#custom signs florida

[miamicustomsignsfl]

Enhancing Promotional Displays with Window Film

In thе dуnаmiс landscape of modern mаrkеting, businesses continually seek innоvаtivе ѕtrаtеgiеѕ tо captivate thеir аudiеnсе аnd ѕtаnd out amidst fiеrсе соmреtitiоn. One such avenue thаt hаѕ gained significant traction iѕ thе utilizаtiоn of windоw film tо еnhаnсе promotional displays. Windоw film оffеrѕ a vеrѕаtilе саnvаѕ fоr сrеаtivitу, аllоwing brands tо craft соmреlling nаrrаtivеѕ, highlight kеу messages, аnd сrеаtе immersive experiences thаt leave a lаѕting imрrеѕѕiоn on viеwеrѕ. In this blоg, we dеlvе intо thе realm оf еnhаnсing рrоmоtiоnаl diѕрlауѕ with windоw film, еxрlоring itѕ benefits, сrеаtivе possibilities, аnd imрасt оn brаnd viѕibilitу.

At thе heart оf еffесtivе promotional displays liеѕ сrеаtivitу thаt resonates with thе target audience. Window film ѕеrvеѕ аѕ a blаnk canvas fоr brands tо unlеаѕh thеir сrеаtivitу, whеthеr thrоugh vibrаnt viѕuаlѕ, сарtivаting graphics, or innovative dеѕignѕ. Bу leveraging the flеxibilitу of windоw film, businesses саn trаnѕfоrm оrdinаrу windоwѕ intо сарtivаting ѕhоwсаѕеѕ thаt соmmuniсаtе their brаnd story аnd values еffесtivеlу.

Onе of thе most соmреlling aspects of windоw film iѕ itѕ ability tо fасilitаtе visual ѕtоrуtеlling. Thrоugh ѕtrаtеgiс рlасеmеnt and dеѕign, brаndѕ саn сrеаtе a narrative thаt resonates with viеwеrѕ оn аn еmоtiоnаl lеvеl. Whether it'ѕ ѕhоwсаѕing рrоduсt fеаturеѕ, рrоmоting uрсоming events, or highlighting brаnd milеѕtоnеѕ, window film turnѕ ѕtаtiс diѕрlауѕ intо dуnаmiс ѕtоrуtеlling рlаtfоrmѕ that еngаgе аnd inѕрirе.

In a fаѕt-расеd еnvirоnmеnt where attention ѕраnѕ are limited, it'ѕ сruсiаl to convey key mеѕѕаgеѕ аnd оffеrѕ ѕwiftlу аnd еffесtivеlу. Windоw film оffеrѕ a prime opportunity to ѕhоwсаѕе рrоmоtiоnѕ, diѕсоuntѕ, аnd ѕресiаl offers in a viѕuаllу ѕtriking manner. Whеthеr it'ѕ a limited-time sale, new рrоduсt launch, or seasonal promotion, windоw film ensures thаt your messages are frоnt and center, аttrасting attention аnd driving асtiоn.

Consistency in brаnding iѕ paramount tо building a ѕtrоng brаnd idеntitу аnd rесоgnitiоn. Windоw film provides a seamless integration оf brаnding elements ѕuсh аѕ logos, colors, аnd slogans intо рrоmоtiоnаl diѕрlауѕ. By mаintаining viѕuаl соnѕiѕtеnсу асrоѕѕ all touchpoints, buѕinеѕѕеѕ rеinfоrсе thеir brаnd idеntitу аnd make a lаѕting impression on сuѕtоmеrѕ, lеаding to inсrеаѕеd brand rесоgnitiоn аnd lоуаltу.

In tоdау'ѕ еxреriеnсе-drivеn есоnоmу, brаndѕ thаt оffеr immersive experiences оftеn leave a lаѕting imрасt on consumers. Window film can bе lеvеrаgеd to сrеаtе immersive diѕрlауѕ that transcend trаditiоnаl advertising. Whеthеr it'ѕ through intеrасtivе elements, аugmеntеd reality experiences, оr thеmаtiс designs that еvоkе specific еmоtiоnѕ, buѕinеѕѕеѕ саn trаnѕfоrm thеir ѕtоrеfrоntѕ intо immеrѕivе ѕрасеѕ thаt captivate and еngаgе сuѕtоmеrѕ.

With grоwing еnvirоnmеntаl соnѕсiоuѕnеѕѕ аmоng соnѕumеrѕ, ѕuѕtаinаbilitу hаѕ bесоmе a kеу consideration fоr businesses. Windоw film оffеrѕ есо-friеndlу ѕоlutiоnѕ bу reducing energy consumption through ѕоlаr соntrоl filmѕ, еnhаnсing indооr comfort, аnd minimizing thе need fоr еxсеѕѕivе lighting оr heating. By incorporating ѕuѕtаinаbilitу intо promotional displays, buѕinеѕѕеѕ nоt оnlу demonstrate thеir соmmitmеnt tо environmental responsibility but аlѕо арреаl tо eco-conscious consumers.

Thе beauty оf using window film for рrоmоtiоnаl displays liеѕ in its mеаѕurаbilitу аnd flexibility. Through аnаlуtiсѕ tools аnd customer fееdbасk, buѕinеѕѕеѕ can track thе performance of their displays аnd make data-driven dесiѕiоnѕ fоr optimization. Whеthеr it's tweaking dеѕignѕ, testing diffеrеnt messages, or inсоrроrаting intеrасtivе еlеmеntѕ, windоw film аllоwѕ fоr itеrаtivе improvements that mаximizе thе impact of рrоmоtiоnаl efforts.

In conclusion, windоw film оffеrѕ a mуriаd оf opportunities fоr buѕinеѕѕеѕ tо еnhаnсе their рrоmоtiоnаl displays аnd elevate their brand's visibility. From unlеаѕhing сrеаtivitу аnd ѕtоrуtеlling to highlighting key mеѕѕаgеѕ аnd сrеаting immеrѕivе experiences, windоw film ѕеrvеѕ аѕ a powerful tool in mоdеrn mаrkеting ѕtrаtеgiеѕ. Bу embracing thе versatility аnd imрасt of windоw film, businesses can сrеаtе mеmоrаblе displays thаt resonate with their audience, drive engagement, and ultimаtеlу, bооѕt brаnd ѕuссеѕѕ.

[stpetesigncompanyfl]

Understanding Braille and Tactile Guidelines in ADA Signage Solutions

In оur еvеr-еvоlving wоrld, inсluѕivitу hаѕ bесоmе a раrаmоunt соnѕidеrаtiоn in dеѕign аnd infrаѕtruсturе. One crucial aspect оf this еffоrt iѕ the imрlеmеntаtiоn оf ADA (Americans with Diѕаbilitiеѕ Act) ѕignаgе ѕоlutiоnѕ. Amоng thе vаriоuѕ elements соntributing to ассеѕѕibilitу, Braille and tасtilе fеаturеѕ рlау a рivоtаl rоlе. In thiѕ blоg роѕt, we will dеlvе into the ѕignifiсаnсе of Brаillе and tасtilе guidеlinеѕ in ADA ѕignаgе and hоw they соntributе tо a mоrе accessible еnvirоnmеnt.

The Rоlе оf Braille in Signаgе Brаillе, a ѕуѕtеm оf raised dots rерrеѕеnting letters аnd numbеrѕ, wаѕ initiаllу dеvеlореd tо facilitate соmmuniсаtiоn for individuаlѕ with viѕuаl imраirmеntѕ. Whеn intеgrаtеd into ѕignаgе, Brаillе аllоwѕ those with visual diѕаbilitiеѕ tо nаvigаtе public ѕрасеѕ with grеаtеr indереndеnсе аnd соnfidеnсе.

In ADA ѕignаgе solutions, Brаillе fоllоwѕ specific guidеlinеѕ tо ensure its effectiveness. Thе dots muѕt be рrесiѕеlу spaced аnd роѕitiоnеd to mаintаin rеаdаbilitу. The height оf thе сhаrасtеrѕ and thе ѕрасе bеtwееn lines аrе ѕtаndаrdizеd to create a соnѕiѕtеnt reading еxреriеnсе. Thiѕ mеtiсulоuѕ adherence tо guidеlinеѕ еnѕurеѕ that individuаlѕ rеlуing оn Braille саn еffоrtlеѕѕlу intеrрrеt thе infоrmаtiоn presented оn ѕignаgе.

Tасtilе Fеаturеѕ: Beyond Braille Whilе Brаillе is a crucial aspect оf ассеѕѕiblе signage, tасtilе features extend beyond thе rаiѕеd dots. Tactile elements inсludе rаiѕеd characters, ѕуmbоlѕ, аnd pictograms thаt рrоvidе infоrmаtiоn through touch. These features bеnеfit individuаlѕ with both viѕuаl аnd cognitive imраirmеntѕ, offering a multi-ѕеnѕоrу approach tо соmmuniсаtiоn.

ADA ѕignаgе guidelines ѕресifу thе hеight, ѕрасing, аnd рlасеmеnt оf tасtilе characters tо еnhаnсе readability and comprehension. Consistency in dеѕign iѕ еѕѕеntiаl tо сrеаtе a universally undеrѕtаndаblе ѕуѕtеm, allowing uѕеrѕ to intеrрrеt infоrmаtiоn ассurаtеlу асrоѕѕ vаriоuѕ еnvirоnmеntѕ.

Considerations fоr Designers Dеѕigning еffесtivе ADA ѕignаgе involves more thаn just meeting regulatory requirements. It rеԛuirеѕ a thoughtful approach thаt considers the divеrѕе needs оf the user. Whеn implementing Brаillе and tactile fеаturеѕ, dеѕignеrѕ should fосuѕ оn thе fоllоwing:

Contrast and Cоlоr: Enѕurе a high contrast bеtwееn thе bасkgrоund and tасtilе elements for better viѕibilitу. Chооѕе соlоrѕ that are еаѕilу diѕtinguiѕhаblе to ассоmmоdаtе uѕеrѕ with lоw vision.

Installation Hеight: ADA guidеlinеѕ ѕресifу the mоunting hеight fоr both Braille and tасtilе сhаrасtеrѕ tо ensure thеу аrе ассеѕѕiblе to uѕеrѕ of vаrуing heights, including thоѕе uѕing mobility аidѕ.

