#goodbye health insurance

[aradiiaa]

Guess who just lost their job in a mass layoff and is now once again unemployed 👁👄👁

[floral-hex]

woke up at 4am feeling the weight of my life crushing me, so I’ve been sitting out in my car for the last couple of hours because I just need. to. be. somewhere else.

[justsome-di]

how am I supposed to be excited for my birthday next month when I'm turning 26 in America

[anonymusbosch]

yup we both got laid off along with like 60 other people

[darkjusticiar]

i needed gender affirming care and was feeling massively disillusioned by who is in network (after not being listened to for the nth time lol) so i'm glad I went to the clinic I did even if it was out of network but those bills.... okay....

[something-of-a-hermit]

Why is O Superman (Laurie Anderson) so incredibly comforting but also I’m sobbing my eyes out at 12am over the line “and when force is gone, there’s always Mom (hi, mom!)”?

[half-giant]

It's my birthday. Everybody say "Happy Birthday Gwen"

[bloomingonionbitch]

does (did?) anyone else struggle with defining yourself through interactions/relationships with others?

i'm thinking mostly immediate family (fuck, especially parents) and romantic partners (past and present).

i oscillate between hyper individualism and codependency - anyone living in the middle or outside of that binary?

[mayakern]

upcoming store stuff & why we're doing a super sale

omg hiiii it's devin again, and this time i'm bringing store news

the short version: we're moving ourselves back to minnesota, and we're moving order fulfillment to a fulfillment center

wow, that's big news! maya and i are so so so excited to be closer to our minnesota friends (and also my family lol). i'm hoping to be back in northeast minneapolis, but let's be real we're probably gonna get priced out and into the suburbs

in addition to that, due to a variety of reasons i'll explain in more detail below, we're transitioning from in-house fulfillment to working with a fulfillment center (or 3pl, short for third-party logistics). we're at an awkward size that makes staffing difficult and have had issues with extended processing time. the 3pl should be set up by september, and we're working on the back end to have fulfillment centers in australia, canada, the UK, and eventually the EU. if tax authorities work with us we should have all that ready by december 2024!

to prepare for that we're doing a super sale. ash told me not to call it liquidation but she said that like 30 seconds after i hit send on the marketing email, sorry about that. items that we don't want to pay to move to the 3pl are discounted by 25-70%, with some of them priced at cost. under no circumstances will anything ever be 70% off again

if you're nosy you can read the q&a i made up in my head while eating pigs in a blanket:

how are the labor protections at the 3pl?

pretty good! we were shocked to find anything even halfway decent in the US; we went looking for a fulfillment center in the EU to handle all international fulfillment, and the one we found just so happened to have bought a US location two years ago.

they're located in ohio, pay $19/hr, and provide health insurance and 401k matching. that seemed too good to be true so we dug through employee reviews on places like glassdoor, and while there were some bad reviews those were all dated prior to when the facility was purchased by this new company. they also have a very low turnover rate which is a HUGE green flag

why are you transferring to a 3pl?

the serious

sometimes we have a high volume of sales, and it makes sense to have two full-time employees plus a part timer! but usually we have a low-to-medium volume of sales. we can float by on that, but it gets risky, and the economy is in a bad enough state that we're concerned about the longevity

related, the 2023 holiday sale showed us some major flaws in our fulfillment process. if the same issues were to happen this year the business probably wouldn't survive

we're moving cross-country in early 2025 and would've had to close this location anyway

the dumb:

i'm sick of dealing with commercial landlords and if i have one more wall leak i'm going to throw it into the river brick by brick

what about your staff?

unfortunately we will have to say goodbye to our office staff. they have been given 3.5 months notice and no-questions-asked PTO for interviews with a small severance

why are you moving back to minnesota?

troy was always meant to be a temporary move. initially the plan was to move to vermont or massachusetts, but after being out here for 7 years we just kinda want to go home. the weather in troy is perfect for us, we love the mountains, and we have some great friends here, but for some goddamn reason we want our eyelashes to freeze together.

will you be returning to midwest cons?

if we return to cons at all it will be with ariel and/or ash running the booth, maya will not be involved. this would likely be in california and/or in the northeast US.

my friends are begging me to go to CONvergence as an attendee so ig you might see me there? maya has pledged death before crowded venues tho

will you do any local events in minnesota?

we might do sample sales. honestly idk what we're gonna do with the samples we have in troy, most of them are terrible. do you want samples of the strangest low rise bell bottom pants ever created? please take them from me. my bush hangs out

also my kid brother has gotten really into library events and if he asks nice enough we might do some of those

is there anything else?

i mean probably, but i started this last week and i haven't had any other ideas on what to include

[mysandwichgiver]

It's time to break out my

"Repeal and go f🇺🇸ck yourself—GOP" t-shirt again…Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson says the first priority, if trump is elected, is MASSIVE changes to the ACA/Obamacare. Say goodbye to your insurance if you have a preexisting condition.

