#currently listening to ambitions debt

[the-worms-in-your-bones]

Gallifrey war room my beloved

[bubblesandgutz]

Every Record I Own - Day 839: Judas Priest Stained Class

The AOTY-list season serves as a reminder that I haven't checked out nearly as much new music in 2024 as I have in years past.

I feel a little guilty about it. Being a musician, I'm a big believer in staying connected to current artists and their work. At the same time, it's impossible to keep up with the constant stream of new music, and I can't help but feel that one of the ways we're failing artists in this current age is by only giving their work a single cursory listen.

It's fleeting fandom. There were no shortage of great albums that came out this year that I streamed once online and thought "this is really good... I need to listen to this more" and then promptly forgot about. Buying vinyl has always been my way of making sure I dedicate time to REALLY listening to an album, but with as much as I've toured these last two years, I've had to scale my purchases back because I'm simply not home enough to listen to my collection and I'm already slacking on investigating records I bought in 2023.

So I didn't buy many albums that came out in 2024. But that doesn't mean I wasn't listening to a lot of music. In particular, I listened to A LOT of early Judas Priest.

My Judas Priest fandom is a relatively new thing. I've sat on a copy of Screaming For Vengeance for ages, but it wasn't the right entry point for me. But starting sometime around late 2022, I started falling for Sin After Sin. This was the combo I was lacking in my life: good riffs, '70s production, a dash of prog-rock ambition, some sinister undertones, and big choruses. Rob Halford's vocals had always been a bit of a dealbreaker for me as I'm not much of an operatic metal guy, but reading his memoir opened my mind and ears to his approach.

Stained Class is Judas Priest's fourth album, released in 1978. Much like their other '70s albums, there is still an obvious debt to Sabbath and Zeppelin (check out the "Whole Lotta Love" riff in "Saints in Hell"), but Halford out-sings both Ozzy and Plant. Maybe it's because Halford was still a closeted gay man and trying to fly under the radar, but he never seemed to have the larger-than-life persona of Ozzy and Plant. Instead, he put all his effort into treating the voice like a third guitar, helping steer the musical direction of the band while hitting the growling lows of a power chord and the squealing highs of a pinch harmonic.

While I still put Sin After Sin at the top of my Judas Priest list, Stained Class isn't far behind. While never quite hitting the same heights as tracks like "Sinner," "Raw Deal," and "Dissident Aggressor," Stained Class also doesn't lose its momentum with ballads (barring the possible exception of "Beyond the Realms of Death," which is such an obvious influence on Metallica's "Fade to Black" that I think we can safely disqualify it from the ballad designation despite it's delicate verses and slow build). It's a solid record from start to finish, best played at a high volume, but also completely satisfying on a phone speaker while you're barbecuing in your backyard.

Whether it's the amphetamine-fueled hard rock of "Exciter," the sleazy strut of "White Heat, Red Hot," the galloping angst of the title track, the anthemic power of "Invader," or the sinister '70s Sabbath riffage of "Saints in Hell," Stained Class is entertaining from start to finish, and reveals more nuances and embellishments with every listen.

I can't even say how many times I listened to Stained Class in 2024, but it's yet to grow stale or boring. If anything, my appreciation for it has only grown with every spin. And while I could've arguably held back on it and carved out more time for new artists with new albums, I like to think that finding a 46-year-old subversive rock album and latching onto it with an obsession bodes well for any freaks and weirdos that put out records in 2024 hoping their music has a shelf-life beyond this December.

[mariacallous]

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is now forecasting a moderate-to-strong El Niño season to continue through February 2024. The forecast itself mostly piques the interests of meteorologists, oceanographers, fishers, and the global network of food commodity traders and crop insurers whose fortunes live and die in the technical arcana of the weather report.

But this forecast has vast implications: Even a typical El Niño can reduce harvests for important crops, increase the disease burden, hammer developing and middle-income countries’ economic prospects, increase armed conflict risk in the tropics, and fuel maritime conflict and territorial ambitions in the East and South China Seas.

Some of these challenges—such as civil wars and maritime conflict in the South China Sea—would manifest as immediate, hurricane-like clear and present dangers. But many would not. Like climate change, perhaps the greater danger lays in the accumulation of thousands of small cracks in the global food, public health, and other systems that are the bedrock of life.

Most of these hazards will hit hardest in countries that are ill-equipped for the economic and political fallout. They add urgency to easing developing and middle-income countries’ debt burdens and building more resilience into the global food system. For the United States, they highlight the need to adopt a more comprehensive strategy for defining national security threats and government responses to them.

The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a cyclic pattern of warming and cooling in the waters of the east-central Pacific Ocean. ENSO oscillates between cool (La Niña) and warm (El Niño) phases at intervals averaging five to seven years. Climate change is giving ENSO a “push,” making the swings back and forth deeper and potentially longer lasting. The currently forming El Niño follows a rare “triple dip” La Niña that ended in June lasted nearly three years—the longest in over 50 years.

But what happens in the east-central Pacific doesn’t stay there. As Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Josh Willis has said, “When the Pacific speaks, the whole world listens.” ENSO is the single most important driver of year-to-year variation in global climate. ENSO’s teleconnections—links between weather phenomena separated by vast distances—shape weather across the southern United States, Africa, Latin America, and closer to “home” in Southeast Asia and Oceania. They cause or strengthen droughts as well as extreme rainfall events and affect temperature and humidity levels over much of the world.

Both El Niños and La Niñas cause weather-related hazards. The crushing three-year drought that’s been devastating the Horn of Africa since October 2020? It’s partly a result of that triple-dip La Niña. South America’s severe drought, gripping many of the world’s most significant grain exporters? ENSO’s effect is there, too. Ditto for drought in the U.S. south and southwest. The transition to an El Niño will likely bring some relief to these areas, though that “relief” has come to the Horn in the form of torrential rains and flooding that burst the banks of the Juba and Shabelle rivers and forced 300,000 Ethiopians and Somalis from their homes. This whipsawing between extremes is the “push” climate change is providing.

But more broadly, the effects aren’t symmetrical. Shifting from La Niña to El Niño conditions doesn’t just redistribute good and bad weather around the globe. El Niños come with much more downside risks to global food supplies, public health, economic recovery in the global south, as well as to peace and stability – in the Global South where its impacts are most acute, but also in East Asia.

Let’s start with food. Though global food prices are down a bit from record highs following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, they are still among the highest prices seen in the last 60 years. And these prices don’t yet fully reflect the effect of Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative and attacks on Ukrainian export infrastructure, both of which further weaponize Russia’s role in food markets and have led prices to begin creeping back up at a time when more than 250 million people are experiencing acute food insecurity.

Some qualified good news: In the past, El Niños haven’t caused global food prices to spike, with price effects being relatively modest. A multinational team of scientists found both El Niños and La Niñas suppress global yields for maize, rice, and wheat, with the effects of El Niño particularly strong for maize. On average, El Niños slightly reduce global food supply, though the effects are typically modest and can be offset by planting more acreage to offset lower productivity.

But at the country or regional level, as in western and southern Africa, the effects can be quite strong, sending local prices higher and increasing rural unemployment. El Niño effects for food production aren’t confined to land, either. The warming of the West-Central Pacific suppresses catches for important fisheries like the Peruvian anchoveta—the world’s most productive fishery—and in heavily fished areas like the East and South China Seas.

The effects of weather-related crop failures on food markets operate on two levels. First, they constrict actual supply in a market where demand is both constantly growing and price-inelastic: The prevailing price doesn’t change biological necessities. Second, they shape current expectations about future production and thus hedging behavior. Expecting a bad harvest, buyers with the means and the foresight—like China—may begin stockpiling grains in anticipation of failed harvests or potential market disruptions.

In the past, these activities have only had modest effects on prices. Yet this time may be different. These hedging strategies are now being implemented in the context of rising economic nationalism in which governments—especially authoritarian ones—are resorting to export bans to address concerns about domestic food shortages and explicitly weaponizing food trade; that is, they are occurring in markets that are more risky than in the recent past. This could be bad news for a global food security picture already hammered by the Ukraine war and the lingering effects of coronavirus-related supply chain disruptions.

Speaking of the coronavirus: A strong El Niño could increase the infectious disease burden. Analyzing the strong El Niño of 2014 to 2015, researchers found increases in cases of plague in Colorado and New Mexico, cholera in Tanzania, and dengue fever in Brazil and Southeast Asia. In the U.S. southwest and Tanzania, the culprit was wetter-than-normal conditions that increased the abundance of plague-carrying fleas and overwhelmed drainage and sanitation systems, causing drinking water to become contaminated with cholera. In Brazil and Southeast Asia, higher temperatures and droughts had a more complicated impact: Bereft of standing water in the natural environment, mosquitos penetrated further and in larger numbers into urban areas with open water sources, then matured more rapidly—and developed more voracious appetites, thus infecting more people.

At the macro scale, the economic losses from El Niños can be significant. Failed crops are foregone income that drive up demand for imports. Burst riverbanks and dams must be repaired and often come with considerable damage to infrastructure such as roads and electricity grids, which are critical for the normal functioning of the economy.

But that’s just a fraction of the story. A recent article in Science by Christopher Callahan and Justin Mankin attributes massive economic losses to the persistent negative effects of El Niños on growth, estimating total global losses of $5.7 trillion from the 1997 to 1998 El Niño.

That’s an enormous number. But it’s not as if the world lost nearly a sixth of total economic output in 1998 (world GDP was roughly $31.5 trillion at the time). Many of those effects emerged in the years after the event due to the compounding effects of forgone growth investment—the same reason money saved now is worth more than money saved later—and the high costs of building back after associated natural disasters such as floods and mudslides. And because we never “see” foregone growth due to lack of investment or diversion of resources from building new schools to repairing roads, we don’t typically think of these losses when counting up the economic consequences of natural disasters. It’s an example of how many of the costs of climate-related events are almost imperceptible in the moment but add up to real (and large) numbers.

The estimates reported in the Science article are orders of magnitude above previous ones of El Niño–associated economic losses. While some economists have questioned the astounding size of these estimates, even losses in parts of Africa and countries where the historic relationship between El Niños and GDP growth is strongest—such as Peru, Ghana, and Indonesia—could still wind up being in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

El Niño’s effects for economic growth and food supplies help us understand one of its other consequences: elevated risk of civil conflict. Over a decade ago, Solomon Hsiang, Kyle Meng, and Mark Cane found that civil conflicts—armed conflicts between rebels and governments—were more than twice as likely to break out during El Niños relative to La Niñas in world regions whose local climate is affected by ENSO teleconnections, with conflict outbreaks clustering between July and November. In doing so, their study was the first to link climate at the global scale with armed conflict, a topic that is now the subject of exhaustive study and discussion.

When studying climate impacts on conflict, researchers almost never find a smoking gun. To date, no rebel leader has cited El Niño as their rallying cause. Rather, what researchers find is that climatic factors “load the dice,” making conflict marginally likelier to occur. Again, the impact is hard to detect in any given conflict but emerges from analyzing hundreds if not thousands of conflict events over time.

El Niño’s adverse consequences for fisheries also increase the risk of militarized conflict on the seas. Of particular concern are its effects in the East and South China Seas, where the impact on fish populations is strong, fishing pressure is high, and the regions’ major fishing nations—China, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan among them—have tense security relationships in the best of times. While it’s extremely unlikely a Taiwan invasion would begin over a fisheries dispute, these types of militarized conflicts are one of the few scenarios in international affairs where the coast guards and navies of rival countries may come into conflict over the actions of third parties—such as fishing vessels crossing disputed maritime boundaries—that they do not command or control.

Facing these potential outcomes, what can be done? Countries with strong ENSO teleconnections—which are mostly developing and middle-income—need resources and budgetary space to address problems such as rising food import bills, disaster preparedness and relief, and adequate provisioning for their security forces.

For this reason, creditor countries—especially China and those in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development—need to address the large debt overhangs many of these countries accumulated during the coronavirus pandemic. Ghana’s $3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund is a signal that creditor countries, including China, can work together to address these challenges.

Consistent with the increasing role armed forces are playing in disaster response and relief, countries such as the United States may be called upon to provide more emergency services that leverage their considerable airlift capacity and ability to move medical supplies and emergency food aid in difficult circumstances.

Stepping back from immediate responses, a bigger picture take-home point emerges for the U.S. government. The evidence of strong, adverse health, economic, and security consequences has made clear that the conventional approaches to defining national security interests and threats are lacking. Climate impacts—El Niños among them—are security impacts, but identifying and responding to them shouldn’t be the exclusive domain of national security and intelligence agencies like the Department of Defense and National Security Council. The Biden administration has done more to mainstream climate security than any of its predecessors—but there is far more work to be done.

[chattycups]

writing down my astrology chart thoughts for chattycups, my beloveds

first: Chatty! Sun in Cancer, born 4 july.

Moon in Pisces. Moon signs are all about our emotions and hidden depth… it's the emotional escapism, whimsy, adaptability, + creativity of Pisces for me. Also Pisces tends to have a childlike, innocent quality to them and we do see that with his emotional bonds. The people he is most emotionally open and has an emotional bond to are Tessa (mother figure) and Ray, who I think one reason he gets along with so well is because they both have some childlike traits and can really enjoy that innocent, silly, type of fun together. (e.g. the sacredness of pinky promises, her showing up to their date wearing flippers, etc.)