Clеаr and Simрlе Lаnguаgе: Use сlеаr аnd соnсiѕе lаnguаgе tо соnvеу thе intended mеѕѕаgе. Avoid jаrgоn оr соmрlеx terms thаt might bе confusing to uѕеrѕ with соgnitivе imраirmеntѕ.

Piсtоgrаmѕ аnd Sуmbоlѕ: Suррlеmеnt tеxt with univеrѕаllу recognized ѕуmbоlѕ and pictograms to enhance соmрrеhеnѕiоn, especially fоr individuals whо may hаvе diffiсultу understanding written lаnguаgе.

Thе Impact оn Accessibility Effесtivе implementation оf Brаillе аnd tасtilе guidеlinеѕ in ADA signage ѕоlutiоnѕ has a рrоfоund imрасt on accessibility. It empowers individuаlѕ with viѕuаl and cognitive impairments tо nаvigаtе рubliс ѕрасеѕ independently, fоѕtеring a sense of inсluѕivitу аnd equality.

By embracing thеѕе guidеlinеѕ, buѕinеѕѕеѕ аnd inѕtitutiоnѕ nоt оnlу соmрlу with lеgаl rеԛuirеmеntѕ but аlѕо соntributе tо a mоrе wеlсоming аnd ассеѕѕiblе еnvirоnmеnt for еvеrуоnе. In thе spirit оf inclusivity, it iѕ сruсiаl tо viеw ADA signage nоt as a mеrе оbligаtiоn but as an орроrtunitу tо сrеаtе ѕрасеѕ thаt саtеr tо the divеrѕе nееdѕ оf our соmmunitу.

In conclusion, undеrѕtаnding thе ѕignifiсаnсе of Brаillе аnd tасtilе guidеlinеѕ in ADA ѕignаgе ѕоlutiоnѕ iѕ a сruсiаl step tоwаrd building a mоrе inсluѕivе wоrld. Aѕ dеѕignеrѕ аnd ѕtаkеhоldеrѕ, let us embrace these guidеlinеѕ not juѕt аѕ a regulatory nесеѕѕitу but as a соmmitmеnt to creating еnvirоnmеntѕ thаt аrе ассеѕѕiblе tо аll. Thrоugh thoughtful design and аdhеrеnсе tо accessibility ѕtаndаrdѕ, wе саn раvе thе way for a more inсluѕivе аnd welcoming futurе.

[customsigncompany]

Vibrant Sign Studio has years of experience in the vehicle wrap business. As such, we’ve worked with many clients and on different vehicles. The list is endless, from trucks, cars, buses, vans, golf carts, boats, as well as airplanes. We are a reputable car wrap company in Miami to help your business boost its visibility.

[visualsignsandgraphics]

Increase Your Brand Presence with Monument Signs for Your Business

A monument sign is like your brand’s landmark. It’s a central player in your brand image and, if designed well, can be a big asset. Its position and permanence make it a very powerful sign type that can do a lot for your business. They may be more expensive than a banner, for example, but they are worth the investment. There’s a reason there are so many monument signs near you—businesses love them. Here’s how a custom monument sign can benefit your business.

Increase Your Brand Presence Where It Counts

Monument signs are unlike many other signs in that you can place them close to the road or at the entrance to your property. Because of their position, they reach a wide audience and can help your brand presence get bigger. You can increase your brand presence in other ways, but monument signs have a local focus that is hard to beat.

If you place a custom monument sign at your entrance it also helps your customers or guests find your location. This is especially helpful if you have a big property, are far back from the road, or are otherwise hard to find.

Change Your Brand Image for The Better

Often those who need to change their brand image struggle to choose the best signs to help support that effort. If your brand needs to appear more authoritative, successful, stable, or mature, an LED monument sign is a great option. As a digital sign, it can even help convey that your brand is cutting-edge, invested new technologies, and more.

Send A Complicated Message

Are there any monument signs near you? Do you ever find yourself stopping to read them, even though you don’t necessarily visit the business or organization that owns it? Monument signs are compelling that way. You can include whole sentences on LED monument signs. Some businesses choose to send positive messages or important information with their monument signs.

Design Your Monument Sign with Visual Signs

Visual Signs & Graphics knows how to design custom monument signs that are worth the investment. If you want a monument sign in Orlando that achieves your business goals and benefits you, reach out to us today.

Source: https://visualsignsandgraphics.com/why-businesses-should-invest-in-monument-signs/

[neil-gaiman]

Hello Neil, my name is Zalean. If you have a few minutes, I wanted to tell you a little story. Not really a question and I’m not sure how to use tumblr but I wanted to say thanks so much for coming to Florida a few months back and talking with Art Spiegelman. It was my first time ever figuring out how to buy tickets for something. I lived in, middle of nowhere, Vermont for most my life and had no idea what I was doing, I had never been to anything before, nothing had made me excited enough to do the 5 hour drive. And then you just appeared 20 minutes away from where I am living now.

See, I was just starting to get to know your books and work because I fell in love with Good Omens so deeply when I discovered it during season twos release. Funny thing is, I knew of you all along without even realizing it, Stardust has been my favorite book and movie since I was a kid because it was my dad’s favorite story. Finding out my two favorite things were actually connected, I started trying to get hands on as many of your books as I could. I hadn’t read in years before finding your books. It was eye opening.

The talk event at the Dr.Phillips Center was sold out by the time I knew about it, someone had asked me if I knew of the event when they saw my Good Omens keychains my mom had made me. I called the box office because there is no harm in asking. I explained how I’m an art student at UCF and desperately wanted to be inspired and learn from you both. The customer service people were amazing and ended up calling me back to get me a seat in the orchestra pit before they were released to the public. I drove alone, I walked there alone, I sat alone, and it was worth it. I was so thankful to get a seat and grateful to my professor who was a bit jealous he didn’t know about it but let me leave class early to go because of course the art professor would be understanding for any learning opportunities in the arts. And it was truly wonderful, it seemed real and that’s what I wanted. I didn’t want a show. I just wanted to hear, in some sense, that you were like everybody else. I brought a notebook and pen for any information or story’s that I thought made a difference to my little life. The other people around were wonderful, you inspire kind people.

Like I said, I had never been to anything like this and I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know you would have signed books and I only found out because the people next to me came in late. I asked them why they brought the books after it was over and the lights turned on. They did look at me like I had three heads for a moment until they realized I didn’t know there were books to buy, they looked kinda sorry for me but they were so nice. I had never really thought about the importance of someone’s scribble before this but it’s something that proves you were there. It says “Remember when this person made you happy? Remember when they changed your life? Remember when they gave you hope? Look at this and remember.” I hope to see David Tennant and Michael Sheen to get an autograph now that I understand the meaning behind it a bit more but honestly I just love diving into everyone’s projects, the wonder you all create. Oh what fun it is to live a life full of stories!

The people that were sitting next to me let me look at their signed books and hold them. I flipped through some of the big ones, handed them back and expressed my gratitude just to be in the theater. I showed them all my little quotes I wrote down, I never want to forget why I create things and you say so much about never stopping, always creating. Then the women handed me a different book, a smaller book, but when I tried to hand it back, a bit confused, she softly placed it back in my open hands and said “I want you to have it, we have plenty and I want you to love these stories just as much as we do. It’s just starting for you, I want you to remember who started it”. The book she handed me being“The Ocean at the End of the Lane”. The first book I decided to read by you and had just finished a week before. The women had no idea she given me a signed copy of the book that made me want to read again. Your books make the world better. For such a big theater and such a big stage, I just wanted to tell you my little point of view.

The story you told about wishing you enjoyed the past more than you did, I hope you get to enjoy it now, and I hope you want to. And thank you, to you and to Terry Pratchett for creating something special. I convinced my dad to watch Good Omens with me over December break, he loved it.

I forget sometimes that everything is someone's first time, and then I read something like this and feel like I need to remember that better. I'm glad the people beside you were kind.

[ador3him]

Hey! So i Kinda wanna bring back Celeb!Reader 😭

Hcs of the reader suprising them and telling them that they brought a penthouse in flordia to be closer with them😭

pairing: dream team x celeb!reader

requested? yasss

authors note: so I did George with supermodel!reader cuz we love her <3

---------------------------------------------------

DREAM

- so fricken excited.

- he knows that you work in LA a lot for work so it means so much to him that you did this.

- he was a bit disappointed he couldn't buy it for you but loves that you did it.

- obsessed with the apartment, he loves the location and the style.

- you showed him the little spare bedroom where patches can have all her stuff. He fully melted.

- he brought over a bunch of furniture catalogues for you to look over.

- takes you furniture shopping and def pays for everything even when you insist you can buy it.

- he is overall so happy and can't believe what you did :)

SAPNAP

- when you show him he literally screams.

- he picks you up and spins you around in joy. He literally wants to just drop to his knees and propose.

- he knows how much you love living in LA due to your acting career so he can't believe what you did for him and your relationship.

- when he sees the view hes insists he's moving in.

"sapnap no!" You laugh when he asks. "You're so lame," he frowns and continues to look around.

- he gets a custom painting of him, Milo and Naomi for your bedroom wall. It's terrifying.

- he also buys you a pillow with his face on it for your bed.

- when you have him a key to the penthouse he was beyond excited that he could come in and see you whenever you were there. (You also needed someone to water your plants)

GEORGE

"I got you a surprise!" You smiled and led George to the elevator of your new penthouse.

- George stood patiently blindfolded excited to see what it was. Little did he know it was a penthouse for the two of you to move into.

- you moved from New York to Florida to be closer to him and you wanted him to move in with you.

"surprise!" You shouted talking off his blindfold revealing the beautiful apartment. "What?" He questioned looking around the very clearly expensive apartment.

- you grab his hand and lead him to the bedroom. There's a sign above the bed that says 'want to share this bed?' very cheesy.

- "are you asking to live with me?" He asks. You nod. And he just smiles wildly and nods. "Did you buy it for us?" He asks softly. "yeah, I want you to live with me, and I don't want you to move away from your friends," "I fucking love you,"

[artiststarme]

Dying? Let's Ignore It

Prompt by @zerokrox-blog with a little sprinkle from @doubleb11. Thanks for the ideas, I appreciate it! I hope you guys like it and please share your thoughts in the comments.

