

Day 14

"A time loop?" Lyn swung her feet over the side of the bed, seeming to realize for the first time that she was in one.

"Don't worry, it's clean." After confirming they were, indeed, in a time loop, one of the first things he had suggested was finding a comfortable place to set up camp. Somehow it had worked, and they had ended up there every time things reset. "And there doesn't seem to be anyone around, so I don't think we're stealing or trespassing." 

Lyn raised an eyebrow. 

Day 15

"Well, we might be, but no one minds. It's a ghost town. Everyone seems to have disappeared." And since it was a time loop, they never ran out of cooking gas. Or food supplies. That, at least, was convenient. 

"Disappeared?" Lyn stood up, adjusting her shirt from how it had gotten scrunched up in the night. Despite her attempts to look bright-eyed and alert, he could see the sleepiness that still hung from her eyes. 

Day 16

"Our best guess so far is that it's connected to the time loop." Zo flipped the eggs. If this all persisted, he could open up a fried-egg restaurant once they got out; he was getting an absurd amount of practice flipping eggs.

"That makes sense." Lyn padded over to the window, still barefoot, and pushed the shutters open. "Do we have any evidence, or is that just, well, a guess?" 

Her gaze swept the view, which he knew without looking was nothing more than the empty lines of blocky, one-story buildings and the too-smooth black-top of the streets. The neighborhood was pressed together as if sheltering from the plains beyond the town, with such a veneer of newness covering it all that each house might have been churned out of a factory yesterday. They hadn't been, though, considering the subtle signs of wear and tear inside the houses. 

"Eh, a bit of both. Something weird is clearly going on with the area, and we know time is affected, too, so it's a logical guess that the two are connected. Whether that means some psycho wiped the town out before setting up their experiment, or just that their timey-wimey dealybob messed up physics in general is still up for debate. Do you want toast?"

"Yes, please."

Day 17

"Good. We have to finish the bread before it goes stale." Zo left the 'in case we get to the next day' implicit.

"I'm surprised we still have butter. I thought it would have gone bad in your pack."

"It smells a bit odd, but so far we haven't been affected by it."

Day 18

"Okay, but how do you know we're in a time loop?" Lyn asked, setting the table. 

They were in a ground-level studio apartment, so the dining room, kitchen, and bed were all in the same space. No couch, which Zo took to mean that the owner was either poor or a cheapskate. Either way, it was disappointing. Still, the carpet wasn't bad. He'd slept on worse.

"Because you've asked me that so many times I've lost track of the number," Zo said, "and you seem thoughtful every time, like you're not as surprised as you thought you'd be." 

She nodded and set a fork down carefully, wearing the expression she always did just then, brows squeezing down over far-away eyes.

"In all fairness, though," Zo clarified, "I mostly lost track because I wasn't really counting, and then it seemed pointless to start. It's been over two weeks, though, I'm fairly certain."

Day 19

She smiled, and the tension in her brows eased a bit. "This all does feels familiar. Like, I don't remember the other days, but all of this feels like I should, somehow, know what happens next. But I don't."

"I do know," Zo replied, "and it's getting a bit tiresome."

"Fair."

Zo nodded, slotting toast into the toaster. "Very. Whoever owned this place pretty much only had eggs in their fridge. I'm not sure how many more days in a row I can eat those without losing my mind."

Lyn looked up sharply.

Day 20

"Relax," he said, waving his spatula, "they respawn every day, so I don't think it's even technically stealing. If it is, we can pay them back later. There's a fully-stocked but unmanned convenience store down the road, one which we have very nobly not taken anything from, every single day."

"Good," Lyn sighed. "After all, if we get out today, we wouldn't want to be rewarded by jail for petty theft." She tacked on a fierce look at the end of the sentence.

Zo shrugged, and let Lyn interpret the gesture as she would. "Eggs are almost done."

Day 21

"Good. I'm weirdly hungry. Also, thank you for breakfast."

"Don't mention it," Zo smiled. "It's nothing I haven't done many times before."

[kylejsugarman]

ive wanted ivy ever since she debuted in 2008. julie was my only historical doll as a kid so i of course wanted her to have her best friend, but there was no way i was getting another doll. im a cheapskate so its taken a long time for me to chance upon an ivy that im willing to pay for, but this one had tight limbs and beautiful hair (her bangs aren’t cut, they just got pulled back a bit by her headband), just a bit of silver staining on her eyelids that u of course can’t see when her eyes are open!! she came with this ag dog, so im assuming this is her service dog. ivy’s a mega athlete (u know, the one who is always dressed in athletic wear in case a track practice breaks out unexpectedly) and her service dog dash is there to alert her when her blood sugar drops unexpectedly and make sure she takes her insulin. she’s happy to join the fam!!

[authorspirit]

New simblr alert!

Hi everyone, I'm Mira, I also go by Joy. I'm from France, ethnically Malagasy, English is only my second language but that's my game language setting (it's a choice). I'm a fairly new player to the Sims franchise ('cause mini me would only play games at other people's house). I'm a cheapskate so I waited for TS4 basegame to go free... And went a little bit ham on the packs. I don't have all of them, I don't intend to. I use a lot of cc, maxis mix but more maxis match than alpha. I'll be as wcif friendly as possible. I'll post gameplay, builds and whatever I feel like at the moment, but mainly screenies of my sims. I aspire to post a story based on a Malagasy family... Or not. I don't know. I'll see.

This blog is a secondary blog, I like and follow from @blueyjoy. Don't hesitate to interact! :D I'm shy but if you're shy, let's be shy together.

ps: those two sims are my current most played sims at the moment. You'll see a lot of them here.