Rising sign is the one I'm still waffling on… rising sign is people's first impression of you, so I'm inclined to say a sign that tends to scare / intimidate people LMAO. leaning towards Aries or Scorpio Rising, because of their Mars energy, and I think he comes off as a lot more angry than he actually is, to people who don't know him besides on the surface level?? Sagittarius is also a possibility for me, because he's a little jester boi… but I think people's FIRST initial impression of him is that he's weird/scary, and thEN, next, they pick up on the jester-y thing… so idk if I'd make that his rising sign… so my current pick is Aries Rising, but I cOULD change my mind later??

(sidenote: because he's a cancer, his mercury & venus can only be taurus, gemini, cancer, leo, or virgo.)

Mercury in Cancer. Mercury is the sign of communication & learning style, and how we process info. I think his communication style is most apparent when he's in leaderbox mode. Which, many clowns have pointed out he's very much giving dadderbox: all the clowns are like 'daddy pls validate me and give meeeeeeee attention' LMAOO which is such a Cancer effect to have on people. Cancer's are indirect, even secretive with their communications, & prone to subtleties. They prefer to see if people are smart enough to pick up dropped hints & figure things out for themself, rather than have to Explain Everything to people in detail. They feel like you should just GET IT intuitively or, go out learn it yourself: take initiative and figure it out if you want it: that's what they do. (They learn by experiencing things, not by listening/reading about them. So traditional instruction giving doesn't do great with them… they just have to go out and do it.) He's not very aggressive / direct with his communication unless you stir up his emotions; he generally goes easy on the clowns also & wants to avoid conflict/being a hardass with them if possible: only cracks down when he has to. And with Cancer being the sign that is most often affiliated with 'emotions', bY GOD can they give an emotional speech when they want to LMAOO. They're also very good at playing with people's emotions… veryyy good at manipulating people by emotional communication. (e.g. Chatty's extremely convincing crying on the phone to scam money out of people and get himself out of debt LMAOOO)

Venus in Virgo. Virgo's are the most 'acts of service' sign out there, and that is def loverbox's love language. They quietly and humbly take care of their loved ones. Virgo's are also the most 'detail-oriented' sign out there, and that manifests in Venus Virgos by making them pay extra careful attention to their loved ones. They know everything about them; they know them inside and out. the down side of Venus in Virgo's is that they can come off as critical & nagging to their loved ones sometimes, but it's out of love; they are willing to criticize and 'speak up' about things that others might brush under the rug, only because they want their loved ones to be their best selves… it may annoy some, but those who can put up with it get a very devoted, practical loved one who will do anything for them.

Mars in Leo. Mars is the sign of our tempers, our motivations, our ambitions… Leonine tempers: LOUD. Burns very brightly and quickly, but usually dies down just as fast. Like a short burst of flame: very hot, but they don't keep burning you for long; they're easy to take out of anger and put back in a neutral/good mode. Leonine motivations/ambitions: creativity, individuality (think of his lofty goals with the funhouse & how he hates the idea of being run of the mill gang banger) and FUN!!! (Leo's are among the most fun-loving sign.) Leo's are very ambitious and want to do something that gives them a good legacy, BUT where they have flaws is that they don't like to do the paperwork/detail-oriented work when it comes to working��� e.g. how Chatty hates grinding LMAO. (Unlike someone like Twinkles who doesn't mind it, or perhaps even finds it fun/satisfying!!) Grinding is necessary for the big goals Chatty has, but he will usually delegate it to someone else if at all possible… (BUT because he has a Venus in Virgo, he doesn't mind doing the grindwork as much when it's for someone he loves!! But for a work-type motivation?? NAH!!)

[dourpeep]

So like, whose your favorite chars and ships and roles? *rolls all over your blog* I know you like albedo, as you should, but I feel like your big brain hides hidden potential of reasons

Ehe I have a lot to say and a lot of people to go through so...most will be under the cut. Like this is really just going to be me going on about what I like about a bunch of characters.

My works are a love letter to the characters nodnod y'know that quote--

Oh!! Okay okay uhhh here's a few of my faves and reasons:

Albedo:

There's a lot of similar interests-! Also being an alchemist/scientist is my dream.

His personality is very sweet and his interactions with others (like during the Golden Apple Archipelago) are hilarious and endearing. Like...the whole slipping away while Diluc and Kaeya were bickering? His little comment hinting that he had to yell at them while riding Dvalin due to the wind and their volume? Then every interaction with Klee (including his character trailer) are so wholesome uuuuu

Albedo, my beloved-

His outfit!! I want to get Albedo cosplay just for the jacket

Also his movements, attack wise, are very polished and clean-cut! It's pretty obvious that his style is similar to that of fencing, but then you also see that he often will condense his sword into pure geo or thrust it out in a burst of gold!! And his Q???? He snaps and then his burst just---bursts fourth out of the ground???

Man's skilled.

And then ehe...I just really am into the archetype of a smart, gentle, yet modest person and he fits that bill perfectly.

I can't wait to see more about him! We know such a small amount about him since his character story was intertwined w/ introducing Dragonspine and also more about him testing the Traveler--also we didn't get to play as him during it :<<

Xiao

He is a very gentle character who's been through so much and I admire his ambition and willingness and selflessness

I really like his attacks, too--the fluidity of his movements that ties in with his backstory and just his personality in general

I also want his outfit

There's just something about his character that is incredibly appealing--you see him at his worst with the Karmic Debt, the rawness of his personality due to his blunt way of speaking and the earnestness that he displays

Lots of quiet protection nodnod. You have to talk to one of the NPCs to find this out, but he helped a little girl get her doll back after it'd been taken by Hilichurls. He didn't have to do it because it's not something that people would consider important, but his duty extends beyond that. If he can help it, he will lend a hand

Also the interactions we have?? Like when he saves Traveler (the subtle shift of his grip on their hand, a little offer of stability) and then in Moonchase now?? *chef's kiss*

Xinyan

I LOVE HER

First off, she's a rockstar who's taken something and made it entirely her own?? Her guitar is of her own design too!! It's made to work with her pyro vision!!! Like how cool is that????

Her personality is strong, down to earth--ugh man she's so cool

I want to be friends with her so bad

She's absolutely strong-I personally built her as a phys dps so her shield doesn't really do much but man does she carry. If none of the boys can handle the job, I swap her in and she sweeps the field clean. Those mobs never stood a chance nodnod

Her aesthetic!! I also want her outfit. I want everyone's outfit.

While her en voice got a lot of questions/hate, I love it. I can't help but feel pumped up and ready when I use her skill and burst and she shouts out "Time to rock!!"

Her dedication to her music and unyielding determination to get her name out there is incredible, I can't help but admire her passion for music.

I just really love music, even if I'm trained more for classical + operatic ehe rock's actually my favorite genre so it's all the more better!

Xingqiu

Ah! The first time I saw him I immediately decided that I'd adopt him on the spot nodnod kinda like having a kid brother, y'know?? I think we'd get along well

Also the fact that he's a bookworm??? Again, I gravitate towards people who are considered smart--no matter what it's about! You could be incredibly knowledgeable about snails and only that and I will listen to you go on and on

He's a prankster! Poor Chongyun, being the butt of most of his jokes and all.

But like his character is really cute and I had a lot of fun listening to all his voicelines--there's a lot of funny stuff going on with him like his dislike for carrots, his handwriting-- but then he's also dedicated to his martial arts and helping others no matter the task! Very chivalrous indeed nodnod

A few of my other favorites are: Beidou, Kazuha, Scaramouche (it's a love hate)

Moving onnnn!!

I'll do roles first :DD

My favorite to play, hands down, are full on DPS and Support/DPS. Xiao, Kazuha, Albedo, Xinyan, Kaeya-- there's a lot but these are the peeps that I have, am currently, or would main.

I started off as a hybrid Kaeya main (some phys, some elemental), then Xiao's been my main DPS since!

Kazuha is incredible in tandem w/ Xiao because of his cc as well as his em buffs nodnod. Also Kazuha is just really fun to play in general.

Ngl, I think that getting and playing Xiao basically ruined all other characters for me because you can pry his attacks and burst plunging (very fun) out of my cold, dead hands (/j). The quickness of his attacks and playstyle--lots of poking w/ spear and then dodge + attack at the same time with his skill. 10/10 very fun, absolutely love.

As for support/DPS, this is more fun to do in co-op ehe. I usually end up playing Kazuha, Raiden (her skill gives all party members that passive extra electro dmg whenever you land a hit) or another elemental-based character--

That being said, elemental damage, when paired up to procc reactions is ugh sooo good.

Ships!!

I saved this for last because I know it's not everyone's cup of tea ehe. After all, I'm an x Reader blog!

But that being said--

I like the idea of XiaoVen, but I prefer KazuXiao because I feel like they'd work better together--this kinda goes over why. There'd be a lot of respect between the two.

Though, XiaoVen is really cute because they have complimenting personalities nodnod. Also froggie hat. And the idea of Venti being the one to play the flute that helped Xiao.

BeigGuang!!! Their dynamic is hilarious--not to mention that they do get along well but just so happen to butt heads often because their views are so wildly different-

YanTao! I feel that they'd be really cute together! Also Yanfei would probably make sure that Hu Tao stays out of trouble ehe...

XingYun! Very cute and wholesome--platonic or romantic, either way. The fact that they have matching friendship tassels?? Xingqiu seeking Chongyun out to read to him? OTL

I don't have any NOTPs, at least among the popular ships but I do get a little icky about AlbeRose because of some...unsavory experiences due to someone who overstepped. So ehe. We'll not talk about that.

But like Sucrose is really cute! I love her character and she's very sweet and the excitement that she shows with her research is something I relate to heavily! It's just--ahh the ship itself was ruined for me.

[thesilvervixens]

Hey, nice blog so far!! Maybe could you do headcanons for the ashen wolves? it's so hard to find good requests for them!!!

a/n: thank you !! it was fun to write these; mod lily wrote most of the constance headcanons and did the others, i hope you enjoy ! also by headcanons i figured you meant relationship headcanons, so i hope that’s ok 

⇾ sfw / tw: none

⇾ reqs: open !!

                            ━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

yuri leclerc : 

⇾ yuri is a bit rough around the edges, so it takes a while for him to be less… rude and crass when talking to you. he doesn’t (always) have malicious intent in his bluntness, it’s just a part of who he is. the more his feelings for you blossom, though, he tries to tone down his crassness. 

⇾ yuri isn’t much of a romantic, as his upbringing and current situation didn’t give him much opportunity to explore romance and courtship. of course he loves and cares about you, but he has his own… “yuri” way of showing it.

rather than serenade you with sickly sweet declarations of love, he’ll tell you to relax if you’ve been overworking yourself too much, or finish chores he knows you don’t particularly like. he definitely shows his love through actions more than words. 

⇾ he teases you nonstop. oftentimes it’s completely subconscious- he can’t help the sudden lilt in his voice when he notices you doing something particularly cute or amusing. 

if you’re shy or easily embarrassed, he enjoys flustering you even more. imagine his supports with bernadetta, but with a more flirtatious undertone to them. 

⇾ he enjoys every conversation he has with you (even the more sour ones), but he has a certain fondness for the late night conversations that revolve around your ambitions and plans for the future. to hear someone who’s just as passionate about making a change as he is fills him with a rare sense of admiration and respect. he could listen to you talk for hours, truly. of course, it’d take him forever to admit that, but that’s not important 

constance von nuvelle:

⇾  She always wants to impress you with her magic so she constantly puts on magic shows for you

⇾  An ideal date for Constance would just be doing experiments with her all day

⇾ Constance loves talking about her studies and the work she does with magic, she obviously brags about it too, she takes an equal amount of pride in any accomplishment you make as well and will make sure everyone knows all of the great things you do

⇾ It’s quite easy for Constance to overwork herself so you sometimes have to drag her outdoors so she can get some fresh air, she might be a little grumpy but she’ll definitely appreciate the break even if she is a little stubborn

⇾ Sometimes Constance will wake you up at an ungodly hour in the morning because she’s bored and wants to do something with you

⇾  constance fawns over you quite often. anyone romantically involved with constance von nuvelle has to be an impressive and astounding person, and she’s adamant in telling anyone within a thirty mile radius that. 

hapi :

⇾  hapi is relatively relaxed and passive, letting you take the lead in the relationship. she’ll make her preferences known if she has any, but for the most part she prefers to let you make the decisions regarding dates and time spent. 

that being said, she does have moments of sudden volition. it’s usually something mundane like wanting to go for a walk or watching the stars together. 

⇾  she has nicknames for everyone, but you’re a special case. outside of her casual nickname for you (which, like most of her nicknames, is a play on your own name), she has little pet names she finds herself using for you without realizing it. 

⇾  she’s extra careful about not sighing around you. not that she isn’t always cautious, but she finds herself becoming extra self conscious when you’re around. she cares about you far too much to allow herself to slip up around you; she’d never be able to forgive herself. 