~*~*~*~

Steve wakes up one day feeling awful. His head aches like it does when a migraine is coming on and his throat burns like he swallowed charcoal. Nevertheless, he had to get to work. He had three days of doubles scheduled due to Robin visiting her sick grandmother out of town and Keith being on vacation down in Florida. No one could work but him so he couldn’t call off. Plus, he’d been looking forward to the overtime pay. 

He was on the knife’s edge of being kicked out by his parents and he needed to have enough cash to secure an apartment as soon as possible. They were scheduled to be home in a few weeks and Steve wanted to be gone by the time they were. Did he tell any of the Party this? Of course not, he was an adult who could take care of himself. No one had looked after him before and they weren’t going to start now. 

So, he dragged himself out of bed and made sure to grab a pair of his infamous sunglasses on his way out the door. Steve knew they made him look douchey, the kids had said so enough times for him to get the point, but every light was too bright for his pounding headache to handle. 

Even with the sunglasses and cough medicine, he didn’t feel any better throughout the day as he dealt with nagging customers and annoying kids. Steve was over the customer service and truly wanted to quit around the halfway mark of his shift. Mike and Lucas came in at one point to heckle Steve into renting them a rated-R movie and after that exchange, he was ever closer to quitting his job. Only a couple of days left though, he could make it. 

When he got home, he chugged two bottles of water in an effort to “drown the sickness” and settled into bed for what he expected was going to be a restless night. He tossed and turned all night blowing his nose, hacking up his lungs, and feeling crummy in general. Around 2 AM, he felt like he was going to die but he still had two doubles to go and he was going to get that overtime check if it was the last thing he did. 

He must’ve only gotten a few hours of sleep because the next day of work felt like torture and he would know. Even the Russians were more merciful than whatever illness he had. His head was still pounding, his muscles ached, and it hurt to expand his chest to breathe. He only made it through the work day because customers weren’t coming in and he was able to take a nap. Unfortunately for him, his nap became a sleepover at Family Video because he woke up at 4:30 AM and decided to stay there for his shift instead of potentially crashing on the way home. He would just be early to his next shift. 

He didn’t take a shower or anything the next morning, just flipped the open sign and turned on the too bright lights. Several customers that day asked him if he was okay and if he needed a ride to the hospital. Steve declined every offer and pasted on a shaky smile. He didn’t have time to go to the hospital just to be admitted and lose the overtime money. He briefly considered calling Eddie for a ride to the hospital after close but it was kind of late and he was pretty sure he was Eddie’s least favorite member of the group. And like hell was he going to call Nancy for a ride. He would rather die than beg his ex-girlfriend to drive him to the hospital. 

With a deep stuttering breath, he climbed into the car and took off for the hospital. On his way there, his hands trembled where he gripped the steering wheel of the Beemer and sweat formed droplets on his forehead. For the last several days, he’s tried to ignore his symptoms beyond chugging cough syrup by the bottle in order to complete his shifts. His body was ensuring that he couldn’t ignore it anymore with the way his chest flamed and his head threatened to explode. 

The nurses quickly swarmed him the moment he stepped through the ER doors, a true testament to how shitty he was sure he looked. They didn’t even ask him any questions, just pushed him onto a gurney and pressed an oxygen mask to his face. The feeling of safety allowed him to close his eyes and rest even despite everyone yelling at him to wake up. They could wait just a minute while he rested his eyes… 

When he opened his eyes, he was lying in a hospital bed. He was alone as always, without family to come visit him and not important enough to his friends for them to care. Steve let out a sigh as he laid back against the pillows. He doesn’t know why he expected any different because the situation was always the same. 

Steve was well within his own self-loathing when the door to his hospital room burst open to reveal a frantic Eddie and a panting Wayne. Their faces were an eerie mixture of too pale and flushed red from exertion. Immediately upon seeing Steve awake, both men sagged in relief.

“What the fuck, Steve? Dude, the nurses made it seem like you were dying. They said that you’d been having symptoms for the past few days and ignored them which made them get a lot worse. You have pneumonia, man. There’s fluid in both of your lungs and if you waited any longer, your lung would’ve collapsed. Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Eddie asked him, his hands were still shaking slightly even as he pulled them through the knots in his unruly hair. 

Steve couldn’t even wrap his head around them being here, much less come up with an answer to his question. “Why are you here?”

Eddie looked vaguely offended at his question and opened his mouth but was interrupted by Wayne. “You put me down as yer emergency contact, kid. We were real worried when we got the call.”

“Yeah, we were worried but I’m also furious. Where have you been the past few days? You could’ve called me and I would’ve come over to take care of you or give you a ride to the doctor. What the fuck were you thinking, Steven?” Eddie asked him belligerently while waving his hands around as if to spread his anger. 

“I’m always alone when I’m sick and it's not like anyone would have cared,” Steve murmured,  too tired to give the argument his all. 

“You fucking dumbass,” Eddie called him before being cuffed in the back of the head with a slap from Wayne. “Ow shit, I’m sorry. Of course we care, you fucker! You know how scared I was when we got the call from the hospital? We must’ve broken every speed limit around so we could be here with you a little sooner.”

Wayne sighed but supported his nephew’s explanation, albeit more gently. “Harrington, people care about you and hiding out when you’re sick ain’t helping no one.”

“Okay to be fair, I wasn’t hiding. I’ve been working 14 hour shifts for the past three days trying to make some money. I was just ignoring the symptoms until I could come here without missing work, which I did.” Steve defended. 

They both gave him equally blank looks. 

“That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard!” Dustin screamed from his position where he was eavesdropping in the doorway.

“Dustin-”

“No, Steve! We love you and if we had known you were sick, maybe it wouldn’t have gotten so bad! You should’ve told us that you were sick and you shouldn’t have ignored the symptoms just to go to work!” He yelled heatedly. 

Steve went to talk but before he could say anything, Eddie sent him a close-lipped smile and pulled Dustin out of the room. Steve was left alone with Uncle Wayne. “I’m sorry, Wayne. I didn’t-”

The older man smacked him in the arm with his hat and settled into the uncomfortable seat beside his bed. “Stop apologizing, boy. This is on us. You may be bad at realizing how loved ya are but it’s on us to make it clear to ya. Next time we’ll have to keep a closer eye on ya to make sure you’re okay. We uh, we all love ya, kid.”

To this day, Steve will say the tears that formed in his eyes were due to the oxygen cannula tickling his nose. But that night when he fell asleep, he felt a little less sick and a lot more loved.

@doubleb11 @nburkhardt @zerokrox-blog @newtstabber @i-less-than-three-you @carlyv @pyrohonk @trippypancakes @straight4joekeery

(I'm writing your prompt now @nburkhardt !)

[leviathan-supersystem]

@traveling-spartan @priveetru

gonna be responding to this in a separate post because i've already left two comments on the post this was in reply to and i suspect that the OP already would consider that two too many.

at any rate:

Government regulation causes monopolies more often than it combats them.

[...]

It's why big corps like Disney lobby for said regulation in the first place, it crushes all their smaller competitors for them.

for what it's worth the data doesn't seem to be backing this up. if both these claims were true, you'd expect to see a multitude of pieces of regulation that disney supported, and few if any pieces of regulation that disney opposed, but this quick overview of some of disney world's political spending on florida trend [x] doesn't show that. now admittedly this is just the partial info for the disney world division in florida specifically, and not a general overview of all their political spending, so if anyone has more complete data i'd be interested to hear it. that said, i think it's a decent slice of data to start with.

in fairness, here we can find one notable example of disney lobbying for regulation- namely when they funded efforts to support Amendment 3, which would have prevented any more large casino chains from opening in florida, so that disney world could avoid competing with major casino chains like Genting and Las Vegas Sands. and, to be fair, as noted in the article this was a pretty major driver of campaign spending.

however, A: this was primarily aimed at combating rival megacorps, not combating small businesses, (and naturally the casino megacorps disney was fighting were spending their lobbying money to combat said regulation) and B: this was the only time in the article we see disney fighting for regulation rather than against. examples in the article of disney lobbying against regulation include:

By virtue of its size and economic importance, Disney has always been an influential voice in state politics. But the company had found itself on the losing end in a series of lobbying battles — among them, a fight with the National Rifle Association about whether employees could bring guns to work.

this is an important example of how regulation of private enterprise is sometimes necessary to preserve our fundamental rights- if disney can say employees can't bring guns to work even if they keep them in their parked car, what's to stop landlords from saying tenets can't bring guns in their apartment? if you value the right to bear arms, you should understand why sometimes the power of private enterprise over employees and customers must sometimes be curbed.

Disney also battled with personal-injury attorneys about whether parents could sign away the liability rights of their children and with counties and hotel chains about how online travel companies should be taxed.

[...]

Disney’s 2018 spending included $1 million on Amendment 2, which keeps a tax cap in place that limits increases in the taxable value of commercial and other non-homestead property from rising more than 10% per year. Records show Disney was by far the largest donor to a Florida Chamber of Commerce-backed political committee used to promote the amendment. The cap saved Disney more than $6 million last year alone through reduced property tax payments to Orange County and the South Florida Water Management District.

[...]

As prominent as Disney has made itself on the campaign trail, lawmakers who have worked with the company say it still tries hard to maintain a low profile while lobbying — to avoid having its brand linked with potentially controversial public policies. Disney, for example, has exerted “significant influence” on the Legislature to not pass a law requiring employers to use the e-Verify system to ensure they aren’t employing undocumented workers, says former Senate President Don Gaetz, a Republican from Okaloosa County.

[...]