[bluelitmoons]

Initiative 2.1

still working everyday so still taking a writing break over lunch when i can.

since i hadnt planned on a part 2 initially its gone in a cozier direction (with no jack)

~~~

“Rose, you still listening?”

“Yeah, yeah, I am.” Rose tried to sit up a little higher, blinking open her eyes rapidly as she tried to look more alert.

“You haven’t reacted at the last three jokes,” the Doctor pointed out.

“Guess I am a bit lost in my thoughts,” she admitted, with a guilty glance up to his indulgent blue eyes.

He inclined his head towards her, lowering the book. “Penny for ‘em?”

Rose gave him a tongue touched smile out of habit. “Think they’re worth a bit more than that.”

The Doctor chuckled. “You know what a cheapskate I am.”

~~~

unposted word count: 2,495

[feminist-space]

First image is of a number of ballpoint pens with words written or carved on them. The caption says Confiscated pens containing cheat notes intricately carved by a student at the University of Malaga, Spain (2022).

Second image is of a pair of socks and the caption says socks used to cheat on civil service exams, Qing Dynasty China.

Here's a link to an article titled Cheating in Examinations for Cheapskates?–A Centuries-Old Tip from the Chinese Collection of the Cotsen Children’s Library by Minjie Chen, published 2019:

Confiscated pens containing cheat notes intricately carved by a student at the University of Malaga, Spain. (2022)

[lizardkingeliot]

Your incursion into the throne room put that cheapskate on red alert.

[egretta-random-writes]

In the Quiet of 3:30 am - Fridge Raid

Note: This setting is an AU that everyone lives, Giorno is now Don and pays everyone well for their services (unlike some *cheapskate* pink-haired ex-mafia boss). I saw this headcanon of La Squadra as housemates and I fell in love with it. The headcanon of Risotto stealing everyone else’s food is absolutely funny to me. Nephila is my OC. 

I’m such a sucker for fluff.

-----

Out of the corner of her eye, Nephila saw something invisible was moving things around the kitchen when she got downstairs.  Suddenly alert and thinking it was some intruder, she tensed, ready to unleash her stand, Red Fraction. Then realizing quickly who it likely was, she relaxed and wandered in to start making her tea. 

“Capo, that bresaola is better with some bread, it cuts down some of the salt.”

The giant figure of La Squadra’s capo shimmered into existence as Metallica’s invisibility was turned off. Risotto quietly shut the fridge door and turned to his new recruit. Nephila gave him a small smile in greeting, “Good morning.” 

“How do you know that?” he asked. The red eyes of her capo seemed to stare straight into her soul, setting her instincts to flee on high alert. She huffed, forcing herself to relax as she focused on filling the kettle instead. 

“I was lucky enough that Proscuitto shared part of a slice with me one day. Though to be honest, I find it too salty just by itself. Don’t know how he stands it.” Nephila replied, setting the kettle on the stove. She then sat down on one of the nearby stools to wait “So you’re the one taking his bresaola, he was complaining that it was getting smaller so quickly.” she looked at Risotto with a wry grin. The thought of her capo raiding the fridge and stealing food at night like a raccoon was just absolutely hilarious. 

He raised a brow, quietly challenging her, “What are you going to do about it.”

She laughed quietly and shook her head. 

“You’re secret is safe with me. I have some bread, cheese and honey if you’d like.” she offered.

Risotto took the bread and cheese then started cutting into the bresaola.

“It’s 3:30. What are you doing up so early?” He asked, curious as to what she was doing all dressed and ready to leave before the sun was even out.

“It’s my day off so I’m going to the research station. I’ll be back by late afternoon and have my phone and mirror in case you need to reach me though.”

“This early?”

“Yes. Ringing operations start at dawn so I will need to get there earlier to help set up.” Nephila explained with a relaxed smile as the conversation turned to a topic that she was more comfortable in. Risotto hummed casually in acknowledgment as he chewed on his midnight snack. That explained why she went to sleep so early, even declining to having dinner with Ghiaccio and Illuso after their mission together. 

“What is ringing?” He remembered that her previous profession was a scientist of some sort, though she never went into specific detail. 

Nephila quickly took the kettle off the stove before it started to whistle, “Bird ringing is mainly catching birds and putting a ring around their legs.” she explained as she poured the hot water into her cup, “Each ring has their series of numbers and or letters to keep track of that specific bird, which helps to identify them when someone finds or recaptures them.”

The strong smell of mint wafted into the air as she joined her capo at the table. Risotto glanced at her, “What information do you gather from them? Is that what you did previously?” 

His recruit stared thoughtfully into her cup, “Well, a lot actually. When birds are captured, we determine species, age, and sex. Measurements are taken so we can find out species sizes. If birds are recaptured, the numbers and letters on their ring are recorded. From a database, we can find out where they were previously captured, at what age, who ringed them; essentially allowing us to track the travels of that individual bird.” 

She smiled wistfully, “That was one of things I did in my profession, before everything happened. So now, I volunteer my time and skills instead. I’d like to continue doing this at least, until I couldn’t or not allowed to anymore.”  If there was one thing he noticed about his recruit, it was that she smiled a lot. Not the fake kind of smile, but just a reaction that seemed to came naturally to her. Happy smiles, sad smiles, content smiles, and nervous smiles; he’s seen them all. 

“As long as it does not compromise the team, I don’t care what you do.” He replied. 

Nephila looked up at him. There it was, that easy bright smile again. “Thanks. They are open to the public if you’d ever like to visit. If you have time and are curious, I’d be happy to take you. It’s usually rather quiet and peaceful, not many people around.” 

Her capo nodded. “I’ll think about it.” 

“Offer’s available any time.” 

“Hm.”

