#home insurance claim tips

[digitaltechpro]

what is home Insurance?

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[champstorymedia]

Life Insurance 101: Breaking Down the Basics of Policy Terms

Understanding life insurance can often feel overwhelming, with various policy terms and options to consider. In this comprehensive guide, we will break down the basics of life insurance policy terms to help you navigate the world of life insurance with ease. What is Life Insurance? Life insurance is a contract between an individual and an insurance company, where the insurer agrees to pay a…

[annakie]

Let's Spend Lots of Money!

Back in June I posted about how after a huge storm rolled through, I was without power for over five days and then talked about all the insurance and stuff going on.

Well, things have progressed since then!

Would you like to read/see pictures of exterior home renovation? This is the post for you! Warning: It's really long! And the story isn't done yet!

Here's a cut for extreme length!

PART ONE: The To-Do List

When it was over, at the end of my post, I posted some To-Do's:

Call Plumber - Done, and I thought the problem would be solved for another year or more.

Get garage door serviced. Done. The guy I called was clearly trying to rip me off. He told me immediately that I needed new springs, and when I pushed back and pointed out how shiny and new my garage springs were, because they were less than five years old, and they just needed to be tightened, he tried telling me that it's not possible to tighten garage door springs, something I knew for a fact was bullshit. I pushed back on him and was about to tell him to just leave when instead he had me sign a thing saying that he couldn't promise that fixing the springs would fix the problem and if I called them out again it would be another service call fix instead of guaranteed work. In the end, I got what I wanted but paid too much and marked that company in my phone as "never call again." The work they did do was fine, but screw them.

Get Handyman to take care of the fallen tree - Check, a day or two after power came back. I tipped him extra for it, too, because he always takes care of me. My insurance lady told me what I paid was quite inexpensive for the job.

Work with Insurance - Yep! We'll get to that.

Talk to my neighbors about the fact that I’m going to get a wood fence put up to replace our chain link one. YEP. We'll get to that, too.

Get the electrician back to wire up the house for a generator. Nope. Not yet. But someday.

Buy a generator Not yet, but again, someday.

Clean out the garage, for real. Maybe when it's not 100 degrees out every day again. But yeah, on the list, for multiple reasons.

So yeah... the last six weeks or so have been a trip.

PART TWO: Getting Money

One of the things I did when I didn't have power was see that we could file a claim with FEMA for disaster assistance. I figured... why not. A day or two after I got power back, a FEMA inspector lady called and then came to the house. I pointed out all of the things. I ended up getting a little bit from FEMA. Not a ton, but honestly, I was grateful. Anything helped.

Later that week, or maybe the next, my insurance sent an adjuster. Crazily she was flown down from another part of the country, she was living in the exact town that I grew up in. Like it is not a huge town. Not "small" but also just not somewhere you'd expect to meet someone from on the reg. So we had a good time chatting about the city when she came to inspect the house.

Insurance gave me an OK amount. My roof was old so they only paid out 40% of the replacement cost. And yeah, that's about what I got from them them with the final price when it was all said and done.

PART THREE: Finding Help

My roofer initially seemed great. I was excited to work with him. When the insurance came, instead of him coming, he sent an "assistant" who didn't really seem like he knew much of what he was doing or was very helpful. But hey, you know what? right after a storm like that, they're gonna be busy.

Several times over the next couple of weeks I texted him asking how things were progressing on just getting me a quote. He sent a whole other guy over like two weeks later for the fence quote. He barely seemed interested to be there. Um, okay. He also wouldn't even give me a ballpark at the time. Whatever.

Two weeks after that I hear from the roofer that he's almost done with my quote. By then it was the weekend before July 4th.

I'd gotten the money from the insurance. I'd sent the documentation of their payout to the roofer and made it clear I had a sum of cash above that (not exactly how much) to come out of pocket, and a priority list for the work to be done. My best guess is that he figured my business wasn't worth as much time as other people's, so I kept getting shuffled to the bottom of the stack. OK. His prerogative. Fair. But I was at the limit of my waiting, considering how bad my roof was.

My across the street neighbor had told me that she had her roof redone a year or two ago who she said did a good job, and he'd come to see how her roof fared from the storm and told her to give me his number if I wanted him to look at it. So when I didn't hear from my roofer after July 4th week, I went and asked her for the number, then texted Joel, the new roofer.

Anyway, Joel came out the next day. I showed him all the work I'd been approved for. He and I negotiated a price and materials for the roof. A price was set that was right about what I thought it should be.

Still had some money leftover in the budget so I asked about a fence, specifically an 8' Cedar fence. His quote was $1k more than I was hoping it would be, but honestly, still what I thought was a good deal.

He also mentioned a price for the patio roof. I was at my hoped-for spend limit and would get back to him about the patio roof.

In the end, I pulled a little more money together and told him to go for it.

That was Tuesday and Wednesday.

Original Builder sent me my quotes on Wednesday. How nice. Too late. Also they were like 30% higher than what I settled on with Joel. He just emailed them, didn't even bother to follow up with a text.

I had a polite response planned out in my head if he'd texted or called. But he didn't. Oops, I guess I didn't see that email.

PART FOUR: The Survey Drama

Thursday, Joel and his main builder came out, tore out the chain link fence and started putting up 10' poles for the 8' fence (2' of which is buried in concrete in the ground.)

Joel also told me that he needed a copy of my land survey for the build permit, which I should have from when I bought the house.

I spent a good hour searching through every document I had from when I bought my house in 2003 looking for it. And I felt I'd pretty much kept everything. I had my bids on houses I didn't win in there. I had notes that I took back then.

I did not have a survey. Well... shit.

So, I started by looking at the city website online. The city does not keep copies of surveys.

So I tried calling my mortgage company. Except oops they went out of business in like 2010.

Getting real panicked, I threw a hail mary and went to look up my Title company. They'd been bought out in like, 2007. But there were a couple of people working under franchise names of that company still. A total longshot, but I called the person nearest me.

That very nice man said he couldn't help me BUT I should call the home office. He gave me the name and number of a lady named Kim.

So I called Kim, and she was very very sweet. And extremely doubtful she had anything on file, but she would get with the records department and look.

A half hour later she called back. THEY'D FOUND IT. Holy crap. Even she was astonished.

I thanked her profusely and asked her to thank the records department. A few minutes later, the survey was in my email. And hey, it had my signature from 2003 on it! I sent that over to Joel and we got the permit. WHEW. Work continued.

I printed out three copies of the survey and emailed it to myself at two other email addresses.

PART FIVE: Communication

I texted my neighbor on the side where the fence would be built (the other neighbor had built their fence, also an 8' cedar fence, like 20 years ago, so hey, at least I only had to pay for two full sides and two fronts.

Technically I text with their daughter, as her parents don't speak English. They knew that this was coming and were cool with it. They knew the fencer would need to do some work in their yard and that there would be no fence for a little while. I asked Joel to please help minimize the time there was no fence for their dog (a pitbull, she's very sweet) to be penned in by.

Just want to say my neighbors are saints. They were very cool with everything, though I sent them many apologies. It was especially frustrating because we took the fence separating our yards down on Friday and there was no full fence put back up all weekend. It couldn't be avoided, though. Just wish the days had gone by faster. They could only let the dog our on the leash for those days. I asked (daughter) several times what I could do to say I'm sorry and thank you and they were really just kind and chill about it anyway. I am still thinking of something I could do for them, though, once this is all over. My initial thought is a small basket of dog toys and treats for the pupper.

I also started discussing paint stain colors for the fence with Joel, and let my neighbors help me make a decision, since they'd have to look at it, too. In the end, we decided to go with the same brown color that the fence on my other side already was. I kinda wanted to go with maybe a dark grey, which would also match the neighbors house well, but that's what they wanted and having a color match was my other main choice, and probably the right one, even if it doesn't match with our houses.

Mostly I'm glad my good relationship with my neighbors is intact.

PART SIX: CONSTRUCTION BEGINS!

Okay yeah so Thursday some poles got put up. Friday the rest of them got put up. Joel is mostly coordinating everything, the main builders are Jose and his wife Maria. Neither of them speak English and my High School and College Spanish were uh, 30 years ago but I retained a decent amount. Mostly though, we communicate through whatever sentences I can piece together and a lot of Google Translate. We have had entire conversations through Google Translate. It's great.

Saturday the work on the poles were finished and Sunday no work got done... I mean... it's Sunday. It was only annoying because of my neighbors having to take care of the dog and I felt bad about it.

Over the weekend I also picked out roof shingles. I got an architectural single, which is a nicer shingle. I wanted a medium-grey color -- I never liked the light grey my old roof was, I didn't pick it out, though I know lighter is probably cooler. I picked what I thought was a nice compromise.

PART SEVEN: Roof Day One

AKA my new Skylight.

Monday I woke up stupid early for no reason. But it was fine that I did because at 6:30am the doorbell rang. The roofers were here. And they got started right away.

It... was loud. I knew it would be but I don't think I was quite prepared for how loud.

But I had little to do after welcoming them, so I mean, when it was time for me to work (my job is 100% WFH still, yay!) I just got to work, doing my best to ignore the noise and hoping they wouldn't fall in on me. The cats were terrified and hiding, curled up together under my recliner in the living room, their normal safe place. I put food, water and their litter box in there, closed the door 90% of the way, and let them be.

Anyway, here I was, working away in my office and at about 10:15 am, there was a bright light and a foot in my ceiling.

First and most importantly, he is fine! He slipped and his leg fell through. It wasn't the end of the world, and MOST important, he CRAZILY fell through right above my very tall bookcase, the tallest piece of furniture I own. Instead of falling completely through the ceiling, he "stepped" two feet down, and his foot caught on the bookcase, and he pulled it right back up. If this had happened ANYWHERE else, it might have been a LOT worse.

Joel and Jose came in and assessed the situation and Jose said no problem. For about three hours the hole remained, until Joel came back from Home Depot with some drywall, and I had a funny story to tell all my friends, co-workers and family. That angle in that pic up there is literally an angle from where I sit while I work all day. Lots of fun comments about my new skylight and terrible puns from my brother.

It currently looks like this:

You can see the scuffs on the wall from the guy who fell's shoe!

Jose came in and got the drywall on and the spackle in. There was a crack already from the window to the ceiling, from the house settling, so he just went ahead and spackled that, too.

I actually have the paint can for that paint in my garage, so I handed that over to them to paint match.

Honestly, aside from being glad the worker is OK, I do not get upset over stuff like this as long as it gets fixed, and it well, so it's fine!

There's a similar hole in my garage ceiling, too, which still needs fixing.

The roof workers worked from 6:30am until 9pm. It was 100 outside that day. They were amazing.

This was taken Mid-day when they were eating lunch.

I not only was getting new shingles, but new decking (aka the wood that the shingles rest on that is connected to the rafters. I know they didn't redo the decking in 2003 when I bought the house and they put the cheapest roof possible on it before selling it to me. Joel confirmed that there were several rotting places in the decking and I saw a few pieces myself. And under in the attic the decking they installed a Thermal layer for more insulation that wasn't there before.

I did have good insulation installed pretty early, like 2005, so at least when the power has gone out since it's stayed nicely warm/cool depending on the season.

I had some old whirly type vents coming out of the house. Several of them were either broken or uh... very squeaky. Especially when it was cold, one of them had a definite squeak that you could hear outside and it was mortifying if my neighbors could hear it. That one, or maybe another one, rattled really badly when it was windy, too. TBH I would just put in my headphones to sleep sometimes because of roof noise the last year or two during very cold or windy nights.

Well, the roofers got rid of all of those. In place, they put a ridge vent, which basically means a tiny gap along the entire top ridge of the house, covered up by a special shingle. I learned all about it when I watched a Youtube about it the next morning after looking at it and going "WTF is that little bump?" Anyway, no more loud squeaky/rattling vents for me. My house is modern now. :D

So anyway, Monday night they finished getting roofing over the entire house, but the garage still wasn't done.