VOTE VOTE VOTE!

[bunniesghost]

୨⎯ "Wait, What’s Your Name?”⎯୧

🪞

Simon “Ghost” Riley X Fem!Reader

Warnings: Abusive Parent, mental health issues, physical abuse, manipulation, mention of death of a minor character

Summary: You become the roommate to a soldier who barely is home. Desperate to leave your Abusive Household, you call the number of the flyer that was on the corkboard of the coffee shop. This soldier didn’t even know your name when he left you his keys. When will you see him next?

A/N: Literally my first fanfic but hope y’all like it. Inaccurate army information. ALSO THIS WILL BECOME A PREGNANCY AU SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE THAT TROPE, YOU SHOULD STOP READING

.·:*¨¨* ≈☆≈ *¨¨*:·.

Of course you called the phone number posted on the flyer on the cork board of the coffee shop. Going out of your house due to your mother screaming at you as soon as you woke up.

5 AM to get your morning routine done and get ready for school since you decided to take morning classes. Which you don’t regret cause you get to be out of the house.

Away from your mom.

Never having a good relationship with your mom since your father passed away when you were 15.

Always being a Daddy’s girl and her always out of the house, you didn’t think much of it. But once he passed away, she was forced to pay attention to you. Verbally abusing you because she’s a widow and single mother to a teenager who apparently is selfish and hates her mother.

She didn’t drink due to her not liking the taste and she never started after he died, so you knew these were sober thoughts.

Never was there to meet your new relationship. Never was there to see you get your driver's license.

Never was there to see you graduate from High school. Never was there to see you get into your dream school. Never was there for the good things.

Just the bad things

Like when you dropped a plate and it shattered on the floor.

That was the first time she hit you.

A harsh Slap and yelling in your face.

You got into a car accident that left your car ruined. The insurance money given to her due to the car being under your name. Never seeing that money or getting a new car.

You had your high school sweetheart over at her house when she wasn’t home. Seeing the shoes of someone she didn’t recognize. Storming into your bedroom and seeing you making out with someone in your room.

Let’s just say you got dumped by text right after.

Or when she accused you of stealing her boyfriend at the time. Him always greeting you and saying his goodbyes. The relationship only lasted 2 weeks and when he went into your bedroom to see your school project that you were currently working on. Your mother didn’t like that she could hear mumbles of him speaking to someone. Someone as you.

She came into your bedroom immediately accusing him of taking advantage of her little girl, and kicking him out. Right after he left, she slapped you and dragged you to the ground. Screaming at you for apparently stealing her boyfriend.

“YOU FUCKING WHORE!”

You were only 16.

As soon as you turned 18, you got access to your dads Will. He left you most of his money, which your mother was clearly not happy about. You used some of the money to buy yourself a new car and saved the rest to be able to move out of this hell.

Each time you threaten your mom of moving out, she would always beg you to stay and would apologize to you.

The apology ended the next day when you came home late due to your job needing extra help to close and clean up. Opening the door to your mother sitting in on coach and coming towards you with her hand up, ready to slap you.

Now you are 20 and have had enough. Waking up at the time you always do. You decided to wash the dishes your mother left last night, so she wouldn’t yell at you once you got home and ate getting told that you are useless and do nothing for this household.

You didn’t realize she woke up due to the water in the sink being on. She immediately started yelling at you for being so loud in the morning and started to hit you in your rib cage and slap you in your face.

You decided after she was done, to get out of the house and drive to your school. Leaving without your coat or school backpack.

Tears blurring your vision and heavy breathing makes it hard to breathe. You pulled over to a coffee shop because you didn’t want to get or cause an accident.

You steady yourself before you get out of the car. Putting on a smile for the world.

You get out your phone so you can distract yourself. You noticed you got an email from both your professors for today. Both canceled class due to an emergency occurring in their life. They are both married to each other and one of them was pregnant so you can assume she went into labor.