They settled into a comfortable silence afterwards, each assassin paying attention to the food and beverage in front of them instead. 

A small sandwich on a plate was suddenly pushed in front of her. Nephila looked up from her tea to her capo in question. 

“You skipped dinner last night, bring it with you.” 

“You won’t tell Proscuitto?” she grinned.

Risotto smirked back, “Your secret is my secret.”

[metalbatandzenko]

Help, People Think My Bodyguard Is Hot!AU

So I posted earlier about the fact that my dumbass gremlin brain managed to mix a Bodyguard AU, Fake Dating AU, Unrequited Love, Childhood Friends, and Mutual Pining into one AU...this is that AU. It’s Mumensai and Flashysonic endgame.

Main Plot:

So Flashy Flash is an idol and Mumen’s his personal assistant. The two have been working together for a few years, and Flash has come to trust Mumen’s judgement, even though he thinks Mumen can be a bit high-strung/get’s anxious easily. 

The night before a major event, Flash’s security detail fell through.

Mumen panics, and asks his best friend Saitama, who works as a security contractor/bodyguard at a company he and Genos own.

Previously, Mumen hadn’t asked him to because Mumen was worried it would come off as biased, and Saitama thought that was fair. Plus he wasn’t exactly sold on the idea of working for Flashy Flash in the first place, so no hard feelings.

This time around was an emergency though, so Saitama agrees to fill in, and brings a few of his coworkers (it is supposed to be a detail after all. He’s pretty sure that means more than one guy. He’s not sure to be honest, Genos handles the logistics most of the time.)

There ends up being a scuffle at Flash’s show and long story short Saitama takes down like 6 guys.

Flash is suitably impressed and offers him a position as his personal bodyguard Saitama being the cheapskate he is, and hearing the paycheck associated with it accepts on the spot.

Everything’s going smoothly for a few days, but then someone on twitter tweets a picture of Saitama helping Flash out of his limo with the caption “Wait is it just me or is Flashy Flash’s bodyguard hot? 😳”

Saitama becomes an overnight sensation (remember Kylie Jenner’s bodyguard? Yeah that) and people start following him on socials, except—you know—he’s Saitama so his ig account isn’t curated pictures but is just stupid pics of things in his house and him goofing off with Genos (who is also his roommate) and King.

He gets even more popular when someone posts a video of Saitama taking down the guys at Flashy’s show.

Flash is pretty amused by this, and thinks Saitama’s floundering in the new spotlight is really funny. 

He gives Saitama a few tips and tricks on how to keep a clean feed for ig (which Saitama only follows sometimes), and has Mumen create a twitter account for him under the username baldandbeautiful and get it verified. 

Saitama does not think this is funny, and begins tweeting absolute nonsense to try to spite Flash. This does not work. He keeps gaining followers. What the fuck. His tweet that was just “do you think birds know we love them” got 81k retweets. What is twitter.

So Flash, Saitama and Mumen continue on like this for a few months, and things are going swimmingly.

Then it comes out that Amai Mask (Flashy’s ex who he had a really messy public breakup with) began dating his personal bodyguard (Sonic).

Now Amai seeing someone new would be fine by itself, but it turns out Sonic is Flash’s childhood friend, and ex. 

So Flash vents to Saitama about how his exes are dating just to spite him and how he needs to figure out his next public appearance because all eyes are going to be on him.

Spoiler alert: he ends up going and partying at a club and getting wasted. This isn’t especially out of the ordinary for him, but what is out of the ordinary is him climbing on Sai’s lap in the middle of the lounge, and leaning in to kiss him. (The paparazzi lose their minds)

Saitama pulls back and asks him what he’s doing and Flash (who it turns out is actually completely sober) explains the publicity behind him dating his famous hot bodyguard would be great for both of them and he’ll double how much he’s paying him.

Saitama hesitates for a moment because he’s been in love with Mumen since they were in high school, but he relents, because honestly, money is tight, and Mumen doesn’t like him back so there’s no reason to hold out. And Flash is attractive, so there are worse people to pretend to date.

Flash and Saitama’s “steamy makeout sesh” is all over the rag magazines the next day and they’re getting tons of good publicity from it. 

Mumen starts acting a bit weird around Saitama which he gets—Mumen’s always been a romantic so him pretending to date someone wouldn’t sit well with the guy.

The two continue to fake date for a while. Flash ends up genuinely falling for Saitama, but also confesses to him while drunk one night that he’s still in love with Sonic. 

Saitama in turn confides in him that he’s been in love with someone for years, but is scared of ruining what they have by telling them.

He doesn’t tell Flash who it is, but Flash puts two and two together and just has to watch Mumen and Saitama pine for each other like idiots. He eventually ends up “firing” him as a boyfriend but keeping him on as his security guard.

But anyways it ends up with Flashysonic, Mumensai and Amai x Tons of money from the breakup album he puts out ajrbvttv

Other characters:

Sonic is a private contractor. His backstory is actually fairly similar to canon in terms of having taken jobs as a hitman, bodyguard and/or thief. He and Flash grew up together, and “dated” up until fairly recently. When Flash got discovered, it drove a wedge between the two of them and they split on bad terms. He ended up hired as extra security for an event Amai was holding. Despite being told he could enjoy himself as he was mostly there for show bc Amai could handle himself, he ended up taking down a guy who tried to attack Amai Mask, and made quick work of him. When Amai mentioned he could handle himself, Sonic told him to shut up, because he’d hired him for a job, and damn if he wasn’t going to do it. Amai, surprisingly, found this hilarious it helps he that found Sonic attractive and ends up offering him a job. He still sees Saitama as his rival because Saitama once caught him trying to steal from his client and knocked him out. He ended up wiggling out of a felony charge because his client at the time was incredibly wealthy and got him a good lawyer.