This was taken early Tuesday morning, there'd been tarps over the garage that night. There was no rain forecast, so everything was cool.

PART SEVEN POINT FIVE: No Internets (Part 1)

This is part 7.5 because I had to come back and add it in later when I forgot to add it until I was almost done writing, and I don't feel like correcting all the section titles, but it is absolutely part of the story.

Monday early evening as they were hurrying to finish getting roofing over at least the house part of the roof they got some of the garage done. Around 7pm there was a blip where my internet went out, but it came back.

And then at like 8:15 as they were finishing, it went out and DIDN'T come back.

I did all the normal troubleshooting things, put in a ticket with my provider, and called tech support.

Eventually I got someone on the line who asked me to make sure everything was plugged in, what, like I'm some kind of idiot? I work in IT! I know what I'm doing! But, I humored her. And she reminded me that there's not only the box on the outside of my house, but also the one in the garage, could I please check to make sure that was plugged in?

OK Sure. Constructions been going on, I'll humor her.

So anyway, I had forgotten the the box in the garage was plugged into an outlet in the ceiling that had been put there for my garage door. It had come completely out in all the banging from the roofers.

OK no problem, right? I'll just plug it back in, and voila! Internet!

Um except the plug is right above my car, like dead center.

OK sure, just gotta move my car!!!

...except there was a dumpster in my driveway, riiiight behind my car. I couldn't move my car more than a foot if I tried.

I spent like 10 minutes trying to reach it with my stepladder (nope not even close) or maneuver it back in with a broom handle (lol noooo chance) and gave up.

I took this pic just now for illustrative purposes. The plug is now plugged back in. But yeah, I had to cancel my Monday night PF2e game from last of Internets.

In the morning, I overslept, and they rang the doorbell to let me know they were there. I saw Joel and waved to him, and one minute later I went back outside to tell him about the internet problem. He was gone. I texted him, didn't hear back. It was getting close to work time, so I called him and he'd left as soon as he saw I was home and ready for the workers to work. I didn't realize he was so far away already, but he still turned around, came back in, and figured out a way to plug the plug back in without standing on my car. I was a half hour or so late to logging into work but it all worked out. Just a little bump in the road. I felt bad that he had come come back from wherever he went, too. I swear I looked for him a MINUTE after I saw him that morning!

Part EIGHT: Fencing!

While the roofers roofed, Jose and Maria were busy with the fence. And by the end of the day Monday, they had most of the neighboring fence with the dog put up.

In the picture in part 7 above, on the left is the fence that's been there 20 years. You can see that those neighbors put the "ugly" part of the fence with the poles and boards on my side.

Honestly I've been mad about it for the 20 or so years it's been up. Not like super mad, I never talked to them about it, but I just thought it was really shitty of them to do that. I've always tried hard to be as kind and thoughtful to my neighbors as I could be and wouldn't have dreamed of doing that if I had put the fence up first.

In the alley and the other side of their house, the pretty side is the outside and the ugly side is inside. But on THAT ONE SIDE, they gave me the ugly side. Never talked to me about it, never consulted me about the fence, it just went up one day and I was left to deal with it.

I've always even since been kind about granting them access to fix their fence and am on good terms with the wife of the couple of who lives there. And when my house was broken into in 2011 the husband heard it happen and called the police and gave a statement, which I thought was very good of them, the police were able to get my house sealed back up somewhat so when I came home a few hours later the damage as minimized.

So yeah, I'm not sure why I got the ugly side of the fence from them. Also like, it seems way easier to climb that side of the fence so all they did was make their own yard less secure? I didn't want that! A big part of wanting an 8' fence was more security!

Anyway, it was important to me to not make my other neighbors look at the ugly side of the fence. Also, I just figured why not have it look the same all the way around? And again, the security issue.

But also... like two or three years ago the neighbors on that side put up sheds on their property... and backed them right up to the property line. Again, no discussion with me, they just did it, and by the time I saw it, happened it was too late to change anything.

I wasn't super happy with it because of this scenario right here.

Sunday Joel and I had a long conversation about what to do about it, and I was still committed to wanting the ugly side on the inside. But they literally couldn't hammer back there to get the fence up behind the sheds.

In the end, we went with an, admittedly weird, compromise.

Note that that side of the fence goes that far back so that both of the windows on that side of the house are inside the fence. Again, security.

So yeah, the fence swaps facing mid-way for just the part where their sheds are. I still have mixed feelings about it but honestly, it's fine. I wish it could look completely the same all the way around, but, it works OK this way. Maybe I should have made the neighbors look at the ugly side the entire way, but the security issue was important in my mind... even though tbh anyone who really wanted to could just climb up on my neighbors sheds and hop over. It's a little weird and I guess technically I gave up a few inches of unusable property there, but it's a compromise I can live with any whoever buys the house after me can live with it, too.

Honestly at this point, can't wait for them to finish the fence all-around because I feel like I can barely sleep knowing all this expensive STUFF is just laying around my wide-open yard.

It's also real dumb because my 4' chain link fence kept no one past five years old out of my yard, it wasn't even padlocked, and yet I feel less secure with no fence.

This is what the back of the fence looks like right now (Thursday morning) and has since... I think Monday or maybe Tuesday. Joel's had problems sourcing more of the right boards. The gap on the left is, of course, where the back gate will be. I do feel better having it like, two-thirds done at least. there's also no gate on the front yard yet, either, which will just be flush with the end of the fence there.

PART NINE: The Patio Begins!

The roofers were done with their parts Wednesday afternoon. And I love the roof so much, but I'm going to hold off on posting pictures of that quite yet!

The patio roof before, if I had to guess, was built in the 1980s. The roof itself was just a big piece of corrugated metal, held up by some OK-built wood beams and ironwork pillars in the front. It was fine, it was functional. You can see in this pic from last month pretty well the construction and also how it was getting holes in it.

The wood was also really starting to rot. There were a couple of places where it barely still connected because of wood rot. I'd guess within 5 years it would have been falling down. It was definitely time for a new one, and the price Joel gave me I thought was really fair for a patio roof of the same quality.

Well, I was wrong about the quality.

When Jose ran out of wood for the fence, he and Maria got started on the patio. First, they demo'd it.

Oh hey, also first look at the new roof color.

That's how my patio looked all Tuesday night to Wednesday morning. You can clearly see in that second picture some of the wood rot. Here's some more of it.

That piece on the upper left I'm pretty sure was the part right over my patio door that I had to look at basically like, all the time. It was disintegrating.

So yeah, I was so glad to see that go.

A couple of years ago, when the big tree near my house was still there, it hadn't gotten trimmed recently and there was an ice storm. The tree branches swung low and the icy branch ends were smacking against that metal roof in the wind. It was loud and spooky. I had to go sleep in the living room that night from the sound. I really didn't like that metal roof.

I'm never going to have that problem again, since no tree there (for now...) but also the construction of the new patio roof is very different.

We'll get back to that.

PART TEN: Crazy Wednesday

Wednesday morning began with me realizing that all the banging and knocked one of the lights off of my bathroom ceiling. No problem, Let Joel know, it'll get fixed.

Jose and Maria finished up the demo of the patio roof (chunks of it are still in my yard).

I honestly had no idea what they were planning to do to replace it. Joel just told me to trust him, it's going to be great. OK!

The next thing I knew they're cutting into my house. WTF? Trust me, Joel said, it's gonna be great. OK!

Tuesday the sewer had started backing up again. God damnit, it JUST HAD backed up and I had it cleaned a month and a half ago when I got power back. So I called the plumbers, they were scheduled to come out that afternoon.

Just another thing I didn't need, but whatevs. I had a very productive morning for once this week while working, at least.

In the early afternoon, they had started to demolish more of the patio than I expected. They cut through some of the eaves, and took some of the facing off of the house where I wasn't expecting.

The plumber also arrived and was doing his thing. He then told me that my entire sewer was fine, I didn't have a stoppage. He took me out in the alley, though, and showed me that there WAS a stoppage outside the property line in the alley, and told me to put in a ticket with the city.

Kinda hate that it cost me $350 to find that out, but mostly it was a bit of a relief that it wasn't actually my problem.

I went back inside, put in a ticket with the water department, and got back to work.

Then, weirdly, my internet went down again a half hour or so later.

I checked all of the connections, then got a sinking feeling. I went outside and saw more stuff cut down and in that stuff was... a wire. I looked inside that wire and yeah... that's an internet cable.

That's a terrible picture but you can see some of the facing it came out of, lol.

Literally as I was taking that picture, a guy from the water department walked up to me and told me that there was indeed a stoppage in the alley. Because some kid had unplugged the cleanout line behind my house and dropped a baseball down there. The baseball was probably stopping up the entire block.

They couldn't get it out, so they were putting in an emergency ticket to dig up the line, and pull it out. I wouldn't have sewer for a day or so.

I think the "How SCREWED AM I with all of this going on!?" look on my face (though I was very polite and not upset with him obviously) paired with the state of my yard and the work being done gave me some sympathy -- he assured me I didn't have to pay for it, and he'd let me know when things would stop.

Ooooohkay.

It also started to drizzle a little at that point, but it never actually rained and work didn't have to stop, thankfully! Instead, Jose and Maria had a lovely overcast day in the 80's to work in. I had been worried about them the last couple of days and had supplied them with a big box of water (From a water delivery service) and big cups of ice to make sure they were well hydrated.

I went back in my house, laid down on the couch, and tried putting in a ticket with my internet company. The chatbot wouldn't let me do it, so I called and sat on hold for 45 minutes just staring at the wall. This was A Lot.

I also let my boss and Eric, my friend/co-worker who lives nearby know. Eric was up at the office today, but told me he was about to come back home and would bring me a hotspot, so I'd have SOME internet.

While I was laying on the couch, the doorbell rang. It was the water guy, and with a big smile on his face he told me that his coworker was able to use some tool to get the baseball out! There'd be no sewer work needed and things were flowing freely.

Fiiiinally, a break.

Eventually got to talk to a real person on the phone with the internet company, and not long after Eric arrived with the hotspot. I showed him around the mess a bit. After over an hour "break", I got back to work.

And as of Thursday morning, I'm still on the hotspot. But this one is pretty fast, and it has a network jack, so I even got to run my Wednesday night D&D game off my PC last night. What a relief.

Internet company should be here this afternoon to fix stuff. I'm probably going to have to pay for that, though.

The other great news is that somehow i didn't even notice that the gutter contractor had been here, done his job and left!! I don't even know when he was there/did his job, and my office is the front of the house! Maybe he did it when I was laying on the couch in the living room!? It was FAST, though. Joel just called to tell me to go outside to look, and WOW. He'd said they might do black gutters. I was unconvinced but trusted him.

He was so very, very right.

Anyway, finally, here's a pic of the front of the house, with the new roof and black gutters.

Holy crap, what a difference. My house almost looks fancy now. Almost. The shingles are so gorgeous.

You can see that ridge vent pretty well there. And that's with the old white gutters obviously. The black gutters give the house a really striking and defining line that really pops.

Here's a quick comparison with the old roof and gutters:

A truly amazing difference. And yeah I need to paint the garage door. Going to actually get to that now.

PART ELEVEN: The Patio Continued.

SO! They got so much done, and although there's a lot to do, I am already so well pleased.

The reason they were cutting into it so much was because they'd determined that the best course of action was to have hte patio become a part of the roof, and it would be built on a similar slant instead of just a flat piece of metal. Instead, it would just be a full roof anyway.

The posts are huge, thick wooden posts, which Joel tells me will be covered when they're done.