Now you had to figure out what to do for the rest of the day.

As you walked into the coffee shop, you were hit with the smell of richness from the coffee beans. Now you had to figure out what you wanted to order.

After ordering a small drink, due to your lack of appetite, thanks to your mother. You looked over and saw a cork board full of flyers. So you walked over and saw bands, volunteer work and nearby events.

“Y/n”

The barista called your name, indicating that your drink was ready.

But as soon as you were about to walk away from the paper covers wall, you saw a flyer that read

‘Roommate wanted’

You saw phone numbers cut out of the paper so you could take one, and so you did.

Grabbing your drink, you walked out and got into your car. Staring at this phone number in your hand.

Should you call it? I mean do you think it’s time to finally use that Will money? You had all this time to get out of that hell hole but your mom always saying that she needed you. And you not quite ready to let go of the home your father bought after 13 years of paying rent to finally owning the house that you grew up in.

Is it time?

Yes it is

So you start to dial the number.

“Hello?”

Wow that’s a deep voice

“H-Hi..I’m calling cause I saw that you wanted a roommate..” you stuttered.

“Oh right. Are you available right now?”

“Um..yes I am..do you want to meet up right now?”

“Yes, I’m about to leave to work so if you can come right now, you could probably move in today if you want.” The guy spoke

“Oh..just like that? You asked because you were surprised.

“Yeah, I’m not here most of the time so- I’ll tell you once you arrive.”

“Oh o-ok, I’ll be there in like…wait where do you live?” You just realized that you didn’t check the location.

“Did you really not read all of it?..”

“N-no..” you said in a quieter voice

The guy sighed “I’ll text you the address and I’ll wait here. Just tell me if it won’t work before you get here.”

You said your goodbyes and hung up the phone.

He sounded nice.

You check the location he sent and it’s actually much closer to your school. It’s almost an hour away so you decided to start your car immediately and make your way there.

You texted him that you were in the parking lot and he said he’ll meet you in the lobby. Wow this place has a lobby and looks very well kept. Definitely on the expensive side but the Will money and your job can keep you afloat for a while. You wait

You’re waiting in the lobby, when a huge bulky guy in a black military suit comes out of the elevator. You look away but when he comes and stands right in front of you, you look up at him.

“Are you waiting for someone?”

“Oh..it’s you..” you spoke in a surprise voice

“And it’s you, let’s head upstairs so I can show you the apartment.” The guy spoke and started walking to the elevator. You followed along getting on and watched the doors closed.

The 9th floor was the top floor and you were heading up there. Silence filling the small space as the elevator kept going until you heard the ding and the doors opened up. He walked out first and started walking to the only door in the small lobby room for the only apartment. So like a penthouse then?

He opened the door and made it so you walked in first. You were still near the elevator so you had to walk fast to get in. Him going in and closing the door, he started to speak.

“This is my living space that I’m rarely in and really need someone to just take over the space and actually live in it really.” He spoke

“So you’re in the army?” You asked an obvious question.

“Yes, that’s why I’m rarely here. I can show you the two empty bedrooms that I don’t use.”

Did you even use the house? The walls are bare and there’s no decoration at all, just a sofa, coffee table, Big Flat screen, a two seat dinner table, bar stools in the island, and a set of knives. Wow you had a lot of work to do.

“I cleaned up a bit so the floors and walls weren’t dirty, that’s why it smells like lemons.” He explained to you.

Oh wow, lemons

“Well, I’m fine with just one room but don’t you need my information first before I can move in?” You asked him a question that you’ve been thinking about.

“I don’t have time but if you just send me the information, I’ll give it to the army household keepers and they’ll take care of it.” He explained

“Oh, is this provided by the army?” You asked

“No but they just help me out because they know me. So don’t worry about that stuff.”

“So does that mean you’ll move in?”

“Sure.” You told him

“Alright I have to go, I’m an hour late and base is 30 minutes away so, I guess I’ll see you whenever.”

As he was leaving you realized you didn’t know his name. Or he knew yours.

“Wait, what’s your name?” You asked him right as his hand was about to open the door.

“Oh right, it’s Simon.”

Simon

“I-I’m Y/n.”

“I’ll see you soon, Y/n.”

He then closed the door and you were left in this big empty looking house.

.·:*¨¨* ≈☆≈ *¨¨*:·.

Reblogs and likes are appreciated! Let me know any feedback!