⇾  hapi considers herself a minimalist for the most part, so while she enjoys gifts and nice things, she doesn’t instinctively lean toward them. if she happens to see something that reminds her of you she’ll get it, but it’s seldom because she was actively seeking a gift. 

to add onto her minimalist outlook: hapi just wants to spend her life with you in simplicity and happiness. a quiet, peaceful life with you and a cat (or two) sounds ideal in her book. 

⇾  hapi isn’t really one for pda. it both embarrasses her and makes her uncomfortable, especially if people are watching. she prefers romantic gestures in private, away from wandering eyes. when it’s just the two of you she’ll rest her head on your shoulder, nestling close and closing her eyes to enjoy the moment. 

balthus von albrecht:

⇾  balthus lives for spontaneity. you could be by the pier, minding your own business when suddenly you’re being carried and whisked away by balthus to go on a date of some sort. granted, since he’s a bit low on cash his dates aren’t very expensive, but any time spent with balthus is time well spent. 

⇾  balthus is surprisingly very perceptive, and can usually detect when something’s bothering you before you manage to tell him. he usually questions you first, unless you’re in public or seem to be avoiding the topic. 

his perceptiveness can cause him to be quite protective. if he catches onto to someone making you uncomfortable or irritated, he’s quick to assert himself into the situation. his tone is lighthearted and his smile is easygoing as he enters the conversation, but the steely look in his eyes sends a clear message. 

⇾  balthus knows he constantly has people after him, so in turn he watches over you constantly to ensure you’re not hurt because of his debt. in battle he’s always by your side, taking out the strongest, largest enemies nearby to keep them as far away from you as possible. when you chastise him and remind him that you’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself he simply laughs and ruffles your hair, explaining that he loves you too much to let anything happen to you. 

⇾ he loves hugs. his large and wide frame makes him prime hugging material; as soon as you wrap your arms around him he has you engulfed in a huge bear hug. his hugs are tight but comforting, and the only difficulty lies in convincing him to let go

[honeylemondrop]

Took those sticks and stones, showed 'em I could build a house They tell me that I'm crazy, but I'll never let 'em change me 'Til they cover me in daisies, daisies, daisies

BASIC QUESTIONS

First name? Haven

Surname? Lemos

Middle names? Benita

Nicknames? Havey, Honey (only Beck)

Date of birth? October 8

Age? 28

PHYSICAL / APPEARANCE

Height? 5’8

Weight? 145

Build? slim

Hair colour? Light brown

Hair style? Loose and straight

Eye colour? green

Eye Shape? almond

Glasses or contact lenses? glasses

Distinguishing facial features? Eyes

Which facial feature is most prominent? lips

Which bodily feature is most prominent? skin

Other distinguishing features?

Skin? tan

Hands? petite

Make up? always

Scars? On her hands from failed experiments

Birthmarks? A brown patch shaped like a butterfly

Tattoos? no

Physical handicaps? no

Type of clothes? The latest fashions

How do they wear their clothes? Usually tight and out of the way

What are their feet like? Average

Race / Ethnicity? Cuban/Spanish

Mannerisms? She talks with her hands and get louder the more excited or angry she is

Are they in good health? yes

Do they have any disabilities? no

PERSONALITY

What words or phrases do they overuse? Carajo, dammit,

Do they have a catchphrase? no

Are they more optimistic or pessimistic? realistic

Are they introverted or extroverted? introverted

What bad habits do they have? Forgetting to eat and not sleeping enough

What makes them laugh out loud? The silliest things

How do they display affection? A gentle touch and kind words

Mental handicaps? No

How do they want to be seen by others? innovative

How do they see themselves? Trying her best

How are they seen by others? Kind, intelligent and motivated

Strongest character trait? determined

Weakest character trait? self-critical

How competitive are they? Not really

Do they make snap judgements or take time to consider? Time to consider

How do they react to praise? well

How do they react to criticism? She takes it in because she wants to do better

What is their greatest fear? To never accomplish her goal

What are their biggest secrets? She’s terrified most of the time that something will fail and there will be no coming back from it

What is their philosophy of life? Enjoy it while it’s here

When was the last time they cried? Last tuesday because of an animal documentary

What haunts them? ...Tadashi’s death

What are their political views? none

What will they stand up for? The people who can’t stand up for themselves

Who do they quote? Einstein, Tesla,

Are they indoorsy or outdoorsy? indoorsy

What is their sinful little habit? Uh, hmm, men? And chocolate.

What sense do they most rely on? Smell, usually the experiment smells before it blows up

How do they treat people better than them? The same

How do they treat people worse than them? The same

What quality do they most value in a friend? Honesty.

What do they consider an overrated virtue? Courage. Bravery leads to stupid mistakes.

If they could change one thing about themselves, what would it be? She wouldn’t change anything

What is their obsession? chemistry

What are their pet peeves? When people don’t listen to other and act like they’re better

FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Is their family big or small? Who does it consist of? Big, parents and siblings and family in Cuba

What is their perception of family? She loves her family. She thinks family is the love no one else can give you.

Do they have siblings? Older or younger? She’s the eldest, a younger brother and sister

Describe their best friend. Fred Fredrickson. He’s an outgoing, creative guy who is always there for her.

Ideal best friend? Someone who balances her out.

Do they have any pets? No

Who are their natural allies? Fred, Reagan, Emily, Penny

Who are their surprising allies? Beckham Teague

PAST AND FUTURE

What was your character like as a baby? As a child? She was a bright bubbly baby that learned to walk and talk quickly. An inquisitive child that drove her parents crazy with a million questions.

Did they grow up rich or poor? Poor

Did they grow up nurtured or neglected? nurtured

What is their greatest achievement? Getting into college without debt but her PH.D is killing her financially

What was their first kiss like? A mess, she had braces, he was chewing gum.

What is the worst thing they did to someone they loved? Not tell them she loved them.

What are their ambitions? To change the world and be able to make it a better place through science

What advice would they give their younger self? To take more risks.

What smells remind them of their childhood? Roses because her mother would grow them in their garden.

What was their childhood ambition? To be a scientist

What is their best childhood memory? Cooking with her mom and siblings

What is their worst childhood memory? Being made fun of because she was taller than everyone else.

Did they have an imaginary childhood friend? no

LOVE

Do they believe in love at first sight? nope.

Are they in a relationship? …..nope.

How do they behave in a relationship? She’s completely loving and attentive. She cooks for them and spends time with them.

When did you character last have sex? Ask Beck.

What sort of sex do they have? The sexy kind?

Has your character ever been in love? yes

Have they ever had their heart broken? yes

CONFLICT

How do they respond to a threat? She’s very logical

Are they most likely to fight with their fists or their tongue? Tongue, she’ll tear you to shreds with her words.

What is your character’s kryptonite? Someone who needs to be saved

If your character could only save one thing from their burning house, what would it be? Her journal with her notes

How do they perceive strangers? She’s very trusting but not naive.

What do they love to hate? Bad fashion

What are their phobias? She’s afraid of chickens because she got chased by one when she was a kid

What is their choice of weapon? Science

What living person do they most despise?

Have they ever been bullied or teased? She was constantly teased for her height.

Where do they go when they’re angry? She yells. A lot. Sometimes in Spanish and sometimes she just screams.

Who are their enemies and why? None…yet!

WORK, EDUCATION AND HOBBIES

What is their current job? She’s an underpaid intern at PymLabs

What do they think about their current job? It’s fascinating.

What are some of their past jobs? Waitress, daycare teacher

What are their hobbies? Reading, singing and cooking

Educational background? Currently working on her PH. D

Intelligence level? Genius

Do they have any specialist training? She’s trained in handling lab safety and CPR/First Aid certified.

Do they have a natural talent for something? She’s a good singer

Do they play a sport? Are they any good? She played basketball but hated it.

What is their socioeconomic status?

FAVORITES

What is their favorite animal? Tiger

Which animal do they dislike the most? Snakes

What place would they most like to visit? Japan

What is the most beautiful thing they’ve ever seen? Sunset in Cuba

What is their favorite song? No te pido flores by Fanny Lu

Music, art, reading preferred? Reading

What is their favorite color? Yellow

Favorite food: rice

What is their favorite work of art? Irises by Van Gogh

Who is their favorite artist? Banksy

What is their favorite day of the week? Tuesday

POSSESSIONS

What is in their fridge? Fresh vegetables, juice, milk and someone else’s beer

What is on their bedside table? Book, post it notes and pens

What is in their car? Doesn’t have one

What is in their bin? Trash? Probably lots of paper

What is in their purse or wallet? Lipsticks, bandaids, hair ties, candy

What is in their pockets? Paper clips, hair clips

What is their most treasured possession? Her teddy bear that her grandma made her, Raul.

SPIRITUALITY

Who or what is your character’s guardian angel?

Do they believe in the afterlife? That there will be something

What are their religious views? She believes in God but no religion

What do they think heaven is? A place where one feels loved

What do they think hell is?

Are they superstitious? Nope.

What would they like to be reincarnated as? Bird.

How would they like to die? In her sleep at old age

What is your character’s spirit animal?

What is their zodiac sign? Libra

VALUES

What do they think is the worst thing that can be done to a person? Other than being unsliced, lied to.

What is their view of ‘freedom’? It’s not easy

When did they last lie?

What’s their view of lying? She hates it.

When did they last make a promise? She promised Hiro she wouldn’t cry

Did they keep or break their last promise? She broke it.

DAILY LIFE

What are their eating habits? She either eats really healthy or not at all because she forgets

Do they have any allergies? She’s allergic to shellfish

Describe their home. Neat and tidy for the most part, utter chaos if she loses something

Are they minimalist or a clutter hoarder? Minimalist

What do they do first thing on a weekday morning? Yoga, because she’s better than me

What do they do on a Sunday afternoon? Enjoy reading a book with some cafe con leche because that’s what I do.

What do they do on a Friday night? Usually hang out with someone

What is the soft drink of choice? Sprite

What is their alcoholic drink of choice? Wine

MISCELLANEOUS

What or who would your character dress up as for Halloween? She’d dress up as sailor moon

Are they comfortable with technology? Extremely

If they could save one person, who would it be? She couldn’t choose

If they could call one person for help, who would it be? Beckham

What is their greatest extravagance? Her louboutins

What is their greatest regret? Not telling Tadashi she loved him

What is their perception of redemption? Understanding what was wrong and making amends

What would they do if they won the lottery? Buy her family a house and pay for her PH.D and open her own lab

What is their favourite fairytale? Doesn’t have one

What fairytale do they hate? Hansel and Gretel

Do they believe in happy endings? Yes, but you have to make them happen.

What is their idea of perfect happiness? Having accomplished all her goals alongside her family, the one she has and one she would make.

What would they ask a fortune teller? Nothing

If your character could travel through time, where would they go? She’d stop Tadashi.

What sport do they excel at? None

What sport do they suck at? All of them

If they could have a superpower, what would they choose? She’d choose magic but she’d never admit it.

[fischlcatgirl]

ok so in a separate rb i want to talk about this playlist for a minute because again im definitely NOT PROCRASTINATING. theres a post on this app thats like "you should be able to write why you chose certain songs in the playlist" well thats what this is for.

you're so vain - on there for pretty obvious reasons i feel. theyre both such egotists and they LOVE insisting the other person is the vain one + it comes first because it sets a tone and because it's a little bit silly. i love starting my playlists with songs that are a little bit silly for the theme

come on eileen - for, again, their ego and ambition but this time it's combined + i really like come on eileen. PLUS. that line where the singer is explaining why they won't fall to the same fate the rest of the people they know have and he says "we are far too young and clever" thats. young kavetham. second because it ties into the first song and because. i like it a lots

don't dream it's over - for the way they're kind of constantly falling apart? theyre always fighting but so long as they dont talk about it it's fine

call me al - dude i cant even explain it its just like. you gotta listen to the song. this was the first song i put on because i kept hearing it at work and also because i am "currently" "writing" a fic called angels in the architecture. so

head over feet - they've got this thing where it's like they HATE being near each other and being in love with each other but they can't help it

live and let die - this one is more for kaveh because he's my silly i confess. but i do think its nice for the shift between younger kavetham and older kavetham

runaway train - for their getting back together after kaveh's ruin with the palace and the withering and the debt and stuff. definitely for sure an older kavetham song but also kind of in the period where they're between so it's right in the middle of the playlist

my own worst enemy - GOD. what is there to say. they're prone to really fucking each other up just kind of as a side effect of their fighting. kaveh in addition is particularly prone to substance abuse and self sabotage

losing my religion - they are in love but they cannot talk to each other about it. theyre literally searching for any sign that the other person is in love with them but will not either of them confess and its driving both of them up the fucking wall AUGH

karma chameleon - if they dont have conviction what do they have huh. ALSO has the thing where theyre like. theyre fighting. theyre really intense and they cant talk about it

don't speak - the communication thing ONCE AGAIN. they have never had a productive conversation in their entire lives. also slower than some of the songs before it which helps lead into the next song

heart of glass - younger kavetham again where they think they have an idea of each other but theyre like. when you get two puzzle pieces that seem really close but then turn out not to be

that don't impress me much - they have this thing where they cannot admit to the other's positive qualities because that would be too much like losing ground in an argument. PLUS having shania twain on here means that i get extra points its like using a q in scrabble

good riddance (time of your life) - separation of younger kavetham. kind of that very sarcastic fake goodwill and also i like green day sue me. near the end because its a song with a sense of finality

breakfast at tiffany's - another kind of silly one to end because again. i like the sillies. they have very little in common, and what they do have is extremely superficial except for like. they like arguing

KAVETHAM PLAYLIST. they're so um. silly <3

[voodoochili]

My 75 Favorite Albums of 2020

Every year produces excellent music and 2020 was no exception. The exceptional thing about this year, though, is the loss of livelihood so many musicians suffered as a result of the pandemic. To better celebrate all I’ve listened to and loved this year, I’ve expanded my albums list from 50 to 75 albums and included a highlight track from each in the Spotify playlist below. If you like what you hear, why not throw the artist a few dollars on Bandcamp?