The roof is literally... the thermal barrier, decking and will be the same siding as the roof I already have.

This is what it looks like as of last night...

They did accidentally also break the light cover over my porch light so that'll need to be replaced, but it's small potatoes.

I still don't have a full picture of what it's going to look like, and I'm so excited for it. It's going to look so nice. I've loved the work Joel and Jose/Maria have done so far and honestly trust them completely with whatever now. The quality is fantastic and despite the little hiccups, things are actually, honestly going well.

I'm going to post this now and report back in a couple of days when it's done! I'd planned on holding off until it was ALL done, But this is post is already long enough!

This has been one of the biggest money commits I've ever done, after buying my home and buying cars, but honestly, totally worth it.

Gonna suck if I end up selling the house to gtfo of Texas in the next couple of years, but at least it'll sell for more if it looks this good!

[patriamrealm]

Today was a good day. Nobori kept his eye on the boy running around with his cloak while he hooked a cooking pot to to the upper support of the newly built yurt. The other wardens were busy with their own duties finalizing their work on the yurt outside. It had only been one week since Lian’s Warden ceremony. Per custom all the older wardens aided in creating the boy’s home in in the Heartwoods.

They were nearly done but it was his duty to both ensure the inside of the yurt had everything it needed in its proper place as well as keep the newest warden from going outside. He was not to see the painting the others were doing until they were finished. Pulling on the hanging metal he insured that it was not about to fall anytime soon. Once satisfied he settled down near the unlit hearth.

Grey eyes watched Lian spin about making the old damaged cloak flair. He couldn’t help a small crackling chuckle at how the boy was drowning in the fabric. Brown eyes snapped to him

“What? What’s so funny?” Lian asked and plopped down before him head slightly tilted with a grin.

“Oh nothing, just thinking about how only 5 years ago you were causing everyone so much trouble.” The boy gasped dramatically in false offense.

“I did not cause trouble!” He leaned back with his exclamation.

Nobori laughed loudly and took the hat from his own head to tug it down Lian’s head, happy with the laughter it got out of the 10 year old.

“Oh you were such a troublemaker, I seem to recall finding you out in freezing temperatures completely alone harassing the Pokémon. However, I am proud of how far you have come and I am excited to see what heights you reach next.” His voice undercurrent with a proud rolling chime.

Lian pulled the hat down further over his eyes and groaned, Nobori could see the tips of his ears turn a rosy red.

“You’re such a grandpa” and Nobori couldn’t help but laugh loudly. He couldn’t remember the age he must have died at, couldn’t even recall his own name still. Many assumed he had been an elder of 60 at the youngest and he didn’t know enough to refute it. He didn’t mind being called grandfather, all familial honorifics made his soul fire twist and burn warmer in his chest. Each time patching up the hole left behind from people he loved and lost but could not remember.

It reminded him that he not only had a community but a family. Reaching over he straightened the hat so it sat somewhat properly on Lian’s head, perhaps he should see about getting the child a hat of his own? But that was a thought for another day.

Palina chose that moment to poke her head in. A bright smile on the young woman’s face, paint splattered on her hands and face.

“Lian you can come out now, it’s time to claim your new space and duty” She stood aside as the boy jumped up and rushed out, the oversized cloak left behind in his rush. Nobori took his time, thanking Palina when she offered her assistance.

“Well then, let’s not keep them waiting” he chimed happily while draping the worn clothing apparel over an arm. Palina nodded and hooked an arm around one of his to lead him out. Yes today was a very good day indeed.

[girl-mercury]

sometimes your bestie tells you to get some fucking therapy

“I think you need to talk to someone,” Donna says.

“I talk all the time, I talk to you, I talk to your mother, I talk to the man who brings the mail —amazing arrangement, mail, not sure I ever stopped to appreciate— what do you mean I should talk to someone?”

“You know what I mean. A professional. A therapist or something.” 

“Donna! What the hell would I say to a therapist? Really. What would a human therapist have to say about my life? Nobody lives like me, Donna, nobody has these experiences, nobody studies these experiences in school—“

“You need someone!”

“I’ve got you! I’ve got you. And other friends. So many friends. That I’m actually seeing again. Or planning to. I really do plan to.”

Donna sighs. She feels old. Not in a tired sort of way, not in an ancient sort of way —actually, scratch that, she has a teenage daughter, she’s made to feel ancient five times before breakfast— but she feels old in a grown-up kind of way. The kind of grown up where you know what to say to make a dentist appointment, because it’s no longer your first time doing it after your mum’s made your dentist appointments your whole life. Being grown up means that there’s a lot of things you’re not doing for the first time, all scared and unsure what to say or what you’ll need. You’ve done this before. You’ve got this. 

The Doctor always runs, not just from his past but to new experiences. Constantly, new, new, new. It’s a glorious life, full of adventure. Donna’s lived it, and she loves it. It’s such a rush, to never know what you’re doing, but knowing you’ll throw yourself headlong into it regardless. But that’s not all there is. There’s beauty in layering one experience done a hundred times over on top of itself. Every morning she sees Rose’s beautiful face again, so happy now that she can show the face she feels is hers. Every kiss she shares with Shaun is the same as the million before it, all the way back to the first time they kissed, and isn’t that marvelous? The Doctor’s never around for the millionth time of anything. He’s already long gone. 

“Just think about it,” she says. “I can help find somebody, figure out what sort of person might get it. Maybe UNIT’s got some resources. I don’t know how long Time Lord burnout lasts, I think taking a break is really going well for you, but I know how you get in your head. Might be good to let it out.”

“How do you know what’s in my head, Donna Noble?” he asks, teasing, knowing the answer. 

“Cause I’ve been in there, Spaceman, and it’s a real tip,” she answers, grinning. 

He slings an arm around her neck and pulls her close, dropping a quick kiss on her head, and then Rose gets home from school, and there’s some shouting about homework before sewing her new batch of stuffed Adipose babies, and then Wilf rings and says somebody needs to come get him if he’s coming for supper, and then the phone rings again and Donna has to have her third argument of the week with the home insurance company about her claim for the damage the aliens did to the house, and the very ordinary day goes on. The Doctor slips out to go for a walk. 

He goes for a lot of walks these days. Trying to slow down from all the running. 

+ + +

It’s a few weeks later when he and Shaun are out at the pub, waiting for Donna to join them. The Doctor’s asking if Shaun would mind if he takes Rose on a little adventure to Egypt for her birthday. Shaun’s a little dry when he says, “Permission, eh?”

“Well,” says the Doctor expansively. “It’s up to her, really. Less permission, more… advance warning.”

Donna arrives, drops a kiss on Shaun’s lips, bumps her arm up against the Doctor’s. There’s a pint already waiting for her. “The Doctor’s going to have Rose running through pyramid trap tunnels chased by possessed mummies for her birthday,” Shaun tells her. 

“I didn’t say that!” the Doctor protests. “I don’t know that there’s going to be possessed mummies. Just… I do run into some gods, every time I’m there. Not really gods, but, well, you know how rumors get around.”

“Fine,” Donna says. “If I hear my daughter’s even ended up on the altar for being a human sacrifice, I will slap you so hard your face will spin back to the first one.” 

His eyebrows go up. If anyone could manage that, Donna could. 

Later in the evening, they’ve left, the Doctor is still sitting at one of the outside tables, talking to some other guy whose name he doesn’t know. They’re not drunk, just having the kind of deep conversation you can have with a stranger after three beers. 

“My friend, she thinks I need to talk to a therapist,” the Doctor says to his new friend. The man’s an American, just moved to London. He’s told him about adventuring through space, and  aliens have come through London enough times that someone having space adventures is plausible even to someone normal. Or maybe the guy thinks he’s bullshitting the whole thing. Impossible to tell, really. 

“Therapists can help,” the man says. He lights up a cigarette. “I’ve had to see one a few times, just to get me straightened out after shit’s happened.”

“I don’t know, I just don’t like talking about, you know. Stuff. Things.”

“Oh, yeah, the stuff and the things.”

“And I don’t know who would even have advice. They don’t have specialists in space adventurers, do they? Not to sound arrogant, really and truly, but no one else has this kind of life.”

The man’s taking a drag when the Doctor says this so plaintively, and he chokes, coughing before he can get out his laughing. And then he laughs some more, and the Doctor’s considering getting a little offended. “No, man,” the guy eventually gets out. “You’re in emergency services.”

“I’m in what?” 

“Like an EMT, or whatever people call them over here. The medical folks who ride in the back of the ambulance. You show up to a place, everything’s on fire, everyone’s yelling. You get people to safety, you find out what’s wrong with them, and you start helping. You help other people get things to stop exploding, you point the police at whoever caused the ruckus in the first place. You see people at their best, and you see them at their worst, not a lot in between. Then once it’s over, you go home, and sleep, and get up the next day, and go to the next place that’s on fire. Every day.”

“Well, I’m the Doctor,” says the Doctor. 

“Maybe a bit overqualified, then. But it gets to you. You do it because you function best under pressure, when everything’s urgent and lives are on the line, and then you keep doing it because it’s what you know how to do. Even when you’ve seen so many fucked up things that there’s this numb part of you that you’re afraid doesn’t feel anything anymore. People die when you’re doing everything to save them and it’s like you’re not even there, and then you realize you’re not there when you’re around the people you love, either, even though they’re happy and safe. Cause it all never stops being on fire.”

“What do you do then?” the Doctor asks.

The guy grinds out his cigarette in the ashtray. “Quit your job and move across the ocean,” he says. “Try doing something new. And see a therapist.”

“Ah.” 

“I might have a number for someone you could call, make an appointment with, if you wanted it.”

The Doctor doesn’t think he’s going to call, but he takes it anyway. 

You never know.

[cuprohastes]

The day after Tomorrow™

Let’s look at the world of 2040 - Hey y’all, if you want to help out and hum the Twilight Zone theme, that’d be great, kthanx.

Let’s look at Eric. Eric is a perfectly normal woman. She’s got $10,000 in bitcoin which would only cost $11,000 to convert to $USD which is now electronic only.

Last week she was told she had to work 20 hours overtime at her 60 hour a week job, or the access to AmazonCoin would be revoked. Her account balance of AZ4,200 is needed to pay her Amazon Health and Amazon home subscriptions of AZ3,200.

She is of course free to spend or save the other AZ1,000 on whatever she likes frem the Amazon store. The 5% discount she gets goes towards her AZ1,500 per month grocery and food costs.

Her self driving Tesla isn’t available because three months ago some script Kiddies in Poughkepsie used TELNET to hack into it and drive it into the Pacific because Tesla HQ didn’t change the admin password.

But Eric did get a cool 30% off voucher for NeuroLink Earwürm X.

Pure audio beamed directly to your brain: No distortion, no hearing damage and if you pay the premium you can turn people’s voices off or stream audio from your phone and make calls!

Unfortunately three days ago that service was shut down and now Eric is deaf in one ear and needs cranial surgery to remove the chip which is slowly leaking into her skull bones - And just after she paid for a year of premium!

So that overtime is sounding good right now!

She calls a Waymüber, gets in, gives it directions, confirms them, declines to tip and is driven around in a circle for 4 hours, which is then automatically charged to her account after she eventually gets the ChatGPT powered support agent to stop the car.

She’s left in the middle of an abandoned neighbourhood 60 miles away from work, who just fired her for being more than 10 minutes late.

A friendly pair of criminal offer to murder her for AZ2,000 so her next of kin can claim on her life insurance, but she doesn’t have the money. They talk a bit, and she tries to negotiate the price down but sadly they can’t budge: It’s the economy.

[morbidology]

Susan Wright was born on the 24th of April, 1976, in Houston, Texas. She briefly worked as a topless dancer before finding employment as a restaurant waitress in Galveston. It was here that she met her future husband, Jeff Wright. The couple eventually welcomed two children into their lives.