[y-rhywbeth2]

Lore: Common Phrases & Words

Accuracy Disclaimer & The Other Stuff [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]

Abeir-Toril Why it's called the "Forgotten" Realms History | Time & Festivals | Lexicon [1] [2]| Languages | Living in Faerûn [1] [?] | Notable Organisations | Magic | Baldurs Gate | Waterdeep | The Underdark | Geography and Human Cultures --- WIP

Translating some earth phrases and words into their Faerûnian equivalents, plus some words specific to Faerûn; Here's how make friends and insult people in Faerûn. Also they have coffee, guitars and health insurance.

Also included a handful of Waterdhavian phrases and words.

-

Phrases and curses:

"Before all the gods..." - "I swear to god..."

"Well met" - default greeting; hello

"Well again" - greeting between acquaintances, business partners and friends.

"Well enough" - agreement; "ok", "that's fine with me"

“Never undress in a room with a window, a Harper may be near!” – "Be careful what you say, you don't know who's listening. an interesting warning courtesy of Waterdhavian noble matrons.

"Haularake!" - The polite way to say "gods fucking damn it!" while in front of small children.

"Hrast!" - Damn it!

"Hrasted [thing]!" - Damned [thing]!

"[Deity]'s Blood" - eg "Cyric's Blood" Religious oath, rather like jesus christ. Contracted version of Blood of [deity]

I swear that I have seen "Umberlee's Teats" and "Cyric's Balls" said somewhere...

"Being an ox-haunch" - "Being an asshole"

"a breath" - a moment, a second; "wait a breath"

"A breath or two" - A moment/second; eg, "give me a breath or two to finish this."

"A goodly breath or three" - a minute. (Waiting for a notable amount of time, maybe ten minutes, but not that long.) -- The dwarven variant is "but a little while" -- Halflings call it a "long song"

"Counting like a halfling" - Being contrary just to be difficult Most of the Realms counts on their fingers starting with the thumb, halflings do it the other way around.

"Naeth!", "Naed!" - Shit!

"Sabruin" - Fuck you, Fuck off.

"Lay down [good] coin" - "pay [a lot] for something"

“Resourceful as a bard”

"Life's better when you're not a frog." - "Avoid wizards."

“Sweet water and light laughter until next we meet” - A goodbye said between nobles. Technically an elven farewell, but human nobility decided it made them look cultured or something.

"Gone to Daggerford" - Waterdhavian phrase meaning to hide from the law by lying low outside the city

"Black as a black opal" - used to describe people who seem evil, but aren't really. (Especially if they'd dislike you saying so)

- Faerûnian Lexicon:

Scorchkettle - a Karen.

Dining-house - a Restaurant

Glim - Eye-catching, beautiful, flashy

Kaeth - Coffee ~Fireswallow - a colloquial term for Coffee.

Yarting - acoustic guitar

Short scroll - Newspaper

Nandra - mediocre, meh.

Dael, daelin - a year, years

Saer - a term to address nobility when you don't know the proper title, or when they're children

Lackwit - Idiot

Roundskull - a prejudiced idiot who doesn't use their brain; "often applied to local folk who sit drinking in their tavern displaying prejudices and repeating the words of their parents and grandparents, rather than making their own judgements about changing conditions around them, and new concepts, items, and customs."

Handfast - an engagement (to be married) Handfasted - engaged

Goldnose, Goldnosed - Haughty. aka. "Has a stick up their ass." Highnose - as above

Lackcoin - a derogatory term for those living in poverty.

Darkmorning - the early morning hours between midnight and sunrise

Highsun - Midday

the Eavestrough - the Gutter

a Bell - an Hour

a Candle - an Hour

Festhall - a type of establishment found in the Realms. A kind of fusion between an inn, laundromat, spa, night club, brothel and casino. I'll explain these in another post. Suffice to day that BG3 is the most accurate portrayal of how damn horny this setting is that I've seen in a CRPG so far.

Blesséd - an elven loanword referring to immediate family.

Harhand - a labourer (minimum wage employee)

Healthshield - Health insurance, also known as a "healing-bond"

Fire-bond - Fire insurance

Rivvim - horny

Dawnfry - colloquial term for breakfast A common breakfast, especially for travellers at camp, is to quickly fry the leftovers from last night's meal.

Highbite - colloquial term for lunch Long variant is "Highsunfest."