Check the Spotify playlist HERE.

Without further ado, my favorite albums of 2020. Happy New Year, and happy listening!

10. Playboi Carti - Whole Lotta Red: Carti’s long-awaited opus has only been out for a week, which is probably not a long enough time to give an album as sprawling and surprising as this one a full critical evaluation. But I do know when I’m hearing something that’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard: this album rearranges hip-hop at the molecular level. 

Whole Lotta Red is overstuffed with invention, the glitchy, expansive production giving Carti ample opportunity to glom onto the contours of the beat and experiment with his voice. That voice is the album’s main attraction: it squeaks, it squeals, it roars, it spits, it shudders, and organizes itself into irresistibly ignorant mantras (my current favorite is “Lamborghini parked outside, it’s purple like lean”). 

Across its 24 tracks (which feels like too many, sure, but only the 5-minute long Kid Cudi-infected droner “Metamorphosis” overstays its welcome), Carti plays with listener expectations, annihilating rap songwriting conventions (why do you need verse-chorus structure if every line is a hook) as he defiantly proclaims his desire to be unlike anybody else. Though it bears some resemblance in sound and subject matter to Future’s Monster (and much of the production owes a debt to the work of Lil Uzi Vert’s favored Working Of Dying collective), Whole Lotta Red firmly establishes Carti as a totemic figure connecting mainstream and underground sounds.

9. BbyMutha - Muthaland: BbyMutha is a natural born spitter, armed with a drawly stutter-stepping flow that routinely annihilates unconventional instrumentals. She glows with supreme confidence and comfort in her own skin, especially when she’s dripping with disdain with those who’d dare refuse her the respect she deserves. A 25-track opus that earns every minute of its runtime, Muthaland is an engrossing immersion into Mutha’s world, balancing a fascination with the occult (“Sorry I don’t fuck with n****s who don’t fuck with Satan”) with grounding interjections from close friends and her four children. Boasting rockstar fantasies like “Heavy Metal,” bad girl anthems like “Nice Guy,” and dancefloor-ready jams like “Cocaine Catwalk,” Muthaland is a tour-de-force by one of rap’s singular voices, and if she’s really finished with music as she’s claimed (rappers never really retire, but Mutha has indicated she wants to focus full time on her Apothecary), the game will greatly miss her incisive punchlines and crudely empowering perspective.

8. Westerman - Your Hero Is Not Dead: In 2020, Mid-’80s sophistipop grew into one of my favorite comfort foods. Westerman’s Your Hero Is Not Dead struck me directly in the sophistipop sweet spot, evoking the attention-to-detail and synth-heavy craftsmanship of that era and pairing it with harmonic complexity and a piercing emotionalism that recalls his idol Neil Young. On songs like “Blue Comanche” and “The Line,” Westerman constructs tales as twisty as his melodies, economically exploring how people relate to each other at the beginning and end of romantic relationships. Westerman complements his tasteful palette of synth sounds with intricate and lyrical guitar playing, most notably on the sighing, gorgeous instrumental “Float Over,” which softly segues into the title track to end the album on a gently-rising high note.

7. WizKid - Made In Lagos: The focal point of the sub-Saharan Afrobeats renaissance, Lagos is having one of the most exciting musical moments of any city since Kingston in the early ‘70s. WizKid is one of the scene’s biggest stars, with an ability to combine the sonic tapestry of his hometown with Caribbean-influenced beats and vocal styles. Made In Lagos is a masterwork of sound design, bringing creamy bass, chicken-scratch speckles of guitar, tasteful interjections of saxophone and brass, and an intoxicating mix of acoustic and electronic percussion, all offered in service to an immaculate vibe that matches the album cover’s shiny, monochromatic color scheme. Made with lockdown in mind, the album eschews uptempo dancefloor workouts in favor of stress-relief and romance. WizKid plays the perfect host, tamping down his melodic flights of fancy and embracing a song-serving smoothness. He’s a warm and inviting presence throughout, laying out the red carpet for a cross-continental cast of collaborators like H.E.R., Skepta, Burna Boy, and Damian Marley. The result is a truly global pop masterpiece, capable of brightening even the dourest day of a miserable year.

6. Ka - Descendants of Cain: Firefighter by day and rapper/producer by night, Ka is a master of allusion. He organizes his thoughts into themed collections of metaphor, illustrating the bleak realities of street life with gnomic symbolism. On Descendants Of Cain, Ka’s strongest work to date, the enigmatic rapper expresses himself through a litany of biblical references, drawing parallels between ancient parables (he goes far deeper than the Cain/’caine double entendre that rappers have been using for decades) and the stark code of morality with which he lives his life. The 48-year-old hermit produced the project himself, creating an immersive sonic realm, crafting expansive, noir-ish backing tracks populated by late-night saxophones, sparkling pianos, and the occasional shot of sweeping strings. Once again, Ka’s music comes almost entirely without drums (certainly without “beats” in the traditional hip-hop sense–every once in a while, he adds an open hi-hat or a subdued shaker), the artist preferring to let his music swirl around his half-whispered words of wisdom. The album ends on a tearful, sentimental note with “I Love (Mimi, Moms, Kev),” in which the artist ditches the biblical lyrical conceit and expresses his love for his wife, his mom, and his best friend atop light percussion and a warm soul sample.

5. SAULT - Untitled (Rise): Rise is the second part of a diptych that SAULT recorded in response to the movement that exploded in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Black Is, the first part, is a great album (you’ll find it in the lower reaches of my 2020 list), but the mysterious UK collective fulfilled their immense potential with Rise, a propulsive, powerful, and danceable album that doubles as a thought-provoking examination of the nature of freedom and liberation. The album tackles weighty topics–police violence, fake-woke “allies,” protest, cultural appropriation–but handles them with an inspiring effervescence and a propulsion meant to usher right-thinking people into the streets. The music itself is an intoxicating marvel, combining elements from every trendy musical movement from the early ‘80s (post-disco, post-punk, house, hip-hop, whatever the hell ESG was) into a percussive and surprisingly cohesive cocktail. The album immediately makes its greatness known with its first four songs, one of the strongest opening runs of any album in recent memory: the swaggering, funky, keep-your-head-up anthem “Strong,” which features a drum solo from SAULT architect Inflo, the soaring, club-ready vamp “Fearless,” concept-establishing, string-heavy interlude “Rise,” and especially “I Just Want to Dance,” the best song ESG never wrote. 

4. Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters: Fetch The Bolt Cutters arrived with the kind of universal acclaim that can make some people suspicious. The Pitchfork review got a lot of attention, not just for its perfect score but for its bold statement that “no music has ever sounded quite like it.” 

That statement might’ve been slightly hyperbolic. Fetch The Bolt Cutters has the kind of propulsive left-hand piano figures, chest-thumping percussion, and impassioned vocal performances that we haven’t heard since...the last Fiona Apple album. But the album deserves its experimental reputation. These songs mess around with song structure and melody in ways that resemble avant-garde singers like Meredith Monk, use overlapping vocals that occasionally evoke the works of post-modern composers like Luciano Berio, and echoing modernist composers like Edgard Varese in the way she wrings pathos out of rhythmic elements.

Though Fetch might be a slight step down from The Idler Wheel, it’s an invigorating listen, packed with the soul-baring confessionals that only Fiona is capable of executing. Combining literary wordplay with plainspoken directness, Fiona forces the listener to confront her trauma and contemplate her diagnoses of patriarchal ills. The songs are uniformly excellent–especially opener “I Want You To Love Me,” the most “traditional” song on the record, and “Shameika,” a burrowing childhood rumination with a happy ending–but Fetch The Bolt Cutters stands out to me as a collection of amazing moments: when the jig-like “For Her” fades into an unforgettably painful cadence (“Good mornin’, good mornin’/You raped me in the same bed your daughter was born in”), Fiona’s ground-shaking vocal intensity at the end of “Newspaper,” her dogs howling over the outro of “Fetch The Bolt Cutters,” the winking repetition of the title phrase on “Ladies.” Her albums display more than enough ambition to forgive the long gestation periods, but hopefully we won’t have to wait another 8 years for Fiona to bare her soul once again.

3. Drakeo The Ruler - Thank You For Using GTL: Embroiled in a Kafkaesque legal saga that shines a light on the worst aspects of our horrendous justice system, Drakeo The Ruler spent more than three years wrongly incarcerated for a crime he not only did not commit, but for which he was acquitted (for more info on Drakeo’s ordeal, read Jeff Weiss). He’s now mercifully a free man, mostly due to the work of his lawyer, but at least partially because of publicity generated by Thank You For Using GTL. Recorded over the phone from prison during the height of the pandemic, it’s a miracle that an album created under such sub-optimal conditions sounds as excellent as it does, but credit producer JoogSzn–who not only supplied the creeping, head-nodding backing tracks but recorded Drakeo’s phoned-in vocals–and engineer MixedByNavin for the project’s astonishing fidelity. Drakeo and Joog spent hours on the phone to record the album, in the process paying thousands of dollars to GTL, the predatory telecom company of choice for the L.A. corrections system, whose mechanical interjections serve as a constant reminder of the injustice that made the album necessary. Of course, a good story is a good story, but that alone doesn’t get an album on 2020’s most prestigious Best Albums list (mine). It’s a classic rap album, perhaps the best ever released by an incarcerated rapper, and a thumb directly in the nose of the D.A. and the LAPD. The album is a lyrical marvel, packed with winding wordplay and outlandish flexes, as Mr. Mosley takes aim at 6ix9ine, cackles at sorry-ass Instagram haters, and sneers at American-made cars (“To be honest, a Hellcat isn’t a foreign”). Each song has a carefully considered concept, the rapper’s punchlines building upon one another to make an airtight case for his status as L.A.’s top dog. He contrasts his own whip-crashing lifestyle with flashy wannabes on “GTA VI” and “Backflip or Sumn,” mourns a favorite department store on “RIP Barneys,” and proves he still doesn’t rap beef on “Maestro’s Tension.” The album’s masterstroke comes with “Fictional,” the final track, in which Drakeo exposes the prosecution’s use of his lyrics as evidence in criminal proceedings as the farce it is: “It might sound real, but it’s fictional/I love that my imagination gets to you.” Drakeo’s story was a rare bright spot in 2020, and a rare one with a happy ending. Just last week, the rapper released Because Y’All Asked, a studio-recorded version of Thank You For Using GTL, giving the album’s songs the clarity they deserve. But I think I’ll mostly return to the original, which will live on as an excellent album and a vital document of post-George Floyd America.

2. Pa Salieu - Send Them to Coventry: Hailing from the middle of nowhere–or, more accurately city in the English Midlands only known in the states for its middling Premier League team–Gambian-British artist Pa Salieu served up the most distinctive, visceral, and daring rap debut of the year. His style fuses elements of grime, drill, afro-trap, dancehall, and the darker edges of U.S. hip-hop into a percussive slurry, injected with the urgency of his struggle to survive. The magic of the album comes from the way Pa’s fluid flows interact with the shimmering and foreboding production (Felix Joseph and Aod lead the cast of the project’s sound architects), which is perfectly suited for cold city nights. He slips effortlessly into the pocket, toe-tagging the beats with a combination of aggression and trance-like meditation and uttering casually powerful pronouncements (“I'd make a killa riddim offa any riddim/The grind can never stop 'til I'm wrapped in linen”) that make you believe he’s Britain’s next great rapper. Pa keeps the vibe consistent throughout, but the moments that stand out are the moments when he locks into an unbreakable groove over no-frills production, like on singles “Block Boy,” “Betty,” and “B***K.” The artist’s wry sense of humor and brash confidence keeps the album from feeling bleak, but Send Them To Coventry wisely ends on “Energy,” a warm and bright ode to keeping your creative spark safe from the prying forces of fame and fortune.

1. Kassa Overall - I Think I’m Good: “I think I’m good”–a phrase that’s ran through my head throughout this shitstorm of a year. Sure, I postponed a wedding, cancelled trips, and saw my friends and family much less often than I would like, but I count myself among the lucky ones. Still breathing, still sane. Though it was recorded and released before the pandemic started, Kassa Overall’s I Think I’m Good became a lodestar of sorts for me. It’s a brilliantly introspective and deeply personal album about existing in enclosed spaces–whether a jail cell, an NYC subway car, or the inescapable prison of your own body.