Amai Mask is still a famous actor, singer and model. He and Flash dated briefly (originally for publicity but they both got attached). It ended because he realized Flash was still in love Sonic.

Genos is Saitama’s roommate and coworker. He handles more of the business/logistical end of their security work, but he’s no pushover, and occasionally contracts out himself. Saitama usually benches him though because he has a tendency to get in fights.

King is one of the bodyguards but he’s mostly there to add numbers to the security details bc he can’t fight for shit, he just looks big and scary enough that people back down. He actually does better with the tech elements, and he and Genos work on that together.

Fubuki is Flash’s current agent. She’s constantly trying to help him raise his status, and by extension her own. She poaches a few of Saitama’s employees/coworkers to come work for her, or sign a contract for her. (What? You’ve managed to surround yourself with very attractive bodyguards. They could make it as models, Saitama.)

Tatsumaki is Amai Mask’s agent, and Fubuki’s older sister. She discovered Amai Mask, and turned him into a worldwide phenomenon. 

Badd and Garou probably won’t make a major appearance in this AU but if they do, it’ll be as Saitama and Genos’ coworkers that Fubuki successfully convinces to go into modelling...but not under her.

[olivcrstone]

STARTER FOR: @reinathane​ LOCATION: PTA Information and Donation Booth. SETTING AND TIME: Summer Festival, Afternoon.

Despite being surrounded by upbeat festivities and bright, neon lights, Oliver can’t shake the sensation of worry running through his body. There’s a sense of fear being paired with his nervousness too, the man obviously on edge. Ever since Eli’s accident while out on the run for the club, he can’t help but be on high alert. There were fellow club members here whom he was fully aware would protect him and his family if anything were to go downhill but the nervousness was there regardless. 

“Two bucks? Cheapskate,” Oliver mumbles under his breath before putting on the brightest, sweetest smile, “Thank you so much! Have fun, guys!” The social worker says to the passing patrons, his tone morphing into something more chipper and oozing joy. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist that Oliver has an underlying distaste for most fellow PTA parents, aside from Reina, Andy, Rowan, and a few others. You couldn’t exactly blame him. Most of them talk shit about anyone affiliated with the club, citing their dangerous lifestyle and corrupt nature. 

Oliver fans himself with a paper as he sits back down, surveying his surroundings anxiously once more before settling into his spot. Blue eyes look to Reina, “I heard about Jason. I’m sorry..” His lips purse for a moment before he continues, “We don’t have to talk about it, I just thought I’d rip the bandage off.” Like clockwork, the most notorious PTA parent, Janet, starts approaching them. Oliver groans, “Janet. On your right. You want me to handle her?”

[ohjohnno]

Outrageous Fortune Reviewcap: S1E01 (”Slings And Arrows”)

The first time I watched this show, it was more as an exercise in trying to learn New Zealand slang for a writing project than anything else. It didn’t really prove useful - the characters I was researching for were upper-middle class kiwis, as opposed to the bogans depicted here - but nonetheless, the first time I watched the first episode I was too focused on my project to pay too much attention to the actual quality. Only upon rewatching did I realise that this show was great right from the get-go.

The show, for those who don’t know, centers on what is sometimes called a “crime family”. But this isn’t a Corleone or Gambino style family; this is more like what you could call a blue-collar crime family, with the main breadwinner just happening to earn most of his income through crime (in this case, mostly burglaries). They aren’t a particularly violent menace, but they are nonetheless a perpetual thorn in the side of the police, from whom they get constant and generally perfectly justified visits.

It has flaws, yes. They’re especially apparent during the first season, and they never completely go away. But it’s the cast of characters that makes this show tick, and for the most part, they’re all compelling right from the get-go. It’s a fascinating bunch of introductions - let’s take ‘em one by one. 

We have Cheryl West, introduced initially as your typical mama bear. She’s fiercely protective of her children, even as she remains very firm with them; she’s less firm with her husband, Wolfgang West, the only person in the whole episode she allows to lie to her face without challenge. (”Do you know where Van was last night?”, she asks; “no,” says an unconvincing Wolf, but she lets it pass without further comment). She claims that she loves all her children equally, and I believe her, but she’s particularly kind with Jethro West, the only one of her children who’s done everything with his life that she wanted him to. He’s on his way to being a big-shot lawyer at this stage in the show, and he seems nice; the first glimpse we get of any darkness below the surface is the revelation that he made up some Maori heritage to get hired. (Spoiler alert: this plot point gets quietly dropped pretty quickly, since, y’know, it doesn’t make any sense. One of them early flaws I mentioned.)

Cheryl is less kind to Jethro’s identical twin Van West, but that’s really only because he deserves it. Van is quickly established as The Stupid West, and accordingly provides most of the episode’s laughs, but it’s a little deeper than that; he is, specifically, the Stupid Man West, his stupidity really being almost entirely rooted in his crude, half-formed machismo and his desire to prove himself to his father. It’s clearly unhealthy - Van, and his good friend Munter (who will become more important later in the show), are clearly lacking the mental chops required for a life of crime, and Van especially is an absolutely horrible liar, which is maybe the worst possible trait a career criminal could ever have. Wolf, for his part, is very fond of him; he’s less fond of Jethro, with whom he shares only curt words (by familial standards, anyway) when he’s awaiting his court date. 