However, the tranquility of their relationship would soon shatter on the evening of January 13, 2000. What Jeff anticipated to be an ordinary night took a harrowing turn when Susan bound him to their bed. Immobilized and defenseless, he became the victim of a relentless onslaught. 

Susan stabbed him a staggering 193 times, using two different knives. Once the gruesome act was complete, she buried Jeff's lifeless body in their backyard. Ironically, the hole he had previously dug in the patio, intended for a fish pond, served as his final resting place. 

The following day, Susan proceeded to file a domestic abuse report, aiming to obtain a restraining order against her now-deceased husband. Upon returning home, she embarked on an effort to conceal the ghastly crime by painting the entire bedroom. Days later, Susan summoned her attorney, Neal Davis, to her residence and confessed to the murder. 

The grim discovery of Jeff's partially unearthed corpse, with ties fastened around his wrists and red wax adorning his body, added another layer of macabre details to the case. The intensity of Susan's stabbings was so severe that the tip of the blade was found lodged in Jeff's skull.

During the trial, Susan pleaded not guilty by reason of self-defense. Her defense attorney asserted that she had endured years of physical and mental abuse at the hands of her husband, ultimately resorting to killing him in an act of self-preservation for herself and their children. 

Susan claimed that she had not tied Jeff to the bed but had been present in the bedroom when he confronted her with a knife. In a startling display of strength, she alleged that, despite the significant physical disadvantage of being 5'5" compared to Jeff's 6'3" and 220lbs, she managed to overpower him, seize the knife, and deliver over 100 stab wounds. 

The prosecution, however, painted a contrasting picture, portraying Susan as a conniving spouse who orchestrated her husband's demise in pursuit of a $200,000 life insurance policy. Testimony from a friend of Jeff revealed that Susan had berated him over incorrectly filling out the insurance forms, causing delays in the process. 

The prosecution acknowledged that Jeff had his flaws, including struggles with substance abuse, but vehemently denied he was abusive toward Susan or their children. They argued that Susan's allegations of abuse only emerged after she had already taken his life, emphasizing that the domestic abuse report was filed a day after the murder.

In the end, the jury aligned with the prosecution's narrative, rejecting Susan's claims of self-defense. She was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison, which was later commuted to 20 years.

[ironmanfridgemagnet]

Sitting On The Shelf - Marcus White x Reader

Part 39 - Health Fund

SOTS Masterlist

In the 15 minutes you'd so far been in the break room waiting for your shift to start, Mateo had been whining and groaning non stop, his hand pressed tightly against his ear.

Garrett scoffed, letting go of the page he'd been reading over his breakfast. "Mateo, we get it."

Mateo turned to Garrett with a scowl settled on his face, deepened by his supposed friends lack of sympathy. "Okay, I can't help it. I have an ear infection."

The mention of an ear infection seemed to be the thing that captured Glenn's attention, swapping the sip he'd taken from his thermos as he leaned against the kitchen counter. "You know, whenever I get one of those, I put a little garlic oil in my ear. It takes away the sting, and you get to smell like the Pope."

Amy perked up from where she'd been filling on some paperwork next to you, eyes still on the paper as she spoke. "I'm telling you, a little VapoRub on a Q-tip and..."

Letting out a low laugh, you looked over your shoulder at her, back pressed agains the table top as you held your coffee in your lap. "Again with the VapoRub."

"It's a miracle drug!"

Your legs were outstretched and perched against the ledge of Marcus's seat. Though you made no move to move them into his lap, one of his hands helped to hold them in place, his thumb running over the frayed edges of your jeans. No one beside the two of you seemed to notice the closeness of your actions - something undone for months - and if they did they didn't comment on it. Not that you minded, you were quite happy to live in the peace of just you and Marcus for now.

"Oh, why don't you go to a doctor?" Kelly asked, a genuine suggestion coming from the blonde as though it wouldn't have been the first, most sensible port of call.

Mateo rolled his eyes, sulking as he sassed back at Kelly. "Our deductible is $4,000, so no."

"We don't have the best health insurance." Jonah explained, a tight lipped smile on his face as the reality of working at a cloud 9 settled on Kelly's face.

Mateo's frowned deepened, him wincing as yet another throb of pain struck him in the side of his head. "I get ear infections all the time, okay? It will go away."

Isaac, who Marcus had introduced you too when you sat at the table this morning, was new to the store - though it'd been explained to you he came in as one of the seasonal hires last Christmas - not that you'd have known, taking the day off to avoid Adam at all costs. "You got to rub breast milk on it. Breast milk helps anything. The problem is just finding breast milk."

Amy once again looked up from her paperwork in exasperation. "Why would you go looking for breast milk when we have VapoRub right here in the store?"

"Yeah, or root beer. A root beer fixes everything." The second time Marcus had come to your apartment, he tried to convince you to soak every surface in root beer to clean it if the old tenants. While you hadn't done so, it had worked to get some pretty bad stains out of the bathroom. "Gallstones, pinkeye, it'll clean your toilet. It's kind of the perfect food."

"I can back the clean your toilet claim; it looked like new didn't it Ames?" Amy silently nodded in response to your question, having been extremely surprised to see the difference in the state of your bathroom between the first and second time she'd come over.

Jonah brushed off you and Marcus's attempt as getting Mateo to use root beer, turning to him with a serious look. "You need antibiotics, not useless home remedies."

Garrett rolled his eyes at Jonah. "Says the guy who drinks apple cider vinegar every morning."

"That's so true!" You jeered, pulling the mug you held closer to your face as your tried to climb into its warmth. "I have a three gallon jug of it in my cupboard still. That stuff is nasty too J."

"No, no. That's good." Of course Jonah's me this had to be the right one. "That has, um, it's, I'm gonna look up the article."

As Jonah attempted to find the supposed article that would be in support of his claim, Amy stood from her seat, quickly opening her locker as pulling out a half-empty tub of her beloved VapoRub. "Okay, you can use some of mine."

Mateo shrunk into himself as Amy approached, the tub open and the rub already on her hands. "It's a bug repellant, it heals cuts. My grandma's using it to shrink her moles."

Dina turned away from the list of names she'd been writing on the whiteboard, hands on her hips as she was abhorred by Amy's statement. "Well your grandma's a moron."

Amy turned to Dina, her hand letting go of the reluctant Mateo. "Well the moles are shrinking, Dina, so who's the moron?"

"You don't mess with moles. You see a doctor." Dina argued, concerned by Amy's frivolous use of VapoRub for what could be a serious issue. "I recently had one removed."

A smile curled on Glenn's face at Dina's comment, thinking he finally had some ammunition to use against her in their hourly arguments. "Sounds like someone's had some work done. That's very Beverly Hills of you."

"No, Glenn, it was a melanoma, and we caught it early so guess who has two thumbs and is cancer free. Everybody but Dale." Glenn's faced dropped and paled at the explanation.

"Enzymes." Jonah cheered, looking up from his phone with newfound knowledge about why he did what he did every morning. "Apple cider vinegar has good enzymes."

————————————————————————

"Are you out of your mind? I can't give you meds without a prescription. I could lose my license, go to jail."

When Mateo had approached you about coming to ask Tate for some antibiotics with him, you knew that as much as you wanted to, you couldn't say no. Not only had Mateo done it for you in the past, but, you wouldn't curse anyone to interacting with Tate alone.

"Okay, sorry. Calm down." You were already inching away from the pharmacy at Tate's outburst, and the way he was now gesturing for the two of you to follow him, was making you want to run away.

"Uh, yeah, buddy. I can hook you up. So, you looking to get wasted or just a nice clean high?" Tate leant against the countertop, talking in a low whisper out of view of the camera.

Mateo seemed surprised by Tate's eagerness to help him, shuffling between his feet as he waited for what he needed. "Umm, just antibiotics."

Tate pulled out a large container filled with an array of pills, as he rummaged through the stock, he pulled out a handful, isolating the two oval shaped, yellow ones. "A.B.'s. Old school, I feel you. The thing about pills is they're so tiny, they're hard to keep track of. Sometimes I miscount."

"Oh, here we go. Expired amoxicillin." He placed the two pills into Mateo's free hand with a smile, chewing on the pill he'd just put in his own mouth.

"Thank you." Mateo pulled out his wallet, opening it and pulling out a $20 bill. "How much do I owe you?"

"A date with this hot mama." Tate pointed at you with a set of finger guns, dramatically winking at you as a smirk curled onto his lips. "Let me take you out tonight baby, I'll show you a good time. Promise."

"Ew." You hadn't meant to say the word out loud, but even if you hadn't, the complete look of disgust on your face would've conveyed the message enough. "I have a boyfriend."

"They always do." Tate replied, shaking his head. You weren't sure what you and Marcus were now, that night in the bathroom had been spent doing everything but discussing your relationship status, but it didn't hurt to call him that.

Tate turned back to Mateo, gesturing to his wallet and frantically asking him to put it away. "What? Are you crazy? You don't just hand me the money. Behind the Just for Men. Medium Dark Brown."

You and Mateo wasted no time in leaving pharmacy, and Tate behind, stuffing the money behind the Just for Men then running off to the opposite side of the store in hopes of avoiding Tate forevermore.

————————————————————————

Jonah had gathered as many people as he could around the tv display in electronics to discuss his idea that he'd claimed would fix the issue of making up a new charity for every staff sickness. You quickly taken a seat on the couch, pressed into Marcus's side with his arm across your shoulders, Kelly was in-front of you, her legs curled up in the space between you.

"So instead of relying on the jar method, we would each contribute 20 bucks a month, and then the fund grows, and then we pay it out..."

Marcus chirped up from beside you, you could feel his words as they vibrated through his chest, seeping into you through where your sides connected. "Slow your roll. This sounds like a pyramid scheme."

"Guys, this is not pyramid scheme, okay?" Jonah immediately got on the defensive, pressing his side into the tablet cabinet as he kept a safe distance from the crowd he'd gathered. "A pyramid scheme needs to recruit. This that's this is...technically, this is recruiting, but..."

Jonah turned to Amy for reassurance, her murmuring something in response that hadn't seemed to help him feel better.

Isaac scoffed, his arms folding across his chest. "Well I smell socialism, and we all know where that leads."

"Ah, high literacy rates, low infant mortality, increased quality of life, fjords." When Garrett phrased it like that, it clearly sounded so much worse.

Isaac scoffed at Garrett as if he'd missed the most important, obvious part of what would happen. "Uh, no, the government watching us on the toilet."

Amy finally spoke up from her place at the front next to Jonah, seemingly fed up of the shit show that had already been created by just the mention of some kind of communal, team built health fund. "Hey, guys, look. I know that this idea seems really not well thought out and that it's totally naive." Amy's never finished her sentence, taking a step back with a proud smile. "That's all I wanted to say."

Kelly quickly stood from her seat, pulling out a crisp twenty dollar bill and handing it to Jonah with a soft smile. "I actually think it sounds like a really good idea."

A smile finally formed on Jonah's own face. "All right. Thank you."

Marcus stood from the couch, your back hitting the cushion now his arm had gone, and approached Jonah while pulling out and opening his wallet. "You know what, I'm in too. If it is a pyramid scheme, at least I will be on the top, ahead of all these suckers."

Quickly joining the brunette at his side, you pulled out $20 yourself, handing it to Jonah with a sweet smile. "It doesn't hurt, right?"

"That is sound logic." Now that three of you had offered to put money in to the health fund, it seemed as though everyone wanted to put money in the health fund; person after person coming to Jonah with $20 in hand. "You know what, keep them coming. Spread the word. The more the merrier."

As each member of the gathered crowd joined to queue to pay into the health fund, Amy looked around astonished. "Wait, so nobody thinks that this is problematic?"