Latebite, Evenfest - Dinner Abbreviation of "Eveningfeast."

the Art - Magic

Lackspell - a weak, or novice wizard

Aloft - Upstairs; "she went aloft/upstairs."

High-coin - Expensive; or referring to a high paying job Low-coin - Cheap; or paying minimum wage

Finework - intricate and valuable metalwork. Silverware and jewellery, for example

Finesmith - a smith who works with precious metals.

Hiresword - Mercenary

Stareyed - naïve

Shraehouse - a type of very small tavern

Fastmud - Cement

a Swords out - a brawl or violent argument

a Smur - a light, misty rain

Beast-men - common word for ogres

Big Folk - Term used by gnomes and halflings to refer to the other races

Longears - term for an elf

Little man - insult aimed at dwarves

a Blackstick - something like a grease pencil. A writing utility made of a stick of thorden (juniper) wood that can be sharpened on one end, which is then slightly charred and used to write with.

a Blandreth - a three legged cooking pot

a Boot - a Traveller

Dadacky - Rotten, Decayed

Heartstop - a Heart attack

Coin - Money; "I've got no coin until I get paid next week."

a Broad Cry - Headline of a newspaper/broadsheet

Holy hand - a temple guard

Tenday - equivalent of a week (10 days instead of 7) Other, less commonly used terms include; an "eve," "hyrar", "ride" or a "domen".

the Elf day - the Weekend. The tenth day of a tenday, sometimes a day of rest.

House storming - a burglary; home invasion

the Realms Below - the Underdark

a Black Robe - a magistrate [Waterdhavian dialect]

a Sun - a platinum coin [Waterdhavian]

a Dragon - a gold coin [Waterdhavian]

a Shard - a silver coin [Waterdhavian]

a Nib - a copper coin [Waterdhavian]

[hole34]

heyo reblog with a color combo or any word u want and i'll make a bracelet out of it

all results will be up for sale this stuff funds food/insurance/health products/etc 4 me

[blue-slxt]

The older I get, the more I understand the saying “if it’s not one thing, it’s another”.

(Long post. Feel free to skip💙)

So most of you already know that I kind of took a step back from my blog and writing after Romancing Pandora because I was going thru a super messy and traumatic breakup. My ex cheated on me, basically told me that she was only staying with me so that I wouldn’t kick her out of our house, proceeded to break up with me, leave me for the girl she cheated with, and then threatened to put her hands on me. Of course there’s waaaaaayyyyy more details in between all that, but that’s a different post for a different day. But long story short, it took a tremendous toll on my mental health for a long while. Truthfully, there are still days where it still affects me deeply.

And in the process of me healing and dealing with that whole situation, just when I was starting to finally try to move past it, I got fired from my job for an (in my opinion) unfair reason. Another huge blow. I lost my source of income, i couldn’t finish refurnishing my house after my ex left and took pretty much all the furniture, I lost my insurance, I had to stop going to therapy, and I couldn’t afford to get my medications. Thankfully, my main saving grace in this situation has been my family. I am extremely lucky to have the parents that I do and that they’ve chosen to help me financially until I’m able to get back to work.

And now…my grandma has unfortunately passed away. We were very close. When I was younger, I was at her house almost as much as I was at my own house. Every weekend was at her house. Days after school were spent at her house. Sick days when I couldn’t go to school were spent with her. Hours upon hours spent together watching game shows, court shows, and cooking shows. She was a wonderful soul and if heaven exists, that’s definitely where she is. She had a wonderful, long life. She lived all the way to see 100 years and now she gets to rest. The funeral is this weekend and I am having a lot of feelings about having to finally say goodbye to her for good.

It’s been a lot hitting me back to back to back and I’m still doing my best everyday to just cope and get out of bed and make it through to the next day. Doing your best looks different day to day. Some days it’s going out and connecting with friends. Some days it’s simply getting up and making myself some coffee. I still love this fandom and I still love writing, but all these stressors have made it incredibly difficult for me to get back into a regular groove. But thank you all that have stuck around and shown my stories love. I love you all and I appreciate you. Thank you for being patient with me💙

[thenationaltreasuregazette]

Patrick's House, A Headcanon

I mentioned that I have a headcanon the Patrick's house and the house we see young Ben exploring in the opening scene are one in the same.

It doesn't change the story in any fundamental way, but I think it adds a nice bit of texture to the Gates family.

The House

In the prologue, Ben explores the attic of house that belongs to his grandfather, John Adams Gates.