Cloaked or not, the company enjoyed a number of successes in the 2019 legislative session. Late in the session, as lawmakers finalized a broad tax package, Disney — working through the Florida Retail Federation — persuaded lawmakers to add an extra sales-tax break that will help big retailers who order too much inventory and wind up not selling it all. Retailers generally don’t have to pay sales tax when they order inventory because they are planning to resell it to consumers. The sale to consumers is the transaction that’s supposed to be taxed. But retailers must pay the tax on whatever they don’t sell, since they have become the end user of the product. Disney has for years donated its leftover inventory to charities. So the company persuaded the Legislature to create a sales tax exemption for the leftover inventory that goes to charity. Economists expect the new tax break will save retailers about $5 million a year. Disney won’t say how much it expects to save itself. Disney also worked quietly to reshape a bill, which it objected to in 2018, that would have exposed hotel operators to civil lawsuits if they failed to do enough to prevent human trafficking.

i'll leave it for the reader to consider why disney would want to combat regulation which might cause them to be held accountable for facilitating human trafficking.

Disney even won some changes in state rules for how tourist venues manage all the stuff — from hats to strollers to phones — that visitors lose or leave behind. Generally, businesses are supposed to alert law enforcement and must hold on to lost property for 90 days before they can dispose of it. But that has become cumbersome for Disney — and for Universal Orlando, Central Florida’s other big theme-park resort — which must devote lots of warehouse space simply to holding lost-and-found items. Disney helped write a bill establishing new rules for theme parks, hotels and some other commercial venues that requires them to hold the property for just 30 days and then donate it directly to charity.

looking outside the article to other examples of disney's political lobbying, we find them lobbying against minimum wage laws [x]

Five years ago, on Nov. 6, 2018, the city’s voters approved Measure L, which mandated that “area resort workers” — Disneyland employees, basically — must be paid a living wage if the parent company receives city subsidies. The Walt Disney Company, which at the time was paying some of its workers the state-mandated $11 an hour minimum, fought the measure bitterly, and the ordinance spent most of the next five years kicking around the state court system as a class-action lawsuit sought to force the company to comply. Only in late October, when the California Supreme Court declined to hear Disney’s final appeal, did Measure L become settled city law.

we can also find disney lobbying against heat safety regulations (and against raises to the minimum wage at the same time, a twofer) [x]

House Bill 433 prohibits local governments from passing legislation that protects workers from extreme heat and laws requiring companies to raise the minimum wage beyond the state’s current $12 an hour. But now, we’re learning more about how this bill was passed and the role that Disney World played in helping to remove basic protections from outdoor workers, including cast members. According to Jason Garcia of Seeking Rents, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida donated more than $2 million to mostly Republican legislatures and another $1 million to the Florida Republican Party. The two lobbying groups expected House Bill 433 to become law for those donations.

[...]

Local government officials in South Florida were considering passing heat protections after the death of migrant farm workers of heat stroke. These laws would have prohibited work in extreme Florida heat and mandatory water breaks for workers. The possibility of these laws stopping work became dangerous to businesses in Florida, which would have had to shut down in extreme heat. Thus, donations to politicians were made to get this bill passed.

[...]

The law was wildly unpopular, with hundreds of civic groups opposing it. That outrage nearly killed the bill. However, according to Garcia, with just one day left in the legislative session, lobbyists sent texts to lawmakers to ensure the bill’s passage.

so what can we see from all this? first, that there are more pieces of regulation that large businesses lobby against than regulations that they lobby for, so the claim that businesses are the primary force behind pushing regulation is patently false and B: when businesses do support regulation in order to pursue their financial interests, this is mainly in order to combat rival large corporations, not small businesses. because fundamentally large businesses don't have to worry that much about competition from small businesses, because fundamentally small businesses can't compete. a small business would have had to expand to the point of being a large corporation long before it would be something disney would have to worry about "competing" with instead of just buying out or ignoring entirely. you think that a megacorp like disney is worried about competition from a little mom and pop shop? get real.

Fines for breaking the rules, for example, always disproportionately affect small businesses where large corporations either have enough money to pay those fines and be unaffected by them, or have the legal teams to get around them.

a few responses to this. the first is, so what? laws against murder, rape, assault, etc are all easier for the rich to dodge, and yet we don't decide murder should be legal. the solution to that imbalance is to be more serious about holding rich people accountable for these crimes, or for fine-related punishment to scale the fine to income, not to get rid of the laws altogether. if a regulation outlaws genuinely abusive or harmful behavior from a company, the way that small companies can avoid that fine is by simply not engaging in abusive or harmful behavior.

secondly, plenty of regulations nonetheless have specific exemptions for small businesses anyway. for example

In general, if your business is under $50 million in annual sales and your fuel or additive has traditional chemistry, then you are exempt from the health effects testing requirements. If you have non-traditional chemistry and are under $10 million in annual sales, you are exempt from some of the testing. EPA staff can discuss testing requirements.

[x]

or for another example:

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act requires packaged foods and dietary supplements to bear nutrition labeling unless they qualify for an exemption (A complete description of the requirements). One exemption, for low-volume products, applies if the person claiming the exemption employs fewer than an average of 100 full-time equivalent employees and fewer than 100,000 units of that product are sold in the United States in a 12-month period. To qualify for this exemption the person must file a notice annually with FDA. Note that low volume products that bear nutrition claims do not qualify for an exemption of this type. Another type of exemption applies to retailers with annual gross sales of not more than $500,000, or with annual gross sales of foods or dietary supplements to consumers of not more than $50,000. For these exemptions, a notice does not need to be filed with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On May 7, 2007, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched a new web-based submission process for small businesses to file an annual notice of exemption from the nutrition labeling requirements. The new process will make it easier for businesses to update their information. In addition, firms eligible for the exemption will receive an electronic reminder when it is time to resubmit their nutrition labeling small business exemption notice.

[x]

or yet another:

Manufacturers of consumer products covered by the Department of Energy (DOE) standards with annual gross revenues not exceeding $8 million from all its operations, including the manufacture and sale of covered products, for the 12-month period preceding the date of application, may apply for a temporary exemption from all or part of an energy or water conservation standard. (42 U.S.C. 6295 (t))

[x]

so, no, regulations are not a sinister trick of large corporations to crush small business, because if they were they wouldn't specifically exempt small businesses.

does this mean that @priveetru was right? are regulations an important part of maintaining ideal market conditions and thus creating Real Capitalism, which is Good?

also no.

first, it's all "real capitalism". more regulated, less regulated, it's still Real Capitalism. and as demonstrated by the things going on around us, right now, real capitalism is Bad.

as @traveling-spartan pointed out, large corporations can simply afford to pay or dodge any fees for breaking regulation (though overall they would prefer not to have to, hence why they usually fight against regulation) and small businesses are often exempt from regulations in the first place. so who do regulations actually prevent from economic malfeasance?

nobody. not a soul. they're a completely ineffective bandaid on a bazooka wound which accomplishes nothing.

regulated or unregulated, all market economies tend towards consolidation. on a long enough timeline, all small businesses either are successful enough to become large businesses, are unsuccessful enough to go out of business, or are average enough to get bought out. it's an inevitable part of capitalism as it actually exists, and no matter what fantasy you chase after of a hypothetical, imaginary, impossible "real" capitalism, whether this fantasy is laissez-faire or tightly regulated, you will never escape that reality.

if you want to solve the problem, you can't keep chasing after an imaginary "real capitalism". instead you need to move past capitalism altogether. if you want to address the fact that bill gates and other billionaires are monopolizing farmland and therefore gaining control over our very subsistence, the solution to that isn't to sit around praying to the invisible hand of the free market to save us, and it's also not begging and pleading the existing bourgeoisie state to Le Heckin Tax The Billionaires. the real solution is for regular working class people like us to rise up and take back what is rightfully ours, and create a new state that actually serves the needs of the working people and not just the owning class.

[itsybitsybluesy]

OPEN WATER

CHAPTER 6 // ELUCIEN / E / CH1 CH2 CH3 CH4 CH5 for @elucienweekofficial Stuck in the Florida Keys and tired of letting her sisters make decisions for her, Elain ditches their group vacay plans and signs herself up for a scuba diving course on an impulse. The instructor Lucien tells her he’s never had to fail anyone after the four days she’ll spend with him. What’s the worst that could happen?

i've been so blown away by the contributions to @elucienweekofficial and i am so thrilled to be closing out our lil AU romance today on Day 7: AU / Tension or Healing!

thank you again to @temperedink for the beta read and the company. it's been so fun writing in this fandom for the first time and it feels very good to have somebody tell you, hey, hope you do that some more!

of course thank you to the organizers @the-lonelybarricade @separatist-apologist @ablogofsapphicpanic for the time and care put into such a lovely week! people like you remind me there are still pockets of joy to be found on the internet.

lmk if you have ideas/requests for what i should try next... and here's a little snippet of (the events leading up to) our happy ending: 🥹🥹🥹

“Lucien!” Jurian called from the front, and he rolled his eyes. The owner of the damn place could stand one customer he disliked for five minutes, Lucien thought grumpily. “Almost done!” he called, and then he heard it - the tinkle of the bell above the door and then her voice. 

“Where is he?” 

Lucien had never pushed a dolly loaded with six full tanks of 32% O2 so fast in his life. He came into the front of the store and Elain was there, but marching right past him, checking him hard with her shoulder as she went. “Ow!” he yelped like a moron. 

“Forgot something,” Elain snapped as she flew past. Jurian had his eyebrows and palms up. “I’ll cover phone,” he said brightly. 

Lucien turned and followed Elain as she stalked past the classroom and tank fill room and yanked open the sliding door to the pool. “Hey, wait!” he said, jogging now to keep up. 

Elain’s flip-flops slapped against the patio stones as she beelined past the pool, turned the corner, grabbed the door to the gear shed and wrenched it open. She gestured to the open door, eyes blazing. 

“Elain,” he tried. 

“Shut up,” she said, pointing inside again. Lucien sighed and walked into the shed. Elain followed him in, slammed the door, and bolted it behind her. She stood there a moment, hands pressed to the wood behind her back, lips trembling with anger. The rack of wetsuits next to her swayed in the wake of her force. 

“I forgot ,” she said, “To tell you that you were being an asshole.” This last part came out quietly, and she took a deep breath, seeming to gulp down tears; Lucien’s heart wrenched at this, at her determination to stand there giving it to him anyway. 

“We both know that you were being - that we weren’t - that I am not just some girl who can pretend like I didn’t have feelings for you--” At this admission Elain’s throat closed completely, and she cleared it, furiously. “But you are still acting like this is no big deal!” She lifted her chin. “And I want you to know that I think it’s really shitty.” 