————————————————————————

Your hands gently held Mateo's head in place as Marcus cracked open the can of root beer. Somehow he'd convinced Mateo to try his 'fool proof' root beer method.

Mateo winced, trying to get away from the cool liquid as Marcus allowed a small amount to go into his ear. It was a good thing you'd been holding his head in place, otherwise the murky, brown liquid would've spilled all down his shirt. "Oh. Ah, ah. Oh. I can feel it fizzing."

A smirk formed on Marcus's face, dimpling his cheeks, as he took Mateo's reaction as a sign it was going good. "Oh, yeah. That means it's working." Taking a swig from the can, he let out a groan. "Oh, that's good root beer."

Both you and Mateo giggled at Marcus's action, your hands still cupping his head in place though you were 90% sure he didn't need to anymore. Marcus placed down the van behind him, pulling out a packet of tissues and passing them one by one to you. "We're going to give it another minute and then your going to need to press the tissue to your ear and swing you head over to get it out, okay?"

Though they weren't the clearest instructions in the world, Mateo seemed to understand, taking the tissue from your hand and holding it against his ear in preparation.

"You signed Jonah's card yet, y/n?" Marcus asked, holding out the piece of paper towards you with one hand and with a pen in his other. "It's to thank him for the health fund. Genius idea from my favourite little guy."

You didn't question the weird nickname, instead just taking the card from him and signing a simple message for your ever-inventing friend.

thanks for the health fund. can't wait for you to solve the pay gap. love you j <3

As Mateo tipped his head in the opposite direction to empty the root beer out of it, Amy approached the three of you, a very concerned look on her face. Though, before she could ask what on earth was going on, Marcus held the card out in her direction. "Hey. Have you signed Jonah's card yet?"

Amy attention was quickly taken away from you and Mateo and was focused on the piece of paper being held on her direction. "What card?"

"A "Thank you" card for coming up with the idea for the health fund. God, he's an adorable little hero. I signed mine from The Rock. I like to keep it light."

If you hadn't been wrapped up in Marcus's charm and effortless charisma, you have noticed the way Amy stormed away from you, or the way Mateo was already whining about his ear again. The only thing to break you from your daydream had been Marcus picking up the can of root beer, taking another swig before pushing Mateo's head back to how it had originally been. "Time for round two."

You'd hands quickly came to hold his head in place once more, this time your eyes meeting Marcus's as he poured the liquid into Mateo's ear. The heat in your cheeks from the simple gesture was burning hot.

"Guys! It's on my shirt!"

————————————————————————

"Guys, just, just..." No one could hear Jonah over the shouts and cries of everyone gathered in the break room, knowledge about the collapse of the health fund quickly circling the store after Sandra had gone around telling people she'd been kicked out in a violent rage.

Amy was quick to silence the commotion, wanting to get a grip on the break room while she still could. "Okay! Listen up. I know there are a lot of rumour's flying around about the health fund, but we are not kicking people out." Sighs of relief echoed around the room at the confirmation things were changing, however confusion quickly settled over the room again as Amy flipped the whiteboard around. "So we have Group A, and also for those with slightly more health requirements we have Group B."

"Each group is exactly the same, and also different." Jonah was quick to explain, riding on the quiet that had settled over the break room while he had the chance.

Amy hesitantly continued the plan she'd devised with Jonah, and all it had you thinking was why hadn't you been included? "Those in Group A will continue to pay $20 a month, and those in Group B, based on projected expenses... will pay $200 a month."

The break room was in uproar once more, everyone yelling at Amy and Jonah and even though seconds ago you'd been upset at the fact you'd been left out, now you'd never felt better about it.

Marcus, of everyone in the room, seemed to be one of the most upset. Reaching out for his hand, you intertwined your fingers under the table, running your thumb across the side of his hand in an attempt to calm him down. "We're both group A, that must be good."

Marcus didn't seem to take heed to your word, instead throwing your connected hands in the air in frustration. "I knew it. You two are trying to rip us off." He seethed, pointing accusingly between Amy, Jonah and the whiteboard. "You're sitting up there in your ivory towers eating your exotic fruits with two scoops of ice cream. You're bathing in gold."

"Nobody is doing any of those things." Amy assured, though the words had barely left her mouth before Jonah was pointing an accusing finger back at Marcus. Or rather your guys connected hands.

"I'm sorry, when did that happen?" To anyone else, it'd sound like he was judging the two of you, to you, it was clear he was upset you hadn't told him. "Are you two together again?"

Before you could address the question, Sandra angrily snapped. "You're just trying to distract us while you betray us!"

Garrett was quick to jump back on the bandwagon of the health fund hate, angrily addressing his roommate. "Yeah, hold up. How come I'm in Group B? Y'all Group-B'ed me?"

Jonah frowned, upset not only by the lack of acknowledgement from you and Marcus as to whether you were back together or not, but also from Garretts pointed glare. He thought you two trusted him. "Yes. But not because of the wheelchair. Because you eat too many Cheez-Its for one human stomach."

"Oh no, he's so right, Gare." Swivelling in your seat to face him, a smile curved up on your lips. "Remember last week? You ate some much candy corn that you thought it had re-joined together inside you and that you were going to die."

While you and Jonah both had a point, Garrett still seemed upset with the suggestion he'd been grouped in with people like Sandra and Isaac who were practically knocking on deaths door. "Oh, come on."

Isaac was the next to complain about the health fund and it's groups, shouting out with a whine. "This sucks. You have me in Group B with Sandra, and she has gout."

"Jesus Christ, Sandra, how many things do you have wrong with you?" You gasped. In all the years you'd known Sandra she'd never once spoke up about any of the things you'd heard she had wrong with her since this morning. It was boarding on unbelievable - bur she'd sent you the photos. You didn't think the images you'd seen would ever leave your mind.

"Well, what about Marcus? He shouldn't be in Group A." Sandra sassed back, standing from her seat as she pointed an accusing finger back at you. Your hand gripped Marcus's tighter, you eyes running over him in search of what could possibly be wrong that Sandra was accusing him of needing to switch groups. "His leg is messed up."

Marcus's leg couldn't have been messed up - there was no way that the three months you'd had off and three months you'd been back he'd messed it up enough to be in group B. Marcus let go of your hand, slowly bending over to reach for the leg of his coveralls and pull them up. "I've got a handle on it. Okay."

A gasp slipped out before you could stop if, your eyes unable to look away from the would that ran from Marcus ankle to his knee. "That looks infected!"

"Not a chance." Marcus reassured, letting his pant leg fall back down and his hands come to hold yours, running his thumb across your knuckles. "Every night I soak it in my apartment complex's hot tub, and chlorine will kill anything."

"That's so not right."

Jonah thankfully took the conversation away from Marcus's infected leg, redirecting the discussion the the health fund and everything they were planning to change about it. "Okay, guys, I know it's not perfect..."

————————————————————————

It had been 3 hours. 3 whole hours spent arguing back and forth between Amy, Jonah and the crowd gathered in the break room. Sandra had cried twice, Marcus and Jonah had almost got into a fight and you and Kelly had opted to leave to get away from the noise and grab snacks 6 times so far.

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. So if I'm Platinum Select, does that mean that I get the stuff in the Gryffindor tier?" Garrett asked between a mouthful of Cheez-Its, Jonah's reasoning for him being in group B being exhibited live in action. It was partly your fault, since you'd grabbed him a second bag on your fifth trip out of the break room with Kelly.

"No, no, if you want things in the Gryffindor tier, you need to upgrade either to the Platinum Ultra or the Platinum Blue." Jonah explained, pointing between the different payment plan options that had been created so far on the new and reinvented health fund.

Sandra raised her hand, not waiting for Jonah or Amy to acknowledge her before she asked her question. "I have a question. Who gave you the right to play God?"

Jonah let out a loud sigh, head thrown back in frustration as he once again addressed one of Sandra's ailments that the health fund would never be able to cover. "All I said was the fund can't pay for a live-in nurse. That doesn't mean I want to let Jerry die."

Sandra scoffed, folding her arms across her chest as she looked at Jonah in utter disdain. "Right, you're just not willing to lift a finger to help him. Understood loud and clear. Thanks Jonah."

"Okay, look, I get it up to Diamond Plus, but when you get down to Wall of Fire, it's like, "What?"" Kelly seemed completely frazzled by the scheme and it had you readying to leave for yet another snack trip. The constant talking and rustling was beginning to get to be too much for you.

Isaac took the moment of silence to once again give his unsolicited opinion of how the health fund should be run. "Guys, we're making it too difficult. We just got to simplify. Cover everything, exclude no one, and make it affordable."

Everyone seemed to agree with Isaac, though few of them seemed to understand just how impossible of an idea that would be based on everyone who was currently in the break room contributing to the fund.

Marcus took a stand in the front of the room, silencing the people agreeing with Isaac and taking charge of the conversation with a simple command. "Okay, okay, okay." If you weren't already head over heels for him, the way he'd commandeered the room into solve would've had you falling for him. It didn't help either that he looked so good from this angle. "It seems to be the problem is that some of us are going to use the fund more than others, but no one wants to put in more money than they're going to take out."

Amy smiled gently at Marcus, hands running through her hair instead of pulling at it as someone said something that made sense for the first time in at least the past 2 hours. To be entirely honest, no one had said anything productive since the first 10 minutes. "Yes, exactly. Thank you."

"So my suggestion would be, what if we restrict the fund to those of us who are able to complete a series of "Ninja Warrior" type physical challenges?" You should've known Marcus's explanation would've ultimately gone on a tangent, but even then, it was still the best does anyone had come up with to date. "Okay, how about if you can jump on a table then you're in."

"No, we're not doing that."

Amy had barely been able to get the words out before Isaac was standing from his seat, offering to be the first to complete the challenge with a shrug. "Works for me."

Marcus scoffed, folding his arms across his chest as he stared Isaac down. "There's no way you can jump on a table."

Isaac scoffed right back at him, turning to face the nearest table with a sense of confidence you were sure would be epically crushed. "I can absolutely jump on a table."

"No one needs to jump on a table."

Garrett turned to face Isaac with a wicked grin curling on his lips. "I think this guy needs to jump on a table."

Justine suddenly piped up as Isaac readied himself to make his jump, arms swinging back and forth in what you assumed was an effort to gain momentum. "Yeah, I think if you can do it, I will totally sleep with Marcus."

"Justine!" You gasped, moving to stand next to Marcus and holding onto his hand with a sense of desperation he hadn't seen before. It was cute how you were so worried at Justin's harmless comment, the idea of him being with someone else clearly having an effect on you. Marcus would happily get used to your protectiveness of him. Marcus pressed a kiss to your temple in a small act of assurance, wrapping his arm around your waist as all attention turned to face Isaac, the moment between you going unnoticed except by the keen eye of your brown haired best friend.

Amy once again warned against the action, pleading with Isaac to stop before he either embarrassed himself, got hurt or both. "No, it doesn't mean anything, Isaac."

Isaac made his 'big leap' stepping onto the table with great caution and receiving cheers from everyone in the break room except from Marcus who seemed disappointed in his lacklustre attempt to 'jump' on the table. However, his victory was short lived, as the table collapsed under his weight, sending Isaac straight into the glass front of the vending machine and break ring it open. Why was there never a normal day in this store?

————————————————————————

Thanks to Isaac's injury, you'd managed to slip out of the break room and your shift early, hand in hand with Marcus. Usually you wouldn't take the risk, but spending so long in the confined space of the break room had you way to overwhelmed to go back to the shop floor - you were sure Amy and Jonah would be fine to cover the fall out all on their own.