Kassa Overall made his name as a jazz drummer, touring with icons like Geri Allen, but his solo music incorporates elements of hip-hop, classical, and trap to create a wholly original milieu. The album features contributions from over 30 accomplished voices, ranging from luminary Vijay Iyer, to Kassa’s saxophonist brother Carlos Overall, to virtuosic pianist Sullivan Fortner, to venerated activist Angela Davis. But all the disparate elements come together in service of Kassa’s deeply personal and engrossing vision.

Taking partial inspiration from Kassa’s struggle with manic depression, the music fluctuates between meditative calm and unbearable tension, mimicking the patter of an unquiet mind. Album opener “Visible Walls,” is a mesmerizing prayer for salvation soundtracked by fluttering harps, piercing woodwinds, and heartbeat percussion. “Find Me” buries a plea for help within a cacophony of sampled voices and rattling piano notes. Fortner’s piano guides us through the hauntingly devastating “Halfway House” and the Chopin-indebted “Darkness In Mind,” each highlighting a different stage of grief (despair and acceptance, respectively). The arc of I Think I’m Good concludes with the hopeful “Got Me A Plan” and “Was She Happy (For Geri Allen),” a Vijay Iyer-assisted tribute to his late friend and mentor. 

It’s ironic that an album that so deeply explores the feeling of isolation vibrates with such a collaborative spirit. I Think I’m Good feels like an answered prayer–a community coming together to check on a beloved friend who’s gone through a tough time: “You good, man?” “I think so.”

Here’s the rest of my list.

11. Yves Tumor - Heaven To A Tortured Mind 12. Shackleton & Waclaw Zimpel - Primal Forms 13. Bob Dylan - Rough & Rowdy Ways 14. Duval Timothy - Help 15. Lil Uzi Vert - Eternal Atake 16. Moodymann - Taken Away 17. Secret Drum Band - Chuva 18. J Hus - Big Conspiracy 19. Headie One & Fred Again - GANG 20. Tiwa Savage - Celia 21. Andras - Joyful 22. Bill Callahan - Gold Record 23. King Von - Welcome To O’Block 24. Flo Milli - Ho, Why Is You Here? 25. Chubby & The Gang - Speed Kills 26. Madeline Kenney - Sucker’s Lunch 27. Empty Country - Empty Country 28. Smino - She Already Decided 29. Destroyer - Have We Met 30. Yves Jarvis - Sundry Rock Song Stock 31. Ela Minus - Acts Of Rebellion 32. Creeper - Sex, Death & The Infinite Void 33. Alabaster DePlume - To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals, Vol. 1 34. Good Sad Happy Bad - Shades 35. The 1975 - Notes On a Conditional Form 36. Kate NV - Room For The Moon 37. $ilkmoney - Attack of the Future Shocked, Flesh Covered, Meatbags of the 85 38. Eddie Chacon - Pleasure, Joy and Happiness 39. Kenny Segal & Serengeti - Ajai 40. Bad Bunny - YHLQMDLG 41. Kahlil Blu - DOG 42. Califone - Echo Mine 43. Boldy James - The Price of Tea in China/Manger On McNichols/The Versace Tape 44. Bufiman - Albumsi 45. Moses Boyd - Dark Matter 46. Thanya Iyer - KIND 47. Jyoti - Mama You Can Bet! 48. Obongjayar - Which Way Is Forward? 49. Rio Da Yung OG - City On My Back 50. Young Jesus - Welcome To Conceptual Beach 51. Owen Pallett - Island 52. Oceanator - Things I Never Said 53. Shootergang Kony - Red Paint Reverend 54. Shabason, Krgovich & Harris - Philadelphia 55. Six Organs of Admittance - Companion Rises 56. Lido Pimienta - Miss Colombia 57. Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song 58. Polo G - The GOAT 59. Actress - Karma & Desire 60. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher 61. Porridge Radio - Every Bad 62. Yg Teck - Eyes Won’t Close 63. Mozzy - Beyond Bulletproof 64. Ratboys - Printer’s Devil 65. R.A.P. Ferreira - Purple Moonlight Pages 66. Ulver - Flowers of Evil 67. Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA 68. SAULT - Untitled (Black Is) 69. Ezra Feinberg - Recumbent Speech 70. Davido - A Better Time 71. Hailu Mergia - Yene Mircha 72. HAIM - Women In Music Pt. III 73. Half Waif - The Caretaker 74. Key Glock - Yellow Tape 75. KeiyAa - Forever Your Girl

[diveronarpg]

Congratulations, JULIE! You’ve been accepted for the role of BRUTUS. Admin Rogue: There is always something about the way you write unvarnished truth that gets me, every single time. Boris is not a likable character by any means, but I still find myself curious about him when seen through your lens. You want to make ruin of him, or maybe for him to make ruin of us, and it’s so attractively despicable that I don’t know what to do with myself. I don’t know if we’ve ever had a character this unapologetic, not just to some but to every single person in Verona. Let them try and eat him, let them spit him back out, let them realize he will not be swallowed no matter how much he deserves it. I can already see the way he’ll burn across the dash, a torch-song I want to touch, and I couldn’t be happier to welcome you back to us in this new and exciting form! Please review the CHECKLIST and send your account in within 24 hours.

WELCOME TO THE MOB. 

OUT OF CHARACTER

Alias | Julie

Age | 20

Preferred Pronouns | She/her

Activity Level | Given that I’ll probably be stuck at home searching for a job for the next month, I figure my activity will be okay. The usual reply every other day or so situation, I hope!

Timezone | MST

Triggers | Already listed!

How did you find the rp?  | Two years ago I went diving into the LSRPG tag because I was curious and now here we are. :)

Current/Past RP Accounts | Santino, Loretta, Lucien

IN CHARACTER

Character | Brutus / Boris Kovrov

What drew you to this character? | Brutus, I think, is one of the most human characters in Diverona by default, without development, in the sense that he is so selfish it makes you want to tear your eyeballs out. It’s the same with most people: we encourage each other to take time to themselves, to put themselves first, but can feel rebuffed or insulted when they actually do that. Boris has taken that to the ultimate extreme: everything he does is for himself and no one else. He didn’t ascend within the Montagues because he wanted to further his family’s social standings, he did it because he alone wanted to succeed.

He’s not apologetic about it, either, and that’s what makes him so interesting. At all times, Boris is fully aware he is perceived as underhanded and generally disliked among the mob, but he’s so good at what he does that it doesn’t matter. He returns to Verona with a searing brand of shame in the form of his personal betrayal, and anyone could see that if they just fucking looked close enough, but they don’t. That’s where his talent really lies, and that’s what makes him so weirdly endearing to me: he makes himself valuable, and even when he does the worst possible thing a person could do in a mob, it still doesn’t undercut his worth. He makes himself out to be a friend, lies and lies and lies, and because most people don’t want to make the effort or choose not to, it’s believable.

Some might call him cut-throat, or a coward, a backstabber, potentially even brutal: he’s not ashamed of sprinkling rat poison into the food of his competition if it means he’ll succeed. He’s an opportunist at best and a manipulator at worst, and if there’s anything to be said about Verona, it’s that the manipulators usually come out at the front of the pack. The last sentence or so in his bio are what really sealed the deal for me: “The historians fail to mention that the traitors are the ones who survive, who outlive empires and kingdoms, who lay their sovereigns to rest and spread their ashes like trail markers.” God help him, Boris will come out of Verona alive, no matter how much of it he feeds into and how much of himself he lets it consume.

What is a future plot idea you have in mind for the character? |

• Fly not; stand stiff: ambition’s debt is paid. I’d love to see some real-time consequences for Boris’ betrayal of the Montague family. Others have been ousted for less, but somehow he gets to remain? That doesn’t seem particularly fair, but Boris couldn’t give a shit about fair if he tried. He sold his information to a mob in Russia for the purpose of a safety net. Other emissaries also deal with Russia – it’d make sense that one of them might hear about the dark dealings and try to use it to their own advantage, were they so ambitious. Or maybe it will come from someone higher up, like Castora, who knows more than they’ve let on. Maybe this will lead to his demotion, his death, Damiano’s assassination, the ushering in of a new era – who knows? These things don’t play out without someone paying the price, and I want Brutus to pay in full.

• I kill’d not thee with half so good a will. In my head, Boris has been out of the picture for some time now, working on relations between the American families and the Montagues to keep business booming. I’d love to explore the Verona Boris left a little over a year ago (totally headcanon, by the way! I’m happy to adjust wherever necessary) and how it’s changed in comparison to what it is now. Roman Montague has failed as an heir, the Witches hung in a public trial, all illusions of neutrality or working towards peace have been shot right through the middle. Damiano is unraveling at the seams, and the question of who will lead the Montagues lacks an answer entirely. It’s complete and utter chaos: messy, bloody, exactly the kind of environment Boris thrives in. I want him to wreak as much havoc as possible in his own way, and if he can’t do that, then I’d like to see him secure his seat closest to the throne when the concept of a coup becomes inevitable.

• But hollow men, like horses hot at hand / Make gallant show and promise of their mettle. He hunts Tomas Sabello and Bernadette du Pont because they are the easiest openings into both sides of the mobs. Bernadette is croquettish and manipulative but still naive, in Boris’ eyes, to the difficult path which lies ahead. I could see him trying to sway her to the Montagues if she would only listen. Grace Daly had done it for less, after all. Sabello, on the other hand, is Boris’ favorite target: throat exposed, head leaned back, weeping tears of sorrow over his wife. Boris has experience with the follies of the heart and he can see that Celeste has never loved the man, and frankly, Boris doesn’t think there’s much to the man to love. He’s hollow on the inside, scraped out with a metal spoon. His arrival so late into the act poses some difficulties, but he’s hopeful he’ll be able to pick up where he left off.

Are you comfortable with killing off your character? | Absolutely!

IN DEPTH

In-Character Para Sample:

Valentina Gallo dies a violent death. An inextricable, unforgiving death. An ugly death. When they take pull her body from her brother’s arms, and she is taken in to be seen by Damiano’s own eyes, witness the violence which has laid itself across the barren field of a corpse –

This is when Boris is called home.

Exit, Viola.

Enter, Brutus.

He bids Lorenzo and the rest of the Gambino family farewell that same night over the phone: Lorenzo calls him a bastard for not shaking his hand before saying goodbye, but Boris has other things on his mind: A plane. The brisk cold mornings that give way to blustery sunshine. Damiano greeting him as a member of the family instead of an extension of his long reach, like he had a year ago. He can remember the phone call well. He’d run it through, night after night, dissecting and picking apart intonation and tone and the speed with which Damiano had dismissed him, like a dog begging for scraps hastily shoved away from the dinner table. He lets the familiarity of the conversation wash over him as he settles in his plane seat the night of the twenty-seventh. He’ll be there by morning.

I’ll be there to greet you, Damiano had said. Boris had tried not to read into it too much.

New York was intended to be punishment and apology wrapped up into one. Damiano sent him off to deal with the budding crime syndicates and crush them under the imaginary Montague heel. He would spread seeds of dissent and terror: most fall silent when he enters a room for good reason, and it is in this way that he gets them to listen when he speaks. Most would not expect a man as imposing as Boris to speak so passionately; he’s always been a fan of turning ideas on their heads. By weaving tales of just what the Montague family has at its disposal, he alone would stamp out the passionate flames of greed and light his own small fire of fear.

In his younger years this would have intimidated Brutus. When he’d received the call a year ago, he’d only felt dread.

But he’d done well. It took him five months to chase down every single lead provided to him by men paid under the table, and after that, all there had been to do was clean up the mess and socialize. Shake hands with the shattered fragments of the once-powerful mob families, reach out to the contacts he’d had in Canada and New Orleans, as they were perhaps the most influential, the ones who could sway the boat with weaponry and other fun and exciting goods that still had his heart pounding when he looked at them.

He’d thought about calling Evgeny once, and only once: when Damiano had chewed him out over the phone for something that was not his fault and hadn’t been in his wheelhouse to begin with. Boris knew, that night, what Evgeny would say. Patience, Kovrov. We’ll be here when you’re ready.

When you’re ready. Whatever that meant. For all Evgeny knew, Boris would never be ready. He’d die with Verona just out of reach.

He startles awake as the plane hits turbulence coming into Verona, heading towards the landing strip. It’s a bumpy landing, but he’s never done well in planes to begin with. He thinks, often, of his father, who had marked to Boris that all would be well just before returning to Russia. The flight wouldn’t make it, of course. Damiano had ensured it: Sasha Kovrov had been dead weight long enough. All he could’ve hoped for, Boris thought, was that his son would prove worthy of something.

And he had. He’d crawled on his hands and knees across glass and gravel, waded through blood and sweat, and tears – never his own, if he could help it – to see the Montague family through to the other side. Could he really have been blamed for wanting to ensure he had some sort of future laid out for him, even if it wasn’t in the name of the two old bloodlines of Verona? In return, he’d gotten: a usurpation of a position that should have been his, a pound’s worth of rat poison that he couldn’t use, distrust among his peers and disgust from the one man who should have seen his dedication, and a promise he couldn’t act upon until he was ready.

враки.