Then there’s Pascalle West, whom I’ve heard described as a “vacuous trollop” by certain online folks. I guess that isn’t entirely unfair, but it’s important to clarify what exactly is meant by that. In absolute terms, she is certainly smarter than Van, and she’s much more strong-willed and, in her own way, independent-minded. But she’s deeply naive, and her blustering confidence combines poorly with her total lack of any life experience. Her dream is to be a model, and she thinks she can use her sexuality to help her get there, Jenna Maroney style; the problem, as she discovers twice in this episode alone, is that this doesn’t really work. The handjob she gives to her photographer brings his price down only a little, and her attempt at charming the men at Work & Income leads only to them degrading her further. She’s trying to navigate a man’s world using the tools men have given her, and she’s only slowly learning that these tools were plague blankets, a false gift designed to keep her down.

And then, of course, we have my favorite of the bunch, and very possibly my favorite character in television history: Loretta West. It doesn’t take long to introduce the traits that most define her, and that will mostly continue to do so: she is intelligent, lazy, pretentious, nerdy, witty, and cruel. The cruelty is at a fairly basic baby stage at this point - mostly limited to probably-joking familial jabs and the occasional spot of ruthless blackmail - but it doesn’t take us long to discover that she’s found a way to secretly skip school for the past several months in order to focus on writing a movie script, that she views just about everyone else in the world as her intellectual inferior, and that she just loves to deliver witticisms.

                                     House of suffering and torment...

The others, at this stage, are mostly minor characters. Ted West will become more important very quickly, but for now he’s just the butt of a few softly ageist jokes; Loretta figures out that he probably burned his house down on purpose because he was lonely, and she seems to get on with him more than anyone else in the family does, but that’s the only real hint of depth we get here. Wayne Judd is firmly in antagonist mode here, serving us some lovely smug snake goodness as the righteous cop perpetually tormenting our family of lovable criminals. Eric Grady is a decidedly unlovable perverted cheapskate with a faintly sickening crush on Cheryl; he’s good because every laugh is at his expense, and so he shall remain. 

The episode does a great job of introducing all the main characters, but the central plot is really only driven by Cheryl, Wolf, and, alas, Van. Wolf, at this stage of the show, is very difficult not to despise; he loves his wife, but clearly doesn’t respect her nearly as much as he believes he does, and his utterly self-certain male chauvinism passes well beyond insufferable and ends up actively loathsome. Getting sentenced, early in the episode, to four years in prison for burglary does nothing to dent his absolute certainty in the correctness of his decision-making. A prison visit from Van ends with the latter trying, in perhaps the most foolishly and (fortunately) harmlessly incompetent way possible, to get involved in some sort of drug trade; when Cheryl presses him, he repeats what Wolf told him: that “with Dad inside, somebody’s got to make the decisions around here”. Cheryl’s long-suffering exasperation with unearned male arrogance is palpable.

But Cheryl is used to it. If anything, she’s too used to it, and her frosty confrontation with Wolf in a prison visit of her own is still far more charitable than he deserves. It does, however, lead to the most important early development in the show: Wolf’s hideously gentle insistence that she “doesn’t have the balls” for the sort of criminal work he expects from Van leads her to decide that the family is going to abandon the criminal lifestyle and embrace the straight & narrow. It’s a nice ideal, but it’s gonna turn out easier said than done. There’s far too many personality defects in among this cast of characters for anything to come easy.

Now, there is one notable flaw in this episode, and it heralds bad things to come: there’s a truly terrible racist joke about an old Asian woman who turns out to know Kung Fu, and it blossoms into the presence of an entire family of dumb stereotypes and silly lowest-common-denominator sex jokes (the Hongs) that’s gonna remain the worst part of the show for the duration of the season. It’s a shame, and the writers should really have known better, but I tend to just grin and bear it. They’ll be gone soon enough, after all, and they aren’t enough to get in the way of the generally excellent writing on display here. Plus - and this is one of only a few times I’ll mention it, ‘cos otherwise it’ll get repetitive - the acting from the main cast is universally incredible, to the point where I’m genuinely kind of angry that only Antony Starr has attained proper stardom. But no matter! We soldier on. To the second episode!

[enkisstories]

Connor: “Chief Traveller might not be a cheapskate, but a clever bastard he is.”

Gavin: “How so?”

Connor: “Just a hunch. It’s possible that the chief suspected that something was going on in the Brindleton Bay area and sent us down there under the guise of this teambuilding project. A former leading member of the Red Ice task force, an RK 800 negotiator, a shy but extremely alert patrol officer, a detective who knows the ins and outs of the criminal underworld since childhood and a combat-trained, harmless seeming PL 600... It’s almost like an investigation themed D&D party.”

Gavin: “Drunk and Disorderly? Works for me.”

It sounded convincing, yet Connor couldn’t help but noticing that the detective was shunning away from cigarettes, alcohol and for the most part also coffee and sugar ever since they had returned to Detroit. Seeing Gavin Reed’s ego turned into iron discipline, even if only temporarily, was strangely unsettling, as if watching something unnatural...

[gswyijoons]

good morning.

this isn’t the first time, his mother’s voice echoes in his thoughts as he rubs the sleep out of his face. his parents are not necessarily preppers, doomsday believers but they have repeatedly told yijoon that if you live on the island, you will become prepared to handle a few things. one of those things include living with no electricity – now yijoon has done it before. once, maybe twice. but so far they are on day two of no electricity and no particular signs or sirens are blaring about its possible return. at least it’s sunday. no school.

no school, no teaching, no reason for yijoon to act like he’s not freezing his ass off in the middle of a classroom. fuck, it’s cold. it’s really fucking cold. he shoulders tremble. they're being cheap on the fireplace, for sure. like his dad’s not chopping the wood himself. cheapskate.