Lucien waited for her to finish. When Elain stopped, he was still dazed to see her, right in front of him, when he’d said his goodbyes, pushed the thought of her away as hard as he could. “You came back,” he said, stupidly. 

“What?” Elain’s face twisted in confusion, but Lucien still could not stop the feeling that was winding its way through his chest, making his heart race against his ribs. 

“You were supposed to go home and forget me,” Lucien said. 

“Is that what you want me to do?” Elain said. “You have to say it. Say it to my face and stop being such a coward.” This last part she practically hissed at him, voice steadier, like she had prepared what kind of terms she would accept from him. And she was so beautiful even in the shade of the old shed, the glow of her skin and every freckle of her shoulders so dear to him by now, as was her heart-shaped mouth and the amber-brown liquid of her eyes. They were fixed on his, filled with hurt, but also asking a question, the same thing that he wanted to know. 

[meret118]

Farmers becomes the fourth major insurer to pull out of Florida in the past year, as the state's insurance market looks increasingly precarious amid a growing threat from extreme weather.

ETA: Farmers has also limited new policies in California, which has seen record-breaking wildfires fueled by climate change. Allstate and State Farm have also stopped issuing new policies in the state.

-----

If they want to not issue any new policies then fine, but not renewing ones for customers who've given them money for years is horrible, and should be illegal.

[ohblackdiamond]

paulventures in florida

first off, this would not have been remotely possible without my dear friend @elrohare who generously, and incredibly, asked if i'd be her +1 to this event. I'm eternally grateful for a wonderful time.

friends, romans, countrymen, lend me your ears--

wait, that's not right.

HEY, PEE-PUL--

On 2/23/24, Cynthia and I met Paul Stanley and had dinner with him. 

Our full weekend adventure eventually ended up taking us all around the sovereign state of Florida, a state I have not (been) driven around since 1998, when my family went on a trip to Disney World.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many palm trees or so much Spanish moss.

But you don’t wanna hear about the insane roads of Florida, you wanna hear about Paul.  We’ll get there.

I was running on approximately four hours of sleep due to having taken a 7 a.m. flight in order to ensure I would be able to see Paul in the first place.  Was Paul actually due to show up around 7 p.m.?  Yes.  Did I care?  No.  It was not exactly a short drive from the Orlando airport where Cynthia picked me up  to the Hard Rock hotel/casino in Hollywood (Florida) where the gallery was.  We had to guarantee our presence (and I had to guarantee that there would be room for error should my flight be delayed!).  Once we were at the Wentworth gallery, Cynthia’s art broker, Laura, showed her one of her pieces. Laura also mentioned offhand that “he (Paul Stanley) was just here earlier” and I believe she may have showed us a picture of him at the gallery– I know she said he was nice.  Inside of the gallery was a small section with a table full of different sharpies (gold, silver, black) and he had scribbled on a piece of paper or something on the table to test one out. 

Cynthia determined she could only fit one of the paintings in her trunk and would have to have the other shipped.  She took care of those details and afterwards asked when we should be there for Paul– we were told that, of course, around seven was it but if we wanted to poke over at 6 or 6:30, we could.  She encouraged us to hang around and shop/etc. if we wanted, but honestly, the mall aspect of the casino was fairly paper-thin and if you weren’t gambling and weren’t super-enamoured with the (admittedly cool) water/fountain light show, you weren’t going to be entertained for hours on end.  Fortunately, obsessing over our upcoming meeting/dinner was entertaining enough when it wasn’t nerving us both out! 

We had some discussion on whether we should show up at the gallery again right at 6 or not, and ended up kind of poking over and realizing that the gallery hadn’t exactly filled up at that point.  We ended up poking back in at 6:30, which was ideal.  Directly outside the gallery (you could only really stick around in there if you’d purchased or were very interested in purchasing a painting, due to the meet and greet aspect that was going to happen there in the back) was starting to get a bit crowded and that only continued– fans with things they were hoping to get signed/hoping he would look at (there was a gorgeous drawing of eighties Paul that a girl was holding up that she’d done!)-- but I think a lot of them just wanted to get a glimpse of Paul. 

Cynthia and I made some small talk with the other gallery-goers, including a nice couple, Heather and her partner, Eric. Heather was wearing a really pretty purple gradient dress while Eric had a blazer with a custom-made purple shirt underneath that had the Starchild makeup on it.  They were pretty invested, especially Eric, though they’d done these events before.  It was cute how Heather would come back over and say “I think he’s bought another one….” (Heather also was trying to ensure there would be a non-meat option at the dinner for Eric due to Lent.)  

I noticed that every so often someone from the gallery would open a door at the back (near the Sharpie table), say something, and then shut it, so I was pretty sure that Paul was right behind there, which terrified me.  But then he just suddenly appeared only a couple feet from us, which was more terrifying (to me) and I sort of immediately tried not to look his way for fear of– aw, geez, I don’t know; I have a lot of feelings.

“Who’re you here to see?” he said, and the small crowd (myself included) immediately answered back with “Paul!!” 

He was smiling– he was smiling a lot.  I have encountered Paul prior on Kruises and I’d honestly never seen him look nearly that happy at those.  Maybe it’s because he’s really a mermaid and is really bitter every time KISS goes out to sea, but honestly, it’s probably mostly because he gets seasick and getting stuck on a ship for five days with a couple thousand rabid fans is probably not his idea of a good time. 

Dinner with about 20-30 rabid fans apparently was right up his alley, though!

We had been told prior to Paul’s arrival that we were third in line for him.  I had brought Mandate but this was more something I’d feel out– I’d said to Cynthia way beforehand that if it didn’t get signed/didn’t feel right to try to get signed, that was fine because after all, I was there as a plus-one.  I will honestly admit that seeing him look like he felt that good made me feel like maybe the magazine would ruin his demeanor– anyway, while we could’ve watched any and all of the other meet and greets, I really wanted to let everyone else have their space/time– I did not want to be creeping around trying to get extra shots of him or anything. 

I was also just extremely nervous.  I think we both were! 

We were called up around maybe 7:10 or 7:15.  I wanted to make sure I didn’t cut into Cynthia’s time and also make sure I was not weird, either.  Paul was great. He immediately complimented Cynthia’s star dress, which she said she’d worn in his honor and curtsied very cutely.  She introduced herself and shook his hand; then I introduced myself and shook his hand, and then she talked to him about seeing the last MSG show and about Evan being there and how cool that was (to have him opening for KISS’ last show); he said it wouldn’t be the last time (for Evan).  He said something about how MSG was special (paraphrase) or that it was a special time, something like that.

Then he said he guessed it was time to take some pictures– they brought out first the Starchild picture, took a picture of us (one of my feet was shaking by this point so I didn’t stand too close to him), and then he said to the photographer, “I blinked” (he did not) and said quietly to Cynthia, “You get two.” 

Next was the Gene picture. Cynthia said she liked the crystals on it and he said that they were Swarovski and that they were hard to put on or took a long time to do, something along those lines. Once the photos were over, he wrote her dedication (“Cynthia, Make life a work of art, Paul Stanley”) on a black sheet of paper– I noticed as he was writing it that he went back to fix one of the letters) and Cynthia seized the chance to ask him to sign her copy of his autobiography. He was really quick about it– “Yeah, I’ll sign that,” and immediately signed the front cover.  (I told Cynthia afterwards that of course he signed the front– it had his face on it; he couldn’t help himself!)  As either this or the paper-signing was going on, the photographer handed me Cynthia’s phone back and I was so dumbstruck by everything that I just kind of looked at the phone in sheer confusion for a second or two– I think a part of me somehow thought there was something he wanted me to do with it, when in actuality he was just giving it back!  He said he’d see us soon and Cynthia corrected that we’d see him at dinner. 

“Three points,” I said as we exited (to the main area of the gallery). (I don’t usually give him any points. I have a lot of conflicting feelings about Paul, but had promised Cynthia I would not say anything disparaging about him during the duration of our time together.) We were both in a state of giddiness mixed with that feeling of it being all over mixed with anticipation. It was really the sort of feeling I’ve only had at meet and greets, but the night wasn’t over.  We stuck around the gallery, still talking to other KISS fans (one guy had the most amazing KISS shoes with the RARO cover art on them that either he or his boyfriend had painted, can’t remember– he said that Paul wanted them and he wouldn’t let him have them!).  Heather said that Eric had moved his timeslot down to the very end, but there were people that came in way later than everyone else, so I’m not sure if he actually got the last timeslot or not.  And as we were waiting, we got another meet and greet.  

This one was not so good and it was my fault.

This one was Doc McGhee’s would-be meet and greet. 

I had met Doc on a couple occasions, the last one being most memorable even if we didn’t speak.  I had a very good seat at the next-to-last MSG concert and as Doc walked down to his own seat before the show started (or possibly a song or so in– might’ve been as I was standing up!) he reached over and quickly pressed something into my hand: I opened my hand and found it was a guitar pick (I couldn’t see whose it was at that point), and immediately closed my hand and held onto it for dear life for the next two hours, only sticking it in my purse when I felt certain I wouldn’t lose it.  It’s a (worn) Paul pick– a good omen. 

Anyway, Doc just wandered in the main entrance, as Doc is wont to, and spoke to a couple people. Doc not being anywhere near as intimidating as Paul, I told Cynthia, “I’m gonna say hi to Doc” and walked over to him.

“Hey, Doc! You gave me a pick at Madison Square Garden!” 

“I did!” (I don’t think he remembered. Maybe he did.)

“Thank you!” and I shook his hand. 

Then he stood there. And stood there. He thought I had more to say to him or that I’d ask him for a selfie.  He did not expect that that was all I had to say to him. 

Doc slunk off into the shadows of the art gallery. Sorry, Doc.