I suppose it's equally possible that Ben is searching around in his own attic for a scrapbook that his father hid away when he gave up treasure hunting, but couldn't quite bare to get rid of due to the family history element. That is until Patrick says

PATRICK Come on, son. Time to go. You can...say your goodbyes.

This makes it clear that he and Ben are the ones leaving his father's house, not the other way around.

The Money

The other thing Patrick makes very clear in the opening scene is that the Gates family doesn't have a lot of money.

PATRICK You know what that dollar represents? The entire Gates family fortune. Six generations of fools... chasing after fool's gold.

Not only do the Gates' not have a lot of money now, they never have since they're been putting their time and resources into treasure hunting--an activity that doesn't pay (until it does). Each individual Gates may have found some interesting historical items, like Ben's George Washington campaign button, or John discovering the Silence Dogood letters in a desk from The New England Courant, but not enough to make treasure hunting worth it to Patrick anymore.

If they had been able to make what Patrick considers a decent living, he might not be so resentful of it. And by in this moment in the attic he's clearly resentful of it. He's a single dad who regrets a lot of his choices. If he and Ben were headed home to the house Patrick lives in in story present, the resentment of treasure hunting could still be there for other reasons, but every time he brings up why it's such a waste of time, money is his first reason.

When Ben and co arrive after the gala Patrick says

PATRICK Sure, sure, I know, I'm the family kook. I have a job, a house, health insurance.

Which implies that not only does Ben not have these things, but Patrick may not have for a long time either. The way he's setting himself apart from the rest of the family with these makes it seem like it's been a normal part of Gates' family life to not have these things. Patrick likely didn't either until he became whole or partly responsible for taking care of Ben.

At the time of the prologue, Ben and Patrick probably live in an apartment, and possibly not a very nice one. Again, since so much of Patrick's resentment for treasure hunting is tied to money, it's likely that for a while he didn't have any. After giving up the hunt, Patrick would have been behind his peers in terms of career development, possibly significantly so. It's not a stretch to guess that he felt that sting pretty keenly.

It's also unclear what his present job is, or how long it would have taken him to get to the level of stability he has when we meet him in story present.

John Adams Gates

But if that's the case, that the Gates family has never had enough money for a house like that until Patrick leaves the treasure hunting world behind and gets a "real job," then why do I think the house was John's?

Well for one thing, the housing market even back in 1974, when the flashback takes place, was vastly different than today. Judging by the state of the attic, John has been there a decade or longer. There was a time, starting around 1950, where you could afford a single family home on one person's salary #postwareconomicboom. I mean look at these average housing prices going back to 1964. Oof. Ouch. It's ridiculous.

Hillcrest was built in 1937. John may or may not have been the original owner of that house (because I'm not sure he would have ever had built-a-house money) but it's possible that he was able to "get in on the ground floor" of the neighborhood.

After John died, the house would have passed to Patrick.

The Wives

There's another possibility for how John came by that house that I think is even more plausible: John inherited the house himself.

We don't hear much about the women of the Gates family. They're basically non-existent in the original film other than the vague ghost-of-a-dead-Disney-mother who haunts the narrative. But we have to presume there have been at least one in every generation, since we keep getting new Gates men.

My actual headcanon is that the house belonged to John's wife or her family. (Though I image a fair bit of tension there since she was almost certainly "marrying down" when she picked John.)

Legacy

Something about a house being in the Gates family for a few generations just feels right to me. In the three months later epilogue, the motivation Ben gives for choosing the house is a historical one. Riley put it, "someone did something in history and had fun."

It makes sense to me that the Gates family would cultivate a similar sense of history in their own home, even if they don't consciously realize that they're doing it. It's also just practical? In both the first and second movies, we see how much stuff each one of them has. Being a treasure hunter is, for the Gates family anyway, also being a collector. They need somewhere to keep all of that stuff, and a big old federal revival house in D.C. seems like just the thing.

Idk, I just like the idea.

What do you think?

[razor-tits]

A very long and over due life update.

So, to start this off I guess I need to back up. Let's start in October. It feels like yesterday but also a lifetime ago. Things were...ok I'd say. Boring, routine, the only shake up was my hormones ran out and my job was changing our insurance, so I had to cancel my follow up appointment for bloodwork and a refill. But then I got some bad news from my parents.