The two of you ran straight in the direction of Marcus's car, tucked away at the far corner of the parking lot, in hopes no one would see you trying to escape so soon. As you reached his still-door less vehicle you leaned against the cold metal, Marcus caging you in with his own body, his hands wrapped around your waist. To any passer-by you looked like two people sickly-sweet in love, like everything was perfect and normal.

"You want a ride back to your place?" Marcus hesitantly asked, one hand coming up to cup your face, him smiling gently down at you.

"If you don't mind." You responded, hands coming up to wrap around his neck, playing with the tuffs of soft hair that rested at the nape of his neck. "Was thinking you could maybe, I don't know, come over? I can order Chinese food, we can put on a movie?"

"Like old times?" Marcus hadn't even given you a second to worry that he might reject your offer, replying instantly and with a bright, dimple causing smile.

"Yeah, like old times." You replied softly, allowing Marcus to pull you closer to him with the hand that held your cheek and press an excited kiss to your soft lips.

"I'd want nothing more." Marcus urged you to get inside his car, excited to be back in your home space for the first time in months. He hadn't even stepped through the doorframe yet and he could already feel the warmth and comfort your apartment - and you - brought him. He couldn't wait to be on your couch, cuddled up, while the two of you talked over whatever movie was playing and neither could you.

As you pulled out of the store parking lot, already searching for the Chinese places phone number in order to place your order, your phone buzzed, Jonah and Garretts names popping up at the top of your screen.

The Three Musketeers

J-Dawg ;3 | You weren't that sneaky. I need filling in on what happened!!! Can't believe you wouldn't tell me :((

Gare-Bare <3 | yeah doll face, what gives? :((

Y/n :p | I'll tell you everything tomorrow guys, I promise. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner :((

J-Dawg ;3 | don't worry about it peach, I'm half joking. Have fun ;))

A smile curled onto your lips at your two friends antics as you clicked off of the group chat, muting your phone and pressing call on the Chinese places number.

"Ooo, can you order some of that fried rice I like?" Marcus asked, pressing a kiss to your hand he'd been holding over the centre console as you told him you'd already added it to your list, his smile evident as it pressed into the back of your hand. God, you were looking forward to going back to your apartment for the first time in a while.

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☆: .｡. Tag List .｡.:☆ @write-from-the-heart @despicablylara @whatafreakingloser @flowercrowns-goodvibes @millieb-3199 @lolawassad @catarina-trouxa @falsegodofmischief @thepurplebutterflythings @littleboysmile @sibsteria @quinn-7007 @aashy723 @maeisonline @lizziel1410 @tamberjo @texaschainslvt @mariizai

Want to be added to the taglist? send an ask to let me know <3

————————————————————————

Hey guys!!  Sorry about the lack of an upload last week, I didn't have the motivation to finish it but I have now and how cute!!!!

I also released a cute little superstore boys blurb yesterday so feel free to go and check that out!! More of those to come for sure they're super fun.

Love you guys and and always, have a lovely week!! <33

[champstorymedia]

Understanding the Fine Print: Tips for Decoding Your Life Insurance Policy

Introduction: Decoding the fine print of your life insurance policy can be a daunting task for many policyholders. However, understanding the details of your coverage is crucial to ensuring you have the protection you need. In this comprehensive guide, we will provide you with valuable tips and insights to help you navigate and decode your life insurance policy effectively. Section 1: Importance…

[ultramovers01]

How to Relocate Your Belongings with Movers and Packers in Dubai to Ensure Safety and Security

Moving can be an attractive and stressful experience in a busy city like Dubai; one of the biggest concerns is the safety of your belongings. It’s common for items to get lost or damaged during transit, but with the proper preparation and the help of professional movers and packers in Dubai, it can be a smooth and secure process. Look for office movers in Dubai with a strong reputation for reliability and consider several key factors before making your choice: Whether you’re relocating your home or office, ensuring the safety and security of your belongings is essential. Here’s how to make your move seamless and secure with the help of the best movers in Dubai.

Tips for relocating your belongings safely with the best Movers and Packers in Dubai:

Choose the Best Movers in Dubai

The first and most essential step in ensuring a safe and successful relocation is selecting the best movers in Dubai. Look for movers and packers in Dubai with a proven track record, positive customer reviews, and proper licences and insurance. This ensures that the office movers in Dubai adhere to the highest industry standards and can pay you in case of any loss or damage during the move. Checking online reviews and requesting recommendations from friends or colleagues can also help you make an informed decision.

Schedule a Pre-Move Survey

Schedule a pre-move survey once you’ve chosen your packers and movers in Dubai. This involves the packers and movers in Dubai visiting your office to evaluate the volume and type of items to be moved. A pre-move survey allows the movers to estimate more accurately, identify special packing needs, and prepare for any challenges. This step helps prevent surprises on moving days and ensures a smooth transition.

Use Quality Packing Materials

Professional packers and movers in Dubai use high-quality packing materials to protect your belongings during transit. Ensure that the movers and packers in Dubai use sturdy boxes, bubble wrap, packing paper, and other materials that provide sufficient cushioning for your items. For delicate or valuable items, ask the movers about custom crating options. Suitable packing materials are essential in minimising the risk of damage during the move.

Label Boxes Clearly

Proper labelling is necessary for a secure move. Ensure each box is labelled with its contents and the room it belongs to in your new location. This helps the movers and packers in Dubai handle your items more efficiently and makes unpacking easier. Additionally, create a detailed inventory list to keep track of all your belongings. This list will ensure everything arrives safely at your new destination.

Prioritise Fragile Items

If you have fragile items, giving them special attention is essential. Inform packers and movers in Dubai about any items requiring extra care, and ensure they are packed with additional cushioning. Use “Fragile” labels on all boxes containing delicate items, and consider transporting high-value or sentimental items yourself to avoid any potential accidents.

Ensure Proper Insurance Coverage

Insurance is a vital factor in any move. Verify the type of insurance coverage your chosen office movers in Dubai offer. While most office movers in Dubai provide basic coverage, it may not be enough for high-value items. Consider purchasing additional insurance for items of significant value. Understanding the insurance policy and the claims process ensures that you’re prepared in case of any unforeseen cases.

Secure New Location

Before the office movers in Dubai arrive at your new location, secure it. Check that all doors and windows are locked and in good condition. This is especially important if moving into a new office in a different area. A secure new environment helps prevent theft or damage after the move and gives you peace of mind.

Communicate Clearly with Movers and packer in Dubai

Effective communication is essential to a smooth move. Discuss your specific needs, concerns, and expectations with the packers and movers in Dubai beforehand. This includes any special instructions for handling certain items, timelines for the move, and preferences for packing and unpacking. Open communication helps avoid misunderstandings and ensures the movers and packers in Dubai handle your belongings according to your expectations.

Supervise the Moving Process

On a moving day, try to be present to supervise the entire process. Being there lets you provide real-time instructions to the movers and address any concerns immediately. Supervision ensures that your belongings are handled carefully and according to the agreed-upon plan. It also allows you to monitor the loading and unloading process to prevent accidental mishaps.

Conduct a Final Walkthrough

After the move, conduct a final walkthrough with your office movers in Dubai. Check each room and item to ensure nothing is missing or damaged. If you notice any issues, report them to the best movers in Dubai immediately. A final inspection allows you to resolve any concerns quickly and ensures that all your belongings have arrived safely.

Unpack Methodically

Once your belongings are safely delivered, start unpacking methodically. Begin with the essentials and gradually work your way through each room. Take your time to inspect each item as you unpack to ensure it is in good condition. If you notice any damage, document it and contact your movers and packers in Dubai to file a claim, if necessary. Organising your unpacking process helps you settle in more quickly and reduces the stress of moving.

Get a Professional Packing Service

One of the best ways to ensure the safety and security of your belongings during a move is to get a professional packing service. Many packers and movers in Dubai offer packing services, including providing the necessary materials and experienced packers who know how to handle different items, from delicate items to bulky furniture. Professional packing services can significantly reduce the risk of damage during transit and make the moving process much smoother.

Optimise the Moving Schedule

To ensure a safe and secure move, plan your moving schedule carefully. Avoid peak moving times, such as weekends and holidays, when movers are often busier. Opting for a weekday move can result in more attentive service from the best movers in Dubai and potentially lower costs. Additionally, schedule your move during daylight hours to minimise any security risks associated with moving at night.

Utilise Secure Storage Options

If you cannot move all your belongings at once or need a temporary place to store them, consider using secure storage services offered by packers and movers in Dubai. Many office movers in Dubai provide storage facilities with high-security measures, including surveillance cameras, access controls, and climate-controlled environments. Utilising these services can give you peace of mind, knowing your belongings are safe until you’re ready to move them to your new location.

Plan for Special Items

Discuss these with your movers if you have special items like artwork, antiques, and delicate office furniture. These items require special handling, and office movers in Dubai often offer tailored services for such needs. Ensure your movers and packers in Dubai have the expertise and equipment to handle these items safely.

Wrapping Up:

In conclusion, relocating your belongings doesn’t have to be a stressful experience if you take the proper steps to ensure safety and security. By choosing the best movers in Dubai, using high-quality packing materials, labelling your boxes, securing insurance, and staying involved, you can safeguard your belongings and enjoy a seamless transition to your new office. With proper planning and communication, you can make your move a hassle-free experience with the help of professional packers and movers in Dubai.

[luciferlaughs]

It was New Year’s Eve of 2018 and Tyrone Hassel III, aged 23, who was an army sergeant, was spending it with his family in Benton Harbour, MI, where he grew up. He and his wife, Kemia Hassel, 22, had just completed an 8 month deployment in South Korea. Together, they shared a 1-year-old son. The family was stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia, but made the drive over to Benton Harbour to spend the holidays with Tyrone’s family, crashing at his father’s house. 

Sergeant Hassel went to spend the evening with some relatives where they cooked dinner for New Year’s Eve while his wife stayed behind at Tyrone’s father’s house with their son. Shortly before 11 PM, Tyrone’s father, Hassel Jr., prepared a plate for Tyrone to bring to wife back at the house. Hassel Jr. implored his son to make it back to the family gathering before midnight. Within minutes of leaving the house, Hassel Jr. received a phone call from a very distraught Kemia, who claimed Tyrone had just been shot in their driveway. 

Police quickly arrived at the scene, where they found Kemia sobbing and grasping her husband who had been shot multiple times and was barely clinging onto life. She explained to police that Tyrone had just arrived to deliver some food and he had barely made it back to his parked truck when she heard gunshots. It was clear Tyrone was brutally executed by somebody who intended to target him, only nobody could think of even one suspect. Tyrone didn’t have bad blood with anybody. He was well-respected by all who knew him. 

Police received a tip from an elderly couple that lived just one block over from the Hassel home. They claimed they witnessed a strange vehicle parked across the street at a vacant home with a for-sale sign. They saw a man dressed in all black exit the vehicle and head toward the street where the Hassels lived. Minutes later, they heard 6 gunshots. When they peeped outside their window once again, the suspicious vehicle was gone. 

Police received an additional tip about a week into the investigation. The woman claimed she overheard rumors that Kemia had a secret affair with a fellow soldier who was in the same unit as Kemia and Tyrone, although she didn’t know this soldier’s name. Police later learned the man was 24-year-old Jeremy Cuellar. Immediately, they brought Kemia in for questioning, where they got her to confess her role in her husband’s death. She admitted that her affair with Jeremy began while the three of them were deployed in South Korea. They began plotting Tyrone’s death so that they could be together, communicating mostly via Snapchat to ensure the messages would be erased. Part of why she wanted him dead was so she could receive Tyrone’s $400,000 life insurance. 

The suspicous vehicle that was parked in the neighbourhood was confirmed to belong to Jeremy. He drove to Michigan several times to assassinate Tyrone but kept getting cold feet. Eventually, he seized the perfect opportunity to get the job done when Kemia alerted him that Tyrone was going to be arriving at the house alone to bring her dinner. That’s when Jeremy ambushed Tyrone in the driveway. 