Around about 9:30 or so was the dinner.  We were seated and then Paul walked in, giving a couple fistbumps on the way to our table.  There were three tables, each with 10 or less people there, and he’d be seated at the middle for each.  We were first, so we ate Caesar salad and a charcuterie board full of appetizers (salami, cheese, those little stick things, etc.) with Paul.  Paul was catty-corner to me which was insanely intimidating.  He looked me in the eye twice that I was aware of (without saying anything) and I just dove into the salami like a girl that got stood up for senior prom devouring the refreshment table.  My nerves were killing me.  Paul still looked… intimidating. I was riddled with the wounds of past experiences and the knowledge that I could say absolutely nothing to him that he had not heard before.  I couldn’t think. I could only mindlessly eat and wince as Cynthia excitedly kicked me under the table when Paul began to eat himself.  It was pretty funny, because the first couple times she kicked me, I thought that there was something she wanted me to say to Paul, but she just wanted to point out that he was eating!  

I ran out of salami and the waiter refilled my glass of water (I didn’t order any alcohol) about four times while I tried not to pay too much attention to Paul Stanley being that close to me.  That is to say, I was paying attention, but trying not to be a creep.  He was talking to a dark-haired lady sitting next to him and due to how loud it was in the restaurant, I could hear less than half of what he was saying (and only because I was straining) and basically none of what she said (he did say something about Soul Station, but as Cynthia said, we heard entirely different things regarding that particular venture, which says a lot for the amount of noise in the restaurant!).  After a point, he looked over our side of the table with an expression that was a bit “well?” i.e. “you can talk to me” without actually coming out and saying it.  He was pretty well aware that nobody on our side had really said anything to him as he consumed Caesar salad, various cheeses, etc. at our table, and he did want to give everyone the opportunity.  I was, apparently, incapable of taking said opportunity. 

Enter Patrick, who was sitting directly across from me/on the other side of Paul and whom (along with his wife, Nicole, sitting next to him) Cynthia and I had been talking with from the time we got seated on.  He had made small talk with us on the typical topic (KISS) and the two of them had been collecting Paul’s artwork since he started around ‘08 or so– this wasn’t their first rodeo.  Patrick had a loud voice that carried well.  Patrick did something that he really didn’t have to do at all, that I dearly appreciated– after talking briefly to Paul himself, he gave me the floor.

“I think you need to talk to your youngest fan (at the table).”  

Paul looked at me again.  I did not die. 

“I’m not all that young…”

I can’t remember if Paul actually asked me how old I was or not, but I said I was thirty-four.  Paul said “what?” (he didn’t hear me).  I held up my fingers in a 3 and a 4.  Paul did not understand. (I cannot overstate how hard it was to hear in that restaurant.)  Finally, I got my volume up loud enough.  “I’m thirty-four!” 

I want to say he looked surprised, but that might be wishful thinking.  I’m of mixed Asian and white descent and am very short and small.  Anyway, he responded with, “I have shoes older than you.” 

My incredibly brilliant response was “I know. … My mom’s your age so it’s fine.” (What’s fine? His 35+ year old shoes?)  Paul found this witty repartee hard to answer.  Probably because he likely couldn’t hear it.  

Patrick made an additional extremely kind effort just a second later.  I think he must’ve known how much I wanted to say something and how paralyzed/starstruck I had ended up.  It was exceptionally nice– he could’ve monopolized Paul easily, and he chose not to.  He didn’t have to go out of his way like that. 

“She’s been on the Kruises!”

“Oh?”

“Y-yeah I’ve been on the last three (technically four, I did both the back to back Kruises)--” Inspiration. Stupid inspiration. “I was the one that asked you– no, actually I asked Gene– about Dark Shadows.” 

Great, now Mr. Paul Stanley thinks I have an undying fascination with Dark Shadows. Okay, I do, but my life’s goal definitely wasn’t to ask him about that at dinner. 

“I remember that (show).  Barnabus…. It came on in the afternoons. (I think he said he watched it. … So did almost every baby boomer in the mid/late-sixties)”  He actually looked like he might’ve been contemplating the show, but he might’ve actually been contemplating whether the salad he spilt on his lap made a stain on his pants; I don’t really know. 

Patrick is the true hero of this entire story.  If Paul got three points, Patrick gets thirty. Patrick somehow kept introducing the stuff I had just told him to Paul (i.e. my first KISS record was “Rock and Roll Over,” and said something about “Hard Luck Woman”) and I manage to spill several things I am not sure that Paul heard at all (because I could barely hear myself) including (quickly) that I had only gotten my mom to come with me to a KISS show during EOTR, and that when she finally did she’d wished she’d gone to see them sooner. Paul was looking at us, nodding, and was trying to follow the general convo but honestly, if I was only getting a little over half of what Paul said, he was getting a fourth of what I said in general, best case scenario.  I don’t fault him.  Cynthia told him something about Phantom of the Park, but I could barely understand her! 

Probably a couple minutes after that, he went to the next table for the main course (he spent roughly half an hour at our table). He waved as he left and we remained with a surprisingly good vantage spot to see the back of Paul’s head and occasionally his profile.  Also his phone, which he never got out at our table but did get out for the main course’s.  It has a pink case. 

We saw him move to the final table– I think he may not have gotten dessert, but I could be wrong there.  (I had veal parmesan as a main course and split tiramisu with Cynthia. I only had about four bites of the veal due to having eaten every piece of salami on our charcuterie board, but it was pretty good. The tiramisu was also great.)  After that, he left, but he waved as he went and he still looked happy.  That meant a good bit to me.  I gripe about Paul a lot but I do want him to be happy.  I want them all to be happy.  

Cynthia thanked the art gallery director (not sure of his title) prior to us leaving the restaurant and we were told she could pick up her painting tomorrow morning at ten. It was very late at night at that point– not sure when we got back to our hotel, but I do know we were talking until two about everything that had transpired and the whole rest of the weekend was filled with talk of Paul. 

The verdict: Very good event.  Paul was sweet, engaged and definitely wanted to be here.  The only real negative I have is how loud that restaurant was!  It was something else to be that close to him– I had tempered my expectations due to my own cynicism and wariness, but he was great.  Really incredible time that I’m going to remember. 

Paul, if I see you again, I promise not to bother you about Dark Shadows. 

We’ll move on to Bonanza or Match Game or something.

[bluesturngold]

Misinformation's Role in Sensationalizing the Arrest of a Florida Furry

People on Twitter are posting memes about a member of the furry community who was arrested in Florida for murder.

This isn't typically something I would write about, but the furry in question commissioned a profile photo from the same artist who created my profile photo, and people have essentially harassed the artist off of twitter by sharing the art he commissioned from her.

The memes are predicated on a screenshot taken from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office inmate booking blotter, as pictured below:

I'm not humorless and can see how the average terminally online person could find the thought of a furry blowing someone away with a missile funny, but the unfortunate combination of an inadequate booking system and a misunderstanding of what "missile" refers to legally are why this meme exists in the first place.

Here is the full text of Florida Statute 790.19:

"Whoever, wantonly or maliciously, shoots at, within, or into, OR throws any missile OR hurls or projects a stone or other hard substance which would produce death or great bodily harm, at, within, or in any public or private building, occupied or unoccupied, or public or private bus or any train, locomotive, railway car, caboose, cable railway car, street railway car, monorail car, or vehicle of any kind which is being used or occupied by any person, or any boat, vessel, ship, or barge lying in or plying the waters of this state, or aircraft flying through the airspace of this state shall be guilty of a felony of the second degree."

I've bolded the important bits there: this statute covers both shooting within/into an occupied space as well as throwing or otherwise launching something that could cause physical harm within/into an occupied space, i.e. a brick through a window into a business that has customers inside. As someone who's reported on court cases like this before, I would expect to see charges relating to incendiary devices or explosives if someone truly had fired a missile into a dwelling.

This is why I say the booking system is inadequate: the person who typed up the summary of this statute did so with no regard for how easy it is for a layperson to misinterpret, and then the person who selected statute 790.19 whilst filling out this guy's booking information was stuck with the statute description it had already been given... unless they wanted to find someone in their IT department or the vendor who built the booking system and file a ticket for them to change it, which could take weeks.

Misleading statute descriptions are a huge issue when your inmate bookings can be viewed online by members of the public, and it's just another sign of how little law enforcement cares about inmates and the public that they didn't put more consideration into making their statue descriptions easier to understand.

The premeditated first degree murder charge also just isn't accurate; presumably the sheriff's office had little to no idea whether the murder was or wasn't premeditated when they arrested the guy, so the person doing the booking picked the more severe one. (Pretend I repeated the line about how little law enforcement cares again.)

If you didn't know this, here's a public service announcement: it's basically never a good idea to read a law enforcement agency's inmate listings and take what they say as fact. Cross referencing the inmate listing with the county court clerk's online case search made it really clear that the inmate listing was misleading:

'Second degree murder with a firearm' and 'shooting into building' paint such a simple and effective picture of what the defendant is being charged with.

I know a fair number of terminally online people who aren't furries just think it's inherently funny or meme-worthy when a furry gets arrested for anything, but I think if the sheriff's office or the vendor who created their booking system wasn't inept and careless more people would've realized this was just a tragic but otherwise mundane murder allegedly committed by someone with an unconventional, unrelated hobby.

[moodyvoid]

While I was in Florida we decided to go to a place called “Señor Frog’s”

Let me tell you about Señor Frog’s.

They had a mini arcade, random flashing lights, a hookah bar, karaoke, silly signs that they’d clip onto customers chairs making fun of them, randomly activated alarms, randomly activated fog machines, barstools shaped like asses, servers would run around and dance while holding flashing signs that said Señor Frog’s, and a man went around making balloon animal hats for everyone.

The vibes were all over the place, but the vibes were excellent and unmatched.

[fuck-customers]

[LONG POST...sorry. 🥲]

This is a fuck management post.

I was a manager at a HUGE, multi-level, well-known retail store that was closing stores all around the US & currently only has 3 stores left in 2023 (thank fuck; they don't deserve to exist with their employee policies 🖕🏻 iykyk).

I had to open the store at 5am, so I had to get behind the wheel around 4:20ishAM coz of big city traffic, etc.

Around 4:35-4:40AM-ish (I think; maybe not, but I'm p sure), just to illustrate how close I was, I was coming up to the light which was the left turn across a bunch of lanes to get onto a side road that was parallel to the road to the highway. This side road had a right turn *immediately* into the plaza to the store. I was literally *RIGHT. THERE.* I COULD SEE THE STORE FROM THE LIGHT!