He exits the plane, meets Damiano on the tarmac, and just as quickly they are swept away by Damiano’s driver. There is no discussion of previous business, tasks he has completed. Craven is mentioned offhandedly, but Boris had to admit some time in September that whatever illicit ties Everett Craven had to the Capulets when it came to his dealings in America, the man kept them wound up tight. He’d been impressed. Instead, they set their eyes on the future: Damiano speaks to him of the failures and successes, trials and tribulations, and Boris takes note of the way his brow knits together when he speaks.

It is like Damiano cannot bear to look at him, but is forcing himself to anyway. Surely his betrayal had not burned so badly. It wouldn’t have left a mark.

Valentina Gallo died for less. She didn’t give nearly as much away. She’d given what she had to give. Boris had given Evgeny everything, and then offered the grounds of the coffee to Damiano in return.

Boris is lucky to be alive, seated across from a man he might have once considered a better father than his own, who looks at him with poorly-veiled discuss and tells him what to do. Boris had sold his soul – this might just be the devil’s recompense.

It doesn’t matter, he tells himself, watching the city pass them by, nodding where appropriate and watching the sun rise over the river as they drive alongside it. If he gets his way, Damiano Montague will be sooner dethroned, and Brutus will have his rightful place as second-in-command to some poorer, less competent man. If he is anything, it’s stubborn. They drive by the Castelvecchio, and he’s saddened to see it is still a work in progress, not at all the shining beacon it had once been of unity or pride within a place being torn in two, right down the middle. He feels a pang of something hit him in his chest. Homesickness? He’s home, but—

Boris’ flat is small, modest, tucked away in an alley. Close enough to the library that he can be there within minutes just by walking, if necessary. All the pedestrians on the street avert their eyes when they see Damiano’s car pull up outside. He grabs the one bag he’d taken with him on the plane: he’s hopeful the rest will arrive within the week, but that’s an if at best. Before he slips out, Damiano clears his throat.

He stops, and finds a single piece of paper pressed into his hand. He can only assume what it is, won’t open it – it’s deliberately folded closed. It could be anything: a name, a number, a place, a threat, a promise.

“When you’re ready,” Damiano murmurs, like some sort of sick joke, which is to say that it will be when he asks, because Boris ceded any hope at control over his own life the minute he sold all he possessed to the Russian mob, heart and mind and soul, only to crawl back to Verona just after. Some might’ve called him a fool, but he’d only seen the future, then. If only others could see the eclipsing horizon always in his sight.

It’s here that Boris is left: a small alley, out of sight of the rest of the world, the morning sun shining on his face. The future in his hand. He opens it before he has the chance to breathe in again, the vitriol in his heart already beginning to sear out through his ribcage.

Extras: N/A

[mcttys]

* ･ﾟ ❀ { cis male . he/him } wait ! is that HARRY STYLES we see moving into bloom 36 ? oh no , its just MATTHEW “MATTY” HARRISON ! bloom’s newest tenant is a TWENTY FIVE year old WRITER from CAMDEN, MAINE — yellow spring’s just got a whole lot brighter . if the HOPELESS ROMANTIC isn’t stowed away in their loft , you can almost always find them WRITING AT THE IVY . 

hello !! i’m sam and i am so excited to be here. i have been looking for a place to play my bb matty for quite some time. i’m tweaking his backstory a little bit to fit better with the plot but he is just a soft lazy love sick mess of a boy whomst i love dearly and hope you can tolerate as well ! please see below for some headcanons 

full name: matthew “matty” ryan harrison  age: twenty- five birth date: march 7, 1995, 3:13 pm zodiac: pisces sun, taurus moon, leo rising  hometown: camden, maine religion: raised roman catholic but kind of agnostic now  sexual/romantic orientation: bisexual / biromantic  character parallels: rob gordon (high fidelity the movie), richard papen (the secret history), theo decker (the goldfinch), charlie (perks of being a wallflower) aesthetics: hazy golden afternoons, second hand poetry books, a yearning for the italian country side, worn out vintage t-shirts

pinterest board

writer by choice, romantic by chance: i have this in his pinterest board and i feel like it rly sums him up! he’s such a romantic to the point that it is a flaw. he romanticizes everything which has gotten him into trouble before. i.e....mistaking things that are certainly not love, for love. 

you may say he’s a dreamer: big goals! big ambitions! big lazy boy! he has dreams to move to a big city like new york or paris, to live in a chic and cozy apartment, to write 3/4 of the year and vacation in some beautiful getaway in the south of italy every summer. somewhat unattainable especially considering he’s currently drowning in student loans but a boy can dream?

i kno that u got daddy issues: grew up in a small, picturesque town in maine. you know the boy romanticized it yes sir he did !! but that doesn’t mean he had a perfect childhood. he was an only child of a loveless romance. his mother and father had him at 16 and 17, respectively, and tried to make it work despite the lack of actual emotional connection between them. his dad and he never really bonded, especially since matty was more interested in reading picture books and playing dress up than he was tossing a baseball outside. he’d always been closer with his mother. still, it didn’t hurt any less when he came home from school one day at eight years old, his father’s things gone. it didn’t hurt any less to watch his mom cry over him for days.

money, money, money, must be funny: after spending four years of undergrad  studying literature and creative writing at brown university in rhode island, the kid is swimming in debt. he got involved in some shady businesses for money, doing things he didn’t really want to be doing, and still feels ashamed of today, so he doesn’t really talk about his past much! but, the reason he moved to yellow springs was because he fell in l*ve back in rhode island. it ended up going south, quick, so he packed up his things, took what little savings he had, and found yellow springs. this was when he was twenty-three so he’s been living in the bloom apartments for about 2 years now? 

sloth and the seven deadly sins: matty is a total homebody, but that isn’t to say he doesn’t like going out at all. he does! he’s just kind of a wallflower when he goes out. much more of an observer. he does prefer to stay in tho, with a huge fluffy blanket and a big cup of tea. please...have sleepovers with him. he’s a huge cuddler.

another delusional pisces: yes...he has his head in the clouds okay! sometimes they are so far up in the clouds that it’s hard to tell if he’s living in the same reality as everyone else. something he perceives as true is often totally false. it’s often why he thinks he’s in love after 1 date and everyone else is like that’s called INFATUATION , MATTHEW . 

wash your dishes and take out the garbage!: not a slob but quite messy. his room has clothes strewn all over the place and he can never keep his papers organized. he often forgets tea cups in his room until the entire collection of mugs ends up on his bed side table and he’s like whoops ! and brings them out to the kitchen 

cat: has a cat named cat. basically when he still lived in rhode island for school he came back to his place one day and he realized a cat had followed him home. and he was like shoo cat ! and she didn’t listen . he was like . i can’t take you in here cat . no pets allowed . anyway he ended up having a full on conversation with this cat in the hallway and then the cat followed him inside his dorm ANYWAY and he hid her  and took care of her for the rest of the semester and just called her cat and now that’s her name and he took her with him to yellow springs and they are best friends 

wanted connections: dang u know i want them all but !! let’s think. 

ambiguously gay duo - give me a brotp where everyone is like “are they....you know....” but it’s just PURE , UNADULTERATED FRIENDSHIP  (m/nb) river

ok this is piggy backing off the above because they very well could be the same connection but the schmidt to his nick. matty is lazy and unmotivated but extremely creative and needs someone who is motivated and passionate and they make a good dynamic duo !  inspo: ( x , x , x ) (f/m/nb) zane

cuddle buddy - this can be completely platonic but if any muses love to hang around the house as much as he does !! please give him someone to be lazy with (f/m/nb) sumi

unrequited love - it’s a bad religion !!! give me someone matty is head over heels for but they just........do not feel the same way.  (f/m/nb)

muse - matty is a writer, so i would love to have certain eccentric characters be people he models his own characters after ? i think that would be so cute and this could work for a few connects  :( (f/m/nb) selene

extrovert to his introvert - someone who drags him out to social gatherings, makes him do things outside of his apartment, yknow. forces him to get out and get active ! he probably would not go to parties if it were not for this person (f/m/nb) gemma

exes - matty’s been here for 2 years so this all depends on timelines. but ! give me exes on bad terms ! exes on good terms ! anything ! (f/m/nb) domenica 

ex fwbs / one night stands - on the same note, matty is the type of guy who falls in love in 0.02 seconds but can fall out of love just as fast. this would be one of those circumstances (f/m/nb)

college friends - matty went to brown university in rhode island so if we got any pretentious ivy leaguers in the house say aye 

[smartasset11]

Financial Planning - Setting Financial Goals to Manage Money Better

The burden is considering most people listen or read the words 'personal finance', their eyes glaze over and they hurriedly start to think practically something more interesting...like what's the measure of their keyboard's scroll lock button? But, the reality is that learning how to create the most of your finances is in reality pretty simple and that just a tiny bit of attention can go a long way.

Where Are You Financially?  https://smartasset.com/

It is difficult to get somewhere if you don't know where you are in the first place. And behind personal finance, it's just as difficult to set financial goals for the future, if you don't know where your finances are currently.

The best pretentiousness to enactment your financial standing is to figure out your personal net worth. Personal net worth is basically your personal finance bottom line. After taking into account every of your assets and every of your liabilities, what you end going on following is considered your personal net worth.

The Four Types of Personal Finance Goals

As you figure out your personal net worth, ideas for goals will start to develop, write any of these alongside on a fragment paper and later deal with to them forward-thinking next you are ambition setting. There are four classifications for financial goals--the get older limit you set to reach the try will determine what type of mean it is.

Short-Term Personal Finance Goals

These goals typically consent less than one year to complete. These goals are usually very important, as many of your better goals will depend on your realization in the same way as these short-term goals. These goals are next important because they build moral and growth your financial confidence--suddenly the larger goals don't seem so impossible. Short-term goals might supplement reading a finance book, beginning to track your finances similar to personal finance software or even paying off a tally card.

Mid-Term Personal Finance Goals

These goals should endure less than five years to complete. These goals can relate to your short-term goals (i.e. a short-term endeavor may be paying off your Visa card and a mid-term try is to have every of your explanation cards paid off). Mid-term goals, as without difficulty as your larger goals, dependence to be tracked nearby as procrastination can often create mid-term personal finance goals definitely difficult to accomplish.

Mid-long-Term Personal Finance Goals

These goals should acknowledge anywhere from five to 15 years to accomplish. There are people who have become categorically debt-free from perusing a mid-long term goal. These goals sometimes move ahead or alter extremely depending upon life's priorities.

Long-Term Personal Finance Goals

Long-tem personal finance goals may acknowledge sixteen years to a lifetime to accomplish. These are goals that agreement subsequent to your retirement and desertion an inheritance for your children. Many people set long-term personal finance goals to have a personal net worth of 'X' amount of dollars by a sure age. Long-term goals along with amend and take forward as people amass and their priorities in vibrancy change. You should evaluation and investigate your long-term financial goals at least later than a year--maybe in the same way as you attain your taxes.

[jvlicns]

julian amante , twenty - three , cis male , THE TOWER .

amusing , candid , resourceful , petty , cataclysmic , arrogant.

first of all HELLO !! im z. 25 / she+her / pst. im thrilled to be here and honestly a little shocked ?? my app was a rushed MESS but im so happy the admins understood my nonsense !! 

this is going to be a lil long so pls bear w me. im going to break it down into sections and eventually make an entire bio , but this will do in the mean time !

connections are here , & my discord is zvvf#1885 ! 

* tw for mention of drugs & alcohol

. . .

TAROT ━

the tower represents chaos , destruction , & upheaval. this change is usually sudden & unexpected -- & not always good. the tower itself is a symbol of ambition , but in this card we see it built on faulty premises & false beliefs , all of which are no longer useful.

the ruin of the tower is inevitable -- necessary for growth & groundbreaking renewal. it’s time to break out of the old ways.

AESTHETICS ━

cracked asphalt , bloody knuckles , tangerine sunsets. the smell of freshly cut grass . still , slow mornings. a neat row of fire ants , climbing up your bedroom wall. broken stained glass , an overgrown field. tears of laughter , the only you’ll ever shed. 

money in a yellow envelope , guilt in your eyes , pressed flowers , a string quartet , corruption , loss of morals , student debt , a yellow light , darkness , hellfire.

THOUGHTS ━

" you’ve got your orders & that’s enough. you don’t know who’s telling you to throw your classmates off the scent , but you’re getting paid to do it. maybe your moral compass would stop you if you didn’t struggle so much in the financial department , but hey. you’re doing what you have to do to survive. if only you didn’t have to go against your better judgment for it. "

GENERAL ━

assigned to REYNOLDS house 

fourth year -- senior .

currently working at the corner store as a cashier .

scholarship student -- 2.3 average gpa .

athlete , st. cade’s lacrosse team .