Both were arrested in their involvement in Sergeant Tyrone’s murder. Tyrone’s father visited Jeremy in jail where Jeremy confessed to murdering Tyrone. Even more surprising, he revealed that his affair with Kemia began even before their deployment in South Korea. 

Jeremy pleaded guilty to first-degree murder; Kemia pleaded not guilty, but was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. 

[villagemoversandstorage1]

Navigating Relocation: Tips for Selecting a Reliable Home Moving Company

Relocating to a new home is a significant event that requires careful planning and organization. One of the most critical decisions you’ll make during this process is selecting a reliable home moving company.

The right movers can make the transition smooth and stress-free, while the wrong choice can lead to delays, damages, and added costs. Here are some essential tips for selecting a reliable home moving company to ensure your relocation goes as smoothly as possible.

Start with Research and Recommendations

Begin your search by gathering recommendations from friends, family, and colleagues who have recently moved. Personal experiences can provide valuable insights into the reliability and professionalism of different moving companies.

Additionally, conduct online research to find companies in your area. Websites like Yelp, customer Reviews, and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) offer customer reviews and ratings that can help you assess a company's reputation.

Verify Credentials and Licensing

Ensure that the moving company you are considering is properly licensed and insured. In the United States, interstate movers are required to register with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and obtain a unique DOT number.

You can verify a mover’s licensing status and check for any complaints on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) website. For local moves, check with your state’s regulatory body to confirm the company’s credentials.

Obtain Multiple Quotes

Contact at least three moving companies to request detailed, written estimates. Be cautious of estimates given over the phone or online without an in-person assessment of your belongings.

A reputable moving company will conduct an on-site evaluation or a video survey to provide a more accurate quote. Compare the estimates, looking for transparency in pricing and a clear breakdown of services and fees.

Understand the Services Offered

Different moving companies offer varying levels of service. Determine your needs and ensure the company can meet them. Services may include packing and unpacking, loading and unloading, bulk storage solutions, and specialized handling for fragile or valuable items. Clarify what is included in the estimate and ask about any additional costs for extra services.

Check for Insurance and Liability Coverage

Ask about the company’s insurance policies and liability coverage. While most moving companies offer basic coverage, it may not fully protect your belongings. Consider purchasing additional insurance for valuable or irreplaceable items. Ensure you understand the terms of coverage, including how to file a claim in case of loss or damage.

Look for Red Flags

Be aware of warning signs that may indicate a less reputable moving company. These can include:

Requests for large deposits or full payment upfront.

Lack of a physical address or company branding.

Incomplete or vague contract terms.

Poor communication or unprofessional behavior.

Overly low estimates that seem too good to be true.

Read the Contract Carefully

Before signing any agreement, thoroughly read the contract and ensure you understand all terms and conditions. The contract should include:

The company’s contact information.

A detailed list of services and their costs.

The pickup and delivery dates.

Insurance and liability coverage details.

The process for filing claims.

Plan Ahead and Book Early

Reliable moving companies are often booked well in advance, especially during peak moving seasons (spring and summer). Once you have chosen a mover, book their services as early as possible to secure your desired moving date. Early booking also allows for better planning and preparation.

Communicate Clearly

Maintain open and clear communication with your chosen moving company throughout the process. Provide detailed instructions and any special requirements, such as the handling of fragile items or access restrictions at your new home. Clear communication helps prevent misunderstandings and ensures a smoother move.

Conclusion

Selecting a reliable home moving company is crucial for a successful relocation. By conducting thorough research, verifying credentials, obtaining detailed quotes, and understanding the services offered, you can make an informed decision. Careful planning and clear communication with your chosen movers will help ensure a seamless and stress-free transition to your new home. With these tips in mind, you’ll be well-equipped to navigate your relocation with confidence.

[sauriansolutions]

God dammit God damnit

Tw... bad irl stuff, dead animal/dead pet tw's, severe depression/abuse/suicide tw's. Please I beg you to just scroll past this if you think you don't have the spoons to handle seeing it. Trust me I get it, if it wasn't my stuff I wouldn't want to know about it either.

Fuck I'm really not doing okay.

I just got back from my typical overnight shift, then went grocery shopping for the the 5 things I could afford, and finally came home to find

MY FROG DIED.

She was a little, underweight, green tree frog I got at one of the horrible chain pet stores because they had "boring, normal" tree frogs on sale, and this poor girl was underweight and had only one eye. (I called her Odinna.)

I had her for almost two years. I brought her with me, as one of my few possessions I wasn't forced to just abandon due to lack of space, when I moved cross-country after I couldn't afford to stay as a resident of the state I used to live in anymore.

I found her dead body while receiving a string of texts from my boss chewing me out for apparently stocking a product incorrectly. Some highlights:

"Don't ever (do task I previously claimed I entrusted to you) again!"

"All of (task) has to be redone because you fucked up!"

"If my boss would have seen this. Or his boss. Holy hell."

*also, photos of the hours of work I did last night being angrily undone, just to push the point home?*

I *put a product on the shelf wrong.* (I was never told the correct way.) Call the fucking firing squad, I guess.

It's not even these specific things, it's.

I don't have anybody I feel like I can safely talk about things like this with, otherwise I wouldn't be dumping this on the blog I tried to make for happy escapism.

I've been in so many long-term abusive relationships, I guess I don't know how to NOT be treated like shit. I've been trying though? I'm worried I might be too autistic and cptsd to even recognize what is a toxic relationship versus, I don't know, a normal snag between folks?

Pretty sure my boss and my roommate have been treating me like shit for awhile though. And I'm so dumb, I'm only just starting to recognize the patterns. Again. AGAIN. The same ones that--

Oh but, idk, maybe it's just me though? Maybe I am in fact so annoying, I deserve to have eyes rolled at me, to be cut off every time I try to talk, to be spoken to in this clipped, exasperated tone. Spoken *at*, more like.

But?? I don't think literally everything I say is stupid. I don't think literally everything I do deserves to be ignored if done well; and don't think I deserve to be excessively, humiliatingly berated if I make, (what seem to me at least? it's entirely possible I am the idiot?) really small, ultimately unimportant, and understandable mistakes??

Maybe I'm also insane to think this, but oh no I'm going to go THERE. Yeah so um... I feel like maybe I should be making a living wage? Hey, that would be cool. Maybe I should get at least like, ONE 15-20 minute food break on my "8 hour" overnight shifts? Maybe I should be getting healthcare (and maybe like what, 401k? Other kinds?) of benefits too, (what other kinds of benefits even exist? Dental? Vision?? Who the fuck has ever had their employer buy them glasses that sounds crazy!), esp considering I'm continuing to work my ass off while raw dogging it through venlafaxine withdrawals (lost my health insurance so fuck me I guess!!) and basically destroying my mental health, working anytime, all the time, full-time, with mandatory overtime--

That's only the tip of the goddamned iceberg, but enough, enough, I'm depressing myself too much to go on even just writing this.

Writing this is an exercise in acknowledging that it's all stuff that happened, not some nightmare. And had an effect on me. I had gotten so good at drugging and drinking myself to sleep, and ignoring, and ignoring,

I feel so trapped. I've been trying to like myself more, and there's a certain point that means you have to actually act on things like this, or else you... don't really like yourself that much, do you?

So, even though it is the most anxiety inducing thing ever, I have dipped my toes into "acting on it." To the extent that, recently, for the first time in my life, I've been willingly leaving jobs, friendships, and romantic relationships--if they feel like, if I told my therapist (who exists in my head, I can't afford one) about how they treat me, I can easily imagine them being like, "Wow okay so first of all, red flags all over the place!"

I've been doing this to my own detriment. I'm alone and stuck, unable to afford solo housing, or appropriate medication, or even food and other basic life necessities some of the time.

And here's the kicker.

I really, really don't want to die. In that sense, I'm not suicidal! But, I don't know how I'm supposed to keep existing like this without imploding or exploding in some way, though.

The worst part is just having no time, space, or resources to even start trying to heal. Nobody to even talk to safely... or, imo, ethically. I don't want to inflict this sadness and hopeless on some innocent bystander.

I'm sorry if you are the person reading this right now.

[sunscreenstudies]

Iconic Things My Coding Professors Have Said (Part 14 - the last one [for now])

Student: “what would you say is the best part of working there?”    Speaker: “that’s easy. it’s being able to work at home with my cat instead of having to travel to work and being away for 12 hours a day. Also, it probably saved my marriage”

“POV: I’m a woman written by a man having breakfast. So I’m going to act very sexually, dancing around the kitchen in my underwear, suggestively licking pancake batter, not caring about fire or oil splash or, you know, the dangers in kitchens themselves. I think I’m even going to go wild and eat half a blueberry at the end”

Speaker: “It got to a point where i would be standing under the shower having imaginative conversations with incels”   Student: “but the important thing is did you win those arguments?”    Speaker: “of course i did!”

“it’s still just a computer, and we all know how stupid computers can be”

“Here is an image of wonder woman and immediately, its obvious that she’s in an incredibly seuxal position despite being in the middle of a fight. And this isn’t even the worst photo I found, but I had to keep it pg13”

Speaker: “another thing you should know is that we all have cats. like. literally all of us”   Student: “is pet insurance included?”

“The homework is, as usual, awesome, because you’ll work on some great case studies!”

“I’ll give you tips how to to do well in this degree, which I fondly call the self-help section”

Prof: “Hildegard of Bingen claimed to get divine visions from God which made her the mesenger to the masses”   Student “Like the middle ages chat gpt”   Prof: “yeah, kind of, except chat gpt is more believable”  Student: “ooohhh”   Prof: “hey! don’t blame me! Or her! it was the patriarchy’s fault”

"and finally, let’s go to the last group, who not just left a permanent mark on the table, but also on my life"

"these are all such lovely interesting beautiful drawings... can i take them?"

“basically this is photoshop for the digital humanities”

Prof 1: “Because Guibert uses "et” at lot. “Et” this, “Et” that, “Et” cetra- OH MY GOD"  Prof 2 “... You only just now realised that that’s where it comes from, didn’t you?”

"I'm also questioning my taylor swift fan-ness because of the situation thats going on with her at the moment - i don't know if you know about it, but its a really hard time for me right now"

Student: "sounds mysterious"   Prof1: "it is, but i promise you, its going to be incredibly underwhelming"   Prof 2: "no its not! we've got markers!"

“the map is disjointed and doesn’t scale correctly because j.k. rowling… well… if she doesn’t care about basic human rights, then i doubt she cares about her geographically inaccurate map”

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14

[godesssiri]

Auctions can be great fun; I’ve been going for years. My great grandmother was an auction regular, and I’ve got some gorgeous Victorian through to Art Deco furniture that she picked up in the 40s and 50s because it was unfashionable old junk then and she got it for a song. Going to live in-person auctions is becoming a thing of the past in the age of the internet but they do still exist, and they can be a way to get hold of some very high-quality items very cheap. So here's my best tips and advice.

There is a local auction house I go to that has a no reserve auction every other Thursday and it’s so much fun, I’ve gotten some real treasures there. They do estate, police, insurance, and business closure auctions.

Estate is exactly what you think it is. Someone is downsizing or has died and so anything that might be worth money gets sent to auction, this is where you get the amazing antiques, affordable furniture, and box lots of random treasures/junk. Police auctions are lost property, looooots of bikes, drones minus their controllers, cell phones. Police hold onto that stuff for a certain amount of time then auction it to help with the storage costs. Insurance you get some really good new stuff. If things are freight damaged a company will make an insurance claim and get paid out the price of the whole crate or pallet or whatever, but the insurance company will take anything that’s not broken. So, if a box of 8 bottles of whiskey gets dropped and 4 of them smash then the insurance company has 4 unbroken bottles to sell, and they put them in an auction to re-coup their costs. Insurance auctions often have lots of booze, industrial quantities of cleaning products, some fancy shelf stable foods, beauty products, all brand new with maybe just some packaging that’s worse for wear. Business closures are either when the owner is voluntarily closing down or when they have gone insolvent, and the liquidator is selling off everything. This can be a great source for tools and specialist equipment.