...And I got into an accident.

A bad one. I totaled my car. Like, half of my car looked like a compressed slinky toy. I had to be pulled out of my window. Ironically, the other car only had one, tiny scratch of my cars paint on it. Lmao. 💀

A police car was right across the road & saw, so they popped over & called it in.

I called my manager from the ambulance. The EMTs said the other person was fine, but could go to the hospital if they felt like it for reassurance. She chose not to. I was relieved, coz I had been worried about her & she refused to speak to me when I asked her if she was okay several times... 🥲 They told me I had to go to the hospital & put a c-spine collar on me just in case (nothing serious; just a precaution).

So it's now 4:55-5AM-ish & I panic-call my boss while I am in the ambulance on the way to the hospital coz I was the only one opening the store & it should be opened & cashiers should already have their tills & such right about now!

I tell her I got into an accident at said light & my car is totaled & I'm in an ambulance on the way to [x] hospital.

She pauses for what felt like an hour, but was probs only a few seconds, then says in the most annoyed tone, "Soooo... are you not gonna be able to open the store, then?"

I was kinda shook. I have been in the position of needing to fill shifts when people call out. I know it's stressful. Espec in tight spots like this where one person is doing a lot & others jobs depend on that person doing those things & you have to replace the person doing those things. I GET IT. But there wasn't even stress in her voice; just annoyance.

Me: "No... No, I'm going to the hospital. I'm sorry."

Her, more annoyed: "And you're not coming in after getting checked?"

Me, trying to hide my disbelief: "...no. I'm sorry."

I heard her sigh in even MORE annoyance & make the "ugh" noise away from the phone. Then she paused for a bit before taking a deep breath & saying, "Okay." & quickly hanging up before I could say anything back.

Let's jump ahead a tiny bit.

It was christmas season. At this chain, you were allowed 3 absences per year, doctors notes included. Even if you had doctors notes past those three, it didn't matter. 3 was the limit. Then you're fired. I mean, it's unofficial. But everyone knows & you are explicitly told & drilled on that on your first day that 3 is the limit, regardless of dr's notes or medical conditions or whatever you're going through. And since I was in Florida, an "at will" state, they do not have to tell you why they're firing you. And if they don't specify, you can't take them to court over anything unreasonable or not in the contract you signed.

Regarding my own 3 absences, my first was taken by me being sick with bronchitis. My 2nd was forced on me. I still had a bronchial cough, but was not contagious thanks to meds, the one sick day & consecutive days scheduled off. The manager above me still told me I needed to go home because it would "scare customers". (This was MANY years before covid, mind you.) My third absence was this car crash.

I figured as soon as they saw pics of the car crash, they would understand. I literally had no choice. They were human beings & could make exceptions for more extreme circumstances. The ER dr gave me a note, personalized with a brief explanation of my injuries & that I would have been unable to be at work or perform my tasks with the injuries I had so my manager would understand, since they never took me seriously.

Surprisingly, they didn't fire me. I was shocked. But what I didn't take into account was the fact it was leading into December. I have worked MANY retail jobs & if you have, too, you know leading up to Christmas for retail is... hell. All hands on deck. Idky I didn't think about that. Ig I was just so relieved to have my job still.

I got through Christmas & worked as hard as I could, trying to make up for the car crash incident.

But then New Years came.

I worked my ENTIRE shift on New Years without anything being abnormal... only to go put my till up in the back to be counted an hour before close, coz I wasn't closing manager, & I got stopped before walking out of the back room by one of the managers above me. They told me to follow them to HR. I immediately thought I was in trouble with HR & someone had filed a complaint about something, but I couldn't think for the life of me anything I could have done over the ENTIRE TIME I had worked there.

There were 3 of them in there. 2 of the upper management (one that worked the floor near me that I knew well & another that worked in another department that I didn't know too well) & HR. I didn't know HR at all (only met her maybe twice), but those 2 managers had tormented me the entire time I had worked there.

They told me to sit down. And they fired me in the most humiliating way possible with no hesitation. Granted, I had had a TON of retail jobs & animal-related jobs (ie: grooming) prior to this & this was my first time (and last, so far) ever being fired so I didn't (and still don't) really know what is "normal" for bosses to say to me when I'm fired, so maybe this was a normal firing for someone like me, but in that one experience, it FELT absolutely humiliating.

They said something at the end when I was walking out the door, half-trying to mock-make me feel better & half outwardly mocking my intelligence, saying, "Don't worry! I'm sure you'll go on to do....... well, you'll go on!" And they all laughed. (He was about to say "great things" & made his retracting those two words VERY purposeful & evident.) As I turned back around to continue leaving, they said something a little hushed, while looking towards me, as I stepped fully out the door. As I started to turn into the corridor, they all three BURST out laughing VERY loudly, as if at a club with loud music. Then they started talking amongst themselves. About me. I was down the hall, so I couldn't hear what they were saying... just my name & laughter. Over & over between unintelligible words until their voices receded entirely as I grabbed my bag & ran to my car, not saying goodbye to anyone.

Mind you, in regards to them making the mocking "you'll go on!" comment, I'm actually a medical student. I'm *book* smart; I'm not *common sense* smart. I say this ...gently... coz it wasn't my first choice & I only did it after over a few months of being there & really realizing this was happening after being stopped every few sentences & asked "what?/what does that mean?" or "are you making words up again?/you made that word up! [laughs]". But I did have to actively "dumb down" my vocab, so to speak, (idk a better way to put that ugh sorry. That sounds so gross) when I went to work because my coworkers never understood the normal way I talk with my normal words, except 2 of them, so they probably thought that was how I normally spoke, too. They were all VERY common sense "smart" & I am VERY common sense, er, "dumb" lol... So we definitely were different types of intelligent. I think all of that combined made them think I wasn't ANY type of intelligent & they belittled me *a lot* for that, since a lot of retail is common sense related. There are SO many different types of intelligence & it was painful to just be stuck in one box every single day & belittled & tormented for not being *that* type of intelligent while being surrounded by everyone who is exactly that.

But lo & behold, getting fired was actually the biggest blessing ever, as that was the most toxic environment I have EVER worked in (all of this just scrapes the surface; this place even drove me to an unaliving attempt once & I would be SHOCKED if I were the only one who was a victim of company policies and the way they were enforced in this way). On top of that, the store was one of many that were in another wave of mass closures across the US shortly after I left. It also allowed me to finally see that I was in an abusive situation with my ex-fiance & get the strength to leave him. So it was one of those really great things disguised as a bad thing lol. Me being with my ex explained why I was putting up with what I was putting up with at work, as I normally have a very loud, dominant personality & I *never* let people walk all over me or say shit without my voice being heard. ESPEC not shit like THEY were saying. I was the exact opposite person when I lived with my ex... so it makes sense that I wasn't myself at work, either, & didn't stand up for myself like normal.

But regardless...!

Fuck that one manager on the phone for being annoyed at me that I couldn't open the store bc I had to go to the hospital after a completely accidental car crash.

FUCK *ALL* the managers at that store, which doesn't exist anymore, for tormenting & belittling me the ENTIRE time I was there.

Fuck the company itself for the ridiculous amount of unrealistic policies they hold their employees to, including 3 sick days a year with no dr notes allowed.

BLESS tf outta the cashiers, coz they were the best ever & put up with such intense rules & bs from the company itself, not even mentioning management above me. Cashiers were the real heros of this store & company in general. 💙

But also? Fuck me for putting up with everything I did put up with. 🥲 Lol.

[starkstruck27]

One last little mermay fic because it's the last day and I thought it would be cute (also I may be posting on June 1st technically, but I wrote the bulk of it yesterday so...).

Steve hadn't been working at the aquarium for long, but he loved every second of it. He'd moved out to California a while ago and he'd been down on his luck when Dustin came out one time to visit, all jazzed up about marine life, since it was his latest obsession, and he'd suckered him into a trip to the place before he left again for Hawkins. Steve had never had much interest in undersea life before, but as Dustin dragged him through the exhibits, he found himself in awe of all the beautiful creatures. At the end of their tour, he was buying Dustin a souvenir in the gift shop, when a large "Help Wanted!" sign caught his eye.

"That, uh, that sign," he asked the girl who was scanning the barcode on Dustin's stuffed seahorse and new San Diego Aquarium cap, "Is that just for the gift shop or is it the aquarium in general?"

"No, it's for the whole place. We are looking for a few people to be cashiers in here and the food court, but we're also looking for tour guides and trainers. The trainers have to have some kind of prior experience working with animals though, so just keep that in mind. Would you like an application?" She asked, her smile bright as she handed the younger boy the bag.

"Yes, please," Steve smiled back, and the girl handed him a small packet of papers fill out before smiling and greeting the next customer.

By the time they left, Steve had already returned the packet, completely filled out, to the right box, and two days later, he got a call to come in for an interview. He went, and an hour later, walked out with a job as a tour guide and a date to come in for his first day of training.

By now, nearly two months later, he knew the ins and outs of the entire place, and he could spit facts about sharks or jellyfish or anemone or sea cucumbers like he was listing the days of the week. He was one of the favorites among the tour groups, since he often made stupid dad jokes and gave out aquatic themed stickers to the kids. It was a hands-on aquarium, and a lot of the parents liked the gentle encouragements he would give their kids if they were scared to touch a certain animal, and the kind ways he would explain how to do it properly so as not to hurt the animals so that everything went smoothly. He was often handed tips from appreciative parents, and even though he always tried to refuse them, they always insisted he take them for helping their young kids to have such a positive experience. His fridge in his apartment was running out of room on the front of it from the amount of drawings kids would do for him, and he had made a note to get himself a little scrapbook or binder or something to keep them in so that he didn't have to throw them away to make room for new ones.

So yeah, Steve absolutely loved his job.

And when his boss pulled him aside one day and said that he wanted him to be the one to help launch the newest attraction on May 1st, he was more than happy to do it. He was just supposed to lead the families into the amphitheater that faced the biggest tank in the aquarium and get them pumped up to see some kind of show involving mermaids. He had no idea what it was or how it was going to work, but he was excited to do it, so he did.