”how tired can you be? you slept til 8am,” his mother’s voice echoes the kitchen instead as she lits the gas stove to heat up more water. eight am is what sticks out the most in her complaint about his sleeping habits. who would have thought eight am would be early, on a sunday? it’s not like they’re going to church – no, if you ask his parents there are better things to do than pray. if yijoon was a little more religious he would be praying for heating back, but the left that train a few years – (read: a decade) ago.

”work’s exhausting,” he mutters under his breath as his hands drop from his face to cup around the tea. unsweetened, a little bitter. perfect for the ten am hour that’s surrounding them. since he woke up, his dad has been missing. not missing, literally, he’s somewhere and if yijoon took a proper look around their property he is sure he would find him but right now? yijoon’s not turning his head around. that is, until a particular sound draws his attention. away from his bitter green tea and out towards the road that stops outside their house.

and while yijoon’s squinting to see just who it is, his mother exclaims in glee and claps her hands together. ”it’s juhwan, he’s so kind,” she says and yijoon’s head is turning, twisting gears around to try and remember just who juhwan is before it hits him.

juhwan, politician (or something), gwasuwon native, chronic smiler and whatnot. here, on the outskirts of the city. for what exactly? yijoon has an idea. so of course, the sleeps falls of his body and he’s suddenly more alert, just enough to become curious of what juhwan’s really doing out here. doesn’t he have more important people to visit anyways? so he trails after his mother, quick enough to witness her cheerful greeting but he stands by the front door.

once it’s his turn…

”it’s been a while,” yijoon says with a polite smile. he’ll be civil. at least for now. probably for more than now.

@gswjuhwan

[radioconstructed]

People are saying that you were responsible for the carbon monoxide leak at the Spendy's on Goldenpot Lane

meem: address the rumor!

⌖ NOPE! INCREDIBLE assumptions here, including that

anyone in a Spendy's would NOTICE a carbon monoxide leak! Have you SEEN the clientele? None of them act like they AREN'T delirious! How would they know something's UP unless a carbon monoxide alarm alerted them? You're telling me their CHEAPSKATE MANAGEMENT got them a functional carbon monoxide alarm?

that I'd have a reason to cause this leak. Why? Entertainment? That's like giving CAFFEINE to a CRACKHEAD for ENTERTAINMENT! They're already on crack! You're wasting your time!

that I'd set foot in a Spendy's, EW

[the-firebird69]

It happened during the eighties some of our son stashes got relocated and yeah but each one

Thor Freya

Which one is right and didn't start with Melissa I'm starting with Allison and Sherry and Melissa and Jen and Carrie and Colleen and Colleen again now we ripped him off is the Cheapskate, you wouldn't kiss me and stuff is Katia I felt he knew they said we have stuff to get out of the way and I'm not doing it I couldn't talk about it they wouldn't let me he's upset it happens that they say that try to find out we're very far behind me like this idiots and then saying we're going to go through the same thing these guys did so I took his money and I put it out there there's a few reasons for it and they're after it when I heard why he is hitting Asians and he knows too he knows what he's doing and he's right and it's Brad and he's smart not smart to get in a fight with my son a husband husband not son yes okay well I see what you're saying probably not but okay and please put a little bit out there and yeah the Jersey girl they see it on film depositing money into an account with his name on it he thought it was suspicious and it says like a trust funding it's not what it is it's a bank account and we had him open it he doesn't know he opened it he opened it in a different location so put it in there and said that branch it's actually his cash this girl start acting like them and the men are trying to take the cash and it's ridiculous so I thought we put the money out there so you can have a wedding it's a little weird it's his money and that's what she spent on and that's not one of them there but they think so some it starts stupid s*** he's saying something stupid sit his hand over and touched her butt

PG becomes a believer and a whole bunch of others and it's just Fargo off cuz they getting video and boy is that building looks familiar and yes there's one that they built in UMass as well and Boston and it's a Bank building and it's a Wells Fargo building it's not the bank from Amherst though it's a different bank and I took the stash oh God from westborough he actually dug it out and there's nothing there he says that was before I put it there and that's true he was checking and BjA never figured it out. All together in the account there's two million dollars in cash of his is getting money from all over the place his money is a wealthy person

Lol. Sure now he has tons of wealth and you don't know it real well but that's okay he has some money and nobody lets them have it and these guys are always trying to steal it it's pitiful they're pitiful people and I walked right in there and this is Jen speaking and I went in and I said my name is Jen and I want to make this deposit into this account and I haven't assigned to deposit slip of his and they say the same thing we can't do that because you're not him I said it's a gift and I don't know what to do with it so they accept it so show him a few bills and they put it into the account and they try not to put it in the fault and everyone's watching them I'm watching too but not that much like he does and they spend all day trying to grab it. I deposited about $450,000 from UMass account and he had that much money in the account when I left UMass Amherst which was 2 years after he did and I left $100,000 in there

Jennifer Merrick

And I went in and I took $200,000 from his US bank account in westborough Massachusetts and I went back there frequently to grow more children offspring if you will is having me send a red alert and I'm doing that and I took the money out and as him. Had one of his cars in his clothes the exact look from blood that he gave and boy he sucks it's so little it's just barely works so I have to go around and prep for it. Dee had a lot but that wouldn't work. Didn't check Prince or anything and then I left I moved out fast. And they called everybody that time I changed until Melissa went to Hawaii and they deposited it as me mop

I grabbed it when I was a little younger now that's not my bro any a bank account there you put some money in it and then forgot I want to completely you put it there because I was there they wanted to move there he's a little strange and he forgot completely but everyone is watching it grow I took 450,000 though for 50 lol.. and I went in and I was chewing gum and said I'd like to make a deposit they said who are you I told my name and the whole bank went quiet and they're like 50 people in there and took out the money and they said holy s*** so you're going to deposit slip from him and yeah we were forging your signature and they went and put the money in right away cuz I heard you I said when are you coming out here they'll start giggling cuz they got the thing and I left different characters same woman