BACKGROUND ━

grew up in a small town in arizona , in one of those unfinished suburbs that ran out of funding halfway through a government project to “ upgrade ” that was met with widespread disapproval. it’s all empty pools & dirt lawns , a patchwork neighborhood of old houses mixed in with the new. 

former golden boy who peaked in high school : star athlete , prom king , voted best smile. eternally toeing the line between CHAMPION  & DIRTBAG.

well - liked , but known for being something of a hell - raiser. out every night , hungover every morning. it was less obvious back then -- he could easily brush it off as simple youthful rebellion , rather than a real personality defect.

his first taste of alcohol was in seventh grade. a summer night , with the sun retiring for the day but leaving her kiss on the still - warm pavement. his world -- previously filled with sunday school , tense family dinners , & 24 hour marathons of professional passive aggression , was forever changed. finally , the boredom slipped away. & not just that ! this was actually FUN. 

but for someone with zero impulse control . . . a door opened , & he never managed to close it.

from a young age , his parents were always involved in the church. they attended every sunday , no excuses. 

this lapsed as the years passed & the amante family found it more & more unpleasant to be in the same room together , but his parent’s beliefs never wavered. religion was used as a weapon in their home -- to shame & guilt. they claimed love , preached tolerance. what they practiced , however , was the opposite. as he grew older , julian managed to weasel his way out of most of their theological outings. he gained some freedom , in addition to the ire of his family. their disappointment in him grew from a tiny acorn to a mighty oak.

his parents had their own issues , long before julian came along. a marriage between two irreconcilable people. the love they should have shared mutated into something twisted , something that they could give only to their son. it was enough for them to feed him , clothe him , & put a roof over his head. anything else was simply asking too much. 

despite coming from a low - income family , things have never been particularly DIFFICULT for him. sure , they struggled. he’s lost count of the times the power got shut off , or the water. but julian was the type of kid who could charm teachers into bumping his grade up to a 71% , despite the dozens of half - finished assignments & failed tests. he didn’t really have to try -- they just wanted to help him. ( pity , perhaps ? he turns a blind eye )

he coasted through school. one of those natural athletes that coaches & admin treat like celebrities , focusing all their attention on a teenager they have high hopes for. higher hopes than he had for himself , in fact. 

julian never had dreams , not a plan for his future. all that stubborn arrogance fooled them : he’s spent the better part of the past seven years stalling. cutting corners & taking shortcuts , desperately avoiding reality.

he never expected to even leave his hometown , let along attend a prestigious college on a full ride lacrosse scholarship. somehow , he played enough games & passed enough classes to qualify for an opportunity that would pluck him from his sad , tragic storyline & deposit him on a shiny path to success. a fresh start. 

he didn’t want to go. fought endlessly about it with his parents , his friends , himself. his place wasn’t at some hoity - toity school , surrounded by do - gooders & the conscientious. julian may have a knack for delusion , for spinning a story that suits him in whatever moment is passing. but he’s smart enough knows what his future holds : drinking himself to an early death in the very house he was born in. you can’t fight fate -- but you can surely postpone it.

in the end , it’s the boredom that convinces him. he’s said & done just about everything he can here , exhausted all the options he cares to consider. made plenty of enemies , as well as friends. built & burnt bridges. 

the expectation of his teachers , his parents , were choking him. it’s foolish to think that this might be the way out – he’ll never change. but why not have some fun , while he’s still here ?

st.cade’s was a treasure trove for julian , filled with endless opportunities to amuse himself. despite his placement in reynold’s house & the mandatory church shit ( a part of his scholarship’s stipulations ) , it hasn’t been bad. another social scene for him to invade , conquests to be had , fights to provoke. the first few years were amazing : an intoxicated blur of his own little slice of this world. 

he lives in the moment , greedily gathering every experience he can. nodding off in class , smoking behind the greenhouse , collecting all the free alcohol he manages to sniff out.

he’s learned this : a loud laugh & bravado can get you far. but now , his actions have finally caught up with him. the school is threatening to terminate his scholarship , to pack up his bags & send him on the first train home. & while he has no idea what to do , he knows he can’t go back. god , no. 

even without what’s keeping him – the enticing mystery of helena’s disappearance , his friends , his freedom. he just can’t stand to go in reverse ; it would mean facing the consequences of every mistake he’s ever made ( & there are quite a few ! ) 

he’s a shark – he has to keep moving. 

that first letter came soon after the school - wide assembly. small , neat type. direct. there was no mincing words , the sender made it perfectly clear : this is his only option. if he wants to maintain this lifestyle , this is the way. so he burns the letters , following their instructions. almost relieved to be given direction. it’s a respite in the current disarray – something he used to enjoy , but now just feels exhausting. he’s the band , humming away as the titanic sinks. not my business , he thinks. but he’ll drown all the same.

PERSONALITY ━

he’s an asshole but a F U N asshole -- that makes it palatable , right ?? 

not a dumbass , but the lack of impulse control + arrogance could have fooled me ! his intelligence is only hinted at , invisible unless you’re looking : reciting keats from memory , listing off all 79 of jupiter’s moons. remnants of past & fleeting obsessions.

 has to actively undermine his own common sense -- for the laughs , of course !

selfish ; his needs & wants come before anyone else’s. a childish habit , yes , but one he’s been unable to break. ( not that he’s tried )

vacillates between aloof & dramatic. you can count on him to stir some shit up -- he adores chaos & just can’t keep his mouth shut. petty , to a fault.

he’s hot - shit & he knows it ; well aware of his pretty face & statuesque build. julian’s never been afraid of using it to his advantage , or even just reminding anyone around him of just how cute he is. ( listen up 5′s , a 10 is speaking ! )

 has a strong aversion to authority. “ don’t tell me what to do ! ” . . . * quietly takes your advice when you’re not looking * . . .

the good parts of him are buried deep. his loyalty , his gentleness. a warm heart that can easily empathize , but chooses not to. julians pursuit of superficial gratification blinds him , warping his reflection like a funhouse mirror.

aggressive & unrelenting. this could be channeled into something of a work ethic , if he cared enough. instead , he uses it to get what he wants. whatever that might be.

curious as a cat with nine lives , he won’t hesitate to ask the question everyone’s thinking. that bluntness is almost appealing , as long as it’s not directed at you. this makes him somewhat of a good listener , even if he’s only paying attention to satisfy his own nosiness. 

he’ll literally fight for the ones he loves. there aren’t many of them , but the sentiment stands. years of sports have taught him the value of teamwork , & he has yet to shake it. once you endear yourself to him , there’s no going back.

despite everything , julian manages to be a charismatic little firebrand. he’ll guarantee a good time , he just won’t help clean up the mess.

FUN FACTS ━

can fit his entire fist in his mouth

has The Loudest Sneeze Of All Time

once bit into an apple n saw a WORM inside so now he hates apples w a passion

right handed , but taught himself to be ambidextrous during the summer between fifth & sixth grade

promptly forgot he was ambidextrous & never uses his left hand

has surprisingly neat handwriting

can fall asleep ANYWHERE

likes country music ( will never admit it , tho )

his mother used to read him poetry , so he’s lowkey Very Into It

can’t carry a tune for shit , & his impressions are a w f u l. his british accent is just a cheap dick van dyke imitation , & his australian accent is what the british one SHOULD be

[astrox-style22]

X FILES  HOROSCOPE JANUARY 19TH - 25TH

ARIES

MONEY: This is a week, with the New Moon in Aquarius to act and think outside of the box.  Nothing conventional will do.    If you’re willing to take a risk with your hopes and wishes, the results could very unexpected and to your liking.  Also realizing it’s time to leave certain”friends”’ behind that you’ve outgrown and hold you back.   The Universe is ready and waiting to bring in new people to fill the void.

SEX:   You don’t always play by the rules when it comes to love, but this week, although you’ll sill act on impulse, do it in way that is a pleasant surprise for your partner.

POWER: If you want to succeed, separate yourself from the “pack’ and chart a more individual course on a path less trodden.

TAURUS

MONEY: Career and goals need to change and this could very well occur this week.   If you have any new ideas or insights that can be used to make this area of life better, you should go ahead and implement them.    However, you may find yourself taking a small step forward  because of being held back by old debts, disappointments and past mistakes.   Nonetheless,  one step is better than none at all , so you should continue to forge ahead, leaving as much as the old behind as possible.

SEX: Try to have a broader perspective of love and what can be achieved.   If you keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again without realizing what they are, it will be hard to find happiness.   The answer lies within your beliefs about love, passed down from parents.

POWER: Restructuring your life starting with career, goals and ambitions may seem to be a daunting task, but it can be done.   If you can be more determined, assertive and focused on what needs to be done, you’ll not only surprise yourself but everyone else too.

GEMINI

MONEY: This is a week of sudden cathartic changes which sooner or later prove to be positive or fortunate, depending on whether or not you’ve been operating on the right side of Natural Law.   If you’re careful not to take unreasonable gambles  with the aspect of the New Moon in Aquarius, outcomes will be positive, bearing in mind you can’t always trust the luck to be long -lasting.   If you’ve been doing things on the wrong side of Natural Law, you could experience a dramatic loss or upset, especially connected to legal matters and anything connected to other cultures/countries.

SEX: Putting a little bit more extra effort into your partner, paying attention to their needs will definitely have a positive affect and bring you both closer together.

POWER: If you’re lucky enough to experience the benefits of the New Moon in Aquarius this week, progressive actions will be rewarded and certain tensions you’ve been experiencing will ease.   The writing is on the wall, indicating a new job, home, life-style and friends is on the horizon.    Be prepared for unexpected surprises.

CANCER

MONEY: Somehow you have to find a way to transform unique ideas into symbolic gold.    There are a lot of things you want to accomplish, but need to organize them and pick the ones that will be the most viable, profitable and fulfilling - not necessarily in that order.   More independent thinking an action will get you further, taking a break from tradition that is holding you back.

SEX: If you or your partner’s needs are not being served in current relationships then you must discuss what you want to do about it.   It’s not too late to be more aware of what you both want, but the question is whether or not you care enough to change behavior.

POWER: Beware of individuals who are over-emotional  wanting to cause conflict.    This is a week to confront things that have been bothering you on a deep level, but gently.   Caution and patience will spare you disappointment later. Don’t try to change everything overnight.

LEO

MONEY Opportunities to be in front of the public should be well thought through, with a need to deepen and broaden mental horizons before saying anything,.  At least if you want to gain public support and attention in a positive way for projects/ideas you’re trying to promote.

SEX: You and your partner need to redefine boundaries so that you can each be more of your own person in the context of the relationship. If you want to get to know someone new, your significant other should know that you want to explore “greener pastures”.   Being honest will spare them the hurt and you from creating karma.

POWER: Thinking before you speak, realizing it’s not what you say, but how you say it that matters, will help to influence peoples support for your objectives.

VIRGO

MONEY: Genius moments connected to work and the implementation of fresh new ideas could catapult you into the forefront of the public, positively changing the way people perceive you.  At the same time, unexpected news could solve a current crisis/dilemma holding back prosperity in many ways.  If you’ve been planning and working on anew project, bear in mind, how you present Self and the project could arouse public attention and recognition.   This is the week to put words into action and make every word count.

SEX: As your foundation of life changes so will your love-life change for the better, assuming that you and your partner are on the same page of focus in terms where you want the relationship to go.

POWER: Wit so much going on in the area of work this week, there’s danger of scattering energies in too many directions.   This is where meditation will come in handy to keep you in peaceful balance and harmony with the Universe as you move forward.

LIBRA

MONEY: This is the week to reconsider the direction you’re moving towards with creative projects and sharing them with the world.    If the chance comes to try a new opportunity, think first before you leap forward, it may not be as positive as it appears on the surface and end up in misfortune.   At the same time change of job is written in the stars, if it hasn’t already happened.  You maybe thrust in the forefront of attention, but only for a short-time.  The question to ask, is whether or not the the opportunity is one that enables you to take three steps forward one backwards, because if this is the case, how far back are you going?

SEX: Your significant other may want to take a breather from the relationship or just spend less time together.   This isn’t a bad thing, but you should still talk to them about it, so you understand the reason behind this decision.

POWER: A great deal of what you’ve been working towards could come to fruition this week, while at the same time, it could be the opposite affect because at some point you took a detour that changed a positive outcome to your efforts.  Either way, the main thing is, lessons learned from events that take pace this week.  Taking note, it’s not too late to change course again, but this tine time with more discernment.

SCORPIO

MONEY: Changes to your foundation of life and living conditions will have an affect on your ability to expand horizons.  This shape-up, will in a way help to open the door for many opportunities to emerge, which wile positive as long as you don’t get involved with sudden emotional conflicts with others who don’t serve your hopes and wishes.  There could be success with pr, media and advertising.

SEX: Try to keep emotions evenly balanced and avoid sudden confrontations with your partner that are unnecessary.

POWER: Changes of diet, feeling mood and certain health issues could make you feel off-balance and unprepared to be prepared for opportunity when it knocks.    Therefore there is a need to be awake, alert and more focused than usual.

SAGITTARIUS

MONEY: Your restless, creative mind is always full of new ideas and this week will be no exception.   You can’t just talk about ideas this week, you have to be wiling to put your words to good use and get projects off the ground.  The more unique they are, the more successful they will be.  

SEX: Don’t make assumptions about your partner that are unfounded they won’t appreciate it.   Probably better to keep your opinions to yourself.

POWER: If you’re presenting anything to the public or involved with media, pr or advertising, make sure the people you’re working with are on the same page so disaster can be averted.   If they’re not able to have abrader perspective of how to present you and your ideas to the public, find someone else.  There are people out there.