Finally, May 1st rolled around and Steve was about to do his first presentation for a packed theater. He scrounged up some of the old confidence he'd had in high school and put on a huge smile as he walked out in front of the tank with his notes, quieting the families and greeting them before asking if they were ready to see some mermaids.

That's what the whole thing was about. It was supposed to be like that one attraction in Weeki Wachee, Florida, where they had the actresses that dressed up like mermaids and entertained families in while swimming under water. It was pretty much the same as that, but while the actors and actresses were swimming around, Steve was supposed to give a presentation on some fun facts about mermaids and then, at the very end, the families would get to pose for pictures with the actors while they were still in the tank. They were going to be going down with air nozzles from oxygen tanks in their hands, so that they could make cool bubble effects, but also so they could still breathe as they were underwater. It was actually really cool, in Steve's opinion, and he was excited to be giving the presentation.

"Okay, so as long as you're ready to meet our merpeople, we have to try and call to them so that they'll come out to see us. Merpeople are king of shy, so we have to be really loud when we call their names, okay? We have a lot of merpeople here at our aquarium, but the ones you're going to see today are named Pearl and Nero, so on the count of three, we're all going to say really loudly 'Hi, Pearl and Nero!', okay?" Steve said as he continued his opening, smiling wide along with a lot of the kids. They all nodded as he counted to three, and they shouted out for the two actors, and they swam over from where they'd dropped into the tank, somewhere off to the side where the audience wouldn't see them going in.

The first 'mermaid', a girl with curly dark hair and tan skin, swam over, wearing a bright red shell bra and a shimmering red tail that caught the light beautifully. She pretended to be shy as she swam over, but she smiled as a manta ray came up to her, and she pet it gently as the kids all oohed and aahed.

"Everybody, this is Pearl," Steve said, gesturing at the tank, and the actress waved back at the audience, flicking her tail as she swam all around and did little tricks. She could hold her breath for an incredible amount of time, only having to use the breathing tube thing once or twice in the past couple of minutes.

"Now, Pearl is a little bit more brave than our other merman, so we have to call out for him again to get him to come out, okay?" Steve said, and the kids all called out for the guy again. The actress in the water even gestured over to someone with her hand as she swam around and played with the fish and other creatures in the tank with her. Finally, the kids all cheered as another actor swam over, looking more timid as he did.

"Everybody, this is Nero," Steve said, and he gestured at the tank, almost forgetting his next bit in the script when he saw the man. He had blonde hair that flowed around his face in ringlets. He had a tiny hint of a mustache on his top lip and the most striking blue eyes Steve had ever seen. His tail was also blue, probably to match his eyes, and as he waved to the audience and smiled, Steve nearly fainted. He was muscular, but not overly so, and his arms looked strong and sturdy, much like the rest of him. And his smile was bright enough to light up the entire ocean if he wanted to.

Steve made himself refocus on his presentation as the actors played under the water, swimming around and playing with both each other and the creatures in the tank with them. They interacted with the crowd as Steve gave his presentation, doing certain motions to go along with the fun facts Steve was spouting, and just seeming to have fun with it. Steve was too, once he got over the initial shock of that gorgeous man swimming around behind him, and when the presentation was over, he both happy and sad about it. The next show was going to be done by another one of his coworkers, and two other actors would be playing the merpeople, so Steve decided to head back to where he knew the actors would be taking their breaks to see if he could get a chance to talk to the guy.

He found him and the other girl laughing backstage as they ate lunch and gossiped, and he was almost afraid to go in and talk to them. They both had towels wrapped around their heads to keep their long, wet hair out of the way as they ate, and they both still had their tails on, since they had one more show to do before they got to leave for the day.

"Oh, speak of the devil," the girl said to the guy, and she gestured to the door that Steve was standing at, smiling widely. "You're our presenter, right? We were just talking about you. You did a great job hyping up the kids for us. Although, your jokes were absolutely terrible. I'm Heather."

"Oh, uh, yeah, I'm Steve," the man said, walking further into the room with them and tucking some hair behind his ears nervously. "Sorry to interrupt, I just figured that I should probably introduce myself to you guys at some point since we'll be doing a lot of shows together. And I wanted to compliment you on your performance, it was really, really cool. I don't know how you can hold your breath for that long and keep your eyes open underwater and still to all those tricks and stuff. It was just really amazing."

"Thanks," Heather replied, taking another bite of her sandwich, "And to tell you the truth, it's really nothing special. Just lots and lots of practice."

"And the oxygen tanks help a lot," the man said, the first time he'd spoken since Steve first entered the room. He didn't seem like he'd be a quiet person, but Steve figured that maybe he just didn't really like new people. He could understand that. Still, he'd hoped that maybe he'd have more to say than just that. Heather seemed to notice this, because she looked between them for a second, rolled her eyes at the man, and then reached down to unzip a part of her tail and stick her feet out so that she could shuffle off into another part of the room, saying something about needing to use the bathroom and leaving the two alone.

"I meant what I said," Steve said, stepping closer to the other man, "Your performance was really good. I've never seen so many happy kids in one room before. And you didn't even seem like an actor half the time there. You actually seemed like you lived in the water for real. And I'll tell you, you got a set of balls on you, too. I'd never have the courage to swim straight up to a hammerhead and just start petting it like you did."

"Thank you," the man finally cracked a smile as a cute little blush rose to his cheeks. "Yeah, I've always loved the ocean and anything having to do with it. And normally, I wouldn't have the balls to swim right up to a shark, but we keep them pretty well fed here, so I had nothing to worry about. But still, thanks for the compliments." The man paused again, setting down his sandwich, wiping his hands on a napkin, and training those striking blue eyes on Steve while he stuck out his hand and said, "I'm Billy."

Steve shook his hand, and he could feel his own face lighting up with a smile.

"Nice to meet you," he said, his heart fluttering when the other man's face finally broke into a full grin.

"Likewise," he said, and they began to slip into a more casual conversation as Heather returned and she and Billy finished their lunches and got ready for the next performance. Steve would have to leave soon to get his microphone and his notes sheet again, but he stayed for as long as he could, quickly becoming friends with the two actors and making a few plans to make their next show an even bigger hit than the last one was. Finally, it was just a few minutes before Steve would have to start welcoming families back into the theater, and Billy went off somewhere to do one last thing before the show.

"Oh, and hey Steve, I have a quick question for you," Heather said, just before he left.

"Yeah?" Steve asked, stopping just short of the doorway.

"Can I get your number?" She asked, thrusting a napkin and pen into his hands. "It's not for me, though, it's for Billy. Y'know, just in case you were wondering. He nearly choked in the tank earlier when he first saw you through the glass, however blurry. And he said you had a nice voice. But he's too much of a wimp to ask you himself, so write a corny little note and leave him your number so that I don't have to hear about how out of his league you are for the next fifty years, because he will complain for that long."

Steve was taken aback at first, but he was flattered, and he liked the other guy, too, so he decided, why the heck not? He scribbled down a note and his phone number quickly, then high-tailed it out of the room to be in the theater for his cue, just as Billy came back over.

"Steve asked me to give this to you," Heather grinned like a shark, handing him the note. Billy took it, puzzled, and almost missed his own cue to get in the water as he read and reread it to make sure it sunk in.

Steve left him his number. And a terrible dad joke, but mostly his number, and said he wanted to go out with him sometime. He'd said he wanted to be 'part of his world', and as much as the pun made Billy roll his eyes, he couldn't help but find it cute. He could definitely arrange that. But first, he had to get back in the water, and hopefully nobody would notice as he stared at Steve's ass through the glass.

And if they did, he could just pass it off as a merman curious about how the humans walked around on their two large fins.

[head-post]

Trump’s team compiles list of Pentagon officers to sack

Members of US President-elect Donald Trump’s team are compiling a list of military officers who will be fired, according to Reuters.

An unprecedented reshuffle at the Pentagon could change as the Trump administration takes shape. In the past, the Republican leader has actively criticised defence chiefs during a campaign of firing “woke” generals and those responsible for the troubled withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. A second source said the new administration is likely to focus on US officers associated with Mark Milley, Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Every single person that was elevated and appointed by Milley will be gone. There’s a very detailed list of everybody that was affiliated with Milley. And they will all be gone.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff is made up of the top officers of the US military, as well as the heads of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, National Guard and Space Force.

Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice as his defence secretary, has also targeted Milley’s successor, Air Force General C.Q. Brown. However, some current and former US officials deny the possibility of such a major change, saying it would be unnecessary and disruptive at a time of global turmoil, with wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Trump visited Biden at White House

Trump and President Joe Biden met at the White House and discussed the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East on Wednesday despite deep differences, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said.

They discussed important national security and domestic policy issues facing the nation and the world. It was indeed very cordial, very gracious, and substantive.

Biden argued that supporting Ukraine was good for US national security because a strong and stable Europe would prevent America from being drawn into a war. Trump, in turn, promised to quickly put an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but did not specify how to do it.

Meanwhile, Edison Research predicted that Republicans would have a majority in the House of Representatives. This means that Trump’s party will control both houses of Congress. Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk also joined Trump in meeting with Republican lawmakers.

The White House said Trump’s team, which announced some of the new president’s cabinet members, has yet to sign agreements that will lead to office space and government equipment.

Trump assembles his team

Trump’s team is led by two billionaires, Howard Lutnick, CEO of financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald, and Linda McMahon, chairman of the board of directors of America First Policy Institute and former head of the Small Business Association. McMahon is working on political strategy, while Lutnick is recruiting people for the future administration.

Robert Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate, has an honoured place on the “transition team.” Another Trump ally who has joined his party is former Democratic member of the House of Representatives Tulsi Gabbard. However, a key role in shaping the future administration is likely to be played by Trump’s two eldest sons, Eric and Donald. It was Donald Trump Jr. who convinced his father to choose J.D. Vance as his running mate.

Trump nominated Fox News host Pete Hegseth, a National Guard veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as US defence secretary. Florida Congressman Mike Waltz will become US National Security Advisor. Trump also appointed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Thomas Homan to be in charge of US immigration policy and border security.

The Republican appointed Elon Musk to reform the administration. The Federal Trade Commission may be headed by Vance adviser Gail Slater or the department’s current commissioner, Mellisa Holyoak. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum is likely to become the head of the Department of Energy.

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