Colleen Powers and yes the Aston Martin new design is ours and we're taking the company over slowly we have a company that does exact same car the movement we changed a few things on it they noticed they buy ours it's better faster smarter works better safer better metal

Well I was working at angeine or whatever it is in Framingham. And he was trapped there and he had a bank account there remember is a little and is using it for social security and is living a very humble life he didn't have any spending money as usually does new people of vulgar and your crafts and you're taking over the whole world everything you say you planned it and we say good and we know what happened so we're watching him or at least I was our team yes and he's doing badly so I started to help him send me a couple times and want to date me and I couldn't stand it because he was making me mad I wanted to date me but wouldn't talk to me said I look familiar and said oh so what so he's got this credo thing for some reason don't break up with me. Yeah I was hot it's always like me and I took the money out after you left and nobody was watching and I was him again it took blood in the hospital we did a factory every time he was in the hospital and it was by the time I took it out of there it was about 450,000. I went to Hawaii and I'm at the bank and I'm going to make a deposit with a big duffel bag and someone says is this a robbery and said no please watch your mouth and they said again I went over the security guard and told them if he's bothering me and he went up to the gym and asked him to leave I said might not be that great and he held him in the cops came so I waited ask me questions they left asked and I made the deposit and said this is him as my husband they said husband to be and I said yes so I deposited that yeah I'm in trouble the cops like looking at me too hot I acted too

Susan Powers

Well I saw her doing those in Marlboro too I know what to do so I waited and she left 100 Grand in there and years later I took out 450,000 and I brought it to Hawaii now those Banks still have like 700 Grand in them each and it's his money in a while I'm going to take it out as him I'm going to cause a lot of problems up there because they'll say it's here. Yeah my name is funny and the assholes use my name in vain and they're paying for it I'm going to pay dearly sometime soon and tonight firstly and it's because one of the women looks like me that's attacking them it had one she's a little small but that's the idea usually it's a blonde and it doesn't have to look like her and really I don't know when it was running the one who's in The suicide squad movies has Harley Quinn and do a great job and I talked a little like that and usually I look like that and people are real hot for me and yeah I also was at UMass as a swedish girl one character had two characters yes and I took some out there in total 500,000 from UMass and 900, 000 more from Marlboro and that was actually Wells Fargo. I went to Hawaii and something strange happened I walked in and had the big satchel of money it was huge all $1,000 bills I got there on my own they said can we help you with something and I said yes I have a deposit I'd like to make I said what's your name I said Sunday total and said we have a warrant for your arrest they say you rub the bank and they weren't the bank workers it's just a****** plan so if the security guard and it said I'm sorry I'm not with them and no they said we're calling the police and they did and I heard the police and they came and they arrested them so when to make the deposit and they said are you sure you're here at the checkout Connor if there's some idiot near me and the cops came in and arrested him so I understand the game his granddaddy and their clan is trying to get the money using the idiot an idiot can't get that in it cuz they want it back the way it was. I proceeded to deposit the money and they said thank you Sunday and I got a receipt and I keep the receipt it's in the safe in a safe place. usually I wouldn't say that but the other girls didn't say that and they did the same thing. And I'm walking out the bank is totally silent and again about 50 people in it all looking at me your eyes bulging and I was hot so I got money all over the place a lot more money than you think I guess that's special money there though you n***** better watch out. I mean Wiggins most of you and you Garth... He wasn't there I looked around and said I am so sorry I'm very popular I guess and I walked out and I started clapping cuz I did it.

Sunday Tuttle

Yeah that's more than $2 million dollars in there now it's like a billion or two or something there's more more GF well wives cuz I'm a wife do all my characters went out there he left a ton of money in California way more than people think cuz it went in the bank and you guys started building in your economy you got huge I put like 200 million in myself it was too much did you all at once I did several times and kept seeing you taking money out and they can't find any money with you so looking out there for you and these idiot trumps are pretending they're you and kept getting killed it worked tons of doing it now this city is doing it Tommy and getting killed and it's a huge deal lots of them died because they do it not only if there's several times and I put about 1 billion dollars in from California and California is still has about 5 or 10 billion dollars outstanding in the banks and the other Banks still have the money in them mainly because we didn't name them there's a few more Banks he was putting money into currency started out with 5,000 10,000 and he just left it in there and the bank still keep money like that and they do a crew it in interest and they do leave it in there a lot of people made a lot of money and were happy then they were sad cuz people went after them it's very upsetting but there was so much of it that people didn't go after too many after time cuz I get beat up. It was a huge deal and I thought it was a huge deal and it is remembered I started a Hera and switched into Katya. And I went a long way no it wasn't that far I got there in my own now Tommy favino is sitting right you see that most of the money he won't let him have a dime and my husband is pissed off and is assaulting him all the time and he gets hurt constantly and it's not going to make it anyone else in the way too it's ridiculous how many times have killed you people your gross and disgusting and ridiculous now. Trump has died 259 times this year thus far 10 times I've killed him. He's out all the time almost every night now cuz he won't shut up he's a blabbering idiot we have to kill him right now it's a fool guys is stupid and gets done with the next day thanks gigantic mistakes he's going to run up there shortly no it's going to be almost gone before he goes up for his master plan. I hauled a lot of money out there in that bank now there's probably 200 billion dollars or more. His investments are still in California. To him its a huge Fortune it's a lot of people it's a huge Fortune. All at all you saved a lot of money cuz he's trying to do our work for us and we can't get any of it it's weird he said you'd have to like tape it to him or incorporate it or stick it inside him even then they probably pull it out it's terrible this is terrible here you're very very rude people he hates you you're not getting anything here piece of s*** Im gonna kill a shitload of you tonight. And really there's a lot more money around of his he's got like five trillion dollars and he's investing and some of his investments are in companies that we use for stuff from and nobody knows who they are and it's made like 10 trillion dollars a day for 200 days and each company so really he has quadrillions of dollars and we're trying to get dividends to him and people thought that was smart and you're smart it's also investment in our companies and he has tons of money you people will never dime to let him have a dime so in that bank in Hawaii there's about 300 billion dollars right now it grows pretty big everyday now because of what's going on in Hawaii it's a big economy we didn't get to build this big Chinese food place will probably will now and he says he says that we should go out there and take a billion and build it as a team of Asian girls and guys I'm starting to think about that I think we're going to do that and we're going to ask her children as well and inlaw children.