CAPRICORN

MONEY: If you have been following the cycles of the stars in the last few months, you’ll realize and feel this is the week to start implanting new unique money-making ideas.  The more creative the better.  As a result you’ll have to restructure areas of life to suit this new influx of prosperity.  This is not a time to vacillate/procrastinate because this is a year of retrogrades with very little opportunity to start new things after January, not until the end of the year.   Time waits for no man, plus you have Jupiter in your sign, so there’s not excuse.

SEX: With so much going on in your life, there maybe little time for love this week, but this is only temporary.  if you explain things to your partner they’ll help you get things in order and streamlined, so you’ll still  have time for each other.

POWER: Don’t forget to dress for success, this is your secret weapon, not to be ignored.  As you start this successful new cycle, people will be watching, so you can’t afford to not be prepared and make your presence memorable.

AQUARIUS

MONEY: The New Moon in your sign this week gives a powerful boost of getting things done that have been outstanding for sometime.  It may seem as if there’s not enough time in the day to do what you have to do, causing stress, but the Universe is on your side.  New people that come into your life at this time, to help complete projects already started, will prove to be the catalyst for new partnerships and new beginnings to expand horizons.

SEX: Avoid allowing your partner to trigger emotions that end up in conflict, it’s not necessary at al. Listen and try a different approach of being more understanding and willing to support.

POWER: Intense persistence that you’ve exerted over the last few months will show signs of paying off and overcoming difficulties you’ve been faced with for sometime.   Ultimately, you’ll also realize there’s a need to change your manner of  of expression.

PISCES

MONEY: This is a week to overcome sorrow and self-undoing, if you’ve been paying attention to the way things have been going up to now.  Now is the time to be in action to start new ideas or business, especially if they’re of a visuall nature, this is the week to do it.   The stars are aligned in your favor to outdo everyone, including yourself, making drastic unexpected changes.  A chance to be a trendsetter.

SEX: You might be ready for a change but your partner may not.    This should not hold you back, because you have to move forward.   Perhaps by discussing things with your significant other they’ll understand and be supportive while you keep going.  However, there is the chance they may get left behind.  New relationships that cone into your life this week will challenge existing ones.

POWER: Pay attention and avoid wrong judgement this week.  Your creative awareness will be at tis peek, helping you to make tremendous strides forward. Opportunities that emerge may not pay-off right away, but will most definitely in the months ahead.  Find the courage to move into “uncharted waters”.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

YOU START BY WRITING A STRIPPED-DOWN KERNEL HOW HARD CAN IT BE

Both of which are false. You must resist this. The main value of the succinctness test is as a guide in designing languages. They'll be fine.1 A typical angel round these days might be $150,000 raised from 5 people. If a hacker were a mere implementor, turning a spec into code, then he could just work his way through it from one end to the other like someone digging a ditch.2 I never read the books we were assigned. So please, get on with it. No one has to commit explicitly to what the central point is. But due to a series of historical accidents the teaching of writing has gotten mixed together with the study of ancient texts was the essence of what scholars did.

If you expressed the same ideas in prose as mathematicians had to do without. But actually being good is an expensive way to seem good. Because the fact is, if you believe as I do that the main reason we take the trouble to write two versions, a flame for Reddit and a more subdued version for HN. In a real essay you're writing for yourself. The reason they like it when you don't need them is not simply that they like what they do. The Internet is changing that. That's why I'm so optimistic about HN. And unless you already have if you can't raise the full amount. And so once university English departments were established in the late 19th century the study of literature. I'm not proposing this as a new idea. Bill Gates would probably have something to read.3 There's always a temptation to do that completely.

They raise their first round fairly easily because the founders seem smart and the idea sounds plausible. So the ability to ferret out the unexpected. Even if you only have one meeting a day with investors, somehow that one meeting will burn up your whole day. And anything you come across that surprises you, who've thought about the topic a lot, will probably surprise most readers.4 For a painter, a museum is a reference library of techniques.5 I can't. It means that a programming language is obviously doesn't know what a programming language should, above all, be malleable. The true test of the length of the delay inversely proportional to some prediction of its quality. Almost everything is interesting if you get deeply enough into it. It hadn't occurred to me till then that those horrible things we had to rely mostly on examples in books. And once you start to doubt yourself.

So no matter how many good startups approach him.6 But I know the house would probably have ended up pretty rich even if IBM hadn't happened to drop the PC standard in his lap. Why is it conventional to pretend to like what you do or what I do is somewhere between a river and a roman road-builder. And open and good.7 A couple hundred thousand would let them get office space and hire some smart people they know from school. And yet a lot is at stake. Browsers then IE 6 was still 3 years in the future, and the power of the more unscrupulous do it deliberately. Hacker News is an experiment, and an experiment in a very young field. So when a language isn't succinct, it will feel restrictive. The paperwork for convertible debt is simpler.

Their search also turned up parse. The study of rhetoric, the art of arguing persuasively, was a kind of final pass where you caught typos and oversights. Colleges had long taught English composition. The existence of aggregators has already affected what they aggregate.8 Study lots of different things, so you can learn faster what various kinds of work. I think he really wishes he'd listened. The advantage of the two-job route is less common than the organic route. There is nothing investors like more than a plan A. Long but mistaken arguments are actually quite rare. Scientists don't learn science by doing it.9 Even the concept of me turns out to explain nearly all the characteristics of VCs that founders hate. Relentlessness wins because, in the Gmail sense everything I've told you so far.

Hacker News is an experiment, and an essai is an effort. Users have worried about that since the site was a few months old.10 So a plan that promises freedom at the expense of knowing what to do, so here is another place where startups have an advantage. It sounds obvious to say that the answer is a simple yes, but no one can predict them—not even the protagonists: we're just the latest model vehicle our genes have constructed to travel around in. There are lots of other potential names that are as carefully designed and, if possible. Another easy test is the number of both increases we'll get something more like an efficient market. For example, in a recent essay I pointed out that because you can start as soon as the first one is ready to buy. Why is it conventional to pretend to like what you do? Twenty years ago, fascinating and urgently needed work. Fundamentally an essay is a train of thought, as dialogue is cleaned-up train of thought—but a cleaned-up train of thought—but social and economic history, not political history. It will always be true that most great programmers are born outside the US.11 The whole room gasped.

I've met a few VCs I like. There's nothing intrinsically great about your current name would seem repellent. Since we hosted all the stores, which together were getting just over 10 million page views per month in June 1998 I took a snapshot of Viaweb's site.12 The advantage of the two-job route, if you have $5 million in investable assets, it would seem an inspired metaphor.13 The advice of parents will tend to feel bleak and abandoned, and accumulate cruft.14 The good things in a community site come from people more than technology; it's mainly in the prevention of bad things that technology comes into play. Investors like it when they can help a startup, but they did have to go to school, which was a dilute version of work meant to prepare us for the real thing.15 Or at least, a thesis was a position one took and the dissertation was the argument by which one defended it. I didn't realize this when I was about 9 or 10, my father told me I could be 100% sure that's not a description of HN. Indeed, you can start as soon as the first one is ready to buy. It's kind of surprising that it even exists. And there was the mystery of why the perennial favorite Pralines 'n' Cream was so appealing.

Notes

Html. If early abstract paintings seem more powerful sororities at your school sucks, where many of the War on Drugs. Most unusual ambitions fail, no matter how large.

The quality of investor behavior. 03%. Bullshit, Princeton University Press, 1981. Source: Nielsen Media Research.

There is no different from deciding to move from London to Silicon Valley. Sites that habitually linkjack get banned. Xenophon Mem.

Hypothesis: A company will be big successes but who are good presenters, but we do the right thing to do some research online. Here's a recipe that might work is in the general manager of the products I grew up with elaborate rationalizations.

Sometimes a competitor will deliberately threaten you with a cap. It's a bit more complicated, because you have to keep them from the DMV.

A single point of a powerful syndicate, you now get to go deeper into the work of selection. The Sub-Zero 690, one could aspire to the hour Google was founded, wouldn't offer to invest the next investor.

At first I didn't care about, like languages and safe combinations, and one VC. Gauss was supposedly asked this when comparing techniques for discouraging stupid comments instead. Proceedings of 2003 Spam Conference.

In part because Steve Jobs doesn't use.

So as a rule, if an employer, I have no decision-making power. Your user model almost couldn't be perfectly accurate, and that most people will pay people millions of dollars a year for a patent is now. Obvious is an understatement.

It wouldn't cut their overall returns tenfold, because when people make the people working for me was the ads they show first. It's hard to say they prefer great markets to great people to claim retroactively I said yes.

Candidates for masters' degrees went on to study the quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, music, and that modern corporate executives would work better, and b I'm pathologically optimistic about people's ability to solve a lot of legal business. One of the iPhone SDK.

Cost, again. And they are building, they were. If a company growing at 5% a week for 19 years, it means a big company. However bad your classes because you spent all your time working on is a convertible note with no deadline, you should push back on the parental dole, and journalists—have the perfect life, and stir.

This is not an efficient market in this essay talks about the distinction between money and disputes.

That name got assigned to it because the ordering system was small. In fact, we should make the argument a little about how to deal with them. Auto-retrieving filters will be big successes but who are weak in other ways to do more with less? By your mid-game.

No big deal. This is isomorphic to the frightening lies told by older siblings. It was revoltingly familiar to slip back into it. But should you even working on that.

[lighthouseroleplay]

MARGOT  GREENE

                          ( 23 ,  cis woman , she/her )

♪♫ currently listening  ⧸⧸  rose colored boy by paramore

ink-stained fingers, the clinging scent of coffee beans, long walks with only the moon as a witness. towering shelves filled with books, curling leaves, a threadbare jacket, handwriting scrawled on lined pages. the ticking of an old watch, petrichor’s taste after a long night of rain, careful, precise footsteps on creaking floorboards. many tabs open on a laptop, eyes that watch, always.

   •  ackerman has always been a curiousity to you: you would hear your mother gossiping about the strange family, some days, about their odd superstitions and the way there had always been an ackerman in the lighthouse. but she seemed average to you, or at least, no odder than anyone else. you liked answers, and she had them, about her family, about the lighthouse... maybe you asked too many questions, but you knew she was smart, you knew she, too, had a thirst for knowledge. if only she would help quench yours, instead of rolling her eyes at you and walking away, instead of keeping all she knew to herself.

    •  jasper sat at the desk next to yours on your first day of high school, taking pity on the quiet, home-schooled version of you that you were at sixteen, all uncertainty and full of knowledge. they were popular then (they still are!) and you were amazed at the way they took you under their wing, bringing you into the world of parties and adoration that they lived within. you were, to tell the truth, one of the few that they brought in even beyond their flashy, charming exterior: you’d always been able to tell when they were lying, always knew when they were working themself too hard. you would always be grateful that they’d decided they wanted you as a best friend, but you knew that they couldn’t live without you either.

taken by zoe  ⧸⧸  victoria pedretti

She could never sleep - before or after Andy - she could never calm or settle. A moment's rest was wasted time.

Margot had been in Tenebrin Port ever since it happened. She blamed it on the finances, on the debt that her mother had created and more recently left behind. But, ask anyone for the true reason why she had never left; 

Margot Greene lacked ambition. 

Margot Greene was a lost cause.

Margot Greene was obsessed. The seas of Tenebrin Port had swallowed her along with Andrea Clare four years ago.

Margot’s mind works in waves, always searching for an explanation as to what had really happened that night. A new lead would pool closer and closer towards a conclusion before crashing, dissipating and starting all over again. She would return to that same spot at Alderman’s point whenever she grew tired of her research, of all the dead ends she inevitably came to and of all the long nights of incurable insomnia. She would sit on the memorial bench and watch as the lighthouse bore light on the choppy horizon, maybe it would lead Andy home. 

You could say the position at the museum had fallen into her lap. When her research first began, Margot would take to the Museum & Archives up to five times a week, caught in a whirlwind of folklore, fable and town history. Margot was good at self-teaching, eleven years of home-schooling had proven not entirely useless. She quickly learnt the shelving and filing system, the various codes and sections a mere hindrance to her private studies. It was rare for somebody to visit the museum at all, let alone so often. One day, the head librarian handed her a paycheck in exchange for her time and it had been this way since.

Margot still resides in her childhood home, at the edge of Darcy Street, the only real asset that was mentioned in her mother’s will and a complete mortgage trap. “For a woman who taught me all I know, she was undeniably stupid.” She would tell Jasper as she pored over the month’s bills and repayments. Though headstrong, Margot is extremely passive when it comes to her future, moving whichever way the tide seems to pull. She’s content, yet unfulfilled. A toxic kind of comfort.

Margot lacks empathy, the pitfall of home-schooling. She can be insensitive, uncomfortably honest and it is not uncommon for her to offend even her closest friends. Margot hasn’t many of these, fewer who know how fragile she truly is. 

Her deepest self fears an empty life. A life of failure and humiliation, of disappointing the people she has grown to love so deeply. Margot doesn’t want to become her mother. 

Margot derives happiness from the occasional late night scotch and cigarette, from expensive forays with Jasper and trips to Joey’s. 

You will see her with dark eyes and mud on her sneakers. You will smell the coffee in her hair, the musk of old books on her clothes. If you ask her a question too early, her voice will snap back in a raspy tone. But if you wait an hour she might give you an answer - something profound yet simple. You will be glad you asked...