My dad had a heart attack and was in the hospital. He was ok, but he needed surgery. First they thought just a stent, but then decided he needed a triple bypass. I have a pretty good relationship with my parents, but we're kind of distant. I live a few hours away and only see them around the holidays but we talk on the phone weekly. My dad can lean a little on the conservative side but both of them are the absolute salt of the earth. They're done so much to help me and I felt powerless to be able to help. I couldn't leave work and felt like there was nothing I could do.

The next couple weeks were rough, my dad was staying in the hospital, my mom was going back and forth staying with him and taking care of my grandma, who is in her late 80's and has a litany of health issues. On a Friday I finally managed to make the drive home and spend the weekend there. Seeing my dad laid up in a hospital gown tied to machines is something i'll never forget. He could get up and move and acted like he was ok. But he's one of those guys you meet and you think he's invincible. The kind of guy that put a new roof on our house with a broken finger and can't turn away a stray animal at the door. Some family members I hadn't seen in a long time came and went over the weekend. Thoughts of our own mortality set in and I realize this could be the last time I see any of them.

I've lost people before. Some of them suddenly and unexpectedly. Others who's death was almost a sigh of relief after fighting for so long. I never got to say goodbye when my friend died and I hope he knows how much he meant to me. I don't want to feel that again, ever.

The day of surgery came. He was in the OR for 3 hours but it felt like an eternity and a second at the same time. A few hours after that my mom and I were able to see him. He was extubated already, which was a good sign. But he was on heavy medication, incoherent, coming in and out of sleep. But he knew I was there and that's all that mattered.

I had to leave and make my way back to my parents to get my dog, and then make the 2 hour drive back to Ohio and go back to work in the morning. At this point I knew my dad would be ok, he just had to get through recovery. But now thoughts of my own health were worrying me. I'm not in the best shape, I don't exercise or work out. I've already had surgery to fix stomach problems. Everyone on my dad's side has heart problems, and everyone on my mom's side has cancer and diabetes. There's not much I do to prevent any of that. I'm in my 30's and I feel it, maybe more than I should.

Over the next couple months my mental health continues to fall. I had a birthday and spent it sick, as I always seem to do. It's always a rough time of year for me. Seasonal depression kicks in, I get older, and another year passes. My dog, my best friend, the reason I kept myself alive, is getting old. I see it more and more every day and it breaks my heart.

The holidays came and went. I saw my grandma for the first time in a few years. Always wondering if it will be the last. Despite that, this year I never felt less in the holiday spirit. I used to love this time of year, now I desperately try to enjoy it, but part of me just wants it to be over. The best part seems to be a few days off work.

At this point it should be noted I have not restarted hormones. My identity has always been more in flux than i've let on, and maybe that needs to be it's own post, but I don't know if I want to start again or not. I don't know what I want, I don't know what my goals are. I don't know who i am. Beyond basic hygiene, I really don't even feel like taking care of myself most days. I pretty much always feel melancholic. I'm not angry, I don't get excited, I don't have much joy. My sex drive is non existent and I have no desire to do...well, anything.

New year's comes and I honestly couldn't care. It feels like another day. My gf and I go out and have an Ok time. I'm just so tired all the time it's hard for me to go out and enjoy myself like I used to.

And then, a couple days ago my landlord calls. We have to move out. Not sure when, but probably soon. I'm heartbroken and panicking over it. We absolutely love our house. We've only been here about a year and a half but it's been wonderful. It has plenty of room, privacy, it's quiet. We can leave our doors unlocked and packages aren't stolen off our porch. We're allowed both of our dogs and all 3 of our cats with no issues. We've invested so much time and money here. My gf is close with the owners and their children, who were the previous tenants. We even thought about trying to buy this house off of them when their other kid moves out of the downstairs apartment. And it's affordable. Anything else like what we have now will cost double and we can't afford that.

Our last apartment was tiny, cramped, dark and ran by an awful property investment company. And now we have to deal with that again. If we can even find a place where we can take 5 animals. We can hide 2 of the cats, but not all of them. We're in no position to buy nor do we have the time to go through the process. My gf said we may have to find 2 different apartments and live separately for a while. Just the thought of that brings me to tears. I can't live without her, I can't live without our pets. We're a family. I don't know what to do.

Since I got the phone call I've done nothing but panic, contact rental agencies and weigh my options. None of them are good. Best case scenario is we move in a smaller, worse place, paying more rent.

Nothing is going right for me. I know this isn't insurmountable and nothing that people haven't gone through before. But...god damn I need a break and I can't get one.