He's getting thanks from Olympus and he says yes and I'm like Batman because my parents died because of these people not my father and mother or grandparents that is and they appreciate it a lot

Katia Equiz and I appreciate my approach back I gave it from your heart and say I dissed you afterwards cuz you got it that's not true you got pulled apart you jerk

It's more of us going past his bedtime so I'm going to say good night to him and we'll see you tonight we usually do and we'll talk to you tomorrow have a happy night love you

Hera

I love you too and sleep well and I see that you're in a better mood and I know why it's about time they got it in gear and I pushed him and now doing it and I hear it's a lot of fun and I'm happy and you're probably nice and tired so sleep well

Zues

I'm tired all right that's a lot of work these people are taskmasters and they bother you all the time they don't do anything it's very damned annoying we have a lot of projects 100 is a lot for Florida but they have about a hundred too and they're equivalent in size there's some frivolous things but there's a lot of projects going on and they're going to have a lot more too and they said it we're going to have a lot more I'm going to put in all those things we wanted to put into

Hera

Good for you too you got this out it works for us too and it adds pans in the fire and keep your money from them so far they can't get to it now it's going to be a nightmare for them they say it protects areas

Thor Freya

Olympus we pull it if it's too hit out we collected and we take it we're going to try and bring it to you I'm going to put it in Banks people will hate it because how we do it and it's pretty much similar what they do they can't say no when it's happening

[gel0p]

Japan S2, Day 1!

(Editor’s note: Please note that this was originally written back in November 2019, right after the actual trip. Some details have been updated, but the overall content remains the same.)

------

March, 2019. I haven’t even left for Japan yet, but I already booked a 2nd trip for the koyo (fall colors) season. ^^;

Kansai International Airport! I barely had any rest thanks to some activities the day before my flight, but my excitement was still enough to get me going!

Upon arrival, I exchanged my JR Pass voucher for an actual JR Pass! I plan to ride the Shinkansen multiple times, so this is completely worth it for me :)

Archive photo of the JR Pass voucher, which I had ordered months in advance. ^^

(Editor’s note: I think you can now get JR Passes directly from airports, but back then you had to order an exchange voucher in advance before your flight to Japan)

I won’t be activating my pass until Day 6 though, so for now I bought a ticket for the Haruka train that will get me from the airport to Kyoto. I also got myself an ICOCA card, for my collection. ^_^

The Haruka Tr- OH MY GOD IS THAT HELLO KITTY???

Hello Kyoto! This will be my base of operations for the first 8 days. The last 5 days, I’ll be staying in Osaka. ^^

ALL the Haruka trains were pimped out as Hello Kitty :3c

Time to go to the hotel! :)

Side story:

In order to get to the hotel, my chosen route was to ride a train from Kyoto station to Gojo station, and then walk from there to the hotel. I arrived at Gojo station just fine, but when I started walking...

I realized I have no idea where the hotel actually is. :))

Okay so I had a slight idea - it was east from Gojo station, then turn south somewhere. Also, don’t cross the river, because by then I knew I was already overshooting badly.

So I started walking anyway, looking at every right turn, wondering if that was the one road I needed to take. Why?? Why didn’t I prepare a map??

I could have just activated my mobile data, but being the cheapskate that I am, I didn’t want that much unnecessary expense. So I just kept walking. ^^;

(Editor’s note, in bold: If you’re lost in real life, please, please, seek help or just activate your mobile data and get directions. Don’t be an idiot.)

Eventually, I reached the final intersection before the bridge. Obviously I shouldn’t cross the bridge, so that left me one choice: turn right, right there.

That’s when I noticed that this road was different from all the other roads I’ve crossed so far: it was busy. It felt like a major road. I thought, maybe... just maybe...

Hell yeah, it was the correct road!! XD

Awww ^_^ (spoiler alert: I never had to contact them)

I was severely sleep-deprived at this point (nauseous, even). I wanted to go to sleep, but I knew I had to eat something first, so I dragged my dizzy ass to the nearest convenience store.

Karaage and rice! Also, our returning best friend Kirin Lemon Tea! I also bought liters of water.

I couldn’t finish it because I became really nauseous, and forced myself to sleep.

When I woke up that evening, I found the karaage left open, and I didn’t feel like eating it anymore. Thankfully I also bought these sushi rolls, so I ate these instead. I needed my strength back, yo.

Oh hey check out the TV CM :D

That day, I learned what “Ground”, “BS”, and “CS” meant.

(Editor’s note: I’ve already forgotten, LOL)

From a friend’s suggestion, I actually brought a Victreebel toy with me. So it can pose for your photos, he said. LOL. Here you can see it watching anime.

Don’t stay up late, Victreebel-kun. We’re climbing a mountain tomorrow!

NO VICTREEBEL-KUN WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING

Day 1 in Japan S2, complete! ^_^

Day 2 >>