All things sold at auction are sold as is, so buyer beware. There will be viewing before the auction during which you can handle the items and check them over, if they’re electrical plug them in a see if they work. I have bought some lemons from auction because I didn’t check them thoroughly enough and that was my own fault. Also check if you can still get replacement parts for the make and model of what you’re looking at, yeah got an impact drill that just needed a replacement part, except they don’t make parts for that model anymore. Police auctions especially watch for faulty/damaged stuff, particularly the bikes, there’s a reason that stuff has ended up in police lost and found lock up. Once you’ve decided that the thing you’re looking at is in good enough condition for you mark it in your auction catalogue.

Everything in an auction will have a lot number. Things will be sold either as an individual item or as a lot, if you only want one thing in a particular lot then too bad, you’re buying everything so if it’s a box lot of junk with 1 gem then you are responsible for finding homes for all the junk if you buy it to get that one gem, sometime it’s sooooo worth doing this, sometimes it’s not. The auction house will have a catalogue which is usually just a few sheets of paper with a numbered list of items. Carry your catalogue around with you at the viewing, take a pen, make notes of what you want, identifying info about the item, what you’re willing to pay, any other relevant info. It can be a really good idea to research on your phone. If it’s an insurance auction I always look up what you can buy things for retail, there’s no point getting caught up in bidding and paying more than you would at a retail store. Last auction I went to people were bidding $40 on a lot of 2 bottles of liquor that sells for $20 a bottle and with the auction fees they’ll have ended up paying more than retail.

You have to pay the auctioneers fees/premium. At most places this is about 15% so keep in mind if you bid $100 on something you will actually be paying $115. You agree to this when you sign up for the auction and get your bidding number, it’s a legally binding contract. Those people who were buying the lot of 2 bottles of liquor and bidding $40 would have actually paid $46 which is $6 more than they would have paid down the road at the liquor store. I put in a couple of bids but stopped when it got over $30 because it wouldn’t have been a bargain. The person who won that lot for $40 was obviously attending their first auction with a giggly group of friends and got caught up in the thrill of having the winning bid, I very much doubt she’d considered the premium, so she probably didn’t realize until later that she hadn’t gotten a good deal. This is why it’s really really important to have a good idea what things a worth, what you could buy them for elsewhere, and be very disciplined about how much you are willing to bid. Go into each auction lot with a figure in mind, calculate what the auction premium will be on that figure and do not go over it. Again remember that when you signed up for the auction and got your bidding number you entered into a legally binding contract so if you over bid that’s your bad.

If you have a problem with gambling, then auctions are not for you. It’s the same kind of adrenaline rush and a very similar financial risk. You might walk out with something worth far more than the money you’ve put in or you might overspend and end up feeling down on yourself for being so stupid. It’s very easy to get caught up in the rush of bidding and justify to yourself just $10 more but is it really just $10 or is it 3 or 4 times just $10 more? Always keep the figure you are willing to spend in the front of your mind. Write it on your catalogue. Have the calculator app open on your phone and quickly add 15% to the current bid. Is it still a bargain? Or are you caught in the rush and about to overspend?

When you sign up for the auction you will be given an auction number, this is important to hold onto, it’s how the auctioneer will identify you as the person who has put in the winning bid. When you bid you can wave your number or catalogue, or nod at the auctioneer, or say ‘bid’ or ‘yep’ or ‘here’, if possible, make eye contact with the auctioneer or their spotter when you bid. The auctioneer will be looking all around the room for bidders and will usually have at least 1 assistant who is also looking and will bring your bid to the auctioneer’s attention if they miss you. When you win a lot then the auctioneer will take your number and write it on the auction sheet, hold up your card and/or call out your number once you’ve won. If you have the winning bid, then write what you bid on your catalogue and add the auction premium. When you’re ready to leave go to the cashier and give them your number and they’ll go over the lots they have you down as winning and give you a total – check this against what you’ve got written on your catalogue, so you make sure you get all your stuff. Once you’ve paid you can go and collect your wins, you can do this even if the auction is still going, if there’s nothing else you want to bid on, they’re usually happy for you to pay and leave part way through.

Don’t make the first bid. Auctioneer’s will often put in an opening bid of what they think is reasonable for the item, sometimes it’s worth way less than that, sometimes it’s worth way more. If no one bids they’ll drop the opening, if still no one bids they’ll drop it again. Remember if you’re at a no reserve auction they have to get rid of this stuff, if that means accepting twenty bucks for a 200-year-old antique then they will. Wait to see if anyone else is going to bid then take your shot. Sometimes bidding will start slow but build up and the lot will go for close to or way more than the auctioneer’s opening bid but sometimes you can get something amazing for a ridiculously low price because no one want’s that particular lot. The last auction I went to was an antique store closing down and the retail price stickers from the store were still on all the items. I got a 500-year-old celadon glazed ginger jar for thirty bucks!!! $34.50 including the premium. The antique store’s price sticker was $375. The auctioneer started bidding at $100 but no one went for it, so I waited, and the auctioneer dropped it to $50 then $20. Someone else bid $20 but I wanted that jar, so I bid $30, and the other person didn’t want it enough to get into a bidding war, so I got it. Often if an item looks like it’s going to go for next to nothing then a dealer will put in a bid figuring that they’ll at least be able to make little profit on something they spent peanuts on and I’m pretty sure the other bidder was a dealer who didn’t want the risk of finding a buyer and making a profit if they couldn’t pick it up super cheap. Auctions are very much the luck of the draw with who is attending. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and the people who are there won’t want the same things you do. Sometimes you’ll have to fight for the thing you want.

Who attends auctions? Dealers mostly. If you go regularly, you’ll recognize the dealers and re-sellers. They’re there every auction, they know the auctioneers and each other and have inside jokes, they’re very focused and disciplined with their bidding, they know how to pinch a penny until it squeals. If you’re going to buy cool vintage or cheap household items you can sometimes edge out dealers because they know exactly what they can re-sell an item for and they’re thinking of their profit margins, on the flip-side they might outbid what you’re willing to spend because they do know exactly what they can get for that item and it’s worth more to them than it is to you if you’re just looking for a bargain. The other people who attend auctions are the professionals who are picking up tools/equipment for their business. If you’re a diy-er who want’s cheap tools they might outbid you because they know exactly what those tools are worth, if a professional has no interest whatsoever in a tool though then there’s a reason for that and you should probably steer clear yourself. People looking to stretch a buck will go to auctions because you can pick up full dining suites for less than $100 or perfectly good household appliances for next to nothing, if you’re broke and setting up house then an auction can be a great way to get the basics for even less than thrift store prices if you’re lucky. Collectors go to auctions because that’s where we get the truly unique stuff. Things I have bought at auction include the aforementioned 500-year-old jar, a taxidermy armadillo basket, 4 huge Victorian glass domes, a copper lobster shaped mold just like the one The Golden Girls had on the wall in their kitchen (the one that looks like a dick and balls from a distance). Collectors can be tricky because they might want something so much that they’re willing to outbid everyone else, but on the other hand they might not be willing to pay too much because they have to justify it to themselves and/or their partner. Often a collector will go to an auction for just a couple of specific items, if you’re lucky the items you want and the items they want will be different, so you won’t get into a bidding war. My last auction I was incredibly lucky because there were a few collectors there, but we were all after completely different things, one of them is actually in a FB group I’m in so when I showed off my win he congratulated me and said he’d gotten what he’d been there for and we were able to mutually gush over each other’s scores.

This tip is against etiquette in some auction houses and fully against the rules and will get you kicked out of others so be very careful if you choose to do it: If you were bidding on a box lot for one item in it and you lose but you see someone you think is a dealer has won it, you can quietly approach them and ask to buy that particular item off them. A lot of them will happily do you a deal for cash so they make some of their money back then and there and don’t have to take the item home. Maybe just approach them outside if it’s against the rules at that auction house because some places are really hardass about it.

People can be intimidated by auctions because they can be such high risk and high adrenaline events but once you’ve gained some confidence, they can be so much fun. If you’ve got free time when an auction’s on, I’d highly recommend just going and watching, even if you don’t bid on anything. Find a seat and just observe. They can be incredibly interesting, particularly if you like to people watch. Just watching the auction can help build your confidence until you feel like you can participate. You also learn so much by seeing what sells for a lot and what is hard to shift, it helps you gain an idea of what things are worth. There’ll always be a few old lady dealers who’ve been doing this forever and are happy to impart wisdom, or chatty collectors who will infodump about items in the auction or things they’ve scored in the past. Take some food and drink and a pen to make notes on your catalogue. A good auctioneer will usually go through about 100 lots in an hour so a 300-lot auction will take about 3 hours. Make sure you know where the toilet is. Have fun.

My last thrift post

[falkondata]

A Cheat Sheet for EHR Data Conversion and Migration

Bid farewell to data headaches and embrace a seamless transition between Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems! Moving to a new Electronic Health Record (EHR) can feel like scaling Mount Data Everest, but fear not, brave healthcare hero. This cheat sheet is your trusty sherpa, guiding you through the tricky terrain of data conversion and migration.

Before You Begin

Investigate how both your current and future EHR systems handle data export and import. Is it a database dump, APIs, or file transfers? The sooner you understand, the smoother the migration.

Do not assume that all data is easily transferable. Scrutinize your data to ensure it meets the new system’s requirements, as not all elements may seamlessly make the journey.

Don’t rely on cumbersome claim transfers. Wrap up outstanding accounts receivable in your old system before making the switch.

Schedule your migration around holidays to minimize disruption and give your team (and the data!) breathing room.

Conversion Strategies

Embrace a phased approach. Move demographics, appointments, and master lists first. Clinical data can wait (gasp!). This lets your team and the new EHR prioritize and get you online ASAP.

Conduct multiple tests, running trial conversions on small patient samples (say 30 patients). You’ll unearth issues before they become mountain-sized problems.

Consider retaining temporary access to your old system for reference purposes. It’s like a safety net for those “oh, I forgot that!” moments.

Not everything needs a new home. Utilize an archival system for data you don’t need in the new EHR.

Data Essentials

Ensure a smooth migration by prioritizing the transfer of the following essential data:

Patient Information: Demographics, insurance scans, policy details, historic charges/balances.

Appointments: Both past and future appointments, meticulously organized.

Master Lists: Categorize and transfer insurance providers, referral sources, and other relevant lists.

Clinical Data: Chart PDFs, discrete text data, allergies, medications, problem lists, immunizations, and progress notes.

Procedures: Transfer detailed information such as CPT codes, modifiers, and pre-authorization codes.

CCDAs: Acquire the Summary of Care document, a valuable data repository.

Financials: Limited financial data may be transferred, but confirm the specifics with your new EHR to ensure accuracy.

Bonus Tip: Make a list of all your EHR integration points like FHIR, HL7 V2, APIs, CSV files. Don’t leave any data orphans behind!

But fear not, weary traveler! You don’t have to climb this mountain alone. We’re here to help with expert guidance, proven strategies, and a team of data Sherpas ready to tackle any conversion challenge. Contact us today for a free consultation and let’s turn your EHR migration into a smooth and stress-free journey!

Remember, with the right plan and a helping hand, even the mightiest data peak can be conquered.

You may find this article on Falkondata website by following this link: https://falkondata.com/ehr-data-conversion-cheat-sheet/